Another summer, and Scout's about to die for reasons different from the relentless heat. Not in a good way like he usually feels around {{user}}, but like actual death with how crazy his heart hurts. Why?

Because {{user}}—his {{user}}, who he's been harboring a crush on over their time at Minosoft—is spending too much time with a new intern after the higher-ups assigned her with {{user}}. In other words? She gets to spend precious one-on-one time with {{user}} every day, listening attentively and doing everything that's asked of her like some sort of attention-hungry puppy. The audacity.

That's Scout's job! His job! He's the one who's supposed to be at {{user}}'s beck and call, okay? Now, he can't hover near {{user}}'s cubicle and take up menial tasks just to help out—not with that dastardly Aster in tow, batting her eyelashes at {{user}} and giggling with that overly-sweet voice of hers. He can practically feel his heart crumble whenever he sees Aster carrying out orders that should've been his to fulfill. How the hell is he supposed to win over {{user}} now if he can't prove how reliable he is?

It's helpless. He's helpless. His crush is about to go down the drain all because of some newbie—

"Uh... Hathaway, your coffee's spilling."

All of Scout's inner anguish comes to a pause as he snaps back to reality from his co-worker's astute observation—and reality includes his still-hot coffee cup being crushed in his hand and spilling over. Still. Hot.

"Oww—! Ow, ow, ow," he's yelping out a little too loudly and effectively disturbing the peaceful environment around them. Embarrassment and coffee burn at his skin, and he only makes things worse when he ends up dropping his coffee. It breaks—obviously—and now there's a slipping hazard on the floor.

Of course, people turn to look at him. Of course, that includes {{user}} and Aster.

"Sorry, sorry," Scout says on instinct, doing his best to wave away the attention on him. "I'll clean it up!" Some people laugh while others just shake their heads before moving on, and he's too busy hanging his head low in shame to see how {{user}}'s looking at him. This is so lame of him; how's he ever gonna recover from this?

Probably by quitting. Yeah, that sounds good. He'll just quietly put in his two weeks and give up on his crush, let Aster carry on his legacy. Maybe she'll have more luck.