I had absolutely no ideas for this. None. I just wrote and it's really sloppy since I wrote on my phone and I'm not proud of it, but here you go. It's past midnight so I technically missed a day...
There's a lot of cursing in this one, just a heads up.
Shit shit shit fuck I'm going to be late fuck-
Yugi adjusts the basket of laundry in his hands while he runs. He trips over the last stair of his apartment building but continues running to the front doors. A glance at his watch tells him that it's already 10:05 AM.
fuCK FUCK FUCK-
He was supposed to be at the laundromat down the block five minutes ago.
He bursts through the laundromat doors at 10:15 and his eyes immediately search for spiky hair. He finds it in the far back row. Yugi thanks every deity he can think of in the moment and makes his way over. This place is small and hidden, never busy or crowded so there were many available spots open. He chooses to go right beside the man.
Yugi drops his basket and the man looks up. The grin that appears never fails to make his heart flutter.
"Hey, Atem."
"You're late." There's no hint of anger in his voice.
"And you haven't even started on your load." Yugi notices. Atem just shrugs.
"Doing the laundry's no fun if you're not here."
They start their washing machines at the same time. Atem offers gummy bears that Yugi graciously accepts while Yugi offers him a drink from his water bottle.
..
Yugi arrives back at his apartment two hours later with a basket of folded laundry under his arms and a content grin on his face.
"Have fun on your date?" A voice asks from the kitchen.
"Fuck off, Joey," Yugi says, but he's too happy for there to be any real malice in his voice.
Joey Wheeler sits on the kitchen counter and raises an eyebrow when Yugi comes into view. After years of friendship and living together, Joey thinks he knows Yugi more than himself.
(He's probably right, but Yugi won't give him the satisfaction of admitting it. He's seen what happens when Joey gets too cocky.)
Yugi comes back into the kitchen once he's put away his clothes. He ignores the look Joey is sending his way in favor of looking through their fridge.
"So when's the wedding?"
Yugi groans. "Joey-"
"What? I'm serious. You're pretty much in love with the guy-"
"I am not 'in love'!"
Joey rolls his eyes. "You run down the block every week to see the guy even though there are perfectly working washers and dryers in the building-"
"It's cheaper over there..." Yugi protests weakly as he pours himself a glass of juice.
"-and you always come back with that stupid look on your face. Like you would when you just kissed Tea back in middle school. Except now you've been doing it for like, a year."
"Fine! I have a small crush on him," Yugi admits. His face is red and he tries to hide it by taking a long drink of his juice. "Happy?"
Joey snorts. "Not 'till you get the balls to ask him out."
..
A week later, Yugi thinks about his friend's words as he looks at Atemu's moving lips.
"Just go up, say "Hey! I think you're hot. Go out with me!", and then boom! You've got yourself a lover. It worked with Mai."
"But what if-"
"If he doesn't feel the same, then you two can still be friends. Worse case scenario, you do laundry over here again and he doesn't know where you live."
Yugi gulps when Atem looks over to him. He's smiling and obviously waiting for a reaction to what he just said, probably a laugh. So Yugi laughs and Atem continues his story.
His mind has taken every interaction, every response and laugh and soft look he ever gained in the year he and Atem have known each other, and analyzed them. Repeated them every night until Yugi swears Atem is at least somewhat interested. Did Atem flirt with him? No. Wait, yes. Definitely, that had to count as flirting. And when their skin touched, Atem took just a second too long to pull away. Now that was definitely a sign, right? And what about the time-
Yugi is so caught up in his thoughts, the question comes out before he can stop it.
"Will you go out with me?"
Atem stops and stares down at him. The smile is gone, his expression morphs into one of genuine surprise.
"What?"
oh, fu- abort, aboRT, ABORT-
"Would you- I mean, maybe we could, I'm so sorry. Oh jeez, can we just forget I ever-" Yugi stumbles over every word. He hopes he won't start crying. He doesn't think he'll be able to show his face in front of Atem ever again if he starts crying.
"Wait," Atem holds up a hand. "I thought we already were."
Now Yugi's brain has fully come to a stop. "You what now?"
"Two weeks ago." Atem runs a hand through his hair and frowns. "I asked you out for coffee. I specifically said 'it's a date' and you agreed. I thought... Have we not been dating?" Atem sounds genuinely concerned and his red eyes are distressed.
Yugi remembers the day two weeks ago when Atem asked him out for coffee, but only vaguely. He only heard the words "coffee" and "this Friday" before zoning out and just admiring Atem's face and voice and general being. He nodded because how could he say no to anything Atem said?
"Oh my God, I am so sorry-"
"I should have been more clear-"
"No, this is my fault, I didn't realize-"
Atem begins to laugh. It's just a small child at first, but then it turns into a full body laugh that forces him to grab on to the edge of the dryer in front of them. Yugi soon does the same.
"So," Yugi manages between breaths. "Can I take this as a yes?"
Atem wipes tears from his eyes. "I've been telling all my friends that I finally managed to get the cute guy from the laundromat, that I've been pining over for months, for the past two weeks. You'd better believe this is a yes."
Like I said, meh. I honestly don't like how this one came out. I rushed it and just went with whatever. Although I did get some Dr. Horrible vibes :/
