Atem settled into his desk at home, prying his laptop open and sliding his phone out of his pocket, waiting for it to ring. Anzu and Yugi had said they'd call at 10.

He leaned back in the chair and decided to check his email while he waited. To his surprise, there was one, from Kaiba's desk, addressed to all the Directors in the entire company.

"TO ALL DIRECTORS:

Your presence is required at Kaiba Land this week to celebrate our successful opening of this wonderful amusement part!

Attached below are the entrance forms, and the dates requiring your attendance.
Please reply to this email with your desired time slot. First come first serve.

If you are bringing guest or family, make sure to have your (child or spouse) fill it out too so that they can be exempt from buying a ticket at the doors.

Thisis not a mandatory event, but if you do choose to attend, it will not be counted as a day off.

Mr. Kaiba will be there Wednesday through Friday, and will not be available in the office, so if your meeting has been rescheduled, this is why. He apologizes for any inconveniences this may have caused.

Please respond to this email within 48 hours of reading.

There are limited spots for guests and we would like an accurate headcount for security purposes.

- Yoko Mizuwa"

A call button pinged in the corner of the window, and Atem clicked on it excitedly, seeing his own face appear in the tiny square in the corner while Anzu and Yugi's bright faces flooded his screen.

"Atem! Gosh you look tired," Yugi said, heading straight for the nagging. "Are you getting enough sleep?"

"Of course he's not," Anzu gave Yugi a knowing look, tucking her brown hair behind her ear before she leaned closer to the camera and gave Atem a steely gaze. "So? What's happening?"

Atem swallowed thinly and composed himself before he answered, "…A day at Kaiba land. Do you both want to come?"

Anzu frowned and Yugi looked ecstatic.

"YES!" Yugi cried, his cheeks reddening.

"…No?" Anzu raised her eyebrows, still looking worried. "Don't signal to him that you're 'tying him down!'"

"What does that even mean?" Yugi shrugged, exasperated. "He probably doesn't even want to meet us. Let us to go with you to Kaiba Land, Atem! What day is it? I can close the shop for a day!"

"Let me see," Atem said seriously, moving the call window to the side so he could click on the document in the email, seeing a few colored boxes appear where several directors had already claimed their spot.

"Friday is the last day he'll be there," Atem said, blocking out a three-hour window for himself and seeing the forms download into his computer. "I'll fill it out for you now—"

"We're here to solve a problem? Not make plans to go to an amusement park," Anzu insisted, drumming her fingers audibly on the table. "Have you decided what you're going to do next?"

"No," Atem answered plainly, typing slowly and filling a form out for Yugi. "And this point, it doesn't matter. If he knows, he's not acting like it. But I know he has to know, right?"

"Why does that matter?" Yugi demanded, sounding impatient. "Just be nice to him. If you're done filling it out, I'm going to buy train tickets on my computer."
He got up and left in a huff. Anzu watched him go, shaking her head.

"Fine, I'm coming. I'll try to talk to him and see what he thinks," Anzu said carefully, and Atem shook his head with a grimace.

"You can try, but I highly doubt he will respond to you. He's barely receptive to me as it is," Atem said sadly, clicking on another form and filling it out for Anzu. "Which email do you want to receive the confirmation text from? M. Zaki?"

"Yes," Anzu palmed her face and bit back a sigh. "You really got yourself in trouble here, Atem. What if you lose your job?!"

"I've already lost it twice," Atem said, biting back a laugh as he recalled the ways Kaiba had hissed at him to stay, almost immediately after he'd been "fired".

Anzu set her mouth in a tight line and folded her arms nervously. "Well don't tell Yugi," she said, throwing a look over her shoulder. "See in a couple days?"

"See you both," Atem replied with a warm smile.
Yugi waved at him from the sofa, and he waved back halfheartedly before Anzu hung up.

That call had been pointless. It was already clear to everyone that his tension with Kaiba would only increase as time passed. Something needed to be done, and fast, but Atem wasn't sure what.

Kaiba lay wide awake in bed, staring at the three yellow boxes in his calendar that had been marked for, "KAIBA LAND OPENING!" and sighed. As a last-minute decision, he'd email his secretary to ask her to request all his directors to be there with their families.

This was a safe way he could observe Atem behaving in another setting.

He needed to vet Atem as much as possible before fully committing to him as a bonded mate. This was the way to do it, without throwing his pride aside to ask him out on another date that might end with drunk kissing.

He refreshed his email and saw Atem's name at the top. Clicking on it slowly, he saw two forms had been attached, one titled, 'Anzu' and the other titled, 'Yugi'.

He's bringing someone other than Yugi? Kaiba wondered faintly, opening the form and quickly remembering the social media handles from the one named Anzu. He typed it into the search bar and found three results. Selectin the first one, Kaiba frowned when brightly colored squares filled with smiling faces glowed back at him on the screen.

Gross. Anzu was a girl who loved to be happy. And she was the type to show everyone just how happy she was with all her friends. Double gross. She had a carefree, bob haircut and a fresh sense of style, appearing to be very popular with girls who enjoyed following her for 'fashion posts'.

He scrolled down her feed, his heart racing when he realized it wasn't Atem in the photos with her, but…Yugi.
Yugi was Atem's twin.
Atem had a twin.

How do I not know this?! Kaiba raged, tapping on one photo where they were in the car together, and he stared intently at Yugi's face, taking in his rounded cheeks and slightly larger eyes that held an air of innocence.

The caption to the photo was, "out to find a pair of cute jeans!" and the hashtag that made his stomach curl was #betalifebestlife.

More information gleaned.
Atem's twin was a beta.
Anzu was a beta.
Atem was bringing his two beta friends to the park. Great.

I hate them both, Kaiba decided aggressively, clicking his phone off and turning over onto his side, shutting his eyes and willing for sleep to come, trying to will away the smiling faces of Anzu and Yugi that were burned permanently into his mind.

Atem had some wholesome, basic-ass friends. That didn't mean anything.

Two days passed quickly, and before Atem knew it, it was Friday, and he was waiting at the station barriers for Yugi and Anzu to come through.

In the throng, he managed to spot spiky hair, and he waved energetically.

A hand stuck upwards and waved back.

Atem stepped to the side, hugging the wall to let the enormous crowd of people rush by as they exited the station, and Yugi came running towards him with his arms outstretched. His lungs were crushed in a tight hug and his twin beamed at him.

"Thanks for inviting us! Should we eat now, or later?" He asked, as Anzu appeared behind him, panting, slightly out of breath.

"Do we have to take a cab there?" She asked, sparing Atem a smile, and Atem nodded happily back at her.

"Yes, but there is a Kaiba Corporation Shuttle parked around the block—"

"A shuttle?!" Yugi cried shrilly, and a few people turned their heads to stare before looking away.

"Gosh, calm down," Anzu muttered, looping her arm through Yugi's elbow and pulling him out of the station. "Let's go! I'm hungry!"

Atem hurried after them, his heart tense with worry at Kaiba's reaction to his brother and his friend. If he knew this Omega well, the reception of these two would not bode over well. Kaiba scorned anyone who had a status lower than an Alpha, and Atem wasn't sure if that was a defense mechanism or if it was a strange complex Kaiba had.

It was time to find out…

Kaiba stepped into the costume and left it zipped up around his waist when he remembered he had to take a dosage of suppressant before doing so.

He turned to find the tiny metal case inside his bag, emptying out four tablets into his palm, pocketing two of them and then dry swallowing the other two. There. Problem fucking solved.

Slamming the locker shut, he chanced one last glance in the mirror before hastily sticking his arms into the fluffy sleeves and zipping it up the rest of the way. He struggled to pull it up past his neck and then decided it was fine, because the head of the costume would cover it.

Reaching for the giant dragon head on the vanity, he slipped it over his head and stared out through the mesh holes of the eyes. Disguise complete.
Now he could walk around the park and observe everything without being disturbed.

He'd also made sure to leave his phone here so he'd be unreachable. No one would ever find out. No one would also ever behave normally in his presence at his own park, so this disguise was necessary.

Stepping out of the dressing room, Kaiba hurried out of the building and made a beeline for the balloon stand, already attracting excited screams from children nearby.

"IT'S A BLUE EYES WHITE DRAGON!" A little boy cried, dragging his mother behind him excitedly. "MOMMY TAKE A PICTURE OF IT!"

The balloon stand girl saw him coming and beamed, handing him a pre-made bunch of balloons and addressed him by the wrong name, thinking he was her co-worker.

"Asuka-san! You're early! Make sure you make it down to the fountain by 4PM okay?"

Kaiba nodded and accepted the balloons from her, realizing she couldn't see him, so he forced himself into a bow instead. She grinned and turned to the next customer who was gaping at the costumed dragon with her mouth open.

"Are there other monsters walking around to?" The little girl asked, and the balloon stand girl handed her a brochure with a kind smile.

"There's a monster gathering by the fountain at 4PM!" The balloon girl chirped, and Kaiba tried to make an escape, but found himself cornered by the little boy who had spotted him earlier.

"PICTURE PLEASE!" The boy cried, placing his hands together in a formal asking gesture, and Kaiba had to oblige.

He let the boy grab his fluffy clawed hand and drag him to the shade by the building, grinning non-stop.

Kaiba knelt and waved for the mother who was holding the camera and laughing.

"Thank you, Blue Eyes!" The boy gazed at him with a glowing face and ran back to his mother, insisting he inspect the photo.

Using this opportunity to leave once and for all, Kaiba hurried away and kept close to the building, the balloons billowing behind him in the wind, attracting all kinds of attention.

He could hear children gasping and people pointing. His costume disguise was backfiring horribly.

He'd just managed to pass three rides before a small crowd of children ran towards him, all of them leaving the line they were standing into beg him for a photo.

Feeling himself sweat, Kaiba tried to hand out the balloons, but the kids weren't interested in them. They wanted to hold his hand. They kept asking him to roar or open his jaws so they could fit their heads in his mouth.

It doesn't open! Kaiba fumed privately, keeping his cool as the parents hovered around him and asked if they could take photos. He couldn't nod, so he just bowed and patted the little boy nearest to him and pointed at the camera. Then he stiffened his hand out to his side, indicating everyone should make a line and wait.

The children scrambled to stand behind the boy, who was clinging so hard to his gloved hand, Kaiba was worried it would come off, but eventually, the kids all put themselves in an orderly line and shouted at their parents to pay attention.

Biting back a sigh, Kaiba knelt and let the kid throw his tiny arms around his neck and grin for his father, who was beaming at them both.

"Smile, Hideki-kuuun! Very good! One more?" The father snapped another photo with small flash and then nodded. "You look very cool! Okay, let someone else have a turn!"

The boy obediently let go and thanked Kaiba with a quick bow before rushing back to his father's side, his eyes nailed to the camera in his hands.

Grimacing, Kaiba let the little girl who was next hug him too, and he resigned himself to being a full-time worker at the park today, on his own payroll.

Where the hell was Atem and his two Beta friends?

Atem had already entered the park and was waiting for the lady at desk inside the employee building to verify Yugi and Anzu.

Nervous, Atem swept his gaze around the park, taking in the brightly colored rides, the towering flower features, and various food stands, sending delicious plumes of sweet scents drifting his way.

He saw a small crowd by an empty merry-go-round, and realized it was empty because there was a mascot present. An adorable toon Blue-Eyes White Dragon with a bunch of balloons tied around it's fluffy talons, posed for a queue of excited children, all striking fantastic poses for their parents holding cameras.

Cute, now where is Kaiba? Atem wondered apprehensively, hearing Yugi and Anzu exit the building, chattering excitedly about a monster meet-up at the fountain later on.

"Atem, wanna go early so we can get in line before everyone else?" Yugi prompted, his brochure flapping in the wind as he tried to tame it back in his hands. "The Dark Magician Girl will be making an appearance! She's a famous cosplayer! Crap, I don't have anything for her to sign…!"

"She's all you care about?" Anzu asked, sounding amused, and she pointed at the Blue-Eyes mascot in the distance. "Let's catch that one first!"

"Yeah!" Yugi agreed enthusiastically, and Atem found himself yanked forward so hard, he stumbled.

They approached the edge of the small crowd of children and Kaiba froze in mild panic, seeing Atem, his twin, and the girl, Anzu, appear out of nowhere.

Crap.

"BLUE-EYES! WHITE LIGHTING ATTACK!" A boy cried, making a clamping motion with his arms, and Kaiba shook his head furiously.

The mouth doesn't open! He replied silently, seeing the boy's shoulders sag as he walked back to his mother, looking disgruntled.

The crowd thinned gradually, and Kaiba began sweating harder inside the costume the closer Atem got.

To his surprise, Yugi ran forwards first and struck a pose beside him, beaming.

"Anzu! Wanna?"

"Yep! Atem, here!" She shoved her phone into Atem's hand and ran to stand on Kaiba's other side, grinning. "White-lighting attack!"

"White lighting!" Yugi echoed happily, and Atem rolled his eyes, taking a rapid succession of photos, just in case Anzu wanted to pick a fight with him about how he was a horrible photographer who didn't know how to have good time.

Kaiba saw Atem roll his eyes, and his heart leapt with joy. Nice.

"Your turn!" Yugi insisted, rushing forward to take Anzu's phone from Atem's hand. "Go ahead. I'll stand closer this time, because bust shot, right? Anzu? Wait, adjust the purse strap to the other side!"

"Okay!" Anzu beamed and Kaiba's insides curled.
These two were social media photo whores.
He was now immensely thankful that the Kaiba Land form included the social media handles of all the guests to avoid bad PR from attendees.

"Now it's your turn!" Yugi cried as he gestured for his twin to step up beside the cute dragon.

Atem sighed and approached the mascot, feeling extremely silly, but he humored Yugi, also knowing that Kaiba would enjoy seeing a photo of him posing with the mascot.

The moment he stood beside the Blue-Eyes Dragon, he caught a whiff of a familiar scent that made his chest tighten and his stomach drop. It was a wonderful, sweet scent that was uniquely Kaiba's.

He's…in the costume! Atem reeled, barely hearing Yugi asking him to stand closer and smile.

"Atem, smile!" Anzu commanded, tilting her head and flashing Yugi a cute smile. "Take!"

"Taken!" Yugi replied, and he held the phone out again. "Taken again! Change pose!"

Kaiba wanted to die.

The kids were fine.
These two were just using him for likes.

Atem held his breath and tried to smile, but he kept slipping, trying to lean closer to the mascot, feeling Kaiba tense beside him. He had to force himself to stop.

Anzu leaned away, looking satisfied, and she thanked the mascot before rushing back to Yugi's side, inspecting the photos over his shoulder.

"We'll be at the fountain for the monster gathering!" Atem said brightly, giving the Blue-Eyes a wave and walking away as casually as he could.

He grabbed Anzu by the arm and dragged her away from Yugi, ignoring her protests.

"Wh—Atem! Wait!" Anzu shook him off irritably, waiting for Yugi to catch up. "What!"

"That's him! He's inside the suit!" Atem hissed, seeing Anzu beginning to turn her head, and he grabbed her arm again, rushing them forward so Kaiba would be suspicious. "Don't look!"

Yugi ran after them anxiously, "guys! …Where are you going? Wait for me!"

Kaiba frowned and watched them go.
Well, crisis averted. Atem couldn't smell or see him through the costume.
Oddly disappointing…or not. It was annoying to think about.

Well, the giant clock in the plaza said it was 3:45. Time to head to the damn fountain. He would try to take a lap around the park at least one time in an attempt to complete his mission.

He passed the arcade and winced from the noise, seeing a couple kids wave at him. He waved back and continued on his way, pleased that everyone was having a good time. A small group of parents were sitting under the shade of an umbrella while they enjoyed cups of coffee. Their children were running around the enclosed outdoor laser tag area, their excited shrieks ringing in the air.

"BLUE EYES!" Another kid called, rushing up to him to give him a hug.

Kaiba patted the kid gently and pried him off, looking for the parent. No one was looking in his direction.

He untied a balloon from his puffy claws and handed it to the kid, who took it and grinned cheekily at him.

"Thanks! I'm gonna go make my sister jealous!" He announced, and he ran back to the line he'd been standing in, and Kaiba saw his mother pat him on the head and wave.

He waved back, growing tired of the attention. Time to loop around the back and get to the fountain, because it was getting late.

Turning around quickly, he made his way towards the nearest building, to escape the sun and people waving at him. Stepping through the narrow pathways, Kaiba appreciated how even here, the staff kept the bushes well-trimmed. There was a small fold-up table set up by a window, along with some cups labeled with name tags, indicating it was the volunteer rest-area.

People inside turned to stare at him before covering their mouths and laughing, turning back to chat in their groups.

Kaiba swallowed thinly and tried to walk faster, but the costume was restricting, and it was getting hotter. 5 PM was when it would the hottest, so the meetup being held at 4 was supposed to be merciful.

Passing another building, Kaiba wrinkled his nose when he caught the stench of cigarettes, and realized he had passed the smoking area. He was close to the fountain, thank god, finally.

He was half-debating changing out of the costume when two men stumbled down the narrow path, arm-in-arm, swaying drunkenly against each other.

Gross, Kaiba thought, as he flattened himself against the wall to let them pass.

Voices and laughter followed, and to his annoyance, three more men appeared, singing loudly and talking.

"Did you call her yet, Tanaka-san?" One of the men drawled, stumbling into the chain-link fence and catching himself. "Ow! We shouldn't have drank so much."

"It's on Kaiba's tab. Who cares!" Another man called, waving at his friends as they took up the entire length of the path, blocking Kaiba's exit. "Hey! A Blue-Eyes White Drago-on!" The man hiccupped, and his friend took out his phone for a photo.

One of the men at the end was bent over a bush, dry heaving, and Kaiba wrinkled his nose in disgust, waving and pointing at the exit. Let. Me out. You disgusting. Motherfuckers.

"Blue-Eye! Let's take a picture!" The man closest to him said, and looped his arm playfully around his neck, forcing him to bend down to his height for the photo.

Growling, Kaiba considered talking when another guy spoke up, "this was my favorite card back in the day. Hey, aren't there supposed to be two more of you?"

Kaiba spotted the white wristbands on the men, indicating that they were guests of the other directors, and he tried to shake the man off, who only clung onto his harder, the scent of alcohol becoming overwhelming, even through the thick fabric of the costume.

He gave the man a rough shove, but the man draped himself against his body and gave him a deep sniff, his expression darkening instantly.

"Hey…guys… This is an Omega," he said groggily, the grip around Kaiba's shoulders being deathly hot and ironlike.

Kaiba froze in horror and lashed out with his fists first, but he lost his balance when a second man rushed at him from the side, shoving him against the wall of the nearest building so hard, the air was knocked out of his lungs. Coughing in pain, Kaiba barreled forward furiously in a headbutt, but was caught around the waist by a third drunken man, who bent forward intrusively and chinned his shoulder, sniffing at the space where the zipper ended at his neck.

"Wow…hey, is this a girl?" He breathed, clinging onto Kaiba's waist so hard, Kaiba's knees buckled, and he went sliding to the ground against his will as the men surrounded him threateningly, their faces twisted with lust.

"Does it matter?" Another man hissed, elbowing his friend. "Turn off location on your phone. Is there a camera here?"

Kaiba's breath caught painfully in his chest when he realized there was no escape. These men were clearly intoxicated Alphas, and there were five of them. Four if he didn't count the one still bent over in the bush.

I'm a fucking idiot! Kaiba berated himself furiously, struggling to fight back, to punch or kick, but the costume limited his movements, and he could feel hot fingers fumbling at the zipper behind his neck while two other men reached forward to his costumed gloves off.

Now thoroughly terrified, Kaiba tried to jerk his hand back to elbow the man behind him, but he was immobilized by the arms around his waist, and he could feel something hard poking him in the leg.

These guys are so fired! Kaiba raged, and he froze when he realized if they took off his dragon head, they would recognize him, and the secret would be out.

Seto Kaiba, an Omega in hiding, raped and killed by intoxicated Alphas behind the maintenance building at Kaiba Land.

Holy shit. What a fucking headline.

Atem stood anxiously in line next to Yugi, who was engrossed in his phone. Anzu had gone to get a snack, and they were place-holding for the Dark Magician Girl meet-and-greet line.

What troubled him was that it was now 4:15, and the adorable Blue Eyes was nowhere to be found. Some of the kids were whining very loudly about it.

It was hot, so maybe Kaiba had went to change, or to find someone to replace him inside the costume, but something still felt off.

A bead of sweat slid down the side of his face and Atem palmed it away in disgust, wondering why he was sweating cold sweat in this heat.

Something…was making him feel this way.

Something was wrong.

Is he in trouble? Atem wondered fearfully, standing up on his tiptoes and scanning the crowd, hoping to see the familiar blue dragon, but still none appeared.

"Yugi, I'm headed to the bathroom," Atem said firmly, giving his twin a tap on the shoulder, and Yugi shrugged at him.

"Can you bring us back a bottle of water?" He asked hopefully, glancing up from his screen for a brief second.

"I don't know," Atem replied through gritted teeth, and he ducked under the velvet rope to get out of line, heading straight for the nearest building, because something inside of him was screaming at him to run that way, faster…faster….

Atem broke into a full sprint and ignored the strange looks he got from people sitting around on the benches. Something was wrong, and it was happening behind this building.

Authors note:

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