Notes – A kinkmeme fill done for a prompt that wanted Apollo/Yuugi. Set pre-AJ when Apollo was a teenager. Honestly, this isn't really a pairing that I'd go for personally when crossing over these series, but I wanted to try writing it all the same.

For a very long time Yuugi had been the weird kid at school. He was the lonely one that no one wanted to be associated with.

But then… then he made friends. Partly brought to him by the wish he'd made on the Puzzle and partly brought by his own merits. Anzu, Jounouchi and Honda were all very special to him now.

However, almost as if school felt the need to fill the void of the strange, lonely kid, others turned up after he'd left that position. First the transfer student Ryou Bakura, whose obsession with games was kindred to Yuugi's, but something about him was still unnerving. Next came Otogi Ryuuji, the pretty young corporate leader out for revenge. While surrounded by female admirers when it came to actual friends Otogi was alone.

So Yuugi had repaid the favour of his wish and befriended them. When a new student came along and had no one to turn to it almost seemed automatic that Yuugi would adopt them into his little group.

This wasn't so easy with the newest new kid.

Apollo – strange name, but he'd heard stranger. Strange hair too, but nothing compared to what Yuugi was used to seeing on a regular basis.

The boy was apparently an orphan. He kept no company among friends or even the family he had been fostered into and it didn't seem to bother him at all. The problem was that Apollo was so very unapproachable. Unlike Bakura and Otogi before him, Apollo had no interest in games whatsoever, just in studying. He even seemed mildly annoyed by the other students' addiction to playing Duel Monsters.

By some cruel twist of fate it was now seen as socially acceptable to play the card game and you were viewed as an outcast if you didn't. The complete opposite of what it had been like when Yuugi first started playing it.

He had to do this though. Now he was braver than what he had been before, so he couldn't let nerves stop him from making conversation with this guy.

Yuugi walked over to Apollo's desk, where he was focusing hard on a book he was reading.

"Hey, you're Apollo, right?" Yuugi started, trying to sound cheerful and not feel like too much of an idiot.

"Yes," Apollo said testily. The tone clearly seemed to imply 'please don't try to teach me about Duel Monsters'.

"Um, I know you're new here and… it can… well, it can be quite hard fitting in. But if you want you can come hang out with us, we'd be glad to… to get to know you better," Yuugi insisted.

Closing the book, Apollo replied, "I'm sorry but I don't think that would be a good idea. You see I'm not really into gaming and I'm only going to be here for a few months anyway."

"That's okay, we don't just talk about gaming," Yuugi assured, hoping that was true, "And I just don't like to see someone on their own, it doesn't seem fair."

Apollo looked at Yuugi. It felt as if no one had ever stared at him quite as hard as this before, almost as if he was trying to perceive what Yuugi's intentions were. After a moment his eyes softened and he smiled.

"Sure, I'd like that," he answered.

And that was the start of it. Contrary to his first impressions Apollo was actually a very polite and friendly individual. As much as it was hard to find a common ground between them it was worth the effort of making conversation just to see him fit in and not feel alone. To be honest, the forced effort sort of reminded Yuugi that there was more to life than ancient magic and cards. Here was a very real boy with a very real desire to one day become a lawyer and a very real passion to make that happen. One thing they had in common was their passion towards their goals – you just had to get Apollo onto the subject of that famous attorney Phoenix Wright to see that.

Over time the bond grew further than the walls of the school. One day Yuugi found Apollo waiting for him at the gate and that was the start of that. Soon enough he was about as frequent of a sight at his grandpa's shop as any of his other friends were.

And that was when Yuugi started to see how Apollo really looked. The boy was almost never without some sort of bright red clothing in the same way that Yuugi was hardly ever without his leather. In comparison the blue of the school uniform seemed so odd on Apollo.

They'd talk for hours and Yuugi liked to think that he was making some progress on getting Apollo to loosen up a bit, pulling him away from his studies. He even seemed to get genuinely annoyed when Jounouchi beat him on video games now. Though he still had no skill for Duel Monsters – he told them that learning about the court system was much less complicated than this game was. To which Honda had patted him on the back and said he'd felt the same way.

In a short space of time it seemed as if they'd been friends forever. Though that was soon to draw to a halt…

Apollo had called Yuugi out to the park for a change and without seeing a reason not to Yuugi had gone.

He found the trainee lawyer waiting for him by the duck pond.

"Sorry for calling you on such short notice," Apollo began.

"No trouble at all, though I'm surprised you didn't want the others to come along," replied Yuugi.

Looking awkwardly distant, Apollo said, "There's a reason for that. You see… I'm going tomorrow."

"Going?"

Yuugi suddenly remembered Apollo mentioning it when they first met.

"Yeah, this place was only supposed to be temporary while they got another forester home prepared for me closer to the college I want to study at. So after today we probably won't see each other for a long time," Apollo told him.

"Then that's even more reason to tell the others!" Yuugi cut in.

"Don't worry, I plan to," Apollo promised, "You guys have all been great friends to me, so I wouldn't leave without saying goodbye. But I wanted to tell you personally, Yuugi."

"Why's that?" Yuugi quizzed, raising an eyebrow.

"Because you were the one who started it. You made the effort to come talk to me when no one else would. In all the schools I've been to no one has done that before," said Apollo.

"There's a reason for that," Yuugi replied, "I used to be the lonely one once. No one except Anzu really made time for me. So one day… I put my foot out and started trying harder to make friends. So what if you don't have anything in common with someone? Or even if you have all the same interests? There's just so much that people can do for each other if you put the effort in."

"You're some guy," Apollo laughed, walking over, "Maybe your faith in friendship is a good thing after all. I'm certainly glad to have met you."

He held out a hand.

Yuugi took that hand and shook it.

Perhaps if they'd been two different people they might have hugged one another to say farewell, but they were both too introvert for that.

"Goodbye, king of a complicated card game," Apollo said.

"See you later, future lawyer," Yuugi replied, then added, "And you'd better write!"

"I will," Apollo assured, "I will."

It was years later when he thought about that talk they'd had again. Yuugi was an international star in that game Apollo still couldn't play and Apollo had made it to be the attorney he'd always wanted to be after all.

He lent back on his chair, as the nosy figure of Phoenix loomed behind him.

"Who are you e-mailing at this time?" Phoenix asked.

"No one you know, just some friends," replied Apollo, thinking of the faces of those four – Yuugi, Anzu, Jounouchi and Honda. But especially Yuugi.

"Never thought of you as having friends outside of work," joked Phoenix, ruffling the younger boy's hair.

"I didn't used to," agreed Apollo, confusing his mentor. He could be irritatingly vague sometimes too, "But they… forced friendship on me. In a good way."

"The best friendships require some force," Phoenix agreed, without really paying much attention to what he was saying.

Looking down at a discarded Duel Monster card, Apollo answered, "I'll say."