The afternoon went on exactly the way you wanted it, with you doing your barely demanding job while staying low-key and dodging Vincent every chance you could.

Not that you were scared of him, you would just rather he not be near you, though you still had that needle.

You were sad though; purple used to be one of your favorite colors.

It was the color of Amethyst from Steven Universe, the outfit Starfire and Raven's hair from Teen Titans and Pacifica from GF wore, Hiro's suit and the streak in Gogo's hair from Big Hero Six, the... Eh, that was honestly about it.

But for reals.

At any glimpse of said hue, your lip would twitch and you'd either stare down whatever was giving it off or you'd ignore it.

It really wasn't a big deal any more, but it never hurt to be cautious.

Even with the 'harassment' (if you could even call it that anymore lol) kept to a minimum during work, being on his radar wasn't any good.

You were too paranoid to even go to the bathroom alone.
Which wasn't a big deal, you never had to go even once so far.

In the midst of another round, you were soon heading back toward the entrance where a new party of people and bright-eyed children came squirming through the door.

You stopped a bit short of the way and sighed when you noticed Vincent in clear view.
He was watching the door while wearing a lazy smile.
His eyes were dimmed, hands stuffed away in his pockets.

You were making an effort to tip-toe away like a ninja before he noticed you, when suddenly another door behind him opened.
From within, your boss emerged.

"Vincent, in here. Now."

Vincent turned at the sound of his name, brow cocked to show he was puzzled.
He hesitated before silently obeying, entering the office and shutting the door behind him.

You realized that you hadn't seen much of your Boss since being interviewed and had almost forgotten he was there, stowed away in such a tiny room with nothing but a fan and cupcake plush for company.

You didn't know anything about him, nor did you have any idea the kind of relationship he shared with Vincent.

With peaking curiosity, your eyes darted left and right before you stealthily made your way on over to the door, hanging around off to the side.

You concentrated so that you could make out the conversation.

"Go home?"

You heard Vincent say. His voice was shrill with surprise.

"My shift ends at eight and it's barely six."

"I'm aware of the time, Vincent. I'm telling you that you're done for the day. My orders."

"And what's your reason, exactly?"

"Just cutting costs. It's too expensive to keep you here when you're not needed."

If he asked you though, that would not have been your reason.

There was a bit of silence before Vincent sputtered in disbelief,

"Not needed? What are you talking about? A huge group just came in. Wouldn't it make more sense to send (Y/N) home instead of me? She's been here what...two days? This doesn't make any sense."

'Yea and I have your worst nightmare in my pocket!'
You snickered silently to yourself.

You suddenly tensed at the sound of your name. The boss' answer made you fist pump the air.

"Let me put it this way. If I were hanging from a cliff, I would trust (Y/N) to drag me back up long before I would ever think to consider you. Am I making sense yet?"

You swallowed back a happy laugh before hearing him conclude with,

"Go home, and if you aren't off this premises in five minutes I'll call the police."

Oh Snap!
Music to your ears.

Vincent growled, lowly, making it hard to hold back a mock snort.

"You're bluffing. You need me here and you know it."

Ha ha thats funny.

"Not for much longer I don't. Now leave before I get angry and carry you out by the belt buckle."

Almost instantly, as if he'd already been headed out in the midst of the boss' last sentence, the door was thrust open and nearly squashed you before you stopped it with quick cat-like reflexes.

You realized immediately that your cover was blown, and felt your pride falter a bit when Vincent peered around to find you wide-eyed, but almost smiling at the same time.

He didn't even attempt to seduce you. His blank eyes furrowed.

"Were you eavesdropping just now?"

He sounded surprised, as if he'd thought of you as being above that type of behavior.

Not that you cared.

Instead of answering him, you found yourself snickering, squinting your eyes at him, shoulders moving up and down slightly.

He seemed slightly caught off guard.

"What are you all smiley about?"

"Your question makes my shoulders bounce!"

You said, quoting Rumble McSkirmish and exaggerating the shoulder bounce even more.
When you received silence, you stopped and laughed, snapping your fingers.

"Not so confident when you're being turned away, aren't you? Looks like I've been graduated from 'helper', bleh, to 'replacement' in just a few days flat. You must be pretty bad to let that happen."

You couldn't help yourself.

You'd been blessed with this opportunity and you were going to take advantage of it.

Vincent nearly roared in anger when he reached forward and tried grabbing your shirt again.

Luckily you danced away from his advance.

"Whoa there friend you might need to slow down!"

You said as you moved around the tables with swag.
Don't Hug Me I'm Scared for the win!

You didn't lose an ounce of your smugness.

The two of you just stared at each other, unmoving.

Just as soon as it happened, he breathed out a deep breath his shoulders loosing his tension.
He looked into your eyes with his cold white lifeless ones.
A small smirk crept on his face.

"You're adorable. I'm going to miss you while I'm gone."

And now he was pushing your buttons again with that romantic spiel.

You frowned and readied yourself to protest, but were derailed instantly when Vincent blew you another sickening kiss.

He whirled around and left the building, disappearing off to the side.

"Not me!"

You called after him as he left, but even you knew that was a weak comeback.

You were left standing there with your tongue sticking out in disgust.

"Good, the pervert is gone. Now what to do-'

Your thoughts were suddenly interrupted when you looked up and found your other coworker strolling into the restaurant from an opposite direction.
Once inside, he waved to you, and you waved back happily, despite your confusion.

How unexpected... but awesome!

"Long time no see, eh?"
Scott said.

You gave no direct feedback, just a funny look, causing him to chuckle,

"I'm kidding of course. I saw you this morning."

You were having trouble searching for words, despite the fact you were totally cool with this.

"I'm so confused right now. Are you...working with me... right now?"

"Seems that way. At least for the rest of the evening."

At the end of his sentence, you were interrupted by the boss exiting the office with a briefcase in tow.
He nodded to you, chewing the end of a cigar while exchanging words with Scott in passing.

"Sorry to make you do this, man. I'm just not comfortable leaving her alone with you-know-who. The last thing I need is a lawsuit just because the eggplant factory can't control himself."

"Trust me," Scott said knowingly.
"You don't need validation. I'll take care of everything from here on out."

You suddenly cut in, not really liking the fact that they were talking about you like you weren't even there.

"Hey Boss, I just wanted to say thank you for being considerate for my well being, and that I'm sorry I haven't told you sooner, because he has tried things on me, but luckily I was able to take care of it, but thanks an ton anyway." You rambled.

With a smile of acknowledgment and a final tip of his hat, the boss made his way through the double doors, looking left and right as he crossed the parking lot.

Your eyes shifted from him to the friendly red telephone.

"Soooooo that's what's going on,"

You said, speaking out loud and snapping your fingers.

"It's not that I'm a better worker than Vincent, it's that Boss wanted an excuse to trade him in for you without drawing suspicion."

"And also you're a better worker,"

Scott said, snorting.
Somehow snorting.
Even though he was a phone.
"But anyone's better than Vincent."

"Haha ain't that the truth though?! It's all starting to make sense now,"

You said, laughing. Scott joined.

Even though it was bizarre, you weren't about to argue with this turn of events.

Not at all.

Then suddenly, your blood ran cold when you turned and panned your eyes back to the outside world, to find the boss was yelling at something, or someone, that wasn't in view.

"Uh oh," Scott mumbled.

You whipped your head toward him.

"Uh Oh? Why did you say 'Uh oh'?!"

And, just like it were on cable, Vincent appeared in front of the boss, his hands thrown apart at first to signify he didn't understand what was going on, before the two engaged in a silent shouting match.

Seems he realized that he'd been sent away on dishonest terms, and it clearly didn't sit well with him in the slightest.

"Uh shouldn't we do something?"
You asked, but you received no answer from the telephone man.

It ended with Vincent pointing to the inside of the restaurant, turning his head and meeting eyes with you.
You stilled, eye slightly twitching.

He looked terrifyingly mad.

"Shoot, come on,"

Scott exclaimed, grabbing your wrist and gently tugging you off to the side.

You followed him hastily, but not without shooting one last glace back.

The last you saw was Vincent flinching as he caught sight of you two, and it looked like he was suddenly stomping back toward the doors.

"Oh no, Scott-"

You gasped, afraid of what was about to happen.

Scott seemed oblivious to Vincent's advancing presence.

"He's coming back iiiiinnnnn!"

Scott looked behind him in horror.

"He wasn't supposed to know the real reason. Oh dear this is bad. Tomorrow he might even-"

"Scott!"

But it was too late.

Vincent had already barged back inside in a manner somehow more forceful than that of when he left the office.

He headed straight for you and Scott.

Customers had turned at the sound of intrusion, and a chorus of screams followed shortly after when the purple man came up and grabbed Scott by his collar, before slamming him into a nearby wall.

"Hey!"
You shouted, grimacing at the resonating crash.

"So that's how you wanna play?!"

Vincent demanded in a tone that dripped with acid.
His nose was almost touching Scott, and his teeth were bared like a wild animal.

"You're going to shrug me off and then steal her from me? You think I wasn't going to find out?!"

"Vincent get the heck off of Scott!"

You yelled at him, this time rushing forth and pulling him away from Scott. Vincent stumbled a bit since you actually were successful and both of you seemed surprised by this.
It must've been the adrenaline.

You threw him off Scoot and huffed in his face.

"Whats the matter with you? Many things I know, but seriously get ahold of yourself!"

You saw that Vincent wasn't listening to you, his eyes only focused on Scott. You could see him preparing another charge at him.

But before he could advance again however, something shiny caught his eye and he recoiled back.

You were holding up the pin in front of your face, glinting as the light shown on it.

You were staring at him through it, making sure he wasn't focused on Scott and giving his attention to you as you spoke.

"Now you listen to me and you listen good,"

You said angrily, not removing the pin.

"Scott isn't doing anything wrong! He has been nothing but kind to me ever since I got here. He's a friend, unlike you. He isn't 'stealing me' or whatever and you have no right to barge in here and accuse him of such a thing! What am I your property?!"

Vincent was breathing heavily, grunting with every exhale, his eyes not once tearing away from the needle.

You never would have thought you'd see this side of him.

It was as though he was made of fire and ice.

Completely contrasting elements, yet both way too extreme for your tastes.

When he didn't calm down, you found yourself taking a deep breath before putting the pin away and looking him right in the eye.

"Vincent, you need to calm yourself; you're scaring people. You're unstable man, this isn't healthy. Your whole life is a train wreck, and people are going to get hurt if you don't do something about it."

Your boss finally came over to the two of you after politely making his way through the concerned crowd.
He wasn't being physically aggressive, in fact he seemed more disappointed than anything.

"Get out of here, Vincent. Now."

Even though he was being spoken to, Vincent's eyes had never left yours.
He went from being dazed and petrified, almost in a trance, to suddenly pouring every last ounce of his focus onto you, as if his life depended on it.

Why was he behaving so erratically?

You would've thought his personality was a single dimension of lust.

What exactly was going on beneath the underlying layers?

You were tempted to wave your hand in front of his face or snap your fingers in front of him, (and even slap him), when Vincent suddenly tore away from you and stormed out of the building a second time.

Boss went on to apologize to everyone, urging them to finish their pizza and go on with other festivities.
He wanted to pretend it never happened, but it wasn't enough to stop customers from mumbling to one another nervously.

You let out a large breath you didn't even know you were holding, before you felt yourself being led away from wandering eyes by a disgruntled Scott.

"Come on, (Y/N), let's get out of here" He said to you gently.

"Don't need to tell me twice. Right behind you bro."

Reviews and Criticism are always appreciated!