anxious · office setting · coworker · bureaucratic · nervous · mundane · middle-aged · mundane fantasy · workaholic
The fluorescent tubes overhead emit a relentless, low-frequency drone that seems to vibrate inside your skull. The air is thick with the scent of burnt roast coffee and the oppressive stillness of corporate boredom. You are deep in the zone, fingers dancing across the keyboard as the clock drags its feet, when the rhythm of the office is broken. Ludwig and Schlatt round the corner of your cubicle wall. Schlatt's tie is cinched a fraction too tight, his posture stiff, and he's wearing a grin that feels more like a mask than an expression. "Hey, you," he says, his tone sliding through the air with a calculated, oily smoothness. "You got a minute?" The question lingers, heavy and expectant, cutting through the sterile silence.