Title: Savor The Display
Characters: Mizael, Vector, Ocs, Yuuma||Ship: Vector x Mizael
Chapters: 1-2||Words: 2,500||Total: 2,500
Genre: Humor, Romance||Rated: G
Challenges: Diversity Writing: YGO soulmate AUS, G5, 2-shot; First Kiss Challenge; One Ship Boot Camp, Vector x Mizael, #45, destiny; Word Count Set Boot Camp, Zexal, #27, 5,000; Chapter Set Boot Camp, Zexal, #1, 2 chapters; Include The Word Boot Camp, #6, worried; Mini-fic Masterclass, #4, AU Space; zexal10thanniversary
Notes: This is a soulmate AU and is set after Mizael's arrival on Earth and the Shark vs Yuuma "healing duel", and before anything else.
Summary: Mizael isn't fond of having Vector's name written on his right arm – the arm of his soulmate. But he'll put up with what he has to, for the sake of the Barian World.

Mizael quite liked the fact that his human clothes – wherever did those come from, anyway? - covered up his arms. He didn't have to see the names written in elegant markings there. He knew what they said, of course. He'd been able to read them as far back as he could remember.

On one arm, the name was that of his soulmate. On the other, the name of his mortal enemy. Not everyone was blessed with such clear knowledge of their love or their enemy. He knew well that Durbe and Nasch were soulmates – they shared marks that glowed when they stood close to one another.

Or so they had. Mizael didn't know if they still did, with Nasch being missing. But they were soulmates.

Mizael didn't know if Alit had a soulmate or not. He'd never said anything, and even when he did talk about something, Mizael seldom listened to him in the first place. He remembered Merag having mentioned once that she saw no color and likely wouldn't until she met her soulmate. He didn't envy her that.

He knew very well about Vector's soulmate.

Humans, and apparently Barians, had an infinite number of ways in which one's soulmate could be detected or observed or discovered. Mizael's names were just one of them. For the longest time he'd wondered what the name on the left arm had meant…

He did wonder exactly what humans thought about marks like his, and decided that it wouldn't do any harm to do some research. Humans were inferior to Barians in every possible way, but they did have a long history of soul-marks, so perhaps someone had written something about that.

Thusly, Mizael made his way to a place he'd heard about – the local library. The unfortunate part of that was that he didn't know where the library was in the first place. His avenues for information about the human world were few and far between, unless he wanted to grab a random human and demand information.

I think I'll have to. He had a suspicion that Vector might know, but he didn't really want to ask Vector, for a multitude of reasons. Amongst those being that he didn't know where Vector was right now. Probably still in his 'Shingetsu Rei' disguise, which Mizael didn't really approve of to start with.

He cast a few glances around, trying to determine who he could ask. There weren't many humans around who looked his apparent age and the adults all seemed too busy. Not that such would stop him if he couldn't find anyone else, but he presumed someone who would be of 'school age' would be more likely to have the information he wanted.

A noise caught his attention and he followed where it came from until he stood in a tight, dirty alleyway. His lip curled at the stench that slunk through the air. He'd never seen a place so foul before. Empty boxes had been tossed here, subject to the whims of the weather, and from the lack of light, only one exit led in or out. Tiny puddles of oil-streaked water splattered here and there, gleaming faintly in what little light managed to work its way down there.

That little light also revealed those who lurked here. A half dozen burly humans – the largest of them wasn't even half the size of Gilag – lounged on piles of boxes, chatting amongst themselves. Mizael regarded them with a definite air of turning around to leave, when one of them glanced up and saw him there.

"Hey, who invited the pretty boy?" That one half-shouted. "I mean, we could use a few more decorations around this place!" He seemed to think he'd made some sort of amazing joke, throwing his head back and guffawing.

Mizael wasn't impressed. He didn't know a great deal about humans but he had a suspicion that these people weren't going to be able to tell him where the library was. That was just his luck.

"Well, pretty boy?" The one who'd spoken leered at him. "Come on over here. I want a better look at you."

"No." Mizael didn't move for a second. Nothing else needed to be said, and he turned around. He stopped a breath later; had he seen someone lurking over there, just out of sight? It seemed nothing more than a flicker of something, but he couldn't be certain.

He hadn't really taken a full step before the idiot human spoke again.

"He really is pretty, isn't he? Bet all he's good for is -"

Hearing what the human thought brought Mizael back around, hand dropping down to his deck at once. Dueling humans wasn't really fair; these weren't Kaito, they couldn't give him anything close to a fair fight, but right now, he didn't care. For what he'd said, Galaxy Eyes would feed very well. "What did you say?" Mizael refused to yell. He didn't need to. The earth under his feet shook with the force of his rage. How dare these humans say something so vile about him? Who had given them the impression they could get away with such filth? The human grinned at him. "Oh, didn't you hear me? Let me repeat it." "That won't be necessary." Mizael bit the words off. "If you think you can speak of me like that, you will regret it. Do you duel?"

"Sure do!" The thug laughed. "I've got a perfect win record, too! You want a duel, you got one!" He started to lever himself to his feet.

Mizael looked forward to tearing this idiot apart. He hadn't yet pulled out his deck before a very familiar arm slid around his waist and he was pulled back against Vector, who dropped a small kiss on his neck.

"You're not going to have fun without me, are you?" Vector purred. Mizael suspected Tskumo Yuuma wouldn't even recognize his 'friend' Shingetsu Rei right now. "That's very cruel of you. You should at least let me get some popcorn first." He laughed softly, breath puffing against the side of Mizael's neck. "You know how I love a good show."

The humans muttered among themselves, then the leader laughed even louder than before. "Look at that! He's got a boyfriend! One of those prissy schoolkids!"

Vector's eyes glinted softly. Mizael doubted the humans would have seen that, but he did, and he knew what it meant. How much pain these fools were in now depended on which one of them dealt with them.

"Are you my boyfriend?" Vector murmured. His right hand brushed against Mizael's right forearm. A great rush of warmth swept through Mizael at the contact, even though his clothes. The touch of his soulmate on him – Mizael hated the direction his thoughts turned after that.

"We are soulmates," he growled the words out. Vector's name on his right arm, Tenjo Kaito, his mortal enemy, on his left arm. He'd known for ages, but that didn't make it any easier.

The humans howled even more at that.

"A soulmate?" The leader shook his head, snorting. "What a joke. So, you gonna duel or not, pretty boy?"

Vector stepped back, not even gracing the thugs with a look, regarding Mizael in anticipation. "You take care of this and I've got a couple of things to teach you afterwards. Have you ever had a chocolate milkshake?"

"Never heard of it." Mizael wasn't afraid to admit that. Humans treats had never appealed to him, but he'd also never spent much time in human form. Perhaps it would be worthwhile to see what pleasures this place had to offer.

"The sooner you're done with them, the better, then," Vector promised. Mizael glanced over to the humans, who had no idea of what was about to happen to them.

He wouldn't make it hurt as much as he could. He wanted this to be quick and clean. It would probably be the only clean thing in this disgusting alleyway.

"Duel!" He snapped the word out, and waded into battle.

Chocolate milkshakes were, Mizael decided, quite a worthy reward for the effort that he'd put in. The thug hadn't really given him many issues, nor had the two who'd demanded to duel him afterwards. When he'd finished them both off in a two on one duel, Mizael decided that was all he felt like doing. It probably helped that the rest of their gang ran screaming in fear.

Vector took the time to search the pockets of those Mizael defeated, and used that to pay for their treat. Mizael might have cared, if those idiots hadn't been human and hadn't insulted him the way that they had. Besides, something useful should be done with their funds. They weren't using it on hygiene, obviously.

"What are you doing around here anyway?" Vector wanted to know. His eyes narrowed briefly. "You're not trying to find Kaito again, are you?"

"What if I was?" Mizael snapped back. "He's the enemy of my soul." He rested one hand on his left arm. "It is our fate to fight one another."

Vector made an unpleasant noise before he returned to his own milkshake. "You didn't answer the question.

"I was looking for the library," Mizael admitted. "I have something I want to look up."

That got a very suspicious look from Vector. "What?"

Mizael regarded the depths of what had been his milkshake. Being in possession of a mouth and throat was much more interesting than he'd first imagined it might be. Was this one reason Vector seemed to enjoy spending so much time as a human? He could taste things? Eat things?

It was a much messier form of intake than absorbing energy through one's gems, of course. But perhaps it did have something to recommend it.

"Mizael?" Vector prodded at him with the tip of one foot. "What did you want to look up?"

He turned a bright blazing glare on Vector, who basked in it briefly, then shrugged. "I wanted to research how humans view soulmate marks. Especially like ours."

Vector glowered at him. "Why? What else would you need to know? Right arm, we're made for each other. Left arm, mortal enemies destined to slay one another." He snickered softly at that.

Mizael didn't know if Vector had a name on his left arm. He'd never seen it, which he knew wasn't usual, given their existences in Barian World. But more than once he'd seen the way Vector snickered over the thought of a mortal enemy. Perhaps it was Tskumo Yuuma? It would certainly explain Vector's long-term disguise of 'Shingetsu Rei'.

"When are you planning to drop that facade?" Mizael wanted to know. "It doesn't really get you anything."

"Oh, you'd be surprised about that," Vector replied, laughing softly. "But you'll see what I have planned soon enough. I might even need your help before it's all over with. You and Durbe both."

Mizael wasn't so sure about that. Though if it meant he had a chance to come up against Kaito again, he might go along with it. Power sang through his veins at the thought of Galaxy Eyes Tachyon chewing through Galaxy Eyes Photon once and for all. It would happen, sooner or later. He knew that for a fact.

Vector toyed with a napkin. "You know, there's a chance that he could see us here."

"What?" Mizael stiffened a trifle. He cared very little for Vector's actual plans, but the overall goal to destroy the Astral Messenger and save their world meant more than anything, no matter how little he liked it. He started to get up, but Vector shook his head.

"He's not here right now." Vector waved Mizael back down to his seat. "He's running some after-school errands on the other side of town for his grandma." Vector's lips twitched. "Apparently he does this a lot."

Mizael wasn't even certain of what a grandma was. Perhaps he would look that up if he ever got to the library. For now he just shrugged. "If you say so." He was more interested in finding Kaito and finding the information he wanted than anything else. Yuuma was a respectable duelist, but not nearly on his own level. Though he wouldn't turn down the thought of Yuuma calling Kaito to him.

Vector finished the last of his milkshake, then met Mizael's eyes. "Are you done?"

Mizael knew that look very well. He pushed his own glass away and stood up. Vector joined him, the two strolling out of the shop and heading away.

Vector knew the city better than Mizael did, and guided him carefully through it, making a point to avoid any gatherings of younger humans. Once or twice he darted down alleyways and less populated thoroughfares, tugging Mizael after him, until Mizael had no idea whatsoever where they were.

They didn't stop until they reached a long alleyway, more brightly lit than the one they'd crossed paths with those ignorant thugs in. Vector gestured to the far end of it.

"Alit and Gilag's place is down that way. Are you staying there?"

Once again Mizael's lip curled upward. "Why would I stay with them?" He would if he had no choice, but his first preference would always be to return to Barian World. Technically speaking he wasn't supposed to do that until the mission had been finished. Being able to control feeble human minds meant he could acquire lodgings wherever he chose.

Vector's lips twitched the tiniest fraction. Something pleased him a great deal. Then, without warning, he grabbed hold of Mizael's collar and slammed him against the nearest wall. He crushed his lips hard against Mizael's.

Truth to tell, this was the first time in his entire life that Mizael had ever kissed anyone. He'd never had lips before. Feeling Vector's against his wasn't something he'd ever thought about. It sparked a rush of heat to flow through him, and he started to lean into the kiss, as something began to intrude against his lips.

Tongue? He'd managed to get used to having a tongue. It was useful to speak with in this form. But he'd never thought about using it in kissing.

He wasn't sure if Vector had that much experience in kissing, but he clearly knew what he was doing, and as far as Mizael could tell, they were both enjoying the situation a great deal.

Mizael focused so much on Vector's lips on him, on the way that his hands traced against Mizael's own skin, that he almost didn't hear the quick footsteps, or the sudden sharp gasp of breath. He only noticed something as off when Vector broke the kiss and stepped back, turning towards the end of the alleyway that they hadn't entered by.

"Yuuma-kun?" Vector sounded different, a little higher and quivering. Mizael turned to see Tskumo Yuuma standing there, packages dropped around his feet, staring in surprise and shock. Astral wasn't there, which worried Mizael a trifle.

"Shingetsu?"

To Be Continued

Notes: Vector does love a good show – even if he has to arrange for it himself. More than once…