B.J. Novak and Mindy Kaling first met when they were both young writers on The Office. On the show they also played Kelly and Ryan , a turbulent on- and off-again couple whose sexual chemistry was constantly challenged by the fact that they were total opposites who constantly fought.
Mindy and B.J. have admitted that they based the characters' relationship on their own inseparable but tumultuous friendship in the writers room. B.J. and Mindy also dated in real life during the show — according to Mindy, "[We] dated on and off for a couple of years, and now we are just, like, best friends. Like, real best friends. It's the kind of friendship you have when you are embedded with someone, that you can only get by putting in that insane amount of time with people."
In other words, they're basically living out the plot of one of those adorable will they or won't they romantic comedies that Mindy loves so much. SIGH.
1. Whenever B.J. says super nice things about how talented Mindy is.
2. Whenever Kelly and Ryan couldn't keep their hands off each other.
3. When Mindy endorsed his new collection of stories...
4. Which has this line in the acknowledgements...
"Mindy Kaling gets her own line in the acknowledgments, as previously negotiated by her representatives. Thanks, Mindy. I love you and you're the best." —B.J. Novak, One More Thing
5. And also has a book trailer that prominently features B.J. and Mindy arguing/flirting.
View this video on YouTube
6. Even Amazon ships them together.
7. Their texts.
8. When Rainn Wilson described Mindy in terms of her looking for B.J.
9. When B.J. did an AMA on Reddit...
And was asked who he was closest to on the set of The Office...
And also when he gentlemanly refused to answer this question.
10. The time Samantha Ronson snapped this adorable picture of them.
This is when @mindykaling explained to @bjnovak where babies really come from.
11. "Come home."
12. This look.
13. The Vine B.J. posted of Mindy washing a car.
14. Whenever they hold private conversations on Twitter as if no one else is paying attention.
15. When B.J. explained that Mindy is a gangster.
16. When B.J. appeared on The Mindy Project and played a guy with a "platonic" best friend who he was actually totally in love with.
And said in an interview about it, "I don’t know that it’s a direct analogy, but it’s definitely inspired by our relationship. We are pretty inseparable best friends with a lot of chemistry ourselves, and we’re not dating. Whenever we date anyone else, I think there’s a period where the person is very skeptical of our friendship — 'Everyone seems to think you two might be a couple, and I don’t mean to get in the way. Are you sure you’re not dating? Are you sure you’re not going to end up dating?' It’s such a common thing to have that platonic best friend that becomes a little weird when you start dating someone."
17. When he said she is perfect.
18. "You're the best."
19. Blurry pair selfies.
20. When he perfectly articulates what makes her such a great writer.
"Mindy has long been considered the best writer on The Office, and every actor on the show thinks she writes for them best," says Novak. "There is the extra little 'smile' that infuses her scripts, which is hard to quantify. My guess is that it stems from a real loving sense of the superspecific inner life of every character. Characters aren't joke machines to her, or types to satirize. As a person, she's incredibly sentimental, more than anyone I've met, but she's also incredibly sharp. She's unabashedly both. That allows her to express real emotions without shyness, but also without clichés."
21. When they have an entire public discussion about the music at their hypothetical future wedding.
22.
23. Mindy's adorable relationship with B.J.'s fictional sister persona Keough.
24. When B.J. explained their "great and terrible chemistry" on Watch What Happens Live.
25. When he commented on this photo with "You look amazing, straight-up."
26. When Mindy admitted that her big love interest on The Mindy Project is very similar to B.J.
27. These photobooth pictures.
28. When B.J. got mad that another man allowed Mindy to wait in line for her own drink.
29. When he went to her book signing at Barnes & Noble.
30. When Mindy "explained" their relationship in an Instagram comment.
31. This tweet.
@mindykaling you autocomplete me
32. When B.J. talked about why they can't get married.
33. SOUPSNAKES
"happy birthday to my soup snake"
Their inside joke is a reference to this...
View this video on YouTube
So basically they're constantly reminding each other that they are soulmates.
<3 <3 <3 <3 <3
OOPS, an earlier version of this lovefest indicated that Keough Novak is B.J.'s real sister — she is actually a fictional Twitter persona invented by Novak and his brothers. But Mindy's relationship with "her" is still adorable. (2/8/2013)