#chapter two: in which kaiba REALLY realizes he fucked up

[dominonary]

chapter two of lost and found, found and lost is up now!

[theglowyscorpio]

all set | eren x reader

a/n: this is a story in the making, currently available at AO3 and Wattpad. If you like it, please don't hesitate to give me some kudos, leave a comment or maybe follow me on my social media! <3 Any feedback is highly appreciated since I'm just getting started!

pairing: eren yeager x female reader

tags: mature content, alternate universe (modern setting), college/university, recreational drug use, implied sexual content, M/F, F/F, the author is not religious lmao

word count: 4.3k

current chapters: 2/?

playlist: this one was made with a particular playlist in mind. they are really great songs that help to convey this chapter, so I hope you have a time to check them out! :)

a. slomosa - kevin b. upsahl - drugs c. rosenfeld - like u d. kaiba - overdose e. lil kapow - tinman f. bodega - how did this happen!?

***

all set

I lost count of how many parties I went to this week. There was one at Shina, another at... Sasha's. Wait, was it? Or Ymir's? Honestly, both their houses look fairly similar and we always see the same faces over and over again, regardless of where we are getting wasted. Definitely two at my house. The timeline is blurry at this point. If my liver could talk, it would spit out "Screw you, Eren." and I wouldn't be able to disagree.

Classes will start next week so everyone is acting like we're going to stop doing all this for the rest of the semester. That never happens.

I barely enter Reiner's house and the music is already piercing my head. My ears will soon tell me to go screw myself too. The bass was loud. But it was good.

— Hey, finally — Reiner says, giving a hard slap in my back. I can't even get mad at him because he probably didn't mean for it to hurt. Fucking strong bastard.

— Sorry. Lost track of time.

— You know where the things are — he leaves me behind and disappears through the noisy music.

It's hot inside. August has been particularly cruel this year. I'm using a black t-shirt, which is luckily pretty thin, and my black Adidas pants that are somewhat breathable. My hair is in a bun. I will probably be sweating soon, though. Reiner's AC won't do miracles with this amount of people since it is specially packed today. I guess I might see some new faces tonight, huh.

This fact already makes things more interesting.

I walk through the room and then arrive in the kitchen. Connie and Sasha are there.

— Eren!! — I barely open my mouth to talk and Sasha is already giving me whatever weird drink they made. Their drinks sometimes are... unusual, for the lack of a better word. Most of the time they are simply pure shit. They call it scout's fuel, always the same name regardless of what's inside. Maybe that's why my liver hates me so much.

— Thanks — I'm already used to the goddamn gasoline taste — I guess you both want to get us wasted tonight.

— It's our personal mission, so enjoy the fuel — Connie says laughing, raising his plastic cup. I love this duo – who doesn't? – and I can't help but laugh with them, even though it tastes so bad — Everyone is already here, come on — I follow them and find all the familiar faces I've seen all week: Bertholdt, Historia, Ymir, Mikasa, Annie, Armin, Jean, everyone.

The girls look hot, even though I'm used to them. Either way, I avoid hooking up with my friends since the last time didn't work so well. It's better to avoid Mikasa today.

We all sit together while drinking. I light a joint I had already prepared at home and say — Am I crazy or is Reiner's party bigger than usual? —, releasing the smoke a few seconds after. This one is the best grass we could get around our area, I've saved it primarily for today and now I see that might have been a great decision on my part. I'm glancing through the room and looking for some girls, might share this shit with one - or a few - of them later.

— Thank god, I was tired of seeing your ugly faces every fucking time — Jean says. The girls look at him and he rushes to add — I mean, the boys, of course. It's always nice looking at all of you, ladies.

It's not enough to avoid Annie's kick anyway — We can say the same of you, horse face.

Reiner arrives at the perfect time and explains — Since the new semester starts Monday, news about today traveled fast and we got a lot more company than usual.

— Do you know all of them, Reiner? — Historia asks — I've talked to a bunch of them tonight and there are people from all over the campus and from all years as well — Historia always looks pretty, her blonde hair shining even in the low light of the party. Guys make a line to talk to her at all parties so there's no surprise that she's already familiarized with the whole scenario. I wonder what Ymir thinks of it. Probably followed her during this little field trip.

— Hell, no — he grabs the joint of my hand and sucks deeply — I know some of them and some are Bertholdt's friends but there are some random people.

— I bet Reiner knows a lot of the girls — I take my joint back from his fingers — I assume they aren't Bertholdt's friends, though — and grin.

— Hey, I don't see you with any new company either, dude — Bertholdt tries to grab my weed as well, but I avoid his advances. He instead grabs my cup and drinks all of it, leaving me empty. He makes a funny face at the taste. Suit yourself, man, I think to myself, laughing on the inside.

— Yeah, but I'll work on it in a sec — I tease him knowing that he can't handle much of Sasha and Connie's fuel. He always knocks out before everyone. I hope he realizes he needs to stay awake to try anything with Annie. Someday. He simply never gets there.

Hange arrives almost falling over Ymir and spilling her drink on the floor in the process — I think we should all make a toast and make this last party a wild ride!!! — her yelling stabbing us louder than the music.

— Bitch, you are this fucking drunk already? — Ymir says to her, holding Hange's weight on her back — What the hell did the gasoline duo do to you?

— Okay okay, enough with the questions, let me fill your cups because this is the night! — Sasha says, just pouring all that mystery liquid that soon will go straight to our heads — Also, Reiner, where's the food?

We raise our plastic cups and Connie yells — To the new semester! — and we drink, feeling the immediate burn on our throats. It's hard being a scout.

— I need to get laid today — Jean says as he lays his back on the couch — Gonna arrive for the classes pretty motivated next week — he then rests his left arm at the back pillow, behind Mikasa's head.

— You should start roaming, then — her cold delivery puts Jean's subtle attempt at flirting six feet under the ground, as usual. It was pretty damn quick, but I could notice Mikasa glancing at me and then looking the other way. Yeah, I think I need to start roaming soon, too.

— That sounds great, then let's do that!!! — Hange grabs Jean by the arm and they disappear amongst the crowd.

— When all this fun ends, I'll be the one who will probably have to take him home after he gets slapped by some girls — Armin and Jean live with me so we normally go back together. Armin is the responsible one between us, which is not exactly hard considering how Jean and I are — Gonna at least drink some beer before that happens.

— I'll go with you, this drink sucks — Annie says, finishing the drink anyway and following him. We always drink the last drop of it, we never learn.

The girls went dancing, the music was exceptionally good today. A lot of bands I already liked plus some I have never heard before. I need to remember to ask Reiner for this playlist later. Connie was already surrounded by a different group, everyone likes to talk to him. He is popular. The rest dispersed as well and I could hear Hange's screams far away. This is going to be a night for her, indeed.

I start walking around, meeting a lot of people from my classes and others from the campus in general. I talk to all of them and drink a lot in the process, which feeds my need for nicotine every time. I grab my pack of cigarettes and while smoking, I see Levi.

— I must be dreaming — I say, letting the smoke leave my lips with a smile. It reaches him and looks at me with a deadly expression. He is smoking as well, but he only admits one specific brand of cigarettes and hates all the others. Levi usually doesn't show up at these "brat" parties, as he likes to say, since he's a few years older than us. I normally see him at Shina's, which is a popular club slash bar near our university. He's the owner so we all met him there, after going so many times. Shina has the best parties and the best drinks of all the clubs near us. And it couldn't be any other way, since Levi is a perfectionist. There's also a small stage there, where indie bands perform from time to time. My band does some gigs there sometimes.

— Hey — he replies, as cold as ever. He's Mikasa's cousin, so they have the same expressions and hard-to-approach vibe — Already high, I see.

— Always. In fact, today I hope to be higher than usual. What miracle brings you here?

— Some people from the staff decided to come here today so there are fewer brats to piss me off — he drinks what's probably a high priced whiskey and continues — and there's a new girl at the club so we have been showing her the area for a few weeks now.

— There's a lot of new girls here today — although I know Levi doesn't give a crap.

— So? — yeah, he doesn't.

Levi is a pretty successful business owner and even I have to admit that he's hot – is not only common knowledge but a mutual agreement between everyone –, so girls are always trying to get him, but he doesn't screw most of them. He doesn't fuck brats, period. He says he doesn't have the patience. That makes the girls even more desperate. He has the highest standards of every guy I know. When he was still in university – the same we all go –, he screwed not only the hottest girls but also the professors - which went after him and not the other way around. At least that's what I've heard. I think Levi never had to actively look for any girl, to be honest.

I can only laugh at his reply. That's just so him.

— If you want more stuff than what's already in your system, Floch is over there.

— I want, actually. I was going to look for him — I see Floch's red hair among some folks. Floch is usually as busy as Connie but with less than half of the charisma.

He finishes his cigarette, blowing its last white smoke into the air, and we both hear a loud HELL YEAH!! coming from all the other way across the room — Tsk, is that Hange?

— Pfft, it was before, I think it's Sasha now — he doesn't laugh at my reply. He never does. I think hell would freeze while heaven catches on fire.

I think about the music again. It's so good today, what the hell — Hey Levi, don't you think this playlist is too high quality for a Reiner party? I don't get it, his music taste is always pure trash.

— That's from our new girl — he drinks the last drops of his whiskey and starts to leave — You might find her around here — he then suddenly stops and looks at me — Don't get your hopes up, though.

I am not able to ask what he meant by that because he leaves too quickly. Time to look for Floch.

— Hey, Flo-

— Here.

— You didn't even let me finish.

— I know what you want. You are not in the mood for cocaine so you want MD instead, blah-blah-blah-blah. Is that kind of night — he pauses for mere seconds — Am I wrong, Eren?

— Nope, right as usual — Floch is the main person you go to when you need drugs. I mean, good drugs. He looks like your standard rich boy – which he is, by the way – that can do no wrong, but you can get the best stuff from him. I've always found this funny. The weed I have today was his work. He knows my taste well.

Reiner's frat house is huge, so there's plenty of room to walk. I'm approached by a bunch of girls on the way but for some reason, none of them piques my interest. I am pretty set on going after something new today and I have no problem getting laid. It happened every single day this week and it truly happens anytime I want. Which, okay, boosts my ego a little bit. Maybe a lot. I might even have hurt some girls in the process. I was never slapped though, unlike Jean. So that's a win in my book.

I see a few of my friends again, mainly Historia and Reiner, and they are talking to a girl I've never seen before.

She has long black hair and short messy bangs, the kind that goes a little above the eyebrows. I didn't know black hair was my thing until now. Her face has the perfect features, at least for me. She's wearing a sleeveless white top that is so tight that hugs her figure perfectly and makes her breasts look amazing. That type of top that shows the girl's side boob, and I'm a total sucker for those. It is also short so you can see a bit of her waist. And I don't even have to see her ass because I already know it is probably too damn good. Her light blue ripped jeans are cool as well and she has black sneakers. I like her style. She has a bunch of tattoos - a lot on her right arm, one on her left hand, and probably some that I couldn't see because they were behind her clothes. I intended to, though.

Fuck, she's hot.

Historia looks mesmerized talking to her, which is a very privileged view from where I stand because, as I've already said before, she is also beautiful. But she isn't exactly hot. This girl is. Way too much. Oh, and Reiner is there too. Whatever.

I can see a lot of guys want to approach her but none of them do. I went for it. Wasn't this night supposed to be wild?

— Hey, Eren! Guess what, Y/N is the new DJ at Shina! I was telling her how we go there all the time.

— Hi, Eren, nice to meet you — she says, with that kind of smile that people who know they are hot make. I do that too.

— Hey, Y/N — I say. And as I told you seconds before, I'm good with that type of smile as well so that's what she gets — Levi told me he came with the staff and a new girl, so I suppose that's you.

— Yeah, I'll start there next week.

— I talked to him about the party's playlist because I knew it couldn't be Reiner's.

— Yeah, it's Y/N's. She prepared it for the party when I invited the guys from Shina yesterday. We were in the same high school. — Reiner says that looking at me with a face that shows "See that, dickhead? I've known her for some years now".

— It's pretty good! I can't wait for the next party at Shina's to see your set! — Historia was always an angel.

REINER, WHERE'S THE REST OF THE ICE, MAN??, someone screamed far away.

— Shit. Catch up with you later, Y/N.

Too bad, huh, Reiner? He gives me a look that I can't quite figure out what it is, but I know for sure it wasn't a look of support. In the fucking slightest.

— I think Ymir is calling me as well, sorry!! — It was painfully obvious that Ymir wanted to make out with Historia for some time now. They never did. I think only Historia hasn't realized yet that Ymir is thirsty for her for god knows how long.

After Historia left, there was only me and her — So, by any chance, do you go to the same university as us? You look our age but Levi said you are new here — I tried asking this without looking at her body, but looking at her face was even worse. Her eyes were piercing me in the best way possible.

— I'm not exactly new, I'm from the same uni as you guys, but I took a gap year — she takes a sip of her drink — You probably never met me but I'm in the same year as you all are now.

Since Reiner knew her from high school, he also knew she was at the same university all along and never told any of the guys. Smart fucker.

— So that makes you a year older than me — I smirk at her.

— I guess it does — she smirks back as she lights up a cigarette and blows the smoke at me.

Ok, looking good so far.

I'm pretty high at this point, the MD and the music are making me horny, so I don't even bother to pretend that I'm not looking at her body. I'm looking at everything.

— You took something, didn't you?

— Do you want some? I can show you later where to get the best stuff. Anything you are in the mood for.

— I'm all set — she shows me her tongue and I see the acid. The view makes my own tongue feel lonely, maybe I should use it to steal that from her mouth. I hope she's horny as well.

We talk a lot about music since it's something that we both enjoy. She's passionate about it, I can tell. She asks about my band with true interest. Doesn't sound like small talk. She touches her hair and it makes me want to stuff my face in it. She has the smile that makes you want more. Her voice has the same effect.

The loud music allows us to talk near each other's ears. I hope she moans as loud as her playlist. The girls usually love my hair for some reason, either if it's in a messy bun as it is right now or if it's loose. They all love my green eyes too. She can see all that with somewhat detail since we are so close, even though it is a little dark here. If I take you to a room you can see me better, I almost blurb it out. I can see her too and that kills me.

She looks receptive to me but normally at this point I would be already hooking up with the girl. This time it isn't happening. I never have to work so much. I think I understand why the other guys didn't approach her before. She's a little intimidating to talk to, and that comes naturally to her – it doesn't seem to be on purpose. I flirt with her the way I normally do but she is hard to get, she hits every ball I throw. I remember what Levi said before. Oh, right.

But I'm vibing way too much at this point, I think if I touch any part of her I'll get hard immediately.

— This gap year you've mentioned... Did you go anywhere specific?

— I know it will sound cliché, but I went to Europe.

— Where in Europe?

— Everywhere — she says — I went down — the corner of her lips forming a smile  — And up. Everywhere. — and I can swear she sounds flirtatious as hell. I want to bite her lip.

— That sounds... Awesome. — I think she wants to bite me too, or at least I hope she does — Was there any particular reason to leave? If that's not too much to ask.

— Hm, I was kinda... — she stops to think for a few seconds as she holds her hair up and makes a ponytail, looking at the ground, the cigarette glued to her now closed lips. Her neck became exposed, it looks soft as hell and I can't wait to bruise it. She releases the smoke, that flows into the room, and looks deep into my eyes, as deep as I want to be inside her right now — ...stressed.

I reach my limit at this point.

— I can help you with the stress if you want.

— Really? — she's looking at me with the same teasing look and I'm doing the same, so we both know that's not a question I have to answer. Her tongue quickly passes through her top lip, her mouth forming a little wet smile — I don't think I need any help though.

I threw the ball and she hit a home run. My team was out.

I was not expecting that.

We hear some of the guys from Shina calling for her — Oh, they are calling me — Y/N looks at me again and says — See you around, Eren — giving me the same fucking grin I wanted to bite before.

She walks away and I see that her ass is, as I suspected from the very beginning, too damn good.

Shit. Shit, shit, shit.

After this, some time has passed. I look at the clock. Yeah, maybe a lot. I couldn't tell before because I'm drunk and drugged. I see most of my friends, all fucking wasted. Armin is holding up pretty well, Bertholdt's is knocked down for God knows how long, Mikasa probably smoked way too much weed (who am I to judge?) and looks dead on the couch. I don't see Ymir, Historia nor Reiner - there are too many people in this house to keep count. Sasha's eating something in the kitchen, I can't see what it is, but certainly, she got hungrier than normal after smoking some pot Connie gave her. Connie always holds his drinks well, he's still talking to a lot of people. I pass in front of one of the bathrooms and Hange is there, getting everything out of her system. Oh, and Ymir. There she is, holding Hange's hair, looking as pissed as ever. Levi probably went home hours ago. Jean is making out with some chick, he's going to score tonight. To be fair, he always does, but never with Mikasa.

I saw a lot of pretty girls today and I went for none of them. They tried and I shut them down, even the ones I normally fuck. There's someone I want to taste tonight and she's nowhere to be found. The guys from Shina are missing too, so I know I won't see her today anymore. Damn.

I'm not pissed at her but I'm pissed at the situation.

— Armin, I think I'm going to take off, are you coming?

— Yeah, I'm already pretty tired — he gets up — Jean's probably going to stay here.

— Yep. Probably. — Am I pissed that Jean's getting laid? Even though I could have as well? With someone else, at least? My mood feels off.

— I'm going with you too, I've lost count of how many assholes I had to shut down today. I think I even punched a few — I don't have to look to know that's Annie speaking — You were right, Eren, is it especially crowded today. In the shittiest way possible.

— Then let's go.

— Wait, I need to get my bag first, I left it in Reiner's room.

— I can get that for you, wait up.

— It's a black one. Small.

I sign a thumbs up for her and climb the stairs. I am hundred percent sure I'm going to see someone fucking there but that's the usual. I'm pretty sure I've already seen some people screwing in the corner of the living room minutes before. No one cares.

I open the door and see Y/N in her underwear, putting her white top back on. She does indeed have other tattoos.

— Hey there! — she says smiling, as she also puts her jeans back up, making little jumps so they pass through her ass. Her hair is not in a ponytail anymore.

I say hi in a confusing way.

— I came here to get my friend's bag — I look around for milliseconds like I don't know where the hell I am until I see Reiner lying - clearly naked - under his sheets. Can't be anyone else, with that bleached hair and huge biceps.

What? Ahn?

Hey... Wait a second.

Historia? Clearly naked as well? What. The. Hell. I guess she's not exactly the angel I thought she was?

They are sort of awake, sort of sleeping, kinda like on a different planet. You know, the type of thing that happens after a really strong fuck? That sort. They look exhausted. They look destroyed. And not in a bad way. AT ALL.

— Oh, I saw a bag before. Here you go — she gives me Annie's bag. She's all dressed now. She notices my confusion, I'm too high to act any other way — I've told you I don't need any help — her eyes piercing mine for the hundredth time tonight. Her smile hurts now. Ouch.

She grabs her sneakers and walks towards me and the door:

— I'm all set.

She leaves the room as I hold Annie's bag.

Yeah. I was not expecting that.

***

Thanks for reading (if there's even anyone here lmao). Chapter 2 will be uploaded later but it can be read now at AO3 or Wattpad.

[foxydivaxx]

Eren, Lelouch, Light, Seto Kaiba and Sasuke: Beautiful Sinners Chapter 4

"All y'all get cool actual practical weapons and all I fucking get is this goddamn piece of metal junk." says Eren as he keeps on moving his right hand around. "Seriously what does this shit do?"

The others could not help but chuckle at Eren's hopeless situation. Currently, they were at the mission control room, looking through the database there.

"Found shit on Leblanc and truthfully, she and Wizard-kun or should I say Swain were once a team." says Seto. The others gather round to read the information.

"The other members of the original team were Leona, Lissandra, Khazix and Renekton. All of whom got murdered after their heist in Prague. The bitch even chopped off Wizard-kun's arm."

"Talk about a bitter breakup." says Eren.

"There is one other member of the group that went missing around that time named Falcon. Probably got murdered or managed to escape from her and lay low." says Sasuke.

"There is more. This woman sure got a massive resume. We talking decades of serial killings, massive prostitution rings and child trafficking shit." says Lelouch.

"How I wish I still had that damn book. Those are the kind of bitches I hunt." says Light. "What is her death toll?" Sasuke asked.

"According to the data here which was gotten from Interpol, 1000s of lost souls. The death toll is not even official but that alone says a lot. Plus the police and various authority figures refer to her as the White Lady."

"It is obvious how she managed to get away with all that bullshit." says Seto. "I guess we make our presence known boys." says Lelouch. They nodded and head off to go change.

Meanwhile at the seaport, a group of individuals had gathered by a warehouse, awaiting the shipment that was touching down. At the head was a woman dressed in a black suit and holding a gold staff.

Two men in a suit walk over to her with another group of men behind them carrying about five crates with them. "Are those all the goods?" she asks.

One of the men nodded.

The boys hide in the shadows and watch from a distance. "There she is." says Lelouch in a low tone as he zooms in on her through his special high-tech binoculars. Swain gave the boys special black catsuits for their missions which comes in handy especially for both Lelouch and Light who are severely lacking in combat skills and general mobility.

Eren looks around from his end with his own binoculars for any potential threat to their operation. He almost has a heart attack as soon as he sees two familiar faces. "What are Armin and Mikasa doing there?"

Seto takes the binoculars to have a good look. Sure enough, Eren's former friends were both wearing suits and were both stand next to Leblanc. Mikasa in particular stood out thanks to her cold death stare.

"She is one of her agents."

Eren then shakes his head. He has no time to worry about them. The mission comes first. Especially after one considers what they both did to him in the past. Yes, he has not forgiven them for their toxic behavior.

"Guys, I think we should move in and throw their operation off." says Seto. The others nodded and immediately began to move.

Seconds later, one of the guards gets knocked out by a poison dart. "Who's there?!"

At that moment, Seto swoops in and knocks down a guard with a flying kick. Both Lelouch and Light gun down the other guards with no mercy. "Now this is fun!!" says Lelouch as he happily guns them down. Sure he could have used his Geass here but he might as well join the party this time. Sasuke using his good oldShinobi skills, knocks down a couple more guards with ease. Leblanc immediately retreats from there and runs for it.

Meanwhile, Eren appears behind Armin and Mikasa and smacks Armin behind the head real hard. Mikasa tries to intervene but Eren points the gauntlet at her and presses a red button which fires a powerful blast that knocks her out.

Armin growls and kicks Eren in the tummy. The two former friends exchange blows. "What do you want?!" Armin yells. Eren smirks. "Payback is a bitch." He then places the gauntlet hand on Armin's shoulder and presses the blue button which electrocutes Armin and knocks him out.

"That is the last of them." says Seto. "Yeah but Leblanc got away." says Sasuke. "We can always get her later. But let us check what she placed in those crates."

Sasuke and Seto use their swords and open the crates and gasp in horror to find some young teenage girls. "Shit..." says Light. The boys immediately free the girls and call Swain who in turn calls some backup to help take the girls back home.

Meanwhile from atop a rooftop, a mysterious masked being watches the boys. "So that's what they are huh?"

The next day, the boys show up at school. "Remember guys, we are supposed to be untouchable rich brats." Seto says in a low tone. "Yeah. That really works well." came Light's sarcastic response.

Armin and Mikasa are close to their locker, rubbing their heads. The blow Eren dealt to them knocked them both out completely and left them feeling sore. "Is it me or does that guy that attacked us look familiar?" Armin asked. Mikasa then thinks or a moment. "Nah. I doubt we have met him before. He might resemble someone we know. Either way, we both have to be careful. Because if those guys we saw the other day are in this school, they could expose our secret."

They both do not realize that Eren overheard their conversation as he and the boys walk past them with an evil smirk in place. I shall make your damn lives a living hell. Especially you Mikasa.

[elexica]

Second Chance Christmas {{ December 23 }}

A family ice skating outing has unintended consequences.

TW: Scars. No reference to how they got there, but there is some subtext. Viewer discretion is advised.

The chapter is under the read more, and on Ao3 here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27832405/chapters/68777280

There was something entirely too pleasing about watching the full body crunch that Kaiba did when Joey slammed down the thermos of coffee.  The bottle of painkillers was already sitting sentinel in the same position it had been two days prior.

It was almost as entertaining watching Kaiba realize that he was in the guest room and not his study.  He blinked and stuttered, visibly recalibrating.

Under the right circumstances, there might not be a living man as quick as Joey’s ex-husband.  These were clearly not the right circumstances.

“We’re going ice skating in an hour.  If you want to come, I’ll see you in the kitchen.”  Joey slammed the door for effect.

Joey thought he heard Kaiba moan through the door, “since when do you ice skate?” but he was too busy moving on with his day.

. . .

For the record, Joey had gone ice skating before on a number of occasions.  And even during their marriage, he went at least once every year with the kids.  Kaiba simply hadn’t bothered to care enough to keep track of that sort of festive outing—it was exactly the sort of thing that just slid under the radar when they had been together.  Not important enough to be the basis of a fight, but exactly the sort of thing where Joey felt more like a single father or the chair of the childcare committee than…

Well, it had been hard to watch all the couples gracefully rounding the ice.  Holding each other as they caught their partner’s breath.  Warm hands in mittens or gloved fingers intertwined.

Last year, Alexis had requested to take lessons in ice skating, and the first introduction program for five-year-olds required that a parent attend.

Alexis could spin around and do a couple more tricks than her dad, but Joey could go pretty fast forward, and could even go backwards if he was focused on it.

Atticus wasn’t exactly a natural at it, but his ballroom dancing lessons had made him pretty confident scooting around with a chair.  At one point Joey had foolishly suggested that he might enjoy hockey instead, and had been rewarded with a small musical number about how absolutely uninterested he was in the sport.

In the next Summer, Joey would at least suggest that he try surfing.  

“Maybe you’ll be a natural,” Joey offered, more mockingly than not, as he fixed the laces on Kaiba’s ice skates, which the taller man had tied in an ugly knot.  The blades were sharp and cold, and the rented pair was jet black.  They all but melted into his black exercise pants and charcoal turtleneck.  Frankly, with his lean build, he looked like a professional skater—as long as he stayed seated. Kaiba adjusted his glasses over those striking blue eyes—and it made Joey realize he was staring.

Once Kaiba was on his feet, teetering on the blades and holding anything within his significant arm span, it was clear that he was not  a professional.

It wasn’t that his husband wasn’t athletic—the man could dominate at yoga, hold his own at the average CrossFit gym, and played an absolutely devilish game of tennis.

But there are just some leisure activities where you only develop the skill through, well leisure.  And leisure had never been Kaiba’s specialty.

So he was gripping on to the wall, knuckles as white as the ice that he quivered atop.  He tried to approach the situation with dignity, but his eyes were too wide.  Fortunately for him, Alexis was spinning around with Atticus.  Atticus was trying to convince her that her solo career was not nearly as promising as some sort of brother and sister pairs act.

Joey had half a mind to ditch Kaiba and go for a couple laps, enjoy the wind in his hair.  But seeing his ex-husband clutch the wall with a fear Joey hadn’t seen since ancient Egyptian magic was a regular piece of their lives… Well the whole view was equal parts funny and sorta sad.

“You’re gonna have to move your feet, Kaiba.  It’s part of it,” Joey offered.

One hand glued to the wall, Kaiba inched one foot forward.

He did not topple, surprising himself.

“Alright, now you move the other one.”

A small measure of success was found.

“Now if you bend your knees that might help with the balance…” Joey unconsciously offered an arm.

Kaiba evaluated it, like he was calculating whether Joey’s forest green wool Christmas sweater was clean enough.

“I can leave you, or I can show you how it’s done,” Joey added.

Kaiba took a deep inhale, closing his eyes, almost seeming to meditate on what to do.  And then Joey felt those familiar long fingers loop over his bicep.  Kaiba’s grip was warm and sturdy.  Somehow it was steadying, even if the man himself was shaking somewhat.  It felt simultaneously like a huge risk and like he was finally safe.

Having that spark of warmth circling his arm was just a little heartbreaking.  It made all of the untouched parts of his body feel colder.

“I assume that you have to start moving, Jounouchi?” Kaiba prompted snidely.  Fuck, Joey thought, how am I not supposed to stare at him.

As Joey began to propel them forward, he had a much harder time staring.  The wind ruffling Kaiba’s smooth brown hair, flecks of grey disappearing into the wind with the first snowflakes that started to patter down, the surprise in his eyes as he reacted to Joey’s increase in speed.

With a few more careful strokes, their speed evened off to a fast clip.  For a few seconds, they just glided together.

Out of seemingly nowhere, Kaiba laughed.  Mouth open and face entirely illuminated.  “We’re really going!” Kaiba announced, as if he had never expected that they would actually go fast at all.

Joey’s heart skipped a beat, and he was lost in the speed too.  They were in their own icy world, just the two of them.

And they nearly collided with the glass wall of the ice rink.  Joey came to his senses first, and caught the wall before Kaiba could even react.  They came to a screeching halt, Joey’s skates cutting into the ice as he tried to brake.

They both separated, each man catching his respective breath.  Joey thought Kaiba was glowing in a way he had not seen in years.

And the look in Kaiba’s eyes as he returned to Joey—it was something between love and trust and vibracane.  Something a little bit like worship and a lot like magic.  It was a bit like the way that Kaiba had looked over at him after their first time.

The realization that for as much as Kaiba had to offer, Joey had something to show Kaiba too.

Paired with the slight flush of his cheeks, and the snow that just started to fall, lightly crowding the background with little white flakes, Joey couldn’t help himself.  With one gloved hand over Seto’s blushing cheek, he guided Seto’s chin down, and their lips together.

It was the perfect warm kiss.  It made everything more comfortable, softer.  The world faded out to a soft haze.  Joey closed his eyes, like if he couldn’t see the world continue moving them maybe he could stay in that peaceful moment forever.

Just as Joey realized he should have pulled away, he felt Kaiba press further, and deepen the kiss just a little.  He tasted like peppermint and coffee.

The moment could have lasted forever.  Just little snowflakes trapped in the air, frozen in time.

“Dad?!”

Shit.

Kaiba pulled away immediately, eyes flaring wide.  Joey didn’t doubt that his own face looked the same—like he had been shocked by a loose wire, like his hair was standing on end.

Atticus’s follow up was so innocently curious.  “Are you and—”

“No.”  Kaiba cut him off, harsher than Joey expected and certainly harsher than Atticus had prepared for.  “That was nothing.”

Kaiba pushed off of the wall and glided for a few feet before he realized that even after his adventure… he still couldn’t skate.  With one stutter in his step, Kaiba’s left skate caught on a gash in the ice and he was flat on his ass.

Joey felt for the guy, under his confusion and frustration.  Joey made moves to go over to help, but Kaiba shot back, “You’ve done enough.”

With a bit more humiliating grappling, Kaiba made it to the rink wall, and edged his way back to the gates.

Joey thought he heard someone nearby muse aloud, “Is that Seto Kaiba?” but everything but watching the slow motion train wreck in front of him faded out.

. . .

The car ride home was awkward.

Kaiba, the inventor of the “bitter sulk” angled as much of himself toward the window as possible.  He looked like he could really climb out of it, if only he wasn’t strapped down by his seatbelt.

Unfortunately for Kaiba, although some people were willing to maintain a tense and respectful silence, Atticus was nine and he had a lot of thoughts.

Right now, especially, he had a lot of questions.

“So, are you getting back together?” He asked, after Kaiba had only been able to brood for about five minutes of the car ride home.

“No,” Kaiba answered, resolute.

“But you were kissing each other.  Like Prince Eric and Ariel, or—”

“Sometimes adults do that.” Kaiba interrupted, before Atticus could demonstrate his impressive memorization of Disney princesses.

“Adults in loooove,” Atticus cooed.

“Atticus, Oto-san is right, sometimes that sort of thing happens and it’s just—”

Alexis interrupted softly, “Are we going to be a family again?”

The question hung in the air for a few tense moments.

Kaiba unfolded from the passenger seat.

“Alexis, we have always been a family,” Kaiba began slowly, seriously.  “We never stopped being a family.”

Kaiba took a deep breath, giving Joey the opportunity to intercede.  But Joey declined and just let Kaiba finish saying his piece.

“We have always cared about and loved each other, even though we no longer live all together.  That is what a family is.  In that way, we are always a family, no matter what.”  And to punctuate the end of his speech and signal that no, he would not be taking questions, Kaiba pressed play on his phone, triggering the Chipmunks Christmas album and releasing screeching tree-rodent holiday ballads throughout the car.

. . .

Kaiba disappeared the second they got into the house.  Once Joey was done settling everyone in, he decided he might as well hunt for his ex-husband and actually sort out what, exactly, had happened at the rink.

Joey was shocked to find the study empty.  Kaiba’s work laptop sat there, abandoned.  The decanter of whiskey was no more depleted than it had been the night before.

It was only four p.m.  It seemed impossible that the relatively mellow day of ice could have exhausted his ex-husband to that degree.  All through those real struggles and tough times, and Joey still hadn’t known his ex to go to bed before midnight.

Joey knocked softly on the door to the guest room.  He heard a low groan in response.  That could mean anything.  Joey hadn’t really remembered walking in on his ex-husband doing anything… interesting… before.  Maybe he had fallen in the shower or something?

“Kaiba?  You okay in there?”

“I’m fine.” The strangled tinge in his voice made it quite clear that it wasn’t the case.

“Ya don’t sound like it.  I’m comin’ in, better be decent.”  Of course, Joey thought, it wouldn’t be anything he hadn’t seen before.  Or anything he wouldn’t mind seeing again.

What was actually waiting for him was an unfamiliar sight to Joey.  Kaiba, still dressed in his ice skating outfit, faced down on his bed.  Just lying there, as if he had been struck by lightning and was just stuck there.

“Kaiba?”  Joey’s voice was concerned and warm, and maybe a bit sadistically curious.

Kaiba growled in response.

“What… what happened?”

Kaiba sighed directly into the pillow.  “It’s… my back.  I must have… fallen the wrong way when ice skating.”

If there was any further explanation, it was drowned out by Joey’s cackling laughter.

“It’s not funny,” Kaiba huffed into the pillow.  “And, it’s your fault.”

Joey climbed on to the bed, planning his knees on either side of Kaiba’s enviably sculpted torso.  “Alright, alright.  Shirt off.”

Kaiba snapped his head to the side, just enough to be able to side-eye his ex.  “Excuse me?”

“Eh, your back is jacked up.  I’m not wrapping all the presents by myself.  Ya want me to fix it or not?” Joey’s hands crept along Seto’s spine.  Even over his shirt it was divine enough for Seto to lose his stoic sensibilities and released an actual moan.

It wasn’t lost on Joey that it was probably the first time in the last few years someone had touched Seto affectionately, with the exception of their ill-advised liaison the first night and the precious kiss on the ice rink.

Within seconds, Kaiba’s arms had withdrawn to his core, and he began to remove the shirt from where it was pressed against the bed.  Shucking off the top, Kaiba kept his eyes trained on the pillow ahead of him.

“Just because you really did procrastinate on preparing for Christmas,” Kaiba rationalized aloud, muffled by the pillow.

“Yeah, sure Kaiba.” Joey rolled his eyes, even though Kaiba couldn’t see it.  But he couldn’t deny that he didn’t mind the … angle.

Joey tried to keep himself from drooling.  Was it really that necessary for Kaiba’s back muscles to be chiseled?  No one could even see them from under all those jackets.

Joey reached forward to knead at the juncture between Kaiba’s spine and shoulder blades, hands perfectly symmetrical on either side.  He was instantly rewarded with another low groan.

“I forgot how good at this you are,” Kaiba said, his voice muffled by the pillow.  

Joey laughed easily.  He almost responded I forgot how much better I like you when you’re face down, but his better angels won the day.  And instead, he just reached up to squeeze at the top of Kaiba’s insanely tense shoulders, around the point where they met his neck.  “Jeez, this feels more like bones than muscles.”

Kaiba didn’t have a witty rejoinder, and with another breathy exhale it was clear his brain was reduced to mush anyway.

“You’re always too fucking stressed,” Joey said, mostly to himself, his hands venturing lower once again.  His left thumb found another knot just below Kaiba’s unnecessarily sculpted shoulder blade.

The muffled response emanating from the pillow sounded a lot like “I know,” but Joey decided it was probably something a few shades meaner.  Maybe some comment about how that wasn’t news.

Kaiba’s skin felt amazing under Joey’s hands.  It was just like he remembered—jarringly soft and warm, laced with scars that Joey still lacked the full detail on.  Joey’s warm hands continued to explore lower, reaching toward the bottom of Kaiba’s spine.  At the contact, Kaiba practically yelped.

“Oh, shit, did that hurt?” Joey asked, quickly removing his hands.

“It’s fine,” Kaiba said, lifting his head from the pillow.

Joey rested his hand over the critical area. “It’s alright.  I can go gentle.”

“I said it’s fine.” Kaiba grumbled.

“I don’t want to hurt you!  It’s supposed to feel nice.” Joey ran his hand back over the offending area, the skin trembling under his touch.

“Do what you want,” Kaiba said with a resolved huff, dropping his head into the pillow.  Joey wondered exactly what his ex-husband thought he was accomplishing by being such an ass.

“Why can’t you just be easy to…” Joey let his voice trail off as he focused on soothing the sore spot, before moving higher on his partner’s back.  “…take care of,” Joey finished.

After a few minutes of silence, Joey touched a familiar spot.  Kaiba’s sigh into the pillow was a bit of a relief from the tension, and Joey swirled his thumb into the tense muscle.

Joey ghosted his hand along a raised white line that spanned Kaiba’s back from one shoulder to the other. “It doesn’t look like you’ve kept up with the scar cream.  They haven’t improved since the last time I saw these,” Joey said, trying to sound casual.  In reality, it was somewhat disturbing to him.  Kaiba’s whole “unaffected” act had been pretty persuasive.

That moment when Joey spotted him in the airport, looking so untouched by time and hardship, so unperturbed by their dissolution, had crystalized everything that Joey had feared.  That none of their relationship had stuck to Kaiba in the least, none of it had mattered.  But as the days had passed—and even today, when Joey was able to spend some time thinking, puzzling over his conversation the night before, it was clear.  

“I have not,” Kaiba admitted to the pillow.

“I’m sure we’ve got some you left behind around here.  Lemme go look for it,” Joey announced, leaving his position to look though the guest room’s bathroom.  It didn’t take long for him to spot it, an unopened jar on a high shelf of the medicine cabinet.

Kaiba hadn’t moved from his position, facing down in the bed.  When Joey’s footsteps got closer, Kaiba muttered, “You don’t have to do that.”

Kaiba couldn’t see it from his position, but Joey shrugged.  “Naw, I don’t have to.  But I might as well, since I’m already here.”

When they were married, it had been something of a post-shower ritual for Joey to help his husband with the scar cream.  It was never all that effective, the cuts were too old, and the tissue had healed in a fairly gnarly way.  But it felt like a nice way to address everything without having to talk about it.  An unspoken source of healing—even if pretty futile.

It was also unbearably intimate, a fact that Joey had somewhat forgotten.

No one else was ever so intimate with Kaiba—and he certainly wouldn’t let anyone else near something so vulnerable.  Even now, Joey was somewhat surprised that he had been allowed, running his finger over the raised skin.  He was always as gentle as he could be, almost reverent, and he could hear the skimming of his thumbprint grazing his ex’s skin.

Kaiba’s breathing had gone from intentional and deep inhales in response to the massage to a sort of shallowness, as if he was trying to keep his torso from moving and unsettling Joey.  Joey drew his finger across an old gash towards the top of his back.

Kaiba’s skin quivered under the cool cream, and it was almost overwhelming.  Joey tried to finish the rest of them quickly, old feelings bubbling in his chest too strongly.  The familiar smells and touches were too potent.

Kaiba’s breathing slowed even more, completely controlled, and he stopped shivering at the touches.  

“All done,” Joey announced, maybe too quickly, as he sealed the little jar and dismounted.  He was a little sorry that it was already over.  “If you need more help, just ask.”  He added as he put the jar away.  “And if you feel up to it, come and help me wrap stuff in… the bedroom.”  It was so hard not to say our bedroom, with Kaiba lying there, shirtless, vulnerable, still devastatingly beautiful.

But Joey walked out anyway.

Kaiba didn’t understand a request that wasn’t a rejection.  Everything was either negotiable or not—he couldn’t give an inch, even to save a mile.

But it had hurt him.  Somewhere, deep and integral to the very fabric of his partner… maybe everything had stuck.

. . .

Freshly chopped parsley, bay leaf, onion, and chicken swirled in the pot, the delicate aromas wafting up.  The kids were busy coloring in pictures—Alexis perfectly within the lines, and Atticus with absolutely no regard for them.

The magic of chicken noodle soup seemed to drag Kaiba off his back and into the kitchen.  Joey noticed he looked a little sad, and very tired.  The echoes under his eyes were somehow more pronounced than they had been earlier in the day.  He was also shockingly in sweat pants and one of Joey’s PTA t-shirts that had been though the wash so many times it was both incredibly soft and one pull away from turning itself into shreds.  It hung somewhat loose around his waist, but damn… the man really could pull off anything.

“Need any help?” Kaiba asked, further confirming that the chicken noodle soup possessed some magical properties.

Joey handed over the celery and the knife, silently offering Kaiba the cutting board.

“You feeling better?” Joey asked, placing a tender hand on Kaiba’s lower back, where the pain had been.  He could feel Seto lean into the embrace, electrifying Joey from within.  The connection felt powerful, and for the first time in a very long time, Joey felt almost in synch with the man.

“Yes, thank you,” Kaiba said, with a crisp sort of politeness that added to the oddly warm encounter.  The whole thing seemed a little precious, and part of a moment that should have belonged to another couple.  Other people who’s lives hadn’t been tinged with sadness, and with so much loss and struggle.

For a few seconds, maybe, Kaiba really was giving Joey just what he wanted.  Peace, attention, love.

Joey knew, from experience, that these things couldn’t last.

But as Seto passed him a spoonful of promising chicken noodle soup, it seemed like maybe he could pretend.  Just until Christmas.

[jagaimogoshujinsama]

rambling about shin men and hyu/kan. its long and self indulgent but if ur curious where my brains been at recently here it is

ive been in an out of a couple fandom interests recently, im still following new shin chan episodes closely (and i’ll get back to subbing some eps probably, at some point)...

anyway the past couple weeks i got, weirdly, super into hyu and kan as a ship. even though theres not a TON of content to work off, and also theyre ostensibly a het ship which can turn me off (and did at first, when i first realized kan is a ~secret girl~, in fact i have my reaction in writing

but then i gave shin men more of a chance and rly grew to appreciate all of the characters and.. the thing as a concept, and BOY!! i love kan a lot, like a heck of a lot. and since shes a girl who deliberately takes on a lot of masculine attributes its very easy to read her as genderqueer or transmasculine or even a trans dude straight up - though as a demi...gender?? person myself i like reading her as Soft Transmasc, because projecting onto cute little cartoon ppl is my favorite thing to do

so one of my main questions when i encountered this series was: who came up with this and why? what IS shin-men? this post will be me trying to explain it to myself:

shin-men was a concurrently-running anime AND manga series created in 2010 to celebrate the 20th year anniversary of shin-chan. the anime is obviously more well known, but the manga chapters tell the stories quite a bit differently and provide some more backstory - i own the first two volumes with the third on the way. the anime is awesome because it was seemingly spearheaded by Masaaki Yuasa (the kaiba dude), and as soon as I saw the first episode i assumed Shin-Men was his brainchild from start to finish. i’m not sure EXACTLY how much was his creation, conceptually speaking, but it is true that he finalized designs and a lot of basic concepts for the characters.  (parabon is straight up hyo hyo!)

(from masaaki yuasa’s super huge sketchbook, which runs in the 40-50 dollar range. let me know if you find it cheaper anywhere ill accept a used copy with heavy spaghetti stains)

yuasa boarded the first five episodes of shin-men, and a subsequent 8 episodes were released with different boarders (primarily yuji mutou, who’s been a heavy hitter on shin-chan since 1998). yuasa’s 5 episodes are beautiful - i mean look at this

yuasa always brings an otherworldly, dreamlike quality to whatever story he’s telling. on shin chan he generally seemed to prefer fun AUs and outlandish stories about buriburi zaemon that would allow him to invent colorful new settings and costumes.

that’s what’s so refreshing about shin-men - it’s the first time the show completely abandons its core cast of characters and focuses on NEW ones, in a universe with different rules. except, just kidding, because shinnosuke is still the main character, he’s just red now and called gou. so even while shin-men is TECHNICALLY breaking the fundamental rule of shin-chan - that shin is the main character who is in every single episode no matter what - it’s still abiding by it, and it still feels like shin-chan. that’s not criticism, though - i like the various alt-universe appearances of shin-chan characters in the shin-men universe. my favorite is matsuzaka, who is called “matsuzakaroni”, is STILL a kindergarten teacher even in this very alien universe (and despite the fact that she, i think, hates it?), and most uncannily of all, gets hit on by gou?? also gou is an adult i think, in this universe’s rules, he’s just really short like all of the other shin-men who are also adults?? i mean, i THINK? why does nobody in universe ever seem to mention how tiny these apparent grown-ups ar

anyway i’m not an expert on shin-men. despite my efforts i don’t really understand exactly where it came from or where gou’s ears are

i hope some day someone will create really good english subs of it, though i realize that’ll be a serious effort since yuasa’s episodes ABOUND with onscreen text - fuck, just imagine editing the moving gossip clouds on botswanawana to have english text. how would you even do that.

but i do wanna talk about kan a little and why shes cool thats the topic of this post

kan akaluislar (thats her last name..) is one of the 5 shin-men, superheroes with elemental powers who all look like a 5 year old named shinnosuke nohara from another universe, but don’t think too much about that. kan’s the only one who doesn’t actually have a superpower - she’s the Iron Man of the group, like, literally she’s tony stark, she’s the super wealthy and successful president of a major automobile company and rules the school in her home country, Detahoit. (which is maybe a pun on detroit? i’m not sure what’s up with that name)

anyway in addition to being iron man she’s also Transformers and Fullmetal Alchemist, she’s all three of those guys. she turns into a car a lot and transports her teammates everywhere. she also OWNS a car and drives it around when she’s not being a secret car superhero. is that bitterly tragic, or does kan secretly PREFER to be the car? is that her darkest fantasy? to be a full time car instead of a car-driving ceo? that is my headcanon

kan guards the fact that she’s female from the group, convinced they’d treat her differently. specifically, she’s convinced gou and nyoki would hit on her (confirmed), sui would bitch her out for not having a proper skin care regimen (that’s sui’s big thing, by the way, is that he’s a bitchy youtube beauty vlogger), and - worst of all - hyu would kick her out, since girls can’t fight.

...which seems like a pessimistic view of hyu. hyu is the wind elemental in the group - he’s buff and a little dopey but kind hearted and sweet, the noble hero type. also a bit of a spoiled prince.

each member of shin-men gets a yuasa episode dedicated to them, and hyu’s episode - his main arc, really - centers on his love for kan, which he keeps secret, despite the powerful curiosity of his country’s gossipy citizens.

what interests me is the disparate ways the anime and manga handle this plot thread. the anime treats hyu’s crush very earnestly, maintaining an undercurrent of quiet affection from him that appears in the majority of its episodes. the manga, however, emphasizes kan’s disinterest in romantic advances from both gou AND hyu, then practically drops the topic of hyu’s crush. it doesn’t exactly defy or contradict the relationship they have in the anime, however -- but it makes me sad, because hyu’s crush on kan is extremely cute and endearing. (as a sidenote, gou’s thing for kan is also pretty  cute, but it only exists in the manga, and, well - it’s not really a /romantic/ crush.

the shin-men manga makes a lot of different choices to the anime, and since the two were released concurrently i have no idea which “version” of any one story was the “original” - and in some cases i’m sure there isn’t an “original” version of a story, just two different ones. sometimes i really prefer the anime’s decisions (not drawing eyelashes on kan) and other times i’m... not sure what to think (the manga chapter with pimawari does NOT focus on kan, so did the anime decide to highlight kan’s relationship with pimawari because... kan’s a girl?? did they really do that? am i over thinking this?)

the manga does a GREAT job of fleshing out kan, though, even though it does so by torturing her, endlessly. she gets trapped inside of a washing machine. then has to use up all her fuel exploding out of the washing machine. the good news is, kan can repair washing machines, we learn this in episode 5 of the anime.

but be it manga OR anime, kan and hyu frequently wind up as partners who work well together, and its understandable. kan and hyu have private lives that mirror each other, both of them being high-profile and wealthy, pressured (kan by her conniving older sisters, hyu by his palace’s grand chamberlain) to settle down when neither of them is particularly interested, both preferring the life of a superhero. their private lives seem lonely and neither of them has any friends outside of shin-men. but within shin-men they team up frequently, and (being natural leaders) the two of them tend to take charge and stand out as The Responsible Ones.

(pointing = leadership)

this is what sells me on them as a couple - that they have this core of collaboration and mutual care in their superhero lives, which could build into a supportive friendship in their personal lives.

i very much love that hyu has a crush on kan despite thinking kan is a guy. that angle never comes up in the anime, though its lightly touched in the manga - and yuasa explicitly addresses it in his earliest notes. to quote,

“kan (iron shinnosuke) is the only girl within shin-men. since only men can be shin-men, she wears an iron suit to conceal the fact that she's female from everyone. and since she doesn't have a superpower, she relies on the power of her suit. hyu (wind shinnosuke) secretly likes kan but keeps thinking things like "could it be that i actually swing that way.." (lol). eventually, he's the only one who knows about her true self, but hides it from everyone so it won't be known.”

so, kan’s expectation of how hyu would react, having a sexist freakout and banning her from battle? apparently not representative of reality. which is good news because, even if kan doesnt want a love connection, she DESPERATELY needs a friend whom she doesnt feel the need to hide her private life from.

and at th end of the day thats what makes me happy: the idea that hyu can be this friend to kan, and they just chill out together, smoke a bong, get their truant son gou to cook them some curry, consolidate oil and wind technology to make both of their countries more sustainable and energy efficient, kiss etc.

im so curious if vol3 of the manga will give me any further insight.. i doubt it but im excited anyway

[sage-nebula]

for the post you just reblogged, yugioh!!

Oh boy.

To get this out of the way first and foremost, because we all know how badly I want this and think it should have happened—I would make Wishshipping 100%, undeniably canon.The thing is, this would be incredibly easy to do. The set-up is already there. Yuugi tells Jounouchi that he loves him using extremely strong language right before he attempted to sacrifice his life to save Jounouchi’s. He wanted Jounouchi to keep the Millennium Puzzle, his treasure, in the event of that sacrifice, trusting Jounouchi with the Puzzle (and therefore Atem!) above all else. And Jounouchi’s response? On top of trying to sacrifice his own life to save Yuugi’s instead (THESE BOYS, ISTG), he says “thank you,” which is pretty goddamn powerful from the standpoint of the Japanese language, which is strongest in its subtleties. If either Yuugi or Jounouchi were female, no one would doubt that Wishshipping became canon at the pier. No one. Given that they’re both boys, however, there are many, many more hoops that they have to jump through before people accept it.So that said? Let’s set up those hoops!As far as the actual manga goes, I probably would have altered their conversation on the boat to the Ceremonial Duel a bit in order to make it more concrete, particularly since that conversation provides the perfect set-up. Between already putting the idea of romance in the reader’s mind by almost having Anzu confess her feelings for Atem before chickening out (and it’s clear that it’s Atem she wants to confess to; her thoughts later on in the Ceremonial Duel about how it’s Atem specifically that she wants by her side forever aside, she also specifically asks Yuugi if Atem said anything, wanting to know if he was thinking of her), and then also having Jounouchi clue in to Yuugi’s feelings without Yuugi having to say what he’s thinking + the two of them talking about the future, the opportunity is downright perfect for it. So that said? I would have extended that scene a bit. As they talk about the fact that Atem will have to go on to the afterlife should Yuugi win the Ceremonial Duel (and as Yuugi says with certainty that he will be the one to duel), I would probably have Yuugi trail off a bit and quietly say something along the lines of how much he’s going to miss Atem once he crosses over. Jounouchi, of course, hears this, and comments sincerely that, yeah, he will, too. They all will, of course. Yuugi would nod, quiet for a moment more, and then—YUUGI: “Jounouchi-kun?”JOUNOUCHI: “Yeah?”YUUGI: “We’ll—you and I … we’ll always be together, won’t we?”JOUNOUCHI: “’Course we will. I’m never gonna give up on us, remember?”YUUGI: “Yeah!”The “I’m never gonna give up on us” is a callback to Death-T, wherein Jounouchi said, “I’ll never give up on myself, or on you.” Furthermore, Yuugi asking Jounouchi if they’ll always be together (perhaps rephrased like “you’ll always be by my side,” or phrased to call that to mind) is a parallel to what Anzu thinks about Atem during the Ceremonial Duel. Only, this story gets a happy ending.But since that’s still subtle enough so that I’m sure some would deny it, I would probably include a flash-forward epilogue that, perhaps, shows the two of them going a date, holding hands, to see one of Anzu’s dance performances. =) Something like that. And if I did make a sequel movie years later, well … a Big Damn Kiss (and at the very least a returned love confession!) would certainly be included.But yeah, this would be canon, particularly since it would be beautifully developed, healthy LGBTQA representation in an influential series aimed at kids. Sign me the fuck up, we need this.

Speaking of Anzu, better involvement for the ladies (and better treatment overall). Specifically:- Anzu’s dancing career needs more focus. I know that this is a series about games, but Anzu just had the one dancing game and that’s it. (Oh, and she did get to help out during Death-T as well—that was nice.) I want there to be more mention of her dream, and less focus on her involvement insofar as the romance subplot. And speaking of that? Once she realizes that Atem and Yuugi are two separate people, I want them to have an actual, legitimate conversation about how her feelings are for Atem, not Yuugi, because it’s pretty obvious that her romantic interest in Yuugi began and ended when she thought he was just an opposite personality of Atem’s. Once she realized they were two separate people, she went back as seeing him as something of a kid brother (emphasized when she refers to him as a “tough kid,” using the actual Japanese word for child, when talking with Atem right before Battle City started). Anzu was confused for a time and that’s fine, she’s a teenage girl and she is allowed to be confused without being vilified for it—but that needed to get sorted out definitively so everyone could move on with no hard feelings. More importantly, though, I do want more focus for her outside of the romance. She’s more than eye candy. Treat her like it.- Shizuka deserves to do something more other than be motivation for Jounouchi and his support during Battle City. I want to see Shizuka play games, such as music games. I want to see her bond with Mokuba, and other characters. Hell, I want a scene where Malik tries something with Jounouchi on the blimp (after revealing who he is), and Shizuka tries to fight for the brother who so valiantly fought for her. She’s his baby sister—let her show some temper and will of her own! Let her do something!- Mai should have won her duel against Atem in Duelist Kingdom, because frankly he was an ass for the entire duel and didn’t deserve that ass-pull victory. But since that would fuck up the entire plot, that duel needs to at the least be rewritten so that he’s not being an asshole to her for the entire match. Also, I hate that in order to force her to “develop” she was damsel’d during Duelist Kingdom so that Atem had to win her star chips back for her. Likewise, that she was damsel’d in Battle City to motivate Jounouchi, which … was unnecessary, considering Jounouchi already had motivation to fight Malik because of the pier duel. Honestly, her coma seemed more like a reason to get her “out of the way” and create drama, which is no good. Mai deserves better. Give her better.- I really would have liked to see Isis defeat Kaiba, advance to the finals, and get a real shot at facing her brother. Or, hell! Instead of having Mai face Malik and get put into a coma, force Malik to go up against Isis in a duel! Let them fight it out! Let Isis do more for her brother than orchestrate a tournament and then get kicked out of it so the boys can have all the fun!- The entire Kisara subplot needs to be rewritten, because Kisara was honestly created just so that she could be fridged to motivate Set + give him a dragon. She, like so many other ladies, deserved better than to be objectified (dragonified?) in a sense and then killed off just to give Set angst + Kaiba a reason to obsess over a dragon.Basically, justice for the YGO ladies 2k17, with a side order of I really don’t like Set/Kisara, or Kaiba/Kisara, or whatever variation we’re going with this week, because it was terribly written and I’m not letting Takahashi off the hook for it, even if he was extremely sick at the time the Memory World arc was written. (I mean, that’s said, but he wasn’t sick when he wrote Cyndia’s story, and she was also fridged to give a man reason to angst, so I feel like it wasn’t the illness that created the problems here. The only real problem the illness created was how rushed that arc was, and also Zorc’s dragon penis. Everthing else is on Takahashi.)

Speaking of Zorc, less Duel Monsters, more Shadow Games. I LOVED the Shadow Games from the school arc. LOVED THEM. Oh sure, they were a remnant of corruption from the Puzzle and yadda yadda, but they were fun. They were interesting! They were far more interesting than thirty-odd volumes of goddamn Duel Monsters! We can have Duel Monsters for a bit, sure, fine, but I want to see more Shadow Games. Part of the reason why Malik is so wonderful is because his set-ups for Yuugi in Battle City were very reminiscent of Atem’s Shadow Games. The Pandora set-up? The pier duel?? Those are so creatively sadistic that I adore them, particularly the pier duel. More of that, less of boring card games, please and thank you.

And speaking of Shadow Games + boring card games, Jounouchi should have won his duel against Malik, idgaf. He can still (temporarily) die, but I would make that final attack connect, because he won that duel through sheer skill, and I’m still salty that he was robbed, tbh. The Sun Dragon Ra should have been his, without a doubt.

Lastly, as an overall thing, on top of giving the ladies more to do in the plot/giving them justice where it was needed, I would have removed a lot of the gross content that does pervade the manga. Things like a background joke of Jounouchi and Honda lifting Anzu’s skirt in chapter three, or Jouji’s entire character (he can be there as a baby, but he doesn’t need to talk or constantly hit on Anzu, especially since he’s a baby), or how Anzu was groped during the electric chair ride during Death-T (disgusting). Things like that don’t add anything of value to the manga and aren’t necessary to the plot at all, so I would remove them. Again, the manga is better than this. Takahashi is better than this. Let’s prove it.

[elexica]

Second Chance Christmas {{ December 22 }}

Holiday shopping, Christmas cookies, and a movie marathon... and maybe a touch of actual communication?

https://archiveofourown.org/works/27832405/chapters/68577144#workskin

Full chapter under the read more. 

Joey wandered downstairs at seven in the morning.  He was surprised to see Kaiba inspecting the to-do list on his fridge in between long swigs from his KC branded mug.

“You haven’t finished holiday shopping?!” Kaiba’s panic-whisper sounded like he was really concerned about whether Christmas was ruined.  His eye contact was almost frenetic.

“I thought I’d leave the kids with Serenity while I do the shopping, she’s supposed to be working the Christmas day shift at the hospital, so she was going to have a couple nights off… I mean it’s not…” Joey looked at the ceiling, as if he could avoid conflict if he didn’t meet the burning blue flames in his ex’s eyes.  He steeled himself with a deep inhale.  “It’s not as much of a production when you’re not here.”

The KC mug hit the kitchen island with not-insubstantial force.  The fruit dish shook with the vibration, bananas swinging from the hook, and Joey tore his eyes from the ceiling to see the drops of black coffee that had hit the granite.  

“And what, exactly, is that supposed to mean?” Kaiba asked, or rather hissed, without a questioning lilt in his voice.

Joey cracked his knuckles involuntarily.  Instead of letting his fingers ball into fists, he jerked open the refrigerator door and yanked out the carton of orange juice.

“You’re a smart man.  I’m sure you can guess.”  Joey didn’t look away from the task at hand.  He militantly focused on pouring orange juice into a tall clean glass.

And there was that sinister “Kaiba” gravel, every bit as menacing as it had ever been as he hissed over the kitchen counter, “Enlighten me.”  He sounded like Yugi’s troubled teen nemesis again.

Joey flipped around, gripping the orange juice to keep himself from saying too much that he would regret.  “Things are more mellow, now.  It isn’t about going overboard to prove a point.”

Kaiba blinked, clearly expecting a harsher phrasing. “Is it now?”

“Yeah.  When I was a kid I didn’t have much for Christmas and I came out just fine…”  Here it comes, Joey thought, trying not to show the hesitation in his voice as he finished, “They don’t have to be spoiled rotten.”

Joey smirked as he said it.  Commenting on their different parenting styles was a low blow, but it had been just too much fun.  Joey thought regret would drop into his stomach, but it never hit.  Instead, his heart jumped a little, the thrill of getting a rise out of Kaiba as seductive as ever.

“Spoiled?!” Kaiba’s voice lowered in volume and tone.  Joey didn’t even try to suppress his mocking grin.  Instead, he chugged the rest of his orange juice, slammed down the glass and bolted from the kitchen.

“Get back here!” Kaiba said.  Tonally, it was a shout, but volume-wise?  Neither of them wanted the kids to wake up quite yet, even though there were probably only minutes left on the clock in that regard.

Joey slid on his socks as he ran down the hallway, drifting as he took a sharp turn.  Kaiba sprang to life, suddenly in hot pursuit.

Kaiba was fast, with those long, toned legs and that Terminator-like determination.  But he hadn’t spent the last three years wrangling toddlers and chasing after Alexis, who just loved wandering off at the most inopportune times.  Plus, while Kaiba had memorized the floor plan at one time, Joey was recently and intimately familiar with it.  

The tie breaker was the stairs—with a carved bannister that had seen better days, days before Atticus had been allowed poster paint and before Alexis had taken a tap class.  Finally, Joey’s socks gambit came to bite him in the ass as the smoothness of the glossy wooden stairs and the lack of traction from the socks caused him to slip.  And that wave of tripping Joey collided into a scampering Kaiba, and the two of them tumbled down the stairs.

The resulting clatter woke the kids up.

. . .

The mall was a zoo—minus the organization.  Children were everywhere, and somehow all screaming at once.  Everyone looked stressed, perhaps the employees most of all.  And Joey realized that he didn’t really have a strategy.

Leaving the kids home with Kaiba was a luxury, and he had sort of forgotten how nice it was to have back up childcare that wasn’t molded around Serenity’s shifts as an RN.  It was sort of strange too, because it was one of the few things that was completely new.

Before they separated, Kaiba never watched the kids alone—they had a full staff for that.

Would they all have a miserable time?  Joey smirked to himself as he strolled past another festive display—a family of mannequins in matching flannel pajamas. Being outnumbered by the kids could be quite a problem, and although Alexis had lone wolf tendencies, when they combined forces the two were quite powerful.

Joey idly imagined what sort of hell they might put Kaiba through as he shopped for some small things to put in their stockings. He was knocked out of his reverie by eyes fell upon a yo-yo display at the toy store.

After picking up a few small trinkets—and decidedly no yo-yo’s, Joey approached the cash register.

He was not pleased to find an unfamiliar credit card in his wallet.  When did Kaiba even have the time to slip that in?  Joey ran his thumb over the raised letters of his own name.  Did Kaiba just have these lying around? In any case, Joey steadfastly refused to use it, tucking the heavy black card back into the recesses of his worn leather wallet.

He contemplated, momentarily, throwing it in one of the trash bins that he passed by, overflowing with spent holiday Starbucks cups and overly long receipts.  But if someone did get ahold of it, they might ring up some charges that could look like Joey was actually using the card.  It would ruin the integrity of the refutation.

But the little rectangular siren was hard to keep from his mind.  Every time he made a purchase, there it was, tempting him to draw from an unlimited account.  Snap shut the golden handcuffs again, the card whispered. Make everything easier.

But Joey Wheeler was a determined man.  Detractors might use the phrase stubborn, but it didn’t matter which one was more accurate.  When he had a plan, he stuck to it.  To the bitter end.  So even though he was pushing the admittedly fragile budget to it’s limits at the music store and on Cyber Angel card packs, it remained sealed away.

Until he passed a very sad looking fundraiser.

Joey considered, as he lingered past the charity drive seeking toys for a group home for teens in the Bronx, that he might put the card to use.  He realized he seemed a little off, staring down the charity workers, who were dressed as unconvincing elves, with the big collection boxes.

Joey had a timetable.  He had a not unimpressive list still remaining.  But that fucking card was burning a hole in his pocket.  It was practically radiating heat.

But he caved.  He lost the battle with the black card when he emptied the local game shop’s entire stock of new model-duel disks and donated them.  Joey was trembling as he signed them over, what the name of the donor would be.

He settled on anonymous and determined that he would cut the card into fifty pieces the second he got home and scatter the shards through the trash.  The damn thing was too tempting.

By the time Joey pulled into the driveway and slammed open the front door, he was ready to fight about what had happened.

But his family wasn’t immediately in view.  The lights in the kitchen were on, and Joey could hear soft classical covers of Christmas music and he thought he could make out the sound of Alexis laughing.

The wind was knocked out of him when he turned the corner to see Kaiba’s black turtleneck splattered with flour.

The whole kitchen had taken a beating.  Flour hadn’t just tarnished Kaiba’s polished look—it had dusted the cabinets and part of the fridge Kaiba must not have realized how easily dry ingredients spray from the stand mixer if dropped in first.

The kitchen counters certainly were not spared from the ingredient massacre.  The entire kitchen island was covered in flour, some spilled food dye—which Joey could already sense would never come out of the granite—and a surprising amount of raw egg.

Upon further inspection, Kaiba was actually the one least impacted by the ingredient apocalypse.  There was sugar and frosting all over Alexis’s face—how, Joey might never know—and Atticus had managed to paint some of his hair blue with blue frosting.

“Alright.  Cookies are decorated and prepared for Mr. Claus, fulfilling your contractual obligations,” Kaiba said resolutely, as if he had not turned their living space into a warzone. “What is next on the festive itinerary?”

“First rule of Christmas: you must get munk’d!” Atticus announced.

Joey knocked on the boundary wall of the kitchen to announce his arrival.  He expected Kaiba to look much more surprised than he did.  Instead, Kaiba’s affectionate attention merely pivoted between Atticus and Joey.  It was warm and familial, and it sent a pang of heat and guilt and maybe something else down Joey’s spine.

“Next is getting this cleaned up, I think,” Joey said, finding himself in uncharted territory.  It felt weird to be the responsible one out of him and Kaiba.  He still wasn’t used to being the buzzkill parent, and he didn’t like it.

Kaiba could have said something mean—made some comment about would spoil the fun, but instead he nodded politely.  “Yes,” Kaiba surveyed the room.  “I think that would be the next step.”

While the kids groaned at the thought of helping with the chores component of the activity, Joey went to inspect the output.

Apparently, Kaiba had lead the kids through the process of making gingerbread men.  Four were set aside and logically decorated to be their family: a stretched out one with blue blobs for eyes and a little black gel icing frown, a slightly more squished one with yellow on top in some sort of approximation of Joey’s hair, and two smaller ones representing each kid.

They really did look like a family.

“You can’t eat those ones,��� Kaiba instructed from over Joey’s shoulder.  Joey startled at the interruption.  He hadn’t realized his ex had gotten so close, and was looming over him properly.  

“I figured they might be a little special.”

“Frankly, I don’t know that I’m comfortable with Santa eating them.  I’m a bit worried he’d just bite my head off, and leave him as an example to the others.”

Joey laughed.

“I don’t think Santa’s supposed to leave death threats to the cookies, Kaiba.  But uh…” Joey reached for another plate which had not been as lovingly decorated.  He tore the little head of a random gingerbread man with this teeth, and noted the nice flavor.  Butter and molasses and a hint of cloves.  He placed the decapitated body of the gingerbread man back down on the display plate. “This guy’ll scare the rest of ‘em straight.”

. . .

After everyone had gotten cleaned up and changed into pajamas (and Joey had discretely moved the gifts into the master bedroom closet), the family reconvened in the living room.

“Oto-san, are you ready for the greatest movies ever made?” Atticus announced.  He seemed confident that his father wasn’t ready—and he was right. “Are you ready to get… ‘munk’d?”

Kaiba poked at his reading glasses and adjusted his laptop screen.  He had been working on some spreadsheets or something, but his interest was obviously piqued.

Joey smiled.  He knew exactly what Kaiba was in for, and he was going to savor it.

“Munk’d?” Kaiba repeated back carefully, as if he was worried it was a swear or a slur.

“Yeah!” Atticus grabbed the remote and deftly navigated the SmartTV through a few different apps before finding exactly what he was looking for. “It’s a quadrilogy.”

Kaiba slowly tiled his laptop screen down.  “That’s not a word.”

“I have an inventive spirit, Oto-san!” Atticus’s smile beamed forward as he continued to queue the feature film.  Without looking away from the screen, Atticus added, “Just like you.”

The soft smile that graced Kaiba’s features stung at Joey immediately.  And it vanished at the first pitchy note of the CGI Alvin and the Chipmunks warbling through Daniel Powter’s 2005 hit, “Bad Day.”

“See, they’re kids, but they’re also rock stars!” Atticus enthused.  Before Kaiba could get out any other response, Atticus cracked up at the vintage CGI creatures jumping into a muffin basket.

“It’s okay if you don’t like this one, Oto-san,” Alexis offered, hopping up on the couch on the other side.  “They get better when they introduce the Chipettes in the Squeakquel.”

Joey wished he had photographed the resulting look of horror on Kaiba’s face.

Joey leaned back in his own arm chair, nursing a fresh mug of hot cocoa.  “Quadrilogy, Kaiba.  That means there are four of them.”

After the first movie, the kids we already starting to wear down a little.  Kaiba had sat through the entire thing, undulating between puzzled and disturbed at the dated animation, the fact that the chipmunks had managed to get into and out of a dishwasher unharmed, and that the moral of the movie appeared to be that brothers should be very careful about who adopts them.

“This entire thing could have been prevented if the Chipmunks had just retained counsel before signing the relevant contracts,” Kaiba said dismissively.

Joey couldn’t help but laugh.  “It’s about family, Kaiba.”

Any further discussion was cut off by the raucous opening music for the Squeakquel and ninety-ish minutes later, Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked.

It was a true Christmas miracle that the kids passed out on the couch before the start of Alvin and the Chipmunks 4: The Road Chip.

Joey met Kaiba’s slightly tired eyes.  Admittedly, the ending of Chipwrecked was somewhat jarring.  Frankly, the entire thing was more of a fever dream mixed with memes from 2011 than a sensible film.  “Alright, I’ll take Alexis, if you can take Atticus?”

Kaiba nodded solemnly, accepting the delegation.

Alexis was usually pretty easy to get to sleep, though sometimes she was anxious from the day’s events, or too busy planning the next day to focus on getting to bed.  Joey was not at all surprised that Kaiba was taking longer to get Atticus down for the night.  He peered through the cracked door to see Atticus’s room illuminated by the little nightlight—shaped like a music note.

In the dim light, it was clear that Kaiba was sitting on the edge of Atticus’s bed.  Atticus was all tucked in, holding his Red Eyes Black Dragon plushie, and gazing up at his father.

“And every night when you go to sleep…” Seto prompted, sounding almost like a strict teacher.

“I am loved,” Atticus replied.

“And every morning when you wake up?” Seto started the second part of the call and response.

“I am loved,” Atticus answered, “Oto-san, you don’t have to say it every night when you’re around!  I know you love me.”

“It is important to me that you never doubt it, and never forget it.  Even when I’m not around.”  Joey’s heart could have melted in that second.

Atticus laughed.  “You’re so sappy, Oto-san.  I don’t know why Uncle Honda calls you a frozen bastard!”  

Joey could barely muffle his reaction.

Kaiba’s face whipped around to the cracked open door.  “Jounouchi?”  He whispered harshly.  But it was to no real effect.  Joey was already lost to laughter, and dashed through the hallway.  By the time Joey dared to retrace his steps back to Atticus’s door frame, Kaiba had vanished.  

. . .

It was not hard to guess where Kaiba had retreated to.  Joey pushed open the door of the study and was met with the increasingly familiar sight of his ex-husband in his oxblood leather chair, swirling a glass of expensive, aged, imported whiskey in his long fingers and staring at it like it held the secrets of the universe.

“I saw you with Atticus,” Joey offered, wandering into the study.  He looked more at the full shelves of books than at his ex.  Most of the volumes were in Japanese, but a select few were in English.  Warren Buffet’s autobiography was open on his lap, but Joey was fairly sure he wasn’t actually reading it.

“Yes,” Kaiba answered, flipping the page.   No, Joey was sure he hadn’t actually read it, his eyes never really left the swirling amber.

“And he musta overheard a call with Honda.  It wasn’t on purpose or anything.”

Kaiba nodded wordlessly.

“You really do miss them, huh?” Joey asked, trying not to sound as nostalgic as he felt.

Kaiba’s face remained stoic, but he took a sip of the whiskey instead of answering.  Only that asshole could make something so mundane utterly captivating.  Joey hated that he would wait for a response as long as he needed to.  Joey’s eyes searched the hand clasping the glass, and noted with a brutal sinking feeling, that the ring was off again.

“Why are you here, Jounouchi?” Kaiba asked finally.

“It’s my house, now.  I can go anywhere I want,” Joey announced.  Kaiba ignored this answer, and turned his head down to the book on his lap.  He flipped another page.

Joey considered whether he should just leave, skip out on the argument, avoid it all and properly give up.  Let his ex-husband drink his gross fancy liquor and read his boring book and luxuriate in the solitude as only Seto Kaiba could.

But it had been three years.  Three years of not demanding answers.  Three years with no clarity.  So Joey broke the silence.

“Why didn’t you fight for me?  For our family?  Even for a second?” Joey felt the heat in his own voice, burning the back of his throat.  That was how it was, fighting with Kaiba.  A never ending battle of fire and ice.

Kaiba was silent, and took a long sip of the Japanese whiskey.  He closed the book, which was more respect than Joey had anticipated.

“That’s what broke my heart, really.”  Tears threatened to fall out of Joeys eyes as he said it. “That I told you that it was over, and you couldn’t spare one shred of anger, or sadness, or anything.”  Joey hated the pleading tone in his own voice.  “It felt like you had already dumped me.”

Kaiba raised his glance from the book cover, the amber glass, and instead looked him dead in the eye.  Joey wondered if those blue eyes had always been so lifeless and hollow.  “So, you wanted me to argue with you?”

“I don’t know,” Joey answered, running a hand through his messy blond hair.  He hadn’t planned the whole argument out.  Frankly, he hadf didn’t expect any response.

“Our children didn’t need to watch that,” Kaiba said.

“Watch what?  A conversation?  An argument?  You think it would have been worse for them to hear their parents argue or yell once than… going through a whole fucking divorce?” Joey’s volume crept up and he was done controlling it.

Kaiba didn’t answer.  He looked into the glass again, but didn’t lift it.

“Or what?  What couldn’t they see?  You actually respect my time?  Respect me?” Joey wasn’t used to having the rhetorical upper hand, and he wasn’t going to waste it, gesticulating wildly.  “I got no respect my whole life, I wasn’t gonna let my kids see me treated like that too.”

For all the theatrics, Kaiba scarcely responded.

“Watch it happen again,” Kaiba almost whispered.  There was a ghostly quality to the statement, as if Kaiba neither meant to say it nor for Joey to hear it.  Kaiba cleared his throat and started again.  He brought his eyes back up to meet Joey’s.

“I learned that lesson a long time ago,” Kaiba’s jaw was clenched so tightly the words almost didn’t escape.  “I’m not trying to be loved by someone who doesn’t love me.” Kaiba’s fingers twitched, as if he wanted to fiddle with something.  But his control and focus wouldn’t let him give in.

For Joey’s part, he stood and tried to absorb these complete non-sequiturs.

“I can’t, and I won’t, try to force or trick you or anyone else into caring about me.  I have paid dearly for that miscalculation before.  I will not make the same mistake again.”  

For all of the “slow” comments he had been subjected to over the years, Joey caught up quickly enough to what Kaiba was referring to.  And he wasn’t going to let him play that card, get out of all responsibility because he had emotional constipation.

“You realize there’s a difference between someone asking you to be a better partner and… and not loving you anymore.  Asking you to adjust some things instead of… never wanting to see you again.  Things aren’t just black and white!” Joey answered.

“Divorce papers are black and white, Jounouchi.”  Kaiba finally downed the rest of the glass, the lilt of his voice the same as a “check mate.”

Joey hated to be the first to raise his voice but that door had already been opened.  He wasn’t going to be able to get the toothpaste back in the tube.

“Have you met you?! You wouldn’t listen to anything less!  And I tried!” Joey shouted, hands raised defensively.

“I wasn’t going to stay where I wasn’t wanted, and you made it very clear that you didn’t want to be with me.”  Kaiba didn’t answer with the same volume, but the intensity was raised and the harshness of his voice was jarring.  His eyes narrowed like a hawk eying prey.  “I didn’t change, for the record.  I did not degrade or fail or alter in any way.  No, I stayed exactly the same.  You simply decided you did not want that anymore.”

“You’re damn right, I was sick of being disrespected.  I spent a lot of time not wanting to feel that way anymore.  And you really wouldn’t take my feelings into consideration.  Was I supposed to tolerate that forever?” Joey’s volume increased with every clipped sentence.

Kaiba’s voice became more languid—as if he was more comfortable responding to the anger.  He sounded somewhat like he was pondering his answer as he said it.  Drunk on whiskey and a philosophical sense.  “Isn’t that what you promised you would do?  What unconditional love is supposed to be?  Unconditional: without conditions.  And yet, after years, suddenly you have conditions—"

“Excuse me?” Joey interrupted.

“You promised.  That your love for me, for our family, was unconditional.  And then, years later, you have a set of demands.  That is the very essence of a condition.”  Kaiba finished the glass with his scholarly speech, placing it next to the decanter.  He shoved the book onto the side table as well.

“There’s a difference between not loving someone and wanting to be treated like your damn husband.”  Kaiba’s tone rubbed off on him somewhat, as if it was a scholarly discussion about the terms of their marriage.  Like if he could just explain it clearly enough, he could talk his husband back into their marriage.

Kaiba kept his hands busy pouring another glass.  “Well you were right.  You’re doing better now, aren’t you?  Enjoying your work, the kids are fine.  You proved it—you don’t need me at all.  And you don’t want me.  In three days, I’ll be gone, and you can go back to your better way of life.”

“It’s not—I’m not better now!  I’m fine, things are fine, just different and—” Joey stuttered, hands defensively raised.  “And, and having you here has been... It hasn’t made anything worse.  It’s like you changed for the better.”

“I don’t change, Jounouchi.  I am who I am.” Kaiba said, the cruel air of finality sounding as much like a business decision as anything else.  

Joey’s eyes widened and he gestured wildly.  “Fuck, Kaiba… Then what’s this?!  You’ve made it for three days actually being… just, present.  For once.  Three years too late.  Why?  Why now and not then?”

Kaiba shrugged and looked away.

Joey closed the distance, looming over his ex-husband, perched in the chair.  “I know why,” Joey said, menace in his voice.  “It’s because you only respond to threats.  Consequences.  And now you know the consequences, so you’re getting your act together.”

Kaiba met his eyes, but looked brutally tired.  “I am trying to give you what you want for a few days, Jounouchi.  Call it a Christmas present to the father of my children.”

“You’re saying this is an act?”

He titled his head all the way back, eyes glued to the ceiling and thumb and forefinger pinching his nose bridge, just above the wire of his glasses.  “I don’t know what this is, Jounouchi.  Just be happy, or whatever, and leave me in peace.”

Joey really thought about leaving.  He wanted to.  But he wasn’t quite done, not really, and he’d been avoiding this fight for years.  Joey never used to back down from a fight, and neither did Kaiba.  It brought them to blows for years, and the avoidance of conflict had been more sickening than any gut-punch Joey had ever taken.

“I’m not gonna.”  Joey said, simply.  Hands on his hips, standing his ground.

Kaiba leaned up again, head snapping to attention, hand already on the crystal decanter.  “What?”

“Leave.  I’m not gonna do it.  You can try to make me.  I’m not done, alright?!  You’re obviously not done,” Joey pushed forward, grabbing Kaiba’s wrist and pulling his hand off of the decanter.  “Make it easy.  Say you’ll be better, Kaiba.”

“I won’t do that.  I don’t change, Jounouchi, because I can’t change.”  Kaiba did nothing with his wrist, except allow it to go limp in Joey’s grasp.  It was as if he was that confident in the strength of his words that he didn’t so much as care to tense a muscle.  “I will ask you once more, nicely.  Get out of my office.”

“No.” Joey dropped his wrist, and Kaiba retracted it into his lap.  “You can change.  You did.  You just didn’t notice.”  It felt good, Joey thought, being honest for once with this man that he used to love.

“I have work.”

“You don’t.  They can’t fire you.” Joey got up in his face, so close he could smell Kaiba’s shampoo.  Other than the soft sandalwood scent, it felt a bit like when he was riling up a rival high school bully back in Domino.  “Fight me!  Make me leave!  You want me to go so bad?  Then make me!”

Kaiba smirked, knowingly.  Then he leaned his head back against the chair.  His bangs fully eclipsed his eyes. “I won’t.  I’ll just sleep here.” There it was again.  The checkmate tenor.

“Fine!” Joey plopped down in the seat next to him, the velvet of his matching seat just soft enough.  “Then I’ll sleep here too.”

If Kaiba shifted his eyes to check, Joey couldn’t tell under the thick brown bangs.   In any case, the stubborn ass didn’t get up.  He didn’t storm off or leave.  He just stayed there, like a determined rock under Joey’s constant observation.

After about half an hour, Joey heard the even breathing pick up into a light snore.

In the morning, Kaiba awoke alone in the guest room, with no memory of how he got there.