Yes, Mr. Tanner!

“Understood, sir!” The man beamed. Their chipper demeanor contrasted drastically from that of Mr. Tanner, the taller man that they were trailing behind. 

“Understood, Mr. Tanner.” He corrected. He didn’t even bat an eye to the shorter man as he continued their tour of the J.W. Wells & Co. building.

“Understood, s- Mr. Tanner!!” The new hire was quick to correct their mistake. They were quite prone to those, but especially now, since they were so nervous around their new boss. It made them quite a bit of a bumbling mess, but they trudged on.

Mr. Tanner continued on with what he was saying. “...but you don’t need to worry about all that. Since you’re wanting to be my secretary, your office will be right here, next to mine.” Mr. Tanner led them to a door. “Any questions, Mr…” 

“Igor!” They smiled. “Igor Lepi. Actually I w-” 

“No questions, good. Now come along, Igor. Before I officially call you my secretary, I want to see what you’re made of. My office needs some sweeping.” 

“Yes, s- Mr. Tanner!” Igor tried his hardest to break his habit of saying ‘sir,’ to appease Mr. Tanner. 

He opened the door to his office and they trailed behind, grabbing the broom and dustpan he handed to them. 

They were about to get right to it, but then they turned around to look up at Mr. Tanner. “Um, Mr. Tanner, may I listen to some music while I do this?” 

Mr. Tanner thought about it. What did he care? As long as his office ended up clean. “Sure.” 

“Yay!!!” They beamed. “Thank you!!” They said as they scrambled for the earbuds in their pocket. 

Mr. Tanner was caught off guard by the skipped beat of his heart as Igor smiled at him. They seemed to be completely unaffected by his harsh personality. It felt… wrong to him. This had to be fixed.

“Actually...” Mr. Tanner chimed in. Time to get creative. “Put those earbuds away. If you want to listen to your music, it’ll have to be out loud. Not too loud, and nothing vulgar. Break either of those rules and you won’t be allowed to listen to your little music in my office again. Is that clear?” 

Igor’s eyebrows raised. They shrugged, and then smiled again. “You got it, Mr. Tanner!” They were grateful they were allowed to listen to their music on the job at all, so they didn’t mind that it had to be out loud. They were a little afraid of Mr. Tanner judging their music taste, but they were confident in the fact that their playlist had no vulgarity in it, so there would be no real consequences. 

They put on their playlist and then put their phone in their back pocket, swiftly beginning to sweep. They tapped their foot as upbeat music played. Their head bobbed to the beat as they swept, and they weren’t half bad at sweeping. Mr. Tanner watched with intent eyes from his desk, watching how effectively they were completing the task.

A song Igor particularly liked came on next, and they were fast to begin humming. They worked a bit more eagerly, and a few seconds later, they softly began to sing along.

Upon hearing their soft singing, Mr. Tanner was caught off guard again as his heart skipped yet another beat. His eyebrows furrowed. He was beginning to get a little frustrated. “You missed a bit over there.” He waved his hand in a direction that he wasn’t even looking.

“Oh! Got it.” Igor bounded to the beat over to the area Mr. Tanner waved to, and despite not seeing much dust there, they still did a little more sweeping there. 

Mr. Tanner clenched his fist. He couldn’t punish them, because he had nothing to punish them for. They had a silly demeanor, and was currently doing a little dance, that frustratingly warmed Mr. Tanner’s heart. There was nothing Tanner could get onto them about. Well, there was one thing…

“Cease that dancing. I’m paying you to work, not to act like a child.” He wanted it to stop because he hated how it was making him feel. How could he get attached this quickly…?! He wanted no more of it.

Igor slowed to a halt. “...Yes, Mr. Tanner.” They said, their voice now devoid of its enthusiasm. They continued to sweep, not even tapping their foot anymore, not even humming, because they didn’t want to face any consequences, especially on their first day.

This frustrated Mr. Tanner even more, it was almost unbearable. It had always come so easy for him to belittle his human workers, because of his distaste for humans. It always gave him a sense of gratification, to patronize the humans that worked under him. But this one was different to him. He didn’t know why, and he loathed it. He loathed this confusion, and he loathed whatever was drawing him to them, urging him to be nicer.

He scoffed loudly. “Fine. Do your dancing. Just… don’t do it outside of this room.” 

Igor was quick to perk back up again. “Thank you, Mr. Tanner!!” And they got right back to it, dancing and all.

Mr. Tanner held his face in his hand in frustration. It was starting to get red, but not from anger.

Thankfully for him and his struggles, it didn’t take them long to finish up their task. “All done, Mr. Tanner!” They announced proudly, emptying the dustpan into the trash bin. 

“Ah, just in time for lunch.” Mr. Tanner noted the time. “Go take your lunch break, and then meet me back here.” 

“Aye aye, Mr. Tanner!” Igor gave him a playful salute as they bounded out of his office. 

Mr. Tanner laid his head on his desk. He had a lot to think about.