Yami sat down at the table laden with food and was overwhelmed by the sheer extravagance.
Food covered every inch of the long table, and everyone sitting around was dressed in their warmest and finest.
He himself had gotten a beauty treatment done in the city after giving Yugi a quick visit, and he was wearing his best coat, but he still felt under done.
This was the New Year's Banquet and he was attending because he and Seto had received a formal invitation, and he was excited to see a few other humans, but had no idea there would be such an immense party.
The other humans were wearing gems, crowns, and excessive dresses that looked like they came from a different era. What an incredible crowd!
He'd encountered fewer people at a harvest fair in the city.
He had no idea there were over 1,000 humans in these lairs.
He'd been alone with Seto at the edge of the mountain this entire time while everyone else was living in deeper parts of the mountains, ones that stretched to the other side of the country.
The dragons were seated at another table, all in their half-human or fully human forms.
Seto had chosen to go without his wings and tail, only opting to keep his horns, while some other dragons showed up in cloaks with parts cut out for their wings, looking like full-on royalty.
Yami was nervous about being separated from Seto, but he knew this was a hurdle he had to cross himself.
The other humans thought he was a murderer because of Hana's suicide.
He had to rectify that at this social gathering–his first social gathering.
The food on his plate sparkled with variety.
Everything smelled delicious and every fruit imaginable was piled onto gold and silver plates along the table, mixed in with pies, perfectly seasoned breads, game meat, and trays of baked mushrooms, rice, and sauces.
Completely spoiled for choice, Yami filled his plate with a pasta that seemed popular with the children and took a small orange. He wasn't going to eat much since he didn't recognize half the food on the table, he didn't want to risk getting sick.
He was elbow-to-elbow with a burly man who had muscles larger than his entire body, and on his left sat a kicky child who whined about every green thing that his father put on his plate.
A dog kept running vertical laps underneath the table, grazing his shins and making him jump in fear every time.
Wine was being levitated across the table, and Yami marveled at the outward casting of magic from a group of beautiful women all sitting together in a row. Then he saw pointed ears framing their delicate faces, and his stomach twisted with intrigue.
H-His first time seeing elves!
They were unearthly and beautiful.
But a girl with human ears was holding her hand out to proudly pour wine for some people, and when she sat down, people clapped for her.
Yami blinked and stared. How did she do that?!
"Hey missy! Some wine here!" The muscular man beside him almost pushed him off the bench when raising his arm to call for service. "Give ol' uncle Rafi a sip, huh?"
Yami winced at the loudness and couldn't even enjoy the wine bottle floating over to pour with great showmanship for everyone around them. The man beside him was suffocating.
And he was talking annoyingly loud…
"Want some, shrimpy?" The man thunked a glass down beside Yami's plate, almost cracking the stem.
Yami couldn't shake his head in time and wine was sloshed into his glass by the magic casting girl with silky blonde hair.
"Thank you," Yami said emptily, taking it up to toast her in thanks, seeing her ears turn red, and she sat down after curtseying.
"Hey now, no long faces while we roll into the new year, huh?" A thick arm clamped down around his shoulders and gave Yami a shake, almost making him spill his wine. Supremely annoyed, Yami shrugged the man's hand off, and gave him a stiff smile, taking in his dark blue eyes, dirty blond hair and intense side burns. I-Interesting style choice…
"Which region, which dragon? I'm Rafi, and my dragon is The Leviathan," the man held his beefy hand out for a shake and angled his head at the table behind him. Yami couldn't tell which damn dragon that was.
"I'm Yami, and my dragon is named Seto… The…" Yami scrambled for Seto's title, his mind humming as he recalled the quicktutorial Seto had graced him with.
Officially, I'm known as the The Legendary Blue-Eyes White Dragon, Seto had told him with a scowl while dragging a hand lovingly across his shoulders to fix his coat lapel. Even though my scales are obviously silver. I don't do the fucking naming. The stupid humans who put me in magic textbooks do. So if anyone asks who you're with, that's what you say.
'The legendary' is part of your name? Yami had teased with a twinkle in his eye, and Seto bared his fangs with a hostile grimace.
I said I didn't choose it. What the hell else should I do? Start a war? My real damn name is Seto.
"The…Legendary…Blue-Eyes White Dragon," Yami struggled through saying it all and felt a smile curving at his lips from the ridiculous title.
It suddenly got really quiet at the table and Yami realized this was his chance to start talking redemption.
"...And he's the kindest, softest, most generous being who spoils me rotten," Yami had rehearsed this in the shower many times, but his voice was trembling at the edge. "He even set up a visiting schedule for me and my brother to see each other."
The child beside him had gotten up out of his seat, following his father who was leading him away by the hand, and they both threw a furtive look over their shoulders at him, sitting down somewhere else.
Yami blinked and his heart sank. W-What was that reception?!
"Auhhh, Blue-Eyes White Dragon, huh?" Rafael said with a chuckle, propping one large elbow on the table while swigged his wine. "That's the first time this millennium he's attended a banquet–AY, ALI, this kid here is with the Blue-Eyes!"
Rafael's booming voice traveled, and Yami wished he could melt to the ground and disappear. This was not going the way he'd planned.
A man with fiery red hair plonked himself down on the bench beside Yami and gave him a two-fingered salute from his temple, grinning, "I'm Alister–Ali for short–and I'm with The Leviathan. You're the Blue-Eyes kid, huh? You made it to the banquet! I better see you at the next one for Valentine's day. How goes Suicide Canyon? How many people have jumped during your stay?"
Yami grit his teeth. Why was everyone fixated on that!
"Say man, whattssur dragon even look like?" A man across the way waved drunkenly at him, and Yami was growing more and more uncomfortable. "I ain't never seen 'im in anythin' other thanna drawing! Seen his Ultimate form? I 'eard he got three heads!"
"Yes, one for each personality!" Alister chuckled and toasted Yami with his wine glass, winking.
Yami's palms were growing clammy as he gripped his knees and carefully constructed his responses.
He knew Seto's humans never socialized and 'never make it through the winter', so of course he had to behave elegantly, respectfully, even though he wanted nothing more than to punch every single one of these brutes in their drunk red faces.
Hopefully Seto was having a better time.
Seto was not having a better time.
He was fed up with everyone and everything in the first hour and wanted to retreat, but he saw Yami's spiky-head buried in the long table, smiling and talking, so he had to endure.
The other dragons did this for their humans everymonth!
He was already sick of Bakura and Joey, having to be their damn neighbors, he couldn't bear seeing them for a meal every month.
These banquet events were connected to Yami's health, so if he cared about Yami at all, he'd stick these out. All the humans were sucking the air out the room, making him cranky while Joey and Bakura teased him endlessly.
"Still got'im doin' it to yer tail?" Joey was chewing with his mouth open, and Bakura was making callous comments about Yami's appearance.
"His eyes are dark underneath. He needs more sleep. His hair could use some more color. Try green."
Seto chewed the grape to a pulp in his mouth and pointed his fork threateningly at Bakura, "you should be glad I'm even here at all. And if he wants anything changed to his hair, he'll tell me. Not taking pointers from you two."
But he did need pointers on enhancing Yami's lifespan.
"What do you do if–" Seto couldn't even get a word out because Joey snickered and pointed a claw at the table, "human poaching alert." And Seto tried not to care, but he saw The Leviathan gliding up to where Yami was sitting, and bent down to kiss the human beside him on the mouth.
Shocked, Seto dropped his fork with a clatter, his heart clenching with anxiety because it almost looked like that man was bending down to kiss Yami. HORRIFYING!
He might start an inter-clan war over one human!
Yami was equally as horrified, but in a different way, because his personal space was being violated by two men sharing a deep, tongue-to-throat kiss.
The Leviathan was a beautiful man with a long sheet of teal hair, porcelain pale skin, and horns that hooked into a threatening point at the tips. He wore a single chain circlet where a glowing gem rested between his strong brow, and Yami couldn't stop gaping.
Finally pulling out of the kiss, The Leviathan swept a delicate forefinger over his pink lips and gave Yami a silky smirk, "...A pretty one. Come join my clan? Must be lonely in the eastern wing."
Alister was red in the face and resting his hand politely over the center of his crotch while he gazed lovingly up at his master with his lips still parted, but he was ignored.
Yami was more disturbed by that interaction.
"No thank you," Yami said as politely as he could muster, but he was sure he was making a weird face–possibly an angry one. "I'm very happy with Seto."
"The offer…and my bed in mycastle…remains open. Rafi? Come." The dragon glided past him emitting a flowery scent, and Yami felt the entire bench shift when the muscular man scrambled out of his seat like a panting dog and hurried after his master without another look behind him.
Yami's mouth dropped open and he heard Alister beside him let out a low snarl, so Yami spun around to find a knife coming for his throat.
He let out a panicked yell and dodged, rolling off the bench to run away, feeling hands grabbing at him but he wiggled out of the man's grasp and stumbled down the magnificent dining hall, dashing past the seated diners and a few groups of people standing and mingling.
Everyone gasped and watched the spectacle.
"Violence!" Someone shouted, and Yami leaped over a baby's bassinet that was left empty in the middle of the ground and continued running, aiming for the hallway they came from.
He remembered the map Seto showed him.
He knew the entire way back.
Alister could chase him with a steak knife over a damn cliff, and only one of them would live through that ordeal.
"Seto…! Fix it!" Bakura growled while Seto was frozen in his seat with sheer fury and incredulity. How dare Dartz walk by to stir up shit with the first human he ever loved?!
Yami threw a panicked look over his shoulder and darted nimbly through a group of beautiful women who all parted to let him through, and he heard Alister yelling while still giving chase, "ungrateful! You won't ever love him as much as I do! He can take as many men in his bed as he wants but I will always be his favorite! I AM HIS FAVORITE!"
Oh gods! I don't care! Yami zig-zagged through a group of children who were standing to gape, and he knew this was making him look even worse, but he wasn't interested in a knife wound at his first banquet.
He felt a harsh wind whipping his bangs into his eyes, and he ran nose-first into Seto's chest.
Strong hands wrapped around his shoulders to spin him around, and Yami found himself placed safely behind Seto's back while Seto had his hand outstretched to cast magic.
Alister barreled forward and rammed the knife into Seto's palm, and Seto skidded back on his heels from the force of that attack.
Yami's mouth dropped open and he let out a panicked cry, "S-SETO–!"
"Stay there!" Seto shouted, aiming a kick at the human, not wanting to accidentally kill him, but the human was nimble and dodged him, then pulled the knife out of his palm to come shoving it forward again, snarling like a rabid dog.
"Die! DIE! Master doesn't want you!" Alister was red in the face, his eyes bloodshot from exertion, trying to stab the annoying man who was getting in the way of his spiky-haired target.
Feeling helpless and watching Seto bleed dark green, Yami glanced around for a weapon, for anything that might help, but already saw people helping.
The elven women had their hands raised to cast a sleep spell on Alister, and Seto had already healed his bleeding hand, catching Alister as he fell forward, unconscious.
The knife slipped from a limp hand and clattered to the ground by Seto's shoes, then it vanished with a shimmer of magic.
Yami sank into a slow sitting position and did his best not to cry, but he really felt useless in that one instant. He couldn't help but think that it was all his fault.
"I…want to go home…" Yami whispered, hating how everyone was just standing around and staring.
"Your home in the city, or your bed here?" Seto asked without looking backwards, his blood boiling and knowing his anger would show in his eyes and frighten children.
"Bed…p-please…" Yami breathed, and a shimmering portal opened up for him to step through. He ran through it with tears already pooling out of his eyes, and he hated how a sniffle was audible as he brushed the wetness that trailed down his chin.
He was never attending another banquet ever again.
This was one of the worst days he'd ever had while being here.
Not even being starved, or cleaning and sweeping on his first days here could compare to how terrible that entire ordeal had been.
Furious and pent-up, Yami let out an angry shout and kicked the bedpost, his foot throbbing.
Fuck that other dragon! And everyone could perform magic! He wanted to learn how to do that.
I will do that, somehow! Yami hobbled on one leg and sat down on the edge of the bed, his eyes still stinging with tears.
That had been so shitty!