3rd Person POV
"Everyone get in your places!"
"She's going to be here any moment now! Just get into place!"
"We can't fuck this up!"
"She's coming guys! She's coming!"
The people in the room all ducked behind their tables, the entire room was decorated to the brim with celebration banners, posters, balloons and a giant cake in the middle.
They heard footsteps heading towards the door and once the door opened, they all jumped up with a loud...
"SURPRIS- UGGGHHHH!" Their surprise turned to groans once the person who entered the room wasn't the person they were excited for. It was just...
"Natsu! What the fuck dude, go hide somewhere! Quick!" A colleague said with his party hat slightly falling off his head.
The one known as Natsu, stood in the doorway with a confused brow raised up. He wore a normal dark blue jacket, navy blue trousers held up by a simple black belt, and a light blue shirt that was tucked into his trousers with the top button being undone. He was easily the most noticeable person in the workplace due to his pink/salmon-coloured hair.
He held his backpack strap with one hand and shook his head ever so slowly.
"What the hell are you fools doing?" Natsu asked.
"What does it look like?! We are surprising a fellow colleague on her birthday! What else would we be doing?!"
"This is stupid," Natsu said as he walked to his desk.
The orange-haired colleague pointed at Natsu as he passed them, "Yeah, yeah it's stupid. Go get a party hat from the shelf over there and make sure you hide!"
"No," Natsu responded bluntly.
He plopped down in his seat and put his backpack under his desk. He didn't hide or lay his head down on the desk, he just got on with his work and didn't make a sound.
The orange-haired colleague looked back at Natsu with an annoyed expression on his face.
"Asshole." He muttered.
"She's coming, here she comes!" Another colleague shouted and everyone got in their place waiting for the correct person to walk in.
The sound of high heels got closer and closer...
3...
2...
1...
The door handle began to open.
"SURPRISSSSSEEEEEEEEEEE LUCY?!" They all shouted as the blonde's head appeared from behind the door.
Lucy. The office's beloved blonde who goes out of her way to help others regardless of what she is up to, she is a favoured worker among her peers and even the boss' favourite, so favoured that they go out of their way to set up parties like this for her.
"You guys shouldn't have!" Lucy said tearfully as she received hugs from her colleagues.
"We wanted to show you our appreciation for all that you have done for us. Going out of your way to help others and showing no sort of favourite among us all, we are really touched by your actions and wanted to let you know that we are so lucky to have-."
"Just get to the point already, Gosh," Natsu interrupted as he typed away at his keyboard.
Grumbles could be heard amongst the crowd of colleagues, some even going as far as to want to punch the pinkette in the face.
"Thank you for everything Lucy, that's what we want to say." The orange-haired male said as he rose a can of soda to the sky, "To the goddess of our office!"
"TO LUCY!" Everyone said with cheers and joy.
Natsu rolled his eyes as he watched everyone crowd Lucy and bombard her with birthday wishes and compliments.
Natsu's POV
I watched as everyone conversed with Ms Heartfilia and try to ask her silly questions that a geek would ask a girl in high school but he fails due to his introverted ways and never bags the girl at the end of the day.
They blow smoke up her ass and hope she'll invite them into her pants one day, it's just so pathetic.
The worst of them all goes to Loke though, that orange-haired twit has always been by Ms Heartfilia's side like a puppy that was trained to follow without a leash.
Knowing his ways, he's been wanting to get her in his cookbook of fuck-buddies for the longest, and can I blame him, who wouldn't?
Lucy Heartfilia, my work colleague. She's a natural blonde with beauty like no other, her attire's colour scheme normally consists of reddish-pink or blue, which really makes her noticeable when she arrives to work.
She wears this perfume that drives everyone mad and floats towards her like moths to light.
Quite irritating.
She and I have crossed paths here and there but I consider her to be more of an "acquaintance" so we don't hang out outside of this building at all or see much of each other during the day but some nights, here and there, we would bump into one another and converse with one another like we've been friends since high school.
Like any beautiful woman in an office, she's become a delight in a lot of men's eyes. The guys talk about how great it would be to get a taste of her, I don't indulge in it though because it isn't the kind of talk I'd want to have about someone who I somewhat know.
Every now and then, Ms Heartfilia and I would run into each other after everyone went home. I would be at my desk typing away and she would be somewhere near my office room taking care of something.
I don't know what though and I also don't care.
She doesn't have to, but she always comes by to check on me, hand me a bottle of water, and even some food when I'm working late which I find odd, almost as if she is setting me up for something.
Wouldn't be a surprise considering the entire office pretty much hates me.
Distance yourself, Natsu. You got work to do.
As I began typing in the data I had gathered from the documents I was handed, I received a tap on the shoulder. I looked up and saw Ms Heartfilia holding a plate of cake in her hand, offering it to me with this giant smile on her face.
When I'm deep-diving into my work, I don't notice the things that go on around me, as of now, everyone is staring at the both of us.
"Please have some cake, Mr Dragneel," She said as she placed it on my desk.
"LUCY IS SO CUTE! SHE'S A GODDESS! A WOMAN WORTH A THOUSAND RINGS!" They all shouted in unison, like a bunch of mutts, "THE STAR OF OUR WORKPLACE, THE SUN TO OUR DAYS, PLEASE LUCY, CONTINUE BEING OUR STAR!"
I looked at the cake for a minute then back up at her, "You can have it, I'm really trying to cut down on a lot of sweet stuff,"
"Oh. I'm sorry," She apologised as she picked up the plate of cake once again.
"It's fine, you didn't kno-"
And like a thousand wails from the pits of hell itself, the guys in the office pounced at me and bombarded me with insults of every kind.
"HOW COULD YOU DECLINE SUCH HOSPITALITY?! SHE ALLOWED YOU TO HAVE SOME OF HER CAKE! HER CAKE! YOU CANNOT DECLINE SUCH THINGS! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT! NO RIGHT!"
"YOU'RE A JERK, NATSU! ROT IN HELL!"
"SAY SORRY! SAY SORRY RIGHT NOW!"
"No," I responded.
"FIRE HIM! FIRE HIM RIGHT NOW!" They all continued to scream and shout in my face like a bunch of hungry hyenas.
Is this what our world has come down to? Crazy beta males pouncing at anyone who disagrees with their love for a particular woman?
Before Ms Heartfilia even got here, they were doing the same thing with Ms Scarlet.
Well, until she got sick of it and took it upon herself to kick these guys' butts. But it seems like they still haven't learned.
"Whatever, can I please return to my work, thank you," I said as I spun my chair towards my desk and continued tapping at my keyboard.
"It's okay, Lucy. I'll eat that cake if you want," I heard the sound of Loke's voice behind me, "Don't mind Natsu, he's a bit of a cueball when it comes to these kinds of things,"
I rolled my eyes and ignored him.
"Loke you've already had two. It's okay, I'll save it for a friend back at home." Ms Heartfilia giggled and made her way to the office break home.
"LUCY IS SUCH A QUEEN, WE ARE NOT WORTHY ENOUGH TO BE IN HER PRESENCE!" The pile of guys said as they raised their arms in the air in unison and made their way back to their desks.
Loke rested on my desk and flicked my mouse away, "How about you lighten up a little,"
"How about you get off my desk,"
"It is Lucy's birthday and all we are asking you for is to play along, get a party hat and wish her a good one, but nope, you just want to sit here like a prick and not join in with the fun," Loke said as he flicked at everything on my desk, intentionally pushing my cup of pen and pencils to the side and laughing lightly.
"This is a workplace, not a damn bar. I didn't come here to play 'Let's simp for the beautiful blonde girl in the office', I came here to make money. Get with the program, Loke," I said a little more sternly.
"Now you care about work, you pink-haired twit-"
I stood up, face-to-face with him and glared into his eyes, "I always did. Now let me do my work,"
"What are you guys doing?" Ms Heartfilia said as she stood behind Loke, "Kissing in the office? Aww, I didn't know you guys had that kind of relationship,"
Loke dusted himself off, he also dusted off my shoulders and put on a calm smile, "Not at all. Natsu here just has a messy desk, so I was giving him some tips on being tidy and what kind of representation it gives the company,"
"Helping your fellow colleagues, I'm impressed Loke," Ms Heartfilia said with her hands on her hips, she gave off this kind of surprised gesture, probably to tease Loke.
"Come on, don't embarrass me in front of my friends," Loke rubbed the back of his head.
We were friends, but not anymore.
"I never knew you and Mr Dragneel were friends," She raised a brow.
"Yeah! Since the start of high school," Loke exclaimed as he threw an arm over my shoulder.
No.
He ditched me in high school and continuously attempted to shove me in lockers to prove his superiority over me. Of course, he failed numerous times and just went ahead with flexing the girls he would sleep with to me.
"Could you two please discuss this elsewhere, I have things to do," I politely told them as I started to rearrange my desk that Loke had messed up previously.
"Don't be such a party pooper, Dragneel-."
"We should let him return to work. It isn't right to disturb other colleagues when they are trying to meet their deadlines." Ms Heartfilia said softly as she tugged on Loke's sleeve.
Somebody with sense, thank you.
"Well, if Lucy suggests it then it should be fine," Loke shrugged his shoulders.
Of course, it is. You would rather come to work and fuck about trying to have sex with women in the bathrooms or store closets instead of getting to the money.
Loke's priorities are all over the place. I tend to stay on track instead of jumping up and down in the office like a prick - it's the reason these guys despise me. Because I refuse to act like a 2-year-old in a place of work.
Damn it. How can this Monday get any worse?
Just then, a stack of books landed on my desk on my left side. A stray of red hair passed my screen and I already knew that my day was about to get a little worse.
"Mr Dragneel! I was impressed with the amount of data you processed last week, you handed in 12 books on time with no mistake whatsoever, and your work ethic is impressive." She said with a small smile on her face.
I scratched my nose and continued typing, "I try,"
"I can see that. Hence why I am handing over two of your slacking colleague's workloads, they were recently fired for their difficulty to catch up, so we need somebody to process these ones as well." Mrs Scarlet sternly said to me. She hovered behind my desk and had her arms folded in a superior manner, "I look forward to seeing this all done on my desk tomorrow morning,"
Typical Mrs Scarlet. She looks down on me like a lost child from the streets of LA, and almost, if always terrorises me when I don't follow her ways. She's a mother of twins and demonstrates that at this office by targeting me and Loke, I wonder what kind of things she is smoking to bunch me up with Loke's shenanigans in the office, I barely do anything wrong other than avoid pointless meetings like introducing a new colleague who has nothing to do with the work that I do.
I looked up at her and then back at my screen. Keeping eye contact with this crazy woman is the last thing I want to do.
"With all due respect, Mrs Scarlet, that's a lot of work to get done before the next day. Not to mention, I currently don't own a personal PC to do this at home-."
"Save it! Your excuses are not what I want to hear right now, your dedication is what I want to see. I thought they hired a man, not a child,"
I'm more of a man than any of these bastards in this office right now. But nope, forget that, right,
Let's all play the blame Natsu game.
She always dumps my colleague's workloads on my desk but when Loke is shuffling about in the office like a rodent, they keep work off his desk and pat him on the back for god knows what.
"I'll get down to it, Mrs Scarlet," I responded calmly.
"Good." She said before immediately going elsewhere in the office.
Twenty-four books with the addition of my own twelve.
This is going to be a long day.
3rd Person POV
It was 1:00 PM and the day was moving by swiftly. People in the office got up after locking their systems and made their way to the elevator to go get some lunch, conversations among themselves were ongoing and loud as well. Lucy and Loke exited one of the meeting rooms and began to walk side by side with one another.
"So, what do you feel like eating now? Sushi? Indian?" Loke suggested as he scrolled through his phone.
"Nothing too heavy. I feel like eating a salad right now," Lucy responded.
Loke groaned, "Come on Lucy, it's your B-Day and you're fussing about carbs and shit, you should let loose, just take the helm and go wild,"
"And that's how I'll end up like you were during the Office Christmas party," Lucy laughed.
"Yeah, yeah, at least I was having fun," Loke chuckled alongside her laughter.
Lucy wiped a tear from her eye, remembering the silly dance Loke did and looked off into the next office room. There, she saw Natsu continuing to power through the work he was given. He didn't even stop to breathe, just continued looking from a book to the screen, from a book to the screen, from a book to the screen, and over, and over again, he repeated that same process.
Lucy slowed her walking and watched the dedicated pinkette work tirelessly, "Does he know it's time for lunch?"
"Hm? Dragneel? He's a powerhouse, you can't pry him from work, no matter what. Let's get those salads though, I think I might chow down on a lettuce or two. As for beverages, I'm assuming you are going to suggest we get water or something, I would say an energy drink, but since you are the fitness guru here, I'll just listen to... Uhhh, Lucy?" Loke stopped as he noticed that Lucy had entered the room where Natsu was working.
He brought a hand to his face and slowly walked to the door as well, "She never listens to me,"
Natsu's POV
I closed the book I had just read through and immediately started on the next.
With the way I am going, they may as well give me a raise considering I'm the only one cruising through two other members' workloads. Kind of crazy that Ms Heartfilia got a raise after just being here for just a month, I was here for two years and all the work I did wasn't even reaching the foot of the big guys upstairs.
It's stupid, I tell ya, Stupid.
"Dragneel!?" That annoying voice called out to me.
I turned to see Loke at the door and Ms Heartfilia was surprised by the sudden shout. They must've been calling my name constantly earlier but because of the world I slip into when I'm working, I couldn't hear them.
"Eh heh, thank you... Loke," Ms Heartfilia said with a praying gesture. She turned back to me with a smile on her face and I just turned my head to my screen.
"What is it?"
Ms Heartfilia cleared her throat, "Well, lunch period has begun and I just wanted to let you know that-"
"Don't worry yourself, I'm just going to skip it."
"You heard the man, Lucy. Chop, chop now, let's get going," Loke said as he slapped the face of the door.
Ms Heartfilia looked at Loke and then back at me with this sort of worried expression, "You've been working non-stop since Mrs Scarlet put those books on your desks. For your mind and body, I would advise constant breaks to keep up with the workload you are receiving so you do not break down, water breaks are-."
"Listen, Ms Heartfilia, I've been doing this for two years straight and have gotten through every trial and tribulation. These 'breaks' you speak of aren't something that I need at all, so if you don't mind, could you please leave me alone,"
I said that in the most polite way that I could, but of course, her pet is going to say...
"Are you serious, Natsu?!" Loke roared as he marched into the room.
Here he comes.
He stood beside Ms Heartfilia and forcefully grabbed a hold of my arm, "Lucy is spending every little minute of her break time looking out for you and the best way to repay her is to reject her?!"
"Well yeah, if I got work to do, then I've got work to do," I responded bluntly. I removed his hand from my arm and began to type, "Go ahead and enjoy your lunch,"
"You're such a bastard, you know that." Loke spat.
"Wouldn't be the first time you're telling me this,"
Ms Heartfilia gently placed a hand on Loke's arm, "Okay, okay, let's calm down here-."
Loke towered above me, "No, no, he needs to know that I'm tired of his shit! We are all trying to make this office as lit as possible and he's always bringing the mood down with his gloomy zombie face! Is it so hard for you to let loose every once in a while?!"
"Again Loke," I stood up to face him eye-to-eye, "We are Adults. This is a place of work, not a place for you to hang about, I don't care what you think of me because nothing will ever change. I'm going to sit here, do my work, and mind my business. I suggest you do the same,"
Loke glared at me with gritted teeth and I just stared back at him with furrowed brows and a neutral face.
Ms Heartfilia pried herself in between us and got Loke to move away from me, "Okay! Okay! No fighting, we are supposed to be a team."
She bowed before me, "I apologise for interrupting you, Mr Dragneel. Please work hard and take care of yourself. Loke, let's go and get those salads,"
She got a hold of his arm and pretty much dragged him out of the office, once they had left and shut the door properly behind them. I let out a heavy sigh and brought my hands together, I cracked them and pursed my lips with pent-up rage.
"I need to break something," I muttered.
I am not losing this job over a twit like Loke and I cannot afford to damage anything in this office. I decided to actually take that break as Ms Heartfilia suggested, so I picked up my backpack and threw it over my shoulder and left the office.
I looked at the level that the elevator was on and decided to take the stairs.
I need to focus on why I'm doing all of this hard work anyways. I can't afford to get sidetracked by pretty girls and dickhead colleagues.
I cut off everything to make this possible, so I can't drop it all now, I need to complete this.
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To Be Continued.