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peace and quiet is something ritz has always enjoyed. the only sound he truly wanted was the low hum of the fan, the rhythmic ticking of the wall clock, and the soft tapping sound his fingertips made against his keyboard. the warm aroma of coffee and the soft glow of the laptop in his dark room aided in his focus, and for once, ritz was content.
however, peace and quiet is a rare commodity these days.
before the door even opened, ritz’s head already started to hurt. he squeezed his eyes shut when assaulted with the harsh light flooding into the break room, a soft hiss escaping his throat.
“are you gonna be a hermit forever?” her slight rasp came next, before ritz even opened his eyes to see her.
he had to hand it to velvet, after the prison incident she had bounced back remarkably quickly, albeit as what felt like a completely different person. she was much more lax, happy to lounge about and play video games or drop by the studio to bother ritz. veneer told him that this is what she was like before the incident- and ritz considered looking into the personality-altering effects of troll essence that such a statement implied.
however, her recovery was now his annoyance, as she seemed to find every opportunity to drop in unannounced and pester him into spending time with her. she didn't even have a key, but she seemed to materialize in the studio anyway, on what seemed like a daily basis.
ritz finally forced open his eyes, blinking at the glaring light. her long hair hung untied down her back, straight and unstyled. a tank top hung loosely on her torso, with a somewhat visible bra underneath that really didn't support much to begin with, and the top halfway tucked into a pair of gym shorts that she was wearing the last time she was here. her barbie-pink crocs had a couple new charms in them, but ritz didn't particularly care enough to invite her to elaborate.
“i thought i told you i was busy today.” he frowned at her, brow already creasing.
“you're busy every day!” velvet spared no mind to his obvious script writing endeavors, feeling about for the light switch. “it's always so dark in here~ when are you gonna come out of your cave?”
ritz was unimpressed with her teasing tone, and had risen to his feet and grabbed her wrist before she managed to find the switch.
“what do you want, velvet?” somehow, he hoped that if she didn't have a real reason to bother him, she would realize that this was all a waste of time and leave him be.
but such hopes are wasted on the simple-minded, and ritz became aware as soon as she lit up. “oh yeah! i got this new game, right? but i don't have a ps5, and you do, so i wanna play it.” she hummed nonchalantly, finally locating the light switch and casually moving to his console.
ritz had a collection of consoles, actually, both vintage and modern. he made a one off comment while live once a few years back, claiming to be a collector- really he was just trying to seem more relatable. however, nearly every console in his collection was a gift from a fan, save for one or two he had purchased himself to keep up appearances. if it weren't for velvet helping herself to their use as often as she did, they'd likely continue to collect dust on his shelf.
ritz begrudgingly followed her to the entertainment center, supervising her work to ensure she didn't break anything(velvet was remarkably accident prone). luckily, she managed to get the game started with no issue. confirming that she was ready to play, ritz stood to return to his laptop when a controller was shoved in his face.
“well? it's a co-op game. c’mon, i need a player two.” she looked at him expectantly, gently shaking the controller.
ritz had every reason to tell her no. he had every reason to kick her out, if anything, but something about the look in her deep blue eyes- no, it was just his annoyance. that's all.
ritz huffed and took the controller from her, telling himself if he played the game with her, she'd leave sooner. and so he took a seat on the couch, joining the game.
by the time they had reached the final stage, the sun was setting and ritz was suddenly aware of how dry his throat was. he had assumed it was from yelling at velvet for continuously tossing him off the level platform, but truly it had been several hours since they started.
velvet whined in confusion when the game paused.
“i’m getting water, you baby.” he stood up, moving towards the break room’s fridge.
“ooh, grab me a monster!”
ritz huffed, but obliged, grabbing one of the silver-embossed cans that velvet had left there a few days ago. he took a water bottle for himself, and after handing her the can, took a much needed sip of cold water.
“ahh!” she hissed happily after she took a sip of her own. “you always know what flavor i like!~”
“you left them here.” he scoffed dismissively.
“ritz. i may be stupid, but i’m not dumb.” she turned to look at him with a teasing smile. “the ones i left here ran out a while ago, didn't they? you've been replacing them.”
“w-what would that even accomplish?” ritz barked, offended at the (true)accusation.
“i dunno,” velvet’s smile turned into something different, something ritz couldn't quite place. “but i do think that you're a nicer person than you want people to think you are.”
ritz scowled and sat back down. “don't be ridiculous.”
“mm~” velvet didn't answer him directly. “good luck getting back up here, by the way.”
“what the hell?! why would you push me off again?!”