Talyak - Seto is not obsessed. Just because a few things remind him of that guy he used to date every once in a while or a couple times a day. Or hour. Maybe every few minutes. Maybe 6 times a minute at most.

Chapter 21

"SURPRISE!"

"Oh, what the hell!" Joey staggered backward, clutching his chest in an exaggerated show of surprise. "Can't. Handle. Shock."

"How could you not know this was coming?" Ryou pulled him into the classroom. "We aren't a subtle group."

"Sit, sit!" Otogi patted a chair and put a bib around Joey's neck.

"Aw, c'mon!" the father-to-be laughed.

"Here." Yugi gave him a candy pacifier. "Don't worry." He deepened his voice. "It's a manly baby shower."

There were games and gifts including a car seat/stroller that the teachers must have given because none of his friends could have. All his close friends were there along with Tiny and some of the other guys from the soccer team. Plus a few others. It was a good sized crowd.

It wasn't New York, but at some point, his life stopped being hell.

"Ok, ok," Anzu settled the group down. "We have to clear out in a few minutes - Yakomo-sensei said he'd give you a ride home with all this. So before we go, say 'thank you', Joey."

"Thank you, Joey," Joey repeated dutifully to the group's jeers. "No, seriously, guys, I really don't know what to say. This was - this was great. You guys, shit!" He wiped his eye and yelled at his stomach. "Knock it off in there! Men don't cry. You makin' me look bad out here. Geez!"

"Awww!" Anzu hugged him. Then Yugi joined. Then Ryou and Malik. Then most of the rest of the party goers.

"Hey!" Joey shouted.

Yugi began singing 'Doraemon'. Tiny and Honda joined in. Joey stopped fighting the group hug and began loudly singing 'Barney'.

"If you people are going to sing," Yakomo-sensei called out, "I'm going home."

That managed to break up the group hug and the sing-off, and everyone helped Joey load up the teacher's car.

"You look better," the nurse said as they drove. "I was worried about you."

"You don't have to do that." Joey shrugged. "I'm good."

"Adjusted to being a gestational male yet?"

"I kinda gotta, right?"

"Eventually." He nodded. "My first pregnancy was a train wreck. I thought I could handle it, but I was not ready." He laughed lightly.

"Yeah, but it's different for you."

"Why?" He glanced at him. "Being older than 16 at the time wasn't that big a help."

Joey shrugged again. "You're a girl. Girls do babies."

"No. I'm not."

"Not what?"

"I'm not a girl." The nurse stopped at the light and looked at him. "You think I'm a woman?"

"You're not?" Joey looked at the nurse. The breasts were at least a D-cup. The hair was in a high ponytail and still came down to the shoulder. No adam's apple, no stubble, no other man traits. "How are you a guy?"

"How are you a guy?" The nurse retorted. "I'm HermMale. Like you, gestational. My wife thought it would be fun to carry our kids at the same time. So, I got inseminated when we thought she was pregnant. Only she wasn't pregnant, it was a false positive."

"Oh man! That bites!"

He laughed. "Yeah, pretty much. I resented her a bit for tricking me. And I knew it wasn't intentional and she was just as bummed out that she wasn't pregnant and I was, but," he laughed again, "I had a really hard time with the emotional changes."

"You're a guy." Joey shook his head. "So you've always looked like a - uh, I mean - uh -"

"Actually, until I got pregnant, I looked, well, more masculine. I played baseball in college. I got these during my first pregnancy, but they blew up during the second."

"The second?"

"Yeah." He laughed a bit more. "She conned me into it again. But that time we were both pregnant. I really do have an idea what it's like to be a knocked up boy."

"Yeah." Joey sighed and looked down at himself. "So I'm gonna get tits."

"Everyone's different, but if you haven't developed them yet, you probably won't. Are you planning to nurse?"

"Nurse?" Breastfeeding. Joey hadn't even thought about it. "I'm not even sure I'm keeping him."

"It's a bit late to change your mind, isn't it?"

"Malik's church. They get a surrogate and all this goes away." No belly. No tits. No baby. Easy.

"Ah."

They were both silent for a minute.

"Do you want to be a father?" the nurse asked. "I mean one day, not like this per se."

"Well, yeah, I guess. I mean, one day."

"Some people only ever get one chance." Yakomo turned off the car and turned to Joey. "I'm not saying you should keep him, just don't let 'it will be hard' make the decision for you. Kids are hard - at any age. Ask your mother if kids are easy." Joey smirked. "Things are bad now because this isn't what you planned or even wanted. But, this could be a good thing. Don't make him 'go away' before you consider both sides. Babies can be frustrating, but they are really easy to love."

xXxXxXx

The phone rang at 6:15am. It was early, but Seto was awake. It was the best time to do homework now that he was taking all of his classes online.

"Kaiba."

"What is the meaning of this?!" Someone raged.

"Who is this?"

"This is your worst nightmare, boy! You think I'm powerless? You just wait, boy, just wait!" The line abruptly disconnected.

Seto sighed. Threats of reprisals were not completely uncommon, but he usually knew what he'd done to generate them. Now, he couldn't remember. He was having trouble focusing ever since 'excluded'.

Excluded from paternity.

It wasn't any sort of disappointment. Seto was sure of that. He was more upset that he'd been blind to the fact that obviously Katsuya was cheating on him. What kind of chief executive misses something so clear?

Of course, cheating wasn't really the situation. Neither of them had stated or even implied that their relationship was exclusive. Seto had made that assumption. Foolish, really. Anything not specified in the contract was not a violation of the contract. Merely because Seto gave his loyalty, his love….

He stopped that train of thought. Love was invented by Hallmark to sell greeting cards. He had another hour for school work.

Seto arrived at his office at 8am to find the management team in an outright panic.

"What happened?"

"Blossom Holding called in the note for Kaiba Tower."

"Don't be absurd." Seto felt his blood freezing in his veins. "It's a 60-year mortgage."

"They called in all notes. 30 days or foreclosure."

Kaiba Tower. The first ten stories were the first western-style construction in the city. Gozaburo had the original deco design restored and then added twenty five floors of modern glass and steel. The top floors were round, creating a pearl. Outside a mirrored exterior, a immense sculpture, the Kaiba dragon, coiled around the building, it's claw cradling the pearl like it was giving a gift to the sun. That was the idea: the West crumbling at its feet, the Dragon Kaiba gave pearls to the Rising Sun of Japan.

The construction made it one of the most expensive buildings in the world. 1.1 billion, US. Leveraging the debt kept Kaiba's assets in the market and profitable.

"Where is -"

"YOU!" One of the investment managers charged at Seto, waving some pages at him. "You did this! You weren't even subtle, damn you!"

"Another word and you can do your ranting at the employment office." Seto took the papers. The pull announcement. Several stock analysis. A copy of his trades.

The man laughed. "And you'll be right next to me! Why? Why would you buy out Sakura Bank?"

"Why would it matter?"

"Sakura Bank owns controlling interest in Blossom Holding."

"So that means that I now own controlling interest in Blossom Holdings."

"Kaiba-sama," Finance had his evil grin, as if he were enjoying the chaos around him. "The Sakura Bank board has opted to liquidate all assets rather than accept the takeover. In 30 days, you will own controlling interest in nothing."

In thirty days, Seto could probably raise the capital needed to buy out the mortgage, but he would have to sell off two thirds of the company. And paying off the mortgage created other liquidity issues. Problems that could not be fixed in a month. Over the long term, this could be handled. But if the stock price fell while they were in such a tight cash position, it could severely cripple the company. If anyone else had made such a poorly considered trade, Seto would have fired them.

"You know what you've done, boy?" Finance looked smug. "You know the term 'fiduciary responsibility'? I don't even need to convene the Board to have you step down."

"What!"

"It's true." Facilities joined them. "The corporate charter specifically states that anyone who causes a significant corporate loss must step down from his position."

"This isn't a loss yet," Seto pointed out, but his mind was racing trying to think of a way to stop it.

"True," HR agreed. "Do you know of a way to prevent it?"

"I'm thinking," Seto snapped.

"I know a way," Finance gloated. "Maybe. I may know a way. But there is a price."

"What?" For some reason, the exact location of the nearest loaded handgun occurred to Seto.

"You step down as CEO. And you eliminate the Revocation Clause."

Seto thought fast. CEO took a lot of decision making out of his hands, but it did not affect his ownership of the company.

The Revocation Clause counteracted the poison pill clause. There were two sections. Section A, which Seto was beginning to believe was a mathematical impossibility to get the financial numbers in the proper percentages.

Section B, however, was the Kaiba Heir. If a DoubleMale is born into Kaiba - not adopted, but the biological son - 52% of the stock is his at birth. If there were not enough outstanding shares, additional shares will be issued. That son - or more accurately, his father - will have complete control over the Board, including the ability to replace all of them.

Seto stared at the man, trying to control his temper. "I will burn this company to the ground before I allow you to steal it from my family."

HR stepped between Seto and Finance. "Let us not be quite so drastic. I think stepping down from management is enough for now. We can discuss further action when this crisis has abated."

Seto nodded, furious, but funding the pull and saving the liquidity was more important at the moment.

Finance frowned. "Agreed," he said finally. He dialed his cell phone. "Got a problem. Some damn fool got into a secured computer and did some early trading. Yeah, that's the one. Can you kill it? Ok. I'll send a formal request when I get back to my desk. Thanks." He hung up.

Seto seethed.