(Gift fic for DragonLady222.
Main characters are Yuugi, Yami and Seto.
Main 'ship': Prideshipping (Yami x Seto)
Hints of: Puzzleshipping (Yami x Yuugi). Rivalshipping (Seto x Yuugi).
Fic Goal: Flareshipping (Seto x Yami x Yuugi).
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*)
As Yuugi sat up, he glanced at the clock. Eyes still blurry from his nap it took him a minute to know what time it was. The new schedule of his was going to take some getting used to. Realizing it was half an hour past six he mentally cursed. Having had a late lunch and not being extremely hungry, he got over it quickly. In addition, he was sure that if he asked he could get something to eat- he would just be eating alone. That thought made him smile but he knew that if it happened too often they would think he was doing it intentionally. He yawned and stretched before climbing out of the king sized bed. Not expecting company unless he went down stairs he skipped picking out clothes and went straight to the shower.
Yuugi turned on the bathroom room and adjusted it to a local station that offered semi upbeat tunes. The last thing he needed was to fall asleep in the shower. There was nothing worse than waking up via cold water- he liked his showers nice and hot.
"What do you want for dinner?" Seto asked after having knocked on the bathroom door to get Yuugi's attention. He had himself turned away from the mirror so that despite temptation to sneak a peek he could see nothing.
Just as Yuugi figured, they were not going to let him go hungry. He did find it somewhat odd that Seto was tracking him down to ask him what he wanted to eat instead of telling him what had already been prepared. While he thought about what he wanted to eat, he finished rinsing the shampoo out of his hair. "I don't care," he finally said after a moment's thought.
"You okay with having Pizza? Mokuba wanted it."
"Leave it to a college kid to want junk food for dinner," Yuugi laughed. The laugh quickly turned into a painful cough. He sat back down and took a moment to catch his breath.
"You okay?" Seto asked as he grabbed a towel and unrolled it so that Yuugi could step right into it. Remembering what Yami had said earlier, he closed his eyes.
Yuugi turned off the water and opened the shower door. He was a bit surprised to see Seto standing there holding a towel and even more surprised to see him with his eyes close. "Did you close your eyes in the men's locker room at school?" He asked curiously.
Seto refused to get angry. By the tone in Yuugi's voice, he was sure that he was not questioning him to taunt him into an argument. "I paid my way out of PE and avoided the locker rooms," he chuckled.
"Thanks," Yuugi said as he took the towel from Seto. "I wish I could have been that lucky. I hated PE. I would have loved to substitute it for an extra computer class or something similar."
"And, I would have loved to have substituted it with something like that but I didn't. I lined it up to be the last class of the day. I left school early to go to work." Seto sighed. "Despite what people think I like to have fun as much as the next person."
"If you weren't too busy coming off as a hard-ass we might have been able to notice it." He inwardly sighed. "You can open your eyes," pregnant pause, "unless of course you like standing there with your eyes closed imagining what I look like without a towel."
"I was not imagining you naked!" Seto though smiling guiltily clenched his fist as his ears turned red. "Seriously not that hard considering you are nearly Yami's twin," he mumbled.
In this brief moment, Yuugi could almost see what Yami saw in him. "Admittance is the first step to realizing you have a problem," he smirked. "Anyways where is Yami?" He was in a hurry to change the subject before things got serious or nasty.
"He is downstairs playing a video game with Mokuba. Those two can play for hours. Who would have thought that a former pharaoh would be interested in video games?" Seto rolled his eyes. He may have created, marketed, and sold them but that did not mean that he spent hours playing them.
"Key word- games." As much as Yuugi wanted to stand around and air dry in a warm steam filled bathroom he decided against it. The last thing he needed was for Yami to come looking for them and get any ideas.
"Don't know why I didn't think of that. I'm going to go order pizza." Seto followed Yuugi into his bedroom.
"Okay. I'll meet you guys down stairs once I'm dressed." For a moment, Yuugi wondered why it was so much easier to get along with Seto than with his darker half. He inwardly sighed.
It was not that Yuugi had taken his time getting dressed it was the distance he had to walk that made him arrive just as Pizza was being carried into the living room. He did not picture Seto as being one to allow food to be eaten anywhere but the dining room table. Then again he had not pictured them eating at any other time than the scheduled times.
"Just in time," Mokuba grinned as he saw Yuugi come into the room. He pushed some stuff off the sofa before patting it. "Come on. You can play with Yami and me while we eat pizza."
"Thanks for the offer but I would rather sit over there," Yuugi pointed to the recliner. "You and Yami play I'll watch. I'm not much a gamer." He inwardly laughed at how silly that sounded considering he was the former 'King of Games'. Probably still was but he did not care about titles or formalities.
Seto smirked; at least he was not alone in not being interested in video games.
"Suit yourself," Mokuba shrugged his shoulders but was not in the least bit phased by this revelation. He still had Yami to play video games with and even if he hardly won, he still was having a lot of fun.
Yami put the game on pause so that he could grab himself a couple of slices a pizza. He knew Mokuba would take this time to do the same. "Did you have a nice nap?" He was trying to be civil and keep the good mood going between Yuugi and himself.
"I guess." Yuugi tried to sound as positive as possible but it was a bit hard to do so. His dreams lately were filled with the day he had first witnessed Yami and Seto kissing or worse the two of them making love. Most probably would have found it erotic but he could not because it reminded him too much of being the odd man out.
"Yuugi do you want cheese or pepperoni or supreme?" Noticing the uneasiness in Yuugi's tone Seto quickly decided that it would be best to detour that conversation. "I forgot to ask you earlier which you preferred so I went with the most preferred."
"Cheese- it will cause me less pain in the long run," Yugi smirked. 'Ah the joys of falling apart,' he thought to himself. On occasion he missed being able to eat the more fun foods life had to offer.
"I'm sorry Yuugi I didn't even think about your medical condition. Not that I know what it is." Mokuba mentally slapped himself in the forehead.
"It's okay Mokuba. The last thing I want is people tiptoeing around me as if I am broken glass. Just because I cannot enjoy everything life has to offer to the fullest doesn't meant that everyone else around me should have to suffer." He smiled when Seto handed him a paper plate with a slice of pizza, "thank you."
Yami did his best not to think too much into the quick topic change.
"I hope you don't mind me asking but what is exactly wrong Yuugi?" Mokuba's curiosity got the better of him.
"It's complicated," Seto answered for him. "In a couple of years."
For a brief second Yuugi looked Seto in the eyes. He was unsure whether to be thankful or angry. He had a voice and did not need anyone to speak for him. At the same time, he was grateful that Seto was constantly detouring the conversations when they could get messy.
"I'm not an eight year old kid anymore you know. I can tie my shoes, date, and make grown up decisions." There was playfulness in Mokuba's voice. He knew though that it was ultimately Yuugi's choice whether he wanted to answer the question or not- either way he would not be disappointed.
"I hope that some of those grown up decisions of yours involve using condoms." There was not a second thought at what Seto had just said; after all, he had raised Mokuba and at times could not help but too sound more like a parent than a brother.
Both Yuugi and Yami about choked on their bite of pizza.
Mokuba's eyes went the size of saucers. Thankfully, he had not been eating at the time of the comment. "Didn't we cover this conversation already when I was ten and then every year afterwards? Then on top of that, you spent at least if not more than an hour lecturing me when I first started dating. So how could I forget?"
"The same way you did that one time. Remember that two-hour conversation we had with you panicking and all the months we spent afterwards worrying. We got lucky that she was cheating on you and it turned out not to be yours. I'd rather not repeat it so I'm going to continue to remind you until you're married."
Mokbua's face was redder than any strawberry could have hoped to be. "Sure be Mr. Perfect."
Yuugi was quickly trying to think of a way to derail this family 'blowup'. Having a good idea how he cleared his throat to get their attention. "Seto why don't we leave Yami and Mokuba to play their game while me and you step into the next room to catch me up on what I've missed at work," pregnant pause, "I would prefer not to be blindsided on my first day back."
"Is that okay with you Yami?" Seto asked as he put himself a couple of slices of pizza on a paper plate. For now, the previous conversation between him and his brother was over.
Yami nodded his head. The last thing he needed was to hear more of Seto and Mokuba discussing a previous mistake- one he already knew a little bit about.
This house was full of touchy, need to be avoided subjects.