Unravel   von Pandir
                      (Breaking news: Rivals hold hands!)
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                              Kapitel 1: Unravel
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“What's the matter, Kaiba? You don’t seem to be at your best today.”

Seto gritted his teeth. It had only been a matter of time until his opponent
would read his hand with Seto giving himself away like that, and trust Yugi –
the Other Yugi, to be precise, but as far as Seto was concerned, there was only
one Yugi that mattered anyway – to see right through him when Seto least
wanted him to.

They had just finished their fourth round of that silly childish card game
Yugi’s friends apparently enjoyed playing - Go Fish, as Yugi had called it
while explaining the rules -, and Seto was getting the distinct feeling that it
had been a mistake to come here.

But there was no way Seto would ever back away from a challenge, especially not
one proposed by his only worthy rival, no matter how pedestrian it might have
sounded to be invited ‘to play some card games at Yugi’s place tomorrow at
five’. It was not exactly on par with arranging a Duel Monsters tournament so
they could face each other in a virtual colosseum on top of a sky-scraping
tower, and Seto had pointed that out, but it hadn’t deterred the Other Yugi at
all.

“Yugi suggested it, and I think it might be a good idea, too. You know, just
us and our cards, without anything else being on the line for once.”

There was something to that sentiment of exclusiveness that Seto had found very
hard to resist, and when the Other Yugi had added “Besides, I wouldn’t want
you to get rusty before your next big tournament” with that cocky smile of
his, Seto could not refuse.

So, this was it, the promised private face-off. Just them, sitting on the floor
in a high schooler’s room, jacket and coat off for once and nothing but a deck
of cards between them.
Since Seto had insisted that this wasn’t the right stage for a Duel Monsters
match, Yugi had proposed to use ordinary playing cards. Not that the game or the
location mattered when it came to Seto’s performance, though he did prefer
grander stages than this small, cosy room that was cluttered with game items,
toys and a few awkwardly stowed away school utensils to give the illusion of
tidiness. And with Yugi as an opponent, even a laughably simple game like Go
Fish provided an interesting challenge. So despite this lacklustre setup, each
round was nothing short of a duel, even if it was played on a cheap, slightly
worn carpet and Seto had to sit with his legs crossed awkwardly so they
wouldn’t be in his way.

Still, it was decidedly different from the grand battles in a KC stadium –
less intense, maybe, but also closer, quieter. And something about this
arrangement, with Yugi sitting right in front of him, so very at ease with
Seto’s presence and the privacy of this little room, had slowly started to put
him on the edge. It didn’t help at all that even though the game was
ridiculously simple, Seto had kept losing spectacularly so far, but what
bothered him most was something far more trivial that had become increasingly
difficult to ignore.
Due to their physical proximity and the nature of the game, Yugi kept touching
him for what could be only split seconds while they were exchanging cards. It
was entirely accidental, nothing more than their fingers brushing when Seto
handed his cards to him, but Seto felt it so distinctly that he at first had
almost jerked away from the contact like he had just received an electric
shock.

In general, Seto did not appreciate any invasion of his personal space, and
usually, everyone around him naturally kept their distance. No one simply
approached Seto Kaiba, and no one touched him, especially not without
permission. It was as if Yugi was not at all aware that there was a distance to
be kept, an invisible line not to be crossed, yet as much as it disconcerted
him, Seto found himself unexpectedly captivated by their casual contact. After a
few matches, he even started anticipating it each time reached for the card he
was handed, drawn to this novel surge of excitement he felt when his fingertips
touched Yugi’s skin ever so briefly.

Of course, it did not take long for Yugi to notice how preoccupied he was. Seto
did not appreciate the look Yugi gave him, intent and searching, as he collected
the cards from the carpet to shuffle them for the next round. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about”, Seto retorted, and he busied
himself with collecting the cards in front of him, coincidentally avoiding
Yugi's gaze. There was no reason for his heart to beat so loudly in his chest
all of a sudden, like he had been caught, and Seto tried his best to ignore it.

“In any case”, he added quickly, deciding that attack was the best defence,
“you can’t expect me to gladly waste my time and my skill on a game for
children-“ The words got caught in his throat. Instead of taking Seto’s
cards, as he was supposed to do, Yugi had decided to idly brush his fingers over
Seto’s hand, causing Seto to freeze mid-motion, his pulse still loud in his
ears.

Of course, Yugi knew exactly how to exploit his slip-up, instinctively going for
the exactly right weak points that would make Seto’s defences come undone.

“What are you doing?”, Seto snapped, though he did not pull his hand back.
After all, that would have been equal to retreating and, what was worse, it
would expose his weakness. To his dismay, the anger in his voice left Yugi
entirely undeterred and his hand was still resting on Seto’s as he looked up
to him.

“You know, there’s something I’ve been meaning to find out, Kaiba”, Yugi
said, thoughtfully, “Outside of battle, for once.”

Seto did not know what had brought this on all of a sudden, but he knew he did
not like it one bit. He knew nothing but the thrill of battle, its soaring
heights and its crushing lows. What could possibly matter beside that? Anything
else was not worth his time, anything else was not something he wanted to
concern himself with.

But Yugi’s fingers were warm, their gentle touch so foreign, and Seto’s
heartbeat faltered when Yugi moved his thumb over the back of his hand in what
could be meant as nothing but a caressing gesture.

“I don’t think there is much to find out.” No matter how much he tried to
keep his composure, Seto could not hide the wavering in his voice entirely, even
though he forced the words out as quickly as possible. They were treading
unknown territory and he had only very vague suspicions of what Yugi might be
aiming at, which was already enough to fill him with unease.

“That's alright”, Yugi said, and there was an earnest gravity in his voice
that seemed reserved for talks that had the unnerving tendency to get under
Seto’s skin. The openness in his words, however, came as a surprise. “For
the longest time, I didn't know much about me, either. There are a lot of things
I still don’t know.”

He paused, and a smile spread on his lips as he cocked his head in a way that
was so irresistibly challenging. “We could discover some of them together.”

There was something daunting to that proposition, and there was a promise behind
it that eased Seto’s rising uncertainty. Maybe this was not that much
different from a duel between them – a way to find himself and define himself,
the core of who he really was and who he aspired to be.

But there were no cards in his hands, no weapon to use in this battle, just
another hand on his. In a frustratingly natural, almost casual way, Yugi
interlaced his fingers with Seto’s, and the sensation was so strange in its
tenderness, it was like a wave of hot water washing over him, leaving shivers in
its wake. Unable to handle this sudden helplessness, Seto immediately pulled
away to grasp Yugi’s hand instead and hold it in place, desperate not to show
how easily Yugi had affected him.

Yugi looked at him, slightly surprised, but he did not pull away.

As he let Seto hold his hand, there was something appraising in his gaze, just
like he had seen right through Seto’s strategy before Seto had even played his
cards, and it made Seto nervous in a way he’d never felt before. He was
suddenly very aware that his fingers were cold and rigid against Yugi’s skin,
but he did not know what else to do, so Seto held Yugi’s hand in the only way
he knew how, clasping it as tightly as he could.

Clutching the other’s fingers, Seto vaguely remembered an even smaller hand in
his, squeezing his fingers so much it hurt. It was something he had almost
forgotten, together with the overwhelming feeling of abandonment and anxiousness
that could not be erased entirely by the comfort of two hands clinging to each
other. It surprised him that he even remembered as much.
All of this had been almost a decade ago - it might as well have been part of
another life. He had been different back then, small and vulnerable.
But even though he was no longer a scared, young boy and very much in control of
his own life now, he had held no other hand since and he did not know what else
to do. All he knew was that he suddenly found it hard to let go.

“Kaiba”, Yugi interrupted his thoughts, and there was something pained in
his expression, despite his slightly amused tone, “you don’t have to clasp
my fingers like that.”

Seto did only release his grip a little bit at that. This was the only means of
control he had right now, and he would not relinquish it.
 
“What do you want to me to do, then?”, he asked, warily, but finally able to
press forward now that Yugi’s hand was trapped in his grasp and unable to
distract him any longer. It was time for Yugi to show his true intentions.
“You were the one talking about ‘discovering’ something, though I can’t
possibly imagine what you are planning to get out of this, if not trying to
humiliate me.“

“Let me show you.” There was a decisiveness in Yugi's eyes that was almost
reassuring.

He was not entirely sure if he wanted to find out where this was going, but what
he wanted even less was Yugi to believe he, Seto Kaiba, was afraid. So he was
determined not to flinch when Yugi leaned forward to close the gap between them,
even though he could not prevent his breath hitching when Yugi’s fingers
brushed Seto’s wrist to then wander higher up his arm in a careful, measured
pace.

“How is this?”, Yugi asked, blunt as always, his eyes still on him with
unnerving calm.

Seto had to grind his teeth to keep himself from biting his lip. His nerves were
tingling under Yugi’s fingertips, and even though it was not discomfort he was
feeling, it was as if he was strangely unreal under Yugi’s hands. To him, his
body was nothing but a faultily constructed platform he needed to exist and
interact but that he was not really connected to. As such, he was not meant to
be in this situation, to be subjected to this kind of caress that spoke of
affection, directed at not just his skin and flesh and bones, but –-him. As he
felt the hand on his arm, the gentle pressure of its touch, that was somehow
what unsettled Seto most.

It was laughable to a degree how much Seto struggled to grasp the reality of
another hand on his shoulder, moving over his collarbone to his chest, when at
the same time, he felt the path of Yugi’s fingers so distinctly, prickling on
his skin even through the fabric of his turtleneck.

Against this slight pressure of Yugi’s hand on his chest, Seto was very aware
of his own breathing, of his body working right beneath Yugi’s touch.
Had his heartbeat always been this loud and forceful? And when had breathing
become so difficult?

Yugi’s touch was different from others, not accidental, not meant to
intimidate or restrict. It had purpose in a way Seto not quite understood.

To Yugi, he was tangible, real, the entirety of him right beneath his skin
immediate and exposed to his touch. That realization, as disconcerting as it
was, helped Seto focus, though he was not entirely comfortable with being
condemned to this passiveness, unable to figure out how to defend himself,
assert himself, to do anything but to retreat.

“Is this all?”, Seto asked, not as sharply as he would have liked to, but
there was a lump in his throat even swallowing did not get rid of. “You really
just expect me to sit still and play along with your little game, Yugi?”

“You can touch me, too, if you want to”, Yugi was quick to point out, and
Seto was almost pleased to see that there was a hint of uncertainty in the way
he frowned. “This is about discovering yourself, after all.”

When Yugi pulled his hand back and broke the contact, apparently not so forward
anymore, it was as if a spell had been lifted from Seto, and it left him weirdly
open and lost. But Seto would not let Yugi back out of his bluff that easily –
instead, he caught Yugi’s wrist in a tight grip.
It was not that he couldn’t handle Yugi’s touch, and he would prove as
much.

“Kaiba, let go”, Yugi told him, not as patient anymore, but as he tried to
yank his wrist out of Seto’s grip, Seto pulled him closer. His reaction was
instinctive, forceful and sudden, but Seto had nothing to go on but a diffuse
sense of need and a desire to not let Yugi retreat, not now.
 
Yugi made an indignant sound that was muffled by Seto’s sweater, but he did
not really fight it. Now that Seto had him caught in his embrace, it was strange
how small he was, with Seto’s long, thin arms wrapped around his slender form.
Seto had somehow never considered it, but now, their height difference was not
only impossible to ignore, it also made the angle of this embrace rather
awkward, but Seto could not care less.
All Seto wanted was to hold onto, to not be abandoned but to possess, to relieve
whatever strange longing Yugi had stirred up inside of him with nothing but the
touch of his fingers, so Seto dug his fingers into the fabric of his black
sleeveless shirt at Yugi’s back.

“Kaiba…”, Yugi protested, his tone chiding, but astonishingly soft, once
he’d managed to incline his head enough to breath.

The only good thing about their current situation was that Seto’s face was
effectively hidden from Yugi’s view, because the fact that he was clinging to
Yugi in a rather ungraceful manner was quickly catching up with him. For some
reason, that made his cheek heat up in a most undignified way.
 
“Kaiba”, the Other Yugi’s voice repeated, a bit more reprimanding this
time. With a short exhaling of breath, Yugi let his hands wander up to Seto’s
shoulders to push him away, gently but decidedly. “If that is what you have in
mind, let’s do it in a more comfortable position.”

Seto realized he had effectively backed himself into a corner. Slowly, he let go
of Yugi, now both flustered and confused with his face and ears still burning,
yet he stubbornly tried not to let that ruin what was left of his composure.
Somehow, this was not the same kind of humiliation that came with a crushing
defeat - this was a different brand of nervousness that made his palms sweaty
and his mouth dry. Seto wasn’t even sure why he felt this way, but most
importantly, he did not see how anyone could come out of this and feel like they
were winning. In fact, Seto could not remember ever feeling this inadequate when
it came to handling a situation, like he was barely more than a clumsy, fumbling
teenager and not the prodigious head of a successful company and a top-tier
duelist rivalled only by one.

“You’ve really done enough already”, Seto managed to get out, his voice
strained. Accusations was all he had left to defend himself.

“If you want to stop, that’s fine”, Yugi conceded and sat back, a bit
awkwardly reaching for the cards again that were still scattered across the
carpet. “I really don’t want to push you-”

“That is not what I meant”, Seto interrupted him, sharply. He did not know
what he meant, or what he wanted, but he wouldn’t let Yugi back out of this,
after he had reduced him to this mess. Yugi should take some responsibility for
this particular train wreck. Before he could argue this point, however, Yugi put
the cards aside and got up.

“If you can’t make up your mind, leave it up to me.”

The Other Yugi’s eyes locked with his as Seto looked up to him, and Yugi
offered him his hand. Somehow, Seto was reminded of their tag team duel, when
Yugi had asked him to trust him, to rely on him, in order to win. More vividly
than anything else, Seto remembered the rush of elation when they had finally
obliterated their foes together, their strategies aligning as they had perfectly
anticipated each other’s moves.

As Yugi pulled him to his feet to lead him to the bed, his hands were resting on
Seto’s arms, guiding him, pulling him with him when Yugi reclined against the
bedrest, and Seto found it not as hard as he had expected to follow his lead, at
least for the moment.

The thought came with a certain thrill, just like the slight shiver that ran
through him when the Other Yugi’s fingers were running through the hair on his
neck, sending his nerves tingling whenever they touched bare skin. Spurred on by
his reaction, Yugi kneaded the nape of his neck with his thumb, his fingers
buried in Seto’s hair, and it was overwhelming and not enough all it once.
Seto made a soft, helpless noise, entirely unable to form words as he was
overcome by this sensation that overrode all his distracting thoughts and send
goose bumps down his spine.
Seto wasn't even certain if it had been Yugi who had pulled him into this
embrace or if it had been him who had curled up to Yugi, clinging for contact -
it was hard to keep track of what was happening to him, to focus on anything but
Yugi’s hand, stroking the fine hairs on his neck. But it mattered little how
he had gotten here, lying on a bed that wasn’t his own, Yugi warm and tangible
with Seto’s arm wrapped around him and Seto's head resting on his chest. All
else was faded out, meaningless and trivial, and listening to his steady, strong
heartbeat beneath him, Seto felt the agitation drain from him.
It was beyond him why he would have ever felt out of place. Yugi knew him like
no one else did - they had experienced each other at both their best and at
their worst, and they had pushed each other to their limits and beyond again and
again. This kind of apprehension had no place between them.

There was something immensely comforting in that thought, just as it was to
simply lie here with Yugi right beneath him, to hear every breath he drew, to
feel his fingers entangle with his hair, he himself apparently no less
captivated with this simple gesture as Seto was. When Seto closed his eyes, a
drowsiness overcame him, so different from his usual numb exhaustion, and before
Seto knew it, he was already drifting off, lulled in by the subtle swell and
fall of Yugi’s chest.


For years, Seto had only managed to find sleep after almost passing out from
working until late, and it had always been shallow and restless. He had all but
forgotten what it was like to slowly wake from a night of deep, sound sleep, and
it was disorienting at first, especially since he couldn’t immediately figure
out where he was.

The sun was shining brightly already through the half-closed window shade, and
Seto found himself in an unfamiliar room, on an unfamiliar bed, together with a
person that was everything but.

Even though Seto must have slept for hours, the Other Yugi was still there,
leaned against the bedrest, his eyes closed. In fact, he had barely even
shifted. A feeling rose in Seto’s chest, a pleasant tinge of satisfaction at
the fact that Yugi had spent his entire night with him without even considering
to leave.

Yugi must have been already awake, because he opened his eyes immediately when
Seto lifted his head.

“Why didn’t you wake me up?”, Seto demanded as he drowsily blinked into
the blinding daylight.

“It’s Sunday, so there is no school today”, Yugi said, as if that
perfectly answered his question, “And Yugi does not mind.”

That was not an explanation Seto cared much for, but the Other Yugi seemed to be
very serious about making that clear. Still, this feeling of satisfaction in
Seto's chest grew with the knowledge that Yugi had stayed with him despite being
obviously torn because of his consideration towards little Yugi.

“You still could have woken me up sooner”, Seto insisted, more out of
principle than anything.

Yugi reached over to brush a few stray strands of Seto's hair back, and Seto
generously let him proceed with just the hint of a glare. There was something
strange in Yugi’s smile that Seto could not quite place, and it made him
wonder what Yugi had gained from having him sleep like a stone on his chest for
an entire night.

“You looked like you needed it.”

Seto made a noncommittal noise. He preferred to assume that Yugi meant a good
night’s sleep, and nothing but that, yet he avoided Yugi’s gaze.

No matter how pleasantly sleepy he felt, it was high time for him to leave. The
fact that he had been so close to Yugi all night was starting to truly sink in,
and he was getting uneasy with their proximity. What he needed was time, and
space, to figure his thoughts out.

To his relief, Yugi did not try to keep him from leaving when Seto decided that
he had wasted enough time here, but he accompanied Seto to the door of the Game
Shop downstairs.

“We should do this again sometime”, Seto announced, as matter-of-factly as
he could while he put on his coat, already half out the door. He did not wait
for an answer, expecting Yugi to take his words as nothing but a challenge to
another round of card games. He had no doubt Yugi would know that this didn’t
rule out anything else.

Seto would never admit it out loud, but even though he had overslept, coming
here had maybe not been such a mistake after all. After all, there was this
strange, new feeling of contentment humming right under his skin, and when he
ran his fingers over the back of his neck, he believed he could still catch the
faint warmth of a hand that had been resting there all night.

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