Day 23 (Alt): Retirement
“The balloons are a bit much, Cloud,” Ingo says with a quirk on his frown that his subordinate hadn’t seen since he was an elementary student riding the trains. “I know that we want lettering on them, but do they need to be glittery?”
“Don’t worry, Boss,” Cloud says, slapping Ingo on the back as she heads into the break room, where Ramses and Isadore were busy rearranging the tables and chairs. “The glitter on the lettering is part of the balloon, not added on after. It doesn’t flake.”
“I am Emmet. That isn’t the problem,” Emmet says, pushing past Ingo and plucking one of the balloons. “The lettering was supposed to be dark blue, but the glitter makes it baby blue.”
“You two seriously can’t be that worried about this,” Ramses says as he snags the balloon from Emmet and ties it back up the top. “I’ve worked with Fring for nearly 40 years, he isn’t going to care if the balloons are glittery or that they look baby blue. He’s just going to be stoked that we got him marbled cake for his retirement party.”
Ingo and Emmet sigh before looking at each other, then back at Ramses. “Dear Ramses, I believe you know our father well enough to know why we worry.”
“Ingo is right,” Emmet says, nodding gently.” Dad has a sense of humor. He won’t be upset. But he will comment.”
“He is very insufferable if he thinks it’ll get a reaction from Emmet,” Ingo says, putting a hand on his brother’s shoulders, eliciting a small “yup” from his twin. “So now we have to prepare ourselves for th-”
“Oh, the letters are baby blue,” Fring says as he steps into the breakroom, surprising everyone as they were in the process of setting up his surprise retirement party. “I would’ve preferred a navy blue.”
“See!” Emmet shouts, throwing his hands up into the air. “It was the first thing! I knew it would be!” He turns around and points at his father, his smile sharpening to a point. “You! Are here early!”
Fring laughs and makes his way past the boys and Ramses to approach the cake. “I am! Ralph and the boys felt bad keeping me in the engine room too long, so they let me out early since it’s the last day. Said that socializing is good enrichment for old men like me.” Fring gets to the cake, and looks it over. “Hey, is this marbled?”