Prompt: Prideshipping, lost in the woods
Pairing: Yami x Seto, Prideshipping
Yami sat down heatedly on the ground and took in his surroundings, wishing that any of these verdant green trees looked distinct from one another. Perhaps they could find their way out of these blasted woods if they could find some sort of landmark…
"Yugi, this is getting absurd. I don't know why you insisted that the two of us stick together—we could obviously cover much more ground if we split up," came the thoroughly annoyed voice of Seto Kaiba. The taller duelist was still standing, glaring down at the smaller duelist with a haughty attempt at apathy. This dweeb really doesn't know when to quit, does he? At least admit that you've gotten us lost in this virtual prison, and then we can move onward, dammit.
The hold that the so-called Pharaoh seemed to have on him, without knowledge or without trying to, was only serving to fully piss him off. He found himself consciously fighting the urge to stare into the petite man's scarlet eyes, to let his own blue eyes skim over Yami's slender, toned frame like he was eyeing a piece of meat… Stop. Best to keep up the pretense that the only source of his poor attitude was anger and loathing, rather than…
…frustration.
Frustration that is clearly unreturned.
"I refuse to let you go off on your own, Kaiba," remarked Yami sternly, shaking his head firmly, the blond bangs fluttering around his face. "What purpose could it possibly serve for both of us to get lost in these woods separately?"
Seto's voice was perhaps harsher than it needed to be when he replied: "Well, at least I wouldn't have to be lost with you."
Yami flicked his eyes to his shoes briefly, hoping to hide the flush on his cheeks at the cruelty he should have expected from the ice-cold Seto Kaiba.
He sighed under his breath, forcing himself not to take in the tall drink of water that was Seto Kaiba, with that appealingly husky voice and brown hair that fell into his eyes, without his thinking about how damned beautiful it made him look…
As far as he's concerned, we're merely rivals. Not even friends… and certainly not… more.
Yami finally stood up, legs slightly shaky, and surveyed the never-ending canopy that stretched above the pair of duelists. The forest really could go on forever. Who knows what Noah's capable of?
Suddenly, his wide eyes alighted on a tree with a particularly low-hanging branches. Hmmm… perhaps?
He slid the Duel Disk off his arm and walked over to the tree. Seto watched him, trying to puzzle out what exactly this strange not-Yugi was hoping to accomplish.
"Yugi, what…"
"Kaiba, I believe that if I can attain enough altitude in this tree, perhaps I could gain sight of where the edge of this virtual forest is." It's not an awful idea…
"Isn't that unnecessarily dangerous?" blurted out Seto before he could stop himself. He coughed unpleasantly, trying to avoid meeting the smaller duelist's eyes. "I mean, look at you. You're like a twig. You probably can't even climb a tree…"
Yami rolled his eyes, daring himself not to linger on what Seto had just said, and responded by hoisting himself up several feet using a series of strategically picked branches.
Seto looked at Yami's motions in the tree, almost awestruck. He folded his arms across his chest. "See anything yet?" Idiot.
Don't stare at his ass, dammit. Don't…!
"So far, nothing yet," came back the former Pharaoh's voice. "Oh gods, though, Kaiba… it's really quite remarkable. You really must see this…"
While Yami couldn't make out an end to the forest, once he had climbed above the canopy of green, he could take in a breathtaking series of snow-capped mountains and volcanoes gently emitting smoke. Above the tree line, the sky was a brilliant pink-orange, all combed through with gold.
Yami straddled a branch to steady himself. Despite everything, he found himself closing his eyes and letting out a deep breath. He smiled slightly.
A rustling motion beneath him shot a terror through his veins. Noah's goons again? He looked down below him, and saw none other than Seto Kaiba, a twig or two stuck in his chestnut hair, attempting to climb up to where Yami currently sat.
Seto was breathing heavily, and not just from the effort expended in climbing up his high. "Yugi… what the hell are you doing…? Get down from there before one of Noah's spies finds you…"
His hand on the branch where Yami sat began to slip, and without thinking about the dangerous repercussions of such a simple act, Yami shot out his own hand and grabbed Seto's to stop him from falling.
Gods. The electricity that licked at Yami's wrist nearly undid him. Seto's hand was strangely soft in his own, the nails digging into the back of his hand evenly trimmed.
Seto let out a gasp despite himself at the feel of the calloused tan hand holding onto his own…saving him. Fuck.
I cannot let myself owe him anything.
Also, fuck this whole damned thing.
Yami helped Seto hoist himself onto the branch where he was perched. Seto slapped his own hand out of Yami's as if the latter had some kind of contact-based disease that he was loath to catch.
"Isn't it beautiful?" Yami asked softly, his brilliant eyes boring into Seto's.
He only partially meant the view.
Seto gulped and took in what Yami had called him up here to see. I must be losing it. That's the only explanation.
The view left him without words. As did the way Yami was looking at him right now.
Like he wants me to…
Seto and Yami, sitting in a tree…
Yami blushed as the old rhyme he'd heard Yugi's friends tease one another with popped into his head. The two men, sitting in this tree above this forest, the whole virtual world seemingly at their fingertips.
In this moment, despite everything, despite Noah's looming presence, looking for Mokuba and the idiot friends of not-Yugi, the threat of Gozaburo…
…That strangely did not matter in this moment.
Seto regarded Yami's trembling lips, his own heart disgustingly aflutter.
"Yeah," he murmured, before leaning in. "Beautiful."