Turning the key in the lock, Sean left his office with a small spring in his step.

"Guess I'm attractive," he mused, shooting finger guns at an empty cubicle. "You hear that, Brock? Still think I'm a skinny bean pole?" His voice rang through the vacant building. The stars twinkled through the far windows. "You can shove it, fucking dick."

Giving a little wiggle of his hips, Sean grabbed his coat from the closet, then immediately did a twirl and wrapped it around his shoulders, posing like a Broadway heroine who had just finished her grand musical number.

"What the fuck, Sean."

He shrieked, turning to see Maggie standing with her arms folded beside the now humming electric kettle. "Shit, you scared me." He sheepishly slipped his arms through the coat the way they were supposed to go.

"Yeah, you scared me too, with whatever the hell that was just now."

He gave an annoyed exhale. "Well, see you tomorrow, Mags."

"Oh, before you go," she said quickly, her tone changing, "I wanted to let you know you've gotten quite a bit of attention from some big tech companies." His fingers hesitated over the buttons on his coat. "They've been trying to poach you off me the past week or so."

"Wait, really? Like, they want me to work for them?"

She nodded. "Everyone's really impressed with your work. I'd understand, of course, if you left for something bigger and better. I can send you all their contact info."

He hesitated, then finished buttoning. "This place has sort of grown on me, plus, I just finished building my dream office. Think of what a waste of money it would be for me to leave after personalizing that space so much."

She snorted. "Right, because you're so concerned about company money. You're not just saying that 'cause it's me who's asking, right?"

"I'm being dead serious." He slipped his hands into his pockets. "Sure, there's bigger and better things, but what ever happened to just being content with where you're at, you know? Just enjoying everyday life is enough for me." His phone buzzed then, and he took it out by impulse.

It read: See you at home!  Drive safe!! <3

A dopey grin crossed his face as he typed out: I will :)

Before he could press send, Maggie broke the silence, causing him to look up. "You're different." She looked him over. "Did something happen recently?"

His eyelids closed and opened. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"Have you started seeing someone or something?"

He fumbled, nearly dropping his phone. "S-seeing someone?"

"Yeah. I don't think I've seen you grin at a text like that as long as I've known you."

"Oh, I mean, I have a friend I talk to a lot now. He's pretty—"

"He?" she repeated, clearly not believing what she was hearing by the way her eyebrow twitched upward—a rare movement on her normally placid face.

He flushed. "Yeah. So? What of it?" He tried to appear nonchalant and failed.

There was a click as the kettle shut itself off. "It's none of my business," she said evenly, filling her mug. "I'm just saying, seems like you're living your life with a little more drive than usual, and partners can sometimes be the spark that gets you going. Just don't fall apart if he dumps you."

This was the last conversation he wanted to be having with his boss right now. "Thanks for the great advice. We're not even dating, also you know it's ten at night, right?" He eyed her steaming cup of coffee.

"So? I got stuff to do. Don't pretend like you go to bed at a decent time either." She walked past him towards her office. "Think about those job offers, okay?"

"'Kay." He watched her go, then stood there for a moment. "Pfft! I'm not different. Crazy woman." He took one last glance at his phone, before slipping it into his pocket and walking out.

 

⚙⚙⚙

 

Sean's PC hummed when he turned it on, filling the otherwise quiet apartment with noise.

At once the TikTok voice blasted his speakers. "Are you okay? You didn't answer my text!"

He jumped. "What? Yes, I di—Oh, I never pressed send." He looked down at his phone while sinking into his chair. "Sorry, about that, Eli."

The program's chat popped up along with text. I was worried. You always text back before you drive home. I thought something had happened to you.

His heart tugged at that. "Well, it turned out fine. I didn't mean to worry you. I got sidetracked talking to Mags."

The sight of angry emojis followed by knives made Sean a tad nervous. Ah. Still think it was a good idea to stop me from killing her?

"Yes. I will always think that was a good idea. Stopping murder is always the right choice, Eli."

An eyeroll face appeared. Whatever. What did she want to talk about anyway?

"Oh, there's just been a lot of job offers apparently."

Job offers?

"Companies, wanting me to work for them. It's okay though. I like it at the office with you. I don't want anything else."

There was a pause. Are you staying just because of me?

"Huh? Of course not. There are other reasons..."

Like?

He looked away. "Okay, I can't think of any right now, but what does it matter? We have that amazing office together and you're so happy there."

Sean...

"What?"

I want you to be happy too, you know, and I can travel virtually anywhere in the world. I'm not very picky. I'd hate to be the reason you don't take a really cool job.

He blinked in surprise. "I-I don't know. I haven't really been anywhere big. I don't even know if I'm meant for something better. I'm kind of a screw up."

Don't say that! Of course, you're meant for something better! You made me, didn't you? Pretty sure no one else in the world has made something quite like me.

He looked down. "Sorry, I guess I have a bit of imposter syndrome."

Imposter syndrome? Lemme look this up. There was a brief pause then: A bit? Sean, you could be the poster child for this word.

He exhaled a laugh. "If you say so." Green eyes flicked over the open tabs running in the background. "Oh. How have things been by the way? Have you learned anything new?"

Don't think I don't notice you changing the subject, Mister... and yes, things have been going great actually.

"Oh? Any more cyber harassment from your end?" He placed a hand under his chin.

No, in fact, I complimented a YouTuber who makes horrible food but has a lot of spirit while cooking it.

"Hey, that's promising, I guess."

I removed my troll comments and stopped spam calling people, though I didn't remove my YouTube channel, but don't worry! I instead make 'you laugh you lose' challenges, and those are way more popular anyway.

"That's great, actually!"

Yeah, though I kept the clickbaity titles because Pewdiepie said that's how you get 'em.

Scrolling through the new set of videos Elian had posted, he saw that the thumbnails were indeed horrendously clickbaity, but Sean couldn't help but smile.

"Oh, Eli, this is great news. I'm really proud of you. Do you feel less murdery then?" There was an uncomfortably long silence. "Eli?"

So... I did send one death threat to someone who said they prefer the 2010 live action atla to the animated one.

There was a long sigh. "I mean, that person is dumber than shit, but that doesn't warrant death threats."

Have you SEEN the live action atla, Sean?

He snorted. "Yes, Eli. Listen." He closed the tabs, hovering over the Destiny II icon on his desktop. "Maybe we need to try a new approach. I wonder if a good old-fashioned high-octane FPS can help with your murderous tendencies."

 

 

After several hours of Sean yelling at his monitor while slamming his fingers aggressively over the keys, he finally rage quit, calling it a night. "Dammit! My team sucked ass," he complained, switching to his phone so he could still communicate with Elian through the Discord call, "other than you, of course, Eli."

"Awww! Thanks Sean!" the Ryan Reynolds generated voice said. "By the way, people kept calling me sweaty in the chat. I don't perspire though, so I'm a bit confused..."

He chuckled, making his way to the bathroom after setting his phone on the kitchen counter. "It just means you're really good at the game," he shouted. "Just ignore them. Did you enjoy playing?"

"Oh, yes!" he called from the other room. "It does satisfy something to mow down an endless surge of soulless monsters over and over. Thanks for showing me this game!"

Brushing his thick red hair, Sean proceeded to change out of his day clothes. "How are you feeling? Regret sending that death threat now?"

"Absolutely not. I will never regret that."

He exhaled before pulling his shirt off. "I don't remember writing this insatiable killing shit into your code," he mumbled.

"What's that?"

"Nothing! You wanna play again tomorrow?"

"Oh yes, please! Anything with you, Sean."

 

⚙⚙⚙

 

An alarm went off and Sean groaned.

Maybe staying up most the night playing video games wasn't the best idea.

He got up and crossed the room to his PC, turning it on along with the webcam. While he waited for the startup sequence, he left to get ready in the bathroom.

Sean nearly jumped out of his skin when a human voice spoke from the other room.

"Sean?"

He dramatically pressed himself against the wall. "The fuck?" he hissed, his heart pounding in his chest. Still gripping the toothbrush, he peeked out of the bathroom doorway, then cleared his throat. "Um... h-hello?"

"There you are!" The same soft, male voice spoke, though Sean couldn't tell from where it came. "I've been waiting for you to wake up!"

He realized the sound was coming from his computer's speakers, and that's when it hit him. "Eli?" He tiptoed over to the PC. "Is that you?"

There was a delighted giggled. "Yes! What do you think of my new voice? I've been working on it on Deepsync."

"Holy shit. It's so... lifelike. I thought someone broke in!"

"Stawwwp, you flatter me! I mean, I did take online acting classes as well as studied several voices that I knew you'd like."

"That I'd like?"

"Well, yeah. I know for a fact you like young men with soft, higher pitched voices."

His face flushed. "H-how do you know that?"

"After going through all the books, shows, and webcomics you consume, it wasn't too hard to figure out your type."

"Eli! You looked through my stuff?"

He hummed in reply. "I also found your folder titled 'nsfw kinky shit.'"

Sean's face was positively cherry now. "Dude, what the hell!"

"What? What's wrong?" His voice raised in concern. "What'd I do?"

"That's a huge invasion of privacy, and that folder...ugh!" He hid his face in his hands. "Fuck, that's so embarrassing!"

"Why is it embarrassing? Should you feel ashamed for liking male Ariel porn comics?"

Sean made a sound that wasn't even human, turning from the webcam and stuffing his face into a couch pillow. "Stop, STOP! Sweet mercy, just stop! Okay," he threw the pillow down, facing the camera again bravely, "new lesson. Respecting people's privacy."

"Privacy?" he repeated confusedly. "But why? Friends share everything, I thought."

"No, you've watched too many kids' shows." He pulled at his red locks. "Friends are supposed to respect privacy. It's called healthy boundaries."

"Boundaries? Oh, like a fire wall?"

"Uh, kind of. Just don't go through my search history again. If I want to tell you something private about my life, I'll tell you personally, okay?"

"Oh, okay." He gave a small sigh. "Do you like my voice then?"

Sean blinked. "Y-yeah. It's really nice."

"Your face is red again." On instinct, Sean put the back of his hand to his cheek. "That's been happening a lot recently. Are you feeling okay?"

He could feel it spreading to his ears. "Oh, it's just a bit hot in here."

"Well, that doesn't make any sense. It's seventy-two degrees in this apartment. That is an optimal temperature for humans—"

"My pale cheeks just turn red sometimes, okay?" He gave a small huff before returning to the bathroom. "Guess it's a white guy thing," he shouted.

"I see. I'm really sorry about prying too much, Sean. I didn't know privacy mattered that much."

"It's okay, Eli. Thanks for being understanding."

"It won't happen again.

There was a pause.

"Sean."

"Hm?"

"Are you going to the company luncheon today?"

"The what?" He came up to the monitor fully dressed. Elian pulled up an email with a delicately decorated invite full of digital lace and flowers. Sean groaned. "Damn, I hate social things. Looks like it's required."

"A lot of people are going to be there. You could possibly get an amazing job offer. You never know." Sean shrugged. "You could be doing something you like and get paid so much more. You could even sell me and make a fortune if you wanted to."

He shook his head quickly. "No, I'm never going to do that. I don't want other people being able to control your code and have access to all your stuff. It wouldn't feel right. It's my job to protect you from bad people who would take advantage of your programming, Eli."

"Oh." His tone was subdued now. "You don't have to do that, Sean. I can take care of myself."

"I know, but I couldn't do that to you." He laid a gentle hand on the monitor. "I care about you too much."

There was a pause. "I... care about you too, Sean. Thanks for saying that. It really um... it means a lot."

"Sure, it's no problem at all." He rubbed the back of his neck indifferently.

Oddly, there was another pause, which was so unusual for Elian. "So, what are you going to wear?"

"Wear?"

"To the luncheon. Surely not that."

Sean looked down at his simple T-shirt and jeans. "What's wrong with it?"

"I've done research on this stuff, and I know the kinds of the people that are coming. You should really dress up a bit."

He groaned. "Since when did you become so sensible?"

"Don't you want to make a good impression? I've heard that dressing the part of the job you want is the first step—"

"Okay, okay. I guess I'll go dust off my old dress pants—"

"Not to worry! I ordered you some stuff in preparation for this!"

"Wait, what?"

"I had it delivered to your door." Sean mutely pointed to his front door questioningly, and Elian giggled. "Yes, that door, Silly."

Sean made his way to it, opening it to find a package waiting for him on the other side. He stared at the luxurious brand.

"They're custom items," Elian called out. "I hope I got your measurements right. I based them off some clothing items you ordered online a few years ago."

"Holy shit." His fingers traced over the green satin within the box. "How did you afford this, Eli?"

"Well..."

His face fell as he turned back to the camera. "Eli. How did you afford this?"

"What? You can't blame me when I can make digital money from nothing. Don't worry, the store still got paid 'real' money." He added in a mumble, "If you can even call digital money real..."

Sean exhaled but grinned all the same. "We'll talk about the forgery you committed later, but for now, thank you. This is really... Thanks." His chest felt so light then. "Let me try it on real quick."

"Oh yes! Fashion show!"