AN: I don't own Yu Gi Oh!

Grumble grumble, I just had this whole friggin' thing written out in here before effed it up and erased it...so I'm grouchy now...and tired...and I have work and start a summer class tomorrow (boo!). Bleh, anyway, here is a follow up to "language" since some ppl asked for one.

As always thanks everyone for reading and reviewing and faving and alerting. You guys are awesome and give me the confidence to write more of these for you! I appreciate everything you guys do and I hope you'll continue to read and enjoy and review!

As with Language there will be translations at the end. Enjoy and thanks for reading!

41. Elevator (follow up to "Language")

"Habiibi"

The word had been stuck in Yuugi's head all last night. And the day before that. And the day before that. And the evening before that. "Habiibi". Why, of all days, did that Egyptian tease of a man have to use such a word on a Friday? Why not a Monday, or a Tuesday? At least then Yuugi wouldn't have had to spend the last seventy-two hours obsessing over that one word, from the time he'd looked it up in his dictionary to this very moment, standing in front of the metal doors of the elevator waiting to bring him fourteen stories to the man who reduced him to a schoolgirl with one look.

What was he supposed to say back? What was he supposed to say when he saw Atemu? "Ohayou gozaimasu koibito, o genki desu ka?" But what if he'd misheard? He'd spent a good amount of time this weekend nervously pouring over a now dog-eared section of his Arabic-Japanese dictionary; there were a lot of words he could have mistaken "habiibi" for.

It'd been especially disheartening to find the word "heba". It was a fairly literal translation of his own name from Japanese to Arabic, it wasn't a far stretch to assume that Atemu had stumbled upon it in a Japanese-Arabic dictionary.

But then, why would the handsome Middle-Eastern god be looking up his name in a dictionary in the first place?

Still he had a feeling it wouldn't go over too well if Atemu had called him the latter and he went with the former. That could be awkward to say the least.

Not only awkward, but Yuugi was fairly certain it put any chance he had of bringing his fantasies of candlelit dinners and after hours conversations, as well as a few others, completely to rest.

And then of course there was the possibility that what Yuugi thought was flirting was just normal behavior in Egypt and if he said anything Atemu would be not only shocked, but disgusted as well.

Images flooded Yuugi's head just as they had since Friday evening: Atemu's lips curled and his burgundy eyes glaring, Atemu retracting his slender, tan hand and wiping it as though he'd been infected with some terrible disease.

Yuugi's thumb went to his lips as he discretely bit on the edge of the tiny nail that remained after his weekend of self-doubts and nervous internal debates.

He could try to play it cool, but Yuugi had a feeling that wasn't going to work out too well for him. He'd last about one second into one of Atemu's sultry smiles before melting into a pile of goo on the floor. If Atemu so much as placed a friendly hand on his shoulders after one of his sexy little walk-by's he'd probably blurt out something like "Take me, I'm yours!" before he could keep his mouth shut. That would go over poorly in all kinds of ways...he really didn't want to be on the wrong end of a sexual harassment lawsuit.

And the chance of Atemu walking by was almost a sure thing; despite undoubtedly having a number of people who would be willing to run small errands or fetch things for him, admittedly Yuugi could easily be included in that group, Atemu's daily trips past Yuugi's cubicle had only increased since he had started working there. Which, of course, wasn't really a bad thing. Well, it wouldn't have been if he could get any work done competently with Atemu around, and if he didn't have to hear the sighs and giggles of any female within a ten foot radius.

Either the man was completely oblivious or he was trying to push Yuugi toward some kind of nervous breakdown.

If that was his plan he was very close to succeeding.

Yuugi closed his eyes. As soon as he did he could see Atemu standing there just like he had the last time. "Habiibi." Yuugi sighed and reveled in the sweet sensuality of that one word, that one voice, cushioning his heart as it fell at Atemu's feet. How would it be to hear Atemu speak his name like that, his voice slowly caressing each syllable like a lover's touch? "Yuugi."

He shivered. It was beyond good.

Though the ground floor lobby was probably not the place for such fantasies.

Yuugi pursed his lips for a second. Well, one more couldn't hurt. Just one more indulgence before he faced his fears and the likely scenario that his fantasies were nothing more than that.

"Yuugi." He'd been going for "Habiibi" but alright, though he should probably lay off anything sentimental for some time, he could have sworn he actually heard Atemu's voice that time.

"Yuugi." There it was again. And now there was a hand on his shoulder. "Yuugi."

Shimatta.

Yuugi opened his eyes to see a hand tentatively touching his left shoulder and turned to see Atemu standing very close to him, a concerned frown settled on his handsome face.

The Egyptian god squeezed his shoulder gently. "Yuugi, hal anta bikhair?"

Guessing from the look Atemu was giving him, and the fact that he'd probably been trying to get Yuugi's attention while he'd stood there with his eyes closed, no doubt looking like he was in some trance, he thought it would be fair to guess the translation would be, "Daijoubu desu ka?"

"Oh, um, Atemu-kun, ohayou. Hai, daijoubu. Sumimasen."

"La moshkelah." Yuugi swallowed. Hard. Were words like that supposed to sound that sensual? And why was Atemu leaning in a little closer?

A soft ding! echoed behind them. Yuugi turned as the elevator doors slid open. He turned back to Atemu's still close face, and those eyes slightly lidded and redder than usual.

"Oh, um, osaki ni dozo Atemu-kun." He gestured to the empty elevator car.

Atemu pulled back and, Yuugi could have sworn, damn sauntered into the elevator. Yuugi nearly bit a hole in his lip reminding himself that it was extremely rude to stare at your coworker's backside. He tried his best to look innocent when he followed Atemu in, but the bright blush staining his face wasn't helping...and neither was his guilt-laden walk of shame.

The elevator doors shut as Yuugi stood by Atemu's side, his face turned to keep his redness from showing. Of course that meant that he missed Atemu's increasingly wicked smirk.

Had Yuugi been looking he might not have been so startled when the elevator slammed to a sudden halt.

He stumbled for a second while he struggled to regain his balance; when he turned to ask Atemu if he was alright he saw the man's tanned fist against the giant, red, clearly marked, "EMERGENCY" button.

"A-Atemu?"

"Yuugi." Atemu approached him with the sangfroid confidence Yuugi had become so accustomed to seeing, shoulders back and a purpose in his stride, visible even in the short distance he crossed. There was something unnameable in his eyes lurking just below the bright and shining surface, something that sent electrifying tremors along Yuugi's skin as his heart raced.

"Yuugi," he repeated. Atemu stopped with their shoes only inches apart, their bodies nearly touching. Yuugi could feel the heat radiating between them.

No matter what customs they might have had in Egypt, he was certain that this was closer than men normally stood to their coworkers.

"Habiibi." One tanned hand raised close to Yuugi's cheek, stopping when the knuckles just barely brushed the flushed skin.

Yuugi's lungs seized; the tremors along his skin grew to a full shiver. And Atemu's sensuous face fell into a uncertain frown. The sienna fingers began to curl in, ready to draw away.

The sweet anxiety building within was quickly drowned by a new, agonizing panic. Atemu was about to interpret Yuugi's body language all wrong; how could he get his message across before everything got even messier and more confusing?

Atemu's fingers were already beginning to pull back. Despite the limited choice of vocabulary he was going to have to make do.

"Koibito."

Atemu was still frowning, but his hand had paused in retreat. Was Atemu wondering what he had said or why he had said it? It was hard to tell exactly.

"Um, Atemu-kun," Hopefully he would understand. "Suki desu." Yuugi forced himself to hold Atemu's gaze, despite the near painful heat he felt in his face.

Atemu was still watching as though unclear or unsure, his fingers hanging awkwardly in the air, his body still close but poised to step away.

A hard lump formed in Yuugi's throat; it wasn't at all like him, and definitely not his first choice, really, but there was one sure way to get his meaning across to Atemu.

Before Yuugi could rethink his decision he squeezed his eyes shut tight and closed the small space between them.

The kiss wasn't really a kiss. Certainly it wasn't the passionate, fireworks, melt-you-to-the-core, kind of kiss, really it was just a dry pressing of lips together, but to Yuugi, it was everything. His heart was pounding, his knees were shaking, and there was a ringing in his ears that wouldn't stop.

And there also didn't seem to be any response.

Both stiff and feeling rather faint Yuugi readied to step back. Had he misinterpreted everything? How could he have? Had he maybe overstepped a boundary too quickly?

As soon as Yuugi's lips left Atemu's they were suddenly reattached, this time when Atemu wrapped his arms around Yuugi's waist and pulled their bodies together. The kiss was again brief, interrupted when Atemu moved his lips next to Yuugi's ear and whispered, "Habiibi. Koibito."

He moved his head back just enough to look Yuugi in the eye, but kept the Japanese man firmly in his arms. Yuugi nodded back and repeated, "Koibito. Habiibi."

When Atemu moved his lips back to Yuugi's it was soft and wet; he tilted his head as their mouths pressed together, slowly opening his lips and gently parting Yuugi's with his tongue.

This was a proper kiss, a fireworks, melt-you-to-a-pitiful-puddle kiss. It was a kiss that lasted until both men broke apart for the sake of putting air into their starved lungs, and stayed apart only long enough for Atemu to restart the elevator car, not bringing it up to the fourteenth floor, but down to the ground floor lobby.

When the doors opened Atemu stepped out quickly past the workers waiting to get on board, eying both flushed men with both ire and curiosity. For a moment Yuugi hesitated and called out, "Atemu?"

Atemu turned back to him and waved toward his side. "Yuugi," he called back with a wide grin.

That was all it took for Yuugi to rush out of the elevator car to join him and they took off like a pair of teenagers, practically racing each other out of the lobby and into the street. Atemu was still grinning at him as he pulled out his cellphone and dialed a number to speak in quick, fluid Arabic. Yuugi pulled out his own phone as he followed Atemu, ready to make his own excuses to his boss as he trailed alongside this godlike figure.

Suddenly Atemu grabbed Yuugi's hand and pulled it into his own, raising it to his lips in a chaste kiss before releasing it with a wild kind of happiness dancing in his eyes.

Perhaps they didn't share the same vocabulary, but somehow Yuugi felt certain that they weren't going to have problem understanding each other after all.

Habiibi- lover

Ohayou gozaimasu koibito, o genki desu ka?- Good morning lover, how are you?

heba- game (roughly? It gets used as an Arabic version of Yuugi so I'm going with it)

Shimatta- dammit

hal anta bikhair?- are you okay?

Daijoubu desu ka?- are you okay?

Ohayou. Hai daijoubu. Sumimasen.- Good morning. Yes, I'm fine. Excuse me. (Sumimasen is an 'excuse me' as a 'pardon me' or an apology for being rude, in this case for not listening etc)

La moshkelah- no problem

osaki ni dozo- after you (not sure if this is in the right context though)

koibito- lover

suki desu- I like you (also counts as an admission of love)

Thanks for reading and I hope you review! (Also I apologize for any wrongly done translations)