(Surprise gift fic for my friend DragonLady222. The majority of this fic is Prideshipping. There will be little hints here and there of Puzzleshipping. If I get gutsy I may do a bit of Flareshipping. Yes, that means that the main characters are Yuugi, Yami, and Seto. Enjoy. :D Please read and review.

A simple reminder- Yuugi is Mr. Howell and his aliases first name is never mentioned.

Thank you everyone for reviewing and supporting this fic! *hugs* I'm sorry that I haven't updated in a while. Work got hectic, then I got sick, and then there was NaNoWriMo. But, I am back!)

By the time, Yami had caught up with Yuugi he was already in his bedroom. Even if the door was open, Yami knocked loudly. He had learned from their brief time back together about Yuugi's desire to have his own personal space.

When Yuugi had heard Yami knock, he was in the process of placing his wig on the manikin head. "Come in," he said with a yawn. He stretched, but not the length of himself. If he had, he would have lost his pants before he was ready to. He was already in the process of making himself comfortable and had unbuttoned both his pants and shirt.

Yami's breath hitched as he watched Yuugi stretch, exposing skin typically not in public view. It had been a long while since he had seen any real amount of Yuugi's skin. He remembered how good he used to look. Not that he would admit it but despite being at deaths door, he looked a good deal better now. It took him a second to come back to his senses and actually step into the room. "About earlier- I'm sorry."

"Accepted," Yuugi said as he shrugged his shirt off. He tossed it into the hamper in the corner of the room. He did not think anything of Yami being in the room, or his hawk like gaze. As far as he was concerned, Yami had seen his body one too many times to count. What was one more time? Besides, he was too tired to argue or be hateful at this point. "Anything else?" He said, yawning and once more stretching.

"They want you to go to dinner with us." Yami was really at a loss for what to say. Small talk was hard even if at one point it had not been. He sighed heavily as he rubbed the back of his neck nervously, the tension between them getting to him.

"Seto knows the day I've had. I'm sure he'll understand if I politely decline," Yuugi said simply as he strode across the room and sat down on the edge of the bed. He worked his pants down and off and then tossed them into the hamper. "You three go on ahead."

"You don't look half bad for being on deaths door," Yami finally admitted when he got more than an average eye full. He was almost sure that he only noticed his lights beauty now because he was not constantly fawning over Seto. He half wondered how he managed to keep up his looks, but was not going to ask.

"I wish you would have given me a second look sooner," Yuugi sighed as he glanced out of the terrace doors. He could not help but to still feel that it was too late. As a look of sorrow came over him, his eyes slid shut.

For a split second Yami was about to offer to get Yuugi some pajama bottoms but had remember that Yuugi did not own any because he preferred to sleep in the nude. "It was a bit hard to considering that we were constantly saving each other's asses- or someone else's. And, when weren't doing that," suddenly he stopped talking when he notice Yuugi had looked him in the eyes.

The look in Yuugi's eyes was that of someone who had betrayed. He wanted to lash out and tell Yami that he had, had time to stop. The he had been too busy checking out Seto to pay him any attention. Nevertheless, he did not have it in him right now. He stood up, pulled the covers back, and climbed into bed. For a brief second he enjoyed the silk sheets.

"I'll go," Yami said knowing that this one decent moment had about been derailed by once again something he had said. He felt that Yuugi was a touch too sensitive but then again he had never suffered heartache on any scale.

Yuugi shrugged his shoulders in a 'whatever' fashion as he rolled onto his side, facing away from Yami. Not that Yami could see it but a tear had slid down his cheek. The hand he slid under the pillow to support his head firmly gripped the sheet as he attempted to control himself. He was not about to start sobbing uncontrollably again.

Seto looked away from Mokuba when he heard Yami heading into the living room- the help having gone to their living quarters for the day. 'At least he does not look like he is about to blow his top,' he thought to himself.

"He said that you would understand if he politely declined the invitation," Yami sighed as he sat down next to Seto. Although he was not angry, he still wanted to give Seto a piece of his mind about all of this.

"Why don't we just wait half an hour to an hour and see then if he is ready?" Mokuba suggested. He had heard enough stories about 'Mr. Howell' to know about his current health conditions- or so he thought. He had yet to be informed of the entire truth of the matter.

"It is still early in the evening. Besides if it dinner turns out to be an all night affair I can just take the day off tomorrow. Being CEO has a few perks," Seto smiled, a not so rare thing inside his home. One way or another plan of his was going to work. "You don't mind a late dinner do you, Yami?"

"No," Yami answered, he wanted to say otherwise. Trying to be a good sport, he offered, "You know if he still doesn't feel like going anywhere after his nap we could always order in and take it to his room and have dinner there."

"Either works for me." As long as they ate together, Mokuba could really have cared less how they ate dinner. He glanced over at his brother and smiled when he saw the approving nod. He would wait until later to figure out why Yuugi was living with them.

"If we do take dinner up to his room we might want to give him a bit of a heads-up," Yami said already envisioning how Yuugi would take it when they all piled into his room. Sure Yuugi had been calm with just him and probably would still be with Seto; however, Mokuba was an entirely different story.

Mokuba gave Yami a questioning look. "Oh?" Out of sheer curiosity, the simple question slid out of his mouth before he could even think about what he had said.

"He sleeps nude. Trust me when he gets angry, he gets angry." To support himself as he leaned to his side, Yami propped his elbow on the arm of the sofa. "And, I for once do not want to be the cause of his anger," he unintentionally rolled his eyes.

Seto smirked as he thought to himself, 'I'm sure that's a sight to see.'

Mokuba at this news burst out laughing. "Please, say no more!"