Part 9 – Date: Lunch

Seto and Yugi sat in Seto's sleek, red sports car driving away from the T. V. station. An idea popped into Seto's head. "Hey Yugi, are you hungry?" he asked.

Yugi glanced at the clock. It read 12:30. "Hm I am a little and it is lunch time, why do you ask?" Yugi responded.

"Why don't we find somewhere to eat. Out. I'm feeling ambitious, plus I'm starving."

Yugi giggled. True, Seto hadn't eaten much that morning due to nerves, and with his lightning-fast metabolism he would certainly feel the effects of hunger much more. "Where would you suggest?"

"That's a surprise," Seto responded with a grin playing at his mouth.

It wasn't too long before the red car turned into the parking lot of a well known Italian restaurant. Whenever Seto ate out, he always liked eating top quality food, rarely entering any chain restaurant establishments. They got out of the car and before Yugi could go anywhere, he found his hand inside the warm grasp of Seto's.

They walked into the restaurant and got a seat. It was so new to Yugi, he hadn't been in a nice restaurant in a while. Mostly because he couldn't afford it. On occasion Bakura would take him and Marik out but Yugi always felt bad about taking more of Bakura's money, so more recently he refused. He couldn't refuse Seto. "This certainly is nice!" he said aloud.

"Yeah, it's one of my favourite places. I wanted our first...date to be somewhere nice." Seto said.

"So this...officially is a date?"

"Our first public date, unless you want me to make it any clearer."

Yugi smiled, "No! It's quite clear enough to me!" he paused for a moment to look at the menu briefly. "I'm glad you are starting to feel comfortable enough to be seen in public with me."

"It's only the next logical step Yugi, really. I mean why wouldn't I be seen with you in public, everybody already knows we're dating, there's photographic evidence of that. I can't keep hiding it, so why not just sit back and enjoy this while we can."

The two boys looked through their menu, ordering drinks to start. Yugi wasn't expecting Seto to pay for him, so of course he tried looking for something cheap and affordable – such as a salad. The waitress came to take their orders, and Yugi let Seto go first. Seto ordered some pasta dish that Yugi didn't quite know of, because he skipped over that section of the menu, determining he couldn't afford it. "I'll just have a garden salad please," Yugi told the waitress.

"Nonsense, he'll have the Tortellini, I know he'll like that," Seto told the waitress, changing Yugi's order. "My treat Yugi, remember it's our date and I'm paying."

"Really Seto you don't have to..."

"It's a date and I'm paying. Or unless you just want to go home and not have anything and ruin the whole thing?"

"No..."

"Then I advise you to just shut up and enjoy yourself. Relax."

Yugi smiled at Seto. He could get used to this!

Their food came, and they started to eat. Seto was right, Yugi did quite enjoy his meal! However Yugi noticed a change in Seto's actions. He was avoiding looking towards the door, by staring at his food, or just looking in the opposite direction. Plus his eating had slowed. Yugi decided to take a peek. Just as he did he noticed some older men being led to a table, all wearing business suits. There were three in total, and just when Yugi thought they were going to be led away they stopped and approached their table, surrounding his Seto.

"Well, fancy seeing you here Mr. Kaiba," one of the men in suits said in a deep, gruff voice. "I saw your interview this morning, bit of a cocky move you made there?"

"There was nothing cocky about doing an interview, but the actual interview itself wouldn't be the same unless I wasn't cocky," Seto responded, turning his head to face the men.

"And how ironic, for it seems you now like cocks."

"Hm, it appears I do. The bigger the better."

The man turned beet red in the face, anger fuelling inside him, "Well I can assure you that we at DigiCorp will no longer be doing business with you. We do not want to be associated with some frilly fag and his twisted ideas of technology! It's not natural!" the man spat in Seto's face.

"What isn't natural, my ideas or sexuality?" Seto coolly responded.

"Both, in fact. Fags aren't supposed to exist, and therefore neither their ideas. You are a disgrace to humankind you know that? Men are supposed to be with women, not other men! It's twisted, wrong, and disgusting."

"Have you at all cared to do any research before attacking me as such? There has been evidence found to show homosexuality does exist in other animals."

"Pff, those researchers, they're making it all up. Because how are you supposed to reproduce if you don't have a woman?"

"Simple, adopt, or find a carrier."

"You disgust me. You, and your unnatural, faggy ways. How am I supposed to associate with your company? How do I know that you suddenly won't start promoting fag shit?"

"You know, I do not appreciate your use of the term 'fag." Seto started to glare at the man speaking to him. Yugi just idly sat back, trying to make himself smaller as to avoid being dragged into the conversation. He knew that there was no way he could help Seto here, it was his battle, and it was evident that Seto wanted to win this on his own.

The man spat at Seto's feet. "You're nothing but dirt on the ground, lower maybe. I'll say whatever I like. You are a fag, a faggity fag. See? I said it. We're through doing business."

Seto stood up to his full height, towering over the man by a few inches. "You know what, yeah I like to suck cock, but so what? And so what if Kaiba Corp. starts to support gay rights, in fact start making rainbow coloured duel disks? You know, maybe I will do that. But when you find yourself at the bottom of the business pool flopping around like helpless fish and you see a flamboyant Kaiba Corp. on top, you'll be sorry you ever quit doing business with me."

"As if, I would rather be caught dead than doing business with a fag." With that the man turned on his heel and stormed away with his fellow men.

Seto slumped back into his seat, putting a hand to his head for a brief moment. "Fuck..." he murmured to himself, and then he then removed it and returned to eating. "Hey Seto..." Yugi started.

"Don't fret over what just happened, it doesn't concern you," Seto said softly. "I can handle it. It's business matters."

"But it seemed as if it was really important."

"It was," Seto said sighing. "DigiCorp was a huge partner with Kaiba Corp., but we can manage without them. It's not like anything I haven't handled before, it's just stressful."

Yugi reached out and placed his hand on Seto's, "It will be alright. Coming out is never easy."

"Hmph," Seto grumbled. "They don't know what they're missing out on."

Yugi chuckled. "No, they sure don't."

They finished eating, and Seto paid the bill. As they approached the car Seto's cell phone rang, he checked it. "Do you mind if I take this?" Seto asked Yugi, "I've never seen this number before, and I'm curious."

"Sure, go right ahead!" Yugi responded cheerfully. He went into the car, and just hoped that the call would bring something good, making Seto happy.

Seto stepped into the car and started the engine. "So?" Yugi asked.

"Apparantly a fashion line wants to do some business with me," Seto said with a smile playing at his lips.

"Is this a good thing for you or just another one of those 'I could care less' things?"

Seto looked at his lover. "Yugi – really? Do you need to ask? Honestly, or do I need to even say it?"

It hit Yugi, he always knew it just he blanked for a moment. He grinned and said, "Yeah, but I want to hear you say it!"

"Ngrrrr..." was all Seto's response was.

"Come on, say it! Don't be so embarrassed by it, it's nothing to be ashamed of. I'm sure every gay man is jealous of you, even though I'm only making assumptions as to what it is."

"Fine, I fucking love fashion and this opportunity has made me ecstatic." Seto started the engine and started to drive away.