WOAH! Intensity.

Started new fic. Had some trouble. Almost had to write in a Scandalshipping plot line. (priest Seth x Pharaoh) EW! (shivers, throws up a little) thank god for loop holes. Sorry, I just don't see the Prideshipping in any form. (Kaiba x Yami) Well... except maybe… youknow, if its like one-sided with Kaiba and he gets all depressed and kills himself. Sorry. I don't actually hate Kaiba, you all know that.

Moving along. This chapter is… freaking awesome. You'll find out why. Mwahahaha.

Bakura likes his meat… a lot of it. Teehee.


Chyaputa 8: Humiliation

1. state of disgrace or loss of self-respect

2. strong feelings of embarrassment

3. an instance in which causes one to lose one's prestige or self-respect

4. depriving one of self-esteem


The restaurant Malik had chosen had some kind of unpronounceable name written in loopy neon letters. Bakura's stare traveled around the room harshly, glowering at the strings of flowers over head and the tacky lavish decorations on the walls.

"What an ugly stuffy place," Bakura growled distastefully, not caring that a waiter was passing right by him as he said that. Malik elbowed Bakura in the side, signaling him to be quiet. The waiter's nose wrinkled slightly but he led the three boys to a table in the corner anyway. Bakura sat down and Malik immediately took the chair next to him.

"I can't believe both of you failed me again," Malik moaned. "Am I the only one who even owns nice clothes?" Malik had dressed up in some fancy pressed shirt with a collar, buttons and everything. Both Bakura and Ryou were in jeans and a regular T-shirt.

"Sorry, Malik-kun, Bakura-kun didn't tell me we were going here," Ryou admitted.

"Sure, blame me," grumbled Bakura darkly. "Malik didn't say anything about the place being stifling to me either."

The waiter appeared at their table. "Good evening, welcome to-" unpronounceable name again, "I'm Aiko and I'll be your waiter this evening. Would you all like something to drink?"

Malik and Ryou both ordered their drinks. Bakura scowled down at his menu, as if he expected it to grow a mouth and tell him what to order. Since it wasn't and all three humans were waiting for him to decide Bakura gave up, pointed carelessly at Ryou and snapped, "Whatever he ordered." Once the waitress nodded and scurried hastily away, Bakura growled, "What the hell is a panini, fettuccinipento? Is this freakin' menu in another language?"

"It's Italian," Malik said. "We're in an Italian restaurant."

"How the hell are we supposed to order something then?" Bakura spat.

"Here." Ryou laid his menu flat on the table. "What kind of pasta do you like?"

"The edible kind," Bakura growled.

"That certainly narrows down the choices," Malik joked. Bakura glared at him and that shut the human up right away.

"What kind of sauce do you like?" Ryou asked smoothly.

"How should I know. They all got weird names," Bakura grumbled grouchily, slouching down in his seat. "Is there any meat thing I could get instead? Like steak?"

"Bakura, this is an Italian restaurant. They don't have steak," said Malik, very unhelpfully. Shit, that guy was annoying! Good thing Bakura had thought to bring Ryou along or else this evening would have been awful.

Ryou shrugged and closed his menu. "How about you get a Carne Pizza? That's got a lot of meat on it?"

Bakura's head perked back up a little. "They have pizza?" he questioned suspiciously.

"Yep." Ryou showed him the place in the menu.

"Excellent," Bakura decided firmly, not noticing as Malik and Ryou exchanged tired looks.

"God, Bakura, why do you always have to be so difficult?" Malik taunted.

"I don't know, why do you always have to be so annoying?" Bakura retorted nastily. Malik's face tightened and he looked away from Bakura's stare, eyes shinning with hurt.

"Come on you guys. Let's try to be nice to each other," Ryou reasoned calmly.

The drinks came. Bakura drank one sip of his chosen beverage and gagged dramatically.

"This is vile. What did you call it? Iced- tee?" Bakura growled as he dumped his seventh package of sugar into his drink. Ryou shrugged as he sipped his ice tea pleasantly. Bakura did another test taste of his tea and made a face as though he were about to barf. "Hey Malik, let me have some of your drink," Bakura ordered.

"Mine? Ah, sure." Malik passed his glass of Cherry Coke to his friend.

The drink was still awful but it wasn't nearly as vile.

That is, until Bakura noticed that Malik was staring at him with oddly glazed over eyes.

Ryou seemed to catch onto this too. "Malik-kun?" The human remained in his trance. Ryou tried again, waving a hand in the Egyptian's face. "Hello, Malik-kun?"

Malik flinched, hugely and obviously, like a stupefied human. "W-what?"

"Are you ok?" Ryou asked concerned.

"Me? Fine! Just fine!" Malik insisted with a nervous laugh.

Bakura managed a scowl even though the straw was still in his mouth. "You're staring at me," Bakura accused.

Malik's face flamed up again. "Am not!" he exclaimed, forcefully turning away.

Bakura glared at him. "You've got some drool on your chin." Malik flushed and immediately snatched up his napkin and covered his red face. Bakura rolled his eyes and went back to his drink, Malik's drink. And Malik could not stop staring. The stupid human.

"Oh look, the salads are here," Ryou announced lightly, changing the subject.

The salads were inedible. But fortunately for all, Bakura loved his pizza and he ate more than half of it without one negative word, which allowed Malik and Ryou to enjoy their food as well.

Ryou had slurped up his pasta, the noodles leaving white sauce dripping from his chin.

"You look ridiculous," Bakura scolded.

Ryou frowned slightly. "Funny, I seemed to have lost my napkin."

Bakura rolled his eyes. The clumsy idiot. "Here." He tossed Ryou his own napkin. Ryou caught it awkwardly and cleaned himself up.

Malik sulked. But Bakura had no idea why. Because he was human?

"Bakura, can I have my drink back now? I'm thirsty," Malik asked.

Bakura shrugged and shoved the glass in Malik's direction.

The Egyptian caught it. "Bakura. This is empty."

"Yeah?" Bakura questioned.

"What am I going to drink?" Malik asked incredulously.

Bakura scowled. "Freaking hell, here." And he thrust Malik his overly sweetened iced tea.

"But I don't like tea," Malik complained.

"You wanted something to drink," Bakura scathed.

Malik gaped at him, incredulously. "But I wanted- I was the one who ordered it!"

"And? You gave it to me. Willingly," Bakura reminded the annoying human. Honestly it wasn't a hard concept.

"You know," Ryou mentioned politely though neither was really paying him much attention. "You guys could just order another drink."

But Malik's face was current swelling up like it had an infection or something, but it didn't, Bakura realized, Malik's face was just meant to be confusing and annoying.

"Malik-kun? Are you sure you're alright?" Ryou asked, now looking slightly concerned.

"Me?" Malik choked, now trembling with rage. "Oh, yes! Nothing's wrong! Absolutely nothing!" he ranted in a way that you definitely could tell that something was wrong.

"Whatever," Bakura scoffed and turned back to his pizza without a second thought.

"Um, I'll be right back," Ryou said, standing up. "I need to go to bathroom." Bakura nodded but silently he wished Ryou wouldn't leave. He did not want to be left alone with crazy Malik. Who knew what crazy things he'd do now?

The moment Ryou disappeared, sure enough, the human turned on Bakura.

"What was all that?" Malik hissed.

"What was what?" Bakura accused.

Malik's eyes narrowed. "Oh come, its obvious. You've been practically sucking up to Ryou all night!"

"Where'd you get that ridiculous notion?" Bakura protested, offended.

"You let him order for you, you gave him your napkin after he conveniently lost his," Malik recalled, eyebrows raising suspiciously.

"You're crazy," Bakura scoffed, turning away from Malik.

Then Malik's face got very stiff, as though his tongue had just turned to stone. "Do you like him?"

"What?" Bakura didn't like humans. At all. But if he did… Ryou might have been one of the better ones. Even though he was rather… pale. "He's not awful," Bakura decided.

"But do you like him?" Malik argued. "You know, like more than a friend."

"More than a friend?" Bakura repeated critically, squinting at Malik even though he was only two feet away and Bakura had perfectly good eyesight. "What else would he be?"

Malik rolled his eyes. "You know, like you got the hots for him? You got a crush on him?"

Bakura's frame went rigid in disgust. "Malik."

"What?"

Bakura said very slowly, "Are you suggesting that I want to mate with him?"

Malik croaked. "Well- maybe- not exactly mate… but yeah…"

Bakura never thought he would have to instruct a human in the finer points of mating. "For one, we're both males, we can't reproduce-"

"I know that!" Malik squeaked incredulously.

"I don't courtship with a hu- with anyone," Bakura continued savagely

But Malik's mouth dropped open in shock. It looked like he just got punched in the stomach.

"Are you fucking shitting-" he breathed. Then he started to swell with sudden furious anger.

"What?" Bakura questioned.

"YOU-" Malik was vibrating, trembling with rage. "You've been going out on dates for ages!"

Bakura face retorted, thoroughly disgusted. "I don't go on dates."

Malik's pale violet eye looked like they were about to pop right out of his head. "What are you talking about!? You went out with Ryou just last week!"

The side of Bakura's mouth twitched. "Yeah, to the movies, not on a date or anything…"

"Going to the movies is a date!" Malik spat.

"No, its not," Bakura said flatly. "There are lots of not-dating people at movies."

"Yes, but-but-" Malik was trembling, his hands flying out to the sides in wild gestures, "If you go up to someone, especially if that someone is your own age and available, and you ask to 'go out' with them, alone, that implies a date!"

Bakura scowled, blinking slowly. "No, it doesn't."

"Yeah, it does!"

"It wasn't a date," Bakura pointed out flatly.

"That's the way everyone in the school took it!" Malik exclaimed. "To them you've been going out, on dates, with practically everyone in the school!!"

"Why are you getting so loud about this?" Bakura growled.

"Y-you- you- can't tell me it never crossed your mind," Malik stammered. He looked slightly unstable, like was going to explode at any second. "With the whole school talking about it. Everyone thinks you're a-a-a pimp or a- prostitute or something!"

Bakura scowled in thought. "And?"

Malik's face went slack again. "What do you mean, 'and'?" Malik stood up, expression lined with distress. "Don't you care?"

"No," Bakura returned. The only thing that was agitating him was Malik.

"But-but- people think you're a…. why can't you stop?"

"Malik, shut up," Bakura growled. "Sit down."

"Don't you see how people hate you? Why do you do stuff like this? It's not healthy," Malik questioned.

"Shut up and sit down," Bakura snarled.

"And I've been trying to tell people they're wrong. Really I have! And you just don't care?"

"Why the fuck does it matter to you?" Bakura sneered back. They were both standing now; half the restaurant was looking at them.

Malik's normally rich tanned complexion drained from his face.

"It matters," Malik insisted fiercely but his voice was much smaller than it had been a second ago. It was as if he was hiding something, holding his answer back.

"Please explain it to me then. Why? Why do you care that no one likes me?" Bakura repeated nastily.

There was a moment of hesitation.

Then the movement was so fast, Bakura couldn't understand what was going on. One second Malik was trembling and looking all nervous, then next the human had grabbed Bakura's head, his mouth fumbling for Bakura's lips.

A thousand lifetimes flashed before Bakura's mind in that split second. It had become shockingly clear to him how very wrong this situation was.

A bad chemical feeling had jumped up into his mortal brain. Sharp immediate impulse caused Bakura's hands to shove Malik away. The human fell backwards, tripping over the chair behind him and falling on the fancy carpet.

Most of the restaurant went silent or looked curiously around for the commotion.

Bakura's human heart was pounding irregularly. Was he sick?

Malik looked up into Bakura's rigid and scary expression.

The angel gave him nothing but hate in return.

Malik's face contorted with pain. Had the fall injured the human? Surely Bakura hadn't pushed him that hard; even with the shock, Bakura had kept his angelic strength in check.

Next moment Malik was on his feet and Bakura's super saturated Iced-tee was being dumped on his head and then, without another word, the Egyptian was gone. Bakura just stood there, dripping onto the expensive carpet.

Ryou, it turned out, had been standing just a few paces away. When the diners at the nearby tables finally turned back to their own conversations, Ryou appeared at Bakura's side and silently handed him a white napkin. The angel sat heavily in his chair.

Their waiter took advantage of the pause in their conversation to nervously offer to get them the check.

"Yes, thank you," Ryou answered distractedly and sat down as well. The restaurant finally started to calm. But Bakura was still wired with agitation. He began to roughly ring out his long white hair, more of the sugary liquid spilling onto the carpet. "The bastard-" he stopped himself. His fingers were shaking, but with what? Anger? Freaking hell, he hoped it was anger.

The waiter delivered their check. Ryou glanced at the paper. "Ah, Bakura…"

"What?" Bakura snapped, ringing his hair.

"You remember how Malik was supposed to pay…"

Bakura threw his hands up into the air and let out a groan of frustration. "Damn that fucking bastard!" he roared.

"Who?" Ryou asked politely confused.

"Malik!" Bakura snapped exasperatedly.

"Oh."

"That's it," Bakura growled. He stood up and grabbed Ryou's arm. "Come on."

"What?" Ryou asked bewildered as Bakura dragged him to his feet.

"We're leaving. Now move quickly or they'll catch us," Bakura growled, towing Ryou through the restaurant as the other mumbled useless protests. After they fought their way through the line at the front of the restaurant, Bakura dragged Ryou down another two blocks just to make sure they wouldn't be caught.

That had to be far enough. Bakura breathed, looking back to the restaurant fearfully. They had stopped at the edge of a park, in the center of the dark space between two streetlights.

Ryou tugged a stray white lock of his hair anxiously. He could tell Bakura was stressed so he didn't protest too much about storming out of the restaurant without paying their bill. "Do you have your cell phone with you? I need to call my ride home."

Bakura scowled and shoved the phone moodily into his hands. Ryou dialed his apartment number.

The human heart in Bakura's ribs was still pounding. The angel gripped the fabric of his pants, trying to ignore the sudden spread of moisture on his palms. It was hot. Was it the air or his mortal body?

"Shit," Bakura cursed.

After he finished his call Ryou gave the cell phone back to Bakura. "What happened?"

Now it was time for conversation. How he despised humans.

"Malik happened," Bakura growled, still overcoming his shock. "How much… did you see?" he grumbled, shoulders scrunched against his neck.

"Most of it," Ryou replied simply. "Not much of the conversation just the, ah…"

"Yeah," Bakura grunted. He didn't want Ryou to say that word.

There was silence. Bakura dug his toe furiously into the ground a couple of times.

Ryou looked solemn. "You weren't very considerate. I'm not saying you should have let him kiss you or anything," he added quickly, seeing a look forming on Bakura's face. "Though you could have been a lot nicer to him."

"Nicer to him!" Bakura raved, throwing his hands up into the air in disbelief. "He violated me!"

"Malik's confused," Ryou reasoned sympathetically. Bakura snorted. "He probably just didn't know any other way to expressing his feelings."

"Then he shouldn't have tried," Bakura growled. He was angry. He was furious. That's why his heart was beating so fast. That's why his body was so hot and sweaty. This wasn't fear. He wasn't afraid.

The angel's knees felt loose. Frail.

Bakura's legs folded beneath him and he sat down heavily upon the grass, arms crossing tight over his fast thundering heart. Bakura knew what human circulatory organ was supposed to do. Pump blood. Carry nutrients to the rest of the body. Or chemicals. Hormones. Panic signals.

Bakura's arms tightened around himself. 'Fuck.'

"Did you know," Ryou inquired calmly, sitting down in the grass like the two of them were acquaintances, friends, "That he liked you?"

"How was I supposed to?" Bakura grumbled. He hated this night. He hated the fact that he was covered in sticky sweetened Iced-tee. He hated that he was stuck in this crazy human body with its unpredictable chemical imbalances. He hated Malik. He hated that he had ever let that excitable animal follow him around. Bakura wanted nothing more than to leave this horrible human realm.

"Are you alright?" the pale human inquired.

Bakura shook himself. "Fine."

The heart would not stop. It just kept pounding and pounding and pounding…

His body was dying. He almost hoped it was true. What was going on? Bakura felt nothing but revulsion and disgust for the mortal skin in which he was encased. Why wasn't he calming down? There had to be an answer. Things didn't happen without a reason.

Was it anger? Yes, but it was more than that. This was warmer than rage.

Fear then? Fear of that human since he had touched him? Initiated a courtship with him? That couldn't be it. Bakura knew fear almost as well as anger, and fear never effected him like this.

It was from the mortal body then. Bakura swallowed and recalled Malik's attempted grasp at him.

His body quaked.

Fine. It was the human body.

Bakura peered at Ryou.

The pale human gazed back at him.

The heart went faster.

Shit, it responded to other humans. Whatever it was. Not anger. Not fear.

Courtship…? It was the only other human explanation.

"Ryou."

The human blinked. "Yes?"

Bakura readied himself. No, he could not think about it. He just had to do it. It was just an experiment after all. "Come here."

Ryou's forehead got wrinkly but he obeyed, as Bakura knew he would.

Then Bakura grabbed the front of the human's shirt, yanked him forward and, bracing himself, bumped his mouth against Ryou's.

Then shoved the human away again.

The "kiss" had been less than a second of touching, not even enough time to register how Ryou's lips felt.

But his heart was still knocking at his insides. Passionately.

So it was the courtship.

The angel stretched his hands out in front of him, spreading them in the night. They were still coated in human perspiration. And they were… trembling.

Bakura did not like this sensation. He felt too out of control. Too warm.

"Why did you do that?"

Bakura did not look away from his mesmerizing appendages . "Do what?" he grunted.

Ryou had the same blank expression on as usual. "Kiss me."

Bakura shrugged. "I'm testing." And he left it at that.

"Oh." And as usual, Ryou didn't question. Because he was an oblivious fool.

In conclusion, courtships with all mortal beings were to be avoided in the future. He needed to focus on demons. He needed to find a demon. Just one demon would do… Bakura was relieved.

After some time of reflection, Bakura dropped his arms and turned back to the dazed human beside him.

Their eyes met.

And bang bang bang went Bakura's mortal heart. This was going to be annoying. Especially since along with the speeding heart came a squirming sensation similar to nausea only different, so different.

He had had enough of this experimentation. Bakura scrambled to his feet, leaving Ryou sprawled out on the damp grass.

There was a pause as Ryou slowly sat up. Bakura, feeling guilty that he had brought on this uncomfortable silence, offered his hand to help Ryou up. Ryou took it.

"Thanks," the human muttered.

'Thanks? What the hell is he thanking me for?' Bakura questioned angrily.

Blood kept storming away in his ears.

…)(-)-( Humiliation )-(-)(…

Atemu brought the car to a stop when he saw Ryou's pale form waving at him from under a streetlight outside of Domino City Park. But he wasn't alone. A familiar scowling figure followed slowly behind Ryou as he approached the car.

"Hey Atemu, do you think you could take Bakura home? He hasn't got a ride," Ryou asked. Atemu glanced over Ryou's shoulder and examined this individual. Now he remembered, that was the angry guy he had met at Yugi's house.

"Ah sure," Atemu agreed reluctantly. He really hadn't favored his first impression of Bakura. Why was Ryou with him? Ryou settled into the front seat as Bakura climbed into the back. Atemu pulled away from the curb and they were off.

"I live near the Getsu bus stop, you know the one-" Bakura began to explain.

"I know where you live," Atemu interrupted. He saw Bakura scowl unpleasantly in his rear view mirror.

"How do you know that, Atemu?" Ryou questioned curiously.

"He lives with Yugi," Atemu answered. The drive was mostly uneventful as long as Atemu ignored Bakura giving him evil looks behind his back.

A half an hour later, they dropped Bakura off at the Game Shop. Ryou said goodbye as the bronze-skinned teenager clamored out of the car. Bakura didn't even bother to answer.

Atemu frowned. He liked Bakura less and less every time he saw him. But no matter how grand his disliked, Atemu couldn't stop himself from looking up at the Game Shop's upper story, knowing that Yugi was in there somewhere. If he and Bakura had been better friends, or even pleasant acquaintances, he might have showed him inside just as an excuse to see Yugi again however briefly, but since that wasn't going to happen, Atemu grudgingly let the fantasy go.

As they continued their trip home Atemu finally spoke up. "So, what were you doing with Bakura?"

"Doing?" Ryou questioned in an estranged tone. If Atemu hadn't currently been driving he might have tried to stare Ryou down to get an answer out of him.

"Why are you two out this late?" Atemu clarified suspiciously.

"Oh." Ryou tugged a lock of his long white hair nervously. "We went out to dinner." Atemu brought the car to jerky stop at a traffic light.

"You were what?" he exclaimed, turning to Ryou but his long time friend wasn't looking at him. Did Ryou just say dinner? Dinner alone with Bakura? That sounded like a… Surely Ryou and Bakura couldn't be… No, Ryou was a Prince of Hell, Ryou was, honestly, Ryou. He wouldn't…

"Me, Bakura and Malik got some food at a restaurant," Ryou repeated. "It turned green," he commented, indicating the traffic light. Atemu turned forwards and pressed a little too hard on the accelerator to get the car started.

'So it wasn't a date,' Atemu thought with relief. 'Still…'

"Why Bakura of all people?" Atemu questioned.

"We're friends," Ryou answered. Atemu's lips tightened. He didn't like the idea of Ryou calling someone like Bakura a friend. "Why are Yugi and Bakura living together, do you know?"

"They're cousins," said Atemu, annoyed that Ryou had changed the subject.

"Cousins?" Ryou repeated confused.

"Step cousins," Atemu explained. "Or something like that."

"Oh." Ryou nodded and turned back to his window.

"Ryou," Atemu began. "I don't think you should be hanging out with Bakura." At the edge of his vision he saw Ryou's eyebrows rise.

"Why?" Ryou asked, politely bewildered.

"Because… well, he's not a very nice person," Atemu pointed out lamely.

Ryou shrugged. "He's not bad," he answered, voice light.

"It's just…" Atemu continued. "There's something about him I don't like, you know, something a little off."

"Maybe you never gave him a chance," Ryou suggested. Atemu frowned.

"Ryou," he said sternly. They were at a stoplight again; Atemu turned to his friend. "I'm serious." Ryou gave Atemu one of his small unreassuringly smiles.

"Thanks for worrying about me, Atemu, but I'm fine, really," said Ryou automatically as easily as he had said it hundred times before.

Atemu hesitated, turning back to the road. He wasn't even sure why he was so worried about Bakura. Hadn't Yugi said that deep down Bakura was a nice guy? Maybe he was over reacting. But no matter how much Atemu told himself this, he couldn't help but feel that there was something unsettling about Bakura.

"Just be careful, ok?" Atemu muttered. Ryou nodded although Atemu knew this promise didn't mean anything.

…)(-)-( Humiliation )-(-)(…

Jounouchi was pissed off by the time the weekend rolled around. Somehow Kaiba had managed to avoid him all week. Jounouchi hadn't thought it was possible but the great all-mighty Kaiba had once again proved him wrong. Jounouchi was unbelievably miserable. He needed to goof off, get out away from all his schoolwork, away from his Count of Hell duties, away from cold-hearted Kaiba. He had called up Otogi and Honda and offered to treat them to a raid of the arcade but they had both turned him down. Yugi had mumbled something about "pervious engagements" on that Saturday. Even Atemu had abandoned him.

"Sorry Jounouchi, I've already got plans," Atemu said vaguely, for some reason not willing in go into detail.

"Plans more important than your bleeding desperate friend?" Jounouchi asked, he admitted, a little too dramatically. "Come on, just for a couple hours."

"Jounouchi, I'm sorry but I already made an arrangement, it would be rude to cancel," Atemu explained, and his calm collected tone pissed the blonde off even more.

So Jounouchi was mad. And he knew was being childish and immature but at that moment he really didn't give a crap. He was starting to think this was all some big conspiracy, maybe Honda, Otogi, Atemu and Yugi were all hanging out together somewhere and just didn't want him to come. True, Atemu had promised to hang out with him on Sunday but Jounouchi didn't think he could stand a single day alone with nothing to keep his mind from examining and re-examining the memories of that terrible, terrible night at the party with Kaiba.

In the end, Jounouchi left the apartment, caught a bus and journeyed to the downtown part of Domino City, maybe the massive crowds of humans would be enough to distract him. Unfortunately the sights of happy couples shopping and laughing together on a sunny afternoon did absolutely nothing to cheer him up.

'This is ridiculous,' Jounouchi thought angrily as he glared at a young man and woman hand in hand, making sickening googily eyes at each other as they walked. 'I swear, they're all in pairs. What is this? Couples day?' A man leaned forward and gave his date a kiss. The woman giggled and kissed him back. Jounouchi looked fiercely away, his face heating up furiously.

Unwillingly flashes of him and Kaiba making out on the floor at the party surfaced in his mind again. Jounouchi's stomach dropped, it felt like his brain was on fire. Jounouchi's gut roared, and he threw his soda on the ground in his anger, scaring away another lovey-dovey couple sitting at the table behind him.

'Why the fuck am I still thinking about him!' Jounouchi shouted at himself. He closed his eyes and saw Kaiba resting his tired head against Jounouchi's chest.

He had realized long ago that trying to deny the fact that he and Kaiba had done… stuff was impossible. He had forced himself to accept it, now all he had to do was figure out what the fuck he had been thinking! Jounouchi would have beaten himself repeatedly over the head if it would have helped to pound those memories of Kaiba out of his mind.

It wasn't fair. It wasn't fucking fair! Jounouchi clenched his jaw tight and put his forehead down on the table; it felt like his skull was about to explode.

After a moment, Jounouchi finally calmed down enough to lift his head from the plastic surface of the outdoor table and, to his great and pleasant surprise, he spotted two familiar faces across the street. Atemu and Yugi were sitting outside a café, sipping tea or hot chocolate or coffee, whatever, from disposable cups, laughing and talking in the bright afternoon sun.

Jounouchi jumped to his feet in glee. Finally salvation!

Five angry people and three broken traffic laws later, Jounouchi had made it across the street and dashed up to his friends' table, completely out of breath.

"Hey! I didn't know you guys were going out!" Jounouchi greeted, with a huge grin. Atemu's face darkened drastically, it was almost scary. Yugi's went bright red.

"G-going out!?" Yugi squeaked. "No, we're not- I mean…" Jounouchi laughed and flopped down into the chair next to Yugi.

"Just kidding! God, Yugi you should see your face, it's all red," Jounouchi taunted playfully, nudging Yugi in the side with his elbow. Yugi's complexion went brighter while Atemu's frown deepened, crossing his arms sternly. "Why didn't you tell me you two were going down town?" Yugi bit his lip nervously and glanced at Atemu whose mouth continued to thin in irritation.

"Sorry, Jounouchi-kun, we went to that new game shop and… well, we didn't want to drag you, Honda-kun and Otogi-kun anywhere you guys didn't want to go," Yugi explained.

"You wouldn't have dragged me anywhere!" Jounouchi exclaimed slapping Yugi on the back so hard the little guy started coughing. He was so relieved to find some of his friends that he didn't even care at the moment that Atemu and Yugi had purposely ditched him. "So how was the shop? What did you get?" Yugi told Jounouchi about the shop and showed the blonde his purchases while Atemu remained stubbornly silent. It was only when Yugi got up to get Jounouchi a drink that Atemu finally spoke.

"What are you doing here, Jounouchi?" Atemu asked tightly.

"What do you mean, what am I doing here?" Jounouchi said, picking off a corner of Yugi's pastry. "Since everyone had something else to do I didn't want to stay in the apartment by myself."

Atemu tore the dessert out of Jounouchi's hands. "That's Yugi's," he pointed out firmly, placing the pastry back down on the table. Jounouchi frowned, what the hell had that been about? Why was Atemu acting like such a jerk?

"What the hell is your problem?" Jounouchi accused, all his pervious anger flaring back up. "What? Do you not want to hang out with me?"

Atemu sighed as though trying to control himself. "I'm sorry, Jounouchi," he apologized stiffly. "I should have told you, I was wrong." That calmed Jounouchi down a bit. He settled back into his chair, his anger falling back down again. At least Atemu could admit when he was wrong. Why couldn't Kaiba do that?

"What should you have told me? You're acting like I interrupted your date or something," Jounouchi chuckled, taking a piece of Atemu's pastry this time. Which was ridiculous, of course. Atemu would never go out with anyone, especially not a human.

When Atemu didn't answer or join in on the joke when Jounouchi looked up expectantly. Atemu was gazing back into the café where Yugi stood at the service counter. His eyes were softer than Jounouchi had ever seen them.

Jounouchi choked on his little bit of pastry. "You two aren't…" Atemu looked back down at the table, suddenly rather uncomfortable and realization smacked Jounouchi hard. "You are?"

"Well… no, not really," Atemu mumbled, toying with his napkin. "Not yet, anyway."

'Not yet?' Jounouchi thought, amazement and shock spreading across his features. Did that mean Atemu was planning to? Wanting to?

"But Atemu…" Jounouchi lowered his voice so the humans sitting at the table next to them couldn't hear. "You can't, he's a human," Jounouchi hissed.

"Yeah… I know," Atemu said slowly.

"Are you investigating him?" Jounouchi questioned almost pleadingly. This couldn't be true.

"No, I'm not," Atemu insisted firmly.

"Then why?" Jounouchi hissed, silently imploring him. Higher Being-human relationships never ended out well. Jounouchi had heard thousands of stories of humans finding out the identity of his/her significant other and the demon or angel having to kill the human because of the Balance Laws and that wasn't even the worst that could happen. What was Atemu thinking? "Why are you doing this?"

Atemu looked up. His sharp determined gaze hit Jounouchi like a three ton truck.

"Don't tell Ryou, ok?" Atemu asked, holding firmly onto Jounouchi's eye contact.

"They didn't have any more brownies, sorry Jounouchi-kun," Yugi explained, walking out of the café with a brown paper bag in hand, "But there was this really good looking lemon square so I got that for you. Hey, what's going on?" he asked innocently as he noticed the strained silence between Jounouchi and Atemu.

"What? Nothing, nothing," Jounouchi dismissed with an awkward laugh. "Say, my head kinda hurts, I think I'll go home, Atemu," Jounouchi said brightly skidding away from the table. Yugi looked guilty.

"Oh no, Jounouchi-kun, you don't have to," Yugi offered automatically. Jounouchi shook his head. Yugi really was a nice guy.

"No, no, really. I got some, you know, homework I should do. If I stare at it long enough maybe I'll get motivated to actually start it," Jounouchi joked, already walking away.

"Ok… well, here take your lemon square," Yugi insisted, pushing the bag into his hands.

"Thanks Yugi. Well, seeya!" Jounouchi called as he gave one last wave and ran off down the street.

The very thought that Atemu actually held feelings for someone was scary. When Jounouchi first met Atemu he had gotten the impression of extreme… togetherness, the last person Jounouchi could see swaying away from his heritage. Were the lures of the human world really that tempting? It seemed more likely that Atemu would fall for Ryou, the two were pretty close.

'A human. A human!' Jounouchi repeated to himself. Sure Yugi was nice, really, really happy and cute, if you liked little scrawny guys, but he was a human. Jounouchi wanted to scream, "Do you have any idea what you're doing to yourself?" right in Atemu's face but knew it wouldn't do any good.

Jounouchi stopped running outside some unknown place, panting, his human body finally tired out.

Jounouchi closed his eyes and there he was, sitting on a couch with drunken Kaiba's girlie hands curled around his fingers, the bastard blowing alcoholic breath in his face…

"Not again," Jounouchi moaned out loud. "For hell's fucking sake… leave me ALONE!" He kicked a nearby car with all his strength and the thing flew out into the street. Some passersbys looked up astonished, drawn no doubt by the car's burglar alarm going off as it smashed into another oncoming vehicle.

Realizing too late that he had drawn unwanted attention to himself, Jounouchi sped off down a random side street, away from the scene.

Two hours later Jounouchi arrived back at the apartment. Ryou and Atemu were not home yet so he had the whole thing to himself. Jounouchi however barely had enough strength left in his human body to make it to his bed. When he flopped down upon it the world spun around him just as a warm phantom body had collapsed beside him not so many nights before. He could hear its ghostly voice whispering his name in his ear.

"Jounouchi…"

'A human, a human,' a tiny voice in the back of his brain taunted. 'Do you have any idea what you're doing to yourself?'

But Kaiba wasn't human. He was an angel, right? That was why Jounouchi had investigated him in the beginning. He had a feeling. An instinct.

'Maybe I never thought he was,' Jounouchi wondered weakly as phantom Kaiba's mouth nibbled his ear. 'Could it be I just wanted an excuse to get close to him?'

For the first time in Jounouchi's long demonic existence, he wanted to give into the human impulse and cry.

…)(-)-( Humiliation )-(-)(…

Yugi watched Jounouchi's retreating back escape down the street, very confused. Atemu however breathed a sigh of relief. So maybe Jounouchi had found out a few things that Atemu still wasn't ready to admit to himself but at least he was gone.

"What's up with him?" Yugi wondered worriedly out loud.

"Who knows," Atemu mumbled, forcing his stare down at his drink. Yugi gave Atemu a skeptical look.

"You didn't scare him away, did you?" Yugi asked.

"Who me?" Atemu questioned, not very convincingly. "Certainly not."

Yugi pouted. "Atemu-kun… You didn't have to," he insisted weakly.

"Did I?" Atemu asked casually.

Yugi bit his lip and looked nervously away.

Secretly Atemu smirked at himself.

"I just felt so bad when I turned him down before," Yugi explained. "He's been acting really strange lately, hasn't he? I wonder if something happened."

Atemu was the one getting nervous now. "I promised to hang out with him tomorrow, don't worry," he reassured Yugi. "I'm sure he'll be fine." Yugi nodded, finally turning to face Atemu again. "So, what do you want to do now?" Atemu asked.

"You still want to do stuff?" Yugi questioned.

"Of course, don't you?" Atemu asked. His heart couldn't help but slow down as he waited for Yugi's answer.

"Yeah, I want to. Really I do but…" Yugi hesitated. "Are you sure we should?"

Atemu frowned, confused. "Why not?"

Yugi fiddled with his pastry, giving himself time to answer. "Jounouchi-kun, you know, he might, ah, need help?" he suggested painfully.

No, Yugi was not going to use that excuse again, not after what Atemu had sacrificed to get Jounouchi out of there.

"I told you, he's fine. Let's go do something," Atemu insisted, getting up out of his chair. Yugi smiled as he allowed himself to be pulled from his chair by Atemu.

"I tried, just so you know," Yugi sighed tiredly.

Atemu grinned back. "I know and you failed, so let's go." They left the café in search of more entertainment and Yugi let Atemu hold his hand as they walked.

Finally the two decided on a movie but the only thing playing at the time was some weird futuristic science fiction movie called "Exploding Robot Planet of Doom". They bought seats anyway.

"This is awful," Yugi commented.

"No, this is god awful," Atemu corrected. Yugi fought to suppress a laugh.

"Wait, who is that guy?" Yugi asked ten minutes later. "I don't remember him, where did he come from?"

"He's probably not important," Atemu reassured, unconsciously patting Yugi's hand and then a few minutes later, letting it rest there. After the fourth car chase scene, Yugi laughed and accidentally bumped his leg so that it was leaning against Atemu's. When the bad-ass attitude hero saved the love interest a third time, Yugi shivered.

"Why do they air condition movie theaters so much?" Yugi complained.

"Here, you can have my jacket," Atemu offered.

"No I couldn't, then you'd be cold," Yugi pointed out. They compromised by sharing the coat, huddling together underneath its warmth. Ten minutes later when the nuclear power plant exploded, Atemu found Yugi asleep on his shoulder.

An hour or so later the hero and his sexy love interest made love on the big screen in full view of all the audience members. Atemu was suddenly thankful that Yugi was asleep.

When the movie was over Atemu was reluctant to wake the sleeping teenager on his shoulder so he let the rest the audience members file out before disturbing him.

"Yugi, the movie's over," Atemu said kindly in Yugi's ear.

"Ahm… five more minutes…" Yugi grumbled, shifting so that his head was pressed up against Atemu's neck. Atemu grinned and wrapped an arm around Yugi's shoulders.

"As long as you want…"


…)(-)-( Humiliation )-(-)(…
Do you see it? The relationships forming? Is it not awesome? IS IT? Jounouchi's little confused but when is he not?

Ryou and Bakura are so weird. I'll have fun with them later. Mwahaha.

Poor Malik… I miss him already. No, no, he'll be in the next chapter, don't worry.

NEXT CHAPTER!: Weird, seriously. Who knew horse drawn carriages could be so sinister? I use the word "admist" which makes me uber happy. Woah, woah, Namu what the hell are you doing here? I think it's time to do the Time Warp.

I love doing this stuff like "NEXT CHAPTER!!!" because I can tease you guys and you all know you love it. You all know reading those makes you excited for the next chapter. YOU KNOW ITS TRUE!

REVIEW!! PLEASE!! Cause you know you will, its already been predetermined by the sands of time… oooooooooo…. Sneaky, aren't I?

REIVEW!!