(A/N: Didn't I say I'd have this by Sunday? And I got it earlier, actually! Thank you, determination!

Anyway, I'm starting school on Monday, and I honestly have NO idea of what next chapter will be about, or WHEN it'll be about, so... the most I can tell you is to enjoy these two last chapters, 'cause I probably won't update in a while... so sorry about that! Okay, no, I have a VERY vague idea of what it'll be about. But if anyone wants to suggest something, go ahead and I'll take it into consideration for further chapters! :D

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Yu-Gi-Oh! or any of its characters. But wouldn't it be fun if I did? Hope you like it!)

Chapter 18

The first time they actually talk about their futures, Yugi doesn't mention his dream about his with Yami and mostly just lets his boyfriend talk.

It's not that he doesn't want to, it's just… to be blunt, he's a little afraid. A little afraid that if he tells Yami he had a dream in which they were married and living together (with a daughter, to add to everything), Yami will think that maybe they're moving a little too fast—which they're not—and tell him that they need space. And Yugi knows that "space" doesn't have the same meaning when you're in a relationship, and he doesn't need a repeat of what happened when he was beaten up.

Their plans for the afternoon hadn't been exactly to talk about the coming years, but since Yugi had woken up, he'd felt the need to talk of them, to say out loud what he wanted to do with his life. Of course, cautiously avoiding mentioning his dream.

They'd been watching an old movie on TV about this town where no one was allowed to dance or something like that when Yugi suddenly asked, "Do you know what you want to do after high school?"

Yami was taken aback, truth be told. They'd been leaning lazily against the feet of Yugi's bed, almost lying down on the floor, and he sat up straight, scratching the back of his neck. "Yeah, I… I kind of do, yes."

Yugi likes to hear Yami's plans for the future. He'd already sort of imagined what they would be like, but hearing them straight from his boyfriend's mouth just confirms and denies all of his suspicions.

"I really want to be a musician," Yami starts, arms resting over his drawn-up knees. "Well, a composer, actually. I want to be able to create my own music and share it with the rest of the world. There are good universities here in Japan, but I don't know if I should consider options outside of Japan…"

"Wouldn't it be better if you stayed here?" Yugi asks, lying on his back on the floor, looking up at Yami. "I mean, I'm not saying you can't take other universities into consideration."

"I don't know." Yami shrugs, his eyes staring at the ceiling as if in deep thought. "I'm pretty sure my parents would support me if I wanted to go overseas…"

He leaves the sentence hanging, clearly unsure whether he should continue or not. "But…?" Yugi prodded, inciting him to go on.

"But I can't bring myself to leave my parents behind. I mean, in another country. I've thought about how it would be like for them if I left… and I can't stop thinking about my sister."

Ah. Yugi nods, mostly because he'd already figured it would have something to do with Rebecca.

"They've already lost a child," Yami says, a little sigh escaping his lips. "I don't want them to feel like they're losing another one."

Yugi stays silent for a couple of seconds before he speaks up. "Well, whatever you choose at the end, I'm sure it'll work out." He pats one of his boyfriend's knees in reassurance, which makes Yami smile at him in return. "What about the other aspects in your life?"

Yami cocks his head to the side, looking at Yugi. "What do you mean?"

"You know what you want to do regarding school," Yugi answers. "But, I mean, have you thought about where you want to live? Or about your first job or…?"

"Not exactly," Yami tells him in the middle of a yawn. "I'm not sure if I'll get a job as soon as I finish college. My mom's told me that a musician's life is rough at the beginning, even more for a composer."

"Everyone's life is tough at the beginning." Yami's smile turns into a grin, and he playfully pokes Yugi's side, causing him to giggle.

"Yes, but not everyone's life comes along a bunch of people telling you you're going to starve to death for years."

Yugi immediately sits up. The half-smile on Yami's face means he was probably kissing, but his words come from a place of truth, from someone who actually spoke them to him. "Whoever told you that?"

"A couple of friends of my parents'. He didn't say those words, but that's what my mind understood. It was a long time ago, when Becky was still with us. Some adult asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, and I told him I wanted to compose music. Later, I heard him telling my parents I wouldn't amount to anything if I didn't change my mind." He shrugs as if it were no big deal. "Like I said, it was a long time ago."

"No one should say that," Yugi nearly snaps, suddenly very interested in the fabric of his shirt. "Instead of trying to bring down a kid for what he wants to do, adults should encourage them."

Yami blinks at Yugi, out of shock more than anything. He finds it weird and a little bit off that Yugi would get so upset about this. "Hey, hey," he says softly, his legs bending and crossing underneath him. "Yugi, it doesn't matter."

"Of course it matters!" Yugi exclaims a little too loudly. "The world is cruel enough, there's no need for people to push you to the ground." His hand moves up to his bandaged eye as if on instinct, as if it was a natural, automatic reaction. And then it dawns on Yami that his boyfriend is not just saying how cruel the world is—he's referring to how cruel the world is to people like them, and how they don't need to be pushed down in other aspects besides their sexuality.

Yami leans down and kisses Yugi's bandaged eye, smiling against it. "You're with me right now," he says. Before Yugi can look at him with a confused expression for merely stating the obvious, he continues, "And as long as you are, that's the only thing I need to move forward."

Yugi can't help the almost girly giggle he lets out at that.

"Now that we've talked about my plans," Yami says, leaning back against the feet of the bed. "What are your plans, Mr. Mutou?"

Yugi blushes a little. Of course he has his own plans, but he's trying to figure out a way to avoid mentioning his dream—which is not an easy feature to realize. The images of an older him and an older Yami living together with a girl of their own have been floating around his head ever since he woke up from his slumber.

"I'm assuming you want to be an artist when you get out of high school?"

"I'm not sure," he answers in all honesty. "I could be an artist, but I could also make the glass figurines my dad taught me to."

"Like my flower," Yami murmurs, and Yugi nods, a shy smile across his face.

"Thinking about it, though," he goes on, "I could be both. After all, I need to be an artist to design the figurines…"

"I applaud your way of thinking, sir," his boyfriend says, and whether he's serious or kidding, Yugi laughs and playfully smacks his arm. "Why do you like to make those figurines so much? Not that I'm saying it's wrong or anything, I'm just curious."

"Well," Yugi starts. "It's…" He laughs then, turning his head to look away. "It's silly, actually."

"I told you my plans," Yami complains with a slightly childish pout. "Now you have to tell me yours. No backing out!"

Yugi laughs, and then he smiles before continuing. "The first time I saw one of them was when I was little, maybe five or six. My dad had just finished making one as an idea for the toy shop he worked at. He showed it to me and I…" He takes a deep breath, like he's trying to stop the racing heartbeat inside his ribcage. "It was so beautiful, I felt like gazing at it meant gazing at the world from a completely different point of view." His smile widens. "And I thought that if I could make other people feel that way, it would be amazing."

Yami nods thoughtfully, a smile of his own plastered on his lips. "I think you'll have no problem with that."

His boyfriend remembers when he gave Yami the flower he spent days designing and hours working on. Of course, if you had practice, like his father, you could make something much more complicated in less than ten minutes. Still, he remembers his reaction, recalls with nearly perfect detail the way the shock took over his face and the way he took him in his arms and swung him around.

And with that memory on the top of his head, Yugi has managed to forget about his dream.

At least for now and until he's ready to tell Yami about it.