Drabble Challenge from rei-jikitsune21 to help me get over my writer's block:

Write any format (drabble, one-shot...pick your posion, lol) based on this "One thing wrapped around another", "Something soft and fluffy", or "A race".

THIS will likely be a connecting three-shot, with a small story line based on each respective title. This first one contains one-sided-Puzzleshipping, implied-Tendershipping, and implied-Darkshipping. The story as a whole will eventually be Darkshipping. It will also contain copious amounts of shonen-ai.

PLEASE keep in mind that these are drabbles, and as such they are practically un-revised, hardly plot-driven, and come into being spontaneously from the inner-workings of my mind (and as a result, they may not be very good, at least compared to my other works anyway…) In spite of all that, I hope you enjoy the randomness regardless. I sure as hell enjoy writing it~!

~;~

Tangled

Part 1:
One Thing Wrapped Around Another

~;~

"Why doesn't he like me anymore?" Yami asked, his head held dejectedly in his hands with his elbows propped up on the kitchen table.

"Easy; you always win, and he doesn't. It's that simple," Yugi replied half-heartedly. "And it doesn't matter if you two are having an argument or a duel monsters battle – you always, always win." He was presently fixing a delicious smelling rice dinner for when his grandfather returned home from work. It was the least he could do on the weekends when he had plenty of free time outside of school.

"I don't know what I did wrong though… The only rule I've ever had is to be myself, aibou. I can't change that…"

"And no one is asking you to, either. Honestly I don't see what you see in him. He's a liar, and a thief, and a complete sadistic scumbag. You should just let him go, especially if it's making you second guess yourself."

"I know I should… I really should, but there's something…I don't know, something destined about us. Like we were meant to be together."

Yugi looked up slowly and paused from fixing their dinner. He asked very carefully, "You mean like the way we were destined?"

"Sort of like that, yes..." Yami, being the very attentive person that he was, also cautiously asked, "Yugi…is there something you're not telling me?"

Yugi immediately went back to stirring the rice. "Oh, no… I'm just thinking out loud is all. Just making conversation."

Yami went on though: "Because it sounds to me like you're trying to distract me from something."

"You could just find anything I tried to distract you from in my memories anyway, Yami. Don't get mad at me, jeez…"

A short pause…

"So what aren't you telling me?" He sounded so depressed… Yugi pondered for a moment whether keeping the truth from him was the right thing to do after all. He probably deserved to know so he could move on, really… Telling him would mean breaking a promise, but he couldn't stand to see his best friend so down anymore. It'd been two weeks; enough was enough.

"You're too perceptive, you know that? Some things aren't worth the pain of knowing…" Yugi bit his lip and tried to focus completely on the food preparation, but he was too deep into the conversation now. He took the pot off of the stove to let it simmer for a bit and turned to face Yami. His partner had the expression of a ghost.

"Tell me," was all he said through the haze. He'd probably already guessed.

"Bakura…is seeing someone else."

Yami schooled his face to be passive and expressionless, but his eyes… Yugi watched his yami's heart break through those purple-red depths. Feelings that strong were nearly impossible to hide completely. He felt it through their bond, besides. It was pitiful.

"Who?" Yami asked, again sounding distant and more than a little shocked.

"Who do you think?" Yugi replied as gently as he could. He'd seen this coming from a mile away. He'd known before anyone else had…

"Ryou?"

"Mhmm."

Silence dampened the kitchen for a while after that, which gave Yugi enough time to finish preparing their dinner. He set out his dishes of cooked rice, sweet carrots, sushi, and grilled chicken on the middle of the table. His grandpa would be home any minute now…

"I should go talk to him."

Yugi sighed. "No, you shouldn't. He's probably with Ryou right now and you'd make him feel bad for trying to be happy for once."

"But why doesn't he want to be with me? I made him happy—"

Yugi finally let the agitation seep into his voice. It was bad enough listening to his darker half rant about how great Bakura was all the time, much less hearing him wallow in misery about how terrible and boring life was without him. "Yami, I don't know. I just don't. And I don't see why you care…"

"I love him, Yugi…"

"He doesn't love you." Not like I do…

Yugi felt another sharp stab of anguish wash over him through their link. It hurt him to say that, truly – but he was trying to be honest. Everyone else could see that Bakura and Yami were two very different, dominant individuals that did not mesh well together at all. Everyone else knew that their relationship together was a fling and nothing more…

Everyone except them, of course. Well, and Bakura too, he supposed…. If the white-haired devil hadn't known before, he eventually figured it out on his own and decided to move on, for the better in Yugi's opinion. Who wanted to feel constantly insignificant because of who they were with anyway?

Yugi could definitely relate to that; it sucked pretty bad, not being able to be with the one you love… But that was just it, wasn't it? His love was one thing, and Yami was just wrapped around someone else. So much so that Yami was completely blind and lovesick to everything and everyone else around him. It was that way with Yami and Bakura, too – just one thing wrapped around another. What a sick and tangled web we weave… Yugi thought.

"I'm leaving," Yami stated.

"Aren't you going to eat first?" his hikari asked, but his voice sounded too sickly sweet, even to his own ears. Yami gave him a flat look, borderline sarcastic.

"No."

He walked out of the kitchen without another word, and after he'd made it out slammed the door. "Maybe telling him wasn't such a good idea after all…" Yugi mumbled sadly, just as his grandpa swung open the front door again.

"Where's Yami going?" he asked cheerfully, "And what smells so darn good?"

"I made dinner for you and Yami, Gramps. It wasn't to Yami's taste though, so he decided to go out for dinner…"

"He's missing out on something especially wonderful, then." His loving grandfather smiled appreciatively and took a chair at the table with a sigh. It was kinda funny; he didn't realize that he'd just spoken Yugi's exact thoughts aloud, although Yugi wasn't referring to the food in his mind…

He hoped he'd done the right thing by telling him.

~;~

Thanks for reading!
~;~Shaku