A Means of Communication

Chapter 12: Tabloids

Yugi walked up to the school the next day to be greeted at the gate by three ravenous friends.

The unsuspecting teen, still slightly giddy after his and Atemu's moment on his roof the previous evening, walked unsuspectingly into the trap. "What's up guys?"

"What's up?" Honda repeated.

Jounouchi spluttered like a sprinkler, "What is UP, he says!? As though you don't freaking know?!"

"Ah..." Yugi stopped dead in his tracks. He had just noticed a tabloid magazine in Anzu's girlie hands.

'Oh shit,' Yugi moaned.

"What have you, ah, got there, guys?" Yugi gulped, voice trembling.

Jounouchi snatched the magazine from Anzu's hands. "This, you ask? This? THIS?" He was shaking the thing so much Yugi swore pages were going to go flying.

"Ok, he gets it Jounouchi," Anzu snapped rationally. She grabbed the magazine out of Jounouchi's hands and tossed it to the stunned Yugi. "I think there is something in there that you should read. Page 26," she instructed.

Yugi accepted the magazine with apprehension constricting his throat as he fumbled for a hold on the slippery pages.

It was far worse than he could've imagined.

There was a picture. It was blurry and dark but there was no mistaking the two figures or their matching multicolored spiky hair, sprinting for their very lives around a corner.

"It seems the rumors stating that Descendants of Ra's Atemu had started dating again are all too true. But, in an unseen twist, it is not his old girlfriend, Vivian Wong, as many expected. No, it seems that Atemu, world renowned rock star, idol to us all, has decided to try batting for the other team."

"Oh... holy..." Yugi stammered. His stomach had dropped, his heart stalled.

"Read on," Honda stated, "It gets better."

"In fact, while this reporter was browsing at a local clothing shop in downtown Domino, Atemu and his new lover-"

'Lover!' Yugi cried silently to himself, cheeks radiating heat.

"-entered the store. After finishing their business, this reporter followed the two..."

'Followed!' Yugi exclaimed. 'More like hunted us down! And we were definitely driven forcefully out of that store!'

"Yugi," Jounouchi's testy voice spoke.

Yugi looked up to meet three pairs of wild eyes.

'I'm so dead,' Yugi thought helplessly.

He shrunk under their fury. "Yes?" But if he didn't breathe they would guess...

"Do you know what this means?" Honda questioned ruthlessly.

"I- well, I- I-" Yugi stammered.

"It means," Anzu began with rabid excitement. "That Atemu is dating someone right here in Domino!" the girl shrieked. "And he goes shopping!"

"Ah..." Yugi was stunned, mind blank.

"And that he's flamboyantly gay," Jounouchi squealed excitedly.

"Or at least party so," Anzu countered fiercely, defensive hostility echoing in her expression.

"I wonder who he could be dating," Honda pondered

"You know, it could be someone in our school!" Jounouchi added with buiding hysteria.

"Or even our class!" Anzu yelled.