~ A day at the workplace ~ EchoMonroe & By Bi Blitz

[EchoMonroe]

Here we stand or here we fall
History won't care at all
Make the bed, light the light
Lady Mercy won't be home tonight

To his credit Erik's shock at seeing his boss burst into laughter didn't show itself beyond an amused smile and a raised eyebrow. Upon Joseph's questioning of it however he couldn't stop the snort of laughter as he nodded. Hearing his boss praising him made him happier than he truly cared to put thought into. He knew it why it had been so easy for his ex to get under his skin like he did, all he'd had to do in the beginning was tell Erik how proud of him he was, how good he'd been at his job and he'd fallen. He didn't like to think why it was so easy for a few kind words to manipulate his emotions just so. He was caught off guard by the drastic change in music and while he didn't find it objectionable Joseph apparently had. He noticed the other looking for what he assumes was the remote to the speaker. He glanced to the side and but the time he looked back his boss was knelt on the ground reaching under the coffee table. He knew he was staring but couldn't pull his eyes off admiring the other man. If he doesn't know there's no harm right? When Joseph sat back up he felt his face heat up and immediately ripped his eyes off the other male. Rule number one don't get caught checking out your boss idiot! He did his best to will away the redness on his face as the other sat back next to him. "Uh so far I think I get it," he said as he kept his eyes on the book trying his best to look like he'd been studying and not like a child who'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

You don't waste no time at all
Don't hear the bell but you answer the call
It comes to you as to us all
Yeah, we're just waiting for the hammer to fall, yeah

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By Bi Blitz

 

[By Bi Blitz]

The two men genuinely laughing at something as silly as Joseph's messy hair was rather refreshing for the business man. Usually he never laughed at much of anything these days and for but a moment Joseph felt like how he used to be back when he was younger, however it had only lasted for that one moment before it was gone. The CEO wasn't even aware of it himself. Once the remote was back in Joseph's hand and that rather poor interpretation of jazz music was swapped back to the original classical music he'd correct himself before glancing over at Erik and blinking a bit, why was he as red as he was? That was odd. The business man didn't put too much thought into it as he went back to the book "Excellent, then the rest of this should be no problem then" he was still slightly curious as to why his employee looked so guilty. As he went over the lesson with Erik, teaching him more complex sentences as well as what words worked where he glanced over at the other man and stared at him for a moment as he went over it in his head "Just read these to yourself and try to figure out what they're saying" he stated absentmindedly as the CEO slowly began to piece things together in his mind, he'd gotten down on the ground to get the remote and after he got up Erik looked red in the face and a bit guilty. Wait..had Erik been....? However before he could complete the thought a loud ding would sound from the kitchen, distracting Joseph from his train of thought "Ah, dinner is almost done" he commented before walking back out to the kitchen, pausing for a moment before deciding the apron was no longer needed for this part. Joseph would grab two different kinds of cheeses from the refrigerator and placed them on the cutting board. Joseph would pull a knife out and cut thick slices of fresh mozzarella before grabbing an oven mitt once he was done and opened the oven up, pulling the rack with the eggplant lasagna out. He would proceed to place the thick cuts of cheese on top of the dish, covering the entire top of it. But he wasn't done yet, Joseph would then take the block of parmesan cheese and began used a grater to begin grating the cheese over top of the lasagna. Once a thick layer of both cheeses were on top he'd pop it back into the oven for a little while longer before rejoining Erik on the couch. From there Joseph would look at the book and nodded his head "I think this is an excellent spot to end it, for tonight. A lot of good progress has been made" he stated, nodding his head "I'd say that this is a good time to relax a little bit" Joseph would turn the music down and turned the TV on as it seemed the TV was left on a romantic drama that was just starting. Oh brother. These were not really to Joseph's taste but since Erik was a self proclaimed hopeless romantic he supposed this would be alright by him. Joseph would take the Spanish book and place a bookmark in it before to mark for the next lesson "Would you like to continue the lesson tomorrow after work or would you like to save it for another time?" he asked the other man with a curious look on his face. Honestly it didn't matter to Joseph and in fact once everything was said and done Joseph would chuckle a little bit "I must admit, it's nice to actually be home and relaxing for once. Usually I'd still be at the office at this hour cramming to get more work done" the CEO would admit to the blatantly overworking himself which was a stark contrast to how he treated his employees whom were not forced to do anything they didn't want to.

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EchoMonroe

 

[EchoMonroe]

Here we stand or here we fall
History won't care at all
Make the bed, light the light
Lady Mercy won't be home tonight

Erik had never in his life been more thankful for an oven timer. He leaned back against the couch and covered his face with his hands. He so knows. What is wrong with me?! Can't I behave like a normal adult for once?! He wanted nothing more in that moment than for a hole to open up in the ground under him but one did not. He sighed heavily to himself as he began to think. He began to hope neither would acknowledge it and his stupidity would be forgotten. He practically jumped out of his seat when Joseph plopped back down next to him. He closed the book and set it one the table as his eyes briefly flickered to the screen. It was a movie he had seen more than once. When Joseph brought up continuing the lessons tomorrow he didn't even have to think about his answer. "Tomorrow works fine for me," he said as he popped his neck ",it's not like I have anywhere to be." There was a almost sad truth in that. He had friends yes and they did invite him out but he seldom showed. He often said yes on principal, he knew he should want to go out and have fun but more often than not he would cancel at the last minute choosing to either lay in bed and sleep for ten hours or because he's made himself so anxious he got physically sick over the whole ordeal. "You know you don't have to leave this on for me," he commented as he continued to watch the screen ",I have seen this about thirty times."

You don't waste no time at all
Don't hear the bell but you answer the call
It comes to you as to us all
Yeah, we're just waiting for the hammer to fall, yeah

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By Bi Blitz

 

[By Bi Blitz]

Joseph would watch Erik with as the other man had given a near instantaneous answer to his question. The previous situation had already slipped his mind as it wasn't all too important in his opinion. What was important was the fact that Erik seemed rather confident that tomorrow was apparently fine to continue the lessons. Once the other man followed up by explaining that he had plans Joseph let out a small affirming noise as he thought for a moment "Very well, tomorrow I'll be home a bit earlier since I have some papers in my office that need to filled out to begin testing phases on your toy design" the CEO thought for a moment as he crunched the numbers "I believe the same time as today will be beneficial, it will give me time to get my work done as well as simply get the books ready" he stated with a nod of the head. Just as he turned to the movie Joseph would glance over at Erik and chuckled a little bit at the others acknowledgement of the movie "I can't say I'm surprised" he commented before grabbing the remote and flipping the channel as the beginning of a slasher movie began to play on the screen, one of which Joseph lowered the remote. Scary movies generally didn't scare him too badly so this should be rather tame and besides, how bad could this movie honestly be?

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EchoMonroe

 

[EchoMonroe]

Here we stand or here we fall
History won't care at all
Make the bed, light the light
Lady Mercy won't be home tonight

Erik nodded when his boss confirmed that it would be the same time tomorrow. He was supposed to go out for a friends birthday but he had already cancelled a week ago under the guise of having something come up, at least now he wasn't a liar...entirely. When Joseph laughed at him a bit he grinned and shrugged a shoulder. "I've also seen the Baz Luhrmann Romeo and Juliet," he said with a laugh ",the one with Leonardo DiCaprio that everyone says is terrible, more times than I can count." That was something his friends had always joked with him about, the mass amount of romance movies he has seen to death. He learned how to laugh along after a while. Upon seeing it flick to some slasher film his eye lit up a bit. Erik had always kept his deep love of scary things a secret mainly because to those who knew him it was a double edged sword. He loved horror movies but he was also a huge chicken, extremely jumpy and easily spooked. His college roommate had forced him to watch The Exorcist and he slept with his light on for a week. He didn't immediately recognize the film but it looked good. "I remember when this came out," he said absently ",I wanted to go see it while it was in theaters but no one would go with me."

You don't waste no time at all
Don't hear the bell but you answer the call
It comes to you as to us all
Yeah, we're just waiting for the hammer to fall, yeah

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By Bi Blitz

 

[By Bi Blitz]

Joseph listened to Erik and could only chuckle a little bit at the other man's comment and could only smirk a little bit "Well I suppose that not everyone is perfect, your taste in movies is atrocious" he stated with a slightly amused look on his face before shaking his head a little bit. He'd only watched it once and even then it was only for half the movie, even if it had Leonardo DiCaprio in it. That movie was a lost cause and the fact that Erik had seen it multiple times was a bit sad to hear if he were being frank. Joseph would then watch as the slasher begin to set up the basic plot of a group of teens hanging out in their completely plain and uninteresting suburban town. He glanced over Erik and and chuckled a little bit "Well at least your watching it now, right?" he stated with a small smirk playing at his lips. Joseph would admit that he tended to spend more time with his nose in a book than watching a movie but both did have their merits. Granted though horror books were never able to deliver the same impact in visceral horror that movies could. As the group of characters were introduced Joseph watched as the movies title played as the killer could be seen watching the group at a distance "If I remember correctly this movie was pulled from several theaters for being very gory as well as scary" he off handed commented after he remembered reading about it when he was going through the newspaper. The scene would skip to whom was introduced as the Brother of one of the girls who was the typical "Final Girl" archetype of character. He had been coming home late one night when the family was out to a party for some family friends. The dark house with the ominous music playing let the audience know danger was afoot and as he closed the door behind him the killer could be seen in the room beside him, unseen as he was texting on his phone. The brother would head upstairs and begin to undress for a shower when he heard the sound of someone outside the door. Of course like a good horror movie character he would open the door to check it out and it was then that the killer would grab him and pull him out of the bathroom. After a brief struggle the killer stabbed the Brother in the abdomen before pulling the knife out and shoving his hand into the brothers stomach in a rather visceral showing. Joseph's face remained entire unphased as the movie played the scenes out "He certainly didn't last long" the scene would then show the rest of the family approaching the house, chatting and laughing about the party. However the laughter turned to screams as when the entered the front door and turned on the light to see the Brother hung from the banister by his own intestines "Ugh...Charming" Joseph commented, actually wincing a bit at the sight.

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EchoMonroe

 

[EchoMonroe]

Here we stand or here we fall
History won't care at all
Make the bed, light the light
Lady Mercy won't be home tonight

Erik barely heard Joseph's comments on the slasher film. Yes it was predictable but the make up was pretty decent. He was so entranced in the film he barely even managed to blink until the fateful scene of seeing the brother strung up like a fish. Erik yelped and covered his hands with his mouth. He hadn't actually meant to make a noise but he had anyway. "Oh god," he said shaking his head with a laugh ",I wonder how much though went into this script of if they just decided to combine every bad slasher film cliche?" He glanced over at Joseph and noticed he seemingly had little to know reaction to the film. "You're really not into this kinda thing are you," he asked ",I mean I get it. Gorey slasher films and demonic possessions aren't most people's cup of tea." Stop. Now, Before you start rambling. He turned back to the screen and watched silently. Erik chewed on his lip as he continued to watch.

You don't waste no time at all
Don't hear the bell but you answer the call
It comes to you as to us all
Yeah, we're just waiting for the hammer to fall, yeah

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By Bi Blitz

 

[By Bi Blitz]

Joseph watched as the entire family screamed in horror at the sight before them but the yelp next to him caught him off guard. He then proceeded to chuckle a little bit at the other man's comment before a small smirk found it's way onto his face "I mean...it's enough to scare you" he replied in an almost smartass sort of way. Joseph's normally dry humor could also take a touch more of a sarcastic tone depending on the situation at hand and that was simply too easy to pass up like that. As they continued watching Joseph would then glance over from the TV as the next scene showed the family at the closed casket ceremony in remembrance for the final girl's brother "Hm? No, I find this rather entertaining. And that scene did shock me quite a bit" wasn't it obvious? It was written all over his face. He then grinned and shook his head a bit more "I'm not really one to outwardly react to much I suppose" his indifferent expression was one that was trained and perfected. He supposed that he'd been using it for so long now that it was becoming almost too commonplace for him.

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EchoMonroe

 

[EchoMonroe]

Here we stand or here we fall
History won't care at all
Make the bed, light the light
Lady Mercy won't be home tonight

Erik snorted and rolled his eyes a bit at Joseph's sarcastic comment but found himself laughing anyway. "I'm jumpy," he chuckled ",I wasn't allowed to watch horror movies when I was a kid. I saw my first scary movie when I was in college. My roommate made me watch The Exorcist and I slept with my lights on for a while after that." He smiled as he glanced back at the screen to watch the rather painful and stilted acting. God this feels like an NPC trying to have human interactions. He did have an appreciation for the sfx makeup in it though. Today it was common for films to use a mass amount of cgi as opposed to practical effects. "The writing it piss poor," he said absently ",but the make up and props are really good. There's a gross kinda beauty in it." He shrugged a bit. He remembered developing a love of gorey make up and spooky films after his sister encouraged him to act in a haunted house one Halloween season. There was so much time and work that went into creating something like that.

You don't waste no time at all
Don't hear the bell but you answer the call
It comes to you as to us all
Yeah, we're just waiting for the hammer to fall, yeah

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By Bi Blitz

 

[By Bi Blitz]

Joseph chuckled a little bit and have a small half smirk when the other man spoke about his first horror movie "A classic, I remember first watching it when I was a boy. I traumatized for about a week...heh" he then shook his head "I also refused to eat pea soup because of all the vomit in that movie..." the CEO grew thoughtful for a moment "Actually I haven't eaten pea soup in general since I was a young boy..." the realization that the movie had effected him this much even well into his adult life was both amusing and fascinating to Joseph. The CEO would then shrug his shoulders a little bit at the others commentary "At least they're putting in the effort" he stated as he watched the quintessential rich douchbag of the friend group try hitting on the now deceased brothers sexy bombshell girlfriend as the friend group all scolded him and left him alone with the closed casket. The douchbag apparently liked the girl and resented the Brother or something like that for taking her away from him. If his dialogue to the casket was anything to go by. However in that moment the Killer would pop out from another room as the douchbag began to mock the Brother for generally being a better person than he was it seemed, at least that's what Joseph was getting from his monologue. However in that moment the killer apparently chloroformed the douchbag as the screen faded to black with his collapse. It would then shift over to the funeral as the casket was being buried as the priest began giving his service while the people around them were crying. The friend group would comment on the douchbag's apparently missing from the funeral, to which the Ex seemed more than fine with if her cold commentary was anything to go by. As everyone began to leave the screen would fade to black once more before the audience would see the douchbag coming around as he began to shift in a dark space. It would soon become clear however that he was laying on top of something and he'd his lighter out to find he was laying on top of the body of the dead brother as he began to scream and bang on the casket as loud as possible as the camera panned up through the ground and to the people walking away from the grave. This caused Joseph to actually visibly wince a bit at the scene "Gore is one thing...but that...that disturbs me, I must admit" that was probably one of the worst ways to go in his eyes all of a sudden.

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EchoMonroe

 

[EchoMonroe]

Here we stand or here we fall
History won't care at all
Make the bed, light the light
Lady Mercy won't be home tonight

Erik snickered a bit when Joseph said he hadn't eaten pea soup since his viewing of the horror movie. He couldn't blame him, that movie had scarred generations for life. He shook his head at the scene and umped a bit when the killer popped out."Calling it now the killer is the sister," he said with a shake of his head. While the movie wasn't horrible it was far from good. To him it felt like a cheesy cult classic which is what he assumed they were going for. He cringed a bit when the friend was buried alive with the dead brother. He glanced over at Joseph when he said that the idea of being buried alive bothered him. "Makes sense," he said with a shrug ",it plays on the fear of claustrophobia plus the sense of true inevitable death. There's not really a way out of being buried alive unless you want to attempt to dig yourself out of the grave and even then freedom and safety aren't guaranteed." He'd always found the psychology behind horror films fascinating, probably more than was healthy but he'd always been interested on why certain types of horror did so well.

You don't waste no time at all
Don't hear the bell but you answer the call
It comes to you as to us all
Yeah, we're just waiting for the hammer to fall, yeah

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By Bi Blitz

 

[By Bi Blitz]

Joseph would listen to the other man speak and thought about his theory for a moment before shaking his head "I don't believe so, remember how in the beginning the Sister was out with her parents at the time of the Brothers murder?" he pointed out before he thought about it himself "I think they'll just go with the classic psychopath, it seems like the movie is banking on the kills rather than an actually interesting plot" he stated his own opinion on what he has seen so far before looking over at Erik and listened to him speak and give a rather surprisingly insightful look into the fear of being buried alive. Joseph nodded his head with the other man "Hmm...that makes sense, the sense of utter despair at the situation...it makes for a horrifying kill without actually being gory in any way" he stated with a thoughtful look on his face before glancing over at Erik with a small smile on his face before nodding his head "You certainly have good insight into these types of movies" he complimented as Joseph fully turned his attention onto Erik. Just like his earlier theory suggested it seemed like the movie was banking on shocking and interesting kills to cover up the rather dull and uninteresting story that was going on with each of the characters talking. Thankfully the buzzer going off on his timer alerted him that the food was done which was more than enough to pull Joseph away from the movie. With that he'd grab his oven mitts and pulled the eggplant lasagna out before setting it on the counter with the cheese bubbling on top. It looked very good in his opinion "Well come and get it" he spoke to Erik before pulling out two plates and a metal spatula and cut into the food and brought out a nicely sized piece for Erik before then pulling out another slice for Joseph. He would then open up his fridge and grabbed two cans of flavored seltzer water "I hope these are OK?" he stated before placing the one can next to Erik's plate before then grabbing two forks for each of the men. After sitting back down on the couch he was sufficiently bored of this film already and Joseph would change the channel to a...rom com of some sorts? Brilliant. Joseph would simply dig into the eggplant lasagna and nodded his head to himself, he thought he did rather well "Is it alright?" he would ask the other man with a curious look on his face.

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EchoMonroe

 

[EchoMonroe]

Here we stand or here we fall
History won't care at all
Make the bed, light the light
Lady Mercy won't be home tonight

Erik nodded when Joseph pointed out that dead guy's sister had been with their parents at the time of his death. He did have to agree that it seemed like a movie banking on slaughter over actual thought. When his boss pointed out he had good insight into these types of films he couldn't help the laugh that bubbled up his throat. The truth was he was a bit obsessed with death, he founds something morbidly beautiful in it as such he'd began to over analyze many aspects of it. He did the same with fear specifically phobias most commonly held. He was pulled from his thoughts by the sudden announcement of food and it was around that moment he realized how hungry he actually was. He acquired his plate and took his spot back on the couch after Joseph changed the channel to something else. He'd just taken his first bite when he was urged for his opinion. "It's really good," he answered ",way better than the Ramen noodles I usually have for dinner. You should watch out, my friends all say once you feed me once you can't get rid of me." The last statement was intended as a joke more so than anything, not that he would mind spending more time with the other. He tried not to let his thoughts linger there, he'd already managed to nearly get caught checking his boss out and knew from experience that was a dangerous road to go down.

You don't waste no time at all
Don't hear the bell but you answer the call
It comes to you as to us all
Yeah, we're just waiting for the hammer to fall, yeah

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By Bi Blitz

 

[By Bi Blitz]

Joseph would end up smiling a bit when the other man answered with a positive response, granted though once the other also enlightened him to his usual diet the smile changed into a light frown. Ramen noodles? Joseph would admit that when he was younger he did have a usual diet consisting of pork and chicken ramen, however that was a long time ago when he didn't have much money for himself "Clearly I may need to keep you around if that's actually what your diet consists of" he stated in a slightly amused tone of voice. Honestly Joseph had no problem continuing to make dinner for the younger male since he was going to be coming over for awhile to continue his Spanish lessons. He just needed to plan in advance to make larger portioned meals tomorrow after his plans were put into motion. With that Joseph glanced back to the TV for a moment before looking back to the other man "Besides reading your romance novels do you have anything else you do for fun?" the CEO inquired about the other male with a curious look on his face. Slowly but surely Joseph was beginning to unknowingly open up more and more to the other man, maybe he could do with at least one friend whether he knew it or not.

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EchoMonroe

 

[EchoMonroe]

Here we stand or here we fall
History won't care at all
Make the bed, light the light
Lady Mercy won't be home tonight

Erik smiled a bit sheepishly when Joseph made a comment about his admittedly horrid eating habits. "I pretty much live off of Ramen, Red Bull and coffee," he said with a shrug ",occasionally Red Bull in coffee but only when I haven't slept for a few days." He could count on one hand the number of times he'd actually done that. It was a terrible idea he always tended to get when he was sleep deprived. The concoction tasted awful but it had enough caffeine in it that it was a miracle his heart didn't stop. He glanced back up as Joseph when he asked about his other interests. "I used to play the drums," he answered ",still do on occasion. I write, nothing actually worth reading but I enjoy it. I am grossly fascinated with serial killer documentaries and things of the sort." He shrugged as he took another bite of his food. He spent most of his time not working sitting on his couch in dirty sweat pants watching conspiracy videos on YouTube but he couldn't tell his boss that. "So what about you," he asked ",when you aren't at work or teaching helpless people Spanish what do you do for fun?"

You don't waste no time at all
Don't hear the bell but you answer the call
It comes to you as to us all
Yeah, we're just waiting for the hammer to fall, yeah

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By Bi Blitz

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