Odd Squad One Shots

Staring Contest (Otis x Orchid)

(Otis x Orchid)

There was one person that Otis always tried to avoid, and it wasn't because he disliked them. Quite frankly, they scared him a bit, and he had never been an expert at being social before. Whenever Agent Orchid held her weekly staring contests, just to prove she was still the champion, Otis would always hide, or request to go out on a case with Olympia. He did not want to mess with her, so it was a complete coincidence when she sat across from him in the break room on a Friday. Otis looked around rapidly for his partner, but she was busy talking with Oona in the lab. 

"Hey Sherman," Orchid greeted, him internally groaning. 

"Hello, Orchid," he formally reacted. 

"You do know they have ketchup and stuff," she pointed out. 

"Yeah, I just like my hotdog plain. Actually, I would just eat the bread, but I had bread yesterday...," he trailed off. 

Odd Squad served hot dogs on Fridays, which was one of the rare foods that Otis would eat normal. 

"Whatever," Orchid shrugged, looking down at the tabletop. 

"What are you doing here," he couldn't help but wonder, since she didn't have any food with her. 

Just then her light colored eyes were staring into his own, and he was taken aback. It then clicked with him, and he decided that he should return the staring contest, so that she didn't get angry with him. Soon they were gazing deeply into each other's eyes. Even though hers were widening, his were becoming more squinty and watery. He was almost crying before he finally looked away, rubbing his eyes with his fingers. 

"I'll admit, you are the best at staring contests," he confessed. 

He was puzzled though, when Orchid stared at him again for a moment before running away, with no snappy comebacks, and zero reaction. 

"What did I say? I thought she'd be happy I told her that," he couldn't help but think out loud.

The next week or so, Orchid never talked to Otis. Instead she would shoot him glares every chance she got, and sometimes she would knock the paperwork out of his hands. He couldn't understand what he had done wrong that day, and he didn't even know why he cared that much. She was Orchid, which meant she was sassy and temperamental.

It was another rough afternoon, as she caused all of his papers to fly away in the wind. He had been delivering some information from the Villain Protection Program, where villains would secretly tell them information about their rivals. 

"Orchid," he shouted in disbelief, the top secret information fluttering away. 

"What," she actually snapped back. 

"That was top secret information," he exclaimed. 

"Not my problem," she sassed. 

"Yes, it is! You were the one that made me drop them," he yelled, feeling as though he was losing his mind. 

"You shouldn't have been so clumsy," Orchid claimed. 

"Okay, that's it," Otis said, managing to grab her arm before she left. 

"What is going on with you? I'm sorry if telling you that you were the best at staring contests offended you," he apologized in exasperation. 

"It didn't offend me," she reacted calmly.