Picnic
Disclaimer: I don't own Yuugiou. I actually don't know who does, but I should probably find that out DX
Pairings: PUZZLESHIPPING FTW (Yami/Yuugi)
Summary: Family picnics. Everyone has to deal with them sometimes.
/Why are we doing this, aibou?/
Yuugi glared at no one and grit his teeth. /Mou hitori no boku, if you don't shut up, I swear to-/
"Yuugi? Yuugi Motou, my God you've grown! I haven't seen you since you were about…" The lady waved her hand at her upper thigh, "…this high!"
Yuugi valiantly tried to ignore the snickering in his head. /A whole two inches? By Ra, it's no wonder the woman doesn't recognize you, aibou! You're almost as tall as her hip, now!/
"Ah…" the wild-haired teen scratched the back of his neck. "Aunt Myoko, it's been awhile!" He forced a smile. Damn, he was lucky there had only been three relatives invited to the picnic; otherwise he would have been so screwed. He honestly had no recognition of the plump, middle-aged woman before him.
Aunt Myoko beamed. "Now, child, where's your mother? I absolutely must talk to her!"
"Um, she's setting up the punch," Yuugi answered, and pointed over to the long set of tables resting firmly in the grass. "She'd love to talk to you, I'm sure."
/As much as anyone loves having a conversation with a talking dentist drill./
/Mou hitori no boku!/
"Goodness, thank you, Yuugi-chan. I'll see you later then!" she said in that syrupy voice of hers. Yuugi groaned as soon as she was out of ear-shot.
/Yuugi-chan?/ Yami repeated in a voice that was halfway between a snarl and a laugh, and materialized beside the younger boy with flourish. /Your family obviously has high respect for you, aibou./
Yuugi sighed and sat down on the grass. "She just hasn't seen me in awhile," he explained wearily. "We haven't done something like this since… in a long time."
Yami frowned, not missing how his aibou had cut himself off. /Since…?/
"Since a long time," Yuugi repeated stubbornly, twirling a blade of grass between his fingers. "My family doesn't generally do stuff like this."
/Ah./ If aibou didn't want to talk about it, it wouldn't be talked about. Still… /Yuugi-chan?/
Yuugi laughed a little and absently rubbed at his cheekbone. "Um, yeah. You should probably get used to that, I guess. Lots of people still call me that." A long-suffering sigh. "I still look like I'm ten years old, in case you hadn't noticed."
Yami smirked. /You're far from ten years old, aibou,/ he leered.
"Mou hitori no boku!"
"Yuugi-ni-san?" A confused voice wondered hesitantly from behind. "Are you… talking to yourself?"
Yuugi instantly leapt to his feet, brushing grass and dirt from his clothes in attempt to hide his burning face. "Um, Tomi-kun! I… uh, didn't see you there!" he exclaimed. /Dammit, mou hitori no boku! Why didn't you tell me I was talking out loud?/
A rumbling laugh. /I'll leave this one to you, aibou./ With that, the spirit disappeared back inside the puzzle.
The young boy who had called Yuugi 'ni-san' had an odd expression on his face. "Of course," he murmured skeptically. Then his expression changed completely as a wide smile spread across his face. "Ni-san! Do you want to play some tag?"
Yuugi groaned inwardly. Despite the fact that he was at least 8 years older than the kid, he knew that with his legs he would never be able to keep up to him. "Ah, I'm a little busy, actually," he told his younger cousin. The boy's face fell.
"Aw, but Yuugi-ni-san!" Tomi cried. "I'm so bored! All the grown ups are talking about boring stuff, and there's no playground anywhere! This park sucks!"
Yuugi grimaced. What to do with an over-active 9-year-old? "Umm…"
/There's always the Kaiba boy./ Yami spat out the word like it had a bad taste. Yuugi's eyebrows shot up.
/Seto-san?/
/Oh, Ra, no!/ The spirit exclaimed. /I meant the younger one./
Yuugi stared blankly. /Mokuba?/ he asked incredulously. Yami just glared.
"Umm… actually, Tomi-kun, there's someone I'd like you to meet," Yuugi said, glancing at Yami, who had deemed the situation worthy enough to materialize again. "His name is Mokuba-kun, and he's about your age."
Tomi's eyes widened. "Really? No way, Ni-san! Is he cool?"
"Ah…" /If by 'cool' he means 'insanely rich.'/ "Sure." Yuugi smiled at his younger cousin. "He's very cool."
"Awesome!"
/…Is this kid on drugs?/
/Shut up, mou hitori no boku./
About an hour later, with pest control taken care of, the two look-alikes spread themselves out on the grass, watching the clouds float across the sky. It was a little too idyllic, Yuugi thought, but not a terrible experience all in all. He blinked as he felt Yami's hand cover his own.
/You know, aibou-/ the spirit began hesitantly.
"Yuugi-chan! There you are!" A grating voice pierced the soft air. Yami cursed inwardly, feeling his other half smirk at his antics.
/...fucking old ladies and their need to fondle aibou.../
"Aunt Myoko!" Yuugi smiled. "Is it time for lunch yet?"
Yami glared at the middle-aged woman, putting a possessive arm around Yuugi as Myoko leaned forward to ruffle the teen's crazy hair. /Someone better be dead./
"Lunch is ready; we're all waiting on you, Yuugi," another voice chimed in.
"Mokuba?" Yuugi blinked. "What are you doing here? I dropped Tomi at your house."
The small, black-haired boy grinned. "Tomi-kun invited me over, and ni-sama let me come." He looked suddenly unsure, glancing up at Yuugi's aunt. "If that's okay."
Myoko looked like she was going to have a spaz. "Well, if you're not the cutest thing on the face of the planet!" she babbled, pinching Mokuba's chubby cheeks.
Mokuba frowned. "On second thought, maybe I should go home," he muttered, but it came out as gibberish, his cheeks currently too occupied with Aunt Myoko's fingers to be of much use. He looked helplessly up at Yuugi, who laughed.
"So, what's for lunch?"
/The food good, aibou?/
Yuugi nodded vigorously, swallowing in satisfaction. "Mm."
"What was that, Yuugi?" Uncle Benjiro asked. Yuugi froze.
"Ah… I was just… um, appreciating the food," he muttered lamely, trying to avoid Mokuba's knowing glance. Beside the Kaiba boy, Tomi giggled.
"It's okay, Uncle; Ni-san talks to himself all the time," the youngest cousin explained. Yuugi felt his face flame bright red.
His mother was nodding. "Come to think of it, Yuugi, that's right," she mentioned thoughtfully, reaching for some more onigiri. "You've been talking to yourself a lot, lately."
Yuugi struggled to ignore his mother's concerned look. "Uh… I guess… um, stress, you know." He forced a grin. "Stupid, huh?"
/For sure,/ Yami murmured darkly.
/Shut it,/ the younger boy growled. /This is your fault to begin with./
His uncle did not look impressed. "I suppose," he answered absently, but shot Yuugi's mother an odd look. Yuugi sighed.
This was going to be a long afternoon.
Yuugi pressed his face into the ground. "Ugh."
/Aibou?/ Yami asked, concerned as he materialized on the grass. /Are you alright?/
"Blergh."
The spirit blinked. /Aibou, your language has many foreign sounds to me, but I'm pretty sure there is no way that is an appropriate response to-/
Yuugi rolled over to face his other self. "Half my family now thinks I'm nuts. Did you hear what they were talking about when I left?"
/No, but-/
"Aunt Myoko asked Mom if I was on medication. And Mom was seriously considering it." He snorted. "Maybe they're right. If I were sane, there would be no way I'd be putting up with you every day."
Yami frowned. /They assume you're crazy because you talk to yourself? Honestly, they've obviously never met Marik Ishtar./
The younger boy shook his head. "They think I'm crazy because I keep talking to my 'other self.' Mou hitori no boku. And frankly, I can see their point." The grass tickled his arms and he let out a slow breath. Yami waited for him to continue.
"Also because I almost died in fire trying to put together some stupid puzzle," he mumbled finally, lowering his eyes. "Mom thinks I have too great of attachment to it. She wants Grandpa to take it away, but he won't."
Yami lay down beside Yuugi. /Well, if it's any consolation, aibou, I'm quite grateful you put 'some stupid puzzle' back together,/ he said gently. And he honestly was, though part of him wanted to yell at his younger self for even thinking of putting himself in such danger. But that was beside the point.
Yuugi sighed. "Sorry, mou hitori no boku," he replied, absently caressing the Millennium Puzzle around his neck. "It's not stupid. I just…"
Yami kissed him.
It wasn't so much a kiss as it was a brush of cool air against his lips, stealing his breath. But Yuugi leaned into it regardless, sighing into the spirit's mouth.
They would never have what they wanted. Yami would never be solid, and even if he was, they would never be together. They just couldn't. But some days, they ignored the fact, slipping away into a world no one else could see.
Maybe it was beautiful, in a way. Yuugi couldn't see it.
Tomi walked through the crowd of chattering adults with a scowl on his face. Mokuba had gone home a half-hour ago, and now he had nothing to do. He couldn't find Ni-san anywhere.
He froze as he passed a tree, eyes catching on a mad mess of tri-coloured hair behind it. Backtracking slowly, he blinked as he caught sight of Yuugi leaning against the wood, eyes closed in sleep.
He stared at the possessive air around his older cousin, shivers running down his spine. For a minute, blue eyes met crimson breeze, and he shook slightly.
Then he smiled.
:Owari:
A/N: Okay, so, first thing- I do not like Yuugiou. All I know of the series comes from Yu-Gi-Oh! Abridged, Wikipedia and fanfiction.
But I do like Puzzleshipping, and I have the feeling I'll be writing a longer Puzzleshipping story later on, and so I wanted to get the characters first.
Also, HUZZAH FOR NO ACTUAL PLOT LINE.
Haha, anyhoo, please read and review before I destroy anymore Yuugiou characters with my ignorance.