"Are you ready?" asked his partner as she turned on the lights of the office, and opened the door to the Arrival Room.
"Yeah, I mostly am.. I just can't find this damn monocle! Have you seen it?" Peter lay on the floor as he desperately tried to look for a piece of crystalline glass. It was his prized possession, a quartz lens monocle he'd acquired after saving a whole week of his Earthly allowance.
It was not that he couldn't have filed that as a business expense, but he'd already bought a similar lens once before as a business expense, so in the end, he had no choice but to pay for his greed out of his own pocket. Apparently their boss didn't believe in backup equipment.
Tragically, he ended up losing the monocle he bought from his employer's wallet anyway, so he was now using his personal possession for the job.
"Do you seriously need it that bad? We are already running five minutes late, if you don't hurry we'll both get in trouble."
As he heard Gwen complain, Peter couldn't help but sigh in frustration.
"What if someone who recognises me ends up coming today? Won't that shame our team? We'll lose face against them damn O'Driscolls!"
"Oh for fuck's sake Pete! Get up and get in here, we ain't got no more fucking time to waste. We'll lose more face if you don't finish today's quota on time or end up making these dead people wait even longer!"
"Bu—"
"Shut up! You should have come earlier if you wanted to be so particular about your costume. And when was the last time someone even recognised you? Three months ago? Four?"
Peter felt slightly infuriated at his partner's disregard for his feelings regarding his monocle or its importance to his performance, but since he was at fault for not arriving at office early enough, he chose to swallow any further words of retort. She had a point.
"Not that long! It was fifty three days ago! Not even two months."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever Pete. That's still like, what, 1.8% chance of someone who knows your character appearing today? It's just five people anyway man, no one's gonna recognise your niche-ass unknown li'l monocle lord."
Shaking his head in resignation, Peter walked towards the Arrival Room, where he found Gwen waiting for him at the door. She was slightly fidgety due to the delay in their work, and probably half annoyed at his languid gait, as if he'd just finished a set of his five-rep-max deadlifts.
"It would be a disaster if someone recognises me, for real, you know! I mean it. Can you imagine you taking a client who recognises you and it turns out you're don't have Excalibur with your Saber cosplay? Won't that be humiliating?"
Her face softened as she saw him approach her and heard his reasoning. She met him halfway to the door, and gave him a quick hug.
"It'll be okay baby, no one gonna recognise you aight? Very small chance, not gonna happen. Now go and get to it, I'll be watching you through the screen."
She stood on her toes to give him a li'l peck, and he met her lips halfway.
"Are you sure I can't take just one more minute? Please? This could become a disaster!"
Her face became stern, before she looked up at his head. Shaking her head, she reached up to adjust his black witch hat. "No can dosville babydoll, no can dosville. Now go and do your best."
She patted him gently on the back and strode towards a large desk, behind which stood a large floor-to-ceiling screen at an appropriate distance.
"Fuck you!" Peter whispered, suppressing a laugh, as he opened the door to the arrival room. Jed Mosley-ing him? That was a low blow if he'd seen one!
"Anytime cutie! Outside work hours ofc! I love you too!" A series of loud words echoed in his ears even though he'd already closed the door behind him.
Shaking his head in exasperation, Peter walked to the centre of the room and made last adjustments to his costume.
"Alright Gwen, let em loose!"
"Coming right up babe, this one's an old geezer!"