"Shizuka, I need you to stay here and woman your post." Her mother said, steering her to a spot next to the door. "You have to give the signal when they come in so we know when to hide!"

"Mom, you throw a surprise party for his birthday every year. It's kind of not surprising anymore." The girl protested, not wanting to stand at the door like some glorified welcome mat.

"But they're still surprised every time!" Her mother replied, and Shizuka resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Of course they were; it would break their mom's heart if Yugi and Jou didn't play along every year. "Just let us know when Jou gets here, okay?"

"Fine. Okay."

At that moment, someone knocked on the door, and her mom opened it.
"Atem!" She said cheerfully, pulling him inside. "Thank you for coming! They'll be here any minute."

"Thank you for inviting me." Atem said, looking somewhat out of place. Shizuka eyed him, curious; he looked nervous. As Shizuka's mother ran off to finish her last party touches, the girl leaned over, speaking softly: "Have you seen Yugi since...?"

Atem whirled to her, eyes wide.
"You know?"

"Jou told me." She explained.

"No, I...I haven't." Atem wiggled his chin deeper into his scarf that he'd yet to take off. "I'm hoping to speak with him tonight. Hoping he's not still super pissed. Ready to get on my knees and beg forgiveness if need be."

"Don't tell Yugi that." She said, leaning back. "He might make you do it just because."

"Thanks for the tip." Atem replied as another knock sounded against the door. "Who's that?"

"How should I know?" She replied, shrugging. The person on the other side knocked again, and Atem looked at her, questioning. "I am not moving. Mom will make me listen to her romance novels if I leave my spot." Shizuka said stiffly. Atem looked confused, but shrugged and opened the door. A tall girl stood at the threshold, blinking at him.

"Um, hi." She said, pushing her brown hair from her face. "I'm Anzu."

"I'm Atem." He replied, offering her his hand. "I assume you're here for the party?"

"Yeah, I was invited by Jou." She said, stepping in. "Are you part of the family?"

"No. You?"

"No. Just a friend."

"Oh. Same here. Yugi."

"I have yet to have the pleasure." She replied, shrugging slightly.

"Mom!" Shizuka called out, looking through the window. "I see Jou!"

"Okay, okay! Quiet everybody!" Her mother called, though she was the only one being loud by this point. Atem and Anzu both joined the hushed guests in the living room, standing in the sudden dark. The door clicked, and in walked Jou.

"Surprise!" Everybody yelled. Jou feigned shock at seeing everyone gathered in his home for his birthday.

"Oh, you shouldn't have!" He said with a crooked smile. "Really. You shouldn't." His mother came over and kissed his cheek, looking pleased.

"Where's your brother?" She wondered.

"We didn't come together." Jou replied, taking the cup of soda his sister offered him.

"Well, that's okay." His mother said. "We surprised the birthday boy, and that's what counts."

"Yeah, well..." Jou's avoided his mother and met Anzu's eyes. "What?" He asked, walking over to her as she grinned.

"You look good." She commented, taking in his coat and black jeans. "I'm surprised." She handed him a small wrapped box.

"Oh, shit." He said, looking at the box.

"Not the reaction I expected, but okay."

"No, I mean," He took the offered present, turning it over in his hands, "You didn't need to..."

"It's your birthday. Of course I did." She replied simply, shrugging.

The front door pushed open slowly, and Yugi peeked into the house carefully. He was relieved to see that the lights were on and that everybody was already enjoying the party. Free to wander around without being jump-scared, Yugi came inside fully, shutting the door behind him. He spotted his brother standing near the food table, chatting with a woman.

"Yugi!" He turned to see his mother waving to him from near the couch. "There you are! Why didn't you and Jou come together?"

"Yeah, Yugi?" Jou added, coming over. "You've been in your room all day."

"I just...I had a lot on my mind." Yugi said, eyes silently pleading with Jou to forgive him; about lying, about keeping his Counter. Jou grinned and gave Yugi a one-armed hug and he relaxed, feeling his affection for his brother overflow. He didn't know what he would do without Jou.

"Yugi, I want you to meet Anzu." Jou started, pulling the girl he had been chatting with from behind him. Yugi's eyes moved to her, mouth opening to introduce himself and — be-be-beep, be-be-beep, be-be-beep — there was a sudden chorus of beeping, and two people jumped, shocked.

"What...?" Their mother said, awed, grasping Yugi's wrist in her hands. "Your Counter is going off!?"

Anzu lifted her wrist up to her eyes, staring at her own Counter in disbelief as it finally stopped beeping. Her zeroed out Counter display blinking at her as if in some kind of celebration. Then she stared at Yugi, a strange understanding dawning across her face. Jou looked from one to the other, with an equally indescribable expression.

"You...got a Counter?" Jou asked, sounding distant. She blinked over to him, almost apologetic.

"I—yeah. I got one..."

"When did you zero out?" Their mom asked Yugi, excited.

"Um, yesterday." Yugi replied, red-faced. Jou let out a strange noise from his throat and turned on his heel, storming away from the two. "Jou!" Yugi called, about to chase after his brother, but his mother held him in place.

"Incidentally, I may have made things worse by inviting Atem." She said quietly, looking uncomfortable.

Yugi's mouth fell open, and the front door opened. Yugi spun around in time to see Atem's back as he carelessly pulled the door shut behind him. Tearing himself from his mother's grasp, Yugi took off after Atem, heart lodged into his Adam's apple. He ripped the door open and jogged down the porch steps, looking around.

"Atem!" He called into the cold darkness, spinning around. The crickets replied, and Yugi ran down the driveway, breathing hard. "Atem!?" He stood next to the mailbox, waiting for any sign that Atem was out there, listening. But there was nothing. He was already gone. "God dammit!" Yugi shouted, ripping his hands through his hair. "Fuck." He squatted down, regretting for the first time that he had not gotten his Counter removed after all.


Jou shoved his fork into the two-tier cake sitting on the kitchen counter, destroying the blue lettering that wished him a happy birthday. He moved his fork around, making it say "CRAPPY BIRTHDAY." He chewed slowly, mashing the soft yellow sponge cake between his teeth in his anger, though he wasn't exactly sure what he was mad about. He knew from the very beginning that he wouldn't be meeting his "Fated One" for years to come. That there was no reason he should have expected otherwise. So why did he hurt so much? There was a sudden, empty yawning inside of him, and he filled it the only way he knew how...by being pissed.

Anzu stepped into the kitchen, spotting Jou sitting on the counter. She took a glance at the muddled cake and smirked at the crude message. "It's going to be hard to fix that." She commented, gesturing to the cake.

"Well, lame-shit bears seems to be the theme of the night, don't you think?" Jou asked, stabbing his fork deeper into the cake.

"Do you want to talk about this?"

"There's nothing to talk about."

Yugi walked in at that moment, face pale and nose red from sitting outside in the cold. A weird, awkward silence settled between the three.

"Hi." Yugi finally said.

"Hi." Anzu replied.

Jou looked between the two and stuck his fork into the cake and left it there.
"It's like a fucking Greek tragedy up in here." He said, grinning though he didn't sound amused at all.

"I should leave." Anzu said, pushing away from the counter.

"No, you know what?" Jou hopped down from his perch. "I should go. I'll go. I'll give you guys some privacy."

"Jou, please stay." Yugi caught his brothers arm, stopping him. "Talk to me."

"Okay." Jou tugged his arm out of Yugi's grasp. "Um, how about this? You are an unforgivable dick for bogarting the one little piece of romance I've ever known." Yugi stumbled back as if Jou's words had been a physical slap.

"No one is bogarting anything," Anzu began, imploring.

"I don't need your help." Yugi said cooly, taking his eyes from Jou to stare at her.

"Don't talk to her like that!" Jou snapped.

"Don't be pissed at me for this!" Yugi argued. "I've had a blank Counter my entire life! It's not my fault she got one."

"But you were supposed to get yours removed!"

"Would that have changed anything? If I had my Counter removed, her's would've gone blank! And she would have had to live with a blank Counter forever, because I can't get another one. She'd spend everyday as I have, waiting for any glimmer of hope. And no one deserves that anyway, Jou. And, in the end, it still would've turned out like this."

"I didn't know it would end up like this." Anzu said quietly, trying to defend herself and keep the peace at the same time.

"Since you already took your sweet time coming into my life, would you mind if I had a few minutes alone with my brother?" Yugi snapped at her, irritated.

"Would you stop being such a prick to her?" Jou yelled.

"Would you stop being such a prick to me?" Yugi argued back.

"I'm just mad, okay?!" Jou threw his hands up helplessly. "I'm allowed to be mad! It's not exactly fair that you get to step in and have everything work out for you, and I—" He cut off, shaking his head. "We've watched everyone we know zero out, Yugi. It's always been us with our fucked up Counters against them."

Yugi frowned.
"I'm not 'them'."

"Yes, you are." Jou said. Yugi let out a long sigh and glanced over to Anzu, who looked as if she wanted to be anywhere else than in the kitchen with them.

"Could you give us a minute, please?" He asked, dropping his tone politely.

"Yeah, okay." She said, stepping toward the kitchen door. She paused, looking back to Jou. "You know, the reason I got the Counter was because of you. Spending time with you made me realize that I didn't want to be alone anymore, so...if there is an upside to all of this, it's that you're guaranteed to be a part of my life. In whatever way it ends up." She looked down, tucking her hair behind her ear as she stepped out of the room. Jou's jaw clenched.

"If there's an upside...?" Yugi repeated, looking shocked.

"Well, it's not like you made a great first impression." Jou commented.

"...who is she?"

"Anzu Mazaki."

"How do I not know about a woman in your life? Like, a permanent woman?"

"I mean, you've kind of been preoccupied with your own shit lately."

"Okay." Yugi nodded. "Yeah, I deserved that."

"Yes, you did."

"So...this is where we are, then?" Yugi asked. Jou remained silent. Yugi rubbed his arm, looking frustrated. "Fine. I'm going to go. And you? You're going to stay here, at your party, and be mad. You can even sulk all weekend long if you want, go out drinking and slum it up with your chicks. But come Monday morning, you have to come home." Yugi's throat constricted. "Because you're my favorite person in the world, Jou. And you were my One long before these shit relationships showed up." Yugi swiped at his face, going to the door. "It's just not worth it without you."