Engie & Demo

The Difference

((Engie- Dell Conagher

Demo- Tavish Finnegan DeGroot))

Eyes turn from crimson to Blue, azure to yellow, passion to trust, admiration to deceit. For one specific person, his eyes remained only one colour. To some he was a freak of nature, a man whose eyes never changed colour? Dell was an outsider, mistrusted, and mistreated for his mutation. His eyes were a solid electric blue, even though the colour they were represented truth as well as loyalty no one seemed to want to be near him.

Honestly Dell didn't put too much thought into this, though what worried him was how hard it was to actually get a job in his profession. Somehow, between the prejudice and injustice he was shown, he landed a job as an engineer which he had always wanted to be. Dell had a natural ability to solve problems and, when people stopped being stubborn, he could enlighten them with information. Sadly, at his current project someone wasn't listening due to their mistrust in the single coloured freak.

"Sir, give me another few days to fix the problem before you go off half-cocked blowin' up buildings!" Dell pleaded with his southern drawl as a tall man in a gray suit scoffed at him and continued walking toward the front door of the building.

"How about no, Conagher. I gave you five days to figure out the problem and solve it and all I got from trusting you is failure." He said to the engineer who paused his walking to give the man a glare that was hidden behind goggles and a hardhat. Five days to fix something that should take a few damn weeks! He quickly caught up with the man and ran to stand in his way. The man's eyes turned from Lavender to maroon which signified his distaste for the situation.

"With all due respect, you can go to anyone else in this damn city and have them say the same thing, five days is not enough to fix your problem and offin' the building ain't gonna solve much in a long run. It can be salvaged but it is gonna take two weeks at minimum." He told the man simply.

It was around the point where he was about to be fired that someone else decided to enter the conversation.

"I'd have to agree with the wee man." A voice said, a Scottish accent heavy in their voice. Dell turned his head to see someone that was part of the demolition group, he had seen the other upstairs planning the demolition of the building along with the rest of the group.

The man seemed to relax, seeing as his eyes turned from maroon back to lavender. "Ah, Mr. DeGroot." He said as Dell remained silent. "Surprised you would agree with Mr. Conagher, may I incline as to why?" Dell's head may have been looking up to the other but his eyes were looking downward as he thought about the problem at hand.

"Saw the damage myself, pretty bad for just five days' work." Dell's eyes finally rose to see the other's whose eyes were a pale blue, they were truthful. He saw the business man thinking before sighing and turning back to Dell.

"You get your wish Conagher, two weeks. To make sure that you do what you are told, I want DeGroot to oversee, shouldn't be too difficult." With that the man continued off, leaving the two within the building. Both men stood there for a moment before DeGroot started laughing, gaining Dell's attention.

"Somethin' funny, son?" he asked feeling a bit like a child seeing as he was not trusted to do his job, now he had to walk around with a babysitter looming over him.

"Didn't see that coming was all." A friendly hand was placed on Dell's shoulder as he finished laughing "We better get to it." Without a fuss Dell started off toward where the problem was located, his new friend following close in suit.

Silence filled the space between the two as Dell set to work, grabbing a tool from his belt and starting down the stairs to the basement. "By the way, the name is Tavish." He heard the man say as he followed him. Dell didn't flinch when he started to walk in water, it nearly reaching his knees before stopping. Dell paused and turned to face the man who was still on the step up from where the water reached.

He leaned up and extended his ungloved hand. "Dell." He said, the other taking his hand and firmly shaking it before Dell turned back around. Not a moment after that did he hear splashing behind him and hissing "you know you could just stay up there." Dell told Tavish as he turned around the corner to find the main water valve for the building.

"Damn, this water is fuckin' cold." He could hear, pausing to wait for the Scotsman to catch up. "How the hell are you not shiverin'?" To that Dell chuckled, amused. He had been in this water a few times before pin pointing where the problem was, by now he was just used to it. Dell didn't answer as he looked around for his wrench that he had sat on a shelf, now missing. He bent over, feeling around the flooded for near one of the giant pipes for his lost item until he found it, pulling it from the water with a sigh, wonder how it managed to drift four feet from the shelves.

He shook the thought as he used his wrench to shut the sluice gate and cut off the water for the time being while he fixed the many problems throughout the building. It was after a minute of silence that Dell heard Tavish speak again "Mr. stick-up-his-arse said you were an engineer, yes?" Dell nodded as an answer. "What is an engineer doin' fixing broken pipes?" There it was, the question of why he was doing something like this when his job was supposed to be so much better.

"Well, I designed the piping of the building to be more energy efficient and got blamed when it was laid down wrong. So now I gotta come in and fix it." More silence filled the void before he heard splashing as Tavish walked toward the stairs and out of the water. Dell continued to work, having to take out piping and replace it. A good few hours passed before he heard anything besides the echoing of his own movements.

"Dell." He heard his name and paused, it was obviously Tavish speaking. He gave him a loud hum as a response to tell him that he was listening but when Tavish didn't speak he realised that the other man wanted him to come to the stairs. Pulling himself away from his work he waded through the water until he got to the stairs. He saw Tavish standing above the water with a grocery bag in tow.

"You got my attention, somethin' you need?" he asked before seeing Tavish pull a bottle of alcohol from the grocery bag.

"You realize that we all got off work an hour ago? I was expecting you to be outside preparing to go home or long gone, but my mates tell me that you never left the building." Tavish said catching Dell off guard, he had no idea what time it was because he had removed his watch for safe keeping. As he looked up to make eye contact with the man standing above him on the stairs, he noticed the other's eyes, glinting in the light reflecting off the water, were a gray colour. He was concerned? They had only met so long ago and this man's eyes were telling him that he felt concerned. Dell found himself unable to answer as Tavish chuckled "Suppose the boss was right, I do have to watch over you." The Scotsman joked, gesturing for Dell to follow which he did, packing up his tool box and carrying it with him back to where they came.

It was only when they got outside that Tavish sat on a low stone wall that separated the sidewalk from the grass. For a minute Dell was confused as to why he stopped there and was about to leave if it wasn't for Tavish handing him a bottle of alcohol. In the end, he set his tool box down and took the bottle of beer, sitting alongside him on the wall. He slid off his hard hat but kept his goggles in place "Why are your eyes gray?" Dell finally asked looking toward Tavish who was going at it with his own bottle of alcohol.

Tavish scoffed as if it should be common knowledge "The people I work with don't usually work an hour after their shift is over. Suppose I am wondering why you don't seem to care. Don't you got any family or friends to be with now? " now it was Dell's turn to scoff. He shook his head slightly.

"No." he said simply, taking a swig from the beer bottle. He didn't want to take off his goggles, though a part of him felt like he was lying to Tavish while he still wore them. Should his genetic difference actually affect anything?

"Well, let's just say you made a friend today."

"We met two hours ago."

"So? Drink, maybe it will lighten you up."

Dell smiled, shaking his head as he removed his goggles and placed them on his forehead. Before he could take another drink, he heard a laugh "Your eyes betray you." He heard but was slightly confused, maybe it was because he forgot his eye colour represented loyalty. For a moment, he looked at Tavish before his eyes widened and he looked away nervously.

"No, it doesn't." he muttered not sure how to phrase his explanation.

"Then-"

"My eyes don't change colour." He blatantly said outright, why would he even try to explain it in complicated terms. There it was plain and simple. His eyes didn't change colour. Silence once again was between them before he heard something completely unexpected.

"Now that is unique." He muttered taking a large gulp from his bottle before he pulled Dell over with an arm around his shoulder "Never met anyone like that." Dell could see Tavish nodding, possibly observing his eyes or perhaps his face, it was very unclear as to what he was doing. Perhaps he was already intoxicated. "I like that, special. Perfect." He continued to nod as he shifted himself to lay down on the stone wall, looking up at the darkening sky, finishing off his bottle and grabbing another from the bag. Never in Dell's life had someone said something like that to him, he continued to stare at Tavish as the man blankly stared at the sky, unalarmed by the genetic difference. Dell slowly turned his head to stare at his mostly empty bottle of alcohol before he sighed, a smile now forming on his face as he finished off the beer. Next time he would have to buy them drinks.