Chapter Text
Chapter 10: Ladies man
Things had been getting better for Joel over the last few months but he still didn’t like where he was. He had been the top of his class at a prestigious business school and should be handling billion dollar deals and with a super model on his arm and living the high life.
He wasn’t living in a motel anymore as he had sublet Grian’s apartment when he moved in with Scar. Since the two of them had gotten engaged they had been utterly sickening. He could barely stand to be around the lovebirds which was an issue since the only consistent work he was getting was through Grian’s company. It wasn’t full time work but it was keeping him from spending through his savings so fast and was looking better on his resume.
He woke up Monday morning and noticed the girl had already left. He had already forgotten that one’s name. He had no trouble finding company when he wanted it but didn’t really want anything serious. Romance just wasn’t worth the effort, not when he had a career to salvage. As he got ready for the day he hoped this week went better than the weekend did.
His weekend was spoiled all due to one fox hybrid that he ran into everywhere. The first time was when he cut him off for a parking spot at the shipping depot by the airport. The other man had just grinned at him through the mask he wore and said that he was sorry in a way that Joel just knew that he wasn’t sorry about at all.
Then Joel went for his favorite Saturday treat, a pastrami sandwich from the best deli in town. Only that fox got the last one. This had gone on the whole weekend as it seemed the city was not big enough for the two of them to not run into each other. Soon the fox’s mere presence was enough to sour Joel’s mood.
He didn’t even know the man’s name but had been tempted to punch him when they ran into each other at a club where all the girls were interested in him. He seemed surprised when he noticed Joel there. “Oh wow you again. You sure you’re not stalking me?”
“You’re clearly the one stalking me!” he had snapped back and got out of there.
There was no way he could continue to run into this pain now that the work week started at least.
He headed out to Hermit House to meet up with Grian. One of the two office spaces above the coffee house had been rented by Grian for his company. Though Joel was not convinced it wasn’t just so Grian could have a reason to hang out at the cafe and be there when Scar had his breaks.
When he got there he didn’t see Grian but noticed Skizz in the corner booth flirting with his boyfriend. Pearl was also there face first on the table sighing.
“Skizzly I don’t know what to do! I thought I could get along with anyone but I just hate my roommate so much. I can’t stand her.” Peal laments.
“Bloody hell Pearl hasn't uni only started a week? How bad can it be?” Joel asks.
Pearl sticks her tongue out at him. “I was so excited when I saw my roommate was an angel. I thought it would just be like Grian and Skizzly and I would have a best friend for life and she’s in the fashion design program which is so cool but I think she’s just crazy. She leaves needles and pins everywhere.” To demonstrate Pearl picks up her jacket and shakes it a few times and two needles and pin fall out onto the table. “And I think she has a little dog hidden in our room and it is peeing everywhere.”
“I think my sister was complaining about the same girl in one of her classes.” Impulse says in surprise. “There is definitely a dog. Gem said it was one of those hairless ones that is ugly cute.”
“Well I’ve never seen it but I’ve sure smelled it. She’s going to drive me crazy. I have to find a new roommate.”
“Well Gem said that her roommate seems to be crashing out and she figures they will drop any day. If that happens you could room with her.” Impulse offers.
“That is a great idea Dipple-dop. I know Gemstone and Perly-pop would get along great.”
“I don’t think I’ve met your sister…” Pearl considers. “Wait, is she the one my brother says is punchy?”
Impulse nods. “That’s likely because Gem punches him before she says hello every time she sees him. She still has a bit of a grudge about how he caused problems before me and Skizz started dating. Have you guys really not met yet?”
“No I didn’t think we have. Grian totally deserves some punches for being such a nugget back then so I suppose I can’t hold that against her.”
“Gem is going to be here in about an hour. She wants to catch up with Etho since she hasn’t seen him since he came in this weekend.”
“No I have a lab and I need to go soon. Actually can I get another Chia latte for the road Impulse?” Pearl reaches into her pocket then winces and pulls her hand back to a needle stuck in her finger.
“Coming right up along with a band-aid for that finger.” Impulse heads back to the counter and Skizz watches him go looking utterly love struck.
Joel lets out a frustrated sigh. It really felt like overnight his whole friend group had gotten sickeningly love stuck. Grian and Scar had been bad enough even before they got engaged. Skizz had always been a little hopeless when he fell but with Impulse it was even worse somehow. And even Jimmy, Grian’s cousin, was pathetically in love.
Thankfully Grian decided to finally show up around then so Joel could focus on work. He was aware of people coming and going only vaguely. Pearl left and then Skizz had to go back to work. Gem showed up and punched Grian. Jimmy came and left again on a drink run where he couldn’t stay long and left Tango sighing when he left.
Joel didn’t pay too much attention to the conversation going on around him until he heard his name mentioned.
“Actually Joel would be perfect for something like that.” Grian had said.
Joel looked up from his laptop. “I’d be perfect for what?”
“Etho.” Tango explains only continuing when the look of confusion he is being given shows that Joel does not understand what he means. “Our buddy Etho is renting the other office upstairs. He’s a genius engineer but most of the work he’s done before has been under NDAs right now he only has the one client who is someone he worked with before but he has no clue how to get others.”
That kind of work sounded amazing. His old job had all been about connecting the techy people with the companies that need their skills just on the other side. He knew all the players and it might even give him a chance to snub his old employers. “Yeah that would be easy for someone as skilled as I am. I still have a lot of my old connections but your friend would have to pay me more than Grian does. I’m not going to just give my talents away.”
“I think Etho has some money set aside for that kind of thing.” Impulse says but shrugs slightly. “There’s a lot I don’t think he could talk about but he should be here soon so I’m sure you two can talk these things over.”
Gem giggled happily. “I’m so excited to see Etho again. I can’t believe he has moved back.”
Impulse grinned. “Back in the day Gem had a bit of a crush on Etho.”
Gem blushed and punched her brother. “Hey I wasn’t the only Etho girl that was disappointed when he came out as liking boys only. Besides, I was only a kid back then. It doesn’t count as a real crush.”
Joel had gone back to only half paying attention to what was going on as he got back to work but was interrupted a few moments later when the table was jostled hard by Gem getting up quickly.
Joel glanced up with one eye and then did a double talk as the last person he wanted to see was standing there being punched by Gem.
“You!” Joel jumped to his feet so fast he almost knocked his laptop off the table pointing at the bothersome Fox hybrid who had ruined his weekend. His brain couldn’t form other words at the moment.
The fox chuckled. “Oh hey it’s the stalker racoon. How did you know I’d be here? You really must be obsessed with me.”
“I’m not a racoon! I’m a tanuki! And I work here, you're the one obsessed with me.”
“Funny you don’t look like a barista. Should you really be pointing at customers like that?”
“Not here, here I work in the office upstairs.” Joel corrected.
“Really? So do I.” Joel couldn’t see his mouth due to the mask he wore but he just knew the fox was grinning. He could see it in his eyes.
Joel was seriously considering other employment options when he noticed the truly shit eating grin Grian had at this moment.
“Uh do you two know each other?” Impulse asks.
“That’s the stalker guy I was telling you guys about.”
Impulse and Tango looked at each other in confusion. “Joel?”
Joel let out a sigh of frustration. “I’m guessing you must be Etho.”
“The one and only Etho Slab. And I’m guessing that makes your name Joel if my buddies are right.”
“Yeah Joel Smalls I wish I could say it is a pleasure to meet you but that would be a lie. Grian I’m going to finish this up from home.” He said reaching for his laptop.
“Actually Joel there are a few things I wanted to go over with you first.” Grian’s grin looked like it was going to break his face.
Joel regretted mixing business and friendship and was questioning his choices in friends. He sat back down however and tried his best to ignore Etho and look only at his work.
---
As the week went on he continued to run into Etho everywhere. Not just at Hermit house but his usual favorite places. The problem being that it started to become clear that they were running into each other so much because they have very similar tastes.
When Etho showed up in Joel’s hole in the wall ramen shop that he went to every Tuesday night he knew the fox had to be following him but before he could confront him Etho ordered the secret menu item that only regulars knew about that was Joel’s go to order.
He looked Etho up online and though there wasn’t a lot of his work out there, what he could find made Joel admit he’d be a dream client. He was smart and talented but had no connections in the business world. If they could get along Joel’s skills and connections could be just what he needed. However they couldn’t be in a room together without bickering like crazy.
Grian had started calling them an old married couple and he and Impulse were up to something for sure. He got through the week somehow and then spent most of Saturday in the one place he knew he couldn’t run into Etho, his apartment. Only before too long he started wanting company and decided to go out to a club to find a girl to hook up with. He wasn’t even surprised when he ran into Etho with 3 girls already flirting with him.
Joel let out an exasperated sigh when he saw Etho. “Why do you even come to places like this? Aren’t you gay?”
“Oh hey Joel.” Etho grins. “Well yeah but I love the energy of these kinds of places. Let’s me get myself out of my head a little.” Hearing that he was gay the girls that had been flirting with him left. “If we are going to keep running into each other like this we should try to get on better terms. Our friend groups do kind of overlap a lot after all.”
Joel lets out a sigh. It was a reasonable enough request but Joel didn’t want to be reasonable and that was spoiling the fun a bit. “Honestly thinking of upgrading my friend group. No offense but you’re not the kind of company I was looking for tonight.”
“I’m not saying we be friends but let me buy you a drink and maybe we could talk a little business.”
Joel was curious though he was sure he’d later regret it. “What kind of business are you talking about and I don’t drink the cheap stuff if that’s what you’re offering.”
“I bet we have similar tastes.” His own glass had what looked like scotch on the rocks in it and he motioned to the bar tender for one of the same for Joel.
Joel was annoyed when the drink came to realize it was his favorite scotch he would have after closing a big deal. It was a splurge he hadn’t been able to justify with his current finances.
“Lucky guess.” Joel says, taking a sip and settling down in the chair next to Etho. He swears the fox is grinning behind that mask. He can see it in his eyes.
“I looked you up. Your old business did you dirty.”
Joel snorts. “Yes they did and they will regret it someday.”
“How about today?”
“What are you talking about?”
Etho reached into his pocket and handed a paper to Joel. Looking it over he quickly realized what it was. A contract from his old employers to Etho for tech development. Nothing was signed yet but Joel recognized a lot of the names. “It’s a generous offer but you don’t want to sign with Ignus Kovlid trust me. He’s an ass and only knows how to do anything by his family name. He’s also very handsy and someday he’s going to do that with someone he can’t pay off.”
Etho laughs as he takes the paper back. He tears up the contract. “That’s pretty much what I thought too. I’m not really liking the idea of getting tied to a big firm to start with. I’m sick and tired of being tied up in agreements and contracts when I’d rather be making stuff and making the world better. I’m smart but I know my limits and when it comes to the business side of things I don’t know much. I’ve heard from your friends that you’re actually pretty good at this stuff.”
Joel chuckles. “I’m the best.” He takes a sip of his drink. “That’s not even ego talking. Scar, Grian and Skizz are all good, great even but competing with them made me even better.”
“That’s what I was hoping you would say.” Etho says unhooking his mask on the side farthest from Joel so he still couldn’t see his face as he took a sip of his own drink. “What would you say to working with me? Not for me. I’m looking for a partner, not an employee or agency. You’d get 50% control, I only have one client right now so the pay would be pretty bad to start but if you’re half as good as you think you are that shouldn’t be a problem for long.”
“Partners with…you?” It sounded crazy. Joel could barely stand to be in the same room with the man. Yet he didn’t throw the deal away right away.
“I need someone who knows that world and who isn’t going to be some spineless yes man who will tell me I’m right about things that I don't know anything about.”
Joel laughs. “You have no fear there. I’m likely to not agree with you on anything.”
“Except a good scotch.” Etho says swirling the ice in his glass.
“Well yeah.” Joel took another sip. “I’d need to look over any books and contracts before signing anything but perhaps we’ll have to share another drink when I land our second client.”
Etho grinned and lifted his glass to Joel. The two glasses clinked together in a toast.
---
They met Monday morning to iron out the final details and it went surprisingly smoothly. Etho had taken the smaller of the two offices in the space he was renting and Joel would get the other one. It wasn’t as flashy as his office in his old job had been but it let him get a lot of his stuff out of storage.
One of the first things Joel did was draft the rejection letter for the offer Etho had gotten from his old company. He kept it professional but may have been grinning like a mad man the whole time he wrote it.
From there Joel hit the ground running determined to get them their second client as soon as possible. He really did love this kind of work. He and Etho would still bicker from time to time but even Joel had to admit his dislike of the fox had started to lose its bite. He couldn’t understand most of what he was working on for their first client but he knew enough to know it was good work.
“Going downstairs to get some coffee.” He said one morning while waiting for some emails back. “You want anything.”
“Sure. I forget the name of it but Impulse knows the drink I like.” Etho says
Heading down to the cafe he finds things pretty quiet. In fact the only customer at the moment seems to be Gem and she is being teased by both Impulse and Tango and is blushing almost as dark as her hair. “Shut up! I knew I shouldn’t have told you two.”
“What’s going on here?” Joel asks.
“Oh hey Joel. You’re not going to believe this but my baby sister is in love.” Impulse is practically vibrating with happiness.
“I am not! It’s just a crush.” Gem protests. “Don’t make it more than it is Impy. I don’t even know her name.”
“A crush is not that big a deal.” Joel agrees. “I couldn’t tell you how many crushes I’ve had over the years.”
All three of them look at Joel like he was a little crazy.
“Well that explains a few things.” Tango quips.
“What a sad, sad man you are.” Gem says, patting him on the shoulder.
“Hey! I’m perfectly happy with my current relationships. Thank you very much. What’s the big deal for you having a crush anyways you’re not a kid.”
Gem blushed and then punched Joel in the arm. “Well some of us have very high standards. I’ve never had a serious crush before.”
“What does she look like?” Impulse asks.
“We’ll I’ve never seen her up close. She hangs out under this tree on nice days outside one of my classes and from time to time I notice her in a crowd. I don’t think we have any overlapping friends or classes. I don’t want to tell you too much because I know you and your shipping ways well.”
“Well you did teach them to me.” Impulse says with a laugh.
“You should just ask to buy her a drink and go from there.” Joel offers. “That always works as an ice beaker, trust me.”
“I don’t drink and I don’t know if she does.”
“Not alcohol. Invite her here for a coffee or something. I’m sure Impulse can figure out what she likes. Oh that reminds me I need a doubleshoot espresso and whatever it is that Etho likes, he said that you would know.”
“Coming right up.” Impulse says as Gem considers Joel’s idea.
---
Thursday night long after the cafe closed Joel came up to the office though the side door on the building and was surprised to see the light in Etho’s office on.
“Don’t you sleep?” He asks standing in the office doorway.
Etho chuckled. “I could ask you the same.”
“Hey on this end of things you’ve got to connect when you can. Some of the best deals get made after business hours.” He pulled some papers out of his pocket and placed them on the desk in front of Etho. “Was just going to get this set up to show you in the morning but since you’re here there is no need to wait.”
Etho looked the papers over, needing a few minutes to realize what he was looking at. “This is a second client….and a very good offer if I’m reading this right.”
“It is. I told you I’m good. Not everyone could get you that kind of offer with you getting to keep the IP of anything you make for them.”
“Wait? What? I get to keep my IP… I didn’t think that was possible.”
“It’s hard but nothing is truly impossible.” Joel was beaming proudly. This was a win his ego sorely needed even if he couldn’t admit quite how much.
“It looks like you are as good as you said you are, partner.” Etho stands from his desk and goes to a cabinet and pulls out two glasses and a bottle of scotch. “I’m glad I went ahead and bought this.” He but the glasses on the edge of his desk and poured them each one.
“I’m better than I said I was.” Joel said with a cocky grin as he picked up the glass and raised it to toast.
Joel then froze though he couldn’t say why. He couldn’t admit why. Etho clinked his glass off Joel’s before taking a sip. He had slipped his mask off and it was the first time Joel had seen his full face.
Joel had always assumed Etho was badly scarred or had jagged buck teeth which is why he wore the mask. He wasn’t expecting such handsome features. He really was a pretty boy and while he did have a faint scar that ran from his cheek to the tip of his cupid’s bow it did not make him any less attractive.
Without thinking about it Joel found himself reaching out to touch Etho’s face, his thumb tracing along his scar.
“Joel…what are you…” Etho asks in a whisper
I need to know the taste of those lips.
The thought intruded in his brain and would not go away. Joel would swear he was drunk but the alcohol hadn’t touched his lips yet. Before he could regain his sanity Joel found himself slowly leaning closer.
Etho didn’t pull away, Etho didn’t stop him and Joel couldn’t stop himself. Their lips met with heat. Joel nipped Etho’s bottom lip gently just to pull a gasp out of him. The hand that had been on Etho’s cheek slid up into his hair to rub the base of the fox-hybrid’s ear.
Etho made a sound close to a purr and Joel couldn’t help but grin.
Pulling back Joel downed his drink in one go and let the glass thud heavy onto the desk. Etho looked breathless and weak kneed as he leaned against the side of the desk. Joel couldn’t help but feel proud for flustering the more serious man so easily.
“Joel….I thought….you were straight.”
“Shut up Etho.” Joel says before pulling him in for another kiss. Future Joel would have a lot to figure out. Present Joel was not feeling all that generous to his future self. The only thing Present Joel could think about was kissing Etho and seeing just how flustered he could get him.