Yami was grinning ear to ear as he and Seto walked back to the dorm rooms, hand in hand. He couldn't help but think how sweet it was of him to blow off his previous engagement to make sure that he got home safely, leaving Bakura and Seth behind to glare at each other and trade insults.

He gave Seto's hand a gentle squeeze as they stopped in front of his door. "Would you like to come in for a bit? Atemu's probably still out on his date."

The taller male leaned forward, lips barely touching the other's, his heated breath teasing Yami's senses. "So….we'd be alone?"

Mentally melting into a pile of goo under the intense gaze of those beautiful icy blue eyes, Yami could only nod dumbly until those luscious lips captured his. It was brief but powerful and Yami's mental state was no better off afterwards than it was before.

Eyes closed, Yami just stood there, lost entirely in the moment. He just couldn't believe his luck. When he and his brother had applied for a school in America, all they wanted was a chance at a good education and to get away from their life. But he had gotten more.

Not only was he at a good school with his twin, but he had made some wonderful friends and attracted the attention of a sexy sophomore…one he was easily falling for.

"Ahem."

Yami blinked. "Huh?"

"Do you still want me to come inside?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Just wondering since you've been standing in front of your door with your eyes closed and a goofy grin on your face for the past five minutes. Of course, I always knew I was a good kisser."

Yami flushed, embarrassed, and Seto just flashed him that sexy smirk of his. His brother was right; he did act like a girl. Oh well, he mentally shrugged; he supposed someone had to play the part. Pulling his keys out of his pocket, he unlocked the door and stepped inside, allowing Seto to close it behind them.

Firm hands grasped his hips, pulling Yami's body flush against Seto while those wonderful, sinful lips descended on his neck, sending tiny shivers down his body.

"Mmmm."

"So, what did you have in mind since we're alone?"

"You're not getting your shriveled-up dick anywhere near my brother."

Yami jumped in Seto's arms when he heard Atemu's voice. Opening his eyes his spotted his twin sitting on his bed with his knees drawn up to his chest, dressed in his normal sleeping attire of a pair of cloth shorts and nothing else. But what startled him the most was Atemu's eyes; they were duller than anything Yami could remember, even if they were narrowed in threat.

Seto growled, his own eyes narrowing in return at the challenge. "So the whore got rejected and figures others can't get any either?"

"Seto!" Yami gasped, wide eyed, wiggling free of his arms just in time to stop his brother – who had lunged off the bed - from tackling the older male. "Atemu!"

With a smug smirk, Seto crossed his arms over his chest, watching with amusement as Yami tried desperately to hold his twin back. "Truth hurts doesn't it?"

"¡Jodete y aprieta el culo!"

Frowning at both of them, Yami couldn't help but ignore Seto and concentrate on his twin. Where the hell was all this coming from? Sure Seto had called his brother a name but usually Atemu just brushed things like that off, never once rushing into a fight. And even though he was supposed to be with Seto right now, his brother was more important.

Holding back a gasp as Atemu pulled out of his hold and sank back down on the bed, Yami bit his lip and turned back to his boyfriend. "I think you'd better leave."

Seto gritted his teeth, not liking the fact that Yami was choosing that little punk-whore over him, but he also knew that he would blow it with the Latino if he voiced his opinion right now. "Fine, but we are still going out next week."

"Of course," Yami replied with a smile and a quick kiss to the other's cheek.

Once Seto was gone, Yami turned back around to find his brother lying on his side, his face towards the wall. With a frown and eyes full of concern, Yami carefully walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge. He was just opening his mouth when Atemu's slightly muffled voice stopped him.

"I'm sorry."

Dark eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "If you are talking about trying to kill Seto, then I forgive you. After all, he did say something nasty to you. I'll have to talk to him tomorrow."

"Why? He was only stating the…."

"Don't you dare finish that sentence Atemu!" Yami fumed, glaring at his brother's exposed back. "You and I may have different lifestyles, but you are not…not…that."

"Whatever."

The younger twin sighed. Atemu was in one of his moods and nothing Yami said would bring him out of it until he was ready. Knowing this, he chose to change the subject. "So how was your date?"

"Fine, but you were wrong. He doesn't like me, he likes Bakura."

Yami blinked, confused but rerunning the conversation he and Malik had had a week ago in his mind. "Oh," he replied sheepishly. "Guess I read that wrong."

"Yeah."

Getting up from the bed, Yami began to get undressed. "So what are you going to do?"

"Nothing to do. I told him to go after what he wanted."

After slipping into a pair of shorts much like the ones Atemu was in now, Yami made his way over to his brother's bed, placed a knee one the mattress, leaned over and gave his brother a kiss on the temple. "I'm sorry," he murmured. And he was; he knew how much Atemu was suffering inwardly right now.

Drawing back to get off the bed, Yami was startled when a hand reached out and grabbed his wrist. Looking up, he was drawn into pleading crimson eyes.

"Don't leave."

Without a second thought, Yami pulled the covers back and slid into the bed allowing Atemu to turn over and lay his head on his chest. Running a slim hand through silky locks much like his own, Yami felt Atemu relax against him.

"Never."

When Sunday morning dawned, the sun was shining, the birds were singing, hung-over college co-eds were panicking and sneaking away from the previous night's mistakes, and Malik Ishtahl was happy. In fact, the spicy little Southern freshman was more than happy, because he had a goal. An achievable goal, now that Atemu had given him the go-ahead to seduce Bakura. And Malik absolutely loved these types of situations, because when he was determined enough, he always, always got his way. It was simply a matter of proper planning and strategy.

Step 1: Get him alone.

"This had better be good. It's too damn early to wake me up."

Malik rolled his eyes at the other's rude answer, but grinned into the telephone anyway. "Hiii Kura! This is Malik."

"No kidding. There's this nifty little invention called Caller ID these days, you know."

Malik simply laughed again. "Right. Anyway, I was just calling to see if you would want to come over."

"Why the hell would I want to do that?"

"Because we're friends, silly! And I made some printouts of those photos from the twins' date. I thought you might want to look at them."

"Oh." Bakura paused for a minute. "Yeah, okay."

"Great! Can you be here in half an hour?"

"Hn."

Malik decided to take the noncommittal grunt as a yes. "Great!" he said again. "Bye, Kura!"

"Hmph. Don't call me Kura." And the other hung up.

Step 2: Secure his attention.

A rather surly-sounding knock at his door sent Malik scurrying from the bathroom to answer it. "Coming, Kura! I'm coming!" The blond hurried to the door to reveal his white-haired friend, dressed in khakis and a long-sleeved black concert t-shirt, leaning against the doorframe.

"Took you long enough," Bakura groused, pushing past him into the room. "Now hurry up and show me those pictures so… I… can…" When the sophomore finally got a good look at Malik he trailed off, gaping for a second, until the surprised expression on his face morphed into a shameless leer. "Damn Bubbles, if I'd known you'd be wearing that I'd have moved a little faster."

Malik rolled his eyes, feigning exasperation, though inwardly he smirked. He had counted on Bakura's tendency to flirt with his friends; it was all part of the ultimate plan of seduction, of course, and it made his task a whole lot easier in the end. Finding something to wear that would snag Bakura's attention had been fairly easy; he just chose a snug little white t-shirt and his absolute shortest pair of navy blue bicycle shorts, slit even higher on the sides of his thighs. The blond had also liberally coated his skin with glittery lotion, so his meticulously tanned skin would glow even more.

"What?" Malik asked, blinking innocently. "I'm fixing to go to the gym."

Bakura just stared at him a moment longer, craning his neck obviously to check out the other's behind before shaking his head and grinning. "Bubbles," he sighed, and opened his mouth to say something else before changing his mind and just shaking his head again.

Malik grinned.

Step 3: Feed him.

Old axioms weren't always false, as Malik had decided, in particular the saying about the way to a man's heart being through his stomach. Fifteen minutes after Bakura's arrival, he and Malik were lounging together on the futon, Malik's head resting cozily against the other's shoulder as he flipped through the photos of their friends' humiliating double date, enlarged and Photoshopped into excruciatingly painful detail.

"Hah! Look at Kaiba's face! Man, this is such great blackmail material," Bakura chuckled.

Malik yawned. "You already said that," he pointed out, grinning up at his human headrest. Bakura started to make a scathing reply but the phone ringing cut him off. Malik leaned over the edge of the futon to answer it, his butt waving in the air as he talked, directly in Bakura's line of sight. "Uh-huh. Ok, great. Yeah. Thank you." He hung up and glanced over his shoulder at Bakura – who quickly looked away, attempting an innocent expression.

The blond hid a smirk. "That was the pizza guy, I figured you'd be hungry so I ordered one before you got here. I have to go meet him at the dorm entrance but I'll be right back."

Bakura merely nodded, pretending to be shuffling through the pictures, though he surreptitiously watched Malik as he leaned over again to dig through his wallet. "What kind did you get?" the sophomore asked.

"Well, I don't eat meat so half is just cheese, but your half is Meat Lover's."

Bakura looked up in surprise, brown eyes meeting violet and holding their gaze. "That's my favorite," he said.

Malik smiled. "I figured."

Step 4: Engage "innocent" physical contact.

The pictures were gone and so was the pizza, save for a few crusts and half-eaten greasy slices that lay in the open box on Malik's bed. But the futon was still occupied, half of it anyhow, by a white-haired young man lazily watching television and his blond friend happily curled up against his side. Malik had his legs curled up underneath him and both arms cozily entwined with one of Bakura's, his head resting on the sophomore's shoulder. Bakura occasionally cast him a few quizzical glances but had yet to comment on their position.

The two continued watching TV in this position for a few minutes, until, with a subtle glance to make sure Bakura was engrossed in the program, Malik let his fingers slide gently up and down the other's arm, stroking it with a slow, seductive motion. He immediately felt the arm stiffen.

"Kura?" he questioned.

"Get off me, my arm is falling asleep," Bakura replied curtly.

"Oh…" Malik sat up, untangling himself from the other's arm, and moved a respectable distance away.

But of course he would never give up that easily.

A couple of minutes later, the blond freshman began inching closer to his friend once again. Soon their shoulders were touching, then their elbows, then their thighs; and as soon as he felt the warmth of Bakura's body all against his side Malik leaned against him, gently.

Bakura absently lifted his arm and wrapped it around Malik, letting the other snuggle against his side.

Resisting the urge to whoop in joy, Malik jumped at the offer immediately, nuzzling his cheek into Bakura's chest and slipping an arm across his stomach, long tanned fingers tracing idle patterns atop the fabric. It was then Bakura finally seemed to notice what was happening, and the older male looked down at Malik with a raised eyebrow.

"Care to tell me what the hell you're doing, Bubbles?"

Step 5: Honesty is the best policy.

Instead of answering right away, Malik leaned up and pressed his lips against the bare skin of Bakura's neck, kissing and licking and nipping the sensitive skin until he heard the other's breath hitch in pleasure. "I'm seducing you," Malik murmured.

Bakura was silent for a moment until he chuckled, his arms sliding from Malik's shoulders to cup the nape of his neck under Malik's long blond hair and hold him still. Dipping his head down so he met the other's eyes, Bakura grinned. "That's the best news I've heard all day." With that he pressed his lips against Malik's, kissing him forcefully, but just when Bakura was ready to add a little tongue into the mix Malik pulled away, shaking his head.

"Uh-uh. It doesn't work like that with me. You have to date me first."

"But…"

Malik shook his head.

"Come on Bubbles," Bakura tried again.

"Nope, sorry." He settled back down against Bakura's side, snuggling into the other's chest and turning his attention back to the television. After a moment he felt fingers trailing through his hair.

"Damn you, Bubbles," Bakura muttered. "Fine. Saturday, then."

"We're going on a date?"

"Yeah."

Step 6: Gloat.

A puffed-up kernel of corm sailed through the air in a wild arc before bouncing off harmlessly the TV only to land in the ever growing pile below it. Draped bonelessly on his bed in nothing but a pair of cotton shorts, Atemu reached into the white plastic bowl and pulled out another piece of popcorn, this time placing it in his mouth.

He sighed. It was Saturday night and that bastard had already come and taken his brother out on some lavish date, and Malik and Bakura were off doing God knows what, while he… he was sitting in his dorm – alone – watching borrowed DVDs of Dr. Quinn.

Pathetic.

Another piece of popcorn flew through the air, landing perfectly on the top of the TV and causing him to snort. Maybe he shouldn't have told Malik to go after Kura. If he kept his mouth shut then it would be him and the sophomore off fucking or something, instead of Atemu watching a female doctor perform some unsanitary surgery on some old coot who didn't even want it in the first place.

How the mighty have fallen.

And he really should have put up more of a fuss when his brother had left him to go out with that pompous jerk. Seto wasn't good enough for his twin - at least in Atemu's opinion anyway. There was just something about him that caused Atemu to be on alert whenever he was around Yami. And it didn't help that ever since those two had hooked up that his brother was becoming more… independent of him.

He loved Yami with all his heart and wanted him to be happy - hell he had spent his entire life making sure the other was happy - but now it seemed someone else was taking care of that. So where did that leave him?

Alone, utterly alone.

Grabbing a handful of popcorn, Atemu shoved it in his mouth, not caring about the mess he was making, as he munched it with a scowl on his face. He mentally sighed when he reached his hand into the bowl again and realized there was nothing left but un-popped kernels. With a huff, he lifted himself off his bed and grabbed the bowl. Might as well make some more; he had another ten DVDs to go.

"Alright! I'm coming! Hold your horses!"

Seth grunted as he was pulled from his studying to answer the annoying ring his phone had failed to stop emitting. Pushing himself up from the couch, he walked over to the TV and grabbed the phone that lay on top.

"Hello?"

"Where's your brother?"

Sneering, Seth narrowed his eyes. "Well hello to you too Pops," he replied sarcastically, his fingers gripping the phone a bit harder than they needed to.

"Don't take that tone with me young man."

Rolling his eyes, Seth sat back down on the couch and propped his feet up on the coffee table. Ok, so it was childish of him even if his bastard of a father couldn't see him but damn the rebellious streak was hard to break. "Seto's not here."

"Oh? I bet he's at the library studying then. He was always the more ambitious one of the two of you."

He chose to ignore that last part. "No, he's on a date. And, I have no idea when's he's coming back. So, I'll be delighted to give him the message that you're looking for him."

"Date huh?" Seth could just see the glimmer of pride in his father's eyes – made him sick to his stomach. "Good. About time he found himself a nice Southern girl to settle down with."

Oh God it was so tempting to burst his dad's bubble right now. It would be like Christmas, good sex and home cooking all in one to tell Gozaburo that his favorite son was not only gay but dating a foreigner too. But he wouldn't. That would be something Seto would have to break to the dear old man. Seth could only pray that he would be around when it happened and that it gave the bastard a heart attack.

Sometimes he hated being the nicer twin.

"Well, I guess I'll just have to tell you then. I need you to find your brother and tell him that he'll have to cut his date short and both of you come home as soon as possible."

Seth narrowed his eyes, "Why?"

"Your mother wants the two of you to go to church with us tomorrow morning. She feels like you've both been neglecting your faith and are on the downward spiral to hell."

Too late for that. He'd been in hell since the day he was born.

"And then she wants us to have a sit down family lunch together that she's prepared."

Seth snorted in amusement. "Oh? You mean you hired her to work in the kitchens? Father! I didn't know you liked to bed common blue-collar women."

"You have a smart mouth on you boy."

"It's a gift. Wonderful ain't it?"

"Why couldn't you be more like your brother? Twins! Twin boys, everything a man dreams of…" Must bite tongue. Must not tell Dad that he just sounded like a homosexual pedophile. "….two to raise to be proper Southern business men and to carry on the Kaiba name…" Main reason for being gay, don't want to curse anyone else. "…..and I had to be stuck with a son who talks, acts and thinks like trash and…"

Seth sighed, feeling a headache coming on from all the crap floating through the phone lines. How the hell did Seto put up with this?

"Listen Dad," he interrupted, "I'll be sure to tell the perfect son that he can't fuck his nice Southern girl tonight so he can hurry home and fall on his knees and repent in church tomorrow for letting his tiny dick rule his thoughts." He smirked when a snarl was heard, "Bye Dad!"

After hanging up the phone, he tossed it on the floor, pouting when it didn't accidentally break. Damn he hated that man more than anything and to know that Seto was slowly turning into him churned his stomach worse than rotten sour kraut. Speaking of his little brother, he guessed he'd better start tracking him down. God knew neither one of them really wanted to miss lunch at the Kaiba Plantation.

"Tea, please."

"Same for me, thanks." The younger Mutou twin smiled at the waiter and ran his hands slightly awkwardly over the ribbed fabric of his brown corduroys as he sat down across from Seto. "Our second date, huh?" he added in the direction of the brunet.

Seto grinned winningly and held Yami's gaze until the other grew flustered and stared down at his menu. Their second date indeed – and without any twin brothers, thank every deity real or imagined – and Yami looked incredible for the occasion. Now that the weather had turned slightly cooler, Yami wore long sleeves; though Seto wasn't sure they counted for much, since the sleeves were completely sheer. Well, technically the whole thing was sheer – not that Seto was complaining, however – a sheer black button-up shirt over a tiny, skin-tight black tank top. Add a black belt, brown corduroys that hung low on his hips, and dark brown suede boots, and Yami looked like a model straight from GQ. Well, a model maybe, but definitely not "straight" in any sense of the word.

Not that Seto was complaining about that either.

However, the brunet mused as he peered over his menu at his date, Seto's queer little model didn't seem too happy this evening. His brilliant crimson eyes looked clouded and dull, and a tiny frown hovered around Yami's lips. Seto had a feeling the expression had something to do with a certain brother of Yami's that had eyed him less than amicably when he'd gone to pick up Yami at the dorm, muttering things about Seto in Spanish that the brunet wasn't sure he wanted to understand.

Obviously, if this date was going to proceed to his benefit, Seto would have to do something about it, regardless of how much it annoyed him to do it. He put down the menu and folded his hands on the table. "Yami."

"Hmm?" The other looked up at Seto questioningly, one eyebrow quirked in an adorably curious fashion.

"I want to apologize for what I said to Atemu before; the night I walked you home from the coffee shop, I mean. He's your family, and I hurt both of you by acting like I did. I'm sorry."

Seto expected – or maybe just hoped – for Yami to forgive him, smile in that beautiful way of his that showed off his perfect, white teeth and lit up his entire perfect face, but he didn't. Instead Yami sighed and set his own menu down on the table, not meeting Seto's eyes. "Seto, there are a lot of things that you don't understand about Atemu. I know you didn't realize it, but what you said to him was probably the worst possible thing anyone could say. After you left he was…" Yami bit his lip, shaking his head, and sighed again.

"He was what?" Seto prodded, his interest piqued. "Yami?"

Ruby eyes met ocean blue for a brief moment before they glanced away again. "Atemu would be furious if he knew I told you this," Yami began hesitantly, "but if you're going to date me you'd have to find out eventually anyway. Our parents…"

Yami took a deep, shuddering breath and Seto noticed the shine of repressed tears in his eyes before Yami resolutely turned his head away again. Seto wished he could grab the other's hand, but Yami's hands were too busy twisting nervously in his lap. "Atemu and I… we were a mistake."

"What! Why on earth—"

"Don't, Seto." Yami shook his head, giving him a faint smile. "We were, at least as far as our parents were concerned. They were scientists, you know, volcanologists from Japan, and they moved to Costa Rica to do their research. And they loved their jobs… oh, did they love their jobs. There wasn't time, much less desire, in their schedules for a pair of twin boys. We were a mistake, an accident, a flaw of contraception."

"Yami…"

"Of course they never told us that, not outright anyway. It was more neglect, not even abusive neglectfulness, just forgetfulness. They were never really around. Atemu – even though he's like, twenty minutes older than me – was more like a parent; father, mother, big brother all in one. He always looked out for me.

"It wasn't always like that, though, and maybe that's the worst part. When I was born I was a sick baby; underweight, allergic to everything, just unhealthy in general; and even though my parents never really wanted a child, much less twins, even they couldn't ignore a sickly newborn. They fawned over me for the first few years, pampering me and nursing me and basically leaving Atemu to fend for himself, since he was the 'healthy' child. Then, when we were maybe six or seven, they started paying less and less attention to the both of us and focusing on their real passion again, their research. Atemu sort of took over raising me then."

"I see," Seto said neutrally. He wasn't sure what else to say; he felt bad that Yami had had to suffer, of course – anything that kept that sexy smile from Yami's face was just plain wrong, as far as he was concerned – but a screwed-up childhood was really nothing to be traumatized about. Look and his and Seth's. You didn't see Seto complaining – well, maybe plotting to overtake his father's company and leave the man humiliated and crying in the dirt, but still.

Yami gave the brunet a quavering smile, which the other returned easily. "Sorry to be so depressing on our date, but I really want you and my brother to get along," Yami sighed. "The thing you have to understand about Atemu is… he doesn't understand love. Not really. Probably the only person who's ever truly loved him is me, and I know I'm the only one he's ever really cared about. It's… he's love-starved, I guess that's the only way to say it; he doesn't understand relationships but he wants one so badly… And then he ends up with one-night stands, or sleeping with friends like he did with Bakura, because he honestly doesn't think anyone would want to be around him for any reason other than his body."

Seto stared at the other teen, who still resolutely refused to meet his gaze and watched the food stain on the restaurant carpet instead. Tears hung thickly behind those alluring eyes, and Seto felt a painful twinge somewhere deep in his chest. His mouth opened before he realized it and he murmured, "You have to admit, it is a very nice body, though."

That got the other to look at him, the smaller male's eyebrows furrowed in shock and indignation, until Seto's eyes roved pointedly over Yami's slender frame and gave him a wink. Then, miraculously, Yami's face cleared and the worry rolled away; and he laughed. "Seto!" he chided. But he smiled anyway, obviously feeling better than when they arrived.

And, for reasons he wasn't sure he could explain, Seto felt the same.