Chapter Text
Troy was excited for his new job. checking for bugs in his favourite video game of all time. that's the dream, isn't it? it pays like shit, but thanks to Pierce, he doesn't have to worry about money. Troy realises he hasn't been paying attention at all, as a blonde, slightly threatening girl shows him around the building. he is too scared to ask her to repeat it, so he just nods as she shows him to the testing cube.
"this is where the testers are kept. check for bugs, we don't care about your opinions, don't fuck in the office," she says briskly, and before Troy can open his mouth to ask what she means, she's gone with a flick of her straight hair.
Troy is about to open the door, when, through the tiny window, he sees that the two girls in there have dumped their controllers, and are making out on the couch.
so that's what she meant.
he thinks he'll just wait until they stop, so as not to be rude, but they make out for a solid couple of minutes before he gets bored and pushes open the door.
"uh, heyyy," the girl with lopsided hair springs off her girlfriend and attempts to be chill, putting her hands behind her head and stretching.
the girl with the long braids gives an awkward half grin.
"my name's Troy, I'm gonna be a tester here! I brought snacks that we can share?" he holds up a few big bags of popcorn, and a packet of strawberry laces.
they seem oddly relieved that he's a decent person with good taste in snacks, and they soon introduce themselves as Dana and Rachel. the couch is quite small for three people, and Dana ends up half on Rachel's lap. Troy glances at them with a mix of jealousy and happiness.
apparently Rachel takes this as a personal middle finger. "what, you got a problem with two gay women of colour in gaming?"
he snorts, "uhh, not particularly, considering I'm a gay man of colour in gaming."
Dana offers him a fist bump, and Rachel gives him a 'well I guess that's fine' kinda look.
the job is nice, overall. Dana is funny in a quiet way, and once Rachel warms up to him, she won't shut up, which is nice after years of only hearing LeVar Burton's voice. they take it in turns to go and steal someone's ice cream sandwiches. when it's his turn, he feels bad about stealing them, and half wants to suggest he just buy them ice cream sandwiches, but he also wants to fit in.
this is the first time he's getting a proper look at the office space. there is a weirdly high up office with a shovel mounted above the door, several smaller offices, and a larger open space full of lots of people, a few of them doing work. he heads to what he assumes in the kitchen, where a tall man with curly black hair is facing the counter, reading something off the back of a packet, muttering numbers and calculations to himself. Troy kind of wants to introduce himself, possibly ask if this guy is ok (he's not) but the man throws the packet back onto the counter and walks away, with a disgruntled mumble of "it's not worth it."
weird.
he puts the man out of his mind and goes to retrieve the ice cream sandwiches.
as he's busying himself rustling through the empty boxes (there is a lot- he's beginning to think that whoever bought these needs them more than he does), he hears a loud clearing of the throat behind him.
"excuse me, tester, but those are MY ice cream sandwiches!" the woman says with an Australian accent. there is red hives working their way up her neck. wow, she really cares about the ice cream sandwiches.
Troy is VERY nervous now, and he feels like he's making a terrible first impression on this woman who is carrying herself like this is her home (she's wearing sweatpants and sitting on the counter). "I'm really sorry, the other- Rachel said- I didn't kno- I'll pay you back-" he brings out a few notes from his pocket and waves them towards her.
"wow-wee that's a lot of cash," she says.
(it's two, 20 dollar bills. maybe she isn't as important as he thought.)
"I don't want your money, but I did notice those strawberry laces in your pocket?" she holds out a hand expectantly.
"of course!" he hands her what's left in the packet, and hops up onto the counter to eat with her.
they eat in silence, until the woman says "I'm Poppy Li, by the way. mythic quest is basically my game."
"oh, cool! I'm-"
"I don't care, tester. so who have you met so far?"
"well, basically nobody," he says sheepishly. "a mean, blonde girl showed me around, the testers told me to take your ice cream, and then I saw a tall guy having a crisis, but I didn't say hi."
"ohh, Jo. yeah, she's ok, but if she asks if you want to see a meme, say no. who was this tall guy?"
"well, he had curly hair, blue sweater, very thin-"
Poppy almost spits out her candy. "Brad?!" she points up at an office, where Troy can see the man's feet on the desk. looking at him no, you wouldn't have guessed what just happened. "um, no, that's not like Brad. he's the most annoyingly confident person I know."
Troy muses this. he hasn't even seen this Brad's face, but he feels like he can't be all bad? right?
"seriously, tester, don't get close to him. he'll end up killing you, stealing all your money or breaking your heart. possibly all three. just stay away from him."
Troy is not listening to Poppy, but he nods and chews absently on the last of the candy.