Kantō-senpai

inspired by this! yes it's from @/nekoboydreams

Sorry guys it's rushed, I'm going to be really busy this month that I won't have time to make art😭

A lion beast man with so much audacity it makes your stomach churn. You remember the day you’d finally gotten sick of it, the injustice the prejudice swarming your department, the way you stormed into your boss’ office without even bothering to knock. Kaiser had been there, splayed across the nearest plush armchair like he owned the whole company, and maybe he did. You’d never been so humiliated in your life, standing there watching the stars practically shimmer in your boss’ eyes as he let Kaiser dismiss every issue you brought up, all with a condescending smile that sent shivers down your spine.

A blinding, hot rage had surged through every bone in your body, vibrating directly into your blood until it radiated to the tips of your curved horns. It was so bad that day, your colleagues had to bring you out of the building before you could calm down, breathing so hard it felt like your lungs were trying to jump out of your chest.

You never had a moment of peace after that, at least not that you remember. The immediate backlash you’d gotten from most of the predators on your floor was expected, with their small circles and even smaller mindsets, you speaking up was the worst thing you could do for your work life.

That much you could deal with; Whispered taunts behind clawed hands, the snickering, pranks small enough to chip at your psyche but not enough for you to report. Those were easy for you to get through, you had a thicker skull than a lot of your meeker co-workers.

It was Kaiser’s reaction you couldn’t stand to watch.

You started seeing him everywhere; Taking up space in the department’s kitchen when you’d only ever heard rumours about him having his own private room, milling about hallways and rooms you’d never seen him even use before, carrying the weight of everyone’s attention, a weight you could tell he liked having on him. He managed to weasel his way into your work too.

Where you’d expect the predators to stick to their own cliques and higher end deals, he always insisted on taking up leftover tasks that you would’ve usually picked, projects you all knew would take him less than a few seconds to complete, gathering you all like mindless sheep just to show you how good he was at his job. You struggled to catch up with him in ways that were obvious to your boss, most of the time you spent in his office was for “constructive criticism” while Kaiser got all the praise. It brought up a lot of that old rage in you, your vision almost turning a blinding red the second you heard his name.

A big part of you always feels that anger simmering under your skin, waiting to jump out and burn everyone within reach; You feel it every time you spot Kaiser and his boot-licking posse from across the office floor. You feel the rage when you manage to make eye contact, just to watch his face spread into a slow, smug smile. You feel it in silent times like this, sitting idly in the company boardroom, separated by “predator” and “prey”, listening to your colleague drone on about the department’s annual metrics.

For some reason, you can’t seem to focus on anything.

The white LED lights you’d gotten accustomed to over the years suddenly seem too bright, the sound of your colleague's pen scratching across his notepad grating your ears in a way that makes them twitch violently, the temptation to fold them against your head rapidly taking over. Your co-worker’s monotone voice fades into a dull hum, the sound of your hands trembling in their home on your lap somehow taking over your senses.

Your mind starts to wander, when did you start feeling this jumpy? Was it when your boss pulled you aside earlier today? For what you counted as the fourth time this week.

…

You were surprised when you first stepped into the familiar linoleum space, your shoes scuffing into the worn carpet as you stopped dead at the centre of the room. Unlike the last few times, you weren’t being called in for a scolding, quite the opposite actually. The menacing smile on your manager’s face told you everything you needed to know. He’d started off nice, calm, speaking softly in a way you’d expect someone to before dropping life shattering news. And that he did.

“I need you to pass over the seaside project to Michael.”

“…What?”

You watch his face scrunch up, canines barely peeking through the lips now raised to the side of his face. Your body betrays you, the slight tremor in your legs not from the steadily decreasing temperature in the room. Either from the fear of giving up completely, or out of habit, you don’t let this despair show on your face. You’d picked up that project almost two years ago, gotten so used to dealing with it that all the specifics still flow freely in your mind.

It was a collaboration, between your workplace and a local architectural firm, the whole point was to build more homes for non hunter ocean animals, protect them just as much as the government protected the more “important” ones. The Seaside Project was meant to be a chance to make something huge, turn your opinions into something that actually helped people. Even with the time that had passed, you were still in the first few successes of this project. You’d only managed to complete a few blocks at most.

“Sir I-”

“I know, I know..” Your boss runs a tired hand down his face, as if he’s the one being replaced. Like this wasn’t his choice. “You’ve been with this project for a while, but don’t you think you’re being a bit slow? I’d feel better knowing it was with someone more… capable. He’ll enough progress in due time.”

The words catch in your throat, dying down just as quickly as you had wanted to spew them out. A small part of you always feared the possibility of this project being taken away from you; You’d seen it happen to your friends numerous times, useless, low profit projects that had already been cast aside as leftovers stolen again by the same animals who threw them away in the first place. Time had made you complacent, if anyone truly wanted to take this from you, they would’ve done it in the first few months. This was just cruel.

“You don’t have to hand it over completely, I’m sure we can figure something out.”

Your head whips around before you can think about it, the new tension in the air now locking your limbs in place. Sharp unblinking blue eyes, dark black pupils zeroing in on your face, thin whiskers hanging over a wide snout, already spread into an infuriating smirk. Kaiser was the only one who could wander into your boss’ office without permission.

Whatever ecstatic greeting your boss let’s out fades into a nauseating whine, your nose twitching instinctively as you stare up into Kaiser’s face, watching the smile on his face tick the longer you look. Your frantic thoughts cease the second you hear your name, it comes out as a low growl that forces you to turn back to your manager’s disappointed expression.

“It’s sorted then. Both of you will work together on this project.” He forces out with a dangerous glint in his eyes, one that speaks straight to you from all the way behind his mahogany desk.

Don’t fuck this up for yourself.

You’d stormed out of his office the minute you were dismissed because that was all you could do, a sinking tiredness sucking all the energy off your bones before you could even get to feel that familiar burning anger.

…

The office floor buzzes with it’s usual intensity as you trudge out of the meeting room, your head spinning with a sudden headache that only makes your mood worse. You stumble all the way back to your desk, falling into the desk chair with an exaggerated tiredness that your nearby colleagues only dignify with concerned glances. Your body locks itself in that position for what feels like hours until a deafening commotion forces your head upwards.

It’s not hard to find the source of the noise, a group of several hunters gathered towards the end of the office floor, a lot of them screaming and laughing at decibels no normal beastman could work at. Then your eyes zero in on the man standing right in the middle; That light blonde hair, sharp blue eyes, sandy beige fur. He’s already staring at you when you look up, an expression you can’t place hovering over his features.

The barely settled irritation still thrumming under your fur pushes too much energy into your legs, forcing you out of your chair as the sound of your shoes against the floor seems to echo in your head. You reach his group in five massive strides, plunging a sharp finger into Kaiser’s chest the second you’re close enough.

“I’m not handing this project over to you just because the boss said so, I expect you to stand back and let me do my job.”

Your legs power you away from the scene before any one of them can respond, a sudden lightness emanating from your chest the longer you keep walking. The outburst had happened before you could think about it, but you still meant it; This project had been yours for as long as you could remember, it wasn’t leaving your grasp anytime soon.

The sun is barely peaking through the high-rise windows of the sleek building before you’re in the office, the warm gold light drifting slowly across the reception, elongating your shadow before it’s cut off by the metal elevator doors. Each floor the machine passes feels like it’s strengthening your resolve, the balls of your shoulders rolling in their sockets as your fingers dig into the fabric of your work bag.

Your shoes meet the carpet covering your department floor in a steady rhythm, sending a gentle click-clack through the wide, empty space. The time on your phone reflects into your expectant gaze, 7:30am just like you’d planned, you had a lot to do today. Even though you would get in trouble for it, you had no intentions of letting Kaiser “help out” with your own project.

You wouldn’t even let him get the chance.

That’s why you were in the office early enough to make any of your colleagues groan, so early that the only person you’d seen on your way up had been a tired looking mouse beastman that you’re certain wanted to chase you back home with his broom. Your laptop is fully set up on your desk in less than a minute, every report, ledger, pitch you’d slaved over for the seaside project already open from the work you’d started last night, annoyance swirling deep in your gut until you’d finally poured it into your work.

As much as your boss would disagree, you didn’t gain anything from trying to get along with Kaiser for the sake of this project. It would be a waste of time; You suck up to him for a few days, he returns the favour by overriding most of your opinions, claiming the credit for whatever good ideas you had, all while leaving all of the work to you.

Years of experience working with hunters had already steeled your heart, letting them walk all over you during your earlier years before you finally did something. There was no doubt in your mind Kaiser would do the same.

With each minute that passes, your hands fly over the keyboard faster and faster, the tips of your fingers blurring into an efficient state that peeked out from your peripheral vision, adding to the already high word count of your document. It was slowly reaching thirty pages, each metric longer than the last; All of your reports were always near-perfect, but you needed this one to be stunning. If you wanted your company’s architectural partner to sign off on the renewed contract by the end of today, then no mistakes were allowed even near your desk.

The sound of your fingers frantically tapping each key takes over the atmosphere in the department, but that doesn’t mean you can’t pinpoint the sounds of your co-workers shuffling into the building, their weariness obvious to you without you needing to turn around. The nicer ones stop to greet you, your curt responses only making them laugh, already used to your behaviour.

The more useless office workers storm into the space with a volume that nearly shatters your self-control, already playing around with their equally useless friends like the office was their clubroom.

A brief vision snakes itself into your mind; One where you stand on your light wooden desk, hurling insults and miscellaneous items at the hunters in the room until it whipped them into shape, their furry heads and curled tails bowing neatly as they finally did proper work for the first time in their lives. The dream is gone before you know it, the words on your screen fading back into focus as your gaze narrows carefully, your fingers hovering over your laptop keys for just a second before you’re back to work. The need to take your project back greater than your irritation.

…

It’s been another two hours of your perfect workflow before something pulls you away from the world of spreadsheets and bar charts. It’s a sensation, a burning one that directs itself onto the back of your neck, almost crawling it’s way down your back until it flicks upwards. The feeling barely counts as anything, a second long lingering gaze in an ocean of glares constantly directed at you, but it feels like you’re being splayed open, body left gaping for a pair of curious hands to dig inwards.

You let a shiver run down your spine, the bone curving into the slight safety of your screen like a sunflower in the wind, a momentary weakness settling in to cut out of your determined efficiency. But you only allow it for a second before you’re running a careful hand over your neatly styled hair, sending the hefty document over e-mail with your other hand.

The ache in your legs nearly trips you, the fur coating the back of your legs slicked down with how long you’ve been sitting. The co-workers closest to you look up as you move, their soft smiles and genuine questions settling the lingering anxiety that had been rising in your gut better than any more work would have. You return their waves briefly, the path to your department’s break room mapped out in your head as your legs carry you.

Unfortunately, it seems like you came at the worst time possible.

The break room is even noisier than your cubicle had been, a bull beast man with horns as high as his volume is the first thing you hear the second the door is open. He’s surrounded by other hunters, just as loud and disruptive, seemingly turning their attention to one man sitting right in the middle of the crowd. You can only describe the look on Kaiser’s face as, bored, a deep boredom that clearly worries the surrounding beastmen, their jokes and taunts rising in volume like they were failing jesters trying to entertain an impatient king.

Your ears flick down to the sides of your head, still adjusting to the cacophony of noise you just stepped into, but it doesn’t beat the probing gaze that locks onto your form, following you to the barely working coffee machines closer to the end of the room.

The machine keeps you there for longer than necessary, each slow drip of dark brown liquid pressing down on your nerves as if to taunt you. Kaiser’s clique and whatever foolish conversation they were having is a lot quieter now, with some of their brazen sentences intercepted by hushed whispers that still included your name.

Most of your focus was trained on keeping the slight tremble in your limbs mostly unnoticeable; It was more than work related gripes that kept you away from most hunters, how weak they always made you feel weighed heavy on your mind.

“You know, if you need help, you should just ask.”

A furred, light beige hand reaches over your form, pressing a combination of buttons that somehow makes the coffee drip faster, quickly filling the cup in seconds when it had previously taken minutes to get the machine to fill up halfway. The voice alone makes your limbs lock up painfully, the smirk that crawls into your vision sending a blinding disgust from your calves up to the tips of your ears.

Kaiser leaves his arm hanging a few inches from your body, leaning over you with a look that seems too knowing for your liking. You watch him tilt his head to the side, light hair cascading over the condescending confusion that has replaced his previous smug smile.

“How’s the project going?”

Your fingers find the handle of the mug, pressing every ounce of irritation into the hardened glass as you present what you hope is a professional smile, quickly hiding the sneer that replaces it soon after with the rim of your coffee cup.

“I have things under control, thank you. Feel free to stay here with your.. friends.”

A cursory glance at the rest of the group is all you give them before you’re back out the door, silently savouring the sour looks they gave you as you left. The time sprawled across your watch only worsens your mood, a whole ten minutes earned you a less than disappointing cup of coffee and an unwanted interaction that you could’ve easily avoided. Your inbox is just as empty as when you’d left it, the e-mails pushed off to the side all greyed out, taken care of long ago with no updates in sight.

A slight frown makes its way across your features, folding your face inwards as your company phone weighs heavy in your hand, the cold plastic forcing your fur to tremble as the architecture firm’s company number comes to you as quickly as your own phone number. You let the call play out, the mechanical voice asking you to hold soon switched out by what sounds like a non-hunter. It’s not hard to tell that the receptionist is new, the frantic shuffling of what you assume are her work documents taking over her already, soft, nervous tone. She fumbles around a little more, apologising at least two more times before handing your call over to her boss.

The voice that answers several rings later is a lot rougher than the other lady. It’s a deep, baritone that drawls at the end of each sentence, a tone you’d expect from the kind of bosses’ that don’t do anything but still expect the work to fall into their lap. But that’s not what gets you at first.

You’ve been through so many phone calls and meetings that it’s now incredibly easy to figure out if the person you’re speaking to is a hunter or non-hunter, you learnt a long time ago that skill was needed when doing business with the two categories depended on how you spoke to them. In some cases, pin pointing the type of beastman came to you easily as well. The one you were speaking to was very clearly a hunter, most likely a tiger beastman from the deep rumble in his words.

This was not the same person you’d worked with last time.

The tiger’s impatient tone snaps you back to attention, your back straightening a little more with every silent second before you speak.

“Hi, yes my apologies. I’m calling from München Inc., I’d like to discuss the future of our collaboration on The Seasi-”

A sharp laughter immediately cuts you off, it starts out as a short sound before it turns into a deep fitful laugh that would’ve made your face burn hot if you were still an immature intern. You let the man laugh a little longer, silently hoping he’ll laugh himself into an early grave, a huff of disappointment escaping your snout the moment he starts to wind down.

“Look, kid I don’t have time for this. Are you being serious?”

“Yes sir, I-”

“Yeah, you can’t blame me for not believing that, can ya?” A moment of silence passes over the phone, the short breaths coming through the receiver leading you to believe he’s smoking, you can almost feel the smog blowing in your face as he pipes up again.

“I mean, what kinda hybrid even are ya?”

“I don’t believe that’s an appropriate question to ask.”

He barks out another laugh, letting a small cough slip into his slice of joy, his disbelief dripping off every word feeding into the humiliation wafting around your cubicle.

“See? That tells me all I need ‘ta know, only a green-toothed hybrid would react like that. And how am I ‘posed to do business with a meek little thing like you?”

He takes another drag of whatever the hell he’s smoking, a deep sigh floating into your ear from the receiver, almost like you’re the one being difficult. You can hear him lean forward, the shuffling of his clothes suddenly to sharp for your ears.

“Listen, I’ll do you a favour. Get me on the phone with yer’ boss next time, a real carnivore I can talk to properly, ya hear? Then we can talk business.”

The call hangs before you can say anything else, the professional insults you were about to spew straight into his tiny brain fizzling into a bitter ash that now coats your tongue, spreading under your fur like a slow-acting poison. You feel your hand slam the phone back into it’s place, a motion that feels so detached from your actual body.

The prejudice stopped shocking you years ago, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t affect you, as much as you tried to pretend it didn’t.

Your laptop slips back into your bag no problem, each file, document and seal slipping in just as easy, as if they knew if anything even shifted wrong, you would end up flying into a rage. The office fades into a quick paced blur, your colleagues concerned faces, along with a particularly infuriating gaze flying right off you as you head downstairs, the sound of your shoes rapidly slapping the marble tile of your office lobby resonating in your head.

You’re out on the street before you know it, the sun’s harsh glow doing nothing to slow you down. It may have been months since you’d visited that firm, but it’s location was still burned into your brain, catalogued into the same place as all the information on the seaside project that you’d acquired over the years.

The concrete is unforgiving on your feet; A whole thirty minute walk condensed into fifteen minutes simply because of the pure, unadulterated resentment that’s settled deep under your fur.

That tiger clearly didn’t know who you were; How much trouble you had to get in to get where you are, how much of your credibility you had to sacrifice to speak up, how many predators you’ve fought through to get here. You would show him even if it meant risking jail time.

You’re certain you look less than polished, your hair must be all over the place, your clothes wrinkled out of their usual composed elegance as you slam your bag down on the receptionist’s desk, scaring the poor rabbit out of her mind. She listens to you talk in what you hope is a level tone for about five minutes, looking carefully at every document you coldly slam onto the desk as well, before shaking her head, fear still hanging off every inch of her face. Through your own continued tirade, you can hear her telling you over and over, pushing out each word as both of you battle for who can talk the longest.

According to her, you need an appointment before you come in, a policy that didn’t exist for you the last time you came here.

“Excuse my partner here, we do have an appointment.”

Your composure loses the battle immediately, your head snapping around to meet the grin Kaiser’s currently directing at the receptionist, the booking visible on his phone even from where you’re standing. The rabbit beastman smiles back at him, all the fear she’d shown you now melted off completely as she types something into her system, handing Kaiser a slip of paper.

“Right this way sir, the boss is expecting you..”

He doesn’t follow her immediately, smoothly putting away his phone before he’s staring back at you, a hand stretched out slightly as though he just decided to act like a gentleman. The scowl on your face clearly only makes him even more smug, the sound of his shoes forming a leisurely stroll that contrasts the aggravated pace you’ve set, his posture the image of a confident relaxation that makes you want to strangle him.

The firm is nothing like you remember.

You’ve been sitting in what looks more like a host club rather than actual company, the deep red carpet spread across the floor of the waiting room not even close to matching the light beige colour scheme you’d noticed in the main lobby. Your clothes wrinkle against the cheap fabric of the couch under you, drawing an annoyed frown out of you before you’re back to looking around, trying to find even a pinprick of familiarity. You can’t align the company’s old memory with what you’re seeing now.

“The department you’ve been speaking to switched out managers a few months ago.” Kaiser stares down at you from the couch on the other half of the hallway, repeating himself when you snap back to reality.

“The new manager probably doesn’t like you already, that’s why you struggled to get in.”

It clicks in your head the moment he mentions it; embarrassment mixing in with a stinging ache that creates this muddled sensation settled in your lower abdomen. How had it taken you so long to connect the dots? Maybe it was delusion, or a pure, naive hope that didn’t let you think properly. You knew how the workplace treated non-hunters, you knew all too well how they were rewarded for their hard work, but you’d hoped the ten years the old boss had given this firm would’ve saved him from the inevitable.

The old boss treated you like you were his own flesh and blood; Always insisted on calls instead of e-mails, taking the time out of each one just to ask how you were doing. He loved it even more when you visited his office, it meant he got to bring out all of his traditional tea pots and strainers, brewing you a steaming cup with a gentleness that usually stopped you from bringing up your upcoming deadlines.

His soft, rounded rabbit features were always bent into a fatherly smile just for you, coming back to report your data and updates had always been the best part of this project. The thought of that tiger beastman ruining the office you basically considered a second home sent a wave of nausea coursing through your bones.

“You’re bold for trying to waltz in like that. What happened to not needing my help?”

Kaiser’s voice is starting to grate on your nerves, your gaze snapping up to the usual smirk on his face before it finds itself on the documents still tightly clenched in your hands, strolling over each word in a shoddy effort to calm yourself down. It was even more humiliating how right he was.

Your entire interaction at the front desk could have been more professional, shame creeping up from the neckline of your now rumpled clothes. You’d gotten too used to walking into this company like you owned it, the loss of your slight privilege enough to apparently turn you insane. It was times like this you truly needed a break from your workplace.

Whatever retort you had sticks itself to the inside of your throat as the receptionist walks up to you both, pointing towards a worn out door a few feet behind her, claiming the boss was ready for you now. You didn’t have to look at your watch to know too much time had passed since the appointment time Kaiser had set up, the continued unprofessional behaviour pissing you off even more. Kaiser gets up before you can get your papers in order, holding the door open with barely restrained boredom before he trails in another you.

It was expected, but that doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to be shocked at the state of the office itself. It sends such an intense wave of disgust through your body, you’re surprised you don’t throw up right into the already filthy carpet.

Anything that would’ve even slightly reminded you of the old manager is gone, replaced with gaudy, ill-fitting pieces of furniture that barely match with each other. The room is bathed in a light grey haze, the windows shut against the smoke curling from the boss’ cigarette.

You were right, the new boss is a tiger beastman. Pure white fur conflicting horribly with the bright patterned shirt he has on, navy blue jacket hastily thrown into the outfit. He looks more like a delinquent than anything, the temptation to leave immediately taking control over your body. It takes Kaiser coughing into his hand a few times to realise you’ve just been standing there, with both of them staring like you’ve grown another set of horns. But there’s barely any point in sitting down when the second you do, the tiger quickly swivels to your left, spewing all sorts of baseless questions at Kaiser with the same predatory smile you’ve seen on your own boss numerous times.

The silence both of you give him isn’t even enough to deter him, his wide maw only letting out a boisterous laugh in return.

“What? Did I scare both of ya?” You watch him lean back onto his own couch, draping an arm over the back of it, taking in another puff of smoke, much to your dismay. “You can keep yer’ secrets, long as this deal makes me look good, I could care less!”

The temperature in the room drops several degrees, every inch of fur covering your arms now very aware of the malicious intent now emanating from the man beside you in waves.

“Then why are you wasting my time here?”

You refuse to look over at him, but the look on Kaiser’s face must have been so icy, it practically forces the cigarette to fall from the tiger’s mouth, his limbs locking up under the frigid pressure.

“There are several other, more than capable companies we could’ve chosen for this project. We stuck with yours because of..” His deep blue eyes flick to yours, staring daggers into the side of your head. “..previous relations. I’d suggest you don’t throw that trust away. I don’t work with imbeciles.”

Kaiser is clearly unaffected by the ripple of his own words, slinging an arm over the back of your shared chair, too close to your shoulder for comfort, crossing one leg over the other like this conversation was anything but hostile.

“Now if you are ready to take this seriously, direct any of your questions to my colleague here and we’ll be on our way.”

A heavy silence hangs itself at the end of his sentence, hovering over all three of you like a vengeful ghost, the only thing you can hear being the roaring laughter emanating from your mind, pure glee attempting to lift the corners of your lips. The tiger looks like a scolded child, head slightly hung, his arrogant, open legged posture now switched out for a more polite one, sweat coating the fur sticking to his forehead.

It feels like it’s been hours before he finally makes a move, letting out an awkward cough into the palm of his paw, turning his body towards you for the first time since you walked in.

“So.. d’ya have anything to show me?”

You fall into position before he’s even finished speaking, spreading all the documents you’d managed to rearrange during Kaiser’s rude monologue onto the worn table in front of both of you, going over each data set with a steady finger, your gaze flicking upwards every second to make sure he’s following along.

It’s amazing how long he manages to shut up for, all the bravado you’d been subjected to over the phone is long gone.

He still pipes up with a few comments; Quips about how he didn’t expect you to be “so smart”, jokes on how different you were from other prey hybrids he’d met. You never got the chance to defend yourself before a quick side glance from Kaiser would set the guy straight.

That was another thing you couldn’t hide your shock for. You had no doubt he was doing this for his own reasons, most likely irritation at how much this was taking out of his day, but it made you relax, even slightly. You didn’t have to wrack your brain for retorts when you apparently had your very own knight.

Either way, with his help the meeting goes a lot smoother than you would’ve expected when you first walked in. It doesn’t look like the boss understands completely what you have planned for this part of the project, but he signs the contract anyway, sending one last nervous smile in Kaiser’s direction, one that he responds to with an unimpressed frown so deep it keeps the tiger tensed up in his seat until both of you pack up and leave.

…

The walk back to your office is a lot nicer when you’re not letting outrage pound itself into every step, the contract warming something in your expression even through the layers of folders. Kaiser trails behind you, his gaze flicking on and off your shoulder like he’s trying to pretend he’s not staring at you. You have an idea what he wants; The look you saw on him outside the firm waiting for an ecstatic ‘thank you’ that didn’t come. You’d gotten a good glimpse of the offended frown that passed over his face before you’d started walking.

“I can’t believe that idiot almost wasted my whole day.”

His attempt at conversation quickly flies over your head, almost makes you laugh as you try not to turn around just to see the expression he’s making. A small part of you had actually wanted to thank him, your habit of professional politeness nearly taking over your pride by just an inch. You’d changed your mind of course, this small bit of compassion didn’t override his past crimes, no matter how much respect it had aroused from you.

“Why are you still working with him? He must think you’re even more stupid than he could’ve imagined, he insults you and still manages to swindle a contract out of you”

The high-rise windows of your office building start coming into view, relief flowing all the way up to the tips of your horns, breathing out a small sigh you hope Kaiser doesn’t count as your reaction to his words. You’re barely even thinking about that, tuning out his complaints the same way you did to that tiger beastman on the phone, already planning out what you had to get sorted as you press the button for the ground floor elevator.

“I’m constantly working with predators that think I’m stupid, weak, useless. But I still get my work done, don’t I? I’m not going to risk my credibility as a worker because my pride has been hurt.” You’re facing him now, using what little you have of your body to block him from entering.

“Some of us don’t have that luxury.”

Your finger has already found the button for your floor, jamming into it with all the strength you’d used to walk to that firm and back, your legs now aching under the pressure of knowing reprieve was in sight.

The smile on your face snaps tight into shards that cut the atmosphere into tense pieces, not twitching in the slightest as the doors close. For a second, you thought you saw a flicker of shock mixed in with the previous annoyance from earlier on Kaiser’s face, but that’s none of your concern.

Not when the stupid look on his face is the only thing you’ve memorised from your conversation, the sight enough to finally quell the level of upset you’d dragged in from that firm.

It’s not surprising that the harsh words of another predator would set the tiger beastman straight, but it still astounds you just how much he’s been affected.

The boss has been on his best behaviour for a few days now; Sending you update emails and reports without you asking first, going over important details with a seriousness that you honestly didn’t expect.

A lot of his new behaviour also stems from his assistant, the little rabbit receptionist you’d accidentally taken your anger out on that day. She was just as on top of things, working so much faster than you wished you had when you were her age.

You dig the soles of your shoes into the plush carpet under you, swinging your seat side to side as you stare into the pixels of your laptop, the most recent e-mail from that assistant bringing a genuine smile to your face. It started out with a detailed report of where they were progress-wise, but it’s the pictures that get to you first.

The attachments contain rows of materials, laying right next to what you can tell is the ground work for the next set of homes. It’s been so long since you’ve seen things like this, progress that actually mattered towards the completion of this project. It makes you feel fulfilled again, in a way that none of your other projects ever could.

Your mouse clicks around a few times, sending the most positive sounding e-mail you can musters back to the architecture firm, while another set of clicks forwards a copy of the mail you got to Kaiser; No notes, no plans to discuss anything, no meeting allocations.

A part of you still despised yourself for not planning properly, for giving him the opportunity to butt into your business at the firm and making you look like the less organised one. If he wanted to involve himself so badly, he could head back to the firm and talk to people himself.

Speaking of Kaiser, it’s beginning to irritate you how much you see him around the department floor, your previous piece of respect dulled back down into shallow annoyance you were used to with him.

You’ve done your part of limiting your contact with him to forwarding him every e-mail you received, but he doesn’t seem satisfied with that. Every time he walks into the main office, or one of the branching hallways, his eyes would find yours immediately, marching his way towards you as your legs would then pump enough strength to power you away before he would even speak to you. You’d been doing that everyday for the past few days and you could tell it pissed him off just as much as it did you.

If it wasn’t interfering with your work, it would almost be funny. The fact that he hasn’t gone off to to report you to your boss is another surprising factor.

…

Of course today is another one of those days, but he’s being especially persistent. You barely get a few minutes to sit at your desk before he’s back again, glaring so hard it freezes the bones of the other non-hunters around you. Your little cat and mouse chase doesn’t last long, with Kaiser’s fingers winding their way around your wrist, digging in so tight you’re sure if he released you, the fur in that area would be slicked down completely.

He drags you into a nearby meeting room, still panting from the chase you’d put him through, pushing a hand through his hair the second he’s comfortable. Your gaze burrows into his hand on your arm, twisting the limb a few times before you give up, realising he’d learnt a lesson that meant he wouldn’t let go.

“Why the fuck are you so hard to catch?”

Your shrug your shoulders, relaxing the arm that’s still caught in his grasp, your back finding the wall a few inches behind you, leaning into the most comfortable position you can manage.

“Instinct.” He doesn’t even crack a smile, staring into your eyes like you personally offended him. “What do you want?”

Kaiser lets out another sigh, the third one in five seconds, looking into the space beside your head before he’s back to gazing at you. You quirk a tired eyebrow at him, already regretting not moving fast enough this time.

“We should add another company to our collaborators. With the way we’re going, we’ll be at this for another two years. I don’t have that patience.”

You swallow the offence rising rapidly in your throat, dedicating several bits of energy to not letting a thick vein pop out on your forehead. The audacity to suggest a decision that would usually take months of thinking and mapping out isn’t lost on you, especially since he’s doing it in the darkness of some dingy meeting room like you’re having an affair. You grit your teeth into a grating smile, steeling your arm so hard you’re worried for a second your bones might break.

“Oh I didn’t know you had such bold ideas, do you have a firm in mind or do I also have to do that part?”

You watch the way his jaw ticks, the lighter blue of his irises darkening slightly as you stare back with the same intensity.

“I know a few people at Apex, they’re the best out of all the options I’ve looked through. I can get us a briefing in a few days. ”

The name drops like a stone in your stomach, sending a tremor that cascades down your limbs in a slow, painful wave. The fire in your eyes extinguishes itself almost immediately, so quickly even Kaiser notices it, raising an eyebrow in a genuine confusion that pushes down that misery to make way for burning anger.

Apex Limited.

Most people knew them because they were one of the giants in the construction industry, constantly bringing in a number of clients and profits that the firm you were already collaborating with would never see in their entire lifetime. You knew them for entirely different reasons.

It was years ago, at least that’s the excuse you heard from most people, but the memory still burnt fresh in your mind. Apex were going through what they claimed were tough budget cuts at the time, so bad that when things came to a head, their management decided to fire almost three thousand of their non-hunter employees without severance or an explanation, without touching a hair on any predator employee’s head.

Your friend was one of those employees, you had to watch her have the position she’d fought through several interviews for, the ideas she’d had rejected and refined over and over again, handed over to someone else just because she wasn’t born with the “natural instinct” Apex claimed it’s predator employees possessed. Regardless of the time passed, Apex’s existence alone stood against everything the seaside project aimed to accomplish.

Collaborating with them would go against the core aims of this, as well as your morals as a non-hunter beastman specifically.

“Are you insane?!” Maybe it’s pure rage, but you manage to break your arm out of Kaiser’s hold in one swift movement, clenching it at your side so tight you can hear your fingers crack.

“Why would we work with Apex when everyone knows how much they hate the same hybrids we’re trying to help? Do you want my hard work to fall apart?!”

Kaiser drags a tired hand down his face like you’re the one being unreasonable, folding his arms in front of his chest in an action that’s meant to make you back down, or maybe that’s the anger speaking to you, picking every little thing apart just so you can fight.

“Can you calm down? That incident was years ago, they have just as many prey beastmen as they do predators. What happened to not letting pride get in the way of business?”

“Don’t you dare.” You’re in his face now, jabbing a sharp finger into Kaiser’s chest with all the energy you can muster, the mix of emotions almost making your head swim.

“Whether or not that incident matters is not up to you because you’ll never know what it’s like to lose your job, your dignity, your life just because something as small as your species matters even more to someone else.” You turn towards the room door, your hand digging into the cold metal doorknob, letting it ground you for just a moment.

“Apex is off the table.. I never want to hear about this agai-”

“I’ve already told the boss.” Kaiser watches the utter shock on your face with an almost careful resignation, taking the time to adjust the sleeves of his shirt just so he won’t see that shock turn into betrayal. “He agrees with me. We’re making contact with them soon.”

For a long time, both of you stand there, completely silent, the only sound being the slow tick of the room’s clock. Each tick feels like it rings painfully in your ears, the sweat that had been rolling down your back before coming back full force. How many times were they going to do this? Change the smaller pieces of this project until it turned into something you didn’t even want anymore. Maybe that was the plan. For Kaiser to override your decisions until it was his completely. Clearly, asking the boss to share this project with you was a ruse; You hadn’t even let your guard down and he still emerged victorious.

The thought makes you sick, a harrowing sickness that feels like it’s carving bits out of your sanity the longer you stay there. Kaiser doesn’t make any moves to stop you from leaving, and you almost want to hit yourself for even thinking for a second that he would.

The office floor is completely silent, a soft wind floating in from the open windows, shuffling stray documents and carding through your hair in a motion that keeps you calm. The sun had sunk below the horizon a long time ago, the radiant white ball faded to give way to the light crescent that now hangs high in the sky.

You cast a careful gaze out the nearest window, watching life pass you by on the streets below. The neon city lights glittering even from how far down they are, casting a multi-coloured sheen onto your cubicle and the surrounding desks.

This is the fifth time this week you’ve had to work overtime, the pads of your fingers are starting to feel concave with how much you’ve been typing at your computer. Your boss had done a great job of making the project sound like the biggest thing since sliced bread to the Apex board members, such an amazing job that they wanted all your progress pressed into a neat little pitch for them to either reject or sign up for.

And you only had a week left.

Your boss had pulled you aside the day after it was confirmed, hissing out a careful warning with such restraint he almost popped a blood vessel. Kaiser had already told him how you acted after he broke the news, and even without that you were already on thin ice with this project. Any other screw ups and you would be out without so much as an explanation.

All the back to back work is starting to wear you thin; You had to update and put together all your graphs, take as many good metrics as you could find from your reports over the years and inflate them until they looked unreal. You and Kaiser spent a whole afternoon arguing about how adding in images of the homes and beastmen you’d already helped would look, with him claiming that the pitch needed to be objective, and you countering that the core of the project itself was charity work, you couldn’t take an objective stance on that.

Kaiser really wasn’t helping with the fray of your mental state, especially since he seems to think him bringing in Apex meant he could take more of the project from you. You’re still beyond pissed at him for that, for coming up with the idea in the first place down to him choosing to go forward with it without talking to you, or even e-mailing you first. And you made that irritation known.

If you had a cent for every time you snapped at him over something simple this past week, you would have enough to buy yourself a grocery store meal. But you would also have another handful of coins for every time Kaiser remained calm in response, still going back and forth with you but with the tone of a tired parent trying to correct a child.

Even now, he’s completely still; thin, rounded frames sat neatly right above his nose, crisp, dark blue shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows, hair tied up into a half up half down that almost makes him look like a teenager.

He’s been sitting at your desk since people started filing out of the office at six, barely speaking as he opened your shared presentation, his cursor flicking around on your own screen, heading off to the section you’d designated to him. You can feel his gaze lift up to meet you just as you turn your head, a questioning tiredness radiating off him in waves.

“Change the chart on slide 9, we need a more recent one.” You meet his gaze a second later, letting a slight sneer cross your features. “Or do you need to tell the boss first before you do that too?”

His hands still on the keyboard below them, his eyes narrowing under the weight of your sarcastic jab. You watch him take off his glasses, pinching the bridge of his snout with two fingers before he’s back to looking at you.

“What did I do now?”

“Don’t make me spell it out for you, I don’t have the time for that.”

You’re staring back at your laptop before he can respond, letting the sound of your typing take over the whole floor, drowning out whatever he wanted to say. The next five minutes pass like that, with your gaze unintentionally flicking over to the man beside you, snapping back every time it looked like both of you would make eye contact.

“Choosing Apex was… a miscalculation.”

Your head swings violently to where he’s sitting then, shock hanging off your features before it crumples into a disbelieving frown. But you don’t get to respond before he’s speaking again, his other hand reaching for something in the briefcase resting below his chair.

“I didn’t think it would affect you that badly.” He slides a document onto the space of your desk, the lacklustre apology barely registering in your head as your eyes rake over the piece of paper. “I was going to give that to you later, but since you’re so upset..”

“What is this?”

From what you can see it seems like a research report on a company called Voyage Co., you’ve never heard of them but according to the data settled neatly at the bottom of the page, they’re almost at the level of Apex, their only problem being funding. Against your own wishes, you can feel a delicate anticipation rising in your chest, almost tying your stomach into several knots. Kaiser sighs one more time when you look up at him, the ghost of a smile passing over his features.

“I still think Apex is the best we can find, and it’s already too late to change things now. But if they don’t think our pitch is good enough, then we can go with Voyage. They’re fully pro pre-”

The awkward look on his face is hard to ignore but it reluctantly fades, like he’s being bullied.

“..They’re pro non-hunter, they’ve made massive donations to several non-hunter charities over the years. Compared to Apex, they’re a lot better social wise. I’ve already sent them an e-mail”

Another moment of silence passes between you two, but it’s a lot calmer now. A peaceful silence that flows around your bodies like the wind still swirling in from the window. It feels like a weight has been lifted off your chest, like you can breathe for the first time in a while. The report is perfect, complete data sets lined with carefully chosen pictures, just the way you would write one. The thoughtfulness actually does something to you, a light feeling that places itself in the depths of your heart, making your breath hitch ever so slightly.

“Is that good enough for you?”

“It’s a lot better..” You push the paper back to him slightly, flopping your head into your hand, staring at him with the tiniest hint of amusement. “But aren’t you worried I’ll screw up the pitch so we get to use Voyage instead?”

Kaiser let’s out an amused huff, the usual smirk soon replacing the slight remorse that had been hanging off his face.

“You would rather die than fuck up a deal, I think we both know that.”

…

The next week is cordial. You and Kaiser are not the best of friends now because he took a second to appreciate how you might feel, but you’re no longer at each other’s throats. You’ve managed to keep most of your harsher comments to yourself, and Kaiser for the most part has dedicated himself to consulting you first before making any bigger decisions with what you have now.

You feel stupid for saying it now, but things work a lot faster when you two are in sync, it’s almost gross how well you work with him. Aside from personal issues, you agree on almost everything; The way information should be formatted, the most important talking points. Every time you give your boss a quick update, he stares at both of you like you’ve been replaced with robots that actually know what it means to get along.

It’s also hard not to notice how often you’ve caught Kaiser staring at you, for seemingly no reason. And every time you stare back, eyebrow raised to ask what he wants, his gaze wanders off like you’re the one who was caught staring first.

As per usual, the office is completely empty when you step in, your shoes making it’s presence known on the marble tiles with a renewed confidence. You’d gone all out the day before; New shoes, new clothes, a suit jacket so crisp the shoulders are practically touching your ears. A row of empty meeting rooms run down the hallway for you to pick, giving you the freedom to check each one until you find one with the best seats.

You start going over your lines the second your laptop is plugged in, making the most of your space as you try to look up from your phone most of the time. It’s easy to run through everything when you’ve barely given Kaiser any lines. It wasn’t a malicious decision, at least that’s what you kept telling yourself, but it made sense.

You knew way more about this project, you had more hands on experience than he would ever gain from reading all your reports. And if anything, he doesn’t seem to mind. He’s seen the presentation notes a million times, if he had any complaints you’re sure you would’ve heard them by now.

No matter how many times you read through each line, you can’t get your hands to stop shaking.

Regardless of how you feel about Apex, they’re still a massive company, a big company willing to invest in a project your firm considered unimportant the first day you’d picked it up. You’ve been through the script about ten times now, the time on your screen reflecting a simple fifteen minutes since you’d walked in, before the sound of someone stepping into the meeting room reaches your ears.

Kaiser stands at the door, a few slicked back strands following the way he tilts his head, as if he’s surprised to see you there. You bring your attention back down to your device, clicking all the way back to the beginning of the presentation, looking back up briefly to see him nod at the monitor behind you.

“Looks good.”

“I know.” You don’t have to look up to know he’s smirking at you, dropping his briefcase down on the lengthy, dark wooden table, before taking a seat on the chair right in the middle. He crosses one leg over the other, leaning back into the plush desk chair with an arrogance that nearly flips your stomach, much to your disdain.

“Pitch it to me.”

He matches your stare with the same intensity, not even shaking under the weight of the glare you give him. A resigned sigh escapes from your lips as you switch the slides to a presenter’s view, scanning the introductory paragraph one last time.

“Want me to go over your lines too?”

“Not that I have that many to begin with, but sure, knock yourself out.”

The next hour passes in a steady rhythm, the professional smile on your face cracking with every “flaw” Kaiser points out. In the first trial run, your movements were too clunky, then you moved around too much. One second you stand like a frigid robot, the next you’re standing too loosely. It takes you about five more complaints before you snap, your smile quickly turning into a grimace as you flick through the slides once more.

“If you’re so confident, then you come do it. Let me see your pitch”

You switch places quickly, the smirk never leaving Kaiser’s face as he takes his position beside the monitor. The second he starts, irritation swiftly rises in your chest; It’s honestly infuriating how easily he catches your attention, making the script sound more interesting than you could even if you’d edited it a million times, adding small quips to the end of each sentence that sounded so natural you were tempted to check the script again. He let’s out a huff the moment he’s done, raising an eyebrow in playful condescension.

“How did I do?”

“Terrible.” You lean into the table, pointing an offended finger at where he’s standing. “Your hair is out of place, makes you look dumb.”

Kaiser drags a hand through his hair, staring at you like he’s trying to model for a fashion agency. “You know that’s a lie.”

You push yourself out of the chair, trying to hide how hard you role your eyes as you take your place beside Kaiser, already pointing out a few things to edit. Both of you do as much as you can, very much aware of how long you have till the presentation, but you still manage to tick a few things off. You’re still going through the slides when the room door opens again, your boss’ tired face reflecting back at you from where he’s peeking in. He breathes a sigh of relief, pushing into the room in a gruff motion that immediately tells you how stressed he is.

“Good, I figured you two would be here already. Show me what you’ve got.”

The lines come to you easier now; You can feel your smile settle on your face nicely, a gesture that actually looks genuine now. Your voice is a lot steadier, resonating through the room so loud you’re sure everyone can hear you from outside. Kaiser does his part the same way he did during your trials runs, perfectly and without pause, but the look on your boss’ face only gets darker. He’s silent for what feels like hours before he directs his gaze towards you, clasping his hands in front of his snout, glancing at the monitor like it’ll ease his nerves.

“A lot of these lines are yours..”

“Yes, because it’s my project” You cut in faster than he can continue his sentence, dread already pooling in your stomach at what it seemed like he was insinuating. Your boss let’s out a heavy sigh, running a hand over his eyes before he holds it up to you.

“Don’t start. I’m just saying, Apex would like it more if a..” His eyes flick to yours, guilt confronting the resigned expectation swirling around in your irises. “..hunter, were to present the pitch. You know how these things are”

The silence stretches on for as long as possible, wrapping itself around your limbs until they’re shaking from the force. Even Kaiser stares like he can’t believe it, the sound of his breath hitching just a bit enough to break the silence. You can see the gears turning in his head from your peripheral vision, his mouth opening most likely to jump in the same he had the first time in that firm, before you cut him off with the slam of your laptop.

“Please excuse me for a second.”

You’re out of the office before any of them can actually process what you said, your legs carrying you as fast as you could manage. The wind whipping against your face helps soothe the sting behind your eyes, never even giving them the chance to fall.

What did you expect?

Things had been going well for too long, the world had to remind you of your place one last time.

The chill hits you like a freight train, only burying your sorrows briefly, before it comes back full force. You file into the office stairwell like you’re on a mission, somewhere in between your floor and the department below, the cold metal stairs digging into your back as you finally sit down for the first time today. You let your head fall into your hands, smearing the gel you’d meticulously placed in your hair to style it perfectly, as if a part of your body had already given up.

You don’t know how long you’ve been there before someone walks in with you, another wave of frigid air coming in through the door as a pair of warm, brown shoes come into your vision. You let the silence pass between you two, barely looking up while you focus your stare into the groves on each staircase, hoping that dries the tears still clinging to your eyes.

“How long are you going to sulk here like this?”

Kaiser falls silent after that, like he knows if he says anymore, you might actually do something you’re going to regret. The air around him crackles with irritation, his foot tapping into the metal incessantly, but somehow, you can tell he’s angry for you, not at you.

“Apex officials are already here, boss is leading them up to the board rooms”

You drag your hands down your face one more time, letting out a deep sigh into your palms, before you finally look up at him, the tiredness reflected in your gaze enough to soften the anger rising in his.

“Fine. We'll switch slides, you can take the first ten and I’ll do the conclusions. We’ll answer questions together.”

The words are barely out of your mouth before a sudden weightlessness takes over, dragging you upwards and out of the stairwell faster than your legs can compute. Any complaints you have are drowned out by the sound of both of your shoes clacking against the floors, marking their path all the way back to your initial meeting room. Kaiser pushes a USB drive into your palm, his grip on your wrist suddenly bruising.

“Don’t make me regret doing this.”

And that’s all you get before you’re shoved into the board room, alone, the door clicking shut behind you as if sealing your fate. All eyes in the room turn to you, the Apex logos written across the badges on each beastman’s chest sending a fresh wave of fear through you. But your body moves on autopilot, smoothing down your hair and clothes long before you get to the middle of the room, flashing a near perfect, professional smile.

3 non-hunters, 2 hunters.

That ratio shuts the presentation down completely; your voice coming out smoother than you’d ever heard it before, your smile stays in place, so wide you can see the investors smiling along with you the longer you go on.

It’s the easiest fifteen minutes of your life, every point laid out so well you can’t even spot a flicker of doubt in the investors eyes. Their hands come together automatically, as if the applause you’re receiving is a birth right. And by the looks on their faces, the contract might as well be in your hands.

You stand back to speak privately with one of the officials, a sharp looking tortoise beastman that stares at you like you’re offering her a lifeline. Even with her engaging conversation, your gaze finds Kaiser beyond the door, giving him a brief nod that couldn’t possibly convey your appreciation, but he reciprocates it anyway, turning to escort the remaining investors back into the lobby.

The days since your pitch have somehow been more stressful than the week before it.

You’ve spent every second pacing the office, gravitating between your desk, the hallways, and the break room. The work you have left to do can’t even compare to how much you put into the pitch, and that’s what you tell yourself as you refuse to do any work, your hands stuck in your mouth while you bite your fingernails instead of their usual position on your keyboard.

The pitch was a complete success, you can tell from your own experiences, the years you spent studying investors and their expressions while you spoke had worked in your favour. You knew Apex would come back with positive news. It was just a bout of petty anxiety; You couldn’t stop your mind from spiralling every second, visions of the deal going wrong, your boss taking it out on you mixing together in your mind. That was another thing. The stunt you pulled the day off was a direct defiance against your boss’ orders, and with how much you’ve been constantly stressing him over the years, you wouldn’t be surprised if he fired you soon.

The whole thing was Kaiser’s idea, but whatever streak of kindness he was having wouldn’t cover the event of your hypothetical termination.

You’ve also seen Kaiser a lot more around the office, working more than you’d seen in a while. For a second it almost feels like he’s following you, but the calm look he gives you every time you make eye contact tells you otherwise. He looks at you like he can finally see your face, like he’s actually getting to know you now. Sometimes it sends sharp shivers up your spine.

He’s been moving quietly for a while now, and you believed it was because your petty behaviour the week before had beat it into him, but he’s kept to himself; Disassociating from his old group that used to put emphasis on how they looked and not how they worked, and without their “king” to hold them together, they disbanded like a failed group of thieves.

The man in question is bent over your cubicle now, pointing out errors on the reports in front of you with that serene expression that still manages to stir something in your stomach, though you can’t tell whether it’s irritation or something else anymore. He crosses out one more issue with the pen in his hand before he looks up at you for a second, the look in his eyes an emotion you can’t decipher.

“Boss is calling you to his office, he’s been looking for you all morning.”

Your heart drops straight into your stomach, your pupils blowing wide for a moment before you try to brush the feeling away. Kaiser watches you stand up on shaky legs, smoothing out the non-existent wrinkles on your clothing.

This was it; You briefly consider saying good bye to your colleagues in advance, but the dramatic thought is cast from your mind in that same second. You only make it a few steps before you turn back, looking at him over your shoulder with confusion written across your features.

“You’re not coming with?”

He shrugs, placing the pen back down on your desk and then leaning against it, hands shoved casually into his pockets.

“I don’t have to anymore, tell me what he says”

…

The office doors feel like they’re making fun of you as your hands tremble against them, the metal almost shocks your palm, sending a harsh wave of shivers through your limbs before it finally gives way under your hands. Your boss looks up from his laptop, crooking his hand in a motion to welcome you in, not even registering the apprehension hanging off your face. Both of you stay in your positions, the sound of your boss’ frequent clicking permeating the thick silence. In your mind it’s been several hours before he shuts the screen, gently taking off his reading glasses and folding his arms on the solid wood table, actually looking at you this time.

“I know what happened that day.” He speaks before you can spit out an apology, the words forcing your head to snap up in a painful motion. “Michael stopped me right outside that board room, told me what he’d done.”

You watch him take a deep breath, his neutral expression melting into one filled with a heavy guilt that you can tell is weighing down on him.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t-” He pauses, his eyebrows crinkling painfully as he glances down at the desk and then back at you with a renewed wave of guilt.

“No. I did know what I was doing. I kept giving away your opportunities, undermining you and the other non-hunters because of.. my own prejudice. I knew good and well how capable you were, still are, but I never showed it in the ways that mattered.”

It looks like the words are fighting their way out of his throat, leaving the scorching trail of accountability in it’s wake. The apology leaves a lump in your throat; The naive, twenty year old intern who just wanted to be treated with the same professionality as their peers would’ve wept tears of relief, but the you now, who’s experienced too much to know a simple apology couldn’t erase anything can only stay silent as your boss continues.

“There are no excuses for it, but I want you to know I mean it. I’m sorry it took me this long to admit what I was doing was wrong.”

The wolf beastman in front of you stares into your eyes with a profound misery you’ve never seen before, mixed in with a slice of desperate hope that almost makes you uncomfortable. The words “it’s fine” aren’t even close to the tip of your tongue, you’ve been saying that for too long too utter the words again now. You swallow them back down, simply nodding your head once, your boss could interpret that however he liked.

A sad smile passes over his face, gone the next second as he turns his laptop to face you, the interface of the document he presents to you shooting a beam of pure, unadulterated pride straight to your chest.

“I’m sure you already figured it out, but Apex accepted the deal. They sent me a restated contract this morning”

Elated isn’t enough to describe the feeling that rises in your stomach, spreading a genuine smile across your face. You had figured they would accept, but hearing the news still does wonders for your mood. You want to run back to the main office and tell all of your colleagues, the image of Kaiser waiting for good news at your table bringing your frantic thoughts to a harsh stop. Your boss must’ve noticed the gears turning in your head because he speaks up a moment later, turning his device back to face him.

“Michael dropped out of the project this morning, said it belonged to you from the beginning.”

He barks out a laugh at the genuine confusion that’s plastered on your face, flashing you a brighter smile than the one he’d shown you a moment before.

“You should be happy, kid, isn’t this what you wanted?”

You feel conflicted for a long time, as your legs carry you out of the office, all the way back to the main floor, your mind races with thoughts you can’t keep up with. And by the time you get back to your chair, the man who’s caused all this is gone, his pen still placed neatly beside the stack of documents you’d abandoned.

In the several years you’ve been at the company, this is the busiest you’ve ever been so far. Apex works fast, faster than the other collaborator you were still working with. By the time the ink of your signature had dried on that contract, they’d moved in droves, storming the construction site you’d already had planned with enough materials to build beyond the amount of houses you had planned. There were constantly construction workers who wanted your opinion on layouts, managers that needed reports on where the project was headed every second.

You were never in the office for longer than ten minutes, always getting pulled in different directions, which meant you couldn’t ask Kaiser why he’d dropped out at the peak of the project. With every bit of work your crawl through, you can’t help but think how much easier this would be if he was still working with you, as much as it pains you to admit.

You have far more important things to think about, but it still nags at your psyche sometimes when you’re sitting in your room alone, hands paused over your laptop. He was a thorn in your side for half of the time he was here, but that didn’t mean you didn’t appreciate what he’d done.

The project was gaining this much progress because of him. A tiny part of you feels like it’s your fault, maybe you’d been too rude and he couldn’t take it. But he’d treated you just fine the last few days, a little reserved, but you don’t think he would retreat like that if you’d actually offended him.

In the very few times you’re fully in the office, you’ve seen him milling about, clearly busy with his own stuff. And every time, the temptation to just walk up to him and ask him all the questions still plaguing your mind surfaces, before embarrassment takes over. It would look like you were begging him to come back, like you needed to him continue this project with you, and that’s not true in any shape, way or form.

But you also can’t reconcile with the fact that a part of you would want to keep working with him.

The thought drives you mad for two more days before you’ve had enough; Sitting at your desk, clutching a thick stack of progress reports to your chest, almost ripping the paper at the back with how hard you’re holding them. You’ve had them printed out since the second you stepped into the office early in the morning, the energy it took to convince yourself to print it enough to wear you out for the whole day. This was the only thing you could think of, and you weren’t going to humiliate yourself further by chickening out.

It takes you a hot minute to find what you’re looking for, those familiar blonde into blue locs peeking out at you from the windows of one of the board rooms. You place a hand on the door knob, taking a deep breath before you’re pushing your way inside. Kaiser’s sitting at the head of the table, looking beyond bored as he and a few other hunters throw around ideas for what looks like an up and coming project, from what you can see on the room’s monitor.

Everyone’s eyes turn to you the second you step in, gazes mostly filled with a laughable amount of envy. A lot of your hunter co-workers looked at you like ever since your deal with Apex became public knowledge, with most of them probably kicking themselves for not picking the project up earlier.

But that’s not what you’re focused on; Kaiser raises an eyebrow at you, eyes narrowing at the way you tilt your head back at the door, silently asking him to follow you, before you retreat into the hallway. You regret it almost immediately, ordering him around like some dog wasn’t going to help your case, but he doesn’t say anything, simply getting up to meet you at the door. He throws a quick farewell over his shoulder, before he’s opening the door to another room, looking at you over his shoulder to make sure you’re following.

The sound of the door shutting draws an involuntary flinch from you, the silence immediately making you uneasy. But you don’t let the felling fester before you’re shoving your crumpled documents into Kaiser’s hands, avoiding the questioning look he gives you and only looking back when you know he’s too busy looking through them to catch you staring. Standing there waiting for him to give you feedback you don’t need makes you feel like an intern again, your pride taking a bruising that you’re forced to shove deep down.

“It’s good, seems intact..” He stretches the papers back out to you, the ghost of a genuine smile touching his lips. “But you didn’t need me to tell you that.”

You stare down at the cover page, not moving an inch to take them, letting the silence wash over both of your forms. The words almost stick in your throat, sharp and biting, even with how simple they are.

“You dropped the project.. why?”

Kaiser shrugs, knowing smirk tugging at his lips as he drops the stack onto the table behind him, positioning himself on the surface before turning back to you.

“You’re better suited for it, that’s why it was yours to begin with”

That barely answers anything for you, the rest of the questions you have sitting on the tip of your tongue before you finally look at him, at the way his gaze flicks to the side for a moment, the way he swallows like it’s painful for him to do so. You keep quiet because you can see how much more he has to say, it’s written all over his face.

“I thought you were useless, first time I saw you complaining in the boss’ office, one of those beastmen that did mediocre work and expected to be given the same benefits as everyone else…”

He’s still not looking into your eyes, reminiscing with a tone that harbours not the slightest bit of guilt, like he’s telling you something that doesn’t involve him.

“But the boss’ wouldn’t stop pleading your case, only after you were long gone, almost made me apologise for what I said to you that day. I wanted to see if he was right, wanted to get into that head of yours.” His fingers stops short right in between your eyes, the closeness still making you shift back a little, much to his apparent amusement.

“Then I realised you weren’t that useless, and I thought if I showed you how much I could get done, you would ease up a little.”

The documents finally makes their way back into your hands, Kaiser dropping them in your palms with a heavy thud, showing you what you finally decipher as a genuine smile.

“You work better alone, I know that now.”

You watch him tap the first page absentmindedly, the slight remorse on his face giving way to a sudden mischief.

“No one’s going to believe you if you tell them I said that, by the way.”

That draws a genuine laugh out of you, the sound breaking away at the tension previously hanging over the room. You don’t know what to make of the revelation, the fact that every action you’d dismissed as an arrogant overstepping was him trying to help, even if it was for his own curiosity, makes you want to smack your forehead in shame; But you still want to hit him for weaselling his way into your work just because he didn’t believe you were a capable worker.

“You haven’t celebrated yet, right?” He clarifies when you stare up at him, confused. “The deal, you should’ve had a celebratory brunch or something.”

The thought makes you sigh out loud, you wish you had the time for a celebratory anything, even if it was a nap. Even thinking of it now, you’ve never commemorated any of your accomplishments with anything; You’d just kept powering on, pushing your way to the next one. Kaiser frowns like you’ve just given him bad news when you shake your head no, letting out a clearly frustrated snort.

“Then let me take you to dinner. Just you and me.”

Your breath hitches at the implication, and he doesn’t do anything to clarify, simply staring down at you with this knowing smirk that almost makes your head spin. You shuffle on your feet from side to side, shifting the weight in your hands until it sits comfortably pressed against your side.

“I thought you were really annoying too, for a long time.” The look on Kaiser’s face crumples in five seconds, but you direct your gaze elsewhere. “You’re arrogant, rude, you don’t know how to talk to people..”

“Okay that’s enou-”

“But you’re good at what you do.. and I like people like that”

If you had actually looked at the shock evident on his face, you’re sure you would’ve burst into laughter and ruined the moment. You turn to the door instead, smiling at him from over your shoulder.

“I know a really nice place downtown, you’re paying”

The sun casts a luminescent glow on your small apartment, spreading rays of pure gold through the blinds hovering over your kitchen window. A gentle breeze flows in from the cracks, barely muffling the sounds of the city waking up. Your breakfast lays almost complete on the bowl in front of you, a good portion of salad that you pick at every second, popping vegetables into your mouth with every extra ingredient you add.

You start mixing everything together, checking the time on your phone with the other; A small frown tugs at the corners of your mouth. It’s been an hour since you should’ve left for work.

Your shoulders practically jump up to your horns when you feel something touch your waist, a burly pair of arms snaking their way around their mid-section before you feel a sudden weight fall into your shoulder. Bright blonde locs make their way into your vision, distracting you for a second that Kaiser uses to steal a piece of tomato from your salad, flinging it into his mouth before you can stop him.

“Hey!” A small smack lands on the arm still tightly hugging your waist but it doesn’t do anything, a low chuckle being all you get in response.

You pause for a second before threading one hand through his hair, an soft snort escaping your lips at the purr he let’s out.

“You were supposed to leave an hour ago, now you’ve made me late too..”

Kaiser burrows his face deeper into your neck, humming softly once more before he’s tracing slow circles into the patch of fur peeking out of your nightwear. He’d started sleeping at your place about a month ago, flopping himself down on your bed after “date” nights until you’d eventually let him stay.

The arrangement was formed a week later; On certain days, Kaiser would go to work first and you would follow an hour later, and on others the inverse would happen. It worked most of the time, except for on mornings like these.

The two of you hadn’t actually started dating for a while, it took two months for both of you to finally confront what you felt. The moment wasn’t over the top, not that you expected it to, but the way it played out still makes you sigh sometimes.

…

It was another late night at the office for you, the business of each day never letting up. Kaiser had insisted on staying with you, claiming he had his own work to get sorted. It had taken him five minutes of uninterrupted silence before he decided to shatter it.

“We should go on a proper date one of these days..”

You’d turned your head towards him slowly, complete disbelief hovering over your face as your typing abruptly stopped.

“..Then what have we been doing this whole time??”

Since the time he’d asked you out to dinner to celebrate Apex’s collaboration, Kaiser became a lot more bold when it came to dragging you around with him, especially since he knew there was a 65% chance you would say yes now. The outings happened once every two weeks, mostly dinners where the two of you spoke about your own individual projects, how you were managing.

But that was another thing you couldn’t wrap your head around, how the two of you got so used to each other when all you talked about was work.

“Having dinner.” Kaiser shrugs, looking as bored as he would if you two were discussing the whether. “What? Were you deluding yourself into thinking we were already dating?”

He dodges the swift kick you aim at his leg, chuckling like he was playing around with you. The confusion has melted off your face now, replaced with a glare that isn’t as sharp as you were planning for it to be.

“No I wasn’t, I just thought you were too stupid to ask me out properly”

A bout of silence passes through the air between you, the look on Kaiser’s face turning something in your stomach that you don’t want to acknowledge. He brings his chair closer to yours, an arm shooting out to grab your own chair before you can shuffle backwards.

“Well I’m asking you out now..”

“I’m not going anywhere with you, I see enough of your face every two weeks.”

You’d followed him to this fancy restaurant that same weekend, sulking the whole time as he acted like nothing but a perfect gentleman. It still makes you mad till this day, how he’d used his stupid, cold charm to bully you into that date.

…

Life had become slightly more peaceful since then, though it was getting harder and harder trying to stop your out of work behaviour from slipping into work. You can’t help but recommend him for every project your boss speaks to you about, and from time to time, you’ve heard Kaiser defend you to the colleagues who always gave you dirty looks in the office. It makes a small part of your heart flutter every time, but it also makes you wonder when your colleagues will start to gossip.

The issue is still haunting you by the time both of you are sat down for dinner, your faces illuminated by the swaying ceiling light hanging above your dining table.

“I handed in my resignation today.”

Your head snaps up towards him, shock and doubt mixing weaving themselves into a tight knot on your face, the cutlery in your hands drops into your plate, the loud clinking a harsh sound against the tense silence.

“You what..?”

“You don’t need to look that surprised..” He barely glances up at you, chuckling at the shock still evident on your face. “I’ve been working in that hellhole for so long, plus I already have another job lined up. We’re good.”

Your leg shoots out under the table, missing his leg completely just like it does every other time you try to kick him. It’s so obvious why he’s doing this; Your boss had been asking more and more questions lately, looking at you and Kaiser like he was a father-in-law trying to get his children married, it was only a matter of time before he figured it out, if he hasn’t already. Your company was strict with office relationships, if the beastmen in question weren’t in drastically different departments, then they had to be separated over branch locations.

Both of you knew if push came to shove, you would be the one getting sent away, no matter how much fairer your boss was trying to be. Quitting was a lot better than being shipped off to the next city.

“Watch it, I still work in said hellhole” The frown on your face fading away in the wake of the smirk he gives you.

You reach across the table, revelling in the way he quickly takes your hand in his, pressing it to his lips in a soft motion.

“Thank you.. I love you.”

“I know.” He rubs a thumb over the back of your hand, turning it over before playing with the ends of your fingers. “I love you too, liebling”