Chapter Text
“Dude, I swear if another person walks in without buying shit, I’m gonna lose it,” you grunted, pouring out the bowl of water that you had just dropped a bath bomb in to show a group of teens in the hopes of them buying it. You watched the colourful water swirl down the drain of one of the two large sinks on the sales floor. Rinsing out the bowl, you continued to grumble. At least it wasn’t a fresh bath bomb from the wall. The one you showed them had broken in transit, so it wasn’t a loss on the shop’s part.
You worked for a store called Ambrosia Cosmetics, a store known for its bath bombs, ethics, and strong fragrances. It wasn’t a bad job by any sense of the word, but the teens were definitely annoying. Still, they paid you a nice wage for the area, and you were thriving in the store… juusst not today.
“Them’s the breaks sometimes, (Y/N).” Marie sighed. Marie was your boss, and your only companion for the day, at least until Raphael got in at 3PM. Marie was a taller woman, imposing but kind, and awesome to talk to. She felt more like a friend than a boss sometimes, but in the good, supportive way. She was a great mix of determination, high energy and strong leadership, with just a little sprinkle of ADHD craziness that all the staff in the store thrived off of.
She hadn’t given you shit for your failed sales yet, at least. The last ten people you talked to hadn’t bought shit, and it was more than a little irritating. Especially because you pride yourself on your excellent sales skills.
“Still. Summer break is the worst. Conversion is always shit cause all the kids are at the mall, and last week we had a group of girls steal the testers for the lip scrubs. I don’t know what's worse, that they stole, or that they took the testers. That’s sooo bad for hygiene???” You sighed and shook your head in disappointment. Really, you couldn’t understand the logic behind it.
“Either way, at least the new release looks nice.” Setting the metal bowl back on the demo cart, you looked over to the section of the store labelled ‘Shower’. “I mean, they never give us the more unusual scents. Sure it’s hard to sell, but it’s definitely nice to have something different.”
“I don’t see how you can like it. I mean, they literally just extended the ‘Coroner's Tea Kit’ perfume into a whole range. We don’t even sell that one often ‘cause it's so expensive and weird!”
“Correction; You don’t sell it. I sold the second to last one last Tuesday. It was about 170 dollars out of that $300 basket I made.” You teased gently in a sing-song voice. The taller woman rolled her eyes, but still, she smiled at you. “Plus, it’s my favourite one! It smells so nice on me. Something about Jasmine and Tonka playing well together… It’s just so wonderfully dark but beautiful. Sadly it’s not perfect for every pH. Like you said, them’s the breaks. It’s nice to have options for scents that are more unusual. Plus, the shower gel is called Death and Decay. You can’t tell me that isn’t iconic.”
“I mean, fair. You gonna get it?”
“The perfume? Not yet. Can’t afford the thing. I’ll- Hi, welcome in!” You cut your sentence short when you noticed a group walk in. It was an elderly couple that came in every now and again. Marie loved seeing them, so you let her chat while you turned your attention to restocking the shower section. Though you didn’t get even two minutes into your task when you heard a polite ‘Excuse me’ from someone behind you. You took a deep breath.
‘Alright, don’t let the failures of today drag you down. You got this!’
You turned around, only to be met with a well-dressed abdomen. You had to tilt your head back quite a bit to look at the owner of the voice properly.
“I am trying to find a gift for a colleague. I was told this was a good place to start.”
Your heart skipped a beat. Good lord, you’d seen some nice-looking guys at work, but this guy took the cake. Tall, lean, and blonde, the male looked down at you with eyes hidden behind a pair of rectangular shades. He looked refined, wearing a deep blue dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and black dress slacks. And his voice? You were trying not to shiver. Still, you were working, and work came first. You smiled at him, pushing your own glasses up a bit.
“Oh, of course! We have some gift sets already wrapped and ready to go. Why don’t you tell me about your colleague and I'll make some recommendations.” You smiled at the taller man, waving for him to follow you to the gift wall. He gave you a sort of half smile as he followed, adjusting his watch slightly.
“Right. I… am actually doing a favour for my colleague. He forgot to buy his wife an anniversary present.” You perked up a bit.
“Oh, well that’s kind of you to help him. Do you know anything about what his wife likes?”
“Yes. He said that she enjoys light, floral scents. Nothing too strong.” Your eyes immediately shot to a couple of gifts on the wall. Light and Floral? A literal cakewalk for you. You smiled internally. This was good. This would get you right back into your element.
“I know a few good ideas. Did he give you a certain budget he wanted to work with? Or anything in particular that she likes?”
“He did not, but he did say to make it look as if he picked everything out himself. And from what I remember of her, she is one for extravagant gifts with high price tags. So the larger, the better. I do also vaguely remember her mentioning that she liked shopping here once upon a time.” You blinked. No price limit?! Extravagant? Oh, you had this in the bag. Your inner salesperson was already picking out products.
“We could build a gift in one of our knot wraps. They are very popular.” You offered.
“That sounds perfect.”
Thirty minutes and a lot of talking later, you had picked out quite a lot of things, everything within what he had given you. Each time you asked if it sounded good, he just nodded and said that he would trust your judgement. He honestly didn’t seem like he wanted to be out running errands, but he was doing it anyway. He listened to every word you said, and even let you explain everything in detail, essentially letting you yap. He even seemed interested in what you had to say, asking questions every now and again. It was refreshing after a whole bunch of ‘I’m just looking’ for a good portion of the day.
Either way, talk about a good friend. The basket you had built had already exceeded $300 with just the wrap and the amount of soap, bath bombs, and lotions that you had pointed out. Even more than that after you helped him pick out a perfume, seeing as it was the largest size. You had just finished packing up the one e for her and handed him the basket to check out when he paused for a moment.
“If it isn’t too forward, might I ask what perfume you are wearing? It’s rather lovely.” The man asked, and you smiled.
“Oh, it’s called Coroner’s Tea Kit. Would you like to try it on?” You offered, holding up the tester bottle.
“I would. What are the notes?” He offered his left wrist for you to spray. You began describing it as you did.
“I’m actually glad that you asked. This perfume is my favourite. It has notes of Jasmine, Ylang Ylang, Tonka, and Rose. It was made to evoke the flowers often at funerals, but the name suggests that it’s what the coroner uses to relax. It’s unusual, dark, and enchanting, and I honestly wish I could buy every bottle we have. It’s a little much for my budget, though.” You spoke animatedly, and the man followed your movements with a soft smile.
“It is rather good. Though… I find it slightly lacking in intensity, at least on me. A shame.”
“Oh, right! I usually layer it with another perfume,” you remembered. In the corner of your eye, you noticed Marie watching you two from the bath bomb wall.
“Oh? Which one?” Your attention was drawn back to the man, and you picked up the bottle of red perfume, showing him the label.
“It’s called Lust.”
“So, who was that?” Marie asked once the man had left. You were still reeling off of the sale. $450 for the friend's wife, and then another $300 for the last bottle of ‘Coroner’s Tea Kit’ and a large bottle of ‘Lust’.
“I don’t know, but he had money. I sold him the last bottle that we had of CTK Perfume.” You chirped with pride, showing her the large sales.
“Well whoever he was, I think he thought you were hot.”
“What?! What gave you that idea?!” Marie chuckled.
“He was checking you out the entire time, and he bought two large bottles of perfume because you were wearing them. Plus the whole conversation, he was attentive to you. I bet you he’ll come in tomorrow to ask for your number.” The older woman teased you, patting your shoulder.
“I think you’re seeing things, girl. I mean, it would be nice, but stuff like that only happens in fanfiction. Plus, I’m alright being single. I’ve been single for four years, I’m kind of building a streak at this point.”
“Yeah yeah, whatever. Just don’t call me surprised tomorrow when I’m riiighhhttt” She drew out in sing-song.
“Whaaatever! Go on your 15, woman, or I’ll call Ginny and tell her you’re working on your breaks.”
“Oooh I’m so scared!” She laughed, leaving you to think about the man while you did some light cleaning. While you did, you noticed something on the ground. It was a badge that had gotten knocked under the hand and foot care table.
“Ooh damn… I hope whoever this belongs to realises they left it here.” Carrying it with you to the till to put in the drawer, you stole a glance of its face. On it was a picture of the man who came in earlier.
“Huh? What are the odds? Well, what’s your name, oh mystery High Roller?” You squinted to read the text.
“Umbrella Corp… Albert Wesker… CEO?!”
A long sigh came from the man as he waited for his colleague to finish talking. He swore, he was going to go blind from how bright his excitement could be.
“I cannot thank you enough for this Albert. I mean, this is perfect! Did you pick everything out yourself?” William Birkin, his coworker and closest friend looked at him expectantly. He was always so… expressive, yes that was the word. Kind of like the woman who helped him pick out the very gift that William was gushing over.
“I did not, actually. The employee made some rather thoughtful suggestions based on what I knew of Annette.” His form relaxed slightly, now that William wasn’t rambling about being the worst husband in the world. Honestly, with the size of the recent projects, he wouldn’t be surprised if Annette forgot about the anniversary herself. “She even made a suggestion on a cologne for myself.”
“Oh, really? Well, maybe I should head there someday. Whatever you’re wearing smells very refined. And we should probably head out for the day, there really isn’t much else to handle.”
Albert supposed that he was right. Peeking at the time, the clock read 6:30.
“Right you are. Let me just grab my badge and we can go.” He reached into his pocket to ensure he had his badge and felt…
Air. Nothing. Confused, he tried all of his pockets. William looked on with amusement.
“I told you if you kept making fun of me for losing my badge, you’d lose yours one day!” William chuckled at his misfortune as Albert hurriedly checked his bag from Ambrosia. Only the perfumes and the receipt looked up at him. He was too far from the mall to make it on time… He would have to return tomorrow to see if he had dropped it there. He groaned.
“If it makes you feel any better, at least you can check out that store again! Maybe grab me something this time!” William taunted and Albert mulled it over. He certainly wouldn’t mind returning… Maybe you would be working again. Maybe this time he would catch your name.
“Albert? Earth to Wesker? You there?! Did something happen at that store?” William was waving a hand in front of his face. He had been thinking for too long.
“What? No, no, I was simply thinking about tomorrow. My schedule should be rather free, either way.” He brought his eyes to the calendar on his desk. True to what he said, nothing was pencilled in on the day. It was the day circled about a week later that was filling him with irritation just looking at it that he would be busy on.
“Come. We shouldn’t dawdle here. I am quite sure Annette is waiting for you.” He steered the topic, and himself, away from the dreaded calendar.