"Yami, will you go out with me?"
It would be safe to say that Yami had no idea how he had ended up in this particular place with this particular person. Of course, it wasn't that he didn't like ice cream, quiet then opposite in fact, it was just that he didn't want to be here with this person.
"Yami, be a gentlemen and go order for us. What would you like?"
"Frankly, I don't care."
"Well, then why don't you get a small sherbet for us to split. Just as long as it doesn't have chocolate, I don't mind." Yami, who had always been a fan of chocolate and had never liked the fruity stuff, felt his left eye start to twitch. It was bad enough that he was here at the ice cream parlor on a date. It was bad enough that he was here at the ice cream parlor on a date with Tea. But there was no way that he was going to share a bowl of apricot sherbet with her. Damn it all, he wanted chocolate. Without saying a word, he slumped off to join the really long line for ice cream. With luck, the ice cream parlor would be closed before he got to the front of the line.
The door to the parlor opened, and the annoying little bell rung.
"Thank you so much for taking me out for ice cream, Seto!" Seto? Yami felt his heart skip a beat, and he turned to face the door. Sure enough, standing in the doorway, seeming to glow under the florescent lights of the ice cream parlor, was Seto 'drop dead gorgeous-Kaiba.'
"Kaiba!" Yami called, waving a little so the billionaire was sure to notice him. "Long time no see. How have you been?" 'Perfect, now he'll have to walk up here to talk to me.' Yami thought. 'He can't ignore me without seeming rude. Not that he really cares, but still, I can hope.' Kaiba took his little brother by the hand and walked up to Yami.
"Hasn't been that long. I saw you at school four hours ago."
"Oh, yeah. It was just four hours ago, wasn't it?" 'Damn, he still can't tell us apart.' One of the downsides to sharing a body was the fact that the object of his affections couldn't tell him apart from his shorter, and decidedly straighter, half. "So, you want cuts?" Where that term came from, Yami had no idea. He knew, however, that if Kaiba accepted his invitation, he would be stuck in line with him. The line behind them gave out a loud moan of protest.
"I think it will be best if Mokuba and I go to the back." Kaiba said, moving away from Yami.
"I'll come with you!" Yami extracted himself from line, and his place was immediately lost.
"But Yugi, you were five people from the front."
"I know. I'd much rather be in the back of the line."
"I wouldn't. What flavor of ice cream are you getting, anyway?" Mokuba piped in.
"I want chocolate, but I'm getting apricot."
"I thought you hated sherbet." Kaiba said.
"I do." Inwardly, Yami was cheering about the fact that Kaiba knew he hated sherbet.
"Then why on earth are you getting some?"
"Because my date insisted we get something to share. And she-" Here, Yami held up the quote fingers. "-Can't eat ice cream, she has to watch her figure." Kaiba seemed to get rather uncomfortable, when the subject of Yami's date got brought up, but he masked it well.
"Since when do you take anyone's orders?" He snapped.
"You know, you're right. Screw sherbet!" Yami turned to the pimply boy who was waiting to take their orders. "I want the biggest bowl you have, filled with the most chocolate you have, topped with the most stuff you have. But no nuts." He added as an after thought. "And the smallest size you have in apricot sherbet." Yami stepped back from the cashier, and waited for Kaiba to order.
"I want a sugar cone with two scoops of cookie dough and a waffle cone with one scoop of vanilla."
"Will that be together?" The pimply boy asked, and Yami found himself pondering how Kaiba would answer that. Without thinking, Kaiba slide his credit card across the table to the boy with a curt nod.
"Oh, thanks Kaiba. I could have-"
"Don't mention it. Enjoy your date." With that, Kaiba stomped off, dragging Mokuba along, the latter of which was happily licking his ice cream cone. Having no more reasons to stall at the line, he walked back to the booth that he shared with Tea. He plunked Tea's teaspoon of sherbet in front of her, set his own heaping portion in front of where he would be sitting, and sat down.
"I thought we were going to share something." Tea said, looking at his ice cream.
"I decided that I wanted chocolate."
"Oh, I see." Tea looked down at her own food, before trying to start a conversation again. "So, uh, was that Kaiba I saw in here earlier?"
"How many people wear trench coats in June?"
"Yami, are you ok? You're not acting like yourself."
"Maybe I'm not." Yami picked up his ice cream, dropped the remainder in the trash, and walked out of the ice cream parlor into the rain. Tea sat, shocked, and put her face in her hands as she started to cry.
As Yami set off towards the Kame Game shop, an enraged Yugi, in semi-transparent form, blocked his way.
"You had no right to do that do her!" Yugi yelled.
"Then you go out with her."
"I can't, she doesn't love me."
"I can't either, I don't love her!"
"You could at least play along with it."
"And what would that accomplish?"
"At least she would be happy."
"Oh yes, everything Tea wants."
"Grow up, Yami! You're not Pharaoh anymore. You can't always get what you want."
"You know what? I don't want to have this conversation anymore. You can apologize to her in the morning, if that's what you want." Yami disappeared into his soul room, leaving Yugi with the body, which had fallen face down into the mud.
"Damn it, Yami, you could have at least waited until I got back into the body before throwing your hissy fit." From inside the puzzle, Yugi heard several doors open and slam closed as Yami stomped around in his soul room. It was going to be a long night.
"Yugi, can I talk to Yami for a minute?"
The next day at school, Yugi made a point to show up early, so he would have time to apologize to Tea. He sat at his desk in the classroom, and played with a rubix cube while he waited for Tea to arrive. However, he was so upset from his argument with Yami last night, that he was having trouble getting it right.
/No, no. Put that one there. No, not that one, the other one./ Yami instructed out of habit from his soul room.
/Shut up./
/Fine, don't solve it./
"You know, maybe I won't wear the puzzle today." Yugi said to himself, as he shoved the puzzle into his backpack. Tea walked in.
"Oh, hi Yugi." She said, sitting down next to him.
"Hi Tea. Listen, I wanted to apologize for Yami's behavior last night."
"Don't worry about it. Everyone just needs their space sometimes.
Oh, where's the puzzle?"
"Yami just needed his space." Yugi smirked.
"I see. Well, when he decides to come out again, will you ask him if he's available on Saturday?"
"Oh, don't worry. He's available." Yugi said, glancing down at his backpack.
"Oh, I'm so glad." Tea smiled as Joey and Tristan entered the room.
"Hey Yug." Joey said. "Oh, wait a minute! Something's different about you. Did you part your hair differently?"
"Joey, I never part my hair."
"Oh. Did you get your uniform cleaned?"
"I wear a clean one every day."
"You idiot, he's not wearing the puzzle!" Tristan whacked Joey on the head.
"Right. So where is the puzzle?"
"It's in my backpack, Yami threw a hissy fit and I didn't want him complaining all day."
"Man, he must be in a really bad mood. I can't remember the last time you weren't wearing the puzzle." It was at that moment that Seto Kaiba graced the room with his presence.
"Yugi." He said by way of greeting. "Where's the puzzle?"
"I don't know. I just didn't feel like wearing it today." Yugi said, and that was the end of his evolvement with Seto Kaiba for the day.
"Sure, let me go get him."
School was out, Joey and Tristan both had detention and Tea had work, so Yugi was walking home alone. About two blocks from school, Yugi found himself surrounded by a nasty looking group of thugs.
"Hey, squirt, hand over your money and no one gets hurt."
"Um, I don't have any money." Yugi said, backing away from the thugs.
"Well, that's too bad. You're going to wish you had some in a minute." The leader signaled to the group of thugs and two of them grabbed Yugi under his arms, and the other grabbed his backpack and emptied the contents onto the ground. Miscellaneous books and papers spilled out into a pile, and on top of them all sat the Millennium puzzle. The guy who emptied the backpack started looking through the contents, trying to see if Yugi had been telling the truth.
"Damn, Tetsuo, the brat was telling the truth. There's no cash in here!" Backpack man walked over to where Yugi was being held and hit him once in the gut. When Yugi bent over in pain, the thug gave him an uppercut to the chin. Yugi passed out, and the two holding him started to laugh.
"Does the shiny gold thing mean anything to you?" The leader shouted, waving around the Millennium puzzle, which he had picked up.
"Oh, right boss. You're so smart." The other thugs said in unison, dropping Yugi on the ground.
"That's why I'm the leader. Leave the kid and let's ditch this place." Tetsuo turned on his heel and was about to walk away, when a fist connected with his face. As Tetsuo slumped to his knees, Seto Kaiba jerked the puzzle out of his hands, and turned his icy glare to the other thugs. The three ran away, screaming for mother. Kaiba placed the books and papers back in Yugi's backpack, put the puzzle around Yugi's neck, and helped him to his car. He ordered his chauffeur to drive to the Kame Game shop, where he helped the now semi-conscious Yugi inside.
"Kame Game shop, how may I help-Yugi!" Grandpa said, rushing over to Yugi. "What did you do to him, you monster!" Grandpa rounded on Kaiba.
"It's alright, Grandpa. Kaiba saved me." Yugi managed to smile, even though his lip was bleeding all over the floor.
"I won't bother you anymore." Kaiba said, and he turned and left the game shop before they could say anything to him.
"I think I'll go to bed." Yugi said, faking a yawn.
"Are you sure? I could help you dress your wounds."
"It's ok, I can do it myself. See you in the morning Grandpa."
"Goodnight, Yugi."
"Er, hello Tea."
Yugi sat on the bed in his soul room, and Yami was standing over him with a roll of gauze.
"Ow! That hurts!" Yugi cried.
"Yugi, you should be more careful." Yami said.
"I told them the truth. I didn't have any money."
"I know, you didn't. Maybe I should teach you how to fight."
"Joey's already tried. Believe me, it was painful."
"Maybe Kaiba could teach you." Yami sighed happily before continuing. "On second thought, I don't want Kaiba to know you can't fight. It might reflect badly on me."
"Yami, lately you've been acting like you think of Kaiba as more than a rival."
"Of course I do, we called a truce with him after Battle City."
"Yeah, but I mean, more than that too."
"Are you accusing me of-no!"
"Sorry, I just thought. What with the dreamy little fan girl sighs
and all-"
"I'm not gay, Yugi."
"There's nothing wrong with that."
"Wait, I'm confused. Nothing wrong with me not being gay, or nothing wrong with me being gay?"
"So you are gay!"
"My head hurts."
"I'm so glad we're talking again!" Yugi said, and he hugged Yami around his waist.
"Hello, Yami."
Once again, Yugi was at school early, only this time it was to thank Kaiba for saving his life, instead of apologizing to Tea for Yami's snotty behavior. One by one, Yugi's group of friends came into the room and the started their usual morning chatter. Finally, Kaiba came in, and Yugi rushed over to him before he could sit down.
"I want to thank you for saving my life, and my puzzle, last night."
"It was nothing."
/He's so heroic./ Yami sighed from inside his soul room.
"Shut up." Yugi said, not knowing he'd spoken aloud.
"I beg your pardon?" Kaiba said.
"Oh, I'm sorry Kaiba. I wasn't talking to you."
/Shoot; now he's going to hate me./
"I still say you're gay."
"What?" Kaiba said, a massive blush spreading across his cheeks.
"Not you, not you!" Yugi said, trying to sound innocent.
"Humph." Kaiba stomped off, and sat down at his desk. Joey, who had been monitoring the whole conversation, rushed over.
"Did you see Kaiba doing something? Is that why you think he's gay?" He said, poking Yugi repeatedly.
"Why, mutt? Interested in a date? You're not my type." Kaiba snapped from his desk.
"So you are gay!" Kaiba chose to ignore this comment and went back to pretending to read his book.
/Do you think it could be true/
"I told you, you were gay." Joey's eyes widened a little at that statement, and he stared at his shorter friend. "I mean, not you, Joey! God, I'm not going to say anything from now on."
After much pestering, Yugi finally gave in to Joey's questioning. "It's not you, or Kaiba that I think is gay. It's Yami."
/How dare you! I am not gay/
"You are too."
/Yugi, you may want to focus on the link a little more./
"Really? What did you see Yami doing? Huh, huh, huh?"
"Nothing, it's more like what I heard him thinking."
/You have no right to tell my thoughts to your friends, Yugi./ Tea, who neither of them realized was overhearing this conversation, ran to the girls bathroom, not to be seen or heard from the rest of the day.