The Funtom Company

20: The |Rika| Company

Vincent stared at the newspaper on his desk. It had been about a week since Adrian 'quit.' Lau had done him dirty. "I should've known," Vincent shook his head. There was a picture of him dressed as a woman kissing Lau. The headline read: Rachel Phantomhive?! Caught Cheating?! "Of all of the pictures he could've used, of course he used that one," Vincent sighed. "I gave him such good material too. The bastard," Vincent threw the paper down. His phone rang. The caller ID was unfamiliar. Ah, so it must be her. He'd been expecting that. 

"Hello? Vincent Phantomhive speaking. How may I be of service?" 

"Hello, Mr. Phantomhive. I'm calling on behalf of the Rika's Fundraising Association. Would you be interested in attending our charity ball? It would be an honor to have you there," a female voice replied. 

"Please send me a proper invitation. I would love to try and attend," Vincent said. He broke the pen in his hands. Although his voice sounded peaceful, his expression was the opposite. 

"Thank you so much for your cooperation," she said as she hung up. 

The door to his office burst open. Adrian stood there, panting, his shirt partially unbuttoned and his hair quite a mess. All rage Vincent had withered away at the sight of him. A bit of jealousy replaced it. "Are you okay?" Adrian asked. 

"It's been a week since I've seen you. I certainly wasn't expecting that," Vincent gestured to Adrian's disheveled appearance. "Did you decide on if you were going to continue to work for me or not?" 

Adrian walked over and cupped Vincent's face with his hands. "Don't bullshit me, Vincent. Are you okay?" 

"Oh? We're on a first name basis now?" Vincent chuckled. 

"Stop evading the question, damnit!" 

All semblance of a smiled rained from Vincent's face. All that remained was the weary features of a tired man. His eyes were cold and his voice ever colder. "To what are you asking me about specifically? The fact that I recently yelled at my own child as if I was his rotten mother and he hasn't spoken to me since? The news article with a scandalous picture of me but they're blaming that woman? Or you, the one person I thought I might be able to trust left me for a week?" Guilt made its way into Adrian's eyes. It wasn't anything like what Vincent's guilt levels currently were, but it was guilt all the same. 

"No, Undertaker," he put emphasis on the name, a bit of contempt too, "I am most certainly not okay." 

"I didn't leave you," Adrian began. "I needed time to think! Do you know how incredibly difficult you are to read? I'm not a genius. I won't know if you care unless you tell me. I want to be with you. I love you, I just...I don't know...I don't know what I don't know. Everything is a mess up here," Adrian gestured to his brain. 

Vincent grabbed the broken piece of pen still in his hand. He clenched it tightly and pushed Adrian to the ground with a swift behind the knee motion. He hovered over the man with the pen's sharp plastic digging into his skin. "Loving me is like jumping off a cliff. Are you willing to die? I could kill you, hurt you, or put you in harm's way at any time. It's in my nature."

"You're not going to kill me," Adrian smiled. "Torture, maybe, but only because I asked for it," he winked. "My safe-word can be 'rainbows.'"

"I have a pen to your throat and you're talking about safe-words?" Vincent was baffled by this. 

"Let's face it, Vincent," Adrian wrapped his arms around Vincent's neck. "This isn't the first time you've threatened my life with a piece of office supplies and it won't be the last. Do me a favor, dear," Adrian put the other half of the pen against his former boss's neck. He'd snatched it off of the ground when Vincent hadn't paid any attention. "Be honest for once in your life. Tell me that you love me. Say it, I'll never ask you again. But, I'll also never let you go," Adrian held Vincent a tad bit closer.