Prompt: Karaoke + Trustshipping
Pairing: Seto x Ishizu
"Remind me why we went out with the damn Peanut Gallery again?" hissed Seto to Ishizu, who lowered the glass of red wine from her lips and responded:
"Because they invited us and consider us—well, you, at least, however quixotic that attempt may be—to be friends. It's polite. And harmless."
Honestly, would it truly kill Seto Kaiba to be sociable for once?
One look at his positively curmudgeonly expression as he sat next to her, the pair of them packed tightly into a booth in some dive bar with Yugi, Téa, Joey, Tristan, Serenity, Duke, Bakura, and Mai, and it was clear that yes, in some way, this endeavor possibly would.
Seto tucked his chin to his chest miserably, crossing his arms in front of him on the table. "Like hell it's harmless. And I don't do polite, I…"
"Yes, yes, we all know you only do ruthless and powerful, Seto Kaiba," Ishizu replied flippantly, her teasingly formal address making his eyes roll dismissively.
Ishizu and Seto were certainly a set of oddities among this raucous, genial collection; Ishizu had chosen wine, of all things, and Seto had chosen to sulk instead of drink. The rest of the gang paid them no mind as they exchanged cards and stories and swapped glasses of beer, shots of liquor. As it stood, Mai was currently kicking Joey's ass at drinking, surprising utterly no-one; Téa, Bakura, and Duke were watching over Yugi, who, despite his tiny frame and birdlike body mass, insisted on drinking with the rest of them, and Serenity was tugging at Tristan's sleeve, sweetly pleading, "please, Tristan… you know I love watching you sing…"
Tristan's face was bright scarlet as he responded in a hushed whisper: "Serenity, babe, that's something that's between us… keep your voice down!"
Ishizu patted Seto on the head, almost condescendingly, as she caught wind of Tristan and Serenity's hushed conversation.
Karaoke, hmm? Not something I've done before, but…
She drained her wine glass and whispered smoothly in Seto's ear: "You might want to keep your eyes on me, Seto…"
His head lifted from where it was buried in his arms curiously as Ishizu stood up and motioned for the gang to get out of her way.
"What are ya doing, Ishizu?" questioned Joey drunkenly as Ishizu reached for the shot glass before him that dripped with whiskey and knocked it back, feeling confidence surge through her veins.
"You go, girl!" cheered Mai, clapping her well-manicured hands in delight as Ishizu made her quiet way up to the stage with its tiny, cheap karaoke machine and its squeaky black microphone.
Seto felt himself begin to blush with secondhand embarrassment at what Ishizu was doing. Good god. This woman. She constantly surprised him, and usually for the better.
Would this situation prove similar?
Ishizu scrolled through the list of songs that flickered on the neon-green screen and selected one, a smile curling on her lips.
She took her place at the microphone, only half-believing that she was doing this sort of thing—in public, no less.
No matter that Ishizu Ishtar was not a particularly good singer in the first place. She was getting rather bored with Seto's endless grouching at this completely benign occasion, and if her little act helped amuse him…?
Well, that would be an added benefit.
The first beats of the music began to thrum throughout the bar, while the gang in the booth (save Seto) cheered and clapped for her in encouragement.
Ishizu fixed her eyes on Seto, her gaze nearly sultry under her thick lashes, and slid her coat off her shoulders and onto the ground, revealing her collarbone and a faint hint of cleavage. Gods, this is embarrassing? What silly thing shall I do next?
She certainly had Seto's attention. And while Ishizu Ishtar was not gifted with song, her graceful movements and sheer nervous enjoyment of what she was doing somehow made this whole thing seem worth it to him.
Partially, anyway.