Chapter 17

Following the direction of Yugi's gaze, Atem saw a lanky, dark-haired teenager loping toward them. The boy had gray eyes, the kind of lean build that said he had yet to grow into his broad shoulders and long legs, and a fashion sense that semaphored "college student" with every flap of his dingy, untucked t-shirt.

Yugi's hand tightened on Atem's arm. "Mokuba? What are you doing here?"

"I saw your car outside." Mokuba skidded to a stop in front of them and raked his too-long hair back out of his face. He was panting as if he had run all the way from the parking lot. "I need to talk to you... About Seto."

Through the death-grip on his arm, Atem felt Yugi stiffen. In a wary tone, Yugi asked, "Yeah? What about him?"

"Um, well..." Looking uncomfortable, Mokuba shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans and made a show of studying the tile pattern on the floor. "Have you noticed anything, uh, kind of weird about his behavior lately?"

"What do you mean?" Yugi hedged, shooting a worried look at Atem. "What kind of weird behavior?"

Mokuba's expression crumpled. "He won't talk to me, for starters. I mean... He's never exactly been Mr. Conversation, but he's been actively avoiding me since he came back from that trip to Turkey. In fact, he practically threw me out of the house!"

"What?"

"Well... Okay, he told me I should get an apartment, but-" Wide gray eyes implored them to understand his plight. "This from the over-protective big brother who wouldn't even consider letting me live in a dorm room when I started college last fall. Now he's not only telling me I can move out on my own, but he's insisting that I do it? Something is seriously wrong with this picture, Yugi! You're his best friend, so I thought maybe you'd have some idea what's going on."

"Not really..."

"You gotta believe me!"

"Oh, I do." Yugi released his hold on Atem and scrubbed at his face. "He's been acting strangely for awhile now." Softly, as if he were talking to himself, he added, "Some friend I am not to notice before."

Not knowing what to say, but wanting to offer comfort, Atem curled his arm around Yugi's shoulders and drew him closer. The action brought him a sharp look from Mokuba.

"Who's this guy?" The snide tone banished any doubts Atem might have had about the boy's identity. He was definitely Kaiba's brother.

"Oh, um..." An endearing blush painted Yugi's cheeks with color as he darted a glance up through his eyelashes at Atem. "This is Atem Sanesu. He's my—Uh, I mean, he's—"

"I'm his," Atem said firmly. "Let's just leave it at that."

Mokuba's piercing gaze snapped back to Yugi, whose face had gone from pink to flaming red at Atem's declaration. "You broke up with my brother?"

"It was... more of a mutual decision." Yugi shifted, clearly uncomfortable with this line of questioning. He tried to change the subject. "Has he done anything else, other than avoid you and tell you to move out?"

"Like that's not enough?" Mokuba shoved his hands in his pockets and kicked the toe of one sneaker at the floor. The rubber sole gave a shrill squeak against the marble tiles. He shrugged. "He's been obsessed with finding those statues you were accused of stealing. I sort of ...happened to see some files on his laptop. He's been talking to some pretty shady people and spending a lot of money trying to locate them."

The look on Yugi's face said that this was news to him. "I didn't know."

"I'm worried about him." Mokuba sent a look of appeal at Yugi. "He's neglecting his work, he barely sleeps... All he does is hunt for those statues. Will you talk to him?"

"It might not do much good," Yugi admitted. "We didn't exactly part on the best of terms."

Clearly, Atem's master was also a master of understatement if punching someone in the nose equated to "not the best of terms." He suppressed a smirk and tuned out the rest of the conversation. He could feel the puzzle's presence, its dark aura a malevolent force scratching at the edges of his magic, trying to find a claw-hold to hook him back. The ghosts of his shadowy prison whispered at the far reaches of his mind – you are nothing, worthless, slave, tool – and he shuddered in revulsion.

"—Atem?" A warm hand clutched at his shoulder, and a soft voice filled with worry (affection?) called him back to the present. "Atem? Are you all right?"

With a sharp intake of breath, the genie came back to himself. He was startled to realize he had fallen to his knees, one hand braced against the floor the only thing keeping him from smashing his face on the tiles. Despite the stuffiness of the air in this little used lobby, he shivered from the remembered chill of his formless prison. When he spoke, his voice rasped from a dry throat. "I'm fine."

"You're not." There was fear in Yugi's eyes, a tremor in the hand still resting on Atem's shoulder. "Let's get what we came for and get the hell out of here."

"I'm not sure that will help," Atem muttered, but accepted Yugi's assistance in regaining his feet. He braced himself for a moment, breathing deeply and trying to find his equilibrium. "I know where the puzzle is."

Yugi stared at him. "Why am I suddenly not so sure that's a good thing?"

It occurred to Atem that this wasn't a conversation they should have in front of an audience. He drew himself up and glanced around, but found they were alone. "What happened to the kid?"

"He left. I'm more worried about what happened to you." Yugi pressed his palm to Atem's face, caressing his cheek and jaw, Yugi's fingers lingering against skin as they trailed along the column of Atem's neck. "You scared about ten years off my life back there. What happened?"

"I think the greater magic is getting impatient with our stalling."

He closed his eyes, fighting a fresh urge to shiver. The icy touch of the other plane seemed to wrap itself around him, chilling him to the bone. To ward off the chill, he tugged Yugi close so he could wrap his arms around him. The thought of losing even these simple pleasures - holding his lover, inhaling his scent - filled Atem with despair. His throat closed, clogged with all the words he could not say.

Love, forever, mine.

As much as he wanted to take Yugi in his arms and declare his love, Atem knew he couldn't. All-too-soon, the magic would compel him back into his prison, forcing him to leave Yugi behind. Atem had no right to confess his growing devotion, as much as he longed to do so. Worse, he had no right to the warmth and contentment that filled him whenever he glimpsed affection for him in Yugi's words or actions. No right to the delight he felt when Yugi responded to Atem's desires with equal passion.

"Perhaps, you should make your second wish," Atem said, thinking, There may not be time for a third. But the warning died unspoken on his tongue. Atem licked his suddenly dry lips, forced out words past the lump in his throat. "You should wish for your leg to be healed. Now."

"What?" Disbelief, betrayal, and something for which Atem had no name trembled in Yugi's voice. "Are you suddenly in a hurry for me to make all my wishes? To... go?"

"Don't be stupid." His own fears made Atem snap, magic flaring up around him and sparking off his fingertips, his hair. It pushed back the black aura of the puzzle enough for his thoughts to clear. He drew far enough away so that he could see Yugi's shuttered expression and instantly regretted his hasty words. With gentle fingers, he brushed Yugi's bangs back from his face. "If I could stay with you forever, I would. Never doubt that."

"Then why are you trying to leave me?" Yugi clung to him, burying his face in Atem's shirt. His muffled voice continued, "Making another wish puts you that much closer to going back to that awful place."

"Nothing can stop that, Yugi." Atem pressed a tender kiss to the top of his lover's head. "I can feel the magic trying to reclaim me. I don't want to go, but I think it will not be much longer, regardless of what I want. I can feel the pressure building inside me. The physical changes must have been the first warning sign."

He could feel a growing dampness against his chest. Yugi's embrace tightened almost to the point of pain, though, at that moment, Atem wouldn't have traded it for anything in the world.

In a choked voice, Yugi whispered, "What happens next?"

"I think the pressure will continue to build until it becomes too painful to bear. It is what happens if I stray far enough from you that I cannot hear your voice. The pain... I suspect this pain will be much greater - excruciating enough, perhaps, to make me welcome even the shadows." Atem kissed him again, a soft brush of lips against Yugi's temple. "Don't worry. I'm sure I will have enough warning to grant your final wishes before I go."

"My wishes?" Eyes blazing, Yugi jerked away. "Like I give a damn about my fucking wishes!"

"I give a damn about them!"

Yugi ignored the protest. "It isn't fair. I don't want you to go back there, I don't even want-" He scrubbed roughly at his eyes. "Why did this have to happen? Why show me how great everything could be with you and then yank it all away?"

"I'm sorry."

"Don't you dare apologize!" Yugi shouted, and then instantly deflated, sagging against Atem's chest. "It's not your fault. You're the great part. It's the stupid magic, the stupid curse. I hate it!"

"I know. I hate it, too. I don't want to leave you."

"Then don't." Yugi's hands fisted in Atem's damp shirt. "Just... don't." And then something Atem had said seemed to register through the fog of unhappiness surrounding him, and his gaze sharpened. "...Pain?"

"Hm?" Atem murmured, distracted as he nuzzled Yugi's jaw. He didn't want to think about the curse or the puzzle or anything but the man in his arms.

Unfortunately, Yugi had other ideas. He pulled back far enough so that he could glare at the genie. "You said being too far from me causes you pain."

Atem's eyes widened. He hadn't meant to let that particular detail slip out.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Yugi appeared devastated by the notion that he had unwittingly contributed to Atem's distress. "I would never have been so careless, so cavalier, about that rule if I'd known I was hurting you."

"I know." In the face of Yugi's skeptical look, Atem added, "Well, I know it now. At the time, I didn't think you would care."

"You know, I'd really like to go back in time and punch every single one of your former masters in the mouth."

He would do it, too. After all, he had taken on Kaiba without hesitation. Atem gave a fond chuckle. "My gallant master."

"Oh, shut up. You don't get to make fun of me for being angry that people have treated you like crap."

"No," Atem agreed, cupping Yugi's jaw and tilting his face up so that Atem could drop soft kisses onto the corners of his mouth. "I shouldn't tease you about that. Instead, let us retrieve the puzzle and return home-" He savored the word, recalling how it had made him feel to hear Yugi use it earlier. "-so that I may properly show you what pleasure it gives me to know you would defend me so."

"...Stop trying to distract me." It was a half-hearted protest at best, as Yugi leaned further into Atem's touch, closing his eyes, breath quickening.

Atem smiled to himself. Perhaps he couldn't proclaim his love in words, but he could declare it with his body. He leaned in for a kiss that was anything but chaste, unable to stifle a moan as Yugi's lips parted eagerly beneath his. He had just begun to think about casting his magic around them to give them the privacy to enjoy one another more fully when Yugi wrenched himself away again.

Atem sighed. "Yugi Mutou, you are a very stubborn man and you frustrate the hell out of me."

"Then we're even, because you frustrate the hell out of me, too." One side of Yugi's lips twitched. "I'm pretty sure that's called 'being in a relationship.'"

In spite of himself, Atem laughed. "Oh, is that what it's called?"

"Yep!"

If the cheer in Yugi's response was forced, the look in his eyes was not. And it finally struck Atem, with the force of a warrior's mace to the chest, what that look was, what it had been all along.

Love.

With a suddenness that left him breathless, Atem knew it. His body trembled and his chest constricted for far different reasons than before. Warmth filled him, chasing away the cloying cold of the shadows, and he felt as if his world were made of joy. For a fleeting moment, he forgot it all – the puzzle, the curse which bound him as its slave, the pain of the shadow realm. In that eternal moment, nothing else mattered but the truth he saw shining in Yugi's eyes.

As impossible as it seemed, Yugi loved him.

Yugi loved him.

Note: I'd like to remind everyone (especially those who have asked to be added to my LJ friend's list) that I have moved my journal to Dreamwidth. I will be posting fic previews, snippets, meta discussion, story and chapter notes, deleted scenes (and possibly "lemons"), etc. there from now on. Account creation is free and currently doesn't require an invite code. Or, you can log-in to DW using your LJ Open ID in order to read and comment. You can find a link to my new journal on my FFnet profile. I hope to see you on Dreamwidth, soon!

Also, I will be deleting my LJ as soon as I can get somewhere with broadband internet, as the site will literally not load on dial-up (which is all that is available in the extremely rural area where I live). Since I cannot access LJ, I have been unable to respond to requests, comments, or PMs through that site. If you want to contact me, please do it through DW from now on. Thanks.