049×035 oneshots

Soup and They're Sold

A Human AU in which a surgeon  meets a very attractive coworker. Potentially a part one for a multi part series.

Warnings: Human SCPs, SCP Researchers, 049 being a bisexual mess, Genderfluid character, Character with Vitiligo, Human au headcanons, implied worker mistreatment.

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Dr. Burrd was very glad that the bag he was holding was made of plastic. Paper, by now, surely would have ripped with how frantically long, thin fingers had been wringing the handle. He only needed to go into the security office. It would not be hard, surely. Just pop in, make... whatever small talk was typical for bringing a stranger food. Try not to sound creepy. Don't panic. Don't weird them out...

Alright perhaps this was going to be a bit harder than he'd first thought. Perhaps he could ask his intern to deliver it? No... no that would just be cruel. The poor thing already had horrible social anxiety. He'd barely gotten the handle of speaking to the night janitor. not that the Doctor was much better. He'd traded his social skills for a doctorate and a lifetime of student debt which, unlike most, he'd somehow managed to outlive.

A deep breath, and he knocked. "Door's unlocked," said the voice on the other side. It was a nice voice. Smooth, and lightly accented. That, of course, did not distract from how utterly odd - not to mention, against protocol - leaving this particular room unlocked was. The Doctor told himself not to mention it and opened the door, stepping nervously inside.

The security office was a simple, small thing. Painted gray walls that would have done no worse without the covering of drywall that hid the backing of reenforced steel. The messy desk which took up about half the room sported a dangerously high stack of Styrofoam coffee cups, an old computer with an incident log pulled up on the screen, and a half gallon thermos of water along with enough crumpled paper that the keyboard beneath had entirely vanished. Not that he could blame security for the mess. The last breach had cut the janitorial staff by almost half. Quite literally, in a few cases, and the singular, sad little trashcan didn't stand a chance at even a day's worth of clutter, much less the week or so  that it had been since the desperate hunt for cleaning staff had begun. Rising above the mountain of paper, a massive collection of monitors loomed, some flicking from camera to camera, and others remaining focused strictly on a single spot. Typically, these were marked with a red 'Keter Wing' sticker, though there were a few blank ones that he assumed were the doors that led outside.

He had no idea how one person could focus on all those cameras at once, then again, considering that the current occupant was currently appraising him like a shady deal on e-bay, hand inching closer to where a button to call the on duty MTF, perhaps they didn't. The Doctor's plans for a nice, casual conversation flew out the window. He felt like his throat was closing up. What the hell was he doing? He could have just left the food by the door! 

Another moment of silence. Dr. Burrd was half ready to just drop the bag and bolt, pride be damned, then the security officer appeared to decide that he wasn't any sort of threat, and addressed him. "Need something?"

"Ahm..." he choked, clearing his throat in the hopes that such would dispel the heart pounding anxiousness that had almost fully engulfed, "Yes- or... No... No I... Not really. I..." another desperate clearing of his throat. Maybe if be just pretended that this was a surgery? Not that any surgery required the delivery of food, but it if he tricked himself well enough, perhaps he could fix the frankly abhorrent state of the conversation. "This.... This might sound odd, but I think I saw you earlier today, talking with.... one of the MTF? You said that you forgot your food at home, and... Well, I was just leaving, but in the car I thought that, maybe, if I got called in again, I could bring you something? It isn't much I just... I had some leftovers and I figured that if you wanted them I'd give them to you."