Ocean had been hired by an emergency council of two agents: Dr. O, the current head of the medical department, and Oscar, the former lab-director. In need of someone who could handle creatures with patience and enough care to ensure their safe living at Odd Squad, they had interviewed every agent on the list, trying to suppress their endurance with the less skilled candidates.

But apparently, his calm and collected nature attracted most creatures to him, and his unfamiliarity for destruction didn't mean that Odd Squad was fail-proof. So being the ideal candidate, he was taken in as the creature-caretaker.

He was slightly extroverted, but kept to himself, unlike the agents from the maintenance and investigation departments. He had his ukulele, his creatures, his hammock; what more was needed for someone like him?

Nothing, right? Wrong.

Ms O found it entirely necessary to pair him up with Oona. Not that he minded, he'd enjoy working with someone for a change, but it was very unexpected and sudden. He liked Oona, she was quirky and energetic, but then again, what had happened to being morally alone?

He had thought about it while walking down the stairs from Ms. O's office, and instead of walking to the creature room, he made his way to the lab. There was Oona, sitting near her workbench, fixing a gadget. Ocean walked up to her and leaned his arms on the tall counter, watching her work. It took a while for her to notice him, but when she did, she accidentally dropped her unfinished appliance. He picked it up for her.

"Howdy-do, Ocean. The creature-dude. Hammock-swinger. Or, you know", she added with a wink, "partner."

The last one made him smile, and he put the gadget back on her workbench.

"So, whatcha doin'?", she finished.

"Uh, nothing much. I fed the singing panda-bears before Olympia got to them, she is completely obsessed with the 'history of panda-bears'.", he replied, emphasizing the last few words by raising his hands, spreading his fingers.

Oona nodded, her mind still fixated on the gadget she was repairing. But she suddenly turned her head towards Ocean, as if she expected him to say something. He took this as a chance to speak.

"Do you mind if I ask you a question, Oona?"

"Yeah, sure, go ahead", she answered.

"Uh, well, you know how we, kind of, are partners now?"

"Yes. Yeah, I do know that. I was, kind of, sitting next to you in Ms O. office", Oona quickly said, raising her eyebrows and mocking his weird (if not obvious) statement.

Ocean nodded, closing his mouth.

"Ar-are you okay with that? Because it's actually kind of hard for me to start working with two at the same time. I'm a creature-guy, and it's always been me and my animals. I hope you get that", he spoke.

"Not that I don't want to work with you," Ocean quickly added, seeing her dazed expression. "I'll just need time to understand how teamwork, uh- works."

Oona was slightly stunned, mostly because her first instinct was that Ocean didn't like her at all; but she recovered from the sudden burst of words that flowed after that, giving more explanation to that previous sentence. But she wasn't going to let good friendship go to waste, so she decided to agree with whatever he had just blurted out.

"Oh, yeah I get that all the time", she said, one hand on her hip, one leaning on the workbench, "I mean, I get that some people can't work together on the first time, as a team it can be especially difficult. I sort of, feel like that too."

Ocean smiled, relieved that she didn't freak like the many times she had before during other mildly puzzling situations.

"Thanks for getting that, I better go now. My creatures need me", Ocean replied.

"Bye", Oona stated, watching him leave. But she noticed something he hadn't ever -ever- done before.

"Huh, he forgot to do his finger-guns."

Ocean might have problems making friends and enjoying teamwork, but that didn't mean that Oona didn't have those issues either. This is going to be hard, Oona thought, as she cleared out the lab, getting ready to leave the office for the day.

While walking back to the creature room, Ocean kept wondering about the half-one-sided conversation he had with Oona. He hardly let her say anything. And why was it so awkward? Did he turn red? Did Oona do that? Did he drop something? Did he forget something?

Nah, even that was too much for him to handle: being simplistic was his job, and he wouldn't let his 'partner' distract him.

But just as he opened the door, he remembered what exactly hadn't happend.

He had forgotten to do his finger-guns. Ocean never forgot to do his finger-guns while saying goodbye.

Huh, maybe I'm not that simplistic after all.

Ocean and Oona.

Maybe not such a bad pairing after all, rang the afterthought in both of them.