Chapter 76: Title

By the time Kaiba finally resolved his issues at work, his nerves were thoroughly frayed. If it weren't for Yami, Kaiba gladly would have gone straight home to try and recover from his ordeal. However, he had said he would see Yami and Kaiba would not break that promise. Besides, he considered spending time with Yami a reward for having put up with such nonsense and not firing anyone over it. Making sure to school his expression into a neutral one as he approached the Game Shop, Kaiba braced himself for facing the rest of the night.

Yami answered the door to let Kaiba in and he felt relieved as he tightly embraced the former spirit. Yami said nothing and merely returned the fierce hug. Kaiba breathed in deeply, taking in the comforting smell of Yami and wishing for nothing more than to crawl into bed with him and sleep away his horrible day. He felt himself relaxing almost immediately, but unfortunately that meant Kaiba was hit with the full force of his exhaustion.

"That bad?" Yami softly asked as he made no effort to move away from Kaiba.

"Why is stealing you away to sleep not an option?" Kaiba groused, trying to remind himself that they didn't have the luxury of time or privacy for him to be so unguarded.

"I believe it's because you think aibou's bed is too small," Yami teased as he finally pulled back just enough to look up at Kaiba. Yami frowned at the utter weariness of Kaiba's expression and he felt bad because he knew he was the reason his boyfriend was there and not at home. "If you want to go—"

"No," Kaiba firmly refused, not wanting to be apart from Yami, even if it came at the cost of being around other people.

When Yami tried to protest, Kaiba cut him off with a kiss. It was a slow, lingering kiss of comfort rather than passion, but Yami still felt himself melting into it. Yami sighed, "Seto," when they parted and Kaiba rested their foreheads against each other.

They were quite for a moment before Kaiba quietly confessed, "I need you more than silence."

Rather than commenting on how sweet that was, Yami informed him, "If it helps, Jounouchi-kun and Honda-kun aren't here tonight. Honda-kun had to help his sister with something. And Jounouchi-kun, well…"

"He's still avoiding you?" Kaiba guessed, not the least bit surprised.

Looking down at the ground with a frown, Yami was frustrated by the fact he couldn't get Jounouchi to talk with him about the situation. "I try to reach out to him, but he won't answer me. I can't help but feel like if we talked, somehow things would get resolved."

"You'll get there eventually," Kaiba predicted, although he wasn't in a particular rush for that day to happen. His time around the Yuugi-tachi was far less painful with Jounouchi out of the picture and Kaiba wasn't in a rush to restore things to their natural order.

"The whole thing sucks," Yami complained, hating that he couldn't make it better somehow.

"I know," Kaiba said in an empathetic tone. Cupping the side of Yami's face with one of his hands, Kaiba brushed his thumb against the former spirit's cheekbone in a tender caress. He longed to abscond with Yami, but settled for a final kiss that made Yami softly moan.

"We should get in there, though," Kaiba continued with a sigh as he mentally started walling away the more vulnerable side of himself that only Yami was privy to see.

"I'm sorry we can't just go back to your place," Yami apologized as he made himself step out of the comfort of Kaiba's embrace.

"It will be fine," Kaiba reassured him as he followed Yami into the living room where everyone was waiting.

Mokuba could tell his brother was tired, but he knew better than to comment on it. He instead settled for a simple, "Hey, nii-sama."

Kaiba returned the greeting as he took his seat with Yami quickly nestling against his side and helping him feel a bit more relaxed. He didn't say much as the friends resumed their conversation, so he focused more on the calming feeling being close to Yami inspired. He never would have imagined a single person could do such a thing for him, but Kaiba was deeply grateful. Kaiba may not have been able to privately be with Yami, but at least he could be near him. He knew it was too much to ask for Yami to come home with him, but his mind still toyed with the infeasible thought of himself staying at the Game Shop. The idea of him and Yami trying to position themselves on the couch together to try and sleep came to mind and Kaiba softly chuckled at the mental image.

It drew Yami's attention and he softly asked in their language, "What's funny?"

"The thought of me trying to roost with my Pigeon on this couch," Kaiba replied, amusement coloring his tone.

Turning slightly so he could look up at Kaiba, Yami smiled at him. "I don't think seahorses roost, but you're welcome to try."

"Somehow I doubt your grandfather or Yuugi would appreciate that," Kaiba replied.

"Yeah?" Yuugi asked loud enough that it caused Kaiba to look at him. "Sorry, I thought I heard my name."

"I was discussing about tomorrow," Kaiba lied, "and coordinating when you both wanted to leave."

"Probably early afternoon?" Yuugi suggested, although he was flexible with time. "Whatever works best for Kaiba-kun is okay with us."

"Thanks," Kaiba said, putting an end to the conversation.

As the friends resumed their previous discussion, Yami waited a bit before he softly told Kaiba, "I don't know whether to be impressed or concerned about how easily you can lie."

"You act as if you don't do the same thing," Kaiba defended himself. "How many times have you made up an excuse to him so that we can be together?"

Scowling at that, Yami was disturbed that it was a valid point. "Combine that with all the lies I have to tell at school about my background, maybe you should be more worried about me instead," Yami teased, although in truth it bothered him how much he needed to deceive people.

"I know you don't lie to me and that's what's important," Kaiba reassured him. "Don't waste your energy on worrying about it."

"Mm," Yami agreed as he settled himself more comfortably on Kaiba.

Kaiba draped his arm around Yami to hold him closer and he wished he was in bed instead. Resting his head against Yami's, Kaiba had to resist the urge to doze. It made him too self-conscious to do such a rare thing in front of others, so Kaiba ignored his want.

Thus it was equal parts relief and displeasure when Anzu announced she was leaving for the night. It meant Kaiba could finally go home, but that meant leaving Yami.

"I guess that means you're leaving, too?" Yami asked, the disappointment in his voice.

"Yes, since I have no intention of sleeping on this couch," Kaiba told him.

Mokuba left to go to the bathroom, which allowed Yami to kiss Kaiba sweetly. "I'm sorry you had such a shitty day," Yami said when they parted.

"At least I had a good night," Kaiba replied as he mourned the loss of contact when Yami sat back and created a space between them.

"Look at you, becoming an optimist," Yami teased with a grin, deeply amused.

"I've been hanging around you people too long," Kaiba groused as he shook his head, wondering when the Yuugi-tachi had rubbed off on him.

"At least that means I should gain some of your cynicism to balance it out?" Yami suggested with a laugh.

"I have more than enough cynicism for both of us," Kaiba told him with a faint smile.

Mokuba came back into the room when he saw he wasn't interrupting anything and asked, "Ready, nii-sama?"

As much as he didn't want to, Kaiba stood up from the couch and confirmed, "Yeah."

Yami followed them to the door and Mokuba continued walking to the car when Kaiba paused for a final good night hug and kiss. Knowing his younger brother was waiting for him kept Kaiba from lingering too long and soon they were on their way home.

"So what happened at work?" Mokuba asked, curious about how his brother had resolved the situation.

Kaiba didn't really feel like discussing work, but he spent the rest of the trip home filling in Mokuba about what had happened.

A/N: I know it's not the most exciting update, but I like those small moments of progress that say so much.

I wanted to thank all of you who supported my original fiction publishing efforts as A.F. Zoelle and purchased Alluring Attraction, which is based on my Prideshipping AU fic, Forbidden. I'm still struggling to get people to review it on Amazon, so if you would be willing to do one there, I'd be truly appreciative! Reviews are crucial in helping convince people who don't know me as Kamiyashi to give my books a chance and increase my sales ranking, which means more exposure on the website and that leads to more sales. I'd love to be able to commit to writing novels as my full-time profession, but I can't do that without help and support from my amazing readers.

The good news is that the sequel, Developing Desires, is now available in eBook and paperback on Amazon! As a special promotion, if you buy the paperback, you can get the eBook version for only $1.99 extra instead of full price. It also doesn't have any reviews as of yet, so please consider leaving one for it if you read it!

I originally went wide for my international readers, but since 99 percent of buyers only used Amazon, I've decided to publish only on Amazon for now while I build up an audience. Doing that allows both Alluring Attraction and Developing Desires to be part of Kindle Unlimited, which means you can read both books for free if you have a membership to that program.

The conclusion, Embracing Euphoria, will be released this July. I'm hoping to get the preorder up around mid-April or so.

NEXT CHAPTER:

"Obviously I must be doing a lousy job if you can overthink whatever it is you're thinking about right now," Yami joked as he decided Kaiba was ready enough to proceed.

I'll do my best to get the next chapter up next month by late April! Thank you again for all of the kind words about this story and my first novel!