DECODE
A/N: okay wow, it's actually here, but let me say a ew things first: i am no it proessional so there are some made up stuff so don't come after me if there are untrue things in the story lmao. also, the ending... im not entirely in peace with it, but i've been sitting on this story for way too long so i just bit my tongue and finised it. don't come after me if you don't like it... but anyway! hope it didn't turn out as bad and you'll enjoy the story!
WORD COUNT: 13.7k
SUMMARY: You're up for the promotion you've always dreamt about, but right when you need to prove everything goes downhill. Lucky for you the cute, quiet IT guy, Harry, is there to help you out.
MASTERLIST | SUPPORT ME!
There’s that feeling when you wake all by yourself, a moment of peace takes over you for not starting the day off with your one true enemy, the alarm, but then panic instantly stabs you in the chest when you realize it’s a weekday and there’s absolutely no way you just woke up before your alarm, feeling this rested.
Your eyes pop open and you sit up in a frenzy looking around in the room, figuring out what happened and what should be done now. First you check the time on your phone and when you see that it reads 8:32 you almost start crying, but there’s no time for that, so you jump out of bed and sprint into the bathroom, stopping on the way when you spot Eric in the hallway, fully dressed, ready to leave.
“Eric?! Why didn’t you wake me up?!” you snap at him. He turns to you with innocence all over his face.
“I thought you were off today,” he simply says.
“Off?! We have the board meeting today, how could I be off!” you practically scream as you rush into the bathroom to get ready in less than two minutes hopefully.
“I’m sorry!” he calls out from outside. “I’ll see you in the office!”
And the next thing you hear is the front door opening and closing.
“Motherfu…” you mumble as you start washing your face like a crazy woman.
You leave in ten minutes, but you’re fifteen minutes late already, no matter how magically fast you got ready. You don’t have time to get a bagel for breakfast and you’re already halfway into the office when you realize you left your lunch at home too. You somehow shorten the route and win a few minutes on your way in, but you still arrive ten minutes late, looking like a hot mess, completely out of control as you make your way to the twentieth floor to your desk, pretending you haven’t just had the absolute worst morning of your life.
The elevator almost closes right in front of you, but before you could smash against the sliding doors a hand sticks out and stops it, letting you slip in last minute.
“Ah, thank you,” you breathe out, your purse sliding off your shoulder and your folder almost falls from your hands.
“N-No problem,” a sweet and smooth voice answers, but your hair is such a mess, it covers your vision and you don’t see the kind man that saved you a few minutes with his move. The moment the elevator arrives to your floor you jump out and rush towards your desk.
“You alright, boss?” Zaya, your intern asks, who is more like a personal assistant at this point. She eyes you curiously from her desk as you gasp for air and try to soothe out the wrinkles on your blouse, though there’s absolutely no use in it.
“Everything is perfectly fine,” you force a smile on your face as you start your computer, emails flowing in like crazy the moment you open your inbox. “Just had a rough morning.”
With Zaya’s help you go through everything at light speed, it’s one of your biggest strengths, being fast and productive, so in just about twenty minutes you reduce the thirty-seven unread emails to just two.
You’ve cleared your schedule beforehand so you can have a practice run for your big presentation. Today’s board meeting is gonna be an important one. There’s a promotion at risk, one you’ve been working your ass off to get and now it’s so close, you can almost feel it between your fingertips. This presentation and what stands behind it all is what you’ve worked for night and day for the past month and you have never been more confident in yourself, though you can’t shake the general nervousness off.
You make your test run to Zaya who says her mind is blown and there’s no chance you won’t get the promotion.
“You got it, boss,” she fist bumps you, something you’ve grown to like, it’s her form of appreciation.
“I hope so,” you sigh. “Alright, I’ll grab a coffee quickly before the meeting.”
You head a few levels down to the main kitchen area that has the best coffee machine in the building. It’s already past the morning rush, so you’re delighted to see that there are just a few people lingering around. Including Eric.
“Hey!” you huff out a smile as you stand next to him at the coffee machine. He peeks at you, just a tiny smile on his lips, but it doesn’t reach his eyes like usual.
“Hey.”
“If you’re curious, I was only just a bit late this morning,” you chuckle to yourself, grabbing a cup while Eric waits for his own coffee to get ready.
“Mm, great. Sorry about… the morning.”
“It’s okay, are you nervous? About the presentation?”
Funny enough you’re running for the promotion against Eric, the guy you’ve been hooking up for the past few months. It’s nothing serious, no strings attached, mostly just sex, though you believe that if you spend at least three nights together every week and spend time outside of bed as well, that has to mean more than just a regular hook up.
Right?
“Not really,” he shrugs, but it doesn’t sound genuine.
“It’s okay, you’ll do good,” you smile at him warmly as you place your hand on his arm and give it a squeeze, but you’re surprised when he moves out of your touch, shooting you a look.
“Not… in the office, Y/N,” he grits through his teeth, looking around to check if anyone saw the tiny gesture while you’re just blinking at him dumbly.
Yes, you usually keep your… whatever it is out of the office, but he hasn’t been this distant to you before. Before you could ask his phone starts ringing and he mumbles an apology before running off.
You write it off as nerves, you know Eric to be highly competitive, it must be a new field for him as well, running against someone he is involved with.
Your heart is racing when you enter the boardroom, welcoming the people that will decide your future at the company, the CEO, the CFO, the head of marketing and a few others you’re not that familiar with, but you know they have power.
For the promotion you had to come up with a plan to boost the numbers on the website that hasn’t been doing much lately. You worked up a plan for a marketing strategy that would reach the target audience in a better way, it’s pretty awesome, you’re quite proud of it and you’re convinced you’ll kick ass with your presentation.
There are a few more minutes left until the meeting, you pour yourself some water and go ahead to open your slides on your computer so you have it all ready when it’s your turn.
“What… Oh no,” you whisper, when your computer starts lagging and the cursor freezes. “No, no, no!”
“Everything alright, Miss?” the CFO notices your panic.
“Yes!” you force a smile on your face. “Everything is… perfect.”
He nods and turns back to his previous conversation while your panic intensifies. You keep pushing buttons and trying to move the cursor, but it looks pretty dead, so you decide to shut it down and try to restart it, hopefully it will come back from the dead.
Eric strides into the room, but as he takes his seat he doesn’t even look at you, just sets out his own laptop and paper notes and stares ahead of him. No matter how you try to catch his attention, he ignores you fully and it’s just another punch in your stomach.
What the hell is happening?
“Alright, everyone ready?” Daniel, the CEO claps his hands together. “Eric, you’re up first,” he gestures at him and while you’re still desperately trying to revive your computer.
Eric sets up and when his presentation appears behind him your stomach drops instantly.
The title, the topic, the colors… everything. You know all of it, because… because you made it. It’s yours.
You forget about your computer as Eric starts talking and he presents your idea, everything you came up with and worked hard on, he hasn’t changed a bit about it and now he is making it look like it’s his own. If you were panicking before now you’re about to set on fire.
That would be probably nice, because you wouldn’t have to go up there and most likely embarrass yourself.
How did he get your presentation? Why did he steal it? You can’t blame him just out of the blue, you need proof and right now the only device that could have it is dead in front of you.
You are so screwed.
“ Holy fucking shit, oh my God!” you keep mumbling under your breath as you approach your desk, holding your dead computer to your chest, eyes wide from what you just went through.
“Boss? You alright?” Zaya’s eyes widen when she sees you all shocked and traumatized.
“No! I’m anything but alright!”
Luckily, the small meeting room near your desk is vacant so you’re quick to take it, Zaya following you right after, shutting the door closed so you can unleash fully.
“Oh my God I can’t fucking believe him! The asshole! How did he fucking do it?!” you snap, throwing everything to the table so you can anxiously start pacing the floor with your hands on your hips. “I cannot believe this, what the hell!”
“Y/N, what happened? You’re starting to scare me,” Zaya eyes you and she actually looks scared which is a new thing, the girl is fearless.
“Eric! He stole my… my whole fucking presentation!” you whisper-yell, throwing your hands up into the air. “Every slide! Every detail! It was all mine! And he sold it as his own!”
“W-what? But… how? And what did you present then?”
“I have no idea! He was up first, as we all knew ahead of time, he went up there, opened his presentation and it was mine! I thought I was about to fall off my seat, fucking hell,” you groan, rubbing your face with your hands. Thanks to your rushed morning you’re not wearing any makeup today so at least you can’t turn yourself into a panda bear. “My laptop died right before the meeting started so I could use it as an excuse and… fuck, I made up a whole other plan on the spot!” You’re about to start hyperventilating, maybe even crying which you’ve never ever done at work before.
“But… that’s good, right? That you came up with something new?” Zaya tries to see the bright side of it, but you shake your head violently.
“You know what I came up with? I said I’m planning to rebuild the whole fucking website! All of it!”
“Oh no.”
“Oh yes! I basically set myself up for failure!”
Everyone knows a full makeover could easily be a death sentence, especially with such a short notice. You have no structure to it, no plan and most importantly no IT support to do the actual work. Because you can dream up any idea, but you cannot actually write the code for it.
Zaya tries to cheer you up but you both know you’re not only knee high, but probably neck high in deep shit. She promises to take up extra hours to help you figure out what to do and though it’s nice, the situation still feels pretty much lost.
You’re on the verge of tears when you make your way to the IT department to have your computer checked out, which is still pretty much dead. You’re already dreading the interaction, Steven, the head of the IT department is a real pain in the ass, he never wants to actually help with anything so it’s always a fight to get things done with him.
When you walk into their office he is the first one you see and you almost groan out loud, but manage to keep quiet as you approach him.
“Hi Steven, do you happen to have a moment?” you ask, as politely and nicely as you can in the light of what just happened, but apparently it’s not enough for him, because the look he gives you makes you want to turn around and run away.
“What’s the matter?” he grimaces, fixing his glasses as he leans back in his seat.
“My laptop just died,” you hold up the device.
He stares at you, then at your laptop and then his eyes flicker back to you and he stays silent for what feels like forever before he speaks up.
“I have no time for this now,” he says, returning to his own computer and your shoulders fall forward in defeat, but then he speaks up again. “Go to the back and ask for Styles.”
“Thank you,” you breathe out and are already on your way away from his desk.
Maneuvering between the desks you’re trying to find out who’s Styles or who to even ask to tell you where to find him and you’re just about to stop at one of the desks when you see a big screen, a sticker on the back of it that says H. Styles, so you make your way over there.
As you’re approaching the desk a head full of chocolate curls appear and soon you spot the guy sitting behind the screen, peering up at you with curious, green eyes from behind his glasses.
“Are you… Styles?” you ask, feeling weird that you only know his family name. He stares at you for a second with wide eyes and you start to think you’ve got the wrong guy, but then he nods, the curls bouncing along with the movement.
“Y-yeah. I’m Harry Styles.”
“Great! Steven said you might be able to have a look at my computer, it’s completely dead.”
“Sure,” he clears his throat as he pushes back from the desk while you round it to give the laptop to him. “W-what happened?” he asks as he opens it up and tries to turn it on, but the screen remains black.
“Um, basically it froze right before the most important presentation of my life and then it died and hasn't turned on since then,” you summarize with a sad smile as you watch him grab some kind of cable to connect your laptop with his computer.
Harry hums as he opens some kind of program that has a long, complicated looking code running in front of him and he clicks and searches in it so easily as if he was reading a children’s book.
“Is it fully dead?” you ask after a couple of minutes.
“No, but you got a virus, it might take some time to restore everything and some files might not make it, I’m sorry.”
You let out a shaky breath, feeling like crying again, but you manage to swallow them back as you lean against the edge of Harry’s desk. He looks up at you like a frightened kid.
“I-I can try to get everything back, I promise, it’s just that–”
“No, I know it’s not up to you. Thank you though. I’m just on the verge of… would it be weird if I started screaming right now?” you ask rhetorically as you pinch the bridge of your nose.
“I can set up another one for you to use with all the access cloned from yours, but you won’t have the files in the meantime.”
“That would be wonderful, thank you.”
“Is there any file in particular you want me to try to recover?”
“There’s this folder that would be nice if I had it, here, this is the name,” you say as you grab a post-it and a pen and scribble the name down with all the files in it.
“Okay, I will try to restore it. Give me a few minutes to set your replacement computer up.”
Nodding sadly you wait by Harry’s desk, watching him work on his computer like it’s an instrument and he is pretty much a professional. You know nothing about programming, but Harry seems like a wizard, you have no idea why Steven makes him deal with all the tiny things when he could pretty much redeem the world.
“Here, this is the password, everything is set up,” he hands you the new computer.
“Thank you.”
“I’ll give you an email when I have something about your old one.”
“Okay, my address is–”
“I know, I just… I literally just logged you into your account,” he reminds me with a shy smile and you realize he’s right.
“Oh. I forgot. Well, thank you so much, Harry. And I’m sorry you have to deal with it now.”
“It’s fine, I’m the newest on the team, this is how it goes. Rookies get to deal with all the device issues,” he chuckles shortly.
You nod with a sympathetic smile and pay one last look to your savior. He looks young, around your age, but he’s sporting a slight stubble that adds some harshness to his otherwise boyish face. He’s got kind eyes behind his glasses, the prettiest pink lips you’ve ever seen on a man and his curls are screaming to be touched, though you’re not sure HR would take it well if you were just walking around the office, touching people’s hair. Oddly, it wouldn’t be the first time they would have to deal with a situation like this. Bobby DeMarco was a weird dude who worked in sales and he had an even weirder obsession with playing with women’s hair randomly. He didn’t last too long at the company, luckily.
When you return to your desk it takes everything in you to focus on working and A, not find Eric to claw his eyes out and B, not anxiously wait to hear anything from the board about today’s meeting. They are supposed to give feedback today and approve if you can continue working on your project and they can easily just kick you out of the whole thing as well. If that happened Eric would still have to prove himself to be a good fit for the role, but you’d have no chance to ever step up at the company.
You’re a mess, to say the least. You’re panicking over having to do a full website makeover in just a month, you have no idea where you stand with Eric and honestly, you’re torn between never wanting to talk to him and also screaming at him until your lungs give up.
God, your sister will be so mad, she was right! Jeanie warned you. She said it right at the beginning when you started hooking up with Eric that it’s not gonna end well, but you thought she was talking about being dumped eventually, not getting your promotion stolen from you!
When Zaya comes up to you with a question later in the day you’re still so shaken up you can barely make out an answer for her.
“I think you should report it,” she suggests, holding her notebook to her chest.
“And what do I have as proof? My computer is totally dead with all the evidence I made the presentation,” you groan, leaning back in your seat.
“Let’s hope the hot IT guy can restore everything.”
“Hot?” you chuckle. “How do you know he’s hot?”
“You said it’s Harry doing it, right? Curly hair, glasses?” You nod. “I know him, he is definitely hot,” she shrugs smirking, shifting her weight to one leg. “You know what would be nice? Hooking up with him to get revenge on Eric!”
“H-Hooking up? Why would Eric care about who I hook up with?” you clear your throat, pretending like you haven’t had a thing going on with Eric these past months. Zaya gives you a look that clearly says you shouldn’t think she’s stupid and blind.
“Please, Y/N.”
Sighing you roll your eyes as you give up the act.
“Judging from the betrayal Eric gives absolutely no shit about me.”
“Maybe, maybe not,” she shrugs just when your computer pings, signaling two new emails in your inbox.
One from the board and one from Harry.
“Oh shit,” you gasp as you lean forward so fast you almost fall off your seat and Zaya runs behind your desk to see what’s happening as you open the email from the board.
Your eyes skim over the lines several times before you finally process what was written in it.
They approved your plan. You’re still up for the promotion.
“Congrats! You made it!” Zaya cheers.
“Fuck,” you whisper under your breath.
“What’s wrong? I thought this was what you wanted.”
“The chance and the promotion? Yes. But now I have to do a full website makeover in a month which is practically impossible.”
You’re still moping and silently panicking when you’re approaching Harry’s desk for the second time today. When he sees you he jumps to his feet and you almost break a smile because he looks like a puppy for a second, but then you see that he has taken his sweatshirt off, wearing only a simple black t-shirt that puts his tattoo littered arms on display.
Fuck, Zaya was right. He really is kinda hot.
“Hey,” he waves at you when you finally reach his desk.
“Hi, how did it go?” you ask with a deep breath.
“Actually kinda good, I could save most of your stuff,” he says as he sits back and you walk behind his desk, seeing your laptop still wired to his computer. “I saved the files onto a harddrive, but I don’t recommend you to keep using the laptop, it’s… it’s pretty fried,” he chuckles, pushing the glasses further up on the bridge of his nose and for a moment you just stare at his side profile instead of focusing on what he’s showing you on his screen.
“Uh, that’s okay, I’ll be fine with the files,” you clear your throat.
“So um… I don’t know if it matters or not, but I-I thought you might want to know that you didn’t just get the virus because you clicked on something, it was… well, someone put it on your computer and it started attacking the firmware.”
You blink a few times as you process his words and then it all starts to make sense.
“What do you mean someone put it on my computer?”
“Well, there was a malware hidden on your computer that basically attacked the firmware which made it impossible for you to use the laptop and it also attacked the files saved, I found an implanted code that was giving access to–”
“Harry, I don’t really understand what you’re saying,” you remind him, his words sounding absolutely foreign to you.
“Sorry,” he breathes out with a nod. “So basically, the virus stopped your computer from working and it also gave access to a third party to reach your files.”
“So someone could use my files?”
“Yeah, exactly.”
You feel like fainting again, because now it all makes sense. And you’re starting to see red.
“Can you see what files they messed with?”
“Actually, I’m glad you asked,” he smiles proudly. “I was able to find everything they duplicated and there’s a folder they tried to get rid of, but I restored it.”
“Is it by any chance the folder I gave the name to you?”
“It is,” he nods, his fingers starting to type on his keyboard at lightspeed. “Here. See these lines?” he asks, pointing at a code you understand nothing of, but you nod. “It’s basically something they should have paid attention to if they wanted to leave no trace, but I found it so now we know what they were trying to put their hands on. I even have time stamps too. The virus was on your computer for a while and then it was activated to attack the firmware today.”
This is all like a movie, it feels like you’re in Mission Impossible or James Bond, except it’s not a great villain who is working against you but the guy you trusted to let into your bed. The guy you considered your friend and even something more than just that lately.
You made a mistake, you see it now and you want to dwell on it but you know you have no time for that, you have to keep moving forward.
“Do you know who did it?”
“Unfortunately, no. I could only get proof if I had access to the other person’s computer who was hacking yours. I’m sorry.”
Harry seems genuinely sad, as if he failed, but he did so much for you already.
“It’s okay. Thank you so much, can you… like, make a record of all these? So we have all this as proof at least.”
“Already done,” he nods. “Do you want me to file a report?”
“No. No need for that,” you shake your head. “But… I want to ask a favor from you. I know we barely know each other and you probably have a lot of work, so feel free to say no.”
“What is it?”
“Do you want to help me redesign our whole website?”
You’re anxiously chewing on your bottom lip as you wait for the Skype call to be answered, your sister’s name flashing on the screen until her pixelated face replaces it.
And she looks mad, just as you expected.
“Y/N, I told you so! I literally told you so!” she starts off, the voice cracks a bit as the call stabilizes.
“Can we skip the part where you tell me off like a child for hooking up with a coworker who ended up fucking me over?” you flash a smile, but she rolls her eyes at you, leaning back on her couch, her right side getting more illuminated by the lamp beside her couch. It’s past seven in the evening in Tokyo while it’s just six am for you. For the past six months this has been your usual, trying to call each other at a time that’s reasonable for the both of you with the insane thirteen hours of time difference. It’s definitely a hard task and sometimes you have to plan a call days, even weeks ahead.
“No, because I’m so mad!” she groans. “Mostly at the fucker, but you as well!”
“I really don’t need to hear how much I fucked up,” you mumble, looking down at your lap.
“Sorry,” she sighs, realizing she is making you feel even guiltier. “I’m just… you worked so hard for this and now he is ruining it.”
“I’m still up for the promotion,” you shrug.
“Yeah, but you said it’s almost impossible to do what you presented.”
“Well, things are looking a bit better now.”
She listens intently as you tell her about what Harry found on your computer and how you ended up asking him to help you out. You truly didn’t think he would say yes, but he didn’t even think about it before agreeing. So now you have the IT part covered by him, you just have to come up with all the rest.
“This Harry guy…” Sammy starts and you hold up your hand.
“Don’t give me the speech again, I learned my lesson.”
“No, actually I wanted to say that I like him.”
“For real?” you ask, raising your eyebrows.
“I mean, he is willing to work an immense amount of extra time on your project and he basically has no benefit from it. I hope you do realize how big of a sacrifice he is making for your promotion.”
You knew how big of a deal it has been from Harry to help you out but now that Sammy said it out loud, realization hits. It’s not right he gets nothing out of it, so you note to yourself to go over it with him when you meet him in the morning for your first planning session.
“I’ll talk to him about it. Now let’s talk about something else.”
Harry was afraid he wouldn’t be able to wake up so early in the morning and make it into the office for the meeting with you, but it turns out his excitement to be working with you is kicking him out of bed even before his alarm goes off.
He does his usual morning routine, shower, get dressed, breakfast and checking he has everything he needs in his backpack for the day and then he’s on his way. When he walks into the café that’s two blocks away from his apartment the bell gently chimes above his head, catching the attention of the owner, Frida.
“Harry! You’re up early today!” she greets him with a beaming smile, her grey hair is in her signature low bun, her blue eyes twinkling at the sight of him.
“I have an early meeting,” he mumbles with a shy smile, the tip of his ears turning red and she doesn’t miss it, but she knows how closed off he is so she doesn’t even try to tease her about it.
“The usual?”
“Um, yeah, but can you make it two?”
“Of course,” she nods with a knowing smile, her suspicion is getting proven that this early meeting is with someone special.
The two chat lightly while Friday makes the coffees to go, handing the paper cups to Harry once they’re done.
“Have a lovely day, Harry,” she waves after him and he nods back, pushing the door open with his hips, a cup in each of his hands.
He can’t deny there’s a pep in his step as he enters the building that’s eerily empty so early in the morning. He did not expect his day to take such an unexpected turn yesterday. He’s seen you around the office a few times before but he knew nothing about you, just that your laughter is ridiculously contagious. Then you jumped into the elevator with him in the morning, looking a bit messy but very pretty nevertheless. He could only blink as the elevator sped up and moments later you were out of sight.
But then you strolled into the IT department with your ruined computer and he finally learned your name. While he wanted to help with your laptop as much and fast as possible, he was also dreading the moment you’d pick the harddrive up with all your files and then never talk to him again. He felt silly, crushing on a woman he only officially met just a few hours before, but he couldn’t help it. Even when you were visibly stressed and worried he thought you were enchanting.
He was not expecting you to ask for his help, but luckily his brain clicked instantly and agreed without hesitation. For one, he’s been dealing with boring projects as the rookie on the team and this seems like a great challenge for him.
On the other hand, he would have said yes to anything you asked him, literally.
So now as he walks into the meeting room where you’re supposed to meet his excitement is mixed with some anxiety, because as much as he is curious about this project he is nervous to spend so much time with you all of a sudden. He can only hope he won’t seem like a freak to you.
Thanks to the early Skype session with Sammy you’re on time too, arriving to the office building just minutes after Harry. He’s setting his laptop up when you arrive, his head snapping up when you approach the desk and take the seat next to him.
“Morning,” you smile at him warmly.
“Good morning,” he smiles back, fixing his glasses to sit straight before reaching for the extra cup of coffee. “Um, I brought you this. Actually, I realized too late that I don’t know how you like your coffee, so y-you don’t have to drink it…”
“Oh! That’s very kind, thank you! I drink coffee however I can,” you chuckle. “I just need the caffeine.”
You see a small smile flash across his face before he returns to his computer while you settle next to him.
“Before we start, I wanted to go over something with you.” Harry turns to you curiously as you try to figure out what to even say. “This is a huge thing and I know it needs a lot of time and work. I don’t feel comfortable letting you do it without getting anything for the work you do.”
“Oh, I-I don’t need anything, I’m glad to help.”
“That’s very kind, but it still doesn’t feel fair. If there is anything I can do for you, literally anything, just feel free to ask. I would feel better if I knew you’re getting your reward for your work.”
Harry thinks about it for a few seconds before nodding to himself.
“Do I have to come up with something now?”
“No,” you chuckle. “Just promise me you’ll think of some way I can pay you back.”
“Okay.”
In the next hour you learn two things. One, working with Harry is incredibly easy. He is efficient, communicates well and simply a great at teamwork, it’s like a breath of fresh air after some of the people you’ve previously worked with.
The other thing you learn is that he is incredibly smart and it makes him very… sexy.
God, you shouldn’t be having these thoughts after what happened with Eric, but you’re not immune to a good-looking man with so much knowledge, especially when it’s in IT. You know nothing about coding and when he pulls up his miles long codes, types quietly for a few minutes and then shows you what he did, explaining to you the science behind it… it’s making you feel things you shouldn’t be. It’s so attractive when someone knows so much about something and they’re passionate and devoted to the field. It’s clear that Harry’s field is programming and he is ridiculously good at it.
You were afraid the task would turn out to be impossible and every time he spends just a little more time silently staring at his code you’re expecting him to give up and tell you he can’t do it.
But he comes up with something every time and by the time the meeting ends you feel oddly enthusiastic and optimistic about the whole makeover that was scaring you to death just yesterday.
“Harry, you are… truly a life saver,” you sigh contently as you lean back in your seat, a long list of tasks on your screen, but you can actually see the light at the end of the tunnel now.
“I’m happy to help,” he smiles shyly, nodding to himself.
“Do not forget about the payment, I really want to pay it all back to you.”
“I won’t, I promise,” he chuckles softly.
“Alright. I’ll see you tomorrow, right?”
“Tomorrow,” he confirms before packing up his stuff and leaving.
You stay in your seat for a little longer, just having a break before starting your actual work day. Opening up your calendar you check what meetings you have today and that’s when you face what you’ve been religiously ignoring since yesterday’s ordeal.
The weekly marketing sync where most of the time it’s just you and Eric, because Dominik, the third person who should be present likes to cancel last minute.
It’s ridiculous that you still haven’t gotten into contact with him. Part of you was expecting him to come to you, to give you any kind of explanation though there is nothing he could have said that would have explained why he did all of that.
It’s been radio silence on his part and now you have to face him and talk to him.
You’d rather throw up in the middle of the office than do it, but you have to suck it up and deal with him.
He is there in the meeting room when you walk in, typing away on his computer like nothing happened, like he didn’t just try to ruin your career.
“Eric?” you call out, your voice sounds a lot more confident than you were expecting luckily.
He looks up, his face remains completely blank and it just angers you even more.
“Hey,” he nods without batting an eye.
“Hey?” you chuckle, as you close the door behind you, shutting you away from the rest of the people outside. “Don’t you have something to say to me?”
“Y/N, do you really want to do this?” he sighs, as if it was tiring to even think about the situation.
“Eric, you stole my whole presentation and sold it as yours!”
“Are you sure about that?”
You’re seeing red. And you’ve never been this close to actually punching someone in the face.
“Of course I’m sure about it! That was my presentation! Are you fucking kidding me?!”
Eric stands from his seat, taking his sweet time as he walks closer, trying to intimidate you with the height difference, which used to work, you even found it hot when he towered over you, but now it’s like his existence is giving you the ick.
“You have no proof, Y/N. And you didn’t say a word at the meeting. That ship has sailed, now it’s time to move on.”
“It was all just a joke to you?”
“I told you at the beginning I didn’t want anything serious, that wasn’t a lie.”
“But did you do it just to fuck my presentation up? We literally started hooking up when the open position was announced.”
“Does it matter?”
“It does!” you laugh in disbelief, tears stinging your eyes, but you refuse to give him the satisfaction of seeing you cry because of him.
“Okay,” he sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I just wanted to get to know you and see what you’d come up with for the presentation, but then one thing followed the other and… I went with it.” He shrugs and then goes back to his computer like you just discussed the weather and not how he used you and then threw you away.
You can’t hold yourself together any longer, so you turn around and get as far from him as possible as you try not to start sobbing in the middle of the office. Fuck, this shouldn’t hurt this much, but you really trusted him, you thought you could have something serious, you were hoping Sammy wouldn’t be right about him, but she was. Unfortunately.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” you mumble under your breath as you approach your desk Zaya is not in today, so it’s pretty calm around your desk, but then you spot someone lingering there.
“Y/N?” Harry sees how shaken you look as you finally reach him at your desk. “A-Are you alright?”
“Hi Harry,” you force a smile out, but you can’t fool anyone with it. “Did we… Do we have a meeting or something?”
“No, I just wanted to show something… Y/N, are you about to cry?””
“N-No,” you shake your head, but your lips are already wobbling and you fail to prove your words right.
“Uh, come on, let’s have a break. Want to come up to the roof?” He gently circles an arm around your shoulders and you let him lead you back to the elevators.
“Roof? We can go out to the roof?” you ask, wiping your tears away.
He doesn’t reply, just makes sure to shield you from the curious eyes as you make your way up to the top of the building. You genuinely didn’t know the roof could be used and when you see Harry push the heavy door open that leads outside you’re guessing it’s not exactly a public spot, but you don’t question it.
It looks just like how a rooftop should look, it’s definitely not open for public use but when Harry leads you over the corner and you see a little bench there, facing the panoramic view, you know you have just found a secret spot.
“Is this where you hide from Steven?” you attempt to joke as you sit down with him.
“Sometimes, yes,” he chuckles. “Not my spot though, I think the janitor comes up here to smoke, but I haven’t run into him yet.”
You sit in silence, Harry gives you time and space to pull yourself together, not rushing you to talk at all and you’re grateful for his patience. Staring ahead at the view you take a few deep breaths, telling yourself not to let Eric’s bullshit get to your head.
“I’m sorry you had to… deal with my tantrum,” you chuckle sadly at last.
“That wasn’t a tantrum,” he smiles softly. “And don’t be sorry, everyone could have a bad day. Want to talk about what happened?”
“I trusted the wrong person,” you purse your lips. “Um, the virus you found on my computer. Someone from the company put it there to fuck up my chances for a promotion I’ve been dreaming of for a long time.”
“What? Are you… are you serious?”
“Yeah and the worst part is that… god, don’t tell anyone, but I’ve been kind of… hooking up with him and he said it was all just to get closer to me.”
Harry opens his mouth to say something, but then ends up closing it, processing what you just told him. You don’t blame him for being lost and confused, it’s a shitshow, to say the least.
“That’s… That’s awful, I’m sorry,” he clears his throat, gently shaking his head.
“You have nothing to be sorry about,” you chuckle. “I trusted the wrong person. Learned my lesson,” you shrug, and you wish you could actually end it all in your head with that, but you know it will bother you for a while at least.
“Can I ask who this person is?”
“Eric Sonders.”
“I think… I know him. Didn’t think he could be this… vile.”
“Me neither!” you laugh.
“So… he stole your idea and presentation, so now you have to do something else? And that’s the makeover?”
Nodding you briefly tell him what happened at the meeting, he listens intently and then shakes his head in disapproval, probably just as upset and lost about Eric’s behavior as you are.
“You should report him, this is incredibly unethical and unacceptable.”
“I have no proof. We can’t prove that he did it all to my computer, you said it yourself.”
“Shit, you’re right.”
While Harry is deep in his thoughts you just stare ahead of yourself, doing a short assessment of your current situation. This should have been an exciting, professionally challenging time in your life, working on something that would earn you your promotion, but now, you feel like it’s more out of your reach than ever.
“We’ll make it work,” Harry speaks up, as if he could read your mind. “We can do it.”
“You really think so?”
“Yeah. It’s gonna be a tight stretch, but… It’s not impossible.”
“You are truly a life saver for agreeing to do it, Harry. I have no idea what I would do without you.”
He turns to you with a sheepish smile and you notice the slight pink shade on his cheeks as he nods.
“I’m happy to help.”
Part of you knew this would be deadly, but even after expecting the worst, it hits you like a train.
In the next two weeks you feel like you spend every waking moment working on the project with Harry. Sometimes you do it together, sharing ideas, discussing them, sometimes you’re together but work in silence and sometimes you do it apart. Whichever it is, you eat, drink and dream with the new website.
While Harry is taking care of the coding, you do everything else, that means content writing, planning, organizing and also designing. It’s been ages since the last time you designed anything, once upon a time you thought you’d end up in that field, but then somehow marketing came into the picture and now you have to combine your two passions.
It’s destroying you absolutely, but slowly it’s starting to add up and you can see the progress.
On a Friday evening you’re still in the office after seven, practically everyone has left by now, but you’re deep in work with Harry beside you. It's one of those quiet sessions, when you’re working together, but only speak when there’s an issue. Neither of you said anything for about an hour when the silence is interrupted by Harry’s ringing phone.
“Ah, sorry,” he mumbles, jumping in his seat at the sudden noise as he reaches for the phone, checking the caller ID before his eyes go wide. “Oh shit,” he mumbles and you look up at him as he answers the call. “Hey Mitch!”
You hear a voice from the phone, but it’s too muffled for you to make out what they are saying.
“Um, I’m kind of still at the office… No, I didn’t forget!” he protests, but the look on his face clearly tells you he did forget something. “I-I don’t know… Yeah, I’ve been just working with Y/N… No, I won’t– Mitch… No!... Uh, okay…”
He holds the phone away from his ear, covering the mic with a hand as he looks at you with anxious eyes, he looks like a reindeer caught in headlights.
“Um, I forgot I was supposed to meet two of my friends for a few drinks. Is it okay if I leave now?”
“Oh God, of course! Harry, it’s so late, I shouldn’t have kept you here so long.”
“You didn’t keep me,” he chuckles, before the worried look returns to his face. “Actually, would you… I mean only if you want to–So do you maybe… want to come?”
It’s adorable how he stumbles over his own words and you see the familiar pink shade tinting his face again, it’s a color you’ve seen a lot lately and you’ve grown to quite like it.
“Oh, I wouldn’t want to intrude on your time with your friends.”
“You wouldn’t intrude, I mean, I’m asking because I want you to join, obviously.”
“I-I’ll just go home and work some more, it’s fine–”
“Y/N, we’ve been working all day,” he chuckles. “You deserve some free time as well.”
You think of his words, these two weeks has been so busy you didn’t even do anything else than working and sleeping practically. Some off time would be actually amazing for your fried brain.
“Only if you truly don’t mind,” you say at last.
“Let’s pack then,” he beams with a smile as he shuts his computer down.
Twenty minutes later you’re walking into a bar you’ve never been to, joining Harry’s friends for drinks and though you can’t put your finger on it, but for some reason you feel a bit anxious.
“Hey guys,” Harry waves at a couple sitting in a dimly lit booth. The woman is the first one to look at you with a beaming, bright smile as she slides out and holds her hand out for you.
“Hi! You must be Y/N! I’m Sarah and this is my husband, Mitch,”
“It’s nice to meet you,” you breathe out as you shake hands with Mitch as well.
You’re instantly bombarded with questions from Sarah as you slip into the booth and don’t even notice that Harry leaves and then returns with two drinks.
“Oh, thank you,” you smile at him as he sits beside you.
“So how is the project going?” Mitch speaks up, lazily draping an arm to the back of the seat behind Sarah.
“It’s going good,” Harry hums with a small nod, very humble about how much he has gotten done in just the first week.
“Mostly because of Harry’s hard work,” you add, praising him the way he deserves and it brings back that pink shade to his cheeks.
Sarah and Mitch are very easy to talk to, they seem curious about the projects the two of you are working on and just you in general. You’re having a great time hanging out with them and you feel like you’ve known them for a long time even though you literally just met.
You don’t even notice how time flies by, only when Sarah checks the time and lets Mitch know that they need to be heading home so the babysitter can leave.
“It was really nice meeting you, Y/N. I hope we can do this some other time,” Sarah hugs you.
“If Harry doesn’t mind me interrupting his time with his friends, then I’m in,” you chuckle, looking at the man in question who just shakes his head with a shy smile, letting you know he definitely does not mind.
“Alright, then it’s settled!”
They say their goodbye to Harry as well and suddenly it’s just the two of you in the booth and Harry is noticeably more nervous than before.
“Um, w-we don’t have to stay, if you want to go home, you co–”
“I’m happy to stay, Harry,” you smile at him without hesitation. He seems surprised, but excited at your answer.
You order another round of drinks and with the previous ones already consumed, it seems like Harry is slowly opening up, leaving his shyness behind and you get to have a peek behind his walls. The more you find out about him the more sure you get that he is truly an amazing, brilliant person and you wish you had met him earlier.
Maybe then you wouldn’t have fallen for Eric’s bullshit. Maybe then you would have fallen for him.
The drinks you’ve had don’t actually let it register, but you’re already developing a crush on him. How could you not? He is sweet, caring, smart, very thoughtful, basically the polar opposite of Eric. It’s making you question what you even saw in that asshole, you really put the bar too low.
“Oh shit, it’s already three in the morning,” you chuckle, when you finally check the time. “I should head home, I can’t sleep all day tomorrow,” you sigh, rubbing your face with your hands, realizing just how tired you feel.
“I’ll call an Uber, is it okay if we share one?”
“It’s more than okay,” you smile at him lazily.
Minutes later you’re out in front of the bar, waiting for the ride to arrive. It has gotten significantly chillier, you did not dress for a night out so you’re holding your blazer jacket tight on yourself. When Harry notices he shrugs off his jean jacket without a word and drapes it over your shoulders.
“No, you’ll be cold!” you try to protest, but he shakes his head.
“I have a hoodie in my backpack,” he shrugs and pulls out a black hoodie, putting it on right when a car pulls up in front of you.
“Thank you for inviting me out tonight,” you quietly speak up on the backseat of the Uber, staring at Harry’s dimly lit handsome face. His glasses slid down on the bridge of his nose and you had enough drinks to have the courage to reach out and push them back gently. The gesture seemingly surprised him, but he doesn’t protest, just keeps his eyes focused on you.
“It was nice hanging out with you outside of the office.”
“Now we know we have things to talk about outside of the project,” you chuckle, making him grin as well. “We’re a great duo, Harry.”
“You think so?”
“Yeah. I wasn’t sure about it at first, I have never had to work this closely together with an IT guy and I was afraid I might be too intense for you. But it all turned out so good, I like spending time with you.”
“Really?”
“Is it that surprising?” you chuckle, letting your head fall back and rest on the back of the seat. “You’re a cool guy, Harry Styles. And very handsome.”
The last comment rolls off your tongue before you could bite it back and though it’s too dark to see it, you just know he is all blushed. Before any of you could speak up, the car comes to a stop, you’ve arrived at your building. Harry gets out of the car with you and walks you up to the door.
“See you on monday?” he shyly kicks the dust, hands in his pockets.
“Yeah. Thanks for tonight,” you repeat yourself and there’s a heartbeat of silence where you feel that moment.
You probably should not be feeling this way, not after getting yourself burnt so bad, but you can’t help it. You want to kiss Harry and for a split second you believe he wants to do the same. His eyes flicker down to your lips and you move just a tiny bit closer to him, time stands still and just when you think he’ll do it, he clears his throat and steps back.
“Good night, Y/N,” he mumbles nodding before he walks back to the car.
You stand there, feeling stupid as you blink after him before snapping out of your trance, forcing yourself to walk inside. As you take a quick shower and get ready to bed you get into a spiral.
First of all you’re such a needy idiot for jumping from one man to the other. You should not be looking at men at all after Eric and yet here you are, crushing on yet another coworker of yours, what is wrong with you?!
And second, why were you expecting him to kiss you? You’ve barely known each other for a few weeks and Harry is a reasonable man, he is probably not at all like you, he probably doesn’t want to get involved with a coworker especially not you. Some signs were giving you a feeling that he might have liked you more than just a friend, but you must have totally misread him.
You have to control yourself and not scare him away, especially since he is doing you a huge favor, the last thing you want to do is to make him uncomfortable.
Harry hasn’t stopped thinking about you all weekend. Specifically about that moment in front of your apartment building where he would have sworn he felt you were expecting him to kiss you, but he couldn’t do it. Not when you were clearly intoxicated.
He didn’t want you to think he would ever take advantage of you like that.
The next week starts oddly. He gets some extra tasks and you get involved in another project as well, so you can’t work together like last week. Monday and then Tuesday rushes by without the two of you meeting. By Wednesday Harry is craving to see you again and it seems like it’s finally happening, because you don’t cancel your morning meeting. He arrives in a good mood with coffee for you and him, excited to show you everything he finished in the past days.
But then he can feel the change in you when you walk in.
You seem off, but at first he can’t tell why. You’re not your bubbly self, you seem very closed off and oddly professional compared to the times the two of you met earlier. Harry tries to tell himself it’s nothing serious, but the more time you spend together the more obvious it’s getting and he can’t take it anymore.
“Y/N?” he quietly asks at the end of the meeting. “Is everything alright?”
“Sure,” you nod, but it’s like as if you didn’t even believe it yourself.
“Did… Did I do something that upset you?”
“Nope, I just…” You sigh, giving up the facade you’ve been trying hard to keep up. “Listen, about Friday, I’m very sorry, Harry.”
“Sorry? For what?”
“I feel like I overstepped a line and made you uncomfortable, I’m sorry about that. If I made you uncomfortable. I want us to work well together and my unfiltered mouth was not at all professional that night, so I’m really sorry about that.”
Harry is blinking at you, confused and lost about what you truly meant by all that. He did not see this coming and now he has no idea how to react other than just looking at you with a startled expression.
“Can we just go back to where we were before that?”
“Where… I don’t-I mean, um…”
“Let’s just forget about when we parted ways, please?”
“So… Uh, yeah,” he at last nods, trying his best to mask his disappointment. He thought there might be something more between the two of you, but this conversation is proof that you just had too many drinks and you didn’t mean any of it.
“Thank you so much,” you breathe out in relief. “I wouldn’t want to ruin our work together.”
Harry nods silently and doesn’t ask more about it.
He is trying hard to hide his disappointment and part of home wants to know if you felt even the slightest spark on Friday or it was all just the alcohol, but he is not one to dig into things that might end him up in an awkward situation. He just swallows it all down and pulls his walls up again.
You can feel a bitter taste in your mouth as well after your talk with Harry. Something felt off, but you can’t put your finger on it and soon you have something else to worry about.
You’re surprised to see Eric chatting with Zaya when you return to your desk. Your intern, bless her heart, is trying to keep a straight and professional face but you can tell she wants to scream at the man who definitely thinks he is charming the young girl with his small talk.
“Eric? What are you doing here?” you ask, biting your tongue so you don’t tell him to leave and fuck himself.
“Hey, can we talk? Privately?”
You look at Zaya and her eyes tell you what she thinks: it’s the literal worst idea ever. And you want to say no to him, but judging from his antics lately he would somehow use it against you so you don’t have much of a choice.
“Sure,” you mumble and the two of you take an empty meeting room. “So?”
“Look, I want to apologize.”
What? Is he for real? That was unexpected.
“My behavior was uncalled for and very unprofessional.”
“Do you mean the way you stole my idea and presentation or the way you talked to me when I confronted you about it?”
“Can you not attack me, please?” he gives you a look that would have put you in place before, but now it just annoys you. He is trying to make you be the one in the wrong and you want to snap at him for still being such an ass, but you want to be the bigger person and stay professional. No matter how much you hate him, you’re still colleagues.
“Go on,” you sigh, folding your arms over your chest.
“I know I can’t change the past but I think it's best if we deal with it in a decent way.”
How noble of him, pulling the rug from underneath you and then acting like he is this decent, peaceful man who just wants to work together. You want to throw up, but you swallow it back and force a smile onto your face.
“Sure, of course,” you tell him.
Seemingly Eric is satisfied with the work he did, but he is so tone deaf it hurts. He smiles nodding and heads out of the room with you behind him.
“Great talk!” he enthuses before walking away.
Zaya turns to you with wide eyes and you just shake your head.
“He wanted to apologize, though he didn’t really succeed, but I feel like it doesn’t matter to him,” you shrug as you sit behind your desk.
“You’re not forgiving him, right?”
“Of course not,” you scoff. “But we’re still colleagues, I can’t keep up the beef, it’s too tiring. I’ll just ignore his existence.”
You don’t think much of Eric’s ridiculous attempt to make peace, you keep your focus on your own project.
There’s a bit of awkwardness between you and Harry after your little talk, but you feel like with time it eases and you write it off as just him not fond of situations like the one you put him into on Friday.
Thursday afternoon the two of you are having another session together, working on some details he’s been trying to figure out himself, but he needs your input to finish them as well. It turns into brainstorming which results in a bunch of new things you want to include, but it will also add more work to your plate.
“I’m really sorry I always just keep adding new stuff to your load,” you sigh, truly feeling like you’re constantly overstepping boundaries, but Harry just shakes his head.
“I’m excited about these all. These are great functions and I’m looking forward to writing the code.”
“That sounded so nerdy,” you chuckle, but notice that Harry’s smile has disappeared.
“Sorry.”
“Oh no, I didn’t mean it like that! It’s great, I love it when someone is so passionate about something. I love it when you get deep into the tech talk. I think it’s amazing how much you know about these stuff.”
“But you can always just tell me to shut up, I know a lot of people don’t like it when I talk like that,” he mumbles, noticeably avoiding looking you in the eyes.
“Has… someone told you not to talk about programming?”
“Um…” He shifts uncomfortably and you’re about to tell him he doesn’t need to answer, but then he speaks up. “My ex girlfriend hated it when I talked about IT stuff,” he shrugs, but you can tell it’s something he struggled with.
You can’t imagine ever telling him to stop talking about something that brings him this much joy. It’s clear this is his element and any woman that would try to restrain it is an idiot and can’t appreciate how wonderful this man is.
You watch him quietly finish up on his computer before he starts to shut it down and you know you have to say something.
“She did not deserve you.”
He blinks at you surprised so you continue.
“Anyone who wants you to stop talking about something that makes you happy is not a person you want in your life, Harry, I hope you know that.”
“Uh… thank you,” he mumbles, that lovely pink shade taking over his face once again.
“You can always talk tech with me. I like listening to it.”
“You do?”
“Yeah. It amazes me, because I know nothing about it.” And it’s really hot, you want to add, but then bite your tongue.
There’s a tiny smile on his pink lips and you can tell this moment matters to him more than you could imagine and you’re glad you could make him happy like that.
“D-Do you want to grab something to eat?” he suggests as the two of you head out of the meeting room.
“That sounds great! I’m starving!” you groan. “Let me just grab my bag from my desk.
Harry nods and follows you, he already has his backpack with him. You’re musing about what you should have and Harry is telling you about this amazing bagel place he loves when you spot the familiar figure near your desk.
“Eric, what are you doing here?” you ask, but you’re tempted to phrase your words differently, because it’s quite obvious he was snooping around your desk, not expecting you to show up after office hours.
“Y/N, hi! I was just… I thought I left some papers here the other day,” he clears his throat, stepping away from your desk.
“You had no papers with you,” you simply say, knowing well something is off with him.
“Maybe I remembered wrong,” he chuckles. “Alright, see you later,” he waves and then leaves quickly before you could ask any more questions.
“What was that about?” Harry asks as you launch at your desk, checking what might have changed.
“He was looking for something. He is trying to play me again,” you hiss through your teeth, frantically examining what he could have put his hands on, but you see nothing out of place. But then you realize that he must have thought you left your laptop, that’s what he was looking for. “Oh my God,” you gasp, quickly starting your laptop to see if there is anything wrong with it.
“What? What’s going on?”
“Harry, can you, uhh—Can you check if there is anything wrong with my laptop?” you plead as he rounds your desk and sits nodding, though he is a tad bit lost about what’s happening.
“Like, check if there’s another virus, or something?”
“Yes. I think he was trying to tamper with it again, I can’t know for sure if he hasn’t touched it earlier.”
You knew his half-assed apology was tactic, but you didn’t think he would do it all over again. Eric really isn’t the person you thought him to be.
You watch Harry type away on your computer, anxiously waiting for him to say anything and in the meanwhile you’re planning how you’ll get rid of Eric the moment you finally get your well-deserved promotion. There’s no way you’re letting a snake like him work at the company.
“I don’t see anything,” Harry finally leans back and you exhale in relief.
“I can’t let it out of my sight from now on,” you grumble, shaking your head.
In this moment you feel like you’re running out of energy, all because you trusted the wrong person. Feeling defeated you collapse into Zaya’s chair, pinching the bridge of your nose.
“Don’t be so hard on yourself,” Harry softly says, as if he could read your mind.
“I’m in this situation because I made all the worst choices. I can’t blame anyone else but myself.”
“You couldn’t have known this is how it would turn out to be.”
“I know, but…”
“No but. Just… You know what? I’ll install an extra security program on your laptop so only you can access it, alright?”
“Really?” you sit up straight.
“Yeah, just give me a few moments.”
He gets down to work, works his magic and a minute later he is explaining to you what he got set up on your laptop to secure it.
“Harry, I owe you so much at this point,” you sigh in relief when it sinks in that Eric will not get his hands on your things again. “I have no idea how I will be able to pay you back.”
You notice a slight shift in him as he clears his throat, looking at you nervously.
“About that… I-I think I know h-how–I mean I thought about what… you could…”
“You know what you want in return?” you perk up, happy to do something for Harry after everything he did for you.
“Y-you can say no, it’s okay, I just–Um…”
“Harry, whatever it is, my answer is gonna be yes,” you chuckle, placing a gentle hand on his arm. He looks at your hand and then up to your eyes before finally speaking up.
“Go on a date… with me?”
Harry has been working up the courage to ask you all day, but he didn’t think he would have the balls to say it out loud. Sarah and Mitch urged him to shoot his shot, even after the kind of awkward conversation you had earlier. His friends were convinced you were into him regardless, but he’s been struggling to believe it himself.
It was kind of random he blurted it out, but now it’s been said and he is about to faint, waiting for your response. You’re staring back at him, eyebrows slightly raised, lips parted, but no words have left your mouth since his question.
“Y-You don’t have to, I-I understand–I mean, it’s–”
“Harry,” you cut him off. “I would love to go on a date with you,” you finally tell him and it feels like a stone has been lifted off his shoulders, his heart is about to jump out of his chest any moment.
“But I won’t take it as your payment,” you add and now it’s his turn to be surprised.
“What?” he breathes out, not sure what to make of your words.
“I would never take it as a payment, because I would go on a date with you regardless, Harry. Think of something else and we will have the date as well.”
“Really?”
“Of course,” you chuckle.
“Okay, alright, um… then… it’s a date!”
Harry is late.
He promised to be there at the meeting room on time to support you and answer any tech related questions that might come up in connection with your presentation. Eric is now presenting his (your) idea, he has added some features to it since he stole the whole thing, but it’s still mainly yours.
“Thank you very much for your attention,” he nods as he finishes his talk and the board claps shortly before it’s your turn to stand in front of them.
You’re plugging your laptop together with the projector when the door of the meeting room opens and Harry’s head pops inside. Relief washes over you as you watch him apologize for his late arrival and take a seat. Your gaze meets his and he smiles at you sweetly, holding his thumb up for you as you load the presentation. Now you feel braver, knowing he is here to support you.
You desperately wish you could read minds as you go on with your presentation. You’re met with mostly blank faces, but they were the same during Eric’s presentation as well, so you can’t tell what they are thinking about. It’s going smoothly, you rehearsed it a million times instead of sleeping in the past few days and when it’s time for questions you ace all of them, even the few tech ones. You’ve spent so much time with Harry that you can easily give an answer to everything at this point.
“Thank you for your attention,” you nod smiling at the end and disconnect your laptop from the projector, walking back to Harry.
“You did amazing,” he smiles at you proudly and his approval means the most to you.
“Thanks.”
“I’m sorry I was late, I had to take care of something.”
“It’s okay. I’m just happy you’re here.”
“Of course. I wouldn’t have missed it.”
The CEO stands up and all heads turn in his direction.
“Thank you for the presentations, I would like to ask the candidates to leave the room so we can vote.”
You gather all your stuff and head out with Harry by your side. Eric ignores your existence, as if he didn’t lie and cheat his way to this moment, but you’re not stressing yourself anymore about it.
You definitely believe in karma.
“You’ve got this,” Harry smiles at you softly and your heart melts at his expression.
You’re planning to have your date tonight. It’s gonna be either a ‘you’ve got the promotion, now let’s celebrate with our date’ occasion or ‘you didn’t get the promotion so let’s cheer you up with a date’, you’re fine with both, truly. You know you put everything you had into this promotion and if they still decide not to choose you, that’s their loss and your sign to move on.
You’re beyond excited about your date. There’s been an obvious change in your dynamic since Harry has asked you out, there are more glances, little touches, compliments and some very apparent sexual tension that’s still within the lines of comfort, it’s not too hard to control yourself, but you keep noticing more and more things about him that are pulling you towards him.
“I will miss our little work session,” you smile back at him shyly.
“Little? They usually lasted hours,” he chuckles, making you laugh too.
“Loved them all,” you shrug and the look on his face tells you he did too.
The board takes some time to make their decision and when the door opens fifteen minutes later your heart skips a beat. The CEO asks you all to return to the room and you take your previous seat, Harry sitting next to you. His hand brushes against your knee shortly and you look at him, your gaze meeting his as he gives you an encouraging smile.
“Thank you all for these amazing presentations, we were very pleased with the plans and projects,” the CEO starts as he stands at the head of the table. “We had no doubt you two are the best applicants for the position and it’s been hard to decide who to choose, but at last we made a decision.”
Oh God, you’re about to throw up. Is it you? Is it Eric? You hope you won’t cry. That could happen in either case, but you really don’t want to cry in front of all these people.
“The person we chose to fulfill the position is…” His eyes scan over the both of you as you hold your breath and then it finally lands on you. “Y/N Y/L/N. Congratulations.”
And just like that, your lungs fill with air again and it feels like a rock has been lifted off your shoulders.
“I told you,” you hear Harry beside you and when you look at him you see pride all over his face and you can’t stop yourself from throwing your arms around his neck to hug him.
“Thank you, it wouldn’t have happened without you,” you mumble as you squeeze him tight before letting go of him, going up to the board to shake hands.
At first you don’t even process it, but then Eric’s voice hits your ear and you realize he is turning red across the table, complaining nonstop about the outcome.
“...The whole thing was so fucking out of the blue! Redesigning the whole website? That’s like suicide!...”
You don’t even have the chance to react to his comments, the CEO speaks up for everyone.
“Y/N’s idea is daring, innovative and brave, just what we need. We don’t want to play it safe and your idea was definitely in the safe zone.”
“His idea,” you scoff under your breath.
“Actually, there is something I would like to show you, if you have a few more minutes,” Harry speaks up as he starts his laptop and moves over to where the board is. You’re watching him completely puzzled.
“There’s been an unfortunate incident about the presentations. Y/N’s original idea was stolen, a virus has been planted on her computer to cover up the deed, but I could not recover enough information about the perpetrator to make accusations, that was until a few days ago.”
What?!
You see Eric’s red face turn completely white as Harry types away on his computer and then shows something to the board. They curiously eye the alleged proof as Harry continues.
“Proof could be only found on the perpetrator’s device and a few days ago I had access to Eric’s computer when he brought it in for a check up, since it’s been working too slow. As expected and told, I make a full check on every device in these cases and found unquestionable proof that Eric stole Y/N’s presentation through the virus.”
Oh lord.
You watch as everyone on the board processes what they see on Harry’s computer and you can feel the switch in them towards Eric.
“Eric, let’s have a chat in my office. Now,” the CEO says and it’s definitely an order and Eric doesn’t try to go against it, just nods and follows him out of the room.
“Harry, why didn’t you tell me you were planning to do this?!” you ask as you rush up to him. The board members are leaving the meeting room, leaving the two of you alone.
“I uh– I wanted it to be a surprise. Eric showed up at the IT department the other day and I got his case without him knowing so I could snoop around. Found the evidence right away so I thought the board should know what he did.”
“Why did you wait until they announced who got the promotion? This could have kicked him out of the contest right away.”
“I knew you’d get it,” he smiles shyly. “I had no doubt they would choose you, I wanted you to experience defeating him after what he did to you.”
To say you’re touched is an understatement. He didn’t just help you immensely to get this promotion, but also went out of his way to serve you justice. He has done more for you than anyone ever.
You just know you can’t let the moment pass and ignoring the fact that you’re still at work, though no one is around to see, you close the distance between the two of you and press your lips against his.
This kiss has been hanging there for a while and you’d be lying if you said you have never fantasized about what it would be like to kiss Harry, but reality is a thousand times more magical. His lips are soft and warm, go so well with yours and once his first wave of shock passes he finally returns it and you melt in his arms.
You had a feeling Harry was a great kisser, but the way he claims your lips just blows your mind. He is sweet and gentle but also demanding at the same time and if only you weren’t in the office you’d pretty much jump into his arms and let him do whatever he wants to you.
Somewhere in the distance a phone rings and it breaks the spell, making you realize that you shouldn’t get carried away.
“Sorry,” you smile, your lips barely just an inch away from his still. “I got… I just–Thank you. For everything you did for me.”
“Don’t be sorry,” he returns your smile and pecks your lips shortly one more time. “And I will always be here to support you.”
You might look like a lunatic as you watch the guy on the other side of the glass door of your office finish up the sign on the door.
Y/N Y/L/N, Head Of Digital Marketing.
God, you still can’t have enough of the sound of it even though you got the promotion two months ago. Okay, the first month you spent in your old job, teaching the ropes for your successor before you could start your transition into your new position.
Now it’s official and you couldn’t be happier about it.
Checking the time you sit back to your computer to finish up work for the day. It’s been one hell of a week, you’ve worked overtime three times so it’s great that today is finally Friday. You answer some more emails and check your calendar for the next week, making sure everything is settled.
There’s a soft knock on the door and when you look up your heart skips a beat, seeing Harry walk in, his backpack on one shoulder.
“Hey. Are you done?”
“Just one moment,” you smile and he nods, walking over to the window, patiently waiting for you to finish everything up.
When you turn the computer off and look up at him, you notice that he is staring at you already.
“What?” you ask, packing up.
“Nothing, just… you look so pretty.”
You still haven’t gotten used to his compliments, though they always just keep on coming and coming. You love them.
And you love him.
Walking over to him you wrap your arms around his waist as you steal a kiss. Usually you try to keep the PDA out of the office, but sometimes he is just too hard to resist. Like now.
You’ve been officially a couple for two months, your first date after your big presentation was like a dream, Harry took you to all of his favorite spots in the city and then you just spent hours stargazing on the roof of his apartment’s building, he had a whole setup with a mattress, blankets and pillows, it was the sweetest thing ever, the best way to celebrate your win. Since then, it’s been endless dates, movie nights, trips on the weekend, you’ve been kind of inseparable. Well, outside of the office, because you try your best to stay professional at work.
“What was that for?” he chuckles softly, his cheeks have that soft pink shade on them that you just want to kiss all over.
“I’m just happy. That’s it.” Reaching up you fix his glasses before taking a step back and heading out.
Usually you just walk side by side to the elevator, but today you feel extra upbeat, so when you step into the elevator you gently take his hand and lace it together with yours and you can’t help but smile every time you’re in here with Harry.
Because he told you this is where he saw you for the very first time that day you overslept before your disastrous presentation. He was the one who held the elevator’s door for you. You were so disoriented that you didn’t notice him then and he likes to tease you about it, saying that he knew that moment he was into you, all while you didn’t even look at him. In return, you always bring up how you were the one kissing him for the first time.
It’s crazy to think how much has happened between those two things or even between that morning and today. He was the quiet IT genius who you dragged into your madness. He is still a genius, but you’ve gotten to know the sides of him others can’t see and you love all of them, it just took you some time to open him up. To decode him.
Thank you for reading, please like and reblog if you enjoyed and buy me a coffee if you want to support me!
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END OF THE WORLD
WARNINGS: a bit of gore, sylvie gets her ass beat by frank, also this deserves a warning just for being an emotional rollercoaster of a oneshot, also some blood vomiting’s gonna be happening here
NOTES: i’ve been on a bit of a writing spree. anyways, i’ve written multiple drafts of the future vampire frank scene for my fragments of fear fic, but i think this one might just be the main one. look, i am VERY indecisive. i am not responsible for any emotional damage this brings.
ALSO!!! sylvie will be referred to by “ava” in this oneshot. that was the alias given to her by lambert (i’ll have to mention that in her character bio that i posted on here i think i forgot to do that LMAO).
to make the reading experience a little more immersive or whatever, i occasionally included some gifs that visually represent the vibes of this oneshot i guess. i might start doing that when i post oneshots n stuff on here 😁
SUMMARY: the only surviving rat pack members, frank, sylvie, and joey stumble upon lambert in their mission to take down abigail. unfortunately, frank gives in to his lust for power and allows for lambert, who is now a vampire, to turn him. everything goes downhill from there.
WORD COUNT: 4,614 (jesus christ idk what’s possessing me)
TAGS: @shawsfinalgirl @blackwolfstabs @reclaimedbythesea @creelmalfoylaufeyson69 @atcarpenter
likes, reblogs, and comments all appreciated!
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“What the fuck…?” Frank narrowed his eyes as he carefully took a step forward. He, Sylvie, and Joey had reached the storage room, only to find a man standing there with his back turned. Frank and Joey both recognized the man instantly — it had to be Lambert.
“Okay, what the fuck is happening, motherfucker?” Frank hissed, tightly gripping the wooden stake that was in his hand. The man turned around, and that was when Frank and Joey’s suspicions were confirmed. It was, in fact, Lambert. Even worse, Lambert was clearly now a vampire, too. His eyes were a piercing blue, and instead of teeth… he had fangs.
“Woah, what the fuck!” Frank exclaimed, quickly backing away. “What the fuck— he’s one of them!”
Joey pointed her gun at Lambert. “You set us up, didn’t you?” She asked, her dark eyes narrowing. “Take one step towards us, and I will shoot you.”
Lambert was unfazed by Joey’s threat, the smirk he momentarily had now fading. “That gun’s not going to do anything, I’m afraid. You can try, though, if you’re really that stupid.”
“Gladly.” Joey hissed. She fired her gun at Lambert, a bullet flying towards his forehead. To her dismay, he didn’t react. He wiped the blood from the “wound” to reveal that it had already healed.
“See?” Lambert smirked. “I told you that nothing would happen.”
“What the… hell…?” Joey attempted to shoot at Lambert a second time, but once again… nothing happened. Realizing he was at an advantage, Lambert took a step towards Joey, reaching to grab her by the neck and pinning her against the nearest wall. She looked at Frank with an expression that read, “do something!”
Noticing Joey’s worried expression, Sylvie looked up at Frank. “The stake,” she harshly whispered, “use it!”
However, Frank didn’t do anything. In fact, he ignored Sylvie, his gaze fixated on Lambert. Lambert took notice of the stake that was in his hand, his smirk growing. “I’ll make an offer.”
Frank raised an eyebrow, continuing to keep a firm grip on the stake. “The fuck do you mean?” He bitterly asked. “What kind of fuckin’ offer?”
“I know you well, Frank. You’d just love to kill that girl, wouldn’t you?”
Frank scoffed. “No fuckin’ shit!” He hissed.
“Trust me, I want her dead just as much as you do.”
Frank took a step closer towards Lambert. “The fuck are you tryin’ to say?”
“Don’t… listen to him…” Joey choked, trying to pull Lambert’s hand away from her neck. “Just… use the stake…” Frank only continued to keep his gaze locked on Lambert. As angry as he was at Lambert’s act of treason, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of curiosity at this “offer” he was willing to propose.
“We could kill her together, Frank.” Lambert continued, his smirk growing. “You and I both know you’ve always had a… particular thirst for power.”
Frank’s grip on the stake loosened ever so slightly. Lambert was correct — hell, his lust for power was exactly what turned him on to the world of criminals in the first place.
“You could join us, Frank. You could be powerful. You could have the entire world in your hands. You could be… immortal. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
Goddamnit, Lambert had a point. His offer was tempting, and Frank was finding it difficult to resist it. Immortality, power… he would love to feel like a god. He used to feel weak. He was considered the family disappointment, always wanting a chance to prove himself to them.
However, he had promised Sylvie that nothing would happen to either of them. A pang of guilt came to the surface for a moment… but Frank quickly tried to push it down, replacing his guilt with coldness and apathy. This was his life, not hers. He could do whatever the hell he wanted.
“Don’t do it.” Sylvie whispered. Frank could hear the hurt in her voice, and it brought back the guilt for just a moment. Just ignore her. Don’t let her get in your way.
Frank allowed the stake to drop to the floor, a small smirk tugging at his lips. “Fuck it. Bite me.”
Sylvie froze. He promised, he fucking promised that nothing would happen. How could I be so fucking stupid?
She had placed her trust in Frank, only for it to be broken. She wanted to be angry, but she couldn’t bring herself to be. I should’ve known. I should’ve fucking known.
Once Lambert released Joey from his grip, Sylvie ran towards her, helping her to her feet. “Are you okay?” She gently asked, placing a hand on her shoulder. Joey slowly nodded.
“Yeah, don’t worry about me.”
“What are we supposed to…?” Sylvie’s voice trailed off, and she looked up to see Lambert slowly approaching Frank. She swallowed nervously. “We… we have to get out of here.”
“We can’t.” Joey sighed. “All the doors are locked.”
“Fuck.” Sylvie muttered. “I forgot about that.”
Sylvie’s head snapped back up again when she heard painful screaming, and her eyes widened as she saw Lambert sinking his teeth into Frank’s flesh, pinning him against the wall. Panic was beginning to set in for Sylvie. She looked back down at Joey, who was still laying on the floor. “What the fuck are we supposed to do?”
Joey nodded towards the stake that was still on the floor. “We’re going to have to kill them.” She answered. “Grab the stake, Ava.”
Sylvie nervously glanced at the stake, then at Lambert and Frank. She slowly walked over to the stake, shakily picking it up before making her way towards Lambert, pointing the stake right at him. His back was turned to her, surely he wouldn’t notice… right?
Well, she was wrong.
Lambert released his fangs from Frank’s neck, watching with a satisfied grin as he slowly slid down against the wall. “Good, good…” He murmured. Frank’s skin was pale and clammy now, his eyes appearing almost vacant. He was right about to sink his fangs into his wrist to feed Frank his blood, when he suddenly realized that Sylvie was right behind him. Quickly, he turned around, grabbing her and throwing her against the wall with ease as though she was just a toy.
Sylvie tried to scramble to her feet, her ears buzzing as she felt her head throbbing with pain. “Fuck…” She muttered, reaching for the stake yet again. Lambert noticed her attempt, kicking the stake away from her before turning his attention back to Frank. All Sylvie could do right now was watch in horror as Lambert bit into his wrist, hovering it above Frank as the blood dripped down into his mouth like water dripping from a faucet.
Stop feeling upset, Sylvie. You didn’t lose him. He betrayed you and that’s his own fault.
Even when Sylvie tried to make herself feel mad at Frank… she couldn’t summon any anger. She used to hate him — where had all that animosity gone?
Jesus, she couldn’t believe what she was witnessing. She wished this was all just a nightmare. “This… this isn’t real… right?” She asked, turning to look at Joey.
“Trust me, I wish it wasn’t.” She answered.
Sylvie glanced at Frank again, noticing how he was just sitting there against the wall with almost a blissful look on his face, blood dripping down his mouth. The sight was horrific.
Then, that almost peaceful expression turned into one of horror. He started to jolt and twitch, blood forcing its way out of his closed mouth, trickling down his neck and onto his tank top.
“What the fuck is happening to him?” Sylvie asked, slowly stumbling to her feet.
“I think it’s part of the transformation.” Joey answered, grimacing.
Lambert took a few steps back, and within moments, a violent torrent of blood started to spew from Frank’s mouth, spraying onto the floor. The whole time, his eyes were widened in shock as the dark crimson fluid continued to spray all over the floor. He staggered to his feet, and no matter how hard he tried to force the blood down, it just kept coming up. Sylvie forced herself not to look; the sight was too horrifying for her to handle.
The violent episode lasted for a few more seconds before Frank collapsed onto the floor, breathing heavily. “Fuck…” He muttered. He started to weakly groan, before slowly stumbling to his feet. He noticed the stake on the floor, and a sly grin curled at his lips. He picked it up, and when Lambert wasn’t looking, he swiftly drove it right through his chest. In response, Lambert let out an alarmed wheeze.
Knowing what was going to happen next, Sylvie and Joey both curled up onto the floor, shielding themselves from the bloody explosion of viscera that followed. Once it was over, Sylvie quickly grabbed Joey’s arm. “We have to run, Joey.” She hissed. “Now.”
Before Joey could protest, Sylvie forcefully pulled her to her feet, attempting to make a run for it. They were stopped within seconds.
“Where do you two think you’re goin’?”
Frank was standing right in front of the pair, and he looked like a fucking demon, all covered in blood. Beneath his glasses, his eyes were a vibrant shade of blue. When he smiled, he revealed a sharp set of fangs. Sylvie just wanted to cry. Why was this happening?
Frank’s piercing gaze landed on Sylvie, and he feigned a look of disappointment. “Aw, are you tryin’ to run away from me, now?” He asked, his tone dripping with false offense. Adrenaline was rushing through Frank’s veins right now. He didn’t care about anything, at least in the current moment. In his current state, Sylvie was no longer the woman he had secretly been trying to fight his feelings for. He just saw her and Joey as prey.
Sylvie took a couple steps backward, her heart pounding. “You fucking… liar…” She sneered. As angry as she tried to sound, there was an underlying sense of vulnerability.
Frank persisted with his little façade of disappointment and offense. “Y’know, that hurts, you callin’ me a liar…”
“You… you promised…” Sylvie’s voice was beginning to break, her eyes welling up with tears. Once again, she had been betrayed. Somebody always seemed to end up hurting her in one way or another, and here it was happening… again.
“Promised what?” Frank scoffed. “I never promise shit to anybody.”
“You said that nothing would happen. You fucking told me that.”
Frank let out a sarcastic laugh. “Oh, did I? Well, you can forget about that.”
He took a step towards Sylvie, towering above her. She took another step back, her eyes slowly widening in fear. “Get the… fuck away from me…”
Frank could smell her fear, and for some reason… he loved it. “Look at you, all scared…” He murmured. Meanwhile, Joey was retrieving the stake, slowly advancing towards Frank. “It’s kinda cute, actually…”
“Get the fuck away from her!” Joey yelled. She was about to attack Frank with the stake, when he suddenly managed to take it from her. He grabbed her with one hand, using the other to drive the stake through Joey’s shoulder. She let out a scream of pain as she felt the stake going through her.
The sight caused Sylvie to finally feel a rush of anger. Right when she saw Frank release Joey, causing her to plummet to the ground, she was suddenly ready to kick his ass… or at least try.
“You fucking asshole…” She growled, angrily taking a step towards Frank. She was about to take a swing at him, but he managed to dodge her. He picked her up and easily flipped her over him. With all the force he used, she landed a few feet away from him face-first onto the floor with a painful thud. In all honesty, it was a surprise that Frank hadn’t broken her spine.
Sylvie weakly lifted her head up from the floor, noticing how wet her nostrils felt. She reached to wipe them, only to see blood on her hand. She let out a painful cough as she looked up to see Frank standing in front of her, his gaze cold. Slowly, Sylvie staggered to her feet, blood dripping from her nose. She could taste the metallic flavor, and it was making her stomach turn.
“Don’t fuck with me.” Frank sneered. “Y’know, you should probably run, unless you’d rather prefer to continue tryin’ to be a dumbass.”
Sylvie couldn’t believe it. Frank had just completely… snapped. He was an entirely different person, and it terrified her.
However, Sylvie still felt some spark of determination. Maybe she was being stupid, but at this point… she was just angry. She let out a frustrated scream and started to take out her rage on Frank, punching him in the chest over and over again. Surprisingly, he allowed her to do it, casually standing there.
“Doesn’t it feel good,” he nonchalantly asked, “taking out your rage?”
Sylvie continued to punch Frank in the chest until all she could do was cry. “You bastard…” She whimpered. “You fucking bastard…”
Frank rolled his eyes. “Boo-fuckin’-hoo.” He grabbed Sylvie by the neck, holding her up above him as a demented grin formed on his face. Joey, meanwhile, was struggling to pull the stake out of her shoulder as she sat down.
“You’re pathetic.” Frank chuckled as he looked up at Sylvie, taking note of her bloody nose and bruised-up face. “I’m a hell of a lot more powerful than you, yet you’re still determined to kick my ass. It’s both admirable and idiotic.”
Sylvie squirmed and writhed in Frank’s grip, feeling the air being choked out of her. “Let me go…” She gasped, grabbing onto Frank’s hand. “Let me go…”
Instead of just simply dropping her as he had done with Joey, Frank threw Sylvie against the wall, watching coldly as she collided with it and fell to the ground, wheezing in pain.
“Ava, you need to run.” Joey ordered, letting out a sharp hiss of pain as she finally pulled the stake out of her shoulder. “It’s okay. I can handle him.”
Frank turned around to look down at Joey, before looking back at Sylvie. “I would say she’s right, but… y’know what? It would be less fun that way.”
Sylvie coughed painfully as she tried to get to her feet. She was beginning to feel increasingly hopeless, realizing she was at a severe disadvantage right now. She didn’t stand a chance against Frank.
“Less fun?” She repeated. “The fuck are you… talking about?”
When Sylvie looked at Frank, he looked like an entirely different person. It wasn’t him, yet it was. In a way, it was like he was possessed.
“You only continue to entertain me, Ava.”
Frank then sensed Joey slowly creeping up behind him again, and that was when Sylvie made a desperate run for it. She hurried out of the storage room, trying not to stumble over as she ran. Once she reached the main floor of the mansion, she realized she had to think fast. All the exit doors were locked, so she had no chance of escaping through them.
Wait…
Sylvie’s eyes landed on one of the windows that were near the front door. Perfect. Looking behind her for a moment to make sure that the coast was clear, she approached the door, deciding she’d try to open it.
It didn’t work.
“What the…?” Sylvie continued to try and open up the window, but to no avail. She was starting to panic again. Looks like I’m just going to have to break the window.
Frantically, Sylvie rushed to the dining room, pulling out one of the chairs away from the table. Slowly, she lifted it and began to make her way towards the window. Taking a deep, shaky breath, Sylvie tossed the chair at the window, watching as the glass loudly shattered everywhere.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Sylvie tried to climb out of the window as fast as she could, making sure not to cut herself on the shards of glass. Once she was out of the mansion, she began her escape into the nearby forest, occasionally looking behind her until she could only see trees.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THE GIF.
The more Sylvie ran, the more she could feel her strength depleting. She was gasping for breath, and all it took was a stray tree branch sticking up from the forest floor for her to finally collapse. Her shoe landed on it, and she tumbled over, screaming in pain as she felt the branch go through her ankle. “FUCK!”
Sylvie grabbed the branch and struggled with it, trying her hardest to pull it out of her, watching as blood seeped from the deep wound and onto the grass. Once she finally managed to free herself, she let out another shriek of pain. The wound was only bleeding even more now. “Fuck, fuck, fuck…” She whispered, panicking. Jesus, she had never felt so afraid in her life.
How am I supposed to get help? I don’t know where the hell I am.
Sylvie was feeling significantly weaker, almost as though she was slowly beginning to teeter on the edge of consciousness. She was in so much pain. Her chest hurt, her body hurt… and her goddamn ankle was killing her now. She tried to stand up to continue moving, only to stumble forward and fall again. Her heart was pounding in her chest. This is it, isn’t it?
Now she knew what it felt like to be hunted down like a helpless animal. She felt like there was nothing she could do now except surrender, considering she was already much too weak to continue running. The forest was eerily quiet, and the only sound she could hear was her labored breathing.
As Sylvie weakly laid there, she began to replay various moments from her life, some of them involving Frank. If she could go back and change things, she would… but there was nothing she could do. She was going to die alone, wasn’t she? That was her very worst fear. She was going to die alone with the knowledge that she had lived a life of regret, and there was no going back.
Sylvie continued to lay there, closing her eyes as she hoped that some animal would find her and feast on her, put her out of her misery. She couldn’t believe it, but honestly she was wishing that Frank would just fucking kill her already.
Then, she heard faint footsteps, branches cracking with each step. Sylvie didn’t even bother to look up. She had completely given up by this point.
Then, the footsteps paused. When Frank saw Sylvie laying there all motionless, he was… confused. Seeing how frail and beat-up she looked… it made him feel that damn pang of guilt again. She looked dead, yet she wasn’t. His eyes wandered to her ankle, taking notice of the fresh wound there. It was flowing with blood, and the sight was making his mouth water ever so slightly.
Trying to shove down the guilt that briefly came over him, Frank slowly made his way towards Sylvie. Once he was right in front of her, he paused to look down at her.
“Tryin’ to play dead, are we?” He asked, his gaze emotionless. “Nice try. Get up.”
At the sound of Frank’s voice, Sylvie felt her heart start to race again. Still, she didn’t move.
“I said… get up!” Frank snarled. He roughly grabbed Sylvie by her arm, trying to pull her to her feet. She only fell down to the ground again.
“Don’t piss me off.”
Sylvie slowly opened her eyes, weakly lifting up her head to see Frank standing in front of her, his expression full of annoyance. “I… I can’t…” She croaked.
Feeling a rush of impatience and irritation, Frank grabbed Sylvie again. In an act of impulse, he threw her against the nearest tree, silently cursing himself for acting in such a manner. He watched as Sylvie simply just slid down, not even attempting to defend herself. For some reason, that bothered him even more.
“Why the fuck aren’t you tryin’ to fight?” Frank snarled, walking towards her. “C’mon, I know you’re capable of it. You tried to take a swing at me not that long ago…”
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THE GIF.
Sylvie tried to force herself to stand up again, before letting out a painful gasp and collapsing to the ground again. She let out a cough, droplets of blood spraying onto the grass underneath her. Frank simply stood there and watched her struggle, his mind switching between feeling genuine pity, and then cold, emotionless apathy.
“Kill me…” Sylvie weakly whispered. “Please… just… do it…”
Sylvie was completely surrendering to him, and the sight was… mildly alarming. To see her broken down and reduced to such a weak and vulnerable state… it was actually making Frank feel… well, he didn’t know what he was feeling, but it was almost similar to… concern. He was trying to suppress that feeling as much as he could, and it was getting increasingly difficult. All he could do right now was continue to snap at her. He was at war with his own confused mind.
“I fucking trusted you, Frank.” Sylvie whimpered.
Frank let out a scoff, rolling his eyes. “Trusted me? How could you be so fuckin’ stupid? Look at where that got you. It’s pathetic.”
“You’re… you’re right…” Sylvie swallowed.
“You should’ve known from the start, Sylvie. I’m the very last person you should trust.”
Sylvie could see her vision was starting to turn cloudy, and she blinked her eyes, only to see that everything was getting cloudier and cloudier. Time seemed to be slowing down, too. The words that Frank spoke were starting to sound like barely-intelligible gibberish.
“Why won’t you… kill me?” She weakly spluttered, wiping some blood from her mouth.
“Maybe because the sight of you all weak and in pain is more fun.” Of course, Frank was bullshitting. He didn’t know why he was refusing to put Sylvie out of her misery. Maybe lying to himself would help.
“Fuck you…” Sylvie murmured. “You piece of shit…” She could barely keep her eyes open right now. She was fighting to stay awake.
You piece of shit. Those words… stung. He didn’t know why. Why was he genuinely hurt by Sylvie insulting him this time? She had done it numerous times, and he found it amusing. Now… he was hurt. Maybe it was the fact he had truly fucked up.
Then, Sylvie’s eyes slowly closed, and her head lolled to one side. As Frank took another step closer to her, he could see how weak and exhausted she was, how hurt she was.
“Hey. Wake up.” There was a combination of irritation and a sense of urgency in his voice. Frank could tell Sylvie wasn’t just “playing dead” this time — something was genuinely wrong.
“What the fuck? Wake the fuck up!” Frank grabbed Sylvie by the shoulders, giving her a rough shake. Nothing happened. “You fuckin’… goddamnit!” He let out a frustrated yell, pacing around like a caged tiger. He looked at Sylvie again, noticing how she continued to remain motionless.
Frank wasn’t thinking clearly anymore. Somehow thinking it would wake her up, he grabbed Sylvie and slammed her against the tree again. “Why won’t you wake up?” He hissed, grabbing her again. He actually felt somewhat of a flicker of hope when her eyes weakly fluttered open, looking at him with a vacant stare.
“Stay awake, goddamnit.”
Sylvie let out another painful cough, blankly looking into Frank’s icy blue eyes. “It… hurts…”
Hearing how weak and frail Sylvie sounded when she spoke… Frank hated it. He was suddenly missing her insults, her snark… this wasn’t like her at all.
As the smell of the blood from Sylvie’s wounded ankle was getting stronger, Frank was finding it even more difficult to control his bloodthirst. His fangs were aching with the urge to just bite her already.
That was when he realized something.
Sylvie was clearly struggling to hang on, and Frank realized that if she were to die… he actually wouldn’t be able to handle it. He didn’t want her to die. He couldn’t leave her here. Why was this bothering him so much? He wasn’t supposed to give a shit about her. He used to see her as simply just a source of entertainment, nothing else.
Then, Frank remembered — he had been developing feelings for Sylvie, and feelings that certainly weren’t platonic.
If he turned her into a vampire, she wouldn’t be able to die. Nothing would be able to happen to her. She’d be just like him. He could see her fighting the urge to pass out every couple of seconds, and that was when he knew he had to fucking do something. In that moment, Frank had his mind made up. He had to keep Sylvie alive. For him.
That was when Frank leaned down, tilting Sylvie’s head back just a little to expose her neck. Then, he sank his fangs into her flesh. Maybe Sylvie did have some fight left in her, because she almost instantly started to squirm and struggle. To prevent her from escaping, Frank held onto her for dear life. Once he felt the metallic taste of her blood overwhelming his mouth, it was an experience similar to a drug high. He couldn’t get enough of it.
Sylvie tried to scream and fight, but the only sounds that came out of her were weak gasps. She dug her nails in Frank’s back, trying her hardest to pull him off of her, but there was no use. “Stop… please…”
Frank knew he was probably starting to drain a little too much blood, but he just couldn’t stop. The flavor was intoxicating. He was hooked. He kept draining Sylvie until the taste of her blood was ingrained into his mind.
Sylvie continued to gasp and wheeze, still trying to get Frank to stop, but she was getting even weaker. The more blood he consumed, the more lightheaded she began to feel. Once she started to go limp, that was when Frank snapped back to reality. He pulled away from Sylvie’s neck, her blood streaming down from his mouth. His eyes widened when he saw how deep the bite wound was, and how ghastly her skin looked. She was still alive and conscious, but only desperately hanging on.
“Fuck.” Frank hissed, looking down to see what he had done. He was starting to fucking panic — his plan had backfired, hadn’t it?
He could slowly feel his vampire form starting to go dormant, his fangs shifting back into teeth as reality began to sink in more and more.
He had to fucking help her.
Taking a shaky breath, Frank easily scooped up Sylvie into his arms, and made a run for it. As he dashed through the forest, he realized he had to get her the hell out of here as soon as possible. Never in his life did he think he’d end up doing something like this, but he couldn’t just leave her here in this bleak forest to die.
Maybe he was falling for her, and the realization was scaring him. No. I’m just gonna take her back to my apartment, nurse her back to health, and then let her go home when she’s better. That’s all.
That was all… right?
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