Dartz's eye twitched while he listened to his secretary tell him about a last-minute meeting that had been scheduled, without confirming with him first.
"H-His name is Mr. Creety-us," Valon stammered as he clutched his notepad in trembling hands. "He's a contributor? And he sounded very angry about a scheduling conflict."
"My day has ended. I am not meeting with this man. Call him back to cancel," Dartz snapped as he eyed the glittering view of Domino's towering buildings outside the glass windows.
He'd been looking forward to returning underwater. He sorely missed Seth and it had been at least a moon since they'd seen each other.
Contributor or not, unless it was a board member of his company, he wasn't taking the time to meet the man for money. They didn't need more money.
"Well I put him down for a dinner with you," Valon said nervously, bowing his head in a stiff, awkward motion. "On the 4th floor. Perhaps you could meet with him quickly to settle the matter?"
Dartz bared his teeth in frustration and folded his arms across his chest.
"This is a learning moment for you, cadet," Dartz said flatly, using all his willpower to keep his tone kind. "If the number calling was private, what would you do?"
"Ask the person to tell me…." Valon said while his eyes darted to the side with guilt.
"And if his name confuses you, what do you do?"
"Ask…him to spell it out?" Valon whispered, his fingertips white as he gripped the pad. "But he hung up before I could do any of that!"
"Then diffuse the anger by asking him to confirm further details!" Dartz snapped, his patience gone once and for all. "Because there's no such person named Creetus, Curtis, Cree-tious, or Kree-tiyus in our records! What if he was calling the wrong establishment? You have then set us up for an empty meeting, causing further confusion."
Valon opened and closed his mouth, sweating as he replied, "H-He said he'd been personally given your number—"
"And he can say anything like that, to anyone! For anything!" Dartz cried, his anger melting when he realized this was indeed a great teaching moment for this cadet. "Humans lie! All the time! They don't love each other the way us merpeople do! They always have reason to lie!"
Valon paled and nodded, lowering his head, his ears burning. This land deployment sucked….
"Then this occupation is not for you," Dartz said kindly, setting his jaw with a firm nod. "You need to be strong-hearted. Being a Hunter is not just about swimming in perfect formation, glory, and riches. Those all come after…you've mastered how to react in situations like this, with humans. How do you expect to deliver riches to a faraway queendom if you can't even talk to a human over the phone?"
The cadet shrunk back further and nodded shamefully.
Dartz sighed and swept his hair back over his shoulder and eyed the time on his watch, heading out the door with a defeated shake of his head.
"You're dismissed. Remember this moment, cadet," Dartz said as he strode out of his office and stepped into the elevator, gazing at his reflection in the mirror's elevator walls.
Shadows of stress hung underneath his eyes, and his cheeks lacked color. Seth had commented on how his face had 'hollowed out handsomely' over the past few moons, and Dartz had brushed it off, saying it was stress from cadet training…which it was.
Moments like this emotionally aged him.
The silver doors opened, and he strode down the hallway and out through the lobby, walking straight into the restaurant on the 4th floor and addressed the maître d.
"Is there a guest waiting for me on the balcony?" He asked, and the waiter nodded, sweeping his arm out to the side, indicating he should follow.
Dartz bit back another tired sigh and followed the man through the dining hall, seeing many well-dressed couples laughing and enjoying wine. Their cheeriness made the exhaustion worse.
Seto saw Dartz being led to his table by the waiter, so he quickly composed himself, making sure everything about his appearance was in place.
His fingernails had been filed down and he'd hastily removed his earrings, all while in the limo on the way here. He also made sure the sleeves of his suit were shimmying the curve of his wrist, giving a slight hint of the diamond rim watch.
If everything about his aura didn't say 'bored angel investor', he'd failed.
The only prop he wished he'd thought ahead to bring would be smokes, but Dartz was already sitting down in the seat across from him with a stiff smile, not bothering with a bow or a greeting, looking more tired than Seto had ever seen him, and that made him feel better.
Nice to know Dartz could be a rude corporate asshole on land too. Respect.
Dartz scanned the human man seated before him, his heart skipping a nervous beat at the similarity this man bore to Seth. This human had beautiful white-blond hair, framing a set of blue eyes which were dark against extremely pale skin, and the man's features were delicate, almost ethereal, taking his breath away for a moment before his eyes drifted down to the tight knot of a blue tie sitting against the most pressed white shirt he'd ever seen, and the gleam of a shiny watch peeked out from underneath his cuffs, where two golden pinpricks in the shape of the letter K were pinned.
What a great hint. His name started with a K, not a C.
Valon, you idiot! That cadet is getting extra drills! Dartz fumed privately as he bowed his head politely to the human, hating how this man exuded more power than himself.
He had to tread carefully. This human reeked of wealth; it made his skin crawl.
Seto blinked impassively when he heard this thought and celebrated privately. So it had been a merperson on the other end of the phone. Perfect. Dartz was babysitting cadets. Sucked.
He settled into the silence, knowing it would make Dartz anxious.
Dartz held his breath and opened his mouth to say, 'nice to meet you,' but the other man cut across him first, sounding callous and annoyed.
"Why are you so hard to reach? Is answering the phone so damn hard?" Seto asked coolly with a smirk, seeing the wine cart come rolling up to their tableside and he dismissed the sommelier with a casual backhanded wave. "I don't conduct deals while drinking. Come back later."
The server flushed dark red and wheeled the cart away with haste.
"My new phone-answering machine is a walking idiot," Dartz replied with a sniff, mildly irritated that the human had sent the drinks away.
Seriously, what the hell?! Men like this loved to drink.
This one was going to be difficult.
What had Valon gotten him into? He didn't know this man's name and couldn't confirm now, because the polite time for asking had passed.
He now had an inkling of what that cadet had gone through on the phone…
"Yeah, yours and mine are alike," Seto sniffed, tossing a strand of his bangs across his forehead with a graceful flick of an index finger, knowing this action would cause more anxiety in Dartz. "So. President. Why am I here and what the fuck can you do for me?"
Dartz's mouth dropped open, his stomach churning while completely unaccustomed to being talked to like this. What was this meeting even about?! Right, that useless idiot Valon said something about a 'contribution'.
Damn it all.
This was a 'sales' meeting.
The menu tablets landed before them, and Dartz's blood boiled as he watched the human carelessly swipe through the pad to select something at random and then hand it right back to the server, giving him no time to pick his own food.
His stomach was grumbling after a long day's work, and this was the thanks he got.
He had to match this irritating man's pace.
I win, and I'm so bored! Seto sang to himself as he turned his gaze out to the sparkling view of Domino City, feeling an odd tug of nostalgia in his chest. He missed this view, but only a little…
A glorious sunset over a calm horizon was better any day.
"Right. What are you transporting and how far?" Dartz asked calmly as he unrolled the napkin and tucked it into his lap, trying to keep the anger from showing on his face. His workday was done. He didn't want to be here, entertaining this irritating rich human.
"I'm not telling you jack shit until you sell me," Seto sneered, pressing two slender fingers down into the table for emphasis. "Your people are already wasting my time by putting me here and there 'for a meeting', and now I finally have a face to match with a name. Start talking."
Dartz looked and sounded really pissed. Pushing him a little more might make him spill some beans about his armored car transports.
"Very well," Dartz fumed, not bothering to hide his irritation now. "We offer many levels of ballistic protection. I assume you want to transport something in bulk and discreetly, otherwise why would we be meeting face-to-face? And while we're at it, I never got your name…Mr…?
"Critias, and I want 35 trucks," Seto said evenly, reaching for the glass of water and grimacing when he had a sudden memory of Gozaburo in talks with a military surplus dealer, and he'd required thousands of trucks.
Trauma activated.
Fuck.
He took a drink of water to hide his face.
"35 trucks. We can do that easily," Dartz said with a light sigh of relief, which instantly left his chest in a tight clench when the blond human across the way corrected himself while sipping water.
"35 thousand. Forgot you can't read my mind," Seto grinned and tapped a finger to his temple.
Yes, why can't I read his mind?! Dartz froze and blinked once, seeing the waiter's arm come down under his nose to set the first course of food in front of his chest, but he was no longer hungry.
The human was asking for something ridiculous, and his mind was entirely silent.
Something was off.
But he couldn't figure it out on a grumbling stomach, so he picked up his utensils to take a bite, nearly dropping the vegetable on his fork when the human hissed at him, "Excuse me?! You're not going to say anything to that? Then I'm taking this deal elsewhere. Man, fuck this waste of time. I'm filing a complaint to your Board of Directors."
He stood up and tossed his napkin down beside his plate, and predictably, Dartz panicked.
"No, please, sir…! I'm…very interested," Dartz fixed a smile on his face while his eyes burned with rage, and he reached out to shake the man's hand, steering him back into the seat while cursing him.
No good, land-crawler, useless piece of human litter, two-legged trash heap…
Seto smiled broadly and sat back down, feeling Dartz's hand sweat in his and basked in the awkward silence.
He glanced down at his plate of food and aimlessly stabbed his fork into his salad, waving a cherry tomato on the end of it while reciting calculations aloud, knowing this would freak Dartz out some more, and he was wondering where this cruel streak in him was coming from.
"35 thousand trucks, with 550 weighments per day, assuming the weight-per-vehicle inspection checks out, I can shuttle 20 thousand rifles….per every 60 kilos… Whatever your allowable error is… That gives me…"
Dartz melted into his seat while a burning pit of fear curled low in his chest.
T-This human was…terrifying! He was looking to move mass amounts of weapons at the sound of his calculations, he knew exactly what type of trucks he wanted—Where was this deal coming from and what war were they funding unknowingly?!
Either way, this was extremely bad, so much that it made him nauseous.
"Hello? Are you broken?" Seto rapped his knuckles on the table, rattling the silverware. "Damn, I wish I brought my smokes. You're not even listening to me."
Dartz straightened up and set his fork down, steadily composing himself with a rejection speech. They only transported items that were either cash or gems. Nothing that funded war.
"Sir, Mr.—"
"Critias," Seto interrupted with a wink, knowing this would infuriate Dartz even more, and the merman flushed dark red.
"Say, how do you spell that? Since you weren't anywhere in our client records," Dartz decided to take a jab at the human, feeling it was unfair that he was the one to be suffering so much. "My secretary had a hard time with your name which is obviously special and foreign."
There. Flattery.
Humans loved that.
And this human did look foreign.
"Aw, thanks," Seto gave the man a condescending nose-wrinkle and pressed on with his agenda. "Can you do it? Hurry up. Second course is landing, and I'm really bored."
Dartz opened his mouth to protest, but was so angry, decided it was better to remain silent. He let the serving human reach under his chin to take the plate away and replace it with a delicious slice of seared meat. He raised his head to see that the handsome human across from him had ordered something foul-smelling and putrid.
But the view of his plate was blocked by a small arrangement of flowers and a candle, so Dartz politely covered his mouth and nose with a napkin while turning his head, feeling bile rise up in the back of his throat.
Seto cut into his smoked fish and felt his phone buzz in his pocket. Ah shit.
Atem, maybe…?
"One second, gotta take this," Seto said playfully, holding his hand up and slipping it into his pocket to palm his phone. He got up to stand by the glass edge while he answered it. "Yep?"
"Yep what, Daddy? Is that your undercover voice? It's stupid." Came Adina's cold tone, and Seto's heart twisted with dread. Shit.
"Yep, as in…what's up?" Seto said with a light tone, and Adina lost it on him so much, he had to edge the phone away from his ear.
"You AREN'T SUPPOSED TO BE WORKING! COME HOME RIGHT NOW! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH AND I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'RE WORKING WHEN YOU SAID YOU'RE RETIRED, you PROMISE-BREAKER! I'm MAD AT YOU, YOU STINKY SEA SLUG—" Thankfully Atem took the phone away from her and sounded much more calm. "Seto. What are you doing? Come back this instant. You're reversing the healing you've done. Your actions are hurting us, but mainly yourself. Do you hear me? This is not kingly behavior—DADDY YOU SUCK! YOU SUCK BUTTS AND SLUGS—Adina! That is not queenly language, apologize to your—"
Seto inhaled lightly and hung up on them with a guilty sigh.
Fuck fine. Time to stop fucking around with Dartz and report back to Seth.
He turned around just in time to see Dartz looking unsteady on his feet as he stood up to peek over the table ornaments to look at his dish of grilled fish before bending over to throw up.
Seto held the phone in his hand that was buzzing again with a call and felt the ground tilt beneath him the more Dartz continued to hurl at the table's edge, drawing looks and stares from the neighboring diners inside.
Severs rushed over with towels and cleaning supplies, while Seto stayed standing there, gaping, unsure if he wanted to know if it was shore sickness or…something else. But he had ordered the classic, throw-up fish he remembered so well, even if it had happened decades ago….
He turned back around to face the view and answered the phone, "yeah, I'm coming back, relax! I have some fun news, okay?"
"That fun news better be an apology!" Atem barked, and Seto winced, feeling a headache coming on. "How could you sneak off like that? Now I will hang up on you!" And the line went dead in his ear.
Oh Jesus, Atem was so fucking cute.
Dartz's ears burned with embarrassment and fury as the humans frantically dipped down to help clean him up, one even offering him a tablet of medicine which he accepted with a shameful head bow and realized…the blond human didn't even care that he'd been sick. The whole time he'd been throwing up, that despicable man was chatting carelessly on the phone. Twice.
His throat burning and his body shaking with disbelief, Dartz decided to exit the dinner once and for all and never look back.
He tried to stand, but the human ran to his side and pushed him back down in the seat, calling over his head for the servers to come back.
"Hey! You, yeah you!" Seto nodded at the first nervous waitress carrying an empty tray who walked by, trying to ignore them. "Bring us a pitcher of hot water, a box of salt, a mint, and an orange. Now, please."
He says 'please', Dartz growled weakly as he tried to shrug the man's hand off his shoulder, but received a cold command, "sit still, don't you dare move an inch."
"My company doesn't deal in violence, don't keep me here against my will!" Dartz hissed, his head spinning as he caught another whiff of the sour fish, reeling from a mixture of exhaustion and disgust. "If you read our website, you'd know that, you fool!"
"Totally," Seto said flatly, seeing the waitress come hurrying back to them to set the steaming pitcher of water on the table, and he wasted no time, placing the plate of fish onto her tray. "Thanks. Take this away. I want to compliment your manager about everyone's efforts for my friend here."
She blinked in astonishment and nodded happily, rushing back inside the dining area while Dartz stared after her in confusion. His confusion rose when he saw the blond man dump the entire box of salt into the pitcher and then pour it out for him in an empty glass.
"Drink," Seto commanded, reaching into his pocket to call Mahad. "Two glasses. I'm watching you."
He tapped in his contact list and pressed the phone to his ear, watching Dartz shakily sip the water with a begrudging frown and look slightly better.
Dartz downed the entire glass and instantly felt the tightness at the back of his throat wash away with it. The salt stung his tongue pleasantly, and to his surprise, the blond businessman poured him another glass and began speaking fluent Mer into the phone, making him almost choke on his next few sips.
"Hey Mahad, question… What's the deployment status of Hunter leader Master Dartz… Yeah, requiring VIP transport for return… Oh, we can do that? Nice. Nearest pool? Yep, no… Fun story… He's sick in a special way—"
"I am not sick! My last replenishing soak was 3 months ago!" Dartz protested, realizing he was being tested by an Inspector on his performance on land. No wonder this human was so difficult!
His throat became scratchy again, and the man tapped the box of mints with a slender finger.
"Eat one," Seto said coldly, listening to Mahad give orders in the background before turning to speak to him again.
"Majesty, his commanding officer wants to know if you saw this incident with your own eyes?"
"Yes, with my own eyes! I'm standing right here having dinner with him!" Seto cried, now itching to call Seth. "And before you say anything, Atem already shouted at me about resurfacing to work. I don't need to hear it from you too Mahad."
There was a kind silence on the other end, and the warrior replied in a deep tone, "I have nothing but respect for you, my king. You did a noble thing, and Master Dartz will see a safe and comfortable return because of you. Please be at your shore in 30 minutes. Can you do it?"
"Yes, thanks," Seto replied and Mahad hung up politely.
Dartz blinked incredulously and wondered if he'd heard that correctly.
This man had a direct line to Warrior Mahad? And King Atem?!
And his tone had changed drastically the moment he spoke Mer.
The hand touching his shoulder was also burning with a painful familiarity.
"W-Who are you?" Dartz gasped as he took another gulp of salt water and winced when a slice of orange was shoved under his chin as the mystery merman comically tried to force feed him.
"I'll tell you after you eat this," Seto encouraged with a smirk. "This helps with the bile and keeps your teeth clean. Mermaids chew the skins as a beauty ritual, but the meat has vitamins too—"
"Don't patronize me, Inspector!" Dartz spat as he swiped the orange out of the man's hand and shoved it into his mouth to chew it into a furious pulp. "You gave my cadet a hard time! You might have traumatized him had it been a real human interaction! I should've known. Well? What division are you from and have I failed?"
"Uh, yeah, you failed…." Seto replied with a playful raise of his eyebrows. "…To call Seth back every moon like you promised?! Or even answer his calls? He wanted me to see what nonsense you're getting up to. Are you well enough to walk? Let's go."
Dartz allowed himself to be pulled gently to his feet, and he took weak steps forward, daring himself to lean harder onto the man beside him, his heart pounding with turmoil.
His dear sweet Seth sent an Undercover Warrior after him to spy on him?!
He was eased into the elevator, and they rode down in silence while the mystery merman helped him into a waiting black limousine, pushing him into the soft leather seats.
The door was closed, and the car drove away from the curb, bringing another low wave of nausea.
To his extreme surprise, the blond merman snatched his hands up and inspected his fingertips. Furious and embarrassed, Dartz jerked his hands back and growled, "don't touch me! I do trim them to look human! Now who are you, really?"
Seto tilted his head to the side and laughed, "…I'm Seto, you really can't tell?!"
Dartz's mouth dropped open, and his stomach clenched with another painful swirl. W-WHAT?!
"We're only about fifteen minutes away from my shore, but if you feel like throwing up again, I have solutions in syringes…here…" Seto leaned down to open the shiny panel underneath their seats, and Dartz's eyes watered at the neatly packed steel cuffs, syringes, and phones, all set into the dark velvet cushions.
H-Holy hell!
"Y-You look…completely different!" Dartz breathed as his respect for the newly crowned king came up in a rush. "The hair…your act…! You had me fooled completely!"
"Yeah, that's kind of the whole point of my job," Seto said with a boyish grin, giving his blond hair a ruffle. "Kept being mistaken for Warrior Jounouchi on my own property. The horror. And you owe Seth an explanation. Why are you so busy that you can't give him a call every now and then? I fucking made that shit happen. You two are just wasting my efforts."
Dartz lowered his head guiltily and mumbled, "I've been so tired… I don't know how to manage my time between calling him and then being able to take the next day…"
"Make time," was all the young king had to say.
The car rolled to a stop by a wooden fence, and he was helped out of the car even though he protested. Seto was easing him down the sandy steps and onto the beach where a couple of familiar heads were poking out of the water by the rocks, and one even looked like the Medic from Helios.
Wow. Seto was having him escorted home the moment he was sick? Or was the sickness induced on purpose by the disgusting platter?
"I don't need special treatment. I'm fine, thank you," Dartz enunciated as he stepped into an oncoming wave, the cold water drenching his shoes all the way up to his shins, making him shiver. "Your assistance is appreciated—"
"Oh you're getting special treatment whether you want it or not," Seto said brashly, giving him another nudge towards the heads bobbing in the distance. "I surfaced for this shit. Go down there and rest. I was messing with you the whole time. You should've seen your face."
Flustered, Dartz waded into the water and allowed for the Medic to receive him, feeling his body heat up the moment his hands were touched, and the Medic let out a nervous gasp just as Seth popped up beside him and threw his arms around his neck, nearly drowning him as he embraced him in an iron grip.
"Missed you!" Seth cried, looking over Dartz's shoulder to see a tall figure on the beach, and he lifted his arm to wave. "Thanks, brother!"
He received a cold middle-finger salute in response and let out a huff of laughter.
"Are you both ready to receive shocking news? Or perhaps…not so shocking?" The Medic stammered as he glanced between the two men and then at the shadowy figure who was standing on the beach with his arms folded.
"Sure, how sick is he?" Seth asked with a tired smile. "I have a stockpile of the special shore sickness anemone."
"No." The dark-haired Medic said firmly with an exasperated headshake. "Master Dartz, you are with an egg. A nap in a healing pod in deeper waters is recommended at this stage to prevent future nausea. Might we suggest the ward in the Kingdom of Muran? And perhaps a pause in activities while you stay in one consistent depth for the health of the egg?"
Seth blinked and felt Dartz's grip tighten around his fingers so much, it hurt.
"Okay, see you both later!" Seto called from shore, waving blithely after he felt the pit in his stomach drop to his feet, the feeling undoubtedly belonging to Seth's dread. "I'm in trouble already, so…bye!"
He turned to go and heard Mahad calling out loudly in his mind, "greatest thanks for your observant eyes, Seto. Your kindness makes you an excellent king."
Aw thanks, I'm about to be scolded by one excellent king, and one angry princess, Seto thought to himself as he jogged up the sandy steps and threw himself into his limo, patting the seat and muttering, "Drive to the main house."
And the car rolled quietly onto the road, the tires crunching over sand.
Seto settled into the seat and let out a tense sigh, not eager to break the news to Atem and Adina about this new development.
Author's note:
geeeeezzz :D
(for every piece of bad news that comes out, i will post a chapter. nurturing this safe space and community is the only way i can see myself fighting and existing in this ridiculousness we live in right now)