Yami tried to avoid the dragon for the next few days because his embarrassment was high, but that proved to be impossible.

True to his word, they were together all hours of the day, redesigning the lair for his comfort.

Yami tried to feel happy about it, but he couldn't even make eye contact with Seto without burning up from head to toe.

To make matters worse, they were now sleeping in the same bed, because this was part of Seto's new supervision plan.

Two days after the tail masturbation incident, Bakura came to pick a fight with Seto about 'stealing the human', but after seeing magical renovations being done, Bakura merely whipped his tail across a newly built doorway to spitefully destroy it, and left.

Yami was back on a nervous high again, unable to relax…mainly because Seto's thick, warm tail would always press against his back at night when he was sleeping. He'd wake up, sweat with his legs crossed for what felt like an hour, before slowly falling back asleep, willing his boner away.

A week had gone by like this and they were rolling into a second one in a flash.

The pitted ground had been fixed and cleared of pebbles and sharp rocks.

Sudden dips and cliff sides were filled out, made less dangerous with magic paving.

Seto made large 'roads' that led from one section of the lair to another.

Glass had been magically forged and mounted into the rocky walls to light the way.
Doorways had different shapes and colors.

Now they had eight rooms that were virtually empty and ready to be filled.

Yami was only just now realizing how large the entire lair was. They could carve out any tiny nook and crevice to keep loot, or hell, chickens! He wanted to run that by Seto, but was currently mute around the dragon.

It didn't help that Seto still walked around virtually naked, with nothing but his shimmering scales to catch the light to blind him occasionally if he tried to catch a peek in full sun.

Yami noticed Bakura wore clothes, but again, couldn't bring it up to Seto because his tongue glued to the roof of his mouth anytime Seto smiled at him or peeked at him for approval. He would steam from the ears and excuse himself….only for Seto to follow him into the next empty section and ask what needed to be changed.

The dragon was intent on pleasing him.
The change of heart had been drastic and instant, Yami was almost disturbed.

His food quality had improved too.
True to his word, Seto teleported food from the city's best restaurants, opening portals to sneak his hand through and take plates right from the kitchen's 'ready' counter.

Yami was eating better than he'd never had in his entire life.

In the midst of all this instant luxury, he didn't have a moment's time to sit down and write Yugi a letter, but deep down, he could feel his request changing by the day.

If Seto could snake his hand through portals to take food, he could surely send him back home for a quick hug to Yugi, right? ….RIGHT?!

Yami was in turmoil stood by the pointed rock at the entrance of the cave, waiting for Seto to return from a hunt while watching the beautiful sunset.

Sweeping and cleaning was no longer required of him.

He almost wished he had something to do–and he did.

His job was to now make the eight monstrous rooms livable.

Nothing was out of reach.

All the riches were possible.
Seto was a powerful dragon….

Who doesn't find me the least bit sexy…. Yami leaned his shoulder against the rocky wall and kept his eyes peeled for dark dots in the distance.

All the dragons traveled together in packs for safety.
He learned they feared adventurers in hoards and the Demon Lord's army.

Well, as any living creature would.

Letting out a forlorn sigh, Yami wondered if he ought to visit the other floor's humans to seek advice.

He'd never encountered this tense, clenching anxiety before.

He really liked his dragon and didn't want to mess things up.


Seto noticed Kami avoiding him emotionally after the tail masturbation incident, and the longer it went on, the more he panicked.

Did the human want luxury clothes and sweets? Done. He would scour the city's streets to find the shops and steal from them by opening portals.

He pinched magazines, books, catalogs, and a small bookshelf was turning large with how many examples he'd been using to show Kami for inspiration.

Did he want a hallway shortened? Done.

Did he want lower ceilings? The pointed rocks cleared away? More stairs? A ramp?

Done and done and done again.

More perfume? More lotions? Done.

Did he want paintings from museums? ….Snatching a pearl necklace from someone's treasury for fun?

They did that and had a great laugh over it, with Kami proudly modeling the necklace with a pretty smile on his face, and Seto drank it in, amazed that he could make a human smile and be happy for once.

The shared laugh did not lead to kissing or even a hand touch. They shared awkward eye contact after sobering up, and Kami would turn red, and insist he was sleepy.

So that got Seto's hopes up. Sleep meant…something sexy right? Wrong.

The human slept facing away from him and didn't touch his tail again.

He would push his tail right up against the human's back and hold his breath, hoping in vain, eagerly anticipating some squeezing, but he'd hear the human falling asleep after a racing heartbeat told him that the human was still scared of him.

Maybe he had to pretend to bedeeply asleep. Permanently knocked out.
Maybe even half-dead for the human to want to try that again with his tail?!

The turmoil was eating him up, and it showed on their group hunt.

He let a human sneak away through the chaos of battle with an important message scroll that the Demon Lord wanted stopped.

It was out of the fire and into more hot water with him lately.

Predictably, the ones to criticize him first were Joey and Bakura, hovering around him to shout at him while the other clan members flew back to the cave, tired and disappointed that they'd failed their mission.

If the Demon Lord came knocking for details of their failed mission, Seto was sure they'd all point a claw at him anyway.

"This message scroll might start a war in the human kingdoms! Do you even care?!" Bakura was in his left ear, giving him a ringing headache.

"If da humans start killin' each other, they won't send anymore brides because they need the arms! They might even make us do some fightin', if the Demon Lord don't ask us ta' pay up fer your mistake first!" Joey was in his right ear, making his blood boil. "And I'm da richest guy in our group. Yer just a freeloader with a bad attitude!"

Seto glared at the two dragons and huffed, "well it's dead of winter and my human hasn't jumped from the edge. You lose your bet."

"Wrong!" Bakura snarled, beating his wings once to hover higher over Seto's head, his eyes gleaming with malice. "I see you've cast barrier protection over your wretched cliff! You're just keeping it like a caged animal. Good job. You win the most cruel pet owner title this century."

"Yeah, do your human even get out ta' socialize with the others?" Joey was eager to pile on. "They hadda Solstice-Something' Banquet to celebrate winter an' I didn't see any spiky hair at dat table. Ya keepin' him chained and locked up somewhere? Fed, but just barely? They need other human contact, yaknow. In case ya fergot, we're dragons."

Seto's temper boiled over and he unleashed his stress in a ranting wave, "he's actually quite happy! I bring him the finest food from the city, and he's dressed in the nicest clothes humans make! ….We shared a sexual touch, not that you two dolts care–" And he regretted opening his mouth the moment the words left his mouth.

Bakura's mouth dropped open so much, Seto could see rows of sharp teeth, and Joey clapped a giant hand over his eyes, his wings beating rhythmically as he flew in a low circle underneath their feet, clearly distressed.

W-WHAT?!
Why weren't they happy for him?!
They were always criticizing him for using his humans as servants!
He was keeping this one as a spoiled pet, the same way they were!
He just wasn't breeding it with another female to make a family.

"He consented to this sexual touch?" Bakura asked with a gleeful smirk, eager to rag on Seto for beingimmoral. "You didn't have to charm or wheedle him with magic? The Order has not commented on your barrier, so I assume everyone is glad you're taking the complaints seriously. Better than doing nothing, Seto."

Seto grit his teeth and more of the horrible truth came spilling out in a guilty rush, "...he did it to my tail and…hasn't done it since. I need advice on–" He was drowned out by hooting and howling laughter coming from both dragons. Joey did a backflip and let out a spit of red lightning that crackled and fizzled in the air.

Seto's temper flared higher.

"He did it to your tail!" Bakura was in tears, flying off in a shallow circle above the snow-covered trees while Joey's cackling laughter echoed around them. "What are we? Teenagers?! …Oh, he's just putting up with you!"

"He must really hate ya!" Joey added after catching his breath from his bouts of laughter. "Doin' it to yer tail, maaaan, I needed that laugh. Let's go, Bakura. My human's probably gettin' hungry."

Seto stayed hovering in the air, flabbergasted by that treatment. He expected warmth and celebration for his emotional growth with a human!
Instead, he'd been voraciously laughed at.

"Better make sure he isn't eating his food just to spit it out later!" Bakura sang as he flew off after Joey, who was still cackling. "It's a known thing humans do when trying to slowly starve themselves! You need to follow them into the bathroom to make absolutely sure!"

Seto swallowed thinly and realized he had neglected one very important request from the human. The letters.

Well maybe the human was withholding a sexual touch because of that? No, right?!

Crap, Seto growled as he flew off over the treetops, still looking for the human who had gotten away with the scroll. He'd have to search harder to rectify this mistake.

Finding one human in a sea of humans. Would it be unfair to ask his human to help look?

Humans all looked the same to him from afar anyway.