[fic] The years gone past - Yugioh, 'Atemu'xYugi, general, G, theme 025 (100_chances)
Theme: 025- The years gone past; for 100_chances
Title: When You're Far Away
Author: Chey (duelist_gurl163)
Rating: G
Genre: General/light angst
Pairings: 'Atemu'xYugi
Archive: Here
Warnings: None.
Spoilers: None.
Summary: One day he would rejoin the one he loved.
Disclaimer: Takahashi =/= me
This is the third fic in a set. Make sure to read the first if you haven't yet:
Part 1: At the Stars
Part 2: Please Don't Take Me Home
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“Dr. Mutou…sir…Yugi!”
He jumped, and a sudden smattering of random letters appeared on the notes he was typing.
“What?” He turned around, irritated, even though a simple click of the backspace would erase the mistakes. “You’re not supposed to use my first name.”
Behind him stood a young woman, her arms folded. “Well you weren’t answering to your surname. And you use mine all the time.”
Yugi felt his irritation ebb, and he stretched. “That’s different Amber, you’re an intern. I didn’t spend years in school to have interns ignore my title and call me by my first name,” he replied, indignant. She picked up on the teasing.
“Okay, fine. Dr. Mutou then.”
“Thank you. Now did you want something?”
“Yes. Some of the other researchers and interns are going out for coffee or drinks…we’re celebrating the new magazine article coming out soon. I thought you might want to join us.”
Yugi sighed. “I can’t, I have work.”
“It’s almost ten o’clock! You’ve been in here working all day. What could you possibly have to still work on?”
“I have this report-”
“Report, re-shmort, that’s always your excuse.”
“Besides, I don’t drink alcohol and it’s too late for coffee.” He avoided the question and was already turning back to his computer.
“Tea then. Or you could get decaf. Come on, it’s not healthy, the way you spend all your time working,” she said. “Just come out and celebrate with us, just this once. Spend time with your colleagues, get away from this desk. You need some friends, you know.”
“No, really, I do appreciate the offer. I just feel like working here instead. Maybe another time.”
She paused. “Wait…you’re telling me you’d rather work than go out? I knew something was wrong with you.”
“Well it’s not like that…” He began hesitantly.
“Yugi.” She resumed use of his regular name as she always did. “You’re insane.”
“No I’m not.”
“Fine, you’re obsessed then.”
“Obsessed isn’t a very nice word…I prefer passionate.”
“Passionate.” She smiled. “Alright. But don’t you ever get tired of being passionate about things billions of kilometers away? Doesn’t that make for a lonely life?”
For some reason this made him smile sadly, and he waved his hand and said, “I appreciate your concern as well, but I’m fine.”
“What are you looking for?” She finally asked.
“Huh?”
“Looking for, what are you hoping to find out there?” She gestured towards the skylight built into the roof of the office. “You’re already famous. You’ve gotten your name in countless astronomy magazines and most likely in books by now. You’ve made some amazing discoveries in the last few years, you’ve taken the award-winning images…what else do you want? To discover another Earth or something? Aliens maybe?”
“I don’t want anything. I’m not looking for anything…”
“Well this isn’t a job you choose on a lark, something must’ve made you pursue it to make it this far,” Amber said.
Yugi was quiet. Then: “I just like it.”
She shook her head. “I swear, sometimes I think you’re just a robot, and your heart and soul are actually out in another galaxy someplace.”
He just smiled again in that oddly sad way. Amber finally smiled too. “Well I can’t fault your passion. You’ve gotten the awards and the recognition to back it up. Maybe we can get you to do coffee another day? Perhaps for the next magazine celebration, when you finally publish this report you’re always working so hard on?”
He humored the teasing. “Yeah, maybe.”
“Fair enough. Have a good night.”
“Good night.”
As she left the room, Yugi’s eyes went to the skylight in the roof, through which the night sky was visible. In his years, as he’d worked his way through school and through the astronomy bureaucracy, eventually even becoming famous for his part in a recent series of the furthest-ever photographs taken from Earth, he’d been asked similar questions more than once. Why this job? What drives you? Why choose this? Somehow, his answers were never acceptable, and he’d earned the reputation of being a bit…odd.
His coworkers’ opinions not withstanding, he found himself generally at peace with his life. His days, admittedly, revolved around his work, but he didn’t think of that as bad. Those days he spent at the telescopes and satellite images, the days he documented new stars or planets…those were the only moments he would really feel complete.
He also did not in any way think himself “obsessed,” as his cheeky intern Amber suggested. He was simply driven. He wasn’t looking for anything, he was chasing. Forever chasing what he knew he’d never catch up with, but the chase was enough to keep him going.
Sometimes, certainly, it felt strange to turn around and realize that over thirty years had passed him by in this building…but time was strange like that. Sometimes it felt like it had only been a few weeks. Other days it felt like several centuries. At times, the sheer realization of how many years had slipped away overwhelmed him, but he always came back to the same conclusion.
This is right.
He turned back to his computer, ready to keep typing, but his eyes automatically went to the picture framed on his desk.
Atemu’s faded image gazed out of it at him. He’d clipped the image out of a dueling magazine many years ago, even before Atemu had left. It was only after he was gone; however, that Yugi had framed the picture. Having collected many pictures from magazines or websites over the years, he had decided that this one deserved a place of honor on his desk - he spent more time here than at home as it was. And anyway, an astronomy building seemed like the perfect place for Atemu’s photo.
Sure, Yugi’s life looked empty. But it wasn’t, not at all. His choice to go into this field had confused everyone who knew him, but the longer he worked, the more he knew this was the best place for him…perhaps even the only place for him. He smiled at the picture.
“…every star is actually the spirit of someone who has passed away.”
Stretching, he settled back down at the computer and continued typing.
“…the people they left behind can look up every night and see them, and know that they’re not alone.”
Here, he didn’t have to wait till night. Every day he saw the beauty that the sky hid. Every day he got to look further into the universe than anybody else on Earth. And every day he found there the knowledge that Atemu wasn’t far away. No, he was there…always hovering just out of sight, just out of reach, but undeniably there.
Atemu.
One day he would rejoin the one he loved, in that place just beyond the telescope’s limits.
But until that day, he was content to chase.
X - X - X
Notes: I’ve actually had this written for over a year. xD Only now did I finally find an excuse to post it.
This theme gets a title! Like the other two fics in this set, the title is taken from the Better Than Ezra song “At the Stars.” They’re a little-known band with some truly great songs, (“Breathless” is sort of the theme song for the upcoming chapter fic), so I urge you check them out if you like alternative rock music. This is also the first theme to include the genre 'light angst.'
And it's theme 025! 1/4 of the way through the challenge. =D
Happy Mother’s Day to all moms. ^_^