Work Text:
As he always did, he arrived to work early, he loved feeling the chill of the early morning and he loved watching the Sun rise even more, and today was no different as Finx started to set up a new puzzle, a puzzle just for Najia.
Najia clocked in a little later, not usually having much of a reason to come to work as early as Finx, who did it mostly just because he could, the love of the game she guessed. Coming in fully costumed and equipped with her jar of enchanted cardboard snakes (courtesy of Finx) she got started. She cleaned up the place, making sure the floors were swept and that no puzzle was out of place and all of them were reset. One by one Najia went through as many as she could, Finx resetting the one next to her to speed the process up, but each time he’d rush back to something. It looked like a new puzzle, then she'd watch him rush right back to resetting the escape room’s own puzzles alongside Najia again. Once they had both finished these routine maintenance tasks up, Najia heard Finx call out to her excitedly, his chest puffed out a little with pride as he displayed a new puzzle.
"Najia! Here!"
He pointed his golden staff and levitated a painted wooden box over to them both, placing it down by their feet.
"I've come up with a new puzzle, just for you!" Leaning in, Finx booped the tip of her nose, watching as Najia scowled a little before pushing the demigod's hand away and descending to the floor. Sitting on her knees and sliding the wooden pieces of the box around, she managed to solve one side of the box and heard a click. She turned the box to its next face and Finx started to boast.
"Hah! That was just the first puzzle! The rest are harder from here-"
"Oh! This one's simple!"
…
"What."
Najia smiled at Finx’s shock, feeling a little smug as she quickly finished the second puzzle as Finx stood there stiffly beside Najia, his staff pulling his hand down with the weight of gravity as his grip weakened slightly. Najia scoffed playfully as she heard the click, unlocking the next puzzle on the next face of the box. Each time she solved a puzzle of any kind she felt some kind of accomplishment wash over her, it just felt natural to revel in the feeling.
"Is this your best, Finx? Seems like someone is losing his touch!"
The cardboard clad demigod continued to stand there, watching Najia solve the next puzzle, his fingers twiddling idly by his side as he watched her breeze through it. Then the last puzzle, the triumphant clicking going into motion. Najia stood with her hands on her hips as her chin was tilted up, pridefully.
Finx's hand loosened around his staff a bit more as he stared at the slightly askew top of the box, it had opened on completion of the puzzle. Najia nudged Finx with her arm before saying
"What's wrong, furball? Did I best you?" Finx tilted his head over to the side, facing away from her, Najia's smile dropped. Normally she'd be met with some kind of comeback from Finx, something competitive, maybe a little peeved, but usually still in a playful competitive spirit. But here he seemed. Upset.
"...I guess you did."
Odd… A rather quiet and short response from Finx. He walked over to the nearby steps that would lead further into Pyramid Quest and sat on the second step, sighing as he rested his chin on his hands. Najia was concerned now, what was wrong? He normally wasn't upset about her solving his puzzles, sometimes he was even outright excited. …After a few seconds of thinking, she remembered that as of late, he might've not been all that excited about her solving his puzzles. He'd wave it off, nod, walk away, sometimes even let out a grunt of frustration. It was a subtle change she had slowly started to pick up on, but why was his reaction changing? She walked over to Finx and flicked the top on his cardboard cat mask with her fingers.
"You okay, Finx?" She asked, her concern starting to twist in her stomach, it wasn’t very intense, it was more like shoelaces knotting together instead of rope. Finx tilted his head up towards her and let out a noise that sounded like a muted "mmuuuurrr"
Taking a seat beside the demigod as he returned to sulking, Najia squinted at him, her worry and confusion stirring together a little.
"Seriously, what's the matter? Did I say something?"
She knew full well now that it was incredibly likely what she had said had gotten to him, even if she had meant it as nothing more than a tease.
Finx crossed his arms, not in a crass way but more in a way to comfort himself.
"No no! …I guess I'm just out of it."
The escape room assistant didn't buy it and her expression dropped. While she couldn't quite pinpoint what was exactly wrong yet, she did know one thing.
"You're definitely not the best liar." She said as she scooted closer to him and leaned over, trying to get a better look at his face to read how he felt.
"Okay fine! I'm a little upset about the puzzle. You just solved it so quickly and-"
He lifted his hands, holding them out in front of himself as he spoke, his fingers curling with expression. Najia cut him off before he would spiral.
"Isn't that part of my job? I solve your puzzles after you make them so I can guide anyone who's lost or can't solve them."
She felt a bit confused by his frustration but quickly let him continue.
"But Najia! If you can solve my puzzles in thirty seconds, then how am I supposed to get anyone confused or have them really think about it at all in the first place?! Then they're just not good puzzles! And part of my job is making those puzzles! And if I can't do my job…"
Finx trailed off, letting silence fill the void. Pressing his knees together and staring down at his feet, he let out a deep sigh and took off his mask, setting it down beside him before resting his folded arms on his knees.
"Sorry, Najia."
Finx rested his chin onto his folded arms, just staring at the ground. Najia felt a small twinge of guilt, sure she and Finx loved to mess with each other all the time, but maybe her snarky remarks didn't help how he recently felt. She wished she knew how he felt before she made those remarks, but she couldn't have known before now. She pressed her lips together for a moment before resolving in her own head and parting them, about to speak when-
"I guess I just don't want to feel like I failed... I'm sorry for raising my voice at you."
Internally, she wanted to grab Finx by the shoulders and shake him, yeah he raised his voice which startled her for a moment, but GOD she wished he told her this sooner! The escape room assistant grabbed one of his shoulders which made Finx turn his head towards her in surprise and Najia squeezed his shoulder for a moment.
"Listen, just...Just shut up for a second."
Finx's eyebrows twisted in confusion before Najia quickly started again, realizing that it sounded a bit vague and possibly a little mean?
"Just because I can solve your puzzles doesn't mean everyone else can! Did you see Colt? He couldn't even solve your simpler "icebreaker" puzzles! And just because he's bad at them doesn't mean he's the "exception" or something! You've let in groups of people and had them in your escape rooms and a lot of the time they barely make it out before the timer goes off, or I even have to send in clues for them!"
She watched as Finx perked up a bit, a smile slowly tugging onto the corners of his lips. Najia smiles in return, happy to see her friend feeling a bit better.
"I was just teasing you, furball, I don't think you've lost your touch. You're not a failure.”
Najia let go of his shoulder and watched her friend straighten up, facing her as he sat properly.
"Thanks, Najia." He picks up his cardboard mask and lightly brushes it off, making sure it didn't get dust or anything on it. Then, he paused and placed it back down before scootching over to Najia and rubbing the side of his face into her shoulder and arm like a cat, he purred and Najia laughed.
"Ew! Finx! Back off!" She shoved him playfully off of her and Finx giggled, picking his mask back up again.
"Thanks for cheering me up, Najia." They both settled down, but only for a few seconds as Najia got a mischievous look on her face.
"I know another way to cheer you up"
Finx tilted his head to the side, a bit like a confused puppy, not immediately getting what she meant, but then Najia outreached her hands and squeezed his sides. Finx spring up.
"NOO!!!"
Finx jumped up from the steps, his mask falling off of his lap and he grabbed his godly staff, waving it at Najia as he giggled and stepped back. She chased after him with her outstretched arms and wiggling fingers.
"Get back here, Finx!"
Both of them running around and giggling like children filled the front of Pyramid Quest, the giggling only stopped temporarily when Najia caught up to Finx and pounced on him, his staff falling out of his hand. Najia pinned him to the ground with her legs as she sat on his, her hands above his stomach.
"Got you!"
Finx kicked his legs and already started laughing,
"Noooo! Let me go!" The demigod squirmed a bit under her before Najia finally struck, digging her finger tips into his sides like a python's teeth! Finx let out a high pitched and frankly pathetic squeal as he laughed and squirmed in desperation.
"Something funny?" Teasing, she watched Finx pathetically squirm under her, he wasn't really making much of an attempt to escape. Finx could literally levitate a few feet off the ground if he focused, which he could've done when he had his head start when Najia first started chasing him, or he could've even attempted to push her away with his staff's own powers. He could've avoided this altogether if he wanted too, but maybe he really *did* need further cheering up. Whatever the case, Najia wasn't complaining as she listened to her friend's pervasive giggles. Being a bit scrawny, Finx didn't exactly have much of a tummy for Najia to grab onto with her fingers, so she mostly pinched his skin before scribbling on his sides and stomach with her finger tips. After a few more seconds, she stopped, giving Finx some time to breathe, and he made use of every second! Well, not really... He just laid there, giggling and taking in as many breaths as his lungs could afford. Najia smiled and climbed off of Finx's lap, listening to him giggle and gasp for air. Any feelings of worry she had washed away a while ago. Sitting besides Finx, she laid down on her back, she too, relaxed against the floor.
"Eheheh..ehehe....N-Never do that again!"
The demigod rested his hands on his chest, feeling his own rapid breathing as he waved his legs back and forth energetically.
"You'll just ask me to do it again."
Najia said with a smile, sitting up and scritching Finx's side for a moment before he swatted her away, giggling. Then he sat up, beside Najia as he let the rest of his giggles out and finally caught his breath. Najia curled in on herself and hugged her knees, getting comfortable as she watched the demigod settle down. She stared at his reddened cheeks, still rather red even now as he relaxed, it made Najia smile a bit wider.
Finx let in one last breath before his breathing slowed down back to normal and he finished laughing. He sat with his legs spread out and his hands pressed against the ground between his outstretched legs, sitting a bit like a cat. Then, he seemed to have remembered something.
"I completely forgot!"
Quickly jumping up off the floor Finx dashed off across the room, Najia let go of her legs and stood up in response to Finx running off. She was about to say something when she saw him pick up the wooden puzzle box that he had assembled and given to her earlier to solve. He pulled back the lid, looking inside, then shutting it as he ran back over with the puzzle box.
“...What? What did you forget?” Najia asked as Finx presented the box to her, a smile playing on his lips.
“I was hoping you would’ve taken longer to solve it to make the prize a bit more rewarding, but-”
Najia’s eyes widened with excitement, that's what that last click was! It wasn't just the puzzle being solved, it was the box opening so she could receive her prize for solving it!
“A prize? For me, Finx? And I started to think you were getting tired of me!”
Finx frowned in a comedic manner before shoving the box towards Najia.
“Just open it!”
He groaned, watching Najia giggle as she took the box into her hands and lifted the lid up slowly. She peered inside, seeing…Yellow?
Opening the lid, the wooden puzzle box contained a paper-mache figure of a snake, on some kind of upcycled plastic stand too. The snake figure had quite a bit of detail and was painted to be an albino python, the paper-mache sculpting even captured the python head shape pretty well. She stared at it for a moment, her eyes practical shining with delight as she took it all in. Carefully, she pulled it out of the box and inspected it further, smiling gleefully as she held it in her hands. It was almost a foot tall, the snake sculpted to be resting on a branch. Looking back up with her eyes lit and shining, Najia stared at Finx, almost waiting for some sort of explanation but he just stood there in front of her, clearly pleased with himself.
“I didn’t know you took up sculpting, furball!” Rotating it in her hands, Najia continued to stare in wonder and amazement.
“Well, I did have plenty of papers and cardboard scraps I wasn't going to use. I thought I might as well pick up a new hobby and put them to use!” He placed a hand on his chest as he spoke, proud as ever and almost a little flustered by Najia’s excitement. Before he could continue his little boast, he felt Najia slam into him, her arms wrapped around him and her chin resting on his shoulder.
“Thank you, Finx!” She almost felt like tearing up, and nearly did as her friend wrapped his own arms around her.