not today

“I can’t do this today.” Igor bluntly responded to Mr. Tanner’s latest insult for them. Normally they responded to his belittlement with a smile and a quip, but not today. They were stressed out of their mind, and they won’t be able to handle Mr. Tanner’s usual disposition towards them for much longer without crying. They gave him a quick, blunt response and headed towards their office.

Mr. Tanner did a double take. He was stunned; but not angry. He had just never seen Igor not be in a sunny mood, and was even more surprised to see them act standoffish. He had gotten so used to their bubbly optimism that pulled through even when the workload got large that the concept of them feeling like crap and acting like this had never even occurred to him.

It bothered him. It bothered him to see them upset, and on another note, it bothered him to see someone else be the harsh one here. It was petty, he knew that, but he was supposed to be the one raining on people’s parades, not his joyous secretary. His secretary’s job was to be his juxtaposition, the rainbow in his thunderstorm. That’s when his mind was set. He was gonna take it upon himself to fix this.

…but he had to get them by themself, first. He couldn’t let anyone else see him let his guard down.

He followed them into their office, instead of going to his own.
“You work over there.” Igor commented when they noticed. Then they realized that Mr. Tanner probably didn’t like them acting all harsh towards him. “...sorry.” 

Mr. Tanner made sure the door was closed behind them before speaking again. “No, no, it’s okay.” His voice was… soft. 

Igor blinked at attention. Huh? Where was the cold, bossy Mr. Tanner? What happened here?

Mr. Tanner took a breath. “Let’s just make this quick.” He thought. “If… if I can do something to help you feel… better…” He said the words through gritted teeth. He had never felt the urge to say anything like this to a human before, so it was hard for him. But he prevailed. “...you just let me know. Okay?”
That was all he could muster. He had no idea what could possibly help them, so he figured it was safest to let them call the shots here.

Now it was Igor’s turn to be stunned.

“Good talk.” Mr. Tanner rushed out of the room, the rear of his blazer flapping in his wake.

“Does he… care? About me?” Igor had to ponder this for a while. Perhaps their indescribable draw to him was not one-sided after all…