Haha! I actually updated on time! Take that world – you didn't stop me writing!
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"You sound like you're doing well though."
Yuugi wielded a spoon expertly as he dug into the tub of ice-cream set before him, watching as his roommates did the same.
Ryou sucked thoughtfully on a mouthful of cookie dough, tapping his spoon against the side of the tub absently. "It's mostly about increasing portfolio size right now. I've done about seven official shoots, but the rest of the time was just fiddling around with head shots and things."
"So how much re-touching did you need?" Malik asked wickedly, licking fudge ripple from the back of his utensil as he looked over towards the pouting Ryou.
The model made a face, lip curling in a half hearted sneer that was reserved for the trainee chef alone. "Not that much…"
"How much is much?" Yuugi licked a smear of green mint ice cream from his thumb as he looked enquiringly towards the British youth.
Ryou shrugged, toying with a rapidly melting spoonful of the iced dessert. "The usual. Stray hairs, slight blemish, a crease in your clothes that shouldn't be there."
"I knew those girls were too perfect to be real!" Malik crowed as he waved his spoon enthusiastically. Being Malik, he was surprised when his two table mates ducked down out of the line of fire of his ice cream splattering spoon. Blinking bemusedly, the young man shrugged and settled back down to his Ben and Jerry's as he waited for the two cowardly souls to surface from their places of retreat. "No-one has legs like that."
"Or hair as sleek as that," Yuugi added, the soft points of his hair poking above the table, followed by a pair of wary violet eyes as he judged the air to be 'ice-cream splatter free.'
Malik nodded in agreement, already back to swirling his caramel into his chocolate. "I'm sure none of them are actually beautiful when you look at them up close."
"Except Mai." This came from Ryou who had calmly slipped into his seat as if he hadn't been hiding from a manic Egyptian with a perchance for throwing his food around. "Mai's perfect."
Yuugi and Malik shared a look, half amused, half exasperated.
"You're not going straight on us, are you Ryou?" Malik asked archly, grinning as a rapid flush spread across the whitenette's face. After a few moments of shocked disbelief in which Ryou looked remarkably like a blow fish as his mouth opened wordlessly, those eyebrows came down and Malik was treated to the extremely cute sight of the British teen's attempt at a glower.
"Ma-lik!" he complained and probably would have continued in a familiar vein if Yuugi had not thoughtfully pushed a large spoonful of cookie dough ice-cream into his mouth. While Ryou was coping with the subsequent brain freeze, the trainee doctor peered down thoughtfully at the rapidly melting green cream in his tub.
"What Malik's trying to say is that you just seem to be spending a lot of time with this Mai," he said tactfully. "You've been spending a lot of time with all of the people at work in fact and we haven't gotten to meet any of them."
As Malik nodded mute agreement, Ryou sighed, playing moodily with his ice cream – since when had Thursday 'Ice cream and movie night' turned into a grilling session?
"It's just been really busy lately," he said, trying to sound light as he shrugged. That odd conversation with Mai that afternoon had unnerved him more than he cared to let on and there was no point in letting his two friends worry unnecessarily – they were already a tad too protective and it wouldn't do to hint that the whole company seemed to be plotting against him.
"We know." The soothing comment came from Yuugi, the peacemaker of the group, the one who both calmed Malik down and drew Ryou out of his shy shell. "We just want to meet these people who mean so much to you – we want to meet the famous Mai and Carly and Jou…"
Jou. That was one person Ryou didn't want to have to face, not with these doubts placed in him by his blonde angel. He wanted to believe that Jou wouldn't be as underhand as that, that Jou was nothing more than the sunny hearted person he had come to know, but there was a new motto in his life and he was determined to stand by it.
Mai knows best.
The whitenette sighed, running a hand through his rumpled hair – he seemed to be doing that far too often recently. "It's not as if I don't want you to meet them – you know I do, it's just finding time when we're all free. You guys are busy as well you know."
"Don't remind me," Yuugi groaned, paling slightly. "We've moved onto dissections in our lectures and I'm starting to wonder if I have the right career in mind…"
"Of course you do, squirt," Malik said brightly, throwing a companionable arm around the smaller man's shoulders as a fist curled playfully, drilling down in a good-natured noogie. "You and kids, they're drawn to you – you can't turn your back on them now. You'll cope, you always do."
Ryou chuckled softly as he watched Yuugi squirm under the blonde's bouncy form of love. "So you've made a decision then?"
The tri-nette, his hair ruffled by the rough love from Malik, nodded, pulling away from the bouncy blonde with a final squeak of protest. "I've talked with my professors and they think the paediatrician's path is the best one for me." He blushed with a mixture of pride and embarrassment as Malik whooped and Ryou let out one of his rare grins.
"Do you know how long it's taken for you to get your ass around that one decision?" Malik crowed, ignoring the reproving glances he gained simultaneously reproving glances from both of his roommates, but part of his charm was the ability to turn those reproving looks into grudging smiles as they warmed to him.
Yuugi flapped a hand at him helplessly, hiding an up welling of giggles behind one hand. "It's hard to decide what job you want to do for the rest of your life…It was an important decision!"
"Screaming kids or a sick populace…" Malik's eyes betrayed his good humour as he poked fun at his blushing friend. "I question your sanity sometimes."
"This is coming from the man who brings home bags of truffles, sea bass and saffron to experiment with."
Ryou watched amusedly as the chef and the trainee doctor bickered aimlessly – it was a commonplace occurrence in this house, but more importantly, it had fended off any more questions about his own line of work – he didn't have the skills, nor the temperament to lie.
It wasn't until later, when the ragging had ceased and Malik had finally headed out to do the evening shift that Yuugi caught up to him in the corridor heading towards his room when he knew that the subject hadn't been forgotten.
"Hey." For such a small man, the youth looked surprisingly determined as he cornered Ryou in the narrow passage way. "Since when do you keep secrets from us?"
"I'm not keeping…" but one look from those reproachful violet eyes stemmed the flow of weak sounding protests and the white haired teen bit his lip, looking somewhat ashamed. "I just didn't want to worry you two…"
"You think we don't notice when you come home with a face like a kicked dog?" Yuugi sighed, rubbing at his temple as he leaned against the wall, looking up at his friend. "Why do you think we got all that ice cream out?"
At Ryou's blank look, Yuugi sighed, reaching up to smooth an out of place ivory lock. "You do support the theory that models are just pretty faces in front of empty space." The deliberate taunt had a positive effect as the whitenette squeaked in outrage and the two tussled for a pleasant few minutes, leaving them panting on the floor as they looked up towards the white ceiling. They lay in companiable silence for a while, the only sound being that of their gradually slowing breathing.
"I do want you to meet them…it's just…complicated," Ryou murmured, resting his head on his diminutive friend's shoulder, enjoying a closeness that work and studies hadn't permitted for a while.
"I know and we both understand that," Yuugi said in his typically soothing manner as he stroked an absent hand over Ryou's soft head of hair. "I'm patient – I'm not so sure about Malik." They shared a quiet, secret snicker – impatient barely did their third boarder justice. "I can wait."
"You shouldn't have to." Ryou gave a sigh as his head butted up unconsciously into the soft touch. "I've met your college friends, Malik's colleagues – it's about time you met mine."
"We don't want to meet your colleagues, Ryou," Yuugi said with a soft chuckle, raising an eyebrow at the bemused expression the whitenette was currently wearing. "We want to meet your friends."
"Oh…"
The smaller man gave a low chuckle, shifting until they were both more comfortable, even if their place was just the floor of the hallway. "I wouldn't want to meet any model who didn't have your seal of approval – from what I hear, they're spoilt, self-centred divas…"
"Hey – that could be me you're describing there!" Ryou protested, sending a gentle elbow towards Yuugi's ticklish ribs, but he avoided it easily.
"Don't worry, you're just strange, that's all…"
"And that's supposed to make me feel better?"
"Hush now – so when do we get to meet them?"
Ryou shrugged, reaching up to tug a golden bang into place with the absent minded attention he went through so much of his life with.
"Tell you what – they're holding some sort of party thing for me in about two weeks. My three month anniversary they called it." He gave a minutely proud grin at that. "They said it shows I had the guts to stick it that far, end of probation if you will."
Yuugi snorted, holding still while Ryou adjusted his hair. "As if there was any doubt you wouldn't make it…"
Ryou smiled with overly bright eyes as his hand slid down to grip one of Yuugi's tightly, fingers interlacing easily. "You know how much your support means to me? I wouldn't have ever of gone for it if you hadn't egged me on in the first place…"
"You didn't need my help, Ryou," Yuugi said assuredly, his own eyes glistening slightly despite his bright words. "You're going to be big – just remember who your old friends were when you get to the top."
"As if I could ever forget you, Yuugi…"
"Besides – who else are me and Malik going to scrounge money off when we get old?"
"Yuugi!" More wrestling and more tussling, actions that cemented a friendship that had all begun with the click of a camera button and a single comment.
You should be a model you know…
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The rain was heavy that night. Leaden droplets finally fell, breaking the almost unbearable pressure that had been growing in the day, cutting through the wet stickiness the summer day had brought about. Thunder rumbled ominously and a pair of violet eyes watched a ripple of sheet lightening bathe the low lying clouds in silver.
"I told him to watch out for our Puppy," the woman said absently as she watched the wrath of nature lash the world outside the building. It was hard to believe that she and the kid had been sitting in the park earlier that day – right now, the same area was a wind whipped mass of branches, foliage soaked with the downpour.
Azure eyes didn't even look up from the faint glow of the laptop. The spacious room was dark, the only light coming from the reading lamp on the desk and the liquid glow of the crystal screen, but the occasional dull gleam of the lightening outside served as further illumination. The dim light placed most things in the room into negative, only picking out a few features – the stark metal of the desk, the alabaster of his shirt, the golden halo of her hair – the rest was bathed in shadow.
"How did he take it?" The voice was satin smooth, a voice practiced in lulling fledgling chicks into an uneasy slumber before forked fangs dragged them cheeping from the nest. It had no effect on the woman – she had know the voice before it had gained its deadly charm and its siren song had no sway over her own anchored nature.
"He agreed." Her voice turned bitter, self-mocking as she continued. "He trusts me."
"If only he knew what a pet you are, my sweet…" The satin voice held a razor edge of amusement now, a wicked glee of one who revels in games of the mind, though its owner didn't react to the sceptical look sent his way.
"Don't flatter yourself – I'm my own woman, not like the little ants you have scurrying around you." She gave a sigh, head rolling on a tired neck as she leant back, perched as she was on the edge of his desk, while he chose to seat himself in the sleekly curved armchair across from her. "I meant it when I told him he could trust me."
"And when I ask you to betray that trust?" An arch of a perfect eyebrow accompanied those telling words as that piercing blue gaze finally made its way to her form. Blonde hair brushed the small of her back as she leant back on the hands she placed behind her on the desk, long legs crossed in the unconsciously provocative way that made the woman so attractive.
"I won't do it," was the blunt answer as equally striking eyes met his. This was a rival to him, both in spirit and beauty and there was always something about their confrontations that set his blood on fire with liquid lightening. "Not even for you. The kid means too much to me to break this one."
A low, wicked chuckle suddenly sounded from the seated figure, his attention momentarily pulled away from whatever document was gently flashing at him on the screen in favour of the spitfire before him. "You're getting soft in your old age – you almost sound as if you're in love with the kid."
It was her turn to cock a fine eyebrow, a silent gesture of both defiance and questioning. "You know I haven't loved a man since you, Seto." Her voice was soft – resounding with firmness, but still with a kind of lasting tenderness it had never really lost when it came to the brunette.
He didn't deny it - more accurately, he revelled in the fact he still held so much power over this woman, even if she refused to act on it. At least he had still sealed a part of her away and that part was firmly imprinted with his mark. "It's nice to know you had to turn celibate after loving me." His words were dry, mocking still with no trace of the compassion they had once contained.
She didn't comment on that – the past was often spoken on, but rarely pursued with much tenacity and it was still a trial to see that he had moved on so thoroughly, even to change his preferences in gender so entirely after their parting.
"You shouldn't call him a kid – he's barely half a year younger than you," was her only reply as she turned her eyes back towards the torrential rain running in a waterfall on the outside of that green tinted window. Another rumble of thunder growled threateningly around the building, closer this time as the eye of the storm inched a mile or two nearer.
"He's a child, mindless and naïve," was the clipped comment as the brunette tapped away at the keyboard for a while, the return key echoing with a resounding finality when he signalled that he was done. "Perhaps that's what brings out your maternal instincts, Mai?"
The blonde woman gave no answer, though he was witness to her immaculate hands tightening that much more on the edge of his desk as she sat up, turning a shadowed face towards him. With her back to the window, she was lit up from behind and her expression was unreadable in the patch of shifting darkness that she seemed to be.
The silence lingered as he returned to his document, reams of text appearing under his hands as those fingers flew like quicksilver over the keys as he waited for whatever defiant comment he knew was going to come from the blonde woman – it was only she who had the nerve to intrude upon his time and to lounge around his personal floor as if she owned the place.
Time was she did – time was, he had been prepared to let her own everything including the keys to his carefully guarded heart, but that had all changed hadn't it?
Perhaps that was why he was surprised when she did speak.
"Don't hurt him, Seto…"
Her words were quieter than normal, dejected even and was that a slight tremor he detected with his uncaring ears? Once again, sapphire was pulled away from the screen to look towards her, a smirk hovering dangerously over his lips. Her own face was grim, classical features set with determination as she leaned towards him, golden hair he had once run his fingers through curling over one bare shoulder in a way that just maybe made a miniscule part of him long for days gone by.
He squashed that part of him and returned to the matter of hand.
"What makes you think I'm going to hurt him?" This was said in his executive voice, his public image voice – trustworthy, calm and assured, that was what it was designed to convey. It worked on everyone – rival businessmen, company representatives, the giggling fan girls who wanted him to sign various snaps of his own face.
There were perhaps a few people in this busy world who could see through that smiling mask and soothing tone and one of them was looking at him right now with those purple lamps of hers.
"I know you, Seto." It was her turn to sound mocking, though her tone was without malice and more tinged with an echo down the years of a sadness untold and as of yet unresolved. "You may forget sometimes or just not want to remember, but I was close to you once and I know what you've turned into."
He rolled his eyes at that – in his own mind he hadn't changed, only evolved and certainly for the better.
"For all you know, I could be going to choose someone completely different." When that raised eyebrow of hers did not go down, he shrugged, irritated in spite of his resolve now, needled by how well she did actually know him. "He won't get hurt," he said shortly before a flicker of a grin spread across his face, lighting up those handsome features.
The features of a model, one of the best in the business.
"He'll love every minute of it," was the slow, seductive comment, honey dripping from the poisoned fangs of the serpent who tempted Eve.
"Oh he'll love doing it," the blonde woman said bitterly, her voice finally lapsing into the pain she felt. Her composure had been held when it had been her under fire, but to remember the hurt she had gone through, the agony and to know that the same might be happening soon to her innocent charge – it made her barriers fall as the heat of anger sizzled comfortingly through her veins. 'You'll promise him heaven and he'll drink up every word you feed him because he can't even comprehend that anyone out there might actually be bad." Violet eyes gained a stormy hue, a maelstrom of indigo lit up with silver from the lightening that flashed outside. "You'll lead him on and you'll build him up and shower him with ecstasy. But you don't mean a minute of it, Seto, you don't mean one of those honeyed words and just when he's needing you the most, you'll let him down. You'll tell him that it meant nothing, that he's nothing and you'll enjoy watching his soul shatter into a thousand pieces." There was definitely regret in her voice, a vibrant voice turned sour by those painful memories as she looked at him with unblinking eyes. "The worst part of it is, you'll convince him to come with you willingly and you'll relish stealing his innocence away."
He was unmoved; what else would she have expected from him? Perhaps he was even amused if you judged him by the twist of his lips.
"Well, you seem to have it all planned out, don't you?" he asked and once again his voice was deceptively smooth. "You seem to know exactly how I'm going to react? What makes you so sure I'll do exactly as you've planned?" His eyes hardened, darkening to a steely blue as if, by miraculous chance and auspicious timing, a flash of lightening brought out the true luminosity of his eyes in all their terrible beauty.
Yet the golden haired woman didn't quail under his harsh gaze, merely took it with a sort of serene sadness, yet there was acceptance within those pools of muted violet, dim in the near darkness as she looked towards the uncaring form of a man she had once loved and still had affection for despite the coldness running through him now.
"Because I know you, Seto…" was her soft answer as she slowly clasped her hands on her lap, fingers being the only things to betray her anxiety as the joints slowly turned white from the pressure she was putting on them to still what would have been them shaking. "Because I experienced the magic you seem to put on people."
"And you think I'll treat him the same as you do?" There was a brooding silence before a low, dark chuckle started to pour forth from those tainted lips and it was this more than anything that made the blonde woman flinch away from the seated shadowy figure as he closed the laptop with a decisive flip. "I think you're the one who's flattering yourself – do you really think you meant that much to me back then?"
Her silence was telling, a lack of words or a deliberate withholding of them that was both sorrowful and irritated at the same time as he snorted, the most emotional noise he had yet to make in this little encounter. There was a whisper of finely made cloth as he stood and he was rewarded with the sight of her stiffening slightly, a sudden wariness entering her clouded gaze.
And he was proud that he held such sway over the woman who had been foolish enough to love him.
"This one's special," came the purr, deliberately pitched to cause the most damage since he knew this strong woman could take the full force of his storm, but he was still waiting for the day when he would break her. "But he's such a sweet looking thing. And he'll be perfect for the whole idea, won't he?"
"Seto…" There was the warning, that time when she lapsed into a growl as she closed her eyes, clearly trying to subdue the raging beast within her at such a deliberate taunt.
"Then again, I thought you were perfect, didn't I?" Definitely purring now, he was circling the desk slowly, a lazy amble that was made predatory by the glint in those feral eyes and the way his shadow rippled and flickered as the rain painted a waving path down the floor length windows. There were those that hated coming to his room because of the reminder that they were twenty storeys above the ground and the green tinted glass didn't let you forget it – they all felt the stomach churning pain of vertigo, but he revelled in the idea that only that one pane of glass separated you and a drop of certain death.
It reminded him of the reasons for why he was doing this.
Again he was met with stubborn silence. Or maybe she just didn't trust herself to speak. He smiled, an action that was unnoticeable in the dim light, but he could almost smell her emotion, could almost hear the sound of her pounding heart.
"You're so easy to figure out," was the low statement as his dark, lanky form suddenly drew close and Mai was faced with the fact she had to look up to see him. She was hardly a small woman herself, but she was seated and he had left her no room to stand – he himself was standing in the V-shape her legs made.
Far too close for comfort.
The blonde woman flinched when she felt fingers brush the side of her face lightly, gently, but there was no tenderness in his touch- it was an action designed to remind her of how powerful he was, how dangerous he was. Automatically, her eyes closed to block out the sight of the smirk she knew he was wearing, but it was burned into her retinas, impossible to avoid.
"You talk about what you think we used to had, what you think I felt about it," he said softly, dangerously as those skilled fingers touched that smooth, perfect skin, but there was no joy in the contact for him except a satisfaction born out of malice. "You think you understand me, but I'm the one who has you figured out."
The prickling of her skin announced that he was too close for comfort and she opened her eyes, startled to find those heated yet icy eyes on a level with her own. As much as she hated to admit it, her body was reacting favourably towards the brunette – an ache in her stomach she hadn't felt for a while, the sudden shallowness of her breath and the rapid beat of her traitor heart. It had been so long since they had been this close and mentally she had put aside whatever she had felt for him.
Her body had not.
His face was getting closer and, against her wishes, her body prepared for, even anticipated the kiss it sensed was coming. It wasn't until her breath paused as their exhaled air mingled that she finally saw the cruel ploy she had walked into when his eyes glittered with achievement.
"So predictable…" he crooned, pulling away and taking delight in the flush spreading across her creamy skin as she pulled herself up angrily, violet eyes flashing with ominous danger.
"You bastard," she said and her tone was flat, more pissed off than he had ever heard her. His answering smile was sickly sweet, a grim twist of his lips as he returned to his laptop, unruffled.
"Quite. But I suppose that's for dear Ryou to work out isn't it?"
He heard a slight intake of breath and he knew that he had won this as he turned to her, fixing her with the full force of his eyes.
"Let him trust you as much as you want, but you will not interfere in whatever I have planned for him." This was an order and he could see her ready to balk it. "Remember who pays you here."
A bark of harsh, morbid laughter. "You think this job is important to me? I'm as well known in this business as you are – my ties here are nothing."
"Except him," was the cajoling, sneaky answer which greeted her defiance, matching her raise with one of his own. "Think what people might do to him if you're not here." The sullen silence pointed out to him that that point was done and dusted, the marks going to him, raising the score in his favour. "You won't tell him, will you though? Because then you'll have to explain how you know and you don't want to do that, do you?"
Silence, tense and strained on her half, victorious for him since he already knew what her response was going to be.
"No…" A soft, defeated sighed. "I won't tell him. But I won't let you hurt him."
"You won't have any choice." Again, she had no words and his vicious smile was reflected in the screen of his laptop, lit up in eerie, crystalline colours before he dug the final nail in Mai as he nailed her to the cross she bore so willingly, the crucifier in this game. "Good bitch."
Her proud shoulders slumped momentarily and she sent him a lost look – oddly enough, there was no anger in that gaze, no condemnation. Just pity and he bristled at the emotion he sensed from her.
"Don't you ever get tired of it all, Seto?" she asked and she suddenly sounded old, tired and world weary.
"Tired of ruling my world?" A short chuckle, low and menacing. "Never. Here." The blonde looked over at the gilt edged envelope being waved enticingly at her and she balked, immediately disliking it.
"What do you expect me to do with that?" she asked flatly, locking her hands stubbornly in her lap as she eyed it with distaste.
"Just slip it into his pigeon hole," the brunette said smoothly, blue eyes glinting as a final sheet of lightening lit the room up in stark relief. The centre of the storm was rippling around them, bathing the tall building in the full force of its fury. "I would go myself, but why should I when I have you to do the work for me?"
He was rewarded with the sight of her eye twitching before her gaze fell downwards and the envelope was pulled from his fingers jerkily. "One of these days, someone's going to stop taking this from you and put you in your place."
"But it won't be you, will it?" Connection, on an eye level, was made and purposefully held. Eyelids shifted and the blonde broke the tension running between them as she slipped of the desk, normally graceful movements weighed down with a troubled air.
"No, it won't be me Seto," she murmured softly, desolation desperately trying to be hidden. "But I won't stop it when it happens."
"Why does that not surprise me?" The question was an obvious dismissal as the thundering rain gradually increased in sound, filling the room with its machine gun rattle against the window. The sound was so loud, he didn't even hear her footsteps as she let herself out of the room.
Then again, when had he ever cared what Mai did with her life?
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Heh, that's an interesting chapter. I'm intrigued by the contrast between the two halves, though the second half is by far my favourite.
Reviews:
Incoherent: I couldn't believe how fast you reviewed! It was amazing! It's also amazing how you picked out my own favourite line – that was certainly the bit of phrasing I was most proud of. Heh, more power struggles this time, just between different people now.
RalphiereRedux: Gee, thanks – just remind me of how long it took me to update XD That was a fun image I had – I really need to find someone to illustrate this…
SnowIce: Bluuuuuuuuuush You have a talent – you're so flattering you make me want to hide. Fanta, huh? It's Oasis for me – sweetcorn and Oasis, that's my combination for actually writing because it's what gets me hyper and when I get hyper, I write better stuff for some reason…Your best gift? Bluuuuuuuush There'll certainly be a lot more focusing on Mai, Jou, Kaiba and Ryou – they're certainly going to be the main characters, I think. See? The poking works!
Wish He Was Mine: You know you survived…and you were made a better person by the wait. Humphs Hopefully, I've fended off the airheads with my supposedly 'flowery' language. 0o Damn, you and your soda….TRACEE! HAH, TRACEE!
Bakuraxryou: Heh, I'm glad you like it. )
Amichanfan12345: You lost me in that rambling there, dearie ) Snickers I'm glad you like it though (I think you like it, I wasn't sure 0o)
BobGod: Rolls eyes Blasted hotmail despises my reviews – I didn't even get an alert for your one, I just randomly saw it appear! I'm glad you like it though – I adore your stories though. If I ever have a bad day, I just come home and read some of my favourite stories, some of yours included and I automatically feel better. )