A Trip to the Office

Another short about Nick and Ren. This one gives some insight to their relationship.

Ren made a habit of appearing at the worst possible times. Knowing him, as Nick unfortunately did, this was almost assuredly on purpose.

 

Nick was just raising his coffee mug for another sip when Ren stepped through the window behind him, his body passing smoothly through the glass like a hand passes through water.

 

Nick caught sight of him from the corner of one eye and jumped so violently the mug flipped out of his hands and shattered on the floor. Smoking coffee painted the one leg of his jeans dark. Nick leaped out of his chair. “FuuuuuuuuuuuuUUUUUCK!” he snarled, his voice rising in pitch until it reached a level only dogs could pick up.

 

Ren flattened his ears. Outwardly, he was a fox, scarlet-furred and skinny. Looks deceived, however: his eyes were deep obsidian black, and they glittered with a delicate mix of human intelligence and animal cunning. “Nerves of steel,” he snickered, his voice part yip and all cheerful mockery. “Aren’t you glad to see me?”

 

Nick, bending to scoop up shards of broken coffee mug, paused to pass the fox on the windowsill a glare. “Oh, absolutely. Your visits totally never end in kidnapping or bodily harm.” He dropped the pieces in the wastebasket lurking under his desk. There was acid in his tone. “Get the hell out of my office.”

 

Ren tilted his head. “It’s really more a cubicle than anything, I’d say"”

 

“F**k you and your semantics. You are horrible and unwelcome and I want you to go away and leave me the hell alone.”

 

The fox feigned hurt. Nick had never been entirely sure how he could mimic so many human expressions with animal features, but then again, this was a creature who could make fire out of nothing and pass through glass like a ghost. On the third floor. At some point, one had to stop worrying about the little things.

 

“You’re always so rude,” Ren said. “It’s not my fault you have no sense of adventure!”

 

“I don’t think ‘sense of adventure’ is what you’re looking for here,” Nick replied dryly. “More like a ‘sense of masochism’. I’m sure you could find someone who would be happy to skip along to some psychotic alternate dimension where giant wasp-creatures ask you for directions to places you’ve never f*****g heard of and then try to eat you when you tell them that.”

 

“Oh, come on, you’re not still sore about that are you, he was just in a bad mood"”

 

“Bad mood my a*s, I don’t care how pissy you are, it’s still not f*****g okay to eat people.”

 

“Well, it’s pretty bad etiquette, I admit, but there’s no need to get all bent out of shape about it, skin grows back"”

 

“It’s the principle of the thing!” Nick snapped, making twitchy strangling motions with both hands. “He tried to eat me. I am not okay with that s**t. And this sort of thing invariably happens every time you drag me along on one of your little ‘adventures’. No th"what are you doing?” He broke off, taking a step backwards.

 

Ren hopped from windowsill to desk and padded towards him. “Nonsense, Nick, it’ll be fun!” he cried jovially. “Stop being such a grump!”

 

Nick took another step back, eyeing Ren warily. “Like hell it will,” he said.

 

Ren continued to advance and Nick continued to retreat until he almost fell across his chair. There was nowhere left to go. Of course he knew it would come to this: Ren always got his way, regardless of how fiercely Nick argued or threatened. Eventually, Nick would always be brought to bay, like a hunted animal. He was cornered. Rage and resignation fought for space in his head.

 

Ren reached out one tiny paw to touch Nick. In a flash of foxfire, the office, the window, and the city beyond vanished.