Here's the next chapter.

Enjoy!


Chapter 8- Friends

Yugi and Heba were in the kitchen eating breakfast.

Solomon had left earlier because there was an old friend in town who Solomon wanted to see, so he had left early to meet his friend for breakfast.

"So, what are we going to do today?" Yugi asked.

"I don't have a clue." Heba admitted.

"By the way, how did that meeting with Atemu go yesterday? I forgot to ask." Yugi said.

"It went fine. We talked over this business deal that Atemu had in mind. Grandpa doesn't want to rush into anything, so he told Atemu that we would think about it. We're going to look over the contract that Atemu and his lawyers made up before we make a decision." Heba replied.

"That's probably a good idea." Yugi said.

"Yeah. Grandpa said that in business, you never agree to anything until you read over the contract. He did really well in the business when he was running it, so I figure that I'll follow any advice that he has for me." Heba said.

Yugi nodded. "Grandpa did do really well. I mean, he took care of us and Mai for years. We always had everything that we needed plus some." Yugi said.

"Don't I know it." Heba said.

After the two finished eating breakfast, Heba washed the dishes. Yugi helped him by drying the dishes. The two then put them up.

"So, what should we do today?" Heba asked as the two went into the living room and sat down.

"I don't know. Are you not going to the shop today?" Yugi asked.

"Nah. Grandpa and I have been there every day for the past week. We both figured that we could use day from it." Heba answered.

"Well, I don't know what to tell you." Yugi said.

"By the way, how are you and Yami doing?" Heba asked.

"Well, we've been talking a lot. Learning about each other. He seems to be a good guy." Yugi said.

"As long as he's good to you, I won't care if you two start dating." Heba said.

Yugi smiled. "Yami already knows that he will have two very angry people after his head if he does anything to hurt me. Three if you include Grandpa." Yugi said.

"Um, Yugi. You might want to make that nine since Joey, Serenity, Ryou, and Malik would also be after his head, and I'm sure that Tea and Tristan would come here to murder him." Heba said.

"In any case, Yami knows not to cross you." Yugi said.

"I was glad to find out that he hadn't actually dated all those people like the media thought. I didn't realize that a publicist would have him go on dates with people just to up his image." Heba said.

"Well, the publicist must have thought that it was a good idea. It doesn't matter now, though." Yugi said.

"I know. I'm just glad that you're getting to know him first." Heba said.

Yugi smiled. "I'm just glad that you are okay with this now. I might be wanting to make my own decisions, but your opinions matter, and I wouldn't want you to be angry at me for something I decided." Yugi said.

Heba placed a hand on Yugi's shoulder. "Don't worry about it, Yugi. Just because I don't like what you decided won't mean much. I won't be angry at you for anything you decide. I would only get angry if you hid a decision from me." Heba said.

"Well, you won't be privy to all my decisions, but I will tell you the important ones." Yugi said.

"What wouldn't you want to tell me?" Heba asked, a little curious.

Yugi laughed. "Heba, you probably wouldn't want to know about my sex life anymore than I want to know about yours." Yugi said.

Heba turned red. It made him glad that Yugi was blind and couldn't see his blush. "Okay. That you can keep from me." Heba said.

"Thank you." Yugi said.


Yami and Atemu were in their home with their publicist.

"Now, I have some ideas for what we can do to increase your public image." Susan Gray, the publicist, said.

"We don't need to increase our public image. We are fine right now." Atemu said.

"You can never be too careful, Mr. Sennen. Now, here's what I was thinking." Susan said.

'Here is comes.' Yami thought.

"I was thinking of calling Daymion Dyke's manager and setting up a public date between him and Yami." Susan said.

"Oh, hell no!" Yami exclaimed.

Susan blinked. "Why not?" Susan asked.

"Mrs. Gray, although Daymion Dyke is very famous for his movies, he is also a known and self-proclaimed player. That's the last thing we need." Atemu said.

"Being around public figures is a great thing. His reputation won't matter to anyone." Susan said.

"Mrs. Gray, I don't want to do anymore of these publicity dates." Yami told her firmly.

"Why not? They are great for your image." Susan said, undeterred.

"One, our name hasn't been scandalizes. Two, there are no scandals to be found. Three, because of the number of publicity dates I have gone on with so many different people, many people in the public see me as some kind of player, and I don't want that." Yami said.

"Oh. I didn't know that." Susan said.

"Besides, if they see me with a date, it's going to be with the person of my choosing, and it will be someone that I am really dating." Yami said.

"All right. If that's the way you want it." Susan said.

"It is. We don't need the publicity right now." Atemu said.

"I won't press the issue anymore." Susan said.

It wasn't long before Susan gathered her things and left.

"At least I don't have to worry about that anymore." Yami said.

Atemu shook his head. "You wouldn't have had to deal with it at all if you had just said no like I did." Atemu said.

Yami shrugged. "It doesn't matter now." Yami said.

Atemu's cell phone rang.

Atemu took it out and said, "Hello?"

"Atemu, come over to my house." Seto said.

"Why?" Atemu asked.

"Because the puppy wants you to. I think he's inviting Yugi and Heba over." Seto said.

"All right. We'll be over there soon." Atemu said before he hung up.

"What was that about?" Yami asked.

"That was Seto. Joey wants us to come over. Seto thought Joey was inviting Heba and Yugi, too." Atemu answered.

"Oh. Okay." Yami said.

The two then left the house.


The house phone to the Mutou house rang.

Heba got up and answered it. "Hello?" Heba said.

"Hi, Heb! It's Joey." Joey said.

"Hey, Joey. What's up?" Heba asked.

"Well, I was thinking that we all could hang out together." Joey said.

"What are you up to?" Heba asked.

"Nothing. I just know that Yami wants to get to know Yugi. I figured Yugi would be a little more comfortable getting to know Yami with others around." Joey said.

"Hmm. Not a bad idea. Where do we meet?" Heba asked.

"Just come over to where Seto and I live. We're all meeting here." Joey said.

"Okay. We'll be over there in a minute." Heba said. He then hung up the phone.

"What did Joey want?" Yugi asked from the doorway to the living room.

"Everyone is going to meet over there so that we can hang out, so we'll be heading over there." Heba explained.

"Oh. Okay." Yugi said.

"Come on. Let's get ready and get going." Heba said.

After getting ready, the two left the house.

Yugi grabbed his sunglasses just in case they went out somewhere.

"I wonder why Joey wants everyone to gather together." Yugi said.

"Well, I think that part of his ulterior motive is to give you and Yami time to get to know each other. He figured you'd be more comfortable spending time with him in a group before you two really start spending time alone." Heba replied as the two got into the car.

Yugi sighed. "Why does he do things like this? Things will work out in their own time." Yugi said.

"I know. It's Joey. Besides, he told me that's the reason. It's not like he tried to hide why he was asking us to come over." Heba said.

"For once." Yugi said.

The two soon arrived at the Kaiba mansion.

Heba and Yugi knew that someone had to have some forethought about them coming since the two were immediately let into the grounds by the guards at the gate.

"I guess Joey thought to tell the guards that we were coming." Yugi said.

"I'm betting that it was Seto that told them. I can't see Joey remembering." Heba said.

"Serenity, maybe." Yugi said.

The two got out of the car and walked up to the door.

A moment later, the door was swung open.

"Yugi! Heba! Glad you made it!" Joey said happily.

"Hi, Joey." Heba said.

"Come on in." Joey said.

The two walked on into the house.

Heba saw that Joey hadn't been kidding when he said that everyone would be over.

Bakura, Ryou, Marik, Malik, Atemu, and Yami were there as well.

"Glad you guys made it." Ryou said.

"Whoopee." Bakura said in fake excitement.

"Kura! Be nice." Ryou warned.

"It's good to see you all again." Yugi said.

Marik raised an eyebrow. "Coming from you?" Marik asked.

Malik whacked Marik in the back of the head.

"Ow! That hurt, Malik!" Marik growled, glaring.

"Well, you should have had the sense to keep your mouth shut if you can't say anything nice." Malik retorted.

Yugi laughed. "Don't worry about it, Malik. I'm not offended." Yugi said.

"It's not just you that he insults. He does it to everyone." Malik said.

Yugi and Heba sat down on the couch.

"So, now that we're all here, what should we do?" Seto asked.

"Huh. Not sure." Joey said, scratching the back of his head.

"You drag us all over here, and you don't even know what we were dragged over here for!" Bakura shouted.

Ryou rolled his eyes. "You weren't forced to come, Bakura. You could have stayed home." Ryou told him.

"Yeah, and then you'd have been mad at me." Bakura muttered.

'I think getting used to some of these people will take some time.' Heba thought.

"Could I make a suggestion?" Serenity asked.

"Sure. What's the idea?" Joey asked.

"Well, why don't we go to the mall? There's something for all of us there." Serenity said.

"But first, food." Joey said.

The group groaned.

"Joey. Is there anything other than food that you think about?" Heba asked.

"No. Why?" Joey asked.

Heba shook his head. "Never mind." Heba said.

"Well, let's feed the puppy." Seto said.

"I'm not a puppy!" Joey retorted.

Before Seto could retort, Mokuba said, "Don't start that again!"

"Fine." Seto said.

"Do we want to know?" Yugi asked.

"No." Mokuba and Serenity said as the same time.

"Why?" Heba asked.

"Mainly because it involves their sex life." Atemu said.

"Moving on." Heba said.

"Okay. Let's get going." Bakura said.

The group left to go and find themselves a place to eat.


After eating, the group headed over to the mall.

"Let's go!" Serenity said, dragging Mokuba off.

"Mokuba didn't seem too happy." Heba remarked.

"That's because Mokuba has to carry all the shopping bags." Joey replied.

"That explains it." Heba said.

Yugi wasn't too keen on going to the mall because there wasn't much he could do. HE usually just went because everyone else did.

Heba noticed his brother's subtle hints that he didn't want to go the mall. He had a back-up plan. "Hey, isn't there a park nearby?" Heba asked.

"Yeah. It's a few blocks down. Why?" Bakura asked.

"Yami, why don't you and Yugi go for a walk in the park?" Heba suggested.

Yugi was grateful to his brother for the opening.

Yami caught on that Heba wanted him to take Yugi to the park, so he said, "Okay. Come on, Yugi." He led Yugi out of the mall parking lot and toward the park.

"I'm surprised, Heba. You might be okay with them being friends, but I didn't think you'd let them be alone so soon." Ryou said.

"Well, I didn't have much of a choice. Yugi doesn't have as much to do with the mall. He has the disadvantage of not seeing anything. I know Serenity meant well, but this isn't something Yugi likes. Besides, he hates shopping from when Mai dragged us out. He loves walking in the park, so I figured Yugi and Yami could walk in the park and talk." Heba said.

"Yami hates the mall, too. He didn't mind." Atemu remarked.

"Come on. Since we're here, we might as well go in." Seto said.

The rest went into the mall as well.


Yugi and Yami had arrived at the park and were now walking along the park path. Yami had his hand on Yugi's arm to lead him along.

"I hope you didn't mind this, Yami." Yugi said.

"No. I don't care for the mall too much. It's too crowded for me." Yami said.

"Well, I can't see anything, so it's pointless for me." Yugi said.

"I see what you mean. I take it that Heba does your shopping." Yami said.

"Yeah. It's more the texture of the material that I have the say in. There's some textures I just don't like." Yugi said.

"I suppose so." Yami said. He hadn't thought about it that much.

"Yami, if you don't mind, could you tell me a little bit about your childhood?" Yugi asked.

"I don't mind. It was just me, my parents, and Atemu. I'm the younger one. We had a pretty normal childhood. My dad worked a lot, but he always made time everyday for me and Atemu. My mom didn't work, but she did some work around the house. We had maids to help out since we lived in a mansion, and it would have been too much for one person to do, but my mom kept busy. She did all the cooking." Yami said.

Yugi smiled. "It sounds like you had great parents." Yugi said.

"Yeah. My parents weren't real strict, but they weren't ones who didn't care what you did. They were lenient within reason. One thing they were strict about was school. They wanted us to do well in school. We both loved school. We got straight A's all the time." Yami said.

"Well, to be where you are today, you'd have to be." Yugi said.

"The board of directors at Sennen Incorporated were skeptical of Atemu taking over since they saw it as my dad handing everything over to Atemu on a silver platter, but Atemu proved them wrong. My dad took a three-month leave of absence to allow Atemu to prove himself to the board. He certainly proved them wrong. Every member of the board said that Atemu was every bit as good as our dad was. Some thought he was even better. Slowly, Dad became less and less involved in the company and let Atemu take over bit by bit. When Dad did retire and handed everything over to Atemu, he knew the company was in good hands." Yami said.

"But you didn't want that kind of position?" Yugi asked.

"No. I never wanted to run the company. My parents wanted me to part in it, though. I always loved math, so I decided to become an accountant, and that's what I do there." Yami said.

"It sounds like you had a good childhood. Do your parents mind that you date guys?" Yugi asked.

"No. They're known since I was in high school that I'm gay. They aren't bothered by it. As long as I'm happy, they're happy." Yami said.

"That's exactly what Grandpa said." Yugi stated.

"Seems to be what most parents want." Yami said as the two sat down on a bench. "What about you?" Yami asked.

"Well, you know I was raised by my grandfather. Since I was blind, I led a bit of a reclusive life. I couldn't go out and experience the world like some people could. I always had to be with someone since I couldn't see, which I understood. Going to public school wasn't easy, but I managed. All my schoolbooks had to be specially ordered in brail so that I could read. I overcame the obstacle of my blindness, though. I mean, in middle school, I had A's and B's and in high school, I had straight A's. Needless to say, jocks and others that didn't do so well hated me." Yugi said.

"Well, Atemu and I were considered jocks. I was on the baseball team, and Atemu was the quarterback of the football team. We didn't act like them, though. The real reason we were considered jocks was because of the fact that we came from a rich family. Seto had that problem, too. His cold attitude pretty much excluded him from any kind of group. It was mainly me, Atemu, and Seto. We became friends with Bakura and Marik in our sophomore year of high school. We were a diverse group that kept to ourselves because most others used us for the money." Yami said.

"I can understand that. I had to be careful that people didn't take advantage of me because of my blindness. I had Heba to look after me. We were friends with Tea since we were kids. We lived close to each other, so we're childhood friends. All three of us became friends with Malik and Ryou in middle school. We met Joey and Tristan in high school and became friends. It was basically us. I had enough people to look out for me. Heba and I went to college in Tokyo. I actually got a full scholarship to the blind college there, so I had an easier time." Yugi said.

"I've heard that is a hard school to get in to." Yami said.

"It is. I made it though. I was at the top of my class all through college. We lived two years in Tokyo because Heba had such a good job." Yugi said.

"What did you do?" Yami asked.

"I worked at the blind college, actually. I didn't teach, but I helped in the library, and I did some tutoring. A lot of students liked to come to me because they knew I was blind and understood the disability." Yugi said.

"From the way you act, you don't consider it a disability." Yami said.

"I don't." Yugi said. He had felt a flower nearby and had picked it. "I mean, my family was supportive of me. They never made me feel like it was my fault or that it made me inferior. A lot of people have families that mistreat them because of it. I learned to adapt really well." Yugi said.

"I'm glad to hear that." Yami said. He had been watching Yugi finger the flower. "Why do you do that with the flower?" Yami asked.

Yugi smiled. "What color is this flower?" Yugi asked.

Yami was taken off guard by this, but answered. "It's blue." Yami said.

"The first thing you notice about anything is the way it looks. Like with this flower, you see the color. I "see" things differently. I can't literally see the flower, but I can see it in other ways. The texture of the petals are slightly rough, but not too rough. I can also smell the flowers to know what kind of scent they have. It's not the traditional way people think of as seeing something, but it's how blind people see." Yugi said.

"Hmm. I think that I have a lot to learn. I never thought of things like that." Yami said.

Yugi laughed. "Heba, Mai, and Grandpa had the same problem, so one day, Heba decided to try and be "blind". A cloth was tied around his eyes so that he couldn't see, and we spent the whole say in the house. We were teenagers on summer break at the time. Heba found it enlightening, but he also didn't understand how I live with it.' Yugi said.

"You don't have a choice." Yami said.

"Exactly. Plus, I have never had my sight, so you can't miss what you have never had. Now, Heba understands that." Yugi said.

Yami smiled. "You know, I am kind of amazed." Yami said.

Yugi smiled. "It's not as hard as you think. I mean, I have never had my sight, so it's not that amazing to me. To someone like you, I know that you find it amazing." Yugi said.

Yami smiled. "You're very understanding." Yami said.

"Well, I want people to be understanding of me, so I have to be understanding of them." Yugi said.

"Well, do you mind me asking a question?" Yami asked.

"Of course not. What is it?" Yugi asked.

"Well, why do you wear the sunglasses? You obviously aren't ashamed of being blind, so why hide it?" Yami asked.

"To avoid the questions. By looking at the way my eyes are cloudy, since that's how Heba described it to me, most people could know that I'm blind. Well, there's always that idiot that asks the question 'are you blind?' and it gets annoying. I just get tired of the questions because some people don't know the word of decency and start asking questions about why I'm blind and how does it feel. I get sick and tired of being asked that, so I use the sunglasses to avoid the questions." Yugi said.

"Understandable." Yami said.

"I'm glad you think so." Yugi replied.

"It's hard not to understand. Is it just by touch that you "see" things?" Yami asked.

"No. I also have a very good sense of hearing. I see by hearing things." Yugi said.

"So, it's hard for a person to sneak up on you." Yami said."Pretty hard. I can hear even the softest footsteps." Yugi said.

"You're really incredible to me." Yami said.

"I'm glad you think so. To me, you're pretty incredible for being so understanding. Not that many people are as understanding as you." Yugi said.

"Well, all your friends seem to be." Yami said.

Yugi laughed. "Sorry, but only Ryou can hold that. Well, except for Tea. Malik made fun of me in meanness for a while before he became friends with us. Joey and Tristan were bullies, too." Yugi said.

"And you became friends with them?" Yami asked.

Yugi nodded. "Heba and Tea basically gave them all a piece of their minds and took up for me. As Heba said, I can be too nice at times. It was acts of kindness I made that made them change their minds." Yugi said.

"Well, sometimes, something like that can change a person. It took that with Ryou and Bakura to make Bakura more docile." Yami said.

"And Marik?" Yugi asked.

"No helping him?" Yugi asked.

"Nope." Yami replied.

The laughed as they continued talking.


Heba and Atemu talked to each other as they meandered through the mall.

"I was surprised, too, that you left my brother alone with Yugi." Atemu said.

"I have to learn to trust Yugi's judgment." Heba said.

"You're killing Yami if anything happens to Yugi, aren't you?" Atemu asked.

"Yes." Heba said.

"I can understand that. You're trying." Atemu said. He then let out a low growl.

Heba glanced over at him. "What's wrong with you?" Heba asked.

"All these women looking at me like they want to just come up to me and ask me to their beds. It's annoying." Atemu replied.

Heba noticed the lustful way the girls were looking at him. "In other words, they see your looks and your money." Heba said.

"Right." Atemu said.

Heba shook his head. "I can't stand people like that." Heba said.

"Neither can I. I rarely date women as it is." Atemu said.

"You're gay?" Heba asked.

"Bi. I lean more toward guys, though. Women just turn me off because of what they see. Some guys are like that, too, but not all of them." Atemu said.

"Huh. Well, you'd only see me with a guy." Heba said.

"So, you're gay." Atemu said.

"I dated a girl once, and she turned me off from them." Heba said.

"What did she do?" Atemu asked.

"She droned on and on about her looks, her parents' money, and the fact that she was amazing in bed. She was a pure slut, as I found out. No one said anything because of the money that she had. Well, her parents had. Anyway, just the way she acted turned me off. When she demanded I have sex with her, I told her no and left." Heba said.

"Demanded?" Atemu asked.

Heba nodded. "She pretty much told me we're going to have sex and tried to kiss me. I pushed her away and told her that. The next day, she spread the rumor that I was gay to get back at me. I actually dated a guy and found I preferred them." Heba said.

Atemu felt a little jealous that Heba had had another boyfriend, not that it should have surprised him.

"The guy and I didn't last long, but I found I didn't care for girls." Heba said.

"What happened to that girl?" Atemu asked.

"Not sure. I think that she got knocked up by a guy in her freshman year of college, and her parents disowned her for it." Heba said. He laughed and said, "The funny part is that the guy was her father's best friend."

"No way." Atemu said.

Heba nodded. "Let's just say she was ruined. I didn't hear anything about her after that." Heba said.

"That's the way it goes. I rarely see women in that way." Atemu said. He frowned. "Now that I think about it, I haven't dated a girl since my senior year in high school. I broke up with her because I found her cheating on me with the male slut of the school." Atemu said.

"At least you found out before things got too serious." Heba said.

"Well, she got pregnant and tried to say the baby was mine, but I knew it couldn't have been because we never had sex. A DNA test proved that." Atemu said.

"I can see why you were turned off by women." Heba said.

"Yeah. She saw the money. So did her parents since they believe her when she said I was the only one she had had sex with. Needless to say, she was humiliated." Atemu said.

"I can see that." Heba said.

Atemu decided to change the subject. "Have you and your grandfather talked over the business deal?' Atemu asked.

"Yes. We're still talking about. We should have an answer by the end of the week, though." Heba said.

"All right. I just wondered." Atemu said.


After the mall, Yugi and Heba headed home.

"How was it with Yami?" Heba asked.

"It was fine. We walked in the park for a while talking. We sat down and got to know each other." Yugi said.

"That's good." Heba said.

"What did you do?" Yugi asked.

"Well, Atemu and I didn't care for the mall, so we basically walked around and talked." Heba said.

"What do you think of him?" Yugi asked.

"I think that we're going to be good friends, and we might be good business partners if Grandpa and I decide to do it." Heba said.

Yugi nodded. "We have made some good friends, although I think it'll be easier to deal with Seto and Mokuba than Marik and Bakura." Yugi said.

"They're going to be people we have to get used to." Heba said.

"I know what you mean." Yugi said.

The two soon arrived home and went into the house to make dinner.


Hope you liked it.

Next: The first day that the shop is open and Yugi's first day of work.

R&R.