#frayed edges

He stumbled on the same curb that tripped him up when he had gone for the interview, and even that didn’t ruin his mood.

Austin had gotten a job straight out of college. Granted, his best friend was a culinary major, and London had a great many restaurants that needed chefs.

There were not as many opportunities in the fashion industry, Rudy had discovered.

All of the high profile brands were difficult to get into, especially for someone like him. It was all about connections, and of those Rudy had none.

It didn’t take him long to get to the Vanadis office building. It towered over him, rows and rows of windows lining the walls. In terms of London skyscrapers it was tiny, but to Rudy it looked like the top floors could reach into the clouds.

He waved a cheerful greeting to the receptionist on his way in. The building itself felt different from the first time he came here. During his interview it had seemed unattainable, but now? 

Here he was, on the first step of his journey.

He sped through the foyer all the way to the elevators at the back. The first was at the top of the building but luckily the other was just closing as he arrived.

“Hold it,” he called. “Hold the elevator!”

He managed to stick his arm in at the last second, the doors bumping against his hand and opening back up to reveal the elevator's only occupant.

The first thing Rudy noticed about the man in the elevator was his eyes, which was odd because usually the first thing Rudy noticed about people was their clothes. It was like a game in his brain where he had to figure out exactly what fabric someone was wearing as fast as possible or else he would lose.

Rudy couldn’t help but notice his eyes first because the second he was in front of him it was like he was pinned in place. Maybe it was because of how piercing they were, a deep blue that sparkled in the brightness of the elevator. Maybe it was the sharp black eyeliner and that framed them, or the way that he squinted them slightly as he looked Rudy up and down.

“Well?” he asked, his voice low and smooth. “Are you getting in or not?”

The doors were already closing again so he rushed into the elevator, turning to press number eight on the button panel. It was already lit up so he turned to the blue-eyed man.

“Up to Statistics too?” he asked. Rudy gave him no time to answer, however, instead barreling on. “It’s my first day here, actually. How long have you worked here for?”

“I haven’t,” he replied, finally turning to Rudy. “It’s my first day too.”

“Perfect!” said Rudy, clapping his hands together a tad too forcefully. “We’ll learn the ropes together, then.”

“My name is Hugo. And yours?”

“Rudy.”

“Is that some kind of nickname?”

“Yeah,” Rudy admitted, then winced, his years old lie completely slipped his mind. This guy was unsettling him.

“What’s your full name, then?”

This was entirely his fault.

“I meant yes! Rudy Wallis, that’s my name, on the birth certificate and everything.”

“Right,” said Hugo, looking him up and down again but this time with a hint of  suspicion. He opened his mouth to say something else, probably to call Rudy out on his blatant lie, but he was saved by the elevator ding.

Hugo set off at a brisk walk the moment the elevator door opened enough for him to fit through. Rudy caught the soft scent of sandalwood as the air rushed past him.

It took him a few seconds too many to start catching up at a jog, following his new coworker down a long, bright hallway.

From his speed it looked like Hugo knew where he was going so Rudy followed him, stopping short when he turned to face one of the various hallways.

Rudy, slightly off balance, stumbled and knocked against him, earning him an irritated scowl.

The door opened just before Rudy could apologise and a stout looking bald man swung the door open.

“Both of you, one and a half minutes late!” he said, looking at each of them and narrowing his eyes. He moved to the side and gestured them in. “Well come on now, otherwise that’ll be two minutes!”

Rudy and Hugo glanced at each other before venturing into the room. The floor to ceiling windows let the morning light shine across what Rudy assumed to be their desks. A glass door at the far end of the room showed the end of another desk in a separate office off to the side, this one cluttered, a stack of paperwork at least a foot tall towering off it.

“So which one is Hugo and which one is—”

“He’s Hugo, I’m the other one. You can call me Rudy,” he said in a panic, immediately trying to cover his earlier lie. He held out his hand in a last ditch effort to be polite. “What’s your name?”

“Marvin,” he said, reaching out to shake his hand.

“It’s a pleasure to be working for you, Marvin. I adored Vanadis’ Fall line last year. I'm delighted to help the company continue to succeed,” said Hugo, stepping in front of Rudy and taking Marvin's outstretched hand before he got the chance to grasp it. He got another whiff of that sandalwood perfume as Hugo pulled away from the handshake and tried dutifully to ignore it.

“Decide between yourselves which desk you want,” Marvin said, waving a hand limply in the direction of the two desks in the room. 

“Now follow me!” he said, leading them on a tour of the office.

For someone with such short legs Marvin was fast as a bullet as he led them down the hallway and into one of the various doors.

“This is Sales. We work closely with them in Statistics, so familiarise yourself with the people in this department.”

As he explained, a thin woman with a bob way too short to suit her got up from her desk and approached the three of them. She held her hand out to Rudy to shake. Her grip was too tight and hands slightly clammy, making for an unpleasant interaction. She shifted her hand over to take Hugo’s who gave it a single shake before letting go.

Rudy wondered if he, too, was resisting wiping his hand on his trousers.

The trousers that were definitely cotton twill with a satin finish. As Hugo walked next to Marvin in front of him Rudy noticed his shoes had a heel on it, only a few inches, but enough to accentuate the length of his legs.

“I’m Josephine, delighted to meet you both. I’m sure we’ll have loads of time to chat later. This is Amy and Chase, my little helpers,” she said with a grin. Rudy found that a little infantilising but he tried not to let it show on his face.

Austin always told him he was way too expressive, his features always answering before he got the chance. It had gotten him in trouble countless times throughout his life and Rudy was desperate to break the pattern in this job.

“Hugo Barret, nice to meet you,” he said, nodding over to Amy and Chase as well.

“Come find me in the lunch room, okay?” Josephine said, reaching out and placing a soggy hand on top of Rudy’s. He moved to the side slightly trying to avoid her, bumping his shoulder into Hugo’s in the process.

“Will do!” he replied, way too enthusiastic despite knowing he would be avoiding this woman at all costs.

“Fashion designers, Operations and R&D are the floor above us, but there's no point going up there seeing as only one of you will get the permanent position. Too many names to try and remember up there, not when you might not even stay with the company.”

“I beg your pardon?” said Hugo, stopping short in the hallway.

“Only one of us gets the permanent position?” asked Rudy.

“Well yes,” said Marvin as if it was obvious, but Rudy was sure that wasn’t in the job description when he applied.

“Once the Spring/Summer fashion season dies down we’ll let one of you go. An up and coming company like this has to make smart moves, adapt with the seasons, I’m sure you guys understand.”

“Who chooses who gets to stay?” Rudy asked, sharing a dubious look with Hugo.

“Me, of course. So, I guess, both of you better impress me with your work here.” Marvin walked away like he hadn’t just triggered emergency mode in Rudy’s head, sirens on full blast.

This was his first proper corporate job, a stepping stone into becoming a real fashion designer some day, and it might fall through?

Not even ‘might’, up against Hugo he had no chance.

Hugo was elegant, sophisticated, clearly experienced in the world Rudy was trying to claw his way into. How was he supposed to compete with him?

Rudy spiralled for the rest of the tour, already at the ‘dread’ stage by the time Marvin was showing them the lunch room.

Once they had retraced their way back to their own office in silence Marvin gestured to the room behind the glass door.

“That’s my office. Don’t come in unless I ask you to, and always knock! Got it?”

“Yes,” replied Hugo.

“Loud and clear!” said Rudy.

“I’ll assign you a task after lunch, so don’t bother me until then, for now, get familiar with our systems.” Once he was finished Marvin turned and strode away and through the glass door, leaving them both alone for the first time since their meeting in the elevator.

Hugo walked over to the desk closest to the window. Rudy watched as he pulled out the chair with a flourish before sitting down.

“You’re not even going to ask which desk I would like?” He asked, because he really had wanted the one by the window.

“Why should I?”

“Because… Well, just because,” was the only reason Rudy could come up with and now he just felt stupid.

Hugo pulled the chair out and leaned back comfortably, a beam of light hitting his hair, making it shine a brighter, honey blond colour. “I take action, and go for what I want. And that, darling, is why I am going to get this job and you are not.”

“You think I don’t take action?” Rudy asked, stepping closer to the desk. “I’ll take action right now!”

He marched over to Marvin’s office and knocked on the door.

“I just told you not to disturb me!” Marvin called. “What is it?”

He opened the door hesitantly, trying to think of something to say.

“I just wanted to get you something,” he said, not a clue of what that something was. He leaned into Marvin’s office and spotted an empty coffee cup on a thin bookshelf.

“I’ll get you a coffee! All that showing us around must have been exhausting, it’s the least I could do!” he said.

“Finally a good idea out of one of you,” Marvin said, which didn’t make much sense to Rudy because he and Hugo had only been working here for thirty minutes.

Marvin started listing out a complicated sounding coffee order while going flicking through the paperwork in front of him. Rudy tried his hardest to listen to him, but he could also see Hugo out of the corner of his eye crossing his arms over his chest and huffing. He leaned back out of the doorframe slightly to stick out his tongue, satisfied at the way Hugo’s eyes widened in shock at his rudeness before reverting attention back to his new boss.

“Did you get all that, kid?” Marvin asked.

Rudy nodded eagerly. “Yes, your coffee’s coming right up!”

He smugly ignored Hugo’s glare that followed him as he crossed their shared office space. He looked up the nearest coffee shop and was delighted to find out it was two blocks away, so he set off on his way with a grin.

A grin that fell off after the first block as he processed what had just happened.

Rudy had wished he had known that this might not even be permanent, his opportunity snatched away by some posh asshole.

How on earth was he supposed to compete with Hugo? 

He looked older, in his late twenties or even early thirties, so he definitely had more experience. He was well groomed, wearing a suit, a proper one.

Rudy did not own any suits.

He had made a couple and sold them, but he didn’t own any himself.

Rounding the corner, he recalled what Hugo had said to him.

I take action, and go for what I want. And that, darling, is why I am going to get this job and you are not.

It was clear what Hugo thought of him. It was the same thing pretty much everyone in Rudy’s life (except the Murreys, of course) decided about him as soon as he met them.

That he was inattentive, disorganised and chaotic. Not professional in the slightest. He hadn’t been taught manners or how to act around all these business people, so he wouldn’t fit in even if he tried.

Hugo looked like he belonged there, while Rudy was the inexperienced newbie that would get tossed to the side the moment the company had to save money.

Here he was though, showing initiative and getting his new boss a coffee, surely that would give him a one up on Hugo, even if it was only for today.

It wasn’t until after he had stepped into the coffee shop, waiting not-so-patiently in the queue, and was asked by a tired looking barista what he wanted did he realise that he hadn’t the faintest idea.

“Uhh…what have you got?”

Instead of answering, the barista just pointed up at the menu hanging behind them.

Rudy scanned it and ordered the first word he recognised. 

“A latte, please!”

“Sugar?”

“…Yes.”

The barista sighed. “Is this, like, your first time ordering coffee or something?”

Rudy saw the judgement in their eyes and didn’t want to admit that yes, he had never ordered a coffee before.

Tea, he knew. Tea was what he survived on as a kid as soon as he figured out how to fill and boil the kettle. It warmed him up, staved off the hunger, and tasted strong, one of the only more flavourful things he had to consume.

“Cow milk, oat milk, almond milk or soya milk?” they asked.

He had no idea which one to choose. He had always drunk his tea black with a tonne of sugar, never with milk. He had had to rely on his parents to restock it when it went off, and that didn’t happen often, so he opted not to bother. 

“...Oat?” he said, the barista confused at his uncertainty as they began making it.

Rudy was sure it would be fine, it's just coffee, there’s no way he messed the order up that bad. He got back to Vanadis office building a few minutes later, carefully holding the cup, eyeing it as if it was going to jump out of his hand at any moment.

He shot Hugo a smug smile as he passed him, knocking on Marvin’s door and holding out the coffee to him once it opened. Marvin took a long swig of it, frowned in disgust, and then handed it back to Rudy.

“What is this?” He demanded.

“Your coffee,” Rudy said.

“That,” Marvin gestured to the cup in Rudy’s hands, “is not my coffee! What is that, almond milk? Disgusting!”

“It’s oat,” Rudy informed him.

Marvin made a very childish ‘yuck’ sound. “Oat? That’s even worse than almond.”

“I’m sorry, I—”

“Throw it in the bin!” Marvin said, shutting the door in Rudy’s face.

“That went well,” came Hugo’s drawling voice just behind him, making Rudy jump and step back, right onto Hugo’s foot. Rudy now counted three times where he had unintentionally crashed into Hugo and it wasn’t even lunchtime.

Hugo hissed in pain. Rudy whirled around, another apology on his lips, but again he was interrupted.

“I’ll just take this,” said Hugo, plucking the coffee cup from Rudy’s grasp before walking up to the bin in the corner of the room, dropping it in unceremoniously.

Rudy grumbled, finally making his way over to his desk and flopping down into the chair, head dropping into his hands, already disheartened not even an hour into his first day at Vanadis.

He expected Hugo to retreat to his own desk, but instead the older man walked over to Rudy’s, towering over it.

Rudy looked up at him, frowning as Hugo placed a piece of paper onto his desk. “Our first assignment. Marvin gave it to me while you were out getting the wrong coffee.”

Rudy sat up, narrowing his eyes at Hugo. “Why are you helping me? We’re basically rivals now.”

Hugo scoffed, placing a hand on the desk and leaning over him. “As if you have a chance of winning. Giving you this isn’t going to make much of a difference. I’m the one that’s going to get the permanent position, darling. I thought that was obvious.”

Rudy’s mouth dropped open, ready to curse Hugo out but not able to think of a single insult to hurl at him. Hugo smiled at him sweetly, turning on his heel and retreating back to his own desk.

Chapter 2 - Hugo

Hugo hated his new coworker, which was unfortunate because Rudy was exactly his type. Dark hair, littered with freckles, bright brown eyes sparkling with enthusiasm.

The exact kind of person who, under different circumstances, would distract Hugo from his current goal of finding a decent company that would employ him.

He had, unfortunately, resorting to lying which wasn’t something Hugo had really done before. He liked to think of himself as a fairly honest person, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

One of those desperate measures was waiting until Rudy had already exited the office before calling the elevator to get down to the street, and even lingered slightly to make sure he had fully left the building.

The fact that he had to compete with Rudy to get the permanent position was appalling. Usually Hugo wouldn't stand for such disrespect but right now he was desperate, so he was determined to suck it up and get on with it.

Heading back to his crowded flat, Hugo tried to decide what to sell next. He drove around London for a while before stopping off to buy some new school shoes for Amelia.

The first paycheck from Vanadis wouldn’t come until the end of the month and his savings were shrinking day by day. He really shouldn't be wasting fuel, but he enjoyed the quiet of his car, the low rumble as he drove around.

His penthouse apartment, once spacious for one, was now housing four people and was so loud he could barely hear himself think.

Annalise jumped on him the moment he stepped through the door, demanding to try Amelia’s new shoes on.

“But they’re not hers!” Amelia wailed as she followed behind her twin sister.

“I know, love, I’m not going to let her,” He passed the bag over both of their heads to his mother, who leaned forward to kiss him on the cheek in greeting.

“How was your first day?” she asked, taking each of her daughters hands and guiding them away from their big brother.

“It was alright,” he said. He had already decided not to tell her that the job at Vanadis might not be permanent. There was no reason to make his mother more stressed than she already was.

As a treat she had cooked his favourite meal, succulent beef bourguignon with creamy mashed potatoes. She silenced her phone with a frown and slipped it into her pocket as she plated up the meal. 

The twins managed to get it all over their faces, and he watched in amusement as his mother wiped chunks of potato from their faces.

It wasn’t so bad, having them live with him. There wasn’t anything else he could think to do when their lives blew up eight months ago. While he longed for his own space back he did love having his mother and sisters so close, especially since he hadn’t really seen them for years prior.

They were catching up for lost time, he supposed.

His mother put the girls to bed in his bedroom. The girls shared his bed, his mother sleeping on a spare single bed Hugo had purchased and managed to fit into his bedroom when they moved in.

Hugo took the sofa bed in the living room, he had insisted on it. He knew what his mother and sisters were used to, the luxury they had lived with all of their lives. They had lost so much already, he didn’t want them to lose out on a decent place to sleep as well.

Hugo’s mind usually raced these days as he was trying to fall asleep, but tonight his thoughts were singular, of freckled cheeks and a cocky grin.

The steaming cup of coffee warmed Hugo’s hands as he held it outstretched to Marvin. “Cappuchino, two pumps of Hazelnut syrup, with cow's milk,” he added that last part just to drive the point home to Rudy, who was sitting at his desk, mouth agape.

“Just how I like it!” Marvin pointedly looked at Rudy after taking a sip. Hugo had to fight the satisfied grin from his lips.

He retreated back into his office and suddenly Rudy was walking up to him, wagging his finger accusingly.

“I can’t believe you!” he said. “You did that just to show me up.”

“That had absolutely nothing to do with you and everything to do with me getting the position,” he watched as a frustrated flush blossomed between Rudy’s freckles. “It’s not my fault you didn’t take the initiative, Rudy.”

He pushed him out of the way with his shoulder as he stepped past to get to his desk.

He's cute when he’s flustered, is the kind of thought that would be distracting. Luckily Hugo was resisting that, so he opened up his computer and sent the latest in a long line of emails to Marketing.

It didn’t help his case that Rudy kept shooting him angry looks from across the room every few minutes.

Okay, fine. He had done it to get under Rudy’s skin, but that was only part of it. A small part. The rest really was to get ahead and win over Marvin.

When he left for lunch he came across Josephine and her ‘little helpers’ already sitting down and eating. While he didn’t particularly like Josephine just from her introduction he knew how important it was to get along with your coworkers, so he resolved to make the effort.

Unfortunately, it seemed Rudy had the exact same idea.

He sidled up beside him, shoulders and feet knocking against Hugo’s as he sat down.

“Good afternoon Josephine,” Hugo said.

“Oh, call me Josie, everybody does. Now, how are you two finding it?”

“Good!” exclaimed Rudy way too quickly.

“Well, if you need to know anything just ask me. I know everything around here! Like how Terry from marketing had a fling with Donna from Sales before they both worked here.”

And just like that the office gossip had been identified.

“How did you find that out?” he asked, feigning interest. 

“Oh I have my sources,” she said, laughing to herself.

Hugo did not think gossip was funny. He would need to be mindful of anyone that might go around trying to dig up secrets.

“How is it working with Marvin?” asked Amy.

“That guy is very particular about his coffee,” said Rudy.

“That wasn’t being ‘precise’, that was you getting the complete wrong order. You should have been paying attention instead of sticking your tongue out at me!”

Rudy clearly hadn’t been expecting him to call him out, the tips of his ears going red and mouth opening and closing silently.

“Anyway, working with Marvin has been alright so far, I have no doubt he will make the correct choice in whose contract to renew at the end of the Spring season,” he drawled.

“Oh, they’re only keeping one of you?” asked Josie, her eyes lighting up with a new tidbit to spread around Vanadis.

“Hugo’s wrong. He just thinks he’ll get it because he has more experience,” said Rudy. Hugo scowled at him while delicately eating his sandwich. “I didn’t get everything handed to me, I'm used to working hard for what I get, and I’m definitely getting this position.”

Hugo could commend his passion but it was clear Rudy didn’t have what it takes. He couldn’t even pay attention long enough to learn his boss’ coffee order.