Small Pieces of Forever

by lilyflower666

Yugi has just had his children, and couldn't be any happier with his life. His focus in life is them, and his aspiration to become a teacher. With everyday being a new adventure, who's to say how it will all turn out? But one thing can be said for certain, there is more love in the air and plenty more to come between our favorite leading trio.

11. Seduction it is

This chapter is dedicated to Chester Bennington. May your soul be at peace. I do not own Yugioh, or the songs used in this story. Enjoy! [YUGI, YAMI, and ATEM]

Chapter 11

"I'll be right back," Yugi huffed climbing out of the car and heading up to the building. Geez, he didn't know what their problem was. Well, no, that wasn't quite true. He did know what their problem was. Him. Still though, it was their problem, not his.

"So, do you think he'll get them?" Yami asked as they watched him disappear into the building.

"Well, if he does, as a concerned parent I might have a few complaints about that. Though, if I were you, I'd be more worried about that little typo you did on the contact papers."

"You don't think they'd actually…do you?" Yami asked giving Atem a worried look.

"Mrs. Mutou?" Yugi asked just to clarify what he'd just heard the woman in front of him say.

"Yes, it says here that Mrs. Mutou is not allowed to take Marchelle Kodai, and Daniel Sennen out of our school."

"And what part of me looks like a woman to you?" he asked in a low and dangerous voice.

"None. Sir."

"So, may I have my children now?"

"Look, I don't make the rules. I just follow them."

"Mommy!" two excited voices shouted from behind him. He whipped around, and collapsed to the ground with open arms. Two small forms connected with his chest less than a second later.

"My babies. My sweet adorable babies." Yugi littered their faces with kisses.

"You still can't take them off the premises."

Yugi looked at the woman over his shoulder. His look could kill. He was a Mother on a mission, and had this dumb blonde never heard of the old saying about a Mother bear and its cubs?

"Charlene!" a strict sounding woman's voice rang through the room.

"Uh, yes, Sensei Miyami?" the blonde woman asked whipping around to face a grey haired one.

"I thought I told you to go file those papers away in the backroom?"

"Yes, you did. It's just he was standing here, and no one was helping him so I thought I would."

"Papers. Backroom. Now."

"Yes, Sensei," Charlene said bowing before rushing off with a stack of folders.

"I'm terribly sorry about that, Prince. If you could just fill out these papers for me, I'm sure we can get this little mishap sorted out."

"No problem," Yugi replied standing up, and taking the clipboard from her. 40 minutes later and he was walking out with Marchelle on his hip, and Daniel's hand in his.

As he neared the van, he saw that both of his mates looked generally shocked to see him, with the two in hand. He buckled both into their car seats, before motioning with his head to the other two to step out a moment. Both gulped in a very visible way. Any idiot could tell, just from the small smile on his face that they were in trouble. The children would be the only ones who would never know it though.

"Yami, Honey," Yugi said crossing his wrists over the back of his neck. Yami, though surprised, put his hands on his hips. "That typo of yours, that's all it was, right?"

"Typo?"

"Don't play dumb now," Yugi nipped at the underside of his jaw. "You know what I'm talking about."

"Yugi, we have kids in the car," Atem pointed out.

"So?" Yugi ignored Atem.

"No, it wasn't a typo."

"Then I have no choice but to put you both in the doghouse."

"What?! Why am I being balled up into this?"

"Simple," Yugi replied turning to him, and grabbing the back of his neck and pulling him close. "One of you did it, and the other didn't correct you. Sides, it's only one night. You can handle that right?"

"Can you?" Atem asked back.

"I'll manage," Yugi replied giving his ear a small flick with his tongue, and then walking away.

"I'm starting to think that this whole touching thing has a double standard to it," Atem said to Yugi's back.

"You made it, and now you have to live with it. By the way, I'm driving," Yugi replied holding up the keys.

Atem patted his pockets, muttering about a little thief in the process.

"I think he's picked up a few of our tricks," Yami commented.

"Shut up, and get in the car."

Yami chuckled and walked towards the van, climbing into the backseat. The kids were already chatting away to Mom. Telling him everything that had happened whether he wanted to know it or not.

Why're you driving?

My precious cargo is in the backseat.

Atem sighed, while Yami laughed even more. Yugi just smiled, and pulled away from the curb. His kids continued to prattle on and on about how happy their lives were at school. Which made Yugi a little concerned. They went to a school that held Kindergarten to 8th grade. There was no way that the older kids were not talking about what was going on. So how…?

"And our Sensei Ashiya has been acting really weird lately," Marchelle said.

"What do you mean?" Yugi asked as he pulled up to the Palace.

"Yeah!" Daniel put in. "For some reason she's been taking our class the long way through the school to get the extracurricular activities. For some reason she's keeping us as far from the older kids as she can. We don't get why, but she is."

Extracurricular? Should he even know a word that big?

I guess genius doesn't skip generations.

"I see. Well, if you want I can have Atem have a private talk about that with her?"

"Daddy can?" Marchelle asked excitedly.

"Of course he can."

"Daddy should then! He really should!"

I'll be telling her to keep up the good work, won't I?

Bingo.

"Hey, Momma! Can we go to the park?"

"Tomorrow sweetie," Yugi said without hesitation, "today I just want to stay home, and play dress up and Supergirl."

"Really?" they both asked in surprise.

"Really."

"Supergirl!" Daniel cried.

"No! Dress up first! Dress up!" Marchelle whined.

"What about your homework?" Atem asked out loud.

"Momma, if you have homework, you need to do that first," Daniel said in a tone that sounded far wiser than it should. "Auntie Saki says that homework comes first and games later. It's the only way to get perfect grades."

"Well, Auntie Saki hasn't been cut off from you two for four months now, has she?"

"That's your own fault though," Marchelle said sadly.

"Marchelle!" Atem scolded turning around to face the girl.

"Well, it is, Daddy! I told Momma to come and see you guys when you first started to fight, but he didn't. He could've made more of an effort to see us too, but he didn't. It's okay though, you and Yami were giving off mean vibes."

"Mean vibes?" Yami asked.

"Yeah, like anytime he was in the same room as you, you'd glare at Momma until he took off."

"Momma would always put on such a brave face too, but it was so easy to see through. His eyes are big and expressive, it's impossible to hide any emotion in them," Daniel explained

"I see," Yugi said parking the van. "We're home!"

The conversation was forgotten in an instant as the rest of the day was filled with play. Atem and Yami watched with fond amusement as Yugi played with the children, ignoring all calls of meetings. They were even tugged into the games themselves. Ring around the rosy, Supergirl, tea parties, dress up, dancing, and just all around general fun. If it popped into the children's head the parents found themselves doing it.

Sooner than Yugi wanted, he found the clock turning onto nine. Most of the fun came to an end, as Yugi gathered them up, and took them both to Daniel's room to read a bed time story. One turned into six, and nine into ten. Yugi saw out the corners of his blinking eyes, his children's closed. He sighed, finally, they were out. There was just one problem left, moving. He didn't feel like doing it. So reaching over he turned out the light, and started to fall asleep where he was.

"Well, isn't that precious," Atem commented as both he and Yami crept into the room. Daniel was sprawled on top of Mom, and Marchelle was tucked close to his side.

"How much trouble do you think we'd get in if we climbed into that super small bed too?" Yami asked leaning against a doll house that Marchelle had dragged into the room earlier.

"Loads," Atem said grinning over at him. There was a short moment of silence. "I'll take the right, and you grab the left."

"I like the way you think, Lover."

Atem climbed in behind Marchelle, carefully lifting her up to sleep on top of him. The girl shifted slightly, but other than that didn't protest the new position too much. Yami spooned Yugi's other side. The bed was just a twin so it was really cramped already, especially since their little human was sleeping on his back. If any of them turned over, someone was going to be on the floor. Yami smirked at Atem, and the two slowly drifted off to sleep, with what mattered most pressed between them.

[Time skip]

Yugi woke up the next morning feeling thoroughly squished. Well, more squished than he should when sleeping with two small children. Then there was a bright flash of light, which had him jerking fully awake.

"Please tell me you got the picture before he moved?" Marik's voice asked.

"Yep!" Seth responded cheerfully.

"What is going on?" Yugi asked stretching and sitting up. He heard cries of surprise before three loud thumps followed. He barely caught the forms of his mates fall off both sides of the bed. Honestly, those two were the worst.

"Daddy! Why did you pull me with you?!" Marchelle cried.

"Cause Daddy didn't want to fall off the bed alone," Atem groaned.

"But you didn't. Yami fell too!"

Yugi started to snicker, which woke up Daniel. Then he remembered that they weren't even supposed to be in this room. Thus the smack he gave to both of them upside the head was more than well-deserved in his opinion.

The rest of the day was divided up evenly. He saw Isis first thing in the morning for his weekly checkup. Isis frowned as he was leaving, muttering under her breath, though he couldn't hear anything of what she said.

Atem and Yami had a short morning meeting, so Yugi used that time to help their children with their homework. When they both returned around noon, Yugi glanced up at them. He did a double take, blinking in shock and surprise. Both were sporting bruises on their faces. Bruises that were healing rapidly, but still there enough that he saw them before they could vanish completely.

"What happened?"

"Isis failed to see our point of view in our latest transgression of biting you," Atem explained looking away.

Yugi rolled his lips in as he tried to prevent himself from smiling. That's what all that muttering had been about then. It made him wonder if this had happened before, because they didn't look angry, just annoyed. Oh, wait, they were afraid of her, which was probably why they weren't angry.

"Rulers of this race or not, we know when to cower and plead for mercy, Yugi," Yami growled. Yugi pressed his lips harder together, but couldn't stop the mirth from flowing over the open link.

"Come on, let's go have a picnic at the park!" Yugi laughed. He grabbed his boyfriend's hands, stunning them for a moment, before dragging them out of the room. Their children, quickly overtook them, shouting with glee about finally going to the park.

They stayed two hours at the park, enjoying the small bit of peace that they'd found in the past here. When it was at last time to leave, it took a bit of time to coax their children away from the swings. It was only with Mom's help that it was managed though, one firm look, and they were quick to obey. Atem and Yami had shuddered at the look, happy that it wasn't aimed at them.

The rest of the day, Yugi devoted his time to working on his own homework. All night he worked, and probably would've continued on until the early morning hours too, if his mates hadn't of intervened.

"Come on, Yugi, bedtime," Yami said taking his pencil from him.

"Not tired," Yugi said yawning as he took another pencil out and got back to work.

"Yes you are," Yami said back taking that pencil from him too. Atem picked him up, and Yugi's whole body tensed, becoming almost stone like in the man's arms. Atem merely sighed, and put Yugi in their shared bed.

Yami twitched the pencils in his hands before setting them down, and walking into the other room. Atem turned to follow, and Yugi let out a cry of dismay. Yami's head popped back into the room, as Atem turned around.

"What?" Yami asked.

Yugi didn't say a word, just rubbed the smooth covers next to him. Both vampires sighed, but needed no further invitation, as the blankets fluttered down over their bodies. Sighing himself, in relief though, Yugi fell to sleep almost instantly.

The next day was relatively like the first. Yugi entertained the kids in the morning as Atem and Yami had another short meeting. Then they entertained them in the afternoon as he worked on school work. At the end of the day they packed everyone up, and took the children back to the boarding school. Yugi went back to college. It was such a regular weekend, that Yugi forgot all about the fact that they were fighting. He was in complete bliss. Until the next morning.

Yugi stretched, his arms reaching up towards the sky, before dropping back to the bed. Fingers spread out across cold sheets. Not on just one side of him though, on both. He shot up in bed, as wide awake as if he'd just had a bucket of cold water splashed on top of him. Where were his vampires?

Calm down, Yugi. Just go into the kitchen and eat what I made for you, okay?

Where are you?

Nearby.

Thanks, that's so helpful.

Glad you feel that way. Now get ready for your classes.

Baka.

Love you too.

Where's Yami?

Not sure. He snuck out a little after you fell asleep.

Yami, where are you?

Already tried that. He's refusing to respond.

You mean he's dead?!

No! No! No! I'm fine. Just fine.

And that's how you get someone who's refusing to respond to respond, Atem.

Hm, I like it. Very effective.

Going back to what I was doing now.

Which is?

See you later, Yugi.

Yami!

There was no response though. It was like the link from his end had gone silent. Like a cell phone that was dead. To be honest, it was very eerie. And feeling a slight irritation come from that side of the link Yugi figured it was time to start get ready for the day. As long as his mates were okay, then he supposed he could be too.

Yugi ambled out of the room heading straight for the bathroom without looking around. He went back to his room to get dressed before going out to the kitchen. There was a box of cereal sitting on the counter right next to an innocent looking crystal vase. Even more strange was that it was empty.

Sitting down I one of the stools, Yugi poured some cereal for himself, and then the milk, before focusing on the thick envelope tucked under the vase. It had to be really expensive material, which was the only reason why he opened it. Curiosity had nothing to do with it.

Parchment paper with an elegant cursive script was the first thing that greeted him. Not only that, but the scent of fresh ink with it, as if the note had just been written. Maybe they really were as old as they claimed to be.

Beautiful Yugi,

Take this vase with you today. You'll be needing it.

Love, Atem

He'll be needing it? For what? He couldn't think of any legitimate reason as to why he should cart this heav-, Yugi picked up the vase, wait no, very light, crystal vase around with him all day. Still though, it did make him wonder as to what he could possibly be needing it for. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to bring it with him, just to find out? Yeah, but only to find out what it was for.

Yugi looked at the vase in the passenger seat. It was buckled up so it wouldn't roll onto the floor again. As delicate as it looked, it would probably break if it hit the ground again. So far he could only figure flowers going into the thing, just from the way it was shaped. If it was for flowers though, it was going straight out the nearest window. And that was a promise.

As soon as he put his two feet on campus, two girls came running up to him. One poured a packet of beads into the bottom of the vase, the other water. Yugi watched in amazement as the beads expanded, and filled half of the vase with a luminescent color. So, a magic trick. That's what this thing was for? Lame.

The two girls giggled, giving him big smiles, before rushing off. Their behavior was so odd, that Yugi dove into his thoughts on the way to class trying to decipher it. It was too bad he hadn't been paying attention that glass vase would've already taken a field trip out a window. As it were though, he did come out of his stupor when he was a quarter of the way from the classroom.

He jumped. Half of the vase was filled with a rose of a different color. Purples, blues, oranges, reds, pinks, yellows, and greens-he didn't even know they came in green-it was a multicolored bouquet.

Yugi felt cold air brush his shoulder from the left, and he turned to find an open and very wide window. With no warning, besides a small smirk, Yugi chucked the bouquet across the hall, and towards the window. The entire hallway was suddenly filled with blurs of color, before Atem was sitting in the window holding he vase by its neck. Yugi gave out a small huff, before turning and walking away.

"Now, what was so wrong with my gift?" Atem asked stepping up behind him.

"Valentines is tomorrow."

"And you'll be in class."

"Night class."

"That gets out at some random hour each week."

Yugi whipped around. "Are you and Yami even aware of the term 'respecting one's wishes'?"

"But we are."

"How is that in any way respectful?" Yugi demanded pointing at the infernal vase.

"You said you wanted nothing to do with any plans we made together. So we stopped making plans together, and made plans by ourselves."

Yugi glared at the man before turning and walking away. Normally he was all for the loopholes in conversations. However, this time, he wasn't. They were using his own clarification against him, and Yugi didn't like it one bit.

"Don't worry, Beautiful, I don't plan on embarrassing you too badly."

"You shouldn't be planning on embarrassing me at all!"

"But it's the only thing you'll accept right now. Anything romantic gave me the chills, and not the good kind either. So, I threw the ideas out the window, and started from scratch. My bond said that embarrassment will make you angry, but it won't damage our bond."

"Here, a pie! Just for you, Sensei!" a young freshman said running up to him.

"Aww, how sweet," Yugi cooed taking the pie from him, and spinning around to smash it straight into Atem's face. Atem used what dignity he had left to pry the blueberry pie off his face. Yugi turned to freshman, "got anymore?"

"Uh," he stared at the two of them before ducking his head, giving a quick bye, and disappearing into the growing crowd.

"What about you, Pharaoh, got anymore pies for me? I would love to know how they taste."

"Then you should've eaten it," Atem said spitting a blueberry onto the ground. He snapped his fingers and a vampire appeared at his side. Without a word, he handed her the pie tin, and vase. Angry indeed.

"You should probably get cleaned up," Yugi said taking slow steps towards him to fix his turned up collar. "You're berry messy."

"Ha, funny."

"Any more surprises?"

"Loads."

"Can't wait."

The tension was so high between the two that you could almost feel it in the air. Some students swore that if looks could kill, both would be more than six feet under. And these two were supposed to be lovers? There was no way that was possible. Teachers, having noticed the tight large crowd, began to break it up thinking there was a fight in the middle. They might not have found the fight they were expecting in the middle, but it still had to be broken up, that much was obvious.

The end of the day found a very amused vampire, and an unbelievably angry human. Most of the school didn't know what the big deal was. Most of the girls were wishing that their boyfriends would shower them with gifts like that, and most of the guys thought that their Sensei was acting like a spoiled brat. Only a small portion who had family working in the Palace knew what the big deal was. They'd all been avoiding the two as much as possible since the pie incident that morning.

Yugi marched from the building screaming profanities at Atem, only to stop in the doorway as he found a more horrifying sight awaiting him. Atem stopped right behind him, jaw dropping in surprise. Yami was back from wherever it was he'd been all day. Just…he wasn't alone.

"Are you kidding me?!" Yugi shouted.

"Come, Yugi," Yami said stretching out his hand to him.

"Ha ha ha ha!" Atem bent over with laughter, barely managing words in between gasps of air. "And you thought…I was being bad…with my shower of…gifts. This is ten times worse…then anything I…could've come…up with."

"No way!" Yugi yelled in horror smacking the hand away.

"What's the matter?" Yami asked in confusion.

"Give me one of those pies," Yugi ordered holding out a hand. A chocolate crème was put in his hand.

"Duck Yami!" Atem warned.

"Why?" Yami asked getting face full of pie as he was in between the 'h' and 'y' of the word.

"Hmph," Yugi said a victorious look before turning and walking away with a little swing in his step.

Yami pried his pie tin off along with what pie he could, as he spit a mouthful of chocolate on the ground. He felt as if that was unnecessarily uncalled for.

"I tried to warn you."

"Oh yeah, great warning. Could've said he was going to throw it."

Yugi listened to them bicker back and forth, as he just casually walked away towards where he'd parked his truck. Or at least where he thought he'd parked his truck. It wasn't there. Instead there was a note saying that Yami was his only way home, so might as well just suck it up.

Yugi crumpled the note in his hand. If they thought for one moment he was taking that home, then clearly they'd never heard of the power of cell phones before. As it was Yugi whipped out his, and had the number half dialed before he heard a horrible sound. Hoof beats…on cement. Yugi had just enough time to turn before he was lifted by the back of his jacket onto the moving white horse, dropping his phone in the process.

"Let me go! Put me down!"

"No. I'm your Knight in shining armor."

"You're a monster!" Yugi yelled hitting his chest, before freezing, a huge amount of shame washed through him. He collapsed against Yami, as he pulled hard on the reins. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't mean it, I swear! I'm sorry! I didn't mean it!"

Yami looked down at him sadly. A monster. It was they'd all been called at one point or another. Humans hadn't been spared from that teaching. It showed too, by the way Yugi kept apologizing. He knew he'd crossed some sort of line, and was quickly trying to rush back over it. Yami brought up his hand to cradle the back of Yugi's head.

"Just bear with me a little longer, and then we'll go back to the apartment, promise."

He tapped the horse's sides, and it started to trot off again. Yami took them down to the beach were a small blanket, roses, and candlelight was set up. Yami swung off the horse, and took Yugi off as well. He set him on his feet and wiped his tears away, before pulling him down onto the blanket.

"I forgive you, Yugi, now stop crying."

"A picnic, Yami? Really?"

"Nope, a serenade."

"Huh?"

Yami didn't answer him, just pulled out a guitar from under the blanket, and started to strum.

Ohhh

I have been searching for your touch
Unlike any touch I've ever known
And I never thought about it much
Til' I'm broken down and all alone, ohhh

Though I don't understand the meaning of love
I do not mind if I die trying, ohhh
Took you for granted when you lifted me up

I'm asking for your help
I am going through hell
Afraid nothing can save me but the sound of your voice
You cut out all the noise
And now that I can see my mistakes so clearly now
I'd kill if you could take me back

But how?
But how?

I can feel it in my guts
What's going on with us now
Won't patronize you with lies
I'm a boy, gotta be a man now, ohhh

I have been bound by the shackles of love
And I don't mind if I die tied up, ohhh
Took you for granted when you lifted me up

I'm asking for your help
I am going through hell
Afraid nothing can save me but the sound of your voice
You cut out all the noise
And now that I can see my mistakes so clearly now
I'd kill if you could take me back

But how?
But how?
But how?
But how?

Ohh yeah
Why must I be so ugly
And please do not think ill of me
Why does the one you love
Become the one who makes you want to cry?
Why?
Why?
Why?

But I don't understand the meaning of love
I do not mind if I die trying
I do not mind if I die trying
I do not mind if I die trying

Yugi barely gave Yami time to look up from the guitar before he was on his feet. He shook, just staring down at him. Then he fell back to his knees, pounding the blanketed sand with his fist. Yami frowned, and reached forwards to grab his wrist.

"Why?" Yugi asked throwing back his head to reveal tears cascading down his cheeks. "Why?!"

"Why what?"

"Why can't either one of you just respect me? Why…must you strike at me when I'm already down?"

"I'm not trying to hit you when you're down, Yugi. I'm simply trying to make my feelings known."

"You changed some of the words," Yugi grumbled pulling at his wrist. Yami let it go.

"You noticed?"

"And you did this whole serenade thing wrong. Let me show you the proper way," Yugi said right before he snatched the guitar from him. He strummed the strings for a minute adjusting them slightly, before looking back up at Yami with hooded eyes.

"Let me be your hero," he whispered before starting to play the chords.

Would you dance, if I asked you dance?
Would you run and never look back?
Would you cry, if you saw me crying?
Would you save my soul tonight?

Yugi leaned in towards Yami, to sing the next words, their lips brushing with everyone one. Yugi swore he heard Yami gulp.

Would you tremble, if I touched your lips?

Yugi gave a small chuckle, pulling back, and continuing to sing.

Would you laugh?
Oh, please tell me this
Now you would die?
For the one you love?
Hold me in your arms tonight

I can be your hero baby.
I can kiss away the pain.
I will stand by you forever.
You can take my breath away.

Would you swear, that you'll always be mine?
Would you lie?
Would you run and hide?
Am I in too deep?
Have I lost my mind?
I don't care you're here, tonight.

I can be your hero baby.
I can kiss away the pain.
I will stand by you forever.
You can take my breath away.

Yugi strummed the guitar as he hummed along to the music interlude.

Oh, I just want to hold you.
I just want to hold you, oh yeah.
Am I in too deep?
Have I lost my mind?
Well I don't care you're here, tonight.

I can be your hero baby.
I can kiss away the pain.
I will stand by you forever.
You can take my breath away.

I can be your hero.
I can kiss away the pain.
And I will stand by you forever.
You can take my breath away.
You can take my breath away.
I can be your hero.

"And that, Yami, is how you properly serenade someone," Yugi said putting the guitar down. He turned back to Yami, only to realize that the vampire had moved, and their lips were now connected.

Yugi did not push him away, but pulled him closer, and pushing him until he was flat on his back. Yugi lay on top of Yami, as the two just made out in the chilly February air. Both of them seeking warmth and comfort. Both of them seeking true forgiveness.

[Time skip]

"You're back," Atem said quietly. "He missed his last class."

"Don't worry, I thought ahead and had Skye take notes for him. Just in case," Yami said back.

"Is he out of it?"

"Mostly, but I reckon he can still hear us at least."

"Yami, what happened that both of your emotions crashed into me at the same time with an overwhelming force like a typhoon or something?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Fine. Why does his scent linger on you?"

"He let me kiss him. A lot."

"Lucky. All he gave me was a blueberry pie in the face."

"Ha ha ha, the kiss was not without restrictions though. If I tried moving him to bottom it would cease. So I learned if I wanted love then I'd have to give up dominance."

"Perhaps that's the secret to it then."

"No, it was more than that. He…sigh. He called me a monster, Atem."

"He did what?"

"I think he was trying to apologize more, because he didn't believe me when I told him he was forgiven."

"That explains the fear, sorrow, shame, and guilt, then."

"Ever wonder what's really going through his mind?" Yami asked as one of his bangs was moved to the side.

"Yami, we share a mind link, we already know what's going on through his mind."

"Do we? I mean we know of every thought, and can smell every emotion, but what must he really think of us?"

Soft footsteps, and a gentle kiss on his brow. "Put him in his bed, and we'll discuss more of this."

"Okay."

He felt his jacket and shoes be taken off, before he was placed in the bed, and the blankets came up to brush his cheek. He turned over, laying on his side, cuddling deeper into the soft empty warmth. Lips brushed his cheek bone, and then Yami was leaving again.

Quiet mutterings, too low for him to make out. Then someone sighed heavily, and the couch shifted. The sound of a question was put into the air, and Yugi struggled back up to the wakeful surface as he tried to make it out.

"Yeah," Atem said, "that room is ours for the next two months. It still doesn't help us avoid the obvious question though."

"I know, but it's better than nothing. There's a rather large closet in that room, yes?"

"What're you thinking?"

"We put an air mattress in it, and keep him close. Close and protected. With us at meetings, and even with his guards, he'd still be a very easy target. What we're doing is bound to make a lot of people angry, and I don't want him to get caught in the middle of it."

"Sometimes I wish I never accepted the terms of being the Vampire King all those years ago. We'd just be a triplet of regular Joes if that was the case. No political obligations or duties."

"Atem if you hadn't of taken it, then Dartz would've. Then where would we be, huh? Ruling over them? We wouldn't have even met Yugi. He would've been shipped off to the King's Blood Pool as soon as he was just past his 16th birthday."

"Would he of?" Marcus's voice interrupted. "He was one of the main fighters against abolishing the rule saying that a vampire had the right to take a human, no matter the age, from any human family at any time of their desire. You found him as a baby, Yami."

"You still don't get it," Atem sighed. "It would've been a different world, a different reality. Probably never would've even knew he existed."

"Hmm, fair enough. Anyway, I just came in here to tell you that some of the delegates from foreign colonies have arrived, and taken host in some of the hotel rooms provided. One is requesting a more fashionable room though, I don't think I need to tell you which one."

"That woman, if she wasn't a main key to this plan I'd knock her out as soon as she was within reaching distance," Yami ground out.

"Just give her the second best we have."

"I already did. She's requesting the best."

"Too bad. That room is reserved for Mahad and his Wife."

"I'll have Konner tell her. Also, I can hear him breathing, and it's far from even. You're aware of this right?"

"Yes. We've been aware of it for some time now. What do you want us to do about it?"

"It's 5:00 am, just get him up. Since he seems to already be up."

"He never slept." Atem sighed, "I mean he dozed, but was never really out. It's like when you leave a movie you've seen a thousand times on. You fall asleep during it, and when you wake up, you've missed six scenes. You know exactly what happened in them though. It was exactly like that type of doze."

"Ugh, have either of you slept at all in the past three weeks?"

"Of course."

"Don't lie to the babysitter. Go to bed, and put him out too. He'll be of use to no one if he falls asleep in his really tough class tonight."

"Hmph, so bossy. Feels like nothing's changed."

"And nothing will."

He heard them headed towards the room, and he sat up not even having to fake a yawn he was so tired. "Time to get up already?" he asked through it.

"Yeah, nice try. Lay back down, Yugi."

"But I'm not tired."

"Sure you're not," Yami chuckled laying in the bed and pulling Yugi down with him.

Atem slid beneath the blankets as well. Yugi looked up at him through his eyelashes. He had a question.

"Did he babysit you too?"

"He's been my personal body guard since the day I was born. What do you think?"

"He looks good for his age," Yugi mumbled as the two vampires fell over themselves helpless with laughter.

"What did he say about me?!"

"Go to sleep, Yugi," Yami said.

The suggestion wasn't even needed. He was already there. He'd been there as soon as he was comfortably snuggled between the full warmth of the bed sheets.

[Time skip]

"So, only Mr. Mutou completed the assignment? Now, isn't that shocking?" the teacher at the front mocked throwing the assignment onto the desk before turning the board and writing something on it. Then he stepped away.

Most of the students jumped to their feet. Yugi sunk low in his chair with relief. Written on the board was that the assignment was counting for a quarter of their grade. It had to be handed in by midnight or it wouldn't be accepted. And underneath this, all students that handed it in during class would be free of homework for the next two weeks.

While some students wasted their time to complain about the unfairness of the assignment, other got out their laptops, and were quickly doing what was necessary to complete the assignment before the deadline. Some even came over to sit by him to get pointers and tips. It was no mystery to the class that he was a Brainiac trying to become a high school math teacher.

Not only that, but this class wasn't even needed for him to become one. He just took it because he wanted the extra credit in case something came up his senior year. He had eight extra credits under his belt already, and this was going to be his ninth.

He'd heard rumors that this teacher was tough, and had only started to believe them. Yugi though, he was the type of person who relished in the challenge. To him, there was nothing more challenging than a challenging Sensei.

"Mr. Mutou!"

"Yes, Sensei!"

"You're excused from this class and the next class. I will see you the week following."

"Uh, alright," Yugi said sitting back down, and continuing in helping on of his classmates with her sites.

"Mr. Mutou! Get out of my class!"

"Uh, right Sensei. I'm sorry," he muttered to the girl as he packed his bag, and slipped her a note saying to meet him in the east commons after she got out of class if she wanted more help.

Yugi headed there immediately and got started on some of his own homework. It was rolling on ten when about a third of the class showed up for a little help. Yugi was able to help them all, somehow, and they all got their stuff turned in before the deadline. Barely.

By the time he got done accepting everyone's thank you it was rolling on one am. He couldn't go home just yet though. He still had a few more things to catch up on. So, it was no surprise to him when three am rolled over, that the two came looking for him.

"You just had to go to a really big University, didn't you?" Yami asked sliding into the chair next to him.

Yugi spared him a glance before finishing up the problem he had on hand. That was the last one. Yugi shut the book with a sigh, and leaned back in his chair to look straight up at Atem.

"You're blocking the view of the ceiling with your handsome face," Yugi complained.

"My apologies, but you were supposed to come straight home."

"I have some good news."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, I don't have this class next week, nor homework from it for two."

"How'd you manage that?" Yami asked surprised.

"Simple I turned that monstrous assignment in when it was due, and not four hours later. Sensei extended the time period because I was the only one who originally handed it in in class. Then he kicked me out of it."

"Tired?"

"Fried."

"Well, let's go home then," Atem said offering Yugi a hand. Yugi smiled, packed up his stuff, and then took that hand. He offered the other to Yami, who took it with a small smile. Then he swung Yugi up onto his back, yanking his hand from Atem's.

"Hey! I was holding that!"

"And now you're not."

Yugi smiled as fond memories arose around those words, and placed his head down on Yami's shoulder. His memories becoming dreams as he fell asleep there.

[Time skip]

"I just don't understand why I need to be present too," Yugi sighed.

"Technically, you don't," Atem said as he put dinner in front of Yugi. "But with so many dangerous vampires being in the area, we're not sure if even your guards will be able to handle it alone. This was your idea you know."

"Yeah, but I just wanted you two to be close enough to touch. I never thought you would…"

"You never thought we would what?" Yami asked.

"Actually agree. No doubt you've already figured out the same thing as me in the past couple of days."

"It will be less of a problem if you just agree to sleep there instead."

"But if you're both running the meeting-"

"That's not even a possibility," Atem interjected. "If at least one of us isn't in bed with you, then you don't sleep. You need your sleep to gain your strength back just as much as you need to eat three times a day."

"Right so I can be at my full health again." Yugi looked down at his hand. It was less skeletal, and more flesh now. The muscles and fat were slowly coming back, hiding his bones from sight. As soon as he was healthy though, they'd take off. He just knew it.

"We're done fighting with you on this subject. Believe what you want."

"Don't I already?" Yugi asked with a small smile.

"Just eat you little imp," Yami growled.

They were slowly learning that pet names, and jokes were becoming okay to use again. Also, that if a touch was non-threatening, or didn't show any signs of dominance, than it was okay. But they'd also found out that he couldn't get into a deep sleep by himself anymore. They had thought it to be a fluke on Monday, but Tuesday and Wednesday had the same results. Whether they slept or not wasn't the problem. One or both of them needed to be in bed with him, or touching him in a close way, or he wouldn't sleep. If they tried moving when he was asleep, he'd just wake back up again. It was a great alarm clock for Yugi, but a horrible system for them.

The constant touch and contact was a new mate thing. They were far from it, but they figured they'd just ask Isis about it. She could probably figure out the answer to it. Though, they had a bad feeling it could result in the answer being simply as an effect from their recent actions of mental assault. The bond was trying to reassure itself that they meant no ill harm to him. And after what they'd done, who could blame it?

"Please Yugi, for our own sense of ease, just agree," Atem sighed.

"Alright, I agree to sleep on a real mattress in the decent sized closet adjoined to the conference room on the condition that I may come and go as I please."

"Meaning?"

"I'm assuming that they don't have a separate desk where I may get my studies done in this closet or room?"

"It can easily be arranged."

"So can getting my work done in the library before heading over."

"That could take all night."

"I will make sure it does not last past 12:00 am."

"Eleven," Yami said with narrowed eyes.

"Um, alright. If you insist. 11:00 am it is. You are being much more lenient on this than I expected you to be."

"No, that's not-" Yami groaned banging his head on the table.

"PM, Yugi," Atem chuckled, "eleven pm."

"But we were talking about early morning hours."

"And now we're talking about the last hour of the evening."

"Fine, 11:00 pm. I shall show up here between the last hour of night, and the first hour of morning."

"And shall be under a three man or woman guard."

"Four."

"Fine. Now eat."

"I hate compromises," Yugi grumbled before digging into the chicken and rice.

And what a compromise it was too. For throughout March and April, Yugi was running back and forth between his Apartment, TU, the library, and the High School. He was completely exhausted at each and every night, but did his best not to let it show.

Isis had indeed confirmed their thoughts that it was as simple as they had envisioned it to be. All the advice she could offer them was to treat him as if he was a new mate, and keep as much constant contact with him as possible. This advice helped more than they thought it would. By the end of April, they found they could touch him again. Touch him and hold him without him flinching or pulling away. It felt like a giant leap in the right direction.

When May arrived though, things grew a little complicated again. They had succeeded in doing what they'd set out to do, with most of the countries anyway. There were still a few more to go. This wasn't what made things complicated though, it was Yugi's health that was becoming that way. In May, he was declared at full health again.

"What?" Yugi asked Isis.

"I said you're at full health again, and you need to tell them so," she repeated.

"But…I don't want to."

"Well, you need to. They need to know."

"No, they don't."

"Yes, they do. And they need to hear it from you, and you alone."

"And if I refuse?"

"Then I will tell them."

"You'd really do that to me?"

"Health is my concern, and now that you're healthy we can finally start to work on theirs."

"What? But they are healthy. They drink bagged blood every week."

"You know of the drugs that they force us to take, making sure that most vampires only have one food source, correct?"

"Yes."

"The food you're given directly after a feeding is laced with a drug that makes you tired."

"It's to help with the faster blood reproduction"

"Oh, Yugi, that's not all that it does. It helps to keep core components in your system that keep a vampire healthy. As well as less thirsty throughout the week so that they can survive by only feeding once a week."

"I don't understand."

"Okay, let me see if you understand it this way. When a human, such as yourself, gets sick, it shows physically. Everyone can see it. When a vampire gets sick, or is in poor health it only shows on the inside. Occasionally, the vampire will collapse from the strain. I've been injecting Atem and Yami with the drug that we put in your food on a regular basis so they're not showing much strain. Their hunger though, it can sometimes be unbearable for them. The only thing that can cure it is your blood. Now, off to your room. I will send them up after you."

"They're going to leave me. They'll leave me."

"Oh, Yugi," Isis simpered lifting his chin with her fingertips, "if the thought even crosses their mind I will throw them off the High Tower myself. Then I shall meet them at the bottom, where I shall pummel into the ground until they're 12 feet under."

Yugi stared at her wide eyed. He suddenly had a reason to be very afraid of her. He never could really figure out why his mates were so scared of her when it came to health matters. Yugi had finally figured out why that was. Though the look she was showing him wasn't for him, he knew this, it was still lethal. Very scary woman.

"Yes, Isis," Yugi nodded before dashing from the room. By the time he reached hi-theirs, his stomach hurt and he realized he was hungry. He'd just tell them so, and then tell them that he was healthy afterwards. Maybe. Yugi lay down on the bed, rubbing his stomach, the last thing on his mind was what this might look like to them.

"I don't know why she had that look in her eye, Yami. I just know it's better to obey her when she does. With haste."

Yugi turned his head away from the door. Maybe he should just tell them first. It would save him the trouble of having to see their faces before they walked out. Overjoyed, no doubt, that they no longer had to baby him. Had to make sure they were always with him.

"Yugi?" Yami asked as soon as they stepped into the room. "Isis said you had something you needed to tell us. She insinuated that it was very important."

"Yeah, probably," Yugi sort of agreed as he wrapped his arms tighter around his middle. He could feel a growl forming.

"Whose is it?" Atem demanded.

"Huh?" Yugi looked over at the two of them. "Whose is what?"

"Just tell me so I may rip them to shreds."

"I'm confused."

"Whose child are you carrying?"

"WHAT!?" Yugi screeched shooting up to stare at him aghast that his mind jumped so quickly to that. "Atem, I won't even let you or Yami touch me in that way. I swear, I've not confessed love for any other man besides the ones standing in front of me. What on earth made you think I was pregnant?"

"You had your arms wrapped pretty tightly around your middle," Yami pointed out finding more amusement in the situation than anything else.

"Well, yeah, I'm hungry and my stomach is threatening to growl."

"Oh, well then, I'll get you something."

"No!"

"But Yugi, you're hungry."

"I-it can wait."

"Alright, what was it you needed to tell us?" Atem asked approaching the bed.

"Um…"

"Yugi, whatever it is, I can assure you we won't be angry," Yami encouraged.

"Of that we can at least agree on," Yugi responded looking down at the blankets.

"Just tell us what's making you so nervous, Little One," Atem said cupping his cheek.

"Um, see?" Yugi asked gripping the same hand as tightly as he could.

"Yes, I see that you're getting stronger. That you're almost at full health again. Soon, very soon, I hope you will be."

"No, he is," Yami said in an awe struck voice.

Yugi yanked his hand from Atem's so quickly, the man had to wonder for a second if he'd been holding it at all. His whole posture changed from relaxed to guarded, and a thick heavy tension started to fill the room like a dense fog.

"It all makes sense now. Oh crap. We're dead."

"No, no, we're not. We're not dead, yet."

"You can go if you want. I don't mind."

"Ha, that's gotta be the biggest lie I've ever heard pass through your lips," Atem sneered.

"So, what happens now? I mean, you guys can go back to your regular duties. I don't need you around 24/7 anymore."

"Oh, you think so, huh?" Yami asked climbing onto the bed.

"That's what me being at full health again means right? That you can go back to your regular duties."

"Yugi, you may be at full health physically, but mentally you're far from it."

"Does that really matter?"

"To us it does."

"You just want sex. Your soft words fool no one here, Yami!"

"Okay, let me put it another way then," Atem chuckled. "Until our bond is at 100% you're going to be glued to our side, understand?"

"What about the two week tour?"

"What about it?"

"Do you really think our bond will be at its peak by then?"

"I'm most certain of it."

"Yeah, we'll see."

"Still hungry?" Yami asked.

"No," Yugi replied grabbing one of the pillows, laying on his side, and hugging it.

"Of course not. I'm going to get you something anyway." Yami got up and left. Two seconds later and he was back on the bed, cowering behind Yugi.

"Yami, what's wrong?" Atem asked. "I thought you were getting him food."

"She's scary, and was serious about that whole not leaving him thing. About watching our every move."

"What?"

"She was going to kill me!"

"Oh, this is ridiculous! I'll go get him food." Atem marched out of the door with a huff.

"He won't get very far."

"No! Because he's hungry you psychotic woman! I thought his health was important! Yeah! Run you little bitch! Run! No! I'm sorry! I didn't mean it! I didn't mean it!"

"I think I might have to get my own food," Yugi said as he heard Atem's voice fade away.

"And I'm married to that idiot?" Yami asked. "Yugi, what does that make me?"

"An idiot's husband?"

"Are you saying I'm clever?"

"You married him. What do you think?"

"Are you calling me an idiot's idiot?"

"Me? Never!" Yugi said with a very un-innocent look before walking out the door.

"Get back here you little imp!"

Yugi shrieked with laughter as he ran through the halls of the Palace. He had no particular place in mind. He was just happy that Yami was willing to play with him. Yami caught him easily enough, and attacked his sides with moving fingers until he apologized.

"The kitchen is in the opposite direction. You are aware of this right?" Yami asked just holding him.

"Yeah, but I don't really care. I'm just happy right now."

"You are?"

"Yeah, you stayed. You and Atem both. You stayed. That makes me very happy."

"That's good, Yugi. That's very good," Yami whispered into his shoulder.

"Um, are you happy?"

"Yes, I am. You make me so happy by saying that you're happy."

"Oh, I actually meant about being able to eat, properly, tomorrow."

"That's just a side effect of you being fit. Eating from you doesn't make me happy. Knowing you're happy does."

"Oh." Yugi whispered in a breathless tone. He turned his head, easily connecting their lips together. He moved in Yami's arms, turning so he was facing the man properly. Then he started to walk, backwards, until his back hit the wall. Yami's eyes snapped open in surprise, and attempted to pull away. Yugi gripped the front of his shirt, trying to keep him in place as his eyes slipped close.

Yugi felt Yami shift, placing one hand on his side, the other pressed his left shoulder into the wall. Like he was testing a boundary. Yugi let it slide down to his chest, pressing him more firmly against the wall. Where he would have protested such a move six days ago, he did not here. He had no reason to. They were staying, with him, they were staying.

Yami pressed his whole body against Yugi's successfully eliminating all space between them. Yugi felt his lashes brush his cheeks as they closed again, the kiss between them becoming more intense. Yugi met every motion of his lips with his own until he felt Yami's tongue brushing his bottom lip. For the first time in months, he opened up to them, willingly allowing the wet muscle to enter his own moist cavern. He heard and felt Yami moan as he took slow advantage of the invitation.

"I was joking! I swear!" Atem shouted as he ran past them down a separate hallway. "Whoa! Wait, hold up a sec, what was that?"

Yami! What are you doing?

He put his own back against the wall, not me.

What? Why?

Happy.

Oh! I want some happy!

Get in line. I have happy first.

But I want some too.

Yugi pulled away from Yami, breathing heavily, but laughing too. Atem whining was too good. Yugi glanced over at him to see him trying to pout. He really didn't have the face for it. Yugi reached over and kissed that jutted out bottom lip for the briefest of moments though, before gently pushing Yami away and walking towards where he knew the kitchens to be.

"Thought he was happy," Atem grumbled.

"He said he was," Yami replied in a puzzled tone.

"This doesn't feel like happiness to me."

No, it wasn't. Yugi had just realized something. He was healthy. Not only for eating from though, but other things as well. What if…? He put his hand against the wall, and turned to look back at the two of them. They were still standing there, just looking bewildered. No, he couldn't. He couldn't!

"Yugi!" Atem shouted as Yugi took off running, trying to put as much distance between them as possible. Even though he knew it was futile, he knew they'd catch up to him eventually. Somehow he still made it to the garden where he quickly dived between some arborvitaes. He sat there between the bushes praying that they wouldn't find him until he was ready to come out.

"Where'd he go?" Yami asked bursting into the garden seconds later.

"I'm not sure, but he really is at full health again isn't he?" Atem half joked back.

"Damn it! We should've bitten him when he first told us he was healthy."

"No, Yami! You know why we couldn't do that! He'd just think we wanted his sweet blood again."

"But I'm starving, Atem!"

"You think I'm not?"

"No, I know you are."

"What is it?"

"I just…sigh." Yami's feet shuffled around before he came into view, sitting on a bench by one of the fountains. "I just became so giddy when he let me put him in a submissive position. And now I feel as if my own happy has just been slain."

"Oh, Yami, I feel the same way," Atem sighed sitting down next to him on the bench and throwing an arm around his shoulders. Yami, almost unconsciously, leaned his head against his shoulder, allowing Atem to rest his chin on Yami's forehead. "I too want to kiss his soft pink lips until they're swollen, and he passing out in exhaustion."

"Or lack of air, whichever comes first," Yami teased.

"Shut up. No, I also want to feel the wet heat of his mouth on my dick. The soft caress of his breath, and the slow languid movements of his tongue as it touches every heated vein. I want him to torture me until I almost cum, and then pull away, leaving me as hard as a rock with a small little smile on his face. You know the one."

"I sure do."

"I want him laying beneath me, where I can touch his moonlit skin, unhindered by garments. Let my fingers trace every curve of that silky skin, as I slowly recall every sensitized spot upon his body, and any new ones I've yet to discover. I want to press into that soft flesh, and pound it into the mattress, watching as sweat covers his body like diamonds. To look up at me with dazed and hazed eyes, which are so irresistible I feel a need to kiss his swollen lips again. And as I do, he slowly starts to fall asleep as he succumbs to his exhaustion. His body though, still bare to our every desire. Allowing us to still treat it with love and care, earning small sleepy moans as they arise unbidden from his throat to escape through barely parted lips. I want all of that, just as much as you do."

"I want something else as well."

"What?"

"I want to see water drip from his hair like rain. The drops race down his body to settle in the pool already created around him. I want to see the water around him give off small ripples, making his body beneath it distorted. Steam curling around him like an extra hand reaching to touch his bare skin. Red cover his cheeks as he pants slightly, his head tipped back, resting on the ledge. The mystery and the known mixed together in the hot bath."

"That picture you've just made is almost too delicate for words to be formed," Atem sighed looking away his eyes just happening to connect with Yugi's. Atem whipped his head back to look dead ahead.

This was not good. If he moved, he'd be found. If he didn't, he'd be caught. The dilemma of a lifetime.

"Oh crap," Atem cursed getting up.

"What? What's wrong?" Yami asked confused too why he'd just lost his headrest.

"You're not going to like it," Atem said making his way towards Yugi's hiding spot. A decision needed to be made, now. Yugi sprung from the bushes like a scared rabbit. Atem moved just as quick, hooking him around the waist to spin him around so Yami could see what he'd grabbed. Yami looked horrified.

"Yugi, go to sleep," Yami ordered after a moment.

"No, you'll touch me, you'll touch me." Yugi fought against the suggestion.

"Atem's touching you now."

"No! No, sex."

"Of that, we can at least agree," Atem said with ease.

"Then why? Why do you want it so bad? Can't you fill each other's need for it?"

"No, I'm afraid the pleasures run dry in that area," Yami answered looking away.

"As to the answer for your first question; for the same reason that you wanted to be bitten by us," Atem replied gripping his chin and forcing him took look up. "This bond of ours was not just formed with biting and blood, Yugi. It was also formed through sexual intercourse if you recall."

"No, I don't want to."

"We're well aware," Atem sighed moving his hand to grip the back of his head, and clutch Yugi to him. "Now, please go to sleep, Yugi. You know it's for the best."

"No, I…I…I…" Yugi fought for half a second more before he was out.

"Good human," Atem murmured lifting him into his arms.

[Time skip]

"What if we have to seduce him?" Yami was asking as Yugi started to awake.

"It won't get to that point," Atem sighed.

"What if it does?"

"Yami, I don't even want to think about it."

"Why not? At the rate we're going, it's a very big possibility."

"We're getting his trust back, Yami."

"Oh yeah, and what a fine job we're doing. Tell me, what have we to show for it?"

"His health?"

"Anything else?"

"We can touch him."

"Within certain boundaries."

"We can hold him."

"Within the same boundaries."

"He's our mate. We can't seduce him. We just can't."

"Fine, then let's try to re-court him."

"What've we got to lose, right?"

"And if it doesn't work?"

"Yugi, you can stop pretending. I know you're awake," Atem answered.

"Is it Sunday?" Yugi asked opening his eyes.

"No. Here, some food for you."

"I'm not hungry."

"Eat it anyway."

"You first," Yugi said pushing away the food, and baring his neck to them.

One of them traced what he supposed was a vein on his neck with their fingernail. Yugi sat, his whole body tensing, as he waited for the bite. It never came.

"You will eat first, and if you're good and eat everything, we might reward you with a bite."

"And how is your taking my blood a reward exactly?"

"You think we don't know?" Yami asked with a sly smile.

"Know what?"

"You like to be bitten as much as you like to bite. Now eat."

"Fine," Yugi sighed grabbing the tray and pulling it closer to him. He ate almost everything on it except the biscuits.

"Full?" Atem asked.

"I don't like your biscuits."

"Okay."

"I'll go first," Yami said, pulling Yugi into his lap.

"That's fine," Atem said picking up the tray and leaving the room.

Yugi tilted his head to the right, baring his left. Yami pressed his nose against his neck, breathing deeply, before allowing his tongue to sweep the full length of his neck. And yet, for Isis claiming of their starvation, that was all he did. From the curve of his neck to the bone of his jaw his tongue swept back and forth over this invisible line.

Atem walked back into the room just as Yugi opened his mouth, frowning as he did so. "Yami, what are you doing?"

"You smell delicious," Yami whispered baring his fangs.

"NO!" Atem shouted leaping across the distance, and tackling Yami to the ground before his fangs could even touch the skin.

Yugi spun around on the blankets to see Yami fighting Atem until the latter knocked him out. It was like watching a vicious wild animal fight for life. Cornered by a hunter and its dogs. What was wrong with him?

"Blood frenzy, Yugi. That's what it looks like when it starts out. The vampire will lick one spot for hours or minutes until it determines where the blood is gushing from the most. Then they'll bite. Only…" Atem paused, dropping his head into his hand. He shook his head, dropped the hand, and continued with the explanation. "Only instead of just piercing the top of the vein, they'll bite straight through it. And last, they'll drain you dry."

"That's pretty scary. Why didn't Isis explain it like that? I never would've…with the knives…I'm sorry."

"You had every right to test us, Yugi," Atem said gently climbing back up onto the bed. He used his sleeve to wipe away Yami's saliva from the left side of his neck, before tilting his head to the right. Atem hesitated before leaning down and biting him. He sealed him back up immediately after.

"Why didn't you eat?"

"I was trying to see if I could control it. I can. I have complete control of my thirst."

"Oh, my head," Yami groaned sitting up. "Why'd you hit me so hard?"

"Yami," Atem said in a stern voice.

"I know. I'm sorry. It won't happen again. I swear."

"I'm sorry, but I can't trust that. I will bite him, and you will drink. You will stop when I tell you to, and if you don't, then I will knock you out again. Understood?"

"I'm not 17, Atem!"

"Do you understand me?"

"Yeah, I understand, Pharaoh."

"Good. And don't call me Pharaoh. Ce'mere."

Yami sighed climbing back up onto the bed. He positioned himself by Yugi who would've shrunk back into Atem if he hadn't been holding him in place. Atem leaned down, and bit him. Yami put his lips onto the bite mark as soon as Atem pulled away, and started to suck the blood from Yugi's body. A minute later, and Atem ordered him to stop. It felt, to Yugi, like Atem had just ordered a suction cup to release him. That was how reluctant the removal of Yami's lips were from the open well in his neck.

Atem shook his head, rolling his eyes, before letting his lips cover the same bite mark. He didn't know why he expected him to make a new one. Perhaps it was just what he was used to. Still though, his body was starting to feel weird as Atem took his own pint of blood from his body. He knew it was probably all in his head too. Still though, he couldn't help but feel off balance, like one side was lighter than the other.

Yami rolled his eyes, sliding off the bed to go into the bathroom as Atem pulled away, and sealed him. He slowly cleaned him, as Yami started the water in the bathroom. Atem started to cautiously unbutton Yugi's shirt, pausing after each one to see if he noticed. Yugi was in a daze though, caught up in the thought of half of him being empty, and the other overflowing.

Atem removed the shirt slowly, kissing his neck and back as he did so. His hands moved lower, to his belt, where he slowly undid that and paused. Yugi did nothing though, as he continued to blindly let Atem kiss his neck and back. The belt slid smoothly out of the loops of his pants. Atem undid the button of jeans, and paused again as Yami turned off the water. Yugi was still lost in his own head though. The zipper was pulled down, exposing that the jeans had been too tight to wear anything underneath them.

Yami walked back into the room to see that Atem had gotten pretty far in undressing him. Atem quickly put a finger to his lips, both of them agreeing in that moment not to say a word. Out loud or through the link, any of them might awaken him, and bring him back to the surface. The last place they currently wanted him.

Yami straightened out his legs, and paused. Atem continued to kiss his neck and back. He nodded at Yami. Slowly, almost like torture to the two vampires, the pants came off his body. Yami dropped them onto the ground. They both sat there and stared at their beautiful mate's body.

The bones were no longer visible, hidden beneath soft muscles, and a small layer of fat. Every curve, every line, every scar. That expression on Yugi's face of being lost to the current world. The look that made this possible. Both vampires took all this in in seconds before shredding their own clothes without a single thought put into the actions. Now all three were bare.

Atem slowly shifted, until he had Yugi in his arms, his head flopping back onto his arm. Still, he did not come out of his thoughts. He was completely lost to them. Atem walked into the bathroom where rose petals floated on top of the water, and candles littered about the room all lit. If it wasn't obvious before that they'd been planning this, it was now.

Yami slid into the water, and waited for Atem to climb in with Yugi. Atem already knew he was going to have to be quick. The minute any of his body parts hit that smooth glassy surface of water, he'd be jolted out of his reverie. Then the object of getting him to stay in the water with them would become the real task. Atem stood before the tub a moment longer, looking down at Yami who just nodded. Taking a deep breath Atem climbed in with their delicate load.

Yugi felt a still wetness touch his toes at the same time that it touched his butt. He was awake in seconds, thrashing and trying to get away. The one holding him dropped his legs, and crushed him to their chest. Another body, another nude body, pressed up against him from behind. The thrashing stopped almost as soon as it began though.

There'd been an error, and one that none of them had even stopped to consider. They already knew he'd be dopey from blood loss, hence why they'd planned this for after the feeding, but he was weak from it too. He didn't have the strength to fight back. So instead he sat there whimpering in fear as he had not much choice to do anything other.

"Shh, I'll let you go, but you can't get out," Atem said, "you must stay in the water with us. Okay?"

Yugi only whimpered in response.

"Alright, I'm letting you go now." Atem did as he said, and instead of Yugi trying to bolt, he sunk into the water like a rock. Atem and Yami balked, before Yami was scooping him back into his arms, and putting him at the edge of the tub, on one of the little seats. Then he floated away, to sit by Atem.

Yugi's eyes darted between the two, trying to decipher what their next move would be. They didn't have one. They had simply wanted to be in the same bath water as him. That was their only goal and intention. Well, that and the need of wanting to see him bare before them.

When it became clear that neither was going to do anything, Yugi pushed away from the wall, and sunk down into the water again. Atem was the one scooping him up this time. Yugi looked up at him, and just kissed him. Atem moaned, before gently trying to push him away. Yugi gripped the back of his neck as hard as he could though, keeping him in place. Atem gave into his primal need, and kissed him back.

The kiss between the two was amazing, and it was only when Atem hooked Yugi's legs up around his waist that Yugi freaked out, and pulled away. He fled to the other side of the tub, and watched the two of them again with apprehensive eyes.

"Alright, I get it. Kissing is okay. That is not."

"What'd you do?" Yami asked.

"I hooked his legs up around my waist."

"In the words of Yugi: you are a baka."

Yugi slid over to the side where Yami was, curling up into his side.

"Yes, can I help you?"

Yugi didn't say a word, he just kissed his shoulder. Brushing his lips against his collar bone. Moving to sit in his lap. He kissed up to his neck where he bit down on the vampire, hard. Yami let out a strangled gasp as he did it again, in the same exact spot. Then he sucked, harder than when he bit him. Yami's hands grabbed his sides, and shoved him away with an alarming force.

"Don't…do…that."

"Fine," Yugi agreed, and promptly fell asleep.

[Time skip]

Yugi woke up yawning, snuggled between two bodies. He cuddled up closer to his chest like pillow. Their bare skin rubbing against each other. And just like that, Yugi was wide awake.

He sprung up, waking both occupants of the bed. Yugi drew the covers up to his chest like a maiden caught in bed by her Father. Then he lowered them, and lifted the blankets to look under them.

"Eep!" he slammed the blankets back up to his chest.

"Is something wrong?" Atem asked a hand ghosting his side.

"Wh-what did we do last night?"

"What do you remember?"

"Um, I ate dinner, then you guys ate dinner, and after that there was a bath, but it's very foggy after I got in."

"Just let your imagination run, Yugi, and I'm sure you'll come up with the answer soon enough."

Yugi sprung from the bed so fast neither vampire had even half a chance of grabbing him. He was tripping over the sheets to get away from them. Slamming the second bedroom door shut, he locked it quickly. He ran to the balcony doors, shutting them as well. Looking around, he saw a broom which he put between the handles. There, he was safe.

Turning around, he saw that the main door was wide open. He rushed to it, and looked out. Neither vampire was in the next room, which meant they were in this one. He looked over his shoulder to see Atem leaning against the bedpost, and Yami lounging on the bed.

He ducked out of the second room, shutting and locking the door again. He scrambled into the closet, and shut that door. Shoving the hampers in front of the door, and ripping all of their clothes down to throw them in front of the door too. Anything that would create a hindrance, including the bars themselves was put in front of the door. The only thing he didn't put in front of the door was a long shirt which covered him completely. Curling up into a ball, he hid in the furthest corner of the room. Safe, for two more minutes. If only he'd remembered the most important thing.

The door swung out into the room, and it didn't take Atem and Yami very long to find him in the mess. Both had loose fitted jeans on now. However, they didn't waste any time in getting to their scared mate. Panic and fear, it was coursing over the link like a thick heavy smog. It took some maneuvering, but they ended up in front of him eventually.

"I was teasing, Yugi," Atem sighed.

"No, I'm not ready. No, I'm not ready. No, I'm not ready."

It was the only words they could get out of him. Yami got down on one knee and held out his arms to Yugi. "Ce'mere, Little One."

"No, no sex."

"Alright, no sex. Just come here. Come to me. I'll show you one of the things you did last night."

"I…did?"

"Yes, you."

"What did I do?"

"Well," Yami folded his hands on top of one knee, "first you and Atem made out in front of me. Then when he tried to put your legs around his hips, you freaked out, and shot away from him. Then you came over to me where you sat yourself sideways in my lap, and started to mark me. When I felt a rising pleasure I shoved you away so you wouldn't feel it too. I told you to stop, and you replied with a 'fine', and then fell asleep. That's all that happened last night, I swear."

"No…sex?"

"No. There was no sex."

Yugi sighed, relaxing in relief. There'd been no sex. Good. No sex was good.

"Yugi, can we at least have a road map until your mental state is back at full health?" Atem asked.

"A road map?"

"You know, for what's okay and what's not?"

"I already gave you one. Is it my fault you never listen?"

"Give me your hand," Yami ordered.

Yugi hesitated before putting his hand in Yami's. Yami jerked him to his feet, and led him out of the closet and back into the bedroom. He tossed Yugi onto the bed, and tied him down with nylon before he could even attempt an escape.

"Yami," Atem let off a warning growl.

"I'll show you his road map, since you weren't paying attention."

"He's seizing up in discomfort."

"He'll be fine. I mean him no harm."

"Untie me. Untie me." Yugi begged.

Yami sighed before doing so. That didn't mean he was letting Yugi escape, far from it. He straddled the younger's hips, and laced their fingers together. He held down Yugi's hands.

"Listen to me, Yugi Rida Mutou. You will not move."

Yugi's whole body relaxed, and his eyes went dull. "I will not move."

"Good, now, let's make this quick. Follow my hands, and you'll see what's okay."

Yami flexed his fingers, before removing them from Yugi's hands and down his arms. He touched Yugi's face, neck, and shoulders. He lifted him up, and touched his back. He leant backwards to touch his feet, then he snapped his fingers, and Yugi jerked to attention.

"That's cheating!" Yugi accused the vampire.

"You'll get over it," Yami assured him leaning down to kiss his neck.

"There isn't much room to maneuver about in your diagram, Yami," Atem said sitting down to fondle one of Yugi's bangs.

"And you expected there to be, why?" Yami asked looking up at him.

"Where'd you guys get the nylon from? I don't remember that being in the play box before."

"Um, your sister," Atem said immediately swallowing like he wished they were talking about something else. Anything else.

"Why did she give you nylon?"

"You tell him."

"Oh no, Mr. Light Sleeper, I think you should tell him. Go ahead, tell him that his sister was able to sneak into our room, and strap us down with more than just the nylon without waking either one of us. And on top of that, she sat in his chair, and just waited for us to wake up, before putting us through a vigorous interrogation as to why we made her baby brother cry."

"You make it sound like it was easy for her."

"It looked easy from my point of view when I woke up to your yell of furious cuss words."

"I was taken by surprise!"

"And I commended her for that."

"Yeah, I know. It was embarrassing."

"I imagine so, considering she didn't even use a sedative to do it."

"Well, she wasn't known as one of the best Triple Threats to a vampire for nothing," Yugi put in with eyes wide. He was going to have to put down some boundaries when he saw her again. Only he was allowed to tie them up. And only with chains too. Mmm, chains…

SMACK!

"Ow! What was that for!?" Yugi asked rubbing his cheek.

"If we can't play in the gutter, than your mind isn't allowed to travel to it," Atem whispered. It was he who had slapped Yugi when his mind had started to wander elsewhere.

"When do you think Saki's husband will allow me near her again?" Yugi asked tracing Yami's bellybutton.

"Um, probably around the same time that he forgives you for hurting his best friend," Yami responded looking down at the finger tracing patterns on his stomach now.

"So basically I'm going to have to whine to my sister that I miss her if I want to see her again."

"Yeah, most likely," Atem snorted.

"Or we can distract someone so you can have alone time with her."

"Mm, no, no, I'm good."

"I thought you wanted to see your sister?"

"I do, I just…" he looked away from them.

"Right," Atem nodded pushing up from the bed and going to put on proper clothes. After digging them out of the mess that Yugi had caused of course. And in about five minutes, he and Yami had the whole closet put back together.

"Come, take a walk with us," Yami said offering him a hand.

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"Finals start this week, remember?"

"Oh yes, the dreaded finals," Atem commented.

"Just think, the sooner this week is over the better it is for everybody."

"In more ways than one."

"Want a kiss before I start in on the heavy workload?"

"Love one," Atem responded leaning down to kiss the younger. Yugi pulled away almost as soon as it began though. "Hey!"

"I said one, not two or twenty, Seme Seme."

"I'll show the proper way of handling this, Atem," Yami said grabbing Yugi and dipping him.

"Ah!"

Yami kept their lips connected for a full two minutes before pulling away. He winked at Yugi, who just pouted back.

"Show off," Atem scoffed.

"Well, kissing is my specialty. Would you like me to remind you of that?"

"I'd like to see you try," Atem goaded before running out of the room.

"Hey!" Yami was hot on heels.

Yugi just laughed before getting dressed himself, and then starting on his work. Atem came back in the room to put a plate of breakfast by his elbow before jumping off the balcony. Yami was in the room a second later, and followed him. Yugi sprung up from his seat, and out onto the balcony just in time to see the two running off around the corner. A heart attack. They were attempting to give him a heart attack before his work even began.

Yugi ate in an almost mindless state as he finished up his two of three reports, plus worked on his thesis a little. He couldn't believe he'd actually taken that class for extra credits. He should've just skipped over it. But he'd heard it was an extremely difficult complex class, but in an exciting way. If he ever saw that woman again, he was going to show her an extremely difficult complex thing, which would make even the most pacifist of people excited. Shaking the thought from his head, he got back to work.

Yugi worked hard throughout the rest of the day. He ate anything that was put at his elbow. Including his attempt at the rubber chicken someone had put there trying to prove a theory. He threw it over his shoulder in bewilderment, but the theory had still been proven by Marcus to Konner. Thus the latter found himself forking over twenty to the other.

Yugi payed no attention to the time as he continued to work. It wasn't until about three am that they showed back up in the room. They'd learned quite a while ago that you never came in between Yugi and studying for finals. Yugi was out by then anyway though. Cheek planted on one of his textbooks. One hand holding a pencil to a notebook, the other on the keyboard of his computer. The space button just travelling down on who knew how many pages now.

Atem picked his hand up, and then picked him up. Yami fixed the document, and then saved his work to his flash drive. He saved the rest of the work on the computer to it as well. Then he shut the contraption down. Atem had already packed Yugi's bag up of everything else excluding the computer. Yami handed it to him, and he shoved it in there as well. They did a wide sweep of the room to make sure they had everything, including truck keys, before Atem scooped up Yugi off the bed where'd he put him, and the three of them left to go back to the apartment.

Everyone who knew Yugi knew that the whole world would end if he was even a second late for any of his classes during finals. They weren't exaggerating. That was what it felt like when you were around him after he got out of a class that he'd been late for during finals week. He acted as if they were on the brink of an apocalypse and there was no fixing it.

They put Yugi in his bed, tucking him in like a small child. They couldn't believe how far they'd come with him, and in such a short period of time too. They'd heard stories of how it took some relationships years to rebuild. With all thoughts of being able to get food from the original source of it right out the window. They were so lucky, and they knew it.

"Speaking of food," Yami said sitting down on the bed with his head bowed, "what happens if I can't control it next week? What if I try to drain him again?"

"I will guide you, Yami. Just like when you were young," Atem assured him.

"Promise?"

"Always."

"You know, we promised him that we wouldn't bathe with him until he came to us and asked us to. We broke that promise."

"Well, he didn't seem to mind after the first initial shock."

"We're such impatient fools."

"Ha ha, that's very true."

"This weeks going to be hell."

"Better for us though, since Isis is on our side."

"Ha ha, gotta stay with him for a full week, with no exceptions. I wouldn't exactly call that on our side, more of, for the good of a cause."

"Hm, I suppose. Russia's and Europe's blood banks are getting low again. We should put up another blood drive sometime for them this month," Atem said.

"Don't you mean food drive?" Yami asked.

"Pfft, ha ha, that was the best idea ever."

"Would you two shut up?" a growling voice asked from the bed. Both vampire's heads swiveled around to look at him. Yugi glaring up at them in a very furious way. "My mind needs its beauty sleep. Something which it can't get because people are talking. So either shut up or get out."

"As you wish oh grumpy one."

"It's four am, and I have to get up in three hours. Damn right I'm grumpy!"

Yami stumbled out of the room laughing. Atem just shook his head, and lay down next to Yugi, telling him to go back to sleep.

"Is Yami gonna come back and pick up your conversation where you left it?"

"No, he knows better than to get in between you and your finals."

"About time," Yugi huffed before giving into the suggestion and falling asleep.

Atem shook his head at their young mate. Oh Yugi, if only he knew what he did to them. He was just happy they could have a normal conversation now, and touch him. Now if they could only get to the full stage of kissing that would just be grand. He still pulled away sometimes, but it just couldn't be helped. Atem kissed his forehead, and fell asleep with him.

[Time skip]

Yugi's eyes flickered to the clock again as he started in on the last two problems on his math final. He had 45 minutes left before the time would be up for his final. Each problem took at least 15, so he wasn't terribly worried as he took his time to complete both of them. It was as he was finishing the second one though, that it was like a puzzle had just been solved in front of him.

He looked over the problem again, to make sure he wasn't seeing things. He wasn't. The answer was right here on this piece of paper. Yugi just needed the dynamics, and then he'd have the perfect weapon. Quickly packing up his gear, Yugi checked over his work one more time before rushing to the front to hand in his final.

Yugi rushed out of the room, barely giving his mates a passing glance as he zipped by them and to the library. He didn't have any more classes today, so why did he care? He was going to find the perfect access point using that final problem. Absolutely brilliant!

Taking time to study for both his real finals, and this new solution, was exhilarating for Yugi. And when he discovered the final solution, it was time to put his hypothesis to the test. Yugi looked up at Yami, and ever so slowly, eased himself into the vampire's mind. Yami raised an eyebrow, and all Yugi could hear going through his mind was 'why Yugi was looking at him like that.'

Yugi pushed deeper into his mind, and still no alarms were sounded at the intrusion. He pushed all the way to Yami's memory banks, and chose one at random. He saw an image of Yami using some type of a brush to draw on Seth's and Mahad's faces as they slept at a large table.

Yugi pulled out, almost bursting into laughter at the image. He had to press his lips together, but that didn't stop his ever growing smile from forming. Yami had never sensed him in his own mind. This was a fine piece of gold he'd stumbled upon. Now for Atem.

The unsuspecting vampire, came over to sit by them, and Yugi turned his attention onto him. He set a smoothie in front of Yugi, as the latter started to push into his mind too. Atem made no sign that he ever felt the intrusion. Pushing to his memory banks, he again picked one at random. He really should've picked a different one.

In this memory, Atem was watching Marcus get whipped with a very prickly looking whip. It was ripping flesh off of his back with every stroke it made. Atem looked no more than four or five, as he stared with wide eyes at the scene before him. Yugi pulled from Atem's mind, and stared at him with horror.

"What, Yugi? Why're you looking at me like that?"

"Poor thing. What did he ever do to deserve that?" Yugi asked back before gathering up his stuff to go find his poor roommate. He needed to be babied. He needed a Yugi.

"What did who ever do to deserve what?" Yami asked Atem.

"No idea. Yugi, Yugi, what're you talking about?" Atem asked as they followed his scent deeper into the library to find Yugi hugging Marcus, and crying.

"What's wrong with him now?" Marcus asked as soon as he saw them.

"The pain you must have felt. I can't even imagine. What did you do, Marcus?"

"What're you talking about?"

"When you were whipped. What did you do to deserve such a cruel whipping?"

"Okay, I've been whipped a lot of times, so which one are you referring to?"

"The one with the prickly looking whip."

"That's the only one that was used on me. Need more details here."

"What? Uh, Atem was watching and looked like he was four or five."

"Is he talking about the time when you wandered into the Nile while I was stopping Seth from doing the exact same thing?" Marcus asked looked up at Atem whose eyes were already wide. "Why in Ra's name would you show him that?"

"I didn't," Atem whispered.

"It's okay, Yugi's here. It's going to be all better soon. Don't you worry."

"Yugi, how do you know about that?" Atem asked in a whisper that was even quieter than the first.

"I win," was all Yugi said though.

"Win what?" Yami asked.

"Mind invasion. In and out, just like a ghost."

"Oh, you two are so screwed if he can maneuver about your defenses with that much ease."

Yes, they already knew that. It was the only thing going through their minds right now from what Yugi could detect. He could also detect them trying to build up a better defense system. That wasn't going to work. After all, a ghost can walk through walls, but maybe they didn't know that? Oh well, he wasn't about to be the one to tell them. They'd figure it out for themselves eventually.

[Time skip]

August arrived, and with it the Vampire Gala. They'd breached the kissing hindrance, and Yugi's road map had extended. There were still certain areas that were off limits, but at least they could kiss and touch most of him without much of a fight.

Yugi was fixing one of his daughter's coils of red hair when Atem and Yami came into the room. "The girls said you wanted to talk?" Atem asked.

"Yes, yes I did. I don't think I can do this."

"Yugi, your attendance is mandatory."

"But it's just that…the vampires…most haven't. I can't do this."

"Kids, why don't you go find your Auntie Sakura?" Yami asked them. "And use one of the servant entrances."

"Okay, Daddy! Yes, Yami!" the two ran out giggling and holding hands.

"Now, Yugi, what is this really about?"

"I don't think I can handle so much hatred aimed at me."

"Yami and I will be there every step of the way. No vampire that shows ill intentions towards you will even be able to get close. Plus, all your friends will be there, and so will Sakura. Your guards are on a special alert for anyone offering you a special harm. We've ordered all nine of our most trusted guards to quietly detain anyone who poses even half a threat to you."

"Nine? You didn't."

"Don't be ridiculous," Yami scoffed. "Since you showed up, we were able to divide the number up evenly between the three of us. I have three on my detail, Atem has three on his, and you already know your three quite well."

"Marcus. Samuel. Zane." Yugi said this with no hesitation.

"How did-?" Yami started to ask his eyes bugging out of their sockets. "Never mind. The point is that nothing and no one is going to harm you tonight."

"That number used to be at 20. We've lost a lot of good souls over the years."

"Yeah, it's a shame that people don't care about their honor of being a soldier like that anymore," Yami sighed.

"As for your question, Yami, they're always ordering the others around."

"Right."

"So, do you feel better about going now?" Atem asked.

"No."

"You're still going."

"But I don't want to."

"Don't make me throw you over my shoulder. I assure you, I'd enjoy it far more than you would."

"Hey, Yugi, do you remember that strong persona you had on during the Christmas Eve ball?" Yami asked.

"Where are you going with this?"

"It's just one big show, remember?"

"But…our mind link it-!"

"Was nothing but a whispering wind," Yami interrupted. He took Yugi's head between his hands and cradled it, resting their foreheads together. "Your thought process was strong and committed though. I heard it. I heard that thought. If we were men at all, we would've just told you to not even bother showing up."

"That would've hurt so much more than being able to attend," Yugi whispered back, tears forming in his eyes.

Knock. Knock.

"My Lords, they're all waiting for you. Are you coming?" someone asked opening the door without even waiting for a response.

"We'll be down shortly," Atem said.

"It's already five past the arrival time of the Royal Family."

"Get out!"

The one in the door scrambled away. Seth was replacing him in seconds though. He was adjusting his tie which looked a little loose for some reason.

"Are you planning on coming to the party or not?"

"We're just a little nervous," Yami said standing up straight.

"About what? There's more security in that room than guests."

"You heard him," Yugi said wiping his tears away, and picking up his skirt. "Enough dilly dally, let's go."

"Thanks Seth," Atem sighed clapping a hand on his cousin's shoulder.

"No one's going to touch him. Verbally or physically. He knows that right?"

"We could try convincing him for another 30 minutes, and he still wouldn't understand," Yami sighed.

"Alright, well, I'll see you inside. Oh, fair warning, for some reason Sakura brought handcuffs, and someone heard her say something about attaching her brother to her side tonight."

"Thanks for the heads up."

"No problem."

Seth walked past Yugi at the end of the hall, and into the ballroom. Yami and Atem stood in front of him offering their hands to him.

"Ready?" Atem asked.

"No. But if you need me to; I can smile and play the part."

Yugi took their hands, and tucked them under his arms. They scoffed at this and switched the position of them to around his waist. Yugi leaned his head against Yami's arm.

"Are you guys ready?"

"As we're ever going to be. Come on."

Atem reached out and knocked softly on the door three times. Someone on the other side called for silence, and then announced them as their Royal Highnesses. Which meant that their kids had been noticed unaccompanied by them. Just peachy. The doors opened, and with the help of Atem and Yami, Yugi was able to glide through them. Literally, the two picked him up, as if he couldn't walk, and carried him into the ballroom, and down the stairs.

As soon as his feet touched the ground again, he kicked off the heels, shook off their arms, and walked away. He heard Yami commenting about how the heels were always the first things to go, always. Yugi was busy turning his head this way and that, looking for his best friend to tell him of the undignified way he'd been forced to enter the ballroom in. Someone else found him first though.

A sharp tug on his arm was the only warning he had before something soft and fuzzy was put around his wrist. Looking down, Yugi found it to be one end of a handcuff, following the chains to another wrist, and then up the arm to a face he found his Onee-chan.

"There, and if anyone even attempts at breaking my favorite pair of handcuffs, which my own brother slipped into my suitcase for the honeymoon, I shall have my husband skin them alive."

"As if you can't do that yourself," Yugi laughed, his eyes filling up with tears of joy, as he fell into her, hugging her.

That hug didn't seem to last long enough before someone was tapping him on the shoulder. He turned to find his cousin Heba standing there holding up his own pair of handcuffs. His other wrist was already cuffed to a confused Malik. Yugi just grinned and held out his free wrist. Heba was quick to attach to his own.

"I found all of your friends by the way," Heba said tugging Malik closer so he could give him a one armed hug. Indeed he had too. Attached to Malik was Ryou, him to Otogi, him to Jou, him to Kaiba, him to Mana, her to Penny, her to Serenity, her to Mira, and last to Rebecca.

"Yugi, why?" Rebecca asked.

"Not my idea, but I love it. Let's have a group hug!"

Everyone shrugged but complied. A group hug while handcuffed proved to be a little difficult though. In the end everyone was patting the back of the person next to them.

"By the way, where're all the supernatural Seme's?" Serenity asked.

"What am I? Chopped liver?" Kaiba and Otogi asked at the same time.

"You sure about that, Otogi? I could've sworn…" Malik looked over at Rebecca who was also giving him an odd look.

"The man is always on top!"

"No, not always, I mean just ask Ryou. How many times do you get top again?"

"What happens in my personal bedroom is of no one's concern!" Ryou said in a high pitched voice as his face lit up with a dark red.

"Just let him believe what he wants, Malik," Rebecca waved the fight off. "I'll re-educate him tomorrow."

"Speaking of, when do you plan to re-educate Mahad, Sakura?" Penny asked.

"When he decides to be. Until such a time though, he's been enjoying the comforts of a second rate lumpy couch."

"Sakura, you're supposed to be happy in your marriage."

"I am happy in my marriage. I'm just unhappy with my husband."

"Oh, speaking of marriage, look, Silver proposed!" Penny gushed showing off a stone the color of a blood moon.

"So did Otogi! Took him long enough," Rebecca announced showing off a small diamond, surrounded by even smaller ones.

"Marik did too," Malik said showing them his. Most of them had already seen it. This was more for the benefit of Sakura, Mira, Heba, and Serenity. "We're not getting married until after I graduate though."

"And what exactly do you call this?" Yami asked from behind them.

"A circle, hasn't anyone taught you your shapes yet?" Heba asked in a cheeky voice.

"Heba! Be nice!" Yugi scolded.

"This is me being nice," he argued back.

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement. That was Heba being nice. Yugi just rolled his eyes, scoffing at his cousin.

"No, I meant the handcuffs? And how do you have so many?"

"Well, they're not exactly hard to come by," Malik said. "I mean you can find them in most sex shops, or the toy section of any store."

"Aren't those the same thing though, Malik?" Mana asked.

Everyone started to laugh. Mana had a valid point. If you thought about it from an adult's perspective, they could be considered as the same thing.

"Hey, Mana, Mana!" Marchelle said tugging on the young woman's dress.

"Yes, sweetie?"

"Are you 21?"

"No, I'm 27. Why?"

"Cause Mama told us that sex was a game that you had be 21 years or older to play."

"Did he now?" Kaiba asked with a wicked look in his eye as the rest of them fell over with laughter.

"Yes."

"Well…"

"Kaiba…" Yugi growled.

"You'll find out when you're older."

"Hey, Seto?" Daniel asked.

"Yes, Daniel?"

"I'm older. Can I know the secret?"

"Only if you want your Mother to kill me, and leave your Uncle Jou a very unhappy man."

"Why would I be unhappy?" Jou asked like he was confused. "I have a replacement standing by somewhere around here. One might even say he's your twin in every way."

Kaiba went to smack Jou using the arm connected to Mana, but missed when Jou ducked, making him smack Otogi instead. Rebecca lunged at the werewolf pulling Mira with her. Kaiba hit the deck, pulling Jou and Mana down with him. Rebecca plowed into some innocent bystander. And poor Mira found her legs around Kaiba's neck.

"Group pile!" Malik shouted rolling on top of her. Yugi jumped on top of him.

"Can't have my drinking buddy squashed beneath anyone else." Ryou and Penny joined in on the fun. Sakura and Heba sighed before following suit.

"Guys we're going to get all tangled," Jou complained as his arms were yanked in every direction.

"Well, yeah, that's kind of the point, Jou," Yugi's muffled voice came from somewhere above him.

"What is this?!" Marik shouted from above them.

"A dog pile."

"Hey, Yugi, are you still a good kisser?" Malik asked knowing it would drive his fiancé nuts.

"I've learned a few new tricks, why?"

"Ooo, can you show me?"

"Sure thing!"

"No!" Marik and Yami shouted at the same time pulling one person after the next off of one another in rapid succession. In the process though, they broke every pair of handcuffs.

"I'm sorry, Yami," Yugi said looking at the broken cuff links.

"About what?"

"I'm gonna really miss you," Yugi answered him kissing his cheek.

"Why?"

"You broke her favorite pair, now Atem's best friend is going to have to skin you alive. That's what Saki said she'd do to the one who broke her favorite pair of cuffs. I mean these are the ones I gave her after all."

"You do realize that she'd have a better chance of doing that than Mahad right now, right?"

"Hm, well, I'm sure Atem will avenge you."

"And what about you? Would you avenge me?"

"Um, I don't…I don't know."

"Wait, I can fix this," Sakura said putting a new pair around Yugi's wrist. "Though, to be honest I was hoping one of the other buffoons would break them. Living a peaceful life is so boring."

"What about the fuzzy pair?"

"If they're replaced I can let it slide."

"I'm going to find, Atem. You're in good hands here."

"No, wait, Yami!"

Yugi started to pull Sakura with him through the crowd. He could barely keep up with the vampire, and ended up losing him anyway. When he found him again, he had his head on Atem's shoulder.

"…don't know what you expected," Atem was saying.

"Yami, I didn't…I just don't know."

"Yugi, why're you connected to your sister with a pair of handcuffs?"

"She hasn't found the key yet?"

"I'm afraid I lost it," Sakura said, with the most unbelievable face in the world, "ages ago."

"Uh huh, sure. Can you at least un-cuff him for the dances?"

"Nope! I haven't seen him in almost a year. My side is where he's staying tonight."

"Besides," Yugi added, "you have Yami. I'm sure he'd like your company more than mine anyway tonight." Yugi turned to leave as an arm hooked him around the waist, and pulled him into a firm chest. Lips pressed against his.

Don't you ever dare to think that I'd prefer his company over yours.

Yugi turned his head away from Yami, and rested it on his shoulder instead. Yami sighed, pressing a kiss to his temple. They both heard a small huff behind them, but ignored her.

"Aww, do want a hug too, little sis?" Atem teased grabbing the girl before she could protest.

"I am not your little sis!"

"You're younger than Yami and I, and our sister-in-law. Therefore, by default, our little sis."

"When did you three get married?" Sakura huffed.

All three stiffened. Marriage, it had always been a delicate subject, but even more so now. If there was any topic that Sakura wanted to avoid, it was definitely that one. Yugi started to squirm in Yami's arms. Yami threw a sharp look at Atem, as he unlocked Yugi's cuff at the same time in the exact way he would a door.

"We'll return him in a short bit, Sakura," Atem promised as he and Yami zipped away.

Sakura held up the hand cuff still connected to her wrist. "How did he do that?" she wondered aloud.

"Yugi, Yugi, look at me," Yami was encouraging as the three of them stood just inside of the first row of trees. "It's okay that we're not married, it's okay."

"No it's not. It's not okay."

"Yes it is."

"Why?" Yugi asked finally looking up at him. Crystal like tears were already forming in the corners of his eyes.

"Because we're going to get married when all of us are ready to. Atem and I are definitely not ready for marriage yet."

"But you two are married. To each other."

"Yeah, prematurely. We know better than to make the same mistake with you. There's no such thing as puppy love in a good marriage."

"I don't believe we ever did have puppies in love. We seemed to have skipped over that phase."

"Not the point," Atem said. "We get married when you say so, not before."

"So you're waiting on me?"

"For you. Not on you."

"I knew there had to be a reason why I love you two," Yugi sighed wrapping his arms around Yami's waist.

"So why is Yami the only one who gets a hug?"

"You want a hug? Go ask the little sis for one."

"Yeah, right, she'd come with one of her swords, and a stake."

"Details, who needs them?" Yugi asked looking around Yami at the other.

"Cheeky little imp," Atem said pecking him on the lips. "Come on, we have guests to fraternize with."

"And a sister to return me to."

"You're crazy," Yami scoffed taking a step, and being put on his back as Sakura put the cuff around Yugi's wrist again.

"You were saying?" Sakura asked Yami looking down at him.

"Ow?" Yami replied sitting up and rubbing his back.

"You alright?" Atem asked looking like he was trying to not laugh. Yugi had no such restraints, as he was bent over doing just that.

"Come, Yugi, I have some people I want to introduce you to," Sakura said pulling him into the crowd of people who were starting to swarm the hurt Queen.

I'll see you guys later.

The people she wanted him to meet turned out to be ex-hunters like herself. Yugi was surprised at how many there were. She had to of introduced him to at least 20 before Atem was demanding that he be released for the first dance.

Yugi just watched amused as weapons appeared from everywhere to be pointed at the vampire. Sakura and Atem never noticed the danger. Or maybe they did, and just didn't care? The latter was more likely. In the end an arrangement was made.

Yugi laughed, as he, Yami, Atem, and Sakura all danced together. It was even more interesting because of the handcuffs. Atem and Yami made it work though, the dancing lasting longer than it was supposed to because they didn't want the joy on Yugi's face to die.

"Sakura," Luke grabbed her arm as soon as they were off the dancefloor. "That vampire, the one who demanded your brother, he's very odd. He didn't even flinch when we pulled weapons on him."

"Uh, and you expected him to why?"

"He's a vampire demanding a human."

"One: he's the King of Vampires. Two: my brother is not just some human to him. Three: he's mated with him, and the other vampire over there. The Queen? Four: if you ever threaten him again, I'll be more than happy to stand out of the way and see what the Queen does to you, Luke. You may be a Hunter, but you're so stupid."

"Hunter? I thought he was an ex-hunter?" Yugi asked.

"Oh no, I was introducing you to every idiot here. The ones that didn't believe me when I told them that the Organization doesn't look after its own when they opt out of service. It kills them."

Luke huffed and stormed away from them.

"Saki," Yugi sighed.

"The ex-hunters are over there by, Heba," Sakura said pointing. Yugi looked in the direction of her finger, and after someone moved, saw about eight people over by one of the tables of food and drinks. "Where he's succeeding in getting them all drunk."

"Aw, did he spike the punch?"

"Yes, which is why he keeps grabbing cups from small hands, and directing them to another bowl at the other end of the table."

"Smart man. He knows I'd let Atem and Yami manhandle him if he got my kids, or any of the other ones, even buzzed."

"So, now that we've all watched the grand dance between the King, Queen, and Prince. Can we crash the Gala?" Malik asked swinging an arm around his shoulders.

"Let's do it," Yugi said as he fist bumped Malik.

"Have fun, and try to create as much chaos as possible," Sakura said pulling the key out of her hair and unlocking the cuff on her wrist.

"Don't we always?"

"I've got the tracks. Where's the boom box?" Jou asked appearing in front of them.

"Kaiba's successfully hotwired the speakers," Ryou said excitedly as the brunette came up shaking his head.

"How did I get wrapped up into this again?"

"You're the most tech savvy of the five us," Malik said.

"It's behind the main chair. I'll get them away from it," Yugi said running up to his mates, and pulling them away from the main area giving Jou clear access to the stereo.

"…And so I told her that I missed you guys with my best puppy pout."

"Liar," Yami said with narrowed eyes. "Now, how did you really get unchained?"

"Well, I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you. That would make me a very lonely man, Yami."

Atem gave off a light laugh to that before bending down to Yugi's eye level, his hands in his pockets. "What're you really up to?" he asked before the music cut off suddenly, like the needle of a record was taken off of it.

"Not again," Yami said as Atem stood back up. Yugi just laughed as he skipped over to his friends as Eminen's Without Me came on.

The kids were ushered out to the Prince's Game room by the staff as the party was about to get inappropriate. There they'd find a wide array of every snack they could ever want, as well as movies, and games.

Atem and Yami shook their heads as several dresses went flying, revealing different outfits underneath them. Yugi was wearing skin tight black jeans, a white button down sleeveless shirt, and a black vest over it. Malik was wearing low riders, with a dark blue cotton tee. Jou had on a golden long sleeved shirt, black leather pants, and a black vest. Ryou hadn't needed to change besides taking off his pants that apparently had Velcro on the sides. He had on skinny blue jeans, and a brown cotton tee.

Other outfits appeared, like Sakura wearing a pleated plaid skirt, and an open back shiny purple shirt. Heba had simply lost his coat, and unbuttoned a few top buttons of his shirt to reveal a low hanging golden necklace. Kaiba just lost his coat and vest, wearing only his button down black shirt, and black slacks. Quite honestly, from the people they could see, everyone looked hot.

"Olivia," Atem sighed as the girl appeared at his elbow, "I assume from your face you had no idea about this?"

The girl looked so insulted, it would've been stupid to think she had anything to do with it.

"Hmph! That's why he put it on without a fuss. Can you believe this?! All of my hard work is being danced on!"

"Then go get it," Yami suggested as Yugi tried calling them forwards with a single finger.

Both vampires shook their heads. It had bad idea written all over it. Especially with the way he kept twirling his hips like that. Yugi shrugged, and turned back to the group. Pushing himself between Malik, and Penny. Penny was wearing a black mini skirt, and a blood red low cut shirt that framed every single curve on the girl's torso.

"Are you really going to let him dance with those people like that?" a man they'd recently put in power over a colony in Germany asked. His name was Gunter.

"Yes," they both answered at the same time.

"Why?"

"Because he's happy. Can't you see that big grin on his face?" Yami asked.

"But I don't see why he should be when he's not dancing with either one of you. And the manner in which he's dancing is so vulgar."

"Oh that? No, that's nothing," Atem laughed. "You should see this lot when they're drunk. Now that's vulgar."

"Yes, Yugi and his best friend Malik will start making out. Ryou strips. Jou transforms into his wolf form, but still tries to dance like a human on his hinds legs. Never seen Kaiba drunk, so we can't tell you what the CEO does. Penny, Rebecca, and Mana start dancing in way that even a sworn gay man can find attractive. Otogi starts fights, and usually finishes them. Serenity just started to drink, and while this lot did try to get her smashed this summer; she stubbornly refused to follow in their footsteps of making a fool of herself." Marik explained all of this as he came up behind them to throw an arm around his best friend, Yami. They'd reconciled their friendship, and Marik explained his reasoning for dropping his support in the first place. Yami had smacked Malik upside the head at the first opportune moment that he'd had.

"And what about the ex-hunters? Sakura and Heba?" Gunter asked.

"Sakura and Heba?" Marik asked. "You're joking right? They help in getting others drunk, but they don't actually participate in the act. You know what they say about old habits right?"

"That they die hard?"

"Yep, that's the one."

"Is he trying to get us to jump him?" Yami asked as he watched Yugi try to tempt them into dancing with him again.

"His plan is going to fail," Atem said turning his head away.

"Yami, come on, dance with me," Yugi said throwing his arms around the vampire's neck. "You don't have to grind if you don't want to, just dance with me."

"I don't think it's a good idea," Yami whispered.

"Aw, why not?"

"Have you taken a look at yourself recently?" Atem asked.

"Oh, you don't like the outfit?"

"No, that would be the problem. We do like it. Tis very pleasing to the eye. Which is why you're just better off dancing with your friends." Atem helped to pry Yugi's arms off of Yami's neck.

"But I want to dance with you." Yugi pouted, and put his hands on his hips.

"Yugi, we're going to end up jumping you if we do that," Yami sighed.

"But I want to dance with you," Yugi whined grabbing Yami's hand and tugging on it.

"No, Yugi, it's a bad idea."

Atem started to laugh. Both looked at him. Yami looked completely baffled, while Yugi was trying to fight down a grin.

"Aw, how cute," Atem cooed.

"What're you talking about?"

"Yami, he wants to dance with you. I think you should indulge him."

"What?"

"Go on! Dance for me!" Atem said giving the vampire a small push.

"Yay!" Yugi cheered using the small momentum to drag the vampire off into the crowd.

"What was that about?" Seth asked coming over to stand by them.

"I just noticed that whenever Yugi said he wanted to dance, he was grabbing onto Yami. He didn't even touch me. And before, when he was calling what I thought to be us with his finger, he was only looking at Yami when doing so."

"That's because you're the steel, and Yami the rubber. He's manipulated easily."

"Hm, well I can't disagree with that. The things Yugi's been able to convince him to do in the past year alone are a testimony of it."

"Not to mention the things you've been able to convince him to do," Seth added slyly.

"Oh, shut up," Atem responded giving him a light shove. "Did you find Mahad by the way?"

"I talked to Sakura, and she said that he was being a self-righteous pompous butthead. I'm pretty sure her words would've been far less kind had her niece and nephew not been hanging on her at the time."

"Right. So he's in their room?"

"No, he's at their house in Hokkaido. Or at least that was my impression when she told me 'if he wants to sulk about a bunch of empty rooms instead of joining in the grand festivities, she was going to let him.'"

"Um, right. I'll make sure to visit him at some point, and remind him that he has duties."

"That'll do no good. He'll just bring up Yugi's. The ones he's been neglecting."

"Can you blame him? Anytime he steps into the throne room, the temperature drops by 50 degrees, and the air becomes so thick with tension, it's hard for us to even breathe in it."

"Besides that, he signed away his rights to participate in the meetings. Something about how he had enough trouble to deal with, and he hardly needed any more," Marik added.

"I burned that piece of paper at my first available opportunity."

"Atem! Save me!" Yami cried flying at the vampire from out of nowhere.

His appearance had drastically changed. He was missing his jacket, his shirt had no buttons and was untucked, and he had a bite mark on the left side of his neck.

"Conga line, Yami! Conga line!" Mana shouted as she ran towards him.

"They're cannibals. All of them, cannibals."

"Oh my, Yami, what's happened to you in the past ten minutes, huh?" Atem asked wrapping his arms around his mate. "And this looks like Yugi's bite mark, no one else's."

"You're so predictable, Yami," Yugi sighed squeezing in between him and Atem.

"I am not."

"Things start to get a little heavy so you run to our Seme for protection."

"They were trying to tear off my clothes."

"No, my friends were being friendly. You said you were hot. They were trying to help you become less so."

"No, I said you were hot. So damn hot," Yami purred before capturing the younger in a searing kiss.

Without caring who was watching, Atem placed his hands on Yugi's hips, and leaned down to suck on his neck, hard. Yugi moaned, tilting his head slightly to give Atem more room. How long had they waited for this moment? For Yugi to let them openly love him like this. How long had they craved it?

Yami gripped his waist tighter, knowing he was going to leave bruises, but didn't care. He wanted this. They wanted this. They wanted him. Writhing, squirming, and panting beneath them.

Yugi's eyes flew open. With an amount of strength that no one knew he had, he placed a hand on both of their chests, shoving them a good two feet away from him. He dropped to his knees, wrapping his arms around himself, as if to defend from an unknown enemy.

"No, no, not that. I don't want that. I don't want it," Yugi cried rocking back and forth. "I just wanted to dance. I just wanted to dance. I don't want that. I just want to dance. Why can't we just dance?"

"So, let's dance already if that's what you want to do!" Atem yelled grabbing his hand and dragging him out onto the dance floor. I'll be by Your Side by Cathy Heller was just coming on. It didn't take long for Yugi to start smiling and laughing again.

The people around them though, were acting differently. The ones who knew what had happened on the plane ride looked away, down to the ground as if ashamed. Seth, Malik, Marik, Isis, Molly, Jou, and Seto all had their heads bowed. Yugi's family and friends who didn't know a thing, drew closer to him, eyes narrowed in confusion. The rest backed away, eyes wide in both fear and confusion.

"Hey, what's going on?" Ryou demanded grabbing Malik's arm and turning him to face him. "Why did Yugi react like that? I thought he was all better? All healthy again?"

"He is," Molly answered, before Malik could say anything, "at least as much as he physically can be. Those two they…they…" but not another word came from her as she burst into tears. Isis appeared at her side, and drew her into her arms. The two vanished in the time it took for the human eye to blink once.

"They what?!" Heba demanded.

"Malik! Yugi tells you everything. He's your best friend, and from that look of guilt and shame on your face I'd say you know something! Out with it!" Sakura yelled at him.

"It's just like Atem said, 'you know when you're doing something stupid, and you know it's stupid but do it anyway? Despite any repercussions that may occur from your actions?' That is what they did, Sakura, something so incredibly stupid I sometimes still can't compute that they actually went through with it."

"That doesn't answer my question," she growled.

"I don't care. It's not my story to tell, and I won't betray my best friend's trust!" Malik shouted back, before looking over at Marik. He lifted his head slightly to show he was listening. "Marik, I want to go home!" A brush of wind, and Malik was gone.

"Jou?" Ryou asked looking at the werewolf.

"Kaiba." Rebecca demanded.

"We found out by accident. Leave us out of it," Jou answered for them both before they too left the party. Seth was quick to follow after them.

The song ended, and Atem put Yugi back on his two feet. As soon as he took stock of his surroundings though, the smile fell off his face.

"Hey, where'd everybody go?" Yugi asked as he took in some of his closest friends, and family glaring at him.

"Yugi, I thought you said you were all better?" Ryou accused with his hands on his hips.

Yugi gulped, before looking down at his feet. "I am physically fit."

His friends and family sighed, looking down themselves. He didn't need to say another thing. They knew the stupid thing that'd been done already. Something with his mind. It was stopping him from trusting them 100%. It would continue to do so too, until they found a way to fix it.

"But what're you guys getting so down for, huh?" Yugi asked looking back up with a giant grin. "This is a party! You should be enjoying it! Oh! Valon!"

"Huh?" the guy asked turning at his name before an excited ball of human crashed into him.

"Thank you!" Yugi said excitedly looking up at him his chin resting on his chest.

"You're welcome!" he said back automatically before frowning, "for what?"

"Teaching them to all about the modern world." Yugi pointed behind him in the general direction of his mates. "You saved the rest of us the trouble."

"Oh, that," he laughed uneasily.

"It couldn't have been easy. But I do wonder about one thing." Yugi let go of the vampire. "Just how high was that electric bill?"

"I wouldn't know. Before I got the bill, they blew up the house."

"Well, how did they know it was going to affect your motorbike like that?"

"Oh really? What else have they shown you?"

"The lightbulb in the hotel room. What did they do to the elevator?"

"Imagine this Little One, we're at the top of the new Empire State building in the elevator, and those two idiots wanted to know what the cables were for. So they started to play with them. One second we're sky high, the next one has me around the waist, and the other is blasting a hole through two sets of elevator doors rushing by us. We got out on the fifth floor, and the elevator hit the ground with a nasty ka-boom noise on the basement level. I haven't been back since."

"Huh, I wonder if that's why they're afraid of heights?"

"Oh, Yugi, that's exactly why they're afraid of heights."

Yugi doubled over with laughter. When he had calmed down slightly, he looked back up at Valon. "You should see them when I take them on rollercoasters. I don't think I've ever heard them scream so loud and high since."

"Hey!" they both shouted behind him.

"Hm, I think I understand it now. Why I sometimes heard Yami say he felt lonely, even in Atem's company. Why Atem would look around with a sad look in his eyes as happy couples passed them on the street. They were both waiting for you to show up. A love that neither of them deserved, but needed so very much."

"Ugh! Why does everyone always say that? Can't any of you see how much of spoiled selfish brat I am?" Yugi demanded just barely stopping himself from stamping his foot.

Vampires, both young and old, burst into laughter all around him. Yugi looked from one to the next in anger. Why did no one understand?

"I ran away, and told no one where I was going!" Yugi shouted dropping to the ground again. All laughter ceased. "I never even said when I'd be back! If I came back at all! I've chained your King and Queen to my side over the past several months just so I didn't feel alone! Feel abandoned again. I've been denying them the right to mate with me. I know they'll eventually use force. It'll be the only way by then. Why does none of this make me a spoiled selfish brat?"

"Spoiled? That you definitely are. Especially since you're attached to those two," a new voice broke through the crowd. The person followed the sound to the front of it. "They'll do anything just so they don't have to see you cry. Bratty? Sometimes, when it suits you. You're still young though, so I suppose it should be expected," Mahad's feet stopped right in front of him before he knelt down offering a single hand to help him up. Yugi refused to take his Brother-in-Law's hand. "Selfish? No, no one with even half of a brain could call you that. Not even me. You were doing what you had to to survive."

Sakura came up, and wrapped an arm around her Husband's waist. She kissed his cheek and whispered something into his ear. He closed his eyes, and nodded. Then he kissed her forehead and walked away.

"Besides, it's not like any of us were exactly helping," Valon put in. "I mean, it seemed like this whole fight between you three was a team's game. Atem's, Yami's, or Yugi's. There was no even ground. It was a game that no one was winning."

"What I want to know is how he can claim to be physically fit, when clearly his little breakdowns say differently," another man asked stepping forwards and throwing an arm around Valon's shoulders.

"Hey, Tyson. Didn't think you were showing up this year?"

"I was told my presence was obligatory, not optional."

"Some friends we have, eh?"

"Indeed."

"It was mental," Isis said.

Yugi looked up at her, his mouth hanging open as he couldn't believe that she'd just divulge that information to the whole world. It was also then that he noticed she hadn't. The ballroom was empty of all, but the ones that they knew personally.

"How was it mental?" Ryou demanded.

"They abused the mind link. They tarnished its purpose," Yugi answered dropping his head into his hands.

"But they accuse you of doing that all the time. Or at least they used to."

"Ryou, that was me sending suggestive images of myself, or lewd comments over the mind link while they were having meetings. Mostly to entertain them, or else to just get them all hot and bothered under the skin."

"So how did they abuse it?"

"They…" Yugi paused to draw his knees up to his chest, and wrap his arms around them. He looked over at his mates, and Yami offered open arms to him. Yugi looked back down at the ground. "They put me in a sort of trance. Halfway between sleep and wakefulness. Atem allowed me to feel pain, and extreme discomfort. Yami…he just added onto the discomfort."

"Okay, that tells me nothing. How did they do that, Yugi?"

"No, I can't talk about it. I can't. Ask Malik. Ask anyone else. I don't want to talk about it."

Yami was there, wrapping his arms around him. Yugi didn't even think about it, he just leaned into the man, crying in the crook of his neck.

"Well, it seems you've done some work on the mental state," Akeifa said in a harsh voice as he grabbed Ryou's hand and led him away. Ryou fought, trying to get away from him, so Akeifa just switched his hold, and threw him over his shoulder instead.

"Atem! Come walk with me!" Aknamkanon ordered.

"Yami, you take care of him, and I'll be right back," Atem said in a resigned voice. He may be King of the Vampires, but Aknamkanon was still his Father. In Atem's book, the man was almost like the law itself. He followed his Father outside.

"You know, I'm surprised he hasn't asked the question that they all do," Marcus wondered out loud stepping forwards.

"Which would be what?" Tyson asked.

"Why didn't they know what electricity was before Valon became their food source?"

"Oh," they all said before looking down at Yugi. That was a good question. Everyone asked that one. Most particularly in a way that made the Leaders of the Vampire race sound very stupid.

"Um, wasn't it because they just came out to the human population again in 1928?" Yugi asked. He was sure, when he'd done some research on the subject some years back, that that was the reason behind why there was so much conflict between the vampires and human race during that time period.

By the time that it had gotten to his time period, all of that had been swept under the rug, as if it had never happened. Vampires and Werewolves existed among them. That was just the way it was. Honestly, what more did they need to know?

"I remember that," Yami sighed.

"Didn't they try to force the Jim Crow laws on you?"

"Separate but equal my ass."

"But, hey, didn't the ones trying to push it through just vanish one night?" Tyson asked.

"Yes, yes they did," Yami said. "Of course people were pointing fingers at us, but because the bodies were never recovered they had no proof we were involved. Not to mention that every vampire in the area had an air tight alibi that night."

"I still think some wild wolves took care of them," Bakura put in sitting on the ground next to Yami. "I mean, just the way that they vanished like that. And with Akeifa thinking about coming out of hiding too, they were threatening to us."

"One of the best times the Kings of both races has ever worked together."

"Poor Valon though," Valon put in, "caught in the crossfire of three powerful races. That poor soul, it was no wonder as to why he ran away the night before the first Gala. Caught a chill, and almost died. It was only by the grace of the lovely Isis that he survived."

"Well, perhaps if Valon hadn't of runaway on the night of that hail storm, he wouldn't have caught a chill," Yami responded with narrowed eyes. "And let's not forget the time he ran straight out into traffic. He had to be transformed, or he would've died from that one. Dying was something that he didn't want to do. He practically begged two vampires to transform him."

"That was a hellish year," Akhnadin said. "Two years into the Treaty, and you lost your food source of only three years."

"Hm, well, at least he taught them about electricity and its functions," Yugi sighed laying his head down on Yami's shoulder.

"No, don't fall asleep on me, Yugi," Yami said moving him so he was sitting upright. "You're a host to this thing too, so no sleeping."

"But you're so comfy," Yugi argued trying to lay his head back down.

"I don't care. You need to stay awake for once."

"Not a vampire."

"I'm not accusing you of being one."

"You're losing him," Valon teased.

"Shut up! No, Yugi, no sleeping."

"Sleep good for human," he mumbled back shifting so his head was against Bakura's thigh.

"Do I look like your personal pillow Shrimp?"

"You would be if you transformed."

The whole place roared with laughter successfully jerking Yugi from his half asleep state. Bakura shoved him over to Yami. He was the only one trying to hold back his laughter. He was only just managing it. He looked over to where Atem and his Father had disappeared to.

"Geez, what's taking them?"

[With Atem]

"So, from what he just described to everyone, I can only assume that you assaulted him in some way, but used the mind link to do it. Are you insane? Are you trying to making your bond with that sweet blooded human irreparable?"

"No, of course not!"

"Then what were your intentions exactly."

"Armistead, he was goading us that we had no control over him. That we were worthless leaders if we let one human boss us around."

"And you listened to his mockery because? And is this the same Armistead whose heart burst several months back?"

"Yes, it is. And I don't know. But the more he spoke, the more agitated we became."

"Why did you kill him? He was mocking you. You had no grounds or rights to kill him."

"He gave us one. He called Yugi a pet. A Pet, Father. I know I explained to you what happened with Sarugaki. He treated Yugi like a pet, and I don't know, something snapped in Yugi. He screamed at a vampire he didn't even know, and flew at him, hitting him in the chest, and on the jaw. Armistead stupidly returned the punch to Yugi's own jaw, breaking it."

"Hm, well, even I'll admit that was stupid. It was almost like he was trying to get a reaction out of him."

"Well, it worked. He still amazes me. As soon as the words left Yami's mouth, he tried to push Yugi aside so he could take revenge. I think Yugi momentarily forgot he had two mates, instead of just one. He pinned Yami to the ground as he tried to stop him from hurting Armistead. I'd already had my hand inside his chest, crushing his heart, and pulling it back out just as Yugi was shouting out the word 'no'. Oh, the pain it must have caused him to even speak."

"So generous that one," Aknamkanon said in awe. "To defend an enemy as if they were a friend. That takes a tremendous amount of courage and sacrifice."

"That was a minor repercussion," Atem chuckled.

"What was?"

"When we came back, our prisoners, the ones we were going to execute for beating him within an inch of his own life, they were missing from the cells. We tracked down the guards first, and they just said words like Prince and super scary."

"Yugi? Scary? Sure."

"Anyway, we sought out Mahad next. He listened to our complaints, and then just laughed; saying only one other person in the whole world could possibly contain that much compassion as to release them from the inevitable."

"There were three right? How on earth did he do it?"

"We still don't know how he moved about the Palace without a single person spotting him. Not even his guards saw him slipping through the halls. They saw him headed towards the high tower, and left it at that. They said they never imagined he'd let them go."

"Why though? Why would he deprive you of your revenge and justice?"

"It was like I told Armistead, you know when you're doing something and you know it's stupid but can't seem to stop? Despite any repercussions that might ensue should you continue? I guess he took that to mean that we wanted one. So he gave us one. One he knew we wouldn't like."

"Minor repercussion, yeah I see what you mean," Aknamkanon said looking away as he folded his hands behind his back. The two had stopped walking, and were just talking at they stood amongst the trees of the forest. "So, tell me how long it took before you were able to touch him again? Kiss him, as you did?"

"It took until May until we could touch and hold him without him flinching or trembling. The middle of this month before we were able to kiss like that again, without him pulling or turning away. How is that relevant?"

"He has an amazing recovery time."

"Father."

"Right, so you're almost at the point where you could possibly bed him again."

"No, we're not even close. Any insinuation at all of even seeing him bare before us has him running off to hide. We have to watch every word we say unless we want him pushing us away, or taking off himself."

"I see, so it's that kind of mental strain. His body reacts to you like he wants your every touch, but his mind bats it away in fear of being taken advantage of. There's no way around it then, you're going to have to seduce him into your bed."

"No, absolutely not. We shouldn't have to seduce our mate into bed with us."

"Your right, you shouldn't. But Atem, from what I can see, he's not acting like he's your mate. He's acting more like someone who's being courted by you both."

"If we continue to be nice and gentle he'll come on his own."

"Hm, what if you tried to draw out the Instinct again?"

"What do you mean?"

"Get its opinion on the manner."

"No, it makes Yugi feel weak to be taken control of like that."

"Alright, how about a compromise? If you can get him into your bed to finish re-completing the bond by the end of the year, I'll admit that I was wrong. If you can't, then you take him on your two week trip with you, and seduce him the entire time you're overseas. Stay only at your friend's houses so you can have more privacy too."

"Are you insane!? We're constantly surrounded by crowds! We could lose him in a second!"

"I never said take him everywhere, just have him with you on the trip. Leave people to watch him at your friend's houses, and at night, seduce him. He's a human, how hard can it be?"

"No, he's not just a human, Father. He's our human. Very clever, sharp tongued, generous, compassionate, and releases a mouthwatering aroma every time he moves. We've caught more vampires looking at him with desire than we'd care to admit to."

"Very clever? How so? I mean I know he's good at puzzles and math, but how bad can it really be? This cleverness of his?"

"Let me put it this way for you. He found a way, sometime in May, around his finals, to slip in and out of our minds undetected. Not only that, but past our inner most barriers. He suddenly had information about us that we never even shared with one another. He babied an unamused Muhtaram for three days after he saw that you had him whipped with a thorn whip for letting me toddle off into the Nile when I was four."

"That was millennia's ago."

"Like I said, an unamused Muhtaram."

"How did he manage it? As the rulers of your race, you should have the strongest mind barriers. Nothing should be able to slip in and out of them like that."

"We know, but even though we tried to reinforce them, he still manages to get through undetected. Nothing is sacred anymore. Our minds are just as open to his as his is to us. He said he'd be more than happy to stop if only he could rebuild the rooms we knocked down in his own mind."

"What was your answer to that?"

"Yami said that that sounded fair, if we could get sex for compensation. Didn't see him for days."

"How did you find him?"

"Oh, he came back, didn't have much of choice by then. TU had closed down for the summer."

"Ha ha, leave it alone and it shall come home wagging its tail behind them."

"So, what're you going to do about your current problem?"

"Do as we have been. He'll come around, you'll see. And then you'll have to admit you were wrong."

"If you're so sure. By the way, it's getting late. Shouldn't you be putting him in that bed by now?"

"If he's not already using Yami as one," Atem chuckled. "The man can sleep in the strangest of positions."

[Back to Yugi]

"I don't care. You're hosting this party too," Yami said with a huff as he pushed Yugi off of him again.

"But I love you."

"Yes, I know you love using me as a bed, but I'm not one."

"You make a better pillow anyway," Yugi responded putting his head against his collarbone again.

"No, Yugi, we're dancing, not sleeping," Yami said stepping away from him and twirled him outwards.

"But it's going on two am."

"Hosting a party."

"I thought it was a Gala?"

"It was, and then someone changed the music making it into a party."

"Hm, want to do a slow song?"

"No. You'll just use it as an excuse to step on my feet, lean your head against my shoulder, and before I know it, I'll be the only one doing all the dancing."

"So you do learn from the past! Amazing."

"Oh be quiet, you little smart aleck," Yami reprimanded while gently flicking his nose.

"Want to dance to our song?"

"Our song?"

"Hm."

"Sure."

"Okay." Yugi nodded at one of the vampires, who looked completely baffled. Samuel laughed and went to turn Hold Me Now on by Red.

This was how the two found them when they came back in through the terrace doors. Yugi and Yami dancing in the middle of the ballroom, and everyone else just watching. Well, Yami was doing most of the dancing, while Yugi was attempting at becoming a dead weight on him.

"Alright, fun's over. Everyone go home," Atem ordered.

"My hero!" Yugi shouted shooting away from Yami and straight into Atem's arms.

"Heh, did the other vampire force you to stay awake so he wouldn't be hosting alone?" Atem asked scooping him up.

"The other vampire is mean."

"Ha ha ha, get some rest, Yugi."

"You're awful," Yami said with a playful glare as appeared at their side. Yugi was already out, he was so tired.

"Do you think we should still use seduction on him?" Atem asked from seemingly nowhere.

"Huh? Uh, yeah, I do."

"Maybe we should ask that little instinct of his."

"What's brought this on?"

"My nosy Father. He thinks we should use seduction on Yugi to get him into our bed too. He also suggested drawing out Yugi's Instinct to ask it of its opinion."

"That might be a little hard seeing as he's already asleep."

"I'm not so sure. It actually might be easier. It definitely won't have to fight Yugi for control. It can just commandeer the vessel to talk to us."

"Excellent plan. So, how're you going to execute it?"

"What?" a dead bored voice asked from Atem's arms. Both vampires looked down to see dull glazed over eyes looking up at the two of them. "You're right by the way. It's far easier than when he's awake."

"Uh, we wanted your opinion on a little matter we're having difficulties with."

"Aren't you ever? I tell you to follow your instincts, and what do you do? Go against the very grain of them."

"Right, so should we use seduction on him, or go about it in the way we have been. Wait for him to come to us?"

"Oh, he'll come to you."

"He will?" Yami asked in surprise.

"Yes, around the same time that he stops protecting his enemies. He'll come to you then."

"We don't have a choice then, do we? We have to use seduction to get him into bed with us," Atem sighed, as the instinct tried to get out of his arms. Atem set it down.

"I'm not sure what ever made you think you didn't."

"He's our mate! We shouldn't have to resort to such cheap tricks as seduction anymore!"

"Is he now?" it was the first real emotion they'd ever seen flitter across the Instinct's face. Surprise. "I'm shocked to hear you claim that. I haven't seen any proof of this since you messed up so badly I had to bury myself deep into his system just so you could try to fix the mess you made. No, Atem…Yami, he's not your mate. He hasn't been for quite some time. Almost a year now. You have until the end of January to fix this problem. If it's not done by then, then the bond will be severed and he will die. This will be my last form of help. Don't ask me for anymore."

The Instinct closed Yugi's eyes, and he started to fall. Yami shouted in surprise, and caught him before he hit the ground. Yugi shifted against him slightly, "it's just a little hill. Don't be such a baby."

They both had a sudden image of a 100 foot drop on a rollercoaster in their minds, and guess who was on it with Yugi? Yami actually started to contract sweat on his brow as the ride started to move up the first incline. There were three that they could see before it reached the 100 foot drop. Atem and Yami gave each other a single look of dread before taking him back to their room. Their kids were already tucked into the bed of the bedroom that was attached to theirs.

"So, seduction it is," Atem sighed moving one of Yugi's bangs.

"I know you really didn't want to use, Atem," Yami said leaning his head against his shoulder.

Atem wrapped an arm around Yami's waist, drawing him closer. "How about a bath to relax us?"

"Okay, but I'll do my own washing. It's considered very bad if anyone but myself touches me in certain places," Yami teased.

"Oh, and if I did touch you in one of these certain places just what would you do to your Pharaoh, hm?"

"Tell Isis of course, you're scared of her."

"Come on, I really do need to relax."

"Okay. You go prepare it, and I'll be along as soon as I can get us off this hellish ride he's putting us through."

"Nah, leave him. He needs a good dream after what he went through tonight. It will be his last for a while anyway."

"You think we'll give him nightmares?"

"No, just wary to come to bed."

---

Yes, I did change some of the words in the song How by Maroon 5. Not exactly sure if any of you noticed that, but for those who did, I shall admit to it. Thank you to everyone who have/are favorited/following this story. Also, thanks to everyone who reviewed Guest and User alike. Please review! Midnight ;p