Paperwork. | Alan Becker

Chapter 1 - First Day

TDL's POV

*ding* The sounds of the elevator ringing was piercing through my ears, the metal doors opened, revealing a large office, this is my new job.

The reason why I signed up for this is because the monthly salary is high, I need to pay rent anyway.

The man in grey with a blue tie stepped out of the elevator before me, then he turned to look at me while he reached his gloved hands out. "I will be your boss from now on, address me as Victim. Your cubicle number is J-602, it's just next to J-601." I nodded slightly, reaching my hand forward and gave him a handshake. Holding the cardboard box with everything I need inside, Victim led me to my cubicle. The place was crowded with other sticks, seems like I have to get used to this from now on. "Here's your cubicle, now, you will be having colleagues to work with you. I hope you enjoy your stay here from now on." I nodded again and smiled. I observed the cubicle a bit, it was white in colour, and the desk was wooden. It's even spacious too, I definitely chose the right place.

UNTIL.

I saw someone right in the corner of my eye. Wait. Did I see that right? TCO?? The Chosen One??? Fuck, my first day is already shit. Can I purposefully get fired? I just hope he doesn't notice me. "Wait-" before I could say anything, he's already left. I took a quick glance at my surroundings, everyone is pretty focused. Fine, I guess I'll have to accept it.

I took my sweet time unpacking my things, no one seemed bothered by that. Okay, everything is going quite well for me right now, until I felt a nudge on my shoulder. The voice felt familiar, so much for trying to not get noticed.

"What are you doing here?" He spoke in his usual, calm, yet annoying tone, or at least that's what I think. "Ugh, my job, of course. Why did YOU have to be here?" I grit my teeth in annoyance at the sight of him, you wanna know the worst part? We're fuckin' roommates in our apartments too.

What the fuck is this coincidence, I can't have a day of peace anymore.

"Hummnn.." I sighed in relief after 6 hours of work, there were only 30 minutes left, but I've done everything. I tilted my chair backwards but also tried maintaining a good balance, TCO was still doing his paperwork. I grinned, and felt a bit cocky. "Heh? You're slower than I thought, you should be finished before me."

He turned his head to face me, while looking up and down. He's like, observing me? "Hm.. that's because I'm on a higher level, so I get more work. Also, your appearance is quite untidy, I reckon you adjust that necktie of yours." He gave me that shit-eating smile, I clenched my fist in anger.

I turned back to my desk, slightly adjusting my necktie before he makes a fool out of me. Then, it's lunch time. I felt like I was being starved for a WEEK. Oh, there's like a small cafeteria. Victim did tell me it's for the workers to hang out while having lunch. Thank gosh, while I still had time-

"What do you want."

"Nothin', just wanted to bother you."

He smiled again, seems like he really enjoys pissing me off. I should learn to maintain my anger.

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TCO's POV

I was working in the office as usual, but today is different, yet coincidental.

To summarize it up, my roommate who openly hates me got a job at my workplace. Little did he know that I am also there, guess we can't escape eachother now. TDL gave me a smirk, more to a menacing one. He looks like he's struggling to not burst in anger. However, I'm over here keeping my cool. I'm not THAT calm, I just find it fun to piss him off.

TDL grabbed on to my collar and pull me in close, his face darkened, no pun intended.

"Seeing you here was the LAST thing I wanted." He said as he clenched his teeth, the grip on my collar got even tighter. I rolled my eyes for some time, then back to eye contact with him. "Well, that's too bad. We can't escape each other now, can we?"

His face lightened, just by a little, before releasing my collar and pushing me away storming off. Well that was easy to deal with, guess he didn't want to ruin his reputation to quickly.

More hours passed, as soon as I knew it, everyone is dismissed.

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TDL's POV

And just like that, I slammed the door open completely worn out. Who knew that office workers had so many paperwork to do, I should've expected it. I slumped onto my mattress, blankly staring at the ceiling, till I heard the shower running from the other side. But anyways, my mind started running, the thought of having to sit next to him for my entire life bothers me. While I wait for him to finish, I took my jacket off. I was sweating, okay? I don't want to smell, and I'm too lazy to turn the air conditioner on.

I heard the door open, finally. He smells like he applied 30 different brands of shampoo and body soap on himself, of course he'll take really long.

I lifted myself up from the soft mattress, grabbing my clothing and made my way to the shower.

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TCO's POV

I took like, 45 minutes in the shower. It's not THAT long, right? Everyone likes a clean person. I took out my laptop and did some of my remaining work, it's either I close it afterwards or I'll be watching videos on YouTube.

I heard the door unlock, it was coming from the bathroom. He's out after, 10 minutes. That's quite short, or am I just too used to showering up to 1 hour? Nah, I don't think so.

*knock knock* I heard coming from my door.

"What does he want this time?" I closed my laptop and walked over to the door, greeting myself to TDL behind it. He was wearing a white tank top with some black shorts, I was wearing the same thing, except my pants were gray with a t-shirt. He looked at me with the same expression as today in the office. "My first day was shit because of you." hearing this made me satisfied "..and what am I supposed to do with that information?" Dang it, he grabbed the collar of my favourite shirt like how he did in the workplace. I could see some veins popping up on his arms, he whispered to me like we were gossiping. I'm pretty sure it was for the dramatic effect.

"If we're gonna be colleagues, don't fuck with me. I wanna make it out of life without any problems coming from you, especially. You got that?" His hissed, I grabbed his wrist and pull it down from my collar, making him yank his hand back to himself in disgust. "Got it." I sarcastically blurted, smirking. He grabbed the handle and slammed my door shut. Well this is gonna be an interesting year.

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1219 words (excluding these)