ONE: Vanilla on My Hands

18: Far Too Cutesy and So Sugary Sweet

As much as Frank wanted to say that he hated filing, there was a part of him that actually liked it for various reasons. It would give him a break from whatever he was working on, give him a break from taking calls and passing on messages to Gerard, and it also gave him a break from being in the same office as Derek. The one person in the office who was watching over him regularly, making sure that he was doing everything correctly. Frank felt pretty damn good about how he had his job pretty much figured out by day three. That had to be a record. It took him at least two weeks to know what he was doing when he worked at the newspaper.

Derek had gone and dumped a load of paperwork next to Frank on his desk, making him look up from his computer. He pulled out an earbud, bringing himself back into the world while Smashing Pumpkins continued to play in his right ear. Derek had taken it upon himself to not do any filing now that Frank had started working. It wasn't like Frank was bothered about the fact that Derek was ordering him around. He probably should have been, what with the way Derek had been treating him over the past two days, but Frank just rose above it, ignoring it and getting on with his job. He would rather work than be bored out of his mind. He picked up the stack of paper that Derek had told him to file, putting his earbud back in while he walked to the filing room.

Frank pushed the door open with his shoulder, juggling the paperwork while he turned the volume up on his music. He began sorting through everything on top of one of the filing cabinets, having his own routine while he put everything where it needed to go. On top of the cabinets before he put it all away, mouthing along to the song that was playing. Working faster while he had Nine Inch Nails playing in his ears; he always believed that he worked more efficiently if he was running on music than silence.

Frank made light work of what Derek had given him to put away. He had it all separated out, he began to sort out the separate files, putting them away, speeding through everything while he was listening to music. Thank God for WiFi at work and Derek telling him the password so he didn't have to drain his data whilst trying to get his groove on. His music changed halfway through his task, having him completely submerged into the next song. Nearly done, Frank thought to himself as he moved around the small room, going to the next filing cabinet where he began to sort through, rearranging in date order. Humming along, he only noticed after he caught a glimpse of something in the corner of his eye. Like he had left a cabinet open by accident. Turning on his feet to close what he thought he had left open, that was when he realized he wasn't alone, jumping at the sight of someone else being in the room with him.

"Motherfu-! Shit-" Frank cursed, immediately tugging his earbuds out of his ears as he saw Gerard watching him with a quirked eyebrow and a smile. Frank leaned back against the nearest cabinet, one hand on his chest while he tried to calm his heart that he swore had pissed into his lungs, "Sorry, sir. You scared the absolute crap out of me."

"I apologize for startling you," Gerard said from the other side of the small room, taking a step closer to Frank, "I didn't realize you had music on, boy. I was looking for you and Derek said I'd find you here and I wanted to make sure you were coping with the size of the load. It's only your third day after all and I don't want you overwhelmed already. Don't be afraid to speak up if it's too much, Frank. I don't want you to take too much too fast and you can't... Handle it."

"Oh, I've got it all handled, sir. Big loads aren't new to me. The pressure at the paper could get pretty intense." Frank apologized, "Still, I probably shouldn't have had them in."

"Nonsense. I don't have any issues with it. I know almost all of my staff do it from time to time," Gerard told him, letting Frank breathe a sigh of relief before he continued, "As long as the work gets done, then I don't mind. What are you listening to?" Gerard questioned curiously, still hearing the quiet tinny noise from where Frank had stuffed his earbuds into his blazer pocket.