Work Text:
One ring. Two.
Yuugi ignored the phone, waiting for Mokuba to pause his game and get it. He was so close to isolating the last bug in his program. Then he could test it again, and if it ran perfectly -
The third ring shattered the silence with a shrill scream, and Yuugi sighed, his chair scraping against the tile as he stood. “I’ll get it,” he called over his shoulder to Mokuba before going into the next room. He plucked the phone from its cradle, trying to smother his annoyance at being interrupted as he brought it to his ear. “Hello, Kaiba resi - ”
“Yuugi Muoto!”
Seto’s sharp, familiar voice on the end of the line cut Yuugi off, his mouth hanging open in surprise. His silence seemed invitation enough for Seto to continue.
“I am being a fair rival and giving you notice that I am on my way to your location right now, so that you can prepare yourself for our inevitable rematch!”
Yuugi sighed, his thumb and forefinger coming up to nudge aside his reading glasses and rub the bridge of his nose. “Hi, Seto,” he murmured, fighting and failing to stop the exasperated grin forming on his face.
“I hope your deck is ready, because I’ve found the perfect combination of cards to take you out and - ”
“Seto - ”
“ - if you are going to prepare yourself for my onslaught, do it now, because I am prepared to finally defeat you and - ”
“Work was that rough, huh?”
Silence.
Yuugi leaned against the wall and cradled the phone in his hands with a gentle grip, as though his sympathetic touch could reach Seto’s cheeks through the phone.
“...You...do accept my challenge, right?” There was a little waver in that voice, making Yuugi think of a card house just about to fall apart.
Yuugi sighed, almost letting the chuckle trapped in his throat slip free. “I’ll call the kitchen and tell them to prepare dinner early, and when you come home I’ll give you a shoulder rub while we wait. Then we can duel. Sound good?”
The sound of near-manic laughter replied, loud enough that Yuugi had to lean away from the earpiece. “You’re finished, Yuugi Muoto! Brace yourself and prepare for failure, because I will snatch the title of ‘King of Games’ from your hands this time!”
“Mmhm. Love you - ” Click. Yuugi sighed, whispering “Love you too,” to the dial tone before dialing the kitchens, letting them know that Seto was on his way home, and dropping the phone in its cradle again.
“Another telemarketer?” Mokuba asked, not even bothering to look up when Yuugi returned and plopped down on the sofa.
“No. Seto. He’s coming home early. Glad he’s finally listening to my advice and being a little easier on himself.” Yuugi watcheed Mokuba pulverize the eldritch abomination on the screen to tiny, gory pieces.
“Did he challenge you to a duel?”
“Is the Blue-Eyes White Dragon his favorite card?”
Squeal. Squish. Another monster met its untimely demise at the hands of Mokuba’s ridiculous shuriken and lightning-shooting gun. “He’s such a dork sometimes. You’ve been married for three years!”
Yuugi only snickered in reply, planting his elbow on the sofa arm and tucking his chin into his hand. The ring on his finger was warm against his cheek. “Yeah, he’s a dork. But he’s our dork.”