It was an odd message that the Pharaoh had received from Seto Kaiba that afternoon, cryptic enough to induce him to actually read the thing for once, instead of groaning at the sight of it and ignoring his phone for the next few hours.
Usually the messages he sent were so bloody predictable, and he always wanted to duel at the most inconvenient times. Granted, often the Pharaoh suspected Seto was drunk; the first message would come through at ten o'clock in the evening or so, and would be followed up by increasingly poorly spelled and nonsensical taunts until three in the morning, by which time he had presumably passed out. For someone who seemed so attached to his pride and dignity, he seemed awfully susceptible to the temptation of drunk-dialling his rival.
No, this message had a different tone to it. For starters, it was sent before seven o'clock, and didn't contain a single spelling mistake or predictive text mishap. When you typed out the word "deck" several times per paragraph, misspellings tended to be somewhat awkward. It also contained none of the usual insults, which was so surprising that the Pharaoh read it through multiple times, frowning to himself as he tried to work out what he must have missed.
He spent the rest of the evening thinking it over, quietly reading and rereading the message whenever he thought that Yuugi wasn't looking. He hummed quietly to himself as he stood up.
"You're not actually going to go, are you, Pharaoh?"
"Go… where?" Smooth, Pharaoh, smooth. He felt his cheeks visibly darken, even in the dim light of Yuugi's television as he played one of those video games he liked so much.
"You're not as subtle as you think, you know. I've seen you texting Kaiba all evening."
"I've not been-" The Pharaoh made a sort of offended scoffing sound that wasn't fooling anyone. "I haven't actually replied to him yet."
"Riiight," said Yuugi, rolling those enormous, adorable eyes of his. "So why have you been glued to your phone for the past two hours?"
Sighing, the Pharaoh tossed his phone to Yuugi, before flopping back down onto the bed in defeat. "Here, see for yourself. What do you think he means?"
"I thought you were the king of games. How hard can reading a text message be?"
"Ancient Egyptians didn't-" But the Pharaoh was interrupted by Yuugi's stifled laughter. He narrowed his eyes at the boy. "What's so funny?"
"Um, Pharaoh, I think he wants to take you out on a date."
Yuugi grinned at the Pharaoh's grimace as he passed back the phone.
"A date? As in, that kind of date?" He scanned the message one more time, then shook his head. "No, Yuugi, I'm sure it's a duel he's looking for – what else could that 'D' in the message stand for?"
"Yes… Duel," said Yuugi, between chuckles poorly disguised behind his hand.
"You know what, Yuugi?" The Pharaoh rose decisively to his feet, pointing a dramatic finger at nothing in particular. "I was going to tell him that I was busy, but now I want to go just to prove you wrong. I don't think Seto has an ounce of tenderness in him. A date, indeed. Ridiculous! It has been a while since I last defeated him, though, and I could do with a good, hard duel."
As he turned to face Yuugi to say a resolute goodbye, his jacket billowed out behind him like a cape and he noticed the goosebumps prickling his exposed arms. Was he excited by the slim possibility that he was mistaken, or… "You should probably close that window while I'm out, Yuugi – it's rather draughty, and I wouldn't want you to catch cold."
Yuugi scrambled to shut the window, and caught himself looking wistfully outside into the cool darkness, wondering where Kaiba planned to take the Pharaoh. Truthfully, he was beginning to regret having teased him about Seto's message – he didn't much fancy curling up alone tonight. He'd grown so used to the Pharaoh being around that sleep didn't come easily without his reassuring warmth beside him in the single bed they shared. And sleep certainly wouldn't come easily knowing that that asshole Seto Kaiba of all people was the one dragging his beloved away.
"What time will you be back, Pharaoh?"
"I'll only be out for as long as it takes to wipe the floor with him, Yuugi. I doubt he'd have the stamina to keep me up duelling all night."
He'll try to keep you up all night doing something, Yuugi pouted to himself.
"I'll be home before morning, Yuugi," the Pharaoh said softly, before tapping out a quick message to Kaiba. "You know how much I…"
Yuugi's eyes widened further than the Pharaoh thought possible, glimmering as the boy blushed with a silly smile across his face. All, apparently, was forgiven as his fuzzy feelings towards the Pharaoh intensified. "I love you too, Pharaoh." He grinned and managed a playful wink. "Have fun on your date with Seto."
The Pharaoh glowered at Yuugi, and his fingers clenched tightly into fists. "It's not a date!"
Yuugi could only laugh in response; while the Pharaoh clearly thought he was being firm and dignified, he came across more like a petulant child protesting that they had absolutely not made those handprints on the wall whilst smeared with incriminating, colourful spots of paint.
"Damn it, Yuugi." His phone bleeped with a response from Kaiba, telling him that a limo had been sent to collect him from the game shop. "I really mean it. We're just going to play Duel Monsters, okay?"
"I don't know why you're protesting quite this hard, Pharaoh. Whoever you choose to, ahem, duel… That's your business. As long as you're back to snuggle before morning, I really don't mind."
The Pharaoh wasn't sure why he was protesting so hard either. The whole purpose of going out and winning a duel against Seto was simply to prove that Yuugi had gotten the wrong end of the stick – and because damn it, a man has needs. Needs that can only be satisfied by a good game of…
Oh no! The Pharaoh tried to hide the panic from his expression as the deck of Duel Monsters cards he'd been trying to imagine turned into Seto's smug face, towering above him as he tugged on the chain around the Pharaoh's neck, drawing him closer...
Yuugi yawned. "Well, your usual spot in the bed will be waiting for you. Just… take a shower if you end up duelling too vigorously, okay?"
Massaging his temples with his hands, the Pharaoh nodded, and quickly stepped outside before the warmth of his cheeks and the barely perceptible trickle of blood from his nostril gave him away.