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

Chapter 4: Blind Date

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“A date?” The old man inquired.

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

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

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

“Are you lying my boy?”

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

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

“Gramps…”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

TO BE CONTINUED…

Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh.

Title: Endearment and Enmity

Rating: T-M depending on chapter, M overall

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

Warnings: Homosexual relationships,vulgar words and adult situations.

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

Chapter 2: Fallacies

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Not that he empathized with the man.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Can’t you tell them I’m sick.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-/-

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

TO BE CONTINUED

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

Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh.

Title: Endearment and Enmity

Rating: T-M depending on chapter, M overall

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

Warnings: Homosexual relationships,vulgar words and adult situations.

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

Chapter 1: Context

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That left one person.

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

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

—

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“I prefer face-to-face interaction.”

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

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

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

“And LGBT.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Fuck you I did my-”

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

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

“…How long.”

TO BE CONTINUED

Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh.

Title: Endearment and Enmity

Rating: T-M depending on chapter, M overall

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

Warnings: Homosexual relationships,vulgar words and adult situations.

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

Prologue

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

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

He had proverbially just sold his soul to the devil.

Or rather, his hand in marriage.

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Isn’t your name any more.”

“Legally, Kaiba.”

“Legally you’re Kaiba too.”

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

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

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

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

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

TO BE CONTINUED