FIC The Foxhole Part 1
Sep. 26th, 2005 09:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jessara40k_ljWarnings BDSM, bloodplay
Ryou’d brought his current project with him to the Game Shop when Yami demanded he come to join the others, including Kaiba, who had to be here just to pay off some sort of bet. The CEO seemed to have made the same decision he had, bringing his laptop to work on, the way Ryou’d brought an experiment he was doing, trying to design a puzzle similar to the Millennium Puzzle, only without the magic and carved from wood, rather than cast from gold and the bodies and souls of 99 people. He’d already carved copies of the Millennium Ring, Eye, Rod, Key and Tauk as well as some parts for the Scales, just not the thin chains that held the pans, which didn’t actually require too much in the way of thought. Bakura’d come along because he knew that the Ishtars would be there, and the three of them were plotting something, probably a prank rather than anything dangerous. The two Game Kings were playing Duel Monsters against each other, with the others just playing audience...since they weren’t bothering with duel disks or anything and they didn’t even have any interesting stakes it was pretty boring to watch in Ryou’s opinion, he’d rather work on his puzzle and he wondered why he’d been invited.
-The same reason everyone was invited...so Pharaoh no baka could have a nice appreciative audience. Can you think of a good reason for knowing about The Foxhole?-
:Youko, Ragnarok Online.:
-He’s Kitsune?-
:Yes, should I volunteer to get passes?:
-See how it goes Yadonushi-sama.-
“What’s it like having a hikari that’s actually innocent Bakura?” Marik’s voice was loud enough for the whole room to hear.
“Blood innocent you mean.” Ryou spoke absently, more focused on carving the raised eye of Horus on the key piece to the Puzzle than on the conversation. “Don’t think even Yugi’s a sexual innocent anymore.”
“Oh I don’t know about that. Judging from the blush our little Pharaoh’s sporting I’d say they’re both sexual innocents.” Malik was still bearing a bit of a grudge for the whole ‘carve the Nameless Pharaoh’s memories on the Tomb Keeper’s back’ thing, and it showed.
“Unlikely. No matter how young he was when he took the throne he’d have been required to marry - even if it was in name only. And he was certainly old enough to be sexually active when he died.” Bakura’s off-hand explanation sounded almost like something his father would say, something Ryou was tempted to laugh at.
“But we all know he can’t remember anything from back then.”
“I am not innocent, in any way.” Yami’s outburst was so distracting that Ryou had to put his carving aside, to keep from messing it up. He looked up to find Yami standing, red with a mix of embarrassment and anger, hands clenched into fists at his side, and everyone else staring at him.
“Care to prove that, Yami?” Kaiba’s voice was smoothly confident, Ryou could tell he was jumping at the hint of weakness.
“How could we prove something like that Kaiba-kun?” Now Yugi was getting in on the act.
“Go to a club with lots of witnesses perhaps? Bakura-sama, didn’t Youko mention he was opening a club called The Foxhole here in Domino City when he e-mailed us to explain why he couldn’t get online with us for a while?”
“The Foxhole...that’s the new BDSM club isn’t it? You two know the manager?” Of course Marik would know what sort of place The Foxhole was.
“Online with you?” And Jounouchi would be confused about what Ryou was referring to.
“Youko took his online name from a legendary kitsune, you do the math.” Bakura didn’t explicitly tell Marik who Youko was on the scene, but if Marik had the right connections he’d know.
“There’s a MMORPG called Ragnarok Online, I’ve taken up playing it with Bakura-sama since I learned that no one will play table-top RPGs with me anymore.” There was absolutely no hint of accusation in Ryou’s voice, there didn’t need to be. “We play as a Priest and an Assassin. Youko’s another Assassin who sometimes joins us. In Rune-Midgard, the ‘world’ the game takes place in a Thief who gains enough experience becomes an Assassin.”
“Stupid mortals. The skills aren’t the same.”
“Please Bakura-sama, not now.”
“All right Yadonushi.” The spirit laughed. “So Pharaoh, are you willing to prove your words by visiting The Foxhole, and trying not to be spotted as a tourist?”
“And will you try to pass as a dom, or a sub?”
“More fun to let chance decide that, don’t you think Marik?”
“You’re assuming that there’s anyone but you interested in going Bakura-sama.”
-As if you aren’t Yadonushi-sama.- Bakura smirked at Ryou’s words. “Well, who’s willing to play?” Within a minute Kaiba was the only one who hadn’t agreed. Ryou picked up a sheet of paper and began cutting it into 16 equal pieces while he waited.
“I couldn’t afford to be recognised at a place like that.” From Kaiba’s tone it sounded as if he could be persuaded...
“Then wear a mask or something. It’s acceptable for doms and subs.”
“Five doms and five subs then? So we can go in pairs as an excuse to ward off any unwanted attention?” Ryou was already writing the letters ‘D’ and ‘S’ on five pieces of paper each. :The sub pieces are marked with Shadow Magic.: Albeit a very subtle hint of it. “Malik-kun, if you’ve got a small bag on you,” and he did, the Egyptian hikari still carried his money around in a belt purse, “could you empty it out, fold the slips and put them in there for everyone to pick a slip. They don’t all have to be folded identically, but don’t make it so you can tell what a slip is from how it’s folded. If you get a blank just put it back in.” Everyone gaped at him for a few moments, but Malik moved to obey when Bakura glared at him. “It didn’t look as if anyone else was going to get organised any time soon.”
“You want to do this?” Jounouchi sounded confused, Ryou couldn’t blame him.
“I’ve learned it’s easier not to fight my yami’s whims - especially not when they’re as harmless as this one. Pass me the bag so I can draw please Malik-kun.” Ryou smiled at the blond, and he obeyed wordlessly. The first slip Ryou drew out was blank, and he showed it to everyone “So you know it really is blank.” before putting it back into the bag. Then he drew out a piece marked with a ‘D’. “So I’m supposed to play dom. Bakura-sama, do you want to try next?”
“No, let the Pharaoh and his midget pick first. Unless you’re scared that is?” That was enough to have Yami snatching the bag almost defiantly, and putting his hand in. There was a flicker of a strange look on his face for a second, but it quickly disappeared, and he pulled a slip out, opening it - and paling ever so slightly when he read it.
“If you got a blank you have to show it around.” Marik’s comment seemed to strengthen Yami’s spine.
“How dare you insinuate that I would cheat.” He slapped his slip down on the table in front of him, letting everyone see that he was supposed to be sub. “Aibou, here.” He handed the bag over to Yugi, who drew out two blanks before he got a dom slip.
“My turn now.” Marik pulled the bag out of Yugi’s hand, taking his own slip out quickly, too quickly to notice the Shadow Magic, laughing so hard he ended up on the floor when he saw that he was supposed to submit. Bakura was the only one willing to get close enough to take the bag from him, pulling out his sub slip without hesitation, but not saying anything, just sitting down and looking at it, eyes unreadable to anyone but Ryou. Malik got his dom slip first try, Seto pulled out two blanks before he got a sub slip - proving that he certainly wasn’t aware of the magic involved. As the bag got near to empty more blanks were being pulled out before people got their assignment. Honda pulled out five blanks before he got the final sub slip.
“Don’t bother girl. Dom’s all that’s left.”
“You got sub as well Tomb Robber. That had to be fixed somehow!” Yami started to rant, glaring accusingly at Bakura and both Ishtars.
“Yami-san, the only two people who had the chance to ‘fix’ the results were myself and Malik-kun. I’m flattered that you think I could cast such a subtle and elaborate spell without you noticing, but really, how plausible is that?”
“It’s funny as hell, but I didn’t know Marik was going to react like that - you really think I’d risk it?” Their reasonable words seemed to calm Yami down, a bit anyway.
“We could make it into a game, perhaps. Go in as pairs, hikari and yami, last pair to be recognised as tourists wins.”
“What sort of stakes?”
“Winning pair each take one card from the decks of each of the losing pairs, so if you won you’d get a card of your choice from Yami-san and Bakura-sama’s decks, and Malik-kun would get cards from my and Yugi-kun’s decks.”
“No God cards.” Yami seemed to be getting into this now...he’d probably be perfectly willing to submit to Yugi, but no one else. Still, there was no way he’d be able to win.
“If more than one pair lasts to the end of the night the pair that’s taken most risks wins.” -And we’ll do a scene, so you can get passes Yadonushi-sama.-
“Put my Blue Eyes White Dragons in the same class as the God cards and I want in on the game - that’s if you think you’re up for it mutt.”
“Sure I’m up to it. As long as you make it worth my while.”
“Definitely. I’ll pay the cover charge for all of us then.”
“No need, I can get us passes. Save us the bother of hanging around in the queues. But you could arrange for transport to get us there and back.”
“I don’t want to be recognised, so...lending a limo to one of you would work.”
“The mutt. If you’re going to have him play your dom you have to show him some trust.” Bakura could be so cruel, Ryou hated it, except for the part of him that was Wraith.
“You’ll all need to agree on what’s acceptable and what isn’t before we go, and it’ll take some time to get costumes together, so, say...three weeks from today?” Ryou knew that the others were a bit shocked at his apparent knowledge of the scene, but Bakura’s smirk kept them from saying anything.
“Get there at seven, leave at midnight?”
“Meet at my house an hour beforehand. Agreed? Mutt, come see me sometime tomorrow.” And with that Kaiba left.
-o-()-o-
Seto paced, cursing his decision to enter the ‘game’ Ryou had come up with on the spot the night before, with the mutt as his partner - but the mutt was better than the only other option. Anzu...any female...was too much like the whore Gozaburo had given him on his thirteenth birthday, as a ‘reward’ for the lie he’d used to excuse his nightly visits to Mokuba. And he hadn’t been able to resist the idea of beating Yami at something.
He’d left orders for the mutt to be brought straight up to him when he arrived. By the time he did it was the middle of the afternoon, and Seto was beginning to wonder if he’d come at all - and why he hadn’t started making plans for this game himself.
“Hello bastard.” The insult sounded like habit by now, just like mutt did.
“Mutt. What took you so long?”
“I needed to do a bit of research. Unless you’ve got information about this sort of thing lying around?” Seto hadn’t even thought about that.
“If I do I don’t know where it is. If we do better than Yami in this game, but don’t win I’ll give you any three cards in my collection besides my Blue Eyes White Dragons. If we win I’ll give you any ten cards. Acceptable?”
“I can’t think of ten cards I want off the top of my head. We win, you help me pick those ten cards...agreed?” Was that a genuine request, or just a counter-offer for form’s sake? It didn’t matter, in a way it was a compliment, annoying as it was. And it impressed Seto that the mutt would either come up with a counter-offer so quickly, instead of just accepting his own offer, or be willing to learn from someone he hated.
“Agreed. Now, what did you come up with in this research of yours?” He wasn’t expecting too much from the mutt. So he was surprised at the book the blond pulled from his bag, page already marked.
“Costumes first...” The mutt was opening the book as he spoke; Seto had to make something clear.
“I’ll pay for both of our costumes, and I’ll give you money to pay for drinks before we go out. You can keep whatever’s left over whether we win or lose.”
“Thanks. In that case I’ll be wearing black leather pants and boots, and a black silk shirt. For you I thought something a bit like this, but better quality, and perhaps closer fitting. And the headcloth should be gauze or something like that.” The picture was of a woman from one of the more fundamentalist Muslim countries, loose black pants and tunic, both too baggy to really see her figure, and a length of black cloth wrapped around her head, hiding all but a strip of her face around her eyes.
“I’ll give you some money for your costume, this...” Seto wasn’t sure what to say about the suggestion. Was it some sort of subtle insult, implying that he was weak in some way? Or was it something else?
“You don’t want to be recognised, and from the way you dress I guess you don’t want to show too much of your flesh. Well, this works for both. It could look kinda sexy I guess, done right. But it’s certainly exotic, and it gives an excuse to hide your face and covers you up the way you like. You do know you can’t wear that necklace you’ve always got on don’t you?”
“Of course!” Did the mutt think he was stupid?
“Sorry, just you might be so used to wearing it that you forget you’ve got it on.” Another unexpected insight from someone who often seemed determinedly unobservant. “That happens sometimes. I figure you’ll need a padded bra, something to keep your family jewels out of the way, and a wig - any colour but brown.” Another separation from his real identity. “Got a copy of the house rules from The Foxhole too, all subs and slaves are required to wear a collar,” Seto shivered, he couldn’t stand to wear a dog collar again, or anything similar, “and there’s a number of different types suggested. You want to take a look through it?”
“Yes.” Perhaps there’d be something there he could stand. If he had to back out without even playing...one suggestion was a fine chain with a heavy pendant that hung where a sub’s collarbones met. “This will work. I’ll get something suitable. No leash.” It wasn’t required by the house rules.
“Not an issue.” Seto hadn’t remembered that the mutt had his own issues with that sort of thing. “We’ve covered costumes, and what I get out of this. Now don’t we need to decide what’s acceptable behaviour?”
“No restraints.” That was the first thing that came to mind, even if he was pretending to be someone else Seto didn’t want to feel vulnerable that way. Looking through the booklet advertising The Foxhole’s amenities and stating the house rules something else came to mind when he saw the mention of a ‘punishment area’. “And no public ‘punishment’ either.”
“I’d probably give us away if I tried anything like that. But you can’t be so...you’ve got to let me touch you without hitting me or pushing me away unless you want to give us away.”
“We’ll have to practise that then.” Seto hated acknowledging that, the mutt was seeing things he didn’t want him to. “Do you think I can get away with rejecting anyone else’s touch?”
“The first couple of times let me do it for you. I’ll say I don’t let anyone else touch you without my permission. Then you can do it yourself. Keeping quiet should be easy for you?” Seto nodded, in social situations he rarely started conversations himself, and with Gozaburo...
“Speak when spoken to then?” Seto was getting the uncomfortable feeling that if he wanted to do this he’d need to bring out all the lessons he’d learned from Gozaburo, and put them to use. But he wasn’t going to back out now. He refused to let anyone see him as weak. In any way.
“Yes, or given permission to speak - guess we can arrange some sort of cue for you to ask permission to speak, but you’ll have to be polite and respectful.” The faintly mocking smile on the mutt’s voice told Seto that he didn’t believe Seto could do it. He wouldn’t have survived Gozaburo if he couldn’t put up a show of submission occasionally. Not too often, or he’d have lost interest in Seto, but when he needed his ‘father’ to think he’d won. He let his gaze fall to the table between them, a very faint smile on his face.
“I can be polite, when I choose to Jounouchi-san.” Then he looked back up at the mutt, knowing that his expression was the one he wore when he was winning at Duel Monsters. “I just don’t see any reason to bother with it around Yugi and his groupies.”
“That a compliment, or an insult? I figure it’d be in character for me to grope and manhandle you at the club - can you handle that?” Seto blinked in shock, he hadn’t expected anyone, let alone the mutt to realise what a display of trust it was for him to allow himself to be childish and rude around the Game Kings’ friends.
“Practice again mutt. I’ll work out a schedule, and give it to you tomorrow.” Where could he take the time from safely? He wasn’t giving up Mokuba, but perhaps...
“What if your schedule doesn’t work for me bastard?”
“If you have outside obligations then tell me about them.” Highly unlikely Seto thought. It wasn’t as if the mutt had any...
“A part time job, fixing cars. But I don’t have permission from school, so I can’t let anyone find out. I know my friends wouldn’t deliberately betray me, but didn’t someone say two can keep a secret if one of them’s dead?” Seto blinked, he wouldn’t know, his education had been almost purely in the sciences after Gozaburo adopted him. Still, that sounded more like something he’d say. “The hours aren’t exactly predictable either. I usually know the week ahead, but not much more.”
“Give me your hours for the next week before you leave then.” Perhaps he’d misjudged the mutt a bit, none of the bullies back at the orphanage would have bothered doing something like that.
“Thanks. What else do we need to sort out?”
“I think we need a set of rules for my behaviour as well.” It would probably be a lot easier for him to beat Yami if he had a specific set of rules. Seto knew about following rules even if he didn’t want to or understand them. Gozaburo’s rules hadn’t always made sense, and he’d changed them unpredictably sometimes.
“Yeah, I forgot about that. I got a list of suggested rules. Here.” He pulled out a few sheets of crumpled paper, blushing faintly as he handed them over to Seto. “I’m sure half of them won’t work at all - cut and paste’s a wonderful thing. Just pick out whichever ones you think you can deal with for five hours. Then we can argue over them if we have to. I’ll write out the rules we’ve already agreed on.”
“Hmm.” Seto was already focused on the list the mutt had given him - or rather the lists. Some of the rules were seriously scary - ‘the slave will always have something inside him, a butt plug, a dildo, a vibrator, or his Master’ for instance, and half of them were repeated in slightly different forms throughout the list, usually in a different font each time. “Have you actually read these?”
“No, just cut and pasted the examples of rules I could find. I didn’t have time to do anything else. Told the librarian I was doing a project on abnormal sexuality for extra credit.” That might have been more believable if he’d researched anything besides the BDSM scene. “Anything useful?”
“Yes...there are some rules that would work for me.” Seto paused before continuing and the mutt seemed to think that was a hint.
“Well here’s what we’ve already got.” They’d talked about everything on the list except for one, and Seto had to admit that it would work better if he used feminine speech patterns. “Add what you think you need, then we’ll talk after I’ve read it.” The rules Seto added were surprisingly close to some of the rules he’d lived with when Gozaburo was alive, obedience, keeping a properly deferential attitude - eyes cast down and following a few steps behind - kneeling at the mutt’s feet when he sat down would be the only unfamiliar thing.
“Two amendments - unless I send you on an errand you’ll always be within arms length, and if I want to haul you up into my lap I can.”
“Agreed.” They’d decided everything important, Seto gave the mutt enough money for his costume, telling him to keep any change before he left.
-o-()-o-
Ryou’d brought his current project with him to the Game Shop when Yami demanded he come to join the others, including Kaiba, who had to be here just to pay off some sort of bet. The CEO seemed to have made the same decision he had, bringing his laptop to work on, the way Ryou’d brought an experiment he was doing, trying to design a puzzle similar to the Millennium Puzzle, only without the magic and carved from wood, rather than cast from gold and the bodies and souls of 99 people. He’d already carved copies of the Millennium Ring, Eye, Rod, Key and Tauk as well as some parts for the Scales, just not the thin chains that held the pans, which didn’t actually require too much in the way of thought. Bakura’d come along because he knew that the Ishtars would be there, and the three of them were plotting something, probably a prank rather than anything dangerous. The two Game Kings were playing Duel Monsters against each other, with the others just playing audience...since they weren’t bothering with duel disks or anything and they didn’t even have any interesting stakes it was pretty boring to watch in Ryou’s opinion, he’d rather work on his puzzle and he wondered why he’d been invited.
-The same reason everyone was invited...so Pharaoh no baka could have a nice appreciative audience. Can you think of a good reason for knowing about The Foxhole?-
:Youko, Ragnarok Online.:
-He’s Kitsune?-
:Yes, should I volunteer to get passes?:
-See how it goes Yadonushi-sama.-
“What’s it like having a hikari that’s actually innocent Bakura?” Marik’s voice was loud enough for the whole room to hear.
“Blood innocent you mean.” Ryou spoke absently, more focused on carving the raised eye of Horus on the key piece to the Puzzle than on the conversation. “Don’t think even Yugi’s a sexual innocent anymore.”
“Oh I don’t know about that. Judging from the blush our little Pharaoh’s sporting I’d say they’re both sexual innocents.” Malik was still bearing a bit of a grudge for the whole ‘carve the Nameless Pharaoh’s memories on the Tomb Keeper’s back’ thing, and it showed.
“Unlikely. No matter how young he was when he took the throne he’d have been required to marry - even if it was in name only. And he was certainly old enough to be sexually active when he died.” Bakura’s off-hand explanation sounded almost like something his father would say, something Ryou was tempted to laugh at.
“But we all know he can’t remember anything from back then.”
“I am not innocent, in any way.” Yami’s outburst was so distracting that Ryou had to put his carving aside, to keep from messing it up. He looked up to find Yami standing, red with a mix of embarrassment and anger, hands clenched into fists at his side, and everyone else staring at him.
“Care to prove that, Yami?” Kaiba’s voice was smoothly confident, Ryou could tell he was jumping at the hint of weakness.
“How could we prove something like that Kaiba-kun?” Now Yugi was getting in on the act.
“Go to a club with lots of witnesses perhaps? Bakura-sama, didn’t Youko mention he was opening a club called The Foxhole here in Domino City when he e-mailed us to explain why he couldn’t get online with us for a while?”
“The Foxhole...that’s the new BDSM club isn’t it? You two know the manager?” Of course Marik would know what sort of place The Foxhole was.
“Online with you?” And Jounouchi would be confused about what Ryou was referring to.
“Youko took his online name from a legendary kitsune, you do the math.” Bakura didn’t explicitly tell Marik who Youko was on the scene, but if Marik had the right connections he’d know.
“There’s a MMORPG called Ragnarok Online, I’ve taken up playing it with Bakura-sama since I learned that no one will play table-top RPGs with me anymore.” There was absolutely no hint of accusation in Ryou’s voice, there didn’t need to be. “We play as a Priest and an Assassin. Youko’s another Assassin who sometimes joins us. In Rune-Midgard, the ‘world’ the game takes place in a Thief who gains enough experience becomes an Assassin.”
“Stupid mortals. The skills aren’t the same.”
“Please Bakura-sama, not now.”
“All right Yadonushi.” The spirit laughed. “So Pharaoh, are you willing to prove your words by visiting The Foxhole, and trying not to be spotted as a tourist?”
“And will you try to pass as a dom, or a sub?”
“More fun to let chance decide that, don’t you think Marik?”
“You’re assuming that there’s anyone but you interested in going Bakura-sama.”
-As if you aren’t Yadonushi-sama.- Bakura smirked at Ryou’s words. “Well, who’s willing to play?” Within a minute Kaiba was the only one who hadn’t agreed. Ryou picked up a sheet of paper and began cutting it into 16 equal pieces while he waited.
“I couldn’t afford to be recognised at a place like that.” From Kaiba’s tone it sounded as if he could be persuaded...
“Then wear a mask or something. It’s acceptable for doms and subs.”
“Five doms and five subs then? So we can go in pairs as an excuse to ward off any unwanted attention?” Ryou was already writing the letters ‘D’ and ‘S’ on five pieces of paper each. :The sub pieces are marked with Shadow Magic.: Albeit a very subtle hint of it. “Malik-kun, if you’ve got a small bag on you,” and he did, the Egyptian hikari still carried his money around in a belt purse, “could you empty it out, fold the slips and put them in there for everyone to pick a slip. They don’t all have to be folded identically, but don’t make it so you can tell what a slip is from how it’s folded. If you get a blank just put it back in.” Everyone gaped at him for a few moments, but Malik moved to obey when Bakura glared at him. “It didn’t look as if anyone else was going to get organised any time soon.”
“You want to do this?” Jounouchi sounded confused, Ryou couldn’t blame him.
“I’ve learned it’s easier not to fight my yami’s whims - especially not when they’re as harmless as this one. Pass me the bag so I can draw please Malik-kun.” Ryou smiled at the blond, and he obeyed wordlessly. The first slip Ryou drew out was blank, and he showed it to everyone “So you know it really is blank.” before putting it back into the bag. Then he drew out a piece marked with a ‘D’. “So I’m supposed to play dom. Bakura-sama, do you want to try next?”
“No, let the Pharaoh and his midget pick first. Unless you’re scared that is?” That was enough to have Yami snatching the bag almost defiantly, and putting his hand in. There was a flicker of a strange look on his face for a second, but it quickly disappeared, and he pulled a slip out, opening it - and paling ever so slightly when he read it.
“If you got a blank you have to show it around.” Marik’s comment seemed to strengthen Yami’s spine.
“How dare you insinuate that I would cheat.” He slapped his slip down on the table in front of him, letting everyone see that he was supposed to be sub. “Aibou, here.” He handed the bag over to Yugi, who drew out two blanks before he got a dom slip.
“My turn now.” Marik pulled the bag out of Yugi’s hand, taking his own slip out quickly, too quickly to notice the Shadow Magic, laughing so hard he ended up on the floor when he saw that he was supposed to submit. Bakura was the only one willing to get close enough to take the bag from him, pulling out his sub slip without hesitation, but not saying anything, just sitting down and looking at it, eyes unreadable to anyone but Ryou. Malik got his dom slip first try, Seto pulled out two blanks before he got a sub slip - proving that he certainly wasn’t aware of the magic involved. As the bag got near to empty more blanks were being pulled out before people got their assignment. Honda pulled out five blanks before he got the final sub slip.
“Don’t bother girl. Dom’s all that’s left.”
“You got sub as well Tomb Robber. That had to be fixed somehow!” Yami started to rant, glaring accusingly at Bakura and both Ishtars.
“Yami-san, the only two people who had the chance to ‘fix’ the results were myself and Malik-kun. I’m flattered that you think I could cast such a subtle and elaborate spell without you noticing, but really, how plausible is that?”
“It’s funny as hell, but I didn’t know Marik was going to react like that - you really think I’d risk it?” Their reasonable words seemed to calm Yami down, a bit anyway.
“We could make it into a game, perhaps. Go in as pairs, hikari and yami, last pair to be recognised as tourists wins.”
“What sort of stakes?”
“Winning pair each take one card from the decks of each of the losing pairs, so if you won you’d get a card of your choice from Yami-san and Bakura-sama’s decks, and Malik-kun would get cards from my and Yugi-kun’s decks.”
“No God cards.” Yami seemed to be getting into this now...he’d probably be perfectly willing to submit to Yugi, but no one else. Still, there was no way he’d be able to win.
“If more than one pair lasts to the end of the night the pair that’s taken most risks wins.” -And we’ll do a scene, so you can get passes Yadonushi-sama.-
“Put my Blue Eyes White Dragons in the same class as the God cards and I want in on the game - that’s if you think you’re up for it mutt.”
“Sure I’m up to it. As long as you make it worth my while.”
“Definitely. I’ll pay the cover charge for all of us then.”
“No need, I can get us passes. Save us the bother of hanging around in the queues. But you could arrange for transport to get us there and back.”
“I don’t want to be recognised, so...lending a limo to one of you would work.”
“The mutt. If you’re going to have him play your dom you have to show him some trust.” Bakura could be so cruel, Ryou hated it, except for the part of him that was Wraith.
“You’ll all need to agree on what’s acceptable and what isn’t before we go, and it’ll take some time to get costumes together, so, say...three weeks from today?” Ryou knew that the others were a bit shocked at his apparent knowledge of the scene, but Bakura’s smirk kept them from saying anything.
“Get there at seven, leave at midnight?”
“Meet at my house an hour beforehand. Agreed? Mutt, come see me sometime tomorrow.” And with that Kaiba left.
Seto paced, cursing his decision to enter the ‘game’ Ryou had come up with on the spot the night before, with the mutt as his partner - but the mutt was better than the only other option. Anzu...any female...was too much like the whore Gozaburo had given him on his thirteenth birthday, as a ‘reward’ for the lie he’d used to excuse his nightly visits to Mokuba. And he hadn’t been able to resist the idea of beating Yami at something.
He’d left orders for the mutt to be brought straight up to him when he arrived. By the time he did it was the middle of the afternoon, and Seto was beginning to wonder if he’d come at all - and why he hadn’t started making plans for this game himself.
“Hello bastard.” The insult sounded like habit by now, just like mutt did.
“Mutt. What took you so long?”
“I needed to do a bit of research. Unless you’ve got information about this sort of thing lying around?” Seto hadn’t even thought about that.
“If I do I don’t know where it is. If we do better than Yami in this game, but don’t win I’ll give you any three cards in my collection besides my Blue Eyes White Dragons. If we win I’ll give you any ten cards. Acceptable?”
“I can’t think of ten cards I want off the top of my head. We win, you help me pick those ten cards...agreed?” Was that a genuine request, or just a counter-offer for form’s sake? It didn’t matter, in a way it was a compliment, annoying as it was. And it impressed Seto that the mutt would either come up with a counter-offer so quickly, instead of just accepting his own offer, or be willing to learn from someone he hated.
“Agreed. Now, what did you come up with in this research of yours?” He wasn’t expecting too much from the mutt. So he was surprised at the book the blond pulled from his bag, page already marked.
“Costumes first...” The mutt was opening the book as he spoke; Seto had to make something clear.
“I’ll pay for both of our costumes, and I’ll give you money to pay for drinks before we go out. You can keep whatever’s left over whether we win or lose.”
“Thanks. In that case I’ll be wearing black leather pants and boots, and a black silk shirt. For you I thought something a bit like this, but better quality, and perhaps closer fitting. And the headcloth should be gauze or something like that.” The picture was of a woman from one of the more fundamentalist Muslim countries, loose black pants and tunic, both too baggy to really see her figure, and a length of black cloth wrapped around her head, hiding all but a strip of her face around her eyes.
“I’ll give you some money for your costume, this...” Seto wasn’t sure what to say about the suggestion. Was it some sort of subtle insult, implying that he was weak in some way? Or was it something else?
“You don’t want to be recognised, and from the way you dress I guess you don’t want to show too much of your flesh. Well, this works for both. It could look kinda sexy I guess, done right. But it’s certainly exotic, and it gives an excuse to hide your face and covers you up the way you like. You do know you can’t wear that necklace you’ve always got on don’t you?”
“Of course!” Did the mutt think he was stupid?
“Sorry, just you might be so used to wearing it that you forget you’ve got it on.” Another unexpected insight from someone who often seemed determinedly unobservant. “That happens sometimes. I figure you’ll need a padded bra, something to keep your family jewels out of the way, and a wig - any colour but brown.” Another separation from his real identity. “Got a copy of the house rules from The Foxhole too, all subs and slaves are required to wear a collar,” Seto shivered, he couldn’t stand to wear a dog collar again, or anything similar, “and there’s a number of different types suggested. You want to take a look through it?”
“Yes.” Perhaps there’d be something there he could stand. If he had to back out without even playing...one suggestion was a fine chain with a heavy pendant that hung where a sub’s collarbones met. “This will work. I’ll get something suitable. No leash.” It wasn’t required by the house rules.
“Not an issue.” Seto hadn’t remembered that the mutt had his own issues with that sort of thing. “We’ve covered costumes, and what I get out of this. Now don’t we need to decide what’s acceptable behaviour?”
“No restraints.” That was the first thing that came to mind, even if he was pretending to be someone else Seto didn’t want to feel vulnerable that way. Looking through the booklet advertising The Foxhole’s amenities and stating the house rules something else came to mind when he saw the mention of a ‘punishment area’. “And no public ‘punishment’ either.”
“I’d probably give us away if I tried anything like that. But you can’t be so...you’ve got to let me touch you without hitting me or pushing me away unless you want to give us away.”
“We’ll have to practise that then.” Seto hated acknowledging that, the mutt was seeing things he didn’t want him to. “Do you think I can get away with rejecting anyone else’s touch?”
“The first couple of times let me do it for you. I’ll say I don’t let anyone else touch you without my permission. Then you can do it yourself. Keeping quiet should be easy for you?” Seto nodded, in social situations he rarely started conversations himself, and with Gozaburo...
“Speak when spoken to then?” Seto was getting the uncomfortable feeling that if he wanted to do this he’d need to bring out all the lessons he’d learned from Gozaburo, and put them to use. But he wasn’t going to back out now. He refused to let anyone see him as weak. In any way.
“Yes, or given permission to speak - guess we can arrange some sort of cue for you to ask permission to speak, but you’ll have to be polite and respectful.” The faintly mocking smile on the mutt’s voice told Seto that he didn’t believe Seto could do it. He wouldn’t have survived Gozaburo if he couldn’t put up a show of submission occasionally. Not too often, or he’d have lost interest in Seto, but when he needed his ‘father’ to think he’d won. He let his gaze fall to the table between them, a very faint smile on his face.
“I can be polite, when I choose to Jounouchi-san.” Then he looked back up at the mutt, knowing that his expression was the one he wore when he was winning at Duel Monsters. “I just don’t see any reason to bother with it around Yugi and his groupies.”
“That a compliment, or an insult? I figure it’d be in character for me to grope and manhandle you at the club - can you handle that?” Seto blinked in shock, he hadn’t expected anyone, let alone the mutt to realise what a display of trust it was for him to allow himself to be childish and rude around the Game Kings’ friends.
“Practice again mutt. I’ll work out a schedule, and give it to you tomorrow.” Where could he take the time from safely? He wasn’t giving up Mokuba, but perhaps...
“What if your schedule doesn’t work for me bastard?”
“If you have outside obligations then tell me about them.” Highly unlikely Seto thought. It wasn’t as if the mutt had any...
“A part time job, fixing cars. But I don’t have permission from school, so I can’t let anyone find out. I know my friends wouldn’t deliberately betray me, but didn’t someone say two can keep a secret if one of them’s dead?” Seto blinked, he wouldn’t know, his education had been almost purely in the sciences after Gozaburo adopted him. Still, that sounded more like something he’d say. “The hours aren’t exactly predictable either. I usually know the week ahead, but not much more.”
“Give me your hours for the next week before you leave then.” Perhaps he’d misjudged the mutt a bit, none of the bullies back at the orphanage would have bothered doing something like that.
“Thanks. What else do we need to sort out?”
“I think we need a set of rules for my behaviour as well.” It would probably be a lot easier for him to beat Yami if he had a specific set of rules. Seto knew about following rules even if he didn’t want to or understand them. Gozaburo’s rules hadn’t always made sense, and he’d changed them unpredictably sometimes.
“Yeah, I forgot about that. I got a list of suggested rules. Here.” He pulled out a few sheets of crumpled paper, blushing faintly as he handed them over to Seto. “I’m sure half of them won’t work at all - cut and paste’s a wonderful thing. Just pick out whichever ones you think you can deal with for five hours. Then we can argue over them if we have to. I’ll write out the rules we’ve already agreed on.”
“Hmm.” Seto was already focused on the list the mutt had given him - or rather the lists. Some of the rules were seriously scary - ‘the slave will always have something inside him, a butt plug, a dildo, a vibrator, or his Master’ for instance, and half of them were repeated in slightly different forms throughout the list, usually in a different font each time. “Have you actually read these?”
“No, just cut and pasted the examples of rules I could find. I didn’t have time to do anything else. Told the librarian I was doing a project on abnormal sexuality for extra credit.” That might have been more believable if he’d researched anything besides the BDSM scene. “Anything useful?”
“Yes...there are some rules that would work for me.” Seto paused before continuing and the mutt seemed to think that was a hint.
“Well here’s what we’ve already got.” They’d talked about everything on the list except for one, and Seto had to admit that it would work better if he used feminine speech patterns. “Add what you think you need, then we’ll talk after I’ve read it.” The rules Seto added were surprisingly close to some of the rules he’d lived with when Gozaburo was alive, obedience, keeping a properly deferential attitude - eyes cast down and following a few steps behind - kneeling at the mutt’s feet when he sat down would be the only unfamiliar thing.
“Two amendments - unless I send you on an errand you’ll always be within arms length, and if I want to haul you up into my lap I can.”
“Agreed.” They’d decided everything important, Seto gave the mutt enough money for his costume, telling him to keep any change before he left.
