"I've got it," Yami replied smoothly, unable to look Seto in the eye because he could hear the hurt and disappointment in his voice. His heart couldn't take it if a week from now, Seto asked him to leave, but he had a feeling that was where this was headed.

Kaiba shook his head and sank into a sitting position on the floor, leaning his back against the bookshelf as his men marched into the library in single file, led by Isono, wearing a mask and gloves that went up his elbows.

"And I think it goes without saying, you're scrubbing the feeds from today and looping it from yesterday," Yami instructed, and Isono bowed stiffly, aware that Mr. Kaiba was sitting horrified on the floor watching them.

The two burly bodyguards set the giant plastic bins down and helped fold the bodies into them, and Kaiba clapped a hand over his mouth when he heard something pop. Oh god. Oh hell.

And what's more, he didn't recognize these two men from his security. Yami had probably gone out of his way to replace a few of his guys with a few more unscrupulous guys who would touch bodies without hesitation.

The men unceremoniously lifted the two corpses in each of the bins and walked out of the room.

Isono picked up the rolled-up rug and eyed the gun leaning against the bookshelf, and Yami followed his gaze, adding hastily, "that will go in the basement…or on the wall as a decoration. Somewhere within reach. I can't put her away again."

Her. He's personified his gun, Kaiba thought dully, hanging his head between his knees, willing himself not to throw up. It was the sight of the bodies that had made him nauseous, not Yami's too-cool attitude about having killed two people in his library through the roof.

Speaking of the roof… Kaiba aimed his gaze upwards at the three large holes where sunlight was streaming in, and Isono glanced up too, biting back a shiver before he hastily exited the room, not wanting to be in a space where death lingered.

Yami grimaced and moved to throw open the window by the bloodied couch and crossed the room to pull the balcony doors aside to let in fresh air.

"Perhaps we could remodel this into a gym?" Yami suggested sadly, hoping Kaiba wouldn't correct him on the term 'we', but he knew the CEO too well, and that was exactly what Kaiba responded to.

"We?" Kaiba echoed hollowly, and he watched Yami's face go through a series of transformations, going from stunned, to wide-eyed fearful, and then to full-on sorrow, making his stomach churn with guilt. Oh no... Wait. He hadn't implied he wanted to break up.

It was… more like a question about being implicated for murder.

Yami lowered his head and clenched his fists at his sides, his world crumbling.

"I see. It's fine. I understand that it's hard for you to see me the same way," Yami said shortly, and he strode out of the room so he wouldn't cry in front of Seto.

Seto had come with the job after all. It was naïve of him to think he could keep Seto after exposing him to his monstrous side. To wrap things up neatly for the CEO, the least he could do was dispose of the bodies properly and take care of the men who were after him.

Yami ran into Mokuba halfway down the stairs and froze in terror when the child ran to give him a hug. Oh shit. What if there was blood on his clothes?!

"YAMI! I did what you said!" Mokuba choked, and he was pushed away at an arm's length while Yami behaved strangely, patting himself down with his palms with panic in his eyes.

"V-Very good, Mokuba. I'm so proud of you," Yami whispered anxiously, relieved to see that he hadn't gotten blood on his own clothes. "I'm dirty from climbing all over the roof so…don't touch me right now, okay? Now you need to take a shower too. Please. And put your clothes from todayseparate for Isono to clean."

"Kay," Mokuba nodded obediently, and Yami remembered to hastily add, "and we're remodeling the library into a gym, so reading in there is off-limits for the next 3 months."

"Awesome. I don't go in there anyway," Mokuba rolled his eyes and stepped around Yami to continue up the steps, wrinkling his nose when he caught a whiff of something sour and metallic in the air.

"Peeyu. You smell like the roof," Mokuba made a face and dashed up the rest of the stairs into his room.

Yami grimaced and decided he'd change after seeing to the bodies in the basement.

Good on Isono for clearing the kid out of there.

Kaiba stood in the doorway of the library, listening to all of this echoing down the hall. Yami…really cared about him, and Mokuba. Seeing two bodies appear in his library hadn't made him love Yami any less. They could work past this.

I should tell him that, Kaiba thought nervously as he hurried out of the library to follow Yami down the stairs, his heart pounding thickly in his throat as he composed his 'let's stay together' speech.

Yami stepped into the elevator and rode down silently, his stomach churning at what the future held between Seto and himself as the doors opened and he was met with the scene of the two bodyguards wearing respirators over their faces while Isono, also geared up in a plastic jumpsuit, was pouring a jug of liquid over the first corpse in the bin.

Covering his nose and mouth, Yami rushed to snatch a spare respirator from a nearby locker and looped it over his face, standing at a distance to observe approvingly.

To his mild horror, the elevator dinged and Kaiba stepped into the lab, nearly gagging at the putrid scent that invaded him so suddenly, it made him want to hurl. He rushed to the nearest sink and dry-heaved into the basin, feeling Yami rush to his side and give him a reassuring rub up and down his back before handing him a respirator, which he snatched up gratefully and stuck it onto his face, taking deep, shaking breaths.

Holy fuck. What was happening down here?!

It looked like the guards were dissolving the bodies in…acid?!

And Isono was helping so matter-of-factly, as if they did this daily.

"What the fuck is happening in my home right now?" Kaiba breathed, thankful for the filter around his face but he could still smell a faint whiff of the sour stench in the back of his throat.

"I've called a lab and developed a good relationship with them," Yami said in a tone Kaiba was all-too familiar with—that eerie calm that made him wonder if Yami was feeling any emotion at all.

"So they'll take human remains without asking questions?" Kaiba growled, his voice muffled from the mask.

"No. They will take chemical waste after we pay a fee," Yami replied nonchalantly, giving Kaiba a wide-eyed look. "So that's what we're giving them…in a few weeks. Just to be safe."

He had it all fucking planned, Kaiba felt faint as he gripped the edge of the lab table and felt Yami rest a hand on his arm, his beautiful, angular violet eyes wide with …fear?

"I love you," Yami said genuinely, his heart wrenching when he saw Seto's eyes widen with…fear? "How do you want to proceed? I can…" Yami bit the inside of his cheek and steeled himself to say it. "I can disappear."

Kaiba blinked and felt his heart sink into his stomach. What? No!

"I didn't say that," Kaiba said flatly, reaching out to lace his fingers through the tops of Yami's hand to give a clammy squeeze. "I'm grateful for what you've done for me so far. I can't thank you…enough."

Yami's eyes softened at the corners, and even though the lower half of his face was concealed by the heavy-duty mask, Kaiba swore he got a smile in return.

"Then while we're here, I have some more news you won't like," Yami said quietly, hearing a heavy thump! and they both glanced over to see the guards starting over with the second corpse, uncapping another large jug to carefully pour into the bin.

Ugh, just tell it to me all at once, Kaiba thought wryly, but he gave Yami's hand another squeeze and nodded. Sure. He could take it.

"I owe the local yakuza 900k for their services, and I need to travel for a few months to track down the men who hired the Joker Pair," Yami said evenly as he watched the men place the lid atop the bin after it was full and push it into the large, metal lockers that had the hazardous materials sign on it.

The lock was latched in place, followed by the beeping of the fingerprint sensor, and Isono reached into his pocket for his phone to turn up the fan to air out the basement.

"I'm not asking you to pay it, I'm just telling you that's what I'll be doing," Yami said quietly, hoping his honesty spoke for itself. "…And for you not to worry. I can take care of it. I'll come right back, if that's what you want."

Kaiba nodded absently and saw Isono pointing at the elevator, and the men filed into it, departing silently, leaving them in the lab alone together, still wearing the respirator over their faces.

Yami held his breath, waiting for Seto's answer because his heart couldn't take it anymore. Just a simple yes or no, but the CEO wasn't always that giving with his answers.

I have a better idea, Kaiba thought quietly to himself, taking off the mask and leaving it on the lab table, his heart thumping as he grabbed Yami's hand and pulled him into the elevator, watching him take off the mask with a tight gasp and hang onto his arm while gazing up into his face desperately, his violet eyes wide with genuine distress.

"Please, Seto. Answer clearly. I've been nothing but forthcoming—"

Kaiba let out a barking laugh, and Yami's stomach curled with dread. Oh no…

The elevator arrived on the top floor, and Kaiba stepped out first, pulling Yami behind him and leading him into the master bath before giving him a nudge down the stairs and pointing at the shower.

"You smell like gasoline and gunpowder," Kaiba said quietly, seeing Yami's eyes widen. "Take a shower and we'll talk about it…naked." And he walked up the steps to slam the door behind him to make a point.

He was mildly annoyed that Yami treated him like he was helpless. Sure, it was his first time seeing dead bodies, but over time, he'd get used to it.

I won't let him go, Kaiba thought darkly as he sat down at his desk before remembering that he still had all the weapons on him. Sighing, he got up to put them back into the nightstand, his heart swelling with joy at how Yami had programmed the lock with his birthday. It was little things like this that told him Yami loved him.

Inside the bathroom, Yami stood under the water while running Kaiba's words over in his mind.

You smell like gasoline and gunpowder.

Gasoline he could understand. The CEO was a bit of a car enthusiast, so he wasn't a stranger to gasoline. As for gunpowder, it was possible the CEO had been to a gun range before? But…where in Japan…would he have been able to smell gunpowder enough to recognize it?

Oh, I must've missed something about him in my research, Yami thought nervously as he slapped soap onto his body and scrubbed vigorously at his hair.

He rinsed off completely and stepped out, grabbing a bathrobe and rushing out of the bathroom to skid to a halt at the edge of the bed where Seto was sitting with his legs crossed delicately.

"How do you know what gunpowder smells like?!" Yami asked in a furious rush, and the infuriating smirk he got in return made his heart skip a beat.

"How much do you really know about me? I've always wondered," Kaiba said cattily, trying to save face for his earlier blindness at Yami's knowledge about his life.

"Everything." Yami replied instantly, his ears heating up as he knew this was only partially true. The file he'd received on the CEO was 2 years old now, and in his own research, he hadn't found anything linking the CEO to guns? Or weapons research? Or weapons of any kind.

He had doubts Seto even knew how to fire a gun.

"Really. You know everything about me?" Kaiba goaded, his grin widening when he realized Yami didn't know after all.

"Fine. I don't know it all. Tell me." Yami growled as he crossed his arms, feeling his face burn at the way Kaiba was taunting him. This was exactly why he'd grown to love the CEO.

He was nasty in the best ways, matching his energy and intensity almost beat for beat.

"Why do you think there are some people horrible enough to send you after me?" Kaiba prodded encouragingly; his blue eyes gleaming in the lights from the chandelier above. "You'd have to think—the people who sent you and the Pair after me have to be bigger monsters than the three of you combined."

"Yes, I know that. And?" Yami asked sourly, beginning to lose his patience. "Say it or I'll get it out of you."

"I'll never talk," Kaiba replied gleefully as his heart raced with excitement. "Do whatever you think will work—"

Yami rushed at him naked after leaving the robe in a crumpled heap on the ground, and Kaiba let out a strangled laugh as slender arms tightened around his neck, and teeth landed in playful stings all down the curve of his ear while Yami hissed, "…take it out…and fuck me with it."

Kaiba bit back another laugh and leaned back on his hands to let Yami straddle him naked and reach between his legs to palm his hardness through his pants, his fingers grabbing and squeezing blindly while their lips crashed together in a firm, tight kiss.

Yami trailed his mouth down the side of Kaiba's slender neck and undid every button down the front of his chest, his heart thundering as a realization hit him particularly hard.

He was only hired by nasty people who deemed the client was someone they thought they couldn't handle by themselves.

So, he's the biggest monster in the room, is that what he's saying? Yami thought nervously as he gazed up at Kaiba's blissful face above him, and he gave the CEO's arousal another firm knead, pushing the thought out of his mind and hastily pulling the shirt off Kaiba's shoulders, making sure to rub his bare inner thigh against the tip of Kaiba's dick which was sticking out from the V of his pants.

"Sit on me," Kaiba insisted lustfully, snaking his hand up Yami's thigh and gripping the flesh so hard, he left an imprint that faded after two seconds.

Yami bared his teeth playfully and gave Kaiba another passionate, lingering kiss before climbing off his legs to lean to the side to grab the lube from the top drawer, hearing a growl behind him, and hands were spreading his ass, keeping him face down while a thick, heated length prodded enticingly underneath his balls, sending dull shocks of pleasure raking through his body, and the lube was snatched out of his fingertips. Yami's heart skipped a beat as he stared at the pillow in front of him, feeling the cold liquid drizzle down the backs of his thighs, and Kaiba's hands massaged it into his skin, kneading him in agonizing circles until hands grabbed his ass cheeks again and spread them wide, followed by fingers slicking down his hole, thrusting him into him briefly, not giving him time to breathe between thrusts as his chest grew tight, and a hand reached underneath his body to grab his erection, pulling it out from between his legs to flatten against the mattress, sending another wave of heat up his body.

Kaiba let out a satisfied hiss as he eased himself into Yami's softness, watching Yami prop himself dizzily up on his elbows and rest his forehead against the pillow while his body was rocked with the strength of his thrusts, and their quiet gasps were in sync as Yami enjoyed the way he was filled repeatedly to the hilt, his body shuddering and shivering with joy every time Kaiba pulled out too slowly, making sure he could feel every unique ridge of his dick before ramming back into him, hard and fast, causing the tip of his dick to rub pleasurably against the mattress beneath him, so he raised his ass up higher and heard Kaiba let out a low laugh, giving his ass another squeeze before pounding into him roughly without stopping, without regard for how he felt, but Yami shut his eyes and rode out the clenching waves of pleasure, his hole aching and throbbing as he clenched teasingly around Kaiba's base and received a hand on the back of his head, pressing his chin down harder into the pillows.

"…Don't try to make me cum faster," Kaiba hissed, his head spinning as his body heaved with a tight orgasm the moment he felt Yami still clenching playfully around him, making the blood rush to his head with joy as his body shuddered through every sharp wave of pleasure coming from his dick trapped in Yami's tight hole, his ears ringing with Yami's deep laugh as the spiky-haired man underneath him bucked his hips up higher and gave him a wonderful eyeful of his own erection between two, pert cheeks while his balls draped prettily down the center, and his dick twitched sinfully for a moment before a white rush of fluids drenched the mattress right in front of Kaiba's knee as Yami ground himself further down on his dick to make himself cum, sending another hot jolt down his body.

Letting out a content sigh, Yami rested his face down on the pillow and closed his eyes, feeling Kaiba gently pull out and fall into the bed beside him to drape an arm over his back which was dewy with sweat. Their chests heaved for breath out of sync as they slowly came down from their high, and Yami turned his head to the side to stare lovingly at Kaiba's handsome profile.

Kaiba rolled over onto his side and rested a hand atop Yami's shoulder, listening to his own heart pounding in his chest as his legs ached from the rigorous sex.

"Now…tell me…" Yami said sleepily, bringing his arms up under his cheek to prop himself up. "Do you know the people I'm talking about?"

Kaiba blinked and felt his chest tighten with dread as he answered as truthfully as he could, "…. Most likely. But I want to know why you didn't kill me when you've had multiple chances."

Yami closed his eyes blissfully and sank into the warmth of the sheets as he replied confidently, "I liked you the moment I read your file. And it's not like I was using my target list as a dating pool. Most people fuck their targets to relieve the stress, and since you were my last job, I highly considered doing that, but I just…couldn't…help…but love you."

"Target…" Kaiba muttered under his breath, his anxiety coming back in a rush, but Yami reached out to rest a gentle hand on his cheek, adding, "and I've seen so many files, all the names and faces start to blur together along with the countries. Most of my targets are monsters that belong in hell. But not you. Something about you and your file made you different, so I decided to play it by ear."

Kaiba grit his teeth and dared himself to ask, "what felt off about it?"

Yami opened his eyes and looked thoughtful.

"First, it was the amount of money they offered," Yami said quietly, turning over to sit up, draping his arms around his knees. "Then it was your age. I looked past the file into your family history, followed by what you do for work…and I brushed it off at first, but then I saw you for the first time at the charity event and decided to keep you alive until I found out why someone wanted you dead."

Kaiba nodded and rested a hand atop the comforter above Yami's foot. He seemed to have pressed a button, because the truth was flowing out of Yami faster than he'd ever seen in their two years together.

"My targets' backgrounds are usually open and shut," Yami said darkly, feeling the warmth from Kaiba's hand seeping into him. "Embezzlers, human traffickers, corrupt politicians, players in drug rings, the occasional scorned lover—those assignments I refuse—and wealthy people who have their fingers in too many pots. You're wealthy, but I found no evidence of embezzling, and the only pots you dip in are the ones you've made for yourself, like the Duel Academy islands, your budding airlines and investments in space. I learned that your tech are all your own inventions, having seen you create them from scratch with my own eyes, and those sales directly fund the Kaiba Corp campuses where you pay your employees fairly… I couldn't…"

Yami lowered his head, his voice trailing off before he composed himself to look Kaiba directly in the eye, finishing his thought with finality, "…I couldn't find the fault. While I did contemplate killing you after a few rounds of sex, even then, I knew I had already made up my mind to let you live the moment I threw off my tail at the gala. Those men sent other men to make sure I followed through! They're the most paranoid clients I've ever had. Can you believe that?!"

"Sure I can," Kaiba replied evenly, leaning forward to give Yami's cheek a quick kiss before getting up off the bed to fetch his tablet from his desk.

Yami's eyes followed Kaiba's slender form glumly, his heart swelling with gratitude as he noted the CEO's casual body language.

"You're not angry with me? That wasn't our last…fuck?" Yami struggled to find the words to describe his turbulent feelings, and Kaiba threw him a handsome smile over his shoulder before easing back into bed to set the tablet down between them with a soft thump!

"Unless you want it to be," Kaiba replied playfully, but deep down, his heart was threatening to explode at the thought of telling Yami the whole truth about his past that he'd so meticulously hid. It was only fair that he bare his soul too.

"So those clients. You know they're men. Anything else? Tell me all of it, from how they interacted with you, from the way they offered to pay," Kaiba asked evenly as he unlocked the pad with a fingerprint and heard Yami let out a huff and start ranting.

"They wanted 800 million for you, and said they'd send it through several banks instead of one, so that made me think they're a group. I received instructions through the phone from one person, and they used a voice scrambler which was immediately suspicious, so I managed to track the unencrypted signal back to a military weapons company, but that's where it made no sense. Why would some corrupt artillery billionaires, want you, a tech nerd with a fat trust fund, dead?"

Kaiba let out a barking laugh and found that he couldn't stop laughing.

It was cute that Yami thought he was a tech nerd with a trust fund! Hilarious!

"What!" Yami protested, wondering if he was being laughed at. "You didn't make anything for them, and they don't use your tech. You make hologram toys for children around Mokuba's age—"

Kaiba was still laughing maniacally, and Yami felt a chill go down his spine as he wondered why he never asked himself why he was so compatible with the CEO.

They were both unhinged, just in different ways, or the same way.

He'd taken the rough sex and the gentle understanding for granted.

It came from somewhere, and Yami was now afraid to find out…

"Now the target is briefing you. How the tables have turned," Kaiba snickered triumphantly as he held up the pad and pulled up an old photo of his evil stepfather. "This is Gozaburo Kaiba. Don't bother remembering his face because he's dead."

"I came across that name in my search," Yami said slowly, his heart clenching at the way Seto referred to himself as 'the target'. "Not much other than he adopted you and M—"

"He's a child molester," Kaiba cut across Yami evenly, eager to get over the trauma of speaking about it. "A serial one at that, and once the kid gets too old, he kicks them out with a fat sack of cash on their back for their silence. I was the only one brave enough to fight back, which is probably what killed him. Now, he is one of those monsters you say have 'their fingers in many pots'…"

Yami swallowed thinly, his ears ringing at the terrible words dropping fast from Kaiba's mouth, but he forced himself to pay attention as the image changed, showing a series of ugly faces.

"These are his 'pots'," Kaiba said quietly, tapping on each face to pull up the files he'd compiled on them for himself. "They run their own legitimate company but call them the Big 5 for short. Their crimes are…" He gave the screen a vigorous scroll for emphasis, and the pages of the document zipped upwards in a blur. "They started a company together after trying to drain Kaiba Corp for all I was worth."

Yami blinked and nodded, slowly growing numb all over as he gazed into Kaiba's handsome face, his heart swelling with sympathy as he wondered what terrors Kaiba had gone through to get where he was. Neither of them talked much about their past, and this was the first soul-baring conversation they were having, while naked. It didn't get any more honest than this.

"They're known for being overly violent, and they do traffic children from war-torn countries to other continents on their private airlines. I can't do anything about it other than…keep a file," Kaiba grimaced, and he gave Yami a half-smile. "They've bought the authorities in other countries along with some small politicians with their fat, corrupt wallets. But maybe now…something can be done. I don't know what exactly, but murder isn't what I had in mind—"

"Consider it done," Yami said quietly, taking the pad from him and scrolling through the photos and the lists again, his angular eyes narrowed with disgust. "And since I'm retired, I'll do them for free. As a special service to you, Seto."

Kaiba let out another nervous laugh and gripped the sheets with damp fingers, thinking it was a joke, but when Yami neglected to give him a smile in return, he sobered up.

Oh shit.

He was serious.

"What, are you going to…two-for-one them from the ceiling like you did with the Joker Pair?" Kaiba asked anxiously, still trying to crack a smile, but his chest was growing tight the more he saw Yami frown.

"…And when word gets out, this will paint me as someone who kills my clients…because I fell in love with the target. I guess it's typical," Yami said thoughtfully, tapping the pad with two fingers to stare at another ugly face. "Most retirees get angry after being pulled back into the game and find it easier to kill the person giving them the job. I don't have a moral compass and I'm not going to pretend like I have one now… But I do know this will look bad on me."

Kaiba blinked.

What.

"But I don't care. These are messy loose threads from my last job, and it's my responsibility to see it through to the end," Yami said evenly, clicking the pad off and tossing it aside carelessly before swinging his legs over the side of the bed, giving Seto a warm smile over his shoulder. "And this will really be my last job. I never want to touch a weapon again after this."

And he got up to walk into the bathroom, leaving Kaiba sitting thunderstruck on the bed, alone, listening to the sounds of water running from behind the closed door.

Wow.

Did I just put out a hit on the Big 5? Not my intention! Kaiba reeled, wondering what ripples this would cause, but deep down, there was a bubble of excitement. Yami was offering him a chance to erase his past permanently, once and for all.

He'd be a fool not to take him up on that offer.

Author's note:

sexy scene + a development!