Warnings: minor profanity, major stubbornness ...
Chapter 3. Image
"What the—" Seto began, realizing that his day had just gotten longer.
There, on the screen before him, was a photo of Atem kissing him.
"Someone must have had a camera turned on," Seto murmured, thinking of all the laptops in the robotics room. Could Atem have chosen a worse location for pulling that stunt? Probably not.
Mokuba looked over his shoulder, trying to figure out what his brother was talking about. "Nii-sama?" he said. "Uh, Nii-sama, when were you going to tell me about this? I mean, you told me you got into a scrape with that—"
"Ushio."
"Yeah, him, but you didn't say anything about kissing someone."
Seto waved at the screen tiredly. "Yeah, well, it isn't what it looks like. For one thing, I wasn't kissing him, he was kissing me, and it was a stupid prank. A dare."
"So … you wish he was serious about it?"
"What? No! I wish he hadn't done such a stupid thing at all!" He almost asked Mokuba what he was thinking, but decided he really didn't want to know. There was no way he wanted to get into that. Besides, he had much more important things to do.
Like get that page down.
Of course, it was already too late, but the gesture was important. First, he created a bot to search and destroy copies of the picture. At least the thing should be erased from the internet almost as quickly as it spread. Then, to get a line on the perpetrator and pull down the original site …
Of course, he had a fair idea of who was responsible already. It wasn't like he was pretending innocence.
Once that little emergency was taken care of, Seto looked up and it was already 11 pm. And he'd hoped to go to bed early tonight. It was still earlier than he often got to bed, but …
"Seto?"
"Hn? Oh, yes, Mokuba?"
"It would have been OK with me if you had been kissing him, you know."
Seto shook his head. "What? What are you talking about?"
"Well … you just haven't been dating anyone, and you always say that girls are so annoying—"
"They are annoying! But that doesn't mean …" he wasn't interested in dating girls? Seto frowned. He hadn't really thought about dating anyone. It was mostly because he'd had to take the reigns of KaibaCorp so early and that took all his attention, but …
but what?
But of course he would date a girl, or …?
He frowned. He didn't have time for that shit now.
"Mokuba, I don't need to date anyone right now. Look at today. I just don't have time to think about that kind of thing."
"But you need to at least think about it. I know you have obligations and stuff, but you're still … you know."
"All I know is that I'm tired, and it's been a really, really long week."
And there was still one day to go.
The next day, Seto walked into school like nothing happened. It was really hard to maintain the front today. For once he found himself thinking Thank God it's Friday! along with all the rest of the herd. He resisted the urge to lean against his locker when he arrived at that temporary refuge. He tried not to wonder how many of his fellow inmates had seen the offending webpage.
"Kaiba? Hey, Kaiba, at least let me help get you get rid—"
Seto sighed heavily and turned on Atem. "Didn't you check this morning? It's already down," he snapped, more harshly than he'd intended. "Besides," he added, a little more calmly, "haven't you done enough already?"
"I'm trying to make up for that," Atem said. "I've been trying to apologize all week."
"You did that already … or don't you remember?"
"Yes, but …" Atem glanced at the floor, then made himself look back into Seto's eyes steadfastly. "I really need to make it up to you."
"Well, I guess that's too bad for you, then," Seto said. He turned toward Latin class, but for some reason, he didn't feel better. He'd expected to feel at least a little better, but he didn't.
At lunch, Seto went to the cafeteria as usual. He would have avoided it, but deviating from routine would have been an admission of defeat. He was tired. It was frustrating to discover that maintaining his equanimity took so much effort that he had to stop by the restroom just to gather himself ahead of time. He wasn't sure what he expected upon his entry: a wave of chatter and gossip, or a sudden silence. He wasn't even sure what he would prefer. He was sure that there would be some sort of reaction.
He stepped into the cafeteria with what he hoped was supreme confidence to a smattering of titters followed by whispered conversations. Yeah, it could be better … still, he supposed it could be worse. He felt the eyes of Otogi on his back. Yes, Otogi instigated this whole thing.
His mind worked as he studiously ignored all of his surroundings except for the things he came for. Otogi's father had gaming interests; could this all be some sort of devious plan to divert attention from KaibaCorp's Christmas offerings? Does that oaf seriously believe that distracting people with personal shit is going to degrade KaibaCorp sales in favor of his father's offerings?
Seto had to smother a laugh as he walked to the cashier. It came out as a brief, choking cough. He expects me to retaliate. Heh, he's beneath my notice. Just a fly … to be swatted like a fly.
And Atem? He wanted to "help." Seto had shooed him away like a fly, too, but, like a fly, he didn't seem like he was going away anytime soon. Seto could feel his eyes following him as well. … Along with just about everyone else's …
Flies.
He strode from the cafeteria reminding himself of that. Thank goodness for the robotics lab.
And weekends.
With everything that he had to do, Kaiba Seto was rarely the first person to school in the morning. Sometimes that wasn't such a good thing. He walked in the next Monday, his mood a bit higher having had the weekend to fade his bruises, but unfortunately some of them were the kind that ripened to a deep shade of plum before they started to fade.
His black eye, for example.
But his spirits were immediately dashed because the entire hallway was papered with grainy photocopies of that same surveillance picture from the computer lab:
Hundreds of images of Atem planting one on his unsuspecting mug.
As much as Seto would have liked to say that he simply walked to his locker without missing a beat, that was not the case. He stood for at least two seconds, absorbing the ramifications, before hardening his expressionless mask and striding purposefully to his locker.
Why was I not prepared for this? It was the obvious next move.
He ruthlessly squelched his strong urge to rip photocopies from the walls: There were far too many, and nearly the entire student body had already seen them anyway.
And what good would it do? A few of them had seen the website, and for the rest of them this only confirmed the rumors they were already hearing. The last thing he needed was the student body getting the idea that he cared; that this whole campaign was getting under his skin.
The bad news, Seto decided, arriving at his locker and swiftly twirling the combination lock dial, was that the picture made it look like the kiss was consensual. He did remove the copy from his locker, dropping it casually to the floor.
Seto liked to believe that he could just ignore the opinions of others. He didn't care what they thought of him. But today, he found it very difficult to ignore the whispering hum of the herd staring at him. At least none of them dared accost him at his locker today.
He thought.
Turning around with books in hand, he saw two crimson eyes staring earnestly up at him. This was the last person he wanted to see today. "Kaiba," Atem began.
"I'm not in the mood," Seto stated, slamming the door of his locker closed. "Don't you have a class to go to?"
"Wait," Atem said in a loud whisper, trotting after him as he strode toward Latin class. "There's something … I need to … talk to you about!" Finally catching up, Atem gripped Seto's wrist.
Kaiba practically snarled, whirling on his pursuer and jerking his arm away instinctively. "What is it now?" he hissed in a barely-restrained whisper.
"Won't you let me help you with—" He was interrupted by Kaiba's bitter laugh.
"Well, isn't that nice? You're the cause of all this, and now you're going to somehow magically repair my reputation? Thank you, but I can take care of myself." He glanced around. "Look, every time you're seen near me, you only make things worse. You can help me by keeping your distance."
"But, Kaiba, I …"
But Seto was already striding rapidly away down the corridor to Latin class.
Atem wasted no time recruiting his friends to help him remove the hundreds of home-made posters hanging around the school. With a little divide-and-conquer, it took a lot less time than he'd feared.
Jounouchi met him at American Joe's after school. "You owe me a milkshake," he said. "You know I did this for you, don't you? I'd never give up a lunch period for that prima donna. Hell, I wouldn't lift a finger for him."
"Yeah, you don't have to remind me. But you're not the only one I owe." The two waited a few minutes for Honda, then Atem bought them all milkshakes.
"Isn't Anzu coming?" asked Honda.
"Nah, she said she's watching her weight. Guys have to be able to lift dancers, you know."
Jounouchi chuckled at that and began to open his mouth, but Anzu appeared as if by magic. "Got anything to say about that?" she asked.
"No, ma'am. You're a very, um, graceful dancer."
"As you'd do well to remember." She smiled at Atem. "You think I'd miss meeting up with you guys just because I don't suck up junk food?"
"To the point, though," Atem said, "who do you think is doing all this? And why would they have it in for S-Kaiba?"
"A lot of guys have it in for Kaiba," Jounouchi grumbled. "Just because of his attitude."
Atem frowned, then cocked an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"Think about it!" Anzu said, grabbing a seat. "Even I agree he has a bad attitude, and I'm a girl. Yeah, I know a lot of the girls are impressed with him, but he just … the way he walks around, all Mr Superior? He thinks he's better than everybody else. It's annoying."
"So someone out there decided to cut him down to size," added Jounouchi. "It's just human nature."
"In other words, Kaiba can back up his point of view. He is the best student—and one of the best athletes—in school—and he runs a company." Atem frowned again. "I keep forgetting that. How does he do it?"
"I'm sure he has some help," Anzu suggested, waving a dismissive hand. "After all, he has enough money to hire someone—lots of people—to help him."
"Another reason why he walks around acting like he's better than everyone else," Jounouchi offered resentfully.
"Why am I even talking to you guys?" Atem grumbled. "It's not like you want to help me."
"Help you do what?" asked Jounouchi. "We helped you with the posters. The way I see it, it hurts you. Why the crap would you do that kind of thing? Taking that dare. It makes you look like you have the hots for him. Eech!"
Atem laughed. "Really not caring about my reputation," he said. Obviously Kaiba cares, though, he thought. Maybe I should leave him alone?
Atem looked up to find Honda looking at him as though he really wanted to say something, but he didn't.
"I think this is all aimed at Kaiba," Anzu said thoughtfully.
"Huh?" Jounouchi said. "Wait a minute, now, Atem's been hurt by this campaign just as much—"
"Just hear me out," she continued. "It all started with the dare, and the stuff is all really aimed at Kaiba, right? Kaiba for prom queen? Kaibaslover dot net? Come on!"
"You're right!" Atem said, and then palmed his forehead. "Of course! It's so stupidly obvious … Otogi! For him the whole thing was win-win, don't you see? If I said no, he gets to kick me around, say I backed down; I say yes, he gets to kick Kaiba around. And-and isn't his father in the same business as Kaiba? Oh, geez … how do I fix this?"
Anzu reached out and put a hand on his arm. "Atem," she said, and waited for him to look at her before going on, "some things you can't fix. It's best to just wait for some things to just blow over. Kaiba's really smart, right? And he hasn't done anything—other than making them take the website down, right?—so maybe you should just, you know, wait."
Atem hated to admit that Anzu might be right—and her hand on his arm, her big, earnest blue eyes looking at him with such loving concern, made him uncomfortable. There were other serious blue eyes … He sighed and clutched his milkshake tightly. "I guess you're right," he said.
A few more days and things really did seem to feel like they were beginning to blow over, but Atem hated giving Kaiba room. He wanted a real conversation. So he decided he'd given it enough time, but he didn't have the right kind of opportunity to talk to Kaiba at school, and he didn't want to risk starting things up again. All the same, he wasn't sure that he'd have any chance to talk to Kaiba at all here. Still, he had to try.
He pulled his hoodie tighter around his shoulders, tugged the hood further over his forehead, and speeded his steps as he hurried down the sidewalk.
Atem didn't like this neighborhood. It was the wealthy part of town, and although the surroundings were lushly green, they also seemed ridiculously tamed and manicured. He was glad that there were still hedges to shelter him from the prying eyes he imagined were staring at him from all of the large, gleaming picture windows of those huge mansions overshadowing him.
At this point, he didn't want to have to stand waiting for Kaiba out in the open where people could see him. It wasn't as though he expected people from his school to happen by, but he'd caused Kaiba enough embarrassment by now and if he could spare him an additional blow to his pride, he'd gladly do it.
As soon as he got to the address, he slipped behind a tree near the gate. He decided he'd try to sneak in when Kaiba arrived. He'd skipped out early and splurged on a cab specifically for this. Kaiba had Robotics Club, so who knew when he'd get back?
"Hey, can I help you?" A boy with sparkling violet-gray eyes and a mane of shiny black hair down his back stood before Atem. "I'm Kaiba Mokuba."
Kaiba's brother?
"I'm Motou Atem. Uh, I'm kind of waiting for your brother."
"Oh?"
"It's a long story."
"You're not planning on beating him up, are you?" Mokuba asked, raising a doubting eyebrow.
"No …"
"Then come in and tell me about it."
Atem followed Mokuba in through the alternate door through which he'd mysteriously appeared. Eventually he was led into a sumptuous living room done up almost completely in white with light blue accents.
"The white was our father's idea," Mokuba commented. "He's dead."
The way Mokuba stated that last fact indicated that he wasn't particularly broken up about it.
Huh.
"You were saying? About wanting to talk to my brother? Can't you talk to him at school?"
"Well, that's just the thing," said Atem, feeling heat creep into his cheeks, "I did something the other day that I need to apologize to him for (again) and if I approach him at school, things will just get more difficult for the both of us."
"You're the one!" yelled Mokuba, pointing at Atem so forcibly that Atem was sure he'd be poked in the chest. "I should have known right away!" He pushed the hood off of Atem's head. "You kissed Nii-sama on a dare!"
"Yeah, I guess."
"You guess? Is that something you can forget?"
"Not exactly. It's something I regret. It's not like I had his permission, and … well, apparently I took him off his guard."
"Yeah, he kind of got beat up. So you're here to apologize?"
"Yes, I'm going to try."
"Ha ha, good luck with that."
"So he's pretty mad?"
"Are you kidding? It's all over school. I should be really mad at you myself."
"Why's that?"
"Because I hate seeing him upset."
"But you're not mad?"
"I don't know. We'll see."
Atem looked at him. Funny kid.
Just then, they heard the sound of a door opening in another room. "Mokuba?"
"I'm in the living room, Nii-sama. How was your day?"
"I'm exhausted. I just want to—what the hell?" Kaiba said, walking in. "You let him in?"
"I didn't know who he was until afterward. And, besides, he says he wants to apologize."
"Him? He wants to apologize?" Kaiba shifted his attention to Atem and suddenly the blue of his gaze, which had been warm tropical lagoons for Mokuba, froze over into glacial ice. "He's already apologized, Mokuba. He knew exactly what he was doing. Why should I even listen to you apologize again, Atem, let alone grant you forgiveness?"
"Aw, c'mon, Nii-sama, at least listen to what he has to say!"
Kaiba turned back to his brother, thawing visibly. "Very well, since you asked. But you're not listening in, Mokuba. It's between the two of us."
"Aw, Nii-sama!"
"If you want juicy details, go to the internet and dig them up—about someone else—and don't go spreading gossip about me!"
"You're no fun."
Seto turned abruptly toward Atem. "Come with me."
Without so much as looking to see whether Atem was following, Kaiba turned and walked out of the room, down a hallway and into what looked like a little sitting room. "What is this?" asked Atem, confused.
"A room we seldom use off of one of the guest suites. I just want some privacy. It's bad enough that I have to go over this with you at all. The only reason I'm talking to you at all is because of Mokuba."
Atem sighed. "Fine. Whatever the reason, please just listen. I'm really sorry that I accepted that dare. I should never have taken advantage of you like that, forcing myself on you—"
"You've—"
"I'm not finished."
"You've already said that. That's all I want to hear," Kaiba said icily.
"You promised Mokuba you'd listen."
Kaiba sighed heavily and said, "Fine. Speak your piece."
"All right. What I need to tell you is that … Shit. Why is this so hard?"
"What? I wish you'd get this over with. This whole thing has been a nightmare for me."
Atem closed his eyes. "The thing is, when I kissed you, I realized I'd always wanted to do that. Ever since I did it, I can't think of anything else but doing it again."
"You … You're crazy! Why would you want to?"
"Why?! You didn't feel anything then? When I kissed you?"
"What are you … No, don't tell me."
"Kaiba." This wasn't going at all the way Atem wanted. Kaiba wasn't listening to his point of view at all. Atem thought back. Kaiba hadn't really had a chance to react when it happened. Atem was dying to try it again. Then he would have a better idea of how Kaiba felt about it.
Yeah, that would work well.
As if he caught the thought, Kaiba said, "Don't even think about it," in tones that could liquify nitrogen.
"Of course not," he lied. "But isn't there any way that I can make it up to you?"
"What, and confirm the rumors circulating around school? I think not."
"Since when do you care about rumors?"
Atem didn't think Kaiba's gaze could get any colder, but to his surprise, its temperature seemed to plummet at least one hundred degrees. "I don't."
"Then tell me how I can make it up to you."
"I'll grant that you're persistent."
"I'm almost as stubborn as you. Ask Jounouchi."
Kaiba's expression turned unreadable and he said, "I'm positive that this is a mistake, but I can't have you trailing after me for the rest of the year."
Atem looked at him eagerly. What could he have in mind? Any number of possibilities floated through his mind, each bringing him in more intimate proximity with Kaiba.
"Something has come up, and I usually assign this task to a junior executive—someone eager to please and afraid of failing, someone who can't imagine saying no. What's happening is we're having a product announcement at KaibaCorp this weekend. All the partners will be there. There will be a meet-and-greet, press, the usual. Your assignment will be to keep Pegasus J Crawford happy. Whatever it takes—within reason, of course. That means, find a way to keep it within reason. Do you think you can handle it?"
"All right, if that's what you want."
The disappointment Atem felt must have filtered to his face because Kaiba said, "Don't you think you can handle it? I thought you were always ready for a challenge."
"I am. I said I'd do it, didn't I?"
"Oh, I see, you envisioned cuddling up with me all weekend. Well, it's not going to happen."
"Not at all," Atem lied. "I'll see you Saturday."
"And then we're square. No more apologies, no more help."
Author's notes ...
Yack, still can't post a new story; is it just me? Not hearing back ... sigh ... Meanwhile, thanks to everyone who reviewed for your generous support! Love is greatly encouraging—and encouraged!
Kaibaslover dot net: A fictional website made up for this story. As of this writing, it does not exist (I checked). So don't come after me, guys!
Next time ...
Then Pegasus leaned back examining his glass of wine and said, "So exactly how did you talk Kaiba-boy into—for lack of a better word—letting you run errands for me?"
"It's really none of your business, but—to make a long story short—I insulted him and I'm doing this by way of apology."
"You insulted him, eh?" Pegasus raised a platinum eyebrow and looked Atem up and down. "I can imagine."
Atem's assignment gets personal.
