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gaycardgamescentral · 21 days ago

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So a while back I had a weird brain event where the awkward date episode with Anzu/Téa and the Steven Universe episode that introduces Stevonnie collided, and it turned into this lmao. Time for the boys to go have a night of sorta fun and put each other first in some definitely totally healthy ways :)

first dance

5921 words, lighthearted with hurt/comfort toward the end. TW for depiction of a moderate anxiety attack.

Synopsis: After figuring out how to allow the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle to take control of his body, Yugi decides to take him out for a night on the town (or rather, arcade). This being his first time in control for non life and death purposes, the spirit is determined to both respect Yugi’s boundaries and live up to his hopes for the night—but as they say, the path to the shadow realm is paved with good intentions.

Set in a world where card games are not the main means of settling debates and instead people are just physically attacking Yugi all the damn time lmao, with Atem having appointed himself as Official Yugi Protector. I mean season zero did it so \_:)_/ also features a slightly rearranged set of events, mainly in that Yugi hasn’t exactly told his friends about the whole ‘possessed on the regular don’t worry it’s cool’ thing yet, and takes place prior to them learning the spirit of the puzzle used to be a pharaoh.

ok that's it please enjoy!! ^^

After having finally learned to communicate with the mysterious spirit of the Millennium Puzzle, Yugi is proud to say they’ve become fast friends. They talk constantly through the mental link the puzzle establishes between them, the spirit serving as Yugi’s constant companion and source of advice and reassurance, and recently he’s even figured out how to appear as an apparition at Yugi’s side. Suffice to say after all the turbulence of their meeting, things are going surprisingly well—for the most part, anyway.

The one thing they can’t figure out is having the spirit take over to front for them on purpose; he only seems capable of it when Yugi or a friend is in danger and his protection is needed. He insists this is fine anyway because he doesn’t want to steal Yugi’s body unfairly, but Yugi kind of wishes they could find a way to do it anyhow. There’s plenty of reasons—for one, it’s certainly a strategic advantage against mental health issues or even just boredom. There are plenty of things the spirit says he wouldn’t mind doing for Yugi, if only he could. And as a struggling high schooler who doesn’t always have the motivation to do self-care like laundry or eating regular meals, that kind of help would be invaluable. But more importantly, by now Yugi’s heard all about his ghostly friend’s lack of memories and long-term imprisonment in the item that houses his soul and thinks it would be great to give him some time to be corporeal again. They could do all sorts of fun things together! If only they could figure out how to switch…

Yugi’s first attempt of just standing still with his eyes squeezed shut and saying, “Ok, possess me!” goes badly—in part because it doesn’t seem to do anything when the spirit awkwardly walks into him and just sort of stands there superimposed, and partly because grandpa ends up hearing the bizarre statement and walking in to ask what in the hell Yugi’s doing. One haphazard explanation later they’re back to trying, but nothing seems to work even when they clearly both want it to. After a while, tired of repeatedly failing, they simply give up and get out Yugi’s Switch to play some games instead. For a while things are pretty calm as they chat idly about life and school and the puzzle game Yugi’s absolutely destroying, until a particularly difficult puzzle comes up that takes all their attention. They reach a point where Yugi feels a bit stumped. They both squint at the screen for a few minutes, both sort of able to hear the gears clicking in the other’s head, until the spirit gives a little oh and points out where to move a piece—or tries to, anyway. It’s sort of difficult to tell where he means. They go back and forth for a minute, Yugi trying to interpret what move the spirit is suggesting as he inches closer where he’s hovering over Yugi’s shoulder, until he scoffs at Yugi’s confused giggling and reaches out to do it himself—

And does. The piece clicks into place; he gives a little sigh of satisfaction. And then after a moment of silence, they both gasp at the realization that without really meaning to, they’ve done it. They’ve switched!

…Now what?

Now, Yugi ends up deciding, they should go do something fun! Every time the spirit has taken over in the past it’s been life or death, a desperate rush of action and tension as he struggled to protect his partner from whatever was menacing him. In other words, stressful. So now that they’re starting to figure out how to do it on purpose, Yugi is excited to give him time to spend however he wants instead. The spirit accepts gratefully, awed and humbled as always by his partner’s kindness. First Yugi drags him to the closet to pick out his own outfit for once, and they have a fun little collaborative makeover where the spirit gets to try out jewelry and different hairstyles and stuff, and then they rush downstairs to bid grandpa farewell so they can go spend Yugi’s allowance on some arcade games. Oddly enough, grandpa gives them a confused glance as they pass by, remarking that he hardly recognized Yugi at first. Flustered, the spirit plays it off as best he can and they zip away before things can get any more awkward.

“Well, I mean, I’ve always thought you look kinda different when you’re in control,” Yugi remarks as they ride the train downtown. “But I just figured that was because I knew it was you and not me. You think you might actually look different to other people, too?”

The spirit shrugs, baffled. “I don’t know. To be honest, I had assumed the same. Oh—!” he blushes lightly, shutting his mouth and avoiding the eyes of the other train passengers awkwardly. “Apologies. I don’t mean to make you look unusual in public.”

“Pfft, don’t worry. I do that plenty on my own,” Yugi giggles. “Well, hey, nobody’s really seen you in control up close yet—maybe we’ll run into friends or something and see if they recognize us! That could be cool.”

“Hm. I suppose,” the spirit hums in response with a small smile. It almost looks…shy. But that can’t be right, Yugi muses—he’s just about the most confident presence Yugi’s ever known, even in the scariest of times. Perhaps especially then.

After the train lets them off for a brief walk through the city, Yugi floating ahead to give directions, they reach the heavenly, neon-lit darkness of his favorite arcade. The flashing lights and loud music and excited shouts are dazzling to the spirit, familiar with them only through inherited memories, and almost overwhelming—but he finds himself grounded by Yugi’s presence at his side, excitedly recommending which cabinets to start with and instructing him on how to play. Before long they’re on a roll, pockets bulging with tickets, laughing and exclaiming to each other as the spirit learns each new game in record time. It even draws some attention from bystanders, impressed at the high scores they keep racking up. That attention feels strange to the spirit in a way he can’t quite place, some bizarre mix of pride in performance and…fear? But what could there possibly be to be afraid of? They’re just random arcade goers. They pose no threat to him, or more importantly, his partner. And yet when they set their eyes on him, a part of him wants to shrink away, to duck back into the puzzle and out of sight, as if he’s been caught doing something illicit or shameful. Perhaps it’s something about being in his partner’s body? After all, he’s only ever inhabited it during moments of danger before, times when not doing so would surely have meant harm to this body and its rightful owner. There was a sense of justification to it each time. And this, well…this feels like something stolen, too joyous to be deserved. Sure, Yugi was the one who offered to give him time in control, but he’s begun to learn that Yugi’s kindness often lacks boundaries. Necessary ones. And the thought of taking advantage of that even unintentionally, of bringing harm to the very soul that so graciously sustains him, that he would kill or die to protect…

He’s snapped out of his thoughts by the trill of a game over screen, Yugi groaning lightheartedly at his side. “Oh well, that’s still way farther than I ever got by myself! And I’m pretty sure it’s endless anyway, heh. But then again, there was that kid that beat Tetris a while back, so…huh.” He shrugs and offers a cheerful grin, and the spirit’s worries retreat into the shadows once again. Doubt and fear simply cannot survive a warmth so great. “Hey, this is a good stopping point—let’s go get a snack! There’s a concessions counter back that way,” Yugi suggests excitedly, darting round to the spirit’s other side and placing an incorporeal hand on his shoulder as he points. Then he gasps. “Oh my god. Is this gonna be your first time actually having food? Ohhhh, we’re gonna have to splurge a little bit.”

“What? No, Yugi, it’s your money we’re spending, don’t worry about that,” the spirit insists, careful to speak only through their link rather than aloud. “I don’t think we even really need food yet, there’s no need to—”

But Yugi is already waving away his concerns and insisting that he wants to show him a good time, let the spirit enjoy all of his own favorite things at least for a day, and his excitement and warmth is so infectious that it destroys any further resistance the spirit might have mounted. They head to the counter and, after a short brainstorming session where Yugi essentially ranks every food available on a mental tier list, approach with allowance in hand. The clerk’s eyes widen as the spirit places a hand on the counter with his usual serious confidence and makes the order, her cheeks reddening just so. There’s a certain speed to the way she prepares the food that would be telling to anyone with people skills—in other words, anyone other than the clueless soul at the counter. The spirit accepts the little basket she passes him with nothing more than an appreciative nod and a cordial smile, and doesn’t notice her blushing harder as he walks away. But Yugi does, watching with amazement as he follows along in his other self’s wake. Did…did that pretty girl actually…? No one ever looks at him that way. Maybe he really does look different when the spirit is in control…

He brushes the thought away quickly, affronted by the notion of being jealous of his other self. He could never be upset like that at his own partner—well, aside from some wistful longing, maybe.

The spirit finds them a bench to settle down on together, and they tackle the new ordeal of—drumroll—eating food. It’s truly baffling to think that despite having inherited Yugi’s memories, and therefore certainly not being unfamiliar with food and the eating thereof, this is still the first time the spirit has actually been in control to do it. At first he’s almost nervous about it, worried that he might not like the carefully-selected snack before him and hurt his partner’s feelings, but thankfully it turns out it’s pretty hard not to like nachos. The only discomfort comes from his repeated instinct to share them, which makes Yugi laugh but somehow gives the spirit a creeping sense of guilt. It feels wrong to eat by himself when his partner is right next to him with nothing of his own, but Yugi pushes away his offers to switch back, afraid that they might not be able to give him control again. All the same, they’re pretty good nachos.

Then as they’re exploring again, finding more games to dominate together (“It’s not cheating, I’m just giving advice!” Yugi insists), a nervous voice speaks up over their shoulder. Turning around reveals it to be a girl from Yugi’s school—a very pretty one, at that—who shyly informs them that there’s going to be something of a rave later on, right here at a dancing venue in the arcade, and that he’d be welcome to come along. Yugi, of course, remembers her name and informs his partner, but calling her by it as he thanks her for the invitation only makes her eyes widen in surprise. She briefly mumbles something along the lines of confusion at him knowing her name already, and then darts away with a quick goodbye. The partners turn to look at each other, stunned. “Wow,” Yugi remarks, face unreadable beyond the obvious surprise. “She…I mean, we’ve met, but she totally didn’t recognize you. It really is like you look different to people.”

The spirit blinks, unsure how to feel about it. “Well. That’s…certainly surprising.” A moment of silence, and then he glances in the direction they’d been heading. “Sssooo, on to skee ball…?”

“Well, sure, but,” Yugi begins, standing in place and eyeing the ground. “I mean…I’ve never been invited to something like that. Like, you know, a party or whatever. Do you think…should we go?”

The spirit hesitates. He really has no idea what to expect from such a thing, but Yugi sounds sort of awed by it. And, well, what better reason to do anything is there than to do it for his partner? “I don’t see why not,” he offers, smiling encouragingly. “It sounds like you’d enjoy it.”

His partner grins back brightly, and any uneasiness the idea brings up in him is suddenly worth it.

They play games for an hour or two more and the closer they draw to the party, the more uneasiness begins to build up in the back of the spirit’s mind. But far be it from him to break a promise, particularly one to his partner, and eventually they make their way to the room the event is meant to be held in. There’s loud music playing inside, and it’s somehow even dimmer than the arcade beyond, lit only by the neon tubes on the walls and a few multicolored spotlights. People are already here and swaying to the thumping EDM music, excited chatter swirling amongst them. The spirit hovers uncertainly by the door as Yugi does the literal hovering beside him, both watching the scene with some amount of apprehension. “Er, so,” the spirit begins, wrestling his nerves into submission, “I know you haven’t been to one of these, but…you must know what we’re meant to do at one of them, right? Would you like to take over and get in there?”

Yugi looks surprised. “Oh! I guess I could, but, y’know…I wasn’t exactly the one who was invited, right?” he points out, offering his other self a hopeful shrug. “And besides, I’m terrible at dancing. I’d get us kicked out on sheer geekiness alone, heh.”

“It’s not as if I know how to dance, either,” the spirit argues.

“Well…maybe…oh!” Yugi drops his fist into his palm in a kind of ‘eureka’ gesture. “Remember last month when that guy tried to mug me and you took over and kicked his ass?”

The spirit frowns. “Unfortunately, yes. What does that have to do with—”

“I’m just thinking, like, dancing and fighting can both be choreographed, right?” Yugi suggests with a sheepish smile. “What if you just kind of treat it like, y’know, like the way people do forms in martial arts? Worst case scenario it bombs, which is a guarantee if I take over anyway.”

The spirit nearly tries to argue that the real worst case scenario will be if he accidentally hits someone during this proposed ‘choreography’, but one look at the hopeful grin on Yugi’s face kills the argument where it stands. Well…this whole ‘dancing in a dark room packed full of unfamiliar people’ business might not sound fun to him, but how could he possibly say no to a face like that? He returns the grin somewhat ruefully and tuts under his breath. “If you say so. But don’t blame me if I get us kicked out for looking like a geek.”

And with that, he strides off into the throng, nearly losing sight of his partner’s beaming but transparent face amongst the dozens of others, many of whom eye him with interest as he passes by. At last, he reaches an area where scrunched-together groups of people have left a decent chunk of space between them, enough to move without crashing into anyone. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, feeling the lungs of his rented form expand and shrink with the rhythm of it, in half-time with the music. When he opens his eyes again, there’s another, excited pair of them meeting his gaze, and suddenly breathing feels easier. “Ready?” Yugi prompts, apparently ready to join in even if no one else can see.

Like no one else can see him except his partner.

The thought brings an odd peace to the spirit’s mind. He returns the smile. “Ready. Now, if I recall, that fight started with…ah, yes.”

With nothing to lose except trivial dignity, he throws himself into what he can remember of the encounter, doing his best to slow his movements enough that he can ensure he won’t hit anyone for real. The knee strike he’d aimed at their attacker’s face becomes something of a balletic pose, the following punches and knife hand strike to the throat converted into a series of twirling steps, interspersed with ducks and dodges that hopefully look like some sort of intentional footwork. If Yugi’s encouragement is anything to go by, it must not look completely terrible. For a few moments the world narrows down just to them, to the spirit moving from reenactment to improvisation to keep the performance going as Yugi cheers and calls out suggestions. At last, realizing he’d forgotten to breathe properly somewhere in the middle of his little show, he closes things out with a crouching leg sweep that spins him nearly in a full circle and ends with the leg still extended dramatically. As he catches his breath he listens intently for the sound of his partner’s praise, musical in its own right, but instead notices something odd—the people around them seem to have gotten quieter suddenly. The music is still thumping away, he can hear that much, but the nearby conversations have all but vanished. Mildly alarmed, he lifts his head to look around and finds a good number of student partygoers staring unabashed at him, eyes wide. One person is holding a phone, and he’s suddenly gripped with—there’s no other word for it, fear—at the thought of having been recorded. Breath catching in his chest, he stands jerkily, glancing from side to side with apprehension. He can’t think of a single thing to say, but his face must convey the sort of ‘what are you all looking at?’ response he’s feeling, and they gradually turn away and begin to chatter amongst themselves again. In his embarrassment he doesn’t quite clock the way some of them grin and nod his way with interest. No, all he can think to look for is Yugi, who thankfully is still present and hovering before him. Yugi’s eyes are wide, looking around at his fellows with some sort of amazement. He hardly seems to notice his partner’s approach until the spirit is right beside him; he jumps lightly at the sound of his voice. “Yugi, I hate to say it, but I think I may have only made things more uncomfortable,” the spirit whispers (and yes, he would call it a whisper, the need to keep quiet so strong that it carries over into even their mental communications). “We had probably better get out of here before anyone can recognize you for real. I mean, I would hate to—”

“Yugi? Is that you?”

He nearly jumps out of his borrowed skin, turning sharply to face the voice. Oh, god, it’s Anzu. They’re busted for certain. He’s hardly opened his mouth to stutter some half-formed reply when she blinks, looking startled herself. “Oh! Uh, my bad, I thought you were a friend of mine. Maybe you have the same stylist or something!” she says, grinning shyly and running a hand through her hair. “I, um…don’t think we’ve met. Are you new in town?”

The spirit does his best to resist gaping in shock. Yes, apparently he’s dissimilar enough to Yugi while in control that they could trick acquaintances, but one of his partner’s closest friends? Maybe it’s the lighting. It’s awfully dim in here. If she could see the colors streaking through his hair more clearly, perhaps…

“Psst,” Yugi hisses from his side, and a quick glance out of the corner of his vision shows him a vision of his partner gripped with excitement. “C’mon, don’t just stand there! It’s just Anzu, you can say hi!”

“Uh,” he begins in response, and then remembers abruptly that he needs to speak aloud. “H-hi.”

Anzu’s smile brightens a little more. “Hi!” she replies, apparently unbothered by the complete lack of response to her initial question. “You know, I gotta say, I’ve never seen moves like that! Most people never bother to do anything exciting at these things, which is annoying because, well, they’re supposed to be for dancing, right? That’s the whole reason I come to them! But it feels like I’m always the only one actually putting their heart into it. Well…except for you,” she finishes with an almost shy note. Oh, so that’s why she’s here. He does have a vague memory of her telling Yugi of her aspirations as a professional dancer. “So…” she continues, shooting him a smaller, more uncertain smile. “Would you wanna show these people a thing or two about dancing from the heart with me?”

Now the spirit really has to hold back from gaping, fighting tooth and nail to stop his face from shifting into cartoonish shock. It seems there’s nothing he can do to stop it paling, though. He can practically feel the blood rushing out of his cheeks. This is…this is absolutely not supposed to happen. The way she’s talking, it’s—and perhaps he’s overly paranoid, but he exists essentially as a supernatural bodyguard and paranoia comes part and parcel with it, so sue him—if he’s not mistaken, it’s distinctly flirtatious. And that would be all well and good if it was Yugi she was talking to, or if she thought it was Yugi, but it isn’t. The last thing the spirit wants to do is interfere in matters of the heart with the one person he values above all others in the world, the one who has allowed him to be here and feel so free and alive at all, the one who actually does have a crush on Anzu and would surely love to take his place right now. He would, right? Of course he would! He turns his head just slightly, desperately seeking Yugi’s face in his peripheral vision, and stops dead.

Yugi looks…conflicted. But not in a disapproving way. Not in the kind of way that would herald a reprieve. The spirit feels his stomach drop, a sensation as unfamiliar as it is unsettling. “Partner,” he pleads, fighting to keep the rising anxiety out of his voice. “Partner, do you want to—what should I—?”

Yugi doesn’t respond for a moment. He glances at the spirit, expression unreadable, and then at Anzu, still waiting hopefully. Another silent, nerve-wracking moment. And then, dreadfully, he flashes the spirit an encouraging grin. “Well?” he prompts, gesturing toward her. “Come on, it’ll be fun! Don’t keep her waiting!”

For a moment the spirit merely stares in mild terror, unable to properly meet Yugi’s eyes without looking suspicious in Anzu’s, until she catches his attention again with a giggle. “Tell you what, we can do kind of a call and response thing. I’ll call,” she says, taking a few steps back. Then, in time with the pounding beat, she strikes a little pose with a more confident smile. “So you better be ready to pick up!”

With the music blaring through the room as both metronome and accompaniment, she starts to move. And even as much as the spirit now wishes he wasn’t here and didn’t have to experience any of this, he does have to admit that Anzu can really move. Each little gesture and step is perfectly in time with the beat, perfectly accentuated by the swishing of her hair and skirt and jacket, seeming to build in intensity and complexity as she goes like a carefully structured narrative. Suddenly the heart he so longs to protect is pounding just as hard as the drums, though wildly out of time with them, frantic and erratic like it seeks to break free of his ribcage and flee the scene. He can feel sweat starting to build at the nape of his neck, the palms of his hands. His every muscle is tense as though bracing for danger, so intense that he’s sure he wouldn’t be able to switch places with Yugi even if he tried for sheer subconscious conviction that he’s under some kind of threat. This is—this is all wrong. It’s not at all how one should feel in a situation like this. Anzu moves like this is her art, her passion, and it accentuates her every feature in a way that he can sense should be inspiring and captivating, but it just isn’t getting through to him. There are people around them watching again, some cheering for her, some eyeing him with what he can now recognize as open interest, and that should be thrilling too but it only makes him want to disappear. And through it all there’s blood rushing in his ears, the pulse of the music far, far too loud, everything is too loud and the lights are making him dizzy and then—then, with a flourish, Anzu wheels to a stop and extends an outstretched hand to him, grinning brightly, an enthusiastic invitation to respond.

All eyes shift to him. He nearly chokes on his own breath. Time seems to slow to a nauseating, grinding crawl as he watches Anzu breathe deep in slow motion, winces as a passing spotlight blinds him. He turns his head with all the speed of someone mired in tar and finds Yugi staring solely at Anzu, eyes sparkling with admiration, mouth agape just slightly. He glances back to the spirit, speaks with a voice like molasses. “What are you waiting for? They like us! She likes us!” he exclaims, a disbelieving grin stretching across his face. “Come on, just like before, you can do it! Call and response, right? It’s your turn to respond!”

The spirit finds his mouth too dry to swallow. He fights to tear his eyes away from Yugi, only to wince at the realization that time is still passing, and Anzu is looking expectantly at him with the slightest edge of disappointment, and people are turning to whisper and laugh amongst themselves and someone has their damn phone out again—

“Spirit? Can—can you hear me in there?”

“I,” he rasps, utterly forgetting the careful management he had held over his features, his voice. He must look white as a ghost now, some part of him bound unwillingly to truthfulness even as he had struggled to keep up the illusion of life throughout the night. Now it’s all too much to bear. “Aibou, I—I’m sorry—”

Suddenly the music skips horrifically, making everyone wince and exclaim; the lights flicker alarmingly, flashes of darkness with only the afterglow of the neon on the walls breaking through, and with a yelp, Yugi suddenly finds himself wrenched out of his spectral form and back into his body. He gasps for air, his lungs apparently devoid of it and screaming for oxygen, his heart playing sixteenth notes all off tempo against his ribcage, a distinct pain radiating out from his cheek as though he’s bitten the inside. None of it matches how he’d felt only moments ago, which means it must have come from—oh, god. As he catches his breath, shocked and unsettled, he looks around wildly for someone who isn’t there. “Spirit? Spirit, are you—where did you—oh, god, my head.”

Distantly, he can hear people exclaiming that there seems to have been a power outage—he even thinks he can almost make out Anzu’s voice in the cacophony. But the only one he’s truly listening for doesn’t respond. Suddenly his heart sinks with dreadful certainty, a realization that he’s sure he could have seen coming if he’d only wanted to pay attention to it. The puzzle feels cold and heavy against his chest. Clutching it in one hand, thumb running anxiously over its ridges, he turns to the still-lit exit door and makes a break for it, sprinting off the dance floor and back out into the arcade. The cabinets seem to have partially suffered from the power outage as well, some flashing strings of code as they struggle to reboot. A couple people are still milling around inside, looking less frightened and more annoyed by it all. Yugi pays them no mind, sprinting past as fast as his legs can carry him toward the exit and out into the evening sun, still bright enough to blind him after the dim arcade.

Still breathing hard, he brings his other hand up to the puzzle to cradle it in both palms, turning it around to meet its somber golden gaze. “Spirit, are you in there?” he entreats anxiously, his eyes worrying over its surface for any sign of a response. He doesn’t get one, exactly—only some tiny, vague feeling of a shift. The gold under his fingers at last seems to heat up, just a tiny bit. It isn’t enough to make him breathe easy, not just yet, but at the very least it’s an indication that things haven’t gone so horribly wrong that his other self is gone altogether. He heaves a sigh, trying in vain to convince his pulse to slow down even a little. “Listen, I…I need to apologize. Let me get us somewhere safe and then let’s talk, okay?”

There is, of course, no response, but now he’s expecting as much. Probably deserves as much, too. Trying to bite back his shame, he heads back to the train station and boards the next one back home, where he insists to grandpa that he ate while he was out and really just needs to go and work on some homework for the rest of the night. At last, he finds himself closed up in his room, seated cross-legged on the bed with the puzzle still cradled in his hands, and now his lap. He swallows. “Hey, other me,” he calls softly, unsure what kind of a response it will get, if any. True to expectations, he hears nothing. Maybe instead of just talking out loud to the puzzle, he could get a little closer. He closes his eyes, letting himself relax and envision the soul room he’s started to become more familiar with lately. When he opens them again, his bedroom has vanished, and he finds himself looking across the hallway that divides his mind and the spirit’s. Staring him down is the huge emblem of an eye that adorns the ominous stone door to his partner’s soul room. Taking a breath, Yugi approaches the door and places a palm flat on it, the weight of the day pushing down on his shoulders. “Hey, it’s me. I just…wanted to say I’m sorry. I really wanted to show you a good time today, make you feel alive and okay again. And I feel like we managed that at first, but then I stressed you out and ruined it.” He sniffs, wiping his nose on his sleeve. “I just got so excited over being liked and popular and…and I didn’t listen to what you needed. I’m really sorry, spirit.”

For a moment, there’s only more silence—but then suddenly, the stone under his hand gives way slightly, making him startle as the door cracks open. Yugi hesitates, uncertain whether it’s an invitation and not wanting to intrude, but eventually pushes it open just enough to peek inside.

The spirit’s soul room is as vast and convoluted and drafty as ever, all stone doors and stairways and passages twisting impossibly over and around each other like something out of an Escher painting. Trying to find his other self in the middle of it all is kind of like a Where’s Waldo, except Waldo’s the only one there, he’s just really well-hidden. Still, after a few moments of scanning the bizarre upside-down staircases and doors to nowhere, Yugi at last spots a shock of familiar dark hair poking out from behind a wall a ways away. Calling out softly, he approaches. The spirit doesn’t respond until Yugi gets close enough to make out the side of his form, sitting with his back to the wall and his knees drawn up to his chest. His shoulder rises and falls slowly as with a heavy sigh. Then before Yugi can speak again, he mumbles, “You needn’t apologize. That responsibility should fall to me.”

Yugi blinks, brows furrowing. “I—what? What in the world would you need to be sorry for?”

“You were so excited to be the life of the party. To have Anzu’s attention. And I tried to be excited too, but I…I couldn’t do it.” He shrinks in on himself further, resting his forehead on his knees. “I’m sorry, partner. I let you down.”

For a moment Yugi just gapes, searching for the words to respond. “But—I—you—what are you talking about? I was being selfish! I was enjoying getting to just stand by and feel like people were admiring me when really it was you doing all the cool stuff, and I didn’t stop to ask if you were okay and it made you so uncomfortable. That’s all my fault!”

“No, no, you didn’t make me uncomfortable. It was just…a little loud in there. It should have been nothing. I should have been strong enough to—”

“Did you even want to dance?”

The spirit pauses and glances up, looking sort of taken by surprise. “…You wanted to.”

Yugi swallows. Reaches out tentatively to rest a hand on his other self’s shoulder. “Not if you don’t.”

They’re both just quiet for a moment, regarding each other. How strange it is to see each other this way, not only eye to eye but soul to soul in the truest sense—visually near mirrors of each other but spiritually so distinct, no barriers between them and no way to hide, an honesty so complete it’s almost frightening. Strange, and yet…how comforting. Because for all the differences laid so bare before each other, in this moment, they find one thing in common more important than all of them.

I only wanted to help you. I’m sorry.

At length, Yugi takes a deep breath and glances away with a rueful smile. “Well, hey. Maybe we’re just not meant to be the life of the party. The important thing is, if you don’t wanna do that kind of thing again, we never have to, okay?”

The spirit blinks. “Well, the dancing part, perhaps, but…” Brightening just so, he relaxes against the wall he’d been huddled against and offers Yugi a small grin. “I do hope we get back there some other time to beat our high scores. I should like to see just how many levels Galaga actually has.”

Yugi looks up with that caring warmth in his eyes that the spirit so adores, and suddenly the stone beneath him doesn’t feel so cold anymore. “Well, not that it’s the same, but I think we’ve still got a few levels left in that puzzle game,” he suggests, mirroring the spirit’s grin. “I mean, if you wanna…”

The spirit smiles, and now the warmth feels like it reaches up into his chest, too. “I’d like that very much.”

And so the rest of the night passes in peaceful conversation and puzzle solving. And if Yugi happens to get up and do a little victory dance after solving the hardest level, and the spirit joins in to spin happily round the room with him, what’s it matter? There’s no one watching except for them.

#ygo #yugioh #atem #yugi #puzzleshipping #tw anxiety #tw anxiety attack #my writing #god I have so many thoughts on this. SO many #uh I guess spoilers ahead for my own writing? not really important but yeah um I'm gonna ramble for a sec #this is kind of all about how the show tends to treat atem/yami like just a cooler better yugi which is pretty fucked when you think abt it #like they are both separate people. acting like one is just a powerup for the other is insulting to both of them #it denies yugi his self sufficiency and confidence. and it denies atem his entire personhood #but from another angle. if you had a ghost that took over you and could do cool shit and everybody thought it was you #then it WOULD feel like some kind of powerup wouldn't it?#so I wanted to explore the kind of messed up dynamic of yugi feeling tempted to think of it that way and then realizing the harm it does #of course the temptation doesn't last long because he is too much of a sweetheart. teehee #also I love the idea of them both having the compulsion to put others before themselves but completely not realizing it about each other #like oh my god you guys have the same brain disease how do you not see #that's gay people for you. we date somebody that looks exactly like us and has all the same neuroses and y'know what it's fun #<-has done this

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