:Hi everyone! I'm glad to hear that the rust is going away! It makes me very happy! For some reason it's hard to sleep for me in this new apartment, I keep on worrying about things but oh well. Writing always helps me calm down, I hope you like this chapter!:
The students swarmed out of the large building like flies, their voices on autopilot as they talked on and on about the race they were heading outside for. Who are you going to race for? Do you think the kids chosen will win the race? Why did the royals choose those kids? Do you think the royals would like me? One group didn't ask any of these questions, they were too busy thinking of why the person chose them or if they wanted to throw the race.

"Man!" Joey groaned, his arms behind his head. "I was looking forward to racing too! Why did that royal have to choose me anyway?" Bakura narrowed his eyes at him, why wasn't he happy that he didn't have to partake in such a stupid race? If it had been Bakura, he'd be jumping for joy about now! But no, that stupid blond fool had to choose him! He sighed, maybe he could find some kind of good thing out of this. Sure, he had to race for the royal, but if he won he could get a free meal and free food is never a bad thing. And since it was royalty they would be serving, it had to be some of the best kind of food they had. Bakura admitted he would try his best, but not for Malik. He just wanted food.

"I wish I got chosen..." Anzu sighed. "I really don't want to do this..." She held her roses closer, where was she going to put these?! Was she going to have to hold onto them throughout the whole race?! She can't run with them, she would ruin them! She could just throw the race and blame it on not wanting to ruin the flowers...But eating alone with Mana didn't sound like a bad idea. Anzu blushed and nearly hid herself in her flowers. What was she saying?! The only person she should want to eat alone with should be Atemu or...She turned her eyes to Yugi, who was studying his notebook like always. He looked at peace while reading that...Yugi blinked in confusion and turned his eyes toward Anzu.

"You okay?" He asked, concern hidden in his tone. Anzu blushed brighter and looked away. What the heck was she doing?! Yugi was like a brother to her! What was wrong with her?! She liked Atemu, despite his weird attitude. She thought that Mana was pretty, and Yugi is...well...Yugi.

"You know," Yugi spoke, folding his notebook shut. "If you're worrying about the race, you can just throw it." He threw a glance to the side. "It's what I plan on doing anyway." It's easy to throw a race, at the running part he can just simply jog and not go that fast. At the hill part he can just sit on it and scoot down slowly, he could blame it on being scared about going too fast. And at driving, he can say he felt carsick halfway through. That's all he had to do, it wasn't that hard. In his opinion, he thought Atemu was being stupid for choosing him. He knew he didn't like him, so why would he try to win a race for him. The only thing that could get him to even attempt to do his best would be to threaten kicking him out of school or something.

"I'm going to do my best, I guess..." Bakura grumbled, shoving his hands in his pockets. Yugi looked at him and rose an amused eyebrow.

"Oh?" He teased. "You want to eat alone with Malik then?" Bakura's face burned a bright pink color, he turned his pink face to Yugi and glared at him.

"What?! No!" He denied. "I just want free food!"

"We always get free food."

"Yeah, but since they'll be serving royalty, it'll be better than usual!"

"Whatever you say," Yugi smirked. "'Kura." Bakura gulped at the nickname. Oh, he was going to kill his friend if he started to call him that! Anzu giggled at the little show going on and looked to the side to see Joey looking for someone.

"What's wrong, Joey?" She asked, what was he looking for? Joey turned to her and pouted.

"I can't find Mr. Brownhead." He grumbled. Wasn't he supposed to go into some weird surveillance box to watch the race from the sidelines? If so, then where the hell was the guy and why wasn't he picking him up?!

"Maybe it's not time yet." Yugi suggested, ending his teasing with Bakura. "The race hasn't started and-" He stopped, looking behind Joey to see the brown headed royal walking up to them with his hands in his pockets. "I spoke too soon..." Yugi whispered, chuckling awkwardly as he turned away and quickly reopened his notebook.

"Huh?" Joey uttered out, confused. "What'dya mean you-" He gasped as he felt someone grab his wrist. He turned his head around to find himself face to face with the royal. Oh wow, Joey thought. This guy looked...well...Joey couldn't find the words as his mouth turned dry at the sight of him. Those ice blue eyes, that sharp face, and he was so close to him! He was looking directly at him, as if he was searching his face for something, what the heck could he be looking for? Joey didn't notice Seto's face turning pink as his own turned red at this and looked away. Anzu blinked in shock at this, were they gonna kiss or something? Bakura watched and hid his grin behind a hand, this was kind of funny. Yugi, of course, wasn't paying attention and was just studying, he didn't care about the romance between those two.

"U-Uh..." Joey stuttered out, the grip on his wrist began painfully tight. "H-Hey! Can you lighten-"

"Come." Seto demanded, jerking him in his direction as he turned around and started to drag him. Joey stumbled and glared at the royal in front of him, jeez calm down! Didn't the guy have any manners? He turned his head around and waved at his friends.

"I'll see you around guys!" He yelled, a smile on his face as he tried to hide how painful the grip on his wrist felt. His friends waved back, Anzu with her eyes wide in shock, Bakura with a smirk on his face, and Yugi with a worried smile. Joey turned his head back to the royal who was dragging him, he still hadn't loosened his grip.

"Hey." Joey spoke, neglecting to feel a sudden twitch from Seto. "Do you mind loosening up on me? You're kind of hurting me here man." He felt the hand on his wrist loosen, he sighed in relief. The guy seemed ice cold to him, as if he was frozen in a locked state and had only one thing on the brain.

Get to the surveillance box.

()()()()()()()()()()

Joey's eyes widened as he saw a large silver looking box come into view. That was all it looked like too, a shining silver box with a door. Seto approached the door, his heart ramming against his chest as he let go of Joey's wrist. Would the boy run? He wouldn't think so since he was chosen to be here anyway...Seto couldn't handle how nervous he was, he was going to alone with this guy! The guy who was making him lose his mind! He reached into his pocket and pulled out a silver key that Pegasus had handed to him, he tried placing it into the keyhole, only to drop it onto the ground. Seto let out a small growl as this happened and reached down to grab it, only to see a different hand take hold of it. He turned his eyes to the side to see Joey right next to him, he winked at him.

"You dropped something." Seto's face flushed and he shot back up, holding out his hand as his eyes were looking anywhere but at the blonde boy. Joey sighed. "You need to lighten up, man." Seto returned his eyes to Joey as he dropped the key in his palm, Joey looked up at him and smiled.

"Stop looking so serious." He said, slight worry laced in his voice. "You're a human being, not just some fancy schmancy royal." Seto clutched the key in his hand and brought it to his chest, trying to calm down his heartbeat. The blonde beauty was worried about him? They hadn't even talked before! Why was he worried about him?

"You needn't worry about me..." Seto grumbled, placing the key into the keyhole. "Come." He repeated as he turned the knob of the silver door and held it out, standing to the side to let Joey in. Joey laughed at this much to Seto's confusion. Why was he laughing?

"Well," Joey couldn't help laughing, this guy was nervous! "Aren't you a gentlemen?" Why in the world isn't my face cooling down?! Seto cursed at himself, why was this guy doing this to me?! Joey laughed some more as he put a friendly pat on Seto's shoulder.

"Lighten up!" Joey repeated. "Jeez, how many times do I need to say this?" He walked in, his eyes widening at the inside of the place. This looked like some weird high tech camera room! There was a giant screen and it had been cut into three large pieces in the middle of it. The top half of the screen had a view of two races, one indicated by a flag with a pink crown on it, the other labeled with a golden M. The bottom half had view of one race, this was labeled with a bright red flag with a pyramid on it. In front of the screen was a dark blue loveseat and in the corner of the room was a small mini-fridge. Seto walked in, smiling slightly as Joey looked around the room like a kid in a candy store.

"Man this is cool!" Joey breathed out. "It's so high-tech and crud!" He walked to the loveseat and fell down onto it on his butt, folding his legs over and leaning back. It was so soft! And the material of the seat wasn't itchy or anything, it was smooth! He closed his eyes and leaned his head back, he heard the sound of the fridge being opened.

"So," Joey spoke, trying to start a conversation. "How long is the rac-Ah!" He felt an ice cold metal be placed onto the side of his neck. He jumped up in the seat, placing a hand on his now cold and wet neck. He pouted when he saw Seto holding two soda cans in his hands. Seto narrowed his eyes and tried not to smile or blush, Joey looked cute when he pouted...

"In total it is six miles." Seto responded, now feeling himself calm down. He sat next to Joey, making sure not to sit too close to him. "Time wise, it should be around two hours. Depending on the time of the winner of each race." Joey nodded in response, good thing they had a fridge in here. Being in here for two hours? God, he can't sit still for that long! He looked over at the royal next to him, taking in how he seemed to have relaxed around him.

"Who do you think is going to win?" Joey asked, trying to keep the conversation going. Seto calmed down and seemed to be fine talking to him, so why was he nervous earlier?

"Which one?" Seto questioned, opening his soda and taking a sip out of it. He had calmed down, but he didn't know why. Perhaps he had finally stopped liking the guy? Or was it because Joey just seemed like every normal person out there...Or was it because he acted like he was worried about you. Seto felt his face heat up again and forced himself to take another sip.

"Which what?"

"Which race."

"Oh!" Joey blushed in embarrassment. "All of them, I guess..." He mumbled, looking down at his unopened soda with a pout.

"I'm not sure." Seto responded. "I do not know a lot of people from this school, so I refuse to place any bets on anyone."

"You know Yugi."

"Not personally."

"I think Yugi is going to win."

"Yugi does not like the prince, so why would he try?"

"Because Yugi is my friend and I'll cheer for him no matter what!" Joey stood up, one of his hands clutched in a fist while the other held the unopened soda. "He'll try, he might not try to win, but he'll try to at least get a decent place!" Seto looked up at Joey, feeling warmth spread throughout him. Yugi and Joey were close it seemed, he really did seem to have faith in Yugi in actually trying...

"I refuse to believe he'll try, but." Seto smirked and crossed his legs. "Be my guest to think that." He hadn't forgotten what Pegasus said about what would happen if you didn't try in the race, but he still didn't think Yugi would try to win, and heck, how would he win anyway? The odds of Yugi winning were over two thousand to one.

"Have some faith in him will ya?!"

"He's not my friend, why should I?"

"Because he's my friend."

"And?"

"You were the one who chose me to go on this weird date thing, why shouldn't you care if he's my friend?!" Joey yelled, his face turning red as soon as he said it. Seto jerked his head around and looked up at Joey, his own face turning into a red color. That...is true, Seto thought. But, date? Was this a date? Seto watched as Joey fell back onto the seat, placing a hand over his eyes.

"I-uh..." Joey uttered out. "T-That's not what I meant, this isn't a..." He gulped, trying to find some saliva in his mouth. Why was he getting all flustered all of a sudden?!

"W-Why did you choose me anyway?" He whispered, peeking out between his fingers to look over in Seto's direction. Seto's face burned brighter as he looked away, he couldn't tell him he had been thinking about him this whole time and that he was confused about how he actually felt about the guy! This was the first time they talked and he was nervous, and now he was asking why he chose him! God, could this get any worse?! Seto took a deep breath.

"You're cute." Seto spat out quickly, there. I said it. Joey removed his hand and looked at him, surprised at what he had just said. Did he just call me cute? Joey thought he was handsome, but to be called cute by this guy...

"O-Oh..." Joey stuttered. "T-Thank you...I-I think you're uh..." Joey bit his lip. "Handsome..." Seto looked at Joey, catching his honey colored eyes with his ice blue. Did this adorable blonde just call him handsome? His face was on fire and his heart felt like it was running 100 miles an hour. Could Joey have noticed him? Had Joey watched him as he had watched him?

"B-B-But!" Joey spat out quickly, trying not to be awkward. "You're always so...cold faced and you always look mad..." Seto's eyes widened. What? He always looked mad?

"Like," Joey smiled awkwardly, the blush small on his cheeks. "You always look like someone made your day hell and someone crapped in your cereal or something..." Seto blinked in shock, did he really? No one had ever told him that before, he felt his temper rising and tried to force it down. Don't get mad, he's just trying to tell you how you look everyday. Yeah, he's telling you that you look like a pissed off kid every single day.

"Well," Seto spoke, his tone emotionless. "You remind me of a dog in a sense." Joey shot back out of his seat with a yell.

"What?!" He yelled, Seto rose an eyebrow at him. "How the hell do I remind you of a dog?!"

"You're energetic and hyper like one." Seto told him, taking a drink out of his soda. Joey glared at the royal as he crossed his arms, and just when he thought they were getting along too! A dog, him?! The nerve of this royal!

"At least I'm not stone faced all the time." Joey grumbled. Seto shrugged, so he showed no emotion at times, big deal. It was better than acting like a hyperactive puppy, He glanced at Joey and how he had crossed his arms and was glaring at him. The puppy had some spunk, and despite all he was saying and how he was insulting him...

"Being mad suits you," Seto commented, closing one eye with a smirk. "It makes you look quite charming." Joey blinked in shock as his face turned pink. Was this guy winking at me after he insulted me?!

"Don't you flirt with me after insulting me like that, ya jerk!"

()()()()()()()()

"Damn, look at those lines." Bakura whispered alongside his friends. There were three white tables with people sitting behind them...and long lines of students in front of all three. The longest line of all of them, was the last table which held a red flag in front of it. Atemu was popular, of course.

"Do we have to wait in that long of a line?" Anzu groaned, she didn't like standing for long if she wasn't doing anything. And the line looked as if it could go on forever! Yugi shrugged, looking down at his notebook and sighing as he finally memorized how to make the cake for his cooking class. Great, now what was he going to study? He flipped through the notebook pages, searching for his lines for the school play.

"Of course you don't!" A voice said cheerfully. The three friends spun around and saw Mana standing there with a hand on her hip and a smile on her tanned face. She caught Anzu's eye and gave her a playful wink, causing her face to erupt that red color onto her cheeks.

"M-Mana!" Anzu gasped out, holding the roses tightly to her chest. Mana giggled and walked to them, she held out a hand to Bakura. He rose an eyebrow, she was holding out her hand as if to ask for a handshake, why wasn't she holding it out in a way to kiss her hand?

"I'm Mana, nice to meet you!" She greeted brightly. Bakura nodded hesitantly and took hold of her hand, giving it a firm shake. They withdrew from the shake and Mana pouted at him.

"What's wrong?" She asked. "Why're you looking at me funny?" Bakura scratched the back of his head, this royal wasn't even acting like a royal!

"You didn't make me kiss your hand." Bakura told her. "It's odd, receiving a normal handshake from a princess." It was, all the previous female royals he had the chance of meeting required him to kiss their hand. Needlessly to say, he never liked them. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"What do you think I am? Prissy Princess?" Mana grumbled. "The only thing special about me is that I am a princess, that's it." She turned her eyes to Anzu and resumed her bright smile. She moved to her and placed a gentle kiss on her cheek, causing Anzu to gasp and Bakura and Yugi to watch in surprise.

"Good afternoon," Mana whispered in her ear. "Anzu." Anzu let out a slight squeal at this, that felt so weird! Why did her voice vibrate in her ear like that?!

"G-Good afternoon, M-Mana..." She stuttered out, she looked down at the roses in her arms. "U-Um, thank you...f-for the roses..." She managed out, feeling like her face was going to be set on fire. Mana giggled and touched a rose petal.

"You're very welcome." She purred, winking at Anzu again. "Oh!" She suddenly gasped out. "I forgot! I need to give you guys these." She reached into a pocket that was located at the top of her skirt and pulled out three small white pieces of paper. She grabbed at the one on top and pulled a bright pink sticker off of it, she placed it onto Anzu's shirt at the top right of her breast.

"These are to indicate which race you guys are participating in," She explained, placing a golden sticker onto Bakura. "These also show that you were chosen to be in the race, all of the other runners just have stamps." She placed a red sticker onto Yugi. She took a step back, placing her hands on her hips.

"There, you're all ready now." Anzu looked down and took a step forward, tapping Mana on the shoulder. Mana turned her head to her in question.

"Um..." Anzu voiced. "D-Do you mind holding onto these?" She held out the roses. "I-I don't want to ruin them as I run, so..." Mana smiled brightly and nodded in response, she took the roses gently from her hands, making sure to brush her hand against Anzu's.

"I understand." Mana said happily. "I'll be sure to return them to you when you're done running." She held the roses gently, she didn't want to ruin them now that she had them. Anzu liked them, and that made her take extra care of them.

"Well," Mana breathed out. "I wish you all luck in the race." She began to walk away, but stopped next to Anzu.

"I expect the best from you, Anzu." She whispered into her ear, blowing into it playfully before she skipped off happily. Anzu blushed brightly and rose a hand to her ear. Yugi and Bakura were, once again, shocked.

"Anzu, are you gay?" Bakura outright asked. Anzu turned around and glared at him harshly, her fists now curled at her sides.

"What!" She yelled. "Of course not!" Yugi let out a soft chuckle, making Anzu turn to him. Yugi too?!

"By the way you were acting, I'm not so sure about that." Yugi laughed, he was slightly disappointed that Anzu seemed to have lost interest in Atemu, she could have gotten him off his back. But her reactions to Mana's flirting were funny.

"I'm not gay!" Anzu yelled. "Because Yugi, I..." She stopped herself, blinking in surprise. What was she going to say? The two other friends stopped and watched her. She what? Yugi was confused, because she liked Atemu maybe? She's been acting funny ever since this morning.

"Do you need a drink, Anzu?" Yugi asked, "I saw some coolers nearby, maybe you need some water. Maybe it'll help calm your face down." He laughed as he heard Anzu begin to yell at him as he ran off again. He sighed as he ran, he liked running, he had to admit. It calmed him down as much as studying did. But running for him defiantly would not calm him down. He would try alright, try to lose!

Yugi sprinted around, looking for the coolers he had seen. He noticed some, for once, normal looking blue and white boxes near the side of a tree under the shade. Ah, there they were. He ran over, kneeling down and opening it, earning him a cold slap to the face. God, this thing was freezing! He looked inside, seeing water bottles and soda cans. Anzu would probably want water, and even he could go for a water. He reached in grabbing two water bottles.

"Mind getting me one as well, prince?" A deep voice resounded in his ear. Yugi's face turned red in an instant and he jumped up in surprise, coming face to face with the royal he was forced to race for. He narrowed his eyes in annoyance.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Yugi hissed out, holding the water bottles to his chest. Atemu shrugged and looked away for a moment.

"Just getting something to drink like you," Atemu turned back around, smirking. "I'll be standing in one spot for a quite a long time, it's quite hot outside, don't you agree?" Yugi scoffed.

"Aren't you from Egypt?" He asked. "Shouldn't you be used to the heat?" Atemu chuckled, the beautiful boy had a point. It wasn't really hot to him, but from what he saw from the people sweating like crazy, it had to be somewhat hot outside.

"Who says I'm getting hot due to the heat outside?" Atemu purred, causing Yugi to gulp and take a sudden step back, his foot banged against a cooler, forcing him to fall and land his back on the bark of the tree. Atemu chuckled at this, just the slightest tease and Yugi gets flustered? If this isn't a sign of not hating me, then what is? Atemu bent down, reaching for the cooler and noticed Yugi flinching, as if he was scared he was going to do something.

"Calm down," Atemu spoke, standing straight up again with 2 more water bottles in his hands, "I'm not going to do anything." Yugi rolled his eyes.

"And how would I know that?" He questioned before Atemu rose a water bottle up to him. Yugi rose an eyebrow, confused at the action.

"There's three of you right now," Atemu explained. "You have two water bottles, I'm sure all of you are thirsty." Yugi narrowed his eyes at the sudden kindness and grabbed the bottle out of his hand. Atemu smiled as he rose his now empty hand to Yugi's face, taking his cheek into his palm.

Yugi flinched as the cold tanned hand touched his cheek, it was so cold! It felt good though, cold against the heat of the outdoors? If Yugi didn't hate this guy he would have leaned into the cold hand!

"Does that feel good?" Atemu whispered, knowing that Yugi was getting hot from the heat outside. Yugi's face turned a slight pink before he nodded reluctantly.

"I-It's hot out here..." Yugi whispered back. "Of course it does." He closed his eyes and smacked Atemu's hand away, placing a hand on the place where the cold had been.

"Still feisty as ever." Atemu chuckled. "I hope you show how feisty you are in the race, I expect you to try your best." Yugi reopened his eyes, glaring at the prince.

"The only thing I'm going to try to do is to lose!" Yugi spat at him. "I refuse to win." Atemu chuckled, oh if only he knew. He reached forward, wrapping an arm around Yugi's small waist. Yugi let out a gasp.

"H-Hey!" Yugi yelled. "Let me-" His face burned as Atemu then kissed his ear, chuckling as he whispered, sending shivers down Yugi's spine.

"We'll see about that."

:How many couple moments were in there? 3? But yay! Seto and Joey met and they're getting off on a good/bad note! Oh well, I hope you guys are looking forward to the next chapter because that's the big race! Please review!: