The bane of existence, the scourge of every wonderful week, the downfall of emperors and kings, the doom to all over-stressed, over-dressed workaholics: Monday morning. One bleary eye blinked open to stare at the old-fashioned face of Johnny's antiquated clock. He'd never had to bother with an alarm clock, and so the small clock on his nightstand was all he'd ever needed.

However, his body's personal alarm clock had never had the distraction of having a rather handsome, warm, all-too appealing body curled next to him during the night. It had also never had the luck of hearing Ten mumble sleepy protest when Johnny had tried to get up. Which would explain why he should have been in the office two hours ago and why his phones, both the normal one and the mobile, were both ringing rather insistently.

Johnny yawned, tuning the phones out and turning his head to gaze down at Ten's sleeping face. The younger man was cuddled into his side, arms and legs wrapped around him, head resting gently on Johnny's ribs. With a smile and much gentle maneuvering, Johnny managed to slide out of the bed. He tucked his pillow into Ten's arms, waited a few minutes to make sure that the sleeping man was still asleep, and then went to answer the phone.

"Irene, don't say a word. I'll be into the office in a bit," he said into the phone, voice cold and biting. There was silence on the other end of the line, and he would have thought that no one was there if he hadn't known his assistant so well. "I need you to make a couple of arrangements, and make them quickly. Got it?" he added the last to make sure that Irene hadn't done something stupid, like fainted or hung up.

"Yes, sir!" his assistant answered quickly. "Before I make those arrangements though, sir, would you like me to kiss your ?" she continued, her tone imitating his.

Johnny grinned. "No, thank you. I do need breakfast brought by the apartment, though. For one. I won't be here, but the delivery boy can knock. I'll let the guard downstairs know."

There was another pause on the other side, and he waited, smiling knowingly. However, true to form, Irene didn't question it. "Of course. Anything specific? Or just something short and quick?"

"Take your pick. Something more than I would normally eat, I think. Which is my next request: I need someone to go grocery shopping for things that are fairly easy to make. Enough for two people per meal. I also need someone to pick up some clothes, but I want to talk to you about that situation in person."

"Done," Irene said. There was a noise in the background, and then she said seriously, "Johnny, I expect full details when you get here in an hour."

"Who said anything about an hour?" Johnny said teasingly.

"Seo , you will be here in an hour, or I will personally be dragging you, and whoever you're with, out of bed."

"Gods, Irene, what side of the bed did you get out of today?" Johnny asked.

There was a snort from her end. "At least I got out of bed," she replied, sounding amused. "I'm sending the car for you now, so you have about twenty minutes. In one hour, you have a meeting with the board, and after that, you have lunch with the broker who's helping you buy up all that stock you wanted. Wear the gray suit with the blue tie, and don't forget to bring your wallet. I'm not buying another lunch for you."

"Yes, ma'am," Johnny said. "I love you, Irene. You're wonderful, you know that?"

The pause that time was longer. "Johnny, I don't know what the hell you're up to today. Just be ready in fifteen and we'll figure it out when you get here. Fifteen minutes."

"Got it," he said. He hung up the phone and went to get ready for work.

^*^*^*^*^

Dressed and as organized as he felt like getting, Johnny took his last five minutes to wake up Ten. He didn't have the time to wake him as he had the day before, so he simply shook Ten's shoulder, waited for brown eyes to blink open, and kissed the younger man soundly on the lips.

He pulled back, and brushed Ten's hair out of his eyes. "I have to go to work. It's almost ten thirty. I don't know what time you have class, but if you're late or you don't really want to go, go ahead and wait around here. Breakfast should be arriving in the next half hour, or so." He leaned in and kissed Ten's cheek. "I won't be back until this evening, but I'll bring dinner."

"Mm? 'Kay," Ten muttered sleepily. He raised himself up enough to press a kiss against Johnny's cheek in return. "I'll see you tonight." With that, he sank back onto the bed, curled himself around Johnny's pillow, and went back to sleep.

Johnny smiled bemusedly. A glance at his watch showed that his time was dwindling, so he took one last glance at Ten and left, tucking his briefcase under his arm and making sure that his keys were in his pocket as he walked to the door.

^*^*^*^*^

"Damn it, Johnny, you've only been in the office for ninety seconds. If you don't focus on me in the next thirty, I'm throwing you out the window, kidnapping the woman at your apartment, and taking over the world with my ballpoint pen," Irene said threateningly. She'd been standing in front of Johnny for at least three minutes, and the man continued to stare off into space.

Hazel eyes blinked back in her direction, scanning her face and eyes with a piercing look that was at odds with his inattention. "I'm perfectly fine, Irene. Stop nagging like a mother hen and update me on the Leechaiyakul report."

Irene smiled, taking a step back and going into full-business mode. Within fifteen minutes, they'd hashed out the last details, created a course of action for the next three days, and had managed to arrange everything so that, much to Johnny's delight, he had most of the following day off.

"And it's not for you to be gallivanting around with your latest conquest-" Irene stopped suddenly in mid-lecture, her eyes narrowing as she recalled something. "-In- your apartment?"

"Yup," he confirmed with a nod.

"Breakfast? And clothes?"

"Yes, and yes again." His grin was turning into a smirk as her whole expression changed to one of utter shock. He had expected her to be surprised, and he wasn't disappointed. What he wasn't expecting was for her to haul off and hit him on the side of his head with the manila folders she was holding in her hands.

"Damn it all, Johnny. This is not the time to be letting your hormones get the best of you. We have three days before the deal with Leechaiyakul Corp. goes down, and we need you in top form on Thursday to deal with the elder Leechaiyakul so that all of our hard work is something more than a waste of time. Please tell me that it's some high-society, high-profile drama queen who's got enough social standing to be useful to us?"

"Relax, Irene. He's not a conquest, and he won't impede the negotiations. Everything is on schedule, and even ahead of it at the moment. I have everything under control. You must really be under a lot of stress if it took you all this time to make that connection, by the way."

Her eyes narrowed, and her normally beautiful face twisted into a scowl. "Seo , you will listen to me, and you will listen well. You say that you have everything under control, but you just drank a cup of my green tea without realizing that it wasn't your coffee, and you just referred to your