[fic] Crossroads - Yugioh, YYxY, romance, PG-13, theme 50
Title: Crossroads
Author: Chey (duelist_gurl163)
Theme: 50 - “What’s meant to be will always find a way.” for 50_lovequotes
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Romance
Parings: YamixYugi
Archive: You're lookin' at it
Warnings: AU
Spoilers: None
Summary: There are no guarantees in life. Sometimes choices must be made on the blind faith that things will work out in the end.
Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh.
NOTE: This is the sequel I wrote (with permission!) to strawberrykaoru's fic for the theme Steam Engine for her own writing challenge at 100_wangsts. You MUST read her fic first, as well as her authoress notes, otherwise this one won't make any sense. Oh, and try not to be disappointed by my failed attempt at matching the skill in hers. xD;
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Yugi looked up as the door opened. His secretary inclined her head. “A man is here to see you, sir. May I send him in?”
“Certainly.”
“Shall I bring you tea?”
“Why?” He asked, bewildered. “Is he someone important? Why did you not tell me earlier?” Serving tea was generally reserved for important business contracts, meetings usually set up weeks in advance. Because he had not been informed of it ahead of time, he figured it was an impromptu employee meeting.
She faltered. “I…I am sorry…he insinuated he was an old friend. I assumed…that you and he had planned this and might like refreshment.”
Old friend? No…that would be impossible. It must be an employee, and she mistook his words…
“What is his name?” He finally asked.
“Atemu, sir.”
Something inside of Yugi threatened to choke him. His lips parted, but no words came out.
“Sir?” She prompted, wondering about the strange expression.
He shook his head, heart pounding, mouth suddenly dry. “I…no...”
“No? So I should tell him to leave?” She asked, puzzled.
“No, wait…” He swallowed heavily, torn between two desires. “Yes…send him in. I will…let you know if we would like tea later.”
“Yes sir.” She stepped back and opened the door wide. A quiet voice thanked her, and in stepped his visitor. Yugi wanted to look away, but found himself unable.
Softly Atemu shut the door, not moving forward. His dark eyes swept the room, returning to the desk and the man behind it. Yugi’s expression - as it always had - said everything for him. “I take it you were not expecting me.”
“No.” Yugi’s voice came out stiff and formal. “How could I…” He stopped, and began again, slightly louder, “you know…it is rude…to show up without an appointment. You are supposed to let people know ahead of time that you would like to see them.”
“And had you known ahead of time that it was me? Would you have refused to see me?”
Yugi did not - could not - answer that. Instead he looked down at his desk.
Atemu sighed quietly. “It has…been a long time.”
“Twenty-seven years.” Yugi murmured.
“I saw…in the paper…you took over a few years ago.”
“Yes…my father passed away, and Mother decided to retire. The company became mine.”
“I was sorry to hear it…you must miss him.”
“He died in peace, not in pain or suffering, a successful man. There is nothing there to be sad for.”
“Your father would be happy to see what you’ve done. You have carried on his legacy well.”
“The Revolution did all the work.”
“No, Yugi. The Revolution only started the work. This business succeeds now because of you. It will go down in the history books as one of the great businesses of the Industrial era. And you will deserve your place in it.” He paused. Then, softly, as some of the brittle politeness slipped: “I cannot deny…you have done well for yourself. You should be proud.”
Yugi’s face flushed. “I…”
Atemu waited. Yugi took a deep breath and stood up, averting his stinging eyes, struggling to keep the appearance of formality. “W…would you like some tea? I will ask Chiyoko to make us some-”
“Yugi.”
It was too much…hearing his name…spoken as he had not heard it spoken for decades…it was too much.
Swallowing, gasping, he shook, hands down on the desk. “Atemu…why did you come here?”
He took a step forward, the stiffness shattering around them. “I need to talk to you.”
“About what? What could you possibly need to talk to me about?”
“You know what.”
“No, I do not! It ended, Atemu. It was over twenty-seven years ago, what more is there to talk about?”
“Yugi-“
“No! Stop saying my name! Stop talking! You do not have the right…to come back into my life like this without any warning wanting to talk!”
“And yet you had the right to walk out of my life without any warning?” Atemu’s voice grew harsh. “Without even answering me when I asked you if you wanted to run as badly as I did? After everything we shared…you could have at least respected me enough to give me an answer.”
“Do you think that leaving you was easy for me? I fought for months, trying to think of a different solution, a way we could both be happy. But when you asked me to elope, I knew ending it was the only way. And you knew, Atemu. We both knew, running away was not an option. It would have been a mistake and we would have regretted it. Ending it was the right thing to do, you cannot make me feel guilty for doing what was right!”
“But did it ever actually end? I still…I have always-”
“Atemu, no.”
“At least tell me why you never answered me.”
“Because answering you would have meant…!” He stopped, fists clenching on the desktop. Would have meant I would have lost the strength to do what I knew I needed to do...
“Yugi…” His eyes softened. “You still…?”
“No, there is no ‘still!’ Atemu, go. You should never have come back here.” He bit through tears threatening to control him. “Why did you have to come back here?! I was doing fine!” He looked up, half-shouting. “And now…you walk back into my life, and stir up these feelings that you know it was right to give up on-”
“Yugi- I still love you-”
“NO! Stop it!” He pressed his hands to his ears, eyes squeezed shut, as if he were a boy again, when doing so could actually stop what he was hearing from being real. “I do not care how much time has passed or what you still feel, I would not go with you then and I will not run away with you now just because you come here and say those words! Choosing between you and my family once nearly killed me…the feelings are still too strong, please do not make me make this choice again!”
“I am not asking you to run away with me again.” He strode forward, pulling Yugi’s hands away from his face. “We are not children anymore. The time to run away and start a new life is over. I came to ask you…if the feelings were still there…for a place in this life.”
Yugi slowly raised his eyes. “What….?”
“I have been working in a small company in the south…I could persuade them to become investors, and I will be a go-between. Or give me a job, janitor if that is all that is available. As long as I can stay close to you, I will take whatever you can offer.”
The tone of desperate hope was painfully familiar. Yugi drew in a long, difficult breath. “Atemu, this is not your world.”
“You are here, that makes it my world!”
“You cannot…” He bit his lip, no longer caring if his former lover saw the tears in his eyes. “My mother will remember you, old investors will remember the scandal, and even if we did not breathe a word about the relationship, they would know. Even if you were presented purely as a new shareholder or a business partner…someone, somewhere would remember you. It almost destroyed my family and the company when the news got out the first time about us. People have not forgotten, and they have not become any more understanding. You cannot have a place in this world-”
“No, Yugi!” He shouted, tears suddenly staining his face. Yugi’s eyes widened. “Do not…decide this based on what your family would want or what your investors would want. Tell me what you want. Goddammit, Yugi, for once in your life make your decision based on your heart and not on your responsibilities! If you tell me to leave, I want it to be you telling me to leave, not logic or sense or some faceless person you feel you need to obey, I want to hear it from you!”
“I- Atemu- you are the one that said I did well!” Yugi wrenched his arms out of Atemu’s grasp. “You put down my responsibilities, but you are the one that said I should be proud. And I am proud. I helped build an empire with my parents and I am carrying it on single-handedly. My life has not been empty because of leaving you. It has been full, and prosperous, and…I made it!”
“But has any of it made you happy?!” He demanded. “I, too, have survived for twenty-seven years on my own, but to say that I have lived for even a single day since that train station would be a lie. Now if you can tell me honestly that this life has made you happy, I will walk away without a fight. But you owe me an answer, and I am not leaving until I get an answer that comes from what you truly feel.”
Breathing heavily, they stared at each other in silence, at a crossroads they had last stood at nearly three decades ago…
In the next moment they were a tangle of arms and hair and clothing, as Yugi gave in to the longing that the mere sight of Atemu had awakened in him. He threw himself forward and his fingers closed on Atemu’s shoulders, clutching him, able to feel his heart pounding against him. His head tilted, lips connecting, pulling them closer as insatiable need overruled common sense. Their faces brushed as he felt Atemu’s fingers on the nape of his neck. And there was fury and frustration and desperation in his attack, all hiding that it was driven by something more tender, something he had not allowed himself to feel in a very long time.
Much…too long of a time…
“Atemu…Ate…” He moaned, drunk on the taste of him. “You think…I have not suffered?”
“Love…” His fingers curled against his skin, stroking.
“I have felt…happiness…but…” He breathed. “Without you…it was never…real…”
“Yugi, are you saying…?”
He seemed to freeze, but did not pull away, mumbling, “No, what are we…this is stupid…this will…never work…”
“Yes, it will.” His grip tightened. “It will work. We are in a different place now, different opportunities, different lives. We have the ability to make it work now.”
“How can you know…?” He whispered against Atemu’s bruised lips.
“How does anybody know?”
Yugi could not think of an answer to the cryptic question. “Ate…”
“Shh, love…say nothing…”
“Do not let me go…”
“Shhh…”
No longer wanting to talk, Atemu claimed the kiss in a way that cut off all verbal ability. So that when Yugi whispered I love you, Atemu did not know if he heard Yugi speak the words, or only felt him say them.
All that mattered was that he did not let go.
x-x-x
Notes: To clear up confusion if you didn't read Kaoru's notes, this takes place during/after the Industrial Revolution. Hence the odd dialogue. Not using contractions is a lot harder than it looks, by the way. >.>
I made a few assumptions in this. The "scandal" I referred to is one. While Kaoru never mentioned one in the original fic, it was clear that Yugi and Atemu's relationship was looked down upon, meaning it went public, and considering the standing of Yugi's family, undoubtedly it would have caused a scandal that hurt the business. That alone was probably enough for Yugi's family to come down hard on him to leave Atemu.
The other is the assumption of how the CEO offices of majour Japanese businesses in the 1800's were run. I tried to wing it on that. Hopefully it sounds vaguely realistic. If anyone has a time machine and wants to go check the methods, feel free. ^^;
There may be some slight OOC-ness as compared to hers...but I figure 27 years is long enough for people's thoughts to change on certain things. And I suspect that would make Yugi and Atemu somewhere in their 40's in this, for the record. Yaye for grown-up love? x3