"And how are things in your territory, Bandit King?" The Pharaoh chuckled, leaning back in the plush chair he'd been provided with so long ago.
The Bandit King took a moment to brush a crumb from his lap before replying, "All's in order, actually." He replied calmly, pleasantly. "We've expanded to the very edge of the Phantom King's territory on one side." He frowned. "Our progress in the other direction is disappointing, however."
"And why is that, my friend?"
"It would seem a small time crime lord is interested in taking my territory from me and expanding it right into the south side." He replied distastefully.
"A small time crime lord is halting your progress?" The Phantom King snorted. "How?"
"He is not halting our progress." Said the Bandit King indignantly. "I am." He brushed his white hair out of his face. "I'm letting him believe he's taking some of our land - that we've already taken ourselves all the way to the border of the South Side of town. Once he reaches the true edge of my territory, however, I'll delight in laying him flat for all his men to see." He smiled his usual pleasant smile, "And, of course, stealing all the territory he's claimed for me."
The Pharaoh and the Phantom King nodded their appreciation. "Planned like a true Bandit King, of course."
"Of course." He sipped his tea. "And how go your endeavors, dear Phantom King? Successful as always, I'd hope."
"But of course." He snickered. "Though I don't have to do much to maintain my territory." The other two laughed as well. "I had to weed out a traitor yesterday, however." He gave a pointed look to the Bandit King. "Seems your 'small time crime lord' is attempting to get my territory as well."
"A true entrepreneur of crime." The Bandit King said admiringly. "Too bad he picked our city to start in." He clicked his tongue, shaking his head.
"Too bad indeed." The Pharaoh lifted his brows. "He was spying on me, as well."
The three of them shared a laugh at that, relaxed in their varying seats. The Pharaoh's was a plush, rather squishy throne lined in black velvet and stuffed with feathers. The Bandit King lounged languidly on a large crimson cushion that was surrounded on most sides by more cushions and pillows so that he could lay about however he wished, though he did have the option to sit in a throne very similar to the Pharaoh's except in color. The Phantom King, too, had this option, and his throne, too, was different in color, but just as the Bandit King did, he chose not to use it at the moment. Instead, he laid draped across a purple velvet chaise.
Their seats were not the only differences, of course, as each of them dressed and looked quite dissimilar as well.
The Pharaoh was somewhat tan with spiked, two colored hair (black, lined with purple on the tips) and rather unruly blond bangs. His sharp eyes were a deep amethyst, though at one point in his life they had appeared much brighter. He dressed impeccably at all times in nice, tailored black suits that he only ever succeeded to look handsome in no matter how he looked otherwise. He'd been told that his unruly hair somehow just made him look more trustworthy when he was in such suits - he wasn't sure why that was, but he would accept it regardless. Today's suit was crisp and clean, the same color as all the others he owned. It held a red-violet silk handkerchief in the breast pocket, folded in exactly the way one would expect from a businessman like him. Beneath the suit jacket, which was currently open, there was a violet vest, crossed by the chain of a gold pocket watch, and a crimson tie tucked under it.
The Phantom King dressed in casual clothes and a large purple cloak, usually, relying on the latter item to obscure his identity from prying eyes. The hood on his cloak was down, today, largely because of his company. He trusted these two kings with his life, after all, and they already knew his identity prior to their plot. Under the cloak, he, too, was quite handsome, with darkly tanned skin, platinum blond hair, and lavender eyes perpetually ringed with kohl. He wore, most days, dark jeans and rarely wore a real shirt, instead choosing a zip-up lavender vest with a hood of its own - also down. Currently, the vest was unzipped, exposing his chest.
And the Bandit King was the most unusual, although arguably he might have been the best dressed in accordance with his title. His pale skin and white hair starkly contradicted the typically Ancient Egyptian theme of his outfits, but made him just as handsome as the other two regardless. Today he had chosen a simple, sleeveless white linen tunic, held at the waist by an extravagant looking lapis lazuli and gold belt. Falling carelessly from his shoulders was a large crimson cloak, designed to closely resemble that of the ancient Thief King Bakura, and around his neck was a silver chain choker encrusted with emeralds and amethysts with small gold plates strung in between the two sections of silver chain. Hanging down from it were more chains, one set gold, one set silver, encrusted with the same gems as the choker. Beneath the cloak he wore gold and silver bracelets on his wrists and biceps. Various kinds of earrings hung from various parts of his earlobes, and every single one of his fingers bore at least one ring. Some were plain gold, some silver, and others bore gems or were solid, rounded crystal bands.
"You know, Bandit," The Phantom King examined his fingernails, chipping off a small fleck of the black polish he'd attempted to remove that morning. "I think you're taking your title a little too seriously."
The Bandit King rolled his eyes. "Oh, shove it." Despite the phrase, he was still smiling somewhat. "You're really no better, 'your majesty' - always disappearing from situations you don't want to be in as if you really were a phantom."
"If you're going to dress like that, at least learn how to apply kohl." The Phantom King rolled his eyes as well. "That'd add to it, don't you think?"
"Isn't kohl supposed to sacred or something?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Like you care? You set your base in the land of the dead, for Ra's sake." He said, exasperated.
"I thought you might care, idiot." He replied flippantly, "It's quite clear that I don't give a hoot about sacred traditions." He sat down his teacup on the small, ornate table next to his cushion in favor of, again, brushing his hair out of his face. "And unless you feel like teaching me how to apply it, I'll just go on not knowing, thank you very much."
"I'd be perfectly willing to teach you." He snorted. "If I thought you'd actually pay attention."
"Are you implying I have a short attention span, my dear?"
"No, I'm implying that you tend to ignore it when people try to teach you anything." The Phantom King smiled as sweetly as he could.
"I assure you, I only ignore you."
Before the Phantom King could give another reply, the Pharaoh sighed. "My friends… Can this argument wait? This is a business meeting, after all."
"Oh, yes, of course." Bandit King's voice lilted sarcastically, "We can wait for the next five minutes until you grow tired of talking business and move back to sulking and silently begging for a cock to suck."
He frowned at the pale man. "You know, it really seems that your balls are the only thing about you that are getting any bigger."
The Bandit King nearly dropped his teacup, staring at him, slack jawed. "Now, you see here-!"
"Save it for five minutes," The Pharaoh's voice was sickeningly sweet, along with his smile. "Won't you? And then you can ream me for my commentary and go back to arguing with the Phantom King to disguise how much you want him to fuck you."
The Bandit King's eyes narrowed for half a second, lip curling downward, before his usual smile returned to his face. "But of course, Yugi, my dear Pharaoh."
The Pharaoh only nodded, knowing that the emphasis on both his name and the pet name meant he'd angered the thin man. Oh well. He would get over it, eventually, or he'd attack him. He wasn't underhanded enough, of course, to pull his usual tricks with the Pharaoh, someone he trusted so much that he let his anger show in his presence. Someone who had taken his entire personality in stride and never once batted an eyelash. He'd start a fist-fight, and the Pharaoh would win if he fought fairly.
Both of them knew it was pointless, really.
The Bandit King would get over it.
"Back to business?" Phantom King prompted, lifting a brow as he shifted his legs. "Or should I just get my dick out and force one of you to suck it to occupy our time?"
"I'm sure that Bandit King wouldn't mind the meeting taking that kind of turn." Pharaoh said, ever the businessman, "And I'm sure I could gather useful information from it." He winked.
The Bandit King's face was suddenly only a shade or two away from matching his coat and cushion. He spluttered for a response for a long moment, eyes flickering between them. Eventually, he seemed to give up, and, frowning, picked up his teacup. He took a sip, color fading back out of his cheeks while he stared over the delicate cup at his comrades. Phantom King stared back, but the Pharaoh seemed far more interested in removing a piece of lint from the pocket of his suit coat.
When the Bandit King set his cup down, he'd completely reverted to his usual pleasant expression and pale face. "I do believe this meeting is over - don't you, dear Pharaoh?"
"I suppose." The Pharaoh shrugged. "Not as if it makes much difference to either of you."
"How much progress should we aim to have made by the next meeting?" The Bandit King raised his brows.
"Personally," The Phantom King cackled softly, "I expect you to have taken all of the West by the next time we meet."
"As do I." The Pharaoh agreed.
The Bandit King frowned somewhat, but nodded. "You have high expectations for me, my friends. And far more confidence in my abilities than I."
He received two dubious shrugs in reply. "We know what you're capable of." Phantom King said.
"And based on that, we know how much to expect from you." The Pharaoh added.
The Bandit King nodded again. "Very well." He sighed. "Dismissed?"
"Dismissed." The Pharaoh confirmed.
But none of them moved.
"What else have you been doing, Pharaoh?" Phantom King examined his fingernails again, chipping off a bit more of the polish. "Surely you're not as invested in this gang activity as I am."
The Pharaoh rolled his eyes. "I think you'd be surprised, really." He said humorlessly. "Besides that, though, all I've really done is convinced Kaiba that it was in his best interests to - secretly, of course - abdicate the so-called 'throne' of Kaiba Corp to me."
"You really have no life outside of our scheme, then?" Bandit King raised an eyebrow.
"Don't act like you do, Bandit King." Pharaoh chided. "You've done nothing unrelated to our scheme in months."
"I have nothing better to do with my time." He defended, "Nor did I have anything better to do before, whereas you actually had something else to live for."
There was a heavy silence in the room. Usually they avoided the subject of what they'd all been doing before their scheme. It was, after all, a painful one. They couldn't ignore the twinge of heartbreak every time they thought of it, even with all their experience doing so to the other emotions that cropped up when they thought of their pasts.
It took the Pharaoh a very long moment to gather the courage to murmur, "Well it's fairly clear that I no longer have the only thing I lived for."
The silence condensed. Bandit King felt the faintest hint of guilt… But it was not near enough to deter him. "Neither of you two have it anymore." He gave them a sickly-sweet smile. "And I do believe you're better off for that."
They did not react as he'd hoped they would. They did not get angry. They did not get upset. They didn't even look at him.
So it was to be the silent treatment, eh?
Very well. He could deal with silence. Silence was almost his entire life, after all.
A/N: Warning everyone now - there is a lot of sex in this story. I'm not sure if I would really classify it as "explicit" or worthy of the "MA" rating, but this is the only warning you will get about the sex regardless.
That said, please enjoy the story!