Part 10 – Clubbing: Performance

The days leading to Yugi's drag performance were flying away fast. There weren't that many to begin with anyways, and it seemed as if no time passed at all before Yugi was preparing for that night.

A lot of things happened in those few days. Seto had lost more business, and gained some. There were tense moments between him and Yugi, others loving. But what really seemed to distract Seto the most was the fashion gig he got. Yugi had always known Seto was into fashion, even before dating him, simply by what he always wore, and the fact it had "Kaiba Corp" labelled on some of his clothes, indicating he designed it. Yugi chuckled as he recalled the conversation they had about it the evening after the lunch incident over the phone:

"Seto, so tell me, how long have you been into fashion?" Yugi cooed over the line.

"A while," Seto replied with a flat monotone.

"Well, it only really became evident to me after Duelist Kingdom, because you wore that flamboyant purple trench coat with chains and everything. You really seem to like shoulder pads."

"Look, stop teasing me about it. I'm embarrassed enough as is. And to answer your question, before I was even adopted I liked clothes."

"Why are you embarrassed, I thought you loved this sort of stuff."

"I do..."

"Then what are you embarrassed about?"

"For similar reasons to not wanting to come out of the closet, I have an image to uphold."

"But why uphold an image that isn't true about you? Honestly Seto, lots of people have already speculated your love of clothing, it isn't exactly hidden."

"..."

"Hey, listen, I understand this is all new and frightening to you, but sometimes you have to learn to just love yourself for who you are, and just go for it. You'll be much happier if you can just be yourself. Trust me."

"Thanks Yugi, but it's alot easier said than done."

"I know, I know, but try for me, ok?"

"Hmph."

"Oh! And you do know Bakura is in that industry too, he's actually quite a well known fashion designer. It's what he does for a living. And he uses Marik as a model, so if you ever want to know more about the industry and how it works, or pass ideas by him, you can always give him a call."

"Really? I didn't know that's what he did for a living."

"Seto, you don't know what most people do for a living, because you never cared to find out."

"Anyways Yugi, it's been lovely chatting with you but I have some work I must catch up on. I'll talk to you later."

"Alright, good luck. Love you, Seto."

"Mmhmm, you too."

Yugi reached for his makeup bag, and sat down in front of his mirror. He felt like he had learned something new about Seto that day but yet again, it wasn't anything new. Maybe it felt new because Seto had confirmed his suspicions? Could be. Yugi started to dab at his face with foundation.

The hour passed by and the three boys were ready and dragged up in their respective Gaga costumes. They had perfected their performance: Marik would perform first, lip synching to "Paparazzi", then all three would be on stage with Bakura singing "Bad Romance," and finally, they would leave the stage, and let Yugi play away on the piano and sing, "Greatest." He felt "Future Love," wasn't quite the right choice for how he felt right now. He knew it wasn't a released song yet, but it was feeling right for the occasion.

"Hey, where is Kaiba?" Bakura asked Yugi, "I thought you said he was going to come if you were dragging it up?"

"He did," Yugi said, "He had some work to finish up tonight so he said he would meet us there, most likely after the performance. But he said he would be there to watch us."

Bakura nodded, "alright, as long as he's there, you have quite a treat in store for him with that song of yours."

Yugi nodded and smiled. They left the gameshop and headed to the club a few blocks down the street from them and entered. Yugi couldn't help but scan the vicinity for his Seto, but so far Seto was not there. 'He'll be here,' Yugi thought to himself, 'he said he would come, and would most likely meet us after the performance. He'll be here.'

Not much time had seemed to have passed before their performance was starting. "Paparazzi," went smoothly, as Marik seduced the audience, receiving cat calls and cheers. As Marik finished his performance and squatted to the ground upon the blackout of the stage, signalling for Yugi and Bakura to come and take their positions, Bakura quickly turned to Yugi and asked, "hey, Yugi, you ok?"

"Hm? Yeah, I'm fine..." Yugi responded.

"Don't worry about a thing, you'll do fine. I'm sure he's out there."

Yugi smiled and nodded. He would just have to trust Seto. "All right, come on!" Bakura piped after Yugi, as they pranced onto the stage taking their positions. The boys whirled their way through the song, twirling, and twitching, Bakura falsetto-ing, and it was glorious. Finally, it was Yugi's turn to perform his song, as the piano rolled out and he sat down.

He took his wig off and shook his hair. It wasn't spiked up as it should have been, but fell neatly around his shoulders. He spoke in his regular voice, "I know I look like a girl," he said, "but gender shouldn't matter right now." He could feel himself starting to choke up a little, stage fright always got the best of him. But he pushed onwards, "Tonight, I want to dedicate this song to my partner, Seto Kaiba." He scanned the audience quickly to see if he could find his Seto, but to no avail. However, he had faith and played the first few chords of the song and sang.

Yugi closed his eyes and imagined the audience wasn't there. Instead, inside his little head, the only audience present was his Seto. He was singing "Greatest," by Lady Gaga to his Seto, about how wonderful Seto was, and how he was the greatest to him. He loved that boy so much. He would do anything for his Seto. He found himself really getting into it, and the fact that the audience wasn't talking really helped him focus on the imaginary image of Seto in his mind. In his mind Seto was smiling, maybe actually getting emotional at how Yugi was singing. There were a few sniffs from the real audience. It further helped Yugi's imagination. Finally, he finished, and there was a roar of applause.

Yugi opened his eyes and faced the audience, who were all cheering and jeering for him. "Bravo!" he heard. "Fan-fucking-tastic!" "You have a beautiful voice!" "More!" So much praise, so much applause, Yugi could feel his eyes starting to well up with tears of joy as he scanned the audience once again. However, after sweeping his eyes across twice, Seto wasn't there. He missed the performance. He said he would be there. A tear fell from Yugi's eye, not of joy from the praise, but of an intense depression threatening to take over.

"Yugi!" Bakura exclaimed as Yugi came backstage. "You did AMAZING! That was incredible! Wow, you really are something else, that is so incredibly sweet you sang such a wonderful ballad to Kaiba...I'm sure he's impressed...hey Yugi, what's wrong?"

Yugi sniffed. "Seto isn't here."

Bakura's eyes widened in shock, then he extended his arms in comfort, which Yugi embraced needily. "Awe, there now hun, I'm sure he didn't mean to miss out on such a lovely performance, he must have good reason." Yugi just dug his head into Bakura's shoulder more. He had prepared so much! Why would Seto miss out on this? He said he would come, it was the reason why Yugi was doing this...

"Hey, why don't you go down to his house and see what's up. Obviously a phone call is out of the question right now, I don't know if you can even get a word out. I'll get you a cab, here..." Bakura whipped out his cell phone and walked Yugi outside to the cool night, arm around Yugi in comfort. Moments later a cab came up to the curb, and drove Yugi away to Seto's mansion.

When Yugi got to the mansion he thanked the cab driver, and gave him a bit of a tip – Bakura was nice enough to pay, and Yugi would have refused but he was too depressed to speak up for himself. He approached the large gates, punched in the code, and entered. He walked up to the door, trying to dry his eyes on his arms. He swallowed hard as he knocked on the door.

Yugi was greeted by an obviously frustrated and upset Seto, looking down at him, glass in hand. Yugi could smell the contents of the glass from where he was standing – was Seto drinking at home? Was that why he missed his performance? Tears started to reappear at Yugi's eyes, emotions speaking rather than logic, "So is this why you didn't come tonight? For some stupid drinks?"

Seto glared at Yugi, "I have not been drinking. This is the first, I haven't even taken a sip. I literally just mixed it as you knocked on the door, don't make such assumptions."

"So, then why ARE you going to drink then?" Tears had cascaded down Yugi's face by now.

"I need to escape for a little bit, I need to just get the fuck out of here into my own world where nothing can bother me! Can't you see I'm a bit stressed out right now, I can't deal with your drama right now Yugi."

"Oh, MY drama? It's more like OUR drama than just MINE." Yugi came into the house and Seto shut the door.

"What do you mean our drama, you come here on my doorstep in tears. What the hell is the matter, and I warn you I have one nerve left so I can't promise..."

"You missed my performance."

"What?"

"You missed my performance. The performance I worked so hard on just so you could see. You missed it..." Yugi couldn't help but break down, holding his head in his hands. What was wrong with Seto?

Seto was slightly taken aback, "Right..." he said. He remembered now. The events of the night had gone by so fast he had completely forgotten to go to that. He remembered marking it down on the calendar. "Yugi, I'm sorry – "

"You're sorry? That's all? Sorry isn't going to cut it this time!" Yugi choked out between sobs.

"I'm sorry, I really meant to come but I had some of my own drama happen here at the mansion tonight, preventing me from coming." Seto tried to keep his voice calm, he learned yelling wasn't going to solve anything based on what happened earlier. Plus his voice was feeling tired. He put a hand to his head.

Yugi looked up at his lover. "Drama? What sort of drama could be so important to prevent you from –"

"Mokuba." Seto sighed.

Yugi felt somewhat of a weight lifted. If it was drama revolving around Mokuba, then it must have been important. There were only two important people in Seto's life – him and Mokuba, and even if the drama was slight it still meant a lot to Seto, because he cherished him. He was his only family. "Oh...what happened?" Yugi asked.

Seto turned his face away from Yugi, rubbing his forehead with his hand, drink in the other. He looked down at the glass and as he brought it up to his lips he felt Yugi's hands clasp around the glass and take it away from him. "Not now Seto, if it's the sort of thing that's going to make you drink, it has to be important. Look, I forgive you for not coming, I realize it must be something pretty important that happened. You can tell me, I won't get mad," Yugi said as he took the glass away and set it on the table. He led Seto to a nearby couch and sat down, motioning him to do the same.

Seto sat down, holding his head for a minute. He felt terrible inside. First Mokuba, and now he missed Yugi's performance. How could he forgive himself? Yugi had forgiven him but he felt he screwed up big time. This whole 'coming out' thing was much harder than he thought. "Mokuba..." he started.

"Mokuba what?" Yugi prodded.

"Mokuba came to me asking for bottom surgery."

Yugi's eyes widened in shock. "He what?"

"He came to me asking for bottom surgery. Apparently Mokuba is transgendered, and transitioned about a year ago without me knowing, minus the surgery. I have no idea how he did it, he managed to hide everything so well...I'm surprised the doctor's didn't tell me anything. Obviously he wanted to keep it a huge secret from me, but I don't understand why...he can tell me anything..."

"So what happened tonight?"

"We had a bit of a yelling match. I was upset with him. I wasn't upset with him for the fact that he was transgendered but for the fact that he didn't tell me and couldn't trust me, but I don't think he got that. He's up in his room now, terrified. I have no idea what to do, or how to get across to him..."

Yugi stood up and hugged Seto close. "Let me help fix this for you," and he kissed him lightly on the forehead. "All is forgiven Seto, that is pretty drastic. Seems like another Kaiba is coming out. I'll go get him...or rather her. You need to tell Mokuba why you yelled at...her, and that you aren't mad. You need to fix this."

Seto looked down, "Yugi I'm really sorry, I feel horrible. I've screwed two things up. I swear I knew you were performing tonight but...this just happened so fast and...really Yugi...you're the best."

Yugi smiled. "Seto, I know you. I know I got a bit out of hand, but my emotions and stage fright got the better of me, but if I were thinking correctly I know that you would never miss something unless there was something important going on, such as this. Drama with your now sister is never good, he's you're only family. I understand."

Seto smiled slightly and shrugged his arms. "Just one thing," Yugi said as he started to leave the room, "don't start drinking without me. We're still having a good time tonight."

"Fine, but not until after I've fixed this mess."

"Of course, you need to do that sober! But afterwards," Yugi shifted his eyebrows, "once Mokuba is out of our hair, we can have some fun."

Seto chuckled to himself. He would give Yugi one hell of a ride to make up for the night's loss. "However," he called to Yugi as he was walking away, "I want to hear that song of yours you worked so hard on. Sober. You'll play it for me tonight, and maybe Mokuba if he...I mean she wants to hear."