platonicreaderinsertfanfic

[platonicreaderinsertfanfic]

Stolen Thunder and Fought for Friendship

Word count: 2,541 Summary: You were trying to bring the appropriate level of banhammer smackdown and showmanship to your job as the new Battle City Commissioner. But of course, just as you felt your confidence flourish, Kaiba wrecked it. Also, a smidge of Roland backstory. Dub canon plus a version of DSOD. Intended female Reader, but gender not actually mentioned. Set maybe two years post DSOD. Fun fact: I write my Reader characters with personality and specific description. They may not be as generic as is customary for this type of story. Each reader character also has a specific place in the Yu-Gi-Oh world, with set connections and feelings about the various canon characters and other reader characters. This is reader B, who is immune to the siren song of romance, cheap, eccentric, logical, and hands-on. “Boss, we just had a flag thrown in sector three.” One of the many women with bright hair and a neon visor spoke up as you entered the control center. Alpha Team was Kaiba Corp’s top technical lineup, if they claimed a problem, it was real. You sighed as the door slid shut behind you with a hiss. Having been on your feet since six in the morning, you had hoped for a moment to collapse in a chair and nap with your head on the desk. But Kaiba was paying you an obscene amount of money to head the dueling security commission, and by golly, you would get him his money’s worth. “What’s going on?” Striding to your own console at the top of the graduated floor, you pulled up all available information on the two duelists involved in the flagged match. One was a new duelist, with few recorded games, but all were wins; the man had gained entry to this year’s Battle City event by crushing the competition at a local tournament. The other was a twelve year old boy with hundreds of games to his name—a decent duelist, but not extraordinary; he had no chance of making the top eight in this year’s Battle City tournament. You started to compare their deck lists as Alpha Team brought up a video feed of the duel.

“The man’s duel disk is running the duel off-server.” One of the nearest techs explained.

Your head shot up. “Why is the city wi-fi down in sector three?”

“It isn’t. He’s running an override.” As the tech spoke, the man on the screen began his turn, drawing a card.   

“So he’s cheating.” You reached across your body to aggressively massage the back of your left shoulder. 

“Affirmative. It appears he is running the duel off of his own duel disk in order to use a cheat showing him his opponent’s set cards. Looking over his duel logs, I believe he’s used this trick before, but this is the first time we caught what was happening.”

Studying the various data streams, you admired the skill behind the deception; tampering with Kaiba Corp code required nearly god-tier programming skills. But with rival Schroeder Corp running an aggressive advertising scheme constantly attempting to twist past events to make Kaiba Corp appear untrustworthy and corrupt, this could hardly happen at a worse time. Surely Kaiba had granted you this position due to your reputation for fairness and good judgment, and you intended to live up to his expectations. Very well, you would have the duel suspended remotely, conjure a hologram presence at the scene to explain why, and— “What’s that?” You pointed to a contraption crossing into the edge of the displayed feed. “One moment.” A lavender haired technician adjusted the camera, panning to the right to reveal a national news crew, who were setting up some kind of camera dolly system.  

Why on earth had they decided to film this duel, when there were a handful of other, completely legitimate, duels ongoing around the city? Spectacle was the name of the game for Kaiba Corp, and there was no pizzazz in bringing the duel to a fizzling halt. Removing your glasses, you wiped the sweat from the space between your eyes. You didn’t want to let Kaiba down; he had entrusted his tournament’s honor to you alongside his company’s image. 

Maybe you could use a more impressive hologram avatar? Usually you conjured Kozmo Farmgirl to represent yourself as the duel commissioner for the tournament, but what if… “Who owns that wall behind the duelists?”

“One moment.” This time an orange haired technician spoke up. As you slid your glasses back on, the woman provided the requested answer. “Cafe la Green. It’s a local business. The wall hides the back of their store from the street.”

You glanced back down at your own monitor, checking your available project funds; you were under budget. But did you have the guts to go through with the idea conjured by your brain just now? Gently, your fingers traced the edges of the KC pin on the lapel of your dark red frock coat—both gifts from Kaiba and Mokuba last Christmas. Placing you in this role showed their trust in your ability to play the game. You would bring your own sense of flashy showmanship to the problem.

“See if you can buy the brick wall.”

“On it.”

“And load up a second hologram avatar for me, in Solid Vision.” “What monster?”

“Ahhhhhhh...” What would have a strong visual impact? “Giga-Tech Wolf.”

“Prepping the projection now.”

You pulled yourself up to your full five foot three inches and planted your fists on your hips. “Does anyone on the news crew have a duel disk?”

“No, but a nearby onlooker does, and she’s chatting with the cameraman.”

“Great. Remotely activate her debris deflection field to protect the news crew.”

“Deflection field up in five seconds.” Replied a green haired tech.

The orange technician announced, “The wall is now property of Kaiba Corp.”

Near the projection screen, the higher pitched voice of the lavender tech added, “Giga-Tech Wolf is ready to rumble.”

Gripping the metal railing separating your platform from the rest of the downward sloping room, you broke into a grin. “On my mark, suspend the duel and have the wolf smash through the wall. Make it a spectacular entrance—destructive and noisy. We want to give the news crew a show, and highlight how solid our holograms can be.”

“Understood. The Creative Department will need a minute to work out the animation.”

“That’s fine.” 

It was one of the longest minutes of your life. Each second offered an opportunity to back out of this outrageous plan, but you tightened your grip on the railing and held your resolve. Behind you, the door to the hallway hissed open, but you were too lost in thought to pay it much mind.

“We’re ready when you are.” One of the technicians broke the tension as a simulation of the wolf crashing through the wall played in the corner of the screen displaying the duel in progress. Holding out your right hand with fingers extended, you prepared for a countdown. “Excellent. Suspend the duel and unleash the Solid Vision wolf in three, two—”

“Belay that order.” Kaiba’s low voice interrupted your countdown with demanding force.

You jumped. Whirling to stare up at the man behind you and seeking understanding of his objection, you tried to work out what mistake you had made in your plan. It felt in line with how Kaiba would handle the situation. “Aren’t you supposed to be out there dueling?” You asked, confused.

“I already won what I need to make the semi-finals.” He spoke with his usual intensity. “I was going to invite you and Yugi to join me at the sponsorship dinner this evening.”

“Sure, you know I won’t leave you to face the public alone if you ask me to join you. But please, until then, let me do the job you hired me to do.” It was unlike Kaiba to micromanage. Usually, he let a person work, and then honestly praised or derided the result when it was time to judge its quality.

“Let the duel play out.” He joined you at the railing.

“Kaiba, the man is cheating. I’m not going to let him get away with that. I can tone down the response if I took it too far but—”

“Your response was acceptable. Under normal circumstances I would enjoy watching you terrorize a man breaking the rules of my tournament.”

You started to smile at the compliment, but tilted your head in confusion. “Then what’s the problem?”

Kaiba crossed his arms. “Look at the data. He’s a nobody with a state school degree and average salary as a programmer. No history of dueling until recently, and there were suspicions about his play in the local tournament he won to gain entry to Battle City. I’ve had surveillance on him since the start of the tournament.”

“And you never thought to tell me any of this? I’m supposed to be the one keeping everything honorable in this tournament of yours. We could have kicked him out from the start!”

“There’s no way that idiot managed to write the exploit he’s using. I don’t want to warn him we’ve found his trick until I discover who he's working for.”

“Kaiba, the kid he’s dueling is going to lose unless we stop the duel.”

Shrugging, Kaiba watched the duel playing out on the screen. “He never stood a chance of making the semi-finals.”

“Yes, I know that, but when he loses, let it be a just loss!”

Barely turning his head to look at you, Kaiba asked, “Do you know the kid?” “No.”

“Then why do you care? You admitted he has no particular talent.”

“Because I’m a duelist too, and I know how I would want to be treated.” Which was true, but not the whole reason. It stung your honor to think of being hired to handle cheaters, but allow one to escape instead. “Catching a cheater in front of a news crew can only be good for Kaiba Corp’s image right now.”

“I care less about the public’s perception of my company than I do finding the heart of the problem.”

“As your duel commissioner, I cannot condone this course of action.”

Kaiba finally turned to face you. “And as your employer, your concerns are noted. We’ll let the match play out.”

An angry scoff escaped your lips. “And as your friend, I think this is a mistake!” Taking a deep breath, you gathered your composure. “You hired me for my honesty. Let me use it.”

“I hired you because I thought you would have my back.”

Why did those words hurt so badly? “And I do! But not like this.”

Kaiba shook his head, his blue eyes cold, but his tone confused. “I don’t understand. Aren’t you supposed to be part of my plans? Help me overcome the string of fools who insist on meddling with my life and company?”

“Sure, if you bother to tell me about it. Maybe ask if I’m okay with your plans! Don’t you know I’m an honest person? Don’t you know it’s against my nature to let this play out? I thought that’s why you asked me to do this job!” 

“I hired you because I thought you had a modicum of intelligence.” Kaiba countered, stepping closer. “But you’re nothing more than a shortsighted fool.” He towered over you, his pitch dropping to low gravel. “My mistake.”

Incapable of mustering a comeback when faced with an uncomfortable truth, you scowled as your brain scrambled to figure out how to respond. Kaiba spent more hours in a day thinking about the future than you did in a week. “Yeah, well, then… allow me to help you fix your stupid mistake.” Releasing the railing, you fumbled with the KC pin on your jacket lapel before giving up and slipping out of the frock coat entirely. “I quit.”

“I can’t stop you.”

“I know.” Mokuba always ensured you had a penalty free termination clause in any contract detailing your work at Kaiba Corp. Relinquishing your red coat by draping it over the railing at the top of the room, you turned and left, relishing the hiss of the silvery door closing behind you.  Around you, the metal walls of the hallway offered no commentary, only hazy reflections of yourself as you adjusted your glasses. What were you supposed to do now? Shouldn’t you feel satisfied? Why was your heart…sad? You crossed your arms. “Is everything alright?” You jumped. “Roland!” Embarrassment at being caught unawares caused blood to rush to your face. “Everything’s…” How could you say you were ‘fine’ when you had just walked away from a friendship fought for each week over the last year.

“You look like mister Kaiba after he loses a duel.” Roland observed, as you frantically uncrossed your arms.

And Roland would know. While you weren’t sure if he was categorized as Kaiba’s assistant, bodyguard, or something else entirely, it was clear the man had stood at his young employer’s side through years of crises and triumphs. He understood. This man must grasp what your parents and siblings could not—the desire to befriend Seto Kaiba. Normally, people made relationships so complex, their feelings and desires beyond your simple ken. But Kaiba, for all the journalists who called him complicated, made sense. Observing him showed he loved his younger brother Mokuba, his company, and the Duel Monsters game. Ignoring his words and instead watching his actions showed him to be a man of intelligence, a man of honor, and a man seeking acceptance from a world which seemed determined to crush him underfoot—no, that wasn’t right, Kaiba didn’t seek belonging, he fought to change the world into a place he felt safe. His words showed he cared for the opinions of few; and most of them were dead.

“Do you regret working for Kaiba?” You asked Roland, breaking the silence.

“No.” Roland adjusted his suit jacket. “Do you regret your friendship with him?”

“I think I just ended it.” Your eyes burned. If only you had sunglasses to hide your eyes like the man before you. When you thought the stillness of the hallway would swallow both of you, Roland sighed.

“I worked for Gozaburo Kaiba before he legally adopted the two boys and granted them his name, back when Kaiba Corp still made military vehicles and systems. My personal life was in shambles, and my conscience wasn’t much better, as I watched my employer twist a child into a baron of industry.”

You shoved your hands into your pockets, listening intently.

“When Seto bested his stepfather and claimed the company for himself, I was the first to pledge my loyalty to the new Kaiba Corp president, even if he was only fourteen at the time.” Straightening his shoulders, the man continued. “This job has prevented me from ever finding a wife, fathering children, or taking a vacation.” He laughed. “But I don’t regret quietly shepherding two brilliant boys into capable young men. One day, my allegiance may earn me a bullet to the heart, but it’s worth it.” Starting to reach out to you, he pulled back his hand awkwardly. “I think you see it too—the appeal of cold blue eyes and the contained force of a star burning itself to extinction as it tries to protect, fight, and create.” Without doubt, Roland was overqualified for his occasional work as a tournament announcer.

“I long hoped Mr. Kaiba would find himself a friend. Now he has you and Yugi, although my genius employer has no idea how to process loyalty or kindness. Give him a second chance, and he might surprise you.”

What on earth was the correct response to such a declaration? Before you could formulate an answer, Roland had turned and entered the control center behind you. How were you supposed to befriend a man like Seto Kaiba—and yet, how could you ever make your mind settle for anything less than striving to stand beside him as an equal, a creative, and a friend? ______ If you enjoyed this story, consider checking out my reader-insert masterlist here! There are several other fics featuring Kaiba. This piece was originally written to be displayed as part of the Affirmation/Transformation museum exhibit. You can see it's digital place in the exhibit here, where it is the only story submitted to the Rivalry/Oppositions category. Also, you can check out @gwenpools-aesthetic, who is the mastermind behind the project.

[platonicreaderinsertfanfic]

Was Your Friend About to Quietly Go Rogue?

Word count: 820 “You’re going with Naruto?” you asked, searching Kakashi’s one visible eye for how much trouble this would cause. He nodded. “Yamato is coming as well. If anyone asks about us, can you help cover for our absence?” “Sure, although I’m far from a brilliant liar.” "I know." Kakashi almost chuckled as he stood casually in front of the card table you were using to chop vegetables. Hands shoved into his pockets, partially silhouetted in the opening of the sturdy military tent, he may as well have been talking about visiting your family for a game night, instead of a personal mission which sounded dangerously like insubordination. Even with his headband covering his left eye, and his cloth mask covering the lower half of his face, it was easy enough to read his smile. Perhaps he was about to do something uncharacteristically stupid, but he looked the same as always, wearing a green flak vest and holster pouch. With the village destroyed and construction constantly ongoing, you had been assigned to peel and chop a sizable pile of potatoes, each of which you dropped into provided buckets of water once it was in quarters for easy boiling later. “Why all the secrecy?” He shrugged. “I doubt Danzo would approve of our journey.” “The new Hokage?” Usually Kakashi was more aware of the political ramifications of people’s actions than you were, but this seemed unwise. Although, you obviously didn’t know all the facts about the situation. Civilians rarely did. “The temporary, unconfirmed Hokage, yes.” 

While you knew almost nothing of the man, it was clear Kakashi didn’t approve of this arrangement, so it seemed likely you would not care for the new Leaf Village leader either. Resuming peeling a potato, you wondered how serious this self-appointed mission of Kakashi’s was? And yet, even if he was setting out on a suicide operation, he would likely be talking to you with his hands in his pockets and ever-calm demeanor, just like he was now. You knew that from personal experience. Sighing, your shoulders slumped as you planted your hands on the tabletop and leaned forward. “If you’re doing something the new Hokage doesn’t like, how many rules are you breaking?” “I’m not sure of the exact number. Maybe I’m technically not breaking any.” You stared at the tip of your knife, which rested on the cutting board. “Worst case scenario?” “You used to be an optimist.”  “I’m a realist who hopes Providence has my back. Answer the question.” After a long, slow exhale, Kakashi rocked back on his heels. “Danzo gets back from his trip, discovers Yamato and I left the village with Naruto, and decides to make an example of me. So I might be facing a demotion. Maybe a short prison sentence, if he’s feeling particularly harsh.” Your stomach twisted at his words, but your face didn't flinch as you continued staring down the tabletop. “Very well.” Leaning forward into your line of sight, Kakashi gave you a thumbs up, his right eye squinting almost closed as he smiled at you. “I hope you’ll visit me in prison if it comes to that, right?” He teased. Still clutching your vegetable peeler, you raised your fist and brought it down on top of his head playfully, squashing his spiky silver hair. “Idiot.” Pulling your hand away, you grinned back. “You’re my friend. Of course I’d visit.” Better than him not coming back at all, which was how you assumed your friendship would end one day. But then, he had died right here in the village not long ago, so there really wasn’t anywhere safe, for either of you. “Don’t worry.” Your friend’s voice was quiet but reassuring.  “Kakashi?” Captain Yamato stuck his head into the tent. “I’ll be seeing you.” Your friend raised a hand in a wave, and then he was gone. Picking up another potato, you muttered. “I hope so. I really hope so.” Ever since Kakashi had rescued you nineteen years ago, back when both of you were still children, you’d always known his ninja world was dangerous. Heck, your younger brother had commented that he didn’t know how you had the courage to befriend ninjas when you knew how likely they were to one day shatter the friendship by dying. You thought you had grown accustomed to the knowledge, accepted the future pain in exchange for a handful of interesting friends who could manage feats a civilian like you could only dream of. But this felt different. Political problems at home couldn’t be solved with force. If Kakashi got himself in trouble with the Hokage, there would be little to do but watch it unfold. You snorted as you quickly quartered a potato with two violent strikes of your knife. Honestly, why worry about this? Nothing you could do would change events, at most, you might attempt to alleviate the pain of unwelcome consequences if they came to pass… ______ Check out my other reader-insert stories here!

[platonicreaderinsertfanfic]

“Technoblade Never Dies”

A short reader-insert story I wrote Thursday night as a way of dealing with my emotions after finding out Technoblade died. :(

Sort of gives the reader a chance to say goodbye. Word count: 1717 words

Everyone saw Technoblade differently. Some of his officers spoke of his impossibly broad shoulders, and tireless right arm, while others recalled a mask of antlers and bone. Those who opposed him on the battlefield and managed to survive returned home with stories of “The Blade,” an inhuman being more monster than man. Disbelieving nurses tending to wounded soldiers heard stories of an immortal being with blazing red eyes and the Devil’s hooves, “The Blood God.” Visiting dignitaries recounted the visage of a stern man, wearing an imposing crown and immaculate clothing befitting his station as a prince. While many shrank from him in fear, the palace servants who took care of him seemed to see a little boy, soft and comely, who threatened far more than he ever intended to actually carry out. Without exception, animals loved him.

You saw your own version of Technoblade. To your eyes, he was a slender young man with flowing pink hair that shone in the sunlight, a man who moved with absolute grace and assurance, a man who stood straight and strong, with the kindest eyes. 

Keep reading

[platonicreaderinsertfanfic]

Etho: Vampire Hunter AU (Reader-Insert)

Female reader.

Word count: 932

“You’re up late.” A low voice broke the silence of the night.

You looked up from your work maintaining the chapel’s pews. “Etho!” He looked tired, green and black clothes splattered with dark stains, cloak hanging off his body in ripped shreds, and reddish brown smeared all over his bare hand and forearm. 

Adjusting the mask covering the lower half of his face, he smiled with his eyes. “Sister.” Like all your friends, he called you by your title rather than your name—just as you preferred. As far as you were concerned, Sister was your name, not the pretentious mouthful assigned to you by the Church when you came here years ago. Hiding your identity was tiresome, although preferable to being claimed by the powerful vampire queen who had marked you as a child.

“I take from the bloodstains all over your clothes, your hunt was successful?” Tossing your screwdriver onto the wooden pew beside where you were crouched, you leaned back to get a better look at your friend; it seemed none of the blood was his this time. Good.

He laughed, almost sounding embarrassed. “It doesn’t feel successful.”

“Rough kill?” You threw your long hair back over your shoulder, keeping it out of the way as you returned to work.

Running a blood smeared hand through his white hair, Etho’s mood darkened. “Even when I know my target has lived for over sixty years, and killed seventeen innocents, it’s not easy to drive a stake through the heart of a creature who looks like a ten year old girl…”

“The abbess always says you’re too kind for this work.” Picking up the screwdriver, you gave it a little flip in the air, catching it neatly. Gently running your left hand over the pile of screws, you grouped them as you counted in your head. 

Etho walked towards you. “Uh huhh. It’s hard to tell when she sends me out every week to kill monsters.” Sighing, he squeezed past your kneeling body to tiredly sink down onto the pew. “I shouldn’t have specialized in vampires.”

“Etho, don’t sit—!”

Splintering wood and the crash of ancient planks smacking beautiful tilework flooring interrupted your warning, as the pew gave way beneath him. “Ohhhhh.” He sounded pathetic as he lay on his back on the floor, gazing up at the decorative ceiling and gripping the pocket watch hanging from his belt. While you knew Etho must be a fierce and capable warrior, you found such an image hard to combine with the slightly hapless, and very nice guy, you had befriended over the years.

You groaned. “I had removed most of the screws attaching the seat to the end of the pew, so I could replace them with slightly wider screws, ‘cause the whole thing’s been getting loose, and had already been jury rigged before I ever came here…”

“Sorey.” His accent always came through when he apologized. “I’ll explain to the abbess it was my fault.”  

“Thanks.” Leaning back against the chapel wall, you mulled over how long it would take you to fix the pew, assuming you had the skill to properly fix something so old, delicate, and ornate—which you doubted.

“And speaking of the abbess, I got permission to take you with me on my next assignment.”

“Really?” At his words, all exasperation fled your body. Usually you were forbidden from leaving the abbey, on account of the mark on the back of your left hand. “Why?”

“You’re good at clerical work, right, Sister?”

You nodded eagerly as he continued.

“My target tonight had quite a library, and chests of saved correspondence. I needed someone to help me catalog all of it tomorrow, and since they made the mistake of letting me choose my own assistant…I chose you.” Propping himself up on his elbows, his eyes crinkled in a smile. “You do want to see more of the world, right? I don’t know why the abbess always keeps you cooped up in the church compound, but I figure I ought to show my friend a bit of the outside world if I can.”

Without thinking, you gripped the back of your left hand, imagining the green symbol hidden by your half finger glove. “I’d love that.” 

Rising from the rather destroyed pew, which now littered the floor, Etho stretched. “I need to wash up. Wouldn’t want to talk to the abbess looking like this.” He pointed at you. “Now go get some sleep, we have a long day tomorrow.”

“You’re going to talk to the abbess now?”

“Some of us aren’t night owls by choice, Sister.” Etho chuckled. “If I have to work this late, she can wake up to talk to me in the middle of the night from time to time.”

Grateful for his friendship, and this opportunity to leave the abbey, you wanted to hug the lanky man before you, but decorum held you back. The last thing you had ever wanted was rumors of being romantically involved with anyone, and years of practicing such thinking left little room for nebulous gestures like hugs—no matter how platonically you intended them. “Hm, you’ve always had fun being a bit of a pain.”

“Just doing my job.” His smile shone through in his voice as you packed up your toolbox.

“See you tomorrow, Etho.”

With a jaunty little wave, he strode off, leaving you to wonder what the next day held. __________ Check out my other reader-insert stories here!

[platonicreaderinsertfanfic]

Story Masterlist can be found here.

Nothing Builds a Friendship Like a Crisis (part 4)

Co-written with multifandoms27

Summary: Mokuba has been kidnapped as you and him performed his monthly inspection of Kaiba Land. Reginald O'Malley, the president of rival gaming company Knightly Rook, is responsible for the kidnapping, and has challenged Kaiba to a tag duel in order to win back Mokuba. To your surprise, Kaiba asked you to be his partner for the duel, since Yugi was out of town. As you head to the rooftop helipad, you hope you're not getting in over your head. Dub canon plus a version of DSOD. Female Reader. Set maybe two years post DSOD. Fun fact: I always write my Reader character with personality and specific description. Each reader character also has a specific place in the Yu-Gi-Oh world, and is basically an OC with set connections and feelings about the various canon characters and other reader characters. This is reader B, who is immune to the siren song of romance, cheap, eccentric, logical, and hands-on. Word count: 1,647 You can read part 1 here. You can read part 2 here. You can read part 3 here. You stood inside the elevator which had roof access, feeling the floor press against your feet as you and Kaiba shot upwards. The doors slid open to reveal a helipad. Stepping out onto the roof, you squinted in the blinding summer sunlight as heat radiated up from underfoot and down from above. After ditching your hat, abandoning your sunglasses, and replacing your t-shirt with a fitted black shirt and a short white vest, you had run after Kaiba, barely catching the elevator in time. Now, staring at your shadow, you smiled at your silhouette; it was angular, with your capris falling to your midcalf, and the vest cutting off halfway down your torso, with a high collar and flaring out shoulders. It was a good image, a strong outline, and it sort of reminded you of something… Team Rocket. You groaned. 

Kaiba strode past you towards the helicopter, his hair ruffling in the wind created by the rotors. He moved without hesitation. This was your last chance to back out, but your mind discarded the suggestion. When you jumped into a project, you didn’t look back. This was no different. As the artificial wind and engine noise increased, you followed Kaiba inside the helicopter, feeling the sudden lack of blustering air as you pulled the door shut behind you. It was surprisingly quiet inside.   

You almost planted your face against the window during takeoff. For a few minutes, the excitement of being in a helicopter drowned out everything else. Settling down on the bench opposite Kaiba, you tried to focus on your deck and prepare for the upcoming duel. “You look nervous.” Kaiba commented. “I am nervous. We’re about to duel for your brother. What if I’m not up to the task? What if we lose?” You regretted sharing your worries as soon as you said them.

“I don’t lose.”

“Oh, we both know that’s not true.”

Kaiba scowled at you. “I don’t lose to two-bit schemers like O’Malley.”

Fair point. Kaiba was an excellent duelist, one of the best in the world. “I might. I’m a decent duelist, but my deck is hardly top notch, and—”

“You won’t hold me back. I’ll win on my own if I need to.” Kaiba’s voice was ice. His eyes softened a smidge. “But you’re a competent duel partner.”

Kaiba believed in your ability? You gave a faint smile, he wouldn’t have asked you otherwise. “I try.”

“You better.”

After a few minutes of silence, Kaiba spoke up again. “Let me see your deck.”

Switching to the bench Kaiba was sitting on, you pulled your deck out of your belt box and spread the cards between you. Working at a game shop brought advantages; you had managed to get some decent cards, and were using one of the new ‘archetypes.’ When you first found out about the Kozmo cards, you knew you wanted to try and build a deck with them. But even with an employee discount, and Yugi’s Grandpa helping track down cards, you had barely managed to build the simplest form of the deck. 

“Hm.” Kaiba grabbed his silver briefcase from the floor and opened it. His laptop was strapped into the lid, and the base of the case held thousands of dollars worth of cards. Your eyes widened. “Borrow a few for your deck.” It sounded more like an order than an offer.

“I can’t start swapping my cards right before a duel! It could mess up my strategies.” It was stupid, but you didn’t want to feel like you owed him anything.

Kaiba planted his fingers on a few of your cards and slid them across the bench towards you, “I’m offering you a chance to replace your weak staples with stronger options. Take it.”

“Fine, but I’m giving them back after we win. I don’t need your charity.” You took the briefcase from Kaiba and perused the contents. This would require thought. After selecting a few cards like Ice Dragon’s Prison and Pot of Greed, you showed Kaiba the chosen cards and slipped them into your deck. He nodded approvingly.   

Kaiba pulled out his own deck, rifling through the cards idly until he found one of his favorites. 

“Can I look at one of your Blue-Eyes?” You were surprised at your own audacity, but if you wanted Kaiba to treat you like an equal, you would need to act like one.

“Sure.” Extending two fingers, he held the card out.                    

Up till now, you had only held the ripped Blue-Eyes at the game shop. This one was beautiful. You could imagine its roar. Feel its presence. Holding the card was an honor—you felt like Kaiba had handed you part of his soul. 

“Do you know what that card represents?” Kaiba asked.  

“You?”

Kaiba almost smiled. “You spend too much time with Yugi.”

You realized your mistake. “Your power.” It wasn’t a guess anymore, you knew you were right.

The corner of his mouth twitched upwards for a moment, before seriousness won out again. 

You knew the card text without needing to look at it, “This legendary dragon is a powerful engine of destruction. Virtually invincible, very few have faced this awesome creature and lived to tell the tale.” 

“Listen,” Kaiba stared at you intently, “We’re about to step into enemy territory. You can’t show weakness or fear, because our adversaries will pounce on any opening you provide.”

You nodded. “I’ll try, but I don’t feel overly confident right now.”

“Your feelings don’t matter.” Kaiba slammed his deck down on the bench between you. “Do you trust me?”

“Yes.” It was the truth.

“Then remember my power is behind you now, and act like it.”  

“Kaiba…” You saw no deception in his eyes, only trust, and determination. “Thank you.” You handed back his card, realizing he was letting you into his world because he wanted you at his side. Taking a deep breath, you asked, “How long until we arrive?”

“Less than an hour.”

You leaned back against the wall, which vibrated as the copter beelined for your destination. Closing your eyes, running over everything your deck could do, you tried to focus, until the events of the day caught up to you, and you dozed off. Some time later, your head jerked up as your eyes flew open. It was too quiet. The helicopter had landed on another roof, this one in rolling mountains, surrounded by forests. Standing near the front, Kaiba held a muttered conversation with the pilot. You stretched and rubbed your neck. “This is our destination?” Outside the helicopter, men in suits and sunglasses gathered—a security team. Closing your eyes, you rolled them to slightly reposition your contacts; it was almost time for action.

Kaiba strode to the door. “Remember what I told you.” 

You cracked your knuckles, nodding. “Let’s do this.” Nerves settled themselves; playing a game was easier than waiting for it to begin.

Throwing open the door, Kaiba jumped down. Inhaling deeply, you drew yourself up to your full height; you had always been comfortable with yourself—it was time to stop worrying about manners and act more like Kaiba. You grinned, casually stepping out the doorway and landing beside him. It was cooler here than in Domino City, the air filled with the buzz of cicadas and birdsong.

“What are you doing here?”

Hearing the quiet murmur, you turned to Bishop, who shifted slightly under your gaze. “Surprised to see me?”

“I went to considerable expense to keep you out of this mess, Ms. l/n.”

“Why’s that?” You asked, remembering Kaiba’s words about the high cost of the drugs in your slushy.

“I didn’t want to see a naive little girl get caught up in this game.”

“I’m four years older than Kaiba.” You weren’t angry, you had always looked younger than your age, and you certainly lacked experience in these high stakes games. “But I appreciate your concern.”

“Your boss is using you.” “Hnh.” Kaiba crossed his arms. “I like being useful. Besides,” you slid your hands into your pockets and leaned back against the helicopter, “I make my own choices, Bishop.”

“Suit yourself. But I wash my hands of your fate.”

Before you could reply, the nearby elevator entrance dinged. As the doors slid apart, Mr. O’Malley strolled out before they finished opening. He grinned. “Ah, Mr. Kaiba, I’m so glad you could join us!” The security men parted to allow their employer through. “And you’ve brought a woman with you. I’m impressed. Perhaps even the intolerable Seto Kaiba can attract a pretty face.”

“Don’t waste my time with your ludicrous assumptions, O’Malley.”

“Darling, the girl is obviously a gold digger.” From the elevator emerged a woman with bottle blond hair and flashy jewelry, her makeup and clothes trying desperately to hide her status as a middle aged woman in her forties. She wore a sleek black dress with brown fur accents perfectly matching O’Malley’s tie. 

“Allow me to introduce the missus.” Holding out a hand to his wife, who took it with a regal air, O’Malley presented her as though royalty. “My dear queen Sasha—bright as fireworks in a summer sky, ambitious as Caesar, and lovely as the Ring of Kerry.”

“Am I supposed to be impressed?”

“Now now, Mr. Kaiba, no need to be rude. I’m sure your own queen has many lovely qualities as well. While her devotion to the white king shows a certain lack of wisdom, I’m sure she possesses other charms.”

He was still using chess metaphors, you noted. 

“Get to the point, O’Malley, we’re here for Mokuba.” 

“Ah yes, your poor little brother. The lad’s been quite adamant you would come for him.”

“Where’s Mokuba?” Kaiba’s tone dropped lower, bristling with hostility. 

“I’m not a cruel man. I shan't keep such devoted brothers apart for long.” Turning gracefully, O’Malley looked back over his shoulder at them. “Please, follow me.”

[platonicreaderinsertfanfic]

Story Masterlist can be found here.

Nothing Builds a Friendship Like a Crisis (part 3)

Co-written with multifandoms27 Summary: Kaiba hired you to assist Mokuba as he performed his monthly inspection of the local, Domino City branch of Kaiba Land. Unfortunately, Mokuba was kidnapped before your eyes, and now there's nothing left to do but talk to Kaiba about what happened. Dub canon plus a version of DSOD. Female Reader. Set maybe two years post DSOD. Fun fact: I always write my Reader character with personality and specific description. Each reader character also has a specific place in the Yu-Gi-Oh world, and is basically an OC with set connections and feelings about the various canon characters and other reader characters. This is reader B, who is immune to the siren song of romance, cheap, eccentric, logical, and hands-on. Word count: 2,217 You can read part 1 here. You can read part 2 here. The next minutes were a blur of worrying about Mokuba, security men asking questions, and being hustled through staff-only sections of the park. After the third round of debriefing, in the second nondescript meeting room, you wished with all your heart there was a way to help instead of repeating yourself to various Kaiba Corp employees. But there was nothing you could do. You had helplessly watched as men kidnapped Mokuba, and nothing had changed since then—you were still unable to act, stuck in a state of frustration, failure, and misery. By the time you were brought to Kaiba’s office, you braced yourself for his anger. It was almost welcome. If one more soft spoken individual kindly told you that everything would be alright, the situation was under control, but would you mind answering a few questions… You hated being lied to, and all the comforting fabrications from total strangers were grating on your frayed nerves.

As the door closed behind you, you took a deep breath. You imagined running away. Each step towards Kaiba felt like a bad idea. Since the plush green carpet ate up the sound of your footsteps, the room was silent but for the urgent clacking of the keyboard as the company president steadfastly ignored you. It had been a long time since you had been here—and back then, Mokuba was filling in as the company president. Another step. Behind Kaiba, light flooded in from the windows making up the entire back wall of the office. Step again. Nestled up against the left wall was a table with a detailed model of Kaiba Land, which you remembered Mokuba showing you the night you had been here last. Step. You couldn’t think about Mokuba now. Step. You needed to stay focused, present, involved. You reached the desk. Kaiba had his laptop out beside his desktop monitor, switching back and forth between the two machines. He never looked up from his screens. You hated to interrupt, so for over a minute You stood in silence, watching his fingers fly over the keys. But if he told his men to bring you here, he must have wanted to see you, or at least chew you out. “You wanted to talk to me?” “In a moment.” Kaiba kept his eyes buried in his monitor, as you took a wider stance and clasped your hands behind your back. Eventually, he asked, “How do you feel?” What?! You thought you could count on Kaiba to not ask about your emotions—they weren’t something you wanted to talk about. “Worried. Guilty.” At last, Kaiba looked up in exasperation, “I meant physically. You were drugged, after all.” “I feel… well enough. What do you mean, ‘I was drugged?’” Kaiba reached into a cardboard box perched on the corner of his desk, and pulled out a clear plastic cup containing neon green liquid. He all but slammed the cup down on the polished wood, “Lab results show trace amounts of a rather expensive medical concoction in your drink.”  “But… how? When could someone have slipped drugs into my slushy?” “This was from Bishop?” You nodded. “Yeah, and I didn’t set it down until after Mokuba left. So there’s no way anyone could have—” “I don’t have time for your naivete. Bishop drugged you.” “Wha—Why? He was always so nice to me….” Your mind reeled. No one had ever betrayed you before, but it was the simplest explanation. And you had seen three men leave the tunnel and fly off in the helicopter. “I’m sure he wanted two of the guards to stay behind with you.” Kaiba had resumed typing, although he was moving slower now, giving half his attention to you. “Kaiba, I’m really sorry. I should have stayed with Mokuba—” “And what would you have done? Got yourself shot like the other guard with my brother?” “Shot?!”

Kaiba glanced at you, “Consider yourself lucky Bishop only drugged you.” “Is he dead?” “No, but he’s in the hospital.” Kaiba almost sounded, for a fraction of a second, like he regretted his employee being in such a state. But he kept working, acting like the conversation was a secondary concern. “How did Bishop stop the roller coaster?” Your mind had been mulling over the question of stopping the cars ever since the incident.  “He carried a localized field which blocked power to the brakes and triggered their failsafe, causing them to lock up until Bishop left the area.” “That’s impossible. You can’t dampen electricity like that. An EMP might have knocked the power offline, but then the cars would have been stuck there.” “It’s possible. My stepfather sold designs for such a device to the military.” You crossed your arms, “Fine, but no one would have access to those designs, much less the device itself.” “Despite my efforts, there’s still old Kaiba Corp tech scattered across the globe, and not exclusively in the US military.” “Seriously?” You supposed even Kaiba couldn’t always buy his way out of other men’s contracts. “But in this case,” Kaiba switched to his laptop, “an unauthorized individual accessed those files internally. Probably Bishop.” “He’s a hacker?” “Or his boss is, and Bishop followed his instructions in order to steal the plans, as well as several other, more recent files related to Solid Vision.” “I would have thought that was impossible too.” “Almost impossible. The bypass was impressive. I’ve been rebuilding the system’s security protocols from scratch this week, but the damage was already done.” Silence fell again, and you wondered if the conversation was over. You were tired. Shoving your hands into your pockets, you asked, “Am I still going to need to talk to the police after this?”  “Why would you talk to the police?” Kaiba stopped typing and stared at you with genuine curiosity. “Because I watched your little brother get kidnapped!” “I know, but what do the police have to do with it?” “Well, yeah, okay, it’s probably the FBI’s job, and not the local police, but you know what I mean.” You were rarely sarcastic, but there was no reason for Kaiba to be so pedantic. To your surprise, Kaiba stopped typing, leaned forward on his elbows, and pinched the bridge of his nose, “I thought Mokuba explained our situation to you.” “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” You were more confused than angry. Kaiba sighed. “I’m sure you’ve heard that the super rich can do whatever they want?” “Yeah, but I’ve never believed it.” “It would be more accurate to say that we can do whatever we want, to those in our league.” You stared blankly.

“If a corporation kidnapped a random child, the government would intervene on behalf of the kid, but they won’t interfere with something like this. I’m expected to use my own resources to rescue Mokuba, or take revenge on his kidnappers—whatever I want, so long as the perpetrator is playing the same game. And of course, there’s always the possibility for further retaliation from the other side.” You grasped desperately for words. “This is…” Kaiba had ripped aside the curtain, revealing a view of the world you were never supposed to see. “Where does this leave someone like me?” “Employees of Kaiba Corp are under my protection. Any of my rivals who bothered or harmed my people would know to expect retribution. And of course, we’re careful not to harm unrelated… civilians.” Kaiba paused, as though questioning his choice of words, then continued. “If someone like Pegasus grievously hurt one of your sisters, then the government might get involved, and the whole thing could drag out in a multi-year legal battle. No one wants that.” “And where do I fit into this?” It felt like you had tumbled into a dangerous world running parallel to your own. “You?” Kaiba leaned back in his chair, “Right now, you’re an edge case. Although your decisions today will plant you squarely in, or out, of the game.”   You wondered what decisions Kaiba was talking about, but didn’t feel ready to ask about them. “So, why would Bishop do something like this? Shouldn’t he be on your team?” “Until last year, Bishop worked for Knightly Rook. When he applied here, he said he didn’t respect his boss, and wanted to work for someone with real power. But now, I know he never left his previous employer.” Kaiba smirked, “The man will regret crossing me.” “Knightly Rook kidnapped Mokuba? Why on earth would they do that?” “The company has been pestering me to meet with their president for months now. Apparently, they won’t accept that I refuse to collaborate with talentless hacks.” “And their president thought kidnapping Mokuba would enable him to win you over? The man is a moron.” “He thinks he can use this to prove he’s better than me.” Kaiba aggressively struck a few keys on his keyboard and swung around his desktop monitor to show a paused video. A graying redhead with a roguish grin and playful green eyes stared out of the screen—the president of Knightly Rook, Reginald O’Malley. Wearing a silky black shirt and perfectly tailored matching suit, the man looked more professional than Kaiba; and his mahogany tie and cane added an extra smidge of respectability. As the video resumed, the camera slowly zoomed in on his face. “I tried to play nice, Mr. Kaiba, I really did. We could have built something grand together.” From behind his desk, Kaiba snorted at the assertion.

“Alas, I could handle your refusals,” the video continued, “but your spurious claims that my company is nothing but pathetic puffery were an affront to my pride, sir.” Twirling his cane with practiced ease, the man continued. “And as you can see, I’m ready to challenge you, to show the world it is Seto Kaiba who should be pitied, as I rip from your inhospitable grip everything you hold dear.” You had heard O‘Malley many times, but never like this—with menace lurking behind each cheerfully delivered word. Although as his threat grew more obvious, some of the cheeriness fell away. “But of course, I propose a fair match, Mr. Kaiba, me and my Queen, against you and yours.” O’Malley switched to a mocking tone, “And worry not, I am aware you are a pathetic man, who has never known the sweet joys of a female companion, but I speak metaphorically.”  You and Kaiba shared an annoyed look at the assertion of singleness being equal to patheticness.  The video continued, “I am the black king, you are the white king, and each of us shall bring our strongest piece with us into symbolic battle via your favorite game. The stakes are high, and poor, young Mokuba awaits his dear older brother.” O’Malley chuckled, “The black king has made the first move, what will you do next, Mr. Kaiba?” Kaiba paused the video and rotated his screen back to its usual position as you asked, “I thought white always made the first move in Chess?” “Correct. But apparently he overlooked that detail when composing his speech.” Kaiba crossed his arms. “Will you be my tag-duel partner against this imbecile?” You were caught off guard by Kaiba’s question, delivered without preamble, “Shouldn’t you ask Yugi to be your partner for this duel?” An image of Mokuba suffering because you lost surfaced in your imagination, only to be ruthlessly shoved away; you needed to stay focused on the conversation. Kaiba stared at the top of his desk, “Yugi’s in New York, and we’re on the clock.” The last time you had agreed to help Kaiba, the two of you had ended up scrubbing floors in Pegasus’s castle, which felt like nothing compared to what was at stake today—Mokuba’s safety. “Why choose me?” You trusted Kaiba to give you an honest answer. “I’m not the strongest duelist around.” “You care about Mokuba almost as much as I do.” Kaiba’s mask of impassivity slipped, an almost childish desperation in his eyes. “And I trust you.” Having tasted betrayal for the first time today, you understood the value of his declaration. Your mind splintered into factions, wanting to accept his offer, arguing other candidates would be a better choice than you, screaming to take action, whispering that joining Kaiba on this venture could cost you a great deal—your privacy and anonymity, your safety, your right to be excluded from these power games. But your friend was asking for help, and your almost-a-little-brother needed you to rescue him. The seconds of confusion ended. You planted your hands on the edge of the desk and leaned towards Kaiba. “I’m in. But not as an employee, or a subordinate. As friends. Equals.” Kaiba stared into your eyes, as though seeking your resolve. “Very well.” “Also, you know that outfit you had made for me last year that matched yours? I wore it to Pegasus’s party to help you try and win a bet?” “Of course.” “Do you still have that? ‘Cause if we’re gonna play this guy’s stupid game, I want to lean into the aesthetic while we trounce him.” A smile tugged at the edges of Kaiba’s mouth. “I’ll see what I can do. Here.” Reaching into the cardboard box again, he handed you the deck box you had left in a locker back at Kaiba Land. “You’ll need this.”

[platonicreaderinsertfanfic]

Chapter 3 can be read here.

Story Masterlist can be found here.

Nothing Builds a Friendship Like a Crisis (part 2)

Co-written with multifandoms27 Summary: Kaiba hired you to assist Mokuba for one day as Mokuba performed his monthly inspection of the local, Domino City branch of Kaiba Land. You were totally up to the task, until things spiraled out of your control in the worst way possible. Dub canon plus a version of DSOD. Female Reader. Set maybe two years post DSOD. Fun fact: I always write my Reader character with personality and specific description. This means she may not be as generic as is customary for this type of story. Each reader character also has a specific place in the Yu-Gi-Oh world, and is basically an OC with set connections and feelings about the various canon characters and other reader characters. This is reader B, who is immune to the siren song of romance, cheap, eccentric, logical, and hands-on. Word count: 1,495 You can read part 1 here.

Mokuba was dressed for work, wearing a button up shirt, tie, and dress pants. If he were in an office, the choices would have seemed normal, but since the two of you were spending the day in an amusement park, he looked quite out of place. At the moment, Mokuba was talking to each of the attendants working in the arcade, asking them questions, looking at spreadsheets, and trying to gauge how popular the newest game cabinets were. You wore your usual cargo capris, brightly colored socks, and a t-shirt decorated with little images of Scapegoat ringing the ends of the sleeves. Atop your head you wore a baseball cap and sunglasses; you had no intention of being identified in any paparazzi photographs if you could help it—fame seemed like more trouble than it was worth.

Standing around, you eyed the snack bar, wanting one of the neon colored slushies marked as “extremely sour” on the menu board, but simultaneously not wanting to spend your money on overpriced theme park drinks. Men in dark suits and sunglasses loitered around as well—Mokuba’s security detail: Cole, Bishop, and… you couldn’t remember the names of the other two. Eventually, Mokuba finished talking with the employees, and walked back. You helped him sort his notes—asking questions, listening closely to his answers, acting like both of you were adults, even though Mokuba wasn’t one, and you rarely felt like a grownup. The guards did a good job of gently brushing away anyone who tried to approach without permission, as Mokuba finally concluded he was certain all Kaiba Corp regulations and standards were being met in the arcade. It was time for fun. Starting with rhythm games before moving on to dancing games, you and Mokuba had a blast. After working up a bit of a sweat, you leaned against the metal handrail attached to the dancing game, “Why are you so good at this?” Mokuba grinned at you, “Practice.” “Practice? I don’t want to have to practice to get good at games!” You enjoyed joking around with Mokuba, it felt natural, almost like he was your little brother—no, thoughts like that were dangerous. Even if Mokuba had taken a shine to you, there was no way the Kaiba brothers were about to let you into their circle of people they truly trusted and cared about; even Yugi barely managed to make it in, and he was one of the sweetest people in the world. One of the guards, Bishop, approached with a slushy in each hand. You had interacted with him a few times over the past year, and he was always attentive to people’s needs. Gratefully, you took the proffered neon green concoction, surprised at how sour the drink was; you loved tart foods. Beside you, Mokuba chugged down his own pink slushy, giving himself a brain freeze. “Arrrgh, why doesn’t this happen to you?!” You shrugged, “I eat slowly. It has its perks.” The two of you made your way outside, where the bright sunlight and gentle breeze contrasted with the dim, noisy interior of the arcade building. Continuing to sip on your slushy, you wondered if you had somehow overdone it playing dancing games. You did enough cardio workouts in your daily life that it shouldn’t be negatively affecting you like this, but… You forced yourself to keep walking across the park, sipping at your cold drink and trying to act like you felt fine. “Can we go on the new roller coaster now?” Mokuba interrupted your thoughts. “I haven’t had a chance to ride it since it opened two weeks ago.” He turned to face you, “Woah, are you feeling okay?” “Not really.” Talking caused an unexpected spike of nausea. “I think I need to sit down for a minute, but you can go ahead and ride.” What on earth had you done to yourself back there? Mokuba hesitated. “I’ll be fine. You can ride it again with me before we leave.” There was no way you were going to hold Mokuba back, even in such a small matter.

“If you say so.” Mokuba sounded unsure. As though sensing his boss’s uncertainty, Bishop suggested, “We can leave two of the guards with her, in order to make sure Ms. l/n remains undisturbed while we’re on the ride.” Mokuba nodded, “Good suggestion.” He grinned at you, “See ya later.” With Bishop and one of the other guards in tow, the short teen headed for the waiting line.

Smiling wanly at the two remaining security guards, you walked over to a nearby bench, slowly sitting to avoid roiling your stomach further. You watched as Mokuba and Bishop slipped under a velvet rope blocking off the secondary access line to the coaster and made their way to the front. After seeing the two of them start to enter the next available car with the other park goers, you closed your eyes and let your head sink back, glad to be sitting still and resting.

Listening to the people passing by, the soundtrack for the roller coaster line, and the distant screams of riders enjoying themselves, you relaxed. After a few minutes, you began to feel better, which was just as well, since Mokuba was likely to be bounding up any second now. A couple more minutes passed. It was too quiet. Opening your eyes, you realized the roller coaster wasn’t running. Your eyes traced along its brightly colored path; you didn’t see any cars running on the tracks, only empty cars at the loading station, which weren’t being filled. So the previous cars must still be on the tracks, and since you couldn’t see them, it must have been in one of the covered portions. Groaning, you pushed yourself up and made for the ride. With the two guards at your side, it was easy to make it to the front of the line, where a young woman was trying not to panic as she talked into her intercom. Finishing her call, the ride operator covered her face with her hands, “I’m gonna lose my job…” “What’s wrong?” You asked as you approached, eyes scanning over the ride’s control panel as you spoke. Noticing you and the guards, the young woman tried to straighten up, “Oh, uh, one of the magnetic brake systems completely engaged when it wasn’t supposed to, and now the ride is stopped at the top of the second peak.” She pointed to the relevant part of the ride, which was covered by an outer tunnel, hiding the cars from view. “I’m hardly an expert, but that can be caused by a sensor malfunction causing the security protocols to engage, right?” You wished you knew more about how roller coasters worked. The young woman nodded, “That’s right, but if that happens, I should be able to fix it by restarting the system, and it’s not working!”

A rapidly approaching helicopter almost drowned out your next question, “How long before someone gets out here to fix it?”

“A technician should be here in a couple minutes, but I don’t—” the helicopter was too loud now, drowning out the ride operator’s words. It seemed louder than the Kaiba Corp copters you had been near a few times.

Squelching down your unease, you moved to get a better look at the helicopter, which was unmarked. The copter stopped over the place where you knew the roller coaster cars with Mokuba were stuck, and two men jumped out onto the roof of the tunnel. Was this a rescue operation? Turning to yell to the two guards with you, you saw them motioning to one another in a way that made it clear this was not supposed to be happening. At this angle, it was hard to see what the men from the helicopter were doing, but they appeared to pry a panel off of the tunnel and drop down inside.

More black suited men were arriving at the loading platform now, shouting terse commands and code words you recognized from studying the security protocols last night; this was bad.

Some of the guards began to make their way into out-of-bounds maintenance areas, drawing guns from their suit jackets and preparing to climb steep emergency staircases up towards the place Mokuba was trapped. Caught up in watching the security men, you failed to notice what was happening until the ride operator grabbed you and pointed. Three men were rising from the hole in the tunnel, with a bound but struggling Mokuba in tow.

“Mokuba!!” The helicopter drowned out your cry, as the four figures disappeared inside. The roller coaster cars suddenly started moving again, its passengers’ screams becoming audible as the helicopter began to fly away, rapidly disappearing in the distance.

Leaning back against the side of the control panel, you slid to the ground, your knees almost touching your shoulders. “Mokuba…” This time the word was barely audible, your throat tight as tears threatened to spill from your eyes.

[platonicreaderinsertfanfic]

Nothing Builds a Friendship Like a Crisis

Co-written with multifandoms27 Summary: You wanted to work in peace, but a certain CEO wanted you to take on a job for him. Dub canon plus a version of DSOD. Female Reader. Set maybe two years post DSOD. Fun fact: I always write my Reader character with personality and specific description. This means she may not be as generic as is customary for this type of story. Each reader character also has a specific place in the Yu-Gi-Oh world, and is basically an OC with set connections and feelings about the various canon characters and other reader characters. This is reader B, who is immune to the siren song of romance, cheap, eccentric, logical, and hands-on. Word count: 1,100 It felt lonely after Yugi and his friends’ graduation. Over the course of the three prior years, while you had worked at Kame Game, Yugi had slowly pulled you into his friend group. Always slow to form emotional connections, you found you were no match for Yugi’s bright smile and quiet nudging to join in the fun. And despite being four years older, you had been well integrated by the time Yugi graduated—although, truth be told, you were only marginally aware of how much you had come to delight in spending time with the group. At least, until it ended, then you became keenly aware. Téa left to study in New York. Tristan was working full time in his dad’s factory. And Joey spent his days working a collection of odd jobs and chasing down his dream of becoming a professional duelist. And then Joey started dating your younger sister, and it felt like losing two friends at once. Fortunately, you and Yugi grew closer, starting Pharaoh Games together, designing a few games which the two of you sold for a slight profit at a small scale. And Mokuba started to swing by; he latched onto you, quickly becoming close. It was Mokuba who hired you and Yugi to design the proof of concept game for his older brother’s new solid vision holograms. And that was how, amidst a whirlwind year and a half project, you met Seto Kaiba. He was the most interesting human you had ever met, he designed incredible things, and he loved his little brother—the three shortcuts to winning your favor, all in one person. You and Kaiba worked well together—which Mokuba encouraged—and to your surprise, by the end of the project, Kaiba was going out of his way to talk to you, tell you about his plans, and ask for your advice on specific elements of scenario design for his own Solid Vision projects.

You even tried to help Kaiba win a bet with Pegasus, and although the two of you eventually lost, it did help create a true bond between you, (especially when it came time to pay up.) Still, once the Solid Vision game was completed, Kaiba moved on to other projects, and you were left with nothing to return to but quiet work at the game shop. It was a good job, a good life, and Yugi was a good friend; but you missed spending time with someone smarter than you, someone who built imaginary worlds from light, someone with impressive dreams for the future. It felt like, after years of hearing about Yugi’s adventures, you had been swept up into the edges of something grand, only to be dropped again back into the mundane—and there were fewer friends to share it with now.

Still, the Kaiba brothers both kept in contact in their own way, and you had low social needs, so it all seemed like it would work out. 

While working alone at the game shop, you flipped the radio on. An old fashioned trumpet fanfare blasted out of the speakers as you scrambled to turn the volume down. You were all too familiar with the melody—the theme song for a rapidly ascending game company, Knightly Rook, which had been in an advertising blitz for almost a month now. From your admittedly biased perspective, the company seemed more hype than substance, but it was the company’s snide, barely concealed jabs at Kaiba Corp that irritated you. Still, there was a lot of talk from the company’s popular president that Knightly Rook would soon go public, so for the moment, even the news was covering their rise to prominence.

At your hip, your cell phone went off, playing the Kaiba Corp theme. Switching off the radio, you popped the phone out of its clip and answered it. “Kaiba?” 

“You’re taking Mokuba to Kaiba Land tomorrow.” Kaiba rarely bothered with the customary social dance that defined most people’s conversations.

Had you forgotten about a plan made months ago? You switched to your calendar app, “No, I’m not. I’m working tomorrow.” You liked jumping straight past the niceties too. “Besides, I don’t remember asking you to plan my schedule.”

“You should. You wouldn’t make yourself a long-term plan if I paid you to do it.” Kaiba gave a harsh little laugh. “Yugi can run the shop. I want to hire you to assist Mokuba for his park inspection tomorrow.”

“Don’t you usually do the monthly park inspection with Mokuba?” You switched your phone to speakerphone, setting it down and grabbing a box cutter. “Besides, Yugi’s out of town this week.” Cutting open a few boxes of supplies, you began to check the contents against the provided invoices.

After a moment’s silence, Kaiba gave a little growl, “Why is Yugi in New York?”

He must have checked Yugi’s duel disk location. “He’s visiting Téa.”

“Fine. I’ll pay Mr. Muto to give you the day off.”

“Honestly, just wait a couple of days and—“

“Do you think you’re not up to the task? Is that why you’re turning this opportunity down?” 

“Hey, we both know I’m capable of keeping up with Mokuba. I’ll be available in a few days. You don’t even have to pay me.”

“I’d rather you did it tomorrow. And I’ll pay you. The last time someone other than me did the inspection with Mokuba, he ended up covered in wet paint and quit.”

Not surprising. Mokuba could be something of a feral gremlin with anyone he didn’t like. You sighed. “What time will a car be picking me up?” You weren’t going to pay for parking at Kaiba Land if you could help it.

“Nine. I’ll have someone fax you your W-4. Fill it out and have it ready for tomorrow.”

“Okay.” You marked off the last of the supplies on the invoice. “Anything I need to read up on tonight?”

“I’ll send you the latest security protocols. But be sure to destroy the papers after you read them.”

“Security proto—Kaiba what’s going on?”

“I’m handling it. But I don’t have time to accompany Mokuba tomorrow. Just keep an eye out.”

You sighed again. Why did Kaiba have to be secretive? “Fine. But I’m not a bodyguard. I don’t have the right training.”

“Mokuba will have guards with him.”

You set down your pencil. “That’s good. Will we see you tomorrow?”

“I doubt it.”

“Well, I’ll keep Mokuba out of trouble.”

“Bye.” Kaiba hung up. Abrupt as always. Hopefully, you wouldn’t make any embarrassing mistakes tomorrow. If Kaiba trusted you, then you had no intention of letting him and Mokuba down.

[platonicreaderinsertfanfic]

Meeting Up with Mokuba

Summary: You try to meet up with Mokuba Kaiba while both of you are visiting Osaka, Japan. Unfortunately, the plans for your outing may need to be abandoned due to unforeseen circumstances. Dub canon plus a version of DSOD. Female Reader. Set maybe two years post DSOD. Fun fact: I always write my Reader character based off of myself or someone I know. This means she may not be as generic as is customary for this type of story. Each reader also has a specific place in the Yu-Gi-Oh world, and is basically an OC with set connections and feelings about the various canon characters and other reader characters. This is reader V, who is dating Joey Wheeler and acting as his manager. She is a bit anxious and has two sisters—one older, one younger. In addition, she actively dislikes Seto Kaiba, and even runs a Twitter account dedicated to playfully making fun of him. Y/n refers to you, the reader. S/n refers to the name of your older sister.

Word count: 3,140 You entered the front door of the hotel at the address Mokuba had given you. White stone covered the walls, diamonds coated a silvery tree sitting on a table in a room just past the doors, and the floor was a polished black reflecting light from above. You felt underdressed. Looking around the entrance for Mokuba, you wished the two of you had arranged to meet outside the building. A sharply dressed woman approached, “Are you looking for someone?” asked the employee, her English understandable, but accented. You had hoped to avoid talking to any employees, but it was unavoidable now, especially since you didn’t see Mokuba. “Yes, I’m here to meet Mokuba Kaiba.” It felt strange to give his full name, almost as strange as being in a place this fancy. “And what is your name?” the employee gave a professional smile.

Smiling back, You gave your name, hoping you hadn’t messed up somehow and come to the wrong hotel. Before your worries could grow, the employee was gesturing you further into the building, saying Mokuba had alerted the staff to expect your arrival. This was not the low key situation you had hoped for. After handing you a note, the woman led you to the elevator, explained how to get to Mokuba’s room, and asked if you needed any further assistance. Trying to act like you belonged here, you shook your head, and the employee walked away. 

Relief washed over you as the elevator doors closed. The note was from Mokuba, explaining how to get to his room. Excellent, you could already feel the instructions given by the staff member seeping out of your head. Plush ropes hung across the walls, taking the place of the metal rails you were accustomed to in elevators. Behind one of the red ropes was a floor-to-ceiling mirror. During the long ride up, you admired your reflection in the mirror. Your crop top and skort looked cute. Wildly out of place, but cute. If only the humid Japanese summer was kinder to your hair—but weather like this always fought to turn your head into a curly mess. Eventually, the doors slid open, and you stepped tentatively into the hallway. Referring once again to the note with Mokuba’s room number, you looked forward to your fun day together. You and Mokuba had been friends for a few years now, meeting up sporadically, and although he was four years younger than you, it was an easy fact to forget. When the two of you got together, he usually dragged you into one of his little schemes; and you were a woman who could appreciate well-intentioned manipulation. As you approached his room, you heard Mokuba’s voice float into the hallway. The door was cracked open. Beside it was another, smaller door, perhaps it was used for deliveries of some sort. “Abukom is my company, Seto. I can handle this on my own.” It sounded like the start of an argument. “I don’t recall our stepfather forcing you to learn any Japanese. You’ll need me to interpret.”You almost winced at hearing Kaiba’s voice. You had expected him to be out for the day. Mokuba countered, “I already hired an interpreter. Besides, all I’m doing is meeting with a manga author to discuss bringing her onto our team to write a new Capsule Monsters series.” “I managed to cancel my plans with Pegasus this afternoon, so I’ll come with you any—” “Not a chance.” Mokuba was emphatic. “The woman I’m meeting with is famously shy, and I won’t have you showing up and scaring her away.” “I wouldn’t—” “Yes you would. You’d sit there scowling like you just broke your leg. Or you’d aggressively ask a question about her work, and before you know it, she’d be backing out of the deal.” “You’re exaggerating.” “No, you just don’t want to admit your aura of intimidation isn’t always useful, Seto. And you don’t know how to reliably turn it off.” “Don’t insult me, Mokuba.” “I’m not! It’s a useful quality about you, but it’s not great for what I’m doing today.” “Hmph, we can’t all get what we want with puppy dog eyes.” “Yeah, that mainly works on you.” “Really?” Kaiba’s voice was quieter, almost surprised. “Seriously? Seto, do you honestly think I ran Kaiba Corp for all those months you were away—with puppy dog eyes?!” “Of course not.” Kaiba snapped back. “Good.” You stood out in the hallway, wondering what you should do. While this was extremely interesting, it was also a private conversation you were not supposed to listen to. And it sounded like maybe Mokuba wasn’t going to be available to take you anywhere after all. Should you send him a message canceling your plans and walk away? You didn’t want to explore the city alone, but Joey was already busy this afternoon playing an escape room with Yugi and your older sister. Inside the hotel room, Mokuba broke the awkward silence. “You know, Seto, you could try to convince me you’re learning to restrain yourself when you need to.” His voice was wheedling, almost cheerful. “How?” Kaiba sounded suspicious. “You could go out with y/n—” Kaiba interrupted so quickly he almost sounded panicked, “No.” Out in the hall, you stood frozen. You had almost gasped aloud at hearing the suggestion.  “Not on a date,” Mokuba clarified, “but to have fun.” “No.” “Well, you might not have fun, but y/n would.” “No.”

For once, you agreed with Kaiba. The two of you had a tacit agreement to ignore each other whenever you met—and since you and Mokuba had been working behind the scenes to help your older siblings become friends for a couple of years now, you and Kaiba utilized this methodology frequently. “Please, Seto? I promised to spend the day with y/n before this opportunity for my publishing house came up. And I don’t want to leave her alone.” Kaiba sighed. “Go play with your little friend, and I’ll represent you at your meeting.” “Nope. Business comes first, and I’m the better man for the job.” “And you think I’m the best choice to entertain y/n?” “Of course not. You’re the only choice.” “I don’t see why your scheduling conflict is my problem.” Kaiba’s voice was cold. You leaned over to peer through the cracked door. Unfortunately, the gap was only an eighth of an inch wide at best, and you couldn’t see anything other than a vague sense of brown. It sounded like the occupants were close to the door, perhaps one of them had been about to leave when their argument began. “It’s not. I just thought I could count on you to do a favor for me.” Kaiba didn’t respond. “Please, Seto? I promised s/n I’d take care of her little sister today, and I don’t want to let her down.” “Fine.” Kaiba’s voice was clipped, “We wouldn’t want you to disappoint my replacement.” “Your replace—is that how you think I see s/n? As your replacement?” Mokuba’s quiet voice certainly made you feel his hurt, even if it flew over Kaiba’s head. “Anyone in my position would feel the same.” Kaiba’s voice was quiet too. You leaned closer to the crack, trying to catch a glimpse of the conversation; things were getting interesting. “Are you here to visit one of the Kaibas?” asked a polite male voice from behind you. You jumped. Whirling around, you saw a Japanese man dressed in a dark blue suit with subtle pinstripes and golden designs on the sleeves. In his hands, he held a pair of black shoes. “Yes, Mokuba invited me.” You internally cringed at how suspicious you must have looked just now. And the two brothers had fallen silent inside their room, which meant they were probably overhearing your conversation as well. With practiced precision, the man slid open the smaller door beside you, placing the shoes on a carpeted shelf. “It can be intimidating to knock on a hotel door, but I believe you will find it to be the most effective method of gaining entrance.” The man’s smile was gentle, as though trying to calm your nerves. Sliding shut the little door, he gave you a small bow and knocked on the slightly open door with the knuckle of his middle finger. After a delay you were almost sure must have been for show, Mokuba opened the door. “Y/n! Glad you could make it!” Whatever angst he had been feeling a moment ago seemed to have fallen away. “Thank you so much for helping my friend,” Mokuba addressed the man beside you, who again bowed and walked off, the soft carpet absorbing the sound of his footsteps. It had been a few months since you last saw Mokuba in person. His thick, unruly hair had been combed into its closest approximation of tidiness, and you could swear he hadn’t been the same height as you last time the two of you met. While you waffled in the doorway, you took in his formal clothes, a white suit jacket worn open over a light green shirt and darker green vest. “Come on in,” his smile was infectious.

Stepping inside, your eyes scanned the room for Kaiba, who was lowering himself down onto one of the couches. At first glance, you almost mistook him for someone else; without his ridiculous long vest and armbands, he looked almost like a normal person. Almost. Those glaring blue eyes could only belong to Seto Kaiba. Still, seeing him like this, in nothing but a tight, high necked, black shirt and matching dress pants felt… intrusive, like you were dangerously close to realizing he was human underneath all the bright LEDs and sarcasm he usually sported.

No, you liked to think of Kaiba as an alien who happened to share a lot of interests with your older sister. “Are you ready to go, Mokuba?” you asked.

“About that…” Mokuba dragged you to the corner of the room furthest from his older brother. You looked around curiously as he did so. The whole place was a lot less flamboyant than you had imagined, with light tan walls, medium tan carpet that contained a raised floral pattern in the same color, and dark accents—like the brown marble fireplace and darker brown coffee table. Nearby, the two couches were both velvety black, with bright purple and cream accent pillows, it all felt tasteful and understated; Kaiba must have hated the place.

“I’m really sorry,” Mokuba looked at the floor, and you noticed he wasn’t wearing shoes, “but a great opportunity came up about thirty minutes ago, and I have to take it.”

Having already overheard his conversation, you knew there was no talking him out of it. You asked a few polite questions about the situation, pretending not to already know why he was ditching you. That’s when he hit you with his horrible plan, “So I thought Seto could take you out this afternoon instead.”

“No way.” You crossed your arms.

“I know you don’t wanna see Osaka by yourself, and I thought spending a day with you would be good for my brother.”

“Not a chance.”

“Please, y/n? He said he’d do it, and he needs practice at interacting with, um, people like you.”

You raised your eyebrows at his choice of words.

“You know, regular people. People who don’t know anything about Duel Monsters and holograms, and aren’t super smart. Uh,” Mokuba facepalmed, “I mean, you’re plenty smart, but compared to someone like Seto, you’re not at his level, you know?” Mokuba fiddled with the buttons on his vest.

“Yeah, I know. But I don’t see why I should spend my afternoon having your brother insult my intelligence.” You glared over Mokuba’s shoulder at Kaiba, who was watching your conversation from the couch. Realizing your posture was an uncomfortable match to his, you uncrossed your arms. “He won’t.” Mokuba gave you a confident grin, “That’s our deal—he’ll take you to the store I was going to take you to, and cooperate, and be nice, and buy you a gift.” “I didn’t agree to that,” Kaiba spoke up from the couch. “It was implied,” Mokuba replied with unshakable confidence. You had seen this level of assurance from your own younger sister; maybe the youngest child got their way in every family. “Come on, Mokuba, I can’t afford to let him buy me anything. There’s no way I’m going to let myself owe your brother.” You gestured at Kaiba, but kept your voice down so he couldn’t hear, “You guys are out of my price range, literally.” “You like free stuff, but you don’t like gifts?” Mokuba sounded like he was teasing you, “Girls make no sense.” “I don’t enjoy feeling like I owe someone, especially not rich, arrogant businessmen.” You raised your voice to ensure Kaiba heard your putdown.    “You won’t owe either of us anything, but I’ll owe you a favor if you do this for me.” You sighed. If you were going to ruin your own day like this, then you would see how far you could push to get something out of it. “I want your brother to buy me lunch.” “Sure.” Mokuba grinned like he had won a game you didn’t know the two of you were playing. “And we’ll reschedule for another afternoon this week.” You added conspiratorially, “We have business of our own to attend to, after all.”      

Mokuba giggled. “So, you’ll spend the afternoon with my brother, he’ll be nice to you, buy you lunch and a present to take home, we’ll get together later, and I’ll owe you one. Deal?” You glanced at Kaiba, and the two of you shared a look of resignation. Suspecting you would regret it, you held out a hand to Mokuba. “Deal.” You shook on it, and grinned, “I get to annoy your brother as much as I want, right?”

“Of course. I didn’t hear Seto make any terms to the contrary.” “They were implied.” Kaiba glared at the back of his brother’s head. “We were clearly stating our terms, you should have spoken up.” Mokuba grinned at you. “I didn’t think I needed to, since your little friend is such a good person.” Kaiba’s voice dripped sarcasm as he crossed his legs and stretched his arm out along the top of the couch. “I’m sure she would never irritate others on purpose, right, y/n?”

“Of course not! I don’t annoy people for fun.” You planted a hand on your hip, “But you’re a special exception.”

“How so?”

You tilted your head, “I’m still not convinced you’re human.” You internally braced yourself for a negative response to your flippant attitude.

Kaiba held his tongue and rolled his head, like an exaggerated form of rolling his eyes.

Mokuba headed back across the room to open the little door to the compartment the butler had placed his shoes inside. Plopping down on the soft carpet, he jammed one of his feet into a shoe. “I’ll expect a full report about your time together.”

“From me?” you asked.

“From both of you.” After a moment, Mokuba jumped to his feet, ready to go. “I’ll have the hotel call me a cab, so you can have Roland for the afternoon.”

You and Kaiba said nothing. “Right, I’m off. Follow the deal. Y/n, try to treat Seto like a normal person, okay?”

Nodding, you agreed, already realizing that treating Kaiba the same way you treated everyone else would irritate him to no end.

“Have fun!” Mokuba waved, and then he was gone, leaving a sea of awkwardness in his absence.

After an abysmally long silence, Kaiba sighed. “I’ll get dressed, and we’ll head out.”

“What do you mean, ‘get dressed?’ Can’t you dress like someone normal for once?”

“We both know I’m not normal.”

“Whatever. But no duel disk.”

“Fine.” Kaiba pushed himself up from the couch and headed towards another door, which you assumed led to a bedroom.

You thought about sitting down on the other couch, but stayed where you were. You didn’t belong here. Touching anything felt like overstepping your boundaries. “Don’t celebrities have to hide their identity when they go out?” You raised your voice and hoped Kaiba would hear.

“I’m not a celebrity; I’m a businessman.” Kaiba’s voice was muffled by the closed door between you. After a moment, the door swung open, and he stepped through, now wearing a long white vest. “I don’t hide.”

At least he wasn’t wearing any LEDs, or those ridiculous blue straps on his arms and legs. Kaiba stared at you for a moment, then headed back into the bedroom. Hesitantly, you stepped closer, catching a glimpse of a pair of slept-in beds and a window with a beautiful view overlooking Osaka. Kaiba opened the drawer to one of the nightstands and pulled out a box. Unexpectedly tossing you a small round disk from inside it, he ordered, “Keep that on your person as long as you’re my responsibility.” You picked the silvery disk up from the floor where you had batted it when it was thrown at you. As your fingers brushed up against the carpet, you wished your own bedroom floor was this soft. Turning the quarter-sized object over in your hand, you saw one side bore the Kaiba Corp logo, and the other was crossed by thin, jagged lines which faintly glowed blue. “What is this?” “It’s a tracking tile.” Kaiba opened another, larger metal case on his nightstand, and pulled out what looked like two dark silver halfpipes side by side. As he closed it over his left forearm, the sleek device made a faint hissing noise. You recognized it as one of his usual, gauntlet type thingymajigs. Sliding his fingers along the surface, a hologram screen sprang to life above the device. With a flurry of finger movements, Kaiba navigated through a few screens, then shut off the hologram.You thought about protesting. You didn’t love the idea of letting Kaiba pull up your precise location at any time, but also knew well enough why he might want to—Mokuba may have reached a point of being blasé about getting kidnapped, but you hadn’t. But where to put the tracker? Your purse seemed inadequate. You didn't want it to scratch your phone screen. Stepping back into the living room, you slipped the slender device into your bra, feeling the cool metal against your skin and hoping this was all overkill.

Kaiba strode out into the room after you, now wearing both of his gauntlets. “Let’s get this over with.” He headed out the front door without looking back. You followed, hoping you wouldn’t regret agreeing to spend the afternoon with him. Oh well, at least you could get some great stories out of this.

[platonicreaderinsertfanfic]

Tonkatsu Dinner with Joey Wheeler

Summary: You and Joey Wheeler eat dinner together in Shinjuku ward. Set post DSOD. Fun fact: I always write my Reader character based off of myself or someone I know. This means she may not be as generic as is customary for this type of story. Each reader also has a specific place in the Yu-Gi-Oh world, and is basically an OC with set connections and feelings about the various canon characters and other reader characters. This is reader V, who is dating Joey Wheeler and acting as his manager. She is a bit anxious. Word count: 1879 “How about dis place?” asked Joey, looking at the detailed plastic food in the picture window of a restaurant. You were looking at the signage with your smartphone, trying to translate. “Okay, so these are tonkatsu, and these are curry, and they also serve something called ‘shabu shabu?’” “I thought your phone was gonna translate for ya?” Joey still used a flip phone, so he liked to find instances when your smartphone failed to do what you wanted it to.

“It did for the other foods,” You stepped closer to your boyfriend, brushing up against him. Behind you, people continued to walk past on the sidewalk. Despite being after nine at night, the Shinjuku ward of Tokyo still bustled with people. “I know what curry is, da other two...” “Tonkatsu is the breaded pork with cabbage,” you pointed at the plates, “but I don’t know what shabu shabu is. This sign talks about it, but there’s not a display version.” Shoving your phone in your pocket, you joined Joey in studying the fake food. “I know my mom recommended we try tonkatsu.”

“Your mom’s a great cook, so if she says it’ll be good, den we gotta try it.” Joey reached for the door, “Ya down?” “Sure!” You figured there wasn’t much chance of disliking breaded pork. Inside, abundant wooden paneling gave the place an old-fashioned Japanese feel. Each of the tables had a dark glass cooktop built into the center. Seeing your arrival, the man behind the register said something in Japanese. Joey held up two fingers, and the man nodded, stepping away from the counter to point the two of you to a table tucked in a corner. You sat in the chair, and Joey slid onto the bench across from you, grabbing the tablet from its holder at the end of the table. “Dis should make things easier.” Slightly jealous Joey had beaten you to the electric menu and ordering device, you pulled out your phone again and grabbed the Japanese menu. Why was the restaurant so cold? Glancing up, you saw you were directly underneath an air conditioning vent. “Could we switch places?” You gestured at the vent.

Joey grinned. “Leave it ta me ta date da coldest girl in Domino.” He was already sliding off the padded bench as he finished. After switching places, you both fell silent, each studying the menu. Choosing a meal set with tonkatsu, cabbage, rice and miso soup, you waited for Joey to make up his mind about what he wanted. Beside the docking station for the tablet was a brown, ceramic kettle-ish container with a Japanese label taped onto the lid. Translating it, you discovered it held tonkatsu sauce—information you passed on to Joey but had no intention of using yourself, you never put sauce on your food. The man who greeted you at the door returned to the table bearing two glasses of water, small white towels, and chopsticks for each of you. “I guess dese are da napkins?” Asked Joey after the man left. You shrugged, “I guess. Now focus on what you want to order.” “It all looks so good, y/n.” After Joey finally decided to get a combination curry and tonkatsu meal, he input your order into the tablet. A group of five or six people who looked to be about your age entered the restaurant, happily chatting among themselves as they were seated at the larger table beside yours. It soon became apparent they had ordered the mysterious shabu shabu, which turned out to be some sort of meat and vegetable hot pot dish which was cooked right at the table. It looked fun. Although the meat and broth smelled delicious, you felt little interest in eating that many vegetables, and the extremely long, skinny, mushrooms were right out. Joey couldn’t take his eyes off the food at the next table, which made sense since neither of you had eaten since the morning.

You reached out and placed your hand over his, trying to enjoy the moment instead of focusing on the fact your food hadn’t arrived yet. It kinda worked.

Ripping his gaze back to his date, Joey smiled at you sheepishly. “If some of those K-Pop shops are still open when we’re finished here, ya wanna check one out?”

You felt torn, while you were here in the Korean section of Tokyo, you did want to pick up a few pictures of your favorite idol, but doing it with your boyfriend felt like a weird idea. Still… Joey was the one who brought it up, so maybe it would be okay? Seeing your hesitation, Joey tilted his head, “Ya still like Stray Kids, don’tcha?”

Time to play it off like you were confident, “Oh yeah. If Chan were to ask me out, I think I would have to break up with you.” You were joking, obviously.

“He’s the hot Australian?” Joey asked.

“Yeah.” You couldn’t hide your surprise. “I can’t believe you remember that.”

“After all da time you’ve spent listening ta me talk about Duel Monsters, rememberin’ a few facts about your favorite boy band ain’t askin’ too much of me.”

Before you could respond, the employee who had greeted you when you entered approached with your food. For a moment, neither of you thought about anything other than eating. Tantalizing scents rose in the air—the savory smell of curry, a mouthwatering whiff of pork, and a subtle undertone of oil. Your mouth watered.

Nervously, you picked up your chopsticks, afraid you would mess up and embarrass yourself in front of Joey. Despite your practice, you still weren't as confident as you wanted to be; it didn’t help that you were left handed, which always meant fewer online tutorials to watch, and your older sister who taught you was right handed. Gripped with determination, you glanced at Joey, who was far too busy eating to pay attention to you. If you weren't careful, your anxiety would get out of control and steal your appetite; Joey was on the short list of people you felt so comfortable with you could eat around him, and you would hate to lose that.

Focusing on your tonkatsu, you noticed the breading was different from what you expected. Instead of breadcrumbs, these were more like bread-shards—long and thin, which gave the surface a rough, almost spiked, texture. Raising one of the tonkatsu strips with your chopsticks, you took a bite. The breading was crispy. The pork was tender. Delicious.

For the moment, your nerves settled, and you settled into your meal. After a few moments of silent focus on food, you began to get curious about Joey’s dinner. “Could I try a bite of your curry?”

Joey looked up with puppy dog eyes, “You’d ask for part of a man’s dinner?”

“Only if I want to try it.” you gazed back with your own innocent, wide-eyed stare.

Joey’s face broke into a grin, “Yeah, dat checks out.” He licked his metal spoon clean, wiped it with a napkin, refilled it with curry and rice, and extended the handle to you.

“Thanks,” you grinned and took the spoon. Popping the curry into your mouth, you immediately regretted it. It looked like a kind of beef stew, so why was it spicy?? You almost spit it out, but that seemed gross to do in front of your boyfriend, so you gulped it down instead. “You know I don’t like spicy food, Joey!” You grabbed your small glass of water.

Joey was still grinning at you, “You were da one who asked for it. Who am I ta fight paying da girlfriend tax?”

“Okay, okay, maybe I’m slightly at fault here. But my pain and suffering is mostly your fault.” You grinned back, taking another gulp. “Can you order more water?”

Joey fussed with the tablet for a minute, “Ehh, not with dis thing.”

“That’s okay, I’ll just drink yours.”

“Dat’s fair.” Joey slid his glass towards you. “But ya shoulda known dat curry is spicy.”

“I knew some curry is spicy, and I thought you’d tell me if yours was too much for me.” You fake huffed at him.

“Sorry.” Joey was eyeing your side dishes of rice and miso soup hungrily. “How ‘bout ya let me make it up to ya?”

“By eating my food?”

“What? Oh.” He looked you in the eyes, “I got ya a little gift.”

Your eyes crinkled into a surprised smile, “You got me a present?”

“It’s not much, and I’m not sure you’re gonna like it,” he pulled his hands into his lap, “and I was gonna give it to ya tomorrow before my TV interview, but den I thought I could give it to ya now instead…”

You leaned in, “Sure! Let me see it.” You knew he had bought a couple things at one of the stores the two of you went into earlier, but never imagined he had bought anything for you.

Pulling his hands out from underneath the table, he handed you a beautifully wrapped gift box. It was light and rectangular. “The lady at da store did a great job makin’ it look pretty when I told her it was a present.”

Overwhelmed with curiosity, you tore off the paper, revealing a clear plastic box with a large white bow inside it. It was similar to your favorite hair bow, except this one had a blue, horned sheep in the center of the bow. “Aw, it’s one of the Scapegoats.” Scapegoat was one of Joey’s rarest cards, and your favorite part of his deck.

“I know ya don’t like Duel Monsters all dat much, so if ya don’t like it, I understand. But since you’re my manager, I thought it would be cute if ya had something’ with one of my cards on it.”

Joey was irresistibly endearing when he got flustered like this. You reached out and took his hands. “There are a lot of monsters from the game I would never wear, but this little guy is adorable. And you’re right, as your manager I should wear something related to your deck; it’s good for branding.”

“Ya don’t have ta like it, y/n. If ya don’t want ta wear it den—”

“Sorry, Joey, I was messing with you.” You squeezed his hands, “I don’t just like it because it’s good for your brand. I think it’s cute, and it reminds me of you, and it even shows you remembered what I like. Thank you.”

“Are ya sure?”

“Yep. I’ll wear it tomorrow.” You nodded at him in approval before pulling your hands away and resuming eating.

When you both finished, Joey took the receipt left with the food to the register, where he paid in cash, pocketing the handful of coins he received in return. As the two of you stepped out into the warm summer night, you slipped your hand into his. Tonight would be fun, with K-pop shopping and trying out a capsule hotel. It was easy to set aside your worries when you were with Joey. Tomorrow you would both have work to do, but for now, all you wanted was to spend time with the man who made you feel special and safe. “You’re the best, Joey.” If you google the following, you should be able to see the Google listing for the restaurant this story was set in. "とんかつしゃぶしゃぶにいむら 大久保店"

[platonicreaderinsertfanfic]

Stuck in Another Dimension (Part 4)

Word count: 1,699 Post Duel Monsters anime. This takes place a few years after the end of the show. Dub continuity plus a version of DSoD. Female reader, who is friends with Kaiba. If you would like to read the previous three parts, you can find them listed here. Or you can read the following summary. Summary: You and Kaiba have been accidentally tossed into another dimension. After a series of adventures, the two of you landed in the possession of this dimension’s version of Gozaburo Kaiba, who fitted you and Kaiba with linked shock collars before sending Kaiba to The Underground, and giving you as a "gift" to his own version of Seto. (This version of Kaiba also wore a collar, linked to his version of Mokuba.) Unlike your friend, this dimension's version of Kaiba long ago lost his will to fight. After you and your new friend were summoned to dinner with Gozaburo and Noah, your new overlord entertained himself by describing how much trouble Kaiba was likely to be in. (A lot.) He also gave you a deck of Duel Monster cards, which you thought were your own at first, but quickly realized actually belonged to Kaiba. As you reached the limits of your emotional stability, your new friend made excuses to get you away from Gozaburo and into his lab. You found yourself sitting on the floor in this Kaiba's laboratory, leaning up against the wall, gently holding a copy of Blue-Eyes White Dragon and failing at your attempts to stop sobbing.

“I cried when Mokuba was sent to the Underground. Take all the time you need.” It was strange to hear Kaiba's voice saying such gentle, understanding words.

Your shoulders heaved, “You’re supposed to say ‘We don’t have time for this,’ or ‘You can cry later,’ or at least, ‘It’s fine, but hurry up.’”

“Why would I say those things?” He crouched in front of you, concerned.

“‘Cause you’re Seto Kaiba! I expect you to push me to be strong, not let me wallow in useless feelings.”

“But I’m not him!” Your companion took a deep breath and calmed himself. “You were right about me. I lost my will to fight a long time ago—but I survived, and so did Mokuba.” He shifted from a crouch to sitting on the floor. “If you don’t adapt to your circumstances, you and your friend might not be so lucky.”

“I know.” You angrily wiped tears from your eyes, as though such an action would make them stop. “But I have to try.” With a Herculean effort, you forced yourself to stop crying and stand up, gently placing Kaiba’s deck down on a nearby table. Still shaky, you turned to the version of Kaiba sitting on the floor. ”You wanted to show me something, right?”

He nodded and jumped to his feet, looking skeptically at you all the while. “If you want. That was mostly a lie to get you away from Mr. Kaiba. You seem smart, I’m sure it would be fine if I put it off till tomorrow morning.” He joined you at the table. “Though I would like to see your cards—if you don’t mind.”

“They’re not mine. Gozaburo said, ‘Your friend will suffer without his cards’ and then handed me his deck.” 

Your new companion softened his eyes even further. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.” Realizing you never answered his question, you gently pushed the deck towards him. “And of course you can look at Kaiba’s cards.” You watched with interest as your new friend slowly read through the stack; he treated each card with reverence. 

“Blue-Eyes White Dragon.” You inhaled sharply; hearing those words in Kaiba’s voice hurt. “I didn’t know a Normal monster could have such a high attack value.” He stared at the card for a few more seconds, “I like this one.” 

“Not surprising—that’s Kaiba’s favorite card too. It’s like having part of his heart here.”

You couldn’t speak further, your throat was too tight. Without setting down Blue-Eyes, your companion picked up the next card in the deck. “Rider of the Storm Winds. ‘You can target one Dragon Normal Monster you control…’” his voice trailed off as he continued reading the card text. “I see, this monster supports Blue-Eyes—are you alright?”

You didn’t know how to explain what was wrong. That card he had pulled, Rider of the Storm Winds, it was…well, Pegasus had told you once that you were the inspiration for it. He said the card represented you, and that early mock-ups of the card art had looked like you too. And then, with a slight bow, Pegasus had handed the first printed copies to you and Kaiba. The symbolism was clear. In hindsight, Mokuba and Pegasus had both been rooting for you and Kaiba to become friends since you met. Although it took a while, you had become close—perhaps Kaiba was your best friend at this point, (although even now, you would hesitate to admit such an audacious feeling.) 

“Y/n?”

Ngh, you had no focus. And you were so tired. That explained why you were so overly emotional; you weren't used to feeling strongly, and were too tired to properly self-regulate the powerful emotions brought on by your predicament. Maybe it was better Kaiba wasn’t here to see you like this, although, if he was here you wouldn’t have been so worried. Oh crud, you were crying again. Stupid. It’s like your body was trying to make the worst first impression possible.

“Are you okay?” 

“Not really.” Your shoulders heaved as you struggled to bring your emotions back in line, if for no other reason than your new friend was clearly alarmed by your behavior. Closing your eyes, you tried to reassure him. “I’m sorry, I’ll be alri—”

He hugged you.

Shocked, you stopped crying. This was new. This was a proper hug. This was…you grabbed handfuls of his sweater vest and allowed yourself to cry without fighting back anymore. 

“I know you feel helpless, but you’ll see your friend again.”

You cried harder. 

When you finally finished crying, you felt nothing but quiet worry in your stomach and an overwhelming sleepiness filling your head, drowning out almost everything else. You let go of your grip on your friend‘s sweater and started to pull away. At once, he released you, stepping back to give you space. “You look tired.”

“I’m exhausted. I haven’t slept in…” your voice trailed off as you tried to work out how many hours you had been awake, “a long time.”

Without another word, your friend began to turn everything off. You soon found yourself back in his room, where you crawled into bed and fell asleep at once.

You awoke to your new friend gently nudging you. Groggily, you sat up, your brain sluggish and desperately attempting to return to sleep. Thirty minutes later, the two of you entered his lab. During that time you had barely spoken—mornings were for sleeping, not talking.

Your new friend showed you what he was building. Apparently, Gozaburo used him to manufacture electronic devices when he wanted there to be no purchase history or other way for the world to know what he had at his fingertips. Looking over the pages handed to you, you could see today’s project involved several electronic devices hidden inside potted plants. You could easily help with this.

As you worked, you took the opportunity to ask your new friend about the world you found yourself in; all his answers were discouraging or alarming. Still, you made good time on the project, finishing before expected. Only when you asked about the collars did your new friend clam up. You glanced around to check for creepy, eavesdropping butlers, dropped your voice to a conspiratorial whisper, and leaned across the table towards not-Kaiba. 

“Come on, you don’t even have to tell me, you can just show me the code.”

He stopped putting away his tools. “That’s not a good idea.”

Your voice became even quieter. “What’s there to hide? I already know you have a built-in knock-out protocol in order to limit how much pain Gozaburo can inflict on his prisoners.”

Eyes widening, your friend grabbed your wrist, “How do you know that?”

“Because despite what you think about my 'perfect life,' Kaiba and I have managed to get into a lot of trouble over the years.” You gripped his wrist right back and leaned in further. “I know what technology like these collars can do, and as bad as it was yesterday, I know it could have been worse.”

“I don’t know…”

“Do you want to go on like this? Help me work out how to escape from Gazaburo.” You read the hesitation in his eyes. “Please, we need to act before he breaks me too.” You let go and pulled back with a sigh. “And Kaiba…we need to escape before Kaiba gets himself killed.”

“I’m sure that won’t happen.”

“Are you lying to me?”

“No!”

“You’re truly sure my friend won’t die?”

Your new friend stuttered a moment, “I’m—he’s—I’m not ‘sure,’ I guess, but I thought you would want to hear me say your friend wouldn’t die.”

“Part of me wants to hear that, but I need to deal with the harsh truth of our situation right now. Otherwise I might get complacent and end up regretting it later.”

“You’re…intense.”

You gave a wry laugh, ”You should meet Kaiba.”

“I’m not sure I want to.”

“I doubt he’d think much of you, either. But if we’re going to beat Gozaburo, you might have to work together at some point.”

“I understand what you want, but I don’t have the code on my computer anymore. And I’m not helping you sneak into Mr. Kaiba’s office, that would be tantamount to torturing you myself.”

“Yeah, I see where you’re coming from.” Sighing heavily, you began to help with putting away the tools. “If memory serves, you mentioned you would get to see Mokuba soon. How does that work?”

“I’ll get to leave here, and go down into the Underground for a day with Mokuba.” Kaiba smiled at the thought.

“Can I come?”

“I doubt Mr. Kaiba would allow—”

“But he gave me to you, and you’re going.”

“But I’d still need to ask for permission, and if it went badly I might be barred from making the trip at all.”

“Okay, but what if I ask him inst—” Your counter proposal broke off into a scream as your collar came to life. Fortunately, it didn’t last long. Still, when it ended, you were leaning on the table, with anger and worry competing to be your main emotional response.

“I’m not used to seeing these collars used on someone else.” Seto looked worried.

Since you did not yet trust your voice to be steady, you merely waved off his concern. After completely regaining your composure, you resumed the conversation as though nothing had happened. “But what if I ask Gozaburo to let me accompany you?”

“I suppose that would be alright…”

“When would be the best time?”

“Lunchtime?”

“Works for me. Is there anything we can do to impress him or put him in a good mood?”

“Possibly, let me think.” He snapped his fingers, “You could give him access to the information on your duel disk.”

“No. Absolutely not.”

“Hmmm.”

“I’ll just ask him. What’s the worst that could happen?”

“Gozaburo prevents me from visiting Mokuba.”

You gave what you hoped was an encouraging smile, “I’ll try my best to keep that from happening.” 

[platonicreaderinsertfanfic]

Stuck in Another Dimension (Part 3)

Word count: 1,389 words

Post Duel Monsters anime. This takes place a few years after the end of the show. Dub continuity plus a version of DSoD. Female reader.

If you would like to read the previous two parts, you can find them listed here. Or you can simply read the following summary.

Summary: You and Kaiba have been accidentally tossed into another dimension. After a series of adventures, the two of you landed in the possession of this dimension’s version of Gozaburo Kaiba, who fitted you and Kaiba with linked shock collars before sending Kaiba to "The Underground," and giving you as a "gift" to his own version of Seto. (This version of Kaiba also wore a collar, linked to his version of Mokuba.) Unlike your friend, this dimension's version of Kaiba long ago lost his will to fight against Gozaburo. While you and your new friend were working out the practical details of you being here, you're told by the butler that Gozaburo summoned you both to join him for dinner...

Less than a minute later, the two of you burst into a wood paneled dining room. Gozaburo was already seated at the head of a large wooden table. “Please forgive our late arrival, Mr Kaiba, it won’t happen again.” To your surprise, the young man at your side bowed as he apologized. Seeing this, you rushed into a bow of your own as well.

“I imagine Hobson delayed telling them, Father. You know he enjoys watching Seto suffer.” You didn’t recognize this voice. Taking a second look at the table, you spotted a green haired young man around Kaiba’s age. 

“You’re right, Noah.” Gozaburo turned to the two of you bowing in the doorway, “Don’t stand there wasting my time. Join us at the table.”

“Yes sir.” Kaiba pulled out a pair of chairs and sat down near the two already eating. Sliding into the seat beside him, you wondered if you would be eating as well. Maybe this would be an occasion to make use of all the lessons on table manners you had endured since you started filling the role of Kaiba’s plus-one years ago.

Across the table from you, the green haired young man was staring at you curiously. Seeing this, Kaiba glanced at Gozaburo before making introductions. “Y/n, this is Noah; he’s Mr. Kaiba’s son.”

Your eyes widened; you remembered hearing about a virtual version of Noah your friends had run into once. Apparently in this world, he managed to avoid becoming nothing but a brain in a virtual reality environment.

“Father says you’re Seto’s friend from another dimension. What am I like where you’re from? Am I part of your friend group?” Noah sounded lonely.

“Ah. Uh.”

“Don’t be shy.” Noah smiled at you.

“Do you want the truth?” you asked.

“Of course.”

“You’re dead.”

Noah dropped his fork.

Gozaburo laughed. “Seto, this new slave of yours should learn some tact before she gets you both in trouble.”

“Yes sir. I’ll have a talk with her once we’re done here.”

“Noah, I never knew you in my world, but if you want to try being friends, we could—” 

Noah cut you off. “Why would I want to be friends with a slave’s slave? As far as I’m concerned, you’re nothing but a temporary amusement, while I’m the future head of Kaiba Corporation.” Glancing at his father as though looking for approval, Noah continued. “Instead of being mean, you should be offering me anything and everything out of sheer gratitude for not being sent Underground like your friend.”

Your breath caught in your throat. Angrily standing, you glared daggers at Noah. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe I should feel grateful. But I don’t.” Ignoring your impulsive desire to grab and drink from Noah’s glass, you continued. “And if you ever change your mind and want to be friends, you better be willing to treat me like a human being with just as much inherent value as you and your father.”

“How…how dare you talk to me like that?!”

At your right, Kaiba was staring at you with panicked eyes. Gozaburo didn’t look angry or offended, but you decided to redirect the conversation a bit anyway just to be safe. You wanted information, and Noah was likely to give you the worst of it right now, the sort of details a calm man might have held back as a form of kindness. Hopefully he would be honest but brief.

“Well, maybe I’m so daring because no one’s told me much about this ‘Underground.’ What exactly is Kaiba dealing with?”

Visibly confused, Noah glanced at his father, “What do you mean?”

“Apparently, in the dimension y/n is from, Seto bears our last name. Since you died, perhaps I adopted him as your replacement?” Gozaburo looked at you for confirmation of his theory.

He caught on alarmingly quickly. “Yes…that’s right.” You sat back down.

“And I’d be more than happy to answer questions about your Seto’s fate.” Gozaburo smirked. “What do you want to know?”

You hated giving Gozaburo the satisfaction of knowing you were worried about Kaiba. And you knew he would likely try to upset you, but this opportunity was too good to pass up. “I believe you mentioned Mokuba was down there?”

“Oh yes, and he has been since he was quite a small child. His collar is linked with Seto’s, just as you are connected to your friend. I found this arrangement made controlling Seto laughably easy. And it was entertaining to use Seto’s own technology against him. Of course, I had to make special arrangements for Mokuba. It wouldn’t be useful to have anything too terrible happen to my favorite bargaining chip, would it, Seto?”

“No, sir.” Beside you, Kaiba looked so vulnerable and childlike, worry plastered across his face. You considered ending the conversation for his sake, but…knowledge was better than uncertainty, even when it hurt.

“And Kaiba, what’s his fate? What will his life be like?” Somehow your questions came out much quieter than you intended.

Gozaburo took a bite, slowly chewing, savoring the moment as much as his food. “The work is hard, the overseers are relentless, and the food is terrible.” 

“I see.”

“But it’s the other workers your friend will really need to worry about. It’s a strict hierarchy down there, with the few at the top delighting in causing great suffering for those at the bottom.”

“Bold of you to assume Kaiba won’t quickly earn himself a place at the top of the food chain.”

“Perhaps you’re right. After all, it’s dueling ability which enables one to rise in the ranks of the imprisoned, and Security tells me your friend is quite the duelist, with cards the likes of which they’ve never seen.”

You felt yourself relax a bit. Kaiba could outduel almost anyone. He and Blue-Eyes would make quick work of—With a stab of fear, your eyes widened, “But you have our cards!”

Gozaburo laughed. “Then I would assume your dear friend is facing a life of abject misery. In the absence of dueling ability, a man might manage to get by with his skills as a fighter, but I don’t believe your friend has much experience in that arena, does he?”

He was right. Kaiba was tall, and surprisingly strong, but he was no brawler.

“Answer the question,” Gozaburo ordered you, “Will your friend be able to save himself with his physical prowess?” 

“Probably not.” Your answer was barely more than a whisper.

“Speak up, girl!”

“No!” You were tired, angry, and sad—there was nothing you could do to help Kaiba. “He won’t.”

Gozaburo took another bite, smirking at you. “As a woman, you know what can happen to someone powerless in the clutches of lawless men.”

You were speechless, lost in a miasma of helplessness and impotent anger.

Gozaburo chuckled. “Here, why don’t you take these?” He pulled a deck of Duel Monsters cards from his breast pocket and extended them to you with a casual air.

Shakily reaching out to take the deck, you snatched your cards from the enemy. There wasn’t much you could do with them at the moment, but even now the cards provided a touch of comfort. Flipping them over, you saw the card at the bottom of the deck was Kaiser Vorse Raider. These weren’t your cards. You didn’t realize how badly your hands were shaking until the version of Kaiba sitting beside you quickly reached out and placed his hand over yours to hide them. 

“I gave you a gift, don’t you have something to say to me in return?” asked Gozaburo.

“Thank you.” You were struggling to hold yourself together.

“Mr. Kaiba, I still need to show y/n my lab and prepare her for our work tomorrow. May we leave?”

You weren't paying enough attention to remember what Gozaburo said, nor to recall the route this new Kaiba took as he led you to his lab. All your energy was funneled into attempting to hide how you felt. Only when the door closed behind you, and you and Kaiba were alone in his workspace did you allow yourself to think over the conversation. Sliding down the wall, you sat on the floor, fanned out the cards, removed a copy of Blue-Eyes White Dragon, stared at it for a moment, and began to sob. “I’m sorry.”

Part 4

[platonicreaderinsertfanfic]

Story Lists

(All reader characters are female unless otherwise noted.)

Reader x Ethoslab Ethoslab: Vampire Hunter AU Reader x Joey Tonkatsu Dinner with Joey Wheeler (ROMANTIC) Go on a casual dinner date with Joey in Shinjuku ward. Reader x Kaiba Stuck in Another Dimension Get accidentally sent to another dimension with Kaiba and immediately find yourself in danger from another word's Gozaburo. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Shopping with Kaiba at Don Quixote The PLAN had called for spending the day with Mokuba... Part 1 (Mostly Reader and Mokuba) Nothing Builds a Friendship Like a Crisis Kaiba hired you to assist Mokuba with performing an inspection of Kaiba Land. An unfortunate sequence of events lead to furthering your friendship with Kaiba instead. Part 1 Part 2 (Entirely Reader and Mokuba) Part 3 (We're back to Reader and Kaiba) Part 4 Stolen Thunder and Fought for Friendship You were the commissioner of the latest Battle City Tournament—until you weren't. Reader x Kakashi Hatake Was Your Friend About to Quietly Go Rogue? (Gender neutral) You were trying to focus on your assigned task after Pain’s destruction of the Leaf, when your friend Kakashi popped in for a little chat. Reader x Technoblade Technoblade Never Dies (Gender neutral reader.) A tribute piece. Contains character death.

[platonicreaderinsertfanfic]

Stuck in Another Dimension (Part 2)

Word Count: 1,399 Post Duel Monsters anime. This takes place a few years after the end of the show. Dub continuity plus a version of DSoD. Female reader. (You can read Part 1 first, or simply read the following summary and go from there.) Summary: You and Kaiba have been accidentally tossed into another dimension. After a series of adventures, the two of you landed in the possession of this dimension’s version of Gozaburo Kaiba, who sent Kaiba to "The Underground" and informed you he intended to give you as a gift to his own version of "Seto." You and Kaiba were both fitted with shock collars, which are linked, so if one of you gets shocked, the other will be shocked as well. Your conversation with Gozaburo ended with him shocking you into unconsciousness.

“…alright?” Your foggy brain tried to slip back into the quiet darkness. “Are you okay?” Although you couldn’t place the voice, it was triggering a happy response. Your head hurt where it had slammed into the carpeted floor. Inhaling deeply, you forced your eyes open to see an expanse of red carpet stretching across the room. “Are you awake?” The voice came from behind you.

Realization dawned, “Kaiba?” You rolled onto your back. Confused, you stared into a pair of deep blue eyes you knew well—he still wore a collar, which made it hard to fathom how he had returned, and he was giving you the soft, worried look reserved exclusively for Mokuba, which couldn’t be right.

He said, “Sorry, Mr. Kaiba left a minute ago.”

As your eyes adjusted to the light, your gaze trailed down from his concerned eyes to discover the man was wearing a sweater vest. “Oh, you’re this dimension’s Kaiba.” Although he looked puzzled, the man offered you a hand up. You brushed the gesture aside and forced yourself to a sitting position, trying your best to ignore the faint nausea caused by moving—you needed to make a good first impression. 

“You’re confused. I’m Seto,” he introduced himself.

You gave your name in turn and wondered how to handle the situation, “No one calls you Kaiba?”

“It’s not my name.”

“That’s right.” You lightly smacked your forehead, regretting it instantly. “In my dimension I know you were adopted, but I always forget that means you used to have a different last name.”

“I don’t have any name other than ‘Seto.’ Mr. Kaiba saw to that.” He sounded a bit rueful. “But if you feel well enough, we should relocate to my room, I don’t want to hang around in the study.”

Seto’s room was painted a drab beige, with a bed, dresser, and desk. Not a single dragon, white or otherwise, decorated the space. In fact, the only interesting feature was a window, which showcased a gleaming city.

“If you want, I can show you my lab later.”

Everything about him was wrong—his soft, polite speech, clothes, mannerisms—nothing felt like Kaiba. 

“Sure. Listen, we need to establish a baseline for this relationship. Is the room secure?”

He looked puzzled. “Probably…”

“Okay…Do you intend to use my collar against me?” You pointed at his watch.

“No! I would never—”

“Good. In that case, tell me what you’re working on as an escape plan and I can help you.”

“Escape plan? There’s no escaping Mr. Kaiba.”

Now you were the puzzled one, “Are you serious?”

Seto nodded.

“But. That’s.” You struggled to comprehend, “Are you telling me Gozaburo has you permanently separated from Mokuba, treats you like a slave, misuses your inventions—and you’re okay with that?!”

“I don’t like it, but that’s the way things are.”

“Well this takes the cake. I was preparing for an enemy, or an ally. But all I got was a worthless NPC with no desires of his own. What am I supposed to do with you?!”

He stepped back, crestfallen. “I’m sorry. I know I’m not of much use. All I wanted was to be friends, but I suppose it was a foolish dream.”

Instantly flooded with guilt, you tried to apologize for your thoughtless words. “I’m so sorry! I shouldn’t have said that. I don’t even know you.” There were no excuses for saying anything as terrible as what had emerged from your lips just now, and there were no words which could atone for it.

“That’s okay, people yell at me all the time.” Your new companion shoved his hands into his pockets, “Roland told me you shouted at Mr. Kaiba. Is that true?”

You gave a tired nod.

“I’ve never met anyone stupid enough to do that.”

Since it had been an incredibly stupid thing to do, you couldn’t argue with him. “If you’re lucky, you’ll see me do something much more stupid than that.”

“You’re going to yell at Mr. Kaiba again?”

“No, I’m not Joey.”

“Who’s that?”

“You don’t know Joey Wheeler?”

“I don’t know anyone other than Mr. Kaiba’s employees…Why do you keep looking at me like that?”

How should you answer? “You have my friend’s face, but you’re totally different.”

“I’m sorry. I’m sure he’s a lot nicer than me, but I’ll do my best to—why are you laughing?”

“I doubt anyone’s ever described Kaiba as ‘nice’ before.”

“Wait, does your version of me treat you badly? Is that why you look so sad and scared when you look at me? You wish he was like me?” 

“No, Kaiba doesn’t treat me badly. If anything, I’m one of the people he treats the best.”

Your new friend stood patiently, as though waiting for you to continue.

“Don’t get me wrong, he can be a difficult, damaged mess. But he’s all fight, with an icy will to win. Kaiba wants to be the strongest man in the room at all times. And it’s… disconcerting to see you have none of that.”

“Why do you call him ‘Kaiba?’” He looked almost disgusted.

“‘Cause it’s his name. Gozaburo adopted him. The only one who calls him ‘Seto’ is Mokuba.”

“What about your version of Mr. Kaiba? Mine always calls me ‘Seto.’”

“Gozaburo? He’s been gone for years. Kaiba runs Kaiba Corp with Mokuba now. It’s a gaming company.”

Your new companion stared straight ahead, unblinking. “Your lives were perfect.”

“I don’t know about ‘perfect.’ We have plenty of problems.” Sighing, you leaned against the desk. “But all things considered, it is pretty great, and Kaiba’s my friend, so I have no intention of leaving him to a life of slavery.”

The soft Kaiba in front of you looked at you with such sympathetic eyes you had to look away. “I know this is a lot to take in, y/n, but you’re a slave too, and Mr. Kaiba isn’t going to let you, or your friend, out of his grasp.”

“But I can’t—”

“If you're good, you’ll get to see your friend again. I’m going to visit Mokuba in a couple days as a birthday gift.”

You couldn’t stand the gentle sincerity of your new companion. Gozaburo had managed to remove all the fight from this version of Kaiba, and it scared you. Was it possible your version could end up like this as well?

Still, what your new companion mentioned just now might be useful. Based on what Gozaburo said earlier, Kaiba was likely with, or near, this world’s version of Mokuba. If you could find a way to join the excursion…

The door to the room opened, and a squat little man entered. You didn’t like the salacious way he was looking at you. 

This world's version of Kaiba looked surprised to see him as well. “Hobson? What is it?” 

“I’m supposed to ask if you require anything for your new slave.”

“I assume you’re putting her up in the room next door?”

“Of course not, she’s yours now; she’ll live with you.”

“What? Uh…I guess we’ll need a second bed?”

The little man apparently named Hobson looked at you again with eyes that made you feel like punching him in the face and running away to hide. “I see the proper uses of a female slave are completely wasted on you.” He wasn’t even pretending to do anything other than stare at you.

“Mr. Kaiba gave her to me—not you, Hobson, so keep your hands off. Do you understand?” It was the closest to commanding this Kaiba had come since you met him.

“You little brat.” Hobson made a mocking bow, “It may take some time to deliver your requested item.”

The man you assumed to be some sort of butler continued to stand in the doorway. “Is there something else you need to say, Hobson?” asked Kaiba.

The man shrugged and left. Once he was gone, your companion began apologizing. He was offering to sleep on one of the mansion’s couches until a second bed showed up, when Hobson returned.

“Oh yes,” the slimy man smiled, “Mr. Kaiba has requested the two of you join him for dinner tonight. Several minutes ago.”

“What?!” Kaiba dashed to your side, grabbed your wrist, and practically ran out of the room. “He did that on purpose,” he muttered as the two of you zipped down a hallway.

“Why?” You knew you wouldn’t like the answer.

“He’s a sadist.”

Part 3

[platonicreaderinsertfanfic]

Stuck in Another Dimension (Part 1)

Word Count: 1,413 words Post Duel Monsters anime. This takes place a few years after the end of the show. Dub continuity plus a version of DSoD. Female reader. Summary: The reader and Kaiba have been accidentally tossed into another dimension. After a series of adventures, they’ve landed in the possession of this dimension’s version of a man Kaiba was hoping to never see again. *** This version of Gozaburo wore a snow white suit. He seemed more at ease than the ones you had met in the past, but even a child could read the predatory gleam in his eyes. “So you two are accidental travelers from another dimension, hmm? It sounds like you might be of some use to me, Seto.”

“I’ll never help you.”

“Do I allow you to talk to me this way back in your home dimension?”

“You don’t allow anything, old man. Where I come from, you’re gone.”

“Gone? I’m surprised you can function without a strong hand to guide you, Seto.”

It had been a very long day, and your frustration overcame Kaiba’s instructions to leave the talking to him, “Kaiba’s stronger than you ever were—he outmaneuvered you back when he was just a teenager! All you managed to do was mess up a good kid and then off yourself when he bested you and took over Kaiba Corp.” You avoided looking over at Kaiba as you took a deep breath, “So quit acting so superior and deal with him as your equal.”

“Seto, are you in the habit of permitting your woman to interrupt important negotiations?”

“No.”

You bristled at the phrase “your woman,” but already regretted your outburst enough to keep quiet and avoid a second one.

“Which is one of the reasons” Kaiba continued coldly, “I requested you leave her with the petty criminals in Satellite until the conclusion of our business.”

“And here I thought you were nobly trying to protect your lover.”

“I’ve never been a fool who wasted my time with romance. She’s my assistant.”

“Then you no longer have any use for her. My Seto will be able to provide you with any assistance you may require.”

“I told you, I won’t—”

“Roland?” Gozaburo interrupted, “Take the young woman out to the courtyard and have her shot.”

“What?!”

“Now now, Seto, giving yourself away when faced with an obvious ploy like this? You do have an emotional investment in the girl.” Gozaburo turned to you, “What are you to him? Be honest.”

“We’re friends.”

“Lovers always say they’re friends.”

You glared. “Yes, well, if you know Kaiba at all then I think you know we’re not. But thanks to you, what should have been a simple friendship took years to acknowledge.”

“Nevertheless, tell me about your relationship without trite words like ‘friends.’”

“I’m…He trusts me.”

“Go on.”

“Uh. We’ve been through a lot. We’ve worked well together. And we’ve…”

“Yes?”

“At this point Kaiba’s realized I may be the only person who will neither fall in love with him nor leave him behind. Frankly, it’s a quality I appreciate in him as well.”

“Anything else?”

You hated this, “He gives me freedom, and I give him…whatever the heck it is that makes people like being friends with me.” You shrugged.

“You’re friends?” Gozaburo asked.

You glared and nodded. 

“Now that is interesting; friendship is a relationship of equals—souls standing shoulder-to-shoulder and facing life together. It’s a powerful force.” Kaiba looked surprised to hear Gozaburo talking like this. “That being said, I don’t tolerate anyone acting above their station. And however Seto may view you, you’re not at my level, and I do not allow underlings emotional outbursts during business dealings.” 

“But—”

“Don’t worry. Pawns are useful, and I’m not in the habit of destroying what I can use.” Gozaburo looked past you. “Roland, fit them with a pair of collars.”

“Very good sir. And shall I have them sent Underground?”

You could hear a man walking up behind you as Gozaburo said, “ Not yet.” You flinched as the man pulled aside your hair and clamped a metal band around your neck. Raising your manacled hands, you tugged at the item experimentally. Immediately, a shock of pain coursed through you. A moment later, when the pain ended, you were panting on your knees, glad to have stopped screaming, disoriented, afraid.

Kaiba was still on his feet, barely. “Whatever you did, don’t do it again.”

“Right.” You mentally kicked yourself for tugging on the stupid thing, of course it would be designed to prevent removal. And although your memory of the moment was hazy, you were pretty sure your actions had triggered Kaiba’s collar as well.

“Is there anything I can invent you won’t steal and misuse?” asked Kaiba as you shakily stood.

“How perceptive, Seto. These shock collars are an invention of your counterpart.”

“So you’ve got access to a contactless neural interface. What do you need us for again?” You suspected you wouldn’t like the answer.

Gozaburo appeared to see you in a new light, “You could recognize the technology after only one use?”

You kept quiet.

“I asked you a question!”

“Yeah, of course. It’s the primitive version of the neural interface we use in our Adventure System.”

“Which is?”

You wanted to be out of the spotlight, “An escape game system which combines Solid Vision with a neural interface to create an immersive experience for the player. Obviously our technology is much more advanced than yours, but I remember the earlier prototype stages well enough to recognize the sensation.”

“I’ve always assumed Seto’s obsession with games developed as a coping mechanism to deal with his separation from Mokuba. But perhaps you’re simply fated to waste your potential on frivolity.”

“Mokuba?” You could hear the change in Kaiba’s voice.

“Oh, don’t worry, you’ll be spending a great deal of time with your brother’s counterpart.” Gozaburo walked back to his desk and pushed a button on his intercom, “Seto, come to my study.”

You raised your manacled hands.

Gozaburo smiled, “Ask your question.”

“What exactly are you planning to do with us?”

“She’s rather direct, Seto. But then, you’ve never had much subtlety either.” Gozaburo turned back to you, “Seto will be sent underground, where he will work in a labor facility until I send for him.” 

“I’m not working for you,” Kaiba interjected.

“Oh, Seto, I think breaking your spirit will be much more fun this time around.” Gozaburo smiled and placed his hand over his wristwatch.

Your eyes widened in realization, and then you were yelling in pain, dropping to one knee, yanking desperately at your collar in a mindless effort to remove it. When it was over, you could see Kaiba in a similar pose. For a moment, it was all you could do to fight off a wave of dizziness, “What about me?”

“My Seto has his birthday in a few days. You will be my gift to him. A reward well earned.”

“Oh?” You weren’t in the right frame of mind to respond intelligently.

“He’s never had a slave of his own before. I wonder how he’ll put you to use?”

“Wait,” Your mind finally cleared, “you’re splitting us up?”

“Indeed, although with these collars your lives will continue to affect one another. I find it rather poetic.”

“I hate you.”

“No doubt you do. But if you want to say your goodbyes, you should reorder your priorities.”

Kaiba sneered, “If you think you can hold either of us for long, you’re delusional.”

“You have spirit, Seto. But how long can it last?”

“Kaiba…” You weren’t sure what to say. 

“Same rules as always?” he asked.

“Yeah. Of course. Do what needs to be done. But…if we could limit your rebellion to the bare minimum, that would be good.” You forced a small smile, “The pain settings on these collars are really high.”

“You can take it.”

“Yeah, but I’d prefer not to.”

“Hmh.”

“You're rather different than I expected,” observed Gozaburo.

“Shut up, old man.” Kaiba turned back to you, and his eyes softened a smidge, “I forgot; this is your greatest—”

“Don’t,” you tilted your head towards Gozaburo.

Large men grabbed Kaiba and pulled him to his feet. “If my duplicate gives you any trouble, don’t hesitate to make him suffer.”

“Sure.”

“You’ll pay for this, Gozaburo!” Kaiba shouted his last words before the men dragged him out of the room.

“Now,” Gozaburo loomed over you, “I believe we still have the small matter of your outburst to settle.”

“You’ve made your point abundantly clear, there’s no need to make it again.” You tried not to sound panicked.

“Without consistency, rules are useless.”

You tried to keep from crying out when the pain came, but couldn’t. You could hear Gozaburo chuckling over your anguish, and then your vision blurred, narrowed, and faded to darkness as you passed out. Part 2