After almost an hour of driving through heavy rain, Duke reached his destination: the small pond he'd taken Ryou to just a couple weeks ago. It was a long shot, but it wasn't impossible.

He parked his car and grabbed a towel and his umbrella from the trunk. The area wasn't well lit, but Duke wasn't daunted by the darkness.

"Ryou!" he shouted, calling out in a voice that was too obscured by the rain. "Ryou, are you here!"

He began to approach the picnic area, where he figured he had the best chance of finding Ryou. It didn't take long for him to find a wet white and blue blob perched on a wooden bench.

"Ryou!" Duke called, breaking into a sprint as he ran over to him, sliding to a stop in the mud, but managing to stay on his feet. "Here, hold this." He passed off the umbrella to one pale hand as empty brown eyes stared back at him. Duke threw the beach towel around Ryou's shoulders and gently squeezed some of the water out of his hair.

"Come on, Ryou, let's go home." Duke's voice was warm and welcome, and he reached out to help Ryou stand.

"No, Duke—" Ryou whimpered, looking like he was going to start crying again.

"Let's get out of the rain, first, then we can talk about what happened." Duke's voice was firm and calm, and Ryou yielded to his will. Duke took the umbrella back from him and helped him stand up, putting an arm around his shoulders and holding the umbrella over both of them as he escorted him back to the car. He took the other beach towel from his trunk and let Ryou wrap himself with that too before bundling him into the passenger seat.

Duke started the car, setting the temperature to something warm that would revive Ryou from his soaked state.

"Please don't scare me like that, Ryou." Duke's bright eyes were serious, and Ryou couldn't bear to look at them. Duke gently took Ryou's chin in his hand and turned his head to face him. "Look at me, Ryou. I love you, and I would hate for anything bad to happen to you. It's not safe for you to run away and sit in the rain alone at night in the middle of nowhere. Promise me that you'll never do something like this again."

"I-I promise, Duke." Ryou wiped his face with the corner of the towel, starting to cry again. Duke leaned over and put his arms around Ryou, holding him close in spite of how wet he was. Duke didn't care, he just wanted Ryou to feel better.

"What happened, Ryou? Did someone touch you? Did someone hurt you?"

"N-No... I mean..." Ryou's breathing came in short, jagged gasps between sobs, and Duke rubbed his back comfortingly.

"What do you mean, Ryou?" Duke asked patiently. "Tell me what happened so I can understand."

"Kaiba and I kissed." Ryou hid his face in the towel.

"When? Where did this happen?" Duke kept his voice soft and patient to keep Ryou from getting more upset than he already was.

"It was after we had coffee today, we were walking back towards his office, and I tripped, and he caught me, and—I'm so sorry!" He started sobbing again, but Duke shushed him and took Ryou into his arms once more.

"It sounds like it was an accident, Ryou. It's okay, you don't have to apologize for that."

"It wasn't an accident!" Ryou jerked, as if he wanted to pull away, but Duke hugged him tighter, and Ryou calmed down a bit, just shivering as he rested his face against Duke's shoulder. His voice quivered as he whispered, "It was on purpose, and I... I-I liked it."

"Did you kiss him, or did he kiss you?" Duke asked softly. He didn't sound angry, didn't act angry at all. He just cared about getting Ryou home safe and sound right now. Besides that, he had a suspicion that Kaiba was the only one at fault here.

"I-I don't know..."

"It was Kaiba, wasn't it? He initiated the kiss?"

"Maybe, but I liked it!" Ryou whined, and Duke began to understand.

"You don't need to feel guilty about that, Ryou," he soothed, pressing a kiss to his cold cheek.

"But I care about him too!" Ryou was starting to cry again. "I feel so confused... I love you too, but Seto..."

Duke took a deep breath, slow and calm.

"You're freezing cold, Ryou. We need to get you out of those wet clothes." Duek gave Ryou one last squeeze and released him, turning to the steering wheel so he could drive them home. It was a long drive, after all, and the sooner they got on the road, the better.

"Are you mad at me?" Ryou whispered pitifully after several minutes of silent shivering.

"I'm not mad at you, Ryou. Not in the least." Duke reached over and pat his boyfriend's shoulder. "You can't help the way you feel. I understand. Kaiba's a good kisser, too. I know it's hard to resist that"

"H-How do you know that?" Ryou gasped, his tears abating, but he was becoming more confused.

"Because I've slept with him before. Just a few times, but we were never dating."

Ryou fell silent, and remained that way for a long time, trying to regain his composure and process what Duke had told him.

"What I'm trying to say is, it's okay for you to like him. You don't have to feel guilty about that, because you can't control your feelings. I'm glad that you told me about this, but since it upset you so much, I wish you'd just come to me to talk about it first. Don't run away from me; I don't want you to be afraid of me."

"I-I'm not afraid o-of you, Duke," Ryou stammered. "I was just... afraid of myself."

"When that happens, come home. Even if your mind is chaos, I want to know that you'll at least be physically safe. Once you're home, we can figure things out together." Duke reached over and squeezed Ryou's hand in his. "You can come to me with anything, Ryou. I'm not going to judge you. I just want to help you."

"Thank you." Ryou was experiencing a lot of emotional turbulence at the moment, an odd mixture of guilt, relief, confusion, and paranoia. He wasn't prepared to put it all into words just yet. He kept holding Duke's hand as he drove, closing his eyes and just letting his head rest back against the seat. He lifted his head when he felt the car slowing down, only to see that they had arrived at the Kaiba mansion.

"Why are we here, Duke?"

"Because it's closer, and the sooner you change out of those clothes, the better. I don't want you getting sick. Besides, we need to talk this out with Kaiba and come to an understanding."

"Do we have to do that now?" Ryou asked timidly, unprepared for this conversation, unprepared to face Kaiba again.

"Yes. The sooner, the better."

"It's okay, Mokuba, it was only a dream," Seto assured as he carried his little brother back to bed. Mokuba'd had a nightmare about one of the videogames he'd begged his brother to let him play—and this was exactly why he'd said no at first to letting him play it at all. Seto was still dressed in his work clothes. Mokuba had interrupted his working from his home office.

"Seto, we need to talk."

The voice was certainly an unexpected one, and Kaiba turned around slowly to see if it's owner was truly there. Yes, that was Duke standing at the end of his hallway, with Ryou wrapped in a towel and hiding behind him, just barely visible. Steely blue eyes met fierce green ones, the two of them staring each other down for a few tense moments. Mokuba kept his face hidden against his brothers neck, oblivious to the tension in the air.

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Kaiba," one servant girl said apologetically as she appeared behind his unexpected guests, looking flustered. "I'll take them to the sitting room to wait for you."

"Please do, and get Ryou some dry clothes while they wait for me."

"Yes, sir."

Seto turned and carried Mokuba back to his room, setting him down on the bed and, at his request, checking the closet for monsters. The brunette took his time putting his brother back to bed, just sitting on the edge of it and holding his hand when Mokuba asked his older brother to sit with him just a bit longer.

"You're not allowed to play that game anymore, alright?"

"Alright," Mokuba sighed, accepting this rule since he himself was frightened by the idea of playing it again. "What are Duke and Ryou doing here?"

"I don't know, but I'll see what they want and send them on their way."

"Okay. Please tell them I say hi."

"I will." Seto leaned down and kissed Mokuba's forehead, pulling the covers up around his narrow shoulders. "Sleep well, kiddo. Just remember that you're safe because I'll never let anything happen to you."

"Goodnight, Seto. I love you."

"I love you too."

"We should just go, Duke. We can make plans with him to talk about this another time." Ryou was huddled on the hearth of the lit fireplace, combing his hair out with his fingers as the heat helped it dry faster. He was wearing a fresh set of clean, nondescript clothes provided to him by the maid, a towel resting across his shoulders to keep his shirt dry while his hair was still wet.

"We're already here, and we're not leaving until we've talked this out and you've warmed up a bit more," Duke replied firmly from the armchair on the other side of the fireplace. He was determined to resolve the matter before Ryou became more upset by it. Surely his partner would torture himself over the incident if they drew this out any longer. "Are you sure that you're not sick?"

"I don't feel sick," Ryou answered demurely before sipping tea from the mug he'd been brought only a few minutes ago. He hadn't even asked for it, but it was the kind of tea he liked: lavender tea with a spot of honey, sweet and calming. That must have been Kaiba's doing. Ryou stared into his tea and sighed. Seto meant well, he really did. He hadn't meant any harm, and Ryou knew that. Duke insisted that he was still responsible for his actions, though, and that he had to answer for what he'd done. Ryou was honestly scared that a fight would break out between the two men, and that would undoubtedly be a disaster.

"I'm sorry to keep you waiting," the brunette said as he entered the quiet sitting room, closing the door behind himself and approaching his guests, but staying on the other side of the room. He didn't sit down, but remained standing, towering over both of them from a small distance.

"That's alright, it was impolite of us to show up this late at night without warning." Ryou spoke before Duke; he wanted to do his best to keep the peace, and he could see that Kaiba was making an effort to be polite, and he wanted to encourage that.

"I assume you wouldn't have come unless you needed to discuss an urgent matter?" Kaiba's words lilted towards the end, forming a question as his eyes flicked between his guests with a neutral, serious expression. He looked a bit tired, and perhaps a bit annoyed. but he had the right to be irritated.

"Yes, it's an urgent matter." Duke stood up to face the brunette, fearless and unwavering. "I think you should date us."

"What?" Kaiba and Ryou spoke in shocked unison. Neither of them had been expecting him to say anything like this.

"Ryou told me that you kissed him today," Duke continued in a calm, professional tone. "I know how you are, Kaiba; you wouldn't touch someone like that unless you truly cared about them. I'm right, aren't I?"

A faint dusting of pink touched the brunette's cheeks. Embarrassed and uncomfortable, Kaiba crossed his arms over his broad chest and broke eye contact, turning his head to stare into the fire.

"And Ryou, you said that you liked it, didn't you?" Duke turned to face his partner, who's cheeks darkened with a warm blush. Kaiba couldn't help but cast a swift glance at Ryou, just to see if that was true. "And you said that you still love me, but you also care about Kaiba. I care about Kaiba too, and I think he cares about us, even if he won't say it." Duke looked at Kaiba expectantly, a smug smirk tugging at his lips.

"I do find you both more likable than most people," Kaiba grudgingly admitted.

"If Kaiba cares for us," Duke continued, turning to Ryou and extending a hand to help him stand. Ryou took it, hesitantly rising to his feet and standing at Duke's side. "And we care for him, then I think we should include him in our relationship."

"What exactly are you proposing?" Seto was utterly baffled by Duke right now.

"Ryou and I are already dating. He cares about you, and you know I'd welcome you back, if you'd have us." Duke let those words hang in the air for a few moments. "You probably need some time to think this over, though, and we'll give you that. Thank you for hearing us out."

And with that, Duke lead Ryou out of the room, his partner too confused and numb to stop him or do more than glance back at the brunette in parting.

Kaiba sat down, hard. What the hell just happened?