A/N: SO someone followed this fic and I realized I hadn't put the most recent chapter here, only on AO3. I am so sorry to everyone waiting on this fic.
CW for this chapter: mild homophobia from Seto's POV. Trauma response to a trigger.
A/N 2: Also, apparently I cannot just copy and past from AO3, sorry to anyone who just saw a tremendous amount of formatting just now.
Jou and Yugi had become somewhat familiar faces to Seto recently, and he was beginning to believe that they would be his only hope. The staff at the facility could be overheard talking about trauma and whether he'd ever be a suitable pet. Of course he wasn't a suitable pet. He was Seto Kaiba. But no one else knew that. So he had to play the role, just enough that the pair could be approved to adopt him.
So he would let them "train" him daily, coming to put a leash and collar on him and walk him around and make him sit. How else was he supposed to ever see Mokuba again?
Today, they seemed happier than usual when they walked up to his cage and stuck the leash on the collar. He resisted whining, and instead allowed the small lump on his backside waggle a bit. It was healing well, and hurt much less, but he still was unfamiliar with the sensation, and didn't like it.
They smiled at him, and he jumped out of the cage like normal.
The dalmatian rival growled a bit, jealous, and Seto puffed up and growled back. Anything to rub it into that annoying mutt's face that he could get out of here when he couldn't. The dalmatian barked and Seto chose not to.
"Hey Bear, you won't have to listen to that dog again!" Jou exclaimed, petting Seto's ear happily. Seto wanted to shrink away, but didn't. "We're getting to adopt you today! You've graduated!"
Seto wanted to roll his eyes, but, as dog bodies don't do that, he instead chose to bark the good news at the dalmatian. And that the dalmatian was a loser and would be stuck here for eternity. You know, the important things. Making himself adoptable was something he'd had to do before, and it seemed it was something he could do again. Not that he ever had wished to repeat the process.
He was led to a clean-smelling car covered in soft blankets, and let off the leash as soon as he got in. He settled down, and found himself growing sleepy on the car ride, napping for the short time it took to get to the pair's apartment building, scratching at the collar in his sleep.
Seto watched through the eyes of his body at a pile of paperwork. It almost felt familiar, as the body wasn't his younger self, but he couldn't place why he was looking at so many pieces of physical paper. He knew that paper was wasteful, when you had solid vision technology, you could pull any report up and manipulate it in the air, so why bother printing a physical piece of paper that took extra money and resources to produce? He hadn't used this much paper since he was young.
But the papers weren't for fighter plane schematics or for bombers, just for duel disks and new holographic technology, and the deed for the island he'd recently acquired to start up the duel school. So the body was right.
He was shocked when the hand that had been resting on one of the papers moved without his permission. He tried to fight it, but realized he couldn't. The hand pointed at a simple circuit diagram, and he watched his field of vision focus on one of his head scientists, who Kaiba remembered not being nearly as competent as he was, but functional. In horror, he then listened as he heard his voice ask to explain it one more time.
He watched the employee sweat as he tried to explain, as quickly as possible, what a circuit diagram was. "Is this some sort of practical joke, Mr. Kaiba?" he asked at the end of it, looking concerned. "You drew these schematics yourself. How do you not understand them?"
"I've just been feeling off lately," Set replied, and Kaiba started to realize what was going on. Someone else was pretending to be him.
The car pulled to a stop, and he woke up, eyes refocusing into the dull browns that the dog eyes could see, and he whined a little. Why that dream? Why now? What would happen to Kaiba Corporation (and his brother) if it was discovered that Seto Kaiba no longer could invent? That something traumatic had obviously happened, and that he seemed to have lost his memories and most of his cognitive functions?
He scratched at his collar and tried to put the worries aside. First step, find Mokuba. He let Yugi put the leash on him before hopping out of the car, and following the pair to their door. He'd have to begin working on his escape plan soon.
The house was… unfamiliar at best. It was small, quaint, and exactly what he expected of Jounouchi, though not at all what he expected from Yugi. What ever had convinced him to pay rent when he could have lived above the game shop for free while he completed college? It's not like the Moutou's family home was all that small or run down; Yugi certainly had had more space than this. He began to run around the home, peaking in all the rooms once he was let off the leash.
There was only one bedroom, with a shared queen bed in the middle of it, a closet and a wardrobe. Perhaps Yugi lived here to help get his friend out of whatever shithole he'd been in during high school. Stupidly sentimental, but why wouldn't they at least have separate beds?
Hell, the apartment had a second room for a bed, that they could have chosen to be Jounouchi's bedroom, but they had turned it into a (surprisingly nice) game room instead. Seto didn't understand. He wandered out to the living room and kitchenette, scratching at the collar with one foot as he went. The collar was the worst part of his decision to cooperate. He realized he had to play nice or he'd never get out of that sterile facility with the drugs, but he felt as helpless as he had as a child while wearing the thing. Whenever he became aware of it, flashbacks of horrid memories would haunt him, and it took his all not to let the dog body whine in response.
Jounouchi, who had just deposited him in the house and had been allowing him to explore, reached down to scratch the supposed itch just under the collar that Seto was trying to get at. Seto glared at him, but the puppy eyes didn't do it well. They only seemed to look cute or sad, which was also cute. This tended to lead to a lot of cooing and additional unwanted petting, as in this case.
"Awww, you're such a good dog Bear," he heard Jounouchi saying. Seto barked, just for the hell of it. The only way that he could show his displeasure at the name, and the situation at hand. There was no more facility and no more reason to act properly. Jounouchi laughed, and Seto found his resentment growing. Why did these people have to be his saviors once again? And the interesting Yugi wasn't even around any more.
Yugi, wearing even more bondage gear than in high school now that there was less of a dress code, appeared in the doorway and joined in the laughter, looking young and naive as ever. Seto would never understand the willing use of a collar as a fashion statement, especially now that there was no Millennium Puzzle to keep track of around his neck. If dogs could roll their eyes, Kaiba would have.
Instead, he found he was in for a shock as Yugi got closer to Jou than Seto had ever expected Yugi to get, placing one hand on Seto's back to add to the petting, and another arm around Jounouchi's waist in an overly-familiar manner. He leaned in to kiss Jounouchi's neck, and murmur something about welcoming the family home.
Jounouchi smiled broadly and turned down towards Yugi, embracing him openly before leaning down to kiss the other man on the mouth. Seto stared, not even noticing that the petting had stopped, as it became incredibly apparent that his judgment of the two men had been far off-base. The single bed had nothing to do with money. He backed up a bit, uncertain about what this meant, or how to process the information. What was he going to do in this house? He felt panic and bile rising up in his throat, and as he was currently being ignored anyway, he ran into the bedroom to hide. The bed seemed a fairly logical solution, and he darted under the bedskirt expertly, fighting rising anxiety about the news.
Yugi… How could he stand…? Jounouchi…. Seto whined, unable to stop the sound. Luckily, it didn't seem either noticed. They were very involved in each other, too involved to notice Seto.
Perhaps that would be a good thing. Perhaps Yugi would distract Jounouchi and he wouldn't have to be touched by that good-for-nothing mutt anymore. Seto found himself plotting his escape even harder, starting with using bathroom breaks to his advantage, blocking out the unwanted information about what was going on in the next room and then from his dream that afternoon.
There wasn't much else to think about, and he was mostly unsuccessful anyway, but it became entirely impossible when Yugi and Jou walked into the bedroom.
"This was a great idea Yug'," Jounouchi said, his hand outstretched as he led Yugi into the bedroom.
"I know. It's not like we could get married or adopt kids, but having a dog is kind of like making things official, isn't it?" Yugi added, a wide grin on his face.
Seto froze, unable to make noise as the bed rustled above him and Jou's laughter filled the room. Yugi's feet showed near the wardrobe, and Seto wondered why he hadn't followed Jou, who was babbling about love and family above him.
"What should we do tonight?" Yugi asked as he pulled open the door to the wardrobe. Seto's eyes would have widened, if dog eyes could. He watched transfixed as Yugi pulled a variety of punishments out of the closet, wagging his eyes at Jou suggestively. The fourth item was a riding crop, that had Seto whining against his will and backing up, out from under the bed.
He hated everything about how honest the dog body was, how he shivered uncontrollably at the sight of it, how he could not stop the noises coming from his mouth, how he had failed to remain hidden as a result. He ran towards the door but found to his horror that it was closed.
Yugi, in his friendly way had turned the corner to see what was wrong but hadn't put away the riding crop, and this terrified Seto even more. He shrank into the wall, shivering and barking and whining. At some point he lost control of his bladder. Things began to blur and he wished he could just pass out and forget. But here he was, soaked in his own piss, terrified of a man who wasn't before him, while Yugi tried to open the door and only served to terrify him more.
Jounouchi was there now, pulling Yugi away, telling him to put the crop back, scooping Seto into his arms, even though there was still pee everywhere. Telling Yugi to do something useful and clean it up. Pulling Seto into the bathroom and running calming hands over his body, speaking reassurances that everything was ok, that he wouldn't get hurt. Washing him off, cleaning him in the tub, using baby soap and toweling him in what must have been his own towel, given the scent. Bringing him to the couch, still shivering and afraid, unable to deal with his trauma even after the bath. Running hands through his fur calming and recounting that he understands. That some wounds aren't visible. Keeping Yugi in the room when Seto whines when Yugi pokes his head out of the room to see what's going on, misreading Seto's embarrassment as continued trauma. Turning on the tv until they both fell asleep, cuddling as boy and dog do. All the while Seto wonders why he got stuck in this of all situations.