Crawling Back to Sanity

That's me Trying

As soon as Kaiba looked away Yami's smirk morphed into a frown. A twang of sadness ran through him. Kaiba was always so dense and rude. No matter what Yami tried to do.

Yami sighed and reentered the group, listening quietly as they argued over ice cream flavours.

"Pistachio is fucking sucky flavour!" Jonouchi protested. Honda huffed and rolled his eyes, crossing his arms.

"It's not that bad of a flavour." He argued back.

"It totally sucks! It's a horrible flavour!" Jonouchi retorted. Honda glared at Jonouchi, about to say something back before Anzu cut them off.

"Will you two just decide already? We get it, pistachio is horrible, now, pick what you guys want to order." She cut in. Jonouchi let out an exasperated sigh and shrugged.

"Strawberry, please. Honda, what 'bout you?"

"Vanilla and chocolate twist." Honda spoke.

"See, it wasn't that hard." Andy commented, turning to order.

Yami took this as his chance, side-stepping to be by Kaiba's side again. Kaiba only gave him a quick glance before staring at something in the opposite direction. Despite the obvious ignorance, Yami was content with being near Kaiba.

Kaiba felt like the breath was stuck in his throat. He had absolutely no reason to be reacting like this. He bit back every urge to tense up when Yami finally spoke to him.

"Seto, do you have any plans after this?" Yami looked up to him innocently, smiling softly. Kaiba stared at him for a second before replying, an odd warmth rising to his cheeks.

"Uhm- No, why?" He questioned, his usual scowl plastered across his face. Yami's smile grew strange as he leaned against Kaiba.

"I was simply wondering." He stated, attention quickly being dragged away as ice cream was brought up again.

Kaiba's head was spinning, such little touch elicited such a response. He needed to put a stop to these feelings and fast.

"Here," Yami's voice cut through Kaiba's thoughts as he handed Kaiba his ice cream. Kaiba shakily accepted the cone, muttering thanks.

"You're welcome, Seto." Yami speaks softly. There was something so comforting about Yami's presence, it threw Kaiba off.

"Do you want to stay over at my place tonight?" Yami questioned suddenly. Kaiba choked at his spit at the sudden question.

"I'm not staying in that mangey shop." He retorted, side-eyeing Yami. Yami huffed, glaring at Kaiba.

"It's not even that bad, but I can just stay at your place then."

"What the fuck are you getting at, Yami?" Kaiba growled, finally getting defensive. If he wanted to push away his growing feelings for the other man, he most certainly couldn't have the man in his house.

"I'm not gonna kill you, don't worry. I have no reason to," Yami grinning happily at him, "Am I just not allowed to want to hang out with my friend?"

"You are not my friend." Kaiba spat. Yami frowned.

"Whatever." He claimed, "but, like, yes or no to staying the night at your house?" Kaiba felt a twang of guilt for being so mean when Yami frowned, and that's what he blamed his answer on.

"Fine. If you want to." He growled. Yami's face quickly lit up and he grabbed onto Kaiba's arms, causing both of them to almost drop their ice creams.

"Really?! Seto, I'm shocked you're even agreeing!" He grinned wildly. Kaiba attempted to move out of Yami's grasp but it was futile when he was pulled into a tight hug. Kaiba felt his breath hitch at the motion but blamed it on the tightness of the hug.

"I suppose that means I'm walking you home?" Yami joked as he pulled back. Kaiba felt his cheeks warm and he simply nodded, looking away.

The group finished up their ice creams and finally parted their ways. Kaiba scowled as Yami stayed next to him as he waved his friends goodbye.

Kaiba felt giddy with excitement but would never admit it. Yami smiled and turned to Kaiba, looping their arms. Kaiba bit back the urge to smile back.

"Lead the way, Seto" Yami cooed, leaning a tad too close. Kaiba grumbled and reluctantly started the walk home.

"I hate you, you know that." He growled. Yami hummed and leaned against Kaiba.

"Aww, I love you too!" He grinned. Yami's words stirred feelings inside of Kaiba. His breath hitched and his face flushed heavily. He quickly looked away and muttered a 'shut up' to Yami.

Yami had almost jumped up and down, he instead grinned wildly and looked forward. It seemed his attempts at flirting were finally having an effect.

Yami tightened his grasp on Kaiba's arm, pulling the man closer.

"It's cold."

"It's spring." Kaiba huffed, ever-so-slightly leaning closer to Yami. Yami rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, okay, what if I was trying to flirt?" He commented, trying to fuel another reaction.

"It's not working." Kaiba growled, even though it was actually working plenty, Yami just couldn't notice. Yami frowned.

"Maybe you're just a bitch."

"I am." Kaiba flashed Yami a somewhat uncharacteristic smirk. Yami blushed slightly at the sight. Kaiba could immediately notice the flush and smirked wider, but refused to comment on it.

Kaiba honestly quite liked the flushed look on the others face but to stop confusing feelings he looked away. He would never admit it, not to anyone nor himself, but Kaiba was actually beginning to fall for Yami. He simply hadn't realized it yet. Kaiba always chalked up the feelings into twisted excuses, but, in truth, Kaiba wanted Yami.

"Kaiba." Kaiba's attention was immediately drawn to Yami, the sudden change of name shocking him, "I want to be your friend. I think I've made that obvious. Why won't you let me be your friend?" It was somewhat of a lie. Yes, Yami had wanted to be Kaiba's friend at one point, but that was when he was still mistaken as Yugi. Yami wanted to be much more than a friend.

Kaiba sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"I don't need friends."

"But do you want friends?" Yami questioned. Kaiba paused, he had never actually considered the difference between need and want before.

"You're the last person I'd want to befriend." Kaiba growled. Yami glared at the man.

"Are you sure?" He questioned, face and tone suddenly becoming unreadable. A shiver went down Kaiba's spine.

"Y-yes." Kaiba spoke, not being able to hide the slight waver in his voice. Yami swiftly reached up and grabbed onto Kaiba's face, pulling the man close.

"I think you're lying." He stated simply. Kaiba tensed at the proximity, flushing. He could feel Yami's breath against his lips and he subconsciously parted his own at the feeling.

"I'm not. You're just a freak." Kaiba pushed himself away, reaching up to touch the spot where Yami's hand had been without realizing.

"I'm going to become your friend whether you like it or not." Yami declared, smirking smugly at Kaiba.

"God, now you sound like Yugi." Kaiba grumbled.

"Yugi has good ideals." Yami commented. Kaiba opened his mouth to argue about it when Yami spoke again.

"Oh, look, we're here." Kaiba followed Yami's gaze and was met with the very not surprising sight of the Kaiba family mansion.

"Oh, yippee." Kaiba grumbled annoyedly.