Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Essek tapped his desk a couple of times. It wasn't exactly an unexpected email on his first day back from the winter break, but it was also deeply unwelcomed. The company of Cerberus was small enough that people tended to do dual jobs but this was surely a management issue within each department, not his job to decide where money could be saved.

He'd been in the job long enough to understand that he wasn't expected to make the decisions himself, that was up to Trent, but his recommendations were part of his ammunition for any removals of personnel or perks that were deemed excessive.

Essek was merely the messenger, the bringer of bad news. Although no bad news would be on his head, it would be him who would assist in enabling this nonsense. It felt unfair, as was usual, but also part of the job at this point.

His pay was good too, and perks were exceptional for such a small company. Healthcare was a huge help, especially for his mother. Free food as well allowed him to save on meals at home, but it was a matter of time before he had to declare it wasn't worth the business expense. Not that he ever, personally, would. He couldn't touch those with a barge pole, nor would he.

Quarterly bonuses were slowly ebbing away regardless, but the pay remained good enough it wasn't scaring anyone off. Yet.

He scoured his spreadsheets for the previous year. Capex was over. That'll need to go down. Opex was stupidly high. They'd likely seen these numbers too. Hiring had increased, expected for a small business with the goal of being mid, but that meant more equipment, more software. Expansion meant more of everything including server space and operational functions.

Essek wasn't a tech, but he was good with numbers. Unfortunately, he knew how that came across.

Best to put out his feelers. Starting with the least resistance.

He pulled up the in-house messenger. Cheaper than Slack, more optimisable than Teams. He typed in his first victim.

The most easy going Data Engineer to ever hold a management position. If not the most easy-going manager Essek had ever had the pleasure of talking to. Always open to ideas, always happy to assist wherever he could. A large man in stature, but a sweet boy to talk to. Not a bad bone in that one.

It felt like a softball to start with. Essek made a note of the software idea on his spreadsheet. Best to leave that for later delving if he couldn’t find other avenues.

Or just reject it outright. But that felt petty and against the spirit of the company. His eyebrow twitched. He hated how he thought at work.

Next was a bit more… vibrant.

I'm really not. He thought morosely.

Still less swearing than he expected. As a manager of a group of men she had learned to show herself as stronger than all of them. Ultimately coding will always be a men's game but she stood out for many reasons, not only her talent, but her ability to cut through the bullshit. She also desperately tried to hire more women into her team in spite of the issues and effort that entailed.

The beauty of being in a small company was understanding the nature of the people he was talking to for the most part. Beau was… brisk, yet she had her completely valid reasons for being that way. On top of that she had a mild problem with authority which never caused issues, she was still excellent at her job and still met deadlines with plenty of time and sometimes more than expected.

The only issue Essek had ever heard of her was that one Christmas party where the free bar was just a little bit too tempting. However, HR dealt with the situation amicably.

Speaking of HR.

Molly was a strange HR Manager, he was far more personable than was expected. But only with people he trusted. He did the seminars, read the rules, his desk covered in HR and Emotional Intelligence books, and was able to recite them perfectly. The issues tended to arise if he liked you, in which case he was overtly friendly. Which was Essek had discovered was the case with him. He was sitting alone at lunch once, during his first week and Molly simply sat opposite him and started chatting about his day. When Essek asked why he did that, his only answer was "You looked like you wanted to talk."

Essek would never get used to that sort of confidence or social ability, but he appreciated the kindness behind the sly quips. You knew where you stood with him, which was more than could be said for some.

Yasha tended to keep to herself, which remained odd for a woman as the lead of a service role. But she got stuff done, kept the office spotless and the food delicious under budget. Essek had no need to go further. She knew that, he knew that. In spite of her quietness and large imposing presence, she remained one of the most popular members of staff. She was also one of Molly's favourites so in Essek's mind that made her good people.

That left the last manager on his list. This one was always going to be fraught but he had to try. It was easily the most expensive department in the business and it was always a battle but Essek wasn't fighting today.

There was a long moment. He saw Caleb typing and deleting, then pausing and writing more. Then deleting. Essek waited patiently, taking a sip of his coffee.

Naturally.

Essek finished his coffee, then went to the kitchenette to make another. Thought on it for a moment, then made a second. It was cold out, perhaps a peace offering would make things a bit easier. It's not even that Caleb was aggressive or hard to work with. In fact, he was one of the most amiable members of staff in that you could ask him for anything and he would bend over backwards to assist.

Many times he had seen Caleb examining the code base with Beau and giving advice on what would could help, or helping Fjord with any projections for the data in the future. He would complain about new starters or server needs, but he would never object entirely and everything would be in place when it was needed. He was always the first in the office and the last to leave. His car almost a permanent fixture in the carpark. He almost spent as much time there as Yasha, who he spent the mornings with having their 7am coffee.

Essek had seen this. But he still found the man unnerving. He added a spoonful of sugar to his mug, he left Caleb's black.

He found Caleb in the courtyard in the smoker's nook, already finishing his first and preparing to light another one. His fingers were clearly cold even with his fingerless gloves, fiddling with the lighter. His neck shrouded in a large grey scarf, his tattered coat a deep burgundy, patches on the elbows, well loved and old. Essek knew how much the man made, but he seemed to never have enough money for a new coat. Or car. But he always had cigarettes so he had his priorities, clearly.

"Hey Caleb." Essek said, as evenly as possible, handing him the steaming mug in the cool January air.

"Danke." Caleb nodded, his lips curled around his cigarette, smoke pluming through his nostrils.

"You know. They don't actually read direct messages. You told me that." Essek took a sip of coffee hoping it would warm him, perhaps give him some confidence to stand up to the slight man.

"I told you they don't. I didn't say they couldn't." Caleb's voice was low.

"I'm sure they won't care about our conversations."

Caleb looked at him, a hard stare. He took another drag of his cigarette. "You're new."

"I've been here six months." Essek asserted. It was longer than most of his previous jobs. Mostly due to looking after his mother and the lack of flexibility in being able to do that. He wouldn't leave her alone and most places wouldn't help him with that. Thankfully with this job, it was enough money and enough perks that he could scrimp together enough money to hire a day nurse. He knew the place was flawed, but what workplace wasn't. It was enough.

"I know." Caleb took a sip of coffee.

"So, why bring me out here?"

"Just thought we'd talk about it instead of typing it all out. Feels easier. Plus I needed the fresh air." He smiled, another drag.

"Ok, the budgets then?"

"What do you want to take?"

Essek bristled. "I'm not taking anything."

"Not yet."

"I won't. I just need to find out what's happening."

"So you can report back to him."

"It's my job." Essek sighed. "It's not my money, and it's not yours either. It's not personal."

Caleb pursed his lips. He sucked his cigarette down, letting out a large plume of vapour and smoke. "I'm not touching the servers for the first quarter, so they're safe. They will need to grow if we want to expand properly, especially if he wants to go further abroad. If you want to talk about the AWS billing then you can look at it yourself. There are a few products you could nix if you need to. The main expense this month is new starters and I'm not the one hiring anyone. I just buy their kit."

"OK, and you couldn't say that online because?"

"Because if he wants really to expand he has to spend his money on the boring shit, that means proper infrastructure, compliance, infosec. If he just wants to look big to investors he needs to focus on marketing. If he really wants to make the place a viable sell he needs to fire everyone but the core staff and just be done with it."

Essek stepped back. "Sell?" His heart stuttered in his chest. He'd never even heard whispers of such a thing. "Where did you hear that?"

Caleb looked at him directly, his eyes were a pale blue resembling the sky above them. His skin even paler than normal, dark red hair sitting untidily on his forehead, unbrushed and tangled. He looked more tired than normal, the shadows beneath his eyes becoming deeper than Essek was used to seeing. "I didn't say sell." He muttered.

"Caleb..." Essek took a step forward, closing the distance. He could smell the stale smoke on his clothes, feel his breath on his cheeks. "Do you know something?"

"Nein. I don't know a thing. I'm just speculating." He looked down at his shoes as he dropped the spent cigarette between them, stepping out the ashes. "Just... Look for yourself." He tuned his head up, his face inches away from Essek. "And be careful."

He walked back into the office.