A/N:
I wanted to put the short lyrics of "All the Love in the World" by Nine Inch Nails right here. But I didn't because I don't think I could get away with it. When I am an author, I'm going to have quotes at the beginning of all my chapters. :) But until then, if you could just go and look them up, I'd appreciate you wasting your time. The lyrics are cool, and I think that, BESIDES the chorus, the lyrics had some things to do with Yugi's confused point of view. But, even w/o the song, this chapter is special: it's 5 pages instead of the regular 3. It also has somewhat of a cliffie. (Can you spoil something by saying there's a cliffie? Ah well.) It started off innocently enough…
"Earth to Yugi! Come in, Yugi! You there?" Joey waved his hand in his friend's face. "Yug'? Are we heading downtown or what?"
Yugi snapped back into focus. "We—we are downtown Joey," he pointed out, stuttering slightly as he adjusted to reality.
"Yeah, but we're not at the game center yet." Joey wiped his hand across the nape of his neck. "Geez, I'm sweating already. How about you? It'll be worth it, though."
"Some," Yugi admitted. And then: "I guess." He was more caught up in his own affairs to really get excited about going to the game center for the first time this weekend. Normally Joey and he ended up going their at least three times every weekend. The owner gave them discount prices for tokens because of the frequency of their visits, as well as their local fame, which drew some customers. This could actually prove pretty annoying, as occasionally some of their fans would try to follow them…
Marik follows me too, Yugi worried.
"Alright, so let's hurry then!" Joey took off down the sidewalk, shoes slapping the pavement in a constant rhythm. Yugi followed at a slower pace. Joey's footsteps sounded like the beating of a heart.
Yugi snorted. If that's a heart, it's running away. Runaway hearts! Lol. Wait, did I just THINK 'lol'? Eh, I'll just stick with runaway hearts. Crazy 'nuff.
/What's that/
Yugi's jumped and yelled. Startled bystanders asked him if he was alright. He assured these people him that he was feared spiders as well as hated clowns, and that he had merely spotted seen a spider clown crawl into the sewers. Yugi ran off, his cheeks as rosey as if they had been slapped by a cold wind. His mind sent out a message via Spirit Mail (which isn't downloadable. Sorry.) /Yami/
/The one and the same./ Yugi heard him snort. /What did you think? 'No, this is somebody else talking to you through your mind.'/
Even though Yugi himself had become increasingly vitriolic during the past few weeks, he was still unamused by Yami's sarcasm.
/Are you alright/ Yami pondered. /You mentioned something running away…/
/A heart./ Yami communicated confusion, so Yugi went on to say/I said a heart was running away. I meant it in a metaphoric sense. See, Joey's footsteps sounding like a heart beating, and—oh, chotto matte, he's calling me to catch up to him…/
Yugi dashed after his friend, thinking furiously. He began to (without realizing it at first) confess things unpremeditatedly. (You can't believe that's not butter. I can't believe that's a real word.) The trouble with telepathy was that it was rather messy; thoughts were communicated as dependably as runny paint… which had the same consistency as Yugi's sentences: runny.
/Yami, I--/ (Pant, pant.) /What do you do if somebody may like you and you don't know--/ (Pant, pant.) /--whether you like them back, or should give them a chance, and what do you do if some other people already think you're dating that person and what do you do, Yami/ He regretted asking as soon as he did, but he knew it was for the best.
The mental link seemed to flicker for a moment, and during that moment, Yugi's eyes opened wide and his heart skipped a beat. Yami! He died! What else could break the mental link? And he never told me where he hid my pocky stash! The JERK!
But, a second later, Yami responded. /Sorry about that; Tristan accidentally slammed me into a counter./ (Yami was hanging out with Duke today, having claimed the heat was too much for him… a native Egyptian. (Baka.)) /Pocky is not that important, Yugi./
Yugi pouted. (Kawaii!) /Is so. And how do you get 'accidentally' slammed into a counter/ Yugi fumed.
/By hanging out with someone whose elbows are as big as Tristan's/ Yami explained laughingly. /Yugi, why didn't you tell me somebody liked you! If they like you, you should give them a chance. Like Risa… No, bad example. Terrible example./
/…/
Yami probably sweat dropped. /That didn't help, huh/
/That's basically everyone who has ever liked me "that way" anyway. They all just want something./ Yugi sighed. (A/N: Risa-unreleased season-used Yugi. Now you know.)
"Is something wrong Yug'?" Joey's suspicion and concern merged to create a mixed facial expression. "Hey, I'm serious! I've never heard you sigh so sad like that before in my LIEF! …Er, life. Are you sure you're alright?" Vikings are cool, Joey thought.
Yugi did indeed look sad. His purple eyes were trained on the sidewalk, while his flaxen bangs shaded them, making them look large and dark. His flaxen hair, as usual, stuck out at odd angles, and so in Joey's mind he was likened to a habitually-kicked Chihuahua who had gotten into a jar of hair gel. Yugi sighed again, flicking a bang out of his face, and then wincing when the sunlight penetrated the skin that bang had been shading. He tugged it back into place. "I—"
His groaned loudly. Joey stared at him, surprised. Yugi smiled sheepishly. What happened next was, Yugi changed his mind in mid-sentence several times:
"Maybe I'm just hungry. Tell you what, Joey, I'm gonna go get something to eat… but I know you just ate, and don't deny it." Yugi stuck his tongue out playfully. "But I'll probably come back, ok? I don't feel all that well… if I'm sick, I'll go home."
Yugi squirmed under Joey's astonished rictus. He forced himself to look Joey in the eyes and smile.
The tall blonde shrugged his shoulders. "Oh," he siad, "maybe you're coming down with something."
"I'll probably be okay, it's just that I actually ate grandpa's cooking yesterday," Yugi joked. "So if I die, I want the stone to say, 'Here lies Motou Yugi, killed by pasta luigi.'"
Joey laughed. "Sure, pal! I'll see you later, okay? I might go down the beach later, so if I'm not at the gêsen, look for me there."
Yugi smiled and nodded. "I'll look for you at the game center first. See ya Joey!" Yugi waved over his shoulder as he walked away.
/Aibou--/
Yugi clutched his heart area in half-feigned surprise. /Where did you come from/
/Er… the recesses of your mind/
/Sounds corny/ the young blonde quipped.
/I don't like corn. Anyway, aibou, you need to figure out if you like this person or not. If they aren't the sort of person you usually like, or would want to be friends with, then forget them… why would people think that you're going out already? Are you at the gêsen yet/
/But it seems like it goes a lot deeper than that/ Yugi interrupted, not bothering to answer Yami's question; he wasn't exactly sure where Tea had gotten that crazy idea, anyway. He was concerned for himself: his trammeled thoughts tied to Marik more and more lately. It wasn't as if he was really thinking of him in a romantic way, more as in an appreciative way. But he shouldn't…
/You know that feeling when you're not sure if you like someone, and because you feel pressured to figure out your own feelings, you tend to choose fast and make the wrong decision? Like you don't really like the person but because you mentally discourse about them so much, you trick yourself into thinking that you do like them/
Yami expressed regret through the link. /Sorry… no idea./
The questioning party turned a corner. /Well, you know when you feel about as useful as a rock? Let's start with that./
/That feeling I do know./ Yami admitted bitterly. Yugi smiled. Smirked, actually.
/Then, do you know when you're confused and you hate it? And it makes you feel sick/
/Yes… /
/Combine that with a crusher, and you've got what I'm saying. Two more questions: You know how you love pocky/
/…Aibou, I don't see what this has—Well, duh… You're like insane about it./
/Yeah/ Yugi smiled brightly. /But here's a riddle: what else do I like that's hidden inside of my room? It's flashy and colorful and I use them only sometimes because I might get hurt./
/…What/ Yugi grinned, knowing that Yami would soon have to realize his negligence. /I have no idea. What is it/
/I'll give you a hint: it's something really, really dangerous./
/Yugi, are you on dru--/
/Ah-ah-ah! I'm not telling you. But no, not drugs. Go find out by yourself. Good luck; they're hidden but good. Thanks for talking to me…! I appreciate it/
It was a bright July day when Yugi smiled and severed the link; it was time to feel better. But where could he relax for a bit? Although Yugi's mind didn't know the answer, his feet sure did; they just seemed to go.
Marik wasn't sure what the hell happened. He had been begrudgingly accompanying. Malik to a place to get his belly button re-pierced, and, while there, he had thrown a fit in the store, shouting about the edibility of shampoo and why Harriet Miers had pulled out her nomination. (Nobody knew who she was, however; this was in Japan.)
Malik had claimed not to have come in with him, and that their physical likeness was a coincidence. …People had believed him, too, which was just plain moronic.
…Want a replay? Of course you do.
"I don't care whether shampoo isn't a condiment! It's tasty!"
"Marik, calm down!"
"SHAMPOO SHOULD BE WORSHIPPED LIKE RA!"
"…Uh…" Malik turned to the owner of the piercing place. (What do you call that place? I don't know.) She was a lady with blond hair; her flaxen bangs forked at obtuse angles, displaying her broad forehead. She had an eye patch, a stomach thathung over the side of her ripped-at-the-seams jeans, a cigarette dangling from her mouth, and the general appearance of a fat man-pirate.
"…I didn't come in with him," Malik lied.
The lady shrugged. She whistled loudly through two fingers. Nobody came. Since this didn't work, she turned sharply and glared at a hulking figure in the corner. "EDUARDO! Get your butt up and throw this pillow the (not nice word) out!"
…So. Marik was outside. He power-walked aimlessly, thinking about glasses on blondes who didn't pay back their debts. Soon, he looked up and saw the apartment.
One moment, he was been "just looking," then next moment, he was opening the door. It squeaked open.
And once it was open, Marik gaped at what was on the other side: he found a surprised Yugi, twiddling his thumbs… and wearing his glasses.
Review! Onegaishimasu. I know it took me a while to get this chappie up… gomen nasai. It was a combo of laziness and difficulties. Uh, a Japanese term was chotto matte: wait a little bit.
Again…
REVIEW! Onegaishimasu! Puh-LEASE tell me how you liked this chappie… or what you liked about it… or whatever! Just review! - I'll give you angel food cake!