Play Your Part, Seto
Chapter 4
From the Heart
A month after he had received the letter from Marik, the cast from Yami's leg could finally be removed and the teen was given a clean bill of health. Yami had told his friends about the event in advance, and Yugi had insisted that they should do something special to celebrate the occasion. Yami did not know what it was that his friends had planned, and Yugi refused to tell. The petite boy insisted on it being a surprise and not even Seto had been willing to shed light on the matter. Yami suspected that the reason for the brunet's silence was more a matter of Seto wanting to see Yami squirm rather than any actual loyalty to their mismatched group of friends.
"Yami!" Yugi's voice called and a moment later Yami had a pair of arms wrapped around his waist and a warm body pressed against him back. "You're out of the cast!"
"Yes", Yami agreed as his boyfriend squeezed him a bit tighter. "Now you can jump on me for random hugs without me falling over in a painful and possibly fatal manner." The taller teen pried Yugi's arms from his frame and turned around to face the other. "Hello, Yugi." He bent down to plant a kiss on expectant lips. "And why are you getting so excited? I already told you about this three days ago."
"You never know when there's going to be a complication. You might have suddenly needed a week more or something", Yugi said and earned an amused chuckle from Yami, followed by the crimson-eyed youth saying: "That was highly unlikely, considering that most cases of broken bones heal within the two-month mark."
"I'm still glad that you're okay now", Yugi insisted and cuddled against Yami, which the taller teen did not really mind. Actually, he rather enjoyed it.
"Are you glad enough to tell me what you've planned for tonight?" Yami asked hopefully, to which Yugi answered: "I'll tell you that Anzu made the plans. Other than that you'll just have to wait."
"Mazaki?" Yami did not know whether he should be relieved or worried about that revelation. Anzu would not pick anything too lacking in taste, but she also would not allow Yami to back down from any activities. The girl could be very scary when she was upset, and Yami trying to chicken out would make her very upset indeed.
"Yeah, Anzu promised to arrange everything", Yugi affirmed and grabbed Yami's arm. "We should get to class now. It wouldn't do for us to get in trouble today of all days."
"Right, right", Yami agreed and allowed his hyped boyfriend to lead the way. Yami could very well guess what Yugi had eaten for breakfast; most likely it was something coated in either sugar or chocolate.
&
"Seto?" Katsuya spoke out and immediately his boyfriend's blue eyes turned their attention from his book to him. The two were sitting in the classroom and were the only ones present at the time. Since Seto had a habit of coming to school early to read in peace, Katsuya often came earlier as well if he wanted to discuss something with the brunet or otherwise wished to spend more time with the other.
"What is it?" Seto prompted and Katsuya fidgeted with his fingers nervously. The blond was wondering if this really was worth the embarrassment, but he reminded himself that this was Seto of all people. Seto was worth this and much more.
"Seto", Katsuya repeated and one brown eyebrow rose curiously. Finally the blond managed to utter out: "I'd like to apologise."
A confused expression came across Seto's face, looking more like a miffed frown than the wide-eyed expression that most people would wear. Katsuya had grown accustomed to identifying the slight differences in Seto's wide variety of frowns and scowls. Even the brunet's tone was close to annoyance as he questioned: "What are you sorry for?"
"For not appreciating the fact that you care about me", Katsuya mumbled and flushed in embarrassment, lowering his face. "I'm sorry."
"Forget it", Seto replied instantly. "Is this about the other day in the café?"
"No", Katsuya said and shook his head. "Not really." The shorter teen was encouraged enough to raise his head and meet Seto's gaze again. "But that is when I realized I was doing things wrong."
"What did you realize exactly?" the brunet queried and Katsuya felt that Seto would have difficulties understanding the answer to that question. The blond would actually need to explain what he meant.
"Seto, you have to understand something about me", Katsuya started and forced to keep eye contact even as he felt another wave of embarrassment surge through his body. "I've always been considered the tough guy; I was always the strong one who never needed any help. But then that thing with Keith happened and I was so helpless until you came to save me." The blond knew that if he paused, he might be unable to pick up again. So he pressed on: "It was the first time I had relied on someone to be stronger than me, and it actually felt nice. I like the thought of having someone to support me and then support them in return." At this point Katsuya's eyes lowered to Seto's chest and his face burned all the way to his ears. "But you're so strong, Seto. I thought you wouldn't see me as an equal. And then you said that thing…"
"Katsuya…" Seto's voice spoke and the blond dared to glance up. "Sometimes, the things you come up with in your head…they're absolutely ridiculous."
An indignant spluttering followed from Katsuya and the blond shot a heated glare at the brunet as he opened his mouth to retort, only to be interrupted by a finger pressed to his lips. He looked at Seto in curiosity to see the other teen look at him tenderly before he continued: "But, at the same time, they make me feel so stupid and inadequate."
A surprised blink was the only response Katsuya had to that, followed by a shyly uttered: "Seto?"
Seto glanced to the side with the palest of blushes on his cheeks. That tint of red was the only indicator of the fact that the brunet was more embarrassed than annoyed as he spoke: "I can't put my emotions into words like you. Half of the time I don't even know what I'm feeling." The brunet then reached out to grasp Katsuya's hand with his own. The blond smiled at the gesture and interlaced their fingers before questioning: "We complete each other?"
A nod came from Seto before the brunet affirmed: "That's what I believe, yes." He brought their interlocked hands up and both teens watched the contrast of their different skin shades. While Seto's skin was an almost ghastly pale shade, Katsuya's own had gained more than enough of a tan from the summer and early autumn.
It truly was the perfect moment. The atmosphere would have been just right for Katsuya to utter out his deepest feelings to Seto and finally bear his heart to the one person he cared about the most.
I love you Seto.
But, for once in his life, Katsuya could not speak his feelings.
&
The group was gathered in the school cafeteria for lunch, but Jou and Kaiba had been delayed so they were two people short, which suited Yugi just fine, since he had something he wished to bring to the attention of his other friends. The boy was rolling his juice pack in his hands when he spoke up: "Something's up with Jou and Kaiba-kun."
The frank statement caught everyone's attention easily and the members of the group looked at Yugi curiously. The one to speak up first was Honda, who released a curious hum: "Oh?" and then shot a glance at the cafeteria doors to make sure that the pair in question was not coming in just yet. Apparently the coast was still clear, since the brunet continued: "To me they seem as lovey-dovey as ever."
"No, no, you misunderstood", Yugi hurried to say, releasing his juice to wave his hands. "I didn't mean that there's something wrong with them. Actually, something seems to be right." The boy smiled happily at the thought. "They've been in a really good mood ever since this morning."
Anzu lifted a finger and grinned widely as she cheered. "That's true!" The brunette released a giggle. "I thought I was the only one who noticed."
A scoff came from the girl's left side, where Bakura was sitting with his trademark broody expression. The albino's tone sounded more than just a tad bit jealous as he grumbled: "Who wouldn't notice that those two are acting like newlyweds?"
There was a shift from Yugi's right and the boy looked up at Yami to see his boyfriend smile slightly in amusement before the crimson-eyed teen spoke: "Now that you mention it, Seto has seemed a bit thoughtful lately." A grin came to Yami's face then. "Maybe he proposed?"
"I say they slept together", Bakura said without any of the jealously gone from his tone.
Before anyone could comment on either of the two suggestions, Yugi spotted the topics of their conversation entering the cafeteria. A smile came on Yugi's lips and the boy exclaimed: "There they are!" He started waving his arms. "Jou! Kaiba-kun! Over here!"
There was a snort from across the table, which was revealed to have come from Bakura when the white-haired teen spoke insistently: "I still say they slept together."
There was a laugh from Yami at that, followed by the tan teen saying: "As far as I know, and I know far, Jounouchi hasn't let Seto do much along those lines." The boy smirked. "Seto says Jounouchi beats him up if he tries to go too far and that a couple of handfuls isn't really worth the bruises."
Yugi had to wonder about that. Jou was crazy about Kaiba, so it was surprising that the blond would resist his boyfriend so much. A thoughtful frown came across his face as he muttered: "Hard to believe…"
A couple of moments later Kaiba and Jou were seated at the table, the latter one choosing to take a bite off of the apple sitting on the corner of his tray, instead of the sandwich that should have been his real lunch. Still, Yugi ignored this oddity as simply something Jou did and piped up: "Jou!"
The blond glanced up with a curious hum, unable to speak any words with his mouth full of fruit. Yugi smiled at his friend before questioning: "What would you do if Kaiba-kun molested you?"
There was a moment's delay in Jou's answer, since the blond needed to swallow the apple before speaking up: "Right now? I'd punch him." The teen then turned to his boyfriend, who had wrapped his arms around his waist at some point. "You heard that, lover boy. Keep your hands in appropriate places."
Kaiba only rolled his eyes before murmuring: "Fine." The brunet then leaned in to lick the side of Jou's mouth where some apple juice had dribbled in the blond's earlier hurry to finish the piece. "Whatever you say."
A blush came to Jou cheeks and the blond asked in a tone that was a lot more lenient than his words: "What the heck?"
First Kaiba only licked his lips, but then answered simply: "You taste like apple." The brunet smirked before murmuring against the blond's lips: "Tasty." Then the tall teen clamped his lips soundly over Jou's in a deep kiss.
It was obvious that the kiss involved a lot of tongue, and by the time Kaiba pulled back, Jou was blushing a pretty scarlet. The blond started to nibble at his sandwich in a distracted manner, seeming to finally decide to eat in the order normal people would have chosen. Meanwhile Kaiba licked his lips once more, looking very pleased with himself.
That evening…
Seto really had to wonder how he had ended up spending his Friday evening like this. But every time the brunet got into the process of wondering about it, the blond sitting next to him would give him a dazzling smile and Seto would remember again.
Karaoke was not Seto's thing. Truth be told, the brunet had never tried it before. But, still, the cold and crisp November evening found the brunet sitting in a private box in one of Domino's karaoke clubs with his boyfriend's friends. Well, Yami was there as well. That was one of the good things about the evening, actually. And why it was so? For one simple reason…
Silence had filled the box for a few moments after Yami had finished signing. Then, finally, the silence was broken by Honda's flabbergasted voice.
"Wow", the brown-eyed teen uttered slowly. "I mean, wow." He turned to Yami before finishing: "Man, you suck."
An indignant look came over Yami's face, followed by the star-haired teen snapping: "Who cares?" He sniffed. "Karaoke is for wimps, anyway."
"You're just mad because you're so bad at it", came Anzu's cold verdict, which had Seto smirking in amusement while Katsuya actually laughed outright. It was a good thing Bakura had managed to dodge the group's karaoke plans, for Yami's sake at least; the white-haired teen would have never let the crimson-eyed one live this down.
"If we were playing 'Master Guitarist', I'd beat you all", Yami swore at them and Yugi spoke out in retaliation: "That's only because you've spent every moment of your spare time playing it for the last month." The short teen pouted at this point. "Sometimes I feel like you love that game more than you love me."
"Never!" Yami exclaimed and leaped over to the couch Yugi was sitting on to grasp his boyfriend's hands. "Yugi, the precious light of my life, I could never love anything more than you."
A brilliant smile lit Yugi's face and the boy swooned: "Oh, Yamikins. You mean that?"
"Of course, my little angel cake", the taller of the two crooned back in a completely love struck manner that had Seto grimacing and snarling: "Ugh, you two are so disgustingly cheesy."
That was when Seto felt Katsuya lay a hand on his arm and heard the other's soft voice question sweetly: "Honey?"
Seto immediately turned to the blond next to him and prompted gently: "Yes dear?"
The next thing Seto knew he had a palm pressed against his face as Katsuya's voice scolded in a fond manner: "Hypocrite." The blond then removed his hand and stood up. "Come on then, honey. Sing a duet with me."
"I'm not really familiar with the new songs", Seto confessed in slight embarrassment. He comforted himself by thinking that not knowing songs was a lot better than signing as badly as Yami did. And it seemed that the teen in question realized this too, since he stayed silent.
"Don't worry, Seto", Katsuya said as he grabbed a mike. "I'll pick us something older then."
With a put-on sigh, Seto stood up and walked next to Katsuya and glanced at the screen to see the name of the song the blond had chosen. The brunet made a face at the title and growled at the gleefully smiling teen: "I'm not that out of date." He received only a shrug in response before a western song from the mid-80's started playing.
"If you laugh", Seto warned and shot a warning glare at Yami, "I'll hurt you."
"Oh, no one would laugh at my honey", Katsuya crooned but then grinned maliciously. "Not unless they like pain."
A sound of scuffling followed Katsuya's words, caused by Honda scampering out of the room, murmuring something about having to go to the bathroom. It was probably a smart move from the teen who knew Katsuya so well and could not hold his laughter in very well. Those thoughts were cut off when Seto's sleeve was yanked by the blond standing next to him, signalling that their cue had just passed, and the brunet's attention shifted to the task of singing the song together with Katsuya.
He ended up doing a lot better than Yami.
&
Katsuya felt truly elevated while walking home with Seto later on that evening. He had been worried that Seto would sulk the whole evening but the brunet had seemed to actually enjoy himself. During the walk the blond had his arm wrapped around his boyfriend's own, since most of the people travelling the busy streets were in too great of a hurry to pay any attention to the two teens.
"Thanks for coming along today, Seto", Katsuya spoke up when he saw a familiar building nearing. "It really meant a lot to me."
"Well, you know how I love to spoil you", Seto replied with an amused quirk on his lips. "Not to mention there would have been endless whining from Yami if he had ended up the only one of us to get dragged there by his boyfriend."
"Oh, you had fun, admit it", Katsuya insisted with a grin up at Seto. "Especially since it turned out that you sing better than Yami." That did not mean that Seto's singing was really above average, but it did sound a lot better than Yami's terrible crooning.
"Well, I must confess that it wasn't an unpleasant experience", Seto conceded. Then the joking expression disappeared from the brunet's face and Katsuya felt slight worry as the two of them stopped in front of the apartment complex the blond lived in.
"Is something on your mind, Seto?" Katsuya questioned as he released Seto's arm to move to stand in front of the brunet. "You went really quiet."
Seto looked hesitant for the briefest of moments before he apparently steeled himself and started to speak very quickly: "Katsuya, I know we have only been together for a bit over two months, but we have known each other for far longer than that and we have been through a great deal of things in a short amount of time." The brunet took a deep breath and continued: "I think it's time we brought our relationship to the next level."
It was obvious that Seto had spent a lot of time coming up with this speech, Katsuya noted and thought about the words. The next level… Only one thing came to the blond's mind at Seto's words and the very thought made his heartbeat pick up. This was it, the thing Katsuya had been waiting for. The blond felt his cheeks heat up as a goofy grin came to his face. He was going to get laid! Katsuya looked up at Seto expectantly.
He was just on time, too. Seto was now ready to finish and the brunet spoke out: "I think it's about time we told our parents about us dating."
In mere seconds Katsuya's world hit rock bottom. The universe must have hated him.
To be continued…
Author's Notes: Dun dun dunn! Sorry guys, but our heroes are neither going to get married nor going to sleep together. I hope you aren't too disappointed, like poor Katsuya is.
And on the topic of Bakura's jealousy in this chapter: he is convinced that Seto and Katsuya are sleeping together, so he is jealous because he isn't getting any.
ALSO: I have put up a poll into my profile. I need a bit of help with deciding my next YGO fanfic project and I have put up some options for you to choose from. My profile will have further information on the options so that you won't have to choose a story with nothing but the name. This story won't be coming out soon, but will be the story I'll start when "Dream Prince" finishes. This will be sometime this spring or summer. Thank you.
