Valkyria: All of these updates and early! I wanted to inform all of you that the last four chapters of Honda/Otogi and Jounouchi/Seto were their conclusion chapters, meaning, we won't see them again, and we're only seeing Atem/Yuugi from this point on, okay? Thanks for reading.

Disclaimer: I claim no rights to the anime/manga Yu-gi-oh


"I couldn't say that I wasn't happy to see him again. Quite the contrary, I was ecstatic, but what it is one supposed to do when they see the person who holds half of their heart? Are they supposed to turn away and let them keep it? Or fight and take back what's rightfully theirs?" - Yuugi Motou

Chapter Forty-Nine: Winter Attractions

It had taken months, but Yuugi finally deemed himself a part of the Kaiba Corp team. In the beginning, he had been looked at with suspicion since he had just recently quit Ishigami Corp, but as the weeks lingered by, his co-workers warmed up to him, especially since he was good friend's with Jounouchi only making the transition slightly easier.

He could say with the utmost confidence that he was happy with his life now. Of course, the consequence of this was that he had fallen out with Mana and became closer to Mahad who had believed he and Atemu were better off a part than together. How that worked, Yuugi still didn't know.

There were times that Yuugi regretted his decision quitting his job, but his logical side kicked in and would state to him that he was right in what he did. That it was best that he and Atemu were better off a part than together. It hurt more often than not, but in the end, it was for the best. He didn't want to ruin Atemu's reputation or his family's hard work in developing Ishigami Corp. He would admit, it wasn't the best excuse and they didn't talk about it properly, but he was also stubborn enough not to make the first move.

That was one thing he refused to do.

"You haven't been this distracted in a while." Seto's remarked, playfully twisting his chair back and forth. "Are you thinking of my jackass of a cousin?"

"Yeah," Yuugi felt his cheeks heat at the admission. "How is he doing?"

"He's doing fine from last I saw him." Seto leaned against his desk, crossing his legs at the ankle. "It's been weeks and you still haven't talked to him."

"No."

Seto shrugged, as if the problem didn't matter to him. "You can't avoid the situation forever, Yuugi, that's not the adult way to do things, is what my adoptive father used to tell me."

"..I don't think Gozoburo is the best example for a role model or sound advice." Yuugi winced at the thought. Seto's initial comment on his foster father wasn't for the innocent, but the man was a genius at all prospects of business.

"Of course, you're right, but that particular advice is rather sound, so take it to heart." Seto twisted his body around and picked up the small stack of invitations lying on the table. "I see that I didn't get a return response for a good number of these, right?"

Yuugi's lips thinned at the rhetorical question. "I received e-mails apologizing about not attending stating a number of them had traveled to Hawaii and the Bahamas for the holidays, but the other half are more than happy to come to the party. I was wonder why you picked that ice skate rink as the location?"

"It's more of an inside joke among my colleagues." Seto responded. "We've been going to that ice rink for three years now and it would be a shame to break the condition." He picked up the lone invitation sitting closets to Yuugi's computer and smiled, albeit, grimly. "Is he coming?"

"Yeah, Atemu agreed to come, he had Mana respond to the invitation and she rather demanded that she come along as well, so, don't be surprised if you see Mana trying to knock you down on the rink."

Seto scoffed at the thought. "She can try if she can catch me."

Yuugi struggled, but failed to hold back a smile at the determination in the CEO's voice. It wasn't often that he heard Seto excited about something-other than the fact that Jounouchi's restaurant was doing rather well. It was something that his boss raved about for days getting strange looks from his Board of Directors who really didn't mind Seto's open relationship as long as it didn't' interfere with their stocks or business.

Yuugi was happy for Seto and Jounouchi, they weren't afraid to go after what they wanted-which was each other, but him on the other hand, was afraid that he ruined any chance he had with Atemu. He was running in circles about the whole situation and he was tired. To the point where he wanted nothing to do with it and a night of peace without wet dreams and Atemu's voice in his mind when his eyes wandered to a good looking man in the vicinity.

"Mana's pretty fast; she can take the best of them." Yuugi responded no longer burdening himself with his own tumultuous thoughts. "I'm sure she can take you for your yen."

"We'll see about that." Seto stepped away from his work space, and in an uncharacteristic move, ruffled his hair playfully. "Don't think too hard about your situation with my dumbass cousin. It'll settle itself eventually."

"Thank you, Seto, and I never said congratulations on the restaurant." Yuugi smiled at Seto's smirk of pleasure at the mention of it. "I'm very proud of you and Jou."

"I'm more proud of him for breaking away and venturing on his own." Seto admitted. "With what the business he's getting it's only a matter of time before his one restaurant becomes a chain." Seto frowned causing Yuugi to smile in sympathy as his boss' brain clicked. "He's going to exhaust himself if that damn restaurant becomes a chain."

"It'll be fine. I'm sure of that." Yuugi patted Seto on the hand. "Jounouchi would give up the world for you. I can see it in his eyes."

"He's a stubborn man who's too prideful to think for himself."

Yuugi smirked, the gesture full of dark amusement. "Doesn't that sound awfully familiar?"

Seto blinked, gave him a bland stare before returning to his office, whilst throwing back an order to get back to work.

Yuugi snickered before returning to his work as per ordered. Jounouchi was right. It was fun to rile Seto up.


The Domino Ice Rink was full of employees from different companies that had deals with Kaiba Corp in the past and in the present. It was nice to see so many people getting along and yet holding different objectives and ideas for their own company.

Yuugi slid across the ice dodging small children and adults who were getting the hang of their skates when he ran into a familiar face who scowled at seeing his own.

"Mana." Yuugi greeted warily coming to a stop and staring down his former co-worker. "How are you?"

"Oh don't give me that how am I crap, Yuugi." Mana slid forward on her own skates and pulled him into a hard hug. "I missed you, idiot."

"I missed you too, Mana." Yuugi folded his small arms around Mana's waist and fought the urge not to cry in front of all these people. "I thought you didn't want to talk to me anymore."

Mana huffed against his hair and Yuugi could feel a smile coming to her mouth. "That's non-sense, of course I still wanted to talk to you! We've known each other for three years and you think I'm going to give a friendship like this up easily?"

"No, I suppose you wouldn't, but the whole thing about Atemu…"

Mana shook her head, stepping away and giving him an apologetic look. "You see, that's one of the reasons why I decided to come here." Mana looked down at the used ice, her eyes following the many scratches that decorated the surface. "I wanted to apologize for what I did."

"A-apologize?"

"I pushed you into going out with Atemu and again and again you didn't want to be with him." Mana shoulders slumped. "Atemu told me about that night at the company party and how you reacted after and I can't blame you, you know? You said that it was going to happen once and you kept your word concerning that. I'm not trying to make Atemu the bad guy or anything, but we should have understood what you were feeling."

"It's okay, Mana." Yuugi whispered hoarsely. "I know you were trying to make me happy and I was happy with you trying to help. My excuses toward not seeing Atemu are baseless at best and well, there was so much at stake and too much damage for us to do anything."

"So, it's not too late for you two." Mana sounded so hopeful that Yuugi flinched at the thought of disappointing her.

"It's not too late for us to be friends." Yuugi murmured. "I see no problem with that."

"Friends?" Mana's hair drooped at the wording and Yuugi patted her on shoulder in sympathy. "This is really stupid! I wish the both of you would just make up already." Mana waved a hand around the rink. "Everyone is happy, except you two, it's stupid."

Yuugi shrugged offhandedly. "It might be, but it's my decision whether it's stupid or not. I know you want us to be happy, Mana, but things don't always turn out that way."

"Yeah, sure," Mana muttered, she glanced around, her face lighting up. "Atemu!" she waved the CEO over. "Come over here!"

Yuugi stood shock still as his former boss slid across the ice in their direction. He slapped Mana's hand away when she attempted to grab it earning a scowl from her as she skated away, leaving him with Atemu as he slid to a stop in front him.

"She did this on purpose, didn't she?" Atemu said in lieu of greeting.

"You know Mana, always poking her nose in her friend's business." Yuugi gave his former boss a strained smile. "How are you, Atemu?"

Atemu gave him a blank look. "I'm doing fine, and you?"

"I'm doing okay." Yuugi frowned at the awkward silence that settled between the two. It never used to be like this, but he supposed that it was partially his fault. "Is everything okay at Ishigami Corp?"

Atemu shrugged, a light grin painting his lips. "Two of my department heads ran off to France recently."

"Honda and Otogi?"

"Yeah, it seems that Otogi had a little infatuation with Honda and ran off to France to get him back."

"That's…" Yuugi lowered his head in thought, searching for the right words. "Surprisingly romantic?"

"Nothing came out of it, I'm afraid." Atemu hummed in sympathy. "They decided to stay friends."

"Like we should have?" Yuugi blurted out, his face heating at the raised eyebrow Atemu gave him. "I-I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that."

"It's quite alright." Atemu chuckled, the sound hollow and lacking humor. "You're right; I shouldn't have pressed the issue after that night. We made a deal after all."

"I did care for you, Atemu." Yuugi confessed quietly. "I won't deny that I had fallen in love with you and some part of me is still in love with you."

"If you felt that way then why did you leave?" Atemu slid closer, grabbing Yuugi's hand discreetly. "Was it that much of a problem to tell me this?"

"No, it wasn't a problem, Atemu. It was the fact that I didn't want to ruin your reputation nor your business."

"That's a sorry excuse and you know it." Atemu retorted bitterly. "Look at Seto and Jounouchi. No one cares if they're together. Hell, Jounouchi even named part of his new place after Seto and its booming. This isn't Egypt, little one; we're not going to be prosecuted for being together. It's not going to affect Ishigami's stocks or business. Why can't you get that through your thick, cute little head? Why can't you see that's nothing is stopping us?"

Yuugi raised his head, staring into Atemu's eyes. He saw how desperate his former boss was, trying to convince him that they would be good together.

"How do you know it's going to work?" Yuugi asked. "We're neither Otogi nor Honda nor are we Jounouchi and Seto."

"I know we're not them and I don't exactly want to be them. I just want us to be Atemu and Yuugi."

A smile pulled at Yuugi's lips before he knew it and held Atemu's hand tightly, staunchly ignoring Mana's excited squeak from a mere three feet away. He should have known that she wasn't that far away.

"Yuugi?" Atemu prodded. "Will you give me another chance?"

Yuugi's lips thinned at the question. No, it wouldn't really hurt to give Atemu another chance, he deserved it after all the crap he put the poor man through and Atemu was right, they really had no obstacles at this point, right?

"There's this place that I love going to." Yuugi started. "It just opened and I really haven't had the chance to go and it would be a nice place for a date."

"Oh?" Atemu adopted a playful smile. "Where's is this place? I might have heard of it before."

Yuugi's face heated. "You know what I'm talking about Atemu, don't play coy."

Atemu snickered, embracing Yuugi in front of everyone on the ice, earning another squeak from Mana. "You're right, I'm sorry, I can still have the date, right?"

"Yes," Yuugi grumbled, returning the embrace just as tightly. "You can still have the date. I'm not going to take that away." Yuugi buried his face into Atemu's chest in an effort to hide his heating face, deciding if this was the right thing to do or not. He felt as if this was a cycle of bad decisions. He didn't know where he and Atemu were going to end up, but ultimately he decided that it wasn't going to be a bad thing if they gave it another shot.

"Yuugi?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you." Atemu murmured. "I know that with what happened between us, you saying yes is not the easiest decision for you."

"It's not as hard as you think, Atemu." Yuugi stated. "I was being stubborn and stupid, but I need you to understand that I was thinking about you and your company. Your parents worked so hard, and I guess I just didn't want to ruin what you had. Your Board of Directors is bunch of assholes."

"I have to agree with you on that statement, but still, thank you."

"You're welcome." Yuugi smiled into Atemu's chest, listening to his former boss' heartbeat. "You're very welcome."