Office Chair, The

By Dagger

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Because some secrets are best kept secret…

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-Click-

Kaiba growled at himself again as he slammed the phone down; why couldn't he perform such a mundane task as phoning his secretary? He was perched rather awkwardly on a hard plastic chair that he had found in the corridor; it was much too low for his desk. His cobalt eyes flashed longingly over to the corner of the room where his old office chair stood, the back had broken off and the central prop was bent.

He took a deep breath, picked up the phone again and dialled # followed by 2 for the front desk, a female voice instantly replied.

"Hello Mr. Kaiba, how can I help you?"

"I - I need you to find me the newest edition of a catalogue…the office supplies one."

"Of course sir, was there something specific you needed? It's just I know how busy you are, perhaps I could order it for you?"

"No. Er, no need, I can do it. I'll come down now to pick it up."

"Okay. But I could bring it up if you-" Kaiba slammed the phone down and stood up rubbing his aching back. He really needed a new office chair. He stepped over a few prototype Duel Disc systems as he made for his office door.

He passed several of his staff, all of whom stopped to stare at the rare occurrence; Seto Kaiba never left his office, unless he was personally firing someone. Soon a small crowd was discreetly following the CEO, anxious to see who was in such deep shit.

The employees took the stairs as Seto angrily waited for the elevator. He glared at a potted plant beside said lift in an attempt to hide his embarrassment and put on his usual 'irritated-by-life-itself' mask. Today was not going as planned thus far.

The elevator music did nothing to ease his mind, not that it was supposed to considering the current song came from '42 songs to piss off and irritate'. He clenched his teeth and waited for the annoying little ding that indicated he had arrived at his chosen destination. The shiny steel doors happily opened, glad that they had performed their duties. Although no one exited the lift.

Seto straightened his jacket, ran a hand through his immaculate hair (messing it up in the process), and took a deep shaky breath. This was very out of character for him, but he was getting quite nervous, another rarity for the CEO.

He strode out, glaring at an innocent bystander who almost fainted, unknowingly being followed by what seemed to be his entire staff of the fifth floor. And a few that they had picked up along the way. The employees all pretended to busy themselves with inane tasks as Seto stopped at the front desk.

"Any sign of the catalogue?"

"Yes sir, right here sir. Are you sure you wouldn't like me to-"

"If I wanted you to do it, would I hesitate in telling you to? No." Seto turned and came face to face with an overly crowded reception area. All the occupants were rather disappointed that no one had been fired, or even yelled at.

"What the hell are you all doing? I pay you to work, not piss about down here. The last person back to their station is fired, understood?"

A brief pause was upheld before the mad rush for the stairs and elevator, Seto shook his head at the ignorant fools as they all tried to squeeze in to the lift at once.

The evacuation was complete and Seto entered the lift making a mental note to fire someone at random. The annoying elevator music grated at his very soul and he found his grip on the catalogue tightening. The elevator doors happily opened once again, and Seto made for his office, slamming the door in the face of several workers who were hovering around.

He collapsed onto the sofa, narrowly avoiding landing on a Duel Monsters card, it was the Dark Magician too; he would not be popular if that were to become creased. He began to flick through the pages until he came to the helpfully labelled 'chairs' section. The leather executive chairs he preferred were at the back, they even had the same model as his previous one. Maybe he could order it and switch it over before anyone noticed and started asking questions as to exactly how a fairly new, top of the range chair could be broken that badly…

Seto moved over to his laptop and was about to order the chair when he realised he didn't know the company code, the code he had to give when ordering was on a little yellow post-it note stuck to the computer monitor…in reception. And that his office phone didn't dial out. Mentally cursing himself he realised he was going to have to go back outside and back down to the front desk.

He tapped his long fingers against the polished wood of his desk as he weighed out the odds, it wouldn't be that embarrassing; people needed new chairs all the time. And most people knew not to ask too many question when Seto Kaiba was involved. But still…he had only gotten the chair a month ago, and it was a very good make. It would be strange that he needed a new one so soon…

He bit his lip and made, once again, for the office door knowing that he would regret it.

The morons he hired for staff were anything but discreet, whispering and poking each other as Kaiba walked past for the second time in one day. Again they followed him, hoping that maybe this time they would see some action.

Kaiba was well aware that he was being followed; the noise some of them were making was obvious. He simply tried to retain as much dignity as possible as he entered the elevator for the third time in one hour.

"I have got to change this damn music…"

Kaiba angrily jammed at the buttons in the hopes of making the lift move faster, and therefore beat his employees to reception, and therefore save himself a lot of embarrassment. Today was definitely one of those days when he should have just stayed in bed…

Unfortunately for him reception was already bustling, the employees were fast when it came to gossip like this; too bad they weren't as fast with typing up orders…that usually took several hours, numerous coffee breaks and perhaps even an elongated lunch time.

Kaiba walked back up to reception and was greeted with the slightly bemused face of his secretary.

"You're returning the catalogue? Honestly sir, I could have collected it from your office-"

"Just stop talking and let me speak, alright? I need something ordered and I don't have the damned code. What is it?"

"It won't work on your office phone, sir. Yours doesn't dial out-"

"I'm well aware of that. Just order this for me then."

Kaiba shoved the folded over book to her. She scanned the page before finding the circled object.

"Is the chair you have not satisfactory? Because we can send it back, we still have the guarantee." Kaiba felt his cheeks redden, he was pretty sure that the guarantee didn't cover what this chair had been put through…

"Just order it, alright?"

"Yes sir." She picked up the phone and began the ordering process; Kaiba leaned on the desk and turned to face the reception area. Thirty faces all suspiciously turned away to look at particularly interesting dust bunnies or upside-down magazine articles.

Kaiba sighed, knowing that each gossiper was formulating in his or her mind just what may have happened. He was brought to attention by the secretary clearing her throat.

"It should be here by this afternoon. Sir, this wouldn't be anything to do with those two clients yesterday evening, would it? They looked like twins, had spiky hair, one was taller than the other though…the little one was so sweet. The taller was really sexy-"

"No. Nothing to do with anything. Get back to work now; all of you get back to work. We're running a company here you know."

Kaiba stalked back to the elevator, attempting to hide his flushed cheeks to no avail. Thirty matching grins each found a new topic to discuss, concerning their boss and the new pair of clients that had been pencilled in for a surprising amount of appointments…

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Kaiba sighed in contentment as he swirled around in his brand new chair. He took a sip from his steaming mug of coffee and brought up a window on his laptop. Finally everything was back to normal; though he wasn't going to leave his office during working hours for a very long time. He could hear the rumours clearly enough from inside his secluded room.

A beep on his phone indicated an incoming call from reception.

"What is it now?"

"Some clients to see you, they say it's urgent."

"Fine, send them up."

Kaiba growled, annoyed at the interruption…until he saw who it was. His heavy wooden doors tentatively opened and bright amethyst eyes dared to peek round, the small boy entered smiling brightly and was followed by his crimson eyed smirking partner. There were a lot of people gathered outside the office, and the girls were either hugging Yuugi and saying how cute he was, or admiring Yami and saying how sexy he was.

The seductive glare on the taller boy's face told them all they needed to know to confirm the rumours.

Yami shut the door as Yuugi ran up to the CEO and jumped into his lap. He nuzzled the much taller teen's neck.

"You sounded mad, were you busy? Because we can come back if this is a bad time."

"Now's fine, I could use some relief after the day I've had. Which the two of you caused."

Yuugi cocked his head naïvely, Yami just grinned; he had listened to the rumours being spread about the offices like wildfire. His eyes turned to the brand new leather seat currently occupied by his main thoughts.

"You got a new one, then. Guess that means we can 'play' some more, ne?"

"No, not the chair…please…I have a reputation to uphold you know. Yami? Yami are you even listening? Yami…"

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Kaiba pressed # followed by 2 for the front desk; he absently ran his hands through Yuugi's silky hair as the small teen was curled into a ball on his lap. His darker lover was sprawled out on the unharmed couch. A female voice answered.

"Yes sir, something you need?"

"Do you still have that catalogue?"

Owari

Please review.

-Written: 18th August 2004

-Dagger