Disclaimer: I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit.
Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters
Title: Awkward Conversation
Romance: one-sided Yuugi x Mahaado, background Atemu x Mahaado
Word Count: 2,025||Status: Complete
Genre: Romance, Angst||Rated: PG-13
Challenge: Yu-Gi-Oh Pairings 9 & 3/4: Medium Round: Mahaado x Yuugi
Feedback: All forms eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.
Summary: The morning after is always awkward. Even more so, in one certain case.

Mahaado's brain called for tea. Many people he knew preferred coffee, but he never felt his day began properly without a good hot cup of tea. Before that, he never seemed able to think coherently. He could manage walking to the kitchen and getting the tea going, but that covered the extent of his functions until afterward.

Perhaps that was why events fell out as they did. He hadn't had his tea yet.

He'd woken up in Atemu's home so many times before, having falling asleep there while studying or watching television or just hanging out with his best friend-could he call him that anymore?-that his body knew just how to get the tea going there just as well as if he were in his own home. Atemu even kept a supply of Mahaado's favorite tea for mornings like this. It was just one of the reasons Mahaado loved him.

A small smile hovered on the edges of his lips as he shuffled his way into the kitchen. Atemu still slept and likely wouldn't wake for another hour or so. As for anyone else...that question was answered when Mahaado realized the only other person in the household sat in the kitchen already.

"Yuugi?" Mahaado blinked a few times even as he started over to the stove to put on the tea kettle. He could've used anything else to heat the water, but he liked the kettle Atemu kept here for him.

Atemu's younger brother-younger twin brother, Mahaado's meticulous mind corrected him-sat at the kitchen table, a cup of something in front of him. Other than that, the table was empty, no books or papers or breakfast.

Something must be wrong. He couldn't think of what, for many reasons. In all the years he'd known the twins, he'd never seen Yuugi upset about anything. Bad grades or lost duels, it didn't matter, he'd always come up smiling.

Now that smile didn't show up at all. He only stared into the cup, as if it held all the answers to every question in the universe.

"Good morning, Mahaado." Yuugi'd never sounded like that to him either, never so clipped and restrained. "Did you have a good night?"

Polite words, sensible questions. But at the same time, Mahaado wondered why he felt as if Yuugi'd just punched him in the guts.

Wait a minute. Did Yuugi know? Had he figured out what happened the night before? It wasn't by far the first time he'd slept in Atemu's room, but nothing like what happened had ever happened before.

Yuugi's room was right across the hallway from Atemu's. They hadn't been trying to keep their voices, or the noise, down, either. Mahaado shifted, trying to think of some way to make this less awkward, and failing.

He turned his attention back to the tea. If he had tea, he could think and he would be able to figure out what to do, and what to say.

This should be Atemu's job, anyway. He would do anything for the other, but there were some things that he couldn't do. Explain about Atemu's love life was one of them, even if he was involved in that love life. Perhaps especially because he was involved in that love life.

He knew Yuugi still waited for an answer and he didn't want to not say anything at all. He chose his words with diplomatic care. "Never had one like it before."

Yuugi's hands tightened around his cup and Mahaado resolved to never again try being diplomatic before his tea. It did not work out properly.

"I didn't think you had." Yuugi didn't look up at him and Mahaado realized he didn't want to see what Yuugi looked like this morning. He could see everything he needed to in the tense set of those shoulders, the grip of those hands around the cup, the choked tones he fought hard to make sound normal.

Someone hurt him. Not physically; Mahaado knew that wouldn't happen. The last time someone tried to hurt Yuugi, they'd ended up in the mental institution. No one knew how or why, but he'd noticed a hint of a smirk from Atemu at the time, and the elder brother did have something of a protective streak to him.

Mahaado checked on his tea, trying to think of who it might've been. Jounouchi? Anzu? Honda? No, any one of them would die before they hurt Yuugi in any way. Their bond was as strong as his to Atemu's. Who else? Otogi? No, he was something of a playboy, but he didn't hurt people on purpose.

Thinking really didn't work well without tea, he reminded himself with a hint of a sigh, trying not to bother Yuugi. At least it would be ready soon. Then he could figure out what was going on and let Atemu know about it. That would put everything to rights.

Reaching into the tea bag holder, he noticed there wasn't quite as much as there'd been the last time he'd woken up here. Atemu doesn't like tea.No, Atemu was a coffee person all the way. He glanced at Yuugi curiously; for as long as he'd known the twins, he'd never thought about what Yuugi might drink to wake himself up in the morning. Did he like tea as well?

He set the bag in the hot water and let it steep for a few minutes before he took that first all important sip. His eyes closed, he took in a slow, deep breath, and let it out again. The world didn't snap into place, but it never did, not right away. The tea needed time to get into his system before he could truly think.

But he didn't need to think to recognize the scent of his favorite tea, especially coming from a cup that wasn't his. Two teacups made a stronger scent than one, after all, and a couple of sniffs verified it: Yuugi had a cup of his tea.

"I didn't know you liked Darjeeling." Mahaado wondered what else he didn't know about Yuugi. He knew that he and Atemu were twins, that Atemu, being the older twin, had been given of the traditional family names, and the names of most of Yuugi's friends.

"I know." Yuugi's voice held a faint throbbing sort of pain and Mahaado knew he had to find out what was wrong. He couldn't stand hearing him like that. He settled down at the table and stared at Yuugi, so much like his brother, only a fraction shorter, a little paler.

"Yuugi, something's wrong with you. Is there something I can help you with?" He considered for a few heartbeat. "Or can Atemu help you better here?" Atemu might be better for this. He and Yuugi understood one another on a level Mahaado couldn't begin to dream of.

Yuugi slowly shook his head, and Mahaado wondered why his eyes appeared reddish and swollen. He hadn't seen anyone look like that unless they'd been crying.

"He can't help. Neither can you." Yuugi essayed something that resembled a smile, but it cut into Mahaado almost as hard as Yuugi's own words had. Yuugi didn't want to smile. But he did it anyway. "It isn't anything you need to worry about, either of you. I'll be all right."

Mahaado didn't believe him. No one could be all right without at least talking to someone about whatever it was that bothered him.

He doesn't have to talk to me, though, he knew. Yuugi had more than enough friends that he could find a confidante among them. What worried Mahaado more than anything was if he woulddo that.

He couldn't just leave Yuugi sitting here with a cup of tea, though. Not that there was anything wrong with a cup of tea, but he wanted to talk to him, to try to figure out what it was, whether or not he could do something about it. That wasn't the point.

Maybe he could at least figure out if it did indeed have something to do with what happened with him and Atemu. He struggled for the words to put it properly.

"Should we try to work up some kind of a signal so you'll know when we're busy?" He thought that might cover matters well enough. Talking about this with someone so much like Atemu and yet not like him was harder than Maahaado'd ever thought.

"No." He'd never known Yuugi could use words like that, wielding them as skillfully as he did his deck, if not more so. One single syllable and Mahaado reconsidered talking and thought about a retreat into the bedroom, letting Atemu handle the matters he was far more suited to deal with.

He didn't, though. He sipped more of his tea, trying to get everything put together. Yuugi obviously knew what happened the night before. Something about it bothered him a great deal. So far as he knew, Yuugi hadn't dated anyone in months, not since his last relationship quietly fell apart. Mahaado'd only heard about that from Atemu; one of the Bakuras, hadn't it been? He could've told Yuugi that would fail. Then something else occurred to him; another explanation for this strangeness.

Does he think I'm going to take Atemu away from him? He would have to head that off as soon as he could. He started to open his mouth, but closed it when Yuugi shook his head.

"I said I'll be fine." He took a long sip of his cup, emptying it. "I'm not sure if I like this or not, honestly. I just wanted to know what this tastes like, that's all."

Mahaado had the strange feeling they were having two different conversations here and he couldn't figure out which one was the one he wanted to have and which one was the one they might need to have. He wished the tea would work a little faster.

"If you're sure you're all right?" That seemed the most polite and noncommittal way to phrase anything. He felt as if the answers he wanted were right under his nose, but for some reason he couldn't look down and see them. If he tried, he'd see things he didn't like or that would hurt people.

Yuugi's lips turned upward. It wanted to look like a smile and to someone else it might well have. Mahaado wasn't all that certain. He had to admit it was a good effort, though.

"I don't know." He didn't wait another moment but slipped out of the kitchen as quiet as a shadow. Mahaado watched after him, listening. He heard a door open and close a few moments later, but it wasn't the one to Yuugi's room. A quick check out the door showed the other walking down the road, head up a little, eyes fixed on something Mahaado couldn't see.

He looked down into his own cup to see it empty and sighed, pushing himself to his feet. He'd tell Atemu about this. Yuugi hadn't said not to, after all, and despite what Yuugi hadsaid, Mahaado thought perhaps Atemu could at least try to do something more than he had. He would probably figure it out faster anyway.

It wasn't that far from the kitchen to the bedroom and even as his hand fell on the knob, he could hear Atemu stirring around. He thought perhaps this morning was destined for awkwardness, even more than he'd thought might happen the night before.

I think I'll wait before I tell Atemu anything. Get it sorted out a little more. Perhaps Yuugi would come back and bring up the subject himself later.

He began to turn the knob, glancing toward Yuugi's room as he did. Slowly, inch by inch, small puzzle pieces in his mind began to fit together. Yuugi had heard them the night before. This morning, Yuugi wanting to know what his own favorite tea tasted like. Yuugi, saying neither he nor Atemu could 'fix' this.

Mahaado swallowed, even as he pushed the door open and began to step inside.

Yuugi was right. There was nothing they could do to fix this.

The End