#ootaki shuzo

[merryfortune]

on escapist fantasies.

Written for Launch The Ship | @launchtheship

Title: on escapist fantasies.

Ship: not applicable | Kaiba Seto/Ootaki Shuzo

Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters

Word Count: 2,986

Rating: M

Warning: Choose Not To Warn

Tags: Post Canon, Not Canon Compliant, Age Gap, Second Chances, Pre-Slash, Past/Referenced Child Abuse

   He was meant to be dead.

   He may as well have been dead but the meant to part stuck on the side of Shuzo’s sense of self like a talon in his side as he came to consciousness but what a consciousness it was. Everything he owned, foreclosed. Everything he was, discarded. There was hardly a dime to his name. The Kaiba Corporation had swept this little incident under the rug and there was nothing left. Just shell company after shell company dispersing what had been his and was no more.

   It might have been more merciful for him to have been dead as Shuzo explored the halls of apartments that had once been his. He felt like a ghost. But the pulse in his veins was undeniable. He was alive, he was a human being but all that seemed debatable. The most tangible that he felt was how his stomach growled. He was hungry too but there was nothing to eat, nothing to buy even a sandwich with.

   So, the best that the once grand and illustrious Ootaki Shuzo of the Kaiba Corporation’s financial council did what he did best. He meandered on to find the closest aquarium which had a penguin exhibit installed inside of it. 

   He barged past the admission but when the freshly into college ticket administrator saw him, and how dejected he was, he was left alone. With his shoulders drooping and his once proud nose pointed down, Shuzo wandered the pathing and he found his way naturally to where he wanted to go.

   Shuzo placed his hands on the railing and he stopped. He watched. He even managed to muster a smile for his beloved penguins. He breathed in deep the stench of fish and salt water but unlike most who may have a distaste for such a smell, Shuzo loved it. His heart swelled and he envied them.

   They were pure. They did not know money or greed, just hunger and fullness. They did not know that they had kin who could fly, they were content to swim in waters. They lived in beautiful ignorance that their habitats were declining and that life for them were worsening, nor that it was because of human interventions for humans were also who gave this flock their fish and their toys.

   Shuzo took a deep breath. In the back of his head, words from his now deceased parents echoed. His mother berating him for feeling such feminine feelings towards animals, such as sympathy. And his father telling him to focus on something much more practical, that he ought to pull himself up by his bootstraps. Then, such kernels of cruel advice, they resumed the perpetual fighting that he remembered them as.

   Shuzo decided that he would find a job and he did not need to look very far.

   He removed himself from the penguins and he returned to the entrance of the aquarium but they had a noticeboard and it caught his eye. It was festooned with pieces of paper on pieces of paper and freshly pinned on top was a notice for a few jobs. Mostly shit shovelling, of which Shuzo had no interest in but just before he dismissed it, he saw a position for a new accountant and he decided then and there that he had been given a second chance for a reason. So he could, perhaps, accomplish something kind with his time, rather than being another cog in the war machine.

   Shuzo applied and once his credentials were verified, he was hired on the spot with disbelief. They couldn’t believe his pedigree but if he was happy to be with their little family run-type company which travelled at a loss more often than not, then so be it. And, funnily enough, Shuzo was happy to.

   He hadn’t gone to work quite so happily in a very long time. Not since he was a lad. What followed was not opulence or a return for Shuzo, however but he was content. His earnings put a roof over his head and food on his plate. It was a huge departure from what he had known, even as a child, but he didn’t find himself complaining. No, not once. He liked working at the aquarium and the aquarium liked having him.

   His co-workers, in time, even came to describe him as pleasant. Not at first but as he came out of a decades’ tough shell, eventually, his good qualities began to bud. Shuzo couldn’t believe it either but he was doing good work. With him whipping the books, they weren’t necessarily turning a huge profit but they were doing better for the animals and even for the staff. He was appreciated, which he couldn’t believe - and not appreciated with cash bonuses or anything which would lend itself to being a later corruption, which he couldn’t believe.

   But he liked it. He liked this new, quiet existence that he had somehow found himself in. He hoped that it would continue. He didn’t know what happened to his other, previous co-workers but he hoped that they found peace all the same as him. He didn’t have to wonder regarding President Kaiba. Seto, the boy prodigy who would be king some day.

   His name was always plastered all over the news, he always seemed to be up to some odd exploit or the next with buzz about rocket ships now on the cards, literally,  but Shuzo doubted that their paths would ever cross again. It was likely better that way. Or, so he thought.

   It was just another normal day, the same as any other from the past couple years from his turning point after the Big Five Incident. So, just like any other normal and dull and ordinary and painfully middle class mundane day, Shuzo had taken his lunch break, eaten in the staff room and then made his daily journey to the penguins exhibit to watch them. As his stomach settled, he enjoyed seeing them play and fight and get into mischief. It was a far better entertainment than reading something depressing on the news or whatever the latest celebrity gossip was playing on the staff television.

   But as Shuzo stared ahead, with something of a smile on his face, no less, a movement caught his eye as he pined once more for his penguins. He had to do a double take, however, as he thought it was something inconsequential which had distracted him in his peripheries. A balloon, maybe, a woman’s dress, something ordinary and familiar to his daily ritual of watching the penguins at his no longer quite so new job but no.

   It was President Kaiba. Seto Kaiba. It had been his jacket that Shuzo had instinctively learned to detect; an instinct he thought would have long since gone cold but apparently not.

   Shuzo choked on his breath as he realised that flash of white had been his gregarious and eccentric white jacket. He held onto the railing, gawking as President Kaiba was by himself - though, presumably, his little brother wasn’t too far away, same for his security detail. And it seemed that he had noticed that there was a familiar face in the crowd as it ebbed and flowed. 

   “Fancy meeting you here.” President Kaiba smirked as he came closer. He practically swanned as he drew in to join Shuzo by his side.

   “Yeah, fancy that.” Shuzo grunted, unimpressed. “What are you doing here?”

   “I’m here to duel the queen.” President Kaiba rolled his eyes. “What do you think I'm doing here? I’m killing time whilst Mokuba has something to eat.”

   “Ah. I see. How is he?” Shuzo asked.

   “I would prefer not to say.” President Kaiba sneered and Shuzo considered that fair enough.

   He knew well that he wasn’t exactly the most trustworthy adult in President Kaiba’s life - or even vicinity. Still, there was a peculiar twinge of rejection. One which Shuzo desperately wanted to remedy so he just blurted out a seemingly random question to keep the rapport, however barbed, going: “I thought you preferred pandas?”

   “I do.” President Kaiba retorted, irritated, nose in the air.

   Of which, the air around them turned stale despite being outdoors. So much for at least attempting to keep communication going as that made it damn right up. Worse still, Shuzo felt defensive with this… this teenager around him. He didn’t know what to say, what to do and so he prickled. He thought maybe this would be it and President Kaiba would just walk off but no. He stayed. He even watched the penguins.

   His gaze was suitably icy as he watched the tiny, blue penguins flit about on the ground of their enclosure. Being their adorable little selves but President Kaiba’s expression was of contempt. He clicked his tongue and Shuzo was ready to be irate but President Kaiba’s problem was with him, not the animals.

   “So you like a jobless bum these days? Just hanging out here until you get shooed off or what?” President Kaiba asked.

   “No, actually I work here.” Shuzo said.

   “As a keeper? You don’t smell like fish.” President Kaiba’s nose screwed up.

   “No, like before. I work in finance and such. Thanks to me, this zoo’s finances are in tip-top shape and as thank you, I was allowed to give my favourite exhibit a little bit more budget for enrichment and maintenance than usual. After I earned my keep, of course. But that new mural to the far side, of their native New Zealand, all thanks to my handiwork with the books.” Shuzo said and he said it proudly. He puffed out his chest. “And before you ask, no I did not have to cook said books to get my way.”

   And that appeared to please President Kaiba. He puffed out his own chest, as though it was a competition and had a greedy look in his eye.

   “Good to know you haven’t lost your touch in the game then.” President Kaiba praised him. Surprisingly.

   “Thanks.” Shuzo grunted. 

   “I take it you like working here then? At some third rate zoo? It suits you though.” President Kaiba, predictably, followed up with insult-coated inquiries.

   “I do.” Shuzo said, more measured in voice than before. He wasn’t going to let some teenager bully him when he had pride in his work. “It's good work here. Not like before. I feel like my meaning of life is sharper here than at your shithole.”

   President Kaiba laughed raucously. He couldn’t believe it. A former employee of his, calling Kaiba Corp a shithole. He wasn’t wrong though and that just made President Kaiba laugh harder. Shuzo rolled his eyes and continued his spiel about working here.

   “There’s something more exhilarating about working for joy, for entertainment than for violence.” Shuzo said. “I feel like I’m making a positive difference, not just to myself but for others. Sure, they may only be animals but they deserve a good quality of life all the same as us. Knowing they’re happy, that makes me happy and that makes the visitors happy. It's better than mongering war, striving only for greed, furthering a cycle of violence. I’m sure you would understand, wouldn’t you, little gamer boy?”

   President Kaiba did not take kindly to being called a ‘little gamer boy’ but Shuzo did. He relished the awful glare that President Kaiba gave him. One which managed to meld into something else, a mutter.

   “Yes, I would, wouldn’t I?”

   Shuzo blinked. He felt his heart skip a beat, almost. Something more mannish than that. It was of guilt, not of anything fanciful. He exhaled with rue and looked out to the penguins which had comforted him as a boy. There were more personal matters of violence which he had continued through inaction, alongside his more calculated decisions of money to create and sell weapons, helping curate the profits of them.

   He should have been a better man. For Seto’s sake. He was so young. Too young. And he? He was old but he had been that young boy in a situation which was not conducive to growing up well. Shuzo blamed himself for being a bystander, washing his hands of responsibility even though he knew that Gozaburo was an abusive piece of shit but because Seto wasn’t his kid, Shuzo dismissed the evidence and chose not to care. He was just some orphan who should count his lucky stars, he should have been living the dream. Other excuses welled up inside of Shuzo, too, as he had this uncomfortable realisation.

   “Hm…” President Kaiba mused. “You have your penguins and I have my dragons.”

   Shuzo couldn’t believe his ears. That quiet, little hum. He could have - he was probably meant to - missed it in the hustle and bustle of the crowds. Of people coming and going, of the penguins making their calls and silly noises but he had heard it. President Kaiba was agreeing with him; he was emphasising with him. Hell should be frozen over right about now because of it, Shuzo was sure.

   “Pfft, fine, penguins are fine. Pandas are still better if you want to see an animal which is black and white but penguins are whatever.” President Kaiba brushed over his sentimentality for his own escapism. 

   Shuzo made a wry expression. It seemed that the young man had gone and had a change of heart somewhere along the lines. Either regrew one or something. Unbelievable. He had to take another look at President Kaiba, to see if he had really, truly changed and when Shuzo glanced at him, he did realise something.

   President Kaiba had grown up some more. Gotten a little taller, filled out more. That was good, that likely meant he was eating well, that pleased Shuzo though he couldn’t pinpoint why. His expression had changed somewhat, as well. He wasn’t wizened nor was he cheery but there was a colour to his cheeks. He wasn’t haggard or failing in some way, driven mad with responsibilities which should never have been his or crushed by his failures. It was respectable to Oozaki, at least, but to President Kaiba, it must not have been.

   “Why are you staring, old man?” President Kaiba growled. 

   “No reason, no reason at all.” Shuzo lied.

   He looked straight ahead to the penguins. They both did. Shoulder to shoulder. It was an odd feeling, especially since President Kaiba was so much taller than him. Always been, of course, but still. He was an indomitable presence and one which Shuzo wanted more of as he wanted to believe he had changed just as much as the young CEO. 

   There was a pregnant pause, a terse feeling and before the end of it, already Shuzo wanted another look at President Kaiba and so, he stole a glance at the young man. Shuzo felt his heart lurched in his chest. There was a twitch in his finger, one he tried to steady because he knew it was insane to yearn for affection from this twisted, younger man but they had a connection. 

   He averted his eyes and returned to the view of his beloved penguins. Something of a smile tried to tug at lips as he watched the flightless birds waddle around, dawdle and coo, fight and swim. Just living their lives in a simulation of their real environment. He knew all of these birds’ stories by heart as he cared about them deeply. Some couldn’t live in the wild because of past injuries, others this was all they knew. It was still somewhat sad to him but just as Shuzo got into the thick of abysmal and miserable reveries, something unexpected happened.

   President Kaiba touched him first.

   He smacked Shuzo’s shoulder, jolting him and causing him to turn his head. He had a reactionary glare on his face but it just delighted President Kaiba all the more. He beamed. His expression all arrogant and bratty. It should have pissed Shuzo off but it didn’t.

   “We should catch up some more some day, Shuzo.” President Kaiba said.

   Shuzo felt his eyes dilate, he was taken by surprise - again - by the President. He swallowed, “I would like that, if you would have some of such a low standing.”

   “I collect dorks these days.” President Kaiba snickered. “So, if you ever want your job back, you can have it. I’m not that attached to the current person filling that role.”

   “Well, fortunately for them, I don’t want it back.” Shuzo replied, defensive.

   “I knew you would say that.” President Kaiba said and he sounded too fond. Way too fond for the President Kaiba that Shuzo once knew but maybe that was proof, too. They had both changed. President Kaiba shrugged and sighed and carried on a treat. “I need to go find Mokuba but I enjoyed meeting you like this again.” He fished his mobile phone out of his deep jacket pockets and with just his thumb, he dialled something up and then Shuzo’s phone beeped.

   Shuzo fumbled with his phone which continued to beep incessantly to let him know he had a new text. The marimba was obnoxious but did little to help Shuzo locate it. He knew that his phone was in his back pocket but he never remembered which. President Kaiba laughed at his bluster but again, there was an endeared shine in his blue eyes. Shuzo was wary of it but when he looked at his phone’s screen, he had a new contact: President Kaiba’s latest, personal details.

   “See you around, Shuzo .” President Kaiba said and waved Shuzo off, nonchalantly.

   Shuzo watched as he carried on. No doubt planning his route to the panda exhibit with his precious younger brother in tow but Shuzo didn’t mind. He had an odd feeling in his chest. President Kaiba had changed. So had he. Maybe he could hope to learn more of this over wine, like civilised men.

[winkle-pickers]

shuzou ootaki for the meme 🐧

You know what. When I was a kid I thought he was hilarious. Like 'ha ha this guy didn't get his way in a meeting so he went full nut and decided to be a cyber penguin instead.'

Now I'm an adult with a job and sit on several boards myself. I actually chaired a board meeting this week where I had to clarify for the ELEVENTY BILLIONTH FREAKING TIME what a restricted fund is and why we can't just take money out of it to hurl at the wall like spaghetti and hope something sticks. With that memory still fresh in my mind, I actually do believe I could be pushed to a point where I give it all up and flee into the wilds of Virtual Antarctica and create a society of penguins that all have to listen to me and anyone who comes into my ice palace asking stupid questions gets immediately dueled to death.

So anyways I get it Crump buddy I get it. Maybe be a little less perverted, but like, if my snot nosed asshole teenage boss rejected my proposal with a quippy one liner, I couldn't be held accountable for what I'd do. You live your dreams!! You MAKE your proposal happen, one way or the other!!