Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! nor its characters. I also do not profit from this work of fiction.
A/N: Enjoy the first of four chapters. See you next week or something like that.
Warnings and Additional Tags: Language, Fluff, Humor, Violence, Blood, Sexual Humor, Silliness
Chapter 1: Red-haired Adonis
On Sunday morning, when most people slept in, Yuugi Mutou found himself woken by fevered knocking. Groaning, he rolled over in his bed, severely miscalculating the width of his haven and promptly falling to the floor in a heap of sheets. The knocking continued as Yuugi let out a pitiful moan, popping his head up out of his covers with a sigh. Struggling out of the blankets, a sleepy Yuugi made his way to his front door. A loud yawn escaped him as he opened the door, only to find a pale young man on the other side. Frowning with confusion, Yuugi registered the sheepish grin on his face and a box of cookies in his hands. Bleary-eyed, Yuugi emitted another yawn and welcomed him in with a wave of his hand. Closing the door behind Ryou, he decided to put on some tea.
"Not that I don't love seeing you, Ryou," Yuugi said tiredly as he located the kettle and clumsily filled it with water, "but what are you doing here so early?"
"To be honest," Ryou said from the living room, "I was kinda lonely in the apartment by myself. Malik went off somewhere – visiting a cousin or something, and Bakura's at work." Ryou hummed slightly and Yuugi heard him shifting the blinds at the balcony doors. "I just thought I'd drag you out of bed and hang out with you. I brought your favorite cookies."
"Okay then," Yuugi laughed before registering the last part. "You brought shortbread cookies?" he said hopefully.
"Second favorite," Ryou said distractedly.
"Jammie dodgers?" Yuugi questioned.
But it seemed that Ryou was no longer listening.
"Hey, Yuugi, where are those binoculars that 'Kura gave you for your birthday?" Ryou asked. He was standing at the glass sliding doors, peering out between the long blinds. The sun was hitting him square in the face, but Ryou seemed determined to stare outside.
Yuugi looked up from where he was setting the kettle on his stove across the apartment. Curious, he looked to Ryou before turning back to switch the stove on. He then wandered up to his friend to look over Ryou's shoulder.
"Probably still in the box it came in at the back of my closet," he replied, "why? What are you looking at?" Yuugi squinted, but he could not see anything but the building across the busy street below. They were seven stories high and Yuugi did not know what Ryou would want with the last-minute gift Bakura had given him. There was not much to see other than the building. With the glare of the sun beginning to hurt his eyes, he had no choice but to pull back, blinking the darkness from his vision.
"Go get them," Ryou said, and Yuugi frowned when he noticed that Ryou had yet to look away "I wanna check something."
"Okay," Yuugi chirped and left the room. As he entered his bedroom, he tried to recall exactly where he had stuffed the gift Bakura had given him to "go bird-watching", as the man had said. At the memory, Yuugi sighed; he did not like birds. The flying terrors seemed to like his dark purple curls too much and often swooped down at him, taking at least a week off his lifespan every time. Why Bakura thought he needed (or would even want) binoculars in the first place was a complete mystery to Yuugi. In the end, he simply liked to conclude that his old friend had forgotten his birthday and run into the nearest store to purchase the first thing he saw. It was not like Yuugi particularly minded; it was the thought that counted anyway.
Making his way to the closet, Yuugi opened it, eyeing the neat insides and glancing around at the shelves he had had Bakura install on one side. He immediately spotted the gift, indeed still in its packaging, and plucked it from its spot. He held it in hand skeptically and shrugged before closing the door and heading back to Ryou. He found Ryou still in the same position as before, hand holding the blinds to the side as he looked out with heavy interest.
"Here you go," Yuugi said and handed over the box to his friend who took it immediately. Ryou quickly did away with the packaging, ripping through it with his teeth when necessary. Yuugi watched, fascinated as Ryou yanked out the binoculars and pointed them outside, adjusting the view accordingly as his knee held the blinds open. After a moment, he hummed thoughtfully and a grin came over his face.
"I was right," he said with self-satisfaction, "he's definitely hot."
Mouth falling open, Yuugi stared at his friend in shock. "Ryou!" he exclaimed, "are you seriously spying on someone right now? You have a boyfriend! My best friend!"
Laughing, Ryou handed the binoculars over with a wink and pulled Yuugi closer to the glass.
"Directly across, the guy doing pull-ups on the balcony. Tell me that isn't a hot piece of ass," he said and held the blinds open as Yuugi blushed before moving the binoculars to his eyes, "and speaking of Bakura, if you could do me a favor and mention this to him, that would be lovely."
"You want me to tell him you're spying on some random guy?" Yuugi asked him as he looked through the specs, "are you sure about – oh, my god."
Yuugi had spotted the man Ryou was talking about. Directly across from his apartment, was a redheaded man doing pull-ups with a bar installed over the open door that lead to his balcony. Shirtless, his dark ochre skin glistened with sweat, the muscles in his arms and back flexing like something Yuugi had once seen in a porno. The man moved without struggle or pause, his arms pulling his body up and down like a smooth wave of man. Yuugi was transfixed, awed and rendered mute by the erotic workout. He knew he was gaping, but it was hard not to when there was a red-haired Adonis working out across the way. It was quite the tantalizing show.
"Told you," Ryou said with utmost smugness, "congratulations, you have a smoking hot neighbor."
Humming in agreement, Yuugi fixed the focus on the binoculars. He leaned forward slightly, jumping when the binoculars struck the glass with a hard thunk. A snort left Ryou, but Yuugi ignored it, far too busy enjoying the display of muscles to care.
"Thank you, Bakura," he muttered to himself.
"About him, you would be doing me a huge favor if you told him," Ryou said, almost pleadingly, "he gets jealous so easily and he pounds me into the mattress until I can't take it anymore. So please tell him. I need a good fuck."
"You are a giant pervert," Yuugi mumbled as he watched the gorgeous man working out. The redhead had switched his position and he was now only using one arm to pull himself up the bar. Yuugi bit at his lip and sighed. The things he wished he could do to that man were many, and the list was growing by the second.
"You would be too if you had a boyfriend as hot as mine," Ryou said teasingly, poking him in the ribs and chuckling when Yuugi squirmed away from him, "trust me, when you have a jealous-type boyfriend who likes to assert his supposed 'claim'" – Ryou made quotation marks with his fingers, rolling his eyes – "on you by fucking you to the moon and back, then this is the best kind of foreplay."
But Yuugi was no longer listening. He was too intently focused on the man across the street. The gorgeous redhead with golden highlights had captured his attention absolutely … in more ways than one.
"That's just unfair," Yuugi whined, "no one is that hot working out. I work out and my face gets all red and gross and I get all huffy and look so weird and this guy looks like he's not even trying. To be honest, I'm kind of offended."
"I dunno," Ryou said dreamily, "Bakura makes me sit on his back when he does push-ups. He looks pretty hot doing it. But then, everything Bakura does is hot. It's kind of infuriating at times because he uses his hotness to distract me when I'm mad at him." But his words were lost on deaf ears.
The kettle began to whistle and Yuugi was reluctant to listen to its beckoning call. The man across the way had just switched arms and Yuugi had a grand desire to see how that would turn out.
"I'll get that, shall I?" Ryou chuckled and dropped the blinds. Yuugi immediately moved a hand to hold them open. He heard his friend walk away, laughing as he went.
"Thanks," Yuugi called and watched as the man finished his sets. After a brief stretch of his muscles, the redhead retrieved a jump rope from the table on his balcony. Yuugi sucked in a breath when he saw the man's face. God had been more than kind to this man. He had gorgeous, wine-colored eyes with a thick set of eyelashes, sharp slanted cheekbones, and a beautifully-sculptured jaw. Yuugi's mouth parted in disbelief.
"Holy hell, he's really cute," Yuugi breathed.
Somewhere in the background, there was a sudden rattle of teacups and Ryou laughed loudly. Yuugi could hear him moving around and setting up their tea. He would have turned to tell Ryou to be careful, but was instantly distracted as the man readied his jump rope. When the man started jumping in place, Yuugi huffed indignantly.
"This is ridiculously obscene," Yuugi said, exasperated, "there's no way that body is legal. Oh, great, he's only using one leg. I swear to god, he's going to get fined for indecent exposure. He's indecently exposing himself. How dare he." An irritated noise left him and he continued his rant. "I should call the cops before he causes a heart attack. I bet a poor, sweet old lady is watching him and dying right now – oh, he's switched legs. Oh, my god, those shorts should be banned. I don't think he's wearing underwear! Jesus, let that be real and not just conveniently creased clothing – oh, my god, he's perfect."
Silently laughing, Ryou slowly approached with two cups of tea, trying his hardest not to drop them. The cups sloshed dangerously and he had to pause in the living room for a second to regain control of himself. When he was sufficiently calm, he continued over to Yuugi, pausing at his side. He nudged Yuugi who did not bother looking away from the supposed obscenity across the street to address him with a hum of acknowledgment.
"Wanna have tea on the balcony, then?" Ryou asked him with a definite smile in his voice.
Yuugi huffed again and seemed to press the binoculars even closer against his face. He grumbled unintelligibly for a moment before raising his voice.
"As if I wanted to – Christ almighty, how is he not tired yet – now he's just showing off, how rude."
x x x
This went on for a week. Yuugi and Ryou would have tea and spy on Yuugi's hot neighbor. They would watch him work out, or rather Yuugi would and Ryou would smirk since he already had a gorgeous, white-haired man he deeply cared for. One such morning, Ryou had somehow convinced Yuugi that having their tea on the balcony would be a good idea. They set up the tea on the little garden table Yuugi had purchased for his balcony and sat in the metal chairs. Above them, the large, white table umbrella kept the pale men safe from the sun's burning rays.
Yuugi's binoculars sat in the middle of the table, waiting for his itching fingers to take them up. Nervously, he cast glances across the street to the apartment, waiting for the gorgeous man to come out and begin his exercises. Before him, Ryou chatted happily about something Yuugi was definitely not paying attention to. He felt quite guilty for it, but considering what he was waiting for, Yuugi was sure Ryou would understand his distraction.
"He's taking a while, isn't he?" Yuugi asked, interrupting his friend mid-word for the second time that day.
Sighing heavily, Ryou gave Yuugi a small displeased pout before looking to the other balcony. He shrugged and sipped at his tea, determinedly unconcerned with Yuugi's anxiety.
"Go ask him out already," Ryou said with another sigh, "or quit interrupting me. I can only take so much pining."
"I am not pining," Yuugi groused, a scandalized expression crossing his features, "and I will not ask him out. I don't even know him. All I know is that he works out religiously and that does not seem like someone I would want to date." He huffed and crossed his arms over his chest, leaning back in his chair to pout. "Besides," he said morosely, "I don't think he's gay. Only straight men work out that much –"
"Yuugi, do you not remember how much you worked out when you finished high school?" Ryou said with amusement, "because I clearly remember a short little guy taking to the gym so much that the only way to see him was to go with him."
"Yeah, well, I was confused," Yuugi joked with a slight smile, "and I'm not short anymore. Thank god." A wayward breeze blew Yuugi's blonde bangs into his eyes and he struggled to push his blonde bangs behind his ears. When he managed to control his hair, he frowned at Ryou who remained unruffled as always, his long white hair resting neatly over his shoulders.
"Indeed," Ryou said as he smiled, amused at Yuugi's dilemma, "but you're still not as tall as Bakura." And then Ryou chuckled aloud as Yuugi glared at him.
"Ugh, don't rub it in," Yuugi groaned, reaching for a shortbread cookie on the platter between them, "I hear that enough from him. It's been six years, he's only four inches taller than me and that jerk still calls me 'pipsqueak'." Yuugi bit into his cookie, looking twice as annoyed as before and Ryou's shoulders shook with silent laughter. He shook his head bemusedly at Yuugi.
"How you two ended up friends," Ryou said, "I'll never understand it. Not that I'm complaining, since it's because of you that we met."
Suddenly, Yuugi grinned at him.
"What else do you need to know besides the fact that I was the only kid in our high school that wasn't terrified of him?" he said with humor and took another bite of his cookie, "He didn't have much of a choice. I was the only one who was nice to him and I grew on him like mold." Shaking his head, Yuugi laughed. "Of course, I didn't know when I met him that he was … well, like he is, but that's another story altogether. Also, no one ever picked on me after they realized Bakura liked me."
"Mm, yes," Ryou murmured and Yuugi just knew that his friend was imagining his hot, strong, and scary boyfriend. Rolling his eyes, Yuugi glanced over to the other balcony, almost dropping his cookie in surprise.
"Oh, my god. He's there!" Yuugi breathed excitedly.
Quickly, Yuugi exchanged his cookie for the binoculars and peered through them intently. His neighbor was already hard at work on his pull-ups, his muscled back facing them.
"I bet his abs look killer when he's doing that," Yuugi said, "what a jerk."
Ryou's helpful input was to sigh as he picked up his phone, swiping through its contents. By now, Ryou knew better than to try and get his attention when the redhead was there. Once the redhead had emerged onto the balcony, Yuugi was lost to him.
"Seriously, I don't understand how a guy working out can be so – oh, crap!" Yuugi abruptly pointed the binoculars somewhere above in the sky, a red flush creeping into his cheeks. Looking up from his phone, Ryou raised his eyebrows at him and then glanced to the other apartment where the handsome man had stopped working out. A smirk formed on his lips.
"Been caught, have ya?" Ryou teased.
"Oh, crap, I think he saw me," Yuugi said as he panicked, binoculars still pointed to the sky.
"I doubt it," Ryou said cryptically, "he's like six car lanes away."
"No, I'm sure he saw me," Yuugi whispered frantically, the red on his cheeks spreading to his ears. He looked absolutely mortified. "Is he looking? Is he still looking?" Yuugi asked his friend in a rush as he desperately pointed his binoculars into the sky. Beside him, Ryou began to giggle.
"He's not looking anymore," Ryou said with a wide grin.
Yuugi breathed a hefty sigh of relief and visibly deflated into a relaxed slump. He straightened and turned his binoculars back to the other balcony, only to freeze in place. The man was there, leaning on the railing. He was staring straight at them with a large smirk on his beautifully-sculpted face, amusement oozing from his every pore. He raised a hand and Yuugi felt his face drain of color. And when he began to wave, Yuugi choked on air. Jerking back, Yuugi lowered his specs to glare at Ryou who abruptly burst into a fit of laughter at the embarrassed and infuriated look on his face.
"Ryou, you traitor! You said he wasn't looking!" Yuugi hissed with betrayal laced in his every word. "What are you – don't wave at him!" he fretted, face red at being caught spying so blatantly on his delicious-looking neighbor by said neighbor himself. But it was a futile request as Ryou was wiggling his fingers coquettishly to the man, still giggling, and Yuugi wanted nothing more than to bury himself six feet underground.
"I couldn't help myself," Ryou laughed as he continued to look over to the man, "it was a compulsion. I had to do it – oh, he went back inside."
Yuugi scoffed and shook his head, his gut clenched so hard, he was sure it had turned to stone.
"Oh, I'm not falling for that one. I'm humiliated enough," Yuugi said desolately and buried his crimson face into his free hand.
"No," Ryou said, his laughter dying into small chuckles, "I'm serious. He went back in. Take a look."
Yuugi bit his lip and carefully peeked over to see that Ryou was indeed correct. The sexy man had disappeared from the balcony. Frowning, Yuugi took up his binoculars once more. As he looked through them, he searched, but he could not see the man anywhere beyond the glass doors. The living room and kitchen beyond it were empty as well. Heart sinking in his chest, Yuugi sighed.
"Well, that's great," Yuugi bemoaned sadly, "now he thinks I'm a creep. He'll never exercise again!" He was about to look away in defeat, ready to wallow in his humiliation when movement caught his attention. Immediately, Yuugi straightened his binoculars and looked. Coming back into the living room, was the man. He had something in his hand.
"Is that a notebook?" Yuugi voiced with confusion.
The man came out to the balcony and Yuugi lowered the binoculars slightly, peering over them in bewilderment. He frowned pensively and noticed the man was showing them something. Raising the binoculars once more, he fussed with the focus and stilled. The man was holding up a spiral notebook with a grin on his handsome face, but instead of giddiness, Yuugi felt his mood take a sharp left turn.
"What's it say?" Ryou asked him, curious.
"It says 'you're cute'," Yuugi said with a quiet sigh, a wry smile pulling at his lips. He was not the least bit surprised. Ryou was very cute; he was always asked out first when they went out together. It did not usually bother him, but it felt different this time. It was different because he was actually interested in this one. Lowering the binoculars, Yuugi turned his head to show his friend his displeasure. "Congrats. My hot neighbor thinks you're cute."
Abruptly, Ryou stood from the table and quickly made his way inside. Yuugi watched him go with mild confusion until Ryou returned with a large black marker and one of Yuugi's spare notepads. Yuugi watched him write on the pages in huge blocky letters:
.
Sorry, I'm taken.
.
"I don't think he's going to be able to see that," Yuugi said as Ryou held up the sign.
"If he thinks I'm cute, he can see me clearly," Ryou responded, "he must be farsighted." He flipped through the pages slowly and Yuugi looked through his binoculars to see if Ryou was right. The man, though, was writing a new sign.
"Oh, he just might be," Yuugi commented. When the man held up the notebook, Yuugi read the first page aloud.
"'I'm sorry'," Yuugi read and the man turned the page, "'I meant'," the man turned the page again, "'your friend'. Oh, my god, he meant me?" Yuugi almost dropped the binoculars when the man sent him a saucy wink. A furious blush filled his cheeks and Yuugi gaped, hardly daring to believe it. At the sound of a squeaking marker, he turned to see Ryou holding up a new sign. This one read:
.
He's single!
.
"Ryou!" Yuugi screeched in embarrassment and looked back through the specs to see the man writing again. With his heart racing, Yuugi anxiously waited until the man held up the sign and he read it aloud again. Though, this time, there was a slight tremble of excitement to his voice.
"'Sweet'," he read and the man turned the page, "'my name'" – another page turn – "'is Atemu'. Oh, that's a nice name." Yuugi could hear Ryou's marker squeaking across another sheet of paper. He knew that Ryou would be giving the man his name, but he did not try to stop his friend. Instead, Yuugi watched as Atemu read the page, nervously biting his lip as he began to write again. Heart lodged in his throat, Yuugi gulped and the man raised his notebook.
"'Go out'" – page turn – "'with me?' Oh, my god. He's asking me out," Yuugi squeaked. He dropped the binoculars to see Ryou looking at him with an expectant expression. With a shrug, he held out the notepad and marker, leaving the decision up to Yuugi. Taking a breath, Yuugi set down the binoculars, steadying himself. He then accepted the items with a shaky smile.
"Go for it," Ryou said and Yuugi nodded at him. Turning to a new page, Yuugi hesitated before clearing his throat. His stomach was a mess of butterflies and flipping nerves, but he wrote his reply and held it up with trembling fingers:
.
Yes.
A/N: Do not ask for updates. Thank you.