An AU Bryan-centric fic about what happens when you send Russians to Hong Kong for business. Inspired by my own trip to Hong Kong.
Hong Kong Dollar
By: The Butterfly-winged Rat
Chapter One:
"Flight RU 262 to Hong Kong is now boarding. I repeat: Flight RU 262 to Hong Kong is now boarding." The Russian announcer spoke in rather crooked English. A lilac-haired Bryan Kuznetsov was not one to complain, but on occasions like this, he often wondered what he had ever done to earn such a punishment. He worked as a department head for a multi-million dollar electronics company and he had always taken his job seriously but this… this was just insane.
"A Record Label! We are to become a record label!" He could remember their CEO's exact facial expression as he announced their company's next exploits. It came as quite a shock to everyone, seeing as Ivanov International was never really associated to Media. They were mostly thought of as an old fashioned brand that produced things of commercial use, not those for the use of the everyday consumer.
His superior beamed at him "Bryan, Bryan, you are a smart person. It should not be too hard for you to see my reasons for doing this." He chuckled. "It is exactly because they see us as such that I want to change the way we are. To be unpredictable! To have something that would spice up the business even just a little." That was one of his boss' more radical moves.
But an even more radical move would most likely have been to send him, the head of product development, out to meet their first possible recruitment. It was, in the least, a job for the head of human recourses or employment or whatever. Not his.
"Don't give me that!" Their CEO argued further. "It would be a wonderful opportunity for you! Think about it! You get to travel; you get to meet new people… I couldn't imagine anyone more deserving of this then you! Besides, it's Hong Kong! And you know what that means: Fur, fur and lots of fur. It's perfect for you!"
The light-haired youth let out a sigh. 'More deserving', eh? More like least deserving… It would be hell for him. Being sent off to Hong Kong to sign a Solo artist… how fun would that be?
He made himself comfortable in his seat… It was fairly decent. A window seat, close enough to see the in-flight movie while far enough to ignore it, not bad he had to admit. It might not necessarily be SO bad… Or so he liked to think.
Three hours later, he was starting to feel boredom eating away at him. The pack of playing cards he brought along with him only seemed entertaining before he won at solitaire four games in a row. He tried to read a book, but he finished it before it was even time to eat. And there was no way he was actually going to watch the movie. He wasn't a huge fan of overly decorated American action films that never failed to have a badly written kiss scene before the grand finale. There was only one thing left to do: surf.
Lucky for him, Ivanov International had been able to put him on a plane that allowed wireless broadband connections while in air. With thoughts of spamming his boss for such a frivolous hassle, he opened his email only to discover an unread message from an address he had never seen before. 'Greetings', it read. From the looks of it, Bryan doubted it contained a virus or something of the sort so he decided to open it.
It was a letter addressed to him from the current manager of the singer he was supposed to meet.
Mr. Kuznetsov,
It is going to be a great pleasure to meet you. I am Mr. Kon's Manager, Kei. I'd like to thank you and Ivanov international for choosing us to be the first artist under your record label. We wish you all luck and hope you will be pleased with our performance. If it is not too much trouble, I wish to personally meet you as soon as you come to Hong Kong. Thank you for you time.
Yours truly,
Kei
As Bryan read the letter, he couldn't help but be amused. He knew he often acted too formal for the occasion, but this took the cake. Kei. He must've been quite a character. The Russian thought for sure that their meeting would be anything but boring. Then he wondered about Kon. The Chinese was supposed to be an amazing showman with a lot of talent. He could sing, play guitar, bass, drums and piano. Not bad, not bad at all…
He wondered if he should've written a reply to Kei, but quickly decided against it. He was bored, he was lazy… Kei could wait. Besides, he could always give the excuse that he hadn't been able to read the letter until he got off the plane. Yes, he was an asshole, but he could care less right about now.
When meal time came, the attendants were a little more than happy to attend to him. He didn't know why. It didn't by chance have anything to do with the Armani suit and Tudor watch, did it? No… these women couldn't POSSIBLY be THAT shallow.
The flight attendant bat her eyes at him in an attempting-to-be-seductive manner. Bryan could've puked. She was at LEAST five years older than him, maybe ten. It was unflattering and even made him wonder why women couldn't try any harder.
---
Walking past the same attendant as he got off the plane, he looked straight ahead, not wanting to make eye contact with anyone. Though, he knew his cold distant attitude could be one of the reasons people thought so sourly about Russians, and also be the same reason they had such a negative outlook on them. He should be paid to do that.
Immigration was boring as hell, seeing as it took so long. Weirdo tourists snapping away with their cameras, taking pictures of anything and everything. Some of them even had the nerve to ask him to take a picture of them. He did, of course... just with the lens cap off.
The rest of the airport was slightly better. The people working at the immigration desk had nice uniforms, which the ones in Russia could learn from.
As he got his bags from the conveyer belt, he had to admire the architecture of the place. Everything seemed so tall and orderly. So, so disciplined! He could learn to love it here.
He made his way outside where he took a cab to his hotel.
The Island Shangri-la was about fifty floors tall and was built on top a mall, which was really convenient, and housed the world's largest mural. He learned that everything in Hong Kong was really tall because land was so expensive there. But none the less, everything was quite amazing.
Checking in and getting to his room was no hassle at all because Ivanov Intl. had already made the necessary arrangements, so Bryan figured all he had left to do was get the keys and take a rest.
Opening the door to the room, his eyes spotted the bed immediately, and he put his things down on the ground by the cabinet. The Russian took off his blazer and unbuttoned the first few buttons of his shirt before falling down against the bed. He closed his eyes, trying to beguile sleep into coming to him but was interrupted by the sound of the bathroom door opening. He sat up and got off the bed, quickly running toward the bathroom to see what it was that made the noise when he was met by a pair of golden eyes staring over-ecstatically at him.
"Hello there! I hope you don't mind me using your shower, mine totally didn't have any hot water-" As the intruder continued to babble, Bryan couldn't do anything but gawk and wonder JUST WHA THE HELL WAS THIS INSANE WEIRDO DOING IN HIS APPARTMENT! "-So anyway, thanks again for letting me use your shower. Whoops gotta run!" And before the lilac haired man had a chance to say or do anything, the 'insane weirdo' leaned forward and placed a kiss square on his lips.
"Toodles!" 'Insane weirdo' said before skipping out the room in only a bathrobe.
Bryan stood slack jawed in front of the door, waiting for his mind the register all of what had just happened. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!" he said after about twenty seconds of silence.
Whee! Guess who everyone is! I'm purposely didn't name anyone else but Bryan.
Tell me what you think of it. This hasn't been proofread yet, so if anyone else wants to do it, just say so.
'Til next time!