How Did Mindy Kaling & B.J. Novak Meet?

Mindy Kaling and B.J. Novak are my favorite comedy couple of all time. And I know you're going to say, "But they're not even dating." Well, they did do something that resembled dating at one point. And, as of now, they're best of friends, and sorta, kinda might be in love with each other. So where did this dream team come from? How did Mindy Kaling and B.J. Novak meet in the first place?

The two actors have known each other for approximately forever, because they met when they both started writing for and acting on The Office. They were both only 24 at the time. (Also, their birthdays are less than a month apart, and I bet they have the cutest birthday brunches ever.)

They've been adorably and hilariously inseparable ever since, but even though Kaling and Novak were obviously made for each other/are obsessed with each other, they have been really, really annoyingly vague about their relationship on the years. Like, come on Mindy, you write books, dish us the details.

Oh, what's that? They're writing a book together? It's unclear what exactly the book will be about at this point, but the actress has made it clear it's not going to be the "tell-all" that was rumored. Still, maybe it will give some insight into the pair's relationship. As the actress explained on Twitter, "It's not a tell-all, sadly. I can say it's going to be really funny and cool."

Reminiscing about when he and Kaling first met, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Novak talked about the differences between working with Kaling on The Office and, more recently, when he had a role on The Mindy Project:

You know, we’re so scared of having an epic, blow-up, tear-down fight that we were very, very careful with each other. We would fight constantly at The Office. We would have friendship-ending fights about four times a day, and start the next day as best friends again. So because this is her show, she’s so busy [that] we really could not afford a fight. She wrote a very basic draft — like, half an outline — and then I filled it in. And then we got together and discussed it with the rest of the writers. They got used to our weirdness early on.

As someone who has tried to work creatively with significant others, I have to tip my hat to Kaling and Novak for giving it a second go after 10 years of working together on The Office.

After they started working together, their characters, Ryan Howard and Kelly Kapoor, started dating on the show, and Novak has said their relationship was likely inspired by his and Kaling's real-life bickering in the writers' room: "Mindy and I were extremely close and constantly fighting... Honestly, we would sometimes not be speaking for an hour, and I couldn’t remember why."

As for what went on in their off screen romance, last September, Kaling opened up about things on Howard Stern’s SiriusXM show, saying her co-star had broken her heart a decade ago. She also confessed she might have married him back then. She added to the host, "At the time? Oh yeah. I was 24. For the record, if anyone asked me to marry me, I would have said yes."

FIRST OF ALL, B.J. Novak, if you ever hurt our girl again, I will come for you guns-a-blazing. Also, what is up with that almost-marriage confession? Can you imagine if they were married right now? And how are they still so close if they had feelings that intense? I guess they have just reached a higher plane than little old me.

Sigh, how could I ever stop loving the love of Kelly Kapoor and Ryan the Temp? It's truly impossible. I wait with baited breath for their joint book. And luckily, they're obsessed with each other on social media, so I can just indulge in their cute posts and still wonder how the hell one gets to this level with an ex. Maybe they'll offer some tips in their book, please? Homegirl over here is confused.