II. Coincidences
They had first met at Seto's mansion, when Yami had been just coming over to distract his favourite rival from one of his very important projects he was usually working on till dawn - if he didn't end up having sex with Yami, that is.
Yusei had been about to leave and had been quite surprised to run into a visitor at such a late hour, but not as surprised as Yami had been to see him.
They had been staring at each other for a moment, until Yami couldn't help but to smile. "It's okay, I won't bite you."
The black haired boy looked at him with his dark blue eyes. "Yusei Fudo", he said, offering Yami his hand. There was something about this gesture that made Yami immediately think of the other boy as somehow adorable - and also a bit too serious.
Still, he played along and shook hands with the mysterious boy that had apparently spent some time at Seto's mansion.
"I don't want to be rude, Yusei", Yami said without beating around the bush. "But what exactly are you doing here?"
Yusei didn't seem to be shy to him, but apparently something about Yami's attitude was intimidating him, so he was rather careful with his answer.
"I am working on his project."
Yami could have laughed at himself. Of course, they had been working. What had he been thinking! Even if he found the boy rather gorgeous, Seto Kaiba remained Seto Kaiba. And Seto was many things, but promiscuous was definitely not one of them.
"Well, see you around then", Yami said with a smile and stepped aside to let Yusei pass through the door. Yusei nodded, and when he was gone, Yami decided not to ask Seto any questions, because as much as Yusei intrigued him, he didn't want to make things more awkward for him.
~*~
Their second meeting had been even more embarrassing.
The night before, Yami had met a rather handsome guy at a bar who definitely knew how to show off his body and apparently wasn't into wasting much time with flirting, either. They had made out at the bar and when Yami had decided that he was certainly worth spending the evening with, they had been off to Jack's home. Or rather, the penthouse of his sugar daddy, as he pointed out. From the bit of conversation they had, Yami could tell Jack was so full of himself, it was somehow amusing - and after Jack had taken off his shirt in front of him, he noticed that it was also rather hot. Yami could handle a big ego; to tell the truth, it really turned him on.
Seconds later, he was up against the wall, his legs wrapped around Jack's hips and his hands running over the muscles on Jack's back, their bodies moving against each other.
He liked Jack's loud moans and made sure he told Jack how good it felt while he massaged his muscular chest, because it was fun how much the blond loved to be admired and there really seemed to be nothing hotter than Jack being turned on by his own sexiness.
Yami had to think hard to remember the last time he had been fucked against a wall like this, and came to the conclusion that it had been the best sex he'd had in months, especially since Seto had started to become too consumed by his work again and his sleeplessness had made him rather irritable - or, as Yami liked to put it, unbearable.
After a second time on the large bed with an incredible view over the city, and a third time later that night, Yami was quite reluctant to wake up the next morning.
When he finally sat up and noticed that Jack was still sleeping soundly, he decided to do him a favour and to prepare some coffee for both of them. The kitchen was part of an impressive living room with a glass front, offering a view over the coastline. Whoever owned this penthouse had not only a lot of money, but also a good taste - although he could have deducted that simply from the fact that the owner had chosen Jack as his little pet, Yami thought with a smile.
His thoughts were interupted by a knocking on the door. Yami didn't see any reason why he shouldn't open it, as the knocking at such an hour on a Friday morning was probably just someone delivering a package - in any case, it surely wasn't an appointment of the actual owner of the penthouse.
The boy he found there waiting was definitely the person he had last expected to see here.
"Yusei?", he asked in surprise, suddenly strangely aware of the fact that he was wearing nothing but his leather pants.
Judging by the look on Yusei's face, he wasn't less surprised to meet Yami here of all places.
"I was looking for Jack", he finally managed to get out.
And although Yusei didn't seem to mind him being here or the least surprised to find Jack still in his bed and completely naked, Yami felt the urge to leave the two of them alone.
As he left the appartment, he noticed that he had never felt so guilty about sleeping with someone before, even though he knew it wasn't his fault.
~*~
After that incident, Yami had no reason to expect their next meeting to become less awkward than the ones before.
Yet although he had been thinking about Yusei for days and weeks, he hadn't seen him again until one day he found the blackhaired boy sitting in the doorway to his small appartment.
Yusei got up immediately, and Yami noticed that he looked rather tired.
"Seto's brother gave me your adress", he explained, apparently determined to get this over with. "I just wanted to…" He faltered, but then he took a deep breath and simply stated: "I somehow… had sex with Seto. I thought you should know."
After a second of silence, Yami laughed. He couldn't help it; the whole situation was so absurd to him. Apparently, Yusei had remembered the time he had met Yami at Seto's place quite well, just as Yami remembered the incident with Jack.
"Listen, Yusei, you can do with Seto whatever you want", he said to put the boy at ease. "I'm through with him, at least until he comes to his senses again, and trust me, that takes some time."
Yami opened the door and smiled at the blackhaired boy that looked rather lost to him.
"Do you want to come in?"
Moments later, Yusei was sitting on his couch in the living room and after Yami had offered him a glass of milk, he sat down beside him.
It was strange that they both knew each other for quite a long time now and had both seen a bit of the other's life, without ever having a real conversation.
"I've wanted to talk to you for a while now", Yami finally broke the silence. And after he had taken a moment to look at Yusei who was taking a sip of his milk, he added: "You don't look too good."
Yusei put the glass down and kept his eyes fixed on the liquid. It took a while till he finally answered.
"…You know how Jack is."
Yami sighed. "Yes, I do. And I'm sorry." He really meant it that way.
Yusei shook his head. "It's not… it's just…" He apparently didn't know how to explain himself, at least not in one sentence, so Yami simply decided he didn't need to know now - although it was not too hard to guess.
"Yusei", he interrupted the confused blackhaired boy, causing him to look up. "First of all, you have some milk there", Yami noticed with an amused smile and wiped it from Yusei's lips. Maybe he was imagining it, but he could swear that he made Yusei blush a little bit. "And secondly, maybe we should go out and have some fun. See a movie, if you'd like to."
And as Yusei smiled back, Yami knew that he had, from the first moment on, wanted them to be friends. Because someone had to take care of Yusei, and Yami really wanted to be that one.
~*~
As it turned out, Yusei could take care of himself quite well, if Jack wasn't acting extraordinarily stupid - but that didn't stop Yami in feeling protective over the calm boy. Yusei usually didn't talk much about himself, yet to Yami, he talked about Jack and their relationship, and he talked about his father, even though that was rather difficult for Yusei and he didn't say much - and one night, when they were sitting on Yami's couch together, Yami told him a bit about his past. He didn't know why he suddenly opened up so much, but Yusei had asked him and it felt good to tell someone about the things on his mind. Also, Yusei was an excellent listener, and Yami hadn't often had the opportunity to pour his heart out in the three millennia of his existence.
"Look at the time", Yami said with a yawn. "I'm talking and talking, and it's getting late."
Yusei lifted his head from Yami's shoulder, looking rather tired himself. "I think I'll stay for tonight", he said, apparently not quite ready to get up from the couch.
"I was hoping you would", Yami responded with a grin as he slid on Yusei's lap, giving him a small kiss. Yusei return the kiss once, before he let his head sink back against the couch. "Let's go to bed."
Yami got up from his lap. "Meaning let's go to sleep?"
As he saw the smile on Yusei's lips, Yami decided that even though they both had to get up early for work, it might be worth staying up a bit longer.
He knew that Yusei would agree.