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RIP Snowcloud (albino bunny of Skai_rox1)

     In case you forgot... Morris is forgetful.

     Which is the reason why he found it completely dumbfounding to step into poop while inside the Vex building. He glared at the mess and slowly raised his head while letting his gears do their thing.

     And then it came back to him.

     Pet day. Smelly day. Poop day.

     He sighed, made a mental note to fire Rae, and smoothly rolled his head to look at the cleaning lady. She was sitting on a comfortable sofa, munching on a sandwich. They made eye contact for the longest time before the old lady flipped him off, old lady smile and everything. Why couldn't anyone in this building to their job?

     Morris sighed, aware he deserved this for coming up with the idea.

     He bent down and took off his shoes, continuing on his merry way.

     Sock day.

     "Nae, you're fired." he announced as soon as he stepped into the waiting room to his office.

     "I reminded you of it the day before yesterday." she murmured while caressing the fluffy fur of her cat. Morris hated the flat faced thing, it was like the cat version of a pug. Ugly. (hisopinionnotmine)

     "Ugh." Morris stopped to look at it. "Blech."

     The grumpy looking thing ignored him, busy trying to bite the pink bow around its neck.

     "Oh, ghh."

     "Would you just..." Rae glared up at him, her expression hilariously similar to her cat's.

     "Sorry it's just so ugly."

     "I swear to God Morris!"

     "I bet no other cats hang out with it."

     "Just go."

     "Blech." he placed his shoes on her desk. "Get those cleaned asap."

     With that, he entered his office and went to his desk, placing down his leather briefcase. After taking a seat, he opened it at 90 degrees and took out his stuff, placing them randomly until it all became a mess.

     A few minutes buried in his work and a sound other than the grandfather clock went heard.

     He frowned, looking around. It sounded like a squeak.

     He leaned on his backrest and bounced the chair. No squeaks.

     And then a piercing screech from the waiting room. Morris nearly fell from his chair from the shock but stood up and hurried there.

     His secretary was sitting on her desk with her knees up, pointing at the floor. A white rat.

     "Holy shit!" Morris halted. He would've been more manly about this if he would've been wearing shoes. "Dumb cat do something!" he yelled at the thing.

     It was licking its paws calmly.

     "Ugh, stupid cat, you make me look bad!"

      "Really Morris now's the time for cartoon jokes?!" Rae yelled, watching the man jump about the place trying to avoid the quick ball of white.

     Morris froze holding a big book as he witnessed the rat move into his office.

     "No!"

     The tables turned as he became the one chasing the thing. His suit was a mess and his hair inhumane by the time he managed to trap the mouse into a corner of the room, by the bookcase from which it was trying to get a snack.

     Tiny, round, shiny red eyes watched him widely above long yellowish teeth that flashed dangerously. Its back was hunched and the gross hairless tail lay limp.

     He stepped on the tail and slammed down the book.

     With a loud, pained squeak, the thing went to a better place.

     Morris panted, letting the book fall down before stumbling backwards to his chair. He slumped down and made an absent-minded attempt to fix his tie.

     Rae hesitantly stepped into the office, touching the door frame and gawking at the dead thing.

     "You killed it?"

     Morris glanced at her. "You are safe."

     "Morris, it's fucking pet day."

     Morris frowned, looking at his victim.

     "Don't be ridiculous, it was a rat not a pet."

     "Some people have rats as pets."

     Morris rubbed his jaw. "I mean if someone could have your cat as a pet, a rat isn't that big a deal..."

     "Stop making jokes you just killed an employee's pet."

     Morris groaned and stood up, walking over to the thing. He pinched the tail between to fingers and went to the window.

     "They'll just think it got lost..."

     "You are such a horrible person."

     Morris threw it and slammed the window close. "Would you give me a break? I was trying to save you."

     Rae sighed, fixed her bun and stepped in. "Yes well you could've done it with a little more class."

     "Come on, my brutality turned you on and you know it."

     She eyed him up and down. "Meh."

     Morris's shoulders slumped down. "I should've let it eat you."

     Rae laughed and walked over to peck his cheek before patting his chest. "You're the best, Morris Kentson."

     The man grinned with a shrug. "And I love you, random citizen!"

     "I'm done."

 

     Morris was on the 9th floor. That man he had yet to know the name of had told him Noah would come to the coffee machine on that floor, and so it must've meant it was better than the others. Morris was there to see for himself.

     He walked into the tiny hallway leading to the coffee machine and was surprised to see Noah himself. Well, considering all of the empty coffee cups he'd seen on his desk, it was rather expected to find him there.

     He was wearing weird stuff. A black blazer that was just his size, a faint blue shirt that had tiny little dark blue squares. By his neck hanged Morris's tie, undone, and he was wearing... black sweatpants. He just had to ruin it.

     When Noah's head turned to him, he saw that on his black beanie it said 'You can't sit with us'. That was just rude. It fit him well.

     "Hello, Vin." Morris said, walking up to him. "Looking nearly decent today."

     The corner of his mouth twitched, but that's how far his reaction went.

     "What's... what's the matter?" Morris asked, hesitant since he couldn't tell if they were friends enough to ask such things.

     "I was actually planning to see you. See, I've lost my pet." he sighed, taking a sip from his coffee. Morris observed him lick the black droplets from on top of his white lips. "Could you maybe... do some HR stuff or another and find if anyone saw it?"

     "Certainly." Morris smiled. "What pet? What color? What size?"

     Noah glanced around, and when his eyes were to the ceiling, the light reddened them. "Rat. Albino. Big."

     Morris's lips slowly extended into the faintest of smiles, his eyes turning glassy. He sighed through his nose and shook his head.

     "It cou-" his voice cracked.

     High school never ends, not quite.

     "It probably got lost."

     Noah nodded just a little, and Morris was actually taken aback by how bummed he looked. It was almost as if he did have feelings. Would the IT people throw him out for that?

     "Um..." Morris tentatively gripped Noah's elbow and rubbed his arm with a thumb. "I'll... I'll really look into it, okay? Now, actually. Hang on."

     Noah looked up at him, his eyes shaking the way they tended to do at times. "Okay."

     Morris nodded, stepping backwards. "Oh, and you can totally keep it." he pointed at the tie.

     Noah glanced at it and knitted his eyebrows. "Okay."

     "Okay." Morris laughed and ran away.

 

     "Yes, hi, do you happen to have something that looks like this?" he raised the phone, displaying a nice photo of the dead rat he'd found in the parking lot.

     It was how he got kicked out of the first two pet shops he tried. By the third he managed to deduct what he was doing wrong.

     "Hello, I am looking for an albino rat."

     "All right, follow me to the rodents section." the young man said, politely leading the way before leaving him alone to choose for himself.

     He was tapping one of the cages when his phone rang.

     "Why are you not in your office?" Rae asked. "I've got a call from corporate."

     "Ah shit on a stick, what do they want?" Morris rubbed his eyes.

     "How about you get back and find out yourself?"

     "I'm..." Morris sighed. "It was Vinson's rat. The albino rat-face owned an albino rat. God he's such a weirdo."

     "Don't tell me you're at a pet shop trying to buy a replica Morris. You're not in some cartoon."

     "It worked every time!"

     "No, seriously Morris! The characters always find the truth and argue and then a piano, like, smashes onto them or something I don't know."

     "That's not- you don't know shit about cartoons."

     "No, Morris, leave it to the HR generalist of one of the biggest electronics companies, know shit about cartoons."

     "You're pissing me off." Morris stated factually.

     "Seriously, come back and do your job before you lose it. Wait. Actually never mind just do your thing!"

     Morris hung up.

—————

     "I'm not in the mood to enslave you, Kent." Noah sighed the moment Morris entered his office.

     "I see..." Morris trailed off with a smug grin. "In that case, I'll take this little guy somewhere else."

     Noah looked up with knitted eyebrows and then gawked. "No way!"

     Now he was displaying signs of yet more human-like manifestations such as feelings: surprise, relief, happiness. Morris was genuinely impressed, not even in the manner of a joke.

     Ok maybe most exaggerated over IT entities- people, but they kind of fit the shoes.

     "Kent! How!" he exclaimed, standing up and rounding his desk.

     "Ah, I'm a pretty big influence, people help me out."

     It was Morris's way of subtly letting the guy know that putting out that footage of himself dancing could possibly destroy him.

     But Noah didn't even seem to hear him. He took the ugly rat and brought it to eye level, just standing there.

     "You... you guys seem close." Morris loosened the neck of his brown and browner striped shirt.

     Noah peeked at him. "I love this guy. He's like me but people find him disgusting, whereas they find me hot shit. It's dumb. I want to be a rat. Just live in the sewers and travel the world and munch people's shoes."

     "Well you could do all that." Morris chimed in.

     Noah chuckled and leaned on the desk, caressing the little guy and twirling its gross tail around his finger.

     "Not your shoes." he commented, eyeing Morris's socks. "What's up with that?"

     Morris waved a hand. "You know how Pet Day is. Speaking of which, what's yours named?"

     "It doesn't have one, it'd be useless."

     "That's... harsh."

     Noah looked up and shrugged, then tilted his head. "Want to know cool facts about rats?"

     Morris raised his eyebrows and glanced at his pocket watch- yes people still wear those (no they don't).

     "That would be really useful and productive and all but I'm kind of busy."

     As in, he had ignored corporate kind of busy.

     "But we can have that talk on the way home!" he suggested.

     Noah flashed a grin, exposing those front teeth of his. Holding the rat wasn't helping his case. It was intriguing how he was so uniquely attractive, but at the same time so unmistakably flawed.

     Perhaps it was why it took stupidly long for Morris to nod and leave.

 

     "And what if they want to carry a pigeon back to their clan?" Vinson dared him guess. "One of them lays on the back," he positioned his pet as so, "raises its legs and holds the pigeon while others drag him away by the tail."

     Morris laughed lightly, walking down the halls with Noah. People were staring at them, and whether it was because of Noah's condition or because Morris from all people was talking with someone so... careless and outcast looking, the man didn't care.

     The guy was actually fun and talking to him made him feel that thing in the belly you get when you know you just might make a new friend. Would they ever be that? Just then, Morris felt like he wouldn't mind in the least.

     "How do you know all this stuff?"

     "Ah, my University Campus was shit. Fun, though. Me and the guys would go hunting for these bastards." he shook the rat a little, causing it to claw at his hands and start nibbling. Noah just sort of giggled.

     He turned out to be weirder and weirder the more he got to know him. And it was awesome.

     When they reached the main hall and got to the exit doors, Morris caught their reflection in the clean glass. The contrast between their outfits made him chuckle: his brown-browner striped shirt was tucked in black pants with suspenders matching the turtleneck coat. Neo-vintage stuff, while Noah looked like something out of an Acne fashion photoshoot.

     "Do you really lack dress pants?" Morris asked curiously.

     Noah scratched his thick beanie and shrugged. "Just wanted to poke fun at you. It's a one time thing."

     "So I can get my tie back?"

     "Nah. You already said I could keep it."

     Morris straightened his lips and sighed, walking down the long entrance stairs while glancing at the impressive fountain nearby. They walked through the tunnel of naked trees, each surrounded by a round, black fence made of thin metal.

     "Yeah, speaking of which, it so happens that I've been doing you a considerable amount of favors-" he spoke, only to glance to the right and notice he was talking by himself.

     He turned around, his arm wobbling after the heavy briefcase. Then, his entire body wobbled a little bit too.

     Noah's head was tilted downwards, his white hair covering most of his white face.

     The dead rat stood displayed on the ground before his eyes.

     Morris placed his briefcase down to run both hands down his face and pace around.

     "I can explain... It was threatening the life of my secretary, I had no idea it belonged to someone, I... D-Don't touch that." he trailed off, watching the guy bend down and pick up the thing by its tail.

     "Vin... I am so sorry."

     The guy stared at it until his eyes started shaking, but he blinked it away. It was his only movement as he observed the corpse.

     Then, he raised his head, stared through Morris and walked past him.

     Morris was done for.

Morris you literal goof.

Vex building to the right :)

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