Disclaimer: I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit.
Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh
Title: Popsicles and Promises
Romance: Yami no Malik x Otogi
Word Count: 2,209||Status: Complete
Genre: Romance||Rated: PG-13
Challenge: Yu-Gi-Oh Pairings: Season 8: Round 12
Feedback: All forms eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.
Notes: This takes place after the Yami no Bakura x Yami no Malik duel in Battle City. There's also some sexual innuendo.
Summary: Yami no Malik thought that he was pure evil, with no competition whatsoever. That is, until he watched Otogi Ryuuji eat a popsicle.

Another victory for him. He picked up the Millennium Ring and ran one hand over it, sensing the way the power submitted to him. That was right; he'd defeated the Spirit of the Ring in a fair duel and that gave him mastery of yet another Millennium Item. Two down, five to go.

He would have the others before the sun set yet again. But for now, he was just a little tired. Dueling that thief and my 'dominant half' was more exhausting than I thought it would be. He smirked at the mere thought of the former Malik Ishtar screaming in agony. He hoped he would be able to hear that sweet sound again one day.

For now, however, he decided it was time to get some rest. He tucked the Ring away under his shirt and made his way down from the dueling platform with a single graceful leap.

I wonder how long it will take Yuugi and his friends to realize that their friend is missing. Well, no matter. He had much more interesting concerns than their little group of sycophantic idiots.

The way to his room passed near the dining hall and he paused for a moment, considering. A strange noise from his stomach settled the matter for him. The idiot didn't even bother to eat most of today. He supposed his other half had some kind of excuse, but he wasn't going to care about them.

He stalked into the dining hall and looked around. Kaiba's servants had cleared away the majority of the food, but on the far side of the hall there was a door half-open with cold white light pouring out of it and sounds coming from the other side.

"Don't they have anything sweet in here at all?" The voice wasn't quite familiar, which wasn't saying much. Not many voices were to him, after all. He didn't count the ones that his other side would've called familiar. This voice wasn't one that either of them would've recognized.

He stepped up to the door, intending to throw it open and give whoever was there a good scare. His hand fell on the door, yet before he could open it another inch, his gaze fell on who was in there.

It was no one he knew. He recognized the other man as one of those who stood beside Yuugi, but not one of the finalists. He didn't even think that this one had a deck.

Yet he stopped where he was anyway. The other stood in profile to him, his head tipped back, eyes closed. The light didn't favor the black-haired not-stranger, but it didn't make a large difference. He stared nevertheless.

Black hair held back from his face with a red and black headband. Eyes that cracked open to reveal themselves a vivid, hypnotic green. Every stitch he wore clinging to him like a second skin.

Otogi. That's his name. Otogi Ryuuji. The dark shadow who ruled Malik's body dug the name from the recesses of his mind. The Ring Spirit had mentioned him to Malik as they'd made their arrangements for their bargain. A boy who knew a bit too much about the Millennium Items for his own good, and who had once tried to steal the Puzzle itself.

His lips curved into a twisted smile. He might be useful in the future.

He didn't move, though. No, he had a very nice view, he decided, and there wasn't any reason to move just yet. His gaze flicked up and down Otogi, taking in every single aspect of him. In all of his life, as well as Malik's life, he'd never experienced anything like this. He'd seen attractive men and women before. The world was full of them, after all. Yet Otogi, on some level that he couldn't understand, was different.

Perhaps it was what he was doing. The black-haired teen held a popsicle to his lips, the very tip of it set inside of his mouth. His tongue darted out to caress it for a moment, going across the top and then down each side. Then he reversed the actions, licking the sides and the top.

Coherent thought still wandered through the darkborn one's mind. It was very far in the back and didn't stand much of a chance of making it to the front but it was there all the same. He didn't miss it. What would he need it for right now anyway?

Otogi pulled the popsicle down so his tongue dragged the length of the cold treat, then flipped it around to do the same to the other side.

Malik's dark personality could no more have moved than he could have sprouted wings and flown. Even if he could have, those vague coherent thoughts murmured that he didn't want to. He was content for the moment to stay right where he was. He wasn't as tired as he thought he'd been and if Otogi could possibly be of use or a danger to him, then it was best that he watch and see just what the other was capable of doing.

The popsicle slid a bit more into Otogi's mouth, his red-stained tongue now coming out again to lick a few more times. He worked it in and out, a thin trail of red making its way down his cheek before he wiped it away. Dark-skinned fingers twitched for a single moment and the twisted being watching wondered what some of those not-quite coherent thoughts going through his mind actually meant.

What could it mean to want to know what else Otogi could do with his mouth?

He still didn't move, even as Otogi bit the popsicle in half and chewed it. Some level of thought or instinct that he hadn't ever considered before told him he should probably leave, but he ignored it. He had nothing to fear from this human. If Otogi so much as tried anything that he didn't want tried, then the Millennium Rod's dagger would set him straight soon enough.

Then what do you want him to do? It wasn't another voice in his mind; he'd been the voice in someone else's darkest thoughts long enough to know the difference. This was his own voice, expressing thoughts he'd never considered before.

A good question it asked as well. He had somehow taken his eyes off Otogi and he glanced back now to see what else the other was doing. That turned out to be rummaging into what he recognized now as a refrigerator. He hadn't paid that much attention to what else was in the room once he'd seen Otogi in there. Nothing else mattered but watching him and that popsicle.

"I hope you're enjoying the show, because it's almost over with."

He hadn't existed as a separate entity for a full twelve hours and in that time he'd experienced hate in a multitude of forms. Now he added a new emotion: surprise.

There were others, but he hadn't figured out what to call them just yet.

Otogi straightened up and turned toward him, green eyes lit with amusement. In one hand he held a banana, already half unpeeled. "Well?" He leaned against the refrigerator, one leg balanced against it. "Are you?"

He held his head up high, tightening his fingers around the Millennium Rod. He wasn't sure of what to say, because there was no way he was going to deny that he'd been watching in the first place. Why should he?

"I'll take that as a yes." Otogi brought the banana up to his mouth and bit off the tip of it. "Is there some reason you're watching at all? I would think you'd be more interested in daydreaming about how to defeat Yuugi or whatever it is you plan to do if you win tomorrow."

Now he found words. "There is no 'if' at all. I will win." This was ground he knew well and nothing Otogi said or did could dissuade him from it.

"You don't know Yuugi that well, then. Or the other Yuugi. Or Kaiba." Otogi's lips bent into a twist of a smile. "Much less Jounouchi. All three of them want to beat you for some reason. One of them will. All we have to do is wait and find out who it's going to be."

He wanted to crush Otogi's mind for that, to twist his brain into a pretzel and make him regret ever saying a single word. No, he would do better. He would win and there might be one exception to destroying everything, if only for a short time.

Just so he could prove how wrong Otogi was to think it would happen any other way.

"You know, if you don't stop staring at my lips, I'm going to think you want to kiss me."

The dark one hadn't even realized he was staring at Otogi's lips. Though they did spew out quite a lot of nonsense and he wondered if kissing him would get the fool human to shut up.

"If I were going to kiss anyone, I doubt you'd be the one." He bit the words out as harshly as he ever had anything else he'd said before. Otogi swallowed another piece of banana and smiled a confident, relaxed smile.

"Have you ever even kissed someone at all? I don't think so. You haven't existed long enough to kiss anyone." He tilted his head back and examined the other, absolutely no fear reflecting from those eyes of his.

I want him to be afraid of me. Fear didn't even come close to what he wanted, but it would do to begin with, he decided. Fear, regret, passion, pain, pleasure, realization, obedience that didn't need the Rod to inflict it…

"This still doesn't mean I'd kiss you before anyone else," the dark beast pointed out, hoping to see a flash of chagrin in Otogi's eyes. Instead, the other just kept on smiling that smile of his.

"What it means is that you don't know how to kiss and if you ever did want to kiss someone, you'd screw it up." He tossed the empty banana peel into a trashcan and shifted to look at the other. "I, on the other hand, have never screwed up a kiss in my life." Oh, that was too perfect. Too wonderful. He took a step closer to Otogi. "Why don't you prove that, then?" The images were already strong in his mind. Otogi would go to kiss him, he would take control of the situation and force Otogi to acknowledge that he was in control. Exactly what would happen after that he was vague on, but he decided he would work that out when the time came.

Otogi tilted his head back, the ends of his mouth lifting up in a smile that was unlike what had been on his lips moments earlier. Malik's dark shadow would've hesitated, if he'd been human and more experienced in what was going on. As it was, he reached out to grab Otogi by the shoulder and pull him closer. This wasn't a duel, but he was going to win nevertheless.

The words of triumph were moments away from forming on his lips. Otogi's breath ghosted hot across his lips. Perfect. He could all but feel those lips touching his own and every part of him ached in delicious triumph.

"Sorry." Otogi squirmed out from under his grip more easily than if he were coated in oil. "You're just not my type."

He stared. "I what?" Hate and rejection were old, familiar friends. Malik rejected him from the moment of his creation, after all. Rejection was what made him exist. But this was nothing like what he'd expected. Otogi's type?

"Right." Otogi tilted his head back, hip thrust to one side, that wicked, unholy, evil sparkle in his eyes. "I like my guys to be sane."

Before the shadow could so much as move again, much less do anything with the Rod, Otogi left the kitchen, closing the door as he did.

He… Words failed him as they never had before. He stood there only a moment before he stalked out as well, cape flowing about him with every step he took. He refused to admit that he watched for Otogi all the way back to his room. The other had to go the same way, after all. They would cross paths again.

Instead, he arrived back at his room without seeing so much as a glimpse of black hair or green eyes. You can't hide forever, Otogi. Battle City would only last so long, and when it was over and he had triumphed, there would be no more places for that…human to hide.

He gripped the Rod harder. While it would be child's play to bring Otogi to him with its power, he didn't want that. Otogi, with those flashing eyes and that cocky smirk, would be far more interesting to break without the Rod's assistance. No one defied him like that and got away with it. He would shatter Otogi and make him beg for forgiveness!

It would happen.

It would happen tomorrow. All he had to do was win Battle City first.

Child's play.

The End