Yu-Gi-Oh!, (Yami/Yugi/Téa)
Title: Triad
Author/Artist: queenoftheskies
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: insinuation of under-aged sex
Word count: 1,660
Summary: Yugi discovers that it's not just Yami, Téa likes.
Prompt: #74. Yu-Gi-Oh!, Yami/Yugi/Téa: awkwardness slowly being forgotten - It's not a compromise.
Triad
Yugi, what's wrong?
A strong presence wrapped around him as the deep voice spoke in his mind.
Nothing. For once, just once, he wished the Pharaoh would go away and leave him alone.
Energy rippled through the room, charging the air until the hairs on his arms stood on end. Yami appeared before him, tall and confident, arms crossed over his chest. Yugi resisted the urge to tell him to go away, but just barely. Instead, he tried to pretend he hadn't seen him, focusing on the textbook that lay open on his desk.
"I'm supposed to meet Téa," Yami reminded him. He glanced at the clock on the dresser. "Have you forgotten?"
Still, Yugi didn't look up. He didn't have to like it and wondered if the spirit could force him to do something he didn't want to do. "My stomach hurts." It wasn't a lie, not exactly. It twisted into knots every time he thought about Téa with Yami, every time he realized he'd never be anybody without the ancient spirit, that he'd never be good enough. "I don't feel like going."
"You'll feel better once we transform." Yami's voice was confident. "I can't go alone."
Yugi sighed, his shoulders slumping as he closed the book. "I know." There was no fighting the inevitable. If it came down to a battle of wills, the Egyptian was bound to win. He was bigger. He was stronger. He was better.
"Yugi." The Pharaoh's voice held concern. "What's wrong?"
A shadow fell across the desk. "Nothing." Yugi flinched at the sharpness in his voice. "Let's just go and get it over with, okay?" Shoving away from the desk, he turned his back on Yami. The chair toppled over with a crash as it hit the floor.
"Now I know something is wrong." The voice was gentle and laced with concern. "Something you cannot talk to me about? I thought we were friends, Yugi. I thought-"
"Friends wouldn't steal someone else's girlfriend." It was out before he could stop it and he cringed, waiting for the anger he was sure would follow.
Instead, an awkward silence followed, a silence that was worse than anger, that was worse than any fight could possibly have been.
"I...never knew..." The Pharaoh fell silent.
"I thought you knew everything." Yugi shoved the closet door open, slamming it against the wall. "I thought you were perfect. I thought..." He bit down on his lip as the first tears spilled onto his cheeks. He didn't want Yami to see him cry, to hear the tears in his voice. Swiping angrily at his cheeks, he shoved clothes aside instead.
The gentle hand that descended on his shoulder felt strangely solid and Yugi wondered if anyone else would ever be able to see Yami, if Téa would be able to feel his touch like he could now.
"Why didn't you tell me before?" It wasn't an accusation, but a pain-filled plea. "Why did you allow me to continue hurting you when you had to have known-surely you've known-that I care for you more than I've ever cared for anyone."
"I..." Yugi's hand fell from the rack of clothes to hang by his side. "I don't...I..."
"We don't have to go anywhere." Yami turned him around, drew him close. "Just call Téa and tell her-"
"That's not fair." Yugi pulled away, backing into the closet, knocking clothes from their hangers.
"To whom?"
"Téa!" He said it with vehemence that surprised him. Didn't he care? How could Yami spend so much time with Téa-time he'd kill for-and not care about her at all?
"What about you, Yugi? When are you going to realize that both Téa and I care a lot about you?"
"I don't want to..." Yugi stammered over the words. The truth was that he wanted to go, wanted to see Téa. "I just don't understand."
"Understand what?" Yami's brow furrowed, his eyes took on an almost frightening light.
"What's wrong with me, Yami?" He couldn't keep the words in any longer. "Why am I so short? Why do people ignore me? Why doesn't Téa like me at all?
Yami had vanished after assuring him of his importance, but Yugi didn't believe it. Not at all. Sure it was nice to be a champion, but being a champion wasn't everything. All it got you was people who wanted to beat you, to prove they were better than you. It didn't really make people like you.
Hands shoved deep into his pockets, Yugi ignored the crowd of nerds and wannabes that had followed him since he'd passed the junior high. He hoped he could lose them before he hit the ice cream parlor. That was where they were supposed to meet Téa. He almost wished he'd transformed into Yami before he'd left home. It was easier that way, not having to hide his disappointment when Téa asked to see Yami instead of him.
"Hey, loser!" a male voice called from behind. "Wanna duel? Bet I could beat your pants off." When he kept walking, the jeers continued, "Coward! Loser! You're just afraid!"
Dropping off the sidewalk, he darted into an alley that cut through to the next street, then hung a right and went around another block before doubling back to the ice cream shop. He arrived without the entourage, surprised to find Téa waiting outside for him when he arrived.
"Yugi." She sounded breathless. "Where's Yami? I thought..."
He nodded. "Could we, you know..." He shrugged. "Why don't you wait inside?"
"Why?" Her expression clouded. "Yugi, is everything all right?"
He bristled. "Why doesn't everyone stop asking me that?"
"We could, maybe talk?" she suggested, studying him with worried eyes.
"I don't want to talk and you don't want to talk to me," he accused. "You just want to talk to Yami cause he's charming and handsome and...and...tall." There, he'd said it, everything that had been bottled up inside. Everything except for how much he liked her, and he'd never tell her that, especially after everything he'd just said.
Téa covered the gasp with one slender hand. Her eyes went wide with surprise.
Yugi flinched, hoping he hadn't hurt her feelings. He hadn't meant to hurt her. He just couldn't stand it any more.
"Go on inside," he said sullenly. "Yami will be there in a minute."
"Isn't there anyway..." She stepped forward, plucking at the sleeve of Yugi's jacket. "Maybe the three of us..."
"You don't want the three of us," he said, suddenly weary. All the fight, all the anger and heartache, had vanished in that one explosion, leaving him feeling empty and lonely and worthless. "You want Yami."
"I wish the three of us could have ice cream," she offered, her smile hopeful. "Ice cream and maybe, you know, talk?"
"Talk?" He almost cringed at the hope in his voice. "About what?"
"I don't know." Her smile brightened. "Cards, maybe? Ancient Egypt?" She slipped her fingers through his. "School."
"Well, I..." His cheeks flushed. The feel of her hand in his sent a flush throughout his entire body.
"Is there a way."
There is, said the voice in his mind.
Yugi offered Téa a sheepish smile. "M...maybe. But..."
"I know this place," she offered, dragging him down the sidewalk. "You'll love it. We can be all alone." She giggled. "The three of us. And we can...talk."
It was more awkward than he'd imagined, sitting there on the grass beneath the shade of an ancient oak with Téa and Yami. He'd already tried to escape more than once, but Yami had captured him, first by the shirt sleeve and then by the pants leg before he'd managed to get very far.
He was surprised to discover that, for every smile, every covert glance, his companions favored each other with, they each had one for him as well. It was as if something unspoken passed between them, something exciting, something that made him squirm and twisted his stomach into pleasant knots.
"I never knew..." Téa looked from Yami to him. "I never thought I'd be able to have you both here at the same time. I thought..." She dropped her gaze, and then glanced quickly up at Yami. "I figured...someday you'd be gone and..."
"Yugi would still be here waiting?" There was disapproval in Yami's voice. The darkness had returned to his eyes.
"Yugi is always here." Téa's eyes flitted his way. "There's so much of him in you, Yami. But..." Her cheeks flushed. "You'd always talk to me and...Yugi wouldn't."
"I see."
And, Yugi saw, too, clearly for the first time. "You thought I didn't like you?"
Téa shrugged. "There's something mystical and powerful about Yami, something warm and friendly about you. How's a girl to chose? It just...it doesn't seem fair."
"Who said you have to choose?"
They both turned to peer at Yami, then each other, eyes wide as if they hadn't heard correctly.
Téa recovered first. "What did you say?"
"We're both here now," Yami pointed out, his smile mysterious.
A breeze whispered through the grove, stirring their hair, whipping through their clothes. Yugi wondered if it was Yami's doing; he huddled them all together when they shivered.
When they were close-so close they were touching-Yami whispered reached out to unbutton the buttons on Téa's blouse, assuring her, "It's not a compromise."
Yugi watched while they undressed each other, but not completely. Heat crept into his cheeks at the sight of Téa in her bra and panties, at the sight of Yami in his loincloth. Then they turned to him and very gently, unbuttoned the buttons on his shirt one at a time. Téa leaned forward to claim his lips while Yami's hands fumbled with the buttons on his pants. And when Téa's hands slipped inside them, her hands warm and questing, Yami's voice echoed in his mind again, "Love is not a compromise."