Friends That Play Together, Stay Together

"I can't believe this." Jen muttered, slumping into the office. Roy's head immediately jetted up from his computer.

But it was Moss to speak. "What's wrong Jen?" he asked in that high polished squeaky tone.

Jen just sighed and shrugged and then sighed again. "Ohhh. It's nothing."

Roy rolled his eyes at his boss's rather common displays of being dramatic. "Oh come on Jen. Obviously you have something on your mind, otherwise you wouldn't pout and say something abstract like, I can't believe this." he mimicked her voice.

Jen waved her hand. "Just forget it."

Placing his scruffy face in his palm, Roy smirked. "Jen, is this just a ploy for attention?"

She mouth gaped incredulously, exaggeratedly. "How dare you! This is not some ploy for attention! I'm just having a bad day, that's all."

"Jen, it's 11 in the morning. How can you be having a bad day when you just came in?" he turned back to his computer. "Incredibly late, I may add."

Sure he was being a jerk, but this was all very casual. Jen still stood in the middle of the office, floundering. "I am not trying to get anyone's attention. Will you stop belittling me?" she turned on her heel with a stomp and disappeared into her office.

Moss's eyes turned over to Roy with a huffy look.

Roy sighed exasperatingly, and flopped back in his chair. "Oh right, now you're taking her side?"

"You're being mean Roy!" he squeaked, and scrunched his face in anger.

"Ok ok fine, you're right. I'll go in and apologize." With a heavy and sardonic sigh, he pulled himself out from his desk and trundled over to Jen's office. Pushing the door open and tapping on it timidly, he squeezed his big body inside. Jen was behind her laptop, clattering on the keyboard angrily and ignoring him.

He cocked his head to the side. "How's my little soldier?" he gave a gimpish smile and she narrowed her eyes. "I'm fine. "

"Well no Jen, obviously you're not fine." He took himself a seat, settling down comfortably. "You've been moping about here all week. Now tell me what's wrong."

She twisted her mouth into a sarcastic smile. "Well what's the point Roy? You're just going to make fun of me."

"Hey I won't make fun of you. I promise, I'll take whatever you say very very seriously."

"Oh. You're just joking around again." She moped and shut her laptop. "I don't even feel like talking about it. Just go away."

"Oh come on Jen." Feeling a tinge of hurt.

"You'll just think I'm being a bloody old loony that's making a big deal out of nothing" She muttered, folding her arms and looking away.

Roy leaned in and tapped her arm gently. "No I won't. What is it?"

She hesitated. Under her careful gaze, Roy felt the hurt subside with a feeling of warmth. Feeling flustered like he often did when Jen looked up at him with those big green eyes of hers.

He flushed and casually leaned back in his chair. "Well if you're not going to talk about what's bothering you, I will. Now let's see..." He tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Well, Moss wants to play World of Warcraft tonight, which has been the most thrilling part of my sex life for the past two years, and I've already gotten 12 work calls this from a bunch of prats. On top of that, my co-worker, and good friend may I add, doesn't trust me enough to confide in me. My life" he made a circular motion with his hands. "in a nutshell. Now whatever you have to say can't be as bad as that."

Jen chuckled and he immediately grinned at this. "And you know it Jen. So go on, your turn."

She gave him another momentary stare before weighing in the decision to speak or just leave it. With a tender smile she threw her hands up. "Alright, if you insist."

"Oh please, go ahead. I insist fully. What troubles Jen?"

"Well. " she moaned, laying back in her chair and combing the strands of her ginger hair with her fingers absently. "Last week, Mr. Reynholm said that if I slept with him... he'd give me a thousand pounds." She groaned and rolled her eyes to the ceiling with embarrassment.

"What?"

"I know! That is so typical of him isn't it?" she took his rising enthusiasm as interest in her gossip. "And get this." She shook her head and chuckled. "This morning he called me into his office and offered to double it! Can you believe that?"

Roy merely stared at her and she sighed . "Oh well, you have to laugh it off don't you? I'm working for a complete sex pervert." She went back to her computer. "But what can you do? My life is shit."

As if on cue, Douglas Reynholm burst through the office door. Both Roy and Jen's heads jerked up. The short, stubbly auburn-haired man stood with a swagger; a surly grin plastered on. "Hey Jen," he nodded companionably in the Irishman's direction "Hey Mark." Banging gunshots with his fingers, in Jen's direction, he grinned. "So Jen, have you given a little thought on my offer?"

It had all happened so fast that Jen didn't even see Roy rise up out of his chair.

Before Jen could react, before anyone could react, Roy punched Mr. Reynholm square in the face.

Douglas Reynholm was on the floor covering his bloody nose and wailing like a child. Roy's big hulking body loomed over him, and he pulled him up by the collar with one hand.

When Jen blinked again, Roy had already thrown Reynholm out of the department, yelling, "…and if I ever ever see you in here again, I'll bust you another one so hard that your MOTHER will feel it!"

He stomped back inside and slammed the door. Moss blinked obediently from the desk where he sat. "Roy." He stated, matter-of-factly. "You just hit your boss."

"I know Moss, I know." Roy huffed, slamming down in his chair.

"You're going to get fired!" Jen yelled, storming out of her office. "What the hell were you thinking?"

Roy was still incredibly heated and yelled, though he wasn't yelling at her. He was just yelling. He liked to yell. "You know Jen, he's got some nerve coming in here and treating you like a peace of meat. You don't deserve that. You deserve much better than that."

Jen stared in confusion. There was a momentary silence.

"So what happened?" Moss sang.

"Nothing!" Jen snapped, "We're just going to lose our jobs that's all!" She stormed back into her office and slammed the door shut. Now it was her turn to get angry.

"Great." Roy muttered at his computer.

"You know. That was a really nice thing you did for Jen." Moss commented, clearly having pieced it all together. "Why, if I were there, I would have given him a flipping punch too."

"No you wouldn't have Moss." Roy said dryly

The next day Jen gave him a hug and whispered a thank you in his ear. He flushed again, and felt his entire face warm when she pressed her lips against his cheek.