>It really just never let up, did it?
>Suri Polomare buried the fingers of her right hand into the tightly-wound curls of her hair, while her left delicately manipulated a needle through the seem of two conjoined pieces of shimmering fabric
>She absolutely hated this material; it tore easily, it made her skin itch, and it never seemed to lie flat when she needed to
>But it was all the rage now, thanks to that *traitorous* thot, Rarity
>Suri’s hand began to shake as the image of Rarity’s smug, unfairly pretty face popped into her mind
>Sure, Rarity was a good seamstress, but Suri had been in this business just as long as Rarity had, and she had to scramble to earn even a scrap of the popularity that just seemed to fall into Rarity’s lap
>Just once, why couldn’t someone, anyone, see just a bit of value in her?
>Suri’s hand trembled furiously as she began to thread the final stitches…
>Instead, she was sitting here slaving away, like some sort of third-world sweatshop worker, not like the famous designer she should have been!
>Suri gritted her teeth, her thoughts drifting into an angry, incoherent rant inside her head as they drifted further away from the work in front of her
>The door to Suri’s office opened, and her assistant meekly stuck her head in, the floral pin in her hair bobbing as she spoke
>”Um… Ms. Suri?” she asked, her voice shaky
>As far off as Suri’s thoughts were, even Coco’s gentle voice was enough to make her jump
>Her hand slipped, pulling at the delicate seem she’d just finished sewing
>The resultant *rip* felt deafening to both women
>For a moment, Suri could only stare, horrified, at the mess she’d made of her work
>Then she snapped her eyes onto Coco, and all the rage she’d spent a morning building up crashed onto her meek apprentice like a single smothering tidal wave of bitchiness
“Pommel!”
>”I’m s-so sorry!” Coco choked out, ducking behind the door until only her eyes were peeking past the frame
“I told you never to disturb me while I’m sewing!  Couldn’t you have knocked?”
>”I did!  You didn’t answer…”
“Well maybe that’s because I’m busy, ‘mkay?  Did ya think of that?”
“I’m sorry…”
>Coco took a shuffling step into the room, something clutched in her hands
>”I just wanted to bring you—“
“I don’t care what you wanted to bring me!  I’ve got enough work as it is!  Take care of it yourself!”
>Suri fell suddenly silent, the energy draining out of her in a single, cold rush
>Coco stared at her like a hurt puppy, then obediently scurried out of the room
>Suri fell backwards into her chair, her hands trembling and her throat soar from screaming
>That damn girl…
>Suri held her head in her hands
>Coco had a real knack for always catching Suri in her worst moods
>For a moment, Suri allowed herself to imagine what the poor girl must have thought of her
>She envisioned some sort of reptilian gargoyle with curly purple hair, grinning, with a forked tongue hanging between its fangs
>The image made her feel a little queasy

>She got up from her desk, figuring she should at least see what Coco brought her
>Pulling the office door open, she nearly tripped over a small platter on the floor
>It was just a plastic plate, but it held a freshly iced cinnamon roll and a paper cup of coffee, still steaming
>Suri gaped
>Her favorite breakfast; was that what Coco was bringing her?
>How did she know?
>Suri picked up the plate, taking it to her desk
>Both the roll and the coffee, after a quick taste, were clearly homemade
>You couldn’t get this kinda stuff from the nearby 7-11, that was for sure
>Suri scarfed her breakfast down, surprised at how hungry she was
>Then, when it was finished, she was left to stew in a quickly-filling pool of guilt
>Stupid Coco, making her feel even worse than she already did…

>Suri paused outside the door to Coco’s workshop, her hand held up to knock
>What was she going to say?
>An apology would probably work…
>Plus a thank-you for the breakfast
>And an explanation of how stressed she’d been, but also praise for Coco for keeping up with the insanity
>Also she should compliment Coco, make her feel good
>All the “How to Be a Good Boss” pamphlets that she’d bought and half-read when she first started her boutique emphasized building up your employees’ self-esteem
>Suri took a deep breath, and pushed the workshop’s door open
>The first thing she noticed was the sheer volume of dresses in the room
>Dozens of them, all racked neatly and completed well ahead of schedule
>The second thing she noticed was her own assistant, sitting slumped at her desk with her head resting on her arms
>Coco lifted her head, looking at Suri with bleary red eyes
>A little of Coco’s makeup had streaked around the girl’s eyes, making it quite obvious she had been crying
>The sheer wave of guilt that crashed over Suri’s head in that moment is difficult to fully describe
>Dear god, she actually made the poor girl cry…
>She knew she was hard on her, but this…
>Coco, upon seeing her boss, sniffled and gave Suri a shaky, tear-streaked smile
>”H-hello, Ms. Suri!  Is there s-something you need?”
“Uh…”
>All Suri’s careful planning had drained out of her
“I, uh…”
>She scrambled desperately for something to say
>Praising her was one of her plans, right?
“Nothing at all!  Keep working hard, Pommel!”
>Coco’s smile faded slightly, but she obediently turned back to her sewing
>”Yes ma’am.”
>Shit, that was too harsh
“Wait!  Mmkay, um…”
>Shit shit shit shit
>What else was there?
>Oh, a compliment!
“I really like your collar, Pommel!  You look adorable!”
>Suri gave her assistant an incredibly dorky thumbs-up
>Coco glanced up, her cheeks slightly pink
>A-Adorable?”
>A bead of sweat trailed down the back of Suri’s neck
>”M-Ms. Suri?”
“Well, nice talking to you!” Suri sputtered.  “Anyway, gotta get back to the, uh, dresses!  So you take care know, ‘kay?  Bye!”
>She hurried out the door, leaving a very confused, flustered Coco behind

“Agh!  How could I blow it?  All I had to do was apologize!” Suri muttered to herself as she completed her fifteenth lap around her secretary’s desk
>”I dunno, sweetheart.  But I’m gonna have to ask ya to do your pacing somewhere else.  You’re makin’ me anxious,” Janine replied in her dry Manehattan accent
“I can’t go anywhere else.  I can’t risk letting her see me like this!” Suri said
>She slowed her pacing down and slumped against Janine’s desk, groaning
“Why do things have to be so hard…”
>”Now there’s a good question.  Why don’t ya just go back and tell her how ya feel?” Janine asked, absentmindedly filing her nails
“It’s not that simple.  Every time I try to talk to her, I just lose my cool.  It’s a total nightmare.”
>”Sounds like ya really appreciate this girl and wish you two had a deeper bond with her than ya’ve been able to form..”
“W-what?  I mean, sure, I guess so.”
>”Then go tell her.”
“It’s not that simple!  No matter how hard I try, it always comes out wrong.  There’s just too much pressure.”
>Janine shrugged
>”Maybe ya can talk to her at the big company party this weekend.”
“There’s a company party?  Since when?”
>”Since you decided to plan one.  It’s your company, sweetheart.”
“Oh.  Oh!”
>Suri jumped to her feet, feeling stupidly giddy
“You’re pretty good at this!”
>”I know,” Janine said, not glancing up from her nails
“It’s the perfect plan!  No pressure, a nice relaxed environment, maybe a few drinks to ease the tension… nothing could go wrong!”

>Suri was uncharacteristically avoidant of her assistant for the rest of the week
>After calling the classy karaoke bar across the street and reserving a party room, she shut herself up in her office, pretending to be so busy she simply didn’t have time to speak to Coco
>In reality, she hardly got any work done at all
>When Friday finally came, Suri spent most of the day pacing around her desk, running over and over her plans for what to say to her assistant
>She’d thank Coco for her hard work, then apologize, and then explain how Coco was actually very important to her, and that she, Suri, was just dogshit at showing it
>Simple
>Simple simple simple
>So why did she feel so stupidly nervous?
>It was just a simple conversation between coworkers
>Coco was understanding, there was nothing for Suri to worry about
>They’d enjoy a nice night of food and drinks together
>Maybe they could even single a duet together—
>Suri pushed that idiotic thought out of her head
>Getting ahead of herself now would ruin all her careful planning
>She just had to stick to the plan!
>Just stick to the plan, and it’ll all go just fine

>By three o’clock, Suri had completely given up on getting any work done
>She was far too scatterbrained, and she figured she should go and get the party set up
>So she packed her things and left her office for the first time all day, walking as silently as she could in her high heels
>She’d barely made it three steps down the hallway before she ran smack into Coco Pommel as the other girl rounded a corner, her arms laden with bolts of fabric
>Both women bounced off each other
>Suri staggered backwards a step, but Coco went flying in the opposite direction, the shimmering fabric rolls tumbling from her grasp
>Instinctively, Suri lunged forward, wrapping an arm around her assistant’s shoulders and catching Coco before she could hit the ground
>They froze like that for a moment, and Suri found herself unable to look away from Coco’s shimmering sapphire eyes, even as a deep red blush began to creep into the younger girl’s cheeks
>”M-Ms. Suri?”
>Suri realized she’d been holding Coco for about thirty seconds now, and neither of them had moved
“Ah!”
>She panicked a little bit, and unceremoniously dropped her assistant
>Coco landed on her butt with a tiny squeak of pain
>”Ow…”
“I’m so sorry!”
>”I’m sorry too!”
>Coco scrambled to pick up her fabric, rubbing the spot she’d fallen on
>Suri bent down to try and help
>They ended up reaching for the same roll, and Suri accidentally grabbed Coco’s hand
>Her assistant yelped in surprise
“Sorry!”
>”N-no, I’m sorry!”
>Coco quickly gathered the rest, shuffling away from Suri
>”I’ll get back to work right away ma’am!”
“Good!” Suri said, trying to sound encouraging
>Unfortunately, her ‘encouraging’ voice and her ‘angry’ voice sounded pretty similar
>Coco hung her head, looking ashamed as she scurried back towards her workshop
“Wait, I meant, that’s good!” Suri called after her.  “Keep working!”
>She gave Coco that same stupid thumbs up from the other day
>”O-okay?”
>Coco just looked confused now
>Judging from the heat Suri felt in her cheeks, she guessed she was blushing just about as hard as her little assistant was
>”I should, um, probably get back to sewing.  I still need to get a lot done…” Coco mumbled, shuffling back down the hall
“Right!  Of course, me too!  I’m *super* busy.  Gotta get back to the dresses…”
>Both women turned away from each other, preparing to head their separate ways
>Suri made it about two steps away, then whirled back around
”I’ll see you at the party tonight, ‘mkay?” she blurted out
>Coco spun around, nodding furiously
>”Yes!  Definitely!”
“That’s great!”
>”Mhm!”
>Why the fuck were both of them shouting, Suri wondered
“Well, uh…” she stuttered, her hands fidgeting with her ascot
>”Busy!”
“Right!”
>Suri had never sprinted out of a building so quickly in her life