A Harsh Life

Spike had just managed to figure out what he was supposed to be doing when he heard Harshwhinny asking if she could come in.

"Come in ma'am," He replied, he didn't look up as she came in then the door closed. There was a long moment of silence and Spike blinked, the look on his face giving away to Harshwhinny that he knew something was wrong already. "Your not about to fire me are you?" he asked as he glanced up. As soon as he saw her his face turned bright red. "Oh!" was all he could think to say as he took in the sight she was presenting to him. She stood in silence, her cheeks glowing as she held a clipboard to her stomach, she didn't say anything as Spike looked at her in silence. "For the first time in 2 years I have no idea what you are doing," Spike finally blurted out as he looked her over. "But I feel like I should,"

"It's...just a new...style?" Harshwhinny fumbled for words with a confused smile, "I should have came up with a plan, of course he doesn't see this as flirting, he's Spike."

Spike tried to pull himself together. "New style?" he repeated back to her, his disbelief very obvious. "You're trying out a new style?" he gave her a once over and nodded, "I got it," He closed the binder and got to his feet "You have a crush on...somepony in the office," Harshwhinny blinked in surprise at how he'd both gotten and missed the point at the same time, "And you wanted to test it on me to see if the...um....exposed look works?" She wasn't sure when she noticed it, but by the time he had finished the sentence she realized there was an awkward strain in Spike's voice. She also noticed his eyes were focused not on her eyes, but a little above them. The final clue was the fact that he was sweating a little, something she'd only seen him do when Ms. Rarity had surprised him with a visit. Her moment of fear that she was pushing him away instantly turned to a realization that Spike was doing his absolute best not to stare at what she was showing, she smiled.

"He's into it," She mentally squealed "He's attracted to me!" She cut the smile and replied "Yes, that's what I'm doing..."

"Then you'll be happy to know that it's working, but you'll be less than happy to know that it's probably gonna work on everypony so I suggest against it as you'll end up with unwanted attention, primarily on your walk to and from work," Harshwhinny smiled and set her clipboard on the dresser before putting her hand on Spike's cheek, a small amount of steam came from Spike's nostrils as Harshwhinny pulled her hand back and flicked the sweat off.

"I can see it's working on you," She teased with a smile, the fact that it was working filled her with joy. But as the moment moved on she came to the realization she hadn't made a plan for if Spike had gotten the gist but failed to realize it was fully for him, her joy turned to terror at the fact that she had nothing, she took a step back. "Well I...I'll um...keep your words in mind, maybe change before leaving work or um...Yeah," She gave Spike an extremely awkward smile as she began backing up "So did you start working on the..um..binder?" Spike gladly took this excuse to turn away from her and to the bed.

"Yes, I've begun making a list of all the caterers so you can test them and pick the best on to serve at the gala," Spike said as he turned back to her. His face turned a darker shade of red as he looked her in the eyes. He quickly looked away as she backed out of the room.

"Yes, Good… Great, keep up the amazing work Spike," She gave a wave and Spike waved back with an awkward smile.

Soon as she closed the door he lost it and fell to his knees. "Oh shit," He muttered and he thanked Celestia that she missed the bulge in his pants. "She's always been hot but I've never imagined I'd get even a peak of that," Spike lay on the floor as he tried to calm himself down. "I was so unprepared for that," as Spike freaked out silently on the floor Harshwhinny was sitting in front of the door with her hands on her face.

"Of course this had to happen," She muttered "The worst possible outcome, now I know he's attracted to me...and I still have to do something about it!" She got up and rubbed her temple.

Inside the room, Spike got up and performed a breathing exercise Twilight had taught him. He stood in place for a moment until something caught his eye. "Oh no she left me a clipboard with more papers," He groaned as he picked it up. "Why is she so good at handing me work without me realizing...wait what?" Spike looked at the paper at the front of the clipboard, it was an old form from over a month ago, Harshwhinny had made like 12 copies of it and had lost several in her home, Spike looked at the page behind and found the 2nd part of an old memo. "What the hell?" Spike flipped through the pages trying to figure out what she wanted from him until he was left staring at the last page in silence. He read it over and froze as he started sweating. "I'm a fucking idiot," He realized. He ran to the door and slammed it open, making Harshwhinny jump. She had just been about to close her door.

"Spike," She gasped in surprise "is something wrong?"

"I..it...um...you..." Spike took a deep breath and walked to her before handing her the clipboard, the look on her face telling him that she'd forgotten that she'd brought it in with her. "I read the letter in the back!" He practically shouted. There was a heavy silence as Harshwhinny went bright red.

She looked him dead in the eye and he looked her back, sweating slightly. "And?" She shakily questioned.

"I'd love to accept your invitation," Spike replied. He flinched as Harshwhinny dropped her clipboard.

"You would?" her voice was a mixture of amazement and sounding like she was about to cry, "You actually would?"

Spike gave an awkward smile. "It's funny actually," He said as he started sweating, "My letter was a mess," Harshwhinny went wide eyes as Spike spat out a line of green fire and a piece of paper formed, he caught it and handed it to her, the paper was very clearly from their workplace and simply read.

"Mrs.Harshwhinny I would like to... would you like to join me… I know that employees dating is unprofessional but...." Harshwhinny looked in silence at the paper, it was fully covered in Spike's failed attempts to write her a love letter. The last line was the only one not crossed out and simply read, "How's the weather?" She looked up at him in silence.

"I was gonna give it to you last Hearts and Hooves day but...it kind of turned into a mess," Spike pointed his finger in silence. Harshwhinny dropped the letter and pulled him into a hug. Spike blinked as she snuggled into his neck and unwittingly pressed her bust into him.

"You can't begin to imagine how much this means to me," She said. The knowledge that even before she'd cut up her shirt to show off her goods, that he'd been interested was the best gift she could have had. She took a deep breath. "Now I do believe I offered you a date,"

"Well it's raining sideways outside so..."

"Give me an hour," She replied simply "Just relax in your room, forget about the binder. I was just using that to distract you while I came up with a plan."

"Oh...ok?" Spike said as she began pushing him back to the room.

"I'll come get you when it's ready," She said before closing the door.

Spike stood in silence then smiled. "She's so commanding," he said as he picked up the binder and put it on the dresser, "I've always loved that about her." With that, Spike sat on the bed and waited, knowing very well that she already had something planned out.