Alan glanced at his reflection in the too-shiny mirror, adjusting his tie. This WAS the first day of his first real job after all. He had to look professional.

Alan sighed. Despite his best attempts, he still looked like a highschooler. Oh well. His work ethic will demonstrate how serious about work he really is.

The brunette pranced out of the elevator, doing his best to appear mature. He would have succeeded if he didn't almost collide with his new boss!

He cleared his throat. "Good morning, sir. I'm here to start my first day."

"Oh, yes, the intern! Alan Humphries, right?" Mr. Evans smiled at him warmly. Good. This wasn't going as horribly as he feared.

"Yes, sir." He nodded slightly.

Mr. Evans laughed. "Sir? Mr. Evans is just fine. Well, welcome to Evans Corp.! Here, let me get someone to show you around." He glanced about quickly, unable to spot any of his workers. Giving up, he finally shouted, "Slingby!"

At the sound of that name, Alan Humphries was almost blinded by pain. He felt as though he couldn't breathe, as if something was choking every last wisp of breath out of his lungs. "No!" He whispered.

Mr. Evans raised his eyebrows at his new employee.

Alan coughed awkwardly. "Thank you Mr. Evans, but I remember where everything is from the tour."

"Well, all right then…" Mr. Evans didn't look convinced, but didn't care to push the issue. "Get to work."

"Of course." Alan nodded probably more than what was necessary and walked slowly down the hall. He had already been given his card and mail key by the receptionist who thought he had come to visit his father, but he wasn't sure if he remembered his cubicle assignment. He made a furtive check behind him to ensure his boss was gone, then dove into his pockets in search of the small slip of paper. Oh, thank God…

95% sure he was in the correct cubicle, he set his laptop case on the desk and settled into his chair. The space was boring and blank. Maybe he would bring a small plant to spruce the place up tomorrow.

His thoughts drifted to that strange sickness that overcame him just a few moments ago. Alan had always been more prone to little colds and dizzy spells than the average person, but that fit was unnatural. Perhaps he was developing asthma? That would be bad starting a new job. He should probably see a doctor. But how do you treat asthma attacks brought on by the mention of a random man's name? Well, of course, Eric Slingby wasn't RANDOM.

…Who?

Shaking his head, Alan turned on his laptop. The receptionist had given him a sheet of instructions for registering with the company's network. Apparently, he wouldn't be able to complete any assignments unless he could scan using this key code and submit within the portal-thing?

"I hate technology." Alan whispered. It just never made sense to him. The young man spent about forty-five minutes struggling and failing to register online before he closed down all the windows in defeat. These directions were simply too complicated. But without this he wouldn't be able to accomplish a single task in his new job. He HAD to register, somehow.

"Technical difficulties?"

Alan nearly fell out of his chair when he heard the voice. But the stifled laugh that followed prompted him to regain his composure before he turned around.

"How long have you been there?" Alan addressed the man peeking over the cubicle. Something about him didn't look…right. It seemed to have more to do with the long blonde ponytail than the sleepy smile suggesting he'd been resting his head in his hands on top of the cubicle for quite some time.

"Oh, I've worked here going on two years now." The blonde grinned. He'd missed that smile, even if it was teasing.

Alan frowned. "That's not what I…" As he spoke, the man disappeared from the top of the cubicle, reappearing in Alan's space seconds later. He wheeled Alan over, kneeling in front of the desk to reach the laptop. "H-hey! What do you think you're doing?"

"I hate this computer stuff too, but you'll get used to it," was the blonde's only response.

A moment's pause, and the man turned to him with a triumphant smile. "You're in."

Alan felt his face light up. "Thank you." He said sincerely.

"No problem, Alan."

Alan's face fell. "I don't believe I introduced myself…Mr. Slingby," he whispered, trying to ignore the growing pain in his chest. Why did it start whenever they said each other's names…?

If possible, the blonde's grin only grew wider still. "Well, apparently that's unnecessary. But if you'd like, I'll do an introduction. It's Eric Slingby. Now you."

Alan was torn. He was enjoying speaking with this man who felt so familiar, but he hated these memories of pain and suffocation that overshadowed every moment he spent with him. Eric-induced asthma, if that even made sense…Alan stood up, glancing back at the screen. "I think we should both return to work, Mr. Slingby."

Now it was Eric's smile that faded, which hurt Alan even more. This just wasn't going well at all.

"…Yeah. You're right. Carry on, Mr. Humphries."

Alan watched as the stormy faced man plodded back into his cubicle. The redhead prepared to sit down, but his thoughts were on Eric. He never, ever meant to upset him... He peeked over the cubicle as Eric had done a moment earlier to see the blonde glaring into his computer screen.

"Mr. Slingby?" He whispered softly.

Eric appeared lost in his own thoughts, not noticing the words on the screen or Alan.

Alan tried again, but it seemed Eric was either truly gone or just intent on ignoring him. Sighing, he grabbed a piece of parchment and qui- er, a post-it-note and pen, and wrote him a quick note.

Mr. Slingby,

Sorry if I offended you. I feel like I'm not quite myself today, and so I'd like apologize for my rudeness. I do appreciate you helping me with the computer- I truly am lost when it comes to technology. As thanks, and to make it up to you, would you like to go for coffee today after work? My treat.

Alan Humphries

Alan skimmed the note, surprised at his own formality. It made him sound better anyway. Leaning over the cubicle, he stuck the post-it-note on the wall a few inches above the computer screen. As he did so, he watched Eric's face, but the blonde did not move. Impressively, his eyes did not even flick to the paper or Alan's moving hand.

Dissatisfied, Alan returned to work. He still could not help but be distracted by thoughts of Eric. Would he really ignore the apology and the note? Did Alan offend him that bad? Or is something else going on? And why does Eric matter to him that much anyway? This situation was going to make a new job so much more complicated…

After hours of scanning, filing, and linking documents, work was finally over. And despite his distractions, he had a quite a productive first day. Proud of himself, Alan rose to check on Eric. To his surprise, he found the blonde still staring intently on the same webpage, eyes unseeing. He frowned.

"Mr. Slingby?" Alan whispered a final time. No response. A sudden triage of knocks on the wall of Eric's cubicle startled him. But he was more startled when Eric rose and began gathering his things, still not acknowledging Alan or the dark-haired man waiting for him. The man, at least, walked into Eric's cubicle straight past the blonde and shook Alan's hand.

"Hey intern! Name's Malcolm Dietz! Nice to meet ya!"

"I'm Alan Humphries. Nice to meet you too." His eyes traveled back to Eric, who had finished collecting his stuff and was now heading slowly out of the cubicle.

Malcolm sighed dramatically. "Don't let the zombie get to you. Eric got the flu a while back, and ever since he goes into these space-out sessions that can last hours. I better go make sure he doesn't fall down the stairs again…Well, yeah, nice to meet you Alan, see ya tomorrow!" Malcolm dashed after Eric, whose heavy footfall could be heard from far away.

Alan just watched as they disappeared. Slightly jealous that Malcolm's knock could rouse Eric while his voice could not. Well, no matter what, work was certainly going to be interesting.