//------------------------------// // Part 2 - Chapter 2: The Project // Story: Office Love // by Flutterpriest //------------------------------// "So, let me see if I have this straight," you say, once Brand concludes his briefing. "This new client is still wavering between us and a competitor. If we make even the slightest mistake, they could cancel the order. So we have to make the contracts and paperwork against aggressive deadlines, compromise without taking losses." "So far, correct," Brand says. "And then, once it's done and finished. You'll take the train to Canterlot to finish the proceedings, get most of the credit, and we keep our jobs." "Hopefully, yeah. Of course, I'll make sure I list your names to the executives. It's the best we could hope for. If we lose this order, then we average a loss of revenue for this quarter." "Which lowers our stock price," you say. "And everything goes down the shitter." "Exactly." You sigh, rising from your desk and pacing the tiny boxed in office. "All while I have to do this with Fluttershy." "Yep," Brand concludes. "Hey, it's getting close to lunch. Why don't you just talk to Fluttershy about it, see how you wanna proceed, then tell me what the plan is after lunch? It's the least I can do at this point." You ten out of your office and turn to head to Fluttershy's desk. You can feel the muscles in your back stiffen. This isn't going to be a fun conversation. No matter how you go about this, she's going to hurt. It doesn't take a genius to know that you've hurt her, and now you have to dangle her job in front of her. In more than a few ways, that may not be bad for her. She could move back to Ponyville. She can take care of animals again. Do what she loves to do. She can be with her friends. It's not like she moved away needing to prove something. Even if she sold her little cottage, it shouldn't be hard for her to find somewhere to stay. Hell, you might need to convince her to not quit outright. Or else it'll be you who's in a pickle. As you turn towards the rows of cubical, you quickly spot Fluttershy's row and stop at her desk. Her focus is buried into a stack of papers, ears turned down, hooves folded in her lap, her mane lacking its usual volume and life. For a moment, you wonder if she's actually working, or staring into space. You clear your throat and the mare leaps into the air a few inches, ears perked. She wheels around in her seat. "O-oh! Anonymous," she says. "What can I help you with?" You look around you and find a spare chair. With a sigh, you grab the chair and sit down in front of her. "We need to talk," you say. She pauses, her eyes dilating just a fraction before refocusing on you. The mare folds her hooves over and over as she looks to the floor. "Do I... Need to pack my desk?" "No," you say. "At least. I don't think so." She breathes a sigh of relief then looks up to you with a stronger sense of confidence. "Then what do we need to talk about?" she asks in a more relaxed tone. And it's in that moment, as you examine her business attire, that you realize that if you do this project, it would be a lot easier to work together as friends. Not just co-workers. You shake your head and check your phone. To your luck, it's only ten in the morning. "Why don't we talk about this in the break room?" You feel a sense of emptiness as you pick up the two Styrofoam cups of coffee. As you turn towards Fluttershy, who sits alone at a table, trying to make up her mind to look at you or the table. When you sit down, she decides on the table. You hold the cup of coffee out to her and she flinches as if she would have been struck. You exhale, trying to push the gnawing sense of guilt back to the dark corners of your mind. You have bigger things to worry about. "We have a new project. And it's really big," you say quietly. "Yeah?" she asks unenthusiastically. "Yay." "Well, there's some... politics going on around it too. The long story short, is there's going to be layoffs soon." Fluttershy's eyes shoot up to you. Her whole body goes limp as her gaze moves to the cup of coffee. "There can't be layoffs..." Fluttershy says. "Anon... I don't have anything to go back to." You open your mouth to say something, then decide to look down to your cup of coffee. She grits her teeth and her wings begin to unfurl. "Yeah. I know that feeling. If I lose this job, there's a lot that will hang in the balance." "Yeah, but you'll recover," Fluttershy says. "You have... friends here. The final word sprays from her mouth as a cobra would acid. "You can get more jobs here, and find something else. I'm good with animals, Anon. After you made your choice, I tried to recover from this situation. I tried to find a veterinarian job. I tried to apply for pet shops. I even tried the zoo. Nothing's hiring. These back-end jobs are where ponies with no real marketable secondary skills go to make a living. Then they can live their passions in their free time. If I lose this... Twilight and the others gave me enough things. And they all told me not to do this move. Going back to them now?" She pauses for a moment. "I'm scared of a lot of things... but disappointment is worse than any amount of storms or dragons. I might have to go home to Mom and Dad. Tell me that doesn't feel humiliating." You move your gaze to an adjacent wall of the room, your eyes closed. "Well at least you have family." You take another drink of your coffee as Fluttershy sits up in her chair and places a hoof over her mouth, then looks down to her untouched drink. "I'm sorry, I-" "Listen. We can't afford to be holding grudges for each other right now. I'm just going to act like you didn't say anything. This project is our best shot at not getting laid off." Fluttershy sits calmly, takes the drink and holds it in her hooves. "Well, what do we need to do?" she asks. "A lot of paperwork, basically. Intense number crunching. Flawless customer service. Even the slightest mistake could mess acquiring the new client. The point is, they're trusting us. And if we accomplish the task, then we might get to keep our jobs." "Right. But, I mean. Um. We wouldn't be having this talk if there wasn't anything else to it," she says. "You're right," you say, folding your hands and sitting up straight. This was the part you knew you weren't looking forward to. Her reaction and answer is going to determine how these next few months are going to unfold. If your past with her is going to get in the way of having the job being done right, then you might as well kiss your job goodbye. This is why they say that you don't shit where you eat. You clear your throat before you continue. "The long story short is this. There will be nights. Hell, Overnights even. We will have to work weekends. Together. Completely cordially. We're going to need to be able to work together, or that's it. We might as well start looking now." Fluttershy raises her drink to her lips and takes a sip. She puts the drink down and nibbles on her lip as she looks towards the breakroom door. Honestly? If Fluttershy said it was over right now? You might just tell Brand you're doing the project anyway, begin to search for a new job but still try to make a few deadlines until time is ultimately up. "If you think that's going to be too much, I get it," you say. "I'm thinking," she says, cutting you off. You nod your head and fold your hands one more time. "Well, talk me though it." "It's not the time that's the problem," Fluttershy says. "Most of the time I just go home and... do nothing. Nothing worth mentioning, that is. I'll write a letter to the girls once in a while, but that's it." "So, what is the concern?" you ask. Fluttershy raises her hooves to her eyes, and massages them before taking a deep breath. "We've done this before," she says. "The fresh start thing. And I messed it up. A-and, now our livelihoods are on the line." "Don't you think that changes things?" you reply. "There's an actual urgency now." "I think the only one who has feelings that changed is you, Anon," she says. "I-I--" but she stops. Her eyes move down to her drink. With that single cut off sentence, you know exactly what went through her head. She still has feelings for you. You look down to your own drink and know a simple, sad truth. Nothing is ever going to be normal between the two. Fluttershy is a hopeless romantic. She's going to have feelings for you long after you've turned her down. This is never going to end for her. And pushing her into this project for your own job is the equivalence of beating up her heart every day, reminding her of what she couldn't have. "There's another way, Fluttershy," you say, before you realize the words come out of your mouth. Her eyes move to meet yours, and behind her gaze shows a hurt, sad filly that wants desperately to be held. You break the gaze, knowing you can't. "I can call Twilight. I've done it before, I can do it again. Tell her I'm going to fire you, which I can do. She could begin work in Ponyville to get everything back for you. Heck, knowing those girls, they would make it a big emotional event and try to surprise you. You'd be covered." "And you would lose your job?" Fluttershy asks. You remain silent, instead studying the nails on your fingers. "I guess that would happen." "You would lose your job just so I would be happy?" she asks. "That wasn't what I said," you said. "You're putting words in my mouth. I'm just saying that we don't have to suffer through this. I've got a good resume. I'll survive. But I don't think you'll come out of this in as good of shape as I will, that is, if things go wrong." Fluttershy takes another big drink of her coffee, then smiles to you. The first smile that you've seen her since 'The Night'. "I'll do it. When do we get started?" You lean back in your chair in shock. "What? Don't you want to think about this a little bit?" "No, my decision is made," she says. "I want to do this. And we can get through this. I won't get a new job until after this project is done." And now you feel suddenly more concerned about yourself than for her. What's stopping her from going all creepershy again? And if she does, then what do you do? "Just know my offer is always on the table, okay?" you say. Fluttershy nods, and you down your coffee like it was a shot of whiskey. A part of you wishes it was. And not even the good kind. "I guess the next thing for me to do is to talk to Brand." you say, rising to your feet. "Clear out everything. I mean everything. This project goes before everything else at all times." "I'll get on it," she says, rising to her hooves. And on that note, without a goodbye, you turn and walk towards the exit of the breakroom. "Anon," Fluttershy says. You stop and turn to look at her. "Don't worry. We'll let you keep your job." You give a halfhearted smile. A part of you isn't sure if you feel more at ease, or worse, but you're certainly feeling something. Something that burns the back of your throat and makes the hair on your neck stand on end. With a simple nod, you exit the breakroom and head towards Brand's office. You tap on the door of your boss's office, who looks down at a stack of papers at his desk. "Hey, Brand. Just got done talking with Fluttershy. It sounds like she's in." "Oh thank Celestia," he says, cutting you off. "Because we just got the first set of work that needs to be done by tonight." You raise a finger to cut him off, and you watch as any ounce of relief leaves his face. "Don't tell me there's a 'but' involved." "But, I don't know if I'm fully in." "Damnit, Anon," Brand growls. "I need an answer." You take a step back and fold your arms. "I need a chance to talk it over with my girlfriend." "Oh, Celestia, Anon. Come on. I'm trying to cut you a deal here." "I know, I get it. And I really, really appreciate it. I just really need to talk to her about all of this. Things are getting kinda serious with her." "Like how serious? It's been weeks since you started seeing this mare." "I dunno. I'm considering asking her to move in," you lie through your teeth. Autumn is basically moved in as it is. It was the most truthful lie you could come up with in an instant. To be honest, you didn't have a good reason. It just feels like the right thing to do. Brand massages his temples before releasing a deep breath. "I need an answer after lunch no matter what. And when you do, we need to get this stuff done by 9PM to get in the mail on time. Okay?" You nod in affirmation. "Of course. I'll call her right now." You slump into your office and close the door behind you. This isn't going to go well. No matter what way you spin it. You know for a fact that you have the get together for Mulberry tonight. She needs that support. The last thing you'd need is for her to begin seriously hitting the bottle again. Sitting down at your desk, you check the clock and notice that it's nearly time for lunch. Why is it that stress either makes time go brutally slow, or move blisteringly fast? You take out your cell phone and pull up Autumn's number on speed dial. With a few simple clicks, the phone rings. You place it to your ear and lean back in your seat. Sighing to yourself. What in the world am I going to say? "Hello?" you hear Autumn's voice say. Well, that's a good start at least. "Hey, babe. How's your day going." "Really well so far!" She says happily. "How's yours? I was just about to head out on lunch." That's it! Briefing her in person is better than "Funny you say that," you say. "Wanna grab lunch?" "You know what? That sounds like a great idea. Wanna meet at SandWay?" "Sure, I could use a good sandwich. See you in ten." You sit in the booth of the quaint sandwich place, watching out the window for your marefriend. 'Hey, Honey. Remember that creepy secretary that tried to jump my bones, I almost dated, and took advantage of me? Well guess what! I get to do mandatory overnights and weekends with her and cancel plans with you if I want to keep my job. Don't be jealous,' Doesn't seem like a very good idea. On the other hand, as crazy of a situation it is, it's true. Then, you sit up staight, realizing something. This situation... does kinda sound fishy. Honestly, if you were in her shoes, you would totally understand why. Plus, despite the two of you being deep in your honeymoon phase of your relationship, the pressures of real life are going to come crashing in eventually. The door jingles, as you see that familiar fall colored mare step inside. You smile wider for a second, then feel the pressure redouble on your shoulders. What in the hell are you going to say? "Hey there, babe," you say as she sits beside you. "Hey there, gorgeous," she says, planting a swift kiss on your lips. "Isn't this a treat! In fact, isn't this just an afternoon delight." You chuckle lightly, then look down to your glass of water. "Okay, something's wrong," she says, placing a hoof on your hand. "I spent the entire trot over here working on that to make you smile, and you barely flinched. What's up? Did something happen at work?" "You can read me like a book," you answer. "It's not that hard, babe. You get this little glazed look, like your desperately trying to think of the right words to say." "Hey, I’m vocabular-ily challenged." "Considering you just made that word up, I'd agree," she smiles. "Now fess up. What's going on? And who do I need to beat up?" You smile then look to her with a wide smile. "Well, you see-" Autumn's phone ringtone cuts you off. She smiles pleadingly for a second as she fishes it out of her purse, then silences it. She places the phone on the table then turns back to you. "It was Berry. I'm sure it can wait. Now what's up?" "So, uh," you begin, unsure what to say. "So, my company isn't doing very well. That's the short of it. And, uh. They're going to be letting some people go sooner or later." Autumn sinks into the booth a little, feeling a smaller, measured hit of the same pain you felt. "Oh... baby. Did they..." "Well, I'm on the short list. I know that much. But they gave me a new project that if I do well on, then I have a chance at staying on." "Well, that's not terrible. You're a rockstar! I'm sure you'll be able to do it." "That's part of the problem," you begin. But, then Autumn's phone goes off again. The name 'Mulberry' clearly flashes across the screen. She silences it one more time before turning her attention to you. "What's the problem?" she asks. "They've got me on the project with Fluttershy. And it means doing nights and weekends too." Autumn's ears perked and her posture straightened. A redness rose in her cheeks, then her gaze looked away from you to the wall behind you for just a moment. A waitress pony trots up to your booth. "Can I take your order?" "Not now," you say. "We need some more time." The waitress nods then trots to a different table as you refocus on Autumn. "Well, that's not good," she says. "What are you going to do?" You sigh, looking down to your hands. "I honestly don't know. It's a big decision. I could just... quit. But that means Fluttershy also loses her job. If I turn down the project, then I've got a time limit and we both get fired. If I take the project and it fails, we get fired. If I take the project and it succeeds, then we have a chance at keeping our jobs. It's... really crushing. And I really, really don't want to give up that much time for work. I'd rather do other things." "Like hang out with my awesome marefriend," she says, finishing your sentence. "Took the words out of my mouth. But, I mean. It's not just my job on the line. If I decide to quit, or do something that gets others fired, isn't that selfish of me?" "Well, think about it. You could crash on my couch for a while while you find something else. I mean, you'd be covered, if that's a concern." While it honestly wasn't, a part of you is a bit more relieved at hearing that. "I just don't know what the right thing to do is," you say. Then, for a third time, Autumn's phone rings. "Is that Berry again?" Autumn picks up the phone and nods. "Answer it, maybe it's important." Autumn answers the phone and raises it to her ear. "Hey there, Berry! What's...." Autumn pauses, looking directly at you. "Mulberry, slow down. Slow down. One word at a time. What happened?" Your blood freezes at Autumn's clear change of tone. "Something happened at work? ... What do you mean you were fired?"