let's work on it! part 14
Title: let's work on it! part 14/20
Author: still me
Pairing: generally ryoda, others mentioned
Rating: overall PG-13...14?
Genre: romance, comedy, a bit of everything
Disclaimer: not mine
Summary: Some people may think that Ryo is dangerous. Some other may think the mess people like Kitayama or Akanishi can create is more dangerous. Some may be afraid of deadlines the most. However, there's one serious doom you should be always aware of no matter what scares you on regular basis. Kamenashi will tell you.
part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | part 6 | part 7 | part 8 | part 9 | part 10 | part 11 | part 12 | part 13
Theme song: Haze by OBLIVION DUST. Revived some time after Fake? ended, OBLIOVION DUST managed to release a single and an album and hopefully they'll stay together. This is my favourite song of their new album, it's powerful, modern rock with a good deal of electro mess-up. And that's exactly what we need for this chapter. By the way, great party track.
Hi, it's Kamenashi who's in deep shock for the first time since he learnt one can successfully have sex while eating cup ramen. Which was long time and many sins ago.
As usual, I entered the building a little late, but I saw Pi talking to someone in the lobby, so I waved to him and dragged him to the elevator for some early morning, five floors long (or should I say short) caress. When I let go of his lips and thighs (albeit unwillingly) to see the elevator door opening, I couldn't believe my eyes.
There was Jin, sporting a disappointed, lost puppy look, and that new guy with his arms around Ryo, and his lips on Ryo's face.
I precariously covered Pi's eyes with my palm, I didn't want him to see the brutal scene that was about to take place in front of us. But my dear had only lowered my hand to the level of his lips, kissed it and proceeded out of the elevator before the door closed on us.
Nishikido looked frozen.
The new guy moved back with a million dollar smile that shouldn't have been there as far as I knew Ryo, and let go of the latter.
"Oh, Kamenashi-senpai, Yamashita-senpai, good morning!" he chirped.
Akanishi looked frozen too.
He glanced at Ryo, who looked at him, both silent and kinda hopeless, trying to find the explanation of that phenomenon in each other's faces. To no avail of course.
Kitayama was babbling some nonsense’s to Pi, I don't even remember what it was anymore, I was too focused on observing the lost expression on Ryo's face, waiting for him to explode. And I don't know how much longer this ridiculous atmosphere would last, if the elevator didn't open once again; revealing a huge pile of documents that was moving by itself.
I blinked, but Kitayama was faster.
"Ueda-senpai!" he twittered and dug into the mountain of paper with so much force that poor Ueda (if it was really him behind the pile) almost fell with the heap on his head. However, the new guy not only held him to prevent the fall, he's kissed his cheek too, exactly like he did to Ryo a moment ago.
"I'm happy you're back, I still feel hopeless without you, senpai!" he said "oh, should I help you with that, it looks heavy?.."
It did.
But despite his appearance, Ueda's a strong man.
I risked a look at Pi who was only now mesmerized by Ryo's still indescribable expression. The shock should have worn off by now and Kitayama should be killed. Instead, he was alive and Ryo was gazing at Tatsuya.
Oh right, Tatsuya.
"Wow, you're all here!" He let out a surprised notice as soon as his face got visible from behind the now smaller pile of papers. "Why are you standing in the hall, it's already past the time you guys should be at work!"
Damned, stingy, dead-pan face secretary. Haven't you realized you just got kissed on the cheek by a supposedly grown-up man?! Didn't you feel the tension in the atmosphere?!
"C'mon, the deadline is near, the company doesn't pay you for nothing!" he ushered us to the office and went there himself. Apparently he didn't give a damn about the atmosphere...
Or?...
Kitayama smiled victoriously and followed him. And I, for the first time in many years, felt that I don't exactly understand what's going on.
There was no use in asking Kitayama for his prerogatives, he wouldn't tell me the truth. Ryo was in shock due to being kissed by a man who wasn't Ueda, so it was useless to ask him about anything too.
The only one that lasted was Ueda himself.
"Pi, you're free to play with Ryo tonight. I'll be busy" I said before entering the office with a plan of making an appointment for an after work drink with Tatsuya before Kitayama would do it.
If he was going to do it.
Ok, whatever he was going to do.
Or rather, whatever was going to happen to him when Ryo came back to his senses.
"Kame-chan" Ueda's voice put me back to reality "if you're already in the working mode, can you check the archive for the last model IMC actually approved and give it to Yokoyama's team? They need a reference."
I twitched.
"Nishikido could take it, unlike me he IS in that team" I said. "Why is it always me being sent to the archive?!"
He just rolled his eyes and then, surprisingly, smirked a little.
"Because I happen to know how much time you and Yamashita spend there and I believe you know every inch of the Archive room by heart. And by ass."
Oh-My-Wow.
Good Nishikido didn't hear that. Or maybe not good. I couldn't decide. Was Kitayama's kiss on the cheek some kind of poison? Or a type of switching-personalities spell that would make Tatsuya openly vicious and Ryo angsty for the rest of the day?..
"You're quite bossy today..." I managed to say. His expression changed in an instant.
"The deadline is in three days, Takizawa is ABSENT hell knows where and why, first assistant Shibutani has a major hangover and is sleeping in the conference room, second assistant Koyama is on freaking vacation in Bali with his goddamn boyfriend from legal department, and you guys are gaping at each other in the hall as if something came out and ate your brains. Somebody HAS to be bossy here!!"
Oh, the deadline. Damn it, I totally forgot.
"Tat-chan..."
"What else?!"
"N-nothing, don't eat me please" I bowed and went to the archive room to find those frigging papers for Yokoyama.
I knew this mode of Ueda's character. Haven't seen it a lot and never been a subject of direct attack before (usually it's Takizawa. Closed in his office, so that nobody else could see his misery), but I knew it. The Ueda-having-to-do-Takizawa's-work more than usual, and additionally blessed with both assistants' share of maintaining the whole office was not a person you wanted to argue with. He might have looked absent-minded, weak and even more angsty than on every other day. Yes, he MIGHT, but my name's not Kamenashi if he lets any of us out of the company building before 3 am tonight.
I could forget about having a drink with him, he'd dump some extra work on me if I dared to mention it at all.
Boss Takizawa arrived an hour later and almost immediately got locked in his office with a pile of documents Ueda brought to our floor this morning. Apparently it was all reports from other sections that our dear boss had to go through and in some cases decide if he's going to approve them, use their results, send them back for another go, send them somewhere else for confirming, and such. A very long and detailed list of 'such'.
That was the official version we've heard before the door has closed with Takizawa and Ueda inside. After that happened, we could hear our boss screaming, crying, and begging for mercy and coffee.
He only got coffee.
"Call my desk if you need to go to the toilet, boss" Ueda said, leaving Takizawa's room and locking it again from the outside. He switched on his laptop and started his own work, finally. Yet he seemed to have his eyes everywhere, 'cause no one could pass unnoticed.
"Akanishi, if you need to go out now, please take the report to the first floor on your way, have it looked over by Mr. Matsumoto, signed by boss Aiba and bring it back here before 12 o'clock, we need it confirmed when Mizushima of IMC calls."
Everybody knew Matsumoto never lets a paper he haven't corrected several times go, even if just for the hell of it. And Aiba is just impossible when he's not in the right mood. Jin glanced at the clock and gulped.
It was 11:40.
He run.
"Oh, and by the way, Nishikido, I'm redirecting that call to you, since you're the one who's been talking to IMC from the start."
"Which one is Mizushima?! That big, nice uncle?"
"You wish but nope, that's Abe. Mizushima's the one who reminded you of our Matsumoto."
"F**k! I hate him!"
"Focus your hate on me, you've got experience. And do your best at being nice to IMC people."
Straight-forward, huh? Ueda was worse than ever before. Come to think of it...
...he's never been so openly a slave-driver. He could be the one who pulled all strings in our office, but he never admitted it, and never actually LOCKED Takizawa in his office to make him do his job. Even if it was the most obvious and the only effective way to do it. He's never been so cruel too, and his composure always gave the vibes of sad resignation more than of a determined, professional murderer. Which was the case now.
Something must have happened, I concluded, being back to square one with the case. But what? It couldn't possibly be something so stupid like Kitayama's morning kiss, right?..
With Ueda, one never knows what could piss him off, but still...
"Pi..." I murmured, leaning cautiously in my dear's direction. "I think there's something wrong with Tatsuya..."
"You only realized it now?" Pi raised an eyebrow. "There's a whole lot of things wrong with him..."
"No, I mean, today. He's never showed his badass side so openly at work..."
"So he haven't gone nuts?" Pi blinked. "You're telling me this demon mode is actually a regular part of his character that he was simply hiding till now?..."
I nodded.
"Don't tell Ryo-chan."
I nodded again.
***
However, Nishikido was apparently much more sensitive than we gave him credit for. During lunch break, that miraculously only lasted 30 minutes that day instead of usual one hour, most of us resigned from going out and decided to eat in the building, either in the cafeteria downstairs or on our own desks. Yuya-chan was a treasure of a kid that day, buying lunch sets for everybody from the nearest convenience store that was actually pretty far away, and re-warming it up in the microwave he organized from IT dept (guys who never leave their room had to have one and sure they did). I was digging into my portion when, with a corner of my eye, I registered Tatsuya's figure near coffee machine, and Nishikido standing very close.
"You were fine yesterday night when I called you, and today you're biting everyone. What's going on? " Nishikido hissed that question in undertone, but I'm not called the master of eavesdropping for no reason.
"What do you mean?" Tatsuya gave him a blank, yet still pissed off look.
"I mean as far as I know you're a secretary here. And you never failed to remember that, until today. Don't give me the shit about somebody having to do it, 'cause we all do it together, we do it for years and we're not as much behind schedule as you want everybody to believe. What happened?"
Ueda didn't answer. In a short break from wondering how in the hell Nishikido got Tatsuya's number, I realized he was right, working at this pace we'd probably finish the whole project by next day morning while we still had three days until deadline.
"Tatsuya..." Nishikido's voice sounded delicate all of a sudden. He was standing right behind Ueda so I couldn't see if he touched him or not, but from that angle it looked a little as if he hugged him. "Tell me. What's wrong? Is it because of Kitayama's act this morning? Look, he did the same to me earlier and I was about to beat him up when you entered, so..."
"Are you stupid?" Ueda moved around vigorously and, guessing from that nothing stopped him and there was no visible movement from Ryo, there has been no hug after all. "That kid has nothing to do with it!"
Frankly speaking, I was wondering if I should ask Ueda the same question, so...
"So you admit there is an 'it'." Ryo smirked. Tatsuya rolled his eyes and sighed.
"Yes, if you really need to know, there is an 'it'. 'It' is that Kimura himself wants to see me and I'm freaking out! Satisfied?"
"KIMURA?!" I couldn't help jumping in my place, it was too big of a revelation for me to care if they realize how long have I been shamelessly eavesdropping on them or not. And if I attracted the attention of the whole office, luckily almost empty at that moment. But at the same time Ryo, who was probably just being careless, spelled:
"Your old man?"
Silence.
More silence.
A f***ing lot of silence.
YamaPi came back from cafeteria and was about to greet us but stopped half way through the first syllable and froze with his hand raised.
"So you knew..." Ueda said with his trademark, resigned smile back on his face. "Well, that would explain your sudden liking towards me... I'm sorry, Nishikido, but you made a big mistake. My father hates me. I haven't seen him for about eight years and only received his orders via his underlings, usually Nakai or Katori. You won't get a promotion associating with me."
Ryo looked terrible. He was opening and closing his mouth like a fish, probably wanting to say something but having no clue as what should he start from. However, I didn't care much for Ryo at that moment. In a few seconds I was next to Ueda and giving him my turn of questions.
"When? Where? And WHY?!"
"Like hell I know why" Tatsuya shrugged. "I am to report to Kimura estate this Sunday at noon. Nakai told me this morning."
The silence got even heavier, if possible. Ueda finished the coffee and put the mug on a tray with used dishes. He started towards his desk saying
"Now, back to work!"
Author: still me
Pairing: generally ryoda, others mentioned
Rating: overall PG-13...14?
Genre: romance, comedy, a bit of everything
Disclaimer: not mine
Summary: Some people may think that Ryo is dangerous. Some other may think the mess people like Kitayama or Akanishi can create is more dangerous. Some may be afraid of deadlines the most. However, there's one serious doom you should be always aware of no matter what scares you on regular basis. Kamenashi will tell you.
part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | part 6 | part 7 | part 8 | part 9 | part 10 | part 11 | part 12 | part 13
Theme song: Haze by OBLIVION DUST. Revived some time after Fake? ended, OBLIOVION DUST managed to release a single and an album and hopefully they'll stay together. This is my favourite song of their new album, it's powerful, modern rock with a good deal of electro mess-up. And that's exactly what we need for this chapter. By the way, great party track.
Hi, it's Kamenashi who's in deep shock for the first time since he learnt one can successfully have sex while eating cup ramen. Which was long time and many sins ago.
As usual, I entered the building a little late, but I saw Pi talking to someone in the lobby, so I waved to him and dragged him to the elevator for some early morning, five floors long (or should I say short) caress. When I let go of his lips and thighs (albeit unwillingly) to see the elevator door opening, I couldn't believe my eyes.
There was Jin, sporting a disappointed, lost puppy look, and that new guy with his arms around Ryo, and his lips on Ryo's face.
I precariously covered Pi's eyes with my palm, I didn't want him to see the brutal scene that was about to take place in front of us. But my dear had only lowered my hand to the level of his lips, kissed it and proceeded out of the elevator before the door closed on us.
Nishikido looked frozen.
The new guy moved back with a million dollar smile that shouldn't have been there as far as I knew Ryo, and let go of the latter.
"Oh, Kamenashi-senpai, Yamashita-senpai, good morning!" he chirped.
Akanishi looked frozen too.
He glanced at Ryo, who looked at him, both silent and kinda hopeless, trying to find the explanation of that phenomenon in each other's faces. To no avail of course.
Kitayama was babbling some nonsense’s to Pi, I don't even remember what it was anymore, I was too focused on observing the lost expression on Ryo's face, waiting for him to explode. And I don't know how much longer this ridiculous atmosphere would last, if the elevator didn't open once again; revealing a huge pile of documents that was moving by itself.
I blinked, but Kitayama was faster.
"Ueda-senpai!" he twittered and dug into the mountain of paper with so much force that poor Ueda (if it was really him behind the pile) almost fell with the heap on his head. However, the new guy not only held him to prevent the fall, he's kissed his cheek too, exactly like he did to Ryo a moment ago.
"I'm happy you're back, I still feel hopeless without you, senpai!" he said "oh, should I help you with that, it looks heavy?.."
It did.
But despite his appearance, Ueda's a strong man.
I risked a look at Pi who was only now mesmerized by Ryo's still indescribable expression. The shock should have worn off by now and Kitayama should be killed. Instead, he was alive and Ryo was gazing at Tatsuya.
Oh right, Tatsuya.
"Wow, you're all here!" He let out a surprised notice as soon as his face got visible from behind the now smaller pile of papers. "Why are you standing in the hall, it's already past the time you guys should be at work!"
Damned, stingy, dead-pan face secretary. Haven't you realized you just got kissed on the cheek by a supposedly grown-up man?! Didn't you feel the tension in the atmosphere?!
"C'mon, the deadline is near, the company doesn't pay you for nothing!" he ushered us to the office and went there himself. Apparently he didn't give a damn about the atmosphere...
Or?...
Kitayama smiled victoriously and followed him. And I, for the first time in many years, felt that I don't exactly understand what's going on.
There was no use in asking Kitayama for his prerogatives, he wouldn't tell me the truth. Ryo was in shock due to being kissed by a man who wasn't Ueda, so it was useless to ask him about anything too.
The only one that lasted was Ueda himself.
"Pi, you're free to play with Ryo tonight. I'll be busy" I said before entering the office with a plan of making an appointment for an after work drink with Tatsuya before Kitayama would do it.
If he was going to do it.
Ok, whatever he was going to do.
Or rather, whatever was going to happen to him when Ryo came back to his senses.
"Kame-chan" Ueda's voice put me back to reality "if you're already in the working mode, can you check the archive for the last model IMC actually approved and give it to Yokoyama's team? They need a reference."
I twitched.
"Nishikido could take it, unlike me he IS in that team" I said. "Why is it always me being sent to the archive?!"
He just rolled his eyes and then, surprisingly, smirked a little.
"Because I happen to know how much time you and Yamashita spend there and I believe you know every inch of the Archive room by heart. And by ass."
Oh-My-Wow.
Good Nishikido didn't hear that. Or maybe not good. I couldn't decide. Was Kitayama's kiss on the cheek some kind of poison? Or a type of switching-personalities spell that would make Tatsuya openly vicious and Ryo angsty for the rest of the day?..
"You're quite bossy today..." I managed to say. His expression changed in an instant.
"The deadline is in three days, Takizawa is ABSENT hell knows where and why, first assistant Shibutani has a major hangover and is sleeping in the conference room, second assistant Koyama is on freaking vacation in Bali with his goddamn boyfriend from legal department, and you guys are gaping at each other in the hall as if something came out and ate your brains. Somebody HAS to be bossy here!!"
Oh, the deadline. Damn it, I totally forgot.
"Tat-chan..."
"What else?!"
"N-nothing, don't eat me please" I bowed and went to the archive room to find those frigging papers for Yokoyama.
I knew this mode of Ueda's character. Haven't seen it a lot and never been a subject of direct attack before (usually it's Takizawa. Closed in his office, so that nobody else could see his misery), but I knew it. The Ueda-having-to-do-Takizawa's-work more than usual, and additionally blessed with both assistants' share of maintaining the whole office was not a person you wanted to argue with. He might have looked absent-minded, weak and even more angsty than on every other day. Yes, he MIGHT, but my name's not Kamenashi if he lets any of us out of the company building before 3 am tonight.
I could forget about having a drink with him, he'd dump some extra work on me if I dared to mention it at all.
Boss Takizawa arrived an hour later and almost immediately got locked in his office with a pile of documents Ueda brought to our floor this morning. Apparently it was all reports from other sections that our dear boss had to go through and in some cases decide if he's going to approve them, use their results, send them back for another go, send them somewhere else for confirming, and such. A very long and detailed list of 'such'.
That was the official version we've heard before the door has closed with Takizawa and Ueda inside. After that happened, we could hear our boss screaming, crying, and begging for mercy and coffee.
He only got coffee.
"Call my desk if you need to go to the toilet, boss" Ueda said, leaving Takizawa's room and locking it again from the outside. He switched on his laptop and started his own work, finally. Yet he seemed to have his eyes everywhere, 'cause no one could pass unnoticed.
"Akanishi, if you need to go out now, please take the report to the first floor on your way, have it looked over by Mr. Matsumoto, signed by boss Aiba and bring it back here before 12 o'clock, we need it confirmed when Mizushima of IMC calls."
Everybody knew Matsumoto never lets a paper he haven't corrected several times go, even if just for the hell of it. And Aiba is just impossible when he's not in the right mood. Jin glanced at the clock and gulped.
It was 11:40.
He run.
"Oh, and by the way, Nishikido, I'm redirecting that call to you, since you're the one who's been talking to IMC from the start."
"Which one is Mizushima?! That big, nice uncle?"
"You wish but nope, that's Abe. Mizushima's the one who reminded you of our Matsumoto."
"F**k! I hate him!"
"Focus your hate on me, you've got experience. And do your best at being nice to IMC people."
Straight-forward, huh? Ueda was worse than ever before. Come to think of it...
...he's never been so openly a slave-driver. He could be the one who pulled all strings in our office, but he never admitted it, and never actually LOCKED Takizawa in his office to make him do his job. Even if it was the most obvious and the only effective way to do it. He's never been so cruel too, and his composure always gave the vibes of sad resignation more than of a determined, professional murderer. Which was the case now.
Something must have happened, I concluded, being back to square one with the case. But what? It couldn't possibly be something so stupid like Kitayama's morning kiss, right?..
With Ueda, one never knows what could piss him off, but still...
"Pi..." I murmured, leaning cautiously in my dear's direction. "I think there's something wrong with Tatsuya..."
"You only realized it now?" Pi raised an eyebrow. "There's a whole lot of things wrong with him..."
"No, I mean, today. He's never showed his badass side so openly at work..."
"So he haven't gone nuts?" Pi blinked. "You're telling me this demon mode is actually a regular part of his character that he was simply hiding till now?..."
I nodded.
"Don't tell Ryo-chan."
I nodded again.
***
However, Nishikido was apparently much more sensitive than we gave him credit for. During lunch break, that miraculously only lasted 30 minutes that day instead of usual one hour, most of us resigned from going out and decided to eat in the building, either in the cafeteria downstairs or on our own desks. Yuya-chan was a treasure of a kid that day, buying lunch sets for everybody from the nearest convenience store that was actually pretty far away, and re-warming it up in the microwave he organized from IT dept (guys who never leave their room had to have one and sure they did). I was digging into my portion when, with a corner of my eye, I registered Tatsuya's figure near coffee machine, and Nishikido standing very close.
"You were fine yesterday night when I called you, and today you're biting everyone. What's going on? " Nishikido hissed that question in undertone, but I'm not called the master of eavesdropping for no reason.
"What do you mean?" Tatsuya gave him a blank, yet still pissed off look.
"I mean as far as I know you're a secretary here. And you never failed to remember that, until today. Don't give me the shit about somebody having to do it, 'cause we all do it together, we do it for years and we're not as much behind schedule as you want everybody to believe. What happened?"
Ueda didn't answer. In a short break from wondering how in the hell Nishikido got Tatsuya's number, I realized he was right, working at this pace we'd probably finish the whole project by next day morning while we still had three days until deadline.
"Tatsuya..." Nishikido's voice sounded delicate all of a sudden. He was standing right behind Ueda so I couldn't see if he touched him or not, but from that angle it looked a little as if he hugged him. "Tell me. What's wrong? Is it because of Kitayama's act this morning? Look, he did the same to me earlier and I was about to beat him up when you entered, so..."
"Are you stupid?" Ueda moved around vigorously and, guessing from that nothing stopped him and there was no visible movement from Ryo, there has been no hug after all. "That kid has nothing to do with it!"
Frankly speaking, I was wondering if I should ask Ueda the same question, so...
"So you admit there is an 'it'." Ryo smirked. Tatsuya rolled his eyes and sighed.
"Yes, if you really need to know, there is an 'it'. 'It' is that Kimura himself wants to see me and I'm freaking out! Satisfied?"
"KIMURA?!" I couldn't help jumping in my place, it was too big of a revelation for me to care if they realize how long have I been shamelessly eavesdropping on them or not. And if I attracted the attention of the whole office, luckily almost empty at that moment. But at the same time Ryo, who was probably just being careless, spelled:
"Your old man?"
Silence.
More silence.
A f***ing lot of silence.
YamaPi came back from cafeteria and was about to greet us but stopped half way through the first syllable and froze with his hand raised.
"So you knew..." Ueda said with his trademark, resigned smile back on his face. "Well, that would explain your sudden liking towards me... I'm sorry, Nishikido, but you made a big mistake. My father hates me. I haven't seen him for about eight years and only received his orders via his underlings, usually Nakai or Katori. You won't get a promotion associating with me."
Ryo looked terrible. He was opening and closing his mouth like a fish, probably wanting to say something but having no clue as what should he start from. However, I didn't care much for Ryo at that moment. In a few seconds I was next to Ueda and giving him my turn of questions.
"When? Where? And WHY?!"
"Like hell I know why" Tatsuya shrugged. "I am to report to Kimura estate this Sunday at noon. Nakai told me this morning."
The silence got even heavier, if possible. Ueda finished the coffee and put the mug on a tray with used dishes. He started towards his desk saying
"Now, back to work!"