Mistaken Identity

"Yugi?" Yami came running down into the hall at Yugi's yell. Yugi was happy to note that, while a little rumpled from whatever he was doing with Bakura, Yami was still dressed. "What's the matter?"

Yugi took a few deep breaths. "It's Duke Devlin. He's on the porch, and he thinks he's in love with me."

Yami blinked. "That does make things complicated, doesn't it?"

"What do I do?" Yugi wailed. "I don't want to hurt his feelings, but… you know I'm in love with Seto. Even if… he is mad at me right now."

"Did Seto say he was mad at you?" Yami asked.

Yugi shook his head miserably. "But he hasn't called or come by all day. He must be mad at me! I don't think I can handle this thing with Duke… not right now."

"Well you can't just leave Duke Devlin on the porch waiting for you," Yami pointed out. "You'll have to tell him something. Just talk to him, explain you're seeing someone else. He'll understand."

Yugi sniffled a little. "Okayy… um, you're not mad at me, are you? Were you and Bakura busy?"

Yami smiled wryly. "Bakura will be a little huffy, but don't worry about that. Go talk to Devlin."

"Right." Yugi nodded, opening the door a little and slipping back outside. It wouldn't do to have Duke Devlin see Yami just yet. They'd never been formally introduced, and explaining Yami's existence to people still gave Yugi a headache. The migraine he'd gotten trying to explain to Seto had lasted for two days.

Duke smiled in relief when Yugi stepped back onto the porch. "For a minute I thought you were just going to leave me out here."

"Things have been just a little crazy around here. I've been having problems with…" Yugi trailed off, and shook his head. "Never mind. Back to what you were saying."

"Yes," Duke agreed with a nod. "I'm in love with you."

Yugi winced. "Please don't say that. How can you be in love with me? We haven't even spent much time together, and the first time we met you hated me…"

"But that was before I knew you!" Duke insisted. "You were so incredible, when you beat me at the game I invented, even though you'd never even heard of it before that point. And you were so… hot standing there across the game field from me…" Duke smiled. "I've reviewed the video recordings two dozen times since then. It's easy to see why you're the King of Games. I think that's when I fell in love with you."

Yugi blinked. "King of Games? Er… you didn't happen to notice what color my eyes were during that little match we had, did you?"

Duke blinked at him, then pulled a rumpled picture out of his pocket, a printed screenshot from the Dungeon Dice Monsters match they'd had. He peered at it, then at Yugi, then back at the picture. "Must have been a lousy camera angle, it makes your eyes look all red…"

Yugi relaxed a little. "Duke. You're not in love with me after all. You're in love with the King of Games."

"You're not making sense," Duke said. "YOU are the King of Games."

"No I'm not," Yugi said. "That honored title belongs to one of my best friends… who just happens to look just like me. He was the one who defeated you at your own game, not me. He beat Pegasus too at Duel Monsters. I wasn't even there at the end of the duel, really. That's him in your picture; he has red eyes."

Duke clearly didn't believe him. "What are you saying, that you've got some sort of evil twin running around?"

Yugi heard the door behind him open. "Not evil," Yami said calmly from behind Yugi. "Just… dark, perhaps. But I have never in my life been evil." He paused thoughtfully. "Maybe that one time. But that's it."

Duke stared at Yami. That was him. He was the one who had beaten him at Dungeon Dice Monsters. He was the one Duke couldn't stop thinking about. "You…" He couldn't seem to get much out past that.

"Duke Devlin, allow me to introduce Yami, the King of Games," Yugi said, smiling. He glanced at Yami. "Were you listening to our whole conversation?"

Yami shrugged. "I thought you might need some assistance. Was I mistaken?"

Yugi smiled. "Nope. And you have perfect timing."

"You!" Duke was apparently regaining his ability to speak coherently. "You're the King of Games! You're incredible! You not only learn a game, but master it all in the same day. I can't even tell you how much I've thought of you since that day… it's just like everyone says; can't eat, can't sleep…"

Yugi was regretting getting Yami involved in this now. Because Yami was looking distinctly uncomfortable with the situation. Not to mention the looming shadow with dangerously narrowed eyes looming just inside the house…

"Um, Duke…" Yugi interrupted him. "Allow me to introduce Bakura; Yami's boyfriend."

That shut Duke up. He looked from Yami to the very angry and possessive Bakura who was standing just behind him.

Bakura wrapped his arms around Yami from behind, explaining succinctly, "Mine."

"Oh." Duke shifted slightly, then smiled faintly. "Seems I've made… something of an error. Sorry to bother you guys. I'll, uh, see you later…"

"Wait, Duke…" Yugi called, but Duke didn't even look back as he left. Yugi sighed. "Today simply could not get any stranger."