Chapter Text
It was embarrassing, getting knocked out in round 2.
But Atem was fine with it. Per competition rules, once you were knocked out you had to leave. That meant going home to his husband and daughter. In fact, thinking about them is what caused him to misplay in the first place. He'd been ahead his entire match, certain of a decisive victory, and then got distracted thinking about Mimi cheering him on from home. Yugi had tried to convince him to pull the "I'm Seto Kaiba's husband" card to allow him to at least stay on premises, but Atem thought that was too much of an abuse of power. Besides, he really wanted to go home.
"Hey Pharaoh!" Atem groaned as he loaded his suitcase into his car.
"Fuck off, Rizack," Atem called to him. The opponent he'd lost to, who was a very sore winner.
"Oh come on! No need to be a sore loser," Rizack teased as Atem climbed into his car and started it. It was a beautiful day and he rolled down his windows. Rizack was there in a second.
"No need to be a sore winner," Atem chuckled. He pulled out his sunglasses and fiddled with them for a moment, wondering if he'd need them.
"Come on! There's no shame in losing," Rizack continued, trying to get a rise from him.
Atem just smirked. "The first thing we agree on. There is no shame in losing. And now I get to go home, see my cat, give my daughter a hug, and have sex with my husband Seto Kaiba." Atem reveled in the slackjawed expression on Rizack's face as he slipped his sunglasses on. "Good luck in the rest of the tournament."
Not even caring if he drove over Rizack's toes, Atem pulled out of the parking spot and started off home.
~*~
It took an hour to get home. He’d let Kaiba know when he’d be back before he left the arena, which was why he was rather confused to see an empty spot in the garage where Kaiba’s car should have been. Walking into the house, all he heard was silence. He’d expected Mimi to jump right into his arms when he walked through the door, but instead he was alone.
“Mimi? Seto?” he called out, knowing that he wouldn’t be getting an answer. Miu came around the corner, though, and the egyptian mau cat jumped right to her usual perch curled around Atem’s neck and shoulders. He smiled and nuzzled his cat. “Hello, Miu, I missed you too.”
With the cat quite comfortable around his neck, Atem dragged his suitcase to the bedroom to begin unpacking. Not that there was much to unpack, he’d only been gone for a day. Really, it was rather embarrassing. He was a better duelist than that and everyone around him knew it. Though he supposed getting to see his daughter and husband were fine consolation prizes.
If they’d ever turn up, that is.
Half an hour later found Atem unpacked and curled up in the living room with a book in his hand and Miu on his lap, purring contentedly. Rebecca had recommended this book series to him and even though he was only halfway through book one, he was hooked. He had a bad feeling about this Tampon character and he needed to find out if he was going to be proven right. He was sure it would be soon, they were making such a big deal about this Fire Night festival that something interesting was bound to happen soon. After all, one couldn’t introduce a tall, dark, suave, vaguely menacing fae and not have something go horribly wrong.
Or horribly right. Atem found himself suddenly rooting for this beautiful, terrifying stranger.
“BABA!”
Hearing Mimi’s voice so loud and happy brought a great smile to Atem’s face. He set down his book and eased Miu off his lap just in time for Mimi to launch herself at him. Her little arms wrapped tightly around his neck and he eased her into a sitting on his recently vacated lap. She’d started calling him Baba at Kaiba’s suggestion, the arabic word for father seemed to fit rather well when she started calling Kaiba ‘Daddy’.
“I’m sorry you lost, Baba, but Daddy and I got ice cream!” Mimi cried happily, giving Atem as tight a hug as she could muster.
Atem looked at Kaiba, who was lingering in the doorway of the living room with a tray of covered cups of ice cream and an apologetic smile.
“She wanted to get you ice cream to cheer you up but she only wanted to go to the nice creamery on the hill. You know, the one twenty minutes away that always has a long line?” Kaiba explained with a small laugh in his voice. “I told her it would take too long and you’d return long before we got back but then she insisted and next thing I know, we’re in the car.”
Atem had to laugh. Kaiba was physically incapable of saying no to sweet little Mimi. That little girl was getting spoiled in very short order. Kaiba set the tray of already melting ice creams and took up a seat on the arm of Atem’s chair. Atem leaned into his side while Kaiba wrapped his arm around his shoulders, pulling his small family into a single embrace.
“What happened, Baba?” Mimi asked as she snuggled into Atem’s arms. “Daddy said you misplayed. You never misplay!”
“I do sometimes,” Atem chuckled, giving Kaiba a wink. “And I did today. I got distracted and I missed an important trigger.”
“What distracted you?” Mimi pressed.
Atem smiled softly and he booped Mimi’s nose as he said, “I was thinking about how much I missed you! And that I didn’t want to spend another minute away from you!”
Mimi gasped dramatically. "So you threw the match?! On purpose!?"
"Please tell me you didn't throw the match on purpose," Kaiba asked wearily.
"I did not throw the match on purpose! I just missed a trigger!" Atem huffed. He also hadn’t made much of an attempt to recover from his misplay. If he’d applied himself, he absolutely could have turned it around to seal his victory, but the thought of a loss and heading home was just too tempting.
"It doesn't matter," Kaiba chuckled. He pressed a soft kiss to the top of Atem's head and reached his ridiculously long arms over to grab the ice creams. "Your home and we have ice cream."
"Are you very disappointed in me?" Atem asked, batting his eyelashes in that one way he knew made his husband melt. He caught Kaiba's gaze and he watched that steely resolve crumble.
"Just. . . Don't do that in a tournament I host," Kaiba grumbled as he passed him a cup of mango ice cream and a plastic spoon.
“I promise I will not do that in a tournament you host.” Atem leaned up and pursed his lips, his intentions very clear. Kaiba rolled his eyes and leaned down to peck a very quick kiss on his lips. “Thank you, my love.”
“EEEWWW kissing is gross!” Mimi cried, jumping right out of Atem’s lap and planting both her little fists on her hips and stomping her foot. “Gross!”
“You’re right, sweetheart, it’s super gross,” Kaiba laughed, pulling Atem closer into his side. “Just the worst. Right, love?”
“Absolutely terrible,” Atem agreed, not even trying to hide his smile. He’d been right, Seto Kaiba made an incredible father. “Really, we should just never do it again. It’s too gross!”
“I agree, it’s just too much,” Kaiba shrugged, as though it was some terrible burden. “Mimi, I promise, I’ll never kiss Baba again because it’s gross.”
“Good! Because it is gross!” Mimi nodded, rather satisfied with herself as she grabbed her ice cream and toddled off.
The second she was out of the room, Atem was pulling Kaiba on top of him with a wicked grin on his face.
“If kissing is gross, I’d like to do some positively disgusting things to you,” Atem purred. His eyes were already half lidded with lust as he heard Kaiba’s answering growl.
“I can think of a few things too,” Kaiba answered back, placing a series of kisses and nips along Atem’s jawline. “Shall we take this upstairs?”
“Only if I can bring my ice cream with me.”