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.

Chapter 22: Enemies to Husbands

"You are too over-the-top for your own good, dear." Jonouchi muttered as they walked into the banquet hall. Jonouchi was wearing a three-piece dark gray suit with a black shirt and red tie, while his spouse had managed to not wear his ridiculous white suit in favor of a similar black three-piece with a white shirt and light blue tie.

Their anniversary celebration was taking place in the highest end hotel on Kaiba Land, which boasted a banquet hall and a ballroom with an in-house catering company. It was a very popular place for formal events with a waiting list several months long. About half of the people were there, and the servers were already plating each of the tables with silver food trays for dinner.

Jonouchi didn't know if Seto had reserved their party months in advance, or if he used his power as the owner to push to the front of the list. With how… unpredictable, Seto had been since they started getting into a relationship for real, Jonouchi just didn't know anymore with him.

Mokuba and Shizuka weren't seated yet, and seemed to be deep in conversation with another random couple - some executive 'friends' of Seto. In a suit and with his hair slicked down, Mokuba actually looked remarkably similar to his brother if it weren't for his ability to facially express emotion. Ryuzaki and Haga had been some of the earlier guests, and they were keeping to themselves in a remote corner - Ryuzaki had explained that Haga didn't feel comfortable in crowds, which Katsuya could understand.

Seto had told him earlier that Yugi and Anzu were on their way, and should be expected within the next half hour to an hour, having touched down from their private flight not long ago. Jonouchi was pleasantly surprised his friends were coming all the way from America, and was excitedly anticipating their arrival. He saw another pair entering and looked over to see who it was - it was Otogi and… surprisingly, Honda as well. Behind them was a third person Jonouchi could barely see from behind Honda's tall frame.

Jonouchi excused himself from Seto's side and walked over to Otogi's group, when he was closer he could clearly see the third person, someone he wasn't expecting.

"Bakura?" He said in surprise to Ryou Bakura, someone he hadn't seen since graduation. The British man had remained stagnant in his height, but he wasn't as lanky as he used to be, and his white hair was still long, but appeared to have tamed itself, as the horn-like projections of his bangs were now absent. His face was sharper now that he was fully grown - it would be eerily similar to Yami Bakura's if it weren't for his gentle expression. Currently, he was wearing a bluish-gray suit with a waistcoat instead of jacket, a powder blue shirt, and a white-striped dark blue tie.

"You look exactly the same as the last time I saw you." Ryou chuckled, hands in his pockets. His voice had also deepened, another thing that would have been eerily similar to his former yami if not for his gentleness.

"How did you-"

"Kaiba sent me an invite, did you not know?"

"He didn't tell me." Jonouchi shook his head, then grinned looking to the other pair; Honda looked reserved, but at least he didn't appear angry like before. He had one arm hooked with Otogi's. Otogi was seemingly unaware of the awkwardness between his partner and the host.

"Are Yugi and Anzu coming?" Otogi asked, then grinned wider as the blond nodded "With them back, the whole gang will be together again."

Jonouchi blinked in realization "Oh shit- yeah that's right huh!"

"And this time we'll even have Kaiba- er, well you're Kaiba too now huh..." Ryou pondered "What do we call you two now anyways? Neither of you two were very big on going by your given names..."

Jonouchi's face burned "You uh, can still just call me Jonouchi. Since it's what we're all used to." He assured, in the corner of his eye he saw Honda roll his eyes slightly.

"Do you know when Anzu and Yugi's arriving?" Otogi asked, looking around as if they would pop up in the crowd any second.

"Those two are elusive as hell, it really could be any minute." Jonouchi muttered, not noticing his spouse approaching them until he felt a hand suddenly rest on his hip and an arm around his waist. He jumped slightly in surprise, but composed himself quickly.

"Both of you really look exactly the same as you did in high school." Ryou pointed out with a chuckle.

"I got a little bit taller..." Jonouchi defended, crossing his arms with a pout. "Besides, it's not my fault you got old fast."

"Old?" Ryou scoffed.

"Yeah, I can see you got a few white hairs… just a few..." Jonouchi teased, making Ryou smirk slightly at the obvious tease.

"I guess I was just born old." The Brit shrugged, then looked back up to Jonouchi and Seto "But really, you two look the same but you changed the most - I mean, I never even imagined the possibility of you two getting together. You two absolutely hated each other."

"Yeah, funny how things work out. Right, Seto?" Jonouchi tried to sound less anxious as he looked up to Seto.

"Things didn't end up as we expected it would all of those years ago, no." Seto agreed, playing it off much cooler than his spouse did.

"I remember back in Duelist Kingdom after Kaiba thrashed you in that duel he went on that rant about you being a snivelling dog, back then I thought he was just being cruel but I guess that was just a fetish thing huh."

Jonouchi covered his mouth to stop a mix of a laugh and a horrified look from showing at the implication "That's not what- Bakura, don't think. Oh god." He stammered slightly, Seto didn't seem affected and he didn't know if it was because he didn't understand what Ryou meant, or if he just wasn't going to dignify such an implication with a response "No, he was just being cruel back then, he used to be such an asshole."

"I'm not now, though." Seto muttered.

"I mean, not fully." Jonouchi responded on reflex.

"Pardon?" He glared down at him slightly.

"Nothing, dear, nothing."

"He's got a point though," Otogi said "you two together seemed so unlikely. I always thought you would end up with either Mai or Yugi." He was looking at Jonouchi when he said that.

Jonouchi quirked both brows "I can understand Mai but- Yugi?"

"Your admiration for Yugi always seemed a bit… much. You did everything for the guy. Put your life in danger, assisted in saving the world, got involved with the Egyptian Gods and the afterlife..." He listed off "You were almost away from his side."

"B-but you could say the same about Anzu and Honda!" Jonouchi defended himself, feeling more flustered than ever.

"Yeah but Honda said before you met Yugi you were a raging asshole, and Yugi was the only person you were willing to change for."

"Yeah but, I didn't like Yugi in that way!"

"Whatever you say." Otogi dismissed with a sly grin, clearly not believing that, Jonouchi glared at him.

"Speaking of Yugi." Ryou cut in, and pointed to the entrance, the entire group turned.

Walking in was Anzu and Yugi walking together, their arms linked.

Anzu had matured into her good looks; still slender and willowy, but her proportions were much more balanced now. Her brown hair must have been longer now, because she had it in a ladder-braided bun, but she left enough of her bangs out to frame her ovular face. She was wearing a floor-length, burgundy evening dress with lace sleeves.

Yugi's transformation into adulthood was much more dramatic than the rest of the group. He was much taller now, about the height he had been when the Pharaoh possessed him, his star-shaped hair was shorter and more trimmed but still gave him the same silhouette as always. His eyes were more sharp, but were as wide and gentle as they always were. Like most of the men at the banquet, he was wearing a black three-piece suit, but his jacket and bowtie were burgundy like Anzu's dress.

A giant grin stretched across Jonouchi's face as his two long-lost friends walked over to him.

"Hey guys." Yugi greeted as he and Anzu came to a stop. His voice was deeper now as well, but it didn't sound too similar to the Pharaoh's.

"I can't believe it's really you two!" Jonouchi almost shouted as he threw himself onto his two old friends in a hug; Anzu oofed at the contact but Yugi just planted his feet and chuckled, having expected as much.

"It's good to see you too, Jonouchi." Yugi said, patting his blond friends back.

"Now get off." Anzu huffed, suffocated by Jonouchi's grip over her and Yugi.

Jonouchi couldn't wipe the grin off of his face as he withdrew from his friends, stepping back by Seto. "Look at us all," he said, a fond tone in his voice as he stuck his hands into his pockets "the gangs all together again."

"I was never part of this group." Seto deadpanned.

"I mean, in a way-" Jonouchi began.

"I was never part of Yugi's friendship circle." Seto deadpanned, with emphasis this time.

The rest of the group sans Honda chuckled at that.

Once all of the guests had arrived everyone seated themselves at different tables around the hall. Seto, Jonouchi, being the hosts of the event, had their own table. The rest of the Yugi-tachi as well as their siblings were at another. Haga and Ryuzaki had gotten the same table as Jonouchi's nurse coworkers, which they didn't seem to mind at all.

Certain guests of honor would each a speech about the couple. The executives who made speeches seemed more like a series of back-handed compliments rather than actual speeches, saying things along the line of how they never saw someone as successful and brilliant as Seto Kaiba humbling himself by honoring a mere male nurse with marriage. Speeches like that had Jonouchi angrily gritting his teeth; Seto had his hand over his under the table the entire time, trying to silently keep him grounded.

The speeches from Jonouchi's friends, their siblings, and people who worked closer to Seto were much more positive and heartfelt. Although, Jonouchi felt Seto's hand tense slightly whenever someone mentioned how shocking or out of nowhere their union had been a year ago. It was almost like all of their loved ones wanted to hang a giant banner that spelt out 'The backstory to this marriage is bullshit and we all know it' in big, bold letters.

After the speeches from the guests, it was time for the couple themselves to give their speeches. Seto had already prepared his speech in advanced, as expected, as this was the type of thing he was used to. He tried pursuing Jonouchi to do the same, but in the end that wasn't going to happen. That wasn't the type of person Jonouchi was, almost everything he did was on the fly.

They agreed that Jonouchi would do his speech first so if he fucked it up badly Seto would step in and take over.

"It goes without saying we've all met my husband, Seto Kaiba," Jonouchi said into the mic as he rose from his seat, sweeping his gaze around the rest of the banquet hall "how well we know him differs from person to person, and for some of us, our opinion of him has changed from when we first met him, till now."

He glanced down at Seto, who nodded for him to continue.

"We went to high school together, but we didn't properly meet for a long time… I thought he was just some spoiled rich kid, you know?" That garnered a few chuckles from the non-affluent in the crowd, and some eyerolls from the rich people "And when we did meet for real, I was surprised because, you see-"

He looked down to Seto with a smile, before looking back to the crowd to continue.

"He was literally one of the worst people I ever met."

At that the crowd went wild in a mixture of laughs and scandalous gasps, he lifted his hand to indicate that he needed them to quiet down.

"And even back then, that was saying something. I couldn't believe any one guy could be like that, I hated him, and if he didn't hate me he sure as hell did a good job of making it seem that way."

Seto had said nothing at this point, but there was a curious glint in his eyes, because he knew this was going somewhere.

"And for a while, my opinion of him didn't change. As far as I was concerned, he was just an angry rich douchebag. Over time though, he started changing… or, at least, I started seeing him differently because of context. He wasn't a douche for the sake of being a douche-"

"Try being a little less disparaging, dear." Seto muttered quietly enough that only Jonouchi could hear him.

"-I started to realize, he was a really passionate person." His tone softened considerably, enough so even Seto seemed surprised "I started to see we weren't so different. You see, back then, I wasn't a prize either. I was an angry punk who would have thought with my fists, if I thought at all. I was angry all the time and I wanted to take my frustration out on anyone who would look at me wrong."

"And I think… I didn't know it back then, but I saw that in him too. Someone who had something to prove, and wanted to prove it to everyone. Everything he did, he did it with his entire heart, he never half-assed anything he set his mind to. And when I was younger, I'd never admit it, but I admired that."

"And finally, when we finally grown up enough to have worked through all of our bullshit and baggage… I saw Seto so much differently than I used to see him. What was once an angry rich borderline sociopath, was an ambitious, passionate man. Someone who didn't just have the ability to hate strongly, but to love just as strong. Someone who sees no limit to what's possible, who is told that something is impossible, and has the drive and ability to prove them wrong."

He was smiling softly now, and met Seto's eyes as he made his closing statement, the CEO's eyes were unreadable "And I gotta say, Seto - I'm so glad I got to see you for what you really were." He passed the mic over. He was never again going to use the word love if he didn't absolutely mean it, but he felt something for Seto, something he never thought he would feel for him. And although he was afraid for what his feelings might grow into, he was willing to continue to nurture their growing relationship into whatever it might ultimately be.

The crowd broke into a series of claps, and if Jonouchi hadn't had his attention solely on his spouse at that moment, he might have noticed Honda tearfully grinning.

"May I have this dance?"

"You don't even know how to dance."

"Aaaand?" Jonouchi pouted, taking both of Seto's hands into his own. The party had now moved onto the ballroom portion of the hotel; everyone had paired off with their respective partners. This portion of the event was much less formal than the dinner, with people starting to dance on their own, and music being chosen by guests to be played by the DJ.

Yugi and Anzu had danced for a short time - Anzu was a professional dancer, but her partner could barely even do a light spin without tripping over his own feet, so they resigned to instead catch up with Ryou on the sidelines. Honda and Otogi were more into it, even momentarily trading partners with Ryuzaki and Haga, though that had only lasted a short minute.

"Hey Kaiba can I borrow your husband for a minute?" They heard; the married pair turned to see Mokuba and Shizuka approaching them hand-in-hand, it had been Shizuka who had spoken.

"Oh, you want a dance sis?" Jonouchi asked with a silly grin, just glad that the earlier tension between him and his sister seemed lifted… at least for the time being.

"I never got the chance to when it was your real wedding." She said with a sad sigh.

"You wouldn't have wanted to - it was on a beach, you would have just gotten sand stuck in your shoes like me." He chucked, letting go of one of Seto's hand and whipping his head to look up at him "Do you mind?"

"You go ahead, I'll talk to Mokuba in the meantime." Seto said, pulling his remaining hand back and putting it into his pocket.

Still grinning, Jonouchi hooked his arm with Shizuka's and lead her out to the ballroom floor. Neither of them were formally instructed on how to dance, so it ended with them just putting their arms on each other and shifting from side-to-side in what was a hopefully rhythmic way.

"That was a surprisingly nice speech." Shizuka said, placing her hands on her brothers shoulders. She wasn't as over-the-top with physical affection like he was, but she was close to it.

"Surprisingly?" He inquired, feigning offense.

"We both know you didn't practice one," she pointed out "it isn't your style."

"No..." He agreed, shaking his head slightly with a soft grin "No, it really isn't."

"You probably insulted your husband more than you complimented him."

"Have you met my husband?" Strange, normally when he said 'husband' instead of spouse he had to struggle to say it, but it came out so much easier now. Natural, almost.

"Point taken." She giggled slightly. Her gaze grew serious, and she looked up to her older sibling. For a second, he was worried, until her characteristic softness shown through her hazel eyes "After I heard your speech, and really thought about it… I believe you, big brother."

"The part about Seto being a douche, or the part about me being a dumb angry punk?" He earned a light slap to the cheek for that smartass remark.

"Yes, but no." She said, now cupping the part of his cheek that he had slapped "Katsuya… I don't know all of the details between you and Kaiba. I don't know what really happened between you two, or why. What I do know though… Is that, I believe you, back when you said you were trying your best. And I do believe that even though it scares you, you feel so much stronger for Kaiba than any of us, including you two, even know."

Jonouchi's chest burst on the inside. His eyes though, well they burst in general, as tears formed. His sister wasn't mad at him at all anymore. He couldn't even be upset that she could see he was scared and reluctant to feel strongly for someone. "Oh Shizuka," he said lowly, hugging her close and burying his face against her hair to hide his tears "thank you so much..."

She chuckled as his open display of emotions, and nuzzled into his chest, hugging back with equal vigor.

"So, are you with anyone, Bakura?" Ryuzaki asked as he, his partner, the majority of the Yugi-tachi, along with Kaiba and Mokuba, hung around the bar in the corner of the ballroom. Jonouchi and his sister were still on the dancefloor.

Ryou shook his head "I'm not interested." He stated.

"Ah- too busy for relationships?"

"Something like that." Ryou had a soft, but sad smile on his face. He was leaving something unsaid, but out of courtesy the rest of the group did not prod him.

Mokuba was slugging down some kind of chocolate liqueur straight from a tiny bottle "Your speech was totally lame, Seto." He said to his brother, poking him in the abdomen "You could have at least said that Jonouchi was a bastard back then and he's a bastard now, but at least now you get to f-"

"Shut up, Mokuba." Seto stopped his brother before he could get vulgar, the rest of the group laughed as Jonouchi and Shizuka finally walked over.

"What's so funny?" Jonouchi asked, one arm over his sister still.

"Nothing." Seto said gruffly, standing aside so Shizuka could re-join her fiance.

"Kaiba Mokuba, how much have you been drinking?" She asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"That dependssss," Mokuba started nervously, "are you going to drink too?"

"Not as much as you." She replied, but kissed his cheek nonetheless, making Mokuba smile genuinely instead of impishly like he normally did.

"Aren't you two just adorable," Anzu said, still hugging Yugi's arm as she sipped a bright red cocktail "when are you getting married?"

"We haven't decided when exactly, we just know it'll be when Mokuba's done with school, though." Shizuka replied, grinning up to the man in question.

Mokuba nodded in agreement, "We were thinking sometime in the autumn - too many romantic holidays during the winter and spring. What about you and Yugi?"

"We're legally already married in the States." Anzu replied.

The shocked faces of everyone else made Yugi speak up "We're legally married, but it was a courthouse wedding. We're putting off having an actual ceremony for a better time." He explained.

"How long?" Honda asked curiously, nursing a glass what appeared to be a mojito.

"Two, three years." Anzu shrugged.

"What are you two waiting for?" Otogi asked, blinking in confusion.

"The right time, I guess." Anzu answered "It's hard to explain, we love each other, and we'll never top loving each other, but even at the age of twenty-six, we feel like we still have so much more room to grow, and we want to finish growing into our true selves before having a ceremony." She explained.

Most of the group was still confused, but seemed to accept the explanation.

Jonouchi had at this point sat down, the bartender inquired him for a drink and he settled for a club soda, much to the confusion of the bartender, but he gave it to him anyways.

Seto sat by him, but continued to chat with Mokuba. Jonouchi was a little tired at this point and just wanted to unwind a little bit from the event, he didn't notice a random executive sit on the other side of him.

"Evening, Jonouchi-san." The executive greeted, Jonouchi blinked in confusion.

"Actually, it's Kaiba." He reminded him quietly; only his friends still called him Jonouchi and it was only at his own insistence as not to confuse him with his husband.

"I see," The executive replied, ordering two drinks "congratulations on making it for a year. Here, this rounds on me." He passed one of the highball glasses to Jonouchi, which contained a clear drink, but he caught the distinctive odor of absinthe, the odor that always triggered the memory of-

Jonouchi shook his head quickly and pushed the glass back "N-no thank you," he said "I don't drink."

"Oh come on, it is a party for you after all." The executive insisted, rather pushy as he slid the glass back over.

Jonouchi held his hands up, almost defensively "Really, I'm fine." He tried to insist, to no avail.

"Oh come on, don't be a-"

"Hey." The cold voice Seto suddenly talked over both of them; the executive scrambled slightly as he looked up to the much younger CEO "He said he doesn't drink." The brunet warned, he was now standing up next to his husband, with a hand on his shoulder.

Jonouchi breathed out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, in relief.

"My apologies, Kaiba-sama." The executive tried to excuse, reaching over to the glass, but he was nervous under the intense gaze of Seto and accidentally knocked the glass over, spilling a highball glass worth of absinthe over the counter and even running onto Jonouchi's suit.

The distinctive, pungent smell of anise and licorice from the absinthe hit Jonouchi like a freight train, and unprepared for it, he was knocked into a very dark corner of his mind that he had long since locked away.

"Tsk, tsk, Jonouchi. You should learn how to handle alcohol a little bit better. Or, not be so fucking naive."

"S-stop this..."

Hirutani's eyes were cold and amused, and even through his drunken stupor Jonouchi could practically feel the cruelty radiating off of the gang leader.

"Too bad you didn't drink a little more, maybe then you could have at least blacked out."

The rest of the group didn't notice as Katsuya's eyes darkened - almost black, as if the lights had gone out and no one was home anymore. The executive was furiously apologizing, and Kaiba was grabbing some napkins from the nearby dispenser, not noticing the sudden change in his husbands' disposition.

Jonouchi suddenly stood up, knocking his stool to the ground from the suddenness and rigidity of the movement. His head slowly turned to the executive, and he glared down at him with an intense, yet blank stare. His hands were slowly, and tightly curled into fists.

"Katsuya?" Kaiba asked, confused by this. Katsuya didn't answer, or move. As if he didn't hear him at all.

All of suddenly, with a fluidity out-of-character for Katsuya, the blond threw himself at the executive - in one graceful but brutal movement he grabbed the collar of the jacket, and used the momentum of swinging him to fling both of them to the nearby wall, slamming the man against the wall.

The rest of the group gasped in shock, with the colour draining from Honda's face in particular.

"Katsuya, what the- stop." Kaiba said in confusion and concern as he walked over to his husband.

"That wasn't absinthe was it!?" He heard Honda ask in horror from behind him.

The executive seemed terrified, and when Kaiba was close, he realized why.

"-Bastard. I'll kill you. You messed with the wrong-" Katsuya's voice was different, a tone so completely unlike himself that it almost made Kaiba stop in his tracks, it was nothing but angry and resentful, not unlike how he used to talk back in the beginning of high school, when he was still a bully to Yugi.

"Jonouchi!" He heard Honda call from behind him as the brunet rushed over, going right past Kaiba "You need to calm down- Hirutani is gone." The blond still didn't appear to hear him, as he just threw one arm back, preparing a devastating punch for the terrified executive in his clutches.

It didn't hit. Once Honda was behind him, he did a rapid chop at Katsuya's neck, which seemed to have the right amount of force in the right spot to immediately knock him unconscious. Katsuya dropped the man as he went limp, falling back where Honda grabbed him and held him up. The executive fell to the floor on his bottom, looking up to the group in extreme confusion.

Kaiba immediately moved to quiet the situation, he towered over the man, and quiety said "You will be compensated if this never happened." The man simply nodded, and scrambled to his feet, rushing away.

Kaiba looked back in concern - Katsuya was still knocked out, and Honda was holding him up with his arms under his and over his chest.

"What the hell was that about?" Ryuzaki asked in confusion.

"Jonouchi gets really triggered by absinthe." Honda vaguely explained, and weakly at that, There was a lot he wasn't saying, and Kaiba knew it.

"Well geez, I've heard of tequila making some people violent, but this is just ridiculous - he didn't even drink it." Otogi said, crossing his arms.

Kaiba glared up at Honda as he walked over and took his husband from him, wrapping one mostly limp arm over his shoulders to keep the blond as upright as possible. "You will explain this." He demanded in a low voice that only Honda could hear when they were close.

Honda sighed, and quietly said back "Not here… not now."

Most of the party hadn't seen Katsuya's outburst, so Kaiba simply retreated them both to a hotel room he'd reserved them for the night, and gently deposited his husband onto the bed.

He'd seen Katsuya angry before - back when they were younger he'd explode at any provocation. He'd never, however, seen him act like that - it was like he was possessed by something, like he wasn't there at all and was acting on some kind of insane muscle memory.

All of this over some spilled alcohol?

Kaiba hadn't been joking when he demanded that Honda explain to him what was going on, the party was unwinding in the ballroom with people beginning to go home in droves, but he told Honda to wait for him in the smoking area. By the looks of it, Katsuya was going to be out for a while.

Kaiba headed downstairs, his mind in a flurry of worrying thoughts. He knew that Katsuya had a troubled childhood with an abusive, alcoholic father, and that he had an aversion to alcohol for this reason. He'd never expected him to get sent into some kind of episode over alcohol being spilled on him.

Honda was waiting for him in the smoking area outside of the hotel, since it was late, no one was out except for people in the parking lot going to their cars. His partner was nowhere to be seen either. He was smoking a cigarette as he waited for Kaiba, continuing even as the CEO came up to him.

"What was that?" Kaiba demanded as soon as he was within hearing range.

Honda looked to the side to puff out a cloud of smoke "Did Jonouchi ever tell you… about his past?"

"He was in poverty, his father was an alcoholic, he was in a gang, and his mother resented him because he looked like his father." Kaiba listed off.

Honda sighed "There's… more to it than that." He began, he plopped the cigarette back into his mouth, but managed to hold it in place with one side of his mouth as he asked "Did you know Jonouchi himself used to have a drinking problem?"

Kaiba blinked incredulously. He was under the impression that Katsuya's aversion to alcohol had been a life-long thing "No." He answered.

Honda looked to the ground sadly "He was drinking heavily when he ran with Hirutani's gang, for almost all of middle school." He explained "And he was… he was a sad drunk. Every time he drank he saw his father in himself, and it made him hate himself but it just made him drink more. And Hirutani saw this… well, he saw an angry and vulnerable kid, and used alcohol as a means of control."

Kaiba frowned; he had guessed that Jonouchi didn't drink because of the poor example his father had put out, he didn't even consider it had come from personal experience as well.

"And then, middle school was close to over, and Hirutani… did things, to him."

"Such as?"

Honda sucked in a long drag of the cigarette, taking almost half of it at once, before exhaling the smoke "I don't know, at least, Jonouchi never confirmed. All I know is, one morning he came crashing into my room through my window. He was a mess - covered in bruises in cuts, clothes all messed up and dirty. It wasn't even the worst injuries I'd ever seen from him, but it was the worst reaction I've ever seen him in. He was still drunk and hardly able to control himself, but he was hysteric, sobbing hard. I'd never seen him cry like that before, and I never saw him cry like that again. He wouldn't tell me what happened, only that Hirutani had gotten him drunk that night to do things to him."

Kaiba felt his blood begin to run cold "You think, Hirutani…?"

Honda threw the cigarette on the ground and put it out by crushing it under his shoe "I never asked, but I always suspected. Jonouchi never ran with Hirutani's gang ever again. He never drank again after that, he said that it was because he didn't want to be like his dad, but I knew that wasn't the only, or even biggest, reason. Hirutani must have gotten him drunk on absinthe, because ever since then Jonouchi gets triggered by the scent of it. I drank it around him once at a party, and he was fine at first; but when I spoke to him, the smell of it was on my breath, and he tried to strangle me."

"That's… unfortunate to hear." Was all Kaiba could say. He knew what trauma was, but it was a topic neither he nor his husband touched around each other. They were alike in that way, that they didn't like to talk about their past traumas, or how much they had been hurt when they were young. Being raped while intoxicated, however, was something even Kaiba hadn't been through. His step-father was abusive in many ways, but not sexually.

Kaiba's chest panged in what must have been sorrow. This night had started so well, only to end with the revelation that Katsuya's emotion and mental scarring ran deeper than Kaiba had anticipated.

Honda breathed in deeply, then out through his nose, before he looked over to Kaiba. There was a sad, but tender look in his eye "I know he's your husband, Kaiba. And you probably don't want to hear this from me," He began, standing up straight with both hands in his trouser pockets "but take care of him. I was there for him when we were younger… but now, we're adults, and that responsibility is on you." He explained, before turning heel and disappearing into the vast parking lot.

Kaiba said nothing in response, looking up to the hotel around the floor where Katsuya was. How was he supposed to approach a topic like this? Should he in the first place? He knew that it would incredibly upsetting and painful to bring it up, but at the same time he knew he couldn't worry about Katsuya freaking out and go into violent catatonia every time there was absinthe nearby.

He headed back to the hotel, wondering why this had to happen on the night of their first anniversary of all nights.

To be continued...

Authors note: You ever smell a certain alcohol and get reminded of the time you almost died?

Jokes aside, wow this was a really long and serious chapter. Here we delve a little bit into the past. Not only did Jonouchi once think that Kaiba was literally one of the worst people he'd ever met (but not the worse as we can see now) but also he had a drinking problem when he was a young teen. It's more common than you think. And he has an emotional aversion to drinking because he went through something traumatic. Again, more common than you think.

Also, not as important as the plot point above, but Ryou was hinting to being asexual. His sad tone wasn't because he was ashamed, but because it's something that's often poorly understood even by other LBGTQIA+ people.

Anywho, I'll update again on Thursday, but then updating will be a little slow for a bit and then probably go back to biweekly eventually, but there will be like a two-week gap of absolutely nothing, because I'm going to work-related function where I will only have my phone and not my labtop. That, and these next two arcs have a very specific plot and I need to make sure I write them out before posting so it's consistent. You see, for the past two arcs I actually write out several chapters at once and post bi-weekly, but the spur-like schedule does lead to some gaps especially when the plan has to go a certain way. This (hopefully) won't end with me just disappearing for 6 months like last time, or two years like the time before that.