Chapter Text
A ripple of camera flashes nearly blind Goro as he answers the reporter’s question. He bites back the growl rising in his throat and turns his attention toward the microphone, finishing his sentence as abruptly as respectability politics will allow. The second he finishes, he steps away from the woman and bows slightly to the crowd.
“Thank you all for coming. That is all the time I have for questions. Further inquiries can be directed to my assistant.” He moves to gesture to Hikari but stops himself upon remembering her resignation three days ago. Instead, he shoves his hands in his pockets and shoulders his way through the throng of people to get to the elevator. He smacks his keycard against the scanner and presses the button for the top floor.
The doors close, and for the first time in nearly two hours, he’s alone. “Fucking vultures.” The company demands a quarterly public question and answer session from their CEO, but Goro hates playing nice with journalists. All they want to do is pick him apart until he’s nothing but bones and contradictions. They salivate over the prospect of a day where he slips up and makes a mistake. Goro won’t give them the pleasure.
Elevator dinging, Goro draws in a long breath, huffing it out shortly before the doors open. His office is private, but the path there is anything but. Everyone in the office will want to know about the Q&A and how it went. All he wants to do is break into the stash of emergency booze in his mini fridge.
When he steps out, the floor is eerily quiet. Goro strides forward, eyes flicking back and forth as he watches his employees glance at him then quickly turn away. Something has them spooked, and that bodes ill for him. Undisturbed, Goro makes it to his office easily, but a movement in his peripheral makes his hand freeze, poised in front of his keycard scanner. He turns slowly, noticing a distinctively shorter man beside him — easily twenty centimeters less than him — with a mess of black curls atop the head of a fairly youthful face. Grey eyes peer up at him, and pink lips quickly press themselves into a line. Whoever this is, he seems nervous.
For good reason. Goro’s out of patience for the day.
He steps back, eyeing the young man carefully. He’s dressed in dark grey slacks and a off-white button down, paired with a navy blazer. His hands ball into fists at his sides, and he shifts his weight from foot to foot, hesitating. He clearly wants to say something but lacks the spine to speak up.
Goro breaks the wriggling silence. “Who the fuck are you?”
The young man pulls at his collar, a sweat breaking out over his forehead. “Akira Kurusu. Your last assistant hired me.” He wipes a palm on his pants and presents his hand. “Nice to meet you.”
Goro bites his cheek to keep from laughing. Hikari was a bitch through and through. She must have hired this squirming fledgling because she thought it would be funny to make Goro suffer after driving her to resign. He admires the attempt, but she won’t win that easily.
Ignoring the hand, Goro slaps his card against the scanner and tears the door open. “Get inside.”
He waits for the man to pass, pausing slightly to watch him walk into the office, absentmindedly admiring the view. It’s been a while since he’s had an assistant this attractive. Usually, that means they stay longer because he favors them ever so slightly and gives them a few more mercies than others. His longest running assistant to date lasted eleven months and three days — and he was the first assistant. Ever since then, they drop at random intervals, never quite making it to a year. Some don’t even last a month. Numerous times, Goro has caught wind of betting pools on his newest hires. He wonders how long this one will last.
Goro follows after and points to the seat across from his desk. He goes around and sits, leaning back in the leather executive chair and staring at the man. His nose is angular, sloped gently toward the end. Now that his lips aren’t being mashed together, they’re a soft pink and rather plush. He has a sharp jawline that most probably find attractive. Goro concurs, truth be told. His lashes are egregiously long, brushing along the tops of his cheeks with every blink. For some reason, it twists Goro’s insides. Makes it hard to look at him.
Instead, he clears his throat, ignoring the way he grows warm under the collar. “Your name again?”
The man sits, hands clasped tightly in his lap. “Kurusu. Akira Kurusu.”
“Kurusu-kun.” Goro despises the way it rolls off his tongue — much too fluid and natural. “Tell me about yourself. Why did my last assistant see fit to hire you?”
“Well, I have a degree in literature and finance. I worked in a coffee shop as a barista while I saved up enough money to go to college. I graduated a few months ago and-”
Goro holds a hand up, frowning. Kurusu doesn’t look that young. “How old are you?”
His cheeks tint a lovely rose hue, accenting his tanned skin nicely. “Twenty-seven.”
Only ten years his junior and just getting started. It’s damn near pathetic. “Nearly thirty and getting an entry level position.” Goro stops himself. “Well, not even that. You’re an assistant not a finance officer. Why this job instead of an office worker?”
“Your last assistant said she hated her job but got great benefits and excellent pay. Said that even if you worked her like a dog, you were easy to deal with because…” He trails off.
Goro loses his last thread of patience. “Spit it out.”
His blush deepens. “You were easy to look at.”
Goro’s brows lift, and he barks out a laugh. “Did she now?” He leans forward, hand curling underneath his chin. “And what do you think?”
Kurusu’s entire face flames. He wrings his hands and presses them to his stomach. “She didn’t exaggerate. You-you are stunning.”
Goro smiles, knowing it’s a sleazy thing. “We’ll see if you still feel that way once you’ve tasted my anger.”
Kurusu’s coy nerves evaporate, replaced by a blanched expression of fear.
Goro stands, moving to one of the bookshelves behind his desk. He peeks out the floor to ceiling windows, watching the cars and people move by in a hurry. After indulging in the view for long enough, he turns to the shelf and scans for a specific document. It takes a few minutes, but he finds what he’s searching for and pulls it from its home, carrying it to the desk. He drops the heavy binder in front of Akira.
“This contains all of the documents you need to read, learn, and understand to thrive in this position. If you have any questions, you’ll need to prove to me that you’ve thought them through before you ask.”
“How do I do that?”
Goro slaps his hand onto the binder. “I don’t have time to answer stupid questions. I don’t have time for mistakes. I don’t have time to teach you silly things you should be able to figure out on your own. Do you understand?”
Kurusu glances at the nameplate on his desk and nods. “Yes, Akechi-san.”
Something burns deep in Goro’s gut at his quick wit and the deference. He smiles, feeling a little too satisfied by the way Kurusu says his name. “Good boy.”
Kurusu’s cheeks brighten again, and he reaches for the binder. “When would you like this task done?”
“Now that’s a question I like.” Goro stands upright. “I’ll give you to the end of the week. But make no mistake, Kurusu-kun. I expect perfection from you.”
“Should I expect to be fired if I fail?”
Goro comes around the desk, landing a heavy hand on Kurusu’s shoulder. “I wouldn’t be so cruel to fire you at the sight of one mistake. No… If you fail me, you will be forced to learn your lesson, and you will be punished.”
“I assume the punishment fits the failure.”
Goro muses. He likes how smart this one is. Too bad he has no idea what he signed up for. “The punishment fits who failed me. My last assistant slavered after responsibility. If she failed me, she was relegated to copy and coffee runs. The one before that was a lazy lump who was sent on tasks around the city if he failed me.” He squeezes Kurusu’s shoulder. “We’ll see what kind of punishment you earn, Kurusu-kun.”
Shoulders tense beneath Goro’s hand as Kurusu bristles. “You expect that I’ll fail you.”
“I have astronomical expectations.” He lowers his head, whispering into Kurusu’s ear. “You will fail me.” He stands up, patting Kurusu’s shoulder cordially. Goro moves back to his seat and crosses his legs, smiling like he didn’t just insult his newest assistant. “And when you do, I’ll get the pleasure of teaching you a lesson you won’t soon forget.”