Disclaimer: Magi: The Labyrinth of Magi
A/N: Alrighty folks, buckle your seat belts and hang-on, cause he comes chapter two!
Sinbad loosened his tie as he stepped into one of the four elevators positioned throughout Sindria Inc. His company. Yeah, it still felt a bit surreal that he owned his very own corporation, but then again he wouldn't be working overtime on a Sunday night if it wasn't.
Pushing his sleeve slightly up his arm to gain access to the watch underneath, Sinbad sighed as he read that it was already thirty minutes past eight. If he didn't hurry the gang was going to think he was bailing on them, which if you knew Sinbad, just did not happen. Where there was alcohol and the promise of a good time, Sinbad was never too far away.
The elevator chimed in warning before its doors closed and it made its silent decent to the ground floor below without pause. Sinbad didn't truly mind being the only person in the building, he was use to it by now, but it still would have been nice to have some sort of company.
After exiting the elevator, the clicking sound of Sinbad's shoes was the only noise that permeated the otherwise quiet lobby as he made his way to the entrance of the building. The white marble floors appeared luminescent, the few lights still left on within the room creating the beautiful illusion.
As Sinbad reached the front door he didn't slow his pace, Hakuryuu, the ever-diligent doorman – doorboy really, as the kid didn't look a day over eighteen, timed the opening perfectly as to not impede Sinbad's stride with practiced efficiency.
Hakuryuu was dressed in what first appeared to be a charcoal black three-piece suit, but after closer inspection one could point out the slight differences. Instead of the usual tie, Hakuryuu wore a deep violet bow tie, which poked out of his crisp white collared shirt. The jacket more closely resembled a tailcoat, as it was quite a bit shorter in the front in comparison to the back, and its coattails extended down just above the boy's calves. Dual silver stripes were embroidered around each of the garment's sleeves to match the small silver buttons decorating the front. With a black service cap atop his head, the young man looked every part the respectable employee.
"Have a good evening, sir." Hakuryuu bowed slightly at the waist as he continued to hold the door open, showing no strain or unease even though the door was made fully of glass and had to weigh at least a ton.
Sinbad made his way through the door about to voice his thanks, but then turned back towards the boy and softly admonished, "Hakuryuu, how many times do I have to tell you? It's just Sinbad."
"I believe at least once more, sir."
Sinbad snorted softly at this and since Hakuryuu was still dutifully leaning forward at the waist, eyes on the ground, he noticed Sinbad slowly lean forward, mere inches from his face.
"Ah, but see one of these days I'll get you to say it . . . one way or another," the man whose hair perfectly matched the exact hue of the younger man's necktie whispered next to the Hakuryuu's ear. As he slowly pulled back, he winked teasingly at his flustered employee before continuing on his way to the nearby street to grab a taxi.
Once he hit the curb and was out of earshot the businessman could hold in his chuckle no longer. Seeing the boy's blushing face from the playful implication was just too priceless. Hakuryuu tried so hard to keep a cold professional mask in place at all times when on the job, but Sinbad just had too much fun messing with the poor kid.
While his jokes were totally harmless, Sinbad couldn't help but recall the face of a certain blonde errand boy who had a similar effect on the raven, but for very, very different reasons.
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Sinbad hopped out of the cab about a block away from the well-known bar he and his colleagues often frequented on Sunday nights after tipping the driver quite handsomely for his speedy commute. It was sort of a tradition really; at the close of every weekend all the members of Sindria's Board of Directors came out to this old bar right off 17th street and hung out to the wee hours of the night. Although some would say drinking the night before the workweek began was ill advised, Sinbad had yet to miss the unspoken ritual since it began not six months prior.
Originally, it had just been Sinbad and Sharrkan, probably the most rumbustious of the group, but slowly over time all the higher-ups in the large corporation were miraculously appearing at the same bar every Sunday night around the same time as if in sync. And soon it became one of the few things Sinbad looked forward to during his hectic weeks at work.
But soon their close-knit family would be taking in another due to Sinbad's irrational need to bring just one more lost soul under his wing to nurture and watch over. While he didn't know much about his newest employee, Ja'far, Sinbad did at least know what the man looked like.
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Four Weeks Earlier
With her bright pink hair tied up in an elaborate bun, as to keep all of it up and out of her face, Kougyoku adjusted her glasses once more, trying to gather the courage to knock upon her boss' office door.
On a whim it seemed, Sinbad had stopped in front of her desk that morning, which startled her as he usually spoke a quick greeting as he passed her before heading straight towards his own office, and asked her to tell him the moment her coworker Masrur left his officer for an extended period of time. Kougyoku had blinked totally stupefied, but then she realized that her boss was indeed Sinbad and such a request was not usual for the CEO of Sindria Inc.
Reluctantly she had agreed and spent the remainder of the day stalking, for lack of a better term, the red-haired giant waiting for the right opportunity to inform her boss the second the man's office became vacant. When the time finally came, Kougyoku quietly knocked on Sinbad's office door after she felt she had sufficiently studied the grain of the wood from which it was built for a handful of minutes.
"Please come in Kougyoku ," Sinbad encouraged as he rose from his chair in a rush and bit his lip in anticipation. After a few moments of silence, Kougyoku finally realized that he was waiting for her to speak and briskly got her thoughts in order.
"Oh, ah Masrur just left his office to meet the man who is going to be interviewed for the new position today in the lobby, sir," Kougyoku whispered as she became intimately acquainted with the pattern of the rug covering her boss's office floor as a blush of embarrassment rose to her checks.
Just as the word "sir" finished passing from the girl's lips, Sinbad was already making his way towards his open door. With a quickly voiced "Thanks," Sinbad was out of his office and hastily making his way towards another's.
Technically, he wasn't allowed to interview, or even meet potential employees as he had a bad track record of hiring people on sight. Sinbad was nothing but a compassionate man, but ever the mischievous individual; Sinbad decided he would sneak into Masrur's closet just before, Ja'far he thought his name was, entered the room for his scheduled appointment in order to steal a peak at the new meat.
He had almost been discovered by the surprisingly attractive young man before the interview had actually begun when he had had the sudden urge to sneeze. Barely able to keep himself from moving, Sinbad lifted his head back to halt the sneeze demanding to come forth, which resulted in him pushing the door to the closet slightly open with a soft creak.
Though the freckled face turned faintly towards the disturbance while in midsentence, Ja'far must have contributed the noise to nerves as the man turned back to give Masrur his full and undivided attention for the rest of the interview. By the time they were done and Ja'far was politely shaking the red-haired man's hand, Sinbad was on the brink of wetting himself as he had decided to have three shots of espresso in his coffee that morning rather than the usual two.
Sinbad watched as Ja'far bowed once more before leaving the office and began to sag in relief until he noticed Masrur was not following him, but was instead steadily making his way to the closet in which Sinbad was currently occupying. In an attempt to escape detection, Sinbad started to slowly walk backwards deeper into the closet, hoping to hide in the shadows if the door were to be opened, but too focused on the danger in front of him instead of behind, he ended up tripping over his own feet.
With a loud crash Sinbad slipped back towards the right wall and tried to catch himself upon a set of shelves, but instead one of his shirt sleeves got caught on the corner of the shelf next to the wall, which then caused that entire portion of the garment to rip from the still descending form of the businessman.
Masrur closed his hand around the handle to his office's closet and opened it casually as if he hadn't heard Sinbad wreaking havoc within said closet. Once the door was open and light was allowed to brighten the tight dark space, Masrur caught sight of his boss's fallen silhouette.
"Ah Mas, there you are I was just-" The words died in the CEO's throat as the man standing before him slightly raised a bright red brow.
"Alright, fine I was spying, but to be fair, I wouldn't need to spy if you would just let me interview my own employees. Is that too much to ask?"
Masrur just continued to stare blankly at his employer. The man was just prolonging his own torture by contradicting himself without any further prompting from the silent giant, who couldn't help but be somewhat amused, though his face would never show it.
"I promise I won't hire five people for the same position again, it was just a sudden lapse in judgment, they were all very qualified and-"
"Ah, there you are!" As if on cue Sharrkan pranced into the office before stopping dead in his tracks to observe the scene before him. Masrur was standing silently next to his desk, which was pretty ordinary, but slightly to his left Sinbad was leaning on the red-head's desk slowly unbuttoning what appeared to be a rather tattered shirt.
"Oh, so what'd I miss?" Sharrkan teased with a cheeky grin as he elbowed Masrur in the side, which received a slight eyebrow raise, nothing more.
"That hot, huh? Don't wanna kiss and tell? No, I get it. Some of us enjoy observing more than actually participating, which is totally fine. Whatever floats your boat," Sharrkan continued as he winked at his taller colleague knowingly.
Though he secretly held strong feelings for the other man, Sharrkan's affections usually came out in playful banter, which seemed to not be getting the man any closer to confessing to Masrur, but Sinbad did love watching the boisterous man struggle with his emotions occasionally. Everyone in the office was taking bets on how long it would take the two to finally get together, but they weren't the only "couple to be" being wagered.
Sharrkan turned back to Sinbad to fully take in the man's disheveled appearance, taking great pleasure in the fact he was witnessing his boss in such a start, though it wouldn't be the first time, or the last for that matter.
"Let me guess…Sinbad got in here before Mas could and had his naughty way with the most recent candidate for the new position and discovered them getting in the closet and couldn't scrounge up the courage to tell you to stop...Am I close?"
Sinbad simply let out a loud bout of laughter at the suggested, Masrur's lips twitched slightly and Sharrkan smiled affectionately at his two colleagues, friends, brothers.
"Well, I can't walk around the office like this unfortunately, the whole female staff would be out of commission for at least a week and the company can't handle that kind of causality right now," Sinbad stated very matter-of-factly as he made his way to the phone on Masrur's desk.
Sharrkan scoffed at the man's theory as Sinbad punched in a short series of numbers and picked up the phone's receiver.
"Kougyoku"
A pause.
"Yes, it's me. No your timing was fine, I just need help with something and happened to still be in his room…"
Sinbad voice started at its normal fairly loud volume, but slowly lowered to barely a whisper as he attempted to reassure Kougyoku that no he hadn't been caught sneaking in Masrur's office, actually far from it, or so he was trying to make her believe.
"Oh no, its nothing serious, I just need you to run by my apartment and grab a shirt from my closet."
Another pause.
"Yes…the closet in my bedroom," Sinbad couldn't help but sound a little unsure of the need for the confirmation to what seemed like an obvious answer.
Longer pause.
"Kougyoku? Are you there?"
His poor assistant had quite the crush on him and though day-to-day it didn't pose too much of a problem, on occasion the woman was known to faint from blushing too much. Discovering this fact on day three of her employment, Sinbad had made a point in giving her as much space as he could, which worked mostly. But he had a feeling seeing him half nude might induce another episode.
When Kougyoku didn't response Sinbad merely shrugged and placed the receiver back in its cradled as he went to pick up his torn garment. She'd get him a shirt, eventually.
"Well gentlemen have a good rest of the day," Sinbad grinned, mock salute in place as he made his way into the main hallway of the 50th floor of Sindria Inc. still very shirtless, leaving two baffled men left to stare at one another in bewilderment.
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Four Weeks Later
The bell hanging just above the bar door jingled as Sinbad walked to the counter to order his usual, single malt scotch on the rocks, as he unbuttoned his sleeves and proceeded to roll them up his forearms. Sinbad caught his drink as the bartender tossed it down the countertop to meet his hand before making his way over to a provocatively dressed Sharrkan. No doubt the display of so much tanned skin was for the benefit of one particular set of ruby eyes, no matter how oblivious.
"Sorry I'm late, got caught up in some last minute paperwork," Sinbad offered as he greeted Sharrkan, Hinahoho, and Drakon, who were all standing in a loose semicircle laughing over a story Sharrkan seemed to have just finished telling.
"Sinbad you didn't really sleep with the guy we ended up hiring did you?" Hinahoho joked good-naturedly as realization dawned on the unsuspecting CEO.
Desperate for a change in subject Sinbad casually asked the group, "Where's Mas?"
"Oh he had to hit the little girl's room. You would think he would be able to hold more volume, you know, given his size, but the dude had barely finished his second beer before he left," Sharrkan explained.
But of course the white-haired man would know the exact location of Masrur, poor guy was making it so obvious, especially the way his eyes seemed to sparkle at having successfully picked up the new information on the other man.
Lovesick fool.
Sinbad slightly grimaced as he took the first sip of his drink and hummed contently as the liquid burned somewhat before slowly warming up his chest. As he was about to take another swig he couldn't help but feel as though he was being stared at, and more importantly where. It felt as if someone's eyes was zeroing in on his ass, not that he minded really, he was quite proud of his assets, but when he turned around in an attempt to catch his shameless admirer all he saw were numerous undulating bodies busting a move, or attempting to, on the dance floor next to him.
After a second or two he recognized three of the gyrating figures to be Pisti, Yamuraiha, and Spartos. Well Spartos, clothed in black from head to toe, wasn't moving much at all, but Pisti, who looked to be dressed as a flapper from the 20's, feather headband included, picked up his slack as she suggestively grinded back right into the taller man's lap. This caused a bright blush to stain the normally solemn man's cheeks. The blonde girl simply giggled at his reaction, before taking Yamuraiha's offered hand and twirling around in a small circle to the beat of the music playing in the background. The rather curvy woman released Pisit's hand after she had made a full circle and began to sway her hips from side to side in an unspoken rhythm as she ran her fingers through her vibrant blue hair. Wearing a short coral cocktail dress, Yamuraiha looked radiant.
Smirking at the petite girls antics and the older woman's effortless beauty, Sinbad continued to shift his gaze around the bar until his eyes connected with that of a very familiar freckled face. Not a moment after he had caught the man's stare, Ja'far quickly ducked his head to face the mirror behind the bar counter once more.
But the man hadn't moved fast enough for Sinbad to miss the way his eyes had grown impossibly large before all color left the man's face. It was quite the reaction, but what surprised Sinbad the most was that there was no recognition in the smaller man's eyes; it was as if he didn't know who Sinbad was.
And he had been staring at his ass.
A leer tugged as Sinbad's lips as he quietly slipped away from his group of colleagues and made his way over to the bar where Ja'far was seated, hunched over his drink as if he wished to jump inside the narrow neck of the beer in his hand to escape from the humiliation of being caught checking someone out.
In an attempt to not fluster the man further, though the point seemed rather moot, Sinbad lightly tapped upon the smaller man's shoulder in order to get his attention once more. After a slight pause Ja'far did turn around, but once he realized who had done the tapping his lips began to move in perfect silence. Sinbad tried to stifle a chuckle at the bewildered face of the younger man as he softly spoke.
"Hey."
Again no words left the flushed man's lips, as he appeared to be having an internal struggle with himself. And then Sinbad watched Ja'far hesitantly bring his beer to his soft pale lips, finishing its contents in one fast swallow, before he swept his tongue across them in a practiced nervous gesture.
Sinbad blinked in shock as the first words the man spoke that evening fell from those same enchanting lips.
"You wanna get out of here?"
A/N: Phew! Another chapter up, hope you guys enjoyed! Please review, favorite, follow, etc. you know the drill! 3