Milo the Halfling: Part One (complete)

Female Reader x Male Halfling

A few weeks ago the higher ups at your company told you that they were going to be sending you to a new branch to work alongside the newly hired manager until everything got settled. The two of you were to be equals on everything, but the new manager would ultimately have final say on most things. You had been doing this a lot while the company expanded. You had been trying to pack up your apartment so you could finally move, but all the hopping around hindered your progress.

Walking in on that first day, there was a big ‘out of order’ sign on the elevator.

“Oh god,” you grumbled under your breath. “Alright, sure. Why not?”

You went to the stairwell, trying to convince yourself that five floors worth of stairs was nothing. Unfortunately, the third floor proved to be a bit of a strain. Once you reached the top, you stopped at the door to rest and catch your breath so you didn’t appear to be a mess when you met with the manager.

That’s when you remembered your boss had given you a warning about this manager. “We managed to snag him from one of our competitors. Mr. Goodbody is tough as nails, that’s why we sent him to this branch. He’s not to be underestimated.”

You weren’t too sure what that was supposed to mean, you had always worked well with your managers. Once you were cooled off, you walked into the main office. Things were still getting set up, but you could see the beginnings of a very nice office. This was supposed to be a place for graphic designers and artists, so you weren’t surprised with the layout, but it was different from others you had seen. Some employees had been sent here to start operations, one of your first jobs was to start hiring with Mr. Goodbody.

You approached someone who was setting up a coffee pot. “Excuse me, I’m here to see Mr. Goodbody, is he here yet?”

The woman pointed towards the back. “That office in the far corner is his. You can’t miss him.”

“Thank you so much!” You then offered your card. “If you need anything don’t hesitate to ask, I should be here working with Mr. Goodbody for the next few weeks.”

The woman looked at her coworker and sniggered. “Okay, good luck with that.”

You were confused, but you needed to move on. You were already a bit late because of the stairs. You strolled back to the office, finding the door open. There you saw a desk and not much else, but there was a kid standing in front of it with his back turned towards you.

“Hello there young man,” you said with your cheeriest voice possible. “Are you here helping your daddy set up?”

The kid turned around with the most horrible looking sneer on his face. You’re slapped in the face with the realization this isn’t a kid, but a grown man. Mr. Goodbody is a halfling.

“Excuse me?” He turns around, otherwise beautiful green eyes slanted into a terrifying glare.

“Oh god, oh-” You held back the explicatives that were bubbling at the back of your throat. “I am so sorry. I thought...it doesn’t matter what I thought. I uhm-”

He looked you up and down with that same condescending sneer. “Please tell me you’re not the one sent from corporate?”

“I’m afraid I am,” you muttered.

Mr. Goodbody sighed and rubbed the bridge of his adorable nose. His hair was a strawberry blonde and was slicked back into a bun at the back of his head. He was dressed impeccably, especially for a business that encouraged individual style. “I really didn’t want you here,” he said bluntly.

You’re taken aback. You thought you’d made a worse enough first impression, now he was just pouring salt into the wound.

“I used to do your job. I know what I’m doing.” he walked around his desk. “But, the company does what it wants to do. I just have to grin and bear it for a month or so, I suppose.”

You decide to try and mend this cracked impression. “I understand your frustration, but I promise that this will be a fun experience. Everyone I’ve gone to work with before with this expansion has always been sad to see me go.”

Those sharp green eyes flick up to you, a tinge of disgust painting them. “I’m sure you’re just rainbows and glitter, but that’s not why I’m here.” he slaps a stack of papers down upon the desk. “Here are the resumes of the people we’re seeing today. I suggest you look them over closely before they start arriving.”

He may have looked like a kitten, but Mr. Goodbody gave off nothing but pitbull energy. Of course work with him was awkward the first couple of days. Luckily it was tolerable due to interviews. Once you started discussing which ones you wanted to hire, it got worse.

“They may have interviewed well, but their portfolio is lacking!” Mr. Goodbody argued.

“But what they do have is impressive,” you tried to fight back.

He rolled his eyes. “It’s lacking,” he said slowly. “Which means they work slow. If they want to be competitive they need to show me that. This isn’t Ms. Honey’s art class. This is a job!”

He was a tough nut to crack. Usually by now you had found common ground with all the managers you had worked with. Mr. Goodbody wasn’t even giving you an inch, he wasn’t even letting you call him by his first name, Milo. “You can’t expect everybody to work at breakneck pace, that’s what causes turnover to increase so rapidly.”

“I’m not asking for ‘breakneck.’ I’ve seen enough creatives to know this. That artist is extremely talented, but they would fare better in the freelance sector.” he shook his head and picked up his bottle of water. “I don’t know how you’ve managed to maintain your reputation when you’re all touchy feely.”

“I’m not touchy feely,” you scoffed. “I work hard, just like you do.”

Mr. Goodbody rolled his eyes and took a drink.

“You’re not even giving me a chance. I’m sorry for how I first introduced myself, I can’t change that. But you have to give me some room here to actually work with you if you ever want to get this branch off the ground.”

He smirked as he set his bottle down. “See? Touchy feely.”

You held back your boiling anger, clicking your pen several times rapidly. “How is that touchy feely?”

“The magic of friendship?” He snorted. “What cartoon did you roll out of?”

You pressed down hard on the clicker of your pen. “When did I say that?”

Mr. Goodbody shrugged. “That’s what you’re getting at right? The whole ‘lets be friends and work together’ shtick right? You’re here for a month, why try that at all? You won’t even matter here after that.”

“You know what? That’s mean.” You snapped your planner closed and shoved it into your bag. “I don’t have to put up with this.”

You stand up in a huff to leave. “No wonder I was warned about you. Fine then. If that’s how you want it, I’ll come in tomorrow and just be a robot. You don’t have to deal with me. You don’t even have to talk to me if you don’t want to. Just stop being obnoxious!”

You’re almost out the door when your bag breaks. Everything you have spills out onto the floor. You stand there still, holding your breath as if it will make time go backwards and save you from this embarrassment.

“Okay,” Mr. Goodbody sighed. “You’ve had enough.”

He got up from his desk, picking up things that had scattered on the floor. “You’re as bad at exits as you are at entrances.”

You knelt down, going as slow as possible.

“Not normally,” you grumbled.

Mr. Goodbody extended to you a handful of your things. “I’ll go grab you a tote bag from the supply closet.”

He left while you continued to pick up the rest of things. When he came back, he gave you one of the complimentary tote bags that was handed out during the hiring process.

You shoved all your things inside and slowly exhaled. “Sorry.”

“No need to apologize. I know what I am and what I do.” He offered out his hand to you, helping you to stand up. “Don’t come in as a robot. Just come in as a coworker.”

“At least you can admit it,” I grumbled.

Mr. Goodbody walked with you to the elevator, which had finally been repaired. “I have my reasons, that’s the reason I can admit it.”

You stood inside the elevator with him, silent at first. If his attitude wasn’t so awful, you might have thought him cute, maybe even handsome. He was confident in himself, which was nice, but maybe it was too much confidence.

“We’ll discuss our hiring plan tomorrow. Go over the list a second time, and really think about who you’re hiring. You can’t go but gut instinct alone it’s--”

The lights flickered and outside a noise like grinding gravel echoed. The whole elevator shifts and comes to a complete stop. The lights turn off and the emergency red light comes on.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Mr. Goodbody snarled.

“I thought they fixed it?” You huffed.

Mr. Goodbody pressed the emergency button, but nothing seemed to happen. “Great, just great.”

“Is there an emergency phone?” You asked, looking around.

Mr. Goodbody pointed to a plaque below the buttons. “No, but there’s a number we can call. I don’t have my phone; I left all my things upstairs.”

“Yeah, I have my phone somewhere.” You were trying to search through your things, but everything was mixed up and lost within the tote bag. “I thought you were leaving, why didn’t you bring your things?”

“It’s late, I was going to walk you to your car,” he huffed.

You found your phone in the mess. “You were?”

Mr. Goodbody averted his eyes. “Just call the damn number.”

He wandered to a corner while you made the report of the broken elevator. Once the call was done, you leaned back against the wall. “Could be a while.”

“A while?” He scoffed. “We’re stuck!”

“Yeah well, it’s late and stuff so-” You pouted while looking at your phone screen. “We’re stuck together a bit longer.”

Mr. Goodbody slid down into a seated position. “Fucking hell.”

You turn off your phone to conserve power. “I’m sure there are worse people to be stuck with.”

“Not you!” he huffed. “It’s this whole--”

He waved his hand around above his head.

You sit down as well. “We’ll be okay. The elevator cables shouldn’t snap or anything.”

He gave you a nasty look. “Stop it.”

“Sorry,” you looked down, thrumming your fingers against your legs. You looked back towards him, noticing how tense his body was. “We could play a game?”

“Really?”

“What else can we do? I don’t think sitting in silence for hours is going to help except stress us out more.” You move closer to him. “We could play twenty questions.”

“I have enough questions lobbed at me everyday,” he growled.

You think for a moment. “Truth or dare?”

Mr. Goodbody snorted. “What are you, twelve?”

You gave him a smile. “I could start reading the romance novel I have in my bag.”

He huffed and stretched out his legs a bit more. “Okay you’re not twelve, you’re thirteen.”

You giggled and for once you saw Mr. Goodbody smile. It was nice, it suited him. “I’m not hearing a no.”

“Fine, truth or dare,” he grumbled. “But how are we supposed to play it between just the two of us?”

You smiled. “We’ll take turns. I’ll even let you go first.”

He exhaled loudly and screwed his mouth up as he thought. “Okay, truth. Why do you do this job?”

Easy enough, you thought. “Good pay. Benefits. I thought I would enjoy the travelling and the people.”

“You thought?” Mr. Goodbody sneered.

You shrugged. “Yeah I thought. My turn. I dare you to let me call you by your first name.”

He seemed aggravated, both by not getting a full answer, and by your dare.

“Seriously?” He rolled his eyes. “Okay fine. Call me Milo.”

You smiled at Milo, excited to finally have this small victory. “I will, Milo. So nice of you to agree, Milo.”

He snarled under his breath. “My turn, I dare you to lick the wall.”

He couldn't have been serious. You laughed and shook your head. “Ew! No!”

“You gotta, I dared you,” he teased. “If you don’t, I win.”

You bit back your smirk. “There’s no winner in truth or dare.”

Milo is relaxing more, he doesn’t look so balled up and hard. “Then what happens if you don't dare, huh? Surely there must be some penalty for that.”

“Whoever doesn’t comply loses a turn. How about that?”

“So it’s my turn again?” He had a nasty little smile on his face. You just knew he was up to something. “Alright then, I dare you to lick the wall.”

“Stop it!” You laughed. “Dare me something not stupid.”

Milo looked so smug in his ridiculous victory. “Okay fine. I dare you to scream at the top of your lungs.”

“What for?” You laughed.

Milo’s smile was pulled up further to one side, and his green eyes looked mischievous with the red light. “It’s a dare, it doesn’t have to make sense. Besides, I don’t think there is anyone left in the building. It’s just a scream.”

You scoffed. “Sure. Whatever floats your boat.” You threw your head back and screamed, and somewhere beyond the elevator you heard someone yelling. “There are people here! I just scared the shit out of someone!”

Milo was laughing, and hard. He was bent over, holding his sides as he guffawed at you. He couldn’t even look at you without bursting into laughter.

“Are you proud of yourself?” You snipped.

“I actually am,” he snorted.

“Two can play that game, I dare you to scream at the top of your lungs.” He shook his head, still snickering and snorting. “My turn again. Truth, why do you hate me?”

“I don’t hate you,” he wheezed.

You frowned. “Then why have you been such a massive pain in my side?”

“You don’t get to ask twice,” he chuckled. “Truth, why do you think I hate you?”

“Because you’ve been a massive pain in my side! It’s like you have to argue with me about everything I say.”

“No I don’t.”

You glared at him, giving him what your sister called your ‘mad puppet’ face. Milo just smiled at you, giggling under his breath.

“Truth, why do you do it?”

“Because I do like you.” Milo’s laughter began to stifle. “I’m trying to keep it professional.”

Your mad puppet face receded. “You like me, so you treat me like dirt?”

“Not dirt. And it isn’t your turn.” He took a deep breath. “I dare you to tell me if you like-like anyone.”

“Who’s thirteen now?” You sneered.

“If you’re not going to comply, then I get to go again.” Milo leaned back into the corner. “I dare you to ask me if I like anyone?”

You sighed, leaning your head to the side. “Okay fine. Do you like anyone?”

“Unfortunately I do. And it sucks because we work together and I have to keep this professional. Which stresses me out because they’re a nice person, who is also a hard worker and creatively talented when it comes to how they approach things. Which are all things I find attractive in a person. Not to mention, they wear a perfume that drives me crazy.”

“Wait--” The elevator lights came back on, and after some grinding and groaning it ascended back up towards your office floor. You stood up as the doors opened and Milo walked out ahead of you.

“I’ll go get my things, I’m done with today.” Milo turned around as you were still processing what just happened. “Would you like to join me for dinner? Perhaps we can continue our game there?”

You stared hard at him, your brows pinched tight. “You like me?”

Milo smirked. “Is that a truth or a dare?”

You stood stiff and planted your feet firmly upon the ground.  It was a simple yes or no question, that’s all you wanted. “Just answer the question.”

“Maybe.” Milo turned and continued walking towards his office.

You grumbled under your breath and waited at the elevator for him to get back. Once he returned, he diverted and went towards the stairs. “I’m not risking it again.”

You followed after him with a scoff, going into the stairwell together. You were both silent as you walked down the first flight. He then stalled as you stepped onto the fourth floor landing. He was above you on the stairs, which was probably the position he wanted for this moment.

“What perfume do you wear?” He asked.

“It’s called Absynthe. I picked it because green is my favorite color and the bottle--” You looked into his green eyes and suddenly your belly filled with butterflies. “The bottle was really pretty.”

Milo smirked. “It’s nice. I like it quite a bit.” He descended the stairs and came close to you. “So green is your favorite color?”

You followed along beside him. “Yeah.”

“Mine too,” he chuckled. “So, would you like to go to dinner?”

The butterflies were fluttering much harder. “Sure. What did you have in mind?” You finally came to the ground floor. Milo opened the door for you as you stepped out into the cool night air.

“I pretty much like everything. What are you in the mood for?”

You thought for a second. “Waffles?”

Milo broke into a very handsome smile. “My favorite. I love breakfast.”