Fanfiction: Puzzleshipping, Tendershipping
Title: Second Chances (chapter 2)
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2143
Pairing: Puzzleshipping, Tendershipping
Summary: Atem and Yami Bakura are back from the dead. Unfortunately, their pants are not.
Authors Notes: Chapter 2, here already! Hopefully I'm on a roll! Thank you to everyone that gave me feedback on chapter one! You're my motivation to keep writing!
Yami Bakura's first thought when he came to was that maybe, just maybe, diving blindly out of the afterlife hadn't been the brightest idea. He felt like crap. His entire body ached, like he had fallen from someplace high, and-
Wait. His body? He had a body?
The thief forced his eyes open, ignoring the stabbing pain that greeted him as he did so. The lights hurt, damn it! But after a few moments things seemed to grow more focused, and he was able to figure out where he was.
He was in a filthy alleyway, laying on his stomach beside some trash cans. A few small lights were illuminating the area, but just barely enough for him to make out the words 'property of the city of Domino' stamped on the trash cans. That was a comfort, at least he had landed in the right place.
And... there was something on top of him.
He craned his head around to see what it was, nearly having a heart attack when it registered. There on top of him was the blasted Pharaoh, still out cold.
And they were both completely naked. Apparently their new bodies hadn't come with clothing.
Making a face, the former spirit of the ring dumped the nude pharaoh off of himself and awkwardly pulled himself to his new feet. The pain was subsiding a bit now, and it wasn't as if he could stay in the alley in a naked pile with his arch-nemesis.
Speaking of which... the thief wondered if maybe he should just kill (re-kill?) the Pharaoh now, while he was out cold. He looked over at the other man's prone form, and frowned as he came to the decision that no, even if it would be endless fun he probably shouldn't murder anyone until he'd actually come up with a concrete plan of what he was going to do now that he'd made it back to the land of the living.
Huh, plan... Well, finding his yadunoshi was probably a good place to start. And finding (Okay, stealing) a pair of pants. Back in ancient Egypt nobody cared too much about people running around naked, but the modern world seemed to be extremely bothered by it.
That gave him an idea. He turned and looked at the unconscious Pharaoh with a smirk. He might not kill the man right now, but he certainly could humiliate him. Leaning over he set about positioning Atem spread-eagle on the ground, where he was in clear view of the street intersecting the alley.
He was cut short by the feeling he was being watched, and spun around to see a tall, fairly attractive man step out of the shadows. He had dark skin, and wore a suit. He also didn't seem at all phased by the fact that there were two naked men in the filthy alley. That was the part that led the thief to believe the stranger was somehow involved in whatever had happened that let him escape the afterlife.
The thief scowled at the strange man. He wasn't sure what he was up to, but it would probably be best if he was on his guard while he figured it out.
“You looking at something?”
The man smirked. “I'm just surprised. I didn't expect anyone to follow me out.”
“I wasn't following you. I saw a chance and I took it.” Yami Bakura narrowed his eyes. He'd only just met this man and he already didn't like him. Still, even people he disliked could be of use. Like Marik had been.
“I see, I see. And the other one?” The man seemed as calm and self-assured as ever.
“He was trying to stop me.”
“Well, that didn't work out so well for him. After all, you made it through.” The man looked from Atem to the thief, smirk remaining on his face. “Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Abasi.”
“And I don't care.” Yami Bakura replied. “We may have fallen out of the same hole, but that doesn't mean I have any reason to buddy up with you.” He paused. “And if you're up to no good you really don't want to talk to sleepyhead over there.”
The man in the suit- Abasi- chuckled. “You're right, you're right. But if you change your mind don't hesitate to look me up. I'll be around, Mister... I don't believe I caught your name?”
“You can call me Bakura.” He might not share a body with the boy any longer, but he'd grown attached to the name. And so he was doing what he did best- stealing it for himself.
“Well then, I'll be seeing you... Bakura.” Abasi turned and headed off, vanishing back into the early morning shadows as easily as he had come.
Yami Bakura scowled after him. Yeah, he still didn't like the guy. And he had no doubt at this point that he was up to no good. Still... he could be useful, eventually.
With a smirk the thief took off himself, intent on finding his yadunoshi and some pants. When he'd done that he could decide exactly what course of action he should take next.
-
It was a girlish yelp that finally woke Atem up. Followed by somebody with a very feminine voice murmuring the words 'oh my', and the sensation of something prodding his feet.
“Oh thank goodness. He's not dead!”
“Just NAKED!”
Atem let out a moan and cracked open his eyes to see what was going on. The first thing that greeted him was the form of a young woman standing over him, looking concerned. She must have been one of the people he heard talking. And the naked person?
Good Ra. HE was the naked person. Atem wasted no time in groping around himself for something to cover his manhood with. In the end he settled on a discarded tabloid with the headline 'KAIBA SETO'S SECRET BOYFRIEND! WE REVEAL ALL!' printed across it in bold letters.
It wasn't the most dignified option, but it was that or a banana peel.
“Bad hangover?” She asked, clearly holding back a laugh. Behind her a younger girl with feathery hair was very pointedly not looking at him. She was wearing the same uniform Anzu used to wear- the Domino High uniform. Did that mean he was back in the land of the living?
Oh no!? Where was that blasted thief!?
Apparently he actually spoke that last bit, as the woman watching him tipped her head to the side. “What? Someone stole your clothes? Were you mugged or something!?”
“Um... Yeah.” Atem lied, not sure how else to explain his nudity without making himself look completely crazy. “Have you seen the thief? White hair, a little psychotic looking-”
“Oh, he's probably long gone. In case you haven't noticed, you've been out here pretty much all night.” The woman glanced over her shoulder at the high school girl that was making a point of looking everywhere but at Atem. “Hey, Chisa! You have any spare clothes in your backpack?”
“Well, I have some gym shorts he could wear, I guess...” The girl opened her bag and pulled out a pair of shorts, inching closer to Atem and handing them over the best she could without actually looking at the naked man.
Well, that was better than nothing.
“Thank you. I'll be sure to return them once I acquire something else to wear.” Atem promised, feeling bad for making this girl so uncomfortable.
The girl shook her head emphatically, not wanting the shorts back after they'd been worn by some naked man in a filthy alley. “That's okay.”
“You can borrow my cell phone if you want to call someone.” The older of the girls offered as she averted her eyes to let Atem pull on the shorts. Atem was rather grateful for that.
“That's... a good idea. But first, do you know the exact location of where we are?” Calling his partner and begging him to bring him man clothes would work better with that little bit of information.
“Sure. You're right across from Domino park, off of Second street. By the ramen shop.” The woman replied, looking back to Atem in his tight fitting shorts and doing her best not to laugh. She apparently decided that the best way to do this was to look away, back to the other girl. “Chisa, you really ought to get going to school. Have a good day, okay?”
“Okay, sis.” The girl replied, before finally looking to Atem. Now that he wasn't technically naked she didn't seem quite so put off by him. “Try not to get mugged again, Mister!”
“Um, sure. Thank you for your help.” Atem decided he should have though more over his story as to why he was naked. Having people believing he'd go around getting mugged (and having his clothes stolen, at that!) was a little insulting.
Still, it was nice of the girls to help him.
“Anyway, see you later!” The girl chirped as she turned and resumed her trek towards school. Her older sister seemed to calm down enough to look back to Atem without laughing, so that she could hand over her phone.
Taking the phone Atem dialed the number for Yuugi's house. He was so glad he still remembered it.
-
Yuugi was in the middle of eating breakfast when the phone started to ring. Curious, he turned his head to look at the device, toast still hanging out of his mouth.
They didn't usually get calls this early. He hoped there hadn't been some kind of emergency.
“What time did you say you'd be home from class today, again?” Yuugi's grandfather interrupted his thoughts while his mother went to go answer the ringing phone.
“Oh, probably around four, Grandpa! I don't have any classes until noon.” Yuugi replied happily. “Why? Do you need me to help out at the store?”
“Oh no, no. A friend of mine is just visiting today, and I was hoping that my wonderful grandson would be around to meet him.” Sugoroku replied. “He has a daughter your age, you know. I hear she's very pretty-”
So THAT was what this was all about. Yuugi tuned his grandfather out. He knew that grandpa was only worried that he was lonely, but he really just wasn't interested. He hadn't had much interest in girls, apart from the crush on Anzu that never seemed to go anywhere and never would, especially now that his friend was off chasing her dreams in America.
Besides, if Yuugi had to choose someone to fill his loneliness Anzu wouldn't be his first choice.
“-gi. Hey, Yuugi!” Grandpa's voice pulled Yuugi out of his thoughts.
“Sorry Grandpa! I just spaced out for a minute there.” Yuugi apologized, looking embarrassed. His grandfather just laughed.
“Well, your mom was trying to tell you that the phone was for you! Could it be a girl?” His grandfather teased. Yuugi blushed and ran over to take the phone from his mom.
“Mutou Yuugi speaking.” He politely offered up into the headset. There was a sigh of relief on the other line.
“Aibou! I need you to bring me some pants!”
Yuugi blinked. The voice was familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on it. All he could put a finger on right now was that this call was more than a little strange.
“Who is this?”
The voice on the other line brimmed with pride. “Don't you recognize my voice, Aibou!? It's me! Atem!”
“ATEM?” Yuugi said it loud enough that both his mother and grandfather looked over from the table with concern. Then he reminded himself that his other soul was dead. Gone. And certainly not on the other line, asking him for pants. “No, really! Who is this? Is this you, Jou? It's not funny!”
“No! It's me, I swear! Just... just come to the alley beside Dice Ramen! Please! And bring a set of clothes I can change into!” The voice pleaded. Yuugi frowned.
Well, whoever it was calling him, they did seem to need his help. And if it WAS Atem... well, he supposed stranger things had happened to him than people coming back to life. He wasn't going to get his hopes up, but he might as well look into this.
“Okay. I'm on my way.”
He wasn't, however, going to go alone. Once the other line went dead he hung up the phone, before picking it back up and dialing another number.
“Hey, Jounouchi? Are you free right now?”
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2143
Pairing: Puzzleshipping, Tendershipping
Summary: Atem and Yami Bakura are back from the dead. Unfortunately, their pants are not.
Authors Notes: Chapter 2, here already! Hopefully I'm on a roll! Thank you to everyone that gave me feedback on chapter one! You're my motivation to keep writing!
Yami Bakura's first thought when he came to was that maybe, just maybe, diving blindly out of the afterlife hadn't been the brightest idea. He felt like crap. His entire body ached, like he had fallen from someplace high, and-
Wait. His body? He had a body?
The thief forced his eyes open, ignoring the stabbing pain that greeted him as he did so. The lights hurt, damn it! But after a few moments things seemed to grow more focused, and he was able to figure out where he was.
He was in a filthy alleyway, laying on his stomach beside some trash cans. A few small lights were illuminating the area, but just barely enough for him to make out the words 'property of the city of Domino' stamped on the trash cans. That was a comfort, at least he had landed in the right place.
And... there was something on top of him.
He craned his head around to see what it was, nearly having a heart attack when it registered. There on top of him was the blasted Pharaoh, still out cold.
And they were both completely naked. Apparently their new bodies hadn't come with clothing.
Making a face, the former spirit of the ring dumped the nude pharaoh off of himself and awkwardly pulled himself to his new feet. The pain was subsiding a bit now, and it wasn't as if he could stay in the alley in a naked pile with his arch-nemesis.
Speaking of which... the thief wondered if maybe he should just kill (re-kill?) the Pharaoh now, while he was out cold. He looked over at the other man's prone form, and frowned as he came to the decision that no, even if it would be endless fun he probably shouldn't murder anyone until he'd actually come up with a concrete plan of what he was going to do now that he'd made it back to the land of the living.
Huh, plan... Well, finding his yadunoshi was probably a good place to start. And finding (Okay, stealing) a pair of pants. Back in ancient Egypt nobody cared too much about people running around naked, but the modern world seemed to be extremely bothered by it.
That gave him an idea. He turned and looked at the unconscious Pharaoh with a smirk. He might not kill the man right now, but he certainly could humiliate him. Leaning over he set about positioning Atem spread-eagle on the ground, where he was in clear view of the street intersecting the alley.
He was cut short by the feeling he was being watched, and spun around to see a tall, fairly attractive man step out of the shadows. He had dark skin, and wore a suit. He also didn't seem at all phased by the fact that there were two naked men in the filthy alley. That was the part that led the thief to believe the stranger was somehow involved in whatever had happened that let him escape the afterlife.
The thief scowled at the strange man. He wasn't sure what he was up to, but it would probably be best if he was on his guard while he figured it out.
“You looking at something?”
The man smirked. “I'm just surprised. I didn't expect anyone to follow me out.”
“I wasn't following you. I saw a chance and I took it.” Yami Bakura narrowed his eyes. He'd only just met this man and he already didn't like him. Still, even people he disliked could be of use. Like Marik had been.
“I see, I see. And the other one?” The man seemed as calm and self-assured as ever.
“He was trying to stop me.”
“Well, that didn't work out so well for him. After all, you made it through.” The man looked from Atem to the thief, smirk remaining on his face. “Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Abasi.”
“And I don't care.” Yami Bakura replied. “We may have fallen out of the same hole, but that doesn't mean I have any reason to buddy up with you.” He paused. “And if you're up to no good you really don't want to talk to sleepyhead over there.”
The man in the suit- Abasi- chuckled. “You're right, you're right. But if you change your mind don't hesitate to look me up. I'll be around, Mister... I don't believe I caught your name?”
“You can call me Bakura.” He might not share a body with the boy any longer, but he'd grown attached to the name. And so he was doing what he did best- stealing it for himself.
“Well then, I'll be seeing you... Bakura.” Abasi turned and headed off, vanishing back into the early morning shadows as easily as he had come.
Yami Bakura scowled after him. Yeah, he still didn't like the guy. And he had no doubt at this point that he was up to no good. Still... he could be useful, eventually.
With a smirk the thief took off himself, intent on finding his yadunoshi and some pants. When he'd done that he could decide exactly what course of action he should take next.
-
It was a girlish yelp that finally woke Atem up. Followed by somebody with a very feminine voice murmuring the words 'oh my', and the sensation of something prodding his feet.
“Oh thank goodness. He's not dead!”
“Just NAKED!”
Atem let out a moan and cracked open his eyes to see what was going on. The first thing that greeted him was the form of a young woman standing over him, looking concerned. She must have been one of the people he heard talking. And the naked person?
Good Ra. HE was the naked person. Atem wasted no time in groping around himself for something to cover his manhood with. In the end he settled on a discarded tabloid with the headline 'KAIBA SETO'S SECRET BOYFRIEND! WE REVEAL ALL!' printed across it in bold letters.
It wasn't the most dignified option, but it was that or a banana peel.
“Bad hangover?” She asked, clearly holding back a laugh. Behind her a younger girl with feathery hair was very pointedly not looking at him. She was wearing the same uniform Anzu used to wear- the Domino High uniform. Did that mean he was back in the land of the living?
Oh no!? Where was that blasted thief!?
Apparently he actually spoke that last bit, as the woman watching him tipped her head to the side. “What? Someone stole your clothes? Were you mugged or something!?”
“Um... Yeah.” Atem lied, not sure how else to explain his nudity without making himself look completely crazy. “Have you seen the thief? White hair, a little psychotic looking-”
“Oh, he's probably long gone. In case you haven't noticed, you've been out here pretty much all night.” The woman glanced over her shoulder at the high school girl that was making a point of looking everywhere but at Atem. “Hey, Chisa! You have any spare clothes in your backpack?”
“Well, I have some gym shorts he could wear, I guess...” The girl opened her bag and pulled out a pair of shorts, inching closer to Atem and handing them over the best she could without actually looking at the naked man.
Well, that was better than nothing.
“Thank you. I'll be sure to return them once I acquire something else to wear.” Atem promised, feeling bad for making this girl so uncomfortable.
The girl shook her head emphatically, not wanting the shorts back after they'd been worn by some naked man in a filthy alley. “That's okay.”
“You can borrow my cell phone if you want to call someone.” The older of the girls offered as she averted her eyes to let Atem pull on the shorts. Atem was rather grateful for that.
“That's... a good idea. But first, do you know the exact location of where we are?” Calling his partner and begging him to bring him man clothes would work better with that little bit of information.
“Sure. You're right across from Domino park, off of Second street. By the ramen shop.” The woman replied, looking back to Atem in his tight fitting shorts and doing her best not to laugh. She apparently decided that the best way to do this was to look away, back to the other girl. “Chisa, you really ought to get going to school. Have a good day, okay?”
“Okay, sis.” The girl replied, before finally looking to Atem. Now that he wasn't technically naked she didn't seem quite so put off by him. “Try not to get mugged again, Mister!”
“Um, sure. Thank you for your help.” Atem decided he should have though more over his story as to why he was naked. Having people believing he'd go around getting mugged (and having his clothes stolen, at that!) was a little insulting.
Still, it was nice of the girls to help him.
“Anyway, see you later!” The girl chirped as she turned and resumed her trek towards school. Her older sister seemed to calm down enough to look back to Atem without laughing, so that she could hand over her phone.
Taking the phone Atem dialed the number for Yuugi's house. He was so glad he still remembered it.
-
Yuugi was in the middle of eating breakfast when the phone started to ring. Curious, he turned his head to look at the device, toast still hanging out of his mouth.
They didn't usually get calls this early. He hoped there hadn't been some kind of emergency.
“What time did you say you'd be home from class today, again?” Yuugi's grandfather interrupted his thoughts while his mother went to go answer the ringing phone.
“Oh, probably around four, Grandpa! I don't have any classes until noon.” Yuugi replied happily. “Why? Do you need me to help out at the store?”
“Oh no, no. A friend of mine is just visiting today, and I was hoping that my wonderful grandson would be around to meet him.” Sugoroku replied. “He has a daughter your age, you know. I hear she's very pretty-”
So THAT was what this was all about. Yuugi tuned his grandfather out. He knew that grandpa was only worried that he was lonely, but he really just wasn't interested. He hadn't had much interest in girls, apart from the crush on Anzu that never seemed to go anywhere and never would, especially now that his friend was off chasing her dreams in America.
Besides, if Yuugi had to choose someone to fill his loneliness Anzu wouldn't be his first choice.
“-gi. Hey, Yuugi!” Grandpa's voice pulled Yuugi out of his thoughts.
“Sorry Grandpa! I just spaced out for a minute there.” Yuugi apologized, looking embarrassed. His grandfather just laughed.
“Well, your mom was trying to tell you that the phone was for you! Could it be a girl?” His grandfather teased. Yuugi blushed and ran over to take the phone from his mom.
“Mutou Yuugi speaking.” He politely offered up into the headset. There was a sigh of relief on the other line.
“Aibou! I need you to bring me some pants!”
Yuugi blinked. The voice was familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on it. All he could put a finger on right now was that this call was more than a little strange.
“Who is this?”
The voice on the other line brimmed with pride. “Don't you recognize my voice, Aibou!? It's me! Atem!”
“ATEM?” Yuugi said it loud enough that both his mother and grandfather looked over from the table with concern. Then he reminded himself that his other soul was dead. Gone. And certainly not on the other line, asking him for pants. “No, really! Who is this? Is this you, Jou? It's not funny!”
“No! It's me, I swear! Just... just come to the alley beside Dice Ramen! Please! And bring a set of clothes I can change into!” The voice pleaded. Yuugi frowned.
Well, whoever it was calling him, they did seem to need his help. And if it WAS Atem... well, he supposed stranger things had happened to him than people coming back to life. He wasn't going to get his hopes up, but he might as well look into this.
“Okay. I'm on my way.”
He wasn't, however, going to go alone. Once the other line went dead he hung up the phone, before picking it back up and dialing another number.
“Hey, Jounouchi? Are you free right now?”