The following day the rain had finally cleared, showing a bright blue sky, and I was knocking on Tareiji and Jareka's door, toting a bag full of paperwork. It was wrenched open rather forcefully by a grinning Tareiji. The way he draped himself in the doorway just oozed playfulness and possessiveness.
" 'morning!" He greeted, and disappeared from the doorway as quickly as he had appeared, leaving the door half open. I wasn't sure if that his way of inviting me in.
"Come in." I heard Jareka's answered in a level voice from somewhere inside, as if he'd heard my silent question.
I stepped inside and found Jareka sitting on the couch, looking over his shoulder at me, and Tareiji rustling around in the kitchen by the sound of grocery bags I heard coming from that direction. A small chess set sat on the coffee table with the pieces sitting in the middle of the board.
"Are you settling in okay?" I asked.
"Yes." Was Jareka's terse reply before he went back to reading the book he was holding. I remembered the bookshelves and glanced over to see them already over half full of books, with a couple movies in the mix as well. Where on earth had they found so many books so quickly? And who was paying for them?
"Do you like reading?" I asked, trying to get some casual conversation going so I wouldn't seem too strict and business-only by going straight to the purpose of why I had come. Being a manager required a lot of personal interaction. We'd be spending a lot of time together and I wanted them to feel comfortable around me.
"Yes."
Another one-word answer from Jareka cut off my attempt at casual conversation. Tareiji appeared in the room before an awkward silence could settle.
"We both read a lot." He told me happily.
"Where'd you get all the books?" I asked.
"We spent yesterday shopping for them!" He flopped down on the couch, leaning on Jareka's leg to peer over the top of the book he was reading. "There're so many book stores around here!" He sounded like an excited child again and I tuned out his continuing babble as I noticed the strangely intimate contact he was making with Jareka. They had admitted they slept together when I'd first met with them, but even so, Sterts was right. They didn't exactly scream "couple", but there was definitely something that struck a person as subtly odd about the way they behaved around each other. The way they touched each other so casually wasn't exactly sexual or flirtatious. The only comparison I could make was to the way some people twist their rings around their fingers or play with their hair when they have nothing else to do with their hands. It seemed more habitual and unconscious than anything else. It was almost like they treated each other as extensions of themselves, the way they touched so thoughtlessly. But if they hadn't flat out told me they were bed partners, I might not have ever suspected it.
"So why'd you stop by?" Tareiji asked abruptly, drawing my out of my musings.
"Paper work." I told him, gesturing at my bag.
His eyes lit up.
"Paper work that makes things official?" He asked, crawling over Jareka's lap to lean over the back of the couch towards me.
"Yes, and a few questions about the type of work you'd like to do, so I can find suitable projects." I rooted through my bag to pull out the file folder with the papers I needed them to fill out.
Jareka closed his book and laid it on the table, neatly sliding out from under Tareiji in the process. He pulled a pen from the drawer under the table and leaned back, hand extended for the file, which I handed over.
Tareiji rested his head in his hands and started talking again, this time about some book he had just finished reading. Jareka quickly filled out the papers while I just smiled and nodded to Tareiji, still not sure how I was supposed to respond to his incessant chatter.
Jareka had the necessary forms filled out in minutes and I watched him scribble his signature on the bottom before he handed it and the pen to Tareiji, who didn't even pause in talking while he signed the papers.
"What kind of work are you willing to take on?" I asked them, when Tareiji drew in a breath.
"Anything!" Tareiji chirped immediately, not even seeming to notice I had interrupted him.
"As long as we're working together." Jareka qualified.
"You won't do single projects?" I asked, even though I already knew the answer.
"No." Jareka replied.
"Not even if I arrange the schedules so that you're both able to be there?"
"No." Jareka reiterated.
"Okay. Is there anything you don't want to do? Any topics or subjects you wouldn't be okay with?"
"There's nothing specific that you would be able to filter out for us." Jareka answered evasively. "We're generally up for any subject or project type. Some we'll accept and some we won't. We won't know until we see them." He stated flatly.
I suppressed my irritation at how vague he was being.
"Alright. I'll start searching for projects then. I should have a list compiled by Friday. Would you like to meet somewhere to go over the jobs?"
"Here's fine." Tareiji replied, sliding down onto the couch and stretching.
"You want to meet here?" I asked, somewhat surprised.
"That would be fine. Is it a problem for you?" Jareka asked.
"No, just rather unusual. Most people preferred to keep business out of their private living space." I commented, shrugging my shoulders. The only reason I had come to their apartment today was because I needed the paper work filled out as soon as possible.
"Doesn't bother us." Tareiji replied off-handedly, seeming suddenly absorbed in staring at Jareka's book, or maybe it was Jareka's hands he was watching, I wasn't quite sure.
"Okay, then. I'll come over on Friday to go over projects. You have my number, call if you need anything." I walked out the door watching over my shoulder as Tareiji leaned over Jareka, grinning in a very un-childlike way, the look in his eyes full of implications.
I clicked the door closed behind me, keen to leave before I saw anymore.
*****
Friday morning, Jareka, Tareiji and I sat glaring at each other over a table covered with papers. We were meeting for the first time to choose specific projects from numerous offers I had collected, and it had turned into a contest of wills. I was determined to win, I just had to figure out how to get the upper hand.
I smacked my hand down on the table. "This is beyond pickiness!" I shouted. "I knew you would reject most of the projects I found, so I worked my ass off to get almost four times what I thought I should, and you still rejected all but three of them. I need more from you than that!"
"We made it clear in the beginning that we were difficult to schedule-" Jareka started.
I cut him off.
"This isn't difficult. It's impossible!" I pounded the table again.
Tareiji shifted to look warily at me. Jareka was quiet.
"Then hand us over to a different manager." Jareka finally suggested, his tone telling me he had expected it. It made me think that neither of them ever really believed I would stick with them. It'd barely been a week since we first met and already they thought I would dump them when things got tough, just like every other manager had done before. It was a complete lack of trust for anyone, and not just when it came to their job. These two didn't seem to trust anyone for any reason, except each other. I could only guess it had something to do with their past. But I still had to do my job, so I was going to have to play by their rules for a while.
I frowned, narrowing my eyes at Jareka. "No. I told you I wouldn't." I sat back in my seat and folded my arms. "We need to apply for at least ten small projects in the next few weeks, more would be better. I know not all of the projects are perfect, but I need you to choose the lesser evils and put up with them."
"We already have." Tareiji stated. He nodded towards the three projects they had agreed to do. "Those three are nowhere near perfect, but we'll tolerate them. The others aren't even tolerable."
"And you're not going to tell me why." I demanded.
"No." He replied stubbornly. "If you show us more projects we'll look over them until we can find ten-"
"No." I stated flatly. I saw guarded resignation come into Tareiji's eyes. "I've done my share of the work." I gathered up the project proposals into a stack and dug out my book of contacts from my bag. I slapped it on top of the pile and stood up. I slung my bag over my shoulder, walked to the other side of the table and shoved the pile into Jareka's hands.
"You have until the end of the week. I want seven more projects that you agree to do. They can be from the ones I've already found for you, or you can use those contacts and find more yourself. Let me know by noon on Sunday. If you don't have seven more by then, I'll randomly choose seven and sign off on them and get you to do them by whatever means I have to." I threatened. "In the meantime I'll get you applied for these three." I waved the three project proposals I had in my other hand, and then turned and walked out the door without another word.
I drove home irritated. They said to bring them more projects like I could just do a ten minute internet search and find another twenty or so. Their refusal rate was ridiculous. If they kept it up, it really would become impossible to schedule enough jobs for it to be worth mine and the company's time and effort to train them. There just weren't that many opportunities for them to keep rejecting so many. Especially considering they would only work as a pair. If they would do projects separately it would be easier, but they refused, even when I told them I could schedule them so that they could attend them together, and just have the one working, while the other waited around. They had to be jobs where both of them were working together. And on top of that I had to make sure the costumes were agreeable to their scars, and talk to the directors to let them know that they had to be accounted for. I had lost a significant number of offers because the directors weren't willing to accommodate them. The pool of potential jobs was already very limited and now they were making it even more difficult by refusing to tell me what the problems were. I huffed a sigh as I parked in front of my house. This was going to be a hard battle.