Disclaimer: Just own the words, not the folks.
Chapter 2 – After One Kiss
It's at times like this that Mokuba almost wishes he'd taken that other job offer at the Japanese branch of Schroeder Corp. Like Noah said, Mr. Sato has a brilliant business mind, but his ability to translate that into language that others can understand and present in a meeting format, is sorely lacking.
Mokuba looks up from his umpteenth draft of the 45 page presentation to see his CEO and lover heading toward him. More than anything he wants to melt into the other's embrace and head home, but that's not going to happen tonight. Again.
Not that going home promises to be all that great since he and Noah never finished talking about Wolfram and the tongue ring and things are still slightly awkward between them. He knows that their situation is mostly his fault because he's been so caught up in worrying about his lover's past.
'It's completely crazy that I've become so obsessed about Wolfram and that stupid tongue ring!' he tells himself.
"Working late again, Mokuba?" Noah smiles worriedly at him, breaking the recurring loop of his thoughts.
Too tired and preoccupied to speak, Mokuba simply nods before turning back to his screen.
After a quick look around, Noah leans over and places a light kiss on his lover's lips.
"I'll see you tonight then," he whispers, before heading back to his personal elevator.
Mokuba exhales in irritation behind him, thinking again that he should have picked Schroeder Corp.
'Nah, then I wouldn't have met, Noah,' he smiles to himself, happy that he's with the CEO, despite their current difficulties.
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Leaning againgst the doorframe of Yami's studio, Seto watches his love gleefully working the clay on his wheel, shaking his head at how messy Yami is getting while immersed in his latest obsession. Glancing in the corner beside the busy artist, he notes the growing set of items that are ready to be fired; enough to completely fill up the medium-sized kiln built into a far corner.
'At least he's happy,' the brunet muses.
And Yami has been deliriously happy since they moved into their new home. Seto had worried that the loss of his mentor would torment his artist-love and stifle his art, but the opposite seems to have happened.
Apparently, Yami had been so focused on making sure that his patron was satisfied with his work that he'd mentally shackled himself, not wanting to do anything outside of what he thought Mr. Crawford would like. And now that the self-imposed barrier has been lifted, his creativity has flourished
Seto gazes in amazement at the various other works of art scattered about the large studio. Even knowing his love's ability, he's still a bit shocked at the numerous creations Yami has put forth in the scant two weeks they've lived there. It also worries him somewhat as he knows that there have been days where Yami hasn't slept at all. In fact, part of his reason for coming up to the studio tonight is to drag his obsessed lover to bed, as the other has been up for at least the past 36 hours.
"Yami, Mokuba wants to throw us a housewarming party." he tosses to his grinning love. "What do you think?"
"Hmm? Whatever you think is best, Seto," the engrossed artist replies distractedly.
Seto waits until Yami stops the clay wheel's spin before swiftly crossing the room and scooping his messy love up into his arms.
"Hey! Seto! I'm not done with that piece yet!" he protests.
"Yes you are," the brunet replies calmly as he carries Yami down to their shower and stands him up in the stall.
"But Seto…." He whines as his love sheds his clothes and steps in beside him.
"No buts! You need a shower and you need sleep!" he admonishes, turning the water to the temperature they like.
After stripping his lover and scrubbing the both of them clean, Seto presses Yami into the shower wall with a mind-blowing kiss, his hands groping suggestively at Yami's ass.
Panting heavily when Seto finally lets him up for air, Yami snickers, "I thought you said that I needed to sleep?"
"You do," Seto mumbles as he lightly nips at Yami's neck. "But this is what I need."
Submitting to his lover's ministrations with a smile, Yami spreads his legs to welcome Seto's slick fingers.
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Noah balls up the latest draft of his speech for the Board of Directors and tosses it into the overflowing pile in his trash bin.
Though it's been almost three weeks since Mokuba brought up his and Wolfram's relationship, they haven't gotten back to the discussion yet. Noah worries that letting it fester will only cause more trouble than it already has, but he's not sure if he should be the one to bring it back up.
'Maybe I should just let it go. After all, Mokuba hasn't mentioned it again, so maybe he doesn't want to talk about it either. But is that a good thing?' he broods.
And lately, his lover's been consumed by a project for Takeshi, which is inadvertently his fault since he's the one who assigned it to the Marketing Director. So this wouldn't be a good time for him to get distracted by personal matters. Still, Mokuba had time before that to bring the subject up. So why didn't he?
"Maybe he's already drawn a conclusion about the whole situation and that's why he's become even more standoffish," Noah murmurs, recalling that in addition to his continued offering of restrained kisses, his lover has started to draw back emotionally as well. He'd originally attributed the unusual behavior to work, but now that he's had time to think about it…
"I guess all I can do is wait for Mokuba to come back to me about it. But if he takes too much longer, I'll have to bring it up myself," he resolves.
He can't help but shudder at that thought. Frankly, he doesn't want to talk about it at all! Once Mokuba knows the whole truth about him and Wolfram and why he got the tongue ring in the first place, it can only lead to more problems between them, which he really wants to avoid. Resigned to his earlier decision, he reaches for another sheet of paper to start drafting his speech.
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Yuuri Shibuya has lived with Wolfram von Bielefelt for a while.
He's been in love with the sometimes volatile blonde for even longer than that – since their second year of high school, actually – though he didn't confess until after he'd joined Wolfram at Kaiba Corp. and they'd been going out for almost a year
So, he's well aware of Wolfram's moods and expressions. And his love's expressions have been saying that he's worried seriously about something for the last few weeks.
While Yuuri has no qualms with butting into Noah's life, he usually gives his lover space to work out his issues; especially since the blonde tends to figure his way out of whatever situation it is fairly quickly.
But every now and then something snags the taller man and he gets mired in it, causing Yuuri to jump in and 'rescue him.'
'Like now,' he nods to himself as he watches Wolfram read the same page of his novel for the forth time.
Snatching the book from the other's hands, he casually tosses it over his shoulder and across the room.
"I was reading that," the blonde snaps at his dark-haired love.
"No, you were pretending to read it," Yuuri yawns and stretches. "So spill. What's eating you?"
"Nothing! I just want to read my book in peace," Wolfram snips, standing to retrieve said book
Yuuri pulls him into his lap by his shirt tails and wraps him in his arms.
"Cut it out," the Finance Manager squirms. "I'm not in the mood."
"Now I know something's really wrong with you," Yuuri quips. "You're always 'in the mood.' What's going on? You've been moping around here for weeks."
With a sigh, he snuggles deeper into Yuuri's embrace.
"I told Mokuba about the tongue ring," Wolfram confesses.
"You told Mokuba what about the tongue ring?" Yuuri prods.
"That Noah got the idea from me."
"And?"
"And I think it upset him," he nuzzles into Yuuri's chest.
"Hmm. So you're worried that Mokuba's figured out that you and Noah used to be butt-buddies."
Wolfram sits up in shock. "How did you…?"
"You mean other than Noah confessing all in a drunken stupor one night? Seriously, I've known since the beginning. I've been stalking you since high school, remember?"
"Ah, that's true," his lover accepts, nuzzling back into Yuuri's chest. Yuuri had confessed that to him along with his love; he'd found it rather endearing.
"Have you talked to Mokuba about it?" Yuuri presses further
"Of course not!" the blonde scoffs.
"What about Noah?"
"I thought it best if I stay out of it and let them handle the situation on their own," Wolfram sighs.
"Because they're oh so good at that," Yuuri replies sarcastically.
Wolfram sits up, brows furrowed.
"We shouldn't bail them out, Yuu. They have to learn to make it on their own."
"I know, I know. But I just can't sit back and watch either of them in pain! They're both like my little brothers and I worry about them," Yuuri admits.
"Little brothers, huh?" Wolfram snickers. "Maybe you need to explain to them that brothers aren't supposed to be doing the kind of things they do together."
"You perv!" Yuuri snickers, sliding a hand up Wolfram's shirt to tweak a nipple.
"Who's the perv, now?" Wolfram gasps.
"Heh. But I'm not your brother," Yuuri grins as Wolfram straddles his legs.
"Thank Kami for that," the taller man whispers, sliding his arms around Yuuri's neck and opening his mouth to the shorter man's dominating kiss.
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Seto wakes with a start from an unsettling dream to find himself alone in bed.
"Yami?" he calls shakily, turning away from the other's obviously untouched side of the bed toward the bathroom.
At the site of the open door and its answering darkness, a stark panic overcomes him.
Sitting up quickly, he turns on the bed table lamp, his frantic gaze scanning the room for any sign of Yami's presence. Finding none, he practically leaps from the bed. Clad in nothing but his worried frown, he hastily exits the bedroom, his still groggy mind desperately trying to find a reason for his lover's absence.
He checks the studio first, stumbling up the stairs to find it as empty and deserted as the bedroom. His mad scramble then takes him down to the first floor to check the living room and dining room, finding both empty. Staggering dejectedly into the kitchen to splash water on his face as he tries to calm down, he is brought up short by a handwritten note on the refrigerator.
"Set clock for 4. Flight at 6," the innocuous note reminds in Yami's familiar scrawl.
As his mind clears from its panicked haze, he remembers Yami writing the note two days ago to make sure that he was on time for his fight to Tokyo yesterday morning.
Clenching his jaw, Seto silently admonishes himself for his loss of control.
This is Yami's first trip of many. Is he going to think that his lover has abandoned him every time?