Okey doke, everyone, we might as well get the mandatory bits over with so we can get at the story, ne? Hope you enjoy this. It came to me as my mom left for her 25th high school reunion, and from listening to John Meyor's No Such Thing. Sorry if some of the characters are a little OOC, but they are supposed to be older. Here we go!

Disclaimer: I don't even own the Yugi in Yu-Gi-Oh. ~sniff~

As if you nice people couldn't figure this out  ^_^:

/Yugi's mind speech/

//Yami's mind speech//

'Yami and Yugi talking in their soul rooms'.

Chapter 1--What's with the Hair? And No Buckles, travesty!

"Yugi!"

The man turned at his name and smiled welcomingly as another person approached him. He'd met at least sixty people just in the last ten minutes. He'd known them all, more or less, during his high school years. A crystalline wine glass held lightly between his fingers, he waited for the woman to struggle through the crowd toward him, contemplating her face. She didn't look familiar, but few people here did. Joey he had kept in touch with, and Tristan lived only a few hours away, so those were people he was happy to see. Yugi continually ran into Bakura, once every couple of months. He had lost track of Tea as she moved around with her ballet troupe, only checking occasionally to see where she was this month. Paris, Singapore, New York, it was anybody's guess as to where her next (infrequent) post card would come from. Seto Kaiba's picture continually appeared on dozens of different computer magazines. But most people he had to ask for names.

Everyone had changed a lot in the intervening years. Even relative constants like hairstyles had been tamed down or dyed, leaving a wash of people Yugi didn't know. It had been twenty-five years, after all. These people weren't teenagers anymore.

Yugi was one of the only people who hadn't changed significantly. His hair was shorter, flatter, but he still retained the distinctive three colors—blonde bangs and red and black hair. He wore a suit today. The complete absence of any sort of buckle shocked some of the old people he used to know. Fortunately, or not so much, he still remained at the not-so-towering stature of four feet nine inches. A lot of the ex-students, faced with a massive crowd of adults with normal hair colors, leapt at the first person they could recognize. A lot of the time, he was it.

            "Yugi Motou," the woman said warmly. She boasted a flattering blue sundress that draped her figure and shoulder-length chestnut hair, bound nicely into a bun. Yugi desperately scrambled for a name, any name, any girl he had known that could turn into this pleasant-looking forty year old woman. "How have you been?"

            "Uh, quite fine." Yugi confirmed. He floundered another minute before succumbing. "You've changed so much that I don't recognize you."

            "It's Miho Nozaka, Yugi!" she laughed, not the least bit put out. "I suppose I do look a bit different."

            "Miho! I haven't talked to you in years. You look really nice." Yugi said happily.  He discreetly scrutinized Miho's hair. Hadn't it been purple back in high school? Maybe he had been mistaken. "We didn't see each other after college, did we?"

            "No, not really." Miho self-consciously tucked her hair behind her ear. "Did you go on as a teacher?"

            "Yeah, I've been teaching grade school." Yugi twirled his wine glass between his fingers. "Are you still in Biology?"

            "No," Miho shrugged. "I was in the field for a couple years, but I went back to school to get my decree in kinesiology. Now I'm a physiotherapist."

            "Wow." Yugi oohed. "Are you and, uh, Naizu still together?"

            "No, we broke it off. I met Ryan overseas when I was thirty. He's around here somewhere." Miho scanned the crowd. "Oh well. We got married and now we have twin boys."

            "Congratulations!" Yugi said enthusiastically. "How old are they now?"

            "Eleven," Miho said proudly, and fished a picture of them from her purse. Two round-faced, grinning boys with blonde hair posed together. "How about you? Did you make some lucky woman a Mrs. Yugi Motou?"

            "No, not yet, I'm afraid." Yugi said solemnly. "Heigh ho, it's the bachelor's life for me."

            "Well, those girls don't know what they're missing," Miho winked demurely at him. Yugi blinked and felt a bit of heat rise to his cheeks. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I'm going to go and make sure my husband isn't schmoozing with any of the other fine looking ladies around here."

            "Nice seeing you again," Yugi responded pleasantly. She's married, he scolded himself. She wasn't flirting with you!

            "Me too. We should keep in touch." As Miho began to turn away, she snapped her fingers and turned back to the short man. "Tea was around here somewhere, looking for you. Last I saw she was talking with Tristan Taylor and a load of other people. Maybe she's still there?"

            "Thanks. I'll go look for her." Yugi waved a little and then turned in a full circle, cursing his height for the umpteenth time. He couldn't even pick out Tristan, who towered over most other people here. Ah well. Short people lived longer.

            Twenty-five years had passed, Yugi mused as he plunged into the crowd, acknowledging occasional salutations with a smile and a wave. It wasn't that high school had been such a pleasant experience for him, other than making his lifelong friends and getting the Millennium Puzzle. He had been continually frightened, of being picked on, of failing, of losing his friends and family. Gods knew that, more often than not, his studies were the thing he least concentrated on. It was about the games and the friends back then, and schoolwork was extremely low priority. College had been a cold shock, but teaching was a snap. Yugi loved working with small children, playing with them, talking with them, teaching them the essentials. They liked to identify with him, with his eternally optimistic view of the world and easygoing nature. Besides, the tallest of them were at his eye-level.

            He couldn't see Tristan, but he came across Tea fairly quickly. Hanging on the arm of her lean but muscular husband, she was the center of attention of at least a dozen people. Tristan was not among them. Of all the people in their graduating class, only a few had become famous. Tea the dancer was among the chosen few. Although her face was lined with graceful descent into middle age, she had the body of a twenty-five year old and wore a dress to emphasize those contours. Yugi stopped at the edge of the crowd, feeling a bit out of place. Tea told a story about how she and, uh, Antoine had gotten engaged. In the city of love, on top of the Eiffel Tower, they had practiced their newest dance together. Antoine had fallen on his knees and professed his undying love to her, and of course she loved him with the same passion.

            Maybe later, Yugi decided, staring at his childhood friend and her 'soul mate'. When she wasn't acting and putting on a fake French accent.

            "Hey Yug!" A firm hand grasped Yugi's shoulder. "Long time no see! How're you doing?"

            Yugi broke into a happy grin and whirled to face Joey and Tristan. "Hey guys! How's it going?"

            "We just broke away from the Pirouette Posse," Joey jerked his head at Tea, who was describing the newest dance she and Antoine were performing. "Tea's changed a lot."

            "I see that." Yugi seriously regarded his oldest friend and turned away from her. "Anyway, how have you guys been? It's been, what, a year or so?"

            "Must be at least that," Tristan nodded. "I haven't seen you since I last came to Domino."

            "Is your wife here?" Yugi looked around but couldn't see her. Of course.

            "Yeah, Leia's over by the podium, trying to expand her contacts." Tristan rolled his eyes fondly. "She's talking with Mai."

            "You wouldn't believe how many times someone has suggested a new fashion to Mai-chan," Joey commented tolerantly. "She's had to come talk to us—us!— to vent already about three times. Just tonight, there's been about thirty suggestions to bring back the stripes."

            "It's just because everyone has these ugly stripe-patterned jackets in their closets that cost 'em a hundred and fifty bucks and they'll never be able to wear them again." Tristan nudged his friend knowingly.

            "Well, I don't see how it's my fault." Joey led them towards the drinks table. Yugi still had his wineglass in hand, but followed anyway. "I wear stripes once, once, to one of Mai's glam-scams, and all of a sudden it's everywhere."

            "Mai was horrified, wasn't she?" Yugi recalled with a smile.

            "For about the first five minutes, she reamed me out," Joey rubbed his cheek abashedly. "But then she started designing the fall wardrobe and completely forgot about me."

            Yugi laughed with Tristan. Joey picked up one of the cups filled with (cough cough) fruit juice and sipped at it. He wasn't trying to make a fashion statement today, in a plain suit and typically Joey tie (today it was red elephants on a black and blue background), but when one's wife owned Vogue, you dressed sharply. The ties were the only thing that Mai let Joey run wild with. Her children were just as neatly dressed, with a sixteen-year-old girl who showed signs of her mother's early fixation on corsets and a young boy who seemed to have absorbed his father's manners or lack thereof.

            Tristan's situation was a bit different. With his wife as co-president, the Taylor's ran a small advertising company in Tokyo. They were well off, with one older boy who was just about to graduate from high school. His family stopped in on Yugi quite often (Nate still called him 'Uncle Yugi').

            "How's everything?" Joey asked his distant friend. Yugi smiled up at Joey cheerfully. "Sorry I haven't been out here in a long time. Mai's sort of finicky about traveling and Chelsea and Garin have school."

            "I understand, Joey," Yugi assured him. "I know you come whenever you can. Everything's good with me."

            "I'm sorry about your Grandpa," Joey murmured softly, placing his hand on Yugi's shoulder. The wide violet eyes dimmed a bit in remembered pain, but he still smiled bravely. Solomon Motou had passed away a matter of months before, after battling leukemia for three years.

            "That's all right. It was his time," Yugi responded softly. Although the tears did not fall, his eyes were shinier than usual. After a few seconds, he blinked them away. "How are your kids doing?"

            "Fantastic! I can't get Chelsea to listen to me, though," Joey grimaced a little. "She's a teenager, all right."

            The words sounded funny coming from his friend's mouth. Over the years, Joey had learned a few things. Being married to Mai had changed him a lot in some ways. He was less (less) arrogant, more respectful and patient. Although, Yugi mused, he didn't quite know how that had come about from Mai. Tristan too remained steadfast to his loved ones, becoming a doting father and husband to match his devotion to his friends.

            Yugi talked and laughed for quite a while with his old buddies, catching up on years past a reminiscing on old times. What had once been terrifying became lighthearted. Nobody was in the mood for deep conversations just yet, so they talked about the way they used to duel ("I am not a dog!"), about people they used to know, and about mysteries they had never solved. Eventually the time came for supper and they sat down at their table, still talking jovially with one another. Bakura still had not shown up, to everyone's disappointment, but they didn't let that get in the way of catching up.

            Mai and Leia joined them, still talking avidly with one another. Both were expert at small-talk with people they had nothing in common with, but for once this seemed genuine. They discussed, of all things, politics. Mai didn't even pause in her vocalizations to greet Yugi, but gave him a little smile and a wave. Leia barely noticed they had sat at all, her sparkling brown eyes lighting up with the challenge of the debate. Her hair was black as pitch, taking in all the light from the overhead lamps greedily. Convoluted silver earrings were stark against her dark skin, and a diamond glittered from the fourth finger of her left hand. Tristan watched her talk with a fond smile tugging across his lips. Yes, he had met his match in Leia. He drank in her every move, smile and word.

            Joey, on the other hand, retained his old habit of shoving as much food as possible down his gullet, only now he did it politely. Knives and forks were properly used, he politely sat up straight and dabbed his lips occasionally with the cloth napkin. But there was no need for chewing in Joey's world. He handled the knife like a samurai, slashing apart his meat into small, swallowable pieces. Mai completely ignored him. He completely ignored Mai. Yugi supposed they showed their affection in private, since Joey had shown all signs of being perfectly happily married.

            Ah, yes, the gang was all here. Yugi felt a sense of happiness permeating his soul. All except Tea, who had taken her clique to a nearby table, and Bakura, whose presence was noticeable, they were complete, they were a group again. Just like old times.

            Yugi's mind stirred a little, like waves lapping at the side of a pond. He could feel the hint of a smile, the presence of another standing behind his right shoulder, taking in the warm surroundings. The man wanted to turn to face his darkness, but it was not here in the physical world. He would have to go inside himself to face the other half of his soul.

            The hikari moved his eyes to his plate and let them relax. Once he wasn't focusing on anything, he saw the inside of his soul room. It was bright and cheery, no longer strewn with toys and books but his all the same. The door was a bit ajar so his yami could see in. Yugi walked over to it and increased the size of the gap. Sure enough, Yami Yugi waited on the other side.

            'You can come in whenever you want, you know,' Yugi told him with amusement. 'You don't have to wait for me.'

            'I know,' Yami Yugi threw his smile at his lighter half. He was still taller than Yugi by nearly a full head, but his haircut was the same (minus the blonde streaks). He relaxed today in a sleeveless shirt and loose pair of pants, both in blue-black. Both hikari and yami had aged together, gaining a few lines in their faces but not much else. 'But I didn't want to disturb you.'

            'You never do,' Yugi left the door open and cocked his head up at the taller man.

            'What about when you're reading stories to your kids and I tell you we need eggs?'

            'That's different,' Yugi protested.

            'Tea's changed, hasn't she?' Yami gestured upwards and outwards, changing the subject.

            'Yeah, she has,' Yugi cast a sad look out that way. 'But we haven't really been close these past few years.'

            "YUGI!"

            'Hang around, if you like,' Yugi invited Yami as he prepared to go out into the world again. His darker half nodded and sat on the bed, drawing his legs up in an athletic tailor's position.

            "I was waiting for that to happen," Joey said smugly as Yugi swiveled his head to look at him. The blonde had paused in his eating and now wiped his mouth with his napkin. "How's ol' Yami bearing up these days?"

            "Good, good," His friend nodded. Joey set down his knife, albeit reluctantly. Yugi continued, "He's running the Game Shop while I teach."

            "He must be happy with that."

            "He was thrilled when Grandpa gave the place to him," Yugi smiled, remembering Yami's incredulous, awed reaction. "It suits him perfectly, you know?"

            "Yeah, that's the Yami I know." Joey confirmed. He looked expectantly over Yugi's outfit. "So, where is it?"

            "What? Oh, the Puzzle?" Yugi gave Joey a little grin and retrieved it from his breast pocket. He had some trouble figuring out where to stick it, since it looked strange in his pants pocket (Yami had made an extremely lewd comment). If he didn't do up his jacket, it was barely noticeable. The brown string had long since been replaced with a metallic chain. It remained the same after all these years, the upside-down pyramid with the engraved eye of Horus. "I didn't think it was appropriate to wear to a formal occasion."

            //Hey!// Yami protested.

            "Well, it's true," Yugi said aloud for the others' benefit. He glanced again at the glistening golden puzzle and stowed it away in his pocket.

            "Does Yami want to join us? I'm sure we could dig up an extra chair around here somewhere," Tristan glanced around. There were a few people who had not shown up, and others were hauling away their chairs now. He glanced at Yugi questioningly, ready to get up.

            /Well?/

            //I don't know…//

            "Is he dressed for the occasion?" Joey snorted. "Or is he still hanging on to the buckles and the school uniform?"

            "I'm not," Yami began, appearing suddenly and making the whole table jump, "Going to stand idly by and have my sense of fashion mocked. Where's that chair?"

            He motioned for Tristan to sit down and went off to find another chair. Joey grinned at Yugi. Yami had been wearing the same thing Yugi was, as he always did when he materialized. His casual clothes would not have gone over well in the black-tie event.

            Yugi quirked his lips a little to himself. Yami had been wearing a neck belt in his soul room.

            "I see he's still expert at those poltergeist-type entrances."

            Yugi nodded. "Good job at getting him out. He would have moped all night if you didn't challenge his dignity."

            //Hah!//

            Joey grinned. "So I still got the touch? Fantastic."

            "Have the touch, J-chan," Mai corrected, barely breathing as she switched conversations in an eye blink. In the next beat, Yami was back with his chair and Mai was talking to Leia as if she'd never been interrupted. Yugi was barely certain Joey's wife had said anything to them. Tristan and Joey moved over so Yami could fit in the crowded table.

            "Long time no see, Yami," Joey said jovially. "How's tricks?"

            "It has been a long time," Yami admitted. He sank down into the upholstered chair. "As Yugi said, I'm 'bearing up'."

            Joey raised his eyebrows at the challenge to his speech patterns, but was interrupted by the valedictorian tapping the microphone and saying "Hello?" into it repeatedly. Only Tristan and Yugi saw Joey and Yami make identical expressions of disgust as the speeches began. Joey slumped into his seat as people he never wanted to hear talk to him ever again told them how wonderful it was to see how they've grown up. Yami, on his part, was put out that he had chosen to appear at this part of the night.

            //There is no way I'm listening to these people talk for hours,// he growled to Yugi.

            "No way," Yugi said firmly to him. If he said it out loud then Yami wouldn't be able to retreat without losing face. "If we have to sit through this, so do you."

            "I was barely in high school," Yami whispered fiercely. "I slept through most of it."

            "So did I, and I have listen to this." Joey retorted.

            "Is that a challenge, Joey Wheeler?" Yami smiled thoughtfully.

            "Well, if it'll keep you out, yeah." Joey smirked. "Betcha you can't make it through the speeches without talking to anyone." As Yami began his trademark return smirk, Joey added, "And that includes that Vulcan mind meld that you and Yugi do."

            The darker half of Yugi's soul let his smirk fade somewhat, but brought it back in a moment with a vengeance. Yugi thought it amusing that Yami actually understood the Star Trek reference. Then again, the lighter half mused, there wasn't a lot on daytime TV, and the shop was slow until the kids got out of school. Yami nodded. "Deal. And if you lose…"

            "He'll bark at Kaiba," Tristan finished quickly. Yugi and Yami shot him near-identical grins of approval. Joey huffed for a few minutes, not eager to bring the 'dog' nickname back into Seto Kaiba's memory.

            "All right. But if I win, I get to make Yami do any one thing I want." Joey inserted triumphantly. He glanced at Yugi. "You'll tell us…?"

            "Of course." Yugi grinned at his other half. Yami mock-scowled back at his hikari's apparent betrayal, but winked a second later.

            //No problem,// he told Yugi confidently. //Wheeler's as good as canine-ized.//

            "That's the last thought until the speeches are done." Joey correctly interpreted their mutual instant of blankness. He glanced at his watch "Starting… now."

            Yami instantly turned back to the podium, composing his face into a mask of attentiveness. Yugi chuckled and leaned over to Tristan.

            "Ten bucks says he can't do it," Yugi murmured in his old friend's ear.

            "I'll take you up on that," Tristan said with a broad grin. "He looks determined."

            "Deal."

            "Deal."

            They discretely shook hands and reclined in their chairs, keeping one eye on Yami and the other on their graduating year's valedictorian.

            Mai and Leia talked on.

There's the end of Chapter 1, people! Look excited, I actually started a fanfic! And for all those people that are wondering where Bakura and Seto are (I actually have to think about what I'm going to do with Bakura… oops!), I have plans to include both of them later. Please be super nice and review, or else Guybrush Threepwood (TaliaAlidoesnotownMonkeyIsland) will hold his breath for ten minutes and pass out (purple is sooo not his color). Next chapter: The result of Yami's challenge. Will Joey have to bark at Kaiba, or will Yami have to do something… unmentionable??

Press the pretty little button and review!