graveyardshift-writer

[graveyardshift-writer]

Endearment and Enmity: Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh. Title: Endearment and Enmity Rating: T-M depending on chapter, M overall Summary: When you’re literally married to the person you despise. Warnings: Homosexual relationships,vulgar words and adult situations. Author’s Note: I don’t know why I wrote this. Chapter 5: The Devil Came Down to Kozue

Jonouchi sat across from Kaiba at the table trying to not make his actual discomfort around the CEO any more blatantly obvious. It wasn’t enough he had to be seen exiting that ridiculous looking dragon themed jet, but to also be seen in public with Kaiba under the guise of matrimonial affection when there was absolutely none in reality.

“Would you at least attempt to look like there isn’t a cactus up your orifice?” Kaiba scolded him quietly; earning a huff from the blond, although he was admittedly amused at the attempt at a joke.

“The human body has several external orifices Kaiba, if you’re referring to the anus you’ll have to be a bit more specific.” Jonouchi cracked back; while Kaiba most likely had some rudimentary medical knowledge, there was no way it was as extensive as his own. That was one advantage the CRNA had over his… spouse.

The CEO rolled his eyes “My statement still stands; I’m one of the most apathetic people I know, and even I can see you’re uncomfortable.” So maybe Jonouchi wasn’t the best at hiding his emotions.

“I can’t help it you know, it’s not like I expected a date.” Jonouchi said as he sipped his water - Kaiba was drinking sake, some fancy brand that the restaurant served. America didn’t offer much real sake and instead had a preference for wine and beers when it came to non-liquor alcohol at least, an observation Jonouchi made despite his abhorrence to drinking based solely on his interactions with his friends in the states.

The brunet rose an eyebrow “Why? We are married, going to a restaurant is a standard type of date.” His monotone made it even more obvious he was talking down to him. “You do realize that right?”

“Of course I know that!” He whispered harshly back “But let me remind you Seto Kaiba, the last few times we went to out to eat together - it was with your rich tycoon friends making business proposals, in which case I was a prop more than anything. And the first time we did, you ambushed me with the proposal that started this all. I was under the impression there was no underlying romantic connotations to this agreement.”

“Nonetheless we do have appearances to keep up.” Kaiba explained nonchalantly, taking a mental note of the blond’s fingers tapping on his own thigh.

“Do you… ” Jonouchi kept tapping, a nervous habit he had picked up recently from being in the brunet’s office hours on end, and being forced to listen to the constant typing. “Do you even like me, let’s not go as far as in a romantic sense, but do you even like me as a person?”

“Do you, Kastsuya?” Kaiba countered back, seeming exasperated himself “I’m not even particularly discourteous towards you, but all I get is enmity in return. ” Jonouchi had to at least hand it to Kaiba, he had an extensive vocabulary for a guy who’s primary language wasn’t English. Nevertheless he… had a point, at least. It was true that besides a few half-hearted jabs at his intelligence, Kaiba hadn’t been cruel to him in the slightest, sure a bit distant but that was a given considering his profession. Jonouchi himself, however, made his dislike of his spouse no secret. “I’m at least trying, you are making this more unpleasant for yourself than I have.”

Although he was well aware he was in the wrong and Kaiba had a point,, Jonouchi wasn’t one to give into the notion very quickly “We’ll excuse me for being married to an asexual sea sponge with the emotional capacity of a kitchen sponge- are you laughing?” He cut himself off from his rant when his… spouse, started to chuckle.

“Asexual sea sponge?” Kaiba echoed, seeming amused “Not one I hear too often except from my brother. The media prior to you seemed convinced I was some sex crazed deviant. Rich equals playboy is a common assumption.”

“Um… Okay?” Weren’t they arguing a minute ago? Kaiba was a confusing guy. Or perhaps his monotonous lack of emotion was just a front, perhaps he was more skilled at manipulating emotion than Jonouchi gave him credit for. He was definitely skilled at catching him off guard.

The food was finally brought to them as Jonouchi was collecting his thoughts. Not up to continue their conversation, he ate quietly, but kept a displeased expression on his face out of spite.

“I didn’t answer your question, you know.” Kaiba said as he ate neatly.

“Are you going to?” Jonouchi inquired.

“Only if you answer mine.”

Jonouchi sighed deeply. “Look, I don’t - I don’t hate you okay? I mean, I’m not madly in love with you or anything because you’re an apathetic asshole who made it really fucking hard to save the world sometimes when we were younger because you didn’t seem to understand the concept of ‘one of us isn’t stronger than all of us’, but you have admirable qualities” The blond explained, but didn’t quite want to seem too fond of his counterpart “And… I guess you’re not ugly?” He offered.

“Well, aren’t you amorous.” Kaiba replied sarcastically.

“Well… Are you answer my question this time?”

“Another time.”

Jonouchi paused. “…Asshole.”

“I never confirmed I’d answer if you did.”

“You’re clever, even if you are an asshole, I’ll give you that.”

“See, now is it so hard to be civil towards me?”

“Yes, because you’re an asshole.”

“Still going to compare me to an orifice?” That time Jonouchi actually laughed a little. Kaiba was a dispassionate individual, but he was kind of funny. That was something at least. Maybe… just maybe being hitched to him could be at least bearable.

…At least.

~~~

“How are you cold?” Kaiba asked, a few minutes after their flight back started. In the rearview mirror he had he could see the blond wrapping his arms around himself.

“That place had the a/c cranked up as high as it would go.” Jonouchi answered, although also he hadn’t yet re-acclimated to Japan after being in Texas for so long. Anything under twenty-five celsius was cold to him. And he’d neglected to bring a jacket with him to the restaurant, a mistake he always seemed to make, but only when he went to places with the a/c up all the way.

“I have my trench coat folded under my seat, you can grab it if you’re that cold.” Kaiba explained, Jonouchi looked at him dumbfounded “Well? Are you going to take it or not?”

“It’s just… Was that a kind gesture? From you?”

“I think we’ve established I’m not the Devil, Katsuya. ” Jonouchi shrugged and grabbed the aforementioned trench coat out from under the chair, he knew that Kaiba had multiple copies of his trademark white coat, but he was beginning to suspect he had one stashed in each mode of transport and/or place of dwelling. “My brother used it as a blanket frequently when he was younger.”

“Thanks, Kaiba.” Jonouchi said as he draped the garment over himself. It smelled like a cross between new book and keyboard cleaning putty. The blond looked out and window and watched the quick, but brightly lit flashes of towns and cities, and the blur of clouds that they were passing along the coast “You know it ain’t a bad view from here.” He said almost softly, he was tired from the day and the full stomach wasn’t helping.

“It isn’t.” Kaiba replied, still monotone.

“You know, I just realized you’re operating a vehicle after drinking. Not very responsible of you.” The realization dawned on him; Kaiba had drunk a whole bottle of sake.

“I can handle alcohol well.” Kaiba excused, not even glancing back.

“You are a twig.”

“And you’re an imbecile, if you want to continue this name-calling game. Relax, we’ll make it back to the mansion fine.”

“I refuse to relax! You just drank whole bottle of forty-proof sake and now you’re driving a jet!”

“Oh what are you going to do, breathalyze me?”

“If I had one I would!”

“It’s too late to protest now; we’ve already taken off and the next HLZ(1) I’m authorized to land on is fifty miles away a different direction.”

“Well go in that direction then! I know you equipped this jet to take turns and god help me if I’m going to die in a plane crash it won’t be in this one!” Jonouchi practically growled - while he could tell that Kaiba could handle his alcohol extremely well considering his underwhelming build, he still wasn’t going to take that risk.

Kaiba was silent at first, but then he sighed and shifted the control stick of the jet “We’ll land there and spend the night in a small house I have hidden in that area, okay? If you’re going to be touchy about drinking at least voice your concerns before we take off flying.”

“Fine.” Jonouchi agreed with a sigh of relief, he turned his head again to stare out the window. He blinked once or twice before everything went dark.

~~~

“Hmmnpph…” Jonouchi hummed as the darkness transitioned to fuzzy light, and he blinked until it was clear. He was still lying down as he lazily looked around to study his surroundings. He was in a modest looking averaged sized room, not too different from his own bedroom at the Kaiba mansion. It had a desk, a dresser, a closet and a bedside dresser.

He was lying in a queen sized bed with beige coloured sheets, under a fluffy dark blue comforter, and head resting in on a pillow that matched the beige color of the sheets, there was a second pillow being occupied by Kaiba-.

Wait.

Wait just one minute.

Occupied by Kaiba?

Kaiba was lying in the bed with him.

“AHHHHHH!” He cried out and tried to shove Kaiba out of the bed, however Kaiba’s side was against the wall so Jonouchi just ended up pushing himself off. His shouting coupled with the shoving and thudding against the floor did succeed in at least waking the brunet up.

Now on the floor, Jonouchi rolled onto his back and looked up to see Kaiba peering down at him from the bed. “What’s wrong with you?”

“WHY ARE WE IN THE SAME BED?!” Jonouchi practically screeched, scooting up until he was sitting up to glare at the CEO.

“You were asleep when we landed, I drove us here and you were still asleep.”

“BUT WHY THE SAME BED?!”

“This is one of my small safe houses, there’s only one bedroom.” The brunet explained as he got up and grabbed a shirt from the closet. So Kaiba slept shirtless, even worse. “Besides, we are married, it’s not exactly a new concept that we’d share a bed at some point.” Jonouchi scowled as he adjusted to sit criss-cross, then noticed he was in a plain white shirt and sweat bottoms.

“Did… did you change my clothes?!”

“You are a heavy sleeper.” Kaiba deadpanned.

Jonouchi got up and was extremely tempted to just punch him but opted not too, punching his own spouse reminded him too much of certain bad memories, no matter how much he didn’t like Kaiba he wouldn’t do anything like that. He wasn’t that type of man. “Did you touch me?” He asked harshly, his fists balled.

“If you mean inappropriately, of course not. I know your opinion of me is low, but I would never stoop to molesting you in your sleep like some greasy pervert.” Kaiba stared down at him hard, clearly offended by the accusation “If you’d believe that, that would be pleasant. Now, before you ask, all I did was change your shirt and trousers, I did not take your undergarments off. Now, leave me alone, I’m not in the best mood without my first cup of coffee.” With that, Kaiba turned and walked out of the room. Leaving a dumbfounded, albeit kind of guilted, Jonouchi.

“…Asshole.” He muttered, and looked for something in the closet to change into. ~~~

Authors note: Originally I was going to call this chapter ‘A Date with the Devil’, to refer to Jonouchi’s disdain towards Kaiba, but somehow that turned into The Devil Came Down to Kozue, as a pun on the song ‘The Devil Came Down to Georgia’. Kaiba continues to leave his feelings towards Jonouchi vague. I’ll give you a hint; they’re not strong. Yet, at least. If you’re wondering where I’ve been, I’ve just been swamped at work and now once I go home all I want to do is sleep, eat and complain.

[graveyardshift-writer]

Undertale AU in which Frisk is abandoned on Mt Ebott as an infant and falls to the underground. Afraid she wouldnt be able to protect Frisk from Asgore, Toriel gave the infant to Sans. Frisk, going by the skeleton name of ‘Serif’, is disguised as a skeleton and raised by Sans as a monster.

[graveyardshift-writer]

Endearment and Enmity: Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh. Title: Endearment and Enmity Rating: T-M depending on chapter, M overall Summary: When you’re literally married to the person you despise. Warnings: Homosexual relationships,vulgar words and adult situations. Author’s Note: I don’t know why I wrote this.

Chapter 4: Blind Date

Wednesday was Jonouchi’s chosen day off - he worked weekends overtime for the compounded extra pay, since he kept a separate bank account from Kaiba still. He was keeping to himself in the loungeroom on his floor of the mansion. His angry texts to Honda had not yet received a response, so he was sulking over it. He’d already gone to the gym that morning and still his frustration hadn’t been worked off, so he was drowning his sorrow into a bowl of Kappa Ebisen(1), something he’d often indulged in as a teen but didn’t so much anymore (he maintained a healthy diet to keep up with his steadily slowing metabolism).

He was so alone. His sister Shizuka was still giving him the silent treatment over his ‘secret two-year-long relationship’ with Kaiba, Honda wouldn’t respond to his angry text messages (although starting them off with “You asshole” probably wasn’t the best conversation starter choice), Yugi and Anzu were currently in NYC for a Broadway show she was dancing in, Bakura was in Kyoto, and Otogi was too busy parenting to hang out with him, which Jonouchi knew because unlike his husband the dark-haired man was actually willing to respond to his texts.

Kaiba was most likely at work, as far as Jonouchi knew. He didn’t interact with his… spouse, very much. He hadn’t bumped into him in the mansion in three solid days so far. Usually he kept himself entertained with either electronics, are talking to the mansion servants. The main cook was pretty hot so he talked to her often. She had a penchant for short skirts too, which made Jonouchi really, really glad that Kaiba never put forth a dress code for his hired help. Not that he’d do anything with her, for one he would always respect the sanctity of marriage even if he hated who he was married to; and he also knew it would severely displease Kaiba, not because the brunet respected the sanctity of marriage, but because he didn’t want a scandal to make him look bad. For now he was content with looking but not touching.

“You look ridiculous.” He heard all of a sudden - his head snapped to the entrance to the lounge room, where Kaiba stood with his arms crossed. He hadn’t noticed the CEO enter, although it was hard to ever sense the guy coming because he had the lightest steps known to man. Jonouchi scowled - his attire consisted of a green plaid tshirt, which were tucked into blue jeans held up by a brown belt with a big metal buckle, and brown cowboy ankle length cowboy boots (under the jeans).

“Have you ever looked at yourself?” Jonouchi scoffed in return, referring to Kaiba’s overdramatic trench coat and BEWD worship dressing taste - he’d spent so long in Texas he’d adapted to the modern southern style, at least he didn’t do the ten gallon cowboy hat and shiny tassels that some of the older southern men still did. He loved his Red Eyes Black Dragon, sure, it was still his trademark card, but not enough to worship it and dress in tribute to it like a patron god.

“What do you want, Kaiba?” He asked between munches of prawn chips.

“Tonight at six, we’re going to Kozue.” Kaiba announced, because anytime he told the blonde something it was because they were going to do it, no if ands or buts about it.

“Kozue?” Jonouchi echoed, his brain scrambled for a second trying to remember the place he was talking about “…That famous restaurant in Tokyo?”

“Indeed.” The tall brunet clarified, Jonouchi gave him a long stare before speaking.

“…Dude, we’re two hundred mi- I mean, over three-hundred kilometers from Tokyo(2). It’ll take a whole day of driving to get there.” Jonouchi quickly converted from the imperial system of measurement to metric. He almost forgot that Kaiba most likely either didn’t know miles, or was at most rusty with that system.

“I’ll take us in my private jet.” Kaiba reassured in his ever present monotone. The blonde nurse groaned loudly at the thought of that embarrassing dragon themed jet that he remembered Kaiba having when they were younger. It seemed kind of cool when they were teens, but now that they were mature adults he really realized how childish it was. And people called him immature.

“Oh come on, Kaiba. Not after that business banquet we had to go to; I’d serious prefer camping out in duelist kingdom over the torture of another lame product related speech.” Jonouchi grumbled, but as usual his former rival wasn’t the type to negotiate.

“Be ready by five thirty(3).” Kaiba commanded “Put something presentable on.” His eyes narrowed a bit more at the blonde. It was no secret that Kaiba did not approved of the westernized style that he’d picked up. Jonouchi absent-mindedly nodded but said nothing, although he did make his eye-roll as visible and obvious as possible, as the CEO finally left him alone.

Jonouchi looked at the clock - it was only eleven in the afternoon; well shit he still had a lot of time to kill. He looked to his half-empty bowl of kappa ebisen’s, that talk with Kaiba really ruined his stress-eating appetite.

People of Domino, unlike his… spouse, didn’t really care about the way he was dressed, mostly because they were used to seeing American tourists and probably assumed he was one, and they actually minded their own damn business. It was a relief to not be talked down to as he walked the streets of Domino, many of those streets familiar from his late childhood and his teenaged years. He paused when he saw the all-too-familiar Kame Game Shop, one of the most common stops from his past.

Yugi definitely wasn’t there, but his grandfather most likely was, as indicated by the sign on the door which was flipped to the 'open’ side. Stuffing his hands into his pockets, Jonouchi walked over and stepped into the shop, lo behold the old man indeed was standing behind the counter, talking to one of his customers.

“Gramps?” Jonouchi addressed, not realizing he was speaking English again. Nonetheless it seemed to gain both Sugoroku and the customers attention. The old man lit up at the sight of his grandsons best friend.

“Jonouchi my boy.” Grandpa Motou said with a gruff chuckle as he walked slowly over from behind the counter. He didn’t look too different from how he had eight years earlier, besides his gait and slightly cloudy eyes indicating the fragility of old age. “I wasn’t expecting the visit.”

“Yeah, I’ve been a bit… Busy.” Jonouchi said with a weak grin as he rubbed the back of his own head sheepishly. “I was walking and saw the shop and thought it was finally time to pay another visit.” Oh he had indeed visited before, Sugoroku lived in the game shop alone now, Yugi had moved out and his mother now lived in the countryside with her husband who had finally retired (4). They wanted to take the old man to live with them as was customary, but he refused, he wanted to continue to run his game shop.

“Jonouchi?” The customer inquired, the blonde nurse finally took notice of the man; he had short dark brown hair that was spiked at the edges and had a splash of violet at the middle of his hairline. He had sharp brown eyes with narrow pupils, slightly tanned skin, and stood a few inches under Jonouchi’s height, at maybe 5'8. He was also wearing a cream dress shirt with black slacks, and a dark green tie.

“…Ryuzaki?” He came to the conclusion slowly, and the other man slowly shook his head. It was surprising really, the brunet seemed to have grown out of his awkward phase and wasn’t cringy to look at anymore.

“Ah yes, he’s a frequent customer these days.” Sugoroku told the blond with a gentle smile still intact.

“You… Still duel?” Jonouchi awkwardly asked his old enemy; Ryuzaki used to be highly ranked in the region, up until Yugi and the gang entered the scene with their obsurdly skilled foes, and his popularity dwindled from there along with his running mate Haga.

Ryuzaki looked to the newly acquired card in his hands “Sort of, well, mostly to amuse my kids.”

“YOU have kids?” Okay, that was shocking too. “Well yeah - no! No, not my own.” Ryuzaki quickly and embarrassingly shook his head “My kids as in - I’m a primary school teacher. My students is what I mean.”

Jonouchi nodded at the explanation, this made slightly more sense; although it was still unexpected “Ahhh I see. You and Haga still… friends?” Were they friends or were they rivals? It was hard to tell with those two with their constant arguing.

“We’re more than friends Jonouchi… couldn’t you tell? We’ve been dating since Battle City…” Ryuzaki told him, straightening up his tie. Although the blond did not reply out loud, he couldn’t help but think of something he dare not say aloud, especially in the presence of Yugi’s sweet if old fashioned and very modest grandfather.

'Am I the only guy around here who likes pussy?’

Catching up with Ryuzaki by chatting over a quick half-hearted table duel proved to somehow lift Jonouchi’s spirit from the proverbial dumps they had been in earlier. The runt had indeed grown mature in more than looks. H e worked at the local primary school for students in Grade Three, and many of the ankle-biters loved duel monsters just as they generation of kids before them had. Although the violet-fringed man did not competitively duel anymore, he still taught and played the game during breaks with his students.

Jonouchi spoke about the antics of his coworkers and patients, and things that had happened while he had been schooling, and likewise Ryuzaki did the same but with students rather than patients; they found both groups to be trying at times. They also lamented the struggles of being male in female-dominated occupations, an issue they had a hard time discussing with their male friends, or even female friends if they were in similar situations, as it was quite the… different, experience.

It was refreshing to make a friend again, even if in the form of a former enemy. Speaking of which, it turned out Haga was working as a Entomologist for the local university; and was actually currently lecturing for a semester at Universiti Putra Malaysia, a research university in Seri Kembangan, Malaysia. He’d gotten far in life, that lanky nerd did. According to Ryuzaki, while they did live together they had no children, and did not plan for any, while Ryuzaki (surprisingly) loved children, his partner had very little patience and absolutely no desire for one, and he respected that.

Jonouchi surprised himself when he found himself to be disappointed when Ryuzaki left, mostly because he had seen so little of his friends and family, and didn’t exactly have the most engaging relationship with Kaiba. He was just so… so freaking lonely. The silver lining was that they exchanged numbers and agreed to hang out another time.

“Say, Jonouchi, what brings you to this part of town?” Grandpa Motou asked as he brought his surrogate grandchild a cup of green tea, which the blond thanked him for as he sipped it.

“I just wanted to kill some time before me and Kaiba are going to a restaurant in a bit.” Jonouchi practically muttered, drinking half of the cup in only a few sips..

“A date?” The old man inquired.

“…You can say that, I mean, usually it’s business gatherings. I don’t really make a point to ask Kaiba anymore because either way it’s lame and I don’t get a choice.” The blond complained.

Sugoroku stared at him for a hard minute, which made the nurse feel awkward because he knew that look too well, it was look he’d gotten so many times when he’d asked the old man to teach him how to play duel monsters, and subsequently trained him. “Why do you call him Kaiba?”

“-…” Jonouchi froze, no one ever questioned him calling his… spouse, Kaiba. It was just so natural of him, but he realized how strange it was to call your own significant other by their family name and never their first name, especially after supposedly dating for over two years and getting married. While he could lie about the whole facade no problem, he still had trouble making things up for small details like that. “W-Well uh, you know… it’s just, isn’t very respectful to call him by his first name with people who aren’t on a first-name basis with him too-”

“Are you lying my boy?”

“…” A hand fell on the blond’s shoulder, squeezing it softly but firmly.

“Are there… underlying circumstances to you marrying Kaiba?”

“Gramps…”

“You don’t have to tell me… but, if you’re unhappy, don’t be afraid to admit it. To me, or him. Or yourself.”

“I can’t believe you kept those ridiculous westernized clothes on.” Kaiba told him sharply, not bothering to look back from the steering mechanism of the jet as he scolded him. Honey brown eyes rolled in response, indeed Jonouchi had not bothered to change from what he was wearing earlier, mostly out of spite but partially because he just didn’t feel like changing. “Why are you insisting on trying to embarrass me?”

“…Dude you know I don’t like you right.” Jonouchi muttered; it wasn’t entirely true, he didn’t hate Kaiba or anything, he just didn’t like being bossed around by someone.

“Well you could have pretended to like me long enough for this dinner.” The blue eyed man sharply retorted, still steering his ridiculous jet that Jonouchi had the displeasure of boarding, and soon enough the displeasure of being seen coming out of it.

“Whatever, what kind of business dinner is this anyways? You trying to buy someone out or something?” Jonouchi only really had a vague idea of how business worked, mostly he knew about healthcare management when it came to the subject of business. Big-wig multibillion dollar gaming companies were a whole other topic.

“This isn’t business related, Katsuya.” Kaiba stated, irritated as if he’d just said the most obvious thing to the biggest idiot ever, which was probably how the brunet saw it.

Jonouchi exasperatingly placed his hands into his lap “Then why the hell are we going to some fancy restaurant in Tokyo?” Not that he minded dining on some of the fanciest food in Japan, but being demanded to do anything left a sour taste in his mouth nonetheless, and anytime Kaiba invited him for a meal, something terrible happened. Okay, so it only happened once, but that one terrible thing of ending up hitched was bad enough for him to always be on edge about it.

“Because we’re a married couple, you do realize we have obligations other than business and living arrangements right? Does your undersized brain understand how this process works or has the exposure to the anesthesia caused it to shrink even further.” Well there’s the jerk-Kaiba that Jonouchi knew all too well, but the statement did make the gears in his head slowly turn.

“We're… going on a date?” He had difficulty even suggesting such a thing, oh god he was pretty sure the word date made him throw up a little in his mouth. “That is something that married couples do, Katsuya.” Kaiba stated bluntly, not realizing the effect it had on the other man.

A date? A date with Kaiab of all people? Somehow that was worse than just being married to him, because being his hostage bride so far only required that he live with him and give up his original family name, not actually have to spend time with him for anymore than a few hours a week. Tonight’s sobbing into his pillow wasn’t going to be dry.

TO BE CONTINUED…

(1)Kappa Ebisen (かっぱえびせん) prawn chips by Calbee (2) I imagine that since Domino city has docks, it’d be a coastline city, so I’d say close to the Japanese city of Tsu, which is roughly 198 miles from Tokyo, roughly about 321 kilometers. (3) I don’t know how fast the blue eyes white dragon jet it, but for the hell of it let’s say it’s mach one speed, which travels about 750 miles / 1207 kilometers an hour, they could very well get to Tokyo before six. (4) Yugi’s mother, although never seen in the 4kids dub, lives with Yugi and his grandpa in the game shop. Her husband, Sugoroku’s son, is supposedly always away on business. Authors note: Jonouchi’s negative feelings towards Kaiba are for the most exaggerated for comical purposes, he does in fact not hate Kaaba, but he doesn’t really like him that much either. This discontent could be seen as both of their fault, as Kaiba is work-oriented and Jonouchi won’t even try to get close to him. So Ryuzaki/Rex Raptor makes an appearance, unexpected I know. And apparently him and Haga have been dating this whole time. Will he show up again, and what was the significance of him showing up again? Will anyone else show up or make unexpected appearance? Will Jonouchi ever stop dramatically sobbing into his pillow? Will he and Kaiba ever get along? Is Jonouchi really the only guy in this story who likes vagina?

[graveyardshift-writer]

Endearment and Enmity Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh. Title: Endearment and Enmity Rating: T-M depending on chapter, M overall Summary: When you're literally married to the person you despise. Warnings: Homosexual relationships,vulgar words and adult situations. Author's Note: I don't know why I wrote this. Chapter 3: Forward. "Kaiba-sama, a man and his son and here to see you." Jonouchi inwardly flinched when one of the LVN's referred to him by his married name; something he'd probably never be used to. He kept his disgust to himself as he turned to face the young nurse. "Understood, thank you; but why isn't the doctor seeing him?" "The doctor has, she wants you to coax the boy into taking his medicine. You know children don't respond to her like they do to you." Jonouchi couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Alright. Which room are they in?" "Fifty." As Jonouchi walked to the room he could swear he could hear the other nurse giggle; which made him suspicious as first but he ended up just shrugging it off. Females, as much as he loved them, were strange creatures. He walked into the room, and was taken aback. "Jou!" The man, father of the boy he was supposed to be attending to, was grinning as he walked over. An all-too-familiar man. "O-Otagi?" Jonouchi stammered slightly before breaking into his own grin over seeing a friendly familiar face in the dice master. Ryuji Otogi looked very similar to how he had as a teen, but was dressed casually and more conservatively. His dark hair was trimmed and kept in a neater style but still in a ponytail in the back, the rims of his eyes were clear from lack of eyeliner, and his dice earrings were now just gold hoops, which Jonouchi supposed were supposed to match the golden band around his finger. Against his shoulder he held a small toddler-aged boy. "I heard you were working here and almost couldn't believe it." The dark haired man told his old friend with a small smile "But I saw your name on the employee roster in the hallway and requested you." "Really? Wow. I haven't been able to meet up with anyone yet." Truthfully he knew that his friends knew him well enough to see his frustration over his marriage with Kaiba as soon as the subject would be brought up. Luckily, Otogi just couldn't see right through him like Yugi, Anzu and Honda could. "Is it true though… Did you really tie the knot with Kaiba?" Well son of a bitch, that topic came up quickly. Jonouchi managed to keep a straight face as he pointed to his name tab which clearly read 'Katsuya Kaiba' a name the blonde had no attachment to. "Wow, I guess I should start calling you Kaiba then huh." "Please don't." Jonouchi told him, trying not to sound as exasperated as he really was "Can you introduce me to your son?" That should get Otogi off the topic, parents loved gushing about their kids. He was relieved when he was proven to be right as the dark haired man turned his baby boy to face Jonouchi. The boy had very dark brown hair that shot up in random spikes, and green eyes just like his father, but his skin was tan compared to Otogi's pale. He was oddly familiar, but then again all babies looked the same in the CRNA's opinion. "What's the boys name?" "Chokichi." Otogi told him as he lightly bounced the small toddler, who only continued to absentmindedly suck on his thumb. That made Jonouchi quirk a brow at the similarity the baby shared with another one. "That's ironic, Honda's son has the same name-" Before the blonde could properly finish his sentence, the other man started to chuckle, making him pause "Hey what's so funny, guy?" "Didn't Honda ever tell you?" Otogi continued to chuckle, then cleared his throat "Chokichi is mine and Honda's son, we had him together." "..." Jonouchi fell silent. Honda and Otogi? His former classmate had a ring on, did that mean he was married to Honda? And they somehow had a kid together? "What?" Honda had sent him a ton of pictures of the baby the minute the kid had been born, but he always dodged the question on who the 'mother' was, which at the time had Jonouchi come to the conclusion that some girl he'd slept with just ditched the baby on him. Turned out there was no mother. "...How?" "That's a story for another time." Otogi's eyes held a glint "Me and Honda aren't married since it isn't legal yet, we have a domestic partnership however. We attended the same university and fell in love there." Although Jonouchi supposed he should have felt happy for his friends, it still felt like a stab to just now hear about all of that. Honda had been his friend since middle school, and yeah neither of them were the best when it came to calling, but he couldn't have at least mentioned once he was involved with Otogi and had even started a family together? "Interesting..." He muttered in an almost Kaiba-esque way, which he caught right away. Gross, the bastard was starting to rub off on him. "Well, can you tell me what's wrong with the little guy?" "He's had a fever for the past few days and he can't shake it off..." Otogi explained as he gently stroked the baby's head. "Hm. Simple thing man, doesn't sweat. This is probably just a bacterial infection - kids put everything into their mouths you know. We'll give him some fluid and electrolytes and probably some broad-spectrum antibiotics. But let me ask a few questions first; what kind of symptoms has he shown?" "Fever, crying to the point of screaming… isn't eating and can't sleep well." Jot. "Does he have any allergies?" "Bee stings." Jot. "Does he take any medications currently?" "Just some baby cough medicine." Jot. "Has this happened before?" "No, he hasn't run a fever like this before." Jot. "What was the last thing he ate or drank?" "Cold formula milk, and a little bit of applesauce." Jot. "What was going on before he came down with the fever?" "Just… normal stuff. We took him out for a walk out at the little kids park." Jot. Just as he took the last note the baby started to loudly cry, his flushed face growing to the likeness of an angry tomato. "No, baby shh, it's okay..." Otogi told the baby softly and rocked him, rubbing his back and trying to calm him down in all of the usual ways. Still a little alien seeing Otogi so gentle. "Alright you wait here, I'll go consult his pediatrician." From the cupboard he quickly produced a pedialyte bottle, a special type of juice for babies with plenty of electrolytes, very important for fevers. "Give him this, the fevers probably dehydrating him." The dark haired man nodded and took the bottle, coaxing the small boy into drinking from it. -/- "What's wrong with you today?" Kaiba asked, more out of curiosity than actual concern. Jonouchi had come into his office after work as he sometimes did, which the brunet requested as to keep up appearances. Jonouchi's teeth ungritted just enough to ask"Did you know that Otogi and Honda were partners?" His… spouse, didn't bother to so much as look up from his computer screen. "Well… Did you?" Jonouchi had just gotten off of work and changed before heading over, he tried texting and calling Honda but had gotten no response, and he'd grown so frustrated in silence that now he had to take it out on someone even if it had to be the guy he hated for holding him as a basically a hostage-bride. "I might have heard at some point in time from my brother, but I don't go out of my way to keep track of the cheerleader squad. So, I'm gonna have to say no." The CEO cooly replied, typing away. "I can't believe that he wouldn't tell me. I've known that asshole since we were troublemaking shits of kids. I've scraped his ass off of the sidewalk like bubblegum so many times- Kaiba, would you at least pretend you see me as a regular person as look at me while I talk to you?" Just to prove his point and frustration he gripped the couch and shoved it over onto it's back. Kaiba at least acknowledged him by looking up and stopping his excessive typing. "I mean, I'm not expecting the guy to tell me each and every one of his most intimate secrets. But that's a big part of his life and he never bothered to tell me." The blue-eyed man crossed his arms with a disapproving hum "What do you expect? Did you think that you and your clique would remain friends forever once high school ended? Wake up, friendship doesn't last forever no matter how much you preach, they moved on. And so should you." Honestly, Kaiba had almost forgot just how emotional the other duelist could be. "This is coming from the guy who spent millions of dollars taking control of a city for a duel monsters tournament because you couldn't accept defeat." Jonouchi retorted. Kaiba's hand tightened around his own forearm. He'd been a little hot-blooded back then, but his loss to Yugi all those years ago never felt right… perhaps because the boy who beat him wasn't Yugi at all, but the spirit of the puzzle. Even in the Grand Prix, losing to Yugi didn't feel right. Why? Because even if he was dueling the spirit of the puzzle, the spirit was in the end just a spirit… He wasn't his true self, he wasn't at his full strength with his own memories or ambitions, he was in the end just a powerful extension of Yugi. That was why he had gone so far as to see the Pharaoh in the afterlife, because his old rival owed him a real duel. Even if he hadn't won, he still had the closure he needed to move on with his life. "Stop looking back Katsuya, you're not supposed to be going that way." Kaiba answered cryptically as he resumed his work. Jonouchi glared coldly at him. "Everyone has a past Kaiba, even you. You think I don't know that you named that hospital after the Orphanage you came from?" The brunet paused again "Whatever, you're no help. I'm going back to the mansion, and I'm not fixing the damn couch. " With that the REBD turned away and left, ultimately venting didn't help. And he felt no closer to his… spouse. Oh well, yet another night of dry sobbing into his pillow and jacking it. TO BE CONTINUED Authors note: So the clinic is named after the orphanage that the Kaiba brothers came from, that's what I've decided. And yes, there you go, Otogi and Honda are a couple with an adorable little shit of their own. As stated before, this fanfiction takes place years after the Dark Side of Dimensions, where Kaiba somehow comes back from the afterlife after his duel with Atem. He didn't win, but after having finally gotten a fair duel with no one else but him and and the Pharaoh, he found closure and could finally move on. Please leave a review.

[graveyardshift-writer]

Endearment and Enmity Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh.

Title: Endearment and Enmity

Rating: T-M depending on chapter, M overall

Summary: When you’re literally married to the person you despise.

Warnings: Homosexual relationships,vulgar words and adult situations.

Author’s Note: I don’t know why I wrote this.

Chapter 2: Fallacies

Living in the Kaiba mansion wasn’t that bad all things considered, although he still missed his old apartment in San Antonio. The size of the mansion was just as much of a curse as it was a blessing. It was nice to have all the space, because this allowed him to have a completely different living space from his… spouse. Especially since it was just him, Kaiba, the small live-in staff and technically Mokuba (who was studying abroad) who still had a room set up. However, all the unnecessary space made the mansion seem so empty… not like a home at all.

When Kaiba had first made his ‘proposal’, he’d assured it would only last about three years, five years at most. Mostly just to get the CEO’s peers to clearly see that he had no intertest in women. Although it seemed like a long time, it was still only a fraction of the time it would take to pay back his student loan debt. As much as he didn’t like Kaiba, at least the guy kept his promises and paid it all off as soon as they both signed the marriage certificate. Jonouchi could have divorced him on the spot, but if Kaiba could uphold his promise, he would as well.

The brunet allowed him to finish covering down for his head nurse as he got his affairs in America in order. He was quite sad to leave America where he’d made several new friends that now he’d probably never see again. Plenty of military personnel in fact since Joint Base San Antonio was the military medical training hub for Soldiers, Airmen and Sailors, a lot of them had a second job at the hospital or worked there as ordered by the military for some reason or another, and they’d introduced him to military culture.

Once he had all of stuff packed, and all his affairs in order to move back to Domino City, Kaiba first had them sign an American marriage license to make the marriage seem more credible given Jonouchi’s dual-citizen status and a long-distance relationship would explain why they’ve never been seen in public together.

Once back in Domino City they weren’t legally married under Japanese law where same-sex marriage wasn’t recognized yet except for a few cases. Kaiba had, however, been right when he said that a big enough donation would make the city look the other way. It made Domino City all too happy to legally recognize their marriage license and issue them a Japanese one as well. It made Jonouchi feel bad though, to think about the legitimate and loving same-sex couples across Japan who couldn’t be married under Japanese law, yet Kaiba could for business purposes just because he was obscenely wealthy. If that wasn’t special treatment, he didn’t know what was.

The two duelists had made a promise that they wouldn’t tell anyone the true reason of their marriage as not to either humiliate in Jonouchi’s case, or demonize in Kaiba’s case, either of them in the eyes of their friends and loved ones. Well, Jonouchi’s friends and loved ones at least; for Kaiba it was loved one, peers, and the public opinion.

Speaking of their friends and loved ones, their marriage had no doubt caused quite the shock, Jonouchi ended up lying to his friends and family that he’d been keeping the ‘relationship’ secret for three years because he didn’t want to cause any drama if it didn’t work out and, and that Kaiba needed time to publicly come out of the closet. His sister was hurt that he’d keep something like this from her, and was still giving him the silent treatment about it.

Mokuba was the opposite to Jonouchi’s sibling, he was ecstatic over his brother getting married to someone who was both a familiar face and 'wasn’t a gold-digging hoebag’ in his own words (guy had a colorful vocabulary). However, Kaiba admitted to him soon after the 'wedding’ that Mokuba knew him so well that he probably knew it was all a façade and went with it because he was just glad his big brother wasn’t totally alone now.

Now, there was no way in Dante’s Inferno that Jonouchi would resign to become a housewife (he cringed at the word) after he’d spent so much time and stress to become a CRNA, so with some heavy persuasion, which was actually just carefully worded blackmail, Kaiba agreed to let his new spouse work under the condition that he would work at a private hospital owned by Kaiba Corp.

While he hated that he had to technically work for the guy he had grown to despise more and more each passing day when he already had to bear with being married to him; the facility was a doctor’s office and acute care clinic that catered specifically to orphan or underprivileged pediatric patients, which Jonouchi couldn’t bring himself to disapprove of no matter who owned and funded it. It was almost sweet how the CEO in all his influence, wealth and power, couldn’t let go of his roots.

Not that he empathized with the man.

Being new, he was just a regular CRNA with RN duties since anesthesia was rarely administered with pediatric patients compared to adults. He wasn’t in as high as a position as he used to be at the hospital he used to work at, to his chagrin he’d have to work his way up all over again. And it wasn’t easy because being married to the owner of the facility meant that automatically one half of the staff hated him and swore up and down he got special treatment, while the other half consistently tried to kiss his ass.

Home life was dull, Kaiba was usually at work, and even when he wasn’t they lived in different wings of the mansion and so far, have had very little interaction since getting married. A small comfort, in the beginning of this convoluted 'plan’ the red eyes black dragon master was afraid that his… spouse, would require them sharing a bedroom and bed; or worse, sex. He’d seriously prefer sticking his dick in an ant hill over having sex with Kaiba, his animosity towards the CEO was just that strong.

They’d been married, and he’d been back in Domino City, for six months so far. They still didn’t even really like each other at all, and hadn’t so much as kissed for obvious reasons.

Currently Jonouchi was in one of loungerooms, which each floor had, but he was in the first floor one; he’d just gotten back from the gym after work, and didn’t feel like going up the stairs. He was lying on the couch in just his scrub pants and white cotton shirt, watching TV and munching on a bowl of seedless grapes.

All of a sudden, his 'knight in shining armor’ shows up, and Jonouchi just tries his best to ignore him but he stands there quietly staring at him from the doorway as if expecting acknowledgment, which he most likely was but Jonouchi didn’t give two halves of a fuck.

Eventually he relented “Can I help you, Kaiba?” He asked as calmly and politely as possible, but of course he sounded irritated.

“We’re going to a social event tonight.” The brunette informed him without a hint of bargaining.

But Jonouchi was a haggler nonetheless, and he groaned “Can’t you tell them I’m at work?”

“It’s an acute care clinic, not a full hospital, it closes at seven o'clock. The event starts at nine.”

“Can’t you tell them I’m sick.”

“Katsuya it’s been six months and I’ve used that excuse eight times already.”

“Can’t you tell them I died.” Okay that one was obviously a joke, but he was still irritated and didn’t want to go to some business event designed for extremely rich people to show off projects and hypothetically show everyone just how big their dick really was.

Kaiba sighed and walked over, resting a hand onto the couch to lean on it slightly. Oh great, now he was going to use one of those bullshit first-semester-of-community-college-psych techniques on him. Oh, joy how he really looked forward to being guilted by a guy he despised but was unironically hitched to. “Look, if this arrangement is going to work we have to at least occasionally be seen in public together as a couple, we don’t want this to look like a sham.”

“This is a sham, dumbass.” He popped another grape into his mouth and chewed with his mouth open just to spite the blue-eyed duelist, and to highlight the fact that he still didn’t give two halves of a fuck.

“Regardless, Katsuya, you should at least put some effort into this marriage, I can’t be the one pulling all of the weight.” Kaiba stated sternly, and his statement almost made Jonouchi throw the whole ceramic bowl of grapes at him.

Angrily the blonde retorted “Oh hell no are you going to accuse me of not pulling my weight! I gave up my life for this 'arrangement’!” His appeal to emotion fallacy fell to ears that belonged to an emotionless brain.

“Get upstairs, clean up and put on something decent. This isn’t an option, you’re going to go. It isn’t a very formal even so I’d suggest business casual.” And with that, Kaiba left the Livingroom, to get ready for the event as well. He put emphasis on the word suggest because Jonouchi had no choice.

-/-

“If you like me Kaiba just say so.” Jonouchi whispered, harshly but in a joking manner as his… spouse, practically dragged him out of the limo, insisting on their arms being linked together so they wouldn’t give away the fact that they hated physical contact of any kind with each other.

“Just stay quiet.” Kaiba instructed in a mumble, walking them both to the Centre where the event was being held – some old billionaire unveiling his next product to make even more money, seeking out fellow business tycoons to invest in it.

“Whatever.” The brunet continued to walk him in, and Jonouchi was relieved to see that it wasn’t a formal white-collar event, and the other people attending were in business casual as well, but all of them minus the presumably single ones had brought their spouses. Okay so maybe Kaiba had good reason to drag him with him, not that he’d give him credit or anything.

Once they were both seat at some random table, the CEO started giving him a 'pep talk’ “Don’t you dare talk to anyone. If you do, keep it limited to pleasantries only. I don’t need you saying anything unintelligent to my peers.”

“Yes 'dear’, of course.” Jonouchi sarcastically replied, but nodded as well. He didn’t want to talk to some random rich people he didn’t know anyways. He didn’t even like talking to Kaiba and he knew him.

“I’ll go grab us a drink, you wait here.” Kaiba said, then paused “Not because I care but, you know, have to keep the image of a marriage up.”

Jonouchi rolled his eyes, crossed his arms and not caring how unprofessional it looked “Whatever, Kaiba, just, no alcohol okay.” The blonde duelist didn’t drink. The blue-eyed man simply nodded and walked away, giving his 'partner’ a moment of peace.

Jonouchi heavily sighed. He really should have paid closer attention to the big print of that contract.

TO BE CONTINUED

Author’s note: I don’t have a name for the clinic that Jonouchi currently works at but it’s a children’s acute care clinic owned by the Kaiba Corporation. And when Jonouchi said he’d rather stick his dick in an ant hill than have sex with Kaiba, it’s a reference to watch?v=3vXNTCpM6rE

Please leave a review.

[graveyardshift-writer]

Endearment and Enmity Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh.

Title: Endearment and Enmity

Rating: T-M depending on chapter, M overall

Summary: When you’re literally married to the person you despise.

Warnings: Homosexual relationships,vulgar words and adult situations.

Author’s Note: I don’t know why I wrote this.

Chapter 1: Context

Seto Kaiba was not the relationship kind of guy, he didn’t have the time or even desire to date. Now, the opportunity to get married actually presented itself very often; especially after he turned the legal marrying age of eighteen. Business men constantly tried convincing him to marry their daughters.

Now, Kaiba understood that it was a common practice - but that didn’t stop his distaste for it. He didn’t understood why fellow tycoons wouldn’t bother to groom their daughters to be heirs right from the beginning, rather than wait for a potential son-in-law to marry them off to. It was as much of a waste of time and potential gamble as it was disrespectful to the ‘fairer sex’. He always declined these offers because if he would be married to someone, it would be with someone who did not let someone else make decisions on their behalf, and because he just didn’t have any interest in women.

Seto Kaiba was far too self-assured to be ashamed of his sexuality because of something as trivial and meaningless as social stigma, but he considered such a thing a private and personal matter and didn’t feel the need to make it public. But the constant pressure to find a partner was getting tiring after seven years - now twenty-five, the hounding from other CEO’s only got worse, his constant turning down of arranged marriages had caused a lot of strained and sometimes ended relations with other companies, many of these businesses were stockholders and sometimes sold their stock, resulting in Kaiba Corp losing some value.

The longer he stayed a bachelor the more trouble he seemed to meet. So the most effective solution was to get legally married to someone so the other business men would have no reason to try to have him marry their daughters. Not the most sane solution, but logic didn’t care about feelings and neither did Kaiba.

While he wouldn’t be looking for the most perfect possible partner because they would ultimately serve as a figurehead, not as actual romantic partner, he still had reasonable standards. He’d need someone who had some kind of public presence, they didn’t have to be a household name or anything just well known enough to be recognized by bystanders. Male obviously because he wouldn’t change his preferences. Didn’t have to be a model, but at least be decently attractive - however, the trait he’d seek out the most was someone who was self-assured and proud, because the Kaiba name had no room for someone who was riddled with insecurity or easily pressured.

Now that he was in his mid twenties he’d finally met CEO’s close to his age range, but it was unlikely that any of them were also homosexual. And even if they were, Kaiba knew that they would never out themselves to the public in fear of scandal. Cowards. In the end, he ended up looking to familiar faces from the past.

Von Schroeder wouldn’t have been too bad of an option since they were close to the same age and both business men, but Kaiba hated both his attitude and the color pink. Not to mention the European had recently gotten married himself, so that option was out of the window. Otogi, although attractive and confident, Kaiba always felt as if the other man came across as vain and knew that the dark haired man’s pride rivaled his own, and even though he invented Dungeon Dice Monsters he was still not very popular in the gaming industry. Mutou was tempting, as the number one duelist in the world he was very popular, and the last Kaiba had seen he had grown confident even without the Pharaoh, but he knew Yugi had no interest in men and was in a relationship with Mazaki (whether or not they were married or dating he wasn’t sure, he hadn’t kept track of them).

That left one person.

He hadn’t seen Katsuya Jonouchi since they graduated from high school seven years ago and he had no idea what he’d been up to besides still being the number three ranked duelist and although he wasn’t near as active as he used to be he was still a professional duelist. That fact warranted at least a quick google search.

He was the national champion of the United States, which was his current place of residence. More specifically, San Antonio Texas where he worked at St. Lukes Baptist Hospital as a CRNA - Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist. He had studied to become one at Dallas Nursing School. The career explained his relative absence from dueling. What caught Kaiba’s attention was one of the reasons Jonouchi was popular, especially among younger duelists; he was openly bisexual.

—

Sometimes Jonouchi wondered if all of the anesthesia exposure caused the drugs to become permanently infused with his bloodstream, because he was pretty sure he was hallucinating. He had trudged his way out of the hospital as soon as his lunch hour came up, not caring if his scrubs and long sleeved cotton shirt were stained in blood, CSF and god knows what else. All he wanted was to go the 7/11 and grab a coffee, a crappy but cheap greasy sandwich and find some god-damn peace - when all of a sudden out of nowhere Seto Kaiba, his rival from high school, materialized out of nowhere and ‘asked’ him to join him to talk over lunch.

Although confused, he was too groggy from his long shift to protest or question the brunet right away, not to mention the prospect of free food after having not had breakfast was far too enticing.

“So…” Jonouchi started calmly, if a little awkwardly. “How are you, Kaiba?”

They were sitting in a way far back table of a some random steakhouse and barbecue style restaurant (it was Texas after all). Jonouchi noted that Kaiba didn’t look much different from when they were in high school, besides now being slightly more filled out and having premature lines under his eyes undeniably from long work hours and stress, something the blonde was all too familiar with now himself. The the CRNA’s relief, Kaiba wasn’t decked out in his usual ridiculous and over dramatic trench coat attire but instead a white collared button up shirt, and dark slacks with typical business type black shoes. His hair style had changed only slightly, being in the same basic shape but more trimmed. “I’m doing well, Jonouchi.” The CEO replied calmly, more professional than polite.

Jonouchi on the other hand must have looked quite a bit different to his rich counterpart - his hair style hadn’t changed, but it was currently more messed up than usual because of how much he’d been running around the hospital that day. He’d grown slightly taller and was close to Kaiba’s height save for and inch or two, and retained a muscular physique, not that it was noticeable under his long sleeved white cotton shirt, and dark green scrubs. “What is this about Kaiba? If you’re having some kind of big tournament soon I can’t go, the charge nurse is on maternity leave and I’m covering down for her for the next three months.” Although truthfully he would still love to go to one; he hadn’t gone to a very large tournament since the Grand Prix, so far he’d stuck to state and regional tournaments, and a few title challenges here and there.

“There’s no tournament.” Kaiba explained, drinking water as they waited for their food to come. Luckily Kaiba could speak English just as well as he could, which wasn’t very surprising in hindsight but a relief nonetheless, although he held an obvious Japanese accent, similar to how Jonouchi held an American accent when speaking Japanese. “This is about personal matters.”

Jonouchi cracked a brow up “I haven’t seen you in like seven years dude, you couldn’t have at least called or texted me or something. before taking a long flight all the way to the states.”

“I prefer face-to-face interaction.”

“So you came all to way to Texas?” The blonde couldn’t help but roll his eyes “Rich people…”

“I’ve heard one of the reasons you’re popular is because younger duelists look up to you.” That one came out of nowhere, Kaiba’s intentions remained unclear.

“Well… I’m not number one in duel monsters, but I’m still the United States champion.”

“And LGBT.”

“…So what? What do you care?” Jonouchi continued giving Kaiba a blank stare. This guy comes out of nowhere and all of sudden he wants to discuss something personal like they hadn’t been rivals in high school. They had a grudging respect for each other at best.

Kaiba’s face remained unchanged as he said “I am as well.” Jonouchi will admit he probably looked confounded as the waiter finally brought them their food.

“So… You like to go out to the club with heels?” Jonouchi joked, he supposed he shouldn’t be joking about something like that, but the absurd mental imagine forced the question, and he’d been in Texas for so long he’d just adapted to insensitivity.

“I’m homosexual, Jonouchi.” Kaiba explained as he nonchalantly started on his food, which was simply just a grilled chicken breast and a side of salad “Not a secret, but a little known fact.”

“Okay…?” Okay, Jonouchi will admit that was surprising, mostly because he’d always just kind of assumed that Kaiba was an asexual sea sponge. Still, why was Kaiba discussing sexuality with him? It was inappropriate considering that, again, they hadn’t seen or spoken to each other in years. “What does that have to do with me? Cut to the chase man.” This wasn’t going to be some kind of love confession was it. While he had found Kaiba handsome in high school, he barely liked him as a person let alone a potential love interest.

His hunger overpowered his curiosity and he tuned Kaiba out a little bit as he tore into his food - brisket slices with fries and a hot roll (Americans loved their carbohydrates). He didn’t really listen to Kaiba’s justification for bringing up such a personal topic until-

“-I need to get married, and you’re the most logical option.” The brunet explained as if it were something as simple and trivial as needing someone to duel with to pass the time during a long wait.

Jonouchi choked on and nearly spit out the roll he just chomped into. The billionaire had the decency to allow him to recover before continuing “I’m sure you’re wondering how I came to the conclusion that you-”

“You’re joking right?” The blonde duelist cut him off, “Is this some kind of joke? Are you filming this for a youtube prank video or something? For the love of god, you can’t be serious.”

“I am very serious, Jonouchi. My peers in the business world are constantly trying to get me to marry their daughters, and my turning them down is ruining my professional relationships. If I’m married, they have no reason to get offended if I refuse.” He justified.

Jonouchi almost felt insulted “You want me to marry you for business? That doesn’t make you any better than those other businessmen.”

“Wrong, I’m not offering up my brother like some kind of cheap whore like they are with their daughters.”

“Kaiba! I know you have the social skills of a head of cabbage, but don’t you see why I have a problem with this? I don’t even like you.”

“You don’t have to, you just have to be my legal spouse.”

Jonouchi facepalmed at the nonchalance of the Blue Eyes White Dragon master “Gay marriage isn’t even legal in Japan!”

“Not a large scale, no. But they’ve recently started issuing a few same-sex marriage licenses. A 'generous donation’ to Domino City public fund should convince them to issue one to me.” Seto Kaiba continued to rationalize his insane plan, Jonouchi stared bug-eyed at him for a long time before staring down to his now empty plate. Time to leave was now.

“Yeahhhh, well um, thanks for lunch and all Kaiba. I’m gonna go head back to work now before my LVN left in charge freaks out.” He slowly got up and walked away.

“It’s to my understanding you’re under thousands of dollars of student loan debt.” The CEO stated with a slightly raised voice, making Jonouchi freeze in his tracks “The terms of your scholarship was that it was full ride as long as you retained a minimum of a C average of all of your classes, but failed and had to re-take your last semester of Microbiology, violating the terms of your scholarship. Now you have to pay back the full-ride cost with interest.” He explained calmly, but Jonouchi could detect a slight smug tone.

His face paled a bit - it was true, already working full time as a RN when he was finishing his last year of courses to become a CRNA, his grades fell from a B average to a C average, and he’d failed his last semester of Microbiology. Already too far into the career course plan to drop it, and to close to becoming a CRNA, he ultimately decided to re-take it to finish. Now he was tens of thousands of dollars into student loan debt.

“Sit back down.” Kaiba 'asked’ politely, and Jonouchi complied.

In a harsh whisper, with a glare Jonouchi demanded answers “How the hell do you know that?”

“I do my homework, unlike you.” Okay, ouch.

“Fuck you I did my-”

“Keep your voice down and don’t swear, we’re in public. I’m not asking that you become a sex slave; all I ask for is that you assist me, and I assist you in return. You know I’m capable of making that student loan debt disappear instantly when it would take you decades. All you have to do is sign a paper, wear a gold band for show.” Kaiba insisted - and Jonouchi nervously clicked his pen from his pocket. The brunet had him there, the debt would take decades to pay back even working full time, and big cash prizes just didn’t occur with duel monsters tournaments anymore.

He didn’t like Kaiba, in fact he used to despise him in the past because of his own juvenile pride and abrasiveness. He especially hated now the fact that the CEO would corner him like this out of nowhere. But even with such a good job, he was still struggling; his credit score was already bad just from that debt, and it seemed like even if he paid off most of his paycheck, the interest caused whatever contribution he made to the giant fat leech of student loan debt not matter in the slightest.

“…How long.”

TO BE CONTINUED

Author’s note: And so it continues, this is how Kaiba convinces Jonouchi to become his spouse. Nothing should go wrong, right? All smooth sailing from here, right?

[graveyardshift-writer]

Endearment and Enmity Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh.

Title: Endearment and Enmity

Rating: T-M depending on chapter, M overall

Summary: When you’re literally married to the person you despise.

Warnings: Homosexual relationships,vulgar words and adult situations.

Author’s Note: I don’t know why I wrote this.

Prologue

He was no idiot. Now, he wasn’t the brightest crayon in the box either, and admittedly he was late bloomer in the garden of maturity; but by no means was he a stupid, unintelligent or unreasonable man. However, for the love of God, he sure did feel like the biggest moron in the world while staring at the gold band wrapped around his finger like a tiny house arrest monitor.

He’d made the biggest mistake in his life. He’d gotten into one of those obligatory situations worthy of a sitcom or romantic comedy where he’d made a very big life decision as exchanged as a long-term solution for a short-term problem. Every second leading up to the marriage was soaked in dread and doubt, but only when it was finalized and there was no going back did the full weight of his poor decision hit him.

He had proverbially just sold his soul to the devil.

Or rather, his hand in marriage.

“What’s on your mind?” Speak of the devil. Seto Kaiba, his… legal spouse was sitting at his desk, typing away at whatever project or document he was working on this time. He didn’t bother moving his eyes from the screen of his computer as he asked the question, nor did his voice waver from its regular unwavering monotone. The brunette wasn’t in his usual overdramatic attire of a white trench coat and ankle/wrist band combination, but rather his ‘moderate’ (but still kind of ridiculous with context) white suit set with the blue shirt and tie.

Jonouchi rolled his eyes slightly “Oh, nothing dear.” He replied calmly, although clearly sarcastic his tone held no humor. Mostly because of overwhelming discontent that he managed to keep to himself. While his… spouse, was dressed business formal, he leant more on business casual with a dark red collared button-up shirt with bright red pinstripes, tucked into his black slacks held up by a dark brown belt.

“I somehow doubt that, Katsuya.” Kaiba droned and the very sound of his voice grated against his already peeved off nerves.

“Would you please not call me that, Kaiba.” He almost snapped, but it came out as a huff when he crossed his arms and turned a stern glare to the CEO.

“It is your given name.” The brunette stated in an as-a-matter-of-fact fashion, although it just ended up sounding very condescending whether or not it was intended.

“Just call me Jonouchi.” Although he didn’t have the best relationship with his father, he still preferred being called by the surname he’d inherited from him over his first name. No one ever called him by that except parents and sister, and to hear it from Kaiba just made it all the more cringe worthy.

“Isn’t your name any more.”

“Legally, Kaiba.”

“Legally you’re Kaiba too.”

“Whatever.” It was a juvenile retort, but it was hard to argue with someone who’s entire life was dedicated to being ahead of everyone else and was too tired to try. “When are we heading back to the mansion anyways? It’s already eleven P.M and it takes me at least three hours of dry sobbing into my pillow to fall asleep.” His joke, as dry and bitter as it was, didn’t get a laugh or smirk or any reaction that wasn’t cold indifference.

Kaiba finally looked up from his computer screen over to him “Another half an hour and we can call it a night.” he explained calmly, although Jonouchi had already received that explanation over two hours ago.

“Urgh.” He groaned and leant his head back in frustration, arms still firmly crossed “I swear you’re part bat.”

His… spouse, responded to this commed “Are you saying that because I work late at night in a dark office?” The brunette was pretty nocturnal with his work habits, and for some reason never flipped the lights on in his office no what hour of the day or night it was; Jonouchi had only his phone and the glow of Kaiba’s computer to see with.

Jonouchi scoffed “No, I’m saying that because you always bust my balls.” Still his asshole of a… spouse, didn’t laugh at that joke either. And some people wondered why Jonouchi hated him so much. Of course bribing him into marrying him didn’t help either. You know what, he probably would spend three hours of whatever would be left of the night once they got back to the mansion dry sobbing into his pillow, contemplating his mistakes.

TO BE CONTINUED

Authors note: Yes Kaiba and Jonouchi are married in this chapter, and this is approximately seven years after the events of The Dark Side of Dimensions. And no, Kaiba and Jonouchi, even though they are hitched to each other, they are by no means in love with each other at this point. Jonouchi hates him, and Kaiba is neutral towards him. It’s grudging respect at best.