I'm sorry! (I seem to be saying this a lot!) I had this chapter done ages ago, finished, but then some idiot sent me a virus and my whole hard-drive got deleted. All my writing and half finished updates were destroyed, as well and perhaps more importantly, my mid term projects for school. All my time has been put into re-writing those, so that's why this is a wee bit late.
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"Are you deaf?"
Ryou winced as the vituperative comment lashed him with its acid burn and he attempted to stretch his neck out further, encouraged not so gently by a cold hand. A sharp pain was lancing down the side of his throat and there was a rather uncomfortable angle at which his leg was being held – it all felt so unnatural.
Are you confused? The poor boy sure was. Perhaps a wee foray back would explain this moment more.
Earlier that day, the young man had been frowning over the latest glossy print placed on his absurdly small desk when something had slapped down on top of the picture he had been examining. Predictably, Ryou yelped and stumbled, nearly falling over his own feet as he jerked away from the sudden, unidentified object that had startled him so.
"Damn, ya do scare easy," came the amused voice as a familiar skinny blonde slipped into a seat across from him, muffled as he bit into a very sugary doughnut. Recovering from his fight, Ryou scowled, but only succeeded in looking like a slightly peeved fluffy bunny.
"Jou!" he complained, flipping portfolio closed and rubbing his eyes tiredly – two hours into his day and he was already exhausted. How was he supposed to choose two pictures out of them all, just two, to demonstrate the full spectrum of talents he was supposed to possess.
"What?" The lanky blonde looked innocent as a pink tongue swiped a streak of sugar away from his lips before he got down to the busy task of erasing the rest of the white powder from his long fingers. Oddly compelled, Ryou sighed, his hand collapsing limply by the object Jou had slapped down on his desk, which turned out to be an envelope of some sorts – not that he was paying much attention.
Envelope or watching Jou lick his fingers – what would you choose to watch?
"Nothing…I'm just…tired I guess," he said lamely, absently toying with a pencil as he gave up on the portfolio for now, but the closed black file had already caught Jou's attention.
A blonde eyebrow quirked as the now clean hand reached across, flipping it deftly open again. "Submissions, huh?" he asked, summarising the problem immediately. "What for?"
Ryou nodded glumly, looking distastefully at the black file that had been occupying most of his morning. "This 'Model of the Month," thing," he said dejectedly, resting his chin in one hand. "Mai suggested I should go for it. To be honest, I need the money."
The blonde nodded sagely, fingers running through his artfully tousled peak of spun gold hair, the fine strands practically glittering in the bright light filtering through that ever present green glass. "Nah, nah – I understand." White teeth flashed in a conspiratorial grin. "I always go for it as well. Won a few times, but the going's pretty tough – ya really need ta pick da right pictures."
Jou always knew what to go, Ryou thought as he looked gratefully at the more experienced man as he rifled through the slim book, though a underlying niggle of doubt shadowed his thankful mood. Yesterday's words from Mai had haunted him and now, looking upon the blithely cheerful face that was currently inspecting his book, he was beginning to have his doubts – was she really right about the man that he considered to be such a close friend.
Since when had life gotten so complicated?
"Are the ones at the front taken this month? " The query from Jou broke Ryou's gloomy mental questioning and he looked blankly over at the slender blonde.
"Sorry, what?" he said finally after fruitlessly dredging his mind for whatever the blonde had just said. The model in question frowned slightly, but shrugged, obediently repeating the question.
"Are the ones at the front taken this month? You do know which ones you're allowed to choose from, right?"
Ryou nodded, passing a weary hand across his eyes. The rules of this frustrating, but necessary competition stated that only shots taken in the month being judged could be entered and there were about a dozen shots that he had been puzzling over. "They're all dated, Jou," he said tiredly, earning him a sympathetic look from his friend.
"Tired?" he asked needlessly, licking a thumb so he could easily flick through the glossy, laminated pages. From each picture, Ryou looked out at him, sometimes with a shy smile or a surprised grin. Many focused on the intensity of his dark eyes in contrast to his pale features and hair. Most were headshots instead of full body frames, allowing for even closer examination of the white haired teen's etched features. A scant number had other people in the shot, including some very familiar faces.
Ryou nodded, looking about ready to collapse despite it still being am hours and Jou clicked his tongue understandingly as he pushed a Styrofoam cup towards the younger man. "Any particular reason?" he asked amiably, amber eyes inspecting one shot with intent interest. Ryou hesitated, looking uneasy as familiar words wound a decreasing spiral within his skull.
"Ryou, I know how much you like Jou, but don't put too much faith in him, okay?"
Those words had been haunting him and much of last night had been spent staring blankly up at his ceiling, his poor mind in tatters as he sought to untangle the snarls of confusing thoughts littering his overly full head. How could he tell Jou that he wasn't sure he could trust him, so unsure that he was losing sleep over it? Hearing silence, one tawny iris fixed him with a quizzical gaze as Jou tilted his head to one side, golden hair falling messily into those questioning eyes. "Bambi?"
"Don't let him in too deep else he'll hurt you real bad and probably won't give it a second thought."
In the end, Ryou forced a smile and shook his head in what he hoped was a careless gesture. "I stayed up a bit late with my roommates last night, that's all," he said reassuringly, crossing his fingers in his lap and hoping that this answer would prove satisfactory.
His luck was in that day as Jou nodded and returned to the folder which he was examining. Breathing a silent sigh of relief, Ryou sent a mental thank you to his guardian angel, if he had one. The danger over, is attention could spread to more mundane things, such as the cup Jou had pushed towards him. Cupping it in both hands, he savoured the warmth radiating through the foamy surface of the cup and the curling wisp of steam identified the contents as coffee.
Black coffee.
Whether Ryou could trust him or not, right now, Jou was an angel – an angel with caffeinated beverages and a halo like steam from a cappuccino machine.
"What about these ones?" Mild brown eyes, placated by the promise of caffeine in his blood stream turned towards the three photos Jou had deftly unclipped from within the binder, spreading them on the table. Two were perhaps the most recent of his shots, while the other had been one of the very first he had taken this month, in his whole career in fact. The two newer ones were the ones closer to him so he reached over, pulling the first in front of him. His own face looked out at him, a slightly unnerving experience to say the least. To see his own countenance staring out of the picture, soft in its black and white glossiness…
A headshot, it had been taken when some photographers had wanted to experiment with some lighting techniques and, liking Ryou's patient and hopeful manner, they had asked him to sit for them. Eager to help, Ryou had obliged and he had spent a pleasant afternoon chatting with all of the 'little people' as Otogi had called them, while they had messed around with standing lamps and scattered bulbs and filters across the lens of some odd magnifying glass. He may not have understood what they were doing, but it had been pleasant to speak to some people outside of the pressures of the shoot and his shy nature had endeared him to the hardworking photographers, so used to being taken for granted. In the end, looking over the shots, his easy mood had made him all the more beautiful and as a thank you they had run him off a copy of his best shot. The shot depicted him laughing softly at some joke a particularly sarcastic lighting technician had cracked, something that had set the whole group off. The lighting had been soft, illuminating his flawless skin and one click of the button had happened to catch him mid laugh, the skin at the corners of his eyes wrinkling in amusement and the flash had frozen him in the middle of brushing his tousled hair away from his face. Even unstyled and uncoiffed, he was beautiful in his own natural state and such pure contentment radiated out from him in this fluke of a shot that was only meant to be a print to see how a new brand of lightbulb would work.
Guess he was lucky like that…
The other recent photo had been more planned – an official shoot in fact instead of a group of people laughing and joking around with cameras. A larger set this time, it had been the first time he had met Isis. A stately woman, tall and tanned, he had been shocked to find that she was actually the sister of the handsome, if crude Marik. Compared his wicked grins and innuendo laced words, the quiet serenity of the raven haired woman was a sharp contrast. Clearly seasoned at this game, she had nodded gently to him, resting a palm carefully and puzzlingly on his head before the make up team heralded her and she walked away, leaving a bemused Ryou behind. Still, however odd she might have been, the Egyptian woman was a good worker to bounce off of and they'd snapped the shot in no time. Taken from above, the pale teen was resting with his head upon her flat stomach, a few strands of white hair wrapped around Isis' fingers. The ease with which she had slipped into this pose, her face perfectly calm with a hint of a smile as her startlingly blue eyes gazed down towards Ryou. He'd been uneasy about a new shoot, angsting about how to interact with this unshakeable woman, but her gentle manner had quickly got the shoot set up and he was surprised by how comfortable he had felt in such an intimate position with what he would consider a stranger. Not that he was a stranger to her apparently – Marik had clearly been relaying anecdotes to his much more socially reclusive sister, despite not having even mentioned her to Ryou. All the while, between film changes and light adjustments, Isis had absently kept stroking the top of his head, a quiet stream of general questions coming from her perfect lips, questions that he answered as best he could, though he did flush ruby-like when the word 'Bambi' entered the conversation, as well as a sudden urge to kill Marik. Still, the end shot was wonderful – with her tanned skin and dark hair as a contrast to his overall paleness; in black and white, the two were perfect.
And the final one…Ryou couldn't help, but stroke the edge of the glossy page lightly with one reverent finger. This was the shot of him, looking nervously innocent, sitting on a nondescript set of steps in nondescript clothes. What stopped it from being a nondescript photo was the flawless youth his face possessed.
That and the fact he was sandwiched between two men who were so beautiful it made your heart ache. Kaiba and Otogi – they were the perfect compliment to his purity and despite the casual smiles on their handsome faces, one could almost sense the rivalry emanating in strong waves from something that was merely paper and ink.
"I like dat one as well..." Ryou looked up at Jou with a small smile on his face, not surprised to see that those warm amber eyes were fixed on a pair of green printed ones.
"You like it because it has Otogi in it, don't you?" he asked softly and was rewarded with the barest hint of a blush on his friend's normally careless features. Ducking his head, corn colored hair fell forward to obscure his face as Jou nodded minutely and Ryou impulsively leaned over to cover one of the blonde's large hands with his own smaller one. "You're really serious about him…aren't you, Jou?"
Another tiny nod and the shaggy haired man sighed, leaning back in his chair with a suddenly soft look in his melting eyes. "He's sweet, 'Togi, he takes care of me," the blonde said simply before he coughed, immediately reverting to his previous jovial nature. "If I were you, I'd pick that group one and yer headshot. Probably provides the best contrast." There was a roguish glint in Jou's tawny eyes and Ryou felt a grin forming on his face as he nodded his agreement, putting the two chosen photos on his outbox, ready to be copied and added to the contest entries.
"So what was dat letter 'bout?" Jou asked, finally letting his curiosity show as he nodded to the envelope he himself had delivered. His white haired friend shook his head, reaching for it and running a light finger along the gilded edge.
"I'm not so sure…" he said, delicate features already showing a tracery of worry, coupled with a good blend of puzzlement. "I wasn't expecting anything…"
Following Jou's gestures to open it, Ryou did so, unnecessarily neatly as well (call it a quirky habit) Mahogany eyes scanning the brief paragraph of neatly written cursive, the script efficient and sharp in its clear cut way, Ryou suddenly felt an urge for a drink stronger than coffee.
This was bound to be stressful…
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"You took your own sweet time in coming."
Ryou shuffled his feet nervously, head automatically falling towards the door as he instinctively mumbled an apology. "I came as fast as I could. I'm really sorry, I am. Really."
"Did you always grovel like this or is it a nasty habit you picked up from Otogi's pet puppy?" Faced with that knife-like voice, the whitenette cringed slightly, not having a satisfactory answer for such a pointed statement. Clearly, silence was not the way to go about this since the person watching him abruptly stood up and stalked towards him with easy grace. Feeling cold and insensitive fingers gripping his chin, Ryou's gaze was jerked up to meet an icy blue stare and an involuntary shiver ran down the length of his spine.
"Don't give this timid crap – it doesn't sell well," Kaiba said flatly, examining Ryou's nervous face as he tilted his chin first to one side and then the other, his eyes calculatingly assessive. "You have the looks, I'll give you that, but you have no idea how to use it to your own advantage." All the smaller youth could do was stare helplessly into that compelling azure gaze and try to ignore the unwanted sheet lightening that danced across any part of his skin the brunette was touching.
Oh no…
"You have no presence," Kaiba continued on, still gripping his chin with callous fingers. "You need to be able to walk into a room and immediately draw the attention of everyone in it. You need to be the one that everyone looks at." He gave a cold, self-satisfied smirk. "Like me." It should have been immodest, but as Kaiba released his chin and Ryou rubbed numb fingers against his still tingling skin, he realized that he /was/ watching Kaiba. Everyone did – you just couldn't help, but be mesmerized by his aura of complete and utter confidence, his height, his good looks.
"It will never happen if you stand there like that," Kaiba snapped and Ryou jerked to attention, looking down at himself in nervous confusion. Kaiba might have had a point there – with his hands fisted anxiously in the long sleeves of his black shirt and one leg rubbing restlessly against the back of his opposite calf…well, it just wasn't very special. "Stand up straight." Hearing the curt order, Ryou complied quickly, nearly falling over in his efforts to suddenly liken his back to a ramrod poker. "You're a bit on the short side for modeling lark, so you need to think tall."
Think tall? What the hell?
"Oh don't look so bland – at least give me some sort of sign that you actually have a personality," the taller man grumbled as he stepped forward an set about arranging the whitenette's body as if he were a vase of flowers. Once again, Ryou felt that forboding shiver that ran liquid trails of goosebumps along the skin on his arms, underneath the blessedly obscuring cloth of his shirt and his throat went uncomfortably tight. This was not good, not at all. It wasn't good to be so close to a man who obviously had no cares for anyone other than himself, but then how did that translate for him being here? Was Kaiba actually…helping him? Ryou winced as a rough hand gripped his wrist and placed his own hand on the bird-bone rise of his hip. If this was help, he didn't want it.
"If you hold your head like that, it makes your neck look stubby. Straighten it out." Still far too nervous about being this close to one of the top models in the company, the whitenette barely processed this remark, concentrating more on not letting his hands tremble. He could feel the heat radiating out from Kaiba and there was a moment of light headedness that didn't bode well for the more finely built youth.
"Are you deaf?"
Ryou winced as the vituperative comment lashed him with its acid burn and he attempted to stretch his neck out further, encouraged not so gently by a cold hand. A sharp pain was lancing down the side of his throat and there was a rather uncomfortable angle at which his leg was being held – it all felt so unnatural.
"That's better." Stepping backwards, Kaiba ran a cool gaze over the shivering Ryou, raising an eyebrow at the blush crossing the smaller man's pale cheeks and the way he wouldn't meet his eyes. Well, that certainly made things easier from his side of things. If the boy was infatuated, he would be that much easier to twist and bend to his own purposes.
Bending him over a desk would be particularly fun.
Ryou willed the vermillion stain of his cheeks to disappear – he could even feel his ears burning with a mix of confusion and heated emotion. This was embarrassing, highly so and it didn't help that he couldn't fathom what he was supposed to be doing here. Still…at least he wasn't being fired. All week, people had been receiving summons to some of the higher executives of Golden Eye. This was the turning point – for all the not so new recruits now, this was the end of their trial period, their probation and only so many could be kept on the pay roll. Some were easy to cut, others not so easy, but there had been a steady trickle of nervous, if beautiful people up towards some of the higher levels and an outflow of the self same rejects, often in tears, their dreams dashed. He had been paranoid, the worry leaving him sitting up on a few occasions as he watched and wondered and obsessed. Despite assurances from both Mai and Jou that there was no chance of him being laid off, the worry still gnawed at him. Still, there was only the rest of this week to survive and then he would be safe.
As safe as you could be with Kaiba watching you with those unreadable sapphire eyes.
"You'll do, but you'll never get anywhere if you don't act as if you deserve to get there," was all Kaiba said as he stalked over to his desk, lounging in his chair with casual arrogance, as always, leaving Ryou standing in confusion, still locked in the unnatural pose.
Was he allowed to move now that Kaiba had or was he expected to stay there? His neck was aching and the beginnings of a headache would only be blamed on the high amounts of stress this meeting was putting on him. Cautiously, he lowered his neck slightly and when he received no reaction, the whitenette gave a relieved sigh, relaxing somewhat though his body regained a degree of nervous skittishness, as if he were a horse about to bolt.
"I assume you've picked out some shots for this monthly scuffle," the brunette intoned boredly, sipping at a steaming cup of coffee as he leafed through a stack of papers, looking every inch the businessman as he did so. Ryou nodded wordlessly, picking up his worn and battered shoulder bag that Kaiba had flung on the floor the moment they had started this insane 'pose' rehearsal. Rummaging quickly in its depths, he pulled out his portfolio where he kept the spare copies of the shots he had sent off to be added to the entries and wordlessly placed them in front of the man who probably held the most power in this whole company. Hovering nervously, mahogany eyes skittered across the two chosen photos as Kaiba inspected them meticulously, one graceful hand still holding his metallic silver coffee flask, an item that looked vaguely buglike, alien.
Even his coffee looks menacing…
"This one is adequate," Kaiba said finally, tapping the headshot with one long forefinger before he turned to the other one, "But this shot won't do."
Puzzlement must have registered on Ryou's open features because Kaiba sighed in exasperating, abruptly shoving it back towards the photo's owner. "You're not the focus. Only give photos where you know you're the only one everyone will be looking at. In this one, people will be more interested in me and that black haired fool, not a kid like you."
The words were blunt and made Ryou flush with embarrassment, but they weren't actively malicious. Just cold. And impersonal. It was quite clear that Kaiba didn't consider him worth being malevolent to. "So don't use it. Find another one." From the way Kaiba turned away back to his paperwork and his menacing coffee, Ryou took that to be a dismissal and, picking up his photos, started to back away, mumbling a few words by way of apology.
"Don't grovel, it's not dignified," came the curt comment, its speaker not even looking up from his work and Ryou inwardly sighed. He really was never going to get the hang of this.
"Bakura." The clipped heralding stopped Ryou at the door, his hand on the handle of the green glass door as he sent a wary look back behind him towards the blue eyed brunette. "I expect you back here at the same time tomorrow. You're such a hopeless case, I've decided you need extra training." Blue eyes lingered on the whitenette for a few brief seconds before returning to their work, Kaiba's attention obviously having been withdrawn from him for now.
"Yes Sir…." Ryou whispered, ducking in a small bow before he practically ran out of the room, nearly slamming into Jou who had been waiting outside.
"Did it go 'kay?" the blonde asked, his puppy dog eyes clearly worried as he shot the door to Kaiba's office a suspicious glance and Ryou nodded minutely, attempting to erase his confused look.
"I've not been fired or anything," he said hurriedly, trying to assure the taller youth that everything was in fact alright.
At least I hope so.
So engrossed was he in keeping Jou's worries away, he didn't hear the quiet hiss of Kaiba's door opening and he didn't feel those icy eyes boring into his back. He wasn't aware that another person was watching him and he didn't even comprehend that there might have been anything at all special about a person like him, that there would be an internal war raging over his pretty little head.
So occupied was he that he didn't see Kaiba look towards Mai who had been leaning against a dark corner, guarding him in her own little way. He didn't see the triumphant look in blue eyes or the disconsolate expression in violet ones and he never even sensed the worry radiating off the proud woman as her heart broke for him and she quietly slipped back into the shadows.
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HAHA! It's only taken me seven chapters, but we finally get some decent Seto/Ryou interaction! Haha!
Reviews:
BobGod: Snicker Evil's a bit harsh – Seto's beyond evil in his own strange way. Kaiba invented something totally different from evil XD It wasn't a compliment dear – it was the truth
Amichanfan12345: He's not anorexic! He's also not a bastard – bastard is a matter of opinion and/or parentage :P
RalphiereRedux: Damn, Seto is coming off as pretty evil – I'm just making things hard for myself, aren't I? How on earth am I going to make this story work…
SnowIce: Bluuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuush It did work – I had the chapter written really quickly before I lost it. Anyway, I have definite plans for those two – I don't think anyone will be expecting it though. Mwuahahahaha! Yeah, it is supposed to be a Seto/Ryou fic….EVEN THOUGH THE CURSED AUTHOR DIDN'T EVEN GET THEM TO INTERACT PROPERLY UNTIL CHAPTER SEVEN! I'm an idiot….I feel sad for Mai as well – I feel so bad for being this evil to her.
Incoherant: Lawyer Voice Lell can give no information as to future plans for one Jounouchi Katsuya, nor for Ishtar Malik or Motou Yuugi since rabid fans would probably try and slaughter her for such evil ideas and as of today, the author has gone into hiding. XD Yep – Adam and Eve refers to Mai and Seto, but more on that later…
Kitsune's Grrl: I love plot twists! Can you tell?
Elle-Fatex-: Seto does have his reasons – it might have to do with the huge stick up his ass, but still….there are reasons and he will get better, I think. I think? I THINK? I'm the author, I should know!
Sugarholic: I tried to keep him in character XD
Miyosuke: You are special, and I'm sorry you had to wait so long for an update. Damn computer…anyway, I'm frantically trying to plan out chapters and it does seem to be getting mighty long. They only just met for Ra's sake! Le sigh. Anyway, I think Masterpiece is pushing it – you should check out some of my favourites list for real masterpieces!