The building they drove to after their little picnic at was absolutely massive! Ravi began trying to look up to its tallest point after stepping out of the car, but quickly gave up and returned his attention to Trever as he came around to his side and offered him his hand. 

Ravi wanted to grab it immediately, but held himself back right before he could reach forward. Trever looked surprised, but he didn't say anything about it. Instead, he gestured for Ravi to come to his side, which he gladly did. 

"Ready? We're just going to walk around for a bit, then get settled in my office," he said as they headed for the large spinning door in the front. 

It took him by surprise, halting his steps as he watched Trever seamlessly step through the swinging walls without issue. 

Taking a few steps backward, Ravi eyed the strange door and noted that Trever was waiting for him on the other side, clearly considering coming back through to get him. 

I can walk through a door!

Just the thought of such a thing stopping him made him uncomfortable. It was moving, and it stressed him out because he wasn't sure if he could time his steps correctly to get inside, but he didn't want to rely on Trever for every little thing that bothered him. 

So, before Trever could come back and get him, he waited for the door to spin one more time, then ran forward as soon as there was a tiny opening. 

He stumbled into the glass wall in front of him, but before he could stop, like he automatically wanted to, he forced himself to lean into that wall until an opening appeared and he fumbled out... and right into waiting arms. 

Said arms carried him a few more steps away from the door before setting him down. A head pat then followed before Ravi finally looked up at a smiling Trever. 

He's touching my hair again. 

Even though his heart was racing hard in his chest and his mind was still in partial panic mode, going through the spinning door on his own had earned him another head pat.

The door was worth the stress. It was definitely worth the stress, and he'd done it on his own without hesitating much at all!

"You good, bud?" Trever asked as he tilted his head slightly. 

He had left his jacket in the car, since it had been used for for Ravi's haircut, but he still looked incredibly handsome in his tucked-in, white, button-down long sleeved shirt and black pants. 

"Master Trever is super handsome," he said without thinking. 

Thankfully, the guy took it in stride, like most things that have been happening recently, and simply widened his grin. After one more nice head pat, he lowered his hand. 

"I'm going to take that as a yes," he said with a light chuckle before heading toward the large receptionist desk at the far end of the room. 

Ravi hurried to follow and fell into step beside him, holding his head high just like his master. Sure, he had no idea what they were doing or even what Trever's job was going to be at such a massive company, but he wasn't going to make him look bad! 

He did his best to pay attention to what his master said to the receptionist, but the only thing he could really wrap his mind around as he was looking off to the side at a fly buzzing around her cold cup of untouched coffee, was that the building actually didn't belong to just one company. 

They would be going up to the fourteenth floor, and the company he was working for rented the offices on the fourteenth through the sixteenth floors. 

"Thank you, ma'am. Have a great day," Trever said as he turned and gestured for Ravi to follow him again. 

As directed, Ravi fell back into step next to him, but spared the little fly one last glance before they stepped onto one of the three elevators off to the right side of the room. 

"Don't mind these, hmm?" Trever asked as they headed up. 

Ravi kept his eyes strictly on the lit up button for the fourteenth floor, not daring to look out the glass back of the elevator. 

"I'm okay," he said in a robotic tone that proved that he was, in fact, not all that okay. 

Thankfully, Trever decided not to push him on it, and soon they were stepping off the elevator and heading toward another receptionist desk. This one, however, wasn't nearly as welcoming as the one downstairs. 

The girl behind the desk was much younger than the one downstairs, but that wasn't really an issue. It was her demeanor, and the way that she was blatantly dismissing them before she even greeted them by looking down at her phone, that made Ravi think...

This person does not want her job. 

"We'd like to speak with Mr. Spencer, please. He should be expecting us," Trever said with a voice Ravi had rarely heard from him. 

Master is not interested in being ignored. 

The thought made him grin, because the girl certainly hadn't been expecting to hear such a no-nonsense tone right off the bat. She even jumped slightly and dropped her phone on the desk as her head snapped up. 

A fake smile was plastered on her lips, but even that changed to one of awkward authenticity when she realized the person who wanted her attention was easy on the eyes. 

Ravi bristled at her appraising look and was about to let out an unintended grumble when the girl leaned a little closer. 

"You are absolutely stunning," she said to him, not to Trever. 

Me? Stunning? 

His mind couldn't wrap itself around the compliment. The only one he really understood was good boy. She hadn't said those two words, though. She'd said stunning. 

All of a sudden, Ravi's brain stopped functioning and he quickly darted behind Trever to hide. 

"We're expected and don't want to be late. Is Mr. Spencer still in his office down the hall on the left?" Trever asked, his voice calm but now with an added hint of displeasure. 

It sounded like the woman leaned back in her chair as she replied with a bored tone. 

"Yes." 

Trever turned slightly and reached up to pat Ravi's head, then nodded toward the hall before he began walking in that direction. Not wanting to be left behind, Ravi hurried after him. Right before he went around the corner and out of sight, though, he glanced back at the odd girl sitting at the desk. 

Unfortunately, she was watching him, too, and the moment their eyes met she winked. His inner dog whined, not a fan of the attention since it wasn't from Trever. 

Quickly returning his focus to where he was going, Ravi hurried forward and caught up to Trever right as they stopped outside of a large office door. 

Not hesitating in the slightest, Trever lifted one hand and knocked loudly. When they heard a voice enthusiastically shout "come in!" Trever reached down and turned the handle, then shoved the door open. 

He walked in with his back straight and head held high, his demeanor no less dominant than it had been previously, even though the guy sitting across the room from them had a really big desk and an even fancier suit. He also looked incredibly nervous, like he really didn't feel superior to Trever at all.

My master is amazing. 

"Welcome, welcome. Thank you for coming out again, and on such short notice," Mr. Spencer said as he clearly tried to sneak a look at Ravi a few times, even though he was mostly back to hiding behind Trever. 

"Don't worry about my friend. Let's get down to business," Trever said as he gently took Ravi's hand and tugged him forward and into a seat beside the one he took for himself. 

Ravi twisted his hands in his lap at first, but when he noticed that the man wasn't paying him anymore mind, and was, instead, focusing all of his attention on Trever, as instructed, he was able to relax enough to give a quiet sigh of relief. 

Trever scooted his heavy black armchair a little closer and tapped his hand lightly on the large oak desk. 

"Let me see the information I had you keep from my last visit here. You have been filling out the forms, right?" he asked with skepticism clear in his voice. 

Ravi tilted his head, then went over what his master had said before thinking up his own slight copy-cat of him. 

Yeah, you got the forms, right? 

He nodded to himself as he nibbled at a nail, proud of his little internal monologue. Of course, saying it in his head and saying it out loud to other living human beings were two very different things, but that was a problem for another day. 

His attention remained on copying whatever Trever said back into his mind, with his own little twists, pretending as if he were the tough guy making Mr. Spencer nervous and scurry about like a mouse. 

He was silently giggling to himself when the man across from them finally yelled in relieved excitement, making Ravi jump and snap out of his thoughts. 

"I finally found them! I knew they were here somewhere, but Brian must have moved the files when he was cleaning up my computer," Mr. Spencer said as he reached over and pressed a button. 

"Hey Gina? Can you go pick up some papers I have printing out please?" 

He let go of the button after speaking, but when no one replied, he frowned and pressed it again, then repeated himself before releasing it a second time. 

Again. No response. 

Trever didn't look all that surprised, though. He seemed like he was just about to get up and go get them himself when he noticed Ravi staring at him, wiggling slightly in his chair. He had a bit too much energy after having not run around for a while, but he didn't want to bother master Trever while he was working. 

"Hey Ravi, are you good with directions?" he asked as he settled back into his seat. 

Directions? 

"Yes, yes sir. I will do whatever you want me to. I remember directions well," he said proudly. 

If it was one thing he could do well, it was listen to what he was told to do! 

"Good, I need you to go get me some papers. You're going to go out this door and take a right, then walk all the way to the end of that hall until you come to a dead end. Then take a left and follow it all the way, too. The room to the left of that dead end is a copy room. I need you to go get me all of the papers that are coming out of the copy machine right now please." 

Ravi immediately went over the instructions in his mind, then nodded and stood. 

"Yes sir." 

He walked out of the room with his head held high and took the right turn he'd been told to. As soon as the door clicked shut behind him, however, his resolve dissolved and his eyes widened. 

The hall was very long. 

There were people coming and going, glancing at him with either curiosity, or confused annoyance. 

He didn't want to go anywhere but right back to his master's side. And he nearly did just that, but stopped himself with his hand on the door handle. 

You want to pay him back, though. He's already spent a lot of money on you, and you still need new clothes and other stuff. 

Ravi forced himself to let go of the door handle and slowly turn back toward the hallway he needed to go down. 

You wanted to get a job. This is a good chance to see if you can even handle a simple task given to you by your own master. Stop hesitating and just do it. 

Of course, that was much easier said than thought. Perhaps if he could shift, he'd manage better, but jobs weren't normally given to dogs. So, swallowing down what nerves he could, Ravi began his odd chewing habit as he hurried down the long walkway. 

It honestly wasn't too terrible for the first stretch of distance, but as he got to the corner, a large group of people nearly ran right into him. 

"Woah there, careful bud, almost ran you over," said an older man with thick glasses and a terrible taupe smooshed atop his head. His bright red sweater-vest made Ravi want to lift his leg and pee on it, but he held himself back... much to his dog's displeasure. 

"Oh, it's that grump's boy," the girl from the front desk said as she walked forward and promptly reached out to grab Ravi's collar. 

He noticed the name on the tag of her shirt this time, then inwardly grumbled. 

Gina. So she is the person who was supposed to go get the papers. 

Slightly annoyed at that thought, and very uninterested in being pet by anyone besides his master, Ravi did finally let out a quiet growl, making the girl withdraw her hand quickly but brush it off with a laugh. 

"He's a puppy shifter! That's hilarious! No wonder he looks so cute," she said with a too-shrill laugh as the rest of the group got closer, nearly trapping Ravi in the corner as they began to fawn over him. 

Too much. Too close. Too many. 

One person was too many for him most times, yet there were now five trying to reach for him to pat his hair and look at his collar and touch his shoulder and—"S-stop it!" 

The entire group went abruptly silent at the sound of his stuttered, growled shout. 

He honestly felt like he was about to cry, but he knew that tears weren't going to make the people go away. So, he forced all of his frustration into that one, terrified yell. 

 When the group remained silent for several more seconds, Ravi slowly looked up, but not before he made sure that he had a very unhappy expression on his face. 

"I-I have a job to do. Go away," he grumbled out as he forced himself to take a hesitant step forward. 

Thankfully, his risk paid off and the group moved aside so that he could get past them. Of course, as he hurried down the next hallway, he could hear them talking about him behind his back, but that didn't matter. All that he cared about was completing the job he had been given by his master. 

So, when he got to the end of that hall and looked to the left, he was relieved to see a sign that said Copy Room right next to the door he now faced. 

I made it! 

Hurrying inside, Ravi saw the giant machine spitting out paper and happily waited until it was finished before gathering everything up nice and neatly in his arms. He was just about to leave when he looked down at the top paper and noticed something looked weird. 

Page sixty out of one-hundred and two? 

Granted, he'd never copied anything before and had no idea how to even use one, but it kind of looked like it hadn't finished the full job. 

Turning back around, he set the stack of paper on the desk nearby, then went over to the copy machine. 

He honestly had no idea what to even consider pressing, but right before he was about to give up and just bring what he had back to Trever, he noticed a few stickers on the top of the machine. 

Ink low if blue light flashing on screen. 

Ah ha! Maybe the ink was low? He didn't know how to change it, but at least he'd be able to go back and tell his master what the issue was. 

Except, when he looked at the little screen on the front of the printer, the light that was flashing there wasn't blue. 

What does it mean if the red light is flashing? 

Ravi quickly went back to read the next sticker. 

Ah, out of paper.

He looked around on the big machine until he found a compartment that said paper drawer, then tugged it open. 

It's empty. 

He grinned and straightened back up, then looked around at the cabinets nearby until he noticed one that had a little piece of tape near its handle that said paper. 

Yes! 

He quickly hurried over and took out a ream of heavy paper, then, after looking at the picture of how to load it at the bottom of the copier tray, he slid it in, then nudged the tray closed gently until he felt it settle into place. 

Before he could even stand back up and look for what else he had to do, the machine whirred back to life and quickly began spitting out more papers. 

I... I did it? 

Grinning to himself, Ravi gave a little happy dance at his accomplishment, then scooped up the last of the papers the machine had finished printing. After adding those to the stack he previously took, he got everything settled nice and neatly, then stepped out of the room and hurried back before anyone else could try to stop him. 

"M—Mr. Trever!" Ravi said with a tad too much enthusiasm as he walked back inside, catching himself right before he could yell master. 

He knew that the man wouldn't mind, but most people weren't as accepting of such relationships, so he didn't want to make his master feel awkward. 

"The printer ran out of paper but I found some. Here are all of yours," he said as he happily handed them over. 

It was quite a large stack, but Trever didn't seem worried about it at all. 

"Thank you, Ravi. You did well." 

I did well? I did well! 

"These look like they were kept decently. I'm honestly surprised," Trever said as he looked from the first few papers he flipped through, then glanced up at a sweating Mr. Spencer. 

The man looked a lot more stressed than he had before Ravi had left... perhaps they had talked more while he wasn't there. 

"Alright, well, I need to review these and go get settled. Is it the same place as last time?" Trever asked as he got up, tucking the papers beneath his left arm as he did so. 

The older man jumped up, too, nodding his head vigorously. 

"Yes! Everything is the same, but if you would like any changes, please let me know," he said as he hurried to hand over a key. 

Trever slid it into his pocket, then nodded. 

"Thanks, I'll let you know. We'll be back tomorrow and I'll review these tonight. Do you have any questions for me?" he asked. 

Mr. Spencer quickly shook his head. 

"No sir! I'll see you tomorrow, and thank you again for coming back. We will take care of this situation once and for all this time," he said as a drop of sweat ran down his brow. 

This man is kind of yucky. 

Trever gave out a tiny chuckle at that exact moment, stunning both of them before he could cough it away behind his hand. 

"Sorry, I was just thinking of something from earlier. Have a good day, Mr. Spencer," Trever said before turning and walking toward the door. 

Ravi obediently fell into step beside him, heaving a huge sigh of relief once they were finally back outside a few minutes later. 

"He was definitely kind of yucky," Trever finally said once they both slid into his car and got them on their way to their new living arrangement. 

 Ravi's eyes widened and he jerked his head to the side to look at a smirking Trever. 

He'd heard me? 

Said smirking Trever was chuckling to himself. 

"I heard what you thought in there. It kind of caught me off guard, so I burst out laughing by mistake. You made me look unprofessional," he said, then stuck his tongue out the slightest bit, even though he refused to take his eyes off the road to see Ravi's response. 

He knew that he was just messing with him. He could finally tell the difference with master Trever. So, instead of fretting about it, Ravi showed off his own toothy grin and replied. 

"I like seeing master Trever caught off guard. It was cute." 

Trever immediately pulled his tongue back into his mouth and cleared his throat. 

"L-let's go check out our new temporary home, then how about ordering in? That way I can get through this paperwork so that I'm ready for tomorrow," he asked, changing the topic abruptly. 

Ravi let him, of course. It didn't bother him. Besides, if he pestered him about it every time he did it, he wouldn't get to see master Trever looking embarrassed or nervous at all. There was no reason to poke fun at him and risk losing what they'd managed to build together so far. 

"That sounds good!" he said as he clasped his hands in his lap and smiled out the window. 

The short time they'd been at the company so far had been very stressful, but he'd managed to do what he was told, and he'd managed to actually tell people to stop bothering him, too. It might have been a rude execution, but he didn't care. It had worked and he had been able to do the task that had been assigned to him correctly. 

I will keep helping master Trever until I can find a job that will fit me well. I can learn more. I will learn to work around other people and become very useful so that I can earn my own money!