Chapter Eight:

Yugi jerked awake. He raised his head, listening. What had woken him?

Downstairs, he heard a rustling. He froze, trying to quiet his breathing, sure that he had imagined it. But, no, another rustling followed the first, louder. A wooden groan reached his ears; it sounded like a drawer being opened. Yugi sat up with a gasp.

"Joey!" he hissed softly, reaching to shake his boyfriend. "Wake up!"

Joey mumbled and shifted. Yugi shook him again. Downstairs, another drawer opened. Yugi stared through the dark to the bedroom door, which was closed. He shook Joey harder.

"Joey! Wake up!"

"Wha, Yug'?" Joey muttered, half awake. "'m sleepy, Spiky."

"Joey, someone's in the apartment!"

"What?"

Downstairs, a tremendous crash shook through the floor. Joey shouted a startled curse. Yugi snapped on the light as another, softer crash sounded. Joey scrambled out of bed, running to the bathroom. He came out holding the hammer that had been languishing in the linen closet ever since Yugi had hung the wall clock in months ago. Yugi climbed out of bed and grabbed the Isis statue again.

"Stay here," Joey said, coming around the bed and going to the door.

"No."

Joey glared at him, but Yugi was not going to stay cowering upstairs in the bedroom. He hurried after Joey as the blond threw open the bedroom door and exited into the hall, moving fast but cautiously, the hammer held tight in his right hand. Yugi crept after him, heart pounding. There was no more noise downstairs.

"Who's there?!" Joey shouted, flipping the light switch at the head of the stairs. It turned on the ceiling fixture in the living room, illuminating it, the stairs, and the front door. The front door was open, cold night air pouring into the apartment. There was no one to be seen. Joey thudded down the stairs, still holding the hammer, Yugi on his heels. The crashes had been the drawers of the sideboard by the door being pulled from their runners and one of the lamps from one of the side tables on either side of the couch was on the floor being thrown to the floor. The lamp was made of metal; it hadn't broken, though the shade was dented and askew. The closet door was open, their coats, umbrellas, and winter snowshoes scattered across the carpet.

Joey flicked another light switch, throwing on the kitchen light. The doors leading off were the downstairs bathroom, the kitchen, and a storage closet. The closet door was closed and the bathroom and kitchen doors open, as usual. Joey went to the closet and threw open the door, but nothing was inside but the vacuum, holiday decorations, and odds and ends. Joey edged to the bathroom, but there was no one inside there, either. Nor in the kitchen, off which was only a pantry closet that was too small to hold anyone and the washer/dryer nook.

The light turning on had revealed that the back door was open as well. Joey snarled several curses and went to the door, peering out into the night. Yugi watched worriedly, looking over his shoulder several times, but whoever had been in the apartment was gone. Joey slammed the door and locked it.

"Fuck! Did they take anything?"

"I don't know."

It wasn't as if either he or Joey had jewelry. They had no valuables either, and the only things of any worth to them were a few photos, some entertainment equipment, the knick knack Yugi was still holding, and their decks and the contents of their wallets, which were upstairs.

"Fuck," Joey snarled again. He strode back out into the living room and slammed and locked the front door. "How'd they get in?"

"Did they pick the lock?"

"I don't see how. Both of the deadbolts were locked, I know it."

"None of the windows are broken."

Yugi set the Isis statue on one of the side tables and picked up the lamp. The bulb was in one piece, but the filament inside had broken when the lamp had hit the floor. Yugi unscrewed it, went to the bathroom, and threw it in the trash. He went to the still-open utility area that held the washer and dryer and got another bulb. Out in the living room, he screwed it into the lamp while Joey prowled around, checking the doors and windows. The TV and VCR remained where they were, so they hadn't been stolen. Yugi picked up the drawers and replaced them, beginning to put away the birthday and Christmas cards, bill statements, bank statements, newspaper clippings, and postcards that had accumulated. On top of the sideboard, the photos remained where they were. Only one had been knocked over and the glass hadn't been broken.

"It doesn't look like anything is missing."

Joey was still fuming. Still holding the hammer, he stalked upstairs with Yugi behind him. Yugi returned the Isis statue to its usual place while Joey threw the hammer into the linen closet, where it made a thunk on the shelf. Yugi sat on the edge of the bed and watched as Joey paced their room like an angry wolf in a cage.

"If I ever find out who did that, I'll kill them," he raged.

The phone rang, making Yugi jump. He turned around and reached for it, dread already flowing through him.

Sure enough, it was the prank caller. The sinister breathing came over the line even though Yugi hadn't said hello. The caller knew he was there. And Yugi was sure, now, that it was not a prank.

Joey lunged onto the bed and ripped the phone out of Yugi's hand. Rolling onto his back and sitting up, he shouted at the top of his lungs several inventive ways the caller on the phone could reach new heights in self-fulfillment. Only when he was done, breathing hard with anger and shaking, did the caller hang up. Joey threw the phone into the wall. It left a dent in the plaster. On his feet even before the phone had hit the carpet, Joey paced the room, shouting curses like a madman. Yugi sat silently and watched him, afraid to interrupt. He had never seen Joey so mad.

The phone, apparently unbroken by the double impact, rang. Joey rounded on it and picked it up. He pressed the talk button, listened for a second, then railed more curses over the line. Apparently interrupted by the caller hanging up, Joey tossed the phone on the bed this time.

"Joey, please, calm down," Yugi said. "Please."

"Yug', this is too much. That bastard! First he calls here like a kid pranking an old lady, then he breaks into our apartment? And he calls again to gloat? Fuck! If I ever find him, I'll kill him!"

"It isn't some kid playing a prank."

"I fucking know that, Yug'."

"We should call the cops."

"Somebody already did."

Yugi heard the sirens, too. Joey's three a.m. obscenity tirade had no doubt reached at least one of their neighbors, and that person had called the cops. Yugi picked up the phone and replaced it, then got to his feet and grabbed his bathrobe. Joey grabbed his own, yanking it on and having trouble with the sash. As he muttered still more curses, Yugi went to him and began tying it himself.

"Calm down," he said. "I've never seen you like this!"

Joey looked down at him and his anger melted somewhat. "I'm sorry, Yug'. But someone broke into our home!"

"Yeah, but screaming the F-word at the cops at three in the morning isn't going to do you any favors."

Joey managed a faint, embarrassed smile. He took a deep breath and let it out. As the sirens shut off as the cops pulled up to the apartment, the pair of them went downstairs. Yugi glanced at the phone in the living room as he crossed to the front door to let the police in.

If this wasn't an innocent prank, what was it?

Yugi sighed as he shut the door on the last police officer. Joey sat on the couch, brown eyes still bright with anger. The pair of them had just spent the last two hours talking with the cops about the break-in and the phone calls. After initially dressing Joey down for shouting at three in the morning, which had not helped his anger any, the cops had become interested when Yugi explained the break-in and the phone calls before it. They had taken down what little information was to be had, gave Joey a verbal warning for disturbing the peace, then left.

When Yugi had mentioned the calls on Monday, he had seen Joey glance at him, but he hadn't said anything. Now, as Yugi shut the door on the cops and the curious neighbor hanging out of her doorway next door, Joey glared at him from the couch.

"You didn't mention any calls to me, Yug'," he said.

Yugi moved to sit down next to him, his eyes burning from exhaustion. "I didn't want to mention it," he said tiredly. "I thought maybe the guy had just called back because he got such a reaction out of you the first time and he just wanted to have some more fun."

Joey frowned and put his arm around Yugi's shoulders. "So, what do you think this is? Just some random break-in?"

The cops certainly thought so. Whether they thought the phone calls and the break-in were related they hadn't said, but Yugi believed so. It was too much of a coincidence otherwise. But the break-in didn't seem like the usual burglary. Nothing had been taken, and the intruder had gotten into the apartment without noise, so why would they have proceeded to smash things up downstairs? It seemed like something else, but what? Whatever it was, it seemed more sinister than either a prank or a robbery.

Yugi shivered. Joey noticed and squeezed him lightly.

"Hey," he said gently. "Don't worry, Yug'. Nothing's gonna happen to us."

"This doesn't seem like the typical house invasion," Yugi said. "They could have just stolen stuff and walked out and we would never have noticed until we woke up."

"Maybe they didn't know we were here."

"I'm sure they did. I know they did. This wasn't about robbing us."

"But they didn't hurt us," Joey said soothingly. "They didn't even come upstairs and they ran when I shouted."

Yugi shook his head, giving up on trying to put feelings that weren't all that defined into words. He just knew his heart that something worse was happening. What that was, or whether it would actually happen now, he didn't know, but he knew to trust his instincts in matters like this. It wasn't the first time, and probably wouldn't be the last, that he'd had feelings that had turned out to be meaningful, indicative of things to come.

"Let's go on back to bed," Joey murmured. "There's nothing else we can do."

Yugi nodded and went upstairs with him. They curled up under the covers, Yugi cuddling with Joey and tucking his head in under his chin, closing his eyes. Despite his concerns, he was so exhausted that he went right to sleep.

Yugi sat up in the bed and yawned, stretching. His eyes still felt grainy and his head ached. A glance at the clock told him it was eight-he had slept less than five hours. Joey was still snoring beside him. He would probably sleep until Yugi woke him.

Yugi decided to make breakfast and read the newspaper. He set the coffee pot on and got out eggs, mushrooms, butter, and cheese, then went to go get the newspaper. It was at the end of the walk and by the time he returned with it, the scent of coffee was already starting to emanate from the percolator. He closed the front door, shaking the newspaper out of the bag. Back in the kitchen, he tossed the paper on the table and the bag in the trash, then proceeded to make a large mushroom-and-cheese omelet.

"Mornin', Yug'," Joey said sleepily, appearing in the doorway.

Ok, so, the smell of food would get him up. Yugi smiled, sliding the omelet onto a plate and moving it to the table. "Good morning, Joey."

"Man. I'm exhausted." Joey sat down and yawned loudly.

Yugi nodded, adding a pitcher of orange juice, plates, forks, and glasses. Joey sliced the omelet in half, serving the both of them. They tucked in.

"Mm. Good as always." Joey raised his fork in a mock toast. Yugi chuckled. "Man, I hope this movie is as good as I think it's going to be. I'm so excited. I can't wait to find out what it's about."

"I'm curious, too. Maybe it won't be so gross being in it as watching it."

Joey laughed, but waved his fork threateningly. "Oh, we're going to be watching the finished movie, Spiky. Premiere opening, just like the red carpet folks."

Yugi groaned, then smiled good-naturedly. Joey grinned and took an obscene gulp of orange juice, then glanced at the phone on the wall over the counter, his expression turning dark. Yugi looked over his shoulder, then back at the blonde.

"What?"

"Just wondering who that bastard was."

"Don't. It's not worth getting upset about again."

"Yug', they messed with us. And the cops aren't going to do anything, you know that. They're just going to take our report, file it away, and wait for them to do it again, then take another report, and do nothing again. At best, they'll do a token patrol of the neighborhood."

"Well, what do you want to do?"

Joey sighed and shrugged, taking another big bite of the omelet. "I don't know. Not much we can do, I guess. But I wish I could get my hands on the bastard calling you in the middle of the night and scaring you."

Yugi flushed, embarrassed by that description. Maybe it was accurate, but it made him feel like a coward. "Don't worry about it. If they call again, we'll just ignore them. They'll get bored eventually."

"If they were some asshole teenager, that'd probably work, but they broke in." Joey scowled, taking a big gulp of orange juice. "And if they do it again, I'm not going to call down the stairs. I'm gonna sneak down there and whack their skull in with that hammer."

Yugi looked at Joey worriedly. This was hardly the first time he'd heard Joey boast about beating on someone. "Joey, don't say that. They could be dangerous."

Joey only made a dismissive sound, gulping down the last big bite of his omelet. He took his plate, fork, and cup to the sink, then disappeared upstairs. Yugi sighed, took the rest of the dishes to the sink, and flipped open the paper he'd been intending to read, getting himself a second cup of coffee. He was unsurprised to see another headline about him and Joey being cast in the Erica Lynch movie. Which reminded him. As he wandered into the living room, he opened his link to Yami as he went. Yami answered his mental knock with a greeting.

/Hi, Yami. How are you?/ He decided not to tell him about the break-in.

/Fine, Aibou. And yourself?/

/Everything's good. Are you still planning to come to dinner on Saturday?/

/Yes, of course. Though Seto won't tell me if he is coming or not./

/Tell him he's welcome if he decides to./

Yami smiled mentally. /He knows, Aibou. I don't think that makes it better. Did you go to the meeting you had with Erica Lynch?/

/Yes. We signed the contracts and got the first part of our scripts./

/Do you feel more confident now?/

/Not at all. Even worse. Tristan and Tea are coming to watch. Will you? We start tomorrow at nine in the morning/

/I will not if it makes you uncomfortable, Aibou./

Yugi shrugged his shoulders, rearranging some of the clutter that always seemed to accumulate in the living room. /If Tristan and Tea are coming, it won't make much of a difference if you don't. You're welcome to come if you want to. Maybe having you guys there will actually make it better./

/Cheering you on, like during your tournaments?/

Yugi smiled, nodding. /Right./ Yugi laughed a little. /Who knows. Erica is still looking for a couple of people to star and a lot of extras. Maybe she'll take one look at you and cast you in the movie./

Yami's mental aura darkened a little and he seemed genuinely concerned about the possibility. /You don't believe she will, do you?/

/What's wrong? You told me to be more confident!/

Yami muttered lowly. Yugi laughed again, moving to sort through the mail stacked in the receiving tray on the entrance table. Behind him, he heard Joey's footsteps coming down the stairs.

/Are you coming?/

/Yes, I will be there./

Something metallic caught Yugi's eye as he picked up the stack of mail from the tray. Curious, he peered over and exclaimed, "Here they are!"

/What is it?/ Yami asked.

"What, Yug'?"

"Look." Yugi pulled the metallic object from where it was wedged in the small space between the entrance table and the wall. "My keys." /I lost these a few days ago./

/Again?/

"You found 'em?"

"Yeah, they were stuck between the table and the wall." Yugi looked up at the key rack hanging on the wall above the entrance table. Joey came up behind him, peering over his shoulder.

"They must have fallen and gotten wedged and we missed them when we were looking," he said.

Yugi hung the keys up on the rack, taking extra care that the ring was securely around the peg. Joey grinned at him, patting him on the shoulder.

"Well, at least that's not the most unusual place they've ended up. Like the cold cuts drawer of the refrigerator."

Yugi sighed, knowing that Joey was unlikely to ever let him forget that incident.

"I don't understand it, Yug'. You never had problems with your school stuff or your Duel Monsters cards. Just the keys."

Well, it was true that Yugi had a habit of throwing his possessions everywhere when he was using them. There had been more than one instance when he had been surrounded by Duel cards laying all over the place when he'd been sorting his deck for duels. He'd done the same when doing his homework, being in the circle of books, papers, folders, and pens. The kitchen often looked like a disaster area whenever he was cooking dinner, regardless of whether Joey often praised his cooking. He was simply that way with his things, though it was true that only his keys somehow turned up missing on a regular basis.

"Well, I've found them," Yugi said. "They're back where they belong." And then, because he knew it was coming, he said simultaneously with Joey, "For now."

Joey laughed, hooked an arm around his shoulders, and bent to kiss his forehead. He went into the kitchen to do the dishes, calling over his shoulder that Tristan and Tea would be at the set at nine am on Friday to watch the first day of filming. Yugi moved to sit at the couch while he sorted the mail.

/Erica never said anything against friends and family coming to watch, so I'm sure you're welcome,/ he said to Yami.

/I'll be there. It is likely to be an interesting experience for you./

tbc...