fic: greta/patrick: there is love to be found
there is love to be found
1,035 words // PG // Greta Salpeter / Patrick Stump
for May 23, 2009.
comments: so awhile ago (a really long time ago) seratonation asked for a greta/anyone drabble on a drabble request post I made. I forgot about it, and then I remembered...and forgot again. But then I remembered, and wrote it! I'm so sorry it took me so long! It's heavily based on this short film by Patrick Hugues. Title from Lisa Germano - From A Shell
looked over by theyreonlyword
disclaimer: i don't own greta or patrick, and i've never met either of them. this is all a big lie.
when patrick moves to the city he’s excited at the prospect of a new beginning. excited to be starting fresh with a clean slate that he can fill up with a new job, new friends, a new life. he takes a temporary nine to five job working in an office where he spends his days making copies of spreadsheets and sitting in on conferences that he never quite understands but it’s all okay because he’s just biding his time, waiting for something better to come his way.
but days pass, months pass, and nothing turns up. his days become routine and he almost forgets that he’s supposed to be looking for a better opportunity. it all fades into the background covered by the noise of the copy machine, and the clicking of keys on keyboards.
every night he returns home to his empty apartment (there are no new friends. in fact, there aren’t even any new acquaintances) a little bit more broken than he had been when he left it that morning. he eats his dinner alone, sometimes watching the bustling city from the window and wondering what it would be like to feel as though he’s part of it. to feel like he’s successfully merged into this new world that he dropped himself into.
in the morning when he wakes it’s to the same alarm clock, in the same bedroom with blank, white walls, with the same exhausted feeling that makes him want to curl into a ball and cry in frustration until he can’t cry anymore. sometimes he thinks he should just give it all up and head back home but he hates the idea of having to face his family as a quitter so he drags himself from his bed and into the bathroom to make himself feel a little bit more human and starts his day.
but then, one day, everything changes.
he’s sitting at his desk watching the clock on his computer tick away the minutes left until he can go home when he turns his head to look out the window with his chin resting on the palm of his hand and a sigh pushing from his lips and there she is. she’s sitting in her chair in the building across the way, fussing with her hair and looking intently at the screen of her computer. she’s beautiful.
his eyes go wide, and she furrows her brows suddenly turning her head and catching him watching her.
jolting, he averts his gaze hastily and stares hard at the desk but she’s like a magnet and he’s tilting his head slowly to the side to peek at her again before he realizes it. she’s glaring back and holds up a piece of paper.
take a picture. it’ll last longer.
patrick flushes crimson all the way up to his ears and averts his eyes but he fails at keeping them away from the window yet again and when he glances back she’s holding up another sign.
kidding. i’m greta.
she’s smiling and patrick frowns, still embarrassed, before grabbing his own piece of paper and scribbling out his name.
patrick.
greta smiles wide and bright and holds up yet another note.
nice 2 meet you.
nice 2 meet you too.
it spirals from there. his days become filled with messages written on blank pieces of paper and every day it’s like he’s coming alive bit by bit. his days get a little bit fuller. a little bit happier. he has a reason to get up in the morning, and he does so eagerly. he looks forward to work and the aching emptiness that was consuming him dissipates.
even on the occasional and increasingly rare bad days she’s always there making faces, sticking out her tongue and scrunching up her nose, and making him smile the first real smiles he’s done in ages and he questions if it’s possible to fall in love with someone you’ve never met.
he’s not ready for it when it all falls apart. not ready for the day when she disappears and some new guy is moving into her office with no warning.
at first he clings to the hope that somehow she’ll contact him, somehow he’ll find her. He keeps his eyes peeled when he’s on the streets, searching and searching but never finding. eventually he gives up hope and begins the slippery slope back into his old ways.
after a few days it’s like she was never there.
it’s an ordinary day and he’s glaring at the clock on his computer screen, willing time to go by faster when he’s blinded by a light in his eyes and he wrinkles his nose, bringing his hand up to block it but it’s persistent, flashing and dancing away as soon as he raises his hand only to come flitting back when he puts it back down. finally he squints and peers out the window to locate the source.
it’s greta. she’s waving and smiling from one story up and a few windows over from where she used to be and patrick’s heart skips a beat as he blinks a few times in disbelief but she’s really there. she’s there and laughing as she waves her message for him to see.
i got a promotion!
patrick still can’t believe his eyes but he grabs the nearest marker and fumbles for a piece of paper.
we should celebrate! want to meet?
and he’s been dying to ask her that forever he just never had the courage because greta is beautiful, and funny, and dorky and amazing and she’s like sunshine during a rainy, cold day. and patrick…patrick works a nine to five job that he hates in a city that he doesn’t belong in and he’s the furthest thing from sunshine there is. he’s the clouds that cover the sun and make everything dark and gray. he never thought that she would ever really want to meet him.
i thought you’d never ask.
her answer is spelled out, black on white, plain as day and patrick’s heart leaps to his throat.
they grin at each other for a long moment before patrick turns and flees the office and as he races outside to greet her he feels warm all over, and better than he’s ever felt.
end.
1,035 words // PG // Greta Salpeter / Patrick Stump
for May 23, 2009.
comments: so awhile ago (a really long time ago) seratonation asked for a greta/anyone drabble on a drabble request post I made. I forgot about it, and then I remembered...and forgot again. But then I remembered, and wrote it! I'm so sorry it took me so long! It's heavily based on this short film by Patrick Hugues. Title from Lisa Germano - From A Shell
looked over by theyreonlyword
disclaimer: i don't own greta or patrick, and i've never met either of them. this is all a big lie.
when patrick moves to the city he’s excited at the prospect of a new beginning. excited to be starting fresh with a clean slate that he can fill up with a new job, new friends, a new life. he takes a temporary nine to five job working in an office where he spends his days making copies of spreadsheets and sitting in on conferences that he never quite understands but it’s all okay because he’s just biding his time, waiting for something better to come his way.
but days pass, months pass, and nothing turns up. his days become routine and he almost forgets that he’s supposed to be looking for a better opportunity. it all fades into the background covered by the noise of the copy machine, and the clicking of keys on keyboards.
every night he returns home to his empty apartment (there are no new friends. in fact, there aren’t even any new acquaintances) a little bit more broken than he had been when he left it that morning. he eats his dinner alone, sometimes watching the bustling city from the window and wondering what it would be like to feel as though he’s part of it. to feel like he’s successfully merged into this new world that he dropped himself into.
in the morning when he wakes it’s to the same alarm clock, in the same bedroom with blank, white walls, with the same exhausted feeling that makes him want to curl into a ball and cry in frustration until he can’t cry anymore. sometimes he thinks he should just give it all up and head back home but he hates the idea of having to face his family as a quitter so he drags himself from his bed and into the bathroom to make himself feel a little bit more human and starts his day.
but then, one day, everything changes.
he’s sitting at his desk watching the clock on his computer tick away the minutes left until he can go home when he turns his head to look out the window with his chin resting on the palm of his hand and a sigh pushing from his lips and there she is. she’s sitting in her chair in the building across the way, fussing with her hair and looking intently at the screen of her computer. she’s beautiful.
his eyes go wide, and she furrows her brows suddenly turning her head and catching him watching her.
jolting, he averts his gaze hastily and stares hard at the desk but she’s like a magnet and he’s tilting his head slowly to the side to peek at her again before he realizes it. she’s glaring back and holds up a piece of paper.
take a picture. it’ll last longer.
patrick flushes crimson all the way up to his ears and averts his eyes but he fails at keeping them away from the window yet again and when he glances back she’s holding up another sign.
kidding. i’m greta.
she’s smiling and patrick frowns, still embarrassed, before grabbing his own piece of paper and scribbling out his name.
patrick.
greta smiles wide and bright and holds up yet another note.
nice 2 meet you.
nice 2 meet you too.
it spirals from there. his days become filled with messages written on blank pieces of paper and every day it’s like he’s coming alive bit by bit. his days get a little bit fuller. a little bit happier. he has a reason to get up in the morning, and he does so eagerly. he looks forward to work and the aching emptiness that was consuming him dissipates.
even on the occasional and increasingly rare bad days she’s always there making faces, sticking out her tongue and scrunching up her nose, and making him smile the first real smiles he’s done in ages and he questions if it’s possible to fall in love with someone you’ve never met.
he’s not ready for it when it all falls apart. not ready for the day when she disappears and some new guy is moving into her office with no warning.
at first he clings to the hope that somehow she’ll contact him, somehow he’ll find her. He keeps his eyes peeled when he’s on the streets, searching and searching but never finding. eventually he gives up hope and begins the slippery slope back into his old ways.
after a few days it’s like she was never there.
it’s an ordinary day and he’s glaring at the clock on his computer screen, willing time to go by faster when he’s blinded by a light in his eyes and he wrinkles his nose, bringing his hand up to block it but it’s persistent, flashing and dancing away as soon as he raises his hand only to come flitting back when he puts it back down. finally he squints and peers out the window to locate the source.
it’s greta. she’s waving and smiling from one story up and a few windows over from where she used to be and patrick’s heart skips a beat as he blinks a few times in disbelief but she’s really there. she’s there and laughing as she waves her message for him to see.
i got a promotion!
patrick still can’t believe his eyes but he grabs the nearest marker and fumbles for a piece of paper.
we should celebrate! want to meet?
and he’s been dying to ask her that forever he just never had the courage because greta is beautiful, and funny, and dorky and amazing and she’s like sunshine during a rainy, cold day. and patrick…patrick works a nine to five job that he hates in a city that he doesn’t belong in and he’s the furthest thing from sunshine there is. he’s the clouds that cover the sun and make everything dark and gray. he never thought that she would ever really want to meet him.
i thought you’d never ask.
her answer is spelled out, black on white, plain as day and patrick’s heart leaps to his throat.
they grin at each other for a long moment before patrick turns and flees the office and as he races outside to greet her he feels warm all over, and better than he’s ever felt.
end.