So...day numero tres of being a full-blown siren started as the last 2 days seemed to.
Not great. Not great at all.
The first day had been the hardest, given all the experiments, the second day had been dedicated to damage control (because, reasons) and psyching himself up for the third day and the third day went a little something like this:
First of all, Ryan, usually ever the punctual person, was two hours late than normal. This hadn't meant to be on his part, but it's very hard to get your top half dressed after a shower when your bottom half is rather heavy and you are forced to walk on your hands.
Driving a car in newly minted workout gloves he found, was also going to be a challenge, but hey, they aren't only waterproof, they're ego destroying, so at least he has that.
Entering Buzzfeed's shared workspace, he received some looks from coworkers, but it seemed the bruises he still had from hitting the sink 48 hours earlier helped him in his plight as most of them winced and looked away. Seemed his accident had gotten around.
(He'd most likely receive a call from HR later today. God help him.)
However, it was not a pitiful look he received from Sara as he sat in his chair, as she was at his desk just as his butt had settled into it. "Finally, you decide to join us Ryan."
"Yeah...sorry Sara. You most likely heard what happened." Scrambling for an answer, Ryan tried a one-liner. "First I get a concussion, then the plumbing goes out in my building and breaks my shower. I was held up this morning by the apartment..uh...people."
"You're lucky you had a concussion Bergara, or otherwise, this wouldn't be the excuse I would use for missing this morning's Unsolved meeting."
"There...was a meeting today?" Ryan hadn't remembered such a thing, but Sara did most of the scheduling now in her big uppity position now, so she was most likely right.
"Yes, Ryan, there was a meeting today." Sara almost had the gall to sound sing-songy, like she was talking to a child, the scorn in her expression evident. "We were discussing what to about interviewing the cryptozoologist as well as your missing footage from the cave."
Oh yeah. The missing footage. His GoPro that fucked off to no man's land at the bottom of the North Pacific. Shit. He'd kind of forgotten about that, but falling into a water-filled hole in the ground and almost drowning, coupled with gaining a concussion thanks to a wound on his head and turning into a siren had distracted him a bit.
"Oh, shoot. I didn't even know that was on. I thought the HR department was going to be tanking it or something thanks to what happened. I don't know, my head's been bad the last few days, as you already know."
He didn't mean for the end to sound so...stern at Sara, but if you were annoyed by your work partner's ex at reaming you out for practically nothing, you would be that way as well.
Furrowing his brow to think with the brain power he still had left, Ryan sighed. "Well, if we aren't cancelling the episode, I guess we'll just have to roll with it, explain what happened on set as best we can without being too wordy, make it a bit so it's not so bad."
"Well, that's smart of you, because me, Shane and the production crew also concluded in doing that as well, plus the interview is scheduled to be on the 15th." Sara's eyes watched him through her glasses with a frown. "Hopefully, you won't be a no-show for that one."
Ryan just huffed through his nostrils as she left, before turning back to his workstation and starting it up. Hopefully, he could get a few hours of peace from everyone leaving him be so he could finish the mountain of work that had been left in his absence from both before they went to film and the last few days he'd been off.
"Hey, buddy o'pal! How's that big noggin of yours this morning?" Fuck his life right now.
Groaning internally, he turned to see Shane, who was taking his jacket off and putting it on the back of his workstation's chair only a few or so down from his own.
Just the sight of his face after their conflict last time they saw each other as well as the unusually quiet communication between the two the last couple of days was enough to make some kind of boiling start in Ryan's veins as he narrowed his eyes. "It's fine, Shane."
'Yeah, what's fucking new with you, asshole? Still making jokes at my expense?'
"Apparently, Ryan was late this morning because his apartment's entire plumbing decided to go AWOL on him and broke his shower." Sara interjected over her monitor, which made Shane's eyebrows raise. "Huh."
Ryan really wanted to take him aside and punch some sense into him about that woman.
Instead of talking his inherit rage out of either of them though (that would be more trouble that just missing a meeting and having a headache), he turned back to his computer and tried to start on something, anything to take away his attention from them if only for a few minutes.
"So-" Of course Shane was wanting to talk to him right now. "-look, I'm sorry about the joke. I shouldn't have said that, but why are you lying to Sara, dude? That's not cool."
Ryan looked up in an instant, the fire that had been ebbing away now re-lit."Excuse me?"
"Ryan, man, I've known you for years, /years/. Since we were interns. You're a terribly bad liar when you wanna be." Shane sighed, taking off his own glasses. "I know your shower didn't actually break, you've used that excuse before. What's really going on?"
Ryan just stared at Shane, open-mouthed. So he was keeping track of his fucking excuses for being late or something worse now?
He didn't know why exactly that irritated him (well, he did, it was because hew as in love with the guy and the bastard was practically doing everything like he was his partner more than he was his co-worker lately), but he wasn't too happy about any of it.
"I told you Shane, I'm fine. Just pissed off because the entire apartment block decided to break on the one day I actually needed a shower."
"Ryan-" Shane's voice took on the same sing-songy tone as Sara's and that was the straw that broke him, hard. "Okay, first of all, do not, do /not/ take that tone with me."
Ryan stood up from his chair lighting fast and did his best to look intimidating (which wasn't so easy when Shane was two heads taller than him when standing, but he was too angry right now to really care) "Second of all, Shane Madej, I would love it if you stopped insinuating that I'm bullshitting one of my bosses just because I was /forced/ into a cave and almost drowned because no one thought to come and check on me!"
"Woah, woah, Ryan-" Shane's hand were out in front of him and he was backing up his computer chair while a few people watched the exchange. "Calm down little fella, I just checking to see if you were okay! Jesus!"
"DO NOT CALL ME LITTLE, ASSHOLE!"
He didn't know what really happened next, but there was a fizz of electricity in the air and the glass blubs in the lights above them as well as several glass water bottles suddenly exploded, Shane and Sara's glasses also becoming cracked in the fray. What the…?
Ryan stood dumbfounded for a moment as people left and right were attempting to get out of the way while saving their belongings, but in moving himself, there was a sudden tapping on his sneakers and he looked down to see a broken glass raining water on it.
In the dumbest move of the century, Ryan's foot jerked before he could think to act and the small drops of water flew up, up, up and landed him square in the face. Oh shit.
"What in the fuck just happened?!" Sara it seemed, had fallen out of her chair at some point along with others during the carnage, but Ryan had no time to check on her or even Shane for that matter.
In fact, he didn't give a shit about anyone, pulling his way through the crowds of his coworkers like an NFL player towards the nearest bathroom as Shane seemingly chased after him, hot on his heels. "Ryan! Hey! Where are you going?!"
He couldn't answer him, he just didn't have enough time or care right now. He could feel his legs turning into jelly and his spine zipping with sparks. If the bathroom was booked, he may as well just kill himself now and be done with it, because it would be the end of him.
Somehow, by the grace of whatever deity watched over sirens (were sirens the actual deities? He remembered hearing something like that in their research. He'd have to look that one up sometime.), he made it to the men's bathroom, almost bumping into Steven Lim on his way though (he didn't know if he rushed out an apology or not), before he found himself falling headfirst into the nearest toilet and he meant that literally.
His legs were already gone and there wasn't so much else he could do, the gross taste of toilet water making his stomach churn as it scraped across the floor. All he needed was a guy in a leather jacket standing over him right now and his humiliation would be complete.
At least this stall's floor was clean enough.
Pulling his head out from the water, it flopped down onto the toilet lid with a mocking speaking sound as he panted, worn out from running as he stared up at the ceiling, mortified at what had just happened.
What /was/ that back there?