Prompt: Don't let your happiness depend on something you may lose. [prompt sent by mockinqjay]

A/N: This is for the Prompt Exchange Challenge I started. If you want to join, the information is found on my profile along with on the forum (link on my profile). So please let me know what you thought of this. I'd really like to improve my writing. Other than that, please enjoy. And I have started on the sequel.

My awesome Beta: TheRoseThatKnowsPain.

The Deal

A tan guy with outrageous hair entered the classroom. His hair consisted of three different colors; most of his hair was star-shaped and black with a red outline, golden streaks that blended into the black part of his hair and equally golden bangs. His eyes were a deep crimson color that seemed to glimmer. His name was Atemu.

"I'm just so sick of it," Atemu groaned as he took his place beside Kaiba, a tall brunet with chilling blue eyes. He glanced around, seeing the glowing eyes of his fellow female classmates, and shuddered. "They won't leave me alone. This morning I found at least ten love letters in my locker and panda plushy. I don't even know how they got that in there!"

Meanwhile, instead of listening to his cousin, Kaiba was more interested in his running his company through his laptop. Atemu saw that and frowned before he kicked the leg of Kaiba's desk. Kaiba promptly turned to him with a glare. "What do you want?" he asked in a venomous tone.

"Advice," Atemu simply said.

Kaiba turned away and sighed. "Fine."

"Well?" Atemu leaned closer, eager to hear the solution to his long-existing problem.

Kaiba glanced back, a strange glint showing in his chilling eyes for a moment. "Tell them you're gay."

Atemu paused, his mouth slightly agape. The two of them did not speak for the rest of lesson, Kaiba because he was Kaiba; Atemu, however, spent the class time pondering Kaiba's advice. While Atemu had a feeling it would work, he was not sure if he really wanted to tell everyone that he was gay when he was not. His biggest fear was that some of the guys might come onto him if he did that. With that thought in mind, he shuddered again.

Before Atemu could decide whether or not he would take the advice, the bell rang, signaling the end of lesson and therefore the end of the day. He gathered up his stuff and noticed that Kaiba had already high-tailed it out of there. He huffed and left the classroom.

When he was a few feet away from his locker, he realized that he was surrounded. By what? His crazed fangirls, of course.

His fangirls stared at him as they inched closer. One of the braver ones lunged and latched onto his arm. Atemu tried to pry her off but to no avail.

"I command you to release me!" he ordered.

She stared at him with a determined look. "Not until you go out with me!" she shouted as she tightened her grip on him.

"I certainly will not go out with you," Atemu stated firmly.

The girl pouted and released her hold. She stepped back as Atemu sighed in relief.

That relief, however, was short-lived as the other fangirls stepped in. They shouted things such as, "Go out with me, then!", "How about me?", and even "Let me have your babies!"

"No!" Atemu shouted over the loud voices. "I do not wish to go out with any of you! …Or make babies!"

"Why not?" most asked.

"Because…" Atemu trailed off. The fangirls leaned ever closer. And right there Atemu made up his mind. He knew exactly what to say. Though he really did not want to, it had to be done. "I cannot go out with any of you because...I am gay."

Everyone was silent.

"Prove it!" a few of them yelled.

Atemu was taken aback but replied, "I have a boyfriend."

Apparently, that answer did not suffice, because immediately they shouted, "Who is it?!"

Atemu mentally cursed them. He had no idea what to say until…

"Um, excuse me," a petite boy mumbled as he tried to push his way through the crowd. He had large, expressive violet eyes. His hair was similar to Atemu's, with the only exceptions being that there was a lack of blonde hair in the black part of his hair and that a little piece of his blonde bangs that hung down his forehead.

A devious smirk crossed Atemu's face once he saw the boy. He walked over, grabbed him by the arm, and pulled him close. He smiled lovingly at the boy. "I wondered when where you were…Aibou." Atemu turned to look at his psycho fangirls. "Ladies, this is my boyfriend."

The boy looked just as startled as the fangirls until Atemu gave him a discreet look that seemed to say something along the lines of 'please follow along.'

"I-I uh…couldn't find you," the boy stammered. "Um, love…," he added awkwardly.

Atemu found himself chuckling at the boy. He started to pull him away from the crowd of fangirls who were so shocked that not one of them made a single intelligible noise.

Once Atemu and the boy were safely alone, he pulled him in to an empty classroom and gave the small boy a tight hug. "You have no idea how relieved I am that you played along," he spoke lowly in his ear.

The boy, not knowing what to say, said nothing.

Atemu broke the hug. "You know," he started, "I don't think I've ever see you around. Who are you?"

"Oh, I'm a year bellow you," the boy mumbled as he stared at his shoes, "My name's Yugi."

"Well, Yugi, what would you say to being my boyfriend?"

Yugi was so caught off guard that he stumbled and fell onto the floor. He stared up at Atemu. "I'm sorry, but what did you just say?"

"Well," Atemu began as he rubbed that back of his neck. "I have issues with those fangirls, they're really tenacious. But if they thought I was gay and had a boyfriend, I would be off the hook for the most part. So, what do you say? Is it a deal?"

For a moment, Yugi pondered the idea as Atemu waited in suspense. "I…," Yugi started, a light blush present. "Yes, I'd love to be your boyfriend."

"Perfect," Atemu said as he helped Yugi back to his feet. He looked at the clock in the classroom. "I have to leave. You want me to walk you home, Aibou?" he winked.

"I—" Yugi started to say before he was interrupted by the door being opened.

"Yug'!" a blonde boy in the doorway yelled. He walked up to him as he glared lightly with his honey colored eyes. "Did ya forget 'bout somethin'?"

Yugi gasped as he covered is mouth, his violet eyes widening. "Jonouchi! I'm so sorry! I just—"

Jonouchi cut him off with a wave of his hand. "Don't worry 'bout it," Then he saw who was in the room and his eyes widened slightly. "Atemu? What're ya doin' 'ere?"

Atemu heard the surprise that laced Jonouchi's voice. He frowned since he had no idea why his presence would be that surprising. "I was only having a conversation with Yugi here," Atemu then directed a half smile toward Yugi. "I'll see you tomorrow. We still have much to discuss," he said as he walked over to the door. "Till we meet again, Aibou," he waved before he left.

There was silence between Yugi and Jonouchi for a while, until…

"What da hell did he mean by 'Aibou'?!" Jonouchi shouted. He looked down at Yugi for answers but Yugi was reluctant to look at him.

"Can we talk about this somewhere else?" Yugi pleaded.

Jonouchi sighed. "Alright… but only if ya provide da snacks!"

Yugi chucked lightly as he agreed to his friend's request.

The two proceeded to leave the school and walk to the Game Shop.

Once Yugi and Jonouchi made it to the Game Shop, they briefly greeted Yugi's grandpa before Jounouchi dragged Yugi into the kitchen where the blond boy immediately began searching for food. Junk food, specifically. After he could not carry any more, he called it quits and followed Yugi to his room.

The two entered Yugi's room and Yugi closed the door behind thwm. Jonouchi dropped the food onto the desk, grabbed a pastry, and began to chow down.

"So," Jounouchi mumbled with his mouth full. "What's goin' on with ya an' 'Temy?"

Yugi frowned at Jonouchi's manners, or lack thereof. He took a seat on his bed and kicked Jounouchi lightly. "Don't call him 'Temy," Yugi scolded.

"Whateva," Jonouchi shrugged. "Jus' tell me what's up."

"Well," he fiddled with his fingers. "He asked me to be his boyfriend."

Suddenly, Jonouchi spit out the pastry, much to Yugi's dismay. He coughed a few times until he was able to speak. "You? Him? Together?"

Yugi looked down after he wiped away the remnants of the pastry, "Sort of. We're not really together."

"But ya jus' said he asked ya out!" Jonouchi exclaimed as he began to open a bag of chips. He paused and stared at Yugi with large eyes. "Ya didn't say no, did ya?"

"Of course I didn't," Yugi huffed. "It's just…Basically, we're pretending to go out," he murmurs with a downcast expression.

Jonouchi put the chips aside. "Do I wanna know why?"

"He gets harassed by fangirls constantly," Yugi said. "He said if they thought he was gay, they might back off."

"An' how d'ya feel 'bout this?"

"Well, happy I guess—"

"Ya guess?" Jonouchi interrupted.

"Yeah. I mean, I wish it wasn't fake, but this is the best I can get. Maybe we can at least become friends," Yugi said with a dreamy smile.

They were silent. Jounouchi was not even messing with the food.

"I don't think ya should do it," Jonouchi said suddenly.

Yugi was taken aback. "Why not?" Yugi said with a raised voice, hurt. "This is the closest I'll ever be able to get to him, and you think I shouldn't take the chance?! Jonouchi, you know how much he means to me!"

"Of course I know!" Jonouchi shouted back. He lowered his voice slightly and put a hand on Yugi's shoulder. "Listen, I jus' don't want ya t' get hurt."

"I won't," Yugi said after he pulled away from his friend's hand.

"How da hell 're ya not goin' t' get hurt when yer fake-dating the one guy yer head-over-heels in love with?!" Jonouchi yelled.

Yugi hung his head and Jonouchi could see that he had begun to cry. "I don't want to talk about this anymore," Yugi muttered.

Jonouchi eyes softened. "Alright… How 'bout we play a game before I leave?"

Yugi nodded as he wiped his eyes.

The next day came all too quickly for Yugi when his alarm went off that morning. He whined before he shut it off. He snuggled into the covers and wished that he could stay home. Yugi got up after that thought, though, as he knew his grandpa would not let him skip school without a good reason.

He quickly got dressed for school. It seems he had laid in bed longer than he had thought. He rushed out the door only to run into someone.

Yugi struggled to stay on his feet before he looked up to meet a pair of amused crimson eyes.

Atemu chuckled at the surprise on Yugi's face. "I'm here to walk you to school, little one," he answered the unasked question.

Yugi found he could not get angry at the nickname, even though he was a little sensitive about his lack of height. "How do you know where I live?"

"My cousin is Kaiba Seto," Atemu replied as he took Yugi's backpack and began to walk in the direction of the school. Once Yugi started to follow him, he continued. "If I pester him enough, he will do whatever it takes to get rid of me."

Yugi only nodded. He preferred to walk in silence since he had no clue what to say. He was completely overwhelmed.

On the way, Atemu spotted a crazed girl who may or may not have been a fangirl. He shot her a devious look and leaned over toward Yugi to kiss him on the cheek. The girl glared and turned away. Yugi blushed and told himself to get used to Atemu's fake affections.

Their walk to school after that was uneventful. However, once they arrived, fangirls immediately swarmed.

One of the girls that seemed to be the leader spoke up. She addressed Atemu. "There's no way you could be gay! We don't believe it!"

"Oh? May I prove it to you all?" Atemu asked.

The leader growled at him. "Just try to!"

Atemu nodded, still smirking, and turned to Yugi. He brought him close to his body and kissed him full on the lips.

The fangirls' jaws dropped. They could not believe what they saw. Some fled with tears while others crumbled to the ground; a few were suddenly converted to yaoi fangirls.

Atemu ended the kiss and chuckled at Yugi's awestruck face. He wrapped and arm around his shoulders and entered the school. Before he pulled away, he leaned down to whisper in Yugi's ear. "Meet me at the entrance after school."

Yugi nodded.

After he released Yugi, he handed him his backpack. "Until we meet again, Aibou," Atemu said as he disappeared into the crowd to his classroom.

Yugi began to space out as he thought about Atemu and wondered what would happen after school. He soon found himself all alone and then rushed off to class as the bell rang.

It had been a rather ordinary day of school for Atemu. Seto was silent as usual and the fangirls' were tame-ish. Atemu had not got to see Yugi the entire time. Not that he had felt anything romantic for Yugi, he simply enjoyed to fluster Yugi.

As he waited for Yugi at the school entrance, Atemu thought of how adorable Yugi could be. Then he paused and swept the thought away.

"Hey," someone called.

Atemu turned around and saw the blonde guy from yesterday. "Jonouchi, right?"

"That's right," Jounouchi said as he walked up to Atemu. "I want t' talk 'bout Yug'," Jonouchi waved his hand as Atemu tried to speak. "Listen, Yugi's ma best friend an' I'm his only friend. I don't want t' see 'im hurt in this…relationship."

"I do not intend to harm Yugi," Atemu assured.

"Ya betta not!" Jonouchi exclaimed. "If I hear ya hurt 'im in any way, I'll kill ya."

Atemu felt slightly threatened. Not because he feared Jonouchi, but because he knew Jounouchi was sincere.

"Keep in mind that Yug' tells me everythin'. I'll know if ya hurt 'im," Jounouchi said and walked off.

Once Jonouchi was out of earshot, Atemu sighed and continued to wait for Yugi.

A few minutes later, Yugi ran out of the school. He stopped in front of Atemu and hunched over as he tried to catch his breath.

"I'm so sorry," Yugi apologized once he could breathe again. "I had to stay behind and help clean the classroom. I tried to clean as fast as possible."

"It's alright, Yugi. I wasn't waiting that long, anyway," Atemu lied.

Yugi smiled softly. "So, did you need to talk about something?"

"I want to go on a date," Atemu said simply.

Yugi was speechless again. He began to notice that Atemu did that to him a lot.

"I thought you might like to go to the arcade," Atemu said.

"How did you know I love the arcade?" Yugi questioned and then added, "I can't imagine you got that information from Kaiba."

Atemu laughed. "No, I didn't. Since I knew you lived above a game shop, I presumed you might like games. Seems like I was right?"

Yugi nodded enthusiastically. "I love games. All kinds of games."

"I love games, too," Atemu said. He then grabbed Yugi's hand and started to walk to the arcade. "Come on. Let's go."

Yugi and Atemu had a wonderful time on their 'date'. They found that they were both just as good at games as the other. Therefore, that made the entire goal of the date to one-up each other in as many games as possible. Still, they found themselves evenly matched.

Atemu found out that he could increase his winning chances by being affectionate towards Yugi. Kisses, hugs, seductive words and all such things worked perfectly.

"It's getting late," Atemu mentioned as he watched Yugi finish a game.

"Okay," Yugi said after he won and turned around to Atemu. "I had a really nice time, even if we aren't really together," he said at a whisper in case anyone heard.

"Me too. It certainly beats annoying Kaiba for fun," Atemu said with a laugh.

Yugi giggled. "I'm sure it does."

"We should go," Atemu said. "I'll walk you home."

"Oh, no." Yugi shook his head. "I'm okay. You don't have to do that."

"I know I don't. But I want to," Atemu said firmly.

It left Yugi with no option. He yielded, as he didn't have a choice in that matter, and allowed Atemu to take him home.

As they neared the Game Shop, Yugi thought of something. "Do you want to meet my grandpa?"

"Uh, sure," Atemu replied.

"Great!" Yugi exclaimed. "I'm sure he'll love you."

Yugi opened the door leading to the house. He closed it behind Atemu and led him into the living room where his grandpa was on a recliner while he watched s game show on TV.

"Oh, Yugi. You're home," Sugoroku said before he noticed Atemu standing behind Yugi. "Is he a friend of yours?" he asked, excited that Yugi seemed to have gained another friend.

Yugi shook his head. "Atemu, this is my grandpa, Sugoroku. Jii-chan, this is Atemu…my boyfriend."

Sugoroku took the fact that his grandson had a boyfriend rather well. He was shocked, but still happy for Yugi. He was also happy to find out that Atemu loved games. As he talked to Atemu, he found that he and Yugi seemed to be the perfect match.

From that day onwards, Atemu and Yugi went on countless dates. They both enjoyed their time together immensely. Atemu, because he enjoyed Yugi as a friend, and Yugi, because he was falling deeper and deeper in love with Atemu.

It has been about five months since they made their deal and the fangirls could not be more furious.

Yugi and Jonouchi sat together at lunch. Atemu had a different lunch period so he was unable to sit with them. Jonouchi was practically inhaling his food as per usual while Yugi decided to eat a little more civilized.

"So," Jonouchi said as he swallowed a bite of food. "What's goin' on with ya an' 'Temy?"

Yugi pouted. "I still don't like you calling him that."

Jonouchi was silent and gave Yugi a look that seemed to ask what his point was.

Yugi sighed before replying. "Everything is fine—no, everything is perfect. Atemu is so kind to me. I'm so happy with him. I don't think I've ever been happier." Then he added, " I think he might have real feelings for me."

Jonouchi looked startled. "Yug', yer relationship is fake, remember?"

"I know," Yugi said. "I just think that it's possible."

"Dammit," Jonouchi cursed. "I knew this would happen. Listen, yer gonna get hurt if ya keep thinkin' that way."

"I don't see the harm in it," Yugi argued.

"Ya shouldn't let yer happiness depend on somethin' ya might lose," Jonouchi advised. "No, not 'might'. Ya will lose it."

Yugi glared, although it really turned out to be a pout. He left the lunchroom without another word.

Jonouchi cursed again and suddenly he did not feel like eating.

Yugi met Atemu after class in front of the school. They found themselves meeting there after school nearly every day.

"Hey," Yugi said as he hugged Atemu. He had grown bolder since they started 'dating' and Atemu did not render him speechless quite so often anymore.

"Hello, Aibou," Atemu said with an odd tone. He hugged Yugi back briefly before he backed off.

Yugi caught the oddness of Atemu's words. "Is there something wrong?"

"Nothing really," Atemu replied. Before Yugi could ask again, he changed the subject. "I thought today I could take you to the park. How does that sound?"

"That'd be great," Yugi smiled and took Atemu's hand as the two began their walk to the park.

The way there was filled with silence. Yugi could tell that something was on Atemu's mind. Yugi briefly hoped that Atemu returned his feelings and was just waiting to tell him. He grinned to himself as he thought about Jonouchi's face if Atemu really did love him.

His thoughts were interrupted once they made it to the park. Atemu lead Yugi to a bench and they sat down. Yugi laid his head on Atemu's shoulder as he waited for Atemu to tell him what he wanted to say.

"I have to call off the deal," Atemu said.

Yugi froze. "What?"

"Our deal," Atemu repeated. "I guess you could say I'm breaking up with you. If this was real," he chuckled, but stopped when saw Yugi's face.

He swallowed hard as Atemu's words replayed over and over in his head. He found himself trembling and could not stop. "Why?" Yugi managed to ask.

"My family is moving. Back to Egypt," Atemu explained. "I don't think a long-distance fake relationship would do any good." Atemu started to laugh at the thought, but stopped when he noticed something wet on his shoulder.

Yugi began to cry when he realized everything was over. He found himself pulled into Atemu's arms and he started to cry harder when he thought about how this would be the last time Atemu ever held him.

"I'm so sorry, Yugi," Atemu whispered in his ear. "I never meant to hurt you. And…I had no idea you would fall for me." He held him closer, as close as he could without becoming too intimate.

Yugi shook his head as well as he could considering that it was buried in Atemu's chest. "I…I was already in love with you from the start. I had hoped, really really hoped, that you would fall for me if I accepted the deal. I thought if we pretended long enough, everything would be real. But I know…I know you're not in love with me. I know you don't think of me that way. No matter how convincing you were."

"I'm sorry," Atemu apologized again. "If you'd like, we could at least be friends," he offered.

"I'd like that," Yugi agreed and smiled softly as he looked up at Atemu. He reached up to give Atemu one last kiss.

It has been three days since Atemu and his family left on a plane to Egypt. Atemu and Yugi had exchanged emails the day he left.

Ever since he left, Yugi had not been very happy. The only thing that made him happy was the fact that Atemu would still be his friend.

Sugoroku was sad to see Atemu go. Especially so since he knew how much Atemu meant to Yugi.

Jonouchi was the one who comforted Yugi after Atemu left. He hated to see how down Yugi was, but he decided that it was not his right to hurt Atemu for hurting Yugi. He felt that Yugi would not forgive him for that.

The day Atemu left, Yugi sent him an email. He did not expect to have a reply that day. And he did not get one. Nor did he get a reply three days later and it made Yugi wonder why. He was sure he had the right email. He even tried to send more messages, but Atemu never replied. He told himself it was nothing, but he could not shake off the feeling that something was wrong. So in the end he decided the best course of action would be to ask Kaiba.

Once he arrived at the Kaiba Corp. building, he made his way to Kaiba's secretary and asked to see Kaiba. She glanced at him, and she assumed he was Atemu since she hardly ever saw the guy's face as he had always ignored her and went straight to Kaiba's office, not to mention that Atemu and Yugi had an uncanny resemblance. With that, she let him through.

Yugi opened the door and saw Kaiba typing furiously on his computer. He looked irritated, but then again, when did he not?

"Um, Kaiba?" Yugi called out.

Kaiba glared at Yugi before he paused his work, shooting Yugi a gesture for him to say what he wanted to say.

"I just wanted to know if you had heard anything from Atemu," Yugi said nervously. "I've sent him emails, but—" He stopped when he saw that Kaiba had clenched his fists. "Kaiba?"

"You should sit down," Kaiba suggested.

Yugi took the advice and sat down in the chair across from Kaiba's desk. He looked over at him expectantly.

"Atemu won't be able to reply to you," Kaiba ground out.

Yugi could hear how difficult it was to say what he was saying. He dreaded what Kaiba would say next; he feared it.

Kaiba took a shaky breath. "Atemu's plane went down."