cw: mentions of claustrophobia but nothing serious
me: i have watched so much superstore in the last 3 days its not even funny i am obsessed and jonah is my husband irl i love him!!!!! I've never written for him so hopefully the characterisation is okay?? but I'm still working on it!!
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“jonah? is that you?” you asked from behind the dolly you were pushing, stacked high with boxes.
“the one and only,” he replied, popping out into your eyeline. you rolled your eyes as you continued down the hall, forcing him to keep up with your pace.
“can you open the door to the storeroom? amy wanted me to put this new shipment of playstations in the cage but i can’t see at all where i’m going.”
“uh, yeah! no problem. i mean, why do they even call it the cage? makes it sound like the consoles are gonna come to life and seek revenge… like jaws or something.” he made a series of sounds that you assumed were supposed to be sharks, judging by his gesture of chomping teeth.
“more like the birds, that shit was freaky.”
“no way, you’ve seen the birds? i loved that movie when i was, like, thirteen!” jonah pushed the door open to the stock room, hopping in front of your dolly to deal with the padlock on the cage.
“it’s hitchcock, jonah, it’s not exactly a niche film. you know, you’re not the only one around here who's cultured.” you pushed the dolly into the cage, starting on stacking the new gaming consoles on the shelves.
“i know that! i didn’t mean that i— i mean, of course i think you’re smart and cultured and — oh. you’re teasing me.” his pale cheeks were dusted with a rosy pink and you nodded with mirth in your eyes.
“ding ding ding. guess that year of business school was worth it, after all.” you bit back your smile to continue the bit. jonah pushed the dolly in mock outrage, mouth open to begin another retort before the telltale click echoed through the suddenly dead silent room.
“did you just—”
“no!” jonah cut you off with a squeak, all but teleporting to the locked cage door.
“i think you d—”
“it’s fine! we’re fine! i’ll just unlock it.” he affirmed, more to himself than you, trying to squeeze his hand through the small gap.
“it’s pointless,” you said, running a hand over your face. “after that robbery a few months ago, they really upped the security in here.” the thick plastic sheet attached to the pre-existing wire cage was proof of that. unfortunately, it meant that jonah’s arm couldn’t squeeze through the gap anymore, plus the new electric code lock meant it was essentially impossible to open from the inside.
the bold do not close while inside sign amy had stuck up was mocking you both as jonah tried to force the door open.
“i think we’re stuck,” he said finally, sliding down the wall to sit on the floor.
“figures,” you huffed a laugh, “the one time cloud nine pretends to care about safety and it backfires.” you joined him on the floor, trying not to think about how it probably hadn’t been cleaned in the last two decades.
“do you have your phone? we could call for help,” jonah suggested, and you shook your head.
“it’s dead. forgot to plug it in last night. yours?”
“um, article nine of the employee handbook? phones and other devices should be stored in lockers unless on break or off the clock?” you looked at him for a long moment, trying to decipher if he was serious. “joking, obviously. i, uh, forgot it by the coffee machine when marcus went running out talking about some customer he was gonna try and ‘bang’.” you both made disgusted faces for a second.
“so what do we do? no way to get out on our own and we can’t call anyone… what if we’re stuck here for days?” you could feel the panic starting to set in, unable to control your shallow breaths.
“no way. we’ll get found when amy gets pissed that we’re not there to boss around,” jonah laughed at his own dumb joke, only stopping when he realised you weren’t saying anything, staring at your feet and shaking slightly.
“hey, hey. we’re gonna be absolutely fine, okay? it’ll be max an hour — we’re the stars of this show, after all.” he couldn’t help the silly comment on the end, but you didn’t seem to notice, looking up at him with wide eyes, wet with unshed tears.
“promise?” you asked quietly. jonah refrained from explaining how technically he couldn’t actually promise anything, for once sensing it wasn’t going to make you feel any better.
“promise.” he’d meant to clasp your hand in his only quickly, a comforting touch to calm you down, but when you’d held onto him for dear life, soft fingers holding onto his, he made no move to draw his hand back.
“and hey, if things get really dismal, i’ll be the gentleman and let you cannibalise me, ‘kay?”
“you’re so dumb,” you giggled softly, subconsciously shifting closer to him. “and just for the record, it wouldn’t even be a fight, i could so take you down in an apocalypse, pretty boy.” jonah’s lips twitched at the nickname.
he kept you occupied as you waited, spouting out any nonsense he had in his brain. you got at least five new yorker articles regurgitated. it was effective, though, jonah was a good talker and kept you distracted from any feelings of impending doom with stupid jokes.
“jonah?” you asked when there was a dip in conversation. “i’m glad it was you.”
“what?”
“in here, i mean. with me. i’m glad it’s you.” you silently cursed yourself for your awkwardness, unable to look at jonah and face his reaction.
“not creepy sal? but you two are such good buddies!” he shot back before softening, “i’m glad it’s you too. there’s no one else i’d rather be stuck in a cage with.”
you smiled, soft and genuine, matching jonah’s expression for a moment. then you took a risk and gently rested your head on his shoulder, swayed by the intimacy of your conversation. suddenly, you felt jonah shift, and a small kiss was pressed on the top of your head. it must’ve been a reflex action because as soon as it started, it stopped, jonah freezing in his tracks, muscles tensing up.
“oh my god, i—” he started quickly.
“jonah?”
“yeah?” he asked nervously, not daring to move an inch.
“shut up.” he relaxed all at once, melting into you, head resting on top of yours.
neither of you spoke for a while, sitting in comfortable silence. jonah was warm next to you, a grounding heat as you waited aimlessly.
an hour later, you were trading childhood stories when the door to the storeroom flung open, a distressed-looking amy bursting in.
“oh my god, are you guys okay? how long have you been in here?” she asked, hurrying to punch in the code to the cage door.
“since you sent me to unpack the playstations…” you trailed off nervously, still scared of the floor manager.
“holy shit, guys, it’s been like two and a half hours. i’m so sorry!”
“it’s no big deal, really. a paid break, you could say,” jonah said, pushing himself off the ground. you'd resigned yourself to your moment of closeness being over when he stuck out his hand, pulling you up kindly.
amy dashed off after the door was safely open, a million and one things on her mind as usual, leaving you and jonah to pull the dolly out and return it.
you lingered at the entrance to the store, clocked out and otherwise ready to go home. something in you said you had unfinished business.
you heard jonah before you saw him, whistling some ridiculous tune that was probably from an obscure opera no one had ever heard of.
“hey!” you called, skipping a step to catch up with him on his way to his car.
“oh, hi,” he replied with a smile, hands stuck in his winter coat pockets.
“i just wanted to say thank you, for earlier. i know i was a bit of a mess.”
“oh, no, it’s totally fine! i liked it! i mean, not you being panicked or being stuck in the cage or anything. just, like, hanging out with you. or something,” his awkward cadence always made you smile, something about it endlessly endearing.
“yeah, me too.”
you stood in silence for a moment, just looking at each other and the way your breaths turned to mist in the freezing cold. jonah moved first, stuttering out a few excuses for a goodbye.
“jonah?” you asked, voice clear in the silent parking lot.
“yeah?”
you hugged him tightly, arms wrapped around his middle as you buried your face in the soft wool of his scarf. he hesitated for a moment before reciprocating it, surrounding you with his body heat.
it was far too long before you pulled away, both of your cheeks red from the cold or something else.
“you know, next time we could maybe do something where we’re not forced into a location together against our wills? dinner, maybe?” you asked, suddenly shy.
“yeah,” he breathed out with a puff of vapour, “i’d like that.”
