Queer As Tachi – Chapter 6
Riding the train down to the sea shore was not the usual boring but necessary jaunt with Yami along, as he clung to the railing and enjoyed the singular feel of having his body jolted and swayed by the motion of the train. Yugi sat watching him, sharing secretive smiles with him on occasion, though they did their best not to be too public with their affection in such a place. The usual throng of commuters had petered out by now, leaving them with enough space to breathe and enjoy the ride. A beautiful sunset was glowing over the calm ocean when they finally walked up to the place Yugi had been looking for, giving them reason to pause for a few moments and gaze at the fire in the sky before going inside and asking to be seated on the patio. There weren’t many people out there, as it was early in the spring yet and still a bit chilly for casual dining outside, but Yugi had been prepared and the two of them didn’t mind the crisp tang of the salt air coming off the ocean. The view, of the sun hanging like a glowing orange ball just above the horizon, more than made up for it. Yami breathed deeply of the sea breeze and gazed wistfully out at the water, resting his chin on his hand so he could relax and take it all in – the lacy golden shimmer on the tops of the waves, the cries of gulls wheeling overhead, the long purple fingers of clouds coming in to try and capture the sun before it set. He glanced across the table at Yugi and smiled warmly at his young love’s cheerful eyes looking back. “Are you sure this isn’t a dream?” he asked in his usual deep purr.
Yugi smiled in return, shy and content. “It’s almost too good to be real, isn’t it?” he said softly. “I never thought I’d be able to have this chance, to just sit at the same table with you and have dinner like real boyfriends.”
Yami sat up with a bit of a surprised expression. “I am your real boyfriend,” he said, pouting ever-so-slightly. “Even though I can’t be with you in this way…”
“I know,” Yugi sighed, holding up a cautioning hand. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that to sound like it did. You know I love you, and I’ll take you in whatever form I can get you.” He smiled again. “It’s just extra special, this way. As much time as we spend together, I can’t help every once in a while daydreaming that I could go out with you, on a date, and hold your hand and proclaim to the world, ‘look, I have a boyfriend!’ And now I’ve gotten to do all of that!” He beamed cutely across the table, trying not to giggle. “Now I can say I’ve done it, everything I’ve ever wanted.”
Yami nodded understandingly, an adoring and patient smile on his lips. “Has it met your expectations? Has it been like you dreamed it would be?”
“Way beyond it,” Yugi immediately answered. “I won’t forget this day as long as I live, Yami.”
Smiling softly, Yami reached across the table and took his lover’s hand, squeezing it gently and then settling down to stroke his thumb absently back and forth across the backs of Yugi’s fingers. “Nor will I,” he said after a moment. “My memory is full to overflowing with all the wonderful things we’ve done and seen. It feels like my heart is going to burst from my chest, as joyful as I am.”
Yugi smiled dreamily at him. “That’s how I feel every time I get to see you, even inside the Puzzle.” They shared a smile and then simultaneously looked away bashfully. “So,” Yugi said to continue, “what have you learned, about life? I’d hate to think I wasted your day by being selfish and keeping you all to myself.”
“Believe me, it isn’t wasted,” Yami assured. He sighed gently, looking away towards the darkening sky as he thought. “People…humanity…the world. It’s too large for me to grasp, when my world is only the Puzzle, and what I can see and experience through you. How can I hope to stand as the savior of the world when I don’t understand what the world is?” He continued to caress the backs of Yugi’s fingers as he mused. “Some instinct of mine has always been there, to face evil and defeat it, to act as that savior, but I can’t say as I fully understand why. I don’t love the world, the only people I know are your friends. But…” A smile slowly found its way onto his face, his eyes half-closed as he looked inward for the things he wanted to say. “…today I saw the world. I saw people, being people, going about their lives. I don’t know them, but I can see many things worth saving about them. I’m sure not all of them are good – some of them may be quite evil. It’s not my place to know, or to judge them. My purpose is only to save them from the things they can’t control.”
Yugi cocked his head curiously. “So, you understand now? You can see a reason to save the world?”
“I don’t know.” Yami glanced around them, at the handful of other diners on the patio, at the bustling ship traffic down at the edge of the ocean below them. “I can’t think in such grand terms or it means nothing to me. I’ve only been walking among the people of the world for one day, it may be a bit much to say I’ve had a complete epiphany and feel kinship to them all, such that I would want to be their champion.” He returned a smile toward Yugi. “But I love our friends. I care about your grandfather, and I love you. For their sake, I know that I must save the world…because you and they need a safe place to live in, to enjoy life and not have it disrupted by the shadows.”
“I suppose that’s enough,” Yugi smiled back. “You know I’m with you through it all, to the end.”
“I know.” They parted and sat back, then, as their food arrived and was served. Yami studied his chopsticks carefully before remembering how to use them and getting down to business. “Although,” he went on after a bit, “I did experience enough to know that there is value in every soul, in every person we passed on the street today.”
“Oh yeah?” Yugi nibbled at his dinner between comments. “Like what?”
Yami took a bite and savored it for a long silence, enraptured by the taste of mushrooms. “Well,” he said when he could gather his composure again, “there was the little girl in the park smelling all the flowers, who giggled at me because I was doing the same. And the man in the business suit eating ice cream. And the older woman on the bus who looked so tired, with her shopping bag in her lap. And Seto Kaiba, even though he was so angry with me.” He glanced out at the sunset while he took another bite of his dinner. “These are the faces of the world. I may or may not know them, or be close to them, or even may be their adversary…but they have lives and deserve to live them free of fear. Even if the only way my life touches theirs is to see them pass me by on the street, I will still do everything I can to give them their lives.”
Yugi sat gazing at him in wonder, forgetting to eat. “Wow,” he breathed after a bit. “I guess I never thought of it that way. That’s really great, Yami. I’m glad you got that out of our day.”
“As am I.” He suddenly smirked and winked across the table. “It makes me feel a lot less guilty about sitting here thinking about how much I’m going to ravage you when we get home.”
Yugi’s violet eyes flew wide open, and a blush dashed across his cheeks. But no one else was seated close enough to them to have heard that. “Yami!” he scolded, and then started to giggle.
Yami simply concentrated on picking things up with his chopsticks, tending to drop them at least once before getting them to his mouth. “I may be a pharaoh,” he conceded, “and it may be my destiny to save the world, but that doesn’t mean I’m pure and innocent. Especially not with this body and its needs.”
His young love nodded knowingly, a teasing smile on his lips. “Yeah, I’ll make sure to see to those needs when we get home,” he promised. “I wouldn’t want you to have to end your day incomplete.”
They settled in to their meal, then, and passed the time eating and talking much more casually, about some of the things Yami had found the most interesting now that he could touch and taste and let his emotions run wild through his soul again. The sunset had faded to the last purple glow along the horizon and the stars were out when they finished, and Yugi handled the payment so they could leave. They had to walk a short way to the train station, but it was a quiet time of night in that part of the city and no one disturbed them on their walk. Yugi huddled up to his lover’s side to ward off the chill, and they walked with arms around each other, hardly speaking, only enjoying each other’s company and looking up now and again to the stars. They walked along a viaduct with the ocean on one side, and paused there to get a true look at the night sky, since the further into Domino they went, the less they would see thanks to city lights. Yugi lamented about that, but Yami assured him that this was better than nothing, better than simply staring at the stairways and labyrinthine corridors of the Puzzle. It was a point of view Yugi hadn’t considered, and it left him quiet while the pharaoh simply gazed up and out at the starry sky above the ocean, breathing deep of the salt air and listening to the quiet lap of water against the pilings of the viaduct below them. When he had gotten his fill, he simply tugged at Yugi’s shoulder, getting him to turn and walk away with him, saying a silent farewell to the ocean and the sky as they headed back home.
The rising full moon stood before them as they walked to the train station and checked to see that they would have a few minutes to wait before catching the next one across town. The platform was eerily deserted at the moment, though brightly lit and well-kept, such that the two of them knew they had nothing to fear. Yugi pocketed their passes and snuggled up to Yami, slipping his arms around the pharaoh’s slender waist and resting his head on his chest. “I can’t believe how perfect this day has been,” he murmured. “I don’t want it to end, not yet.”
Yami held him and hugged him, soothingly caressing his back. “We still have a few hours,” he reminded. “A lot can be done in that time.” Something occurred to him, and he leaned back in order to glance down at Yugi. “You don’t have homework you’re neglecting, do you?”
Yugi shook his head and rested it against Yami’s chest again. “I did as much of it as I could last night, after dinner,” he mumbled into the pharaoh’s shirt. “I don’t care about going to school tomorrow, all that matters is right now. I’m staying up until midnight, I want to have every last minute with you.”
“And you will.” Yami cocked his head in order to sneak a kiss to Yugi’s forehead. “I won’t give up the chance to be with you. As long as I’m not hurting you by it.”
Yugi heaved a short, dry chuckle. “I’ll probably fall asleep in class tomorrow, but that’s nothing new. I don’t care. That normal, boring life means nothing to me anymore. Everything I am comes from being with you.”
Yami squeezed him tighter, thinking to himself that such a statement was more true than either of them realized. They stood like that waiting for the train, arms around each other, sinking into each other, so long as there was no one else around to watch. Bubbly canned music was faintly playing over the system, as background noise usually unnoticed by daily commuters and schoolchildren, but with everything so quiet and empty, the sound intruded on the night with a cheerful tone that certainly didn’t match the moods of the young men on the platform. After a minute or two, though, the song faded out and a slower one kicked in, an instrumental bastardization of some popular radio ballad. Yugi giggled faintly and lifted his head, giving Yami a smile. “Dance with me.”
Yami looked perplexed. “What?”
“Come on, as long as we’re standing here.” Yugi readjusted the way his arms lay around his lover’s waist. “Dance with me.”
“But…I don’t know how to,” the pharaoh protested.
“You don’t have to. You’ve already got your arms around me.” Yugi hugged him and settled his head on his shoulder. “Just listen to the music. You’ll know what to do.”
Yami wasn’t so sure about that, but he couldn’t deny how adorable Yugi looked leaning against him, shifting one hand so it rested on his chest, and found that the young one had subtly guided him with his own body to begin swaying to the music. It wasn’t any kind of spectacular dance, with steps and movements and finesse, but it was sweet and romantic, the two of them alone with the piped-in music providing them a perfect soundtrack for their day. Yami wrapped his arms tighter around Yugi and bowed his head over him, taking the lead in the slow sway that passed for dancing in the modern era. All that mattered to them was that they were together, and the moment felt right. As the ballad ended, they heard the train horn in the distance, and knew to let go and give each other a smile in thanks before the train could intrude on them and force them apart for the sake of public appearance. Even so, when the cars came to a stop by the platform and let them in, Yugi towed Yami along by his hand, figuring they could at least keep doing that regardless of any potential stares from strangers. He was with the one he loved, the opinions of strangers no longer mattered.
Yugi and Yami ducked up the back stairs together, still giggling to each other over something Yugi had said outside, but made sure to drop each other’s hands before pushing open the door and looking to see where Grandpa Muto was. They could hear him in the kitchen, and the water running – he was washing dishes. Yugi called out to let him know they were back, making him peep his head out from the other room. “Oh! Hello, you two. You’re back earlier than I expected.”
“We were just going out for dinner, we weren’t going to stay out long.” Yugi met his grandpa in the doorway to the kitchen. “Is there anything you want me to do?”
“No, no, I’ve got it covered,” Grandpa assured him. “You go on and keep the pharaoh company. I wouldn’t want him to feel left out if I made you do chores now.”
Yugi beamed and threw his arm around his grandfather for a quick hug. “Thanks, Grandpa. You’re the best.”
Yami stood aside smiling, his hands in the pockets of his jeans. “Are you sure we can’t help you with something?”
“No, don’t be silly. You’ve only got a few hours left in your day, I’m not going to make you waste a minute helping Yugi with his chores.” Grandpa winked smartly. “I’ll just work him double-hard tomorrow to make up for it.”
Yugi rolled his eyes. “Gee, thanks. That’s the price I have to pay, I guess.”
“What are you going to do with the rest of the night?” Grandpa wondered.
“I don’t know,” Yugi shrugged, though he certainly did. “Maybe, talk…play games. Just hang out.”
“My apologies, Mr. Muto…” Yami faced the elder man and bowed slightly. “It’s my fault that Yugi is going to be staying up very late tonight. I hope you’ll forgive us our enthusiasm.”
Grandpa chuckled, waving a hand. “No apologies necessary. I understand.” He then fixed Yugi with a warning stare, pointing a stern finger. “But I’m not calling you in sick tomorrow. I don’t care if you’re up until midnight, you’re still getting up in the morning and going to school.”
“I know, I know!” Yugi assured. “I promise, I’ll get up.”
“I’ll make sure of that.” Grandpa wiped his hands on a towel and flung it over his shoulder. “Now, is there anything I can get you two, while you ‘hang out?’ Some snacks, maybe?”
A few minutes later, Yugi shut the door behind them, snickering at the pile of snacks he had been plied with to make sure he kept Yami happy. They sat down on the floor together with cookies, Pocky, and a glass of milk each, and some sweets in case they hadn’t gotten enough. Yugi didn’t want to plunk the pharaoh down in front of the TV to kill time until Grandpa went to bed and they could justify getting more active, it was too impersonal and besides, Yami already knew what it was and how it worked. It wasn’t like he was a stranger to modern conveniences and technologies, he had become accustomed to them by experiencing Yugi’s lifestyle through him, plus he had no memory of his rule in ancient Egypt so he had nothing to compare the modernity against. He was perfectly happy being closed away in the privacy of Yugi’s room, tasting more delicacies of the world and relaxing. With his back against the bed, he stretched out his legs and wiggled his toes playfully, heaving a contented sigh. “So this is how you spend much of your life.”
Yugi sat across from him, legs folded beneath him, while he sucked on a stick of Pocky. “Mhm,” he nodded. “Hanging out.”
Yami lifted his head to gaze through the skylight above them, where he could see the full moon gleaming like a pearl in the sky. “Sometimes, I wonder what it would be like to live your life. School and friends and hanging out…”
“You do live my life,” Yugi retorted. “Except you get to go back into the Puzzle and not have to care when I’m supposed to be in school or doing homework and stuff, lucky.”
The pharaoh chuckled. “That’s not quite what I mean. I may not remember for myself what my life was like, as a young man ruling Egypt, but there are scholars who have studied history and can tell us what they think it was like. I don’t think I would have had a lot of ‘hanging out’ time…or anyone to do it with.”
Yugi smiled sympathetically. “Depends on how old you were when you became pharaoh, I guess. But yeah…it’s tough, not knowing whether you had friends as close to you as Joey and Tristan and Téa are to me. I hope you did.”
“I hope so, too.” Yami sobered somewhat, averting his eyes to the cold glass of milk he held between his hands. “It’s a daunting thought.”
“What is?”
“That this wonderful life I have discovered, as a part of you…might be far better than the one I left behind when my spirit was locked away.” He blinked solemnly. “At first I used to tell myself that this was the shadow, that the memories I lost were important and I ought to concentrate on recovering them, and not worry about enjoying myself or making friends in the present. But now, I’m not so sure.”
Yugi scooted a little closer to him, so he could rest a hand comfortingly on Yami’s knee. “I noticed that since you and I started…since we fell in love,” he said softly, “you haven’t talked as much about unlocking your lost memories as you used to.”
Yami lifted his eyes and smiled at the yearning face across from him. “It’s different, now,” he admitted. “I have found much to be thankful for, much to hold on to and enjoy. The only thing I would want to recover, now, is the key to my power. That is still important. But as to whether I ever remember what life was like as a pharaoh, in Egypt, who I was, who I knew…it doesn’t matter so much.” His eyes lowered again. “What if I was lonely? What if my life was bitter and hard, and I had no one to love? I would much rather live this life, forgetting all of that.”
Yugi understood his worries more than he was able to explain. He crawled over and maneuvered himself so he could sit beside Yami, and rest his head on his partner’s shoulder. His hand slid down Yami’s outstretched arm, caressing gently. “Sometimes I wonder,” he murmured shyly, “whether there was anyone in your life, back then. Like I am now. I mean…I know back in those days people got married at a lot younger age. And if you were pharaoh…did that mean you had a whole bunch of wives, or a harem or something…?”
Yami shook his head. “I don’t think it was like that, Yugi. After all…” He looked down at his hands, turning them over to gaze at his palms. Yugi took advantage of that and slid his hand down his arm to clasp Yami’s. “…I know I’m not very old. When my spirit was locked away in the Puzzle, I must have still been a young man. Perhaps not too many years older than you are now.”
Yugi squeezed his hand kindly. “And I’m almost eighteen.” He shifted his head slightly, so he could gaze at Yami’s serious face right beside his. “That doesn’t mean you couldn’t have been married, or had…anyone.”
Yami enfolded Yugi’s small hand between both of his. “Are you afraid that if I remembered a past love, I would pine for it, and compare you to it?”
Yugi dropped his eyes, not answering for a long moment. “Maybe,” he finally said in a small voice. “But…it’s only natural. I can’t help it.”
Yami turned his body toward him, so he could reach up and stroke Yugi’s cheek with his fingertip. “Even if I did love someone in the past, it doesn’t matter. They are long gone. I’m here with you, now, and our bond is forever.” He kissed the lips tilted up toward him, and then smiled more strongly. “You see why I’m not so keen on remembering personal details from my past? I may not like the life I had, or the man I was. Or worse, I may remember it being better than it was. I would much rather be who I am now, with you. I like what I’ve become, and I like to think much of it is due to your influence.”
Yugi smiled bashfully. “Aw, I can’t have been that much of an influence. Your self was already there, in your soul, it just took you time to rediscover it.”
“Maybe so.” Yami kissed him again, more deeply. “But I can’t spend every minute, every second, so close to your strong and pure heart without being affected by it.” He paused, and then a strangely curious look crossed his elegant features. “You taste like chocolate.”
Yugi let out a huge giggle. “It’s the Pocky,” he explained.
“May I have some?”
With a big nod, Yugi crawled back to where the snacks sat piled on the floor, by his glass, and brought back the rest of the packet of snack cookies he had been nibbling on. He offered one to his partner, and watched in amusement as Yami licked the chocolate frosting off the end and devoured the Pocky enthusiastically. They decided to forget about talking for a while and finished off the packet together, sharing a piece now and then, playfully feeding each other and teasing each other by sensuously sucking the chocolate off the cookie sticks in each other’s sight. So occupied, they both gave a start when there was a knock at the door, and Yugi jumped up to answer it while Yami tried to stop blushing and finish off the last piece of Pocky. It was just Grandpa, of course, checking in on them. “I’m heading to bed,” he informed his grandson. “You’re free to stay up until the pharaoh has to go, but try to keep it down.”
“I know, we’ll be good,” Yugi promised. “We’re not making too much noise, are we?”
“No, you’re actually very quiet.” Grandpa gave him a silly mock-glare of suspicion. “Too quiet. Are you doing anything fun?”
“Just talking,” Yugi said casually, glancing back at Yami. The pharaoh was watching from across the room, the last stick of Pocky dangling from between his lips. “But I think Yami’s had enough chocolate for one day.”
A frown lowered Yami’s brows. “No such thing,” he muttered around the stick.
Grandpa laughed at them. “All right, then. I should have known you weren’t in any trouble. Well, good night.” He looked over Yugi’s shoulder to the pharaoh. “It was an honor, my friend. I hope you had a good day.”
Yami took the stick out of his mouth and smiled kindly. “I have, thank you. I was glad to meet you myself, if only we had more time. Yugi and I could have stayed here and gotten to know you as well as his friends.”
“I may know you better than you think…” Grandpa Muto waved at him. “I’ll still see you, somewhere in Yugi’s eyes. You’ll still be with him.”
“Yes…I will.” Yami lifted a hand in a return wave. “Good night.”
“’Night, Grandpa,” Yugi added, giving him an extra-warm smile before closing the door again. He hesitated, and then locked it for his own peace of mind.
As he turned back to his waiting partner, Yugi’s eyes widened to see him already stripping off his shirt as he sat there beside the bed. When he finished, Yami tossed it aside on the growing pile of laundry in a corner of Yugi’s room, and then glanced up to find Yugi still standing by the door, leaning back against it as he watched with a little smile. “What?” the pharaoh innocently wondered. “I was warm.”
“Sure you were.” Yugi crossed back to him, picking up their empty glasses and setting them aside on his desk before lowering himself onto Yami’s lap, straddling his hips. Smiling warmly in return, Yami wrapped his arms around Yugi’s waist to catch him and settle him comfortably. Yugi draped his arms over his lover’s shoulders and gazed at him for a moment before leaning in for a kiss. “You’re so gorgeous,” he murmured when they broke away. “All I have to do is look at you, and I want you. I love you, but I also just want…need…you.”
“And I, you.” Yami chuckled and kissed him sensuously, nibbling at his lips. “You are a beautiful young man. Let no one ever tell you otherwise.”
“Yeah?” Yugi nuzzled his cheek playfully. “You’re biased. We look so much alike.”
“Only in subtle ways.” The pharaoh stroked his soft cheek with one fingertip. “You have an adorable face, innocent and trusting. Youthful.” He tapped Yugi on the nose. “And such a cute little nose.”
Yugi giggled at that. “So, I’m the cute one. That would make you the sexy one.”
A faint blush colored Yami’s cheeks, but he still smiled. “Oh, I would say you’re sexy in your own right.” He tilted his head and ran his lips along Yugi’s jaw to his ear. “I certainly thought so last night, when I beheld you spread beneath me in the throes of pleasure.”
A shiver ran down Yugi’s spine, making him gasp a little under his breath. “Y-yeah?” he managed to ask.
“Mhm,” the pharaoh nodded. “It’s when you’re not even trying, when you’re just being yourself, living in the moment, that you are your most sexy. Whether that moment is sitting on a park bench with your friends, or making love with me…”
Giggling quietly, Yugi shifted his seat in order to wiggle against his lover just enough to rub their clothed bodies teasingly together. “Are you saying I’m trying too hard? Aw, and I picked out this shirt to wear just for you today.”
Yami’s eyes briefly traveled down his partner’s body, inspecting the red shirt that looked a little small for him, but in all the right ways. Its open lapel gave him a good view down inside it, to Yugi’s collarbone and slender chest. “Oh, no,” he quickly backpedaled. “I would have to consider it a very good choice.” Another kiss, long and firm. “I’m just saying, there are many ways I could look at you and consider you sexy. And beautiful. And everything I could possibly want.”
Yugi kissed back, writhing against him once more. “It’s good to know you don’t just love me for my mind and heart,” he teased.
Yami tugged the shirt out of Yugi’s waistband and pulled it over his head, careful not to take the Puzzle chain with it. Roaming his hands all over Yugi’s chest and torso, feeling the shape of his body and tracing every curve with his nimble fingers, he murmured, “I love every bit of you, inside and out. Though I admit,” he added with a playful smile, “right about now the wanting isn’t so much for your kind heart and pure soul.”
Yugi curled his arms around Yami’s shoulders, pulling himself as close as he could until the corners of the Puzzle poked their stomachs. “Make love to me. One more time, before this body is gone. I want it inside me, I want you to claim me as your own.”
That had certainly been the intention, though hearing his young lover beg for it immediately woke Yami’s body in response. They sat together and kissed for a while, before the intensity became too much to bear and Yami needed to get the pressure off his lap, so he could free them both from the restraint of clothing and help Yugi into bed. Yet, it was Yugi who actually did so, gracefully shedding the rest of his clothes and generously helping Yami out of his tight jeans as the pharaoh reclined on the bed to watch. Yugi prowled on top of him, naked and eager, provoking Yami to pounce back and wrap him in powerful arms. This time, they dispensed with the romance and significance, and just made wild, passionate love, mangling the bedsheets and exploring one another fully before reaching the final step and diving right in. Legs spread, back arched, Yugi was the perfect picture of hedonism, abandoned to every good feeling that jolted through his body from the pharaoh’s skillful ministrations. They rocked together, thrusting and pushing, not holding back one bit, the bed creaking a little under their enthusiasm. Moments before release, Yami paused, using his weight to pin Yugi down beneath him as he laid his hands over Yugi’s and entangled their fingers. They gazed at each other for a few moments, panting, wordlessly offering each other complete trust and love with their eyes, and then Yami resumed with a punishing thrust deep into Yugi, committing his whole body to the force of it. Yugi swallowed his screams, biting his lower lip and stiffening against his lover to hurry them both along, now that he was unable to move or hold on except to the hands clasped over his. Within minutes they were both coming, more intensely than ever. A heavy groan escaped from Yami as he pushed the last time and spilled himself into Yugi, his entire body trembling from exertion. Yugi dared to whimper out loud as his own body racked with spasms of pleasure, clenching the hands holding his with enough force to dig his fingernails in. Even as they parted they refused to let go of each other, enfolding each other in trembling arms and each feeling the other’s chest heaving for breath. His lips and chin wet, his body covered in sweat, Yugi fiercely hugged Yami to him for a long time, until they had calmed down enough to resume kissing each other in the same way it all began. Yami’s hands found their way down around him to his ass, and pulled him into himself, letting their hot, sticky bodies grind together in a closing gesture of complete wanton lust. The breath in Yugi’s lungs escaped with a low groan of ecstasy. Yami kissed him once more, deeply, wetly, and slowly drew back until he let Yugi’s lower lip slide from between his with a sigh. “I will never forget this,” he murmured heavily.
A twinge of fear stole through Yugi’s heart, and he rolled his head back to find the clock. They had less than a half an hour left in the mystical day. Their last lovemaking session had been so drawn out that it consumed the rest of their night, though it was more than worth it. Yugi tightened his arms, pulling Yami back into him, and rested his forehead on the pharaoh’s neck. “I don’t want it to end,” he whimpered. “I don’t want you to go.”
“Shh…” Yami settled down beside him and cradled him tenderly, taking a deep breath to calm himself. “You promised me, Yugi…that if we chose to use this ritual, we would not mourn the end of it. You promised me there would be no tears.”
“That was before I realized how much it was going to hurt.” Yugi lifted his head, though the tears remained swimming in his eyes and did not fall. “For just one day, I got to feel what it was like to be normal. To have a normal date, and a normal life, and normal…sex. From now on…I’m going to always be hungering for it again, to feel your hand in mine and your arms around me.” He shook his head sadly. “I don’t know if I can go back to just having you inside the Puzzle, the way we always did.”
“But now, when I return to the Puzzle and we resume our usual relationship, things will be different,” Yami said patiently. “When I’m with you, I will have memories to draw from, a better sense of what you feel and smell and taste like. It will make those times all that more powerful, more real, for both of us.”
“You think so?” Yugi gave him a timid look.
“I know so.” Yami smiled sympathetically and cradled him closer, stroking the hair on the back of his neck. “It’s useless to rail against it, Yugi. It’s going to happen, we can’t stop it. This is the way the ritual is meant to be, and we accepted that when we chose to invoke it in the first place.”
“But don’t you feel it, too?” Yugi rested his cheek on his partner’s collarbone. “You can’t tell me you don’t wish it didn’t have to end. I know this isn’t the world you came from, but…you fit in here. With me.”
A soft moan purred in the pharaoh’s throat. “It would be a lie to say I was ready to go back. It would be wonderful, a miracle even, to be able to stay on the outside, in a body of my own. But I know it can’t be so.” He kissed Yugi’s forehead. “I want to stay, but I know I can’t. Even so, I would not have traded this day for anything. I would rather endure this pain of separation, knowing that I’m still going to be with you, than have never done it because I was too afraid of this very moment.”
“I suppose.” Yugi closed his eyes tightly to keep from spilling his tears. “It hurts so much. But I know when I wake up tomorrow, you’re going to be there in my heart, like always.”
“And our minds will be bonded again. I can’t tell you how strange and discomforting it is to not be able to share your thoughts, and feel what you feel.”
“Oh. I never thought of it that way.” Yugi lifted his head again. “That’s the only existence you’ve ever known, the only memory you have.”
Yami nodded slowly. “Returning to that is not difficult for me. I’m sure I’ll be fine.” He snuggled Yugi tenderly. “My day is complete. I had a wonderful time. You’ve shown me so much, in the world and in ourselves.” A joyous smile lit his elegant eyes. “I tasted chocolate. I smelled the ocean. I sat in the grass and felt it between my toes. These things will always stay with me, forever.”
Yugi held tight and ran his hands over his lover’s back, as if trying to imprint the shape of his body on his memory for future use. “I love you so much. I wanted everything to be perfect for you.”
“And it was. Running into Kaiba notwithstanding.” Yami chuckled. “Then again, I have to admit, the look on his face was priceless. I didn’t intend for things to happen that way, but I enjoyed it anyway.” He kissed his adorable lover sweetly. “Thank you, Yugi. Thank you for everything you let me see and feel and taste today. And for agreeing to do the ritual.”
Yugi just nodded and held him still, reminding himself that it had been a special day, even though they had done everything that most people would consider normal and unexciting. To Yami, it was all eventful, because it was his one chance to do any of it. “I’m glad,” Yugi whispered after a bit. “I’m glad we did it. Everything I dreamed or wished for came true. I got to be with you, I got to show you off to my friends…”
“And you gave yourself to me,” Yami remembered. “Your body will always be with me, now. I know your taste, your scent, your shape…” He caressed Yugi’s ass gently. “I know what it feels like to be inside you, how tight you are, how our bodies fit together. It’s all with me, in my mind and my soul.”
Despite all they had done together, hearing that made Yugi blush. “I know being together inside the Puzzle won’t be quite the same as the real thing,” he admitted, “but I think you’re right. I think it’ll be different, now. More like reality.”
“Only not so messy,” Yami noted with a glance down at their bodies melded together.
“Speak for yourself.” Yugi giggled and whispered in his ear. “You did know that being inside the Puzzle has the same effect on me as a wet dream, right?”
“I…hadn’t noticed, actually.” Now Yami blushed. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. Grandpa’s actually pretty happy that I seem to be so good about doing the laundry most of the time now.”
The pharaoh smiled at that. “Perhaps soon, you’ll find a way of telling him about our relationship.”
“I’d like to,” Yugi sighed. “I want to share you with everybody. But I want to test him out, first, see how he might react.” He nuzzled Yami’s neck contentedly. “You mean so much to me. There’s times I just want to climb out on the roof and shout to the world how much I love you.”
Yami chuckled. “That would amuse me greatly. But I don’t need that. All I need is to know you love me as I love you…and that I’ll be with you always.”
“No matter what,” Yugi agreed. “But…”
The pharaoh’s brow raised curiously. “What?”
Yugi bashfully lowered his head, hiding his face from his lover. “I’m going to have to break one promise to you. I just know no matter how hard I try to be strong, as soon as you’re gone, I’m going to cry.”
Yami hugged him, resting his cheek on the top of Yugi’s head, crushing his spiky hair. “I understand. But get some sleep, too. And when you wake up, I will be there with you, like always. I’m not leaving you…”
“I know.” Yugi did not want to look at the clock, not wanting to find himself counting down the last minutes. Naked, exhausted, but too emotional to sleep, he lay wrapped in Yami’s arms the rest of the time. They fell into silence, just holding each other, caressing, softly kissing, breathing in scent and presence for as long as they could. As the moment grew close, Yami whispered his love, and Yugi said it back, grateful to have had the chance to hear those words in this way. At least they would still have their bond, and they could continue to have their Puzzle-encounters, and maintain their relationship in the manner they were accustomed to. Somehow, without checking, Yugi knew it was one minute until midnight and raised his head. “Kiss me, one last time,” he whispered.
Yami did so, making it the most sweet, tender kiss he knew how to give. “I have never been so happy,” he murmured. “This is more than I could have ever hoped for when we began our relationship. I love you, Yugi.”
“I love you…” Yugi kissed him again, and just as their lips parted and each took a breath, the pharaoh’s corporeal form grew translucent, indistinct, and then melted away into a million glittering particles of energy. They swirled about Yugi and vanished into the Puzzle’s Eye, and with a gasp he felt the jolt of the second mind awakening in the place it always had been. For a moment he laid on his side just as he had been left, with a big, empty spot in the bed where Yami had just lain, and then he realized that he had a rather immediate urge to go to the bathroom. He got up and padded silently down the hall to take care of it, and clean up the evidence of his sexual awakening, and then came back to his room to find it in a disturbing state of normalcy. He was alone again, and at the moment, Yami’s mind within the Puzzle had gone dormant. He was there, as he should be, but he wasn’t saying anything. Maybe he was exhausted, too. Yugi looked around, at the extra laundry piled on the floor, at the rumpled bedclothes, at the second empty glass on his desk, and sighed sadly. He went to his drawer and fished out a clean pair of pajamas, but only put on the pants, and then reverently removed the Puzzle chain from around his neck and placed it on the side of the bed next to his pillow – on Yami’s side. The tears rushed to his eyes, and with a little whine he crumbled, slumping onto the bed and curling up to sob until exhaustion finally sent him to sleep.
It was no surprise to Joey that Yugi looked very tired the next day at school, but he was a bit concerned by his best friend’s subdued demeanor. He just went about his day as if by rote, hardly noticing where he was or that people were talking to him. Joey finally got a few minutes alone with him during a class break before lunch, and sat him down in a desk in the corner where no one would eavesdrop. “So,” he said as casually as he could. “Did everything work out right? Is the pharaoh back inside the Puzzle all safe now?”
Yugi got a faintly wistful look in his eyes. “Yeah,” he replied softly. “He’s all right.”
Joey smiled. “Did you have a good day?”
Yugi’s expression lightened even more. “Yeah. A really good day.”
“Did you have sex?”
“Joey!” Yugi’s face flushed red.
“Oh, come on. I know you two do it in the Puzzle all the time, it was only obvious you’d do it if he got a real body.” Joey grinned insolently. “Was it good?”
Yugi looked furtively around, and then began to grin himself. “Amazing.”
“That’s good.” Joey had plunked down backwards on the chair in front of Yugi, in order to face him. He folded his arms on the back of the chair and leaned on them. “You miss him, though, don’t you?”
“It was just one day,” Yugi reasoned, “but it feels like it lasted forever. I wish he didn’t have to go back to normal, but…” He smiled, hearing himself finally admit the things they had talked about the night before. “…at least I still have him. He’s still here with me, we’re going to be together forever, bonded. That’s the most important thing.”
“I’m glad.” Joey reached out and ruffled Yugi’s bangs playfully. “Chin up, buddy. I know it’s hard, but just remember that. You two are already together, and no one’s going to come between you.”
Yugi beamed at his best friend in gratitude. It was one thing to try to say it to himself, but another to hear someone else confirm it. Together, forever. It had a nice ring to it. He and Yami had chosen to love each other without ever expecting him to be more than a spirit, their bond went deeper than any between two hearts, a body or lack thereof made no difference.
Several months went by, months in which Yugi and his friends reached the end of their high school years and stepped out into the real world. By some miracle, Yugi and Joey had passed enough of their entrance exams and all their classes in order to qualify for university, at least the university there in Domino City, meaning they didn’t have to worry about moving out or leaving or anything. Tristan chose not to go on to higher education, as his father knew some people who knew some people, and could get him a job at a number of places. Téa was the one making the big changes, as she had always made it her life’s dream to go to New York City and dance on Broadway, so after the summer was out she would be going to school overseas to make it happen. Graduation day was a bittersweet moment, not for the looking back but the looking forward, as some things would change but others would stay comfortably the same. In order to keep his grandson out of trouble, Grandpa Muto decided to let him work in the game shop some nights and weekends after school was over, at least temporarily until university began in the fall. But the friends still got together and hung out when they could, in between jobs and preparations for school, hitting all their usual haunts and feeling suddenly superior because they no longer had to wear uniforms or be enslaved to the system like their younger peers. They had said goodbye to high school, and stood on the edge of a new world, bigger and wilder and full of change.
Yugi turned eighteen in late June, and celebrated with friends, but it was his continued relationship with Yami that brought him the most joy. Though they thought the ritual day out would assuage some of the need for each other that had Yugi risking his mind and soul in the Puzzle, it only cooled them briefly, and by summer they were back to visiting about every other day. Sometimes it was purely for sex, but sometimes they sat and talked, or walked around the labyrinth in wonder, or just curled up in a quiet corner and held each other. The pharaoh’s theory proved true, their encounters inside the Puzzle were ten times more real, with memories of each other so fresh in their minds and free to be called upon. The more they got used to the heightened level of sensation, the less they thought about it being a mere substitute for physical reality. It was better than ever, regardless of whether they ended up in bed. Even in his waking moments, Yugi was pleased to know Yami was with him, watching through his eyes, being a solid, comfortable presence in the back of his mind that only he could see and hear. There were no tournaments, no bad guys, no shadow games, nothing to threaten the pharaoh and his charge or keep them on the alert. They were free to explore life together, whether it was Yami sharing Yugi’s life as he went about his day and spent time with his friends, or them meeting in the Puzzle to play with each other, pushing the limits of imagination and mysticism in order to do all the things real lovers did. Even so, they found themselves now and again reminiscing about their day out, when little things like a scent or a sound reminded them of something they had done. They hadn’t seen Seto Kaiba since then, as he had long ago dropped out of school in order to run his company since he didn’t need to finish high school, nor had they seen Mai. She had left again on one of her worldwide jaunts, only promising Joey that she would see him when she saw him. He was pretty sure he had done nothing to scare her off this time, but she was famous among the group of friends in Domino for her fear of commitment, so it didn’t come as much of a surprise. No one had heard from Bakura, either, since graduation. He had quietly retreated from their lives, the only thing they knew was that he was going on to university, though he hadn’t said where. At least Yugi and Joey could still keep each other company, as they would be going to university together in a few months. A best friend, and his lover, Yugi thought he could want for nothing in this world.
And then, Shadi told him the ritual could be done again.