DIVINE FURY!

How do you think they “caught feelings” for each other? Just lookin at the source material.

How would you describe their feelings developing (for Kaiba I think it’s very subconscious) and Atem would be a little more in touch with his feelings

HONESTLYYYY.... I think the manga pretty clearly establishes that, following Death-T, they respect and admire each other, even when they drive each other freaking crazy -- they root for each other to win, they challenge each other, and when they duel they feel themselves coming alive. Kaiba explicitly feels different when he duels Atem compared to when he duels anyone else. Meanwhile, Atem treats Kaiba like a nervous stray dog for most of Battle City (stop barking at me, i promise i won't hurt you, why are you following me around? i'm not going to feed you) but when they duel in the semi-finals, he's like "what the fuck is going on.... you are important to me and my sense of self in incomprehensible spiritual ways?"

It is pretty funny that the grounds of their respect and admiration for each other come out of early-manga duels that are like "oh my god he summoned a powerful monster... what a terrifying competitor!!!!" And Cards With Teeth and Death-T didn't exactly show Kaiba's best qualities. Somehow, still, in Duelist Kingdom, Atem flies into a rage at the thought that someone would disrespect Kaiba. So even with all the violence and anger and sadism of early-manga Kaiba, Atem saw something in him worth admiring, worth caring about, worth SAVING.

And I think it's a credit to KT’s writing that the relationship continues to grow, especially in Battle City with the tag team duel and mime duel where they challenge each other to think differently than they normally do -- and succeed BECAUSE of each other. So in terms of catching feelings, the ingredients are there: here is a guy who plays your favorite card game, he keeps you on your toes when you play your favorite card game together, you learn something new about yourself every time you duel him, and you recognize, in each other, the same sense of duelist's pride.

But do they (CAN they) identify these feelings as ROMANTIC? does it FEEL romantic to them? I think you are right on the money that it's very subconscious for Kaiba, and at the same time it feels hilariously overt for him -- his speech in the (subbed) version of DSOD is all about how atem is soooo good at catching people off guard and he has an infuriating smug smile like he's seriously just waxing poetic about all the things he likes about Atem lmao. for Atem, I think it's harder to say... I think he's really uncertain about what he wants and feels; I think he doesn't really ALLOW himself to think about what he really wants or how he really feels, because compared to the Destiny and Duty to which he feels so yoked, none of it matters and none of it will make a difference. So what if his feelings for Kaiba are more than just admiration? It doesn't matter; his Duty is elsewhere.

like, if you ran into the palace and interrupted them RIGHT before their duel in aaru and you were like "kaiba, are you IN LOVE with atem?" he'd be like "WHAT are you even talking about?" and if you turned to atem and asked "so, are YOU in love with kaiba?" he'd be like "i never even thought love was possible for me because my duty was to finish up my business on earth and die"

i do think prideshipping in canon is kind of one-sided -- not in the sense that Atem will never love Kaiba back, but in that the depth of feeling seems much deeper on Kaiba's side over the course of the narrative. and Atem would kind of be :O!! at the revelation that Kaiba is in love with him. But he's not AGAINST the thought. He just never thought this possibility would be available to him, given that he was never meant to live out his own life.

but now kaiba is here, once again challenging all conceptions about what is possible, and atem can begin to consider it!!

Recent fanworks

I wouldn't use an adblocker if ads were just banners on the side funding a website I enjoy using and want to support. Ads pop up invasively and fill my whole screen, I misclick and get warped away to another page just for trying to read an article or get a recipe.

Every app shouldn't be like every other app. Instagram didn't need reels and a shop. TikTok doesn't need a store. Instagram doesn't need to be connected to Facebook. I don't want my apps to do everything, I want a hub for a specific thing, and I'll go to that place accordingly.

I love discord, but so much information gets lost to it. I don't want to join to view things. I want to lurk on forums. I want to be a user who can log in and join a conversation by replying to a thread, even if that conversation was two days ago. I know discord has threads, it's not the same. I don't want to have to verify my account with a phone number. I understand safety and digital concerns, but I'm concerned about information like that with leaks everywhere, even with password managers.

I shouldn't have to pay subscriptions to use services and get locked out of old versions. My old disk copy of photoshop should work. I should want to upgrade eventually because I like photoshop and supporting the business. Adobe is a whole other can of worms here.

Streaming is so splintered across everything. Shows release so fast. Things don't get physical releases. I can't stream a movie I own digitally to friends because the share-screen blocks it, even though I own two digital copies, even though I own a physical copy.

I have an iPod, and I had to install a third party OS to easily put my music on it without having to tangle with iTunes. Spotify bricked hardware I purchased because they were unwillingly to upkeep it. They don't pay their artists. iTunes isn't even iTunes anymore and Apple struggles to upkeep it.

My TV shows me ads on the home screen. My dad lost access to eBook he purchased because they were digital and got revoked by the company distributing them. Hitman 1-3 only runs online most of the time. Flash died and is staying alive because people love it and made efforts to keep it up.

I have to click "not now" and can't click "no". I don't just get emails, they want to text me to purchase things online too. My windows start search bar searches online, not just my computer. Everything is blindly called an app now. Everything wants me to upload to the cloud. These are good tools! But why am I forced to use them! Why am I not allowed to own or control them?