Queer As Tachi – Chapter 44
Yugi hunted around the room for something to fill with water, noticing that while they were out, the maid had indeed come to clean the room and make the bed. Yami folded his arms sternly. “Yugi, that was rather rude of you.”
Though his back was to Yami, the pharaoh could see his young love’s regret in the way his shoulders sagged defeatedly. “I know,” he said softly. “But what else was I going to do? Rebecca has a huge crush on me, she always has. I didn’t know how else to let her down, except to just make it clear once and for all.”
Yami came over to him and set a hand on his shoulder. “Yes, but she’s also your friend. You should consider her feelings.”
“I haven’t even seen her since before I graduated high school,” Yugi complained, turning to look over his shoulder at his partner. “For all I know she’s forgotten completely about me. But I don’t want her clinging to me, it’s not fair to you. I saw her running towards me and I just…reacted.”
Yami just rubbed his shoulder in comfort. “I can see that. Hm. I didn’t realize you were so possessive of me.”
Yugi picked up a glass that was sitting by the ice bucket and set the flowers in it, figuring it was the best he could do for now. They hung over the sides awkwardly, but there was nothing else to use. “I don’t want anything coming between us, Yami,” he murmured quietly. “I don’t mean to be that way, but I love you so much and the thought of anyone or anything trying to take me away from you…” He shook his head. “I’m sorry. I’ll apologize to her tonight, when we see her again. I didn’t mean to hurt her, really.”
The pharaoh gave his shoulder one more squeeze and let him go, so he could go fill the glass with water. “Do you need anything before we go down to see Marik?”
“No,” Yugi responded from the bathroom. “I’m ready when you are. This is all I had to do.”
When they stepped back into the hall, Rebecca had gone back to her room and Mai and Joey were talking across the hall at each other. Mai wished them a good time and closed the door behind her, leaving Joey to lead the way to Marik’s room. Being a mere qualifying duelist, he was staying on a lower floor, but he had already checked in when Joey found him and was able to give him the room number. The three of them crowded eagerly around the door as Yugi knocked, and didn’t have to wait long for Marik to answer. His face lit up joyfully when he saw his visitors. “Yugi! Pharaoh!”
Yugi laughed and pounced on him, hugging him fiercely. Marik hugged him back, and then reached a more polite hand to Yami. The pharaoh clasped it, but then drew Marik to him for a quick, friendly hug. Joey just stood aside and waved. “I had no idea you’d be here!” Yugi exclaimed. “Congratulations!”
“Thanks,” Marik said modestly. “Come on in. I was just looking at the information on the tournament that they gave us.”
The three young men followed him inside, glancing around to see just how much smaller the rooms for the qualifiers were compared to their own. Marik surely didn’t need anything big and fancy, though, his one small bag sat on the bed unopened. Between the small table and the desk there were enough chairs for all of them, so everybody flopped into a seat, already full of questions for each other. “How did you get into the tournament?” Yugi wanted to know. “I didn’t think they’d have a regional or national round in Egypt.”
“They didn’t,” Marik said, kicking back in his chair. He looked as lean and lovely as ever, his straw-blond hair bleached by the sun standing out like gold against his tanned skin. He wore a lot less jewelry than usual, just gold loops in his ears and a small ankh pendant on a gold chain against his black shirt. “Pegasus set up a global qualification bracket, for duelists like me who didn’t have the privilege of living in a country with national finals. You had to sign up for the wireless dueling system that KaibaCorp just put out, but it meant you could duel against people from all over the world without having to go anywhere. As soon as I heard about it, I signed up right away. After all, I knew about the tournament already – I knew it was the only way I was going to get to see you guys and duel against you again.”
“That’s so cool!” Yugi said. “Where did you place? Did they only take a certain number of online qualifiers?”
“I don’t know, I think the top five,” Marik said thoughtfully, and then grinned. “I was the top qualifier, I didn’t care who else got in.”
“Very nice,” Yami complimented.
“Way to kick some international butt,” Joey added.
Marik sheepishly ruffled a hand in his hair. “It seems my dueling skills haven’t gone rusty after all.”
“And now you’re here. This is totally awesome!” Yugi beamed at him. “We can finally duel each other without the fate of the world or our souls on the line.”
“Yes, I’m kind of hoping it turns out that way.” He shifted a contrite smile toward Joey. “Or maybe Joey and I will get to have a real duel, at last, that doesn’t involve the shadow realm.”
“I’ll take you on anytime, Marik,” Joey promised, giving him a thumbs-up.
They talked for a little while about the tournament, and about what they had been doing since Marik left Japan. He had some passing knowledge of the conclusion to the fiasco with the Millennium Items, but not the full details, and eagerly listened to Yugi tell the story of the fight in the high-rise hotel. At least they were all safe, Yugi pointed out, and no one was after them either for their artifacts or their secrets. Marik grew serious and thoughtful as he listened. “And the Rod, and the Necklace,” he wondered. “They’re still safe?”
“Yep. Nothing happened to them.” Yugi worriedly clasped his hands in his lap. “It’s a lot harder keeping track of three Items. The Puzzle is special, since I always have it with me, but trying to keep the Rod and the Necklace safe without telling too many people where I’m keeping them isn’t so easy. It’s in my nature to love and trust my friends, I don’t like keeping secrets from them.”
“It’s for the best,” Marik said encouragingly. “You’ve seen what happens when your friends know too much about the Millennium Items.”
“It’s okay, Yug,” Joey added. “This is one secret I don’t mind you keeping from me, not one bit.” He gave Marik a wry sort of smile. “Keeps people out of my head, for one.”
Marik shifted his gaze to the pharaoh. “And how are you doing?”
Yami smiled warmly. “Quite well. Yugi and I are having a little vacation thanks to this tournament.”
“Oh? I’d bet.” Marik glanced back and forth between them. “Actually, Yami, I was wondering if I could speak with you for a moment? Privately.”
Yugi sat up sharply. “What? What for?”
Marik held up a cautioning hand. “Nothing bad, don’t worry. It’s just, I was sent with a message for the pharaoh, and charged with telling him alone.”
Yami laid a hand on Yugi’s and squeezed it for assurance. “Is it from Shadi?”
Marik nodded. “What Yami says to you is none of my business, Yugi, I’m pretty sure he’ll tell you everything anyway. I just want to do as Shadi asked.”
“It’s all right, Yugi,” the pharaoh said, getting up from his chair. “It’s not like I can keep anything from you once I return to the Puzzle and our minds bond again.”
“Okay,” Yugi said reluctantly. “Go ahead.”
Marik rose and directed the pharaoh to follow him to his balcony, where they could slip outside and talk while still being in plain view of Yugi and Joey. The noise from the street below invaded the quiet hotel room as they slid the door open and stepped out into the wind and the heat of the day. One could definitely hear more of the traffic and mayhem below from here, as opposed to the balcony higher up that Yugi and Yami enjoyed. Marik leaned on the railing and looked out at the cityscape. “Shadi knew that I would be seeing you when I came here,” he began. “He asked me to pass along a few messages to you, something I gather you asked him about some time ago. It’s not that the answers are meant to be kept from Yugi, it’s just…you asked him about it in private, so he thought you should be given the message privately so you could choose just how to share it with Yugi, yourself.”
“I appreciate it,” Yami nodded, leaning beside him. “Do you know what these messages are about?”
Marik looked serious as he shook his head slowly. “I don’t understand them, they mean little to me. I’m just the messenger. I’m guessing you’ll understand them fully.”
“Yes, I’m sure. What is it?”
“Only this.” Marik turned to face him, his blue eyes serious but not grave. “Shadi says he’s researched the embodiment ritual fully, he has uncovered everything written about it. But there is nothing contained in those writings at all that explains the effects of the ritual, or what would happen over time.” He saw Yami’s shoulders sink a little, though his expression remained unchanged, and couldn’t help but wonder about the rest of his message as he delivered it. “The reason is, whoever authored the magic spell and wrote it down – perhaps you yourself – had never performed it. It was prepared for your use, should you need it someday, but until your spirit reawakened, no one in five thousand years ever had a chance to try it out. It was a completely untested ritual…until you and Yugi began to use it. In short, Shadi’s message is, ‘anything is possible.’” He gazed sympathetically at the pharaoh, who had lowered his eyes. “I take it this isn’t the news you wanted to hear.”
“It’s not that.” Yami kept his eyes cast down as he explained. “Unfortunately, it’s a non-answer. It doesn’t help me either way with decisions Yugi and I may need to make eventually.”
Marik stepped a little closer, as if to take him into confidence. “May I ask what brought about this concern? Is there another problem with the ritual?”
The pharaoh closed his eyes and sighed. If there was anyone besides his soulmate who could be burdened with this knowledge, it was Marik. “Shadi came to see Yugi one night, to check up on him I suppose, and found him with me inside the Puzzle. While Yugi slept, I had the chance to ask Shadi privately if there was anything about the ritual’s effects that we should know, now that we were making use of it every month. For my own peace of mind, I needed to know that it wasn’t going to harm Yugi over time. After all, you saw yourself what it can do to him.”
Marik nodded, his eyes full of concern. “Has it continued to be like that? Has he fainted again?”
“Curiously enough, he didn’t last night.” Yami frowned pensively. “But if no one knows what the effects are, I don’t want to alarm him by asking him to stop. He will simply blame me for being overprotective.”
Marik smiled wryly. “A lover’s concern. Neither of you wants to hurt the other.”
“No, but there are times when we find ourselves needing to endure pain for the other’s sake. It’s what we have to expect if we are to fulfill our destiny.” Yami leaned on the balcony railing again, looking over the edge to the colorful street below. “That isn’t the only reason I asked Shadi about the ritual. It was my personal concern, but Yugi himself shares another one with me.” He clasped his hands as they dangled out over the edge. “He wants to know if removing the Puzzle while I’m outside of it would break our connection.”
Marik gave a small start. “I remember that. He was afraid that someone would come and take the Puzzle when you were free from it, but he was more worried about you than the Puzzle itself.”
“His concern isn’t for me, though.” Yami glanced aside and smiled faintly. “It’s for Bakura. Yugi wishes he could set his friend free from the control of his own ancient spirit using the ritual.”
“I see.” Marik glanced over his shoulder, able to see through the glass door that Yugi and Joey were sitting in the room talking, not looking overly troubled at the moment. “As in, teaching him the ritual in order to get the spirit of the Ring out of him, and then while he’s free, break the connection so he can never return.”
“I don’t know that it works that way. Yes,” Yami admitted, “we are both very wary of removing the Puzzle, we’ve managed to do quite a number of peculiar and strenuous things with it still around his neck, but mostly, I wonder. I wonder if we’re being too cautious. Some instinct deep inside me tells me that if we were to pass this sacred knowledge on to Bakura, it would have the opposite effect. Rather than destroying the spirit that clings to him, we may unleash him again to do worse than he can trapped inside a vessel. But, I simply do not know.” He closed his eyes and sighed. “And now, it’s clear no one knows. The only way to find out what I need to know is to experiment dangerously.”
“Don’t you dare,” Marik said sharply. “The last thing you want to do is take some undue risk and end up mistakenly destroying yourself. You know what that would do to Yugi.”
“I know,” Yami said, turning to face him again. “I would never risk our relationship or my own existence on a whim.”
“Good.” Marik softened a little. “I would hate to see him left broken, lost without you. He loves you so much, if anything like that happened to you just because either of you wanted to try to help Bakura, he would never forgive himself. Breaking his heart would destroy him.” He paused, and then glanced away quickly, hugging his arms around himself. “Yami, forgive me. It seems I…I’ve developed a bit of a crush on you,” he quietly stammered. Yami stared at him, eyes wide. “When I met you for the first time, like this, I realized why my family devoted themselves for a thousand generations to waiting for you. You’re more than I could have hoped for, and I must have let that go to my head.” He tried to smile, looking contritely up from under his long bangs. “I’m telling you now because I understand how Yugi feels about you. And it would be catastrophic if you were destroyed in that way. You can’t do that to him, you have to take every precaution no matter how small and stupid it seems.”
The pharaoh nodded once. “Yes, I know. You have my word that I won’t let that happen. But…Marik. You know I’m with him.”
“Yes, and I promise you, it’s not my intention to make trouble.” He tried once again to smile, and succeeded. “It’s just a little crush, nothing serious. I’ll get over it. I would never, ever do anything to come between you two. I know how much you love each other, and that you’re meant for each other. I couldn’t do that to you. But…” Marik’s smile became rather shy. “…if you find me needing to be somewhere else all of a sudden, you’ll understand why.”
“I see.” Yami found himself able to smile again. “I’m flattered, Marik. Thank you.”
Marik groaned and covered his face with a hand. “Don’t say that. You’ll make it worse.”
“Oh…I’m sorry.” Yami glanced toward the door and the vision of Yugi inside, at that very moment laughing at something Joey had said. “If you don’t mind, I think I’ll keep that part to myself. Yugi doesn’t need to know about it. At least, not from me.”
“I think that’s a good idea.” Marik also looked inside at their friends. “But you’re going to tell him about the rest? Shadi’s message?”
“Yes.” Yami sighed. “I may have asked about it without his knowledge, but this is something that has bearing on us both. He would want to know, and we will need this information to make decisions.”
“That’s fine. Shadi seemed to expect as much.” Marik gestured for him to come along, as he turned to open the door. “You understand the whole thing better than I do anyway.”
Yugi and Joey looked up as the door rumbled open and the two conspirators came back inside, each taking a deep, delighted breath at the cool, dry air contrasted to the muggy sunshine outside. “Everything okay?” Yugi asked.
“Everything’s fine.” Yami came back and sat down on the arm of his chair, putting an arm around his lover and bending to kiss his forehead.
“So does anybody know anything about this tournament?” Marik asked them. “How many contestants there are, how it’s going to be arranged, anything?”
“No, Pegasus is keeping it all under wraps,” Yugi answered. “He hasn’t told me anything, and if I don’t know, nobody knows. I haven’t even seen him, is he here?”
“I think he is,” Marik said. “I thought I heard someone in the lobby talking about him.”
“If nothing else, he’ll be here tonight, for the reception,” Joey pointed out. “He’s in total control of how his game plays out – as usual – so he’s gonna be there like a king on his throne with the bunch of us sitting at his feet waiting for his directions.”
Yugi and Yami both groaned in annoyance. “That’s Pegasus, all right,” the former retorted.
They talked for a short time longer, and then realized how late in the afternoon it was. The reception would be starting soon, and Joey was talking enthusiastically about food again. They decided to go back to their rooms, to give Marik some time to finish settling in and eventually all prepare to meet up again at the reception. Yugi warned his friends that he and his partner might be running late, but they would be there. Once back inside their own room, Yugi went first to check on his flowers before throwing himself on the bed and lying there with arms and legs akimbo. Yami chuckled at him. “You’re making it very tempting to consider forgetting all about this reception and just pounce on you where you lay.”
Yugi gave him a dreamy smile, but didn’t move. “Maybe that’s what I’m trying to do.” He watched his lover cross to the table and run his fingers over the soft petals of the flowers, his own mood sobering as he recalled sitting inside the hotel room with Joey, trying to talk casually while continually glancing at the balcony doors and wondering what Yami and Marik were discussing. “So,” he began as casually as he could, “um…what did Marik have to say? Or is it something you can’t tell me?”
Yami let his hand fall away from the flowers, and turned to face his partner. “Not at all. The message from Shadi was not particularly helpful, but I was glad to have gotten it anyway. Now that we’re alone, you and I can talk about it.”
Yugi sat up, and waited until Yami had come and perched on the side of the bed next to him. “What’s it about? I didn’t think there was anything else important Shadi could tell us…” He looked anxious. “Unless it’s something new that we have to worry about.”
“It isn’t,” Yami assured, reaching to stroke his love’s cheek. “It has to do with what you and I talked about, concerning whether or not it would be wise to teach Bakura the embodiment ritual in order to free him from the spirit of the Millennium Ring.”
“Ohh…” Yugi crossed his legs on the bed so he could face Yami, his posture considerably more relaxed now that he knew he didn’t have to freak out about anything. “Does that mean you’ve found out more about the ritual?”
“Yes and no.” The pharaoh shook his head slightly. “Shadi looked into it, and he has come up with no information. There is nothing written at all about breaking the connection between the spirit and its Item, positive or negative. Until you and I tried it, no one in all of history performed the ritual while I was locked away, so no one in creation knows. It’s a good chance the author of the spell didn’t know either,” he said with a bit of dry humor, “or he would have mentioned it. And if that author is me, I’m still no help to myself.”
“So, there’s no way to know whether giving the Ring spirit a body and then tossing away the Ring will help Bakura…”
“…or simply give the spirit a new form from which to wreak chaos.” Yami growled a bit under his breath. “It’s a painful paradox. I would not dare experiment on myself, with the Puzzle, to see what the effect would be, but to use Bakura for the experiment could turn things horribly wrong. We have no way of knowing whether passing this information on to Bakura would simply cause things to get worse.”
Yugi frowned thoughtfully. “Supposing, just hypothetically, we did teach the ritual to Bakura. The best thing that could happen would be seeing the spirit disappear into nothingness, by taking off the Ring while he was embodied and leaving him no place to return to. It’s also possible, taking off the Ring would do nothing, good or bad, and Bakura can have one day of freedom from the spirit so he doesn’t have to be in such darkness.”
“Or worse,” Yami warned, taking his lover’s hand and stroking it gently with his thumb. “If the Ring spirit were able to get himself a body, and spend a day wreaking havoc without Bakura’s tender spirit reining him in, it could cost us more than the chance to sever the tie. There’s no telling what he’ll do with a body of his own. He could hurt a lot of people in just one day’s time. To say nothing of how he would use this information to control Bakura further, to essentially browbeat him into performing it every month even if Bakura realized the damage it was doing and refused.”
“Yeah,” Yugi sighed, realizing just how true and dangerous the idea was. “I don’t want to do that to him. He deserves better. And I’m not going to use him as our guinea pig just because we want to know whether I can take the Puzzle off or not.” He mustered a weak smile. “I guess I’ll just have to put up with having it there when we make love. We’ve gotten pretty used to that.”
Yami continued to caress his hand, smiling understandingly. “I also asked Shadi if there was any mention of the ritual harming you over time, but again…it says nothing. No one knows. But, I think last night was an indication that neither of us fully understand the way the ritual works even after all this time.”
Yugi looked puzzled. “Last night? You mean because I didn’t faint?”
“Yes.” Yami squeezed his hand. “I think I would be much more concerned about there being no knowledge about long-term effects if you hadn’t come through last night just fine. We will have to simply continue to take it one step at a time, trying new things to see if it has any effect.”
Yugi was finally able to grin. “In other words, you’re ordering me to take a nap and have a good meal before midnight from now on, just in case it helps my energy. Yes, my pharaoh.”
Yami chuckled at being addressed so, and pulled him close for a kiss. “It’s not an order, silly. But, if you like falling unconscious in my arms every time…”
“Actually, that part isn’t so bad. The waking up in your arms with your concerned face looking over me.” Yugi smiled shyly. “As long as it doesn’t get any worse than that. But yeah…we can try boosting my energy. I’ll try anything, if it means you and I get to keep doing the ritual.”
Yami nodded agreeably and leaned in to kiss him again, and this time, they did not stop for more talking. Yugi rose onto his knees and crawled forward, settling himself in his lover’s lap so they could hold each other and kiss each other breathless. Yami took hold of the Millennium Puzzle, and this time gave it a reverent look before gently draping it over Yugi’s shoulder and down his back so it would not get in the way of their embrace. They settled in for a long session, gradually escalating the mood, until Yugi eagerly began to grind their hips together as he sat astride Yami’s lap. Before too long their pants were off, and once again they were sprawled out on the bed making love, faster and hotter this time, wrestling and clutching and screaming together in the safe privacy of their room. It was a great way to pass the day. They finished with plenty of time to cool down, snuggle and whisper sweet nothings, clean up, and change into fresh shirts before judging it to be just about the right time to go downstairs. The reception had already started, but they would only miss a lot of boring mingling and small talk and maybe some kind of self-indulgent speech by Pegasus, arriving just in time for the food and the nitty-gritty details of their tournament opponents. It just so happened, Kaiba had the exact same idea, for he was coming out of his room at the same time as they, once again clad in his big white coat. He glanced sullenly aside as he heard them laughing on their way out the door. “Oh great,” he muttered. They spotted him just then, as Yugi was making sure he had his key. “Are you two here to make my life miserable?”
“Hi Kaiba,” Yugi said, not about to let his bliss be ruined by Kaiba’s usual sniping. “You’re not at the reception yet? Doing the ‘fashionably late’ thing too, huh?”
“Maybe.” Kaiba eyed them suspiciously as they clasped hands and headed down the hall in front of him toward the elevator. “What are you doing?” he wondered in sincere confusion.
Yugi glanced back at him with an insolent smile. “What, this? Holding hands. It’s something boyfriends do.” He pushed the button to summon the elevator, and settled for standing there beside Yami with no excuses for their behavior. “Not that I’d expect you to know anything about that…”
Kaiba narrowed his eyes darkly. “Just what are you implying?”
“Nothing, geez.” Yugi curled himself around Yami’s arm. “Lighten up, Kaiba. We’re a few hours away from the biggest tournament ever, I’d expect you to be walking around here all superior and smug and excited to be crushing the dreams of young duelists.”
Kaiba just turned his head away, concentrating instead on willing the elevator to hurry up. “Yes,” Yami put in, “you seem tense. I don’t know why, Yugi and I are having a wonderful time.”
The man beside them just heaved a long, aggravated sigh. “So, what. You mean to tell me you two are seeing each other? Isn’t that kind of impossible when one of you doesn’t really exist?”
Yami just chuckled quietly as the chime rang to announce the elevator. “You can insult us all you like, Kaiba, it’s not going to upset either of us tonight.” The doors spread open for them, and all three swept inside for the ride down. Yami punched the button with his thumb and then draped an arm around Yugi’s shoulders. “But yes. We are together, as you can see.”
Kaiba folded his arms, trying not to look at them. “So, Yugi’s gay. There’s something I could have gone my whole life not knowing.”
Yugi snuggled up to Yami. “Maybe I am. It’s no big deal. Lots of people are, it’s nothing to get all uncomfortable about.”
Kaiba growled under his breath. “Do you two have to hang all over each other like that? It’s annoying.”
“I think you’re just jealous.” Yugi lifted his head and smooched his boyfriend, and the two of them gave a collective smug look to Kaiba. “Just because you’re all alone doesn’t mean you have to get upset with people who are in love.”
“Don’t let him get to you,” Yami advised, snuggling him back. “He simply doesn’t understand. It’s easy to get annoyed at people who are happy if you’re not. But then,” he added, “Kaiba is a stranger to relationships.”
Seto shot him a piercing glare out of the corner of his eye. “Don’t start with me.”
“I guess we can leave him be,” Yugi said flippantly. “It’s not our fault he’s never gotten any, and can’t understand why we’re so happy.” He looked up with a cool smile, but his heart faltered within him at the look on Kaiba’s face. Kaiba glared for just a moment directly at him before tearing his eyes away, staring hard at the doors instead, his cheeks flushing red and lips contorting in a painful wince. It made Yugi want to immediately take back what he said, but at that moment the doors opened to the lobby.
The intern stationed at the door to take tickets only did a slight double-take at the identical pair, but being as they both had tickets, he had no choice but to let them in. Kaiba remained a few steps behind them, refusing to look at them or acknowledge them at all now. The reception was being held in one of the hotel’s conference rooms, which had been decorated with bright, solid-color sashes and draperies bearing the Industrial Illusions logo and the graphic for the tournament which decorated every official surface, from their admittance badges to the napkins on the buffet table. Yami and Yugi snuck in and quickly ducked away into a corner, wanting to get their bearings before locating their friends and finding out what they had missed.
Joey and Mai paced the room together, glancing over their opponents but keeping conversation light and frivolous. The reception was set up as more of a meet-and-greet, with few places to sit arranged at the edges of the room and plenty of space to stand and mingle while nibbling at the offerings from the buffet. It wasn’t a big sit-down dinner, but it was food, a lot of food at that, and kept Joey occupied for quite some time. They had suffered through a short and annoying speech by Pegasus, who immediately disappeared afterward, and wandered around for a while wondering when Yugi and his partner would show up. First Rebecca found them, and hung around with them trading notes on the other competitors from America that she did or didn’t recognize, and then Marik joined them. As time went on, Joey began to grumble. “Where’s Yugi, already?” he complained. “I know he and Yami weren’t interested in the reception part, but this is getting silly. It’s a world tournament, for crying out loud!”
“Cut them some slack,” Mai said. “They only get one day every month, they have to make it last.”
“Is that how often the pharaoh can free himself from the Puzzle?” Rebecca wondered.
“Yeah, it’s a magic ritual,” Joey explained, somewhat distractedly. “It only works on the full moon.”
He turned to look around for Yugi’s spiky haircut once more, but then someone tackled him from behind and hugged big, muscular arms around his chest. “Joey, my old friend!” a jovial voice crowed. “It is good to see you here!”
It didn’t take much for Joey to recognize the greeting. “Mako,” he coughed. “Hi…”
Mako Tsunami let him go, turning him around to grin at him. He was looking even taller and meatier than usual, with a broad, tanned face and completely untamable hair pulled back into a ponytail. “I knew there would be some friendly faces in the tournament, but this is even better than I hoped!” He then looked around, noting that the people with him were unfamiliar. “But where is Yugi? He is the guest of honor at this tournament, is he not?”
“He’s coming,” Joey said, rubbing his chest. Mako had squeezed him a little too hard. “Should be down here pretty soon…I hope.”
“When did you get here?” Mai asked their old friend and rival.
“Actually, I just arrived,” Mako replied. “I have not even gotten to my room, I was very hungry and wanted to find out everything first. But they tell me it’s a very nice one high up in the hotel.”
“High up?” Joey’s eyes widened. “Are you an invited duelist, Mako?”
“Why yes!” Mako grinned again. “Just received my invitation last week, although that’s because I was away from port and did not get my mail until then.”
“So he’s the sixth one,” Rebecca noted. “Pegasus said there were only six invited duelists, process of elimination.”
Mako nodded proudly. “I did not have a chance to enter any regional tournaments, and do not yet have the wireless duel disk upgrade, so I thought I would not be here at all. Lo and behold, Maximillian Pegasus thinks highly of my dueling skills…even though I have been eliminated from the last few tournaments a bit early.” He grinned sheepishly and laughed. “Oh well! At least those who eliminated me are also top-level invited finalists. I feel in good company.”
“Speaking of which, there’s Kaiba, finally.” Mai nodded her head toward the door and the tall, imposing figure that had just slunk through it. “Looks like he didn’t want to stick around for the festivities either.”
“I don’t blame him. This is boring,” Joey sighed. “I just wish Yugi would hurry his butt up and get down here.”
Rebecca glanced toward the door also, and then around at the others, her expression darkening just a bit. “I think I’ll go and…um…visit the buffet. Yeah.” Keeping her gaze lowered, she stalked away. Only Mai guessed correctly what had gotten into her and caused her to flee their company before Yugi could show up.
“I will be on the lookout for him.” Mako waved at the other three. “But right now, I want more of that delicious food! I’ll see you later.”
“Yeah, later Mako,” Joey waved back.
He departed from them, leaving them to look around the room once again and see if the faces had changed at all. It was too crowded and noisy to stop and count to verify that every duelist scheduled to be there was actually there, but it certainly looked like a full house. Then, Joey jumped and let out a yelp, and whirled around to find that it was Yugi who had snuck up behind him and poked him in the back. “Hi guys!” Yugi greeted all of them while he could – for then Joey grabbed him and put him in a headlock in retaliation.
“It’s about time,” Mai chided them, as Yami stood aside and let the friends roughhouse. “Just what have you two been up to? Or don’t I want to know?”
“We had something to talk about,” Yugi pouted as he straightened his shirt now that Joey had let him up. “And then…well, no, you don’t want to know.”
“Look at this place,” Yami exclaimed. “Is everyone here a duelist?”
“As far as we know,” Joey shrugged. “I don’t even know if everyone’s here, it’s hard to say. We just ran into Mako Tsunami – he’s the last invited duelist to show up.”
“You missed Pegasus speaking,” Marik informed them. “He didn’t give a whole lot of details, those are supposed to come at orientation tomorrow morning. But he said there are six invited duelists and a grand total of sixty-four people in the competition.”
Yugi and Yami both listened in interest, clasping hands again. “Anything else we should know about?” Yugi prodded.
“Tomorrow is just the first round of elimination duels,” Mai answered. “The quarter-, semi-, and final rounds are the next day. And you already know that the finals are going to be on television.”
“Yeah, I knew about that a while ago.” Yugi looked around eagerly. “Wow, it’s going to be pretty big. I don’t recognize a lot of people, though. Just us, and Kaiba and Rebecca. Where is she, anyway?”
“She was with us for a little while,” Joey said, looking around curiously, “but then she wanted to go get some food, I think. ‘Least, that’s what she said.”
“Oh, food. That’s a good idea,” Yugi realized.
“Are you hungry?” Yami asked him. “I’ll go and get you something if you want.”
“Oo, would you? Thanks.” They shared a smile before Yami departed, slinking his way gracefully through the crowd. Yugi stuffed his hands in his jeans pockets and turned to Joey. “It doesn’t sound like Pegasus gave a whole lot of information after all. I was afraid I was going to miss something important.”
“Nah, you didn’t,” his friend assured. “It was mostly a lot of hot air, welcome to the tournament, blah, blah, blah. Nothing big.” He glanced around them, as everyone was wont to do in a room full of strangers they would have to face in competition. “A bit of bragging about the talented duelists, and all the different countries they come from. America and Japan mostly, but some from England, China, Australia…”
“Egypt…” Marik grinned.
“And the number of past champions and runners up,” Mai added. “The top two finishers from both Duelist Kingdom and Battle City. But what I find more interesting is the people who aren’t here.”
Yugi cocked his head curiously. “Oh?”
Joey grinned with devilish glee. “Rex Raptor. Weevil Underwood. Bandit Keith.”
“Lots of former big-names and finalists,” Mai agreed. “It’s no wonder we don’t recognize most of these faces.”
Across the room, Yami managed to work his way to the buffet table and load two plates with various offerings, making sure to sneak a few strawberries onto Yugi’s plate since they were there. No one had stopped him or seemed to want to talk to him, though many looked his way as though recognizing him but being too awed to meet him. He returned to the group as quickly as possible and presented his young lover with a plate, receiving an amusing, secretive grin upon sight of the strawberries. “Is that good?” the pharaoh wondered.
“Fantastic,” Yugi agreed, thanking him with a surreptitious kiss before returning his attention to his friends. “So, I wonder where Rebecca went…?”
They stood around in a small knot in the far corner talking for a while, never once being interrupted by any other duelists who seemed to sense by their close-knit body language that they were not interested in outsiders. Instead of the tournament, they mostly talked about what was going on with themselves, catching up with Marik and Mako, who had rejoined them. Now and then one would leave the group to go and get more food, but they kept coming back. Yami eventually decided they needed drinks, and ducked away to take care of it. This time, as he waited to get past a throng of younger duelists hanging around the soda fountains, someone did blunder up to him. “Yugi Muto! They said you were going to be here! This is great,” the kid gushed. “I can’t wait to go up against you!”
Yami smiled hesitantly, not at all willing to correct the youth. Now was not the time to be launching into complex tales of mystical rituals. “Well, if the chance arises…” he started to say.
“It’s about time someone took you down a notch.” The kid grinned snidely and laughed as he walked away. Yami sighed tiredly and just went to fill a couple of glasses.
As he turned to leave, he found another person walking up to him, but this one was mildly familiar. He and Yugi had been somewhat wrapped in each other on the flight down, but he still had been paying enough attention to note the Japanese champion’s identity. The blond man smiled warmly at him. “Hello, Yugi. Having a good time?”
Yami did his best to smile in a friendly manner, though he was hunting over the other’s shoulder for an escape route. “Yes, I guess you could say that.”
Eiri stuffed his hands in his pockets and tossed a casual glance around. “Are there a lot of good duelists here, that you know? From other tournaments? Mr. Pegasus said something to that effect earlier in his speech…”
“A few.” Another forced smile. “If you’ll excuse me, I have to get these drinks to…to Joey.”
“Yeah, sure.” Eiri stepped aside, still looking particularly amiable. “We’ll talk later, I’m sure.”
“Yes, I’m sure.” Yami threw him a quick smile over his shoulder. “Good luck in the tournament.”
“Yeah, you too.”
Yami sighed in relief and made his way back to the group, which in his absence had dwindled. It was just Joey, Mai, and Marik now, with Yugi perched on a table waiting. “That was unsettling,” the pharaoh reported.
“What was?” Yugi asked.
“Two people thought I was you.” Yami sipped gratefully at his drink. “One was the finalist from Japan we met on the plane.”
“Well, that’s not so unusual,” Yugi pointed out. “We do look alike enough for people to mistake us for each other.”
“Yes, but having to pretend to be you for a moment is the unsettling part.”
Yugi gazed sympathetically at him. “Do you want to call it a night and go back up to the room?”
“We don’t have to just yet.” Yami gave him a calm smile. “It’s up to you.”
They stood around a short time longer, but things were winding down and it was clear all of them, even Joey and Marik, were getting bored. Yugi decided they could go upstairs, but he needed to make one stop along the way after all the food and soda. They bid their friends a good night and promised to see everyone in the morning, ready to battle them all in the tournament, and Marik said his farewell to the pharaoh since he would not be seeing him again anytime soon. Yugi and Yami snuck out of the reception hall much as they had snuck in, hand in hand, and Yami went to wait by the elevators until Yugi came out of the bathroom. He leaned on the wall and folded his arms over his chest, nodding to the occasional duelist who passed him to go up to their own room. Then, moments after the lobby cleared and left him in a peaceful silence, he glanced up to see Kaiba making his way toward him. His eyes were cast down on the floor, and he didn’t look up and notice Yami until just before they met. Then, he glared. “Will you stop following me, already?” he grumbled.
Yami faintly smiled, but said nothing as Kaiba went and pressed the button, crossing his arms and staring at it while he waited. “You may be here for a bit,” the pharaoh finally murmured. “I’ve noticed that now that everyone is here, it’s taking a lot longer to get an elevator.”
Kaiba shot him a narrow-eyed look, but refrained from complaining. “Where’s your other half?”
“He’ll be with me shortly.” Yami glanced to see if Yugi was coming yet, but the rest of the lobby and hall were empty. He decided to keep any awkward silences from lasting. “Tell me, Kaiba. Are you prepared for this tournament?”
“Naturally.” Kaiba kept his eyes on the elevator button. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“You seem on edge about something.” Yami shrugged. “I don’t know if I can say the same about Yugi. He and I have been rather distracted today. There are other, far more important things going on for us than a Duel Monsters tournament.”
“What are you saying?” Kaiba finally faced him. “That you don’t care about this tournament?”
“The stakes aren’t the same as in the past.” Yami looked up to him, his face solemn. “No one is forcing us to participate, or threatening anyone if we don’t. Quite honestly, we’ve been more interested in each other today than in Duel Monsters.”
“Fine with me,” Kaiba growled, returning his glare to the elevator. “If you’d rather busy yourselves fucking each other than getting ready for the tournament. It’ll be that much easier to beat you tomorrow.”
Yugi returned, then, noticing Kaiba from across the lobby as he came up and wondering whether he was being mean to Yami again. Yami simply welcomed him with a smile. “Hey,” Yugi sighed. “Boy, now I get why you didn’t like people thinking you were me.”
“Why is that?” the pharaoh wondered, putting an arm around him.
“I just had somebody in the bathroom talk trash to me, because he recognized me.” Yugi rolled his eyes. “Everyone’s taking this world championship so seriously. It’s like they’ve put a mark on my head, knowing I was going to be here and trying to win just for the chance to beat me and take the title.”
“Of course they are,” Kaiba sniffed. “That’s why you let Pegasus splash your face on every advertisement the world over, isn’t it? Or did you just prostitute yourself for the money?”
Yugi gave him a displeased pout. “I don’t care about the title, I never have. I only pushed myself to win tournaments because I had to, because there was more on the line than just a championship. There isn’t this time, so it doesn’t matter.”
Kaiba eyed him, noticing that he and his partner had said the same thing. “With that kind of attitude,” he remarked, “you’re bound to lose it. I’ll have no trouble taking it from you, Yugi.”
“Yeah, well, you’re welcome to it,” Yugi said shortly. “Honestly? If it came down to the two of us in the final round, there’s a good chance you want that title more, so I wouldn’t be surprised if you won, and I wouldn’t be upset either. It’s just a dumb card game with some prize money and the title of world champion for the winner. I consider my relationship with Yami a far more important thing than being known as the Duel Monsters world champ.”
Kaiba stared at him in amazement, even as the elevator dinged and the doors opened. The three of them shouldered in together again, only now, Yugi was tired and just leaned against his boyfriend, glad for his close comfort. Kaiba mused over what he had said, his mood darkening again. “I don’t want to have to duel you if you don’t care,” he complained. “It’s not worth having the world title if you just hand it over to me because you’d rather be absorbed in making smoochy faces with your imaginary lover.”
“Is it the title you’re after?” Yami asked him. “Or do you have more to prove? Would being the world champion matter so much to you if it was anyone but Yugi who held it?”
Kaiba looked at him, and they held a silent, dark gaze for a moment. At last, Seto tore his eyes away, and said nothing more for the rest of the trip up to their floor. He swept out of the doors ahead of them and charged down the hallway, intending to go straight to his room and get inside before they could share any other deep thoughts. Yami and Yugi walked more casually behind him, arms around each other, each quietly thinking about the conversation they had just had. They closed themselves away in the room and turned on a few lights, intending to finally change gears and prepare for the tournament now that they had glimpsed the competition. Yugi had kept his deck in his suitcase all day, figuring he wouldn’t be using it, so he went to get it, along with Yami’s own personal deck. They had thought about having a practice duel if there was time, between the two of them, but now Yugi wasn’t sure he needed one. Yami pulled out a chair on one side of the desk, while Yugi sat at the other and laid their decks out, face up, so he could see all the cards. The pharaoh leaned his elbows on the desk and gazed seriously at his partner. “Yugi? May I ask you about what you just said to Kaiba?”
Yugi flipped casually through the cards, separating out some that he knew would be in his deck regardless, like his Dark Magician. “Yeah…what about it?”
“You and I have the same opinion,” Yami stated, “that this tournament means nothing to us. But I’m wondering if we’re being fair to the rest of the field, to Kaiba and the others for whom it does mean something. If we can’t put our heart in the game and duel our best, should we even be here?”
Yugi rested an arm on the table and gave a soft sigh. “I was kind of wondering about that, too. I hadn’t really thought about it until I actually said something to Kaiba. It’s true…my heart just isn’t in the game.” He looked across the desk at his lover. “I kind of had that sense all along, watching Joey and Mai prepare, hearing people talk about it. But it wasn’t until just now that it kind of hit me. I really don’t care whether I win or lose.”
Yami looked down at the cards scattered across the desk between them. “Would it even be fun for you, to play in the tournament if you feel like you’re only going through the motions? If it feels like an obligation to be here?”
“I don’t know.” Yugi picked up the Dark Magician and gazed seriously at the picture on the card for a while. “It’s been so long since Duel Monsters was about fun for me. I love the game, and I want to be able to just play for fun, but it’s about more than that to me now. It’s about you. It’s about…standing up for what we believe, and about protecting the people we love. I don’t know if it’s possible for me to relax and just let it be a game again. It’s true – Kaiba wants the name ‘world champion’ more than we do. And we both know that it’s all about heart, and if ours isn’t in it, he’s going to beat us.”
The pharaoh wisely observed the fleeting expressions in his partner’s eyes, able to read them without having direct access to his thoughts and feelings. “Yet, that sort of bothers you, doesn’t it?”
Yugi met his gaze, his brow knitting in a concerned frown. “I don’t want him to be able to gloat over me, that he beat me so easily. I know I can do better, and even he said it wouldn’t be worth it if I wasn’t at my best. I can’t just roll over and let him defeat me. But that only makes me like him.” He lowered his gaze, and the card in his hand. “Obsessing over a rivalry, not seeing the bigger picture. I don’t want my only motivation for winning the tournament to be keeping Kaiba from beating me.”
“And I’m sure it’s not possible to withdraw at this point,” Yami mused.
“No. I don’t think Pegasus would let me, not after our contract. I’m technically not free from it until the tournament starts at noon tomorrow.”
“You’re certainly not going to just throw the tournament in the first round.”
“No way.” Yugi managed a slight smile. “I’m not that dumb. I don’t want to feel obligated, no, but I’m not going to throw away a chance to play against some cool people. After all, Marik is here, Mako Tsunami, and even Joey.” He met his partner’s eyes again, his expression softening. “Isn’t it a good thing to not be so caught up in whether I win or lose?”
“It’s better than obsessing over it.” Yami placed a hand over Yugi’s, caressing gently. “At the very least, it’s an enormous comfort to sit here, not worried that someone’s soul, or our lives, or the fate of the world is in jeopardy and we must win to save them. We can choose the depth of our commitment, and choose to be gracious if we lose in any round.”
“I admit, it’s always nice to win.” Yugi tilted his hand so that he could take Yami’s into it. “And the prize bonus for taking first place is huge. I’m sure a lot of people here want that almost as much as they want to beat me.” His face grew thoughtful. “Five million yen would be a huge help to me and Grandpa. The money from Pegasus already has helped us take care of his hospital bills and stuff, but we really don’t have a lot put away for another emergency. I don’t want to see the game shop closed because something happens to either of us, or because I can’t handle running it.”
The pharaoh studied him carefully. “The offer of being a game tester for Industrial Illusions is still on the table, is it not? Pegasus said you could decide after the tournament if you wanted it.”
“I really don’t,” Yugi admitted, “but I have to admit that the money he’s offering is very tempting. I’d put it all back into the store, so Grandpa doesn’t have to be afraid of losing it. He may not have said anything, but I know there were a couple of times last year when Kaiba came to us with his offer to buy us out, that he kind of had to think twice before turning him down.” His frown deepened. “But I don’t want to be under Pegasus’s thumb a minute more. If I worked for him, he’d have control over me. I’m not going to give him that.”
“Five million yen in prize money would make it possible for you to turn him down and still be able to help your grandfather run the game shop,” Yami suggested.
“Yeah…it sure would.” Yugi’s expression hardened into one of determination. “I don’t like to say I’m dueling for the money, though.”
“You’re not,” his partner assured. “You’re dueling for the sake of your grandfather’s store. Your store, also. You’re dueling for your future.”
Yugi stared at the table, listening and letting the words sink in, and then lifted his head with a smile. “You always know the right things to say.”
“I’d like to think I know you well enough by now.” Yami smiled back. “It’s the truth, though. If you have a reason to duel, a goal to strive for, you can put your heart in the game. It’s not such a life-and-death goal, that if you dueled your best and were simply defeated by a stronger opponent, you have to worry about terrible things happening. But it’s still a goal.”
“Yeah…” Yugi sat up straighter, feeling much better. “If I can win that prize money, I don’t have to rely on Pegasus for help any longer. I can be free, and Grandpa and I can keep the store going through tough times. That’s more than a noble purpose…that’s a reason to duel with all my heart.”
“I promise you my heart and spirit as well,” Yami agreed. “I will give you my all, because I don’t want to see you enslaved to Pegasus either. Grandpa is my family too, now, and I want to help take care of him.”
Yugi seized both his hands, then. “We’ll duel with honor, and make him proud, whether we win or lose. Kaiba, Joey, and everybody in the tournament will get nothing less than our best.”
“Exactly.” They clasped hands and considered it a promise, and then resumed going through the cards with renewed purpose. They needed to structure their deck to have the best chance of winning against any opponent, since they had no idea who these people were or what strategies they might employ. Together, they decided whether to take out any particular cards, and which cards from their side deck or secondary deck to put in instead. Yami picked up the one-of-a-kind Rite of Transference card from Pegasus and glared thoughtfully at it. “The one thing we don’t know, as of right now, is what kinds of deck restrictions have been placed on us. Hopefully, we don’t have to make any last minute changes between orientation and our first duel.”
Yugi glanced to see which card he held. “Pegasus never said I couldn’t use that card. Until he does, I’m going to keep it in my deck. It can come in handy in a tight spot.”
Yami handed it over, then, and watched Yugi slip it between cards. “Yes, but be careful. There’s always the chance it could backfire on you. It’s very easy to remove Traps from the field.”
“I know. I’m not worried.” Yugi quickly counted the number of cards in the deck, and set it on the desk with some satisfaction. “There. That should be good, for the first round. Once everyone has dueled and we can see what some of their strategies are, we’ll know if we have to change anything out before going into the finals.”
The pharaoh smiled warmly. “You’re already back to being optimistic that we’ll make it to the finals.”
Yugi smiled back. “Of course! I have you, and I have my heart in the game again. There’s no way we’re going to lose in the first round. Not if we play our best and have fun.”
It was growing late, but there were still a couple of hours left in their ritual day. They both washed up and readied themselves for bed, and then sat on the end of the bed with hands entwined, saying nothing. They much preferred being close enough to touch, and to kiss, over any discussions or verbal sentiment. At last, it looked like Yugi’s long day of adventure was catching up to him, his eyes half-closing sleepily. Yami kissed him tenderly on the cheek and murmured, “You should go to bed. You need your rest before the tournament.”
Yugi nodded his agreement, but had to lift his face and kiss his lover in return. “You don’t mind if I fall asleep on you, before midnight?”
“Not at all. I’ll still be here.” Yami got up and went to the head of the bed, turning down the blankets and then gesturing for his love to come and climb in. “I’d feel bad if you were tired in the morning and unable to focus. We duel our best when we’re both alert.”
Yugi crawled to the pillows and burrowed down under the sheets, waiting for Yami to climb in beside him and then wrapping himself around the pharaoh, snuggling into him. “I just want to hold you, and feel you next to me as I fall asleep,” he mumbled tiredly. “All I need is you holding me for as long as you’re here, so I can feel your heartbeat…”
“You’ll have me.” Yami stretched to turn out the light, and then curled up with Yugi in his arms, the young one’s head pillowed on his shoulder. He hugged him tightly and relaxed, letting Yugi settle comfortably against him until he sighed in contentment. It was all Yami needed, as well, and he found himself as delighted with it as he had been over anything else they did together that day, touched by the adoration and trust of his partner to be able to fall asleep and not worry about what would happen to him at midnight. Yami closed his eyes and let his mind fall quiet, perfectly happy to be lying there stroking the back of Yugi’s neck, feeling his warm body wrapped around him, until the ritual expired and his body vanished, his spirit returning to its safe house.