Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-gi-oh.
Chapter 6
When Yami stepped into the spacious, shiny, glass, metal and tile lobby of the KaibaCorp building he held his head high, hoping that this time he could breeze right through into Seto's office without any hassle. However, the burly guards standing next to the elevators with their arms crossed and scowling changed his mind, and he stopped at the receptionist's desk instead.
"I need to speak with Seto Kaiba, please."
"Do you have an appointment?" the mousy-haired girl asked automatically, scribbling on a sheet of paper.
"No, but it's very important."
The girl looked up at that, her entire face lighting up when she recognized Yami. "Oh! Mr. Mutou!" she exclaimed gleefully, before she apparently remembered something and the smile dropped off her face. "Oh… I'm sorry, sir, Mr. Kaiba specifically said not to let you in to see him."
Yami looked away, clenching his fists in frustration. "I see."
"I'm really sorry."
"It's not your fault," Yami sighed and glanced back at the woman, who was biting her lip. "I just really needed to talk to him." He frowned. Maybe he could wait until Kaiba got off and ambush him at the door… or maybe go to his house and convince Mokuba to let him in so they could talk…
"Well…" the receptionist hesitated, "I could try the intercom… just to tell him you're here…" She gave Yami a weak smile and pressed the button on the phone beside her. "Mr. Kaiba?"
"Yes."
"Um… you have a visitor… Mr. Mutou is here to see you."
The CEO's low growl could be heard even over the staticky intercom. "I told you not to let that liar in this building! I don't have time to put up with petty nuisances."
Her eyes went wide. "He uh… he says it's important sir."
"I don't care what he—"
Kaiba's reply was cut short, since Yami in a sudden burst of fury leapt half over the desk and knocked the receptionist's hand away, slamming his own palm down on the intercom button nearly hard enough to bruise. "I am not a liar, you stupid bastard! And I wouldn't be bothering you at work if you would lower yourself enough to take my phone calls!"
"Why would I want to take your calls?" Kaiba sniffed.
"Hmm, let me think," Yami snapped. "Maybe because you—"
"Don't even say it, Yami! Don't you dare cause a scene in my company headquarters."
"You're giving me no choice, Kaiba!"
"Bullshit. There you go, lying again."
"Stop calling me a liar! If anyone's a liar here it's you!"
"Confusing our words, are we? A 'liar' is a person who tells another person something, possibly something important, knowing that the something the first person told the second person is false. Hence it is a lie. Hence, the first person is a liar. Therefore it is obvious that the term 'liar' couldn't possibly pertain to myself, so it must be referring to you."
"I…" Yami blinked. "Okay Kaiba, I have no idea what you just said, but stop being so immature and just let me talk to you!"
"I don't speak to liars."
"Stop calling me that!" Yami gritted his teeth in frustration. "I've never been anything but honest with you. You're the one not being honest with me!"
"And how did you come up with that assessment?" Seto retorted dryly.
"Because you said you loved me and you took it back!"
The lobby went silent, Yami's heaving, angry breaths echoing through the open space as Kaiba's various employees who had been milling around the lobby stopped and stared at him. For a long time Seto didn't reply, and just when Yami was starting to think he never would and slid back to his feet, the CEO's staticky voice sounded quietly through the intercom.
"Send him up."
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"After you, Malik." Bakura made a wide, sweeping gesture and bowed, stepping aside to let Malik walk ahead of him up the stairs to his and Ryou's apartment.
Malik sighed. "Stop doing that!"
"Doing what, Malik?"
"Saying my name like that!"
"But Malik, I thought you wanted me to call you Malik. I thought you 'hated my stupid nicknames,' Malik."
The blond ground his teeth together and clenched his fists to keep them from twitching towards his Sennen Rod, finding himself slowly counting to ten for the second time in as many hours. "God, you're so annoying," he muttered. "I meant I hate degrading nicknames, like baby. I guess you can call me Blondie sometimes… or whatever… as long as it's not an insult."
Malik stopped outside the door to Bakura's apartment and immediately long arms wrapped around him from behind, pulling him close to a warm body before one hand slipped from his waist to brush aside his hair and make room for lips on his neck. "Why would I insult my pretty little blond toy? It's so much fun to play with."
He bit down hard on Malik's neck and the other yelped in shock before he turned around and punched Bakura in the face. "That's exactly what I mean! I'm not your toy!" Malik huffed, crossing his arms across his chest and sticking his nose in the air.
"That hurt, dammit," Bakura mumbled sulkily, rubbing his cheek. But he latched on to Malik's wrist with one hand so he couldn't get away before he opened to door to his apartment.
"…and then they just started asking if I was gay, right out of the blue like that! It was the weirdest thing, Ryou, I swear."
"Is there something wrong with that?"
"With what?"
"Being gay."
"Well, no… it's just…" Bakura had stopped in the doorway, so Malik peered over his shoulder, his eyes widening when he saw Yugi sitting hunched over beside Ryou on the couch, his elbows resting on his knees and his chin propped atop his clasped fingers. Ryou rubbed his back in a soothing sort of way as the short, spiky-haired teen continued. "It's just… it was out of nowhere. Yami disappeared and then everybody just went crazy, babbling something about my clothes and asking me if I was gay. I couldn't make any sense out of them so I came here."
"Well?" Bakura spoke up from the doorway, giving the two on the couch an evil grin when they 'eeped' and spun in his direction. "Are you?"
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Taking a deep breath, Yami pushed the half-open door to Seto's office wider and stepped inside, his eyes immediately focusing on the brunet seated behind the elaborate mahogany desk, whose cerulean eyes glowed even brighter under the dull blue glare of his computer screen. Yami had hoped that Seto would look bad – at least tired, pale, puffy eyed, anything that might hint he'd been suffering after losing Yami. But of course he didn't; the CEO looked spectacular and unruffled as always in a charcoal black suit and silver tie that brought out the hints of red in his thick chestnut hair.
Yami cleared his throat. "Seto."
"Hn." The other continued to type something on his computer, his expression unwavering. He didn't look at Yami.
"Look… I didn't come here to apologize, though I really am sorry you ended up hurt. I just—"
"Good, because I'm tired of your apologies," Seto rudely interrupted. "They're getting beyond redundant."
Yami sighed. "Could you please just let me finish? Like I said, I'm sorry you got hurt, but I'm not sorry that this happened. I—"
"Changing our tune now, are we? I guess you saw meaningless apologies weren't getting you anywhere so you decided to try something else," Seto sneered.
"I talked to Malik, and he made me realize that this prank with the Sennen Rod, even though it was wrong of him to do, turned out to be… well, a blessing in disguise, I guess, because—"
"You do realize that is pure crap, don't you? You're totally insane. And I think you should leave now, because we have nothing else to talk about."
"We might if you would stop interrupting me!" Yami snapped, the Wadjet Eye appearing briefly in the center of his forehead and shadows whirling around him as he walked behind Seto's desk and spun the CEO's office chair so that he was forced to look Yami in the eyes. The shadows swiftly dissipated, leaving the ex-Pharaoh somewhat drained, as they tended to do these days now that he didn't have the Puzzle anymore. "Seto, will you listen to me, please?"
"Hn." The brunet turned his head and attempted to spin his office chair back to its previous position, but Yami grabbed the armrests and held on tight.
"Please?"
Blue eyes met frustrated but patient crimson and Seto nodded once. "Fine. Say whatever it is you have to say. Then get out of my office."
"Seto…" Yami let out a low, low sigh. "Shadow Magic is real. You've seen it yourself – you saw it not two minutes ago. I know you believe in it and you're just angry that it was used against you. I'm sorry that happened, but I'll never be sorry for what came out of it. You told me you loved me… and it felt right. When we were together… it was so good… I don't want to lose that. I guess… I guess what I'm trying to say is, will you give me another chance? Please?"
He had leaned closer as he spoke, tilting his face until it was mere inches from Seto's, until he could feel the other's warm breath against his lips. "Give us another chance," Yami murmured.
Seto raised his chin, merely a hair's breadth from Yami's now, and a dry smirk spread across his features.
"No."
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When Yugi just stared at him open-mouthed and didn't answer Bakura snorted and tugged on Malik's arm. "Come on, Blondie, let's go to my room and leave those two alone." He leered suggestively and for a moment Malik was tempted to laugh, but he quickly stifled the urge and wrenched his arm from Bakura's.
"I don't think so. I'm still mad at you, you know," the blond sniffed.
"Argh! Goddammit why?" Bakura whined and tried to slip his arm back around Malik's waist, but the other slapped it away and moved over to sit in an armchair beside the couch.
"Kura…" he sighed. "We have a lot to talk about if we're really going to make this work." He glanced over at the two seated on the couch. "Maybe we should discuss some things now, while Yugi and Ryou are here to mediate."
Yugi's eyes, already abnormally large, threatened to pop out of his head and Ryou covered a smile. Bakura merely rolled his eyes and plopped down on the arm of Malik's chair, wrapping his arm around the Egyptian's shoulders. "Fine, whatever," he agreed. "Make it quick, though."
Bakura's hand made its way underneath Malik's shirt and Malik shoved him away, flushing. "You go sit over there!" He pointed to the couch and Bakura made a face but stomped across the room, yanking on Yugi's arm and tossing him to the floor so he could sit by Ryou.
"Hey!" Yugi squeaked, but at Bakura's glare quickly scrambled to sit on the floor on the other side of Ryou.
"What's going on here, Bakura?" Ryou asked. He sounded like he was trying not to laugh.
The tomb robber crossed his arms across his chest and scowled, glaring at a random point on the rug. "Blondie's decided he wants to break up with me."
"We're not breaking up, Bakura," Malik sighed, rubbing his face in a frustrated sort of way.
"Whoa, since when were they even together?" Yugi asked Ryou in a loud whisper.
"I don't know, a while I think," Ryou shrugged. "But um… I thought it was more of a… ah… physical type thing."
"That's exactly it!" Malik sat up straight and pointed accusingly at Bakura. "You have to realize there's more to a relationship than fooling around! You've sent so many mixed signals I don't know what to think."
"What, you want me to spout lame-ass poetry like Kaiba and the Pharaoh? What the hell do you expect from me, Blondie?"
"Yami and Kaiba?" Yugi gasped, once again turning wide eyes to Ryou.
"I'll explain later," his friend whispered back, smiling down at him.
"I just want to not have to wonder about how you feel about me! And maybe go on a date sometimes, or something…" A painful lump rose in the back of Malik's throat and he had to look away.
"You know how I feel about you," Bakura responded quietly, after giving Yugi and Ryou a death glare to make sure they were properly intimidated. Then he sat silently for a moment, appearing to think. "Hey Malik?"
"Yeah?" the other croaked. Then, clearing his throat, he repeated, "Yeah?"
"If I…" the thief stared at him intensely, seeming to have trouble getting the words out the way he wanted. "If… If I agree to do all that… couples stuff… can we have sex?"
Despite himself, Malik laughed. "I don't see why not."
"Great! Let's go." Bakura jumped up and was across the room in a flash, dragging Malik by the wrist in the direction of his bedroom.
Ryou winced at the sound of a door slamming followed by a series of muffled thumps and a distinctive moan. "Ugh. You want to get out of here?"
Yugi's face was as white as a sheet and his eyes bulged frighteningly. "Please."
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"No?" Yami let go of the chair's armrests and took a step backward in surprise. "But… you said a week ago that…"
"Maybe I changed my mind," Seto snapped, finally rising to his feet so he could stare down at the other with the full advantage of his impressive height. "You apparently did, so why can't I?"
"It's not the same!" Yami protested. "You can't just stop loving someone just like that!"
"Oh, but you can start, 'just like that?' Not a very strong argument for the King of Games. Your manipulative tricks are falling rather short this time," Seto spat.
Yami's eyes narrowed. "How long have you loved me, Seto?"
"I hardly think that—"
"How long?"
"I don't know."
"Seto…"
"I don't know! Okay? I don't know." The CEO turned his head and ran a hand through his hair, and just like that Yami had the upper hand again. "Maybe the first time I met you. It's hard to put my finger on it."
Yami reached out and gently touched the other's arm, smiling when Seto didn't immediately jerk away. "And you're saying that because I rejected you all those feelings just vanished? Like they were never there?"
At that Seto did yank his arm away, taking several steps backward to step out of range of the other's touch. "You did not reject me! I rejected you! Who's the one following the other around begging him to take him back, you tell me that!"
"You can be nasty all you want Kaiba, it won't scare me away," Yami retorted, closing in on the other so that he stood close enough to smell the brunet's cologne. "You know what I think? I think for someone so proud you're acting a lot like a coward."
"What!"
"Think about it, Kaiba. You've liked me for how long? Years, maybe? But you never said anything… Heck, you never even flirted with me, until I came up here and made a complete fool of myself with some over-the-top love confession. There was no way you would've been rejected. And then you admitted how you felt about me. Admit it, you were scared."
"I was not!"
"It's true. You were afraid, paranoid, terrified, take your pick. The only time you would put yourself in a vulnerable position was when I was even more vulnerable than you… when you had a 100 percent guarantee that you had nothing to lose. And now when I come back, not saying I'm in love with you but asking for you to give this a chance, you do everything you can to push me away, in some kind of screwed-up power play. What is it with you trying to have the advantage all the time?"
"Yami," Seto growled warningly, but the other merely waved him off and continued with his monologue.
"No, I mean it! You've really taken this thing with trying to beat me too far. Do you realize you never kissed me once, even when I was throwing myself all over you? It was always me kissing you first – you wouldn't take the chance, even then. You're obsessed with having the upper hand. Are relationships too much for you? Is it too much for you to—"
His tirade ended there, as Yami found himself pleasantly distracted by the feeling of Seto's warm lips against his own.
A/n: And that's the end... Well, unless I decide to add an epilogue, which I may. Thanks to everyone who's read and reviewed this so far, and thanks to my wifey who always likes everything I write, lol. I love you Rekall! - kisses -