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Atem grinned.
He leaned back, as far as the handcuffs allowed him to.
That wasn’t much, of course.
They weren’t meant to give him a lot of freedom.
Wasn’t that the whole purpose of restriction?
He kept the arrogant smile plastered on his face, as he looked the cop up and down.
A rookie.
That was a nice change.
The young officer seemed to be far less relaxed.
He had no idea, why they had forced him into the interrogation room with someone, that was far calmer than he seemed to be.
He wanted to snap at the criminal, to crawl over the desk and punch the cocky grin from his face.
“What’s your name?”
There was this smile again.
Mockery paired with arrogance.
“Yami Mutou.”
“And what exactly have you been doing at the crime scene, Mister Mutou?”
“You can call me Yami, no one called me Mister Mutou in a while. What is your name, sweetheart?”
The cop stared at him, anger flaring up. They had been dancing around for quite a while now, this was the first solid answer he had received.
“I am not a sweetheart, and you will call me officer.”
Atem purred happily.
“Officer… That sounds kinda sexy. Is this why you put me in handcuffs?”
“You are in handcuffs,” the young man huffed angrily, “because you’ve been caught red handed at a crime scene.”
Without even a blink, Atem leaned forward.
“Did I steal your heart, honey?”
In a clear sign of disgust, the cop pulled up his upper lip, exposing white teeth.
He was so proper.
Atem grinned more. It would be fun to break him.
“No. You stole a diamond necklace. A very rare one, that said. Only ten of those exist, worldwide. And the one in this city has been lost. Only days, after our officers watched you study it intently at an auction.”
“You know…” Atem leaned forward again, “It is the purpose of auctions to study the goods.”
“It is, however, not the purpose of auctions to give thieves like you ideas on what to steal.”
Another sly grin, Atem tried to rest his head on his palm, but the chains on his handcuffs weren’t long enough, so he had to put his arm back down after awkwardly moving it.
“Officer, you are very hostile, why do you think I would be a thief? Is there ANY kind of proof to support this claim?”
He narrowed his eyes.
Leaning forward, the young man was determined to hold Atem’s gaze.
“How often have you been in court again?”
“How often have I been found guilty again?”
There was just no way to get a straight answer out of him.
-----------------
After almost an hour, the cop was clinging to his last nerve.
The thief with the wild hair and crazy eyes was playing with him.
Insult after insult, term of endearment after term of endearment.
No useful information, only more and more frustration.
“I’m going to ask you one more time. Why have you been at the crime scene with a fucking wire cutter?”
“But Sir, this isn’t a wire cutter, I told you! It’s a hedge trimmer, my husband is terrible with gar-“
Out of the blue, the cop leaned over the table, and, following an irrational impulse, slapped the thief.
“FUCKING FINALLY.”
Atem smiled the widest smile he had ever seen.
He nodded at the officer, and then at the mirrored window behind him.
“Good game guys!”
At that moment, a police sergeant burst through the door.
“WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST DO?!”
He yelled at the young officer, that seemed to shrink considerably.
Nodding, Atem happily greeted the officer.
“Hi, Jou.”
Sergeant Katsuya just turned his head around, looking at Atem in regret.
“Hi dude… Damn I thought this time…”
Holding his handcuffs up to be unlocked, the man with the crimson eyes smiled again, this time considerably warmer.
“Why did you give me to a rookie?”
Jou shook his head.
“Bro… No one in the department wants to deal with you anymore… It’s frustrating.”
“Will you get Seto now?”
Rolling his eyes, Jou pinched the bridge of his nose.
“He’s going to FLIP HIS SHIT.”
By now, the young officer looked around between them like it was a tennis match.
He had no idea, what was going on, but it was evident, that the two men knew each other. Well.
Also, he was aware, that their chief was called Seto. But there was no chance in hell the thief meant him, right? Why would he demand to see the boss, especially after being released? And why was he even freed? They had found him with substantial evidence!
“He’s not. I didn’t even need a lawyer this time.”
Officer Katsuya stared at him, almost disbelieving, before he nodded to the mirrored glass.
Atem’s smile seemed to somehow widen even more.
“Who do you think will he curse more? Me or the sweet potato right here?”
He pointed to the young man, that had interrogated him.
But Jou only shook his head.
“All of us. He’s going to kill all of us. ”
With eyes full of confusion and curiosity, the young man asked:
“But why?”, and received a happy snort from the small man, that had just gotten up to strut to the door and… hug the officer?
Just when he was about to ask more, the chief burst into the room, staring at the odd scene in front of him.
Then, he focused on the thief, and growled.
“What the fuck are you doing here again ?”
“I missed you.”
Atem grinned, as if it was the easiest answer in the world.
“Atem. WHAT. ARE. YOU. DOING. HERE?”
The young officer looked up, at the peak of his confusion now.
“No, no, his name is Yami.”
Seto rolled his head around between the two of them, focusing his gaze onto the short man.
“That’s what you told him?”
“My second name is not technically a lie.”
Closing his eyes for a second, Seto tried to get his composure back.
He stared at the helpless officer, feeling as if he would have to end a work contract soon.
“What last name did he gave you?”
Now, it was Jou, who grinned.
He smiled at Atem, even winked, as the young officer answered dutifully.
“Mutou.”
The chief had to close his eyes again.
“Really? Mutou?”
Drawing up an eyebrow, he stared at the suspect.
“I also told him, that no one has called me that in a while.”
“You are the worst, Atem. What did you do?”
He looked affronted, rousing himself up like a peacock.
“This is a suggestive question you aren’t allowed to ask me you beginner.”
Seto grinned, something the young officer had never seen in his life.
“It was worth a shot. What are you accused of?”
“Now, that’s better.”
He smiled genuinely into the dimly lit room, eyes only on the police chief, forgotten everything around them.
“I am accused of stealing a pricy necklace.”
Seto Kaiba turned to the man still sitting on the interrogation table.
“Let me guess. Very rare. Was at an auction recently. Only 10 exist worldwide.”
He was shocked.
“How do you know that? Have you had time to study the file? But you just entered!”
Looking at Atem, who stared into nothing with an innocent expression, Seto just muttered:
“Yeah, thief. How do I know that?”
His eyes immediately darted back.
“You aren’t allowed to call me that.”
“Yeah. SUSPECT. How do I know that?”
“I got no idea, love.”
Following the quick exchange, the officer tried to keep up. He looked at Jou, wanting to ask for help of his superior, but he seemed to be almost amused by the banter between the chief and the guy they had just released.
He was so fascinated, that he almost missed the conversation turning back to him.
“Please tell me we got substantial evidence.”
Smiling, he answered his boss with a hearty “We do, Sir!”, before Jou piped in.
“But we have to release him, nonetheless.”
Seto stared at the both of them.
“Why?” His voice was almost hoarse now, maybe from shock, maybe from exhaustion.
Definitely from incredulity.
Now, Jou was cackling in the background.
“The rookie slapped him.”
As if on cue, Atem turned his face and pointed to a very light red bruise.
“SEEEE? I’m hurt! Police brutality! You better drop my case, or I’ll alert the media! I coincidentally know about all the cameras in the room. Everyone does, after last years Christmas.”
With dead eyes, Seto stared first at him, then at the sitting officer.
“You let him win.”
“No!”
“Yes!”
Atem almost squealed in victory.
“But we found the instrumentalities on him!”
Seto snapped his head around.
“Yes and YOU ALSO SLAPPED HIM WHICH DESTROYS EVERYTHING WE HAVE IN THIS CASE.”
Then, looking back at the supposed not-thief, he mumbled: “At least tell me what his excuse was. A wire cutter, I guess?”
“Noooo…” Atem smiled almost wickedly.
“It was a gardening tool. My husband is terrible at gardening.”
The chief turned to the interrogation table again.
“Have you checked his statement yet?”
Stuttering, the officer looked at his hands, almost in fear.
“N-no… I couldn’t. I was still busy with h…”
But he didn’t get to finish that statement, the chief immediately interrupted him.
“Good. Because I know for a fact it’s bullshit.”
Surprisingly, he was smiling.
Now, the young man felt his reality completely slipping.
Jou grinned to himself, before he turned around and left the room.
He was no longer needed here. He gestured for the officer to follow him.
Just as he got up, he heard the tiniest sounds.
“Can I get a hug now?”
“Can you promise me you aren’t in trouble?”
“Well, your rookie made sure of that.”
“One day, we will catch you, Atem. And I fear that day just as much as I’m waiting for it.”
And just as he was pushed through the door, he turned around, and saw them kiss.
-----------------------------
The last day had been absolute HELL.
He had to fill in a hundred forms, explaining why they had arrested and released the man he knew for a fact had something to do with the case, but couldn’t be persecuted.
Just when the young man thought, he had managed to get everything done and it was finally time for dinner, a well-known face marched past him.
“Hey rookie.”
He stared into crimson eyes, but they couldn’t hold his gaze long.
It was immediately drawn to a sparkly, fancy diamond necklace.
“Do you like it? There are only 10 of those in the whole wide world.”
Atem grinned cheekily and winked.
“Did you know, they somehow still forgot to imprint a serial number? And that some of them are in private hands, so you never really know where all ten are? Anyway. This one was a gift from my husband. I guess it pays off to marry the boss, doesn’t it?”
He strut past his desk and into the chief’s bureau.
Incredulously, the officer looked at his sergeant.
“His last name isn’t Mutou. Not anymore. He’s as much a genius as he is kleptomaniac. But no matter how hard we try, we never catch the slippery bastard.”
With a sigh, he watched through the windows into his chief’s office, where Atem readily climbed into Seto’s lap.
“Can you imagine loving someone so much, despite their flaws, that you marry them, so you never have to testify against them?”