Ignite

Mid-August heatwave. Of course it was. Zack hated the heat at the best of times, but especially when he had to sit in his office all day. Not to mention that the air con in the office was beyond crappy, despite how many protesting emails he’d sent over the years.

It only took Zack an hour of suffering to give in, taking off his tie and jacket, and rolling up the sleeves of his shirt. Extremely unprofessional but right now he couldn’t give a damn. This was slightly better than before. Manageable.

In the spur of the moment, Zack sent out a mass email to his entire team.

~

Email to: Jenna.McDougall; Daniel.Kurily; Vincent.Petrocelli; Brendon.Urie; Ryan.Ross; John.OCallaghan; Jack.Barakat
Email from: Zachary.Merrick
Subject: Hot weather today

Good morning everyone,

Because of how roasting hot it is outside today, and because the air con is barely coping to cool down the office, you don’t have to wear your ties or suit jackets in the office. And if the weather continues tomorrow, then don’t wear ties at all.
Drink plenty of water.

~

There, that was nice enough of him, right? Rian was going to be pissed when Rian’s team got jealous. Hah. Getting one up on Rian always made his day. Sure, they were best friends. Sure, he’d always have Rian’s back, through thick and thin. And sure, they’d known each other a long time now. But it was a competitive market, and Zack enjoyed taunting him. It was the little things in life, right?

Besides, Zack was way too hot in his office himself – he had to lead by example, right? And if he took his jacket and tie off, then he really should let his team do the same, right? Otherwise it wasn’t fair. Well, he could really do whatever he liked, but nobody like an asshole boss did they?

In no time at all, the emails from his team flooded in.

~

Email to: Zachary.Merrick
Email from: Jenna.McDougall
Subject: RE: Hot weather today

Yay! Thank you! You’re the best! Tay is going to be so jealous!! :) :) :)

~

Email to: Zachary.Merrick
Email from: Daniel.Kurily
Subject: RE: Hot weather today

Thanks! This air con sucks!

~

Email to: Zachary.Merrick
Email from: Vincent.Petrocelli
Subject: RE: Hot weather today

Thank you! I can’t deal with this heat at all. We need to get this air con sorted asap!

~

Email to: Zachary.Merrick
Email from: Brendon.Urie
Subject: RE: Hot weather today

Thank God, I’m sweating balls in here.

~

Email to: Zachary.Merrick
Email from: Ryan.Ross
Subject: RE: Hot weather today

Thank God, I don’t have to listen to Brendon talk about his sweaty balls anymore.

~

Email to: Zachary.Merrick
Email from: John.OCallaghan
Subject: RE: Hot weather today

Thanks! The team’s been sweaty and awkward since they got in haha. Really appreciate this!

~

Email to: Zachary.Merrick
Email from: Jack.Barakat
Subject: RE: Hot weather today

Oh that’s great, thank you Zack!
Would you like me to run out to that deli you like and grab you some fresh lemonade?

~

Well that last email perked his interest. Sure, it was nice to hear that his team were happy (not so nice to hear about Brendon’s balls), but Jack offering to run out for him? That was sweet. So sweet. Much sweeter than Ma…no, bad thought route. Why the fuck did he even think of that at all?!

With a smile on his lips, he sent an email back to Jack.

~

Email to: Jack.Barakat
Email from: Zachary.Merrick
Subject: RE: RE: Hot weather today

That would be great Jack, thank you.

~

He didn’t need to put anything more than that, did he?

*

It took Jack 20 minutes to knock on Zack’s door, and he entered Zack’s office with two fresh lemonades.

“I hope you don’t mind that I got one for myself as well,” Jack said sheepishly, placing Zack’s drink down on the desk.

“Of course not, Jack. I would’ve felt guilty if you hadn’t,” Zack said, smiling.

What? It was true! He wasn’t flirting!

Jack blushed slightly and smiled, before taking a sip of his drink. Oh fuck. Zack’s breath hitched in his throat at the sight of Jack’s lips wrapping around the straw, even more as Jack swallowed. And he cursed himself in his head as his pants tightened at the sight. Fuck. For fuck’s sake. What was wrong with him?!

“Is there anything else you’d like, Mr Merrick?”

The boy was completely oblivious to Zack’s reaction. He was probably completely oblivious to what he was actually doing too. Jack was far too innocent for his own good.

“N-No, that’s all thanks. You can get back to your desk now,”

Zack couldn’t bring himself to correct Jack for using his surname. He needed him out of his office before downstairs became out of control. This was embarrassing.

“Email me if you need anything. I’ll let you know as soon as Alex and the rest of Mr Dawson’s team get jealous,” Jack grinned.

And he was a mind-reader too apparently.

Zack just nodded, not trusting himself to speak, not sure what sound would come out. And as soon as Jack left, Zack groaned. Yeah, that was why he didn’t trust himself to speak. Jack hearing him groan? No, not a good idea at all.

This was getting ridiculous. He was a grown man! Not a horny 17-year-old! He couldn’t be going around getting aroused so easily! It wasn’t right. Fuck. Jack was an innocent guy, his PA for fuck’s sake, he had to learn how to control himself. Zack was stronger than this. He’d avoided and deflected plenty of attractive people in his time. Then again, Jack wasn’t visibly trying to get under his skin. Maybe that was the difference. Because Jack wasn’t trying to be sexy, wasn’t trying to arouse him, it was just making it all that harder for Zack. He couldn’t pass this off as Jack’s fault, not really. His PA had no idea what he was doing.

Fuck. Well he couldn’t sit here hard all day. That would make him incredibly unproductive.

Think of unsexy things…

Rian naked…

Yeah, that worked.

Fuck. What was wrong with him? What was Jack doing to him?