No one ever told Ryuma that being a super cool special secret agent meant having to deal with so much bureaucratic bullshit. He had always assumed this job would be sitting in a private office smoking cigars, eating free doughnuts and bagels and shooting the $$ with other equally cool people between missions. But instead it seemed that this company wanted to suck as much work out of them as possible, insisting on giving them plenty of paperwork and making them follow paper trails to fill in the hours between the fun stuff. If only this was like his days back in the squad where he could force one of the flimsy nerds to handle this $$ for him. But no, this stuff required a Turk's[/ attention or whatever.
At least the break room was always pretty well stocked. It was just a shame it was just as filled with security cameras as the rest of this place or he'd spend all day lounging in there instead of stuck at his desk. And so he was forced to savor his limited time there, enjoying the complimentary bagels and doughnuts of his dreams. Sure they weren't being delivered on a cart to his luxury office suite by a buxom blonde like he always dreamed, but at least they were there. Even if they were so very far away from where they so truly belonged. But it was fine. Everything was just fine. No matter how boring these slumps were, nothing could take away how cool this job was. Even as he stood there, leaned back against the counter munching on his third everything bagel smothered in cream cheese like a proper badass.
The door to the breakroom swung open and a slender woman in a black power suit came traipsing in, her heels clacking unsatisfactorily against the cheap linoleum. Her cold eyes scanned the room for occupants, landing upon its sole occupant with a heavy sigh. She walked over to the counter and peeked into the bagel bag. The outside was pocked with moisture spots, a sure sign that it had been sitting there for a while.
“We really are slumming it these days, aren’t we?” Autumn carefully extracted a cinnamon bagel from the bag and popped it in the communal toaster. The little crumbs at the bottom of the trays didn’t escape her scrutiny but she craved the warm crunch of the brown sugar on the top of her bagel.
“It just doesn’t seem fair!” She vented to Ryuma as the wires in the toaster burned red hot. “We do so much for this company and all we get are soggy bagels. It’s just that… I know there’s hardly ever anyone in the executive lounge. I’ve been up there before, many times, with my uncle.”
It was true she’d been to the restaurant upstairs but not in many years. She’d tagged along on a few lunch meetings as a kid but she was an employee now there was a hierarchy to consider. She was startled out of her bad mood as her golden brown bagel popped up like a jack in the box.
The clickity clack of heels down on the hard industrial linoleum flooring that coated the floor of these halls never failed to get Ryuma excited. He could hear the confidence in the stride, the self assured steps of a powerful woman that was just begging for an excuse to cut loose. The brief moments before her arrival were spent ensuring that he was in prime position to take advantage of the situation. The bagel was placed into his mouth, pinched between his pearly whites as gloved hands moved to straighten out the finely tailored suit that he was oh so proud of. Tie was straight, hair was smoothed out and perfectly framing his slender yet masculine features, and his relaxed posture was sure to communicate a 'cool yet approachable' atmosphere. It was just a shame he missed the smear of cream cheese across his cheek.
Autumn was greeted with a smug grin, his bagel being raised in greeting to the familiar red head. Just the kind of lady he was hoping to bump into during this little extended break of his. "Tell me about it." He rolled his eyes in an exaggerated fashion as he brought the bagel to his mouth, lips peeling back to ensure none of his lip balm got rubbed off. Had to ensure they maintained that kissable sheen. "You'd think they would give us something a little more fitting of our station." He pushed out a sigh, his eyes lingering on Autumn as he offered her his undivided attention.
"You'd think they could at least give us like... An omelette bar or something." He shrugged his shoulders as non-nonchalantly as possible, letting the words linger for a moment before a mischievous smirk spread across his lips."So, you've got a big wig uncle? I never would have guess. You seem so... down to earth." His gaze lingered on his fellow Turk as he took another bite of his bagel, jaw parting to speak immediately after only to realize he should probably chew and swallow before continuing. And so he held up a finger to buy him a moment to sort things out before continuing. "What's it like up there? Think it might be worth sneaking up there to grab a real meal?
“Right?” Autumn nodded along absentmindedly as she spread a healthy serving of butter across the rough surface of her bagel. By this point she was in full gossip mode. “It’s total bull$?!%. I mean… We risk our lives on the daily.”
Her blue eyes went wide at the mention of her big wig uncle and she took a big bite to give herself time to respond. She blushed a little, chewing very deliberately with one finger up to signify there was more to explain. Autumn had slipped up bad. She’d learned not to drop her Uncle Rafferty’s name at work a long time ago.
There were always a lot of assumptions made the second people learned she was related to the President of the Shin-Ra company and she didn’t want to rob herself of the opportunity to demonstrate her skills to Ryuma before he found out.
“Mmm… no, no.” She corrected herself, “He was just a janitor. You’d be surprised by the things he’s seen though.”
Autumn perked up. A string of excited words and ideas came tumbling out of her mouth at rapid speeds. “It would absolutely be worth it to sneak upstairs! They have a hibachi grill, leather massage chairs, champagne on ice, chocolate covered strawberries, and a view that’s to die for! Oh, and I heard they just hired a bunch of bimbos from the honeybee in as waiters. So, who knows what that’s about?”
Autumn’s sly grin and nonchalant little shrug was meant to indicate that she knew exactly what that was about. She’d actually been planning to invite him to sneak up with her but it was better to let him think it was his idea. “I know they won’t turn me away if we could just get up there.” Autumn whined. Her eyes subtly darted to the camera in the corner and she leaned in conspiratorially to whisper in his ear. “Getting to the 66th floor of this building unseen is nearly impossible. Are you sure you’re up to it?”
Yes, good. They were already establishing common ground over the crappy situation they found themselves stuck in each and every day they were stuck in the office. Not only that, it was clear that this was a lady who enjoyed the finer things in life. Ah yes, there was most certainly some potential to be had here. It was exciting to finally get an opportunity to have a real conversation with his attractive co-worker. So exciting that his attempt at maintaining a cool, smooth facade were starting to crack. His smirk turned to an eager smile as he leaned a bit closer to Autumn, listening oh so attentively to her words.
"Janitor? What'd he do? Smuggle you up there in a garbage can?" He laughed a bit as his own joke, clearly tickled by the idea of some old goat sneaking a girl around in one of those big trash cans they're always rolling around. Honestly it seemed like a pretty good idea. He'd need to keep that one in mind in case they ever needed to infiltrate a facility or something like that. Unfortunately his brilliant scheming was quickly interrupted as his fellow Turk started to list off some very important and ear-grabbing words.
Ryuma's eyes went wide, jaw dropping as she described the wonderful world that was the Shin-Ra executive lounge. In made his stomach rumble, his mouth water and his skin tingle with anticipation. "That... That sounds amazing. Now THAT is the paradise that hard working folks like me and you deserve." The smile crept back onto his face, the gears already turning as they considered how they could get themselves into such a paradise. But then she leaned in, her whisper in his ear sending a shiver down his spine. His lips curved back into their sly smirk, an arm moving to drape across Autumn's shoulders as he tossed her a wink. "Baby, I was born for this. I've already got a route all planned out." Oh, and what a plan it was. A most daring plan that would require the utmost trust in each other, and would further strengthen the bond being built here. "What do you say, beautiful? Wanna put your life in my hands?"
Her lips parted into an amused grin as Autumn imagined her uncle pushing a younger version of her in one of the big trash cans from the cafeteria. A thought tickled the back of her mind that maybe she wouldn’t have found it as funny if her uncle really had been a janitor but things being as they were she couldn’t help but chuckle.
It was as she felt the warm weight of his arm across her shoulders, keeping her close in a conspiratorial half hug, that Autumn tensed up just a little. She didn’t pull away. They were partners in crime now and she was interested to hear his plan but she also knew that Ryuma Igami came with a certain reputation. Autumn glanced over at the security camera again. She couldn’t risk being seen alone with him like this or she’d end up getting spun around in the rumor mill like some of his supposed conquests.
Autumn raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms in front of her chest, still leaning against the counter next to him. Her look of skepticism faded to a mischievous grin, “Alright, I’ll follow your lead for now but you should know…”
She took his wrist in her hand and raised it up over her head and in front of her. Autumn ran her fingers down his shoulder teasingly to the back of his elbow where she rested her palm. The Turk knew she could take him down to his knees with the right pressure but instead she let him go with a wink of her own. “I’m more dangerous than I look.”