They arrived in a quiet flash of light on the deserted street right outside Mai's tavern door, and Yami rushed forward to knock, his fist hitting a magical barrier that had been five-times reinforced. W-Wow… Mai had gotten even more paranoid…

Understandable since Anja had been forcefully kidnapped by the guards from this district…

"I can open the door," Seto said calmly, and Yami replied with equal calm, "So can I, but let's be polite. Her wards are up because she's scared for Anja. Let's not contribute to her stress."

He's still teaching me compassion, Seto thought to himself irritably as he realized he was a giant asshole when Yami wasn't around to balance him and keep him in check.

Yami knocked again and pressed a finger into the threads to give it a tug, setting off a mild alarm, and seeing the light flash on in the upstairs window, so he stepped back as the threads began unraveling when she sensed him on the other side.

Finally, when the last thread vanished, the door swung open and Mai stood before them in a bathrobe, her hair cascading down the sides of her body while her mouth hung open in shock.

"YOU'RE OUT!" She threw herself forward to hug Yami, who stumbled a bit from the force of her hug, but she didn't let go, feeling the High Elf hovering beside him, watching. "I was so worried when you didn't come back…" She directed a glance over Yami's spiky hair at the tall elf, who merely lowered his head silently in a polite nod, "but oh my GOSHHHHHHHHHH! Atemmmm!"

"L-Let us in…I only have 32-something hours left," Yami said anxiously, and Mai pulled away with a frown.

"What? You're not out for good?" She glanced at the High Elf and berated him, "What are you doing then? You good for n—"

"Mai! Stop! He has already done so much for my freedom," Yami held his hand up across Seto's chest to protect him from Mai. "I'm needed to work security at another event, and then my court date, and then I'm free. Okay? This is my leniency 'walk' to see Anja and…you. And our Seto, if I can manage it."

"Okay, come in, come in," she pulled Yami in by the arm and led him around the bar and out the back door into the garden, calling out quietly, "Anja darling! Look who I have for you here! It's your daddy!"

Seto cringed and stepped inside, running a cleaning spell down his robes because he didn't want to track dust into his newly polished floors, noticing three other sets of footprints, belonging to Mai, Bakura, and Marik, making him sigh and wash the floor with a spell too. He could hear the sounds of joyful laughter coming from outside, and he dared to breathe.

Well, good. Now that they were distracted…

He rushed behind the bar and into the pantry to pull out the spoiled ingredients from Mai's baskets, pleased to see that everything was still there.

Grabbing a bowl from the rack in the bar sink, he walked back into the pantry to dump ingredients into it, thinking he was more powerful now, and it showed in his vision. The items glowed with different brightness, making it easy for him to do it without casting an appraisal or reading ingredient names.

After he piled everything into the bowl, he boiled it and the warm scent of miso broth drifted up and tickled his nose. He drank it quickly, seeing his own health and magic replenish because …healing Yami had taken a lot, and keeping his image had taken a lot.

This soup was saving him now. He kept an ear out for the laughter in the backyard as he started making another bowl, but this time, not adding water, aiming to make it a dehydrated lump.

He compressed the ingredients together with pressure and formed a compact cube that looked disgusting, with feathers and moldy bits sticking out from it, but he dropped it into the bowl and carried it up the stairs to knock loudly on the only other closed door, which he assumed was Bakura and Marik's room.

After a long moment, the door swung open to reveal a sleepy Marik, and Seto called over his shoulder, "Bakura. I need you here for a minute."

Bakura let out a groan and crawled out of bed sleepily, wrinkling his nose at the disgusting bullion cube in the bowl. "What is this nasty nonsense?!"

"Add water, boil, and appraise. Tell me what you get. Hurry up," he insisted, aware that Marik was staring curiously at him.

Bakura grumbled but did as he was told, splashing water into the bowl, bringing it to a boil and then sniffing it with a look of mild joy, "miso?! You crazy wanker."

"Is it all-status curing?" Seto asked heatedly as Bakura took a long sip and nodded, his eyes wide as they darted back and forth as he noticed his spheres filling up alarmingly fast. W-Wow… Where was this shit at the camp when they needed it?!

"Say… How do you two know each other?" Marik asked politely, staring at the elf's silvery robes and feeling a twinge of unease. "You…don't seem like anyone Bakura would talk to. At all."

"Yeah I hate this prick," Bakura replied, shoving the empty bowl back into Seto's outstretched hand. "Thanks for the maid service, Seto."

"SETO!" Marik exclaimed, gazing at the tall elf with pure disbelief, shaking in fear. "A-adorable…S-Seto…baby…Seto? I-Is that you?"

"Naming coincidence," Seto replied calmly, gripping the bowl until his fingertips burned. "The Seto you're referring to is the Demon Lord, who I willfully serve. Have a good night, elf."

And he turned around with a straight face to hurry down the steps, running right into Mai and Yami who had clearly been eavesdropping. Both stared at him in shock and Seto almost thought the gig was up when Mai shook her head at him, disgusted, "you fell hard from the World Tree when you were 80, didn't you? Seto is a baby and you're taking orders from an infant…!"

"And what's this bowl for?" Yami zeroed in on it, smelling the familiar scent of something…that made his stomach curl. "You're not…making that soup, are you?! That's the soup that shut this place down in the first place! And you call yourself a Crown Prince!"

"Yeah, shame on me for following orders," Seto sneered, rolling his eyes and walking back into the pantry with it. "This bought your freedom so you could hug the dragon. I suggest you look the other way!"

"Following…orders?! Can this guy—" Mai pulled at her hair, and Yami shook his head at her, giving her arm a squeeze before rushing off to see what that elf was doing in the pantry.

Seto was kneeling gracefully by the rotten ingredients, handling them with ease that made Yami's hair stand on end because seeing an elf in such finery, wearing a crown, touching…blackened feathers and lumps of mold made his stomach turn.

"What exactly were your orders?" Yami asked, folding his arms across his chest while he watched the elf perform magic with startling fluidity. The way his hands moved in the air made his heart flutter dangerously. His cast work was so precise, and when he cupped the ingredients in his hands to compress them, he saw the magic glow underneath the long sleeves that hid the top and bottom of the elf's hands before they separated to reveal a dried brown cube.

"My orders were to make this," Seto said, holding the cube up in his palm for Yami to see before he vanished it into his pockets. "And free you. I give this to Maximillion Pegasus for his sick wife, you walk free."

"The court still has a say," Yami replied stiffly, leaning against the doorframe and feeling Mai come up behind him. "I'm not completely free until they vote to exonerate me. Nothing the warden says will make a difference."

"Don't think that," Seto said blithely, making a few more cubes and feeling Mai watching him like a hawk. "Stay positive, Mage Atem."

He held another completed cube up for Mai to see and stood up to hand it to her. She eyed it with a nose wrinkle and replied, "no thanks. I'm not going to prison."

"For finding a dried, disgusting lump of grime and then adding boiling water to it to clean it? I'd say you're doing everyone a favor," Seto said evenly, picking the cube up between two fingers with his other hand and waving it gracefully in the air. "Last chance—"

It was snatched out of his hands so fast, her arm blurred.

"How?!" She breathed, appraising the tiny cube and holding it up with wonder between her two fingers, handing it to Yami who also appraised it and looked shaken.

The item name was: Cube of rot.

Laughable indeed.

"Lots of pressure," Seto replied with a handsome smile. "Now excuse me, Maiden. I'm tired from my day and I'd like to turn in."

"Ah yes," Yami dropped the cube back into Mai's outstretched palm and hooked his arm forcefully through the tall elf's elbow and following him up the steps, calling over his shoulder, "goodnight, Mai."

Night?! Mai thought faintly as she really wondered what had gotten into Yami to suddenly be so friendly with the elf. Ugh, whatever. She had emergency healing for Anja now. And had received a mini tutorial on how to make it.

She had a feeling that elf did it in front of her three times on purpose.

Yami felt the elf hesitating at his side, so he gave Seto's arm a teasing squeeze, asking, "changed your mind? Or are you nervous because you don't know what to expect?"

"Yes, that," Seto replied anxiously as he unlocked his door with a swipe of his hand through his magical barrier. Even though he could read Yami's thoughts, they were still unpredictable. The upper hand he thought he'd had from being telepathic was working against him now.

"It'll be fine. You were right. I do know quite a bit about human pleasure," Yami said with a wink, unaware that Mai was hearing them from the bottom of the steps, but he closed the door behind him hastily and surveyed the large room.

The bed was neatly made.

Everything looked virtually untouched, maybe even had been cleaned a little.

The elf was neat as a pin, as expected.

Running a cleaning spell down his robes, his body and his shoes, Yami made sure to slip them off and leave them by the door, catching a surprised look from the elf.

"What? I know your customs," Yami said with a shrug, sitting down on the edge of the bed and flashing the handsome elf a wicked grin. "We have 30 hours left. Should we spend it enjoying each other before I have to return?! We can stop to eat something in the middle and I could give Anja another hug."

30 hours—! Seto's eyes widened and Yami caught onto this with an evil laugh.

"Tell me how much you know of this dirty act," Yami was enjoying himself, pleased that he could fluster the high-and-mighty tightly laced elf who pretended to know about such things, but clearly only read about it in some book and now was trying it out for himself for the first time.

"I know more than you!" Seto cried, wondering when the tables had flipped so drastically. "How have you gotten so knowledgeable about it?"

Yami leaned further back on the bed and smirked, "I have traveled dimensions to experience this pleasure."

Oh yeah, with ME?! Seto let out a laugh and had to place a hand on the wall for support while he laughed, and this seemed to annoy Yami, so he added, "I've done it with a human woman too. But I think I prefer men."

He thinks! Seto's eyes widened gleefully, and he nodded, sitting down on the edge of the bed beside Yami to begin pulling off his boots, feeling Yami's eyes watching him.

"And your dragon-hide boots disgust me," Yami said, changing the topic suddenly, but the answer threw him off completely.

"They came from the smugglers that hurt Anja. The dwarfs made me a pair with scraps from a roll of hide, and I couldn't refuse. It was disrespectful, to everyone and everything involved in making the shoes… so I had to accept." Seto set the boots against the edge of the bed and stared at them, his stomach curling. "I nearly threw up. You can ask that elf next door, Marik. I think…everyone saw me nearly throw up at the sight of everything in those carts. I've never seen..." he stopped himself before he talked too much and gave himself away.

"Cruelty? Human cruelty" Yami supplemented, his eyebrows rising, his suspicions about this sheltered High Elf further confirmed. "That they could chop a creature up and put a price on every little thing? I must be killing the mood. Please rest. I know you must be exhausted."

"You must be exhausted. What happened to you in there?" Seto echoed, standing up to gently shed the outer layer of his robes, his cheeks heating up when he felt Yami watching his every move.

"Nothing, and everything," Yami replied with a pained look, lowering his head to stare at his knees. "I discovered that the human I loved in another dimension…passed away at age 76… And the other humans I connected with either pretended not to remember me, or genuinely didn't because I was just passing by."

Oh shit, he went to find them, Seto thought nervously as he sat back down at the edge of the bed, his palms sweating as he laced his fingers together, resolving to listen.

"And?" He prompted, daring to reach over to rest his hand atop Yami's much smaller one, giving his fingers a squeeze. "Please tell me."

"And I realize I'm chasing something fleeting," Yami replied with finality, his eyes half-lidded like he was on the brink of tears. "I want to share love and receive love in return. I've heard of many mages receiving human love, and I understand why…the others want it so badly. It's…exciting. It's dirty, it's disgusting, its—"

"Whoa, what? Sex is not…disgusting," Seto narrowed his eyes, wondering where the fuck this was coming from. "Or are you talking about something else and I'm misunderstanding?"

"It's…physically…t-the fluids—" Yami struggled to describe what he'd seen in his cell across the way and hated himself for ruining what was possibly another sexy mood, but he had to talk about it…with someone, anyone who would listen and understand, and Seto seemed like the elf that would.

"Oh sure, the…fluids," Seto said encouragingly, with a pretty smile curling on his lips. "Want some of mine?" And he leaned forward to kiss Yami, but the mage dodged him slightly and rested a hand on his chest, his shoulders shaking as took a deep breath and said in a rush, "there was…well, humans, they came down into the dungeons and the creatures loved it. They wanted a human to show them pleasure for a bachelorette's party. S-Several…men and women, stopped by my cell, but I shut them out. They called me names, but I don't…mind that… I-It was…everything else around me…that disgusted me."

Seto blinked and felt his head spin with fury, so he pressed his head in his hands, his shoulders shaking as rage bubbled up inside him. He knew it would turn his eye-whites black, so he hid his face in his hands, trembling so much, he felt like…exploding.

Yami was describing something disgusting. That was vile, revolting behavior from humans who were taking advantage of bored inmates and committing unspeakable criminal acts.

Holy fuck…

His only solace was that Yami had the choice to opt out of the 'party', but the solution to that was isolating himself, which probably explained why he was acting a bit off now, because he was deprived of touch, conversation, and…basic social contact that wasn't through a wall of bars.

"…Prince?" Yami ventured, shocked to see a wave of dark, purple fire rising from the elf's shoulders while he covered his face in his hands and shook…presumably with rage.

"That's…. disgusting…" came the whisper, and Yami rested his hand gently on the elf's shoulder, feeling his fingertips tingle with relief. Ah…yes, it was…

"I'm going to find whoever's responsible, and murder them," Seto breathed, his vision still flashing white and then green as he took shallow breaths, trying to control himself. Oh fuck…this was really upsetting him, and he couldn't calm down.

"I don't know if that's a sound solution," Yami said with a light chuckle, gently resting his hand on Seto's knee, waiting for the priest to lift his head up from his hands. "Should we rest? You must be…tired. I won't be inconsiderate."

"Let me calm myself down and I'll…show you something to make up for it," Seto whispered into his palms, his heart rate gradually slowing as he thought about showing Yami a good time. "I'll disrobe properly. You can watch me if you want."

And he lifted his head up from his hands, feeling the warmth from Yami's hand leave his knee as he moved to sit at the vanity, pulling out a hairbrush from the drawer and gently removing all the hair fixings he had tied in.

Golden beads clinked into a small dish beside the mirror, and Yami watched this preening with fascination. Elves were fastidious and fascinating creatures….

Delicate hands with long fingers were prying apart small braids, removing a strip of decorative ribbon and folding it nicely into the dish beside the golden beads. The crown was lifted off his head and set on a thin cloth that materialized on the vanity counter, and Yami watched as the elf ran the brush through his silky, brown hair, the light shimmering off the strands like the sun reflecting water, and Yami's heart skipped another nervous beat.

Finally, Seto combed out all his hair and began to pull it up high in a tall ponytail, even attempting to wrap a few locks around the base to use up more hair, because…there was so much hair.

He managed to make a half-up bun and stood to shrug off the top layer of his robes, moving over to the closet to hang it up, gracefully taking off the second layer and feeling Yami's eyes following him as he undid his sash and hung that up too.

Now only wearing the thin undergarment layer, Seto moved to sit back down beside the bed, taking in Yami's wide-eyed look and asking him, "does my hair annoy you?"

"I…" Yami's voice caught in his breath as he reached a shaking hand up to touch it. "…Your hair is beautiful."

Glad one of us thinks so, Seto thought darkly as he rested his hand boldly atop Yami's knee, leaning forward to bump his forehead against a crop of spiky bangs, his chest tight as he dared to dip his face lower…to capture Yami's lips and feeling him respond with enthusiasm. Teeth scraped playfully along his lower lip, sending a shiver down his body, so he leaned in harder, feeling Yami lock his arms around his neck with tight familiarity and pull him down onto the bed, making his head spin as he sank into Yami's warmth, the softness of Yami's lips moving over his made his stomach curl with joy as he slid his hand down Yami's front to give him a suggestive squeeze through his robes, feeling Yami squirm happily and reach down to press his hand further down against his hardness, his angular eyes flashing as he gave Seto a mischievous smirk.

"Did you want to try using your mouth first?" Yami suggested, because he was leaking with excitement at the mere thought of a hot, wet tongue against his arousal. At first, he thought the elf would refuse, but his throat tightened when the elf swept his hair behind his pointed ear and leaned back with a heart-stopping smirk, "take it off and let me see you."

Yami blinked rapidly and carefully vanished the clothes off his body, leaving them in a neat, folded pile on the vanity counter, barely having put his hand down before he saw Seto's head diving down between his legs, cool hands giving his length a squeeze, with long strands of hair tickling his inner thighs before a tight, heated wetness engulfed him so fast, his stomach heaved, and he tried to close his legs, but Seto's hands kept him spread, and he was buried in a cascade of sensations, one intense wave after another after feeling a silky tongue drag up along his entire arousal and then stop all of a sudden. Shivering and gasping, Yami stared incredulously as the elf spit delicately in his hand and reached his saliva-coated palm to rub him up and down before leaning forward again to lavish him with his tongue, giving him a magnificent view of his pretty face pressed flush up against his dick, and Yami found it hard to breathe. Beautiful fingers were slipping up and down along his length, playing with him so much, his legs spasmed every time he felt fingertips graze his slit, and he tentatively reached down to brush away the long strands of hair that might've been getting wet.

Seto's lips traveled lower and latched onto the space at the base of his arousal, and Yami leaned his head back on the pillows, his chest and stomach clenching at different times while hands spread his ass cheeks, followed by a warm tongue against his rim, and he let out a choked yell, trying to clamp his legs down around Seto's head, feeling ears poking him along his inner knees while more hair tickled the backs of his thighs. That, combined with the ticklish feeling of a mouth clamped over his hole was more than he could bear, and Yami gripped the sheets underneath him, releasing in a tight shudder and gasping for breath, expecting Seto to stop, but he only inched himself closer and got up on his knees to press himself flush against the backs of his legs, poking his hardness into his flesh, his cheeks dark pink while his eyes were narrowed handsomely as he asked, "….May I?"

Yami gave the elf a shallow nod and made a motion to roll over, but a hand on his lower stomach trapped him there, and he watched the elf lift the hem of his robes to flash him his erection briefly before it disappeared from sight, prodding him around his sensitive hole that was slick with saliva.

His head spinning, Yami angled his head lower, hoping to see more, but all he could see was bunches of robes and long waterfalls of light brown hair blocking his view. Something stretched him gently, and then with more force, bringing a sting of pain that made him hiss.

Seto stilled in his motions, biting the tip of his tongue because he remembered Yami saying he didn't like 'the fingers', so what the fuck was he supposed to do?

"We're missing something. Here," Yami said calmly as he opened his palm to hand the elf a glob of slippery fluid. "Please use this. It came from a human realm, specifically for this purpose."

Oh, like I don't know! Seto thought with a laugh, and he brashly swiped the glob of lube from Yami to palm it down his dick and then up Yami's crack, gazing down at his arousal and unable to stop staring at Yami's erection, still disturbed by the lack of balls, but…his own looked rather alright….

"Having trouble?" Yami asked sweetly, sitting up to give the elf's arm a squeeze. "Don't worry. It may look like it, but you're not hurting me—"

Seto eased himself in steadily, his cheeks burning as he'd had enough of Yami patronizing him like he didn't know what sex was and heartlessly bucked his hips forward at his own pace, enjoying the tightness around his tip while Yami shuddered and gasped, gripping his arm so hard, his skin burned, but he didn't stop rocking their bodies together in sync, loving the way Yami dug his nails into him to give him repeated squeezes when he went particularly deep, and he lunged forward to capture Yami's lips in a kiss, straddling him roughly to continue thrusting enthusiastically, his ears ringing with a joyful sound, mixing in with Yami's ragged breathing and half-choked demands, "…st—deeper…f-faster…wr-rong…y-yes…!"

Seto's jaw clenched as he threw himself into the motions, fixating on the thin beads of sweat glistening down Yami's neck, so he leaned down to give them an electrifying lick, his vision brightening for a second while wonderful streams of heat traveled down his legs and made him want to cum, but he held out, seeing Yami cum for a second time, the fluids drenching the inside of his legs and dripping down his hip onto the mattress.

Yami was ecstatic, enjoying himself to the fullest, but still feeling like…the elf was holding back. There was an irritating gentleness in his motions, almost as if he was afraid of breaking something. When asked to thrust faster, he received a short, rough thrust that gave him that brief burst of pleasure, but it vanished quickly, morphing into a dull, hot, thud at the base of his spine while the elf's head was lowered, staring at their connection below while streams of his hair swirled around his body, some even draping over the tops of Yami's shins while their bodies connected. The feeling once again, tickled, and Yami leaned his head back on the pillows, feeling like he was floating for a moment before he came crashing back down with Seto's lips tightly fixed over his, and he tasted a sweet breath in his mouth, followed by a playful, silky tongue.

Lazily draping his arm around the elf's neck, Yami dared to shove his tongue into Seto's mouth, exploring the unique ridges along the roof of his mouth before he leaned back for air, his breath hitching when Seto picked up his pace again, this time looking like he aimed to finish, and Yami found himself flipped over onto his side, his legs held apart by pale hands while Seto jutted himself up between them and reached around his front to give him a few, rough strokes, making him see stars.

Amazed by all the lewd expressions Yami was making, Seto let his breath out slowly and came in a heated rush, his body shuddering happily when he felt Yami clench deliciously around him and cry out stubbornly, "keep going!" So he shoved himself back in, his skin burning with a strange fire when he realized this was different than when he was in an elf's body.

The warm bubble of pleasurable fire never died down after he came, because instead, it turned into another spurt of joyful energy that made him want to finish deeply with Yami again, hearing their skin connecting wetly with a faint slap, and he winced, biting back a laugh and seeing Yami throwing his head back to laugh prettily, his cheeks dark pink as he threw Seto a smirk over his shoulder, backing himself up against the wonderful hardness sliding higher inside him, making him weak all over.

Grabbing the pillow and tucking it under his chin, Yami kept his legs spread while he could feel long hair brushing over his back, making him shiver happily when Seto slowly pulled out and crashed back into him with passion, giving him another stomach-curling wave of pleasure before something wet trickled out from his hole, and after a few more energetic thrusts that made his legs tremble, Seto fell into the bed beside him with a soft thump! his hair spilling everywhere around them while their chests heaved in sync for air.

Seto palmed his face, feeling sweat beading across his forehead while Yami rolled playfully on top of him and planted a firm kiss on the bridge of his nose, his eyes tilted up at the corners while he smiled and flushed again, his cheeks pink as he asked quietly, "was that your first time?"

In this body? Seto wondered nervously as he shook his head, but Yami gave him a disbelieving look with raised eyebrows that hastily made him turn his head to the side and mutter in embarrassment, "fine. Yes. It was."

"I knew it," Yami said with a triumphant smile, pressing one finger down against the elf's sharp jaw and gazing deeply into his blue eyes, feeling himself falling into them before he caught himself and had to look away, rolling off Seto's chest to sit up and carefully run cleaning spells up and down their bodies, slightly dismayed that the elf had kept his robes on when they'd connected.

Seto let Yami's cleaning spell drench him from head to toe, and he pulled the leather tie out of his hair with a sigh of resignation. Useless tie. His hair had been everywhere despite all his efforts. The only thing that made him feel better about it was that Yami rolled over onto his side to bury his face into the side of his neck, sniffing him curiously before snuggling closer and closing his eyes while draping an arm over his chest.

"Wake me…in a few hours," Yami mumbled, not bothering to put his clothes on, and was slightly dismayed when the elf levitated them over and draped them over his body. "It's fine…" And he drifted off contentedly, enjoying the warmth beside him and the wonderful quiet. He'd missed falling asleep to pure silence…

He's so…different! Seto reeled as he gently eased the clothes onto Yami's body, thinking the mage had been insistent on keeping his clothes on the last time they fucked, but now, Yami didn't even care about that.

Letting out a huff, he tucked his arms behind his head and stared up at the ceiling, not tired at all. Easing over onto his side, he stared into Yami's pretty face while he slept, his heart skipping beats as he reached out to brush a strand of blond hair away from his high cheekbones.

Yami wasn't spending another night in prison if he could fucking help it.


Author's note:

awwwww…yami is lonelyyy. They had some medium-awkward smex but yami has to go back to the prison soooon…