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stepswowdsen · 4 months ago

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【YGO DM】 Kaiba Seto 🍄🐉💙

Kaiba Seto 🍄🐉💙

My first time drawing the maniac gay man 🥰🌈🏳️‍🌈

Doodled this really quickly

I tried drawing Kaiba for the first time in my life 👍

My fave YGO DM chara~ Gay autistic meow meow mf man 💞

Kaiba is so Sen-core~

(No one is surprised)

I've been experimenting with drawing his eyes!

First two have influences from YGO's art style, 3rd is a mix of both my usual style and influenced from YGO's art style, and the last one is closer to how I usually draw.

Not gonna tag this cuz I plan on drawing the rest later

KaiYami (Kaiba/Yami) has been my fave YGO ship ever since I was a kid. I have such a huge soft spot for YGO DM…

I'm also into the YGO spin-off series, YGO GX and YGO 5Ds. I grew up with those three during my childhood.

Admittedly, YGO designs are really hard for me to draw cuz YGO designs are always so detailed and complex and sharp and angular and really geometric, too… And I'm not really used to drawing those kinds of designs. I'll be practicing more in the future!

I've seen many artists who draw YGO charas in their art style soften the shapes, so I'm still experimenting and trying to decide how I want to draw YGO charas.

I took some influences from the YGO art style and drew with sharper shapes and a sharper brush than I normally would, cuz it felt more fitting. I'm not as used to this brush yet.

I saw YGO EA KaiYami/AteKai artists represent them with the star and mushroom emojis cuz of their hair… I'm gonna cry LMFAOOO 😭😂

Starfish and mushroom? ⭐🍄

YGO: DSOD

(YGO DM & DSOD: Spoilers)

My friend Cinna has been reading YGO DM lately for the first time, and I got reminded of my obsession for these two. I really want to reread the YGO DM manga and rewatch YGO: DSOD for THEM…

YGO: DSOD (Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dark Side of Dimensions) is a movie that takes place after the end of the YGO DM manga (after Atem passes onto the afterlife).

Kaiba's inability to move on from the lack of closure, and his gay brooding, yearning, and obsession…

It was co-written by Kazuki Takahashi, the YGO mangaka, so this movie is canon. Bless his heart. I hope he rests in peace 🙏

2 hours of Kaiba's gay yearning, baby!!!

YGO: DSOD has really pretty colours…

(These are old screenshots so some of the ones I've saved are super saturated or in low res. I need to rewatch the movie to take new screenshots)

Me: Kaiba has issues but that makes the ship sexy. Next.

The mental illness is what makes him [Kaiba] interesting.

C: Yeah like Kaiba is just dysfunctional AKA average late 90s/2000s anime rival

Me: LITERALLY I swear like almost Rivals/Enemies to Lovers ship goes like this Kaiba is just. More obsessed than most This is on like Douman (FGO) levels tbh

C: Kaiba is a prime example of "So obsessed with someone they want to fight that it's gay"

C: Enzan (MMBN/EXE), Kaiba (YGO DM), Hibari (KHR), etc.

C: If you think about the rivals from that era, from 90s and 2000s animanga, they're all either unintentionally autistic vibed, or generally horribly dysfunctional socially.

C: Ren (SK) is pretty much the typical Rival Chara Type B (Aggressive and rash), as opposed to Rival Type A (Calm and collected), but like, genuinely well written and complex enough to work

Makes me sad Ren is still robbed of SO MUCH writing potential tho cuz of frigging SK's writing tho

Me: YEAH EXACTLY

LMAO

Me: Like the Rival Type A that is very cold, aloof, stoic, cool, calm and collected… Kaiba, Enzan, Hibari

C: DKFKSKDLSKDKSK I WAS SO RIGHT FOR THIS

Me: Hibari (KHR) is not explicitly a rival figure since he's a deuteragonist (protag's side ally) in KHR but he does conveniently slot into the "rival figure" role

Kaiba is rival type A, the very cold, aloof, stoic, cool, calm and collected type…

...

Source: (X)

Kaiba/Yami line in Duel Links (YGO mobile game) 🌈

I know Kaiba/Yami's ship name is Prideshipping in YGO's EN fandom, and it fits them so well because of their pride as Duelists, and coincidentally Gay Pride, but that ship name is so long, I don't want to have to type that everytime. KaiYami it is! Kaiba/Yami also has a good ring to it.

KaiYami/KaiAte and YamiKai/AteKai are what EA ship fans use for them.

I was, and am still insane about this ship, like there's SO much.

Kaiba is OBSESSED with Yami Yuugi (Atem)

THE DUEL LINKS LINES MAKE ME BLOW UP /POS

C: Homosexual. Why is he so gay.

They need to kiss so bad

C: Kaiba is a prime example of "So obsessed with someone they want to fight/defeat that it's gay"

Me: YEAH LMFAO

Not surprising but I find it wild how the dudebros try to insist that Kaiba is straight.

There's not a single heterosexual cell in this man's body. It's so funny.

YGO is so unintentionally gay. YGO is gayer than most shounen???

Cuz just in general, the shounen genre is infamous for unintentional homoeroticism. The shounen staple where an author/series is so homophobic and misogynistic/sexist that it actually cycles back around to being gay/homoerotic

KaiYami is a subtext based ship but the subtext with them is so good. YGO DM feeds us SO MUCH

...

Me: I should reread the YGO: DM manga and rewatch YGO: DSOD. This movie is so fucking pretty man. 2 hours of Kaiba's gay yearning!

Also I find it so funny how YGO: DSOD made Kaiba muscular. Like he was a twink in the OG YGO DM manga

S: WTF HE LOOKS SO PRETTY IN THE MOVIE

C: Two hours of gay fucking yearning Buffed up!

Me: YEA THE COLOURS ARE FRICKING GORGEOUS God I'm so glad the YGO: DSOD movie keeps YGO's sharp black lineart and saturated colours. It's honestly defining to the YGO art style

Cuz so many anime reboots nowadays have flat and bland ass colours unless they're super high end productions (ie. Fate anime productions, etc.)

C: Agghh yeah

...

S: “I hope the reboot of your favorite anime softens up the characters appearance with a new style and makes the colors look washed out“ is terrifying and it’s already happened

Me: My gay sons in their gorgeous glory thank god the colours in this movie are phenomenal

C: Why is Atem yellow though

Me: I think it's just cuz these edited screenshots have super high saturation/contrast 😭 Couldn't find clearer ones

...

S: The blue glow on his arm is making me blow up and act like I don’t know nobody

Me: OH yeah it's from DSOD Kaiba's Duel Disk that holds his deck

F: (CW: NSFW joke)

Kaiba has such a revenge/hate boner for Yami-- Wait no I mean a regular boner

Me: LMFAO. Both lmfao

F: FR THO

S: LOL

C: Canon

F: Btw I never watched that movie, now I GOTTAAAAA …..Oh man and now I wanna draw Yami Yuugi ;;

...

(YGO DM: Summary)

Me: Just gonna put this summary for my non-YGO mutuals and those who haven't seen YGO: DSOD so they can follow along with the rambles if they're curious

Also it's been a long time since I read YGO DM and watched YGO: DSOD so I'm mostly going off memory

3000 years ago, Atem was sealed away in the Millenium Puzzle and lost his memories and name. Mutou Yuugi solved the Millenium Puzzle, causing the spirit of an ancient Pharaoh, Yami Yuugi (true name: Atem), to take over his body to protect Yuugi and his friends. Eventually, others learn of Atem's existence.

Kaiba is the arch-rival of Yami Yuugi (Atem) who is hate obsessed with him after losing to him because he wants to get revenge and defeat him, thinking of him as his nemesis and rival.

(YGO DSOD: Summary)

YGO: DSOD takes place after the end of the YGO DM manga where Yami Yuugi (Atem) passed onto the afterlife. Kaiba, who was unable to find closure, and in his own way of mourning, was looking for 6 months to find a way to meet Atem again.

Kaiba Corporation (KC) develops Duel Links, a virtual reality system that links the consciousness of people around the world to play Duel Monsters.

At the start of the DSOD movie (or at least near the beginning), Kaiba recreates a perfect holographic reconstruction of Atem, down to Atem's deck, voice, appearance, and personality, but isn't satisfied because it's not the real Atem and lacks Atem's soul.

Kaiba has a whole ass space station developed, orders the Millennium Puzzle to be dug up from the excavation site it was buried in, and secures it in his space station for it to be reassembled with the highest quality tech, in the fastest time possible, heavily guarded (like encased in glass and surrounded by lasers and shit), in a safe place only he can access, to try and reach Atem in the afterlife.

F: OMG HFJFJD YEAHHH that's gay af

YGO DM: The infamous episode preview card

(YGO DM: SPOILERS)

Me: Y'ALL ARE NOT PREPARED FOR THIS VIDEO

THE MUSIC AND INFAMOUS EPISODE PREVIEW K*LLS ME LMFAO

(This one's read by Yami Yuugi)

S: I need that one video of a Yu-Gi-Oh character telling someone to not die and the title card pops in right after saying "[Character name] dies!"

Me: THAT SOUNDS LIKE JONOUCHI/JOEY FROM YU-GI-OH DUEL MONSTERS (YGO DM) WHDHHSHSHSD

S: YEAH HIM LMFAOOOOO

Me: HELP I FOUND IT

I'm downloading this video

I didn't edit a single thing, guys, this is exactly what happens 😭😂

This will always be the fucking funniest thing in YGO DM, LMFAO

S: HELPPPPPPP

This is exactly what I needed

C: JONOUCHI DIES 😭

...

youtube

Me: This scene became so popular that the infamous episode preview scene lines were read out by Kaiba and Marik's VAs at live events.

Anzu's, Kaiba's, and Marik's in order

Kaiba's VA, Kenjirou Tsuda, reads out the "Please don't die, Jonouchi! Next episode: Jonouchi dies!"

Kenjirou Tsuda is also the VA of TYL Lambo (KHR), Sigurd (FGO), Dainsleif (Genshin)

Jonouchi's VA: THIS GUY [KAIBA] ACTUALLY WANTS ME TO DIE

S: ANISBSIBSISBISBA

Me: Kenjirou Tsuda's deep voice is so good man

I LOVE YOU KAIBA AKLDSKLDSKLSDKL

Gay autistic son!

C: LMAOOO

Amazing

I love how the "Duel- standby!" is read out 😭

By Kaiba

God

C: You are valid

#Not gonna tag this one cuz my doodles are still a huge WIP #I'm still experimenting with how to draw him...#sen's rambles

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team5ds · 4 years ago

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... so it goes (5)

and here it is! the FINAL part of so it goes. as i noted, the unbeta’ed version can be found on my patreon, where it was posted ahead of this version being posted. below, you can find a hard t rated version of the final chapter. thank you SO MUCH to @millenniumpuzzle for beta’ing this.

the complete m rated version can be found on ao3 by clicking here.

if you enjoy my work and don’t feel like you can commit to monthly support, you can also give me a one time support payment through ko-fi.

Seto supposed he should be insulted, but he really wasn’t. He knew the game Atem had been playing when Atem decided to make the bold move to send a gift of lacey black lingerie right to Seto’s office. And well, two could absolutely play at that game. He picked up his phone and texted Atem to let Atem know he’d received his “gift,” and that he would be more than happy to wear it to dinner tonight under his suit, if that’s what Atem would like. Atem almost immediately texted back that he absolutely would like that, followed up with a text that he would actually prefer Seto put it on now and send a photo. Seto flushed furiously at the text and eventually landed on texting back that he was at work and he would see Atem later tonight.

This was the thing with sort of dating Atem that Seto had noticed over the past four months. Atem was never one to hide exactly what he wanted, and for the most part, Seto liked that. Except it could definitely be very distracting at work. He’d shoved the lingerie set into his drawer, trying to set it aside from his mind as he went back to work. But then he started thinking about how he really wanted to find out if Atem would actually like it, or if it was one of those fantasies Atem would decide is better in his head. And wouldn’t it suck if he got to the end of the night and Atem wound up deciding the fantasy was better than reality? Wouldn’t it be better if he knew before they got to the date night part? And once again, he realized these were the exact questions Atem knew Seto would start immediately overthinking. Because that was what Seto did: he overthought everything.

Even now, he was overthinking both their relationship status—they had yet to make things official, despite doing almost everything that he assumed boyfriends do—and if he should just send Atem the naughty photos he was clearly after. Thankfully, a text from Anzu interrupted his thought process. She’d attached a photo of the set of her play, along with a message that everything was ready for next week. Anzu was clearly excited that opening night was only days away, and Seto already had a flight from Japan to New York booked for tomorrow. Atem had pestered Seto into flying with him and Atem seemed staunchly against taking a private jet. While he was willing to fly commercial because Atem wanted it for whatever reason, he was absolutely not taking anything less than first class.

So maybe he was fixated on many things right now. An improvement from almost a year ago when he would only fixate on one thing at a time. He texted back Anzu that he and Atem were going to be in New York in two days’ time. Anzu, thankfully, had the sense to not mock Seto for that. Instead, she texted back that she couldn’t wait to see the both of them. This left Seto with time to think and eventually, he reopened the drawer. He couldn’t focus on work anymore anyway.

Dinner would have been a lot more casual if Seto could stop thinking about the nature of what Atem had asked of him. Atem liked to draw things out and take his time. This sometimes was frustrating for Seto, who wanted to ditch their reservations and just head home. He hated when Atem decided to toy with him like this, especially when Atem knew that public displays of affection were not Seto’s thing. This meant that Atem could simply tease and never actually touch him. He thought that barring Atem from putting his hands on him in public meant he was safe from this, but no. Somehow, Atem learned all the buttons he could press without ever laying a finger on Seto. Atem knew how to make Seto almost break into allowing public displays of affection. Seto figured that even if he wound up caving, Atem probably wouldn’t go along with it. For the most part, Atem tended to make sure that the lines stayed enforced. For that, Seto was somewhat grateful because he certainly did tend to lose his mind just a little bit around Atem.

Atem, by this point, was well aware of his effect on Seto too. Seto didn’t need to openly admit to the fact that he was in love with Atem for Atem to know. This was a new development, spurred on by Atem’s own confession. Despite this, Atem never seemed to really pressure Seto into saying it back. No, the only one applying pressure on himself was...himself. He had to face the truth there: he felt guilty that he had reacted so poorly to Atem’s confession. Atem had borne his soul and Seto reacted so stupidly that Seto’s cheeks burned bright red whenever he thought about it. He often said that he felt like he had to make something up to Atem, and Atem would consistently say that wasn’t true. Even tonight, as Seto said he owed Atem, Atem insisted that Seto owed him nothing.

This was a common argument at this point. Seto would insist that he owed Atem for being so ridiculous, and Atem would insist that Seto was allowed his feelings. That was infuriating, really. Atem was being considerate to the point where Seto almost felt insulted by it. He’d longed since learned that him feeling insulted did not mean Atem’s intentions were to insult, however. He’d gotten better at not blaming Atem for his emotions. His emotions were his and his problem alone. He had decided to stop unloading those emotions onto Atem for no reason. He had to.

Just like he wouldn’t blame Atem for his own stupid reactions to Atem’s words. Just because Atem would lean over to whisper that he really liked the photos did not mean that it was Atem’s fault that Seto’s pulse quickened. It wasn’t Atem’s fault that he was just so damn weak for him. He could certainly, however, blame Atem for taking his time with getting done with the meal. Atem had smirked midway through dinner when Seto asked if they could leave already, and told him to be patient. It almost felt like he was being scolded, and Seto was ashamed to admit he was into that. Bossy Atem was honestly the best version of Atem in Seto’s opinion.

It felt like it had taken forever before they wound up in the car together on the way back to Seto’s home. At this point, it was very clear that Atem had done a number on Seto...but honestly...who was counting? Who was keeping score? Seto was certain that even if he had been keeping score, he’d be losing. After all, Atem had quickly removed Seto’s shirt to reveal the black lace underneath and a smirk had appeared on his face. He’d whispered in Seto’s ear that he was so good to him before pressing kisses to his neck. Titling his head up for Atem to kiss his neck, Seto briefly allowed him to marvel in this moment of vulnerability. The neck was delicate, fragile, and a strong blow to it could kill him dead. Presenting himself openly to Atem was second nature at this point. But now he was fixated on just how open to Atem he was. He was trusting Atem with the most delicate parts of himself and trusting that Atem would bring pleasure rather than pain. That, in itself, made it even easier to surrender.

It felt like an elaborate game of cat and mouse at times. All Seto knew is that Atem absolutely had his number. Atem didn’t need to hear those words, did he? Atem didn’t need much, really. Seto wasn’t sure how to express his emotions but he knew what he felt in his heart. He knew that once they got to the house, Atem was going to pull him up the stairs to his room. And from there, he knew that Atem would have him cornered.

From there, they would fall asleep in the same bed and then they’d wake up the next day. Atem had wound up having some clothes at Seto’s place, and Seto would try to not think too hard about that implication. It was no worse than the fact that he had clothes at Atem’s place. Really, at this point, Seto wasn’t sure which place constituted “home” for him. Both this house and Atem’s house were his place. Either way, they’d both pack their suitcases and make their way to the car that would take them to the Tokyo airport and once again, Seto would attempt to point out that if they simply took his private jet, they could leave from Domino. Atem would argue back that this route is more environmentally conscious, shutting down Seto’s insistence of flying private. And if Seto didn’t care about Atem, he absolutely would’ve called his pilot to get him out of this airport when he dealt with the masses. It felt like entirely too long before they were up in the air.

Up in the air, Seto tried to calm himself as he realized that he was reaching a point of now or never. If he did not open his mouth and told Atem how he felt now, he never would. In a way, being far away from the ground helped. He could distance himself from reality up in the clouds. He wished yet again that Atem had let them fly private. It made him feel all sorts of wrong to allow people that he did not know to see such a private and vulnerable moment. The main reason he had allowed Atem to insist on commercial was specifically because Atem made an argument that it was wasteful to fly private. It was hard to argue when he pulled out a ‘the environment would thank us’ argument, really. What could he say to that? ‘Fuck the environment’? No, Atem won that argument before it even started and now Seto was trying to confront that he wanted so bad to tell Atem that he loved him with no room for cover.

Eventually, one by one, everyone else in the first-class cabin went to sleep on this long flight. Seto had downed a drink in an attempt to soothe his nerves. Finally, when he could take it no more, he nudged Atem for his attention. Once again, he found Atem’s cool gray eyes on him with an intense stare. For once, Atem was make-up-less, and even worse was that it was not the make-up that was the cause of Atem’s beauty. No, Seto had the unfortunate discovery that the make-up was there to enhance his natural features. Atem naturally had long, thick eyelashes and pouty lips. Atem naturally had high cheekbones and a sharp jawline. It just wasn’t fair that someone be this beautiful. He had to speak before he lost his nerve. “I love you,” Seto managed to stumble out, clumsily. “I...I just thought you should know that.”

The words hung in the air for longer than Seto would like but he, at least, had the assurance that Atem felt the same way. It was still relaxing when Atem broke out into a smile and moved to lightly press his lips to Seto’s as his hand gently cradled Seto’s jaw. “I know,” Atem said with a light smirk and for once, Seto couldn’t bring himself to be angry at that response. Of course Atem knew. “Still...nice to hear that the man I love actually loves me back.”

Seto’s heart fluttered in his chest. Everyone here was asleep, that much was true, but Seto still had the flight attendants in mind. So he pulled back, a flush across his cheeks. “Later,” Seto promised and Atem understood. Seto never realized just how long the flight from Japan to America was. Never realized that there were layovers involved. Never realized how achingly long a journey could be when you were ready to be at the destination. He just wanted to be alone in his hotel room with Atem now. The one thing that kept him together was that Atem would consistently hold his hand, occasionally squeezing it. It was like a spark was sent through him every single time.

Atem knew the best way to keep Seto sane was to stay close. Seto had never realized just how soothing Atem’s presence was. Atem just had this natural gravitas to him that just kept pulling him in. Occasionally, Seto would find the nerve to sneak a kiss and each time, Atem smiled against Seto’s lips. That was the part Seto liked the best. Atem had such a nice smile and the fact that he was the cause of it... He still could barely find the words to explain his emotions. So many of the words he chose just sounded a little childish, a little too plain to fully encapsulate how he really felt. ‘Happy’ just didn’t sit right on him. It felt more than selfish to be happy when he had so many reasons to rail against the idea of it.

His mind was completely shot at the end of a long flight and all he wanted was to be in Atem’s arms. All he wanted was, specifically, to be alone with Atem. He’d forgotten that New York City traffic was a burden and that it would take time before they got to their hotel. Atem had decided to take the time during traffic to sleep some more, and Seto admired how Atem looked when he slept. Atem was usually so fierce that seeing Atem seem a little less burdened was nice. He simply was, with nothing that could possibly burden him. Seto had long wondered how Atem seemed so carefree and found out that there were pressures in Atem’s life. It’s just that unlike Seto, Atem was more than capable of faking it.

Atem was capable of holding himself together in a way that Seto could never hope to replicate. Seto constantly thought about all the ways that Atem seemed more capable than him. He was even the first to be willing to open himself up to the possibility of heartbreak, while Seto railed against it. Seto had pushed and pushed Atem away in hopes of keeping his heart safe. He’d believed there had been no reason to think Atem would ever love him back. He allowed himself to be content with stolen moments. And yet...Atem had made it very clear that it was Seto that he wanted. It was Seto that had Atem’s heart. That, in itself, was thrilling. All the burdens that they both had felt halved to Seto. He could only hope that he comforted Atem the same way Atem comforted him.

The hotel was the same as any other hotel, really. Just another room with plain white walls that tried to be grandiose. It didn’t matter. The way the room looked never mattered as long as Atem was with him. “So does tomorrow count as an official date,” Atem asked, half-awake and getting dressed into his pajamas.

Seto had never considered that this was another perk to things finally being settled between them. They loved each other and now...it was simple. Being alone with Atem was no longer a game of questioning everything Atem did and questioning if he had gone too far in his honesty. Rather, they could just be and that included knowing that Atem was probably simply just jetlagged and wanting to sleep, the same as Seto. It didn’t feel like a rejection anymore when he knew Atem would be there in the morning. “A date?”

“Yeah,” Atem said with a light, soft grin that was bordering on teasing. “A date. You know, the thing couples do.”

“Oh,” Seto said before thinking this over. A date had been the last thing Seto thought he would ever want from Atem, but now? Now it sounded just lovely. “Do we have to tell your friends that’s what’s going on?”

Atem laughed. “Pretty sure they’re your friends too now,” Atem joked as he moved to give Seto a soft kiss on the cheek. Seto flushed at this unexpected display of affection. “Sorry to say that dating me comes with the perk of having friends. Or in your case, the downside of having friends.”

Seto rolled his eyes, the desire to be contradictory overcoming the surge of affection he felt at those words and the mere concept of Atem’s friends being his as well. “You and your insistence on having friends.”

Atem had the damn audacity to laugh at this as well, as if Seto was making jokes. Of course, no matter what Seto insisted, Atem and his friends would continue to force their care on him. Then again...wasn’t that part of the appeal of dating Atem? That no matter what, he’d be...cared for. He didn’t know how to react to that. “Please, it won’t be so bad,” Atem said as he moved over to wrap his arms around Seto’s waist, pulling him towards the bed with a light laugh. “Didn’t you ever go on group dates in high school? You know, the group dates your parents make you go on, ‘cause they’re worried you’ll ruin your life or something by dating.”

Seto stiffened. That’s right: he never told Atem about his family. “Er, no,” Seto said, awkwardly. “My birth parents died when I was young, and my adoptive father died when I was 15. And…I didn’t really date in high school, either.”

“Oh,” Atem said awkwardly, loosening his grip on Seto. “I...I didn’t know.”

“I don’t make it a point to tell total strangers what happened,” Seto said, matter of fact. “But I thought everyone was aware of what happened to my adoptive father.”

“Truth be told, I never really looked into your family business,” Atem said with a shrug. “Yugi never mentioned what happened to the previous owner of Kaiba Corp, so I assumed it wasn’t important.”

“It’s not,” Seto said shortly, not wanting to go into why it wasn’t a tragedy his adoptive father died, but wanting to make it very clear that his adoptive father was not someone to mourn. “Er... It kind of ties back to why I don’t celebrate my birthday, actually.”

Atem seemed surprised by this and moved to actually sit on the bed, looking up at Seto as his hands moved to grip Seto’s hips. “Are you going to tell me the story of why you don’t celebrate your birthday,” he asked softly, “or would you rather not talk about it?”

Seto knew what Atem was doing here: he was offering him an out. Atem always offered Seto an out when things got just a little too heavy. He seemed to understand that Seto barely liked talking about his feelings, and seemed aware that it was hard for Seto to do. Still... “No, er... The things is, my adoptive father killed himself,” Seto said awkwardly. “The reason I had my birthday scrubbed is because...well, it falls on the same day he died, and the same day I took control of Kaiba Corp.”

If Atem was surprised by this, his expression betrayed nothing. Then again, Seto still had a difficult time reading Atem at times. “That’s...a hell of a day,” Atem said slowly and carefully, as if he was choosing his words as he said them. “Do you miss your adoptive father at all? Or...is it good he died?”

“I... I don’t know,” Seto admitted, realizing now his feelings on the matter were much more complicated than previously thought. He thought he understood his own emotions, but now he was starting to understand that things were not as simple as he wanted them to be. He hated that his emotions had gone from “easy to pin down” to complicated and vast. He’d blame Atem except...he was fairly certain this had been the case for far longer than he wanted to admit. “I mean, he was an awful piece of shit, but...”

Atem cut him off with a look of concern in his silver eyes that made Seto feel slightly uncomfortable. “What do you mean when you say ‘awful’?”

Seto couldn’t help but be pulled in by Atem’s intense gaze again. He felt rather dizzy and suddenly just a little too vulnerable. “Er... I’d rather not talk about it,” Seto said, realizing that went too deep for right now. Not only that, he’d revealed to Atem more pieces of himself than he’d ever told anyone else. That was enough for tonight. “Uh, how about we go back to talking about...tomorrow being a date. I’d rather focus on that.”

“We can focus on whatever you’d like,” Atem said as he pulled Seto towards him with a light frown on his face. As much as Seto was sure Atem wanted to press and know more, he also knew when to pull off from a topic. Every time Seto had said he was uncomfortable so far, Atem respected it and willingly went along with each awkward topic change. Seto was grateful for that. “Yugi and Jonouchi will probably be there, so it’d be a group date thing in addition to Anzu and Kisara... Probably Yugi’s cousin Mai and my cousin Isis, who are also a thing... Entirely likely Malik will show up with his boyfriend who I’ve never actually met too but... we can always have a proper solo date the next night.”

This alarmed Seto. “Sorry, did you just say your family is going to show up?”

“Just the cousins,” Atem said with a light shrug. “Isis and Malik are friends with Anzu as well. In fact, I suspect Malik likes Anzu more than he likes me.”

“Oh,” Seto said, not sure if that warranted the same level of panic as being introduced to Atem’s parents. Did people usually feel fear about being introduced to their significant other’s parents? He would assume they did. Then again, not every single parent was some high-ranking political official in a country that explicitly outlawed homosexuality. “I’m...assuming meeting your parents is off the table?”

Atem frowned at this. “Not...exactly,” Atem said with a sigh before laying back on the bed. “Uh, the reason my parents sent me to live outside of Egypt was...because they accepted me. But they knew that I wouldn’t be accepted by the rest of the country.” He paused thoughtfully, seemingly staring up at the ceiling. “It’s better than how Malik and Isis’s parents reacted, I guess. Their father nearly tried to kill Malik. If my father hadn’t intervened...” He trailed off, shuddering. “It wasn’t a very nice family dinner, let’s just leave it at that.”

Normally Atem was quick to share intimate details of himself. For him to not share this, Seto assumed it had to have been bad. Whatever happened, it wasn’t up for discussion. And Seto had to imagine Malik wouldn’t want to talk about it either. As much as Seto hated not knowing things, he knew when to not push. “Alright,” he said as he moved to lay down next to Atem, staring up at the popcorn ceiling. “I won’t push. But...you mean to say...your parents wouldn’t object to meeting me?”

“No,” Atem said, turning over to give Seto a soft smile. “I imagine they’d think I did pretty well for myself, landing a CEO of all things.”

Seto couldn’t fathom the idea of having such a relationship. Atem was bringing with him a family that Seto never had. For the longest time, he had to play the role of parent to Mokuba. The concept of a set of parents was impossible for Seto to wrap his mind around. He thought the perks of Atem ended with friendships, but it seemed now that extended out into family. “And tomorrow I’m meeting...two members of your family. Your cousins.”

“Don’t worry too hard about it,” Atem said quickly. “They’re very nice and I’m sure they’ll like you. They both play Duel Monsters too, you know...just...not competitively. Malik can tell you all about the inaccuracies in Duel Monsters regarding the ancient Egyptian version of the game it’s based on.”

“Duel Monsters is based on a game from ancient Egypt,” Seto asked, surprised. “I thought Pegasus just made it all up.”

Atem laughed, shaking his head. “Nah, it’s based on some drawings found in some dead Pharaoh’s tomb,” Atem said as Seto tried to wrap his mind around how this never came up. He would think Atem would be quick to mention how the game they played was based on something from his own culture. If Seto knew Duel Monsters was based on something from Japan, he’d never shut up about it. “Malik has an interest in ancient Egypt and so he knows a bit about the theories of how the original Duel Monsters might’ve been played. The version in the Pharaoh’s tomb is very different from the modern game. It seems the Pharaoh didn’t know how to use spell or trap cards.”

“If that’s the case, I bet I could totally trounce that ancient Pharaoh at his own game,” Seto said with a smirk.

“Shame you have to find a shitty player to find someone to beat,” Atem said, a smirk playing on his face. “Since you can’t beat me.”

“Well, you are the only person I consider worthy of being a rival,” Seto said, more matter of fact than he intended. “In fact... I think the fact you can kick my ass might be the single hottest thing about you.”

“I would’ve thought my abs were the single hottest thing about me,” Atem said, a mock wounded look playing on his face as he moved to pin Seto to the bed. “Are you telling me I’m not completely sexy?”

As Seto was about to comment that of course everything about Atem was attractive, he found himself unable to speak as Atem captured his lips in an intense kiss. Seto gasped as Atem’s mouth found his neck and well, from there, Atem had managed to completely distract Seto from the original point of the conversation. Then again... Seto couldn’t quite figure out what the point of the conversation was to begin with, so he supposed it didn’t matter in the end.

Atem actually cleaned up very well. It seemed he was aware that he couldn’t dress as he normally would for the theater and instead had opted for a silver jacket with a white button-down shirt underneath and dark purple slacks. The silver jacket seemed to match Atem’s eyes perfectly. Once again, Seto had to wonder what Atem was doing with him when he could be with just about anyone he wanted. It was strange knowing that this was how Atem was dressing specifically to go on a date with him. He felt a little bit giddy at the prospect. It was something to distract from meeting two members of Atem’s family. Atem had already met Mokuba, so Seto figured that it was only fair at this point. Still, he was nervous about all the ways this could go wrong. He didn’t understand how Atem could be so relaxed. “What if they don’t like me?”

“Well, I wouldn’t take it personally,” Atem said, musing over this. “Malik doesn’t like a lot of people.”

Seto rolled his eyes. Of course Atem would still be making jokes at a time like this. Couldn’t he see that he was nervous about meeting his cousins? “I see you know what I mean, then.”

In response, Atem simply rubbed Seto’s shoulders and grinned at Seto. Seto was absolutely obsessed with that grin of his, actually. “Okay, seriously then. Isis is fairly chill and easy to get along with,” he said as he pressed a soft, soothing kiss to Seto’s temple. “And well, Malik’s got a little bit of trauma going on. It takes him a while to trust people and takes him even longer to like someone. You just have to take your time with him. Sorta like you, actually.”

“In that case, I suppose I shouldn’t bring up that I know about his trauma then, correct?”

“How would it even come up,” Atem asked, looking a little bewildered and as if he was struggling to understand something. “Were you planning on starting the conversation with, ‘Hi, my adoptive father was a piece of shit and I heard your father was too, let’s be friends’?”

Seto didn’t want to admit that had been exactly how he planned on bonding with Malik after seeing how judgmental Atem was towards the idea. “Well, probably not exactly like that,” Seto said with a frown, trying to figure out exactly what was wrong with the suggestion. Atem was always badgering him about opening up to people, after all. “Aren’t you the one who’s always telling me I shouldn’t be so buttoned up all the time, though?”

Atem looked absolutely stunned. “You wouldn’t even tell me your own birthday for months,” he exclaimed. “You’re telling me that your first thought on how best to approach my cousin, who was nearly the victim of a hate crime in front of the entire family, was to tell him, ‘Hey, that’s rough bro, my dad sucked too’? What happened to keeping everything to yourself?”

“I mean, some things are just personal,” Seto said with a shrug, not sure what Atem’s problem was.

Atem sighed, shaking his head. “But you might talk about your daddy issues with a stranger.”

Seto paused. “Well, if you phrase it that way, it does sound inconsistent,” he said, conceding to Atem’s point with a frown. “It’s just... It’s different, okay?”

“Then explain it to me.”

Once again, Atem had his number. Seto had no explanation that would work in this situation. “Fine, you may have a point,” Seto said. “I’m sorry I took forever to tell you my birthday.”

This concession seemed to satisfy Atem, and the rest of the ride to the theatre was rather uneventful. Seto never thought that he’d be in a position where he could just be with someone. They just were and that was rather nice. At the theater, the first person they ran into was Anzu. This made sense, considering the fact that Anzu was the director of the show and had to be there earlier than everyone else. Not only that, but they were rather early themselves. They had overcompensated for traffic in New York and wound up at the theater forty-five minutes early. Anzu seemed frustrated over something. “Seto, Atem,” she said, sounding slightly out of breath too. “Glad you guys could make it! Do you guys wanna meet the playwright?”

Atem answered for Seto with a casual affirmation. Anzu then introduced them to a rather thin, pale woman with white hair and bright blue eyes and a rather off-putting aura to her. Seto felt the need to tense up, as if she could somehow hurt him. Something about this playwright just radiated quiet strength. He felt if she wanted to, she could easily snap both him and Atem in half. “Hello,” she said, her voice a lot softer and higher pitched than Seto would expect. “I am Kisara Maccini. It is nice to meet you. Anzu has told me much about you both.”

If Seto was asked to describe the person he believed to have written the play that Anzu had shared with him all those months ago, Kisara would not have been it. It had taken him some time to process that she was also tall, almost as tall as he is. If he had to guess, he would think she was 6’, perhaps even 6’1”. She vaguely reminded him of a dragon, but he could not pin down how. She was staring him down and Seto felt like he should run. This is not the person he would imagine writing romantic comedies. He would think she was Anzu’s bodyguard if he had not been told otherwise. He didn’t understand how Atem, who was so much shorter than him, could still be so relaxed and at ease. “Nice to meet you,” Atem said with a grin. “I’m assuming you’re the girlfriend Anzu’s been hyping up?”

“Is that the reason you wanted to make this play so bad,” Seto asked, surprised to realize that Anzu might have had an ulterior motive beyond embarrassing him.

Anzu looked a little embarrassed. “Well, no, it’s because she’s a good writer but... I guess I did suppose that I could pull some connections so everyone can see what an amazing talent she is,” she said, rubbing the back of her neck and looking just a little bit sheepish. “I mean, you know I wouldn’t have brought it to you if I didn’t like it, Seto.”

Did he? “Thank you,” Kisara said, still so much quieter than Seto would expect. Not only that, but she also seemed to not say more than she needed. “Anzu encouraged me for most of it. I would not have been able to write it without her.”

“Oh, I just encouraged you,” she said, bouncing on her heels. “You’re totally creative. You would’ve gotten it without me.”

Kisara smiled softly as she moved to lightly take Anzu’s hand in hers. It was amazing how the move was both possessive and protective. “I could not have written this without my muse,” Kisara stated, rather plainly and openly. “Truly, it is an honor that my work is in your capable hands, Anzu.”

Anzu seemed a little flustered as she leaned into Kisara with a soft smile across her face, seeming to relax just a little more. Once again, Seto didn’t understand how Anzu and Atem could be so relaxed around Kisara. Seto was certain that she could kill him in one swoop if she wanted to. To his great surprise, Atem mirrored the move and took his hand into his. It felt like lightning was buzzing up along his arm. “I’m sure it’ll be great,” Atem said with a grin. “I’ve been looking forward to seeing it these past six months.”

Atem squeezed his hand and Seto felt dizzy. It seemed like now Atem was bold ever since Seto had started opening up to him. Atem held little regard for the idea that he should hide anything. Seto couldn’t imagine risking his life for anything and yet from what little Seto knew of Atem’s family, Atem had been willing to risk his life on multiple occasions to be open and free. He didn’t understand how Atem even existed at this point. It was like there was a buzzing noise in his ears. He barely noticed the conversation and instead was fixated on how casual and open Atem was with claiming him. It seemed to mirror how Kisara was equally bold and brave in her claim of Anzu.

He was fixated on how Atem never pulled his hand away first. He’d never noticed that before. It was always him who pulled away first and he wondered if that bothered Atem. He wondered a lot of the time if something he did was bothering Atem. He just couldn’t stop thinking about it.

The first of Atem’s cousins joined them and he had to assume this was Isis Ishtar. She was also tall and Seto wondered how Atem could be related to so many tall people and still be so short himself. A tall blonde woman was standing next to her with sharp eyes and a smirk on her face. “Er, I’m assuming you’re Isis, Atem’s cousin,” Seto said to the tall, dark skinned woman. “I don’t know who you are, however.”

The blonde woman laughed. “Surprised Atem didn’t mention me at all,” she said as she stuck her hand out to Seto and it took a minute for Seto to process that she expected him to shake her hand. Awkwardly, he lightly took her hand and he discovered she had a mean grip on her. Suddenly, Seto realized he did recognize this woman before she ever introduced herself. “I’m Mai, Yugi’s cousin.”

Mai Kujaku, Seto realized. She was a fairly talented duelist and a fairly well-known model. The last time Seto had seen this woman, she was advertising a high-end luxury fashion brand. He thought that she had a boyfriend, however. He supposed that it must’ve been a funny rumor. Surprisingly, he realized that Isis Ishtar was familiar too in the same way that Mai was and for her, Seto had been under the impression she was single. He supposed it made sense. They both had rather symmetrical faces and rather sharp jawlines. Still, he couldn’t see how he was supposed to be impressed with them for having scientifically beautiful faces. “Not what I think most people would recognize you for,” Seto remarked before he could stop himself. For the most part it was fairly taboo to mention the types of careers all of them had at this point. “I saw one of your adverts last time I went to buy a belt.”

Isis’s eyes narrowed at Seto and he felt like she was judging him. He tried to remind himself that Atem had said that Isis wasn’t mean. Clearly, he was simply being paranoid. “I wouldn’t think a CEO such as yourself would do his own shopping,” she remarked, and to his surprise, she had defaulted to English. Even worse: her English was perfect compared to his. She spoke it rather quickly. It took him a few moments to properly translate in his head what she was saying. “I personally prefer to let someone else handle that.”

Atem then said something to Isis in what sounded like Swiss German, though Seto could not be sure. He was starting to wish he never admitted to Atem that he didn’t know how speak German despite being able to read it. All he knew was that it was a language he did not speak and from the looks on everyone else’s faces, they did not speak it either. Isis had a small smirk on her face as she replied back, to which Atem immediately looked flustered before switching back to Japanese. “Mai, where’s Yugi,” he asked, clearly just looking for a quick change of subject. “Did he get caught up in work again?”

Was it weird for Seto to start immediately overthinking Atem and Isis’s conversation? He had no idea what they had discussed and all he knew is Atem immediately changed the subject...to Yugi. Not only that, but it was also starting to hit Seto that perhaps Isis was judging him. Did Isis not approve of him? Did Isis actually secretly hate his guts? Did Isis think he didn’t speak enough languages? Was he too tall for Atem? Too pale? “He and Jonouchi are caught in traffic,” Mai said with a roll of her eyes. “Yugi texted me to say that they were on 85th getting dinner and they left about five minutes ago. Told them to get dinner after.”

“Makes sense,” Anzu interjected. “Jonouchi always runs late and of course he’s dragging Yugi down with him.”

She sounded rather dismissive and that surprised Seto. He’s never heard her once be dismissive like that. “Don’t be mean to Jonouchi, Anzu,” Atem said, a rather playful grin on his face. “He’s trying his best. Besides, it’s probably for the best they got food first. Jonouchi wouldn’t be able to sit still if he’s hungry.”

“I’m not being mean,” Anzu replied and Seto was shocked by how defensive Anzu sounded. Anzu opened her mouth as if she was about to say something else when Jonouchi and Yugi arrived, as if on cue.

“Sorry,” Yugi said, looking rather sheepish. “We got swarmed as we were leaving the restaurant. Couple of people recognized Jou and I and well…we got caught up taking pictures and signing things for people.”

“So are you now going to admit that you’re famous,” Atem teased without missing a beat. “Or are you going to continue to insist that you just have a really wide circle of friends?” At no point did Seto ever consider that Yugi would not think of himself as famous. It seemed obvious to anyone that everyone here had some level of recognition for varying reasons. He wondered how Yugi could’ve missed something so obvious. Atem’s gaze snapped over to Seto, a brow raised. “Something you wanna say, Kaiba?”

Alarm bells went off in Seto’s head. Could Atem read his mind? There was something knowing in those silver-gray eyes that seemed more aware than Seto would like. In fact, it seemed like Atem always seemed to have his number from the jump. Before he could say anything, Atem’s fingers linked with his, ever so gentle and Seto found that he couldn’t think of a single thing to say in response to Atem’s question. Suddenly, nothing mattered but the fact the two of them were here together. In fact, time seemed to both slow down and speed up whenever he was around Atem. He wasn’t sure how they wound up in the theater, the curtain rising, with Atem’s hand locked with his.

Overall, Seto couldn’t think of a single complaint to have about the show. In fact, he could barely remember the show at all. What he remembered was how Atem looked in the lowlight of the theater and the reactions Atem had to the show. He couldn’t exactly complain when Atem took his hand in his and smiled at him. Atem’s head had come to rest on his shoulder and Seto was surprised at how easy it felt. They said good night to their friends and Seto wondered how he’d lived without these friends before. He didn’t understand how he’d been going through life without Atem in it like this. They got in the car and all Seto could think of how just a year ago, Seto had been so certain that the way he’d been living life was just fine. In the car, Atem had pressed a quick kiss to his lips and Seto was surprised how easy it was to give in. Now, as they were being driven back home, Seto was just so grateful that he’d allowed himself to fall. It was a lot of trust he had in Atem. A lot of faith, but Atem had been willing to provide a soft place to land. And in the end...that was enough.

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