Return to sender

Wrong destination

Envelopes whirred through the large machine, piercing noise high pitched and shrill as slicing blades did their job, opening up today's mail effortlessly as you watched the items slide from left to right, nudging the odd one that had strayed from it's intended route. Hundreds of letters passed through this place every week, maybe even thousands, most of them moaning and griping about something as consumers told the firm you worked for how shit they thought certain things were. Poisoned words were unleashed from their paper prisons, now open packages ready to scream and shout, demand compensation or some kind of retribution.

The contents didn't bother you, that wasn't a concern of yours - all you had to do was get the damn things out, scanned and filed. Someone else upstairs could deal with the whinging missives. The mail room was your kingdom, a cave of electronic devices that sat in the basement of a towering office building, ignored and dismissed by most of your alleged co-workers, but that suited you fine. Let them stress about the customers and how to solve their problems, you wanted no part of that.

An early start meant you were always first in, prepping the workload for today before being joined by the other two who carried out this role by your side. Frequent laughs were had in this sanctuary, friendly banter and inappropriate stories shared and you enjoyed the men's company, probably more than they suffered each other's. They had a strange relationship, always at loggerheads and arguing over such little incidents but there remained an undercurrent of 'just kiss already', a fact you'd pointed out on many an occasion, much to their perhaps overly fervent dismay.

The noise was at such a height that you were unaware of any other presence, person easily sneaking up behind you as they were masked by the sound of motors and fingers dug into your sides, causing a cry of shock and an instinctive spinning slap. Eyes wide, you gaped and raised a hand to your mouth, hiding the incoming laugh as a red cheeked male stood before you, green glare demanding to know what the fuck had just happened. You shouted to be heard over the mechanical squeals, palms up in a shrug.

"Well Eren, if you're going to do shit like that, I'm going to defend myself! You could have been a fucking rapist!" Right on cue, the machine stopped, done with it's role for the day and your last two words rang through the room with harsh clarity, making you wince. "Is anyone else around?"

"No (F/N), just you, me and my sore fucking face!"

"Don't creep around then." Unloading the incoming mail, you moved it swiftly to the high benches, ready for sorting and scanning. "Where's Jean? He's late."

"How the hell should I know?" Eren tossed his backpack to the side, behind a normal sized desk that no one ever used and he added his dark blue hoodie to the pile, clothing lying over your own jumper as the temperature in here reached ridiculous heights at times. Chocolate hair was run through, locks perfected and he strode over, changing the date on his manual stamp and giving it a test on a random piece of paper. Satisfied he'd got the correct details, your friend and colleague grabbed a handful of envelopes, ready to start the motions, still stewing over why he'd have any idea where the third in your group was. "It's not like I follow him around."

"No, but you may have spoken? Texts perhaps? It's not unheard of, you know."

"I've got nothing to say to that dick."

"Uh oh. Had a falling out?" Nudging the male, you watched for any sign of his weekend, sure they'd had some kind of spat since you last saw them on Friday.

"Shut up (F/N)." Rustling and the harsh sound of ink being imprinted by a metal item followed. You let him stew, saw the chewed lip and waited for incoming angst. "We just went for a drink after work, right?"

"Right?"

"And he started on about this course he's doing, how he'll get out of here soon, how he's better than this job." Another violent smash engraved today's date. "I know you're happy to stay in this place, but I have dreams and he's been bragging forever about his own."