He's not exactly surprised that he's this exasperated. Well, maybe he should be, given that he's normally a very soft-spoken man, but it's 7 in the morning and he's running on only three hours of sleep (spent dreaming of the outdoors, of forests, of caves, anywhere but this sterile office with the tiled floor and the beige walls and the dark wooden desk that's too big for him). That, and a cup of coffee that has a bit too much milk for his taste. It only goes to show that one shouldn't prepare coffee, or any drink requiring milk and sugar, while exhausted, lest the measurements be slightly off. Or in this case, greatly.
He doesn't even like coffee. To tell the truth, he's more of a tea person.
It's the new secretary who's giving him most of the pain, really. Though it's not her fault - and through the hazy exhaustion he's currently feeling, he does feel sorry for the poor girl - she's dumped an immensely large stack of paperwork and folders on his desk. She's just doing her job, but he yells at her (doesn't, just asks her quietly to leave, head in his hands) for bothering him so early. And she exits the room with a stoic face. The kind of expression he used to have, which has recently been replaced with one of worry.
After a few minutes spent in tired silence, he finally works up the courage to sift through it all. These are the things his father had left to do when he died, what others want him to do, what they expect of him. He's only 28 years old, only been running this company for a week by himself, and yet he's already drowning.
His father told him he would make a good boss someday. He's not so sure.
A/N: This was written using a prompt* shared by the lovely Liz Hollow, as seen on the Tumblr blog writers-are-writers! Because I originally posted it elsewhere, I deliberately kept the story vague for the sake of any non-Pokémon fans who came across it. I thought, if I were to remove all references to Pokémon in Steven's life, such as his Championship, etc., what would the main problem be for him at this point in time? Therefore, this story can be interpreted as being about Steven, or someone else entirely.
*Prompt:
"There's something I need to tell you."
"If it's going to make things worse, please wait until you know I won't stab you."
