Disclaimer: I have another confession to make, so complicated let me try to explain: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!

"You come on like a flame then you turn a cold shoulder.

I wanna give you my love, but you'll just take a little piece of my heart

And you'll just tear it apart."

~ Fire and Ice, Pat Benatar

Chapter 18

When his alarm went off at seven-thirty (he allowed himself an extra hour of sleep on weekends) Seto's eyes snapped open. He reached out and pushed a button on his phone to shut off the incessant beeping and realized, groggily, that there was a slight weight on his right shoulder. Glancing over he saw that Alistair was resting his head in the hollow of his neck. Much as he wished he didn't have to wake him, Seto had to get up to get ready for work and was aware that as soon as he moved the right side of his body Alistair would wake up. He made a valiant effort to be gentle, moving as slowly as possible, but to no avail. Alistair opened his eyes and yawned. Seto took the opportunity to get out of bed.

"What time is it?" Alistair asked sleepily. "It's still dark outside."

"Go back to sleep, it's only 7:30."

"Oh right. You have to work. Should I go back to my room?"

"Just go back to sleep," Seto repeated." Alistair nodded, rolled over and closed his eyes. He fell back asleep almost immediately.

Seto went about his morning routine as usual, save for making the bed, and was downstairs for breakfast promptly by eight O'clock.

"Good morning," Trudy said cheerfully when she brought him his food and coffee as well as the newspaper. He nodded curtly, unwilling to talk to her until he had some caffeine coursing through his system.

He flipped the newspaper open to the economics section and was pleased to see that there was a small article about Kaiba Corp's rising stock prices since the announcement of the Grand Championship Tournament. People knew that dueling tournaments drew large crowds and even bigger profits.

Now that it was becoming clear how big of a success the tournament was going to be it was time to do what he'd been putting off since conceiving the idea for Grand Championship in the first place: give Yugi a call. He had no idea what Yugi was doing these days since they so seldom ran into each other. He was too old to be in school still unless he'd decided to go to college, but Seto would have heard about it if he had so he could only assume that Yugi worked at his grandfather's game shop and decided to call that afternoon. He was hoping to use Yugi as a main attraction of sorts since he wouldn't be dueling himself.

Much as Pegasus had offered the winner of Duelist Kingdom the opportunity to face him in a match, Seto wanted to offer the winner of Grand Championship the chance to face the 'King of Games'.

Seto resented the title 'King of Games' almost as much as he resented the man who bore it. Duelists like Yugi and Joey Wheeler annoyed him to no end because they dueled without strategy, relied on luck, and still won match after match gaining fame, fortune, and fans along the way and had the nerve to preach about the 'heart of the cards' as though they were a cut above people like Seto who spent weeks slaving over formulating strategies. Still, if partnering with Yugi was what it took, then he'd swallow his pride and make it happen.

Sufficiently caffeinated, Seto set his mug aside and dug into the eggs, ham, and toast that Trudy had made for him. When she walked back into the room fifteen minutes later to collect his dishes, she noted the open newspaper.

"Anything interesting going on?"

"They announced that stock's going up."

"That's good then. I knew it would all be fine," she commented, though her knowledge of economics and companies and how they coincided was minimal.

"Thank you," he said as she stacked his mug on top of the empty plate.

"You're quite welcome," she replied, a bit startled. It had been quite some time since Seto had thanked her. She wondered if Alistair wasn't rubbing off on him a bit. Which reminded her: she had to go and collect the laundry later. Seto was easy because he actually used the hamper in his room whereas Mokuba and Alistair always had to scrounge around for all their dirty clothes when she knocked.

"What do you mean he's not there?" Seto demanded of Yugi's grandfather two hours later.

"Exactly what I said," the old man replied calmly. "He's not here. He's still in California with his friends taking a well earned vacation."

"When is he coming back?"

"I'm not sure."

"Hmm…"

"He and his friends are staying with a friend of mine: Professor Hawkins, I can get a message to Yugi through him if you want." That wouldn't be good enough.

"That won't be necessary." He was about to hang up when the old man spoke again.

"Is this about that new tournament of yours?"

"That's none of your business old man," he snapped and ended the call. So Yugi was taking a vacation, was he? No matter, there were still ways to get him back in time for the tournament, he just needed to make a few more calls. He looked up the location of Professor Hawkins' lab which turned out to be a part of his residence. Following up on this stroke of luck, Seto hacked into the computers of all the airports in the vicinity to see if Yugi or any of his friends had booked a return flight yet though he suspected not and turned out to be right. None of the members of the Geek Squad showed up in any of the databases. Satisfied, he called Mokuba's cell phone.

"Seto?" Mokuba sounded sleepy and Seto realized he'd woken his brother up, "what's up?"

"How do you feel about taking a trip to California?"

"California?" Mokuba's confusion intensified. "What for?" he managed to ask before yawning.

"I need you to pick up Yugi for me and his friends too if you have to."

"What are you talking about?" Seto sighed, hating it when no one seemed to be on his wavelength.

"Obviously Yugi can't be in the tournament if he isn't here. He and the dweebs are still in California. I checked and they haven't booked a return flight yet so I need someone to fly out to bring him back. You're the only person I trust to do that."

"What makes you think they'd come with me?"

"Pegasus flew them out to California the first time; I doubt they can afford a return flight."

"Oh, good point. When do you want me to go?" Seto contemplated. If Yugi and his friends really couldn't afford the return fare they were stuck in California indefinitely which meant he could send Mokuba to fetch them anytime he wanted.

"I'll give it a couple more weeks."

"Gotcha. Hey, could Alistair fly me?" Seto tensed. He hadn't even thought about that. Mokuba certainly would be safer with Alistair than any of his other pilots, but he wasn't sure that he wanted Yugi and his friends to know that the former Doma member was still connected to him lest they draw less than savory conclusions.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea."

"Why not? Do you still not trust him?"

"It's just not a good idea. End of story. Have a good day, okay?"

"Ok," Mokuba said slowly. "Bye."

"Bye." Mokuba set his cell phone down on his nightstand and stared at it thoughtfully for a moment. Seto had been acting so strangely the last couple of months which of course Mokuba was already attributing mostly to Alistair, but there was a darker undercurrent to his brother's mood as well. Seto, though he was pulling longer hours than ever before, seemed to be becoming less and less invested in Kaiba Corp, calling on Mokuba to take on more of an active role. It was giving Mokuba a bad feeling that he couldn't quite place, but he was starting to worry about Seto.

After deciding what to make the boys for lunch (Caesar Salad with tuna fish and homemade dressing) and taking a small break, Trudy decided to get started on the laundry. She hadn't seen Alistair yet which led her to believe he was still in bed, so she headed first for Mokuba's room since she knew she'd undoubtedly have to hunt around for a sock or two. She started to gather the clothes lying scattered across the floor into the hamper sitting by his bed half empty. As she picked up a pair of his jeans from under his desk a small object fell out of one of the pockets. Intending to reach down and put the object on his desk, she was surprised by the plastic texture. Squinting down she saw that it was a condom and almost dropped it.

And so it begins, she thought grimly, setting the condom next to the computer mouse. She wondered if Seto knew about his younger brother being sexually active. Probably not. From what she knew of fourteen year olds, they were very private when it came to such exploits unless surrounded by their friends. She stored the piece of information away to mention to him later, though she wondered if the young CEO would be of any help given (as far as she knew) his lack of knowledge on the subject and status as brother not father. It was times like these she pitied the siblings their lack of a guardian of any kind which was why she tried so hard to be a sort of a mother figure for them. She decided that if Seto couldn't or wouldn't intervene in this situation, she would. By her reckoning, Mokuba was far too young for such things. She stuffed the condom into the pocket of her flowery housedress.

That done, she continued collecting laundry and carried the hamper down to the laundry room to be sorted later that day.

Alistair forced himself to get out of bed once the sun started to shine right in his face through the window. He stretched, cracking several joints, and sat up, the red sheet slipping down his chest. He couldn't fathom how Seto did anything but lie in bed all day with a mattress as comfortable as the one he had. He stood only to realize that his left foot was asleep. Stumbling, he grabbed onto one of the bed's posts for balance, more fully alert. He looked around for his clothes and saw that someone, presumably Seto, had folded them and set them on top of the hamper by the door. Shaking his head at Seto's insatiable desire to have everything in its place, he made for the bathroom to take a shower.

Trudy was humming to herself, something she'd heard on the radio, as she mounted the stairs leading to the second floor, on her way to retrieving Seto's laundry. Approaching the door she was shocked to hear the unmistakable sound of water running in the shower. But how could that be? Seto had left for work almost three hours ago, hadn't he? She knocked politely before opening the door, intending to take the hamper and go when she saw several items of clothing folded on top of it: a black muscle shirt and dark wash jeans. Her eyebrows rose in astonishment as her eyes roamed across the rest of the room, taking in the unmade bed and then the open bathroom door. The glass doors of the shower were fogged with steam, but she was able to make out a flash of red hair before hastily looking away.

The laundry forgotten, she closed the door again and stood in the hallway trying to completely process what she'd just stumbled across. She had long since suspected that Alistair had eyes for Seto, but never once had she considered the possibility that the attraction would be mutual, though it did explain Seto's disinterest in Momo.

Still in shock she padded over to Alistair's room since she now knew he wasn't there. Sewell streaked under the bed when she opened the door.

"It's alright, it's only me." But Sewell remained hidden from sight. She began gathering Alistair's dirty clothes off the floor, her mind starting to make sense of several things that had seemed odd to her recently. All the times Alistair had had bruises (love bites) on his neck, the cagy way he and Seto talked about each other, the change in atmosphere between the two, it was all coming together.

Trudy had absolutely no experience when it came to gay men, the main reason she'd laid off bothering Alistair about dating, but despite the thought of Seto and Alistair…that way putting her off, she couldn't help but feel happy that Seto had finally lowered his defenses. She had no idea what had brought the two together since they had nothing in common in so far as she knew, but since she cared about both of them she was fine with seeing them end up as a couple, she only hoped it would last.

Alistair reluctantly got out of the shower and proceeded to get dressed in the clothes he'd had on the day before, before heading back to his room to retrieve Sewell and find Trudy to see if she by any chance had any food for him. He didn't have to go far; she was just leaving his room as he approached.

"Morning Trudy," he greeted her, grateful beyond measure that she'd come to his room before going to Seto's.

"Good morning Alistair," she replied, sounding flustered. A drop of water from his hair fell onto the carpet and he realized he ought to explain that away, not that he thought she'd jump to the conclusion that he'd been in Seto's room.

"I decided to take a morning swim," he invented. She nodded.

"That's nice. Lunch will be ready in an hour or so. Oh, speaking of which, I think I left the kettle on, excuse me." She bustled past him and hurried on down the hallway. Wondering vaguely what had put Trudy in such an odd mood, he proceeded into the bedroom where he was greeted by a meowing ball of calico fur that pounced on him as soon as he entered the room.

"Hey," he laughed, cradling the cat in his arms before she could shred the front of his shirt, "happy to see me?" She purred and rubbed her head against his chest. "I guess that's a yes. You're probably hungry too, huh? I didn't mean to sleep in so late, I'm sorry." Still holding the happy cat, he turned and left again, heading down to the kitchen to fill her food bowl. Afterwards he decided he'd give Darren a call to see if he had time to hang out.

Seto was a workaholic and he had no problem admitting that to anyone, but he was also human, and like most people, liked the weekends because his hours were shorter, though still longer than anyone else's. He left the KC skyscraper at eleven O'clock. Outside, the wind had picked up and he found himself stuffing his hands in his pockets to keep them warm. When had it gotten so cold? The phrase 'the frost is on the pumpkins' flitted through his mind and as he walked to the parking garage he tried to figure out where he'd heard it before. It was as he was unlocking his car that he remembered it as something his mother used to say. That happened from time to time: some random expression one of his parents had used or a book or movie they had enjoyed would pop into his head. It happened less frequently now, but maybe because of that it almost creeped him out as though his parents were speaking to him from beyond the grave.

Speeding home as was his way, Seto realized with a start that he actually had something, that is to say, someone to speed home to. Someone that he was going to share his bed with, that he was going to wake up with, someone besides his brother who would care if he didn't come home. Alistair would be there waiting for him. The thought kept him warm as he braved the chilly air in order to allow his retinas to be scanned to open the mansion's gate.

He half expected Alistair to be lying in his bed when he got upstairs, but he wasn't. Seto was far too proud to go to the other man's room to invite him in, so he merely left his door open and allowed the light to flood the hallway, a sign that Alistair, if he saw, was welcome. He kidded himself into thinking that he didn't care if the redhead came or not as he brushed his teeth and changed into his pajamas, but when he heard Alistair's light knock on the open door he was happy, though he masked the emotion as he set his toothbrush aside and joined Alistair in the main part of the bedroom only to see that Alistair's cat had followed him.

"My invitation was extended to you, not you and your cat," Seto said, eyeing the small animal that had tried to hide itself behind Alistair's legs upon seeing him, a person that was not her human.

"I know," Alistair replied, closing the door. "But I hate leaving her locked in that room all by herself."

"It's a cat," Seto snapped, "not a person. Cats like being by themselves." Not that he really had any idea what he was talking about.

"Come on, are you really going to turn her out?" Alistair bent down to pick up Sewell who stared unblinkingly up at Seto from the safety of Alistair's arms. The cat was very cute which even Seto couldn't deny.

"Hmph. Fine, the hairball can stay, but if it sheds on my sheets…"

"She will, but not that much, so as long as you're not allergic, you aren't, are you?"

"Not to my knowledge."

"Then it's no big deal. Besides, Trudy's the one who has to wash the sheets, not you, and she told me that it's fine."

"Alright, whatever, I already said it could stay." He turned to return to the bathroom.

"She."

"What?"

"You keep saying 'it'. Sewell's a 'she'."

"What. Ever." Alistair knew Seto well enough at this point to know that this was Seto's way of acknowledging that he was, to some degree, wrong, and would amend the behavior. While Seto finished in the bathroom, he pulled his clothes off and sat on the bed having already brushed his teeth in his own room. He patted the covers next to him until Sewell hopped up. She kneaded the blankets for a solid twenty seconds before curling up and laying her head on her front paws. She might have fallen asleep there had Seto not re-entered the room just then. She immediately jumped off the bed and hid underneath.

"You scared her," Alistair scolded him, getting down on his hands and knees on the floor to fish her out. "She's really skittish."

"You don't say?" Seto shot back sarcastically, not able to keep his eyes from wondering down the lines of Alistair's body as he tried to convince Sewell to come out of hiding, his ass perfectly sculpted by his black boxer briefs.

He walked up behind Alistair who was still talking to the cat, and trailed his fingertips lazily across his bare back before sitting on the edge of the bed. Alistair looked up, getting Seto's message loud and clear, and joined him on the bed.

Soon Seto's pajama top joined Alistair's clothes on the floor. Seto pushed Alistair onto his back and reached over him to flick the light switch on the wall over his bedside table, leaving nothing but the moonlight to see by.

Alistair traced the muscles of Seto's back with his hands before pulling him closer so that their chests were pressed together, enjoying Seto's solid weight on top of him. Seto found himself unconsciously grinding into the man beneath him as they kissed. His hand found it's way into Alistair's flaming red hair, vivid even in the semidarkness, and anchored itself there. Something was building, they both sensed that much, though Alistair had a better idea of what that might be than Seto. He worked a hand under the waistband of Seto's pants, then a second, making it quite clear that he wanted them to come off. Without thinking, Seto sat up long enough to comply, tossing the thin cotton pants off the side of the bed before returning to Alistair.

Hands roamed over skin, tongues explored mouths, and lips found their way to the hollows of necks.

Eager to take things to the next level, Alistair rolled the pair over so that he was on top looking down into Seto's ice-blue eyes. He stroked the side of the brunette's face before kissing first his mouth, then his neck, upper chest and so on.

By the time Alistair had reached his abs, Seto realized what he was gearing to do and tensed, not sure he wanted to relinquish that much control. Alistair lay a reassuring hand on Seto's chest, sensing the CEO's uncertainty.

He dragged his tongue along the sensitive skin above the waistband of Seto's black boxer-briefs, his free hand curling around Seto's cloth-covered bulge.

At that point, Seto made the choice to give in to the sensation and released the tension in his muscles, lay his head back on the pillow, and closed his eyes as Alistair began gently nuzzling his cock through his underwear.

Alistair was quite grateful for his one-night-stands now since they had allowed him the opportunity to learn a few tricks he wouldn't otherwise have known. He hooked his fingers under the elastic of Seto's underwear and pulled down, Seto lifting his hips ever so slightly until the briefs were at his knees at which point he kicked them off manually.

Seto hadn't touched himself since the first time he'd gotten a hard-on, hadn't seen the point, which turned out to be to his detriment in the current situation. As soon as Alistair took him halfway into his mouth he couldn't help but let a sigh of pleasure escape his lips. Alistair took the initiative and did his best to elicit more such sounds from Seto, an endeavor in which he was successful. Seto's breathing turned ragged and it took all of his self-control to pull himself together enough to tell Alistair to stop.

Confused, Alistair did as he was told. Seto sat up and captured Alistair's face in his hands, bringing him in for a rough kiss. The next thing he knew, Alistair was lying on his back with Seto effectively pinning his wrists above his head, a slight smirk on his face.

"Gotcha," he said softly before proceeding to mimic what Alistair had done and slowly kissing down the redhead's chest. As he did so he fumbled with Alistair's underwear, pulling them down to reveal his erection. Seto was never one to do anything half-assed and Alistair let out a small moan as Seto struggled to overcome his gag reflex before eventually settling into a rhythm that had Alistair's toes curling in no time.

Alistair felt himself starting to get close.

"Mmm, Seto, I'm gonna cum," he said, shutting his eyes as the pressure in his lower stomach continued to build and the muscles in his upper thighs started to tense.

Seto didn't have time to figure out what to do about that before Alistair had already shot twice into his mouth. He was so startled that he backed off, causing the rest of Alistair's cum to land on his own stomach. Alistair was momentarily too spent to care. His muscles relaxed again and he sank into the bed as his breathing returned to normal. Seto swallowed, the thick liquid slowly easing its way down his throat.

"Here, let me finish you," Alistair said huskily, reaching out to do just that.

"It's fine," Seto replied, intending to retrieve his clothes from the floor. Alistair sat up and laid a hand on his arm to stop him. "Seriously, I don't want it." Alistair nodded, disheartened to know that Seto was still holding back.

"I'm going to take a shower," Seto announced after a pause.

"Could I possibly join you?" Alistair asked tentatively, indicating the drying cum on his stomach. Seto bit his lower lip.

"Just go ahead; I'll take one tomorrow." Alistair chose not to argue.

"Ok."

Once he heard water running in the shower, Seto put his pajamas back on and lay on his back on the bed, attempting to sort out what had just transpired. He couldn't fathom what had come over him all of a sudden and caused him to lose control like that. Then again, Alistair seemed to have a talent for bringing out sides of himself he'd thought were long gone, why not this primal side too?

But did he want to be the person he felt himself becoming thanks to Alistair? Someone who let their guard down, someone who let themselves be vulnerable, someone who admitted that they couldn't always be strong? It went against every fiber of his being. Weak people like that were doomed to be unsuccessful; Alistair himself was proof of that. He had attacked Seto in fits of passion and had failed, Seto's calculated, unemotional strategies triumphing and winning him their second duel.

So what if he was afraid of failure, wasn't everyone? Was that really such a crime? In a world where a person had two choices: to be a wolf or to be a sheep, he'd sooner be a wolf. If Alistair wanted to be a sheep that was his business and it would probably get him killed, but that had nothing to do with Seto. He had tried. He had offered Alistair a job and Alistair didn't take it, his loss.

Alistair returned from the bathroom a few minutes later, his hair still damp from the shower.

"Are you still awake?" he asked squinting in the semidarkness.

"Yeah, what of it?" Seto asked moodily.

"Nothing, I was just wondering," Alistair replied, taken aback by Seto's sudden hostility.

"By the way, this is the last night you sleep here. After this you sleep in your own room. That is to say: a room in my house that I'm letting you occupy." Alistair's eyebrows contracted. What the hell had happened since he'd left to take a shower?

"Ok…" Sewell trotted out from under the bed at the sound of Alistair's voice and began circling his legs, purring.

"And the cat is not sleeping in this bed, got it?"

"What's the matter?"

"The matter is that you overstepped your bounds by thinking you could just move into my room because I said you could sleep here once, a mistake I won't be making again."

"What are you talking about?" Alistair demanded. He could only assume that Seto…no…Kaiba, was feeling emasculated somehow and was lashing out at him to compensate. Typical. "You know what?" he shot back. "I don't even care. Whatever." He yanked his clothes back on, grabbed Sewell (which she didn't appreciate) and stormed out of the room, not even bothering to close the door behind him.

As soon as he was gone Seto breathed a mental sigh of relief. This was step one to getting his life back to the way it was. All he had to do was keep Alistair at bay for a few more weeks, then he'd fly away and be out of Seto's life forever. Though this thought was satisfying to his brain, the emptiness on the left side of his bed was not lost on his heart which mourned the loss of his sleeping companion.

Back in his room Alistair paced back and forth, still fueled by adrenaline from his anger towards Kaiba. The man had no right to play him like that! To give and take what he wanted without considering Alistair's feelings. Alistair was holding absolutely nothing back; he had always been honest and upfront with Kaiba about how he felt, the CEO could at least pay him the same courtesy! Then again, maybe he was giving Kaiba too much credit. Perhaps Darren had been right when he'd accused Alistair of making excuses for Kaiba treating him poorly because he had built Kaiba up to be something he wasn't: someone capable of being saved.

Well fine, he thought angrily, if he wants to push me away so be it. I shouldn't have wasted my time on someone who clearly has no interest in putting his time into me.

He stopped pacing and commenced to work out until he was exhausted and finally, at almost four in the morning, collapsed on the couch and fell asleep.

Author's Note: There are certain key scenes in every fanfiction and we've come to another one here: the first sex scene between the eventual slash pairing. I was aiming for 'tasteful', how'd I do?

Also: There are certain key points I was trying to make with this section:

1. Seto is falling for Alistair and it's freaking him out.

2. Alistair has had it up to here with Seto's hot and cold treatment of him.