"Anzu, are you ready to go?" Yugi asked rather happily, tucking a stray lock of blond hair behind his ear and pushing his ID and some cash into his front pocket. It was Saturday, and Yugi was simply excited, "Sorry it took me so long."

Anzu stood up and turned towards Yugi, "Yep, that's all right, I told Jeremy that--" Her eyes widened as she really looked at her boyfriend, "Yugi, oh…wow. You look…" She trailed off, gawking slightly. A small smile played at her lips as Yugi's cheeks gained a pink hue and he averted his eyes, "Amazing."

"Oh…thanks, Anzu, "Yugi said, fidgeting nervously and twirling his hair between his fingers. Tonight, rather than wearing his long hair in spikes, he decided to straighten it out; now it lay in long, smooth strands, similar to Yami's, but it was slightly shorter and less blond. He was dressed differently, too, in a pair of plain black leather pants that hugged his skin comfortably, pointed black boots, and a new long sleeved blood red shirt silk shirt. The only jewelry he wore was a simple silver chain, and the whole outfit gave him a very clean likable appearance.

"Yugi," Anzu said playfully, and she leaned forward to look closely at her boyfriend's face, "Are you wearing eyeliner?" Yugi nodded, his blush now more red than pink. "Why? You weren't so eager last week to get dressed up." She straightened up and her bright blue eyes narrowed ever-so-slightly almost as if she was suspicious of something.

"Oh, well…you know," Yugi said, walking to the door and grinning, "I just thought that it might be fun if I tried something new." He shrugged the question off, but in truth, Yugi really wasn't sure why he tried so hard to look nice. Maybe he wanted to impress Yami, or maybe he had a feeling that he would be leaving NYC soon, and he just wanted the crimson-eyed guitarist to remember him. Perhaps the answer was simply Yami. "So, we're meeting Jeremy tonight?"

"Yeah," Anzu said distractedly, "We'll meet him outside of the club." As they walked out of the apartment together, Yugi could almost see the question written out on Anzu's face, 'But who are you meeting with?'

"So, are you nervous about tonight?"

Yami looked up from his orange soda to get a look at the bartender, Sam. The club had just opened, and people were starting to trickle in, automatically attracted and moving towards the rock beats downstairs, "Yeah," He answered truthfully, "I didn't make a very good impression on the record manager yesterday…I…" He blinked and swallowed, forcing himself to come to grips once more with this possibility, "After yesterday, I don't think that we have much of a chance anymore, and it's all my fault."

"I doubt that," Sam said, frowning and shaking his head, "It takes two to tango."

"Yeah," Yami mumbled, more to himself than anyone else, "And I'm the one that tripped."

As Sam turned away to another customer, a young man with blue eyes and red and blond hair, he smiled warmly at someone behind Yami, and that someone spoke, "I doubt it. I just can't imagine you tripping over anything, actually…"

Yami's eyes sparkled slightly as he unleashed a grateful smile; his heart beat faster at the voice, that voice that he knew, "Yugi…" He said almost breathlessly, spinning around on the bar stool and accidentally tipping his glass over, sending orange soda everywhere. When he got an eyeful of Yugi though, he completely forgot.

He looked absolutely stunning; his hair was long and straight, it looked so soft, and he wore just the smallest bit of eyeliner, though a little went a very long way for him, magnifying and brightening his beautiful amethyst eyes. A silver chain accented a dark red silk shirt, which hinted at a slightly toned slim figure underneath. Crimson eyes traveled south, noting how his black leather pants fit him just right.

Yami stared, most likely looking like an idiot, as Yugi took the liberty of cleaning up the orange beverage with a huge amount of napkins. As Yugi set the glass on the table, upright once more, Yami found his voice, "Yugi, you look…amazing."

"Amazing."

What truly was amazing, Yugi thought as Yami grabbed his own pile of off-white napkins and helped to absorb the sticky beverage, was that the same exact compliment said by Yami made him feel confident and accomplished, while Anzu's made his feel nervous. He did his best to shrug it off, though. "Oh, yeah. Thank you." Yugi wasn't very used to being complimented, either; he did work in a convenience store, after all.

Within 60 seconds, because of the combined effort, the entire mess was cleaned up, paper towels and all. They both sat down at the bar again, smiling and Yami still admiring Yugi's outfit slightly, while Yugi ordered two orange sodas, "No," Yami told him, "That was my job, remember?"

Yugi raised an eyebrow, then remembered that Yami offered him a drink the previous week; it just seemed so long ago. "Well, I'll buy them now, to wish you luck," Yugi said slowly, a smile dawning upon his face, "And you can buy the next round, okay? After you have your record deal…well, if you still remember us little people, anyway."

Yami smiled as the sodas were put on the table, and he took a sip of that sweet carbonation, the promise of another visit from Yugi filling his ears. Maybe this wouldn't be so hard, seeing how Yugi was so confident in him…"Deal."

A few minutes of comfortable silence passed until it hit Yami. The unintentional meaning of what Yugi had just said was clouding his mind. Yami shook his head, and the silence quickly turned awkward as he pushed his drink away. This feeling for Yugi, this love, what was Yami supposed to do about it? What could he do about it?

Yugi, meanwhile, tentatively nursed at his soda, every once in a while glancing at Yami's clouded crimson eyes through the corner of his own, realizing that his seemingly innocent words were actually poison, "Yami," Yugi asked after a rather large time span of silence, "I…I didn't mean to offend you. I didn't mean anything by it."

"No," Yami said abruptly, then slowed down, his features softening considerably, You didn't offend me, not in the least. You just made me realize, " Yami took a deep breath, his crimson eyes boring in Yugi's amethyst ones full of wonderment, confusion, and…something else, "That you are the biggest and greatest thing that's ever happened to me." Well, perhaps not the biggest, but definitely the greatest.

Yugi blinked before registering what Yami said, and then a brilliant smile passed his lips; he had such a genuine warm smile. "Yami," He asked, biting his lip though the smile stayed firmly in place, "Would you like to dance?"

Yugi grinned at Yami's compliment. Suddenly, what he had been wanting to ask him all night didn't seem so out there anymore, "Yami, would you like to dance?"

Yami blinked a couple of times, his lightly lined eyes widening, "Up here?"

"Yeah, why not?" Yami didn't move, though, and instead stared carefully at Yugi, a question running through his mind. Yugi pegged it, "It doesn't have to be fast. I'm not exactly a pro at that."

"Alright," Yami stood up, and hesitantly held out his hand to the now beaming Yugi, who took it immediately.

Yami stood up from his chair and hesitantly held out his hand to Yugi. He swallowed a little, unsure of how he'd react to this; he was nervous enough as it was. But when Yugi gently grabbed his hand, it was warm and soft and reassuring. There was no controlling impulse, and nothing cold about it, either. It was nice.

They walked together out to the corner of the red-carpeted floor, all but ignoring the hard rock beat just below them. Yami winced a little; what next? "Umm…"

Yugi gently slid his hand out of Yami's grasp and placed his small hands on Yami's shoulders while Yami's hands clenched; this kind of dance? Yami wasn't sure if he could handle something like this. He blinked, watching Yugi's face watching him…waiting, "Is…something wrong?"

"I've just…" Yami couldn't back away now. He wanted to do this with Yugi, he really did, but what was holding him back was the fact that he was uncomfortable with prolonged human contact. It was almost like he was afraid to touch Yugi; afraid to touch the one person that tried to help him. Yami owed Yugi to try; he owed it to himself to try. He'd been suffering enough; he'd get that record deal, and then it would be over. So why not start now? "I've never slow danced before."

Yugi laughed a little, "Well, that makes two of us. Just…wing it." The way that Yugi smiled; it wasn't mocking Yami, it wasn't pressuring him, either. It was just kindness and acceptance. It made Yami want to fight harder.

The guitarist took a deep breath, then stiffly placed his palms on Yugi's leather and silk clad hips. He winced a little and pulled his hands away, remembering rough hands on his own waist, and how horrible it felt.

But Yugi didn't flinch; he wanted to do this. Yami tried again, and even though his fingers twitched at first, his hands themselves did not jump away, and soon he was calm, "Ready?" He asked Yugi, who blinked and smiled at him.

"Ready."

Both Yami and Yugi began to shift their weight from foot to foot, stepping in time to a beat that only they heard; knew. Yami could feel Yugi's silk shirt beneath his fingertips, could hear his breathing steadily as they moved in unison, and could smell his fresh clean scent. He could see the beauty of his angelic pearly face and the curve of his cheekbones, the roll of his lips. Yami supposed that those lips were warm and soft, just like his hands.

But what if Ryan thought those same things before he kissed Yami? What if those same senses were involved? Yami closed his eyes; Yugi wanted to dance. Yugi wanted to slow dance, and it was Yugi that edged closer to Yami until his fingertips were touching. Yami moved a little closer as well; just a little.

It didn't matter if it was only a little, though, because Yami was having the time of his life.

Yugi breathed in the scent of Yami's cinnamon cologne as he edged forward slightly and let his fingertips touch. A slight grin passed his face when Yami edged up a little, too. Yugi wanted to get closer, to catch a stronger whiff of Yami's scent, to feel more of his body heat, his leather clothing, but the guitarist seemed so reluctant to even dance.

It seemed to be an internal fight within Yami to touch Yugi at all, let alone get closer. Nevertheless, Yugi enjoyed this moment, this opportunity, because he knew that it was going to be the beginning of something big.

People walked up and down the stairs; they went to the bar, the bathrooms, some of them even left the building entirely, but Yugi didn't see who. He didn't care who, either, and he really didn't care if anyone else cared. It didn't matter what others thought, because they didn't really know.

For the time, Yami and Yugi just spun in slow, slow circles for an unknown amount of time, going at a pace that stayed sweetfully steady no matter what the tempo of the song downstairs was. It was just so nice, and it almost felt like any built up tension between the two of them was melting away; they both wanted this, they both were enjoying this chaste dance, the small contact, everything.

But soon enough, Yami's graceful hands slid away from Yugi's waist, and he smiled nervously down at the smaller. Yugi could almost feel the man's heart beating in his chest. "Thank you for the dance, Yugi, but…" Yugi saw him look at the clock over the bar, and he realized that it was time for Yami to leave; time for Yami to fight for what he fully deserved in the first place. "I have to go get ready now. Will you meet me back here around 10 o'clock? After the performance?"

"Of course," Yugi said, smiling encouragingly at the guitarist; he really did look attractive when he was nervous, "I'll see you then." Yami nodded fervently but almost distractedly at Yugi and began to walk down the hall towards his room, but Yugi spoke once again, catching himself after he almost forgot, "Oh, and Yami?" The aforementioned man spun around, mouth slightly open and his eyebrows creased just a bit, "Good luck, and kick some ass." Sure, he could've said something more heartfelt, but this was all that Yami needed for the moment

He knew everything else inside of him.

"I will, Yugi," Yami said, smiling and showing some of his perfect white teeth, "And thank you…again."

To Be Continued

Author's Notes: This chapter was edited on 7-6-06.

Thanks to all reviewers!

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