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god-damn-hero · 7 years

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Can’t Help It - Chapter 1

Wow, I’m actually proud of this. Start taken from a prompt. Feel free to point out any mistakes!

This is obviously an AU.

Chapter 2 | Chapter 3

Word count: 1342

Characters: Rhys, Vaughn, Handsome Jack, Hyperion staff

Ships: Rhys/Handsome Jack

Trigger Warnings in the tags!

“I can't help who I'm attracted to, even if it's the… sexy, intense, deadly ones.” Rhys said, nervously shrugging. „Well, I'd just advise you not to get tangled up in any kind of drama“, Vaughn said, shoving up his glasses with one hand. Then he gave an apologetic look and took a bite of his lunch. Rhys didn't feel like eating and kind of zoned out, watching the other people sitting on tables, eating and chatting. His CEO, Handsome Jack, asked him to join in on the meeting today. He had never been invited before, heck he never even met Handsome Jack personally. He is just some low-level desk monkey, how would he? Well, apparently his status didn't matter now. Maybe he could expect a raise? Well of course this would be a great opportunity for him. If there wasn't this stupid crush he had on his boss.

Yes, he was crushing hard on Handsome Jack, the president of Hyperion. Yes, he knew how stupid that was. But he couldn't help it, could he? God, if Jack would ever visit him in his office and he'd see all the posters... The president himself surely would know that they're in fact not standard issued for Hyperion employees. At least not the amount that was hanging in the company man's office. Rhys sighed. He was really anxious. Maybe he should tell Jack's secretary that he was feeling sick and couldn't attend the meeting. No, maybe he'd lose his job for that, or worse, Jack would show up himself and drag him to the meeting personally. On second thought, he'd kinda like that. Wait what. Rhys shook his head in an effort to clear his mind a bit.

„Hey, bro, don't beat yourself up over this. There'll probably be lots of other high-level employees at the meeting. I mean, it's not like you'll be alone in a room with Handsome Jack, right? Just relax, speak up when you're asked to and everything will be fine.“ Vaughn said with a shrug and gave a reassuring smile. Rhys nodded and returned a half hearted smirk. Yeah, he was probably right. There would be no chance of Jack having a meeting only with him. That would be ridiculous.

Rhys was legitimately shaking. He was taking his time and was still too damn early for the meeting. His nerves really got the better of him, which resulted in him standing in front of the meeting room already. „Everything's alright. Breathe. You're gonna be fine,“ he tried to reassure himself in a hushed voice. Okay he was just trying to not freak out completely. As he took a few deep breaths he heard a very familiar voice from down the hall. Rhys turned around and sure enough it was Handsome Jack. He was talking on his ECHO device and was wildly gesturing with his arms. Rhys realized that he was holding his breath and after a confused moment he forced himself to exhale slowly. He considered to run and hide for a moment but he rejected the idea almost immediately since his knees were weak. Also Jack had probably noticed him already, but was too busy to acknowledge him.

„Uuh, yeah yeah, I- uh, I gotta call you back. I have a meeting now. Bye.“ Handsome Jack said and then looked Rhys over. „Hey, kiddo. Can I help you?“ He asked, but before Rhys had a chance to react (not that he would‘ve been able to) his gaze wandered to Rhys‘ cybernetic arm, up to his ECHO eye and his neural port. „Ah, I know, you‘re the robot boy! Uh, Rhys? Yeah, that‘s it.“ Jack cracked a smile and offered his hand. He clicked his tongue. „Nice to meet‘cha.“ Rhys felt like falling and blacking out. Why him? No, more like, how? He cleared his throat and returned the handshake. „N-nice to finally meet you, uh, sir.“ He wanted to kick himself for being such a wuss. But Jack chuckled. „Oh please don‘t call me sir, pumpkin. Just call me Jack.“ He grinned and Rhys couldn‘t do much else but nod and smile faintly.

They were sitting down at the huge table inside the otherwise empty office room and Jack insisted that Rhys should sit to his right. They were still early and nobody came in so far. So Rhys gathered all his courage to try and have a normal chat with his boss. "Alright, Jack, why did you invite me to this meeting? I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm honored, really. It's just that I'm just some low-level employee and you're, uh..." Rhys vaguely gestured towards the CEO, his voice trailing off. "Oh please, don't degrade yourself, cupcake. I noticed your eagerness to climb up the corporate ladder of this shithole. And I gotta admit, I'm somewhat impressed." He winked at him and Rhys' heart took a leap. Jack must've noticed his look of utter surprise though. "What? I mean going as far as getting those implants just to have an advantage over your coworkers? Geez, kitten," he chuckled at the end and Rhys anxiously touched his neural port. He let out a nervous laugh. "No need to be shy, Rhysie," Jack said in a playful tone and gave him a nudge, making the other flinch.

Finally people started to file into the room and the company man relaxed a little. Though he felt really out of place, especially sitting at Jack's side. As if he was some kind of lapdog. Well actually, the way he admired Jack remotely resembled the relationship between a dog and its owner. Rhys sighed and got a side glance from Jack who started to greet the group of Hyperion employees. Seemed like everyone arrived and they could finally start the meeting.

The president opened with his usual speech, the one you could hear over the speakers all over Helios after lunch breaks and such. Something to 'motivate' the employees to work even harder. Well, if you can call death threats motivational. Rhys looked over the table, watching the people. A few actually whispered to each other, pointing at him. Sure, he could've expected this. He wasn't a high ranked member of Hyperion like they are and yet he was sitting there, right beside the company's president himself. So the gossiping was no big surprise. Rhys teared his eyes away from the manager staff and focused on Jack instead, who shot him a dirty grin. He should've payed better attention, because he was completely thrown off when Jack grabbed a fistful of his hair and yanks his head to the side. He yelped in surprise.

"Do you see this?" Handsome Jack asked, tapping the neural port and sending a jolt down Rhys' spine. Jack noticed that and made a mental note of it. "This guy's got cybernetic implants to have an advantage and get ahead of his coworkers in data-mining!" Rhys saw differing reactions from disgust, over curiosity, to genuine interest. What the hell was happening. "This is exactly the kind of ambition I'm talking about here, fellas! Sure, it's kind of cheating, but heck, if I didn't do the same. I wouldn't even be the CEO now." Jack grinned proudly and let go of Rhys' hair.

The company man didn't know how to react. He had a bewildered look on his face when he watched Jack continue to go on about how certain departments were slacking and that they could follow 'robot boys' example. The company man pinched the bridge of his nose. He couldn‘t believe this. Jack only invited him to showcase him. To make a fool out of him. Rhys crossed his arms over his chest. He was angry and somehow disappointed. He didn't know exactly what he expected to come out of this meeting but it was certainly not this. "And that's why I'm giving you, Rhys, a promotion!" Jack announced broadly and Rhys' head snapped around to him. "A promotion?" He asked, eyebrows raised in surprise. "Yes. You're going to be my new personal assistant." Rhys' jaw dropped.

#tw: unrequited love #tw: anxiety #tw: slight dubcon #the hero #the company man #ECHO Log #rhack #au #alternate universe #rhack au #Rhys #Handsome Jack #fanfiction #pa!rhys

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