Title: Not Friends
Author: Rainwater Tears
Rating: PG-13 (or whatever they're calling it these days…T?)
Summary: They just work together.
Characters: Jim, Ryan, Pam, Angela, Stanley, Meredith, Phyllis, Michael, Toby (with some slight hints of Jim/Pam, Jim/Katy, Ryan/Kelly and Angela/Dwight).
Author's Note: I've never written "Office" fic before, so this might suck on a whole new level of suckiness. Also, this is for Unfold, 'cause she's entirely to blame for my "Office" love.

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I.

Jim and Ryan aren't friends, but one night they find themselves at Poor Richards after work and Ryan drinks to much and Jim doesn't drink enough (even when, really, they've consumed about the same amount) and that's when they make confessions.

Like Ryan tells Jim about his high school girlfriend and how he never wanted to find himself back in Scranton.

And Jim says things he doesn't mean about girls he doesn't love. Things he wishes he meant because it would make life so much simpler and isn't that the way things should be anyway?

They leave when Jim starts to say "you know" after every sentence and Ryan can't do anything except nod solemnly.

The next morning Ryan takes 2 aspirin on the way in to work and gives Jim a friendly nod when they cross paths in the break room. But Jim eats his ham and cheese sandwich leaning over Pam's desk that afternoon and Kelly won't stop talking about her newest nail polish obsession.

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II.

Pam and Angela aren't friends. They don't gossip or do lunch and Angela has never asked have they chosen a band yet and does she know where she's getting her hair done for the ceremony?

But when she enters the warehouse with tears in her eyes Angela sits with her on a bench outside and holds her hand and offers her a ride home (even though she has plans with Dwight tonight that would make her pastor blush).

She doesn't ask what's wrong (Pam thinks maybe she already knows), she just tells her to buckle up and drives her straight home.

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III.

Stanley doesn't have friends. He's here to work.

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IV.

Phyllis and Meredith aren't friends, so when Meredith asks her to babysit on a Wednesday night (she has a meeting to go to, but she doesn't specify whether it's PTA or AA) Phyllis is surprised.

She gets lost 3 times in Scranton Suburbia and Meredith's kid (the bad one) spends the whole night shouting in her ear. At the end of the night, Phyllis thinks maybe she'd be a drunk, too.

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V.

Michael and Toby aren't friends.

They don't pretend to be.