In the next few weeks, Seto kept himself busy by helping Mai behind the bar, making trips with her to the greenhouse on the dragon while Yami vanished during the day because he was 'fortifying his house'.
His days were starting to get repetitive and were blending together, with nothing to anchor him other than the delicious memories of his time in the human world.
Yami reappeared every couple days, only to bring him a giant stack of books, which Seto was slowly tackling, but even the information inside them was boring and full of stuff he already knew, like:
"Demons can shapeshift unintentionally depending on their mood and the environment, which is what makes this species so dangerous. You could meet the same demon 8 times over and never know it's the same one. These beings can gather Intel like this quickly and gain the upper hand quickly during war."
He'd already done that and had tried shapeshifting in his room with all his might, but nothing happened, so he gave up trying…for now.
Other excerpts were more about his abilities, from either human or mage's perspectives, and those didn't hold the instruction manual he'd hoped to find.
"Demons are an extremely resourceful species, often managing to create food sources from poisonous and often spoiled items. Depending on the potency of the Ruined Item, the Healing Conditions of the newly created item may be able to heal All Conditions."
Shit he already knew, and it sounded like basic, crappy video game lore about item creation.
Bored out of his mind with nothing to do other than help Mai clean up tables at the end of a day and catching a ride on dragon back for 5 minutes to pick up spoiled herbs, Seto was growing restless.
Visiting Anzu's greenhouse to check on her 'exotic herbs' was boring.
Accepting tips from the adventures at the bar only sated his interest for new items briefly, and once the low-level item was appraised, it quickly landed in the 'trash' pile he had accumulated under his bed.
Now even reading books had become boring.
Because Yami had curated this selection for him.
None of these books told him how to leap dimensions or shapeshift, or do the things he really wanted to do—like age himself up—so he had to continue sucking up to Mai in the vain hope that his obedience would pay off in the future.
Sighing, Seto shoved the book aside and laid his head down on the pillow to close his eyes, deciding to take a nap because there was literally nothing else to do until dinner rush. The noise of the incoming patrons would wake him up, so he dozed off carelessly, daring to enjoy the small, brief freedom.
He found himself shaken awake by Yami, and he bolted upright, nearly knocking his head against Yami's chin as the mage leaned away to give him a nervous smile.
"Hey kid," Yami began, and Seto bristled at being called a kid.
"Hey you. Don't call me a kid or I'll bite your face off," Seto bared his fangs in a grimace and found his cheek crushed against Yami's shoulder when the mage leaned forward to give him a hug.
"Okay, Seto, you're definitely on your way to being an adult," Yami said playfully, giving the top of Seto's hair a ruffle. "…In a few thousand years. Now are you ready to hear the news I have?"
Seto let out a low growl and crossed his arms, his cheeks burning from the sudden hug, so he focused on the button of Yami's cloak while he nodded. By his count, it had been an entire month since he'd seen Yami. Was he finished 'fortifying' his house yet?
"I'm off to another dimension for a quest," Yami said seriously, looking into Seto's clear blue eyes and feeling a pang of affection for the child. "I'm sorry I've been so absent. I was arranging—"
"Can I come with you? You've been gone for one solar rotation," Seto interjected, giving Yami another reproachful glare. "All the books you gave me are boring. I want new ones."
"A-Alright, I will bring you new books," Yami said calmly, giving Seto's back a gentle up and down rub. "How about I bring you one from the dimension I'm visiting?"
"A human dimension?" Seto asked suspiciously, and his suspicions were confirmed when Yami nodded guiltily. G-Goddammit! Time to tag along in the best way possible—a human adult form. His boredom was cured! Finally, thank fuck!
"So what would you like? A book where you can color in lines?" Yami asked warmly as he rested his hand atop Seto's much smaller one. "I've heard many good things about those from humans here."
"I want a picture book," Seto said cleverly, nearly cutting his tongue on his teeth as he said it in Japanese. "An ecchi novel."
"Okay," Yami said seriously as he got up from the bed and moved to stand in the middle of the room with a solemn look on his face. "And once I complete this quest, I'll finally have enough gold to move you out of this tiny room." The mage squared his shoulders back with pride, and Seto gave Yami the best fake smile he could muster. Greaaaaaaaaat.
But honestly, he preferred it here.
People were here, and Mai was here.
And the dragon was here.
Moving to Yami's house in the middle of nowhere on 'unmagicked land' sounded like hell.
"Keep your bracelet on," Seto said dryly, raising his arm to tap the braided rope on his tiny wrist and seeing Yami avoid his gaze with a nod and dip his head down, tapping his bracelet too.
"I will. But no portal viewing, okay? I'm catching a monster…" Yami mumbled under his breath, and Seto wasn't even listening to him. He'd thrown the sheets back over his head and turned over in a furious huff. Aww…
Yami gave the lump on the bed one last look before he cast the teleportation spell, bringing an intense flash of light in the room, and he was gone.
Seto held his breath and sat up quickly to throw the covers off his body, racing out the door and down the steps to find Mai.
The elf saw him zip into the dining area and placed a stack of clean dishes on the bar's counter, frowning.
"What is it, hon—"
"Yami left for the human dimension again! I'm following him and don't try to stop me!" Seto cried, and he turned on his heel to run back up the steps, hearing Mai calling after him, "Better return in three nights or I'll come after you myself! I only have 200 pre-made bowls of that mee-soh soup, okay?!"
Okay! Seto called back frantically in his head, throwing himself in his room and digging into the pocket of his mage's robes hanging off the bedpost for a piece of chalk.
Brief relief came in the form of becoming an adult back in his home country, of course he wasn't going to let this opportunity pass. Hell, if Yami was ever visiting any dimension, he'd use this chance to act out, and get the fuck out of this dimension, where he was trapped in a horrid, demon-child's body.
He scratched the traditional Chinese characters out on the ground with ease and resigned himself to learning the language in its entirety to create more dimension-leaping spells.
His lower body was vanishing at an agonizingly slow pace, but at last, his neck was fading, and the room began wobbling in his vision as his chest grew tight, and he was thrown into a magical barrier, his head spinning violently as he landed on his ass with a loud crash, and his elbows hit the counter behind him, sending a sting of pain up his shoulders and numbing his fingertips.
"Ow…fuck!" Seto cursed furiously, cradling his throbbing elbow while glancing around frantically to gather his bearings.
He was trapped behind a service counter, wearing a convenience store apron…and thankfully he was the only one present. No one had witnessed that. The thing he'd crashed into had been a tiny rolling chair, and his elbows had smashed into the edge of a glass case containing rows of cigarettes and other plain boxes, labeled neatly with a sign that said, 'cartridges'.
For…printers?! Seto wondered dimly as he glanced around the empty store, trying to figure out of it was still 1996, and then he caught another sign that was projected along the lower edge of the glass case in bright red letters, "SALE OF TOBACCO TO PERSONS UNDER THE AGE OF 20 ARE NOT ALLOWED! EMPLOYEES MUST CHECK YOUR ID BEFORE PURCHASE!"
Tobacco…cartridges?! Seto reeled, his confusion rising, and he moved down the glass case, seeing several sleek sticks and boxes. W-What the fuck were those?! He hunted for a sign, but there was none, so he gave up. Nice. This was somewhere in the extreme future where cigarettes had cartridges, whatever the fuck that meant.
The important question was: did this dump have coffee?
He swept his gaze up and down along the glass counter and realized he didn't have a way out. There was no hinge or anything that indicated an exit.
The fuck! Seto raged, and he passed his hand across the top of the counter, trying to find a bump, a dent, a dip, anything that would tell him how to get out, and his hand fell through the top of the counter while the image stayed projected over his skin.
Awesome. Part of the counter was a hologram.
What year was it?!
And did they have coffee?!
Walking through the glistening aisles of neatly arranged food products, Seto found a row of vending machines at the back of the store and stopped in front of one that greeted him with a giant, floor-to-ceiling full-length screen that had a slot on the side that looked like a drink coaster.
And Seto tensed when the machine talked to him by showing an image of a pretty woman bowing neatly. She pointed at the options to the side with a practiced hand, "Welcome, valued customer. We have a variety of hot beverages for you to choose from…"
Sparkling promotional photos of coffees and their brands popped up, and Seto's eyes watered as he stared at each of them, his skin growing cold at the price tags.
T-This was convenience store coffee?
Then he didn't want to know how much coffee cost in a café.
He reached up to tap his option on the screen, but the woman held her hand up sternly, reprimanding him, "please do not touch the screen for your health, dear customer. Due to a new variant of the global pandemic that is currently happening, we are practicing extreme caution. Please choose by speaking aloud, or by asking a store attendant to help you. Say, 'store attendant', or 'help' to summon an employee. Thank you."
Severely taken aback, Seto merely stared at the AI woman and felt his eyes water when he noticed she was wearing a tiny KC button on her lapel. The shiny, silver KC logo that he owned.
Do I exist as myself in this universe?! Seto wondered furiously as the screen blinked white and began timing out.
"STILL CHOOSING? 10… 9… 8…" was flashing before him, and he hastily called out, "black coffee, hot, custom size: large."
And the screen changed back to the smiling woman who bowed and replied, "thank you for your selection, Manager Nishio-san. Your beverage will be ready in 8 minutes and 36 seconds. Please pay with your registered biometrics. Thank you."
My…registered…biometrics?! Talk about privacy violation. I hate the future! Seto breathed as he wondered what to do. Apparently, nothing, because the screen automatically scanned his face without flashing any lights or giving any indication anything had happened, and then it thanked him.
"Thank you for your payment using facial recognition ID," the bold text said, and a large rectangle appeared in the middle, showing the snapshot it had taken, and Seto swallowed his fear as he stared at the grainy photo of himself in absolute shock.
There had to be some mistake.
The photo showed an old man with strands of gray hair in a neat crop of light brown hair.
He'd aged… too much, too fast!
I'm old! Seto cried in a panic, clapping his hands to his face and feeling glasses shift on his nose, so he tensed and stopped, glancing around in a panic to find the bathroom.
He scanned the ceiling, looking for the bathroom sign, and found it, projected brightly in the distance, hovering in the middle of a dark hallway, so he made a run for it, his heart pounding in his ears as he threw himself past the sliding doors and tripped his way up a few steps to peer into a mirror.
The same old man from the coffee machine photo stared back at him. Silver strands were abundant in light brown hair, his eyes still blue as ever, but the skin around the corners of his eyes were wrinkled, mildly hidden by the reflection of the large glasses that sat on his face, and…his skin was so pale, his cheeks were dramatically hollow…his forehead had become more sloped, possibly due to age.
There were stress lines coming down from the sides of his mouth!
I'm— Seto didn't even have words. He looked like himself, only a thousand years older. No, he looked maybe around 50. Or 60?!
Am I balding?! Seto wailed frantically, trying to lower his head and look at his reflection at the same time. Not balding, but the strands of white hair mixed in with his brown ones were startling. And his hands were wrinkled, with spots showing on the backs. Oh shit. Oh shit.
This was worse than being a girl!
…Or not?
At least I look like myself, Seto lamented pitifully, shoving the thin-rimmed glasses higher up on his face before turning to exit the bathroom in a huff. This dimension leaping and poorly practiced shapeshifting was taking a toll on his ego. He wanted to meet Yami as himself in his prime, not as an old, wrinkled prune.
Or is that really how much time has passed in the other dimension? Seto wondered glumly, walking back to the counter before he noticed his coffee was ready and steaming, sitting on the tray, so he headed over to grab it, no longer interested in it.
Edging through the hologram part of the counter, Seto plopped himself down on the tiny rolling chair and took a tentative sip, daring to breathe a sigh of relief as the familiar taste of black coffee flooded his senses. Thank…god… Coffee was still the same no matter how many fucking years had passed…
In fact, dare he check what year it was?
He wheeled over to stare at the gleaming cash register that was merely a sheet of glass with more projections on it, and after reading all the digital buttons, Seto found the time and date floating in tiny text at the bottom of the screen.
2:20 2041 THURSDAY MAY 16 AIR QUALITY: MODERATE – mask with filter recommended
Seto blinked.
And then he took a sip of his coffee, deciding he would return to his own dimension soon after he finished drinking this cup. This future sucked.
Glad I'm not from here, Seto thought cheerfully. No one would come in for the rest of the night. It was 2 AM in the middle of a global pandemic, and the air quality was shit.
No sensible human would need anything from a convenience store at this time—
The moment that thought left his mind, the front doors whooshed open, and the welcome message played merrily, nearly spitting his eardrums that had been so accustomed to silence, "bing bong bing bong! We have a customer!"
UGH! Seto rolled his eyes and thunked his coffee down on the counter, his blood boiling.
He was going home.
Helping Mai serve patrons was better than this dump.
He was about to get up when he saw a dark, grotesque lump ooze through the sliding doors, and he froze.
H-Hey… was this the air quality? Because this looked sentient and toxic.
The dark blob seeped into the first aisle and Seto gripped his coffee cup harder, realizing this was a supernatural being and he could see it.
Because he was a demon with magic eyes.
What did this thing want? A bag of chips?!
He was about to open his mouth to shout at it when the doors parted again, followed by the annoying welcome message, "bing bong bing bong! We have a customer!" and Yami came running into the store at full speed, skidding into the aisle to confront the monster.
Swallowing thinly, Seto dared to raise the coffee to his lips, eager to finish drinking by the time Yami was done vanquishing the blob. The mage would surely recognize him now. He had the same traits as his demon self: brown hair, blue eyes, pale skin…
Seto was jolted out of his thoughts when he saw a crackle of dark energy beaming up from the snack aisle, and he sighed, taking another sip and realizing the cup was almost empty.
Dammit… This was a large size too.
Maybe he could take one back with him.
There was another loud crackle of energy from the first aisle, followed by a muffled boom! And the stench of rotten eggs. Yuck.
Shaking his head to himself, Seto raised the paper cup to his lips to sip again and passed a hand over his brow, feeling a heavy wrinkle between them. So fucking tired… He needed 8 gallons of this stuff to wake him up completely.
He raised his head cautiously to see Yami standing in the middle of the second aisle, tucking a glass bottle into the sleeve of his robe before the mage glanced up nervously to make eye contact.
"Shoplifting?" Seto called across the store, feeling a smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth. "I can see everything. I'm watching you." Then he raised the cup to his lips to round off his drink, secretly pleased that his voice once again sounded like himself as he remembered.
Yami's mouth parted in surprise, and he hastily bent himself into a bow, remembering that humans in this dimension valued bowing regardless of status. His heart raced as he straightened up again to look the store attendant full in the face, his heart skipping a beat when he was met with light blue eyes, filtered by a set of thin-rimmed glasses.
The human's eyes were very similar to Seto's color, but…it couldn't be him, because this human was showing signs of age… He had silver strands in his hair and stress lines on his face, but still extremely handsome nonetheless. The human's sharp features stood out even more in the harsh white lights, and Yami was rendered speechless for a moment.
"Mute? Okay," Seto muttered, and he got up to refill his coffee, his ears burning as he wondered if Yami recognized him at last.
He boldly brushed past the mage, pleased to discover he was an entire foot taller, and that brought a rush of satisfaction as he bent forward to order another coffee from the machine.
"Welcome back, Manager Nishio. What would you like to purchase?" The AI woman asked robotically, and Seto called out again with a lazy air, "black coffee, size large. Hot."
"Thank you for your purchase. Your facial recognition ID has been accepted," the woman bowed and disappeared, making way for the timer to appear on the screen while she added, "your drink will be ready in eight minutes and 36 seconds. Thank you."
Yami gaped at the human trapped behind the glass and at the other human who so easily used the woman without so much as looking at her, and his hatred for humans came back in a startling rush that made his stomach wrench.
"How can you treat her like that when she's clearly trapped?" Yami fumed, half thinking about breaking the glass so the woman could go free. "How often is she let out for a break?! Do you have the key for her glass prison, since your title is Manager? Release her! ….Hey, I'm talking to you!"
Oh… my god! Seto thought deliriously, turning to give Yami a half-smile that was more like a condescending grimace.
"That woman is a mirage," Seto explained flatly, thinking about revealing himself so they could teleport home together away from this awful, flat, white convenience store. "She's not real. She's a bunch of pixels, and then a string of letters and numbers that make her talk like that."
Yami bristled at this and pointed at the screen again, his heart racing as he wondered if this dimension was as pleasant as he previously remembered, because this human wasn't as polite, but Yami argued back anyway, "even if she's an amalgam of pixies, you should still treat her with kindness."
Seto blinked and let out a bellowing laugh, pressing a hand to his face and doubling over, his body heaving for breath as he struggled to compose himself, but his stomach wrenched again with another laugh, and he had to hang onto the nearest shelf for support as he gasped for air.
"What's so funny?" Yami asked sourly, his heart still skipping nervous beats in his chest as the beautiful human laughed at him. "Release her. You're being cruel."
"…She's not…real! It's a talking picture!" Seto gasped, struggling to stand but his knees gave out, so he stayed down on one knee, his shoulders still shaking with mirth. "You're hilarious, you know that?! Quick, tell me what you think about my glasses."
And Seto raised his head to smirk at Yami again, seeing him redden in an all-too familiar way and look off to the side, stammering, "your eyewear is fine. I daresay it looks good. Now, will you let me leave?"
"Let you?" Seto echoed, his amusement rising the longer Yami stood there above him, looking anxious and…pretty. "I'm not keeping you here, but I did see you take something, so put it back. I won't have anyone stealing while I'm on duty."
Yami reddened for a completely different reason and crossed his arms defiantly, "I would never steal from you. I have currency and I will pay for anything I need. What you saw was…my own item."
"Oh? Okay, show it to me then. Empty your pockets!" Seto jeered, pointing at Yami's flat robes, his eyes gleaming. "Or not, I'll just go through the camera feeds and see what you took."
Ha. This was torture for keeping him bored in Mai's storage unit bedroom.
"Perhaps you saw this…" Yami held his hands up defensively and grit his teeth, slowly reaching into his robes to pull out the dark flask containing the Gluttony monster. "A glass bottle that looks nothing like any of your items. I won't take this accusation lightly."
This human was rude. He was going home.
It was too much to hope that he'd find a pretty human to play with again.
This dimension was too large and searching seriously for a human to play with would only waste his own time if he couldn't find one within the hour….
"Oh, my mistake," Seto said coolly, having finally regained strength in his legs and he pressed his hands to his sides to dip his head down in a bow, having heard Yami's thoughts about him, it brought his excitement back in a rush. A pretty human to play with again, huh?
He itched with joy at the thought of showing Yami another good time, his mind wandering sinfully. The coffee machine at the back chimed merrily and announced in a robotic voice, "Nishio-san, your beverage is ready."
So he straightened up and walked boldly past Yami without making eye contact, making sure his shoulder grazed briefly against Yami's as he passed, and he felt the mage jump and tense.
Hiding his smirk as he picked up his coffee, Seto tried to contain his own excitement as he listened to Yami's thoughts leaking badly while he sipped his drink.
Should I try it with him? Yami wondered nervously as he eyed the door and then at the shop keeper's slender back. But he didn't know where to start. The other humans he'd encountered sexually had been the ones to initiate, and they were both very demanding.
This one was treating him with indifference.
Perhaps he could try a few questions to feel it out, and if there were no positive answers, he'd leave to spend time with Seto at home.
Seto! And the 'hetchy' book that he wanted! Yami realized as his cheeks burned with embarrassment at himself for even daring to forget such an important request. His mind had been corrupted with dirty thoughts, he'd almost lost track of why he was really hanging around.
"Hello, excuse me," Yami swallowed thinly and approached the human carefully from behind, his heart thudding in his ears. "Could you perhaps help me find a hetchy novel? A child of mine is requesting I find it for him."
A child of his, Seto thought dryly as he turned around with a tired smirk.
"And how many children do you have, Mr…?" Seto raised his eyebrows and casually brushed past Yami again to sit back down behind the counter, his heart threatening to explode with glee when he realized he would inevitably need to show Yami where and how to find this book.
"I have many children," Yami replied proudly as he tried to ignore the rough bump the human had given him when walking past. "Too many to count. I raise them all up nicely, even when other parts of society would rather see them die out."
Mmhm… Goody-two-shoes, Seto growled privately into the rim of his coffee, taking another heavenly sip and closing his eyes to enjoy the flavor.
Yami stared at the human focusing more on his drink, so he tried asking one last time, wondering if the indifference was caused by the severe age showing on the human's face. Elder humans were stubborn, but usually had more wisdom…
"Please help me find this Hetchy Book," Yami said firmly, crossing his arms and giving the human a stiff nod. "Its important to me that I return with it."
"You're a foreigner?" Seto said instantly, setting his coffee down and giving Yami an amused smile. "Your child is messing with you. Go home."
Yami bristled and turned red as he replied fluidly, "then I must at least see this book for myself. I won't let him prank me. He's a smart child and needs guidance."
Riiiiiiiight, Seto rolled his eyes and stood up to walk around the counter, approaching the magazine rack in the far corner of the store and flitted his fingers over each one, trying to find the lewd edition. This was the future, so they had to have a lewd magazine on the rack…!
Yami froze when he saw the human roll his eyes in an eerily familiar way and his fingertips tingled oddly as he tried to place it. Why did all three humans he'd encountered personally in this dimension share that mannerism? Now that he thought about it, Seto did that action often too.
"Found it!" Seto called, waving over his head as he knelt by the lowest shelf, biting the inside of his cheek in glee, and he kept his fingertips over the top edge of the book, listening to Yami's footsteps approach him from behind.
"Really? Thank you," Yami said seriously, bending down to the human's level to see pale fingers resting over a book hidden in the very back, wrapped with a protective sheet.
Ah, it was a special book.
Of course Seto would want something like that.
He reached for it and accidentally brushed his fingertips over the man's knuckles, and felt the tips of his own fingers burn, but he ignored it viciously to pull out the thin novel, startled to see a nude human woman on the front, fully on display with legs spread and a strange expression.
He dropped it in shock, just as the shopkeeper pulled out another one, displaying a fully nude man as he tapped the title, "Ecchi, or…rather, the letter H," Seto explained gleefully, seeing Yami's eyes widen while his cheeks darkened prettily.
"Which is Japanese slang for pervert," Seto continued cruelly, enjoying Yami's obvious disappointment and shock. Come on. Did Yami really think the demon child was actually a baby? He was merely a child on the outside—a working curse he was trying to get around.
Even Mai and Anzu knew to take him seriously.
Yami was the only one who treated him like a child, so this was apt revenge.
"How old is your kid? 17?" Seto laughed, and the white convenience store lights reflected across his glasses, nearly blinding Yami with the glare. "He's making fun of you. He knows you don't know. Now what will you do?"
Yami felt the breath leave his chest, and his cheeks burned so much, they stung.
S-Seto, that little mongrel…! That demon was going to receive a stern talk when he returned—
"You can buy him an educational language dictionary and say that was what they recommended when you asked," Seto offered cleverly, hoping to get Yami to bring a Chinese translation book back for him. "Don't get mad. Kids love to play pranks, especially at that age."
"And what age is that?" Yami breathed, still unable to get the image of the nude humans out of his mind. "They sell this material? And anyone can buy it?! That's—"
"No, you have to be 18, read the title." Seto said sourly, pointing at the dark red marking in the top corner. "How foreign are you? You sound like you speak just fine."
Yami sat back on his heels, silently fuming.
So Seto's prank was asking him to buy an age-restricted book, and not just any book. One filled with lewd images of humans. Unforgivable!
"Devising a punishment, I see…" Seto muttered, turning back to the shelf to arrange the magazines all neatly again, making sure to tuck the explicit ones in the back. Now he was regretting having put Yami to the task, because the mage was taking to it poorly, looking heartbroken and furious.
Time to distract the mage with something. Anything.
"What are you in town for?" Seto asked casually, also sitting back on his heels to admire his neat magazine shelf. "Need help finding anything else?"
"No… I was just leaving…" Yami breathed as he pressed a hand to the button on his cloak, feeling faint with a mixture of dread and fury. He needed to hurry back and spend more time with Seto, because that child was a little menace, and his attitude needed to be handled. At this rate, he would grow up to treat humans and magical creatures alike with dangerous ideas.
He was jolted out of his thoughts when a pale hand crept across the top of his thigh and gave him a suggestive squeeze that made his heart skip a beat. W-What was this?! The human was touching him…
"Or you could stay for a little bit longer. It's 3 in the morning, no one is coming in," Seto grinned cattily, seeing Yami flush deeper, and that spurred him on to place his other hand atop Yami's slender thigh to give it a squeeze.
Yami blinked and was about to shake his head, but changed his mind in a split second when the human's mouth came crashing down onto his, giving his lower lip a fiery lick before pressing into him harder, his breath heavy and dark, tasting oddly bittersweet because of his drink, and the scent of spider blood invaded Yami's senses, making his head spin.
"W-Wait…! Wait!" Yami leaned his head away frantically, his lungs full of the sickly-sweet scent, and the human's hot mouth trailed sinfully down his neck before the man leaned away with a handsome frown.
"What? Don't like it? I'll stop," Seto said flatly, feeling a curl of disappointment settle in his chest as he wondered if Yami secretly preferred women after all.
"No, its…your scent! Your drink! Why does it smell so…?" Yami struggled to find the words while his lips stung and swelled at the loss of contact, and the human threw his head back to let out another bark of laughter.
"You want to try it? It's my favorite," Seto grinned evilly and stood up, grabbing Yami's hand to pull him to his feet, dragging him over to the counter to shove the coffee in his hand. "Take a sip. Go on."
Yami hesitated before he nodded and lifted the cup to his lips, letting the liquid touch his tongue only slightly, and tasted a bittersweet fluid with an odd floral scent. No matter how he looked at it, this tasted like the way spider's blood smelled…
"Hate it? You can take it with cream and sugar," Seto offered, now eager to find Yami's flavor so he could recreate it in the other world. "Come here. I'll order it for you."
Yami's head spun as the human strode excitedly over to the machine at the back and ordered every drink in the list from the human woman behind the glass. His heart skipped a nervous beat when the human turned to give him a confident smile over his shoulder, and he had to wonder if this was okay.
He had to be back soon, but the human was so magnetic and charming when he smiled, it was hard to resist.
Author's note:
seto desperately trying to convert yami to his favorite vices, alcohol, sex, and coffee, not in that order
yami not really knowing what is happening poor thing