Hubrisshipping (Kaiba Seto/Yami no Marik)

. . .

The cloak rippled like an oil spill across the air as the young man glided down the hall. Seto felt something in his stomach clenching up in spite of himself. It was...something about that constant smile on the Egyptian man's face. Something about it was strange...as though it were straining to escape his face, always a little too wide, stretching the veins in his jaws and cheeks. Something about those flat violet eyes made Seto feel nervous.

And he hated anything that made him feel even the tiniest bit nervous.

He straightened his shoulders, deepened his scowl, lengthened his stride. The sooner he passed this...thing, the sooner he could find something better to think about. Like figuring out the effects of the Winged Dragon of Ra...

His eyes flickered to meet Marik's as they passed each other, and Marik's met his. His smile twisted into something, lazy, casual. Confident, as though he were already imagining dragging Seto into hell.

That more than anything burned away Seto's nerves, and replaced it with only a dull pulse of fury. What arrogance. As if he, even with the power of the Winged Dragon of Ra, stood even a chance against him.

They were almost past each other when Seto felt his fury seize him, and he stopped. Marik kept walking, and Seto did not turn around.

"You're not as powerful as you think you are," Seto snapped, without even looking over his shoulder. "Don't get cocky."

He heard Marik's feet scuff and slow to a stop. After a beat, he looked over his shoulder, over the top of his coat collar. Marik hadn't turned around yet, hadn't said anything to acknowledge that Seto had spoken, but he had stopped, at least.

And then, slowly, he tilted his head back. Seto's stomach turned briefly with disgust as the man twisted his neck around to almost a convoluted angle so that he could tilt his eyes back towards Seto. The twisted smile had grown even further across his face, something that Seto hadn't thought physically possible.

"Keep telling yourself that," he said, and his tongue half flicked out of the side of his mouth like some nightmarish lizard.

Seto didn't have any room at this point for becoming unnerved...he only had fury and disgust.

"I'll control Ra by the time this tournament is over," he said. "Mark my words, Marik."

Marik laughed, and the sound was hollow, echoing, as though the man were nothing more than a hollow porcelain doll, possessed by nothing but bloodlust.

"Oooh, I will enjoy ripping your entrails from your body," he said.

And then he lolled his head forward again and sauntered on.

Seto watched him go over the top of his coat collar. Then he snorted.'

"Was that B-movie thriller line supposed to be frightening?" he muttered. "Fucking weirdo..."

. . .

A/N: Idk. I really don't even know anymore, what am I writing. Next is Hostshipping (Ryo x Anzu).