(A/N: Hello! It's me again! :D I probably should've had this yesterday, but you see, I have some sort of viral infection killing my throat, so I've been in bed for most part of yesterday and today. Now that I got some meds to knock me out on my sleep, I decided to bring you next chapter! Yay! 8D I really hope you like it. I think it's the sweetest yet :3 And guys, seriously, I don't think there's any way I can ever show you how thankful I am for your incredible support! I'm truly grateful! Thank you so much! WARNINGS: 'Mini-me'. As far as I know, EVERYONE loves him.
Chapter 4
The first time Yami gives Yugi a ride, it's pouring outside. In the morning, the weather forecast predicted heavy rain after sunset, but when Yami looked outside his window, he knew the rain would probably hit sooner. He has never trusted a TV forecast over the gray (and almost black) clouds in the sky. Just in case, he decided to take an umbrella so as not to take any chances. His house is so close to school that he doesn't need to take his car; he walks instead.
Yugi, unfortunately, doesn't have that kind of luck.
His house is a lot farther from school than Yami's, but not far enough to actually use his car. Instead, he walks to the bus stop nearest to his home, the bus drops him close to school, and he walks the rest of the way. In any other situation, he would've taken his umbrella as well, but he woke up late and completely forgot it until he was already getting on the bus, praying that the forecast was right.
Both best friends meet at the end of the day, just outside the school's doors. (Thankfully, the roof covers the few steps from the pavement to the entrance, so they don't get wet.) The two of them groan at the pouring rain.
"I hate the weather forecast," mutters Yugi under his breath as they walk down the stairs. He clears his throat and mockingly imitates the voice of the old man of the weather: "'No heavy rain is expected until after sunset.' Then what do you call this, old man!" he snaps bitterly.
"Come on, it's not that bad," Yami says, about to open his umbrella, but he immediately regrets his words when a lightning breaks through the gray sky, followed by a loud thunder that almost deafens him. Yugi raises a questioning eyebrow at him. "Okay, it is that bad." Yami stares at the boy, then at Yugi's sides, and then at his face.
"What?" the little one demands.
"Where's your umbrella?"
"Oh, probably back home," he sighs in defeat.
"Wait, you didn't bring one?"
"How clearer do you want me to be?" Yugi replies angrily. "I woke up late, had to practically run out, and I forgot my umbrella."
"And you plan to walk all the way to the bus stop with this rain?" Yami questions, mouth slightly open. 'Mini-me' interrupts whatever he's going to say next: his wee eyes are exaggeratedly huge and his hands are wiggling at his sides while he screams, BUT YOU'RE GOING TO GET SICK! AND THEN YOU'LL MISS SCHOOL AND I WON'T SEE YOU! AND THEN WHAT AM I GOING TO DO WITHOUT YOU HERE? To avoid making a fool out of himself by talking without thinking first, he imagines a zipper shutting 'mini me's mouth. Now that's more like it, he thinks as his little self futilely attempts to open the now locked zipper.
"It's not really that much," Yugi says, holding out his arm into the rain. He pulls it back after four seconds to find the long sleeve of his puffy, comfy sweater thoroughly soaked. "All right, maybe it is."
"I'm not letting you walk under this phenomenon of nature," Yami interferes.
"Oh, really? How am I going to get home? Do you have a better idea?" Just as Yami wants to say he could go with Yugi so that his umbrella shelters them both, 'mini-me' somehow gets rid of the zipper shutting his mouth and screams: YES! I DO! I could give you my umbrella so that you don't get wet, run to my house, get my car, and give you a ride home!
And this time, for his misery, he actually listens to his little self. "Actually, I do."
Yugi glances at him with disbelief. "You do?"
Oh, crap! Yami curses mentally, biting his lip. Well, now that he's said it, he supposes there's no other way than to keep going until the end. He hands Yugi his umbrella. "Just stay on the edge of the pavement, okay? Don't go to the bus stop. I'll be right back!"
"Whoa, whoa, wait," Yugi stops him by gripping his shoulder. "You're not seriously going to run to your house without—"
"I'll be fine!" Yami insists, and before Yugi can stop him again, he pulls off his backpack, holds it over his head, and runs off.
Yugi cannot possibly believe he allowed Yami to run away without his umbrella. The idiot's going to get sick! He sighs, tightening his grip on the shelter Yami left him. The boy blushes slightly, thinking that it was really nice of Yami to risk his health over him. And while he's thinking this, he can't help but wonder if someone like his best friend could possibly like him more than… well… like more than a best friend. He ponders on the fact that Yami looked worried when his father mentioned Anzu that one time he stayed over, and how he asked who she was. He seemed terribly relieved when Yugi confessed she was just an old friend.
Yugi definitely likes Yami. Likes him more than a best friend. But that doesn't mean Yami likes him back, even though he wishes he knew how Yami truly felt about him. Their hanging out, their exchanged smiles, their flirty conversations… what does all that mean?
His thoughts are interrupted by the honk of a car right before him. The driver's window slowly rolls down to reveal a smirking Yami, whose hair is still dripping wet, soaking his clothes. "Need a ride?" he asks smugly, completely ignoring the fact that he's making a showoff out of himself in front of the rest of their schoolmates. Yugi can't help but laugh out loud as he walks around the front of the car and gets in the passenger's seat.
"I honestly can't believe you!" he nearly yells after Yami starts driving down the street. "You ran home under the pouring rain to get your car to give me a ride to my house?"
"You could say that," Yami happily agrees, winking at Yugi as he adds, "Now you owe me one."
"I bet you just wanted to show-off, didn't you?"
"That was definitely part of the plan," Yami confesses, making Yugi laugh again. God, how he loves that laugh… "And come on, I mean, the length I ran wasn't even that long." Yugi, once more, raises a questioning eyebrow, which only makes Yami shrug. "And no, I'm not telling you how much I ran."
"You whacko," Yugi says, leaning on his palm as he looks out the window. But from the corner of his eyes, Yami catches a glimpse of a pink blush that takes over the boy's cheeks. And that's so totally worth the cold and fever he's probably going to have tomorrow morning.
At night, as he lies on his bed, facedown, sketching a three-dimensional purple lilac on his favorite sketchbook, Yugi's thoughts race back to Yami and all the troubles that guy went through to make sure Yugi didn't have to walk in the rain. His heart starts beating faster when he remembers Yami winking at him on the passenger seat. Yugi then promises himself that someday soon, he's going to tell Yami his feelings for him. Whether Yami returns those feelings or not… well, that's something he'd rather not think about for the time being.
He looks over at his desk (where he put the material Anzu brought him), and the boy smiles to no one in particular, already imagining how beautiful his purple lilac—his 'first love'—will look once he's done with it.
(A/N: I found on internet that a purple lilac means 'first love'. I was going for a belladonna lily, which is very pretty, but it meant 'silence' or something like that. Too bad. Oh, by the way, next chapter includes some... er, how should I say this... some smexy action between our two love-birds. Don't jump to conclusions, you pervs! Stay tuned for the next chapter! Please review! Thanks!)
