This was it. The moment of truth.

Marie stood in front of the unobtrusive silver door, reading the name on the plaque over and over again. In and out mission, she told herself, just go in there, demand that he reinstate Sara, and get the hell out of Dodge. She was shaking, she realized. Her conversation with Mizumi had left her feeling confused and a bit crazy.

Her breath caught in her throat as the door opened. A gorgeous young woman with platinum blonde hair and dazzling blue bedroom eyes stood before. The woman smiled an amused, ruby-red smile and put her gloved white hand to her chest. Marie had never seen someone with her uniform before and she wondered just where the hell she had come from.

"Seto Kaiba will see you now," the woman said in a voice that was both deep and softly musical. The woman folded her hand behind her back and stepped aside, her eyes averted respectfully. The smile never left her lips.

"Right...thanks."

Marie took a deep breath in and stepped into the room. She wondered if this was what it was like when dearly departed souls stepped off of the boat of Charon and into the domain of Hades.

The windows in the room were tinted, allowing only the smallest sliver of golden light which slanted across Kaiba's desk. He sat in the dead center, his countenance dark as he listened to the person speaking on the other end of the phone. He was chewing slowly and staring past her as if she wasn't even there. A half-eaten Moon Pie sat crumbled beneath its wrapper on his desk.

The door slammed shut behind her and she jumped.

Her fate had been sealed. She was alone with Kaiba: the multi-billion dollar street racing Bosnian war refugee/orphan who had a thing with Mizumi or a Saudi Arabian princess (who also had a thing with Mizumi.) Kaiba, who possibly had OCD and leprosy and a little dick and may have possibly killed a bunch of people in California and had once bet his entire company on the color of a man's socks and had challenged a robber to a game of Russian Roulette and had jumped out of a building with a homemade jetpack just to prove a point, according to the gossip. That Kaiba.

He seemed not to have even noticed her presence. His eyes wandered over her as he listened to the person on the phone. She could hear their voice buzzing on the other end like a tiny, hyperactive fly. She decided that now was maybe a good time to take a seat instead of standing around staring at him like a dolt. There was only one other chair in front of Kaiba's desk. She set herself delicately on the edge of it and folded her hands neatly in her lap.

After a moment of silence, he switched the phone to his other ear. "Yeah, so?" He said to the person on the line. She was staring at the Moon Pie, somehow amused by the fact that Kaiba did ordinary things like snack in the middle of the workday. Seeing her gaze, Kaiba opened a drawer in his desk and slipped the Moon Pie inside, but not before she noticed many others of its kind arranged in neat rows within the drawer.

"You think I care?" he asked the person on the phone as he snapped the drawer shut. "That was your first mistake. Just put the legal team on it and spare me the excuses."

Her foot began to bounce of its own accord as she waited in silence. Her toes came in contact with the bottom of his desk and the wood beneath her slipper compressed. The windows began to shift in color and she realized, with alarm, that she must have hit a button that opened them.

"Sssshhiiiitttt," she hissed as blinding white light began to stream into the room. Kaiba closed one eye and shielded the side of his face as sunlight began to roll across his desk. His body was the only thing between her and the light. The sight of him enveloped in light reminded her of the holy paintings that she had seen in church. He pulled his hand away and left it hovering by his chest. His eyes were on her now. She couldn't tell if he was pissed or simply didn't care. That was the strange thing about Kaiba: his expression was only ever what you made it out to be.

"If you're not willing to do it, then find me somebody who can! The pyrotechnics stay and that's final," he listened for a moment to the person on the phone and then broke out in a self-satisfied smirk. "It's a show put on by Kaiba Corporations. What do they expect? If the audience is so scared of a little aerial acrobatics and fire then they can bill us for their therapy later. There, how's that for a deal?"

Kaiba suddenly slammed the phone in its receiver and Marie was left wondering what the hell she had just listened in to. It seemed like Kaiba was planning something big and dangerous...again.

He leaned back in his seat and laced his fingers in front of his chest. He waited a moment for her to speak and then said, "well?"

"For the record, sir, I'd be down for a little aerial acrobatics and fire."

"Yeah you would," what was that in his tone? It was hard to tell. He lifted a single finger and pointed at her. "I remember you. You're the one who took my parking spot."

"And beat you in a race."

"You got gusto, kid. I like that."

She puffed up at the word 'kid.' She had done her research, of course. Kaiba only laid claim to a few months over her. But it was obvious that he didn't know that. She doubted if he even knew her name. He was waiting for her to speak.

"But if you're here to show off that gusto then I'm sorry to disappoint," he said. "I've got better things to do."

"No, you don't," she said, finding her voice. Remember why you're here, she reminded herself, Sara's job is on the line. "There's an important matter I have to discuss with you. And pardon me, sir, but your underlings have been absolutely ass at helping me figure things out."

"Typical," he said. But he didn't seem like he was going to turn her away and that was a good thing. "Go on…"

"There's a woman who works in your Cyber Security department. She has black hair cut short...I mean they all do but…" she took a deep breath in, steadied herself. "She was fired the other day for a post that showed her smiling and spinning around. It was meant to be an advertisement for the Emporium, sir, but Mizumi didn't see it that way."

His face remained impassive, but his eyes were watchful. She was hoping that he'd give something away at the sound of Mizumi's name but there was nothing, no flicker of the eyes, no raising of the brow. Absolutely nothing. Now came the hard part.

"I'm here to ask that you consider reinstating her to her duties...sir."

"Considered and denied."

"Wha-" she balked. It had all happened too fast. Sure, she had been expecting a rapid-fire volley of back and forth sparring but this? He hadn't even flinched at the thought. Still, those unblinking eyes remained on her face. People liked to say that blue eyes were ice cold. But his, at the moment, reminded her of broiling water and the heat before an electric storm. It was as if he was deep in thought about something else entirely, something that was constantly nagging at his conscience.

"Wh...why?" She said in a small voice.

"Because there's no reason. I trust Mizumi's judgment, unlike you apparently. Maybe you haven't heard, but I run a multi-billion dollar company. I don't have much tolerance for mistakes, especially those that are posted all over our social media for the world to see."

"W-wait," she said, standing up and leaning over his desk. "With all due respect, sir, what you call a mistake I call an opportunity. Did you even see the responses that that post garnered before it was taken down? People were lapping it up. They've never seen a KC employee having fun at their job. Everything here is so...fucking robotic. For once they actually got to see the human side of your corporation."

"Analyzing the effects of our social media presence on the masses? Please. Leave it to our Social Media Accounts Manager."

"With all due respect, sir," she said in a tight voice. "I am your Social Media Accounts Manager."

That felt good, really good. He was looking at her now, really trying to figure her out. She imagined that it was the expression that he would wear whilst watching her lick the barrel of a smoking gun. But she hadn't won, not yet. Kaiba was a puzzle and she wasn't in possession of all the pieces. If she could just fit something together, start building an image by which to go off of she'd be fine. But how to play this game? How to choose the right angle?

That's all to say...that Kaiba's all about principle, not action. That's what Mizumi had said. Marie could plead and beg and reason all that she wanted but there'd be no point in that. The point was to send a message and the message was clear: You don't scare me.

Well, she thought as she dug around in her vest pocket. He's the king of games, isn't he? So let's play a little game.

"I'll cut you a deal," she said as she retrieved a silver coin from her pocket. "You like deals, don't you?"

"I don't have time for games."

"No, but you do. Your whole business model is built off of games. And, pardon the bluntness, sir, but you're on my time, too. And I'd rather not see it wasted. See this coin," she said, holding it up to him. "We'll do a coin toss. Heads, and Sara gets her job back with bonus pay."

He leaned forward slowly until his elbows were resting on his desk. He ran the nails of one hand back and forth against the back of his other hand. Such a small gesture betrayed the fact that her proposition had piqued his interest. If there was one thing that rang true throughout all the gossip surrounding him, it was the fact that Seto Kaiba wasn't one to shy away from a challenge. "What's Tails?"

"Mmmm," Marie thought. "Tails and she loses her job."

"Seriously?" He said. "Is that all you've got? Why don't you make it a little more interesting and maybe then I'll consider."

"Okay," Marie said, nodding and looking away. "Tails I forfeit my job."

"You've got yourself a deal."

"Best two out of three?"

"What, are you nervous?"

"Nah," Marie flipped the coin in the air and slapped it against the back of her hand. "Heads," she said. She handed him the coin. Her heart was beating fast and the sudden touch of his hand against hers did nothing to slow it down. He flipped it and slapped it against his hand.

"Tails," he said and Marie let her breath out in a weighty exhale. She was starting to sweat. She could feel it running down the side of her face and melting along the fabric on her back. She had rigged it all from the start, so of course, she would win either way. But the sheer excitement of standing there in Kaiba's office, challenging him to a gamble had filled her with adrenaline. It was almost as if they were dueling.

He handed the coin back to her - his fingers glided against hers - and then sat back with his fingers tented beneath his chin.

"Alright," she said and then threw the coin in the air one final time. They both watched as it made several turns before she caught it against her hand. She looked up at him, looked down, and then removed her hand.

He smiled and closed his eyes. "Judging by your face, it looks like you just forfeited your job."

"Yeah, I did," she said as she stretched her arms above her head. "And thank God."

"What?"

"Mister Kaiba, sir, I'm your Social Media Accounts Manager. Plural. I have multiple jobs in this company running FaceBook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. I even do some PR work. If you really wanted to give me the boot, you should have asked me to be more specific and forfeit every single job that I run here. As it is, I only have to choose one. So I forfeit my job as your MySpace Account Manager. That platform was running dry anyway. Good luck finding someone else to manage it."

He thought about this, chuckled. There was no getting around it. Linguistically, she had the advantage and that made her right. "Alright. But what about your little friend? You called Tails. She still loses her job."

"That's where you're wrong, sir," Marie said quickly. "You're not gonna cut her off that easily. Sara Suzuki is your Cyber Security Team Lead. She's been with KC since before you took over, back when Kaiba Senior was running things-"

"I applaud your attempt at pulling at my heartstrings, but sentimentality won't get you anywhere."

"I'm not pulling at your heartstrings, sir, and I'd appreciate it if you'd let me finish. You're about to unveil something big, I can tell by that phone call you were on a few minutes ago. And it doesn't take a sleuth to see that you've been working your Cyber Security to the bone. Now more than ever you're relying on the security and safety of your company. Because there's sharks in the water, sir, I can tell by the responses that we've been getting across our platforms. And I may not have gone to business school, but I do know this: letting go of the one person who knows every little niche and detail about your cybersecurity during a time like this may just be the stupidest move in the history of corporations. You can't risk bringing a new body in, not now. And neither can you risk the wrath of a jaded CS Team Lead. You're not the only genius working behind the scenes," she leaned back and brushed the wrinkles out of her skirt. "Just food for thought. Sir."

She turned away from him and began to walk towards the door, her heart racing in her chest. She could feel his eyes boring holes into the back of her neck. Maybe she had been wrong, maybe she had failed in her attempt at it was all over. Maybe challenging Seto Kaiba was the biggest mistake that she had ever made. But she had gotten her point across, she could tell by the heated silence between them.

She put her hand on the door and made to turn the handle.

"What's your name?" The sound of his voice stopped her dead in her tracks.

"I'm Marie," she said to the door. She heard the sound of a drawer opening behind her and then a rustling of paper. His chair squeaked as he lifted himself out of it. She heard the sharp click-clack of his footsteps as he approached her and her shoulders tensed. He stopped right behind her and she turned around.

He was so, so tall. She had to crane her neck to get a good look at him. There was that same blank, see-through gaze that had startled her so much in the beginning. But she wasn't scared of it, not anymore. Nothing he could do could bring her down from the high that she was riding.

"Marie," he said and held a manila envelope in front of her. Wordlessly, she accepted it and tucked it beneath her armpit. Her skin tingled with the residual feel of his touch and she wondered what was happening to her. In that moment, she found herself almost hyper-aware of the way that his shirt clung to his abdomen. She imagined running her finger along the outline of his muscles and then snatching him by the collar. Bosses weren't supposed to be handsome. They were supposed to be old, hardened, with mustaches like Civil War generals. There wasn't a single hair on his sharp, pale chin.

He was speaking to her. She shook such traitorous thoughts out of her head and blinked quickly.

"-drop this off at Mister Woodsworth's desk on your way back to your office," he was saying. "Tell him this is the last piece that he needed for the launch. Don't bother opening the envelope. It's none of your concern."

"Yes, sir."

"Marie."

"Sir?"

"Stop with the 'sir' business. You make it sound like you're cursing me every time you say it."

"Yes, si- I mean. Of course, Kaiba."

She opened the door to find a giant man in a black suit standing in front of her. There was something Hulkish about him that made her stare in shock. She felt Seto place his hand on the door behind her in a way that almost felt protective.

"What took so long," he asked over her head.

"Just tying up loose ends, Mister Kaiba, sir," the man said.

Seto opened the door wider and the man pushed past her. Then the door was shut and the lock turned behind her. She was left standing alone in the hall, trying her best to figure out why she felt as if she had forgotten something. And then she remembered. It was the coin. She had left it on his desk and she needed it for the toll booth.

She turned around and raised her fist to knock but something stopped her. Intrigued and plagued by guilt, she leaned her ear against the door and listened.

"We've received intel that one of your competitors is engineering a new prototype with the specifications that you told us to look out for."

"Buy me a bouquet of flowers next time you come in here with bad news," said Kaiba, ever the master of dry, scathing sarcasm. "Seeing your face is starting to get depressing."

"Right...uh…" the other man said. "They'll be ready to launch by the end of the week. Should we put pressure on 'em, Mister Kaiba, make them reconsider?"

"The damage's already been done. The mole made sure of that. Relax, will you? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Sir...it's Just that…you don't seem bothered at all."

"Would you believe me if I told you I had everything under control?"

"Uh...yes...sir…"

"Then quit your quivering and get out of my office."

"Sir!"

Marie scampered away from the door, just as it was being opened from the other side. The man looked up and down the hall, thinking that he had seen something. But Marie was nowhere to be found.

X

Ending Author's Note: I don't know if anybody has read my Levi/Reader stories that I posted on this site. But if you have then yes, I'm sorry. I admit that I recycled the 'you say 'sir' like you're cursing me' line. What can I say? Levi, Jotaro, and Seto are all so similar that I just gotta copy the dialogue from time to time (that reminds me...I gotta do a crossover where Levi Ackerman, Jotaro Kujo, Spike Spiegel, and Sebastian Michealis all sit down to play poker. THAT would be so much fun. The conversation would probably go 'tsk,' 'good grief,' 'whatever happens, happens,' and 'I am simply one hell of a butler.' Uh anyway...I'm so stoked to post the next chapter. Shirtless Seto, anyone?)