#prideship

I woke up to darkness and pain.

The bitter taste of metal was new to me, but the ache in the back of my head was not. Dirt had found its way under my fingernails; my fingers twitched with the aborted attempt to latch onto their prey. 

He was still here, of course. He wouldn’t leave so easily. And even though people would start to worry when Yugi Mutou was missing for too long, the thing that held his body would not worry about such inconsequential demarcations as “night” or “day”, “sleep” or “meals”. 

The game came first. 

Always the game.

“I think you’re cheating, Kaiba.”

“Naughty words from such an innocent face.” My tongue was too big, my mouth too dry. I pushed myself up off the ground, watching that silhouette hover a few feet away from me. His face had never been innocent, and he knew it. “I’ll leave my scars. My marks on you.”

“That’s not a victory.”

I swallowed down the other retort. It was a victory of a different sort, he had to know that. “If you wanted me to stop, you’d leave.”

He actually smiled at that. Smiled. Because he knew. Asshole.

“You’re bleeding.”

I had to touch my nose, my lips – he’d left a cut at the very corner, already swollen. I could lick it now to taste my own blood, the shock of pain frightfully clear.

How would I explain it to my father? There was a decent chance he wouldn’t notice, but it didn’t hurt to prepare for every alternative.

“You promise you won’t let it happen again?” I wouldn’t explain unless he pushed. The lack of clarification allowed for…ambiguity in interpretation.

He drew closer, leaning over me, close enough that I could feel the chill that seemed to ooze from his body. But he didn’t touch me directly. He so rarely did. “Oh, of course. I promise.”

“I promise to leave you alone.”

His smile was wider, sharper. “I promise to let you off the hook, then.”

“I promise.” They were just words. Just noise. I could barely even remember why I was saying them. Because then he was leaving, and then I was alone, and then I had to deal with the cut on my lip and the bruise on the back of my head. And the dreams. Always the dreams.

++

We still had to go to school. I say ‘had’ because I willingly attended, though it was usually a waste of time, and he ‘had’ to attend because Yugi attended. I don’t think Yugi ever missed a day of school in his life. He had the kind of diligence you’d want in an office drone.

It was easy enough to find Yugi. It was shockingly easy to get him alone. I think Yugi knew to be wary of me, insofar as everyone gave Seto Kaiba a wide berth, but when I cornered him, he didn’t run. I wondered if he had any survival instincts at all.

Sure enough, he braced himself when I grabbed his collar. However, when I tried to aim his head at the wall, his body lashed out, a hand slamming against the wall to resist me. His other hand tangled in my outer shirt, giving him enough leeway to avoid the actual thrust of my arm.

“You don’t want this here, Kaiba.”

“Don’t I?” God, he was so short. Even like this. “Tell me.”

“Two teachers down the hall. Another student, in the other room.” He held the body so strangely: his eyes flicked as he identified the possible witnesses, but there was no twitching in the hands or shoulders to reflect his heightened awareness. I released him, but he didn’t go away, and I grinned.

“You could do better,” he chided. I took a step backwards, into the darkness of the corridor, and he followed.

“Of course I could. Don’t want to show my hand too soon. Need to keep you guessing.” I’d started dropping subjects. Grammar was my first victim in the coming massacre. “If I did this–”

This time I aimed for his shoulder, and he side-stepped only a moment before contact. Obviously he had no experience: if I’d been going for points, I could have scored two within the first five seconds. But he was focused first on dodging, deflecting my attempted throws and preventing me from cornering him fully. 

I’ll admit, it came as a surprise when he gripped me with both hands. It threw me off enough that I didn’t resist. When he drove a knee into my gut, it hurt enough to make me breathless, and he hissed directly into my ear as he held me there.

“You’re going to hurt yourself, Kaiba.”

“Rather let you do it first.” The comfort of ambiguity. I closed my eyes as he slammed a shoulder into my sternum, feeling the impact as he drove me against the wall. It reawakened the old bruise at the back of my skull, and I tried not to let the throb of pain take over too far. 

“You’ll get what’s coming.” He threatened, he was good at threatening, and the sharp spike of pain was sweet on my tongue. I’d dream about him tonight, I knew that. And if he had any courage, he’d ignore Yugi’s needs long enough to track me down. But he wasn’t ready for that.

He was breathless too, panting as he backed away. Conversation at the end of the hallway distracted him, making him lose focus. That was more frustrating than his dodges and evasions from before. “Next time, Kaiba. Next time, we’ll do it properly.”

“Can’t wait.” I lifted a hand to my mouth, but there wasn’t any broken skin this time: the only souvenir was the new bruise. 

I was marked by him, a target on my back. But that’s the way I wanted it. At some point, I’d mark him too.

++

He found me at KaibaLand.

Well, I’d invited him in. But, you know. Details.

I can’t describe what it was when he came for me. I was surrounded by workers, consultants desperate for my attention, and he’d gotten through the first layer when I stopped him. I think Isono was terrified for me: he should have been more worried about Yugi.

“Your father’s dead.” He was breathless, panting. I wondered how long he’d been in control. His eyes were so large, his pupils blown. “You’re in charge of KaibaCorp and your father’s dead –”

“We’re still mourning his loss.” I could just about hold him, his hands gripping my wrist in a death grip. “Isono, this is…a friend from school. Can we have a moment?”

“Uh. Sure thing, Mr. Kaiba. C’mon, boys, move it along.” Isono tried to herd the others away, ushering them to another point along the concrete foundation. It was a pathetic attempt, but Yugi’s body was going to do something drastic if I didn’t stop it. 

“Did you kill him?”

I laughed. I couldn’t help it. So many people, dozens and dozens of people, had looked into my eyes and shied away from that question. The board knew what had happened: I didn’t like them, but I could respect their honesty. No one else knew. And then for this person, this half-alive thing, to march up to me and demand an answer? I laughed.

“We don’t like to talk about these tawdry little exchanges of power. Stays in the family, you know?”

“Was it for me?”

Now he’d gone too far. My smile froze, and I twisted my hand to grip his collar. We were getting good at this: I don’t think Isono could tell what was happening. “Not everything I do is for you.”

“I’m not going to punish you for it. Your father had nothing to do with me, I’m not interested in revenge for him.”

“I didn’t think you were.” Now the fire had turned to ash in my mouth, a sour sense of defeat. I hated that. “You thought this little game was for all the marbles? You’re a distraction. A detour. This, all this, is the real game.”

For the first time, he seemed to notice the foundation being laid, the concrete poured into huge squares. I hope it shocked him. “What are you going to do?”

“You’re just going to have to wait and find out.” I let him go and he backed off, apparently thrown. There weren’t any sweet goodbyes, no final threats. He just left, probably to get Yugi to safety before switching places.

I already wanted him back. To pound his face into the dirt, to hold him in one of the squares and let the concrete fill in around us. Immortalize us together. 

I could taste something on my tongue, but it wasn’t enough. I wanted blood. 

++

When I saw Yugi at school, he’d wave at me. I could feel him staring, but he never approached. He was never brave enough to come for me. It was only the other one that would dare to come close.

I knew not to push the boundaries too far. I could go up to their little glee club during lunch, and the others would flee with a simple confirmation from Yugi. He’d send them off, and we would have a…conversation. But it wasn’t enough, and it was just a waste of our time. We needed true privacy to get to the real game. 

I tried to stay away for a stretch of time, just to prove I could handle it. I didn’t need him. I made it for a full week, then two, and I was proud of that. 

It just meant that the next time we saw each other, there was hair ripped out. Bruises on both sides, for once. We still played, yes, we allowed each other the premise of the game, but I preferred the actual combat. I think he knew that. I hope he knew that.

It wasn’t until I’d finished KaibaLand that it finally came together. I didn’t even have to threaten Yugi. He just came to me, and that’s when I knew.

I’d been so caught up in making him come to me. Dragging him, kicking and screaming, to my side. But then he just came willingly, because I had him. 

I don’t know who lunged first. I think it was him. But that is a convenient fiction, and sometimes, I do want to try being honest. 

His fingers clenched around my hair. My hands wrapped around his neck. When we fell, he was under me, but he fought with the power of a demon. I had many advantages, but his raw energy was hard to resist.

There were threats on both sides, snarling whispers and half-finished insults. He scratched at me, leaving marks on my cheek, and I bit his neck hard enough to feel him twitch. 

This, I know was his idea. I know it was his, because I’d never had the thought before. But as I braced him against the floor, just about to push away, he used both hands to pull my head toward his and smashed his teeth against mine.

It wasn’t what I was expecting. He was still so cold, almost alien, but he didn’t do any of that…meandering I’d seen people do with their tongues. He just used his teeth, like a wolf. I could feel where he’d knocked against my lip, but when he adjusted himself, he actually took my bottom lip between his teeth and bit down.

If I’d known a suitable curse, I would have cursed. I groaned, I think, or tried to shout, but since my lip was still between his teeth it was hard to get any words out. Besides, it’s not that I wanted him to stop. It just hurt. 

He groaned too, and there was something warm in my mouth. He released my lip and sealed us together, letting me taste my own blood again as I swallowed it and swallowed him.

I don’t know if he needed to breathe. But I suppose Yugi’s body needed to breathe. So he would tear away to gasp in a breath, and I could manage to get a sliver of air for myself. His hands moved, gripping my shoulders, and then he reared back to headbutt me directly in the eye.

This time I could curse. He slipped out from under me and rolled away, leaving me to one side as he scrambled to his feet. It wasn’t like him to run: I wanted to scream at him, to shout at him to come back. But I was out of breath for some reason, unable to form words properly, and he’d disappeared out the door before I could muster the energy. 

Just like last time, I’d be left with a swollen lip, and probably a black eye. It meant that the press release tomorrow was going to be hell. The media managers would be pissed, and they’d want to cover me in makeup to hide the evidence. I’d planned to open KaibaLand for months now, ever since Gozaburo’s death, and now the opening would be ruined by a damn fat lip.

Well, it’s official, Seto thought as the orca dragged him across the ocean floor, I’m fucked.

“How embarrassing for you,” the orca cooed over his shoulder. “I thought you sharks were supposed to be apex predators? Guess great whites aren’t all that great after all, hm?”

Seto wriggled pointlessly. The orca had him bound tightly in some kind of hunting net. “Let me go now, and maybe I won’t have my shiver tear you to pieces.”

“Nice try.” The orca banked left and let Seto crash against an outcrop of coral, the rocky surface grating against his denticles. “But if you had a shiver, you’d be swimming with it. And you’re the only white shark that’s been sighted in the peninsula for months. You’re alone.”

Seto grit his teeth. The orca was right—mostly. There was another shark Seto traveled with, but if these oversized dolphins didn’t know about Mokuba yet, Seto certainly wasn’t going to tell them.

“Nothing clever to add, little fish?”

Seto kept his mouth shut. Partially out of spite and dented pride, and partially because the orca was hauling him through clouds of swarming krill. They batted past him like debris. On the other side, the orca turned upward, heading for the surface. Stupid mammal probably needed to breathe.

“Talking shit must waste a lot of air,” he snarked.

The orca ignored him, focused entirely on accommodating his evolutionary failure of a respiratory system. He turned belly-up and swam that way for a while, mouth pressed to the surface like a kiss. With his lungs full, he twisted back around, and without any warning, seized Seto by the throat and drove him straight to the seafloor. Fingers digging savagely into his gills, choking and painful.

King Atem, of the Golden Sea pod, had to be one of the smallest orcas Seto had ever encountered; but he was also one of the strongest. Orcas had done a number on him in the past, when he was particularly young and reckless; but none of them hunted him as doggedly, or trounced him as thoroughly as Atem had.

It was impressive.

It was also a huge problem.

If Seto had known that the Golden Sea had such a vicious new regent, he might have gone hunting elsewhere. Their territory must have expanded—Seto never had trouble this far south before.

“Careful,” Atem snarled, nose-to-nose, eyes simmering and red in the dark water. “I will haul you ashore and leave you there. Bound and gasping for breath until you beg.” He punctuated the threat with an aggressive snort, the rush of wasted air bubbling between them.

Seto thrashed his tail, stirring up sand and bottom-feeders. He felt his heart throttling in his chest, head thinning from lack of oxygen. His face grew hot—he blamed it on asphyxiation, and not the predatory burn of Atem’s unflinching stare.

Then he felt it.

Some give in the netting.

Seto writhed and clung to his consciousness, managing to wrench an elbow through the netting. With his arm free, Seto seized Atem by the hair and tugged hard. It shocked Atem just enough to loosen his grip, and Seto struck. Sunk his teeth into the crook of Atem’s neck.

Atem let out a whistling scream, both hands flying to Seto’s head, trying to shove him off.

Seto didn’t let go until he had both hands free, and was tearing the net from his body. He couldn’t resist licking the stains of Atem’s blood from his teeth, and he couldn’t quite suppress the thrill in his chest when Atem tackled him.

Their second round of fighting was a flurry of teeth and dragging nails, of bodily slamming and choke holds. Seto tried to keep Atem distracted at the seafloor, thinking he might stand a chance if the orca passed out.

But it didn’t do him much good. Even under extreme exertion, Atem barely seemed winded—though at some point he did start butting and bullying Seto toward the surface, until he finally managed to ram Seto so hard in the stomach that it knocked him clear of the water.

Seto failed to recover in mid-air, and came down on his back—right into Atem’s next charge. The force of impact rattled every bone in Seto’s body, and he barely felt it when he slapped into the water.

“Perhaps I should try a different approach,” Atem mused, tapping his cheek thoughtfully while Seto floated in front of him, completely stunned, “since besting you in battle clearly isn’t enough.”

“What do you...what…. What the hell are you doing?”

Just as Seto’s senses were returning to him, Atem took hold of his shoulders and drifted in close. And of all the ridiculous things to do—he rubbed his nose against Seto’s.

It sent a dangerous, tempting signal to Seto’s brain. Something warm and welcoming blossomed in his chest. He jerked away, but Atem just followed after him, stroking along the bridge of Seto’s nose with the tip of his own, shamelessly nuzzling their faces together.

It felt good.

Really good.