CREDIT TO SIHURTS ON TUMBLR^^^^^
CW // sensory overload
noooo im not projecting my autism and love for the phone men onto jack wdym?? /sar
I like the idea of harry+rebecca or harry+jake+roger, but harrysport is also cool tbh
(headcanon that jack has undiagnosed autism)
He/they for Harry, he/him for Jack
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"What do you need, Jack Kennedy?" Harry asks. Jack rubs an eye. "Um, can we add a, uh, an...uh..." He trails off. Harry shifts his weight from foot to foot impatiently. "Sir, you sound like me. Get it together, boss." He says somewhat sternly. Jack nods. "Right, right. Sorry. Can we add an extra room onto this hallway?" Jack manages to slur out, as if he was exhausted. "Sure, what kind?" The phone headed man asks. "A...um, a strip club." Jack says back, his pupils somehow dilating more. Harry gives the orange man a brief disapproving look but then adds the room.
"We'll need employees, right? I don't think you can run the strip club alone." Harry half-jokes, chuckling. Jack says nothing, then the words register in his mind. "Oh. Yeah. Who do we have?" He asks, almost enunciating every word like it doesn't make sense. He seemed very out of it. "We only have one contender right now. Oscar. He is willing to take any pay, as long as he can wear the 'sexy fox costume.' Um, should we hire him?" Harry offers.
"Yyyeah. Oscar. Hire him. Sure. Harry, I'm gonna go to the security office for a bit before we open up this trashy place. Just gimme a couple minutes." Jack says, now rushed. Harry shoots him another look. A confused look. (With his optical sensors I guess)
Jack makes his way to the security office. He just slumps into the rotating chair, memories of what Scottie told him drifting into his mind. He's so tired.
His mind drifts off to Harry.
Harry's cuffed black pants, the clean and neat suit, the ridiculously patterned tie, the organized phone cord, his voice, his confidence, everything about them just...drove him insane. Made his heart pound.
Jack sat there before he snapped out of his daze, his face red, flushed. He cleared his throat and adjusted his tie. "Um..." He mumbled, shaking his head and closing his eyes, trying to get rid of Harry in his mind. But now, all he could think about was that stupid phone! He placed his hands on his ears, maybe trying to silence his thoughts? After a moment, he finally managed to distract himself with paperwork. He sat in the office awkwardly, scribbling away at files. His throat felt dry. His stomach was doing cartwheels. He felt like a teenage girl in love, and he hated it.
Meanwhile, Harry was running the business (somewhat) smoothly. He spoke to each and every upset parent, stomped on every mysterious scuttler with extreme aggression, resisted to urge to kick the one-legged BB, and helped out Walt with his suit. Every now and then, his mind drifted off...wandered...traveled, you could say...to their boss.
His...hot boss.
Harry froze. "What." he whispered to himself. His phone dial spun in endless circles, flustered. He looked down to the floor, then up to the ceiling, then shook his head, now overwhelmed with embarrassment and slight shame. He covered his dial with one hand and tried to hastily return to work. He took note of the time. 3:45 PM. He figured it was about time that he checked in on his boss.
He opened the security office to see Jack frantically scribbling onto paperwork. "Oh- Sir, don't worry about that, that's- that's my job, it's fine." Harry said nervously. "No, no, it's fine, Ha-Harry. Um. Yeah." Jack stammered back. They glanced at each other, then just as quickly looked away. "Y'know...it could be easier if we worked on it together." Harry suggested, a flicker of hope in his chest. "I mean, sure, if you want, I guess." Jack muttered. He was definitely trying to act casual. Harry promptly sat down next to Jack, quickly checked the camera feed, then started working on paperwork too.
After a while, there was no more paperwork. "Shit." Jack whispered, but Harry barely caught it. "What was that, sir?" Harry asked. "Nothing. Nothing, Harry. Uhm, what time is it?" The orange skittle asked. "4:20, sir." Jack groaned loudly. "It's only been half an hour? Seriously?" He complained loudly. He slammed his hands on the desk. "That's it, I'm going out to the dining area."
Harry followed quickly. "Uh- Sir- fair warning, it's pretty busy from what I've seen on the camera feed, and the fluorescent lights are on because the stage lights are too expensive to keep on for too long, and all three animatronics are on full volume, and- well- we both know how you can get, uh, what's the word...panicky." The black phone head rambled rapidly. "Eh, I'll be fine."
Jack was not, in fact, fine.
His heart was beating out of his chest, his nose was stinging from the rancid smell of dumpster pizza, his eyes felt like they were being poked with needles with those bright lights, his entire body was now fuzzy with his hyperfocus on the fact that he had his suit on, and his ears were being violated by the loud sounds of people breathing and talking and giggling and screaming and smacking their lips and chewing and-
"Harry." He breathed out quietly. The old phone looked over. "Yes, sir?" They hummed. "Where's the fucking safe room?" Jack stumbled over and gripped Harry's arm. This was very out of character for the tangerine man. Harry tensed, but brought his boss to the safe room anyway.
He watched as the man slumped onto the wall, down to the floor, covered his ears, and curled up into a ball, pressing his forehead onto his knees. "Sir..?" Harry whispers. Jack did not answer. All he could hear was his heart bounding, his blood rushing, and the muffled laughs of children outside. He felt like he was sinking. He heard extra footsteps, but they quickly disappeared. He was stuck in this terrible position, and-
He flinched as his neck went ice-cold. He started to try and figure out why his neck was cold. He slowly reached his hands away from his ears and clutched the back of his neck. There was an ice pack. "Wh-" He started. "It's just me, sir. I'm here." Harry said, sitting down with Jack. They sat in silence, minus the sound of Jack's heavy breathing returning back to normal.
"Um...Harry."
"Yes, sir?"
"How...how did you..." Jack sighed. "How did you learn how to help with- with these episodes."
Harry paused. There was a soft click noise and a quiet whirr. "Joe used to have panic attacks," Harry's human voice was now being used. "They would come out of nowhere. He would run off to an empty room, to try and get through it himself. I always tried to help, but he didn't want to bother me. But...I don't think yours are panic attacks. They seem caused by the loud noises and bright lights. Panic attacks are random. Maybe they're, uh, what are they called...sensory overloads." Harry suggested. Jack did not reply. He was staring at the floor, listening to Harry, but just...silent. Harry looked at him and simply put a hand on their boss' shoulder.
They sat in a comfortable silence together.
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me sitting here as I enjoy three different harry ships. I louvre him. But alas, I MOSTLY ship Harry+Jake+Roger
Word count: 1255
