Atem has always had a weakness for beautiful things — and lately, that means staring at Seto Kaiba through the window to the living world for hours on end, at the expense of every royal duty he owns. When he discovers that afterlife-Seto has the same face, minus the headdress and the yelling, he learns a valuable lesson: an oshi you can visit beats an oshi far away. Seto, for his part, would just like the paperwork done.
This is a translation of an original work on Pixiv.
Original Title: アテムと美しい貌
Original Author: 葉人(@Hathor₋yuki)
Personal site: https://prideshipping.sakura.ne.jp
Seto Kaiba had a remarkably good face. At least, to Atem, it was a face he could stare at forever.
Even back in the living world, Atem had spent every idle moment watching Seto.
Even if he got glared at, even if it made Seto suspicious, even if he was told "what's your problem," he kept watching anyway.
If asked why he watched so much, he had no way to answer.
People stop in front of a beautiful painting. People look up at a starry sky. It was the same kind of thing.
So naturally, after returning to the afterlife, he kept watching Seto Kaiba, same as before.
The problem was the frequency, and the duration.
"The king's been acting strange lately."
One day, a priest came to Seto with a grave expression, seeking advice.
"Isn't he just watching the living world?"
"Yes... but, even when we call to him, there's almost no response..."
"And the work?"
"That's... backed up."
Seto pressed a hand to his brow.
Having only just been released from his seal, it wouldn't be strange for his soul to be unstable. Or perhaps something had happened in the living world again.
Thinking that, Seto went to check on Atem.
Opening the door, Atem was in the dim room, staring fixedly at the window that showed the living world.
The intensity of his focus was abnormal.
He didn't notice even when spoken to.
Seto frowned and turned his gaze to the window.
Then, fell silent.
What was reflected there was Seto Kaiba's face.
In extreme close-up.
Probably adjusting the spell. The frame was filled entirely with blue eyes, a high nose bridge, a sharp jaw. A face far too well put-together, displayed in full.
Seto — the modern one — seemed to be at work, occasionally raking a hand through his hair, looking mildly annoyed.
Atem was staring at it, dead serious. At an outrageously close distance. Not moving, as if even blinking were a waste.
"...My king."
"...Hm?"
"What are you doing."
Atem answered without taking his eyes off the window.
"Isn't it obvious."
It's not obvious, that's why I'm asking.
Not saying that, Seto stayed silent for a few seconds.
Searching for words.
"Has Your Majesty, perhaps, lost his mind."
Atem finally turned around.
"Why would you say that."
"'Why would you say that' is my line."
Seto pointed at the window into the living world.
"What is that."
"Kaiba."
"I can see that much."
"His face is good today too."
"I didn't ask."
Atem tilted his head, genuinely baffled.
"Are you telling me you feel nothing, looking at this man's face?"
"I feel nothing."
"...Liar."
"Honestly, what is this level of intensity."
Atem let out a sigh. His gaze had already returned to the window.
"Kaiba often furrows his brow like this."
"So what."
"When he's in a bad mood, his eyes get sharper."
"I have no interest."
"But he seems a little sleepy today."
"...How could you possibly tell that."
"Because I've been watching the whole time."
"Please don't say something so unsettling. Work is waiting."
"That's more unsettling. Just give me five more minutes."
Said with a completely straight face, Seto went quiet.
The window into the living world still showed Kaiba's face, unchanged.
And now, he'd even propped his cheek on one hand. A good angle.
Atem watched without moving a muscle.
"My king."
"I'll come back once five minutes are up."
"You said that just a moment ago."
"This time it's really true."
There was no more trust left to give.
Seto let out a quiet breath.
"...Former Majesty?"
Atem's shoulder twitched.
There it is.
He knew it from the tone alone.
This is a bad one.
Atem had already, through conditioning, learned to react to Seto's use of "Former Majesty."
First, the workload increases. Then, the workload increases. In short, the workload increases.
And, his time appreciating Seto Kaiba decreases.
The worst possible outcome.
"Please return to your official duties. They're backed up."
"...That much?"
"That much."
Seto said it, flatly.
"The adjustment documents for the western district. The soul allocation reports. The confirmation items from the priests' council. Unapproved cases are piling up."
With each item named, Atem's expression clouded further.
But Seto didn't stop.
"On top of that, I hear that yesterday, too, you said you were 'taking a short break' and disappeared somewhere for about six hours."
"No, that was..."
"You were watching the modern boy, weren't you."
"..."
Direct hit.
Seto set a stack of documents on the desk.
A heavy thud rang out.
An extremely unpleasant sound.
"This is only a fraction of it. Until it's done, I'll be sealing the window to the living world, by my own power."
"What!?"
Atem whipped around.
"Wait."
"I won't wait."
"That's tyranny."
"I'd rather not hear that from a king who's abandoning his duties."
Seto was cold.
However.
Looking closely, his face was good.
Atem stared, reflexively.
The well-formed nose bridge. Sharp eyes. A low voice holding back anger.
Good.
Extremely good.
"...Why do you look pleased about that."
"No reason."
"'No reason' isn't an answer. You're hiding something."
Seto let out a deep sigh.
He'd been king for roughly three thousand years, but this might be the first time he'd ever encountered someone so impossible to reason with.
"Once your work is finished, you may look all you like."
"Really?"
"Of course."
Atem narrowed his eyes, faintly.
Which meant, once the work was done, he could legally watch Seto Kaiba.
Motivation, acquired.
"Understood."
At Atem's sudden obedience, Seto felt a slight wariness.
"Then, let's go."
"Yeah."
Atem stood, and, looking reluctant to leave, took one last glance at Seto Kaiba.
Just then, on the other side, Kaiba happened to lift his face.
Sharp blue eyes pierced straight through, toward him.
"...Am I imagining things?"
The low, irritated murmur reached faintly into the afterlife.
Atem was a little moved.
"His face is good today too..."
"Closing it."
"Wait— ah..."
That day, Atem's visit to Seto's private chamber was, unusually, for work.
"It's open."
Prompted by the low voice, he opened the door.
Inside, only the quiet rustle of paper echoed.
Seto, bent over his desk, lifted his face.
"What brings you, my king."
"There's something I wanted to ask."
"That's unusual."
A rude thing to say, but it was true, so there was no arguing.
Atem cleared his throat lightly and held up an old document he'd been carrying.
"The soul influx records from 2,700 years ago. The classification method is different from now."
"Ah. The standards were vague, back then."
Seto stood and lowered his gaze to the document Atem held.
And, in that instant.
Atem froze.
Seto wasn't wearing his headdress today.
His eyes were fully visible.
Loose bangs. Sharp brows, a well-formed nose bridge. A face far too well put-together.
Seto Kaiba.
No — different.
Different, but far too alike.
And, on top of that, close.
Close, and quieter than Kaiba, and didn't yell.
—Isn't this the best possible situation?
"...My king?"
Seto frowned, puzzled.
Even that expression was good.
Atem stared at Seto, silently.
Stared, and thought.
—Why hadn't I noticed this until now?
Seto Kaiba was in the living world. Watching him required opening the window to the living world. Naturally, that took time.
But this Seto was different — right here, in front of him.
From that day on.
Atem began chasing after the face he liked, right at hand.
"Seto."
"Yes, my king?"
"Your face is good today too."
"Thank you. Have the documents been finished?"
"Not yet."
"I see."
Seto nodded, calm.
Calm.
Calm, but there was a bad premonition.
"...Seto?"
"Former Majesty."
There it was.
Atem straightened, reflexively.
"I told you yesterday as well, to finish everything by the end of today."
"No, well..."
"The priests' reports. Next month's inspection schedule. Seven other pending matters. All of them, stalled."
"..."
"Why is that."
"...I was watching your face."
Seto fell silent.
Silently, he added more documents to the desk.
A heavy thud rang out. That same unpleasant sound.
"Isn't this more than before?"
"I added more."
"Why."
"You seemed bored."
"That's tyranny."
"Coming from a Former Majesty who isn't working."
Seto was cold.
There was mercy in it, but it was extremely cold.
But it was a good face.
Caught staring without meaning to, Seto narrowed his eyes, sharply.
"For a while, you're forbidden from entering my office. I won't come to you either."
"Why?"
"Because you can't get any work done while looking at my face."
"That's... true, but."
"That's exactly why."
"Wait."
"I won't see you until the work is done."
Cruel. Atem grew, somewhat genuinely, alarmed.
That day, the punishment effective against Atem — "Face-Viewing Ban" — was handed down.
With no other choice, Atem started actually working.
But, as he worked, he noticed something.
If he kept his hands moving on work, he found Seto stayed nearby.
Meaning.
If he worked, he could legally look at Seto's face.
"Seto."
"Yes."
Atem said it, dead serious.
"From now on, I'm going to work seriously."
Silence fell.
Seto blinked, slowly.
"What brought this on, so suddenly."
"I've realized a few things."
"...I see."
After that, Atem genuinely began working seriously.
He came to the office from morning. Cleared documents. Attended meetings.
The priests were moved.
The king has finally reformed, they thought.
But only Seto wore a complicated expression.
Because—
"...My king."
"What."
"Why have you been staring this way for a while now."
Atem answered without even looking up from the documents.
"Because your face is good."
"That, again."
The gaze was extremely bothersome.
Atem watched more openly than before. He didn't even try to hide it.
Because he was working. And at a terrifying pace, at that.
"My king, please confirm this."
"Right."
"This is the western district matter."
"I'll look later."
"Then, this one first."
"Understood."
His work attitude, too, was strangely obedient.
In exchange, he never stopped watching.
When Seto read documents. When he ran his brush across paper. When he furrowed his brow.
The whole time.
"...Don't you get tired, watching that much?"
"I don't."
An instant answer.
Seto let out a deep sigh.
Something did seem off, after all.
Atem had always had a weakness for beautiful things.
Magnificent temples. Polished gold. The night sky. Stars. A still water's surface.
Seeing such things, he'd naturally stop in his tracks.
In short, it wasn't so much that he had a weakness for beautiful things, as that growing up surrounded by beauty had turned him into someone who cared, deeply, about faces.
And now, what drew Atem's eye the most was Seto.
Since he'd started working, Atem had come to realize something.
He wanted to look at Seto from the front. He wanted to meet his eyes.
He realized the method to satisfy those desires was simple.
Work seriously.
Do that, and Seto stayed nearby. Came to report. Explained things. Looked at him.
In other words: legally viewable face.
A wonderful system.
As a result, Atem had become remarkably diligent.
He cleared documents, attended meetings, even listened attentively to the priests' reports.
He seemed like an entirely different person from before.
"The king has been wonderful, lately."
"Yes, truly..."
The priests were moved.
They never dreamed, even for a moment, that the reason was "he wants to look at Seto's face."
Naturally.
Meanwhile, Seto wore a complicated expression.
"My king."
"What."
"You're close."
"Am I?"
Extremely close.
Under the pretense of looking over a document, he'd been strangely closing the distance, and his gaze, too, had grown more frequent than before.
More than frequent, really.
"...Is there something on my face?"
"There isn't."
"Then why are you looking."
Atem thought about it, a little.
For some reason, obviously, because I want to look.
"Because it's a good face."
"I see."
He'd already lost the will to argue.
Seto returned his gaze to the documents, flatly.
Long lashes lowered.
Watching that profile, something in Atem's chest stirred, strangely.
He felt, faintly, unsettled.
"My king?"
"...No."
His heartbeat felt off.
When Seto turned to face him, he felt unsettled. When their eyes met, he tensed, oddly.
And yet he wanted to look more.
"You're not looking at this."
"I am."
"You're not."
"I am."
"Please look at the documents."
Said calmly, Atem reluctantly lowered his gaze.
But within a few seconds, he was looking at Seto again.
"...My king."
"Just a little."
"Not just a little."
"Your brow's especially furrowed today."
"That's your doing."
Being scolded, Atem, for some reason, felt a little pleased.
My doing.
Those words lingered strangely in his chest.
Strange.
Lately, his head had been full of Seto.
He wanted to hear his voice. Wanted to see his many expressions. Wanted to make him laugh. Wanted him to look this way.
Before he knew it, he was searching for Seto even after work was done.
The corridor. The courtyard. The temple. The archive.
Finding him brought relief.
Losing sight of him brought a faint unease.
That said, finding him didn't bring calm, either. Today too, the instant he laid eyes on Seto, his heart gave a hard leap.
"...What's wrong."
"No."
No good.
His face is good.
Genuinely good.
And lately, just looking at his face made his chest noisy.
Atem furrowed his brow, quietly.
Isn't this, perhaps, rather bad?
By the time he noticed, it was already too late.
Today too, Atem had settled into Seto's office, working.
Officially, it was for handover purposes.
"You've been coming here quite a lot lately."
"Is that a problem?"
"I didn't say it was a problem."
Seto didn't take his eyes off the documents.
Atem felt a little dissatisfied.
Despite finishing his work early today, not even a glance came his way.
"...I came here to see you."
"I know."
"You don't understand."
Seto finally looked up.
"Then, what is it I don't understand?"
Asked that, Atem got caught on the words.
What, indeed. The answer had long since been decided.
He liked his face. Liked his voice. Had come to like the way Seto's eyes looked at him. His anger, his exasperation, the rare moments he laughed.
All of it.
"...I come because I like you."
The instant he said it, Atem himself froze the hardest.
Silence fell.
I did it.
"...Your face."
He tried to cover, but it was too late.
Seto stayed silent for a few seconds, then let out a quiet breath.
"You've finally said it."
"You knew?"
"You're far too easy to read. ...In other words..."
After a silence, Seto slowly opened his mouth.
"You like my face, and you've been following me around, this whole time."
"I wasn't following you around."
"I felt your gaze on me, day and night."
"I was just watching."
"That's generally called stalking."
A harsh way to put it.
But there were parts he couldn't fully argue with.
Atem cleared his throat.
"...So, what about you."
"What about me, meaning?"
"Isn't it unpleasant?"
Seto thought about it, a little.
If it were unpleasant, he'd have thrown him out of the office long ago.
The gaze was bothersome. The distance, close. Sometimes he watched his face more than the work.
But.
"Surprisingly, it wasn't so bad."
"Really?"
Atem's face brightened instantly.
Far too easy to read.
Seto let out a small breath.
"However..."
"...However?"
"Please work."
"You won't budge on that part."
"Naturally."
And so, Atem had legally acquired Seto's front, and his side.
Morning.
"Seto."
"Good morning, my king."
"Your face is good today too."
"Is that the first thing you say in the morning?"
Noon.
"Seto."
"What now."
"Won't you have lunch with me."
"Have you finished your documents?"
"I have."
"Then let's go."
"Yes!"
Night.
"Seto."
"...Why are you still here."
"I want to go home together."
"Are you a child."
Days like that.
What changed, from before, was that Seto no longer turned Atem away.
He allowed, to a certain extent, both his presence beside him and his gaze. Even, occasionally, letting him fix his hair.
"Hold still."
"Your face is close."
"Naturally."
"Good."
"Be quiet."
But, of course, Seto never indulged him.
If Atem neglected work, he got scolded, plain and simple. "Former Majesty."
Just that one line, and Atem's spine would straighten.
The priests watched the two of them from a distance.
No one said a word.
But everyone knew.
The king was hopelessly soft on Seto. And Seto, too, for all his complaints, never really left the king alone.
During a meeting.
"My king, are you listening."
"I am."
"Then why are you looking at my face."
"Because it's a good face."
The priests quietly averted their eyes.
It's started again.
Their new daily routine.
Since they'd gotten together, Atem hid nothing anymore.
Not that he'd ever been able to hide it in the first place, so no one could really say much.
"Seto."
"Yes?"
"Your face is good today too."
"You said that yesterday, too."
"It's good today too, so it can't be helped."
"That's a sloppy piece of logic."
"It's genuinely good."
Atem was dead serious.
Seto furrowed his brow, exasperated.
Seeing that expression, Atem smiled, satisfied.
"I like that face too."
"...Please work."
"I am."
"Your hand's stopped."
"I was looking at you."
"I know."
Seto stayed composed. A man who'd served as king for three thousand years operated at his usual pace, even as a lover.
And today, too, Atem thought:
Seto's face is good today too.
"...My king."
"What."
"The frequency of you opening the window to the living world has dropped, lately."
Across the office desk, Seto said it without lifting his eyes from the documents.
The old Atem would have peeked at Seto Kaiba every idle moment.
To the point the priests filed complaints, no less.
But lately, it was different.
He stayed holed up in the office, cleared his work, and settled in beside Seto.
The number of times he checked the living world had clearly decreased.
"Are you done with the modern boy, then?"
Asked that, Atem looked a little smug.
"I learned something, in the living world."
"What is it?"
Atem let the corner of his mouth curve up.
"Better an oshi you can visit than an oshi far away."
Silence fell.
Seto slowly lifted his face.
"What is that supposed to mean."
"A famous saying, isn't it."
"I've never heard it before in my life."
"There are sages in the living world."
"Absolutely not."
Atem looked satisfied.
Lately, he'd taken to sharing this kind of odd modern-world knowledge. It was, generally, nonsense.
"But it's actually true."
Atem settled deeper into his chair, and said it, proudly.
"You, I get to see up close."
"Is that the reason you've been working so hard?"
"What do you mean, 'that reason'?"
"It's an impure motive."
"But the efficiency and the face are both good."
In truth, Atem was working far harder than before.
Setting aside the direction of his motivation, the results were undeniable.
"I've never heard of that kind of employee benefit."
"...And besides."
Atem propped his cheek on one hand at the desk and looked straight at Seto.
"You actually look back at me."
At those words, Seto narrowed his eyes, just slightly.
Really, only in moments like this does he get strangely honest.
"...I'm working."
"You looked."
"I didn't."
"You just did."
"That was an instant."
"That's enough."
He said so, looking pleased. Remarkably simple.
Seto let out a small breath and returned his gaze to the documents.
Atem watched that profile, satisfied.
A quiet stretch of time.
However, Seto knew that Atem still occasionally opened the window to the living world, from time to time.
That he still watched Seto Kaiba at work, tirelessly, as ever.
But not for as long as before.
He'd watch a little, close the window, satisfied, and end up back at Seto's side after all.
So Seto said nothing about it.
In the end, since he always came back to Seto's side, he figured it was fine.
"...My king."
"What."
"Your hand's stopped."
"I was looking at your face."
"I know."
As always, without a hint of embarrassment, an instant answer.
Atem laughed, just a little.
Seto had a remarkably good face today, too. At least, to Atem, it was a face he could stare at forever.
