To all the rest of you great people that have e-mailed me and left reviews... thank you. Thank you a thousand times over for restoring my faith in myself and in my work. In particular (and this is just off the top of my head, so don't be offended if your name doesn't appear); the beautiful Starfly, the indomitable Silver, the talented Princess Strawberry, the ethereal Bug-chan, and most of all, my yami, Hema! ^_^ I love you all, and even though it would be far too long to name everyone who's had an influence on me, rest assured that I DO appreciate every single letter and review, and I will acknowledge all those I receive for this chapter as I did before this entire mess.
So, here it is; my triumphant RETURN to Fanfiction. The plotlessness is still there, glaring, but I promise, following chapters will be much less inane in their content. Enjoy, and please, leave a review telling me how you liked it! ^_^ Much love to you all!
Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue!
Warnings: What warnings, it's fluff! Seriously, read the other chaps for the warnings, too lazy to type 'em!
Chapter 22: All Of Sunday
"Aibou, are you sure you're alright?"
Yugi glanced up at his concerned darkness. "Why do you keep asking me that, Yami?" he replied, his brow furrowed inquisitively. This was at least the third time in as many minutes that those same words had passed his boyfriend's lips, and although he was more than used to Yami's overprotective nature, it was bordering on ridiculous.
The taller boy's hand went involuntarily to his stomach, and his complexion turned the lightest shade of green. "Because I don't know how anyone could possibly be all right after all those endless rides on... what did you call that deathtrap?"
"The roller coaster?" his lighter half supplied helpfully.
"Yes, the roller coaster..." The dark sovereign paused a moment to clear his throat. "In any case..." he trailed off, unwilling to show any weakness, even in front of his life partner, yet unable to see a way around doing so. "...I myself am not feeling my best." As though to accentuate this point, the spirit's stomach rumbled loudly, and Yami sat down on the nearest bench with a muted groan.
Yugi, torn between sympathizing with his beloved protector and laughing aloud at the humour of the situation, simply took a seat beside Yami and wrapped his arms gingerly around the other boy's waist, rubbing soothing circles into the source of his lover's discomfort. "Does that feel better, Yami?" he asked, kissing the taller boy on the cheek softly. "You know, maybe the nachos weren't such a good idea," he mused, and Yami groaned again. "Should we go home, you think?"
Despite his evident discomfort, the pharaoh found the strength to shake his head vehemently at his light's suggestion. "No, Aibou," he said, caressing Yugi's face as gently as he could with the back of his hand. "You've been looking forward to this for so long, and besides, I'm sure a moment of rest is all I need."
The shorter boy accepted the reply graciously, leaning against Yami's shoulder and nuzzling against his boyfriend every so often in a way that caused the spirit's breath to catch in his throat. "No matter how bad I might be feeling right now, my light," managed the taller boy as Yugi's tongue darted imperceptibly across his neck, just above the buckle, "there will be consequences if this keeps up."
"You make it sound like a bad thing, Yami," retorted his petite lover, grinning as broadly as Joey on sugar and at least twice as innocently as he pulled away with a teasing wink that most definitely didn't fit under the category of 'innocent'.
/I see my little angel has a not-so-innocent side,/ sent the taller boy through their mind link.
//So what, I'm not your angel anymore?// Although he knew that Yugi's pout was feigned, the words still drove a dagger deep into Yami's soul. Forgetting his nausea for the moment, the taller tri-colour-haired boy encased his love in the tightest embrace he could muster, drawing a surprised yet pleased squeak from the trapped boy.
/You'll always be my angel, hikari,/ he said, kissing Yugi's full lips tenderly, which drew a blush from the smaller boy. How Yami relished those blushes; if there was one thing he prized in a lover, it was innocence, and Yugi had that in spades. Although that may be what drew me to him in the first place, the spirit reminded himself, there are a thousand other reasons why I stay with him, and hundreds more that I discover each day.
Once, Yami might have compared his love for Yugi to the eternal dance of the moth and the flame, yet now, with their lips pressed together and love flowing both ways across their link, he realized it was more like a great waterfall, beautiful and eternal, yet never stagnant. Life wouldn't be worth living if it weren't for moments like these, the spirit realized as their lips parted and Yugi's innocent violet orbs met Yami's dusky crimson. Both boys were panting softly, and Yugi reached up, brushing a hand across tingling lips.
"Where did that come from?" he asked breathlessly, and his darkness was at a loss for words. Fortunately, actions speak louder anyway, chuckled the taller of the two as he leaned back down to suckle softly at his lover's lower lip, the world around them temporarily lost in a haze of total bliss.
***
It was after three o'clock before Ryou and Bakura even made it to the carnival grounds, and another fifteen minutes before the hikari could convince his counterpart to give the place a chance. "Come on, Kura-koi," he said, using his new nickname for his boyfriend as he tugged at said boy's shirt. "You promised we could go!"
"I was under duress!" the yami shot back, remembering the feeling of Ryou's tongue exploring the shell of his ear as he spoke. "If anyone could refuse you anything when you were doing... that thing you do, they have more self-control than anyone has a right to!" Stubbornly, he wrenched his wrist out of Ryou's grasp and slouched down in the seat, folding his arms over his chest in an intransigent manner. "I'm not going."
"Why not?" By this time, Ryou was getting as exasperated as Bakura.
The darker boy grimaced as he glared at the fairground. "Because..." he sighed. "It's too... bright, and colourful, and..." he paused, searching for more adjectives and finding none. "Besides, your stupid friends are probably going to be there. We all know I don't like them, and the feeling's mutual." If it were possible, Bakura sank deeper into his seat, his scowl deepening as well.
It was then that the answer hit Ryou, like a ton of bricks falling from the roof of a skyscraper. "Fine, don't come." he said, walking away from the car, but not so far as to be out of Bakura's earshot. "I guess I'll just have to find Yami and go through the Tunnel of Love with him instead of you. I'm sure Yugi won't mind my stealing him for a little while." Now, here comes the tricky part, the albino hikari thought as he walked off toward the fairgrounds, trying to look only the slightest bit disappointed. Gotta make sure I don't guilt him into this.
He made it a grand total of five steps before he heard a car door slam behind him, and another two before strong arms encircled him possessively, halting him in mid-step as Bakura leaned down, nipping softly at his throat. "Now, you wouldn't actually be planning to go on so romantic a ride with the Pharaoh, would you?" he demanded.
Ryou smiled victoriously. Sweet, dependable Bakura, he thought, You'll do anything out of jealousy, won't you? "Well, I've always wanted to see what the fuss was about, and if you're not coming..." he replied, reluctant to drop the charade so soon.
"Where did you get the idea that I wasn't coming, silly hikari?" This time, it was Bakura dragging Ryou instead of the other way around. "Come on, you have to show me this Tunnel of Love thing. I'll be damned if you go on it with anyone else but me."
You're already damned, Ryou wanted to quip, but wisely kept his mouth shut. His boyfriend had more mood swings than a pubescent teenage girl on a regular basis, and to set him off on the psychotic path (an all too easy action) was to condemn oneself to a day of babysitting the homicidal, destructive, insane yami. Not that Ryou minded, of course; any moment spent with his lover, whether making out on the couch or thwarting the tomb robber's plans of world domination, was precious and invaluable in his eyes.
As he turned to relate this sentiment to Bakura, though, he caught a glimpse of the spirit fighting with the security guards for some reason or other. Some things never change, Ryou thought to himself as he ran over to play peacemaker once again.
***
After riding the roller coaster more than a few times, it became evident that Serenity had been a little over-optimistic about her elder brother's constitution. Once the ride stopped for the fourth time in about twice as many minutes, Joey had run to the nearest trash can and commenced to vomit up his lunch and, in Seto's opinion, probably a bit of breakfast. Serenity had been beside herself with shame, but at Seto's behest, she and Mokuba had gone off (with a few hundred dollars) to have fun while the brunet sat on a whitewashed bench, holding his exhausted puppy's hand.
"Feeling better, Joey?" he asked, his voice thick with worry as he guided the blond's head gently to his chest, pressing a kiss into his flaxen locks.
The other boy sighed. "I ruined it all, didn't I?" he said, turning his face up to meet Seto's warm gaze. "You had this great day all planned out... and I get sick because I'm a total pig." Shakily, he sat up, letting his hand fall from his lover's. "How do you put up with me, I wonder?"
Seto groaned inwardly. When was his fiancé going to get out his self-deprecating mode? "Joey, it is not your fault you got sick." he reasoned. "Stop blaming yourself for everything, okay?"
Both boys flinched at the brunet's harsh tone, and Joey's bottom lip quivered as he pushed himself to his feet. "I wonder where Mokuba and Seren' went.." he began, before a firm arm snaked around his waist and held him in place. "Let go of me, Set." he said quietly, knowing that would cut into his lover's heart deeper than any screaming fit.
"I'm not mad at you," the brunet explained, undaunted. "Gods, Joey... I could never be angry with you for more than a second. I love you too much." Seto's other arm slid across Joey's chest, and the blond boy leaned back into the delicious warmth unconsciously as a ragged whimper escaped his lips. "Please don't ask me why I love you, why I would die the most painful death for you, why you are more precious to me than anything in existence. I don't have an answer for you, any more than you would have for me." The billionaire's lips brushing his puppy's throat drew yet another delicious whimper from the shorter boy. "I just do," he finished, "and things like that, you just don't question."
Once again, Joey's bottom lip began to shake, but this time the physical reaction wasn't brought on by sadness. Far from it, in fact. He turned quickly in his fiancé's embrace, burying his face into the crook between Seto's shoulder and neck, and the brunet felt twin trickles of warm moisture flow down his alabaster skin. "This's why I love you so much, Set." the blond sniffled, straightening up and dragging his sleeve across his eyes. Smiling softly, the billionaire pulled his handkerchief out of his trench coat pocket and dabbed at the faint tracks going from Joey's red-rimmed eyes to his chin, kissing him right in the middle of the forehead and allowing his lips to linger a moment longer than he usually did.
"I love you more, puppy." he said, closing his slightly larger hand over the blond boy's. "So much more than I could ever truly express." This time, it was Seto's eyes that misted over, but any trace of tears was wiped away by a few well-timed blinks as he leaned down, kissing Joey's hand gallantly and drawing a blush from his beloved. "If you're feeling better, let's go find the kids," he chuckled, dragging a far-from-reluctant Joey behind him. "I'm sure they've gotten into all sorts of trouble by now."
***
Mokuba and Serenity had gone on just about every ride when they ran into an over-exuberant Yugi, devouring the largest chunk of cotton candy that either of the two younger teens had ever seen and trailing an exhausted Yami behind him. "Hi, guys!" the shorter tri-colour haired boy chirped brightly as he tore another mouthful of the far-too-sugary treat from the greater ball, and the ex-pharaoh took advantage of his light's distraction to wrap his arms around his petite lover, clutching him to his lean chest.
"You're certainly a hard one to catch, Aibou," he said, kissing Yugi's cheek fleetingly before nodding to Mokuba and Serenity. "Hello, you two." Crimson eyes searched the crowd behind the newcomers. "Where are your brothers? Don't tell me you were separated in this... protector's nightmare they call a carnival!"
Yugi giggled, trying to squirm free of Yami's grasp and failing miserably. "If it weren't for the mind link, you'd have lost me at the gate!" he said proudly, and Serenity grinned.
"Actually, Joey wasn't feeling well after the roller coaster.." her grin faded as she spoke; in her mind, her elder brother getting sick was her fault. If only I hadn't pushed so hard for the roller coaster. "...so Seto gave us this obscene amount of money--"
"It wasn't that much!" Mokuba piped up.
The brunette gaped at him as though he had lost his mind. "That was more than a month's rent on our old apartment!" she cried.
The younger Kaiba blinked incredulously. "Boy, that must have been some ghetto." he said tactlessly, and both tri-colour haired boys held their breath, waiting for Serenity to explode at her younger companion, but the girl just laughed it off.
"Don't let Joey hear you say that!" she giggled. "No matter how right it might be..."
Mokuba just shrugged. "Whatever," he sighed.
At that precise moment, Ryou and Bakura walked up to the small group. "Oh, hello," the shorter white-haired boy said with a smile, both his arms wrapped tightly around one of his yami's. "Bakura, say hi."
Glancing at Yami, the tomb robber growled deep in his throat. "Hello." he forced out, and Ryou smiled again, nuzzling his boyfriend's upper arm.
/Looks like Ryou has his yami well trained,/ Yugi sent to his dark half, and Yami smiled.
//Love is an incredible pacifier,// the dark sovereign said seriously across their bond as he stroked his light's over-gelled hair soothingly. //Have you calmed down, Aibou?//
/Maybe./ Yugi's smile turned into a wolfish grin. /Guess you'll just have to let me go to find out, won't you?/
//Not a chance.// Yami grinned inwardly. //Love might make many into blithering idiots, but I'm not just any lovesick puppy dog.//
Yugi looked to his left, catching a glimpse of Seto and Joey coming toward the group, still holding each other's hands in a death grip. /No, but here comes that lovesick puppy dog you were talking about,/ the lighter boy said, degenerating into a violent fit of laughter.
Serenity went over to hug her brother as soon as she saw him, forcing Seto to let his lover's hand drop. "I'm sorry, Joey," she said softly, so that only her brother would hear.
"Don't worry 'bout it, Seren'," replied the elder Wheeler, patting his sister on the head lightly as he turned to the rest of the group, reaching his free hand out for Seto, who latched onto it immediately. "Hey, guys. Where're you all off to?"
"We're going on the roller coaster, then the bumper cars, then..." Yami's hand across his mouth cut his hyperactive counterpart off, and Ryou dug his nails into Bakura's arm painfully to stop his other half from making one of his rude comments.
"We're going through the Tunnel of Love," began the albino hikari, glancing around, "That is, if we ever find it."
Mokuba gestured past a rather large tent vaguely. "It's back there," he said. "Me and Serenity passed it a while back. Kind of boring if you ask me." The younger Kaiba shrugged. "Whatever floats your boat, though, if you'll excuse the expression."
Ryou was off like a shot, trailing his less-than-thrilled darker half behind him, and Yugi was quick to imitate his friend. "Later, guys!" called the shorter of the white-haired boys, and Yami's shouts of protests could be heard indistinctly for a few more seconds, until Yugi managed to get the pharaoh out of earshot. Once again, the soon-to-be extended family was left alone, Serenity leaning down to whisper in Mokuba's ear.
"I think we should let them alone for now, don't you?" she said, and the black-haired boy nodded vigorously as his brother lifted his fiancé up for a slow, languid kiss.
"Better they do that on a boat in some nasty tunnel than where I can see, anyway," he said, and the brunette chuckled at his reaction. He'll learn eventually what love is like, she told herself. For now, there were more pressing concerns, like how to get her stubborn brother and his lover into the Tunnel of Love without forcibly dragging them over and tying them into their seats. For one thing, if Seto protested too vehemently, I don't think Mokuba and I would be a match for him, she smiled to herself.
"Oh, Mokuba, I'm absolutely starving again!" the younger Wheeler said dramatically, winking at her partner in crime. "How about we go get some of that delicious-looking cotton candy that Yugi had?"
Hearing this, Seto forced himself to let Joey's already slightly swollen lips separate from his, a feat in itself where those two were concerned. "Do you two need any more money?" he said, and his bulging wallet was out before Serenity could blink. The girl thought back to the several twenties in her purse, and the fifties that Mokuba still had stuffed into his back pocket, and sighed inwardly. Someday soon, she and Seto would have to have a long conversation about just how much money a person realistically needed to have fun at an amusement park. I know inflation rates are through the roof, but this is totally ridiculous!
"No, we're good," she smiled, hoisting her purse to a higher position on her shoulder for effect. "Where are you guys off to?"
The two older teens exchanged looks. "Maybe we could go on the Ferris wheel again?" Joey suggested, but a grumbling noise from his stomach vetoed that idea.
"You know what you need, big brother?" Serenity said, seizing her opportunity. "A nice, relaxing boat ride. It's clinically proven that a subtle rocking motion can actually settle your stomach, you know." She crossed her fingers for luck behind her back as she spoke; no such study had ever been conducted, and while Serenity harboured no delusions about her brother's alertness, his fiancé was quite another matter.
An almost imperceptible glint in Seto's azure eyes was the only indication the younger Wheeler could pick up on that she had been caught, but the tallest of the four didn't call her on it. Quite the opposite, in fact. "Yes, I recall hearing something about that," he put in, staring up at the white clouds drifting by overhead. "However, the only ride that includes a boat ride here is..."
"The Tunnel of Love," Mokuba finished for him, and the ex-CEO nodded.
"Well, let's go, puppy," he said, dragging a thoroughly confused Joey behind him and smiling broadly as he passed Serenity.
"But, Set... what about Mokuba and Seren'?" the blond protested, and his sister waved his concern off.
"We're fine!" she said, draping an arm around Mokuba's shoulders unobtrusively. "Meet us back at the car in an hour, okay?" Her tone left no room for dissent, and his worry somewhat assuaged for the moment, Joey allowed himself to be led away by his fiancé. Once they were a safe distance away, the younger Kaiba looked up at his future sister-in-law as they walked off in the other direction.
"You've gotta show me how to do that one day," he said, and Serenity chuckled under her breath.
"It's a chick thing," she replied.
***
Bakura was going even more psychotic with every passing second that he and Ryou remained in the cheap wooden boat, barely big enough for the two of them, as it made its agonizing way to an exit that might as well have been in the Shadow Realm for all the good it was doing him. It wasn't that he minded Ryou practically sitting in his lap, or the way his light seemed more adventurous in the dim confines of the tunnel, but all this time without any other external stimuli was slowly wearing down his nearly nonexistent patience to nothing.
Restlessly, the spirit of the Ring shifted in the tiny craft, nearly sending his boyfriend overboard. "Kura-koi, is something the matter?" Ryou asked, nuzzling his yami's exposed throat. "You've been acting like a caged animal ever since we got on this ride."
The tomb robber growled deep in his throat, sinking as far down in the seat as its shoddy construction would allow. "It's so boring!" he finally spat out, his deep voice echoing off the tunnel walls as he glanced at his digital wristwatch. "You do realize we've been in here a full seven minutes, doing nothing but watching that damn light get closer and closer."
"But that's the point of the ride, yami," his lover replied. "You just...stop, and take time to be with your significant other, without any interruptions, any worries, or any distractions." Dejectedly, Ryou extricated himself from Bakura's unusually lax grip, sliding as close to the other side of the craft as he could without going overboard. "Sorry for dragging you along," he muttered bitterly. "If it's any comfort, the exit's probably closer than it appears. Then you won't have to be bored by me anymore."
It took Bakura a full ten seconds of blinking and turning the entire incident over in his mind to realize that he'd just been put on the mother of all guilt trips, and another five to work up the courage to wrap his arms around his despondent hikari. Ryou tried to shrug him off, but the darker boy tightened his grip as he brushed his lips across his lover's. "You never bore me, my light," he said in the most sultry voice he could muster, and the shiver that coursed through the other boy's body was immensely satisfying. "Were it not for your presence, I'd probably have gone insane by now."
"You're already insane." Oh, he's lucky I love him, thought the yami. Anyone else would have been well on their way to the Shadow Realm by the time they had finished that sentence. "But I love you for it," Ryou amended as he nuzzled up against his darker half, running a hand through Bakura's shaggy mane. "You need a haircut," he observed.
Bakura growled softly into his light's ear, a sound that did more to arouse his boyfriend than scare him. "So do you, then," he retorted.
Ryou snickered. "Yeah, but the difference there is that the barber's not terrified of me." He looked up, meeting his yami's twin chocolate orbs. "You really shouldn't have tried to light that hair spray on fire, sweetheart."
Once, Bakura would have had his lover's head on a pike for that endearment, but now, he was simply filled with an overwhelming urge to kiss Ryou, one that he sated immediately. The slightly shorter boy didn't complain. "How long you think we got before we're out of this dank cavern?" he asked as he dipped down to nibble at Ryou's neck, and the hikari arched his back.
"Maybe five more minutes," he all but purred.
"Just enough time," was the last thing Ryou heard before his yami's mouth plundered his once more.
***
Yami was at the end of his rope as well, although unlike Bakura, he was teetering on a different kind of knife's edge. Next to him in the quite-unstable boat, Yugi was bouncing up and down, still on a sugar high that neither the dim tunnel lights nor his darker side's soothing touches could control or hold back in any way. It took all the former pharaoh had not to just grab his light by the arms, hold him down in his seat, and make love to his mouth until they were once again back in the world of light and noise that was the carnival. The only reason he didn't was because every time he tried to so much as hold him, Yugi had squirmed out of his grip with an innocent giggle, and since a hikari on sugar was like a yami on alcohol, initiating any kind of intimate physical contact at the moment would be tantamount in Yami's eyes to forcing himself upon his light. Therefore, he simply watched his lover's antics, making sure to calm Yugi if the boat was in danger of tipping over. It wouldn't do for the two of them to have to swim out of the Tunnel of Love; wet leather was one of the most miserable experiences Yami had had yet, and he'd been trapped in the Millennium Puzzle for five thousand years.
Much to the darker boy's surprise, Yugi ran out of energy shortly thereafter, collapsing against his leather-clad chest. "Sleepy, Yami..." he mumbled as his soulful violet eyes slid closed, and his makeshift pillow smiled down on him, his face as radiant as the rising sun.
/I was wondering when you'd come down, Aibou./
The shorter boy's reply was slightly more vigorous than Yami would have expected, although not completely restored yet. //Don't start.//
Yami allowed his hands to slide through his light's over-gelled locks, leaning down to kiss his cheek. /All right,/ he relented, and Yugi moved up to sit in his lap, his hands around his darkness' neck and their Puzzles clinking together with every rocking motion of the boat.
"I love you, Yami," said the tricolour-haired hikari. For some reason, he never got tired of saying it, and Yami certainly never got tired of hearing it.
"I love you too, tenshi," replied the crimson-eyed one as he brushed his lips against his light's, igniting a flame of desire in both of them that they were only too happy to be consumed by.
***
Joey sighed and curled into Seto's side, listening to the waves lapping at the hull of their boat. The guy running the ride had looked at the couple strangely as they had stepped into the vessel, but the billionaire's icy glare quickly motivated him to find something else to stare at. Looking up at his love now, Joey couldn't really reconcile the fact that this was the same ruthless businessman that had thrown his adoptive father through a window, the same venomous, driven husk of a man that had reduced him to a whimpering puppy dog at Duelist Kingdom, the same vindictive bastard that had been his worst enemy for years. To him, Kaiba and Seto were two radically different people, but every now and again, like that episode with the carnival worker a few moments ago, they would bleed into each other, reminding both boys how far they'd come together and giving Joey all the incentive he needed to make damn sure that they never reverted to what they had been. Neither of them.
"This is certainly relaxing, isn't it?" murmured the brunet, and his puppy was inclined to agree. Nothing but the still water, the faint smell of paint from the plywood craft, and his beautiful, majestic dragon. Life was good, Joey thought as he smiled into his fiancé's chest.
"Could fall asleep right here," chuckled the blond, stifling a yawn. Seto returned the soft laugh, patting the other boy's head delicately.
"You, my love, could fall asleep anywhere," he replied, and Joey couldn't very well deny it. He had once fallen asleep on the subway and gone about twenty stops past his destination before realizing it. Instead, he sat up, groaning at the loss of contact with his beloved, and flashed Seto his most brilliant smile.
"At least I'll never suffer from sleep deprivation," he said, laughing as something else occurred to him. "Not until we're married, at least. Then, I don't know how much sleep we'll be getting." His point was made perfectly clear to Seto as one soft, sun-kissed hand snaked its way down the front of his shirt before darting up and undoing the top few buttons.
"Do you really think I'd keep my puppy up all night?" asked Seto, just the slightest bit short of breath.
The blond snickered, his blunt nails scraping over his love's perfectly formed chest. "Who said you'd be the one keeping me up?" he said, licking his lips seductively, and Seto sighed as a series of images came unbidden, but not entirely unwanted, to his mind.
"You know you have me up all the time, sweetheart," he whispered into the other boy's ear, and Joey flushed crimson. Seto grinned; once again, he had the upper hand.
Or so he thought. "We'll see if you can live up to that boast on the honeymoon, honey," returned the shorter boy with a playful nip on Seto's ear.
The billionaire was remotely surprised that his usually bashful fiancé wasn't shying away from his overt advances. Time to up the ante. "Why wait until then, mutt," he groaned, pulling Joey closer, "when you could find out tonight?"
Joey's hand froze, and his dusky chocolate eyes darted up, searching Seto's. "What..." he managed to get out before falling silent again. "What are you trying to say, Seto?"
The absence of his pet name and the seriousness of Joey's question coupled to create a lump the size of his mansion in Seto's throat, and he swallowed hard. "I'm sorry, Joey.. I took it too far, I realize that. Please, don't be angry with me."
If that was possible, the blond was now even more thoroughly confused. "Set..." he said. "If you want to have sex before we're married... I don't mind." The way the glint disappeared from his eyes as he spoke, though, coupled with the subtle slump of his shoulders, told an entirely different story.
The brunet's hand closed around Joey's, and their gazes locked. "I want you so badly, Joey, and I certainly wouldn't put up a fight if you wanted to consummate our relationship before the ceremony," he began. "But this will be a milestone for you, as well, and I respect you more than enough to wait for you, as long as you want us to. I love you, and I don't care if we ever do more than kiss, as long as I will always have you in my arms, feel your warmth against me at night, and be able to share in your joys, your sorrows, your failures, your successes. As long as I have that, I will die a happy man, my love." He allowed his lover's hand to drop, leaning back and pulling Joey down with him, so that the blond's head was right over his heart. "I live for you, Joseph," he finished. "Every beat of my heart, every breath I take, it's all for you. Without you, I would shut down, and that terrifies me more than you can probably imagine."
"It's not that difficult, believe me," The shudder that went through Joey's lithe frame chilled Seto as well, and he stroked his puppy's golden mane comfortingly.
"How about we quit all this doom and gloom, and enjoy the rest of the ride, okay?" put forward the brunet, and the boy in his arms nodded.
"Sounds like a plan," he yawned, his eyes sliding shut once more, and the angelic quality that graced his features as he did brought a smile to Seto's face.
"You told me not to say anything until I was sure," he whispered, the words just low enough to escape Joey's notice, "but I've never been more sure of anything than the fact that this, right here, right now, is all I want from life." He leaned down, kissing the other boy's forehead and grinning at the soft smile that crossed his love's face. "Rest well, mutt."
***
After dinner that evening, the four occupants of the Kaiba mansion all got to their homework, Mokuba insisting that they all work together in Seto's former office, now a library, so that the elder residents would actually get something besides tonsil-hockey practice accomplished. Neither Seto or Joey blushed; they were beyond embarrassment where their siblings were concerned.
Fifteen minutes in, the blond had finally gotten Seto's laptop to open a word-processing program so that he could type his English homework, Serenity was explaining a math problem to Mokuba, and Seto was going through his duelling deck, stacks of cards on the table in front of him as he debated whether another Lord of Dragons was worth taking out his second De-Spell for. Being the genius that he was, he had already polished off most of his work, and saw no reason to start in on the rest. After all, he was at least a week ahead in all his courses.
"Hey, Dragon Master, how about putting down your precious cards and showing me how to change fonts on this piece of junk?" said Joey, his frustration evident in the way he stabbed the laptop keys.
"Hadn't you better add Puppy Master to that title, mutt?" retorted the brunet as he swept his feet from the desk and glided over to where his fiancé was sitting, tapping a few keys before returning to his former position. "There, just select the one you want."
The shorter boy scratched his head in confusion. "How'd you do that?"
"Magic," replied Seto dryly, and Mokuba giggled.
"They're already arguing like an old married couple," he snickered.
"Let's hope they don't resolve it like one, in the divorce courts," added Serenity, at which Seto snorted.
"I'd never divorce him," said the billionaire resolutely, and Joey beamed. "For one thing, the alimony would be murder."
The younger members of the group laughed aloud at this while the blond seethed on the leather couch. "If we were married, you wouldn't be getting any tonight for that comment, mister," he growled in mock anger.
Seto looked up from the pile of cards in his hand. "I bet I could be celibate longer than you, puppy."
"What's celibate mean?" The elder Wheeler cocked his head confusedly, and Mokuba laughed again, clutching his sides.
"It means no sex, Joey," Serenity clarified, and the blond blushed.
"How is it they know more sexual terminology than you do?" asked Seto, genuinely worried, although precisely why he couldn't say.
The blond teenager shrugged. "Damned if I know," he replied, "but I could last just as long as you without sex!"
The ex-CEO scoffed. "Please," he said, "You can't even wait ten minutes past your usual dinnertime without whining about how hungry you are. How could you possibly do better than me on a test of patience?"
Joey glared at this comment, folding his arms over his chest. "That's strike two, honey. One more and it's the couch for you."
"Better watch it, big brother," chuckled Mokuba. "He means business."
The tallest of the group sighed, tossing his cards off to the side and moving to sit beside Joey, kissing him softly. "I apologize, love," he whispered, and the blond melted into his arms, craning his neck to press his lips to the other boy's.
A shrill noise sounded through the room just then, and both Seto and Joey nearly jumped out of their skins. "You're supposed to be doing homework," reminded the raven-haired Kaiba, putting away his toy whistle with a grin, and his brother reluctantly left his lover alone on the couch.
"He's right," said the brunet. "Maybe when you're done, we can play."
Joey hadn't known how fast it was possible to type until that moment. "It's amazing what a little incentive can do," observed his sister before going back to her own textbooks.
