Chapter 11: Insights

"Are you sure you'll be okay?" Yuugi worriedly asked as he started getting ready for bed.

"I'll be fine, aibou," Yami reassured him with a smile. "It's just one weekend by myself."

Frowning, Yuugi said, "I just don't feel right about leaving you here alone." He had spent the past few weekends at school with Yami, but he really wanted to go home and see his friends and grandfather.

"Go be with your friends," Yami urged him, not wanting Yuugi to stay behind just to babysit him. "I promise I'll be fine."

"And you're not just saying that?" Yuugi questioned, still troubled.

Yes, Yami was a little sad about being left behind, but he knew it was important for Yuugi to be with his friends, too. It would suck that Kaiba was also going back to Domino City to visit his brother, but Yami was determined not to let it get to him. "I was alone for centuries, aibou. One weekend isn't going to break me," Yami reasoned with him.

"I just feel bad," Yuugi told him, still feeling guilty.

"And I'm telling you not to," Yami said. "Now go to bed and get some sleep. You've got a long day ahead of you tomorrow."

"I take it you're going to Kaiba-kun's room now?" Yuugi asked, a hint of displeasure coming into his tone. Yuugi just didn't understand why the two of them were spending so much time together or why that fact rubbed him the wrong way. He tried to be supportive, but it was hard when he felt left out sometimes.

"Is it a problem?" Yami asked, picking up on the tone.

"No," Yuugi denied, "but surely Kaiba-kun has other things he should be doing."

Watching as Yuugi got into bed, Yami told him, "I don't interfere with his work or anything."

"I guess I don't understand why you're always over there," Yuugi finally said as he arranged his sheets and got into a comfortable position. "And why he lets you stay so much. It's really not like Kaiba-kun."

"I told you, it's because we're friends," Yami insisted, unsure as to why that was so hard for Yuugi to understand.

"I consider Kaiba-kun my friend and he would never let me stay with him that long," Yuugi argued.

Shrugging at that, Yami said, "All I know is that if he didn't want me there, he would tell me."

"That's true," Yuugi conceded, knowing that Kaiba wasn't one to just put up with something if it bothered him. "Just be sure you don't overstay your welcome."

"I'll be careful," Yami promised, although the commented touched on one of his insecurities. What would he do if Kaiba got tired of him hanging around all the time? Yami liked what they had together and he was afraid of losing that closeness that had started to develop. He knew they were a bit strange for platonically sharing the same bed together, but somehow it worked for them.

Part of Yami was still shocked that Kaiba allowed such liberties, but he was deeply grateful. Sometimes Yami still struggled with the loss of closeness he had shared by being with his aibou when he was still in the Millennium Puzzle, but somehow being able to be with Kaiba in such a way lessened that pain. But more than that, it made Yami feel safe and real, made him feel warm and wanted on the rare occasion he managed to wake up to find Kaiba still curled around him. He suspected that Kaiba found some solace in it as well to allow such a thing, but there was no way he would ever admit to such a thing.

Pulling himself from his thoughts, Yami said, "But you should get some rest. Tomorrow is going to be a long day."

"Good night," Yuugi said, waiting until Yami had shut off the lights and left to close his eyes. He still felt unsettled, but it could wait until later to be sorted out with Yami.

When Yami left Yuugi's room, he almost felt as if he should go to his own room for once. What if he really was spending too much time over at Kaiba's? However, Yami was still drawn to Kaiba's room; he couldn't make himself stay away. Kaiba no longer locked his door at that time and Yami let himself into the room.

Yami wasn't surprised to see Kaiba reading in his chair and he approached him and sat on the couch. Kaiba immediately took notice of Yami's mood and asked, "What's wrong with you?"

Looking down at his hands, Yami fidgeted a moment before quietly asking, "Am I a nuisance?"

Marking his place and setting his book on the table, Kaiba questioned, "What brought this on?"

"I was talking to aibou just now," Yami explained. "He thinks I'm spending too much time with you and you're going to get sick of me."

As much as Kaiba wanted to say, "I will if you keep acting like this," Yami looked so fragile in that moment that he couldn't bring himself to be so cruel. Instead he found himself saying, "If I didn't want you here, you wouldn't be here."

It caused Yami to look up at Kaiba with hopeful eyes that moved the brunette despite himself. "I figured as much," Yami replied, but it still felt good to hear. "I guess I get worried sometimes that you'll send me away or something. I like being here with you like this."

Rather than admitting that he shared the latter sentiment, Kaiba pointed out, "You know it's going to have to stop once you enroll in school. You can't keep these hours and do well in class."

"You seem to manage just fine," Yami said.

"I've had years of practice," Kaiba countered, "and you need way more sleep than I do."

"We'll see what happens," Yami said with a grin, starting to recover his mood.

Waving it away, Kaiba asked, "Do you feel up to a game of chess before my call at one?"

Brightening up considerably, Yami teased, "Do you need a win that badly?"

"I could use a victory," Kaiba groused and was surprised he had done so. He wasn't used to talking business with anyone outside of work, but somehow he found himself confiding in Yami. Why was that?

"That plastics guy again?" Yami asked as they began setting up the chessboard.

"No, although he is still a pain in the ass," Kaiba complained. "My American division is apparently being run by incompetent idiots. They're not making their numbers and can't figure out why. If it keeps up, I'm going to have to go over there and clean house. I may just do that anyway."

"That bad, huh?" Yami asked with sympathy. It surprised him that Kaiba was opening up so much about his work life; normally he didn't say anything about it.

"I'll feel better once Mokuba takes over," Kaiba stated as he made the first move to start the game. "But that's years away, obviously."

"I can't imagine the two of you living that far apart," Yami commented as he began to play. "I'm honestly amazed that you're here and he's not."

"He needs to learn who Mokuba is away from my influence," Kaiba explained, although why was beyond him. "If not now, he'll always be dependent on me and I want a better life for him than that. This just seemed like a good opportunity for that."

It was thoughtful and made a kind of sense to Yami, but he said, "Still, it must be hard to be away from him," as they continued playing.

"It is," Kaiba acknowledged, "but if Mokuba is ever going to take over the American division, I need to learn how to be away from, too."

"Such a good big brother," Yami told him, even as he took one of Kaiba's pawns.

"He probably doesn't think so," Kaiba replied with a shrug as he captured Yami's rook. "I'm pretty sure he thinks I'm just here for the business connections."

"You didn't explain any of that to him?" Yami asked in surprise.

"It sounds too condescending," Kaiba answered with another shrug. "He's a smart kid, he'll figure it out."

Pausing as he debated the board, Yami suggested, "You should talk to him about it."

Kaiba merely shrugged in response as he waited for Yami to make his play. Yami finally moved his bishop and said, "You must really be looking forward to seeing him this weekend."

"I'm not going home this weekend," Kaiba told Yami and he didn't miss the way it caused the former spirit to perk up considerably.

"You're not?" Yami asked in a hopeful tone. "Why not?"

"The last few weekends he's felt obligated to spend all of his time with me. I want him to be with his friends this weekend," Kaiba answered.

"You know he doesn't feel obligated to spend time with you," Yami pointed out to him. "He genuinely wants to be around you."

"Yes, but he also wants to be with his friends," Kaiba countered. "I'm just making the decision easier on him."

Looking at Kaiba across the board, Yami asked, "Does it make me a bad person that I'm glad you're staying here this weekend?"

"Yes," Kaiba replied in a deadpan voice that made Yami laugh.

"You're only saying that because I've almost got you beat," Yami retorted, not taking the response seriously.

"Hn, you're a long ways from victory," Kaiba scoffed as he captured Yami's bishop.

They continued bantering over the game, but just like always, Kaiba won in the end. As much as he wanted to celebrate, his conference call was just minutes away. Kaiba got up and left to go into his study, leaving Yami alone in the living room. He cleaned up the chess set and put it away before returning to the couch and picking up Kaiba's abandoned book. Opening to the beginning, Yami tried to read it, but it was painfully boring and it was still hard for him to read kanji at times.

Still, he kept at it for lack of anything else to do. It was hard not to be distracted by Kaiba speaking English down the hall. Yami didn't know why he found it so nice to listen to, but he wished he could understand more. Yuugi had always struggled with English and as a result, Yami didn't understand much of it himself. It made him a little nervous to enroll in the already because he wanted to do well, but he knew his aibou struggled at times and it made Yami worry for himself. Without being able to access Yuugi's mind anymore, Yami had to do it all by memory.

Three hours had passed before Kaiba returned and by that point Yami was thoroughly engrossed in the book. Kaiba returned to the living room, surprised to see Yami still awake and reading. It lessened his agitation somehow, but Kaiba was still frustrated by his call.

"You should get used to reading stuff like that," Kaiba told him as he sat down in his chair once more. "That one's for school."

Putting the book down, Yami commented, "It was a horrible start, but I actually began to like it at some point."

Having had a similar experience, Kaiba nodded in understanding. He got distracted when Yami stretched and revealed his midriff, but Kaiba quickly got back in control of his senses. There was nothing to be gained from remembering what that bare skin felt like again his.

Kaiba's attention quickly returned back to where it needed to be when Yami asked, "How was the call?"

"Horrible," Kaiba complained. "I just don't understand what the hell they're doing over there. They're way behind on their numbers, they're going to miss their projections, and I swear I'm going to fire the whole damn division when I get over there. I don't care how bad it looks. I'll just call it corporate restructuring or something. Fucking idiots, all of them!"

Debating whether or not it was smart to ask, Yami finally questioned, "If they're all so terrible, why were they hired?"

Scowling at the very valid point, Kaiba explained, "This has only been within the last few months. It's like they all collectively decided to stop giving a shit."

"There has to be somebody competent," Yami reasoned, causing Kaiba to glare at him.

"Fine, Evans is decent, but they won't promote him into a position where he can do anything about the problem," Kaiba conceded, knowing he was being a bit melodramatic over the situation. "Fuck it, I'll find a way to promote him and see if he can straighten it out before I get there."

"See, there's always a solution," Yami told him.

"When you say shit like that, I'm reminded of the fact that you're a legitimate member of the friendship brigade," Kaiba muttered as he ran his fingers through his hair in agitation. "Always such a fucking optimist."

"I balance out your pessimism," Yami said with a laugh, not taking offense to the comment. "Come on, you look tired. Let's go to bed."

"I'm too irritated to sleep," Kaiba told him, still amped up from the call. "I'm going to take a shower. You should get some rest, though."

Pouting a bit, Yami said, "Fine," and got into bed as Kaiba locked himself in the bathroom to shower after he got his clothes to change into afterward. Oddly, sleep eluded Yami because he couldn't stop thinking about Kaiba's problem. Then a stray image of Kaiba in the shower would come along and derail his thought. He couldn't forget how Kaiba had looked after his shower when Yami had first awoke and made contact with him. The sensory overload had been intense and Yami wondered if the same thing would happen now. Sometimes he had the urge to touch Kaiba, to feel him, but Yami refrained from acting because somehow he didn't think Kaiba would appreciate it.

Meanwhile, Kaiba was trying to wash away his irritation and get into a calmer state of mind. As the stress began to leave his body, it left behind a bone weary exhaustion that had him hurrying to finish. Crawling into bed sounded like a damn fine idea and Kaiba quickly finished the rest of his shower to do so.

After Kaiba was out of the shower and dressed, he returned to the bedroom and got into bed, careful not to disturb Yami even though he was a deep sleeper. Rolling onto his back with a heavy sigh, Kaiba stared up into the darkness and tried to relax. He was startled when Yami softly asked, "The shower didn't help?"

"What are you still doing awake?" Kaiba wondered, shocked by that fact. "Shouldn't that book have made you pass out?"

Yami rolled over to face Kaiba and edged a little closer to him. He could feel the heat radiating off of him from his shower and Yami moved closer still. "I was worried about you," Yami replied as he wondered how bold he could get away with being.

"That's stupid," Kaiba scoffed, but somehow he wasn't surprised. "And what are you doing?"

"I'm really cold and you're very warm," Yami explained before he curled up next to Kaiba and rested his head on the brunette's shoulder. When Kaiba didn't move, Yami draped his arm across his chest and snuggled closer with a contented sigh.

"Why are your feet always so damn cold?" Kaiba demanded. "And what do you think you're doing?"

"I don't know," Yami replied, figuring it answered both question. "But this feels really nice."

It actually did feel kind of nice; there was something oddly reassuring about the position. Plus, Kaiba was honestly too exhausted to fight about it, especially over something so meaningless. Besides, what was one more weird thing for them to do? Was it really so different from being curled around Yami? Sighing heavily again, Kaiba hesitantly wrapped his arm around Yami because he didn't know what else to do with it. "This is so weird," Kaiba muttered, feeling the need to save face.

"No, it's not," Yami mumbled sleepily, letting Kaiba know it wouldn't be long before he fell asleep. "You like it."

"Stop talking nonsense," Kaiba told him, accidentally ruffling Yami's hair before he realized what he had done.

Yami chuckled at that and Kaiba moved his hand back down to his rival's waist as subtly as he could. "It's not funny," Kaiba growled, annoyed with himself. He didn't understand why he kept slipping up and doing things like that, but it really had to stop.

"You like me," Yami murmured, nuzzling Kaiba and sending a shiver through the taller teen.

"I like you more when you're asleep," Kaiba shot back in embarrassment. It was only after the fact that he realized he probably should have outright denied the claim. Then again, he wasn't entirely sure he could do so believably anymore. However, those were thoughts best left alone so Kaiba pushed them aside as unimportant.

"Yeah, because then you can spoon me without feeling bad," Yami teased, but his voice was getting fainter.

"Just shut up and go to sleep," Kaiba told him in annoyance, causing Yami to chuckle softly before becoming quiet. Only once Yami's breathing evened out did Kaiba fully relax. What was it about being so close to his rival that made Kaiba feel so good and at ease? He felt the remaining residual stress leave his body and Kaiba figured it was something he could think about later when he was more capable of it. For now it was enough that it felt right somehow.


A/N: And here we see Yami chipping away at that resistance little by little without even knowing it…

NEXT CHAPTER:

Kaiba didn't know much about being friends, but he knew that thinking about them while masturbating in the shower was definitely crossing a line.

Ahahahaha, poor Kaiba. It's about to get a lot more complicated in his head…The next update will go up on Sunday, March 22nd and it's the start of moving toward finally earning that M rating.