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Description
I Can't Believe I Love You
Main pairing: Seto x OC
Background pairings: Yami x Yugi, Bakura x Ryou, Marik x Malik, Joey x Duke
Warnings: Swearing and slight sexual yaoi stuff^^
Rated M for later chapters

Chapter 14:

To be honest, kissing Bakura wasn’t as unpleasant as I thought it would be. Well, I knew it wasn’t going to be unpleasant, judging by how many times I’ve seen him and Ryou in a ferocious make-out session and Ryou always seemed to enjoy it very much, but I was a little weary about Bakura’s whole Eating-Raw-Meat fetish he’s got going on. But trust me, those worries fucked off out of existence the very second our lips touched.

He slipped me the tongue almost instantly, his hand on the back of my head, holding me close, exploring my mouth as roughly as he could, obviously trying to dominate me. Heh. Good luck, sweetheart. I know little Ryou’s probably the most submissive person in the world, but if you think I’ll be the same, you’ve got another thing coming.

I dug my fingernails into his shoulders, making him give a small groan of pleasure from the pain. Hey, what can I say? The guy’s a masochist. Even the slightest twinge of pain turns him on.

“I don’t think so,” I murmured into his mouth, gently nibbling his bottom lip, teasing him. This was about our third kiss of the evening, and every time we locked lips, he always tried to be the one in control, playing the dominant male act. Obviously, I had other ideas.

“You never learn, do you, Bakura?” I purred and then bit down hard on the lip between my teeth, earning another pleasured groan and I took control of the kiss, letting my tongue dart out to do the exploring this time. There were cheers and laughs from all around us, the other guys urging us on, but we ignored them for about ten more seconds of our fierce tongue war until we finally broke apart, panting lightly, our lips kiss-swollen, me emerging victorious. Yet again.

“Nice try, Bakura, but you’ll never get the better of our Renami!” Joey laughed as I smiled and took a bow before he passed back my bottle of beer and I sat down beside him. Bakura scowled at him and took his place by Ryou’s side, nursing his bruised pride as we all laughed at him and Ryou entwined their hands together, giggling at his lover. Joey had a swig from his own beer and then reached forwards to the empty bottle that lay on its side in the middle of the floor, where we all sat around it in a circle.

“My turn!” He grinned and spun the bottle hard with a flick of his wrist, sending it spinning around madly, the green glass looking more like a blur of colour than anything else.

Have you ever played spin-the-bottle? It’s a great game, especially when you’re the only girl surrounded by eight of the hottest guys in the whole damn planet. Sure, they were all about as straight as roundabouts, but who cares? It’s not like it’s serious or anything. Just a laugh. And as we sat there, having a laugh, I couldn’t help but smile at the thought of all the girls in our class that would give anything in the world to be sat where I was right now, hair ruffled and lips bruised from all the kisses I’d received in the last half an hour. Especially that whore Tea Gardner. Christ, this would be like a bloody goldmine for her!

Nine pairs of eyes hungrily watched the bottle turn, wondering where it would stop. It went on spinning for so long that I thought it wasn’t going to stop at all, but then it slowed down and came to rest pointing to the guy sat on my right, the newest addition to our little gang of freaks. Remember a while back, that day when me and Kaiba locked horns on the basketball courts? And afterwards, at lunch break, Yami and Yugi had overheard Mrs Lewis and Miss Jackson talking about a new exchange student? Well, a few weeks ago, said exchange student made an appearance and joined our form. And boy was he HOT! His skin wasn’t that much fairer than mine, but not as dark as Yami, Marik and Malik’s Egyptian flesh, and he was tall and lean, sinewy muscles clearly defined, his red sleeveless jacket over a black tank top and his tight black leather pants that left absolutely NOTHING to the imagination. He wore black wristbands on both wrists and bands of gold looped themselves around the upper half of both his arms. Around his head, he had a crimson band that kept back the majority of his longish ebony locks which he had pulled back into a ponytail, leaving only a few bangs at the front hanging down in front of his face. His eyes were a bright and mystical turquoise that seemed to change colour in the light, like one minute they’d look the purest of blues and then the next they’d be sparkling green. Underneath his left eye, he had a tattooed line down his cheek, but that was nothing new to us since both Marik and Malik also have similar tattoos under their own eyes. Hanging down from his left earlobe was a small dice on a thread. He called himself Duke Devlin, and the way he spoke his name had practically the whole class drooling by the first syllable.

From the moment our gang introduced ourselves to him, I knew he definitely belonged with us, since he seemed to be having trouble keeping his eyes off Joey. And Joey was having the same problem, vice versa. Was this another Happy Ending I spy on the horizon? I bloody hope so, especially after what happened down that alley and what Scott did to him. It’s time Joey got what he deserves, and by God, you should’ve seen how much both their faces lit up when the bottle landed on Duke!

“Sorry Joey, but that’s the luck of the draw.” Duke shrugged, grinning at the blond, probably thinking that Christmas had come early this year. Joey grinned back, no doubt thinking the same thing, and the two of them stood up and met in the middle of the circle, the rest of us watching intently, our beers momentarily forgotten.

Duke brushed a few stray tendrils of blond hair back from Joey’s toffee eyes and they both leaned forwards at the same time, letting their lips meet in a tender kiss. It started off gentle, but then as the seconds passed by, the kiss got deeper until they were practically mounting each other right there and then in the centre of the room.

I bet you’re probably wondering what the Hell we were all doing here, aren’t you? Well, tonight was the night of Yugi’s seventeenth birthday, at long last, so he’d invited us all over to the Kame Game Shop, where he and his Grandpa lived, for a sleepover. And the great thing was that Grandpa Mutou let us have free reign on the booze front, so we’d brought along all the alcoholic drinks we could lay our hands on. Grandpa Mutou said we could do basically whatever we wanted, all except one thing: Sex. He had officially banned any sexual contact in this house for tonight, which Marik and Bakura had been less than impressed by, but that didn’t stop us playing spin-the-bottle. After all, it was only kissing. We weren’t having a massive orgy, or anything. Unfortunately. Calm down, I’m only kidding. But then again, that idea was awfully tempting…

As I watched Joey and Duke make-out so fiercely that if Joey got his tongue any further down Duke’s throat, he’d be licking his lungs, I smiled and leant back, propping myself up on my forearms, feeling so happy for both of them. Right, that was Joey’s love life taken care of, judging by what I could see before me, so now it was time for Yugi and Yami to hook up. If they did, I could honestly say I would be the happiest I’ve been in a long, long time. And if they didn’t, I’d give them both Hell on earth until they did. I can be very persuasive when I want to be, so if I say Yami and Yugi were destined to be together, then by God, I’d go to any lengths to make it so!

“Whoa, whoa, guys,” Malik interrupted the entwined teens in the centre of the circle, smirking at them, “Remember the sex ban? Don’t go getting too carried away.”

“Yeah, there are still some virgin eyes in here!” Bakura grinned, looking pointedly at me and Yugi. Yugi’s response was to blush and avert his gaze, and mine was to flip the taller white-haired male the finger and stick my tongue out at him.

“I… don’t… care…” Joey panted in between kisses when he paused briefly for breath, his hands wandering and grabbing every inch of Duke he could reach. I giggled and tossed a cushion at him from the sofa.

“You will when Grandpa Mutou walks in and catches you two doing the dirty in the middle of his living room floor!”

That caught their attention, as well as a faceful of cushion for Joey, courtesy of my near-perfect aim, and they reluctantly broke apart, smiling at each other with swollen lips.

“Sit your asses down, let the rest of us have our turns!” Marik grinned as Joey and Duke moved back to take their seats at either side of me. I smirked at Joey as he picked up his bottle and drank from it thirstily, beer dribbling down his chin in his haste to down it. I leaned close to him.

“Enjoy that?” I whispered, grinning. He turned to face me, smiling widely as he wiped his chin with his sleeve.

“Was it really that obvious?” He replied with a smirk of his own and we laughed, clinking our bottles together in a mock toast before we turned our attention back to the circle where Yami was reaching for the bottle in the middle of us all.

Suddenly, my breath hitched in my throat. Oh yes! This was it! This could be the moment I’d been waiting for for God knows how long! Please, please, please, please, please land on Yugi! Pretty please! I was practically on my knees here, begging to any God that’d listen! PLEASE let it land on Yugi!!!

Yami grinned as he grabbed hold of the bottle and let it fly, sending it whirling faster and faster as it picked up momentum. We all watched, me holding my breath, silently praying as the bottle began to slow down and then come to a complete and total halt… Right on Yugi. Jackpot! Get in there! Who says there’s no God?! Immediately, the shorter teen blushed fire engine red and his wide-eyed gaze landed on me with the panicked look of a deer caught in the headlights of a double-decker bus. I smiled widely, giving him the thumbs up and a knowing wink that basically screamed, “Here’s your chance, Yugi! Take it! What are you waiting for? Goddamn it, take it! Take it now!!”

Yugi gulped and shakily got to his feet, heading towards the centre of our circle where Yami already stood, waiting for him with a small smile that seemed closer to a smirk than a smile, if you ask me. Yugi’s cheeks were still flushed and he purposely kept his eyes trained down intently at his own feet, avoiding Yami’s gaze. Yami gave a small chuckle as Yugi drew level and then reached out with one hand to gently lift Yugi’s chin so the shorter teen had no choice but to stare straight into those deep violet orbs in front of him.

“Why are you blushing, Aibou?” Yami asked softly, smiling kindly down at the shorter teen. Yugi didn’t reply as he stood there in silence for so long that I actually thought he’d stopped breathing. That is, until he closed his eyes and whispered so quietly that we all leaned forwards to hear what he said, even Yami who was only stood a couple of feet away from him.

“Because I’ve wanted to do this for a very long time.” Yugi murmured and then he threw his arms around Yami’s neck and planted his lips against the taller teen’s own, surprising us all with his swiftness and forwardness. I can honestly say that none of us had expected sweet, shy little Yugi Mutou to make the first move, especially not to the love of his life, Yami Atemu, and yet here he was, clutching the front of Yami’s jacket to pull him closer as they kissed, somehow still amazingly in control.

Looking around at the others, I saw that practically all their jaws had dropped into their laps in shock, staring at the scene before them with wide eyes, unable to believe what they were seeing. I turned my gaze back on the happily kissing couple, beaming widely at the two of them, feeling an overwhelming wave of emotion rise up inside me like a tidal wave. I just wanted to run up to them and hug them both as tight as I could. I wanted to grab Yugi and swing him around in the air, shouting with joy. I wanted to run around the room, bouncing on all the sofas, screaming triumphantly. I was so unbelievably happy for them that all my troubles and fears just vanished completely into thin air so fast that it was almost like they weren’t even there in the first place. In my delight, I forgot about everything. Alex, Scott, Rehema, my mom, my little sister Zahra… even Kaiba. And trust me, when I forget about Kaiba, I’ve got to have seen something pretty spectacular to make me do so, because it was so damn hard to get his icy blue orbs and infuriating smirking face out of my head. Christ, even when he’s not around he still manages to piss me off somehow. What a talent. But then again, it doesn’t really take all that much to piss me off.

Suddenly, I was brought out of my thoughts by a rather loud moan from the middle of the room and I looked up just in time to witness Yami grind his hips against Yugi’s with an animalistic growl, causing the smaller to let out another pleasured moan, breaking the kiss as he threw back his head and arched his back.

Jesus fucking Christ! I never thought I’d say this, but watching those two make out and practically fuck each other through their clothes was actually kinda… hot, I gotta admit. Seriously, I was pretty turned on, and I’m sure I wasn’t the only one when I glanced around the circle and most of them were watching with lust-filled, half-lidded eyes. Oops, sorry Grandpa Mutou, but I don’t think your sex ban is gonna last much longer. I’d give it ten minutes, tops, and then all the guys were gonna pounce on each other and start at it like horny rabbits, whilst I would have to excuse myself, (since I don’t have a bed mate of my own yet), and probably end up in the kitchen, raiding the fridge. Well, what else would I be able to do if they started a massive fuck fest? Join in? I don’t think so, somehow. I have to draw the line somewhere.

“Bloody Hell, Yugi,” Bakura said, shaking his head in disbelief and staring up at them, barely blinking, “What I said about ‘virgin eyes’, I take it all back. After all this time we thought you were sweet and innocent, when really you’re…”

“A nymphomaniac!” Marik shouted, roaring with laughter.

“No, Marik, that would be you,” Ryou smiled, and then burst out laughing when he caught sight of Malik nodding his head viciously in agreement.

“I’ll say,” the shorter, saner platinum blond said, glaring sideways at his lover who just shrugged and grinned, denying nothing. Well, if he had try to deny it, we’d have probably pelted him with our beer bottles and Malik would’ve throttled him and banned him from sex for one whole week. And being a nymphomaniac, as Ryou pointed out, no sex would’ve just been the end of the world for him. So, if he kept his trap shut, he’d get rewarded with Malik’s mouth willingly attached to the end of his cock, and Marik wouldn’t have to resort to desperate begging and pleading when he was feeling horny. Method in his madness, I suppose. Marik Ishtar might be completely insane, but he sure as Hell wasn’t stupid.

“C’mon, hurry up, we’re getting old down here!” Duke groaned, no doubt wanting his turn so he could get into another liplock with Joey. Yami and Yugi ignored him and continued on with their game of tonsil tennis, showing no signs of stopping any time soon.

And then, of course, the living room door opened and in walked Grandpa Mutou at probably the worst possible moment, two huge bowls full of popcorn balanced on a tray in his hands.

“Hey kids, I was just wondering if you wanted any-” he started cheerfully, and then he froze in the doorway, his eyes widening with horror at the scene that lay before him.

Silence had fallen over all of us that sat around on the carpet, our eyes locked on the pale Grandpa Mutou who looked to be mere seconds away from a full-blown heart attack.

“Sweet Mary, Mother of Jesus!” He shrieked when he came to his senses, dropping the tray and both bowls onto the floor with an almighty crash, sending popcorn flying in all directions and startling Yami and Yugi out of their liplock as the elder Mutou hurried from the room, panting heavily and clutching his chest.

“Shit!” Yugi shouted, shocking us all with his uncharacteristic swearing as he chased after his Grandpa, leaping over the sofa in his haste to catch up with him, “Wait, Grandpa! It wasn’t what it looked like! Honest, it wasn’t! Grandpa!”

All the rest of us in the room tore our gazes from the door through which Yugi and his Grandpa had just left and we all looked at each other in silence, not sure what to say, struggling not to burst out laughing. I clenched my lips tightly shut to stop myself, and several others had clamped their hands over their mouths but after a few seconds none of us could hold it back any longer and we absolutely exploded with mirth, tears rolling down our cheeks as we howled with laughter as one, clutching at our sides.

After about ten minutes of non-stop laughter, Yugi came back in, his cheeks still flushed with embarrassment as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and shut the door behind him.

“Jesus Christ…” He muttered, stepping over the spilt popcorn and throwing himself back down in his previous place on the floor, lying back and rubbing his eyes with a heavy sigh.

“So…” I began, trying as hard as I could to regain at least some of my composure, but failing miserably, “…How’d it go?” That last part came out like a cross between a squeak and a giggle, (a squiggle?) and succeeded in setting us all off laughing again, practically pissing ourselves on the carpet. Yugi sat up and glared at us all, not amused.

“I’m glad you lot find it so funny. I very nearly succeeded in killing my Grandpa by almost giving him a bloody heart attack!” He growled, causing us to laugh even harder. Yugi fumed for a few more moments before even he couldn’t hold back a smile at what had just happened and was soon roaring as hard as the rest of us, his cheeks flushed an even brighter pink due to how hard he was laughing.

Eventually, our laughter dissolved as we all gasped for breath, wiping tears from our faces and rubbing our sore sides, unable to stop our wide grins spreading across our faces.

“Bloody Hell, I don’t think I’ve laughed so hard in all my life.” Duke wheezed. We smiled at him.

“Don’t worry, you get plenty of laughs like that when you’re hanging out with morons like us!”

He smiled wider, flicking stray ebony bangs back from his eyes. Marik looked around briefly for his abandoned beer bottle, and when he found it, he knelt up and held it out proudly in the centre of our circle.

“To moronity!” he crowed, grinning.

“Is that even a word?” Ryou whispered as we all grabbed our bottles and clambered up onto our knees also, holding out our own bottles.

“To moronity!” We chorused and clinked our bottles together in a toast before draining the remainders of our beers and leaving our empty bottles on the floor. I smiled and then looked back to the original empty bottle in the middle of us.

“I guess that means we can’t play spin-the-bottle anymore.” I said, sighing. The others all looked pretty disappointed, that is until Yami’s eyes lit up, and he leant forwards, his smirk returning.

“How about we play a different game?”

“Like what?”

“Truth or Dare, maybe?”

Our grins reappeared, and I laughed out loud, leaning back against Joey, who had somehow got behind me, (no doubt trying to inch his way around so he could sit beside Duke and engage in a little more harmless groping).

“I don’t think we’re drunk enough for that, yet!” I chuckled.

“Then lets get ourselves drunk enough!” Bakura smirked and spread his arms wide, “Up for another round, boys and girl? My treat.”

“I don’t see how its ‘your treat’ when it was me and Marik who brought the beer.” Malik countered, glaring at the taller whitenette, who just shrugged and smirked wider. I stood up, tugging straight my shorts and smoothing out my vest top, my nightwear which I’d changed into a couple of hours ago. I’d been one of the first ones to arrive, so I’d got straight into my PJs before the rest of the gang came, since I had no desire to strip in front of eight testosterone-driven teenage boys, trying to hide my scars from them at the same time as trying to keep myself covered up in all the appropriate places. Yes, I know, as I’ve already said, all the guys are as straight as roundabouts, but that wouldn’t stop them looking, would it? Trust me, I’ve been down that road with them on previous occasions, and I’ve learnt from it, thank God. But then when it comes to them getting undressed in front of me, that’s a different matter entirely…

“What’ll it be, fellas? Beers all around? Or shall I break out the Vodka?” I asked, smiling down at them.

“We brought the Vodka, too.” Malik muttered, and I rolled my eyes at him.

“Beers. To early for Vodka yet. That’s for later.” Joey replied, speaking for all of them as he shifted sideways slightly so I could get out of our circle and make my way to the door, cautiously stepping over the spilt popcorn that littered the floor.

“Oi, this better be cleaned up by the time I get back up here,” I said, gesturing down the popcorn at my feet, “Because if it isn’t, then none of you are getting your drinks. Am I clear?”

“Yes, mother.” Bakura responded sarcastically and rolled his eyes at me as I walked out of the living room, shutting the door behind me, leaving them to their cleaning.

The corridor was pretty dark, because no lights were turned on, but I managed to see where I was going from the small line of light blaring out from under the living room door, and I started walking, heading for the stairs at the end of the corridor that led down to the game shop below. Even though Yugi and his Grandpa owned the apartment above the Kame Game Shop, as well as owning the shop itself, for some weird reason, the kitchen wasn’t actually part of the apartment, and was instead in the back room behind the shop counter. Why? I had no idea. It seemed a little stupid to me for the builders to put the kitchen down in the shop, but they did. Maybe it was so the shopkeeper wouldn’t have to keep going up and down the stairs when he wanted something to eat or drink. Logical, in a way, but a pain in the neck for those who lived above.

I shivered as I finished my descent down the slightly creaky stairs and ended up standing on the slightly creaky floorboards of the shop. It was freezing in here! But then again, there was no point wasting electricity downstairs when there was nobody around, was there?

After successfully manoeuvring myself around endless shelves and displays full to the brim with card games mostly, I finally skirted around the counter and opened the door to the kitchen, flicking on the light switch as I entered. The booze was already sat innocently on the table, waiting for me.

As I picked up a bottle and busied myself looking for the bottle opener, I thought back to the scene when Yugi’s Grandpa burst in on Yugi and Yami making out, and I started giggling again, picturing the looks on Yugi and his Grandpa’s faces. I think I’ll remember their hilariously shocked expressions for the rest of my life! Just when I thought Yugi’s wide bambi eyes couldn’t get any bigger! Jesus Christ, I wish I could’ve videoed that moment. I swear I would’ve NEVER got tired of watching that over and over!

Suddenly, I stopped. Wait a minute. Why did that seem so familiar? Two people getting caught in the act by another unsuspecting person?

…Oh shit! I remember now! Me and Kaiba, in his office at KaibaCorp when he went completely psycho on me! When he tried to tear my clothes off on top of his desk and that obnoxious bitch of a secretary, Charlene, walked in on us and got totally the wrong idea! This was exactly the same! Well, maybe not exactly, since Yami and Yugi were quite happy to stick their tongues down each other’s throats, whereas with me and Kaiba, on the other hand, there had been NO romance involved whatsoever. In fact, most of what I can remember was me shouting, “FUCK OFF, KAIBA!!” at the top of my voice and trying to fight him off me. Hey, what else could I have done? Laid back and let it happen? Let Kaiba win? Let that arrogant, self-centred, power-hungry, egotistical bastard win? Hell no!

But, y’know, as the days passed by, I was starting to wonder if Kaiba actually was as bad as I always thought he was. I mean, it had been about three weeks since that first day he invited me over to his mansion, and even though practically every waking moment of every day since then had been filled with our usual sarcastic banter and glares galore, I couldn’t deny that something had changed between us. It was just a feeling. Like there was more… warmth between us, I suppose. I know, crazy, right? Seto Kaiba sharing feelings of warmth with another human being? Impossible, I thought, since he doesn’t even have feelings. But now… I was starting to think that maybe he does have some sort of feelings lurking beneath that cold façade of his. Granted, he was still an insufferable pain in the ass like he always was, but there were times, every so often, when I actually found myself liking the CEO. Briefly. These feelings never lasted long, because then Kaiba would open his mouth and start talking again, and I’d have to fight the overwhelming urge to strangle him.

As much as he tried to hide it, Kaiba did seem a lot happier ever since I helped him mend his relationship with his little brother Mokuba, and in these past few weeks, I’d been invited back to the Kaiba Mansion about four times a week, and every time I agreed to go. Kaiba always said that Mokuba wanted to see me again, but a small part of me was beginning to wonder if it wasn’t just Mokuba Kaiba that wanted to see me, but actually Seto Kaiba as well…

Yeah right. Who was I kidding? The only reason the elder Kaiba would want me there was so he can continue his goal of driving me within an inch of my sanity by just existing. God, I hate him. I hate him with such a passion, it’s unreal. And all this hating is taking a serious toll on my mental health, I’ll tell you.

When I finally found the bastard bottle opener on top of the fridge, (what the Hell was it doing up there?) I attached it to the cap and prised it off the bottle, leaving the cap on the kitchen worktop and I made to turn around to get another bottle to open when something sharp, cold and horribly familiar appeared at my throat.

“Excellent,” came a voice in my ear, as sharp, cold and horribly familiar as the knife it’s owner held to my neck, “I could do with a drink.”

The bottle slipped from in between my fingers, hurtling towards the kitchen tiles, and the intruder caught it with his free hand as he spun me around to face him, the knife now poised under my chin, tilting my face upwards with its sharp point so I had no choice but to stare horror-struck up into vivid emerald green eyes as they
leered down at me, glinting evilly in the light above our heads.

“Hello, again, my pretty. Did you miss me?” Scott smirked at me as he raised the bottle to his lips and took a long drink.

I said nothing in reply, too scared to move, too scared to talk. Too scared even to scream…

Description
I Can't Believe I Love You
Main pairing: Seto x OC
Background pairings: Yami x Yugi, Bakura x Ryou, Marik x Malik, Joey x Duke
Warnings: Swearing and slight sexual yaoi stuff^^
Rated M for later chapters

Chapter 14:

To be honest, kissing Bakura wasn’t as unpleasant as I thought it would be. Well, I knew it wasn’t going to be unpleasant, judging by how many times I’ve seen him and Ryou in a ferocious make-out session and Ryou always seemed to enjoy it very much, but I was a little weary about Bakura’s whole Eating-Raw-Meat fetish he’s got going on. But trust me, those worries fucked off out of existence the very second our lips touched.

He slipped me the tongue almost instantly, his hand on the back of my head, holding me close, exploring my mouth as roughly as he could, obviously trying to dominate me. Heh. Good luck, sweetheart. I know little Ryou’s probably the most submissive person in the world, but if you think I’ll be the same, you’ve got another thing coming.

I dug my fingernails into his shoulders, making him give a small groan of pleasure from the pain. Hey, what can I say? The guy’s a masochist. Even the slightest twinge of pain turns him on.

“I don’t think so,” I murmured into his mouth, gently nibbling his bottom lip, teasing him. This was about our third kiss of the evening, and every time we locked lips, he always tried to be the one in control, playing the dominant male act. Obviously, I had other ideas.

“You never learn, do you, Bakura?” I purred and then bit down hard on the lip between my teeth, earning another pleasured groan and I took control of the kiss, letting my tongue dart out to do the exploring this time. There were cheers and laughs from all around us, the other guys urging us on, but we ignored them for about ten more seconds of our fierce tongue war until we finally broke apart, panting lightly, our lips kiss-swollen, me emerging victorious. Yet again.

“Nice try, Bakura, but you’ll never get the better of our Renami!” Joey laughed as I smiled and took a bow before he passed back my bottle of beer and I sat down beside him. Bakura scowled at him and took his place by Ryou’s side, nursing his bruised pride as we all laughed at him and Ryou entwined their hands together, giggling at his lover. Joey had a swig from his own beer and then reached forwards to the empty bottle that lay on its side in the middle of the floor, where we all sat around it in a circle.

“My turn!” He grinned and spun the bottle hard with a flick of his wrist, sending it spinning around madly, the green glass looking more like a blur of colour than anything else.

Have you ever played spin-the-bottle? It’s a great game, especially when you’re the only girl surrounded by eight of the hottest guys in the whole damn planet. Sure, they were all about as straight as roundabouts, but who cares? It’s not like it’s serious or anything. Just a laugh. And as we sat there, having a laugh, I couldn’t help but smile at the thought of all the girls in our class that would give anything in the world to be sat where I was right now, hair ruffled and lips bruised from all the kisses I’d received in the last half an hour. Especially that whore Tea Gardner. Christ, this would be like a bloody goldmine for her!

Nine pairs of eyes hungrily watched the bottle turn, wondering where it would stop. It went on spinning for so long that I thought it wasn’t going to stop at all, but then it slowed down and came to rest pointing to the guy sat on my right, the newest addition to our little gang of freaks. Remember a while back, that day when me and Kaiba locked horns on the basketball courts? And afterwards, at lunch break, Yami and Yugi had overheard Mrs Lewis and Miss Jackson talking about a new exchange student? Well, a few weeks ago, said exchange student made an appearance and joined our form. And boy was he HOT! His skin wasn’t that much fairer than mine, but not as dark as Yami, Marik and Malik’s Egyptian flesh, and he was tall and lean, sinewy muscles clearly defined, his red sleeveless jacket over a black tank top and his tight black leather pants that left absolutely NOTHING to the imagination. He wore black wristbands on both wrists and bands of gold looped themselves around the upper half of both his arms. Around his head, he had a crimson band that kept back the majority of his longish ebony locks which he had pulled back into a ponytail, leaving only a few bangs at the front hanging down in front of his face. His eyes were a bright and mystical turquoise that seemed to change colour in the light, like one minute they’d look the purest of blues and then the next they’d be sparkling green. Underneath his left eye, he had a tattooed line down his cheek, but that was nothing new to us since both Marik and Malik also have similar tattoos under their own eyes. Hanging down from his left earlobe was a small dice on a thread. He called himself Duke Devlin, and the way he spoke his name had practically the whole class drooling by the first syllable.

From the moment our gang introduced ourselves to him, I knew he definitely belonged with us, since he seemed to be having trouble keeping his eyes off Joey. And Joey was having the same problem, vice versa. Was this another Happy Ending I spy on the horizon? I bloody hope so, especially after what happened down that alley and what Scott did to him. It’s time Joey got what he deserves, and by God, you should’ve seen how much both their faces lit up when the bottle landed on Duke!

“Sorry Joey, but that’s the luck of the draw.” Duke shrugged, grinning at the blond, probably thinking that Christmas had come early this year. Joey grinned back, no doubt thinking the same thing, and the two of them stood up and met in the middle of the circle, the rest of us watching intently, our beers momentarily forgotten.

Duke brushed a few stray tendrils of blond hair back from Joey’s toffee eyes and they both leaned forwards at the same time, letting their lips meet in a tender kiss. It started off gentle, but then as the seconds passed by, the kiss got deeper until they were practically mounting each other right there and then in the centre of the room.

I bet you’re probably wondering what the Hell we were all doing here, aren’t you? Well, tonight was the night of Yugi’s seventeenth birthday, at long last, so he’d invited us all over to the Kame Game Shop, where he and his Grandpa lived, for a sleepover. And the great thing was that Grandpa Mutou let us have free reign on the booze front, so we’d brought along all the alcoholic drinks we could lay our hands on. Grandpa Mutou said we could do basically whatever we wanted, all except one thing: Sex. He had officially banned any sexual contact in this house for tonight, which Marik and Bakura had been less than impressed by, but that didn’t stop us playing spin-the-bottle. After all, it was only kissing. We weren’t having a massive orgy, or anything. Unfortunately. Calm down, I’m only kidding. But then again, that idea was awfully tempting…

As I watched Joey and Duke make-out so fiercely that if Joey got his tongue any further down Duke’s throat, he’d be licking his lungs, I smiled and leant back, propping myself up on my forearms, feeling so happy for both of them. Right, that was Joey’s love life taken care of, judging by what I could see before me, so now it was time for Yugi and Yami to hook up. If they did, I could honestly say I would be the happiest I’ve been in a long, long time. And if they didn’t, I’d give them both Hell on earth until they did. I can be very persuasive when I want to be, so if I say Yami and Yugi were destined to be together, then by God, I’d go to any lengths to make it so!

“Whoa, whoa, guys,” Malik interrupted the entwined teens in the centre of the circle, smirking at them, “Remember the sex ban? Don’t go getting too carried away.”

“Yeah, there are still some virgin eyes in here!” Bakura grinned, looking pointedly at me and Yugi. Yugi’s response was to blush and avert his gaze, and mine was to flip the taller white-haired male the finger and stick my tongue out at him.

“I… don’t… care…” Joey panted in between kisses when he paused briefly for breath, his hands wandering and grabbing every inch of Duke he could reach. I giggled and tossed a cushion at him from the sofa.

“You will when Grandpa Mutou walks in and catches you two doing the dirty in the middle of his living room floor!”

That caught their attention, as well as a faceful of cushion for Joey, courtesy of my near-perfect aim, and they reluctantly broke apart, smiling at each other with swollen lips.

“Sit your asses down, let the rest of us have our turns!” Marik grinned as Joey and Duke moved back to take their seats at either side of me. I smirked at Joey as he picked up his bottle and drank from it thirstily, beer dribbling down his chin in his haste to down it. I leaned close to him.

“Enjoy that?” I whispered, grinning. He turned to face me, smiling widely as he wiped his chin with his sleeve.

“Was it really that obvious?” He replied with a smirk of his own and we laughed, clinking our bottles together in a mock toast before we turned our attention back to the circle where Yami was reaching for the bottle in the middle of us all.

Suddenly, my breath hitched in my throat. Oh yes! This was it! This could be the moment I’d been waiting for for God knows how long! Please, please, please, please, please land on Yugi! Pretty please! I was practically on my knees here, begging to any God that’d listen! PLEASE let it land on Yugi!!!

Yami grinned as he grabbed hold of the bottle and let it fly, sending it whirling faster and faster as it picked up momentum. We all watched, me holding my breath, silently praying as the bottle began to slow down and then come to a complete and total halt… Right on Yugi. Jackpot! Get in there! Who says there’s no God?! Immediately, the shorter teen blushed fire engine red and his wide-eyed gaze landed on me with the panicked look of a deer caught in the headlights of a double-decker bus. I smiled widely, giving him the thumbs up and a knowing wink that basically screamed, “Here’s your chance, Yugi! Take it! What are you waiting for? Goddamn it, take it! Take it now!!”

Yugi gulped and shakily got to his feet, heading towards the centre of our circle where Yami already stood, waiting for him with a small smile that seemed closer to a smirk than a smile, if you ask me. Yugi’s cheeks were still flushed and he purposely kept his eyes trained down intently at his own feet, avoiding Yami’s gaze. Yami gave a small chuckle as Yugi drew level and then reached out with one hand to gently lift Yugi’s chin so the shorter teen had no choice but to stare straight into those deep violet orbs in front of him.

“Why are you blushing, Aibou?” Yami asked softly, smiling kindly down at the shorter teen. Yugi didn’t reply as he stood there in silence for so long that I actually thought he’d stopped breathing. That is, until he closed his eyes and whispered so quietly that we all leaned forwards to hear what he said, even Yami who was only stood a couple of feet away from him.

“Because I’ve wanted to do this for a very long time.” Yugi murmured and then he threw his arms around Yami’s neck and planted his lips against the taller teen’s own, surprising us all with his swiftness and forwardness. I can honestly say that none of us had expected sweet, shy little Yugi Mutou to make the first move, especially not to the love of his life, Yami Atemu, and yet here he was, clutching the front of Yami’s jacket to pull him closer as they kissed, somehow still amazingly in control.

Looking around at the others, I saw that practically all their jaws had dropped into their laps in shock, staring at the scene before them with wide eyes, unable to believe what they were seeing. I turned my gaze back on the happily kissing couple, beaming widely at the two of them, feeling an overwhelming wave of emotion rise up inside me like a tidal wave. I just wanted to run up to them and hug them both as tight as I could. I wanted to grab Yugi and swing him around in the air, shouting with joy. I wanted to run around the room, bouncing on all the sofas, screaming triumphantly. I was so unbelievably happy for them that all my troubles and fears just vanished completely into thin air so fast that it was almost like they weren’t even there in the first place. In my delight, I forgot about everything. Alex, Scott, Rehema, my mom, my little sister Zahra… even Kaiba. And trust me, when I forget about Kaiba, I’ve got to have seen something pretty spectacular to make me do so, because it was so damn hard to get his icy blue orbs and infuriating smirking face out of my head. Christ, even when he’s not around he still manages to piss me off somehow. What a talent. But then again, it doesn’t really take all that much to piss me off.

Suddenly, I was brought out of my thoughts by a rather loud moan from the middle of the room and I looked up just in time to witness Yami grind his hips against Yugi’s with an animalistic growl, causing the smaller to let out another pleasured moan, breaking the kiss as he threw back his head and arched his back.

Jesus fucking Christ! I never thought I’d say this, but watching those two make out and practically fuck each other through their clothes was actually kinda… hot, I gotta admit. Seriously, I was pretty turned on, and I’m sure I wasn’t the only one when I glanced around the circle and most of them were watching with lust-filled, half-lidded eyes. Oops, sorry Grandpa Mutou, but I don’t think your sex ban is gonna last much longer. I’d give it ten minutes, tops, and then all the guys were gonna pounce on each other and start at it like horny rabbits, whilst I would have to excuse myself, (since I don’t have a bed mate of my own yet), and probably end up in the kitchen, raiding the fridge. Well, what else would I be able to do if they started a massive fuck fest? Join in? I don’t think so, somehow. I have to draw the line somewhere.

“Bloody Hell, Yugi,” Bakura said, shaking his head in disbelief and staring up at them, barely blinking, “What I said about ‘virgin eyes’, I take it all back. After all this time we thought you were sweet and innocent, when really you’re…”

“A nymphomaniac!” Marik shouted, roaring with laughter.

“No, Marik, that would be you,” Ryou smiled, and then burst out laughing when he caught sight of Malik nodding his head viciously in agreement.

“I’ll say,” the shorter, saner platinum blond said, glaring sideways at his lover who just shrugged and grinned, denying nothing. Well, if he had try to deny it, we’d have probably pelted him with our beer bottles and Malik would’ve throttled him and banned him from sex for one whole week. And being a nymphomaniac, as Ryou pointed out, no sex would’ve just been the end of the world for him. So, if he kept his trap shut, he’d get rewarded with Malik’s mouth willingly attached to the end of his cock, and Marik wouldn’t have to resort to desperate begging and pleading when he was feeling horny. Method in his madness, I suppose. Marik Ishtar might be completely insane, but he sure as Hell wasn’t stupid.

“C’mon, hurry up, we’re getting old down here!” Duke groaned, no doubt wanting his turn so he could get into another liplock with Joey. Yami and Yugi ignored him and continued on with their game of tonsil tennis, showing no signs of stopping any time soon.

And then, of course, the living room door opened and in walked Grandpa Mutou at probably the worst possible moment, two huge bowls full of popcorn balanced on a tray in his hands.

“Hey kids, I was just wondering if you wanted any-” he started cheerfully, and then he froze in the doorway, his eyes widening with horror at the scene that lay before him.

Silence had fallen over all of us that sat around on the carpet, our eyes locked on the pale Grandpa Mutou who looked to be mere seconds away from a full-blown heart attack.

“Sweet Mary, Mother of Jesus!” He shrieked when he came to his senses, dropping the tray and both bowls onto the floor with an almighty crash, sending popcorn flying in all directions and startling Yami and Yugi out of their liplock as the elder Mutou hurried from the room, panting heavily and clutching his chest.

“Shit!” Yugi shouted, shocking us all with his uncharacteristic swearing as he chased after his Grandpa, leaping over the sofa in his haste to catch up with him, “Wait, Grandpa! It wasn’t what it looked like! Honest, it wasn’t! Grandpa!”

All the rest of us in the room tore our gazes from the door through which Yugi and his Grandpa had just left and we all looked at each other in silence, not sure what to say, struggling not to burst out laughing. I clenched my lips tightly shut to stop myself, and several others had clamped their hands over their mouths but after a few seconds none of us could hold it back any longer and we absolutely exploded with mirth, tears rolling down our cheeks as we howled with laughter as one, clutching at our sides.

After about ten minutes of non-stop laughter, Yugi came back in, his cheeks still flushed with embarrassment as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and shut the door behind him.

“Jesus Christ…” He muttered, stepping over the spilt popcorn and throwing himself back down in his previous place on the floor, lying back and rubbing his eyes with a heavy sigh.

“So…” I began, trying as hard as I could to regain at least some of my composure, but failing miserably, “…How’d it go?” That last part came out like a cross between a squeak and a giggle, (a squiggle?) and succeeded in setting us all off laughing again, practically pissing ourselves on the carpet. Yugi sat up and glared at us all, not amused.

“I’m glad you lot find it so funny. I very nearly succeeded in killing my Grandpa by almost giving him a bloody heart attack!” He growled, causing us to laugh even harder. Yugi fumed for a few more moments before even he couldn’t hold back a smile at what had just happened and was soon roaring as hard as the rest of us, his cheeks flushed an even brighter pink due to how hard he was laughing.

Eventually, our laughter dissolved as we all gasped for breath, wiping tears from our faces and rubbing our sore sides, unable to stop our wide grins spreading across our faces.

“Bloody Hell, I don’t think I’ve laughed so hard in all my life.” Duke wheezed. We smiled at him.

“Don’t worry, you get plenty of laughs like that when you’re hanging out with morons like us!”

He smiled wider, flicking stray ebony bangs back from his eyes. Marik looked around briefly for his abandoned beer bottle, and when he found it, he knelt up and held it out proudly in the centre of our circle.

“To moronity!” he crowed, grinning.

“Is that even a word?” Ryou whispered as we all grabbed our bottles and clambered up onto our knees also, holding out our own bottles.

“To moronity!” We chorused and clinked our bottles together in a toast before draining the remainders of our beers and leaving our empty bottles on the floor. I smiled and then looked back to the original empty bottle in the middle of us.

“I guess that means we can’t play spin-the-bottle anymore.” I said, sighing. The others all looked pretty disappointed, that is until Yami’s eyes lit up, and he leant forwards, his smirk returning.

“How about we play a different game?”

“Like what?”

“Truth or Dare, maybe?”

Our grins reappeared, and I laughed out loud, leaning back against Joey, who had somehow got behind me, (no doubt trying to inch his way around so he could sit beside Duke and engage in a little more harmless groping).

“I don’t think we’re drunk enough for that, yet!” I chuckled.

“Then lets get ourselves drunk enough!” Bakura smirked and spread his arms wide, “Up for another round, boys and girl? My treat.”

“I don’t see how its ‘your treat’ when it was me and Marik who brought the beer.” Malik countered, glaring at the taller whitenette, who just shrugged and smirked wider. I stood up, tugging straight my shorts and smoothing out my vest top, my nightwear which I’d changed into a couple of hours ago. I’d been one of the first ones to arrive, so I’d got straight into my PJs before the rest of the gang came, since I had no desire to strip in front of eight testosterone-driven teenage boys, trying to hide my scars from them at the same time as trying to keep myself covered up in all the appropriate places. Yes, I know, as I’ve already said, all the guys are as straight as roundabouts, but that wouldn’t stop them looking, would it? Trust me, I’ve been down that road with them on previous occasions, and I’ve learnt from it, thank God. But then when it comes to them getting undressed in front of me, that’s a different matter entirely…

“What’ll it be, fellas? Beers all around? Or shall I break out the Vodka?” I asked, smiling down at them.

“We brought the Vodka, too.” Malik muttered, and I rolled my eyes at him.

“Beers. To early for Vodka yet. That’s for later.” Joey replied, speaking for all of them as he shifted sideways slightly so I could get out of our circle and make my way to the door, cautiously stepping over the spilt popcorn that littered the floor.

“Oi, this better be cleaned up by the time I get back up here,” I said, gesturing down the popcorn at my feet, “Because if it isn’t, then none of you are getting your drinks. Am I clear?”

“Yes, mother.” Bakura responded sarcastically and rolled his eyes at me as I walked out of the living room, shutting the door behind me, leaving them to their cleaning.

The corridor was pretty dark, because no lights were turned on, but I managed to see where I was going from the small line of light blaring out from under the living room door, and I started walking, heading for the stairs at the end of the corridor that led down to the game shop below. Even though Yugi and his Grandpa owned the apartment above the Kame Game Shop, as well as owning the shop itself, for some weird reason, the kitchen wasn’t actually part of the apartment, and was instead in the back room behind the shop counter. Why? I had no idea. It seemed a little stupid to me for the builders to put the kitchen down in the shop, but they did. Maybe it was so the shopkeeper wouldn’t have to keep going up and down the stairs when he wanted something to eat or drink. Logical, in a way, but a pain in the neck for those who lived above.

I shivered as I finished my descent down the slightly creaky stairs and ended up standing on the slightly creaky floorboards of the shop. It was freezing in here! But then again, there was no point wasting electricity downstairs when there was nobody around, was there?

After successfully manoeuvring myself around endless shelves and displays full to the brim with card games mostly, I finally skirted around the counter and opened the door to the kitchen, flicking on the light switch as I entered. The booze was already sat innocently on the table, waiting for me.

As I picked up a bottle and busied myself looking for the bottle opener, I thought back to the scene when Yugi’s Grandpa burst in on Yugi and Yami making out, and I started giggling again, picturing the looks on Yugi and his Grandpa’s faces. I think I’ll remember their hilariously shocked expressions for the rest of my life! Just when I thought Yugi’s wide bambi eyes couldn’t get any bigger! Jesus Christ, I wish I could’ve videoed that moment. I swear I would’ve NEVER got tired of watching that over and over!

Suddenly, I stopped. Wait a minute. Why did that seem so familiar? Two people getting caught in the act by another unsuspecting person?

…Oh shit! I remember now! Me and Kaiba, in his office at KaibaCorp when he went completely psycho on me! When he tried to tear my clothes off on top of his desk and that obnoxious bitch of a secretary, Charlene, walked in on us and got totally the wrong idea! This was exactly the same! Well, maybe not exactly, since Yami and Yugi were quite happy to stick their tongues down each other’s throats, whereas with me and Kaiba, on the other hand, there had been NO romance involved whatsoever. In fact, most of what I can remember was me shouting, “FUCK OFF, KAIBA!!” at the top of my voice and trying to fight him off me. Hey, what else could I have done? Laid back and let it happen? Let Kaiba win? Let that arrogant, self-centred, power-hungry, egotistical bastard win? Hell no!

But, y’know, as the days passed by, I was starting to wonder if Kaiba actually was as bad as I always thought he was. I mean, it had been about three weeks since that first day he invited me over to his mansion, and even though practically every waking moment of every day since then had been filled with our usual sarcastic banter and glares galore, I couldn’t deny that something had changed between us. It was just a feeling. Like there was more… warmth between us, I suppose. I know, crazy, right? Seto Kaiba sharing feelings of warmth with another human being? Impossible, I thought, since he doesn’t even have feelings. But now… I was starting to think that maybe he does have some sort of feelings lurking beneath that cold façade of his. Granted, he was still an insufferable pain in the ass like he always was, but there were times, every so often, when I actually found myself liking the CEO. Briefly. These feelings never lasted long, because then Kaiba would open his mouth and start talking again, and I’d have to fight the overwhelming urge to strangle him.

As much as he tried to hide it, Kaiba did seem a lot happier ever since I helped him mend his relationship with his little brother Mokuba, and in these past few weeks, I’d been invited back to the Kaiba Mansion about four times a week, and every time I agreed to go. Kaiba always said that Mokuba wanted to see me again, but a small part of me was beginning to wonder if it wasn’t just Mokuba Kaiba that wanted to see me, but actually Seto Kaiba as well…

Yeah right. Who was I kidding? The only reason the elder Kaiba would want me there was so he can continue his goal of driving me within an inch of my sanity by just existing. God, I hate him. I hate him with such a passion, it’s unreal. And all this hating is taking a serious toll on my mental health, I’ll tell you.

When I finally found the bastard bottle opener on top of the fridge, (what the Hell was it doing up there?) I attached it to the cap and prised it off the bottle, leaving the cap on the kitchen worktop and I made to turn around to get another bottle to open when something sharp, cold and horribly familiar appeared at my throat.

“Excellent,” came a voice in my ear, as sharp, cold and horribly familiar as the knife it’s owner held to my neck, “I could do with a drink.”

The bottle slipped from in between my fingers, hurtling towards the kitchen tiles, and the intruder caught it with his free hand as he spun me around to face him, the knife now poised under my chin, tilting my face upwards with its sharp point so I had no choice but to stare horror-struck up into vivid emerald green eyes as they
leered down at me, glinting evilly in the light above our heads.

“Hello, again, my pretty. Did you miss me?” Scott smirked at me as he raised the bottle to his lips and took a long drink.

I said nothing in reply, too scared to move, too scared to talk. Too scared even to scream…