Mokuba's Plan
By Pearl of the Dark Age
Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh is the property of Kazuki Takahashi. I am not Kazuki Takahashi. Chi-chi is my original character. Do not use without permission.
Chapter 24
Amelda leaned back in Seto Kaiba's executive chair, stretching like a cat. He relaxed before starting the day's work. When he had walked off the elevator into the executive lobby, the secretary had handed him a small stack of papers, some Post-It notes, (1) and told him that she had post-poned the meeting with the Canadian bankers until the following Wednesday. He had been taken aback by her pre-acceptance of his authority. He flashed her his gorgeous smile and merely said thanks.
Now he flipped through the papers, unsure of what they were for and what to do with them. He read the notes, telling him to do various things like calling so-and-so and various other chores. Does Seto actually do these things? Amelda pondered. He could not imagine Seto doing anything as mundane as the simple stuff that Amelda dealt with day to day. He used the speaker phone to call the secretary into "his" office and asked her to explain the nature of each return call. She was a veritable fountain of information. He wrote it all down, thanked her kindly, and casually asked her to get him a cappuccino.
I am going to like working with him, she thought. He's very nice and laidback. She could not recall Kaiba-sama ever being so casual. She went back out to her desk and phoned Isono, who was on his way back to Kaiba Corp from dropping Mokuba off at school. He agreed to pick up the cappuccino. Ten minutes later, Amelda was in coffee heaven.
"Is there anything else I can do for you, sir?" he asked.
Amelda picked up the papers and handed it to him. "Take care of these, please," he said. "And you can call me Zen-sama. That's what my employees call me."
O…kay… thought Isono, who had no clue about Bishonen-ai. "Whatever you prefer, sir." He quickly scanned the papers. "I'll have these back to you as soon as possible… Zen-sama."
"Thanks!" Amelda replied good-naturedly. He put his feet up on the desk, watching a small bead of sweat drip down Isono's temple. Amelda knew what he was thinking: Kaiba-sama would never allow that! Amelda grinned sadistically. This is going to be fun!
It was a nightmare! Like herding cats! Seto had a hard time getting the bishonen to listen to him or Chi-chi. They were lazy and insolent. It was not until Seto had grabbed an eye-lash curler out of frustration that they jumped up and assembled. Seto blinked. Does Amelda threaten them with eye-lash curlers? he wondered. He used it to his advantage nonetheless, brandishing the cosmetic tool at them, and yelling for them to do as they were told. They all nodded in unison.
Chi-chi had told Seto that usually the first thing that Zen-chan did on this particular day of the week was to survey each bishonen's dance number. This is why Seto had spent 40 minutes trying to assemble the lot on stage. They proceeded in a pre-arranged order unbeknownst to the CEO. He could at least tell which ones had practiced and which ones had not, even if he was not able to rate the performance. He hollered at them to go practice on the smaller, auxiliary stage behind the main stage. Halfway through the line, one bishonen started to break down and bawl his head off, lamenting that he was worthless, that he ought to be struck down by lightening, and that he was a lousy artist who will never amount to anything. This sort of melodrama Amelda dealt with on a daily basis. Chi-chi observed his "boss" for a reaction.
Furious and impatient, Seto scathingly said, "You are worthless if that's how you're going to act."
The bishonen stopped crying to gulp at him. He got up and numbly said, "I think I'll go hang myself now." And he walked off the stage. Several others made to follow to stop him, but Seto told them not to.
"But he's serious! You don't know him!" they said.
The CEO carelessly waved his hand in an apathetic dismissal. "Do whatever you want. I don't care anymore. But don't bother to come back."
They left, giving him dark glares. Chi-chi, who was standing by Seto's side in much the same manner as Isono did, whispered in his ear that Zen-chan usually handled things differently.
"Zen isn't here! I am!" Seto returned loudly. Those who remained stopped to stare at him. "What are you all standing around for?" he said heatedly. "Continue!"
When Amelda had finished calling everyone, he felt he had handled most of them pretty well. He had only lost his temper with an irate Russian, who wanted to short-change him in a deal. Amelda had enough business sense to know this. He switched from conversing in Japanese to cuss him out in Russian. Why Amelda was conversing in Japanese with a Russian when he could speak the language escaped him. Needless to say, the man on the other end of the line had been shocked, and a furious battle of words had ensued until Amelda had hung up on him.
The redhead was morosely staring into the empty coffee cup until Isono walked in. He handed Amelda the papers he had been assigned, informing him that they were taken care of. Isono waited patiently for new orders. Amelda just sat there, giving him a puzzled look. "Yes?"
"What would you like me to do next, sir?" Isono asked.
Amelda looked around at the now messy desk. "Uh…" he stammered. "I don't even know what I'm supposed to do."
Isono explained a few other things that needed to be taken care of, including supervising the latest reconstruction of the project that had blown up. That sounded more interesting to Amelda than the rest. He wanted to hear the full background story of what had happened. Isono filled him in as they rode the elevator down to the appropriate floor. Amelda was disappointed. He did not know that Isono was a lousy story teller. Isono stuck to bare and only relevant facts.
They reached the workroom where the latest holographic technology was being constructed. Isono explained that this new holographic technology displayed layering, so that when layers were removed, there was still an image underneath. He elaborated how this would be particularly useful in the medical field, and that Seto-sama was intending it for this use as well as entertainment.
"What about the military?" Amelda prompted. "If they get a hold of this technology it can lead to serious consequences. They'll be able to utilize this to better design weapons, tanks, and other military crafts."
"There are patent rights-"
"Patent rights my ass!" Amelda interrupted. "I'll take it up with Seto myself."
"Yes, sir," Isono replied. He left Amelda to supervise while he continued to run the day's errands.
The dancer was mechanically oriented, and he could build a car from scratch; but he had little patience with technology, and he only learned when it was necessary. The sheer amount of wires alone boggled him. He observed as one worker turned the thing on and it blew up, again. Black smoke from an electrical fire rose and turned on the sprinklers. Amelda stood there, soaking wet. "That's it," he stated flatly. "All of you meet me in the boardroom in one hour. I want you to teach me how this thing works and what went wrong."
Seto was opening doors at random, trying to locate whoever it was that mended the costumes. He was self-conscious about carrying around a sparkling thong, but he was also a professional. He opened one door to reveal two bishonen having sex in a small dressing room. "Like to watch?" a bishonen asked kinkily as he pounded away into his partner. With a clenched jaw and appled cheeks, Seto shut the door without a reply.
Behind him came the very pretty bishonen who had volunteered to drive Amelda's moving van. "Did I just see what I thought I saw?"
"It's irrelevant," Seto muttered. "Do you mend costumes?"
"No, but the guy who does isn't here today."
"And why not?" Seto inquired heatedly.
The bishonen shrugged. "I don't know," he said indifferently. "Not everyone shows up every day. We don't have regular schedules, and we're not paid by the hour. And it is relevant if they're having sex in there because Zen-sama would fire them on the spot."
"Really?" Seto said, surprised. "I always thought he'd be okay with that. He is gay, after all."
"He doesn't tolerate sex on the premises… or drug use, period," the bishonen explained. "He's quite strict. He wants to maintain a level of professionalism."
"Oh," Seto murmured, impressed. "Should I fire them?"
"I know you're filling in as boss, today," he replied, "but I don't think you have that authorization. You can leave a report for him in his office. As for the thong," he grabbed the undergarment from Seto, "I'll leave this in the "to-mend" box in the costume department."
Seto thanked him and started moseying back towards the lounge, unsure of what he was supposed to do next. He had finished everything Amelda had told him to take care of. The shipment of costumes never came, and he had called up the delivery service. They promised to deliver the next day after a few choice words from Seto Kaiba. Array 14 was fixed, the thong was to be mended, the routines were checked, and Chi-chi had taken care of whatever was on the memory stick. It felt almost as if Seto could go home. He reached the lounge to see what else there was to be done.
He found the same dancer that had broken down and cried onstage. He was obviously drugged. His glassy eyes were round and inhuman in appearance. "Hello there cobbly man!" he exclaimed. "You like dragons, too?"
"What?" Seto asked without thinking. "Are you talking to me?"
"I like your cobbly skin," he smirked. "Where did you buy your second head? I shop for heads in the fish market."
Second head? Cobbly skin? Seto wondered. He must be hallucinating. The CEO remembered what the bishonen had said about Zen's anti-drug rules. "You know you're not supposed to do drugs, right?"
The crazed bishonen looked aghast. "Are you going to tell the tiger?" he asked with utmost sincerity. "Because if you do, he will get angry and eat me!"
"No, he'll fire you," Seto replied sternly. He ordered another bishonen to take him home and baby-sit him until the drugs wore off. Seto collapsed onto the couch, feeling drained. He never had to deal with these issues at Kaiba Corp. He glanced out the open door to see two bishonen running down the hall, full speed, bare-butt naked, and laughing like lunatics. Seto bit his lip. He did not care anymore. Now that he understood what kind of madhouse Amelda was running, his respect for the pacifist's leadership skills increased ten-fold.
Amelda arrived home late in the evening, tired, exhausted, and in a sour disposition. He passed the first floor living room on his way to the staircase to go to the master bedroom. Mokuba popped out of the living room directly into his path. "Onii-chan, how did it go? Nii-sama came home around 16:00! We had the chef cook dinner, since you did not come home in time. It wasn't as good as what you make, but Nii-sama said something about-"
Amelda held up a hand to silence the chatterbox. "Mokuba, kiddo, sweetie, I don't care." He slumped off up the stairs to his bedroom. Seto sat cross-legged in the middle of the bed, encircled by neat row upon row of Duel Monsters cards. He tapped a finger on his temple, evidently deeply absorbed in his thoughts. Amelda changed out of his boyfriend's signature outfit without him noticing. He put on his Care Bear pajamas and strode over to his side of the bed. He sighed, waiting for the pensive brunette to notice him.
"How was your day?" Seto asked formally without looking up from the cards.
"There were long periods of brain-dead boredom with intermittent short periods of nail-biting stress. Not that I bite my nails…" He glanced down at his fingernails, which were a bit long and well manicured. "What about you?"
"I don't bite my nails, either," Seto said. "I don't have nervous habits of any kind." He switched the places of two cards and picked up a third, wondering where to put it.
"I was talking about work," Amelda elaborated. "How did it go?"
"I would fire almost all of your employees," Seto responded lightly. "They're lazy, insolent, and demented."
Amelda sat upon the edge, tired of standing. He was careful not to disrupt whatever the CEO was doing. "I wouldn't go as far as to call them demented," the pacifist commented. "So, is that all you have to say about my job? Do you still think that my work is a joke?"
"I never said it was a joke," Seto replied calmly. "But I now understand that your job is demanding to the same degree as mine but in a completely different way." He finally tore his attention from the cards to Amelda. "The costumes did not arrive. They said they would deliver tomorrow. Array 14 is fixed. I left a report for you in your office concerning the conduct of three of your dancers, but that was the worst of them. Everyone was acting as if they weren't at work at all!"
"Yeah," Amelda murmured in agreement. "That's normal. Bishonen-ai is a paradise for them. They have everything they could want or need. Did you see the accommodations?"
"Yes, I did," Seto replied with a trace of a smile. "Some hotels I've been to aren't even that nice. I still think it's extraneous to have a spa. It's because you indulge them that they are the way they are. If you want them to be professional, you need to exert some force and discipline."
"I do," Amelda said, smiling at the disbelief etched in Seto's features. "I have strict rules, and they can do anything they want within those rules. And I know how to control them. They respect me."
"What about fear?" Seto inquired. "Do they fear you, too?"
"Yes, I do believe they have a healthy fear of injury and mortality," Amelda remarked casually. Seto laughed. "Yes, I can be very threatening," Amelda said.
"Apparently I'm not as fearsome as you," Seto commented. "Personally, I'm shocked anyone can outdo me in this aspect."
"They aren't familiar with you," Amelda stemmed. "To them, you're just a face on TV. They don't care about Duel Monsters or Kaiba Corp. They just want to have fun."
"Fun has no place in a work environment."
"I disagree," Amelda returned. "I promote fun. I hate dull work."
Seto smirked and resumed pondering over his cards. "Did you leave a report for me?" Seto asked. "So I know what to do tomorrow?"
"Yes," Amelda said, hesitant. He thought of the CEO's desk, remembering that he did leave a report somewhere in the big mess he had made. "It's on your desk." He knew he was going to receive a nasty phone call from his neat-freak of a boyfriend the next morning. He suddenly remembered what he wanted to address to Seto. "I left this in the report, but I was wondering how you're going to prevent your new layered holographic technology from falling into the wrong hands."
"Don't worry about that," Seto said in a low voice. "After being raised by Gozoboro, I learned a thing or two. I won't let that happen."
"You weren't able to prevent Dartz from stealing your company," Amelda replied, rubbing salt in an old wound.
"He had 10, 000 years of experience on me," Seto snarled, reluctant to concede to Amelda's point. "It's an unfair comparison."
"You're right," Amelda muttered, realizing he was wielding a double-edged sword. "It's not like I've got room to talk. I just wanted to… Oh, I don't know anymore."
"In short," Seto said, "I just want to say that I might not have been entirely correct in assuming that your job was undemanding. I hope now that you've been in my position, you understand why I said this."
Amelda gazed at him incredulously. "You call that an apology? You are supposed to say, 'I was wrong, my wonderful, sexy lover, and you were right!'" Seto fell over with laughter, scattering his cards everywhere. "And then I get to say, 'I told you so!'" Amelda finished.
"Honestly, Amelda, you know me better than that!" Seto exclaimed. He gathered all his cards up and placed them in his suitcase. He returned to the bed, crawling over to where Amelda sat, and wrapped his arms around him from behind. He kissed his neck lightly, saying, "I'll make it up to you in my own way, my wonderful, sexy lover."
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