Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was an early autumn morning, no later than 10:00 AM. The air was chilled, yet the sun was shining bright, and the sky was clear. Despite this, though, Dusekkar had found himself cooped up in the library of Roblox HQ.

Unlike his usual light reading, the reason he found himself here was different. Reports of robloxians disappearing mysteriously had arisen, and Dusekkar, being an admin of high status, had took it upon himself to start doing research into why this could possibly be happening. Was it due to false bans? No, that doesn’t sound right.

Dusekkar scanned the shelves, lost in thought. He’d run his fingers along the books before taking a brief pause, and letting out a deep sigh. Before he could resume his search for answers, he’d been interrupted by some commotion on the other side of the room. A faint crash and loud thudding could be heard.

Startled, he’d whipped around towards where the noise came from by instinct, though, naturally, as it’d come from far away, he couldn’t really gather what had happened. He’d furrowed his brow, pondering what to do. It didn’t take long though before he’d decided to make his way over to investigate.

Upon reaching the other side of the library, Dusekkar stares at the floor before him, stunned. Surrounded by scattered books and other objects littered around them, was another one of HQ’s employees. The demolitionist, Taph. The two of them stared at each other, completely silent.

“Ah.. It’s you.” Dusekkar mumbled, breaking the silence. “Seems as though you’ve gotten yourself into a bit of trouble.” he scoffed.

Taph looks away, embarrassed, before giving a small nod. Dusekkar groans before extending his arm, offering Taph help up. He takes his hand, and Dusekkar pulls him back up on his feet.

“You really should be more careful.” Dusekkar crosses his arms. “I oughta report you to Builderman for being so… destructive.”

Taph tilts his head confused, as Dusekkar gestures to the books scattered across the floor.

“I understand this whole.. thing, it’s your job.” he sighs. “But if you wanna keep your position, you have to keep yourself in line.” Dusekkar states firmly.

Nervous, Taph holds his hands close to him before nodding again to acknowledge.

Dusekkar nods back before turning away. “I have work I must tend to. I’ll be taking my leave now.” he pauses, glancing back. “I’d advise you to clean up your mess while you’re here.”

And with that said, he walks off, leaving Taph bewildered by the brief interaction.

Chapter Text

3:00 PM, same day, Dusekkar had found himself after hours right inside of Builderman’s office. He’d came here to report Taph’s.. mistake from a few hours prior. Because he’d believed the demolitionist to be, as the name implies, a bit of a hazard.

Builderman had sat hunched over his desk, seemingly lost in thought. The silence that filled the room was almost nauseating. Dusekkar leaned forward in his chair, hands clasped together in his lap, starting to get impatient whilst waiting for any form of answer.

“So..” Builderman had finally spoke, breaking the tense quiet of the atmosphere.

“So?” Dusekkar replied.

“Yer’ having problems with the newer employee, eh?”

“Very much so.” Dusekkar nodded. “I don’t exactly believe he’s the most qualified.”

“Not qualified.” Builderman snickers, leaning his head into his hand. “Well if that’s what you really think, maybe I got a solution for ya.”

“And what might that be?” Dusekkar squints, tilting his head.

Builderman pauses to lean back in his chair. “Well..” he locks eyes with Dusekkar. “If yer’ havin’ a problem with the newbie, why dontcha’ try takin’ em under your wing?”

“What?” Dusekkar scrunches his brows. “Why— why on earth would you think that’d be a good idea?”

“You said he’s causin’ ya problems.” Builderman shrugs. “Plus I think it’d be good for ya. A little bit of coworker bonding!” he chuckles.

Dusekkar groans. He despises that idea.

“Oh c’mon Matt, don’t be such a stick in the mud.” he rolls his eyes. “I think this’d be good for you. Plus I think ya could be in need of a good ol’ research buddy.”

“I highly doubt it.” Dusekkar retorts, crossing his arms. “I work better alone.”

Builderman sighs, pinching his brows. “So stubborn.. but my word on it’s final.” He stands up from his desk. “So could ya at least.. try to consider it? They’re a rookie after all, nobody's perfect when they’re just startin’ out.”

Dusekkar goes quiet for a brief moment, thinking.

“..Fine. I’ll give it a shot.”

“That’s the spirit, Matt!” He pats Dusekkar on the shoulder. “Now I think I’ll be takin’ my leave. I expect you and Taph to be workin’ together by the afternoon, M’kay?”

Dusekkar nods.

“Great.” Builderman gives a soft smile. “I’ll see ya tomorrow then.” he opens the door to his office, awaiting Dusekkar's response before he exits.

“..Yeah. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Dusekkar forces a small grin back, before looking down
at his hands.

And with that, the door creaks shut, leaving Dusekkar alone, in the dimly lit room, with just his thoughts.

“Do my work.. with Taph?” Dusekkar ponders aloud to himself.

What on earth was Builderman even thinking? Leaving a destructive force to do the thorough work… ridiculous. Dusekkar scoffed at the idea, but he supposes there’s no choice in the matter. It wasn’t exactly a suggestion, after all. More of an assignment if anything. A chore.

He pulls himself up from his seat, lifting his arm to examine his watch. 4:30 PM. Did that discussion really take that long? Dusekkar shakes his head, it’s not too much lost time. He had work to do, and it’d be best to do what he can while he’s still working alone.

Chapter Text

A chilling breeze fills the room. The sound of rain hitting the window can be heard from outside, dark and dreary, but also somewhat calming. Dusekkar could be found passed out at his desk, faintly snoring whilst nose deep in a book. The light from the lamp on his desk had illuminated his face with a faint glow. Despite how peaceful it all seemed, Dusekkar would soon jolt awake to the loud beeping of an alarm clock.

He’d groan before shutting it off and rubbing his eyes. He looks over his desk, feeling groggy. His body was sore, and he still felt half asleep. How long had he stayed up last night? How long had he slept? What time even was it? He glances over at the alarm clock, before he felt his heart drop. Shit. He’d overslept. In a panicked frenzy, Dusekkar shoots up from his chair, quickly getting himself dressed to look at least somewhat put together, and rushing himself out the door.

In the time it’d taken for him to get outside, the rain had picked up. And on his way out to his car, he ended up getting drenched by the downpour. Of course, as if the morning already wasn’t going bad enough. He sinks down into his seat, wet and exhausted, holding his head in his hands.

Today is going to be a very, very, long day.

-

Dusekkar pulls his car into HQ’s parking lot. Same spot every day, at least it wasn’t taken. The rain cleared up a bit within the time it took to drive, but it wasn’t long enough for him to completely dry off. He lingers for a moment before he decides to go inside, checking the time on the dash. 9:45 AM, that’s over an hour late at this point. He sighs, opening the door and turning the car off, before finally deciding to enter the office and face what the day has in store for him.

Upon entering, Dusekkar is greeted by loud shouting and obnoxiously bright lights. He hunches in on himself and shields his face, as to not divert attention to himself. He attempts to make his way to the main office, shuffling and tripping over himself. It’s very evident he didn’t rest well, but he’s determined to push through the day, All he needs to do is keep to himself, and everything will be oka—

“HEYYY MATT!”

Oh sweet swords.

A loud, familiar voice can be heard calling out his name from across the hall. He’d been spotted. And spotted by Telamon of all people. Not as if he could slide by without consequence now, he’d been perceived by one of the noisiest people within the whole building.

Dusekkar lets out a sharp exhale. “John, how pleasant to be seeing you.” he says through his teeth.

Telamon skips down the hall, towards the door that Dusekkar is ever so desperately trying to enter, wrapping his arm around his shoulder and leaning into him. Dusekkar groans in response, but Telamon doesn’t seem to notice.

“You seem to be in a hurry, what’s the rush man?” Shedletsky teases. “Gotta be somewhere or somethin’?”

“That’s none of your business.” Dusekkar lightly pushes him off. “Quite frankly I don’t think anything I’m doing is any of your business.”

“Jeez, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed.” Telamon taunts. “You ain’t normally like this!”

“I didn’t wake up in bed at all!” Dusekkar shouts.

“...Oh!” Shedletsky stares at Dusekkar, completely dumbfounded.

The chatter of the once lively room falls quiet, many eyes now on the two. Dusekkar feels his face burn, shielding himself with his hand to avoid any eye contact. He inhales, holding his breath, trying to find the words to run off and hide from the crushing weight of embarrassment.

“Look…” he mumbles under his breath. “I didn’t sleep well, at all. And today's already off to a bad start.”

Shedletsky nods.

“If you’ll excuse me, I have work to do.”

Dusekkar opens the door to his office, rushing in and shutting the door swiftly behind him. He slumps down onto the floor, burying his face in his lap, and just sitting. He feels as if he’s going to die of embarrassment. Not only had he been seen as a soaked, exhausted mess, he’d started bickering with Telamon in front of his co-workers. The pit in his stomach just wouldn’t go away.

“Pull yourself together, Matt.” he mumbles to himself. He takes a deep breath, then exhales quietly. “The day is what you make of it, after all. You can salvage this.”

Dusekkar finally regains a bit of his confidence after the horrid start to his day. He pulls himself up, walks over to his desk, and feels as though he’s ready to have a better start than before.

…Then the intercom switches on.

“Matt Dusek to Builderman’s office, I repeat can we get Matt Dusek to Builderman’s office?”

Great. Just what he needed.

Chapter Text

The previously busy halls were quiet, and empty. As Dusekkar made his way across the building, he’d felt… nervous. Knowing Telamon, he’d probably ended up running his mouth to Builderman about what happened. Or.. was he being called up due to his late arrival? Swords, all the thoughts running through his mind made Dusekkar anxious.

After a few long minutes of walking, he finally reaches the door. Dusekkar rests his hand on the doorknob whilst trying to calm the pit in his stomach. He felt nothing but dread looming over him, as he feared the outcome on the other side of the door.

Builderman’s never thought lowly of him though, right? It’s not as if his career would be compromised over a small slip-up. Though… even Dusekkar did believe his behavior to be out of the norm.

“Enough stalling.” Dusekkar mumbles to himself, gripping the knob. “You’re better than this. Nothing will go as bad as you think it will.”

Dusekkar takes a deep breath, working up the courage to turn the knob. The door opened slowly, with a slight creak, and on the other side facing him were three familiar faces.
Builderman, the obvious, sitting in his old office chair. Shedletsky, who had been leaning onto the desk, chatting with the former. And lastly, Taph, who had been standing awkwardly off to the side of the two.

Dusekkar blinks, bewildered, slowly scanning the room, and the group that had stood before him. “What— What is this..?”

“Ah, Matt!” Builderman sits up in his chair. “I see ya ended up makin’ it. Kind of you to join us.”

Dusekkar shuts the door behind him, and plopping himself down in the seat directly across from the others.

“Charmed to be here.” Dusekkar replies, his voice a bit shaky.

Builderman looks him over for a moment, noticing how tense he is. He looks over towards Shedletsky and whispers something to him, before Shedletsky nods back to acknowledge. Oh heights, this whole thing made Dusekkar feel as if he was on trial.

“Ease up, Matt.” Shedletsky finally spoke to him directly. “You’re not in trouble or anything.”

Dusekkar sighs, relieved. Though, he was still skeptical about everything. He leans back in his chair, pondering his words, before finally landing on what to say.

“If nothing is wrong, why was I called here?”

“Ah, right.” Builderman gestures towards Taph, who had been fidgeting with their hands in the corner. “You remember our conversation from yesterday, yeah? About your new work buddy?”

“Ah.” Dusekkar pauses for a moment, dumbfounded.

He’d… completely forgotten actually. After getting caught up in all the commotion of the morning.

“It seems it must have slipped my mind.”

“Not a problem.” Builderman chuckles. “But yes, that’s why I called ya here.”

“Y’know, to get you assigned and acquainted!” Shedletsky chimes in.

“Right.” Dusekkar nods, glancing back to the corner of the room. He catches Taph staring at him, before they lock eyes. Taph quickly looks away as Dusekkar squints, confused.
Dusekkar inhales sharply, before looking back to Builderman and Shedletsky. “So… how long will I be working with them exactly?” He tilts his head.

Builderman ponders for a moment. “Well, yer’ workin’ on that research project about robloxians goin’ missing, yeah?”

“That’s… correct.” Dusekkar knows exactly where this is going.

“Well that’s great, Taph could help ya out with that.” Builderman clasps his hands together, proudly. “And while yer’ at it, you could accompany him on his daily tasks. Does that sound good?”

Dusekkar cringes a bit at the idea as Builderman looks between him and Taph. He’s really uncertain about this whole ordeal but… does he really have a choice? He’ll just have to suck it up and accept it.

“That… sounds fine.” Dusekkar finally answers, his voice strained.

Builderman nods and turns towards Taph. “And what about you, rookie? How’s that sound to ya?”

Taph fidgets with his hands a bit, looking between Builderman and Dusekkar, before giving a slight nod and a weak thumbs up.

Builderman smiles softly. “Well then, that’s settled.” He stands up from his chair. “I’ll be leavin’ the newbie under yer watch ‘til ya get everything under control.”

“And Matt.”

“Hm?” Dusekkar perks up, tilting his head.

Builderman leans in towards Dusekkar and lowers his voice to a whisper. “I’m trusting you with this. Don’t be too harsh on them.” He says, firmly.

“..U-understood.” Dusekkar stutters.

Builderman smiles, and stands up from his chair. “Well then! Yer’ both dismissed now.”

The two still linger in the room, awkwardly. It’s silent for a couple moments before Builderman speaks again.

“Alright, I got things to do so yer’ both gonna have to get goin’. Good luck! Bye-bye! Come back and report to me later!” He pushes the two out of the room and shoos them off, before shutting the door, leaving the two stunned.

Taph glances at Dusekkar, as he pulls back the sleeve of his robe to check his watch. 10:30.

“This day is never going to end.” Dusekkar mutters to himself.