Author's note: I UPDATED FASTER THIS TIME, WHOOOOO. *victory dance*
Thanks for all the lovely reviews~! Almost at the 150 mark aisdfuhjdaksfdas
Warning: beware of the fluff at the end. *whistles innocently*
A few days had gone by and it looked like things were slowly getting back to normal. Yugi had called Yami last night to tell him it was finally time to record the single and texted him the address and the other required information.
The stupid part was that it was currently six in the morning as Yami was on his way to the recording studio. Although it was summer, it was still dark and there was no one outside. Not even a single person walking down the street, or some bird tweeting in the trees.
Yami couldn't remember the last time he had gotten up this early; he wasn't even fully awake yet because his eyelids felt incredibly heavy and he could barely focus on the road. On top of that, a thousand thoughts were spooking around his head, making it even harder to concentrate on anything else in the outside world.
There was still a bit of tension between him and Mana since that conversation they had. They hadn't really talked about it, because Mana was notably shopping every single day and telling him she had had lunch and dinner already so they wouldn't have to eat together. Yami wasn't mad at her, he simply didn't know how to approach the subject and apparently, she didn't want to talk about it at all.
Not only that, but there was also the fact that Yugi had told him all about the fight between him and Jounouchi, repeating his exact words, which had hit Yami right in the face. According to Jounouchi, Mai was the better offer since she had better vocal control than him and he would have picked her over him. Yugi hadn't realized until last night when he mentioned it in that text, telling him he was sorry.
That was all it was; an apology. Not something along the lines of, "I'm so sorry. He didn't mean it. You were our choice and we're going to stick to that."
He didn't want Yugi to get down on his knees, or anything, but a simple confirmation that they made the right choice would have been nice and comforting. Because now Yami was starting to have doubts since Jounouchi actually wanted Mai, and Yugi probably only picked him because of his looks, or crush, or whatever.
He had considered turning the car around five times but he didn't want to create more awkward situations. Him and Mana were not talking and he didn't want to end up not being able to talk to the other two band members because then he wouldn't have anyone to talk to, at all.
And there was also—
All of sudden, Yami woke up from his thoughts because he heard a loud scream. Someone was standing a few feet away from his car, holding up their hands in front of their face. Yami slammed his foot on the brakes and yanked the steering wheel to the right. The wheels squealed loudly as the car abruptly came to a stop right next to the pedestrian.
Yami didn't waste any time and got out of the car right away to check if the other was all right. A young girl had lowered herself to the ground with her arms still in front of her face protectively. She was a trembling mess, and Yami instantly put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Are you okay?"
She looked no older than eighteen, with her blonde ponytails and school uniform. Yami sat on one knee so they were on eye-level and she hesitantly looked up at him. A few tears of panic were shimmering in her big, baby blue eyes, causing him to feel like a complete asshole. He should've paid attention to the road instead of getting all worked up about something he couldn't change.
"I'm so sorry. I was um… lost in my own world and didn't see you. I thought I was the only one out here since it's way too early for normal people to be out of their beds," he lamely joked, trying to make her laugh.
A shaky chuckle came out of her mouth. "Y-yeah, I thought so, too. Usually I'm all by myself when I leave this early and I barely pay attention to my surroundings. You're not the only one at fault here."
Neither of them said anything for a moment until Yami realized she was staring at him intensely. Her eyes scanned every inch of his face and traveled all the way down to his legs. He was starting to feel really awkward because he knew where this was going.
When the girl's face went bright red, Yami knew he was done for.
She had recognized him.
That was the third time in two days and it was honestly still fairly unbelievable that there were these fanatic fans that recognized him from the poster.
"Holy crap," she whispered. "Are you Yami Tanaka?"
"… Yeah."
Completely forgotten about the fact he had almost run her over with his car, she started babbling, "My name is Usagi and I'm such a big fan! I know that a lot of people are saying they're going to boycott the band because they're saying you "replaced" Otogi-kun, but I don't think that's true! I know for a fact that Otogi-kun's broken his wrist and that they didn't have a choice since he left the band. But I, on the other hand, think they made the right choice because you're, like, so hot. Hotter than Otogi-kun, if that's even possible."
Well, that pretty much summed up the entire situation he was stuck in.
"I'm sorry, that sounded a bit creepy," she continued to ramble. "I've been a fan since the beginning and know everything about Yugi-kun and Jounouchi-kun. Oh my god, what are they like? They always look so cool in those interviews and I totally want to hang out with them if I ever get the chance! And, is it true that Jounouchi-kun has a new girlfriend? Too bad he's already taken, I mean, we would've been a perfect match. What about you, are you single? No, wait, don't answer that, that-that's way too personal and I probably sound like some crazy, obsessed fan. Which I'm not! And—"
"Usagi," Yami gently interrupted her with a short laugh. His nose had gone slightly red as well after she had asked him if he was single. "I'm really sorry but I was kinda in a hurry. So, I should probably go."
"N-no, wait, Yami-kun!" she grabbed his sleeve and wrapped her other arm around his. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Can I have your autograph? Please?"
Before he could say anything, she had already reached for her schoolbag and pulled out a bright pink notebook with a pen attached to it. Yami's eyes softened when she held it out to him with a hopeful smile. After all, he was somewhat the same when he was still a teenager and, if he was going to be honest with himself, he had really held himself back during the auditions.
"Sure," he said with a genuine smile and knelt down again. Usagi kept watching as he skipped through her notebook to find an empty page. Once he found one, he grabbed the pen and wrote out his full name, drawing a small star right next to it.
"T-thank you, Yami-kun!" she squealed when he gave it back to her. Hugging it close to her chest she got back on her feet and bowed. "Thank you so much! You're the best!"
Yami felt overly flattered and quickly rose to his feet again, pointing at his car over his shoulder. "No problem. But I really gotta go. I'll see you later."
Usagi kept waving until he was back in the car. He looked at her in his rearview mirror until she continued walking, still clutching the notepad to her chest. With a small smile, Yami continued to drive.
She had looked so incredibly happy that he couldn't help but feel a bit weird. He was merely a human being, just like her. There was nothing really special about him, but in her eyes, he was apparently a great person.
Blinking, he realized it was the exact same between him and Yugi. In his eyes, Yugi was this amazing and inspiring person who never did anything wrong. However, now that they were getting to know each other, Yami was slowly coming to the conclusion that Yugi was also just a normal human being who wasn't perfect.
Before he joined the band, he had always admired him for achieving his dreams at such a young age. But now that he knew that his parents were very much against it and barely gave him a chance to show what he was capable of, it was obvious Yugi didn't have the perfect life, like he had imagined. On the contrary, Yugi had been through absolute hell, and yet…
Yami sighed. He was going to have to accept the fact that it was more than some stupid "man crush" as he had called it some time ago. Even after everything Yugi had told him, and after getting to know him better, he was slowly developing feelings for him. His body (and Mana) had been telling him that since the beginning and he simply refused to believe it.
"Idiot," he mumbled to himself, turning to the left so he could park the car. He had already arrived at the recording studio and regretted thinking about Yugi too much because now he was going to have to face him.
He hated everything.
After he had locked his car, he walked over to the small, black building in front of him. It looked more like a gigantic black box than an actual studio, but maybe that was just because it was still somewhere around six in the morning. He gave the glass door a small push and his ears perked when he heard muffled music.
Easily recognizing Jounouchi's and Yugi's voices, he turned around the corner and immediately took a step back. He saw Jounouchi, who was sitting next to Yugi, creating a very catchy beat on a table with his drumsticks, while Yugi was moving his hand to the rhythm happily. Yami slowly turned his body more and his jaw dropped to the floor when he saw the third band member: Ryuuji Otogi.
His messy dark hair was tied into a careless ponytail, which was draped over his shoulder. The dark skin and bright green eyes reminded him of Mana's features, but he quickly shook his head to get rid of the thought of Mana. Seeing him here in the recording studio was rather weird, since Yami never expected to see him in the first place. He had no idea how he was going to face him, either.
Otogi was sitting on the large sofa next to them, nodding his head to the beat and drumming his fingers on the table as well. One of his arms was still in a dark blue cast, indicating that his wrist wasn't fully healed yet. Though, the fact that his wrist was broken didn't stop him from singing and dancing along.
Yugi started singing, smiling as the other two joined in. The voices combined together caused Yami to stare in awe. It was like watching a live performance, except this was just for fun and spontaneous, which made it so much better. The singing continued up until the point Jounouchi slowed the beat down a bit and Yugi finished his sentence, clapping his hands a few times before he—
Yami's eyes widened when Yugi jumped to his feet and started dancing. On top of that, he was singing in harmony with the other two, which left Yami shocked because he was dancing quite energetically. It pretty much meant he had crazy vocal and breath control.
Plus, Yugi was seriously really good at dancing, even though he probably wasn't even trying. He had no trouble keeping up with the pace, at all, along with the fact that he hit every single beat with his body. It was actually surprising that he had never danced onstage because damn. And every time he jumped up, his dark shirt rode up, giving Yami full view of his abdomen. And it was annoying.
Yami had to do his best to keep himself hidden. On one hand, he really wanted to walk in and join, or maybe sit there and enjoy the show, but on the other hand, he wasn't sure if he wanted to ruin this moment for the band members who had been reunited after a month.
Jounouchi was grinning like mad while he continued to drum as he and Yugi sang to each other and Otogi tapped the floor with the tip of his shoe.
No music was needed as the three were creating their very own song (Yami had never heard it before) on the spot, and were obviously having the time of their lives. It sounded just like an actual song, not some random improvised live performance. All three voices were perfectly harmonized, accurate in pitch and basically just perfect.
Yugi was moving his head from to side to side with his eyes closed, all while singing, and, honestly, Yami couldn't help but focus on him. He had never seen Yugi like this; so careless and completely losing himself in a song.
It appeared they had reached the bridge because Jounouchi had slowed his drumming a bit and the three moved closer to each other, a smirk appearing on their faces. Otogi was humming, Jounouchi quieting his singing while Yugi's voice was getting louder and louder.
Suddenly, Yugi threw his arm up in the air and belted out and Yami felt a chill going down his spine, and the hairs on his arms standing up.
"Wow…" he breathed in amazement. Otogi threw his head back, laughing happily and watched as Yugi held the note for at least ten seconds.
"Whoo!" Jounouchi yelled and Otogi kept singing, what Yami had identified as, the chorus until the song came to an end. They put their arms up as the last note was sung and they laughed at each other.
"Thank you, Domino. You were a great audience," Yugi joked as he bowed dramatically; the other two bursting out laughter and clapping at the same time.
"Glad you guys haven't changed," Otogi said smugly, leaning back against the couch with his back. "Was scared you were gonna be lost without me."
"Dude, you kidding? We rocked!" Jounouchi exclaimed as he put his drumsticks aside. "I think this is gonna be our next hit!"
"Maybe," Yugi said, still laughing softly and running a hand through his messy hair in an attempt to comb it. "Man, it's been a while. Gotta catch my breath."
Yami pressed his lips together, still not sure if he had to casually walk in and tell them he had seen the entire thing. That was until his hand accidentally slipped off the wall and he practically stumbled into the room, causing all three adults to look up at him. He could hear a couple of snickers; as if it wasn't awkward and embarrassing enough.
"Way to make an entrance, bud," Jounouchi said dryly, chuckling. "Otogi, this is the guy we've told you about. He's the newbie."
"I can tell he's a real keeper." Yami felt the blood rushing to his face at hearing Otogi's joke. He looked up with a sheepish grin and saw that Yugi's cheekbones had turned a light shed of red and was pretending to fix his hair.
"You saw all of that?" he mumbled quietly with a cheeky grin.
"Yeah, and it was amazing," Yami said, feeling stupid because his inner fan was coming out just like during his audition, but he couldn't hold himself back. Turned out his brain had deleted the whole conversation he had had with himself back in the car. "Your vocal control is crazy. Kinda makes me feel stupid for never going to one of your concerts. I really wanted to, but I was either broke or didn't have the time."
"Oh god, you picked a fanboy," Otogi said, throwing his head back again, but this time in irritation. "Please tell me he didn't faint the first time he met you two. If he did, I'd better get outta here before he starts drooling over me."
"Oi," Yami countered. "Just because I'm a fan doesn't mean I'm not good. Of course I'm a fan, that's the very reason I auditioned in the first place. I enjoyed your little performance and couldn't help but say that I did. Dunno what's so bad about that."
The words had flown out of his mouth before he could even blink. Apparently the subject of him being the wrong choice was a lot more sensitive than he had thought. Especially after that long drive and the fact he only had four or five hours of sleep, and that he hadn't had time for breakfast.
Yami bit his cheek, looking away and wishing he had kept his mouth shut. It probably would have been better to stick to the "fanboy" thing.
A silence fell over them before Jounouchi snorted quite loudly and waved a hand in front of his face. "And he's got attitude. A side I've never seen before. Don't think he's a morning person."
"Guess not," Otogi said quietly, rubbing the back of his neck and giving him an apologizing smile. "Sorry, man. You're right. It's just the fact that I've seen so many fans and they all come in so many different shapes and sizes, that I have trouble trusting anyone these days. I bet you're amazing, and that you're a really cool guy. I'm sure they picked you for all the right reasons."
Yami's left eye twitched. He looked over at Jounouchi and a rather cynical smile appeared on his face. "So am I."
Another silence followed after those words. Otogi avoided his gaze and muttered something along the lines of, "Okay. Definitely not a morning person."
Not really caring about the fact he hadn't made the best first impression, Yami dropped his guitar case and focused on opening it to make sure he would keep his mouth shut.
He could hear Yugi talking to Otogi about the song they had just sung, but Yami heard the shakiness in his voice. His heart started beating faster; he shouldn't have said anything like that.
"Hey." Yami looked up and saw Jounouchi standing in front of him. "Can I talk to you for a sec?"
"Yeah," Yami said guiltily, rising to his feet and following him to the live room. The drums, keyboard and guitars were already there, ready for action. There were also three stools in the middle with microphones standing in front of them.
After making sure none of the microphones were on, Jounouchi closed the door and leaned against it with his shoulder. Yami took a seat on one of the stools and folded his hands, awkwardly looking down at the red-carpeted floor.
"Sorry about that," he murmured, hanging his head. "I kinda feel like—"
"Shit?"
He looked up to see Jounouchi looking at him with a sympathetic look. "Can't blame you. That look you gave me back there said more than a thousand words. I figured that Yugi told you everything about our fight. Including my opinion about you. I'd feel like shit, too, if I knew that one of my idols picked me for my looks and the other didn't actually agree and would have preferred someone else. Especially a few days before we would record the single."
"Wow, you put it into words," Yami said matter-of-factly, his guilt completely gone.
"I was angry," Jounouchi defended, taking a few steps forward. "Pissed off. Yugi wanted me to say that. I'm going to be completely honest with you here, man. Mai does have better vocal control than you, but there's one important thing Yugi pointed out when I told him I wanted to pick her."
Yami looked him nervously, his eyes silently telling him to continue.
"Mai can't take her feelings and pour it into a song the way that you can," Jounouchi said, putting a hand on his shoulder and squeezing it. "That's something you either have, or you don't. It's true that your voice can be a bit shaky, but Yugi will help you with that. Mai can work her ass off, but she'll never be able to sing with the amount of passion you have. That is why you're the better offer here."
Yami's mouth had gone completely dry. Every single word, insult, joke, remark he had wanted to use, had died in his throat.
"Plus I had just asked her to be my girlfriend before we had that fight. My brain wasn't working properly," Jounouchi joked lamely and Yami laughed softly, shaking his head.
"In all seriousness, if I could turn back time, I would've picked you again. Yugi usually knows what he's talking about and I think he was right that picking you was for the best. And we can't forget Kaiba complimented you and said that you were talented. So don't feel down and don't think about it too much. You're amazing at what you do and there's no way we're gonna let you back out."
Another reassuring squeeze finally calmed Yami down a bit. He reached for Jounouchi's hand on his shoulder and held it for a minute.
"Thanks," he said quietly, lowering his head so his bangs covered his eyes. Jounouchi patted his shoulder before he left him alone.
Right after that, Yugi came in and sat on the stool next to his. "Everything okay?"
"Yeah, don't worry about it," Yami said with a slightly forced smile. Those words did make him feel better, but he still felt somewhat crappy. It was probably only a matter of time before everything would fall in place. Especially with Yugi sitting next to him.
"Here, brought you some chocolate." Yugi pulled out a chocolate bar and broke it in two pieces. "Unless you think it's a bit too early for that? 'Cause that's understandable. Jounouchi-kun hates chocolate in the morning."
He teasingly held it in front of Yami's lips who wasted no time grabbing it and shoving a big piece into his mouth, making Yugi chuckle.
Two days had flown by. Now that they were nearly done with the instrumental part, it was time to do the vocals. Otogi had stayed with them the whole time since according to Jounouchi he was always the one with the great ideas and could help with vocal training. But Yami was also pretty sure that he was there to keep an eye on him.
All of them were currently sitting around the table; Jounouchi somewhat lounging in the biggest leather chair he could find, Otogi sitting on the couch with his feet propped up on the table and Yami and Yugi sitting on the other couch. They were staring at the sheet music on the table and were all holding pencils and markers.
"We gotta divide the lyrics, decide where we're gonna harmonize, maybe make a few changes every time we start the chorus, add a few back vocals, et cetera," Jounouchi said, chewing on the end of his pencil. "Yugi's the one with the best vocal control, so, in my opinion, he should do the harmonizing."
"I always do that. Yami's pretty good at it, too," Yugi commented dryly, looking over at said person whose eyes widened. "Unless you don't want to."
"We could try," Jounouchi replied, looking at him as well with a smug grin. "We shouldn't be afraid to experiment, after all. Wanna give it a shot?"
Yugi softly sang the first couple of verses of the chorus, nudging him encouragingly. When Jounouchi gave him a nod, he hesitantly tried to harmonize with Yugi's voice. The first few notes were not perfect, but after that it went rather well. Yugi nodded and raised his hand a bit to tell him to get a little louder, which he did.
"Sounds awesome. Think we should go for it," Jounouchi said right after they had finished the chorus. "What do you think?"
"Um, sure," Yami said sheepishly, not entirely sure about it.
"You're gonna do great, don't worry." Yugi had leaned towards him and had uttered it so the other two wouldn't hear it. He reached for Yami's free hand and intertwined their fingers. Feeling the blood rushing to his face once again, Yami gently squeezed his hand and cleared his throat.
Jounouchi had already made a note on the sheet music and leaned back in the chair again.
"Okay, now that we've got that covered, we gotta decide where we want to harmonize. What about the chorus and the bridge?"
No one ever got the chance to answer because the front door of the studio was kicked open. Quite literally. They looked up and waited for someone to appear around the corner and Yami's eyes widened when that happened.
Kaiba stood in front of them, breathing heavily and holding a rolled up newspaper in his hand. Yami could feel his heart dropping down his navel; he already had a bad feeling where this was going. He could feel Yugi's hand shaking in his grip and quickly tightened his grip.
"One of you fucking idiots apparently forgot to mention one very important thing to me," their manager said oh so slowly, taking a few steps forward so all eyes were on him. He threw the newspaper on the table and looked around accusingly, eyeing each one of them with a deadly glare.
"And you're going to tell me what happened."
And they all knew damn well what he was talking about.
"No," Yugi whispered almost inaudibly, his voice practically gone.
"You'd better start talking. You know I don't like it when you keep secrets from me," Kaiba spat the last few words, pinning Jounouchi with his ice-cold eyes. "Why do I get the feeling that it's somehow your fault? I mean, you're the only one who's dumb enough to fuck up this bad."
"What did you say, you asshole?" Jounouchi got up from his chair and Yugi's hand started shaking even more.
Otogi got up as well and grabbed Jounouchi's arm to stop him. "Hold up. What's going on here?"
"What's going on?" Kaiba repeated and a short bark of laughter came out of his mouth, which made Yami feel really uncomfortable. "I'll tell you what's going on. These three you see right here, have just flushed their career down the toilet, that's what. This is even more stupid than that other article from a few weeks ago. I was able to fix it, but I have no idea how I'm to fix this mess."
"Oh, please—"
"Oh, please my ass, you moron!" Kaiba snapped. "As your manager, I have the right to know when you make mistakes like these because I might be able to fix them. Now I had to find out by reading it in the fucking newspaper! They even have pictures and several witnesses that you," he pointed at Yugi "were spotted in a café, and spent the night in a motel!?"
"I can explain—"
"And that you," all eyes were on Yami now. "were spotted in the very same café the next day, on the phone with Jounouchi, telling him that you found Yugi? So apparently Yugi was lost? Then, several people saw you running after him in the rain into an alley. Are you aware of the situation here? Are you!?"
At this point, Yami's heart was racing so fast that it was starting to hurt. The amount of rumors that could arise from the article was endless. Yugi's hand was shaking so badly that his own hand was shaking as well.
"Okay," Yami spoke up after he had pushed himself up and folded his arms over his chest. "I'll tell you what happened. Let's talk outside."
"I'm so tired," Yugi said, letting himself fall on the bed with a loud huff. They were back at the hotel after Yugi had asked if Yami felt like coming with them. Jounouchi had told them he would go over to Mai's place because he hadn't seen her in a couple of days so they had the gigantic room for themselves.
Unfortunately, Yugi hadn't smiled or laughed once since they found out about that article and Yami felt terrible about it. It had been one hectic week; basically everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong, but at least they were done recording the single.
But it didn't really make him happy, since Yugi hadn't look pleased at all when they were done. Except for that same fake smile he had seen for the first time when Yugi thought he had a girlfriend, and he would never forget what that looked like.
Jokes didn't really do the trick, since Jounouchi had been cracking jokes since they had read the article back at the studio, but Yugi was just never amused.
Yami was now lying next to him, absently playing with the sheets whilst trying to come up with a plan to get him to laugh, or at least smile. He was partly to blame for the fact that it had been a crappy week, even though he had probably made it better by asking him out. Which reminded him of the fact he still had to pinpoint a date.
Finally, an idea popped into his head and Yami pushed himself up with the back of his arms, grinning cheekily down at him. "Feel like playing a game?"
Yugi had followed him with his big eyes and pursed his lips, shrugging. "Sure." He placed his arm over his eyes to shield them from the blinding lights on the ceiling.
Feeling his grin widening, Yami started explaining, "It's a game called Two Truths, One Lie. Mana and I used to play it all the time when we were younger. It's a good way to get to know each other better."
"Sounds like fun," Yugi mumbled, barely moving his lips, but he did sound generally interested.
"One person tells three facts or stories. The other person has to guess which one is the lie. We each take turns until one person guesses it wrong," Yami said, still keeping on his poker face. He had somewhat changed the rules, but all he needed were the basics.
He could see Yugi looking at him from underneath his elbow. "That's it?"
"There's a penalty if the person guesses it wrong."
"Ah." Yugi sat up as well, giving him a look, which clearly indicated that he had obviously seen that coming. "I knew there was a catch. What's the penalty?"
"Getting tickled into submission." Yami could barely contain his smirk and leaned closer to him, enjoying how Yugi's eyes widened and he casually created some distance between them by crawling towards the end of the king sized bed.
"You made that up."
The game actually did exist. He had simply added that penalty to get to his goal, since the alternative was just merely starting over from the beginning until someone came up with the right answer.
"Nope." The older one folded his arms over his chest, pressing his lips together to keep himself from laughing since Yugi's reaction was absolutely priceless. He looked even more scared, but then he put on a challenging smirk and gave the other a firm nod.
"You're on."
"Okay, I'll go first."
Both of them went to lie down on their backs again. And because Yami wanted to make sure he would win, he was going to do his best to come up with the weirdest stories to make it impossible for Yugi to pick the right one.
"Let's see. When I was six I was model because my parents had befriended a fashion designer. My pictures were all over the place and a lot of people started buying his clothes right away," he drawled, placing his arms behind his head to use them as a pillow. "And… a few years ago there was this marathon on TV and I ended up watching my favorite series for thirteen hours straight. And last but not least, I chopped a big part of Mana's hair off when we were little and sometimes she still brings it up during arguments."
He looked back at Yugi who was staring at him in horror.
"You're kidding, right? How the hell am I supposed to know which one's not true?"
"Take a wild guess," Yami said, shrugging and chuckling softly. "Best of luck."
An entire minute went by. Yugi was tapping his slender fingers on his arm as he stared at the ceiling, muttering things to himself. Yami was actually surprised that Yugi was taking this so seriously.
The latter yelped when he received a sharp poke in his side. He moved away from Yami and held out a hand protectively. "I'm thinking!" he shouted. "You didn't say there was a time limit."
"There isn't. Was merely checking if you hadn't fallen asleep, or something."
Yugi pouted for the briefest moment and murmured something about not wanting to be tickled.
"… I'll go easy on you," Yami said, smiling way too eagerly.
Obviously Yugi was not impressed and raised an accusing eyebrow. "Sure you will. You're the one with the advantage here, since you've already tickled me once. Are you even ticklish?"
"You'll never know." Yami casually pretended to stare at the sheets to hide his awkward expression. Mana was the only person in the world who knew that he was about the most ticklish person alive and he had intended to keep it that way. He hadn't even thought of losing since he always came up with the best lies when he played this with Mana (and others) and luck was pretty much always on his side when he had to guess.
Now he was really hoping Yugi would suck at this game.
"Okay. You do have the body and the looks to be a model, even though I don't know what you looked like when you were a kid. And I do know you love movies and TV series, but I'm not sure if you could survive staring at a screen for thirteen hours straight. Your brain would seriously turn to mush," Yugi thought out loud, making the same hand gestures he had used the very first time they had spent time together in this room.
"Yeah, it would," Yami agreed. "Could be worth it, though."
"And about cutting Mana's hair… I could actually see you do that. I mean, I remember going through a phase where I loved playing with the scissors. From what you've told me about her, it wouldn't surprise me she would use it as an argument."
Yugi grabbed one of the pillows, gave it a firm squeeze, took a deep breath and said,
"I think you lied about… watching TV for thirteen hours straight." He jumped off the bed with a rather unmanly yelp to hide himself. But the attack never came.
His eyes appeared above the bed to see Yami staring at him with his mouth slightly open.
"… You're right."
With a cry of victory, Yugi jumped to his feet. "Yes!" he jumped back on the bed, leaned down until they were only an inch apart and whispered, "In. Your. Face."
"Just you wait," Yami whispered back. "Your turn."
It continued for several minutes and Yami was starting to regret this more and more. He had no idea Yugi was such a good liar and that he could even come up with those kinds of stories.
He had definitely not expected this since most people sucked at this game. Usually when people lied, they would look away, talk in a different voice, look uncomfortable or laugh nervously. Yugi, on the other hand, did none of those things and had kept his voice steady the whole time (probably because he had had so much vocal training) and on top of that, those stories he came up with were so extreme that he honestly thought all of them were a bunch of lies.
"This backfired, didn't it?" Yugi said triumphantly after he had kicked his ass once again.
Still standing on the bed, he started walking in circles around Yami, keeping that victory smile plastered on his face. He hummed in thought, tapping his chin teasingly.
"A few weeks after our album went double platinum, Jounouchi-kun and I went out for a drink. I never drink, so I was drunk in no time. The next morning I woke up, my pants were gone and I couldn't remember a thing," he uttered, making Yami nervous again. "During my last year in high school, I lashed out at a teacher because he was being unreasonable and he got so mad he threw a chair at me and ended up fired. And… this is really embarrassing, though. One time I lost a bet and had to kiss the most popular girl in school who was so shocked that she ran away screaming in terror."
"You sound way too rebellious in those stories. Who are you and what have you done to Yugi Mutou?"
"You just don't know me well enough. Don't worry, if you don't get this one, I'll go easy on you," Yugi said in a low voice, mimicking him mockingly. "Jounouchi-kun and I've had tons of tickle fights so I've enough experience to know when a person is about to faint."
Rolling his eyes, Yami sat up and clicked his tongue. "Lashing out at a teacher sounds nothing like you, but having sex with a stranger and not remembering it is… so not like you, either. And a girl screaming after kissing you? It couldn't have been that bad."
With a loud snort, Yugi plopped down next to him and grinned cheekily. They were so close that he could practically hear him breathing.
That, and because they were so close, the freckles around Yugi's button nose were distracting him like no tomorrow. Since they had spent a lot of time in the sun lately, they had become darker and were now covering his entire nose, including several parts of his cheeks. He could practically count them since Yugi was sitting so very close to him, which was annoying him.
"Yugi. Personal space. I can't think with you breathing down my neck," Yami remarked, moving back a bit.
"You have absolutely no idea, do you?"
"Shut up."
He got a snicker in response and blew his bangs out of his face to buy more time, because he really didn't have a clue. At least Yugi was in a much better mood already, clearly amused to see Yami struggling. It was obvious he had to make peace with the fact that he was going to lose more than just the game if he didn't guess it right.
Staring up at the ceiling, he finally guessed (and hoped), "The first story was a lie."
It was silent for a moment so he glanced back at Yugi who was giving him a blank look. And he hated it. He blinked and raised his eyebrows, indicating that Yugi should speak up.
"I'm happy to announce that you're wrong," Yugi said, a content glint appearing in his eyes.
"Oh, fuck," Yami cursed before he made a move to dash to the other side of the room, but Yugi grabbed his arm and pulled him back onto the bed. His eyes widened when Yugi started climbing on top of him, reaching for his midsection and he did his best to block those hands but to no avail. "In my defense, it was almost impossible to—No-!"
His loud laughter echoed through the entire room as Yugi happily squeezed his sides, laughing along with him. He could tell that Yugi had indeed had a lot of practice because he was rolling from side to side within seconds and running out of air already. The other had strategically straddled him and was applying just the right amount of pressure to make him gasp in silent laughter and kick his feet in an effort to escape.
And when Yugi's small fingers reached his hips, he actually screamed. His voice had never gone that high in his life; he didn't even know it was capable of doing that.
"Wow. You're even worse than me." Yugi stopped for a second, leaning over him, laughing uncontrollably as well. "It's actually hilarious 'cause I never expected you to be this ticklish. Can't wait to tell Jounouchi-kun."
"I hate you," Yami breathed, throwing his head back against the pillows. His face had never been this red and the fact that Yugi was hovering above him wasn't exactly helping. He was feeling incredibly hot all over and was trying to convince himself that it was all because of the laughter.
Yugi raised an eyebrow and reached under his shirt so he could wiggle his fingers against his bare skin, which was about ten times worse.
"Yugi, your ha-ands are c-cold!" he howled, yelping and jumping every time the other hit a particular sensitive spot. He literally couldn't remember the last time he had laughed so hard up until the point where his ribs hurt. Tears of mirth formed in his eyes as he continued to laugh and shriek like a lunatic.
"No, they're not," Yugi snorted with a roll of his eyes. However, he stopped again and placed his hands on Yami's hips again, making him jump slightly. He then noticed he couldn't get away so he got the nasty feeling Yugi wasn't done yet. "I know that this used to drive me crazy."
Slowly but surely, Yami looked up at him and saw Yugi lowering his head to his stomach. He blinked, having no idea what he was about to do. If only he had moved out of the way when Yugi took a deep breath and placed his lips on his skin.
Because when he blew, Yami lost it. The overwhelming tickly sensation made him shriek with laughter and suck in his stomach with the hopes it wouldn't happen again. Unfortunately, Yugi did it at least three more times before he continued to tease his sides again.
"Uncle! Stop, stop!" Yami guffawed, grasping Yugi's arms in a desperate attempt to stop him. He was panting and his cheeks hurt from laughing so much. He looked up at Yugi who was still cupping his exposed sides threateningly. "That's your definition of going easy?"
"Yep. Was holding back," Yugi said, pushing himself up and crawling towards him so they could lay next to each other again. "Can't help the fact you're that sensitive."
"Holy shit. I thought I was gonna die."
"Should've thought of that before you came up with that penalty."
"You'd better start explaining what happened when you woke up without any pants on." Yami pointed an accusing finger at him. "You owe me at least that after what you put me through."
If he was going to be honest with himself, it had been worth it. Yugi had laughed like crazy and was still smiling, and even though Yami had no dignity left, he was glad his had plan worked. Sort of.
"Well, to tell you the truth, Jounouchi-kun told me what happened that night because he actually did remember everything," Yugi said with playful shrug.
"… What?"
"Don't worry, nothing happened, honest. He told me that it was all a prank because he knew I'd freak out to wake up and find out my pants were missing."
Yami's left eye twitched and he sat up so he could tower over Yugi. "You cheated."
"Not really," Yugi drawled, grinning cheekily, casually moving out of his reach. "'Twas just me playing tricks on your mind. I really can't remember what happened that night, though, so… No, Yami, I swear it was— Ack! No, don't! YAMI!"
Author's note: Are you barfing rainbows yet? 8] No, but in all seriousness, I needed to add some fluff after all that stupid drama so there you go.
Ah, don't you just love it when Yami gets all awkward around new people? And don't you just love it that the chapters are getting longer? I dunno how it happened but I ain't complaining. Mwah.
Yami and Yugi getting closer, wheee~. Poor Yami though. Kinda destroyed his pride there. Woops.
NEXT TIME: Ooooooh booooy, that stupid article. And Mana, awww, Yami you can't stay mad at her forever, can you? First reaction to hearing the single, and, and, and oh my god, a surprise yeeeeeeees.