A/N: So, as you all heard, two computers fried with a month between. . In fact, I was writing a new chapter when the first one crashed and repeated the whole episode. My, was I mad. But when my second computer died, enraged and shocked would not begin to describe my facial expressions. XP
Also, it is dangerous to do tumbling on hardwood floor, so forgive me. What I had imagined was just a few walkovers, if not a back-handspring of sorts. However, it would contradict the entire Cirque du Soliel quality, so pay no mind. Thanks, muffinsnail.
Incest is most definitely being considered. Las Vegas is Sin City, after all. For, RyouN'BakuraRockz21. Anyone who is against it, speak now or forever hold your peace – 'cause I'm planning something risque!
Whatever Happens Here, Stays Here
Chapter 4: Let's Play.
by LilPurplFlwr
Sometimes, Atemu could recall what sanity was. Nowadays, he seemed to rather lack any sensible thought. As he slid into a seat at the Black Jack table, he shared a tactful smirk with the ever-on-task Mai Kujaku, who, for a strange reason, was not working at the poker tables.
As he placed a fifty-dollar chip before him, Atemu's mind shifted again, a slight frown residing on his usually calm features. He absently picked up the two cards set for him, an Ace of Spades and King of Hearts flashing mockingly in front of his eyes. He automatically waved away any offered cards.
Why, of all the things, would he find himself preoccupied with the image of Seto Kaiba?
"Sir," the blond dealer asked with a tint of amusement in her business-like voice, "Would you mind divulging your cards?"
Atemu looked up, shaken from his reverie, and noticed everyone's open hand sprawled across the green felt of the table.
"Oh..." He lay down his two cards, a troubled look flashing in his eyes as his mind kept running through each detail. Bright blue eyes, Atemu argued with himself as he tried to imagine the brunette without the white glare of the laptop screen, all the while ignoring the new money he had just gained. This is really annoying, Atemu finally decided, turning his attention to the game.
Mai was glad when she saw the decisive flick of the young man's head, as if a toss of bangs would erase his problems.
"Back in the game, dear?" she asked mischievously.
"When was I out of it?" Atemu shot back with a raised eyebrow, shocking the other players and gathering spectators as he tossed an additive of cards that equaled twenty on the table, beating the dealer's own count of eighteen.
-
"Always the workaholic, I see."
Seto looked up from his laptop, still seated in the corner of the restaurant. His secretary Kisara pushed back her light blue strands behind her ear. He returned his steady gaze to the computer screen. His fingers flew over the keyboard; it was obvious to Kisara that he was entering a password.
"I wouldn't call this work. Sit," the CEO muttered, nodding to the extra space next to him.
The woman frowned suspiciously as she took the seat, "Not work?" She took a moment to decide upon a hypothesis, "Pornography?"
Seto glared at her from his peripheral view, "I forbid you to contact Mokuba ever."
"He's my second boss, after all," Kisara replied evenly, with a small smile.
She received an irritated sigh. Seeing as she was about to experience the infamous Kaiba wrath, Kisara shrugged and leaned toward the screen. "Is something wrong?"
"I'm checking our members."
Kisara could not resist the urge, and whispered, "I think that counts as work, Kaiba-sama."
"No. I'm checking for a man named Yami."
"I won't ask why, but, again, is something wrong?"
"He had a platinum card, but he isn't listed," Seto stated carefully, his eyes still scanning the search results.
The secretary's dark ocean-blue eyes flashed with realization, "We're dealing with forgery?"
"You know, come to think of it, you're an exact copy of your brother," Malik mused, brushing back a wisp of Ryou's snowy strands, his hand lingering behind the other's ear.
Ryou shifted uncomfortably when he became conscious of Malik's casual hold on his shoulder.
"You know... I can't help but wonder," Malik's voice dropped in volume, and leaned closer to Ryou. Ryou inclined his head instinctively to hear, but instantly regretted it. "--if you taste like Bakura, too."
"W-what?"
The hand upon his shoulder tightened, pulling Ryou inward to close the space between them. Malik gave a predator-like smirk at Ryou's disorientated expression. Taking advantage of the momentary hesitation, he bent down to press their mouths together, ignoring an extraneous slam of a door in the background.
He was yanked backwards violently, and shoved onto his ass after receiving a fist in his jaw.
"You fucking bastard!" came an awfully familiar—and pissed off-- voice from above him.
"'Kura!"
Wincing, Malik opened his eyes to find Ryou hugging Bakura for all that he was worth.
"Idiot! What are you doing here?" Bakura asked, narrowing his eyes at his little brother, as he embraced Ryou even closer, planting a soft kiss on the other's face.
"I missed you." The smaller of the two buried his face into the other's neck, successfully muffling his next sentences.
A hand dropped onto Malik's head nonchalantly, and the Egyptian found his older twin squatting next to him with amusement written all over his face. "That was interesting."
"... Ow," Malik only replied, staying seated on the floor, his hand touching his face, "You could have stopped me, you know."
"I could have," Mariku said with a small smile and an indifferent shrug, "But what fun would that be?"
Malik made a disgusted noise, getting angrier by the second as he rubbed the forming bruise on his chin. He turned to Bakura, ready to unleash a full stream of cursing, but ended up childishly staring in awe at the scene.
Ryou, needing several inches more to equal his older brother's height, stood on tiptoes, his balance held by Bakura who had his arms around the younger one's waist. The seventeen-year-old was whispering into Bakura's ear. The two were pressed together in their own world.
"Mariku," Malik reached over to pull on the corner of his twin's shirt, his mouth in a full pout.
"Hmm?"
"Why can't we be like that?" Malik asked innocently, pointing to Bakura and Ryou.
"Because we don't love each other."
"Oh, right," Malik's eyes narrowed, "I guess I forgot between the copious amounts of sex."
"Your vocabulary is expanding."
"Shut up."
Bakura laughed softly at something Ryou said, and hugging his little brother one last time, released him and turned to his friends.
"I don't know whether I should castrate you or kill you," Bakura finally stated, giving Malik a dark look.
"Kill me. I need my penis to have sex in the afterlife," Malik answered lewdly, "Or when I come back to haunt you guys."
Ryou slowly turned rose. With another angry glare, Bakura took Ryou's hand in his, pulling him towards the casino and away from the seated blonde.
Seeing as Bakura still had work and Ryou was a tad too young (four years!) to be wandering around the casino, they had a dilemma on their hands. There was no chance that Bakura would leave his little brother alone with the others, and the Black Jack dealer would very much like to be within hearing range of his sibling.
"... I just hope Jou will do me a favor," Bakura finally concluded.
"After what we did?" Ryou heard Malik mutter.
No matter how many times Mai watched, she decided she would never be able to understand how this young man was playing. There was a saying for Atemu's sheer good fortune – Lady Luck smiled on you or something in those lines. However, instead of smiling, it seemed that Lady Luck gave birth of him.
"I should turn in for tonight," Atemu decided out loud. Bracing himself on the edge of the table, Atemu made to stand up, but found himself unable to with the crowd that had gathered around him. "Excuse me, please," Atemu picked up the small stack of his winning chips, when a new, unfamiliar figure slid into the vacated seat beside him.
"Leaving so soon?"
Atemu turned sharply, knowing the chances of being confronted by the city's mafia. The crowd had distanced itself from the table by a good few feet. Thrown off by the strange behavior, Atemu was pulled back into taking his seat by a firm hand.
Annoyed, Atemu glared at the perpetrator. It was just his luck, his god-awful fortune, to find the one and only Seto Kaiba perched indifferently on the stool next to him.
"Yes, I was leaving," Atemu replied cautiously, his eyes studying the man next to him, who had dark-brown hair that nearly fell into deep pools of cobalt blue eyes, an infuriating smirk on sensual lips, and tempting tanned skin that peeked from the top of his dress-shirt – tie loosened. It was rather disturbing how attractive the CEO was up close. "And you are?" Atemu feigned a clueless look.
"Kaiba, and you?"
Noisy conversation passed through the crowd around them, the infamous name confirming the handsome face.
"Yami."
Seto matched the other's scrutiny with his own study, detail to detail. Golden blond bangs framed a sharp-featured face, spiked red-highlighted black hair at wild angles brought out darkened crimson eyes lined with... kohl, was it? Yami, as he said his name was, had on a simple black choker, T-shirt, and (with the help of a double take) leather pants. If Seto did not have better faith in his casino, he might have taken the younger man for a prostitute.
"Well, Yami, why don't you stay." It was more a statement than a question, "Let's play."
Atemu narrowed his eyes suspiciously, one hand fingering a hundred-dollar chip, "Why, Kaiba?"
A lovely long-haired woman in normal company attire brought over a stack of chips for her employer. The brunette nodded his acknowledgement.
Seto rested his elbow on the table surface, having rolled up his sleeves, and stared into stony ruby eyes, challenging the other's reputation, "I've heard interesting stories about you, Yami."
The younger man's attention was caught, but he would not let his guard fall, "Oh? Well, I haven't heard a thing about you. Who is that with you?" He nodded toward the woman standing right behind the brunette.
"Secretary."
"Secretary," Atemu repeated, and as if recognition had hit him, his eyes lit up and he rested his chin upon his hand, "You wouldn't be the famous Seto Kaiba I've been hearing so much about, have you?"
"Maybe I would be."
"In that case, let's play."
"Can I help you?" Katsuya asked hurriedly, not bothering to look up as he mixed drinks.
"Sort of."
With a groan of disbelief, the bartender arranged seven glasses and five martinis on a serving tray, which was promptly whisked away, and started to work on a second waitress's orders.
"Otogi," Katsuya finally bit out, between digging for a 1924 wine bottle and washing out a shaker, "Aren't you supposed to be working?"
"Jou, really," the dealer replied with a smile, "You are the most uptight person I know."
"Yeah, well," Katsuya strained with the metal contraption, "Sexual frustration and all," he joked as he attempted to yank the cork out of the bottle.
"Honey, can you hurry it up?" the waitress coaxed.
"Agh," the blonde grunted to himself, "You stupid fucking bastard..." The cork was not coming out.
With a sigh, Otogi walked behind the counter, "I know you need help when you start talking to inanimate objects."
"You don't have a license," Katsuya argued, having shoved the hateful bottle away to work on something else and ended up spilling the soda across the counter due to unsteady hands, "Aw, fuck!" He switched back to pulling at the cork.
"Hmm... I'll settle for a motivational speech then," Otogi took a damp rag and wiped the puddle of liquid from the counter. "Work faster or I'll rape you."
"Excuse me?" The bottle came undone with a slow, but sudden, pop. "Wait, no, never mind. I don't want to know. Here." The wine was handed to Otogi, along with a champagne bottle. "I want this in these two glasses," they were placed in front of the dealer, "I want this," a quick gesture to the foamy champagne, "- in these flutes," three barely differentiated glasses was set alongside the thin-stemmed wine glasses.
"Right... "
"Can you also fill four of these with ice?"
"Yes, boss."
"And be quiet while you're at it."
"No can do."
"It was worth a shot," Katsuya shrugged, and began to mix a martini, "Why the hell does everyone want a drink tonight?"
"You know that kid?"
"Yami, Yami, Yami," the blonde reiterated with a roll of his eyes, "I know you know his name. I just don't know why you like to refer to him as 'the kid',"
"Well, he is a kid," Otogi finished pouring the liquid with a flourish and opened the ice cache with the cups cradled along his arm, "Well, he got roped into playing Black Jack with Kaiba."
"Oh... which explains...?" Katsuya distributed alcohol into each of the four glasses and finished the martini with an olive dropped into the liquid. The waitress picked up the tray and left with a dutiful swish.
"Why everyone is crowding around Mai's table and drinking. And why I'm here with little to do."
"Mai?" Katsuya ignored the latter sentence, "Not Bakura?"
"Bakura ran out a while back – something about his family."
"Fantastic. Since when does Bakura have a family?"
Otogi shrugged, sucking on an ice cube idly, letting his tongue lap at the surface before popping the frozen water into his mouth.
"You'd better get back to work," Katsuya warned, eyeing the dealer warily.
Otogi replied with an incoherent sentence and a failed attempt of a mischievous grin with an ice cube tucked against his cheek.
"Uh, no," the bartender answered uncertainly with an eyebrow raised.
A frown and a hurt look.
"Uh... sorry...?" Katsuya tried.
"Oh, it's alright," Otogi finally said, the ice cube still large enough to slur his words, but small enough for speech, "We can fuck later."
"Otogi!"
"What?" the other replied with a charming smile, "One kiss for the road then."
"What roa—mmn." As usual, Katsuya was cut off as the other kiss him. As Otogi's slightly cold tongue pushed against his lips, Katsuya made the mistake of opening his mouth.
The ice cube slipped into his mouth instead.
Pulling away with surprised haste and spitting the frozen cube into the nearby sink, Katsuya finally glared at the other man, "If you don't disappear from my sight in... oh, about two seconds, you're going to find yourself missing something very important."
"Well, you have to admit... it was a new way of swapping spit."
"Oh, sick."
Otogi chuckled and kissed Katsuya softly, "Okay, I'm sorry. I'll see you later." With that, the dealer walked out of the lounge into the noisy casino.
A/N: Short chapter. X.x Sorry, I've been trying to get over this writer's block (every time I write, I get sad about my lost documents, so I'd stop. But I feel so much better after writing this chapter, short as it was. I'm excited for next chapter actually.
Review, please, please, please? I think my writing style is getting strange. O.O;
If anyone has SPNMIC's sixteenth chapter (last), please send?
Next chapter: Jou meets Ryou (possible fluff couple). Bakura's going to get back to working, to find Seto and Yami winning too much money – time to get down to real business? Yuugi tracks down his brother's hotel room and – surprise, surprise. I think Anzu needs to be thrown in soon, maybe even Honda.
Plot ideas: A plan to steal money from the casino, a series of murders? I don't know. .