Disclaimer: Just own the words, not the folks.
Week 4 – Part 1"He's in love with you, you know," Yugi imparts.
Kaiba looks up at the shorter duelist from his laptop and the faxes and printouts scattered around him. Though packing and unpacking had been a pain in the ass, one positive side of the move is that every room came equipped with a 4-in-one scanner/fax/printer/copy machine and Kaiba's been getting three times more work done than he had before. Few have dared venture into the room when the CEO is in full work-mode, so Kaiba's a bit startled to see Yugi standing not three feet away from him.
"What the hell do you want, Yugi?" Kaiba glowers, turning back to his work. "I'm in the middle of some things right now. Come back later when I'll have time for you."
"No, Kaiba," Yugi grimaces. "I need to talk to you now."
"Then talk!" Kaiba whirls back around, crossing his arms in exasperation. "I don't have all day."
"He's in love with you, Kaiba. He has been for years. And seeing you with Amelda is breaking him. I tried to tell him that you two were just friends, but…"
"What the hell are you talking about?" the CEO interjects. "And what business is it of yours who my friends are?"
"For the love of…" Yugi mutters angrily, reeling himself in before he tells the arrogant prick what he really thinks of him at the moment.
"Well, speak up, shrimp! Like I said, I don't have all day!" Kaiba pushes.
"Yami's in love with you, Kaiba!" he yells. "Ra knows why, but he is! He won't believe me when I tell him that you and Amelda aren't together, so I was hoping you could tell him yourself. Please! I'm not suggesting that you return his feelings, but he's barely holding it together right now and just that knowledge would help him a lot. I'm sure of it! Please, Kaiba!"
"And if Amelda and I are together?" the former brunet presents easily.
Yugi hangs his head.
"Well, then I guess knowing for sure would be better than his random speculations," the shorter duelist concedes.
After several moments of tense silence, Kaiba turns back to his work.
"I have a lot of work to do, Yugi. I'm sure you can see yourself out," he throws over his shoulder.
"Right. Sure. Sorry to have bothered you. After all, why should you care about someone who's saved your life several times over, including from running yourself into a wall in your nice, expensive car," Yugi replies sarcastically, before turning swiftly and exiting the room.
Kaiba doesn't respond to the other's jab. Instead he stares out the window over the small desk that he's taken over, deep in thought.
He's been clear on his preferences since the end of Battle City. By the beginning of the KC Grand Prix he'd known for sure how he felt about Yami, but hesitated to say anything. And then…then it was too late. The former Pharaoh is a prize he'd given up attaining sometime near graduation, after witnessing the other's amorous clench with a female classmate.
Kaiba closes his eyes a moment, remembering the exact instant he accepted that his love would forever be unrequited.
And now to hear that Yami is in love with him… He's not sure what to do with that information, if anything. Especially with all that's going on around them.
A glint out the corner of his eye alerts him to the cameraman's presence.
Kaiba's evil sneer is the last thing that camera records. Ever.
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Marik glances over his shoulder at the angry, sulking duelist stretched out on the bed behind him. He wants to tell the haughty Pharaoh to get lost, that he wants the room all to himself, but something in those furious, crimson orbs warns him to leave the other be. Especially since the now crimson-headed Game King is in possession of both the Puzzle and the Rod.
But, damn it! He'd really wanted a room alone so that no one would know about his occasional lonely tears.
"I miss him," he sighs again.
He hears the other sit up and braces for the jeer he knows is coming.
"I'm sure he misses you to," the Pharaoh offers supportively instead. "It must be nice to have someone you care for so deeply who cares for you in return."
Marik turns to straddle the desk chair backward.
"Aren't you and Kaiba like that?" he inquires seriously. It's obvious to him that the Pharaoh has had a thing for the Priest practically since they met each other in this life.
"No," Yami laughs humorlessly, looking away. "He's obviously quite taken with Amelda."
Marik furrows his brows at that statement. Bakura and Ryou had said that too, and that idiot Honda. Was he the only one who could see that Kaiba was only using the redhead like a security blanket and would probably never speak to him again after this whole ordeal?
'I guess it's up to me to set him straight, then,' he concludes, not liking this suddenly compassionate side rearing its ugly head.
'I'll go get drunk and beat up some people later,' he resolves. 'That'll make me feel better.'
"You're wrong," Marik asserts to his obviously despondent roommate. "Amelda's just something for Kaiba to cling to at the moment. He doesn't have any real feelings for the guy. He'll probably never even speak to him again once this is all done."
"Why would you say that," Yami narrows his eyes at him.
"Duh! It's obvious to those of us who have eyes. I mean the guy still calls him Kaiba! If they were playing 'hide the salami', I'm sure he'd have graduated to 'Seto' by now," Marik scoffs.
"Kaiba's a very private person," Yami asserts. "He may have insisted that Amelda not call him that in public."
"Right. And does Amelda strike you as someone who does what he's told?"
"No," Yami mumbles in admission.
"So, now that you know, what are you waiting for?" the other prods.
"Grandpa, Anzu, Mokuba, Shizuka and Ishizu to come home," Yami replies soberly, reminding Marik again that…
"Ra, I miss him," he sighs despondantly, turning around in the chair and laying his head on the desk.
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By the time Jounouchi closes the dresser drawer on the last of his clothes, he's decided that his fling with Valon is just that, a fling. At one point, he may have thought it to be more, but Ryou's question last week really brought the truth home.
"That and Noa's hot body," he mumbles to himself, partially scheming about how he was gonna get with that! "If he even swings my way," he sighs.
Well, whatever he plans to do with Noa, he certainly can't attempt it if he's still hooked up with Valon.
"First things first," he affirms, "So I might as well get it over with. After dinner of course."
Quickly, he makes his way down the stairs to the center courtyard of the stone castle for dinner. A castle. Jounouchi shakes his head. Trust that toon freak to put them in a smaller version of the Duelist Kingdom castle. After he pounds that guy for kidnapping his friends and family and forcing him to participate in this farce, he'll beat the crap out of him again for housing them in a spot that would bring up nothing but bad memories for most of the group!
Yugi went to the Shadow Realm there, Yami almost killed Kaiba…Fuck! Kaiba had his soul stolen! And before that, he had to watch as Pegasus paraded his little brother's empty shell around like a toy!
"Just like he did at that luncheon," Jounouchi abruptly remembers.
Sympathetically, he flicks his eyes in the direction of the always so composed CEO sitting, as usual, at the largest table. As hard as it had been for him to see Shizuka and the others wandering around, he can't imagine what it must have been like for Kaiba to have known first hand what they were going through and then knowing that his little brother was experiencing that horror for a second time!
Looking down at the plate in his hands, he drops it on the buffet table and heads back up to his room. Suddenly, he's not all that hungry anymore.
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Pegasus smiles as he pens his latest rhyme for the contestants. Inside the large Toon Gemini Elves greeting card he writes:
When you're beside yourself with stress and worry
And the world has you going all day in a hurry
Look to the heavens and their sparkly glow
Which way do you turn? The stars will know!
Pegasus
Be ready at 8:00 am sharp.
With twelve left, he'd decided that the next shoot would be of them made up as the 12 houses of the American Zodiac. Croquet had assured him that he'd be able to have all of the photographs done in enough time for the three masterminds, Dartz, Siegfried and Pegasus, to have a late dinner if they started by 9:30 am. With that knowledge, Pegasus surmised that an 8:00 am pickup would give his loyal servant plenty of time to capture those beauties on film.
Though Kaiba-boy remains his favorite!
"What fun! Now, who should be dressed as what?" he giggles maniacally to himself.
Gleefully, he goes about his business, matching photos to Astrological signs, oblivious to his soulless pets sitting in a row on the floor behind him and the lone tear sliding down Mokuba Kaiba's face.