IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT!! - This is the Yu-Gi-Oh! Yaoi portion of the Shipping List in order. Be forewarned. Some "pairings" will not be fluffy and cute. But they will all, hopefully, be believable. Rating's will vary.

Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! is the intellectual property of Kazuki Takahashi

Author's Notes: Thanks to everyone who reviews and/or faves this!

Rating: PG - T


Yu-Gi-Oh! Shipping List #26 - "Nothing I Wouldn't Do"

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Bickershipping (Malik x Katsuya x Seto)

"Jounouchi!" Malik skidded into the living room, grabbing onto a wall to stop himself and panting, resting one hand on his knee.

Jounouchi paused the game he was playing to give Malik his attention.

Seeing Jounouchi turn his way, Malik continued. "I was on Seto's computer," he said breathlessly, pointing back up the staircase "and I accidentally found something."

"Accidentally while you were snooping or accidentally while you were goofing off?" Jounouchi asked.

Malik paused to think for a moment before he answered with certainty. "Goofing off."

Curiously, Jounouchi rose from the couch and made his way to the Egyptian. "Let's see."

The two made their way up the stairs to Seto's private office. Seto kept his home office locked at all times; of course, Malik and Jounouchi had been picking that lock since the first day they'd moved in.

Malik led Jounouchi to the computer on Seto's desk and turned the monitor for him to see.

Jounouchi loved Seto. He was hard to get along with sometimes and their strange three-way relationship with Malik was rocky at times but it was love, he truly believed that. So when Katsuya Jounouchi saw the photograph of his sister on Seto's computer, he didn't know what to think.

But there she was, Shizuka, far away in the place she lived in with their mother, sitting at an outdoor café, sipping tea. Jounouchi slowly took a seat in Seto's plush, leather chair, gripping the mouse and clicked the next icon. There were more pictures of Shizuka, some of their mother, but many of Shizuka - hundreds - and with each passing snap-shot Jounouchi grew more and more angry.

"Katsu?" Malik probed hesitantly, leaning slightly over Jounouchi's shoulder.

Jounouchi shut the computer down with the flick of a wrist, amber eyes hard and narrowed at the darkened screen. Distantly, they heard the main door close downstairs and Jounouchi's mood only darkened as he rose from the seat, stalking wordlessly into the hallway, Malik following at a distance.

For Seto, it had already been a day from hell. One of his investors had pulled funding on a rumor regarding his sexuality. He had informed the man that he was the CEO of Kaiba Corporation and he did not feel the need to defend his sexuality, of all things, to prying old men. Seto Kaiba did not have to explain himself. He had been hoping to return to the sanctuary of his own home, to his understanding lovers, but as he looked up, and saw Katsuya descending the stairs with that look, he knew it was not to be. But whatever Seto imagined of the argument to come, Katsuya's words were a mild surprise that he had hoped he might never have to deal with.

"You wanna tell me why you've got pictures of Shizuka on your computer?" It was a demand, not a question.

Seto snorted in irritation, frowning at the descending blonde. "I have no intention of explaining myself to you. The contents of my personal computer in my locked office are no one's business but my own."

Jounouchi stood before Seto, his anger mounting, clear in his eyes. "Damnit Seto! You know how much Shizuka means to me. Now you tell me what you're doing with those photos right now!"

Seto sent his lover the hardest, coldest glare he had so that Jounouchi couldn't possibly misinterpret his meaning.

"No."

Seto's answer seemed to hit Jounouchi like a shot of ice through his heart. For a moment he seemed in shock, then finally he spoke, eyes wide with the realization of his own conviction.

"Tell me Seto, …or I'll leave this house … and I'll never come back."

Seto looked away. He could not stand to see that look on Jounouchi's face. "I already said no."

"… …you bastard."

It was all he said before shoving past Seto on his way to the door. Seto could not stop the jerk that came when he heard the door slam behind him. A moment passed in silence before he finally acknowledged Malik, standing motionless some yards away. "Well Ishtar, are you leaving too?" His words were just as cold, but somehow, he could not bear to look Malik in the eye as he said them. Instead, he looked ahead, head held high in defiant detachment.

In Malik's eyes, tears welled. "I'm back to "Ishtar" now?"

"…" For Seto, it had been a slip of the tongue; a defense mechanism to push away everyone close to him, but he hadn't meant to say it. And he couldn't say he was sorry.

Malik turned quickly, before the tears could fall, and ran back up the stairs, leaving Seto alone in the suddenly oppressive silence.

* * *

Seto found himself staring once again toward the wall-mounted telephone in the kitchen of the Kaiba manor; another brief glance frozen in place by wandering thoughts of the passionate blonde he'd grown to care so much for.

Katsuya would not come back. He had said he wouldn't, and he would not. He always had been as stubborn as a mule and as proud as himself. But he might call. There was Malik, and Mokuba, after all. Seto was glad for once, that Mokuba had gone to spend the night at a friend's house after school. He had not been here to witness the fall out. But when he returned, and found Katsuya gone… Seto was not sure he could handle the disappointed look his younger brother was bound to give him. It was his fault, after all.

And aside from Mokbua's disappointment and subsequent wrath, Seto also had to face Malik and the hole in his heart, torn out with the slamming of the door behind Jounouchi. Malik was…fragile…in matters of security. Unlike Jounouchi, he let very few people into his heart. Though he made friends easily, his heart had been wounded by his darkness and his father and he was afraid of being hurt by others - rejected, abused, abandoned… To lose someone he had trusted not to hurt him…it would break him.

Seto's conscience, kept alive through the long years by Mokuba and mutated into a ruthless, uncompromising, monster by Malik and Katsuya, was starting to bother him. He felt sick. Giving the phone one last, side-long glace, Seto left the kitchen, heading up the staircase to make the easy apology.

Taking a deep breath through his nose, Seto knocked on the door to Malik's little-used bedroom. Malik didn't really own much and he didn't often sleep in there but he had always appreciated having a place of his own in the house. He sometimes retreated there to read or to write. After a long moment, Malik's voice drifted through the door.

"Come in."

Seto opened the door and entered. Malik was sitting on his bed, his back to the door. He knew it had to be said. "…I'm sorry, Malik. …You know I didn't mean it."

"I know." Malik's soft, non-accusatory tone made Seto even sicker. "You're not really gonna let Katsu leave, are you?" Malik turned back to face Seto. "He had a right to know. I found the pictures. It wasn't Katsu. He has a right to know why you have them. Why won't you tell him?"

… "I didn't have those photos taken." Seto admitted. "And I didn't come across them by accident. I've been keeping tabs on Katsuya's father since he moved in. The man is a disaster waiting to happen and I wasn't going to allow him to ruin Katsuya's life any farther…or mine." Seto took a seat on the edge of Malik's bed and continued, looking out at the far wall. "While running a routine check on his finances, I discovered that he had borrowed money from people one should never borrow money from and was, of course, behind on payment. Following that track, I found that as a possible retaliation, his daughter was being scouted. I knew that Katsuya would only blame himself if he knew so I took care of the situation myself. I didn't want him thinking about it."

"But now you've driven him away."

Seto frowned. "He gave me an ultimatum. It was the only decision I could make at the time."

"Get him back or I'll kill you."

Seto turned to look at the other. At times like this he was never really sure if Malik was just kidding, or if he might really try something. A long moment passed in silence between the two before Seto decided that it wasn't worth arguing. Instead, he stood up, straightening his shirt, and asked "Are you coming?"

"No." was the simple answer he received in return. "I didn't screw up."

"You broke into my office again." Seto returned dryly, making his way to the door. "If not for you, I wouldn't be in this mess." he mumbled, pulling the door open. "I should make you get him back. You're sending me straight to the anti-Seto Kaiba headquarters, I'll have you know and another thing, I sincerely hope you don't save all of your death threats for me." Seto's rant followed him out the door and down the hallway before Malik finally grinned to himself and dropped back on the bed with his head hanging off the edge, watching out the empty doorway.

When Seto had said that he was headed to "the anti-Seto Kaiba headquarters" he hadn't been kidding and he hadn't been wrong. Hiroto Honda had never been overly fond of Seto, but when his best friend had dropped the bomb and announced their relationship to his friends, Honda had not approved in the least bit.

Seto was of course, everything that Honda made him out to be, which made it all the more difficult to argue his case in front of the man - not that Seto had ever believed that he needed to validate his feelings for Katsuya to Honda but the fact that he was one of Katsuya's two best friends made it difficult. Katsuya valued his opinion so highly that if Honda was ever able to seal his case against him, Katsuya might actually take his advice.

The entire trip to Honda's house was spent in calculating the best way possible of getting Katsuya out of there quickly and without too much of a confrontation, because a confrontation would only make him look worse to Katsuya right now. By the time he pulled into Honda's driveway, however, he was no closer to a solution than he had been pulling out of his own. So with nothing but grim resolve, Seto made his way to the front door and knocked loudly.

It was Honda who pulled open the door, frown already in place. "Katsuya doesn't want to see you right now, hence the reason he's here, so go home." Honda would have slammed the door right in his face, if Seto hadn't stopped it with his arm.

"What he wants and what he's going to get are two different things." Seto ground out, pushing the door back into its fully open position. "I appreciate that you're only trying to protect him but that's my job too."

"What are ya talkin' about?" Jounouchi asked, appearing further in the room. "You've never protected me from anything. An' I don't need ya to."

Seto bowed his head, exhaling and allowing the hair to cover his eyes. "I know that. It was more of a…courtesy, I guess…"

Jounouchi stepped forward slowly. "What are ya talkin' about Set?" he asked, coming to a stop behind Honda but still making no move to invite him inside.

"Are you going to explain why you have pictures of Shizuka on your computer?" Honda demanded and Seto shot him a glare sufficient to halt a stampede.

"Let's just go home and we'll discuss it." he said, turning to Katsuya.

"Let's not." Jounouchi returned, his tone hard. "Anything you can say to me you can say in front of Hiroto."

Seto's response was closer to a growl than anything else but he somehow managed to swallow his pride, blaming himself for having not one, but two lovers with the ability to manipulate him so easily with nothing but his formerly malfunctioning conscience.

"I followed the trail of your father's recent debts to a man who was having his daughter scouted as a possible compensation and I took care of it. End of story."

No matter how trivial Seto had tried to make it sound, Katsuya and Honda were still staring at him like a bomb had dropped.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Jounouchi finally asked, voice quiet, as if he might bring the roof crashing down if he spoke any louder.

Seto relented. "Because I knew you would just blame yourself and I felt that there was no need to worry you after the fact."

"How exactly did you…take care of it?" Honda asked.

Seto didn't answer. He held Jounouchi's gaze and stood rigidly, hard sapphire eyes unforgiving and cold to all the world, save for the precious few he had let in. For those he loved, Seto would do anything, give anything, and it was only then that Jounouchi realized how much Seto truly loved him. Tears filled Jounouchi's eyes as he slipped past Honda and threw his arms around Seto's waist, burying his face in the front of his shirt.

"Next time just tell me." he mumbled against Seto's chest and Seto closed his eyes, wrapping his own arms around Jounouchi, neither agreeing, or apologizing.

Jounouchi went home that night, Seto wiped the pictures from his hard drive and changed the lock on his office door…again, and Malik happily abandoned his room for a warmer bed where three boys slept, content and secure in each others embrace.


Post whatevers: Next up is Seto x possessed Jounouchi x Yugi (that's right, "possessed" Jounouchi is a seperate character on the shipping list...). As always, if you liked, please review. Ja!