*STORY WARNINGS:
–Yaoi – Male/Male.
– Rating: Mature. ADULTS ONLY. Contains graphic violence, some coarse language, explicit sexual content both consensual/non-consensual, forced/willing submission, bondage, BDSM, edging, safewords, aftercare, adult themes, guilty pleasure fantasy where you want someone to be a bit too forceful.
I am totally over the moon – the lovely Shey over on AO3 has drawn fanart for Click! It's for Chapter 2 when Akihito first goes to Asami's office and there's all that juicy dangerous tension flowing between them. It's indescribable how touched I am that someone was inspired to draw such amazing artwork for my story... *happy sob!* It's embedded over on AO3 (replace dot and forwardslash with actual ones: archiveofourown dot org forwardslash works forwardslash 12847428 forwardslash chapters forwardslash 29337795), please go take a look! (^^) (In totally Japanese style, for the umpteenth time and yet still not enough: Thank you Shey!)
Shock horror, I kept you waiting nearly 3 weeks for this one! Haha But it's not toooo bad though, considering the length... Is it? Oh, it is? My bad! XD A combination of hectic real life and losing the flow a bit had me take a mini break. Then I came back and these two decided they didn't care for my careful story planning and that the few measly paragraphs I'd originally penned weren't nearly enough to convey all that they wanted to convey in The Scene (you'll know which one!). So this became a two parter and Click now has a chapter total of 26 instead of 25 – *face palms* Though hopefully nobody's complaining about the increase! (^_)
This is almost like 'A day in the life of...' I hope you enjoy it! (^^)
~ Nyx ~
DISCLAIMER: The Finder series and all recognisable characters belong to Yamane Ayano sensei.
Click
Chapter 19. Control – part 1
Monday, too late in the morning to be professionally excusable.
Akihito was hopping mad. And horny as hell. The blame, of course, lay squarely on those maddeningly big shoulders at the other end of the stretch limo.
Asami was running off some perverted agenda, Akihito was sure of it. It had all began an hour ago as soon as Akihito had roused enough from sleep to recall the raw intimacy the night before and awkward shyness overcame him. He'd attempted to escape from the excessively comfortable bed, only to be stopped by Asami who'd rolled over him, pinned him unforgivingly by his hair and wrist and all the rest of that insanely masculine body all warm and heavy with the lingering vestiges of sleep, and sucked a giant-ass hickey on the stuttering pulse of his neck. Fighting Asami off with his one free hand was near on impossible. Bucking against him had unintentionally rubbed their morning wood together and left Akihito shuddering deliciously from head to toe, adding to the lightning bolt that had already gone charging to his crotch when Asami's lips had found that spot below his ear that never used to exist before Asami had come along. Then, just as Akihito had mentally resigned himself to the seeming inevitable and rolled his hips against Asami again, deliberately this time, Asami had pressed a chaste kiss to the corner of Akihito's mouth and left – simply rolled off Akihito and off the bed, and strolled in all his naked glory to the bathroom for his morning ablutions.
All with that oh-so-knowing, arrogant, infuriating smirk that told Akihito the bastard knew precisely what he was doing.
And Asami hadn't stopped. Not as they'd passed in the bedroom with the fleeting touches across the base of Akihito's back, not when they'd set up for breakfast with the subtle-as-fuck looming and breathing faint warm flurries across the back of Akihito's neck, not while they ate with the accidental-his-ass! brushes of the leg under the table. Clearing up had involved dumping a startled Akihito on the kitchen counter, practically tongue fucking Akihito's mouth through his muffled objections until he'd started to melt, just a little bit, when Asami had once again pulled away and left Akihito flushed, furious, and infuriatingly frustrated.
And now, fucking hell, those eyes. There was no other way to describe it, Asami was eye fucking the hell out of him. Akihito couldn't have been more wrong when he'd thought he'd managed to put a bit of safe distance between them, even though he was as far forward as he could get in the limo short of sitting in Suoh's lap up front. The dark golden gleam pierced the length of the limo, trailing to where a scarf concealed the ridiculous hickey on Akihito's neck, zeroing in on the bob of the Adam's apple as Akihito nervously swallowed, with such singular predatory focus that Akihito couldn't help but feel the phantom scrape of teeth. Then as though Akihito wasn't dressed and Asami was likewise imagining the application of lips and tongue and fingers, as though Kirishima wasn't sitting beside him going over stock figures that neither of them were listening to, those golden eyes scorched a meandering path down Akihito's chest, raising goose pimples even through the jacket with the heat of that blistering stare, down the torso and the happy trail to where Akihito's morning wood had never completely gone away thanks to the incessant teasing.
There was a lull in Kirishima's report.
"Keep them tied up in the merger," Asami ordered, his gaze never once leaving Akihito flushed and squirming and scowling from the other end of the black leather seats. "And buy up the balance of the 55%. They've had fair warning. I'm taking control."
"Yes sir," Kirishima confirmed, taking note.
So apparently it was just Akihito who couldn't focus on anything else. "Stop that," he gritted out.
"Oh? What's that?" Asami mused innocently.
Akihito glared bloody murder and turned to stare firmly out of the opposite window, pulling a knee up to conceal the frustrating bulge in his jeans. "I was going to go hunting today," he grumbled. He sensed Asami's questioning raise of the brow without needing to look. "For V1P3R."
"You can do that at the office. Besides, it's your community service, Akihito. You should learn to pay your dues."
That drew Akihito's gaze away from the window as he gaped incredulously at Asami. "You did not just say that..." He glanced across at Kirishima maintaining his expressionless silence. "Can you believe this bastard?"
But they were already pulling up at the back of the Sion HQ tower and were swarmed upon by a dozen bodyguards. Throwing Akihito that smirk that he never failed to find maddening and maddeningly flustering, Asami slipped out as the door was opened for him.
But as Akihito climbed out after him with noticeably less grace, Asami was still standing by the door. His large hand down by his side reached back for Akihito's thigh, giving it a squeeze.
"Stay close until we know more about the hits, Akihito."
There was nothing Akihito could throw back at the quiet gravitas, leaving him stumbling after as Asami strode through the executives-dedicated entrance out the back of the second floor.
So not only was Akihito half hard and being steamrolled back to Sion, but they were late. Because apparently the term 'contractual business hours' didn't apply to the CE-fucking-O. In fact 11am was apparently an early start for Asami, whose shady dealings lent itself better to ungodly hours.
Security had been beefed up here as well, there were noticeably more men in black suits manning doors and planted on corners in the foyer. As always, Akihito received odd looks from all the employees in their smart business attire as they passed though the foyer was thankfully not too busy at this time.
"I'm surprised you didn't force me into a suit," Akihito muttered.
"What you are wearing is never what I take exception to."
Hazel eyes darted across to catch the ghost of a smirk on Asami's otherwise flawless 'CEO' face – stop-in-your-tracks stunningness hewn in marble.
"Perverted baka," Akihito mumbled underbreath, scowling through the faint pink of his cheeks. It was just loud enough for Asami to catch. It wasn't because they were in sight of other employees that he restrained himself from loudly abusing the top boss, but only because it would draw more attention to himself than he wanted.
Little did these bowing, scraping, reverent employees know that their oh-so-respected and more-than-slightly feared boss was armed. Akihito had watched Asami getting dressed that morning, casting sideways glances as the crisp shirt was buttoned up, the cuff links hooked in, and the silk tie expertly tied. The waistcoat followed, hugging the contours of Asami's impressive physique, before the holster was strapped on. Asami had made no move to conceal the weapon or change his morning routine, loading a mag and checking the gun with sure, fluid fingers, before seating it in the leather holster and concealing the whole array beneath the suit jacket. Then Asami had donned a black coat, billowing out as he swung it about his shoulders before the ends settled at knee height, a single sharp tug straightening the collars, and Akihito hadn't even realized he was openly staring until Asami had returned it, with darkness, devastating confidence and heat swirling in his hard gaze.
That was when it had struck Akihito just how relaxed Asami had been the day before, something Akihito only noticed after the air emanating from the billionaire had morphed into that familiar sheathed menace, the way Asami had approached their earlier interactions, the spellbinding aura of an apex predator that made a killing equally in board rooms and with underhanded deals alike. The whole world would fall on their knees before one such as this. The whole world, that was, with the exception of one obstinate brat who dared to glare right into the dragon's eyes and stand his ground.
"Suoh, take him to security and get his pass reassigned." A meaningful look was shared, a reminder of orders previously given.
"No need," Akihito tried to shake off. "I know the way and they know me."
"Yes, sir," Blond Tank acknowledged his boss, predictably ignoring Akihito's objections.
Asami's gaze glinted with mischief. "I'll send for you later. Be good." He sauntered off into the elevator with Glasses and two other bodyguards, knowing full well the outrage he left in his wake with both of those statements.
Seeing the guys in Security again was awkward. They had no idea why Akihito had left or that he was coming back. But it wasn't nearly as awkward as setting foot in the IT department again and finding everyone staring at him.
"Hey," he waved.
They all looked like they'd seen a ghost.
"You!" Mitarai exclaimed first. "What're you doing here?"
Ogawa blinked owlishly. "Ta-Takaba?"
Akihito sighed. "Always nice to be remembered."
Clearly nobody had bothered telling them that he was coming back. Or – perhaps more likely – Asami had deliberately suppressed the notification as some kind of twisted payback for Akihito having bailed in the first place. Because the possessive bastard always had to have the last word.
"Just – just a sec," Ogawa said, scrambling for his desk phone.
The R&D guys, curiously, looked hugely relieved. Several called out greetings, others waved. Akihito waved back and headed over to his old desk that was even messier than he'd left it. It seemed to have become a graveyard of broken IT equipment during the fortnight he'd been away.
"Are you back? Or are you trespassing?" Mitarai stood with his arms crossed over the desk.
Akihito smiled innocently. "I'm just here for the charming company, can't you tell?" He started scooting the clutter into rough clumps on the side.
Mitarai harrumphed. "If I'd known you were coming back, I would've left a shitload of stuff for you to slog through."
"You mean you have more shit than this?" Akihito waved at the mess.
"I meant work, asshole."
"Nah, it's good you didn't. I'd do it in half the time you always take and just show you up."
"At half the quality so someone else would've had to waste the same amount of time fixing it."
Had Mitarai got dumber in the time Akihito had been away? "You realize, even if that was the case, it's still the same speed as you?"
"With twice the manpower. Your loss." Mitarai sneered. "Anyway, what's with the babysitter? They don't trust you so they're watching your every move?"
Because yes, Blond Tank was towering by the door. There was no mistaking his role from his stance and alertness, not to mention the generic black suit. Akihito's arguments that having a bodyguard, especially Suoh, was going to make him stand out like an alien with three heads had fallen on deaf ears.
"Yeah, 'cos that's so much easier than just firing me," Akihito deadpanned.
Mitarai huffed. "I've been doing well here while you've been gone, you know."
"Great," Akihito snarked, not looking up.
"I've got a good rapport with Asami-sama now."
Akihito paused, looking up slowly, fighting a grin. The asswipe didn't know what Asami really thought of him. "Have you, now?"
"That's right," Mitarai rubbed in, "I've finally smoothed things over with him after your massive screw-up on our first meeting. I'm his go-to IT guy now."
Jesus, Mitarai was even puffing his chest out like a preening bird of paradise. Akihito's lips twitched. "Good for you. You must be really proud."
"Mitarai, knock it off, let him get resettled." Ogawa shooed the petulant man back to his desk. "Sorry about that, Takaba, I just had to check with HR that you're actually back. They must have forgotten to let us know, probably because you were only gone two weeks."
"Yeah, probably," Akihito agreed vaguely.
"Anyway, welcome back! Did you miss us so much you decided you couldn't stay away?"
"Don't even ask why I'm back," Akihito muttered.
Ogawa shook his head with a raise of the hands, clearly thinking it had to do with court orders.
Akihito didn't correct him, nodding instead at the desk next to Mitarai's which had always been the latter's dumping ground but was now the cleanest, most empty desk in the history of Sion IT. "New start?"
"New temp to work with Mitarai. Put the request in this morning, agency should be sending someone in by this afternoon."
"Why all the effort?" Temps weren't unusual. A clean desk was.
"It's a girl," Ogawa winked. Akihito barked a laugh before he managed to suppress it to a cough, but Mitarai had already guessed at being the butt of their teasing and gave them evils. Akihito didn't care.
Ogawa steered them onto work. "Anyway I'm glad you're back. I want to run one of the security patches with you, Soteria's been throwing us for a loop."
So Akihito resumed working on the AI cyber shield he'd set up before he'd left. Ogawa had done a decent job not wrecking it while Akihito had been gone but some of the minor patches were a lot quicker to handle with detailed knowledge of the programming.
"Sorry I had to disappear on you so suddenly," he said quietly to his boss as they worked together.
Ogawa patted his shoulder. "Don't worry about it. You must've had your reasons."
Akihito was just about to go to lunch when his desk phone rang. He went to grab the receiver when he spotted the caller ID – Kirishima. His hand froze midair. Frowning, he muted the call instead and set about saving and closing various files on his laptop, sighing in relief when it let up after five rings. But then his cell phone rang; an unknown cell number. It was no coincidence. Was Glasses that desperate to get hold of him? If so, he didn't want Blond Tank being set on the task, who was so far still planted by the door maintaining an excellent impersonation of a particularly sturdy fence post...
Akihito put on a deliberately cheerful voice as he answered. "'Sup, Glasses-san?"
"Stop ignoring Kirishima and answer his call."
Asami! Akihito almost dropped his phone. Glancing frantically around to make sure nobody was too close, Akihito hunched over it. "How the hell do you have my number?" he hissed.
"Job perks. Now answer Kirishima's call or I'll come and get you again. Let's see, perhaps I'll cart you over my shoulder this time, or carry you bridal style –"
"Y-you baka!" Akihito dropped his voice again when people looked over. "Don't you have more important things to be doing than hassling me?!"
"Not in the slightest."
"Then you're seriously overpaid!"
"Keep it brief please, Takaba-san. One meeting is quite enough for Asami-sama to drop at such short notice."
"Asami blew a meeting just to harass me?"
The disapproving line in Kirishima's brow deepened.
"You don't honestly think I have any influence over how Mr Bossy Pants lords over the world or my life, do you?" Akihito scoffed. "Dream on."
Kirishima stared grimly after the oblivious, insolent man who blew through the heavy doors. His sigh was laced with troubled resignation. "You have no idea."
"Relationships don't work if it's just one sided, you know. You have to reciprocate."
Akihito counted Asami's baffled pause at his opening remark without so much as a greeting as a minor victory. It wasn't every day he could chip a chink in that imperious armour.
The sight of the large glass conference table as Akihito had first come through the door had almost derailed him. The last time he'd seen it was when Asami, a thunder cloud only a snap of a finger away from blowing someone's brains out, had kidnapped Akihito to deal with a bullet-riddled laptop. What an age ago that felt like, back before he'd come to understand that what Asami saw in him was an entirely different kind of target. Now, as he rounded the curious L of the humongous office to the left, Akihito's irritated glare was curtailed by Asami himself. Because fuck but even in such a huge space and the imposing desk, even surrounded on three glass-walled sides by the impressive backdrop of Shinjuku and misty-peaked Mount Fuji in the distance, Asami's heavy presence was somehow larger than all of it combined, dominating everything the light touched.
Fighting the mould, Akihito raised his chin. "Your best bro's inconsolable." Asami's confusion became more pronounced and despite being prickled at being summoned like this, Akihito couldn't help a cheeky grin. "I couldn't care less if your go-to IT guy hates me but he really thought your bromance was something special, poor sod."
Asami finally caught on, and it came on a strained exhale. "Mitarai."
Asami's frustration cheered Akihito up some. "He's working his neatly ironed little socks off for you, the least you can do is keep calling on him for your computing woes."
"Why would I put up with that buffoon if you're here?"
Akihito narrowed his gaze. "If it's going to put him out of work, then maybe I shouldn't be here."
Asami leaned back in his large black leather seat, waving the bunch of papers he'd been perusing at his monitor. "Looking at this one issue isn't going to put Mitarai out of work. Besides, would you really pass up the opportunity to tell me what an idiot I am?"
Asami had him there, they both knew it. Akihito glared back at Asami's barely concealed amusement for a long intake of breath before stomping across the long, long stretch of the L-shaped room. "This would be so much quicker if your office wasn't so freaking huge and it didn't take half an hour to walk across it."
"Well you know what they say," Asami mused, eyes glinting. "The larger the office..."
Aaand they were straight back to sexual innuendos again. Akihito rolled his eyes even as he fought the warmth spreading through his gut. "The bigger the ego?"
"Amongst other things, I'm sure."
"I rest my case," Akihito sniped back. "Why's your office such a weird shape though?" he asked as he arrived, at long last, beside the massive desk. "I would've thought you'd go for impact, you know, boom, open the door and your huge-ass throne room intimidates everyone into grovelling at your feet, but like, miles away. But instead you've got a kink. In your office!" Akihito emphasized as Asami's smirk blatantly travelled further down a filthy path. "Geez..."
"Security precautions. A direct line of sight from the door into every corner of the office isn't as secure."
Akihito blinked. "Well isn't your life just a bunch of roses."
Asami didn't elaborate. "Take a look at this for me," he said instead, indicating the monitor again. "I know you can coax it back to life, it's frozen stiff."
Akihito stared. And stared. But Asami's face was totally impassive. Not that he was falling for it. Not. At. All. He pointed a warning finger. "No funny business."
"It's a computer, Akihito. What funny business could it possibly entail?" Asami asked too innocently for it to be innocent. As Akihito narrowed his eyes in blatant suspicion, Asami held up his hands before depositing the papers on the far side of the desk and rolling his chair back just as far as the stretch of his legs. "It's all yours."
Still eyeing him warily, Akihito rounded the desk, leaning on it with one hand to look at the screen. It was a spreadsheet of some financial report or other.
"It's not responding," Asami explained, before his voice deepened to that purr that thrummed right to Akihito's groin. "Or maybe it's the mouse. I've been stroking the scroller repeatedly, up and down, but the screen won't move. Perhaps I should stroke it faster?"
One hand braced on the desk, one hand on the mouse in question, Akihito dropped his head. "Oh my god you've gotten worse," he bemoaned. "How's that even possible?"
"Perhaps I'm inspired by the view."
The rough heat in Asami's baritone made Akihito spin around with a biting put-down on the tip of his tongue, only to be brought up short when he was ensnared by golden eyes positively smouldering. There was no mistaking Asami's intent.
"It's actually Freeze View," Akihito squeaked, almost tripping on his trainers as he rapidly tried to backpedal. "Just ask Glasses, he can sort it –"
"I wouldn't want to ask Kirishima about this, Akihito." Strong arms snaked about the trim waist and hauled him backwards into Asami's lap.
"Uwaa – let me go!"
"That would be a great shame when you're already here."
Hot hands slid up under Akihito's tee, making him jolt, which only made him grind his ass back into Asami's crotch. They both groaned.
"We're at work!"
Akihito felt his scarf sliding off before lips nuzzled his neck. Asami hummed in agreement. "The novelty of an office romance is making me positively giddy."
"You talk such shit, you know that?" Akihito huffed as he tried to fend off wondering hands sparking his skin aflame embarrassingly quickly. "Asami, stop! Seriously, we're in your freaking office!"
"Hmm. We should christen my desk, don't you think?"
"I don't think! You perverted ass, you were planning this all along! That's why you were –" Akihito abruptly swallowed back his words. He could hardly admit that Asami had left him hard!
"I did what? Did I leave you yearning for me?"
"Hell no!" Bastard knew it anyway.
"No?" Asami's hand up his top snaked higher, out through the neck hole and grasping Akihtio's neck in a possessive hold that made Akihito's breath stutter. "Then you weren't hoping that I would wreck you this morning when we awoke together? Or in the kitchen? Or the limo? Though Kirishima might have been uncomfortable –"
"Kirishima!" Akihito exclaimed as he remembered, grasping it like a lifeline. "He said not to dawdle!"
"Then we shouldn't dawdle." In a deft move that gave Akihito no time to stop it, Asami slid his lower hand down to flick open Akihito's button and flies, slipped under the boxers and grasped the more-than-half hard arousal, at the same time as slipping two fingers into Akihito's mouth.
Akihito couldn't help the moan at the firm long stroke on his growing length, instinctively sucking on the digits in his mouth. But only for a moment. The view down the length of the office where anyone could walk in on them made him grumble muffled curses. He grabbed the armrests and pulled.
He was free! ... Or so he thought. No sooner had he managed to get his feet on the floor and stand than Asami shoved his jeans and boxers down, slipped out from under him and out of the chair, knocking away one of Akihito's arms off the armrest in the process, and toppled Akihito backwards all in a blur.
Then as Akihito flailed with a startled yelp and fell back into the seat, Asami dropped to his knees, shoved Akihito's thighs up, ducked under the jeans bunched around Akihito's shins, and devoured his length.
No more teasing, no slow burn, Asami sucked him hard and fast. He throated Akihito like a parched man setting upon a desert oasis, long draws deep from the base right to the pulsing tip.
"Huuuhhhnn!"
Releasing the pale thighs, Asami yanked Akihito's ass out to the edge of the seat so he could circle fingers over the puckered rosebud. He pressed in a spit-slicked finger, soon followed by another, scissoring and stretching the back with a flaring burn as he continued the full-length draws on the front.
Akihito could have so easily closed his eyes and let himself be swept away by the wave of pain-accented pleasure. But he forced his eyes open with a struggle – and was rendered speechless. The dark head bowed over him framed by his legs and jeans was incredible, but it was what was behind Asami that really hammered it home. The enormous office sat atop all of Tokyo and Japan, captured in all the far glass walls. The ruler on his knees before the Sion throne. For Akihito.
He slid a trembling hand through the black hair and almost questioningly met the oh-so-arrogant, oh-so-satisfied gold that gleamed up at him. Why me?
Spiralling fast, he fought to maintain that gaze that unravelled all his uncertainties and held him together. "Asami... Asami –!"
Asami abruptly pulled off, squeezing tight at the base and choking off the impending climax.
"Asami!" Akihito objected in a very different tone.
Asami ducked back out from under the jeans. He pushed Akihito's bent legs apart and leaned up between them, still on his knees, and buried any further objections with a hard, toe-tingling kiss. Akihito flushed even further when he tasted his own precum mixing with Asami's taste.
"Why'd'you always stop me?" Akihito groaned as Asami pulled away.
"I told you. We're christening the desk."
Akihito started to suspect – and kind of dread in a totally mortifyingly arousing way – that Asami meant it literally. "You perverted baka!" He made a token effort to pull free but it was impossible with Asami leaning over his ankles which were pretty much bound by his jeans and boxers. As if it wasn't embarrassing enough that he was feeling like a frog, he saw that the tip of his erection trailing silver lines of precum over Asami's waistcoat. "Oh my god..."
Asami didn't seem to care, smirking with lascivious mischief. "Did you know, I wanted to blow you the first time I sat you in my chair."
"When you were threatening me?!"
"When you were hacking the flash drive. It was quite a turn on."
Akihito gaped, his cheeks dusted pink. "You perverted crime lord!"
It was like those words were a magic key. It happened in that way that only Asami possessed, how he could change the very air about him in the blink of an eye. His gaze transformed to molten gold as he abruptly rose over Akihito, braced on an armrest and one knee on the chair between Akihito's legs, caught the blond hair, and tipped the backrest halfway back with their combined weight as he bruised Akihito's lips in a fierce kiss.
Akihito feared for a moment that he'd angered Asami, but as they drew apart with a ragged breath, he recognized the heat blazing through. "Don't tell me that's a kink?"
"I enjoy all your endearments, Akihito," Asami said roughly, "but I appear to be particularly susceptible to that one."
"You mean you didn't know? I gave you a kink?" Akihito didn't know if to be horrified or tickled.
Asami melted him inside out with the severity of his gaze, perhaps compensating for the uncharacteristic hesitancy that Akihito also glimpsed in their dark depths. "There are few who know me as I truly am. I find... I'm rather satisfied that you do."
The frank admission bowled Akihito over. It felt incredibly personal, and incredible that Asami would reveal that part of himself. It hit Akihito somewhere deep, another strike at the foundations of the defensive wall that he'd built. He found he could no longer honestly deny that Asami really seemed to have a thing for him.
But at the same time he still understood so little. What could have driven and created such a man as Asami Ryuichi? So ruthless and unforgiving, except to those few closest to him over whom he was ruthlessly and unforgivingly protective. Would Akihito ever understand?
Asami stepped away, leaning back against the edge of his desk. "Get me ready, Akihito."
"...Ready?"
"I won't be using lube. You don't want me to take you dry, that won't be nearly as enjoyable for either of us."
Hazel eyes widened. "I can't even tell if you're being serious but that's seriously mean."
Asami purred with dark conquest. "Then come and get me nice and wet."
But Akihito wasn't just hesitating for the hell of it. Just like his pun the last time, he really sucked at this. He was bound to do it wrong, no way was Asami going to enjoy it. He lowered his legs, grabbing at his jeans to pull them up –
"Leave them."
Akihito paused, his cheeks bright. Asami had seen him aroused plenty of times but maybe it was the idea of being erect from under his t-shirt, or being exposed while he'd be sucking Asami off that made him a little shy. Hesitantly, he slid off the chair to his knees.
Akihito's hands were unsteady as he slid his palms up the muscular thighs. "If you're hoping this is gonna go better than last time, you're gonna be really disappointed."
But then his uneasiness was swept aside at the ridiculous comment from above.
"I promise to beg if you get me close."
Akihito tried to glare back at Asami's bare-faced provocation but found himself snorting as the image took hold. "I'll hold you to that one of these days."
Preoccupied with the sight of Asami's belt buckle glinting under the waistcoat, Akihito was unaware of the future implied in his reply, or the responding furnace that lit in Asami's eyes.
It was the first time he was undressing Asami. Feeling rather self-conscious but spurred by the prominent bulge, he unbuckled, unbuttoned and unzipped. He hesitated a moment before he leaned forwards, mouthing at the large outline from over the tight black underwear as he took in Asami's scent, just a hint muskier here but all Asami. Akihito's cock twitched.
There was a soft breath above him. The fingers through his hair were gentle.
It was with something of a challenge lighting his face that Akihito bared his teeth and, meeting Asami's smouldering gaze, he carefully, deliberately, firmly, dug his teeth in over the heated bulge. Asami's eyes narrowed just at the corners, the sense of a smirk even if his lips didn't move. There was no hesitancy in the fingers carding through Akihito's hair, no attempt to stop him, willing to see where Akihito was going with this.
A little shaken at the demonstration of trust, Akihito carefully used his teeth to nip the waistband and pull it over and down. He used his hands to help them down but something stopped him from hauling everything down to the knees. Was it a power thing? Feeling down over Asami's lower back and the mirrored dimples there, he nudged both waistbands down just to the top of the ass and then slid his hands around to the front, nudging the pants lower but only as far as to give himself enough space to cup the balls hanging heavy. He licked up from the base by the dark nest, following the vein along the impressive length to the mushroom tip that Akihito was still amazed could fit.
Asami gave him free rein as Akihito took the impressive tip into his mouth, gradually sinking deeper and testing his gag reflex, tasting with his tongue. He kept peering up, wanting to know if Asami was enjoying any of it. No, it wasn't just wanting. Needing, perhaps. Anxious even. The strength of his desire for Asami to feel pleasure in what he was doing took him by surprise, but any discomfort at this discovery was offset by Asami hiding nothing in return. His breathing deepened and stuttered, his eyes slid closed, his head tilted back, all when Akihito knew that someone with as much control as Asami could have come without betraying a flicker on his face if that's what he wanted.
It was only when Akihito himself tried to push deeper past the immediate wall of his throat and failed several times that Asami took over. The fingers in his hair tightened and Asami pushed deeper, slow and steady but unrelenting. Akihito tried to relax his throat, his fingers clenched in Asami's pants, anchoring himself on the burning gaze that refused to release him. Unlike the first time they'd done this Asami didn't say anything, not a word, but this wasn't anything like the first time. They weren't anything like the first time. One slow millimetre at a time Asami fed himself into Akihito's throat – but far from being one sided, with every little choke, with every tear drop, Akihito held Asami's fierce gaze and gave a little of himself back. Something supercharged and wild flooded between them as Asami consumed every inch Akihito gave.
In the end there was no begging but Akihito was reassured by Asami's impatience and the plentiful taste of precum. Not long after bottoming out and just a few experimental swallows later, with something like a growl Asami hauled Akihito up before Akihito wanted to stop, kissing the taste of himself from Akihito's tongue. He slipped fingers into Akihito's rim and quickly stretched him back out. Two fingers, three just about, before he bent Akihito over the desk, chest to the mahogany.
Akihito went to wipe away the single tear track on each cheek, but Asami stopped him, grabbing his wrists, holding them down to the desk on either side.
"Wh–"
"Spread your legs."
The husky, dangerous voice gripped Akihito with a bolt of tremulous anticipation. With just a moment's hesitation, he moved a foot out.
"Wider."
Another pause, mostly because that dark voice made Akihito shiver, he moved the other foot.
"Raise your hips."
What? "Uh I don't..?"
"Arch your back," Asami clarified roughly.
"I - I can't, I'm not a damned cat –"
Akihito's voice hitched off as Asami fisted his hair and drew his head back, making him arch to save the stinging pain in his scalp, bracing against the desk with his one freed arm. "Oww..!"
"Raise your hips."
Asami released his hair and his other arm too. Akihito sagged.
"Akihito," Asami warned darkly.
"What the hell's with you?"
It was like Asami from the secret room, fringing on Dom mode. But possibly something darker, or something more, Akihito realized, his skin tightening with hot tension like it was suddenly two sizes too small. Briefly squeezing his eyes shut, he arched his back.
Silently, Asami spread a large hand over the base of Akihito's spine under his tee, heavy and hot on his skin. Akihito breathlessly held himself still, not daring to move as Asami slowly pushed his spread hand up the curve of his back like the rising tide. His top bunched up under his armpits but Asami kept reaching higher, eventually up through the neck of the t-shirt. His breathing became even choppier as Asami wrapped long fingers around his neck. Not suffocating but restricting just enough so that he could feel it, Asami drew him back another inch as he lined up his hips and pressed into Akihito's twitching rim.
It was tight going in. Not quite stretched enough, not quite slick enough, tears sprang to Akihito's eyes, clumping his lashes even more and spilling over already damp cheeks.
"Ahh... Hurts...!"
Asami didn't let up, relentlessly pushing through Akihito's strained panting until he'd sank his full length. Only then did he lean over Akihito's back, kissing away the tears, the hand at his neck turning into caresses. "You did well for me Akihito."
Even as Akihito focused on trying to breathe through the burning stretch, something warm wrapped around him at those words, as though Asami's pleasure was his own. At that troubling thought he mustered the energy to say, "Like you gave me any choice."
Asami didn't look up from where he was bruising bolts of fire into Akihito's neck. "You'd never submit to me if you truly didn't want to."
Submit... It was one thing knowing that that was what he'd done. But the concept was still so new to Akihito that it was disconcerting to hear it said out loud. "You made it hurt on purpose," he accused.
"I want you to feel me, Akihito, every bit of me filling you up."
"Of course I feel it, you sadistic bastard, you're hung like a freaking horse!"
With a breath of a laugh Asami abruptly pulled him back from the desk, toppling them both back into his chair with Akihito still squarely in his lap. "And you're far from adverse to it," came Asami's amused murmur.
Akihito flushed even redder to see his erection rock hard and angry, oozing at the tip. "I swear you're more sadistic in your office!"
Asami pulled off one of Akihito's trainers and freed that leg from the confines of the jeans and boxers. He splayed Akihito's legs out wide over the armrests, making Akihito's length punch out towards the humongous office. Akihito gaped, totally mortified, absurdly aroused. Why the hell was he leaking so damned much?
"Oh god..."
Asami planted his perfectly polished Italian loafers on the floor and started driving up into Akihito's tight heat. "Hide nothing from me, Akihito," he growled. "How you cry for me, how you feel every inch of me."
Akihito squeezed his eyes shut, the only thing he could do, trembling at the burn, gasping at the flare of pain. But it wasn't for long. Asami surged, powerful strokes that tilted just a little until Akihito gasped for an entirely different reason, arching at a flash of intense pleasure as Asami found the sensitive nerves. He glided more easily with every thrust, surging deep, his hands running over Akihito's chest and trailing charged currents across the flushed skin. Akihito found himself bearing down, meeting every ruthless thrust, and was rewarded by Asami's groan against his neck.
"You make me want to take everything from you, Akihito," Asami growled with a scrape of teeth along his pulse.
A comment like that should have been worrying but instead it was bizarrely touching. That was how much Asami warped his sense of reality, Akihito already trapped on event horizon, the fall to the singularity that was Asami a mathematical inevitability.
But Akihito was far too self-conscious to admit that Asami was getting to him. "If that's meant to be dirty talk, it sucks big time," he gasped through the waves of pleasure radiating from every glide of Asami's length.
"Really, Akihito?" Asami murmured with wicked amusement that made Akihito instantly regret taunting the demon even before Asami said another word. "Is that why you're so painfully hard? You could come at the slightest touch." He wrapped his large hand around Akihito's bobbing cock and glided slowly up the full length, making Akihito drop his head back on Asami's shoulder with a helpless moan. "Do you know how close I was to taking you when you hacked that flash drive? Especially knowing that that was how you'd tried to target me. I almost tied you up and fucked you right then, right here."
A shaky gasp escaped Akihito's lips and not just because of the words. Asami's baritone carried an underlying weight that was entirely too serious.
"It was either that, or confine you in a small cage and make you choke on me." Still driving deep inside, Asami's hand twisted on the upstroke, inducing the most satisfying full-body shudder.
Akihito turned his burning face away. "Ok ok, stop embarrassing me already –"
"I knew you'd look good on your knees. You're a wanton angel with your lips stretched around me, your throat full, your eyes wet –"
"Argh, stop!" Akihito flailed. "I take it back, ok? Stop making up crap!"
Asami abruptly stilled, both his hand and hips motionless. "Is that what you think this is?"
Akihito shifted self-consciously, half turning to look at him. "Uh... it's not?"
With an exasperated sigh Asami dropped his head against Akihito's neck. It was just the briefest respite, a rare break in composure, his hands draped down between Akihito's legs without holding anything in particular. After a moment it was a sardonic laugh that escaped, almost bitter, as Asami raised his head again, shaking it self-deprecatingly. His voice was dark with aggravation. "Eager and hard, even if you tried to resist me. Hungry for me to fill you up, even if you didn't know yet that that was what you wanted. And that look in your eyes, especially that... I wanted everything, it was the only reason you escaped then. You defiant, free-spirited brat, even at the summit of Sion you make me want to lose control."
Staring, breathless, speechless, Akihito trembled. What the hell was Asami doing? Admitting something like that, letting Akihito in? 'Cos fucking hell but that's what it amounted to... Right? And what he'd revealed... Control was no small matter for a man like Asami, whose every whim and decision impacted the lives of tens of thousands of people, not to mention being the difference between life and death for the man himself.
Something ached in Akihito's chest.
There was nothing Akihito could say that was deserving of such brutal honesty. Impulsively, he reached over and backwards to grasp Asami's hair and yanked him in for a fierce, chaste kiss. No tongue, only more feeling than Akihito could deal with, all condensed into the desperate press of his lips.
Asami was taken aback but not for long. He took over when Akihito started drawing back, plunging his tongue in, fierceness of an entirely different kind.
But everything and control? What the hell did Asami expect anyway, that Akihito wouldn't take it as a challenge? He knew he'd be embarrassed to all hell later but it would be hella worth it to see this formidable man come undone, right in his seat of power.
Akihito broke off the kiss. His guise was that of affected boredom, although he couldn't quite keep the impish light from his eyes. His voice was unimpressed. "So this is Mount Sion, is it? Well, I'm not convinced all this mountaineering's lived up to the hype, you know, Mr High and Mighty Crime Lord."
Oh ho ho, now he'd done it, provoked the dragon right in his lair, on every possible fucking front.
Asami's eyes gleamed. With his arm looped behind Akihito he caught the blond hair and forced Akihito's head back onto the powerful shoulder, making the smaller man arch with a sharp gasp. Akihito had to reach up to grab Asami's hold and strain his thighs against the armrests to ease the sharp tug.
"You should know, my dear Akihito," Asami murmured, ever so soft, ever so dangerous, ever so gratified, "there are things you should remember about Mount Sion." His teeth scraped the exposed neck, inducing a breathy shiver as he began rocking his hips again with purpose, gliding long and deep. "The air's very thin at this altitude. Oxygen is insufficient to sustain full lucidity. Breathing becomes difficult." He swept up Akihito's weeping length in hand, bordering on too tight.
"Hhhhaaaa...!" Akihito was gasping, his cries catching.
Asami matched his shifting hand with the roll of his hips, deep full strokes to and fro that gave no reprieve, steadily increasing in speed and saturating Akihito with fire.
"Sion has its own weather system with a higher death rate than Everest. It's absolutely cruel, absolutely heartless. Once you're trapped, it will devour you until you're completely undone."
"Ahhh...!"
Asami was relentless, driving steadily but inescapably to the peak. Akihito reached blindly for Asami, his hands fluttering like fledglings as he drowned, just the edge of sharpness making the sweet that much sweeter.
Asami released his hair, locking onto his neck instead, forcing him face to face. "And what nobody else will tell you. Even after the climb, it stays with you. You will never forget. It's imprinted in you and you'll return to it, time and again. There's no more turning away."
Asami was nothing short of brutal as he forcefully claimed Akihito's mouth and fisted fast and surged deep. Gasping, Akihito met the golden gaze flecked with ebony and darkened to midnight, quaking as the avalanche surged and swept through him. Sat atop all of Japan, Akihito erupted in thick ribbons across Asami's desk, his shattered cries filling the vast office. A few thrusts later Asami followed, sucking hard on Akihito's neck with a guttural groan as he emblazoned himself deep inside.
Behind them in the distance, the midday sun broke through the mist clinging to the peak of Mount Fuji.
"Kirishima, I need a new chair."
"...Yes, sir."
"Make sure it's reinforced."
"...Yes, sir."
"For vigorous activity with added weight."
"I wasn't asking, sir."
"Sorry you have to follow me around."
"It's my job, Takaba-san."
"Right. 'Cos you do whatever Asami tells you."
"That too."
"You're his Head of Security, right? I'm surprised you didn't just stick a rookie on my watch."
"Asami-sama's reputation is on the line. Of course I would personally ensure your safety."
"...His reputation?"
"Of course. He declared you under his protection. Any attack on you is an attack on Asami-sama and on his word as law. He has declared you off limits in the eyes of his associates."
"Fucking hell..."
"Rest assured, Takaba-san, no one will get to you through me. I will destroy all who try."
"That's wasn't what I – ah, never mind. Has anyone told you you're more than a little terrifying?"
"Yes. Several times."
"Shit, I don't even wanna know."
"You're perfectly safe from me."
"Oh I know that. 'Cos Asami-sama will kick your ass otherwise, right?"
"... I regret ever telling you that."
"Ha! Too late, no backsies. I'ma never gonna let you live it down."
"Backsies? Is that brat-speak for getting your ass handed to you?"
"... Oh my god you're actually hilarious. Do you ever make Asami laugh?"
"I do not make Asami-sama laugh."
"I bet you do. What about? C'mon, tell me tell me tell me... Hey, what the hell're you looking at me for? I'm not comedy fodder!"
It was surreal going straight back to work. Akihito was all weak and shaky and he was sure it was painted all over his flushed face. Plus, yes, he was just as embarrassed as he'd known he'd be. Taunting Asami like that, what the hell had he been thinking? Bastard hadn't even lost control either, only getting that much rougher, making it hurt in the best way... Akihito blushed even brighter, and when Suoh was shadowing him too. Great. Just peachy.
Office sex – or mountain sex, argh, whatever! – was banned!
The canteen was closed by the time he got there but the staff were kind enough – intimidated by Suoh (which Akihito was way too hungry to feel bad about) – to bring an extra large meal – again 'requested' by Suoh – for him from out back where they'd already put everything away.
So now not only was he high on the afterglow but also full, which made him dozy. And slow. He would've been perfectly content as a sloth. He grabbed two cans of superstrengthed coffee (aptly named Super Black) from the vending machines and drained one of them before he'd even tottered down the stairwell to the basement. He plodded to his desk, fell into his chair, and dropped his forehead to his desk.
"And that's Takaba," came Mitarai's voice. It was distinctly nicer than usual, his typical grouchiness masked by honey. "Officially the Information Security Manager, even if he looks like that. A.k.a. Sion's glorified firewall."
"Akihito-kun?"
Akihito bolted up. "Yumi-chan?" He grinned, recognizing her even in her business skirt suit. "What're you doing here?" He rolled off the chair onto his feet with some effort and headed over to the uncommonly clean desk.
"I'm temping, the agency called me this morning."
"You're the temp!"
"Wow, aren't you sharp as a tack today," Mitarai said dryly.
"But I didn't expect to see you here," Yumi said. "I thought you said you used to work here?"
"Oh yeah, uh funny story," Akihito grimaced. "So apparently there's such a thing as a job yoyo, it's totally a thing."
Yumi laughed. "Oh yes, that. I've totally heard of it."
"Well isn't this great," Mitarai said, trying to sound cheerful. Probably wanting 'in' with the cute temp. "You two know each other."
Yumi smiled at him. "We met at a party –"
"Yep, at a party," Akihito leapt in, "just a perfectly normal party."
Yumi gave him a curious look but kept quiet about Asami turning up. Or Akihito having left with him. Akihito shifted on his feet uncomfortably. Did she suspect anything? He needed to speak to her at some point when he could find a quiet moment.
"Great. That's great." Mitarai smiled tightly. "I'd love to hear more –" he didn't sound it –"but we've gotta get back to work."
"I'm so sorry!" Yumi immediately said.
"My bad," Akihito said easily. "I'll catch you later." He grinned as Mitarai glared him off.
"Ready?"
Akihito switched coding windows as subtly as he could and carried on tapping away. He didn't think Ogawa would object to him searching for V1P3R if he explained everything that had happened but he wanted to keep it on the down low.
"Ready for what?"
"Very funny. Come on, we can't be late." Ogawa was standing by Akihito's desk with his laptop tucked under his arm. The boss had barely sat down after returning from another meeting two minutes ago.
"I know everyone seems to be enjoying using me as comedy relief these days but I actually have no idea what you're talking about."
Ogawa's mildly irritated face slowly transformed into dread, then anger exploded. "Mitarai! You didn't tell him?"
"Oh!" Mitarai exclaimed in theatrical realization from his desk. "I just remembered! Yeah. No. I forgot."
"You idiot, Mitarai! I don't care what your beef is with Takaba but this reflects badly on us all!"
Akihito pushed off from his desk. "Ogawa-san, what is it?"
Glaring at Mitarai, Ogawa undocked Akihito's laptop and shoved it into his arms as he herded Akihito out towards the stairwell. They were followed a short distance away by Sagano and Nakatani who'd replaced Suoh after the late lunch.
Ogawa didn't seem to notice them, looking grim enough with his own thoughts. "The Sion Board wants to see Soteria."
Akihito frowned. "So?"
"Look, this isn't common knowledge," Ogawa explained quietly, "but there are rumours about restructuring – maximizing productivity and streamlining, you know, the usual. Every department's been highlighting their key projects, putting their best people and achievements forward. IT might be critical but there's no guarantee they won't be trimming around the edges, in Tech Support or R&D or Infosec. They sprang it on us just after lunch that the Board wanted to be briefed on the new security release, but you weren't here and I was headed for meetings so I told Mitarai to tell you to get a presentation ready." He sighed tightly. "We need this, Takaba."
Akihito's mind had already been whirring away since Ogawa has started explaining. "I have an idea."
"You do?" Hope lit in Ogawa's eyes.
"It's a bit maverick by Sion's standards though. You won't like it."
"Well, as it stands, we're stuffed. Let's hear it."
Akihito was right. Ogawa didn't like it one bit. But there was no denying that it packed a punch and punch was exactly what they needed.
So here they were, one floor down from Asami's office in Sion's Executive Boardroom gilded with professional elegance in beige and brown and black. Tokyo had spread out in all directions until they'd had to close the blinds, the overhead lights dimmed half way so everyone could see Akihito and Ogawa's laptops projecting onto the screen up front. Seated at the bottom end of the 24-seater swanky wooden table (complete with microphones arching towards the seat occupants since the table was so freaking big), the two of them coordinated together to attempt to hack Sion's network in full view of the Board.
Pentesting – or organized hacking, as some called it – was a perfectly standard industry practice for testing security systems. Sion's new AI-based cyber shield was regularly put through its paces, during development and final testing and on an ongoing basis, but doing so in front of the 20-strong Board who were more accustomed to standard presentations, sometimes with printed handouts, was pretty out there. But once the execs had time to absorb the process, barring a few disapproving exceptions, most of them got over the shock of it and seemed to be fascinated.
It helped enormously that they – and Akihito – were more relaxed without the CEO attending.
"So how long before it becomes self aware and takes over Sion Global?" a salt and pepper haired lady asked, half joking.
Akihito grinned. "When you all realize I'm actually the Terminator T-1000 and I'm here to kill John Connor or his mother or his wife or... Bah, I can't remember. Really though, it's programmed to detect malware and hostile contact, tracking the web for activities against other networks too to develop defences before they can be targeted on Sion. Soteria learns and adapts itself based on that, but this is a long, long way off from self awareness."
"What's that?" One of the youngest members, in his late thirties if Akihito had to guess, pointed at a warning flashing on Akihito's half of the screen.
"Soteria's detected me."
"That didn't take long."
"No, she's smart." Akihito tried another string to hide in Ogawa's bulkier electronic presence.
"Or you're just not very good," chipped in a thin guy with thin lips and sharp, narrow eyes.
"You want to bet how long it'll take me to hack something of yours?" Akihito taunted back as his fingers carried on racing over his keys.
"... My home computer. Try and break in before the end of this meeting."
Akihito finished his string of code and released it before turning to Mr Thin. "Seriously?"
Mr Thin smiled thinly, smug as a bug in a rug.
"Ogawa-san?"
His boss continued focusing on his task. "By all means, carry on. Who am I to object to betting in the Boardroom?"
Akihito grinned at Mr Thin. "You're on."
He didn't even know the guy's name so he first entered search parameters with job level and physical descriptions into his own identity search program. He found the guy's name within thirty seconds, then looked him up in Sion's HR directories, found his home address, linked web activists from that address and found the IP. Discovering his PC was hibernating, he forced an external hack and woke it up. The computer was up to date with one of the mainstream firewall programs but that had never stopped Akihito before. Using one of his recent codes he bypassed it in less than a minute and brought up the desktop – a family picture. The wife was surprisingly pretty, the guy looked happy, and his two children were cute.
"Is that your PC?"
Mr Thin cleared his throat. "Wow. That's... rather scary."
The whole thing had taken less than six minutes. Someone laughed, others joined in, the ice was broken and then several of them started clapping. Akihito shifted uncomfortably. He'd never been applauded for hacking before!
"Uh, Ogawa-san, how're you doing there?"
"I don't know. I don't think I'm going to get anywhere near Sion's network, but then that is the point."
"Maybe we can call it quits now."
That was when someone piped in, "How about you try again, Takaba-san?"
Apparently his little hacking stunt had earned him the polite honorific. He'd been just 'Takaba' until now.
This provoked a clamour of calls for him to add to Ogawa's efforts. Having seen his hacking abilities first hand, they wanted to pitch him against Soteria some more. They stopped short of chanting Hack, hack, hack, but they were pretty damned close.
Akihito eventually capitulated for one last ditch effort. A few execs still looked sour about the whole thing but they held their tongues.
Most of them encouraged, egged and cheered him on...
Which was the sight that greeted Asami as he silently arrived at the Boardroom. He'd entered right by the back wall some five metres behind Akihito and Ogawa, so nobody noticed him for a while, their attention superglued to the front screen.
"I'm telling you, there's no point," Akihito insisted as he finished up another code string. "Soteria's solid. She's not going to budge."
"I'm done. I'm clean out of ideas here," Ogawa said.
"So that's how good Soteria is? It took you six minutes to hack Ikuda-san's computer, but you can't hack Sion?"
"I'm getting diddly-squat. Right, this is the last try." Akihito fired off his last code, passed through Sion's own VPN and posing as a bog standard employee access request. It took Soteria only moments to detect the hidden code and then it was history, she neutralized it and updated her memory banks, learning and adapting.
"So there we have it, ladies and gentlemen. Soteria. Sion's new and hugely improved information security system."
Applause broke out. They turned back towards Akihito and Ogawa – and froze as their eyes landed on Asami behind. The spacious room fell to silence as though they'd been sucked into a vacuum and sound had suddenly stopped dead.
Awareness crept up the back of Akihito's neck with a hundred pinpricks. His eyes slid closed for a moment – half in resignation, half bracing – before he raised his chin and turned.
Flanked by Glasses and Blond Tank, with Sagano and Nakatani still by the back wall, Asami stood with his hands in his pockets, his posture deceptively, dangerously relaxed. His cool gaze swept the room before landing on Akihito.
Akihito admitted to being just the tiniest bit intimidated. So, of course, he raised his head higher.
"Care to explain what I'm seeing here?"
No one took the easy tone at face value. The execs glanced nervously at each other. One of them stood – the one who'd taken one look at Akihito's jeans and t-shirt at the start and had given him the stink eye ever since. Mr Sour, as Akihito had dubbed him.
But before he could speak, Asami held his hand up to silence him. "Takaba?"
The room's surprise might have been at the CEO silencing one of his top Board members or his knowing the young man from Tech by name.
Akihito was more annoyed at letting himself be intimidated than anything else. "We were presenting Soteria to the Board."
"I see. And you deemed the best way to do this was through attempted computer trespassing?"
The silence was deafening.
"It was a practical demonstration, a perfectly standard industry practice for testing a security system. How better to demonstrate its capabilities than to show that it's mightily difficult to break?"
"Was that your conclusion?"
Akihito exchanged a glance with Ogawa. His boss was ashen, not looking as if he was about to answer the question any time soon.
"Soteria isn't unbreakable," Akihito replied. "No system is. But we haven't managed it so far, not now, not during any of the ongoing extensive testing." He couldn't decipher the thoughts behind the intense golden eyes.
"It seems rather effective then. Would you agree, Shigura-san?"
Mr Sour froze at suddenly finding himself the target of the boss' attention. That certainly wasn't what he'd originally intended to say but he could hardly disagree. "Of course, Asami-sama."
Akihito rolled his eyes. What was with everyone kissing Asami's ass all the time?
Unfortunately Mr Sour caught the look. It provoked him into one last dig. "I was merely surprised as Takaba-san does not carry himself to the professional standards required of Sion's employees."
Akihito wondered what face Mr Sour would have pulled if he learned that Asami himself had dressed him that morning – though hindered might be a more apt description – and he saw the golden eyes glinting at the same thought.
Akihito had never worn suits to work and clearly Asami didn't care. He was hardly going to change now for Mr Sourface here. "What's your issue here, exactly? Don't you like my jeans?"
"I have nothing against denim. It simply has no place at a serious place of employment. You should dress to better reflect the respect and commitment you have for your employment and responsibilities."
"Ah, so if you had to choose who to hire between two people, one with the skills to do the job but was dressed in rags, and the other with mediocre abilities but was dressed in a suit like yours, you'd go for the vain flake?"
The man looked like he might burst a blood vessel. "I wouldn't hire either. I would find someone with the right –"
"The right external appearance? So a week down the line you can find the entire corporation's network hacked by a bored high schooler because you cared more about appearances than the actual skills a potential candidate had? Well, luckily for you all, Ogawa-san had the sense to look past my street rags and hire me. Otherwise you might have fallen prey to the coin hostage situation that many top companies have already fallen prey to."
Akihito's fingers flew over his keyboard, pulling up relevant news articles and data on the projector screen. "PrimaTec was hacked last week and details of sensitive trade deals were leaked. Tokyo Electronics had design blueprints for prototype infinity battery cells stolen. The Ministry of Defence had to fork out hundreds of millions to retrieve undercover agent lists. Need I go on? If the Tech department was hung up on such shallow criteria, Sion Global would have been up shit's creek. Because all of the above hacks were also tried on our systems, only Soteria neutralized them all. So get over it. I don't comment on how your suit isn't the hottest in the room. Maybe you shouldn't comment on my wardrobe either."
Silence greeted his outburst.
Akihito inwardly groaned. Not the hottest in the room? Asami's presence always did weird things to his brain, it wasn't quite what he'd meant to say. He planned for a swift exit before he offended anyone else.
"Are there any other questions about Soteria?" he asked.
The table was quiet.
"I have one," Asami said. "Who's familiar with the AI coding?"
"There's a handful of us," Akihito hedged, remembering Ogawa's words earlier and not wanting to make anyone seem superfluous. "Everyone in Tech has their own expertise and take care of different areas of the business."
Some of the execs looked at him in surprise at his diplomacy.
Asami smirked. "Good to hear. Ogawa, Takaba, come with me." He nodded to the room in general. "Continue with the rest of the agenda."
The Board members rushed to their feet and bowed deeply as Sagano and Nakatani held the doors and Asami strode out with Kirishima. Akihito was jittery and Ogawa looked like he might faint as they followed, Suoh bringing up the rear.
Akihito couldn't hold his tongue anymore as he tripped out the elevator on the 32nd floor. "Are you mad, Asami?"
Ogawa was clearly horrified at his casual address.
"Why would I be?" Asami asked as they headed down along the long stretch of windows overlooking Shinjuku. "You only incited my Board into some boisterous hack fest."
"Pentest," Akihito corrected.
"Pentest?"
"Penetration testing."
Asami's lips quirked. "I see. So that was penetration testing."
Akihito's face heated at the rich baritone curling around the words. He'd had a good giggle at the term when he'd first come across it, but it was such an everyday thing for him that he didn't even think twice about it anymore. But of course Asami would use that voice, heedless of company.
With Ogawa there, Akihito, for once, demonstrated restraint and let it slide. "Look, it wasn't Ogawa-san's fault, ok? There was no time to prepare and the idea just sprang out of nowhere."
"I'm your manager, Takaba," Ogawa piped from the side, a little shaky but firm. "You're my responsibility and the blame falls on me for any mistakes."
Something flickered across Asami's face but he continued to march along the last stretch to his office, pulling along the rag tag group as if by invisibly strings. "I already know it was your idea, Akihito. No one else could possibly wreak such havoc on my Board who have never before been anything but completely professional."
It was so normal for Asami to call him familiarly by his first name that Akihito didn't even notice. But Ogawa's eyes popped.
"It was professional!" Akihito insisted. "It was just... unorthodox, that's all. Thinking outside the box and all. Who wants another boring old presentation with boring old slides?"
"Only back for one day and already such chaos. Whatever next?"
Kirishima opened the doors to the office and Asami swept in.
Akihito was right on his heels. "That's entirely on you," he pointed out. "You're the one who dragged me back here. I was perfectly happy in Ueno."
"Were you now? Pray tell, what happened there? I seem to recall rescuing you from a lecherous –"
"That – that was your fault! You started the whole auction debacle!"
"The auction was already in progress. You roped me into it."
"You know what I mean! Anyway, it's your fault for turning up!"
"And consequently you raised an awful lot more for the event than you would have otherwise." Asami rested against the front of his desk, crossing his arms. "Are you saying that that was an undesirable outcome and that I shouldn't have come?"
Akihito scowled. "You're twisting my words."
"The logic seems perfectly sound to me."
"That's because you're a twisted bastard."
Asami smirked. "As you well know. Kirishima, why don't you brief them before Akihito gives his manager a heart attack."
Akihito spun, having actually forgotten about the others. The three bodyguards had disappeared at some point and Glasses wasn't new to their verbal sparring. But Ogawa was gawking at them, his eyes practically falling out of their sockets.
Asami had let him run his mouth on purpose! Akihito would have laid into Asami if that wasn't already the problem, a fact of which the bastard was perfectly aware judging by that smug look on his face. Damn him!
Kirishima remained perfectly pokerfaced as though he'd witnessed nothing. "This is shared in the strictest confidence. Sion Global is looking to expand into VR and we're exploring several prospective companies which might form a solid staging ground."
Akihito turned to Asami with some surprise. "VR as in –?"
"Virtual reality."
"Just checking. But why VR?"
"The industry has amassed 7 billion US dollars in its first three years. With numerous applications across digital markets, therapies, education and training, to name but a few, it'll continue to grow exponentially. It'll be one of Sion's next major ventures."
"Huh." To be honest, Akihito shouldn't have been surprised. Asami muddled adorably with anything digital but his business acumen was second to none. And, if he was honest, damn hot. Wait... Wait wait wait – adorable? Hot? What the fuck? Akihito hurriedly cleared his throat. "Uh, I just didn't expect you to know anything about VR."
"We don't. Which is where you come in."
"We have several proposals," Kirishima expanded, "and we need Tech input. Eyeball their submissions, sense check their technical reliability, work with business modelling associates on strengths and opportunities, weaknesses and risks. Is there anyone with the technical know-how and discretion?"
Akihito looked to Ogawa, he was the Tech boss after all.
"I'd say the programming component is right up Takaba's street. I can review physical outputs though only at a basic level, I'm no expert."
"A preliminary pass should indicate if we need anything more," Kirishima considered.
Ogawa suddenly made an odd sound in his throat as though he'd aborted what he'd been about to say, looking at Akihito. Then he seemed to be trying very hard not to look at Asami or Kirishima.
"Ogawa-san?" Akihito asked.
Ogawa collected himself with visible effort and turned to Asami. "Pardon me," he bowed, "there is something I cannot legally disclose but may impact on this. May I come back to you on the suggested contacts from Tech Division?"
Asami joined the invisible dots faster than Akihito did. "If you're referring to being legally barred from disclosing Akihito's community service sentence, I'm already aware."
Ogawa looked like he'd been thrown for a loop.
Akihito's brows shot up. "That's what you're stumbling about all of a sudden?"
"Y-you know, sir?" Ogawa was still staring at Asami.
"Wouldn't you say your concern comes a little late after you already handed him the keys to Sion's cyber security?" Asami questioned coldly, the shadows about him gathering.
Ogawa paled.
"He-y," Akihito leaped in with awkward cheerfulness. "Don't sweat it! It's all cool, right?"
Asami threw him a look .
Akihito shifted on his feet, shrinking back. "What?" he hedged.
Something glinted in Asami's eyes and Akihito realized he was actually amused despite terrorizing Ogawa. The bastard!
Asami finally let up. "You're fortunate it turned out well or this would have been a very different conversation. Kirishima, work with these two."
"Yes, sir," the secretary acknowledged.
Just as Ogawa slumped with relief and Akihito started planning his hasty departure, however, Asami moved in front of Ogawa.
If Ogawa had thought the CEO was frightening before, it was nothing compared to how the tall man towered over him now.
Something volatile crackled about Asami. "Let us be clear, Ogawa-san. Your responsibility for Takaba falls solely within the remit of his work as an employee of Sion. Beyond that you have no obligation regarding him whatsoever."
Ogawa goggled, stuttered, bowed. "O-of course, Asami-sama."
Fuck but Asami wasn't teasing at all this time. He wasn't being subtle in the least getting all territorial over Akihito's ass and had no qualms who knew it either.
Akihito wanted to bite Asami's head off and jump his bones all at the same time. He was never going to be able to look Ogawa in the eye again.
"When were you going to tell me about your girlfriend temping in IT?"
Akihito scowled at him. "When you stop making mountains out of molehills. Actually not even that, they're flat plains. Think Holland, no elevation whatsoever."
Asami was staring at the Shinjuku nightlife rushing past the limo windows.
"I said it before and I'll say it again," Akihito stated. "Asparagus isn't your colour."
Asami almost looked at him. Almost. Akihito knew he did. He sighed, more put out than he cared to admit. "You're the one who was banging on about trust," he grumbled quietly, flushing faintly as he recalled the secret room. It was his turn to look away. "What was the point of all that if you don't trust me?"
"Trust you to not to cheat on me?"
"Exactly!" He spun back on Asami to find the man staring intently. He caught a glimpse of the curving lips before Asami turned away to the window again. "What's with that look?" No reply, not even a glance. "What?" Still nothing. Akihito shifted closer, grabbing the man's arm. "Asami!"
Asami finally looked at him, taking Akihito aback with his quietly pleased smile. An honest-to-god smile, not a smirk. "I was reflecting on your roundabout way of telling me that you consider this a committed relationship."
Akihito gaped, a furious blush suffusing his face right to the tips of his ears. All that came out for a while was a load of stuttering until he blurted out, "But you haven't even asked me out yet!"
There was a pause before Asami laughed. And damn it but Akihito's face only felt hotter.
"Neither have you," Asami pointed out. His nearest hand reached up under Akihito's chin and drew him closer. He was most certainly back to his habitual smirk now, darkly scintillating, stealing Akihito's wide-eyed focus, the golden gaze mesmerizing. "But, for that matter, would you like me to?"
"Hell no!" Akihito broke free, scrambling away.
Asami followed, scooting across after him. "No?"
"No!" By now Akihito was plastering himself into the corner between the seat back and the door.
Asami crowded him. "I'm told I'm one of the top twenty most eligible billionaire bachelors in the world."
Akihito shoved back against the solid chest. "Only the top twenty?" he sneered. "Clearly even all the stupidly excessive zeros in your bank account weren't enough to blind them from your god-awful personality!"
Asami leaned into him more, his smirking lips hovering over Akihito's. "But how can a self-made businessman possibly compete with Russian oligarchs and Arab royalty? Perhaps my humanitarian work will tip the balance in my favour."
"Ha! The only humanitarian work you do is humanitarianizing my ass!"
There was a pregnant, motionless second – before Asami sat back with an abrupt laugh. Akihito had to laugh too after a moment.
"See what you do?" Akihito lamented. "You make me babble complete shit!"
"On the contrary, I'd say you're often accurate, such as your comment about mine being the hottest suit in the room," Asami suggested innocently.
The limo drew up outside the towering condo complex as Akihito flushed all bright again.
"I never said – Actually that wasn't about you! That was – I'd seen this photo shoot in a magazine, yeah, this totally hot dude, all gleaming muscles bunching everywhere that I just wanted to lap up," Akihito taunted. "Total sex appeal. That's what that was about."
"I see. So where does the suit come in?"
"Uh – it – uh –" Akihito could only stammer.
One of the black-suited guards held open Asami's door.
"Don't worry, Akihito," Asami reassured. "I'll give you plenty of material for all your wet dreams of me, whether as a naked pin-up or the hottest suit in the room."
Gifting an insufferably tantalizing smirk, he slid calmly out of the limo, leaving Akihito blooming with gobsmacked mortification in his wake.
Akihito was expending far too much energy trying to ignore Asami. Sat on the floor leaning back against the settee, his hunt for V1P3R was proving painstakingly slow. It would be easier if the fucker was active but they seemed to be laying low, so all he could do for now was to set traps and alarms following what few breadcrumbs he'd tracked down so far. It didn't help that Asami was sitting on the sofa next to him. Not that he was bothered that Asami might be watching over his shoulder – that had strangely never bothered him and Asami seemed occupied too with his own phone calls and emails and whatever shit he was looking at on his iPad. It was just that Akihito was extremely conscious of Asami, full stop.
At least he'd been left to shower and bathe in peace, with Asami having been held up with some call from Hong Kong that Glasses had insisted couldn't be postponed. Akihito had already been ensconced on the floor with his laptop on the coffee table in front of some late night panel show by the time Asami finally headed off to the bathroom. The work of a billionaire crime lord sure consumed all hours of the day and night.
But now it was hitting midnight and Akihito wanted to sleep, and therein lay the thorny issue. Things had been rather tame this evening. Domestic, even. It was bizarre considering this was Asami. Akihito hadn't yet been dragged into bed and attacked – or attacked against any level or vertical surface they happened to be nearest and then dragged to bed. It wasn't like Akihito was waiting for it, or anticipating it with any eagerness or anything – certainly not, he told himself. But it sure made things awkward. Where the hell was he supposed to sleep? He really didn't want to just saunter off into Asami's bed...
He could see Asami's long legs out of the corner of his eyes. Turning surreptitiously brought more of the man into view – the casual sight of him that so few seemed to see in his dressing gown and his damp hair flopped over his eyes.
The chat show guests were exhausting some mundane action of a pop celebrity to banality. Akihito sighed. He could only try.
"When do you think you'll be finished? I'll take the sofa when you're done."
Asami smirked, his eyes not leaving the iPad. "Nice try, but you know where you're sleeping. Go on ahead if you like."
Akihito frowned. He'd guessed Asami would say something like that, but still...
"Or would you feel better if I went all caveman on you and carried you off?"
Akihito glowered. "No need."
"No?"
"No!" Akihito powered down his laptop with a couple of shortcut keys, stomped off to Asami's bedroom and slammed the door on the dark chuckle that he adamantly denied made him impatient to go to bed together. Nope. Not. At. All.
It was an hour later that Asami undressed in the Tokyo nightlight, his fingers fluid and certain, even sliding the top bit on the gun and doing whatever it was that he did to check it all over before tucking it under his pillow. Akihito silently watched his monochrome form move about the room, the confident grace of a predator evident even in shades of grey.
Was this what normalcy amounted to with a man like Asami? Work, pretty much like any other, a quiet evening together, pretty much like any other. Just all interspersed with flashes of a lethal firearm, not to mention the out-of-this-world sex whenever and wherever Asami had the inclination...
Sliding in on his side of the bed, Asami promptly draped Akihito over his chest. Akihito found himself bright and lucid and he realized he'd always been half unconscious after sex all the times Asami had done this before. This was simply going to bed, to sleep. And it was suspiciously like cuddling. Wavering on the brink of objecting, Akihito lay there, poised on flight as Asami inhaled deeply and released one great sigh.
The hard truth was that Akihito had wanted this closeness twelve hours ago after they'd embrocated Asami's desk with his cum, when he'd had to settle for Asami cleaning him up and redressing him – or, more accurately, Akihito struggling to dress while Asami totally got in the way – and fighting off Asami's persistent groping and teasing all the way out the door on shaky feet because this lowly, court-ordered employee seemed to be more concerned about getting back to work than the fricking CEO.
Staring in the dim light, it took long moments for Akihito to ease back from his instinctive urge to fight, to resist anything he perceived as coercion. But when Asami did nothing further except to go to sleep, Akihito gradually relaxed, by small increments, one muscle fibre at a time, pressing his ear to the steady heartbeat.
It was after sleep finally claimed him and he relaxed completely against the broad chest supporting him that Asami's hand came to rest in his hair.
