The one where Hordak Tried

"I don't think the landlady was particularly thrilled when Emily began following her with the knife, but even she has to see what a monumental advancement it was with her programing! But then Emily ran into a couch and got stuck because the knife went into the furniture," Entrapta recounted, her enthusiasm calming for a brief moment as she reached the point where Emily got stuck. "I managed to wrench her free and then, for safety precautions, removed the knife before allowing her to roam free. I'll need to do some adjustments to her spacial awareness, but she's coming along well!" with that, the enthusiasm was back as she threw her arms out with the finale of her tale.

Hordak quietly reached over and pulled her coffee away from her just a bit so that she didn't knock it over by accident (again) as she moved her arms about while talking. As much as he loved seeing her like this, they were surrounded by expensive technology and he would rather avoid having hot coffee knocked all over the display phones and laptops again. Sure, Entrapta had fixed everything, but why risk it a second time when they could avoid it?

Still, he hid his smile as he brought his own coffee to his mouth to take a sip. So far it had been a rather slow day for the Etherian branch of the Fright Zone, slow enough that he supposed there was time to stop and chat rather than work. Well, for him and Entrapta, he made sure the other employees currently clocked in were busy doing inventory or shelving supplies.

"It is fascinating how you managed to change what had been a simple Roomba into what it—she is now," he quickly corrected himself when he referred to Emily, knowing how important the machine was to Entrapta, he would loathe upsetting Entrapta again by calling her creation an 'it', and what a great creation she was. Entrapta was slowly giving the machine a form of artificial intelligence.

He knew that Entrapta was smart, perhaps the most intelligent person he knew, and yet it never failed to amaze him whenever she went on about a project of hers. He was honored to have her as a friend and a partner, she was perhaps the first person to truly understand him.

And, well, perhaps he'd like to be more than just 'lab partners' as she often referred to them as. It was why today was to be such an important day for him. He'd spent the past few weeks compiling information on ways to go about this from various sources, and had been taking every precaution he could find to make sure that this went as smoothly as possible.

He'd been careful to make sure that Entrapta had time to do what she wanted when she arrived by keeping her off the register, be it tinkering with the different gadgets they sold or doing observations on the different customers that came in. He'd bought her coffee to keep her going (From his own Coffee Horde, of course), knowing she had probably gone without sleep the night before to work on Emily, and he had even brought her breakfast for when she'd arrived that morning; half a dozen tiny blueberry muffins from that obscenely colorful bakery that she loved so much. She had been so happy for the food that his heart almost couldn't take it, and when it was clear she was eager to talk about something great—the story of Emily and the landlady—he'd made sure they had time and privacy in the side of the store to chat.

Now was just the hardest part. He'd done everything right so far, now he just had to find the words to actually ask her. "Entrapta," he began, lowering his coffee back down, trying to stay calm, to not show weakness. "I've been meaning to ask you something for a while now."

There was that scientific curiosity in her eyes as she leaned forward, hair lifting her up so she was able to look him in the eyes at a level height. "Oh? What is it?" she asked, smiling at him in a way that made it even harder to find his voice and words. "Is this about that project you've been working on for Prime? I'm still waiting on some parts to arrive in the mail, but I can probably make substitutes out of things from around the apartment if you're in a rush."

The—oh, right, that. He'd nearly forgotten about their project together with all the focus he'd been putting in just asking her out. "No, no, it's not that," he corrected. From the corner of his eye, he saw Octavio peer at them curiously, a knowing smile fell on her face, but quickly dropped as he turned to give a glare and a look that needed no words to convey the message; get back to work or else. She lost a shade or two of color and hurried back to the stack of boxed phones to put on the shelves.

Now, back to the issue at hand. "I wanted to discuss you and me," he paused, finding his nerves beginning to fail him. When did he become just so weak? "You and I, we've ah, we've been working together for quite some time by now."

"Yes! Approximately thirty-one months if my calculations are correct," Entrapta interjected, then faltered, remembering that most people, Hordak in particular, don't enjoy being interrupted. "Oh, right, sorry. Go on." Well, he was fine with her cutting in like that.

He coughed to clear his throat and buy him a few seconds. "Ah, yes, for thirty-one months," so much time, it had flown by so quickly. "I was thinking we might be able to," come on, Hordak, you've been preparing for this, you're a cutthroat businessman, smarter than most, a fearless leader. You can do this. You're not afraid, you're not going to crumble now. "to move our relationship to the next step?"

He could have sworn he heard one of his employees fighting back laughter after he said that, but couldn't find the source, lucky for them or he'd have written them up for the sheer audacity. But instead, he focused on Entrapta, her expression as he waited for some answer. A yes, preferably, he hadn't actually prepared for her to say 'no'.

Entrapta just looked at him for a few moments and then a wide smile broke across her face—yes! A good sign! "I've heard about this before! I can't say I'm particularly well versed in the concept, but I've done some research in the past so I'm familiar with it," right she seems excited, all good signs, not a concrete yes, but the way she was acting, it didn't seem like she was going to say no. Hordak's heart was starting to race with anticipation, more so than it already was. "But, yes, I think it's only logical that we move forward after being partners for so long."

The smile that found its way on his face couldn't be stopped, and it wasn't as if he hadn't tried. He smiled, felt pride rush through him at having been able to ask, and even more for her to have said yes. "You're sure?" he asked, just to be certain he wasn't imagining it, but she didn't deny or reject. "Then this Friday, would be you free to join me for dinner? There's this wonderful restaurant that I've been wanting to take you to for some time now, they even serve miniature-sized food." It was one of the businesses owned by Prime, and though tiny food wasn't technically on the menu, he'd be able to get the chefs to cook it that way for her.

"Friday? I should be available, I might have to push some things around to make sure," she mumbled the last bit to herself as she went over a mental list of tasks and appointments she may have for that day. "I'll have to do quite a bit of research and data collecting, though, so I might not be able to bring too much to the table when we meet. But I should be able to find business books, or lessons online, I can spend my free time studying up."

"No worries, if it doesn't work, we can schedule it for a different day," Hordak was quick to assure her and even quicker to stop when he processed what else she said. "Business? I, if you don't mind my asking, what would that have to do with this?"

She was still smiling, even as she lowered herself back onto the floor, some of her hair reaching out to grab her laptop and start typing away, getting a jumpstart on this research. "Since our partnership is moving up, I assume you'll want me to have a better understanding of business theories and concepts," she answered as if it was the most sensible thing in the world. "I can tell you everything about science, but there's only so much I can do as a new business partner with my current understanding of said business."

Business partner, but that wasn't…

Oh.

Oh no…

Hordak wanted to throw something or slap himself, maybe both. She didn't actually say yes, he had his hopes up for nothing. He'd asked her out and Entrapta had interpreted it as him asking her if she'd want to be more his partner in business rather than just his, his partner. Oh, was he really so bad at this?

There was more muffled laughter and this time he was able to catch the fleeting figure of Imp darting away after watching this disaster unfold.

But, Entrapta was looking at him now, and Hordak couldn't possible pull the rug out from under her and tell he that no, he didn't want her to help him run this place, not when she looked so excited to do it. This would be a new way to study social interactions, and to even study the science of business, he couldn't take that away from her.

"You're right," he forced out, unable to keep his smile up and letting it shift back down to his usual frown. "Right. We'll have our first business meeting on Friday. I don't expect you to know everything right away, so don't worry," he would have to go along with this, and try again when his confidence wasn't so shattered anymore. But, no, no, he had to get away, get some space from Entrapta to try and collect the shards of himself before he tried to face her again.

Turning around, Hordak walked away to leave her to her own research and to find something, anything to distract himself. "Octavia!" he called out, finding the older woman by some boxed drones. "If you're done restocking the shelves, grab some window cleaner and towels and clean the glass on the doors and windows—I can see all the grubby little handprints all over it." He was going to need more coffee after this.