6: Safe Harbor

"Good morning, Kawaguchi-san," Suzuki, the director of the 1st Lab, smiled and bowed.

Kaiba froze in his track and stared. The corner of Suzuki's eyes drew up and crinkled. His entire face lit up, making him appear several years younger.

"Is something wrong?" The engineer shrunk back, touching his face nervously.

He narrowed his eyes, but Suzuki didn't run away with a flimsy excuse like expected. Then he looked around the room and was surprised to find that no one was staring at them. He shook his head to clear it. "It's nothing, Suzuki-san. Have a good day."

Suzuki let out a whooshing breath as he left the lab.

But the more Kaiba thought about it, the more he realized this wasn't an isolated incident. He'd been working at PPSE for almost five months now. Looking back, he could count the number of times someone had spoken to him in a genuinely friendly manner on more than one hand. This was not a new development... It had been happening for weeks, and it had somehow escaped his notice until now.

Overall, the Works Team was less anxious in his presence compared to when he started. When he walked into the room, he no longer turned the heads of every occupant. They no longer obnoxiously used Jounouchi as a middleman in every communication attempt. It used to be that if they needed to notify Kaiba of a testing session or demonstration, they'd reach out to Jounouchi first. Jounouchi used to regularly whine about how he wasn't Kaiba's secretary, but not recently. Last week, Takahashi, the most timid and youngest of the team, had hand-delivered some requested data.

Maybe there was something in the water.

-x-x-x-

"People are warming up to you. They've seen how hard you're working and your team respects that. You even have fans among the female employees." Yuugi bent forward and placed a cup of steaming green tea on the table in front of Kaiba.

Kaiba stared at him, unimpressed.

"This is a good thing," Yuugi sighed heavily. "Loyalty is far more effective than fear."

His father, Gozaburo, would have laughed at the idea, thrown Yuugi out of his own office, and then got him blacklisted from every company in the the industry. Kaiba himself was merely ambivalent about it. He ran a hand through his hair. "The change, it seems sudden is all."

"Probably not as sudden as you think," Yuugi rounded the other side of his desk and sat down with another mug in hand. "People aren't as hot-cold as you think. The Works Team has been working alongside of you for months now. They've gotten to know you and interact with you. Or take one specific person as an example."

Kaiba leaned back in his seat and crossed his legs. "So it's Jounouchi's fault," he scowled. He should have known Jounouchi was at fault.

Yuugi was smiling behind the cover of his mug— his eyes crinkled in the same way that Suzuki's did. "When people sees you two together, they get to see you in a different context than their almost-boss. Jounouchi-kun helps humanize you in their eyes, he makes you seem less aloof and cold. And he's stood up for you more times than you know. He's been a good friend. You should be grateful."

He shifted— his skin suddenly pulled too tight over the rest of his body. "I don't need him to defend my poor besmirched honor," he hissed. "I need him to do his job."

Yuugi watched him with a light too close to pity in his eyes. "Kaiba-kun, if you asked me to name your greatest flaw, I'd say it's your tendency to think the worst of people. You're so convinced of your own unlikability that you assume people judge you more harshly than they do. I've known you long enough to see where it stems from, but never forget that Mokuba-kun loves you. I like you. And it's not a bad thing if Jounouchi-kun or others like you too."

The clenching and squeezing feeling he'd become intimately familiar with in recent days returned.

Yuugi exhaled deeply, "Your team's not the only ones who've changed. Surely, you've noticed that you've changed too, Kaiba-kun."

He turned his gaze away and glowered at the potted plant in the corner. That was the crux of the problem, wasn't it?

-x-x-x-

Jounouchi wasn't answering his summons. Kaiba growled and set about the arduous task of tracking down his wayward builder. As usual, he wasn't at his workspace. He never was. It was too early for lunch even by Jounouchi's standard, but Kaiba checked the cafeteria anyway. There wasn't an obnoxious blond head in sight.

"Jounouchi? I saw him headed toward Technical Sciences last," Otogi muttered absently. As usual, he was more concerned with his phone than doing actual work.

Indignant, Kaiba spun around and stomped away.

The Technical Sciences division was situated in an auxiliary building connected to the main hub. The Works Team and most of the other labs worked out of the main hub. It used to be in an entirely different building at the far end of the grounds, but that was before the deadly explosion that killed the previous Meijin. As far as Kaiba could tell, the original location was entirely on purpose. Technical Sciences served as the backbone of PPSE; they were the only people who knew the manufacturing process of Plavsky particles and exclusively worked on battle system developments. The division's employees often kept to themselves and had minimal interactions with anyone outside of the administration. So what was Jounouchi doing over there?

A security desk forced him to sign in, scrutinizing his company ID badge before letting him through. The entrance to one hallway was locked. When he tried to swipe his ID card, the system rejected him with a harsh beep. Through the glass partition, he could see a series of foreboding metal doors, each bearing a sign that declared "authorized personnel only." It appeared to be the inner sanctums of Technical Sciences, and Jounouchi was even likely to have access than himself.

He followed the next hallway, growing more and more annoyed. Along the way, he passed several employees wearing the division's specific uniform, and they all gave him odd glances before scurrying along. Maybe they recognized him or maybe they didn't, but it seemed everything about Technical Sciences was that unwelcoming.

Kaiba walked past the break room first, before hearing Jounouchi's complaint from behind him. He quickly doubled back.

"I can't wait until this championship is done with." Jounouchi's forehead hit the table with a thud and jostled the can of coffee by his arm. "Please kill me and put me out of my misery, Chief."

Recognizing the other person in the room, Kaiba froze short of the doorway and flattened himself against the wall.

Allan Adams, PPSE's chief engineer, chuckled and reached out to steady the can before its content spilled. "It's tough, but you'll see it's worth it in the end."

"I don't believe you," Jounouchi said into the table. "If I had known the workload was going to be this insane beforehand, I might not have joined the team."

Kaiba clenched his fists. Jounouchi had been the one to worm and weasel his way onto the team in the first place. If he thought he could drop out now, he had another thing coming. Thinking back to what Yuugi said yesterday, Kaiba found it impossible to imagine what the last few months would have been like without Jounouchi on the team.

Jounouchi had become a fixture.

Would the Kaiba from before even recognize the him now? Apprehension crawled under the surface of his skin.

"Are you not getting along with the Meijin?" Adams cocked his head curiously. "Do you want me to put in a transfer for you after the tournament?"

"What? No, no!" Jounouchi's head shot up, and though Kaiba could only see the back of his head, he could imagine what sort of expression Jounouchi was most likely making. "I don't want to give up! And Kai— Kawaguchi and I are solid, even if he's a hardass."

"That's good. You haven't complained about him in a while. Has he adjusted to his role well?"

Jounouchi snorted. "He acts like he was born to rule us lesser mortals, so I don't think the job was ever going to be the problem. He's really good though, Chief. He was leagues above the other fighter candidates, and he trains hard. He's going to get us far in the tournament."

Kaiba relaxed his hands and sagged against the wall.

"But there's more," Adams watched Jounouchi with a thoughtful expression.

Jounouchi turned his face and pressed his lips into his upturned palm, sighing. "Kawaguchi, he kind of runs hot and cold without warning. There are times when I think I might actually be able to call him my friend to his face, and other times where he looks like he'd be more than happy to chuck me out an airlock."

"Good thing we don't have any of those around here," Adams joked.

"Har har," Jounouchi retorted sarcastically. "It's frustrating when I can't predict what his mood is going to be like. Was yours this damn hard to understand?"

"I suppose mine had his difficult moments with that stubborn streak of his." Adams gave a small, sad smile. "But do you trust Kawaguchi?"

Jounouchi nodded.

"Good, trust is the cornerstone of a builder-fighter partnership. You'll go far together like that. I have confidence in your abilities, Jounouchi."

Jounouchi beamed, obviously pleased by the compliment. "By the way, how is Yuu—"

"Not on company grounds," Adams snapped suddenly, hushed but urgent.

"Right, sorry," replied Jounouchi, sounding abashed.

"Come over to my place this Friday. We can talk then," then Adams added in a teasing tone. "I'm making hamburgers."

Jounouchi's head shot up from the table. "Shit, yours are the best, Chief."

Adams laughed. "If there's one thing Americans should know best, it's a good hamburger."

Kaiba pushed off from the wall. As curious as he was, he shouldn't use it as an excuse to sneak around and eavesdrop. It wasn't like him. He hadn't exactly gained new information out of it either. As Yuugi said, Jounouchi spoke highly of him when it counted. Kaiba previously knew about Jounouchi's relationship with Adams, but there was something about their familiarity with one another that felt like a punch to the gut. His reaction was both irrational and unnecessary. Of course, Jounouchi had friends all over PPSE, but he would never rub Kaiba's face in his popularity.

That was enough of that. He came in search of Jounouchi for a reason— there was work to be done.

"Jounouchi," he said as he approached. Adams perked up first, meeting eye-to-eye for the first time. One of Kaiba's hands moved of its own volition, coming to rest on Jounouchi's shoulder where heat bled through the uniform jacket like a banked fire.

Jounouchi jumped at the touch. "Where the hell did you come from?"

"Kawaguchi-san," Adams greeted him, polite but distant. The man who laughed and joked just moments ago was nowhere in sight. "I'm pleased to see you are well."

Kaiba nodded in acknowledgement, but offered no greeting of his own.

Jounouchi's eyes flew to the clock on the wall. "Shit, we have a team meeting, don't we?"

"Yes, ten minutes ago. Lucky for you, they can't start without me," Kaiba drawled.

Jounouchi threw his head back and guzzled the last of his coffee. With careless grace, he slung the empty can into the trash can in the corner. "Sorry, gotta run, Chief. We'll talk again later."

"Of course, have a good meeting, Jounouchi, Kawaguchi-san." Adams waved politely from his seat.

Jounouchi turned and grabbed ahold of Kaiba's sleeve, dragging him out of the room. Despite his grumblings, Kaiba allowed the manhandling to happen. With the builder back by his side, the agitation crawling underneath his skin began to calm.