Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! belongs to Takahashi Kazuki, not me. Cry. D:

Warnings: Sex. Language. Either minor D/s elements, or just Kaiba being Kaiba and Ryou getting off on it; I can't really decide. D:

Hand Advantage

In public, they are strangers.

They're classmates, of course, but they do an excellent job of pretending they aren't even that; Bakura stays on the edges of Yuugi's little group and Seto simply ignores him like he ignores the rest of the class. To treat him any differently would be telling the whole school that they're together, and it's very much none of their business.

They certainly aren't lovers. Seto is very clear on that point - there is no love involved. There is convenience on his part and he isn't sure what Bakura feels in return, but if it's love he's deluding himself, and the sooner he comes to terms with that the better.

There is affection. Never in public (they both loathe the idea, even if for rather different reasons), but it is there. To his credit Bakura has never questioned it, or remarked that he wouldn't have thought Seto capable of something as warm and human as affection for affection's sake; he simply soaks up what he's given and returns it in his own shy, sometimes strange ways, always on Seto's terms. He understands Seto as much as anyone can, or at least understands what Seto wants and doesn't want.

And so he understands that whatever they are, they aren't boyfriends. That's just what the tabloids would call them, and if Bakura finds it strange to think of things in those terms he keeps it to himself. Like so many things.

He can keep most of them; Seto is a terrible shoulder to cry on, he's never been a fan of tabletop RPGs, and he wants nothing to do with the "ancient magic" of the Sen'en Items. But there are some things hiding in Bakura's head that are... more to Seto's liking.

Drawing them out is a game - one that Yuugi will never best him at.

For all that he seems to understand their arrangement, Bakura does go against it on occasion. Not often enough to arouse much suspicion, but too often, nonetheless. The arrangement itself is on shaky, untraveled ground (though Seto hardly intends to tell Bakura as much). Not having it entirely on his terms is... unsettling.

When he steps out of his office to find Bakura waiting for him, he freezes, just for a moment. He needs that second to shift between the radically different roles of CEO and - and whatever it is that he is to Bakura. Perhaps it's simply that not-knowing that makes it so difficult.

"I know you'd rather I didn't come here." Bakura's voice is quieter than usual, hardly more than whisper. He ducks his head, stares at the floor, and offers a tiny shrug. "I'll leave, if you'd like. But I... I wanted to be with you tonight."

"You wanted to have sex with me, you mean." The words come without much thought involved - Bakura's phrasing is too vague for Seto's liking, and their lack of a relationship is too complex to have room for that. But the way Bakura squirms with embarrassment is not an undesirable side effect by any means. It's not much of a challenge to push Bakura's buttons, but somehow that hasn't yet taken the fun out of it.

"Ah... yeah."

Though not much less vague in itself, that answer doesn't really leave any room for doubt. They're alone, though, and Bakura's reactions to being flustered are so fascinating - and he actually likes to be flustered. He gets off on being taunted and teased and made to say things that are absolutely filthy by his standards, and Seto gets off on doing it. There are certainly reasons their arrangement has lasted as long as it has.

With a smirk usually reserved for dueling opponents or particularly idiotic businessmen, Seto steps forward and lifts Bakura's chin with his fingertips until their eyes meet. "Tell me what you want, Bakura."

Bakura reacts very predictably to being caught off-guard with physical contact. He goes perfectly still, hardly breathing, and sometimes - like now - he seems to forget to start moving again once the surprise has passed. Seto can all but see the gears turning over in his head as he walks the line between arousal and humiliation, searching for the words that make the difference.

"I want..." he starts. Then he falters.

"Yes?"

"Sex," he finally manages to blurt out. "I want to have sex with you, I - I... please..." The raw need in his voice makes up for his inability to find just the right words, and Seto lets it rest at that. He isn't cruel, after all - and it would be cruel to toy with Bakura further, as even the briefest of glances downwards proves. Letting go the shorter boy's chin, he slides his hand down to roughly cup the evidence pressing against Bakura's jeans.

"Seems like you're telling the truth," he says, and he doesn't think he's ever seen Bakura's face go so red.

Though they keep their respective hands to themselves in the limo, they're both exceptionally eager by the time they reach the privacy of Seto's bedroom. The moment the door is locked behind them Bakura leans up to press a soft, almost innocent kiss to the corner of Seto's mouth - or at least it would be innocent were he not pressing the rest of him against Seto, too. Chest to chest, groin to groin - and Seto doubts he realizes just what he's doing, but it makes an impact nonetheless.

"If you're going to kiss me," he murmurs against Bakura's lips, "you should do it properly."

They don't often kiss; Seto has theories as to why, but ultimately it's none of his business. He's content to enjoy the exceptions when they present themselves. Bakura seems to be enjoying this one just as much, for he presses even closer - and now it can't be accidental that he's grinding against Seto, moaning almost obscenely at the friction and giving as good as he gets.

Outside of this room, it's hard to imagine Bakura doing anything remotely assertive. Judging purely by the way he acts at school, Seto wouldn't think him much of a duelist, and simply wouldn't believe him capable of speaking up enough to control a character in his beloved RPGs (let alone command others as a Game Master). But when it comes to things he's passionate about...

(Seto isn't always sure what he thinks of that, of knowing that he is one of those things. It brushes dangerously close to levels of attachment he isn't willing to participate in.)

Bakura doesn't protest when Seto slides his hands under his shirt, and he obediently breaks away from the kiss to let Seto pull it over his head. He's delightfully flushed and flustered, panting open-mouthed to try and catch his breath. "No fair, Kaiba-kun," he complains, laughing, even as he gives Seto another quick kiss - on the cheek, this time. "Stealing my clothes when I can't steal yours..." As if to prove his point he touches Seto's arm, fumbling half-heartedly with one of the belts there.

"There's nothing stopping -" But he stops there, as Bakura's fingers fall still and he seems to shrink into himself. Seto touches his lips to silence him before he can apologize. "Never mind." He doesn't apologize, either, at least not in so many words, but Bakura smiles up at him as though he understands. (Maybe it's only an act. He wouldn't be the first person to play at being on Seto's level to impress him - but if it is an act, it's at least a decent one, and so Seto lets it slide. It isn't anything more personal, more fond, than that. He won't allow it to be.)

He undresses himself because Bakura won't, and he takes his time, too, because it's yet another way to make Bakura squirm. Once his clothes are neatly folded and set aside he turns to see Bakura, already naked himself, waiting on the bed with his legs drawn shyly up to his chest... though that shyness doesn't keep him from almost pouncing on Seto as soon as he sits down, gently pushing him back against the pillows.

Timid hands slide down from his shoulders to his chest, then his sides - slow, careful movements that aren't in themselves sexual. Bakura seems to like simply touching, mapping out Seto's body with his fingers and a feather-light touch, and Seto rarely complains. It's one thing in his life that's calm, and quiet, and blissfully predictable. He doesn't need to calculate and run simulations and spend hours hunched over his deck to win these games.

Bakura isn't his rival. He's just...

"You think too much." Bakura says that kindly, though it doesn't matter much. Nothing he says is ever meant as an insult. "Don't you ever... stop? Not that you don't have a lot to think about," he's quick to add.

The idea of not thinking is incomprehensible to Seto - there isn't time for that. "Do you?" he asks. Then he thinks better of pausing to have a conversation, so he pushes Bakura to the bed beside him and rolls over until their positions are reversed. Bakura doesn't seem to mind that Seto isn't so gentle when he pins him down against the bed, holding those timid, inquisitive hands out of the way as he starts to nibble and suck along Bakura's shoulder. He has such beautiful skin that the urge to mark it as his own is almost irresistible.

He's also not terribly good at taking hints.

"Sometimes," Bakura says, even as he tips his head back to give Seto better access to his neck. "When we're - ah...!" There's a sensitive spot just under his ear that never fails to gain some kind of reaction; it's a simple way to end inconveniently-timed conversations and draw out all manner of interesting sounds.

In sharp contrast to the way he is at school, Bakura is anything but quiet in bed. He tries to be. When he's able, he'll cover his mouth with his hands, or press his face into the pillows. It's because of this that Seto finds such amusement in holding Bakura's hands above his head. Bakura likes to touch, but Seto likes to look, and listen. And think. Not thinking would take all the fun out of it, not to mention the point.

(One could argue that he thinks in the wrong ways. This is ultimately a game to him; not just a game, because that would imply he takes his games anything less than utterly seriously, but a game nonetheless, and he can't help but think of it in those terms. That this game has no set victory condition or predefined end makes it no less of a challenge. That the rules are unwritten and fluid only makes it more interesting.)

He also likes to touch, though not, he assumes, for the same reasons as Bakura. Instead of exploring, once he releases Bakura's hands he reaches for the places that coax out the sharpest reactions - not the obvious places, not at first, but the hidden ones. That spot below Bakura's ear. The back of his knee. His scars, which don't seem to be off-limits as long as Seto doesn't ask questions. Each caress and bite draws out a different noise, different flavors of whimpers, moans, and gasps that Bakura tries so hard to hold back.

When Seto's hand slips from his hip to between his legs, though, Bakura forgets all about being quiet. Seto strokes him almost lazily, in no particular hurry to do anything but watch and listen. There's beauty in the way Bakura's back arches, the way he presses urgently up into Seto's hand, the way his eyes flutter closed as his mouth opens and each breath becomes a gasp. To take someone so closed-off and quiet and bring him here pleases Seto more than anything physical ever could, and he thinks he could spend hours just watching, basking in the knowledge that he is the only one to see this.

Bakura is not so patient. His noises start to form words, half-coherent gasps of "please" and "Kaiba-kun", and Seto shows him some mercy by not making him specify exactly what he's begging for. He pushes, and pushes, because part of the game is breaking Bakura out of his perfect, proper shell - but he's always careful not to push too hard. Bakura is fragile like technology in beta, like holograms when the projector's on the fritz. Seto can't win the game by breaking the pieces.

The nightstand is just within reach, so he needn't stop what he's doing to find the bottle of lubricant. Stopping might have helped - as it is, it takes more fumbling than he had intended, but hearing Ryou break out laughing is almost worth it. "Quiet, you," he grumbles anyway. He does have something of a reputation to uphold.

"But don't you like it when I'm not quiet?" Bakura manages to get his laughter under control in time to sound completely innocent - but Seto knows better. Even Bakura can be devious when he puts his mind to it.

Seto doesn't keep him waiting long, and his reward is getting to watch as he pushes one slick finger inside. For a moment Bakura's breath catches and steals his voice, and before he finds it again he's thrown an arm over his mouth to muffle his voice. Knowing that he can't stay quiet forever Seto lets it go, content simply to watch him squirm in time with his movements. He'll have to make himself heard to ask for more, and until then...

It doesn't take long. "Please," Bakura whispers, peeking up at Seto through his bangs, "more, please..." Too vague, again. Seto pretends to misunderstand, taking him at his word and adding another finger to his slow, steady rhythm. The reaction is almost immediate - "Not - not like that..."

"Tell me what you do want, then. Use words, Bakura."

"...hate you," Bakura mumbles into his arm.

They both know full well it isn't true, and that it would only take one word to make Seto stop were he to push just a little too hard. But for all that Bakura seems almost frustrated, he hasn't said "stop" - and Seto made it very, very clear before he ever laid a hand on Bakura that that's all it takes. He isn't cruel. He doesn't mean to torture, or to hurt. Just... to encourage.

"I - I want... Kaiba-kun, please... f-fuck me, please..."

The request is so quiet, so timid, that Seto can barely hear it, but he can hear and that's enough. "All right," he says, in a voice gentle enough to surprise even him. Bakura has that effect on him, sometimes, of filing down his sharp edges without either of them noticing.

He devotes his full attention to finding the box of condoms in the nightstand; his pride disagrees with his desire to hear Bakura's laugh, and besides, Bakura looks like he could use a moment or two to collect himself. Which he does, as Seto gets himself ready. He sits up and catches his breath, and he tries to pretend that he's not watching Seto, though he's not very good at that.

"Come here."

Bakura barely has to be asked.

This never seems to get old, though it's almost routine by now - in fact, Seto can predict each move Bakura makes, right down to the split-second of hesitation before he sinks down and takes Seto inside him. The physical pleasure is almost less than what Seto gets out of hearing Bakura moan, or getting to watch him settle into a long, slow rhythm of his own, pausing at the bottom of each stroke to gasp in a breath. He doesn't get to see Bakura's face, because Bakura stares down at Seto's chest and his hands braced against it, his hair hiding everything but the slightest glimpses of his half-closed eyes and open mouth.

But that doesn't matter so much. What he can see, and what he can hear, and feel, is more than enough, and better than any of it is knowing what it took to make it all happen. Bakura trusts him, cares for him, and finally - after countless false starts and standstills and the long, slow process of learning the unwritten rules of the game - he's willing to give him this victory. "Beautiful," he whispers, his own voice now little more than a choked whisper.

When Bakura comes his head tips back and Seto gets to watch it take over his face, and simply being allowed to watch does more for him than everything else combined. He takes hold of Bakura's hips and thrusts into him once, twice, and that's all it takes, and he breaks his own stoic silence to breath out a moan as pleasure overtakes him, too.

They stay that way for a short while, catching their respective breaths; Seto's too-tight grip on Bakura's hips only loosens when Bakura starts to squirm a little, too shy or polite or maybe both to ask Seto to let go so he can move. Moving off of Seto to flop down on the bed beside him seems about all he's up for just now, so Seto takes it upon himself to get them both cleaned up - and to brush Bakura's hair out of his face so he can see him smile.

It's almost endearing to see Bakura find such happiness in something that is, to Seto, so simple. This is nothing more than a mutually beneficial arrangement, nothing more complex than a business deal or a duel, and Seto thinks highly enough of Bakura to believe that he understands that. They aren't boyfriends, or lovers, or even just friends... but Bakura is happy, regardless.

Well, there's nothing wrong with that.

A huge yawn overcomes the smile on Bakura's face, and when he tries to sit up Seto shakes his head and pushes him back down. "If I wore you out that badly -" and he pauses just for the pleasure of watching Bakura struggle to find words to protest, "- you should rest. You didn't have plans this evening, did you?"

"But..." Another yawn only serves to prove Seto's point. "I wouldn't want to be an inconvenience..."

"You wouldn't be. The staff loves to have guests. So does Mokuba," and maybe it isn't entirely fair to play right to Bakura's weak points like that, but he wouldn't call it outright cheating, and it certainly produces results.

"For Mokuba-kun's sake, then," Bakura agrees, and he sits up for just long enough to pull back the covers before he curls back up in a blissfully satiated ball. Tired as he looks, though, he's awake enough to protest when Seto slips out of bed. "Are you leaving...?"

"Just to take a shower."

That seems to satisfy Bakura, for he closes his eyes and nuzzles his face sleepily into the pillows. By the time Seto's done with his quick shower he's sound asleep, barely moving when Seto settles down beside him with his laptop to get a bit of work done in the quiet.

He doesn't love Bakura. That's a level of attachment that should take years to earn, reserved, in Seto's case for one person and one alone - and as much as he enjoys Bakura's company, their game ends far from bringing them that close. But he does care more than he lets on. Maybe even more than he should. In times like this, when it's calm and quiet and he's simply enjoying the novelty of someone else's presence, he tends to think along lines that are foreign to him; his mind takes to wondering what Bakura might need, and how he might provide it. Paying Bakura for what he does would be insulting to them both, but if Seto can improve his life in other ways...

It comes down to the simple fact that he finds contentment in seeing to it that Bakura is content. And right now, at least, he very clearly is. Shaking his head at how strange and soft he's gone, Seto settles down to work... but somehow, he can't keep one hand from tangling itself into Bakura's hair.

Tomorrow morning they will be strangers, but even so - well, offering kindness to strangers certainly isn't unprecedented for someone of Seto's status. For him personally, perhaps, but is it so unbelievable that even he could turn over a new leaf?