Chapter Text
> dude, r u free? i really need to talk to u about something
Builderman’s eyebrows furrow after reading Shedletsky’s message. He quickly replies back to him.
Come up to my office. <
About a minute later or so, Shedletsky comes into Builderman’s office.
“Shedletsky, what happened?” Builderman asks.
Shedletsky scratches the back of his head. “Um… you know how Thanksgiving is like tomorrow?”
“...Yeah?” Builderman replies, after a beat of silence.
“I, uh, need to have someone over with me,” says Shedletsky, eyes looking at everything in the office besides Builderman.
“...You ‘need’ me to come over?”
“Yeah, but you also need to pose as my b-boyfriend—”
“What!”
“Let me explain!”
What was there to explain? Builderman wears a disappointed look and crosses his arms as he waits for Shedletsky’s explanation.
“Sooooo, you know how I broke up with BrightEyes months ago?”
Builderman glares at his employee. His only reply is his frown deepening.
Shedletsky continues despite Builderman’s clear annoyance. “My mom wanted me to get a new partner, and to stop her from bothering me everyday about it, I told her I got a partner, and—”
Builderman rises up from his chair. “And she told you that she wanted to see this imaginary boyfriend for Thanksgiving. Did ye’ say it was me?”
“...No.”
Builderman blows out a breath of relief.
“Shedletsky, you dug this ridiculous ditch yourself. I can’t help. Go ask, uh, Matt or somethin’,” Builderman mumbles his last sentence.
Shedletsky gives him an incredulous look. “Matt? No offense to him, but are you serious? He would get called a weird-looking scarecrow—”
“I don’t know!” Builderman snaps. They stand in a heated silence for a while before Shedletsky sighs and starts talking again.
“Builderman, please. I promise I’ll literally work on Sundays and stay overtime everyday and you can delay my pay for like a month or something,” Shedletsky begs. “Are you doing anything for Thanksgiving anyway?”
“Um, no,” says Builderman. He wasn’t really a holiday kind of guy and his parents were on the other side of Robloxia, probably still muttering how the city life took their son away from them.
Shedletsky tries to convince Builderman. “My mom cooks the best food, you gotta come over and try it! She’s also really good at Mario Kart and Mario Party!” Shedletsky doesn’t know how that last fact could help him convince Builderman, but he said it anyway.
Builderman only returns a stern, unmoving gaze at him.
Shedletsky dramatically brings his hands together. “Please, it’s better than doing nothing on Thanksgiving!”
A few seconds of good thinking goes by and Builderman sighs deeply. He pinches the bridge of his nose and with a miserable tone of voice, says, “Fine. But only if you actually stay absolutely quiet during work and don't bother the others.”
“THANK YOU!”
God, this was so stupid.
***
Shedletsky starts the car. “Ready?”
Builderman nods. “Yeah.”
Shedletsky presses on the gas and hits the road to his mom’s house. They don’t say anything to each other in the first few minutes of the car ride and the radio is the only thing that fills in the silence, until Builderman brings up a question at a red light.
“How are we going to sell that we’re partners to your mom?” Shedletsky takes a glance at Builderman and he looks like he doesn’t believe the words that are coming out of his mouth.
Shedletsky turns off the radio. “Er… try to act normal but a bit lovey-dovey around me?”
“...Seriously? I’m your boss and she’s going to wonder how you got with me,” Builderman grumbles, looking out the window.
“Don’t worry, just say that we didn’t recognize our feelings for each other until recently, and then I asked you out for dinner or something.”
Builderman shakes his head. “We should construct a more specific story. She’s gonna ask for the details of everything, right?”
“Yeah, true…” says Shedletsky, taking a turn.
“Alright, then. Let’s say you invited me to Bite Blox at 7 PM and I said yes.” Builderman still can’t believe what he’s saying.
“I think that’ll be enough,” Shedletsky cuts in. “I’ll be able to fill in the details. I didn’t study classical literature for nothing.”
Builderman relents. “Hm, if you say so. You better cover for me if I mess up anything.” He gave up on crafting a story because he didn’t want to spend his time trying to remember every detail and it definitely would be easier if one of them did most of the talking.
“I told her that you were shy, so I don’t think she’ll make you talk much.”
“Wow, thanks," Builderman dryly says. Shedletsky laughs a bit.
The rest of the car ride is silent. When they’re near their destination, Builderman fully faces towards the window. He can feel his face burning a bit.
“Shedletsky… will we have to kiss?” he asks, sounding like he just saw a ghost. The question was sitting in his mind for practically the entire car ride.
“...Probably,” Shedletsky admits in a very, very small voice. Nevertheless, Builderman still hears him.
“Oh,” Builderman says under his breath as they pull up to the driveway. Shedletsky's mom waves at them.