paper trails (Rhack)

Chapter 1~ Love Letter

It had been a long morning, getting to his office had been a nightmare and he'd had to deal with his boss giving him crap about being a few minutes late. Rhys was barely awake when he finally got to his desk with a cup of coffee.

He was a middle manager at a company called Hyperion run by his idol, Handsome Jack. One day, Rhys aspired to run Hyperion just like Handsome Jack but for now he had to do the shit ton of paperwork his boss just dropped on his desk.

The stack of papers were piled up high on his desk and he couldn't even see over them. Letting out a groan, Rhys picked up a pen and got to signing the papers without really reading them properly. Usually he would take extra care with papers but he was just too tired this morning. With all the trouble and his lack of sleep from the night before he just couldn't focus.

"why do we even have physical papers to sign? People do know that computers exist right?" Rhys said to himself as he moved another few papers to the signed pile. Just when he thought things were the worse they could be his pen slipped through his fingers and rolled under his desk.

Too lazy to reach down and pick it up, he just opened his desk drawer to get a new one out. Then he spotted it, a small piece of paper with a couple of words scribbled down in sharpie.

Rhys saw his name on the corner so he picked it up and read out loud,
"I saw you working yesterday, you look so adorable when your all busy and focused."
He stared at the note in disbelief. Was this some kind of joke? Who would leave notes like this in his desk? As far as he knew nobody he worked with was that bothered about him.

As odd as it was Rhys just chucked the note aside and played it off as some kind of prank from one of his Co workers. He needed to do his work and had no time to think about stupid little notes.

As time passed the note had completely slipped his mind and it was time for him to leave. Just as he picked up his bag, the note fell off his desk. Unsure of what to do with it, Rhys picked it up with his mechanical arm and shoved it into his pocket before leaving.

~____ next day ____~

"I'm telling you it was probably just a prank Rhys," Vaughn said as they walked in the direction of the cafeteria to grab some breakfast before work.
"OK but it might not be! Yeah the message was really dumb and corny and sounded like a five year old wrote it but it might be real!" Rhys exclaimed, "I could have a secret admirer."
"Calm down Rhys. Don't get ahead of yourself," Vaughn replied, "besides don't you have better things to think about rather than some note in your desk? You're still working on that promotion right?"
"I know but if this note is real, I might be getting a promotion to boyfriend," Rhys said with a sarcastic smirk.
"Seriously bro just stop,"
"What that was a good joke"
"don't embarrass yourself Rhys"

They bought some food and ate in silence before Rhys stood up.
"I better head to the office before my boss gives me shit again," He yawned.
"Do you still want to meet up with Yvette and me for drinks after work?" Vaughn asked.
"Depends how I feel. I've been really tired lately and I think I'm going to try and get an early night."
"OK but the offer is still there if you change your mind. Later bro."

Rhys arrived at his desk with 10 minutes to spare and decided to kill some time by scanning random things with his echo eye for his amusement. Scanning his coworkers desks was always fun as he got to see what they were hiding in there. Usually it was just pens and stuff but occasionally he'd find the odd adult magazine.

His eye flicked over his own desk briefly and he saw the outline of a piece of paper in his desk draw.
"Another note?" He thought to himself.

He refocused his vision and pulled open his desk draw to find another note. It was the same paper as yesterday and the same handwriting. This time it had a few more words written on it.

"I see you got my note yesterday. It sounded pretty childish. Do you think so too? Well anyways just wanted to let you know that you look pretty good today. Saw you in the cafeteria with your nerdy friend with the glasses. Have a good day xx"

Rhys' heart jumped as he read the words over and over. Surely this person wasn't just messing with him as he'd suspected. He pulled his metal hand up in front of his face and used it to video call Vaughn.

"Hey bro I found another note!" He said excitedly.
"Oh great so why are you telling me?"
"well you're the smart one so tell me what to do! I'm freaking out here!"
"ugh Rhys I have a job you know. Just find out who the person is and confront them. I'll help you when I'm on break until then I have to work, my boss is coming over so I have to go."

Rhys sighed and put the note in his pocket with the other one and tried to get back to his work but his mind was far away. Someone was sending him love letters and he didn't know who. The thought of someone caring about him so much made him so happy.

~__________________________________~

(Jack's POV)

Ever since he'd first met Rhys when he'd came to drop off some papers for signing he'd been interested. It was unusual for him to have such deep feelings about another person but he felt something he'd never felt before when Rhys was around.

Of course they'd only spoken a few times when Rhys would have to come and drop of papers or collect papers but Jack always took great pleasure in those few short conversations they had. Usually it was Jack saying sarcastic comments and Rhys getting very awkward but it was sweet.

When he wrote the first note he was debating whether or not it was a good idea. He couldn't tell Rhys outright how he felt, he needed to keep his dignity. If he just told Rhys how much he liked him he would lose face and that was not something he was willing to do.

Over the past few weeks he'd been carefully studying Rhys' activities so he knew when to plant the note in his desk. Before 9am was his best option so he went down to the floor where Rhys worked and slipped the note into his draw before anyone else had arrived. He was considering taking the note away since it was stupid and pathetic but he heard voices and had to get out of there before he had time to grab the note.

From his office, he watched Rhys through the surveillance cameras. He loved watching Rhys, the way he sat and the way he was always so focused on his work. Everything about this man was perfect to him. Then he saw Rhys reading the note. He saw a little smile on Rhys' face and his heart literally melted. If he was going to see that smile from writing notes then a few more days worth of notes couldn't hurt.

Before Jack knew it, it had been two months and he'd been writing notes everyday sometimes even slipping into the office at lunch breaks to leave an extra note. Each note becoming increasingly loving and somewhat suggestive.

He was writing out his next note when he realised he could make Rhys follow a trail of notes that lead him right to his admirer. Watching his cute little cupcake (as he'd started calling him in the love letters) run around chasing him sounded very appealing. So he drafted up a note with clues to who he was and kept it until the next day when he could slip it into Rhys' desk.

"Let the fun begin." he said as he watched Rhys open the note through the CCTV cameras.

(an: this was very fun to write. Please leave feedback. I don't ship Rhack but I got this idea and wanted to write it. Check out my Ao3 profile jack_lo_da_weeb)