Tokyo Ink (Gay SF Erotica)

something … he didn’t know what, sinking. Why would a rich man like Magnus Valnyk do what Gabe wanted? Gabe was danshou . A beautiful danshou , talented and accomplished, but still danshou . For a single moment, a flare of jealousy ignited and blocked everything else, even the Code, from his mind.
    Tetsu leaned against the elevator wall. He wasn’t sure if he was feeling faint or if the elevator was stopping. He wasn’t ready to meet Valnyk yet -- not until he knew. Grabbing Gabe’s arm, he pulled the dancer closer. “Is he your danna ?”
    Gabe’s smile was dark and unreadable. Gently he took Tetsu’s hand and pulled him away from the wall. The elevator doors slid open behind him, but not before he quietly answered. “Magnus Valnyk is my father.”
    The elevator opened onto an entry room covered with a single cut tatami mat. The room served as a genkan , and Tetsu numbly watched Gabe slip off the sandals Tetsu had stolen yesterday. When Tetsu continued to stare at the sandals, Gabe dropped to his knees and removed Tetsu’s shoes and socks. Still on his knees, Gabe looked up at Tetsu. His head was tilted a little to the left, but the slate blue eyes were focused on Tetsu.
    “I need my father to meet the man who shot Jun Shugoro and outwitted Obara no Ryuu last night.”
    Tetsu felt his own gaze narrow, and his professional mask settled into place. Behind it was confusion and shock. He knew Valnyk had a son. With family assassinations a frequent negotiating point in merger talks, pictures of the young man were rare -- and blond. Neither was the son's name Gabe. Tetsu rummaged through his brain.
    Tetsu pinched the collar point of Gabe's shirt. "Dillon?"
    "Yeah, better go with that. Don't call me...you know..."
    Tetsu pulled his hand back. His arms fell straight to his sides. “I don’t see why you didn’t tell me.”
    Gabe cocked a surprised brow in Tetsu’s direction as he swiftly stood up and faced the door that shut the entry room off from the rest of the floor.
    “Right, dumb question,” Tetsu agreed. Tetsu’s life would still be forfeit if he showed up at Iyashii, but there were a dozen other companies in the city that would pay a king’s ransom to not only have Magnus Valnyk’s son as their hostage but to know that the young man had certain… tendencies. But that meant Gabe didn’t trust him. Fair enough. He was still worried the little danshou was playing him.
    He nodded at the door. “Let’s meet Daddy, then.”
    * * *
    An hour later, Tetsu had the feeling no one had ever called Magnus Valnyk “Daddy.” Gabe, when he called his father anything, referred to him as Magnus with an undertone of longstanding animosity. It was as if “Magnus” were some truce father and son had arrived at -- some middle ground between “Father” and “Mr. Valnyk.”
    He’d figure that out later. Right now he was still busy convincing Valnyk that Gabe had recruited him before last night’s shooting. More than that, he had to convince Valnyk that he was of continuing use in bringing down Iyashii. He had two weeks to make his case. Less than that because of the time he would need to set up a secure location with the right equipment.
    Tetsu finished typing up a list on the laptop Valnyk had provided. He turned the screen around so Valnyk and Gabe could read it. They both looked slightly confused.
    Valnyk scrolled through the requested items. “Why just components?”
    “Because I don’t trust you, Mr. Valnyk, any more than you trust me.” There were other reasons, of course. He’d programmed the security breaches into Iyashii’s system years before Gabe had first danced his way into the tea room. He’d done it at other companies, too, all in the name of serving the Code. He’d shown others the way in, but none knew how to deconstruct his work.
    In the hands of Valnyk’s programmers? They’d shred it eventually. Maybe it would take six months or a year and dozens of them working on it. After that, it would only be a matter of time before they realized his was a betrayal broader in scope than just one man against one company.
    “You’ll have it as you wish,” Valnyk said after a few seconds. “But not here in Nu Edo. Iyashii has a full hit squad out on you both.”
    Valnyk’s irises were a pale blue that bordered on white, and it was easy to track his gaze as his attention shifted between Tetsu and Gabe. Tetsu could tell that the man was still trying to figure out just how involved his son