Valkyria : Hey guys. Early update. It's two hours away from Friday 13th. the bad luck day. Though I never had a bad thing happen to me on this day.
Griever : Well we're one week away to the first chapter of Emperor's Prophecy. We hope you guys are ready and we also hope we live up to you guys expectation of it, but for now let's concentrate on what's happening in Caged eh?
Valkyria : Right. We hope you guys are having a great weekend and a nice summer vacation for those who are getting out soon.
Disclaimer : We claim no rights to the anime/manga Yu-gi-oh and if we did. Yami and Yugi would get married on the very last episode instead of you know what. ..
Current Song : My Everything by Crystal Kay
Chapter Seventeen : First Steps.
"So, you going to tell me why you showed up at my apartment so late and looking like shit?" Jouonchi asked curiously. "Don't mind you coming over or anything, just not like you had the wildest night of your life."
Neither of them had classes that day, so the both of them had slept in. Jou had stared at his ceiling of his bedroom for several minutes before finally deciding that he should get up and face the day, and his best friends dilemma.
He heard Honda snort from the bathroom. "I rather not talk about it, but I suppose I owe you an explanation eh?"
"Not really." Jouonchi replied back, moving into the kitchen and pulling down the ingredients for pancakes, might as well talk while filling their stomachs. "Though we set the both of you up. It really is your business, but I'm worried about you Honda."
Honda appeared in the kitchen with a towel around his shoulders and pair of pants and shirt that Jou lent him, and certainly looking better than he was the previous night.
"We had a argument..." Honda began hesitantly. "I suppose that it is my fault for blurting out such a thing…"
Jou frowned at Honda while mixing the pancake batter. "You didn't tell him about our little plan did you?"
A long tense silence followed his question and Jou knew that in someway Honda had let something slip out about the plan they had about deceiving Otogi.
Well, this definitely blew up in their faces.
"What did you say?" Jou coaxed his friend gently, feeling the tension roll off Honda in waves. It wouldn't do get to angry at his friend for saying anything about the whole fiasco he and Yugi had planned. They had no right to after all.
"Well…we were on the way back to my place.."
"Are you sure you're alright Honda?" Otogi asked, Honda couldn't help but notice the how worried Otogi sounded. It made his insides warm.
"Yes, I'm fine. I'm just tired is all."
Otogi released a hollow chuckle. "Would you be angry if I told you that I didn't believe you?"
"No. You hardly believe anything I've said to you these last few days."
Otogi shrugged and kept his firmly on the road. "Do you blame me? You've have been lying to me as of late."
"L-lying?" Honda spluttered out. "I haven't been lying to-"
"Yes you have!" Otogi interrupted sharply glancing at him at the corner of his eye. "Your lips twitch when you lie. Did you know that?"
Honda resisted the urge to reach up and cover his up mouth, that would only prove that Otogi was right and that was the last thing he wanted to do.
"Why could I possibly have to hide from you?"
"The fact that you're becoming dissatisfied with me is one of them."
Honda growled and stared out the window. This crap again? Why couldn't Otogi realize that he was very interested in him, he was just guilty about how this entire relationship started.
"I told you over and over again. I. Am. Not. Dissatisfied. With. You. How many times will it take for that to stink into that thick head of yours?"
"Maybe if you tell what exactly you're lying about then it'll sink in!" Otogi hissed hitting the steering wheel in frustration.
"Why do you care anyway?" Honda blurted out before he could stop himself. "This is just a sexual relationship right? You shouldn't even care if I'm with someone else-"
Honda was jerked forward when the car came to a sudden screeching halt. The sounds of protests and blaring horns from the cars behind him brought him back to reality.
"Don't you fucking dare." Otogi snarled viciously, the man's emerald eyes had darkened in rage and Honda felt a small sliver of fear run down his spine. "Say such a thing again."
Swallowing, Honda shrugged his shoulders and turned his gaze back out the window. "Why shouldn't I? it's true isn't it?"
"No," Otogi replied quietly as he began driving again. "Not anymore. You've been hiding something from me. I don't know what it is, but believe me when I say this ; I will find what it is you're hiding from me."
"What if it's something that could hurt our relationship." Honda whispered, mentally kicking himself for the words that were leaving his mouth. "Something that could hurt you?"
"Is it something that could hurt me?" Otogi asked after a slight pause. "And how do you know that it will?"
Honda released a bitter chuckle. "Believe me Ryuuji Otogi. It will."
Jou stared at the burnt remains of the pancake, everything around him was briefly forgotten as Honda told him what happened.
"What are you going to do know?" Jou asked, walking over to trash bin and scrapping the burnt pancake off. It would take a while to scrub the pan out.
"What else? Avoid him for the time being. We're only going to argue if we see each other."
Jou closed his eyes and refrained from protesting against that action that his friend was planning on taking, leaving the matter unresolved was bound to make it worst; he knew that from experience.
"You know that he's not going to let you do that right?" Jou dropped the pan into sink and reached for the box of cereal on top of his refrigerator. "He's probably planning on calling you sometime today."
"I won't answer."
"And if he comes to your apartment? What then?"
Honda grinned sheepishly. "That's where you come in Jou. I need a favor."
Looking the pleading eyes of his friend. Jou knew he should've stayed in bed today.
Reddish-brown eyes gleamed with unholy amusement as they read the front of the magazine:
Actress and Model : Vivian Wong pregnant with successful businessman Atemu Ishigami's child!
"Oh this is rich." Bakura chuckled and folded the magazine before placing it in his coat pocket. He had expected a boring trip into the city this morning, but seeing the article in the magazine had considerably brightened his day.
Bakura didn't bother to wonder how they got the article out so fast, being in the business world for so long he knew that reporters ate anything juicy up even if wasn't true.
No reader wondered why this suddenly came out or how the reporter even got this information, all they cared about is when such a good-looking couple was going to get married and what the so called baby was going to look like.
It was a damn shame that some people had no curiosity or a inkling of investigation skill these days.
Getting back into his rental car, Bakura started it and took off back towards Atemu's home. He hoped that Ryou wasn't going to get stressed out about Atemu and Yugi's problems. His husband had a tendency to get too involved sometimes making himself sick with worry.
That's why he intended to get the problem settled to a stable level and get Ryou and himself back to Egypt with no problems.
Coming to a stop light, Bakura leaned back against the seat and allowed himself to look around. The traffic was slow this morning and he was grateful for that. He turned his head back to the stop light before a head of spiked blonde hair and tan skin caught his eye.
Bakura blinked hard to make sure he wasn't seeing things before shaking his head in bewilderment. "As if I don't have enough problems already!"
"We need to talk."
Yugi turned to see Atemu leaning against his bedroom door, the man was dressed in a dark charcoal suit with a dark scarlet tie that matched his eyes perfectly, the cut was perfect and made Atemu look even more attractive.
Yugi steeled himself to stare Atemu in the eyes instead of drooling at the others body, just because they were in a awkward situation did not mean that he didn't appreciate good looks and body when he saw it.
"Okay. What did you want to talk about?" Yugi knew exactly what Atemu wanted to talk about, but for once he didn't want to be the one who started the conversation for one of their many problems.
Atemu stepped further into his room, his movements quiet and graceful, he stopped once he was at the edge of Yugi's bed.
"What happened the other night; my confession."
"Oh, umm what about it?"
"I wanted to apologize. I know that you were probably confused with me being flirtatious towards you with these last few months that we've been living together."
Yugi lips pulled into a displeased frown. "You…don't need to apologize for that Atemu. Yes, I was confused about your feelings towards me when you, or rather Vivian, told me that you loved me. I want to know are these feelings of yours sincere? This isn't just attraction or lust?"
"In the beginning it was." Atemu admitted softly flashing Yugi a grin that failed to reach his eyes. "I thought I could seduce you into bed after we got to know each other properly. There were times when I just wanted to jump you and take you to bed."
Yugi blushed heavily at the leer Atemu sent him. "You could have anyone Atemu. I'll admit I'm attracted to you as well, but what's so good about me?"
He heard Atemu snort in disbelief before he felt the bed shift, he looked up to see that Atemu had sat down at the edge of the bed.
"What's not attractive about you Yugi? You're smart, kind-hearted and passionate not to mention you have one hell of a temper, but that only makes you look even more sexy."
"T-thank you. I guess…."
Atemu glanced at him over his shoulder. "Not used to receiving compliments little one?"
"No, not really."
"I'll have to change that."
Yugi forced down the shiver that comment caused, this whole incident had shifted his relationship with Atemu. It wasn't going to go back to the playful banter they once had with each other. That simple yet intense confession had turned their relationship more serious and sensual.
"Well, what are we going to do now?"
Atemu turned and scooted closer towards him. "I want a relationship with you, very badly, but I know that what we have between us isn't enough for a stable one. We barely know anything about each other and the only thing I know we have in common is knowing your grandfather."
"That's pretty pathetic." Yugi blurted out with a weak grin. "I-I want a relationship with you too Atemu and you're right, we should get to know each other better."
Yugi knew that by accepting this wasn't going to solve all of their problems, he knew that deep down some part of Atemu was still afraid of perusing a relationship, but it warmed Yugi's heart to know that at least Atemu was trying to move on with his life and to realize that he had a definite happy future.
Yugi just hoped that he could be apart of the future that Atemu was trying to gain.
"You're not going to show this Atemu are you?" The question was filled with sarcasm and Bakura forced down the growl he want to let loose.
"Yes, I'm going to show it to him, better me than one of his employees or even worse one of his clients."
Malik Ishtar flipped the magazine over and placed it back on his lap, he didn't want to look at cropped picture of Atemu and Vivian. He felt nauseous enough from the plane ride over from Egypt.
"You never told me what you were doing here and where's Marik?"
"Marik is still in Egypt covering for you and I'm here to visit my sister."
Bakura snorted but was nonetheless grateful for Marik looking after his division. He had to hurry back as soon as possible because unlike him, Marik couldn't control his temper when he got pissed off.
"So, how is Atemu?"
"Fan-fucking-tastic." Bakura drawled with a humorless grin. "Your calling him "Atemu." now? What happened to "Lord Atemu?" or "Prince Atemu?"
"I'm respectful of his heritage Bakura that's totally different than an ass-kisser."
"Which you can be at certain points."
"Can you blame me?" Malik shrugged half-heartedly. "My ancestors watched over Atemu's ancestors tomb for generators and we were taught to be respectful towards them. What about you Bakura? You're the descendant of a Thief King-"
"There's no proof of that and you know it."
Malik chuckled and poked him in the side moving out of the way when Bakura took a swing at him. "Oh really? Do you know that you're really silent when you walk and you blend into any kind of environment? Ryou told me that you scared the crap out of him countless times when you two started living together."
Is that why he was always so flushed and tired than usual at the beginning of our marriage? I thought the heat was getting to him….
"What? You didn't know?" Malik asked seeing the bewildered look on Bakura. "Damn. You learn something everyday."
Bakura took one hand off the steering wheel and promptly flipped Malik off.
When Honda's phone rang for the twentieth time, Jou felt like taking a hammer and smashing the slim phone to little tiny pieces.
He had agreed to let Honda stay at his apartment for the time being, seeing as Otogi knew where Honda lived. Jou knew that this wouldn't solve anything and it would only cause the problem to fester. He had a dreadful feeling that Otogi was going to turn into some kind of stalker, but there was only so much advice he could give to his friend.
Honda had to figure this out on his own.
This whole thing was a mistake, we should've never used Honda to screw around with Otogi. Why didn't Yugi and I listen to Seto?
When Seto found out about this, the CEO wasn't going to be very happy. He had received a text message earlier for brunette asking to go out for dinner later tonight but he had yet to give a reply. If he didn't reply immediately then Seto would grow irritated and even break three meetings to come over.
The all too familiar ring tone of Honda's phone lit up again and Jou forced down a heavy sigh. Why couldn't Honda just simply turn off the phone or even block Otogi's number? That seemed perfectly plausible.
"Hey! Could you get that? My mom was supposed to call me!"
"Sure thing."
Without checking the caller idea -his first mistake he told himself later on- he reached over and pressed the phone to his ear.
"Hello?"
"Honda? You finally picked up! Where the hell have you been?"
Oh crap. Jou thought with dread. Of all people on the other side of the phone.
Hello? Honda? Are you there?
"This isn't Honda."
"Oh so we talk to each other at long last."
"Eh? Have we met?"
"Your Honda's new fuck buddy aren't you? So, what's your name?"
"I'm nobodies fuck buddy you asshole! And the name is Jouonchi Katsuya!"
"Jouonchi Katsuya eh? Where's Honda?"
"Why should I tell you? You don't seem like a very nice person to be talking to a good friend of mine."
"It's not your business whether Honda is talking to me or not. What are you his mother?"
The urge to tell Otogi that he was the one who set them up was overwhelming but he cared about Honda and his so called love for this egotistical asshole.
"I'm his best friend. Not his fuck buddy or lover. Why don't we start over alright?"
"Sure." Jou heard a amused snort and forced down a growl. "Why not."
"Honda thinks it's best for the both of you not to speak for a while."
"That's a lie! You're screwing with me."
"As tempting as that sounds it's the true. The both of you need to work this out and you need to stop acting like a asshole Ryuuji Otogi."
"How did you…?"
"Like I said : I'm his best friend."
"….I believe him. Would you tell him something for me Jouonchi-san?"
"Sure."
"…Tell him that I'm sorry for my behavior last night and that when he is ready to talk to me we have a lot to discuss and I'll wait for him however long it takes."
"Yeah. I'll make to tell him that."
Jou hung up the phone without waiting for a response. That was one hurdle the two had overcome, he just wished that it was Honda who was listening to the apology instead of him.
"Jou? Who was it?"
Jou threw his friend a dark smirk. "I'll tell you if you buy me lunch today."
"Let's go out."
Yugi blinked and stared hard at Atemu. "I beg your pardon?"
"To breakfast." Atemu elaborated as a knowing smirk pulled at his lips. "It's been a stressful last two days so let me treat you to breakfast."
Yugi turned and glanced at the time. "How about lunch? It's about that time anyway."
"Sure. Whatever you want."
It felt good to talk so casually with Atemu again, though there were some points where it was awkward, but it quickly faded away.
He didn't know how long it was going to take, but Yugi was willing to wait until the both of them were ready for a stable relationship
Stepping out of the room, he was surprised to spot Ryou and Bakura along with a mysterious blonde-haired man he didn't recognize.
"Good afternoon Malik. Though it's pleasant to see you again, one would wonder why you're here in Japan."
"I'm here visiting my sister." Malik responded before turning to Yugi with a smile. "I'm Malik Ishtar. I've heard a lot about you Motou-san."
Wonder what you heard…?
"Ishtar? You're Ishizu's brother!"
"Yes. I hope she wasn't to stern with you. She has a habit of pushing her into matters that doesn't concern her."
"Got that right." Bakura and Atemu muttered.
"I have something to show you." Bakura said pulling something out of his coat pocket and silently handing it to Atemu.
"A magazine?" Atemu unfolded it and immediately groaned once he saw the cover. He closed his eyes when he felt Yugi reach over him to take a look as well.
"That was fast." Yugi commented with amusement.
Atemu blinked and looked back down at the cover of him and Vivian splayed across the page -a cropped picture no less- "That's all you have to say to your potential boyfriend?"
"You want me to be mad?" Yugi asked with a teasing smile. "It's not true and you did say that your PR department will take care of it."
"Better deal with that right now." Malik piped up while flashing Atemu a grin. "Before you're clients start calling you and congratulating you for the impending birth of a imaginary baby."
"I'd best do that." Atemu turned to Yugi with a frown. "Rain check on the lunch little one?"
"I'll take one but just this once." Yugi said dryly.
Unexpectedly, Atemu leaned down and kissed him on the cheek, he felt Atemu smirk against his skin before pulling away. "Just this once… Bakura, Marik come with me."
Yugi felt his face warm as Atemu winked at him before turning and entering his office with a smirking Bakura and Marik trailing behind.
"It seems the both of you have made up." Ryou commented softly.
"Yeah. We decided to take it one step at a time."
"You let him kiss you?" Ryou teased as he laid a hand on Yugi's shoulder and lead him back downstairs. "Or was it just a spur of the moment move for Atemu."
"Spur of the moment." Yugi quickly replied. "It won't happen again. We are going to take this slow."
I just have to survive Atemu's spur of the moment advances.
A/N : What can I say about this chapter? It was written under stress and a pounding headache. One day can ruin the rest of the week. Unfortunately part of my brother's apartment complex burned down the other day. The cause : a cigarette. That's right, you read right. So *sigh* they will be staying with me until they can find another place which shouldn't take too long. I'm glad they're okay and their apartment only suffered water damage and their possessions are still in the apartment, which they have sealed off because of insurance. It's fun having them here though, since we're older we barely spend time with each other. So it's like reliving parts of my childhood : Crowded yet Fun.
Onto Caged. Yugi and Atemu are progressing in their relationship and they kissed! We'll not tongues and lips but progress is progress right? Malik has arrived on the scene! But he won't be here for long and he doesn't have relationship problems. As for Honda and Otogi, their relationship is on the rocks right now, but it'll get better soon. I promise. No Seto this chapter but he'll be in the next one! What are Atemu, Bakura and Malik planning to do with Vivian find out in Chapter Eighteen of Caged.
Next Update : May 20th -Mom's B-day-