Finished. Done. Over. My first multi-chaptered fiction is…complete.

Yes this is short, but it was hard to write. It's fitting, though, and I really hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: It is not mine. None of it. Never has been, never will be.

Epilogue- At the Beginning

We were strangers, starting out on a journey
Never dreaming what we'd have to go through
Now here we are
And I'm suddenly standing
At the beginning with you

No one told me I was going to find you
Unexpected, what you did to my heart
When I had lost hope
You were there to remind me
This is the start

Knew there was somebody somewhere
Like me, alone in the dark
Now I know my dream will live on
I've been waiting so long
Nothing's gonna tear us apart

And life is a road, and I want to keep going
Love is a river I want to keep flowing
Life is a road, now and forever, wonderful journey
I'll be there when the world stops turning
I'll be there when the storm is through
At the end I want to be standing at the beginning
With you

~At the Beginning, from Anastasia

Opening night for the musical came far too quickly for Yugi. He knew all his lines, he could sing better than half the musical artists out there, and now he had a whole army of drama club singers and stage crew members to defend him against the football team…but Yugi couldn't imagine how he could go up in front of all those people and not faint or throw up.

An hour before the Curtain call, Yugi was sitting in a store room behind the stage with his head between his knees and trying not to vomit. He was shaking and he couldn't breathe properly, and he was pretty sure that if he tried to stand his legs would collapse out from under him.

He wished Atem were with him, but the older boy was currently in another room getting his hair dyed. The musical was supposed to be about twins, and Ryo had suggested that it might be a good idea if their hair colors matched, so rather than make Yugi bleach his hair, Atem had volunteered to get his dyed- temporarily of course.

It had been Tea's idea to keep the identity of the final cast for the musical secret. Since everyone had seen or heard about Atem and Yugi's big fight, they assumed that the two of them hadn't gone to the audition, and that the big secret involved some supporting cast. The drama club were all sworn to secrecy, and nobody said anything- so when the curtain went up, it would be the first time that anyone knew what had really happened during the callbacks.

"45 minutes to curtain!" Ryo yelled.

'Oh God,' Yugi moaned to himself.

There was a knock on the door and then Atem walked in- already in costume and smelling of hair dye.

"You smell like hair dye," Yugi teased in a shaky tone. Atem shut the door and knelt down in front of him.

"I know you can do this," he said gently, taking Yugi's face in his hands and tilting it up. "You deserve the spotlight, and you deserve to be the one that they all applaud for."

Yugi felt tears well up in his eyes. "And if that doesn't happen?"

Atem kissed him and Yugi fisted his hands in Atem's shirt, simultaneously deepening the kiss. After a few seconds Atem pried Yugi's hands off of him and pulled back.

"I'll be standing right next to you," he said. "I'm not gonna let anyone hurt you again."

Yugi nodded, not fully reassured but finally able to stand without collapsing. He and Atem walked out to the stage and sat facing the closed curtain. They didn't speak, or touch again. Instead they listened to the sounds of the auditorium filling up with their classmates.

Finally, Ryo shouted, "We're on in 60 seconds."

Atem looked Yugi dead in the eye. "You ready?"

Yugi gave him a small smile. "As ready as I'll ever be."

They stood up and Atem reached over and gave Yugi's hand a brief squeeze. They each adjusted their clip-on microphones.

"Action!"

Yugi stood at his locker, struggling to balance his books, his cup of coffee and open his locker at the same time.

"Hey there, Justin Bieber."

Yugi didn't even bother to turn around. "Good morning, Ushio," he said distractedly. Rex grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Look at me when-" he snarled, and a second later Ushio was slammed into the lockers next to Yugi.

"You got a problem here, tough guy?" Marik growled. He had one hand on Ushio's neck, the other pulled back and ready to punch.

"What's with you, Marik?" Ushio gasped.

Marik smirked. "Haven't you heard? The basketball team is a big fan of Yugi's- we consider him one of our own now." He leaned closer to Ushio, and his voice turned low and threatening. "You mess with him, you mess with us." He stepped back and Ushio stumbled forward. He shot Yugi a terrified glance, and Yugi stood there, calmly sipping his coffee. Ushio ran off.

"And spread the word to the rest of your loser friends!" Atem called after Ushio. He'd walked up behind Yugi and now leaned his arm on the shorter boy's shoulders. Once the bully had disappeared around the corner, Marik, Atem and Yugi burst into laughter.

"Damn, that was fun" Marik said, pumping his fist into the air. "Let's do that again!"

"If anyone else pops up, I give you permission to threaten them," Yugi told him.

"What are we talking about now?" Tristan asked as he and Joey came upon the trio. Atem gave them a shrug.

"Oh you know, just Marik being all bodyguard-like," he said nonchalantly. At once, Joey bristled.

"What? Listen here, prima," Marik growled. "I'm Yugi's bodyguard, ya got that?" Tristan coughed. "Okay, me and Tristan are," he amended. "Point is, that position has already been filled!"

"Yeah, because you guys really don't need my help, never mind that I'm older and stronger than you, and could whip that guys ass in half the time it would take you to do it," Marik said sarcastically.

Yugi tuned out the argument and leaned back against the lockers.

"You coming over this afternoon?" He whispered to Atem. The other boy smiled.

"You know it," he whispered back.

Atem wasn't ready to go public with his relationship with Yugi just yet, and Yugi respected that. It had only been a few weeks, and he would need more time to come to terms with all the changes in his life. Yes it meant that Yugi couldn't walk down the hall holding his hand, or kiss him by the lockers, or scream from the rooftops that Atem was the best kisser in the world… but he decided that he could deal with that for now.

Still, he hoped he wouldn't have to wait too long.

Thank you to all my readers- you guys rock.

A very special thank you to all my reviewers- you guys rock harder. I could not have done this without your support and feedback, and I can't wait to see you in the sequel; keep watch for it, it will be called "Teenage Dreams."

~Angel.