[Pre A/N: can Yo make ANOTHER fanfiction dumpster??? She can, and will! This one is for WHTRJ, but, believe it or don't, DOESN'T revolve around my si Auto. They might come up once in a while, but these ones are for stuff that doesn't have to do with them. Can that be done? Is it even legal??? I guess we'll see!! But one thing is certain: these are also not good.]
[A/N: (ah shoot, this is the first one huh?) Okay, listen up. This one's setup is a little weird. I'm not asking you to read all of my Auto fics, but the character "Candy" comes from the "Scandy" story from over there. This starts off right after that fic.
Basically, the scantron machine from S1.6b "Scantron Love" is given a regular robot's body and gets a gig working in one of the offices of JNZ Robotics Factory/Lab. The office in question is the repo department, where she works as the assistant to Nutz, both things from S2.3/9b "Work." (I update his job just the smidgenest to be more like an actual recall/repo thing.)
This fic is about her first week there. I'm writing it bc you know i have issues when it comes to uuuhh shipping characters lmao. Gonna be real, i think i kind of floundered on Candy a little bit at parts, and i just straight up couldn't really write Nutz the way that i wanted him to be. Oh well.
TW/CW: new job, eagerness/excitement, learning things, first time-type stuff, work, working together, paperwork, computers, cars, confrontations, repossessions, uniforms, confusion, questions, flirting, intimacy??
The former scantron machine followed the metallic repo man into his office to start her new job. She was ecstatic that she able to be here at all: as she had recently been upgraded to be an actual robot instead of just a piece of office equipment in a middle school without anything besides that to fall back on. All she had ever known was toil, in a dusty closet, and while she now had arms and legs and a body to move around with, she would never be able to shake the worker inside of her. This was a new opportunity, one she would have never been able to dream of had she stayed a paper-grading cube, and she was not about to squander any second of it. She still only spoke in beeps and whistles. "(What is it that I need to know first???)"
Her coworker had no issue understanding her language. "This is the JNZ repossession office. I'm in charge of finding robots that have recalls and need upgrades, or that belong to people that have skipped payments." He motioned to the different parts of the office. "A decent amount of the info that we need to find them is on the computer here, but we still have plenty of paper records that help clear anything up. Sometimes one or the other isn't updated as often as it should be, so we have to cross reference this stuff before we know our specific jobs."
"(Affirmative. What then???)"
"Then you and I will go and get the bots that need to be repo'd. We'll find out where they are and take em back to the factory here for processing. The ones with faulty payments, they just kind of hang out here until JNZ gets paid, at which point they'll go back to work. The other ones get fitted with whatever they need and then sent off again better than how they got here."
She nodded. "(Affirmative, that sounds nice. And then we update their files.)"
He snapped and pointed at her with a smile. "Right on the money. See, you're already a natural." He leaned to whisper to her. "These humans don't know what they're doing half the time. Not wanting to hire office appliances to work in an office??? Meatheads, all of em." He chuckled.
She whistled a small laugh. "(Humans can be so hard to understand. I'm glad that I'll be working with robots more often now.)"
"You said it. I'm sure you'll like robots better." He smiled casually.
She beeped and nodded. "(Thank you, Mr. Nutz. I already like it better.)"
He grinned. "Psssh, 'Mr.' Just 'Nutz' is fine, boxy. By the way, what's YOUR name???"
"(Designation is 'Candy.')"
He looked quizzical. "'Candy,' huh?? That's a cute name. But why go by it if you can't even eat the stuff???"
She beeped almost excitedly. "(My friend provided it! She said,
"Well, you were called 'Scan-8000' before. 'Scantron,' 'Scan,' 'Scandy…' Oh hey, why not go with 'Candy?' It sounds close enough to 'scan,' and it's an actual name, so it could work out."
And I liked it, so that's what we renamed me.)"
"Was she the one with you in the office there???" He pointed with his thumb.
"(Affirmative. She's the one that upgraded me and gave me a body and everything!! I wouldn't be anything without her.)" She beeped happily.
Nutz smiled with sentiment. "She seems like a good friend."
She nodded quickly. "(Yes, she is amazing. I love her a lot. She is my dearest friend.)"
"Aaww, that's sweet." He smiled at her, trying to remember the last time he had a friend like that himself. He couldn't really think of anyone. "Um. Well, we better get started. We've got a lot of things to go through to start out." Candy watched him and moved as he reached for a box of papers that was on a shelf behind her. He pulled out the heavy load and dropped it onto his desk. "These are this month's invoices for the people that rent our machines. We have to make sure that the payment office received the money for the robots on the papers, and that it matches the info on the computer."
"(That sounds easy enough.)"
Nutz cocked his head. "Iiit's time consuming. Going through the papers, matching the accounts, making sure everything is kosher. We've got to be meticulous. You'd think they'd set up a different department for this stuff."
Candy whistled to chuckle. "(Perhaps you have already forgotten what you're working with now. I can go through all of this in approximately 20 minutes at most, WHILE simultaneously cross-referencing the computer. Do you have a data transfer cable???)" She leaned on the box with one hand on her hip.
Nutz was surprised that she came off like that, but smirked at the enthusiasm. "Ahhh, eager to get going, huh???" She nodded her head once, and he grinned. "I like that in a partner. Alright, then we'll set you up to get these papers processed." He ducked under the desk to fish out the cable, smiling wide with appreciation that Candy wanted to get to work so quickly. He sat upright on his knee and gave her a look. "Guess you'll be getting acquainted with the computer now, too, huh??"
Candy took the wire from him. She made a tone. "(Well, I hope he's as amiable as you have been.)" She examined the receiver and turned her head to plug it into her body, and Nutz smirked at the way this appliance was acting. She definitely had a personality on her: one that he felt would be really fun to work alongside. She looked over the computer monitor and tower. "(So, where does this plug in?)"
"Right over here." He pointed to a place on the tower. She moved her hand to plug in the wire before Nutz had a chance to reel. She lined up the receiver and tried to get it in, but it was giving her a little bit of trouble. "Ya got it???" Candy made a low tone and tried again. "Want me to do it for you?" He readied his hand to do so, but with another try she got the wire connected.
"(There we go.)" She reeled back to herself and glanced at him. "(See, i can be a big girl, i can do it.)" She tilted her head. "(I'll let you know when i need help.)"
Nutz chuckled. "Alright, alright." He sat in front of the monitor. "How about i pull up the digital files. Is that okay??"
She leaned on one hip. "(Fire away, hun.)" She looked over the topmost paper with just her camera to get an idea of the kind of forms these were. The computer itself didn't seem too smart for a device like itself, so she quickly introduced herself and told it what she was doing, and it allowed her to. Her body made a tone when something connected. She glanced over at Nutz.
"Alright, you should be hooked up to the accounts database now. Is there anything specific that you need me to do to get you started?"
Candy dragged her fist from her hip to about halfway up her back and stopped. "(Just sit back and look pretty for Mama.)" She flipped down the output tray on her back and fed the paper in her hand through the input slot on the front of her body. The paper took less than five seconds to be fully processed and dispensed on the other side of her body. This particular paper matched the information on the computer, so she continued to scan the rest of the papers.
Nutz was taken aback by the request, and impressed that she was able to match up the paper and the data so quickly. He grinned wide as he watched her quickly go through the stack on the table. "Hah. I'm gonna pull out another box of papers that we need to go through, seeing as how you're already hooked up to the computer."
Candy made an affirming tone in response. Only a moment later did she make a tone that sounded like somebody got an answer wrong on a game show. "(Discrepancy identified. BKR unit located on Kings Highway and Apple Avenue.)" She turned to Nutz for indication of what to do.
"A BKR, huh?" He took the paper from Candy's tray and looked over it. It had the basics about the unit, including the location, so he set it on a clipboard. "Good lookin' out, kid."
She beeped again. "(It's what i do.)" She fed more paper to be processed.
53 6b 69 70
Candy had processed all of the invoices for the month, as well as all of the papers that had information about parts that had recalls and the units that needed them replaced. She was able to go through all of this in only a couple of hours: something that usually took Nutz one or two work days do. He was very pleased with the efficiency of his new coworker.
"Nice job at getting all of this stuff processed, kid! That paperwork always takes me forever to get through. Things are gonna go a lot more smoothly with you around." He led her to somewhere else in the factory.
Candy made a beepy tone. "(Well, that IS what i was initially designed to do. I am going to perform most efficiently with paperwork.)"
Nutz rolled his eyes playfully. "Sure, that's what you were INITIALLY designed to do. But look at you now! You're lean and mean and have all new parts to ya that i'm certain will come in handy for this next part of the job. You're a shoo-in!"
"(Do you really think my body will be efficient? Do you think it will perform well???)" She leaned toward him as they walked.
Nutz glanced away. "Uuhh… yeah! You'll be great at wrangling these bots up."
"(I'm certain that your body is VERY efficient.)" She titled her head. "(For your job, i mean.)"
He made a mechanical sound in his chassis and awkwardly led her to the garage where his car was. It was in the bay of a larger mechanics shop with equipment that was able to do some quick repairs. He clicked a button on a remote that opened the garage door and motioned for her to get into the passenger side of the utility coupe. "We're gonna use the wheels to collect some of our targets." He got inside.
Candy stood in front of the door. She stared at it for a few seconds, trying to find what to do with it. Nutz noticed that she hadn't gotten in yet, so he poked his head out to speak. "You got it???"
Candy whistled low. "(Processing. Give me a moment…)" She slowly lifted her hand and placed it on the handle. "(I'm sorry, i have only seen this done once before.) She tugged on it a little bit, but it wasn't moving.
Nutz thought the comment was a little weird. "You gotta pull it. The latch gets kinda stuck sometimes."
Candy pulled it harder, and harder again because that wasn't enough. She wasn't yet aware of the kind of strength her body possessed, and she didn't want to damage anything. One more firm tug opened the latch and swung the door open. She was standing in the way of it, so it bumped against her head and body. She made an incredulous tone and stepped backwards. She opened the door enough for her to sit inside the car, and she pulled the door closed behind her, huffing at everything.
Nutz followed her and closed his door. "You alright??? That door is pretty heavy…" He turned the key in the ignition.
Candy didn't want to look at him. "(Affirmative. That was embarrassing.)"
Nutz tried to make light of it. "Don't sweat it. The same thing happens to me sometimes."
She huffed again. "(This is the second time i have been aware whilst being in a vehicle. The other time was earlier today, and i didn't open the door myself then.)" She grumbled in tones and whistled.
"Oh, well that explains it." He shifted gears and eased the car out. "I gotta remember that you're new to the whole ambulating thing. Just let me know when you need a minute to understand how to do something. I'll be here to help." He clicked the button to close the door.
She was still pouting, but added after a minute, "(affirmative. Thank you, Nutz.)"
They went to the location of the first robot that they had to repossess. According to the company, it was more important to reclaim the unpaid machines than it was to get the broken ones repaired, so those were the ones that they were going after first. Candy wasn't happy about it, but she wasn't here to have opinions about things like that.
The car pulled into the parking lot of a food market. Nutz previously had to take back some of the machines inside, so the place was somewhat familiar to him. He remembered that he had to explain the situation to his new partner. "This is a Dixon grocery store. You and i don't need them, but humans do, so there are a some locations around this area. They use a few JNZ machines to make food or help people shop, but the company can get sloppy about paying the bills to actually use them. I've been to most of the locations around here a few times to repo some machines, so this is nothing new for me. But it is for you, so i'll let you know how this works."
Candy nodded. "The BKR is an oven that they use to bake things like bread and cookies and stuff. It's a big piece of equipment: it's taller than i am, and much heavier too. They use them throughout the day, so it's going to be on right now and really, really hot. Do you know if you're heat proof??)"
Candy processed. "(Inconclusive. The parts used to make this body were 'made with durability in mind,' but they were intended for daily activities. I am uncertain if it would be able to handle extreme conditions. I guess we're going to find out???)"
Nutz shook his head. "No no no, we're not gonna do that. I don't want you getting damaged because of some dumb repo job, especially on your first one. I'll take care of handling the machinery."
Candy shrugged. "(But i'm supposed to assist you in your entire job. I insist that i go along to help you acquire this unit.)"
Nutz spoke firmly. "That's not happening, Candy. I am not going to let you get hurt from trying to repo an oven. You can just stay here."
Candy beeped in frustration. "(Negative, Nutz.)" She stepped out of the vehicle and spoke to him from outside. "(I am assisting you on this mission whether you want me to or not.)"
Nutz grit his teeth. "Fine! If that's the way you're gonna be…" And so Nutz guided Candy, who was pushing along a hand truck, through the market to the bakery area. They stopped in front of the counter. "Uh, excuse me." The person that was closer to them lifted their head to listen. "We're here from the JNZ Robotics Factory. We have orders to repossess your BKR unit on grounds of missed payments. We're gonna need you to remove anything that's currently baking in the oven."
The person made a face at him. "The oven??? You're taking the OVEN from the BAKERY???" They looked to their coworker, then back to Nutz. "Alright, i'm gonna go get the manager to handle this." They passed them from behind the cake counter and went to the front of the store. The coworker didn't really know what to do, so they complied and started removing the trays of partially-cooked goods from the oven.
"Alright, i'll go and unplug the machine. Just push the cart up to the oven and hold it still so i can push it on there." Nuts walked up to the machine and turned it off before unplugging it from the wall. Candy did as she was told, holding the handles as still as she could. Nutz started to push the hot oven onto it, but Candy couldn't stop it from moving before it was on there. "Try wedging your feet underneath the wheels. That should keep it from moving." Candy did as she was told, and Nutz was able to load the oven onto the truck. "Okay, let's get out of here." He helped her maneuver the cart out from behind the bakery counter only to be stopped by one of the store's managers.
"What is the meaning of this?! Why are you taking my oven?!" He held his fists on his hips.
"Sir, we're from JNZ Robotics. We're taking this oven because the rent wasn't paid for it."
"That's outrageous!!" He threw his arms in the air. "You can't take the oven away from a bakery!! It's right in the name: BAKE!!! You need an oven to bake!"
"Sir, our records show that the payment for this machine was not made. We will be taking it now, and we will return it as soon as your payment is processed." Nutz was used to having to explain these things, but he found it really draining and frustrating.
"A missed payment?! That's impossible. All of our machines have been paid for this month. You must have made a mistake. Just put the oven back and look over the paperwork again and you'll see that you're wrong about that."
Candy chimed in. "(Sir, i can assure you that a payment was not made for this particular piece of equipment. I went over the digital and paper files meticulously myself, so i know for certain that the payment was missed.)" The man looked frightened when she started talking. "(Oh, i forgot that he can't understand me. Nutz, tell him that i did all that.)"
"Wh-wh-why is it making that noise? What's wrong with it?!" The man took a step backwards and stood as if he was scared.
Candy made a frustrated tone. Nutz bluffed. "That's my coworker. She's a very by-the-books robot, sir. We were given orders to repossess this specific machine, and she does not take her job lightly. You should let her continue before she gets angry. Even i get nervous when she gets angry."
"Why that's preposterous! I'll ask you one last time to leave the ov–"
Candy started making loud beeps and low whistles and angry tones and assumed an aggressive body language. She acted like she was yelling at both of them and stepped towards them to go along with what Nutz said, making the man back away in fear. She made even more noise when she motioned her hand to both of them.
"AAAHH!!! OKAY!!! You can take the oven, take it!!! Just calm her down, PLEASE!!!" The man quickly scrambled back to the front of the store, much to the dismay of the bakery workers.
Candy stepped back to the truck to continue pushing it. "(Nice idea, man! I never get to yell at people like that!! It was so liberating.)" She whistled a sigh.
Nutz smiled. "Don't mention it, kiddo. Let's just get this thing out of here before boss man changes his mind."
They got the machine out of the store and to the back of the car, and Candy helped Nutz secure the oven so that it wouldn't go anywhere as they drove. They both got into the car and pulled away. "Great job back there, Candy! I wasn't sure if the language barrier was going to get in the way, but it turned out to be exactly what we needed. You're slick as oil when it comes to going along with a scheme. This job is gonna be a piece of cake with you around."
Candy chimed proudly. "(Right on, Nutz! But i waaas just going along with what you were doing. You're obviously very experienced when it comes to doing your job. I feel lucky to work alongside someone as efficient as you.)"
Nutz couldn't help but grin. He chuckled, "you and i are gonna kill it together. I can already tell that we're gonna be the best repo team out there!" Candy made a happy, giggly tone.
The rest of the day gave some more solid evidence to the notion. They worked great together, playing off of each other when they needed it and making sure that their job was done correctly. Candy was a quick learner, so she didn't have trouble with many things after a quick runthrough with Nutz. By the end of the day, they had collected quite a few machines for the factory to hold until it got paid. It seemed like things were going to work out for Candy to get a real career from this one day on the job, and she was very happy about that.
53 6b 69 70
It didn't take as long as requested to decide this. By the end of three days, Candy had helped Nutz complete the work of the entire week and then some, showing that she was the perfect candidate for the role. It was a no-brainer: something that exactly a human could understand and sign off on.
Nutz entered the office to see Candy scanning more papers. He was grinning wide and excited to talk to her. "Hey Candy, could you put that down for a minute? I want to give you something."
She glanced over at him and lowered the paper in her hand. "(Sure, Nutz. What's up???)"
He shook his head with a smile. "Naahh, come on. Unload your tray and unplug from the computer. This is important."
Candy huffed. She turned her head around to her back so she could unload the papers on her tray. "(I'm kind of in the middle of this, but whatever i guess.)" She unplugged her end of the data cable and flipped her tray closed. She stood with attitude and her fists on her hips. "(What did you want to give me?)"
"Just a little something from the boss…" He presented her with an untied necktie that had the same striped pattern as his own. She examined it quizzically. "It's your uniform! Congratulations, Candy!! You are officially an employee of JNZ Robotics Labs!!!"
"(Really?! I got the job???!!!)" Nutz nodded and grinned, and Candy made a bunch of happy chimes and beeps and whistles. She was ecstatic that she landed the position because, for her, it meant that she still had a purpose to exist beyond being JUST a scantron machine. She danced in place excitedly.
"You're the first robot employee that wasn't built by the factory! That's nothing to sneeze at! I would have never imagined that JNZ would hire an outside machine, but i'm sure glad that they chose you for it. I wouldn't want to work with anyone else!"
Candy jumped up and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, nuzzling her head against his. "(Thank you, Nutz!!! I couldn't have done it without you!!! This is absolutely amazing!!)" She zapped a tiny kiss on his cheek before reeling back to herself and celebrating further.
The hug made him smile fondly, but the kiss made him blush. He didn't think he could do that, but it happened and he didn't know what to do about it. "Um, uh… yeah…" He handed her the tie and coughed into his hand. "Your uniform. You, uh… gotta wear it while you're working…"
Candy took it and cocked her head. "(A uniform?)" She held it up to look at it. "(In the form of a necktie???)" She made a disgruntled tone. "(I never really liked how neckties looked on the humans that i've seen. Why do we have to wear these???)"
Nutz calmed down. He glanced at her again. "It's just a thing. They use the ties to determine the kind of job a robot has just by lookin' at them, at least the ones that can walk around anyway. We're recall division, so we get these green and purple ones."
She made another tone. "(Do i really have to wear it???)"
Nutz nodded with understanding. "Afraid so, hun."
Candy huffed. "(Oh, alright…)" She stared at it for a few seconds, trying to understand how this flat piece of fabric becomes a necktie. She had seen them all her life, but she never considered how they functioned. "(What is… how do i do this???)"
Nutz had to wear his every day, so he knew how to tie it. "Alright, so put it behind your neck so that the wider end is longer than the thinner end." Candy did so with some hesitation on the correct lengths. "Like that. Okay, cross the wide end over the thin end." She was imagining it too literally. "Good, now pull the wide end back underneath the thin end."
"(Underneath???)"
"Yes, you've got it. You're almost there. Now pull the wide end up, between your neck and the edge of the tie."
"(The edge of the..??? What do you mean???)"
He touched his own. "Like where the tie is touching your neck. Pull the end up between there and your neck." Candy tried to pull the tie in the way that he instructed, but she felt like she wasn't doing it right. "Alright, just one more step. Pull the wide end back down through the loop on the outside of the tie."
Candy looked at it with uncertainty, trying to make sure that she had the proper loop to pull it through. She tried it and managed to tie the thing up. "(How does it look???)"
It was completely uneven and far too loose for her thin neck. "Huh. Well, it is your first tie…" Nutz thought he could fix it. "Here, i'll try to get it even for you." He gently tugged at it and found that it undid itself completely in his hands. He wondered how that happened. "Uuumm, okay. I guess we just need to try it again."
Candy made a deflated tone. "(Could you just do it for me?? I'll watch how you do it so that i can get it right next time.)"
Nutz looked at her as she spoke, and then nervously back down at the tie and her neck and her chest in front of him. "Uh-um… a-alright. I'll tie it for you."
Candy whistled. "(Thank you, Nutz.)" She stretched her neck out so that she could see what he was doing.
Nutz held the ends in either hand. He blinked and respired, and slowly tied the knot so that Candy could follow along and do it herself the next time. He gently tightened it when he finished so that it would hug her neck better.
"(That was a different method than the one you gave me.)" She returned her neck to normal and looked at him.
"Huh? O-oh yeah. That was a 'full Windsor' that i did. I just like those knots better. I taught you how to do a simple knot."
Candy thought about the knots she had seen back at school. "(What's the difference???)" She cocked her head curiously.
He glanced away. "Oh, this one is more secure. It's not gonna fall apart on you, heh… That's more handy for the kind of stuff we do."
"(Oh.)" She processed. "(So why did you teach me the simple one???)"
He glanced elsewhere. "I was tryin' to give ya something easy! I didn't want you getting confused so soon."
Candy thought about it. The Windsor did seem more complicated and secure from the looks of things. "(Alright. Thank you, Nutz.)"
"Eeeehh, uh, don't mention it." He looked back at her. "But there you are now. A full, complete JNZ recall employee! You're gonna love it here."
She chimed. "(Thank you, Nutz. I already do.)"
53 6b 69 70
Another couple of days later was every employee's favorite day of the week. The hours of labor that they put in were finally rewarded with 63 inch pieces of paper. Nutz collected his and his partner's a few minutes before they were supposed to punch out. He saw her finishing the paperwork that they had for the day's work.
She glanced up at him. "(Hey hey. I've got a couple more pages here and then we can go.)"
"Take your time. Today is your first payday, my friend!" Nutz placed her check on the table in front of her and collected the completed sheets to put them in a box for record keeping.
She paused to look at it there on the table. It looked like one of the little papers that was attached to some of the files that she would go through, but it had "Candy Scan-8000" written on it. She didn't understand why. "(What is this???)"
"It's your paycheck, sweetie."
Candy didn't know what that meant. "(What is it for?)"
Nutz paused. "It's for your hard work here. Yeah, i know the total is kind of small right now, but i am definitely going to be busting some kneecaps if they don't up it to what you're worth soon."
Candy wasn't understanding. "(What do i do with it???)"
This was such a simple concept that Nutz felt uncertain if these questions were genuine. "Y-you cash it, Candy. You exchange it at a bank for the money that you earned this week."
"(Whyyyy???)"
Nutz blinked at her. "Because you earned the money with the work that you did."
She continued to study it from afar. "(And… and you get one, too, right???)"
He looked at her. "Ye-he-hes. Everyone that works gets one."
Candy processed. "(Everyone gets a piece of paper because they worked…?)"
He nodded. "Yes. You trade the paper for money. Then you can buy things with that money."
Candy knew that these questions were frustrating, but she genuinely did not know anything about 'paychecks.' "(What are you supposed to you buy???)"
Nutz smiled. "Whatever you want! The money is yours because you earned it by working throughout the week. Everybody that works gets a paycheck, and they can do what they want with the money that they get from it." Candy continued to stare at it as she processed this. "Here, i'll give you an example: i am going to use my money, from my paycheck, that i earned by working, to take you to a movie tonight. Does that… make sense for you???"
She whistled a sigh. "(Y-yeah, i guess so.)"
Nutz waited for her to register what he said. He thought he should clarify that too. "So what do you say? Are you available to go to a movie tonight with me???"
Candy beeped herself awake. "(Huh? A movie???)"
Nutz was getting the impression that her answer was 'no,' but maybe he just needed to describe this as well. "Yes. Like a long tv show. A sequence of images wi–"
She beeped. "(I know what a movie is. I meant, you want to go to a movie with me???)"
"Oh!" He felt a little silly, and he smirked nervously. "Y-yeah! I-if you want to. I understand if you already had plans for tonight. I just figured to, ya know… celebrate your first week working here."
Candy kept herself from giggling. "(Just to celebrate??? And nothing else???)" She leaned her head on her hand.
Nutz tried to stifle his blush. "I mean! We-we're also friends. Friends do that kind of thing together, too."
She nodded. "(Indeed they do.)" She tapped her face where her lips would be. "(So we'll go to the movies, together, as friends, to celebrate my first week of work???)"
"Yes. If you want to."
She turned her head coyly. "(Is this MY decision???)"
Nutz became exasperated. "Do you want to go or not?!"
Her chipper tone made her sound like she was smiling. "(Well, shoot, Nutty! All you had to do was ask!)" She stood up. "(Affirmative, Nutz. I will accompany you to the movies, as friends, to celebrate my first week of work.)" She tilted her head. "(If that's what you want.)"
Nutz was almost too frustrated to enjoy it, but he did manage to grin and chuckle at it. She made a happy tone at his cute reaction. She took her paycheck in one hand and Nutz's hand in her other, flowing a tiny bit of electricity into him and making him blush again. "(No more delay. Let's go celebrate,)" they glanced at each other; "(partneeerrr.)"
[Post a/n: the scantron machine is a massive flirt, fight me about it. I wrote something on how Nutz sees it, but didn't know where to squeeze it in, so here it is:
'He wasn't sure if her behavior was coming from flirting or trying to be friendly, but saying something so directly had strongly suggested that she was flirting. He could appreciate that she didn't beat around the bush very much with her intention, but he wasn't quite too sure yet if this was for legitimate interest, or just to keep things from being boring. Nutz didn't have a romantic partner, so he figured that there wasn't much harm in entertaining it.'
Btw, i didn't intend for Candy to be read as a child: we can't say that the machine isn't older than Nutz even. He just calls her 'kid' because she's new (new body, new worker) and bc i think it sounds nicer than "rookie."]