Before this starts, you'll learn a little more about Atemu and Heba's past relationship. Then Yugi learns the truth about Yami and Tea.
Chapter 15- Secrets Told
The group had collapsed in the Moto living room, exhausted from everything that they had been through in the Twilight Dimension.
Yami, Atemu, and Heba were sitting on the couch. Leo sat in the recliner with Yuesei leaning against him. Tea and Tristan sat on the two loveseat. Bakura, Seto, and Marik were sitting in the floor with their respective lovers in their laps. Sayora and Kyla had brought chairs from the kitchen into the living room and were sitting in them.
"I am glad that this whole mess is over and done with." Joey said.
"We nay be glad, but I'm sure that you are even more relieved than the rest of us, Heba." Leo said.
"Yes, I am. I am so glad that I do not ever have to go through this again." Heba said.
"How did you deal with it before?" Kyla asked.
"The only way I dealt with it was knowing that Yugi needed my help." Heba replied.
"That reminds me. Leo, why did you have Yami kiss Yugi when his power had caused him to lose his humanity?" Yuesei asked.
"Yeah. What was that shit all about?" Bakura added.
"Simply put, I knew that it might be the only thing that would help Yugi." Leo said.
"How so?" Tea asked.
"Well, you all know that when Yugi had that power, his magic was governed by Osiris, Horus, and Ra." Leo said.
Everyone nodded, following so far.
"Well, I realized that they could reverse Yugi's power effect on him if they had a good enough reason not to allow him to become a god." Leo said.
"What did me kissing him have to do with it?" Yami asked.
"I remembered something that Pharaoh Aknankanon had once said." Leo said.
"Our father?" Atemu asked, referring to his father from ancient Egypt.
Leo nodded. "It was something that the Pharaoh had actually said to Heba." Leo said.
All eyes shifted to Heba.
"Heba, what did father say to you?" Atemu asked.
"He said, 'Love can transcend everything. Not even the gods of Egypt would stand in the way of true love.' Leo knew that if the gods saw that Yami truly loved Yugi, they wouldn't do anything to keep the two of you apart. Yugi's humanity returned because they allowed it to." Heba explained.
"That's why you were urging to me kiss him." Yami realized.
Leo nodded. "The Pharaoh only ever said those words to me and Heba. We both realized that it might be the only way to save Yugi from himself." Leo said.
"Why did the Pharaoh say those things to him?" Sayora asked.
"While Leo tells you, I'll go check on Yugi." Heba said, getting up and leaving the room.
"What's his deal? Is it embarrassing or something?" Tristan asked.
"No. It's actually kind of romantic in a sense." Leo said.
"That explains it." Yami said.
"What do you mean?" Ryou asked.
"Heba's not exactly an overly affectionate person. He's not very affectionate toward anyone unless they are alone. Even after we were married five thousand years ago, Heba didn't particularly like showing affection in front of people, even our friends." Atemu said.
"Had no problem with it in the bedroom." Yami muttered.
Atemu whacked Yami in the back of the head.
"OW!" Yami shouted, rubbing the back of his head. "What the hell was that for?!" Yami asked, glaring at Atemu.
"Yami, if you would like to live long enough to see Yugi awake again, I suggest that you shut the hell up!" Atemu snapped.
"Back to the reason the Pharaoh said that." Leo said, turning everyone's attention to him. "You know from what we have said before that Heba was a performance fighter in Egypt. He would often perform for the Pharaoh and his family, which included Yami and Atemu. That's how we all first met Heba, actually. Let's just say that Atemu was smitten with Heba from the start." Leo said.
"You were?" Marik asked, smirking.
Atemu rolled his eyes. "Yes, I was. I suppose that you could say it was love at first sight." Atemu said.
"We had performance fighters perform several times a week. Heba was the best of the performance fighter, so he would perform almost every time. Atemu became more and more taken with him each time. He tried act like he felt nothing, but everyone in the court could tell he liked Heba, even our father knew." Yami said.
"One day, a group of raiders broke into the palace and came after all of us in the court. Performance fighters had been performing that day, and Heba was one of them. While everyone one of the others were trying to get away, Heba did something unexpected. He fought them." Atemu said.
"Heba's first act was to stop a raider from killing Atemu. His skill amazed everyone, and it was clear that he had held back in his performance battles. Heba took down all eight of the raiders without getting a scratch on himself and in less than tem minutes." Leo said.
"We shock and grateful at the same time. It was then that Father thought Heba would make a good bodyguard, and he became Atemu's since he was the Crown Prince." Yami said.
"I bet you loved that." Bakura snickered.
"Believe me. It wasn't a bed of roses at the start." Atemu said.
"Why not?" Yuesei asked.
"Heba only did his duty. Nothing more and nothing less." Leo said.
"I did finally tell Heba how I felt, but Heba made it clear that we would never have a relationship. He did it in a respectful way, but didn't hurt any less." Atemu said.
"He was depressed for a week straight." Yami said.
"The Pharaoh decided to talk to Heba. Apparently, he found out that the only reason Heba didn't want to be with Atemu was because of class difference. That's when the Pharaoh told him that. He was telling Heba that he shouldn't worry about the class differences. That it was love that mattered, not status. Heba went back and talked to Atemu." Leo said.
"What ended up happening?" Malik asked.
"They courted for two months and were then married." Yami said.
"Wow. All because of one statement." Tristan said.
"Yes. That was the importance of the statement." Leo said.
"Sounds like your dad was the reason that you and Heba got together, Atemu." Joey said.
"Yeah. I never knew that father did that for me." Atemu said.
"He didn't want you to know. Heba promised not to tell him. When I found out, I promised as well." Leo said.
"Hold on. How did you find out?" Kyla asked.
"I asked the Pharaoh, and he told me on the condition that I never tell Atemu, but now, I suppose it didn't matter." Leo said.
"Well, this has been an enlightening conversation." Bakura said sarcastically.
"Shut up, Bakura!" everyone in the room said except for Marik.
Bakura sulked while Marik snickered.
Sunlight streamed in through the windows and hit Yugi right in his face. Yugi scrunched up his face and opened his eyes only to shut them tightly again as the sun hit him right in his eyes. Yugi heard a laugh and turned his head to look at his laughing twin.
Heba sat in the chair watching his brother and laughed when Yugi had to shut his eyes when the sunlight hit him in the face.
"What's so funny, Heba?" Yugi growled.
"I'm sorry, Yugi, but that was funny. I guess I should have closed the curtains. Than again, Yami was the one who brought you up here." Heba said.
Yugi frowned as he sat up and turned to look at his brother. "What do you mean Yami brought me up here? What happened?" Yugi asked.
"What's the last thing that you remember?' Heba asked him.
Yugi blushed and said, "Well, um, thelastthingIrememberwasYamikissingme."
Heba blinked in confusion. Yugi had spoken so fast that Heba didn't have a clue what Yugi had said. "What did you say?" Heba asked.
"I said that the last thing I remember is Yami kissing me." Yugi said, his blush deepening.
"Oh. How was it?' Heba asked.
Yugi lunged at Heba who ducked out of the way. "Heba, I'm going to kill you for that." Yugi said.
"Okay. Calm down. I won't tease you anymore." Heba said.
Yugi calmed down and sat down on the bed.
Heba sat down beside him and said, "After that kiss, you regained your humanity which you had lost with the explosion of your full power, and you passed out from exhaustion. Yami caught you, and we then had to face Osiris, Horus, and Ra. Because of your power, we had three options. You and I would either have to die natural deaths, live with our magic, or have our magic stripped and live normal lives. Since you were still unconscious, I had to male the decision on what happened to us." Heba said.
"Heba, what did you choose?" Yugi asked apprehensively.
Heba smiled. "We made that decision a long time ago, Yugi. Neither of us have our magic anymore. We do have a residual amount of magic left, but not much." Heba said.
Yugi started to smile. "So, you and I can live normal lives now?" Yugi asked.
"Well, as normal as life gets in this household." Heba said.
Yugi nodded before throwing his arms around Heba and hugging him tightly. "Thank you so much, Heba. This is what I have wanted for so long." Yugi said.
Heba smiled as he hugged Yugi back. "It's what we both wanted." Heba said.
Yugi pulled back, but kept a tight grip on Heba's arms. "Now, what was that about Yami bringing me up here?" Yugi asked.
Heba grinned at his brother. "Well, since Yami was standing right in front of you when you passed out on us, he caught you and wouldn't put you down at any point. In fact, he didn't even put you down until we got home. He brought you up here and put you to bed." Heba said.
"Oh. Why was he so clingy?" Yugi asked.
"Maybe you should ask him that." Heba said.
Yugi sighed. "Guess I have to face him sooner or later." Yugi said.
"Not to put a damper on the fact that Yugi's safe and sound, but we do have one other dilemma that we have to deal with." Leo said.
"What's that?" Joey asked.
"Yami and Tea." Leo said.
The two mentioned people looked at Leo in surprise.
"What did we do?" Tea asked.
"I'm referring to the fact that you two faked dating, and that the fact alone nearly destroyed your friendships with Yugi." Leo said.
Realization dawned on everyone.
"Oh. That." Yami said guiltily.
"Yes. That, Yami. I didn't forget just because of everything that happened. I put it aside until everything was resolved. You two," Leo said, gesturing to Yami and Tea, "have to fix this."
The two nodded.
"You've got no one to blame but yourselves." Atemu said.
"I know, Atemu. I brought this on us. I'm the one to blame." Yami said.
"Well, since it's Yugi, you're going to be forgiven. He always forgives people." Tristan said.
"Yeah, but no one's ever done something this big." Sayora said.
"What's there to worry about? It'll be fine. Yug's never been angry at anyone for very long." Joey said.
"Yeah. He might be a little upset, but the runt's always been able to see past anything." Bakura said.
Yami glared at Bakura. "Yugi is not a runt!" Yami snapped.
"Please. There are preteens the same size as he is." Bakura said.
"Bakura, if you want any tonight, stop talking about Yugi." Ryou snapped.
Bakura looked at Ryou mortified before he sulked. "Fine." Bakura said grudgingly.
"Thanks goodness Ryou can stop him." Yuesei said so softly that only Leo heard him.
"I agree. Ryou's the only one who can control Bakura, and Malik's the only one who can control Marik." Leo added.
"What's wrong with Bakura?" Heba asked.
Everyone looked to see Yugi and Heba standing in the doorway to the living room.
"Oh, he's just sulking because Ryou's threatened him with no sex tonight if he doesn't behave." Kyla said.
Heba shook his head. "Is that all he thinks about?" Heba asked.
"Pretty much." Tristan said.
"I do not!" Bakura growled.
"Oh, yes. He does think about the variety of ways that he can torture people." Atemu said.
"How can one person take such delight in torturing people?" Heba asked.
"You would have to get to know Bakura to know the answer to that, brother." Yugi said.
"How are you feeling, Yugi?" Atemu asked.
"I'm fine. Maybe a little tired, but otherwise, I'm fine." Yugi said.
"I take it that Heba told you everything." Leo said.
"If you mean the fact that I don't have magic anymore, yes, and I couldn't be happier with that fact." Yugi said.
"We're just glad that everything worked out fine. There was a time when we thought that you were gone for good." Yuesei said.
"I thought I was, too, but it would seem that Osiris had other plans in mind." Yugi said. He looked at everyone and said, "Guys, I want to apologize for all the trouble that I got you into. I was hoping that you wouldn't have to be dragged into it."
"Hey. What are friends for? It's not like we haven't been dragged into dangerous situations before." Joey said.
"And they handled it all quite well." Heba added.
"Yugi, there's something else that I wanted to ask you." Leo said.
"What's that?" Yugi asked.
"How long had that been going on with your father?" Leo asked.
Yugi sighed as he and Heba sat down in a few kitchen chairs that were in the living room. "It had been going on a couple of weeks. I didn't really say anything because I was scared of him. I guess the fear I felt for him from a child came back." Yugi said.
"Well, he's not going to be doing anything to you ever again." Yami said.
Yugi frowned. "How do you know that?" Yugi asked.
"Let's just say that Marik and I have made sure of it, and no one will ever see him again unless Marik and I let them." Bakura said.
"The Shadow Realm?' Yugi asked.
The two insane Darks nodded, smirking the entire time.
"Well, I guess he did kinda deserve it." Yugi said.
"Yep, and we know that he is not going to come back." Joey said.
"Although I almost got in trouble for it." Heba said.
"How so?" Yugi asked.
"A couple of police officers came to see me the day after these two had their 'fun' with our father. They were asking me questions, and I flat out told them that I hated out father, and it didn't look good fro me although the times that I left the hospital and arrived at my hotel put me in the clear." Heba said.
"It doesn't matter, though. Without a body, it is arguable that your father simply skipped town. Nothing says he's dead or in town." Seto said.
"Not like I really care. I think I'm still going to throw Bakura and Marik a party to thank them for what they did." Heba said.
"Only you would throw a party to celebrate someone's death." Yugi said.
Heba shrugged. "I just think that it's appropriate to thank them in some way." Heba said.
"Trust me. Doing it was enjoyable enough." Marik said.
"Indeed. I haven't had that much fun killing someone in a long time." Bakura added.
Ryou and Malik covered their eyes at their lovers words, once more wondering how they put up with their evil antics.
Discretely, Atemu nudged Yami and motioned toward Yugi.
Yami nodded, knowing he had to tell him. Unfortunately, he didn't have a clue of how to start.
Atemu rolled his eyes and elbowed Yami none too gently in his side.
Yami barely held back his gasp before he turned toward Atemu, glaring.
"Tell him." Atemu mouthed.
"I will. I just don't know how." Yami muttered back.
"What's up with you two?" Heba asked them.
"Nothing." Yami said.
Yugi hid his sadness, but could not deny the fact that he was very confused. 'I don't understand why Yami kissed me or bothered to save me. He doesn't care about me anymore. He made that quite clear when he started dating Tea. I can't hold anything against Tea. She's a very beautiful and kind girl. Yami would never be interested in me when he has Tea. I never had a chance with him. I just wish that he hadn't lied to me about caring. That made it hurt so much more. He pretended to care about me and then dropped me the second that he found someone that he wanted to have a real relationship with. I guess Tea was the one that captured Yami's heart because I never stood a chance for it. I just hope that Tea will treat Yami right like he deserves. After five thousand years in imprisonment, Yami deserves the chance to be happy. If it's with Tea, so be it. It may be easier if I stay away from him as much as possible. It might make the pain easier to deal with.' Yugi thought sadly.
Heba could sense his brother's brooding mood, and worried that maybe Yugi couldn't handle being around everyone right now. 'With all the pain that Yami has caused him, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that Yugi doesn't feel comfortable being here right now.' Heba thought.
Leo looked at Yami and Tea with a hard gaze from where he sat in the recliner with Yuesei in his lap. Leo was telling them silently that they needed to be honest now.
Tea sighed mentally and shifted her position in the loveseat. 'Yami and I caused a lot of damage, but I suppose that I should be honest now.' Tea thought. She sighed mentally again.
"Well, I think that I'm going to go back upstairs and lay down. I think a little more rest might help me feel better." Yugi said, standing up from his seat.
"Wait!" Yami and Tea exclaimed at the same time, getting up from their seats quickly.
Yugi looked at them in surprise and shock. He wondered what the two wanted to tell him.
"Yugi, before you go, I think there's something that Tea and I need to tell you." Yami said.
"Yeah. The others already know about this, but we all think that you should, no, need to know this, too." Tea said.
Heba looked up at Atemu, who nodded solemnly, and Heba immediately understood. 'So, they're going to be honest.' Heba thought. Letting his eyes sweep across the room, he noticed how everyone seemed relaxed, except for Yami, who was nervous about what he had to say. 'They all think that Yugi is going to take this well. They don't know him as well as they think they do if they honestly think that.' Heba thought.
"What do you need to tell me?" Yugi asked.
"Well, you know how Yami and I were dating the last couple of weeks?" Tea asked.
Yugi nodded, hiding his pain at the mere thought.
"Well, we weren't exactly honest with you, Yugi." Yami said.
Yugi tensed slightly at those words.
In worry, Heba stood up and slowly began to move to the side.
"What do you mean not honest? You two were dating. There's nothing dishonest about that. The depth of your relationship is no one's business, but yours." Yugi said.
Yami winced slightly at the implication of Yugi's words. 'People really did think that Tea and I were dating. They must have assumed that we were sleeping together as well.' Yami thought.
"The truth is Yugi that, we, well, we weren't exactly dating." Tea said.
"What do you mean? You went on dates all the time." Yugi said.
Yami sighed. There was no backing out now. He had to tell Yugi the truth. "Yugi, Tea and I were not really dating. The whole dating thing was a complete fraud. I asked Tea to pretend to date me because I didn't want anyone at school finding out that I am gay. I only went out with Tea to make everyone believe that I'm straight." Yami said.
Yugi's eyes widened in shock. 'Yami used Tea.' Yugi thought in horror.
As if reading his mind, Tea continued. "Please don't think that Yami sued me in any way, Yugi. Yami explained the whole thing to me beforehand. He told me we wouldn't really be dating and that he just wanted people not to find out that he's gay. I agreed to pretend to date him. I knew about the whole scheme from the start." Tea said, trying to ease some of Yugi's worries.
"So, now you know the whole thing, Yugi." Joey said.
"Did everyone else know?" Yugi asked, his voice surprisingly calm.
Heba gulped. 'Oh, this is not good.' Heba thought.
"Yeah. We all knew, Yugi. We didn't all particularly agree with them, but we all knew the truth." Kyla said.
"We just kept the secret. Not like we really had anything to do with it." Tristan added.
"So, you two were living a lie for two weeks." Yugi said.
"I suppose you could say that, yes." Yami said.
"Why was it so important that no one know that you were gay?" Yugi asked.
"I just didn't want people to know." Yami said.
"Were you worried about your image?" Yugi asked.
"In a way, yes. I thought that the best way to keep my image was for people to think that I was like everyone else." Yami said.
"Do you think that there is something wrong with being gay?" Yugi asked.
"Of course not." Yami said.
"I'm gay. Does that affect your image of me?" Yugi asked.
"No. Of course it doesn't." Yami said.
"Then why should it have mattered?" Yugi asked.
"I don't know. It just did." Yami said.
"So, you mean to tell me that for two straight weeks you lied?" Yugi asked.
Seto rolled his eyes from his place leaning against the wall. "They already said that. They've been lying through their teeth." Seto said.
"Come on, Yug. You know the truth, so let's just forget it." Joey said.
"Yeah. We can finally get back to normal." Malik agreed.
Atemu began to get a bad feeling. 'Yugi's not reacting how I thought he would.' Atemu thought.
Yugi remained silent for several minutes.
"Uh, Yugi. Are you okay?' Yami asked, walking up to him.
Yugi looked up to face Yami. After a moment, Yugi brought his hand up quickly and slapped Yami so hard across the face that he fell backwards onto the ground.
Stunned silence filled the room at the unexpected and sudden action.
Yami brought a hand up to his stinging cheek, which had a red mark from the force of the slap.
Yugi's amethyst eyes burned with anger. "For two damned weeks, you two lied to my face about what you were doing. You lied to me." Yugi said.
"Yugi, I-" Yami started.
"You jus proved exactly what I thought. I don't give a damn about me. You never did." Yugi said.
Yami stood up quickly and said, "Yugi, that's not-"
"True? Yes, it is. You claimed to be my friend, and I considered you my best friend, but you lied to me! I tried to tell you! I tried to come to you and tell you what my father was doing, but you wouldn't listen to me. You always said that you had o go out with tea, and that was to perpetuate a lie!" Yugi shook his head. "I thought you were better than that, Yami. I never thought that you would ever do something as low to get a friend to do this all to prevent anyone from finding out that you are gay. I guess you just proved to me that you are as deceitful as some of the guys who have come onto me. That has to be the most pathetic thing you have ever done." Yugi said. He turned and stormed out of the room and up the stairs.
Yami was holding back the tears that he felt coming. He hadn't realized that it would affect Yugi as badly as it has.
The slamming of a door had everyone jumping.
"That was-unexpected." Bakura said.
"Yeah. I thought for sure that Yugi would be able to get over it." Joey said.
"I think that Yami and I may have ruined our friendships with Yugi just because we lied to him." Tea added.
"Welcome to my world." Heba said.
"Heba, what do you mean?" Atemu asked.
"I knew Yugi wouldn't take t well. Yugi cannot stand it when people lie to him. You just did the one thing that may have ruined everything." Heba said.
Yami closed his eyes as it hit him.
Yami may have just lost his best friend because he had lied to him, something he had sword never to do.
Okay. Before anyone jumps to conclusions about Yugi's harsh words to Yami, he just found out that he had been lied to for two weeks. Yugi hates being lied to, so he's angry. Even a mild mannered person who has been lied to will react in that kind of a way.
The next chapter will have Yami trying to work things out wiht Yugi.
ALos, tell me if you would like me to do a prequel. If you do, it will be based on Atemu and Heba in ancient Egypt.
R&R.