(A/N: I HAD THIS DONE SINCE THIS MORNING. BUT THIS SITE WAS BEING A BITCH AND NOT LETTING ME LOG IN. BUT ANYWAY, YEAH. I'M ASHAMED OF MYSELF. 'CAUSE IT TOOK ME ANOTHER MONTH TO UPLOAD. ANOTHER. MONTH. AND THAT'S NOT GOOD. THAT'S HORRIBLE. YOU MUST HATE ME. I HOPE YOU DON'T. I HOPE YOU'LL STILL READ THE CHAPTER. 'CAUSE I WORKED HARD ON IT. OKAY IMMA GO NOW THANK YOU BYE. Sorry about that, I'm still kinda angry that the site wouldn't let me upload this sooner xD. BUT! Here it is now!

WARNINGS: FLUFF. I'M SERIOUS. IT MIGHT KINDA COMPARE TO THE ONE FROM LAST CHAPTER. MINI-ME! He's back, 'cause I can't write proper fluff without him. Lovesick!Yami and lovesick!Yugi. 'Cause they're both adorable and we know it. No use in hiding it! FLUFF. ... gosh, seems like I can't get over that! xD If you catch any typos, let me know! And if you think either is way too OOC, don't be afraid to tell me!

Disclaimer: I DON'T own Yu-Gi-Oh! Sadly. OH MY EFFING GOD DID YOU SEE THE LATEST GLEE EPISODE? IT AIRED TWO DAYS AFTER I UPLOADED THE LAST CHAPTER. KURT AND BLAINE FUCKING KISSED TWO DAYS AFTER I UPLOADED A CHAPTER. I COULDN'T GET OVER THE SHOCK. BUT OF COURSE, I SAW THE KISS AROUND 12548478325 TIMES AND I STILL WATCH IT OVER AND OVER AGAIN. IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL. BLAINE YOU LIIIAAAARRR! "Not good at romance"? NOT GOOD AT ROMANCE MY ASS! THAT WAS A FUCKING EPIC SPEECH. AND THEN YOU KISSED KURT. TWICE. GOOD JOB, OLD CHAP. TOOK YOU LONG ENOUGH, BUT GOOD JOB. I WAS SO HAPPY FOR KURT. AND FOR BLAINE. I ALMOST CRIED. IMMA GONNA SHUT UP NOW.

Enjoy the chapter! And sorry for such a long A/N!)

Chapter 10

The first time Yugi likes the real world more than his fantasies is the day Yami walks up to him at the end of school and tells him, "I composed a lullaby for you!"

He didn't expect it. Not at all. And he had very good reasons not to. Yami was nervous around him all day long—nervous as in jumping every time Yugi called him or laughing nervously or stuttering and then not say a thing—and Yugi even wondered (a little scared, actually) if Yami had sort of gone back to his Resident-Evil-zombified version or something. That would be very terrifying. Though if it was the zombie again, Yami would be… well… zombified. And this was not it. In a way, it was relieving. In another way, it was more confusing.

Then, at the end of school, while Yugi's putting some books into his locker, Yami approaches him, blushing a little (which is adorable, actually) and kinda holding his breath. Before Yugi can even say hello, his best friend rushes out, "I composed a lullaby for you!"

Yugi has never imagined this. His dreams consist of Yami serenading him outside his window at some ungodly hour of the morning, dancing with him—which has, up to now, been his favorite—holding hands in a much stronger way than friends… he hasn't dared to dream about Yami kissing him, even though his subconscious betrays him and makes him imagine the two of them sharing a kiss. No, no, his dreams are a lot smaller than that. But he's never, ever, even dreamt of his best friend composing him a lullaby.

"You… what?" he asks, fearing he heard wrong.

"I wrote a lullaby for you! W-well, I didn't actually write it, it was kind of like, spur of the moment, but I memorized it! O-okay, not really memorized it right then, because I actually had to play it like, a couple more times to remember what I'd done, but then I did memorize it and I'd sort of forgotten to tell you, and I woke up today and thought, 'Hey, I'm gonna tell him about the lullaby today!' and I'd really like it if you would, like, come over and listen to it! O-or you can simply ignore me and tell me you don't care or something, y'know? I won't get mad, promise! Oh, crap, I… d-did you even understand a word I said? I kind of ranted, didn't I?"

During this whole time, Yugi tries not to laugh, and it's not because he's making fun of Yami, no, never, but because damn it all sometimes Yami is more adorable than he lets on. At the end, however, he does laugh, covering his mouth with his hand. Yami's face falls, but Yugi explains his laughter.

"No, no! I mean, yes! Wait, no, I—Oh, God, I'm not making any sense…" he giggles. "I did understand what you said, and I would like to hear that lullaby you wrote but didn't," he says, giggling again, which makes Yami's heart race so hard and loud that it's a miracle Yugi can't hear it.

So they drive to Yami's place, and all the while 'mini-me' is in total chaos. He's making Yami so nervous, the frigging fellow, pulling at his hair while jumping on the steering wheel! What if we forget what comes next? What if he doesn't like it? WHAT IF HE HATES IT? WHAT IF HE DOESN'T WANT TO SPEAK TO US AGAIN? OH, MY GOD, THE HORROR! THE UNCERTAINTY!

OH, MY GOD, PLEASE SHUT UP! Yami screams at himself. I'm trying to drive here! If we crash, we can't show Yugi the lullaby, you know! STOP IT ALREADY! For once, 'mini-me' actually listens and shuts up: he sits down at the top of the steering wheel (thank God Yami doesn't move it around so much, except in curves and turns), zips his mouth (literally), and rests his hands on his knees. Thank you, Yami thinks. At a red light, he glances to the beautiful boy sitting beside him on the passenger seat.

Yugi's looking out the window, chin resting on his palm. He hopes Yami can't see the goofy grin he has on his face and the pink blush decorating his cheeks. He can feel his heartbeat through his shirt, and he wonders if there's any way that it might break free from his chest.

They finally get to Yami's place, actually arriving just in time for dinner. Mrs. Atemu is just finishing the mashed potatoes, and Mr. Atemu is sat at the table, but both teenagers notice the two adults' eyes are tearstained, red and puffy. Yami smiles: his parents have kept their promise of visiting Becky at least once a week.

"Oh, hi, honey," says Mrs. Atemu, wiping her eyes.

"Hey, Mom, Dad," Yami greets back, trying to hide the smile. "I brought Yugi over. That's okay?"

"Of course, son," Mr. Atemu answers, his voice sounding a little hoarse. "Good afternoon, Yugi."

"Good afternoon, Mr. and Mrs. Atemu," Yugi says with a bow. "Thanks for having me over."

"Anytime, dear," says Mrs. Atemu. Yami offers to help her put up the table, and he tells Yugi to sit down. While he's helping his mom at the kitchen, Chiyoko shoots him a small knowing smile.

Yami turns to her and chuckles slightly. "What?"

"You want to play that lullaby you wrote for him, don't you?"

He doesn't know how she does it, but he guesses that's the reason they're moms. Moms somehow always know everything. He nods at her, and her smile widens. She cups his cheek before patting it softly. "I'm so proud of you, honey."

"Thanks, Mom," he says. Then they both take the cups and plates to the table to have dinner.

"What is it?" Yugi asks once Yami's sitting at the piano bench and he's standing next to the door of the room. During dinner, Yami glanced nervously between his father, his mother, and Yugi—and not to sound worried or anything, but Yugi didn't know if those glances between the three Atemus meant something. And now that Yami's been sitting at that bench for more than a couple of seconds without playing a key, he's getting a little scared.

"No, nothing, I just…" Yami sighs to himself, tempted to lay his elbows on the keys and bury his head in his hands. 'Mini-me' is sitting on top of the piano, swinging his legs back and forth, back and forth. I can't do it, little guy, Yami thinks.

Of course you can! You just put one finger before the other one… like walking! And then you'll be running your hands through these keys! … And yes, I did mean the pun, the little guy tells him reassuringly, giggling.

Yami takes a deep breath.

He begins to play.

Yugi downright wants to break down and cry. What he starts listening to is sort of like the most beautiful thing he's ever heard, and dammit, he never knew Yami could play so well! The piano notes fill up the room, and call it cliché or stupid or ridiculous or cheesy or whatever, but Yugi feels like he's flying away to some other place where everything is calm and beautiful, and suddenly his dream of waltzing with his best friend is right before him, and he imagines the two of them slow-dancing to this tune that swirls around him.

There are tears in his eyes before he realizes it, and then the music's gone. It vanishes abruptly as if it was never there. Yami's standing up, worriedly looking at him.

"H-hey, what's wrong?" he asks, stepping closer to Yugi. "I-I'm sorry, was it… was that too much? I honestly didn't mean to! I just…" Yami runs his hands through his hair while Yugi can't help but cry more tears. "Look, this… th-this isn't that big of a deal, I…"

Yugi lets out a nervous chuckle, because this is just too perfect to be true. And for heaven's sake, Yami is so terribly adorable when he rants.

"What are you talking about?" the amethyst-eyed boy says, wiping away his tears. "I'm… I'm not sad, Yami, I'm happy!" Then he laughs for real, thinking that this guy is… he can't even think of a word. "That was beautiful! Did… did you really compose it for me?"

Now Yami's blushing. That… went different than he expected. Seriously, he had so many scenarios of how this could turn out. Yugi could've laughed, or said he liked it, or said he didn't like it, or ended their friendship, or walked out of the room, or hugged him, or kissed him (the one Yami thought about the most), or kicked him, or something else. But… he never expected tears of any kind, although he was really glad that those tears were happy ones.

"Um, w-well, yeah," Yami says, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. "I… sorta thought about you and… and h-how you've helped me… And I didn't finish 'cause I thought you didn't like it, and…"

Yugi finishes tearing up, and his eyes are a little red but he doesn't really mind because the guy he's in love with frigging composed a lullaby for him. He's feeling a little bold now, so he closes the distance between them both and kisses Yami's cheek.

And, well, let's say that Yami has never had so much trouble trying to ignore 'mini-me's squeals.

When Yugi steps away, Yami's body temperature is stuck somewhere above the 100 degrees, and his face is all red and flushed and his head's spinning and he's feeling dizzy and he kind of wishes he could stay like this for a while. Yugi has a very cute pink blush across his cheeks that makes Yami wanna pinch them for some strange reason, and he pushes a small strand of hair above his ear.

"I, um…" he starts, looking at the floor, "I should… I have to go," Yugi sort of whispers. "My parents must be expecting me home soon."

"Yeah," Yami says. "Yeah, I… okay." He curses himself for not having a piece of imagination that's a little quieter than the one he has screaming inside his head at the moment, because he can't even hear his own thoughts. WILL YOU PLEASE BE QUIET FOR A MINUTE? I'M TRYING TO THINK!

'Mini-me' covers his mouth with both hands, but Yami can still see him jumping from one leg to the other, shutting his eyes in eager excitement.

"I… yeah, can I… can I give you a ride home?"

"I'd… I'd rather walk home," Yugi answers, but he smiles so that Yami doesn't take it the wrong way. "I gotta get some thoughts in order." Then he hugs his best friend, resting his chin on Yami's shoulder, and the crimson-eyed embraces him back and does just the same, and he kind of wants this moment to last forever because this is sort of perfect as it is, isn't it?

"Thank you," Yugi whispers, "for the lullaby. I'd like to hear it all someday."

"Yeah," Yami repeats. Really, there aren't much more words on his vocabulary than that. "I'd like to finish playing it, too."

They stay like that, just in each other's arms for a while. Finally, they break the hug (which actually managed to calm 'mini-me' down long enough so that now his expression is a tranquil smile and calm closed eyes), and they wave goodbye at each other, muttering 'see you later's before Yugi walks out of the room. Yami listens as his best friend thanks his parents for the hospitality, and it's not much later after that he hears the door opening and closing.

He feels like jumping around. He feels like shouting to the sky. He feels like flying. He feels everything at the same time and it's wonderful. He looks around the piano studio, the room that once belonged to Becky, where the little girl would play the instrument without really knowing how to. Yami imagines his little eight-year-old sister sitting at the bench, looking up at him with her big, round eyes, grinning at him.

What? Yami mentally questions.

Nothing, he hears her reply. I'm just happy for you.

Chiyoko steps into what used to be her daughter's room and leans on the doorframe, her arms crossed. "So, how did it go?" she asks her son.

Yami turns his eyes from the illusion of his sister to his mother. He looks down at the floor, a shy but happy and beautiful smile perking up his lips as he tells her, "Kind of perfect."

(A/N: CHEESY ENDING IS CHEESY. I LOVE CHEESE. AND I'M A SUCKER FOR FLUFF. MMKAY IMMA REALLY GONNA GO NOW KAY BYE!

P.S. KURT AND BLAINE KISSED! STILL CANNOT GET OVER THAT FACT. THEY KISSED. TWICE. OMG I'LL NEVER GET OVER IT. NEVER EVER. PLEASE REVIEW! THEY KISSED!

P.S.S. Thank you so much for all the lovely reviews from last chapter! I'm so glad and thankful for all your wonderful response and support, people! Never change, I love you all! -group hug- :D!)