Warnings: Some profanity. Yaoi-ish.

1/27/2014: added author's note.

Three Little Words

Three little words. Eight letters, not so many, but they held so much meaning.

So much temptation in so little!

The perfect trap.

And those three words, once spoken, were something that Atem could not possibly ignore.

His eyes, a brilliant, burning crimson flashed with an undeniable passion in response.

I dare you!

"I'll do it!" he affirmed, then turned and strode off with the utmost confidence.

Jonouchi scowled at Otogi for the briefest of moments, growling, "Are you insane?!" Then he stalked off after Atem, followed closely by Otogi.

"This I've gotta see!" exclaimed Otogi. "Why do you think I issued this challenge in the first place?"

As they strode through the halls, Honda caught sight of them. "What's up?" he asked.

"Don't tell him!" insisted Otogi, scanning their surroundings. "We can't afford to tip him off!"

"Tip who off? What are you talking about?"

"You'll see. Come with us."

Jonouchi looked grim. "It's a dare."

"A dare? Let me guess. Otogi dared Atem and he just couldn't resist, could he?"

"Of course he couldn't."

"You look pretty pissed. This one must be bad. Dangerous?"

"Sort of."

"Hm. That means … Crap. It's something stupid, like taking his clothes off in public, right?"

"Worse."

"Worse than public nudity?"

"You got it."

Honda scratched his head and followed them, trying to figure out what could be worse than public nudity. Then he realized where they were headed. "Are you crazy?" he asked. "This is the computer lab. That means—"

"That's right, and shut the hell up," Otogi said amiably.

There, at a large lab table, sat none other than Kaiba Seto, so completely absorbed in his current robotics project that he didn't even notice the knot of students swiftly converging upon his location.

"Hello Kaiba."

Piercing blue eyes swept up from table to Atem's face. His expression immediately morphed from mild curiosity to annoyed expectation. "Is this some sort of challenge?" he asked. "I really don't have time—"

"This will only take a minute. I don't want to duel you."

"Then I don't understand what you're here for."

Atem walked around the table so that he was standing next to Kaiba's chair and said, "Then I'll show you."

Before Kaiba could say anything or react in any way, Atem leaned in and, grasping Kaiba's head firmly so that he couldn't get away, kissed him. Because of Kaiba's surprise, Atem caught him with his lips slightly parted, so the kiss was deeper than Atem expected to get away with.

Supremely stunned, Kaiba didn't respond at all for a moment, then he pushed Atem violently away … so violently, in fact, that his chair teetered backward and he had to catch himself. Rising to his feet with an equally sudden motion, a ruddy hue appeared at the acme of his cheeks.

Kaiba looked around and took in the expressions of Atem's three friends and quickly surmised what had occurred. "You—!" he said in a low, hoarse breath that seethed with fury, then he turned and strode from the room, pale as snow save for the lingering bright blush rouging his cheekbones.

"That was priceless!" exclaimed Otogi, once Kaiba was fully out and away. "I have to hand it to you, Atem, you rose to the occasion. Open-mouthed, too. I didn't even specify that. What was it we agreed on? My surfboard? Totally worth it. Drop by after school. It's all yours."

Atem was still looking at the door. "Totally not worth it."

"I'll say," said Jonouchi, scowling. "That was the grossest thing I ever saw. Who'd want to kiss him?"

"I can name, oh, about 100 girls," offered Honda. "Maybe 200."

"Shut up!"

"He's a billionaire."

"Shut the hell up."

It was supposed to be a dare. In, out, done. Just a kiss. That's all.

Kaiba was his rival, so there was that.

So what? It shouldn't mean anything. It should just annoy him. No, it should just piss him off, make him as angry as hell, that Atem would be OK with doing that just to prove that he was willing to rise to a challenge.

OK with what?

OK with invading Kaiba's privacy without his consent, that's what. After all, a kiss is a personal thing and he'd done this in front of three friends without asking.

But fulfilling the conditions of a dare requires witnesses, right? Or it wouldn't count. Kaiba understands that.

It wasn't as though he'd never …

Wait.

He couldn't know that. What if Kaiba had never been kissed before? Then …

Atem's presumption, stealing a kiss so blatantly, in front of his friends, people that Kaiba barely knew or respected, just to fulfill a dare …

Oh, shit!

And then there was the other thing. And the first thing made the other thing so much worse.

The other thing was so unexpected, so strange, so … miraculous … that he barely comprehended what had happened.

When he kissed Kaiba, he felt the strangest thing: a warmth, a compelling need, flowing and growing throughout his body. When Kaiba pushed him away, his only impulse had been to leap back towards Kaiba to reclaim him.

To make him his own.

Seto strode through the hall, barely able to contain himself. Certainly, he was unable to contain his rage. He wanted to tear something to shreds.

Preferably Atem.

Atem best, but Otogi would do. He was 98% positive that the skinny little gambler was behind this outrage.

His fingers twitched, hungering for a target.

What paltry exchange did Atem consider worth Seto's pride, he wondered? A card, perhaps? Some stupid little dice game?

Who the crap was he supposed to throttle, anyway?

Kissing him—in front of those three sniggering boys! Jonouchi among them, too, looking completely disgusted, as though Seto were some sort of soil-dwelling invertebrate. Someone like him, judging someone like Kaiba! As if!

And that Honda, trying to look sympathetic? Kaiba Seto doesn't need his pity!

He could hardly breathe because he was practically choking.

Then, he turned a corner and wham!

"What do you think you're doing! Watch where the fuck you're going!"

Shit. Ushio.

Normally Seto would have evaded that goon, slipped his grasp and made him look foolish. But this time, he had a ham-sized fist wrapped around Seto's neck. Seto could already feel five small bruises forming beneath his fingertips.

"That's it! I don't care who you are!"

Seto had one single thought as the first fist connected:

This is going to go down as one of the worst days of my life.

"Kaiba! Are you OK?"

Kaiba put up a hand to shield his eyes and squinted up toward Atem.

"What does it look like?" he asked gruffly. It looked like he had gone through a meat grinder. A black eye, a split lip, dried blood, bruises on his neck and face …

Atem offered his hand. "I'm sorry."

Seto stiffly got to his feet, ignoring Atem's proffered hand. "Right."

"No, I mean it."

"What was the wager?" Seto looked down at his ruined school uniform, now torn, dirty and spotted with blood from his nose and split lip. Nevertheless, he dusted it off and straightened it.

"What are you—"

"Oh, please! It was obvious that was a dare. What did you get out of it?"

"It doesn't matter. A surfboard. It's yours. I'll bring it around—"

"I don't want it. I have one."

Of course he would have one.

"Let me take you surfing, then. This weekend."

"And just what makes you think that I would want to go anywhere with you or, even if I did, that would in any way make up for what you did?" Kaiba turned and began walking away down the hallway. He glanced over his shoulder. "You and your friends. Why do you insist on pulling me into your schemes?"

Atem found himself following Kaiba, suddenly aware that he was so much taller. "Kaiba—don't! Don't go. Won't you let me … apologize properly? I really am sorry. What I did was, well, unforgivable." He stopped, looking at his feet. "Still, I'd like to at least try to make it up to you."

Kaiba stopped and turned slowly, drawing himself up to his full height and adjusting his torn school uniform. "You're going to make it up … to me? I don't understand. Isn't this exactly what you expected? Did you not expect me to be anything other than angry? Or did you not consider my reaction at all?"

"Well, I …" He thought Kaiba would be mad, but …

He did think Kaiba would be mad …

Right?

Or …

Kaiba stood staring at him for a long moment, then said, "You did have some concept of what you were doing, didn't you?" His stare grew increasingly incredulous, then he turned on his heel with a snort and stalked off, leaving Atem standing uncomprehending in his wake.

Why did I accept the dare? Not for the surfboard, obviously. It was because it was a dare, right, or was it … did I want to kiss him and that was a likely excuse? Atem lifted his head and stared after the tall, slender man. He'd never truly considered it before, after all, because Kaiba wasn't the sort of person who allowed people to get close to him, but …

Atem knew that he was attractive. No, not attractive. So much more than attractive. Desirable. Fascinating. Enthralling. Unforgettable.

And he had expected him to be angry. He had, that's what he told himself, only … didn't he, in his deepest heart, if he truly admitted the truth, didn't he have to admit …

he had hoped Kaiba would kiss him back?

Author's Notes

Well, hope you all enjoyed that. This is just a weird little thing that sprang to my mind as I was walking along the other day so I thought I'd crank it out and post it while I'm laboring away on my big project (yes, it is taking me forever, thanks very much). It kind of feels like it needs more, doesn't it? If you agree (or if you really like this story), don't be shy about saying so in your reviews (hint ;) ). In the meantime, I'm marking this complete and putting my nose back on that grindstone.

Added, next day: I should say a few words about the title & description, shouldn't I? If the words you were thinking of were "I love you," well, that's what I was hoping. Hope you're not mad at me for pulling that on you! This is what the idea of the story is all about. I was walking along and it occurred to me that there was only a few letters difference in the two sentences, and both would be very compelling to Atem. Atem has a hard time preventing himself from rising to a challenge! (Especially that early, vengeful-spirit Atem ... ahem ...) Anyway, when and if (probably when) I return to this story, we'll see what we can do about that pesky word ...

1/27/2014: Sanis-chan recently PM'd me with some illustrations for some of my stories! How flattering! xD If you'd like to see the one for this story, please check out (i43 dot tinypic dot com slash j9ngg7 dot jpg), which depicts when Atem discovers Seto after his encounter with Ushio. Thanks for sharing, Sanis-chan!

Also, if you are waiting on my finishing this story, progress is being made! It won't be the next one up, but it is currently in an active state and I'm up to 20 pp, somewhere in the 4th chapter - plus I just had a stroke of inspiration, so I expect to get more done on it soon. Keep your fingers crossed!

~DD