Two days before Spring Break, Seto Kaiba woke up staring into a pair of bright blue eyes. The face they were set in was mere centimeters from his own. He did the only rational thing a person can do when they wake up to find someone in their bed who was not there the night before. He yelled. And he backed away as fast as he could. Backing away meant backing off the bed, which he didn't realize. He hit the floor with a thud and lay there, wondering exactly when he was going to wake up. He could clearly hear his alarm clock…he had to wake up so he could turn it off. Then someone else did.
Seth rolled over so he could stare over the edge of the bed. Seto saw him and sat up, rubbing his shoulder where it had missed the rug and hit the wood floor instead. "Jeez Seth, what were you trying to do? Give me a heart attack? Don't do that to me!"
"Um…Seto? Why are you not see-through?"
"Because I'm controlling my body, that's why. Why do you ask?"
"Because I'm not either. See." Seth rolled completely off the bed, landing in Seto's lap. He was utterly naked. Seto looked away until Seth had rolled off him and was sitting on the floor with his knees pulled up to his chest.
"Are we dreaming?"
"Why do you ask me?"
"You're the resident expert on the strange and abnormal in this house, not me. Are we?"
"Nuh-uh."
"Then how is…is this possible?" Seto gestured at the both of them. His voice was laced with a touch of panic, but it hadn't really taken over yet.
"It's not. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go shower." With that, Seth got to his feet, made a quick stop at the closet for clothes, and then ambled into the bathroom. Seto stayed on the floor.
When Seth came out of the bathroom in a cloud of steam, Seto was no longer sitting on the floor on the side of his bed. He was still on the floor though. Under the bed. Muttering an unending mantra of "I'm dreaming, this isn't real. I'm dreaming, this isn't real. I'm dreaming, this isn't real." Seth went to the other side of the bed, grabbed his hikari by the ankles, and hauled him out.
"Calm down Seto. I don't know what happened, or why, but it's most definitely real, and neither one of us is dreaming. We can go ask Atemu. But first you have to shower and eat something, okay?" Seto nodded fervently. Life had been a lot simpler before his yami had arrived, but life with him was certainly…interesting. And he felt better now that they had a plan.
While Seto showered, Seth wandered downstairs in search of breakfast. Mokuba was in the kitchen, eating a muffin.
"Hi Seth." He was used to the changes his brother went through to become the Egyptian Priest, and had welcomed the stranger into his home. Seth was almost always ready to spend some time with him.
"Morning Mokuba." Seth mumbled. He rooted around in the refrigerator for a minute, then came up with a mango and a pair of tangerines. "Can you call the school for me and tell them that Seto is going to be late, possibly absent?"
"Why can't you?"
"Because my voice isn't like his, you're his brother, and Seto is upstairs taking a shower and is therefore incapable of doing it himself." Seth explained. Mokuba nearly choked on his muffin.
"Upstairs taking a shower?" he repeated. "But don't you two share a body?"
"Not anymore. Dunno why." Seth peeled and sliced his mango, and peeled the tangerines. Mokuba came to the conclusion that Seth was joking, and made the call.
"Why is he going to be late?" Mokuba asked when he returned.
"Because we're going to see Atemu." Seth explained, dumping his fruit into the blender.
"He's going to school. Can't you talk to him there?"
"No, I'd prefer that he blow a gasket in private, rather than make a scene that warrants clarification." Seth switched on the blender, and waited until the contents were a single, solid shade of orange. "And I really don't want to have to explain to the majority of the student body why there are suddenly two of us instead of one." he sampled the stuff in the blender, made a face, and dove for the freezer. He retrieved a bag of frozen raspberries and carried it to the blender.
"Seth, we need to call the school and tell them I'll be late." Seto walked into the kitchen. This time, Mokuba really did choke on his muffin.
"It's already been taken care of. Mokuba, are you alright?" The boy nodded, coughing, and waved Seth away. "Don't eat so fast."
"Since when are there two of you?" Mokuba squawked. Apparently, he'd recovered from near death-by-muffin.
"Since this morning." Seth said calmly. He dumped half of the raspberries into the blender, popped another into his mouth, and switched the machine back on. The mixture inside turned an alarming shade of fuchsia.
"Well you seem awfully unconcerned by it." Mokuba pointed out. "Doesn't it worry you even a little?"
"Nope." Seth tasted the blend, smiled, and went to get a glass from the cupboard. Seto followed him. Mokuba stared. He'd never had a chance to see all the ways Seth and Seto were different; they were mostly the same anyway.
"And what are you going to Yami's for?" he asked. Seth mumbled something incoherent through his smoothie. Seto rolled his eyes and bopped his yami on the head with a spoon.
"To find out what happened to us. Hand me the milk, would you?" Mokuba did. Seto poured it over the bowl of granola he'd served. Seth stole a spoonful.
"Why do you think he knows?"
"Because he probably does, and he'll know who does know if he doesn't." Seth answered. His tongue had turned an interesting color from the smoothie. Seto mumbled something around the granola. Apparently Seth understood it, because he nodded. "Of course I do. He always waits until the last minute to leave the house and catch the bus. Finish up, we've got to leave in a few minutes." Seto nodded and bolted down the rest of his breakfast. "Don't be late for school Mokuba."
"I won't." Mokuba muttered. He finished his muffin.
/Upstairs/ "You are not wearing that."
"Why not?"
"Because I said so."
"Aw, is the oh-so-popular Seto Kaiba jealous because his yami looks hotter than him?" Seth teased.
"No, Seto Kaiba refuses to be seen in public with a yami who is wearing something that shouldn't even be counted as clothing."
"You're no fun."
"I am too fun. My idea of fun just doesn't involve practically begging to be swamped with fangirls." Seth rolled his eyes and pulled the fishnet shirt off.
"And since when is my cousin's house counted as 'public'?"
"Since it happens to house a game shop. Now find something half-way decent to wear." Seth sighed and selected a black short-sleeved button up. He deliberately left more than half of the buttons undone, ran his fingers through his hair, and inspected the result in the mirror. He grinned, and re-directed his gaze at a rarely opened drawer. "Oh no you don't."
"Why not?"
"You're going to pick something totally inappropriate."
"Am not. Look, this is just fine." Seth held up a silver chain with a dragon pendant hanging off it.
"You're a pain. Fine, wear it. I'll see if I can find pepper spray and a bat to keep the girls off you."
"Thank you." Seth grinned and pounced on Seto.
"Hey! What're you doing?"
"A little wardrobe change. We're skipping the last two days of school, hikari, and I'm going to teach you about this little thing I like to call style."
"Your point?" Seto asked, struggling to free himself from his yami's grip.
"You have the general outlook on life that a middle-aged man does. I have news for you. You're going to be eighteen this year. Act like it. Now come here." Seth dragged Seto back into the bedroom, sat him down on the bed, and vanished back into the closet. Seto sat still, wondering what his supremely strange yami was going to do to him. A few minutes later, Seth emerged form the closet carrying an entirely different outfit. "Put these on."
"Do I have to?" Seto asked, eyeing the clothes. He didn't want to know what Seth had picked.
"Yes." Seth said, far to enthusiastically to make Seto feel good about the situation. Still, arguing with Seth didn't seem like a good idea, so he stripped off what he was wearing and put on Seth's selections. They weren't as bad as he'd thought: a pair of black jeans, well fitting but not tight, and a deep blue button-up.
"There. Happy?"
"Not yet. C'mere." Seto obeyed. Seth gave his hikari's hair a thorough ruffling, and stepped back to view his handiwork. "Mmm…shake your head please. Just like that. Great. Just a few adjustments." Seth unbuttoned the top two buttons on Seto's shirt and fastened a leather cord around his neck. The charm hanging on it resembled silver flames. "There. Now go take a look in the mirror." Seto approached the mirror with caution, unsure of what he might see.
"Whoa…thanks Seth." Seto liked what he saw. Mokuba was going to have a heart attack, but it looked good.
"No problem. Now let's go already!"
/Mouto residence/ Yugi sat quietly on the couch, between Marik and Ryou. All three watched Yami, who was pacing the living room floor. When the doorbell rang, Yugi quickly got up to answer it. Seto and Seth were standing outside.
"You too?" he asked.
"Us too." Seth said cheerfully.
"Come in. I'll explain what's going on." The brunettes followed Yugi into kitchen. He vanished into the living room, then returned with Marik and Ryou.
"Looks like all of us got it." Ryou murmured. "Bakura is going to throw a fit when he sees you, Seth."
"Him too?"
"Him too. And Malik." Marik said. "This whole thing is their fault."
"Really? And what did those troublemakers get their hands on that could do something like this?"
"They just worked together. From what I heard before Yami got to them, it sounds like they were trying to cause a major thunderstorm and blackouts across the city. Something backfired and knocked them out. Come morning, there are eight of us instead of four."
"Ah. And is there a reason that my crazy cousin is wearing a path in your carpet?"
"I think he's trying to come up with a suitable method of slow and painful death for them."
"Excellent. I'll go join him."
"Don't kill them." Marik said softly.
"Why not? Do you have any idea just what they could've done? We're lucky we didn't wake up dead!"
"Seth, you wouldn't have wok-" Seto interrupted. Seth cut him off.
"That's not the point! That was totally irresponsible, and if they had to call up a blasted thunderstorm, they could have at least called Atemu or me so someone could have made sure they didn't cause irreparable damage to themselves, or the city, or the Items! Why shouldn't they be hung, or fed to a dragon, or dropped into a pool of acid, or-" It seemed that Seth was more than a little irritated by the unknown error that had caused him to become a separate entity. He was yelling, stomping around the room, and gesturing wildly. Yami had even paused in his pacing to watch from the doorway.
"Because Malik makes a mean muffin."
"And Bakura brought me tea in bed this morning as an apology." Seth stared at Marik and Ryou.
"Tea…and…and muffins?" They nodded. "Tea and muffins?" he repeated. More nodding.
"And pancakes." Yugi added.
"You didn't make me breakfast this morning." Seto complained. "All I got was an unobstructed view of your naked backside while you invaded my shower." That did it. Yami collapsed against the doorframe, laughing. The collective hikaris followed suit. And Seth just stood there, having just had his argument declared null-and-void by breakfast.
A little later, when the laughter had died down and the remnants of Seth's pride had been collected and returned, Malik and Bakura were untied and released from the basement they'd been locked in. Both took care to avoid getting too close to Yami or Seth, and went to stand behind their hikaris.
"We've decided to spare your lives." Seth grumbled. Malik and Bakura looked at each other, clearly confused.
"But we're still mad at you." Yami said. His voice was dangerously soft. "You have the next ten seconds to run." The pair needed no second bidding. They were out of the house in record time. Exactly ten seconds later, Seth and Yami gave chase. The hikaris remained where they were.
"This is what my life is going to be like on a daily basis now, isn't it?" Seto asked, staring blankly at the wall.
"Yup." The other three chorused.
"And I'll never get a moment's peace…"
"Nope."
"Joy."
"Welcome to the club Seto. Now you get to share yami-sitting duties."
"Come again?"
That evening, Bakura was forced to sit still with his head in the sink while Ryou scrubbed the dirt out of his hair.
"Ryou?"
"Mmmm?"
"Why exactly did those two decide to go for 'almost killed' instead of 'very dead'?"
"Well…Seth went into a spectacular rant when he found out how we ended up like this, and asked why he shouldn't kill you and Malik."
"And the answer was…what?"
"Breakfast."
"Excuse me?"
"Breakfast." Ryou repeated.
"Yes, I heard you say breakfast. But what has that got to do with my still being here, very much alive, if sore?"
"Tea, muffins, and pancakes." Rou paused, thinking. "And Seth's behind."
"Seth's what?"
"His behind. Naked."
"Hikari dear, you have lost me. In fact, I think I'm still back at breakfast, trying to understand what it has in common with my life and Seth's butt."
"That's what each of us got for breakfast this morning."
"Seth's butt?"
"No. Well…that's what Seto saw this morning. But you made tea for me, Malik made muffins for Marik, and Yami made pancakes for Yugi before he realized that they were separate. We decided that it was a good enough reason to keep you and Malik a round a little while longer."
"And you actually won this argument?"
"Seth couldn't think up a reply."
"Ah. Beaten by breakfast…I'm not going to let him forget about that."
/Kaiba residence/ Seth sat quietly on the bed, allowing Seto to clean the bloody scrapes on his knuckles.
"So…care to explain how you managed to do this to your hand?" Seto asked, putting the washcloth he'd been using back in the bowl of warm water.
"I was aiming for Bakura and the little desert rat –ow- dodged, so my fist hit the wall. Be careful. That hurts."
"Then let it be a lesson. Desert rats are hard to catch, and walls are not meant to be punched. Oh, and I'm not your personal nurse."
"But you are my hikari."
"Yes, I am. But you can't call that an excuse." Seto rubbed antiseptic on the raw skin, and stuck a bandage over each knuckle. "There. Don't go hitting any solid, stationary objects for a few days and they'll be as good as new."
"Thank you. Can I sleep with you tonight?"
"Why?"
"Because the other options are Mokuba's room or the couch. Please?"
"Fine. But just tonight."
Seth woke Seto up sometime later that night. "Hey. Seto?"
"You'd better have a very good reason for waking me up at this ungodly hour."
"Are you angry?"
"Angry? About what?"
"Me."
"Seth, if you've gone and pulled some stupid prank, now is not the best time to be telling me. Wait and explain after I've had my coffee in the morning."
"No, I meant…are you mad that I've got my own body now?" Seto rolled over and stared at Seth.
"Now why would I be mad about something like that?"
"You just seemed awfully quiet today."
"Seth, I was still in shock. I woke up with another person in my bed with me, and didn't know how he got there. It's taken a little while to sink in. I'm not mad. I like having you around."
"You do?"
"Yes, believe it or not."
"Why?"
"Because, even if you've managed to turn my entire life upside down and sideways in the past 24 hours, you're still my yami, and one of the few people I can usually get a decent, civilized conversation out of."
"Oh."
"Now can I go back to sleep?"
"Yeah, go ahead."
"Thanks." It was silent for a moment.
"Seto?"
"What?"
"Thank you."