He hated wearing ties. In his opinion, they were constricting and uncomfortable and should only be reserved for funerals and weddings—two extreme occasions in which an abundance of other emotions masked the inconvenience of wearing a tie.

But Hiccup had told him that he should wear a tie, so he dusted off the old 'you're an adult now, here's an adult gift for you! Happy birthday!' tie and came to his job interview.

He had been instructed to wait in a vacant meeting room for the interviewer to arrive, and he was doing so like the good boy that he was. He spent his time looking around the room in awe. Someone had spent some good time—and some good money on decoration. It looked like the type of background those damn digital influencers liked to use on their social media.

At least the color scheme was nice.

He took a sip of the water one of the girls working there had offered earlier and stared out the window, watching as streams of sunlight hit the sequin pillows on the couch and drew a bunch of light spots on the wall and ceiling.

His interviewer was sure taking their time.

He kept switching his attention from clutter item to—what was with people and their obsession with cacti?, occasionally wondering what their use would be (or of it had any use besides making the wall look cute) when the door finally opened.

And he felt out of breath as the most beautiful woman ever walked through that door. She was a platinum blonde, medium height, beautiful red lips, and sassy eyebrows. She wore a grey button-up and a dark blue pencil skirt, and the clothes fitted her silhouette so perfectly that he assumed were custom-made. Dark stilettos elongated her legs and clacked against the wooden floor when she walked.

But even her beauty fell short when compared to the elegance and poise with which she held herself. As she made her way inside the room, he felt in full force the imposing aura she emanated. The woman was the living definition of 'confidence'.

Jack had seen her for a second, and he knew that he would lie down on the floor for her to step all over his back, all she needed to do was ask. That's how much intimidating she was.

She walked in his direction, and he got on his feet to greet her.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," she apologized with a professional smile. She held out her right hand and added, "Hi, I'm Elsa."

"Jack…" he managed to say as he shook her hand. He looked down at her other hand, which held a steaming mug of coffee with an illustration of a snowman drinking hot chocolate, and gestured at it with his head. "Cool mug, where did you get it?"

If he could, he would facepalm himself.

"Oh." The woman, Elsa, turned the mug to inspect it. "A little coffee shop a couple of blocks from here." She gestured at him to sit down and went around the table to take the seat across from him.

"I should go check it out," he said.

Elsa hummed. "You should. They have excellent cinnamon rolls."

Jack nodded. "Noted."

"So, Jack…" Elsa folded her hand over the table and locked eyes with him. Her eyes were so blue and clear that were almost hypnotizing. "What are your thoughts on product procurement?"

"I don't know what that is," Jack blurted out before he could think.

Elsa covered a chuckle with her hand. "It's looking for items to put inside our subscription boxes. As you may know, our company works with self-care and wellbeing, and we are always looking for products that will make our clients feel better."

"I'm all for making people feel good—" Jack punched his own thigh to stop himself from talking. He looked away cursing inside his head.

His no-filter friendship with Hiccup was starting to affect the interactions he had with people with more than 1.5 legs.

Elsa arched an eyebrow, clearly disturbed by his answer. "Is… that so?" She cleared her throat before proceeding with the interview. "I should also tell you that it's not a one-person job. We have a wide array of professionals in our team, from journalists to nutritionists and psychologists. And we all give our opinions throughout the whole process of mounting a box. Do you feel comfortable with that kind of environment?"

"Yeah, I have friends." Jack closed his eyes begging God to end his verbal diarrhea. He took a deep breath. "What I meant to say is that I'm a sociable person. I'm good at talking to people… most of the time."

He chanced a glance at her, and he caught her eyes staring directly at him, a blank expression on her face as if trying to read his soul.

He reached out for his glass and chugged down the rest of the water. The room was starting to feel too hot for his liking.

Elsa too took a sip of her beverage, her eyes still glued to him. "Moving on," she said with a sigh. "There's nothing permanent in the job. One day you'll be sitting here discussing whether the letter should be print in blue or pink paper, the other you will be running around looking for a producer that makes vegan and organic candles that matched that month's theme."

Jack shrugged. "I'm a flexible guy."

Her eyes narrowed, and he realized how she must have understood his sentence.

"I swear I'm not a creep," he said quietly.

She took another sip of her coffee.

Unfortunately, he had nothing left on his glass, so he was left with quietly waiting for her to call security on him.

"Last question, Jack." She sounded so devoid of emotion that he wondered why she hadn't ended his interview yet.

"If you could put one item in our care box, what would it be?"

He really tried to say something smart to save that whole mess, but all his brain could come up with was, "Bunny slippers."

Elsa pursed her lips very lightly. "Well, that's an original answer," she said, and she seemed genuinely intrigued. "Would you mind elaborating on that?"

Jack took a deep breath and let the air out slowly. He was already doomed anyway, might as well enjoy the remaining of his time.

"Have you ever worn one of those?" He started gesturing with his hands. "Those fluffy slippers with bunny ears that swallow your whole foot?"

She didn't answer, so he continued talking.

"They're adorable." He lowered his voice as if to whisper a secret to her. "And goddamn comfortable too."

Jack leaned back with an arm on the chair's backrest. "You spend your whole day on your feet, running around like a headless chicken trying to get things done. I don't know about you, but all I want when I get home after a day like that is to feel all snuggled up and cozy. Those slippers are like a mother's hug to your feet."

"That's quite an interesting slogan you've got there: a mother's hug to your feet."

Elsa stood up, so Jack mimicked her.

"Thank you, Jack, for coming here today."

"Thanks for having me," he mumbled shaking her hand.

"I appreciated our talk," she said, and he knew that she didn't mean it. As she led him out, she continued, "I should have an update on the position over the next couple of days, and I will contact you as soon as a decision is made."

Jack nodded.

They got to the elevators. He thanked her again for the opportunity. She smiled politely.

"Personally, I'm intrigued to see how you would do here," Elsa confided in a low voice.

He frowned but refused to look at her. He didn't know how to take that. Was that a good thing, or a bad thing?

The elevator's door opened. He got in. As he turned on his heels, he found her smiling at him, and he sucked in a deep breath.

"I hope we meet again, Jack."

He tried to say something back, but the door closed.

Her words echoed in his ears.

I hope we meet again.

Yeah, me too.

WORDS: original, permanent, door, stream, shop (plus one random prompt from a tumblr post about awful first meetings).

I will never write the rest of these stories, so if anyone wants to use my ideas, go ahead.