Oliver woke without issue and realized that in the night he had scooted closer to Blaize not that it mattered. He rose out of bed and re-dressed himself before looking at Blaize still asleep. He had a longing on his lips to kiss Blaize good morning, but didn't bother, instead he left without a word.

Grateful to have breakfast prepared, Oliver wolfed it down and thanked the staff before heading out to the taxi. Upon arriving home, Oliver showered and prepared for work. He tossed all this things into his bag before heading out and toward the university. He arrived with a few minutes to spare but stopped as he recognized one of the board members, Dr. Barts, leading around new, unknown gentleman.

"Oh Mr. Marks, glad you could make it to work today," Dr. Barts called out to Oliver, which only earned the older grey-haired man a slight glare.

"Yes Dr. Barts, as you know I was attending Dr. Elliot's service yesterday," Olive replied, attempting to avoid the conversation all together.

"Ah, now i remember. Well then Mr. Marks I'd like to introduce you to Mr. Dexter. He is touring our department and hopefully will make this his new home. We could use his expertise," Dr. Barts told him as he gestured to the man. Oliver swallowed back a groan as he took the polite route of putting his hand out for Mr. Dexter to shake.

"Richard, my name is Richard Dexter. I was the one to discover the Mchanga tribe and spent 3 months with them," Richard's voice was already annoying to Oliver but he kept his voice plain and void of emotion.

"Nice to meet you, I work in the research department but I've been on quite a few expeditions, I am-" His words were quickly cut of by Richard.

"Oh really? You can handle it? You don't seem fit enough to climb a ladder let alone go on any kind of expedition," Richard replied an air of arrogance quickly turning Oliver's cheeks red in anger.

"I manage just fine, Mr. Dexter. Now if you excuse me I have to work to do," Oliver told him before nodding and turning sharply on his heels and heading toward his office.

"Rude little researcher," Richard commented.

"He is a unique man, I've always wondered about him. Seems to be attached to Mr. Elliot's hip, always following after that man like a lost puppy.

"Mr. Elliot? as in Blaize Elliot. Theodore Elliot's son?"

"Yes. He recently returned from some mission with his father's remains. That Marks fellow looked like a ghost until Mr. Elliot returned."

"I look forward to meeting this Mr. Elliot,"

"He should be coming to campus today, but as Mr. Marks said his father's service was yesterday, I don't expect him in until later," Dr. Barts said simply before continuing on with his tour.

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Blaize managed to wake up with a groan the next day, his mind foggy and tinged with the hints of a headache from the emotional stress and lack of food yesterday. Mulling over the storm in his own mind, he went through the motions, accepting breakfast from the staff and dressing to go to work. REalistically, he should have had the day off; after all, he was mourning for a lost family member and compassionate leave was something the University took seriously. However, he would rather go to work than mill around the Estate alone, and he knew he'd spend most of it next to the fresh grave underneath the weeping willow tree outside ...

Once he reached the University, it was sort-of refreshing, almost like a homecoming. Though he spent most of his time away on expeditions, people here DID know him, and he quite liked the fact people came up to him with a light in their eyes and a smile at seeing him back. This would, ordinarily, be something of an ego-stroking moment, but it was a good distraction from yesterday and the confusing fact that Oliver want to be beside him and offer him comfort on a more intimate level than a mere friend, in spite of their casual lover status.
He reached his office, surprised to see the door open. Gingerly pushing it open, he readied himself just in case it was some desparate student trying to steal something in their own name. Instead, he found a mousey woman unpacking a messenger back that probably weighed the same as she did. She turned on hearing someone enter, her eyes wide as saucers behind her glasses in shock.
"Oh! I-I'm sorry, is...?"
"This is my office" Blaize rose a brow at her, pushing the door further in and entering the room properly.
"I ... was told this office was free, I didn't see a name on the door ..."
Blaize paused, going back to the door and examining the front. sure enough, someone had removed the nameplate. Half of him was confused, though the other half wasn't that surprised. He'd disappeared, after all, and he barely used his office anyway. Did he even have paperwork in here? He couldn't even remember.
"Well, it's not, it's mine"
"I'm so sorry!" She became frantic, jamming the items back into the bag and almost bracing herself against something, "I-I will tell the person who sent me here, I'm so so sorry!"

"Relax" Blaize shrugged, walking past her to sit on his chair and opening the drawers in his desk. What kind of junk did he even leave behind here?
"Sorry?"
"I said relax, it's not your fault, just a mix-up" Blaize continued his exploration of the drawers, finding a broken pen, a chain of paperclips he probably made when bored, an unused pad of paper with the University crest on it, and a book that was missing from the library.
"I just ..."
"Honestly, it's no problem" He opened the book, flicking to the page where the return date was, and wincing. Oh, the fees weren't going to be pretty for this one.

The woman just blinked at him, seeming to not understand at all. Blaize looked at her over the top of the book, bemused by her silence. She was a plain young woman at first glance, dressed in a slightly oversized brown raincoat with the belt tied just a little too tight. She had copper-brown hair, loose and falling in thick waves to her shoulders, her eyes a minty-shade of green behind rather old-fashioned glasses. Nothing particularly exotic, except a beauty mark Blaize could see beside her left eye that was hastily covered with a thick layer of make-up that was the wrong skin-shade for the rest of her face. She didn't seem to be wearing any make-up, which he found a little odd, but otherwise there was nothing remarkable about her.

Apart from the fact that she was staring at him in fearful confusion, as though she expected him to berate her for getting the wrong information.
"Oh ... Okay ..."
"Who are you, by the way"
"Oh! I'm Jeanette Peters" She wasn't sure if she should offer a hand.
"Well, Gina, just go tell whoever sent you along here that the office holder isn't dead and he should try again. Maybe the next room you get will have balloons or something in it"
She was sure that was a joke, but didn't dare try and laugh just in case he was serious. She DID like the name 'Gina', she'd never been called that before ...

"Thank you, sir" She gave a little bow of her head, leaving with a shuddery sigh as the anxiety drained from her. She honestly did expect someone to yell at her for doing the wrong thing, she was trained to expect it really. Instead, with the tinest little boost to her self-esteem, she went to find another office ...

-

Without some exploring to do, Blaize honestly did forget sometimes what his job was here at the University. He sure as shit wasn't going to tell them what he'd been doing in Shenosha, he wasn't going to humour stories about his father ... What the Hell else was there to do?

He went to find Oliver.

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Students and various intern had dropped off late papers, which Oliver was under no obligation to look at, however he did. He scanned the late papers from students claiming to have forgotten about the deadline. Oliver made the note to mark them down one letter grade before handing it to a passing intern to finish. It wasn't his 'job' anymore.

Instead Oliver spent the early part of his work day cleaning and clearing out unwanted material from his office. For those who knew Oliver, when he cleaned it because because of some other stressor in his life making him feel out of control.

Two trash bags were full, a small box filled with book intended to be returned to their rightful places either in the library or storage. Oliver sat at his desk now which was clean and tidy before retrieving his large coin book from within his bookbag.

He placed the book on the table with a loud 'thunk!' considering it's weight and overall size. In the past year or so Oliver had been dealing with far too much paper work and wanted to finally get his hand at teaching for the experience.

Oliver had taken out a notebook and a few pens before thinking of possible lessons plans. He never formally taught a class, but did work as a teacher's assistant for a brief time before committing to his current work. His door was left ajar to help air the place out. His hair was a bit of a mess considering as he had cleaned he kept running his fingers in it, even his glasses slide down his now because of their poor fit, but Oliver didn't bother to fix or adjust anything, too engrossed in his book for the moment.

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Someone came into his office, someone who didn't bother to announce their arrival, merely slipping in and stopping before his desk. A familiar hand rested on the table, hip resting on the edge, and a shadow cast over the book as the man leaned over to see what Oliver was reading.

"For someone who would eat cold potatoes for every meal if he could, you really are too facinated with obselete money"

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Oliver wasn't sure if it was good or bad thing to be hyper-aware of someone you loved. He didn't even have to look up from his book to know that Blaize had entered his office. The shadowed casted down over him was slightly annoying only because of the light lost, but still welcomed.

Normally Oliver didn't like people entering his space without permission or a damn good reason, but with Blaize it was different. The infuriating, rough, wild and perhaps a bit narcissistic man was always welcome in Oliver's space. Granted he wasn't touching too many of his things or attempting to move stuff around without Oliver explicit permission.

Nonetheless Oliver didn't bother to look up from his book right away despite Blaize's words intended to get a reply from him. Instead he finished the note he was making before placing his pen down and looking up.

"Just because I like my cold potatoes doesn't mean I can't admire the craftsmanship of money and the value, that is both historic and culturally informative." Oliver replied letting just little a slight smile show. He wanted to believe that Blaize was looking for him, missed him even but Oliver wasn't stupid. Blaize probably was bored and without something to do at the moment, which resulted in him coming into Oliver's space and pulling all of Oliver's attention to him. Not that it wouldn't normally happen when ever Blaize was near him.

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"There goes Professor Marks, trying to bamboozle a sinple explorer with his big words" A devilish smile playing on Blaize's lips, putting a deliberate hand on the page Oliver was looking at.

"I'm bored. Let's go ask for a short local expedition"

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His first instinct was to push Blaize's hand out of the way but he didn't bother. Oliver instead closed the book over Blaize's hand with a smirk. He didn't intend to hurt him and simply waited for Blaize to pull back his hand before taking the book and pushing it to one corner of the desk.

"Okay, I'll have to swing by my apartment and repack my go bag. I haven't since I um..came back from there," Oliver kept it vague but had a good feeling that Blaize understood what he meant. However it all came to a halt when the man Oliver met earlier walked into his office unannounced, which had Oliver glaring instantly.

"Well if it isn't Blaize Elliot. Haven't seen you in ages," Richard drawled stepping into the center Oliver's office and filling the room with his cologne that Oliver hadn't noticed earlier. For a second Oliver considered gagging to show his dislike but instead decided just to burn holes into Richard's face.

"I heard you were back and apparently still holding claim to that office of yours, so I'll just take this one instead." Richard said before turning to look at the trash bags and box filled with books.

"I'll need to hire some cleaners to get he rest of this junk out, but I'll be settled in soon and we can finally work together," Richard added, returning his attention to Blaize.

Oliver was speechless, not only was Richard in his space, but he was calling his stuff junk on top of saying he was going to take his office. Oliver hadn't ever been a fighter, in fact he doubted that he could even land a punch without needed to have adrenaline pulsing in his veins, which wasn't happening now. Instead he stood awkwardly behind his desk.

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Blaize, obligingly, took his hand back as Oliver closed the book over it and pushed it to the side. He was so accustomed to jumping to expeditions with only the barest essentials, he forgot frequently that Oliver liked to be far better packed than him. Not that it really mattered; that was their job, after all, and his assistant never failed him.

The following words caused a conflict of emotions. His first reaction was to smirk, as he had kept Oliver in the Estate after he had returned to catch up with him, carnally as well as generally. That had faded during the week, as Blaize remembered his hesitations in same-sex relations on the emotional field, as well as the fact he had a funeral to prepare. That was complimented by the fact that Oliver had indeed stayed at the Estate last night, but more in the form of wanting to comfort and soothe his grieving lover rather than a night of searing passion.

Before he could settle on a response, the sight - and damn smell - of a long-forgotten aquaintance/foe made it's way through the door. He had just about formed a proper reply, but then Richard had the misfortune of trying to claim Oliver's office.
Every little bad thing he hated about this man reared their heads at once, coupled with this blatent takeover of HIS assistant's chambers, and that caused Blaize to stand up.
"Dick" His face held a thin smile, one that quite clearly didn't reach his eyes as they were glaring. Just as he stood up properly, Jeanette, the woman from earlier, scurried up behind Richard and half-hid behind him nervously. She spotted Blaize, and correctly guessed that trouble was coming.

"I see you're in the habit of trying to take things that aren't yours" He walked forward, his hand coming up and the ends of his fingers pressing painfully into Richard's breastbone. Blaize didn't stop moving, and his hand was rigid, forcing Richard to walk backwards out of Oliver's office, "And it seems you've forgotten how to read on top of that. See that sign?" His hand finally came away, his thumb pointing over his shoulder to the nameplate on Oliver's door, "It says 'Oliver Marks, Research Assistant'. It's taken, Dick, and it's been taken by MY assistant for the past three years. So no, you're not getting cleaners to 'clean out junk', but you might want to call them to scrub your footprints out of the carpet you dared to stand on"

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Richard stepped back, not bothering to be careful as he nearly stepped on Jeanette's toes. It clear he paid little attention to her safety or wellbeing.

There was a retort built up in his throat but it was quickly pushed back as he was edged out of the office.

"I'll speak to the board about this. I won't be treated this way. You may be an Elliot but you don't own this university," Richard replied his voice edging into a dark tone. There was a lingering moment of tension before Richard turned abruptly and marched away, grabbing at Jeanette's hand to remind her to follow along, his grip almost painfully tight.

Oliver had followed Blaize toward the doorway but remained in his office as he watched what happened. For a brief moment as the tension lingered Oliver felt once again helpless, this time for not standing up for himself. Once Richard had left, Oliver ran his fingers in his hand a few times in a poor attempt to soothe himself, eyes downcasted.

"I'm sorry, I should have stood up for myself, but uh..thanks for that," Oliver added before turning to his bag and grabbing his keys from the little dish on his desk.

"Lets go, I rather be half lost somewhere instead of smelling that cologne the rest of the day,"

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Blaize had snorted in reply to Richard's dark tones about Blaize being an Elliot and not in command of the University. As much as the HEad raged at him, as much as he tested their patience, as much as he was the airheaded playboy that was the negative opposite of his glorious father ... He was still a valuable asset, and they both knew it.

"Give them my sweet regards when you do, it will make it easier when they laugh at you" His tone mocking, before turning back to Oliver.

"Him? Pffft, a man like that you really do have to have an aggressive, forward approach, otherwise he just steamrolls over you. It's gotten a lot of people offguard when they first meet him, don't worry about it"

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Oliver did worry about it. He felt like he had screwed up, despite Blaize pointing out it wasn't a big deal. Pushing away the feeling of defeat, Oliver exited his office and closed the door behind him, locking it without a word.

He slung his bag to fit properly, with the strap against his chest, the bag against his side.

"Are we going on an expedition or not?" Oliver asked attempting to add some kind of excitement in his voice, to prove he still wasn't bothered by Richard's actions.

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"Let's see what they have for us to do. I know there's a lot of interns doing support work, so there should be-"

"Mr. Elliot!" A rather nervous secretary rushed up to the pair, as Blaize flinched at the sound of his name being formatted like that. Still, with dignity, he turned round and flashed a smile.

"Yes?"

"Ih, the Head wants to see you and Mr. Marks. Right now. As in, RIGHT NOW"

"... Uuuurgh" Blaize uttered a glutteral groan, dismissing the secretary with a wave of his hand as he started towards the man's office, "HOW many times do I have to tell him I'm not dead yet .."

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Oliver nodded, a familiar feeling of excitement started to fill him. He liked going on expeditions granted they wouldn't result in either of them broken or dead. He also looked forward to getting away from people for awhile, it had been far too long since he slept on a crappy cot and wore his voice out yelling at Blaize over a headset.

That came to a crashing halt when a woman stalked forward and put a damper on their plans. For a second Oliver wanted to insist that they don't, but the tone heard in the woman's voice made it very clear there was no choice in the matter.

Following after Blaize silently he felt as if his vacation from the civilized world had just been roomed and likely a certain man was to blame.

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Blaize had been back in the office of the Head before Oliver had, mostly on the day he'd returned from Shenosha and scared the living daylights out of the man by having the adacity to not be dead. Since then, Blaize had buried his father without inviting the man (his father never liked him much either so it wasn't a total loss), had stolen Oliver away from his punishment at having left Blaize behind in Shenosha, and taken a week off himself to have a funeral planned and his way with his assistant.

Blaize walked in with the casual sort of attitude one reserved for dealing with an angry but harmless official, too full of pomp and importance to really realise that no words were going to ground Blaize in any sort of reality.
Spoiling that, somewhat, was the fact there were 4 seats before the desk of the Head. Two of them filled; one with Richard, and one with Jeanette. The latter had her head mostly down in automatic silence, but she looked up on hearing Blaize and Oliver enter the room.

Blaize didn't change his air much, taking his seat beside Richard and not even bothering to look at the man as the Head sighed in pure irritation.

"Dexter" He addressed Richard by his surname, as he usually did for new, lower staff who didn't have Professor or Doctor in their titles, "What was it you were complaining about"

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There was a flash of triumph in Richard's eyes as he turned to look toward Blaize. He appeared to be had made some sort of deal with the devil to be able to look so smug.

"I was explaining to Dr. Bart about what happened just a few moments ago. As promised," Richard added with grin that appeared fake.

Oliver sat next to Blaize in silence, but his head wasn't down. Instead he was alert and watching Richard talk, pressing slightly his shoulder into Blaize's shoulder to remind the other man he was there to support him no matter what.

"Well as everyone in this room knows I am the new hire for this university. I deserve an office of my own and considering you are holding on to your own and Dr. Elliot's office is a shrine, there aren't many to choose from. I suggested that I take Mr. Marks's office and he and Jeanette here can share one. They don't need much space," Richard remarked.

"I also was careful to bring up to Dr. Bart's attention how I see your relationship as unfit. Oliver is unable to speak for himself. It seem that Mr. Elliot here forgot that you can't own people," Richard finished with a smile toward the Head of the Department, he nodded that his explanation of their earlier meeting was sufficient.

Oliver on the other hand wanted to stand up and laugh in the man's face. Did he really think Blaize treated him that way? Perhaps in Oliver's private fantasies and as a way to tease him, but never in their actual working relationship. Instead of causing a scene, Oliver leaned slightly away from Blaize to put space between them.

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