Seto finished having a mini crisis about his sagging pectorals in the mirror, and exited the bathroom thinking Yami would be gone, but no, the mage was more naked than he was when they'd first started, and it made his head rush with a strange mix of euphoria and dread.
Oh fuck…
Was it that good?
Yami really wanted to go again with this old man?! Shit.
"Ready?" Yami's eyes flashed excitedly, and he reached around behind him to pry his ass cheeks apart to flash his pink hole, and Seto felt his head spin so much, he had to hang onto the door frame.
Whoa. Hey. He was going to kill an old man at this rate.
And he felt himself twitch with excitement at the amazing visual, so he glanced down, half-embarrassed that he'd somehow regained his erection again.
"Not ready," Seto lied badly, eyeing the door and wondering what the penalty was for running out of his apartment naked. It could be chalked up to going senile, and it would save him another round of sex with Yami, but he was willingly passing that up?!
Fuck. He couldn't.
He steadily climbed onto the bed, and Yami was straddling him once more in a flash, his cheeks pink with excitement as he raised up in front of him and dipped down to kiss him briefly before lowering himself onto his hole, and Seto let out a stifled hiss as his legs trembled with joy.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, it felt good!
Yami's hole felt like…a woman's tightness. It was squeezing him so nicely, almost like it was molding around his dick every time he moved up and down, giving him hot, electric spasms.
"Is it good?" Yami asked with a grin as he listened to the human's breaths speeding up and his blue eyes were drooping while his lips were parted, almost as if asking for another kiss, so he dipped forward to shove his tongue into the human's dense mouth, shivering joyfully when hands came palming up his sides, slowly sliding over his skin to give him warm spurts of pleasure from every touch. So much emotion was in everything they were doing, made it hard for Yami to think, he contented himself with feeling it all, choosing to set the pace instead of letting the human mount him like before.
He liked going slower, to enjoy every soft curve of the human's stiffness sinking into him before he raised up to empty himself, holding his breath with anticipation before sitting slowly back down to give them both a heated thrum of pleasure.
Seto kept trying to keep his thoughts straight and his mind blank. It was hard when Yami was purposely tease-fucking him, making him sweat so much, his back was drenched and sticking to the pillows underneath, but Yami showed no signs of letting up, clearly intent on dragging it out for as long as he could hold it.
"Y-You're torturing me," Seto managed hoarsely, and he froze in mild fear when he thought he heard his demonic rasp come back briefly, and his heart clenched. S-Shit. Did Yami hear that?
"I am. Do you like it?" Yami asked sweetly as he raised himself up again and reached around his front to grip his own stiffness to give it a few rubs. "I'm giving us something to remember. I won't see you again after this."
Oh… Right… Seto felt his stomach wrench painfully, coupled with a rough orgasm that rocked him forward and made it hard to breathe, so he rested his forehead on Yami's shoulder to ride out the tense waves of ecstasy as Yami slammed his ass down onto his dick, giving him incredibly intense stimulus through his orgasm until he was left shuddering and shaking with oversensitivity.
Yami grimaced when he felt the human's giant pang of disappointment and hurt, and he paused in his motions, realizing…the more he shared pleasure with this human, the deeper their connection.
This is the cost! It's never free! I knew it! Yami raged as he secretly cursed his other mage comrades for touting the joys of 'free human pleasure'. In the other realm, they claimed humans could do this endlessly for fun, and never ask anything in return.
"Okay. Are-Are you done?" Seto stammered as he glanced down at Yami's erection which showed no signs of going down. It was embarrassing that he kept cumming so much, but clearly this old man's body could only take so much.
Yami fought with himself before he lied and said, "yes. I'm finished—"
And Seto let out a furious hiss, reaching forward to wrap his fingers around Yami's stiffness, giving it energetic up and down rubs before he let Yami sit back down on his legs, and he stared down at his own fist moving rapidly against Yami's dick, the bumps pressing back into his palm as he stroked him, and he felt a hot breath graze the bridge of his nose. Seto tilted his head up briefly, thinking Yami wanted him to move his head, but was mistaken when he felt lips come crashing down over his again, and his stomach clenched with an alien feeling which he realized was…joy.
He's a good kisser! I'll just die then! Seto thought wildly as he let go of his turmoil to wrap one hand around the backs of Yami's spiky hair to pull him closer, daring to slip his tongue in to give the roof of Yami's mouth an electric lick, and feeling Yami part his mouth wider and press down harder on him while bucking his hips up shamelessly to meet his hand, clearly also enjoying himself too much.
Yami rode the slow waves of tightness crawling up his chest and willingly drowned himself in the human's sweet breath, and he heard the human praise him in his mind about being a good kisser, and that made his heart swell with pride. The pleasure came easily afterwards, and his body shuddered with relief as he came in a quick spurt, drenching the front of the human's lower chest and stomach.
Immediately conscious that his fluid was touching the human's skin, Yami reached forward to swipe it off, but a pale, trembling hand grabbed him by the wrist to stop him.
D-Don't…don't touch me. I'm disgusting, Seto balked, and he shoved Yami off his legs to race into the bathroom again to lock himself inside with a frantic, audible click!
Goddammit!
"I don't think you're disgusting," Yami replied quietly, but he had a feeling he wasn't heard, because the human was ranting furiously, unaware that he could be heard through the door.
"…Fucking… Chest hair?! Does this fucking…end? He doesn't own a shaver, and he works at a convenience store. Fuck that guy…"
His boss? Yami wondered dully as his head pounded with exhaustion, and he checked his vitals, extremely shocked to see that it was drained. Completely. All his spheres were nearly empty.
Impossible! Yami cried weakly as he collapsed into the nearest pillow and drifted off, still feeling the headache wrapping around the backs of his ears when the bed sank with the weight of the man beside him.
"Hey… Are you leaving? …Hey!" Seto said loudly as he gave Yami a shake. "Atem!"
Yami struggled to pry one eye open but couldn't, so he mumbled through the haze of fog, "…Can't. Too tired…" And he passed out cold.
Awesome! Seto pressed the back of his hand against Yami's forehead, pushing his spiky bangs aside to get a good feel. His skin was deathly cold.
Oh crap?
"Appraise!" Seto said anxiously, and the room washed with silver light. Then he stared at the empty spheres hovering above the mage's head.
Whoa. They were never that empty. Ever! And never all at once?!
Oh god.
What could he do? He didn't know any replenishing spells—wait, yes. He knew how to make an all-conditions healing miso soup.
Sighing, he hastily got up to make a bowl, secretly hating the black KC shirt he was wearing, but that was all the old man had in his closet.
He walked into the kitchen and heard a beep on the wall, making him freeze and he turned around to locate the source of the noise.
The TV turned on via timer, and the daily news began playing softly while a dull, red sun hung in the middle of the sky beyond the large square windows. The hazy air gave the sun's rays a pink reflection, and Seto secretly had to wonder what had happened to make the world suddenly so shitty.
He found miso paste in the top shelf of the fridge easily while he listened half-heartedly to the news, his heart skipping a beat when he heard his own name again.
"Kaiba Seto, still putting together a team for space exploration has gone into zero gravity with his trainer and was taking questions on the top step of his skyscraper. We will now play an audio clip from that moment this afternoon…"
Seto jerked his head out of the fridge and turned around to stare at his own face on the TV, shocked to see that he looked completely the same as a mid-thirties bachelor, right down to the stiff lapel of his black suit.
His mouth was moving, but Seto didn't hear any of it, because it was all nonsense.
He'd moved away from technology and handed it off to smaller developers he'd employed, just so he could focus on touching red dirt on Mars? Could this version of himself please fuck off?! No wonder he was undateable.
Lowering his head, Seto growled at the TV, "off!" while he spooned paste into a bowl, and the screen shut off with a quiet blip.
Good riddance. That person on the screen was a stranger. Space was a wasteful, useless investment unless other countries were on board to help him build a space elevator.
If he was the only loon going to space by himself, what did he expect to happen?
Some fucking Martians would make contact and take him into their colonies? As if.
He'd sooner kill himself coming back down.
Seto hunted for a hot water kettle but realized the old man didn't own a regular hot water kettle. It was a gooseneck type of kettle for…coffee.
Intrigued, Seto opened all the cabinets above his head and was stunned to see rows of shiny café-grade coffee making equipment, some still sitting in their plastic and others still buffered by giant pads of recycled foam.
Oh shit! This old man liked coffee!
Now excited, Seto pulled open all the lower drawers, excited to see various bags of fresh beans, and the scent of coffee nearly made him keel over with happiness.
Wait. His co-worker had said something about lending him money for a business idea—was it a café?! The old man wanted to open a coffee shop, but…he couldn't do that successfully during a pandemic, and at his age? Shit. That was a lot of factors working against him.
Possibly, this is a dead dream… Which is why he's at the convenience store working night hours, Seto mused as he closed the drawer and caught another delicious whiff of the beans. Ah shit, that was some high-quality stuff! It was worth visiting this body again if this man could brew so well…!
He busied himself setting up the grinder, popping open the most expensive bag and carefully measuring out a cup for himself just as he heard Yami walk into the living room and glance around curiously.
"How long was I asleep?" Yami asked lightly, and he noticed the human was busy in his own world again, muttering while operating a shiny machine, pouring in dark seeds into an odd device before a loud, whirring sound battered his eardrums.
"A warning, please!" Yami cried, clapping a hand to his ear and he received a playful smirk from over the counter, and he was invited to sit again as the human gestured to the empty seat at the dining table.
"I'm treating you to a special…custom cup," Seto said carefully, sniffing the grounded beans appreciatively again and enjoying a wonderful headrush that he knew belonged to the old man.
He bussed the miso soup over to Yami and as expected, the mage raised his eyebrows and hovered his face over the bowl, his eyes wide.
"What is this? A fermented soup?!" Yami whispered in awe as he realized Seto had replicated this soup in their dimension too. Was this soup all-status curing as well?! One way to find out!
He grabbed it eagerly and took a grateful sip, letting the energy return to his limbs in a rush, and he sighed, leaning back into the chair while the human clinked around behind the counter, clearly eager to serve.
"I don't need another drink. This will do nicely," Yami said happily, but he was ignored.
Seto had found the unbleached filters, flitted one open with a practiced whip of his hand and tucked it into the glass brewer, eager to taste coffee the way he liked it as he poured in quick circular motions over the beans, watching it bubble up perfectly. Ahhh…. Finally!
Yami aimed his gaze out the window and stared at the one, red sun hanging low in the sky, and felt a pang of light regret. Did he say he was never going to see this human again? Well, he couldn't bear to leave now for some reason.
A steaming cup of black liquid appeared at his elbow, and the human sank into the chair beside him with another handsome grin, pointing at the cup.
"Made it the way you like it," Seto said encouragingly. "No sweetness. All bitter. I even added salt. Give it a try."
Alright… Yami thought as he picked it up begrudgingly to take a sip, and was shocked at the wonderful, light, floral flavor that hit the back of his throat before a refreshing bitterness coated his tongue, making it sting pleasantly. W-What! This was an amazing variation of that disgustingly thick, sweet drink he'd tasted earlier!
He took another sip, and another, secretly enjoying it quite a bit, and he earned a hopeful nod from the human.
"See? It's not disgusting, right?" Seto said quietly as he tucked his own cup into his hands and stared down at the wrinkles on his fingers. Dead dream or not, it was worth a try, right? This old man was good at it! The body had a lot of muscle memory he had just used to make these amazing cups of coffee.
"It's amazing. I'll pay you for this!" Yami said cleverly, seeing an opening to give the human currency without him refusing. "Call it a… 'please shut up and take it' present."
Gladly, Seto gave Yami an amused smile and it quickly vanished to become a grimace of horror when the mage pulled out several fat stacks of cash from the sleeves of his robes. H-Hey… No. That was too much….!
"Remember how I said I could hear your thoughts?" Yami said sweetly as he pushed one tall stack closer to the human, seeing the man pale significantly at the sight of all the money. "I heard you earlier. Something about a dead dream and not being able to open a café? I'll help."
Speechless, Seto lowered his head shamefully and felt his ears burn. Aw…
This old man appreciated it.
This was better than taking money from Kaiba Corporation.
"And I'll come back with more if you need it. But I want to see this café come to life," Yami said bossily as he rested a hand atop the human's wrist, and the man met his eyes with a grateful smile, his blue eyes oddly wet at the corners.
"Sure. Thanks," Seto said flatly, afraid that if he spoke anymore, the old man would actually start crying, and his demon powers would turn the tears into acid…. Wait, did he say he was coming back?!
"I will bring a language dictionary for my child like you suggested, to teach him a lesson about pranks," Yami continued as he stood with a regal swish of his robes, giving the human an appreciative nod. "I'll be on my way now. You won't be able to contact me, but I'll come back to check on you, okay? I have your soul signature. I can easily find you."
Cool, cool, don't know what any of those words mean, Seto thought furiously as he nodded and stood to bow, but was caught off guard when Yami rushed at him to give him a messy kiss on the lips that made his ears turn red.
H-Holy …goddamn!
"You like me?" Seto asked through numb lips, and Yami's pretty face hovered centimeters before his nose before he received another peck on the tip of his nose before Yami leaned away with a laugh.
"Yes, what's there not to like? You're a funny man," Yami replied honestly, resting his hand on the man's shoulder and feeling himself itch with lust, and he had to tell himself to take a breath. They had already gone three or four times in the span of 8 hours, and for this human, it might be too much…
"Get him a…traditional Chinese dictionary, and a book of poems," Seto managed to say through the tightness in his throat, and Yami nodded with determination.
"Did you want to show me where I can find one?" Yami asked curiously as he kept his arms locked around the human's neck, daring to gaze longer into the clear blue eyes that made his heart clench. "I still have a few more hours here with you before the sun sets."
Seto hesitated, and then clenched his jaw while shaking his head.
"I can't leave this place. I'm under restriction," Seto said regrettably, giving Yami's waist a tentative squeeze and feeling his cheeks burn with joy. "Elder's curfew."
Curfew? Yami raised his eyebrows in alarm and asked gently, "are you under inspection for something? Did you commit a crime?"
"No. It's the illness in the air. They want to reduce crowds at rush hour," Seto replied furiously as he forced himself to let go of Yami's hips, but Yami hung onto him stubbornly with an impressive pout.
"I see. Well, please give me a location. I'll go quickly and come back."
Seto nodded stiffly and pulled out his phone while Yami leaned away from him and sat back down at the dining table, glancing around the apartment, staring at the stacks of magazines on the ground. He itched to take the one that looked like a human version of Seto to show him, but the thought left him quickly when the human man shoved a glowing sheet of glass under his nose and pointed at three red dots.
"Here are the nearest bookstores," Seto said flatly, staring at the delicate curve of Yami's ear while the mage leaned forward to peer at the map on his phone with interest. "You'll want to get him a Chinese dictionary and possibly Chinese poetry. It's a difficult language and you'll enjoy watching him struggle."
"Understood," Yami declared as he gave the man a pretty smile and stood to cast a teleportation spell in the middle of the room, his heart pounding excitedly in his chest at the thought of another pleasure session with the human upon his return.
He saw the man's eyes widen briefly before the room disappeared.
Seto waited three seconds as he listened to the silence ringing in the room. W-Was he gone? AT LAST holy shit! He sprang into action, diving at the various magazines on the ground, eager to read the progress of his life in the media's eye.
Strangely enough, the magazines were all in chronological order—with the most recent articles about himself on the top, and the ones where his child photograph was splashed on the cover were at the bottom.
Pulling the top three out of the stack, Seto stared dejectedly at the covers, almost hating his own face as he read the small text around his photo.
"KAIBA SETO – on love, money management, and more (pg 45)"
"Dress for success. What to wear for a powerful, productive day"
He set that magazine aside in disgust and skimmed the next title.
"Japan's #1 Bachelor: SETO KAIBA"
"Duel Disk system and the perks of owning ver. 5.6"
He put that one aside and nearly choked on his own spit when he saw it was a smear article, but the magazine that published it was reputable.
"KAIBA SETO – his downfall into corruption and his agonizing recovery in the public eye"
Wait. A fucking minute. It wasn't a smear magazine.
It was reporting a useful timeline of his illicit activities in short summaries. He couldn't bear to read it all, but every sentence he digested made his heart ache.
In this universe, he was alive and thriving at age 48, had bribed some environmentalists to look the other way while he polluted other countries' rivers with battery sludge from the production of his duel disks…followed that up by mingling with known pedophiles, human traffickers, other corrupt business people, and sank his money into useless shit that messed up the economy wherever he went.
He'd decided to invest in digital coins at age 19 and severely affected everyone currently holding digital coins.
He'd joined a porn app for fun at age 21, and managed to crash it with sheer popularity, causing the app to put out new restrictions that affected real user's incomes.
In his mid-twenties to early-thirties, he'd carelessly gone through several actresses, singers, and heiresses, resulting in one rumored secret son, and two terminated pregnancies.
He'd invested in trash companies in his late thirties that had no potential, as an excuse to make the news, to twist a trend his favor to make money, or simply to throw money, taunting the young entrepreneurs to give them hope, only to tear it away when their idea inevitably failed after millions vanished.
Currently, according to the magazine, he'd spent his entire forties fucking with space shit. Because ruining Earth hadn't been enough for him, apparently.
He had legions of fans–mostly male—who would bend over backwards for him, defending his terrible actions viciously online and offline. They were derisively nicknamed the 'Kaiba-boys' and were widely hated on the internet.
Holy shit. Someone needs to fucking stop me! Seto lowered the magazine and felt sick to his stomach as he put the edition back face down.
This was why the old man wasn't taking Kaiba Corporation retirement payments.
The man whose body he was using had worked as a section manager for duel disk distribution, and clearly hated that his actions directly contributed to this disgusting person named Seto Kaiba.
I'm never coming back here, Seto thought dejectedly as he re-stacked the pile and put it back on the end table, completely overwhelmed with dread at the thought of running into himself in this universe.
Deciding to leave now before Yami returned, he rushed into the bathroom to turn on the shower. He stood silently facing the mirror, staring at the old man's face while steam slowly clouded the mirror, and he raised a shaky, wrinkled finger to write the teleportation spell, his heart thundering in his ears.
His mind was consumed with the possibilities of his own life in another timeline if he hadn't died.
What if that attempt on his life had been unsuccessful? He'd go after his attackers with everything he had and murder them back, silently, secretly, and then continue on his world-wide rampage. Hell, his duel disks weren't even his most profitable item, because he'd focused more on his phones and satellite systems… and that's why his current self in this universe was fucking with space. Maybe. He didn't know. World domination hadn't even been on his mind at age 25…
Seto finished writing the spell and stared at his old, wrinkled face in the gaps of the fog, seeing the words vanish along with his own body.
Unreal. Perhaps this was still an odd fever dream…
His head spun and his feet landed solidly on the ground back at Mai's tavern, and the chatter of patrons downstairs nearly made him keel over. He clapped a hand over his ears and raced to the door, eager to help out because he wanted to forget the horrors of what he'd seen.
Yami appeared back in the human's dwelling and was surprised to find it empty.
He walked into the bedroom and froze when he saw the man coming out of the washing room in a cloud of steam, and his eyes widened in shock and fear when they made eye contact.
"I'm back," Yami said excitedly as he sat down on the edge of the bed and tugged excitedly at his cloak, wondering if he should take it off. "Should we go again? How do you feel?"
And he received a cold, stony silence as the human stared at him.
Yami tilted his head curiously and noticed the man had changed his eyes, having taken them out and made them brown again while his hair had darkened to a slate gray. W-What in the gods…? Did the man age even more in the time he'd gone to the store and come back?
He swore this man didn't look that old…
"Get out. I don't know you," the man said gruffly, turning away and walking shakily around the bed to sit down at the desk. "I don't want to cash the checks. Sending Yakuza here to threaten me won't make me change my mind, Seto Kaiba!"
Yami blinked.
What.
Seto?
"Seto…who?" Yami asked uncertainly, his stomach clenching with unease as the human behaved with pure hostility. The previous warmth he'd known had vanished completely; it was startling to witness.
"Hm, indeed. Seto Who," the old man grunted at him and stared fearfully at the items on top of his desk. "You touched my things. How dare you invade my privacy?!"
"You left them there yourself!" Yami protested, now becoming deeply unsettled. The human was acting more unhinged by the hour! It was time to go home once and for all.
"Right and l let you in, gave you a new pair of house slippers and…made you a cup of my most expensive coffee," the old man rolled his eyes, and Yami could only stare speechlessly.
Again, the eye rolling….
"If you really don't like me, you can say so," Yami said furiously as he stood to teleport out. "I'm hurt that you behave sweetly with me one moment and then the next you act like this. I know it's an act because I can hear your thoughts!"
"Oh, can you?" The old man jeered, giving him a middle finger. "Hear this!"
FUCK OFF! Spiky-haired host club freak!
Offended, Yami threw the man a reproachful look and nodded.
Fine. Either the human was ashamed or fearful or distrustful of him for some reason. Something had changed when he'd left, and he couldn't figure out what. The man had been having unstable thoughts since their meeting at the store.
"But I promise to come back and check on you," Yami declared, and the old man pretended like he was air, so he continued furiously. "I want you to take the money I left on the counter to open that damn café! And when I come in, you will serve me a cup nicely the way you did earlier. Agreed?!"
The man grunted at him and waved dismissively over his shoulder.
Yami stared furiously at the back of the man's head as he cast the teleportation spell and vanished, his heart feeling like it was being squeezed by a giant hand. Such rudeness! He could understand the other human's frustrations with this man.
He landed dizzily back on his own feet outside of Mai's restaurant, and was unsurprised to see a large line out the door.
Stepping past the people to get inside, Yami was relieved to see Seto dashing around carrying a tray, helping enthusiastically with a wide grin on his tiny face while Mai frantically took orders from behind the bar.
"….3 bowls… I'll have them ready for you by tonight, I can deliver by dragonback for an extra fee, teleporting items is limited to 15 slots—hey hon, welcome back!" Mai waved her feathered pen over her head to greet Yami before turning back to the ram-headed man. "…I have 8 slots left, and it'll cost you."
YAMI! Seto cried in his head as he ran forward to hug Yami's leg, keeping the tray in hands as he locked his chubby arms around the backs of Yami's thighs.
Feeling a surge of affection, Yami knelt and gave the top of Seto's head a firm pat, gazing into his flushed face and taking in the color of his light blue eyes. The same, clear blue eyes he'd seen on the human man in the other world, but… That was impossible, because Seto had been here the whole time, helping Mai.
And Mai could confirm.
And she would never lie about the demon child leaving this dimension, if he could even do that…!
Seto pressed his cheek against the fabric of Yami's pants and gave him an adoring smile, knowing Yami was weak to his antics, and he saw the mage waver when he smiled back. Ah…shit. Did he know?! He had to know!
"I have some questions for you, and a gift," Yami said awkwardly, wincing when he heard the child celebrating furiously in his head, even making the nearby patrons annoyed at the volume.
YAY! A PRESENT! THANK YOU, YOU'RE THE BEST! Seto shouted on purpose, knowing it would elicit a reaction from Mai, and the elf snapped at him from across the room.
"Kid! If you're going to scream, do it out your mouth! Upstairs, now!" Mai demanded, pointing a pretty finger at the stairs. "And don't come down until we're empty. I don't need your help if you're gonna scream."
Seto wrinkled his nose and shoved the empty serving tray into Yami's hands before making a face a Mai and stomping up the steps, making sure to toss the hem of his cloak over his shoulders so he wouldn't step on them and trip.
Sighing, Yami stood up and returned the tray back to Mai at the bar and apologized, "I'm sorry. He's been good though, right?"
"No. He's a nightmare. Handle him. He's bored," Mai said stiffly as she waved at the next person in line. "I have 5 item teleportation slots left! Step up if you're paying for that service. Everyone will receive dragonback deliveries after I'm all filled up!"
Yami held his breath and turned to head up the stairs, bracing himself to ask the child questions even he didn't want answers to, but he had to ask, for his own peace of mind. There had been too many humans with blue eyes and brown hair in his last trip to the same dimension, it had to be explained.
He entered the child's room without knocking and found the kid buried in a tented lump under the covers, undoubtedly counting the loot from his tips.
Seto clinked the trash gems together carelessly to pretend he was tallying up his tips, when really, he'd had these under his pillow for the sake of pretending.
Yami's shadow was approaching, so he tugged the sheet down over his head and grinned widely, "I want my present now," he said playfully, watching Yami's frown deepen the longer they held eye contact.
Dammit. Yami was sizing him up, about to ask…
"Who is Seto Kaiba?" Yami sat on the edge of the bed and kept his expression neutral.
Seto blinked and shrugged, shoving the gems under his pillow as he replied with supreme disinterest, "Someone who shares my name? I dunno. Why?"
"Well, a…human, spoke that name to me in a…not-nice way," Yami said carefully, and the child glanced up at him with interest. "Would you possibly know why?"
"Is it a curse word?!" Seto asked hopefully, working himself up into an excitement. "Is my name a human curse word I haven't learned yet?!"
"NO!" Yami cried, holding his hands up defensively as he replayed the earlier interaction with the human, who had spat the name 'Seto Kaiba' but had said it like a curse word….so maybe it was a curse word. Oh god. Better not tell Seto that his name might actually be a curse…
He would be cursing me, that old man, Seto thought secretly as he did his best to keep his face impassive. Holy shit, close call. But Yami wasn't done asking questions.
"Did you live in a time where brown hair and blue eyes were popular traits to have?" Yami pressed, as he reached up to gently graze the pads of his fingers over the tips of Seto's broken horns, and the child shrugged again.
"Yeah, hair and eye color are changed to match trends," Seto said, sounding bored. "You can look at fashion books and recognize a pattern, it can get annoying when all the faces on the front start to look the same. Everyone will start looking the same when they copy the trend. Did you know, humans can wear items to change their eyes and hair color?"
"Yes, I know," Yami bristled at the mention of magazines, and his cheeks turned pink as he launched into his lecture. "Now I'm very unhappy with you because you asked me to find an ecchi novel, which is not something suitable for your eyes, and I think you knew that. I don't appreciate being pranked, especially not in another dimension full of unsuspecting humans."
Seto cackled and bared his fangs in a genuine smile and peeked into Yami's face for a hint of forgiveness and was relieved to see the mage trying to keep his expression stern, but the corners of his mouth kept twitching.
"The store attendant told me it was age restricted, and I understand, you want to age," Yami said solemnly, as Seto instantly sobered up and scowled. Yeah, and?
"I keep saying, I can't perform that spell safely, or successfully," Yami added anxiously, reaching down to give the child's tiny hand a squeeze. "Please don't throw your childhood away, alright? Enjoy this time and enrich yourself. Here."
A thick, heavy book materialized in front of Seto, followed by another and another, and he watched in glee as a towering stack of Chinese textbooks appeared before him. Joy. At least these will keep him busy until the next month maybe.
"There," Yami said proudly, giving Seto a firm pat on the back. "Read up. No more making fun of humans, okay? They deserve kindness too, understand?"
"I've never been mean to a human," Seto mumbled, finishing the sentence in his mind. Not here in this world anyway. Yet.
But Yami was one to talk.
He was the one mistreating humans and using them for sex. Did he know that?
"Now I'm off to submit this monster I've captured," Yami said warmly as he briefly pulled out a dark flask from the sleeve of his robe, which Seto barely glanced at. The child had turned his attention to the stack of books with bright eyes and pulled the topmost one down to flip it open excitedly.
Aw…
"So don't give Mai trouble. I'm coming back to spend some time with you for the next solar rotation while magic sinks into the foundation of my home," Yami said calmly as he stood up and walked to the door, hearing Seto call out behind him in a sweet voice.
"Thank you, Yami. I really like all of these. I'll learn them all for you," Seto said firmly as he buried himself in the dictionary, secretly pleased that Yami had unknowingly bought Japanese-Chinese hybrids. Perfect.
Yami spared the child a smile over his shoulder and stepped out of the room, closing the door behind him with a click as he felt a surge of warmth in his chest.
Seto was a good child.
He listened, helped out, and was eager to learn.
Naturalizing him into their society would not be an issue.
Author's note:
yami still doesn't know. He suspects but cant put his finger on it.