Sorry I'm late! I had a class yesterday and it went late, and then I stayed up all night hanging out with my siblings, and I couldn't get things done and I'm sorry.

But! I've finished Day 3 of Panprice Week early today (...relatively speaking), and in the evening (God willing) I'll post Day 4's chapter on time! So stick around!

This one was fun, and also painful. Poor Dave; he's such a good, honest soul in a cruel, heartless world... my beloved, my little guy, my boy, you are too good, too pure; blessings be upon ye...

Anyway, enough of that, you're here for a story! Today's prompt is: Donuts! See you at the bottom of the page!

"Nice of the secretary to get donuts, huh?"

Dave perked up from his desk, listening to the two police officers passing by as they whispered to each other.

"Keep it down, man," the other officer hissed, "don't want the newbies to start swarming."

"Ooh, yeah, good point."

Dave had been doing paperwork, but the thought of delicious donuts rendered him unable to fill out another page. He loved donuts, and now that he was a police officer too, he had more opportunities than ever to eat some!

He glanced down at the paper he'd been filling out. It technically wasn't his, he'd already finished his paperwork and was helping one of his coworkers fill theirs out since they were so busy, so it wouldn't be a problem if he took a quick break to grab a snack, right? Sharing is caring, and all that.

Dave stood from his desk and went down the stairs to the break room, trying not to look like he was running, but probably not doing the best job, if the odd looks from his fellow officers was anything to go by. Most of them were busy with their own work though, and Dave took a moment to bask in the glow of being a part of such a dedicated workforce made to protect innocents and arrest criminals. He'd never felt more important; even if he was mostly in charge of paperwork, he'd been told that every officer was a cog in the machine of public safety, and he was so happy his childhood friend Rupert had brought him aboard.

Speaking of Rupert, he was in the break room too, talking with the police chief about something or other. Dave knew better than to interrupt a conversation with the chief, so he just waved at Rupert excitedly while scanning the room. Sure enough, sitting on the conference table was an open cardboard box, lined with greasy patty paper.

There was one donut left, and Dave's heart soared; it was his favorite kind, a vanilla frosted donut with rainbow sprinkles coating it. He walked up to the table, and reached to grab a napkin and pick up the donut-

Only for another officer to grab it with their bare hands. Dave stared up at the officer, glancing over at their name tag: Officer Kev Portly. "Uh, h-hey!" Dave waved at Portly. "Hey, Kev… how are you?"

Portly blinked and glanced at Dave, as if he only noticed him there just now. "Oh… hey, newbie," he replied.

"I-it's Dave," Dave corrected. "Panpa. Officer Dave Panpa. Um, I was wondering-"

"If you have any questions, you need to ask the officer in charge of your division, not me."

"Uh, no, no! No questions about paperwork! Just, uh…" Dave tapped his fingers together nervously. "...Are you going to eat that?"

Portly slowly looked between Dave and the donut he was holding. "Yep."

"Oh, uh, cool! Maybe we could… share it-"

Portly proceeded to shovel the entire donut into his mouth, chewing messily until he swallowed it all in one gulp. Dave flinched at the sudden movement.

"First come, first serve, newbie," Portly said when he'd finished. "Now get back to work; don't you have paperwork to file, or something?"

"...Oh," Dave said quietly. "Yeah, I've got… paperwork. I'll- I'll just, go…"

Portly nodded at him, then toddled away. Dave stared longingly at the donut box, now devoid of any donuts or joy. He glanced towards Rupert, just in time to see him exit the break room in a hurry. He probably had important things to do…

Dave sighed and trudged back up to his desk. He was hungry now, but it was probably his fault for getting so excited. Portly was right: first come, first serve; and Portly probably earned it more than Dave, anyway. Dave just did paperwork, and Portly was… actually, he didn't know what Portly did, but it was probably more important than paperwork.

Dave slowly sat at his desk and stared at the form he'd been filling out. "Hey, Panpa," someone called, and Dave looked up. "You finished my paperwork yet? Remember, it's real important that it gets done today."

"Uh, y-yeah!" Dave smiled. "Don't worry, I'll get it all done! You can count on me!"

The officer grinned at him before returning to whatever he was doing on his computer. Probably something really important.

Dave took a deep breath, then picked up his pen to continue his work. Lunch was in an hour, anyway. He could hold off until then.

At the End of the Day…

"Package for Dave… Panda?"

Dave blinked and sat up. "Uh, it's 'Panpa', not 'Panda', but uh… yes! That's me!"

A young man in a uniform Dave didn't recognize set a small box on his desk. "Special delivery for you," he said.

Dave blinked owlishly. "For- for me? Oh, wow, thanks! Who's it from?"

The man shrugged. "A friend of yours, apparently."

"Wow," Dave breathed as the delivery guy left. "I wonder who would have sent me something?"

"Hey, look," a coworker said suddenly, leaning on Dave's desk. "Panpa's got a package." Some other officers gathered around, murmuring to each other. "Looks like there's a note!" someone said. "Read it out, Panpa!"

"O-oh, okay…" Dave picked up the little slip of paper sitting on top of the box and began to read. "To Dave Panpa, for all of your hard work and dedication. This is all for you; enjoy every last one. From someone who really admires you."

"Oooh," everyone ooh-ed, "Panpa has a secret admirer~!"

Dave blushed. "Oh, come on, guys, it's not like that! It's from a friend, that's all."

"Which friend?" someone prompted.

"Uh, the delivery guy didn't say…"

Some of the officers made kissing noises, making Dave blush harder. "Dude, open it already!" Someone shouted. The other officers murmured in agreement.

Unable to contain his curiosity himself, Dave tore the tape holding the box shut and opened the lid. "Whoa…!" Inside the box were six donuts with vanilla frosting, absolutely covered in rainbow sprinkles. "Oh, w-wow! They're my favorite kind!"

"I think those are from that really fancy donut place downtown," someone noted. "I hear they're baked fresh every hour!"

The other officers murmured to themselves, eyeing Dave and his donuts with a hint of jealousy. Dave felt a little bad then. He did a quick count; there were five other officers plus himself, so…

"Hey, would you guys like one?" Dave offered. "There's six of us, and-"

"Thanks Panpa, you're a pal!" The other officers descended onto the box, grabbing a donut each until just the one was left.

"You're welcome!" Dave smiled. "I'm so glad I have friends to share them with!" Someone choked on their donut, but most everyone else was too busy eating theirs to say anything in reply. "Anyway, my shift is up, so I'm gonna head out," Dave said, getting up from his desk. "I'll see you guys tomorrow!"

The others murmured in acknowledgement, which was good enough for Dave. He picked up the box with his donut in it, grabbed his coat, and walked down the stairs to the exit. Wow, whoever had sent those donuts was so nice… he hoped they didn't mind if he shared.

A light behind a half-open door caught his eye as he walked past, and he paused to see that it was Rupert's office. Well, gee! He had to talk to Rupert before he left! That's what friends did!

"Hey, Rupert!" He knocked on the door as he poked his head inside. Rupert was sitting at his desk, staring at something, but he jumped when Dave walked in and threw something into his trash can; it looked like one of those old coupon books they used to sell for fundraisers in high school. "Oh, sorry, Rupert!" Dave ducked back out of the office. "I didn't mean to disturb you; I'll- I'll just go-"

"Wait!" Rupert pulled the door open and nearly ran into Dave. "Don't go, just… didn't expect you, that's all. Come in a bit, yeah?"

"Thanks, Rupert," Dave walked into the office as Rupert closed the door behind him. "Something amazing just happened that I wanted to tell you about! See, I was in the office, doing my work, and then this guy comes in and says, 'package for Dave Panda', and I said, 'oh, actually, it's 'Panpa', and… anyway, to make a long story short, someone got me donuts! And they were my favorite kind, too; vanilla with rainbow sprinkles! I love rainbow sprinkles, they make me so happy, and there were six of them, so I decided to share with my coworkers-"

"You WOT?!"

Dave jumped a foot in the air at Rupert's sudden outburst. "I-I-I just- there were so many, and- I thought I'd share, you know? Since- since they didn't get any donuts and all, and I didn't want them to feel bad, and I'd- you know- probably get sick if I tried to eat them all myself, and I wanted to be nice, so… yeah."

Rupert smacked his head onto his desk and didn't get up. Dave shuffled awkwardly. He wasn't sure why Rupert had gotten so stressed, but it must have been something bad. "Um, and… I came in here because… I wanted to share with you…?"

Rupert slowly peeked up at Dave, his head still on the desk. He had a look on his face that Dave couldn't quite describe; a mix of tiredness, annoyance, and confusion. "But, it's your donut," he groaned. "You should have had them all for yourself!"

Dave shrugged sheepishly. "The note said to enjoy each one, but they didn't say I had to eat each one. I enjoyed sharing my donuts, and I want to share the last one with you, because… you're my best friend."

Rupert sat up a little. "Yeah?"

"Yeah," Dave smiled. "I'd really enjoy sharing this one with you. So…?" he shook the box enticingly.

Rupert looked at him for a long moment, then sighed and gave him a small smile. "Sure, Dave. If it makes you happy."

"It does," Dave nodded. "But… if you don't mind, could I have the half with more sprinkles? They look so good…"

Rupert smiled a little more genuinely. "That's perfect, Dave."

*Screams for a very long time and doesn't stop screaming* Anyway.

I imagine Dave is one of those coworkers who wants to do his best, but ends up getting taken advantage of by everyone else. No respect whatsoever, no matter how hard he works. Bless him, he really believes he's an equal part of an organization that does only good... Only Rupert appreciates Dave for who he is and what he does. (And if his coupon booklet no longer has any coupons for the donut shop downtown, well... it's all worth it.)

Kev Portly, if you don't recognize the name at first glance, is the officer Henry Stickmin steals a donut from in the NrG drink fail. According to his bio, the only reason he became an officer was for the donuts. I figured he'd be the one to steal Dave's donut, for the lolz. And the donut. Mostly the donut.

There's a fancy donut shop near where I live (not downtown, a little closer), and it makes donuts hot and fresh all day long; you can watch them make them behind a window (and I'm not talking about Krispy Kreme!). That was my main inspiration for Dave's present; warm donuts with icing and sprinkles are well worth the price!

Dave is a little more clever than he lets on, though not always in a good way. He figured out how to stay in the lines of his admirers' request for him to enjoy each donut while still sharing with his coworkers (who are garbage and don't deserve his kindness). Rupert is frustrated, but this is why he loves Dave in the first place (like a friend! Friendship is a kind of love, too! It's not like he like-likes him or anything...)

That's enough for now; I'll hopefully be back later today for Day 4's prompt. Leave a review and tell me what you thought of this one, and I'll see you later. Until then!