Greetings Readers! Here is the next chapter of Heat.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! or any of its characters.

Yugi felt a wave of relief flow over him as the final strands of the leather strap gave way to his knife and he was able to pull his leg away. Cringing slightly at the painful tingling, he massaged his leg and ankle in an effort to restore circulation.

He hated being tied up. It didn't matter that it had happened more than a few times over his life; he still despised it. it reminded him of when he was bound and slowly disappearing during Yami's duel with Marik's dark self back in Battle City. And that hadn't been the only time – he'd been restrained by the Seal of Orichalcos before and after saving Yami, and more recently, he'd spent several hours tied up by a small indigenous tribe in the jungles of Brazil. They'd worshipped fire, and believed that Yugi's hair was a large, multicolored flame and that Yugi was some sort of god that could maintain an eternal flame without being burned.

They had been friendly at first but when Yugi had managed to convey that he needed to leave, they hadn't wanted to let him go. By the time the rest of the expedition had caught up, Yugi was perched on a stone and wood throne surrounded by platters of fruits – and tied tightly around his chest, arms and ankles.

Joey and Tristan hadn't been able to keep from bursting out laughing when they, Yugi, and Téa were video chatting online – often the only way for the old gang to communicate since Téa was in New York, Yugi was all over the place when not in Domino, and Tristan and Joey were in Domino. Yugi had flushed in embarrassment, but it had been hardly noticeable through the remains of the vivid face paints that had been layered on his face, despite his wasting several minutes of water trying to scrape it off.

"Are you sure they didn't think it was some sort of crown?" Téa asked sympathetically, although an amused smile clearly tugged at the corners of her mouth.

"No," Yugi sardonically laughed, "They definitely thought it was some sort of eternal flame."

Both Joey and Tristan broke into renewed roars of laughter, falling off their chairs so that only their legs could be seen over the counter at the Game Shop. Yugi looked pleadingly at Téa for help, but she only managed to roll her eyes at them.

Téa wearily rolled her eyes, a feat nearly impossible to tell because her eyes were half-lidded. While it was five o'clock in the afternoon in Brazil and 7 o'clock at night in Domino, it was 5 o'clock in the morning in New York. However, Téa had made the boys promise to call her when Yugi got back to the hotel from the dig site, regardless of what time it was. "That's the best I can do – I can't smack them from here."

Yugi arched one brow at her before winking and saying, "Well, he's already made Duel Monsters holograms; it couldn't be too hard for Kaiba to make some kind of holographic arms – "

Joey's laughter stopped abruptly and he yanked himself onto the edge of the counter, bristling. "That snake? I wouldn't trust anything that Kaiba makes as I could throw him!" Whereas the rest of the friends had eventually been more accepting of Kaiba as an acquaintance, if not as a tentative friend, Joey hadn't budged so much as an inch from his loathing. He was rather like a bulldog in that respect, with an old bone he would not let go of.

"Throw him?" Tristan countered, hauling himself onto the countertop, "Don't you mean, throw them?"

"If I can throw him, that's all the satisfaction I need!" Joey shouted.

As Tristan attempted to try and calm down Joey from his growing rant, even calling even reinforcements (namely, Joey's girlfriend and sister), Yugi had shot Téa a grin. Once again, the King of Games had expertly applied a strategy to achieve his goal – get Joey and Tristan to lay off about his hair.

Yugi grinned at the memory but then lost the grin to a surprised gasp of pain as he put weight on his freed leg. It nearly buckled beneath him and he shifted the weight to his other leg before leaning against the slab of sandstone. His hands encircled his leg, feeling for a break, but he found none. However, there was a very sore area at the back of his leg beneath the knee that he suspected was a fracture. Keeping one hand on the chamber wall for support, he limped around the room, trying to find something that could function as a makeshift crutch. It wasn't until the third laborious trip around that he noticed room that he noticed a few scattered, dilapidated spears. Gritting his teeth in preparation, Yugi left the support of the wall and, putting as little weight on his injured leg as possible, limped to the pile and scooped a few into his arms. Ignoring the pulse below his knee that seemed to reverberate through his entire leg, he made his way back to the door before dropping to his uninjured knee and letting go of the spears.

He leaned back against the slab, stretching out his legs carefully as he slid to the ground. A series of half-frantic taps echoed across the slab, resounding in Yugi's skull. He focused on the tapping, and then sent a message of his own back. "Am fine. Coming up with plan."

But first he needed to be able to get around. Yugi pulled a few of the spears towards him and used his knife to cut off the pointed ends. He then began to shave the ends, giving them a more rounded and softer feel. As he whittled, a lock of hair fell in his eyes and he pushed it away.

"No matter how I try, it always stays like this." He'd experimented with it countless times, but his hair defiantly always kept its unique, multicolored shape. But then, he liked it – it was just hard to keep a low profile with hair like that. Although saving the world with card games, having the god cards, and being labeled the King of Games didn't help much in keeping a low profile either.

The hair, limp from the Egyptian heat, flopped in his face again. He pushed it out of the way and, as he continued carving, his mind wandered.

Yugi bit his lip to keep from laughing. He had never expected a question like that from the spirit. "You want to know what gel is?"

The spirit was hovering beside him. "That's what they were fighting about, wasn't it? But all I saw was this strange tub."

Yugi sat down. This was going to take a while.

Joey had made the grave error of stealing Tristan's hair gel, and the even graver mistake of getting caught. Tristan had first thought it was Joey being stupid, and then accused him of trying to sabotage his date with Serenity. Joey, who had not known about the date with Serenity, flipped out in a burst of older brother protectiveness and jumped Tristan. In the midst of the scuffle, the two had made a bet – whoever could pin the other for twenty seconds won. If Joey won, Tristan would have to stay away from Serenity for a week – "So I can talk some sense inta her!" – and if Tristan won, Joey would…

Tristan had won, and so Joey, tied to a chair and howling, had been forced to let the girls and Tristan plaster gel into his hair, making it stand up in all directions. Joey eventually managed to break free and, since he could not hit Serenity, Mai, or Téa (who, while neither his girlfriend nor his sister, could still hit pretty hard), went after the only safe target. Yugi had attempted to break it apart, but eventually succumbed to bouts of laughter as the two sprinted out into the sunshine.

The girls remained downstairs while Yugi ran upstairs to get some food ready for the girls and the food lovers when they came back. Yami had seized the free moment to come out and talk.

"It's something that people put in their hair to make it stand up or stay down…or whatever they want it to do."

Yami quirked an eyebrow. "Why in the world would they do that?"

Yugi grinned. "Not everyone is as proud of their hair as you are, Other Me." He leaned back against the counter, being carefully not to put his elbow in the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. "Speaking of which, how come you have your hair? I mean, didn't most Pharaohs have to shave it off and wear wigs?"

Yugi had meant the question mostly in jest, although he was genuinely curious, so he was not expecting Yami's face to fall into pensiveness.

"I do not…know why, aibou."

Yugi could have smacked himself. Of course, Yami didn't know that. He didn't know anything in his past – just that he was the Nameless Pharaoh. And even that wasn't very helpful because he didn't even know his name. "Yami, I'm sorry. I didn't think-"

Although the hand was transparent, Yugi still felt the pressure on his shoulder as Yami stopped him. "Don't worry, Yugi. I take no offense."

"I am sorry, though," Yugi sighed, "it's just – you have so much confidence for not knowing all that and still going on." He shifted his feet slightly. "I wish I was brave like that."

Yami smiled one of his regal smiles, one that said that things would work out. "You are brave, aibou. You just need the confidence to see it." He looked out at the sun, watching it slowly fall to the horizon. "And there is a reason I am so confident."

"What's that?" Yugi asked as he turned to pick up the platter of snacks.

"I have you."

Yugi felt the poignant tug at his heart and continued working. "I'm still not sure what you meant by that, Yami." He spoke into the stillness, "but I'm glad to have helped somehow. I just wish I had more of that confidence right now."

A/N: So there you are. I hope you enjoyed reading it!

Thanks for reading and please review! They make me happy.