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"A ... photoshoot...?"
"Yes, for Duel Magazine,"
Yugi restrained himself from sighing
He still couldn't believe that was a real thing....
Sometimes he was a little scared that Kaiba's dealings with L Corp- a company in America that he had recently gotten a rather strong associates deal with- was rubbing off on him
L Corp had recently acquired a magazine company, now it looked like Kaiba was trying to start his own- specific to gaming though, rather than news or gossip
Yugi still wasn't sure what to do with all of this
"I'm .. sorry, Kaiba, but I really have no interest in publicity, especially not any kind like this..."
That's one of the main reasons he had decided to be a game designer instead of taking the duel sponsorship that Kaiba had offered him, after all
"Sorry, but you don't have a choice, it's in your contract that you'll do whatever publicity I ask of you in Kaiba Corp owned presses,"
"What?! Where in my contract does it say that!?"
"Section C, article 52," Kaiba replied blandly, reaching into his desk and pulling out the enormous stack of pappers consisting of Yugi's contract, flipping through them and pointing at the section in question
"You... you just.... keep my contract sitting in your desk all the time....?"
"Oh, no, this is just a copy, feel free to highlight this if you need to, and I only put it in my desk because I anticipated having this conversation with you,"
Yugi narrowed his eyes, glancing down at the contract and-
-Party A hereby agrees to submit to any and all publicity- including but not limited to: commercials, advertisements, photoshoots, press appearances, interveiws, articles, and event appearances- under the Kaiba Corporation brand name, including but not lim-
".... When the hell did you put this in?"
"It's been there since the beginning, did you even read your contract?" Kaiba asked suspiciously
Yugi made a face- an offended one- but then quietly-
"I skimmed it...."
"Uh-huh, you should have learned from Scott Pilgrim,"
"You're a Scott Pilgrim fan?"
"Jo,"
"Oh,"
With that said, Yugi just sighed and hung his head, pinching the bridge of his nose
"Do I really have to do this?"
"Sorry but yes, this is the magazine's launch, it has to do outstandingly well to pull in frequent buyers and subscribers, for that, I'm doing a large spread on the top ten duelists in the world- and you, unfortunately, are number one, I'm still trying to figure out how to handle Atem without an official ranking but... the point is, you're both obligated, but I'll try to keep the magazine stuff to a minimum in the future,"
A minimum, he said, notably not saying that he would let Yugi be free after this
Oh well... in honesty, the King Of Games was a little surprised that he had even managed to go this long without having to do some kind of press like this, and atleats he knew Kaiba would be respectfull and not ask anything too uncomfortable or personal of him...
"Fine, but just.... do me a favor please and let Atem and I wear our own clothes and do our own hair and make up? I just... I hate all the fuss... and Atem probably won't appreciate the invasion of his personal space by a stranger..."
"'Yesterday he hugged the delivery girl who brought us lunch," Kaiba reminded him smoothly
.....
Dammit Atem....
"And technically that's two favors, but sure, why not? Just show up on time,"
Yugi only nodded politely, then slumped his shoulders as he headed out of the office, feeling his stomach twist up in knots
He so wasn't looking forward to this....
~+~
"This sounds like fun! I don't see why you're dreading it so heavily Aibou," Atem beamed enthusiastically
Yugi just shook his head and sighed, leaning in a little closer as he finished putting the eyeshadow over his boyfreind's eyelids
"Because I... I'm not the publicity type, I just don't like it, I don't really care for people taking my picture unless it's just a fun freinds thing, and I really hate giving interveiws and just... being in the public eye,"
Atem pouted, clearly looking sorry for the other man
"I'm sorry partner..."
"It's ok, it isn't your fault or anything," Yugi promised with a gentle, polite smile, leaning forward and giving him a kiss on the forehead
"Now come on, you're finished, so let's get going before Kaiba skins us alive for being late,"
~+~
"Weeeeell I see you've already been to the make up station,"
Yugi was relatively surprised at that assumption, head tilting to the side as he watched Joey lean against the snack table and look down at it longingly
Poor guy, Kaiba had already gotten to him- clearly
He was dressed in something considerably more fashionable than how he usually was- a long, expensive looking, black leather coat, probably designer, and a burgandy v-neck shirt with black jeans, and he clearly had had his make up already done too, with black nail polish, a bit of shimmer over his eyes, mascara, and a touch of glistening pink lip gloss- not dark enough to stand out, but just enough to make his lips shimmer
The poor bastard was ogling the food like a starving dog looking at a steak and Yugi assumed he was under strict "mess up your lip gloss and die so no food or drinks until after photos" orders
"Actually we did our own make up- well, I did our own make up, Atem is still learning," Yugi explained with a small shrug
"Wow seriously? I knew ya' were good Yug, but ya' look even better than usual,"
"Thanks," Yugi smiled politely, watching as Atem went for a power-sugar covered confection on the table
"Sweetie, not until after the photos, I don't have lip gloss on me to fix your's if you mess it up now," he warned
Atem stared over at him with puppy eyes, but Yugi was unflinching
He wouldn't have cared any other time, but he knew that if Atem messed up his make up now, Kaiba would insist on it being redone- professionally, and Atem had made comments before about not liking anyone but Yugi to do his make up so he was just trying to watch out for his boyfreind
"Ugh, I'm gonna be fuckin' glad when this shit is over," Joey grumbled, staring down longingly at the table of food before him and giving a loud sigh
"I'm sure it'll be over before you know it," Yugi promised with a polite smile
Little did he know just how wrong he would be about that....
~+~
"You did your own make up?"
"Um, yeah?"
DUEL! Magazine had been out for over a week now, and Yugi had been almost flooded by people talking to him about the article ever since
He hadn't revealed anything particularly interesting in his opinion, just alot of the basics, but it was always something that got people's attention, be it his gaming, his boyfreind, or his make up, and he had heard that Atem was going through something similar too
One particular point of interest for people seemed to be that Yugi had done their make up
Apparently it had looked alot better than Yugi was giving it credit for, as it kept drawing attention from everyone
Hell there were even people who had gone to talk to Atem about it and then made the journey to find Yugi and talk to him instead, once they found out he was responsible for the make up
"You should have a tutorial channel on YouTube!"
Yeah, that was the third time he had heard that today alone, honestly he had heard it so many times that he was actually considering it
"You know what? I might just do that,"
And that was how his new hobby as a make up tutorialist began...
~+~
"Is it on?"
"Yep, the red dot means we're recording," Yugi nodded with a sweet smile as he stared into the camera on his phone, giving a small wave to it and hoping that this didn't turn into a complete fucking disaster
"Hello everyone, this is Yugi Muto, and this is my boyfreind Atem, today we're going to be showing you how to apply a good kohl eyeliner, kohl had some pretty big cultural significance in ancient Egypt, didn't it Atem?"
Atem blinked, staring at Yugi in confusion
"Well yes... you already know that it does, why are you asking...?"
"It- .. it's an excuse for you to explain it to the veiwers Atem..."
"Oh!! Then yes, it does!" Atem replied proudly, smiling sweetly at the camera phone
Yugi chuckled, finding it absolutely charming and reaching over to the nightstand for the make up he had with him
"Why don't you explain it wile I prepare the make up then? I'm not sure if anyone will watch these videos or not, but for the few who do, why not provide something of a make up history lesson?"
~+~
"Hello everyone, to celebrate reaching one thousand subscribers- and thank you again for that by the way- we're going to be doing what was most requested in our poll- fan inspired make up!"
It had only been a month since they had started this make up tutorial thing but already they had reached a thousand subscribers
It was... kind of surreal
It was weird how it had taken off like that
Sure, Yugi knew there would probably be a few people watching, considering that they had talked to other people before about doing the channel and had quite a few freinds who would support them just for the sake of being supportive, but he had never dreamed it would take off like this
It was kind of incredible really....
"Today we'll be doing a Dark Magician inspired look, with Atem as my beautifull model, we're going to explore shades of purple, gold, and silver,"
~+~
"Hello everyone, and welcome to Pharaoh's Cosmetology! We're your hosts, Yugi and Atem, and today we're going to be testing out a Ladybug and Chat Noir inspired make up, I'll be doing Ladybug, and my beautifull boyfreind will be doing Chat Noir,"
The make up channel had exploded after that Dark Magician video, and fandom inspired looks were now a solid half of what the two of them did
After only six months, Yugi had sort of... found his place in being more public of a person
He had a public persona now, not entirely himself, he had to admit, but it was still ... well, it had really helped him find comfort in being a celebrity
He still didn't like the idea of doing alot of publicity, especially for dueling related things, but this make up channel, this little niche he had found, felt good
He felt confident and comfortable and he couldn't remember ever feeling that way when he was doing something incredibly public before
It was nice
He was happy for his channel, for his new little side job as a make up tutorialist
He made a real effort not to take it too seriously or turn it into another actual "job", as he didn't want the fun to be taken out of it, so even though he had grown quite popular and had been doing it for some time, he didn't feel burnt out or stressed by it
It was weird to think that it had sort of been because of Kaiba that he had gotten there in the first place, but he didn't pay much mind to that
Perhaps, however, he should have....
~+~
"You want me to do another magazine article?"
"Yes, but you'll write it yourself, and you don't even have to show your face if you don't want to- though I'm not sure why that would bother you considering your new sidejob,"
"It's just a different context, it doesn't feel as public... wich I know is insane because it IS, if anything it's more so, but ... it doesn't feel that way, it feels more private to me,"
"I understand where you're coming from," Kaiba promised, wich was a bit of a relieved surprise for Yugi, but one he certainly wasn't arguing with
"Like I said, you don't have to show your face, you don't have to give any personal details, I just want you to write an article of- and I can't believe I'm saying this- beauty tips- since so many people are now interested in your make up thing, maybe even do it a few times a year,"
"Am I technically obligated to do this?"
Well if there was ever a clear look of disdain on Kaiba's face, it was the one he was wearing in that moment
"No, you are not technically obligated,"
"So then... I would be doing you a favor..."
Let it be known that Yugi had, over the months, learned a little bit about how to talk business
He was exhibiting that now
"......... Yes......." Kaiba gritted out lowly
"Then perhaps if I do this for you, you won't mind letting me off the hook in the future with interveiws and photoshoots and the like?"
For his credit, atleast Kaiba actually seemed legitimately regretfull when he answered
"I can't make that promise, you're still the King Of Games Yugi, like it or not, that's going to come with a certain level of obligation as a celebrity- forget being signed to me, even if it isn't my project, sooner or later there will be opportunities that will require things like this of you, you won't be able to turn them all down,"
Yugi hung his head and nodded slowly
He knew
But he still wanted to try to stay away from as much undeserved- by his thought process- media attention as possible
"Look, how about this?" Kaiba sighed
"Do the article, and you have my word that I won't ask you to do anything that I don't find strictly necessary in the future.... deal?"
Yugi smiled a little, giving a nod and holding his hand out to shake on it
"Deal,"
It was a bit ironic, make up had given him a new confidence, a new part of himself, opened up so many new doors for him.... and yet it was also serving to keep protecting who he had been before, and who he still was now
It can do alot of things for a person, it cane be a very versatile tool, that's one reason Yugi loves it so much
That... and, -he reflected, as he stepped out of Kaiba's office to greet his boyfreind, who he had painted quite prettily just that morning- with how good Atem looked in winged eyeliner and a bit of gold on his face? It was impossible not to love the stuff