The sun began to set, the once blue sky now orange and purple. A relaxing breeze of spring blew through the open window, but it eased no tension. Atem sat stiff as a board in this unknown household. Why had he agreed to this? There was no reason for him to agree to this.

And yet here I am…sitting in the living room. He thought dryly, his hands balled in to tight fists that grabbed at the denim that covered his legs. His jaw was clenched shut, as if wired that way. His teeth pressed against each other as his eyes quickly surveyed the simple yet quaint abode. Various odd decorations were out on display, obviously from all over the world. He dared not breath, unsure of the frailty of it all.

Moments ago he was standing at the front door. The invite in had taken him by complete surprise. He had no intention of coming in. In fact he had a vehement refusal poised and ready on his habitually sharp tongue. What had stumbled out of his mouth was far from it though. He was surprised he had heard his own voice give that answer.

"Sure, I'll come in. I'll ask my mom if it's ok."

"Ok, cool. You can use the home phone if you like." She pointed to the phone set out on a side table in the hallway, situated across the living room. "I'm gonna go get us something to drink and put this away." She raised the plastic shopping bag in hand and was off before he could change his mind or protest. The door had shut behind him and he found himself stuck at the entrance. Trapped.

The phone call was quick and his mom was more than happy that he was hanging out with such a nice girl. It was clear that his grandfather and Yugi filled her in on what happened at the store. The excitement in her tone was far too obvious, she was definitely planning or assuming there was more to this than friendship. A hopeless romantic that was what his mother always was. A sweet hopeless romantic who had refused to find another because she still was in love with their father.

That was how he now found himself in her living room waiting, tense. His eyes darted between the front door and the hallway she had disappeared down. It must have only been a few minutes since she departed, but it felt like years. Where the hell is she? Don't tell me she feinted again-shit what if she did?! What the hell am I doing just sitting here!? I should be getting her stuff, screw the damn manner code or whatever the fuck formality calls for! He shot up from the couch in a blind worry when something caught his attention and before the impending crash could happen his arm shot out and grabbed.

"Oh jeez, you scared me for a minute!" Terry sighed softly, saved by Atem's quick reflex. "You were so deep in thought I didn't want to disturb you."

"What, no! Geez, I was going to check up on you! You should be resting, not serving me!" He scowled. "You said you wanted to eat pudding so let's grab that and get you back in bed where you belong." His tone was harsh, reprimanding her for going out of her way, but it had not dawn on him until just now what he had said and soon his cheeks were as red as her feverish ones. Her being so close to him as she was did not help either as he stared down at her.

She noted his blush and was utterly confused by it, not realizing the double meaning behind his words. She, though well-traveled, was a clueless individual when it came to romance. She had read about it in history and books, but she never had associated such a thing in her life. She fantasized like any other girl, but there was no dream boy or dream scenario. Just the thought of how it would be wonderful to have and to hold as well as be had and held. Blinking, she stared at him for a good long moment.

"Ok, uhm…sorry about that. I need to go grab it though. Could you mind letting me go?" She asked, her wrist tightly held in his hand. Her heart thumped in her chest as she felt his solid body against her own, the odd sensation thrilling. It's probably because I almost fell plus the fever. There isn't any other real reason. She quickly assessed, and stepped back from him once released. "I'll go grab the pudding and be right back." She adjusted her shirt and smiled once more before she left.

In her sudden rescue, the glass had teetered and tilted, finally spilt on to her shirt when he yanked her towards him to avoid hitting the floor. What she had not realized was that her shirt had become slightly sheer where the water spilled though it clung to her. She figured she would simply change once they got upstairs.

Atem had noticed the water stain and watched the shirt slowly become sheer where most of the water had fallen. It had fallen on to the front of her right shoulder, just above her breast and slowly seeped from there. When she had tugged her shirt to sit better instead of cling, it only brought the wet part lower and he could make out something green under the shirt as it lay atop her breast now. A slow smirked curled on his lips as she ran off, which he tried to cover with his hand as he nodded and looked off to the side casually.

Well that was a much better surprise. Her fault for being so damn vulnerable. She's just like all the others girls! I knew it! He thought, spinning the tale for his own comfort when he noted the glass on the table that was set for him and frowned. If she wanted to mess around she would've just went straight to it though…plus she's sick. There's no way she's that calculating…in this anyways. Right? He thought.

"Got it, shall we head up to my room then so you stop yelling at me?" She pouted a little, the pudding in hand and the shirt shifted no more though it looked like she had tried to dry it up some.

Definitely not calculating…she's clueless. He internally shook his head as he ran a hand through his hair and nodded. "Sure, let's head up." He nodded, but pulled off his hoodie and rested it over her shoulders. "Put this on, you need it." She looked at him curiously as she looked down at her shoulders. "Your shirt is sheer from getting wet." He watched as the pieces slowly clicked in her mind and her eyes went from confused to wide as her cheeks got redder under the mask and the hoodie was yanked shut.

"Why didn't you tell me?!" She huffed, turning her back to him as she fumbled with the zipper a bit and shut it.

"I didn't want to be rude," he shrugged with a smug smirk on his lips. "Plus, I don't want anyone else seeing it." He sang in her ear, laughing as she jumped forward and in to the staircase bannister. Clueless and oh so innocent. This is going to be fun. He chuckled to himself as Terry glared at him.

What the hell?! He didn't want anyone else to see? There's no one else here but us! He's still a jackass! She scowled under the cough mask as she glared at him. Her heart was definitely pounding against her chest now and there was no doubt about why. This was the second guy to see part of her, but this time it was not her brotherly figure of a best friend. No, this time it was the wild and fiery school punk that she recently befriended and she was unsure how she should feel about this. "There's no one else here but us!"

"Someone could've walked in you know. You told me Jonouchi lives here now." He pointed to the guy shoes that were clearly not his or her father's. The fact still irked him in a way. He really did not know why, so he let it be for now. "Alright you bag of germs, time to get upstairs." He smiled a little wickedly, clearly pleased that he was able to get in his daily teasing of her.

Unable to come up with a retort, she straightened up with the help of the bannister and tried to steady the swimming world as the blood rush to her head and racing heart sent her fever in to a slight flare. Seeing her teeter a bit, Yami quickly scooped her up after downing his glass of water.

"C'mon, you need to get to bed." He said sternly. "No fighting me or I'll drop you on your ass or we'll both end up falling down these stairs. Where's your room?" He sighed, taking a step at a time slowly to avoid making her motion sick or dizzier. Following the simple directions, he lightly nudges the door open and set her on the bed before getting a good look around. I should've known there'd be books galore. He sighed, but also noted the cork board of pictures of her and her father in various places. The sheets of her bed were clearly foreign with rich jewel tones that accented the curtains on her window as well. Various trinkets and mementos lined the shelves and dresser along with jewelry. It was an odd mix of everything, but nothing was too overpowering than the other.

"I wanted a little bit of all my travels in my room, reminding me of what I'm aiming for." Her voice snapped him out of his observations and he plopped himself on to the foot of her bed with a small 'yeah?' in response. "Yeah, it's such a big world…and I feel more comfortable there than I do here. I guess that's kinda odd if you think about it since I was born here." She laughed off.

"I don't think so, you were raised out there so that's more home for you than here." He answered, turning to look at her. "You can be born anywhere, home is where you're most comfortable and it can be a number of places." Grunting he pushed himself back to lay on her bed. Maps decorated the ceiling as well as pictures, an interesting choice to have but then again why had he expected her to have a normal room? This is normal for her. He shook his head of the thought and turned on his side to look at her. Before he could speak, a pudding cup with a spoon was outstretched towards him.

"Here, since you won't let me cook we'll have to be waiting on Joey or my dad to come. In the meantime we can eat this." Placing the two on the bed before him, she leaned over her bed once more and grabbed one for herself. Pulling her mask off, she ripped open the lid and happily dug in to the sweet. The cool gelatinous treat was very easy to swallow and very much appreciated by her slightly sore throat from the acid reflux she had overnight due to the fever.

"I swear you and him are just the same." He snickered before sitting up and eating his own pudding. He stared a little at the cup, curious as to why she was always sharing food with him so freely. At first he thought she assumed he was poor or something and it irked him. He was not some charity case after all. That notion was quickly correct by her when she explained she hate meeting with someone empty-handed. To bring a small gift of any kind was something she had learned while being raised abroad. It was odd to him, but it made sense after he thought over the many instances of them meeting up. She would bring even when he showed he had brought or bought lunch.

Oh shit, I didn't bring anything with me here and this is my first time here! He thought, feeling a little guilty since she had always brought him something. It's not like I asked her to though, I mean she chose to! But still…this is her house. He chomped on his pudding in deep thought.

"Is the pudding putting up a fight?"

"Huh?"

"Is the pudding fighting you? You're glaring at it." She poked at his furrowed brows.

"Yes, the pudding is being a bad patient and not staying still so I'm teaching it a lesson." He rolled his eyes at her, earning a small laugh from her.

"I'm not that bad that you have to use the pudding as my effigy do you?"

"You've clearly never dealt with another you before." He scoffed and from there the conversation flowed from food to her trinkets and everything in between. Midway, Jonouchi had come home finally and brought the food with him. He was surprised to see Atem there, but noted he was respectfully keeping Terry in bed and that was all that mattered to him. He cautiously joined them with the food and they all began to chat away about the day she had missed and whatever new or exciting was the hot topic among the classmates before doing some homework together.

Aslan was greeted by the sound of laughter and light yelling from upstairs, confused by what could possibly be going on. When he had come in to the room, the boys were wrestling one another over some sort of card game it seemed and Terry was merrily laughing in bed. His entrance was quickly recognized by her and he easily side stepped the two and checked up on her. She happily informed him of her day's adventure and explained to him who the new boy was that had Jonouchi in a headlock at the moment.

Oh wait, that's the boy who was sitting with her in the nurse's office. Atem I believe he said was his name. "Well I definitely don't want to get in between that, so I'll leave you all be. Don't get too excited now and rest up ok? Call me if you need anything." He gently patted her on the head and smiled warmly. She nodded, smiling brightly at him and watched as he slipped out of the room unnoticed by the two who finally settled down from their tussle. Soon after though, Jonouchi yawns and heads off to his room to relax, relieved and tired from his worry over Terry. Ruffling her hair, he bid her goodnight and waved to Atem before leaving the room.

At the point, a small silence fell over the two before Atem stood up and cleaned up her room a bit. All the while he grumbled about Jonouchi leaving purposely to avoid this part. Terry had tried to help him, but he merely scowled and scolded her for even moving her arm to point things out to him. She found the care cute and quietly assisted from her bed and moving only when she absolutely needed to.

"There, clean like before." He clapped his hands together and turned to Terry only to find that she had fallen asleep propped up against her headboard. I swear, he sighed as he walked over to her and carefully laid her out on her bed and tucked her. "You better not be faking sleep or I'll pinch your nose shut." He mumbled, eyeing her a bit to assess that she was really asleep. The even soft breathing was cue enough. He watched her for a bit, confused with himself. Part of him wanted to stay. He wanted to hold her hand once again and this time stay until she would wake. This part of him, he had no clue what to do with. It was irrational and weird. He really had no clue what to do with it. What exactly are you doing to me? He leaned down over, eyeing her gentle features. She's cute when she sleeps. He smiled softly to himself as he tucked some errant strands of hair out of the way and suddenly he found himself kissing her forehead. His cool lips pressed to her sweaty and heated forehead. Flustered, he quickly pulled away and practically jumped back to the door as he awaited for some backlash or laughter from her. There was none. She was soundly asleep. His heart raced as he thought over his actions as he quickly left the room and ran to the door. Throwing on his shoes, he silently left the house in a hurry. He needed to get away from her.