"Was I brave, Daddy?" a small 5 year old boy who had star shaped hair and large amethyst colored eyes asked as he slowly rubbed his arm from where he had been pricked with a needle only minutes before.

His dad, who was named Atem, gave him a gentle smile, his sharp crimson eyes softening all the while. He looked at the small neon green band aide on his sons arm and inwardly cringed at imagining the pinch of the needle. Although he was proud of his son, Yugi, for not crying when the shot was injected into his arm. The small toddler simply squeezed Atem's hand while keeping his eyes shut tightly, as if that would prevent him from feeling any pain at all.

"Very," he said while simultaneously signing out of the doctors office, "You were so brave that I think we should take a little trip to the ice cream shop as a reward. How about it?"

Yugi's eyes seemed to glimmer at the word, ice cream. He nodded excitably and literally dragged Atem to the car. Atem was smiling all the way as he opened the back door for Yugi and helped buckle him into his car seat. He shut the door and got into the drivers seat before starting the car.

"Can Uncle Bakura and Marik come too?" Yugi asked randomly as they began to drive towards the closest ice cream shop.

Atem rolled his eyes in good humor at the request. Yugi always found Atem's two best friends to be the most amusing people of all time. He laughed when they bickered, he ran when they pretended to chase him, and he loved them like they really were his blood related uncles.

Bakura usually had a pretty cold and sarcastic personality, but Yugi had a strange effect on him. When Yugi used his chibi eyes on Bakura, the man simply seemed to throw all pride to hell. Atem found it beyond hilarious that his son could get anything from that blasted Tomb Robber, as he was nicknamed.

Marik, on the other hand, loved to play pranks. He would get Yugi involved in his little plans and either Bakura or Atem would be the target.

Atem sometimes wondered who's side Yugi really was on.

"Well, I think Bakura has to finish working on a few line of cars today. And Marik said something about raiding the music store." Atem mumbled the last part to himself.

He glanced at Yugi through the overhead mirror and saw the young toddler not really listening, but attempting to retie one of his shoelaces. The only problem was that Yugi still hadn't mastered shoe tying yet. He usually just slipped on his shoes while they were already tied from the day before.

He could see the determination on his sons face as he picked up the laces and mumbled the story of the bunny and the tree while trying to follow it with his fingers.

"You having some trouble?"

Yugi perked his head up at the sound of his fathers voice.

"Yeah…can you help me?" he asked cutely as he fell back into his car seat and hung his feet in the air.

"Just wait until we get to the ice cream shop, ok?" Atem said as he turned the car into the parking lot outside of their destination.

He didn't get a response from Yugi, but didn't mind, knowing that sometimes Yugi would become more quiet when they were about to go somewhere with a lot of people around. It was a sign that Yugi was shy, but once he got used to certain people that he would be mingling with, he loosened up.

Atem found a parking space and turned off the car. He got out of his seat and hurried around to the other side of the car to let Yugi out. The toddler was already out of his seat belt and pressed up against the door, his face showing eagerness and happiness.

He grabbed Atem's hand and the two made their way inside the shop. It was cold and smelt like…an ice cream store. There were few tables and nobody else was in line.

Yugi seemed to relax more at this fact. He looked around to make sure their wasn't any customers hiding around the tables, trying to trick him. Once he was sure nobody else was around, he went to look at the choices of ice cream. Of course, he was too small to see, so Atem had to pick him up.

"Hm…" he hummed in thought, "I want cotton candy with marshmallows!"

Atem nodded and told the employee what they wanted. He even bought himself a birthday cake flavored ice cream with sprinkles.

Once they got their ice cream and Atem paid, they sat down at one of the vacant tables and began to lick away the cold treat. It was smeared all over Yugi's mouth as he got more on his face than inside of his mouth.

"Daddy, my shoe." Yugi reminded with a full mouth.

He stuck his short leg onto Atem's lap and smiled happily, obviously satisfied, when Atem tied the laces into a perfect double knot bow.

While Atem worked on the other shoe lace the sound of the bell above the door went off, indicating a new customer had just come in.

Yugi tensed at the new presences and watches carefully as the small family of four got in line and ordered their ice cream. They consisted of two boys, probably a little older than himself, and a mom and dad.

Yugi watched as the mother sweetly asked her sons what they wanted to get. She held both their hands as she voiced what she wanted to the worker. Her voice was so different. Nothing like his Daddy's smooth baritone voice. And she was someone who would be called pretty. Atem, on the other hand, was called handsome, or hot, as Yugi had heard some females say.

It was true that Yugi did not have a mother. He didn't know what happened to her or if she was still alive, but he didn't really bother to ask. He was content with his Daddy. His Daddy, in his opinion, was way better than a mommy. His dad would watch TV with him early on the weekends, he took him to the park to play on his favorite things, he ate with him, he let him sleep with him when he had a bad nightmare, and he was always teaching Yugi all these new things.

Yugi smiled as he got up from his seat and crawled into his fathers lap. He was tired, and he loved to feel Atem's body heat, warm his skin. He snuggled deeper into Atem's chest as Atem put his arms around Yugi's body. He gently rubbed his small back and nuzzled his face into Yugi's soft tuft of hair.

That was all Yugi needed. He didn't need a mother. He just needed his Daddy to hold him and to love him.

And that was good enough for him.