Jack Atlas was not one for sentimentality.

Rather, he wasn't one to dwell on his past, being the kind of man that only looked at the road that spanned ahead of him. On the Fortune Wheel, he could be anyone, do anything. He loved the feeling of speeding down the track on his D-Wheel, his only thoughts on what his next move would be; everything in his life was spur-of-the-moment, fast and carefree. Those people that chose to look back, to dwell on their misfortunes or worry about others, were just slowing themselves down.

He didn't need friends. He didn't need anyone important in his life. They'd only serve to create unnecessary worry. And that would only snare him.

He needed freedom.

He needed the open road, a bright future full of promise.

However...

There was one road block. One he couldn't simply rid himself of. No matter how he thought it through, no matter how many scenarios he put himself into, he found that he was only driving around in circles, always coming back to the same place.

His home, in Domino City.

In the Satellite.

In a small garage,

Where he knew that, no matter how many times he tried to drive away,

Someone, his someone, was always waiting for him to come back.

On this particular night, he found himself staring into a cup of Blue-Eyes Mountain, his preferred coffee drink. Only, he'd been staring at it for a couple of hours now, and the waitstaff of the cafe were beginning to become worried for the man's mental health.

The first brave soul to step up was a young woman with short amber hair and a golden tag with the name 'Stephanie' engraved in the plating. She gently tapped the man's broad shoulder and leaned down to his face level.

"M-Mister Atlas, sir? C-Cafe la Green will be closing in about five minutes, s-so..."

Snapping out of his stupor, the blond-haired man grimaced. "So what? I'm still trying to enjoy my coffee, and until I'm done and have paid for it-"

"By the way sir, your bill will be worth 3000 yen."

"Put it on my tab! And don't interrupt me!"

"V-Very sorry, sir!"

Jack cleared his throat and set down his cup on it's matching saucer. "I'll finish when I'm finished. So don't bother me."

"B-But sir," the waitress stammered, pointing at the now-closed doors of the cafe dining room, "we're closing down, and you've been here for almost three hours just staring at your cup..."

Oh, that's right. Had he really been sitting there that long?

He put a hand to his forehead, resting his elbows on the table. He had been thinking about something important, right? Something heavy weighing on his mind? He probably looked like an idiot, sitting there and staring at his reflection in the brown liquid sloshing around in the creamy porceline cup.

Jack Atlas didn't like to THINK, he liked to DO. Not to say that he wasn't somewhat intelligent; he was, after all, a champion duelist, and that in itself took immense brainpower and strategic prowess.

However, while he was an amazing duelist and strategist, he was NOT so excellent a member of society. Interactions between others usually ended with yelling, or fighting, or giving the wrong impression. He was quite often referred to as 'that Jack-Ass over there in the white leather'.

Today, he had caught himself thinking much too far ahead. He'd ordered his usual cup of coffee, sat down, and was thinking about his latest match (which he had, of course, won). An announcer for a local news channel had come up to him, microphone in hand, and asked him, "What's your next move?"

He started thinking about going to other cities, battling people in other parts of Japan. And then, from there, who knew where he could go! Why, if he played his cards right (no pun intended), he could even travel the entire world!

Wait.

But if he did that...

Suddenly, he found himself doing something he rarely did before; looking back.

He'd be leaving his home, the place he'd known since he was a small child.

He'd be leaving the cafe, and the familiar streets and shops, and that warm, cozy feeling you get when everyone knows you by your first name because they've seen you every day.

He'd be leaving his companions, those annoying twins Leo and Luna, and that girl with the red hair (Akiza, right?), and even the girl with the glasses (whom he remembered to be Carly).

He'd be leaving Crow and Bruno.

He'd be leaving Yusei.

Well, when he thought of it in that light, there was nothing but a jumbled mess where his certainty used to be; on one hand, he had the open road, and the bright future, and all the fame and glory one could ask for.

On the other, he had the familiarity and security of home.

And Yusei.

No! The choice was so obvious! Jack Atlas always came first! He'd never needed friends before, right?

...

...

...right?

"Um, sir? Mister Atlas?"

Another tentative tap to the shoulder brought the D-Wheel champion back down to earth, and he rubbed his temples with a groan.

"Just... dammit... put the rest of my coffee in a lidded cup and I'll go!"

"Um, sir? Your bill?"

With a grunt, he stood up and stretched his arms. "Like I said, put it on my tab. Under 'Crow Hogan', as usual."

"Of... of course, sir."

He hadn't bothered to check the time, and really, he didn't care. He was tired, and stressed, and just wanted to get home and crash into bed like any man would after a long day.

He drove up to the doors of the motorcycle garage, shielding his eyes from the glare reflected off of the metal from his headlights. Shutting off the engine, he pulled open the doors, wincing at the loud racket they made in the quiet dusk.

As he pushed his D-Wheel, he looked around with surprise. No lights were on. No one was working on an engine, or tuning up their D-Wheel, or changing their oil. He'd at least expected that, but shockingly, the garage was completely void of life.

Jack deposited his D-Wheel on the far side of the garage, away from the doors and windows. After fumbling around in the darkness, he managed to cover his bike with a tarp (he would always complain about sun damage) and made his way to the stairs leading to the second floor.

And from there, it was only a few steps to the door of his bedroom.

With a small sigh, he opened the door to his room and quietly stepped inside.

He found his bed occupied with one sleeping Yusei, sprawled out like a child tangled in the sheets. His work desk was cluttered with Yusei's things (per usual) and the desk lamp was left lit.

Jack stepped over to the desk and reached for the lamp, ready to shut it off for the night, when the objects occupying the unruly area caught his eye.

Papers, many of them, scattered about as they usually were. That wasn't strange in the slightest. Pencils, pens, a cup of what looked like water (it was leaving a small water ring, which bothered the blond/ man to no end).

And then, pictures and postcards placed in small stacks and piles around the messy surface. Bright colors and soft scenery placed in rectangular frames all over his field of vision.

He reached down and picked up a stack of pictures, flipping through them quickly. Judging by the empty paper envelopes on the table, he had been taking pictures out of storage and looking at them. What, was he into scrap-booking now? What a pansy.

They were all pictures of other people, Jack noticed. The only pictures he himself kept were ones with him in it; he didn't value memories like some people, and whatever he kept he hid inside his desk. These pictures were of playgrounds full of children, ladies at a party, Martha from the home, some of the kids in the Satellite, anything and everyone the black-haired man had ever seen or met. And there were pictures of himself as well; with his D-Wheel, or holding up a trophy with his teammates, or with a friendly arm around the red-haired woman's waist when they attended a party for a cards tournament. Stack upon stack of everyday memories, and some not-so-everyday ones.

Then, there were some older pictures that looked faded and dusty, like they'd been hiding in an attic somewhere for many years. He was surprised to see pictures of himself and his friends when they were younger. In them they were playing cards, or sharing cup ramen, or dressed in weird costumes for the holidays like Martha had loved to make them do. Jack had been a scrappy looking kid back then, always wearing band aide's on his knees because he was always skinning them up, and gloves on his hands to hide the cuts and scrapes and blisters he got from playing outside. Yusei looked about the same as he did now, just much younger and more baby-faced. He didn't play outside as much as he read books or played cards or tinkered with the gears and screws in little toys . It was always something Jack found strange, but at the same time admired, about him.

One certain photo caught his eye, and Jack stopped flipping through the stack of faded pictures to crack a smile at the scene. It was a picture of himself, looking as wet as a drowned rat and glaring down at the ground in embarrassment, and Yusei next to him, smiling weakly and holding up an umbrella, himself wearing a bright yellow rain coat, with streaks of mud in his hair. The two of them were holding the umbrella stem together, fingers interlocked as their hands held the same place on the handle. They had been standing on the front step inside Martha's home, and she wouldn't let them in without wiping their feet and drying off first. She just happened to bring a camera before a towel, because that was just the kind of laughably cruel and overbearing caretaker she was.

It wasn't his fondest memory of his youth, but it was one he could recall as plain as day...

"Yusei's such a nerd!"

"Go play with your cards, nerd!"

"Hahaha ha ha~! "

An 8 year old Yusei looked up from his latest project, a tiny tin wobbling bird full of gears and wheels, and blinked at the small group of boys who had spoken up. They all looked to be slightly older than him (only slightly) and bigger in size. What did they want?

One of the boys, a skinny kid with a dirty blond buzz cut, sneered at him. "You're such a twig, Fudo. I bet I could break you in half with my hands if I wanted to."

His more portly friend laughed at this comment, turning to the kid. "Hehe, yeah, like a twig."

There wasn't anything remotely funny about that comment, Yusei thought. It was a threat. But a weird one, seeing as it came out of no where and he wasn't sure what he did to deserve it.

He was sitting on the second tier of a small jungle gym, in a park located not too far away from Martha's. His friends Crow and Kiiryu had drug him out saying that he looked like a piece of paper and needed more sun, and even his best friend Jack had agreed, saying that they needed another player for four square anyways. But the game had long since passed, and he'd been left to his own devices, which amounted to him crawling up the jungle gym and sitting inside a tunnel to play with his toys. Apparently, this offended someone.

"Move Fudo! This is my part of the jungle gym!"

"Yeah! It's our part so you can't be here!"

He cocked a brow, quickly glancing around the plastic tunnel. There was a basic principle at Martha's, where so many children lived and it was hard to keep up with what belonged to who; if your name wasn't on it, it wasn't yours. He had adopted the habit of initializing everything he owned, even the tags on his clothes and the backs of his cards.

His eyes traveled back to the boys and he blinked, unfazed. "Your name's not on it. I don't think it's yours."

"Stupid! That don't matter! I called it so it's mine!"

"Yeah!"

Yusei shook his head. "Nuh uh. You can't call it 'till you put your name on it. See?" He unclipped a key-chain sharpie marker from his belt loop, uncapped it, and made a quick scribble on the yellow wall of the tunnel. Y.F.

"Now it's mine."

From across the playground, sitting on top of a set of climbing bars, Jack could hear a shrill whine and the sounds of boys yelling something and stomping on the metal frame of the jungle gym. He stopped his own conversation to search for what was going on.

"Eh? You guys hear that?"

The other boys stopped for a second to listen, and after meeting nothing but silence looked at each other and shook their heads, shrugging and brushing off the occurrence as someone playing a game.

Still, the sound had bothered him, so Jack looked around the bordered playground with a face as stern as one can manage at age 8. His violet eyes caught a small group of boys who all looked like they were trying to fit through one tunnel at the same time, and he scoffed. He wasn't a genius, but he was at least smart enough to know that the tunnel couldn't fit more than one person at a time. He hated stupid people.

His thoughts halted abruptly when the boys moved, and he saw that they hadn't been trying to fit in; rather, they had been trying to pull someone out. They had handfuls of Yusei's jacket in their hands, and the smaller child in question was trying to squirm out of their hold, which earned him a kick to the stomach.

Jack glared, gritting his teeth as if he could feel the force of the kick in his own abdomen; Yusei was his best friend, someone he considered a brother. He was fiercely protective of the little black-haired boy, even though he treated him as brusquely as he did anyone else. He wouldn't stand for anyone laying a hand (or foot) on him.

Before he could climb down from the climbing bars and make his way over, the boys had kicked Yusei a few more times and, to seal the deal, pushed him off the jungle gym and into the mud. He landed on the rain-whetted ground with a stomach-churning 'smack'.

Jack stopped halfway to the stairs, shocked. Yusei picked himself up out of the dirt, rubbing his face clean. Even from a few feet away, he could see the beginnings of tears at the corners of Yusei's eyes.

Something flared up in Jack's chest, and his hands balled up his fists. These guys were DEAD.

"I'll KILL YOU!"

The boys only had time to turn before Jack was on them, swinging his fists at anything that looked like a person. His first punch landed on the skinny boy's eye and knocked him backwards into the stairs. His bigger friend joined the fight and tackled Jack with his full body weight, knocking the breath out of him, but he still swung out and hit the boy on the side of the head, making him scream and wriggle off of him. He got up and put his fists in the air, ready for the next person; he was tripped by the skinny boy's hand at his ankle, and stumbled to the edge of the edge of the jungle gym. Just before falling off, he grabbed the boy and brought him closer, twisting his tiny body as they fell so that he landed on the boy's chest.

By this time, they had attracted a fair amount of attention from the other boys on the playground, and some girls who had been playing with marbles and swinging on the swings and talking about little boys like little girls did. A wide circle formed around them, with the boys cheering him on, and the girls crying out that they were being stupid and needed to stop.

The skinny boy reached up to grab at Jack's hair, but he didn't give him the time; he quickly straddled the boy's waist and started to lay punch after punch against his face. The boy kept yanking at his blond hair and scratching at his face until he finally gave up and started to cry out.

"Quit! Quit it Atlas! Waaa-aaaaaaah!"

Someone grabbed at him from behind with four pairs of small hands, and he whirled around to give them what-for before he saw who it was. He was pulled away from the fight by his foster brothers, who held him back with serious expressions.

"Jack! Stop it! You're gonna hurt that guy!"

"Let me go! You didn't see! You didn't see what they did...!"

"But look what YOU did, Jack! You beat him up!"

Taking a deep breath, Jack glanced up at the damage done; the boy he'd been wailing on was sitting up, crying and covered in mud, with a little stream of red trickling out of his nose. A couple of bystanders were giggling, or worried, or looking scared themselves.

"J-Jack... you didn't have to do that..."

Jack's eyes widened as Yusei shuffled into his line of sight, holding his toy bird to his chest. His face reflected sadness and worry, but not for himself.

Why was he... reprimanding him?

Jack glared at the boy, jolting out of his friends' grasps. "Well, maybe I wouldn't have to protect your stupid face if you were strong enough to protect yourself! Did you think about that?! Like I enjoy beating people up for you!"

He felt hurt that Yusei would be upset at him, for PROTECTING him! If he had such a problem with it, why didn't he do it himself?! Why couldn't he just stand up for himself instead being pushed around by stupid jerkwads? Why was it a bad thing that he had stood up for him!?

His anger clouded his head, and he shouted out whatever came to him. "You're so stupid and weak! That's why you're always getting picked on! You know what, I won't protect you anymore! Are you happy now?"

Giving the ground a kick, he squeezed his eyes shut and just started running. He didn't care where, he just wanted to be away.

Pretty soon, the sounds of the playground started to fade away, and it only took about a minute before he couldn't hear the people calling his name. He just kept running and running until he felt pavement instead of dirt under his feet, and even then he kept on going.

He ran until everything turned quiet around him, and only then did he let himself stop and catch his breath. The place he was at looked completely unfamiliar to him, though it looked like what most of the Satellite consisted of, abandoned buildings and poorly-lit streets. To make matters even worse, he heard a clap of thunder, and looked up to see the sky darkening with thick rain clouds.

"What? No way. That's so cliche'."

He sighed, pulling up his hoodie over his bright blonde hair. This officially sucked.

He stuck his hands in his pockets and walked down the unfamiliar streets, keeping his eyes peeled for anything that he would be able to recognize. There was nothing and no one out here, save for a couple of starving kids rifling through trash here and there. The atmosphere made him uneasy; he knew what living like a rat felt like, and at this point it was so above his pride that he would rather be dead than be a scavenger again.

Fighting came as naturally to him as breathing; if you didn't put up a fight, you would get buried beneath everyone and everything like the trash. He learned this just from life experience; he'd had to fight for food on occasion, fight for his own survival. Now all he really did was fight against the things that threatened to push him down deeper. He wanted to surface; he wanted to shine.

The air became heavy as rain slowly started to fall, and his head steadily became clearer as he walked. Despite his instinct, he had been a little in the wrong this time around, he knew that. He was just trying to protect his own, but he took it too far. Still, Yusei didn't have to look so... so...

Disappointed.

Sighing, Jack shuffled over to a wall behind a lamppost and sat down in the concrete, stretching out his legs. It was starting to get dark now, and walking around aimlessly wouldn't make things easier for him.

He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall.

You're my best friend, Jack! You're the only one I can really call my brother~

He grimaced as Yusei flashed across his mind. He'd really made him sad today.

Jack~! Let's be brother's forever, okay? Don't forget!

He supposed he would have to apologize to him, at some point. But still...

I love ya, Jack~!

He didn't regret wanting to protect him with everything he had.

He lost track of how much time he spent just sitting there, letting the rain soak into his clothes. Eventually, he felt himself nodding off.

"...Jack?"

His eyes shot open as he felt the rain stop pelting him, and the light from the street grow dim. It was much, much darker now, pitch black night, and the only light there was came from the single street lamp in front of him. It was currently being blocked by a small black haired boy and his dark blue umbrella.

The boy smiled, his eyes softening. "Ha, you're awake. You scared me!"

"...Yusei? What are you..."

Yusei shook his head, holding the umbrella over Jack and letting rain slip over his mud-caked hair and bright yellow rain jacket. "You ran really far away. Martha was scared that you weren't coming back. An' so was I, kinda."

He shuffled his feet sheepishly, sloshing the dirty water around with his little boots. "It's cold out here. Let's go home."

He held out his hand, which Jack reluctantly took. Had the boy been looking for him all this time?

"I don't get it. How did you find me?"

"Um, um, I went to Martha's house after you left and waited, 'cuz she said, she'd look, but she couldn't find you and it was getting dark. She told me not 'ta go anywhere, but I was scared that you were lost so I went and looked for you. And you're here, so I found you."

Yusei gave him a crooked smile. "I'm really good at it."

The walk home, Jack offered to hold the umbrella because Yusei's boots were heavy and kept making him stumble. He settled for putting his hand over Yusei's on the stem to keep him on balance.

"Stupid..."

"Hm... hey, Jack?"

"Eh?"

"Thank you for helping me today. You beat up those guys who kicked me."

"Mmm..."

"You're the best, Jack~ I love ya~!"

"...I-Idiot, cut it out! You sound like a girl when you say stuff like that! And another thing, you should get stronger so you can stand up for yourself!"

"Heehee, okay..."

"Do- don't laugh! I'm serious!"

Jack scowled, kicking his feet sheepishly. What a stupid kid...

"...I love ya too, stupid."

"Hnnn~? Jack~?"

The blond man snapped out of his memory with a jolt, dropping the pictures onto the desk in surprise. A pair of warm, bare arms wrapped around his torso.

"It's late... what the hell?" the assailant mumbled sleepily, leaning his chin against Jack's shoulder blades.

"Are you kidding? It's only like 11, why were you asleep?" he countered, pulling the arms away from him so that he could turn to face the other man.

He met with one yawning Yusei, in his tank top and sweat pants. The rave-haired man slumped against Jack's chest, closing his eyes.

"You smell like expensive coffee, so I woke up. What have you been doing all day?" he whined. Jack sighed, peeling off his riding gloves and settling a hand in the duel champion's messy hair.

"I had an interview with a sponsor from the tournament; he wanted to make an appointment for a commercial. And I stopped for some coffee at the cafe."

"...Crow's gonna be pissed if you put it on his tab again."

"Like I care."

The man laughed breathily against Jack's leather coat, tapering off and ending with a soft sigh.

"If you're done, then come to bed, stupid. It's a rest day."

Jack scoffed, pushing the sleepy man off of his chest and gently shoving him onto the covers of the bed. "That's my nickname for you, don't use it all willy-nilly."

Yusei snorted. "Pfffff I can't believe you just said willy nilly. Gaaaaaaaay."

"Like you have the right to talk."

"Oi, I already told you, I'm not into guys. It's not a guy thing or a girl thing."

Yusei twisted onto his side, watching Jack shed his coat with heavy eyelids. "I don't 'like' guys. I just like you. That's all."

Jack sighed, watching the man wriggle around until he could pull the covers over his head. "Idiot..."

You act like I don't feel the same way.

He couldn't remember when he stopped seeing Yusei as just a best friend; all he knew was how he saw him now. He loved the cool-headed duel champion. No matter how derogatorily they spoke or how kiddish they acted, they both knew what it really was.

Shedding his shirt and belt, he finally crawled into bed and sunk into the pillows. As he closed his eyes and let out a sigh of comfort, he felt a soft breath on his face.

"Heh. Love you, Jack..."

Jack Atlas wasn't one to dwell upon his past or get hung up on relationships. He didn't need friends, he didn't need people. That was what he'd always thought. But when it came to Yusei...

He opened his eyes ever so slightly and watched his partner slip into unconsciousness, his face looking more peaceful than usual. He couldn't help but think that the man was beautiful, even, when he let his guard down.

It only took one look for him to come to the conclusion that whatever road he did decide to travel, Yusei would be on it.

"Che... love you too, stupid..."