The usually quiet mansion was booming with sound. Panicked employees stomped about and the phones were ringing off the hook. A pack of reporters had taken up refuge behind the manor gates like starved animals hoping to get first dibs on the story that had just been leaked that night. Needless to say Kaiba Seto was slightly more irritated than usual. To be full on enraged however, showed lack of discipline and control, and that was something the calculated CEO was not.
"Isono! Get my lawyer on the phone," he demanded as he typed away on his laptop. The sudden media attention had the Kaiba Corp stocks booming, and had products flying off the shelves. It was too early in the game to decide of the sudden invasion of his personal life would prove beneficial or not.
"Mokuba," he said as he azure eyes cut over to his nervous little brother, "go to the kitchen and get me some coffee."
His little brother had been a nervous wreck when they first found out the story got out. Mokuba had been walking on egg shells around his elder brother, hoping to avoid the shit storm that was Kaiba Seto's anger.
"Right, sure thing Nii-sama," the raven haired boy smiled slightly and darted out of his brother's office, eager to get away from the action.
Phone calls needed to be made. Emails needed to be sent. He needed to contact his PR department and have them think of a response to put out to the media in order to placate the sudden frenzy. He needed his private investigators to find him a name, because whoever the leaked the story was going to have hell to pay.
His mouth twitched upwards at the thought of suing the bastard in court. Revenge was a dish best served cold.
"Kaiba-sama," his secretary called nervously, "five different news stations have contacted Kaiba Corp and asked for interviews with you, or at the very least confirmation or denial of the story."
"Do not release any statements until PR gets here," he barked.
His blue eyes skirted across the room as he took a visual attendance of everyone present. His body guards were posted at the door, his secretary was in the corner answering phone calls, his lawyer and PR department where in transit, Mokuba had just handed him his coffee, but where was—
He closed his eyes and sighed. No doubt that lazy ass was still asleep, "For fuck's sake could somebody go wake him up!"
"Calm down moneybags, I'm right here."
The familiar mop of blonde hair was leaning on the door way of his office. Jounouchi Katsuya was mentally checked off his attendance roster. He supposed it was lucky enough the blonde was awake so early, but would it have killed the guy to have changed out of his red flannel pajamas? At least he had one less thing to worry about.
"Why are ya all worked up anyway? It's not like they wouldn't 'ave found out sooner or later. Do I embarrass ya or somethin'?" the blonde asked indignantly as he walked over the taller boy's desk.
"No Katsuya you do not embarrass me," Kaiba sighed, "but my personal life should stay personal. What I do outside my professional life should not affect my company."
Brown eyes narrowed as the paperwork on Kaiba's desk was messily shoved away and Jounouchi Katsuya's pajama clad ass replaced them. The chair he had so conveniently placed next to his own was ignored as the blonde made himself comfortable atop Kaiba's desk much to the brunette's chagrin. The blonde shot the brunette a goofy grin as he tucked one leg underneath his chin in an effort to get comfortable.
"Are ya sure I don't embarrass ya? Cause yah always seem so uptight when ya take me to those 'fancy dinner meetings' or 'business parties'," the blonde teased.
Kaiba stopped typing, brought his elbows on top of his desk, and neatly folded his hands together and placed them in front of his mouth (a telltale sign Kaiba was planning to say something the blonde wouldn't like, but Kaiba would try to put in a way that wasn't too insulting to the shorter boy), "Perhaps if you bothered to attend the etiquette classes I arranged for you and didn't tie your tie like a blind man would I wouldn't be so uptight. Your table manners like that of a child's, but I will admit they have been getting better. However as I stated before Katsuya you do not embarrass me, otherwise I wouldn't bother to bring you to any public functions at all and would limit you to never leaving the mansion."
The blonde let out a loud chuckle and shot the cold brunette his million dollar smile, "I know, I know. I was just teasin', right kiddo?" he said as he motioned to Mokuba who gave the blonde a smile in return.
"So what are ya gonna tell the press anyway? It's not every day they found out a rich CEO is dating a broke colleague student, let alone another guy," Katsuya said with a cheeky grin, "But I won't be offended if ya wanna deny it all to save face Kaiba, I mean it. So long as ya still love me when the day is over I won't mind if ya tell every news station from Domino to Tokyo that ya actually hate my guts," the blonde said with a genuine smile.
Everyone in the room watched the pair out of the corner of their eye, eager to see if the cold CEO would indeed deny the entire love affair to the press or confirm the pair's relationship. Nobody could deny the blonde's kindness, especially not after he offered the brunette a cop out.
In a rare display emotion while in a professional setting the brunette reached out and smacked the blonde on the shoulder with a small smile of his own, "I'm Seto freaking Kaiba and I do what I want. If people don't want to do business with me because of my sexual orientation then they aren't the people I want as business partners Katsuya. Give it a week and some Jpop star will have worn a bad outfit on the red carpet or some actress will have broken up with her boyfriend."
The blonde leaned back and gave a warm laugh, "Be still my beatin' heart. Keep throwin' out romantic lines like that and people are gonna start to think you have a heart Kaiba."
"Go to hell Katsuya," the brunette said as he rolled his eyes.
The blonde gave him a rueful smile as he stuck out his tongue and gave the teenaged CEO the finger. He had long since become accustomed to Kaiba's offbeat sense of humor and he learned to differentiate between the taller boy's snarky remarks and bad attempts at flirting. It was their constant bickering that had gotten the two together in the first place and Jounouchi Katsuya wouldn't want to have it any other way.
"Jou?" Mokuba asked, hating to break up the sappy moment between his brother and his brother's lover, "Yugi and your friends are on the phone for you, they sound upset," the boy said as he thrust the phone out to the blonde.
"Nyeh, hang up!" the blonde whispered yelled as he refused to accept the phone, "Or tell 'em I'm not here!"
"But Jounouchi they're your friends!" the raven insisted, puzzled by the strange behavior.
"Indeed Katsuya. You've never not wanted to speak with the geek squad before," the brunette said as he watched the strange exchange, "Perhaps, there is something you aren't telling me? Or rather something you haven't told the friendship posse?"
"Nii-sama, what do you mean?" Mokuba inquired, still awkwardly trying to hand the phone to the blonde.
"Well Katsuya?" Kaiba asked eagerly.
Jounouchi Katsuya threw his hands up the air and let out an annoyed huff of air, "Alright already! Ya caught me ya stupid evil genius. After we graduated last summer and the gang went separate ways I might have neglected to tell the gang about a few things."
Kaiba lifted his hand to his heart in mock distress, "Why Jounouchi Katsuya you aren't embarrassed by me are you?"
Mokuba's dark eyes locked onto the blonde's and he swore he saw tears forming in the kid's eyes, "Is that true Jounouchi? You're embarrassed by Nii-sama? Do I embarrass you too?"
The blonde glared at the insufferable two that were the Kaiba brothers. He'd expected this from the elder, but he hadn't expected it from the shrimp. Usually Mokuba saved his childlike cuteness and powers of manipulation for the greater good, such as dessert for breakfast or an extra hour to play video games. He never thought he'd see the day the student surpassed the teacher.
"No squirt you and ya brotha' don't embarrass me, but how do ya tell ya friends that ya dating and livin' with the guy ya spent all of high school fighting with? 'Sides the gang didn't even know I was into guys," the blonde grumbled.
"Sure Katsuya, now why don't you tell that to your little friends?" the brunette said with a big smirk.
"Yeah, yeah," the blonde said as he took the phone from Mokuba and stalked out of the office, "Go to hell Kaiba."
The brunette's smirk grew as he began typing away on his laptop once more, "See you there Katsuya."