Title: Fallout
Disclaimer: Uh-huh. Yeah, it's mine. I own the Office. Whatcha gonna do about it?
A/N: Well, I'm back, throwing down the old standby. There's kind of a funny story here... My K/T shipping friend and I got into this fic writing spell on Paul's birthday, and I wrote a bunch of drabbles based on suggestions she gave me. Throw in a couple snippets I had layin' around the hard drive, and instant collection. This one centers around Kelly's freakout after Toby delares Hilary as Not Hot in PFP.
When Kelly got angry, she got quiet. It was a special brand of quiet, sharpened and honed like a weapon, clipped syllables and long glares delivered with the precision of a chess grandmaster.
Kelly was angry at Toby.
Toby wasn't sure why. Well, he knew why. It just didn't make sense to the world outside of Kelly's head.
It began with the Great Hilary Swank Debate of Aught Nine, and simmered over to the next day. And now he faced her glaring at him any time she had to venture beyond her cubicle and sighing in disappointment as she passed. At first, it was somewhat peaceful. Then it just became worrying. Kelly was usually his only bright point of interoffice interaction, the only person who was ever in the least bit excited to see him on a day-to-day basis, and having her shun him felt like the entire world had turned against him.
Around two, he decided to try to do damage control.
"Kelly?" he asked plaintively, leaning on the flimsy wall.
She glanced over haughtily, tilting her head in the manner of a debutante.
"Um. About yesterday. You know I didn't mean... I wasn't talking about you in any way."
"Right," she said airily, her tone antiseptic.
"If you want to know the truth... You're, um... I would say you're prettier than her."
Her mouth pursed a moment, than slowly split into a delighted grin. "I know, right? Thanks, Toby, I'm glad you see it. And sorry about... you know."
"Oh. That's alright."
"So, ohmigod, I was watching VH1 last night and you'll never guess what was on..."
Toby just nodded attentively. Things felt right again.
