Chapter Text
Aslan J. Callenreese, CEO of Lynx Corp. Philanthropist, one of Forbes' top 100 richest entrepreneurs in the world, Time Magazine's cover in last month's issue, leading the protest in climate change and development of sustainable and green engineering/architecture, head of many environmental organizations, and apparently one of the most brilliant and influential minds of the 21st century.
To Eiji Okumura, he was Ash Lynx (as nicknamed by everyone in his office). Angry, tired, and often kind of a bitch actually. He was not a morning person, as he needs three cups of coffee in the morning before he gets into his office and then one more precisely ready as he gets in his office. Without the caffeine, his face would be in a constant frown, his mood bitchier than it already was and basically he would become an asshole.
Ash, as Eiji never really called him anything else, (and only he manages to get away with it other than Shorter Wong, his nuclear science expert and best friend. Somehow Eiji has not been skinned alive and everyone in the office was confused.) Was also a really strict man. Sometimes he demanded the most unreasonable things. Eiji had never seen such stress in a single lifetime. He has this really strict schedule and even stricter rules about...well…everything. He had a grand total of twenty eight secretaries in his entire seven year career. All of them quit. Alex congratulated him for actually being the longest lasting out of all. He went beyond the one year mark and was able to actually celebrate Christmas with them.
Ash was also quite an activist. In fact he might even come across as radical with his ideas for sustainable energy and his blatant distaste for the oil companies, and every single mega corporation that was built on extreme capitalism. (If you asked him, he was absolutely anti capitalism. Which was weird. He was an entrepreneur and everything so either he was a hypocrite or a dumbass. Eiji told him so, all of which Ash had answered with his middle finger raised at him. Let it be known only Eiji had the balls to call the 200 IQ genius, Aslan Jade Callenreese, a dumbass and gets away with it.)
But the pay was good, the health benefits were better, and the incentives best. And the work was actually great. At least, after you manage to cram all of Ash's demands in a single day because he's an absolute perfectionist and refused to take anything subpar or substandard. Ash was Eiji's boss, and Eiji was his secretary for the past one and a half years.
Said boss was currently yelling in his office as he watched the headlines. The rest of the employees were used to their boss's antics, but it didn't make it any less....intimidating.
"Why the fuck would anyone think those robots are anything other than a militarization scam that Lee Yut-Lung had elaborately planned?!" Ash paced around his office, third cup of coffee from his morning commute. He downed it like you would with water. The brown liquid at this point probably was water to him. Eiji yet again rolled his eyes as he readied the next coffee for him to chug on. "His proposed plans for his AI program was already a privacy breach, one intense hacking away from a disaster!"
"To be fair, you're the one holding tons of nuclear reactors that are one explosion away from a disaster." Eiji pinched his nose. They were only two years away from age and yet his boss manages to be so much feisty for a thirty year old. "Besides, his robots are just modified space probes. Imagine sending probes in space and lessening the risk to humans by a good percentage. Think of all the space exploration it could do, we could boldly go where no man has gone before."
"Don't use Star Trek against me Okumura." Ash huffed. "For one thing, my reactors have enough fail safes. Second, that kind of technology is still dangerous under anybody's hands. God knows how much those slimy politicians would pay to get their hands on them."
Eiji thought about how they’ve already discussed this. If Eiji was to rank every conversation topic they had by percentage, it would be 45% work related, 5% miscellaneous and the rest was the never ending rant about the Lee Enterprise, including the mini discussions that somehow branched away from those rants. For some reason Ash simply had this prejudice against the company, especially against the CEO, Lee Yut-Lung, that wasn’t to say that the latter was any better. Both of them had this weird relationship where they both couldn’t stand each other. It would’ve been amusing if Eiji wasn’t constantly tired of dealing with Ash’s prickly ass.
“Every piece of technology is dangerous Ash. Fire can burn, wheels can run you over and a chain of nuclear fissions can blow up cities.” Eiji said, perhaps the hundredth time. No, he was sure it was more than that already. “We technically have enough uranium and plutonium to be terrorists and blow up the white house, and perhaps a good portion of America if we wanted to, and no don’t give me that look. The current president is shit but we are not succumbing to terrorism for greener and sustainable development.”
Ash’s face went back to a scowl. “It’s a thought experiment.”
Eiji rolled his eyes.
“Besides,” Ash continued. “What is up with him and his obsession with space? Why look for another habitable planet? Why not fix this planet before going out and looking for another planet?” He finished his coffee from his to-go cup. (Eiji once raises a brow at this, to which Ash responded “It’s a to go cup because it’s environmentally friendly, and yes technically it is major capitalist companies’ responsibility but that doesn’t stop me Okumura.”)
“Aside from the fact that we revolve around a star which has the potential to become a black hole, space is the final frontier Ash, and we need to live long and prosper.” Eiji handed him his next cup in which Ash had snatched and started sipping it aggressively, eyes glaring at him which seemed to speak volumes. In the pauses between Ash’s rant in order to drink his coffee, you could see how much it pained him to shut up momentarily because sadly, talking and drinking uses the same organ. And if genius, 200 IQ Ash Lynx could figure out how to do both at the same time, he would have done so by now.
“That’s still years from now.” Ash continued immediately after pulling the cup away. “By 2050 we are gonna die if we don’t address the issue.” He then frowned. “Again, don’t use Star Trek against me.”
“And that’s why you are working on this.” Eiji pressed his lips. “Honestly both innovations are just as important.”
“I feel like you’re siding with him.” Ash huffed, crossing his chest. See? Feisty. At this point Eiji was convinced his boss was a man child. A very rich and smart man child, but a man child all the same.
“I’m not.” Eiji raised a brow. “I honestly do think Lee’s computer AI’s and space travels are just as important as your sustainable energy and nuclear reactors.”
“Computers make excellent and efficient servants, but I have no wish to serve under them.” Ash quipped, on perfectly blond brow arched.
“Alright Mr. Spock, you’re using my trick against me.” Eiji laughed.
"I think I'm a rather good Vulcan." Ash laughed as well despite himself. It was good. Ash Lynx's laughs were said to be as rare as two particles colliding perfectly in a vacuumed space to create anti matter. That's funny because Eiji was sure Ash Lynx was often laughing in his presence (he's probably amused by Eiji's strangeness. Or something else entirely.) But yes, Ash was yelling more than he was laughing. It was even a miracle sometimes to dredge a smile out of him.
"You're too passionate to be a Vulcan." Eiji snorted anyway. "But I suppose that's what I like about you too."
Ash paused and stared at him with that spaced out look he sometimes made. Honestly, Ash spacing out wasn't such a surprise too. Ash would stare at the distance for minutes before exclaiming sometimes. Who knew what went in his head sometimes?
"Boss?" Ah that was Bones.
"Yes?" Ash snapped out of his daze and turned to the pink haired man. For a bunch of science nerds, they all looked like delinquents. Almost like they were a gang.
"Mr. Glenreed wanted to talk to you." Bones glanced at Eiji. Seriously they didn't need to be scared of their boss. What the hell.
"It's time for the meeting then." Eiji shrugged, gathering what they needed. Generally Ash needed two secretaries, but Eiji was damned good at his job so right now he only needed one. It's not like any of them stayed long enough anyway. Eiji took his cane and limped along.
"Right. Meeting." Ash sighed, running a hand through his blond locks. "I hate meetings."
Eiji Okumura was CEO Aslan Callenreese's secretary. He was a 32 year old Japanese man, graduated with a bachelor's degree in business management from a prestigious school. He wasn't top of his class, nor was he anything special actually. But still, people would have expected him to have taken a job in business.
But here he was, a secretary. And he was a damned good secretary.
He's never been yelled at like this his entire life, never been in such life or death stress that he was drinking coffee and tea at the same time. Coffee to stay awake and tea to battle the anxiety too much caffeine intake had caused him. He's never been this frazzled his entire life, nor had he ever nearly cried when someone spilled an energy drink on his papers, not even when he was still in college and staying up who knows what time to finish his damned thesis.
Still there were a couple of things that were quite memorable in his stay here. Eiji enjoyed recalling them, even if most of them were unusual.
"Why the fuck are you even still here?" Alex often asked him, this time immediately after Eiji downed his tenth cup for the day on that one particularly stressful project they wanted to finish. Eiji wasn't even sure what it was if he tried to remember it now. Working with Ash--overachieving--Lynx shaved off ten years of his life.
"Why are you still here Alex?" Eiji shot back then, eyes squinty and probably red from sleep deprivation. He has not slept for 74 hours and he was close to killing someone. Maybe a blond man with green eyes.
"I have a family to feed." Alex crossed his arms. "And you?"
Well.
That's a really good question. Eiji didn't even know himself. It's been a question everyone had asked him as he crawled through every single work problem thrown at him. The answers often changed too.
"I really really love the coffee here." Eiji sipped his coffee loudly.
But Alex knew that was bullshit. The coffee machine was shit and even Eiji was half tempted to spend his own money to buy a new one. Still, even if Eiji didn't know why he was even still there, let it be known that he was stubborn and he was not born a quitter so he would see this thing through till the end. Whenever that may be.
Still, the other employees of this company knew they weren't gonna leave this company anytime soon. Despite the stress, the pay was good, but other than that everyone here actually had an altruistic heart and knew deep down that Lynx Corp's vision and mission was actually doing good for the community with it's innovations that provide the market with clean technology and their charities plus adopted communities. Eiji could attest that even though Ash was Lucifer himself, his actions and his intentions were at the right place.
And Ash was actually brilliant, Eiji had to admit. Lynx Corp managed to manufacture electric cars that could race bumper to bumper with a standard Ferrari on a regular day. Their push for electric motor and vehicles revolutionized the industry. Global emissions had started to lower down, but this was just the beginning. Lynx Corp also pushed for waste to energy conversion plants that could lessen solid wastes by recycling them in the long run while also providing enough electricity to power up a small city. Now, Ash's passion project were nuclear power plants. The goal was to release large amounts of electricity while making the risk of a Chernobyl scenario as little as possible. The crazy part was that he actually found a way.
He'd tell you about some altruistic bullshit and nerdiness that Eiji was too tired to understand completely. It's what Ash told the press and every single interviewer or panel that asked him about it, how nuclear energy was the future of the industry and how his passion was stemmed from the great need to protect the environment and by default the inhabitants of this planet from mass extinction due to climate change and over consumption and exploitation of the planet's materials.
What Ash confessed to Eiji one tiresome day of lectures was that one day while he was dragging his feet to the subway as he went to the office one early morning, he someone reading an Iron Man comic book. Basically he spaced out while staring at the arc reactor on his chest and simply....got hit by the idea. He immediately got inspired and ran to the office, all ten blocks in fervor, too high with energy to stop. (He shared that he managed to trip at least three times face first on the pavement on his journey. Eiji never failed to laugh at the story.)
It was at good heart, and people admired him for it. If only he wasn't so...crass about his visions. Eiji believed Ash needed to be more diplomatic in his approach. Ash argued that to win this fight, you need to be aggressive, you need to antagonize those who clearly were just for the money and not the environment especially with how the president was so clearly against environmental movements.
In the end, the argument never gets resolved, always in a stalemate. Nonetheless, Shorter always tell him in awe how he even manages to tell Ash off without dying.
"He's....you know...Ash." Eiji shrugged. It was likely because Eiji was a competent secretary and if there was anything he knew about Ash, it was that he didn't care about people so long as they were competent and got the job done.
"I dunno Eiji. You should have met him back when he was in university. He's a menace." Shorter ran a hand through his purple mohawk. Again, everyone looked more like gangsters than science nerds, with the head nuclear scientist looking like that. Purple mohawk, piercings, signature shades on. Then again, Ash didn't really care for dress codes. (You'd find it funny how free they were with these things with how strict Ash was. Again as what Eiji mentioned, Ash didn't give a shit about people, so long as they got the job done.)
Eiji shrugged. "I don't know. He literally looks like a kid to me. Cute kid, but feisty." He eyed Ash who was on his weekly routine check up on the lab and the team of scientists. His eyes were wide with wonder, like he's literally vibrating with excitement, hands gesticulating as he tried to discuss with them, talking about some scientific bullshit that made Eiji's head hurt. He wasn't dumb but damn he was no science expert.
Ash at least was humble enough to admit to the press and the public that he wasn't alone in his scientific discoveries. It was a collective effort among different researchers. He was simply the spearhead.
Shorter snorted. "You're worse than him. At least he got it figured out already."
"What does that mean?" Eiji raised a brow.
Shorter shrugged. What a cryptic answer. Eiji decided not to mind it and decide to stare at the blue and white glow of the machinery and Ash's smile at the sight of it.
The question of how he's not dead was a very good question. Sometimes Eiji wondered himself. His previous lifestyle was pretty dangerous and the only reason why he was even here was because of a leg injury that pretty much told him he needed to change is lifestyle ASAP. Somewhere in his morphine addled mind, he had decided to turn his life in a complete 180. And after the opportunity arose in the form of a phone call from a friend, Eiji didn't think twice into agreeing.
Which was...well. He really should have thought it through. Which reminded Eiji of a different incident from his experience in working in this office.
"The boss is sleeping." Kong came back to Eiji with a troubled expression. Kong among all of the employees had the most rugged and intimidating look. (As previously stated, all of them looked like gangsters and if Ash wasn't somehow obligated to wear suits to some meetings, he would also be lounging on ripped jeans, a white shirt and Converse sneakers. Shorter once came to work wearing pajamas. This was a weird company but Eiji wasn't complaining.) But Kong despite his size and stature, was an absolute sweetheart. He was also the one scared the most of Ash.
"So wake him up." Eiji rubbed his temples. This was one of those things again, those petty things that just felt ridiculous to Eiji. Sometimes Eiji wished they weren't so scared of their boss.
"I can't do that!" Kong exclaimed.
"Why not?" Eiji furrowed his brows.
"You've never woken him up from his sleep before. He has an evil temper when woken up." Kong explained. "He nearly knocked Bone's teeth out once."
"So?" Kong's expression when Eiji told him this was absolutely bewildered. "Look, let me do it." He grabbed his cane and marched off to Ash's office through the door separating them. True to what he said, the blond was head first on the pile of paperwork atop his desk, dozing off, completely out of it.
That's probably the exhaustion that caught up to him. Eiji felt a little guilty but this was urgent.
"Oy Ash." He shook his shoulder. "Ash, it's nearly four in the afternoon. Nap time's over." He was replied with nothing but angry groans and a mumbled curse that resembled the words "fuck off."
Eiji was not impressed.
"Oy Ash!" He slapped his shoulder. Distantly, he could hear Kong whimper. Finally the blond got up with a glower in his eyes, jade green glared at Eiji and if looks could kill, Eiji was probably dead.
"What the fuck do you want?" He growled.
"You need to sign some stuff." Eiji explained calmly.
"You could've left it there." Ash groaned. "I'd have signed it."
"It's urgent." Eiji raised a brow. "It needs to be filed today."
"Who the fuck said it needs to be? This is due next week." Ash snatched the paper from Eiji's grasp. He was so very much in the midst of waking, voice raspy and all.
"You did." Eiji deadpanned. "This morning."
Ash paused, slowly waking up and coming back to his senses.
"I said that?" He looked up at Eiji, blinking.
"Yep." Eiji grinned.
Ash groaned once again. He said nothing else and snatched his sign pen, scratching his signature on the paper. "Kong." He called at the man.
"Yes boss?" The man stood in attention.
"Here." He handed him the paper. "Make sure to file it within the day." His voice calmer.
"Y-yes boss!" Kong looked between Eiji and Ash before scurrying away.
"You can go home if you're not feeling well." Eiji told Ash after the door closed. "I can handle the rest."
"Not happening." Ash grumbled. "I just need ten more minutes to nap that's all." He buried his head on his arms.
"Fine, but you're eating dinner." Eiji reprimanded. "I'll order soup."
Ash waved him away. His sign of dismissal. But Eiji preferred to read it as a sign for "do whatever the hell you want." So Eiji would do what he wanted, thank you.
The man had the gall to look surprised when soup arrived that evening. Ash looked at Eiji with a questioning look, Eiji responded with bastardly grin.
Somehow people told him after that incident that he should’ve already died. Eiji was absolutely confused what they were talking about.
When Eiji became Ash's secretary, he expected to stay in the office most of the time. What happened was the exact opposite of that. Instead he was whisked away at every single meeting, at every single power plant check-up, at every single party and every single...everything. At this point Eiji was sure Ash's face was what he saw 85% of the time.
Being Ash's secretary meant Eiji was invited to these kinds of parties. The high class ones, the ones with cocktail parties and expensive suits. Eiji thought they were the tedious types of things, rubbing elbows with private sector CEO's and government officials all shaking Ash's hand, nodding along with his revolutionary ideas for sustainable development as he pushed project proposals to help the marginalized communities and the urban poor.
They were a load of crap, in Eiji's opinion.
"Of course they are." Ash told him as he pushed a plate caviar towards his hands. Eiji wrinkled his nose. He did not like caviar. He passed it to Shorter. "This is what I meant about having to fight them head first. Being friendly means they'll just nod along with you, give you awards and shit. I don't need awards. I need action."
Shorter looked weird in a suit, but he was here, still in his signature shades and piercings. "Once Ash ambushed the minister of environment in his office."
"Isn't that illegal?" Eiji whispered, gripping his cane as they walked on.
"I have my ways." Ash laughed, drinking his red wine, a twinkle in his eyes. He plucked one from a passing server and thrust a red one to Eiji's vacant hand.
Eiji tried not to show himself in these meetings, always on the sidelines, supporting his company with the technical stuff. Mostly because Eiji didn't want to see the bullshit faces of those politicians.
"Eiji Okumura, is that you?" A man came over with a wide smile.
"Mizuno-senpai?" Eiji spluttered. He held at his cane tighter for support.
"Holy shit it is you!" Mizuno with his signature brown tuffs of hair. He bowed in greeting.
"I have not seen you since highschool!" Eiji laughed. "You're still taller than me. Damn it."
"Eiji, care to introduce us?" Ash smiled. This smile, Eiji would catalogue, as the slightly displeased and trying to be civil smile, the one that used to charm Eiji off his feet due to its brilliance and model like features. Now, it simply looked like he has some kind of social induced constipation. Ash was never the social person, Eiji remembered.
"Ash, Shorter, this is Mizuno Kazuhiko, heir of Nihon Motors Incorporated. He's also into cars. I think both of you will get along." He said to both of them.
"Please, I'm just Eiji's highschool schoolmate." Mizuno chuckled.
"Shush. I looked up to you senpai." Eiji grinned. "Mizuno-senpai, this is Mr. Aslan Callenreese. CEO of Lynx Corp. And his nuclear scientist, Dr. Shorter Wong. They're my bosses."
"Bosses?" Mizuno's smile faltered.
"Only Ash, technically." Shorter jumped in. "Eiji is his secretary."
"....secretary." He repeated. He looked at Eiji with confusion. Ah yes here we go. That look of bewilderment. He looked at Eiji with a questioning stare. Eiji shrugged, not really sure how to answer that. "I feel like we have a lot to catch up on." He said, looking at the cane on Eiji's hand.
"I don't want to cut your reunion short, but we are a little bit busy, aren't we Eiji?" Ash smiled at him, even more socially constipated. Shorter cleared his throat in the background, somehow shaking. What was up with him?
"We are?" Eiji raised a brow.
"Yes. I want to work on the presentation for tomorrow's conference." Ash declared.
"I finished reviewing it last night. You even emailed me back at 3 am, telling me that you don't have anything to change anymore." Eiji said flatly.
"Well I want to review it again." Ash insisted. "You're staying overnight in my apartment. I have a lot of things to change."
Ah. Yes, Ash Lynx's sudden demands. He could be a real piece of work to deal with sometimes. But there was no winning with Ash when he gets like this and Eiji knew better than to try.
"I'm sorry senpai, we have to leave early after all." He smiled at him. Poor Mizuno looked so lost. He glanced between the two of them, at Eiji's apologetic expression and Ash's steel like smile. Shorter's coughs only seemed to grow louder. Did he need a cough drop?
"Alright then. Until we meet again. See you later." He smiled back before walking away. That's just great, now Eiji was stuck with Ash for the rest of the night till tomorrow. And then he'd have to go back to his house for his suit. Ash didn't look the slightest bit apologetic, in fact he was grinning at him widely.
Eiji sighed. He drank the rest of his red wine in a single gulp. He loved his job sometimes.
On one hand, there were also moments that Eiji never expected to be in that came with the job description. Such moments were: trekking with native Americans to learn about different sustainable agricultural techniques and teaching them to other groups of farmers, crawling through the mud for a tree planting event by some youth organization which they had sponsored and Ash insisted on joining because was no way he wasn't planting in as well so Eiji got guilt tripped into joining, and right now, a science fair for their scholars program.
"Aslan doesn't show it much, but he actually likes kids." Griffin Callenreese, Ash's gentle hearted brother told Eiji. Griffin was the polar opposite of Ash. He was kind, gentle, meek. He was calm whereas Ash was brash. He was also very cheerful, always smiling where Ash was always in a grumpy scowl. Ash insisted it was because his mother was such a bitch while Griffin's was an actual angel. Griffin insisted that Ash was just really bad at showing his kindness.
Griffin was the head of all of Lynx Corp's outreach efforts and community services. He's basically the one behind all of their charity work and the likes.
Eiji stared at the blond who was listening eagerly to the kid who showed him what his machine could do, nodding along as he explained the science behind every single one. It was cute.
"I can see it." Eiji chuckled. "He's very enthusiastic about his work."
"He is. He's always been passionate about science as a kid. Watching him grow successful had made me happy." Griffin shared.
"Ash is proud of your work too. He keeps your poetry books in his office. He sometimes read them out loud to me. They're pretty good." Ash was proud of his brother who was also an author on the side. He took the time to read them to Eiji because he was too excited about his newly published writings. Ash didn't seem the type to read love poems to anybody, but he did anyway. And Eiji had to admit he sounded good whispering sweet words even if they were just to get in character.
"He did?" Griffin was surprised. "My brother never does that."
"Yeah he does. I decided to buy one copy for myself too. I don't suppose I can ask you to sign it?" Eiji laughed.
"Bring a book next time and maybe I will." Griffin grinned back.
"Eiji! Look it's a low budget desalination machine! Eiji! Come and look at this!" Ash called. Eiji knew that look. That look was ready to kiss the science gods on the lips over this new thing he found. Often Eiji saw that look in the labs.
So Eiji sighed fondly and let Ash prattle on about how that machine could help in preventing salt water intrusion in the ground water and help with the water problem in some countries. Especially the hotter climates.
The kid was introduced as Skipper who was a very lovable kid as well.
Well. Eiji could not deny that he did enjoy moments like these which he could only experience in this work and he’d think, it’s not really so bad after all.