Disclaimer: I don't own Yugi or any of the characters.
'Thoughts'
Its Party Time
Marik and Malik were quietly sitting in the living room watching a movie and Marik was just getting comfy when the phone started to ring. Marik paused the movie and grumbled a bit as he went to answer it. He was almost to the kitchen when Yami and the others arrived back home. Marik paused in his steps and turned back toward the living room when he heard the kitchen door close and, just figured that Yami would answer it since he was closer. When Marik returned to the livingroom, Malik looked at him strangely, "I thought you went to get the phone?" he asked him curiously, "and why do you have that grin on your face?"
Marik didn't answer right away, and Malik was starting to get annoyed, but then Marik just smiled and pointed to the kitchen just as he heard Yami yelling, "I'll get it, Marik."
Malik looked at Marik and couldn't help but laugh at the dopey smirk he had on his face, "You are so lazy." he said as he playfully slapped the other. Marik was about to make a comment in return, but Yugi and the others walked into the livingroom so he kept quiet.
"Did you guys have fun?" Malik asked when Yugi sat down on the beanbag chair.
Yugi nodded with a smile on his face while Ryou answered for him as he and Bakura sat on the chair, "Yea, it was great."
"Wasn't so great for me," Bakura said grumbling, but with a smile on his face as he pointed to Yugi, "I got hit in the head with a ball thanks to this little one here."
At first, Yugi looked worried and Ryou noticed right away, "He's just kidding Yugi," he said, while playfully smaking Bakura, "He knows that you didn't mean it, right Bakura?"
Bakura got up and playfully ruffled Yugi's hair, "I was just joking Yugi, I'm not mad at you."
Yugi nodded his head and visibly relaxed, but then he suddenly yawned and realized how tired he still was. He snuggled deeper into the comfortable chair and watched TV.
"Yugi hit you in the head with a ball?" Marik said laughing, "I would've loved to see that."
"That's not even the best part," Ryou said, then after a quick glance to make sure Yugi wasn't watching, then turned to his friend, "Malik you'll never believe what happened today! After Bakura got hit with the ball, we heard Yugi laugh."
Malik was amazed, "He laughed? That's great, I've never heard him laugh before. I'm glad that Yugi is finally happy."
"I know what you mean," Ryou replied, "You know what Malik? I'm happy too."
"Same here, Ryou." Malik commented before returning to watching the TV with Marik, while Ryou and Bakura did the same.
"You guys really like it here?" Bakura asked
Ryou and Malik nodded, and Bakura and Marik smiled.
In the kitchen with Yami:
"I'll get it, Marik." Yami yelled as he picked up the phone.
"Hello?"
"Yami? Hi, this is Mrs. McGuire," She said, "I was just calling to see how Yugi was doing today."
"Yugi had a bad flashback this morning and a nightmare this afternoon, but after that he was fine and actually started having fun," Yami replied, "We took him and Ryou to the park today and we actually made Yugi laugh, you really should have seen it, it was great."
"He had another flashback, I was hoping he was over those." she said quietly to herself, then she paused for a second before smiling, "Did you say he laughed?", She questioned, "That's wonderful. You know, to be honest, I wasn't really sure about letting you take Yugi in the beginning, but after hearing this, you may be just what he needs. Who knows he might even fully recover, wouldn't that be great. You say he still is uncomfortable around Bakura and Marik? and how are Malik and Ryou doing"
"Yeah he is. Bakura had to call me at work because Yugi had another nightmare and wouldn't let anyone but me near him. I think part of it had to do with his flashback this morning, he was acting nervous all day and didn't finally relax until we took him to the park and he played with his friends. Malik and Ryou are doing great. Bakura found a cooking partner, and Marik found someone else in his quest to annoy Bakura." Yami started laughing at that part, "It's really amazing how far along Yugi has come in such a short period of time and it would be great if he fully recovered and I think he's had a great start so far, I just want him to be happy." Yami replied, "So is that all you called about?"
"No, I just wanted you to know that Yugi's birthday is tomorrow. He'll be 10 years old. Ryou and Malik's birthday's are next month, and they'll both be turning 11. I just wanted to tell you that because kids, in their situations, don't get birthday parties from their parents. Instead they get abandonment and abuse, and I just thought it would be a great way for those boys to get what other children take for granded, and that's a happy childhood. I also thought it would be a fun way for you guys to get to know the boys better." Mrs. McGuire replied.
"All right, I think we will throw a party for Yugi, that sounds like it would be lots of fun. Well, I have to go now," Yami said, "Thanks for calling."
"Bye Yami," she replied as she hung up the phone.
'Yugi is 10?' Yami thought while also hanging up the phone, 'She had a really great idea, we should throw a party for him tomorrow. It would be fun for Yugi since I don't think he's never had one before and it would also be a good project for everyone to get to know each other a little better.'
He walked out of the kitchen to where the others were sitting. Yami smiled at the scene before he entered the livingroom. Marik and Malik were on the couch talking quietly, while Bakura and Ryou were watching TV. Yami then glanced over at Yugi and saw that he was sleeping peacefully once again. Yami walked up to Bakura and whispered in his ear, then over to Marik. They both looked at him confused, but followed him anyway.
Yami led them back into the kitchen. "Guys that was Mrs. McGuire on the phone, she told me that Yugi's birthday is tomorrow, and Ryou's and Malik's are next month. I thought it would be fun to throw Yugi a surprise party." Yami told his friends about the phone call.
"If he's still nervous around us, is scaring him by yelling SURPRISE the best idea?" stated Bakura.
"I guess I didn't think of that," replied Yami, "Well then how about just a regular party, Mrs. McGuire told me that he's never had a party before and neither have Ryou and Malik."
"Sounds great." Bakura said, "Ryou and I can make the cake and food."
"Okay," Answered Marik, "Malik and I will get some movies."
"The party was my idea, what am I supposed to do?" questioned Yami.
"Your job," Bakura stated putting his arm around Yami's neck, "Is keeping Yugi from finding out about the party."
With that agreed upon, Bakura went back into the livingroom to find Ryou, when he didn't see him there he looked at Malik, "Do you know where Ryou went?"
"Yea," Malik replied keeping his eyes on the TV, "He went up to his room."
Bakura thanked Malik then headed upstairs, just as Malik said, he found him upstairs drawing on what appeared to be some sort of card. Bakura walked up behind him and tried to see what the other was drawing. When he couldn't figure out what it was supposed to be he decided to tell Ryou about the party
"Hey Ryou, how would you like to help me in the kitchen?" Bakura asked him with a smile
"Sure," Ryou said looking up from his picture, "What do you need help with?"
"It's Yugi's birthday tomorrow and we're going to throw a party for him." Bakura explained. "You and I are on cooking duty."
"A party sounds like fun, of course I'll help." Ryou got up off his chair and followed Bakura downstairs. They went through the kitchen making a list of things that they needed for the party, after they made the list, Bakura yelled, "We'll be right back guys." as he and Ryou walked out the door.
Marik checked the first place he thought of to find Malik, the livingroom, and sure enough when he walked in there he found Malik sitting on the couch watching another movie. Marik smirked and walked up to the younger boy and leaned against the couch, waiting until he had the others attention.
"Hey Malik, want to go to the store with me?" He asked, "We're planning a party for Yugi and we're renting movies."
"Yeah, I'll come with ya." Malik answered but didn't move from his spot on the couch.
"Well," Marik asked annoyed, getting ready to go outside, "are you coming or not?"
"Oh," Malik replied slowly starting to get up off the couch, "I didn't know you meant now."
Marik just sighed at the younger, "Just get your butt off that couch and let's go before all the good movies are gone."
Then they both walked to the door.
"We'll be right back Yami." Marik yelled.
Yami tried to think of what he could do to keep Yugi from finding out about the party. He was so deep in thought, that when he felt a hand touch his arm, he jumped. Yami turned around quickly when he heard laughing, and saw Yugi. Yugi had his hand covering his mouth trying to hide his laughter. Yami smiled at him.
"You think that's funny?" Yami said smiling.
Yugi nodded his head.
"I'll get you for that." Yami said smirking playfully. Yugi saw the look on Yami's face, and ran in the other direction laughing. Yami, also laughing, ran after Yugi playfully chasing him.
Yugi ran to the front door and bolted outside with Yami right on his heels. Yugi turned around to see how close Yami was to him, then as he turned the corner, he found what he thought was a good hiding place and hid in an alleyway. Yugi smiled as Yami ran past the alley, not knowing he was hiding there. Yugi peeked his head out of the alley and saw Yami run around the next corner. Yugi smiled knowing he played a trick on Yami.
Yugi was about to walk out of the alley when suddenly a hand covered his mouth and an arm dragged him back into the darkness of the alley. Yugi started whimpering and struggling trying to get away. The tall stocky man just picked him up and slammed him hard into the brick wall. Yugi started crying wishing Yami was here as the guy hit Yugi in the stomach to shut him up. Yugi just shut his eyes and cried harder. An extremely hard hit to the face caused Yugi to open his eyes wide as tears streamed down his face.
"Shut up," The man screamed, delivering another blow to the young boys already bruised abdomen and was about to hit Yugi again when a voice behind him made him turn around.
"Put him down NOW!" said a dangerous voice.
"Make me." Said the guy, then to prove his point, punched Yugi in the face once again.
That made Bakura even more angry as he ran up to the guy and knocked him off Yugi, who curled up into a ball, crying and shivering uncontrollably. Bakura took out his anger on the man and continued punching him harder until the attacker was knocked unconscious. Then as Bakura passed him he kicked him in the ribs. Bakura walked over to where Yugi was still on the ground, and gently put his hand on Yugi's shoulder, at first Yugi flinched, then he raised his head and tearfully looked up.
When Yugi saw that it was Bakura, he fell forward into his chest sobbing and wrapped his arms tightly around Bakura's neck like he was his last hope. Bakura was startled at first but then wrapped his arms around Yugi, rubbing circles on his back trying to calm him down. Eventually, Yugi's calmed down, but refused to release his hold on Bakura. He carefully picked Yugi up and started to head for home. When he came out of the alley, he saw Yami running up to him.
"What happened?" Yami asked worriedly.
"I was coming back from the store cause I forgot the list and I heard fighting." Bakura explained "I went into the alley and found this guy beating up Yugi, so I took care of the guy."
"Is Yugi okay?" Yami asked looking at Yugi worried.
"I think so, he finally calmed down, but he won't loosen his hold on me." said Bakura.
Yami followed Bakura as they made their way back home, Yami glanced sadly at the small trembling form in Bakura's arms. He sighed in relief when the house was finally in sight and followed Bakura as he brought Yugi into the bathroom to clean him up. Yami sat down on the floor and Bakura set Yugi down on his lap, then grabbed a washcloth to help clean the boy up. Yami lifted Yugi's shirt carefully and gasped when he saw all the bruises and blood that covered his small chest. Yami grabbed the washcloth from Bakura and started to clean the blood off Yugi's face.
Yugi whimpered and opened his eyes, he tearfully looked up and saw Yami and Bakura looking at him worriedly. He sat up and grabbed tightly onto Yami hiding his face in his chest and started to cry again while Yami gently rubbed his back. After Yugi got cleaned up and calmed down again, he got up off Yami's lap and walked over to Bakura who looked at him curiously. Yugi looked up and smiled at Bakura giving him a big hug, which Bakura happily returned.
After a few minutes Bakura pulled away from the hug and kneeled down in front of Yugi, "Are you okay little one?" He asked quietly and for once Yugi didn't look away.
Yugi wiped his eyes and nodded.
"That's good. I have to get back to the store." Bakura said standing up, "I left Ryou there, I was coming back cause I kind of forgot the list." embarrassed, Bakura got up and left the bathroom. That comment made Yami remember about the party. 'I have to keep Yugi busy so that everyone can get ready for the party.'
Yami tapped Yugi's shoulder and Yugi looked at him and smiled which Yami returned.
"You want to go to the park for awhile?" Yami asked.
Yugi nodded again and followed Yami out of the bathroom. After Yugi was cleaned up and changed into different clothes, they left the house and headed back to the park.
Bakura and Ryou finished their shopping and headed back to the house. They opened the door quietly and sighed in relief when they saw that no one was home. Once in the kitchen, Bakura decided to make the cake first so it would have time to cool down before the party. Just as Bakura was putting the cake in the oven Ryou heard the door open, so he peaked around the corner to see who had come in. He sighed in relief when he saw that it was just Marik and Malik returning from the movie rental store down the road.
"You guys scared the daylights out of us." Ryou exclaimed, "I thought you guys were Yami and Yugi coming home early."
"Nope," Marik replied grinning, while he and Malik decided to get into the kitchen to see what the two of them were doing,"its just us."
By the time Yami and Yugi had returned, they almost had everything ready for the party and hidden where Yugi couldn't find it. They knew he wouldn't go snooping around because he wasn't expecting anything, his parents have never given him a birthday party.
After an early dinner, Bakura, Ryou, Marik and Malik went to the mall to get Yugi a present, while Yami and Yugi went into the living room to sit down. Yami found the remote stuck in the seat cushion as he started channel surfing, he was slightly surprised when he felt Yugi crawl into his lap and sit down, but he didn't mind, he just looked down and smiled at Yugi. Yugi leaned back and rested against Yami, who just wrapped his arms tighter around the small boy.
By the time the group arrived home, Yugi was sound asleep on Yami's lap. Everyone decided that since tomorrow was going to be a busy day they all went to bed early, so Yami carried Yugi to bed and gently laid him down.
In the middle of the night Yugi was once again woken up from a terrible nightmare. He sat up quickly and scanned the room with frightened eyes while his body was shivering. Yugi quietly got out of his bed and slowly made his way across the hall to Yami's room. When he entered, he went to the sleeping Yami and gently shook his shoulder. Yami stirred when he felt somone shaking him and he rolled over, he sat up quickly when he noticed Yugi in his room.
"Yugi, are you okay?" Yami asked worriedly, "Did you have another nightmare?"
Yugi nodded his head sadly. Yami smiled at him and moved over on the bed, lifting up a corner of the covers, when Yugi saw that he smiled at Yami and climbed into the warm bed. He wrapped his arms around Yami's waist, snuggling closer to the warmth and fell back asleep almost immediately. Yami also wrapped his arms around Yugi and fell asleep a few moments later.
The next morning, Yami got up early to help the others to make sure they had everything they needed for the party. As he entered the livingroom, Yami had to smile at the good job that his friends had done. Marik and Malik had decorated the entire livingroom with streamers and balloons in a pale blue and white for Yugi's first birthday party. They had even decorated the chair special for Yugi so that he could sit there when he opened his presents.
The food that Bakura and Ryou made the day before was set out on the decorated table against the far wall, and along side it, was the birthday cake. It was a chocolate cake with 'Happy Birthday' written on it is a childs handwritting, while the cake was decorated with blue frosting and had a picture of the Dark Magican in the center.
Yami looked around at his friends as they were putting the finishing touches on the room, "Is there anything else you guys need?" Yami asked.
"Nope, where done on our part." Ryou and Bakura replied.
"Same here." answered Marik, everyone held their breath and looked toward the stairs when they heard a noise and realize someone was coming down. Everyone quickly left the livingroom and shut the doors behind them only to breath a sigh of relief when they found out that it was Malik decending the stairs and not Yugi.
"Everything done?" Malik asked.
"Yea, everything's done." Marik answered for the group.
"Good," Malik replied, "Yugi's starting to wake up."
Yugi woke up and slowly open his eyes as the bright sunlight streamed into the room. He glanced beside him and was surprised to see that Yami wasn't there anymore, so Yugi decided he should get up and see where everyone was. He got out of bed slowly and stretched to help wake up his muscles then he decided look for the others. He checked the bedrooms first and saw that they were all empty, so he headed downstairs.
As he reached the bottom of the stairs, Yugi decided to check the kitchen first and smiled at the scene. Bakura and Ryou were cooking breakfast, while Malik and Marik were standing by the stove telling them they were doing everything wrong. Finally Bakura had enough, "If you two don't leave me alone right now," he said angrily, "I won't let you have any of this delicious breakfast or any.."
Bakura was cut off suddenly by a jab in the ribs, he was about to yell at Yami but then he saw why he did that. Yugi was standing in the doorway and almost heard about the party. Yami walked over to the young boy and kneeled down in front of him, "Are you hungry?"
Yugi nodded and Yami led him over to the table and sat down beside him. Bakura grumbled under his breath so only Marik could hear and finished making breakfast. He placed the food in front of everyone and sat down. Breakfast was unusually quiet this moring and Yugi couldn't figure out why.
'Why isn't anyone talking?' he thought to himself as he ate his breakfast and watched the others curiously, 'usually they have to yell to be heard over each other, are they mad about something?'
After breakfast, once again it was Yami's job to make sure Yugi didn't find out about the party. Yami took Yugi and decided to go for a walk around the city, they walked to the park, the arcade and the mall until they eventually reached the pier. Yugi looked around in wonder and smiled as he ran down the steps to the beach, with Yami following right behind him. As they neared the bottom, Yugi took off his shoes, rolled up his pants and ran into the warm water. He stayed in the water and played, while trying to coax Yami to come in with him until he finally relented, giving in to Yugi's puppy dog eyes, and joined Yugi in the water. After a few hours of playing, Yami glanced at his watch and saw that it was time for them to go back home. He looked around and spotted Yugi now playing on the sand building sandcastles, he reluctantly walked over to the small boy and tapped his shoulder. Yugi looked up and smiled at Yami, who kneeled down to his height, "We have to go back now," he said sadly, "We can come back and play here another day, alright?" Yugi nodded his head and brushed the sand off of himself, then followed Yami back home.
When they arrived, Yugi looked around and was surprised that he didn't see anyone else around and he looked at Yami curiously. Yami just shrugged his shoulders and started heading toward the livingroom. As they entered, Yugi's eyes widened as he saw the banners and balloons that decorated the place. He looked around the room and was amazed by all the food he saw neatly set up on a table with a birthday cake just for him beside it. Yugi had tears in his eyes as he ran to all of his friends giving them all hugs in thanks for the great surprise they had given him. Yami walked up to the small boy and led him to the chair that was decorated just for him. When Yugi sat down, Yami walked over to the table and started making up a plate of food for him. Yugi nodded his thanks and happily ate the delicious food that Bakura and Ryou had made just for him. After everyone had eaten, Yami and Bakura carried the cake to Yugi and set it down in front of him. Yugi looked at the cake and had tears in his eyes again as his friends sang "Happy Birthday" to him in voice and sign language. Yugi couldn't remember the last time that he was this happy, and he couldn't imagine anything making this day even better than it already was, so he was really surprised when everyone started handing him presents on top of everything he had already recieved. Yugi smiled as he cheerfully opened his presents from everyone. He received a DM plushie from Malik, a new black leather jacket from Marik, and a puppy from Bakura and Ryou . Just when Yugi thought the party was over, Yami walked up to Yugi and kneeled down in front of the young boy. He looked Yugi in the eye and asked him, "Yugi, do you want to stay with me?" Yami asked, "I mean, would you object if I wanted to adopt you?"