Pairing: AtemuxYugi
Pairing: AtemuxYugi
Warnings: This fic involves Yaoi (male x male relationships),
Mpreg (male pregnancy), and other concepts which are possibly not suitable for younger readers.
I accept no responsibility for anyone who is underage or hates Yaoi etc. and is still reading.
Rating - R
Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh. I am merely using the characters and situations, without permission, for the non-profit entertainment of myself, and hopefully others.
I DO own the Zetalife Foundation, and all associated personnel. They are the intellectual property of me! Please do not use them without my express permission.
Any references to "Bakura" during this story are referring to "Ryou Bakura"
This chapter actually starts the day BEFORE the end of ch.3.
Chapter 4.
Atemu and Yugi arrived from the Zetalife presentation, still discussing between them the best way to explain about the project to their friends and family without violating their secrecy agreements, and entered the shop.
"We're home Grandpa." called Yugi.
"Welcome home." came the reply from two directions. Recognising Anzu's voice, the pair went over to greet her.
Anzu, who had arrived just ten minutes earlier, was restocking the display of the latest schoolyard craze, Buggy Build'ems. (Constructible models of various species of beetles that children could dismantle and reassemble with interchangeable parts so that they could also mix and match parts to create a range of fantastical looking insects.)
Yugi and Atemu started to help her in her task. Whilst they worked, they spoke about why Anzu was there, and she explained that she came over after her classes to see how everything went for them that day, and mentioned the fact that Jounouchi and Honda would be coming over after they finished work.
"Well," asked Anzu after a few more minutes, "How DID everything go? What exactly are they going to be doing? Did one of you get accepted for the trial?"
Since Jounouchi and Honda were going to be over in just over an hour, the two duellists decided to be cruel, and not tell anyone anything about their day, until everyone was able to be there – including their Grandfather, who would also have to wait until close of business and close up the shop for the day - even though there really wasn't that much that they would be allowed to say anyway.
Almost an hour and a half later the group (plus Nara and Sugoroku) were sat together in the living room, in a very similar scene to the one that had happened about two weeks earlier...
Cue Flashback
It was Sunday afternoon, and the day after Yugi and Atemu had seen and heard the strange adverts wanting medical trials volunteers.
With Yugi's Grandfather tending the store, the whole group, with the addition of Yugi's Mother, was once again gathered in the living room of the game shop.
(Bakura had been staying with his family in Domino & hadn't yet returned to Tokyo).
The previous day, Yugi and Atemu had broken the news to their family, of their startling decisions, after which, the pair had decided to invite their friends over again, so that they could all talk properly about the situation (and tell them the news about Atemu also deciding to apply)
Yugi had insisted that the first order of business was definitely to tell the gang what he and Atemu had decided, and Atemu had wholeheartedly agreed with that assessment. Though neither one had any idea how they best should do it.
Once everyone had gotten settled, with refreshments, an awkward silence fell over the group. No one quite sure of what exactly to say first.
After a few moments, Jounouchi decided to take the plunge.
"So," he began. "Did Yugi tell you all about what happened at the cinema?"
"He did." confirmed Atemu. He chuckled "Yugi also gave a wonderfully vivid description of your reaction when he said he would apply."
"Well it was kind of a shock," laughed Anzu.
"I could tell." Responded Yugi with a grin.
"Can you blame us?" Asked Honda. Bakura nodded in agreement.
"You have to admit, it was a very 'interesting' advert." He said. "And then to suddenly have one of our friends, completely out of the blue, say he was going to apply..."
"They were all like 'WHAT?' said Yugi to his mother laughing, giving a brief and somewhat over-exaggerated impression of his friends' reactions from the day before.
"Oh, I wish I could have been there to see that." Said Atemu as everyone laughed at Yugi's performance.
"Ah, but if you HAD been there, I wouldn't have been." reasoned Yugi. "One of us had to watch the shop, so I'd have been back here listening to the radio."
"Then you would simply have had to wait till we all returned, before springing the news on our friends." said Atemu, seeing where Yugi was trying to head with the conversation.
"I guess so," agreed Yugi. "After all, I would still have heard the advert."
Greatly enjoying the looks of confusion on their friend's faces, Atemu began to explain.
"There was an advert on the radio that sounded very similar to the one Yugi described from the cinema. For the same medical company."
"Tell them what you thought of it." said Yugi with barely disguised glee. Causing his Mother to chuckle as four expectant faces turned back towards Atemu.
"Well, it was very interesting of course." he said, echoing Bakura's earlier statement. "Revolutionary, in fact. That is, of course, if these trials are what they seem to be.
"It made me think about what it would mean for so many people.
And then... … I decided to apply!"
There was a moments silence as Atemu's final statement sank in.
"WHAT?"
Yugi broke into peals of laughter at this, whilst his Mother and Atemu were both visibly struggling to control their own mirth.
"That's it!" laughed Yugi. He gestured over at the stunned quartet. "That's EXACTLY the same look that they gave me yesterday. The same reaction and everything." Atemu laughed.
"I guess I DO get to see it after all." he said. "Of course," he continued, "At that point I didn't know about Yugi seeing a similar advert, and his decision."
"We talked about it after you left yesterday." said Yugi. "To figure out the best way to go about it. After that, we phoned the number from the ad."
"So, which one of you applied?" Anzu asked. Yugi and Atemu looked at each other for a moment, then Atemu spoke.
"There was some worry about how suitable they would find us. So we decided to increase our chances for one of us being picked, by both of us applying." Yugi explained further.
"We decided that it doesn't really matter which one of us gets accepted, as long as one of us does. It's the eventual outcome that's important. To actually have the chance to be parents.
"Really that's the ONE thing that we are sure about in this whole thing. Both adverts quite clearly stated that the men who took part in the project, would at the end of it, have a child."
"So they didn't tell you what the whole thing was about when you phoned up?"
"No. They said they would contact us with details of the meeting when they would give us all the details, and we could apply properly. Till then, we'll just have to wonder."
Honda looked considering for a moment, then started to speak.
"I know the ad made it sound like they were going to be doing something weird, but maybe the trial is something totally different. They said they were pregnancy trials, but maybe they're just testing out some new IVF techniques or something, and they need the guys to ..." Honda trailed off, finally remembering the presence of the women in the room, and looking somewhat mortified at where the sentence had been heading.
"Need the guys to what Honda?" asked Jounouchi evilly.
Flustered and turning red, Honda looked quickly between Jounouchi, Anzu, and Yugi's Mother. He scratched his head sheepishly.
"Well, they maybe need them to... erm... be donors?" he finished lamely.
"I wouldn't have thought it would be that." argued Anzu. "The ad really did seem to say that the MEN would get the children at the end. If it was some new IVF trial, why wouldn't the women who carried the babies be the ones to keep them?"
"Surrogates?" suggested Bakura. Anzu shook her head.
"That's the same argument really. They're not going to get women giving up the baby they've carried to just a man. They'd surely want it to go to a couple or something."
"Maybe the women ARE going to keep the kids." said Jounouchi. Perhaps this trial is going to involve some kind of sex-change operation. That way, the men will BE the women!" The group laughed at this idea, although Yugi and Atemu's had a nervous quality to it.
"Sex-change operation?" repeated Atemu weakly.
"Perhaps it's not an operation." suggested Bakura. "They could have come up with some kind of gender switching potion... er ...chemical."
"This isn't monster world Bakura." pointed out Atemu with an amused smile for the avid role play gamer of the group. "I don't think potions are quite that versatile in real life. Not for that kind of thing anyway."
"I don't think it would be too bad, boys" said Mrs. Mutou, standing. "I've always wanted a daughter!" With that, she stood behind Yugi with her hand on his shoulder. "Or a daughter-in-law!" the other hand went on Atemu's shoulder.
Yugi and Atemu froze in disbelief at the statements. Looking at the mingled expressions of shock, disbelief, and slight panic on the duo's faces, at the thought of being turned into women, the rest of the room erupted into laughter.
By the time everyone left, Atemu and Yugi had both been teased mercilessly about their possibly impending change of gender, including conversation on what the best names for each of them would be for after they became women.
In spite of this, the general feeling which prevailed amongst the group was that the men on the trial would remain men, but that somehow they were going to get pregnant.
Coming out of the flashback
"First of all," said Atemu, "we need to point out that we both had to sign secrecy agreements. Which means that we can't really tell you any real details about the trial."
"But," said Yugi slyly, "What we figure we can say, is that in those discussions we had before the meeting; about what we thought the trial might be doing, we came up with lots of different ideas." When Yugi paused a moment, Atemu continued.
"Well, it seems that what we hoped the basic aim of the trial would be, IS what it will be. The two of us aren't going to say any more about it now."
"Because we CAN'T say any more about it now." said Yugi. "At least not without violating the agreements we signed, and risking getting kicked off the trial."
"So does that mean that they did they accept one of you onto the trial?" asked Sugoroku.
"We don't know yet." Answered Atemu. "We all had health checks and interviews, and both of us signed up as volunteers, but they just want 25 men for the trial. So, they will be going though the lists of hopefuls this week, and choosing the ones they want.
We have to wait a week and then they will tell us which one, if either, of us, is on the trial."
"They also gave us this week as a sort of 'cooling off period,'" said Yugi. "If any of us change our minds about being on the trial, we can drop out during this next week by simply contacting them and withdrawing. But, they made it clear that to drop out, we MUST contact them during THIS week. I guess that after that, it would cause major problems for the trial."
"Not that we plan to of course." said Atemu. "Now since I'm sure you're all wanting to talk about the little that we've been able to tell you, and since it's best if Yugi and I aren't here to accidentally say far too much, how about we go finish the cooking, and leave you all to talk." As he and Yugi left the room, Yugi turned and spoke to the group.
"Oh, and guys? Since we really don't want to risk getting kicked off the trial before we're even on it, we're going to need all of you to not say anything about any of this after you leave here today. Okay?" He grinned. "ESPECIALLY if it's someone from the Zetalife foundation asking if we've said anything."
A week and a half later, Yugi and Atemu were just arriving home from their jobs at Kaiba Corp. Going around to the back of the closed shop, they went in through the house entrance.
Just as they were about to close the door, a deliveryman arrived with a special delivery letter for Atemu Mutou.
Atemu stamped the form to acknowledge that he had taken delivery of the letter, and then closed the door. He and Yugi stood in the kitchen looking at the closed envelope in his hand.
Screwing up his courage, Atemu opened the envelope and unfolded the enclosed letter.
"Dear Atemu Mutou." he read. "We are pleased to inform you that you have been found suitable as a candidate for The Zetalife foundation's medical trials in the field of pregnancy." Atemu skimmed through the rest of the letter, then looked up at Yugi, eyes shining. "I've been accepted. I'm on the trial!" He said. "Yugi, we're going to have a baby!" The two joy filled young men hugged each other.
"This is so wonderful," said the ecstatic Yugi. "We're going to have a family. We're actually going to be parents.
Thank you so much for doing this Atemu. I promise that I'll be right there with you all throughout your pregnancy. I'll help you in any way that I can, and, of course, I'll be happy to run to the shops at any hour to get you pickles and ice cream when you start having cravings" The two laughed, and hugged one another tightly once again.
"We have to tell everyone" said Yugi "Come on." Yugi took hold of Atemu's hand and pulled him along as he went in search of his family to tell them the good news. He found his mother first, setting the table for the evening meal. She looked up as the two you men ran into the room, skidding to a stop on the polished floor.
"Atemu's on the trial." cried Yugi jubilantly. "We're going to have a baby!" He showed her the letter. "Look. We just got the letter."
"Congratulations Atemu." smiled Nara, gathering both her boys into a hug. "I'm glad that one of you made it on to the trial." She looked at Yugi a moment before speaking again. "So your letter was to say that you hadn't got on to the trial Yugi?" she asked gently.
At this odd comment, Yugi and Atemu both looked confused.
"I didn't get a letter." said Yugi. "Just Atemu." Now it was Yugi's mother who was looking slightly confused.
"There was a letter for you. It arrived just a couple of hours ago. Special delivery.
"I have a letter too?" Exclaimed Yugi. "Where is it? I need to get it."
"It's in the kitchen. On the counter." Nara called after them, as Yugi raced off, Atemu following closely behind.
Sure enough, there on the kitchen worktop was an envelope addressed to Yugi. He picked it up and opened it with unaccountably trembling hands.
Yugi started reading the letter out loud.
""Dear Yugi Mutou. We are pleased to inform you that you have been found suitable as a candidate for ..." Yugi's voice trailed off. It was an acceptance letter.
"Me too?" he asked, his voice no more than a whisper. "They want both of us? We're actually going to have TWO children!" Yugi looked at his husband, eyes glistening.
"I never truly dared to dream that they would take both of us. I figured that they wouldn't go having two volunteers from the same family. Let alone, from the same married couple"
"I guess we'll have to share the errands." Atemu commented quietly, his eyes shining. "You get the pickles and I'll get the ice cream."
Yugi smiled at that, then thought of a sudden problem, and smiled more. This was the kind of problem he didn't mind.
"Hey Atemu, I know we already decided that if one of us got accepted, we would get rid of the desk in our room to make room for a cot, but we've both been accepted. We'll be having two babies now. Where do we put the second cot?"
Authors note.
Flames WILL be ignored. However, comments, advice, and constructive criticism are all welcomed. Also, feel very free to point out any big glaring mistakes that I make (How else am I gonna learn?) since this chapter is currently un-betad.
About the time it took for this update, grovels sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry.