Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh.
Title: Endearment and Enmity
Rating: T-M depending on chapter, M overall
Summary: When you're literally married to the person you despise.
Warnings: Homosexual relationships, vulgar words and adult situations.
Author's Note: I don't know why I wrote this.
WARNING: Sexual Content
Chapter 19: Changeling
Now, Jonouchi knew that his actions had been televised, that had been the entire point, and although he wanted people to see, he hadn't thought too carefully to who had been watching.
In an undisclosed, but far away location, a man stared at the live news feed of the triathlon event, interest glinting in his bluish eyes.
Grinning through the darkness of the room, he folded his hands together and lowered his head "Interesting… this was an unexpected move in the game, Seto. Looks like it's my turn to make a move, then."
He started laughing maniacally.
BAM BAM BAM
There was a harsh knocking at the wall that shut him up "잠을 자려고 합니다!" The voice on the other side said as politely as they could while also clearly being annoyed.
"Mianhaeyo!" He shouted back, unevenly, and then continued to do the rest of his plotting, but mentally instead of out loud.
The debacle was televised, and the kiss ended up on magazines but mostly the wholesome ones meant for women. It wasn't going to take the tabloids by storm because, well, anyone who knew anything about Kaiba Corp knew he was both gay and married to another man, so publicly kissing his own husband wasn't going to be a shock.
Publicly, it wasn't. The only people who made a big deal about it was LGBTQIA+ groups who wanted to use the Kaiba couple as a positive example, and conservative groups who used the tried and tired excuse of 'I'm not homophobic just think about the kids' which roughly translated to 'I'm definitely homophobic'. All-in-all, it wasn't a big scandal.
Privately, to Kaiba himself, it was a huge shock.
He didn't let it show at the time, just closing off the ceremony as expected, shaking hands with the winner of the tournament, and making sure the designated take down team was doing what was expected to close down the event.
He didn't know why Katsuya would even do that, the only other time his lips came near him was when he'd kissed his cheek trying to convince Mokuba their relationship was real, and besides that the closest to a kiss was when Kaiba himself had kissed his hand once or twice at public events in the beginning.
Katsuya didn't need to kiss him, PDA wasn't a big thing in Japan, and the event they had been at was a fundraiser, not any kind of romance or family oriented event like a festival for Valentines Day, White Day, or Christmas; but he kissed him anyways.
Kaiba hadn't said anything to him about it specifically, just dropped him off at the safe house and not staying over that time. Katsuya seemed nonchalant about it, and Kaiba was trying to return the favor, like it was no big deal.
To the practical, logical side of Kaiba's mind, it wasn't a big deal, it was just a kiss on the lips, for his own husband, mostly chaste, nothing indecent or scandalous. It most likely had something to do with Katsuya's earlier guilt at their sham marriage being an insult to loving gay couples, and Kaiba could respect him trying to make a point.
On paper, it was no big deal.
Within Kaiba's himself however, it was a bigger deal than he logically knew it should have been.
It was late in his office, close to Midnight, and normally he would have left two hours before, but he'd been so… distracted, lately, that he found himself falling behind on paperwork.
He paused his typing to internally groan at the feeling of heat in his face and groin. 'Not again' he thought to himself; glaring down at his crotch as if he could will his own hard-on down. 'This is getting ridiculous, I'm not twelve!' He got up and walked over to his office door, locking it.
Flustered, he grabbed a bottle of lube and a box of tissues from his desk before sitting down on the couch - mentally noting to thank his secretary for talking him into springing for microfiber - and began rubbing outside of his trousers furiously.
He rested his head back and looked up at the ceiling as he continued to rub, getting annoyed when he didn't harden up as fast as usual; usually, physical stimulation alone was enough. Shutting his eyes, he tried instead to use his imagination, something he also never did.
Sex was a strange subject to him - he knew how it worked, and he'd seen porn once or twice when he was younger out of curiosity, but it never did anything for him really. Fantasizing never did anything for him either because he could never imagine himself having sex with anyone.
When it was clear physical stimulation alone wasn't going to do it for him, he tried imagining made-up, nameless, faceless characters in his mind performing sexual acts, and that helped somewhat, at least enough to get him fully erect. Unzipping, he pulled himself out, and covered his hand with lube before palming himself off; slowly at first but then hastily once the lube warmed to his match his body temperature.
He inhaled deeply through his nose, keeping his eye shut as his head lay back facing the ceiling, trying to disassociate his rational thoughts so his body could take over, but after several strokes it became increasingly clear that he was effectively just teasing himself, because even though he was being swamped with stimulation he wasn't getting himself any closer to climax.
His arousal and frustration quickly melded with the anger that cropped up "God- fucking damn it." He swore aloud, ducking down to bite the collar of his shirt to stop the word-vomit, the head of his cock growing angry and sensitive from the over-stimulation without end.
'This all started because of some stupid kiss-' He bit down harder on the shirt collar when the pressure in his lower stomach grew heavier, clearly responding to the thought of his husband. 'Am I really losing it over Katsuya?'
Effectively, he answered his own question when he began morphing Katsuya's face to one of the nebulous figures in his imagination, which finally pushed him to the end of climax.
Kaiba panted heavily as he rode out the waves of orgasm; he struggled to force his eyelids opened, and slowly glanced down at the mess in his hands. Calming himself, he cleaned himself with the tissues he had grabbed and tucked back into his trousers.
'What the hell is wrong with me…?' He wondered, disposing of the tissues, and cleaning his hands off with the one of the bottles of hand sanitizer his husband had adamantly insisted on him having in every room of the building.
He'd obviously had erections throughout his life, he was a healthy male after all; but almost all of them were for physiological reasons, something his body just did without any effort on this part. He never fantasized about things when he handled it, he just went through with the physical motions. However, that apparently wasn't enough now.
He was gay but…
Was this what being attracted to someone for real was like?
One on hand, he should be relieved that he was married to the one person he'd ever been attracted to; on the other hand…
"We don't have to have sex right? Because I would rather stick my dick into an ant hill."
On the other hand, he was pretty sure the object of his (apparent) attraction thought he had strong-armed him into a marriage he never wanted. Katsuya was his husband, and they'd been steadily getting along more and more, with Kaiba actively seeking him more, but it seemed to mostly be from his own end. Something he would call a 'puppy crush' if it wasn't such a ridiculous thing to call it.
Infatuation? Just attraction?
If that was it, why was it happening now and not back when they had first met as teens, or even soon after they got married? Whatever was causing this delayed fixation on Katsuya, it was becoming increasingly clear he couldn't ignore it.
Perhaps he should talk to him about it… after all, it had been Katsuya who had insisted that they be more open to each other if they wanted to make this work even if temporarily. It would make for awkward dialogue, though.
How was he supposed to explain himself? That he, Seto Kaiba, was arguably asexual because he never wanted to fuck anything before, including Katsuya, but now he did?
The twinge of returning heat in his cock indicated that, yes, that was exactly how he was supposed to explain himself.
Jonouchi liked when he didn't work weekends - he loved his work, he really did, but sometimes he really just needed time to himself. After all of the drama that had been going on with Kaiba, his American ex, his former friends, and his own emotional bottling, he really needed to unwind.
It was Saturday morning and he was at the blissful stage between sleeping and waking up where he was just conscious enough to appreciate how comfortable he was. Yawning, he pulled up the duvet of his bed to cover himself more, but frowned when the blanket resisted his efforts to yank it upwards.
"Urggh." He groaned, sitting up and rubbing the blurriness of his eyes; when he opened them he was shocked at what he saw.
Seto was sitting on the edge of the bed.
Well, at least he wasn't facing him or staring at him, otherwise that would have scared the shit out him.
"Ummm...Hi?" Jonouchi said, reaching over and tapping him on the shoulder to get his attention - the sudden lifting of Seto's head indicated that he must have slept in that position. "Good morning," he greeted, smiling softly as the brunet shifted where he was sitting so he was still sitting on the end, but could now face him better; he looked like he either didn't get enough sleep, or didn't get quality sleep, or maybe both because he had slept while sitting up without back support.
"Good morning." Seto greeted back gruffly; by the tone, something must have been on his mind.
"So uh, what brings you over? I don't remember you staying the night."
"That's because you were asleep when I go here."
"I figured uh, not that I mind the company; you want some breakfast or something?"
"We need to talk."
Jonouchi's heart skipped a beat; ever since the kiss-on-screen incident Seto had been more distant than usual. Well, it actually was usual for him, but after weeks of him being more interactive, it was definitely out of place. "What do you want to talk about…?" He asked; sitting up properly this time.
Seto opened his mouth, and quickly closed it, as if he really didn't want to say what he was supposed to say. Katsuya didn't say anything, not wanting to push him. Finally, the brunet deadpanned "I like you."
"I like you too, Seto." Jonouchi replied, tilting his head slightly, curiously; they liked each other now, right? Well, Jonouchi definitely liked Seto a lot more now, did his spouse really have to make a big deal about no longer disregarding him?
"I meant- I meant." Seto seemed flustered by the straight answer from Jonouchi, and if he wasn't so monotoned Jonouchi would have sworn he was some level of exasperated. "I-."
"Are you okay?" Jonouchi scooted over and placed a comforting hand on his cheek.
Seto looked back at him in the eyes - an unknown emotion Jonouchi had never seen from him briefly glinted in his eyes.
All of a sudden Seto practically dragged him over by the head, snaking back arms around his neck and slamming his lips almost clumsily against Jonouchi's own.
Jonouchi's eyes widened initially in shock.
Seto, he-
Oh.
Now he understood.
Jonouchi straightened up his back and closed his eyes, pressing back with a more gentle pressure than what was being given from the other side of the kiss, which seemed to relax his spouse. Carefully, the blond placed his hands on either side of Seto's waist.
Seto snapped away as soon as the high of the shock wore off; he was almost panicking by the looks of it. Jonouchi would have laughed, but he knew this was more serious to Seto than he realized.
"I don't know why this is happening." Seto told him, and Jonouchi realized he was being serious.
"You- like me in that way?" Jonouchi inquired. Seto just nodded "I mean… I didn't expect that, honestly, but- there's no reason to freak out! I mean, we are married." He pointed out, surprising himself at how easily he could say it out loud without throwing up a little like he used to.
"I've… never felt this way." Seto continued to explain, dropping his hands back down to his own lap, he sounded confused but curious at the same time "I… I've never had any interest in anyone."
Jonouchi quirked a brow "But, aren't you gay?"
Seto nodded "I was never interested in doing anything about it, though."
"Really?"
"I never understood it- why would I be attracted to anyone if I didn't even know them?"
Jonouchi hummed in thought; that was a little strange. He was under the impression that Kaiba was gay just too busy to want any kind of relationship; but it was apparently deeper than that. "Seto… When did you start to.. Like me?"
Seto thought for a moment, before answering "After I made you upset at the clinic, and you said you wanted us to get along." Jonouchi hadn't liked that day; but he tried to remember it. He remembered how he had been very upset, and had opened up to the CEO about how his past home abuse made him afraid of being an abusive spouse himself.
That was the first time he had been emotionally open and honest with Seto.
The first time Seto had comforted him.
The first time they'd started on a bond-
"Oh!" Jonouchi all but exclaimed, then grinned at his spouse, who just looked puzzled at the apparent revelation "I know exactly what this is."
"What…?" Seto asked, curious.
"Seto - have you ever heard of 'Demisexual'?"
To be continued…
Authors note: In one chapter Kaiba flip-flops from horny to seemingly innocent and naiive. What a time to be alive huh.
Anyways, short but important. Who was that in the beginning? Some of you may already know just from the subtle context clues (and me outright stating it in the authors notes). Kaiba has no reason to realize that sexuality is a spectrum, and less reason to know that romantic and sexual attraction are two separate things. Luckily, his husband is there to help him out.
Kaiba may seem a little bit ignorant and almost puppy-crush like here, but this is the first time he's ever liked anyone, and by extension the first time he's felt attraction. I think Jonouchi realizes this, so he's just trying to be supportive.