NOTE
1. Warning: overdone fluff
2. I edited this poorly, so pardon the strange flow of this chapter
YAMI'S HAND
Truth to be told, Seto had always appreciated Yami's physical features from the start. He couldn't help it; the other boy really is beautiful. The area around his ears, going through the jaw and the long neck Seto liked especially. If only Yami didn't run his smart mouth, Seto would probably not feel any malice at the start of their rivalry. Something so beautiful, in Seto's opinion, should stay silent and pretty.
However, it was exactly Yami's cheeky attitude that made it hard for Seto to forget the other boy's cocky smirk. He just had to beat Seto game after game, in which Seto has to come back for revenge and the cycle start all over again. To every word Seto uttered, he would have the perfect return; to the point that Seto would have to listen to his worthless argument about love, life, friendship and the such. If only the other boy was less intelligent, less talented, and less interested in duel monster; then maybe Seto wouldn't have much trouble asking him out. But he had to have all of those traits; making Seto's heart run a mile as though he never liked anyone before. Because someone so brilliant – so so like Seto, yet so so unlike Seto – should've never existed in the first place.
And the guy still had the gal to ask Seto why Seto asked him out. "I just don't get what you see in me," the half-Egyptian said before sipping his coffee. To Seto's knowledge, this is the kind of question middleschoolers would ask their date just to hear what they've always wanted to hear.
Yami, in Seto's perspective, has that side in him. Despite his brilliant mind, he was a romantic at heart – a sappy one, in fact. And however much Seto found that trait of Yami's puzzling, foolish, and surprisingly naïve for someone so intelligent; he also likes it.
Just because he likes Yami's foolishness though, doesn't mean he has to be act foolish too. He ignored his boyfriend's inquire in exchange to sipping his coffee. Yami snorted.
They finished their coffee in no hurry while chatting about the latest development from professional duelers around the world. Once it's time to leave, they raced to slam their share of payment to the table. Pride still got a way into their date thus the matter of who is paying and who isn't was still a huge debate between them. Thankfully, in this café they frequented every weekends, they've agreed to pay in halves; and thus, no arguments ensued.
The walk from the café to school was spent in silence. Seto spent it to reply his mails and Yami busied himself by calling his grandpa. The school was not as busy as usual that day, but it was still busting with energy. Students often use their weekends to do club meetings. You'd see the sport clubs cooling down by the running track, the art club forming a circle around a tree to practice sketching, the drama club practicing yoga while wearing a star shaped hat (those drama kids – they're the quirkiest ones), and a bunch of students could be seen sitting on the stairs, singing loudly while holding a cardboard box that has a bold 'DONATE!' written on it. Seto and Yami ignored the whole scene and aimed straight to their destination on the ground floor; to the staff meeting room.
As expected, Solomon Mutou and Seto's assistant, Amy Dunn, were already present in the meeting room. They were chatting merrily with their school counsellor and wouldn't have noticed the boys arrival if Seto hadn't coughed. "The Principal has a guest in his office. He'll join us in ten minutes. You can sit down and wait here," Ms. Suzuki informed.
Yami was the one to deny her. He shook his head politely. "We'll wait outside. If you excuse us ma'am".
The boys ended up standing in the hallways outside of the meeting room with their backs leaning to the wall. Yami had his hands in his pockets while Seto's arms crossed in front of his chest. Frequently, a couple of students passed by and greeted them – most greeted Yami by name, but glance shyly at the teen standing next to him. Yugi happened to walk by not long after along with Tea. He greeted them cheerfully after noticing his brother, not forgetting to ask about Seto's day. "You're meeting the Principal, right? To talk about that study plan while you're absent from school," Yugi noted. Tea looked surprised.
"There's such a thing? What could they have prepared for you guys?" Her head perked, "What if they planned to give you a free pass all the way to graduation?"
Seto thought it was the stupidest thing she could've suggest. But she looked at him and smiled – as if she could read his distaste and take it as a joke.
Yugi and Tea bid their goodbye after a cheeleader came to get Tea. The two waved and left to their respective clubs. And then they saw it.
Yugi and Tea linking hands as they walked ahead.
The gesture seemed casual for the two that most people would brush it off. But Yami and Seto's eyes latched onto their linked hands; only taking their eyes off once the two lovebirds disappeared from view. "Huh," Seto snorted and looked way. He took a glimpse at Yami, only to have their eyes met in a split second before Yami turned his head the other way. By then he wondered if the scene triggered an idea in his boyfriend's head. Yami was rather prone to sentimentalism.
Another group of people walked by. Yami strangely ignored them for the most part even though they called out to him.
"Don't you think it's interesting how couples like to do it," Yami said once the group left the hallway. "Holding hands, I mean," the teen added. Seto rolled his eyes.
"It's two hands meeting. What more there is to it?" Come on, Seto had experienced way beyond hand-holding, and here he was discussing this?
"I know," Yami shrugged. He tilted his head back and bumped it to the wall behind him, "Yugi and Tea seemed like they enjoy it. They like to do it at home, when they think no one is watching".
Seto scowled. Trust Yugi to not make out with his cheerleader girlfriend when he had her all to himself. For Seto, holding hands and the such hold no significance. He preferred going in for the kill; something more physical. No wonder Yami 's lips was rarely left idling nowadays.
"I want to touch your hand".
Yami was looking at Seto with the face he has everytime he 's immersed in a duel. Seto's orbs traced over the sharp lines of the other boy's face and wondered how someone who looked so fierce could say something utterly stupid.
… yet Seto still likes it.
"Sure," the brunette shrugged. He reached out toward Yami with one hand; to which Yami eyed tentatively before making a grab for it. His hand hovered over Seto's for a split second.
Then he grasped it.
"Mr. Mutou, Mr. Kaiba".
The two boys snapped their heads to the door; hands still connected. Ms. Suzuki, who just appeared from inside the meeting room, was squinting at their hands before looking back and forth between them. By then they must've seem like they were in an awkward handshake to her – unless she has been suspecting them as a couple. "You can go inside now," she said finally.
The boys released their hands hurriedly, almost as if the connection electrified them, and followed the woman into the meeting room. Before closing the door behind her, Ms. Suzuki rolled her eyes. This is what you get for going to school on the weekends; you get to see two boys holding hands.
The meeting felt like background sound compared to how their minds played the memory of the brief contact moments ago on repeat. Seto couldn't stopped clenching and unclenching the hand that just touched Yami's while his eyes kept roaming to the other boy's way. Yami was distracted too. He kept on looking at his hand in an absent manner.
The meeting – something about arranging a special online curriculum for the two student duelers - went smoothly without much fuss. The whole idea was simple, the school wanted their two students to be able to keep up with their studies even when they're away from school. By the time the meeting ended, an hour had gone by. Good, Seto would rather not spend another minute listening to a bunch of people talk while he awkwardly sent glances to Yami over the table.
Amy could be seen making pleasantries with Mr. Mutou and the teachers when Yami – that unpredictable boy – interrupted their exchanges.
"Can I borrow Seto for awhile? I planned to introduce him to the student council members now that he had joined," the teen said, "I promise I won't be too long".
Seto frowned. If Yami planned to introduce him to a bunch of self-serving 'student council' members, he has yet to inform Seto. The more Seto bore hole to the back of the other boy's head, the more he knew the latter was up to something.
"Sure. I'll be waiting in the car with Tanaka then. Ring us when you're done," Amy responded.
Yami nodded. He gave Seto a short, "C'mon," before leading him out of the meeting room, climbing upstairs to the second floor, ignoring a flock of noisy teenagers, then stopping outside the empty student council office.
"What are you up to?" Seto asked flatly while Yami dug his pocket for keys. The boy opened the office door rather carelessly and waited for Seto to enter. The taller teen went inside and looked around. The room was … messy.
"Quite underwhelming," Seto voiced his distaste. Yami had yet say anything. Instead, he closed the door, locked it, and grabbed a random swivel chair. He sat down hugging the backrest of the chair; hands crossed neatly around said backrest while he rested his head on it.
Seto stood in the middle of the room, eyeing his object of interest curiously "You're acting strange," he let out his observation. Yami started looking unsure and shy.
Suddenly, the shorter boy reached out a hand with the palm facing the taller boy. "I want to hold hands," he said.
Seto responded with a snort. He stepped closer to his lover and , almost roughly, ran his fingers through Yami's outspread ones and clenched tightly on the palm. Seto was sure he heard Yami gasp. The shorter boy didn't return Seto's strong hold on his hand at first. He looked awed and surprised.
When he returned the gesture, it was with such gentleness that Seto couldn't help but notice how time slowed down and everything seemed to focus on their connected hands. Yami had a somber curious look on his face as he tightened and untightened his hold on Seto's, then he released it only to mingle their fingers together, then he tickled it, caressed it, squeezed each fingers, then poked at it. Everything he did was silly – but it sent tingles allover Seto's body. And this sensation, whatever it was, pulsed within Seto like it couldn't stop at the first wave of feeling it's sending.
Yami settled with mingling their fingers while keeping a weak hold on Seto's hand. The look of deep concentration left his visage; replaced with a soft smile. "So this is what the craze is all about huh?" He commented, "It's not bad".
"You say that, but you look like you'd take my hand home if you could," Seto tried to sound hostile, but it came out as a gentle teasing. Yami chuckled and gave a lazy hum in agreement.
On their way to the school gate, Yami returned to his usual self – greeting people by their first name as though he was everyone's best friend, doing small talks to random students, even singing along with those kids who ask for donation (Seto, of course, shadowed his lover with a bewildered look on his face). The two walked to the school gate acting like usual – in a way that made it hard to see that they were dating.
The street beyond the school gate was rather desolated because no one bothered passing by the school on the weekend. Yami stopped in front of Kaiba with a pursed lips – feet busy kicking the invisible dirt on the ground. "So…, Amy is on her way huh?" Yami mumbled. Seto nodded and checked his phone. The assistant texted that she got bored of waiting and took the car with her to grab a cup of coffee
Yami was still fidgeting. However irresistible he was when he got restless like that, Seto still couldn't help wanting to know what bothered the other boy. The shorter gave a final lazy kick to the ground before saying, "So today is…," he kept his eyes to the ground, "It was nice".
Unknown why, Seto felt like looking down too. They've kissed before, a lot. So why were they acting shy now?
Yami was reaching down toward Seto's hand now. He took the hand shyly and held it close to him with both of his hands. Yami stared at the palm with interest. He traced each lines and fingers with care. "I like your hand," Yami said, "I like touching it".
Then he placed a kiss on top of Seto's opened palm.
Seto could see his black Audi approaching from behind Yami as the latter finished his worship on Seto's hand. Yami released Seto's hand after acknowledging the car and smirked playfully.
"You little devil," Seto meant that to sound playful, but the tension was thick in his voice. He ended up brushing his hands behind Yami's ear to avoid speaking, making Yami flinch away from the ticklish touch.
It was time for them to part. Things were a bit awkward after the hand-touching so they hesitated on their usual parting kiss. Seto, especially, felt out of tune.
"Hey, kiss me," Yami hissed finally. Seto rolled his eyes and landed a short peck onto the small lips.
"Call me after you're done with poetry club," Seto reminded in the middle of approaching his car. Tanaka was already by the door, keeping it open for the Young Master.
"You too. Call me after you've picked up Mokuba," Yami replied. The shorter teen stepped back carefully as the car made a U-turn toward where it came from. He waved at the car, oblivious to the fact that Seto was a mess once he was in the privacy of his car. The brunette looked at the hand Yami kissed like it was not his own, before sinking his face to it and letting out a long guttural growl in frustration - resulting to a confused Amy and a worried Tanaka. He just catched Yami's sentimental disease! It was impossible for him to feel this much otherwise.
Yami, in the other hand, confused his poet coach by the sudden fixation on hands in his latest lyric. "You could say he's feeling handy with his poet today," one random clubmate joked, "Ayyy!"
No one laughed
TBC.
