Kyou Kara Maou Fan Fiction ❯ This Devil's Workday ❯ Part II ( Chapter 2 )

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Me: Hullo! Welcome back!

Tommy: If you've come back at all!

Me: Yes, it seems I have forgotten to mention a couple of things—

Tommy: Like the fact that this story is indeed set in an Alternate Universe!

Me: Yeah, sorry, no demons, no magic, just plain ol' nine-to-five office job life…

Tommy: And the fact that we don't own Kyou kara Maoh!...

Me: Yeah, but we're still hunting down the current owner, so no worries on that.

Tommy: Yeah, but until that glorious day—

Me: We don't own it.

Tommy: We also don't own Hermione Granger. That esteemed honor goes to J. K. Rowling, and to a lesser degree, Ron Weasley.

Me: For our next order of business…

 

To Serena1985: Hull and welcome! Thanks for reviewing! Yeah, Yuri's definitely a bit out of the loop, but I think Murata is, too. If talking to yourself was really a sign of genius, I wouldn't have to study so much! I hope you enjoy this next installment!

 

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For Ritsu Chan

 

This Devil's Workday

Part II

 

The first thing the very next morning (Yuri's ass had barely made it halfway down to his chair), his name was called. Sighing inwardly, he turned and saw Conrad motioning to him to come over. Standing straight again, he made his way towards Conrad's office. Over the night, he had almost made himself forget about the meeting the next morning. Almost.

 

Dream? What dream?

 

Yuri sure as hell had had no dream.

 

Denial? Sure. Dream? Hell no.

 

“Good morning, Conrad,” Yuri said, feigning normality as he stepped inside the office. Of course, this all died a sudden death the moment he turned his head to find he was standing beside the object of this fantasy dream that never occurred. “W-Wolfram! When did you—”

 

One of Wolfram's eyebrows rose. “I wasn't aware that we were so intimate, Shibuya.”

 

Conrad blinked and Yuri's face heated and he began to splutter.

 

“Using first names and all,” Wolfram continued then as if there had been no interruption.

 

“Ah! Uh…” Yuri stalled. “I just—since we're working together—er…”

 

“Yes, about that,” Conrad timely filled in the silence between the stuttering. “The Boss is awaiting you in his office in ten minutes. Shall we?”

 

They set out, and it started out fine, but then, the worst happened: somehow as Wolfram walked beside him the air conditioner or something blew over Wolfram and sent a Wolfram-scented breeze over Yuri. Blood rushed madly around Yuri's body as he realized Wolfram smelled good. It centered at one point when it recalled the imaginary dream from the night before.

 

“What are you so nervous for?” Yuri heard Wolfram ask and the question seemed so fitting in Yuri's thoughts.

 

“I-I'm not, I'm just hot!” he replied. **For you,** Yuri added silently.

 

Conrad smiled but Wolfram looked like he didn't believe that for a second. Yuri carried out his usual tactic of carefully observing everything from the ceiling to the walls in an effort to avoid Wolfram's skeptical face.

 

The walk to the elevator and the short ride to the top floor suddenly seemed like a year-long journey, and Yuri felt as if he'd need a cut lunch, a water bag, and some horse tranquilizers to make it all the way there. But sure enough before he starved, dehydrated, or panicked to death, the three of them were standing before the doorway to the CEO's office. Yuri swallowed. He had never before been up to the CEO's office…he had never met the CEO. Stealing a glance to the side revealed that Wolfram appeared quite calm. Yuri scowled.

 

**He thinks he's so cool,** he though angrily. Then Conrad was knocking on the door.

 

“Enter,” someone said inside.

 

Yuri resisted the temptation to pull nervously at his collar. Conrad opened the door and Yuri was still too nervous to move quickly, and so, Wolfram pushed his way past and entered without much or any trepidation. Yuri entered slowly and paused as he caught his first true glimpse of the inside of his boss' office.

 

His eyes focused in, first, on the many porcelain animals that adorned the shelves in front of large books titled “Business World,” “Rich Guy, Poor Guy,” and “The Little Book of Big Connections.” Then his eyes lit upon the kitten calendar on the wall opposite the bookcases. Finally, Yuri stared wide-eyed at the row of the most bizarre looking stuffed animal plushies [9] sitting atop of the CEO's desk. Yuri felt his sanity slipping.

 

Before Yuri could fully slip away into dementia, his boss was speaking to them. Yuri immediately returned his attention to his stern-looking boss and bowed as low as he could without slamming his forehead on the desk.

 

“Good morning, Shacho,” Yuri said as politely as he could muster. Wolfram didn't say anything but Yuri, in his nervousness, didn't notice.

 

“Good morning, Shibuya-kun, Wolfram-kun,” the Boss said to them, and this time Yuri did notice the use of Wolfram's first name. “Have a seat.”

 

Yuri forgot about the name usage as he hesitated. There were only two seats before the Boss' desk, and three of them. Yuri felt he should offer the seat to Conrad, his elder and godfather, but when he looked at Conrad, Conrad merely smiled before moving to stand behind the CEO's chair. Yuri then sat down. Wolfram, apparently, had had no such qualms about it as he was already seated.

 

“I have called the two of you here this morning,” the Boss-man began, “in order to give you a special project.” Yuri felt himself swell with pride though he was careful not to show it. “As I'm sure you've heard,” the Boss was still saying, Izuminokami-Kanesada Corporation, commonly known as Izukane Co., has ended their contract with J-PET.”

 

**Uh…no,** Yuri thought.

 

**Wait…I think I did…** Wolfram was thinking.

 

“They have a new line which they are hoping to release this fall,” the CEO said, unaware that his two employees were not quite on the same page as he, “and so they are currently in the market for a distributor. To put it simply, I want that contract. Your assignment is to get me that contract. I'll be sending the two of you as representatives of DokiDoki! Inc. I've had my secretary call ahead and set up a meeting between you and Izukane Co. It's today, you'll be meeting them just after lunch.”

 

“Eh?!” Yuri let slip, but he wasn't alone. He distinctly heard Wolfram echo the sentiment from beside him.

 

The CEO gave them a smile that didn't altogether seem pleasant. “You two are still young enough to understand the toys children want.”

 

Yuri blinked. **I'm pretty sure that wasn't a compliment, no matter how hard he tried, or didn't try, to mask it.**

 

**What about Murata?** was Wolfram's thoughts on the subject.

 

“In any case,” the Boss continued, “you've got two hours. For that time, I want the two of you to work with Conrad on a proposal plan. Win them over. Any way. Don't come back until you get a contract. And you'd better come back today, I don't care what time, I expect the contract on my desk when I come in tomorrow morning. Go.”

 

Yuri stood up and quickly bowed. Just before he turned, however, he caught a glance at the Boss looking at Wolfram, and Wolfram looked back for a split second before also bowing.

 

**What the hell was that?** Yuri wondered, but then they were leaving the office. And thus ended the first meeting Yuri had ever had with the CEO of DokiDoki! Inc. And all he could think about it was **Mean old fart.**

 

“So, no pressure,” Conrad added as soon as he had joined them in the hallway.

 

Both Yuri and Wolfram groaned. Godfather or not, Yuri believe the one skill Conrad lacked was that of good humor and the timing that usually accompanied it.

 

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Yuri and Wolfram returned briefly to their respective desks in order to collect their things before going to meet Conrad in one of the meeting rooms. Of course, Yuri took just a few seconds long enough for the others to shoot of a few parting words.

 

“Already been fired, Shibuya?” Yozak asked.

 

Murata glanced at his watch. “And not even ten o'clock yet!” he said wonderingly.

 

“No worries,” Anissina cut in, “unemployment's already been invented.”

 

“Thankfully not by you,” Gunter added, “or else it wouldn't work for certain.”

 

Yuri missed the scathing reply Anissina threw back at Gunter but the raucous laughter of Yozak and Murata followed him down the hallway. Wolfram had only been a few steps ahead of him and Yuri caught the door to the room before it shut.

 

**Hey, thanks for holding the door for me, Wolfram,** he thought sarcastically. He let his irritation go though as he sat at the table across from Wolfram. Conrad came in a few seconds later with a couple of folders in hand and sat at the head of the table.

 

“So,” Conrad began, “do either of you know anything about Izukane Co?”

 

Yuri couldn't think of anything specific but he needn't have worried with his very own special, very blonde, version of Hermione Granger sitting across from him.

 

“The Izukane Co.,” Wolfram picked up promptly, “has been around for forty years, at least as an official toy company. Otherwise, the Takanaga family has been in the business, as so to speak, for many generations.”

 

Conrad smiled. “That's correct.”

 

“What exactly do they make?” Yuri asked.

 

“Swords,” Wolfram supplied.

 

“Like for kendo?”

 

“Like that, yes,” Conrad asserted, “but they also make many other forms of swords, for many different forms of sword-fighting. They even created the Light Sabers that every other child had during the Star Wars craze.”

 

“They're the most popular toy sword makers in Japan,” Wolfram said. “They also make swords that are not for play and are one of the last few companies that hand make them.”

 

“Right,” Conrad said. “Until now, DokiDoki! Inc. has specialized in the marketing and distribution of girls' toys. Our goal is to create a new chain, one that will appeal to boys. And not only to boys, but the advertising campaign has to appeal to Izukane Co. as well.”

 

“Ooh!” Yuri said excitedly. “How about `Boys Just Wanna Have Fun, Too?' Like that song! But, y'know…different…”

 

For a few hard seconds the scene froze as Yuri stared hopefully at Wolfram and Conrad, who both stared back at Yuri. Then it broke, and Wolfram and Conrad turned back to each other.

 

“Anyways,” Wolfram said then as if to erase the last words spoken, “I was thinking…”

 

**Well, I thought it sounded good,** Yuri thought as he face blushed.

 

As it turned out, the following conversation deviated onto a path that Yuri had little hope of getting in on. Try as he might, he could not focus. Instead, he kept finding himself staring at Wolfram.

 

While they were hardly high school students anymore, Wolfram had really barely changed at all. He was still slender, his frame draped in a dignified manner by the suits he wore to work—a look Yuri felt he had little to no hope of pulling off himself. Standing slightly shorter that Yuri, Wolfram still had that way of walking that screamed superior. That way of walking which both pissed Yuri off and turned him on.

 

Better than that, though, Wolfram's face remained as cute and boyish as ever Yuri could remember. His cheeks softly rounded his face, a face in which the eyes were the most prominent. Large and green. His lips were full and usually pouted into a disapproving frown. And just through them, Yuri could catch glimpse of a wet, pink tongue. At the moment, Wolfram wasn't talking, it was Conrad, who was showing Wolfram something out of one of the folders he had brought. As it were, Wolfram was merely looking on and chewing on a piece of pink bubblegum. Pink enough to match that tongue.

 

**When did he get bubblegum? Isn't that a bit rude and childish to chew bubblegum at a meeting? Why doesn't Conrad say something?** Yuri wondered. **I want some bubblegum…**

 

Yuri watched the way Wolfram thrust his tongue through his lips and pressed against the resisting texture of the bubblegum [3], pressing it, dare he say, *teasing* it, into the right shape before he blew air into it, creating the biggest bubble he'd ever seen. Boy, Yuri wished he could see what else that tongue could do.

 

Yuri blinked and quickly looked away but it was too late: the damage had been done. To both his mental health and his ego. Wolfram smirked as he continued looking at Conrad, who was still reading through the budget logs and had therefore missed everything.

 

Yuri felt like slapping himself. What was he thinking? What was he doing? Just what the bloody hell did he think he was doing by staring so uninhibitedly at Wolfram?

 

And Wolfram von Bielefelt at that.

 

“…and we can cut about ten-percent from here, what do you think, Yuri?”

 

Yuri jerked as he realized that Conrad had asked him a question. Now both Conrad and Wolfram were staring at him.

 

“Ah…uh…I think…I have to use the restroom,” was Yuri's brilliant assessment.

 

Yuri quickly shuffled from the room. Wolfram turned to give Conrad a look that clearly said “Thanks for making *him* my partner.”

 

By this time, Yuri had safely tucked himself away inside one of the stalls in the men's room. Yuri was tired and his previous boredom wasn't helping. Still he'd rather go back to boredom than deal with his embarrassment. Sitting down on the closed lid of the toilet, Yuri tipped his head back and closed his eyes. He began to imagine that he was already home, that he was soaking in a nice hot bubble bath [5]. No wait, only girls and sissies took bubble baths. Okay, just a nice hot, steamy bath. With a nice hot, steamy body. With *Wolfram's* nice hot, steamy body.

 

No, no wait! Okay, try again.

 

Yuri began to imagine that he was dining on some strawberries [2] and warm melted chocolate. Damn, was that chocolate good, warm and runny, but not too runny, it was thick, too. He could almost taste it. He could see the way Wolfram would suck the chocolate off the end of a large strawberry, his lips stretching over the firm red skin, pulling it deep into his mouth.

 

NO WAIT! Alright, one…more…time…

 

Yuri began to imagine that he was relaxing in his nice fluffy bed [12], reading some Plato or something, something really thought-provoking. You know, `cause Yuri was one of those deep-thinking guys. Yeah, yeah. He'd sip some wine, straight from the bottle [13], no, or maybe some champagne from a little crystal goblet. He would pour it down Wolfram's belly and lick it off, quoting to him passages about human intimacy. Then he'd—

 

Yuri blinked. What the hell was wrong with him!?

 

“Shibuya?”

 

Yuri froze as he heard the unmistakable sound of Wolfram's voice. Yuri was so surprised that he clean forgot to answer. He could hear what sounded like Wolfram walking down towards him, looking in all the stalls. Having now let so much time pass (really only a few seconds, but an eternity in Mental Time), Yuri felt awkward to speak up now. But then Wolfram was standing on the other side of the one-inch plywood door that separated Yuri from the rest of the World.

 

The seconds ticked slowly away.

 

“Oh, bloody hell!” Yuri heard Wolfram say. “Open the door, Shibuya, I know you're in there!”

 

Startled, Yuri drew back the latch and opened the door. He was met with Wolfram's gorgeously annoyed face. “Yes, what is it?” he managed.

 

Wolfram was standing in the spot directly beyond the door in a manner not unlike many a stern school teacher Yuri had known in his getting-shorter-every-moment-and-by-the-way-is-it-hot-in-here? life.

 

As it were, Wolfram's eyebrow rose as he glared at Yuri. “Why are you hiding in the toilet? Did you forget about our project? Do you know what you're going to say to the representatives of Izukane Co. when we meet with them in—” Wolfram glanced at his watch. “—an hour and ten minutes? No, strike that—in forty-five minutes—we have to take time to get there, after all.”

 

Yuri felt the cold sweat that usually accompanied his anxiety break out all over him “Ah, no, but I mean, I wasn't really getting any of it anyways, so I figured I could let *you* do most of the talking.”

 

Wolfram gave Yuri a look. Yuri tried again.

 

“I thought I could let you do *all* of the talking.”

 

“Uh-huh,” Wolfram said. “This is your project, too. Why should I have to do everything?”

 

Yuri would sooner bite his tongue and tie than admit “you seem better at this kind of thing than me!”

 

“Well?” Wolfram prodded impatiently.

 

“'Cause you seem better at this kind of thing than me!” Yuri said, and then promptly thought, **Fuck.**

 

Wolfram smirked and Yuri did not fail to notice the sexy upturn of lips. “Say Yuri,” Wolfram began. “I got one more question for you, and do be honest.”

 

While he spoke, Wolfram walked steadily closer to Yuri, who had nowhere to go. The backs of his legs hit with the toilet and he stumbled, falling back down upon the (thankfully) closed seat of the toilet with a brief cry. All the while, Wolfram came forward until his nose was scant centimeters from Yuri's. Yuri could feel the hot breath coming from Wolfram's slightly parted lips and it took all of his willpower and more to not lean into them. Yuri had no room to waste looking down at Wolfram' lips or to contemplate his next move, however, because his whole field of vision (and subsequently, his field of thought) was occupied by impossibly green eyes.

 

**Am I dreaming again?** Yuri couldn't help but wonder. Then he could wonder no more as Wolfram continued.

 

“Why are we discussing this in the restroom?” Then Wolfram straightened out and began to walk away. “As soon as you can stand up, come back to the meeting room.”

 

And then he was gone.

 

Yuri pinched himself. It hurt, no way around it.

 

“Pretentious bastard,” Yuri said to the now empty room.

 

It was a full two minutes before Yuri could stand.

 

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As it so happened, Yuri didn't have to do much of anything…except learn his lines. Seemingly both Conrad and Wolfram felt Yuri was too slow to contribute much and they had already prepared a proposal speech. To Yuri it looked exactly the way he thought movie scripts would, with his name and Wolfram's in bold print before each paragraph, and movements and gestures outlined for each part of the presentation.

 

Yuri had no problem memorizing it, as memorization happened to be one of the (few) talents Yuri possessed. It didn't make him any less nervous, though. Both he and Wolfram created small cue cards and ran through the presentation a couple of times, Conrad being their test audience and playing the devil's advocate in order for them to be ale to set all doubts at rest.

 

And then, the words Yuri had been dreading: “Alright, you two are ready.”

 

Yuri felt dismay creep up in him while simultaneously feeling Wolfram's eyes on him. When Yuri met those eyes, he could clearly read the thought in them. Sure, Wolfram was ready, but he didn't think Yuri would ever be.

 

…Yuri had a bad feeling about this…

 

“Don't worry,” Conrad said in that reassuring tone he used on new employees who just committed their first mistake. The very same tone he used when sending employees to their occupational doom, it seemed. “You'll do fine, and even if things don't go as planned you'll come through somehow.”

 

Wolfram gave Conrad a look that blatantly accused him of being a cold-hearted optimist, while Yuri tried his best to grin winningly.

 

“All right,” Conrad said, “off with you, and good luck!”

 

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Author's Note: DokiDoki! Inc. is named for two reasons: 1) "doki doki" is, as I understand it, the sound effect for the heartbeat, and 2) "doki doki" means "sometimes" and every time I say it in class it makes me laugh since I can only think of it as the heart.

Tommy: Izuminokami-Kanesada Corporation is named after Hijikata Toshizo's sword. If anyone has seen Peacemaker Kurogane—

Me: SuzuxTetsu foreva!

Tommy: *cough* —or a whole bunch of other movies, they may recognize the name as a deputy leader in the Shinsengumi.

Me: Yeah, and I don't know about the rest of you, but when I hear sword, I think Shinsengumi...

Tommy: Right, well, we're going to go attack some midterm study guides and hope you'll join us for Part III.

Me: Coming Soon!

 

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