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trifrost17 · 6 years

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YGO Advent: Kaleidoscope

Summary: KaibaCorp takes a stand against bullying and in true KaibaCorp fashion, they go over the top to promote their new campaign.

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16811635/chapters/40724954

23: Kaleidoscope

When Ryou came to him with the idea, Mokuba was honestly extremely surprised. He hadn’t thought these sort of issues mattered to the man, but Mokuba was quickly proven wrong when Ryou laid out the entire situation.

“And I’m tired of no one making a statement! This is unacceptable and I want to throw our support behind him. I want KaibaCorp to make a statement. To do something… big.” Mokuba tilted his head, thinking it over. It was rare when Ryou actually asked them of something, especially something like this. Seto would have likely rejected the idea outright but Mokuba kind of liked it. He definitely appreciated Ryou’s enthusiasm and intention.

But this was still a corporation and Mokuba had to weigh the pros and cons of doing something that was so controversial. “I want to do this, Ryou. But let me think about how before I go to Seto with this. Give me a little bit of time to figure this out.” Ryou had smiled and thanked him.

It really hadn’t taken him much time at all, though. As soon as Mokuba told Yugi and Atem about Ryou’s idea, they were on board. And with Yugi at his side, Mokuba was reasonably sure they could convince Seto to do anything.

With his usual ferocity to do the right thing, Yugi tackled the project with Mokuba like the champ he was. He pulled Ryou back into the mix, dragged in Joey, Atem, and Duke—all of whom were also fired up for the entire idea—to decide on a plan of action before marching into Seto Kaiba’s office with their proposal.

“I hate bullies, Kaiba. You know that. And we have a chance to make a difference here. I’ve talked to the boy and his mother directly and they are so honored we would do this. And I’m tired of these stories, Kaiba. I want to change people's attitudes. We’re KaibaCorp, damn it! Let’s use our influence for good,” Yugi finished, leaning forward on Seto's desk to see the taller man eye-to-eye. Yugi was probably the only employee who could get away with touching his desk like that; but then again, Yugi's pose wasn't really coming across as challenging Seto's authority as much as it was showing that he was eager for Seto to do the right thing.

His big brother had hesitated, but only briefly. Mokuba had realized that in their older age, Seto was far more willing to take a stand and even potentially risk his company if it meant doing what Seto considered to be the right thing. Granted, Seto's morals were still often skewed and rather gray of most things, but this situation wasn't one of them. He nodded.

“But we’re going to make this big. KaibaCorp doesn’t just donate to charity. And we don’t just make statements. If we’re doing this, we’re doing this KaibaCorp style. Yugi, you will program new DLC packs for every game offering alternate clothes for every character model. Those will be free additions. Then create special DLC—promo ones—where we can use the funds to donate. I want them for every major game: Capsule Monsters VR, Dungeon Dice Monsters VR, Spherium II, Monster World VR, and Millennium World.” Yugi grinned and nodded. But Seto wasn’t done.

“Wheeler, I want this livestreamed on your channel. Make announcements about it. As soon as Mokuba has a time hammered down, we’re getting this to the Kaiba Dome and you’re going to start promoting this thing asap on your channel.”

“Righto, boss man!”

“Devlin, I’m putting you in charge of hard copy versions. While Yugi works on the DLC packages, I want you to get arranged special editions for the game board versions. As well as for Duel Monsters. Get new character figurines out for Capsule Monsters, Spherium, Dungeon Dice Monsters, and Monster World. I’ll work with Industrial Illusions about creating special cards for the promotion but I want you overseeing special edition card sleeves, booster packs, game mats, and anything else you can think of. I’ll get special edition Duel Disks started and released asap, too.”

Seto’s head swiveled to Ryou. “You came up with this idea. You’re in charge of character designs. I want those done asap so you can get those to Devlin and Yugi. Meanwhile, you’ll be working with our fashion division to create costumes for all of us to wear at the showcase to show our support. Then I want an entirely new fashion line to come out of this, too. This will be the only thing we’ll take part profit from—but some of the proceeds will go to charity. Pharaoh, you’re the fashionable one, if all your magazine shoots are to go by. Work with Ryou and help him design the clothes.”

“And me, Big Bro?” Mokuba asked, raising an eyebrow. “Am I arranging all the promotions?”

“Yes. Once you have dates from Yugi, Ryou, and Devlin about how long production will take, get this settled. I am also making you the spokesperson here, Mokuba. And I want the family that sparked this there, too. If you find anymore relevant stories, get those, too. If KaibaCorp is getting involved with a political issue like this, then we’re going to make it huge. So big, no one can ignore it.”

Mokuba grinned, nodding. There was a lot of daunting work ahead, but all of them there were enthused about the idea. “And the title? What should we call this project?”

Seto thought for a few seconds before finally saying, “Kaleidoscope.”

“Ah,” Yugi nodded, impressed. “To represent all the colors in a spectrum that reflect a person’s identity?” Seto smirked.

“Exactly.”

“Okay team!” Joey began, clapping his hands together. “Project Kaleidoscope is a go! Let’s go make a difference!”

To get everything done and arranged in only two months was a record. It was a massive undertaking—new DLC, new figurines, new clothing line, and even special edition Duel Disks and Duel Disk skins. But it was done and ready to go for launch.

And all the while, Joey had been drumming up support, while also gathering new stories to discuss at the launch event. Even Seto was impressed with Joey’s initiative to bring in their customer’s stories into his livestream. For a few weeks, he had been asking his fans for their stories about bullying and then discussing them with the crowd, making statements about how wrong it is. He would play games online with the victims, telling them how life would get better and how the bullies were so wrong. Mokuba had arranged for several of those fans to come to the launch event.

It was definitely shaping up to be huge. They had been promoting for all two months and all the seats for the Dome had sold out. Not only that, they had sold out of all tickets for Kaiba Land general passes for the park, too. On the day of the event, everything around Kaiba Land was packed; even news media crews were there to see what this Project Kaleidoscope was all about. Many outlets had gotten the rumor that it was an anti-bullying project of somesort but no one knew the full details.

The seven of them going on stage arrived at the Dome early in the morning to prepare, going through sound checks and testing all the technical aspects of the presentation. They explained what they were going to talk about with their guests and prepped them for their parts in the show. And then they spent hours getting dressed and made up in their costumes. At 3:00 prompt, Mokuba signaled for his other coworkers to head on out. It was time for Project Kaleidoscope to be revealed to the world.

The crowd response was deafening; as soon as they caught sight of Yugi, Seto, Atem, and Joey, they went absolutely wild. But then, as the crowd took in their appearances and what they were wearing, their screams turned somehow louder? Mokuba wasn’t sure how to describe it. It was a different feeling, though. Almost like they were being laughed at.

Perfect. That attitude was exactly what they were trying to combat.

Mokuba came to the center of the stage, Yugi and Ryou both standing beside him. The rest of their group stood behind them in a semi circle. Mokuba tapped the KaibaCorp mic on his earpiece on, greeting everyone with a loud, “Hello, Domino City! Welcome to the Kaleidoscope Project!”

He was greeted with more excited shouts before the audience calmed down. “We’re here today to announce a special project that is very close to all of our hearts here at KaibaCorp.” Mokuba paused, looking down at his outfit. “As you can see, we all dressed up for the occasion. But,” he began his tone turning soft and stern, “we aren’t doing this for humor. We aren’t doing this so that everyone can go, ‘Oh look! The King of Games and CEO of KaibaCorp are in skirts!’ No. We’re wearing these Magician Girl costumes proudly and to show support.”

The crowd fell silent as Mokuba gestured behind him. None of the men behind him showed any awkwardness, not even his older brother, in their costumes. Yugi wore the long dress of the Silent Magician replicating the design exactly, including the cut outs on his hips that exposed large parts of his thighs. Atem happily wore the costume of his favorite female magician: the Dark Magician Girl. He didn’t look the slightest bit uncomfortable with the short skirt, which was amazing, because truly, the skirt was so short, it was borderline indecent. If Atem bent over, his entire ass would be exposed.

Briefly, Mokuba thanked every god available that Yugi had made sure everyone wore the tight booty shorts underneath their skirts so that nothing would be exposed to the public.

Seto and Joey wore the Lemon and Apple Magician Girl costumes, while Duke had on the Kiwi Magician Girl outfit, and Ryou wore the Chocolate Magician Girl outfit. The only costume really modified was Mokuba’s, as he wasn’t too keen on wearing some semblance of a diaper for the Berry Magician Girl. Instead, he wore high-waisted shorts with legs that that barely covered his hips. The rest of his outfit was made up of thigh-high boots and shoulder-length gloves.

“You see, the point of this project is to show our solidarity with kids and youth who are being bullied and mistreated for simply being who they are. One of our designers was made aware of the story of a nine-year-old boy who was harassed and bullied from classmates, even being sent home from school, after he decided to wear a Silent Magician’s outfit during their school’s costume party for Halloween. Silent Magician was this boy’s favorite card and he wanted to show how much he loved the card by dressing up like her; but because he was a boy, he was treated cruelly by his classmates.” Mokuba scoffed, shaking his head in disgust.

“We’re tired of it. We’re tired of these stories—we’re so tired of hearing of boys being bullied because they wear skirts or dresses or nail polish or makeup or anything that seems vaguely feminine. We’re tired of girls being told that it’s ‘just a phase’ or ‘they just haven’t met the right man yet’ when they come out as anything but straight. We’re tired of parents mistreating their children because they are trans or gay or some other sexuality that isn’t straight. We’re tired of asexuality being ignored. We’re tired of boys and girls being picked on and bullied for being different—for simply being themselves. So KaibaCorp is taking a stand. We’re telling these kids, hey, it’s okay to be yourself; there is nothing wrong with you. And when your environment makes it not okay to be yourself, we want to help. We want to do whatever we can to help.”

Mokuba shook his head, glancing back at Yugi and Atem, then looking over at his brother and Joey. “On this stage behind me, we have so many men of different sexualities and with a vast array of life experiences. And as we took on this project and learned about our fans and their life experiences, we realized that people could benefit from hearing that there are more people out there like them. So KaibaCorp is coming out. We’re here in front of you showing who we are. We're showing you that there are more colors out there besides blue and pink; that there is a rainbow—a kaleidoscope, if you will—of gender identities and sexual orientations and those are normal, too. This is Project Kaleidoscope—we want to give you a lens to look into and see those colors and know that there are others out there like you.”

He took a deep breath. Mokuba had made sure beforehand that everyone on stage was comfortable with him talking about them. All the men had agreed. But still, revealing things so personal about themselves was not easy.

“I understand it first-hand how necessary it was to find someone like me. When I was a teenager, I struggled with my sexuality because I wasn’t… normal. I wasn’t like other boys; I didn't date, I didn't want to have sex, I didn't find girls or guys or anyone sexually attractive. It wasn’t until I talked to Yugi that I found a word to identify myself and realized that I wasn’t alone. That there were others like me. That, out of everyone, Atem was like me.”

Mokuba had been seventeen when he had confided into Yugi about how he thought he was different from other boys his age. He hadn’t felt comfortable going to Seto about it, since Seto never seemed to express interest in relationships at all, and Mokuba did want a relationship at some point. He was scared to bring it up with Seto; but with Yugi, it was so much easier to confide into him. He wasn’t judgmental and he was so approachable.

He had expressed how he had noticed he had never found anyone really attractive. Other boys his age were always talking about how this girl was so hot or that girl was gorgeous, but Mokuba couldn’t wrap his head around it. Mokuba didn’t want to have sex with anyone; the idea of just seeing someone and going, “Yeah, I want to bang them,” well, it was beyond him. It was almost repulsive to him. Still, at the same time, he wasn’t against sex as a whole. With the right person, he could see himself being sexually active, but it had to be someone special and someone he was close to.

Yugi had smiled after Mokuba was finished and said the words that he needed to hear the most: “There is nothing wrong with you, Mokuba.” Mokuba had felt like a ball of anxiety had broken when Yugi said those words. “If anything, you sound like Atem. I think you may be demisexual, like he is. It just means you need an emotional connection before you experience any sexual attraction to someone. And that’s totally fine. You should talk to him if you have questions—he can definitely answer better than I can. But I can tell you as someone dating a demisexual, there is nothing wrong with it. We have a wonderful relationship.”

Now, it was time for Mokuba to say those same words to some other youth that may need to hear it. “Atem and I are known as demisexuals. We only experience sexual attraction to someone we form an emotional bond with. But you know what? Our orientation—there is nothing wrong with it. There is nothing wrong with us. We both have wonderful partners and are in fantastic relationships. Atem and Yugi have been married for almost ten years now. And I’ve been dating my amazing girlfriend, Serenity, for almost three years now.”

He gestured towards Yugi. “Yugi is bisexual and my girlfriend is straight, but they're still in relationships with demisexuals.” Mokuba pointed to Ryou next. “Ryou is gay.” He spun towards Duke. “Duke identifies as pansexual, but just like Yugi, he likes all genders. Joey is bisexual, too. And my big brother? He’s asexual. But even with this array of sexualities, we all have different relationships and some of us have no partners. And that’s totally normal, too.” Mokuba smiled, extending his arms out as if to encompass everyone behind him. “We’re all on various points of the sexuality spectrum. And we’re here to show you that you can be happy no matter who you are.”

Mokuba nodded back towards his brother. “My big brother doesn’t experience any sexual attraction. But you know what? He’s still in a relationship with Joey; they’ve been dating for years and it works. Ryou prefers not to be in a relationship; same with Duke. They are both perfectly happy being single. And you know what? That’s totally normal and fine, too. No one needs to have a significant other to be normal.” Mokuba rolled his eyes. “You see, what is normal for one person isn’t normal for another. It’s fine to be different. But we know that sometimes, your environment makes it dangerous for you to come out or be yourself. Sometimes it’s your parents. Sometimes it’s your school. Sometimes it’s your friends or peers. And while oftentimes, those hostile environments are out of your control, KaibaCorp has decided that it can try to lend a helping hand to lessen that type of hostility. We can’t fix everyone. But we can sure as hell try to make life just a little better for others.”

He took another deep breath, gesturing back at their outfits. “You don’t have to be gay or straight or even trans to want to wear different clothes. You guys want to know something? Atem wears skirts and dresses all the time. He’s a cisgendered man, totally secure in his masculinity, and he enjoys wearing makeup and things noted as feminine.” Atem nodded in confirmation. “But have you ever seen Atem? He’s fucking amazing. He’s an amazing duelist. He’s a fantastic person. He’s a totally devout father and such a loving husband, it’s almost sickeningly sweet to watch. His choice of clothing preferences doesn’t make him any different—doesn't make him somehow less than someone else.”

Yugi stepped forward at Mokuba’s nod, tapping his own microphone to speak. “This is what we’re trying to push for. We want to break these boundaries that limit people; we want to redefine what normal is and show that there are people like us, people like you, all around. And we want to lead by example. We want to show not just children and teens and young adults that their sexuality or gender identity or even what type of clothes they prefer to wear doesn’t invalidate who they are, but we also want to show that same message to parents. Because, you know what? It’s fucking hard to come out to your parents.” He took a deep breath and Mokuba watched his eyes flicker to his children sitting in the front row.

Téa had flown in from America to see this; she was holding Yugi’s daughter, while his mother was bouncing his son on her leg. Both of them were nodding encouragingly at Yugi. Atem seemed to sense his husband’s pain and came forward, placing a hand on his shoulder. Téa noticed Yugi staring at them and whispered something in their children's ears; both kids lifted their hands and waved happily, yelling for their dads. Yugi smiled, waving back, while Atem blew both kids kisses. The tension in Yugi's body loosened.

“I get it,” Yugi finally said. “I get not having a parent accept you. My father works overseas. I haven’t seen him since I was fourteen, but as a child, I was always so desperate to please him. I wanted so badly to make him proud. Even when I became an adult, that desire to hear him say, ‘You’ve done good, Son,’ was always there. I couldn’t shake it, even with my amazing mom and Grandpa and friends and boyfriend all accepting me for who I was. I just always craved that affirmation from him.” He gave a broken smile.

“I never got it. I spoke to my father about a month after I announced my engagement to Atem. It was the first time he had spoken to me almost a year—which was a miracle itself, because he hadn’t spoken to me for four years before that. On that phone call, he told me he was… he was ashamed to call me his son. He said that I had dishonored his name by trying to marry another male and that he would disown me if I went through with my marriage. It was… one of the worst moments of my life. Every nightmare I ever had about coming out was coming true.” Yugi blinked away his tears, while Atem wrapped him in a backhug, resting his chin on Yugi’s shoulder.

“I was lucky, though, because my mother and grandfather still love me and accept me, and my husband, and our children. I was able to stand strong and tell my father I didn’t care about his opinion and that he was no longer welcome into my life. But I’m fortunate to have that ability—I was an adult and still had a support system. There are so many youth out there trapped in bad situations, hiding who they are. We can’t save everyone. We all know that. But KaibaCorp can at least put our money where our mouth is and work to help support the agencies and the people that do help those kids in trapped situations.”

He nodded back towards Mokuba, who stepped forward again. Behind them, the screens lit up with their new products. “That’s why, starting today, we’re releasing special edition DLC packs, special figurines, limited edition Duel Disks, and a brand new KaibaCorp clothing line! We want to make it normal in games for boys to wear skirts or dresses, or girls to wear pants and armor, or for there to be a gender neutral option so no one has to conform to the gender binary! We want to give everyone the chance to express themselves freely in our games and this was how we decided to do it.”

The screen flashed first with the DLC packs, showing a variety of new costumes for the Magicians of the various games. “As you can see, we’ve created the option of swapping female and male clothing, as well as creating a more neutral option. This extends to every class in the games, not just the Magician line. These are all free options, too. The purchasable DLC, though, will be color swaps, more elaborate costumes that Ryou and Yugi personally designed, and a few costume swaps from various games. So, if for example, you’ve always want to dress the Pharaoh from Millennium World as the Dark Magician Girl costume from Spherium II, you can now do that with these new DLC packs.”

Mokuba clicked his arm piece, switching the screen to the next images of figurines. It had recognizable characters, like the Dark Magician, as well as models that looked strikingly familiar to Atem’s Pharaoh character or Yugi’s Heba character. “New figurines available for the board game versions of Monster World, Spherium, Dungeon Dice Monsters, and Capsule Monsters! The Dark Magician is dressed like his pupil and the Dark Magician Girl is dressed as her teacher. We also have a special Millennium World figurine set that does come with alternate outfits. The monster creatures have alternate colors and rainbow versions of themselves, too, to match our Kaleidoscope project theme.”

He paused, letting Joey step forward to brandish one of Kaiba’s new Duel Disks. It was silver but the lights were all multicolored, while the large powersource light nearest to the elbow was designed to glow like a kaleidoscope. Seto also stepped forward, showing off his Deluxe Duel Disk. The lights on his elbow and shoulder piece were colored purple, while wires that connected the lights glowed silver. The Duel Disk was black with white highlights. It was the colors of the asexuality flag.

“We have several new Duel Disks styles available. You can find them in our Kaleidoscope style, or in various colors representing the different LGBTQIA+ flags. My big bro is wearing the asexuality colored Deluxe Duel Disk, while Joey has our Kaleidoscope version in the basic model.”

Mokuba grinned enthusiastically as Kaiba and Joey showed off the Duel Disks. “The best part of all of this? All proceeds will go straight to charitable organizations that aid LGBTQIA+ youth. We’re serious when we said we want to help. We’re not here to make a profit on these items. 100% goes to charity. We’ll use the profit we make on our normal items to fund the production of these special edition goods.”

It was hard to read the crowd. They all seemed in shock, though there were definitely some diehard fans of the new products; Mokuba was still getting some pretty vocal response from the stadium after each announcement. Good. There had been a fear of alienating some of their fanbase but all of them had decided to take that risk and push forward with the project anyways.

“Finally, our last line of items—introducing our Kaleidoscope fashion line! You’ve seen our KaibaCorp exclusive clothing before; the sleek coats, elaborate shirts with too many buckles, tight leather pants, collars and chains, and a multitude of Blue Eyes White Dragon inspired clothes. This is something completely different. Atem, I’ll turn it over to you.”

Atem tapped on his mic, grinning at the crowd who cheered for him. Even though he wasn’t nearly as active in the dueling circuits anymore, he was still a crowd favorite. “The Kaleidoscope line is for all people. We have clothes for whatever you’re feeling: gender neutral, feminine, or masculine. Mix and match the clothes to your delight! We have seventeen various colors and patterns, all of which are available in every style of clothes we could offer: dresses, skirts, pants, tank tops, shorts, one-piece bodices, sweaters, suits, jackets, hoodies, sweatpants—we have as many varieties as possible to fit whatever your needs might be. After all, I know first hand that sometimes you want to wear short, flowy skirts and lacy tops, an other days, you want to wear comfortable sweats and a relaxing T-shirt. With this line, you can do both.”

“This is the only line that won’t have all 100% going to charity,” Mokuba admitted. “We want to be totally transparent about this, though. Because it is an entire line of brand new clothing, we have to be able to cover costs of production. Still, 40% of all proceeds from every Kaleidoscope branded article sold will go to charity.”

“We hope,” Yugi cut in, smiling gently, “that you will support us in the endeavor. We want to help others and we’re hoping you will, too, as well as show other companies it’s okay to stand for what is right. And representing every different identity and showing kids that they are normal—that normal is really just a kaleidoscope of different things—is what is right.”

The applause was immediate. Mokuba felt his chest loosen with relief.

“Now, it wouldn’t be a KaibaCorp promotion without a duel of somesort!” Joey screeched, grinning wildly. “We don’t aim to disappoint! It’s been a few years since they competed officially, but for the first time in three years, all four of us will duel again! Kaiba, Atem, Yugi; are you ready?!”

This time, the roar from the crowd nearly bowled them over. Ever since releasing Millennium World when Yugi was 30, right before he got his daughter, he had stepped back from the dueling circuit. When he was 31, after 15 years of reigning undefeated as the King of Games, Yugi had officially stepped down as the world Duelist champion, allowing someone else to take his place.

Everyone still called him the King of Games, though. The title had never been given out since, even though it had been almost three years since he had retired. Since then, Yugi had focused only on designing games and his role at KaibaCorp. He hadn’t participated in a public duel since his official resignation.

With him, though, Seto and Atem had also pulled out of the dueling circuit. Seto was a shoo-in for world champion, but he refused the title, as he had never been able to beat Yugi (he had beaten Atem on a few very rare occasions) and Yugi, being his greatest rival and goal, was the only reason he had really continued to push as long as he did. Seto still dueled in public battles occasionally but normally only to defeat the current world champion in special battles. Unsurprisingly, he kicked their asses.

Atem, the Pharaoh, had retired as soon as they had their first child. He had explained that he may return to the dueling circuit once their children were old enough to travel with him, but for the time being, it was more important to him to be a father. Much like Seto, his only recorded losses were against Yugi, Seto, and Joey. He, too, had only made a rare battle appearance over the past four years since retiring at 30. Normally, it was only for special promotions for new items or for Joey’s show.

Joey was the only one who semi-actively participated in the dueling circuit anymore, but even then, it was clear he just didn’t have as much fun doing it without his friends and rivals. He was also such a legendary figure that most of his competitors psyched themselves out fighting him. Still, Joey enjoyed joining small tournaments and appearing in random events just for fun, normally allowing whoever he beat to move forward in tournaments. He had done that twice with the world championship, technically winning it but refusing the title and giving it to his opponent.

“We also all argued about who to team up with who, so since none of of us can agree, you’re going to get three two-on-two duels and one final free-for-all duel with all four of us! Can you handle that, Domino City?!” Mokuba was reasonably sure at least two people passed out from screaming so loudly. He also thought his eardrums had busted.

The first match was Joey and Yugi versus Atem and Seto. It was hilarious to watch, as his big brother and Atem snarked back and forth with each other, while Joey and Yugi pulled the most bizarre combos out of their ass that made it seem like they were playing it by the seats of their pants.

They weren’t, of course. Joey’s gambling style of playing worked to Yugi’s advantage, as he knew how to plan around Joey’s off-the-wall strategies. He crafted genius plans to work with Joey, and though it seemed that Atem and Seto were clearly going to be the winners since most of Joey and Yugi’s dangerous strategies ended with them losing copious amounts of life points, right at the end, Yugi pulled out a carefully planned trap (clearly turns in the making) that decimated Seto and Atem with Joey’s cards.

The first win went to Yugi and Joey.

The next battle had Yugi and Seto teaming up against Joey and Atem. Seto’s pure power deck was reinforced by Yugi’s clever strategies, while Atem and Joey did their damndest to pull the rug out from Seto and Yugi. Atem tended to rely on tricks and illusions, pretending to be backed into a corner, only to have lulled his opponent into a trap; however, he was still an ardent gambler, just like Joey. Yugi and Seto were both strategists through and through, and Yugi could easily predict Atem’s tricks. Joey was a little harder for Yugi to predict (since Joey really didn’t plan ahead, exactly) but Seto’s overwhelming power was a perfect foil to Joey. With Yugi reinforcing Seto and out-trapping Atem’s traps, Seto was able to destroy Joey’s tactics.

Once more, the battle ended in Yugi’s favor, as he and Seto defeated Atem and Joey.

Then it was couple versus couple. Unfortunately, unlike the other two battles that didn’t have clear winners, it was extremely obvious who would win this fight. Yugi and Atem didn’t even need to communicate verbally; their moves were so seamless in strengthening each other and playing off of each others traps, that it almost looked like they were one person with two decks. Joey and Seto didn’t stand a fucking chance. Atem and Yugi simply slaughtered them.

They paused the duels to give the four men a break, using the time to bring out the children and teens to tell their stories. Ryou, Duke, and Mokuba sat down with them, talking through the bullying stories. After talking through everything and asking what else could be done to help others like them, they gave the kids some of their new products, before wrapping up.

Finally, the most anticipated duel of the day to close out the event. It was a free for all and honestly, for most of the duel, Mokuba was sure Yugi was going to lose. All three of his opponents clearly targeted him, trying to get him out first.

But Yugi was as slippery as water. He deflected attacks onto the other players, playing extremely defensive for the majority of the battle. Joey was the first to go out, as one of his gambles he tried against Yugi backfired horribly and cut his lifepoints over halfway. Seto saw the opportunity and took it, knocking him out.

After that, Mokuba had expected it to come down to Yugi and Atem, but surprisingly enough, his brother managed to pull off a trap that shattered Atem’s defenses. Yugi had the option of knocking Atem from the game or targeting Seto and he actually picked his husband. He had smiled and apologized, cheekily asking his husband not to be mad at him, before sending his Silent Magician to finish off Atem’s lifepoints.

Then it was Seto and Yugi battling it out, at least until Yugi summoned Gandora-X and wiped out Seto's monsters. They swapped card effects and trap and spell cards back and forth on the turn, reminding Mokuba of their duel way back before Yugi had graduated high school, during that whole Diva fiasco thing. Much like that duel, Yugi ended the duel with summoning his Dark Magician back from the Graveyard and attacking Seto. This time, though, the duel didn't get interrupted right before Seto's lifepoints hit 0; his health dropped to nothing and Yugi was declared the winner.

Even though he was longer reigning as the King of Games, Yugi was still undefeated, defending a title he didn’t even technically have.

After the duel, Mokuba gave a few more announcements to wrap up the event, finally reminding everyone to buy their new products, before dismissing them.

He sighed sighed in relief as he turned off his mic, watching the stands begin to clear. Mokuba was honestly really ready to go home. The event had been an emotional one and he felt so drained.

Before he could go much further, though, he was nearly run over by two very excited children running onto the stage, yelling, “Papa! Daddy! You were on the big screens! You won!!” The smiles Yugi and Atem gave as they saw their children made something warm blossom through Mokuba’s body.

Atem swung his son up into his arms, while Yugi hefted their daughter up, raining hugs and kisses on the excited children. The two children laughed in sheer delight before hugging their fathers tightly.

It was for people like Yugi and Atem and their children that they were throwing events like this. That they were coming out in support of LGBTQIA+ rights. Atem and Yugi were wonderful fathers, loving and so caring to their children. Mokuba and Seto had a shitty father—he knew what a terrible parent looked like and Yugi and Atem weren’t that.

Because children deserved to grow up happy and loved, and people like Yugi and Atem deserved the chance to give children that type of love. That was why they were doing things like this.

Mokuba could only hope it made the change they wanted. Even if it was only a small one, only one step at a time, even if it only helped one kid, well, then they had succeeded.

But looking at the dynamite force that was behind Project Kaleidoscope, Mokuba had a feeling it was going to be a much bigger success than just helping one kid. No, KaibaCorp was going to change the world. And this was just the beginning.

#yugioh advent #puzzleshipping #yugioh #one more left to go omg finally

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misssophiachase · 7 years

Photo

Happy Halloween lovelies! So this is my day one drabble for @klaroweenweekend, hope I’m not too late and you enjoy it. Given it was adversaries I hope this spin works too. Pic not mine obviously.

Beauty and the Geek

30 October

“Ouch!”

“Well, if you didn’t fidget so much, Forbes,” Katherine argued, attempting to fasten a pin near the sensitive bare skin of her torso. “I might be able to alter your costume, princess.”

“Seems fitting,” Bonnie agreed. They were finalising their outfits for the high school halloween dance and given Katherine’s design skills she was the one yielding the painful sewing accessories.

“Hey!” She growled, looking at her best friends and knowing that if they didn’t hold that particular status in her life she’d be way more confrontational.

“Oh come on,” Kat scoffed. “Your costume is a princess and you’re acting like one. I mean this couldn’t be more perfect, Care.”

“Is it too late to change my mind?” She squeaked, suddenly feeling self conscious about her rash decision a month earlier and just how brief her costume actually was now she was looking at it in the mirror. “I don’t want to dress like this.”

“Sure you don’t, Care.” Bonnie teased. “I saw the way your eyes lit up when you saw this in the costume place.”

“I was stunned.”

“No, you got all kinds of excited given the Star Wars connection and...”

“Then you thought it was the best way to make a certain popular jock see you in a different light.” Caroline faltered, as much as she wanted to disagree it was slightly true. “And given the whole Sandy and Danny Grease dynamic I don’t blame you.”

She’d been tutoring the extremely attractive and annoyingly arrogant Klaus Mikaelson for six months and had struggled to move past those crimson lips and deep set dimples. Sure he’d started out as the egotistical ass she’d expected but for some reason had grown on her over time.

“I am so not Sandy and to be honest that comparison really annoys me,” Caroline scowled.

“What because she’s blonde, annoyingly naive and whiny?” Bonnie asked.

“I have to admit that girl can wear tight fitting spandex though,” Katherine added. “I mean it’s a crime to look that good in such an unflattering fabric.”

“This isn’t about him,” she murmured, choosing to ignore her friends throwaway comments even if she didn’t really believe herself. He'd been messing with her emotions for moths now.

One month earlier...

“It doesn’t make sense,” he complained, tapping his pencil on the book in frustration. “Numbers I get but...”

“Algebra is difficult,” she offered. Even though he was the most talented soccer player and popular guy in school she kind of felt sorry for him.

“It should be thrown out with all that hypothesis nonsense.”

“And here I thought you were beginning to bond with trigonometry, Mikaelson?”

“If I ever start to bond with anything mathematical call the bloody doctor,” he drawled. She couldn’t miss just how cute he looked with that crooked smile and flashing her a stray dimple.

“You could do worse.”

“Oh really?”

“I’ve heard the Halloween chaos is pretty full on,” she shared. “Word is that if you choose the wrong costume then the consequences are extremely harsh.”

“Don’t I know it?” He joked, his blue eyes gazing into hers intently. “I went as a ghost in junior high at my old school in England and never heard the end of it.”

“A ghost?”

“Apparently it was extremely predictable,” he offered. “I didn’t have the guts to admit that it was the cheapest option my family could afford.”

“But yet still the most popular costume to date,” Caroline conceded. She’d often wondered about his family life but besides a few rants about his annoying siblings she didn’t ask. “I think it’s just because you were a trend setter and they couldn’t deal with it.’

“If you say so,” he chuckled. “So what are you dressing up as for Halloween? I hope it’s not a ghost and I’ve offended you.”

“I’d love to say it was and you’ve offended me deeply,” she teased. “But I am a little more creative than that.”

“If I’m not mistaken you kind of offended me with that whole creative comment,” he laughed.

“I couldn’t help myself.”

“I guess I didn’t expect any less, love.”

“So, what are you wearing for Halloween?” Caroline asked curiously, her mind conjuring up images of a fireman costume that did nothing to disguise his toned body. “Last year I seem to recall it was...”

“Cliched,” he winced. Caroline had a feeling he wasn’t the one to pick it. “I was actually considering not making the effort.”

“Pretty sure that’s not an option when you’re going to be the Prom King next year, your majesty, so you should get some training in the meantime.” Prom King with Hayley on his arm as his queen, she had to admit that particular image made her queasy.

Although they were no longer a couple, Caroline always figured they’d get back together given Hayley’s tragic attempts to lure him into her pathetic web. Klaus so far had resisted. Either he was too smart or someone else had caught his eye.

“And what would you know about that?” He bit back gruffly. Caroline immediately felt like their easy banter had turned into a depiction of their real life roles. The geek and the god.

“I suppose I wouldn’t,” she muttered, collecting her books from the table and standing up quickly. “Forget I even suggested it.”

She could hear his objections as she walked away but had no intention of responding. They were from two different worlds after all.

It had been the anger and frustration that had led her to make that crazy decision and choose that particular costume with her friends the following day. She’d show Klaus Mikaelson she was more than just a high school nerd.

October 31

“What the hell is that?” Kol baulked, looking at his brother’s ensemble as they approached the school gym.

“It’s called a costume, in fact this place is going to be littered with them, little brother,” he drawled sarcastically.

If he was being honest, Klaus would never have picked this costume, hence his brother’s surprise, but to him it was perfect. It was something Caroline had mentioned and Klaus couldn’t get out of his head.

2 months earlier...

“I don’t get it?”

“The problem?” She asked, spinning his math text book around to scrutinise it. Klaus couldn’t miss just how cute she looked with her glasses perched on the bridge of her nose and her forehead scrunched in concentration. “What’s the problem?”

“I was actually talking about Star Wars,” he admitted, watching as her golden waves fell effortlessly over her shoulders.

“You were thinking about Star Wars?”

“Well, I couldn’t stop thinking about it after our last session, so I may of watched a couple of movies.”

“You actually watched Star Wars? You?”

“Why do you say that so surprisingly?” He snapped. If there was anything Klaus hated it was people judging him.

“I just didn’t think it was your choice of genre I suppose.”

“Maybe not, until you told me about light sabres and a certain, feisty Princess,” he shared. “Then I couldn’t resist but this Chewbacca guy..”

“Chewbacca is a Wookiee,” she interrupted. Klaus had to admit she looked pretty cute defending her characters. “And how exactly has he offended your majesty?” She had taken to calling him that because she knew he hated it. Unlike every other girl in school, Caroline was the only one who challenged him and that’s why he liked her so much.

It had begun slowly, Klaus had been more annoyed than anything because he’d been forced into tutoring so as not to harm his scholarship chances. Maybe he’d been a little sullen according to Caroline at the outset but she’d soon knocked that out of him. She didn’t care about who he was and for some reason that only intrigued him more.

“I have no idea what the hell he’s saying,” he admitted. “I mean if I was Han Solo and he was my co-pilot on the Millennium Falcon I’d be worried, you know just saying.”

“You’ve thought about this?”

“Oh come on! Tell me you’re not worried about possible aviation incidents?”

“How much have you seen exactly?”

“This is a library,” their feared librarian hissed as she passed their table. “Not a rock concert.”

They both stifled a laugh before she turned the book around and tapped at the math problem in question.

October 31

The gym was packed but Klaus couldn’t see much given the ample amounts of dry ice they’d administered to fit in with the scary cemetery theme. He made his way towards the refreshments table, secretly hoping they’d spiked the punch so he could get through this night.

Ever since he and Caroline had fought a month earlier, Klaus had been in a funk. When he asked about her knowing the whole Prom King situation he hadn’t meant for it to come out so harsh. To be honest that had been festering for so long and all he wanted was to be free of the typecast and able to move on. Move on with Caroline if she’d have him.

It was something that tortured him on a daily basis, mainly because Klaus figured he wasn’t good enough for her. Not only was she the most brilliant person he knew but she was also extremely beautiful, inside and out.

Unfortunately she didn’t seem to be there and Klaus felt his chest constrict. He’d worn this costume for her after all.

“Couldn’t resist a light sabre huh?” A voice enquired from behind. Klaus would know that melodic voice anywhere.

“Well, given I don’t speak Wookiee, I figured this was the best choice,” Klaus hadn’t turned around yet, almost too afraid his burgeoning feelings would be betrayed.

“And you also have a thing for mind tricks, right?” Klaus had to admit she knew him all too well.

He turned around slowly a smile etched on his face at seeing her again but not expecting the outstanding view. Suddenly his smile turned into a worried frown. A brief gold bikini and maroon skirt he wasn’t expecting, even if she did look stunning with her gold locks plaited. Without thinking he pulled her aside and into a dark corner of the gym.

“Caroline,” he hissed, trying to ignore just how aroused he felt. Given he pretty much loved her before this ensemble wasn’t helping matters. “You can't wear things like that in public, what if...”

“People saw me,” she huffed, pushing him away. “I don’t need any chauvinistic behaviour tonight, Mikaelson.”

“But this outfit, I mean it’s just not you, love.”

“What? The shy, demure girl you know?” She growled. “Maybe I’m not who you think I am?”

“I know you’re beautiful, intelligent and stubbornly argumentative,” he began, running his thumb across her cheek intimately. “And I know that you’ve stolen my heart.”

“Well, maybe after this display of macho...”

“I will earn your trust, Caroline,” he promised. “If that’s what it takes, I’m willing to do that.”

“Why?”

“Because I love you and even if you think me the biggest caveman in the world, I’m going to try and put my Luke Skywalker Jedi robe over that outfit because I can’t handle anyone else looking at you the way I do.”

“Besides the obvious and annoying chauvinism in that statement, how many Star Wars films have you watched exactly?”

“Five,” he admitted. “Empire Strikes Back has to be my personal favourite.”

“So, you didn’t get to Return of the Jedi then I assume?” Klaus suddenly felt like he was missing something big given her judgmental tone.

“This is what Leia wears in the next movie,” she began, pulling him towards the gym doors. “And just so you know, our costume pairing you imagined isn’t exactly what it’s cracked up to be.”

“No spoilers, Forbes,” he warned.

“The only thing I’m going to say is that Ewoks are cute. How about we take this back to my place? And when I say that I mean to enlighten you on what you’ve missed in the Star Wars universe.” That, Klaus couldn’t argue with if he tried. Not only because he wanted to know the ending but he couldn’t think of a better person to have by his side when he did.

When she asked for a Star Wars themed wedding seven years later he was quick to decline but promised he’d wear his best Han Solo ensemble to bed that night, as long as she reprised that gold bikini from the high school Halloween dance all those years ago.

#klaroweenweekend #beauty and the geek #misssophiachase #sophia chase #klaroline drabbles #happy halloween

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