Chapter Text
“Oh, great. Another person I didn’t ask to manage.” Dr. Wittman complained, looking at the person who just entered his lab. “Mr. Osborn sent you, I presume?”
“Yes sir!” Henchbun smiled.
With his slouched back, Dr. Wittman was at eye-level with the stranger’s fully standing short figure. He took a minute to look them up and down, with squinted, judgemental eyes. Brunette hair dyed with stripes of red. A black hair clip with a skull. Red swirls drawn onto their cheeks. An all-black outfit with red and black striped sleeves and a basic black choker. And if all of that wasn’t an idiotic enough of a display… they were wearing fake rabbit ears, too.
“Did you miss a furry convention or something?” Wittman sneered.
“Wha-” Henchbun dressed like this so often that they sometimes forgot they looked a bit outlandish. “I uh-” They got ahold of themself. “Where’s Mr. Osborn, sir?”
Wittman scoffed. “You’re here to see Osborn?”
“Yes, sir.”
Wittman rolled his eyes. The respect they were giving him by calling him ‘sir’ was not lost on him, but he still held his suspicions with someone as weird looking as this.
“And why would he want to see you?”
“He- he hired me, sir. I just don’t know where his- his office is.”
Wittman made a note of Henchbun’s stutter, too. Were they nervous, perhaps hiding something, or did they always talk like that? Unfortunately he couldn’t find out yet.
“Well even if that was the case, he won’t be in for another ten minutes.”
Henchbun had arrived early, out of fear of being late.
“Oh. …I see.” Was all they uttered.
There was a pause.
Wittman sighed. Since they’re working for Oscorp anyway, maybe he could make use of the extra time. “You can wait here and help me with a few things.” It wasn’t a question.
“Alright!” Henchbun smiled at the proposition. Despite his lack of emotional warmth, Henchbun found themself somewhat infatuated with him, as is what happens to them with most of their employers. If anyone so much as raised an authoritative eyebrow at Henchbun, the chances are, they’d fall, and they’d fall fast. And Dr. Wittman was no exception. But, as was their usual, they kept it in. Save for a little enthusiasm, of course.
Wittman was caught off guard by their bubbly response to him giving them work, but he took it as part of their weirdness. He didn’t mind the enthusiasm - in fact he kind of liked it. But of course, that feeling was being shoved inside and never looked at. He was holding onto the likely probability that he’d never see them again, aside from walking around the building sometimes.
“Alright. Here, take the papers on top of that cabinet and sort them into the folders. They’re alphabetized.” Wittman pointed.
“You got it!” Henchbun cheered as they whipped their body around to the cabinet he pointed at. As Wittman watched, his eyebrows raised, caught off guard by the sight of them even having a fake rabbit tail to boot. He was quick to turn his head back around, feeling disgruntled by the heat he could feel rising to his cheeks. He was practically dying now for Osborn to call for them.
It didn’t take long for Henchbun to get finished with their task, as the papers weren’t too numerous. “All done!” They turned back to Wittman and beamed.
“You seem to have good timing.” Wittman replied. “Osborn’s here to see you now.” Internally he thanked the stars. He was glad to get rid of them, especially after they started causing him some confliction.
“Oh goodie!” Henchbun exclaimed, bounding over to the door where Osborn now stood.
They turned to Wittman and said, “It was nice meeting you!” They extended a hand.
Wittman looked down at it. A fingerless glove they wore, with a heart-shaped paw pad design in the middle. It was upside-down for Henchbun, so the heart was facing right to him.
He took a breath. He shook their hand. “...you too.”