Here's Chapter 7, everyone! Wow, 2 hours after I posted Chapter 6, I had 5 new reviews!!!! Thanks a bunch! You guys are all so amazing! When I first started this fic, I thought I might get one piece of criticism and all flames, or people with garlic and holy water in case I tried to continue.... yeah, basically I thought ppl would hate it, but you didn't, so thanks for giving me a chance! Now, for the personal thanks, and there's a lot to be said this chapter, which is ultra-long to apologize for not updating in a while!

maladyrancor: Thanks for the compliments, they're much appreciated! I'm glad I'm getting some positive feedback about the YY/Y idea, but I'm still not sure if I can pull it off... oh well, all I can do is try! About the whole 'Seto giving up Kaiba Corp', I'm sorry it makes you uneasy, as you put it. Maybe if you understand my reasoning in using it? First, like randomasdf said, I wanted to stress the 'Kaiba is one person, Seto's another' thing. Second, I wanted to have Seto show once and for all that he loves Joey, first and foremost, and that the company is what's second best. Finally, and I hadn't thought of this before, but what if Seto worked freelance, designing new things, but without the corporate ties that came with being CEO? That way, Seto's still tinkering, and Joey's happy because he has more time to spend with him and Mokuba! Hmm.. that could work. Thanks for the idea, maladyrancor! Hope you keep reading/reviewing!

randomasdf: Glad you appreciate my fic, randomasdf! Characterization is a major thing to me, so it means a lot to know that you feel I got it down! I worked really hard on these last few chappies, and I hope it shows. Yeah, I thought it was sad at first, but like you said, it just fit too perfectly into the Seto/Kaiba theme. I'll update as soon as I can, right now I'm feeling kind of worn out, being that I wrote chappies 5 and 6 in a single day 0_0... but I'll try, for great reviewers like you!

babygurl: Your reviews really make my day, and I'm so happy that I'm not alone in the self-esteem issue. Thanks for taking the time to review each chapter, that's really sweet of you! LOL, you're anything but strange, and thank you again for building my confidence. Oh, and you can tell Joey (as if he doesn't already know) that I didn't let him down! ~_^.

Phoenix: Thanks! Wow, people are still reading chapter 1... that's so cool!! Uhh... I thought of rewriting it from Joey's POV, but then I figured a) too repetitive and b) I'm too lazy! I hope you keep reading, and enjoy the rest of the fic!

daisy: Hey, one word reviews make me happy, so your chapter 5 review was great! Having said that, chapter 6 was better, but... yeah, LOL. I'm glad you like the whole 'Seto gave up his job for Joey' thing... boy, did I think I'd get flamed for that one! Sorry for all the fluff, nuva, but it was necessary to advance the plot! shivers Oh yeah, and remind me never to get Mr. Snuffles mad....

demonicangel: 0_0 my story reduced you to tears? huggles demonicangel It's okay, they're together now!!! As you can see, I am SO not ending the story there. We still have people to fix up! No lonely hearts in my stories! starry-eyed look

Assassin of the Shadows: Wow, 6 reviews at once 0_0. Thank you so much!!!!! I'm glad new people are picking up on the story! I hope you leave a review for this chappie too, I'm anything but annoyed of them!

Taito-kisses: Yay, you reviewed again!!! LOL, I don't know about the fiction god powers, but I'm overjoyed that you think my story's still good. I still think you're kawaii!! Be sure to keep reading!

PanDora: You sure? Icing's pretty good... drools slightly, then snaps back to reality Thanks for your continued support!

Phew, that was the longest thank you list yet. What a joy to write! This chapter has fluff, but if you made it through the last one with any teeth left, this one's no big ^_^. This's the last chap I put the OOC warning, so.. yeah. Tea bashing too, so any Tea lovers, don't read any further! This is her last appearance, though!cheers Yami and Yugi are going to be the main focus, as in Seto and Joey trying to get them together, so I'm striving for a balance of the four main bishies. Serenity and Ryou show up, as well as Bakura, although he has no lines. Anyway, here goes!

Disclaimer: Don't own, enjoy!

/..../: Yugi to Yami

//...// Yami to Yugi

Chapter 7: While You Can

The next day at school, Joey and Seto found it particularly hard to maintain the illusion of enmity between them. Only Yugi, however, truly noticed the lack of spit balls and other projectiles flying across the classroom, and the way that the two boys were walking down the hallways much closer together than usual.

/I think Joey and Seto are back together, Yami./ Yugi informed his darkness as the rest of the class stared at the clock, anxiously awaiting the lunch bell.

For some reason, Yami seemed uneasy, but Yugi didn't bother to call him on it. //That's good, hikari. People who are meant to be together should not stay apart for long over something that trivial.//

/And how do you know so much about 'meant to be', Yami?/ The shorter of the two sent his amusement clearly through their bond.

Yami would have been caught between a rock and a hard place had the bell not saved him from certain doom in the form of his aibou finding out about his feelings. Joey said that Yugi knew nothing of how I feel, the spirit thought, and I wish to keep it that way until I am ready to tell him. Hopefully, my time will come soon.

* * *

Joey was stuffing books into his locker when he felt something snake around his waist. Without thinking, he leaned back, and immediately came to rest against Seto's shoulder. "Hey, you," he said, dimly conscious of how close the brunet must be standing, and in public no less.

"Hey," his love replied, "You ready for lunch, or would you rather do some housekeeping?" He eyed the locker in question, more a pile of books, paper, and clothing than a true storage space. "I could help if you like."

With one swift kick, the blond managed to get the locker door closed, and turned back to his boyfriend, the cutest of smiles on his face. "Housekeeping, you say? I don't see any mess."

Seto rolled his eyes in mock exasperation. "What am I going to do with you, puppy?" he asked, unable to keep the grin from his face.

"Oh, I can think of a few things." At the brunet's stunned expression, Joey gave him a wink. "Come on, let's go to lunch. The others will be wondering whether or not I got lost on the way."

At the mention of the blond's friends, all traces of amusement faded from Seto's face, and he stopped Joey with a firm hand on his shoulder. "Speaking of which, what're we going to tell them?"

His love cocked his head, looking more than ever like a confused animal. "The truth, of course." Amber locked with azure. "I'm going to tell them that I love you, and that you love me, and that we're together. It's better than lying to them, right?"

Silently, Seto applauded his boyfriend's courage. "How do you think they'll take it?"

"I'm trying not to think about it." That roguish grin reappeared on Joey's face. "Now come on, let's get this over with!" He took off toward the cafeteria, and the brunet followed close behind.

* * *

The sudden appearance of the two boys together shocked even Tea into silence, as they slid into seats next to each other and unpacked their lunches. Tristan wasn't in school that day, but Ryou, Tea, and Serenity stared blankly at the new arrivals. Yugi just smiled knowingly. Finally, the albino boy spoke.

"Uh, Joey," he asked nervously, "What is he..."

The blond looked up from his sandwich and blinked at Ryou. "Hmm?" he replied, as though he hadn't heard what the other boy had said, then stared at each of his friends in turn, "What's the matter, I got something on my face?" Seto snorted, trying his best not to laugh out loud at his love's blunt manner.

Surprisingly enough, it was Tea who answered, having had a delayed reaction to Seto sitting down at their table. "What is he doing here?" she demanded shrilly, and everyone else at the table flinched.

"I think we should give Joey a chance to explain, if he wants." Serenity, always the voice of reason, the sober yin to her brother's yang. "Not that he has to account for who his friends are to us."

All right, sis! Joey had never been so proud of his sister. Despite being three years their junior (A/N: Sorry, no idea of Serenity's real age, guessing.), she had taken the wind out of Tea's sails and given him a perfect opportunity to let everyone else know what was going on in the space of a few perfectly chosen words.

With a deep breath, and Seto's strong hand in his under the table, the blond decided to go for it. Yugi smiled supportively, as did Serenity, even though she had no idea what was going on. Tea was still fuming, and Ryou was just plain confused. The two yamis were nowhere in sight, but Joey had no doubt that they were listening as intently as the others.

/This is it, Yami!/ squealed Yugi at his other half, who was watching through his eyes.

//Let's hope he gets a good response,// replied the spirit flatly.

"Uh... well, Seto's sitting here because..." the brunet squeezed his hand encouragingly, "...we're a couple." Having said that, Joey let himself exhale. "There, I said it."

The rest of the table was stunned for a moment, until Serenity started clapping softly. She was joined by Yugi and Ryou, who understood what it had taken to make that kind of announcement. Only Tea was left staring at the two boys, and she wasn't looking too positive.

"If you've got something to say, Tea, just say it," Seto said, more than a little irritated at her cowardice. The applause fell silent, and everyone watched Seto and Tea square off for what looked to be a showdown of epic proportions. Then, Tea made her second mistake, after taking on Seto; she attacked Joey, who was still vulnerable from declaring his love to what might as well have been the entire civilized world.

"How can you even be in the same room with him after all he's done to us?!" she cried, "This.. creature has been nothing but vile to your friends, and now you just turn and fall in love with him?" Hearing her refer to Seto as less than human goaded Joey, but he didn't have the energy for a fight, especially not with her. "You're going to have to choose then. Us, or him?"

Seto's fist slamming down on the table drowned out part of her ultimatum. "Enough!" he shouted, cold as ice, and people three tables down gaped. The brunet rose to his full imposing height, towering over Tea by at least a foot. "You're way out of line, girl, and I don't know how Joey puts up with you, but I am not going to sit here and listen to you ask him choose between two things which obviously mean a lot to him, and neither of which you have any right to withhold from him!"

Serenity was on her feet next. "Yeah, Tea, what's your problem? Just because you can't get a date without paying the guy off..."

The other girl was aghast. "You promised not to tell anyone!"

"Yeah, well, you promised to be there for your friends, and look what you're doing to my brother! I won't presume to speak for anyone else here, unlike you, but I'm ashamed I ever called you a friend." With that, Serenity sat down and looked to Yugi and Ryou to voice their opinions.

"What is it about this that so shocks you, Tea?" Ryou asked politely, "Joey is allowed to have feelings for whomever he chooses. Simply because it's not the person you would have wished does not give you the right to insult either of them."

"Besides, Tea, people can and do change," Yugi's violet eyes no longer seemed so innocent, rather more like his yami's. "You should know all about that. When did you get so bitter that you can't be happy for two people in love?"

Tea blinked back tears, then sniffled plaintively. Nobody showed any sympathy. "Fine, then!" she shouted, "I don't need you! I'm going to go find some real friends!" Snatching up her purse, the brunette ran off toward the girls' bathroom.

"Good riddance." Joey said as soon as the annoying girl was out of earshot, at which Seto pulled him up for the briefest of kisses before continuing to eat, drawing exclamations of 'Cute!' from everyone else at the table. Without missing a beat, Serenity moved up to where Tea had been sitting, directly across from Joey and Seto, and pinned down the former CEO with eyes like melted chocolate.

"My brother's been hurt enough already," she said, "The divorce, having to live with our dad for as long as he did.... Just promise me you'll take care of him, okay?"

Seto nodded gravely, and took one of Serenity's hands in both of his. "I promise you, Serenity, I will allow no harm to come to your brother if it is within my power to prevent."

Immediately, the girl brightened up. "Okay then!" she smiled, turning toward Yugi and Ryou. "How about we go out to the mall after school for ice cream to celebrate?"

A cheer went up around the table, and this time the surrounding students decided they didn't want to know what was going on anymore.

* * *

The group, minus Tea of course, had decided to meet up at the school parking lot so that Seto could drive them all down to the mall. Before they joined up with the others, though, Joey dragged his boyfriend off to the side of the hallway excitedly.

"I think this is the perfect time," he began.

"For what?" Seto's voice was more confused than inquisitive.

"To get Yami and Yugi together!" the blond sighed, "Look, I've got it all figured out. First, we blackmail Yami to tell Yugi, or else we will, and then..."

"He's not gonna like that." Seto replied, "And since when does Yami like Yugi?"

Joey just stared for a second, then went on. "So anyway, if Yami's too chicken, then we invite the group back to your place and watch romance movies, until Yugi gets depressed!"

"And we want that why?" There was no doubt about it; Seto was thoroughly confused.

"Once Yami sees that Yugi's depressed because he doesn't have anyone to love, he's bound to confess!" Joey rubbed his hands together evilly. "It's the perfect plan. Maybe we can even get Serenity and Ryou in on it too. Between us, we should be able to pick the sappiest of chick flicks!"

Oh yeah, I nearly forgot, Seto cursed himself for allowing anything about his beloved to slip his mind. Joey's like the cheesy movie know-it-all. No surprise about his sister, but Ryou... how's he maintain a spirit of romance with that psychotic yami? Shaking his head heavily, he wrapped his arm around Joey and led him off toward the parking lot. Today would definitely go down as interesting, to say the least.

* * *

At the mall, both Yami and Bakura came out of their Items in order to be able to protect their hikaris better, even though both lights assured them that they were all perfectly safe. Eventually, though, everyone decided to go with it, and the yamis got to stay outside. Anyone could, after all, mistake them and their respective hikaris for brothers, so they were safe on that account.

Getting Serenity and Ryou in on the plot was easy, once Bakura was distracted by a display of potentially lethal power tools in a hardware store window. It took both Yami and Yugi's combined strength to hold him back from stealing them, and in that downtime, Seto and Joey let the others know what was going on.

Joey's sister was ecstatic. "Wow, two majorly cute couples in one day? Count me in!" Happily, she flashed a victory sign at the other three boys, who thanked her for her cooperation. "I have just the movie, too...."

Ryou was less than thrilled, as the idea of watching love stories would probably make him more depressed than it would Yugi. Anyone could see that Yami and Yugi would get together eventually; it was just a question of time, but Ryou was convinced that his yami hated him, and so would never in another five thousand years accept, much less return, any feelings on his hikari's part. Still, though, anything for my friends, he decided. "I'll help too, providing of course that Yami resists your blackmail idea."

Yami was tougher to get at, since he refused to be separated from Yugi for more than two minutes. Fortunately for the conspirators, however, Yugi had to use the washroom before they left, and he was going to be damned before he'd let Yami follow him in there. Bakura had disappeared into the Ring long ago from boredom, which left Yami completely alone and vulnerable.

Seto forcibly dragged Yami away from his pacing in front of the men's room door to where the others were waiting. Angrily, the pharaoh brushed him off, but fell to the ground at Joey's feet in the process. He rose somewhat more resignedly, sensing more than seeing that Seto had his escape cut off. "What is the meaning of this?" he demanded, "I have a duty to my hikari."

"Somehow, I think Yugi can urinate on his own," muttered the brunet behind him, but his boyfriend silenced any further comments with a sharp glare before turning to Yami.

"Okay, Yami, here's the deal," Joey began.

"You tell Yugi all about your feelings for him," continued Ryou.

"Or we do it for you," finished Serenity.

"And trust me, you won't like it our way." If snakes could talk, Joey imagined their voices would sound a lot like Seto's did at that moment.

The spirit of the Puzzle spun on one heel to glare at each person. "You. Cannot. Be. Serious." he enunciated clearly.

"Oh, we're more than serious," Yami had never seen Yugi's best friend look so devilish. "Come on, make this easy on yourself."

"Do your worst," the pharaoh challenged, and brushed past Seto, who made no effort to stop him. Serenity and Ryou dug through their backpacks and produced four DVD's.

"Not like we didn't give him a chance." Joey sighed, and taking Seto's arm, led the group back to where Yami and Yugi were waiting for them.

"And to think people call me evil," Seto mumbled as they walked.

* * *

Two movies in, Yugi started glancing over at Yami every once in a while, longingly, especially during the ultra-romantic parts that gave even Joey cavities and made Seto positively ill. The blond could see that the pharaoh had caught on to their plan, but it was much too late for him to do anything about it. He couldn't possibly think up a plausible enough excuse to take his hikari home early, and none of the conspirators were about to let him off that easily of their own accord.

At the start of the third movie, everyone was starting to get tired of the endless cycle of meetings, dates, breakups, and marriages, except for Joey and Serenity, who were still watching so intently that it could be believed that the characters on the screen would state the meaning of life any second. Yami was thinking of ways to get out of there before this plan did any more damage when Yugi cuddled up against him and closed his eyes. To anyone else he would have looked tired, but the spirit of the Puzzle sensed great emotional discord filtering through their bond.

"Can we go home now, Yami?" he asked.

If not for propriety, the ex-pharaoh would have been out of the mansion in less time than it would take for Yugi to repeat what he had just said, but he forced himself to get up slowly, thank Seto for having them over, politely accept a lift home from the chauffeur, and not hurry the driver too much along the way.

Yugi was still in a state when they got home, and Yami cursed himself for daring to believe he would be out of the woods once they were out of Kaiba's mansion. They hadn't been home five minutes yet when the smaller of the two sat down on the couch, turned on the television, and broke down into loud sobs, each and every one of which wrenched the spirit's heart. When his darkness came over to see what was wrong, Yugi threw himself into Yami's arms, and had the other boy's shirt soaked in a matter of minutes.

"What is it, Yugi?" The pharaoh stroked his light's hair comfortingly, knowing full well what it must be. What he didn't know was how he could fix it without revealing himself. Yugi raised his tearstained face, and one look into his reddened eyes gave Yami cause to doubt the merits of continuing to hide his feelings.

"What's wrong with me, Yami?" his hikari asked in between gasps for air. "Why doesn't anyone love me? Am I such a terrible person that nobody could ever want me?" Voicing his concerns brought on a new wave of tears, and Yami knew that this problem would no longer be receptive to a temporary solution.

Tilting his light's chin up, the spirit brushed Yugi's tears away gently, and then kissed him, his lips moving slowly against the other's stunned mouth, trying to convey his emotions through the loving touch.

Yugi, to his credit, recovered rather quickly from the initial shock. Once he realized what was happening, though, he jerked his face away from Yami's with a cry of anguish and pushed the other off the couch with a strength borne of pure, unadulterated pain. "How could you... how could you do that?" His hand went to his lips, as if he was unsure that this was actually happening.

Do what? What have I done now? I thought this was what he wanted.... "Aibou, I don't understand what you mean."

"How can you toy with my feelings like that?!" The small boy looked toward the stairs, but knew he wouldn't get to his room before the other caught him.

Toy with him? But I... oh, no. He thinks I'm lying to protect him. "Yugi, I love you. You have to believe that." As he spoke, Yami did his best to communicate the depth of his love across their mental link, trying to remain as unobtrusive as possible.

The defeated way Yugi looked into his crimson eyes nearly broke the spirit's heart. "If you really loved me, you'd have said it before. Do you really think me so stupid as to believe that you suddenly got over your fear of rejection, or whatever else was keeping you from opening up to me, when I was at my lowest point, when I needed to feel loved the most?"

"Yes," Yami's voice was almost a whisper. "Yes, because it's the truth." Yugi scoffed angrily. "Please, listen to me. I'm a coward, I know, and I should have told you sooner, but I didn't realize what it was putting you through not knowing that everything that I ever did for you, every time I seemed too overprotective or overbearing, was out of love for you. Deep down inside, you must realize it." Subconsciously, Yami had taken his hikari's hand, and Yugi didn't push him away this time. It seemed that a war was raging behind those innocent violet eyes, and after an agonizing ten seconds that felt to Yami like eternity, Yugi slid down onto the floor next to the spirit, brushed his lips against Yami's fleetingly, and buried his face in his love's shoulder.

"Oh, Yami," he whispered, and for the longest while, neither of them moved from the living room floor. Finally, Yugi fell into a deep sleep, and Yami carried him to bed, setting him down as gently as he could, and kissed his light on the forehead before returning to his soul room.

"Good night, Aibou," he said lovingly as he faded, and Yugi smiled contentedly.

* * *

That's... really long! rubs eyes vigorously Whew... well, at least they're together! Now, we just have Bakura and Ryou, but they won't be for a while. Let's develop who we have for the moment.. sigh I don't think this chapter's that great, but I hope it's passable. Review please, and I'll have chapter 8 up soon!