A Means of Communication

Chapter 7: Silence

The faint titter of birds coming in through Yugi's window woke him. Their sounds could not be called music; nothing was music that day. The teenager lay on bed, still fully clothed from the night before; he had been too exhausted when he got home to do anything but collapse into fitful sleep. He still felt exhausted, emotionally exhausted.

Slowly, barely moving, Yugi forced his eyelids to open. When his vision focused, Yugi found Atemu's face staring down upon him. Yugi was so shocked that he leaped from his bed, terrified. There seemed to be thousands of Atemus staring, pouting, and smirking down from every angle of the room. Yugi backed away, horrified, hands clutching his face. They were mocking him, their deep red eyes showing a face he could no longer see.

Yugi snapped; he couldn't take it anymore. He reached for the nearest poster on the wall and tore it down. He ripped it into pieces as he reached for the next one and tore that one down as well. Yugi had made it half way around the room before he noticed the sour tears streaming down his face.

"Why?" he mumbled, fingers fumbling as they tried to tear the posters into even smaller pieces. The largest poster above his bed was the last. Yugi jumped up onto his bed and grabbed a corner and dragged it down with him. There was a large rip across Atemu's perfect face. Yugi sobbed and pulled the rest of it down. He was now surrounded by pieces of Atemu; Yugi's eyes couldn't help but recognize stray pieces of hair or fragments the rock star's face that he had once admired.

Who cared about Atemu anymore? Who cared that he was amazing and gorgeous? Yami... but who was Yami? He didn't exist. His best friend, the one he had told his most precious secrets to, the one he had... was nothing. All because Yugi had wanted to see him!

"I'm such an idiot..." Yugi mumbled to the empty room.

((7))
Atemu stared at his computer screen, his insides cold. The shock from the night before numbed his system. The name "GemuMasuta52" was there under his IM list but Atemu made no motion to write a greeting or apology. What did he have to apologize for anyway? Yugi was the one who run away. And he had promised! He had promised he wouldn't run away and he had! What was Atemu supposed to say to him? Yugi should be the one apologizing.

Atemu's stomach felt queasy. He had never in his entire life felt so... helpless, useless, and so in the dark as he did now.

But why? Why had Yugi run away in the first place? That question wracked Atemu numb brain over and over again. Yugi was a fan, right? So why had he run away when he found out he was Atemu? Shouldn't he have been happy? Any normal fan would have been happy. But Yugi wasn't normal, that's why he had...

Atemu leaned his head upon the table, sorrow filling his lungs, slowly drowning him. Had he done something wrong? Had he said or done something to offend Yugi? They had barely stood there for five seconds so why? Why?

Would they ever talk to each other again? Was there any hope? What had all those conversations with Yugi been about? What were they worth to him? What were they to each other now? Yugi loved Atemu already so what had to change?

The hole of bundled confusion in Atemu's chest seemed to be eating everything up every feeling inside of him.

There was a knock on the door.

"Atemu, can I come in?" It was Malik. Atemu's stomach sunk even more. He hadn't allowed himself to even think about Malik yet; it was too shameful.

"If you want," Atemu moaned miserably, forehead still upon the computer desk. The door opened. Atemu did not raise his head to greet Malik.

"Nee-san says we have another photo shoot today," Malik said softly. "We'll need to go to make up in an hour."

"Tell her I'm not going and she can't make me," Atemu spat.