#Kaiba gives off that energy so bad

[kaiowut99]

Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters GX Episodes 106-107 Subbed (Finalized)

(Previously: Episode 105 Subbed [Finalized])

(Check out my Subbed!GX Stream Masterpost!)

TURN-106: Judai and Johan of the Gem Beast Deck

A new school term has started at the Duel Academia. Invited to the Academia as transfer students and becoming new friends are the Academy Champions known as Amon, O'Brien, Crocodile, and a mysterious boy--along with one Professor Cobra. Meanwhile, atop the school building rooftop, Judai meets a boy who can see Spirits--who turns out to be the "mysterious boy," Johan. Cobra proposes an Exhibition Match, pitting Judai against Johan. Johan turns out to be a duelist in control of the rare Monsters known as the Gem Beasts.

TURN-107: The Neo-Spacians VS the Gem Beasts

Johan summons one Gem Beast after another, from his Amethyst Cat to his Topaz Tiger. Judai also has Neo-Spacian Flare Scarab and Neos perform a Contact Fusion to take them on with his Flare Neos. Then, Johan destroys Judai's Field Magic and activates a new Field Magic, Ancient City of Rainbows -- Rainbow Ruins, sending his Neo-Spacian back to his deck. Seeing these skillful attacks, Ed begins to speak of the unknown relationship between Johan and his Gem Beasts.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

...so, didn't mean to let these take about a month and a half since 105 was all finalized, but heremst we be *sips indie coffee*

Season 3 gets into full swing with these two episodes as it starts us off with a hint of our upcoming big bad right off the jump (RIP Hiromi Tsuru, your Yubel is still fantastic), then introduces us to the big foreign players we'll be seeing quite a bit of going forward. Judai has a nightmare taking place in an area similar to his vision with Saiou--which I'm sure is unrelated to anything--and then opening ceremonies ensue before we're introduced properly to our new transfer students, and the Ancient Roman lore around Johan's Gem Beasts which was pretty cool to include; Judai and Johan then have a fun duel together as we see the Gem Beasts in action facing Judai's Neo-Spacians. These episodes also see the debut of some of my favorite OST tracks from Season 3, like Fervent Duel (used really well in 107) and A Pinch here. Ed coming in for 107 and giving us the background on Johan from Pegasus, featuring cameos of Dark Yugi, Kaiba, and Jounouchi (from the Warriors and Unstopping Overflowing Feelings OP/EN in DM--these nods were kept in the dub, so it was the first time those particular shots of Kaiba and Jou were used in the West), as we learn that he gifted the Gem Beasts to Johan during a tournament in Europe was good, and I still love Johan's little fakeout at the end with the Rainbow Dragon he doesn't actually have yet. A fun duo of episodes with a fun, low-stakes duel that we should enjoy while we can.

Quick side-notes for the dub, but want to take a sec to shout out Jim's dub VA who perfectly nailed his Australian voice for the guy, and who I hope comes back if we're ever lucky enough to get a more accurate GX redub (though I think he was recast in DL? But still sounded pretty good). Dub!Yubel, though... I'm still baffled by the decision made with that voice, and I'm glad they eventually went with a better voice in BBT. 107 also saw them make a bunch of--I assume--time cuts, including most of the cold open which featured our first in-series look at Martin, and other shots as Cobra set up his evil lair in the old SAL lab (continuity!), but also the ending shot as Cobra looks at the duel energy he collected and comments on their impressive duel--most of those are fair as far as time cuts go, though I think the ending scene should've been kept. It's also interesting that, with Johan's southern accent being a thing in the dub (which has grown on me, though I like his later no-accent voice more), that they had Pegasus say the tournament he went to with him happened "down south;" according to a comment on the Crunchyroll upload, the venue's the "All-England Lawn Tennis Club where the Grand Slam Wimbledon" happens in the UK? lol

Animation error-wise, there were just over a handful that I picked up on in each episode that I went ahead and fixed up--mostly quality-of-watching ones along with a couple of card errors, and I also translated the bio on Amon that O'Brien hands to Cobra early in episode 106. As always, details below the cut if interested, along with Translation Notes for the bio.

Anywho, enjoy! The next two-parter features our fiery boy O'Brien, and with some really nice art/animation in 109 that I always love to revisit; I'll begin work on that once I finalize some special side work that I should hopefully get to post about soon, too, though I'll also be going back to episode 1 to fix up a card error I forgot to tackle, lol. Stay tuned!

Fixes/Edits! (106)

Early in the episode, Professor Cobra enters O'Brien's room on the ship and asks who else would be visiting him; he hands him a bio pointing to one Amon Garam. As detailed here, I translated Amon's bio in this shot, first compiling a full image to edit from its later appearances in 111 and 121, then keyframing it into the rotating zooming-out shot that happens here with AfterEffects and Sony Vegas. (The full text of the bio is in that detailed post)

In the next shot, Cobra asks if Amon came to see O'Brien, noting that he seems to be a meddler but suggests that he doesn't pay him any mind, turning to pass the bio back to him--as he does so, a few quick animation errors happen: 1) Cobra's face/mouth glitch for a few quick frames as he shifts his face into a smile (likely his current face being left over his moving face behind it); 2) the bio page in his hand jitters a bit in the frames leading up to his turning towards O'Brien; and 3) once O'Brien's holding the paper and moves it down, there are a quick few frames where a small part of his hair (the one bang on his left) is missing before it comes back. As detailed here, I edited in my translation to the bio while Cobra's holding it and as he passes it back, masking in Cobra and the rest of the frame over it for blending, while also fixing those errors for the Japanese scene by holding Cobra's face pre-glitch over the glitched frames, editing the Amon bio so it's steady throughout, and masking in O'Brien's full hair bang over the frames where it's cut short.

Later, as the Judai/Johan duel gets underway, Judai and Johan give their "Duel!" shouts and draw their hands, but a few things happen as they jump into a split-screen for it: 1) Judai moves a frame before Johan starts to slide in on his split; 2) once the screen pans down to their decks as they draw, the split-screen border seems to have been drawn in oddly, as part of Judai's side ends up just on top of the border (also seems to be slightly cut off in width halfway down); and 3) as they split apart, more of Judai seems to have made it to the left of his split's border. I fixed each one in Vegas by first sliding in Johan a frame earlier as Judai moves, then enhancing the split-screen border a bit to cover up what ends up on top of it and to its left as they split out (I generally try to avoid making redone borders that much bigger, but thought it was the only way to cleanly/consistently fix that).

After Johan plays Gem Beast Emerald Turtle, we cut to the Overseas Champions watching on, with Jim whistling before Amon expresses his surprise at the Gem Beasts--but a coloring error happens in the rapid pan from Jim to Amon, with both having odd coloring spots. A quick fix in Vegas by redoing the panning using a frame of Jim post-whistle and a frame of Amon before his mouth moves.

After Judai summons Neos, Johan laments that he can't ask for his autograph while they're dueling, but notes that he was waiting for him to summon a new Monster--Judai slides in on a split-screen to question that, but a few things happen: 1) Johan starts moving to make room for his split a frame before he does so; 2) a coloring error happens as Judai and Johan then split apart before Johan activates Triggered Summon (more noticeable on Johan), and 3) Judai's uneven slide-out leads to it taking a frame longer than Johan's to get offscreen. Fixed each one in Vegas by sliding Judai in a frame earlier as Johan moves, masking in Judai and Johan's pre-slide-out splits over the frames as they slide out to fix the coloring error, and making Judai's slide-out match Johan's by masking one frame in earlier.

[continued below, just split thanks to stupid text-block character limits]

(6) A bit later, after Johan talks about not having any destruction cards in his deck so he can see his opponents going all-out, Judai notes how neat he finds him; as they split apart and Johan tells him to bring out his new Monster (due to Triggered Summon's effect), there's a quick frame where the border is missing on Judai's split. Quick fix in Vegas as I just added it back on by duplicating the one on Johan's and touching it up as needed.

(7) As Judai then summons Neo-Spacian Gran Mole, we see it pop up in front of him, but Judai has black rectangles on his Disk where Gran Mole, Neos, and Aqua Dolphin should be. Fixed using AfterEffects to slap on proxies for each in one frame, which I then took into Sony Vegas and shook around position-wise frame by frame to add it to the full shot (thankfully, this was just shaking around and not zooming in or out lol).

(8) During the preview for 107, we see Judai on a split-screen jumping as Johan declares an attack with his Amethyst Cat, but as they slide apart, two quick things happen: 1) there's a quick frame where there's just black behind them (and Johan's split's border isn't as glowy as Judai's), and 2) some of Johan's split's border hangs on for two frames after he and Judai slide offscreen. Fixed each in Vegas for 107 proper first, then applied the fixes here, masking in Amethyst Cat behind Judai and Johan as they split apart, then masking in some of the whooshing background behind Amethyst Cat to cover up the remaining bit of Johan's split border for those two frames.

Fixes/Edits! (107)

After Judai summons Flare Scarab, he has it do a Contact Fusion with Neos for Flare Neos, but as he declares Flare Scarab's name for it, we see that the cards on his Disk--for Gran Mole, Neos, and Flare Scarab--are flipped upside-down. Fixed in AfterEffects first by applying proxies as Judai swings his Disk around, then on one frame during the zoom-out on Flare Scarab after he moves--I then took the latter frame into Sony Vegas, where I redid the zoomout on it for the whole shot, masking in Flare Scarab on top of it.

After Johan plays Rainbow Ruins and Judai's Battle Phase ends, we see his Disk as Flare Neos returns to his field, but not only are his cards upside-down again--he also has regular ol' Neos where Flare Neos should be. Fixed both in AfterEffects by applying the Mole and Flare Neos proxies correctly, masking in the orb part of Judai's Disk over the Gran Mole one.

A bit after the eyecatch, as Judai realizes that Johan hasn't played his ace yet, he starts to ask about it, startling Johan as he slides into a split-screen with him to ask as much, but Johan starts to move for it a frame early. Fixed in Sony Vegas by sliding Judai in a frame earlier there.

Later, after Johan explains that Ruby Special-Summons itself and the other Gems in his Magic/Trap Zone when placed there (rude of the OCG to remove that part of its effect), we split out of the split-screen there as Ruby's summoned, but the border on Johan's split hangs on for an extra frame. Fixed in Vegas by just masking in part of the whooshing background over it.

A bit later, Johan declares a direct attack with Amethyst Cat, and Judai jumps as their split-screen splits apart to show Amethyst Cat pouncing at him, but as they slide apart, 1) there's a quick frame where there's just black behind them (and Johan's split's border isn't as glowy as Judai's), and 2) some of Johan's split's border hangs on for two frames after he and Judai slide offscreen. As noted for the preview version of this shot in 106's list, I fixed these here first before applying the fix there, masking in Amethyst Cat behind Judai and Johan as they split apart, then masking in some of the whooshing background behind Amethyst Cat to cover up the remaining bit of Johan's split border for those two frames.

Later, after summoning Air Neos (who), Judai slides into a split-screen to explain his ATK-gain-per-LP-difference effect; as they slide apart, Judai's uneven slide-out causes his side to take a frame longer than Johan's to slide offscreen. Fixed in Vegas by just masking part of Judai's slide-out a frame earlier to even up the slide-out.

A bit later, after Johan hypes up Rainbow Dragon only to end in a "just kiddin'," Judai clicks in for a split-screen in confusion before they split apart to show Air Neos's attack connecting with Amber Mammoth--as they split apart, parts of the border on Johan and Judai's splits hang on for an extra frame. I fixed this by just using the touched-up version of this shot from the recap in 108, which had Judai and Johan's splits slide out more naturally.

After the duel, Cobra walks out to congratulate the two on a duel well fought; he beckons them towards him, but as he walks up to the center of the arena to do so, his still feet jitter as Judai and Johan start to walk over. Fixed in Vegas by masking in his feet from the frame as Judai and Johan start to walk over over the 2-3 earlier frames as he gets to the center of the arena to keep it consistent.

[yusei-clownington]

SO I FINALLY FINISHED 5D’S! And what better way to celebrate than to go through my favorite characters as…briefly as I can

Slight spoilers I suppose?

Let’s work it up from 10 to 1

10- Jack

Was gonna go with lucchiano but who am I kidding Jack’s great. He’s a drama queen with an even more dramatic wardrobe. Never afraid to express himself and just bluntly blurt out what he thought.

His obsession with Cup ramen is on another level but what can I say? Love is love, Jack x cup ramen for life *wipes tears*

But seriously speaking he’s great. His very first line was enough proof of that. He just… apologized for being late then declared “I AM KING” like the…king he is.

My favorite Rival character still remains Manjoume… and… Yeah I still prefer Kaiba over Jack but damn was he a good rival.

Like he has to be the only Rival so far with an actual past with the Main character, no? That was pretty interesting because usually, the protagonist meets the rival somewhere during the first season and we go off from there. But here we had to go through their backstory to know what their relationship was fully like. Nice touch.

9- Aki

Hands down my favorite female protagonist so far. I adore Anzu and feel neutral enough about Asuka but Aki? NAH MAN AKI’S AMAZING. I think 5D’s just does the best job with its female characters. Like it actually gives them big enough roles. I loved how Aki got her own episodes…be it the D-wheel ones or just… fillers.

Her crush on Yusei was justified, at least it seems so to me, and honestly never got obnoxious. Sure she had a moment here and there but it was honestly never a bad thing. Hell faith shipping in general isn’t exactly a bad Idea.

Speaking of shipping, is anyone going to talk about her little frienshipmaybemore moments with Crow? No? Ok…

But anyway, overall, SHE’S AMAZING AND I LOVE HER. There was more to her than some boring pining love interest and it shows with each episode. So when people say she has a great personality, they’re actually talking about her personality. AKI RULES

8- Mikage

Would’ve been way WAY higher on the list if the thing with Jack was thrown out the widow.

That being said I think she’s the more mature of the Jack-crazy trio. Like sure she was just as into him as the other two, but in some scenes she was a lot more tolerable.

But that honestly might just be my bias towards this amazing woman speaking.

She’s devoted to her work, gentle, caring, gorgeous and just all around a wonderful character to see.

I loved most of her scenes in the series, and the fact that there was more to her than just the jack part. She actually had an important part to play in many episodes and honestly proved herself to be a very fun character. I just wish they gave a her little more screentime than what she got.

A lot of lost potential there- I mean come on.

7- Rua /Lua

He reminds me of Judai WAY too much. LIKE WAAAAY too much not to be on this list. The guy’s adorable. And I love how they made him the emotional one. Like they could’ve gone with the “the boy is always rowdy and tOUGH” stereotype, but they didn’t. Sure, ruka (who I don’t like as much) was much more gentle, but it was much easier to see Rua cry than it was to see her do so. It’s just fun is all.

I also adore his deck and that little theme that played whenever he dueled… Plus his relationship with Jack and Yusei…GOLD GOLD.

6- Ushio

I made a whole post about Him, You think he wouldn’t be in my Top 10? Well think again. Great development would see through again.

5- Sherry Leblanc

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA SHERRY.

What you just witnessed in the line above is my internal reaction to literally any scene this beautiful badass woman happens to be in.

She’s just amazing. She has this really… tough energy IDK HOW TO DESCRIBE IT BUT SHE’S A REALLY INTIMIDATING WOMAN. But not in a bad way, oh nonononono in a REALLY REALLY GOOD WAY OKAY.

Her character arcs and episodes somehow felt…really separate from the whole team 5D’s shenanigans even though they were basically connected…

Like she had her own motivation that didn’t particularly rely on bonds, but was still willing to accept and even form a bond with the whole team.

Revenge is kinda hot ngl.

Okay no it’s not. But seeing a vengeful character that WASN’T played off as evil or particularly wrong amidst a bunch of friendship is magic ones was pretty refreshing.

The moment she took her helmet off when dueling yusei I was HOOKED and so was Aki but shhhhhh.

But damn I love what they did with her at the end, Rushed as it may have been. It took her joining with Z-one briefly and dueling Aki and Crow ( a very underrated duo btw) to realize that maybe thinking of the past and only the past was not a very good idea.

Anyway love her. And her duels are always a delight to watch.

4- Placido

Before he showed up, sherry was supposed to be 4th but here we are. Placido Placido Placido. I want to make it clear that…I really couldn’t care less about Aporia as a whole. But Placido and Lucchiano were pretty fun characters.

Now I finally get to talk about my beloved.

This dude was…the biggest mood. EVER.

He would hang up in that third one’s face like it was nothing and constantly ignore his boring ass. Oh. You have a plan? Ok. I don’t care. It’s boring. I’m placido and I’ll do what I want. Kiss my D-wheel ass.

He has a lot of hilariously sassy lines, which include and I quote:

“I don’t know what god wants you to do.”

“But I won’t accept it!”

The guy just does not care and I’m living for it.

Not to mention his bee analogies which- Why have I not seen anyone point out????? BEE ANALOGIES COME ONNNNNNNN

aNYWAY PLACIDO’S GREAT

3- Kiryuu

Edgy dude with pretty hair. Also gay. Also the crash town arc. Need I say more?

I will anyway.

Honestly dark signer Kiryuu was pretty fun to me with all the crazy laughter and stuff…

Then past/ flashbacks Kiryuu was just as interesting but in a completely different way. Sure he didn’t get as many episodes or screentime as the rest, but what I saw of him was more than enough for me to care about the Character. Like unlike the old satellite gang (Rally and the other two whose names I can’t even remember) I actually gave a shit about this guy when bad stuff happened to him.

Not to mention his growth. Like…He went through reverse/ negative development, then uphill by the end of the signers’ ark with all the…dying in your hands gayly stuff, then downhill again by the beginning of the crosstown arc….aaaaand back up and higher than ever by the end of it. Basically the fact that his development wasn’t always constant just added some spice.

Plus his dynamic with his ex-teammates…team….satisfaction (Try saying that with a straight face) was always pretty entertaining, especially his with Yusei.

Speaking of which...

2- Yusei

With all my talk about him…and…my profile picture…and URL, it may come as a surprise that he’s not number 1 here, but honestly it’s so close you could call it a tie.

As for why I love him….Have you- Have you seen my blog????? Do I even..need to say anything????

1- Crow

Now there’s a lot I have to say about Crow honestly hE’S JUST THAT COOL, but I’m saving it to talk about later still. All I’ll say for now is this:

Flashy guy with an amazing sense of style, an earring and an incredible amount of cockiness and charisma. What’s not to like?

[ectonurites]

for the character headcanons ask, tim or steph

i ended up doing both LMAO

so for Tim:


A (realistic headcanon): i will stand by this being realistic but TIM CONTINUING TO SKATEBOARD! like okay yes in canon he only used redboard like twice, and once he had his car back he didn’t really rely on it, but he put the time into learning how to and really enjoyed it! i think it would be fun to see him do it more and like i think steph could also skate with him (altho honestly she has more roller skate energy to me but they could still hang out at a skatepark together) i also have this idea for a fic im at some point going to write of Damian finding redboard and Tim being like ‘oh i can show u how to use that-‘ and him being like ‘NO i will do it on my own’ but eventually it becomes a whole bonding thing for them

B (hilarious): other people joke about this a lot but Tim skateboarding around Wayne Enterprises will NEVER cease to amuse me. just the general chaos of a seventeen year old in a power position like that. I think like Lucius and Tam would keep record of stupid shit he does (skateboarding in the office, Interesting fashion choices, the mountain of mugs and takeout containers that build on his desk, his use of glitter gel pens on official documents, threats to pull a seto kaiba and make WE’s primary goals be trading card related, etc) and make a lil scrapbook to give him on his 21st birthday or something when he’s like Slightly More of an adult

C (heart-crushing): Young Justice being Tim’s first friends he can feel real around that he doesn’t think are going to just be temporary. like... i’ve done a lot of rambling about Tim and again we know he’s a kid who grew up going from boarding school to boarding school, he could make friends easily enough but they were very... fleeting. they weren’t meant to last and he went into it knowing that. even though at the start of the group he couldn’t tell them everything, I feel like Young Justice were just the people he eventually was able to be himself the most around, since he didn’t need to hide being Robin. (again him needing to hide being Tim for a while definitely created some distance, but it was very different than hiding the whole hero life from people he knew at home and at school) and then ya know the core four group moving onto the titans together further solidifying this sense of ‘we are a group who can get through stuff together’... until it all falls the fuck apart after Kon dies. and Tim & Cassie have their weird bad coping things. and Bart dies. i think for Tim it would just be so crushing to have the first group he was able to consider being more permanent fall apart like that (not to mention his dad and steph dying around the same time on top of it- being two of the other types of relationships [familial and a romantic partner] that had more permanence to him) and even when people come back and bonds heal, that sense of stability would just forever be shattered, he lost them once and knows that it could happen again and that fear would always be there in the back of his mind

D (canon is a coward and won’t): that he is bisexual LMAO

aaand now Steph

A (realistic headcanon): alright this is kinda canon related but okay. we have seen MULTIPLE alternate versions of Steph with really short hair (future state, that time she imagined herself as nightwing, earth-3) so i really feel like by current-ish canon she’s already thinking about chopping her hair off, like it’s one of those ideas that just every now and then she’ll see someone with super short hair and be like oh... i want that... but never really go through with it (like she’s had some kinda short looks preboot but i think the shortest was like a bob. im talking pixie cut here) and like im imagining maybe after some mission her hair gets caught on something or even burned or idk and she just says fuck it and her, Cass and Tim get back to one of their apartments/a safehouse after patrol and cut her hair in the bathroom at like 4am (yes im aware i place many situations in the middle of the night in the bathroom with friends... [like that timkon fic i wrote a bit ago] its just such a special setting okay) like Cass with the scissors Tim’s holding up a reference pic Steph found on pinterest. it looks great once it’s done

B (hilarious): the eggplant vs purple thing. i think that now in this post death metal world of dc, where everyone’s remembering things from before the reboot, steph should have a small mental breakdown about how she betrayed her old self by rallying behind the color purple (‘enemy of crime and people who hate purple!’) vs how she used to be so insistent her color scheme was eggplant (‘its eggplant. purple would look stupid’). everyone else is having their brains break because of like conflicting memories of their traumas (and she’s got that goin on too, dont get me wrong, she’ll get to freaking out about that later) but steph is just sitting there staring at a color wheel trying not to cry

C (heart-crushing): i’ve seen some fics explore this a little but i think she’d end up doing a lot of thinking about her baby that she gave up for adoption. like that was something she experienced so young and i feel that would just always be a lurking thought in her mind, where is the baby? is she happy? gotham’s a dangerous city, there’s a lot to be afraid about there. Not that she wouldn’t already because she is just a caring big sister type of person, but I think Steph looking out for all the kids in Gotham (especially once she’s batgirl) in some small part could tie back to wanting to make sure her kid is safe out there wherever she ended up. (additionally since she had a rough upbringing with her whole dad situation she just especially is protective over kids anyways. Sometimes I think she might get kinda insecure about it… maybe even question herself about why she’s saving people, is it because she genuinely cares or is it something more selfish? it’s definitely a self doubt i could see manifesting)

D (canon is a coward and won’t) not to be repetitive but also that she is bi i will stand by this

[steve0discusses]

S4 Ep40: Fixing Dartz By Not Actually Fixing Dartz

Yo Merry Christmas, I’m quarantined as hell, so I’m just streaming and playing video games until my problems get vaccinated away.

So lets just write about Yugioh because hell a lot didn’t go as planned this year (can you believe my 2020 goal for this blog was to finish ALL OF YUGIOH?) but although my goals were halved and quartered--With this blog I don’t freakin care anymore, and somehow...that’s how it’s one of the few creative bastions I have left standing.

Wild.

I’m so done with the internet, I’m not even updating twitter right now.

But hell yes, lets update the Yugioh blog.

So onward, with the last episode of this season. We last left off with Yami getting devoured by a hate tornado which is just...a lot of 2020 energy. This whole season, in a nutshell is just...2020 energy, honestly. And this tornado is just twitter. It’s just twitter incarnated.

Rather than try to save himself and consequently fix his ghost problem, Yugi has decided to keep himself haunted by fixing Pharaoh’s inner emotional problems. Really is something, isn’t it? To do low key therapy for the ghost that basically...put you in therapy? Yugi can help fix his problems but like...he’s still a mess of problems because of it. Now Yugi shouldn’t walk away, of course, that’s effed up, but it is a little irony there.

Pharaoh, of course, has decided to submit to the hate tornado, and sees it as a manifestation of his own anger and bad vibes.

Isn’t that’s the real problem we have when we have to confront the feelings we don’t want to confront? Where we tend to feel guilt and hate for being upset, which is just sort of a thing humans naturally tend to do--instead of actually working on controlling what you do with those feelings so that way we stop lashing out and setting everyone on fire in the burger restaurant?

Like Pharaoh should be learning to count to 10, not trying to just remove his anger. This has sort of been his problem for a while--he assumes he can just...delete his rage. That’s not a thing. You can’t do that unless you have very specific medication through a doctor, and that’s why he keeps failing at it.

And this goes back to S1 when he “fixed” Kaiba and like nothing really happened. Pharaoh’s decided to wipe himself and like...it’s up to your own interpretation but like...in my book that Pharaoh brand clean cycle does freakin nothing. It gets reversed like constantly.

(read more under the cut)

So Yugi decides to hit up Plan B, which is, honestly? Not a great message. But it’s the anime trope that we keep going back to because it’s the catch-all to make any anime protagonist into the good guy.

Like...

...

.......Yeah I’m gonna talk about it.

this is a trope that is so common it’s sort of ubiquitous with the genre. You gotta have the protagonist give up on their own strength, and be lifted up by their pals at the very last second--it’s like the anime hero’s journey.

But I really don’t like it. I don’t like the power of freindship. I’ll say it.

Because there’s some things you have to handle on your own. And I don’t think it’s a bad thing to have your main character show strength and show character development by doing things by themselves at the last minute. We already know that Pharaoh’s a good pal and believes in his friends--but like...does he believe in himself?

I can’t tell you if he does by how this episode goes, that’s for sure.

The whole point of this tornado is to see Yami discover his own strength and overcome his weaknesses...and yet he still relies on that good ol chestnut, friend powers.

Like last episode I feel like they did this already and it was way better--other people offered their help willingly, then Pharaoh got to have a big ol fight solo in the clouds to prove he was strong on his own as well. We finished the whole season last episode, so what are we accomplishing now other than a last minute secret boss fight?

Why would Yami doubt himself now? It’s weird. Yugi’s right to have mentioned “yo didn’t we figure this all out in desert hell???” because...we did. Yami is retreading old territory.

And that’s a thing that happens when you write, PS, when Yugi was saying “we already did this!” Yugi was reminding the writers of the show “we did this already. Like guys. We did this.” and sometimes when you’re writing, your characters will do that to you, and you should always be paying attention to cues like that.

Anyway, he vanquishes the hate tornado by thinking fondly of all of his buddies, and then the storm that should have been over the Atlantic Ocean, as according to the dub, parted in the sky above California.

GEOGRAPHY, the secret final boss of this season of Yugioh. And they failed. In a big way.

Yugi holds out his hands in real life, and pretends to hold a ghost that isn’t there. Now I want all of you to do this position IRL. Like that. OK. It looks like Yugi is holding onto a pair of ghost boobies.

Meanwhile, actual and very literal ghosts with very real bodies show up and start picking up Dartz and like...

...The ending of Dartz’ storyline is a TRIP! Lets just get into it!

This cursed dog. I can’t stand how this dog is drawn. I hate it so much that I actually love it, and if I saw this in a thrift store I would impulse buy it and hang it over my fireplace mantle in a golden gilded frame.

AHHH????

WHAT????

He electrocuted you with LIGHTNING! He killed your...everyone! He killed EVERYONE!

Also girl, how are you HERE? Like Physically??? I saw you die! TWICE!!

Yugioh is on SOMETHING with this one, and I think that “something” is called “we weren’t allowed to give you a PG-13 sad ending.”

This is just the freakin weirdest thing. We have a character who is worse than Darth Vadar, and this show has pulled so many dark things in it’s history, but it just...

...it can’t punish Dartz at all, and I don’t know what they were thinking.

They have been poetic before--Pegasus got his eyeball gruesomely ripped straight out of his face, nearly got murdered by Bakura, and was not able to resurrect his wife. Noah hella died, had to give up his plan to rule the world and be a real boy, and had to murder his own Dad even, the moment he finally made a bond with his brothers. Marik had to lose all control of his body, live helplessly inside Tea’s bod for an entire season and accept the fact that he murdered his Dad and now has to live on without any of the magic that ever made him powerful in a broken world and a broken family he will never understand.

Dartz though?

If he does get some sort of poetic retribution, it will be off-screen because we don’t have time for it.

And that’s kind of a bummer because this is usually something Yugioh is kinda good at! I enjoy when this show goes dark, this is a great opportunity to do it...and they didn’t.

It was just the wettest fart Yugioh has ever played on me.

Just the wettest. Nice knowing you, Dartz. Glad you were here to murder everyone on Earth and then totes get away with it because we’ll just pretend like the Orichalcos was a totally different person--although it’s not. Because Yami JUST told us that it doesn’t work that way. Yami JUST told us that the Orichalcos was using his own pain and his own hate against him.

It’s not a separate person, it’s the same!

And to suggest that Yami vanquishing that hate tornado somehow cured Dartz of all his sins, is some upper level Jesus stuff that I don’t think this show would normally want to tread on. Straight up. Yami is a pretty poor stand in for Jesus Christ, and I feel I can straight up say that because it’s Christmas.

...what HAPPENED in the writing room with this one? Did they just run out of episodes? There are less episodes this seasons than other seasons have been.

Was it edited for the English version? Because I...kind of doubt they could edit that much to make it that drastically different.

I’m just boggled. Like usually I’m of the opinion to let the writers do whatever they do because I do not know what was going on behind the scenes, and I’m still of the opinion that they did the best of what they could do with the resources they were given.

BUT, this episode just feels...hella sus. I feel like they just had to make an ending. Any ending. Get an ending on there and finish the season before the power goes out and then run away with whatever paycheck you get (because in entertainment--you might not get one).

Seto and Joey made it completely back to the KaibaCopter before Tea was like “I mean it’s been 15 minutes, guys, you really didn’t hear him behind you? You really lost his tiny pitter patter of his little shoes? The little shoes that make a little tinkly noise like a kitty cat’s collar? A little kitty cat collar that he also wears around his neck? His neck that has a golden pyramid held by a tow chain that makes a little clanky clank when it hits his two belts covered in metal rivets that makes a little singsong clippity cloppity noise every time he so much as breathes? He’s a walking talking Bell of Notre Dame, you lost him?”

and Seto was like “Oh damn it, I know he’s the same size as Mokuba, and so I should be really good at not losing this kid but also have you noticed how many times I’ve lost Mokuba???”

Joey just looked into the distant tomb hut and said “......You’re kidding me.” and decided to immediately run back because Joey Wheeler knows what’s up.

Had Joey Wheeler actually made it back to Atlantis, he would have seen Dartz and his entire family hugging it out and would have immediately socked the guy straight in the dick and it would have been a great way to finally give Dartz just one single consequence for murdering everyone on Earth but you know, I did not write this episode.

I’m really glad that in the same episode that Yami called upon the powers of friendship, his friends hella ditched him to vanquish in a watery grave.

This is wild!

Seto’s words were “Good riddance” as the island went down, and you could not tell if he was talking about the island or about Yugi.

That and Kaiba Really Hates Islands. LOVES watching an island go up in smoke (or underwater, in this case). Loves nothing more.

Seto, your powers of friendship were just used to save the world.

Apparently the standard for friendship power is...not much. But they did just make Yami, of all people, do a literal Jesus in Gethsemane so...the bar for morality is just not very high in this anime.

Did the Great Leviathan stitch Weevil Underwood’s body back together or something? This is...

...Yo Weevil are you immortal now? Are you the big bad in S5 that comes out of nowhere and kick’s Bakura’s ass back to the Shadow Realm like Marik in S2? Because I’ll accept that.

I won’t like it, but I’ll accept that.

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

look at those toddler shoes worn by a full adult! Weevil Underwood is so over-designed for a super low-level miniboss and I low key love that they love Weevil Underwood this freakin much.

Of all people, Weevil Freakin Underwood.

Listen, listen, listen.

If Mikey was still alive, he’d be older.

He’d have been older in that Leviathan tummy, he’d be Alister’s age but he’s not. He’s uh...

Yo show that got real dark. Show this is what you should have done to Dartz. I love this sort of dark ending for a rude asshole who is going to try to put his family back together although it’s completely impossible--this would have been a good Dartz ending. But...whatever. It’s fine.

We’ll...let Dartz have his family back, it’s fine.

Meanwhile, in the first actual picture of California that really feels like California, Valon immediately accepts the fact that Mai left him.

This is also a great dark ending for Valon. To accept that the people in your life have moved on and that you, too, must move on, even if it’s alone. This would have been an excellent ending for Dartz.

And then Mai just bounces. She does not seek out Joey Wheeler, because she’s like “I have to fix some stuff, I have some serious problems, and it’s going to take a really long time before I can get over my toxic past.” and just freakin leaves us. Sorry, anyone who was hoping Joey and Mai would smooch at any point, it’s uh...it’s not legal yet.

And TBH I don’t even know if Valon is legal either, and the show decided to not reveal that to us, or allow them to smooch.

And as for Raphael? Uh...

They didn’t bother, I think. I didn’t cap it, at least. But we did get at least one person washed up on a beach.

It would be Kuribo.

I talk about 2020 energy a lot in this season but like...wild 2020 energy here, to be so freakin chill and can I say--delighted--to be stranded on an abandoned island.

The show does not elaborate any more on if the cards are dead or alive, or if the games we are playing are with actual people forced to play these horrible games for us. It’s best that they don’t tell us. Just like Mr Mime. No one wants to know.

Mr Mime as in the Pokemon Mr Mime, PS, I just realized that there is a mime in this universe and he’s just...I don’t really want to know about that guy, either. All mimes honestly, I don’t want to know anything at all about all mimes.

Luckily, for Yugi, Kaiba didn’t fly very far from this island, and so we don’t have to have some sort of weird season cliffhanger where we guess how long Yugi can live off of coconuts (2 hours. he would last 2 hours on this island)

Although it would be such a cliffhanger to wonder what Yugi’s hair would look like after that. the same, right? Like it’s the same amount of grease and nasty stuff? He’d just have his roots growing out?

And there they go--goodbye Dues Ex Machina Cards. Either the show can’t keep you on board because you’re hella broken, or the three dragon warriors died, or retired, or whatever it is when a card is like “I’m done with humanity, please leave me alone and never call me again.”

Did Seto low key just break up with his side piece just now? Tragic.

Remember that time that Yugi was so bouyant he was armpits out of the water in S2? It’s crazy how bouyant Yugi Muto is. Like if someone did one of those anime cross-sections of his anatomy, he needs like 3 or 4 duck shaped pool floaties in there.

Now, full disclosure, I have written the ending to this post 3 times because tumblr keeps deleting this post out of my drafts folder (I shouldn’t be writing this in my drafts folder, being real, it’s been really buggy lately, and I’m gonna have to make a different solution to this) So I’m just...

...gonna end on this note. This exciting note that Bakura is next. Finally, Bakura (JK of course, because apparently Bakura doesn’t show up for half the season. Bro told me this and offered that we should skip that filler and of course I told him that is not the point of this blog and we will be watching all of that gruesome filler piece by piece. Because for someone, out there--that filler is their favorite episode. I don’t know who you are--but get ready for filler.)

Now Yami could just...call up Bakura at any point at his house and make an appointment to end the world...but maybe S5 will go a different direction? We shall see.

Anyway, that’s it for this Season! Thanks all for sticking with us when I just...didn’t have an upload schedule for this entire year. It’s been a YEAR. But, I’m hoping for good things in the future, and that things will adjust back to a normal upload schedule and that...hopefully tumblr won’t die or something weird like that.

I’m gonna finish the Full Metal alchemist Live Action movie next (we’re like halfway through) and then after that--onward to to S5! See y’all there!

Stay safe!

(and here’s the link to read these in chrono order if you’re new here:

https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/yugioh/chrono

[saijspellhart]

Could you do 8 for Radicalshipping? I think it would be sweet :)

8. Laying a gentle kiss to the back of the other’s hand. (Radicalshipping)

3. A breathy demand: “Kiss me” - and what the other person does to respond. (Radicalshipping)

16. One person pouting, only to have it removed by a kiss from the other person. (Radicalshipping)

“I knew he only liked me for my body,” Bakura spat. He flicked a duel monsters card at the TV and watched it hit the screen and deflect off of Malik’s face and join its brethren on the floor.

They were watching a tournament on the television, and the broadcast was currently wrapping up Malik’s latest duel. He’d been successful of course, and they were in the post duel interviews where Malik was answering questions about his plays. Ryou was with him, their arms thrown over the other’s shoulder in congratulations and friendship.

Malik leaned his head against Ryou’s and smiled at the camera, bright and proud.

Bakura flung another card at the TV.

“I like your body.” Yami Marik pulled off a pair of headphones, and turned away from his game at the desk.

Bakura threw a card at him too. “That’s the whole point you twit! This isn’t my body.” He gestured to himself, his thin lanky frame. There were muscles, because Bakura worked for them. But they weren’t incredibly defined because Ryou had never had that sort of stature. Upon being given a second chance at life, the gods had humbled Bakura by giving him a replica of Ryou’s body, rather than his original body. “And now Malik is shacking up with my former host.”

Marik eyed the television which was still showing the interviews with Malik. He’d been purposely ignoring this portion of the broadcast. Seeing his other half always stirred troubled emotions of resent and anger in him. Feelings he was working hard to overcome.

“They look like friends to me,” Marik remarked.

“Feh,” Bakura shuffled the stack of cards in his hand. He was lounging across the couch, one foot crossed over the other. The floor around the apartment was littered with Duel Monsters cards that he’d been throwing for the last hour.

“Well he certainly wouldn’t like you for your personality,” Marik snipped. “You’re an insufferable bastard.”

“Prick,” Bakura spat.

“Bitch.”

“Wanker.”

“Look! Yugi’s on!” Marik suddenly leaped from the chair and vaulted over the couch. He snatched the remote off the coffee table, and was already turning up the volume. Bakura didn’t bother to move his legs, which didn’t bother Marik at all. He climbed onto the couch, crouching on it like L from Death Note rather than a sane normal person.

Then again, Yami Marik was not a sane and normal person. In the years of separation from Malik—and with the gift of his own body—Marik had grown into himself. In some ways he had matured, grown, and mellowed out, but in other ways he’d developed his own idiosyncrasies, and still had a streak of impulsivity that reared from time to time.

Marik turned up the volume, and even Bakura sat up straighter. The two men watched as the small “King-of-Games” appeared on screen stepping up to a podium on a duel stadium. This tournament was using a classic stadium, rather than Kaiba’s portable duel disk system.

Yugi waved to the crowd, and smiled. Then the cameras switched to his opponent, and they watched as a different person, a taller guy with black hair and a ball cap, stepped up to the opposite podium. He too, waved at the crowd. But he followed it up with a fist pump that awarded him a round of cheers.

Bakura flicked a card at the guy on the screen. It struck the man’s ball cap before bouncing onto the floor.

“Boo!” Marik voiced both their thoughts aloud.

The two Yamis resented their absence from the tournament. They had not been allowed to sign up due to a lack of identification. Kaiba promised that he was working on creating identification for them, as well as obtaining credible backstories and citizenship. They’d only been given their fleshy new bodies less than six months ago, and it had taken a lot of convincing from Yugi to persuade Kaiba to help Marik and Bakura.

Suffice to say Kaiba wasn’t exactly in a rush.

So here they were, at home—Yugi’s home, because he had been the only one willing to take them in—behaving themselves. Sort of.

Yugi’s apartment was a mess right now. The carpet blanketed in a layer of trading cards that Bakura had spent the last hour and a half throwing about.

The desk where Marik had been faired no better. It was covered in the empty cans of energy drinks, sodas, and the occasion alcohol. Marik had a tendency to stay up all night playing MMOs, and the lack of sleep only enhanced his usual crazy unkempt appearance, rather than detract from it. Amongst the cans were the various wrappers of plant protein bars and veggie chips; there were also a few cards here and there that had managed to find their way amongst the mess.

The tournament commenced after a handful of commercials and a few more interviews with the other contestants. It was mostly speculation of who they thought would win, and what strats might be employed from each player.

Bakura muttered his own commentary about Yugi’s strategies, and Marik grunted in agreement.

And then the duel was underway. Yugi was first to go, and played a face down card before ending his turn, and letting his opponent retaliate.

Ball-cap Boy, as the Yamis labeled him, lost his first summoned monster to Yugi’s trap hole.

“Kick his ass!” Screamed Marik. He was clutching the remote between his fingers like a demented gargoyle.

“Not a bad start,” Bakura remarked. “The field is wide open for Yugi to make a counter attack, and Ball-cap Boy only played one face down card.”

The turn passed back to Yugi. He drew a card.

“Yugi has cards to sweep the field of magic and traps,” Marik nodded at the screen, stating the obvious. It wasn’t necessarily for Bakura’s benefit, as they were simply voicing their own thoughts and observations.

Right on cue, Yugi used a Mystical Space Typhoon, and sent Ball-cap’s card to the graveyard. Then he used a Pot of Greed, drew two more cards, and played a Black Magic Ritual spell card. He sent two monsters from his hand, to the graveyard as tribute, and summoned Magician of Black Chaos right to the field.

This was followed by the activation of the field spell, Yami. Which cast the whole holographic playing field into a black and purple miasma. The change in field giving Yugi’s Spellcaster and Fiend type monsters a boost.

Which included Magician of Black Chaos.

Yugi struck his opponent with a savage blow to his life points, then ended his turn. His hand was empty of cards except for one. It was a vulnerable position to be in, but he did have a very powerful monster on the field.

“YAAS!” Marik bounced on the couch and howled at the TV.

“Babysitter had a very lucky hand to start with,” Bakura remarked. “This will hardly be a fair match.”

“Don’t care as long as Yugi fucks him up.”

Bakura nodded his agreement, and they both continued to watch the game unfold.

The duel didn’t conclude as one-sided as the Yamis first predicted. Ball-cap Boy managed to make a come back, and get rid of Yugi’s Magician with a spell card. After that, he had Yugi on the defensive for a bit.

But when the match finally concluded it was with Yugi’s decisive victory.

The cameras momentarily followed the loser as he slunk offstage, as well as a shower of trading cards and popcorn from Marik and Bakura.

When attention returned to Yugi, interviews and congratulations commenced. With his latest win, Yugi would be attending the semi-finals tomorrow, where he would face off against Malik Ishtar, Mai Valentine, and Weevil Underwood. They would draw names tomorrow to decide who would face off against whom.

The Yamis continued to watch the broadcast even after Yugi had excused himself from the cameras, and mysteriously disappeared. No one appeared to be able to locate him again for further interviews, and turned instead to interview various members of the crowd about today’s matches.

Twenty minutes later the apartment door flew open, and the spikey little “King-of-Games,” entered the apartment. He tossed his bag on the floor next to the shoe shelf.

“I’m home! Did you guys catch my duel?”

Bakura quickly snapped the television off and looked over the back of the couch.

“Of course not. I don’t watch bullshit.”

Marik fixed Bakura with a dark stare. Then turned and draped his large frame over the back of the couch to watch Yugi kick his shoes off.

“Oh.” Yugi’s face drooped a bit. “What were you guys watching?”

“The news.”

“My Little Pony.”

This time it was Bakura’s turn to fix Marik with a death glare. “We do NOT watch My Little Pony.”

“Keh, speak for yourself,” Marik muttered, “Discord is my kindred spirit.”

Yugi hung up his jacket and approached the two of them with an infectious smile. A smile different from his other ones, and one he only seemed to wear when he saw them. Whether it was coming home from a long day, or upon seeing them whenever they picked him up from university.

“Did you win?” Bakura inquired, folding his arms over the back of the couch.

Marik struck him with his unsocked foot, where Yugi couldn’t see. “Of course he won. Babysitter is the King.”

“I lost. Big time,” Yugi lamented. He dropped his eyes and kicked the carpet in shame. “Sano, will go on to the semi-finals tomorrow.”

Marik held out his arms, beckoning Yugi to come close for a sympathetic hug.

When he did, the Yami scooped him up instead and dragged Yugi over the back of the couch and onto the cushions between him and Bakura.

Yugi yelped in surprise.

Both Yamis drew over him like a couple of predators. It was akin to being flanked by a lion and lynx.

“Let us console you,” Bakura purred.

“We’ll ease the sting of loss,” Marik added. “Tell us how it happened.”

“You definitely should have won.”

“Especially the play with the graceful charity, and the discarding two dark magicians from your hand to boost the power of Dark Magician Girl. That was a wicked thing to do~”

“Marik! You absolute knob-head!”

“I knew it,” Yugi giggled, and a grin spread over his face from ear to ear. He stared up at the two Yamis. “You did watch my duel.”

One Yami was baring his teeth and scowling so hard that creases formed on his brow. The other was grinning with feral delight.

“I never wanted to play this game in the first place,” Marik defended. He turned his attention to their babysitter and picked up Yugi’s hand, placing a chaste kiss to the back of it. “You sacrificed your most precious monster cards so callously for power. How unlike you. We must be rubbing off on you.” he purred almost sensually.

It sent butterflies squirming in the young man’s stomach.

“Congrats of the victory, My Precious,” he hummed the words against pale skin before dragging his long tongue over Yugi’s hand and fingers. The endearing nickname was something he’d coined for Yugi after the three of them binged a Lord of the Rings marathon. Bakura refused to use it, preferring his own terms for Yugi. So this one was uniquely Marik’s.

“It was a good duel,” Bakura grumbled. He folded his arms over Yugi’s bent knees and rested his chin upon them.

Yugi couldn’t help but beam up at him even whilst Marik slipped one of Yugi’s fingers into his mouth. “I’m sorry I didn’t catch that over the sound of my hand being molested.”

“You kicked ass,” Bakura snarled louder, his cheeks suddenly flushing a deep pink. His eyes were staring at the floor off to the side though.

“Thanks.” Yugi knew the admission didn’t come lightly. Bakura was generally sparse with his compliments, and praise did not fall from his tongue lightly.

Marik was now biting Yugi’s fingers, but this didn’t bother him at all. Marik tended to be very bitey, and on numerous occasions Yugi had to get creative covering up various bruises ranging in spots from his neck to his calves.

He leaned his head back to meet Yami Marik’s lovely lavender colored eyes.

“I won my duel. So, do I get a victory kiss?”

A sinister grin pulled over Marik’s face, Yugi’s fingers still caught between his teeth. He released the thoroughly molested hand with one final lingering caress of his tongue and leant forward to place a kiss on Yugi’s cute mouth.

A pale hand intercepted, two fingers placed against Yugi’s lips before Marik could kiss him. “But I thought you lost?” Bakura sneered.

Yugi shot him a pouty look.

“We can pretend he won,” Marik tried to pry Bakura’s hand out of the way.

Bakura pushed against Marik’s forehead with his other hand. “We don’t reward losers.”

“Oh, just kiss me.” Yugi huffed, sounding a bit breathless in his demand.

“Babysitter ordered.”

“Well in that case...” Bakura pushed Yugi’s knees apart and crawled between them. He dipped his head under Marik’s nose and his mouth closed over the Game King’s. It was soft but aggressive, wasting no time coaxing Yugi to let him in, and then letting his tongue slip into the kiss.

Marik growled above them.

Bakura paid him no mind. Relishing the taste, lips moving, molding, and coaxing delightful noises from the male below them. He stole breath and sound like the thief he was, and swallowed them both. And his hand trailed over Yugi’s thigh, fingers raking over more sensitive areas until Yugi arched against him.

They broke apart for air, and Bakura watched Yugi pant, with a playful hunger in his half-lidded eyes.

Yugi blinked, and refocused just past him.

Marik’s mouth was twisted in a pout, and he looked very left out.

Yugi reached both hands up, and dragged the Egyptian down for an upside down kiss, that was more teeth than lips, but no less intense and heated.

Marik made a noise akin to a growl, but more hungry and throaty, and slipped his own hands under Yugi’s head to grasp fistfuls of his colorful spiked hair.

Both men continued to lath the little King-of-Games in attention. Occasionally squabbling with each other over possession of Yugi’s mouth. But both of them spoiling their little keeper with touches and affection.

If someone had asked Yugi six months ago if he would ever have two boyfriends—and both of them the former Yamis of his friends, Malik and Ryou—he would have laughed and called them insane. Six months ago he had still been mourning the loss of Atem. Moping about his departure for the afterlife, even though three years had already passed since the ceremonial duel.

Six months ago he had tentatively taken in the homeless, aimless, pitiable Yamis; whom the gods had saw fit to grant a second chance to redeem their souls. He had been the only one of their friend group willing to give these two the second chance he felt they deserved.

And for awhile they resented him with the same disdain they showed the rest of the world.

But Yugi never ceased being patient and kind, freely giving them his friendship. No strings attached.

They had come to accept it begrudgingly at first. And then coveted it selfishly.

Somewhere along the way friendship had morphed into affection, and feelings became complicated.

A strange relationship of hate, friendship, lust, and loyalty, that sometimes left Yugi feeling lost and drowning. He really liked them both, maybe more than he should. And they couldn’t seem to decide if they liked him, or hated him, but they certainly wanted him.

Things were now very complicated.

All this, compounded on the sinful things they were doing with their mouths, was enough to fray his nerves and light his skin ablaze with sensations and confusing emotions. It left Yugi extremely overwhelmed and dizzy.

He broke from all the attention to catch some much needed breath. Marik and Bakura backed off looking mischievous and starved, their eyes dragging over their little Babysitter like he was a juicy piece of meat.

“Why are there duel monsters cards all over the floor?” Yugi asked, finally taking in his surroundings and the state of his apartment.

“Because Bakura was huffy about staying home, and decided to fling his trading cards at everything,” Marik explained, sounding equal amounts amused and annoyed.

“Actually,” Bakura corrected. “They’re all Marik’s cards.”

Lavender eyes shot up.

“What?”

~0000~

So this was interesting to write. Sorry it took me so long. I had to agonize how I wanted to write this ship for the longest time. Pondered over their dynamic, and what circumstances would even bring them together. I hope this was satisfactory. I did a have a lot of fun writing this. Mayhaps you’ll have fun reading???

[wild-ditto-appeared]

Duelist Kingdom but with Ditto

What would Yu-Gi-Oh! (OG) be like if Ditto was there from the beginning? How would Ditto have gotten there? Why would Ditto be there?

Here are some Sylvia braindumps from my most recent pacing session:

Ditto arrives on Duelist Kingdom Island, helpless and afraid and very VERY confused. There are no animals on this island, no trees bearing fruit or bushes with berries or, frankly, most food of ANY kind except the fish that swim down the streams--and Ditto is very much an herbivore, thank you very much.

So Ditto quite frankly, nearly starves to death on that damn island. Then it's startled by the sound of fireworks.

No, the Duelist Kingdom Tournament hasn't begun yet--won't begin for quite some time, actually--Pegasus just wanted a private show of fireworks that day.

Ditto Transforms and makes its way to the direction from which the fireworks came from--and when it gets close enough, it spots the giant castle (thanks to Ditto's small size, it's a lot harder to spot the castle when surrounded by tall-ass trees, so it needs to be much closer to be able to spot it on its own).

For story-telling reasons, Ditto never considered Transforming into a Flying-type Pokemon and just. Surveying the land. Like a sensible Pokemon. It was too young and never had to really do that before, so it wasted a lot of energy out there.

When it finally trudges all the way to the castle, sometimes Transforming and sometimes not because at this point Ditto is really really tired, Ditto stumbles onto the brick steps of the castle--not the front ones, mind you, but one of the rear entrances/exits meant for guards. And it can't get into the castle, so after considering giving up, it scales the wall as an Aipom, flips over onto the wall's walkway, and de-Transforms, using up the last of its energy before it falls asleep. This is where Ditto is found by some of Pegasus' guards.

They... don't know what to do with Ditto at first. So they grab it and lock it in a dark black box with only a little hole to breathe out of, then go on their way to lock it in the dungeons, never to be seen again when Pegasus finds them and asks what's in the box.

The guards tell him they found something suspicious on the balcony and they would throw it in the dungeons for trespassing. Pegasus analyzes the interior of the box with his Millennium Eye and ultimately decides Ditto is harmless, asking that the box is handed over to him. The guards, knowing better than to question him, oblige and go back to their respective duties.

Pegasus frees Ditto from its little prison, but Ditto is asleep still, clearly hurt and worn. At a loss for what to do, Pegasus panics slightly, ordering all sorts of food from his chefs. The whole castle is in panic. "Is Pegasus ordering a feast of some kind? Who is coming over that's so important? Why wasn't anyone notified?" Really, Pegasus just wants to know what Ditto will eat and he has nothing to offer of his own except wine and cheese.

Although lots of food is made, Ditto only eats the fruits and vegetables, and even then it's mostly the fruits and berries whose plates are wiped clean when Ditto finishes eating. So... all of that meat and fish and other such things are... sort of wasted.

Pegasus doesn't seem to really care, though. Ditto is sleeping with a full belly now, and he allows it to stay the night. Then another. Then another.

Fully befriended, Pegasus and Ditto become close enough friends that he even refers to Ditto as "his pet," which it doesn't seem to mind. Even after Ditto has shown off its transformative abilities--which in fact makes it appeal to Pegasus even more--Ditto is accepted wholeheartedly into the castle and treated with almost the same amount of respect by his guards as Master Pegasus himself.

Then the Duelist Kingdom happens and something changes in Pegasus. He's suddenly a lot moodier, a lot more serious, a lot less jovial than Ditto is used to him being. He seems to carry the weight of guilt and distress on him at all times. Ditto tries to relieve it, but Pegasus brushes off its attempts. Eventually, four duelists make it to the castle--plus one Seto Kaiba. For the duration of the duel, Pegasus orders the guards to keep a close eye on Ditto to make sure it doesn't leave its little box, so that Ditto doesn't have to see what happens to Kaiba when he loses.

After Kaiba has lost his soul, Pegasus allows the guards to release Ditto--and Ditto had obediently listened to Pegasus because it trusted him, thinking that he would not make me do this if it wasn't important. When it was allowed outside of its box, Ditto went straight to Pegasus to cuddle, because it had been scared something serious was happening. Pegasus tried to reassure it, but his voice was still heavy.

Ditto was present, however, for the finals. For Mai against Yugi and Joey against the "In America" guy because I don't feel like looking up his name right this second. Ditto sensed when Yugi's Millennium Puzzle activated and when he switched into Yami. Ditto then realized--wait, why does that somewhat feel familiar? A little different, but still familiar in a way.

And then it realizes that other similar feeling had been coming from Pegasus this whole time: the Millennium Eye.

But Pegasus was nice, and although the power Yami wielded was frightening to Ditto, he didn't seem to be doing anything bad with it... well, yet. So Ditto gave Yami the benefit of the doubt.

Then the final duel, Yami versus Pegasus. At first, it was fine. But when they reached the second phase of the duel, which took place in the Shadow Realm, Ditto felt BAD VIBES. LOTS OF BAD VIBES.

But not from the Puzzle. No, they were coming from Pegasus. From the Eye.

And for the first time, Ditto grew afraid of its friend. It grew afraid of its caretaker and followed Tea and the others when they ran to Yugi's side of the duel to try and reach him. Ditto tried headbutting the bubble headfirst as a Dreepy, as if being missile-shaped and going as fast as possible would break the barrier. It didn't, and Ditto nearly fell before Tea managed to catch it.

And it started to cry, because that was scary. Where did Fancy Man and Spiky Man go? Why was Fancy Friend fighting? Why did it feel so WRONG and BAD?

When the duel was over and Pegasus lost, Ditto flew straight to him as a bird, ignoring Yugi's friends' protests. It snuggled with Pegasus, buried itself in his hair, nuzzled his face, everything it possibly could to ask if he was okay, if the bad stuff was over.

Pegasus barely responded to Ditto, merely plucking it from his shoulders and carefully setting it down on his dueling field. With a sad smile, Pegasus spoke--half to Ditto, because his eye was trained on it and half to Yugi, who won the duel.

"Very well, Yugi. You win. I am a man of my word. I will release everyone I have captured."

Ditto was in shock, hearing this. Its feathers fluffed up, it stared at him incredulously, its eyes trained on him and almost shaking, as if to ask, "You... you had people captured?" And suddenly Ditto realized what the duel was about.

Yugi, Tea, and the others saw Ditto's reaction--didn't miss it for the world, despite having been taken aback when they first learned of Pegasus' transforming little pet--and felt sad for the little fella. Ditto truly cared about Pegasus, truly loved him, and now, like many others, Pegasus had managed to hurt Ditto too.

Pegasus told Ditto that he knew it would most likely not forgive him for what he'd done, that he wouldn't blame it if it wanted to leave, then left Ditto with that decision while he went to release the souls he'd captured.

Pegasus didn't come back.

Ditto witnessed the guards giving Yugi his prize money and title, and when they demanded to know that everyone whose soul Pegasus stole was okay, the guards simply said that Pegasus was handling it. Ditto was still confused, still lost.

What... what now?

When Yugi and the others went to check on him to make sure he did, in fact, keep his word, Ditto went with them. It wanted to know what happened to its caretaker, its friend.

Pegasus wasn't there. In fact, he was missing from the entire castle.

When Ditto found out about this, it cried. With Yugi and friends as witnesses, Ditto sobbed and grieved for Pegasus because he was gone. He was gone and Ditto hadn't even been given the opportunity to answer with its decision.

Ditto was there when it heard the reason why Pegasus had done all of this. Ditto was there when Yugi and friends met Kaiba and escorted Mokuba back to him safely and soundly. Ditto was there when they moved to leave, but Yugi hesitated.

Yugi turned to Ditto, pitying or sympathetic or empathetic or whatever, but he was clearly concerned for Ditto when he bent down and extended a hand in offer.

"I know Pegasus is gone now, and... and we'll never be him, but... maybe you can find companionship in us until Pegasus comes back," he offered Ditto.

And Ditto, with nowhere left to go and no other friends to turn to, nodded and accepted Yugi's offer, burying itself in his shirt to grieve. Then, they take the ship home.

Let me know if you wanna know how Battle City should go with Ditto, too. Just something I thought of earlier today. I'm gonna be real, it probably doesn't sound that great, but I don't think it sounds like trash either, sooo... //shrug// maybe it works? What do you all think?

[intobarbarians]

You keep your old cards because you’re a sentimental sap. See: your sister, your mother, your friends, even--hell--your father.

You’ve tried convincing yourself it’s because the cards might be worth big money someday, especially ol’ Red-Eyes, except that fucker Pegasus issued a million reprints, and now your favorite Duel Monsters monster is about as rare as gum on the bottom of those canvas sneakers you’ve been wearing since high school--not at all.

You certainly don’t keep them for dueling. You’ll glance at a booster pack every now and then when you’re standing idle in the checkout line, but your wallet stays gratefully closed. You’re unsubscribed from mailing lists and magazines. No one’s invited you to a big-name tournament in years.

You’re okay with it. Third place has never sat right with you.

You think you’re okay with being sentimental, too: the postcards from Anzu, the movie ticket to a bad horror flick you snooze through on your first and only date with Mai, a note from your second-grade teacher strongly recommending you get tested for a learning disability that won’t be diagnosed until you almost flunk freshman year of college, Shizuka’s wedding invitation, Honda’s wedding invitation, Otogi’s wedding invitation(who sends out three invites for the same wedding? These three, apparently), your father’s obituary. All of the ephemera of your life stays safe in the bottom drawer of your desk.

Until it doesn’t.

You’re not sure what sets you off. Your day has been long and excruciatingly shitty. Some old gambling buddies of your father’s mistake you for him. They don’t know he’s dead. One of them starts to cry when you explain his liver gave out.

You pat him on his back and leave the bus stop before the bus comes. You catch your reflection in a Burger World window and swear you don’t see the resemblance. You have a degree. You pay your bills. You haven’t married, and you haven’t destroyed the lives of children you don’t have. You even cut your hair, for fuck’s sake.

You run home. Actually, you run three miles around the apartment building and pass a group of kids who don’t even look up from whatever game they’re playing as you whiz by three separate times. You run up twelve flights of stairs, and then you’re home. You’ve still got so much energy you’re jittering. You should have run three miles more.

You take it out on your dishes, scrubbing off last night’s hardened pizza sauce until the plate slips from your hand and shatters on the floor. You take it out on your floor, wiping up the ceramic pieces that used to make up one-third of the total plates you own. You clean until you think you’ve cut yourself on a shard, but it’s just a phantom pain. There’s no blood, no broken skin you can make out under the sink light.

Whatever. You have house shoes, and you haven’t adopted a dog like you’ve been thinking about for eight months. You sit on the couch and turn on the tv. Seto Kaiba is giving a press conference.

Immediately, you regret everything.

Something something stock prices something something groundbreaking innovation that will significantly reduce mining for rare earth minerals. You turn off the tv. You sit on your couch. You do not scream.

You look at the door to your balcony and see handprints on the glass and laundry you need to put away. You funnel the energy you used to not scream into more cleaning.

You turn the tv back on.

Kaiba fields questions from reporters. He’s only a little more cordial to them than he’s ever been to you.

Something something blatant ass-kissing something something when do you expect a rollout of the blah blah?

You notice a hole in your running shorts.

Kaiba opens his mouth to respond, and you hear a voice that is not Kaiba’s speak over him. This won’t end well.

“Kaiba Corps was once the world’s most respected defense contractor. Its technology used to end civil wars and brought stability to regions by deposing tyrannical regimes. How do you justify defiling your father’s legacy by investing in card games?”

Neat. You’ve seen Kaiba do a lot of weird shit, but you’ve never seen him murder someone on live television before.

“Easily,” Kaiba says. “My father’s company made bombs that killed people. Mine does not, and it never will. If that bothers you, feel free to discover some remnant of decency you currently don’t possess and fuck off.”

You clap with a pair of boxers in your hands. Probably, you should have been able to bond over the fact you both have shitty dads, but you both should have been able to bond over the same fucking card game you like to play and didn’t, so...not likely.

You don’t admire Kaiba over much because he’s such a fucking asshole, and he’s so fucking rich he should be eaten, and his wealth redistributed yesterday.

But you do admire that his father’s old gambling friends don’t walk up to him in the street and ask why they haven’t seen him in forever. No one drinks like you do, Jounouchi. No one has fun like you.

You turn off the tv. You go to the bathroom. You look in the mirror.

You think back to when you last saw your old man which is well before he died. He would slick back his hair with just his hands and whatever they were filthy with, booze or dirt or sweat and if you do the same--

You see how someone might think you’re him, if you do the same.

You try every fucking day of your life not to do the same.

You open the drawer. Anzu sends her love from New York. Your sister is getting married in three months. Mai texted you last night in a fit of despair that her favorite lip balm is being discontinued. You remember the taste of it, the one kiss you had.

Your father was not sentimental. He did not keep your report cards or stick your crayon drawings on the fridge. You used to tell him it was your birthday five or six times a year, and he would told you happy birthday every time because he drank too much to remember you were born in January and it was fucking August.

Are you as sentimental as you claim?

You pull the drawer out of your desk and dump it all into the recycling. Some of it should go to the garbage, maybe, but fuck it. You’re not sorting any of it.

Anzu will still miss you overseas. Honda will still want you to be his best man. Yugi will still make up games with you even though you’re grown men and nobody will play them but the two of you.

On second thought, you fish out your sister’s wedding invitation. That’s probably something you should hang onto for another three months.

On third thought--

Your cards.

If you pull out Red-Eyes, you’ll see the wear on the corner where you flipped it one too many times. Another thing that hurts the value.

Fuck Pegasus.

You pick up the holster and run down twelve flights of stairs and then you run another three miles around the building. The kids don’t notice you. You cough very loudly.

“You guys like Duel Monsters?”

They stare at you. They’re obviously playing Duel Monsters.

“Here. You kids want some free cards?”

You should have lead with that. The kids make the universal hand signs for gimme.

“These are collectibles,” you kind of lie.

“He means they’re old,” one of the kids infers.

“Collectibles,” you insist. “There’s a Red-Eyes Black Dragon in there.”

“Man, I have already three of those,” another kid complains.

“Just take the cards.” You hoof it out of there before those kids cannibalize your deck and throw away whatever they don’t want.

At least you’re not the one doing the throwing away.

[clowntycoon]

Marik having a crush on Seto bc who wouldnt and Seto really respecting him after the Yami Marik shenanigans bc hes like owo hes making his own destiny and standing on his own despite living so long with his "other half" which is something that really bugs him about Atem and Yugi. Plus marik is much more open/expressive than hes used to seeing which is odd but appealing and to the intense yet also super repressed kaiba whos attention is drawn by two things: being good at duel monsters and being aggressively sarcastic hes suddenly on the radar. They both have similar egos and childhoods where they not only lacked positive parental figures but in fact faced abuse at the hands of those who were supposed to protect and guide them + feeling like they had to protect their siblings from those sources + an unattainable and ridiculous family standard promoting coldness/power/rigidness and shitting on individuality/empathy/feelings to maintain a certain image or duty + being raised to think youre better than the rest of society and bc of that must be seperated and alone at the top (kaiba corp tower) or bottom (underground tomb) of the societal heirarchy so to speak. also they both give off bad bihh, leather pants energy and i love that for them. Plus they seem like theyd be able to handle each other more and its a more slow burn relationship bc i think itd take forever for either to realize and much less act on their feelings and so theyd have to grow a lot before they could get close to each other but itd be more at their pace than trying to fit into the dynamic of yugi & co. So itd be a nice quiet and more comfortable escape from their other friends and i feel like once they all start getting along more as a group these two would naturally kind of be drawn to each other or fall together in their own corner of the booth, so to speak. And eventually theyd find out more about each other and i can see them having a very deep and pure connection where they find it easy to let their guard down without the pressure of expectations from outside sources or anything. Yugi & co.wouldnt really think much of it; yugi would probably be the only one to really engage with the two of them (they all seem like they'd bring out and really vibe with the calmness in them) where anzu is just completely over both seto and marik and their constant drama and jonouchi/honda/ryuji think its weird but oddly fitting. Rishid and Atem would 100% ship it, albeit from the background bc both marik and seto would flip if anyone drew attention to them. Ishizu would be super wary and warn marik against getting close to seto bc hes been lowkey highkey an asshole in the past and seems to her to go against everything she believes in/strives to be but shed be shocked at how different seto seems around marik and vice versa, how they both seem so at peace with each other despite being so... not at all peaceful the other 90% of the time and as confusing as it is shed support anything that can bring marik comfort like that.

In short i think they bring out parts of each other that they both have but repress and that itd be healing for them to interact more intimately, and also theyre both super pretty and i love them (:

[shinayashipper]

Puzzleshipping MadoMagi:Rebellion-inspired AU... with Yugi as Homura & Atem as Madoka.

Warning: Long post ahead. I'm sleep-deprived and this keeps on bouncing around in my head so here it is. Also lots of cheesy things, I guess.

Hmmm with Yugi turning into a Demon, rewriting the Universe, just to have Atem back again oh yes I love Dark-Yugi vibes.

Kaiba will have Kyoko's role, I guess. I really like Homura-Kyoko dynamic, so I want that for Rivalboys too.

Also Anzu as Mami, because I keep daydreaming about Anzu vs Yugi duel and I just love BAMF Anzu.

This AU is just MadoMagi-inspired so they're not Magical Girls. I'm just thinking Zorc is back again, but he's in a weak state and needed to gain Live Energy or something, so maybe like Kyubey, he'd trick people with 'wish-granting' contract and end up eating their souls (after they fall into despair).

Yugi & the gang noticed this and tried to stop him and such and such, but then Zorc is all like "I know what you truly wished for," implying on Yugi's wish to see Atem again and for Atem to live a normal, happy life as an ordinary boy.

It was then that Zorc somehow putting Yugi & everyone in this 'Fake Realm' that's based on Yugi's wish, where everything's all fun and happy and Perfect by giving some kind of... magic? Power? To Yugi's soul so it would... like, create this Perfect World. So I think this whole 'fake realm' will be just like entering the canon's Soul Room, and in this case it's Yugi's Soul Room that manifested into this so-called 'Perfect World'.

Atem descended again to the Living World to save his friends but he, too, somehow trapped inside this 'Fake Realm' and live as if nothing's bad happening. Everyone's real memories were altered and it's just like they've been living this life since the beginning, and that Atem is just there, as equally normal as them.

They continued living this happy, fake reality, until Yugi feels something's Off. He just feels it's Wrong, somehow and so decides to investigate, along with Kaiba, the only person he could actually share this concern to. Everyone else would just get worried. (Also because of my personal Rivalboys priorities)

To sum it up, Yugi Remembers Everything, realizing that this is a fake reality, but falls into despair as he's fighting off Zorc. And that's when Everyone Comes to the Resque. There's a battle scene happening... and Atem remembers his true purpose in here: to save his friends. So, Atem, unleashing his Godly powers just managed to Save Everything again, like he always does.

Everything turned back to normal, they all returned to the real world, Zorc's defeated, and it's time to say Goodbye to Atem again.

But Yugi, with the despair and darkness still clinging to him, decided he want to be Selfish for a bit.

So, with the little magic? Power?-something left within his soul, Yugi just... simply put, ripped Atem apart from his Godhood and trapped him and everyone else once again in the 'Fake Realm' but now he's the one in control for it, not Zorc.

Atem and everyone's memories got altered once again. Atem finally 'lives' with them as a normal, happy, human boy. Yugi even creates Atem's own 'family' with Aknamkanon, his mother, and all of his sacred guardians. It's all everyone's wanted. It's all a perfect, happy world with no looming darkness.

Everyone else lives a happy, content life... but Yugi traded it all for his own suffering and despair...

"Do you love it here, Atem? Are you satisfied with the life you have now?"

"...I do love it here, Aibou. Why do you keep asking me that?"

"...If somehow... you realized that... the world you live on is fake and that your whole life is a lie... what would you do?"

"I... I don't know. But, playing around with people's life... I think it's a really cruel thing to do."

".......I see..."

Then one day, I might be your enemy too... But it's okay, I don't care. You can hate me all you want, I will keep on wishing for the world where you could be happy.

-

Heh omg sorry I'm sleep-deprived and this is my constant thoughts.

[finding-fallen-stars]

YGO Questionnaire Part 2 Electric Boogaloo

So, my gf/bf @howaboutalittlehelpneos tagged me to do this again a... good long while ago, and I had wanted to wait until I'd finished my GX rewatch before trying this again. But ouch oof I accidentally also got through all of 5Ds again before getting to this lol

But the 5Ds rewatch definitely reshaped a lot of my thoughts, so... cracks knuckles. This won't be spoiler free, fair warning~

Favorite Series: ugh the formatting killed my original essay on this but okay GX and 5Ds are pretty tied in my book, now-- I love them equally, but in different ways! GX fulfills my love for subversive coming-of-age stories with a heartwarming, humorous, and also soulcrushing touch, and I love how each season brings a new story and new characters-- it's like reading installments of a novel series, and I think the formatting works wonders for it as a whole. It has some absolutely phenomenal character writing, too-- even the characters I dislike are ones I can appreciate for what they introduce to the story! And honestly, not enough people give the first two seasons of GX the credit it deserves: they're half the charm, really. How are you going to feel the full impact of the heartbreaking content in seasons 3 and 4 if you aren't properly attached to the characters?

But on 5Ds's side of things... it fulfills my love for stories with time loops, found family, human nature, and of course, love and death and how they intertwine. I love how the leading characters are just a bunch of broken kids from broken circumstances who all find a home with each other, and of course, how it highlights class disparity and how fucked up the prison/"justice" systems are. Yea, sure, maybe it underwent executive meddling and all, but I genuinely love it for what it is and I wish more people appreciated it... my only problem with 5Ds is the untwist with Z-ONE and then the ending s m h I adore it overall and I could go off for a long while on it. Overall, these are my two instinctive recommendations for anyone getting into Yugioh!

(look at these boys they're so important) Favorite Protagonist: Oh, believe me, absolutely nothing has changed here-- Yusei Fudo is and always will be my favorite protagonist, and my rewatch only solidified that.

I just... love him so much? He's seen so much hell in his life and carries so much guilt on his shoulders, but he still has room in his heart to believe in others and to believe that anyone can defy fate and find hope even at rock bottom. I love that he's initially introduced as this quiet, brooding figure when he really just turns out to be a huge softie who wears his heart on his sleeve half the time and wants to bring about change for Satellite and its people. Plus I just really love that his greatest flaw is something that would ordinarily be a positive trait-- he's Overly self-sacrificial, to the point where he's basically setting himself on fire to keep others warm, and that's not really framed as something Heroic

Just... he makes me so happy. I have two Yusei charms that I ordinarily keep on my keys (one was a gift from Zenzen) and they're a constant source of serotonin for me. He's Peak comfort character for me. Best protag in my book Favorite Rival: Same deal here-- still Manjoume!

look at him he's so important

While he spends a lot of the anime getting the good old damsel in distress treatment (getting suckered into a cult, getting knocked into a coma, becoming a zombie, getting fucking Killed, etc), I still think his character arc is really well-written overall and I only appreciated it even more when I watched GX again. I love the fact that he's got a soft heart he buries beneath the edgy facade, and that he's simultaneously really sharp and also kind of dense lol. He's just a fun character and watching how he evolves from episode one to episode one hundred eighty is such a satisfying journey.

Plus, props to him for being such a versatile duelist-- 50 wins in a row is HARD as is, let alone with a deck full of cards he just found laying around in the Arctic. Three ace monsters, three different archetypes... he's a really good duelist and I'm proud of him for it

Oh, but honestly, I don't really dislike any of the rivals-- I'm neutral towards Revolver and Reiji, but the remaining four (Kaiba, Manjoume, Jack, and Shark) compel me. yes I accidentally wound up liking Jack Atlas shhh Favorite BFF: Honestly, I really like most of the characters who fit this archetype-- Joey, Crow, Gongenzaka, Soulburner... I still lean a little bit more towards Joey, but I really appreciate all four of them. I'm gonna say Joey again, just because I find his evolution as a character the most compelling, but I appreciate the other three a lot. Soulburner has the best design though Favorite GFF: Oh absolutely still Aki, but I honestly... really love most female Yugioh characters? I'm assuming this is lead girls only, but like. I'm dumb and gay and I love Girls so this is naturally the most difficult one for me to answer lol

Aki just resonates with me the most because she's the prime example of how trauma doesn't always manifest in palatable ways-- when we first meet her, she's angry and lashes out at anyone and anything just because she wants the world to suffer in the same ways she's suffered, and then... we get to watch her grow from that, once she's free from Divine and able to heal the way she needs to heal. I know the second half of 5Ds didn't give her character the attention it deserved, but I'm still proud of her for winding up on the path she did-- seeing her channel her power and energy into wanting to heal and help others was just so good and was one of the few things I really Loved about the 5Ds ending.

oh, but like. Asuka Tenjoin and Aoi Zaizen are very close seconds for me!!! Aki just has a vice grip on my heart Favorite Villain: Okay, it's still technically Vector-- I think he's the most entertaining, well-written, and effective villain out of all of the ones we've seen so far, but... I also want to add Takuma Saiou and then all of Yliaster as honorable mentions?

As someone fond of tarot myself, I was naturally pretty intrigued by Saiou the first time I watched GX, but my attachment to him only grew the second time around where I actually got the chance to understand his character better. Plus, like... the visuals with him are fucking astounding and he's always so interesting to watch.

As for Yliaster, I just... really love how the big bad of 5Ds turned out to just essentially be a broken man desperate to save anyone and anything and three robotic reconstructions of the friends he'd lost. I still think the untwist with Z-ONE was stupid and I much prefer the idea of him and Yusei being the same person, but I'm still compelled by the other three-- well. Paradox less so, because we don't get a lot of Paradox lore, but. Aporia and Antinomy for sure.

ugh Yugioh has some damn good villains

Favorite Card: now that I actually play the TCG game...

Stardust is always going to be my favorite of all cards because it checks every box for me (my favorite YGO character's ace monster, space theme, what more could I want), but Aromaseraphy Rosemary has really become one of my aces in my best TCG deck! I'm still mastering irl plays, but I'm happy with my progress and I love my plant gang...

Favorite Episode: alright, here's where there's actually been a Lot of change, so...

Season 0: Episode 16: "Turnabout by a Hair's Breadth - The White-Robed Crisis" -- The more I think about this one, the more I love it; there's a... lot of corruption in the medical industry, and I've seen a lot of it firsthand, so just. Seeing a corrupt doctor get what he deserved at the end was cathartic, in a way? Plus, a Jounouchi-centric episode is always a good time.

Duel Monsters: Episodes 96-97: "Darkness vs. Darkness/One Turn Kill" -- this hasn't changed, I still love seeing Marik and Bakura bitch at each other for two whole episodes LMAO

GX: Episode 152: "Activate Super-Fusion! Rainbow Neos" -- This one hasn't changed and it likely never will-- I take so much pride in seeing Judai push forward, past the fear and guilt he's carrying, all to save Johan... it's cathartic and I never get sick of watching it.

5Ds: sweats. still all of Crash Town, but also episodes 137-147-- the Ark Cradle is one of my favorite parts of 5Ds and one of my favorite YGO arcs period, and even though each duel is a fucking gut punch, I love the emotional intensity and weight in each episode... It hurts but in a mostly good way

Zexal: Episode 143: "The Aloof Duelist 'Nasch': The Destined Final Duel" -- this one hasn't changed! Still hurts, still love it, I still weep over Ryouga Shark Kamishiro on a daily basis

Arc-V: Episodes 81-82: "Our Respective Battlefields/The Ultimate Falcon VS The Black-Feathered Thunder" -- Okay, honestly, this was hard because I... genuinely. really don't like Arc-V very much at all lol (it's just not my cup of tea, but more power to those who do like it!), but I thought this duel was a lot of fun! Shun is my absolute favorite from Arc-V and I really like the friendship he struck up with Crow a lot, so here we are

VRAINS (so far): Episode 25-26: "Virus Deck Operation/Three Draws Leading to Hope" -- honestly I am so biased because I just really love Blue Angel and I loved seeing her get a well-deserved victory like this lol. I'm not done with VRAINS, so this is probably gonna change, but anytime Blue Angel or Soulburner are on screen, I'm happy

Favorite Decks to Use: Aromages will always have my heart, but I adore Cyber Angels too! I'm building my Trickstar deck, my Synchron/Stardust deck (just waiting on Dawn of Majesty...), and my Magician Girls deck, too! Fusion, Ritual, Synchro, XYZ, Pendulum, or Link?: Synchros my beloved... but also Ritual Years in fandom: I've been here for just a little over one year now! and I wuv it... I'm never looking back Who am I tagging: no one I'm too shy

[pugpugpusheen]

Headcanons I’ve bounced off of @idreamofdragons because she’s great and indulges me. Most are Seto/Joey and some are Tristan/Ryou.

Kaiba loves ramen, but somehow sucks at making them (he either doesn't wait long enough for them to cook or he waits too long and they're all mushy) so mokuba or joey makes it for him and really it's a double win because he gets his fav food AND somebody he loves made it just for him.

When Joey cooks Seto becomes joey's taste tester and he takes that role very seriously. When he tastes something really good he becomes quiet and savors the taste, then kisses joey.

joey is an energy drink person and seto is a coffee drinker. joey bought seto a coffee flavored energy drink Once (1 time) and seto was so disgusted by it he ridiculed joey about it All Day. Joey did not kiss him that day, but at night when Seto's laying in bed and realizes this he starts to feel bad and text's Joey "thank you".

(about that one post with the kitten sleeping in the shoe)  seto and joey have a kitten and one morning while seto's getting ready to leave he finds the kitten sleeping propped up in his shoe. he takes like twenty pictures of it and is quietly gushing over his perfect little creature. When joey wakes up he finds that his phone is flooded with pics of the kitten in the shoe. their kitten is so damn spoiled. seto gets it the best researched cat food, no tap water for this kitten seto uses filtered water (joey convinced him to use a breta filter water pitcher after he learned seto was always buying water), and the cat bed? blue eyes white dragon castle kitty bed baby.

seto is not a morning person. why else would he drink coffee at the tender age of 17 (or 16. however old he is. either way teens should not be drinking coffee or energy drinks). when he first tried to set his alarm clock to the time that he should get up mokuba caught him just staring off into space in his bed because he was just so tired. Mokuba got into his cellphone and set it to like an hour or two earlier so Seto can space out as long as he needed and gather the strength to get up for the day. when joey spends the night and sees Seto spacing out in the morning he thinks it's the most adorable "omg seto is human" thing ever and takes a picture.

joey dressed up as santa claus and gave mokuba that gift that he wanted (he saved all his money for it) and then gave seto a small gift and then whispered to meet him under the mistletoe after mokuba's asleep ^_~ with a little squeeze to seto's nonexistant booty. seto jumps at this and starts to blush and fumbles with an excuse when mokuba asks him what's wrong

Kaiba probably has a maid/maids. he's rich enough to have security team so he probably has maids to deal with all the little stuff around the house that he and mokuba don't have time for. Joey doesn't get used to this fact. he finds it odd to have people cleaning up after them. After being together for some time one time Joey dressed up as a maid, hid in Kaiba's office, and popped out asking, "Mr. Kaiba" if he could be of any service to him. He had never seen Kaiba turn so red from blushing before and teased him about it, but kaiba shut him up with a kiss while slamming his door shut.

seto and joey sometimes sleep big spoon/little spoon. they switch between who is big spoon and who is little spoon, but most times if seto's had a really bad day he's the little spoon. But to wake-up in the same position is a miracle because joey is a mover in his sleep. seto has been slapped and kicked by him before.

Tristan and ryou watch a mixture of horror, action, and rom-com movies. They get all their snacks and blankets together and are just super cozy. Tristan has nightmares after the horror movies and clings to ryou in his sleep. Ryou thinks it's adorable and hugs him back so when they wake up they're limbs are tangled with each other.

How they celebrate New Year’s:  seto/joey: celebrate with fireworks and when joey's away from mokuba seto kisses him.  tristan/ryou: ryou baked a bunch of pastries and tristan learned how to make some cocktails for them to celebrate while watching fireworks on the tv

Also New Year’s:  The gang, seto, and mokuba gathered for fireworks. Tristan and joey being dumb with fireworks and mokuba wants to join them so bad, but seto said no. When seto's away joey gives mokuba some roman candles to shoot off and he has a blast. When seto comes back and sees mokuba with the roman candles he wants to THROTTLE joey because who else would go against his word, but he just sees how excited mokuba is and settles with a frown towards joey.  Yami Yugi LOVES fireworks. He has mastered holding two roman candles in each hand and likes the really explosive fireworks. He gets all the debris, puts it in a pile, and lights it on fire. Seto has never seen this side of yami and is so confused by it.

Hell have no fury like joey stopping seto from drinking his fifth traveler sized mug of coffee.

seto will make damn sure everything is done on his schedule/to do list if it's the last thing. It haunts him until he gets out of bed and does the thing he missed if he doesn't get stuff done.

 seto has all the figurines and novelty items of blue eyes white dragon in their own glass cases and joey has to hear seto talk all about it, but you know what? joey love hearing seto talk so passionately about stuff he loves. he also likes watching seto pick out which coat he's going to wear for the day. seto tries on at least 5 before settling for one he likes.

  seto had a whole walk-in closet dedicated to his coats. When they were in the beginning stages of their dating and seto brought joey over for the first time he showed joey the really big room with all of his interests and seto rambled on forever about them. Joey couldn't believe it and was just as excited as seto. Both of their excitements fed off of each other and they were like dorks in a game store. Also joey liking his stuff gave seto an ego boost.

  Seto and joey both think each other is the hardest person to gift for birthdays, valentine's, and christmas because, Seto's reason: wants it to be so perfect he overthinks Joey: what do you get the guy that can just do whatever he wants Mokuba is utilized by both. Joey asks him questions and Mokuba makes offhanded suggestions to seto. Seto and joey get Mokuba gifts as well.

 idreamofdragon’s addition to the above:  Seto is SO SAPPY. And Joey's touched everytime even tho he doesn't need big extravagant and expensive showings of love. >< He's also always like Joey doesn't have to get him anything but like...... he feels he does and is wrecked by itttt.

 Joey/Yugi:  Joey likes to carry yugi on his shoulders. It doesn't always come up, but when it does he is always excited. In fact joey never misses a chance to tell yugi he's his perfect fun-sized boyfriend

  YUGI'S SCHOOL CLOTHES IN THE MANGA LOOK TOO BIG ON HIM. He has trouble shopping for clothes and knows how to make his own. That's why he ends up with his own fashion sense of belts and chokers because only really fashionie people are brave enough to wear that.

Joey’s birthday:  First birthday together: seto has a limo pick joey up and take him to wherever seto is meeting him for breakfast. It's awkward in the beginning and even more so when seto tells him he has to get back to the office, but joey can use the limo for whatever he likes and then gives him a credit card and says to buy himself whatever he likes. Joey voices that he can't just buy him things and expect it to be okay and that next time he expects to spend some actual quality time with his supposed boyfriend. Seto's taken aback by this, but calmly takes his cellphone out and tells his secretary to cancel all his meetings, delegates other things, then hangs up and tells joey he better be worth clearing a whole day for. Joey fumes and is like, "OF COURSE I'M WORTH IT. I'D DO THE SAME FOR YOU JERK". Moved in together: Mokuba makes breakfast for joey and it always brings a tear to his eye. Where joey sits at the table there's a little giftbox from Seto and it's a new pin to add to his denim jacket. Seto comes out of his room and asks joey what're they doing for the day. For lunch and dinner Seto calls ahead and has them clear out the restaraunt so it's just them three (for lunch) and two (for dinner).

tristan knows nothing about hair. hell he barely knows what to do with his and lucked out on finding a good style for it. so when ryou is in a fun mood and asks him to fix his hair he freaks, but figures brushing and putting it in a ponytail will be good enough. so they're sitting on his bed and tristan's brushing ryou's big mound of hair and he notices how soft his hair is and before he knows it ryou's giggling at him and asking if he's as soft as a bunny. tristan jumps and turns red which makes ryou laugh and the sound of ryou laughing makes tristan's heart pitterpatter. finally he has ryou's hair up and ryou turns around and kisses him on the cheek. tristan asks if he's going to look at it and ryou's like, "nope. i already know it looks good because it was done by you." and really tristan is goop now because his boyfriend is so cute.

every saturday joey has the gang over at seto's place to play guitar hero. why seto's place? because he owns the game and console. seto tries to do some work in a near-by room, but keeps hearing how god awful some of their playing is and comes out, tells them, "move dweebs. let me show you how to really play" and just ROCKS IT. He is very into it and when the song's done everybody claps. the gang lives for seto playing his 1 round every saturday. they try to get him to stay longer, but he tells them that he doesn't want to associate with dorks. joey fights back with, "who's the dork that owns the system?!" seto ignores him.

when ryou is in a playful mood he tries to see how many times he can make tristan flustered and turn red. for the most part though when they're around the gang they aren't showy or lovey-dovey about their relationship. they may hold hands or brush their fingers against the other's arm, but they're not really out for some reason, which is why it's a big surprise when they're all departing and tristan gives ryou a quick kiss before ryou leaves for his apartment and the rest of the gang is just like, "what was that?!" tristan turns red. the gang already knew tristan and ryou were dating. they spotted the two holding hands when they thought nobody was looking or the way tristan always fretted over ryou, but knew they didn't want to bring attention to themselves so for tristan to kiss ryou in front of them is an opportunity they're not going to miss to playfully tease him and also be like, "finally!"

Jin: Tristan's so adorable when it comes to relationships. He doesn't realize how obvious he is. But he's h u g e romantic.

[mistressarafax]

KaiJou Week - Day 4: Sundae

I went off and did my own thing on this one...

---

As Joey walked into the dining area, he was surprised to find Seto there, sitting at the head of the table and typing away on his laptop. Not that Seto couldn't be sitting in his own dining area. Joey was simply surprised because Seto had been pouring all his time and energy into a big project at work for the last month or so, and Joey hadn't seen him at home during daylight hours for just as long.

"What are ya doin' home so early?" he asked.

"Nothing."

It was obviously not the truth, and Joey pursed his lips in mild irritation. "You're here for a reason."

"Do I need a reason to be in my own house?" Seto asked, finally looking up from his computer and fixing Joey with an unimpressed stare.

"Well...no. But you've been busy and don't usually get here 'til way later. It's just surprisin' is all. Ya get your project done or somethin'?"

Seto closed his computer and sighed. "More or less. There's a little finalizing that has to be done, but I thought perhaps we could get dinner tonight."

"Ya couldn't have just said that when I first asked what ya were doin' here?"

A smirk graced Seto's lips, his eyes sparkling with mischief. "Where would the fun be if I made it that easy?"

Joey rolled his eyes. Apparently, Seto was in a mood. Not that he especially minded. A playful, good-natured Seto often carried over into the bedroom, and he wouldn't complain at the prospect of getting laid even if Seto was being difficult on purpose. Especially after a month where Seto's work had been keeping their sex life almost nonexistent.

"Ya got somewhere in mind?" Joey asked.

Seto nodded. "I set out an outfit for you."

Joey furrowed his eyebrows. This whole thing sounded extremely planned out if Seto had picked out an outfit for him. Which only made him wonder if he was forgetting something. An important date or an anniversary of some sort. He was wracking his brain, trying to go through all the possibilities.

Seto's deep, amused chuckle brought him out of his thoughts. "Go get dressed. You haven't forgotten anything."

Joey shook his head in disbelief, heading to their shared bedroom in order to change. When he got there, he pulled his t-shirt over his head, sliding down his pants before locating what Seto had pulled out for him. Surprisingly, it wasn't anything too crazy. A pair of khaki shorts and a pastel green polo. It was a rather casual selection for Seto, and it only made Joey more curious about where they were going.

He got dressed quickly and rejoined Seto in the dining room. The brunet had packed away his computer, leaning against the dining room table while he looked through his phone. Joey realized he was wearing a casual outfit too. Seto casual, at least. Blue slacks, white button-down, and a complementary tie. Less dressed up than what Seto normally wore into work on a daily basis.

Joey didn't comment on it and followed Seto to the car. Even fifteen minutes into their journey, Joey still didn't know exactly where they were headed, though he had a few guesses based on the general area. Could have been Thai or Korean. Also, one of Seto's favorite French restaurants was around, though they were far too underdressed for it to be where they were headed.

It wasn't until Seto pulled into the parking lot that Joey figured it out. A steak and seafood restaurant. They hadn't been there more than three times in the past, but Joey recalled that it wasn't bad. Not that he ever really complained about food. Seto was the one who was picky, and he hadn't had any complaints either.

A waiter seated them on the balcony, giving them a fantastic view of Domino City as they looked through the menu. Seto ordered them a bottle of chardonnay to share, and Joey sipped at his while he made his dinner choices. Fried calamari as an appetizer. Steak and shrimp for dinner. 

Orders placed, Joey reached across the table and took Seto's hand. "There really no special reason we're here?"

Seto shook his head. "Not particularly. I wanted to spend time with you since I've been busy lately."

Joey smiled softly, pleased. Seto openly expressing his feelings always hits this pleasant note in his heart. "It is nice to see ya outside of bed for once," he teased. "I almost forgot what you liked like."

Seto rolled his eyes. "As if you could forget."

A grin formed on his face. "You're right. I like your face too much to forget it."

"Only my face?" Seto asked with an eyebrow quirked.

Joey could read that expression and all the insinuation behind it. He was definitely getting laid tonight. A flush crept up his neck. "Among other things," he admitted, quietly enough that only Kaiba would hear.

Kaiba smirked. "Good."

"You're in a good mood today," Joey noted. "It's kinda weird, ya know? You're usually grumpy at the end of a project."

Kaiba shook his head, taking a sip of wine as the calamari arrived.

Joey took a bite, marveling at how delicious the food was. "God, this is good."

"Mmm," Kaiba agreed.

"So you're sure nothin' good happened?"

"Trust me, Joseph. I'm just pleased to spend time with you."

"Distance makin' your heart grow fonder?" Joey asked.

"Something like that," Kaiba said neutrally.

Joey just shook his head and turned his attention back to eating the pre-dinner appetizer. Their dishes arrived not long after that, and Joey wondered why they hadn't come to this restaurant more frequently. It was easily one of the best places he'd been with Seto.

"I was going to get you dessert, as well," Seto said as he paid the bill. "There's an ice cream shop right across the street."

Part of Joey couldn't escape the looming feeling of worry that came with Seto being so considerate. Extreme thoughtfulness usually was a precursor to some kind of announcement that Seto was going be doing something Joey wouldn't like in the near future. Whether it was a banquet or dinner party or work trip, Seto often tried to soften the blow with a nice dinner. This didn't feel the same as those. Seto was in an upbeat, almost playful mood, and it didn't fit with his usual approach to delivering bad news.

They stood up, walking across the street hand in hand. Walking into the ice cream parlor, Joey marveled at all the flavor choices. Seto ordered immediately, opting for a vanilla cone. Joey decided quickly after that that he wanted a strawberry shortcake sundae.

He eagerly awaited his frozen confection, nearly bouncing beside Seto. "Calm down," Seto reprimanded gently.

"I'm just excited. I love strawberries, and strawberry shortcake sundaes are delicious."

"Do you love them than me?"

"Maybe," Joey teased. "Not sure which I couldn't live without. You or strawberries? It's a tough call."

"We can see how much you enjoy taking a strawberry up the ass then and find out."

Joey looked up at him. His delivery had been perfectly serious. Like he sincerely meant it and would give it a try when they got home. Joey shuddered at the thought. "Oh, fuck no. No way in hell are ya stickin' a strawberry up my ass."

Seto smirked, amused, and Joey wondered if he'd been replaced by an alien. He was being weird. Like the kind of weird Kaiba normally wasn't. "Seriously, what's up with you today? Are ya on drugs?"

"No. To be perfectly honest, Mokuba lectured me earlier about how much you missed me and how I shouldn't let work dictate my life so much. I'm just..trying to take his advice to heart."

"I did miss ya," Joey said. "I like spendin' time with ya. When ya ain't threatenin' to shove fruit in my orifices, at least."

"Noted," Seto said.

Joey finished up his sundae, sighing out in satisfaction. Seto finished his cone neatly seconds later, and Joey leaned close to him, taking his hand. "Though there's something else ya got that I wouldn't mind havin' in an orifice or two."

Kaiba gave him a sideways glance, an eyebrow raised suggestively. "Then I suppose we better get home then," he mused.

"Oh yeah," Joey agreed.

Hand in hand, they hurried back to Kaiba's car. A long, sweaty night awaited them, and Joey was eager to get started. It had been too long since the last time, and he was not passing up the offer Kaiba had been dangling in front of him all night. No way in hell.

[ygonerdherd]

Yugiohmens

Since I’m buzzing with Good Omens AU puzzleshipping ideas (source), I figured I’d share a few with y’all. (Note: This is based on the show. I haven’t finished the book yet.)

Meet our cast:

Atem and Yugi: Atem’s the angel and Yugi’s the demon do not @ me

Atem’s black and white sense of morality and that whole righteous condemnation/punishment thing he had going on in the beginning of the manga? Has Heaven written all over it.

Plus Yugi can’t get his black, skin tight leather pants or chokers in heaven, I can promise you that

.Also being a fallen angel opens the possibility to eons of self-loathing and feeling like you aren’t worthy of love or other good things in your life and we know that’s our boy’s M.O.

Zorc and Yami Bakura: This one’s obvious. Zorc is Lucifer and Yami Bakura is Beelzebub. (TKB wouldn’t have fallen/become Yami Bakura without Zorc’s influence.)

Pegasus: Gabriel. They give off the same big dickhead energy and both have a lot of influence and power. Also, “THANK YOU FOR MY PORNOGRAPHY” but in Pegasus’ voice.

Ryou: Antichrist. This kid can’t even catch a break in a damn AU I’m so sorry.

Blankey (Honda’s dog): I can’t make this fit any sort of logic but the anime left her out and I will not be making the same mistake. She gets to be Dog a.k.a. the Hell Hound.

Isis: Anathema. Her family has been preparing for centuries to combat the Antichrist and stop Armageddon. Her brothers Malik and Rishid are there too. Now you get witch siblings on a mission to stop the end of the world.

The rest of Yugi’s crew: The Four Horsemen. Honda (War), Jou (Famine), Otogi (Pollution), and Anzu (Death). Can’t you just see their otherworldly motorcycle gang like how fucking cool.

The Kaiba brothers: Witch Finders, descendants of Thou-Shalt-Not-Commit-Adultery Pulsiver. Seto is Newt. The idea of him fucking up technology with just a touch is hilarious. P.S. Isis is a lesbian and Mai is her also-a-witch girlfriend. Isis and Seto are just partners in stopping the apocalypse.

Rex and Weevil: Rex is Ligur and Weevil is Hastur. The first one walks around with a chameleon on his head (easily switched out for a dino), and the second re-manifests through a flood of maggots like come on.

Okay now back to the puzzleshipping:

Oh, that wily adversary, the demon Yugi, and Atem, angel of the Eastern Gate

Literally known each other since the beginning of the Earth

They’ve been each other’s constant for 6,000 years, even if they are supposed to be mortal enemies. (Which they’re not, and after a few thousand years they start getting sloppy at even pretending.) 

They share a fondness for the Earth and the humans that none of their fellow angels or demons can understand.

They see each other. They see the person beyond the neat little boxes that they’ve been shoved into labeled ‘angel’ or ‘demon’: all the quirks and human tendencies that have rubbed off on them over millennia, all the things beyond their job descriptions that truly make up who they are. They both see a beautiful soul before them; how could they not fall in love?

But Atem doesn’t actually realize he’s in love until the church bombing during WWII. (And immediately he buries it as deep as he can. It would never work: Heaven and Hell would kill them both. Besides, there was no way Yugi felt the same way about him.)

Fun fact Yugi been pining for at least a millennium haha.

The whole holy water thing: How upset Atem is when Yugi first asks for it, how he can’t even bear the thought of Yugi dying, period, let alone killing himself. They get into a big fight and don’t see each other for a long time. Still, the pain is just as fresh decades later when Atem ultimately hands over a thermos of holy water because Yugi won’t stop until he gets some, and just attempting to steal it could get him killed. Atem has never hated being thanked until this moment. He can’t take it.

Y: I’ll give you a lift. Anywhere you want to go. A: … You go too fast for me, Yugi.

Several more decades later the two of them getting drunk and bickering about how to stop the end of the world.

Yugi convincing Atem to go along with his cancel-each-other-out Antichrist plan.

Y: We’d be godfathers! Sort of. A: Godfathers… Well, I”ll be damned! Y: ‘s not so bad, once you get used to it. A: Y: *winks*

The two of them watching over and influencing young Warlock throughout his childhood, both of them puzzled ha and slightly flustered because why do people keep assuming the nanny and the gardener are a couple?! That isn’t part of the act??

At the not-Antichrist’s 11th birthday party, Atem with a drawn-on mustache performing bad magic tricks while the secondhand embarrassment rolls off of Yugi in waves. When they leave the party and Atem discovers the poor smothered bird, Yugi gently takes it and miracles it back to life. (It is Crowley who does it in the book, not Aziraphale. I demand to have this tender puzzle moment.)

Yugi asking Atem to run away with him across the universe, on more than one occasion.

Yugi running into a burning building to save Atem like come on that is textbook puzzleshipping.

Atem being discorporated but leaving Heaven to get back to Yugi stop Armageddon.

Atem’s soul finding Yugi in the bar just hours before the end of the world, and this dumbass in love tries to make small talk:

A: Did you go to Alpha Centauri? Y: Nahh, changed my mind. Stuff happened… *voice cracking* I lost my best friend.

(Atem would give anything to reach out and be able to wipe away the tears Yugi is trying to hide behind his glasses.)

Atem needing a body to inhabit but he and Yugi quickly ignoring the desired intimacy and innuendo agreeing he shouldn’t try it with Yugi’s body.

A: I do need a body. Pity I can’t inhabit yours! Y: Oh... A: Angel, demon… Probably explode! Y: Blehh!

And I shall close with some puzzleshipping lagniappe:

Yugi with golden eyes and slit pupils can you imagine. Atem would lose his damn mind every time he caught a glimpse of them let alone when there are no glasses to shield him from Yugi’s absolute love and adoration.

Atem snuggled up on the couch with a blanket, a book, and his little reading glasses perched on his nose. Yugi would melt.

But also warrior angel Atem with his flaming sword, poised for battle as Lucifer/Zorc claws his way to the surface. Don’t try to tell me Yugi wouldn’t find that hot.

Yugi with the Crowley Saunter™

Yugi in his Bentley flooring it through London/Domino blasting Queen songs

Snake!Yugi wrapped around Atem and dozing while Atem reads by the fire. Atem booping snake!Yugi’s snoot (and regular Yugi’s nose).

Yugi, mockingly: “Oh Lord, heal this bike.” Atem: *fuck you look*

And finally, puzzleboys with wings. Yugi’s black wings have a purple sheen in the sunlight. Atem’s white wings have red tips.

Thank you and good night.

[kaibagirl007]

Come Undone 6/6

( the final part of a mini side-fic series to accompany my RP with @dragontamer05 )

“Time travel… save Kisara… prevent this bullshit… ” Kaiba mumbled repeatedly as he made his way down from his bedroom and to the basement laboratory. The sudden epiphany had struck him at the most inconvenient of times, but once his mind had focused on the idea, it was all he could think about. “Time travel… save Kisara… prevent this bullshit…”

Once in the laboratory, he headed straight towards the computer with its multiple monitor screens and readied the graphics tablet. First, he had to design the time machine. Should he opt for a stationary pod or some kind of vehicle? The latter would be more practical in helping to generate the energy and velocity needed to break through the space-time continuum, but would he be able to construct a runway big enough to achieve that? It was quite possible he might need a whole continent worth of unobstructed straight open-space to gather such quantity required, so what about travelling vertically instead?  No, he’d then have gravity to contend with. Unless he could somehow utilise the natural force to his advantage…

The pen suddenly sped across the tablet as Kaiba sketched his idea for a towering elevator shaft all the way into space. He then began to mumble incoherently whilst jotting down an array of formulas alongside it. “Trajectory… maximise momentum… pierce spacetime… dilation… goal.” A manic grin formed on his face as he began working on more detailed calculations that would enable him to put his theory into practice.

’Not what I would have advised…’ Seto commented as he stood with folded arms whilst watching his descendant work. ‘…but at least he is taking this seriously now.’

‘Seriously?’ Atem scoffed and eyed his cousin sceptically as he stood beside him. ‘He’s high, wearing nothing more than a shirt and underpants, and devising a plan that will most likely end in disaster for himself and/or others if it is ever implemented!’

’So you do not think he will succeed?’

’That’s not what I said.’  A frustrated glare was given before elaboration was made. ’If Kaiba were to dedicate all his time to this and doesn’t inadvertently kill himself in the process, there’s every chance he WILL succeed with such a ludicrous idea. My concern is, just WHEN does he plan to save Kisara? If he intends to prevent her kidnapping, then all is well; the fractures won’t form in their relationship and they’d remain together. But, if on the other hand he still feels himself unworthy of her, then he could quite possibly take things to the extreme and prevent her untimely death back in our time.’

‘And that would be disastrous, because…?’

‘Because history from then on would change! Don’t you see, Seto? If Kisara never sacrificed herself, you would go on to wed her instead of your actual wife. Therefore your children would not be born, and their children, and so forth. Your reign as pharaoh would also differ; that is if you even rule at all since there’s also the possibility you might have died without Kisara’s intervention.‘

‘Yet the world would know no different,’ A tired drawl interjected. ’If my death occurred back then, at least Kisara’s soul would remain free… Alterations are not always a bad thing.’

‘You’re prepared to erase the last 3000 years, just like that, and justify it in the name of love?!’

‘Yes.’

 ‘Humph!’ 

‘Do not scorn me for something you have NOT experienced!’ Seto snapped at the judgmental gaze that remained unfazed by his outburst. ‘I am perfectly aware that my decision is selfish. But if it were you in my shoes to make the choice between reliving a mortal life or stuck in eternal solitude, I dare say you too would make the same decision.’

Eternal solitude. Those two words said it all and caused Atem to take a moment to see things from the other’s perspective. Both of them had spent 3000 years, their souls trapped, isolated, and barred from the afterlife. Whilst his own denial was now over, his cousins were still ongoing. Not only that but whereas he was peacefully oblivious to the passing of time with no memories to recall, Seto had retained all of his. As if residing in limbo wasn’t bad enough, what torture must it have been to spend such a long period of time alone and haunted by the past with no end in sight? No wonder he’s so reluctant to return to such a place of despair. 

‘I understand you’ve lost faith in the gods, feel as though they have forsaken you, and are desperately clinging to any scrap of hope you can find to ensure the prophecy is fulfilled and therefore able to move on to the afterlife,’ Atem spoke calmly to the man by his side. ‘But you are only torturing yourself more by watching Kaiba’s every move.’

‘I would rather be here by his side than all by myself with my thoughts.’ Seto replied whilst watching his descendant fill the computer screen with more equations and diagrams. 

‘You won’t be all by yourself. The gods gave me free rein between worlds. I’ll stay with you until this whole thing finally resolves, no matter how long it may take.’

Curiously tilting his head to the side as he turned to face the other, Seto asked, ’Despite your own imprisonment inside the puzzle, you would choose to give up your freedom and instead reside in a barren void just to keep me company?’

‘Of course,’ Atem smiled up at the perplexed gaze. ‘It’s the least I could do as my show of thanks for the things you did to ensure I too could proceed to the afterlife.’

‘And yet you waste that very opportunity.’ A sigh was given and eyes diverted back to his descendant now calculating centrifugal forces. ‘I appreciate what you are trying to do, Atem, but if he does not fulfil the prophecy, you could end up trapped with me for the rest of eternity.’

’That’s a risk I’m willing to take.’

The two pharaohs looked at each other and Seto simpered a little. ‘I have a feeling that you will not take no for an answer; you are just as stubborn as him.’

‘Oh please, NOBODY is as stubborn as Kaiba…’ Atem smirked before extending his hand for the other to take. ‘… except maybe you.’

Ignoring the jest, Seto asked, ’You would really trust our fate in his hands?’

’Not would... I do.’

Seto may have lost his faith in the gods, but his faith in Atem remained firm. If the other believed so strongly in his descendant then he would too. Another simper as the offered hand was taken ahold of and together the two of them slowly de-materialised out of the underground laboratory.

— 

Mokuba sat in the back of the surveillance van that was parked just beyond the boundaries of the Kaiba mansion. Pegasus sat to his left whilst Yugi sat to his right, all three faces illuminated by the huge monitor screen before of them as it broadcast live footage from the body-mounted cameras Roland and his teams were wearing.

“Are you sure you want to go through with this?” Yugi asked the younger male. He knew that what had been decided must have been an extremely difficult decision to make and was there to provide support for his friend during the raid.

With a heavy heart and a close-to-vacant expression, Mokuba gave a slow nod. His brother had had plenty of opportunities to deal with everything that had kicked off more than eight months ago now, yet had only continued to get worse. “I never wanted for it to come to this, and wish there was some other way, but there isn’t…”

Seeing the boy in such a solemn state, Pegasus came to his aid with an explanation for Yugi’s benefit. “Kaiba-boy’s refusal to seek help for himself means that it’s now up to us to make sure he gets it.” 

“Does it have to be right here, right now, like this?-”

“Yes!” Mokuba cut across his friend’s words. He didn’t want this to be harder than it was going to be. “My brother needs help. I’m willing to do whatever it takes.”

“Of course,” Yugi calmly responded to the extremely curt interjection, “What I mean is, he’s not going to take being institutionalised lightly. Maybe a quieter occasion would be less stressful for everyone involved?”

“Ideally yes, but Kaiba-boy’s behaviour has become so reckless as of late, that to wait any longer could be fatal…”

Mokuba momentarily zoned out from the debate going on either side of him. His brother’s death from self-destruction was not something he was just going to sit by and let happen. They’d been through so much with his brother having made many difficult choices for them since they’d been orphaned. It was time to repay the favour.

“… If Kaiba grows to hate him because of this, I will not forgive you Pegasus!” 

“STOP, JUST STOP!” the teen roared in frustration and soon found himself under the gaze of three shocked and startled eyes. “Yugi, I understand your concern as my friend, but I made this choice, no-one has coerced me into it. And Pegasus, do not speak for me on my behalf, I have my own voice, and will divulge what and when I feel is appropriate. I’m not a little kid anymore! Will you both stop treating me like one!”

Silence filled the surveillance van and was only broken by a crackling sound as Roland’s microphone was switched on. “All the teams are in place and ready to proceed on your order.”

“Thank you, Roland.” Mokuba’s heart was now thumping the most forcefully he had ever felt. This is it. I’m doing this for your own good, Seto. Eyes clamped onto the camera feed belonging to his head honcho and he gave the command. “Move out.”

The six teams,- each consisting of three trained security personnel,- began to storm their way into the Kaiba mansion. Earlier drone surveillance had made them aware of a rather sizeable function currently underway, so whilst the two lead teams’ aim was locating the ex-CEO, the rest would secure the premises and deal with the guests.

“Look at the state of the place,” Pegasus commented as the body-cams streamed footage of trashed halls and rooms within the mansion. What had once been proud and immaculate living spaces were now almost unrecognisable with broken and strewn furnishings as far as the eye could see. “Someone call Marie Kondo, quick!”

“She’s an organiser, not a house cleaner.” Yugi pointed out the flaw in the other’s joke.

Speaking of a house cleaner, I wonder what happened to Jun? Mokuba wondered. Had his brother fired their maid or had she quit on her own accord? He knew there was no way she would have allowed such a state of disrepair if she had still been around.

As the teams ventured further into the mansion, they began to encounter intoxicated guests wandering around or passed out in the halls. A couple was even so heavily engrossed with making out that they failed to notice the raid happening at all.

“Fuguta, have your team check the office,” Roland instructed before taking his own team towards the hall where the bedrooms were located. “Notify me at once if you find Mr Kaiba.”

“Will do.”

The two lead teams headed towards their destinations with weapons drawn in case of any hostility they may be faced with once there.

“They’ve got guns?!” Yugi was horrified at having caught a glimpse of the firearms in the streamed footage. 

“Those are tasers,” Mokuba assured. “Like you said earlier, Seto isn’t going to take lightly to being institutionalised. It’s only fair they’re able to defend themselves from whatever assault he might throw their way.”

Roland’s team soon reached the closed door of the bedroom belonging to their ex-boss. Taking the lead, Roland singled for his two teammates to remain quiet whilst they listened for any signs of someone within the room. Confirmation came in the form of multiple voices moaning and groaning.

After the count of three, the door was opened and all three tasers held at arm's length pointing directly towards the mass of naked bodies interlocked in a heap on the caesar-sized four-poster bed.

“Oh my!” Pegasus was quick to lean to his left and place a hand over Mokuba’s eyes.

The teen let out an exasperated sigh. “I hang around with Joey, so it’s not like I haven’t seen stuff like this before.”

A lone and furious brown eye swiftly found a new target. “You and your friends allow him to watch porn?!”

“What? NO! Of course, we don’t! Well, that is to say, I don’t ‘allow’ Mokuba to ‘do’ anything,-“ Yugi could feel the perspiration forming on his brow as he talked. “- he’s his own person. If he chooses to view such material,-”

“He’s fifteen!”

“Fourteen.” Mokuba corrected as he casually pulled Pegasus’ hand from his face and returned to his observation of the raids.

“Many boys his age are curious about sex; there’s no shame in that.” Yugi stood his ground. Is this what it felt like to be an elder sibling and criticised for every choice made regarding the younger sibling? Suddenly he didn’t envy Kaiba and Joey quite so much. 

“Joey should not be showing him such inappropriate material!“

“What Mokuba has seen is tame compared to what’s out there!” Yugi refused to be intimidated by the suggestion that he’d somehow failed the younger male; his peer; his friend. His tone became confrontational and snide as he continued, “Unless you’d rather I ‘allow him’ to discover the extreme stuff on his own? Quit being such a prude,-”

“Shh, quiet down you two! I can’t hear what’s being said on the stream.”

Pegasus relented upon seeing the protectiveness he had stirred. “Touché, Yugi-boy,” he sighed. “Times have changed, and the internet advanced so rapidly since I was his age… He’s lucky to have someone like you watching over him in place of his brother.” 

Mokuba turned up the volume so could hear more clearly what was going on inside the mansion. 

“Mr Kaiba’s not in there,” one of Roland’s teammates declared as he emerged from the bedroom’s en-suite bathroom.

Roland lowered his taser, turned to pick up the luxurious blue robe from a nearby chair and tossed it towards a woman whose effort to hide her nudity with tiny hands made him pity her. His view fixed onto the group of five,- four women and a man,- on the bed. “I’ll ask you all one more time, WHERE is Seto Kaiba?”

“Don’t know, don’t care,” the man scoffed as he continued to grope at the woman he’d been penetrating just moments before. She moaned loudly from his touch before seeking out his lips with hers.

“He was here…” one of the other women answered. She leant back on her elbows and parted her legs wide. “…but as you can see, he came and went.”

As the inebriated group burst into cackles of laughter, an infuriated Roland instructed his team; “Have them all dress and take them down to the duel hall!” 

“Yes, sir.”

Leaving the room at a fast pace, Roland activated his com-link to Fuguta. “Any sign of Mr Kaiba?”

“None.”

“Did you check the panic room?”

“Empty.”

“Dammit!” Roland growled through clenched teeth as he continued down the hall. He’d been so sure they’d find their target in one of the two most obvious rooms he could be in. “Okay, well, just sweep the mansion until we find him. He’s here someplace.”

“Roger.” 

The com-link closed and Roland held his taser ready once more as he was about to open another door. To his surprise, it was locked. He re-activated the com-link, this time to his boss. “Mokuba, your bedroom door appears to be locked. I have a feeling your brother may be in there. Permission to break the door down?”

“Permission granted.” Mokuba cooly responded despite being slightly confused. His bedroom had no lock, so why wasn’t the door opening? Has Seto barricaded himself in there?

Taking a step back, Roland raised his foot and gave several forceful kicks to the locked door before it crashed open. He proceeded inside.

“Roland stop!” Mokuba instructed at what he saw from the man’s body-cam upon entering.

Roland complied without question.

“Do a 360, turn around, let me see the whole room.”

Again he complied. “Is there a reason why you have me spinning like a top?”

“Seto’s not there.” Mokuba verbalised his thoughts. His eyes were wide with awe at seeing his room untouched since the day he’d moved out. “He put a lock on the door to keep people out and stop them from trashing it like the rest of the mansion. He’s preserving my room; my space; my memory,-“

“That’s all very well, but it doesn’t help with the situation of where he is now.” Roland huffed. 

Pegasus sensed the other’s growing irritation and took it upon himself to press for clues that might help. “You know your brother best, Moku-boy. Do you have any ideas where he might be found?”

“Well, if Seto is hiding then he would have used the panic room,” Mokuba stated. “But since we already know it’s empty, he could be just about anywhere. I know that’s not what you wanted to hear.“

“Does he have a favourite room, one where he might go to relax?” 

“If Seto knew how to relax, he wouldn’t be in this mess.” Mokuba shot back at Pegasus before taking a moment to ponder over what had been asked. “Maybe the garden, in the observatory?…Nah… Perhaps the games room, or music room, or,- Wait, I DO know! The basement! Either in his lab or the garage.”

“You have an underground garage?” Yugi asked in a slightly awestruck manner.

“Uhh, yeah. Where else is Seto supposed to keep his car collection?”

“I’m heading down to the basement right now.” Roland declared after having heard everything via his com-link. He was already speedily leaving his teenage boss’ bedroom and made a beeline for the elevator at the end of the hall.

“Oh, Roland, just a word of warning; if you’re going down there, we may lose contact.” Mokuba was quick to inform. “There’s been instances in the past when I haven’t been able to get through to Seto’s phone when he’s down there.”

“It’ll be a minor inconvenience if it the communications do drop out, but the camera will keep recording so you’ll be able to witness everything that takes place,” Roland assured as he entered the elevator and it began to make its descent. “This will be over soon, Mokuba. I’m sorry it’s taking so long...”

“Don’t apologise. I’m the one who kept dragging my heels in this, remember?” Mokuba laughed weakly.

During the last eight months, both Roland and Pegasus had been advising him through each choice he had made that had eventually led them to today. At times he’d been doubtful,- sometimes reluctant,- to do as advised, but they never went against the decisions he made and were transparent with him at all times. 

“I think we’ve lost contact with him,” Pegasus stated when no reply came from Roland whose body cam now showed he was exiting the elevator at basement level. 

They all watched as Roland made his way past the laundry room and was soon looking through the glass wall where the fleet of a dozen luxury cars were displayed. Most were various shades of blue/grey/silver/white, with only a yellow Lamborghini and a red Ferrari standing out amongst them. 

“Nice cars,” Yugi commented. “No sign of your brother though.”

“Then he must be in the lab… Or maybe I was wrong and he’s still up in the mansion..?”

“I guess we’re about to find out,” Pegasus announced as Roland keyed in a passcode,- 23995346,- on the laboratory door’s security panel and was granted entry. 

Practically sitting on the edge of his seat, Mokuba watched as Roland slowly inched further into the room. The gun-like taser was drawn so close to the man’s body that its tip blocked part of the camera’s visual field each time he moved. 

“There he is!” Mokuba gasped as the back of his brother’s head and chair came into view. “I wonder what he’s working on?”

Pegasus squinted as he tried to make out the messy diagram and scribbles displayed on the monitors. “I could be wrong, but I ‘think’ that says ’Space Elevator’..? What could possibly be going through his mind to come up with something like that?”

“He wanted to be an astronaut when he younger, so maybe he’s planing on,-…” Mokuba’s voice caught in his throat as his brother suddenly stood and turned to face Roland. He could feel his heart ache from seeing the sorry-looking sight that his eyes viewed; his brother wearing nothing more than a pair of underpants and an open shirt that exposed a heavily scarred and under-nourished torso, along with a face so gaunt that it almost looked lifeless. What happened to you, Seto? Why did you do this to yourself?

As the taser was pointed his way, the tablet pen in Kaiba’s hand was angrily thrown to a side and his face contorted in rage as he shouted at the intruder…

“Why can’t I hear what’s being said?” Mokuba asked as he frantically pushed at the controls to increase the volume to the maximum level.

“I would guess it has something to do with Isono’s microphone being connected to his communications link,” Pegasus suggested. “This must have been what was meant when last he spoke; we’d lose audio, but at still have visuals.”

“Kaiba looks furious,” Yugi noted out loud. “Do you think he’s been told what’s planned for him?”

“Quite possibly,” Pegasus admitted. “Though I presumed the subject would have been raised a little bit more subtly than being announced outright,-“

“HOLY SHIT!” Mokuba exclaimed at seeing the taser fired. 

The barbs had shot out of the barrel at high speed, missed his brother by mere millimetres as he twisted to the side, and pierced one of the monitor screens instead. Concern was felt for both Roland and his brother as electric sparks to fly in all directions, but that same concern soon became conflicted as the two men engaged in hand-to-hand combat. 

“I CAN’T watch this!” the teen cried and scrambled over Yugi so he could exit the surveillance van.

Once outside in the open air, Mokuba tried to catch his breath. He felt shaken from what he had seen; two people he held dear,- who held each other dear,- fighting like enemies, partially because of decisions he had made. This shouldn’t be happening. I shouldn’t have allowed for things to get so bad! Why did I even think it would be a good idea to fight fire with fire in the first place?

His thoughts turned back to when he’d first chosen to make a stand against his brother. It had been in the direct aftermath of the break-up with Kisara, were each word to leave the other’s mouth was nothing more than an angry repellent to keep others away. He’d held strong at first but, crumbled when the words turned purposely cruel and offensive,- as opposed to the defensive nature which they had started,- and in turn, delivered back his own cutting words. 

At the time it had felt like the only way to get through to his brother, though now he realised it had had little effect at all. Neither had taking control of Kaiba Corp to allow his brother the time and freedom to work things out on his own. In fact that had only made matters so much worse. I made a mess of everything… But I’m GOING to put this right! First, I need to stop all this.

His eyes narrowed on the mansion beyond the gated boundary wall. Aware that he wouldn’t be able to use the com-link to contact Roland whilst still down in the basement, Mokuba knew his only other option was to inform him directly. He passed through the large iron gates and began to sprint up the long driveway, unaware of Yugi stepping out of the surveillance van now behind him.

“Mokuba, wait!”

Feet repeatedly pounded the ground as the determined teen raced towards the mansion. His brother wasn’t entirely lost. He could still reason with, and save him, without the need for institutionalising. He’d developed a thicker skin to cruel remarks since then last time they’d spoken and would not give up so easily again. His brother’s words had just been that; words. He wasn’t hated like he’d feared. The fact his bedroom remained protected and in pristine condition, instead of having been reclaimed or trashed, was proof enough. Seto would have wasted no time in destroying any trace of me ever being there if he truly didn’t want to reconnect. 

Almost there, Mokuba’s pace slowed and he came to a stop where the driveway spread out across the entire length of the mansion’s front. Parked before him were several cars in which Roland and his team had arrived, a riot van to hold any of his brother’s ‘guests’ if they got out of hand, and an unmarked psychiatric ambulance waiting to take his brother away. He felt a sense of dread beginning to form in the pit of his stomach. What if I’m too late to fix this? Seto will disown me for real this time when he finds out what was planned! Will he ever forgive me? I wouldn’t if I was him…

“Mokuba!”

He turned at hearing his name called and saw Yugi running towards him. This was just what he needed; a friend to help lift the confusion and provide solace. “I CAN’T do it! I can’t do this to him! He’s my brother, I can’t b-betray him like this. I don’t w-want him to h-hate me.” 

“It’s not betrayal,” Yugi panted as he came to a stop beside his friend failing to hold back tears. “Your brother needs help, much more than you or I,- or Pegasus or Roland,- could ever give him…”

What?! Mokuba was now even more confused as he struggled to make sense of his friend’s altered stance on the matter. He questioned my initial decision earlier, so why isn’t he giving support or approval for my change of plan? 

“… I understand it’s hard to carry through with such a difficult and heart-wrenching decision, but I believe you made the right choice by ensuring he is given all the professional help that he needs. Your brother will get through this,-“

“Y-y-you don’t know that. Y-you can’t promise that!” Mokuba stammered as he shook his head and sent tears flying in all directions. Why wasn’t his friend standing by him? Inside he felt a storm of emotions raging like a cyclone and let it free without warning, “WHO are YOU to tell ME what to do?!!”

Yugi had already steeled himself for such a reaction,- his young friend was still a Kaiba after all,- and remained calm as the troubled teen leered down at him. “I feel your frustration, Mokuba. I really do,-”

“HOW could you?!”

Again he remained calm under the scrutiny of those narrowed grey eyes. “Much like the ceremonial duel I had with Atem, you have to do what is best for your brother, no matter how arduous on your conscience it may feel. Believe in yourself, in your judgement, and help him proceed back into the light where he rightfully belongs.”

He’s been stood by me the whole time! The comparison hit home with Mokuba and he felt the storm inside him subside. He hadn’t thought of the situation quite like that. and now had a better understanding of his friend’s outlook on it all. “Yugi, I… I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me.”

“Fear and anger are strong emotions,” Yugi simpered with compassion and gave what he felt was a much-needed hug. “You’re not alone Mokuba. And neither is your brother. When he realises that, I’m certain he’ll make a full recovery.”

“You really think so?” Mokuba asked as he leant down a little further into the hug.

“I do. It’ll take time though, it’s not going to happen overnight.”

“But you’ll be there for me, if… I mean, ‘when’ I need you?”

“Always.”

Slowly, the surveillance van entered through the gates, drove along the driveway and stopped right beside the two friends breaking apart from their embrace. The side door slid open and Pegasus stepped out. “Everything okay?” he asked.

“Yeah, I just… lost my nerve for a moment,” Mokuba kept his explanation brief. “I’m fine now though.”

Judging from the response he was given, Pegasus knew Yugi had done a good job of consoling the teen. “You’ll be glad to know that it’s almost over. Isono succeeded with his task of apprehending your brother, and is escorting him up from the laboratory as we speak.”

Mokuba simply nodded to confirm that he’d heard what had been said.

“Are you sure you’re okay with this?” Pegasus asked, the silence now making him somewhat slightly unconvinced of what he’d been told just a moment ago. “It’s not too late to halt things if that’s what you truly want.”

“It’s not about what I want, it’s about what Seto needs,” Mokuba stated flatly. His eyes glazed as he watched the crew of the psychiatric ambulance prepare for their patient. Whilst the nurse measured sedatives in a syringe, the assistant readied the restraints of the trolley bed.

Yugi turned to Pegasus, “How long will Kaiba be institutionalised for?” he quietly inquired.

“I don’t know,” Pegasus admitted honestly. “It would all depend upon a string of assessments to determine his mental state, and what type of/how much care is required. Then there’s the factor of whether or not he’ll co-operate throughout the whole thing. I imagine it would be at least several months before his release is even considered.”

“And what about his absence during that time?” Yugi continued. “People are going to start speculating when he hasn’t been seen for a while.”

“Don’t fret, Yugi-boy. A cover story will-“ 

“LET GO OF ME, YOU PERFIDIOUS BASTARD!!” The sound of the outraged scream was heard well and clear before the mansion’s front door had even been opened. It drew the trio’s attention and they watched Kaiba literally being dragged kicking and screaming from inside his own home.

“Seto.” Mokuba whimpered as his brother struggled in a rear arm lock hold.

“KUSO YARO!!” Kaiba tried to throw his captor over himself as he slammed backwards into him, but just couldn’t build up enough leverage needed to succeed. “Grrr, I make you pay for this, Isono!” 

Roland knew better than to retaliate in response to the other’s angry words and simply continued to haul him towards the unmarked ambulance. Despite his captive’s weaker visual appearance, there was still plenty of physical strength making it a strenuous task to overpower him. With any luck, the other would wear himself out soon with all the resistance going on.

“I WILL NOT be placed in some mental asylum!” Kaiba made another forceful attempt to break free from his hold which resulted in him almost dislocating his shoulder in the process. It was no good though, Roland’s incarcerating clasp was just too strong.

“You won’t be confined to an asylum, you’ll be staying with me, on my island,” Pegasus informed as if it would somehow make the situation better.

Kaiba looked in the direction of where the familiar voice had come from and sneered, “Heh, I knew the CUCKOO and the YANK would be behind all of this!” his voice was coarse from screaming but wasn’t any less malicious as he glared at the trio of traitors staring back at him. “I expected better from you though, Muto. Then again, you had no qualms sending OUR friend to his demise. FUCK YOU and your FAKE friendship!-”

“Hurry up and sedate him already!” Roland yelled at the nurse as he struggled to keep ahold of the infuriated man trying to break free and start a fight.

“Hold him still.” The nurse instructed as he tried to get close enough to carry out the task.

More struggling occurred as Kaiba spotted the syringe in the other’s hand. His eyes narrowed and he bared his teeth, “You’re NOT jabbing that in me!”

“Actually, ‘yes’ he is!” Roland let a frustrated retort slip. He was exhausted and not sure of just how much longer he could keep ahold. “I’m sorry, Seto,” he apologised earnestly before summoning what strength he had left and forced his friend face-first against the side of the ambulance.

“FUCKING CUNT!” Kaiba roared angrily with a freshly split lip. Roland’s bodyweight held him in place whilst the nurse sank the needle into his arm. “I’ll kill you! I’LL KILL EVERY LAST FUCKING ONE OF YOU!!!“

Mokuba fidgeted uncomfortably where he stood, shifting from one foot to the other. The whole thing was extremely distressing and he wanted it to stop, Now. No, I gotta stay strong. This is the endgame, it’ll be over with soon enough.

With the sedatives now administered, the nurse was quick to draw back from his patient. “They should start to take effect in a few seconds.”

“Good,” Roland panted and let go of the arms that were already bruising from the firm hold he’d had on them. He backed away to allow the other plenty of room to thrash and flail. 

Instead, Kaiba staggered a few steps from the high-sided vehicle, sank down to his knees on the gravel and dirt, and eventually ended up on all fours. He stared at the ground, eyes wide, face dripping with sweat whilst breathing heavily as he watched a tiny puddle of blood form on the driveway. WHY did this happen? WHY didn’t they just stay away? WHY did they feel the need to form a pack and hunt me down like this? Why?…

‘Hey, there mister…’

Kaiba slowly raised his head to see an apparition of his younger self crouching down in front of him. The small boy studied him curiously as he leant on the soccer ball clutched close in his lap.

‘Are you okay?’

“No… I’m not okay,” he answered weakly, aware that he could no longer keep on lying to himself. How had it come to this? Why had he let things get so out of hand and been so reluctant to fix them? He was ashamed of himself and all he had become. “Get out of here, Go!”

Obediently following the instruction, his younger self stood up straight, failing to keep ahold of the ball and it slipped free from his hands. It was now that Kaiba could see it wasn’t a soccer ball at all, but the spherical puzzle of his heart. How he knew that it was his heart, he had no idea. Perhaps because many of the pieces were dented, cracked and chipped, just like him?

As though watching in slow-motion,- and helpless to intervene,- the puzzle shattered as it hit the driveway. “Nooooooo!” Kaiba scrambled to collect as many pieces as possible before they sank beneath the ground.

“What’s going on?” Yugi asked Pegasus nervously as they saw Kaiba talking to thin air before desperately clawing at the dirt with his hands.

“He seems to be hallucinating. Most likely a side effect of the sedatives mixing with whatever substances already in his system.”

Mokuba couldn’t bear to see his brother in such a state any longer, “Seto!” he cried as he stepped closer, and froze as the other’s wide-eyed gaze turned to fix upon him. 

“Stay back.” Roland placed an outstretched arm in his young boss’ path for precautionary measures. If required, he wouldn’t hesitate to fully place himself between them. He needn’t have worried though as Kaiba remained where he knelt instead of carrying out the threat from just a few moments ago.

“M-m-my heart… it’s… b-b-b-b-bro-k-k-ken…!”

“We know, Seto.” Mokuba’s frown quivered as he fought back the urge to cry at seeing his brother dissolve into tears before him. “We’ve been trying to help you this whole time, but you wouldn’t let us-”

“I’ve GOT to fix it!” The scratching at the driveway became more frenzied though no progress was made with shifting the dirt.

“You won’t find anything down there, Mr Kaiba.” the nurse assured as he and his assistant each lifted their patient by placing their arms under his. “Come with us, we’ll help you to get well again.”

“No! No, no, no!” The objection was made with arms flailing wildly, but Kaiba’s strength was now not that much stronger than that of a newborn baby. “I need all the pieces!… Let go of me! LET GO OF ME!!”

All four onlookers found it excruciatingly uncomfortable to watch as Kaiba was hauled into the psychiatric ambulance against his will. Tears, distraught screams and feeble attempts of physical protest continued but failed to stop him from being placed on the trolley were he was then securely restrained to prevent him from thrashing around and causing any further injury. 

“RELEASE ME THIS INSTANT!!” 

Ignoring their patient’s demand, the nurse and his assistant exited the back of the vehicle and closed the doors.

“RELEASE ME!! RELEASE ME! Release me!... Release… me…” Kaiba’s screams eventually became nothing more than a weak mumble as the sedatives took a great effect of subduing him. He lay there. alone and paralysed with nothing more than the faint sound of Gozaburo’s laughter inside his semi-conscious head. 

A driving motion was felt as the ambulance left his home. In all honesty, he would have preferred death over being institutionalised. He felt he could not atone for the things he’d said and done, and therefore had nothing left to live for anyway. At least in death, he would finally be at peace, free from inner torment and suffering.

The chortling grew louder.

‘You made your bed, now rot in it.’

[steve0discusses]

Yugioh S4 Ep1 Part 2: The Soul Stealing Motorcycle Card Gang With an Australian Accent

So a lot of things that happen at once in this episode, and one of the wild things is something that has been building for 3 entire seasons of Yugioh but because all this other stuff is happening, it’s like...secondary. Slowly, we’ve been watching all of these cards becoming more and more real to the point that yes, they are in fact Physical now--other people are noticing, it’s finally happening. the cards are finally real. Magic exists. This is a very big deal.

Like I’ve seen some of y’alls comments about how S4 is kind of crazy and well...cards becoming real was my one and only guess as to what crazy thing could happen in S4 and that happened halfway through the first episode so...it’s all uphill from here

But what’s crazy about this is that although this has been built up for so long,  all our main characters are so freakin distracted, that they look up at the sky and see...youknow...this tapestry here:

And treat it like they’re looking at a flock of really weird birds or something. Like this is world breaking, terrifying, end of the world, Independence Day level red alert and yet instead of the military marching down and shooting lasers at all of these things, everyone is going to just simply walk home.

No one is going to evacuate. Yugi’s Dad isn’t going to show up in a Mad Max style motorcycle in jean cutoffs and be like “I knew it was happening, Son, this is what I’ve been doing for the past 3 years PS, it was worth it now, huh?” no, that isn’t happening.

Instead we’re going to very patiently, and very carefully just not panic and walk home.

Everyone’s just gonna...walk on the sidewalk home, huh? Patiently follow traffic laws? Wait for the light to turn red and everything?

No one even slightly wants to know what any of these monsters taste like? Just me? I mean this is your one opportunity to cook and eat a scapegoat and you know that thing’s got to be delicious under barbecue sauce.

And the funny thing is, people saw this happening and was like “I should call that game company and let them know that there’s real ass dragons that look like their video game flying around.”

Like imagine that Nintendo became real and there’s just...Goombas everywhere. Would I be...calling the Nintendo Hotline?

Hell No. I would be checking all food blogs everywhere for how to roast a Goomba on a grill, because you KNOW those things would be nuts after a few hours in a marinade, draped with fried egg on rice.

But in Yugioh, they’re like calling up Kaiba Corp and hoping that customer service can somehow make the living, breathing dragons and whatever that flying turtle thing was just...stop existing. They’re pretty sure Kaiba can “turn off” the flying monsters.

I think I’m still spelling it wrong, too.

Also, Kuriboh is real now and that...sucks.

That’s a lot of gross hair just flying around and I guarantee it’s gonna give everyone lice. That nasty ass sentient ball of hair you pulled out of your shower drain is just...flying around outside with huge googly eyes.

Freakin sucks. You can’t possibly eat a Kuriboh, it’s way too much hair and I guarantee when you skin that thing it’s like just a meatball to put on the tiniest little skewer and that’s it.

Sorry Bro just informed me that Kuriboh is a ghost??????

???

Also one of the cards is straight up an American Quarter.

I just want to bring up that there’s one (1) cursed ass American Quarter somewhere on Earth and that is going to be a real shocker for the one person that picks up that Quarter and doesn’t realize that when you flip it, it can kill people.

And I just did hunt to figure out what the hell the quarter card is called and I’m starting to think maybe the the show made it up? Wtv my memory is patchy when it comes to the cards.

And for all the cards that are just people but with more muscles, what are they gonna do? Is Dark Magician gonna have to go try and get a reception job to pay the bills? Is anyone going to hire Dark Magician in this economy?

(read more under the cut)

On their pleasurable walk home amongst all the horrible abominations and I guess a couple of bizarre magician hats floating around, they come across...this:

They just left them there in the middle of the street next to this nasty ass Gecko that would ABSOLUTELY eat them.

Also that Gecko...that’s just an alligator that can climb walls, right? Like this is Florida level of insane terrible creature you never want to have climbing walls? That was the one thing we had on alligators--vertical walls.

Youknow, Florida is probably the only place on Earth in this Universe that is actually completely fine.

On the other side of town, Roland is having his best day ever.

I do enjoy that Roland's line was “Mr Kaiba assured me that it’s not their company’s fault” which makes it sound sort of like he had some serious doubts. And might still have some serious doubts. And that he’s so sure that it was Kaiba, that he’s just going to say the “company” isn’t to blame.

And so they decided, well instead of evacuating the city, lets go have dinner at the Muto house. So, they all decided to not check in with everyone else’s parents and family and instead had a fun hang out sesh and watched TV.

They went to school with this guy.

Like they went to school with this guy like a month ago and now he’s giving press conferences in front of a dictator-style tapastry.

The imposter syndrome in Domino High must be pretty wild if you’re always getting compared to Seto Kaiba, is all I’m saying. Maybe that’s why the rest of the class has just decided to drop out.

*Cut to Pegasus’ island where there’s like 80 dead wife zombies running around and Pegasus and Croquet have locked themselves into the bathroom while they watch the zombie wives eat whatever’s left of PaniK.*

It looks like my dream ending of Yugioh, that Seto Kaiba’s company gets sued to hell and back and everyone goes to prison isn’t quite realized yet but it’s looking slowly and surely more real every day.

Kind of surprising that they assume so quickly that Kaiba is lying when they’re sitting next to Pinocchio over here.

So once you think, well...they can’t add more to this episode, no, we’re just gonna straight up knock out Yugi’s Grandpa...again. He needs a life alert. Does Yugi wear a life alert?

And you’d think they’d assume that a monster did this, right? Nah. It’s people. Real ass people did this but not one of the many huge ass monsters that apparently are kind of like Pokémon and don’t feel like doing more than just flap their arms and sit on stuff.

Anyways, the God Cards are gone. Goodbye, Deux ex Machina cards.

Feel a little bad for the one building just directly under the shadow of obelisk, looking up and just seeing a giant, glittery, blue ass.

And then a whole bunch of motorcycles showed up??? Like MOTORCYCLES. And I was like “BRO are they gonna play cards on motorcycles!?” because one of the only reasons I decided “OK Bro, lets actually watch Yugioh” is, and I’ve said this before, because someone mentioned on twitter that they’ll play cards on motorcycles but no.

No one plays cards on motorcycles this episode, they just show up to rev their engines and shine their brights.

Also at least one of them has like the thickest stage Australian accent and it is...rough. He said “bum” once instead of “butt” and you could tell it was just...they said bum to make him sound a little bit more Aussie because we don't really know how to do Australian in the States. We don’t know how this accent works, I’m so sorry.

But anyways, apparently after the God Cards got their energy sapped out, they can now just...be played by whomever? Not entirely clear.

And then they just...drove away.

Like they drove away without even telling them where to go?

And I was like...maybe they just went to that building under construction right there that is...somehow directly across from Yugi’s house which is...directly across from a super wide 12 laned street?

But...that can’t be right, right? I’m sometimes a little confused by the geography of this show but it’s a cartoon and they’re hard to make so we’ll forgive it.

Anyway, while Grandpa Muto counts up the damages to send to the insurance company, they figure out where to go, probably by following the God Cards which are...summoned here like holograms although...they are real? Right?

Like...

...so if there’s monsters just flying around, and it’s all the monsters of the duel monster deck, then there is a version of Slither just hanging out somewhere already, right? Or is the one they summon with the card the real Slither?

The show never thought that hard about it honestly. You can both play duel monster cards which I believe are no longer holograms when you play them and also they just inherently exist now so...Lets not think about it and just go to a brand new fight club roof. You know how much these kids love construction equipment.

Also is this the roof of a freakin IKEA? Look at the size of that thing.

This cultist just begging for Seto Kaiba to run a helicopter straight into him. Which Seto would probably do all over again if Seto were here.

I guess Seto decided to either go the hell to sleep and hope tomorrow will prove today was a bad dream, or he is celebrating the very best day of his life with his brother, sight seeing all the dragons and desperately trying to lure the dragons into his home with carrots under a box trap or something.

This guy ABSOLUTELY does Shakespeare in the park and only gets like minor, very minor roles, right? Like he’s the understudy for King Lear’s manservant who has no speaking lines and just pours water into a cup in one scene? And he takes it VERY seriously?

Yo these side burns.

So bro was like, who do you think would have more product in their hair? This guy or Yugi? And it’s like..well...here’s the thing about Yugi’s hair, he’s got a lot of product, but he has enough scalp to tease the hell out of it. But how do you tease your side burns? How do you tease your side burns so they have the lift of an old timey moustache? you can’t. Those side burns are 90% Elmers glue.

Hello there, offbrand Final Fantasy guy I see you got a Cloud shoulder pad but you wear two of them.

...

It’s a look they chose.

I...there’s a lot going on with all of these looks, especially the guy who is straight up wearing pieces of armor on his shoulders in the middle here for no reason but oh I will get to the looks when we see them in more detail later.

But it’s like, do you think Mr Monocle, who’s only character design trait is a single Monocle, will stay in the show very long? Compared to these guys?

Hm.

I guess we will see.

Thanks, Pegasus.

Thanks for giving us absolutely NO heads up about any of your disaster cards you produced and let loose across the world. Congrats on that. Congrats on printing this freakin card that steals people’s souls and delivering it out there where children could find it in their happy meals.

Like do you think he printed the Orichalcos card before or after the God Cards? Because I’d like to think that he finished up shoving the God Cards onto Ishizu and then was like “phew, crisis averted” and then immediately painted a weird geometric shape and was like “Damn it! I did it again!? Every time I decide not to paint my dead wife I just paint something even worse!”

Anyways, it’s aesthetic takes me back to a much simpler time of my life, and when it shows up the Titanic song pops up in my head? I can’t explain it. It’s just very...very...

It just screams edgy Riverdance to me, maybe it’s just me, but I feel like it should be accompanied by Enya? Just me? The runes just seem very old world Europe.

Bro really wants these to be the runes above Noah’s fireplace and he’s been holding this in for like an entire season, but that’s not going to happen.

Because I have the receipts:

Evidence again that Noah’s fireplace was just what Noah thought art was, since he’s a computer and all. He rendered perfect fire and then got to the art and was like fuuuuuuuuuuu just like anyone else who first gets into Unity.

Anyway, Joey got knocked over, so Pharaoh decided to save his friends and it got him nowhere because, like we already figured out last episode and basically more and more every episode of Yugioh, Pharaoh is a freakin idiot.

So fun fact about the 00′s I’m sure everyone here fondly remembers unless you’re 12 (in which case, why are you on tumblr?) Remember how much we were OBSESSED with glowy blue-green lines and dots on everything in concept art? I really think that trend lasted until about James Cameron’s Avatar when we realized “we took it too far y’all” and then it just kinda died. Still hangs around, but it’s not quite as obvious as the 00′s when it was like “ah I see you have a glowy pastel magicky thingy in your art. A+, lets put it in a grimdark dystopian YA fiction.”

...It was a phase and seeing this shade of green as a glow just really brings me back to the halcyon days of a little less than 10 years ago. It’s very something that would have been in steampunk.

They also get this logo on their head when they use this card, just like Pharaoh but significantly less cool. And it’s on all this guy’s monsters too, so everyone gets the power of branding. With this logo that looks like a joke Portlandia would make about indie logos.

Pharaoh kind of shrugs this off because like...his soul lives in a freakin necklace and he has magic so...whatever.

And then we get the full cheese spread--look at this cheese!

WOWOWOWOW

Look at Dieselpunk Amelie! Here I thought that now Marik wasn’t around we’d have no more stupid crop tops, but it’s back and man I am so happy it’s back. Damn. Everyone has a popped collar covered in as many square inches of belts as they could fit on em. Belts just hanging off willy nilly in every direction so you can barely walk through a hallway without your belt slapping on the edges. Them walking through a revolving door must be the most dangerous game outside of Duel Monsters.

woah.

Oh man, and I didn’t even noticed that they made the middle guy ripped as hell for no reason. His arm looks like a Payday candybar.

But MAN.

Someone give that guy on the right a sword the size of himself because...holy hell his jacket is so massive that it has an accordion shoulder pad for some reason???

Oh shoot I didn’t even realize guy on the right has about 6 rivets on his fingerless gloves, too. Wow.

Oh man it’s a lot to take in.

Do you see em? Do you see how many weird ass accessories are all over these characters these underpaid animators will have to draw SO MANY TIMES?

Oh man, the poor cosplayers! It must be so hard to go from Bandit Keith--a fairly easy cosplay--to the Accordian shouldered 11-belted jacket on Mr I-Dare-You-To-Cosplay-These-Sideburns.

And then this guy screws himself:

I’m not gonna add him to the Yugioh Death Counter yet, but I have a feeling, especially after seeing how few belts this guy has on...I just have a really strong feeling he’s absolutely going to die.

Goodbye, normal guy, you were too normie for this bizarre world.

Anyway, feel free to leave in the comments, if Yugioh cards became real, which one would you immediately eat and how? (and we can count plant cards as actual plants for the vegans, even if they can talk or whatev--them’s plants, they’re kosher.)

(realizes I have no idea if there’s even plant type cards in Yugioh or if that’s just a pokemon thing)

Anyway that’s all for now but if you just got here, this is a link to read all my Yugioh recaps in Chrono Order, fair warning...this is S4.

[pastthevaulteddoors]

More euroshipping!

Inspired writing because of @ryoubandwagon ‘s post https://ryoubandwagon.tumblr.com/post/185329623075/anon-gave-me-the-idea-a-good-while-ago-to-draw

Writing under cut!

Kaiba had been holed up in his office for the past few weeks. He was sick of little dick energy managers bickering with disorganized contractors so much so that he ripped a new hotel project right from under them to push it forward himself. Despite being in early construction phase, he hadn’t anticipated the mass amount of focused time it would take up.

Sleepless nights, endless calls, and far too many annoying regulation hoops to barrel through. He was rarely home, only to see how his brother was doing, shower, and eat, then go back to work. And Ryou, well, that had been forced onto the back-burner with an understanding text reply.

Speaking of, Kaiba was having difficulties keeping the creampuff from his mind. Ryou and he had been walking naturally forward into an official relationship, spending time together was far too enjoyable that he had to cut if off entirely while he concentrated on his work.

And so, it was with a warm and startling surprise that Bakura burst through his office doors and rushed into the room. Mokuba’s fluff of black hair could be seen behind him; or at least, that was all Kaiba could see among the sleep-deprived haze and the bright, brown eyes set only on him.

“Kaiba!” he yelled and slid uncharacteristically onto Kaiba’s desk, as if he were on a slip and side. It knocked his laptop aside and Kaiba was barely aware of Mokuba giving a snickering ‘whoa!’ and catching it.

He was a tornado of dramatics and silliness that was just… just… what the hell?!

But it was Ryou Bakura in the flesh! Right in front of him. For a moment, Kaiba felt a weakness he hadn’t known before, and he nearly buried himself into the boy before him to let off the weight of exhaustion.

Instead, he opted to give him deadpanned glare.

“The Blue Eyes White Dragon has come to life!” Ryou flung himself over the paperwork, back of his hand to his forehead.The white-haired boy flopped like a fish (and a horrible actor, especially with Mokuba sniggering somewhere behind him), gazing up like a desperate damsel. “And it won’t stop destroying the city until you SLEEP!”

Kaiba could feel his eyes narrow further. What the hell?! Was he hallucinating?

“Bakura, i know that’s impossible,” he began rationally, his sleepiness outweighing his heart’s joy at seeing him. “Because I haven't done it ye-”

“SNEAK ATTACK!” Makuba shouted as he quickly shoved something soft over Kaiba’s eyes.

Oh…

“Ah, you got me,” Kaiba deadpanned as he felt Mokuba clumsily settled the eye mask into place. “Whatever shall I do?”

There was the sound of skin on skin. Did those two just high five?!

“I can’t believe I just did that!” Ryou fumbled for his words, and Kaiba could almost feel the heat of his blush.

Kaiba’s little brother laughed again. “Neh, it’s the only way to get him to shut down sometimes. Although, the dramatics was a bit much.”

“You think?” Ryou replied with a sound of shuffling paper. Kaiba felt the warmth of his leg against his knee as he got down from the desk. “You told me to go all out.”

“It was funny!” Mokuba agreed. Oh, Kaiba could certainly feel the devil horns on that boy.

“Does this happen often?” Ryou’s hand rest on Kaiba’s shoulder. He smelled nice, Kaiba decided. It wasn’t a fresh-out-of-the-shower scent, but a very distinctive Ryou scent the he quite missed being wrapped around.

“Oh yeah, but not since he started dating you,” Mokuba replied, and that was when Kaiba’s sleep deprived brain kicked back into gear.

“I can still hear you, you know,” he groused to the other’s laughter.

Since when was Mokuba hanging out with Ryou? Since when did Mokuba know he was DATING Ryou? He hadn’t actually gotten to that part of seriousness enough to talk it over with his ward.

“Seto, come home. It’s Friday,” Mokuba encouraged.

Kaiba finally ripped the eye mask off his face, glaring heavily at the duo of troublemakers. Just as he predicted; Mokuba had a wicked, devil-like grin on his face, and Ryou’s face was as pink as a peony in bloom.

He could have gotten angry, he could have frightened Ryou from his office and scolded Mokuba until he’d be too ashamed to show his face for a few days. He could have made them both very upset for interrupting Kaiba’s work flow and he could had yelled at them for trying to dictate his life.

He could have.

But he didn’t.

“Is this what dating Bakura going to get me?” he snapped at Mokuba, but luckily his brother could understand his mood. He wasn’t angry, just playing the part. “Now I have TWO meddling men in my life?”

Kaiba heard an embarrassed chuckle from Ryou, but Kaiba couldn’t bare to look at him; he was sure the cuteness would put him into an early grave.

“Ha! Come on, bro, let’s go,” Mokuba grabbed Kaiba’s arm and tugged. Kaiba reluctantly stood. Ryou followed, then caught up, bumping shoulders.

“We ordered noodles,” he said.

Kaiba’s eyes flickered to Ryou’s and a moment of warmth passed between them.

Would it be so terribly bad to lean on him and tempt that weakness?

Probably not.

He’d mull it over after noodles and a good night’s sleep.