Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh
Seto Kaiba walked into his extravagant family home and quickly headed upstairs towards his father's office. His father, Akunadin Kaiba was a very wealthy businessman, and right now Seto wanted something and he knew that his father was quite capable of getting exactly what it was he wanted for him. All he had to do was ask.
Seto knocked on the door to his father's office and after hearing the gruff, "Enter" he walked in and sat down in the chair opposite his father.
Akunadin glanced up from his work and focused his attention on his son and heir, "Seto, what can I do for you?"
"Well, I've found something…well someone that I want but sadly I can't seem to get that person to pay attention to me and well, it is nearly time for me to settle down and start a family of my own and I was thinking…"Seto began.
"That you want me to try and arrange a marriage between you and this person am I right Seto?"
Seto smirked, "You're dead on. So, do you think you can do it?" Seto asked.
Akunadin nodded, "Of course I can do it…its not a question of if I can, it's if I will. I do have standards and I won't be setting up a marriage between you and some idiotic gold digging peasant."
Seto chuckled, "And like you father, I too have standards. This guy is perfect. He comes from a wealthy family, not to mention a family of noble blood, he's also extremely intelligent…on par with me where that is concerned, and he's absolutely gorgeous." Seto paused, his eyes taking on a slightly dreamy look.
Akunadin chuckled, he hadn't heard anything wrong with the boy his son was describing though he didn't know why this boy hadn't gone out with his son already. "Why won't he go out with you, since I know you've asked. You wouldn't have come to me if you hadn't already tried to win his heart on your own."
Seto sighed, "Yes, I've asked. I've switched my class schedule so I have all my classes with him. I've joined the debate team and student council so I can spend time with him after school. I've got it so our lockers are next to one another…I talk to him every chance I get and I've asked him out…five times and each time he's turned me down. Telling me that its not him I should be interested in but his loser friend who has this huge crush on me which is as annoying as annoying gets."
Akunadin straightened up a little bit, "So let me get this straight. The only reason this boy won't go out with you is because he thinks you should be with someone else. Who is it he thinks you should be with?"
"A loser by the name of Jonouchi Katsuya…a poorer than dirt punk who is dumber than dirt. Seriously, the teachers only pass him because they don't want to be stuck with him for another year. The guy I'm into has to purchase his lunch for him everyday otherwise the guy can't eat…though that still doesn't stop the loser from stealing the lunch he also bought for himself so the guy I like goes without lunch. And almost every time I go to talk to who I like he tries to flirt with me or butt into our conversation, and when he does that my crush just gets up and walks away 'to leave us two alone together' it aggravates the hell out of me." Seto ranted.
Akunadin nodded, glad to hear that his son was in no way interested in the likes of Jonouchi. "And my I ask who it is you do like my son?" Akunadin asked.
Seto just smiled and said, "Atemu. Atemu Sennen."
Akunadin nodded, he knew the Sennens quite well. In fact he and Aknamkanon Sennen, Atemu's father, were good friends. Not to mention business associates. The Sennens also had ties to the old royal family, so they were indeed of noble blood…had money too, both old AND new. He'd seen Atemu at dinner parties before, he was a perfect gentleman, the quintessential example of etiquette. Charming, not to mention very intelligent, some swear the boy was a genius. Oh yes, Atemu Sennen was in Akunadin's mind the perfect person for his son.
Akunadin said, "I'll go and speak with Aknamkanon about this later today. With any luck you and Atemu will be engaged this time tomorrow."
Seto smiled, "Thank you father." Seto said before he stood and left.
Akunadin put aside his work and left the mansion, heading to the mansion owned by the Sennen family.
The door was opened by the Sennen's butler and Akunadin was quickly shown into the sitting room where a maid was there to give him a cup of tea while he waited a few minutes for Aknamkanon to join him.
A few minutes later Aknamkanon entered the seating room, Akunadin rose and greeted Aknamkanon before both men took their seats.
"Might I ask what it is you wished to see me about Akunadin?" Aknamkanon asked.
Akunadin nodded, "Yes, today my son Seto came to see me about something." Akunadin said.
Aknamkanon nodded he knew Seto and had for years, Akunadin continued, "My son has fallen in love with someone. And he wishes to be with that person, however that person is under the delusion my son belongs with someone else…someone who is far below my son."
"And you are telling me all this why Akunadin?" Aknamkanon asked.
Akunadin smiled politely, "Because the boy my son is so infatuated with is your son, Atemu."
"My son." Aknamkanon repeated, though Akunadin could plainly see Aknamkanon was not adverse to the idea.
Akunadin nodded before adding, "My son has asked yours out five times, each time to be turned down because your son seems to think that my son should be going out with Jonouchi Katsuya."
At the mention of Jonouchi Aknamkanon's eyes darkened, "That boy is ruining my son's life." Aknamkanon growled.
"I take it he's been causing Atemu some trouble." Akunadin commented casually in the hopes of finding out more about this…street urchin.
"Yes, he's a hoodlum who has been taking advantage of my son's generosity for far too long. My son, god bless him, tries to help people where he can, and since Jonouchi has less than we do Atemu tries to help him out, by buying him lunch at school every day, by pitching in to cover his school expenses…whatever that worthless punk wants he asks Atemu to get it for him. And Atemu does because he thinks that if he stops then he won't be his friend anymore. Twice since my son's known him he's called from the police station in the middle of the night wanting my son to go down there and bail him out. And what's worse is that Atemu's done it." Aknamkanon ranted, "Of course I won't let the street rat on the grounds let alone in this house, since I've no desire to be robbed. However, Atemu won't hear a word against the boy, claiming that he's a good kid, just that people misunderstand him. But I swear, I won't allow that brat to come between Atemu and a good future. This is something I won't allow him to interfere with."
Akunadin smiled, "Then I take it you agree to the idea of our sons getting married." Akunadin stated.
"Of course, Seto is absolutely perfect for Atemu. Call your son and have him come over, and I'll call Atemu down and we can begin to work out the details." Aknamkanon said, he paused for a moment before adding, "Maybe your son can finally convince mine to be selfish every once in a while. And to finally drop the leach."
Akunadin nodded before quietly excusing himself to go and call Seto. Aknamkanon sent for his butler to go fetch Atemu. Akunadin returned a few moments later and had just returned to his seat when Atemu walked into the sitting room.
"You wished to see me father?" Atemu asked.
"Yes, sit down Atemu, there are some things that we will be discussing and you will be a part of the discussion." Aknamkanon said.
"Very well father." Atemu said before he did as his father had instructed and sat down. He noticed that Akunadin was also in the room he smiled at him and said, "Good afternoon Mr. Kaiba, I hope things are going well for you."
Akunadin smiled, and said, "Yes Atemu, things are going very well. How have things been going for you in school?"
"Things have been going extremely well. I was voted Student Council President recently and Seto and I were selected to represent our school in the national level debate team competition. If we win, we'll win a full ride scholarship to a college of our choice. I know I don't need the scholarship, and neither does Seto…but winning that would look really good on our resume, especially since I want to get into the Medical Institute, which is one of the most prestigious schools in the world." Atemu replied.
"Very good. I'm certain you and Seto will win the competition with ease." Akunadin said, very impressed with both Atemu's ambition but also his plan to use things like this in order to get him where he wanted to go.
A few minutes later Seto was shown into the sitting room by the butler. He sat down beside Atemu.
Akunadin noticed how Seto smiled at Atemu before he turned his attention onto the adults.
Aknamkanon decided to just come right out and say it, "Atemu, Seto Mr. Kaiba and I have been talking and we've come to the decision that you two are going to be getting married."
Seto had a huge smile on his face whereas Atemu was quiet. After a few moments Atemu spoke up, "Father, I don't mean to sound as though I'm questioning you, but Seto…belongs with someone else. I don't want to come…"
"Atemu, Seto wants to be with you, has been seeking to court you for some time. He wants nothing to do with that punk Jonouchi. So get that thought out of your head and for once in your life think about what's best for YOU, not what that worthless punk wants." Aknamkanon said sharply.
Atemu was quiet for a few moments longer before he turned to look at Seto, "You really want to be with me?" Atemu asked.
Seto smiled, "Of course I do Atemu. I've liked you for years. I had my class schedule switched so I could be in all your classes, had my locker moved to be next to yours so I could talk to you more often. I even joined the student council and debate team so I could spend more time with you. I asked you out five times, and each time you turned me down. So yes Atemu I want to be with you, very VERY much." Seto said.
Atemu nodded before he turned back to face his father, "Whatever you decide is fine Father, however I would like to go out to the garden to think if that's alright." Atemu said politely.
Aknamkanon nodded his head, giving Atemu permission to leave. Atemu then got up and walked out of the room. Once he was gone Aknamkanon turned his attention to Seto and said, "What are you waiting for? Go follow him."
Seto nodded before he got up and walked out of the room and into the garden.
Seto found Atemu sitting beside the pond, his hand lightly tracing patterns in the water. Seto sat down beside Atemu, who once he noticed his presence turned away from the pond to look at Seto.
"Alright Kaiba, I want you to tell me the truth. What are you really after? Do you really like me or are you hoping to use me for something? Do you see marrying me as some way to ultimately defeat me? Or what? Answer me that right now Seto Kaiba." Atemu snapped, dropping his quiet polite tone altogether.
"Atemu, I really like you. I like you, I admire you. I respect you. You are the only person who I see as not only worthy of my time, but the only person I see as my equal. I've had romantic feelings for you for more than a year. But it seems every time I get anywhere close to you Jonouchi has to butt in and then you immediately back off." Seto replied.
Atemu sighed, "Yeah, well Jou does have a crush on you. Has for awhile. And I'll admit, I'm attracted to you to. But, Jou at some point managed to convince me that the only reason you were making moves on me was because you were trying to make him jealous…that when you complimented me or would talk to me, you were actually flirting with him. Said that I'm just a pretty boy and that's all you'll ever see me as. Someone you can use to make yourself appear more appealing to others." Atemu said, he was silent for a few moments before adding, "And he said that if I ever had caved and gone out with you that you'd just expect me to sleep with you and then be done with me. That there isn't a chance in the world that I mean anything more to you than gum on the bottom of your shoe."
Seto gaped at Atemu for a moment before he carefully wrapped his arms around Atemu, "Atemu I swear to you that Jonouchi was feeding you a line of crap and nothing else. He was just jealous that I have feelings for you and not him so he was trying to make sure that you wouldn't want to try a relationship with me because he knew that if you gave me a chance then whatever miniscule chance he thinks he has would be long gone." Seto said.
"You mean that?" Atemu asked and Seto could clearly see the hope shining in Atemu's crimson eyes.
"Read my lips." Seto said before he leaned forward and pressed his lips to Atemu's. Atemu hesitated for a few seconds before he decided that even if Kaiba was lying to him that he might as well enjoy it…he'd determine if he was sincere or not in the days to come. After all, it's not everyday the guy you have the hots for kisses you. He kissed Kaiba back.
After the two kissed for a few minutes the two broke apart. Seto kept his arms wrapped around Atemu and thought to himself how good it felt to have Atemu in his arms.
"We probably should head back inside." Atemu suddenly said.
Seto nodded before he regretfully released his hold on Atemu allowing him to stand. Seto quickly got up after him and ran a few feet to catch up to Atemu, grabbing a hold of his hand and lacing their fingers together. Atemu paused for a few moments before he continued on his way into the house, where the two rejoined their fathers in the sitting room.
"So, I take it you two have talked." Aknamkanon said once the two boys had taken their seats.
Atemu and Seto both nodded.
Akunadin smiled before he said, "Well, then lets get to work on planning this wedding. First things first, we need to have a ball park idea as to when you two are going to get married."
Aknamkanon nodded, "Are we going to have a long engagement or a short one?"
Atemu sighed before he said, "Father, I would prefer a very long engagement…like have us get married once we're both 21."
Seto frowned, knowing that Atemu was only 16 whereas he was 17…meaning that he'd have to wait almost a good five years to marry Atemu which was much to long in Seto's mind. "Can we just put any timeline out there? Because what I would like the most would be for you two to drive us down the courthouse and have us married right now."
Aknamkanon and Akunadin both chuckled, since their children's suggestions seemed to be opposite. "Well, Atemu I'll say that five years is much to long an engagement…and Seto I'm sorry to say that we will not be driving you down to the courthouse to get married. We will have a formal ceremony with guests…so there will be some wait." Aknamkanon said.
Akunadin looked at his son and he could tell that Seto was quite serious about wanting to get married as soon as possible, he smirked a bit…he could work with that. "Perhaps we should have the wedding in less than a year Aknamkanon." Akunadin casually suggested.
"An excellent idea." Aknamkanon agreed, "Six months agreeable to you?" Aknamkanon asked.
Akunadin glanced at his son before he said, "Do you think we could possibly get everything arranged sooner than that?"
Aknamkanon glanced at his friend, "What exactly do you have in mind Akunadin?"
Akunadin smiled slightly and said, "Well, I was thinking we could have the wedding correspond with young Atemu here's 17th birthday."
"But father, that's in less than two months." Atemu said.
Aknamkanon was quiet for a few moments before he said, "You know I think we could get everything done by that time. But the question is, will we have the wedding on my son's birthday or following it?"
"Following it." Seto said, "I don't want the wedding to take away from the celebration of Atemu's birthday." Seto paused for a moment before saying, "Atemu's birthday falls on a Thursday this year, why not have the wedding on the following Saturday?"
"An excellent idea. We'll plan to have the wedding the Saturday following Atemu's 17th birthday." Aknamkanon said.
Atemu sank back into his chair and groaned thinking why am I even here?
"Alright, so we've decided when they'll be getting married, but how big of a party should we have? 300? 500? Media coverage? No media coverage?"
"No media coverage" Atemu immediately said.
Though Seto piped up, "Definitely have the media there. I want it to be known in all corners of the globe that I'm going to be married to Atemu Sennen."
Once again Aknamkanon and Akunadin looked at each other before Aknamkanon said, "I'm sorry Atemu, but having media coverage would bring both our companies a lot of publicity which will increase sales. I'd say that it's a good idea for the media to be there."
Once again Atemu groaned since it seemed like he was getting absolutely no say in what was being planned. Akunadin and Aknamkanon said that they wanted 500 guests approximately to be present, that way both could invite all their key stock holders and business partners.
"What about colors? Do you have any idea on color schemes and what flowers they want? Will we have the bouquet toss, which is tradition? And if so who throws it?" Akunadin asked.
Aknamkanon said, "Yes we will have the bouquet toss because it is tradition and my son will be the one to throw the bouquet."
"WHAT? Father, I'm not a girl." Atemu protested, though he quieted once Aknamkanon glared at him.
"You may not be a girl Atemu, but you will be the one being walked down the aisle and the one whose last name will change…therefore as far as this wedding is concerned you will play the role of the girl. I will hear no more complaints on this." Aknamkanon said sharply.
Atemu sighed but nodded. Seto then smirked and said, "Does that mean we can have a garter toss as well?"
"Of course. Atemu will wear a garter under one of his pant legs." Aknamkanon said.
"Don't get any funny ideas." Atemu mumbled so only Seto was able to hear him.
Atemu sighed before he said, "Can we have lotuses as one of the flowers?"
"Of course we can." Aknamkanon said, happy to see that his son was still willing to make his opinion known, though he did feel a little bad that the flowers were the first thing he'd let Atemu have go his way.
About an hour later Akunadin and Aknamkanon felt that enough of the plans had been discussed for them to get the wedding well underway and that once they had some stuff organized they'd have Atemu and Seto help them work out some of the details.
Akunadin and Seto stood since it was time for them to be heading home, Seto however hung back slightly and said, "Atemu, can I talk to you for a minute?"
"Sure." Atemu said.
Seto took a deep breath and said, "Well, as I'm sure you know there's a dinner party tomorrow night that Mr. Crawford is hosting in celebration of Industrial Illusions 30th anniversary…anyway, I was wondering if you'd grant me the honor of being your date?"
Atemu chuckled for a moment before he said, "Seto, Seto, Seto. We just sat with our fathers discussing wedding details for over the last hour and are now officially engaged. I think my going with you to events like this almost goes without saying. But since you did ask, my answer is yes."
Seto smiled, "Okay, I'll come by here to get you at 5 o'clock tomorrow then. And maybe afterwards we can hang out together…just the two of us." Seto suggested.
Atemu nodded, "Yes Seto, that sounds fine."
"Great." Seto said before he took a few steps forward, wrapping his arms firmly around Atemu's waist and leaning down to kiss him. Once the two had broken apart Seto whispered, "Good night Atemu."
"Good night Seto." Atemu replied.
Seto then left. He couldn't wait until he saw Atemu the next day.
Atemu sighed as he watched Seto leave, he was really confused about this whole thing…to him it almost seemed like one huge head game.
He'd known Seto Kaiba since both of them were pretty much in diapers. And the two had always been very competitive, with Atemu always finding a way to barely come out on top…something that had always aggravated Kaiba…to the point where Atemu could have sworn that Seto hated him,…until their freshman year in high school.
Atemu and Seto had been at a party which had been hosted by Duke Delvin, and at the party (though he'd coined it a social gathering) Duke had come up with the brilliant idea of playing Truth or Dare.
Naturally everyone had agreed to play. And Duke had decided that it would be a good idea, as revenge for Atemu daring him to strip down to his underwear, run out front and sing I'm a little teapot, to Dare Atemu to well, the official dare was for Atemu to go into one of the many spare rooms in the mansion and that he was to allow Seto Kaiba to go as far as Seto chose to with him…and that the least far Kaiba could go would be making out with him for 20 minutes…Atemu had to have at least one hickey…and Atemu had to have lost his shirt.
Atemu had really considered telling Duke absolutely not…he would have if Seto hadn't spoken up, challenging Atemu's courage. That was when Atemu's pride got in the way and he ended up getting up and going into the spare room exactly like he'd been dared to, with Kaiba right behind him.
And Kaiba had this huge smirk on his face, like he'd just won the jackpot. Or been told that Jonouchi was being expelled from school. Anyway, Seto had almost immediately pinned Atemu to the bed, aggressively kissing him. Atemu hated that this was out of his control and was tempted to fight Kaiba back…except the terms of the dare were that he was to not be in control of anything.
Things got very heated very fast and before Atemu even realized it both he and Kaiba were in bed together completely naked. Seto was above him and Atemu could plainly see that he was really considering going all the way, which Atemu didn't want to do.
And then…something weird had happened. Seto's eyes had soften slightly before he climbed off Atemu and got redressed. Once he'd had his clothes back on he had brought Atemu his. Before Atemu had gotten dressed Seto had whispered, "No matter how much I'd love to make love with you, I can't…not like this. This wouldn't mean anything, besides right now you feel like you'd have to and I refuse to force this on you. And for that reason, I'll wait until this is something you want to do because its what you want…not because you were forced into it."
Seto had then kissed him one more time before he'd gotten up and left.
Shortly after that was when Seto had really begun to pay Atemu a lot of attention at school, and he also made a point to hang out with him at every social event they both had been invited to.
And Atemu had thought that Seto might have been dared to get him to go all the way with him, and that was why he was suddenly so interested in him. But, Atemu couldn't say that the idea was no longer tempting since ever since that night at Duke's Atemu couldn't look at him and just see a rival who was always pushing him to do better, always trying to find some way to finally defeat him. He instead saw someone who was kind, caring…and who if that person really meant it, he could easily see himself falling in love with.
And now that seems like that might become the reality. But Atemu wasn't so sure since he'd seen Seto toy with people in the past, and despite never having gone to this extent before he had gone pretty far, really leading the person on making a huge deal about how much he was into the person…invite them out to this really expensive, extravagant romantic restaurant…and stand them up. Then laugh about it the next day…telling the person they were an absolute fool to think for one second that they were worth his time.
Atemu sighed. I guess I'll just have to wait and see what tomorrow brings. But if Seto IS sincere about this I won't make it easy for him. He wants me to trust him and to even love him then he's going to have to earn it.
A/N: and this concludes the first chapter of my experiment with prideshipping. Please, review so I can have some feedback, seeing as I've never done anything with this pairing before and I'm not sure if I've done it remotely justice.