Illustration Credit: CaffeineBling on DeviantArt

Chapter Song: Gnarls Barkley - Crazy

Chapter 22: Gold

Once back at Mokuba's condo, Mokuba invited Seto and Joan inside to play Monsters of the Duel. His temporary California home was small but luxurious, cleaned by a maid on a weekly basis.

Seto, Joan, and Mokuba settled into a small white couch and pulled out their phones. While preparing for their first game, Joan noted aloud that KaibaS and KaibaM were displayed in gold as opposed to her white username. She'd seen the gold on Marc's username too.

"Since users are assigned random numbers that identify their accounts, we allow duplicate usernames. The gold shows anybody we're playing with or against that we're actual developers and not just stealing the names," Mokuba explained.

"Hold up." Seto snatched Joan's phone out of her hand and input a code. When he handed it back to her, she saw KaibaW displayed in gold.

Mokuba saw it pop up on his screen before Joan could so much as gasp. "Damn it, Seto. Everyone is going to know what the W stands for." Before he could think too hard about it, Mokuba grabbed Joan's phone and input the code again. He handed it back to Joan so she could input her own username.

Joan looked from one Kaiba to the other. Setting it back to her original username would be an insult to Seto. Making it too similar to KaibaW could upset Mokuba further. She tapped a letter and saw it glow gold. Either Mokuba agreed with Seto's decision on some level or he'd made a mistake. She stalled for time while she weighed her options."Mokuba, I'm not interested in working for Super Kaiba Megacorp, and I already declined Seto's offer to work for Kaiba Corp in Japan. Why did both of you put my username in gold?"

"Because you are working for us and you gave us the idea to ban Kuriboh from ranked play," Seto explained.

"Which we'll start implementing Monday," Mokuba added.

Here goes nothing, Joan thought. She could always change it again if either brother objected.

Seto and Mokuba watched MrsKaiba pop up on their screens. Joan looked up to see blushes reddening their features. Joan giggled. "We good now?"

"Yeah," Mokuba said quietly, "Yeah we can roll with that."

Seto chose to play as Blue Eyes White Dragon to deal damage, Joan as Mystical Elf for their healer, and Mokuba as Legendary Secret of the Six Samurai for their tank. They queued up for a match and found themselves playing against a PigBenis, a MasterBaiter, and an iPitMyShants. "I really hope these guys aren't streaming," Mokuba commented.

"Roland, find out," Seto ordered.

Seated at the nearby kitchenette table with the other bodyguards, Roland pulled out his phone and scoured the most popular live streaming platforms. "All clear," Roland called five minutes into the game.

With no in-game chat and no live stream to tip them off, The Kaiba team couldn't tell what their opponents were thinking. However, their opponents' choice of the famously blond and goofy Joey Wheeler as their designated duelist revealed something about their personalities and possible strategies.

"We need to get Marc on that dog costume pronto," Seto noted. Although Joey Wheeler had a positive reputation in the dueling community, Seto still considered him second rate and wanted to cut Joey from the Duelist lineup entirely.

"Seriously Seto," Mokuba said, "Some people actually respect Joey as a duelist. Besides, Marc is not at your beck and call."

"He was last night," Seto gloated.

"Seto, that was a demo tournament. Demo. Marc knows better than to do that in front of a hundred thousand people, and I hope you do too."

"I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about after."

Mokuba recalled how Marc had mysteriously run off when he was supposed to be signing autographs with Laura and Rob after dinner. "Oh god."

Joan chimed in. "Come on, Seto, get your facts straight. You were the one at Marc's beck and call."

"It sounds like a little of both," Mokuba extrapolated.

"Care to find out exactly how much?" Seto offered.

"Uh . . ." Mokuba's Legendary Secret of the Six Samurai got caught in a bad position and went down.

"I took a virgin in a threesome once," Joan mentioned casually while casting a healing spell at the location where Mokuba's monster used to be.

"Wait, what?" Seto lost concentration and his Blue Eyes White Dragon fell, leaving Joan's Mystical Elf wide open. It got banished to the Shadow Realm two seconds later.

Joan took the respawn time to flesh out her story. "So my friend had a friend and this friend had a really bad unrequited crush on someone else. He just wanted to get laid and move on with his life and I wanted a threesome, so that's what we did."

"No," Seto said, "I mean Mokuba. You didn't fuck yet?"

Mokuba sighed. "I just feel it's too soon. I want some romance."

"Romance?" Seto repeated. Some whores had tried to do that to him and it never ended well.

Their monsters respawned in quick succession and they went back to concentrating on the fight. Despite the setback, they managed to plow through the enemy forces and claim victory.

Seto set his phone down and glared past Joan at Mokuba. "First of all, romance is ridiculously overrated. The candles are nothing but a fire hazard and washing the chocolate out of your hair is an absolute pain in the ass."

Joan laughed.

"See? The best whores know better than to bother with that bullshit."

"No Seto," Joan corrected, "actual romance means different things to different people. A smart whore," she pulled his chin and gave him a short, sharp kiss, "knows how to give her client what he wants and how to get what she wants out of the experience too."

Seto's eyes widened and he fell silent.

"That's actually what I want," Mokuba said, "I want to know that the woman I'm with wants me as much as I want her."

Seto clenched a fist. "So what? You're going to wait for some gold digger to sweep you off your feet, marry you, and fuck you once on your wedding night before she runs off with half your money?"

Daggers of ice shot between the brothers as they snarled at each other.

Ready or not, Joan had to take the gamble now. If Seto persisted in applying pressure like this, Mokuba could get the wrong idea about her feelings. She caressed Mokuba's bicep. "Show me to your bedroom and I'll tell you a secret."

Mokuba broke his eyes away from Seto's. "Now?"

"Now." Joan turned back to Seto. "You," she pressed the tip of his nose with a finger, "get to sit right here and listen."

Seto's cock throbbed. He'd gotten used to the idea of them fucking, but discovering that it hadn't even happened yet, realizing she'd be Mokuba's first, brought him to an unprecedented pinnacle of arousal. Somehow, being restricted to the couch made the prospect all the more thrilling. He'd make sure to take his pants all the way off this time to avoid stains. He glanced at the bodyguards lingering by the kitchenette. "You're all on break until I call you back here."