Chapter Four:

Yugi jerked awake as the phone rang. Groggy, he turned his head toward the side table, seeing the glowing green numbers on his alarm clock. It was 3:28 am Monday morning.

The phone rang again. Yugi sat up, suddenly worried. Joey had switched a shift with a coworker, then gone to visit his sister yesterday afternoon, staying the night as planned. Was the phone call about one of them?

Yugi grabbed the receiver, bringing it to his ear. "Hello?"

Silence.

"Hello?"

More silence, then the soft, unmistakable sound of breathing. Yugi gripped the phone receiver tightly in his hand. The breathing continued, the caller clearly listening to him.

"Who is this?"

The laughter started. Yugi shivered, then slammed down the receiver. He switched on the bedside lamp and sat up. He stared at the phone, unsurprised when it rang again. He refused to pick it up, but it rang and rang. He counted fifteen before he broke and picked it up again.

"Hello? Who is this?"

Breathing, and then the cold, menacing laughter. Yugi pushed the hang up button again, but the phone rang in his hand. He gritted his teeth, but it continued to ring. Finally he answered it. When the breathing started again, he tried to channel Joey.

"Listen, stop calling me! This joke has gone on long enough, and you don't stop, I'll-" He hesitated, and though he knew that meant he had lost his credibility, he just wasn't sure what to say. Threatening people didn't come naturally to him. "I'll call the police," he finished lamely.

The person on the other end of the phone laughed at him, but this time it seemed to be much more taunting than it had previously. Yugi's threat was weak, and the laugher knew it. Yugi hung up again.

The phone stayed silent. Relieved, Yugi looked toward the bedroom window. The blinds and curtains were drawn, but he wondered how far away the caller was. Was it really a random thing, or had he been targeted? Was it because of the Erica Lynch movie?

No, this had started before that. The first call had come almost a week ago, when Joey had first told him about Erica Lynch coming to Domino. She and her group hadn't arrived until the following Saturday, so the caller couldn't have known Yugi was going to be in the movie.

Yugi looked at the phone again. It remained silent. He wanted to pick it up and call Joey, ask him if he'd received a call over at Serenity's apartment, but he didn't. If he had, Joey would already have called him. If he hadn't, he would probably blow a fuse and come racing home, and while Yugi would appreciate that, he wanted Joey to stay with Serenity, not least of which because it was three in the morning and he didn't want him racing through Domino at that hour. He could have contacted Yami as well, but he didn't for the same reason he didn't with Joey. Yami was on his anniversary with Kaiba, and he would be home that day. Yugi didn't want to freak out over a silly prank.

The silence continued for another fifteen minutes. Yugi turned off the lamp and lay back down. He stared at the ceiling through the darkness, wondering what he should do about the mysterious caller. The first time had *seemed* like a prank after the fact, like Joey said, but twice now? He could try a return-call, to find the number, but what then? Call back? Give it to the police? There wouldn't be much they could do, even if they thought it was more than a prank.

Yugi sighed and turned onto his side, burrowing under the covers.

The phone jerked him awake again at 4:19. Yugi jerked upright, then grabbed the phone off the cradle, nearly sending it crashing to the floor off the side table.

"Hello?"

The breathing again. Yugi tried threatening again, forcing himself to use some of Joey's more favorite phrases.

"Listen, asshole, stop calling me in the middle of the fucking night! I know you have nothing better to do with your life, but stop or else!"

He slammed the receiver down. Trembling with adrenaline, his heart racing, he waited. The phone remained silent, which was not how it had gone the previous two times. Had his uncharacteristic language somehow convinced the caller to give up?

Yugi picked up the phone, then dialed star-six-nine. The mechanical operator told him the number was blocked. Unsurprised, Yugi hung up. He stared at the phone again, but it now refused to ring.

Yugi glanced at the clock. 4:33.

He decided to try and get some more sleep. He lay down, trying to calm his thoughts. The mysterious caller was just some bored teenager playing a prank. He'd gotten quite the rise out of Joey on Wednesday and so had tried to get his kicks again. And since Yugi had done the stupid thing and cursed at him as well, the brat probably would call back again, maybe that night, maybe another night. Yugi would just have to ignore it. And make sure Joey ignored it, too.

Yugi sighed blearily as he climbed out of bed and headed to the bathroom for a shower. After being awakened twice during the night by the prank caller, he was not as well rested as he should be.

Downstairs, wrapped up in his bathrobe, he started some breakfast. He was scrambling some eggs when the kitchen door opened and Joey came in. He set his overnight bag down on the floor and grinned at Yugi.

"Hi, Spiky!" he said cheerfully.

"Good morning, Joey. Want some breakfast?"

Joey looked at Yugi's bathrobe and smiled. He stepped closer and pulled Yugi away from the stove, wrapping his arms around his waist. "Mm, sure. How about some eggs, browns, and a side of you?"

Yugi laughed as Joey kissed him on the mouth, walking him backward. Joey picked him up and laid him down on the kitchen table, kissing him deeper. Yugi wrapped his arms around his neck, still holding the spatula in his hand. His robe parted a bit across his chest and Joey purred in appreciation, moving down and nipping at Yugi's left pec, leaving a hickey. Yugi squirmed at the bite, eyes closed, tangling his free hand in Joey's thick blond hair.

"You smell good, Yug'," Joey murmured against his skin, mouth just above his belly button.

Yugi smiled, eyes still closed. But soon another odor, not pleasant, stung his nose. He gasped, sitting up. "Joey, the eggs are burning!"

Joey straightened, letting Yugi hop off the table. Sure enough, smoke was beginning to pour out of skillet, the eggs they had both forgotten blackening. Yugi grabbed the skillet off the electric coil, coughing. He looked ruefully at the ruined food, then went to the trash can, scraping the useless eggs into the trash. Joey opened the kitchen door into the backyard, then leaned across the sink to open the window.

"Sorry," he said, turning around as Yugi walked over to the sink.

Yugi rinsed the skillet out, then set it back on the coil, shrugging. He pulled the mixing bowl back to himself and began cracking more eggs into it. It seemed they kept getting interrupted lately. "It's okay. How was your visit with Serenity?"

"Good," Joey said, grabbing his overnight bag and heading upstairs to the bedroom. "She's starting freshman year in January!" he called. "Can you believe it?"

"Why didn't she start in September?" Yugi called back. He turned the hash browns frying in the second skillet, then added milk to the raw eggs and began to whisk them together.

"Couldn't decide what she wanted to take," Joey said, coming back into the kitchen. "She decided on photography."

"I think she'll do good in that." Yugi poured the mix into the skillet.

Joey reached into the fridge, pulling out a jug of orange juice. He got down two glasses and poured juice into both before returning the jug to the fridge. He raised his glass and took a sip.

"But I can't believe my baby sister is a freshman at Domino College of the Arts," Joey muttered.

"She's nineteen, Joey," Yugi said with a smile. "And you're twenty-three. You'll have to accept the fact she's an adult sometime."

Joey grinned, reaching into another cabinet and pulling out a couple of plates. "She'll always be my baby sister."

Yugi looked up at him with another smile. "Does she have a boyfriend yet?"

Joey's smile disappeared. "No."

Yugi turned back to the skillet, beginning to flip sections of the scrambled eggs. He shook his head in resignation. "She will sometime."

"Only if I'm okay with it," Joey muttered darkly. "Why can't she like Tristan already?"

"You always hated it when Tristan liked her!" Yugi flipped the browns in the second skillet again.

"Yeah, but, she was a freshman in *high school* then. Besides, T's my friend. I know him. I don't know these guys at the college. I'm just looking out for my sister."

"I know."

Yugi raised the skillet, sliding some of the eggs onto each of the plates. He set the skillet back on the coil, then pulled off strips of bacon from the rasher sitting on the counter and laid out six strips. They began to crisp immediately while he turned off the second coil and picked up the second skillet, divvying up the browns onto both plates. He set the skillet back on the stove, then flipped the strips of bacon. Joey moved the glasses of orange juice to the table, then added silverware and napkins. Yugi turned off the stove, then added the strips of bacon to the plates. He transferred the plates to the table and he and Joey sat down to breakfast.

"Yami's home today, ain't he?" Joey asked. "When are we going over there?"

"Two. Their plane gets in at noon."

Joey glanced at the clock. It was a few minutes before ten. He was up early for him, but Yugi knew that Serenity had a job at women's clothing store she would have had to be at that morning.

"Ugh, what am I going to do for four hours?" he moaned, wolfing his breakfast with his usual abandon.

"I'm going over to my mom's after breakfast," Yugi said. "I haven't seen her in a few days."

His grandfather had died three years ago in March, and his father had returned to his usual work hours not long after, leaving his mother home alone for most of the week. Yugi knew it had been hard on her to get used to a completely empty house, now that Yugi had moved out with Joey not long after.

"You can take a nap if you want," Yugi added. "I'll probably be over there for a few hours."

Joey nodded. He wouldn't accompany Yugi over to his mother's; Yugi used that time to visit his mother one-on-one, helping her out with any chores she had, and just catching up.

"Okay, I guess I'll just take a nap," Joey agreed. "Serenity and I stayed up until three or four talking." He covered his mouth as he yawned as if proving the point. "I don't know how she got up to take a shower and get to work on time. And Mondays are her long days; she aint' off 'til nine."

Yugi winced. He finished his breakfast and pushed his plate aside. "Well, she always was a morning person."

Joey made a face. "Yeah, you too."

Yugi laughed. He often had breakfast alone or late, as Joey was rarely up before eleven. He worked second shift at a warehouse, working ten hours a day for four days a week, from three in the afternoon until one in the morning, normally having Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays off. The job suited him, and he made pretty good money.

The pair of them chatted for a bit as they finished their orange juice, then Yugi left the dishes to Joey and got dressed, heading out to see his mother. Mrs. Moto was still a housewife, and she spent a lot of time baking. As such, the house smelled of pumpkin bread, gingerbread, and vanilla when Yugi came in. He greeted his mother and got to work finishing painting the living room that he'd left off a few days ago. He added a second coat to the walls, then sat with his mother at the dining room table with some of her fresh pumpkin bread and some coffee, catching up.

/Aibou?/

Yugi smiled around the rim of his coffee mug. /Hi, Yami./

/Am I interrupting?/

/No. Your plane get down okay?/

/Yes. Seto and I are in the limo, heading home. Are you still coming over this afternoon?/

/Yeah, if that's okay./

/Of course. I'll see you later./

Yugi stayed with his mother until one thirty, then headed home and picked up Joey, who was ready to go when he pulled up, a rarity. They headed across the city towards the Kaiba Manor. They pulled up a couple minutes early and the butler let them in, showing them to the main sitting room, where Yami and Kaiba were. Yami stood up from the couch, in front of which was the coffee table laden with cookies and tea.

"Hi, Yami. Hi, Kaiba," Yugi greeted, hugging his dark half.

"Hello, Aibou, Joey," Yami returned, hugging Yugi back.

"Hey, Yami." Joey hugged him, then grinned broadly. "Guess what? Yug' and I are gonna be in a movie!"

Yami looked surprised. Kaiba, who had been standing silently across the room, turned around to stare at them. "A movie?" Yami asked.

"Yeah! An Erica Lynch movie."

"Erica Lynch?"

"It's those stupid torture porn movies Wheeler likes," Kaiba said scathingly.

"They ain't torture porn," Joey said angrily. "You're mixing 'em up with those stupid cut-'em-up flicks. This is different, they got good stories and they're really cool."

Kaiba snorted derisively, starting to leave the room. Joey glared at him as he disappeared through the doorway. "Hey, you ought to audition, Kaiba!" he snapped. "I'd sure like to see someone off you!"

"Joey, that's a horrible thing to say!" Yugi admonished.

"Yeah, well, I don't really mean it," Joey grumbled. Then, looking at Yami, he apologetically, if grudgingly, added, "So, you have fun?"

Yami settled with Yugi on the couch while Joey perched on the armrest of the recliner. "Yes, we did."

"You got a tan," Yugi said, looking down at Yami's beautiful bronze skin. He held his arm against Yami's, where the difference between his Japanese paleness compared to Yami's Egyptian duskiness was obvious. Yami had lightened a few shades living a few years in northern Japan, but two weeks in the hot Caribbean sun had returned him to his natural copper color. He once again looked like he'd just stepped out of an ancient temple, albeit in jeans and a red tank top.

"Yeah, it's sexy," Joey said with a shameless grin. "So, what about Kaiba's tail?"

Yami gave him a look. Joey laughed, snatching a cookie off the plate.

"Tell me more about this movie," Yami requested.

Yugi and Joey filled him in on all that had happened the previous Saturday. "And we sign the contract on Tuesday," Joey finished.

/Aibou, do you want to do this?/ Yami asked him silently.

/No. But I'll do it for Joey./

/It is unusual she chooses strangers she meets,/ Yami said musingly, sipping his tea. /Isn't that a risk of her budget?/

/Yeah, but Joey says she does it all the time, and she must be doing something right, because her movies are always popular./

/Joey will forgive you if you wish not to do it,/ Yami said.

/I know, but it's important to him./ Yugi sighed inwardly. He could tell Yami his real feelings. /Who knows, it might not last long anyway. She'll probably want to fire me the minute I open my mouth. I'm no good in front of a camera./

Yami looked at him squarely. Yugi smiled. Joey was sitting silently across from them, no doubt aware they were talking in their minds. He had long ago gotten used to it, and rarely interrupted. Now he looked between the two.

"Whatcha think?" he asked Yami.

"It is… unexpected," he said. "But if it is something you wish to do, it sounds like it might be fun for you."

Joey laughed, taking another big bite of a cookie. "It's gonna be a blast! And, Yug', you're gonna be great. You're a natural at everything you do. You watch. You'll be a natural at this horror stuff. Everyone's going to remember the year Yugi Moto made an Erica Lynch horror movie!"

tbc...