(I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of the music I reference)

*************Chapter 9*************

The next morning, as hard as Seto tried to clear his mind, his thoughts just kept returning to the bizarre night. He couldn't quite wrap his head around everything... this kind of thing just did not happen. Not in real life, anyway. Poor Yami... and had he- oh, shit. He had told Yami that he liked him. Not that it wasn't true or anything, but how on earth was he going to face him on Monday?

"Seto, what the hell are you doing?" His mother's voice jarred him back to reality.

"Wha- Oh, shit!" he frantically smothered the flames that were leaping from the skillet that had once contained eggs. He could hear Mokuba laughing at him in the other room as he stared mournfully at the charred remains of his breakfast.

"Why are you so distracted this morning?" His mother asked, yawning hugely.

"I dunno... just tired," he lied, knowing full well that she could see the blush tinting his pale cheeks.

"Seto's got a boyfriend!!!" Mokuba screeched, as he came in from the other room to witness his older brother's humiliation. Goddamn that kid.

"No I don't!" Seto argued back sharply. His mother's blue eyes widened mischievously.

"Oh, really? Oooooh, tell me about him!!! What's his name? Is he hot?" Seto's face was burning now. He couldn't believe his mother was asking him all this.

"Dammit, he's not my boyfriend!" As soon as the words were out of his mouth, his mother's face broke into a grin, and he knew he had messed up.

"Hahaha! So there is someone! I knew it!" He rolled his eyes as she high-fived Mokuba, both of them cackling evilly. Good Lord, she was just like a school girl.

As he scraped the blackened food off of the pan, he couldn't help but wonder what Yami was doing, and if last night had gone badly for him. Stop it!He chided himself as he blushed again. He sighed in defeat. Okay, so he really liked Yami. He couldn't help it. There was just something about him that made Seto feel like he had to protect him... maybe it was the way he was never sure of himself when he talked, or the nervous way he walked, like he was expecting something to leap out at him at any moment, or the way he always jumped to the defensive in any situation. It's sad... Seto shook his head. Someone who was kind enough to take all punishment in order to spare his younger brother shouldn't have to endure such hardships... This is driving me crazy! He knew he really shouldn't worry about it this much... Later, okay? Later this afternoon, I'll call him. Just to check up... about the project, of course. Not that either of them would be fooled; they both knew that he didn't care at all about chemistry.

Yami spent the day staying invisible. His father hadn't come home until almost four in the morning via taxi, and had passed out in the kitchen. Needless to say, he was not in the best of moods when he awoke the next morning, but was too zombie-like to actually function. Door locked, Yami lounged in his room, listening to Coheed and Cambria and playing his DS. Later in the afternoon, as he was laying in a spot of sunlight on his bed and beginning to drift off, he heard the song "Feathers" start playing. Hey, he thought happily. I like this song... wait a minute, where's my phone?! He scrambled to find his cell phone, and flipped it open to answer it without even checking to see who was calling.

"M'hello?" He mumbled, still drowsy. He tried to suppress a yawn, but it slipped out anyway.

"Oh, um... hi, Yami." He tensed. It was Seto... he wasn't sure how to react.

"Hi..." He decided to let the other boy talk first. He had called Yami, after all.

"So... how are you today?" He sounded strained, as if the conversation were very hard for him.

"I-I'm okay, how are you?" How the hell was he supposed to talk to this guy?!?

"Good, good... So um... about that project... did you want to work on it?" Yami was hesitant, weighing his options. He knew that having Seto around the house today would be a bad idea, but he didn't want to leave Yugi there alone, either... if he was still even home, that is. For all Yami knew, he was already out and about with his friends. Yugi's social life was infinitely more eventful than Yami's nonexistent one.

"I... We can't do it at my house today," he said quickly. Not that that answered the question. "I guess we could kind of start it, as long as we're at your house..." There was silence for a few moments, and Yami wondered if the call had been cut off.

"Oh. Um... Yeah, I guess that will work... Did you want me to come get you? Or do you just want me to tell you where I live?" Yami thought quickly. As much as he didn't want to have to rely on this guy for rides and stuff, he knew that taking the car on a weekend with his dad in this kind of mood was just asking for trouble. On the other hand, so was showing his face anywhere around the man.

"Could-could you pick me up at the corner of my street?" Yami figured that if he waited far enough away from his house, his dad wouldn't bother to look for him.

"Sure. Half-hour sound good?" Seto sounded ridiculously nervous.

"Yeah. See you then..." Yami closed the phone with a loud click, and, despite insisting over and over that he totally didn't care what this guy thought of him, opened his closet to try to find something suitable. He didn't want to look like a slut, but on the other hand, he didn't want to look like he had just rolled out of bed (even though he had). After much deliberation, he decided on a normal pair of dark skinny jeans with a black zip-up sweatshirt over a deep purple tank top. His nails still had little bits of black nail polish that refused to chip off completely, but he didn't really care enough to do anything about it. Almost as an after thought, he slipped on a few of the black plastic bracelets that he wore. For whatever reason, if his wrists weren't covered, he didn't feel comfortable. He sighed as he looked in the mirror. He still looked like crap. The swelling had gone down, and some of the bruises had begun to fade, but his face was still sort of marked up, with spots of purple and blue along with the sickly yellow color of healing bruises. "Pleh," he told his reflection as he agonized over the marks. Well, he could always go back to that... digging through the bathroom drawers, he finally found a small bottle of foundation. Sure, it was makeup, and he wasn't too into much makeup (except a very little eyeliner every now and then), but it had always done a decent job of making him presentable. After covering up his bruises and fussing with his hair (it still stuck up like crazy; it was hopeless), he snuck down the stairs, glancing around him nervously. He heard some sort of noise, like a grunt or a snort, and his heart about jumped out of his chest, but it was just his dad, passed out on the sofa with yet another beer in his hand. He quickly and quietly made his way out of the house; there was no sign of Yugi anywhere, so that was good. He slowed down only when he had reached the road. Although he reached his destination a good five minutes early, Seto was already waiting. He hadn't yet noticed Yami, and he would glance in the rearview mirror every few seconds to fuss with his hair. He smirked, his hopes rising. Maybe this kid wasn't just fucking with him after all...

Seto jumped violently as someone knocked on his window. Jesus, he hadn't even seen Yami standing there!! He knew he was blushing as he unlocked the car. Great, just great. He hadn't seen Yami for two seconds, and he had already managed to make a fool of himself. Ugh.

"Hi... thanks for picking me up..." Yami's voice was quiet and timid, and he refused to look Seto in the eye.

"Oh, uh, no problem. Not a problem at all..." He noticed that he had covered his bruises with some sort of makeup, and, as much as he tried not to, he couldn't help but notice how... nice... Yami looked. His jeans and sweatshirt both hugged his slim form tightly, emphasizing his petite figure, and the purple of his shirt accented his crimson eyes.

"Um... are we going to leave?" Yami looked at him oddly, and he realized that he had just been staring at Yami. He averted his eyes, his face burning in humiliation, as he drove toward his house.

"Sorry, I was just... um... I was just thinking..." Gah! He sounded so stupid! He really needed to snap out of it... This was totally not like him to let his emotions get the best of him... when he had calmed down a little, he chanced a quick peek at the boy next to him. He was staring out the window, a very, very small smile on his face. It was good to see him smile, even if it was at Seto's expense.

When they arrived at the house, Seto awkwardly showed Yami into the house. Yami seemed ill at ease as he closely followed Seto to his room, stiffening when Seto turned to face him. Finally, an irritated Seto confronted him about it.

"Yami, quit flinching! I'm not going to do anything to you!" Yami glared at him

"I didn't say you were! I'm not flinching, either." His expression warned Seto not to press the issue.

"Oh... ok. Um, sorry." Seto's irritation immediately disappeared. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Of course he's going to react badly when you talk like that, you moron!!!

"So what is our project even on?" Yami asked tersely, abruptly changing the subject. Seto just stared at him, his mind racing.

"You know, to be honest, he didn't even tell us what it's supposed to be on..." His cheeks burned at Yami's confused expression. He turned away shamefully, unable to face the boy. "Look, I... I don't know. Okay? I just really-really wanted t-to see you, you know? Like, um, to make sure you were okay, after last night, and I'm sorry... if you want to go home, I understand... I... I shouldn't have done that, I'm really sorry! I-I-" He was near tears by this point, but his apologies were cut short by the surprising feel of soft lips against his...

Seto's expression was amazing. Yami had never seen anyone look so worried, surprised, confused, and downright terrified all at the same time in his entire life. He thought that for about two seconds, before he pushed Seto away in horror. What the fuck had he done?!? God, what was he thinking?

"Sorry... I-I don't know... I'm sorry..." He could feel his eyes filling with tears.

"Yami, it's okay! I just- are you okay?" Idiot, of course he wasn't okay. He shook his head angrily.

"God, I really am... he's right..." he began trembling, fighting the sobs. He did not want to cry right now.

"What? Yami, what are you talking about?" Poor Seto didn't have a clue.

"I'm a slut. I mean really? Look at me! I hardly know you, I was the one pushing you away, and then out of fucking nowhere I just kiss you!?! What the fuck!?!" he was getting hysterical by this point. "God, I'm just... ugh, I'm disgusting, I-" This time, he was the one whose words were cut off with a kiss. Seto glared at him.

"Yami, just shut up. Okay? You aren't disgusting. You aren't a slut. No, don't shake your head at me! I'm serious!" It was nice to hear, but it couldn't be true. "Yami, just stop, okay? Think about it for a minute, and try to explain this to me." He didn't say anything, allowing Seto to continue. "Yami, I was being stupid and you kissed me. What made you want to kiss me in the first place?" Seto looked pretty cute when he was blushing so much... he shook his head.

"I don't know... you were apologizing like crazy... that never happens to me. People never apologize for anything, and I... this was the first time that someone has really done that; usually, I feel like things are my fault..." God, he sounded retarded. The words sounded just plain stupid, but they were true. "I... I thought that maybe you were telling the truth when you said that you wanted me to be happy, and you were so upset..." he realized that he had tears streaming down his cheeks. "Goddammit! I'm such a fucking mess!! Why am I crying if you're being nice to me?!?" his voice was rising in panic.

"Yami, shh. Calm down, please," Seto begged soothingly. "Yami, look at me. I meant every word about wanting to help you and wanting you to be happy. I was just... surprised... that you would do that. I don't want you to feel like I'm rushing you into anything. Okay?" A terrible thought occurred to Yami, and he turned to face Seto, horror apparent on his face.

"I'm sorry!!!" He wailed. "I'm so sorry... you were being really nice and not rushing me into anything, and then look what I did! I-I rushed you! I'm such a bad person!" Seto looked dumbfounded. He had never known anybody that was so quick to blame himself.

"Yami, no! Not what I meant at all! I'm not mad at you or anything ridiculous like that!" Yami's confusion was obvious.

"Then what..." Seto sighed.

"Yami, I didn't want to rush you because I know you aren't exactly emotionally stable right now... you're going through terrible things, and I don't want to put any pressure on you. That's all. Okay?" Yami looked at him timidly, a glimmer of hope appearing in his eyes.

"Then, then... you don't think I'm a... a slut?"

"God no, Yami! Of course not!!!"

"Then... you still like me?" It was killing him to realize just how important it was to him that Seto liked him. He had sworn not to put any hope in this, in case he just got hurt again, but he couldn't help it. He wanted to be loved.

"Yes, Yami," Seto told him gently, lightly stroking his damp cheek. "I like you. Quite a bit, actually." With those words, Yami smiled. And it wasn't his normal, fake, plastered on smile, either. There was no bitterness, no sadness, no hopelessness concealed behind it; it was a genuinely happy smile that made Seto incredibly happy. He would do anything to see that smile more often.

A/N: My mom is just like Seto's mom in this. It's really annoying sometimes, but in general, she's pretty cool. :)

-One time when I was in sixth or seventh grade, I tried to make eggs for breakfast and I set the pan on fire. Not one of my more successful meals... My mom wasn't awake yet, so I threw the pan outside in the snow until it cooled down. She figured it out, though, because the whole house smelled like burning food.

-Yugi is like my brother... he has so many friends, and I have like three...

-My ring tone is "Feathers" by Coheed and Cambria, and one day I was in the grocery store, and my phone started ringing. It was in my bag, so I didn't realize that it was my phone, and I got really excited, like "Hey! I love this song!" and then I figured out that my mom was trying to call... I felt really cool.

Review, please! I love you all!!! ^_^

thanks

~alex~