Queer As Tachi – Chapter 5
The arena duel lasted far longer than anyone expected, because neither Yugi nor Yami would go down very easily. They whittled each other’s life points down bit by bit, but in the end Yugi drew the precise Fire monster he needed and stomped out the last remaining chunk of Yami’s life points with a spectacular explosion. Yami considered it a worthy loss, and a great test of his skills, but agreed with his partner that perhaps swapping decks might give them a different perspective on which one was truly the King of Games. They met in the middle to shuffle and swap, under the watchful eyes of their friends, and then returned to their places with a fresh deck to start over again. Yugi took a quick lead this time, on account of being familiar with both decks now, but after a bit Yami began to experience some of the same feeling his partner had had in the first round, of being able to predict moves based on such intimate knowledge of their primary tournament deck. He settled down and ordered his strategies more carefully, taking time to read the new cards and consider how they could work with the fire, dragon, and warrior monsters that kept popping up in his hand. Within a few moves he had turned the duel completely around, forcing Yugi into defense and retreat. Fortunately, at this point his Big Shield Guardna was enough to protect his life points, but he knew sooner or later Yami would discover the monster with 2800 attack points, and once that was on the field all that would save him would be to pull out something with even more points to bite back. He held off the final blow masterfully, and was one step away from upgrading his Dark Magician to a Knight when Yami yanked the proverbial rug out from underneath him, freezing his monsters and counterattacking with a powerful creature of his own. Yugi’s life points dropped to zero, and he conceded defeat with a laugh. “I almost had you!” he crowed. “One more turn, and it would have been over for you!”
“I had a feeling you were up to something,” Yami said warningly, though with a sly grin of his own. “I had to end it quickly. What were you holding?” Yugi turned out his hand. “Ahh, Knight’s Title and Dark Renewal. You were planning to summon Dark Magician Knight.”
Yugi gathered up his cards and stepped down from the arena station. “And you know he would have done the trick.”
Yami met him so they could shuffle cards once more. “Yes, he probably would have. But in the end, it was your life points, not mine, that reached zero.” He glanced aside at Joey and the others, sitting nearby. “We have one round left before we have to give the arena to the next group. Do any of you wish to duel?”
“What the hell is this?”
The snide comment out of nowhere made all of them jump, but they all recognized the voice and turned immediately to glare at the one making it. Standing there in the aisle beside the arena in all his purple-coated glory, Seto Kaiba glared right back, specifically at the pair of duelists shuffling decks. Mokuba edged out from behind him, staring with as much curiosity but far less animosity than his older brother. Yugi looked up and tried to smile. “Kaiba. What are you doing here?”
“This is my arcade, isn’t it?” Kaiba’s gaze went to Yami. “Just what the hell are you geeks up to? Who is this?”
“You don’t recognize me? I’m hurt, Kaiba,” Yami said smartly. “After all the times we’ve dueled, against each other or side by side…”
“It’s kind of hard to explain,” Yugi added, “but this is the pharaoh, my other half. My partner. You’ve always known him, just not like this.”
“The pharaoh?” Mokuba repeated. “Seriously? Like, the guy from the Puzzle?”
“I don’t know what made you think it would be funny to mess with my head by hiring some actor who looks like you, Yugi,” Kaiba snorted, “but it’s stupid. If you wanted to get my attention, you should have tried something less ridiculous.”
Yugi frowned and started to say something, but Yami held him back with a gentle hand on his shoulder. “I don’t expect you to understand, Kaiba,” he said in his usual calm, wise manner. “After all, you’ve managed to dismiss or ignore every instance of mysticism and dark power that has ever come up between us. But that’s no excuse for you to come here and insult us. Yugi and I are simply having a duel for fun, we didn’t ask for your intrusion.”
“Yeah, so just go on back to the office and shuffle some papers or something,” Joey put in, feeling a need to defend his best buddies.
Kaiba sent a narrow-eyed glare his way. “Mokuba said there was some freak who looked like Yugi’s clone dueling Yugi in my arena. I had to see what this was all about. Now that I have…” He turned his back to them, but still spoke to them over his shoulder. “…I can see it was just a waste of my time. I don’t know what kind of trick you’re trying to pull, but it isn’t going to work.”
“It’s not a trick,” Yugi said sharply, clenching a fist at his side. “This is Yami, whether you want to believe it or not. This is our once in a lifetime chance to let him exist outside the Puzzle for just a day, and I’m not going to let you ruin it by coming in here and being mean to us!”
“Whoa, Yugi, calm down,” Mokuba tried to interject.
“It’s okay, bud,” Joey said. “Don’t let him get under your skin. He’s just doing it to rattle you.”
“You have to admit,” Mokuba added, “it’s kind of hard to believe. I mean, even just knowing you have a pharaoh’s spirit inside the Puzzle. How did he get out? What do you mean, ‘once in a lifetime?’”
“Pharaoh’s spirit,” Kaiba scoffed. “You should write children’s books, Yugi, with all these Egyptian-themed fairy tales you keep coming up with.”
Yugi just glared at him, upset and trying not to let it show, but that comment drove Yami to a dark anger. He faced Kaiba with deadly eyes. “Has everything you’ve seen taught you nothing? Battle City, the Egyptian gods, have you completely blocked it out of your mind, preferring to walk around life in a haze of denial rather than admit to yourself that the shadow games exist? That’s sad.” He closed his eyes and shook his head. “Quite possibly the saddest thing I’ve ever heard. You would even dismiss real monsters as holograms even after they’ve struck you and done you physical harm. Is your fantasy so tight and drab that you prefer it to reality, no matter how strange and magical that reality might be?”
Kaiba gritted his teeth and growled. “That’s it. I don’t know who you really are, but you had better shut your mouth before I shut it for you. I don’t care if you’ve paid for arena time, I have no problem kicking you out of here.”
“I told you. I am the pharaoh. You may call me Yami.” He swiftly drew the top card from his shuffled deck, flipping it in his slender fingers. It happened to be the Dark Magician. “But if you don’t believe me, why don’t you duel me? If I were, as you say, some actor pretending to be the pharaoh, I wouldn’t know the first thing about Yugi’s deck or his dueling skills. I’m sure you’d have no problem beating me.”
Mokuba grabbed for his brother’s arm. “Seto…”
“Why would I bother to duel some wannabe?” Kaiba grumbled. “I have far better things to do than waste my time proving that you’re nothing but a fake.”
“Backing down from a challenge?” Yami smiled cuttingly. “That isn’t the Kaiba I know. The Kaiba who threw a tournament for the sole purpose of engaging me, and yet when I needed him to win against Marik, was there to help me?”
Kaiba’s eyes narrowed even further. “Yugi told you about that.”
“I was with Yugi. I know what you did for us. You’re a powerful duelist, Kaiba…” Yami replaced the card and shuffled it into his deck once more to be safe. “…but you’ve never defeated me.”
“I beat you once,” Kaiba snapped.
“You beat Yugi,” Yami clarified. “He stepped in to make sure I wouldn’t hurt you. That is the truth of the matter, whether you want to believe it or not. But when we duel as a team, our minds and hearts bonded into one, you can never take us down.” He glanced aside at his partner, giving him a quick smile of comfort. Yugi smiled back and nodded. Yami faced Kaiba squarely, holding up his deck. “I’m willing to duel you right here, right now. Even without Yugi to rely on, I will duel you as myself. Back down if you like, but there are an awful lot of people here watching. Word that Seto Kaiba refused a duel against a world champion will spread even faster than word of your first defeat did.”
Kaiba straightened up gruffly, making the wide shoulders of his coat bristle with his pent-up anger. “Fine,” he seethed, “you’re on. If only to shut you up and humiliate you in front of these people once and for all.”
He turned to Mokuba, who was guarding his briefcase, in order to retrieve his deck. Yami, meanwhile, turned to Yugi, and they clasped their hands together over the deck of cards. “You can do this,” the younger one breathed into the space between them. “I’ll be behind you, rooting for you all the way.”
“Thank you,” Yami smiled. “Our deck has never let me down, and with your faith in me…”
“Can we just get on with this?” Kaiba interrupted. Yami glanced back at him to find him glaring down with deck in hand. “Cut my deck and let’s go, you’re wasting my time.”
Sighing, Yami turned back and offered his deck for a likewise cut and shuffle, and then they were pacing off to their respective corners of the arena. Word had gone through the arcade that Seto Kaiba was there and was going to duel, so twice as many kids now filled the gallery seats as before. Joey and the others removed themselves to sit with Yugi in the first row immediately behind Yami, where they could see the best of the action and cheer him on. Yami laid down his deck and closed his eyes for a moment, calming himself and preparing to do battle. He was not entirely sure that without Yugi being a part of him, without his Puzzle, he had access to the powers he was used to, but he believed in himself and his dueling philosophy. Dueling against Yugi had been so easy and fun, he didn’t stop to think whether he needed his inner powers to succeed. Perhaps it wasn’t additional ancient help that enabled him to defeat Kaiba again and again. He plucked up the top five cards and spread his hand. “Would you like to go first? Since this is, as you said, your arcade?”
“With pleasure,” Kaiba spat. He drew and ordered his cards, and smirked over them at Yami across the arena. “I hope you realize you’ve got yourself in over your head. I’m a champion duelist, not some bratty kid living in fantasy land.”
“You don’t have to tell me, I know precisely who and what you are, Kaiba,” Yami patiently sighed. “Just go.”
Kaiba smirked as he laid out his first cards, sure that he was facing some random imposter, though the question as to whether he was also fooling Yugi or the kid had brought him on purpose remained unanswered. But the duel progressed just as any other duel he had fought against Yugi, almost step for step, and Kaiba was shocked and annoyed to find himself falling victim to the same plots and strategies that got him before. He wasn’t expecting this stranger to have Yugi’s deck, or to know how to use it properly. True to his word, Yugi just sat behind Yami, watching with an empowered grin but saying very little, certainly not imparting any tips or dueling help. Yami had all the right cards at all the right times, taking a few hits but recovering well and holding off every little twist and turn of Kaiba’s cruel strategies. About halfway through the game, Kaiba realized he had to stop thinking that this person was anything but Yugi himself, or he would lose on account of the distraction, but by then the damage had been done. They kept hitting at each other, taking huge bites out of each other’s life points, until Kaiba was down to 300 and Yami holding at 700. It looked like Kaiba had finally turned things around, for he had the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon on the field ready to pounce, and all Yami could produce was the measly Kuriboh in defense. Yami laid a card face down and ended his turn, folding his arms sternly across his chest. He didn’t look defeated, though it was anybody’s guess how in the world the puny furball could stop an Ultimate Dragon except by delaying its assault one turn. Kaiba drew his card and then laughed spitefully. “Well, this looks rather familiar. I think you and I have been in this position before, haven’t we? My Blue Eyes Ultimate staring down your little Kuriboh, our life points almost gone, and just one pathetic card on your side of the field standing in the way of annihilation.”
“Yes, it seems we have faced off like this before,” Yami agreed, remembering Duelist Kingdom and the one time Kaiba had gained the upper hand. “At least this time, there’s no precipice for you to threaten to fall off from. We’ll let the cards decide this duel, not your underhanded tactics.”
Kaiba scowled, but let the comment pass. After all, he didn’t feel like bringing up the extenuating circumstances that put both their hearts on the line in that duel. “Yes, we will,” he agreed, “and I have the better cards. Your time as champion is over, Yugi.”
The pharaoh closed his eyes, his arms falling to his sides. He had never looked so serious outside of life-threatening circumstances. “I told you. I am Yami. Yugi is beside me, you can see him right there.” He opened his eyes and stared down Kaiba. “But for you to call me by his name means you’ve finally come to realize that which you tried to deny. You know me, you know my cards and my strategies. You haven’t been able to deny that I know what I’m doing, and you know why.” He let a smirk cross his lips. “Your instincts tell you what your mind isn’t willing to accept.”
“Would you shut up already?” Kaiba complained. “I don’t care who you are, I’m going to take you down in this turn and you can’t stop me. I know exactly what card you’ve laid down, because it’s the same one you use time and again with Kuriboh. I may have fallen for your same old tricks earlier, but that’s because I wasn’t taking you seriously.” His voice lowered dangerously. “I am now, and you can be sure I won’t fall for it again.”
“Then make your move,” Yami dared him. “It’s time to put you to the test. Do you really understand what you’re up against?”
“Of course I do.” Kaiba slapped a Magic card down on his field. “I’m activating De-spell. It destroys a Magic card on your side of the field regardless of whether it’s face up or face down.” He pointed dramatically at the card face-down on his opponent’s side. “So if that’s what I think it is, say goodbye to it.”
Yami raised an eyebrow. “What do you think it is?”
“Easy,” Kaiba smirked smugly. “Multiply. You’re going to use it to multiply your Kuriboh into a defensive wall that my Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon can’t destroy. You always said it was your ultimate defense.”
Yami chuckled quietly to himself under his breath. “That is one of my favorite strategies, yes. But this time, you’re wrong.”
Kaiba’s blue eyes widened. “What?”
Yami shook his head. “It’s not a Magic card. Therefore, playing that card was a waste of your turn.”
Kaiba snarled inarticulately, pounding a fist on the console in front of him. His confidence had been rattled, he now had to backtrack and rethink his move. The face-down card was a Trap, so if he attacked, he would fall victim to it, period. He had nothing in his hand at the moment that removed Trap cards, so the easy move would be to pass on attacking and wait to see what he drew next turn. But without knowing exactly what Trap it was, letting Yugi – or Yami or whatever the hell he wanted to call himself – have a free turn in which to sacrifice Kuriboh for a more powerful monster seemed like a very bad idea. His instincts cried for him to attack, but his mind said wait. “So you’ve laid a Trap,” he muttered. “Isn’t that kind of obvious?”
“It’s made you hesitate, hasn’t it?” Yami pointed out.
Kaiba frowned and stood back, folding his arms. “Hesitation is a sign of weakness. I’m merely thinking through my options.”
“Yes, keep telling yourself that,” Yami smirked. “You always seem to come up with some kind of fairy tale of your own to keep yourself from believing the truth. You can’t even make up your mind whether I’m Yugi or not.”
“That’s not how it is!” Kaiba retorted. Behind him, Mokuba sat back a little, staring at his brother’s brisk outburst. “You’re the one telling stories about pharaohs and Egypt and all that nonsense. I thought I made it clear before, I don’t care about any of that and nothing you can say will suddenly change my mind.”
“I’m inclined to agree with you,” Yami said solemnly. “If you haven’t admitted to yourself your connection to the past, and to me, by now, nothing will get through to you. After seeing the shadow realm, and the way Marik used it. After sharing a vision with me of our ancient pasts, and how fate has intertwined us.”
Kaiba glared at him. He had said nothing to anyone, not even Mokuba, of the strange vision that came to him in the middle of the duel when their god cards collided. He remembered it clearly, even if he didn’t want to. That Yami should know of it was proof of his existence, unless Yugi had gone around and told everyone about it – and they believed him. “The past is nothing. I make my own destiny, dammit, and you’re looking at it right here.” He thrust an impolite finger toward Yami and the cards on his field. “Your pathetic defense isn’t going to hold me back.” He waved the last card remaining in his hand and slapped it down on the board. “I play Stop Defense on your stupid Kuriboh!”
Yami glanced at the holographic playing field, startled, as Kuriboh let out a coo and reared up on his little green paws, shifting into attack mode. “What are you doing?”
“So maybe you are some kind of spirit,” Kaiba snapped, “but that doesn’t mean you’re any better a duelist than me! You can keep your visions and your shadow realm, all that exists to me is my cards and my strength! Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon, annihilate his hairball and the rest of his life points!”
Yami took a step back, more in surprise than anything else. The enormous dragon on the opposite side of the field roared majestically and spread its three sets of jaws, preparing to fire a blast of white lightning that would surely clinch the duel for Kaiba. The pharaoh gazed up at the impressive vision for just a moment before extending his hand commandingly towards the field. “Activate Trap!”
Kaiba grimaced, realizing too late that he had been goaded into attack and was about to pay for it, but as yet he didn’t know what he and his dragon were in for. The card lying on the field flipped up, displaying its face to him. When he saw the graphic, Kaiba’s heart froze within him. The oldest trick in the book, and he fell completely for it. “Mirror Force!”
The dragon’s triple blast of white light hit the card squarely, and the prismatic shield it summoned flickered briefly in front of a very relieved Kuriboh before reflecting the attack back at the Ultimate Dragon. It screamed and withered under the power of its own blast, and then vanished from the field. Yami gazed across at Kaiba and gave him a disappointed frown. “You knew it was my favorite trap card, and yet you let me get away with it. Why?”
Kaiba stood there in shock, looking down at his empty hands. He had nothing else to play, and no monsters left on the field to defend him. “This isn’t how it’s supposed to end! I should be able to beat you!”
Yami drew his last card, and then tilted a cool look toward his monster. “Kuriboh, would you care to do the honors?”
Kuriboh flexed his little claws, cooing triumphantly, and then charged across the field, barreling straight into and through Kaiba, exploding on contact. The attack was small, but it was Kaiba’s last 300 life points. He hunched over the console with hands splayed out over his cards, his shoulders shaking with anger. Yami glanced back at his friends, particularly at Yugi, who was on his feet with a shout punching a fist in the air. “You did it! That was great!”
“Way to go!” Joey cheered. “Look at him! You totally blew him away!”
They all looked across the arena to Kaiba. The audience around them was applauding enthusiastically, particularly over having just witnessed the great Seto Kaiba losing a duel. Kaiba kept his head down, remaining there with his white-knuckled fists resting on the console in front of him. Yami took his cards from the console and gave them to Yugi before calling out to his opponent. “Kaiba! You fought well, for not having your head in the game. You should have trusted me from the start! Things might have gone a bit smoother.”
Kaiba lifted his head and shot him a glare across the arena. Not caring about the spectators still sitting around or trying to walk past him to leave, he tore himself away from the console and stormed across the arena, heading straight for Yugi, Yami, and their group of friends. Mokuba jumped up and grabbed the deck from his brother’s station before chasing after him. Joey and Tristan tensed for a fight, and Yami placed himself in front of Yugi, but Kaiba stopped just short of physical contact and glared down the pharaoh. “Why?” he furiously hissed. “Why are you here? Is it just to fuck with my head?”
Yami faced the glare without flinching. “I’m not here to have anything to do with you, Kaiba,” he said quietly. “My purpose for this day is just to spend time with Yugi, and his friends, and remember what it’s like to be alive. At the end of today, I return to the Puzzle, and you’ll go back to seeing me only as a part of Yugi like before.” A grim smile flashed upon his lips. “It wasn’t my intention to run into you and shake your sense of reality. But it was a good duel, and for that I thank you.”
Kaiba held his gaze for just a moment before growling under his breath and turning sharply on his heel, making his purple coat swirl magnificently in his wake. “Come on, Mokuba,” they heard him mutter. “We’re leaving.”
Mokuba sighed tiredly and picked up the briefcase his brother had left. “Sorry about that, guys. It was nice to meet you, pharaoh…”
Yami nodded kindly as Mokuba trotted away on his brother’s heels. Joey grumbled indignantly. “After all that and he doesn’t even say goodbye. That man needs a lesson in manners.”
“Come on, guys,” Yugi sighed. “I think I’ve had my fill of dueling for today. Let’s get out of here and get some fresh air.” The others readily agreed, and they left the arena and the arcade together as one pack. Once outside, Yugi slipped his hand into Yami’s and leaned close to him. “You were awesome out there,” he complimented in a near-whisper. “I won’t lie, I loved watching you duel almost as much as dueling you myself.”
Yami smiled down at him as they walked behind the others. “It’s a new experience, isn’t it? I’ll admit it’s not quite the same without your spirit close to mine, but it’s good to see I can hold my own in a duel without your help.”
“Of course you can. You’re the mighty pharaoh.” Yugi winked smartly. “It kind of feels like vindication, after so long. You finally beat Kaiba’s Ultimate Dragon like we should have back in Duelist Kingdom.”
“Back then, it was an Ultimate monster,” Yami admitted. “But we’ve faced tougher monsters in our time.” He looked around them as they walked towards the parking lot and Mai’s car. “So, what’s next? What else is there to do?”
“Get away from this place,” Joey suggested dryly. “How about we go back to our side of town? What do you say?” He nudged Mai with an elbow. “Give us a ride, maybe?”
“If you boys in the back seat don’t mind getting a little snuggly,” she retorted, elbowing him back.
Tristan thumbed in the direction of Yugi and Yami. “I don’t think that’s an issue for these two.”
“I know!” Yugi suddenly exclaimed. “Let’s go get ice cream!”
The others shared a look, and realized they all thought that was a fantastic idea. It wasn’t summer yet, but a treat like that would feel good after watching the duels and being confronted by Kaiba’s indignance. Only Yami looked around with a curious, questioning frown. “What is this? What are we getting?”
“That’s it. In the car,” Mai ordered. “If the pharaoh’s never had ice cream before, we are so going.”
She had rented a convertible again, her favorite kind, and put the top down so the boys could scramble in and find seats. Yugi being the shortest, he got placed in the middle of the back seat, but he had no trouble with how close it required him to sit next to Yami. As Mai peeled out of the parking lot and headed across Domino to the part of town the others lived in and around, where they spent most of their time, Yami draped an arm around his young love’s shoulders and held him close, smiling contentedly at their situation. With the wind in his hair and friends all around him, his lover half in his lap, and the promise of some kind of treat ahead, he figured this was what life was meant to be like. Yugi did not see the flicker of regret pass through his eyes and disappear as he decided to simply enjoy the moment and not think about returning to the Puzzle. About then, a thumping dance song came on over the radio, and Yugi leaned forward with a cry of delight. “Turn it up, turn it up! I love this song!” Mai glanced at him in the rearview mirror and obliged him with a grin, flicking the volume knob up considerably. Even with the top down, the stereo thudded with the music, and Yugi tossed his head back with a laugh. “This has got to be the best day of my whole life!”
Everyone smiled at him in their own way, agreeing with the assessment. Yugi threw his hands up to catch the wind as Mai gunned the engine and roared around a bend, making Joey hoot with excitement. Yami, too, closed his eyes and laughed into the wind, falling in love with life all over again. He watched with utter delight as Yugi, Joey, and Mai sang along loudly (and badly) with the radio, Yugi practically bouncing in his seat the whole way. They headed for the park that the two lovers had crossed through that morning, on rumors that there was an ice cream stand there most times of the year. Mai found a parking spot a few blocks away, allowing them to take a leisurely walk to and through the park in search of the vendor. It wasn’t hard to guess which direction it might lay, as they started to see children and couples walking past them licking at ice cream cones – apparently, everyone had the same idea on such a lovely day. They tracked the happy patrons back to the source, and Yugi nearly dragged Yami by their clasped hands up the sidewalk to the ice cream stand. Though a variety of flavors stood on display, Yugi knew exactly what he wanted already and didn’t give his lover much choice in the matter. “Chocolate,” he responded with a positively wicked grin when Mai asked him. “There can’t be any other choice! Well, but I’m getting strawberry.”
Mai smirked naughtily. “Once the pharaoh tastes chocolate, he’s not gonna want to go back in the Puzzle,” she warned with a wink.
Yami gave her a disbelieving look. “Nothing can taste that good.”
Yugi leaned up to whisper in his ear. “That wasn’t what you said last night.”
Yami started and blushed as Yugi innocently stepped up to order their ice cream, plunking down his money even as Joey nudged him out of the way to look at his options. The pharaoh managed to regain his calm face in time to be handed an ice cream cone. “So, this is your special treat,” he commented.
“Yup! Just don’t let it melt all over your hand or anything.” Yugi slurped at his strawberry ice cream and grinned cutely.
Yami followed his lead and gave his ice cream a hesitant lick, and then didn’t say anything for a long time. Yugi giggled to himself at the complete rapture in Yami’s eyes as he concentrated solely on the ice cream, investigating it fully with his best techniques. Once everyone had bought something, Yugi took his partner’s free hand and tugged him along with them, across the green lawns to a nice spot under the trees to sit and enjoy their dessert. Joey, Mai, and Tristan settled onto a bench, while the other two sprawled in the grass at their feet, everyone mostly engrossed in ice cream for now and not too inclined to talk much, apart from reminiscing about the look of complete shock and horror on Kaiba’s face as he lost and learned just who he had lost to. Yugi sat there with a pleased grin, occasionally giving Yami suggestive looks as he licked at his ice cream, only to giggle and look innocent so quickly that no one but the pharaoh saw his teasing. If he hadn’t been so lost in the heavenly taste sensation that was chocolate ice cream, Yami might have pushed his love over in the grass and kissed him fiercely right in front of everyone, to let him know that the teasing was not going unnoticed. “So,” Mai said, not seeing the interplay of glances between the two, “what are you boys going to do with the rest of your day out? Too bad it’s not summer, you ought to have taken the pharaoh to the beach.”
“I know,” Yugi sighed, “there’s a lot of stuff we’re not going to be able to do, but we didn’t really want to wait for another month or a different season. We just wanted to…have our chance.”
“What we’re doing is of no consequence,” Yami added, glancing up briefly from his ice cream. “The only thing that matters to me is being with Yugi, and with all of you. You have all been my friends for so long, it means much to me to be able to share my day with you.”
“Same goes for us, man,” Joey said seriously. “It’s amazing being able to see you, and see you and Yugi together.”
“Yeah, you two are so cute!” Mai squealed.
Yugi blushed faintly and scratched at an imaginary itch on his neck. “Yeah…um…well…I don’t know what else we’re going to do. Probably go out for dinner, maybe just the two of us. Not that I don’t want to hang around with you guys,” he quickly explained, “it’s just…”
“You two want some alone-time,” Joey said understandingly. “I don’t blame you. It’s your one chance to be together, you don’t need an entourage tagging along with you everywhere you go. Kind of puts a damper on the mood.”
“But that’s not till later,” Yugi assured. “We can still hang out for a while.”
“I kind of don’t mind just doing this,” Mai suggested, leaning back on the bench and stretching her arms around along the back. Doing so made one arm fall just behind Joey, who studiously did not look at it and pretended not to notice. “Sitting here, doing nothing. It’s a nice day.” She cast a look at Yami, who was busy making sure as he finished his ice cream cone that he had gotten every last trace of chocolate. “And we have our own source of cheap entertainment right here.”
Aware that eyes and smiles were on him, Yami looked up with a wary glance, as though caught in the act of doing something naughty. “What? Me?”
Mai gave him a cute smile. “Sorry, hon, but watching you react to every little thing is horribly amusing. Especially the way you’re making love to that ice cream cone.”
Both Yugi and Yami flushed red, and the latter decided to put an end to the issue by popping the last bit of the cone in his mouth. Yugi laughed it off. “Well, you know, it’s been a long five thousand years. You’ll have to forgive him for being a little…enthusiastic.”
Conversation faded after that, as they all felt perfectly happy just sitting around watching people go by, a light breeze scented of flowers ruffling through their hair. Yami laid a hand on top of Yugi’s, and the two shared a smile before looking away, finding the curious cross-section of humanity walking to and fro in the park interesting enough to hold their attention for a while. They could hear Tristan and Joey talking about something school-related behind them, and the occasional light laugh and jibe from Mai, but for the most part, the pair of lovers just enjoyed doing what Yami had wanted to do earlier in the day, what Yugi promised they would – sitting under the trees in the grass. Yami even bent to remove his boots and socks, and wiggled his bare toes in the cool grass with a contented sigh. Yugi laughed at him, and then laid back in the grass with his arms under his head, the weight of the Puzzle so comfortable and familiar on his stomach. Even after most of the day, it was still something of a wonder and a novelty to be able to glance aside and see Yami sitting there, his graceful profile and spiky hairstyle framed against the blue sky as he looked out across the world. His head turned sharply and a questioning look appeared on his face as Joey said something to him. “Well,” he replied with a shy smile, “it’s the simple pleasures, really. Perhaps you take things like feeling the grass beneath your feet for granted, until it’s something you can’t do. For all I know,” he added, glancing down at his toes, “I’ve never done this.”
“Yeah, I can’t imagine they’d have lots of grass in Egypt,” Joey smirked.
“How would you know?” Mai chided him. “Have you ever been there?”
“They show it on TV,” Joey said defensively. “Sand and pyramids. That’s about it.”
“There’s more to Egypt than that.” Mai shook her head in exasperation. “For your sake, I hope someday you get to go there and find out whether or not they have grass.”
“So do I,” Yami said wistfully. “I would like that.”
Yugi reached out to him and brushed a hand along his back. “Maybe someday,” he suggested kindly. “I’d like to bring you back to your homeland. Who knows? Maybe in order to fulfill your destiny, we’ll have to go there.”
Joey looked aside at where the two of them were sitting in the grass. “And you don’t remember anything at all about your past? Or what Egypt is like or anything?”
Yami shook his head solemnly. “Not a thing. I occasionally have a sense that something is familiar to me, that my instincts recognize something, but that hasn’t happened in a while. But, I’ve stopped worrying about it.” He gave their friends a warm smile. “I am here now, with Yugi and with all of you, and you’re helping me to make new memories and value my current friendships. At times like this, I don’t feel so desperate to know my past.”
Joey smiled kindly back, and then suddenly declared, “Dogpile on Yami!” He leaped off the bench, while Yami started and recoiled, not sure what he was about to do. Yugi sat up sharply as Joey flew past him and landed on the pharaoh, hooking an arm around his neck and dragging him to the ground. Yami gave a short cry of surprise and alarm, but realized quickly that Joey was not there to hurt him, but to toy with him, and very shortly he was laughing and struggling to get out of his friend’s powerful grip. Tristan lunged to join them, piling on top of both Yami and Joey with a raucous laugh and a headlock for Joey. All three wrestled each other in the grass for a bit, laughing and shouting, while Mai shook her head and Yugi just sat there staring, not sure whether to tell his friends off for hurting his lover or let them go. But he could see, after a minute or two, that Yami was not in danger – in fact, he was laughing. Joey was sitting on top of him, keeping him pinned down, but he was laughing and pushing back. The roughhousing was their way of accepting him, and he knew it. Getting a grin of his own, Yugi jumped up and threw himself on Joey, dragging him aside and letting Tristan fall over Yami, leaving all four boys in a tangle of arms and legs and uncontrollable laughter. Mai sighed long in exasperation and gave up, sitting back against the park bench and doing her best to ignore the pile of exuberant young men in the grass beside her.
Eventually, the play-fight ended and the four of them sat around on the ground together, talking and catching their breath, brushing bits of grass off their clothing. The day was wearing on, and from where he sat, Joey could see Mai watching them, listening without interrupting and looking sort of bored. It was he who finally suggested they go their separate ways, phrasing it to be most sensitive to Yugi’s needs. “Come on, there’s lots you and Yami could do before the sun goes down,” he encouraged. “We don’t want to get in your way, you don’t need us looking over your shoulder like chaperones or something.”
“Joey’s right,” Tristan agreed. “You probably don’t want us around so you can get all smoochy. Not that I’d have a problem with it if you did it in front of us,” he quickly added, holding up a hand. “I’ll just do my best not to let it remind me of my own painful singleness…”
“Aww, Tristan,” Yugi said sympathetically. “I wouldn’t do that to you.”
“Now look what you did,” Joey accused Tristan. “See? We’re totally getting in the way of you and Yami having some time together. It’s okay, Yug – we’ve had a good day. I know I won’t forget it anytime soon.”
Yami gazed across their little circle at him. “Are you sure, Joey? I don’t want you to feel like you have to leave.”
“It’s okay, man.” Joey smiled confidently. “We had a good time hanging out with you today. Now, it’s time for you and Yugi to go do what you want. You’re not going to get another chance, don’t lose this one.”
“Okay,” Yugi relented. “I suppose we could walk home and get a jacket before we go out for dinner. It’s going to get cold later.” He got up and brushed off his pants, and the group of them stood around for a few minutes longer, saying a very prolonged goodbye and lingering over their sentimental meeting with the embodied pharaoh. Yami clasped their hands one by one in gratitude, and even embraced Joey, feeling the first rush of emotion at having to leave them. From this point on, he would see his friends only through Yugi again. He and Yugi stood there watching the others leave, waving over their shoulders as they walked back through the park to Mai’s car so she could give Tristan a ride home and then end up somewhere with Joey, or so he hoped. Yugi then slipped his hand into his partner’s, sidling up to him. “Are you okay?”
Yami sighed quietly. “I think so. I just didn’t realize how much it would sting, to have to say farewell to our friends.”
Yugi caressed his hand lovingly with his thumb, pulling him around to face him. “Do you think we made a mistake, deciding to use the ritual like this?”
Yami frowned curiously. “A mistake? No…why would you say that?”
“I don’t know…maybe, having to say goodbye at the end of it all, and thinking about not getting to experience these feelings again,” Yugi sheepishly tried to explain, “maybe that’s more painful for you than not getting to experience them in the first place. I didn’t want to cause you pain by doing this.”
Groaning softly in understanding, Yami reached out and gathered Yugi into his arms, holding him against his chest in a tender embrace. “You haven’t caused me pain,” he assured. “I would rather have this one day, even if it comes at a bittersweet price, than never to have gotten to be here at all. There is much I will miss, but it will all be here.” He tapped his temple with a finger. “My memory will be full with all these new experiences, I will have much to savor for a long time to come.”
Yugi nodded and snuggled him tightly. “I don’t want to think about you going away. I want to put that off as long as possible, and do like Joey said – have time with you.”
Yami smiled and ruffled his hair. “You said something about walking back home?”
“Oh, yeah…I thought, maybe we could go for dinner somewhere down by the ocean.” Yugi smiled cutely as he took his lover’s hand again and began to lead him away, towards the path. “That’s the only part of town we haven’t been to yet. But it’ll get a little cold, so I want a jacket. And we should check in with Grandpa, let him know we’re going to be out the rest of the night.”
“That’s fine with me,” Yami nodded. “I’ll go anywhere you want, Yugi.”
Yugi beamed at him and settled into stride with him, as they walked together through the park to the sidewalks that would lead them back home. It was still a lengthy walk, allowing them time to enjoy the cooling breeze and the bustling energy of the waning day, as there were lots of people still out and about, lots of things to see and places to look. They entered the game shop through the main door, noticing that there were no customers at the moment. Grandpa greeted them heartily as they entered, having dropped each other’s hands moments before opening the door. “There you boys are. Having a good day, I hope?”
“Yeah,” Yugi replied cheerily. “We’re having a lot of fun! We just left the group, I’m going to get a jacket and then I think we’re going out for dinner. Do you want me to bring you anything, Grandpa?”
“No, I’m fine,” Grandpa Muto assured. “Oh, Yugi, Téa called for you after you left. She left a message but figured she would get a hold of one of the others.”
“Yeah, she called Tristan. It’s okay.” Yugi shrugged a little. “She just wanted to let me know she wasn’t coming. It’s all right…she got into that dance school in America that she wanted, so she has to get ready for it.”
“Oh? Well, good for her.” Grandpa gave a beaming smile to Yami. “And what about you, pharaoh? Are you having a good time?”
Yami smiled back. “Immensely. I never knew I could find so much to enjoy in the small things, things to see and touch and taste.” His smile grew sly. “No one told me about chocolate ice cream before.”
Grandpa Muto laughed heartily. “I see! Well, it sounds like you’re in good hands.” He returned his attention to his grandson. “Where are you taking him for dinner?”
“Down by the oceanfront somewhere,” Yugi replied. “Do you remember the name of that place we tried last fall?”
“Hmm…no, sorry. I remember it had an open-air patio, though.”
“Yeah, that’s why I wanted to go there. Oh well.” Yugi went around the counter so he could get to the stairs leading up to their home. “I’m sure I’ll find it when we get down there. C’mon, Yami.”
“Don’t stay out too late,” Grandpa warned him as they hopped up the stairs. “You have school tomorrow.”
“I know!” Yugi called down to him before pushing open the door to their flat and ducking safely inside with Yami. Even as the door was closing, the pharaoh’s hands were on him, slinking around his waist to catch him and hug him. Giggling, Yugi sank back into him and let himself be held for a moment, before twisting around and kissing his partner excitedly. “I do want to get back well before midnight anyway,” he purred. “I want us to be able to have time to…”
Yami caught on to his sensual tone right away. “…make love one more time?” he finished.
“Yeah.” Yugi smiled shyly as he met Yami’s eyes. “I want it to be the last thing we do before you have to go, so we can remember it forever.”
“You’ll get no argument from me.” Yami kissed him once more and let him go. “But we can stay out long enough to see the stars, right?”
“You want to see the stars?” Yugi gave him a tender look. “Yeah. We’ll do that. Anything you want, Yami, just tell me.”
“That’s all I need.”
Yami followed him into the bedroom, accepting the long-sleeved shirt Yugi found for him and changing into it, smiling subtly at the ogling look he was getting. Yugi just picked up his school jacket and slung it over his shoulders. “There. I think I’m all set. I have enough money for us to get dinner, so we can just go. We have to take the train, though – it’s too far to walk.”