Work Text:
Another day at the office. Your fingers rapidly found their way over the keyboard, filling your cubicle with the familiar ricketicketing you had come to hate. You didn’t necessarily dislike your job or anything – it was the atmosphere and the people that made it unbearable. Day in and day out you were stuck with the same lifeless co-workers who seemed determined to ruin each and every possible hour you had to spend in this damned building.
There was Olga, the woman who had a new disease or ailment every week and wouldn’t stop complaining. The amount of self pity she radiated made you want to jump out of the window. Everyone kept their distance, not because they were afraid of catching her diseases, but because of the overall whining and sighing as if she had to carry the whole world on her shoulders.
Mary was the gossip queen of the office, exposing every last detail of someone’s personal secrets until they cried and quit their job. You had seen many tear-stained faces, both male and female, run from their ruined office life, and it broke your heart.
The bitch didn’t even blink when another victim broke down – the second one this week. As soon as she had gone hunting for her next prey you stood up and walked over to the crying man in the booth a couple of rows away.
Jamey hadn’t even been here for a month. He was your typical shy guy: eating alone during lunch, avoiding company outings, and not saying much in general – the perfect victim for a bully like Mary. Your hand found its way to his shaking back, comforting him by rubbing soothing circles on his strained muscles. You knew words wouldn’t help so you just sat there with him for a while, until he ran out of tears and his sobbing turned to soft sniffs.
“I hate her.” He managed to whisper in between sniffs, drying his cheeks with the back of his hand. You hated how she could turn grown men into vulnerable balls of sadness and hate.
“I know. We all do.”
“I don’t want- ” His sentence broke midway and he didn’t seem too eager to continue it, yet you knew what he meant. He didn’t want to keep working here any longer, to crawl away in his cubicle as soon as Mary entered the room. To keep being humiliated every day of the week. You gave him a short nod, and for the next two hours you edited his resume and searched the web for online job offers with him. After that he packed his stuff, turned in his resignation, and left.
Back in your own personal workspace you let out a soft sigh. It would cost you your lunch break and another fifty or sixty minutes to make up for the 2 hours you lost, and you shuddered at the thought of being alone in the room with Angus. Angus was the non-stop flirter of the bunch, hitting on everything that moved – with a wonderful obsession with you, not to forget. His ongoing war with Felicia, the female version of him, was absolutely terrific. You loved listening to their arguments, about how they broke up for the millionth time this month, and you absolutely adored their make-out sessions of which you could hear the smacking of lips from miles away. You prayed to every God you could think of that he would go home early tonight, and that he would get hit by a car on his way home. Not too harshly, just a soft push, enough to keep him from showing up for a while. It would be one less problem to deal with.
You got a couple of hours of work done before another human disaster came to ruin your mood. Myranda knocked on the side of your booth loud enough to burst your eardrums, her voice sharp and pitched.
“Hey can you help me with my computer again? The thing won’t start.”
“Sure.” It’s not like you had anything better to do, such as finishing your work and going home.
Myranda had a knack for breaking things out of sheer stupidity. One day she had emptied a cup of water on the keyboard of her laptop, because she had read in an article that it was the dirtiest place you could think of. It was true, the germs thing, but throwing water on your laptop was not going to help at all. The device was lost, obviously, and you had had to explain to her multiple times that water and electric devices didn’t go well together.
This time she had managed to destroy her computer screen, but there was nothing you could do about it.
“Just go ask Mr. Smith if he can get you a replacement for today or if you can work somewhere else.”
“Oh but he isn’t here. Didn’t you know? He’s giving his nephew a tour, he’ll take his spot.”
You frowned at her, not sure what she meant. “Is Smith retiring?”
She nodded. “Yeah, haven’t you read the email? Matt’s gonna be our new boss now. I think he starts today.”
To be honest you hadn’t checked your inbox for quite some time. You hoped that this ‘Matt’ would be less soft than Mr. Smith, and the thought of Mary, Angus, and Felicia being fired improved your mood considerably. There was a good chance that he was worse, though. Mr. Smith was kind to you, always giving you days off if you asked for them because he knew you wouldn’t take advantage. There was a kind of mutual respect between the two of you even though you didn’t agree with his methods sometimes, or with his lack of backbone. You could only hope Matt was better at handling his employees.
“He’s mine, by the way.”
Oh that voice made you want to strangle someone. Felicia leaned against the opening of the workspace, the usual predatory glance in her eyes. She gave both of you a once over before letting the corners of her lips pull up in a patronizing smile.
“Not that you would ever stand a chance, though.”
You held back your urge to wrap your hands around her throat and instead you smiled politely. “What happened between you and Angus? Did he break up with you again?” Your face was kind but your voice was filled with a hidden layer of venom. She seemed taken aback for a bit, not sure if you were interested in her affairs or personally offending her, but seemed to go with the former.
“I broke up with him. Asshole never learns. But now that I am single again I am free to go after whoever I want. So just for the record, if I see one of you making a move for our new boss, just know I will make your life a living hell.” Her smile was saccharine sweet, only putting more emphasize on the threat, but the threat was empty to you. You weren’t planning on flirting with your boss anytime soon.
“I’ll make sure not to make a move when you’re in sight, then.” Your smile was just as sweet, if not sweeter, and with a not-so-subtle shoulder bump you pushed past her to make your way back to your workspace. “Bye, Felicia.”
You ignored her death glare and started typing again, even faster than before. It wasn’t long, however, before you heard her wish your new boss a good morning with a voice as smooth as honey.
Curiosity got the best of you and you peeked over the edge. At first your eyes fell on Mr. Smith, a beaming smile on his face, but soon your gaze shifted to the handsome man next to him. You guessed he was around nine or ten years older than you but damn he was hot, and you had always had a thing for older men. You understood why Felicia would cling to his presence. His shoulders were broad but in an athletic sense, his pressed suit fitting perfectly and giving him an air of confidence and power. The expression on his clean-shaven face, however, was kind - curious even, as he scanned the cubicle-filled room, and made eye contact with you. You were stunned, frozen in place by his gaze, but you managed to give a quick wave and a weak smile before hiding behind your computer again. Well that was awkward.
You caught glimpses of him throughout the day. You could see him behind his desk from where you were sitting, and he often walked around to have a chat with some of his employees. He seemed to be kind, handling his staff with respect and warmth, but you noticed that he started to get enough of Felicia’s flirting – and when Angus made a move for him as well you could almost see his patience drain through the carpet. You empathized with the poor man, he didn’t know what he was getting himself into. He returned to his office and shut himself in – or rather, he shut Felicia and Angus out- and you could see him sigh as he sat down behind his desk.
You could feel your fingers getting sore from all the typing and figured it wouldn’t hurt to take a short break. After making sure the coast was clear of lovely co-workers you made a beeline for the mini kitchen and its coffee machine. The dark liquid was horrible, as one would expect from any cheap machine, but the warmth soothed your tense muscles and refilled your batteries with good old energy. Your thoughts returned to the suited man and your empathy resurfaced as well. A cup of coffee would probably do him good. And so you filled a second cup, taking the sugar and little cup with milk with you separately as you didn’t know how he liked it.
You gave a soft knock on his office door, only entering when you heard a soft ‘Come in’ coming from the other side.
“Hi. I, eh, brought you some coffee. I saw you with Felicia and Angus and figured you needed it.” You gave him a smile, small but warm, and set the coffee on his desk. You quickly broke eye contact and turned around to leave, so he wouldn’t think this was another attempt at flirting, but to your surprise he spoke.
“Wait.”
You turned around, your head cocked to the side a bit in a silent question.
“Thank you for the coffee. I don’t think we have been properly introduced?” He stood up from behind his desk and walked towards you, lifting his hand. “Matt Williams, pleasure to meet you.”
You shook his hands and gave him your name.
“So you know Felicia and Angus well?”
You had trouble holding back a hateful chuckle. “I’ve had the pleasure to work with them for the last couple of years, but besides that I barely know them outside of work.” You suddenly remembered Felicia’s threat and knew that she might take this visit to your new boss the wrong way.
“I something wrong?”
His voice interrupted your thoughts about the ways in which she could realise her threat and you made eye contact again, only to see the flicker of concern behind his irises. It warmed your heart and you couldn’t help but smile.
“No it’s nothing. It’s just - if anyone finds me dead in the next couple of days, be sure to check Felicia.” A soft chuckle escaped your lips. A slight frown formed on Matt’s face, however, as his concern only grew with your statement.
“That’s not really reassuring. Is there anything I should know about?”
“Oh no, it’s just... ehm...” How were you going to explain this in a non-offensive way?
“You might have noticed she has been flirting with you?”
He nodded, waiting for you to continue.
“Well, she threatened to make my life ‘a living hell’ if she saw me flirting with you, and I guess that bringing you coffee could be seen as flirting. Which it is not, by the way. I was just- it wasn’t.. I’m not flirting with you. But she could see it that way.” Smooth. Real smooth.
His chuckle was deep and warm. “Don’t worry about it. I have been keeping an eye on her for most of the day and her work ethics aren’t what they should be. I’m going to give her a warning, but if she continues I might need to fire her.”
You felt as if a weight was lifted from your shoulders and you let out a relieved sigh. You were safe from Felicia. Apparently your relief was visible because you felt a strong hand resting gently on your shoulder. It was comforting, you felt safe with your new boss and you hadn’t even known him for a day.
“If there’s anything else, you can tell me. You seem to have been working under a lot of pressure and I think most of it is social. Please, sit down.”
His tone was friendly but serious, leaving no room for arguing, so you sat down in the chair in front of his desk. After he had found a comfortable pose as well he looked you in your eyes once more, waiting for you to start. It was rather difficult, you had to admit. It felt as if you were being a tattletale, bringing doom on all of your co-workers if you so wished. They were horrible, both at their job and as people, that much was true, but did it give you the right to take away their jobs altogether?
Matt seemed to pick up on your internal struggle and gave you a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, if you don’t tell me now I’ll probably find out within a couple of days. I’ve already met a few of your co-workers and I think I need to re-establish the rules in this place. Please, don’t be afraid to tell me, but I understand it if you can’t.”
You hesitated. Myranda didn’t really do anything wrong, apart from being annoying and sucking at doing her job, and Angus was actually pretty good at the things he did, even though he was a dick sometimes. There was only one person you definitely knew didn’t deserve to work here. “Keep an eye out for Mary. She has a habit of making people cry.”
“What about Angus?”
“What about him?”
“He has a... reputation. It’s your name I hear come up most.”
“Yeah, I know. He doesn’t really respect personal bubbles but that’s about as far as it goes.”
His gaze was intense and you suspected he didn’t believe you, but you didn’t break eye contact, hoping that would somehow reassure him. You could handle Angus. Matt gave a short nod, though it seemed he didn’t fully believe you yet, and replaced his concerned frown with a disarming smile. You could feel warmth creep into your cheeks and belly, and you knew you had to get out of his office as soon as possible.
“But I have to go back, still got a lot left to do. Thank you.” You stood up and gave him a polite smile, hoping your cheeks weren’t red already. You quickly left his office and made your way to safety.
Great, having the hots for your boss was not something that was appreciated or even accepted by most people. Office romances only ever worked out in chick-flicks, and your life certainly wasn’t one. You were not going to avoid Matt, but you weren’t going to flirt either. You were just going to work until you could go home and rest.
Hours passed and almost everyone had left, but you hadn’t quite noticed yet. You had turned off the part of your mind that thought about social situations in order to work at full speed, your ears not even registering the tapping of your fingers on the keyboard anymore. The only thing that caught your attention, albeit for only a second, was the turning off of the lights in the office. You weren’t afraid to be locked in because you knew the cleaning crew would still have to come and go, and so you kept working, not noticing the approaching footsteps.
“Workin’ late?”
You almost jumped and turned around, annoyance soaring through your veins, only to shrink back into your chair. Angus was too close, his hand on the backrest of your chair, the tip of his shoe touching yours.
“Yes. Now if you mind I’d rather go back to my work, thank you very much.”
You wanted to turn the chair around again but his grasp was too strong.
“I do mind.”
His hungry smile sent a shiver down your spine, but you were frozen in place, unable to do anything. His other hand traced over your leg up to your waist and you wanted to swat his hand away, but he noticed your glance and anticipated your actions, catching your wrist in mid-air.
“Ey, c’mon, have a little fun, will ya?”
“Let. Go. Angus.” You hissed through gritted teeth, trying not to show how terrified you actually were.
“Nah.”
You had nowhere to go as he moved even closer, his face only inches from yours. You could smell his foul breath, feel the air from his lungs move over your skin.
“I know you like this.”
He let his tongue run over your jaw line up to your ear, tightening his grip on your wrist as soon as you moved your hand to smack him. You wanted to scream but the sound got stuck in your throat, and Angus mistook the whimper of fear for a moan.
“See?”
His other hand slid over your waist back to your thighs. This couldn’t be happening. You were paralyzed and you hated yourself for it. Why couldn’t you move? Why couldn’t you kick, scream, fight?
But before his hand reached its destination a hand caught his shoulder and pulled him back with force, ripping his hands from your body and sending him to the floor. Before Angus could get up, Matt’s hands found their way to his collar and pulled him up, throwing him out of your cubicle. Angus scrambled to his feet and tried to run but got caught by the wrist and pushed against the wall.
“You are fired. You will come with me and the police will take you to the station. Do you understand?”
You barely recognised his voice – it was deeper and darker, like a growl, and if you weren’t still in shock it would have turned you on. Matt dragged Angus behind him until the two of them were out of sight, giving you the time to catch your breath. Only moments later Matt returned, alone now, and stopped a few feet from your workspace.
He seemed to hesitate, his air of confidence cracked as he was unsure how he could help you. Did you need your space, or did you need comfort? You stood up, your legs shaking, and looked him in his eyes. Apparently it was enough to convince him of the latter as he rushed forward, wrapping his arms around you both to comfort you and to keep you standing. Tears flowed freely from your eyes, staining his perfectly pressed suit, but you didn’t care. You let his warmth surround you, his smell filling your nose as his strong arms were holding you against him. It wasn’t enough to keep you standing, however, and he seemed to realise that as he slowly sunk through his knees, bringing you down to the ground.
You leaned against his chest, your shoulders shaking and your whole body trembling. He didn’t let go. Not when your crying was reduced to soft sniffing, not when your body stopped shaking, not even when your heartbeat had slowed back to its normal pace. The two of you sat there for a while and you felt yourself calm down. Nothing had happened. Angus hadn’t gotten as far as he had wanted to go. Matt had saved you. He spoke your name and you looked up. There was an unspoken question on his face and you nodded. You were okay now. A relieved smile appeared and your eyes lingered there, on his well-formed lips, only to shift back up to his eyes.
“Thank you.” It wasn’t louder than a soft whisper, but it was enough.
The flashes of red and blue interrupted whatever had been going on between the two of you and he sighed.
“I’ll handle the police. Just wait here, okay? I’ll bring you home.”
He brought you back to your feet and hugged you tight for another moment before letting go altogether, and disappearing down the hallway. You were glad you had a new boss.