Augustine Sycamore found Lysandre sitting at the table, staring intently at a stack of letters in his hands as if he wanted to incinerate them with his eye lasers. There was a pronounced but empty scowl on his handsome and leonine face.
"Concerned about letter bombs?" the Professor jested, wrapping his arms around Lysandre's broad shoulders and looking at the offending postage curiously. "Ga-lli-ard school," he sounded out, stumbling over the strangeness of the English word. "Ah! I got a letter from there yesterday. "They're running a foreign internship program, maybe someone is going to work with you too!"
Galliard was one of the best schools in Unova. Almost every student there had near-genius IQ. Only the top students were offered positions in foreign companies, especially ones as prestigious as Lysandre labs or The Pokemon Lab of a region.
"Evidently so," Lysandre sighed, setting down the various other letters(mostly complaints and hate mail) on the table to focus on that one. He was always hesitant about letting people into his company. There were secret things going on there... only beneath the surface of a perfectly normal scientific corporation, though. Yeah, it would be fine. Perfectly fine.
The orange-haired man slid his thumbs under the flap of the envelope and opened it while Sycamore looked on with interest.
There was only one student. That wasn't so bad.
"Harrrrmonia," Sycamore read the distinctly German-sounding name, tilting his head. "That sounds familiar. Where would I have heard that name before?" He didn't interact with many Sinnohan people- that was what the name sounded like, Sinnohan, and he made assumptions.
"Harmonia?" Lysandre echoed with some surprise, dark blue eyes widening slightly. "That's a noble family from Unova." He waved the letter absently, shrugging. "They're very important people over there, basically control politics. You might have read about them in the paper."
"No, that's not it." Sycamore shook his brows furrowing, the a flash of recognition showed up in his eyes. "Aha! That's right, that's the name of one of the kids who was going to work with me." He jabbed one finger at the paper Lysandre had unfolded. "Yeah. Ghetsis Harmonia. That's the same kid. You think there was a mistake?"
Lysandre frowned, considering the short file they'd sent about the boy. "It is strange. This says he'll be here in a week, so we can ask him then." Honestly, he'd prefer it if he didn't have any interns. It was good for a kid to stay with his peers and not go alone to work at... a place with secrets. Lysandre wasn't going to worry himself about it.
"Okay, "sycamore hummed. He hesitated for a moment, tightening his arms around Lysandre. "It's going to be exciting to have some genius foreign kids, isn't it?" A laugh escaped him. "Hey, I studied with Professor Rowan in Sinnoh, and look where I ended up. I'm the official Professor of Kalos." Sycamore liked kids. He liked helping people expand. This was probably going to be great for him.
"Yes, it would be wonderful if you'd extend their educations," Lysandre agreed, turning his head to raise an eyebrow at Augustine and setting down the mistaken letter."Are you heading off for work now?" Xerosic had forced Lysandre to move his own work starting time back due to his habit of staying late at night.
"I wish I weren't," Augustine said with a grin. He let go of Lysandre, gave him a short kiss, and donned his white coat before heading out.
Halfway through work the next Tuesday, Lysandre received a hurried text from Sycamore, reading, "ghetss s here. love u" It wasn't that the Professor couldn't text well, he just considered it a waste of time.
What Lysandre was more focused on was that he didn't have to worry the kid showing up at Lysandre labs.
So he was surprised when he passed by Mable and found her talking to a very pretty and attentive green-haired young man. That was not one of his employees. Lysandre would definitely remember hiring anyone that attractive.
"Excuse me," he said, walking right into their conversation like he owned the place or something. "Could I ask who you are?"
The man had to be twenty or so, but he looked younger, with a cute nose and small chin. His hair was long and quite possibly flawless, his form thin and feminine. The only thing less-than perfect about him was his eyepatch, but even that gave an sort of asymmetrical endearment to his face.
His visible eye was red, that vivid and sensuous shade of red Lysandre loved so much. It almost took the Kalosian man's breath away when that gaze turned on him.
The young man smiled brilliantly, in a way that radiated charisma. "Ah-ha! I'm sorry for not finding you earlier. I'm Ghetsis Harmonia. I'm here as part of a program from my school." His French sounded very nice, but he was obviously going out of his way to avoid using more uncommon words.
"I speak English," Lysandre assured him. The day would arrive soon that Ghetsis spoke French better than Lysandre did English, but that was not yet. "I did see that you were coming here as part of an internship program, but you were also written down to go the the Pokemon lab."
"Oh," Ghetsis said, his eye widening. Lysandre did not know that men were allowed to be that cute, but now that he did, he liked it. The Unovan shook his head, flustered and blushing. "Ah, Giratina, I'm so sorry if that confused you. I-" he rubbed the back of his neck and looked away "-I wanted to work both here and there, so I... applied to both. Mable was telling me that this isn't the friendliest place for experimental programs, but if it's I would like to- Ah!"
He dropped the notebook he'd been holding and put his face in his hands. "Ah... I can't do anything right today. I'm so sorry, I haven't even said hello to you yet." Ghetsis retrieved his notebook and held out a hand to shake Lysandre's, biting his lip. "Lysandre, right? I'm so sorry for being rude, I..."
The man closed his mouth tightly and tugged on a strand of hair that fell over his shoulder, then looked up at Lysandre with a sort of laugh. "Oh goodness, I've made a fool of myself, haven't I." He grinned as he said this, as if the thought of his own failure was hilarious. "I can't apologize enough."
"Then don't try, it's fine," Lysandre said. He couldn't decide if Ghetsis was annoying or adorable. One thing he could say for certain was that this was the most gorgeous man he'd ever laid eyes on, but he had to push that thought out of his mind. The days when he could chase after any bed partner he wanted were over, he was in a relationship with Augustine now. "What were you saying?"
"That- I'd like to work at both companies if I could." Ghetsis clasped his hands. "I can do the work, it's just I know you and the Pokemon Lab are kind of rivals."
This man was either brilliant or stupid. Brilliant enough to take advantage of his travel liberties, or stupid enough to think he could live taking that full advantage. Lysandre decided to hope that he was brilliant.
"I have no problem with that if you want to do it," Lysandre said, raising an eyebrow curiously. "You wouldn't handle anything important enough that it would impact either corporation, as an intern. That is what the program you're here on says, that you're on an internship, correct?"
"That's right," Ghetsis said, dipping his head with a look of relief on his face. Lysandre wondered why he'd been so concerned about it. This boy was from a noble family, there was nothing at Lysandre Labs that could possibly interest him. "Thank you so much."
Lysandre looked at his for a moment before shifting his gaze. "Mable, why don't you show his around. I have business to attend to." He nodded curtly at them both before striding away regally.