Title: Don't Call This Love 1/1
Author: scheherezhad
Rating: PG
Pairing: none
Spoilers: none
Disclaimer: Don't own 'em, not making any money, please don't sue.
Summary: Four years out of high school, life is quite different for Seto Kaiba.
Author's notes: My first YGO fic, and quite different from what I normally write. Inspired by Chuck Palahniuk's awesome novel Fight Club, which is one of my top five favorite books ever.
Plot bunny: Picture #9
Seto Kaiba had never felt so sore in his life. He groaned as his mind shook off sleep and made him aware of a throbbing in his right wrist, tightness along his bottom lip, a sharp headache, and various aches all over his body.
He opened his eyes slowly. The room was dim, but even in what light there was, nothing looked familiar. It didn't have the spartan uniformity of a hotel. Definitely someone's home.
No, not just someone--Wheeler.
The door opened with a creak that somehow managed to sound perky.
"Hey, Kaiba. You finally awake?"
Yep. Joey Wheeler.
The note was stuck under his plate when the skinny diner waiter brought him breakfast. The Ron-Don Pub basement, Saturday, 11 p.m. Be ready to fight.
Seto crumpled it and put it aside, but his eyes drew back to the paper ball as he ate his limp toast and runny eggs. He finally shoved it in his pocket before he left. The waiter nodded at him through the window as he walked toward his bus stop. That he had to take the bus was, in itself, enough to make him want to fight. Seto Kaiba did not take the bus.
Except he did now.
When Saturday rolled around, he sat on the edge of his bed for an hour before he put on a coat and walked down to the pub. He saw the waiter standing outside the door when he arrived. The man finished his cigarette and nodded at Seto.
"Glad you made it. You've been looking like you could use some stress relief, man, and this is just the place to get it."
"What's your game?" Seto growled.
"No game. Just come inside."
He followed the waiter in, down to a basement full of men of varying ages and backgrounds. They stood on the edges of a circle of light cast by a single bare bulb hanging from the ceiling. A red-haired man stood in the light, a commanding presence.
"If you're here, somebody broke the rules and told you about the club," he began. Seto stood back and listened as the man outlined the rules. He would have to fight someone, apparently, just because he'd shown up. His gaze drifted to the other attendees, gauging each as a possible opponent.
He finally decided on a beefy, thuggish man. Just as he stepped forward, a hand landed on his shoulder.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
Seto turned around and felt his eyes widen against his will as he came face to face with his past. "Mutt."
Wheeler growled. "Why, you--"
"Fight me."
"What?" The blond blinked, looking somewhat taken aback.
"I said 'fight me.' It's my first time here, and I have to fight, right? I want to fight you."
A man nearby handed Seto a clipboard. "Write it down, then."
He nodded curtly and wrote their names on it.
"What's your problem, moneybags? I haven't even seen you in four years, and you're already ready to take a swing at me?" The blond made a noise of disgust. "You haven't changed a bit, you know that?"
"You have no idea what I was like then, and you don't know who I am now, Wheeler. Save your judgement until I've beaten you."
The mutt looked like he would have lashed out, but the first fight was about to start. "I'll see you when we're up," he said through gritted teeth.
Their fight was seventh on the list, and when they came up, Seto could feel a thrum of tension in the air. Both removed their shirts and shoes and stepped into the circle of light. He nodded to tell Wheeler he was ready.
They circled one another for a minute, and Wheeler threw the first punch. Seto dodged, smirking. He knew he could beat the mutt. He'd never lost to him before, and he didn't plan to start now. For a while, they traded misses. Seto's confidence grew. Try again, puppy, but you'll never be as good as me. I lost everything, but I'll always be better than you.
That was when Wheeler landed his first punch.
A fist to his gut. Endless seconds passed while Seto couldn't breathe. He sucked in a ragged breath and struck out. He swung with the fury of being forced to ride the bus. Of having to eat at a greasy spoon diner because he never learned how to cook. Of living in a shoebox apartment and working a blue-collar tech job. His wide roundhouse landed on the mutt's jaw.
That hit was payback. It was lost dreams and not having a family. It was losing his own tournament to Yugi Motou. It was finding out that the first man he'd ever kissed was a corporate spy.
Wheeler's heel slammed into the side of his head.
He hit the floor, stunned, and lay there. His arms were wrenched behind his back, and Wheeler bashed his face into the floor a couple of times.
"Stop."
It was giving up the last, withered shreds of his pride.
No questions, no excuses, no lies. Just giving up the illusion that he was still Seto Kaiba, CEO of Kaiba Corp., powerful and feared, a ruthless businessman and ruthless duelist.
He had lost.
He was nothing.
Drunk on pain, Seto allowed Wheeler to take him to his place.
He wasn't aware of much besides his wrist, which Wheeler had stepped on after he'd fallen, and his aching head and split lip, courtesy of the floor.
The mutt cleaned him up and tended to his wounds, even checking to make sure he didn't have a concussion. He told Seto it was so he'd know whether or not it was okay for him to sleep off some of the pain. Seto let himself be led into the other man's bedroom, and he was asleep before the light went off.
When he woke up, Seto Kaiba knew he had never felt so sore in his life. He groaned as his mind shook off sleep and made him aware of a throbbing in his right wrist, tightness along his bottom lip, a sharp headache, and various aches all over his body.
He opened his eyes slowly. The room was dim, but even in what light there was, nothing looked familiar. It didn't have the spartan uniformity of a hotel. Definitely someone's home.
No, not just someone--Wheeler.
The door opened with a creak that somehow managed to sound perky.
"Hey, Kaiba. You finally awake?"
Yep. Joey Wheeler.
"You sleep okay?"
Seto grunted something halfway affirmative. He did not want to talk right now, especially to the mutt.
"Look, you ain't gotta say nothing, but I spent a lot of time thinking today. Now I'm gonna talk for a minute, and you're gonna listen, okay? First off, I'm not sorry I kicked your ass. You deserved it. Second, I don't know what happened to you since we got out of high school, but...I'd like to. I'm willing to let our past go if you are."
"Is that it?"
Wheeler nodded. "I've said my piece."
Seto lay silently until the other man sighed and gave up.
"Fine, keep up that silent bastard act. I'll let you sulk here until you're ready to leave, but you remember that if you ever grow up enough to want a friend like a normal person, I'm here."
He wanted to tell himself he felt relieved when Wheeler left the room.