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A ray of warmth covered Rivlin's face. He dragged himself out of bed and walked towards his bathroom. Rivlin shivered from the cold of the room. Immediately longing for his soft, warm bed. He grabbed his hairbrush and ran it through his hair roughly, the small fraction of loose hair fell onto the tiled floor. Ashal tells him to use a comb, but he never listens, shown by the multiple combs abandoned in his drawer. Rivlin finishes up, grabs some clothes, and he’s out the door.
—
Ashal woke up to a wailing alarm. Tried to rub his eyes out of tiredness, but failed. He walked to his bathroom and passed right through the cluttered mess of several different products. His morning schedule always went like today. Face, hair, teeth, deodorant, cologne. He looked through some clothes and carefully picked ones to wear. And like that, he’s off to work.
—
Rivlin walked through the lobby, spotting a door he always just passed over, the break room. Rivlin avoided this for two reasons, one, he doesn’t need a break. And two, he doesn’t need coffee. But today, he decided it was different. After all, it’s been a while since he's had coffee. And since he hasn’t started working on anything, it technically wasn’t a break. He walked through the door and the harsh coffee smell hit him. He started to tear up at the smell. Walking through the soft carpet combined with the warmth of the room made it oddly comforting for him. He grabbed the closest mug he could find and clicked the start button. Watching the coffee drip down into the cup.
—
Ashal rushed to the main office. He had spent too much time getting ready once again. “ What are you here for this time Ashal? “ The head manager said. “ I was late.. “ Ashal said. “ And.. Why exactly were you late.. ? “ Ashal stood for a second, thinking of excuses. “ The hall was uhm.. Cluttered. “ Ashal said, the head manager looked to the side, and sighed. The hallway was perfectly fine, in fact, there were less people than usual. “ I will give you this one pass because I am feeling generous today. “ The manager tilted her head to the side. “ Actually.. How do you feel about being a paper boy real quick? “ Ashal cocked his head in confusion. “ Here, take these papers and give each researcher one. “ Ashal cautiously took the papers from her hand and rushed out. He started to slowly read the papers whilst walking towards the break room, his usual first stop when he gets to work. ‘ Assigned different partners ‘ Ashal read. He looked forward, and his eyes widened with shock.
—
Rivin started walking out of the break room, using the coffee cup to warm his hands and throat against the cold interior of the lobby, looked in front of him to see Ashal running towards him. Ashal started gasping to catch his breath shortly after stopping near Rivlin. “ What happened, my dear? “ Rivlin asked urgently. “ Take this. “ Ashal stood to his feet and handed Rivlin one of the papers. Rivlin looked close at the poorly printed paper and gave a look of confusion. “ What’s the problem, dear? “ Rivlin asked, handing the paper back to Ashal. “ Didn’t you read it? We can’t work together! “ Ashal panicked. Rivlin chuckled, placing his hand on Ashal’s shoulder. “ My dear, we don’t need to! I’m sure you’ll do fine without me, and I’ll prevail as well. As I always do. “ Rivlin said. “ But- You can’t possibly believe this will go well! “ Ashal retaliated, utterly baffled. “ You’re right, I don’t think this will go well, because it’s going to be better than well! Just think, you and I will have other opportunities instead of just following off of each other's word. Besides, it’s only for a day. “ Rivlin said, scoffing to the side.
—
Was he crazy? How could he only sum this down to ‘ only a day ‘ ? Ashal paused, trying to withhold words. “ Nothing we can do about it anyways, might as well fall into it. “ Rivlin shrugged. “ But- “ Ashal was cut off by Rivlin shushing him. “ It will go great! Keep your head up! “ Rivlin shouted as he ran away to his study, his boots clanking against the white tile. Ashal watched him with an appalled expression.
—
Rivlin had arrived at his study, immediately upon arrival thinking of the last time they had one of these days. When he was a younger man. It wasn’t interesting enough to write home about, everyone just moped around and didn’t get any work done. It was a gloomy time, but still a good memory of Rivlin's young days. Rivlin checked the time, it was only a few minutes away from their first shift.
—
Ashal slowly walked away, reading through the list, Rivlin’s words ringed through his head. ‘ Nothing we can do about it ‘ . Ashal always has been told about how ‘ up tight ‘ or ‘ anxious ‘ he was, he always denied it. But hearing it from his own husband must’ve loosened a screw, or really brought it home to him about past others' words about him. Ashal thoughts stormed inside his mind. But quicker than his thoughts, had rang. The bell had rang. He sprinted to his section, gripping at his paper in hand.
—
As the shift bell rang Rivlin jumped in his seat. He had tried bringing the paper back to his mind. He was partnered with.. Lee! Rivlin remembered. Rivlin had only seen Lee occasionally. Usually in his own section, or trading parts with others, or even whispering to Askel. The name suddenly stung in Rivlin’s mind. Rivlin shook the name out of his mind, before he heard the door click.
—
Lee walked into the section, looking up at the busted lights and scattered materials. Even Lee could tell that such was a depressing display.
—
Rivlin perked up at Lee entering the section. Rivlin smiled and waved, withholding his excitement. Lee looked.. Unimpressed. At best. “ Well, welcome my boy! Uhm.. What would you like to start on.. “ Rivlin’s voice slowly quieted. “ Let’s.. Let’s just start with introductions.. No need to just jump into everything. “ Lee said, setting his packed bags on the floor. You.. Don’t know who I am yet.. ? Rivlin thought. “ Right.. Well, my name is Rivlin, and it’s a pleasure to see you.. “ Rivlin nervously studdered. He pushed his hand out to shake, but Lee hadn’t caught on to his gesture. “ Lee. “ Rivlin frowned at Lee’s emotionless display. “ Great.. Now we can start! “ Rivlin said, jumping to his table. “ Okay, now, this might be a little confusing at first but I’m sure you’ll do great, I mean you work here.. With me. “ Rivlin nervously rambled. Lee looked down at Rivlin, praying that he would just quiet down already.
—
Ashal tapped his foot impatiently, for his partner had been late. He kept checking his watch until he heard his room bell ring. He looked to the doorway and saw the exact picture on the paper. “ Uhm.. Are you Ashal? “ She asked. “ Yes! And you must be.. France! Right? It’s a pleasure meeting you. “ France nodded. “ Very. “ France extended her hand to Ashal to shake, and Ashal joined the gesture.
—
“ Alright, first things first, can you help me set up the table? “ Rivlin asked, Lee gave him a blank stare. “ Uh.. Like.. Put the lamp and subject on the table? “ Rivlin explained. “ Right, right uhm.. Right. “ Lee stuttered, bringing the thrown-to-the-side lamp upon the table and plugging it in, causing the socket to spark, an effect of the place being near ancient. As Lee looked up he saw Rivlin picking up one of the robotic parts and setting it down onto the table. “ Perfect! Now, all we need for this machinery is some extra wires! The old ones already blew.. They should be right about.. Here! “ Rivlin said, pulling some wires from a packet. “ Here, why don’t you give it a try first? “ Rivlin said, handing Lee the wires and turning the lamp to face the circuit.
—
“ What are we working on first? “ France excitedly asked. “ Well my partner currently has our most recent project.. But I’m sure I have something unfinished in here! “ Ashal said, beginning to search around the room for anything Rivlin may have left behind or maybe even an abandoned project. A robotic model had caught his eye. “ Perfect.. We’ll have to use this for today. “ Ashal said, his head rising to showcase the messy, unfinished, and downright depressed looking model. “ How old is that.. That doesn’t even look like our current models.. “ France asked. “ Oh, I don’t actually know what this project is! It might be one of Rivlin’s when he was just starting.. “ Ashal quickly recoiled from the quality of the model. It was ragged, wires poking out, and material that didn't match. “ We are not finishing this today.. “ Ashal whispered to himself, his face twisting into a look of disgust. France held the model and as well recoiled from the design. “ It’s.. It’s alright! We just can change up the exterior and- Oh my god. “ France spread the poorly applied metal apart, and the complete interior was twisted, tangled, and messy. Ashal looked into it and his eyes widened. “ Let’s.. Let’s choose something else. “ Ashal said.
—
“ How did you even get this job? “ Rivlin said coldly, staring down at the monstrosity of wires Lee had tangled together, the wires had looked as if it had crawled out of the remnants of a car crash. Lee mumbled under his breath and leaned to the side. “ Are you even trying? “ Rivlin’s voice wasn’t quiet anymore. He would not stand for Lee’s incompetence. “ What. “ Lee muttered. “ Get out. Get out of this lab. “ Rivlin demanded. Lee shrugged and walked out, his close by bags following him. Rivlin sighed. He had wondered if Ashal was going through anything similar.
—
“ Ah, wonderful! “ France clapped her hands together. What was standing in Ashal’s hand had been an unfinished code board, found from several minutes of digging through the depths of their project box. “ We can finally start working on something! “ Ashal said, bringing the board to the table and grabbing a nearby screw driver. “ Looks like we only need a little extra detail.. “ Ashal said, handing France one of the screw drivers.
—
Rivlin lowered his head and enveloped his hand over his head, looking down at the tangled mess of wires Lee had left him with. Rivlin took a deep breath, stretched, and then heard his alarm go off. Their shift had already ended. Rivlin looked at his alarm in disbelief. The table banged as his head dropped to it.
—
As Ashal’s alarm blared out as he was half-way through tightening a screw, Ashal and France had turned to look at the alarm. “ I.. I hadn’t realized how much time went by.. My apologies, France.. “ Ashal said. “ Don’t worry about it too much! “ France reassured him. “ It was nice working with you. I hope we can meet again some time! “ France smiled. “ Yeah, this was nice., “ Ashal replied. Standing up to grab his bags and leaving their section.
—
Rivlin solemnly walked out of his section, he didn’t have to, at least not yet, but he craved to hear Ashal’s voice after everything that had happened, His love covered his heart like a cocoon covered a caterpillar. Rivlin walked through the packed lobby until he had finally recognized his dear husband. He immediately ran towards Ashal and enveloped him in a tight embrace. Ashal chuckled and hugged Rivlin back. “ Are you alright, Riv? “ Rivlin shook his head. “ No, are you alright? “ Rivlin asked, raising his head to look up in Ashal’s eyes. His heart burned with limerence, but his face burned even hotter. “ Today was.. Better than expected. “ Ashal said. “ I knew it! Well, I guess I knew it would go nice for you. “ Rivlin said, a chuckle following his words. Ashal smiled.