Elevate Your Hopes Up
word count: 4599
characters: Mitch Rapp x Claustrophobic!Reader, Stan Hurley
summary: The first day of work isn’t going as planned as you get trapped inside an elevator with your co-worker, Mitch.
notes: This is for mitchtober, hosted by @writingsbychlo and I am surprised that I actually managed to finish this story in time, since I procrastinate everything. It’s the first story I’ve ever posted so I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing this!
thank you @softstilinskii for helping me, you are amazing and so talented. I appreciate you so much <3
warnings: Just fluff, some angst, talk about elevators/small spaces
“Hold it! Please hold it!” You yelled at the man who was in the elevator, about to go up and he looked annoyed as if he was debating in himself whether or not to hold the door for you. It was after he saw your panicked movements when he placed his hand between the two doors which were about 3 inches away, making them stop before opening again.
As soon as the elevator doors opened, you quickly ran inside, trying to balance the two coffee cups in your hands without spilling anything. And as you pressed the number of your destination about ten times, the man next to you quirked an eyebrow.
“Stupid thing.” You mumbled and the man coughed, making you look at him. “I already pressed that button.”
Your eyes went wide, mostly in embarrassment and you looked away quickly. Not wanting to look him in the eye. Way to start off the day by making yourself look like a nutjob in front of a co-worker. Maybe you should've just taken the stairs. Although your body would highly disagree because of your poor stamina. Maybe you should take use of your gym membership like you always said you would.
“You new here?” He asked and you nodded as the doors closed. Your eyes were focussing on the numbers of the elevator floors. “That obvious huh?” You tried to make a joke out of it and laughed nervously, but it quickly faded when you read his unamused expression. His eyes were an amber color, standing neutral yet stern and his hair was in a messy cut as it fitted his scruff beard. His face basically described someone saying 'really?' annoyed with their eyebrows scrunched, and you looked away at the elevator doors as the stranger did the same.
You sighed while mumbling in your breath and the stranger scratched the back of his neck, before silence took over. Just 3 minutes in an elevator with a handsome man with uncomfortable tension in the air, and you’ll be up, no problem.
As you heard the pings of the floors that passed, you noticed the man eyeing you from the side. Something that made your nerves go up since you thought he was judging you by the second. It’s always been bothering you, that everytime people would look at you, you’d assume they’d think the worst of you. Luckily, the man seemed to notice, and he turned his head to the elevator doors again, scraping his throat.
“Sorry if I seemed rude.”
You looked at your side, your eyes meeting his shoulder so you looked up, noticing the height difference. “Oh, you weren't rude, I’m clumsy. Guess I’m just kinda paranoid since it’s the first day. I’m not late, I just want to make a good impression. And as you can see I don’t handle elevators well. God, I don’t even know why I’m in here, I could've just taken the stairs but I didn’t want to meet my superiors while being all sweaty. Although I already feel like I’m soaked right now. Jeez, it’s hot in here.” Your hands were starting to get sweaty when you rambled to the stranger, and he still had his eyebrows raised a little. Inside you could mentally slap yourself. Of course that would be his reaction. If a random girl would suddenly ramble shit, you’d be like ‘what the fuck is going on’, no surprise that his reaction would be the same.
“It’s totally fine, don’t worry too much about it, alright? We’re almost up.” He caught you off guard as he gave you a genuine smile. Something that made you feel relieved that he answered calmly and this time you were the one scrunching your eyebrows up in confusion. Most times you weren’t this hyper, yet people still gave you looks that asked you to kindly fuck off. So this was new.
“So you need to be on the 9nth floor as well?” The stranger asked and you nodded slowly. “Yeah, I have a meeting with my superiors and other co-workers, you?”
“Same, so your superior must be Stan Hurley too, right?” You nodded and looked at the cups in your hands. “Yeah I brought him coffee, I hope it gives off a good impression.”
The man next to you looked at the cups as well, and you didn't realize he was really close to you. “You’re playing a dangerous game, what coffee did you get for him?”
“I got myself latte espresso with steamed milk, and I got Stan a Red Eye.”
The man beside you seemed to be impressed, making you feel relieved that you made the right order. “That’s his usual, how did you know that?”
“His biography was on google,” You shrugged and he had an amused look on his face. “Wow... That’s actually smart.”
“Yeah, I felt like a stalker though. Anyway, everything to make a good impression.”
“Can’t disagree with that.”
Both of you laughed and It actually felt nice to have a conversation with a stranger like him. Even though you kept thinking they would judge you, it could just be a friendly ear who might just become a friend.
Maybe this first day isn’t gonna be as bad as you thought after all.
That’s until you heard a rattling sound and you felt the elevator slow down.
It was like the elevator jolted up before shutting down completely, and both of you snapped your heads up to the noise. The lights were still on, everything seemed normal but the one thing that made you know something was up, was that you couldn’t hear the sounds of the shaft moving.
“What just happened?” You blinked and looked around. “I dunno?” The man took three steps forward, until he reached the buttons and inspected them as his face went close. “I think the elevator stopped?”
The words he spoke were enough for you to make a red light pop up in your brain, and you chuckled anxiously. “You’re kidding, right?”
He pressed the button to the 9th floor, but nothing happened. The only sound you could hear were scraping sounds, as if the elevator wanted to go up, but stuttered. The stranger turned around, his face in a confused look, and your heart felt like it stopped as your breathing hitched.
“No, no no no. Oh my god.” You mumbled as he tried it again for the third time, yet no luck. And the red light formed into panic in your head. “Try something, try pressing the open door button instead of the floor button?” He did what you suggested, again no reaction and you felt like you were getting dizzy, like anxiety knocked on your door.
“Why won’t it open? Are we stuck? Oh god.”
You started to feel light in your head, and dizziness started to form.
“Woah woah, easy easy alright. It’s probably just some malfunction, I’m sure the problem will be fixed soon.” The man was suddenly in front of you, holding your upper arms to keep you steady and your eyes darted around as you felt your chest tighten. “I am claustrophobic, I don’t even know why I took the elevator. Oh my god I’m gonna faint.”
“No, don't faint. If you’re gonna faint I’ll just have to faint as well, and that’s not gonna be fun for anyone. Just look at me alright? Focus on me. Look me in my eyes.”
As the words rolled out of his mouth, your eyes moved to his, and you noticed there was a sweet and understanding look on his face. The lighting of the elevator also made his face brighter, his amber eyes now looking more like a honey color, making your breathing slow down a little bit. Yet, the tightness in your chest didn’t fade.
You didn’t even feel the stranger take over the coffee cups and place them on the ground.
“Everything is gonna be okay, alright? I'll see if there is some way to connect ourselves to the maintenance downstairs, who can help us.” His eyes moved along the lines of the numerous buttons, and eventually settled on the yellow bell. The alarm button.
He gave you one more look of reassurance before turning around to the yellow button. He pressed it, both of you waiting in anticipation, and you started to feel as if the elevator doors were closing in on you, as if you were huddled in a tight little space.
“Just look at the floor, not the walls… Just look at the floor, not the walls...” you mumbled to yourself as you looked at your feet. Everything looked like it was a little blurry as black spots appeared in your vision, and a ringing sound suddenly reached your ears. Shivers ran down your spine and you kept mumbling the same sentence over and over again on a loop.
You probably looked like a lost kid now, and in truth, You were. Well, you felt like one.
“Alright, it gave a signal to the people in the building. These people know what to do, they’re trained to know what to do if an elevator gets stuck. We’ll be out in no time, and even if it’s worse than we thought, they’ll contact an elevator service technician to get us out.” The voice was dragged out. You couldn’t even hear the last words he spoke as the sounds around you were replaced with a high pitched sound. Black spots that were present just now, were starting to get bigger, and the pressure in your head felt larger. It felt like you were faltering.
Your hands reached out to try and grasp something as everything went fully black, but it was too late as you fell on the floor, your side burning as you went.
“Holy shit!”
The last thing you remember is laying on the ground, wanting to open your eyes, yet everything stayed black.
-
“Look at me, you’re okay.”
“Hey, you’re okay.” You heard a voice say and your sight slowly reappeared as his face came into sight. “You scared the shit out of me.”
You heard him chuckle a little, and as your sight was vividly clear again, you could see a look of worry on his face. “What happened?”
You coughed, your headache fading and you looked around to see you were still in the elevator, unfortunately. You hoped you were able to redo this day and choose to go with the stairs. Even though you wouldn't have had a conversation with the strange man if you’d taken the stairs, you wouldn’t have been in an elevator that was stuck.
“Elevators suck.” You mumbled and the man laughed at your retort. “Yes, they do.”
You then noticed he was crouching in front of you, and you thought he must’ve guided you to sit down slowly against the wall of the elevator, after you fainted.
“That fall was pretty nasty. Are you hurt?” He checked your face quickly for any bruises or scratches from the walls, and you then felt a sting in your side. Like it was burning.
“Only my side, I think I fell against the railing at the button section.” You lifted your shirt up a little, and as you shifted your hips, you saw a purple-ish bruise. You groaned, remembering that you would go to the beach with a friend of yours on the weekend, knowing the bruise would be noticeable.
He looked at your side before sitting down next to you and he inspected the bruise as your breath hitched.
“It’s not that bad luckily, although I’m afraid you will have to carry that for a couple of days"
The stranger smiled lightly and that’s when you realized you hadn’t even introduced yourself. It’s nice to know someone on the first day of work, but it’s better if you know a name to pronounce them.
“By the way, you never told me your name” You questioned in yourself but apparently you talked out loud. Probably because of the aftershock of fainting, you were still trembling.
The man held out a hand for you to shake and you happily obliged. “I’m Mitch.”
You looked at him again, seeing a different view of him after he said his name, and you smiled. Mitch suited him.
“Y/n.”
“Pretty name for a pretty girl." He winked and had a grin plastered on his face. "Get out of here with the cheesiness." You playfully said to him, slightly swatting his knee and you felt heat radiate from your cheeks. Looking down again to try and cover them up with your hair, although he undoubtedly already noticed.
The two of you sat there in silence. A sigh escaped your lips as your eyes wandered to his form. Since there was a meeting, He wore an all black suit, something that wasn’t really casual, it was rather fancy. And it was then you noticed it looked good. He looked good. Like, really good. His side profile was in your view as you looked at him, and you didn’t even realize you were starting to zone out, until Mitch started speaking and snapped you out of your trance.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Why did you actually faint?” You thought about the day everything started. It required some digging in your memories you had buried, but thinking about it now, it all came flooding back.
“That’s a long story.”
You didn’t know if he wanted to hear it, since you were afraid you’d ramble the whole bible to him. Anytime when people would show interest in the subject, you’d explain it to them, but then they would wander off or pretend they cared. You could easily see it in their faces.
But he had a slight smirk on his face and chuckled.
“Well, we have all the time. I’m listening, I promise.” He folded his hands on his crossed legs, and kept looking you in your eyes. Making you look down, before you opened up to him.
“When I was 8, I was playing hide and seek with other girls from my class. It was hosted by a classmate from school at his house, and the whole class came. And so we decided to play hide and seek inside the house. I decided to hide inside the closet. But when I sat there for minutes, no one came. I was pumped because I wanted to win, but after half an hour, no one came. I waited and waited for three hours. So eventually I shouted for help, tried to pry my way out of the closet but it wouldn't budge. No one heard my cries, because it turned out they went outside. I felt like I was trapped, like there was tightness in my chest, I couldn't breathe. And as I kept crying, after 3 hours and 20 minutes, an adult heard me and freed me.”
He didn’t have to be Einstein to know why you couldn’t get out of the closet, and Mitch felt bad as he saw your expression sadden as you told your story. All the memories came crashing down on you again, and it felt like you were in the exact same place and moment like you were when you were a little kid. You thought you were ready to open up to people, yet everytime you would talk about it, it felt like you were trapped again, your voice cracking. Maybe you overestimated yourself, maybe talking about it was still relatively hard to process.
As you looked slowly at your side, Mitch was in the same position as he was before, only his gaze that lingered on you was a little more sad. Like he had empathy and you immediately coughed. “Sorry, that was depressing, it happened 16 years ago, I feel stupid for still being hung up about it. Sorry-” before you could finish your sentence, Mitch interrupted you and shuffled a little closer.
“You shouldn’t feel guilty for telling your story, and you shouldn’t feel sorry for feeling sorry for yourself. As a kid it’s traumatizing to go through something like that. Of course that would stick with you.” His words were well thought out, like there was a tone of understanding, yet something was still gnawing at you.
“I just feel ashamed. There are people who have gone through way more shit than I did, and I still act like the world is ending.”
"Just because someone else may have it worse, doesn’t mean you don’t deserve to feel sad sometimes. Everyone has fears, it’s inevitable. There is nothing to be ashamed of.”
He leaned in, and for a second it looked like he was trying to reach for your hand, but he hesitated at the last second. He subtly pulled his hands away, placing them back on his knees and you decided not to pay too much attention to it. “Have you got any?”
“Yeah, mine is terrifying,” he let out a laugh, putting emphasis on ‘terrifying’ while wiggling his eyebrows and biting his lip.
“And what may that be?”
He didn’t answer, instead he just looked in front of him, as if he was thinking really hard.
“Well?”
“Well, I’m afraid of…" He lingered on his last words before squinting his eyes. “...spiders?”
His words were dragged out and you snorted. “That sounded really convincing,”
Mitch’s posture changed as if he was caught in the act, and he sighed with a tiny bit of guilt in his face. “Sorry.”
“Don’t say sorry, thanks for trying to reassure me, it’s been a while since someone did that for me.”
The thought of him trying to cheer you up a bit, was a small gesture, yet it felt like opening a christmas gift. Even though he hardly knew you, he cared. And it seemed as if that thought hit something within you, making a tear slip and roll over your cheek.
As much as you tried to hold it in, hold it together, more tears followed and you bit your lip, inhaling deeply to try and contain yourself.
Why was it so damn hard to just keep it together?
“Hey, what’s wrong?”
“It’s just, I feel like I haven't cried in weeks and all my bottled up emotions are spilling out right now. I'm starting a new job in a new town, so I haven’t really had anyone to talk to or hold either or whatever, so- what are you doin-” Before you knew it, warmth surrounded your body as Mitch’s arms were around you, and you could smell his cologne as your eyes went wide. “Oh- oh okay...this is-”
“-Shh, shut up.”
“Okay...”
Your surprised look faltered as your eyes closed, and your arms wove around his body to hug him back, your chin resting on his shoulder. This was exactly what you needed, to hold someone close and to just vent out whatever you buried deep inside of you.
“Hey Mitch?”
"Yeah?"
“Thank you,” You whispered and smiled through your tears. “For listening.” His hands were on the back of your head, playing with your hair as you heard his voice vibrate throughout your whole body.
"Of course." He held you close for a little longer before he decided to break the contact. “You’re sweaty, ew.” His playful tone made you snort, and when both of you pulled back, he wiped away some stray tears that were still sitting on your cheeks.
The two of you sat there in silence. Just savoring this moment.
You then noticed something in the corner of the elevator, and as your eyes diverted to it, you saw the two coffee cups sitting neatly on the floor. You were glad that Mitch had put them on the ground just before you fell, because if he didn't, it would've spilled everywhere and ruined your outfit. Facing your superior with a big stain in your blazer, would totally not give the right impression, and having to go to the ER for burn wounds, wasn’t really a fun trip either.
You reached out for the cups and grabbed yours, surprised that it was still warm, and you took a few sips of your latte when you crawled back to the spot next to Mitch. He watched as you took a few sips, and you then looked at the other cup in front of you, and asked if Mitch wanted the Red Eye. "Uh, well, yeah it would be nice, I guess, but what about Sta-" "-It's fine, really. I mean, it's getting cold and I don't think giving a cold coffee to your superior is a way to make a good impression." You gave a little smile, grabbed the cup out of the cardboard cup holder and handed it over to him.
"Thanks." He grabbed the cup from your hand and immediately took a big swing. Something he regretted after, since his face scrunched up and he coughed a little after he swallowed his mouthful of coffee. "Oh, wow. That's- that's really strong. Now I get why his blood pressure is always sky high."
You cracked out the loudest laugh yet this day, and looked around once again in the small room. “I hope for you there aren’t any cameras in this elevator to record that, otherwise you’d be the one playing a dangerous game.” He chuckled at the sentence you used against him, and laughter once again filled the air around you. That’s until everything went silent, and you knew he was gonna say something more serious.
“I don’t understand why those girls did what they did when you were 8, you’re a really kind person.”
Both of you took another sip of your coffee. Some foam of your latte on your upper lip and you rubbed it away with your tongue.
“Yeah well, they never really liked me. No one really did. After all, I was just an energetic hyper ball that would ramble everywhere I went. It’s not as bad as it was before, but sometimes I just freak out and then I’m 8 again. Just scared shitless, I guess this is just my way of coping when I’m nervous.”
“I like that about you.” His eyes went to yours to make eye contact, and you happily looked back.
“You do?”
“Yeah.”
Well that’s a first.
He had a cheeky grin and licked his lips.
“You’re not like other girls.”
“Okay shut up, you ruined the moment.” Even though he had a playful sound in his voice, you gave him a light push to his shoulder and you both laughed. That’s until the cheeky grin changed into a knowing smirk.
“Moment huh?” The little shit was enjoying this. He was enjoying seeing you flustered and you swallowed hard, looking everywhere except his eyes.
“Yeah,” Heat spread across your cheeks again. “There is something.”
Biting his lip, he scratched his jaw and looked at your form, grinning widely after he noticed something and you frowned.
“You stopped trembling.”
You looked down, indeed seeing that you weren’t trembling and your face that held confusion, didn’t change one bit as you looked around. The fear of the small space didn’t even reach to you the past couple of minutes, and you then faced Mitch again, gaping at him like a fish.
“How did you manage to do that?” He simply shrugged, taking another sip of his coffee.
“What can I say? It’s my charm, the ladies love it.”
He shot you another wink, and you felt something in the pit of your stomach. Not a feeling that wanted you to throw up, but the feeling in your stomach you haven’t felt in years. A nice one. It was like your stomach was doing twists and rolls, in a good way.
He seemed to notice your state after the wink, and the little shit almost had a grin like the cheshire cat. Having to contain yourself not to smile as well, you rolled your eyes and snorted.
“Well, I’m not like the other ladies”
“Shut up.”
Right after both of you cracked a laugh again, you felt another jolt of the elevator, before you could hear the shaft and your eyes shot up. It indicated that the maintenance manager managed to fix the problem, “Mitch, I think the elevator moved again.” You told your companion but all you heard was him groaning.
“Mitch-” You looked at your side and your mouth went wide as you saw a small stain on his pants. Turns out he held his coffee in his hands as the elevator jolted, and a few hot droplets landed on his pants.
“Shit, are you okay?” You held in a laugh and he nodded as he burst out laughing too.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a small stain.”
“Shit, uhh.” you felt the need to help him, but you knew a coffee stain was most likely permanent. “I can make it up to you. Let me make it up to you.”
“Make it up to me?” He had an amused look on his face, and the both of you stood up from your seating position. He looked at the stain on his thigh, and he then looked back at you.
“Yeah, I know a stain like that probably won’t come out, I can pay you back, or-”
“-I know a way for you to make it up to me” Your eyes that diverted when you were thinking about ways to fix it, now shot back up to look at Mitch, and it felt like your eyes were glued to his face. “What did you have in mind?”
He rubbed his hands together, smiling.
“We should go out sometime.”
“We should?"
“Yeah,” Now it was your time to smirk, your eyes standing playful as you cocked your head. “You sure you can handle my energetic ass? You know I’ll probably ramble the whole bible to you.”
“Yeah I know,” He grinned, “and I’ll happily listen.”
That’s the moment when you both heard a pinging sound, indicating you were at your destination, and at the same time, both your heads turned around.
“We’re here, floor 9.”
The doors of the elevator opened, the both of you wanting to walk out, but at that moment, you were stopped by a voice.
“Mitch, Y/n, where have you been? The meeting ended already, I- Mitch, you have a stain on your pants.” A man stood on the other side of the elevator, and you recognized him as Stan Hurley, your new superior. His voice was not mad, but you could easily hear the irritation in his voice, and see his unamused face. Before he could say anything more though, Mitch was quick to explain everything to him about the elevator being stuck.
Stan’s irritated face expression slowly turned into an understanding one, and he then looked at you. “Sorry to hear you both were stuck, but happy to know you both can get to work now. Hurry up.” Before both of you could say anything further, he already walked away. But Mitch said something just before.
"By the way, Stan, your taste in coffee is horrible."
Stan, who was now walking down the hall, turned his head around to shoot Mitch a look of confusion before turning back around. And you laughed at Mitch’s retort.
“I thought this day was gonna be hell, but you know, being stuck with you in an elevator isn’t so bad after all.”
