A/N: Since it's a Toby/Reader fic, feel free to read it as "Y/N" instead of Andy. Also, apologies for any grammar mistakes… English is not my first language, so everything I've read before has been in Spanish and using hyphenation instead of the quotation marks, so I also had to get used to that.
Chapter #1: New Job
Starting a new job can be quite challenging at times, emotionally speaking, especially if it's your first job. However, it can also be exciting in many ways: you have the opportunity to meet new people, become friends with some of them, as well as experience the sense of independence that comes with being able to pay for things using your own earnings.
For you, this job was also your reason to feel somewhat useful, as if you got a new reason to actually keep trying and just go with the flow until something more interesting happens. You didn't expect more from this job at Dunder Mifflin, but at least it was something to wake up for.
Upon arriving at the office building, you were greeted by the receptionist.
"Hi, can I help you?"
You felt some nervousness, but you still believed it wouldn't go badly, as even the receptionist seemed like a nice person.
"Hi, I'm Andy. I'm supposed to be starting my job here in the H.R. department today," you tried to hide your nervousness but failed, letting it show. "Is Mr. Scott here?"
"Oh, yeah," Pam nodded, "I think I remember him saying something about someone new. I'll get him for you." She grabbed the phone and called Michael. "Hey, Michael? The new H.R. person's here... Okay, I'll let them know," she hung up and looked at you. "He'll be here in a minute. I gotta warn you though, he can be quite a character sometimes."
You both giggled.
"Alright, thanks for the warning. I'll keep it in mind," you smiled and felt a little bit less nervous than before.
The office door behind you opened, and a black-haired man came out walking like a robot.
"I-den-ti-fy your-self, hu-man," he said in a robotic way.
You stared at him, unsure whether you should laugh or not, while Pam just facepalmed and sighed.
"Sorry," she whispered.
"Hey, I'm Andy Bloom, nice to meet you," you extended your hand to Michael, but he just fist-bumped it and laughed. "I, uh, I am here for the H.R. job."
"Uh-huh, yeah. I'm Michael Scott, the king of this amazing paper company!" He turned around and pointed to the rest of the office.
You saw some people in the back shaking their heads in disapproval.
"Now," he continued, "let's start our tour of the castle! Here is our lovely receptionist, who you've met already, Pam Beesly. She must have told you a lot of cool things about me, but don't worry, I don't bite... unless it's consensual."
You and Pam both stared at him as he made some weird biting sounds. Pam ignored him and waved at you, smiling.
"Alright, let's continue with the tour, shall we?" He walked towards the desks behind him. "Here we have our main element and sustain of this company, our salespeople: Jim, Dwight, Phyllis, and Stanley!"
You saw the other people in the back give Michael a look of disbelief. He pretended to cough a little bit, as if he were somewhat uncomfortable with the others' reaction.
"Ahem, I mean, Sales is just one of the important elements, because everyone here is fundamental to us and each person is a main element in our hearts. Right?" he just looks at you.
You don't reply, but you just wave at the four people from Sales and introduce yourself. That Dwight person looked particularly weird, like he was too serious and didn't care about you. Even Stanley, who seemed too much into his crossword puzzle, let out a quiet "Uh-huh" and sighed. The other two, Jim and Phyllis, seemed more welcoming and gave you a friendly smile.
"Okay, it seems like some people didn't get enough sleep last night. But don't worry; they don't let that affect their productivity." He smiled. "Whatever. Let's get to our next stop." He walked towards an old man and a red-haired woman behind the sales desks. "Here are Meredith and Creed, who are in charge of..." He just looked at them in an awkward silence. "You know what? They just do some quality and customer stuff. It's important to do, but not enough to learn about, so don't worry. Who you should worry about, though, is this temp over here, Ryan." He pointed at a young black-haired man whose desk was right next to the trash can. "He's the hottest in the office, and he actually won an award for that, so you're going to have to heat it up a little bit if you want to take the award from him." Michael laughed, and you could see that Ryan guy mouthed a "Not really" to you.
You were kind of weirded out by how Michael brought up the topic about being hot in a workplace, but it made you feel better that Ryan didn't take it seriously. You're also glad he didn't take too long introducing the other two, as the old man Creed smelled like rotten vegetables, while the woman reeked of alcohol. The combination of their odors was beginning to gross you out just a bit. You then walked a little farther into the corner of the office, following Michael, and he presented you to the people there.
"These people are in charge of Accounting, the other main pillar of this company, since they're in charge of our checks," he said, winking at them. "This here is Oscar, and I know you might think he looks mexican, but he's actually a really nice guy and a great accountant," he said and made a pause, like he was waiting for Oscar to thank him for the compliment. "And we also have Angela on this side, and that one's Kevin. They seem harmless but they wouldn't think twice about stabbing you if you steal his candies or if you insult Christmas," he said laughing, and you could feel the hate in Angela's eyes as she was staring at him. You couldn't help but notice the decorations on her desk.
"Hey, these are so cute!" you said, pointing at the small stuffed cats and then at the photos, "Are these yours?"
Angela let out a small smile. "Thank you, and yes. This is Sprinkles," she started showing you all her framed photographs of her cats, "this one is Comstock, here I have Milky Way, Diane, Lumpy, and Ember. I have a few more but I haven't got their photos printed out yet."
"They are so cute. I have cats too, not as many, but I know how loving kitties can be."
"Yeah, and they're my favorite people too," Angela replied. You found it a bit weird that she referred to them as people, but you could basically understand what she meant by that.
"Hey," Michael continued, stepping between you and Angela. "I hope you liked this part of the kingdom, because now we're only missing what happens to be the slums of our office. Come on, it's over here."
You follow him towards the door leading to a small kitchen and end up in a small office with a break room in the corner. You notice there isn't much happening here compared to the main office, and you can only see two people at their desks.
"Okay, so here we have the annex. It's like that small pimple on your butt that you want to quickly forget about but you can't, because you can't get rid of it," Michael let out a sigh. "However, we still have something good here and the only reason I'd want to set foot in this room," he pointed at the vending machines in the break room. "Also, this is where you'll be working for H.R., so good luck."
The man who was sitting at the back turned to look at you and got up. Michael turned to you with a disgusted face, "I hope you enjoyed our kingdom tour today, I believe Satan doesn't need an introduction... If you need anything, you know where my throne is, so, goodbye!" he said, and went back to the main room. You were left confused at what he had said about Satan, wondering if you might have misheard.
"Hey," the red-haired man said, standing in front of you. "I'm Toby Flenderson, the H.R. representative. You must be Andy. I got an email from corporate last weekend saying you'd be joining us today."
"Hi, yes, I'm Andy Bloom. Nice to meet you, Mr. Flenderson," you extend your hand to shake his and when you do, his grip is firm and warm. "I am guessing we'll be working together, right? Well, maybe not together-together, you know, because I'll be working as your assistant..." You let out a nervous and quiet laugh, hating the words that came out of your mouth as you were remembering each one of them.
He was just smiling at you.
"Sure, don't worry. It's still Human Resources and I'm the only representative here, so it'd be a lot of help to have someone else working with me." You bob your head with agreement and he motions his hand towards the desks. "I guess you can tell it's not too busy back here. It's only me and Kelly, she's the Customer Service rep. I also saw that you already met Michael... he's the one who thought Human Resources and Customer Service weren't as important as Sales and Accounting, so he figured the annex was the most fitting space for them. Don't worry about him though, he barely comes here and when he does, he goes directly to the break room," he chuckles. "Anyway, welcome. We have plenty of empty desks here so feel free to sit wherever you like, and when you've settled up I'll be glad to talk to you about the work you'll be doing."
"Thank you," you said, smiling at him. You were unsure about what desk to choose, but you didn't want to take that long to decide and complicate yourself, so you just grabbed the chair behind Toby's and left your bag and stuff on the desk.
"I hope this office gets comfortable enough for you," he said. "People can be a bit overwhelming at first, but it gets easier with time. It also helps when you get along with the people you work with, so I'm looking forward to working with you." You both smiled, and he began explaining the tasks you would be responsible for as an H.R. assistant.
You weren't thinking about how this was your first job ever, and you didn't feel as nervous anymore. Your coworkers seemed fine, your boss was kind of weird but funny at the same time, and the annex felt like a peaceful place to work at every day... And although you didn't know much about Human Resources, it seemed like you'd enjoy working there, at least that's what you thought after learning more about it from Toby. Or, maybe, you just felt like he had some kind of comforting and calming presence, and that's why you looked forward to working in H.R. with him. Crazy idea, you thought, and decided to ignore it and keep pretending you really found that work interesting.
A/N: Hey everyone. Thank you for giving this a chance and reading it. It's my first time ever writing, so I hope it's ok enough. If you have any suggestions please let me know, I'll try to keep uploading more chapters soon :)