Queer as Tachi – Chapter 82
Strings of pennant flags snapped briskly in the breeze over the dealership, casting wildly fluttering shadows on the rows and rows of shiny motorcycles parked below. Two strangers were walking through the lot on their own private searches, completely unaware that they were not so distant from each other after all. While hunting around the city for good neighborhoods and the cheapest flats, Alastair had decided it was time to take the money he had saved for just such a purpose and buy himself a new motorcycle. His cool red one had been lost when Dartz vanished and left his henchmen adrift, and Alastair missed the thrill of riding terribly. He had always wanted another, and saved up much of his fast cash from courier work to get one as soon as he knew where he wanted to settle down. Even if he ended up saying goodbye to the Kaiba brothers and leaving for Tokyo in the end, he was at least in the country where he wanted to stay, so it was time. The wind sent his big coat flapping behind him as he stalked the lines of parked cycles in search of something his style, his identity and all of his fears and frustrations hidden neatly behind his sunglasses.
Oddly enough, looking for a new bike was exactly what had brought Marik to the same dealership as well, and for nearly the same reasons. He had been out on the job search again all morning, but decided not to put this purchase off any longer. He would need transportation in order to not limit his employment choices, and naturally also wanted to replace the motorcycle he had sold. It seemed like as good a day as any to do so, a nice sunny September day when he didn’t have any other urgent appointments to keep. He walked through the aisles of offerings just to see what they all had before narrowing it down to his price range, aware that they didn’t usually sell American low-riders like the one he used to own. A smaller, more utilitarian model was probably meant for him now, one that could still fit two if he wanted to pick Bakura up at any time, but mostly good for driving to work and errands. Marik admired a few models similar to Tristan’s bike first, but couldn’t resist looking past them to the sportier styles popular with the street racing crowd. A tall man stood already gazing at the same bikes, his hands tucked in his pockets beneath the folds of a giant, dark coat that made Marik think immediately of Kaiba, for some reason. But this stranger was obviously a foreigner like him, tall and fair with vibrant red hair, his eyes hidden by sleek sunglasses. Marik did his best not to bother him, though he wanted a good look at the disclosure note and price tag on the same bike he was looking at. As he leaned over to see, he heard the young man say, in a light tone, “Nice, isn’t it?”
Marik smiled to himself as he read over the list of features for the motorcycle. “Yeah, it sure is. Not my usual style, though.”
“Not into sport bikes?”
“I’m supposed to be looking for something a little more practical,” Marik admitted, finally straightening up and looking at the taller foreigner. He smiled back in a cool but friendly manner that assured Marik he wasn’t looking for trouble. “I’ve never driven anything like this before.”
“Oh?” Alastair raised an eyebrow at the slender, dark-skinned stranger in front of him. Definitely not from around here, but just as fluent in the language as he. “Funny, I would have picked you for a sport type.”
Marik laughed. “No, not quite. I’m trying to replace my old motorcycle, but I’ll have to get a new style.”
Alastair perked up, intrigued. “What did you used to ride?”
“Uh, a chopper – low-riding style.”
“Wow. Definitely not what I would have pictured.” Alastair grinned. “You should give one of these a test drive. They’re pretty sweet, they handle well. But if your last bike was a low-rider, it’ll take some getting used to sitting forward instead of back.”
“Yeah, that was kind of what I was thinking.” Marik raised an eyebrow at his fellow cycle-buying companion. “You’re familiar with these models?”
“Some. My last bike was a Ducati.”
“Ooo…” Even Marik had heard of that brand. “Nice. What happened?”
“Lost it. Pretty sad. But,” Alastair added breezily, “I’m in the market for a new one, finally. Maybe not another Ducati, but definitely something just as stylish.” He grinned lazily. “I should probably be practical, too, but really, there’s no sense in having a bike if it’s not going to be pretty.” He began to walk away along the line of bikes, mentally comparing different models as he went. “What happened to your old bike? Couldn’t bring it to Japan?”
Marik followed a few steps behind him, perusing the same bikes. “Sort of. Is it that obvious?”
“You don’t look like a local any more than I do,” Alastair pointed out. “Where’re you from?”
“Egypt.”
“Seriously?”
Marik smiled coolly. “Why is that such a surprise?”
“Oh…no reason,” Alastair tried to explain, looking away. “Pretty exotic.” He considered mentioning that he knew someone who was kind-of sort-of from Egypt, but decided against it. “Well, if you want a little unsolicited advice from a stranger, I’d say, don’t cheap out if you can get away with it. If you have the means to afford the top model in the series, do it. They come with better warranties.”
“Well, thanks,” Marik said amiably. “Money didn’t used to be an object, but it is this time. I want to spring for two helmets, so I have to stick to my budget.”
That made Alastair raise an eyebrow. Some part of him was vaguely considering hitting on the sexy young Egyptian, just because he was there and he was beautiful, but he held off just in case his instincts were wrong. “Two? You’ve got a rider?”
Marik lowered his eyes and his voice shyly. “Yes…I moved here to be close to someone. He…” He immediately closed his mouth. “Maybe I’ve said too much.”
“No, it’s okay,” the red-haired foreigner assured. “I had a feeling. I can relate.” He tilted his gaze back over his shoulder in such a way as to reveal the gray eyes behind his sunglasses, smiling understandingly. “Same goes for me. It’s a ‘he’ for me, too.”
“Ah…” Strangely comforted, Marik nodded. “I want to be able to take him with me, on the bike. So…something that fits two but isn’t too big and bulky. That’s what I’m looking for.”
“Makes sense.” Alastair pushed his sunglasses back up the bridge of his nose with one finger, hiding himself away again. “Probably what I’ll end up with, too. I like the sport bikes, but if I can get away with one that’ll hold a passenger, I will. I hadn’t thought of two helmets…thanks. I should probably get an extra one, too.”
Marik smiled bashfully. “You’re here to be with someone special as well?”
“Sort of.” Alastair chuckled softly to himself. “At the very least, I want to be able to offer rides to friends. People who know me know I’m into racing bikes, and always want a ride.”
Marik chuckled as well. “That’s a funny set of coincidences. We’re both looking for the same bikes for the same reasons.”
“Yeah, it is kind of funny, isn’t it?” Alastair gestured to the row of cycles one aisle over. “If you want practical, you might find something to your liking over there. Honda’s good, so is Suzuki. In fact, Suzuki has a line of racers that mimic some of the European models. I might look into some of those.” He nodded his head toward the far side of the lot. “But those are over there.”
“Cool. Thanks for the advice.” Marik offered his companion a friendly smile and a little wave as he turned to check out the models that had been pointed out to him. “Good luck with your search.”
“Yeah, same to you. Hope your sweetheart likes what you bring home,” Alastair teased with a grin.
Marik grinned over his shoulder in farewell. Alastair sighed faintly; it was good thing he hadn’t tried to hit on the young man, for even if he was receptive, his “sweetheart” was clearly his one and only, judging by his demure tone of voice. It was for the better, anyway, he didn’t want to jeopardize his chances with Kaiba so soon over just a little flirt. He crossed the dealership lot and headed for the set of streamlined Suzuki racing bikes parked at the far end closest to the building.
The salesman zeroed in on Marik first, as he was clearly looking at prices and therefore in the market. There was some discussion and haggling, and a couple of test drives around the lot, but Marik found himself settling on a bike in rather quick order – a simple-looking Honda with a silver finish, neither too large nor too small and efficient enough to be taken around the city under regular use and get good gas mileage. It was also within his price range, and allowed for the purchase of two helmets. By the time he had closed the deal, the salesman found that the redhead who had been stalking the lot at the same time was still there, still looking. He let the inner office take care of the paperwork and purchase for Marik while he went to see to the tall, affluent-looking customer who was clearly enamored of the sport bikes. Alas, to the salesman’s dismay, this one knew way too much about motorcycles and couldn’t be haggled with, he knew exactly what he was looking for and merely wanted to know if the model he was interested in came in a different paint job than bright orange. If not, he had to keep looking. The salesman went off to check, leaving Alastair to admire the bikes by himself again. He heard the roar of an engine, and glanced back to see Marik driving off the lot with his new bike, on the spot, and smiled jealously. Alastair was doing his best to think practically, but in truth, he had squirreled away quite a bit of money between the fall of Para-Deus and his freelancing around the globe. He may not have needed something sporty and fast, but he wanted one, and seeing the other cycle-buyer drive off happily with just the right bike made Alastair want to satisfy himself even more. He could afford something better, though it would nearly wipe out everything he had saved. The salesman came back to him, then, with news that the bike in question also came in green, but Alastair waved him off. “I’ve changed my mind,” he declared. “The Suzuki 750 street model. I haven’t seen one on your lot.”
The salesman blinked. “Er…we do have one inside, in the showroom,” he offered politely. “It’s a bit more high-end than most of these, but it does have a lot of customization options.”
“Yeah, I know,” Alastair said smartly. “Let’s see it. If I want it customized I’ll find the right place to go, but I have to start with the bike itself.”
The salesman led the way, and stood aside while Alastair walked a slow circuit around the bike, admiring its clean lines and highlighted features. It wasn’t quite as high class and high price as his old Ducati, but still very sharp and aggressive and flashy – just what he was looking for. He stood gazing at it for a moment, at the way the indoor spotlights and sunlight through the window gleamed on the dark blue paint job and leather seat, and then nodded. He had a strange sense of peace about all of his job and money questions being taken care of, such that the idea of blowing almost all of his savings on a bike like this didn’t cause him the slightest twitch of worry. He wanted it, he knew he would feel like himself again with that bike between his legs. Practicality be damned. He gave the salesman his final decision – he would go for it, and could pay cash on the spot. The salesman nearly fell over in surprise and delight, but immediately went to work up the papers and help his esteemed customer make his purchase and be able to drive his new motorcycle home.
Both Marik and Alastair went straight to their respective residences upon getting their bikes, to pick up their respective lovers and take them for a spin to test out the new wheels. Marik pulled up outside the flat around the same time as Ryo got home from class, having already promised that he would take that night off from working extra hours at the lab even though he didn’t know why Marik asked him to do so. His boyfriend allowed him a few minutes to change into something comfortable and grab a jacket and then dragged him downstairs to see his big surprise, the thing that would make their lives easier because he could now take a job anywhere in the city and not worry about how to get there. Ryo was astonished that he had been able to just go out and buy a motorcycle, but he knew this was what Marik wanted, and as he walked around the bike to check it out, he could see that he would benefit greatly from it as well. And there were already helmets for both of them. Marik handed him one with a grin. “Come on. Let’s take a ride.”
Ryo cradled the helmet between his hands, blinking in surprise. “A ride? Where?”
“It doesn’t matter – just a ride. Just you and me.” Marik pulled on his own helmet and climbed astride the bike, glancing back at his partner standing on the sidewalk. “What do you say?”
Though the idea of taking a long ride on a motorcycle was a little scary, Ryo found himself grinning and donning the helmet, and then settling himself behind Marik on the seat. His lover glanced back and gave him a smile through the window of his helmet as he felt hands snake around his waist and clasp him tightly to hold on, and then the engine beneath them roared to life. Marik glided expertly away from the curb and wove his way to the main streets and into late-day traffic without any problem, considerably easing Ryo’s mind. It was fairly daunting to be on the back of such a small vehicle with no way to keep himself from flying off and getting killed other than grabbing a tight hold on Marik himself, but Bakura also found it rather sexy. He wrapped his arms around his partner and snuggled into him, smiling to himself as they drove all the way through Domino, past the harbor, and down to the beach beyond. The sun was already sinking low in the sky, turning it red and gold, a perfect sight for them to sit and behold from astride the parked motorcycle, arms around each other and helmets off to let the sea breeze stream through their long hair. After sitting like that in silence for a while, Ryo turned his face to Marik and kissed him sweetly. “This is wonderful,” he murmured. “I’m so glad you found what you wanted.”
“Aren’t you glad you took the night off?” Marik grinned at him. “To be honest, when I asked you to come home and spend the evening with me, I just wanted to take you out to dinner and have some time alone with you. I didn’t really expect my search for a new bike to be so fruitful.”
“So this surprise is for both of us,” Ryo giggled. “Good, I like it.” He leaned against his partner and rested his head on his shoulder, so they could both sit and watch the sun begin to set at the edge of the ocean. “Though I won’t say no to the other idea,” he added in a soft murmur.
“Oh, good,” Marik said with a smile to himself. “Because I still intend to take you out for dinner. When we’re done here.”
“Yes. When we’re done, here.” Ryo snuggled against him, wrapping himself around his partner to ward off the chill of the sea breeze, showing no signs of being anywhere near done.
Predictably, Mokuba reacted the most when Alastair asked his hosts to come outside and see what he had brought home, shouting in delight and running around the bike before daring to come close and touch the handlebars or the seat in unabashed admiration. Kaiba just stood aside and eyed it with a blank look, perhaps more concerned about Mokuba’s interest in it than anything else. Alastair stood beside him with his arms folded, smirking, especially when Mokuba inevitably crowed, “I want a ride on it! Can I? Please? Alastair?”
“It’s not up to me,” Alastair shrugged, glancing aside at Kaiba. “But I do have two helmets, just in case.”
“Maybe later,” Seto said curtly. “Not before dinner and certainly not before you’ve finished your homework.”
“Awww!” Mokuba sagged in defeat and just stood beside the bike, gazing longingly at it. “Fine. But I’m going to keep bugging you about it until you let me.”
Alastair glanced aside at his partner again. “What about you?” he said under his breath. “You want to take a ride?”
Kaiba raised an eyebrow. “Now?” he muttered back.
“May as well. We can afford to be a little late for dinner.”
Kaiba thought it over for a moment, and then stepped forward, putting a hand on Mokuba’s shoulder to pull him away from the bike. “That’s enough for now.”
Mokuba glanced up at him in perplexity. “Seto…?”
Alastair hopped straight onto the bike, and Kaiba slid on behind him, both of them picking up helmets. “We’ll be back shortly,” Seto informed his brother before donning his and snaking an arm around Alastair, who started it up and gunned the engine merely for show. Mokuba could only stand aside and gape jealously as the pair of them zipped down the drive on the motorcycle and vanished beyond the gates.
The only way to truly show off the speed of the bike was to hit the expressways around Domino, a long way to go just to find some open road where Alastair could open it up and not fear getting caught. Fortunately, with the waning day, traffic had thinned out considerably and left them a wide-open highway to cruise and find out just how fast they could go. Kaiba was no stranger to hot wheels, and admired the handling of the motorcycle almost as much as he did the slender waist and fine ass of the young man he had to cling to. He didn’t even mind being the one in the back, reduced to hanging on at the mercy of Alastair’s skill in handling the bike, clutching tight and leaning with him around turns. Together they enjoyed a fairly long ride before circling around and returning to the Kaiba estate, quietly impressed with each other as well as the bike as they climbed off and set the helmets aside. The sun was beginning to set, and both were hungry, so they just went inside to get rid of their coats and seek dinner without comment. The pleased looks each wore, with Alastair’s flirty smile, were enough to share with each other that they had a good time. Alastair went up to the guest room to leave his coat on the bed, but paused to see a note laying on the bedside table that wasn’t there when he went out earlier in the day. Kaiba had said nothing about leaving him anything while out for their ride. He picked it up and frowned curiously at it, and read it to find that Kaiba had set up an interview for him with a banking firm in Domino that was, in the CEO’s words, “desperate for computer help,” not so much suggesting or offering but demanding that he go to it, giving only the time and location and a terse “don’t screw this up” at the bottom. Puzzled, Alastair turned on his heel and stalked immediately out to find Kaiba and ask what it was about. His target was right there in the hallway, on his way to the stairs, and gazed unflinchingly at him when he demanded to know the story behind the note. “Just what it says,” Seto replied gruffly. “Monday morning. Go to the interview. I went to a lot of trouble to set it up.”
“But…why?” Alastair stared, perplexed. “I didn’t ask you to do anything like this.”
Kaiba held his gaze. “I had to do something to keep you from disappearing out of my life like a one-night stand.”
Taken aback, Alastair recoiled a step, clenching the note in his fist. It was the closest thing to an expression of love he could have expected out of the man. He lowered his eyes humbly. “Thank you,” he murmured. “I won’t let you down. I…thanks,” he added lamely, not knowing what else to say.
“If that one isn’t any good,” Kaiba went on, “I have another lined up. I don’t know what these places want, the offers might be just as bad as Sony’s. But they’re local contacts of mine, and some of them owe me. There ought to be at least one that suits your liking.”
Alastair blinked down at the note in his hand. “I don’t know what to say,” he breathed. “Sticking out your neck like this for me…”
“And don’t you forget it,” Kaiba sniffed. “I had to go some great lengths to set these interviews up. I’m putting my own reputation on the line, I personally recommended you to a couple of company presidents in order to get you the chance. If you blow it, it’s going to make me look stupid. Remember that.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Alastair nodded absently, still floored that Seto should care enough to do this for him. “I’ll do you justice, don’t worry. Thanks. This means a lot to me.”
“Just don’t screw it up,” Kaiba repeated, and then turned and brushed past him, going to the stairs and down. Alastair gazed after him for a moment, and then folded the note more reverently to stick in a pocket and save for Monday before following him down to dinner.
The directions on the note only gave the place and time, leaving Alastair to fumble around to find the contact he was supposed to interview with by himself. He went around to the office building downtown and stepped up to the reception desk inside, receiving only the slightest look of disbelief from the woman behind it before she checked and found out that there was indeed an appointment for that time, with the president of the company himself. She told him where he needed to go, and watched curiously as he drifted off down the hallway, his big coat floating behind him. The president’s personal secretary met him as he stepped off the elevator, complimenting him on his punctuality and escorting him into the inner office to wait for his interview. He tucked Kaiba’s note into a pocket inside his coat and sat down to wait, figuring he might be there a while depending on the president’s whim. He decided to wait and see what he might be offered before evoking Kaiba’s name, wanting to proceed with the interview on his own terms and impress them his way, not by riding his lover’s coattails. Fortunately, Alastair was not kept waiting long. He sat with a cool expression as he watched an underling go into the office, and moments later, found himself being called inside. The president rose from his desk as he entered and bowed very slightly, unable to keep himself from eyeing Alastair’s tall figure and choice of clothing. “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” he said politely, extending a hand across the desk. The underling stood off to one side with a clipboard, waiting. “Mr. Kaiba said you were excellently skilled with computers and I’d be a fool not to see what you can do.”
Alastair stiffly shook the offered hand and stood back, shoulders straight and head held elegantly in his most self-assured pose. “With all due respect, sir, Mr. Kaiba doesn’t know half of what I’m capable of. But the fact that I once hacked into his company’s computers and transferred half of his stock to a dummy account just to get his attention should be a good enough example of what I can do.”
The president raised an eyebrow. “Interesting. Though, I should be honest with you. We do have our own computer technologies department and I haven’t had any complaints. There isn’t actually any open position that I might need you to fill, at the moment. Our network security is state of the art, it has to be. A financial institution of our size can’t afford to have any slip-ups with technology.”
Alastair raised an eyebrow right back. “Then, if you would allow me, sir, maybe an interview isn’t what I need,” he said smoothly. “Instead, if I could have access to any computer in the building, I’d like to offer a field test of my skills. A hands-on demonstration, if you like.” He inclined his head casually. “If your tech department really is state of the art, I’m sure I’ll be very impressed to see so first-hand. If you’re right, and your department is on top of things, then I shouldn’t be able to hack in, and we can say good day to each other.”
“Sir,” the other man on the far side of the desk broke in, “are you sure that’s such a good idea? I mean, he is a hacker…”
“It’ll be fine,” the president assured, holding up a hand. “I have faith in our security system. No hacker could get into it. We’ve been upgrading every quarter to keep up with the demands of the electronic banking systems of the world.”
Alastair nodded, inwardly beginning to think that this guy was making it easier and easier. He suspected that for all the bragging about upgrading and top-of-the-line security, this bank would be like any other he had hacked before – a piece of cake. “Is there a particular computer you’d like me to use?” he offered. “I wouldn’t presume to just commandeer your own.”
The president nodded to his underling. “Mr. Hashibara, we’ll go to your office.”
“Yes, sir,” Hashibara reluctantly agreed.
He led the way down the hall to a smaller office, which bore his title of vice-president of operations – a mere peon among the executives. Alastair settled himself comfortably into the padded chair behind the desk and stretched out his hands to the aging keyboard, noting with just a glance the make and model of the desktop and giving a bit of a sniff of derision. Without even asking Hashibara his executive password into the system, Alastair had hacked into the network within seconds and was easily perusing pages upon pages of script that left the president and his assistant staring in astonishment. “Well,” Alastair began. “You do have a pretty nice system, here, Mr. President. Nothing I haven’t seen before, though. You might want to look into a patch for the login, first of all – I got through a little too easily. That software is notorious for password glitches.”
“Uh…yes, I see,” the president stammered.
Alastair typed away for a bit, not really very impressed, but then something caught his eye and made him lean in closer to the monitor. “Well, well. What’s this? Hmm…” He isolated the file and inspected it with just a few keystrokes, and what he found made his eyes widen slightly. “Well. I didn’t think I’d find something like this in here. This is pretty bad.”
The president leaned in, his hands on the desk. “What? Bad? What do you mean? What is it?”
Alastair sat back in the chair with a bit of a frown directed at the screen. “That’s a nasty one, too. I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but you’ve got a worm in your company’s system.”
“A worm?”
“Do you know what a worm is?” By the nonplussed looks on their faces, he guessed they didn’t. “It’s a program that a malicious user or a hacker put into your system to gather information, and probably destroy your files too. Worms in financial computer databases tend to be of the sort that steal customer information, like account numbers, so the hacker can use them to drain money out of people’s accounts. It’s not active at the moment,” he added, amused by the shocked and terrified look on the president’s face, “but I couldn’t begin to tell you when it’s set to activate. It’s just quietly feeding off your network right now, gathering information. Once it’s activated, it’ll do serious damage to your computer system, not to mention your reputation, when it hacks your customer database and takes their information back to its master.”
The company president stared at him in a panic. “But you…you can fix it, right?”
“Well, let’s see…” Alastair reached for the keyboard again, using his knowledge to test out the worm and see what kind of person might have built it and infected the system. After a few minutes, he began to smile to himself. “Yeah, I can handle this one. It’s pretty sophisticated, I’m impressed. But I can definitely kill it for you – without activating it. A less-skilled techie would probably trigger it while trying to delete it, and you’d still lose your entire database. But I can get rid of it without destroying your whole mainframe.” He cast the president an aloof look. “That is, if you want me to.”
“Yes, yes, by all means, yes!” the president yelped. “Please, I’ll give you anything if you can fix this worm and save our company!”
“Anything?” Alastair began to smile. “I thought you didn’t have any open positions for me.”
“I’ll create a position!” The president briefly rounded on Hashibara. “This sort of malfunction shouldn’t have happened! I’m going to need someone like you in charge to prevent this from ever happening again. I don’t care what kind of title it has, I’ll make you…Director of Technology or some such position that hasn’t been invented yet if I have to. Just fix my system! Don’t let that worm steal our customers’ information!”
“Throw in a new laptop and a stipend to pay for a new apartment, and you’ve got a deal,” Alastair purred.
“Anything!” The president sagged against the desk. “Please, you don’t understand. We can’t afford to let anything go wrong with our computers. I’ve seen this happen to other institutions, the smallest computer glitch can destroy everything!”
“I know,” Alastair said sternly, turning his attention to the computer. “Believe me, I know. It was my job to keep malicious users out of the system at the last big corporation I worked for. Para-Deus,” he added for effect.
Hashibara had clearly never heard of it, by his expression, but the company president gasped dramatically. “You…worked for…Para-Deus?” he asked in a hush.
“Oh, you’ve heard of them.” Alastair’s fingers flew over the keyboard as he worked first to isolate the worm and direct its attention to some kind of bait other than customer records. “Yeah, that was me. It’s a good thing the company’s records were rigged to self-destruct if anything happened, or I might have been in some serious legal trouble – if there was any record of my name there.”
“Oh my. I…didn’t know,” the president said, startled.
“Don’t worry, I didn’t put this worm in here,” Alastair added with a calm laugh. “This is good old fashioned hacker work. I expected to come in here and critique your security, see how fast I could personally hack into your inner sanctum, but it looks like somebody already beat me to it. And he’s a slippery one, too,” he added with a frown. “This might take me an hour or two.”
“But you can do it, right?”
“Yes. You have my promise.”
“Good.” The president tugged out a handkerchief and mopped his brow. “Hashibara, have Mr. Alastair here entered into the security passcode system, and set up a file with personnel. He’ll be working for us, now.” He frowned curiously at the screen, not even pretending to know what Alastair was doing. “And you wanted a laptop computer? Is there a particular reason?”
“This city is completely covered in wi-fi connections,” Alastair responded over his shoulder as he typed. “I’d like the ability to work anywhere in the building or in the city. Which reminds me, you’ve got a wireless connection somewhere in this building,” he noted, “and I’m going to bet without even having to look that it’s unshielded. That’s probably how your worm got in here. All it took was for the hacker to sit outside and use your own wireless network to slip right in. You’re going to need to have that fixed.”
“Yes, yes, of course,” the president said absently, turning away. “Very well. When you’re finished, let me know and I’ll take you straight to the technologies department, and you can tell them exactly what kind of laptop you want. You’ll have it. And I will have the company pay your landlord fees, it’s standard procedure for relocating employees.”
“Thank you, sir,” Alastair said, smiling again. “Now, if you’ll leave me alone for a couple of hours, I’ll clean this up for you.”
“But, what am I supposed to do until then?” Hashibara whined. “That’s my computer!”
“You’ll just have to sit tight,” the president sternly chastened him. “The sanctity of this company is far more important than whatever you have on that computer!”
The subordinate wilted. “…yes, sir.”
Isolating and destroying the worm actually took less than two hours, but it was enough of a challenge to keep Alastair very interested in what he was doing. Only after it was taken care of did he look around the network and see just what he could do to upgrade it, and realized that only a permanent position could keep this particular company from doing something ridiculously stupid to kill themselves from the inside. He mentioned this to the president, though in a far more polite manner, and was pleased to hear that he was being fully instated as the director of technology for the entire company, on the spot, complete with his own office inside the tech department and a parking space if he needed it. The only thing he did the rest of the day, though, was tour the department and see what would be under his command, and make arrangements for the laptop to be ordered and delivered while he hunted down a place to live. That done, he coolly thanked the president for giving him the unique interview and returned to the Kaiba estate to wait for his benefactor to come home.
When Kaiba walked in the door that night, he was startled to have Alastair come straight up to him without a word and kiss him, hard. He backed away a step and blinked. “What the hell?”
“My way of saying thanks,” Alastair explained, grinning. “I got a job.”
“Oh?” Kaiba was, actually, surprised, though he hardly showed it as he shouldered past Alastair and went to set his briefcase down in the study. “The banking firm wanted you after all?”
“You won’t believe it.” Alastair followed him, intending to tell him the story, but paused and thought of one thing before beginning. “Just, out of curiosity…when was the last time you programmed a worm?”
Kaiba turned swiftly to him with the most amusing of perplexed expressions on his stoic face. “A what? What makes you think I’ve ever programmed one in my life?” He snorted in magnificent offense. “I write viruses, not worms. And in case you haven’t noticed, I haven’t exactly had the free time to be working on either lately.” His blue eyes narrowed. “What kind of a question is that?”
“Nothing, never mind,” Alastair smiled. He would have been offended himself, and irate, if he could have proved that Kaiba had planted the little project that won him the job, but he was certain, now, that his victory was well-earned by his own skill. Kaiba was good at a lot of things, but lying to someone’s face was not one of them – he usually took smug pride in telling the brutal, ugly truth instead. “It wasn’t the usual kind of interview, I’ll say that. The president wasn’t remotely interested in talking about job offers, so I made him a deal – let me show him how quickly I could hack his system, and we’d see if he had an opening for me after that. But you’ll never guess.” He explained about the worm, while Kaiba stood aside and folded his arms over his chest, listening with a hint of curiosity. He may not have written worms or set them into enemy computers, but he didn’t mind hearing about Alastair’s masterful handling of the one that had been lurking in the financial database of Domino’s largest banking firm. At the end of the tale, the young hacker shrugged modestly. “What he doesn’t know is that I managed to find a trace of the hacker who did it. Like all brilliantly stupid minds, he left a signature. I set myself up a little file in a corner of the network so when I start work there, I can investigate a little further and maybe send him a present in return.”
A cool smile came into the blue eyes watching him. “If I didn’t know any better, I would have suspected you of setting it up that way.”
“And yet, you’d be wrong,” Alastair said airily. “Given my choices I’d much rather work for a gaming company or something exciting, not a bank, but it’s work – and it’s a challenge. Keeping the wrong hands out of financial records is a day-to-day operation, not something I can consult on for a few weeks or months and be gone. It’s steady work…” His gray eyes sobered. “And that’s what I needed right now. Even if I end up bored with the company itself, I’ll be working and making money.”
“How much?”
“Not as much as Sony was offering,” Alastair admitted, “but it’s permanent, and in the long run, that’ll make up for not having that initial wad of cash. Not to mention the extra incentives I managed to wrangle out of the boss.”
Kaiba eyed him. “Incentives?”
“My own laptop, and the company pays all the fees to get me into my own flat.”
The cool smile returned. “Good. That’s the kind of negotiation I’d expect out of someone of your caliber.” His eyes wandered over Alastair’s figure, and he suddenly frowned. “Please tell me you wore something more appropriate to the interview.”
Alastair glanced down; he was wearing his favorite half-shirt and tight jeans. “What? What’s wrong with this?”
Kaiba took on a completely mortified look. “Do you not understand decorum and proper interview attire? You moron!” He clapped a hand over his eyes. “The bank president is going to wonder what street corner I picked you up from.”
Alastair smirked back. “He didn’t say anything about it. Don’t worry, I had my coat on the whole time. I don’t care about ‘proper attire’ – this is what a hacker looks like, they don’t come in button-down shirts and ties. He had to expect that much.”
“You’re not starting work there without a proper wardrobe,” Kaiba muttered. “When do you start, anyway?”
“They gave me a week to sort out my affairs and find a place to live. Though, I’ll probably go in at least once this week just to familiarize myself with the staff and pick up my laptop.” The red-haired young man smiled a genuine, content smile, then. “But officially on Monday, I’ll be overseeing technology for the entire company. All thanks to you.” He huffed a short sigh. “But that means I honestly have to look for a place and settle in by Monday. Now that I know where I’m going to be working, I can narrow down my choices, but…”
Seto nodded and turned away, leaving his briefcase there so he could come back and work later, after dinner. “Let me know when you find it.”
Alastair continued to tag after him, having nothing else to do at the moment. “I don’t need your help, Seto. I already have my employer’s promise to pay the landlord fees and expenses, and I’ll worry about what goes inside on my own time.”
“Fine,” Kaiba said blandly as he mounted the stairs. “I wasn’t offering.”
“You said something about a wardrobe.” Alastair eyed his partner’s back. “I don’t need anything.”
“So you’re going to go to work in a major financial institution looking like that every day?” Kaiba paused near the top of the stairs and cast him an annoyed look over his shoulder. “I reserve the right to say ‘I told you so’ after your boss tells you on the first day to go out and get yourself some actual clothing.”
Alastair quivered with frustration where he stood, near the bottom of the staircase. “Fine,” he huffed after a moment. “But I’m going to pick it out myself. I don’t need you to dress me, mommy.”
Kaiba bristled at the insult, but only shook his head and continued up to his bedroom. “Suit yourself.” He disappeared down the hall, and only then, when he had left Alastair far behind where he couldn’t see, allowed himself the satisfied grin he had been trying to contain.
The evenings when Yugi wasn’t working until close were traditionally spent one of two ways – going to hang out with one of his friends at their place, or sitting around at home lamenting that he ought to be doing so. Whoever was available first got the pleasure of his company, and that evening, it happened to be Duke and Tristan. When Yugi had called Tristan earlier in the day, to find out how his ongoing job search was doing and offer to spend some time with him for moral support, he got Duke instead, who told him Tristan was out at an interview but he was welcome to come on over to the shop and hang out to find out how it went. Duke himself was busy about something that allowed him to sequester himself in his office and not be on the floor managing, but by the time Yugi came over, he was done and didn’t mind giving himself the rest of the afternoon off to sit around and chat with his pal. They sprawled over the couches upstairs in the flat over sodas, though something Duke said made Yugi sit up and lean forward, the chain of the Puzzle jingling madly with the sudden movement. “What do you mean you’re not going to the game expo?” he cried. “I thought you were working on a new expansion for Dungeon Dice Monsters!”
“I am,” Duke said casually, draping his arms over the back of the couch. “But it’s not ready yet. And Industrial Illusions isn’t putting any pressure on me to have it ready in time, so…I’m not going to go. Besides, I have too much to do around here. The Dice Monsters tournament?”
“Well, yeah,” Yugi responded, “but that’s before the game expo. It’ll be over by then.”
Duke shook his head. “All my time and energy is going into setting that up and making all the arrangements. By the time it’s over, I’ll be too exhausted to go to the game expo right afterward. I want some time to sit back and relax. There’s nothing there I want to see this year,” he added with a dismissive wave of his hand. “You can tell me all about Legendary Heroes anytime. And I bet you any money, the trailer you see there will be on the internet within twenty-four hours.”
Yugi pouted a little more, but understood. The big news around Duke’s game shop had nothing to do with Tristan, he was planning a local Dungeon Dice Monsters tournament in conjunction with the leagues that played in the sub-level arenas. It was still a month away, around the time of the next full moon, but Duke was in the middle of serious preparations and promotions. If this tournament went well, he could feel confident organizing a larger one, perhaps national instead of local or regional. Not to mention, he was talking about making a big party out of it, booking a band or something, so that his friends who didn’t play the game might want to still come down for it. “Fine,” Yugi relented, flopping back into the chair he was sprawled across. “I guess I can find someone else to hang out with.”
“You’re going with your grandpa, you’re not going to have time to hang out with anyone else,” Duke grinned.
“Grandpa and I aren’t going to ‘hang out,’” Yugi protested. “Sure, we’re both going, but that doesn’t mean I have to be attached to him or anything. I’m twenty years old, now, I can entertain myself. And I plan to.” He smiled sneakily. “There’s a chance a friend of mine might be living in Tokyo by then, and if he is, he said he’d take me out to the clubs in Shinjuku.”
“Ahh, now there would be a reason to go,” Duke smirked. “Too bad. You’ll just have to tell me all about it.”
Yugi rested his chin on his fist and made a pouty frown. “Come to think of it, the only person I can expect to see there for sure is Kaiba. And I’m pretty sure he’s not going to be personable, or admit that he has any contact with me outside of tournaments.”
“Kaiba, personable? Hell no. You’ll be lucky if he even gives you a sneer.” They both heard a door close, then, and Duke sat up to look back at it just as Tristan came around the corner and found them. “Hey, there you are. How’d it go?”
A big grin burst out on Tristan’s face. “I got the job.”
“You got the job?”
“I got the job?”
“Which job was this?” Yugi wondered.
Tristan came around the end of the couch and dropped heavily next to Duke, jostling him. “One that’ll probably make me a lot happier than manual labor,” he replied. “I applied at DRT, the local TV station.”
“Ooo!” Yugi perked up in interest. “Doing what?”
“Floor crew. Mostly heavy lifting and prep work,” he shrugged, “but it’ll be a little bit of everything. They produce a few syndicated shows there, so I’ll have a chance to learn stuff like electronics and lighting and maybe work my way up to something cool.”
“That’s so awesome!” Yugi grinned at his friend. “They also run programs from the national networks, right?”
Tristan grinned back. “What, are you looking for freebies or something?” He laughed. “Well, if I get anything just for working there, I’ll make sure to share the wealth. But really…it’s just a different kind of job. I was kind of curious, thought I’d try it out. They said they’d be happy to have me on board.”
Duke smiled sidelong at him. “That’s great, Tristan. I’m proud of you for thinking about such a non-traditional opportunity.”
Tristan smiled warmly back. “Thanks.”
“It sounds like a cool job,” Yugi put in. “I bet it won’t ever be boring. And who knows? Maybe you’ll get to meet celebrities!”
“Yeah, like the host of that cooking show they put out,” Duke laughed.
“Oh joy,” Tristan snorted. “Sign me right up.”
Duke slapped a hand to the top of his partner’s head and did his best to mess up his hair – it didn’t work, but it roughhoused Tristan briefly. “Come on, I’m only teasing. You know I’m happy for you. I think it’s great.” He nudged Tristan’s cheek with his knuckle. “The only thing I want is for you to be happy, and right now you’re practically glowing.”
“I can’t help it,” Tristan said bashfully. “It sounds like a really interesting job. They’re going to start me out just manning the floor during the days, while they’re running national programs, but just till I get the hang of it. I could work my way into production pretty quick.”
“Oo, you could learn to be a director or something,” Yugi encouraged.
“Maybe.” Tristan shrugged. “The sky’s the limit.” He slapped a hand to Duke’s knee and left it there, caressing him subtly. “So, Yugi. What’s up with you?”
“Nothing much,” Yugi replied. “Duke and I were just talking about the game expo.”
“Oh yeah. Bring us back something cool,” Tristan said hopefully.
“And if somebody cool is going to be playing the game concert that weekend – not an American band like last year,” Duke snorted, “go and get some pictures or something.”
“Ah, yeah – I haven’t heard anything about that.” Yugi leaned forward in interest. “Who are you going to get to play for your tournament?”
“Don’t know yet. I have a few options, though.” Duke smiled knowingly. “Some up and coming young bands from Tokyo are always looking for chances to play outside the city, get their name out. I might check one of those out.”
“Well, if it’s somebody cool,” Yugi mused, “then Yami and I will certainly have to come just for that.”
Tristan’s eyebrows raised. “It’s on the full moon?”
“Happy accident,” Duke said.
“Lucky us,” Yugi agreed. “Though it’s still a month away. Yami and I haven’t even started to talk about what else we might want to do with each other.”
“Damn, I’ll have to make sure I have that night off, then.” Tristan favored his boyfriend with an insolent grin. “It feels good to say that again. ‘Take the night off.’ Has a nice ring to it.”
“What do you think I’m doing right now?” Duke smirked back. “Hey, as long as you’re here, Yugi. We should all go do something – celebrate Tristan’s new job. What do you think?”
“Yeah!” Yugi chirped. “That’s a great idea! Let’s do it!”
“Give Joey a call,” Tristan added. “See if he’s free.”
“He sounded really busy when I called him earlier,” Yugi said, “but with news like this I bet he can find time to celebrate with us.”
Duke sat up and retrieved his cell phone from his pocket. “Anybody else, while I’m at it?”
In the end, Joey and Mai met Yugi, Duke, and Tristan out at one of the small restaurants they frequented, mainly for drinks and appetizers and to hear all about Tristan’s new job. They laughed the night away and parted full and happy well after dark, leaving Duke and Tristan to head home alone on the latter’s motorcycle. Duke went through their flat to the office to check and see if his managers had left him any notes after closing the shop, but all seemed to be well and the night deposit was prepared for him. He closed the office door behind him and locked it to preserve the privacy of his home, because he was feeling particularly warm and friendly toward his lover and had already made plans to celebrate the new job his own way. Tristan glanced to him in curiosity as he stalked into the bedroom and came up behind him, running his hands along the breadth of Tristan’s broad shoulders. “I meant what I said before, you know,” Duke murmured. “I really am proud of you. I never would have thought of looking into the TV station.”
“What can I say?” Tristan murmured back with a bit of a shrug. “The ad mentioned the sorts of things I know I can do, lifting heavy things and wiring electronics. The rest is just icing on the cake.”
Duke leaned against him, resting his cheek on his shoulder and snaking his arms fully around his waist to clasp together on his stomach. “Maybe it’s the start of a new kind of dream for you. Like you said, the sky’s the limit.”
Tristan chuckled. “I’m not looking to go into TV. I’m a behind-the-scenes kind of guy.” He turned in Duke’s embrace and thoughtfully rubbed his chin. “But, if you think this face is made for TV, hmm…”
Duke barked a sarcastic cackle. “I didn’t say that…”
His partner leaned in and favored him with a kiss. “Aw, and here I thought you had confidence in me,” he teased. “Whatever happened to supporting me no matter what I want to do?”
Duke tilted his head in an aloof shrug. “Maybe I’m just super-possessive, and don’t want to share your face with the rest of the country.” They both laughed and embraced each other, then, snuggling into each other’s arms for a few minutes to just enjoy the closeness. After a bit, Duke lifted his head and murmured in his lover’s ear, “You know I’m only kidding. If you want to be on TV, go for it. I won’t hold you back.”
Tristan kissed his neck indulgently. “Nah, that’s not what I’m going for. I talk a big game, but when you get right down to it…” He pulled Duke back enough to smile at his green eyes. “…I get stage fright really bad.”
“Oh?” Duke leaned in closer, smiling suggestively. “What about just for me? An audience of one?”
Tristan snorted. “What do you want me to do, read the news for you?”
“Oh, no, I have much better ideas…” Reaching back to pull the tie out of his hair, Duke released his ponytail and shook his head until his black hair cascaded all down his shoulders and back. He began to push Tristan toward the bed, but at the last minute, turned them both around and sat down himself, resting back on his hands. He nodded toward his partner. “Show me what you can do.”
Tristan stood dumbly in front of him, frowning curiously. “What do you mean?”
“Oh, come on.” Duke grinned brashly. “I’ve seen you dance. You’ve been getting a lot better.”
Laughing, Tristan set his hands on his hips and faced his partner. “Oh, I am not dancing.”
“Aww, why not?”
“To what music?” He held up his hands. “I can’t dance to silence!”
Duke reclined back on the bed, propping himself up on his elbows. It made his tight t-shirt ride up and expose his abs. “Aw, and here I was hoping your brand new career in entertainment could start right here, right now.”
Tristan raised an eyebrow, and then prowled forward, descending on top of Duke and trapping him on the bed beneath him with his hands braced on either side of his partner’s thin shoulders. “Hey, if I wanted to be a porn star,” he said with a throaty snicker, “I saw an ad for that in the paper, too.”
“What?” Green eyes flew wide open. “Seriously?”
“I think so.” Tristan moved his hand up to Duke’s shoulder to push him down onto his back on the bed, and then threaded his hand through the long, silky black hair spread out across the bedspread. “But I kind of figured you wouldn’t want to share me with the rest of the world like that.”
“I’ve never been so glad you get stage fright,” Duke retorted before laying back and reaching up to pull Tristan’s face down to him, to kiss him and show him just how appreciative he was.