He knew it was very early in the morning still, but he simply couldn't say 'no' to his genius idea. He was used to inspiration hitting him at the weirdest moments, especially when he had no access to his equipment; it drove him mad! But since the moment he woke up, the entire concept of his latest game had been so clear to him, he couldn't ignore it!
Yuugi frantically typed everything into his laptop. He already sketched a few rough designs, now he was working on the actual mechanics of the game. Kaiba was going to freak out - in a positive way - when he saw this! Yuugi was wearing an uncharacteristic grin on his face. It was sometimes hard to live with the pressure, being the King of Games and already heralded as the most promising student Games Design at Domino University (has it been almost a year since he graduated Domino High?), but he could deal with it, this was all so very exciting!
He thought he'd been silent as a mouse, but he was fairly sure it weren't the typing noises that had woken Atemu up. The other half of his soul was an absurd early riser, but the fact that he was scratching his deliciously sexy bed head in confusion at seeing Yuugi at the laptop at this early hour, meant that it was really, really ridiculously early.
"I'm sorry, mou hitori no boku," Yuugi apologized. "I didn't mean to wake you up." He chastised himself mentally. Why hadn't he gone to the living room? Aside from rising early, Atemu was a notorious light sleeper.
"Good morning, aibou," he answered and he hid a yawn behind his hand. "You should still be asleep."
"I had the most wonderful idea for my game," Yuugi said, still apologetic. "I couldn't sleep; I had to write it down."
"I understand." Atemu joined him at the desk and leafed through the sketches. "This looks very interesting." His voice changed to a lower, more apprehensive tone. "So you are going into the office today?"
'Going into the office' meant the workplace Kaiba had assigned to Yuugi at his own company, KaibaCorp.. He had immediately recognized Yuugi's talent for designing games and had offered Yuugi his own office, with all the facilities he could only dream of. It was amazing and humbling; he didn't know why he deserved all of this, but he'd be crazy to turn the offer down. Yuugi turned his head so he could kiss Atemu on the cheek.
"Yes, I don't have classes today and I'm up-to-date with all my projects and schoolwork. What a coincidence, I had freed up this day in my agenda a long time ago, and now I have a perfect opportunity to work on the game!"
"I will pack your bento," Atemu said, unenthusiastically.
"What are you going to do today?" Yuugi asked. He tried to get as close to the other as he could, enjoying their moments together. "Give a masterclass in dueling? Work at the Shop?"
"Yes, I am going to help out jii-chan."
A little disappointed that Atemu didn't return the morning kiss, Yuugi decided to work on the game until it was time for breakfast. He went through his usual morning routine: showering, getting dressed, packing up his stuff and thundering down the stairs, bouncing into the kitchen.
"Good morning, Yuugi," his mother greeted him. She noticed his backpack. "Where are you going to?"
"The office," he answered. The quizzical look she gave him was a little disturbing. "Kaa-san? Something the matter?"
"Have you forgotten..." she started, but Atemu swept into the kitchen and she abruptly stopped talking.
"Forgotten about what?" Yuugi opened the fridge. He always helped out making breakfast and pulled out ingredients for hourensou no gomaee, the spinach salad with sesame sauce, one of his mother's favorites. She had already prepared the tamagoyaki and the rice steamer was almost done.
"Never mind," she said. "Have you seen your grandfather?"
"He is on his way," Atemu answered in his stead. He distributed plates, napkins, chopsticks and bowls on the kitchen table. It was the usual hustle and bustle of a general Thursday morning and Yuugi enjoyed every moment of it; this was his life and it couldn't be more perfect than this, sharing it with his family and the man he loved, not to mention his friends.
At his office, Yuugi called up the 3D software on the computer to start rendering his game, putting in all the information from his laptop. Completely consumed by his work, he even forgot to eat until his stomach reminded him painfully with an ominous growl. He fished out his bento box from his backpack and retrieved his phone as well, checking for messages. Usually Atemu, Jounouchi-kun or anyone else of his friends would send him something... strange, he had missed at least twenty messages and another ten calls. That was absurd. Why hadn't he heard anything..? Yuugi went through his phone settings and quickly discovered that he had turned the sound off. Weird. Well, he'd been very busy as of late, so he probably had done this as to not be disturbed. He opened the first text message, one from Jounouchi. Congratulations with your Pharaoh, the text read. Yuugi frowned. Congratulations..?
The next message was from Anzu. Have a wonderful day you two! Congratulations! What..? Honda: Congrats, man! Party still on this weekend? Party..? Bakura: Many happy returns for Atemu-san! Congratulations! Happy returns... oh no. Oh no. Oh no, no, no..! Yuugi stared at the display of his cell phone. He didn't dare to read the rest of the messages. Shizuka. Rebecca. Mokuba... His eyes were fixed on the small numbers in the upper right corner of the display. The date: July 26. How could he have been so stupid? He had totally forgotten about Atemu's birthday... today! The 19th of the third month of Shemu, the Harvesting Season, according to the Ancient Egyptian calendar. Bakura and jii-chan had helped to translate the date to the current calendar and they had settled upon July 26, as that was the closest as they could determine the day. And he, Mutou Yuugi, super idiot of the year, had forgotten about it. To make it worse, it was Atemu's first birthday in his current life. After the Ceremonial Duel, the Gods had granted him a choice: either enter through the door to the Afterlife or live out a mortal life. He only needed one second to decide, and they had been together ever since. Some boyfriend he was! Now he remembered why he had left this day blank in his agenda; he had wanted to spend the entire day one-on-one with Atemu. He also understood Atemu's less-than-excited reaction earlier this morning, and why he hadn't given him a morning kiss. Of course he hadn't! Why would he give his thoughtless, tactless, uncaring boyfriend a morning kiss?
Yuugi felt embarrassed, guilty and ashamed at the same time. Honda's comment about the party reminded him double of his failure; a couple of weeks ago, he had explicitly asked Anzu to organize the birthday surprise party because she was good at it and it left his hands free to celebrate Atemu's birthday on the actual day. How could he have been so stupid? His study, his work and his obligations were no excuse! Yuugi quickly powered down the computer and bolted out of the office. He had to make up for it! He hopped from foot to foot, waiting for the subway. Domino City public transport was fast, but it wasn't fast enough for him. When he finally reached his stop, he ran, brusquely pushing people to the side, and hurried as fast as he could to the Game Shop.
"Irrashai..! Oh, it's you, Yuugi." His grandfather looked both amused and annoyed as he saw his grandson, panting at the door, the bell chiming.
"Where... where is he?" Yuugi wheezed. His physical condition had never been all that great.
"I'm not going to help you out on this one," Sugoroku said, deadpan. "You're a grown up, you have to take your own responsibilities."
"Why didn't you remind me?" Yuugi whined as he still tried to catch his breath.
"I called you at least three times, it's not my problem when you don't pick up. It's a good thing that Anzu-chan is in charge of the party, or else..."
"Yes yes, I would've forgotten about that too. Please don't add more to my embarrassment, jii-chan."
"If you think I'm going to take pity on you..." He wagged a finger at Yuugi. The twinkling in his eyes belied his stern voice. "Go upstairs. He's in the living room with your mother."
Yuugi took a deep breath and braced himself. This was his responsibility indeed, and he had grossly failed. Time to own up his mistake... he went upstairs and searched out his lover, the other half of his soul. True to jii-chan's words, he was in the living room, having tea with Yuugi's mother. She noticed him first and put her teacup down.
"There you are," she said, glancing from Atemu to Yuugi and back again. "Well, I should get back into the kitchen. I'm making falafel for Atemu-kun, and I wouldn't want to mess up the recipe."
"Thank you kaa-san, I'm sorry kaa-san," Yuugi said as his mother passed him. She was hardly out of his sight or he flung himself into Atemu's arms - fortunately, he wasn't holding a teacup in his hand.
"Mou hitori no boku! I'm so sorry! I'm an idiot! I'm an ass! I'm so stupid!"
"Yes, you are," Atemu answered. There was more amusement than anger or annoyance to his voice, though. He put his arms around Yuugi and patted him on the back. "This was not really what I had imagined for my first birthday, aibou."
"I know, I know." Yuugi tightened his grip on Atemu. "You have every right to be upset and angry with me. This should've been your special day, and I... I totally forgot about it!"
"You were occupied by your game," Atemu said. "Which had a really good design."
"No, no, that won't fly. There's no excuse for it, at all. I'm so sorry, and I want to make it up to you. The day isn't over yet. I'm sure there are still seats available at the kabuki theater or at the art house. Which performance would you like to see?"
"Well, there is an interesting movie about a boy, separated from his parents at a young age, returns to his home country to look for them..."
"Great! I'll make reservations right away." Yuugi pulled out his cell phone and saw Atemu's lying on the coffee table. "Did you receive many birthday wishes?"
"Yes, a lot of them. Except from the man I love."
Yuugi blushed in embarrassment. He kissed Atemu on the cheek. "Congratulations, mou hitori no boku. Please forgive me, but I understand you're not going to let me live this down for a long time to come."
"You know how vindictive I can be, aibou."
"Please don't grin like that, it gives me the creeps."
Atemu planted a kiss on his lips. Yuugi immediately seized the opportunity to part his lips and latching onto Atemu, kissing him passionately. More kisses followed, leaving Yuugi breathless. His hands slipped under Atemu's shirt, touching his warm, sun-kissed skin.
"Tonight... for your birthday..." he mumbled between kisses, "you can do to me anything you want, my Pharaoh."
"Anything..?"
"There you go with your creepy grin again..."
"I am not creepy, aibou. I was just thinking about what delicious things I can do to you, to make you suffer and pay and deliciously writhe and squirm under me, to make up for you forgetting about my birthday."
"I was right, you'll never let me live this down..."
"Not for a long time to come, no. And come, you will..."
"That's just about the worst pun I've heard in my life!"
"Your life, which will totally be in my hands tonight..."
"I love you," Yuugi said and kissed him again. He wasn't really disturbed by their banter. He knew Atemu would never harm him or do something against his will, they respected and loved each other too much. However, his promise of deliciously writhing and squirming made his imagination go wild, and he shivered in anticipation.
He was in need of a shower, his body sweaty and sticky in various places, but with his lover snoring on top of him, it was hard to move. Yuugi threaded his fingers through Atemu's hair, avoiding waking him up. His body was tingling and aching all over, but it had been worth it, so much worth it. Atemu hadn't thought of his own pleasure this evening, Yuugi had been plenty satisfied as well. It had turned out to be a wonderful evening after all; the falafel had tasted great, the movie at the art house hadn't been as boring as he had feared, and well... afterwards... Yuugi had the goofiest, most blissful smile on his face. Atemu's weight on top of him didn't bother him, he enjoyed his lover's proximity, and couldn't get enough of his scent. It was an excellent conclusion to a somewhat messy birthday; Yuugi couldn't forgive himself either for forgetting about it. Next year, he would add an extra note to this day, to make sure he'd never forget about it again. Good thing there was still a party coming up - Yuugi had managed to keep his mouth shut, otherwise he would've ruined that surprise to boot. Fondly, he kissed his Pharaoh on the top of his head.
"Happy birthday, mou hitori no boku," he said, amusedly. "Many happy, happy returns."