"Hurry, hurry!"
"I'm trying!"
"We're almost there-"
"Yami, I hear them-!"
"Jump!"
The two men grunt as they jump into the boxcar. Yami can hear the distant sound of their fathers' shouts before they fade away as the car gains speed. He lays panting next to his best friend, who has begun to cough violently, and they stay that way for what feels like hours. Their lungs burn and their feet are sore from all the running, their shoulders hurt from when they landed inside the moving boxcar. There is sweat gathering behind their necks that quickly begin to cool with the rush of the night air. Yami hears his friend gulp in an attempt to wet his dry throat, and turns his face towards him.
The metal and constant jostling of the boxcar are hard on their backs and make them feel like their brains are doing somersaults inside their skulls. Their chests ache with each wheezing breath they take and every muscle burns. But when they look at each other, they can't help but laugh. It starts as small, winded chuckles before turning into something loud and boisterous. They laugh until their bellies hurt from the force of it and fully turn towards each other when the pain dies down.
"I can't believe we're doing this," Yami says.
"Our parents are going to murder us."
"If they find us."
"If they find us," his friend chuckles. "How did you even know this train would be passing by tonight?"
"I've got my own friends down at the station," Yami says cryptically. It makes his friend laugh and shove his shoulder.
"Where will we go now?"
"Anywhere we want," Yami whispers excitedly. "They can't tell us what to do anymore. And I've got my cousin making fake identities for us as we speak. It'll take some time though."
His friend hums. "I've got some family in the circus a few towns over..."
It takes Yami a minute to realize what he's implying. "Wh- no!"
The man grins. "Why not?"
"Yugi, come on!" Yami sits up. "We just ran from our families to get you out of your wedding and you want to go out and make a clown out of yourself anyway?"
Yugi grunt and sits up with him. "Just for a few months! I've always wanted to work at a circus-"
Yami groans. "Believe me, I know-"
"Please? You said anywhere. And as long as we're never found, we'll have the rest of our lives to spend wherever you want anyway."
Yami thinks and takes in the man before him. His best friend since childhood that he can't live without. That he would do anything for. That he would jump bribe a conductor to leave a boxcar open for. His best friend who absolutely despised his betrothed so much that he went over to Yami's home one night a few weeks ago and got plastered to escape the wedding planning. The night they spoke about running away together and living on some farm in another state as a joke. The morning after when they actually considered it. And the next day when they began to make plans. They saved enough money for a few months of travel, gotten their hair cut, and decided that marriage wasn't for either of them. After all, Yugi may or may not have led Yami's betrothed away with another man with more money. And Yami may or may not have been thankful. They would live together, best friends that would do anything for each other, for the rest of their lives.
And Yugi was right. What were a few months compared to the years left that they had?
"We stay no more than half a year," Yami relents. Yugi whoops.
Yugi spends the next few hours talking about their new life and how much fun it will be. The animals, Yami. I can't wait 'till you see them. And I bet Mai will let us do so many things, too. Yami spends the next few hours watching the stars that shine in his eyes. When he reaches for Yugi's hand, Yugi doesn't even pause in talking before grasping it firmly and squeezing.
I'm not done lmao
