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It has been sometime since Atem had a nightmare. He wake up quickly, still a bit frightened. What scared him the most about the nightmare, was that it was about one of his biggest mistakes, using the seal of Orichalcos. The mistake that Yugi payed with his own soul. Atem knew he could never forgive himself for this, and from time to time the guilt came back to torment him. Yugi said many times that he forgave him for what had happened. It calmed him, but would never be enough to extinguish the guilt completely.
It has been already two years since all this happened, but he could still remember clearly all the despair he felt when he noticed that Yugi was no longer with him. It was when he realized how important Yugi was to him. It was really easy to forget how much Yugi meant to him back then, since the two were literally inseparable. But now that Atem had his own body, it was way easier to notice this. Atem passed most of his time with Yugi and friends, and when Yugi was at school he helped Sugoroku at the shop.
Sometimes he asked himself if he bothered Yugi. A lot of times he just got too close to him, and most of times he didn't even noticed. After so long living as a ghost, he forgot the notion of personal space. Especially if the person in question was Yugi. From time to time, he still wanted to have the mind link they both shared, to know if he passed the limits. Yugi never seem to get bothered by it, but he also didn't know how Atem really felt about him.
Atem knew he liked the boy way more than in a friendly way, since he was just a ghost. But he never thought about talking to him about his feelings. First of all he was just a ghost back then, he knew that would never work. And second, he knew Yugi had feelings for Anzu. Now that he got his own body he could try talking, but he didn't feel in the right to try a relationship with Yugi. Also, he was happy the way things were right now. Just being beside Yugi was enough to him.
He was so absorbed in his own thoughts, that he didn't even noticed the storm outside until a lighting fell and made a great noise. The sound took him out of his thoughts, and probably would have waken him up if he was still sleeping. He was not used to these storms. While he was pharaoh, rain was a rare sight to him so he was always fascinated when rained.
He decided to go to the kitchen to drink a cup of water to help him to calm down. When he arrived in the kitchen, he was surprised to see Yugi there drinking a cup of water, while he tried to calm down. He stayed there watching his partner, until he was noticed.
“Ah, Atem. What are you doing here at this time?” Yugi looked a little scared, and Atem noticed this.
“I just came to get a cup of water. Are you ok?” Yugi seemed in a hurry to get way from there.
“Yes, don't worry about me. I am fine. I am going back to sleep. Goodnight for you.” Atem blocked the way. It was obvious that something was bothering Yugi, and he didn't want to talk about it. Usually he would wait until Yugi wanted to talk. But this time, he felt like he needed to pressure the boy. It wasn't common for him to wake up in the middle of the night, and even less for him to look so scared. He started to ask himself if his partner also had a nightmare.
“You don't look fine to me. Why don't you tell me what is scaring you.” Yugi trembled a little, looked like he didn't want Atem to notice he was scared.
“I am fine, really. And I am not scared.” He said not even a little convincing. He knew that would not convince Atem either. He tried to push him out of the way, but with no success.
“Yes you are. Partner, you know you can tell me anything. Why you don't tell me what's wrong. I will not think any less of you if you are afraid of something.” Atem knew great part of Yugi's fears, but some the boy hid so well that not even him knew. When they still shared a body, he could have easily discovered all the boy's fears. He never even thought of doing his though. He would never try to invade his partner's mind just to satisfy his curiosity. Yugi always tried to hide how he truly felt. Atem knew that he did this due to his necessity to feel accepted by others. Since the two met, Yugi have been getting more confidence to show his true self to others. And although he still hid somethings, it was rare for him to hide things from Atem.
“...Yes you will. Because it's a stupid fear.” Yugi was sure the taller boy would think he was weak, and that was the last thing he wanted. Their admiration for each other was mutual. The Egyptian always saw him as the strongest person he knew. But he was wrong, Yugi was just a small and weak boy who needed his friends help to defend himself. And the last thing he wanted was to disappoint Atem.
“No, I would never do that! You...really think I would do this?” That hurt Atem. Did he truly thought that, or was his partner's low self esteem talking again?
Atem's tone showed him the boy was hurt by his words. He wanted to hit himself for this. Deep down he knew, the taller boy would never do something like that. He was always the first one to help him when he started doubting himself. Whenever he started to listen what others talked about him, Atem was the one to help him to get over that.
“...No, I am sorry. I didn't want...” While Yugi was trying to apologize, another lightning fell making a lot of noise. Atem only had time to see his partner eyes widen at the flash for a second, before everything got dark again. He could feel the boy grasping his shirt hiding his face on his chest. For a moment he just stood there without making any reaction to this. He was just feeling the boy trembling and holding his shirt firmly. He knew great part of this reaction was because he just discovered his fear.
“I didn't know you were afraid of lighting, Yugi.” His tone was gentle, he wanted to be sure his partner knew he was trying to be supportive. He felt the hold on his shirt becoming a little stronger after he said that.
“I told you it was a stupid fear. Something only a child would be afraid.” He truly believed what he was saying. He always had a fear of lighting but he tried to hide it. It was embarrassing enough people mistook him for a child, he didn't want people to think he acted like one too.
“Partner, look at me” Atem ordered with a gentle tone. Yugi was still hiding his face in the boy's shirt, but started to slowly raise his head meeting the Egyptian eyes. He stayed still waiting to see what the taller boy would do.
“You can be sure I don't see you as a kid neither weak. Everyone is afraid of something.”
“Thanks Atem, I guess I need to hear this.” He let go of the shirt and hugged the taller boy. Atem only realized he was returning the hug when Yugi let go of him and took a few steps back.
“Well, now I will go to sleep. Good night Atem.” Yugi said while passed the boy who now gave him passage. Atem didn't even think twice before start following Yugi, who noticed this really fast. He stared at the Egyptian waiting for an answer to why he was following him.
“I will also try to sleep too” He found strange the choice of words. Seemed something was also bothering the red eyed boy. The change in his behavior was clear, a while ago Atem was as confident as always supporting him, and now he looked uneasy. He was walking so close that Yugi even thought about asking what was wrong, but ended up staying quiet. They walked in silence until they reached the door to Yugi's room.
“Sleep well, Atem” Before Yugi was able to walk into his room, a hand held his arm. He turned around and saw a very confused Atem. It was clear that not even him knew why he did that.
“Sorry, I don't know what came over me. Good night, partner.” Now was Yugi's turn to hold Atem in place before the boy could enter his room. He stopped immediately and turned around a little hesitant.
“I know there is something bothering you. You can talk to me.” Of course Yugi would notice something was bothering him. His partner always knew, it was almost impossible to hide anything from him. He was going to say it was nothing, but he knew that it wouldn't convince the boy.
“It's just the same as always, nightmares about the past. To be honest, I don't know if I will be able to sleep now.” It wasn't uncommon for Atem to have nightmares and Yugi knew that. But it was really rare to see him being affect by them like this. Unless it was about the time trapped inside the puzzle, before he first putted it together. When this happened, Atem spent as much time as possible with Yugi on the following day. It was really obvious that he never slept when this happened, but has been sometime since he had a nightmare.
“I thought they had stopped.”
“Me too. But don't worry about me. You should sleep now, you have school tomorrow.”
“What it was about this time?” Yugi just ignored what he said. No way he could just go to sleep knowing his friend was having a hard time. Besides, with this storm he would have trouble to sleep so it was better to stay awake, Atem needed him now.
Atem was quiet. He had no problems to talk about his nightmares to his partner. In fact, talking to him was really helpful to calm down. But his nightmares never involved the boy, most of them were about the ancient Egypt. Also, that wasn't a really good memory for either of them. Was probably one Yugi didn't like to remember.
Yugi noticed how unsure the taller boy was. It seemed like he was thinking if he should tell or not. That made him worried, Atem never refused to talk about them. He unconsciously held Atem tighter. Feeling that made Atem get out of his thoughts, and he started talking.
“It was about when I used the seal of Orichalcos...but this time, your soul was not only stolen. It was devoured in front of me by the Leviathan and I could do nothing.” Yugi let go of his arm. Now things made sense to him. He knew how much Atem still blamed himself for what happened, and how desperate he got when Yugi's soul was stolen. Dreaming about that, surely shook him up.
“But really don’t worry about this, you need to rest.” Yugi could clearly see that Atem was saying the opposite of what he was thinking. He could see in Atem's eyes he didn't want to be alone right now. It has been sometime since Yugi realized that Atem hated to be alone. After all the boy passed, that was understandable. Three millenniums alone was enough to anyone.
“Atem, why don't we sleep together this night? I think none of us want to sleep alone tonight.” took a few seconds to Atem respond, and then he timidly nod.
The both of them entered Yugi's room and tried as much as possible to fit in the bed. Yugi got the wall side while Atem was trying to not fall out the bed. When they finally arranged themselves, Yugi was almost sleeping, but whenever a lightning fell he trembled a little. Noticing this, Atem hesitantly got closer and hold Yugi close to him. Doing that to comfort the boy but also himself. He needed to feel that he was really there in front of him.
Yugi didn't move when he felt the embrace. And he was really grateful he was so tired to react. He felt Atem's hands shaking a little holding him. Somehow he knew that if he moved, even if a little, the boy would retreat probably thinking he was uncomfortable with the embrace. Which was lie, that embrace really was comforting. He was already with his eyes closed when he heard Atem talking to him.
“Thank you, Yugi. I know you suggested this because of me.”
“It's really nothing. Next time you have a nightmare you can come sleep with me.” Yugi was too tired to even open his eyes right now but he smiled while saying this.
“I will make sure to remember this next time.” Atem also smiled and finally closed his eyes. Embracing his partner close to him, he fell asleep.