Chapter Text
For the first time in a long time, Yugi’s hands were sweating while he was waiting to step on stage. Worse, he was biting his nails. Nostalgic of the first time he ever stepped on a big stage at all. He’d seen bigger crowds, played bigger festivals. This was… a happy medium in comparison. But there was so much other shit going on, he knew Atem was waiting in another area backstage, and from the wings Yugi could see the silks hanging from the impossibly high ceiling. They were a pretty shimmery silver that seemed to change color when the stage lights hit them. Yugi saw his set waiting for him too-- his mixing table, mic, laptop, a few water bottles, and a plethora of cords.
What made him bite his nails worst of all was every time he saw a medic team member walk by. They were doing nothing, surely, but Yugi could envision it perfectly: all of them scrambling onto stage because Atem fell and wasn’t moving. Every vacant spot in his body was screaming, “yeah, that ambulance you saw in the reserved parking lot behind the stage is gonna carry him away.”
And he knew it was fucking stupid. He knew Atem was no fool, that the fall from months ago was a giant human error, that Atem was a bit more reckless back then. Multiple times now, Atem had assured him that it was basically a freak accident that, if anything, made Atem even more careful than he ever has been. Not a single slip-up since, not a step out of his flawless line that he walked on.
But Yugi couldn’t quit staring at the medics and when he wasn’t, he was thinking about them running on stage again.
A flash of a thought blanketed him and calmed his nerves all at once, that maybe all his worrying was only because he cared about Atem so fucking much, more than he can remember ever caring about anyone else.
Fuck it. Atem’ll be fine. I’ll be fine. Nothing in this wacky fun world was going to keep Yugi from giving him a big ol’ congratulations and busting a wine bottle open at the after party. Maybe sharing a drink with him. Nothing at all.
Might fuck around and smooch him too.
The host was announcing shit to the audience and the TV camera, all of which Yugi was ignoring. Game plan: once she walked off, the crowd would silence and the intro would start. Then, he’d go on. Everyone goes wooo! then,
Atem would come on and the world would cheer. Oh fuck Yugi’s heart was pounding like a teenage daydreamer ‘bout a school crush and it wouldn’t stop.
Then, they’d both perform the best show of their lives together and there was nothing better than that, Yugi thought.
There was nothing that ever felt this fucking incredible.
“Intro in 30 seconds.”
“Fuck!” Yugi whisper-shouted and turned to find Seto standing a few spaces behind him. He squeezed his eyes shut a few times and laughed it off. “Sorry, Seto. You scared the shit out of me.”
“Sorry. You just seemed kind of… spacey.” Seto chuckled and grinned with genuine pride, and it made Yugi feel warm. “Uh. Good luck. I’m… really proud of you, Yugi. Again, sorry about everything.”
I guess Atem really did get through to him, huh?
The idea of crying sounded too good, so Yugi looked at the floor. Everyone, and everything was going so right, he was sure if he tried hard enough he could convince himself that this was all some sort of really awesome fever dream.
“...You’re a good friend for putting up with my bullshit.”
“Ahah,” Yugi rubbed at his nose. The announcer was saying some stuff leading up to his stage entrance and he thought for a second that the ecstasy of it all might be a bit too much. “You too. I’m not exactly the shining example of an ideal friend or coworker. But--”
The lights dimmed out, and Yugi was suddenly aware of how cold it was outside. They all watched the stage, waited. Pulsating waves of LED violet surrounded the grand speakers on the set.
Nostalgia. But this time, unlike the show Atem happened to have seen him in (and hated), they were in it together.
“I gotta get up there,” Yugi murmured. One last look back at Seto who gave him the cheesiest thumbs up Yugi had ever seen, and away he went.
Screams from the crowd were nearly louder than the intro itself-- signs and light-up… thingies of all sorts being waved around. Some Silk!! ones, others with “Happy New Year!!!” sort of messages.
The first thing Yugi did after he took a quick glance down at his laptop to ensure everything was exactly as it should be, was grab the microphone and get on top of the sturdy and elaborate table. Took a good look at the night. Stage lights and lasers illuminating the thick clouds, cold air making his cheeks sting. Once the intro quieted, he began to speak.
For the first time in a long while, his hands were shaking. But he wasn’t nervous, no, he was overjoyed.
Grinning, he asked the world watching: “Are you guys with me?”
A roaring cheer, yeses mixed in amongst the waves.
“Good. My name is Silk!!,” another loud reception and Yugi waited a second, “I hope y’all are excited for the New Year.”
A little pause while Yugi calmed his rumbling and booming heart.
“Those that have seen me before, tonight is going to be a bit special. I have an amazing aerial silk dancer with me tonight. His name is Atem, and when he comes on tonight I want you all to cheer real loud. What he’s going to do is dangerous, but it’s fucking (there goes his one accidental curse word slip up that Seto allowed him) incredible.”
The crowd seemed on board with how loud they responded, and Yugi stepped down from the table.
“Thanks,” he breathed, a bit of a laugh to his voice. He was more excited for Atem than he was to play his own show, and absolutely nothing about that felt wrong.
Except for that tiny, teensy voice in the back of his head that still worried about Atem falling.
Yugi’s hands hovered over knobs on his mixing table. “Let’s fucking fly,” he boomed.
Oops. Sorry Seto.
Vibrant. That was the only word Yugi could think of to describe the atmosphere of the set as it went on. From song to song, he felt everything much more than he usually did. Some shows felt like going through the motions, others were a lot more connected and intense. This was one of those nights, but rather than the hyper energy he usually experienced, this was something else.
Vibrant.
Maybe it was the colors, maybe it was that the music he put together for this set was a lot more feel-good than his usual headbangers.
Maybe it was knowing Atem could hear from the wings, as he made last minute preparations to join him.
No clue. But Yugi was riding on it like the smoothest high he ever had, no amount of drugs would ever get him feeling this way.
Especially not, when he transitioned smoothly into the song that would signal Atem’s entrance.
Concealing his grin as the crowd cheered, Yugi watched everyone watch the person behind him. Oh, golly fuck what he wouldn’t give to just turn around and watch Atem go. He wanted to see what everyone else saw because for the first time, Yugi wasn't afraid to watch.
No more voice, no more doubt, Yugi was damn certain that his (?!?boyfriendmaybe?!?) was going to be absolutely fucking flawless.
And apparently he was, because everyone was cheering. It was a real odd thing; Yugi had performed this routine alongside Atem a billion fucking times by now, but he always kept his head turned. He saw Atem’s whole act maybe about once or twice all the way through because Seto forced him to. But even Seto couldn’t keep Yugi from closing his eyes during the parts that scared him.
Tonight he saw the awe he should have felt back then, all mirrored through the eyes of the onlookers. How he could see eyes shift around when Atem moved, smiles and sudden bursts of cheer.
It took every responsible brain cell Yugi had to keep from jumping into the crowd and watching Atem from their point of view.
Yugi glanced at the time on his laptop. 11:54. Yup, everything was lining up perfectly. At exactly 11:57, right on the dot, he’d ease into the song. The one Atem would ( oh fuck what he wouldn’t give to just turn around and tell Atem how fucking awesome he was) fly to. And whether things went wrong or right, he knew this would hit the papers and media. I mean, to hell with the NY New Year’s Ball Drop when you could be in Las Vegas watching a literal fucking person drop nearly to the floor without dying, right?
Lights and color flew across the hundreds of people watching. In the brief moment of silence at 11:56:45, Yugi smiled and spoke.
“Get ready,” he spoke with eagerness, and he could see his breath in the cold air. Everyone cheered, and Yugi’s heart pounded.
Oh fuck, this was it.
This was it.
The final song of the year began, and the lyrics seemed to resonate in Yugi’s body way more than they ever had in the process of recording, rehearsals, or shows.
Everyone beyond him seemed to feel the same way, because they shouted the lyrics back at him louder than he had ever heard during any live performance he had with it. Loud enough that the words seemed to blanket Yugi’s entire world, and suddenly the lyrics no longer felt like his own, no, it seemed to be Atem speaking directly to his heart.
The world glowed.
One minute to midnight.
“Can you take me somewhere I’ve never been?
Do you believe in me, even though I’m only human?
Can you take me somewhere I’ve never been?
Do you believe in the supernatural?”
Overwhelming affection felt like expanding foam in Yugi’s lungs and throat, fingers working magic on the mixing table. When he glanced upwards, he saw the crowd looking way over Yugi’s head.
Atem was, what seemed like miles and miles from the ground.
Yes, he was on top of the world.
5!
The crowd was counting. Pointing. Maybe they knew what Atem was going to do. Probably, some people actually looked a bit scared (Haha! Join the fuckin’ party).
4!
Oh, fuck Yugi wanted to turn around. Butterflies were tearing his stomach apart and he wanted to see.
3!
Yugi grit his teeth. I mean, fuck, he wasn’t actually playing the keyboard or singing or anything at the moment, right? Maybe...
2!
Fuck it.
1!
Just in the nick of time, Yugi turned his head and looked up. Eyes wide, jaw dropping.
Atem was shining. Stage lights all pointed at him, his costume catching the lights and glittering.
So far up on those silks, it seemed like he was floating. As cheesy and fucking stupid as it sounded in his head, Yugi kind of thought he looked like an angel; an ethereal being or something.
Atem let go and everyone screamed.
!!!Happy New Year!!!
A slight smile on Atem’s face, pose and position flawless.
From somewhere, Yugi heard someone scream “He’s flying!”
Yugi agreed. That man was magic .
Fuck, maybe Atem could control time too, because it seemed like the whole world froze for a moment.
Froze long enough for Yugi to realize, accept, and embrace, that he undoubtedly loved Atem with all that he was.
Wanted to shout “Marry me!” right then and there.
Right where and when he needed to, Atem’s hands grabbed onto the silks. Loose at first before clinging on with a forceful grip that brought him to a slow stop a few feet from the ground. Everyone watching roared, clapping and hollering as Atem took a second to reconfigure. He made eye contact with Yugi for a brief second when he arched his back until his head was upside down. Spinning slow enough for Yugi look up and see Atem’s brow furrow because--
“Oh fuck,” Yugi whipped back around to his table and tried not to look dumbfounded as he got the next song ready. Entirely unscripted and he knew Seto was watching, he spoke into the microphone: “Isn’t he something?”
Loud agreement flooded his ears. Yugi laughed. “Yeah, haha. I thought so. Got a few more songs, Happy New Year!”
The rest of the concert blurred together because nothing could top the countdown. More moments of overwhelming reception, two encore songs, and a fireworks show in the distance. Once the final boom! of the grand finale passed, people’s eyes were off the skies and back towards the stage. The music faded and Yugi grinned into the night.
“Thank you.” He turned from the microphone and stepped down from his set, already finding Atem jumping down from the hoop that had been lowered down to the floor.
Atem was glistening with sweat yet somehow his makeup was perfectly intact. The only collateral was a few lone feathers from the costume backpiece that had flown down to the floor at some point. He looked up at Yugi, breathing hard, smiling in a way Yugi had never seen before. Sure, Atem was a relatively happy guy. But he had always been somewhat passive. Borderline lazy. Quiet. An old fart, Yugi liked to think of him as... in the most endearing way imaginable. Now Atem’s eyes were wide, full of life and excitement. If Yugi didn’t know better he’d assume Atem was going to grab him by the hand and toss him into the moon. That kind of crazy energy.
“I can’t hear a damn thing,” Atem giggled as Yugi reached out and took his hand.
“What?!” Yugi shouted back. Oh, he knew what Atem said. But he just wanted to test the waters of fucking around with him when they were both so high.
“I said, I can’t hear a--”
“I know, I know.” Yugi squeezed his warm hand and they walked to the front of the stage. Didn’t want to forget about everyone else. Usually, Yugi’s heart was connected with the crowd entirely. While that wasn’t untrue here, his attachment was stretched in front of and behind him, surrounded with sharp affection that left him frantic. And he loved it.
Hands still held, they took center stage and bowed. As their heads were low, Yugi glanced over and saw tears on Atem’s face and a strangled smile. Yeah, Yugi knew that look. He squeezed Atem’s hand again for a second, shook it a little. Good job, babe. After what felt like an hour later they raised, the crowd was still booming. Yugi let go of Atem’s hand and took a few steps to the side. The other looked mildly confused before Yugi gestured towards him. A moment later Atem understood, and bowed again.
Yugi clapped too, taking glances at everybody around him. Fuck, it was all so much gaiety. He had been in the music industry for years now and nothing had ever felt as wholesome and amazing as this. Shit, guess I’m crying too.
Atem raised himself and waved at the masses, then the lights faded away. They both trailed offstage and the crowd died down to a rowdy murmur.
! :^) !
The performance exhausted every bone in Atem’s body. Not because it was particularly straining-- he had done it a million times, but because he was nervous, excited, anxious… all of it. So when they exited the stage with Yugi guiding him by hand, he was thankful as ever fuck because it felt like he was coming down from every happy drug imaginable. He wasn’t sure where he was even supposed to be going. Interviews, or something. Sure. But his ears were ringing and his brain had seemingly exploded at some point.
Abruptly, Yugi stopped in the middle of the dark corridor connecting the stage to the rest of the backstage building. Atem ran into him because he was very much so not paying attention; which was okay, because all of a sudden Yugi’s arms were tight around him and he was laughing into the crook of Atem’s neck.
“Holy fuck, holy fuck Atem,” Yugi rambled something onwards that lead into what sounded like crying (Atem couldn’t quite tell, even with the earplugs he was probably half deaf now). Which, was confirmed when Atem leaned back a little and raised Yugi’s face with his hands.
It all came back then. Their first night at the bar, when Yugi stuck his tongue out at him and Atem eyed that little piercing wearily. The rehearsals. Bumping into Yugi afterwards. KaibaLand. Yugi spending the night, the party. The fall, when Yugi came over afterwards. The Obelisk. More occasions of Yugi spending the night. Little events, here and there. Rehearsal after rehearsal.
Atem had only seen Yugi cry once. That night when Atem had drunkenly asked for sex. But that was the thing: they were both drunk then. Right now, technically they were both sober (as far as Atem knew) and here the man was, sobbing with his face scrunched into the happiest happy-cry expression Atem had ever seen.
And Atem couldn’t do anything but stare, because he was almost certain his heart was lodged in his throat.
Yugi’s hands came up to grab his tightly, fingers now laced between their heaving chests.
“I love you, Atem.” Yugi’s throat tightened, lip trembling as he spoke. “I love you. I love you, so fucking much. I--”
I get it, Atem wanted to joke, but he didn’t for two reasons: firstly, he didn’t think his motor functions were working at all and secondly, he found it much better to quiet Yugi by kissing him. Hard, with an accidental whine slipping out somewhere because it was his time to cry too.
So they sat there for a few minutes, crying and kissing, until there was the makeshift noise of people walking up the back entrance stairs.
Yugi pulled back, chuckling and wiping under Atem’s eyelids. “Looks like your makeup finally gave in and smeared a little.”
Atem tried to frown but he was too blissed out. “Is it bad?”
“Nah. Nope. You’re too pretty. The makeup lost.”
“Oh.” Atem breathed in to say something else before the door flew open.
“Alright fuckheads, quit slobbering on each other in the hallway. You’ve got interviews to do. There are crowds of journalists and local news reporters waiting out there to eat you two alive.”
“Uuugh,” Yugi kept his body turned away from Jou long enough to wipe his face free of tears, voice strained in that emotional kind of way. “Can you tell ‘em to wait a second? My face is all splotchy. Atem’s better off, lucky bastard has foundation on.”
Jou walked towards them, and Atem looked anywhere but him. Sure, he had makeup on but his eyes were surely red and the last thing he wanted was for interviewers to think he got stoned right after the show ended. “You okay? Yugi are you--”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Fine, promise. Just,” Yugi sighed heavily and turned to Jou. “Real fucking happy, right now.”
“Yeah? Good show? Seemed like it, with the crowd reaction and all. Except for the fact that you turned away from the camera, and when you came back around you looked absolutely confused. Hell, it almost looked like it was Atem’s show and you were a kid that got invited on stage.”
“Hey,” Yugi warned. “It’s not every day that your boyfriend is falling from like, a bajillion miles from the ground. I wanted to see that shit. All I ever get to see is the onlookers.”
...What? Atem’s head snapped towards Yugi. “Excuse me.” Light stabbed into his stomach and he thought he might pass out. “Boyfriend?”
“Yeah! You know, ‘cause--” Yugi froze. “Wait. Shit, I didn’t ask you yet, did I? I thought real hard about it and I swear that sequence already happened.”
“Oh good God,” Jou murmured. But there was a breathy laugh to his voice. “You’re killing me. You two are so romantically dysfunctional. Love it. Alright, well I’ll let you guys have your moment in the creepy hallway. I’m gonna go let everyone know you guys are… finishing up after-show procedures, some bullshit lie like that.”
“Fuck you and thank you,” Yugi called out. Squeezed Atem’s hand and Atem was still spacing out, his brain repeating how Yugi said “boyfriend,” over and over again.
“Oh! And, love you,” Yugi added. “Always that one too.”
“Yeah, yeah. I love you too.” Jou shoved his hands into his pockets and turned his head just enough to smile at Atem. “Take good care of him. He’s been waiting for someone like you his whole life.”
“Out!” Yugi projected, and Jou obliged. Shut the door behind him quietly. “Geez, sayin’ stuff like that. Trying to embarrass me, haven’t even asked yet…”
Yugi looked down at the floor, rolling back and forth on his heels.
“So?” Atem pursed his lips and stood facing Yugi. Eyes locking onto Yugi’s when he looked up. Fuck, he was starting to get cold, too. All the heat and adrenaline of the performance was fading. “Do you mean it? You… really…”
“Atem, I have never wanted to be with someone as bad as I want to be with you. Sure, maybe if I went on a speed date and you were my match we might bicker and never see each other again. Y’know? It was hard to tell, at first. If we were going to make it. If us dating was even… possible. Because. You know me. I don’t date people. And we really seemed like opposites in a lot of ways.”
Atem listened, Yugi’s thumbs were rubbing the tops of his hands. His whole face felt numb, ears, cheeks, and all. Either from the cold, or just everything. Probably both.
“But some time along in our relationship, I realized us being opposites was just… I don’t know. An illusion, I guess? Because I can’t imagine anyone fitting so perfectly next to me than you. You’re the only damn human on Earth that I feel like I can breathe freely next to. You’re that… perfect blend of caring and listening, but you are not afraid to call me out on my shit either. You’re honest. And… I’m honest too, when I say that seeing you fall from those silks tonight and catching yourself, was the second I decided that I was asking you out as soon as we left the spotlight.”
Yugi exhaled, shaking Atem’s hands around a little. Nervous, Atem supposed. He wasn’t sure, his brain was operating at 30% or something.
“So. Here’s me doing that. Uh… sorry I suck at this. Not something I’ve ever done.”
“Me either,” Atem managed to get out. Oh, his hands were shaking. But so were Yugi’s, so it was okay.
“Ahah. True. Yeah. Okay.” Yugi caught his gaze with all their attention undivided, shared, and Atem could see those little hints of blue past the purple contacts.
“Atem. You. Do you want to, date? Do the dating thing? Be my boyfriend? Partner? My guy--”
“Yes,” Atem trembled out a tiny laugh and fuck, they were both tearing up again. “Don’t add any more titles. You’ll ruin the moment.”
“Haha. Oops. This is serious.”
“A little.” Atem leaned forward and kissed Yugi’s lips. “And... the answer is yes.”
They stayed with lips touching for a while until they decided it was better to not have rumors start about where the fuck they went after the show. Eventually, with hands held they made their way towards the exit.
“So this is the New Year, huh?”
Atem glanced at Yugi. Leaned over and kissed the side of Yugi’s head. “I guess so.”
