Rivalshipping + FAKE DATING!!!!
Okay I JUST SO happen to have a truly elaborate post-canon post-DSOD rivalship fake dating fic outlined, literally from top to bottom... but rather than spoil all the details for that one, here's a new one:
Kaiba and Yuugi are traveling around doing press and promo during the Spherium launch. And they've been vibing. They're having a blast! Yuugi is NOT aflame with a sickening crush on Kaiba, who has been friendly but remains a little aloof the entire time! anyway someone asks a question about Spherium and he's like, sweating and babbling under the pressure of the press tour, "oh, you know, it's a labor of love. Like Wordle, you know? Like that guy made Wordle for his partner. Like you really have to have your ideal player in mind when you make a game, someone who really gets it, and Kaiba is my ideal player - "
The reporter jumps on this. "You mean you made this for Kaiba? Out of love?"
Yuugi is scrambling. "I mean, I hold Kaiba in very high esteem, we made this game together, it's the result of OUR love... Um, for games...."
Beside him, Kaiba is stone-faced. On one level he's thinking he should've had Yuugi prep more for the press tour. On another level, this is an excellent opportunity. Yuugi did in five seconds what the marketing department couldn't do in five months: create a juicy little mythology around Spherium that makes it more than just a game. It's a symbol now. Oh yes, the game is a love letter. To each other. Taj Mahal, goldfish crackers, Spherium: the things you make for love.
"Our love for each other," he adds, which is a truly easy lie, because it's the truth. He has ALSO been burning up with secret pining. The press pit goes fucking wild.
So they agree to fake date, for the sake of the game, and then they can just quietly call it quits in a few months. that's the end of their fake relationship. Right? RIGHT???
OF COURSE NOT.
Points of contention:
- Yuugi doesn't like the idea that they're turning love into a marketing ploy to sell the game. Feels fake!! But his love IS real and he DID make Spherium as a love letter to Kaiba! Fuck!!
- It was Kaiba's idea but he regrets it pretty much immediately, cursing his own mercenary instinct. He doesn't want a fake relationship, he wants a REAL one. But he's never backed out of a challenge before and he's not stopping now. He becomes extremely hot and cold because he doesn't know how to deal with his own feelings.
- Both of them hate feeling like they're using the other person as a means to an end. Kaiba doesn't want Yuugi to feel that way, and Yuugi definitely doesn't want Kaiba to feel that way. They kiss on stage at SDCC and can't look each other in the eye for the next six hours. What have they done. They are truly a hot mess of emotions. The mutual pining is insane.




















