CHAPTER 13: THE SUBVERTING CLICHÉS CLICHÉ

THE SUBVERTING CLICHÉS CLICHÉ: By the 1930s, "the butler did it," was such a common ending, writing guides were warning against its use and mystery writers scrambled to find anyone else – from the narrator to the entire cast – to provide the appropriately unexpected twist. But by the 1970s, butlers had been retired from crime long enough for their re-emergence as the culprit to once again be a surprise, and butlers – from Disney's Aristocats to Dr. Who to Law & Order: Criminal Intent – were allowed to return to a life of crime. (Just like in House, where it's never lupus, until it is.)

When it comes to clichés, as the cliché goes, "everything old is new again."

Let's take the tritest phrase in fairy tales, "And they lived happily ever after." Even The Lord of the Rings' Samwise Gamgee is a little skeptical, asking, "And where will they live? That's what I always wonder."

MORAL: Maybe Sam's right. Maybe the most subversive question you can ask of any cliché is: What happens next?

Isono sat in the hotel bar, nursing a drink. This had been the most bewildering day of his life, and he'd been working for the Kaiba family for a long time. He looked at his watch. Midnight. At least the day was finally over.

On cue, Kaiba strolled into the bar, nodded to Isono and headed for an empty booth in the back, as if traveling between dimensions was commonplace. Isono downed his drink and ordered another, deciding he was close enough to on duty to put it on the Kaiba Corporation tab. The only predictable part of the day's events was Atem wandering in before Isono's drink had arrived and heading for Kaiba as if following a trail.

Isono felt a certain professional pride in his clothing selections: Atem had swung the gold jacket over his shoulders like a cape. He'd taken off most of his jewelry, but kept the white linen tunic and blue and gold belt. He'd added black and midnight blue woven leggings and cobalt blue work boots with burgundy stitching.

Kaiba was nursing a whiskey as Atem slid into the seat across from him in the booth. As Atem sat down, Kaiba took a sip and grimaced.

"You don't seem to like it," Atem pointed out.

"It's an acquired taste," Kaiba replied. He took another sip, forced himself to keep from wincing and set the glass down. "Enough small talk. We're going to need to establish your identity. We better decide the basics so I can get to work. I assume you want to keep the name Mutou as your family name, or is there another one I should know about?"

Atem's mouth dropped open. "Mutou is fine, I guess." He was pretty sure his full royal title wouldn't fit in with whatever Kaiba was planning.

A waiter came over and took Atem's order, then returned with a beer.

"First up: country of origin questions," Kaiba continued.

"Country of origin?" Atem asked.

Kaiba sighed theatrically. "If I'm going to give you a birth certificate, high school diploma, passport, driver's license and all the rest of the list, I need to know the issuing country: Egypt or Japan." He paused. "Or anywhere else, really."

"I was planning on going back to Japan with Yugi and you and everyone."

"Fine. Japanese citizenship, then."

"But I don't want to lose all ties to Egypt either, even though there's little I recognize. It's still the land I gave up so much for. I'd like to relearn it."

"Dual citizenship it is. You'll still have to decide by the time you're 21 which citizenship you want to adopt." Kaiba rolled his eyes. "I thought you came back here to make choices."

"That doesn't mean I want to make them all in the next five minutes!"

Kaiba snorted.

Atem's eyes narrowed. Kaiba leaned into the sight. "So, you think you'd decide… just like that," Atem said, snapping his fingers in Kaiba's face.

"Of course, I would. I always have."

"What if you change your mind?"

"Why would I?" Kaiba asked scornfully.

Atem saw himself facing Yugi across the stone floor of the Ceremonial Duel, so sure of all the certainties of his life. "It's okay. Even you can be wrong, you know." He laughed. "Except you don't know that, do you?"

Kaiba grunted and continued listing the identity papers Atem would need. Atem laughed again but allowed the retreat. Finally, Kaiba leaned back. "I can make all the documents you want, hack into every database from Egypt to Japan. I can give you a lift back to Domino. I can't tell you where you should go once you get there."

Kaiba held his breath. This was the first checkpoint. Would Atem want to be with him now that he had his friends back, now that Kaiba wasn't his only option? He'd promised to let Atem go. He braced for Atem's answer behind a mask of studied neutrality.

Atem wasn't fooled by Kaiba's seeming casualness. Suddenly, he was in the Domino High School hallway again, with his friends clamoring for his attention, with Kaiba standing in the background, waiting silently, without expectation, judging. Atem thought he'd learned all about choices. But sometimes they were like a rock in a river. You flowed around them, never noticing, as they receded and disappeared into the distance.

It would be so easy to go home with Yugi, to drift back into being a shadow, only now that he knew it was a choice, Atem couldn't choose nothingness. "You should expect more from me. I've earned that," Atem said sternly, before adding, "I'd like to come home with you."

Kaiba grinned the wide-mouthed grin from when he'd struck out the side to send them to the championship series. "Good. We might as well start out like we want to end up. It'll probably save a couple of steps."

"A couple of steps? Please tell me you don't have some crazy idea of creating a roadmap to our future!"

"Me?" Kaiba opened his eyes to their widest. "Would I do something like that?"

Atem snorted.

Kaiba pointed to Atem's beer. "You've barely touched it."

Atem took a sip. He made a face. "It's not the same as I remember."

"Yugi was a secret beer drinker? Color me surprised," Kaiba said.

Atem narrowed his eyes. "I meant before… in Egypt."

Kaiba snorted. "So, beer's changed over the last 3,000 years? Wow. Another newsflash."

"It was thicker, like a milkshake, and sweeter. It tasted of honey and dates and figs."

"Sounds dreadful." Kaiba signaled for a waiter and gave him an order. The bartender took down a bottle and poured a measure into a cordial glass and sent it back. The waiter set it down in front of Atem. "Boukha. Fig liqueur," Kaiba muttered.

Atem took a sip. "Nothing like beer. It tastes more like wine, but it's definitely sweet enough. Thank you."

"For the identity papers or the liqueur?"

"Both."

Atem sipped his drink. "I thought bouncing through dimensions was hard…"

Kaiba nodded. "Coming home feels equally unreal, equally disorienting. I thought everything would fall into place." Kaiba scowled. He never permitted Mokuba to complain that life was unfair. However accurate the observation, it wasn't a useful one. And yet, annoyance at that basic attribute of life – it's unfairness – was uppermost in this mind. "It's not what I expected."

"We did what we set out to do. What we decided. And everything is just the same as when we left. Except us," Atem said. "It's like this drink. Delicious, but unrecognizable where it should be familiar."

Kaiba choked down the rest of his whiskey and grimaced again. He called the waiter over and ordered a second round for both of them, even though Atem hadn't finished his first. Atem tapped his fingers on the table until the waiter returned.

"Since we've been back," Atem whispered. "Have you had these moments where you… where you started to…"

"Wonder if we made it home for good? Doubted everything? Worried that this is all a prelude to getting yanked back into limbo?"

"Yes," Atem said.

Kaiba leaned back and smirked. "Never crossed my mind." Kaiba raised his glass, clinked it against Atem's and added, "Here's to the future."

"And what we make of it," Atem replied, sipping his fig liqueur.

"Sounds like a challenge to me," Kaiba said, tossing back his second glass.

Atem walked back to the suite he was sharing with Yugi and Sugoroku. They were still up. He was glad the others had gone to their own rooms.

"We figured everything out while you were downstairs with Kaiba," Yugi said enthusiastically as Atem walked in the door. "When we get back home, we'll get an extra bed for you. It'll fit in my room and I'll clear out half my closet…"

"Thank you, but it's fine. I'm going to…" Atem swallowed. "When I was talking to Kaiba…I'm moving in with him. He figured… we figured… we should jump start the future we want."

"That's ridiculous! Kaiba has no clue what he's talking about."

Atem smiled. "I know."

Yugi sighed. "So why are you going along with this crazy scheme?" His voice rose to a squeak. "I thought you wanted everything to go back to normal… no, better than normal because you're here for real!"

"That's what I want too!" Atem paused. He'd never had to explain things to Yugi before. "But everything's changed. I'm not sure what I want normal to look like." Atem paused again and looked down. He'd hidden things from Yugi when they'd first met, but he'd never shaded the truth before. His normal now included Kaiba.

"Of course. I didn't think." For a second Yugi's face started to crumble before he patched it back together and smiled.

Atem remembered Kaiba saying that choices had consequences. Here was one he'd never expected to face: hurting Yugi. "I love you. You'll always be my partner. But I need to make my own decisions now, even if they blow up in my face."

"If they do, you're always welcome home. You're part of our family, and that's another thing that'll never change," Sugoroku said.

Eventually their talk wound down. Sugoroku went to bed. Atem looked around a little helplessly, then followed Yugi to the second bedroom. Besides his overstuffed closet, it had two queen sized beds.

"I assumed you'd want to share a room?" Yugi asked.

"Yes," Atem said, grateful to Yugi for reading his mind so easily. He remembered saying to another Kaiba, worlds away, "I never want to be alone."

He wondered for a second if this was another test, one he was failing. He wished Kaiba was here to ask.

He wished Kaiba was here.

Atem stepped into the room and shook himself. Yugi was standing right next to him. How could he feel the loss of Kaiba so acutely as if limbo had welded them together? "This is perfect," he told Yugi.

Atem got into bed. He was by himself. Yugi was across the room. It seemed an enormous distance in the dark. Sleeping alone suddenly seemed as big an obstacle as finding his way home. He closed his eyes, trying not to wish his mattress was a bed of flowers.

Trying not to miss limbo.

Kaiba sat in the bar after Atem left to go upstairs to Yugi. It was stupid to keep drinking whiskey as if he could will himself to enjoy it, as if it would hasten his journey to being that older, better Seto, the one Atem had loved. Kaiba did it anyway. Kaiba stumbled upstairs when the bar closed, ignoring Isono trailing behind until he reached his suite. Kaiba changed into pajamas and fell into bed, not waking up until bright sunlight came in through the windows.

Kaiba opened one eye. Awareness returned.

He was awake.

He was in a bed.

He opened both eyes, confirming that this wasn't some bed-like arrangement of flowers. He was in a hotel room. He'd slept through the night.

Kaiba sat up, instantly alert. He started to get out of bed, needing to confirm that Mokuba – his Mokuba – was safely tucked up and asleep in the next room. Kaiba forced himself to lay back down. He'd beaten limbo. He refused to doubt.

He was home.

He was alive.

He was safe.

He was alone.

Kaiba was suddenly tempted to trade the triumph of their return, the promise of security, for another moment of Atem lying beside him – or better still, in his arms.

Kaiba frowned. There was nothing new about sleeping alone. He hadn't shared a bedroom since the orphanage.

He wanted to share one now. And Atem had promised to come home with him. Kaiba vaguely knew he should be afraid of how much he wanted Atem, but he couldn't work up the energy for fear.

Atem had chosen him.

Kaiba got out of bed, showered and dressed in a new black turtleneck and pair of pants Isono had managed to rustle up. The fit was satisfactory for a rush order. He put on his Battle City coat. The sooner he got to work on hacking databases and arranging documents, the sooner he could get his life on track.

The sooner he could reach his future.

By the time he finished dressing, Kaiba had a plan. Hacking could only go so far. Some documents would need to be forged and for that Kaiba needed information. Isis was the best brain to pick.

Isis was back at work. Kaiba headed for her office. But after their discussion was over, Kaiba made no move to leave.

"Why did you email me about the Ceremonial Duel?" he asked abruptly.

"You're welcome," Isis replied.

Kaiba grinned. "Thank you."

"You can choose the answer you prefer," Isis said, ticking off the bullet points on her fingers. "I surrendered to a companionable impulse. I didn't want to see you irrevocably hurt. I was curious to see if you could go two-for-two against fate or if the first time was a fluke. You restored Malik to me and keeping silent would have been a poor way to repay that debt."

"You owed me nothing," Kaiba answered.

Isis shook her head as if Kaiba was a particularly slow child on a class trip to her museum. "You don't get to define my obligations."

Kaiba nodded. "Check."

Isis smiled. "Or who I feel friendship for."

Kaiba raised two fingers to his forehead in salute. "Check and mate."

Isis sighed. "My family lived underground for 3,000 years, isolated from the world above. Uncontaminated, my father would have said."

Kaiba nodded. He knew all about unlearning the destructive shit that fathers said.

"I thought it was our destiny, our burden," Isis continued. "But when Atem and Yugi came here in order for Malik to start the Ceremonial Duel, I realized we weren't the only ones living under its onus. I'd never thought of the pharaoh as someone who needed to be freed before, as someone with his own life to live, as someone who was denied the same things that Malik craved so desperately."

"So, I was your wrecking ball?"

Isis smiled. "And a very effective one. But…" Isis paused.

"Go on. It's not like you to pull your punches."

"It occurred to me that maybe, Atem wasn't the only one aching to get yanked off his pre-arranged path."

Kaiba's lips twitched. "I would have hated missing the party. Or the chance to turn over a few tables." He stared at her for a moment. "I hope you got something out of it besides the trainwreck entertainment value of our return."

"The reminder that destiny is what we make of it, is always welcome."

Kaiba snorted. "If you really want to thank me, if you turn up an ancient recipe for beer, I'd be glad to see it. A sample would be even better."

"It's supposed to be delicious," Isis said.

"So I've heard," Kaiba agreed as he got up. He turned at the door and added, "If you're ever in Domino, feel free to stop by. I might even tell security to let you up."

The flight back was handled with all the efficiency Kaiba usually showed when faced with a purely practical problem. The trip home might have taken two days, including an overnight stopover, but it felt like only minutes had passed before their limousine arrived at the mansion.

Atem was glad he'd passed on the comfy hooded coat and sweatpants in favor of a sleeveless gold stamped tunic, leggings and black boots with geometric designs in a metallic red. He felt like a pharaoh entering his new domain. It was a fanciful thought, but one as comforting as a sweatshirt.

Atem looked up as he exited the limousine. Two Blue Eyes White Dragons flanked the entrance; a third was ready to take flight from the second story stonework. Kaiba ushered Atem into the mansion. Mokuba followed. Atem had expected the place to be changed out of all recognition since Yugi had been there the night before Death-T. He surveyed the entrance, his eyes widening in surprise. Except for the large, silver and transparent acrylic dragon guarding the foyer from the top of the staircase, the entryway, decor, and even the broad, sweeping staircase itself, had all stayed the same. Kaiba and Mokuba guided Atem through an endless series of rooms. Atem had never seen them before, but he was willing to bet that, except for the occasional dragon or houseplant, they'd remained untouched since Gozaburo's reign. A glance at the dining room (where Mokuba had once tried to poison Yugi and Jounouchi with pancakes) confirmed his suspicion. Atem breathed a sigh of relief when they entered the game room. He recognized it. The mahogany leather couch was new. The bar was missing. He chuckled remembering the floor scattered with dolls.

Kaiba smiled back. "Fashion's a cut-throat business, even for dolls."

"So? What do you think?" Mokuba asked eagerly.

Atem smiled. "It's great!"

Mokuba pointed out all the different features of the room, focusing on the electronics. Atem didn't mention he'd seen them before.

"The rest of the house seems the same since when I was here as part of Yugi," Atem noted. "I like that this room is different."

Mokuba nodded.

"Redecorating is boring. It's not worth the effort," Kaiba said flatly.

"We could hire someone," Mokuba pointed out. The resignation in his voice hinted this wasn't the first time he'd made the suggestion.

Kaiba grunted. They could of course. He wasn't sure why he hadn't. Would that have made the place less of a spoil of war and more of a home? For the first time he wondered which he wanted.

Atem walked to the window. It faced towards the back. Right outside, connected to the mansion, was a large room with glass walls and roof. It housed a swimming pool.

"The roof's retractable. My brother likes swimming laps. He doesn't like being closed in," Mokuba explained.

Atem nodded. The room was part of, but separate from the mansion. Atem tried to decide if it was an addition or the prelude to an invasion.

"Do you swim? My brother's real good!"

"In the Nile," Kaiba said before Atem could answer.

They went in to dinner. Kaiba was surprised to realize that even after twelve worlds, he still had no idea what Atem's favorite foods were. He grunted to himself, pleased and dismayed in equal measure; there was still so much he had to learn.

They went back to the game room after dinner. It was clear the Kaiba brothers lived there, a refuge from the rest of the house. After a while Mokuba headed off to bed. Kaiba went with him.

"I'm so glad we're home," Mokuba said, hugging Kaiba once he was in bed.

"Me, too."

"It was so scary before you came back. I was afraid you were gone for good." Mokuba's lower lip trembled. He fought to get it under control.

"I'll always come back," Kaiba said as he tucked Mokuba into bed.

"I'm not a baby!" Mokuba protested, but he snuggled under the covers. Kaiba stroked his hair and left the room.

Atem was in the game room, still staring out of the window. "Is that a motorcycle track in the distance?"

Kaiba grinned. "I designed it myself," he said, launching into the schematics, something Atem understood about as well as he'd understood the theoretical underpinnings of dimensional travel. But Atem loved seeing the eager light in Kaiba's eyes and listening to his voice; it became more impassioned as he relived his design choices.

Kaiba and Atem went up to Kaiba's bedroom a short time later. Atem whistled as the door closed behind them. The room was large enough to duel in. He stared at the floor to ceiling stained glass windows. Three Blue Eyes White Dragons soared across a pale blue sky. They were lovely, even in the dim light. Atem wondered what they'd look like in the daytime.

A philodendron stretched up from its huge glass pot. The glossy green leaves framed the side and top of the windows before winding their way around the room where the wall met the ceiling. More plants were scattered throughout the room, their bright greens the only color besides the subdued blues and silver grays of Kaiba's carpets and furniture, or the sapphire blue bed covering. A silver statue of a dragon, twisting into flight, hovered near the window. Two glass dragons, shimmering like ice, flanked the door. Atem was reminded, even though it was night, even in the darkness which had held his assumed name for so long, that Kaiba's deck, like his holograms, celebrated the attribute of light. The room was intensely personal and unrevealing at the same time, an invitation to look more deeply. It didn't resemble the room that an older Kaiba had carried him through on the way to the bathtub. Atem liked this version better.

"I love it," he breathed.

Kaiba started at the sound of Atem's voice, at the proof that this was real.

Atem was here.

With him.

In his bedroom.

He needed to touch Atem, to confirm that somehow this had all happened, that he'd gotten a gift he hadn't had the brains to ask for on his own. "In Egypt… until I saw that door close, I didn't believe it was real. And now… seeing you here…" Kaiba's voice trailed off.

Atem smirked. "And now… seeing me here… how do you feel now that this door is closed?"

Kaiba groaned and closed the distance between them. He gripped Atem, one hand on his shoulder, the other behind his head, instantly tangling in Atem's hair as he held him in place and covered Atem's mouth with his own.

He'd wanted Atem in limbo, but like all other desires, it had been muted. Now, it slammed into him with sledgehammer brutality.

"I didn't know how much I could want you," Kaiba said hoarsely.

"Every nerve is on fire and I welcome the pain," Atem whispered in response

As though a rubber band holding back two magnets had snapped, Kaiba and Atem were in each other's arms, kissing, touching, ripping off clothes as they stumbled towards Kaiba's oversized bed.

Atem pushed Kaiba's turtleneck up until it was a crop top. Kaiba slid one tunic sleeve off Atem's shoulder. Their hands whirled over each other's bodies until they were naked and still hungering for more.

Kaiba had spent the afternoon sneaking glances at porn sites, waiting for this moment. He was unprepared nonetheless. This was totally different from the slick, artificial productions he'd viewed, rawer, like a gut punch, one that brought pleasure instead of pain.

They weren't in limbo where each touch dissolved the instant it landed. Now, each caress lingered, heating the air, setting them aflame. Kaiba knew he should move, should travel down Atem's body, should part his legs, but this felt so indescribably good, smashed together, rubbing against each other, skin on skin, sweat slicked and grinding, hands gripping each other, the blessed, newly discovered exhilaration of friction…

"This is real," Kaiba gasped out.

"Real," Atem repeated mindlessly, reveling in the feel of his body, the one that belonged only to him, that existed here, in Domino and nowhere else. Even with Yugi, reality had been diffused, filtered. Limbo had been worse; they could share only the illusion of passion. Now desire was all he could feel, subsuming his senses… his hands touching everywhere, briefly trapped as he tried to stroke Kaiba, a startling awareness of Kaiba touching him in return, as they rubbed against each other, rushing headlong, stumbling towards some unimagined conclusion.

Atem threw back his head and screamed. Kaiba hadn't known how badly he'd needed to hear his given name until Atem had howled it to the skies, a sacred offering for an earthly communion. Kaiba felt Atem stiffen against him, felt Atem's hand clutch him, pumping out of rhythm. Kaiba came with a roar, dragon loud.

Atem leaned against him, spent. He smiled against Kaiba's side, feeling at peace and utterly alive within his own skin.

"We did it!" Kaiba yelled.

They were on his bed. Their clothes were tangled and scattered around them. They were sticky, their sweat cooling on their skin. Kaiba knew he should reach for the covers, but Atem was snuggled against him. Kaiba pulled Atem across his torso. "That was amazing."

Atem rubbed his cheek against Kaiba's chest, almost boneless with remembered joy. For once, Kaiba was completely and absolutely right. Atem was happy. He was sated. He was in Kaiba's arms. He was eager to do it again. "Wonderful," he breathed, feeling like they were the first people on earth to combine touch with friction and create a miracle.

.

Thanks to Bnomiko for betaing this chapter!

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I wanted to write a first time for Atem and Kaiba that was a bit awkward and fumbling and inexperienced – except it didn't feel like that to either of them. Kaiba never expected Atem to want him; he can hardly believe it, even when Atem is kissing him. Atem never expected to have his own body and all that entails. So rather than feeling awkward or fumbling to the only two people whose opinions matter, it felt like a slice of heaven. I really wanted to highlight that difference between how they might feel looking back at 40, and how it felt in the moment.

Atem Name Note: Thanks to Kaibacorporationintern's help on pharaoh names. Although pharaohs were referred to by the name they were given at birth, Atem's royal title would have included five names: A Horus name, a Netby name, a Golden Horus name, and a coronation name, in addition to his given name. As an example, this is what Thutmose III's name, including his royal titles:

Horus name: Kanakht Khaemwaset, "Horus Mighty Bull, Arising in Thebes"

Nebty name: Wahnesytmireempet, "He of the Two Ladies, Enduring in kingship like Re in heaven"

Golden Horus: Sekhempahtydjeserkhaw, "Horus of Gold Powerful of strength, Sacred of appearance"

Praenomen (coronation name): Menkheperre, "He of the Sedge and the Bee, Enduring of form is Re"

Nomen (name given at birth): Thutmose Neferkheperu, "Son of Ra, Thutmose, beautiful of forms"

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