I Fell For My Nemesis

The next day Keith headed over to Joss's office as usual but she wasn't waiting for him in the lobby. Someone else whose face he recognized that he didn't know by name was. A middle-aged Black woman who also worked there.

She smiled at him, knowing exactly who he was looking for. "Jocelyn just went to the bathroom. She'll be back in a few minutes. Do you want me to sign for her?"

"No, I'll wait. Thanks."

"Suit yourself. Did you two have fun at the arcade yesterday?"

Keith was startled. "She told you about that?"

The woman nodded. "Mmhmm. I saw her putting up that basketball hoop on the back of her door this morning and asked her about it. She said she got it at an arcade she went to with her friend Keith. I've seen your nametag so I asked if it was you and she said yes. I didn't realize you two had progressed from flirting to seeing each other outside of the office. Good for you!"

Now he was even more taken aback. Flirting?! He hadn't been flirting with Joss! He was being friendly!

"We do not FLIRT," he said, affronted.

The woman eyed him doubtfully. "And the arcade wasn't a date?"

"No! We were just having fun! I wouldn't—I couldn't—she's my friend. That's all. Joss is great but it isn't like that."

"You're telling me that coming here every single day despite working at different restaurants, giving that overly serious girl a nickname, making her laugh when no one else can, and seeing her alone outside of work isn't flirting?"

It sounded bad when she put it like that. But hang on… Making her laugh when no one else can? Overly serious? That didn't sound like Joss.

Keith was embarrassed at being called out but also at the realization that people in this office had been watching their pattern all this time and making assumptions. It really wasn't like that!

He didn't get the chance to defend himself further because Joss came back in the door leading to the lobby. Her smile was sunnier than usual and it made his heart skip a beat. Probably because he was already feeling weird. That had to be it.

"Hi, Keith! I got the basketball hoop up and one of my clients this morning had a shoot off with me. Thanks again for giving me the extra tickets I needed to get it."

The woman gave him a smug, knowing look before heading back into her office and he felt his face heat. He hadn't had any ulterior motives! There wasn't anything he particularly cared about getting from the prize area and she had really wanted that basketball hoop. It was the nice thing to do, especially since she had brought him dinner earlier.

"No problem," he managed to get out, his throat feeling oddly tight.

Keith handed over her food and got her to sign the pad as usual but he felt off after that woman accused him of flirting with Joss. It had nothing to do with flirting. It was simply two friendless, busy people establishing a routine that the other happened to be involved in. That was all.

"You okay?" Joss asked, tilting her head in concern.

Her hair moved and she went to push it out of her face. He didn't know why but for some reason that very common motion drew attention to her face in a way in normally didn't.

She was actually very pretty, wasn't she? He had never noticed that before. Why hadn't he noticed that before?!

"I'm fine," Keith insisted, pasting on a smile to cover his suddenly racing heart. "I'm glad you were able to have fun with the basketball hoop."

"I did. Where should we go next time?"

Next time. He hadn't even thought of a next time yet! Though they had established yesterday that they wanted to do this again on another weeknight. To get to know her better he would have to see her in a variety of contexts. He would have to think about it.

"I haven't figured that out yet but I'll let you know. Unless there's somewhere specific you want to go?"  Keith asked.

Joss shook her head. "I'm cool with anything. I'm sure you have more ideas than I do."

"Alright. I'll come up with something good, I promise."

She smiled at him again. "I'm sure you will. I look forward to it. Yesterday was a lot of fun."

Yesterday was a lot of fun for him too. He liked seeing Joss outside of the office. He was able to see sides of her he never would have otherwise that way even if they were somewhat shocking.

"It was," Keith agreed softly. "Anyway, I should get going. See you tomorrow."

He hurried out of there as fast as he could without seeming like he was hurrying because he was slightly panicked. How many times had she smiled at him and he had been fine? He was only thinking weird things because of what that coworker of Joss's had said.

She didn't know what she was talking about. She hadn't seen all that much of their interactions. Most of the time she stayed in her office. She was generalizing!

Joss was just his friend. He had never once thought about getting romantically involved with anyone. Things never went well for his roommates in that department and he didn't have the time.

That might be changing slightly soon but still. Having a girlfriend seemed like a lot of work too. Keeping someone else happy and liking him wasn't exactly his strong suit. He had been rejected so many times and put on so many masks to prevent it from happening again.

Keith had been his most authentic self around Joss but he still hadn't been around her very often. She could easily get sick of him like everyone else.

He wouldn't be able to bear that even as a friend so how could he risk it further by going into girlfriend territory? He wouldn't be able to tell her about being Delta either and that could get tricky.

He couldn't think about dating period until he had officially retired. Not that he was sure he would even want to. For relationships to work out people had to be authentic with each other and he and authenticity didn't exactly mix.

Besides, Joss didn't even like him like that! They were friends. She said so herself.

Though it was strange that the woman who gave him a hard time earlier said he was the only one who could make Joss laugh. That couldn't possibly be true!

She might be the type to separate work and fun. Hadn't he already thought that about her? Just because she didn't laugh in such a serious work environment or interact with her coworkers enough for that to happen didn't mean she didn't laugh with anyone else.

Why was Keith even thinking about this? He couldn't afford to ruin things with Joss by getting any weird ideas in his head.

She was his friend. His best and only. It didn't matter what anyone else thought or how pretty she was. He couldn't mess with that. He absolutely was not allowed to mess with that when she was the first person to accept his silliness.

He had a hard time concentrating on his work after that. And his hero work. He nearly got crushed by a car a villain threw before Red Dynamo caught it and yelled out to him.

"Delta! Are you trying to become a soggy pancake?"

Haha. Soggy pancake. Because he would have been flattened and he had water powers. Very funny.

"Sorry. I have a lot on my mind," he said apologetically. "I'll get my head in the game."

"You better! If you don't you're going to get yourself killed and I don't want to have to deal with Frostine nagging me about it forever. If you die on my watch that's going to automatically make it my fault and she is NOT someone I want to cross."

Keith considered this. He had only been on the receiving end of Frostine's ire once and it was not an experience he ever wanted to repeat. He could understand Red Dynamo's concern.

Would she really care that much if he died though? She was the one who said they were all replaceable. She could probably find someone else to patrol with. She had been surprised when she asked him if he missed her. That had to mean she hadn't missed him when they weren't speaking.

They teamed up a lot as a matter of convenience. They weren't friends though they had been friendlier with each other since making up than they had been the whole four years they had known each before that.

No, Frostine wouldn't miss him too much. Red Dynamo was exaggerating but he did need to focus.. He didn't want to die before making anything of himself in his secret identity.