Bits and Pieces 2
Series:YuGiOh
Title: Bits and Pieces
Author: Fictatious
Character(s): Mutou Yuugi, Yami-Yuugi
Rating: General
Warnings: Not really
Previous: 1
Summary: The usual "What if a yami or two gets their own body at the end of the series there?" set-up; in this scene Yuugi worries about future stuffs.
“This is so strange...” Atem mused, sitting in the middle of a futon on the floor of Yuugi’s room, and buttoning up a spare pajama top.
Yuugi laughed, sitting on the edge of his own bed and kicking his legs idly. “Y’know, I think realistically, this is a lot more normal that we ever were before. Most people would say it’s strange to have two people’s brains living in one body!”
“Minds,” Atem corrected, doing the top button. “The brain is a physical organ.”
“Right,” Yuugi nodded. “It’s weird though, because I’m not really sure what we’re supposed to do now...” he admitted. “I mean, are you supposed to just be a normal person now or something?”
Atem shrugged, fiddling with the cuffs of the shirt before scooting off of the futon so he could push the cover back. “I don’t know. I suppose I’m the same age I was three thousand years ago, but back then a fifteen-year-old was an adult. I’m not sure if I could be a teenager.”
“It’s not that hard,” Yuugi reasoned with a silly grin. “I mean, there’s a lot of studying for exams and stuff, but you’d probably be better at most of that stuff than me anyway.”
“Yuugi, I don’t have a birth certificate,” Atem pointed out. “I don’t have an identification number or any of the things that people have to have now. I’m like an undocumented immigrant. I can’t go to school, I can’t get a job, I can’t have a bank account. As far as the government is concerned, I don’t exist. And if somebody takes notice and reports me, I could be deported to, well, I don’t even know where, because it’s not as though I exist in any other countries either.”
Yuugi’s blood went cold at the thought. “They couldn’t do that...” he protested weakly.
“Of course they could, Yuugi,” Atem sighed, laying down on the futon and staring up at the ceiling.
“It’ll be okay. We’ll figure something out...” Yuugi mumbled unhappily.
Atem shook his head. “There’s no use in thinking about it anymore tonight,” he said and closed his eyes.
“... Yeah,” Yuugi agreed quietly. He sat there motionless for a few minutes and then leaned over and turned off his bedside lamp, casting the room into darkness.
He wondered, as he settled into his bed, if Atem could really just stop thinking about it like that and go to sleep. He strained his ears and listened to his other self’s breathing. He sounded perfectly restful. How could he sleep so easily after bringing up something so disturbing?
Yuugi rolled on his side and curled his knees up close to his body. The thought of Atem being taken away, deported to some other country or worse, was unbearable. It would be like loosing half of himself. Yuugi squeezed his eyes shut tight and tried to push away the dread.
It was lonely.
The thought was lonely, but so was the way his mind just kept running around in useless circles. He was so used to having Atem’s voice there in his mind, telling him to calm down when he panicked like this. Yuugi opened his eyes and stared into the pool of darkness that enveloped the floor and Atem’s futon.
Atem was only a meter away from him, but it seemed like there was such a vast canyon separating them now. He wasn’t Yuugi’s other self anymore; he was a flesh and blood human being, and subject to all the limitations that could come with that. They weren’t connected. They weren’t a part of each other. Why did Atem getting his body back feel like Yuugi had lost something?
Yuugi wondered if he could manage on his own. Even if Atem was still there, he wasn’t there. Could Yuugi be brave enough to handle even the simple daily things without knowing that Atem was with him, supporting him? He didn’t think he had that kind of courage. He wasn’t strong or brave like his friends. He wondered if they’d think he was just annoying and weak now.
He shivered. The canyon seemed to be growing wider by the second. Yuugi blinked quickly, his eyes hot and irritated. His other self had never scoffed at Yuugi’s weakness or turned his back on Yuugi for being a coward. Maybe he still wouldn’t, even though he was Atem now. Even though he didn’t need Yuugi anymore.
Yuugi sat up and wiped the heel of his hand against his eye, trying to brush away tears that hadn’t quite formed yet. He slid his feet to the ground and crouched down to find the edge of the futon. He pulled at the cover and started to crawl under before he paused, realizing what he was doing, how childish he was being. What was he, four?
Just as Yuugi had decided to abort the mission and climb back up into his own bed, an arm came up and caught around his shoulders, pulling him down into the futon. Yuugi shivered and pressed himself close against his other self, closing his eyes and feeling tears behind them again.
“I won’t get deported, Yuugi. We’ll figure something out,” Atem said quietly and Yuugi nodded, tucking his face against Atem’s neck and shivering as he tried let go of the tension locking up his muscles. When Atem said that things would work out, Yuugi believed it.
***
AN: I seem to write Yuugi with some serious self-esteem issues, but then, at least in the comics, he seems to be pretty bad about that in canon, there's pathetic little references in the anime, but it's a lot more pronounced in the comics. Beh, this is really short and I think it's pretty damn far from my best writing, but I don't really want to dedicate more to this because I just haven't felt it since the idea originally came up (before I wrote it down, I don't know, I think it might have been better if I'd been writing when I first started thinking through the scene). So anyway, here's this, and I'll post the next drabble tonight, which is much better, and I know my fanditos have come to expect at least a bit of Bakura-love, and I'd hate to disappoint.
Title: Bits and Pieces
Author: Fictatious
Character(s): Mutou Yuugi, Yami-Yuugi
Rating: General
Warnings: Not really
Previous: 1
Summary: The usual "What if a yami or two gets their own body at the end of the series there?" set-up; in this scene Yuugi worries about future stuffs.
“This is so strange...” Atem mused, sitting in the middle of a futon on the floor of Yuugi’s room, and buttoning up a spare pajama top.
Yuugi laughed, sitting on the edge of his own bed and kicking his legs idly. “Y’know, I think realistically, this is a lot more normal that we ever were before. Most people would say it’s strange to have two people’s brains living in one body!”
“Minds,” Atem corrected, doing the top button. “The brain is a physical organ.”
“Right,” Yuugi nodded. “It’s weird though, because I’m not really sure what we’re supposed to do now...” he admitted. “I mean, are you supposed to just be a normal person now or something?”
Atem shrugged, fiddling with the cuffs of the shirt before scooting off of the futon so he could push the cover back. “I don’t know. I suppose I’m the same age I was three thousand years ago, but back then a fifteen-year-old was an adult. I’m not sure if I could be a teenager.”
“It’s not that hard,” Yuugi reasoned with a silly grin. “I mean, there’s a lot of studying for exams and stuff, but you’d probably be better at most of that stuff than me anyway.”
“Yuugi, I don’t have a birth certificate,” Atem pointed out. “I don’t have an identification number or any of the things that people have to have now. I’m like an undocumented immigrant. I can’t go to school, I can’t get a job, I can’t have a bank account. As far as the government is concerned, I don’t exist. And if somebody takes notice and reports me, I could be deported to, well, I don’t even know where, because it’s not as though I exist in any other countries either.”
Yuugi’s blood went cold at the thought. “They couldn’t do that...” he protested weakly.
“Of course they could, Yuugi,” Atem sighed, laying down on the futon and staring up at the ceiling.
“It’ll be okay. We’ll figure something out...” Yuugi mumbled unhappily.
Atem shook his head. “There’s no use in thinking about it anymore tonight,” he said and closed his eyes.
“... Yeah,” Yuugi agreed quietly. He sat there motionless for a few minutes and then leaned over and turned off his bedside lamp, casting the room into darkness.
He wondered, as he settled into his bed, if Atem could really just stop thinking about it like that and go to sleep. He strained his ears and listened to his other self’s breathing. He sounded perfectly restful. How could he sleep so easily after bringing up something so disturbing?
Yuugi rolled on his side and curled his knees up close to his body. The thought of Atem being taken away, deported to some other country or worse, was unbearable. It would be like loosing half of himself. Yuugi squeezed his eyes shut tight and tried to push away the dread.
It was lonely.
The thought was lonely, but so was the way his mind just kept running around in useless circles. He was so used to having Atem’s voice there in his mind, telling him to calm down when he panicked like this. Yuugi opened his eyes and stared into the pool of darkness that enveloped the floor and Atem’s futon.
Atem was only a meter away from him, but it seemed like there was such a vast canyon separating them now. He wasn’t Yuugi’s other self anymore; he was a flesh and blood human being, and subject to all the limitations that could come with that. They weren’t connected. They weren’t a part of each other. Why did Atem getting his body back feel like Yuugi had lost something?
Yuugi wondered if he could manage on his own. Even if Atem was still there, he wasn’t there. Could Yuugi be brave enough to handle even the simple daily things without knowing that Atem was with him, supporting him? He didn’t think he had that kind of courage. He wasn’t strong or brave like his friends. He wondered if they’d think he was just annoying and weak now.
He shivered. The canyon seemed to be growing wider by the second. Yuugi blinked quickly, his eyes hot and irritated. His other self had never scoffed at Yuugi’s weakness or turned his back on Yuugi for being a coward. Maybe he still wouldn’t, even though he was Atem now. Even though he didn’t need Yuugi anymore.
Yuugi sat up and wiped the heel of his hand against his eye, trying to brush away tears that hadn’t quite formed yet. He slid his feet to the ground and crouched down to find the edge of the futon. He pulled at the cover and started to crawl under before he paused, realizing what he was doing, how childish he was being. What was he, four?
Just as Yuugi had decided to abort the mission and climb back up into his own bed, an arm came up and caught around his shoulders, pulling him down into the futon. Yuugi shivered and pressed himself close against his other self, closing his eyes and feeling tears behind them again.
“I won’t get deported, Yuugi. We’ll figure something out,” Atem said quietly and Yuugi nodded, tucking his face against Atem’s neck and shivering as he tried let go of the tension locking up his muscles. When Atem said that things would work out, Yuugi believed it.
***
AN: I seem to write Yuugi with some serious self-esteem issues, but then, at least in the comics, he seems to be pretty bad about that in canon, there's pathetic little references in the anime, but it's a lot more pronounced in the comics. Beh, this is really short and I think it's pretty damn far from my best writing, but I don't really want to dedicate more to this because I just haven't felt it since the idea originally came up (before I wrote it down, I don't know, I think it might have been better if I'd been writing when I first started thinking through the scene). So anyway, here's this, and I'll post the next drabble tonight, which is much better, and I know my fanditos have come to expect at least a bit of Bakura-love, and I'd hate to disappoint.