Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Newton's Third ❯ Dawn and Epimetheus ( Chapter 6 )

NEWTON'S THIRD by Kiraya

Un Más Disclaimer: Radiohead owns "Creep". Kiraya does not. End of story.

A/N: Yeah, it's songficcy for the first scene of the chapter. Deal. And there's a bit of Yami/Yugi fluff in this chapter, but it doesn't really mean anything - their relationship here is nothing more than platonic, and platonic it's staying.

~*~*~

The sun was in his eyes. The King of Games growled faintly and rolled over, away from the window and toward the bed's other occupant.

Yami propped himself up with one arm and watched Seto Kaiba sleep. Tenderly caressing the other's smooth cheek, he brushed away a stray wisp of hair. He longed to run his fingers through it again, to enjoy its silky texture...

You're just like an angel

Your skin makes me cry...

But Yami didn't want to disturb him - Seto looked so peaceful, lying there with just a hint of a smile touching his mouth. The former pharaoh ached to taste its sweet softness again.

You're so fucking special

I wish I was special

He leaned over and gently brushed the young billionaire's lips with his own, drawing back with a heavy sigh.

But I'm a creep

I'm a weirdo

What the hell am I doing here?

I don't belong here

Yami rose from the bed and dressed. Crossing the room, he put his hand on the doorknob, but paused. For a long moment, he simply stood there.

I don't belong here…

"Goodbye, Seto," he whispered, and left, closing the door behind him.

~*~*~

Seto Kaiba lay in bed, staring thoughtfully at the ceiling.

So, Yami was gone. If he had ever really been there.

Seto Kaiba lay in bed, staring thoughtfully at the ceiling. He idly wondered if the whole thing had been a dream, but then decided that was impossible. Since his brother died, he had had one or two weird-but-not-bad dreams among all the nightmares, but never any genuinely pleasant ones. Besides, dreams did not feel so... so...

His face reddened slightly.

What Yami wanted was easily apparent. The look in his eyes had broadcast his emotions more eloquently than mere words ever could. And it had been just as obvious that he'd been trying hard to hold back his ardor - until the one he loved stopped him in his tracks.

"Perhaps I can help ease your pain, as you have helped ease mine."

He had no idea why he had spoken those words. It had seemed like the right thing to say, at the time.

In retrospect, murmured the voice in the back of his head, you couldn't have said anything better.

His blush deepened.

Seto Kaiba lay in bed, staring thoughtfully at the ceiling. The sun slowly climbed higher in the sky as he tried to sort through the tangled mess that was his emotions. Eventually he gave up, rising with a sigh.

He had to do something about Yami; that much was clear. The question was... what?

He needed to take some time to think about it. But first... breakfast. And whatever paperwork he should have done yesterday. And then he had to finish packing for that conference in San Francisco...

The King of Games would have to wait.

~*~*~

Yami slowly walked down the hall, stepping softly so as not to disturb his hikari, who was lounging on the couch in the living room, watching his favorite Saturday morning cartoons.

But his efforts did not go unnoticed.

"Finally," was all Yugi said, sitting up as he turned off the TV. "Now sit."

Yami did so, warily. He could feel that his aibou was not happy - what an understatement! he thought wryly - and it was clearly an effort for him to keep his temper controlled.

There was a pregnant pause, and then Yugi completely lost it.

"Where the hell have you been?" he shouted angrily. "I should be homeby ten, at the absolute latest, you said. Well, here it is, eight thirty in the morning-"

"That is before ten," Yami protested mildly, without thinking.

Yugi unleashed a string of expletives that utterly shocked the former pharaoh; he would never have imagined hearing such things out of his innocent little hikari, not even in his most bizarre dreams. "That's not what you meant, and you damn well know it!" the smaller boy snapped. "I've been up all night, going insane with worry - for all I knew, you could have been raped, or mugged, or lying dead in a gutter somewhere, or... or...!"

"If anybody had tried to do something like that to me, I could have easily used Mind Crush on them," Yami pointed out. But when you're fretting over someone you care about, you don't remember things like that.

Another awkward pause.

"You still haven't told me where you were all night," Yugi finally muttered, calmer now that he had lost some steam. "And couldn't you at least have had the decency to call?"

"I never left the Kaiba mansion. As for calling..." The former pharaoh blushed, and cursed himself for doing so. "I... the thought never occurred to me," he admitted honestly.

"What happened?" his aibou asked suddenly, snuggling up to him.

Yami sighed. He'll find out sooner or later anyway... I might as well get it over with. Wrapping his arms around the smaller boy, he told him.

Yugi was silent for a moment. "You don't seem too happy about it, and one would assume you would be... all things considered."

"I shouldn't have done it. I should have controlled myself. He looked to me for consolation - he trusted me to ease his pain-"

"Perhaps I can help ease your pain, as you have helped ease mine."

Yami shook his head. It was a figment of your imagination, he told himself sadly. Just a product of your fevered dreams - though I wish so much that it was real...! "I took advantage of him, betrayed that trust. And for what? To satisfy my own selfish desires." He laughed shortly. "I was a shoulder to cry on when the memories hurt more than he could stand - the only one he could talk to, the only friend he really had. And I blew it all away in one night."

But what an unbelievable night it was! whispered the voice in the back of his head. He shivered.

"There's no way I could ever expect him to trust me after that. He'd go nuts wondering if I were going to do it all over again - and I'm too fond of him to let him do that to himself."

"Fond?"

The King of Games rested his chin on the smaller boy's head and sighed. "If that's the way you're going to be, fine - I'm in love with him."

Yugi concealed a smile. So he's decided at last to tell me that his feelings for Kaiba go beyond the physical attraction he confessed. All I can say is it's about time.

"-should have their best interests at heart," his darker half was saying. "And it would be in his best interests if I just stayed out of his life."

He frowned. "But Yami," he interjected, "what if-"

"Yesterday was quite a step back on the road to recovery, true, but soon he should be back to his old, self-sufficient... well, self," the former pharaoh continued, speaking more to himself than to his light. "Except friendlier, and not so ill-disposed toward us - I hope..." He sighed disconsolately. "Anyway. When that happens, perhaps, I can approach him and-"

Yugi rolled his eyes. He'd been through this before - you just couldn't talk to a person when they got like this. Pretty much all you could do was sit and listen them out.

Never seen it happen to Yami before, though, murmured a small voice in his head.

"-true extent of his feelings. If he only wanted to be friends again, that would be better than nothing - I guess it would be too much to hope for, that he-"

Yugi closed his eyes and let the other's words wash over him. Try as he might, he could not stifle a yawn.

Yami broke off his ruminations mid-word. "I'm sorry, aibou. You must be exhausted - which leaves me no choice..." Smiling slightly, he scooped up the smaller boy and carried him upstairs.

"Lemme down, Yami," the other protested. "I can walk, you know."

"I know," the King of Games replied, but didn't put him down until he arrived at their room, where he deposited Yugi in his bed. "Now sleep, my light," he instructed, tucking the blankets up around his aibou's chin. "There's nothing to worry about anymore - everything's fine." For you, anyway.

His little friend yawned again. "Will you be here?" he asked sleepily.

"I'll be here," the former pharaoh assured him, taking a seat on his own bed.

Satisfied, Yugi closed his eyes, falling asleep almost immediately. Yami sat and watched him slumber until he, too, dozed off.

And then he dreamed, and his dreams brought tears to his eyes - tears for things regrettable, yet so sweet; tears for improbable-yet-pleasurable camaraderie - now lost, more likely than not...

Tears for love.

~*~*~

To be continued.