It has some Rivalshipping. I tried to make it in-character, for the situation, which meant estimating how the two would act as young adults (after Kaiba has resolved his issues and has learned to trust at least Yugi). Yugi's part in this chapter was also inspired by (but not based on) the story of the novel and 1952 film version of Moulin Rouge, only Yugi-Toulouse gets a happy ending. Also, I explain why Yami/Atem has his own body.

(1) This song is to the tune of "American Pie" (it's the same song from the first chapter).

-O-o-O-o-O-

Tristan downed another glass of Abysmalinth at the local dive and looked around.

The bar, which had resembled a crack house, was now a Technicolor funhouse. The bartender looked like a candy factory exploded on his clothes, the customers were now supermodels, and the world outside looked so bright and non-threatening, the best kiddy show dubbers in the world would bawl with glee. The pink elephants sitting on the bar swayed their trunks to the music (which Tristan was sure he could taste) coming from the stage.

"Almost drunk enough." Tristan sat back in his seat and waited for the next glass. It was a good thing he'd opted for a chair instead of a stool, or his buzz would've been ruined pretty fast and all that drinking would have been for naught. The week was rough enough without wasted money on ineffective self-medication.

Yesterday was Thursday.

"Thursday was torture," Tristan thought.

Today, it was Friday.

"Friday's not much better." Tristan took a big gulp of the newly arrived drink. Tristan should have been excited, but instead of having a ball, he felt as though he had been kicked in one.

Tomorrow was Saturday, and then came Sunday. Two more days of having to see Joey, but be rendered invisible by the Duke's anger and jealousy. Kaiba had told everyone they couldn't afford to have two days off so close to opening night. Tristan usually relished seeing his words come to life, but right now, he really wanted the weekend to end, and fast. As for the rest of the days, they'd all blend into one until the big show.

At least he'd picked a good seat. He was close enough to hear the music, but not so close that it made his head hurt. Out the window, he could see a rusted school bus that was used as a makeshift shelter. He wasn't sure if the green aura was due to some form of unrealistic radioactivity or little green fairies.

"Now I'm drunk enough." Tristan relaxed and turned his attention to the show. His face fell when he saw the performers on stage. "Oh, no."

Kaiba sat at the battered electric piano while Bandit Keith sat next to him with a scratched-up guitar. Kaiba typed at the keys while Keith strummed and sang a verse that reminded Tristan way too much of the good old days:

"Did you summon everyone

Before your first three turns were done?

Oh, but dueling's dead, you know."

Tristan put his head on the table as Keith continued:

"Did you really believe the cards had soul,

And that they'd save you from this festering hole?

And can you believe we've all sunk this low?"

Kaiba picked up the next part:

"Now I duel with my two fists.

The dice master's first on my list.

But all of that's old news.

Oh, god, we're out of booze!

Since the card games fell, everything sucks.

Domino's a tar pit and I'm a mammoth, stuck.

And if I'm struggling, then we're all fucked

Now that the dueling's died.

But I keep singing…"

Tristan barely heard the chorus over the roar of his own thoughts. Who did he think he was, anyway? Did he really think his play would make a difference in the revolution? Only a few months ago, he'd been writing local news articles from an office with no door. The thing was printed on the back of old newsprint with markers. For the love of Ra, he wasn't even normally a main character! What made him think he had the talent and charisma to pull this off?

He paid his bill as Kaiba sang the next verse.

"Met a dragon with eyes of blue

And I asked him which rules I could screw.

He said, 'Are you drunk today?'" (1)

"I went to find my favorite whore." Keith recovered quickly from the thump he received for that line. Tristan left the bar, the rest of the song fading as he neared the Kaiba apartments.

He looked up at Joey's empty balcony as he entered his side of the building. He was going to lose this game war, and he was going to lose his boyfriend. He couldn't figure out why he thought he had a chance at actually doing something. It's not like he was Yugi, or something.

He trudged to his apartment and plopped down on the couch. Maybe if he hadn't gotten so caught up in the excitement of it all, it wouldn't hurt so much when he got let down.

"What's the point? We're all just going to die, anyway," Tristan sighed. Melodramatic rock music played faintly in the distance.

He heard a knock on the ceiling and looked up. Yugi was peering down at him from the hole, which had been hastily patched up with planks.

"I couldn't help hearing your angst, and I was wondering if you'd lost your mind."

Tristan gaped at the hole. "I think wallowing in self-pity is a pretty normal response to my problems."

"Yeah, it's normal. But you can't react the way a normal person would."

"And why the hell not?" Tristan yanked himself into a sitting position.

"Because you're not a normal person. You're the protagonist," Yugi said. "You can't just sit here, crying like a bitch and feeling sorry for yourself. You gotta get out there and win some duels!"

"But I don't have a deck," Tristan said.

"Then make one out of index cards, or bottle glass, or scrap metal, or something. Most people don't even duel with real cards at this point. Just don't write emo poetry and cry all over it, because that's going to be really embarrassing if someone plays 'Lullaby of Obedience.' Also, cards don't make good tissues, especially when they're made out of rusted metal."

Tristan laughed weakly and sat back. "Easy for you to say. You're used to doing things like that."

"What about the time you punched out that guy who's obsessed with his own hair?" Yugi said.

Tristan's shoulders sagged. "Didn't he just land on his feet and flip me, or something?"

"Okay, bad example." Yugi thought for a while. "What about when you went to get Joey after those thugs took his Red Eyes Black Dragon? You really talked some sense into him then."

"Did that actually happen?"

"Um. I don't know." Yugi racked his brain. "I got it! You were Hall Monitor! You were important at school."

"We hardly ever went to school," Tristan reminded him.

"Look, do you want to be the protagonist, or not?" Yugi drummed his fingers on the floor.

"Sorry. Go on."

"Okay, then." Yugi went back to thinking. "When you were a kid, you could hit a quarter with a BB gun from 50 feet away."

Tristan perked up. "Holy crap, really?"

"You were the one who threw Bakura's evil ring into the woods and rescued Mokuba. You jumped on Nezbitt's head and saved Kaiba in the virtual world." Yugi continued. "And you beat up three rare hunters."

Tristan sat in amazed silence. "Oh my god. I was a hero and I didn't even know it!"

"Well, knowing is half the battle. Now you have to go out and be what you know you are." Yugi contemplated rewording his statement, but decided it would ruin the mood.

Tristan sat up. "Yeah, you're right. Why should I just sit here and throw a pity party? Friday is not for that kind of partying!"

"Damn right it's not!" Yugi agreed.

Tristan jumped off the couch. "I am a man. A man with a plan. A man with…" He looked around the room and saw his old newspaper materials. "Magic Markers."

"Do you need any help making your deck?" Yugi asked.

Tristan snatched up the markers and paper. "No, thanks. I got this."

Yugi smiled through the cracks of the boards. "You got this."

-O-o-O-

Yugi watched through the hole in the floor until Tristan closed the bedroom door. He jumped on his own couch and made himself comfortable.

Tristan was going to make his deck from a hundred blank index cards. And Yami was fast asleep in the other room. "Finally," Yugi thought. "I have a whole scene to myself."

It was dreadful not being the main character anymore. It seemed like everyone else, even a barely secondary character like Bandit Keith, got the best lines, songs, and jokes (and the glory of out-arguing Kaiba). Hell, Tristan got whole verses, sometimes even two in a song, sometimes with the chorus! Tristan, of all people! And Bakura got the lead in not one, not two, but three songs! The writers must've been on crack to pick these roles.

And what did Yugi get? A few lines in some cheesy 80s and 90s pop parodies and the role of fall guy to Bakura (seriously?). Lame.

He thought he had it made in the shade when Yami walked through those doors to the afterlife. Adios, sharing the spotlight, hello to all the screen time in the world!

Then Duke Devlin came in with his dice. Yugi thought nothing of it at first, other than, "I have to duel him again? I've got this in the bag."

He lost and their card-house government fell like…well, a card house. Solomon, upon seeing the mass chaos of a world without dueling, said, "I'm way too old for this shit," and joined a survivalist commune. Yugi hadn't heard from him in a while, but the subway graffiti announcing, "Apdnarg will rise again!" always made him pause.

Duke didn't want any of the old game shops around to remind people of the old ways, so Yugi moved into the Kaiba apartments. This was to be the first step toward a rather interesting development in his relationship history.

Yugi was all set to start his new life, sure to be filled with mastering dice games, working his way to the top of Duke's court, then bringing the old card game system back from the inside. It was going to be super-special awesome, like one of those spy movies, only with dice and cards. And now he could grab some weapons from the survivalist base he'd tracked down and possibly craft his very own Egyptian laser. He'd seen all of MacGyver; he knew what he was doing.

But one day, he woke up and went into the bathroom. He'd stripped down to his birthday suit and was ready to get in the shower when he noticed the shadow against the curtain.

"Kaiba, I thought we discussed this," Yugi said, grabbing a towel.

"I'm not Kaiba," the familiar voice said.

Yugi spun around. Standing behind him was Yami, looking as if he'd never gone to the afterlife, leather pants and all, except for one small detail: he was opaque and took up physical space.

"I'm back," Yami sing-songed. "Can someone explain why?"

Neither of them had any idea, but they figured it must have had something to do with the government collapsing. The fall of card games must have caused a glitch in the universe. Yami's spirit was so intertwined with the Heart of the Cards that as long as there was trouble in the dueling world, Yami was bound to this realm. Since his knowledge of himself was complete, so was his body.

Of course, suddenly becoming corporeal after crossing over had its drawbacks. One was the narcolepsy. The other was the lack of a mind link, so there could be no more sarcastic comments to each other around Kaiba (at least not when he was in the room). Yugi would soon lose the desire to make sarcastic comments at Kaiba, anyway.

So he had to share his screen time with Yami again. He was used to that. Yami was good about sharing, and in another life, Yugi was Yami, so it wasn't like he was really losing anything.

He didn't even care that the writers decided to turn their lives into a story about French people. At least it would keep Bandit Keith away. And he got to be in the main character slot again! He was probably only in the spot because of his height (though the cause of his size was not disfigurement, but genes for a petite, small-framed body), but whatever. He got to be a cool artsy type that all the girls (and guys) would want. He hoped they weren't going to write him as a hipster stereotype; that would be so hopelessly mainstream.

Then the writers went the opposite direction. They weren't following the original plot (they weren't even going to read the novel it was based on). They were—it was almost too horrible to say—using the most popular version.

And that meant Tristan was the lead, since his name rhymed with that other guy's name, and nobody even knew anything about him, so they wouldn't notice if his goal to be a writer was out-of-character. Seriously, who'd really object to it? He was the least developed, so he could join the circus for all anyone cared.

But Yugi was happy for him. He was his friend and all, and friends had to be happy for each other or else they'd be on the stairs one day and—oops! There he goes down the stairs, and then Joey gets beat up at a rock concert and before you know it, you have to murder someone and hitchhike out of town in some dodgy truck.

Yugi was suddenly very grateful that he was in this story and not one that took place in the nightclubs and hotels of Las Vegas. After he contemplated Joey's situation, he became more grateful that he wasn't the main character of this particular plot.

"I don't think I want to kiss Joey," he thought. "And I guess it's not so bad I'm not everyone's love interest. I mean, everybody's got TB and shit."

Besides, he realized that being a side character wasn't completely terrible. He was still important enough that nothing really bad was going to happen to him, but there was no pressure on him to save the day. It wasn't his problem anymore.

Also, as a supporting character, he actually had more freedom. He wasn't bound to the script the way Joey, Tristan, and Duke were. All he had to do was fulfill his purpose for that particular scene, and then he could do whatever he wanted, as long as he was back for the next one.

That left him some free time to pursue other interests. Even though dueling was (supposedly) a thing of the past, he figured he couldn't let his dueling skills go soft. But the problem was, mostly everyone had given it up. Sure, Joey was still dueling, but strangely Yugi began to get bored with winning all the time. He needed a bigger challenge.

So one day, a little before Tristan came to town, he rang up Kaiba and had him over for a duel. Then he did it again the next day. Then he did it the next day, and then the day after that. Yugi was actually sort of starting to like Kaiba. Maybe. A little bit, if he squinted. He liked him even more if he ignored Kaiba's weekly visits to Bandit Keith's trailer.

There was a turning point in their relationship a few months after all this started. Yugi was so used to their duel dates, he was surprised when he called Kaiba and got Mokuba instead. Kaiba was out, Mokuba told him. Probably trolling around Chess Avenue, trying to earn enough to get some new tables for the Black Dragon.

When Yugi got off the phone, he decided to take a walk. He grabbed his mace spray and a box-cutter and headed out. He didn't mean to, but he eventually ended up on the darkened edges of Chess Avenue. He knew it wasn't the best place to be at night, but he had a feeling he should keep an eye on Kaiba.

He decided to bite the bullet and walk right down the street. If he saw anything dangerous, he could always turn around and run back to where the streetlights weren't cut off.

He walked past the first busted storefront on the block. So far, so good.

"So, you gonna give it to me, or what?" A voice from the alley behind him threatened. "I know you've got that money."

"And that's as far as I go," Yugi thought. He spun on his heel and started back up the street. That voice did sound familiar, but he wasn't going to risk his kidneys to find out who it was.

"Or we could wait for your brother, let him see what happens when you don't follow the rules."

Wait. Brother? Rules?

Yugi crept quietly toward the alley. Though it was dark, he could make out the broad figure of a man, pressing another man to the brick wall. The assailant's right arm rested in the crook of his captive's neck while his knee kept the captive's lower body pinned to the wall. His left hand pulled a broken glass bottle from a nearby trash can. The sharp edges glared in the dim light.

"Or maybe I'm not saying it right," the assailant growled into his captive's ear. A nearby streetlamp buzzed and lit up the scene just as Yugi remembered the owner of the voice.

Ushio rolled the bottle up the other man's side. "What's it gonna be?"

"Leave my brother out of this." The captive forced his head around to get a better look at his attacker. His blue eyes widened when he saw the jagged bottle glass.

Yugi didn't think. He jumped on Ushio's back, knocking him off balance. Kaiba fell to the ground. The bottle slipped out of Ushio's hand and shattered against the concrete.

Before Ushio could say, "What the hell," Yugi sprayed him with the mace. Ushio screamed, trying to wipe the mace from his eyes.

"Oh, please, let this work," Yugi thought, as Ushio struggled up. With one hand on his box-cutter, he thrust the other one out and yelled, "Mind CRUSH!"

Ushio's body jerked and flopped like an electrocuted fish. Yugi and Kaiba took off running and didn't stop until they were safely in their building. They caught their breaths while they sat in the dark hall.

"What did you do to him, after the mace?" Kaiba asked. He wouldn't look at Yugi.

"I think I broke his brain," Yugi said quietly. He and Kaiba had just finished running for their lives, yet all Yugi could think about was if the other tenants could hear them. "My back-up plan was a box-cutter."

"You saved me." Kaiba still wouldn't look at Yugi. "Why?"

Yugi stared at him. "Because I think I like you, Kaiba."

Kaiba tittered, as if that were more unbelievable than their escape. "You and your hocus-pocus business."

Kaiba put up a strong front, but when they got to his room, he asked Yugi if he could hang around for a while. Yugi ended up spending the night, since he was practicing songs for the Black Dragon with Mokuba. Kaiba didn't seem to mind.

This went on for quite some time, and Yugi was starting to wonder about his former archrival. Was he on the drugs again? He didn't see any green in his hair, but still.

"Oh, well," Yugi eventually thought. "At least he's not putting cameras in my bathroom."

One night, Yugi went to Kaiba's apartment for their usual duel. He was looking forward to this one. With help from Yami, he'd gotten his hands on some real cards, made out of ink and paper and everything. This was a real treat, since Duke had every Duel Monster card destroyed out of the fear that they would threaten his dice games. Also, there was the fact that some of the humanoid monsters might be considered sexier than him. For years, things had reverted back to when Solomon was a teenager, and people dueled with rocks and other random junk they found on the streets.

Yugi had also brought his own set of homemade cards to use as decoys, in case Duke decided to randomly search their apartments for contraband (under the new "Loyalty to the Diceland" Act). He hoped Kaiba hadn't done anything too suspicious lately.

He knocked on the door. It opened and a hand reached out and dragged him into the apartment, slamming the door shut behind him.

Before Yugi could ask to be read his rights, he was tossed on the couch. "Hey, what the hell is this?" He sat up and almost fell off the couch when he looked up. Kaiba was sitting next to him, wearing a crazy plaid vest, dragon-covered boxers, and a purple trench coat.

"It's a duel. What else would it be?" Kaiba saw the decks of cards. "So you got them."

Yugi handed half the cards over. "Here are your cards."

Kaiba took the cards and flipped through them. "Just like the old one." He shuffled his new deck. "Thanks."

Yugi shuffled his own deck. "Why are you wearing that?"

"Wearing what?" Kaiba asked, drawing his hand.

"Uh…" Maybe it was nothing, after all. "Never mind." If Kaiba wanted to ignore social norms, Yugi wouldn't add to the awkwardness by pointing it out.

They dueled in silence. Yugi sort of missed their usual duels before Duke's reign. Shouting their actions at each other really eased the tension. But Noah could walk in on them any minute, and Yugi didn't know how loyal to Duke he was. He hoped Noah wouldn't rat them out, but considering Kaiba's strained relationship with him, Yugi would rather not take a chance on him.

Yelling at each other would at least distract Yugi from Kaiba's mostly bare legs. Several times, he found himself admiring the stubble (Yugi had trouble even growing a wispy mustache) and had to look away before Kaiba caught him.

"Hmm. This is boring," Kaiba said after a few turns.

"Just a little, yeah," Yugi agreed. "What should we do instead?"

Kaiba whipped off his trench coat. "Let me pay you back for the cards."

Yugi backed away. "Er…What."

"And for saving me," Kaiba continued, his eyes wild.

"What are you doing." Yugi couldn't even inflect properly.

"The Black Dragon's been struggling, and I hate IOUs." Kaiba lay down half on the couch, half off it. His body looked stiff as a board and was angled very awkwardly. It almost pained Yugi to look at him. "Don't you want to test your skills off the field?"

"Not really." Yugi shifted uncomfortably. "What about your brothers?"

"Mokuba's with Wheeler's sister. Noah is kissing Duke's ass. They won't be back for at least a few hours." Kaiba arched his back. Yugi was amazed; this was the first time he'd seen Kaiba look flat-out clumsy. "I promise this will be a quick transaction."

"I…I think I'm gonna pass on that."

Kaiba twisted into a sprawling position. "I don't have any diseases, I swear."

"It's not your physical health I'm worried about." Yugi looked around. Why did the door seem so far away?

Kaiba's hand clamped down on Yugi's shoulder. There was a look in his eyes that Yugi hadn't seen since Duelist Kingdom.

"Please…I don't have money. Screw me."

Yugi stared into Kaiba's eyes and shook his head. "I'm sorry. I can't."

Kaiba's expression was one of utter defeat, until he turned away, looking angry and hurt. "Fine. Don't take my payment."

"I didn't want payment, Kaiba," Yugi started, but Kaiba put up his hand.

"Why do I bother?" Kaiba jerked his trench coat shut around his body. "Can't even beat you in a duel, so why would my offer be good enough for you?"

"It's not that at all," Yugi argued, clearing the cards up. He handed Kaiba's reconstructed deck back to him, but Kaiba refused to take it.

"Keep your cards. And your pity," Kaiba spat.

Yugi slammed the cards down on the coffee table. "Do you seriously think I'm doing this out of pity?"

"No, I think you're doing this to keep me tied to you. If you don't take my payment, I'm in your debt." Kaiba turned away. "That's how it always goes."

Yugi pounded the armrest and jumped to his feet. "Damn it, Kaiba, I'm not one of your customers! What do I have to say to make you believe me?"

Kaiba glared at the floor. "Yugi, tell me something. Why would a guy like you, with your 'Heart of the Cards' crap and your friendship-is-hocus-pocus-magic, want someone like me? I'm corporate scum. No—I'm failed corporate scum-turned-trick-turner. I screwed people with money, and now I'm like a used-up dollar. My main business plans involve running around in body glitter and camping in Bandit Keith's trailer. I couldn't even open the Black Dragon without Bakura's help. My older brother hates my guts, and my younger brother thinks I've lost it. Why would you want anything to do with me?"

Yugi sat back down. Kaiba watched him carefully, as if he expected Yugi to whip out his box-cutter and rob him. Yugi cautiously slid closer to Kaiba.

"Because I know you're not that bad. I've seen how you care for your brother, and you've helped me several times in the past. You're the smartest person I know. And because, like I said the other night, I like you."

Kaiba stared at him as if he'd raised his dead parents from the grave.

Yugi put his hands on Kaiba's shoulders. "You're not the all-card-slinging, all-dueling crap of the world. You're just you. And I like you."

Kaiba stared blankly. Suddenly, his face twitched. He'd almost cracked a smile. "All right, all right. Just don't get all sappy on me."

Then they'd started a new duel, this time with Kaiba dressed more appropriately.

Yugi was jolted from his memories by a knock. He would recognize that knock anywhere: not hard enough to damage the door (because it cost money), but just short of pounding. He should; he'd heard this particular visitor's fist on hard surfaces ever since he started dueling people outside his social circle. Though, it only recently booted the sounds of singing cats from its spot as Yugi's favorite sound.

If only he had a quarter for every time he tried to reproduce the sound of those knuckles on the door with dice and a plank of wood. He'd have a dollar and twenty-five cents, almost enough to get a bus out of Domino.

"Yugi, I know you're home. I can see through the keyhole."

Yugi quit daydreaming, ran to the door, and let Kaiba in. "Hello, Kaiba." Kaiba nodded at him.

Yugi shut the door behind them. Kaiba went over to the couch and shuffled his deck. Yugi joined him with his own. They dueled, distracted only by the play's quickly approaching opening night.

"You think we'll get a big crowd?" Yugi drew a card and played it face down.

"Of course. People love holographic light shows." Kaiba's tone brimmed with confidence. "Duke wouldn't know a good show if it was playing in his mirror." He sent a monster card into battle. "Ha! I got this."

"Not so fast, Kaiba," Yugi said. "You've triggered my trap card."

Kaiba sent a few cards to the graveyard. "Lost again."

"Playing you gets harder each time," Yugi said, reshuffling.

"What was that?" Kaiba looked up.

"I said, it gets harder each time," Yugi repeated. "Playing you, that is. I mean, good game."

Kaiba grinned slyly. "Dueling you actually makes me feel good about myself, now."

Yugi smiled. "I'm glad."

"How about I return the favor?" Kaiba's grin was not of the puppy-killing sort, Yugi could tell. And the wild look in his eyes was nothing like the one from the last time he suggested that.

Yugi reclined on the couch, feeling more than comfortable. He returned Kaiba's half grin. "What did you have in mind?"

In the apartment below, Tristan ran out of the bedroom, recharged and raring to go. "I got my deck, I got my mojo back, and I got a revolution to start! It's time to duel!"

A pair of dragon-print boxers fell through the hole and landed on Tristan's head. "What the…" He looked up at the ceiling. "You doing something up there, Yugi?"

"Oh, YES!" A guitar riff backed Kaiba's shout.

Tristan's eyes bugged out. "Okay... I'm just gonna go for a while." He headed out the door.

He was really looking forward to the weekend rehearsals.

-O-o-O-o-O-

I'm going to wrap this up in one more chapter.