I've finally felt brave enough to post this; it's sort of a celebration for me having finished all of my exams! YAY! This means updates will be more frequent (rather than the current 'non-existent' state); unfortunately I have nothing else typed up so I decided this would have to do.
Sorry for the length; I couldn't find a good cut-off point to make it into chapters, and at last count it was over 13,000 words…
For those who don't know Miho Nozaka appears in the first series anime only (she doesn't even appear in the manga though she should), and her characterisation here is entirely how I see her. I think she's very greedy and wouldn't think twice of treating people like this. Having said that there isn't too much bashing as she does mean well sometimes, and there's a happy-ish ending for her.
Boy Next Door
A blood red Ford Fiesta lightly rolled over the gravel, stopping just before it bumped into the garage door. The engine quietened and the doors opened. Two teens, both fresh out of college, exited the car. The male walked round while playing with a small silver key in his hand, this he used to unlock the front door.
"Yuugi, this house is amazing! And it's really ours!"
Miho followed Yuugi into the living room where several boxes were stacked and labelled in black marker pen. Most of them read 'kitchen' but never mind. Upon entering the kitchen, (which, incidentally, was filled with boxes labelled 'living room') Miho screamed and started running her hands over the brand new work surfaces, and playing with the light switch.
Yuugi opened the back door and gazed into the garden. It was huge. Well why wouldn't it be? Yuugi had inherited a fortune from his mother who had passed away recently; her entire business had been left solely to him along with her wealth. So of course it was goodbye old apartment, and into a brand new house with his girlfriend Miho.
Miho had just finished and art and design course at college, and was quite prepared to simply not get a job and spend Yuugi's fortune instead. Yuugi had to work if he wanted to keep that fortune though, especially since the purple haired girl had a very expensive taste…
Miho had almost fainted when she had seen the huge mall just a few blocks from their house, and the area was filled with young businessmen's wives for her to go shopping with. This was her dream come true.
The neighbourhood itself was pretty quiet and calm, the whole area was filled with expensive houses so everyone here was as rich as they were. Yuugi found himself missing the general noises of the city though. He sat down on a metal bench and traced the pattern with his fingers. There was virtually no sounds at all; not even birds or dogs. No lawnmowers even. Yuugi suddenly felt very out of place.
That was until he heard what sounded like heavy metal rock music. And somebody singing along to it very loudly and very badly. The voice was definitely male, and was a deep baritone though he couldn't pinpoint exactly where it was coming from. He listened for a little while until he concluded it was the house next to theirs, a bedroom window was open. He sat listening for a while until Miho called him in.
"Yuugi, look what they've done! This vase was an heirloom!"
"Can't you just get another one?"
"Yuugi, heirloom. I can't get another one."
"How about sellotape?"
Miho rolled her eyes and took the cracked piece of porcelain into the living room and pulled out her brand new mobile phone. Yuugi started to unpack some of the boxes, though there wasn't nearly enough to make the place look homely. Neither teen had a lot of possessions and it was a very large house, almost a mansion. No doubt Miho would probably want to replace everything they owned with newer models anyway.
Yuugi sighed as Miho began screaming down the phone to the poor removal man, she was yelling something about 'suing their asses off' and that her boyfriend would come round and kick his ass in. Yuugi almost laughed at this; he would be the first to admit he had neither the height nor build to stand up to anyone in a fight, and those removal men had been pretty big…
He was torn from his thoughts when the doorbell rang, and a call from Miho for him to answer it. He sighed and attempted to locate the front entrance. They really needed to get a map made or something. Finally finding the door he opened it to reveal to girls about his age beaming and holding a fruit basket and bottle of champagne.
"Welcome to the neighbourhood!"
"Er…thanks…"
"You must be Yuugi Mutou, right? You're the heir to Mutou Corporation aren't you?"
"…Yes."
Both girls sort of screamed, only it was much more high pitched. (A fangirl scream, not like the typical garden variety scream.) One had long chestnut brown hair that fell almost to her waist and bright honey eyes, and the other had shoulder length brown almost ginger hair and bright sapphire blue eyes. Both were happy to let themselves in and magically found the kitchen and placed the presents on the counter.
Leaving them free to glomp Yuugi.
Time for a little background information; Yuugi is pretty small, a fair bit shorter than Miho herself. He has pale skin, his hair is spiked up and he has two earrings in his right earlobe, and one at the top of his ear. He also has a tattoo on his back; a pair of angel wings, one on his calf which spells 'hikari' and a dragon on his upper arm. Typically he wears either leather or black, with several metal chains and rings giving him a gothic appearance.
Feel free to drool; Anzu and Shizuka were.
He was saved by his girlfriend who picked that moment to finish her tirade against the removal men and check up on him. The two girls had never moved so fast in their lives; they quickly met her at the doorway and introduced themselves, soon the trio were sitting around the kitchen table gossiping and drinking tea. Yuugi felt uncomfortable as the two girls were still staring at him, and so excused himself to the back garden again.
Once outside he virtually slammed the door shut on the giggling girls. He could hear rock music again, though this time it seemed nearer. He quickly identified it as next door again, but this time a stereo system was playing outside in the back garden.
This time he could see who was playing it; a male who looked to be a few years older than Yuugi was lying on a sun bed, the man's hair was almost exactly like Yuugi's with a few minor exceptions, and his skin tone was totally different. Unlike Yuugi's pale, thin skin this man had a very nice tan and a very nicely well toned chest to go with it.
Yuugi blushed as he realised what he had just thought.
It was true, though. The guy was wearing a loose pair of black shorts, boasting a well-muscled chest. He also had piercings; same as Yuugi two in the right earlobe and one on top, he also had an eyebrow pierced. He had tattoos as well, a dragon on his arm and the word 'yami' on his calf. He was wearing a pair of sunglasses so Yuugi couldn't tell if he had noticed his presence or not. His question was answered a few seconds later.
"Like the song?"
"Huh? Uh, yeah."
"Me too, it's one of my favourites, Nightwish rock. You got any of their albums?"
"Only one."
"Too bad, all of them are fantastic. You can borrow them sometime if you'd like."
"Thanks…" Yuugi trailed off, this was a very bold move for him, he was never one for conversation and he'd usually have gotten embarrassed by now. For some reason it felt different this time. He gathered the courage to ask a question just as the backdoor opened and the girls appeared at the door.
"Yuugi, we're going out to the mall; Anzu says she knows where all the great sales are! We'll be back by five."
"Okay, have fun." Miho frowned.
"What is that awful noise? Hmm. Well let's go girls! Bye Yuugi."
"Bye Yuugi!" There was something disturbing about the way the two girls said that together. Yuugi shook his head and turned back to the direction of Yami's garden only to find him no longer sitting on the sun bed but standing right by the fence.
"I never asked you your name."
"It's Yuugi. Mutou Yuugi."
"I'm Atemu. Yami Atemu, secret agent. Unfortunately now I have to kill you." They both burst into laughter at the crap joke and Yami cracked a can of beer open. He handed another to Yuugi who just stared at the foreign object.
"What, you don't drink?"
"Not really…" Yuugi was afraid Yami was going to laugh, but instead the taller boy jumped over the fence (which was a pretty amazing feat since he was carrying a full can of beer) and helped him open the can.
"It's just like a coke can, see? Then, and this is the truly amazing part, you tip it up like so, and pour it down your throat. Come on, it's low alcohol. Not even I get drunk at eleven in the morning."
Yuugi smiled and sipped at the frothing liquid. It wasn't too bad; soon they had moved into Yami's garden and were relaxing on two sun beds. They were on to their fifth cans and Yuugi felt he had known Yami a lifetime. Talk turned to their social lives.
"So who's the purple chick? Sister?"
"Huh? Oh Miho? No, she's my girlfriend." Obviously this didn't have the effect Yuugi imagined as Yami spat his beer out onto the grass and stared over his glasses at the smaller boy.
"Her? I wouldn't have imagined you were going out with her. Strange."
"What's strange?"
"Well I just assumed you were gay." This time it was Yuugi's turn to spit his beer out, he had never met anyone quite as blunt as Yami before. He quickly decided to move the conversation along.
"What about you? Do you have a girlfriend?"
"No. Not really one for the ladies."
"Really? I'd have thought you'd have tonnes of offers, you're obviously attractive enough." Yuugi mentally cursed himself while Yami smirked, inside he was flattered though.
"Well as I said, I'm really not one for the ladies." Yuugi being as innocent as he was completely missed the point.
"So you live here all alone?"
"Yep. Well, I share it with some bacteria that have been breeding on a carton of milk in my fridge for the last few years. We have a few arguments now and then but they're generally good housemates."
Yuugi bust into laughter and Yami smiled; the small boy was cute when he was happy. Though he wasn't happy for long; too soon the back door to Yuugi's house swung open and Miho appeared calling her boyfriends name. Yuugi rolled his eyes and placed the empty beer can in the pile that had accumulated.
"See you again some time?"
"Next time she goes shopping."
Yuugi nodded and jumped over the fence and walked to Miho. Yami watched as the two kissed and walked inside hand in hand. He sighed and finished his beer in one.
-
"Who was that guy? He looked kinda like you."
"His name's Yami, he's just a neighbour."
Miho nodded and proceeded to show him each extravagant purchase. He raised his eyebrows at the sixth pair of shoes which to him looked exactly the same as the others, but what did he know? He nodded at the lingerie, though guessed it was probably two sizes too small. And had to restrain himself from laughing at the black leather jacket, at first he though she had bought a gift for him; then realised it was too big for him and was intended for her. Apparently she wanted to become a bit more gothic. Despite the fact she had just bought four new dresses each more flowery than the last.
Yuugi forced a smile onto his face and decided not to read the receipts as the bags showed they were from top designers. He simply decided to sift through some paperwork on the new business that he would be starting tomorrow. Miho began trying them on again, and kept bothering Yuugi until he said she looked gorgeous at which point she would squeal, run back to their bedroom and try something else on. It was a never-ending cycle.
"Miho-chan, yes I like the damned dress, how would you like to go out for dinner? I can see that you're not going to cook and I'm kind of busy at the moment."
"Can we go to that really expensive one? I can wear my new dress and those little shoes with the diamonds!"
"Before Yuugi could object she had run off to change. He sighed and glanced at his soon to be maxed out credit cards, the urge to 'accidentally' drop them down the waste disposal unit was become unbearable.
He decided that he should probably change too; he was wearing a pair of baggy black shorts with a thick silver chain attached to his belt and a black tank top complete with silver accessories. It wasn't exactly suitable for the fine establishment that Miho wanted to go to. He walked to the living room where his clothes remained unpacked and pulled out a slightly creased black shirt and a pair of black trousers. Not that smart, but he couldn't be bothered to dress up; just thinking about all of the paperwork was giving him a headache.
"Ready!"
Miho obviously had no worries, she was wearing a very elegant cream dress with matching cream sandals encrusted with (of course real) diamonds. She was wearing her hair down and had matching glittery cream clips in it. Yuugi smiled, she was beautiful. Offering her his arm they made their way to the Ford.
"You know, for people of our stature we should probably own more than one car."
"What? We only just got rid of our old one."
"Yes but that was a scrap car; I mean we need some nice cars. Maybe keep this one for going out together, and then I could get a drop top car, maybe something sporty."
"You can't drive."
"I'll learn. You could get a really smart black car, perfect for a business man!"
"Yeah, sure…" Yuugi had stopped listening. The mall was two hundred metres down the street and that was the only place Miho was likely to go anyway.
The sky was darkening as Yuugi found a parking space and helped Miho out of the car. (She had nearly twisted her ankle in her heels.) They made it into the elaborately decorated entrance and waited while another young couple were served. The waiter returned and gave them a huge smile.
"Welcome, how can I help you mister…"
"Mutou. We would like a table for two please-"
"Near a window, and if possible a view of the lake?" Miho interjected.
"Ah the lady has fine tastes. The lake view is extra but if that is what madam would like." Yuugi mentally rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, fine, lake."
"I am presuming you have reservations, no?"
"Reservations? Yuugi do we?"
"No, I didn't think we had to…"
"Normally not, but tonight is our hundredth anniversary, we have been fully booked for months."
"Well then, Miho lets go." Miho pouted and stalked off behind her boyfriend. They sat down in their car before the female let loose.
"Why didn't you make a reservation?"
"Don't yell at me, I didn't know! There are other restaurants, let's go to one of those."
"But I wanted to tell Anzu that we'd been there. She says it's the best."
Miho sulked in her seat as Yuugi drove around town trying to find somewhere that sold food. After half an hour Miho was complaining that she was hungry, which was convenient since Yuugi had just found the perfect restaurant…
"You are joking, right Yuugi? Please tell me this is a joke."
"It sells food, you were complaining about being hungry."
"I was also complaining about not going to that posh restaurant."
"You complain about so many things, please just let me concentrate on one complaint at a time!" Yuugi parked the car but didn't bother to help Miho out, and consequently she made a big fuss about her feet hurting.
"Well take the stupid shoes off then! Why did you buy them if you can't walk in them?"
Miho stalked past Yuugi and into the restaurant, she made her way to the ladies room leaving Yuugi to order the food. When he was finally served by a bored-looking teenager with bright orange hair he ordered two burgers and fries with diet coke. The food looked alright; Yuugi didn't really care for all the posh crap anyway. He took the tray and scanned the packed room.
"Hey Yuugi! Over here!"
He turned to the source of the noise and saw Yami occupying a table all by himself. He smiled and took a seat next to the taller man.
"Didn't expect to see you here, but I couldn't help but notice what with all that screaming. What's up her ass?" Yuugi laughed, taking a sip from his diet coke.
"No idea. I think I've probably done something wrong though. Not sure what it is this time."
They were interrupted by Miho who made a show by huffing and pretending to be crying. She sat down opposite Yuugi and gave a dirty look to Yami before taking one of the burgers.
"Were there no other seats available?"
"No, but I didn't mind, this is Yami, remember me telling you about him?"
"Mmm." Miho ate in silence, while the two boys began talking about rock music.
"You play the guitar? Cool!" Yuugi's eyes shined with admiration.
"I've been learning since I was in high school, still not very good though. Do you play?"
"Me? No. It must be fun though…"
"I can teach you if you want. As I said I'm not that great but I can show you a few chords."
Yuugi smiled and was about to answer when Miho realised the spotlight had been off her for far too long. She began fluttering her eyelashes at Yuugi, attempting to gain the boys attention. Yami noticed this and almost threw up at her pathetic attempt to seduce Yuugi. It worked though, but the conversation dwindled to silence, it seemed Miho and Yuugi had little in common and couldn't uphold a conversation. However Yami had no trouble conversing with the small teen and took great pride in striking up a conversation with him and smirking at Miho.
Yami ran out of tomato sauce and was about to get up and retrieve some when Yuugi offered him an extra sachet. Miho politely asked her boyfriend for one but was informed that was the last one. Yami smirked again and opened the sachet, he opened it with such a force that some ketchup flew over the table…and onto Miho's brand new, very expensive, one of a kind cream dress.
Yuugi and Yami almost burst out laughing but for some reason Miho failed to see the hilarity. She glared at Yami, fully expecting him to apologise and fall over himself trying to clean the mess up like guys usually did for her; only Yami actually burst out laughing. Miho was beyond angry; she grabbed Yuugi by the arm and dragged him out of the restaurant. Yuugi waved goodbye with a smile on his face.
"What a rude man! How on earth are we going to survive living near a prick like that Yuu-chan?"
'Yuu-chan' could see no problems living next door to Yami Atemu, in fact he had a feeling the two would be becoming fast friends…
-
Yuugi turned the bedroom light off, climbed in next to Miho and turned over to face away from her. His large violet eyes drifted shut as he started to fall asleep to the calm silence…
"Yuugi?"
Maybe not.
"Yes?"
"Does that Yami guy live alone then?"
"Yes."
"So no one lives with him?"
"No." That's the same question…
"So there's no one else in the house?"
"Is there some part of this that you're not getting?"
"Why does he live alone? Doesn't he have a girlfriend? Not that I can imagine anyone wanting to spend time with an idiot like that." Yuugi suddenly felt the need to defend Yami.
"He doesn't want a girlfriend, and after tonight I really can't blame him. I'm going to sleep Miho; some of us have to go to work tomorrow."
Miho blinked, realising that she had been insulted. She did work; shopping was very tiring! And as for not doing any work, there was plenty to be done. First thing tomorrow morning she had to find and hire a good house maid. And maybe a chef, she really didn't like cooking…
"Yuugi?"
Silence.
"Yuugi, I know you're not asleep. No one goes to sleep that fast."
"I do."
"Don't you want to…you know…" Her hand slid over his waist and she began to nibble his ear lobe.
"What part of sleeping don't you understand? Goodnight Miho."
Growling Miho moved to the very edge of the bed to prove a point; she was ignoring him. Yuugi really couldn't care less, at least now he could get to sleep. He felt her edge further and further and further…and off the bed.
"Ow!"
-
Miho was bored. Anzu and Shizuka weren't coming round for another hour and she had nothing to do. Well that was a lie; there was a huge pile of washing that needed to be done, but why deprive the maid? She decided to go check the garden out, not really one for gardens she really just wanted to see what Yuugi found so fascinating.
She was disappointed.
There were a lot of flowers, which wasn't uncommon for a garden. There was a metal bench and a patio…but that was it. Somehow she had been expecting more. She sighed and glanced around her, there was a pretty good view of the neighbour's gardens, and to the right a male figure was lying on a sun bed holding a guitar.
She groaned, Yami heard and looked up. He smiled brightly and stuck his middle finger up at her. She frowned and made a disgusted noise which he took as a compliment. He had a cigarette in his hand and a bottle of beer sitting on the grass next to the sun bed. He strummed a few chords.
"That wasn't very good." He looked up at her over the sunglasses.
"I was checking they were tuned, bitch."
"Well it still wasn't very good." He rolled his eyes and took a drag of his cigarette. He stamped it out and chucked it over the fence at her.
"Urgh!" She made a big fuss of dodging it. "That could have hit me and ruined my clothes!"
"Well at least you're more suitably dressed than last night. I was beginning to wonder if all you wore was dresses and high heels. Kinda like a slut."
"I don't need to take this from you."
"Fuck off then, I'm not asking you to stand there; in fact I'd be pretty damned happy if you'd leave me alone. Unless your boyfriend is in?"
"No, Yuugi's at work."
"Ah, he's slaving away at work so he can afford to let you spend his cash."
"Shut up. You don't know anything." Miho turned on her heel and made for the back door. Yami strummed the guitar again and began singing out of tune. He was obviously just making it up as he went along.
"Miho is a bitch. She only likes Yuugi cos he's rich. And she has a fat ass. And she dresses like a whore. That doesn't fucking rhyme…"
"You're drunk aren't you? That's disgusting; it's only one in the afternoon."
"At least I don't have a face like yours."
"I don't need to take this from you."
"So you keep saying, yet still you're standing there."
"Fine. Goodbye Mr. Atemu."
"Goodbye fat-ass!" Yami smiled brightly and waved. "What a bitch."
-
Yuugi unlocked the door, glanced at the note from Miho saying she'd be back soon, and collapsed onto the couch. He then realised that there had been no couch there before, and he definitely didn't remember ordering one this sickly pink colour. Miho had been shopping again. But this was stupid; it didn't match anything else in the room…except the pyramid of paint tins and wallpaper. Miho, always the subtle character, obviously wanted a change of décor. From neutral beige to putrid pink. Lovely.
Yuugi felt his headache returning with a vengeance. He needed some air. Stumbling over to the patio doors (had there always been patio doors in that wall? Leave Miho alone for one day…) he made his way to the metal bench and collapsed onto that.
"You okay?"
Yuugi peeked out from under his arm which was strategically placed over his eyes to block out the sun. Yami was standing next to him, having jumped over the fence the instant he had seen the smaller boy enter the garden.
"Just great."
"You look like shit. Wanna hear my new song? It's called 'Miho is a bitch'…"
"As much as I'd love to I have a really bad headache, which laughing will only make worse."
Yami smiled and sat down next to Yuugi. He began to move his hands through Yuugi's hair, massaging the pain away. Yuugi moaned slightly, it really helped take his mind off it. He vaguely thought back to a time when Miho had done anything nice like this for him, but couldn't think of one off hand. But there had to be one, right?
"You're all stressed out. Had a bad day?"
"Yeah…my first day at the office. I had to make a lot of cuts, and then hire new people. So obviously that meant telling a lot of people that they no longer had jobs. Some of them were actually crying, Yami. I had some of them begging me to keep them on, but the guy who told me to make all the cuts was standing right next to me and just shook his head. I had to…"
Yami put an arm around Yuugi's shoulders and allowed the small boy to cry into his chest. He slowly rubbed circles on Yuugi's back while the other sobbed his heart out.
"And then I finally came home, tired as hell with a really bad headache and my living room is about to be redecorated. Miho didn't even ask me but she's already bought all of the stuff to do it with and…and…"
"Sure you don't want to hear my song? It'll cheer you up."
Yuugi smiled and was about to give in when the new patio doors swung open and Miho appeared carrying a handful of new bags. Yami growled under his breath; he really disliked this woman, she was obviously taking advantage of Yuugi. Unconsciously his grip on Yuugi's shoulders tightened as she walked towards them. She threw a credit card onto Yuugi's lap.
"Doesn't work."
"What?"
"That credit card. It doesn't work anymore."
"You maxed it out? Already? What did you buy?"
"Shoes, and a new dress to replace the one that he ruined." Yami rolled his eyes and let go of Yuugi, sensing an argument. He squeezed Yuugi's hand before leaving for his garden, and then he sat back on the sun bed to listen.
"I need another one, I'm going shopping again later and I have nothing to pay with!"
"More shopping…Miho I know we have a lot more money now, but I'd like to keep it that way. If you keep spending like you do we'll have to move back into our old apartment."
Miho cringed. She fiddled with the useless piece of plastic, and stormed back inside with her latest purchases. Yuugi felt the headache returning, he really wished Yami would massage it away again…he heard the strum of guitar strings then the familiar baritone voice:
"Miho is a bitch. She only likes Yuugi cos he's rich…"
-
Yuugi was at work, Miho was eating a chocolate bar in the kitchen. She was bored again, there was nothing good on their brand new wide screen, wall mounted, 42 inch plasma flat screen TV complete with fully upgraded Sky Plus. None of the numerous DVD's looked appealing, and she really wasn't in the mood to play on the promotion version Playstation 3.
She decided instead to go online (of course they had the latest, fastest and newest version of broadband) and download some songs for her new iPod mini. While downloading she stumbled across a DIY homepage (as you do), and decided that while their kitchen was nice, it could be fantastic. All it needed was a lick of paint, brand new units, solid platinum diamond encrusted taps and a brand new fridge/freezer. Soon all was ordered (priority delivery for only a small extra charge) and soon to be fitted.
Then she thought back to the night before when she had wanted a new sports car, you could buy those over the internet, right?
Just as she was browsing through the car list a blast of music startled her. Heavy metal music was coming from outside along with laughter. Angrily getting up she threw the back door open and immediately looked over into Yami's garden. There he was cigarette in one hand, beer bottle in the other…only this time he wasn't alone.
Four other boys, all roughly Yami's age, each had a cigarette and bottle too. The first one had long silver hair that was unevenly cut; he had dark brown eyes that looked purely evil. The second had platinum blonde hair gelled up into spikes like Yami. His eyes were violet, like Yuugi's only a shade lighter and with a homicidal glint to them. The third had messy, dirty blonde hair and honey coloured eyes, he was clinging on to the fourth boy who looked the neatest amongst them. His hair was chocolate brown and neatly cut, his eyes were a deep blue and he was dressed more smartly than the others.
While Yami, Mariku and Bakura all wore leather (like Yuugi) Jou was wearing a dirty t-shirt and ripped jeans. Seto on the other hand was wearing a business suit, like he had just gotten back from the office. However they were all messing around and the music was very loud.
Miho tried to make herself heard over the 'noise' as she called it. If she had any taste in music whatsoever she would have instantly recognised it as 'Dawn of the Dead' by the fantastic Murderdolls, but she didn't so she couldn't.
Finally realising she wasn't going to have any luck she turned to go back in the house when someone whistled loudly to her.
"Hey sexy! Yami you didn't tell me you lived next door to someone like her!" Miho blushed and dusted off her shirt, ready to flirt with the silver haired boy. "She looks just like a whore, how much does she charge?" Miho blushed from embarrassment as all five boys started laughing at her. She ran inside and slammed the door, ordering herself a silver sports car to make herself feel better.
-
Yuugi got home an hour later, he felt both emotionally and physically drained so wasn't prepared for an update on Miho's spending spree.
"A car?"
"And a new kitchen! Our chateau is going to be fabulous!"
"I'm going outside."
"No, Yuugi. Yami has guests over, and they're playing really loud music. They are the foulest people I have ever had the misfortune to speak with."
"It can't be any worse than in here…"
Yuugi opened the back door, which he was sure used to be solid wood not plastic with stained glass, and slammed the door. Breathing in deeply he opened his eyes and found himself staring into another pair of eyes; crimson ones full of concern.
"You okay? Another bad day?"
"Bad life is more like it."
Yami smiled and helped him over the fence into his garden. As Miho had said Yami had guests over, though they seemed friendly enough. Bakura stood up so that Yuugi could relax on the sun bed, Yami sat down first and then Yuugi sat in his lap. Once again Yami massaged his scalp. Yuugi closed his eyes and was vaguely aware of someone turning the volume on the stereo down. When he reopened his eyes everyone seemed to have paired up on the sun beds. The blonde was leaning on the boy with piercing blue eyes, and the other two lighter blondes (well silver-blonde) were fighting for dominance on another sun bed. Neither couple seemed to care what was going on so Yami decided to talk.
"What went wrong today?"
"Do you really want to know?"
"Of course."
"Those people I fired yesterday, there must have been about forty. Well we're only hiring five more, so that means more work for everyone else. Nobody was particularly happy to hear about that, so I decided to reduce their workload and-"
"Take it on yourself?" Yuugi blinked and stared up into Yami's eyes.
"Yeah, how did you know?"
"It's obvious you'd do something like that. You care too much about other people. Yuugi remember that you're only human, don't take on too much." Yuugi smiled and relaxed further into Yami's embrace. "Carry on."
"Well obviously I didn't get finished on time today as I had more work than usual, so Miho yelled at me for that. Then she announced that she had bought herself a new car, and a new kitchen. So it's probably a good thing that I'm working overtime."
"So you get extra money to pay for it all."
"No, to stay away from her. I don't get extra money for the overtime; it's considered part of the job description. I can pay for these things, but she's got to stop soon, the money will run out eventually."
"What have you bought yourself out of your money?"
"What? Me? Um…the house."
"That's necessary, from what you've said your last apartment was barely habitable. What luxury items have you bought?"
"The Ford car."
"Again necessary; and a Fiesta isn't the most expensive car in the world. Anything else?"
"Yes…um…there was, um…a…oh, I bought a book the other week. It's really good."
Yami almost laughed, but realised that it wasn't actually funny.
"Yuugi, this money was given to you by your mother, wasn't it? So that you could spend your life living comfortably and splash out occasionally. Not so that your stuck-up girlfriend could buy everything in sight for a few months until it's all gone."
Yuugi mulled the thoughts over in his head before the brunette spoke up.
"What kind of business do you own, Yuugi?"
"It mainly specialises in gaming technology. There's a research lab for technical development and we have a student education department too."
"That's pretty much what mine's like. Maybe we could talk business sometime?" He handed Yuugi a small business card and drank from his beer bottle.
"That would be helpful, if you've got any advice on how not to go crazy I'd appreciate it." Seto laughed and nodded.
"If I knew the secret I'd gladly share it."
The six boys talked and drank until the sky darkened. Yami's friends all said goodnight and made their way home leaving the two spiky haired boys to clear up the mess.
"Yuugi, if you want to go back I'll clear up."
"No, I helped make it so I'll help clean up." Yami smiled. "So where did you meet those guys?"
"We hung out in high school and I haven't been able to get rid of them since." Yuugi laughed slightly, and then a sad look came to his eyes. Yami felt his heart twist thinking it was something he'd said. He bent down to Yuugi's eye level. "Did I say something wrong?"
"No -- it's just I haven't kept contact with anyone from college. Except Miho. Nobody bothered; I guess we just weren't as close as you guys are."
"Well, we are very close. I mean I've slept with all of them at least twice. We're just always there for each other; I couldn't imagine not being with them."
"Relationships like that take a lot of time I guess…"
"Not really. I'd known I was going to be with them since the first day we met. Mariku and Bakura had just set off a fire alarm and we all got lost and ended up in a bathroom together. Jou was kind of scared but Seto straight away took his hand, it was really sweet. It was obvious they'd get together though they sure took their time. Mariku and Bakura hooked up next leaving me to tag along. And of course there's you."
"Me?" Yuugi blushed and dropped the bottle he had been picking up. Yami laughed slightly and moved to pick it up; their hands brushed against one another and Yuugi felt his heart skip a beat.
"You, dear Yuugi, are a complete mystery to me. I understand you, and I like what I see, but the one thing I will never understand is-"
"Yuugi? Yuugi where are you? I need your opinion on a colour for our new bedroom!"
"-her."
-
Saturday. What could be better than a scorching hot Saturday free from the stress of work? Well Miho going out is one way of making the day a whole lot better. But unfortunately for Yuugi her plans fell through; she had intended on going to the movies with Anzu and Shizuka, but they were both going to a friends wedding so she was alone. But she still wanted to go to the cinema, and you can guess who she wanted to take with her.
Yuugi was perfectly happy to be outside tapping away at his laptop. The air was very warm yet a cool refreshing breeze lightened the atmosphere. He was working on a new project for work at a leisurely pace while listening to Yami practice on his guitar and occasionally conversing with the older man. He was perfectly content to be doing this, but Miho wanted attention.
"Yuugi, Anzu and Shizuka can't come to the movies; do you want to come with me?"
"Not really…"
"Great! I'll go get changed."
Yami laughed, and set the guitar down in the grass.
"There's no point me being here if you're going out. Maybe I'll go out for a while too, see you later Yuugi."
Yuugi said goodbye as the words sunk in; Yami had only wanted to be here if he, Yuugi Mutou, was here! He felt his heart lighten considerably even when Miho came downstairs wearing yet another new outfit. This apparently had been christened as her 'cinema outfit'. It consisted of designer jeans with diamante designs, a light pink top with a butterfly print and a new pair of shoes.
Yuugi decided on baggy skater jeans and a black tank top.
"Yuugi, all the money we have and you're going out looking like that?"
"Does it really matter? The cinema will be dark, and this is what I like wearing anyway."
Miho rolled her eyes and made her way to the Ford; her new car hadn't arrived yet. The cinema was on the top floor of the mall, there were twenty screen, and fifteen movies playing, but could Miho decide what she wanted to watch?
"How about…um…um…that, no wait…um…"
Yuugi was sitting on one of the sofa's watching the previews, his head resting in his hand. He wasn't in the mood to watch anything really so his input was useless. He wanted to go back to the garden and get some work done now so he didn't have to rush on Monday; but more importantly he wanted to be with Yami. The taller boy had such an impact on him, not to mention as it was a hot day Yami had taken his top off. Yuugi blushed at the thought; he wasn't gay! He had a girlfriend who he lov -- tolerated. But still…
"Yuugi, I think I've picked one!"
"That's good, I was afraid I'd have to call into the office and say I'd be late."
Miho scowled and waited in line with Yuugi. She spotted a young couple ahead of them, the girl was clinging to the guys arm and in return the guy was kissing her. It looked so romantic that Miho decided she wanted to try it. She began to cling to Yuugi's arm and snuggled up to him, not really understanding what she wanted Yuugi just let her cling to him and did nothing.
"Yuugi, kiss me."
"Why?"
"Why? Because you're my boyfriend and that's what boyfriends are meant to do!"
To shut her up more than anything Yuugi kissed her quickly on the lips, she seemed satisfied and released his arm. Finally it was their turn; the man at the till was young and pretty sexy. Instantly Miho felt her cheeks redden. She noticed on his nametag that he had a French name and desperately tried to remember anything from her French lessons at school. Yuugi was about to ask for the tickets when she spoke up.
"Bonjour monsieur! Je voudrais deux…er…cinema tickets…pour Les Incredibles."
Yuugi almost died from embarrassment, just what the hell was Miho playing at? The guy obviously spoke English he just had a French name.
"Er…right. Was that two tickets for the Incredibles, yeah?"
"Merci beaucoup!"
Yuugi smiled to the man and as soon as Miho was out of earshot added.
"She just got released today." The man nodded in understanding.
-
"Yuugi? Where's our seat? My feet are hurting!"
"It was your choice to come here you know, and you shouldn't have worn such stupid shoes. My feet don't hurt, and do you know why? It's because I'm wearing trainers!"
Miho pouted, but then smiled as she found the row.
"There we are; see females are always better at finding their way than men! Seat 28 is…Yuugi I don't believe it. Someone's sitting in our seat! It's him Yuugi, that awful guy!"
Yuugi looked up and smiled when he saw Yami smiling politely from the comfort of Miho's seat. Yuugi sat down next to him and motioned for Miho to sit next to him.
"The cinema is virtually empty, no one will care."
Miho decided that she wasn't going to enjoy the movie if they had to be in the company of Yami. Yuugi decided that if he had to be here at least he was going to enjoy himself, especially since Yami was there too. They had a great time, laughing at the jokes and making some up of their own, Miho excused herself to go to the bathroom but neither noticed. She didn't return until the end credits were rolling. And she was carrying several shopping bags.
"I couldn't resist, Yuugi you are going to love these new shoes they're to die for!"
Yami suddenly thought of a thousand ways he could make Miho's wish come true.
They walked out to the car park together, Miho entering the car immediately with her new purchases. Yuugi stood outside for a while chatting to Yami, he soon found out that Yami had walked here, and the sky was clouding over. Needless to say Miho was not pleased when Yuugi insisted they give Yami a lift home. She was even more displeased when Yami agreed. She was downright outraged when she found out Yami was going to be sitting up front with her Yuugi, apparently there wasn't enough room in the front for all of her bags and she refused to let Yami be in the back with them.
The ride home was a silent one for Miho, not for the two boys up front but she didn't care. She just watched the rain falling heavily against the window pain imagining Yami walking home soaking wet. This brought a slight smile to her face. Yami all cold, wet and tired; Yuugi driving past a particularly large puddle and splashing Yami. They could speed off laughing while Yami stood there shivering.
"Miho, why are you laughing? I didn't think it was funny."
"Some people are just idiots like that Yuugi."
"What did I do now?"
"Yami was just telling me how his mother passed away."
Miho remained silent for once in her life stumped for something to say.
-
Miho hung her new clothes up with the others and tried to find a new place for her shoes, she came to a conclusion; she needed a bigger wardrobe. She decided to go find a nice one on the internet.
She walked past Yuugi who was typing furiously on his laptop trying to get something finished. Apparently taking Miho to the cinema had made him fall behind target and he'd completely forgotten about a presentation he was going to be giving Monday morning. Miho had attempted to look over his shoulder once but had been instantly swatted away.
She poured herself a glass of orange juice and watched the rain beat against the window; it was late Sunday afternoon and it had been raining all day. Miho had a feeling part of the reason Yuugi was so grouchy was because he hadn't been able to go outside and see Yami since they'd dropped him off yesterday.
Finishing her drink Miho sat down at the computer and searched the local stores for a new wardrobe. They all seemed to be too small for all of the stuff she had, so she decided to buy two matching ones. She didn't even think about where Yuugi was going to put his clothes. Clicking off the webpage she attempted to think of something else to do. She was bored again, and decided that maybe a change of scenery would be nice. Yuugi had been so stressed at work recently that a holiday would do them both the world of good.
Checking the destinations she opted for a weekend break, guessing Yuugi wouldn't be too thrilled at the prospect of leaving his job unattended for too long. There was a nice holiday going at an onsen (hot spring) resort fairly near them, they could drive there in less than two hours. Perfect!
-
Miho had gone to bed hours ago, yet Yuugi was still tapping away at his laptop. He felt sleep attempt to consume his mind and decided that he needed a coffee. He walked past the front door in his search for the kitchen just as the doorbell rang. Frowning slightly he opened it to see a pair of bright crimson eyes and a huge grin. Yami spoke in a slurred voice.
"Little help Yuugi? I'm locked out."
Yuugi rolled his eyes but couldn't help smiling. This caused Yami to smile further. Yuugi helped the drunken Yami in and sat him down on the couch.
"You want to crash here for the night? It's late and I'm sure our other neighbours won't appreciate it if we set off your burglar alarm. We have a ton of guest rooms."
Yami nodded and allowed Yuugi to take him by the hand and lead him upstairs. He tried to enter a room but Yuugi pulled him back.
"No, Miho's in there."
That was enough to make Yami leave the room well alone, though he wouldn't have minded seeing where Yuugi slept. He was taken to a room decorated in blue, it was large like all of the rooms and had a huge double bed in the middle. There was an en suit bathroom but what surprised Yami most was the amount of stuff in there; clothes, books, a laptop adaptor…this was all of Yuugi's stuff.
"Yes, this is kinda my room. I do sometimes sleep with Miho but lately we've been sleeping alone more often than not."
Yami nodded slowly, and then realised what this meant; Yuugi was letting him sleep in his room. The door closed behind him and he was afraid Yuugi was going to leave, but was greeted to Yuugi's innocent amethyst eyes and a smile.
"We can share the bed if you want, there's plenty of room. If you don't mind that is-"
"I'd love to." Yami watched as a blush adorned the smaller boy's cheeks. "But I don't have anything to wear."
Yuugi sifted through his clothes but they couldn't find anything big enough for Yami to wear, so he decided instead to sleep in his boxers since the night was warm and they'd be sharing body heat anyway. But on one condition; that Yuugi wore the same. Yuugi's blush deepened as he agreed.
"Who gets to use the bathroom first, then? There are a couple of toothbrushes in there; you can use whichever you want."
"We're both men, why can't we use it at the same time? I don't know about you but I'm shattered and I want to go to bed as soon as possible."
Yuugi felt a nosebleed coming on as Yami said this. Contrary to what he thought, it wasn't nearly as embarrassing as he thought it was going to be. In fact it was quite fun. Yami squirted the toothpaste too tightly in his drunken state and it went all over him. Yuugi giggled and helped him clean it up, so then Yami squirted some on Yuugi deliberately just because he wanted to repay the favour of cleaning the minty paste off his chest.
It was quite a while before either of them got to bed.
Yami got in first and as Yuugi was getting comfortable he moved closer to the smaller boy. Yuugi felt the blush returning. Yami inhaled deeply and sighed, whispering goodnight. Yuugi whispered the same thing back but Yami was already asleep. He was just wondering what was going to happen if Miho saw them like this…
-
Beep beep beep beep
Yuugi groaned, rolled over and slammed his hand into the alarm clock. And then fell back to sleep.
-
"Yuugi wake up! You'll be late!"
Yuugi turned in his sleep, completely ignoring Miho who had banged on the door and yelled.
-
Finally his eyes fluttered open and he made an annoyed sound at the time, he was going to be very late if he didn't get a move on. He tried to get up but felt an extra, warm weight anchoring him in bed. That was when he noticed Yami's presence. He quickly recalled last night's events as he tried to awaken the slumbering man.
"Mnn? Time'sit? Y'gi? Yuugi!"
"You fell asleep here last night after you locked yourself out. You were pretty drunk."
Realisation dawned on Yami's face as he remembered.
"Oh God, I'm so sorry Yuugi. You had work to do as well, didn't you? I probably ruined your whole evening."
"What? No, it's fine. I'll have a little time before the meeting to do it in. I probably needed the sleep anyway. You're going to have to get off me now though."
Yami noticed the position they were in; their legs were intertwined and Yuugi was partly lying on Yami's bare chest. Yami also had wrapped his arms protectively around Yuugi. The position was very comfortable and Yuugi could tell why he hadn't been woken up by the alarm clock.
They managed to detangle themselves, though did so reluctantly, and Yuugi began trying to find clean clothes for work. Yami just lay in the nice warm bed, which had a lingering scent of Yuugi on the pillow. Yuugi went to take a shower while Yami lie there listening to the water running. Thoughts drifted through his mind, the main one being what Miho was going to say when he walked downstairs with her boyfriend for breakfast. The other thought being why he missed having Yuugi's body next to his so much; he wasn't one for long-term relationships with anyone.
But as Yuugi emerged from the shower and changed into a white shirt and black trousers Yami couldn't help but stare and vow to himself that he wanted to be with Yuugi now and forever.
"Yami? You okay? You'd better get dressed, and we can go have breakfast." Yami nodded and picked his clothes up from the floor where he'd thrown them last night.
-
Miho was happily sitting at the breakfast table tapping away at her new laptop the computer in the corner having been discarded, while eating a bowl of cereal. She took a mouthful of rice crispies and was about to click on the 'buy' feature of the website she was on, when Yami entered the room.
She spat out the cereal.
"You! What are you doing in my house?"
"I'm sorry, I was under the impression this was Yuugi's house, obviously some big mix up on my part, it's quite clear that you paid for this out of your own money." Miho scowled and went back to the website; Yami looked over her shoulder and sighed. More of Yuugi's money was going to waste on her.
Yuugi entered the kitchen carrying his laptop; he did a double take with Miho as he was certain she didn't used to have a laptop…oh well. Yuugi poured himself some coffee and made some for Yami too, he fixed up a couple of bowls of cereal and soon they were all eating in silence with the exception of Miho tapping away every so often. Eventually Yuugi left for work, leaving the two alone. Yami took a sip of his coffee before speaking.
"So, what are you buying this time?"
"Not that it's any of your business but I am checking the details on a present I have ordered for Yuugi. He's been working so hard recently so that I can afford all of this luxury that I thought he could use a weekend away."
Yami almost choked on his coffee, Miho had actually thought of someone else for a change; that was definitely a new character development. Though in a way Yami was jealous; Miho had been acting so badly towards Yuugi recently that he was sure Yuugi would dump her soon. For crying out loud the two didn't even share a bed most of the time! He was hoping Yuugi would either dump her or be dumped leaving Yami to pick up the pieces…
"There's something wrong though, apparently the weekend I chose has already been fully booked. The nearest we can have is this weekend. Oh well, it's not like he was expecting it anyway."
"Why can't you go then?"
"It clashes with my monthly hair appointment at the salon."
Yami rolled his eyes, and Miho excused herself to the bathroom leaving the laptop open on the page. Yami moved into her seat, the place she had chosen was just what Yuugi needed; a hot spring, quiet, a nice calm and relaxing break. But now he wasn't going to get it simply because Little Miss Full of Herself was having her locks preened.
Yami smirked; Yuugi was going to have a nice relaxing break, and wasn't going to have to pay for it himself like Miho was going to make him do. Yami produced his own credit card from his wallet and began to fill in the details…
-
The front door opened lethargically and Yuugi slowly made his way in. He dropped his laptop onto the table then collapsed onto the couch. Miho heard him enter and rushed to loving meet her boyfriend after his hard day at work. Sort of...
"Yuugi, please tell Yami to leave, he hasn't gone home yet!"
"Can it wait a minute? I have a headache and I just want to sit down for a few seconds." Miho stormed off muttering something about him not loving her anymore. She couldn't have been nearer the truth, he was just thinking about moving the rest of his stuff from Miho's room when he was interrupted in the nicest possible way; Yami was standing there with a big 'welcome home' smile, a cup of tea and two painkillers. Yuugi could have hugged him, and in fact did.
"You looked like you could use them."
Yuugi smiled and took the painkillers, downing them and swallowing a little tea; to his surprise it wasn't that hot, just the perfect temperature. It had exactly the right amount of milk and sugar. It was perfect.
"Miho can never make tea how I like it, she always adds too much milk and not enough sugar."
"I figured you to be a sugar fan, and that's exactly how I have it anyway."
Yuugi once again relaxed into the sofa, and felt Yami's hands rubbing at his shoulders working out all of the knots.
"Had another bad day?"
"Yep. I have a feeling it's going to get a bit better, though."
"How so?"
"I've been told to hire a personal assistant to take some of the workload off; maybe I'll have some time to breathe now."
"I've been telling you to cut back for ages, I'm glad you're finally seeing sense."
"I'm looking forward to a nice relaxing weekend, though I probably won't get one with Miho about, she'll probably require taking to the cinema or something, or she'll make yet another extravagant purchase and I'll have a heart attack and end up in hospital-"
"Calm down, its okay. You're getting all stressed again."
"I can help it! She's driving me mad. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I want her gone. I don't love her, Yami. I thought I did but I have stronger feelings for my laptop than for that woman!"
Yami smiled and pulled Yuugi so that the smaller boy was sitting on his lap, resting against his chest.
"I don't know what to do, how do I tell her?"
"How about the classic; you're dumped?"
"I don't want to hurt her."
"You're too sensitive for your own good. She's been hurting you for ages, why should you care?"
"I just do. No one should have to go through that. It would be so humiliating for her."
Yami wrapped his arms around the small teen, taking in the strawberry scent of Yuugi's hair and making a mental note to ask what shampoo he used. He began to run his fingers through Yuugi's hair; it was so soft and kissable…
"Yami?"
"Sorry, your hair is just so nice I had to."
Yuugi found himself smiling, and for some reason he didn't mind that Yami had kissed his hair. In fact he had rather liked it…
-
Yami stayed at Yuugi's again that night, and once again they shared a bed though this time their legs were intertwined before either had fallen asleep. It just felt so right. Yuugi fit perfectly into Yami's arms and they fell asleep listening to each others heartbeats. For the first time in a long while Yuugi felt loved.
-
TFI Friday. (Thank Fuck It's Friday)
Yami smiled as he thought about this, it had been nearly a week since he had been locked out of his house in a night of drunken stupidity, and his front door had yet to open (although he did sneak in through an open window to grab some clothes). Yuugi had graciously allowed him to stay with them instead, and his bedroom had become Yami's too. Miho had yet to notice, she just assumed Yami broke in each morning and ate their cereal or something.
Yami was sitting in his new joint bedroom; he had a suitcase open on the bed and was randomly picking things out of the wardrobe the two boys shared. Yuugi knew nothing of this trip and he intended to keep it that way. (Obviously he was going to enlighten him when they got there otherwise it would just be plain stupid.)
He was vaguely aware that he hadn't had a cigarette for a while, and his beer intake was only high when in the vicinity of Miho for a prolonged period of time.
He intended to pack the suitcase with everything they could possibly need and put it in the boot of his own black Ford Fiesta, and then he would get Yuugi into the car making sure he brought his laptop in case he had some important work to be done. Then he would drive him to the resort for a relaxing weekend in the onsen and at the bar.
Yami smirked, and maybe tonight over a glass of champagne and the box of chocolates he had bought he would ask Yuugi to go out with him.
He placed the last black shirt in the case (all of the clothes in the case seemed to be either black or very dark in colour and a high percentage were leather) and zipped it up. He discreetly carried it downstairs, to his own front garden where his car was parked and into the back of the Fiesta very silently before remembering Miho had gone out for the day with her friends. Her new silver sports car was parked next to the space reserved for Yuugi's red car; though it was totally useless for her as she didn't even have a provisional licence, it was more of a garden ornament. Whereas normal people choose those gnome things or pink flamingo's, Miho's idea of decoration is a top of the range, extortionately priced drop top car.
Yami stopped thinking for a while, his thoughts tended to go on a bit. And usually ended with a new and interesting way of torturing Miho. He decided to get ready to welcome Yuugi home.
-
TFI Friday.
Yuugi smiled as he realised this was something he had picked up from Yami. His laptop was safely in his grasp as he was going to need it this weekend; there wasn't too much work to be done so he could get some rest if Miho didn't require too much attention. The first thing he saw when he returned home was a note from Miho telling him she was going out and would be back by tea time and if he could possibly fix something for them to eat. He rolled his eyes as his gaze fell upon another note, this one was written in neat italic handwriting much like his own.
Intrigued he unfolded it, there were only two words; turn around.
Yuugi did as the note instructed and came face to face with a brightly smiling Yami. Before he could react the taller man had grabbed him by the hand and was dragging him out of the house only stopping to lock the front door. They bypassed Yuugi's red Fiesta and instead made for the identical black car. Yuugi glanced up questioningly but Yami would reveal nothing.
They drove for two hours; Yami asked about his day and made other conversation always avoiding Yuugi's questions on where they were going. Finally they reached a huge hotel building, Yami got out of the car and took out their suitcase, Yuugi clicked.
"A holiday?"
"I thought you could use a relaxing break. They have hot springs and all other cool stuff including a bar!"
"Yami no getting drunk okay?"
"No problems Yuugi." I don't need to get drunk when I'm around you. He added as an afterthought.
They checked in at the lobby and took the elevator to the top floor where their room was. It was huge, Yuugi dreaded to think how much this was costing, so he didn't. Yami had already told him that this weekend was on him; in fact he had confiscated all of Yuugi's credit cards to make sure.
They were relaxing on the huge Queen size bed, Yuugi was lying in Yami's arms while the elder ran his hands through his silky ebony hair. Yuugi was enjoying the feeling so much that after a few minutes he was lightly snoring. Yami smiled at the angelic sight, Yuugi was too cute for his own good. Carefully so as not to wake Yuugi he uncurled the smaller from his body and made him comfy on the bed tucking a thin blanket around him. Then he found the tour guide and looked for a good place to eat.
Yuugi whimpered and turned in his sleep, Yami watched in case he was having a nightmare but soon he was resting peacefully once again. Yami smiled again, all he seemed to do was smile when he was around Yuugi. This made him more determined than ever to find the perfect restaurant in which to ask Yuugi out.
-
Yuugi's amethyst eyes fluttered open and sluggishly moved around taking in his surroundings. The walls were a different colour to his bedroom walls and he briefly wondered if Miho had redecorated his room in her frenzy. But he suddenly caught sight of Yami who was lying next to him reading a book and remembered where he was. Yami noticed the movement and put the book down, turning to his sleepy friend.
"Are you hungry?"
"Yeah, what time is it?"
"A little after eight. I was going to wake you in a little while anyway; we have reservations at a restaurant."
Yuugi smiled and moved so that he was leaning against Yami with his head on the taller boys shoulder. Yami resumed reading and for the next half an hour they just enjoyed each others company in silence. Too soon it was time for them to go to the restaurant; they decided to walk as it was a nice warm night yet with a gentle breeze to cool them. Yuugi didn't even blush when Yami reached out for his hand; it just felt so right and natural that they couldn't not hold hands.
They reached the entrance and a cheerful waitress led them to their table, she smiled at their handholding. The table was fairly secluded and was lit by candlelight, there was a large window overlooking the mountains and a lake. The sun was just setting behind them and had turned the sky a pinkish red. It was all too perfect Yuugi thought he was going to cry; just the thought that someone would bother to take him somewhere like this.
"Are you alright Yuugi?"
"I'm fine, thanks. Just a little overwhelmed. Nobody has ever bothered to do something this nice for me before. Thank you, Yami."
Yami smiled and stared into Yuugi's eyes, the smaller stared right back. They began to lean further forwards, their lips only inches apart-
"Sirs, would you like to see the wine menu?"
"Yes, thanks."
Yami forced a smile and took the offered menu, unfortunately the moment had been lost and Yuugi was staring at the food menu deciding on what to have. Yami looked at his own, deciding to ask him over desert which was in his opinion the most romantic course.
"What are you going to have, Yami?"
"Probably the steak, what about you?"
"Salad I think."
"Salad? How skinny you are?" Yami shook his head and folded his menu up. He took out the wine menu and offered it to Yuugi. "You pick."
"Me? I don't know anything about wines…"
"Okay, what's your favourite, red or white?"
"Red."
"I'm betting you like sweet wines as well, right?"
"Yeah." Yuugi was always amazed at how well Yami seemed to know him.
"I'll order Banrock Station; it's a favourite of mine."
"Is it expensive?"
"Hell no, it's cheap as -- well, really cheap." Yami was about to say 'cheap as shit' but decided against the unnecessary swearing; he knew from experience Yuugi didn't like it.
As if on cue the waitress appeared with a little notebook and pen ready to take their order. It didn't take long for the food to come either, and Yami was getting more and more nervous. Apparently unnoticed Yuugi stole one of Yami's chips that came with his steak, Yuugi's salad comprised of only a few pieces of lettuce, half a tomato and randomly sprinkled slices of cucumber. And a stick of celery in case you were feeling really hungry.
Yami had actually worried when he saw what Yuugi had ordered; he knew for a fact Yuugi had skipped lunch as the small boy had admitted it on their ride here. So he pretended not to notice as Yuugi nibbled away on the stolen chip, and even offered him another one dipped in tomato sauce. Yuugi grinned, knowing his attempt at theft had not got unnoticed.
Their meal finished they sat back to talk while drinking their second glasses of wine. The waitress returned and cleared away their plates while handing them the dessert menu.
They chose to share a chocolate fudge ice cream, and Yuugi excused himself to the bathroom while they waited for it to arrive. Yami got an idea, and walked over to the kitchen area, there was a counter where you could see into the kitchen and speak with the chef's. He called one of them over and asked him something. The man nodded and smiled, congratulating Yami on something. Yami just smiled and returned to his seat, the butterflies in his stomach all seemed to be on a sugar high…
-
Yuugi looked at his reflection in the large wall mounted mirror. He couldn't see why Yami had offered to take him out tonight, he looked half dead. This was not how he had imagined his life, after inheriting all of that money he had expected his life to become easier, but with Miho and her spending sprees he was more stressed out than he ever had been before.
He splashed some water on his face and rubbed at his tired eyes. He just had to keep from collapsing until they got back to the hotel, then he could get a good nights sleep…cuddled up next to Yami. He smiled at this thought and exited the bathroom. Yami was sitting at the table poking at their ice cream; he seemed reluctant to eat it for some reason. Yuugi sat down in his chair opposite Yami, picked up his spoon, looked at the ice cream and then dropped his spoon.
"Y-Yami?"
"Well?"
"Yes! Of course yes! Though I'm not sure Miho will be too happy…"
"Who cares? I'm more worried about you being happy."
"I am definitely happy right now." Yuugi got up from his seat and ran round to Yami, collapsing onto his koibito's lap. Yami wrapped his arms around the smaller and felt his shirt becoming wet; Yuugi was crying, though he knew they weren't tears of sadness.
The ice cream continued to sit there; being an inanimate object as it was. Though it did feel rather pleased with itself for bring the two together. The vanilla ice cream came with a topping of little circular chocolate toffee's, they had been arranged to form the words; go out with me? Blunt as always. Though Yami had wanted a longer, more heartfelt message but the ice cream wasn't very big. Well at least it got the point across.
Yami kissed Yuugi lightly on the lips, not wanting to move things along too fast; they had the rest of their lives to spend together so why rush things? When they finally got around to eating the ice cream it was a liquid, but then again ice cream always tastes better when it's melted anyway.
-
Yami was carrying a sleeping Yuugi home; the small boy was smiling in his sleep and was clinging sweetly to Yami like a teddy bear. The night air was so still now, the breeze had died down and it was pitch black. Yami entered the hotel and began fumbling for his keys, they had both drunk quite a bit of wine and the key hole on their door seemed to be moving…
Finally gaining entrance Yami deposited his precious bundle on the bed before stripping down ready for bed, he began to unbutton Yuugi's shirt as the little one stirred and began to speak in a disoriented way.
"Yami? Where are we?"
"We're back at the hotel angel; it's time for bed so I'm getting you undressed."
Yuugi seemed to accept this situation and allowed Yami to undress him with no resistance. Why would he? He had a great view of Yami's bare torso, his koibito obviously worked out.
"Yami, I have a headache, do we have any medicine?"
"Yes, but you've had a lot of alcohol. Sorry koi but you can't have any. You'll be asleep soon and when you wake up the pain will all be gone, I promise."
Yuugi nodded sleepily and snuggled under the blankets and up against his koibito. His breathing soon evened out as he drifted off. Yami found himself unable to sleep; instead favouring to watch the smaller, he was so cute asleep, then again Yuugi was always cute unconscious or not.
-
When Yuugi awoke he found that he was sprawled over Yami, lying on the taller ones bare chest with Yami's arms draped around his thin waist. Yuugi rubbed up against his koibito and after deciding that he was too comfortable to move fell back to sleep.
-
Yami woke up next. He caught sight of the alarm clock and knew he was going to have to wake Yuugi. The angel looked so comfortable that he didn't really want to, but he knew Yuugi had some work that needed to be done. He gently leaned down and brushed his lips against Yuugi's forehead, his koibito was a very light sleeper and at the touch his thick eyelashes fluttered delicately.
"Yami? Is it morning?"
"No, it's the afternoon; one thirty to be exact."
"Does that mean we don't get breakfast?"
Yami giggled and kissed him again, this time on the lips. Yuugi responded instantly enjoying it so much that they didn't notice a knock at the door. They did however notice as a maid walked in with clean towels, they quickly broke the kiss and smiled sweetly; the maid was fairly elderly and didn't notice at all.
Yuugi got up and went in search of a shirt and pair of jeans. He found them in the suitcase and changed; he then located his laptop and turned it on, settling down on the bed. Yami was getting changed himself, and then he walked out of the room. Yuugi logged on to the internet and began sifting through the mountain of emails that had accumulated in his inbox. They were mostly orders, and mainly for the new Duel Disc system, he had been working on alongside Kaiba Corp, they had jointly made the newest model and it was selling out fast. Both companies were seeing serious benefits, though Yuugi was reluctant to tell Miho in case she decided to go on a celebratory shopping spree.
The door opened and a plate of toast was placed in his lap. Looking up he saw Yami also had a plate.
"It's food. You know…food."
"Thanks, I'm really hungry."
"I figured you might be. What are you doing?"
"Hm? Oh, just completing orders for the new Duel Discs, I've got so many orders…this is really great, I'm glad that Kaiba Corp was willing to work alongside us in this project; I hope we can do so again."
Yami smiled and wrapped an arm around Yuugi's shoulders, he began reading the emails with Yuugi; some of them were pretty desperate to get these Duel Discs.
"Why do you have to deal with the orders? Don't you have someone whose job it is to do this kind of thing?"
"Yeah, but she was one of the people I had to fire. This will end up being my personal assistant's job for a while until we find a replacement; the way these things are selling we'll be able to hire on a lot more people."
"There's an email about your personal assistant." Yuugi blinked; it was from Seto. He opened it up; it was formal as always, but with a hint of friendship.
Yuugi,
I knew I had heard the name before, Arisu Brahne used to be a personal assistant of mine until she was found guilty of stealing millions from my company. I had her prosecuted, but last I heard she was walking free. Just a precaution, I don't want you to end up making the same mistake as I did.
Best regards, Seto.
"Oh well, looks like I don't have a personal assistant anymore. I'll forward this to security and have them make sure she doesn't enter the premises. That means I'm going to have more work next week than I thought, and I'm going to have to go through another set of interviews."
Yami began rubbing Yuugi's shoulders when an idea came to him.
"Yuugi, how about if I became your personal assistant?"
"What? Really? That would great, I might get a little distracted sometimes but you'd definitely be a help. I mean you already know everything there is to know about the Duel Disc. You're hired! Your first task is to go find me a cup of coffee."
Yami laughed and wandered off in search of a vending machine as Yuugi began to reply to all of the orders.
-
A midnight black Ford Fiesta lightly rolled over the gravel, stopping just before it bumped into the garage door. The engine quietened and the doors opened. Two teens, holding hands, exited the car. The shorter of the two was playing with a small silver key in his hand, this he used to unlock the front door.
"Er...Miho honey? I think we need to talk…"
Yuugi scanned the room but couldn't see anyone. Dragging Yami behind him he looked in the kitchen; again empty. Everywhere was empty, and the strange thing was no rooms had been redecorated. In fact the place was very empty. Where was all of Miho's stuff?
"Yuugi, I found a note. It's from Miho."
Dear Yuugi,
I'm sorry but I don't think this is going to work out. I do love you, but I just can't go on like this. Love you always, Miho. xXx
Yami couldn't help but smile, he was worried that dumping Miho would upset Yuugi, the small boy didn't like to hurt anyone's feelings. But right now Yuugi was smiling too, everything was going to be okay. Yuugi tore up the note and turned to his koibito.
"Right, now she's gone we can have the biggest bedroom!"
"Okay, but we're going to have to get it redecorated." Yuugi paled so Yami quickly added "Only that room! And only because it's pink!"
Yuugi breathed a sigh of relief, turning to his personal assistant/lover.
"Next task as my personal assistant, entertain me."
Yami smirked and picked up the smaller while bombarding him with butterfly kisses, he carried him upstairs to their new bedroom beginning the start of a new and happier life for the both of them.
Owari
Please review.
I hope you liked it; it took me quite a while to complete so feedback is really appreciated. And I had to read through it a million times to check for errors, of which there are probably still some.
-Completed: 30th July 2004
-Dagger