fishtailing: that first morning, i-

A/N: Hi! Thank you so much for your eternal patience. Here's another short chapter. Things get a little weird here, and also here is where the Puzzleshipping is starting to kick in!

You can check my tumblr (there's a link on my profile) for updates on this fic.


The next day is when Atem wakes up, and he can see everything.

He's lying in bed and his alarm goes off at 6:00 AM and his eyes suddenly burst open and he actually feels awake and alive and on purpose. Like an explosion of paint, suddenly, he can see universes unfolding in the air in his bedroom. Sunlight through the window, filtered gray through the rain, illuminates the Milky Way spread out across his ceiling. Saturn is hovering above his head. He pulls himself up, rubbing his eyes in disbelief. Miniature planets and stars are floating above his blanketed lap. Earths and parallel Earths and black holes and supernovas in his bedroom exploding, millions of years passing by in seconds, and he reaches out to touch one of the Earths, and it moves away from him.

His first thought is that he must have been huffing paint in his sleep.

He says, out loud, "The fuck?" The planets swivel around him, closing in on him. A star comes up so close to his face that his eyes cross. A voice starts to talk. When the voice talks, Atem knows everything.

"Hello, Atem," says the voice. It sounds like a bratty little girl and a wise old man. It sounds like Atem's grandma who lived with him and baked him rhubarb pies and solved jigsaw puzzles with him until she died of a stroke when Atem was twelve. It sounds like the noise that Atem's first pet dog made when it got hit by a car. It sounds like violins and electric guitars and a little bit like Yuugi.

"Uh, hi," says Atem. He tries to touch a planet he doesn't recognize; he's obsessed with making sure that these things are real. He manages to get a hold of it before it can float away, and it feels cool and soft under his fingers. He has an urge to put it in his mouth, for some reason.

"The time has come for you to know of your destiny," the voice continues, sounding mildly proud of itself for being able to spout such prestigious words. "You are looking at all the parallel universes in which different versions of your destiny either have unfolded or are currently unfolded, compressed into the size of your bedroom. For the sake of convenience."

Atem looks around. He notices that the galaxies that have magically appeared fill almost his entire room, which he thinks is impressive. "That's a lot of universes," he muses.

"Yes," says the voice, "and now the universe in which youthis Atem, this Yuugi—reside is on its way to becoming one of these."

"Wait," says Atem. "Did you say Yuugi?"

"Yes."

"You mean, like, the kid I beat up a few nights ago?"

"Yes."

"That Yuugi?"

"That Yuugi."

"I'm going back to sleep," says Atem. He rolls over and crushes his face into the pillow.

"Nuh-uh, no way." Says the voice, apparently having thrown out any notion of sounding wise, and Atem suddenly feels himself being physically jerked upwards and forced to face his room once again. "Listen, Atem, I have something important to tell you. This boy, this Yuugi, he's going to become incredibly important to you. So important that the universe has seen your bond with him and repeated itself, through different universes, hopefully through every universe, has repeated the story of you and Yuugi because it's achingly brilliant and beautiful and true. The way you care about Yuugi is a goddamn love story, Atem. The way Yuugi cares about you is an eternal example of how not to fuck things up, for once in your life. Listen, Atem."

Atem is listening.

"When Yuugi was born, his mom died in labor. Okay? She died in labor, and his dad's an asshole. His dad is an asshole. His dad is always saying, 'Yuugi, you'll never be good enough'. No matter what Yuugi does. Yuugi gets a 100% on a test, his dad asks him what happened to the extra credit. And Yuugi has no friends, okay, because Yuugi is weird and kind of a runt. Like, his dad points that out too, Yuugi comes home from school and his dad is like 'Yuugi, where are all your friends?' and Yuugi says 'They're busy today, dad' and his dad says 'No, you don't have any.' Okay? That's what this Yuugi's life is like. It's not like that in every universe. There are some universes where he's made friends by this point. Shit, Atem, there's a universe where you're a three thousand year old ancient Egyptian pharaoh and through pure destiny you get to meet Yuugi. And you're not lovers in that universe, you're best friends. And that's okay. Atem, are you listening?"

Atem is listening.

"But you need to paint the story, Atem. You need to help it happen. Because so far, you weren't helping it happen. So far, you were just dicking around."

"Okay," says Atem, "what do I need to do."

"Well," says the voice, "you'll have to figure that out on your own."

"What?!" Says Atem. "You give me this special wake-up call to tell me about my destiny or some shit, and bitch me out for not doing something, and then you don't even tell me what the hell it is I have to do?!"

"I'm just speeding along the process a little, man, I can't be totally responsible for it. You gotta figure out your own way in life. Just rest assured that Yuugi is part of your destiny."

"Well great. Great. Thanks for that," says Atem. The universes start folding in on each other, becoming smaller and smaller until they shrink out of existence entirely. Atem tilts his head back on his pillow, closing his eyes.

He can feel the voice's presence fading. "Wait," he says.

"What," says the voice.

"Who are you?"

"No one important," says the voice, and then it's gone, everything is gone.


Click. Shatter. Trick, clack. Flutter. Shhh, baby.

Location: Elsewhere. Universe: A different one. Time: Some other time. The star of our story: Another Yuugi. But not Yuugi Yuugi, the Other Yuugi. Back when he was called The Other Yuugi. Back when he had no identity of his own, back when Atem hadn't even been thought of. The Other Yuugi. A concept.

The Other Yuugi hides in a warehouse at night (after a rain), amusing himself with a taser. Click. Bzzz. Click. Bzzz. Jounouchi lies unconscious a few yards away; the Other Yuugi is surrounded by corpses. The taser is vibrating in his hand, maybe like a hummingbird heart. Click. Bzzz. Click. Bzzz.

This, too, is a form of Atem.

Riiiiip shhhh flutter clack "I wanna be with you forever"and poison and.

Location: Somewhere. Universe: Not ours. Time: ages ago. Atem makes a promise to his aibou. He and Yuugi were childhood friends and are being separated by war drafts, ugly pieces of paper in the mail. Yuugi can feel them in his hands. With his heart defect he's not allowed to go, but Atem is. Atem presses kisses to Yuugi's lips as he stands on the threshold. I will come back alive for you, and we will play games again.

This, too, is a form of Atem.


Atem is not (not, not) ready to see Yuugi that morning.