fic: go directly to Hell, do not pass go do not collect $200

[xparrot]

I said it before, that I fell for Kaiba because he reminds me of Lex. Brilliant and deeply disturbed, casualties of their sadistic fathers' damage and their own ambitions. Kaiba is the more culpable of the two, having chosen his path rather than being born into it; ironic that he's the one to eventually rise above his darkness, while Lex is ultimately damned. Maybe it's because Lex is destiny's puppet victim, while Kaiba has always forged his own. Or maybe Lex just needs someone to shatter his heart.

Anyway. They're obviously a match made in some dark and deliciously twisted place.

I might've futzed with the YGO timeline; the story is set in the spring of '95, with Lex at 15 and Kaiba at 14 (for anyone flummoxed by imaging the real with the animated, please follow praiseofshadows's lead and picture Kaiba as played by Gackt). The idea is that Gozaburo sent Seto to an American boarding school for a semester to practice his English; Seto took the opportunity to learn some other valuable life skills from the school's expert. I'm not confident of the characterizations of either one of them, but hell, they're just kids here. Seriously fucked up kids.

Exchange Student {9,795 words}
NC-17 (Warnings for underaged sex and references to child abuse), Lex Luthor/Seto Kaiba
Sometimes broken edges can almost fit together. Lex meets a boy one semester at Excelsior.

Read it on AO3

Comments

[nenya85.livejournal.com]

Massively cool! I love your younger Kaiba, both vulnerable and totally steeled. I also like the way his decision to win and to hold to his promises is both destroying him and saving him at the same time. It gives him something to fight against and hold onto, even as it it stripping him of so much.

The contrast with Lex (I'm not a Smallville fan, but I'm familiar with the character just from hearing about him, not to mention the comics) is interesting -- they're similar yet Kaiba has both something to hold onto and something that's pushing him to even further extremes.

I also was totally touched by Kaiba's sense that Mokuba doesn't understand what he's becoming, and his resolve to become that anyway.

It's funny -- I kept wondering why Kaiba wasn't getting back at the bullies -- until he did.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

So glad you liked it! I haven't written Kaiba in a while and it was great fun getting back into him. Albeit his younger self, who I haven't dealt with much before. But yes, that's exactly the feeling I wanted, that he has something that Lex doesn't have, which is destroying him now but may someday save him...

Of course I couldn't write Kaiba without Mokuba entering the picture somewhere. It's impossible to have one without the other...

And yeah, of course Kaiba isn't ever a victim, unless he chooses to be...

[yma2.livejournal.com]

Firstly that was amazing. Really, really amazing!

The first thing that caught my attention was the wonderful, re-occuring use of the serpentine/lizard/dragon metaphore you use, which fits Kaiba so wonderfully well for a variety of reasons.

The characterisation of Kaiba, unsmiling, tence, self-confident whilst also being quietly paranoid is beautiful. Bits of this were almost painful to read.

Kaiba's obbsession with winning, and Lex's... obsession with... (and this is harder to define...) controle and getting what he wants... (which is a slightly different thing to winning,), Lex's manipulation, the darkness within him counterjuxtaposed with, in a way, the goodness, is sweet. The part where Lex asks Kaiba to stay is actually quite sad because of course we know he's going to say no. And even if he had said yes... but he wouldnt. Lex demands utter trust from those he loves, and I don't think Seto can really give that. Not at this point anyway. Alright, he might have trust in Lex to do certain thinkgs, he might even trust Lex not to betray him but I don't think he would quite trust him in general.

And I think that in the long term the two would be too much of a threat to one another. They both demand to hold certain amounts of power, it would come back to who could top the other, as it were and I don't know that either of them could handle that. Not at this stage.

Ah, but I'm just going into drivel here.

The characterisation, whilst very much EARLY Kaiba and EARLY Lex, was brilliant, especially seeing as Lex, in many ways, came off sounding like the nicer of the two, which I find ironic. The sex was fairly hot, (not very, but this was a character piece so it didn't need to be.) The concept was well thought out and the use of chess all the way through, ending with Seto's ambiguous win (and I'm glad it was ambiguous, I feel it might have been OOC otherwise. Not so much that Seto could loose at chess, more that he could accept that loss so gracefully, even to Lex.)

The only thing that I feel could improve this oh so slightly is a translation at the bottom, via notes, of some of the japanese Seto spouts off. There's not much and I don't think it's deserpatly needed, but it might be nice.

Beyond that this was a fantastic story. I'm VERY glad you wrote it and I enjoyed every word!

Oh, and there was one other thing that would really make this story rock.

A sequel.

;D

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Eee, thank you!

I'm happy the characterizations of both of them worked for you. I felt uneasy with both of them, as they both were different when they were younger, but they're also not really like kids at all...

Yeah, I don't think it would work in the long-term. At least not at this point. Kaiba can't be close to anyone (save Mokuba) and Lex desperately wants closeness, but he's not ready for it either. (When I started writing this I wasn't expecting Lex to sort of fall in love the way he does...but this is Lex, and he wants love so badly. And Kaiba doesn't at all, not by now, so...) Lex comes across as nicer because he is, at this age; he's screwed up, but he's close to the young man you see in first season SV, craving approval, trying to be better than he was raised to be. He's got a long road before he becomes the villain of the story...while Kaiba himself is almost there.

And glad the sex was not-too-hot. It's actually about the most graphic I've written, but I was trying for a certain level of...discomfort. Awkwardness. (not to mention, yeah, disturbed 14 year old boy. I was a bit uncomfortable writing it...)

Oh! The Japanese. I can put a note...I tend to ignore such notes myself so don't think about them. 'Chikusho' is a general Japanese curse, fairly strong as they go. (and I really have to double-check because I'm almost certain Kaiba uses it, but not totally sure. Kaiba's Japanese speech is we~ird but I was hoping that since he was younger here he hadn't picked up his more atypical patterns yet...)

And a sequel. Heh. If it happened it would be much in the future and rather different in tone...we'll see...!

[immicolia.livejournal.com]

Oh! Oh! There is no thought here in my brain at all from this. Just a lot of excited squeaky noises. Because this is so perfect. It just feels perfect, even if Smallville and/or anything DCU is anywhere near being my fandom. I mean, it's bad enough you had me letting out a little "WHEE!" when they started playing SNES. But then, console specs as a form of foreplay!!!!! my wee gamer heart just proceeded to explode in my chest then and there

And... I'm babbling. A lot. And with little to no coherence or thought. So obviously I liked it. and finding myself craving a sequel... maybe something post-Battle City. ehehe... ^^;;

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Heee~~ the console-foreplay was actually the last scene I wrote. It was one of the first ideas I had (because really what would turn Kaiba on more then talking gaming electronics?) but then I totally forgot about it in the actual writing, went back and reread the story and was like, oh yes! Need that! And promptly went to Wikipedia for specs and dates ^^;

and thank you~! a sequel is...possible, but it would be far in the future and totally different in tone. (like, President Luthor meets Prime Minister Kaiba different. And there would probably be aliens attacking. Um, yeah.)

[ann89103.livejournal.com]

That was utterly beautiful. I adore the characterizations, both of Kaiba, who is my fave Yu-gi-oh character, and of Lex, of whom I know nothing. They are fierce, brilliant and deeply wounded young men, and you captured them in your writing so well.

This is also the rare (and so so enjoyable) story of two equals, and thank you for posting it.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Kaiba's my favorite thing about YGO myself. And he & Lex are a couple of my favorite chars ever, two peas in such a disturbing pod...

Glad you enjoyed it!

[fickle-goddess.livejournal.com]

Wow, that was awesome! XD The amusing part is, I actually have an AU RP going on with a friend of mine over MSN where the pairing is Ryuuji/Lex and secondary pairings of Ryuuji/Seto and Clark/Lex, so when I saw something with Seto/Lex, I had to click.

No way could I have not when there's actually someone else out there cracky enough to combine the two!

Nice merging of their worlds, that was a very tidy way to do it. You kept them IC and I could completely believe that was them as kids. I have no idea whether to add this to my del.icio.us, my memories, or my bookmarks but I know it's going somewhere that I can share it easily. XD

(And if you're curious about how we set up the worlds up, we used the fact that in the manga, Ryuuji's a magic-trained assassin with a psycho father and the Shadow Realm is a different dimension to say that Ryuuji was being sent off to different planets when he was a kid so that he could learn how to adapt there. Which resulted in -- you guessed it -- Ryuuji and Lex in boarding school together, Ryuuji getting picked on for being so girly-looking, and Lex taking an interest because Ryuuji's all mysterious.)

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it! Yep, definitely much crack involved ^^; just, once I thought of it, I couldn't get the idea out of my head, they are way too much alike. Fortunately their worlds aren't too terribly different (at least not when they're younger...)

[fickle-goddess.livejournal.com]

I recced it in my journal as well. XD And sent the link to the girl that RPs Lex so that she could take a look (though she's not all that fond of Seto, so not sure if she'll like it as much), so yeah, definitely enjoyed it enough to want other people to take a look.

[utensil-drawer.livejournal.com]

I like it. ^_^ It was really good, and the characterization believable.
Like others have already said, I would love to see a sequel to this taking place a few years later.

Damn, this fic has me wanting to write a YGO/Smallville cross and I haven't even seen Smallville yet (though I've read a good bit about it XD). I will have to rectify that at some point. And yay for console-foreplay!

>^_^<
MEOW!

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

The SV fandom is a lot of fun - I've got issues with the show itself, but the fandom and the fanfic is marvelous. Also, Lex. Gotta love Lex! ^_^

[without-names.livejournal.com]

i love it how i've never seen neither YGO nor Smallville and still can enjoy this fic and love the characters and don't want to see the original since it won't be better.
so thank you! and i so want a sequel to this =)

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Hee - glad you liked it anyway! The originals of both aren't quite like this fic, though Kaiba and Lex both rock their respective series' worlds... ^^

I might have to see to that sequel after all...

[naye]

Neechan, you're a fabulous writer. I was just going to give this a little peek, curious thing that I am, but the words just sucked me right in, and it all came alive, and I found myself caring, and it's really weird how good something you know so little about can be. I mean - what I know of Lex and Kaiba I know through you, mostly, and none of the characters have ever held the facination for me that they do for you, but this was - brilliant. Couldn't stop reading, couldn't stop caring - won't get in to either fandom, but I'm definitely interested in reading the rest of your SV/YGO fic. Eventually. When I have the time. This stole enough of my time, you evil thing you! ♥

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

You - are crazy, you know! <3 All the fic I've been posting, and you pick the crazy angst-ridden graphic-underage-pr0n non-OTP whatever-this-was!! I'm amazed it made any sense (even if I have gone on about these chars to you before, and I know your memory for all things fannish ^^)

Thank you for reading, part of these fandoms or not. I always love hearing whatever you have to say about my stuff <3

[somnia-lustre.livejournal.com]

Amazing! I loved how you kept both of them in character, but also showed where they have room to grow before they become the charcters from their respective canons. I find it amusing that even though Lex appears to be the more balanced of the two, it's Kaiba who ends up having a more balanced outcome. Like winning over his adopoted Father eventually became enough for Kaiba (after Yami knocked some sense into him), yet Luthor will always be surrounded by conflict.

Kudos for the situation of the crossover, you took one that might have been a bit more difficult, but that made the most sense.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Glad you found them in char.

I think the biggest difference between Kaiba & Lex, ulitmately, is that Kaiba has people there for him. Mokuba always, and later Yami shattering his heart (I write manga!Kaiba pretty strictly), and Yugi-tachi still does try to reach out to him pretty constantly, even if he slaps their hands away. It helps that his ultimate goal is altruistic but that isn't enough on its own, as Death-T proves. While as Lex reaches out time and again and no one ever reaches back. As late as 6th season SV, Lex could still be saved, if Clark tried, but he doesn't...(and hence my issues with the series. grrr...!)

[(Anonymous)]

Haven't read it yet, but I want to comment before I lose the thought. I think the biggest difference between Kaiba and Lex is that Kaiba got out while Lex was still being ruled by Lionel as late as Season 5.

[lukita.livejournal.com]

Oh, that was me.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Just commented about this above - the biggest difference I see between Kaiba & Lex is that Kaiba has others there for him, trying to save him, while Lex in the end has no one, though he tries to reach out. Certainly having Lionel around for so much longer than Seto endured Gozaburo doesn't help - but after Gozaburo's death, Kaiba went totally darkside (in manga canon) and only snapped out of it because Yami shattered his heart. Even as late as 6th season Lex wouldn't need such drastic measures to save him, I don't think...

[lukita.livejournal.com]

If we're going by manga canon, Kaiba also killed Gozaburo (or was it implied?) before going darkside. Which to me means, once you've killed someone for whatever reason there really are very little lines left to be crossed. I somehow thinks Kaiba was accepted because Mokoba was there and no one was working 24/7 telling everyone who would listen not to trust their son. Ahhh, I don't know, I really like Lex so I'll justified whatever he does.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Kaiba doesn't actually kill Gozaburo (manga canon) - Seto takes over the company, and Gozaburo suicides on the spot, throwing himself out the window saying "This is what losers deserve!" and thus cementing his greatest lesson to Seto, that losing = death and therefore to win is paramount.

Yes, Mokuba is very important to Kaiba being accepted by Yugi-tachi. And I agree that Lex not being trusted is very much Lionel's fault (and the fault of his destiny; I still maintain everyone in Smallville had read the comics and knew how Lex Luthor would turn out, save Lex himself.) Lex is probably the more sympathetic, I think, because he is so justified in going evil, at least in SV canon. (then again, if Seto hadn't had Mokuba to care for, he probably never would have been driven to challenge Gozaburo; Lex is a victim of the circumstances of his birthright, while Seto became what he became out of love and the wish to do right. It's a toss-up! They've both tragic...*squishes both her screwed-up rich boys*)

[attaccabottoni.livejournal.com]

Yay, Excelsior fic! I don't know YuGiOh, and I was half-afraid Oliver Queen et al. would pop up in this story, but yeah, I like this concept where Lex is an expert at tutoring exchange students "other valuable life skills," because he's such a nice boy. *snickers*

Most esp. love the chess action. :D

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen most of 6th season, only one ep with Oliver, so I can't really write him (I only know Green Arrow from JLU, where he is awesome!) And yes, Lex is a very good tutor ^^

Glad you enjoyed it!

[scribblinlenore.livejournal.com]

I don't know YGO, but I didn't need to really enjoy this story. The ways in which both boys are damaged and driven and the connection that gives them comes through loud and clear. And the writing is wonderful!

Thanks so much for taking part in the challenge! :)

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thank you - I'm especially glad to know it worked even not knowing YGO (few SV fans do, I suspect!) I am way too fond of damaged geniuses...

And thank you for the challenge! I wanted to write this story anyway but it was great motivation! ^_^

[roxymissrose.livejournal.com]

I had no idea who the character Kaiba was, but I feel now like I know him. Lex was brilliantly drawn. What a powerful story. The abuse was all that more terrible for the almost off-hand way Lex saw it, like it was old news, contrasted with Kaiba's consuming hatred of his abuser. Amazing stuff, thank you.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Eee, thank you! I'm relieved to know it worked even if you don't know Kaiba. Lex was an interesting challenge to write, his undeveloped (and pre-Clark!) self...especially when thrown together with someone else just as damaged.

[athenejen]

Oof, this was intense. And wonderfully dark. I admit to not having experienced any Yu-Gi-Oh, but this rather makes me want to. I think the fic works quite well anyway, as we follow along with Lex in absorbing knowledge of Kaiba. I really like your characterization of a young Lex, ambitious and analytical even in his most sympathetic and humane moments. And the language was lovely and powerful. Excellent fic, striking and very well done.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it!
Heh...I will only recommend YGO to people with reservations, it's not exactly...um...good. Even if I do rather adore Kaiba! And so glad my young Lex worked for you, he's such a disturbed kid...(and a disturbed adult, too, but then he's got Clark around to inspire him to sweetness ^_^)

[nixwilliams.livejournal.com]

oh. . . oh, wow! what an awesome idea for a crossover! and really well written, too. thanks!

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thanks - glad you enjoyed it! ^_^

[ceteramisto.livejournal.com]

Yes, this is just they way I imagined the similarities and differences between Lex and Kaiba. As is my habit with fics I really like, I read all the comments and you and I have very similar views on why young Kaiba is darker than young Lex, yet Kaiba is the one who ultimately gets saved from the darkness. What Lex hoped he could get from Clark, Kaiba managed to get from Yugi even though Kaiba certainly never hoped for it.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Glad you enjoyed it! Yeah, it's sad...Lex always sought and hoped for redemption, and no one ever gave him a chance; while as Kaiba never looked for it, and yet had people who were willing to love him and forgive him anyway (Mokuba as well as Yugi, because much of Kaiba's redemption I think is in how loyal he and Mokuba are to one another...) It's great for Kaiba but just makes Lex's circumstances all the sadder!

I'm in Love

[(Anonymous)]

OMG I never thought of this paring but I have to say that I am in love with this story! The plot is even believable, I could see Kiba studying in America for a semester. Great Story had a blast reading it. :)

Re: I'm in Love

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thank you, I'm so glad you enjoyed it! To this day Lex & Kaiba both remain two of my favorite fictional characters, so I can't help but be partial to the idea of them together ^_^