ㅤㅤㅤIt was always a promising start to the day when Rachel walked into the office to find Jim already setting up their next prank on Dwight. The culprit had a rather large reel of red wire in hand, duct taping it to the floor leading into the kitchen.
"I got this at a flea market up by Dunmore High School," he explained to his puzzled coworker. "20 bucks for the whole spool."
"Wow, what a deal." Rachel picked up one end of the wire, connecting it to Dwight's computer. "Let's say Russian hacker is stealing Dwight's information through this bright red wire and sending it to underground communist forces?"
"Or we could say nothing and leave it to his overactive imagination," Jim replied, leading the wire out of the office. The two pranksters had to thank Dwight for the success of their jokes. It was his blinding pride and gullible nature that gave it an element of unpredictability, the perfect edge that took a mediocre joke and turned it into something iconic.
"Where are you going?"
"I've got 500 feet—well, 470 feet of wire. I'm not going to waste it."
"Well, good luck with that. I'll make sure he doesn't notice the wire before you're back."
"You got me, Munroe."
"Always, Halpert. Always."
As the lanky man jogged out of the office, Rachel sped to the kitchen to make herself a coffee. She ripped open the overhead cupboards to be confronted by a distinct red mug.
She was shocked to see it, even though she was the one who bought it. Gifted it to someone, actually, and her shock was more offended than pleasantly surprised. Gingerly, Rachel picked the mug off the shelf, turning it in her hands so she could clearly read the writing on its front.
"Really?" he had asked excitedly, his eyes lighting up without hesitation. "You got me a gift?"
"Of course I did, dingus. It's your birthday after all," she had replied smugly, placing the box on the covers in front of him.
Ryan didn't spare another moment, ripping the wrapping right off the box. Her smirk only grew as he pulled out a deep red mug. Its white handle was shaped in the shape of the letter B, and painted on the mug were the white letters "ITCH".
"Oh, it spells BITCH. A bitch mug... that's a new one." He tried to play it cool, but even she could tell that he was ecstatic about the stupid mug. She could tell by the way he was pretending to drink from it already.
"Well, you are my favourite bitch."
"I am your only bitch."
"If you say so..."
At that point, he had rolled over so that he was hovering above her. "I don't say so. I know so."
She had instantly flipped him over so that she was on top, assuming her natural position. "Don't get ahead of yourself, Mr Howard. Remember, you are my bitch."
"Wait! Wait. Before this gets too serious—" Ryan had sat the two of them up, and placed his gift on the nightstand. Rachel laughed, confused by the small gesture, because the gift was so stupid she hadn't really expected him to value it that much.
"So you like it?"
"Are you kidding? I love it. It's perfect," he replied, creeping back down the bed. "Thanks, El. It's the best gift I've gotten in a while."
Somehow, she believed it. She believed that her stupid, thirty-dollar bitch mug was of some importance to Ryan. And in that moment too, she thought she meant more to him than just a friend he was seeing in a more-than-friends-but-less-than-lovers way.
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INTERIM LOVER, ryan howard.
Fanfiction"If I had a dollar for every time I wished I wasn't here, I'd have enough to retire right now." In which Ryan Howard and Rachel Munroe realise that what they've been looking for has always been right in front of them. by laurie, 2019-2021 ...
