Fire on fire

This job was anything but interesting. Every day seemed like it kept going for ages. Sometimes there was nothing to do and Míngzé used those moments to do something for school. Juggling between work and school was anything but easy, but he needed the money desperately. His paycheck at the end of the day was not too bad and enough to pay for his apartment. Which was all he really needed.

A voice pulled him out of his thoughts. Míngzé had mindlessly been cleaning some surface. Apparently someone needed something cleaned up. Right. He looked over at the man, carefully making his way towards him. While the light in here was enough for him to know where the man was standing, he could not make out much else. EVerything was too light, with not enough coloration for him to see much.

He crossed his arms over his shoulders. “You’ll have to be more precise I’m afraid,” Míngzé said a bit awkwardly. Pretending he knew what to do would get him nowhere. Admitting that fact however was a frustrating one too.

Míngzé raised an eyebrow at the man who was clearly not happy with this turn of events. There was no please, or any sign of appreciation. Only two clear instructions that sounded more like orders, like he was some kind of dog. Míngzé looked at the table and thanks to the bright lights in the lab, he could vaguely distinguish the tools the other talked about.

“Sure thing.”

As he approached the table, he made sure to bump into it first. The impact caused something on the table to fall over, making a lot of noise. “Oops.” If the guy was so annoyed just because he had to clarify something, this might just make it worse.

Míngzé felt around the table, pretending he saw absolutely nothing. There was something metal, a plate or something. He did not know what it was, but it would not break. His hand was moving over the surface and he made sure to tap the metal thing hard enough that it fell onto the ground. He quickly took a step back, as if the noise had scared him. A deep sigh rolled over his lips as he turned toward the man. “You know— this might take a while, but if you help me, it will go faster.”  

Míngzé was here to help. They probably only let him work here because it would make them look good, because all he could do were the shit jobs. Everyone could clean a cage or give some food. A majority of the tasks he had to undertake were far from fulfilling. If people tried to order him around like a pokémon, Mingze would not accept it.

No matter that it made him look stupid, he was proud of his little act. If anything, he was at least wasting this man’s time, which felt like a win. “Probably my charming personality, which can hardly—”Míngzé gritted his jaw and swallowed his words back. He was still at work and he did not want to get fired because of something this stupid.

When the other called him useless, Míngzé raised an eyebrow as he turned around and leaned against the table. He was impressed. This man seemed to believe he was too superior even to pick up a plate. “Let’s see,” he said and hummed. “I can walk, sleep, talk, eat,” he started summing up while counting with his fingers. “Do you want me to continue?” The other sounded clearly irritated, like he had a reason to feel that way.   

Míngzé was not in the mood for some like this guy to ruin his day. It was with a lot of effort that he made it here in the first place. His plan was that it would provide more distractions than he would find at home. And he was not wrong. “It’s alright, no one can blame you, after all you need at least a little charm yourself if you want to notice it in someone else,” Míngzé said matter of fact while raising his shoulders.

It became obvious while this man worked in a lab, he would not be able to function in a store. Míngzé looked at the other, unimpressed by his attempt to hurt him. “Wow, you almost managed to hurt my feelings,” he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm as he placed a hand against his heart. Someone like this would not be able to get under his skin.

Calmly he walked towards the plate on the ground. Thanks to the light reflecting off it, he knew exactly where it was and he picked it up. Another few steps and he pushed the plate against the other man’s chest. “Because some people like to pretend they are too important to do the dirty work.” He did not care one bit who this man was and what function he had in this company. Míngzé was not a growlithe you could simply order around, expecting him to do it no matter what.

After pushing the plate in the other’s arms, Míngzé backed away again and leaned against the counter. He should’ve kept his mouth shut a long time ago, but this man made him angry. While he did not expect everyone to like him, he at least expected a bit of respect. A word totally unknown to this man.

Míngzé rolled his eyes. “Of course not, you’ll have to pay attention to someone other than yourself if you want to see what they’re doing.” It would even surprise him if this man had been aware of his presence before he needed him for something. At this point someone else was needed if they ever wanted this mess cleaned up, because Míngzé was not going to do it.

A sarcastic laugh echoed when the man questioned his eyesight. “I don’t know, try holding up eight fingers and I’ll see if I can count them,” Míngzé said dead serious with a challenging look in his eyes. He even held up eight fingers himself to show the man what he asked him to do. Who knows, maybe this person had magically cured him.

A sarcastic smile came to his lips and he had to hold back the urge to slowly clap. Years ago someone would’ve told him to ignore this man, pretend he was not even there and don’t mind what he said. That person was long gone now and those words had died with him.

“Well, aren’t you smart, now I understand why they hired you.” Míngzé should know better than to mock this person even further. The wise choice was to walk away and let it be. But his legs wouldn’t move. He always had this terrible drive to win, even when something was not a challenge.

The smile dropped from his face however as the other upped his game. Míngzé had his hands already slightly raised, ready to protect his face as he was also slightly hunched over. But the impact never came. One corner of his mouth twitched in frustration and maybe a flicker of shame. “Is this really worth losing your job over?” he asked with a cocked eyebrow. ”They might not appreciate hearing that you used violence against your colleague.  Míngzé tried to keep his breath steady and not let the slight panic take over.

After the man threatened to throw the metal plate at him, Míngzé could no longer trust him. Even when he never felt the impact, he stayed on edge. The other was still holding it. How were people like this allowed to work here? No, that was not right. How was someone like him allowed to work anyway?

Míngzé glared at the other and huffed before shaking his head. “Are you serious?” he asked, his tone clearly irritated. A slip of the hand. The worst part was that people might even believe him, given how everyone who worked here behaved. As if there were no cameras around here to monitor the things happening in the lab.

“You know, whatever,” Míngzé then said as he threw his hands in the air. By now he was done with this insufferable man. “Have fun cleaning up your stuff.” He pushed himself off the counter he was leaning on and made his way to leave. It was about time for a break anyway.