Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! nor its characters. I also do not profit from this work of fiction.

A/N: "Walk On The Sun" is a poem I wrote.

Chapter Summary: Yuusei has been keeping secrets and Atemu is not happy about it. Meanwhile, Yuugi avoids a problem of his own.

Warnings: Language, Strongly Implied Sexual Interaction

Chapter 11: Walk On The Sun

When Monday afternoon came around, Atemu felt as though he would lose his mind in Physics. He was watching the clock slowly tick the seconds by, one by one. Each second seemed longer than the last and Atemu had a hard time believing that the damned thing was not broken. Yet, when he sneaked peeks at his phone, the time proved to be accurate. He groaned each time and the teacher did not hesitate to send him a glare at which he would try his best to appear innocent.

But when he groaned for the umpteenth time, his teacher had had enough. Halting her lecture, the brunette crossed her arms and settled an angry glare on Atemu, who froze like a deer in headlights.

"Am I boring you, Atemu?" she asked loudly and the entire class turned to look at him with wide, curious eyes. Flushing to the roots of his hair, Atemu quickly shook his head.

"Uh, no, ma'am," he responded quickly, "fascinating stuff. Please go on."

With a cruel smirk she turned sideways and motioned to the board.

"Then I'm sure you'll know exactly what the velocity of the object is at thirty feet?" she asked.

Looking to the board, Atemu was lost. He had not been paying attention for the last ten minutes and he had no idea what she was talking about. The Physics teacher's handwriting was crap and he could barely discern it on the board.

"Uh –"

"I thought not," she interrupted, "though, you would know if you stopped looking at your phone every two minutes."

A guilty smile spread across his lips and the teacher sighed, shaking her head in disapproval.

"Put your phone away before I decide to confiscate it, and pay attention," she said, "now, as I was saying –"

She was immediately cut off by the sound of the bell and Atemu was beyond relieved that he would no longer have to endure this torture.

"Well, we've run out of time. No homework tonight. Use the time to study the material we covered today and I will see you all tomorrow." Waving her arms in a sweeping gesture, the teacher dismissed her class, but Atemu was already rushing out the door.

In no time at all, he arrived at his locker and swiftly dialed in the combination. Once open, Atemu was quickly shoving his things inside. Around him, students were chatting and retrieving their own things with leisure. Atemu huffed when his backpack would not fit into the locker and pulled it back out, hoisting it onto his shoulder as he rearranged his books.

"What are you doing?"

With a quick glance behind him, Atemu acknowledged his best friend with a stern nod before turning to his locker once more.

"I'm trying to make my backpack fit," he said as he moved books aside. He then tried to stuff the backpack in once more.

"Just take it with you," Yuusei said as he stood beside him, watching Atemu's struggle impassively.

"Yeah, and show up at Yuugi's place looking like a high-schooler? No thanks," Atemu snapped and growled when his backpack would still not fit.

"But you are a high-schooler. You're going to visit Yuugi?" Yuusei questioned, surprised.

"You know what I mean, don't be a shit," Atemu sighed, "and of course." Dropping his backpack to the ground, he pulled out his textbooks and tried laying them a different way. "For some strange and amazing reason, I don't have homework today from any of my classes and my boss miraculously gave me the night off. I haven't seen Yuugi in weeks and I sure as hell am not going to waste today on sleeping. I'm going to go see him and make sure he hasn't forgotten me."

"Still mad I didn't tell you about Juudai?" Yuusei asked abruptly.

In response, Atemu aggressively shoved a book aside, striking the metal wall with a loud bang.

"Oh, was I supposed to get over it overnight?" he retorted, "You kept secrets from me, dude. That's not cool. And it took Juudai's screw-up to find everything out? What the fuck, man?"

"Come on, man," Yuusei said, leaning his shoulder on the locker beside Atemu's, "what's the big deal? You've been too busy to even notice that Juudai's been hanging even less. It's not like –"

Suddenly, Atemu stopped messing around with his books and dropped his hands to his sides. He turned to look Yuusei in the eyes and sighed.

"You should have told me, Yuusei," he said, brow creased in disapproval.

"What difference would it have made?" Yuusei scoffed, "Had you known, you know you would have been hounding Juudai for information about Yuugi" – when Atemu looked like he was about to protest, Yuusei raised his finger in warning – "don't even try to deny it. That's why I didn't tell you. Sorry if I didn't feel like having my boyfriend harassed by my best friend."

Turning away, Atemu morosely began to shuffle his books again.

"I wouldn't have harassed him," Atemu argued petulantly, "I would have just..." Trailing off, he shrugged and sighed when he realized Yuusei was staring at him with disbelief. "Alright," he said, "maybe I would have bothered him a little."

"A little?" Yuusei snorted.

"Alright, fuck off," Atemu huffed, "a lot. Can you blame me?" Dropping his books again, he leaned against the locker in a mirror image of Yuusei's stance. "I really like Yuugi," he said, "I need anything I can to make it work. But that's beside the point."

"Is it?"

"Yeah," Atemu said, "the point is that you should have fucking told me – if not at first, definitely when Juudai called Yuugi my boyfriend to his face? What the fuck, Yuusei."

With a guilty shrug, Yuusei smiled.

"I apologized, didn't I?" he said.

Pointing a finger at him, Atemu leaned forward slightly, eyes narrowed.

"You're going to fix it," he said, "today. You're going to tell Juudai to tell Yuugi that it was you two fucks that started calling him that, because I sure as hell didn't."

Sighing loudly, Yuusei rolled his eyes so hard that his head moved with them.

"Would you chill?" he said, exasperated, "I told you I would fix it. Just have some chill" – he raised his hands defensively when Atemu looked like he wanted to argue some more – "relax. I get that you're trying your best not to screw up – and I get that we screwed up in your place – but just relax. If it's meant to work out with Yuugi, it'll work out –"

"I can't just wish a relationship into existence," Atemu said irately.

"Really, Atemu? You told me to be cool and back off when I first went after Juudai and what you said just now? That's the exact same thing I replied, remember?" When Atemu fell silent, Yuusei smirked. "Yeah," he said smugly, "frustrating, isn't it? That's what you sound like when you're going on about having faith."

"I sound really annoying," Atemu said sullenly.

"Oh, you are," Yuusei agreed readily, "but that's not the point. The point is that you're right. Sometimes, you just have to believe a little and take a couple of steps back. In any case, getting up in Yuugi's face isn't going to endear him to you. Remember what Juudai said yesterday? About Yuugi's ex and the way he was acting after? It's obvious that he's been through some shit. You need to help him along, but you can't force it."

Defeated, Atemu groaned and ran a shaky hand through his tousled hair.

"Yeah," he relented, "I know. You're right, I know. I said that to you last year. It's just hard to step back when all I want to do is –"

"Be with him, I know," Yuusei nodded in understanding, "just remember your chill."

"My chill," Atemu echoed with a nod, "right." He turned back to his locker, bracing his hand on the open door, and frowned at the contents. "Does that mean I shouldn't go see him today?"

"Oh, no," Yuusei said, "you totally have to go see him. You haven't been around in weeks, dude."

"Thanks," Atemu laughed, shaking his head bemusedly. He struggled with the contents of his locker some more before Yuusei cleared his throat.

"Alright, I'll go with you," Yuusei said and opened the locker beside Atemu's. He grabbed one of Atemu's textbooks and placed it into the locker before locking it. "Try to fit it in now."

Without further ado, Atemu tentatively placed the backpack into his locker and grinned when it slid in smoothly like a hand into a glove. He turned to raise his eyebrows at Yuusei and chuckled.

"Thanks, man."

"No problem," Yuusei said and waited for Atemu to lock up.

"Why are you coming with me, anyway? Don't you have a mountain of homework to get to?" Atemu asked Yuusei as he looked at the heavy backpack hanging from his friend's shoulder. Attached to it, was Yuusei's motorcycle helmet, further weighing the backpack down. Atemu was surprised the thing was not ripping at the seams. Yuusei looked to his baggage as well and shrugged.

"Yeah," he said, "I do."

Atemu nodded.

"Gonna work on it in the cafe then?" he asked and Yuusei nodded. Together, they began walking towards the exit. "You want to see Juudai, don't you."

"Great deduction skills, Sherlock," Yuusei said sardonically.

"Bite me, Watson."

"No thanks, I'm good."

x x x

Over the weekend, Yuugi had taken the time to recollect himself and his thoughts. With Ryou's infinite amount of saintlike patience, he had ranted about his horrible love life and consumed more than enough ice cream to put himself into a sugar coma. His Sunday had consisted of lying around with Ryou as his roommate studied, accompanying him with various background noises, groaning and whining from the massive stomachache he had contrived from how much of the ice cream he had consumed. He had come to three very vague conclusions after his entire charade with ice cream. One, at least three months had to pass for him to touch the stuff again; two, he was definitely still interested in Atemu; and three, his ex was trouble.

He was not a hundred percent on what kind of trouble his ex was bringing, but Yuugi was more than positive that Siegfried had many things up his sleeve. Yuugi's ex was a cunning and very intelligent man. The man had backup plans for the backup plans of his backup plans. If something did not go according to plan, there was always another way to go about it for Siegfried. He was also someone who had no trouble using underhanded methods to get his own. The problem was, Yuugi did not know what exactly Siegfried wanted from him.

In the present, Yuugi was handing over an espresso to the same youth he had seen several times in the past couple of weeks. Today, his usually loose, black hair was pulled into a high ponytail, though several short bangs were stubbornly draped over his forehead. The kid always ordered the same thing, an espresso and Yuugi would always suggest a baked good to go with it, but the kid had stoutly refused every time. That was, until today; in the youth's hand was a plate with a chocolate eclair and Yuugi had the odd feeling of accomplishment at having managed it.

"Thank you," the boy said as he took the espresso and Yuugi smiled at him, pleased by the unusually polite words.

"You're welcome," he said. He watched with curiosity as the boy retreated to the same table by the window. But instead of looking out to the street with the moody expression from before, the boy picked up the eclair and stared at it quizzically. With bated breath, Yuugi watched as he took his first tentative bite. At once, the boy's blue eyes lit up with delight and Yuugi almost cheered out loud. A minute squeal left his lips and he forced himself to look away, feeling satisfied.

The bell over the door jingled and Yuugi looked up, mouth open to greet his new customer, only for his smile to fall away at once. His stomach twisted unpleasantly.

.

"Surprise!"

Standing very still, Yuugi was still smiling when his eyes registered the scene before him. His boyfriend of two and a half years, Siegfried von Shroider, had handfuls of ass that belonged to a woman with long, curly blonde hair. He had her against the fridge, pinned; the woman's skirt was shoved up above her thighs, her lacy, red panties slid out of place. Her blouse was unbuttoned and her chef's jacket was on the floor, along with Siegfried's. Yuugi's smile vanished.

Her arms were around him as he kissed her neck and they both paused in their movements. She was the first to open her eyes and look at Yuugi in surprise.

"Oh, my god," she said, freezing in place. Her mauve eyes widened and she blushed heavily, flustered at his arrival. "Yuugi, what are you doing here?"

Stunned and speechless, the image hit home and the glass container in Yuugi's hands slipped from his weak hold. The container shattered at his feet and the tarts inside were ruined, but Yuugi did not even bat an eyelash. His eyes remained on the two people, struggling to comprehend what he was seeing.

"Siegfried?"

He whispered the name so quietly, Yuugi thought, that maybe, he had not spoken at all. But the room was so silent, that his voice might as well have been a fog horn. At his name, Siegfried removed his face from the woman's neck, but he did not turn around. He did not bother to look Yuugi in the face when he sighed and said, "Well, fuck."

His voice was like the sure sound of a church bell's toll, final and sobering. The man he loved was in someone else's arms and Yuugi swore he could hear the crackle of his shattering heart.

Visibly confused, the woman glanced between Yuugi and Siegfried. It was not long before comprehension dawned on her like the sunrise and she gasped with horror. She looked at Yuugi and her face was an anxious mess.

"Yuugi, I didn't know!" she cried, shoving Siegfried out of her space as she hastily pulled her blouse closed. "I swear I didn't know!"

"I need to … cancel something." Yuugi said quietly, "excuse me." Without another word, he turned on his heel and left the room.

.

"Ah, good afternoon, my sweet," greeted Siegfried with a charming smile and falsely-kind eyes.

He wore a cerulean-blue suit today and Yuugi viciously thought that it clashed horribly with his hair. Clenching his hands upon the counter, Yuugi made a quick decision. He looked to the far end of the shop where Juudai was pouring coffee for a customer. The boy had arrived only half an hour prior from school and was taking up the slack to give Yuugi a rest. He was about to call for him, when, as though sensing his gaze, Juudai lifted his head and turned to look over his shoulder. Upon seeing him, Juudai raised an eyebrow and Yuugi jerked his chin at him. The boy quickly nodded and finished up. By the time Siegfried had reached the counter, Juudai was already heading over.

"And how is my Yuugi today?" asked Siegfried.

"Not yours," Yuugi replied tersely.

He did not meet Siegfried's eyes or even look at him. He simply waited until the teenage boy joined him behind the counter. When he finally did, Juudai looked to Siegfried and frowned with recognition.

"You need more practice working the register," Yuugi said with a smile and Juudai quickly cottoned on to his way of thinking and nodded.

"Loads, boss," he replied, "can I take this one –"

"Avoiding me is such a child's game, Yuugi, my dear," said Siegfried idly and Yuugi shot him a look.

"Don't care," he said and turned on his heel.

"You wound me," Siegfried called after him, but Yuugi ignored him and retreated to the back where Jounouchi was pulling trays out of the oven.

x x x

"You are barking up the wrong tree, dude," Juudai said with a smirk as soon as Yuugi had gone. He looked the man up and down and begrudgingly admitted to himself that Yuugi's ex was quite the attractive man. He was much older; Juudai guessed that the man was at least twice his age. He had a straight, thin nose, thin lips, and sharp cheekbones. Usually, Juudai was a sucker for good facial structure, and now was no different, but there was something about the man that put Juudai on edge. He did not know what it was, but it was enough that any appreciation of his good genes was quickly smothered. Chewing the inside of his cheek, he motioned to the pastries surrounding them. The least he could do is act pleasant. "So what can I get ya?"

"Aren't you a little young to be working here?" asked Siegfried disdainfully and Juudai was taken aback at his tone, "Seems unwise to leave you unsupervised." It was obvious that Juudai rubbed him the wrong way if the man's pursed lips was any indication. But that was fine because the feeling was mutual.

"Nope," Juudai replied shortly, biting his tongue on the words he truly wanted to say. "Fuck off, asshole" came to mind.

"Well, little boy, get me a coffee, will you? Regular." Siegfried waved a hand at him, shooing him as he would an overexcited pup and Juudai tensed. He wondered if Yuugi would fire him for punching this motherfucker in the face. He understood now why Yuugi and the man were no longer dating. The guy was obviously a complete douchebag.

"Anything else you'd like, mister?" Juudai asked, stressing the last word, much to the man's apparent annoyance, "You're over sixty, right? I think Yuugi has a senior's discount." The man's lips twisted into something sour and he narrowed his eyes at Juudai.

"You're a rude little thing, aren't you –"

"THAT SON OF A –"

The outburst made Juudai jump and the entire shop went quiet. He turned in the direction of the kitchen where the shout had originated from and heard several shushing noises, quickly accompanied by Yuugi's whispered orders to calm down.

"THE HELL I WILL!" came the sound of Jounouchi's extremely angered tones and Juudai nervously glanced around to see that the entire shop was looking his way. He plastered a smile onto his face and raised his hands to get everyone's attention.

"Everything's fine, folks!" he said, "please continue to enjoy your drinks and delicious treats! Nothing to worry about!"

Fortunately, Jounouchi did not shout again, and Juudai relaxed as the customers returned to their own business. He turned back to Siegfried who was smirking smugly at the door behind him. Siegfried was undoubtedly amused by the commotion in the kitchen. The desire Juudai felt to punch him doubled.

"You wanted that to go, right?" he asked and Siegfried returned his attention to Juudai. Scowling once more, Siegfried looked him over with a derisive curl of his lips and hummed thoughtfully.

"Oh, no," Siegfried said with a sinister smile, "I'm staying."

"You sure about that?" Juudai pressed, mentally commanding the man to change his mind.

"You're a loyal pet, aren't you?" Siegfried asked, though Juudai knew the question was rhetorical. "Like a mutt."

Chuckling, Juudai bared his teeth in a fierce grin.

"Oh, I really hope he meets you," he said lowly, but before Siegfried could even question his comment, Juudai was swiftly charging him for his drink, his fingers stabbing the keys with pent-up ire.

x x x

"What, really, flowers?" Yuusei asked as Atemu looked over the selection available.

They were mere blocks away from Yuugi's shop, paused before a stall filled with a variety of colorful blossoms. Yuusei dismounted his motorcycle, pulled off his helmet, and joined Atemu as the young man browsed. Atemu leaned down to sniff some pink roses.

"What," Atemu said to him, nonplussed, "Some guys like flowers." He moved on to the lilies and tilted his head to the side in question.

"You're such a romantic. Do you not remember what Juudai did the first and consequentially last time I bought him flowers?" Yuusei asked with a hint of pain.

Atemu laughed heartily and nodded.

"Didn't he beat you with them?" he mused.

"Case in point," Yuusei said with a nod and a reminiscent wince.

"Alright, but I like flowers," Atemu said nonchalantly, "Maybe Yuugi will too."

"Long shot," Yuusei said with a shrug.

"Well, I don't want to show up with nothing," Atemu argued as he fiddled with the petal of a rose. When it came off the flower, Atemu flinched and moved his hands away.

"He works in a bakery," Yuusei said pointedly, "I don't know about health regulations, but I don't think that would be wise."

"Well, then what would you suggest?" Atemu asked, holding his arms out in expectation.

"I have no idea," Yuusei said simply, "I don't know him."

"Well, he's a cute baker," Atemu said, searching his thoughts, "So, maybe like that thing in that movie?" He snapped his fingers as he tried to recall the scene in question and Yuusei stared at him blankly.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Yuusei said, "contrary to popular belief, we do not share one mind."

"You know," Atemu said and he grimaced, "that movie, with the guy who keeps hearing someone narrating his life –"

"You mean Stranger Than Fiction," Yuusei supplied helpfully.

"Like in Stranger Than Fiction," Atemu nodded excitedly, "where he buys her like a box of a bunch of flour packages. Flours." Atemu stressed the last word like it was something Yuusei could not have figured out for himself.

"That's so corny that I'd be embarrassed for you both," Yuusei said before slyly asking, "so you're going to steal that idea then? Plagiarize it?"

"I don't think it's plagiarism, I mean it's not like I'm making a movie about it – dammit, Yuusei," Atemu ran frustrated hands through his hair and the petal instantly became caught in it. Yuusei smiled to himself and did not alert Atemu to the fact. "That's completely off topic! Stop distracting me, you ass, we're discussing what to get Yuugi."

"I don't know the guy, Atemu," Yuusei said with shake of his head, "Just do what you think is right."

"You're not helpful," Atemu groaned and he turned back to the flowers, gazing at them thoughtfully.

With a glance to the petal hopelessly stuck in Atemu's fluffy hair, Yuusei looked to the helmet in his hands, a plan already forming in his mind, and his smile grew. He nodded and said, "I know."

x x x

"Boss, Becky's here again. And that mega-jerk is still here."

Looking up from the mixer, Yuugi glanced at the doorway where Juudai was poking his head in and nodded. He then looked to Jounouchi.

"Hey, I'll be back in a bit," he said and Jounouchi turned his attention away from the cooling rack, "Take over for me here?"

"Sure thing," Jounouchi replied and he frowned severely, "Call for me if that piece of shit causes trouble, though."

Nodding, Yuugi approached Juudai, stomach churning at the thought of Siegfried actually trying something.

"Mega-jerk?" he questioned and Juudai grimaced.

"He called me a mutt and he keeps snapping his fingers at me for refills."

"He called you a what?" Yuugi asked, disbelief filling his face and Juudai's grimace worsened.

"Can I punch him?" he asked instead and Yuugi pursed his lips tightly.

"I would have to fire you if you did that, Juudai," Yuugi said regretfully and shook his head. He took a breath and said, "And if anyone's going to punch him, it's going to be me." With that, Yuugi passed Juudai and exited the kitchen. He instantly saw Rebecca and noted that she was wearing a similar attire to the first outfit he had seen her in. Her pressed shirt was a light blue and her black skirt ruffled. "Welcome back, Rebecca," Yuugi greeted.

"Hello again, Yuugi," Rebecca replied with a smile and held up the manila folder in her hand, "I've brought you back that application." She extended it to him and Yuugi took it with raised eyebrows. "I'm sorry to bother you while you're busy, but I wanted to hand it to you personally. You can keep the folder," she said and Yuugi nodded as he opened the folder. He briefly browsed the documents and blinked in surprise at her thoroughness.

"Wow, thank you," he said and Rebecca nodded with a proud smirk. "Is there anything else I could help you with?"

"Oh, that would be all. Juudai can take my order," she said and directed her sharp gaze to Juudai who moved to stand awkwardly beside Yuugi.

"Sure," Yuugi said and moved aside.

"So what will you be having?" Juudai asked and he turned slightly as Yuugi left. He guessed that his boss would work in the back for as long as his ex was around. He tentatively took Rebecca's order and made extra sure he got it all right. The girl intimidated him and the way she was scrutinizing him was not helping the matter. When Yuugi came back out and patted him on the shoulder, Juudai almost jumped out of his skin.

"Whoa, boss!" He had not expected Yuugi to come back out while Siegfried was still around. He gave Rebecca her order and she waved to Yuugi with a pretty smile before turning around to go.

"Did I scare you?" Yuugi asked him once she had gone and Juudai nodded sheepishly.

"Well, with that jerk still around, I thought you'd stay in the back," he said with a shrug.

With the mention of Yuugi's ex, his boss glanced around until his eyes had fallen upon the man. Juudai looked to him as well only to see Siegfried already watching them with deep satisfaction. Gritting his teeth, Juudai refrained from giving the man a very rude hand gesture. He turned back to Yuugi who appeared close to launching a baguette at the man.

"Boss?" he questioned and Yuugi blinked before glancing to Juudai. Sighing, Yuugi shook his head.

"This is my shop. I'm not going to let him intimidate me," Yuugi said and Juudai nodded.

"Good on you, boss," he replied.

The bell over the door jingled then and Juudai glanced to it.

"Oh, crap," he said.

Juudai's eyes widened and Yuugi turned to see what the boy was gaping at. Rebecca was at the door the shop, but she was not leaving. She was at a standstill and in her way was someone Yuugi had not expected to see. In that second of recognition, he felt his entire world come to a halt. His heart jumped into his throat and Yuugi froze.

It was Atemu.

A/N: Do not ask for updates. Thank you.