Work Text:
The singular rasp at the door made Pantalone briefly look up from the documents he was reading through, his quill stilling slightly before he continued to dutifully write.
There was only ever one person who gave that singular confident knock. Well, perhaps one being would be more appropriate, considering there happened to be many of him.
His darling Doctor very rarely bothered him as he was working unless he had a scientific revelation that he had spontaneously thought of that needed funding.
And so Pantalone braced himself for the Doctor to burst in and spout scientific jargon at him for the next hour, he pitifully glanced at his soon to be abandoned worked and sighed tiredly.
“Come in, darling.” He spoke clearly.
Contrary to what he thought was going to occur, it was not a singular Dottore who entered his office he was expecting, but instead many. Pantalone swiftly found his office overrun by a total of 6 segments, ranging from as young as 12 to as old as 54.
It was rare for the segments to be in each other's company; they were all prone to being arrogant and jealous, and so despite their striking similarities, they did not tend to get on particularly well, especially the younger segments.
"Ah - sorry, darlings", he corrected himself, setting his quill down to stare back at the many crimson eyes peering his way, "now do tell me why you have all gathered here today."
"We wish to make an amendment to the Schedule", one of the segments spoke. Pantalone gazed towards him, noting him to be Zandiks 40 year old segment - Theta.
"An amendment you say?" Pantalone drawled, moving to fetch a document from his desk drawers.
The Schedule began almost immediately after Pantalone became a Harbinger. Such a title demands many things from its bearer, time being its primary and most gruelling demand. Unfortunately, with both him and Dottore bearing this title, the time spent in each other's presence swiftly dwindled, leaving them all secretly unsatisfied. Certain segments would get more time with him than others due to availability issues, which had almost resulted in a segment massacre. Despite them all being Zandik, jealousy still ran rampant.
And so The Schedule had been born to ensure an equal amount of time spent with the segments to prevent rampant segmentcide.
"Now, darlings," Pantalone started, laying out the schedule neatly onto his desk, then proceeding to rest his face in one hand ,"pray tell what is this amendment you're suggesting?"
The youngest segment of the lot, a surprisingly sweet but rather morbid boy of 12 years of age - Beta - began bouncing on his heels, clearly eager to make the proposed change known.
"We noticed-"
"Ahem." Omega coughed, glaring at the younger boy.
"WE noticed that an awful lot of your time is dedicated to diplomatic meetings in which your presence isn't particularly needed." Beta continued, ignoring Omega's interruption.
His speech was continued by the oldest of the segments, Psi, the man shrouded in his feathery cloak and crow mask.
"We, of course, recognise you are there to approve of any financial plans made in any negotiations, but we have persuaded The Rooster that your physical presence is no longer needed." Psi finished, adjusting his mask slightly as he finished.
"Persuaded you say?" Pantalone asked, raising one perfectly sculpted eyebrow with an amused smile beginning to form.
"Yes, persuaded, we won't bore you with the exact details you simply need to know he agreed”, the 20-year-old segment - Delta - cut in, "and with that bothersome ordeal out of the way, we have freed up to 8 hours a week for you to spend with us now."
"How efficient of you all", Pantalone chuckled, fingers drumming against the table as he stared down at The Schedule, mind quickly going through the calculations.
Omega began stalking towards him, long confident steps shortened their distance swiftly as he placed his head onto Pantalone's shoulder, leaning his forehead to rest against Pantalone's temple.
The skin contact caused the younger segments to gasp and glare in anger, whilst the older ones to clench their fists, eyes twitching. But they did not move, infighting was something Pantalone did not care for and would punish them all if it occurred within his vicinity.
"Did we do well, my love? I do believe those extra 8 hours would be a suitable reward for our efficiency," Omega purred into his ear, his hand coming up to twirl one of Pantalone's silky strands of hair.
Pantalone hummed and leaned back onto Omega's torso, revelling slightly in the warmth it brought.
"Yes, well I suppose a reward is in order." He started, the corners of his lips quirking upwards at the slight buzz of excitement that spread across the segments, "though I do believe that estimated 8 hours was a bit generous, 6 is the best I can do."
What was just the start of a slight grin turned into a full-blown, amused smile as Pantalone watched the previous excitement be swapped for deflation. Even Omega had let out a slight sigh of disappointment into his ear.
"But-but- we-" Beta stammered, stomping a foot in frustration.
"Ah ah ah~ such a show is unbecoming, Beta", Pantalone chimed, wagging a finger at him.
The youngest let out a 'hmmph' of frustration and quickly fled the room.
With a slight chuckle, Pantalone turned to press a chaste peck onto Omega's cheek before shooing the segment away, the man reluctantly parting from him and making his way back to his remaining segments.
"Now, if that is all, I do believe I still have work to do as of right now, I'll make the amendments and send some copies to the lab," Pantalone spoke, his hand waving in a dismissive gesture as he moved the Schedule back into his drawers and began his work once more.
The segments didn't move for a moment, simply watching the man at his desk for a couple of minutes. After seeing that the man truly wasn't going to give them any attention, they all awkwardly shuffled out, leaving Pantalone to do his work once more.
It was comical watching them from the corner of his eyes, pouting and shuffling their feet as they glanced pitifully in his direction like a kicked puppy. If Pantalone wasn't a master of self-restraint, he would've laughed at the scene of the Heretical Sinner himself acting like a scorned lover.
After they had all left, the door completely closed behind them, Pantalone let out a fond sigh, fingers moving to massage his temples as a rare boyish grin took over, ears flushed ever so slightly.
"Honestly," he whispered fondly as he carefully took his glove off, he pressed his bare fingers tentatively against his cheek, feeling the unusually high warmth radiating from himself, "what am I to do with all of you?"