Queer As Tachi – Chapter 51
Duke swiftly answered the knock at his door to find Tristan there as expected, right on time, a bag in one hand and his helmet under the other arm. The sight made him smile in his usual sultry way. “Hey.”
“Hey,” Tristan said back, lifting up the plastic bag. “Dessert.”
“I hope you picked something good,” Duke chided him, taking the bag and peering inside.
“Sorry about the decorations on top,” Tristan groaned as he stepped inside and slipped off his shoes. “There wasn’t a single cake or cookie in the whole bakery that didn’t have some kind of fluffy pink Valentine’s message on it.
“Eh, don’t worry about it. What’s this?” Duke fumbled in the grocery bag and pulled out the bag of ground coffee.
“Oh! Uh…” Tristan set his helmet aside and grinned sheepishly. “I got you a little something. I know how much you like the fancy coffee.”
“Really?” Duke examined the label and then breathed deeply of the minty aroma coming from the little bag. “Ooo, this should be good stuff. Thanks, Tristan.” He turned and led the way into his flat, through to the kitchen where he was still busy preparing dinner. “That’s thoughtful of you. And much better than what I got you.”
Tristan’s eyebrows raised. “What? You got me something?”
“Yeah, it’s in there,” Duke shrugged with a toss of his head towards the dining table in the next room. “On the table.”
Tristan stepped up and looked in to find a vase sitting in the center of the table. The sight made him grin and almost laugh. “You got me flowers.”
“I didn’t know if you were a flower kind of guy,” Duke shyly admitted from behind him, as he went about unpacking the grocery bag and putting the coffee out of the way. “It’s okay if you don’t like them. I wasn’t sure, I just got them on a whim.”
“Nah, it’s okay,” Tristan assured. “I like them. It’s just funny…” He turned back to Duke and favored him with a stupid grin. “I was debating whether to get you flowers.”
Duke grinned over his shoulder. “That would have been girly overload in here. I like the coffee, though. That’s cool that you remembered. Maybe I’ll make some to go with dessert.”
“Sure,” Tristan shrugged, coming closer to him and peering over his shoulder at the stove. “So what’re you making? Anything I can help you with?”
“No, it’s okay. I’ve got it,” Duke said. “I never get to cook for more than one anymore, you know.”
“I didn’t know you could cook at all.”
Duke glanced back at him with a cool smile. “How long have I been taking care of myself? I don’t survive on just take-out, you know.” He gave the stir-fry another stir and quickly checked the rice. “I learned to cook when I was really young – sometimes, I was the only one around to make dinner. If I didn’t do it, no one would.”
Tristan leaned on the opposite counter from him to watch him be domestic. “You never really talk much about your family life,” he noted.
“There’s not much to tell,” Duke said quietly. “My dad’s gone, my mom figures that if I’m old enough to run my own business, I’m old enough to take care of myself. End of story.” He turned down the heat on the burner and stood there staring into the pan for a moment. “I haven’t even told her about us, yet.”
Tristan shrugged stiffly. “We haven’t told anyone about us yet. Not that there’s much to tell.”
Duke turned away from the stove and leaned on the counter beside it, so he could face his companion. “Tristan…there’s something I want to talk to you about.”
“Uh oh. Famous last words.”
They both gave a little chuckle at that, but then Duke sobered and stared at the floor. “It’s just…the times we’ve been together…well, I’ve had a lot of fun…”
Tristan groaned. “But?”
Duke blinked at him. “What do you mean, ‘but?’ I wasn’t going to say that.”
“Usually, that phrase is followed by a ‘but.’ ‘But I don’t like you that way, but I don’t think it’ll work out…’” He peered at Duke. “You didn’t mean it like that?”
“No, stupid. Just hear me out, okay?” Duke gave him a shy sort of frown. “I was going to say…I like being with you. More than I thought I would. It’s like…I don’t have to pretend, or try hard to charm you, I can just be myself, because we were already friends before we started this.” He averted his gaze to the floor again. “I know it’s kind of soon, we haven’t been going out all that long, but…I kind of want to…” He sighed and decided to just say it straightforwardly. “I want to start seeing you exclusively.”
Tristan’s eyes widened. “Exclusively? Like…”
“Not dating anyone else,” Duke finished for him. “Yeah. Not that I’ve been seeing anyone else, but…” He shrugged in his shy manner. “I think I know now that…I don’t really need to keep my options open in case something else comes along. I like what I’ve got, and what I’ve got is…you.” He lifted his gaze and focused directly on Tristan, a little light of worry in his green eyes. “If you’re ready, that is. I know it might be tough for you, since you…well, you never really were looking for a boyfriend.”
“Maybe not.” Tristan lowered his eyes away from that keen gaze while he considered it. “Duke…how many times have we gone out since Christmas?”
Duke folded his arms as he thought about it. “Five, I think. Not counting the time you came over here to watch the tournament.”
“That’s enough time, don’t you think? To know that I’m comfortable with you, that I like when we’re together and when we’re not I can’t stop thinking about you?” Tristan looked across at him to find Duke staring back in interest. “I don’t know what it is. You’re right, I’m not really interested in guys and never wanted a boyfriend instead of a girlfriend. But…earlier today I…” He smiled in embarrassment. “I was just walking down the street and said to myself that I loved you. It was so natural, it just slipped out. And it’s not a word I’m used to using a lot.” He shook his head slowly. “It hasn’t even been two months, and I find myself always thinking about when I’m going to see you again, or talk to you. Even those short little phone calls you make after I get home from work, just to say hi and talk about maybe doing something on the weekend…”
Duke smiled more strongly. “The time doesn’t matter. We’ve been friends for a couple of years, we already know a lot about each other, and we’ve had more than our share of fights and craziness. It’s like we could do away with that whole getting-to-know-you phase and just jump right into the…”
“Sex?”
“Well, I was going to say seriousness, but that works too,” Duke said wryly. “Now that you mention it, though…” He peered curiously at Tristan. “You’re not put off by the sex at all?”
“No, I’m not,” Tristan said honestly. “You’re…uh…” He blushed furiously. “You’re really hot. And you haven’t pushed me into it, you’ve been patient and careful and…that helps.” He chuckled nervously. “I’ve slept with you more than any other person, ever.”
Duke frowned at the floor for a brief moment. “Just sleeping with someone isn’t a relationship,” he murmured. “There’s lots of people, straight and gay both, who sleep around and don’t care. But I wanted to say before you got the wrong idea that…I’m not one of those people.” He gave Tristan a timid smile. “I like you. I want to give it a chance, see where it goes. I think we’ve got a good thing going, and I don’t want to lose it.”
He noticed, then, that he needed to be keeping an eye on the food so it wouldn’t overcook, and turned quickly to the stove to take care of it. After a moment’s silence, he felt Tristan come up behind him, and his large hand came down onto Duke’s slender shoulder. “I like you too,” he said quietly. “You don’t know how great it is to hear you say that. I was really hoping that I wasn’t getting my heart too involved just in case you were only into a casual fling.”
Duke smiled to himself while he stirred the food. “Going to bed with you five…six…er, seven times,” he counted off with a groan, “isn’t casual.” He glanced over his shoulder at Tristan. “So, you want to make it official? We’re going out with each other?”
“Yeah. I’d like that.” Tristan hooked an arm around his shoulders and hugged him back into himself for just a moment, leaving Duke’s arms free to handle dinner. “But I guess that means we’d better tell the others. We can’t keep that a secret anymore.”
“No, you’re right,” Duke concurred. “It’s time.” He switched off the stove and moved things around in preparation to bring it all to the table and get dinner off to a start. “It’s been hard enough not letting on that we’ve been seeing each other. It would be impossible to do that if we want to be boyfriends.”
“And I have no intention of keeping you a secret anyway,” Tristan said with a playful growl, hugging Duke back against him once more before letting him go so he could serve dinner. “Yugi and Joey are my best friends. I want them to know. I hate sneaking around behind their backs, it was so hard trying to tell Yugi that I couldn’t hang out with him tonight because I was seeing somebody. They have a right to know.” He stepped back out of the way and leaned on the counter again, giving Duke the space to take out plates and utensils and start carrying things into the next room. “But how are we going to do it? I don’t want them to freak out because we’ve been going out for two months and didn’t tell them.”
Duke frowned thoughtfully as he arranged the table, aware that Tristan had followed him into the doorway to hear his answer. “Well, when’s the next full moon? Do you know?”
Tristan looked stumped. “Uh…about a week and a half, I think. I don’t know exactly which day.” He looked around for the nearest calendar, but didn’t find one.
“So…right before my birthday,” Duke guessed. “Perfect! How about this…” He stepped up to Tristan and draped his arms over his shoulders. “We’ll get the gang together to party for my birthday, and do it on the day Yami’s out of the Puzzle. That way, we’ll have him and Yugi to back us up when we give them all the big news.”
Tristan’s brow twitched curiously. “You think they’ll do that?”
“Yugi can’t possibly be freaked out by any of his friends announcing that they’re playing on the same team,” Duke reasoned. “If he did, that would make him the biggest hypocrite ever. And if anyone’s going to understand and be a nice, calming, rational presence, it’s the pharaoh. He won’t freak out. As long as we do it in front of him, he’ll back us up. I’m sure of it. And Yugi too,” he added smartly.
“I’m not worried so much about Yugi,” Tristan said seriously. “It’s Joey. He and I have been friends a really long time, longer than either of us have known Yugi. It might be a bad shock to him to find out that after all our years of mutually chasing girls and ogling girls and talking about girls that…I’ve given up on girls.” His hands rested lightly on Duke’s waist, as they stood gazing at each other in the doorway. “Not that I don’t think he’s understanding, it’s just…he might be a little shocked by it.”
Duke fixed him with a doubtful frown. “Joey’s not a homophobe, is he?”
“No, no,” Tristan said reassuringly. “I mean, he’s cool with Yugi and Yami. And he’s a good friend. I’m probably just worried over nothing,” he added with a sheepish grin. “I’ve just never done this before.”
Duke gave him a wry, understanding smile. “Yeah, you’re coming out,” he noted. “That’s a big step for anybody. It’s okay. If it’s going to be tough, then all the better for us to do it with some really good friends around to support us.”
“Yeah. I think you’re right.”
Duke looked seriously up at him, and then set a hand on his cheek and leaned in to kiss him lightly on the lips. “It takes a lot of courage to decide to come out,” he said. “But if Yugi can do it, so can we.” He let his hand linger for a moment before drawing himself out of Tristan’s arms and going to get the rest of the food. “All right, it’s time for dinner. Sit down, I’m sure you’re dying of hunger by now.”
“It does smell really good.” Tristan went to the table and moved the vase of flowers aside, so they would be able to see each other across the middle of the table. He paused long enough to give them a reverent sniff before depositing them safely out of the way. By then Duke had brought everything else, and encouraged him with a smile to sit down. “That’s right,” Tristan said as they sat across from each other and dug in. “Your birthday’s coming up fast. You’re gonna be an old man.”
“Yeah right,” Duke snorted. “I’ll be able to buy you beer, how about that?”
“You already do.”
Duke smirked at him as he offered the rice. “How does it feel to have an older boyfriend?”
Tristan smirked back. “Older by two months does not count.”
Duke laughed as he served himself in turn. “Man, everybody’s coming of age this year. First Joey, then us, and eventually Yugi. We’re going to have so many parties this year…”
“Well, we did all go to school together.” Tristan grinned at him. “If all those stupid girls who turned me down could see me now…”
“I bet I probably stole one or two of them away from you,” Duke said in amusement. “Not on purpose.”
“Not like Serenity,” Tristan muttered.
Duke set down his chopsticks before he could even take a bite and folded his arms, leaning on the table. “Okay, once and for all,” he said directly. “I never actually went out with Serenity. We had one date, that was it. And it wasn’t even really a date date, I showed her around town and we had dinner but that was it. It never went anywhere after that.” He stared across the table with all due seriousness. “I just chased her for the same reason you did – because she was cute, and she was there. But if you think about it, after a while, you and I both chasing her became less about her than about each other. It wasn’t that either of us wanted her, we just wanted to spite each other.” He waved a hand curtly. “It’s over now. Finished. Competing with you for some girl’s attention only brought us to a stalemate. I should have realized it then.” His smirk returned as he picked up his chopsticks to begin. “It was setting the stage for all of this.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Tristan sighed, resuming his dinner. “I crushed on her a bit, but I don’t have your confidence. I never got up the nerve to be myself around her. And by then…it was all past. It flew right by me, I woke up one morning and said ‘you know, I’m done with that. It’s time to move on.’”
Duke tapped his chopsticks on his plate as he pondered it. “Well, there was that one time. When you were finally honest with her about your complete lack of dueling skills.”
“Yeah, well,” Tristan mumbled, blushing, “mortal peril has a way of making a man honest.”
“Yeah…” Duke closed his eyes and smiled cutely. “I thought you were really brave.”
“Yeah?” Tristan grinned. “Anything else?”
“Well, I was honestly worried about you. And…hey!” Duke suddenly pouted. “You were completely useless! You left me to duel that guy all by myself! Don’t make this all about you, smartass.”
Tristan nodded coolly. “Yeah, I was waiting for that. Too good to be true.”
“Hey.” Duke reached across the table and took his hand, squeezing it firmly. His face had grown sober again, and his voice quieted. “You’ve always been there for your friends. That’s all that matters. You may not be the one dueling or saving the world, but your friends still need you, and you never let them down.” They both fell silent and still, then, hands joined. It was a nice moment to savor, and then both went back to their dinner. Tristan knew the subject had been forgiven and forgotten by the time Duke spoke up again. “Oh, by the way. You left your shirt here last time.”
“I did? Oh yeah, the button-up one. Oh well…”
“I washed it,” Duke admitted shyly. “It’s in the bedroom.”
“Well, good.” Tristan looked up and gave him a smile across the table. “I’m probably going to need it in the morning. If it gets to be another late night, that is.”
“Oh…I think that’s a pretty good possibility,” Duke said breezily. They glanced at each other, smiled knowingly, and resumed eating at a casual pace. After all, they had dessert, coffee, and a whole night ahead of them.
The Kaiba estate usually lurked behind its gated walls as a dark and unwelcoming shape, and tonight was no different. Most of the lights in the huge house were out, but for the glimmer of a tiny desk lamp in the first-floor study where the master of the estate was hard at work. Anyone who knew him wouldn’t be surprised at all to find that Kaiba spent all of his free time away from the office working just as much as if he were still at it, stopping only to eat or sleep. He had a particular reason for staying up late this night, though, which had nothing to do with work. Mokuba was out on his first date, for Valentine’s Day. Much as he didn’t exactly care to know how it went, Seto was an overprotective big brother and simply wanted to assure himself that Mokuba came home on time, none the worse for wear, and got to bed so he could get up for school in the morning. That, and he knew he’d get an earful about how it went anyway. There weren’t any major projects at KaibaCorp right now that benefited from the late work hours, so he occupied himself making projections for the next quarter and then looked into the weekly update on the KC wireless dueling platform. Kaiba took great satisfaction in being lord over this little online domain, but he perused the facts and statistics about the worldwide users subscribed to the network with a growing frown. He could learn enough to satisfy the stockholders and lawyers from these dry screens, but there was more he wanted to know, for his own personal interest. The number of active users online at any given time couldn’t really tell him whether or not they were having fun with his system. It was entering its third month of operation and already exploding in user subscriptions, perhaps partially due to Pegasus using it as a back door to get duelists from obscure locations to join his tournament. Yet, apart from Shandy’s flippant comment to him as he was heading for the car, he didn’t know if people actually liked it.
Shandy. The name flitted across his mind for a moment, giving him pause. She had essentially challenged him to a rematch, he remembered, even though he had been the loser in their fight. Kaiba stared at his computer screen, and then used his administrator’s powers to look up her account by her username. Sure enough, she spent a lot of time on the network. She hadn’t logged in that day, at least not yet, but had visited as recently as the day before and carried a win-loss record of thirty to two. Not bad, he found himself saying, before glaring at the screen. He was not about to forgive her for taking advantage of his distraction, making a mockery of his Blue Eyes, and defeating him like he was a mere amateur. A rematch sounded like a great idea, so he could prove to himself that it was a one-time shot and he hadn’t lost his touch. Yet, he considered his personal account with some shrewdness. If he popped onto the network and decloaked, legions of nerdy dueling fanboys would see “Kaiba1” on their lists and freak out, and he would be accosted by a thousand requests to duel that he had no intention of honoring. He wasn’t interested in using his own system for fun, it was part of work and his empire and thus needed his complete control and superiority over it. The “Kaiba1” username was his administrator’s key, he could use it to do just about anything he wanted with the network, but if he chose to seek out Shandy and demand that rematch, he couldn’t do it that way. It only took him a few seconds of thinking it over, his eyes on the screen showing the names of duelists logging in and out constantly, to come up with a simple solution. He needed a dummy username, a normal account like all the others, which he could use as a spy account. Not only could he surreptitiously contact Shandy when and if he wanted to, he could use it to anonymously troll the chat rooms and duel invitations to see how people used the system. And being the administrator, he could set up this account by hacking into his own system, bypassing the usual interface and the subscription fee. Kaiba began to grin smugly to himself as he typed away, aware of all the fun he could have with this spy account. He could find out for himself whether the network operated like he expected, if it was easy to use, if people could properly challenge each other and duel like he expected. It took one quick search of the user database to be sure he had a name that no one else was already using, and a cool smirk curved his lips as he entered, “Blue-Eyed-Dragon.”
An imaginary profile, some faked duel stats and creation date, and Kaiba was online like all the other geeks, lurking on one of the duel boards where people could go to set up invitations to duel. It looked a lot different at this level from what he was used to, as a silent ghost moderator who could keep an eye on the chats if he desired and ban violators with the swift hand of invisible justice. He knew the one flaw of the fledgling network was a serious lack of moderators who could patrol on a regular basis, and make sure the dueling network wasn’t being used for other illicit or illegal activities. Perhaps watching it from this perspective would give him some ideas on how to correct that oversight. He set himself to idle so he could just watch for a while, a window open at the side of his screen to show him people entering and exiting and chatting with each other about Duel Monsters and such while he worked on other, more intelligent things in the main window. Shandy was not on, nor did she log on at all that night, but he added her username to his new account’s watchlist in the expectation that someday, it would pay off.
Kaiba heard the main door open and close, and glanced at the time in the corner of his screen. Mokuba was not only home on time, he was a little early. As he expected, his younger brother came straight into the study after taking off his coat, calling out, “I’m home!”
“Yes, I could hear you,” Seto sniffed. “Well?”
Mokuba flopped onto the couch near to his brother’s desk, so Kaiba could see him over the laptop screen. “It sucked,” he declared bluntly, pouting. “I’m never going out on a date ever again.”
“Wouldn’t bother me if you didn’t,” Seto muttered. “Why? How bad could it have been?”
Mokuba leaned back against the couch and tilted his head back, sighing at the ceiling. “First of all, she wasn’t even interested in me…she just liked the fact that I’m rich. That was bad enough. But then she sat there and talked all night, just talked and talked and talked…about herself! I couldn’t get a word in, she just kept going on about how her family is in such and such business and she wants to be an actress, she’s into this and that. It was so annoying.” He straightened up and frowned at Seto. “I swear. She never asked me anything about me, except to make sure that I was your brother and had some kind of stake in KaibaCorp. After that, it was all about her.” He twitched with an imaginary shiver. “And then she tried to kiss me! As if! She was all moony and clingy and dragged me where she wanted to go, never once asked me if I’d like to do anything. I’m so glad I had to say that you wanted me home by a certain time, she wanted me to go to this dumb chick movie. Ugh. If that’s the way dating works, count me out. It was so dumb.”
Kaiba sat and continued to type, looking disinterested even though he did keep one ear open to listen to his brother’s tirade. As soon as Mokuba trailed off and sighed, Seto cracked the slightest smirk. “I warned you, didn’t I? That girls would only like you for your money.”
“All the girls at my school are like that,” Mokuba grumbled. “Everything’s a popularity contest with them. And you’re only popular if you’re cute, or you have money. And if you have both, jackpot.”
“What do you care?” Kaiba glanced up over the edge of his computer screen. “People like that aren’t worth your time, Mokuba. If they don’t want to deal with you, then you’re saved from the agony of having to deal with them. Forget about them.”
Mokuba glanced back at him, and then sighed tiredly. “I know,” he said, more quietly. “It’s just…I’m going to a real school because I want to meet people, I don’t want to stay closed up and locked away forever.”
“Like me?” Kaiba raised an eyebrow.
Mokuba quickly waved his hands. “I didn’t mean that, Seto! I meant…”
“I know what you meant.” Kaiba resumed typing, but was able to address his little brother at the same time. “You don’t have to take it back. I make no excuses about the way I am, Mokuba. If you want friends and girls and all that, that’s your choice and I’m not going to tell you differently. But there are reasons I close myself away from people. I don’t like them, and I don’t want to deal with them if I don’t have to.”
“And that’s fine for you,” Mokuba agreed, “but I’m younger than you. I have my whole life ahead of me, and all I have to do right now is learn stuff and make friends. And even though it probably freaks you out,” he added with a naughty grin, “I want to have a girlfriend someday. Sooner or later, you’re going to have to deal with it.”
Kaiba snorted. “Yeah, yeah,” he said, unconvinced. “At least it’s not going to be tonight.”
“No,” Mokuba pouted. “Stupid girl. I hope she doesn’t think I’m going to give her something on White Day just because she gave me chocolates. I’m not going out with her again.”
“I did say you were too young to go out on a date,” Seto reminded him in a low tone. “But you had to go and do it anyway.”
“Yeah, well…” Mokuba hopped up from the couch and went to lean on the desk instead, folding his arms and resting his chin on them so he could stare at his brother. “Thanks for waiting up for me. Now you can say ‘I told you so’ all you want, big brother.”
Kaiba sniffed arrogantly, but then after a moment, reached out and set a hand on Mokuba’s head, ruffling his hair. “As long as you learned your lesson. Girls are nothing but trouble.”
“No argument here. What’cha doing?” Mokuba eyed him. “You’re on the dueling network?”
The cool smile returned to Kaiba’s face. “I’m spying on our users. I want to see what they’re doing online when there are no moderators around to keep an eye on their behavior.”
“Sounds like fun.” Mokuba peered around the edge of the screen. “Ha ha! Nice name. ‘Blue-Eyed-Dragon.’ That’s so you.” His gaze returned to his brother’s stoic face. “Are you going to actually duel anybody with that name?”
Kaiba kept his eyes on the screen as he typed. “I falsified the duel records so I wouldn’t have to. I’ll look like some newbie with a pathetic record, someone no one will want to challenge.” He gave Mokuba a brief smirk. “You think I’d actually let myself lose a few duels just so no one would suspect a user with that name to be me?”
“Of course not,” Mokuba retorted. “Besides, the minute you accept a duel with anyone and switch to the wireless duel disk, they’ll hear your voice and know it’s you anyway.”
“That’s right.” Kaiba nodded and returned to his work. “It’s just so I can investigate the status of the network and how people are using it, and remain anonymous. Not so I can duel. I already have the Kaiba1 account anyway.” He flicked Mokuba another brief glance. “Do you want your own account?”
“Me? Nah.” Mokuba shrugged and lolled his head lazily on his arms. “You’re the duelist in the family, I’m just a spectator. I don’t really want to duel anybody.”
“Fine. Don’t say I didn’t ask.”
Mokuba glanced aside at the screen again, noticing the logged-in user’s buddy watchlist. There were only a handful of names on it, and he could pretty much guess who “KingofGames” was, but the rest were not familiar. “Who’s ‘ShandyCandy?’” he wondered.
Seto looked up sharply. “What?”
“On your buddy list.” Mokuba pointed at the names on the screen, none of which were logged in.
Kaiba frowned. “I just picked some names to put on the list,” he hastily explained. “So it would look like I’ve actually met and talked to people online.”
“Yeah, but I bet that one’s Yugi’s name,” Mokuba grinned, pointing to KingofGames.
Seto snorted again. “Gee, whatever gave you that idea?” he retorted sarcastically.
Mokuba pushed himself up from the desk and started away. “Well, I’m off to bed, I think. I want to forget all about the stupid date and just go to sleep. ‘Night, big brother. Don’t work too hard.”
Kaiba didn’t look up, but spoke over his shoulder as his fingers flew across the keyboard. “Good night, Mokuba.” He glanced at the window on the side of the screen again, and with a sigh, gave in to the fact that Shandy wasn’t coming online that night. He logged off and shut down the computer, taking his younger brother’s hint. Sleep was a much better proposition than stalking his nemesis any day.
The full moon came around about a week and a half after Valentine’s Day, on what to anyone else would be a random Wednesday in February, but to Yugi and Yami, it would be their day for each other. And for their friends, as plans had been made to celebrate Duke’s birthday a couple of days early so as to take advantage of Yami’s presence, but that was the furthest thing from Yugi’s mind as he awoke from his nap and puttered about his room making preparations for the impending ritual.
The moment Yami stepped from the Puzzle, he opened his eyes to search out his lover and be sure he had weathered it better than usual. Yugi knelt on the floor in front of him, hunched over, one hand bracing himself up while the other remained clutched to his bare chest. He was breathing heavily, but conscious and aware. As Yami took a step forward, Yugi lifted his head slowly and sat up enough to reveal what he had been holding to his chest while he recovered his energy. The pharaoh’s eyes widened to see a vividly red rose in his partner’s nimble fingers. Yugi knew by the look on his face that he had noticed, and smiled shyly over the bloom as he brought it up to his face. “Hi,” he breathed. “You like it?”
Yami began to smile as well. “Is that for me?”
“Happy Valentine’s Day,” Yugi said, beaming, “two weeks late.”
The pharaoh stepped up to him and extended a hand to help him to his feet. Yugi placed his other hand in the waiting one and allowed himself to be pulled up, and only then did he present the rose to his partner. Yami’s hand wrapped around his so they could both hold it. He leaned in and gave it an indulgent sniff. “It’s beautiful,” he murmured. “What a nice idea.”
Yugi bashfully lowered his eyes, even though doing so allowed him to fully ogle the pharaoh’s naked body before him. “I guess I was just in a romantic kind of mood,” he tried to explain. “I thought it would be cute if I could use one of the thorns to prick my finger for the ritual, but…it didn’t work, so I had to use the pin like usual.”
“Oh, Yugi,” Yami chuckled. He bent his head to favor his lover with a sweet kiss, the heat and taste of it pulling them closer together until hands brushed skin and reached to hold each other. Yami broke first and gently pressed his lips to Yugi’s cheek. “It doesn’t matter. All I need is you, here with me, just as you are.” He brushed Yugi’s bangs out of his eyes so he could see the youthful smile glowing up at him. “Are you feeling all right? The ritual didn’t knock you out, I see.”
“I’m okay,” Yugi assured, resting his hand still holding the rose against his partner’s chest. “I could feel it taking my energy, but I made sure to take a good nap before and now…” An impish smile crossed his lips. “I’m wide awake.”
The pharaoh’s caress moved from his hair down his cheek to his neck and shoulder. “And I see you’re already half-dressed,” Yami noted.
Yugi grinned; he had taken off his shirt before starting the ritual, so he stood there barefoot and clad only in pajama pants and the Puzzle. “Well, there’s no sense in putting on what’s going to be taken off right away,” he teased. He stroked the velvety-soft petals of the rose against Yami’s cheek and lips, eliciting a sultry smile in response. “I’ve been waiting for this, so much,” he breathed. “After last month, I just want more and more of you every time.”
Yami circled his arms around Yugi and pulled him close, nuzzling his forehead and pressing tiny kisses to his face. “Our Valentine’s night visit inside the Puzzle wasn’t enough?” he murmured playfully between kisses.
“Mm, that was so good,” Yugi mumbled, closing his eyes to remember. The room of their imagination had been enhanced by a change in the mood lighting and a basket of flower petals – probably lotus, per the Egyptian historical theme – for them to scatter over the linens and tumble into as they made love all night long. But nothing, Yugi thought, compared to having Yami there with him, enfleshed, even if his own bedroom paled in comparison to the pharaoh’s secret bedchamber. He opened his eyes just enough to give his partner a seductive look from under long eyelashes, lifting his head to whisper in the taller pharaoh’s ear. “No, it wasn’t enough. It’s never enough. I’ll never be able to get enough of you, I love you so much.”
Smiling warmly, Yami took the rose from Yugi’s fingers and then wrapped both arms around him, catching him up for a long, hard kiss that left them both gasping. “Then, perhaps I shall have to see whether making love to you until dawn can satisfy you in the short term,” he murmured with their lips still pressed together.
“Until dawn?” Yugi repeated, starting to smile.
Yami kissed him again. “If you can keep up that long.”
“I’ll sure try.”
The pair eagerly slipped under the blankets on Yugi’s bed to hide themselves from the drafty chill in the room, but just stretched out beside each other with their arms lazily wrapped around each other, slowly savoring each lingering kiss they shared. Yami held on to the rose for a while, and played its silky petals against Yugi’s face and neck, but eventually he had to put it aside lest its thorns scratch him or his lover’s tender, bare skin. He stretched to lay it on the top shelf above the head of the bed, next to the floppy white puppy with purple cords tied innocently in a bow around its neck. Yugi reached to enfold him in his arms as he laid back down, and for a long while all they did was kiss and touch, naked chests resting against each other. Eventually, Yami helped Yugi out of his pants, leaving them free to explore each other fully. They remained wrapped in the blankets, but then Yami began to kiss his way lower, intending to kiss every part of Yugi he could reach, chin to neck to chest to stomach, down his hips, along the insides of his thighs, all the way to his knee. Nestled in the blankets, Yugi laid back and purred in delight at the treatment, as the feathery touch of his partner’s lips descended down and came all the way back up to meet his lips once again. He placed his hands on either side of Yami’s face and held him there for even more kisses, deep and restless, energetic, and firm. Then hands slid around his body, smoothing down his flanks to his hips, and roamed in between his legs. He caught his breath sharply as Yami’s hand closed around him, and instantly reached to reciprocate. The pharaoh groaned softly as Yugi’s slender fingers found him under the blankets and stroked him delicately, their smiles still locked on each other as they first fondled, and then eagerly groped each other. Yami curled his other arm around Yugi to hold him close, and Yugi moved to do the same, so they could lie next to each other and nuzzle each other’s necks and cheeks while their hands worked beneath the warm blankets to stroke each other off.
The closer he came to orgasm, the tighter Yugi began to hold onto Yami, his arm flung around the pharaoh’s back clutching him tighter and tighter as he gasped for breath. Likewise, Yami curled around his young love and bent his head as if to kiss him, but by now both were so breathless and hot that all they could do was share their panting breaths and moans in the small space between their faces. Yugi rolled onto his back and spread his legs wider, inviting the touch that would drive him over the edge, though he still kept vigorously working at Yami to please him at the same time. The pharaoh hovered over him, supported on one elbow, and kissed sensually at his lips while plying his fingers in just the right way to make Yugi come with a shout rather quickly after that. Yugi’s fist closed on his partner’s erection in desperation, bringing him to climax just after. Fully warmed up, they collapsed into each other and resumed kissing, pressing their heated, sticky bodies together to share the mingled essence splattered across both their stomachs. It didn’t take them long to work themselves up again, between Yugi’s youth and Yami’s fresh body, but the appetizer was past and it was time for the main course. When their bodies told each other they were ready to move on, Yami slid his hands up along Yugi’s arms to clasp his hands and entwine their fingers, pressing him down onto the bed. Yugi smiled hazily up at him and arched his back to bring their bodies into contact, giving them both reason to moan. Yami smiled back and began to move his knees to pry Yugi’s legs wide apart, but his partner resisted, stretching out beneath him instead. “I want to try something different,” he murmured up, lifting his head to glance his lips along Yami’s cheek.
The pharaoh raised an eyebrow. “How different?”
“Nothing too outrageous.” Yugi withdrew his hands from where Yami had them trapped and pushed gently against his chest to make sure he was out of the way enough to permit Yugi to squirm underneath him. Their bodies still writhed against each other, tantalizing and hot, as Yugi repositioned, but Yami held still and watched with a moaning gasp of pleasure as Yugi rolled over mostly onto his stomach, propping himself up on his elbows and glancing over his shoulder. The sweet innocence of his youthful face mingled with a look of pure seduction, as he smiled ever-so-slightly to encourage his lover to have his way with him in this position. With a growl in his throat, Yami lowered himself onto Yugi and wrapped his arms around him, burying his face in Yugi’s hair and nuzzling the back of his neck. Yugi stretched out his arms and laid his head on them, purring out his favorable response to his partner’s attack. It felt wonderful to have the pharaoh’s strong hands splaying over his chest, running down the length of his naked body, pulling him back into him. Yugi turned just enough that he was partly on his side, and then crooked his legs just right to allow for entry from behind. Yami continued to kiss at his neck, his shoulder blades, and up his spine as he tightened his arms around Yugi’s middle, hearing the jingle of the Puzzle chain as it got pushed out of the way yet again. Then, he groped lower, brushing his palm against Yugi’s arousal and teasing him all over again. With a soft groan Yugi pushed back into him, rubbing his ass against the erection prodding into him. It was a delicious and sensual position, with Yugi cradled tenderly and passionately in the pharaoh’s embrace. A quick moment to lubricate, and then Yami was sliding inside, bracing himself just enough on his knees in order to push in. Yugi let out a long sigh and stretched out even more to relax, shifting more onto his stomach and parting his legs to allow for his partner’s comfort. Yami laid mostly on top of him and pushed fully inside, pausing there to just rest and kiss Yugi’s shoulder gently. “Yes,” Yugi whispered to him. “Just like that…”
Yami backed out a little and pushed back in, very slowly, and stretched to kiss Yugi’s shoulder blade again as his young love shuddered and gasped beneath him. “I think I’ve got it,” the pharaoh murmured. “Slow, and gentle…”
“Yeah,” Yugi breathed between gasps. “I like that.”
Purring his agreement, Yami began a long, slow dance, bracing himself on one elbow so he could reach around Yugi with his other arm and stroke fingertips across his throat and chest, settling into a steady, unhurried in-and-out pace. Yugi closed his eyes and groaned contentedly, resting his head on his arm and letting Yami do anything to him; fast, slow, hard, sweet, it didn’t matter. For now it was slow, deliberate, and patient, just like the pharaoh. He held Yugi with an arm around his chest, neither pushing him down nor pulling him back, but just holding him while he thrust gently into him. It was a pace and technique they could have kept up all night, but both craved more of each other, and eventually Yugi founds himself giving a slight gasp as Yami suddenly thrust hard against him. Yugi splayed himself out further on the bed, his fist clenching on the sheets, as his partner shifted to brace himself on one hand and clutch Yugi tighter with the other. Yugi could feel and hear the pharaoh’s legs sliding across the sheets, finding a new position to allow him more leverage, and then the pause was over and he was plunging deep, his pace quickening. Yami bent with his face next to Yugi’s ear, kissing briefly at his earlobe before simply settling for panting in his ear while he sped up his thrust, his other hand flat on Yugi’s chest to hold him in place. Soft cries began to punctuate Yugi’s labored breathing, and he lifted his hips up to meet the thrust bearing down on him. The pharaoh chuckled in his deep voice, the sound sensually close to Yugi’s ear. “You are so beautiful,” he murmured between panting breaths. “I love the feel of your body…so lean and supple in my hands…”
“Yami…” Yugi moaned, lifting his head. It was good, so good, but he lacked the ability to form the words to say so. His gasps and cries as the pace quickened yet again would be enough.
Yami wanted to keep this up as long as he could, but his own body began to demand a hastening toward their goal, driving him to buck his hips even harder and faster against Yugi’s ass. He had to shift once more, rolling Yugi completely onto his stomach and wrapping both arms around him, pulling him up against him as his whole body contributed to the thrust. The pharaoh’s weight on his hips pushed Yugi down into the bed, grinding his erection against the sheets in a way that had him throwing back his head with uncontrollable cries very quickly. He fought back, bracing his elbows and tipping his hips upward to meet his partner halfway, completely forgetting himself and where he was as he gave a cry with each panting breath. So good, so close, just a little bit more, but it teased at him, just out of his reach. Yami held him suffocatingly tightly, both arms locked around his middle, letting go of the romance and just pounding fervently into him. The body beneath him stiffened, and Yugi’s cries escalated to screams as he came – and kept coming. As long as Yami continued to thrust, Yugi could not come down. He buried his face in the sheets and gasped loudly as his body trembled, and then at last he heard the pharaoh’s voice raise in climax. Yami bucked once more and then held, growling rather than crying out as he tended to do while his body erupted. One more cry escaped Yugi as he felt himself being filled, and the way they began to sag into the bed again brushed his electrified body against a hand and sheets and made him twitch once more. Yami’s elbows caught the majority of his weight, but his hips pressed down on Yugi’s, and they both gave a gasp at what it did to them. All they could do was peel themselves apart and then clasp themselves to each other again, needing desperately to catch their breath before doing anything else.
For a long time, Yami lay against Yugi, wrapping him up from behind again, panting, eyes closed. He felt his lover stir in his arms, and then chuckle. “That was amazing,” he breathed.
“Mmm?” The pharaoh tilted his head to kiss the back of Yugi’s neck. “You liked it that way?”
“So hot,” Yugi murmured. “Though…it doesn’t matter. Any way you do it to me is hot.” He squirmed a little in his partner’s arms, shifting in order to be able to glance over his shoulder. Yami’s eyes were half-closed and hazy, and his bangs rather disheveled – a look of beauty, Yugi thought. “Something about the way you held me. I felt so…safe. More of you touched more of me.”
“Mmm.” Yami nuzzled and kissed him again. “I’ll remember that. Anything is good for you.”
“I guess I’m just easy to please,” Yugi giggled. His voice softened wistfully. “As long as I’m with you.”
The arms around him tightened, and he was treated to a number of small, warm kisses to his neck, his earlobe, behind his ear. They laid for a long silence like that, savoring the bliss, cuddling down further into the blankets that protected them. Part of Yugi wanted to sleep, but he was too content to lie there and caress Yami’s arms and the backs of his hands where they wrapped around him. Eventually, he rolled back onto his back so he could see his partner, and share smiles with him, while they held, kissed, and touched each other. Just when he thought they were going to give up and settle down, Yami began to kiss him temptingly, curling his whole body around his young love and cuddling him close while he breathed hotly along his neck and fastened his lips on his earlobe. His hand began to roam across Yugi’s slender chest, searching out a nipple and stroking his fingertips over and around it. Though exhausted, Yugi found himself sighing and then moaning all over again, closing his eyes to enjoy the feeling of being so tenderly, erotically teased. “Again?” he whispered after a little bit.
Yami’s lips roamed down his shoulder, leaving a wet trail. “I said I wanted to make love to you until dawn,” he reminded. “Or until we both fall asleep in exhaustion, whichever comes first.” He lifted his head and smiled knowingly down as Yugi turned his head to look at him. “And you’re not asleep yet.”
Yugi groaned. “Who can fall asleep when you’re touching me like…that…?”
Fingertips glided over his chest and down his stomach. “Do you want me to stop?”
Yugi closed his eyes and let his head fall back into the pillow as the touch kept roaming downward. “No,” he breathed. “Don’t stop. Never stop.”
Yami prowled over the top of him and bent to kiss him fully, moaning in his throat when he felt Yugi’s hands come around him and glide down his back all the way to his ass in encouragement. They were both definitely ready for one more round, facing each other this time, a round which would probably take forever to complete now that their bodies were beginning to tire. Yet, the time and energy meant nothing, as long as they were lying there gazing into each other’s eyes, hands and lips searching for all new and exciting ways to stir each other up. By the time they were once again coupled, the effort was worth it, and Yugi openly cried out in his pleasure as his lover filled him with long, slow strokes. There was no way to stop it now, no reason to, and both abandoned themselves to the pleasure, clutching each other as hard as they could in order to hang on lest the force of their lovemaking sweep them away.
Unbeknownst to them, down the hall, Grandpa Muto lay flat on his back in bed staring at the ceiling, trying to force his brain to stop thinking about what all the noise in the other bedroom meant. He knew it was the full moon, knew why Yugi had gone to bed early, and yet wondered how in the world those two could have been carrying on this kind of relationship for nearly two years without him once hearing them. Until tonight. All he could do was hope that they tired each other out pretty soon.
Quite some time later, Yami found himself roused from a drowsy sleep by his partner’s stirring, or perhaps by the sudden void in his arms that left him with a draft. He blinked his eyes open to find Yugi sitting on the side of the bed, reaching to pick up his cast-off pajamas and pull them on as quickly as he could. The sight of his adorable young love hastily buttoning his top, his head drooping and eyes half-closed sleepily, made Yami smile. He waited until Yugi had burrowed back under the blankets and snuggled up to him to say anything. “Better now?” he murmured.
“I was cold,” Yugi murmured back, fastening himself back around Yami in the same position he had just left. They had fallen asleep naked after their last session, too exhausted to leave each other’s embrace for practical matters like pajamas. Yugi settled more comfortably against his partner, making sure neither was laying on the other’s arm. “You’re not cold?”
“I suppose it would be wise,” the pharaoh mused. “But I don’t want to get up.” He snuggled Yugi and buried his nose in his hair, breathing deeply of his warmth. “You’ll keep me warm.”
“And I got you out some pajamas and everything,” Yugi complained, though he didn’t notice that the pajamas he had taken out and left folded on the end of the bed before midnight were now somewhere on the floor in the dark.
Yami kissed his forehead and laid back down. “I don’t want to disturb you. You’re all ready for sleep, now.” He chuckled to himself as he closed his eyes. “I guess I didn’t make it until dawn, either.”
“That’s okay,” Yugi purred. “I’m more than satisfied. And the day’s only just beginning.” He cooed softly as he nestled into Yami’s arms and began to drift towards sleep again. “Who needs Valentine’s Day? This is way better…” He heard his partner’s warm, throaty chuckle, and then he was gone.