Hi everyone~
I wanted to thank all of those who sent me wonderful comments~ I'm really glad that you like this story =3
Chapter Seven – Complications
Over the weeks, Victoria spent nearly every day at the Motou's, usually carrying and using her sketch pad – though the group didn't know it she was still working for Pegasus so she couldn't just drop it. She told them that she worked on commission and they didn't bother her about it again. They let her sketch and work when she really needed to. Such as on Saturday when she was really running out of time.
It was one of these Saturdays in the third week of November when Victoria was beginning to stress. She ran a hand through her hair, frowning at her page that was covered in sketches.
"Is something the matter?"
She jolted as Yami sat down on the lounge beside her.
"Sorry. You look a little troubled."
She offered Yami a weak smile. "I'm just lost." She admitted. "I have so much that I should have done and…I'm having trouble separating when I need to work and when I can be here. And it doesn't help that when I get home I can't think of anything. I've hit an artist's block and it's driving me crazy."
"You need to send your progress in on Sundays right?"
Victoria nodded. "Tomorrow. And I don't have enough quality or quantity to have any confidence in them."
"Are they an artist like you?"
"Yeah…?"
"Then tell them about your art block. Chances are they have run into several of them as well. They will surely understand." Yami reassured her.
Victoria heaved a sigh. "I can only hope that you're right. He keeps insisting that I need more confidence but I just want to give him the best I can offer. Especially since he's paying me, you know?"
Yami nodded in understanding. "Just give it some time. And remember to draw inspiration from the things – and the people – around you."
"That's what you said before about being a winning duellist."
"It's the same thing. To win a duel you need to remember that winning isn't what you should focus on – focus on those who look up to and support you. If you have the right skills to win then you will one day. It's a matter of practice and patience." Yami chuckled a little as he looked at her page. "Though you hardly need any more practice."
Victoria returned the chuckle. "Thanks, but there will always be someone better. And that's a saying that applies to everything."
"I couldn't agree more."
From the front door came a fast and insistent knocking, causing all of the occupants in the living room to turn towards the door to the entrance hall.
"Who the hell is that?" Joey demanded as Yugi stood from where he'd been sitting on the floor and walked into the entrance hall. "Is there another person you invited?" He asked, turning to Yami.
Yami shook his hand, just as confused as all the rest.
However, to all except Victoria, it was very clear who it was when they gave a great shriek of joy.
"Yugi~!"
Téa instantly giggled. "Rebecca's arrived."
"But we never told her that we'd be here." Yami said.
"I doubt that kind of thing matters to her." Joey stated. "She probably came straight here after she and the Professor arrived in town. It's Yugi she wants to see, not all of us."
Victoria smiled. So the Rebecca they had mentioned some weeks ago had finally appeared. And from the sound of the spiel she was going on about, she'd missed Yugi very much. And when she dragged Yugi back into the living room, she had her arms securely wrapped around his. She had bright green eyes that were sparkling with unbridled joy and her long blonde hair was tied into two high ponytails that fell long and straight down her back. She wore a light pink shirt with a yellow skirt and long white stockings – she must have been wearing a jacket and boots to have survived the awful chill of the approaching winter.
"Hey guys~!" She greeted, waving with one of her hands. "I've arrived in town~!"
"Yeah we can see that." Joey replied, hardly sounding impressed.
"What'd you say?" Rebecca shrieked.
"Easy, now Bec." Téa said, walking over to Rebecca in order to steal a hug from the younger girl – and allow Yugi the chance to release his arm. "It's great to see you."
"You too, Téa." Rebecca replied as she pulled away. "I've missed all of you actually. Huh? Who are you?" She asked, noticing and pointing to Victoria. "Yami's girlfriend?"
Victoria instantly flushed. "Not at all!" She exclaimed – perhaps too loudly – as she stood from the lounge she'd been sharing with Yami. "I'm Victoria Adams. You must be Rebecca." She assumed – though she already knew she was right.
"That's right I am. I'm the youngest regional champion and – "
"Yeah, I know. I saw recordings of your duels in the KC Grand Tournament." It was amazing that the world surrounding Yami, Yugi and their friends was so small. She had no idea that this was the Rebecca they meant. "You're a great duellist."
Rebecca seemed impressed by this flattery and smiled. "Well, good to see that someone recognises my talent."
"Yeah, 'cause no one else does." Joey muttered.
"Oi!"
Victoria giggled a little. Things were certainly going to become a little more exciting around the Motou household during these visits.
Yami turned his eyes from Joey's imminent punishment and to Victoria's back as she lightly giggled in Joey's expense. It shouldn't hurt that she was so adamant of their friendship only status.
But to his surprise, it had.
. : . : . : .
"What are you so upset about?" Tristan asked, noticing Joey's downcast personality. "Surely you aren't beating yourself up after Bec thoroughly kicked your butt? Because we all know that she always had the ability to do that."
"No, no. It's not that. It's Serenity's birthday this Friday. I haven't been able to get her anything and I'm not even invited to the 'family' dinner they're having. I have three days to convince her and I have no idea what I'm going to say."
"Umm, Joey. I have a feeling that you're forgetting a major part of this equation." Victoria said, not even looking up from her book while she continued to sketch. "Maybe you should talk to your Mother about being invited. Because I have a feeling, after what you have told me, she may have arranged that for Serenity and left her with no say in the matter." She explained. "Believe me, sometimes my brothers can be a little like that." She laughed lightly, holding her book out in front of her to admire a sketch that she surprisingly happy with. "Sometimes you just have to look past what they might think and just say or do what you think and know is right. That's how I've always thought and look where it's got me. I hesitated when I found out where Yugi and Yami lived – I wasn't sure if I could make the right impression on Yami when I arrived that I would be a worthy opponent. I have pink hair, pink eyes and a pink duel disk. I looked like a prissy girl by pure chance. But I took the plunge and for the first time I have friends and I couldn't be happier with my life."
This was partially a lie, but they didn't need to know that.
"How do you have such good advice all the time?" Joey asked.
Victoria shrugged. "I have siblings too. So I just understand I guess." She replied. "I always seemed to have a knack of knowing exactly what to say."
"I'll say." Yami agreed. "You have some great wisdom in your heart and mind."
"You're not any different." Victoria replied.
Yami was stunned for a short moment, but slowly smiled. "Well, yes, I guess you're right."
There was a moment of silence that passed over the room, until Rebecca unceremoniously broke it. "Are you sure they're not together?" She asked Yugi.
"No, we're not." Victoria stated with a dark glare.
"It's a reaction like that that only enforces the assumption that you are." Rebecca teased, pushing her aqua rimmed glasses up her nose.
Victoria forced herself to be calm. Yelling would only fuel Rebecca's teasing – Mokuba was exactly the same. "So anyway, Joey. When it comes to a gift, what's Serenity's favourite colour?"
"I think it's pink…" Joey replied.
"You think or you know?"
"It is pink." Téa said.
"Okay then, get her a necklace or a bracelet with pink on it. Or even better, how about a necklace with a shared charm on it – Big Bro and Lil Sis. They're good to remind both of you that you have a sibling even if you don't get to see them very often."
"You're pure genius, Tori!" Joey exclaimed, standing to his feet and heading for the door.
"And where do you think you're going?" Tristan called.
"To get Serenity her birthday present, of course." Joey replied. "And then I'm gonna call Ma and order to invite me to her birthday dinner."
Victoria stood up to inform him that ordering his Mother wouldn't help, but he was already out the door. She sighed, but smiled. "Well I guess if it's meant to be then it'll work out okay in the end." She said softly. "For his sake, I hope it all works out."
"It will. I think that sometimes his Mother just challenges him. Forcing him to take initiative. But it seems it still takes a little push from his friends to get him going in the right direction." Yugi noted. "But that's what we're all here for."
The group nodded in agreement.
"I just hope he knows that he left his deck here." Tristan noted, holding up said deck in his hand.
"We'll just keep it here." Yami said. "Whenever he comes here again we'll make sure that he gets it back."
"I doubt he's thinking about his deck right now." Téa stated.
"He doesn't have anything in that numbskull head of his." Rebecca added with a soft snicker.
"No, he's got something in there right now." Victoria corrected.
"Oh yeah? What?" Rebecca asked.
"A who. His sister."
. : . : . : .
To Victoria's dismay, even into the first week of December, the nightmares did not cease no matter how many times she saw her friends or for how long. She'd gotten to the point where she could no longer imagine her life without them there.
And they'd begun to feel the same. Her instincts had proven correct and Joey had gone out with Serenity and his Mother for his sister's birthday and she'd loved the shared necklace he'd gotten her. Téa and Rebecca had even organised one or two girl's only outings where they just went to a café or a mall and they'd talk and shop – it was something that Victoria had certainly never experienced before.
Better still, Pegasus requested a video call with her on the first Sunday of December and showed her three cards that he had designed with the use of her sketches. He said that he'd been working on them for several weeks but had wanted to wait until they were printed before showing her. He was more than impressed with her sketches and also understood her art block perfectly.
"Don't force yourself, Miss Kaiba, or you won't provide the works that I expect from you. In fact I am allowing you all of December as a holiday. If you gain any ideas and accumulate sketches over the month then you may send them to me on the first Sunday of January next year. You are one of the best artists I have working for me and I hope that you will learn to love any artwork you create. Because they all come from your imagination after all. They're practically a part of you.
I will send you a copy of these three cards in the mail in the next few days and you may do with them as you wish. They will be distributed as a new pack for the Christmas crowds. Of course you understand this."
Victoria had nodded and after he wished her a happy holiday and ended the call she let out a sigh of relief. She was free for a month. Working was hard for sure, and though she loved the work as a whole, she was becoming worn out with everything that had happened so recently in her life.
And she could hardly believe her eyes – he'd made three cards out of the sketches she had pointed out as the worst in the weeks she'd sent them. And yet he had used them.
Was there something wrong with being modest? Or should she just learn to say that she was good and shout it to anyone who asked? No, that would be reducing her mental capacity to Joey's level.
She'd have to tell Rebecca that one; she'd appreciate a statement like that.
Checking the overnight sized suitcase to make sure everything that was essential was there, and remained highly thankful that the Motou's were providing her bedding after realising that she wouldn't be able to carry it on her bike.
In a proper celebration for Christmas they planned to have a sleepover at the Motou's. Seto wasn't very pleased when he'd heard she was sleeping over with a bunch of people he hadn't met, but accepted it after a lot of complaining and convincing and then finally she put her foot down. Though she was worried about the likely event of her nightmares making a frustrating guest appearance, she wasn't missing out on this fun. She enforced that with the fact that she and the girls would be sleeping in an entirely different room to the boys to avoid any kind of awkward moments or situations. Not to mention – though she didn't say this to Seto – that Grandpa would be off to the Hawkins' residence for the night. Apparently he'd be talking and arguing with Professor Hawkins about any and all archaeological finds in the last few years.
She easily zipped up the bag and threw her jacket on before grabbing the handle and running out her door, down the stairs and towards the garage where she kept her bike. She securely strapped the hard cased bag to the rack on the back of her bike and tugged her helmet onto her head. Her heart was doing absolute flips in her chest, her excitement unimagined – even to her. She'd had little sleepovers before, though not quite to the scale her friends told her it would be. Apparently it was a tradition of the group to meet at a person's place to celebrate Christmas so they were free to celebrate Christmas with their families.
For Victoria's convenience, they'd decided on the Motou's house this year.
She easily climbed onto the bike, kicked up the brake and rode over to the large roller door, dodging the other cars as she went. Pressing the little red button the remote attached to the wall she clipped her helmet straps, waiting for the door to raise high enough for her to ride out of. Once she'd slowly toed the bike out she reached a hand around to press the button again, when she realised that she was being watched.
"Trying to stop me again?" She asked.
"Not at all." Seto replied. "I came to wish you a safe night. And if you need anything I'm just a phone call away." He informed her, taking her hand and holding it gently between two of his.
Victoria nodded, feeling heat pooling from her hand up to her cheeks. "Thanks. Say bye to Mokuba for me." She said, dropping her hand and beginning to ride away when a voice called out to her, screaming actually.
She hauled to a stop and turned as Mokuba skidded out of the garage and slammed into her, causing the bike to tip to the side. Victoria yelped, using her left foot to hold herself, the bike and Mokuba upright – the feat made more difficult by the bag weighing the bike down.
"Easy, Mokuba, you could have killed us." She said with a laugh.
"I had to hug you goodbye!" Mokuba exclaimed.
"You sound like a child." Seto stated, having appeared and grabbed Mokuba by the scruff of his shirt to pull him off her.
"So what if I do?" Mokuba complained.
"I'll be fine guys. I promise. If anything you should think me safer than usual tonight."
"And why is that?" Seto asked.
"I told you, the guys are all sleeping in the living room – the only way to another room in the house is through that living room." Victoria said with a wink, hiding the fact that was another reason why she was happy to go. "See you guys sometime tomorrow afternoon." She farewelled, turning the bike down the large driveway and to the front gate – which was opened for her as always – and rode at a speedy pace towards the Motou's.
She'd realised that the reason her nightmares continued was because of what the clown had said. 'Not this time' he'd said. Something about that unsettled her more than his intentions did. She feared that perhaps she looked like the one that got away and that no jail cell could keep him from gaining his goal. And if his obsession with her ran so deeply as to abduct her in the middle of a crowd then she had every reason to believe that he would find her one day. This scared her like nothing else.
As she entered the more residential area that surrounded the Game Shop she began to observe the various Christmas paraphernalia that lined and decorated the homes and small businesses that she passed. It was Saturday the twelfth of December and for a week there had been nothing but Christmas present ads on the television and on the internet, along with the appearance of the tacky decorations such as blow up Santa's and plastic reindeer along with cheap looking tinsel and stringed lights. Though of course there was the rare house with rather classy looking lights and light up plastic candy canes lining garden beds and paths that were worth stopping to take a look at. But that time of the day left all lights off and so those houses weren't exactly any different to usual.
The Game Shop was one of those places that had some of the tacky decorations, but was done in such a minute way that it looked nice enough. Grandpa – with the assumed help of Yugi and Yami – had lined the front door with gold tinsel and inside there were stringed lights lining the ceiling of the shop and small Christmas decorations in the theme of Duel Monsters was placed on shelves and such. A part of her horror though, was that the new sets of Duel Monster's cards had been released. Hopefully the group wouldn't recognise the images from her scratchy sketches.
She brought the bike to a halt outside the front door to the house section and knocked to let them know she'd arrived before she swung her leg to the other side and began to move the bike to the garden railing where she always tied it.
The door slid open and there stood Yami.
"That was fast." Victoria commented.
Yami chuckled as he kicked his heel into a second boot. "I was heading to the store. Just when we thought we had everything." He said, rolling his eyes slightly.
Victoria giggled. "Happens to everyone, huh? Is anyone else here?"
"No, you're the first again."
She nodded. "Hang on a sec, I'll take you." She said, leaving the chain off the bike and turning to her bag.
Yami paused, instantly confused.
"What?" She asked, holding her light bag in one hand.
"How?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.
She placed the bag just inside the door. "Just hop on the rack on the back of the bike and I can take you there. Do you have a helmet?" She asked.
He gave her an unreadable look, which left her with nothing – until he pointed to his hair.
"Okay, point taken." Victoria muttered, taking her helmet off and throwing it inside as well.
"Shouldn't you keep that on?" Yami asked as she climbed back into the seat of the bike.
"To be honest I can't be bothered." She replied, waiting for him to get on. Once he was sitting sideways on the rack, one hand holding onto the back of the rack and the other holding onto the front, she set off. She realised instantly that she had underestimated the weight limit and the balance of the bike. She pressed on, however, not wanting to go back on her word.
"Are you alright?" Yami asked, noticing the struggle she was having keeping the bike upright and in a straight line.
"Just fine. I'm just not used to a passenger." Victoria admitted.
"Uh, Victoria. Do you know where the store is?"
Victoria stopped short, placing both feet onto the concrete, blinking to herself. "No." She admitted.
Yami chuckled. "Here, let me take over." He offered, getting off the bike.
Victoria hesitantly got off the seat and allowed him to get on. She then took his place on the rack, carefully holding onto it with both hands.
Once he was sure that she was seated, he turned the bike right around and took it in the opposite direction. Victoria instantly began to blush. She'd been leading off in completely the wrong direction. She supposed her excitement had clouded her more intelligent thoughts.
She'd never been grocery shopping and it seemed to be the perfect opportunity.
It wasn't long until Yami pulled the bike up to a bike parking stand and they both climbed off so that he could roll the wheel over the bar and into place so that it wouldn't fall over. While he did this, Victoria fished the chain and lock out of her backpack to chain the bike to the stand.
They walked through the medium sized car-park and entered through the automatic doors. The store was small and clearly only used by locals. There was more Christmas decorations inside the store than she could have imagined was legal. Even the shopping basket that Yami picked up had a trimming of tinsel around the rim.
"So what did you need to get?" She asked as they joined the bustle of fellow shoppers who were all buzzing with Christmas cheer.
"Just some bits and pieces. Snacks and such. And probably something for breakfast." Yami replied. "I wouldn't have a clue what to get though." He admitted, leading the way to the snack food and lolly aisle.
"I can do breakfast." Victoria offered. "I make the best pancakes. So my brother says." She explained. "And I make them from scratch."
Yami smiled. "Is that okay?" He asked, picking a packet of flavoured biscuits into the basket.
"I offered, didn't I?" She asked back, holding up a packet of lollies with the brand on it that she'd heard Rebecca mention. Yami nodded and she added it to the basket.
"Well, if you're sure, that would be great if you could do that." Yami replied. "What do you need to make them?"
"A cup of milk, a cup of self-raising flour and an egg." Victoria replied. "And also chocolate chips." She said, cheekily sticking out her tongue. "Though I might have to double the batch if Joey and Tristan are going to be eating with us…"
"Chocolate chips?" He inquired.
"Of course. It's my not-so-secret secret addition to the timeless recipe." Victoria replied, sounding much like Joey when he went on a spiel about a skill he had.
Yami chuckled. "Well, I'm certain that we have eggs and flour. It would be smart to get a carton of milk though. And we'll need that secret addition."
Victoria giggled a little. "Okay."
As they collected the items that Yami was after, Victoria located the milk and chocolate chips. Luckily she had her wallet on her so she intended to pay for the two items herself. When they approached the self serving registers, Victoria attempted to go to a separate register, when Yami easily guided her to his and before she could so much as protest, he scanned the items through.
"Yami!"
"It's fine." He replied, paying for the items. "You'll be cooking them, so no complaints. Or I'll take your bike and leave you here." He warned, as he managed to fit the single plastic bag into Victoria's bag as she held it open for him. "Come on, the other's will have probably arrived by now." He said, leading the way out of the store.
Victoria followed Yami, pouting lightly as she carefully swung her bag onto her back. "I appreciate it, but I could have paid for them."
"I'll leave you behind." He warned playfully, giving her a meaningful look.
"Only if you can unlock the chain. I have the only key." Victoria reminded him, holding up the small silver key on a key ring. Yes, she had a spare at home, but that was beside the point.
"I'm sure I could get it from you somehow." Yami said, hardly worried.
Victoria scoffed. "I'd like to see you try."
Yami was about to respond, but the comment died in the back of his throat as his eyes fell on the bike rack. "Oh no. Victoria, I need you to play along, please. Just trust me." He said, looking at her with his cerise eyes filled with some kind of emotion that she couldn't put her finger on. Something she hadn't seen in his eyes before. The best word she could think of was…fear.
Victoria was confused, but looked over at the bike rack and felt her blood go cold. "What do we do?"
Yami promptly took her hand. "Just play along. They won't hurt you if you're with me. Ignore them and be calm. Luckily we have a fast get away. Unlock the bike as quickly as you can and I'll get you away from them as quickly as I can, understand?" He instructed quietly as they approached the bike rack.
Loitering around the bike rack was a group of rough looking young men. They were either older than her or older than Yami, but that didn't matter. Just the sight of them made her skin tingle – though that could have also been Yami's hand being so securely wrapped around her own. As they approached there was no denying the wolf whistles and jeers were directed at her. She looked down at her feet, tightening her hold on Yami's hand to help maintain her cool.
"Well, well, well. Look what we have here. Yami Motou." A rough, yet strangely attractive voice, sneered. "You've got yourself a cute girl there."
"You have no reason to bother us." Yami said, a warning deep in the menacing tone of his voice.
Victoria didn't need telling twice when Yami slowly released her hand and she knelt beside the bike to unlock the chain. Once it was unlocked she handed the chain and lock to Yami so that he could place them into her backpack.
"Aww, but we wanna hang out with your girl for a bit. Come on, just leave her with us. We'll take good care of her." The same voice sneered, the rest of his group chortled in agreement.
"How about you ask her? Though I doubt she'll accept." Yami assured them. "We have a night of our own planned. Don't we, Tori?" He asked, looking into her eyes so help her maintain focus.
Victoria loved the sound of her nickname rolling off his tongue, so much so that it nearly threw her off. "Yeah." She whispered, allowing herself to smile in a slightly flirty way, reaching for his hand again. She noticed the stunned expression in his eyes before it faded to keep up the act.
Without another word, they got onto the bike and thankfully without an interruption of the genuinely disappointed, but not completely discouraged group of idiots, Yami set the bike at a speedy pace back to the Game Shop. Victoria had both of her arms wrapped around Yami's middle – both maintaining the act and because the fright was beginning to make itself known. Her body began to shake. She'd been in a situation similar to that one – but never with more than one person, let alone a group of overly hormonal guys.
"What if they follow us?" She asked worriedly.
"They'll find another girl to bother – and I hope she has a good getaway like we do." Yami replied. "Are you okay?"
Victoria nodded a little, but it was more to convince herself than him.
Yami took the responsibility of chaining the bike on the garden railing when they returned and led Victoria into the house with her fingers clinging tightly to his jacket sleeve.
Yugi entered through the living room door, a smile on his face, as they were kicking off their shoes. "Hey Yami – oh, Tori. Hi."
Victoria put on a smile for Yugi. "Hi."
Yugi's smile faltered. "Did something happen?"
Yami shook his head as he removed his coat, forcing Victoria to let go for a moment until she could latch onto his shirt sleeve. "They were there."
Yugi blanched. It appeared that he had run into the group several times as well. "What did they do? They didn't hurt you, did they?"
"They could have. We had Tori's bike, so we were able to get away more efficiently than normally."
"Those freaks." Yugi stated darkly.
That statement startled Victoria. True it was childish, but she'd never heard Yugi refer to a person like that. "Are they usually there?"
Yami nodded as he helped her shrug out of her coat and hung it on a hook. "It doesn't help that they know who Yugi and I are because of our duelling status. They're pretty harmless. It's just that they can be very intimidating. Are you sure that you're okay?" He asked.
Victoria nodded.
"You're shaking."
She looked at her hands, which were in fact shaking rather violently. "They always do that." She insisted.
Yami sighed, not at all believing her. "Come on; let's get you sitting down with a cup of tea, okay? Yugi is anyone else here?"
"Yeah, Rebecca's already getting into her pyjamas upstairs." Yugi replied, looking a little exasperated.
"That doesn't sound like a bad idea." Victoria admitted. She looked towards where she'd left her bag to find that it was missing. "Where's my bag?" She inquired softly.
"I put it up in our room." Yugi replied, his smile returning. "It's where the girls will be sleeping tonight."
"I think I'll go and get changed." She said, opening her backpack and handing Yami the groceries. "Thank you." She whispered as Yami handed Yugi the bag – he promptly left to out the groceries away. "I, uh, well. Things could have gotten rather messy." She said, when Yami turned his attention back to her.
"The thing to remember is that it didn't." Yami stated. "You are safe. I'm just glad that you trusted me." To her surprise a slight tinge of pink rose to his cheeks. "I admit that smile you flashed was a little surprising. I didn't expect that."
Victoria flushed herself. "Well, being an artist I studied different facial expressions." She explained, her eyes exploring the weaving in the carpet. "When I did this I looked in a mirror and put them to practice. I just happened to remember that one, that's all." She let out a soft chuckle. "And you finally called me 'Tori'."
"What?"
"Tori." Victoria replied. "I like it when people call me that."
"Oh, well. I guess it just came out." Yami explained. "So, you go and get changed. I'll get your tea ready. Our room is second on the left." He directed, motioning to the stairs as they entered the living room.
Victoria nodded and made her way up the stairs. It didn't take much to find Yami and Yugi's room – it was now open and Rebecca was emerging in a pair of what appeared to be brand new pink silk pyjamas with a button down top and string tied pants that were the perfect length for her. There was no doubt that she was trying to get Yugi's attention.
"Hi, Tori." Rebecca greeted.
"Hey, Bec. Looking great. I'm sure he'll notice." Victoria teased with a wink.
Rebecca blushed, but giggled. "Yeah, I'm sure he will." She replied, making her way down the hall then down the stairs.
Victoria smiled and closed the door to the boy's room, and as the smell of attractive young men settled around her, she turned to observe it. Though she was a little shaky, the sight of the room made her feel like she was at home.
It was basic, cleaner than she'd imagine a boy's room would be – but of course Yami and Yugi were both pretty clean guys. The walls were painted a warm blue colour and the carpet a comfortable shade of gray.
On one side of the room was a bed that Rebecca had clearly claimed as her own. The bed had been left messily made, and didn't look like it had been affected by Rebecca too much. That had to be Yugi's bed. Opposite her was a desk that enforced whose side of the room was whose. On the left side of the desk was a light blue reading lamp with fading duel monsters stickers on it – Yugi had clearly had that lamp for many years. There were also scattered duel monsters cards on the desk, the boys probably shared cards and strategies. On the centre of the desk was a desktop computer that they obviously shared.
To the right side of the desk was a black reading lamp that looked relatively new and what appeared to be a classic, thickly bond novel sitting beside it. Yami's side. His bed was almost perfectly made, though it looked like he'd sat on it after he'd made it – probably to read.
Both sides of the room had identical self assembled closets facing the beds and against the same wall as the door. She assumed that like the different sides of the room, the contents of the closets would be just as different.
She knew that she couldn't just take the other bed, Téa was yet to arrive. So Victoria just placed her bag down towards Yami's side to prevent any conflict with Rebecca and opened it to find her pyjamas.
She was sure to feel severely underdressed when standing near Rebecca. Victoria hadn't planned on impressing anyone, so she bought her black tank top with a square cut neckline – with which she'd wear a comfortable gray, button down cardigan – and her old, way too long for her, dark aqua flannel pants with pale yellow pin stripes which fell a little low on her hips if she wasn't careful and which she often stood on as they were too long.
She shrugged.
It was just a sleepover.
