Thank you for your feedback and appreciation. I am greatly enjoying this story.

For half an hour, Seto stared at the contents of his wardrobe, arms crossed over his chest, before deciding on his everyday black pants and turtleneck. There was very little reason to dress differently. It was one date. With his rival. That fact had taken a while to fully sink in, hence the half-hour staring contest with the interior of his closet. He grimly appreciated the symbolic meaning the closet now held.

He flicked his eyes to the mirror; his slim profile pulled the look off well, as always.

But something he hadn't considered: what if Yami out-dressed him? He couldn't allow that. Perhaps a suit…

Kaiba shook his head, flipped through his hangers one more, insecure time, and pulled his hand back. He was fine. He was not nervous. He would dress normally, and that was that.

Yami was by the front door of the game shop, not so much standing as he was existing, emanating pure confidence. He had traded his school uniform for leather pants and a black, sleeveless shirt. Kaiba felt the need to cough and look away. He almost forgot to brake.

The car came to an abrupt stop, and Yami climbed in the passenger seat with barely a "hello". He crossed his legs and sat ramrod stiff in the seat.

"Where are we going?" he asked respectfully.

Kaiba relayed the name of the restaurant, and Yami nodded. When blue eyes stole a sideways glance at him, he was calmly gazing out the tinted window. But with another quick flick of his eyes, Kaiba saw Yami's hands clenched tightly in his lap. Apparently they were both anxious. Kaiba took momentary solace in that fact.

The car pulled in front of the restaurant, sloppily taking up two spots. It earned him an irritating car honk from behind. The two rivals exited the car and walked stiffly through the front doors.

"Kaiba," the CEO told the hostess, who checked the registry, offered a wide smile, and lead them to a secluded window seat.

Kaiba quickly pulled down a shade. He would not be seen having dinner with his sworn rival. Yami picked up a menu and looked over it; the movement was laced with tremendous casualness, as though he did something like this everyday.

"Hello, I'm Lucy and I'll be your server tonight. Can I start you off with-"

"Just water," Seto interrupted. She took it in stride and turned her head to Yami.

"Small coffee," he said.

Kaiba raised an eyebrow. Did Yami plan to be up the whole night? His mind ran wild with the implications of that thought.

The waitress toddled off and left them in total silence.

Under the guise of observing the items on the menu, Kaiba distracted himself with thoughts of dueling. Yami must have been doing something similar, because he was completely still until Lucy brought their drinks.

"Ready to order?" she asked.

Kaiba harbored an intense, irrational fear of ordering something that sounded undignified, but also didn't want to order something pretentious. It also couldn't be messy or indulgent.

"Steak and potatoes," he muttered, handing her the menu.

"What he said," Yami said. Maybe he couldn't think of anything either.

"I'll be back in a minute," she smiled.

That left both of them without a shield, so Kaiba found himself sharing long, uninterrupted eye contact with the man across from him.

Seto folded his hands and propped them up under his chin, staring at Yami over his knuckles, daring him to blink. The Pharaoh met the challenge. His eyes were an astounding purple, deeper than Yugi's; two large amethysts with stars for highlights.

It was only Seto's immense self-control that prevented him from doing a physical double-take.

Stars? Stars?

The bottom dropped out of his stomach.

Yami broke the eye contact with an almost-audible snap, and accepted his plate from the waitress - Seto hadn't noticed her approach. He grimaced and took his plate, tried not to watch Yami chewing.

Kaiba tried not to rush, but finished eating first.

"You've been quiet," Seto couldn't help observing. "Not that I mind."

Yami put a deliberate hand to his lower chest, and Kaiba recognized it as where the necklace - puzzle - had once been. "Yugi" had it now.

He muttered something about a "joke".

"What?"

Yami's eyes darted to him, as though contemplating whether to repeat the statement.

"It feels like a cosmic joke. What I - we - discovered yesterday." He picked up his cup and stared at the black dregs in the bottom. "Now I know my past. It feels anticlimactic."

Seto resisted the urge to roll his eyes, instead took a more diplomatic approach. He was feeling charitable today.

"After three thousand years, any answer would have felt anticlimactic," he said.

"Perhaps."

More stale silence. It had lost its appeal.

"Yami, are you disappointed?" Kaiba drawled.

The Pharaoh gave a noncommittal shrug of his small shoulders. The gesture made him snort in irritation.

"Please don't be frustrated with me, Kaiba," Yami said, but he was far away.

He wondered why Yami valued his disapproval.

"I'm not frustrated."

"You're always frustrated," he smirked.

"No I'm not," he snapped. Yami's eyebrows shot up, and he swirled the insides of his cup with satisfaction. Kaiba felt his own insides move with the remains of the Pharaoh's coffee.

"Stop smiling," he grumbled.

"As you wish."

Kaiba sighed. "Why do you always talk like that?"

"Like what? A spirit from ancient times?"

"Like Hamlet, or Jay Gatsby."

Yami tilted his head, hair moving like palm fronds. "Who?"

"Yami, do you even read?"

"In the past three thousand years? Not often."

"Well that's a deal-breaker." Seto's smirk returned.

"And we were doing so well," came Yami's dry reply.

Kaiba considered a shot back, but found himself saying, "I thought so."

The Pharaoh ran a hand through his blond bangs with such grace Kaiba had to give an unconvincing cough and cross his legs.

"Well, if it isn't the Pharaoh and Kaiba! How are you?"

Kaiba flushed and put a finger to his temple. He recognized that voice. "Please tell me it's not…"

"Marik! What are you doing here?"

"I am on a date," he said proudly.

Sure enough, the improbably-blond, effeminate Egyptian was standing at their table, his arm around a familiar white-haired villain - Bakura, who looked about as ticked off as Kaiba.

"Marik, we came here to eat, not speak to the Pharaoh and his consort," he said in clipped British.

"I am not his consort!" Kaiba spouted indignantly.

They ignored him and followed a hostess to their table. Seto was of the opinion they couldn't go far enough away.

"What the hell was that?" he muttered.

"Apparently the thief king and the tomb keeper are here as well. I always thought they were close," Yami chuckled.

"Why are you laughing?"

"Don't you find it odd that Domino has a larger concentration of homosexual men per capita than any other city in Japan? First Duke, then Joey, the two of us, and now them? I find it amusing."

"I don't think it's very funny. Marik tried to kill you, and Bakura tried to overthrow Egypt."

"So did you, as I recall," Yami shot back with a half-smile. "What can I say? I'm very forgiving."

Kaiba didn't have a comeback for that one, so he glared into his glass. He almost choked when he realized he hadn't outright denied Yami's assertion about his sexuality. Oops.

How was Yami acting so much more collected and sharp than him? Was it only Seto's imagination, or was he really not up to his usual level of indifference?

Lucy came back and asked about dessert. Kaiba prayed to those stupid gods that Yami wouldn't get anything. It had been hard enough to avert his eyes from the workings of his rival's mouth when he had had his own food to worry about.

"No, thank you," Yami said. Kaiba exhaled in relief.

"Then here's your check," she grinned and sauntered away. Funny how she had assumed they wouldn't be splitting the bill. Hopefully she wouldn't brag about seeing the president of KaibaCorp on a date with the King of Games.

Yami took a card from his pocket, signed on the line, and shut the small folder.

Kaiba had expected it to sting his pride, but not to this degree. His nose twitched. He disliked being taken care of, and for his rival to be doing the caretaking? Unacceptable.

The waitress was already coming back. Kaiba snatched up the check, put his own card in the slot, and crossed out Yami's signature.

"Here."

She took it with an understanding nod.

Kaiba tossed Yami his credit card. The Pharaoh looked at him in curious disbelief.

"You don't owe me anything," Seto said defiantly.

Yami smiled. "You are such a child."

Under normal circumstances, that would have justified a nasty diatribe back, but since the world had already turned upside-down, Kaiba said, "I'm not as bad as that priest."

"Not at all. You're much worse," Yami smirked. "At least Set was honest when it came to his feelings."

"You were doing fine just a second ago, and suddenly you bring up feelings?"

"You think 'child' is better than 'feelings'?"

"As a general rule anything is better than feelings."

"I rest my case."

Kaiba snorted.

"Kaiba, I apologize for not being talkative tonight."

"I consider it a reprieve."

Yami's smirk turned into a grimace. "I am very lost in thought."

Recognizing it as a baited hook an instant too late, Kaiba asked, "What are you thinking about?"

The Pharaoh didn't reply right away, but not because he didn't know what to say. Seto knew that look - the look of someone plotting out every small word with careful precision, organizing with startling deliberation. He'd seen that look in the mirror every morning for the past fifteen years.

Yami's eyes refocused into their piercing, purple hue.

"Here you are." The voice made Kaiba jump; Lucy had returned with his credit card.

He glared at her; Yami might have actually said something interesting if she hadn't interrupted.

He drove Yami back to the game shop, and afterward drove himself home. He walked up the stairs to his room, shut the door, sat on his bed, and stared at the floor for hours.

Are you wondering how Bakura and Marik's date went? Because I am.