Seto was still in a foul mood when Bakura returned to the break room a good half-hour later. He noticed the rigidness in the X-CEO's posture. He looked to Joey for an explanation, Tristan and Yugi had left for shoots a few minutes earlier. Joey beckoned Bakura closer and murmured what had happened so Seto didn't have to hear it again.
Bakura gave Seto an almost sympathetic look and took the empty chair right next to him. He watched him for a few minutes, then asked in a quiet tone, "What are you going to do about it?"
Seto was brought back into reality by Bakura's voice. Truthfully he hadn't noticed the brit come in. He regarded him in silence for a moment, contemplating the question. "What else…make headlines."
The photographer smirked, "Glad to hear it." He set Seto's shoot schedule on the table. "Your first one is tomorrow morning, 'Blue-eyes.'"
Joey leaned forward on the table, "'Blue-eyes?' I like it, it holds so much depth without being to complex."
Bakura chuckled and gave a slight bow to Joey, "As always, as long as you approve, 'Golden Adonis.'"
Joey smiled at Bakura, lacing his fingers together. He gave a slight chuckled of his own, "You flatter me."
Seto watched the twosome interact, this was defiantly not the Joey Wheeler that he had known in high school. What happened to the loud abrasive punk that had challenged him to a duel every other day. The teen that would be so easily provoked? Had four years changed him that much? It was so strange. With all his interactions with the other people from his high school that now worked at Explicit, Joey was the only one who's personality had really changed.
"You're staring…"
Seto jumped, returning to reality once again. Bakura smiled at him, sitting back in his chair. He had gotten closer to Seto to see if he could get the X-CEO to come back to Earth.
"You okay?" asked Joey, he sounded more curious then concerned. "You keep driftin' in and out of consciousness."
"Just thinking," murmured Seto looking at the table, "All the changes that has happened to everyone in the last four years and just now seeing the result. It just makes me think of how it used to be and compare it to now."
Bakura lifted an eyebrow, "Oh, you mean how you used to be a pompous jerk that wouldn't give any one the time of day unless they could pay you for it?"
Seto shot a glare at him, "And how you used to be the shy and quiet transfer student that was afraid of his own fan girls. Don't think I didn't know about the fan club, Prince Ryou Bakura."
The white haired youth couldn't help but laugh at that, "I remember those girls." He paused remembering his encounters with his fan girls, "I confused so many of them when I turned them down for dates. Being extremely shy can only take you so far before you have to admit straight out that you're gay as all hell."
Seto couldn't say that he hadn't expected that. Everyone had basically told him Bakura was gay or at least hinted at it. Which brought up the other question, he glanced at Joey, wondering.
Joey gave him a coy smile. "You interested in this, Seto?" asked Joey referring to himself. Seto's eyes widened slightly, he wasn't expecting THAT. Joey chuckled, "Sorry to tell you, 'Blue-eyes,' but I am currently off the market," he winked at him, "Even if I do swing your way."
The brunet's face reddened. He hadn't expected that type of answer from Joey Wheeler. One of his biggest rivals, well he really couldn't say rival because he had never considered them equal enough to be rivals, more like one of his biggest pains in the ass during high school.
"Oh, you're in luck, 'Kura. It seems that Seto is on that side of the fence," mused the Egyptian as he joined the group sitting across from Bakura. He smiled at Bakura, "Wait, that's right…I had almost forgotten about our deal. So you can't even try for him."
Seto looked at Malik annoyed with the controlling tone in the blonde's voice, "I believe the deal was that you have to stop banging Yugi if Bakura stays away from me, but not the other way around. I believe that means that I can do anything I want with Bakura and you still can't touch Yugi." The X-CEO smirked as Malik's eyes widened, the Egyptian had figured out that Seto now had the upper hand in this game.
"That isn't fair!" exclaimed the blonde looking from Bakura to Seto. "You can't pull that on me, what if Yugi and I were serious?"
"Then there isn't a problem at all, the deal is void," stated Bakura, he wasn't about to ruin his friend's relationship. "But that's only if you are serious and it's not just a booty call."
Malik thought for a moment, "I think that means that I owe Yugi a couple dinners." He gave a slight chuckle, not realizing who was standing behind him.
"Oh, so I'm just a joke to you," stated a quiet but hurt voice. Malik's eyes widened and he turned to see Yugi standing behind him. The younger man looked hurt, he gave Malik a cold glare, "You're a bastard…" He turned on his heel and left the break room.
"Shit… Yugi, wait!" Malik jumped up and ran after him.
The rest of the table watched him leave. Bakura sighed, "I gave him a chance to be serious, but he just had to go a be his normal self, baka."
Joey shook his head, "I feel bad for Yug. I mean he's had it for Malik for two years now and the idiot can't take anything seriously enough to realize it." Bakura nodded, and Joey continued, "Hell, I dunno if Malik even feels the same."
"He does," stated Seto quietly, "I could see it in his eyes when he had realized what he had done. I don't think I've ever seen him that scared before."
"You can tell all that?" asked Joey sounding impressed, "Well, if this whole porn star thing doesn't work out you could always be a love doctor."
"Thank you for the job counseling, Joey," replied Seto rolling his eyes.
Seto road in the dark taxi back to Yugi's apartment by himself. It seemed like Malik had been able to earn himself a second chance, because the twosome were going to dinner. (This information came via Joey, who was apparently the hub for gossip/information.) The brunet sighed, his day had been exhausting but interesting to say the least. It was hard to believe that he was actually going to be working in a place like that.
He smiled, Well, at least it'll be interesting…
Malik walked onto the shoot floor the next morning all smiles. He noticed one of his fellow photographers standing near a dressing room. She seemed to be talking to the person on the other side of the door. Lifting an eyebrow, he walked over to her.
"What's going on, Megumi?" he asked sounding concerned.
Megumi, a distinguished photographer of thirty with long flowing red hair and dark captivating eyes, turned and smiled at the young Egyptian. "Dinner went well, I see." She was experienced to say the least, she had almost a psychic ability when it came to people's love lives.
Malik blushed slightly, "Yes, dinner went fine." He had to force himself back to the matter at hand before he drifted off into memories. He shook his head, "What's going on?"
"Oh nothing, darling," stated the red-head while waving him away. "'Blue-eyes' is just a little nervous about his first shoot. I'm just calming him down, talking him through the process. I thought it would be good for him since I'm the photographer and all."
"Yes, I know," replied Malik. He had set it up so Seto ended up with the two female photographers doing solo shoots for the first month on purpose. He figured it would be easier for him to adjust since he knew the X-CEO would not be comfortable with Bakura or himself and probably would have a hard time with Carson, just because of the way the man acted.
"Excuse me, Megumi-san." One of the tech girls approached them, "We're ready when you two are." She was referring to the photographer and the model. Megumi nodded and told her it would be a few minutes. The tech girl bowed and left to tell the crew to standby.
Malik smiled, the different thing about Megumi's crew was that it was all girls. I wonder if maybe it would be have been easier with a mixed crew. Oh, well… However, there were really few people watching the actual shoots and the models weren't fully naked the whole time.
The-red head shot the blonde a look then moved closer to the door, "Seto, darling, we ready for you. You don't have to be embarrassed it's just a couple of us girls."
Malik rolled his eyes and muttered, "Like that will bring him any comfort." He crossed his arms waiting to see if Seto would ever come out of the dressing room.
"It's a lot better then a bunch of horny boys lusting after him during the shoot," hissed Megumi shooting Malik a glare. "Now go away, don't you have a shoot this morning as well?"
Malik swayed from side to side, thinking a moment. "I think I do…" He turned to walk away, but stopped and walked over to the dressing room door, "Remember, 'Blue-eyes,' no pictures, no pay checks!" He chuckled then walked away heading to his shoot floor.
Seto heard Malik's comment, it made him annoyed. He took a deep breath closing his eyes, he stepped out of the dressing room. He was wearing a robe, so he wasn't completely naked just yet. He just had to get up the courage to do the photo shoot, once he left the dressing room there was no turning back.
Megumi smiled at him," Come on, hun. It won't hurt, I promise." She lead him to the shoot floor as she explained what she wanted him to do in the first shot. It was pretty straight forward, she thought it was best if they started with something simple.
Bakura stood up in the light booth. He couldn't resist watching Seto's first ever photo shoot, but of course he knew that his presence would probably make the brunet nervous. Hence why he was standing in the light booth, hidden by the way the lights were set-up. He hadn't told Seto this, but the only person the model could really see was the photographer, because of the way the lights were set-up you were basically blind the whole time. All you had to do was pretend that you were either alone or the only other person watching you was the photographer, but the seconded strategy was based on whether you and the photographer were involved or if you were just really comfortable with them or not.
Seto took another deep breath, taking off his robe and stepping up onto the set. He turned and was immediately blinded by the bright lights. He winced and turned away, blocking the harsh light with his arm. Holy shit, that's bright…
He blinked when he heard the shutter of a camera. He looked at Megumi quizzically, she only smiled and motioned for him to pose like she had told him. Seto sighed, Here goes nothing…
"That's it!" exclaimed Megumi when she had run out of film on two cameras. She smiled at Seto, "Very nice, you're done for today, I think. You've only got one shoot a day right now, right?"
Seto nodded donning the robe that had just been handed to him. He had been able to get into it and forget about everyone else that had to be watching around the time Megumi had switched cameras. He stepped off the stage, blinking at the sudden light change, everything was so much darker now.
Megumi walked over to him, "See? That wasn't so bad, right? You just have to forget that anyone's watching you and go for it." She chuckled and winked at the brunet before returning to her technical crew so they could set up for the next photo shoot.
Seto took another deep breath, he felt like he had just had fifteen cups of coffee. The adrenalin rush that he had received from the photo shoot made him feel like he had gotten a caffeine rush or something. He wouldn't admit it to anyone but being up there, like that, had been exhilarating. It was defiantly a rush that he had never felt before.
Entering the dressing room he had been in before to get dressed, the brunet gave a small chuckle. Surprisingly enough he could get used to this type of work.
"Have fun out there?" asked a voice.
Seto nearly had a heart attack, he hadn't been expecting Bakura to be waiting in the dressing room for him. It was a few seconds before his brain caught what the question was. He stared at Bakura, "Were you watching?"
The brit laughed, "Of course I was watching, I am the CEO after all. I had to make sure that hiring you was a good idea for the company." He stood and smirked, "And I assure you it was."
The brunet's face reddened as his heart rate increased. It was hard to hide the fact that he was, for lack of a better term, afraid of Bakura. The man had an air around him that could make a person feel safe and completely exposed at the same time.
Still, Seto couldn't give up his position of Alpha dog, even if he did work for this man. "You know, it hardly seems fair that you got to see me completely naked twice and I haven't even seen you with your shirt off." Though what possessed him to say THAT was completely beyond his comprehension at that moment.
Bakura gave a soft dark chuckle and closed the short distance between himself a Seto with confident strides. He wasn't even an arms length away from the brunet now, "Did you want to see?"
"Would I have brought it up if I didn't?" It seemed as if Seto's mouth had gone on auto-pilot and wasn't listening to the X-CEO's orders. It was the part of Seto that needed to be dominant over anyone, for anything. Apparently it didn't care to listen to reason and was all to willing to play this game with Bakura.
The photographer lifted an eyebrow, he hadn't expected that answer from Seto. Then again, the brunet had always been the one to play the boss over everyone. That base-line of his personality hadn't changed, though the way he went around showing it wasn't as blunt now. He took a half step back, "Alright…" The brit smirked and unbuttoned his white dress shirt, shrugging it off his shoulders so if fell to the ground. "Is this what you wanted?" he asked in a sultry tone.
The same part of Seto that had decided to play this game with the ex-tomb robber was now surprised and slightly confused that Bakura would follow the order givin. Wouldn't that end the game? The other part of Seto knew quite different, Bakura had just changed the rules. He would loose this round if he didn't come up with a clever response quickly.
Bakura gave the brunet a knowing smile, he moved closer brushing his hand over the knot that held Seto's robe closed. He leaned forward and tilted his head to make sure every breath was felt when he spoke, "Don't loose that spark, Seto, it's what makes you interesting." He attacked Seto's neck just below his ear with a sharp nip, "but you should know, I'll never be uke to anybody."
He smirked and stepped away from the brunet, picking up his shirt. He put it back on then gave Seto a little wave and walked out of the room. Leaving Seto still pinned to the wall, by his words.
(A/N: Hmmm…I could just end it there…but I won't 'cause I'm not that evil…or am I?)
Malik found Megumi in the breaking room talking with Carson. He stood half in the hallway and half in the door way, hesitant to get closer. The reason being the blonde sitting with the red head, as hard as it was to believe Carson could actually embarrass him quiet easily. He was a veteran in this field, though only in his mid-thirties, he had still been doing this type of work a lot longer then anyone else in the company.
I think I'll just come find her later, thought Malik starting to step out of the break room. However he had made this decision too late and had already been spotted.
"Malik sweetie! Don't run off without saying hello," called Carson in a sing song voice.
The Egyptian winced and turned, walking into the break room fully. He walked over to the blonde and red-head's table. "Hello," stated Malik in a false cheery voice.
"Aww…don't be like that, sweetie. Have a seat," Carson gestured to the seat next to him smiling brightly, even though he knew that blonde didn't want to be around him.
Malik sighed and sat down, maybe he could get ignore him. He looked at Megumi, "I wanted to ask you how Seto's shoot went. The performance of our models are critical to our company." The CEO's voice carried a seriousness that it usually didn't have.
The elder woman lifted an eyebrow in question, "You're oddly serious about this. Something happen?"
"No, but I'm worried," the blonde was being completely serious, which was out of character for him, so the twosome knew that he had really come for advice. "You two should know by now how Bakura is, I need to know if Seto is even worth keeping."
"I don't think you have anything to worry about," stated Carson dropping his usual playful manner.
Megumi nodded in assent pulling out her digital camera, "Here, I think you should look at this." She turned on the camera a set it to the picture she wanted to show Malik, then handed it to him.
His eyes widened, "When did you take this?" He looked up at her.
"When he first stepped on stage, I hadn't been handed a camera yet so I took the picture with my digital," explained Megumi leaning her chin on her hands. "I couldn't resist the picture, just the way he stood normally gave that demand. He's a natural, a little unrefined, but a natural all the same."
"Yeah," Malik looked back at the picture, "Now we just have to hope that Bakura doesn't break him."
"Where did he go?" sighed Tea leaning against the wall on the shoot floor. She was tired of looking, she had already wasted an hour. She sighed again crossing her arms. "I can't believe I can't find him…"
"Find who?" questioned a voice.
Tea looked up, "Oh, hey Yugi." She smiled at him, it had actually been a while since they had talked. They didn't really see much of each other, really only when Malik was the photographer for Yugi's shoots and that didn't happen often, do to scheduling problems.
Yugi returned the smile, "Are you looking for Malik again?"
She shook her head, "Amazing as it is, I'm not. I'm actually looking for Bakura, I need him to 'okay' some time off so I can go to my audition for Julliard next month. Of course when I need to find him he drops off the face of the planet." She sighed again.
"Well, actually I just saw him heading back to his office, so maybe you'll catch him at the elevator if you run fast," replied Yugi.
Tea brightened up, "Really?! Thanks, Yugi!" She turned and ran down the hall.
Yugi gave a slight chuckle watching her run down the hall. He was happy for her, she had finally gotten an audition with Julliard, her dream school. "I hope you achieve your dream, Tea…"
Bakura stepped onto the elevator, he was in a good mood. As weird as it was to say, toying with Seto had actually relieved him of some stress and he felt better then he had in a few days. He hummed a bit as he pushed the button for the floor where his office was located. The doors where about to close when he heard his name get called. He hit the 'door open' button wondering who was calling to him.
Tea nearly ran into the back wall of the elevator, when she had seen the doors almost close and then open back up a she had ran faster to catch Bakura. She stood there for a moment catching her breath as the door shut and the elevator started ascending.
Bakura looked at her slightly confused, "Did you need me for something? Where's the fire?"
"Yeah," gasped Tea, she still hadn't caught her breath quite yet. "I have to ask you a question."
"Well, I'm not going any where at the moment," replied Bakura sounding a little worried about Tea not breathing normally, "so you can take your time."
The brunet nodded. They stood in silence until Tea got her breathing back to normal. She smiled, "Okay, I was wondering if I could have time off the week of the sixteenth of next month."
"How long do you need?" Bakura leaned back against the back wall of the elevator.
"From the sixteenth until the twenty-third, that's eight days," answered Tea watching Bakura's reaction. It was true that they were close friends, but he was still her boss.
"May I ask what for?" He inclined his head looking at her curiously.
"I got an audition for Julliard, so I need to fly out to New York for the week," explained Tea. She sounded excited about the audition, but worried that he wouldn't give her the time off.
The brit looked at the ceiling of the elevator, "I dunno…eight days is a long time. And we won't have anyone one to get Malik to the shoot floor." He glanced over at Tea, the girl looked heart broken. He stared at her, "My god girl! Who do you think I am? Of course you can have the time off, jeez…and stop staring at me like that!"
"Really, Bakura?" Tea sounded cheerful again.
"Yes, now come here," he said as he held his arms out for a hug. She squealed and literally jumped into them. He caught her and laughed, "I can't believe you even thought for a second that I would say no. Though we are going to miss you around her, we'll have to find another person to be Malik's assistant."
"Hey, I haven't gotten into Julliard yet," she said as they separated.
"I have all confidence in you, you'll get in for sure," he paused, "though that still doesn't explain why you thought I wouldn't give you the time off." He sounded a little sadden by this fact.
Tea frowned and looked away, "I dunno…" She rubbed her left arm looking a bit nervous. "You've been on edge for the past two weeks and I guess I was worried after I saw you loose it with three different techies this morning."
Bakura made a face, "Hum, yes, well…" He took a breath, "I wasn't in the best of moods this morning." He sounded almost embarrassed by this fact.
Tea looked at him, "'Best of moods?' You reduced Anna to tears, you were freakin' scary this morning."
The CEO sighed and held up his hands in a surrendering fashion, "Alright, I will admit it, I was a complete and total bitch this morning." He smiled, "And yes, I do realize that my PMSing would scare little children long before I even opened my mouth."
The brunet started to laugh as the elevator came to a halt and the doors opened. Bakura chuckled and smiled at her, "So come on, we've got to get that time off registered in the schedule or Malik is going to have his own bitch fit."
A/N: I think I'll leave it there…You know I'm actually quite surprised that I can write on this story. I got the inspiration by seeing a picture Bakura and Malik in business suits, if you can believe that. Weird, right? Business suits equal porn magazine… Well, ask yourself, what other company could Malik and Bakura actually run? I couldn't come up with one. Blah… If you can't figure out the pairings in this fic you need professional help, so even though I thought I should just tell you straight out, I figured that you guys can figure it out. But if you want to make sure just ask me in your review about the one's your not sure of and I'll reply to it. If I can…I can't actually reply anonymous reviews w/o an e-mail. OH! Before I forget! I need help with something…I was wondering if you guys could come up with an idea for Tristan's shoot name, I can't think of any . anyway, R&R! Hopefully I'll think of/get a name before I need to use it…