Dai-na: Well, time to start part three. I hope there are no surprises like last time. I don’t think my heart could take it. I’m so delicate.
Ken: (Gags) no comment.
Yamato: It’s too easy…
Yami: (shows surprising lack of self-preservation instincts) Delicate my butt. You’re just a pervert.
Dai-na: Is that right?
Yami: …..um…..um……yah!!!!!(runs away with Dai-na chasing him)
Ken: Baka. Well, Dai-na-sama won’t be back for a while and Yami probably won’t ever be back—
Yamato: So we’ll take over for now. All the normal stuff applies. Please enjoy the story, for our sakes.
The sun shone down on the two boys who walked side by side down the street, oblivious to their surroundings, they were absorbed by the feelings of contentment that flowed over them, merely by being in each other’s presence. It had been about an hour since their awkward breakfast; a near half-hour filled with knowing looks from Mokuba and the memories of what they had nearly done on that very table only hours before, made the meal very silent and very tenuous. Once he’d finished with his own food, Seto had practically dragged Yami out of the mansion. They’d since then been walking towards the game shop.
Seto sighed inwardly. He knew that he needed to talk to both of the boys that seemed to have enraptured him but, for the life of him, he couldn’t think of a single thing that he could say.
Letting his mind drift, he thought back to the first few times that he’d actually noticed Yugi. First he had been an interesting challenge, but still nothing more than a minor roadblock to what he was trying to achieve. Then Yugi/Yami had beaten him and had become his humiliation. But, in retrospect, that loss had changed his life forever. And for the better. Until then, he had been like a lifeless marionette with only one thought in mind.
Win.
And that’s what he had done until the day he battled Yugi Motou and reality had come crashing down around him. Maybe that was when all these mysterious feelings had started to form. The moment when he’d actually started feeling again.
In his rampant life, he had shut everything off, letting the drive carry him, the need to move forward to achieve his goal, so that he would always be able to protect Mokuba. Somewhere in the midst of things, he stopped focusing on his reasons and had become obsessed with the quest for power. He’d almost always been at school or at work, never at home with the brother he was trying to protect, He’d rarely slept or ate and he’d begun to look awful. He had no doubt that if Yugi hadn’t beaten him when he did, he would have been dead within two months, at the most. After the duel, he’d had nothing left and had no other option but to rest. To rest and to mull over the events that led to his downfall and to think about the child who’d beaten him. Oh he knew that Yugi was the same age as he, they were in the same class, that was how the whole mess got started, but still, he couldn’t see Yugi as anything but a child. An innocent with those huge violet eyes that had shimmered at him from the beginning, eyes that sympathized and cared, eyes that, to Seto Kaiba, had seemed to mock his strength, his ability, but had still shimmered at him, calling out to him like sparkling amethysts that had been drafted to shine in the stars’ stead…. Seto blinked as he remembered that.
‘Oh yeah, that’s definitely when I fell.’
Then as the world had become less hazy and dull, as his motivation came back to priority, things became visible to him.
Yami became visible to him. In those weeks after he’d been defeated, the world had become harder, brighter, hotter. Everything was painful and dangerous.
And he had never felt more alive.
During their battle in the Duelist Kingdom, at that moment when he knew that, despite his Ultimate Blue-Eyes, he had once again lost to Yugi; buried beneath the desperation and his foolish pride, he had taken joy in it. He had been thrilled that it hadn’t just been a fluke. Elated that he’d finally found his ultimate challenge. And he’d been completely oblivious to it the whole time.
All of his memories seemed to be such a blurred haze in his mind that he had no idea when he’d made the distinction that Yugi and Yami were two separate people. To entities that shared one body and similar souls but two entirely different minds.
He wasn’t so sure how accurate that ‘one body’ remark was though. Sure they looked almost identical but as he looked at Yami who walked alongside him, and knew that Yugi was at the game shop, he wondered just how it worked.
“Seto?”
Yami’s voice from beside him pulled him out of his thoughts. He turned to see his slender lover looking at him with concern shining in his shimmering, magenta eyes.
“Are you all right? You’re awfully quiet.” Seto smiled at him and wrapped an arm around him waist.
“I’m fine, just thinking.” He assured.
“About what?” Seto laughed softly. Sometime it seemed as though Yugi was beginning to rub off on his alter persona.
“You.”
Yami blinked in surprise then blushed.
Seto practically purred and pulled him closer.
“Kawaii.” He murmured, nuzzling his face in the other boy’s soft hair. Yami’s eyes widened at the display of public affection.
“S-Seto! People are watching us!”
“So?” He asked against his hair. Yami pulled back just enough to meet the other boy’s azure eyes.
“You don’t care if people know we’re together?” There was an odd note in his voice and Seto picked up on it instantly. He stopped and gave Yami a tender gaze, bringing a hand up to cradle his cheek.
“I don’t care if your friends find out. I care about you and I care about Yugi. I want you two to be happy.” Yami fought back the urge to cry.
“Yugi will be relieved. He didn’t want to hide this from the others.”
Seto gave him a knowing look.
“Neither did you.”
Yami nodded with a sigh. Then something about Seto’s earlier sentence caught his attention.
“They could be your friends too. They want to. You just have to let them.” Seto looked skyward for a moment and Yami was sure that he hadn’t imagined the wistfulness in his eyes.
“Maybe… Friends aren’t something I’m used to, or even sure I want.” He looked at the sad expression on Yami’s face. “But, for you and Yugi, I will try and be civil. I make no promises where Jounouchi is concerned, though.” He took great delight in watching Yami laugh, the rich, honeyed sound reverberating through his mind.
His arm still around the Game King’s waist, holding him close, they finished the rest of the walk back to the shop.
They entered, the bell on the door ringing as they did, and Yami was about to say something to Yugi who sat by the counter, when he saw who was next to him and froze. He felt Seto tense beside him and pull his arm away. He didn’t blame him.
“Yami!” Tea exclaimed as she caught sight of him and he groaned inwardly. Did she half to squeal like that? He resisted the urge to cover his ears. He growled in frustration, softly enough that she wouldn’t hear. This was the last thing he wanted right now. Sure, Tea was a friend, and a good one, but that’s all she was and she didn’t seem to get that. She blew her chance when Yugi had fawned over her, still denying his own feelings for Seto. Now they both loved the blue-eyed boy and readily admitted it, to themselves and him anyway.
Yugi gave them an apologetic look and his gaze lingered on Seto longingly. He noticed and smiled back at the small boy, his amazingly unguarded eyes speaking volumes. Yugi almost gasped before a wide grin spread across his face. They just stood there, staring at each other for a moment.
Tea, of course, was oblivious to the whole thing, centered on Yami who was the full focus of her attention. Eventually Seto, who was getting fed up with seeing the girl ogle one of his loves, cleared his throat, alerting her to his presence. The startled girl jumped a bit, surprised to see him.
“Oh! Seto, what are you doing here?”
The agitated billionaire fought back the urge to snap at the girl for being rude. Instead he kept his voice icy and his eyes detached.
“I came to speak with Yugi and Yami.” If the girl even noticed the hostile undertones in his voice, she didn’t let on. It took all his self-control not to throttle her when she just stood there, blinking expectedly.
Sighing, Yugi went over to his friend.
“Anou… Tea, I think he meant that he wanted to talk to us in private. Tea blinked a bit more before lowering her eyes, her sensing returning slightly. She looked back up at Seto, an apologetic smile on her face. The brunette felt his ire fading a bit.
“Oh, well then, I guess I’ll be going. See you at school tomorrow, Yugi.”
With a nod to Seto and a quick wave at Yami, she left.
Seto sighed deeply and sank into a chair, letting his eyes slide shut for a moment. The emotions in him were getting just a little too overwhelming for his own comfort.
Jealousy; that was a new one. Who had he, Seto Kaiba, ever had to be jealous of? Ever since he had acknowledged and, unwittingly, accepted his feelings for Yugi and his Yami, it was as if he’d opened a floodgate on his emotions that he’d kept reigned in so tightly for years, sending them spiraling, swirling and mixing into an inescapable tidal wave that threatened to drown him if he wasn’t careful.
When he opened his eyes again he found his diminutive love sitting in his lap, staring up at him with wide violet eyes. Seto smiled tenderly and pressed a small kiss to his forehead before pulling him close, letting the boy’s head rest on his shoulder. Yugi sighed appreciatively and cuddled up to him.
He swallowed hard at the contentment that washed over him. His chest was constricting almost painfully and his eyes stung. Shaking slightly, he realized that the tears were threatening to spill over.
Feeling him shake, Yugi looked up at him concerned and frowned when he saw the tears that adorned his ice-blue eyes. He reached up and brushed them away before they could fall. This only seemed to make him shake more.
“What’s wrong?” He whispered softly, afraid to upset him further.
Seto shook his head lightly, holding him closer.
“It’s a little much, Yu-chan.” He murmured, using the nickname that the smaller boy delighted in. “Two days ago I didn’t even know if I liked either of you, in any way, but today, I’m not only helplessly in love with both of you but I realized that I have been for a long time. It’s all hitting me at once.” Yami came over and placed a comforting hand on his free shoulder as Yugi smiled and nuzzled against Seto’s neck.
“Grandfather left for a few days to go to a dealer’s convention and he said that we could run the shop if we wanted; but that we didn’t have to.” Seto felt him smile against his throat. “Maybe we should close early today.” The suggestive tone of his voice was impossible to miss.
He couldn’t help but laugh outright.
“How can some one who looks so innocent be so…” He trailed off searching for the right word and coming up blank.
“Are you saying I’m naughty?” The pout that painted Yugi’s artful features was utterly delectable and made him laugh that much harder. He shifted the boy in his lap so that he was straddling his hips. Yugi wrapped his arms around the taller boy’s neck.
Seto’s eyes gleamed hungrily as he let his hands explore the impish boy’s lower back.
“Oh, I hope so.” He placed little, teasing kisses on the pouting lips.
He suppressed a moan of disappointment when Yugi left his lap but he stood and allowed his lovers to drag him upstairs and sit him on the bed in their room.
Yami went back downstairs to put up the ‘closed’ sign and to lock the door while Yugi went into the bathroom; leaving him alone with his thoughts. Things had changed so drastically for him over the past two days. His entire perspective had been flipped upside-down. Yugi seemed to have that effect on him. He vaguely wondered how the others would react when they found out. Mokuba’s supposed reaction had been favorable but he wasn’t really expecting Yugi and Yami’s friends to take it as well.
It didn’t really matter. In the end they would all be happy for them. They were too closely knit to let anything like that cause a rift between them . He thought back to Yami’s earlier words and wondered what it would be like to be that close to them.
He sighed and leaned back against the pillows.
Maybe someday…
“I don’t believe this.”
Yugi blinked when he heard Yami’s amused voice and came out of the bathroom to look at his other questioningly.
“What is it?” Yami stepped out of the way and pointed to the bed. Yugi struggled not to laugh. Laying on the bed where they had left him was Seto, fast asleep.
“Should we wake him?”
Yami smiled softly and wrapped his arm around his light half’s waist. The smaller boy leaned into him as he kissed his forehead.
“No, let him sleep. We have time.” They went over to the bed and laid down on either side of him, holding him, and each other. They laid there, not sleeping, just holding their emotionally exhausted lover as the day passed slowly by them.
They would have time later, but for now, this was more than enough.
~~Owari~~
Ken: Well, that was it. Sorry about the lack of lemon; that was Dai-na’s specialty.
Yamato: What do you know? She’s actually good for something.
Ken: I wonder if Yami’s still alive.
Yamato: I wonder if he’s still identifiable.
Ken: We’re not sure if Dai-na’s going to continue this. She’s working on a companion story now so if she does write more chapters it will be later. Please tell her what you think.