Chapter Text
Prompt by @sobercatnip
when rio accidentally mixes up her work notes and reveals her secret crush on her boss, agatha, their professional relationship takes a hilariously awkward turn.
If you had asked 19-year-old Rio if she would still be at The Coven at the age of 28, she would’ve laughed in your face and told you she was only taking the internship for her college credit.
9 years ago:
“So this internship, it’s just for the summer? What are you even going to do?” Alice asked Rio as she packed her backpack with her laptop and a few granola bars. “I’m not quite sure, I just know I need this stupid credit taken care of, I think we get assigned a rando at the office,” Rio said as she grabbed a banana from the counter right as Alice was reaching for it.
“Hey! I was going to eat that!” Alice said as Rio smirked at her while slinging her backpack over her shoulder “I’ll get you a new one, I’m sure there is a lot of free shit there anyways” Rio said as Alice rolled her eyes.
“Fine, break a leg today, and don’t break anything. My mom talked you up to Lilia, I don’t want her to regret it,” Alice said as Rio laughed, “don’t worry. I’ll be on my best behavior,” Rio said before she slid out the door and hopped on her bike.
Alice’s mom had a friend named Lilia who was a part of HR at a company called “The Coven”, from the brief research Rio had done, they were a large scale publishing company that focused on female, BIPOC, and queer writers- something Rio could vibe with and it happened to be a quick 20 minute bike ride from her small flat she shared with Alice.
Once Rio rode into the parking lot of the massive skyscraper, she looked around for the bike rack, only to find one sad excuse for a slightly standing, rusty bike rack with a wheelless bike attached to the end of it. Rio sighed as she picked up her bike and went inside. She spent good money on this bike, leaving it outside without a secure place to lock it up was basically asking for it to be stolen.
Rio looked around the busy lobby. Lots of people were moving about, from men in pressed suits to women in pencil skirts, and Rio felt slightly underdressed in her burgundy blouse and black jeans. ‘Oh well, they’ll just chalk it up to me being an intern,’ she thought to herself before walking up to the long dictionary on the wall, finding The Coven with the number 13 on it, Rio smirked at herself- ‘clever’ she thought as she went into the elevator. Luckily, she was the only one who went inside before multiple people walked up to the doors, looked her and her bike up and down, before shuffling away.
Rio smiled as the doors began to finally close before a long arm with black sparkly painted fingernails flew in between the doors, catching them right before they closed. Rio groaned inwardly, looking forward to her solo ride up, but then she tilted her head as she saw a man stand in front of her, a bit out of breath. He was tall and lanky with black curly hair, and looked to be about her age, maybe even younger.
“Number thir-” the man began to say before he smiled, noticing Rio had already hit the number ‘13’ on the elevator doors.
“Are you also interning at The Coven?” The man asked as Rio nodded.
“Yeah, are you?” Rio said, looking the man up and down once more, who was still working on catching his breath.
“Yes, I am SO excited to work for them, I know it’s just an internship, but I’m hopeful with time and commitment, I could secure a full-time position here,” he said, grinning as Rio laughed.
“What?” The man asked, “Oh, nothing, just- this is just an internship. I’m just trying to get the credit, and go,” Rio said as the man shrugged, “at least that means I don’t have to worry about you taking any spots. My name is Billy, by the way, Billy Maximoff,” Billy said as Rio smiled, “Rio, Rio Vidal. I like your nails by the way, Billy,” Rio said as Billy gleamed.
“Thank you! My boyfriend thought the sparkle was too much, but I told him there is NO such thing as too much spa-” Billy began to ramble on before the elevator door dinged and opened to the thirteenth floor.
As the doors opened, Billy and Rio walked in to see organized chaos, people were running between meeting rooms, doors shutting, and phones constantly ringing. Rio tried to figure out where to look before both she and Billy jumped as a smaller, older woman somehow magically appeared in front of them.
“Eek!” Billy yelped as Rio's hands slipped from her bike, causing it to tip over before the woman's hand grabbed the orange bike’s handles.
“You two must be the last of our interns,” the woman said as Rio and Billy both nodded quickly. “Good, my name is Lilia, Lilia Calderu, and you are?” Lilia asked as Billy extended his hand before looking to see Lilia’s already preoccupied hands bringing Rio’s bike back upright and quickly bringing his arm back, “Billy, and uh, this is Rio!” Billy said as Rio smiled.
“Billy and Rio- you are the girl Lorna was telling me about, nice to meet you both. You both just barely made it. Please join the other interns in the conference room to your left, Rio. I’m assuming this is your bike?” Lilia asked as Rio nodded. “Yes, my pair of wings if you may,” Rio said as Lilia laughed, “well, your pair of wings will be stored in our kitchen. Is that alright?” Lilia asked as Rio nodded, “that works! As long as no one steals it,” Rio said as Lilia smirked.
“I’ll keep it in my office,” Lilia said before wheeling Rio’s bike away as Billy and she went into the conference room, both sliding into the last two seats.
“Alright, everyone, my name is Jennifer Kale. I am the lead hiring manager here, and will be in charge of your evaluations, and whether you will remain here or not. Now that everyone is here, I assume you’ve all watched the required onboarding videos and reviewed the HR policies that Lilia sent over?” The woman said as everyone nodded.
“Perfect, attached in these packets are information on your supervisor, what sort of role and projects they have going on, and what your role will be. A lot of them are in meetings at the moment, so once they are free I’ll take you over to their office. Any questions?” Jennifer said as the room remained silent, as Jennifer handed out the folders to the ten individuals in the room. Once she handed Rio her assigned purple folder,
“purple hm?” Rio said as Jennifer snorted, “yeah, she’s a nerd for that color.” Jennifer said as Rio raised her eyebrow, who?
Rio opened the file to see her supervisor's assignment, 'A. Harkness.' Rio said out loud to herself.
“Oh shit, you have Harkness?” Billy asked as Rio raised her eyebrow.“Yeah, is that an issue? Want to trade?” Rio asked as she glanced at Billy’s assignment, Lilia. “Oh no way, she’s all yours, she’s uh- got a bit of a reputation here,” Billy said as Rio opened her mouth to ask more before Jennifer appeared next to you.
“Ready to go, Rio?” Jennifer asked as Rio nodded, grabbing her backpack before throwing Billy a quick smile and following Jennifer down the hall, who was moving at the pace of a sprinter.
“Alright, a few things to know: she likes her coffee hot with an ice cube, one ice cube in it, hates small talk, and she hates phone calls- will avoid them like the plague,” Jennifer said as Rio nodded.
“Right, okay, so she hates multiple things, got it,” Rio said as Jennifer laughed before they turned the corner to a quieter area of their office building. There was a small desk in front of the closed office door. Jennifer knocked twice on the door before Rio heard a muttered ‘come in’ as Jennifer opened the door and Rio peeked inside to see a woman wearing glasses typing quickly with her eyes glued to the screen.
“Agatha...” Jennifer said as the woman continued to type,
“Agatha.” Jennifer said with a bit more bite, causing Agatha's eyes to snap up, meeting Rio’s.
Rio’s breath caught in her throat, the older woman’s blue eyes narrowed in on her before taking her in. Rio could feel her eyes trailing up and down her body, causing heat to rise through her body all the way up to her ears.
“Agatha, this is your intern, Rio Vidal. Rio, this is Agatha,” Jennifer said as Agatha nodded. “Got it, thank you, Jen,” Agatha said as Jennifer rolled her eyes. “It’s Jennifer.” Jennifer said as Agatha smiled, “thanks, Jen. I’ll take it from here,” Agatha said as Jennifer groaned and walked out of the office, leaving Rio standing there alone.
“Take a seat, intern,” Agatha said as she closed her laptop, and Rio took a seat and took in the woman in front of her. Her hair was down, tucked behind her ears it fell down her shoulders, the dark brown contrasting against her white blouse.
“So, did you get the last pick or something?” Agatha asked as Rio laughed, “if you count almost running late, then yes, but I don’t mind a challenge. As long as you treat me better than you do that porthos,” Rio said, pointing to the yellow, wilting porthos sitting on Agatha’s window. Agatha looked back at the plant and laughed, “I can’t make any promises.” Agatha said as Rio nodded.
“Okay, so word on the street is that you hate phone calls, and small talk- anything else I should know?” Rio asked as Agatha pointed to a stack of papers.
“I’m old school, I don’t like transferring all my shit online, that’ll be your main job. You’ll join me for client meetings, presentations, etc. I need you to take written notes and then make sure they get stored on the share drive or else Jen might have an aneurysm and as much as I’d love to see that, Lilia says I’m already ‘on thin ice’ with Jen, so this is my version of meeting her halfway.” Agatha said as Rio nodded, eyeing the large stack of papers.
“I’m assuming you haven’t had any of this digitized since your last intern?” Rio asked as Agatha gasped, placing a hand on her chest, “how dare you accuse me of such a thing! Heaven forbid a woman likes to keep her space-” Agatha says as she begins to look around, “a fire hazard? Yeah, I get it. I’ll get right to it, boss,” Rio said as Agatha smiled, nodding, “I’ll be in and out of meetings today- but if you need anything, ask Jen.” Agatha said as Rio raised her eyebrow, unsure if she was being serious or not.
“Kidding, all you have to do is just knock twice, and I'll be at your beck and call.” Agatha said, winking at Rio, who quickly nodded and grabbed the stack of papers before walking out of Agatha’s office, trying to hide the blush that was creeping up her cheeks. Rio set the papers down and glanced down the hall to see Billy walking into the kitchen. Rio glanced back to see Agatha busy at work before she quickly went down the hallway to the kitchen and grabbed hold of Billy’s arm.
“Hey! How is your first day going? I am lovinggg Lilia, we already have inside jokes-” Billy said as Rio cut him off “you didn’t tell me Agatha Harkness was hot.” Rio spat as Billy raised an eyebrow.
“Rio, I am gay, gay, gayy, she’s gorgeous of course, and I wish I knew her skincare routine, but- wait.” Billy said, looking Rio up and down and smirking, “but it doesn't matter what I think, does it? Because you think she's hot. Well, I’ll be dammed, I guess the combat boots should’ve been a giveaway” Billy said, glancing down at her boots as Rio whacked his arm.
“Shut up,” Rio said as Billy laughed, “your secret is safe with me,” Billy said as Rio rolled her eyes, “there is no secret. I just thought she was hot. For one second, and then it went away. It’s just an internship anyway, I’ll be out of here in a few months anyway,” Rio said as Billy rolled his eyes, “suree. I cannot wait to be coworkers!” Billy said as Rio whacked him once more, “ow!” Billy said as Rio blew him a kiss before walking out of the kitchen and back down the hallway.
‘It was a brief thought, nothing more, you are here for the credit and that’s it,’ Rio told herself as she sat down, looking at the dusty desk in front of her and then the stack of paper as she took a deep breath in, “here we go.” Rio said as she opened her laptop and began to type.
Current Day:
Rio rubbed her temples, glancing at the clock, which read 10:14 pm. She flipped through her intern's notes. Did they no longer teach students how to write anymore? Rio swore the words were tied together in one long, incoherent line of rubbish.
“What are you still doing here?” Rio heard a voice come from behind her as she jumped, noticing Agatha, who was sliding on her jacket as she walked out of her office.
“Oh just well, Tommy’s handwriting is shit.” Rio said as Agatha laughed picking up the piece of paper “oh shit. You weren’t kidding.” Agatha said as she brought her glasses down that were pushed back on top of her head, as she squinted her eyes. Rio always liked the way Agatha’s glasses looked, even though as time went on, she refused she needed them, even though Rio had quietly been purchasing extra pairs for her as she would need them for almost everything.
“Now you know how I felt when you began,” Agatha said as Rio rolled her eyes, snatching the paper back, “no way. I was never this bad, and I also kept your plants alive, and you at times, thank you very much,” Rio said as Agatha waved her right hand up as if to dismiss her.
“Oh, please, that was like one time. And I have a green thumb,” Agatha said, looking back into her office, where now there was a healthy porthos, succulent orchid, and a small lemon tree.
“Right, and just like when I went on vacation for a week, I came back to see that you somehow almost drowned Louise,” Rio said.
“Rio, they are plants- there is no need for names,” Agatha said as Rio stood up, closing her laptop. “It’s what helps keep them alive, heaven knows you don’t,” Rio said as Agatha rolled her eye, yet Rio didn’t miss the small smile growing on her lips.
They walked in restful silence towards the exit of the building before Rio pulled out a set of keys that opened Lilia’s office to pick up her bike. Rio poked her head in as her eyes widened; her orange bike was nowhere to be seen.
“Oh my god, did someone-” Rio said, panicked as she went inside Lilia’s office, her eyes frantically looking around.
“You okay?” Agatha asked as she came inside Lilia’s office to see Rio looking around quickly, “uh- I think Lilia might’ve taken my bike? Or Billy god damn it.” Rio said as Agatha raised her eyebrow, “do either of them scream athletic butch to you?” Agatha asked as Rio let out a sigh, “god no, Billy would fall off and Lilia is above doing exercise to get herself around, but I don’t know where else it would be.” Rio said as she watched Agatha walk over to Lilia’s closet and open the door.
“Bingo,” Agatha said as Rio watched her lift the bike off the mount on the wall.
Now, Rio should’ve been thinking about how sweet it was that Lilia had installed a mount in her closet to hold her bike, however, all Rio could focus on was Agatha’s arms. Her strong, visable arms.
The way her biceps flexed as she lifted the bike up, Rio’s eyes trailed up Agatha’s strong arms to her shoulder blades, which were tucked under the light blue fabric of her boatneck dress. God, how could a woman look that good, carrying a bike and in heels? Rio let her mind slip briefly thinking of Agatha's arms wrapped around her, holding down- Rio snapped herself out of it before shaking her head, what the fuck?
“Here you go, problem solved,” Agatha said, snapping Rio out of her inappropriate thoughts, back to reality, her boss, her untouchable, don’t even go there, boss.
“My knight in shining armor,” Rio said jokingly as Agatha rolled her eyes as Rio began to wheel the bike out of Lilia’s office, “ladies first” Rio said letting Agatha walk out first before she followed, propping her bike up on her hip before locking Lilia’s office door once more.
“So do you even own a car, like can you drive? I swear I’ve only seen you bike here the entire time you’ve worked here, even when it’s blizzarding,” Agatha said as they walked towards the elevator, pressing the down button.
“I do, I mean I don’t have a car- but I do know how to drive. I just found it’s easier and cheaper, plus it keeps me fit, and I for one actually care about the environment,” Rio said as Agatha scoffed. “I care plenty about the environment. I own a hybrid,” Agatha said as Rio tilted her head.
“Sure. Miss, the reason why the rainforests are being destroyed with the amount of paper she requires,” Rio said as the elevator doors opened and each of them walked out.
“If the paper thing bothers you that much, you can switch to another department, I’m sure any of these places would take you,” Agatha said, trying to look unbothered as she glanced down at her nails. The automatic doors opened in front of them, causing the cool summer breeze to hit both of their faces.
“Sure, but- you’d miss me too much,” Rio said as Agatha laughed.
Rio got onto her bike and pulled her helmet on, clicking it tight and looking at Agatha one more time, “maybe.”
Agatha said softly as Rio’s eyes widened slightly, not expecting that response. Desperate to change the heat that was rising in her chest Rio said “goodnight Agatha”, “goodnight Rio” Agatha said as she walked towards her car and Rio took off into the parking lot, trying to shake the feeling of pride (is what she told herself) knowing thee Agatha Harkness might miss her.
“You wouldn’t actually leave, would you?” Alice asked as she pulled out some chopsticks before taking a seat across from Rio at their kitchen table, with take-out boxes from their favorite Chinese restaurant in front of them.
“Oh god no, I like my job- it was, it was a joke. But Agatha said she would maybe miss me even, could you believe it?” Rio said as Alice shrugged, “yeah, I can actually. You are a good worker, Rio, you don’t give yourself enough credit,” Alice said as Rio sighed, fiddling with her lo mein.
“Yeah, you're right,- it wouldn’t be weird right to like, oh I don’t know” Rio began as Alice stopped eating and looked at her, eyebrow raised, “weird if that mattered to you? Like in a professional sense or…” Alice asked as Rio groaned before Alice’s mouth dropped.
“Rio, no.” Alice began as Rio groaned even louder, pressing her hands against her eyes.
“I know Alice, I-” Rio said, “do you know Rio? Having a crush on your boss? Boss of 9 years, that’s tricky business, nor do I know if it’s even allowed. Is Agatha even…” Alice interjected as Rio sighed.
“I don’t know. I know she has her kid Nicky and she shares custody of him with his dad, but she’s always been so private about her personal life, she could go either way,” Rio said as Alice nodded.
“Well, that could be code for closeted lesbian, as I knew someone else once who was ‘too focused on school to care about boys,’” Alice said as Rio threw a cream cheese wonton at her.
“But also. As your friend, I think you should try and get over this little crush; it could be fine for sure, but it could also end badly, or you could lose your job. This is your first workplace post-grad; you don’t have as much to fall back on as she does. Plus if Lilla finds out, you'll be making her life a hell of a lot harder too”, Alice said as Rio nodded, “yeah, you're right. Ugh fuck, I can’t just like get her out of my head all the sudden though” Rio said as Alice took a sip of her bobba, clearly trying to think.
“Oh! What if you write your feelings down? My therapist told me to do that when I was going through my last breakup, and it really helped; that way, it’s all on paper and out of your mind. You can write it all down and then throw it away, out of mind kinda thing,” Alice said as Rio nodded, considering the idea.
“Okay, maybe yeah- I’ll do that, what’s the worst that could happen?” Rio said as Alice nodded, smiling.
Spoiler alert, the worst, in fact, does happen.