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It hadn’t taken long after Atem’s return for the pair to realize the ex-Pharaoh was adept at any game. Whether it was card games, board games, any type of video games on any console they owned, or mobile games on their phones and tablets, he could quickly figure it out and win. Sometimes, it took a few tries, but he enjoyed the challenge anyway. Yugi was just as skilled and enjoyed playing with and against the other man.
And when he got stuck on a level of a game he was playing, he knew exactly who to ask for help.
With a frustrated sigh, Yugi tipped his head back against the couch then rolled it to the side to watch his partner. Atem had situated himself against the sofa’s opposite arm with his knees up against his chest, Game Boy in hands. Grinning mischievously, Yugi crawled across the couch and nudged his way between Atem’s legs and under his hands to rest against his chest.
“Hello,” the Egyptian chuckled, shifting his Game Boy to one hand to wrap the other arm around his partner. “Can I help you with something, Yugi?”
“What were you playing?” Yugi asked instead of answering.
“Tetris,” Atem replied with a shrug. “I’m out of lives on the games on my tablet.”
“Perfect,” Yugi chirped, pulling his tablet up to push toward Atem. “Help, please?”
Atem leaned over to put his Game Boy on the coffee table, then accepted Yugi’s tablet. He let his partner get settled with his back to Atem’s chest, then wrapped his arms around Yugi so they could both watch the screen. When he saw the level number, he whistled in awe.
“Two-sixty?”
“Yep!” Yugi said proudly. “Though I’m on three-hundred and six on a different one.”
“Impressive,” praised Atem. “You don’t have any boosters for this one though.”
“That’s why this one is so hard!” complained Yugi. “It’s not even a hard level; if it were, it would be highlighted red, and I would really need boosters.”
Experimentally, Atem tapped on one of the boosters, humming triumphantly when his suspicions were confirmed. “It costs gems to buy boosters. I assume, like all our other match-three games, gems cost real money.”
“Yes,” Yugi pouted. “I buy some every now and then, but mostly use them to add moves to a level when I know I can finish the level in just a couple more moves.”
Atem hummed in thought as he tapped the green play button. “I can try. Twenty-six boards and seventy-three glass in twenty moves?” he asked when the level had loaded and he saw the level goal on the right.
“Yeah, the boards are these colored boxes that only break if you match the same color next to them or blow up any kind of bombs next to them,” Yugi explained. “Except it’s not really a match game because you don’t have to move the pieces to make lines of three or more; you’re just tapping at groups of at least two of the same color.”
“The glass is easy to make out,” Atem added, experimentally tapping on a group of three red squares under the glass. The three shiny squares cleared, accompanied by the sound of breaking glass. “Ah, I see.”
He carefully scanned the level before making any moves, watching pieces fall after he cleared some away before making his next move. When larger groups of blocks displayed symbols that looked like bombs, groups of dynamite, or barrels of TNT, he quickly understood what that meant and made sure to tap those so the explosives appeared in their place. They helped clear away large chunks of glass and break down boards.
“You can use the fireworks in the lower left corner when it’s full to clear away all blocks of the same color,” Yugi pointed out, peeking a finger up between himself and the screen to show his partner. “It fills as you use the other explosives; the bigger it is, the more it fills the meter.”
Atem hummed in understanding but didn’t speak, focused on the level. In the end, he got down to eight boards and eighteen glass before running out of moves. He growled in frustration as he dismissed the offer of five more moves for ninety gems; Yugi didn’t have that many gems, and Atem knew he couldn’t finish in only five more moves anyway.
“How many lives do you have left?” he asked, exiting the level to check.
“Two more,” Yugi confirmed. “Think you can do it in two more tries?”
“We shall see,” Atem said with determination; the tone made Yugi shiver excitedly.
He watched as Atem tapped play again, carefully scanning the level before making any moves. Each move he made either broke some glass, broke one or more wooden blocks, or both. Whenever he got the chance to form a bomb, he created it, making sure it also cleared away some of the objective pieces, too. He didn’t waste time with an explosive that wouldn’t clear away wood or glass, leaving those pieces to be detonated by others that would prove more useful. When the fireworks meter filled, he scanned the board before choosing the color that would clear away the most of the level goals. As he got down to the five moves left warning, he still had three glass pieces and two boxes on the board; two glass were right next to each other and a box, and the last bit of glass was next to the final box several blocks away. There weren’t any matching pieces nearby and the fireworks meter wasn’t full.
Yugi bit his lip, scanning the screen just as he knew Atem was, the Egyptian’s finger poised over the screen without tapping anything yet. “You need really lucky drops to get pieces to land close enough.”
Atem only hummed, but Yugi didn’t expect anything more, and he knew his partner was still listening. He tapped a group of blocks near the single glass and box, and the pieces fell just right to form a bomb that would clear the two away. But to create it then detonate it would take two moves, leaving only two more moves to remove the glass and box on the other side of the board. He eyed the pieces around those and in between. Then he tapped a seemingly random group of blocks in the middle that wouldn’t clear anything away.
“That wasted a move,” Yugi said, eyes wide. Then he realized what Atem was doing as enough pieces fell to create a TNT barrel, the explosive with the larges range, and he ohhh’ed in understanding.
Atem smirked as he formed the barrel then detonated it, clearing away the last few pieces with one move left.
“Yes!” Yugi cheered, turning to throw his arms around his partner’s neck and kiss him soundly. “Thank you! I’ve been on that level for days!”
Atem chuckled, delighted to see Yugi so happy. “You’re welcome, aibō.”
He watched as Yugi collected his reward for the level: gold coins that were added to a count at the top of the main screen, which seemed to be an exquisitely furnished bedroom. He watched as Yugi tapped the only yellow plus sign on the screen near a dashed square outline and used his coins to add a chair to the room.
“So, this game is a renovation game?” he asked. “You earn coins then spend them to decorate?”
“Yeah, you get different clients, one at a time, and they all have three rooms to renovate,” Yugi explained. “It’s always a living room, kitchen, and bedroom. They start out with junk and dingy and cracked walls, and you use coins to clear the junk and paint the walls and add new windows and stuff and decorate. And with the coins I got from that level, I’ve put in the last piece in the last room, and now I’m done!” he added proudly.
“Glad I could help,” Atem said with a chuckle, then pressed a kiss to Yugi’s neck. He watched the game dialogue as it finished with Yugi’s current client, then gave him a reward for completing the client, filling his lives.
“Oh, I can move so you can get back to your Tetris game,” Yugi said, attempting to push away from Atem’s chest, but the Egyptian held him tightly.
“No, it’s alright,” Atem said. “I want to watch you play. This game is interesting.”
Yugi grinned and settled against Atem’s chest again, both of them watching the tablet as his game presented the next client.