my heart's been offline

1

Stiles adjusts his shirt and the loose tie hanging around his neck as he stands outside of Harris' office. You got this, Stilinski, he says to himself. Think positive. He knocks on the door and waits until Harris yells.

He pushes the door open and steps inside. Harris is at his desk, surrounded by proofs, a stack of unopened mail, and mock ups for Sunday's edition of the Beacon Hills Examiner. Harris looks up, sighing and rolling his eyes when he sees who's at the door.

"What do you want, Stilinski?"

"I was wondering if you had a minute?"

"Is there a problem with the obits?" Harris asks as he goes back to whatever article he was proofing.

"No," Stiles grits out, feeling his cheeks burn with embarrassment. It's bad enough obits are the lowest job for reporters, but of course Harris has to point that out. Fucking asshole. "I wanted to run a story idea by you."

"No," Harris replies without even looking up.

"You haven't even heard my idea! I have a pitch ready and everything!" Stiles exclaims, hands flailing around.

"I've already got two lead reporters. There aren't enough stories for you to join in, too."

"But there's this endangered mollusk that – "

Harris snaps his head up and narrows his eyes. "An endangered mollusk?" he asks.

Stiles straightens his shoulders. "Yes. It's a big deal. This particular species is only found in Beacon County, and with the newly proposed plans for the county dam, the mollusks – "

"Stilinski, I'm falling asleep just listening to this," Harris snaps. "No one cares about a fucking mollusk, endangered or not."

"I care!" Stiles exclaims. Harris gives him a look that implies Stiles' opinion on endangered mollusks is irrelevant. "I thought it could be a nice change of pace. And my talents are being wasted on obits."

"I gave you those business stories," Harris says. "Four, to be exact. Two of them are going to press later this week. I'm sure I can find another business story for you eventually. I'll send over the press releases. If you find one you think might make a good write up for the business page, let me or Kali know." Harris waves his hand as he turns back to his work. "If that's all..."

Well, Stiles thinks, he guesses that's all. He leaves Harris's office and sighs after he closes the door. If the guy wasn't the editor and possessed the authority to fire his ass, Stiles would so tell that guy to go to hell.

Stiles walks back over to his desk and drops into the chair. "What did he say?" Danny asks.

"What do you think?" Stiles mutters as he logs on to his chat program. He should be typing up the rest of the obits, but he's still got two more hours before he gets off; he can knock out those obits in twenty minutes.

"That's too bad," Danny says. "I like your mollusk idea."

"Do you really?" Stiles asks.

Danny nods. "I do. I'm not sure if the local newspaper is quite the audience for it, though."

"But it's a local mollusk! How is that not local news? It's more interesting than the fact that the liquor store got robbed last night, or that the parade route is changed for the July 4th parade."

"Hey!" Danny exclaims. "I wrote those stories!"

"And you did a fine job," Stiles says as glances at the screen. He sees the screen name he was hoping for, and smiles.

"New York guy?" Danny asks with a knowing smirk.

"Yep."

Danny turns back to his computer as Stiles pulls up a chat box.