"Yugi…" Atem had to pause to catch his breath. "What are you doing?"

He received only a hum in reply, which caused him to buck his hips slightly. He let his head fall back. This wasn't what he'd been expecting when he'd walked into Yugi's room today.

He guessed he should have known better.

After all, Yami had been gone for three years and Yugi was too loyal to have gotten with anyone else if there was even a fleeting chance of Yami still being alive.

Still, Atem was surprised when the first thing that happened when he arrived was Yugi kissing him and shoving him down onto the bed. He'd tried to protest, but no words would come. Yugi had undone his pants, gotten onto his knees, and, well…

"Fuck… Yugi…" He felt guilty, somewhere in his heart, for enjoying this. For just letting it happen. He should stop him. He should put his foot down and make it very clear to Yugi that this wasn't going to happen… But he couldn't. He couldn't bring himself to because he was enjoying it and if Yami wasn't around there was no reason he shouldn't let himself enjoy Yugi for a little while, right? "You're… Pretty good at this."

Yugi blew a puff of air out of his nose at that. Atem was pretty sure his lips curved up a bit, for a second. Oh, did Yugi find that amusing?

He didn't get the chance to be irritated by that, really, because his mind went in an entirely different direction a second later. Yugi slowly pulled off, placed a kiss on the head of his cock, and looked up at him. "Can we… Can we take this further? I wanna know what you're okay with."

Atem thought about it for a moment. "If you want, we can try." He said, "Any preference…?"

Yugi gave a sheepish grin. "Well… I know most people are kinda okay with both, but I'm pretty much exclusively a bottom."

"Alright. Get on the bed."

The speed with which Yugi complied confirmed for him the theory that Yugi had remained at least mostly faithful to his brother over the past three years.

"Any requests?" He asked while he removed Yugi's pants and discarded his own.

The younger man had already been shirtless when he arrived, so lord knew what exactly he'd been doing. Yugi had always been more than just "careful" with who saw him shirtless. Maybe he'd been midway through changing? Who knew.

Yugi's face turned a cute shade of pink. "Only one." He bit his lip and yet tried to smile.

Atem did away with his shirt before returning his attention to the blushing man before him. "What is it?" He asked while he got Yugi situated (on his hands and knees at the edge of the bed, of course).

He didn't think Yugi's face could get any redder from just one question, but it did.

Yugi glanced at him over his shoulder, then looked back at the sheets. "... Don't be gentle. Please. I can't take gentle after all this time."

He was hesitant to comply, of course, because he didn't want to hurt the man. But if Yugi didn't want him to be gentle, there wasn't much to be done. Yugi got what he wanted. Neither he nor Yami were particularly great at telling him no. All he had to do was ask and chances were they'd probably kill each other for him.

He took a second to think about how sad it was that this boy had them both wound so tightly around his finger…

… And then he pushed into him.

Yugi's back arched, lips parting in a pleasantly surprised gasp. Atem didn't ask him if he was sure, didn't pause to check on him, because he was sure it would just irritate him. Instead, he began to thrust. He wasn't rough about it, at first, moving only as fast as he could stand to for the first minute or so. Yugi compliantly went along with the less-than-rough motions, giving soft noises of encouragement.

He knew there was no way he'd get Atem to be rough right off the bat - or at least he'd assumed so. Yami had been hesitant to be rough with him at all. Ever. It was almost like he thought he'd break if he thrust too hard.

But right when he was about to complain, to tell Atem to stop fucking around, the older man adjusted his grip on his hips, changed his angle a bit, and began to thrust quite a bit faster.

"Mm… Yes…" Yugi arched his back. This had been exactly what he needed.

When he felt his release approaching, far too soon, of course, he whined softly. He didn't want this to be over yet. He didn't want Atem to stop. His fingers gripped the sheets like his life depended on it, arms quivering from holding himself up. It felt like his nerves were on fire. Every touch sent a jolt through him, from the soft massaging of Atem's thumbs over the back of his hips to the steady thrusts of his cock into him.

And then he came and it left him seeing stars while he let his arms give out and buried his face in the sheets.

He whined again as Atem pulled out of him, dislodging his face from the sheets to look over his shoulder. "'Tem…?"

"Flip over."

He scrambled to obey. Atem was back inside him before he'd fully come down from the high and oh that was nice. The older man immediately resumed his pace - Yugi was pretty sure he'd died and gone to heaven.

About an hour later, once they'd cleaned up from their shenanigans, Yugi was happily curled up to Atem on the couch in the living room. Well, 'happily' may not have been the right word. Contentedly? Comfortably? He wasn't sure. He just knew he liked being curled up against Atem's side and being held. It had been way too long…

"... I came here to ask you something." Atem sighed.

"I know." Yugi cringed at his immediate response. He shouldn't have said that. Oh, well. He'd dug himself a hole, now, he might as well lay down in it. "I was kind of hoping you'd forget."

"You were distracting me?"

"Kind of? Mostly I actually wanted to suck your dick but it was an awfully convenient way to distract you."

He could tell he'd struck a nerve, there. Made Atem angry. Would he leave? He almost hoped he would - almost. If he left, the questions would go unasked and Yugi and the others could go about their business without having to worry about Atem sticking his nose where it didn't belong.

"... I'm still going to ask, you know."

Oh, really? That was wonderful. At least he wasn't leaving yet. Yugi sighed, regardless, "What is it?"

"What are your real plans, Yugi? What are you really hoping to accomplish by digging your claws into the crime world?"

Yugi cringed, "I was hoping you wouldn't ask that." He admitted.

"And while I'm at it, who exactly are the Bandit and Ghoul Kings? I've been told you know them quite well."

He cringed again. "Dear, why did you have to ask the two - three, technically - questions that I don't know how to answer?" He sighed and pouted slightly. "Look, honey, I'll let you in on our plans soon, but I need time to figure out how to word everything."

Atem went to interject, seeming unsatisfied with that answer, but Yugi put up a finger to indicate he needed to wait.

"And as for the other Kings… Well, they'd be very, very displeased if I told you who they are. They're awfully secretive and I have to take it up with them first. If I told you who they are without their permission our whole scheme could come crashing down around us in less than a day."

Still appearing unimpressed, Atem frowned. "And how long, exactly, do you think it'll take you to figure out how to word your plan?" There was a harsh edge to his voice that he hadn't meant to put there.

Feeling the irritation setting in, Yugi decided it would be best to end this conversation as quickly as possible. With that, he wiggled out of Atem's grasp and got up. "If you're going to be so pushy about it?" He raised a brow. He saw a bit of regret flash across the older's face. "I might not even try."

He stalked off to the bathroom, as his bedroom door had no lock and he wanted to lock Atem out of whatever room he went to. The bathroom had a rather large window, so it was his second-best bet, regardless. He shut the door in Atem's face, as the man had followed close behind him, and turned the lock. The other clearly heard it click if his sigh was anything to go by.

"Daw' qalil, really…" He leaned his head against the door. "This is incredibly childish."

No response from the man who'd taken a seat on the edge of the bathtub.

"I'm sorry." He really wasn't, but it was worth a shot. All it got him was a huff. "Really, I am." Liar. "Please open the door."

"Fuck off."

Well at least he said something. "C'mon, I won't ask anymore questions. Please?"

"Fuck. Off."

Yugi couldn't understand why he felt so irritated. Maybe it was because he was no longer used to anyone being able to so boldly ignore his authority. None of his men would ever dream of asking a question like that or letting their irritation at him show. Not even Ryou and Malik ever really tried to be quite so forceful with him. He was the Pharaoh, after all. Ryou and Malik may have been Kings as well, but him being Pharaoh meant he was essentially a god in comparison.

Pharaoh was the morning and the evening star, descendant of the gods and all that.

Oh, there went most of that irritation with one muffled snort. Just thinking about all the stupid nicknames the others had been able to pull out of their asses when they'd dubbed him the Pharaoh was enough to calm him down a bit.

Still, he wasn't exactly pleased that someone was standing up to him, even if it was Atem.

"Daw' qalil," Atem sighed, "Please? I'll shower you in all the love and affection you could possibly want."

Tempting offer, Yugi had to admit.

He heard Atem mutter something in Arabic, sounding a bit exasperated. Then, softly, "I could break the lock off, you know."

"But you won't." Yugi said matter-of-factly. It was more a challenge than anything.

Would he actually do it? Probably not. Did he want to? More than he cared to admit.

"What will it take to get you to open this door?"

"... You have to promise not to get mad."

"'Aeaddak." Atem said immediately. "I promise."

Yugi got up slowly, regardless. Even if Atem made that promise, it was one that was easily broken by anyone who made it. You simply couldn't keep yourself from being angry in some situations. He unlocked the door and peeked out, almost expecting to be wrenched out of the room by his wrist and dragged back to the living room. But he wasn't. Atem waited patiently for him to step out before wrapping a gentle arm around him and leading him to the couch.

Yugi thought that he probably needed some serious therapy if he was imagining one of the sweetest people he knew being violent toward him.

Well, Yugi wasn't sure if he'd actually classify Atem as "sweet", most of the time, but he usually managed to act like he was when he was around Yugi. It was like he changed personality completely when they were together. Yugi had seen the violent side of him, once or twice, in moments that were frozen in time in his mind. An argument with Yami (one of the only times he'd ever heard Yami raise his voice), an altercation with a man who'd been picking on him, even a full-fledged fight with some lowlife thug who'd tried to beat him up.

Atem could be a very, very vindictive creature sometimes.

When they were safely curled back on the couch, Atem gave him a rather expectant look. Yugi, internally, wanted to slap him. He pushed that part of him down, because the Pharaoh didn't need to deal with Atem. He did. He could take off that kingly mask around Atem… It was only a matter of convincing himself to.

"Well, I guess I should really start explaining from the beginning…"

Atem was quiet throughout his explanation. He listened intently to Yugi telling him about how Ryou had begun to change back when Bakura had first disappeared, how Malik had gotten just a little less adventurous, and how he, himself, had come to be the Pharaoh. He explained how their plot had began, skipping over the part where Atem had essentially abandoned him. They both knew when and how that had happened. In order to protect the identities of his fellow kings, he said that he'd been motivated to start this ludicrous plot by their suffering. He'd found allies willing to help him and they'd taken everything from there.

He told him about how the final part of this particular stage of the plan wasn't far from being finished. How he almost had Kaiba Corp in his hands. Atem was mutely impressed by that, he could tell, especially once he informed him of Joey's part in the plot. He still said nothing, of course, but he did give a nod of appreciation.

It took him nearly three hours to explain everything.

By then his throat was incredibly dry and his mouth felt rather cottony. Atem gave him a kiss on the cheek and got up, earning a noise of protest from him.

"I'm getting you a drink, daw' qalil." He chuckled. "I'll be right back."

He relaxed a bit at that. For a moment he'd been scared. Scared he would leave. He waited for him and happily accepted the glass of water he offered him. He downed half of it in one go, which got him another chuckle from the Egyptian as he settled down beside him again. An arm wrapped around his shoulders and pulled him close.

"So… Is that it?"

"Pretty much." Yugi nodded, sighing in relief that he didn't trip over either of the words. Hydration was nice. "I really can't tell you the other Kings' names until I talk to them about it, though. They'd have my head."

"I can understand that one." Atem didn't seem pleased, though. "That said… I want to help you guys in any way that I can. I'm more than on board with getting my brother back by any means necessary. Even hostile takeover."

Yugi smiled. "The best way to do that, right now, is to keep on the lookout for Noa."

"Alright." Atem pressed a kiss to his forehead.

"But you have to stop by and visit whenever you can. I get awful lonely without you around."

"Alright." Atem's lips stretched up into an amused smile while he pulled Yugi closer. "For now… I've got the rest of the night. What do you want to do?"

"... Movie marathon?"

"Sounds good to me."