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Tuesday afternoon at Blahco. Two people, a man and a woman, share an office space. Marian's side of the office is a complete mess. Her desk is cluttered. Piles of papers are grouped into arrangements that only make sense to her. Dispersed throughout the paper piles are three coffee cups from separate days. On the wall behind her monitor are picutres of her and her friends. They are clumped together without any overall organization. Around her monitor are a few small action figures from her favorite animes. There is no space on her side of the office free from her mark, except for the ceiling. On the other side of the office is Robin. A person could mistake that there was even someone assigned to work at his desk. There are no papers, no pictures, and no other signs of life. There are only two things that Robin has that are truly his: a physical calander that he writes on with pen and a massive set of headphones. The headphones are either on their designated hook or on his head. 

Robin and Marian are also opposites when it comes to their appearance. Robin comes to work every day in the same clothes. Or so it seems, because he found a shirt and pants that he liked enough to buy multiple pairs to wear every day. He stands over 6 feet tall. He has dark brown eyes and black hair. He gets a haircut at the same couple of weeks. His dark brown eyes are gaurded, they never give away an indication of what he is thinking. His build is slight, because he is careful about what he eats and goes for a run every day. Robin's trademark at work is his big, over the ear headphones. He uses them instead of earbuds for even better noise cancellation.

Marian is 5 feet 5 inches. She has light brown hair that is constantly changing colors. Each new color change is a reflection of her mood. Her clothes are a balance between simple but also unique. Marian doesn't consider herself fashionable, but she does enjoy shopping with friends. Her light brown eyes light up with a big smile. Marian hasn't met a person that she couldn't befriend. Marian's face is round and cute, and her cheeks have always been extra squishy. She has never taken health and fitness seriously and would rather spend her free time with her friends going to new places.

The two share an office at Blahco. Their company is made up of contract engineers. Marian picked this job four years ago because she hoped she wouldn't get bored. She got hired by Kris and Jayce. Marian and Kris had been the only two females in their department until the recent hiring of Aurora. Marian and Kris are what you expect female engineers to look like. Robin has been at Blahco for a year. His engineering degree is for a different type of engieering, but he was desperate for a new job so that he could pay rent.

Robin begins to look out the office window into the hallway. Aurora, the newest hire at Blahco is walking to her office next door. Marian watches Robin as his eyes track Aurora's path down the hall. Aurora is an office goddess. She is tall, blonde, and has striking blue eyese. Every day that Aurora comes to work, it looks like she has stepped off a runway. Marian has no idea how she is an engineer. Marain caught Robin lookin at Aurora before. She can't figure out what is stopping him from asking Aurora out, because he is clearly interested in her. Perhaps Aurora has a boyfriend. That is the only reason Marian can come up with for why Robin would be waiting to talk to her.

Right as Marian is about to ask Robin, she is interrupted by the opening of their office door. In walks Kris, the supervisor for the department that Marian and Robin work in. Kris is skinny, fair, and has dark black hair that is cut very short. She is wearing a man's slacks and a light blue button-up shirt. Kris walks over to Marian's desk and asks Marian a question. "Marian, do you think you will have time to start this before the weekend?" With this Kris puts down a folder of papers. Its the new notebook for Marian to start.

Marian looks at Kris and smiles, "of course! I don't have much going on the next few nights so I can stay late if I need." Kris smiles at Marian, "Perfect. And what about you Robin?" Robin has been wearing his headphones the whole day. It's not until Kris starts to wave her hands in front of him that he finally looks and realizes Kris is in the room. He quickly takes off his headphones and puts them down next to his keyboard.

Robin: "Did you say something?"

Kris looks slightly annoyed. But she continues because this is typical Robin. "Jayce wants to know if you will have the report reviews finished by today?" Robin looks at his calendar and then starts nodding. "Yes, that is the deadline I agreed to." Kris responds, "Alright, and go through me if you have any questions." She knows that he never has questions. He is always right on time with deadlines and never one to ask for help. On the other hand, his office mate is a bit more needy. Robin looks at Kris and without smiling says, "Sure."

Kris gets ready to leave the office when she stops herself. Marian should be reminded that she hasn’t finished her project from yesterday yet. If Robin was always on time, you could count on Marian always be late. She usually turned things in a day or two later. With a story to make up for it. Kris stops herself before she leaves and turns back to Marian. "And Marian, remember to try and finish the last project before starting this new one. I don't want you getting the jobs mixed up."

Marian smiles at Kris. She knows exactly why she is saying this. It is a nice, work-appropriate way to remind her that she needs to finish her last notebook. "You got it, boss." For some reason, Kris starts to feel embarrassed about this comment. Marian can see the red rising in her cheeks and she gives Kris a thumbs-up to help her feel less awkward. It didn't work and instead, Kris walked out the door.

At this point, Marian is excited to take a bit of a break. Unfortunately, Kris, her work BFF seems to be busy. Since she is looking for any distraction she tries to engage her very private office mate, Robin. "Hey Robin, how long have you worked here now?"

Robin typically has his headphones on and doesn't engage in small talk unless it is his one friend, Graham. But Robin was raised by a single mom who expects her son to be polite. So he decides to answer Marian's question, "I will have been here for an entire year next Friday." Marian realizes that she has caught Robin in a good mood so she continues a little further. "We have been office mates for almost a year? That's wild. I can't believe how quickly that went by."

 Robin, having met his mother's expectations for polite conversation feels like this is as far as this conversation should go. He needs to get back to work. "Yes, it has gone by quickly." And with this, he begins to put his headphones back on. Marian stops him, "Before you get those headphones back on. How about we make plans to celebrate you being with Blahco for a year? Do you want to go out for food on Friday? It's my treat." With this Marian does her best to give Robin the biggest, sweetest eyes she can make. But Robin is unaffected by her overly sweet tone. He begins to look at his calendar. The calendar is empty for next Friday. Marian walks over and also looks at his calendar. Robin confirms it, "Yes, I don't have any other plans." Marian smirks at this because the only things Robin has on his calendar are deadlines.

Marian is excited that she found something that Robin agreed to do with her. He typically stays home anytime she asks him to join her and her friends. She gets that he is an engineer, but even compared to other engineers, Robin is very anti-social. "I will get some other coworkers together and we can all go out. Anyone you want to invite?" Robin speaks without much thought, "We could invite Graham from accounting." Graham from accounting is Robin's one friend at Blahco. Marian couldn't figure out how the two even became friends. Graham is the exact opposite of Robin. He is boisterous, addicted to working out, and dates anything with a pulse. Graham is always going out. Graham is not Marian's favorite coworker. He could be...a lot. She didn't want to be stuck with just the two of them.

Marian, "Anyone else?" She pauses, but Robin doesn't speak. So she decides to do Robin a solid, "What about Aurora?"I don't even know her." And before Marian can say anything else, he puts his headphones back on. Marian can't say anything else. Marian turns back to her computer and is about to start working again when her phone gets a text message. She looks at it and smiles. Next thing she knows she is off looking for the perfect meme in response to this message.

A few hours later, a man comes into the office doorway. It's Theo. Marian's physical trainer boyfriend. He comes almost every day to pick Marian up. He is always in workout clothes and never tries to talk to anyone but Marian. Robin looks at the clock. There are still five minutes until they are scheduled to leave. Marian catches sight of Theo, "Oh hey Theo, let me just grab my coat and backpack and I am ready to go." Theo walks up to Marian and takes her backpack from under her desk. Marian gets her coat off the back of her chair but doesn't put it on. It would take too long. The two of them quickly leave the office together.

Robin shakes his head. Marian always leaves before her scheduled time off. And didn't Marian say she would stay late to finish that notebook she was working on?  Figures. Robin looks at the clock. It's now officially the end of the day but he still needs a few more minutes to finish what he is working on. No one is ever waiting for Robin to get off work so he can stay late and finish his work whenever he wants. He is the perfect employee.