Disclaimer: Do you think the owner of Yu-Gi-Oh would be writing FANfiction? FANfiction, I repeat, FANfiction! I am a FAN, people!
Bring, Bring!
"What IS it with the phone in this house? Yugi, can you get that?"
"I've got it," Atemu called scratchily from the living room. He pressed the button on the cordless phone, which he had stopped bothering to put back on its hook. He'd gotten six calls in the last half-hour alone.
"Hello? Mutou residence," he barely whispered into the instrument, having lost his voice from constantly talking for the last couple hours.
"Atemu? Is that you?"
"Yes, it's me. Could I ask who's speaking?"
"It's Rebecca! What happened to your voice? I saw you win that concert thing the other night, and you sounded fine then."
"Well... sounded is the key word in that sentence."
"Oh. Can I talk to Yugi?"
He smiled. Finally, a break. "Sure. Just let me get him. Congratulations by the way, Yugi was worried he'd never get a girlfriend because of his height. But I have to say, you two look good together."
She giggled. "Thanks."
"You're welcome. YUGI! PHONE FOR YOU!"
Yugi poked his head around from the game shop in front, which he was watching. "It's actually for me?" he asked with a smile and a fake gasp.
"Yes, here. It's Rebecca. Would you like me to watch the shop for you so you two can talk?"
Yugi smiled appreciatively. "Thanks." He took the phone from the other boy and headed upstairs to his room. Atemu eased himself off the couch and walked unsteadily into the shop, still in his sweatpants, slippers and an old shirt. Oh well. No one would see him much from behind the counter anyway. As soon as he got properly settled on the stool behind the counter though, he had to stand up again, as the bells on the door jingled.
"Kame game shop, how can I- Oh, hi Anzu."
"Hey." She walked up and leaned on the counter. "Feeling better?"
He shrugged. "I haven't thrown up in a few hours, if that counts for anything."
"You sure still SOUND sick."
He cleared his throat in order to talk. "Well yes, you might too if you'd been on the phone for three hours straight."
"Funny, I didn't exactly have you down as that kind of person."
"Do you already forget how I asked you out? By the way, I think Jii-chan will let me out of the house by Saturday at the latest. Would you like to... well, you know..." He blushed furiously. "Well, how about Sunday?"
"Sure! I'm glad you're feeling better. Do you think maybe you'll still be able to sing at your competition Saturday evening?"
He bowed his head. "Not by a long shot, no. It would hurt my voice too much to take that risk. I'll just have to wait out this round-"
"ATEMU! PHONE FOR YOU!"
"What IS it with the phone in this house?" the boy in question asked, imitating his grandfather.
"I don't know, but at this rate YOU'RE going to end up the one paying the phone bills. It's Isis, something about an important... something-or-other." he handed Atemu the telephone. "I'll watch the shop now. Oh, hi Anzu."
"Hey Yugi," she replied as Atemu cradled the phone between his shoulder and his ear, walking through to the house part of the Kame game shop.
"Isis?"
"Yes, it's me. You know how you've got some really bad bug or whatever?"
"Yes, I'd say that I could tell... throwing up every hour kind of tells you something's not quite right..."
"Well, Bakura just called me, and his voice was nearly as bad as yours, and he ran from the phone because he felt like he was going to be sick. You two were together all of Friday, so... it's not surprising. Most infections and things take a while to show their symptoms, and by then you'll have already gotten others sick, so..."
"Oh Isis, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to-"
"I know you didn't, but now we're down our two strongest male voices, and a guitarist if Bakura can't make it at all. The plan was for him to at least go to play guitar, but if he's throwing up every half-hour like you've been doing, that's just not possible."
"Oh no. What are we going to do?"
"I-I don't know, I really don't." Her voice was no longer that smooth, melodious tone, but choppy and bubbly; she was on the verge of some serious tears. No, scratch that. She was crying. "And Malik's having girlfriend troubles and won't do a thing I ask of him, and if he carries that mood through our performance... The song we've picked isn't exactly a 'depressed' one, I mean..."
"Isis. Listen to me. Everything is going to be all right. I think we should call a band meeting, maybe with a couple of our other friends, too. No, not a band meeting. A meeting with the whole gang. They've been more than supportive, and maybe they can help. Don't ever give up, Isis."
"O-Okay. Where... and- and when?"
"I think here and now would be best, seeing as the next round is on Saturday, and it's Monday. We only have a few days to work this out, and the sooner the better. Can you call the band, and I'll call the rest of the gang, and we can meet at my place as soon as everyone gets the call?"
"All right. Thanks 'Temu." Click.
Anzu entered the room. "What was that all about?"
"Bakura's sick, and Malik's fallen into one of his moody phases, and those never fail to have plenty of effect on Isis and Rishid. We're calling a gang meeting. The band and all our other friends." He coughed, tired from talking so much, and collapsed the living room couch. "I just don't know what we're going to do."
Twenty Minutes Later:
Atemu, Yugi, Isis, Ryo, Malik, Rishid, Mai, Honda, Anzu, Shizuka, Jou, Otogi, and Sogoroku were all sprawled out in various crazy positions around the Mutou living room. Well, everyone except Isis, Atemu and Sogoroku. Isis didn't sprawl, Sogoroku was really just interested in why everyone was suddenly so serious, and Atemu was shifting around on the couch, extremely uncomfortable. His stomach was flipping around and bubbling, his throat burned, he had a headache, and his chest hurt from coughing. And Bakura was in the bathroom, throwing up. And he needed to throw up. NOW! He jumped off the couch and made a mad dash for the upstairs bathroom, barely making it in time as his stomach emptied its contents into the handy-dandy toilet. A few minutes later, after brushing his teeth and grabbing a box of tissues, he walked groggily back down to the living room, blowing his nose on the way. Bakura was back from HIS trip to the bathroom, looking nearly as miserable as Atemu.
"Can I have a tissue 'Temu?"
"That's what I brought them down for. Knock yourself out." He set the box on the coffee table in front of where Bakura sat on the couch, and took a seat next to his friend. Everyone else kept their distance from the two.
"All right everyone, um... yo," said Jou, the self-appointed leader of their meeting. Atemu would have done it, except his voice was on the verge of nonexistence, and Isis would have, but she would probably choke on all her tears of anguish. So Jou had stepped up to help his friends.
"Okay dudes, we've um... we're all... um... gathered here today... yeah, that sounds good... we've all gathered here today because Crimson Love's gonna get its butt totally whooped off its hinges if we don't figure somethin' out to help. So um... anyone got any ideas?"
Silence.
"Geez, what a talkative crowd. Makes me realize just HOW quiet it is when I'm not talkin'... but inyhoo, come ON people! THINK of something! Ryo, you're supposed to be all that 'modest genius' stuff, what do you think?"
"Well... I don't know. Bakura can't play his guitar... maybe we could get someone to substitute for him? That's allowed, guests playing with your band... Why are you all LOOKING at me like that?"
"Dude, YOU can fill in fill in for Bakura! You look just like him, you're basically the same size, you can sing awesome, AND you can play the guitar! No problem! You know, I don't know why you didn't join the band in the first place... I mean, you're just as good at singing and guitar as Bakura-"
"On that huge stage? Um... Jou, I don't know... There'll be an awful lot of people watching... I have horrible stage fright Jou, I don't even sing in front of you guys..."
"Oh come ON! They need a singer and a guitarist, and you're both! It's perfect, Ryo!"
"But I- I don't-"
"Man, do you wanna help your friends?"
"Well, yes, but... Yes, I'll do it. But my voice isn't nearly as deep as Bakura's. How will that work out? I'm not really very close to his range."
"We can work that out," Mai cut in. "He's our lightest male voice anyway, and we can make yours work."
"Yeah," Malik agreed. "You just need to remember that you can't be shy onstage. Just forget yourself and perform on instinct, not rule, and you'll do fine."
Poor Ryo's head was already spinning.
"Oh, and we'll need to get you another set of real clothes, too, since Atemu just wore your only good set in the last concert," Bakura said, smirking.
"Fine. Just no leather, all right?"
"Deal. But flames, odd stitching, artistic rips, not-average buttons, multi-buckled boots, collars, spike bracelets and other jewelery of the like are in."
Ryo sighed. "All right. For you, Bakura."
The older smiled devilishly. "All right indeed. Oh, this will be fun!" Then his face clouded. "But... one of you will have to help him shop... I can't go around puking on new clothes," he said glumly, while Ryo looked triumphant.
"Malik, could you go with him so he doesn't end up getting a mini-skirt or something?"
"Can do," the blond Egyptian replied. "And there's no time like the present. Ryo. You, me, mall, cool clothes, now." He left, smaller boy in tow.
"Yeah... that was... weird..."
"At least we've GOT a singer..."
The air tensed.
"Don't you think Ryo's a bit too... conservative to be doing this? What if he faints from stage fright?"
"You don't know Ryo," Bakura answered to Mai's comment. "He's too stubborn. Don't worry about a thing."
"Maybe one of us should coach him, still, like a mentor type thing?"
"I could do that, I mean, I LIVE with him-"
"NO!" every voice in the room shouted in response to Bakura's suggestion.
"Sorry hun, but YOU and teaching just refuse to fit together in my mind," said Mai. "But... What about Atemu?"
"Me?"
"Yeah, I mean, you're really good, and you're gonna be home anyway, and you're practically best friends with the kid... and you're closer to his height, less intimidating than, like, Rishid, for instance. I think you'd be perfect to do it."
"Okay, but if he needs a voice coach I won't be able to do much. Someone else will have to do that."
"I can coach him on that," said Isis. "He's very good on his own, he just needs a little prompting. And Bakura, you can help him with guitar."
"Are your decisions final?" Jou asked in a meeting-leader-like-way.
"Yes, Jou."
"All right then! Meeting adjourned and all cases resolved!" He got up from his seat on the floor. "Hey Yug'? Got any food?"
Well. Yeah. Right. So. Sure. Uh-huh. Yes. Good. Fine.
So, what'd y'all thinkies? A bit boring, I know... but did the fluff in the earlier chapters make up for this one's stinkiness? Kinda sorta? Not really? No? Didn't think so. Oh well.
Electric Fire, where would the fanfiction world be without you? Always a humor gal! How could Yugi NOT be fluffy? Seriously, think of ONE SECOND where his mere presence isn't full of fluff! Can't, can you? Yeah, he'd probably puke all over us... darn. Oh well! At least if his barf gets on our keyboards, we have them in bulk! Just open up another one and BOOM! That reminds me of the genie in Alladin, "Poof! Whadda ya need? Poof! Whadda ya need? Poof! Whadda ya need?" Ne?
Ninqe, wow, you flatter me! Yeah, my characters tend to do quite a bit of blushing, and playful banter stuff, flirting... yeah! Actually, you just might be able to hear Weakling of the Night! I read your bio, and at the end you said, "Make it a great day or not, the choice is yours..." hmm, you wouldn't happen to go to EJHS, would you? I mean, that line is exactly what people say at my school on the PA system every morning... do you go to my school? That's just a huge coincidence. If you don't, where else did you hear that line? Thanks for reviewing!
Black-Caracal, YOU'D BETTER DUCK MY BLOWS! RYO IS THE SWEETEST THING THAT EVER EXISTED! WHACK, WHACK! Hehe, sorry. I just LOVE RYO! Ahem, as you can see. But I definitely do associate fluff with Atemu, too. Mmh, yummy fluffiness... mmph. Allow me to bask in fluff for a moment please! .
straykitty, wow, thanks for all the reviews! You're amazing! I look in my inbox when I get home from school, and lo and behold, I'm swamped with your reviews! Not complaining though, what author doesn't LUV reviews? Yeah, there was quite a LOT of fluff, wasn't there? I LOVE FLUFF! FLUFF REMINDS ME OF RYO! GO FLUFF!