Chapter Five

"I need to speak to you."

Yuugi didn't move his eyes from the professor at the front of the auditorium. His fingers itched with the urge to touch his phone, to text someone. "We're in the middle of class, and I'm taking notes."

"You already know how to do all of this."

"Doesn't mean I shouldn't listen."

Beside him, Seto Kaiba made an almost-silent snarl, but turned and finally ignored him.

—-

He waited two class days before he tried again.

"I have a proposition for you."

"The answer is no."

"Yuugi, this is getting ridiculous."

"I'll say."

—-

"I'm losing patience."

Okay, that one made Yuugi stall. Rabid, he thought. Rabid, rabid, rabid. His phone stayed tucked into his pocket as he ground his teeth together.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing. I just–" Kaiba closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose tightly. Yuugi considered retreating while he seemed occupied but he missed his chance. "Will you just ask Katsuya to talk to me?"

The audacity. Yuugi suddenly felt very small as he realized he was simply being asked to be a messenger. "I'm not doing your work for you."

"Yuugi, please."

"I said no." Yuugi snapped. "Are you still having a hard time comprehending that word?"

For the first time in his life, Yuugi saw Kaiba visibly flinch. He didn't know if that flaw in his facade made Yuugi feel better or not. If he stopped to think about it, he felt bad saying these words. About causing anyone, including Kaiba, any kind of pain.

So he didn't think about it. He picked his things up and left. He was supposed to bring lunch back to his dorm today, anyway.

He sent a quick text to Honda on the way, asking for an update on his grandfather.

"Quick text" turned into "near-frantic string of texts", but he could hardly be blamed for that, what with Seto Kaiba confronting him again and again.

—-

"Please?"

Ra, he knew his best friend would be the death of him. He just always thought it would be via stabbing, and not an aneurysm. "No, Bakura."

"But Malik is willing to help!"

Malik, that traitor, nodded enthusiastically from his space on the couch. "You know me, I'm always down to help a friend in need."

"I have better things to do than to follow you to your boyfriend's dorm and distract his roommates so you two can have some alone time inside a bedroom."

I could be in Yuugi's room, losing another game. He shifted at the thought. He should already be over there, honestly. Yuugi said he was bringing lunch back for his roommates, and promised to get enough extra for Atem, too.

That sounded infinitely more interesting than entertaining Bakura's boyfriend's roommates.

"That's not what it is," Bakura responded. "According to Rabbit, he 'doesn't want to intrude on anyone's personal space' and would feel better if most of us got to know each other before he and I were left to our devices. Together. In one of our rooms. With the door locked."

"Yes, yes, there's no need to continue." It was like Bakura had a button that would make Atem's face flame whenever he wanted it to. "Why can't they come here for this little playdate?"

"Why, so you can escape through the window?" Malik's predatory grin made the goosebumps on Atem's arms raise.

"Rabbit doesn't want to come here first." Bakura crossed his arms and sulked. "He says some of our fellows are intimidating."

"Gee, I wonder where he got that idea."

"It certainly isn't from me." The ever-helpful Malik raised a thumb to his chest. "I'm just delightful."

"Come on, help a guy out."

"I have plans already."

Bakura paused. Then he frowned before showing his teeth. Atem had the impression that he was about to pull out all the stops and tensed.

"So it's a no. After everything I do for you?"

Atem raised an eyebrow and drew himself to sit up straight in his seat at their "kitchen" table. "Like what?"

Bakura's expression turned wolfish. He literally stalked closer to Atem, as if he'd spotted prey.

"I heard you last week."

Malik glanced warily between the two, looking too curious for his own good. Atem racked his brain for what that could mean and came up empty.

"Excuse me?"

"Sorry, I misspoke." Bakura's grin returned, but that did nothing to alleviate Atem's suspicions. "I heard you and someone else in your room last week."

Oh.

He meant when Yuugi had crawled through his window and set about making his room look like a bedroom, instead of a bare cell with a bed. After months at school, Atem simply hadn't seen a reason to make it look presentable. He didn't spend a lot of time there, anyway. He really only used it for sleep.

Malik caught on, too. He leapt to his feet and closed the distance between them. His mouth hung open, his eyes widened, and he pointed a tanned finger straight at Atem.

"The funny window boy."

Oh no. "It's not–"

"How long has he been coming to your room, Atem?" Bakura continued.

"Yes, how long?" Malik seemed fine with leaning into the chaos, as he crossed his arms and shifted his weight to one hip.

"I was trying to give you and your window buddy as much space as you needed to finally make a move, but you move faster than I thought you would."

"What."

"Yeah," Malik winked. "You could have told us, and we'd clear the dorm for you."

"As good friends would."

"How is this happening right now?"

"You could make it stop."

Malik grinned. "Just agree to help out."

Atem threw his head onto the table and let out a groan. Bakura and Malik high fived without looking away from a defeated Atem. "All right, fine. Just this once, and never again."

Bakura patted him roughly on the back. "You always say that. Tomorrow evening?"

The front door opened and then shut with a harsh slam. All three jumped at the sound, their interrogation ruined. Atem felt himself begin to breathe again. Seto stalked into the room, his fists clenched and his face in a tight scrunch that told Atem he was in some serious pain. The temperature in the room dropped several degrees.

Quick, change the subject.

"Hey, Seto!" Atem gave a shaky grin. "Bakura is trying to invite us to his boyfriend's dorm tomorrow. Would you like to come?"

"No."

"Come on," Atem chuckled. Don't make me do this by myself please. "From what Bakura says, Rabbit and his roommates are pretty knowledgeable about games, including Duel Monsters. Maybe they're in the tournament circuits." Like Yuugi is.

He hadn't had time since Yuugi's King of Games status was revealed to him to bring the subject up to Seto. His cousin was always either studying, in a work meeting, or just not in the dorm at all.

"Why on earth would I want to talk to card game nobodies about a game I haven't played in almost a year?"

Hmm, that was another reason he hadn't brought up Yuugi and his title. Seto seemed particularly prickly about Duel Monsters these days.

Seto scoffed at the image of Malik and Bakura bearing down on Atem before cutting a path directly to his room. He slammed his door shut too. Should I see if he's all right?

The sound of a swift lock answered Atem's unspoken question.

Malik took a deep breath and clutched at his chest through his purple tank. "Wow, what's gotten into him?"

"He's been getting more and more irritable lately," Bakura agreed. "I didn't invite him along because I figured he would just say no. In the most patronizing way possible."

It was probably a good assumption. Seto had very little patience for anything these days. He went to his classes, attended Kaiba Corp. meetings when required, and kept to his room. Occasionally he would venture into the living room to be around others while he worked, but that was happening less and less often as time went on. Oftentimes he wouldn't even respond when Atem tried to reach out. Recently he felt more than a little useless as an emotional support cousin.

Still, there was nothing he could do about it now, and he was running late. He would send Seto a text in an hour or so and see if he was more willing to talk. Until then….

"Now that you've blackmailed me into doing something I don't want to do, I'm leaving." He stood, effectively forcing Bakura and Malik away from him. "Text me the time you want us to meet up, and where we're going."

He heard Malik begin to laugh as he made his way back to his room. "Go check on Window Boy!"

"It's okay if we hear his voice coming through the door. We won't make too much noise."

"He'll feel better if he can use his full volume, trust me."

The pair devolved into total laughter by the time Atem made it to his room. Malik held onto the chair for support, Bakura had an arm wrapped around his ribs.

He hated his best friends. He climbed through Yuugi's window and settled himself down on the floor with a deck of cards, hoping against hope that the red in his face, and the less-than-appropriate thoughts, would be gone by the time Yuugi returned.

—-

Honda hasn't texted back yet. Maybe he's just busy. Something is wrong. He's working today, and the Kame Shop has been much busier recently. Something has to be wrong. It's only been half an hour. Enough time has passed that I could get enough food for five people and make it back to the dorm.

I should call him. But don't bother him. Everything's fine. Probably. Maybe.

Yuugi grit his teeth as he slid his key into the lock and turned.

"I'm back!" Yuugi burst through his doorway, holding the bags of food aloft. He set them on the kitchen table as his roommates swarmed around him.

The nearer they came, the less he felt the anxiety that had turned around his chest after class.

"It smells delicious!" Hanasaki cried, digging through the first bag. He held up a styrofoam to-go box, inspected the inside, then handed it to Jou. "That's yours."

"Thanks, kiddo." Jounouchi placed a hand on top of Hanasaki's head, nearly covering his entire scalp.

Yuugi's pocket pinged, and pinged, and pinged. Jou gave him a strange look as he dropped everything on the table quickly to fish his phone out. The conversations around him dimmed as he unlocked it and swiped straight into his text messages.

Honda (12:30 p.m.): He's fine.

Honda (12:30 p.m.): Are you doing okay?

Honda (12:30 p.m.): Do you need to talk?

The last question left a hole in his chest. He did need to talk. He just didn't know how much he wanted to talk about. Or what he needed to talk about.

Ping!

"Wow, Yuugi is pretty popular today," Yuugi heard Ryou as if cotton were stuffed into his ears. He glanced back down at his phone.

Honda (12:31 p.m.): Are you feeling rabid?

The last text jolted him out of his own head, and he quickly responded.

Yuugi (12:31 p.m.): No.

Yuugi (12:31 p.m.) Sorry for worrying you. I'll call you later.

Honda (12:31 p.m.): You better.

"How much do we owe you, Yuugi?"

"Hmm?" Yuugi snapped back to the conversation. He let out a shaky breath and set his phone back in his pocket. "Oh, nothing! It's on me today."

Jou narrowed his eyes. He reached out and tapped a hand to Yuugi's forehead. "Are you feeling okay, bud?"

"Yeah, you're acting a little strange." Hanasaki agreed.

"Oh, I'm fine! I'm just fine." Yugi held his hands up, hoping the last of their shakes were gone. "I'm just starving. And I have a lot of homework to finish. I'm going to take my food to my room."

"All right," Ryou shrugged. "Let us know if you need any help with anything. I'll make us breakfast in the morning as thanks for lunch today."

"That sounds great!" Yuugi took his full bag of delicious-smelling fried rice away to his room, ignoring the hard stare he could feel from Jounouchi. He shut his door behind him and sighed.

As expected, Atem was already in his room, back to the door and cross legged on the floor, surrounded by cards. He barely looked over his shoulder with a wave before leaning back down over his Duel Monsters cards. Yuugi bit back a laugh as he put his bag in his desk chair–his homework could wait until later that night–and sat down facing Atem, leaning against his bed. Then he placed the promised bag of food between them, waiting for Atem to shift his focus back and notice.

This happened more and more often lately. Yuugi would come back from classes, or visiting his grandpa, or hanging out with his friends, to find Atem in his room. Reading his textbook, playing a one-player game, on his laptop… he seemed completely at ease in Yuugi's room.

Honestly, Yuugi was completely at ease with it, too. It surprised him how natural it felt to share his space with Atem. They would hop from room to room without pause, and he expected they would do so more often now that Yuugi finally made Atem unpack his room. Their windows stayed open nearly constantly, unless it was raining.

Yuugi could feel all of the stress from that day melting away as he watched Atem strategize. He wanted to put his head on Atem's lap while he worked and maybe drift off to sleep. Maybe Atem would put his hand in Yuugi's hair like he had last week. Months ago, the thought would have made Yuugi startle, but now he held onto the image tightly. It was becoming easier to imagine scenarios like that one without flushing or giving a strange reaction.

It was becoming harder to keep them inside his imagination, though.

Atem was clearly too engrossed in whatever plan he was thinking up. Yuugi opened one of the bowls of rice, stuck the plastic spoon in the middle, and handed it over to him. Atem held onto it with a loose grip, his focus still on his cards.

Yugi frowned. Pay attention to me.

He leaned forward slowly, giving plenty of time for Atem to notice, picked up the spoon and held it up to his face. Without thinking or looking up, Atem opened his mouth. Yuugi couldn't quite believe his luck as he shoveled a spoonful of fried rice into Atem's mouth.

That got his attention. His eyes widened comically and he looked up to meet Yuugi's gaze. He started chewing on instinct.

A bright red flush crawled up Atem's cheeks, and he slapped a hand to his mouth, mortified.

He kept chewing, though. Yuugi pressed a hand to his own mouth to make sure he didn't laugh too loudly.

Atem swallowed and coughed. "Yuugi!"

"Good food?" Wow, Yuugi couldn't stop smiling.

"I just–I can't believe you–"

"Oh my god," Yuugi let out a breathy giggle. "You are so cute."

It was Yuugi's turn to still. His face burned and he bit his lip, embarrassed. I didn't mean to say that. He resisted the urge to hide his face under a pillow. Or leave the room altogether. The words were already out. He wouldn't take them back.

He tried not to squirm as he waited for Atem's reaction.

Atem stared into space, as if he were still a few quips behind. And then, as if he finally caught up, he looked directly into Yuugi's eyes and his face lit up. Yuugi's brain fogged at the completely enchanted expression. If he had the willpower (or courage) to move closer and touch Atem's face, he would have.

"You think I'm cute?"

All of the breath left Yuugi's lungs. A weight lifted off of his shoulders. He didn't know how long he took to answer, whether it was seconds later or minutes (God, he hoped he didn't sit there dissociating for minutes), but he eventually heard himself respond.

"Yeah."

Atem's awed smile grew. He briefly leaned forward, onto his knees, and twisted around before sitting down again. His back against the bed, his shoulder pressed against Yuugi's. Side by side. He picked up the bowl and began eating, beaming the entire time.

Yuugi leaned his head against Atem's shoulder, suddenly more content than he thought he had any right to be.

—-

Some time later, Atem finished his new Duel Monsters deck. He was confident this one would be able to at least give Yuugi a run for his money. His muscles twitched, their dull aching suddenly reminding him that he'd been huddled on the floor for longer than he'd meant to. He'd been more than happy to sit with Yuugi, practically cuddled together, and talk about anything and everything while he worked.

Speaking of Yuugi, their conversation had died out some time ago. Atem thought it had been because he was too focused on his task, but looking down….

Yuugi was asleep. His mouth lay open slightly as he took soft breaths, and his face appeared completely relaxed. Atem's heart clenched, and all of his previous aches fled. He wouldn't have moved from that position for the world.

Atem let out a quiet breath through his nose. "And you say I'm the cute one."

Ping! Ping!

Hissing at the sudden noise, Atem shuffled around until he could bring his phone out of his pocket.

Bakura (4:30 p.m.): We'll just meet here tomorrow afternoon and head over together.

Bakura (4:30 p.m.): I don't want you accidentally getting lost.

Atem (4:32 p.m.): I wouldn't do that.

Bakura (4:32 p.m.): You've done it before.

Atem (4:33 p.m.): Exactly. There's no way it would work twice.

The next few texts from Bakura were vulgar emojis. Then,

Bakura (4:35 p.m.): Where are you, anyway? We haven't heard a sound out of your room for hours.

Atem (4:35 p.m.): I moved to Osaka. Have you heard anything from Seto? He hasn't returned any of my texts.

Bakura (4:38 p.m.): He's alive. Don't change the subject.

Bakura (4:38 p.m.): You're with FWB, aren't you?

Atem (4:38 p.m.): Who

Bakura (4:39 p.m.) Funny Window Boy

Bakura (4:41 p.m.): Touched a nerve?

Bakura (4:45 p.m.): There's always one surefire way for me to find out.

Atem (4:47 p.m.): STAY OUT OF MY ROOM

Bakura (4:47 p.m.): MAKE ME

Atem swore, startling Yuugi into consciousness and away from his shoulder. Suddenly less warm and definitely irritated about it, Atem leaned up from his comfortable spot next to Yuugi and looked out the window. Sure enough, the doorknob in his room was jiggling.

"Wassat?" Yuugi hummed, rubbing at his eyes.

"My roommates are looking for me." Atem followed the statement with a long string of curses in Arabic. He stood up and began collecting his things. "I need to get back before they break the door down."

"Hnn…" Yuugi frowned through his sleepiness before getting to his feet, too. "Wait, they wouldn't do that, would they? Wouldn't they just text you first?"

"They did."

"Did you tell them you're not in there?"

"That just fueled them on."

"Oh…"

Yuugi looked disappointed enough that Atem reached out and tugged on one of his golden bangs. "I need to go, but I'd rather stay here."

"Me too." Yuugi blinked, and began to stammer. "Rather you stay, I mean. I'd rather you stay too. I don't have to go."

Atem was sure smiling this much was supposed to be painful, but he didn't feel it. He loved the way Yuugi could go from articulate to a stuttering mess. He briefly wondered how often he could trigger the change.

Oh no, I'm doomed.

"All right, I forgive you," Yuugi continued. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yes, I–" Wait. "Oh, no. I'm being forced to distract and babysit for my friend and his boyfriend tomorrow."

A yawn. "What?"

"I'm sorry, I was coerced into helping a friend out tomorrow." Atem grimaced. "But I'll text you, and if I'm done early enough I'll definitely come see you."

Yuugi looked a little uncertain, but nodded all the same. "All right, if you want to."

Atem waited until Yuugi was looking at him before responding. "Of course I want to."

He leaned forward, and before he could talk himself out of it, wrapped his arms around Yuugi in a tight embrace. He felt Yuugi tense, hopefully in surprise and not rejection, and then pulled back.

The stunned look in Yuugi's eyes spoke volumes, and quelled a lot of Atem's anxieties. He ingrained that expression into his memory, then turned and tumbled out of the window.

He leapt to his own bedroom door, still rattling as his friends tried to turn the locked knob, and threw it open. Both Bakura and Malik stood outside of his door, predatory grins on their faces.

"Having fun, Atem?" Malik asked, the picture of innocence.

"You're bad friends."

His friends' cackles echoed through his room. He still felt warmth emanating from his shoulder, which seemed to have a direct link to his pulsating heart.

—-

When Yuugi's brain rebooted, he left his room to find Jou laying across half the couch, playing one of their newer video games.

"Hey, he emerges!" Jou picked up a controller and tossed it to him, restarting the game for two players.

"Sorry, I took a nap." Yugi sat down directly onto Jounouchi's legs and picked his character. As soon as he joined the game, he threw Jou's across the screen.

"I'm glad you're here. I've been worried about you." Jou managed to block Yuugi's next attack.

That piqued Yuugi's interest. He raised an eyebrow, not looking away from the screen."Oh?"

"You've been avoiding us."

The bluntness of the statement startled Yuugi enough that Jou managed to knock his character down. The blonde let out a triumphant yell and renewed his assault as Yuugi dodged out of the way.

"That's not–I mean–"

"I'm worried about you." Jou continued. Yuugi set off a combo move that broke through Jou's guard and cut his HP in half, eliciting a hiss from the blonde. "Is anyone bullying you in classes? On campus?"

"What? No, I'm not a child–"

"You get really quiet some days when you come back from class." Jou continued. He depleted Yuugi's hit points and the game renewed for their second of third matches. "And a lot of times you seem to disappear into your room completely."

There was a significant pause in their words as their hit points came low enough to require concentration. Jou leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. Yuugi crossed his legs under him and narrowed his eyes in concentration.

Yuugi won. The game restarted. Three out of three.

Jou leaned back in his seat again. "Honda and Anzu are worried, too."

"I see. Hang on," Yuugi paused the game and pulled out his phone. Jou frowned at him, then nodded in understanding as he pulled up Honda's name. "Anzu is in America and probably asleep, but I'd rather have this conversation all at once, if that's all right."

"Yuugi!" Honda's voice filled the room. "Finally you call. I've been worried sick all day."

"He says he was taking a nap." Jou answered. He muted the TV and Yuugi unpaused the game.

"That sounds like a line."

"I was!" Yuugi won the final round, basking in Jou's defeated grumbles. They started a new game. "For a little bit."

"Yuugi." Honda's voice sounded concerned. "If something is going on, tell us. You worried me today with your texts. Is everything going okay?"

Jou narrowed his eyes at Yuugi's phone, even as he executed a combo on Yuugi's character in the game. "What texts?"

"I got anxious earlier today, and may have sent a few texts to Honda asking about jii-chan." Yuugi admitted.

"A few."

Jou's phone began pinging with numerous notifications. The game was again paused as he pulled it out. One look at the screen and Yuugi knew he was in trouble. Honda sent the screenshots of his earlier near-panicked texts to him.

Yuugi (11:56 a.m.): Honda, can you please check on jii-chan for me?

Yuugi (11:56 a.m.): I know you're scheduled to work today. I need to know.

Yuugi (15:57 a.m.): And I know it's the lunchtime rush.

Yuugi (11:57 a.m.): Please.

Yuugi (11:57 a.m.): I just need to make sure

Jou narrowed his eyes at Yuugi.

"What happened."

It was a statement. A demand.

The anxiety from this morning came back. Should he tell his friends that Kaiba was bothering him almost daily in the classes they shared? He was fairly certain if he did that, both Jou and Honda would get into trouble trying to fend him off. He didn't want them in legal trouble.

And he didn't want Jou to have to confront Kaiba. Not because of Yuugi.

Besides, he was fairly certain he was safe from anything Kaiba could do. Whether his brain decided to remember that in important moments was beside the point. He didn't think Kaiba would be able to do anything too invasive to Yuugi, or his grandfather, or Jounouchi.

A nagging thought in the back of his mind told him that he could tell Atem about it, too, and the problem would solve itself. He didn't want to bring his issues to his new friend, though.

A half-truth, then.

"Kaiba came up in our game development class today."

Pain crashed across Jou's face, masked quickly by understanding. He reached out a hand to Yuugi and squeezed his arm.

"Yuugi, I'm sorry." He said. "Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm better now."

"Moments like that are when you should use our word."

"I didn't need you to come beat anyone up."

Jou shook his head and leaned back into the couch, unpausing the game again. "It's not about beating people up."

"It's when you need support, or to leave a situation without anyone else knowing why."

"Or to keep us from worrying that you're keeping things from us." Jou added in. "Like when something worries you enough that you start spending most of your time in your room."

"Oh." Yuugi could feel the blush start to set in. "That's separate."

"How so?"

"Don't be mad." Ugh, this was going to be bad. "I might have… met someone."

The game shut off.

The silence in the room was palpable. Jounouchi turned wide eyes onto Yuugi, who refused to look at him. The phone sat silent on the seat between them, the seconds on the call time ticking away.

"What!"

"When?"

"What's their name?"

"... how?"

"Do we know this person?"

"No." Yuugi answered the simplest question first. "Maybe? I don't know. His name is Atem."

When it became clear neither Jou nor Honda were planning on interrupting, Yuugi went on. "His room is the one across from mine, through the window."

"You met someone. Through a window."

Jou let out a puff of air, a mix between a sigh and a laugh. "Of course you did."

"I mean, we hang out on campus now, too. We went to the game shop one day, but you were gone, Honda." Yuugi excused, suddenly defensive.

"You've already introduced him to the family?"

Nope, ignoring that obvious trap. "But yes, we met at the window in my room."

"Is that why it's always open?"

"...Yes?"

"That's dangerous, Yuugi. He could just crawl in one day and be inside your room."

Yugi let the quiet speak for him. Jou yelped and pointed a finger.

"Yuugi, you dog! Tell us everything."

"In the dorm?" Jou let out another yelp. "He's been in here?"

"Just in my room."

"That's worse!"

"No, I'm serious. Spill it. You and Miho are basically the same person, and I need to know what worked on you."

Jou picked up the phone with a third cry of outrage. "Don't encourage him!" He hung up the phone and tossed it back at Yuugi. "We are going to continue this game and not speak about this until he's ready to come through the front door, like a real suitor."

Yuugi scrunched his nose. "Suitor? Really?"

"Nope. Not happening." He turned the TV back on and sat down. As he handed over the controller again, he tapped it against Yuugi's head with a thunk. "Safe words apply to window boyfriends, too. Just so we're clear."

Yuugi nodded.

"Good. Now we're never speaking about this."

They would certainly speak about this again. Jou's curiosity would get the better of him. Yuugi made a bet with himself that it would take him ten minutes to bark another question.

He lasted four.