Tempest came storming into Benton's office, a grin on her face. “Oh Sunshine, my only Sunshine,” she began to sing.

“Matty, don't make me start singing the Song that Never Ends. You know I'll do it and not be ashamed if someone catches me at it.” Benton flipped his report closed and looked up at his art director with a smirk.

“Fine,” she drew out the word and pretended to pout.

“What's up?” He knew she wasn't in his office just to tease him.

“Well... there's a certain someone in the meeting room, who's a little early for his interview.” Her grin widened.

The air left Benton's lungs and his heart skipped a beat. He threaded his fingers together and placed them on top of his head as if he'd just ran a marathon. He told himself to breathe, that everything would be fine, that meeting Zarn wasn't the main thing he'd thought of for months. Lying to himself didn't help.

Matty cackled, “Boss, I think you're more nervous than he is.”

“What's he like?” Benton couldn't help but ask.

“He's a precious and adorable small bean.” She cocked a hip and put her hand on it.

“You call me an adorable small bean.” Benton raised an eyebrow. He was two inches shorter than the six and a half foot tall woman, and she never let him live it down.

“Okay, he's a more adorable and precious smaller bean than you. I want to take him home, feed him homemade brownies, and let my girlfriend fawn all over him, he's that precious.” Her grin toned down into a beautiful smile.

He could tell that Zarn made a good impression if she was willing to introduce him to her girlfriend. She was lucky to have found the love of her life two years ago. They were so in love that Matty rarely wanted to let anyone else to take up their alone time.

“You realize that tells me nothing, right?” He groaned.

She shrugged, “the rest of the guys would kill me if I ruined the surprise. Now, are you going to sit here like a scaredy-cat all day, or are you going to go and meet your other half like the fearless leader I know you can be?”

“You're killin' me smalls.” He grumbled as he stood up.

She laughed as she walked out of his office and called back, “You know you love me.”

“That doesn't mean I have to like you right now though!” He replied.

Benton paced the length of the room as he tried to find the courage to head to the meeting room. What if Zarn hated him? What if he was so upset, he never spoke to Benton again. Or worse, what if there was no chemistry between the two and this crush he was feeling was all cerebral with nothing chemical to back it up? What if there was all that chemistry, but Zarn didn't like men? What was he even thinking, when the boy was going to be his employee?

He banged his head intentionally, on the door frame. He hit harder than he meant to though and momentarily saw stars. He rubbed at his forehead and muttered curse words under his breath.

Someone in the hallway slow clapped and he looked over to see who'd witnessed his decline into madness. It was Sven, his lead programmer. The man played a male, wolfman hunter named Underdog in FTO, though most of his buddies, called him Dog.

“Boss, I've seen you do a lot of stupid things... like that time you decided to scream Leroy as you ran into battle with the fae dragon, and that time you tried to fight with a yo-yo instead of a sword, oh and that time you drank seventy black magic pots on a dare. You should have never taken that dare, by the way, when your programmers dare you to do something in game, you know they're up to no good.” The bulky man ticked off the things on his fingers.

Each word was like a stake to his heart. Dog's right, Benton agreed, he did do a lot of stupid stuff.

“Anyways, I've seen you do a lot of stupid stuff, but this just takes the cake, dude.” Sven gave Benton a firm smack on the middle of his back, and continued, “Just go meet him, and stop tormenting yourself. You'll never be ready and it doesn't matter. Just get your butt over there and say hello.” Sven stepped back and crossed his arms.

“Does everyone know my business?” He asked as he stumbled forward at Dog's not so gentle pat.

“Was everyone at the emergency meeting?” Dog asked.

“Well, yes.” He admitted.

“There's your answer, now stop being an idiot and go!” Sven pointed down the hallway.

What was it with all of his employee's being so bossy? Wasn't he  supposed to be the boss? Then again, he could yell at them that they were all fired and each and every one of them would laugh and turn back to their work. He rubbed at his face, took a deep breath and headed down the hall.

He was in front of the meeting room before he'd had a chance to think. Benton would have turned around and ran back to his office, except Matty had left the door open, and Zarn was staring right at him with polite curiosity.

He was even more perfect than Benton had imagined. The little healer's hair was shaggy and a brown that was almost black. His eyes were green and shone with intelligence. He was thin, almost too thin, as if he didn't eat nearly enough, but he wasn't weak either. His build was slight but well defined. Benton knew this was because he'd been running on a track team for years.

He knew he was staring at Zarn, but he couldn't help it. He felt frozen on the spot and couldn't breathe. Zarn tilted his head, then stood up, a little crease between his eyes surfaced. The boy was just under six feet tall, which made him at least five inches shorter than Benton. Benton was wider in the shoulders and had to weigh a considerable amount more than the slight young man. He could probably bench press Zarn. As the face of the company, he tried to work out daily to cater to that image that the general public demanded.

“Is everything okay?” Zarn moved closer and Benton shook himself out of his daze.

“Yes, sorry. I was woolgathering, as Matty likes to put it.” Benton smiled at Zarn.

“Ah, would Matty be Tempest? She told me I was doing that earlier.” He laughed with a confidence that Benton wished he could match.

He nodded, “that would be her. I'm Benton Grey, the owner of SlideRuleGames, it's nice to meet you.” Benton held out his hand.

“I'm Tomas Logan, it's a pleasure. I've been a fan of SRG since Fantasy Tavern Online launched.” Zarn pronounced his first name as Toa-miss and Benton thought it made the name sound exotic.

Tomas clasped Benton's hand and gave it a couple of pumps before letting go. His hand shook slightly in Benton's grasp, and he realized that the boy wasn't as confident as he seemed. That made Benton feel better about how much his own hand shook.

“I'm going to go ahead and reassure you that you have a job with us, no matter how this interview goes. We had a meeting yesterday and by unanimous vote they all want you here. This is more a formality than anything. That and we have to decide whose department you end up in.” Benton swallowed and told himself to calm down, then motioned for Tomas to take a seat.

They both sat down, Tomas almost plopped in the chair, a shocked look on his face. “You voted to give me a job?”

“Yes, and everyone thought it was a great idea. A few of your friends yelled at me for not reaching out to give you a job months ago. It looks like you have a fan base in my company.” Benton didn't tell Tomas, that he was his number one fan.

The boy just sat there in stunned silence, and Benton worried he might have overdone things. “So, Sunshine tells me you're good at programming...” he said to break the silence, then internally berated himself. Apparently, he was a bigger idiot than Sven thought he was.