AN: Hey, it's me again...with another Yu Gi Oh! one shot, whose characters etc I don't own, I just do this for funsies...

So now it's come to the mandatory AU...well one of them anyway ;) Thanks for the reviews and faves and alerts guys! Seriously, they mean a lot to me, and frankly, without them I have no idea if ppl are getting anything out of this or reading it and thinking "eh" at best or "wow, major suckage" at worst.

I hope you enjoy!

8. Are You Challenging Me?

"What's this?"

Without a moment to react the magazine in hand was rudely yanked from Yuugi's grip and held dangling above his head between two pinched fingers.

"Give that back!"

Yuugi made an angry swipe at the captive magazine, only to miss as its captor jumped back with a laugh. An irritated red flushed his cheeks.

"You have to catch me first!"

"Yami!"

Yuugi jumped up and over the back of the couch, nearly upending the coffee table and glass of soda resting there in the process. With a flustered curse he righted himself on the other side, quickly chasing after the boy who had already disappeared from sight.

His father is on foreign business, Grandpa had said. Just a few months, Grandpa had said. He needs someplace to stay, Grandpa had said. He's just about your age, Grandpa had said.

The next time his grandfather let a friend's son stay with them he was moving out.

The sound of laughter led Yuugi around the house twice until he finally caught up with the laughing sixteen-year-old still clutching his stolen magazine in his hand.

"Yami give me that back!"

Yami whipped his face back to grin, only to speed up and dart off into a room down the hall.

"Oh no you don't!"

Yuugi sped up as well and, following the same path as Yami, ran into his own bedroom, and nearly Yami in the process. He skidded to a stop just in time to keep from plowing into the proverbial Cheshire cat.

"I win!" the magazine-stealer cried happily.

"How can you win? We weren't playing anything! And who said my room was home base anyway?" Yuugi ignored the hypocrisy of his own words, face now flushed for a myriad of reasons.

Yami gave a hearty belly-laugh and Yuugi's insides twisted. Yami seemed to get no greater satisfaction than from getting Yuugi flustered and up-in-arms.

"You agreed to play when you chased after me. And your room is always home base, Yuugi," he teased. "Now, what should I take for my prize?"

Yuugi shook out any thought of the possible innuendos of their 'home base' and frowned. Yami's games were not only impromptu, but usually governed by a set of rules that he never shared until after the game was over. What was even more infuriating was that they, both the games and rules, still somehow managed to seem fair.

"Fine," Yuugi groused. "I'll do your chores next week Yami. Now can I have it back?" He held out his hand expectantly.

To Yuugi's great irritation Yami shook his head. "No, no, Yuugi, I'm the winner, I get to choose my prize. Now what should I take? Hmm..."

Yami tapped his chin in mock thought, hip jutted to the side. "Oh I know!"

Yuugi rolled his eyes at the childish antics, but nonetheless, asked, "What?"

"This."

Before Yuugi could ask what 'this' was, Yami wrapped his hand around Yuugi's outstretched one and pulled Yuugi towards him. Yami's lips quickly descended on Yuugi's, silencing the exclamation forming in Yuugi's mouth. Instead of issuing a protest,Yuugi's mouth landed on Yami's with a muffled, "Mmmph!" as Yami's free hand wrapped itself around Yuugi's back. All Yuugi could do was stare with open-eyed shock at Yami's very close face and eyes screwed shut.

Yami's lips were pressing somewhat forcefully against Yuugi's, undemanding and just a hair less than chaste. Then, just as the shock began to wear off and Yuugi had almost relaxed into the kiss, Yami suddenly released Yuugi and stepped back.

Yuugi brought his fingers up to touch where the pressure of Yami's lips had just left. He stared at Yami in a stupor, too dazed to even laugh at the novel sheepish smile and faint blush being worn by the normally arrogant teenager. Without another word, and a look that seemed to indicate he was feeling a little, too, proud of himself, Yami scampered off from Yuugi's sanctuary and downstairs, quite possibly returning to the game store below that he was supposed to be looking after.

Still a little stunned, Yuugi found his bed and fell back on it, barely registering the sound of rustling paper as he replayed the last few minutes in his mind's eye. After his brain nearly short-circuited Yuugi gave up on the venture and turned his head to see the magazine that had been dropped on his bed.

He picked up the seemingly innocent instigator and stared at it's now slightly rumpled appearance. Its pages bore the tell-tale marks of moisture from where Yami had clutched it in a sweaty hand.

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed!