A/N: Whooo! Another update, seriously? Yes. I'm sorry. ^^; you may hate me if you wish. This chapter may sound a little crazy, but hey I'm crazy. It only makes sense, right? Blah blah blah on with the chapter!
I do not own Xenosaga or it's characters, but if I was rich I'd buy the franchise. XD
Conflicting Numbers
Chapter 4
Surprise
Eight o'clock in the morning. Eight o'clock in the freaking morning and Gaignun was still awake. This was really getting ridiculous. He leaned over onto his desk and laid his head in his palms. Would he ever get any sleep? The sound of his door opening closing made him look up.
"Master Gaignun," Shelley's smooth, elegant voiced cooed. She carried a coffee cup in one hand and a file, most likely containing paperwork, while Mary waved enthusiastically and almost skipped over to see Jr.
"Mornin' Little Master!" she yelled.
"Mary!" Shelley scolded, setting the cup on the desk.
"Sorry." She said, backing away.
"It's ok, Mary. Let's just let him sleep." Gaignun said quietly, raising the cup to his lips.
"Master Gaignun, was Albedo really here?" Shelley asked.
Gaignun nodded and rubbed his temples. "Yes. Let's just say it wasn't the most pleasant expericence either of us has ever had."
"Well at least the Little Master's getting a good sleep out of that medicine! He looks so cute, don't you think, Master Gaignun?"
Gaignun paused for a second before saying, "The only time Jr.'s cute is when he's not causing damage."
"Master Gaignun!" Mary said, slapping him playfully on his left arm. Gaignun only shrugged.
"It's the truth."
"The Little Master does get in a lot of trouble," Shelley said, a light smile in her eyes.
"Yes he does." Gaignun sighed. He looked over at the sleeping boy. He'd somehow managed to tangle himself into the sheets again. One pillow covered his face and another was on the floor. Gaignun was almost glad he'd convinced himself to sit at his desk all night. "Well girls," he started, "I guess since we've got repairs to make on the Durandal we'll take it easy today."
Mary clapped excitedly, then remembered the Little Master was asleep and instantly stopped.
"Of course." Shelley said, inclining her head slightly. "Mary, let's go."
"Do we hafta? I wanna wait til the Little Master wakes up."
"The sooner we're done, the sooner you'll be able to see the Little Master."
Mary sighed but nodded and waved goodbye to Gaignun, "Tell him to come see me if he feels up to it!"
Gaignun watched them leave the room. He really couldn't think of anything he'd rather do than just relax all day if he could. He just had so much work to do. "Where does all this paperwork even come from?" Gaignun asked himself, looking through the folder Shelley had brought with her. He opened it up and thumbed through it. It wasn't as much as usual so that was a plus. He left his coffee on his desk to get dressed and when he returned Jr. was up, rubbing his eyes with one hand and yawning. "Good morning, sleeping beauty. How late did you plan on sleeping today?"
Jr. made a face and stood up. "As late as I wanted. Did you have a problem with that your highness or were you expecting me to die in my sleep?" Gaignun watched him walk across the room to his desk. "What's in this thing?" Jr. asked, picking up the cup.
"Coffee." Gaignun answered.
Jr. nodded and drank it down. "Jr., that was mine." Gaignun said, more amused than upset.
"What's your's is mine blah blah. Some deep stuff. Gaignun, I have been through a very tramatic experience and you want to deny me a simple cup of coffee? Give me a break, man."
Gaignun just stared at him. "Fine, I'll go get you another cup. Is that what you want?"
"No. I just want an apology. And I want you to fix the mess you made last night."
Jr. looked up at him curiously, but when Gaignun pointed to the bed Jr. started to argue. "That's what we have hired help for, Gaignun! I don't want to!"
Gaignun crossed his arms and waited for Jr. to give in, which he eventualy did. With a great, dramatic sigh he threw himself back onto the bed, but he didn't move. "Jr." Gaignun said warningly.
"I'm getting to it. I'm getting to it." Jr. said, signaling him to be quiet. Knowing he couldn't waste the entire day waiting for Jr. to get busy, he sat back down and started working. "Is that what you do all day, Gaignun? Work?" Jr. said, his voice muffled by the large mattress.
"Do you avoid work all day?"
"Yes."
"Well, at least you're going to admit it."
Jr. pushed himself up. "Gaignun, do I really have to do this?"
He laughed, "No, Jr. you don't have to."
"Sweet." He jumped off the bed and ran into the adjacent room.
Where are you going?
I'm going to take a shower, you perv!
Perv? Gaignun sent, amusement in the message.
Yeah! I'd tell the tabloids! The press would have a field day! The great Gaignun Kukai sexually abusing his son!
Gaignun frowned, Jr.
Ok, ok. Jeez. Gaignun we need to go out and have some fun today.
Jr. flicked on the light and stared at himself in the mirror, trying to picture what it looked like under his bandage. You haven't left this ship for anything but buisness in a long time. Don't you think it'd be nice to have some fun for once? Jr. peeled back the gauze slowly at first, but ended up pulling it off in a swift motion, thinking it'd hurt less that way. I told you it'd heal fast. Jr. pressed his hand against the purple flesh. It was closed, but it was still bruised.
Yeah, but it still hurts.
Jr. poked at it and winced. "Ow, damnit."
Don't poke it then.
Don't tell me what to do.
Gaignun sighed and started back on his paperwork. In fact, he was almost done. He hadn't realized there was so little...or maybe he was just working faster? He wasn't sure. The idea of a night out did sound pretty good. A signature here, a signature there. Approve, approve, deny, signature, deny, approve, running water...Gaignun shook his head. Approve, deny, deny...soap. Ok, no. He put down his pen and focused as hard as he could on the words. APPROVE! DENY! SIGNATURE! Warm water..."Damn." Gaignun gave up. He couldn't stop himself from at least picturing it. He could not wait until Jr.'s room was finished. It made things a lot easier when he didn't have to be so close to him. He was determined to give his brother privacy though and forced himself to keep his thoughts in his own head and not allow them to wander down the link where Jr. was...under the heavy water...soaking wet...touching himself...
"Gaignun!"
Gaignun snapped out of it. chaos and MOMO walked in. The realian almost ran to Gaignun's desk. "Is Jr. alright?"
"He's fine, MOMO." Gaignun said, leaning back in his seat and overly grateful for their existance.
"I can't believe this." chaos said, "The one time I'm not with him and something like this happens."
"Things happen, chaos. Don't feel bad. I'm sure that Jr. isn't upset with you."
"You're hurt too?"
Gaignun looked down at his arm. He'd almost forgotten about it. "It's not a big deal. It doesn't hurt anymore."
"Can we...can we see him?"MOMO asked, shyly.
Gaignun smiled sweetly at her and nodded. "Sure MOMO, but he's taking a shower right now so you'll have to wait until he comes out, ok?"
"Ok." She mumbled, fiddling with her fingers and still looking worried.
"That medicine you gave him really worked." Gaignun said, picking it up for her to see. Her golden eyes sparkled happily.
"Really?"
"He didn't feel any pain at all."
Jr., we have company.
Silence.
Jr., are you not paying attention to me or is something wrong?
More silence.
Jr....Jr.!
I'm here! Can't a guy take a shower in peace?
Gaignun sighed. "Something wrong?" chaos asked.
"No, no. I was just trying to tell Jr. that we had company so he wouldn't-"
The door slid open and Jr. came out, one towel wrapped around his waist and using another to dry his hair.
"What was so important, Gaignun?"
chaos tried to hold back his laughter. MOMO squeaked and covered her face with her hands. Jr. moved the towel away from his eyes so that he could see. His face turned red when he saw MOMO and he quickly retreated into the bathroom.
"-do that." Gaignun finished.
'Well you could've warned me a little bit better than that!" Jr. huffed.
"It's your own fault, Jr. I tried to tell you. Poor MOMO. She's going to be scarred for life."
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"
"It's supposed to mean that you should pay attention to me."
Jr. ignored him and looked for his clothes. "Did any of your clothes survive yesterday?" Gaignun asked.
"Um...I think so. A few of them, anyway."
"If they were in the closet, then they should've been fine."
Jr. didn't respond. "They were in the closet, weren't they?"
"Look, Gaignun," Jr. said, deciding to just put on his pajamas and search the room in them. "If you're so worried about my clothes you should do something about it, because I'm just fine with walking around like this everyday."
"I'm sure you are, Jr."
Gaignun closed the folder and set it aside to give to Shelley later. "Well you'd better get dressed."
Gaignun raised an eyebrow at him. "I am dressed."
Jr. looked up at him and shook his head. "We're going out tonight," he started counting on his hands, "You, Shelley, Mary, chaos, me, and maybe MOMO if Ziggy will let us."
Gaignun continued to stare at him as if to say duh, I'm already dressed.
"You always wear that suit. Is that all you have?"
"I have a certain image to keep up, Jr."
Jr. nodded and walked away, complaining down the link on his way to the demolished room. He continued to rant while he dressed and entered back into Gaignun's room, wearing another long black jacket, a navy blue shirt and black pants.
"Well, where are we going, Jr.?"
Jr. stopped in the middle of his mental rant to think about that for a moment. "I don't know..."
Jr. walked to Gaignun's desk to the "special" paperwork that he'd assigned for him. He flipped through. "What are you doing?" Gaignun asked.
"I'm looking for a invitation to something."
"An invitation?"
Jr. ignored his question and kept looking. "You know how much mail you throw out, Gaignun? How many party invitations you get that you never attend? You're sort of a stiff person, aren't you?"
"The last time we went to a party, my son got drunk and ran crying to me because the piano didn't love him."
Jr. stopped his shuffling for a brief second. "Really? Well I think you should learn to discipline your son, Gaignun Kukia."
He pulled out a small envelope. "Helmer's birthday not important enough to attend?"
Surprised that he'd missed something so important, Gaignun picked it up and examined it. "Well...alright then, I guess we can go." The younger man said, still surprised as to why he didn't discover this earlier. The whole idea did seem a bit suspicious though.
"Everything I do has you suspicious. Why are you always watching me so closely?"
Gaignun ran his eyes up and down Jr.'s small body. He stood, arms crossed with a smirk on his lips and victory in his blue eyes. He was always like that, so much confidence. His very existance commanded attention. An aura of power constantly surrounded him. It made MOMO adore him. It made Albedo crave him. It made Gaignun love him.
"So that I can make sure and document the thousands of dollars you cost us everytime you destroy something."
Jr. shrugged, "Fair enough." He took Gaignun's seat and started to work.
"You're working?" Gaignun asked, surprised.
"Yep. You always do my work. I'll give you a break just this once. I did steal your coffee afterall."
Gaignun smiled to himself and went to find Shelley and Mary.
The party was in a strange building Gaignun had never seen before. It was enough for him to agree with Jr.; he never left the ship for anything except buisness. Jr. was excited to have him out. A real father/son day, Gaignun! Imagine that! The press will just eat it up! Jr. had been so excited that Gaignun was actually leaving that he'd put on a suit. It was almost an exact copy of Gaignun's own, a blue tie instead of a green one hung around his neck. Jr. had grabbed it happily declaring that Helmer would get a kick out of it. They all walked in a group into the building. Mary and Shelley were on either side of him, clinging to his arms. Shelley had offered to take his injured arm, certain that in her sister's excitment she'd forget about the bandage under the suit. chaos walked beside Jr., feeling a little out of place and wondering why Jr. had asked him to come, while MOMO blushed a deep pink in her pretty white dress, clinging to Jr.'s right arm.
Jr. where are you taking me?
Shut up, Gaignun! I already told you. Helmer's party!
They entered into a large white room, descending steps that led down onto a large floor where more than a thousand guests stood. There was a look of complete surprise on everyone's face. Somewhere in the crowd, a woman squealed, "Gaignun Kukai!"
Jr. chuckled. "He's here!" another cried.
Jr....Gaignun sent, clearly confused.
What? Jr. responded, trying to act innocent.
What's going on?
Jr. smiled and waved to everyone. He gently led MOMO down the first few steps.
Well, I didn't want you to miss your own party.
My party? You said this was Helmer's-
-Gaignun, do you know how easy it is for me to trick you? If we were both staring at the same sky and I told you it suddenly turned yellow because Ziggy had decided it looked better that way, you'd believe me.
Gaignun didn't respond, masking his confusion with a professional, practiced air as he greeted guests. I did this for you, Gaignun. A thank you present for all the money you've wasted on me. It's time I wasted some one you.
Gaignun was speechless, even in his mind he had no idea how to respond.
Have fun!
A/N: Wow, this one was pretty AU, huh? XD Well GaignunxJr. was AU to begin with. The next chapter will be a lot better. Will Gaignun ever admit his love for Jr.? Maybe. XD Idk. Do you know? Let's find out. Reviews are my muse, so inspire it up, people!