2 comments/ 17804 views/ 2 favorites Balls in a Vice Ch. 01 By: _contortionist_ My name is Alex Givet, I'm 23 with only a mother and a sister left, I have my Masters and just graduated a few months ago. I was born and raised in Chicago, taught to treat everyone equally and with respect. Too bad that once someone loses my respect they get the mean side of me, but we'll come to that later. Unfortunately not everyone was raised with the same morals as me. But you'll see, I don't care what you think, I'm going to do what I love most; Men. I'm gay. I'm also a designer. No not that kind of designer you stereotypical idiots. I'm an architect. I graduated from university a mere three months ago and was on the job market for only two before a French company; Holstrum Engineering, snatched me up from North America and threw me in my very own design suite where I had 30 other architects, engineers, designers and marketing employees to collaborate with. Mission? To design the new stadium for the 2012 Olympics in Paris. Paris had some of the most amazing structural and architectural design known to the world, let alone Europe, and making the new stadium was not only an honour, but one of the biggest challenges any one of us would ever face. Now I had just arrived in France two days before and knew no one from my team or even in the country. So on Monday arriving at Holstrum Lieu with a briefcase full of designs and a stomach full of butterflies I swore to myself to be normal, this was a fresh start and already life was looking up. I got of the old service elevator and marvled at the flat that lay before me; it was windows for three of the four walls, the wide open space before me was only broken by large wooden pillars, all surrounded by tilted drawing tables or filing cabinates. Everything was either painted white, brass or made of wood, the oak flooring matched the support beams and even some of the tables, very modern/minimalist. In the far corner were long couches and fur rugs facing the windows, upon them I guessed, was my team, laughing and drinking coffee or tea as they caught up, suprisingly the main language in the conversations were english. When the service elevators doors ground shut the twenty-five odd people turned to look at me, many with smiles. I adjusted my tie. "Hi!" A lot of them chorused, one man walked foreward, his hands fluttering about his chest in a very... flaming, way. "He-llo Gorgeous! I'm Tyler Quinn. What's your name?" He asked as he took my briefcase and set it beside the largest table in the middle of the room, where I had stopped walking. "I'm Alex Givet." I introduced myself with a small wave as Quinn, as he preferred to be called, led me back to the group, standing me in front of the couches in center display. "Ohh the boss!" an incredibly curvy black woman said with a faint South African accent, "Et un Frenchie aussi!" A few chorused oohs and ahhs but I had to cut in; "Actually I'm not French, although I do speak it. I'm from Chicago." I let them gossip about that a little bit before also adding; "I'm also not 'the boss', I'm merely the team leader, no reason to treat me specially. Just call me Alex folks." I could noticably pick out the few that relaxed when I said that, and that was what I needed, if we were going to be a team, we all needed to be comfortable with one another. In a show that this was supposed to be relaxing and open I leaned back casually as people started introducing themselves, took off my tie and unbuttoned the first button of my light blue shirt. I got a lot of smiles. "Is everyone here?" I asked after a few minutes of trying to learn everyones names. A couple more people walked in as I was still repeating them. "We're waiting on two more people," Gabrielle, the striking African woman from earlier, answered. As she spoke though we heard the service elevator come to a halt on our floor, everyone looked expectantly towards the doors as they opened. A man and a woman walked out, laughing loudly with each other as they made their way towards the group. When I saw the woman I almost had a stroke, quickly I tried to asses her companion and then was very sure I was experiencing a near-death experience. "Lexy!" The woman screamed when she saw me, using the old nick-name she had given me in high-school. It was Dara, Dara Pierce. She ran towards me and soon had me enveloped in such a tight hug I had to concentrate on breathing, which thankfully took my attention away from the man she had come in with. "Dara what the hell are you doing here?!" I was able to articulate, holding her at arms length. Now you have to understand I love Dara to pieces; if I had been straight we would have been married with children by now, I just never thought I would ever, ever see her agian after I graduated! "I'm here to oversee your designs! I'm the director for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies!" Okay I had to scream with her for that, gay or not. Dara had created more than her fair share of celebrity productions and now had finally moved onto something huge. I turned to introduce her to my team and when she was involved with answering a few personal questions with my team I looked back up and my eyes connected with the man she had brought along. Robert Leeves. His family owned the marketing company that had donated their top people to my team, he was to be the marketing leader, and me the engineering leader, which meant we would be spending a lot of time together. Let me explain a few things; He was another high-school acquaintance. Robert had been the high-school quarterback, the lead bass in our choir, the richest kid and the one with the most girlfriends "under his belt", if you catch my meaning, my very literal meaning. He was also my first kiss. Balls in a Vice Ch. 02 My throat had gone dry. My first kiss, my first crush, my first fuck, was standing in the room looking at me with those ice-cold eyes I could have sworn I had fallen in love with. I couldn't speak. Luckily Dara jumped in for me, raising her arm to indicate Robert to everyone still sitting saying; "Marketing guys you'll recognize Mr. Leeves of Lee Enterprises here to be your team leader when Alex isn't around." As everyone turned to look at Robert, Dara twisted to me and quickly slapped me under my chin, effectively making my mouth close with an audible 'clack'. While everyone else had been looking at Robert though, he had been looking at me. A cruel twist of his lips let me know he had seen and was aware of every thought in my mind in this moment. I felt naked, but soon my duty to this team bubbled forth from me and before I knew it I was directing everyone like a real team leader. "So for today I'm going to get us all to split into our respective groups, Marketing with Leeves, Engineering with Gabrielle, Architecture with me. We'll meet up again in a few hours to collaborate. And just so you all know; Ms. Pierce here is the real boss." I joked with a bow to Dara before taking my team to the largest table in the centre of the room with my name on a small plaque at the top. I laid it flat before getting everyone to sit around it. "Okay so you guys are my main focus group here. I need us to be as comfortable with one another as if we had all seen each other naked, so everyone strip off the masks and let's get down to the real us because we're not going to make history if we're not all in." A few of them looked frightened and others had an air of respect about them so I knew I'd have to work a little harder to break down their walls. "I'm Alex, my biggest fear is rejection and my defining moment was ..." I had to stop myself, I had almost said I was gay out to all of them. My defining moment was when I had come out to my friends and family; when I knew who was true and who was not, it was imprinted on my mind for ever, but sharing that now, here, when I was supposed to be the keystone of this operation, it just didn't seem appropriate. "My defining moment was when I was asked to do this I think." the table laughed and then we went around and everyone shared something; "I'm Moneen. My biggest fear is heights, as you can tell I haven't looked out one of these windows yet." The table laughed again, "And my defining moment was when I found out I was pregnant." "I'm Jeremy, my biggest fear is failure and my defining moment is when I first saw the Vatican." Agreement flowed around the group. "Je m'appelle Claudé, ma plus grande crainte a ma coupure de voiture en bas dans les heures d'affluence, et mon moment définissant devrait est quand Julie a consenti à m'épouser." (My name is Claudé, my biggest fear is having my car break down in rush hour, and my defining moment would have to be when Julie agreed to marry me.) Julie beside him giggled and covered her mouth, unknowingly showing the ring on her fourth finger there. "Je m'appelle Julie." she rolled her eyes with a 'duh' look before continuing, "Ma plus grande crainte est des araignées et des souris, et mon moment définissant était quand j'ai été demandé d'être une partie d'une équipe avec l'Alex Givet infâme!" (My biggest fear is spiders and mice, and my defining moment was when I was asked to be a part of a team with the infamous Alex Givet!) I almost fell off my chair when half of the team sighed or jealously said they wished they had used that as their answer. How the hell had I become so popular?! True I had designed several buildings around the world but really? Was he this popular already? The team continued on; "I'm Randolph, my biggest fear is purgatory, and my defining moment was exploring Jerusalem." I tried not to feel uncomfortable about this answer, but couldn't help it when Randolph chose to look straight at me as he said it. I was suddenly glad for hiding my sexual orientation, at least for now. "I'm Onua, my biggest fear is running out of ramen in the world," the table laughed loud and hard, "My defining moment was winning an award for a building I designed in Japan." I nodded approvingly, Onua was my equal in every way and I knew now there was no animosity for me getting the team leader position between us. "My name is Tyler, but please call me Quinn, my defining moment was the first time I met my partner, we were both in Times Square for New Years Eve when our eyes met from across the courtyard, and we just... knew." Almost everyone 'awwe'd. I smiled, a little disappointed in myself for not having the balls to do what Quinn had just done, and started to listen to his biggest fear when suddenly my eyes caught those ice-blue ones from across the room and the only noise in my ears was the rushing of blood as my heart skipped into double-time. Robert just smirked and looked back to his team, diving straight back into conversation. I tried to listen to Stacy's and Bruno's introductions but their words flew by as I tried to figure everything out. How did this man still make me feel like a teenager? In one moment he had me hard for him, and another he make me want to sink into depression. And he had only be reintroduced into my life again for an HOUR. Balls in a Vice Ch. 03 Moneen, sitting to my left, nudged me lightly, only then did I realize the table was waiting for me to commence the design process. I shook my head and started laying out details that Paris felt necessary to the arena as my group took out their sketch pads and began roughing out some images. Leaving them I rolled up my sleeves and began walking around the tables, sitting in for a few minutes on each discussion going on. The engineering team was having a little trouble deciding which material would be best so I suggested they wait until they see some of the designs until they choose, hoping that would make it easier for them. The marketing team was having a great time, their ideas didn't stop flowing for the duration that I sat there, each one better then the last. They even suggested a radical idea of hanging the Olympic flag from the Eiffel Tower, moreso jokingly but when they looked at me for confirmation I held up my hands; "Don't do it on my account! Why not ask the president first?" they laughed and went back to talking when I felt those cold eyes on me again. Breathing deeply I reminded myself that I had promised to be myself. And I was a strong-willed, outgoing guy, it was time for action. I walked over to Robert and put a hand on the back of his chair, leaning my hip on the table beside him. He looked from where my hip rested, (instantly making me a little to warm for my liking), letting his gaze linger over my torso as his sight made it's way up to my face. When his eyes rested on my neck and collarbone for a little to long and I saw his tongue dart out and wet his lips I cleared my throat to get his attention. "So what brought you to my design studio Rob?" I asked, using the name he had asked me to use with him when we were together, specifically when we were making love. I was hoping to make him feel as uncomfortable as his presence was making me. "Well you know my company--" he had started in a condescending tone so I cut him off; "I know that Rob, why are you here? Any associate could have filled in for this position, but the VP of the company sitting here in front of me? Seems like a little much." I joked around, not intending on making him laugh at all. Crossing my arms I watched him exhale roughly. "The Olympics is 'a little much' for a company like ours." he said quietly after taking in a large breath, his eyes clouding over a little, which what I wasn't sure; anger? frustration? fatigue? "Yet, I don't recall you being at the 2010 Winter Olympics," I leaned down a little and whispered, glad his table was still engrossed in their discussion, making it look like we were just having a small conference between us. "I was busy then." he looked at me to drop the subject as he stood to go get a coffee from the machine in the other corner. Hah! I was just getting started. "How is the wife anyways?" I asked following casually. "Divorced." he grumbled, taking a paper cup and opening two sugar packs into it. "But you already knew that." "Mmm, I thought I had heard something of the sort, just thought I'd clear it up. So now to the real reason you're here." I demanded, opening a tea bag and dropping it into a hot cup of water. "To make sure you don't fuck up." My jaw dropped and I looked over at him with wide eyes. He was looking straight ahead, around the room and the team assembled. Only when I saw that small shift of his eyes to gauge my reaction did I know he had made a joke. Robert Leeves had made a joke. "Insulting little fucker," I chuckled and looked back down at what I was doing. Rob just smiled, laughter in his voice as he stated; "I thought you were going to have a conniption for a second there." "I think I did, but lord knows you've made me have enough of those I'm fair sure I've grown immune." I turned to look across the room as well, watching as my team worked hard. I glanced at my watch before leaving Robert at the drink table and saying to the room; "That's good for now guys, il est midi maintenant et je sais que vous êtes tout affamé, so go get some lunch and be back around 1:30." My French wasn't great but I was pretty sure I had said they all must be hungry seeing as it was noon... at least I hoped I had. Watching people crowd onto the elevator I started wandering around the room looking at the ideas and designs on the tables, nodding at some and raising my eyebrows at others. Some didn't even deserve consideration. I was in the middle of picking up two, placing them back to back and holding them to the sunlight streaming through the window, comparing the designs and seeing if they could work together when Robert came up behind me. He stood directly behind me, close enough that I could feel the edge of his suit jacket brush against my back as he reached over my shoulder, took the top page and flipped it around, replacing it in my hands. His breath was hot against my neck and shoulder as he said; "It fits better now, and is more visually appealing. If you raised the backdrop it could be a great design." "Sorry, but who's the Architect major here?" I joked, turning my head to look at him over my shoulder, our bodies incredibly close now. "Excuse me," he held up his hands and backed up a few steps, a small smile playing over his thin lips. "I was just going to the deli downstairs to pick up a sandwich. You want anything?" "Um, just a bagel thanks," I took out my wallet and pulled out a 20 franc note, handing it to him before returning to the designs I had been holding up. When I heard the stairwell door close I turned to look in the direction he had left, smiling when I noticed he had left the note on my table.