You can read Andrei’s introduction here.

And you can read about his first day here.

Arrived at office at 8:00 am—desk was in disarray. 

Andrei frowned at the heavy wool coat on his desk. He put his leather bag on his chair before lifting the garment and looking for its owner. Aside from the morning crew, there was no one around. After checking the desks of his teammates, he saw a pair of wet boots under Lars’ desk. Andrei put the coat on the back of the computer chair. He sat at his desk and unpacked his satchel. 

Heavy, muted footfalls alerted Andrei to another’s approach. He looked up and saw a man built like a fridge. 

“Ah.” Andrei breathed. 

Lars looked at his desk and then back at him, his face relaxing when he found his coat. He grabbed it along with his boots without more than a grunt at Andrei. 

“ах черт нах1.” He grunted as the fridge disappeared. 

The new technician stood and walked to Lars’ desk. He looked at the keys with intensity. He typed a few combinations before unlocking the workstation. He kept glancing up as he typed and clicked away. As soon as his task complete, he locked it again and returned to his desk. Lars returned a few minutes later with a coffee in hand. 

“Morning.” Andrei offered. 

“Morn’,” Lars replied as he sat down. 

“Long night?” 

Lars looked up before he had the chance to type his login password. “Why do you ask?” 

The leaner man shrugged. “You look like you had a good night. But a shit morning.” 

Lars snorted. “Yea, that about sums it up, newbie.” 

“Hey, guys!” Ryan cried, his cheerful tone blinding and loud. 

Lars flinched. 

Andrei smirked. 

“Jeez, Ryan, being that much of a morning person should be illegal!” Lars complained. 

Ryan chuckled. “What are you talking about? Hey! Morning Andrei, am I pronouncing it right?” 

Andrei smiled at the younger man. “Yes.” 

Ryan sat down. “So, were you born there and moved here, or were your parents hardcore?” 

The paler man leaned forward, hand cradling his temple. “Born and raised there. Only came here a few years ago.” 

“Ah! No way.” Ryan exclaimed as he threw his backpack aside. “So, you’re like, super fluent in Russian, right?” 

Andrei snickered. “Yes, super fluent.” 

“Why move to the good old, North West?” he continued, pulling off his hoodie and getting comfortable. 

The Russian shrugged. “Needed the change, and Ambrose made it worth my while.” 

Lars snorted. “I bet he did.” 

Andrei looked over with eyes glacial. Lars noticed and froze as his instincts relayed a message his mind didn’t understand. 

“I assure you; this is not nepotism. I am over-qualified for my position.” He replied with clipped words. 

Ryan looked between Lars and their new team member but didn’t say a word. 

“Oh, yea?” Lars pipped up, angry at something but unable to say what. 

A smooth smile graced Andrei’s thin lips. “Login and check for yourself.” 

Lars frowned and grumbled as he smashed the keys to his password on his keyboard. Ryan had looked away, but Andrei nudged him. The younger man looked up; his brows knitted. The older man gestured with his eyes to Lars with a grin. The two waited in conspiratory silence. Lars’ frowned depended as it took longer than average for his screen to unlock. The two kept exchanging glances between hawking Lars. 

The screen unlocked and lit up the big man’s face. He cringed and backed away from his desk with a grimace. Andrei covered his lips with his long hand while Ryan gasped and stood. 

“What is it?” Ryan asked. 

Lars put a hand over his eyes. “Which one of you fuckers did this?!” 

Andrei shrugged as he returned to his work, all traces of a smile smoothed out. “Did what?” he asked. 

“I mean it! Which one of you did this?!” 

Ryan went around to look at Lars’ screen. He gave a loud gasp, his jaw-dropping as his eyes opened. He doubled over as he burst out laughing. A few other technicians came over to check what the fuss was about. Lars’ desk was ground-zero for a wave of guffaws. Tina held her cup of coffee tighter as she approached the crowd. 

She pushed her thick-framed plastic glasses up. “What’s all this about?” 

Lars sulked as he kept his eye on his screen to avoid all the laughter. “Some asshole ‘Burt Reynolds’-ed me!” 

Tina frowned, walked over, and looked at his screen. She whistled as Burt Reynolds grinned with a cowboy hat covering his goods winked at her. Tina grabbed Lars’ mouse, and her eyes widened. 

“Damn! They changed the taskbar, your user account profile pic, your windows profile pic, jeez! You’re now Burt Reynolds’ Banana hammock on Teams!” Tina looked at Lars with a smile. 

He was still sulking. 

Tina returned his mouse and cleared her throat; all traces of her smile vanished. “So, umm, how long did you leave your PC unlocked for?” 

“I didn’t,” Lars grunted. 

Tina froze. The only motion, her eyes blinking. “So, who’d you share your password with?” 

“No one.” 

Tina’s frown deepened. 

The crowd dispersed.  

“Well, go see Internal about changing your password. It’ll have to be complex, maybe 16 characters this time. I’ll let you straighten out your workstation.” 

“Yes, ma’am,” Lars replied. 

Tina sat down at her desk. 

*** 

Andrei sat alone, eating pasta as he read a book. 

Tina sat down across from him. 

He looked up, closed his book, and finished chewing his bite. 

“What’s that?” she asked, looking at his plate and nudging her chin. 

“Gnocchi,” he replied. 

Tina pressed her lips together with a nod. “Homemade or store-bought?” 

Andrei smirked. “Homemade.” 

Tina nodded, crossing her arms, so she was leaning on her forearms. “So, none of my team is savvy enough for the whole debacle with Lars’ PC. Did something happen this morning?” 

Andrei sighed. “It was a jest-” 

Tina cracked a smile, and he stopped. “I know, this is not a reprimand. I wanna make sure the team’s being good to you?” 

He sighed, his shoulders relaxing. “Thank you. I worried we were off to a rocky start,” he admitted. 

Tina shook her head. “Listen, the big boss likes you, he wouldn’t shut up about your move and then when he hired you it was like he’d won the lottery. It’s fine. It was a bad day.” 

Andrei nodded and gave Tine a sheepish glance. “Thanks.” 

“I’ve known him a long time, you guys must be good friends that he treats you like family,” she remarked. 

“We may as well be family.” 

Tina nodded. “It surprised me he put you on my team though, you’re over-qualified and will end up bored in no time.” 

Andrei’s cheeks brightened. “He wanted to put me in sales. That’s not a good spot for me.” 

Tine quirked a brow. “Why not?” 

Andrei sighed. “Not the most patient. Wind up being too aggressive in negotiations.” 

The raven-haired shorty’s eyes widened as she blinked. “I’d never have thought that.” 

He shrugged. “I prefer the technical side. I like seeing the tangible results of my work.” 

She nodded. “Okay, but if Lars gives you a hard time, come to me, okay? The fridge has a temper.” 

Andrei frowned. “Has he been aggressive before?” 

Tina shook her head. “Not since we spoke to him about it the last time. He has a tendency to take things too far.” 

He nodded. “I appreciate the heads up.” 

Tina nodded. “No problem.” 

Andrei waved. Tina got up and left. He returned to his book and meal as the clicking on heels peaked his attention. 

“Wow, how quaint, the Russian import is reading Dostoyevsky.” Lizzie quipped. 

Andrei looked up and smirked. “About as quaint as the Queen’s namesake reading Oscar Wilde,” he said as he pointed to the book she held with his fork. 

Lizzie’s cheeks brightened. He kept her gaze and smiled. 

She snorted as she walked over the kettle. Andrei broke out laughing. 

“Yea, yea, laugh it up, Russian import.” 

“I prefer Andy.” 

Lizzie continued her task of making tea. “Am I making you some?” she said, gesturing to the kettle. 

He nodded. “Thank you.” 

“Tekken,” she said. 

He frowned. “Pardon me?” 

“Beat me at Tekken, and I’ll use your preferred moniker.” she challenged. 

He frowned. “Using my own rule against me?” 

“Seems fair.” 

He sighed. “Have I angered you somehow?” 

She froze. 

They stared at each other, she, waiting for the kettle, he, waiting for her answer. 

“I guess I felt like you’d been taking me for a ride on our conversation last time,” she admitted. 

His eyes widened as he put the fork back down. “I wasn’t.” 

“You said you were shy.” she began. 

“I am,” he confirmed. 

“But then you were vulnerable.” she finished with a frown. 

He gave a nervous laugh. “Yea, that’s why I’m shy!” 

She frowned. “Those things are mutually exclusive.” 

“Yea. But I wasn’t pretending to be one thing while being another… I’m weird, I know.” he admitted, his shoulders sinking. 

The kettle began to bubble, and Lizzie turned back to it and set up their cups. “I’m sorry, I guess I assumed and made an ass of myself.” 

“You didn’t,” he said with a quiet voice. “But it would be a lot easier if next time you told me this as you discovered it?” 

She brought him his mug and sat down across from him. “I guess that’s fair.” 

He smiled. “Thank you.” 

She grinned. “Challenge still stands, Russian import,” she said as she got up and sauntered back to the front desk. He wished she wouldn’t walk away, but could not tear his eyes away as he watched her go. He shook his head and scarfed down the rest of his meal. 

The day went on. Andrei focused on clearing the ticket board. When the end of the day came, the team said their goodbyes before leaving, all but Lars. He was still sulking about the defilement of his desktop. Andrei was packing up when he heard the click of heels. He looked up to see Lizzie. 

“Ready?” she asked, handing him a controller. 

He frowned but grinned. “Oh, yea?” 

She smiled back. “Yea.” 

He jumped, and she scurried to the coach in the lunchroom with the game. He jumped on the couch and grinned that the game loaded. 

“Preference for arenas or characters?” he asked. 

She joined him on the couch. “None.” 

He grinned and set things up. “Ready?” 

She smirked. “Are you?” 

He looked her up and down. “Shit talking?” 

She snorted. “I’m good at this one.” 

The countdown began, and they battled the customary three rounds. Andrei let her lead their first-round. He discovered that was a poor call. She brought his HP to zero within three moves. 

He whistled. “Okay, I can’t go easy on you.” 

She smirked. “I’m insulted you thought you had to!” 

He cupped her shoulder, his whole hand swallowing it. “I’m sorry, I’ll never underestimate you again.” 

“Better.” she nodded. 

They went onto round two. Andrei leaned forward, elbows resting on knees. The clicking of buttons was loud as they battled. She wiped the floor with him again. He blinked again as she won and put her joystick down. She ruffled his hair as she walked to the locker rooms. 

“Better luck next time, Russian Import.” 

Left the office at 5:37 pm – must get better at Tekken.