Disclaimer: I'm a broke college student; the last thing I need in my life is a law suit, ergo: I would never risk it all by claiming I own Yu-Gi-Oh!

"Imagination baby can take you far

Don't be afraid to come off slightly bizzarre."

~Get Off, Cinema Bizarre

Chapter 29

Because of the time difference, the flight got into San Francisco at eight in the morning on Friday, but even though they'd essentially gained a day, no one on board was awake enough to care and could do little more than drag themselves to their respective hotels.

"I promised your parents that I'd get you your own room," Seto said as he, Alistair, Mokuba, and Hilary trudged up the steps of the San Francisco Kaiba Land hotel. "And I did. But I really couldn't care less if you use it or not; I'm not your babysitter. However," he stopped long enough to address both teenagers, "be aware that Saito will be in the hallway standing guard, so I wouldn't do anything you wouldn't be comfortable having him hear." Mokuba and Hilary nodded, both of their faces pinker than usual. "I would also advise you to sleep for a few hours and then get up even though you're not going to want to in order to adjust to the new time zone. But I won't force you to."

They entered the hotel and were greeted by the staff who had been alerted to their arrival.

"If there's anything you need, anything at all, don't hesitate to ask," the hotel manager simpered after handing Seto the three keycards.

"You're not seriously going to try to stay up, are you?" Alistair asked incredulously once they were settled in their suite, noting the laptop Seto had hauled out of his carry-on bag. "You've got to be exhausted." Without replying, Seto pulled a small pill bottle out of the inside pocket of his jacket and held it up briefly. "Caffeine tablets, really? You know, I learned in my biology class that that stuff stays in your body pretty much forever." Seto shrugged and booted up the computer, too tired to argue; the pills hadn't kicked in yet. Alistair sighed but let the matter drop and started to get undressed. He for one was not about to pass up a couple of hours much needed sleep. He'd slept for a while on the plane, but not nearly enough to feel at all rested, particularly after having flown for almost seven hours straight. Rolling his eyes at Seto's stubborn will to stay awake, Alistair got into the huge bed, smiling when he realized that the color scheme of the room matched that of the Blue Eyes White Dragon. That was pretty much the last conscious thought he had before drifting off to sleep.

Alistair awoke several hours later feeling disoriented and realized with some surprise that Seto was lying beside him, fast asleep. He hadn't even gotten undressed, save for taking his coat, gauntlets and shoes off.

Careful not to wake him, Alistair got out of the bed and made his way to the bathroom to take a shower. He was still tired, but knew from experience that Seto was right about trying to adapt to the new time zone as quickly as possible.

The bathroom was huge and had a large tiled mosaic of Blue Eyes on the wall over a Jacuzzi-sized bathtub and the KC logo had been recreated in tile on the wall in the shower. Either someone knew that if he ever visited this would be the room that Seto would stay in, or the CEO had had a hand in designing it himself.

Seto would have kept right on sleeping if the shrill sound of a hair-dryer hadn't woken him up. He groaned and checked the clock on the bedside table, starting when he realized it was past noon already.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" Seto demanded when Alistair walked out of the bathroom with a dark blue towel around his waist.

"Good morning to you too."

"It's the afternoon already," Seto corrected him petulantly, swinging his legs off the bed and proceeding through to the suite's living room and turning on the coffee machine stationed there.

"Whatever."

It was only after his second cup of coffee that Seto felt ready to deal with the day.

"We need to get you some clothes," he informed Alistair who was lying on the bed, idly flipping through a brochure he'd found in the night stand.

"Sure," he replied without looking up. He would have argued that his clothes from the day before were fine, but he didn't care enough to bother.

"I have to meet with Pegasus in an hour and a half, but you and Mokuba's girlfriend can go shopping; I'm sure she wouldn't complain."

"She has a name."

"And I don't care about her enough to use it."

"That's awfully immature of you," Alistair pointed out sagely, his eyes traveling over a map of the park. Seto flared his nostrils.

"Fine. You, Mokuba, and Hilary can go shopping together as soon as they bother to get up."

"How do you know they aren't up already?"

"Are you trying to pick a fight on purpose?"

"Please. What do you take me for; some kind of a rookie? If I wanted to get under your skin I could do way better than this. You're just being overly sensitive." It was admittedly true; Seto was feeling particularly cranky on account of having to sit through a meeting with Pegasus and being forced to endure being called 'Kaiba Boy' even though he was hardly a boy anymore. Alistair had guessed as much which was why he wasn't letting Seto's bad attitude bother him.

They divided the food in the room's small fridge for breakfast before splitting up: Seto heading towards the hotel's conference room to powwow with Pegasus and the event's other coordinators, and Alistair towards the front door to explore the park for a few hours, a couple hundred dollars which Seto had pressed on him shoved into his pocket.

The meeting turned out to be just as excruciating as Seto had predicted. Pegasus seemed incapable of taking anything other than his own grand entrance seriously which caused discussing anything else to take twice as long as it should have.

"Why so tense Kaiba Boy?" Pegasus asked, plucking a bright red apple from the tray of fruit on the table between them. "Surely you're not afraid of losing to little Leon von Schroeder, are you?"

"Of course not," Seto snapped as Pegasus took a large bite of the apple. "I've been a Duel Monsters champion since before he was old enough to hold a card."

"Then why are you acting like someone broke your favorite toy? Nothing's happened to your Blue Eyes jet, has it?"

"Can we stick to business?" Seto said through gritted teeth.

"You're always so serious," Pegasus pouted. "And that's just no fun at all."

"I don't know about you; but I don't have time to play around. We're supposed to be finalizing the details of tomorrow's event in enough time for a dress rehearsal, and that is serious to me because my reputation depends on my events running smoothly."

"And how well has that worked out for you so far?" Pegasus set his half-eaten apple aside and rested his chin on steepled fingers. "I seem to recall a few incidents at your Battle City and Grand Championship tournaments…" Seto fought the urge to slap the purple-haired billionaire across the face by reminding himself that he only had to put up with him until Sunday.

"Those 'incidents' were outside my control."

"That's exactly what I mean; there's always going to be something outside your control so why strain yourself planning out every last detail? This is supposed to be a fun event for everyone involved. Besides, it must be so difficult to maintain such a gruff façade all the time; let your hair down, live a little. You're only young once; remember that!"

"Thanks for the life lesson old man, now can we get down to business? I'd like to get this over with as soon as possible." Pegasus shook his head sadly.

"You haven't learned much; have you Kaiba Boy? Very well, have it your way; what would you like to discuss next O sullen one?"

Alistair quickly grew bored of wandering around the amusement park and left the premises in favor of taking a walk into the city. He didn't end up getting that far however, given that the park was located several miles outside of San Francisco. Eventually he stopped walking and lay down in the grass under a tree at the side of the road. It was pleasantly warm out and a gentle breeze caressed his face. Lying back and resting his head on his arms Alistair relished in the feeling of being completely carefree. He had absolutely no obligations; nowhere he needed to be, no walls holding him in, nothing. He could lie there in the grass all day if he wanted to. He idly watched the clouds go by, trying to make coherent shapes out of them, remembering with a jolt that he and Mikey had done that as children, though they hadn't always had grass to lie in.

"Wow, do you see that one, Mikey? It looks like a dragon!"

"I don't see it."

"That one right there! Just tilt your head like this and pretend that that part right there is his head."

"Oh! I see it! Hey Alistair, do you think that there are real dragons out there somewhere?"

"I don't know, maybe. Hey, maybe Dino Dude has one as a pet!"

"No, Dino Dude has a T-Rex."

Alistair hadn't thought about that day in a very long time. He smiled when he recalled how offended Mikey had been that he hadn't remembered about Dino Dude's pet tyrannosaurus.

All of a sudden Alistair realized that he was thinking about his little brother without it being painful. He'd never been able to do that before. Would that have happened sooner if he hadn't been forced to relive the day of his brother's death over and over again for seven years as a means of justifying his hatred of the Kaiba family? Perhaps.

But he didn't regret working for Dartz anymore even if he wasn't proud of it. If Dartz hadn't taken him in he never would have met Seto; something he couldn't even imagine anymore. Then again, if Mikey hadn't died he wouldn't have met Seto either. The more he thought about it the more it made his head hurt and he finally decided that perhaps that's just the way life was; a long series of random ups and downs.

When he'd lost his mother he'd been certain that he would never be happy again, but he had been. He and Mikey had managed to have some good times together despite the turmoil going on all around them and the imminent threat of danger that had overshadowed their existence. Then he'd lost his brother too and he'd completely fallen apart, egged on by Dartz. That time, with nothing left to lose, he'd forgotten that that also meant that life could do nothing but improve for him, and it had, and now here he was, happy and content, lying under a tree in San Francisco without a care in the world and with people he cared about and who cared about him not too far away. Certainly it wouldn't always be this easy, he knew that, but he finally understood that even if the downs outnumbered the ups for a time, things would improve again if he could stay open to letting that happen.

"Is that honestly the best you could do?" Seto asked disbelievingly, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Well, by the time I got back to the hotel Mokuba and Hilary were already gone so I just decided to buy something from the park," Alistair explained, setting the tank top back on the coffee table in their suite after having returned from lounging in the grass thirty minutes prior and popping into one of the Kaiba Land gift shops for a shirt. "Besides, it's got the KC logo and a picture of Blue Eyes on it; you should be getting off to the mere thought of me wearing this." Seto supposed it could have been worse, but…

"This is a red carpet event; you're not supposed to show up wearing a tank top from the gift shop of the place where the event is being held!"

"It's not like anyone's going to be paying any attention to what I'm wearing," Alistair pointed out.

"You can't know that any more than I can. Neither one of us has any idea what's going to happen tomorrow." It was starting to put the brunette on edge; he hated uncertainty.

"We don't have to do it."

"And risk another year of you complaining about 'hiding'? No thanks. Besides, my philosophy has always been 'go big or go home'."

"Well, it will certainly put the spotlight on you."

"Yeah, and take it off of Pegasus. After what he pulled during our meeting today he deserves it." Alistair snorted. "What's so funny?"

"That. Pegasus realizing that flirting with you for all these years might have actually gotten him somewhere." Seto blanched.

"I'd never have been interested in that sleazy fop!"

"Whatever you say 'Kaiba Boy'." Alistair replied, imitating Pegasus' voice. Seto rolled his eyes.

"You're a riot."

"Thank you." Alistair grinned broadly, enjoying how easy it was to tease the brunette.

Alistair hadn't realized he'd missed having sex with Seto as much as he had until he was lying on his stomach in the hotel bed with the brunette inside him. He twisted his torso so that he could kiss Seto as deeply as possible even as he thrust into him. He'd enjoyed playing the 'top' for Ryou, but he'd always prefer this. Moaning loudly, Alistair pulled Seto more completely on top of him so that he could feel his chest against his back.

A few minutes later, after they'd both climaxed, they lay back in bed, Alistair resting his head in the hollow of Seto's neck, the brunette's arm encircling him.

"Was that everything you remembered and more?" Seto asked with a slight smirk on his face.

"More or less," Alistair answered softly, suddenly exhausted from the exertion.

"Only more or less?" Seto was displeased; he hated it when anything he did was anything less than perfect. Sleepy as he was, Alistair could infer from the tone of the brunette's voice that he'd wanted to be paid a compliment. You're so vain, he thought before giving in to the unspoken request.

"Sorry, I can't really go into detail right now; you wore me out." The latter part of the sentence was uttered with a satisfied half-smile. Pacified, Seto lazily ran the tip of his index finger down the redhead's side, his touch eliciting goose bumps on the creamy flesh.

"I should be mad at you," Seto said unexpectedly, though he didn't sound it.

"Huh?" His fingertips still playing over Alistair's exposed skin, Seto elaborated.

"I wanted to shock everyone by bringing you with me tomorrow, but that will no longer be a possibility." Alistair crinkled his eyebrows in confusion. "For it to be effective, no one can know you're here." Alistair suddenly caught on and huffed indignantly, pulling himself out of Seto's grasp and crossing his arms, not so sleepy anymore. He shouldn't have expected anything less; mocking him seemed to entertain the brunette to no end.

"Screw you!" he snapped. Amused, Seto said:

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" At that, Alistair made to get up, but Seto snaked an arm around his chest and pulled him back into bed. Rolling on top of the young CEO, Alistair pinned him down as best he could and tried to regain his composure.

"Coincidentally, I think you'd like it too." Seto didn't rise to the bait.

"Is that what you fantasize about? How boring." Not that he had much more of an imagination when it came to that sort of thing. He didn't know about Alistair, but he personally didn't think about sex often enough to develop any sort of kink. Alistair knew that and chose to use it against him. Seto was an extremely difficult person to embarrass, but the redhead decided to give it a try.

"I didn't know you were interested in hearing about my fantasies." The statement took Seto aback; he hadn't expected Alistair to be so comfortable with the topic. Admittedly though, he was curious. He knew very little about sex, all things considered, and though far from an expert, the redhead certainly knew more than he did. "I want you to fuck me in your office," Alistair said, his language deliberately graphic. "Over your desk. Hard. I want you to carve your name into my back with your nails and make me cum so hard I won't be able to cum again for a week." He'd been careful to monitor Seto's face while he spoke. The brunette's mouth had fallen open slightly and there was a definite blush creeping up his cheeks. "You think you can manage that?" Alistair asked with a straight face.

"We'd never get away with it," Seto answered finally. "I told you that before. You're too loud."

"Maybe I want everyone to hear," Alistair purred. "Did it ever occur to you that knowing someone could see or hear us really turns me on?" Seto couldn't remember the last time he'd been so uncomfortable and did the only thing he could think of which was to shove the redhead off of him and turn away as he tried to compose himself. But Alistair wasn't finished with him just yet. "What about you?" he pressed, sidling up behind the brunette and draping himself across his bare back. "What gets you going?"

"Cut it out," came the reply.

"I see I'll have to guess. Hmm…given how much of a competitive control freak you are I'll hazard a guess and say you want to tie me up and over the course of an hour or so try to get me to beg you to fuck me like the cum-slut you want me to be. As for how you'd get me to beg you for it, well—."

"Stop!" Seto commanded him, his face burning again. "You've made your point, now please shut up."

"You do want to do that to me?"

"No! I just don't want to talk about this anymore." He stood up. "I'm taking a shower."

"A cold one?"

"Shut. Up," Seto repeated, scowling, the color still high in his cheeks. He escaped into the bathroom, leaving Alistair laughing on the bed. Who could have guessed that all it would take to reduce the stoic CEO to a blushing adolescent was a little bit of dirty talk; he'd be sure to keep that in mind. And he was more convinced than ever that Seto really did want to bend him over his desk even if he'd never admit it.

Author's Note: Not much action here, sorry about that. But it sets up the next chapter quite nicely while also highlighting Alistair's character development.

Oh, and as a teaser for chapter 30 I'll let you in on a juicy tidbit: someone gets punched.

See ya in chapter 30!