Adult-FanFiction.org : Yu-Gi-OH

Darkness Before Dawn	By : SangoHuntress1977 Category: Yu-Gi-Oh > AU - Alternate Universe Views: 3356 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: YuGiOh and the characters thereof are the sole domain of Kazuki Takahashi and all rightsholders. I'm only borrowing them for entertainment purposes and am deriving no profit.

Chapter List
- 17
- 18
- 19
As they ate a simple breakfast of fish and rice, Yugi’s eyes kept drifting from the table to the gradually lightening sky outside. With not a cloud to be seen, the outdoors called to him, making his blood sing.

“Have you ever had clams?” Yugi asked impulsively.

Atem blinked at the random question, then a smile slowly spread across his features.

“Yes. They’re quite tasty,” he answered.

“Well, I was just thinking, I wonder if there are any clams here. Maybe if we dug ‘em up, we could… roast ‘em over a fire or something,” proposed Yugi. “Gochisosama deshita!”

“An excellent idea, habibi. However, I must confess that I’m no expert at harvesting clams,” admitted Atem as he collected his and Yugi’s diningware and rose to take it to the sink.

“I can pro’bly do it,” posited Yugi with a shrug of his shoulders. “How hard could it be?”

“Then I’ll leave the clam harvest in your hands, Yugi,” said Atem gravely, with a twinkle in his eyes.
The young couple set out, backpacks on their shoulders and Yugi toting the shovel and bucket. The high vault of blue sky smiled down on the two young men as they walked along the shore, watching as gulls lazily wheeled about on the wind’s invisible currents and the waves lapped and bobbed. Further up ahead, the stronger waves broke on the rocks.

They spent the next few hours exploring the beach, half-heartedly digging in the sand for imagined treasure and cavorting in the shallow water, splashing each other in the face. As they walked, Yugi would sometimes break away from Atem’s side and charge ahead or plunge out into the water up to his knees and slosh along in this manner until, tired of the water dragging him down, he would emerge and again walk at Atem’s side. At one point, Atem pulled a small loaf of bread from his backpack pocket, gave some to Yugi and the two of them had a fine time tossing bread crumbs to the seagulls, which swooped down and carried off what they could, squawking their commentary the entire time.

As midday rolled around, stomachs began to growl, protesting their empty state vehemently. With a glance and smile, Yugi and Atem nodded to each other; it was clam time!

“Can we eat out there?” Yugi asked, pointing toward a rocky outcropping reposing in the ocean a few feet out from the shore.

“Mm!” Atem responded with a sharp nod. “If you’ll harvest the clams, I’ll gather the driftwood.”

“Yup!” said Yugi.

With that, he and Atem broke apart to attend to their tasks. Yugi plunged the small shovel into the sand, digging until he found his quarry: a fat clam with a gray and white striped shell. This was tossed into the bucket before Yugi immediately set to digging once again.

As Yugi worked, Atem went about, picking up driftwood branches in the light of the sun and the strong, cool wind that whipped through his hair while the ocean spray cooled his skin.

Again and again, Yugi found clams and tossed them into the waiting bucket. He didn’t stop until he had 14 clams! Yugi washed his hands and the shovel’s head off in the foaming water, then stood up and grinned at Atem, who smiled back at him, driftwood clutched in his arms.

“You think 14 are enough?” Yugi asked.

“I think that will suffice,” answered Atem.

“Let’s go!” cried Yugi happily, setting foot into the water as they started out for the rocks.

Suddenly, the sun’s light was obscured by something thick and gray, causing both young men to raise their heads skyward. Yugi scowled up at the sky, as if his glare could drive the clouds away.

‘Damn it all! Not just before our picnic! Why does the rain hafta wreck everything?!’ he thought, clenching his jaw unhappily.

“Quickly, Yugi! Those clouds are gravid,” said Atem.

Not bothering to ask the meaning of the word, Yugi turned and followed Atem as they ran along the shoreline, desperately seeking shelter. As they ran, the clouds opened up and began to disgorge their contents, first drop by drop, but quickly escalating to a small downpour, running through their hair and weighing it down. Their shirts were quickly soaked through and clung limply to their bodies as they ran up the sandy beach, the sand clinging to their wet feet and calves.

“I see a cave over there!” Atem said, pointing in the direction of a large hill with its yawning maw facing the now roiling ocean.

The tricolors ran straight for the cave, reaching its mouth just as the rain strengthened to an all-out torrent.
Inside the cave, the pair turned and stared out into the gray sky, which disgorged fat drops of water to the ground, soaking the sand and agitating the ocean. Both of them were sopping wet, with water running in rivulets through their preposterous hair and waterlogged clothes, which felt like dead weights.

Working quickly, Atem inspected the driftwood, relieved to find it bone dry. In a wink, he had arranged it into a serviceable campfire. Using his lighter, he worked to create a serviceable campfire until the fire caught and began to burn properly, orange and yellow light dancing eerily on the cave walls.

With a nod of satisfaction, Atem stripped out of his soaked garments and set them on some rocks near the fire to allow them to dry off with the heat and pulled a large, fluffy towel out of his backpack to dry off with. He then turned his attention to Yugi, who still stood at the cave’s entrance in his waterlogged shirt and shorts.

“Yugi, I’ve built us a fire. Please, come over and dry off!” Atem called.

Uncharacteristically, Yugi didn’t look back or even budge, seemingly fixated on the dreary weather outside.

“You’ll get sick if stay in those clothes,” Atem called again.

When Yugi still failed to respond, a frowning Atem walked over to him and laid a hand on Yugi’s shoulder, causing the smaller man to flinch and look at him with dull eyes.

“You need to get out of those wet clothes,” said Atem firmly as he led Yugi over to the by now roaring fire.

Moving mechanically, Yugi removed his clothes, dropping them carelessly to the cave floor, then slumped down listlessly and stared into the fire.

After wringing out Yugi’s clothes and setting them with his own to dry, Atem pulled another large, fluffy towel from his backpack and draped it over Yugi’s shoulders. When Yugi didn’t move to hug the towel to himself, Atem glanced down at his habibi’s face and found him the very picture of misery, lips turned down in a decidedly morose frown, large eyes shimmering with unshed tears.

‘This is the third time I’ve seen him like this during the rain. What is it about this weather that hurts him so?’ the Egyptian wondered.

Taking a breath, he opened his mouth to inquire.

“Damn rain!” Yugi cried suddenly as a sob erupted from him. “It wrecks everything!!!”

Yugi buried his face in his arms and began to sob with enough force to rival the downpour outside, the towel slipping unheeded from his trembling shoulders.

“Yugi?” Atem breathed, sorrow and curiosity twisting in his being.

Sitting down next to Yugi, Atem gently lifted his habibi into his lap, wrapping them both in his large towel, and starting to rub Yugi’s back softly as he cried. With no words of reprimand or sympathy, Atem rested his chin on the crown of Yugi’s head and closed his eyes, relaxing around the small being he held so tenderly.

After a bit, Yugi’s sobs died down, leading Atem to begin gently questioning him.

“This is the third time I’ve seen you cry in the rain. Will you tell me why?” Atem murmured at length as he deposited a kiss on the crown of Yugi’s head.

“It’s just, I wanted everything to be p-perfect for us today,” bawled Yugi. “And the rain wrecked it.”

“Everything is perfect. Here we are, alone together, with a roaring fire to warm us and fourteen clams to fill our bellies. If that isn't perfection, I don't know what is,” countered Atem with a smile.

With a sniffle, Yugi buried his face in Atem’s chest, not yet ready to be comforted or jested with.

“Perhaps that was the cause tonight, but what of the other two times?” Atem questioned.

A sigh from Yugi.

“Please, habibi. It did me worlds of good to open my heart to you. Won’t you let me in?” Atem gently reminded Yugi.

Yugi scrunched his face as he fought the tears. He knew Atem was right. He had seen Atem at his worst and had stood by him, but still hadn’t opened himself up fully to the Egyptian. If they were to be “partners in the truest sense”, he would have to bare himself to Atem as Atem had to him.

“It was raining… the night of… the accident,” Yugi hiccuped as he clung to Atem.

At these words, everything fell into place. Heart feeling heavy in his chest, Atem hugged Yugi to him, bare skin on bare skin.

“Thank you for sharing that with me, habibi,” he said, just above a whisper as he nuzzled Yugi’s neck.

“Why’re you thanking me? I’m stupid to cry like this,” said Yugi spitefully as he wiped his tears.

“No, you're not. How many times have I cried in your arms?” Atem’s voice rumbled.

“That’s different,” said Yugi dismissively.

“No, it is not,” replied Atem firmly. “You always comforted me when something upset me. Now something has upset you and I’m comforting you. Our positions are simply reversed.”

“But it’s such a stupid thing to cry over,” protested Yugi. “Yeah, my parents died in a car accident. But that was ten years ago and my life with Grandpa was always great, so… I have no right…”

“Yugi, stop,” Atem’s voice took an edge, silencing Yugi. “Don’t you dare belittle your pain in comparison to mine. Your suffering over the deaths of your parents is every bit as valid as mine is for what I went through. One does not outweigh the other.”

Yugi thought about arguing, but decided to just let it go. With a sigh, he laid his head against Atem’s bare chest and stared gloomily out at the now completely grayed out world before them.

“Perhaps a game of Duel Monsters would cheer you up? I brought my deck,” suggested Atem at length.

“OK,” said Yugi in a small voice as he climbed off of Atem’s lap to retrieve his cards from his backpack.

As Yugi went over to his backpack, Atem couldn’t help but stare at the pale little globes bouncing as the small one walked.

‘Such a lovely sight,’ he thought with an appreciative smirk.

Soon Yugi and Atem sat across from each other, each wrapped in a beach towel as the fire provided the only light for their game. They cut and shuffled each other’s decks in silence before handing them back. Atem then tossed a coin into the air.

“Heads!” he called.

“Tails!” Yugi called.

“Heads,” Atem announced with a smirk, holding his hand out so Yugi could see the coin. “I begin…”

Yugi and Atem spent the next few hours locked in combat in the fire’s shadowy, dancing light. Each young man would drive the other to the edge of his endurance, only to then be pushed back. Losses and victories piled up on each one’s side, never with more than 200 points between them.

As they played, Atem surreptitiously watched as Yugi’s demeanor became more joyous and animated. Despite the gray misery outside, the small cave, with its cheerful fire and fierce duel held his attention in rapt concentration, finally coaxing sorely missed smiles and laughter from the younger man.

When they finished their last game, they gazed warmly at each other as they gathered and stored away their cards.

“Wonderful games as always, habibi,” purred Atem.

“You too, Até. I guess you were right. Those duels did kinda cheer me up,” declared Yugi happily as he stowed his cards in his backpack. “Kinda reminded me of our first duels together under our oak tree.”

“Yes, and those duels cheered me up,” remarked Atem solemnly. “I count that day as the day my life resumed after six years of hell.”

“Até…” said Yugi, burying his blushing face in his arms.

“Hm hm hm. I’ve made you blush again; one of my favorite pastimes,” chuckled Atem.

“So I’ve noticed,” remarked Yugi with a playful glare Atem-ward.

At this, Atem only cocked his head and smiled innocently at Yugi.

Yugi stood up, walked over to Atem and sank down into the Egyptian’s ready embrace, wrapping his arms around Atem’s neck and laying his ear against Atem’s chest, listening to the steady cadence of a strong heart. He closed his eyes as he felt those arms wrap around his body and squeeze him close.

“It doesn’t matter what it’s like outside if I’m in here with you,” Yugi declared. “Fuck the rain!”

“It’s not the rain I would like to fuck,” Atem murmured into Yugi’s ear.

“At… ULP!” Yugi gulped and looked forward again.

Had Atem really said what Yugi thought he had heard him say?

“Heh heh. You heard me perfectly, habibi,” Atem purred as he gazed down into Yugi’s wide lilacs with lust tinted rubies.

‘Oh, gods!’ thought Yugi as he was suddenly aware of how very close, solid, and warm Atem was.

It was only now that Yugi became fully conscious of the fact that neither of their bodies had a stitch of clothing on them. Yugi had already seen Atem in various states of undress, but his cheeks tinged an incarnadine hue as he saw Atem’s eyes gazing appreciatively at his own form. He moved his hands to try to cover his private area, but was stopped by Atem’s hands gently restraining them.

“Don’t hide yourself from me,” Atem murmured, irises glittering as he gazed at Yugi.

Yugi gulped as he felt the cool roundness of Atem’s nose nuzzling his neck. As the smell of sandalwood and incense invaded his olfactory sense, Yugi felt himself relaxing a bit and beginning to return Atem’s gestures of affection. After all, they were already a couple and were utterly alone in this cave in the rain. They were safe here, with no need to be hesitant or ashamed.

Yugi’s hands began to cautiously explore Atem’s body, fingers tracing over the healed scars on his back, heart stinging with sorrow as it always did when he saw, or thought of, those old wounds.

Yugi was distracted from his sorrow by a hand gently caressing his left cheek and tilting his little face up toward a pair of smoldering eyes and full, desirable lips. Yugi’s lips parted to allow that strong, wonderful tongue to invade his mouth, conquering and subduing his own.

Yugi felt the palms of Atem’s hands caressing and running up and down his back, even as his own gently massaged the scars that still crisscrossed Atem’s back.

Atem’s lips were kissing their way down Yugi’s neck, tongue caressing his throbbing artery, before continuing down to his chest to lave worshipful attention on rapidly hardening nipples.

“Ha-aaaah!” Yugi gasped as Atem gently bit down.

Now Atem’s lips and tongue were kissing and licking their way down Yugi’s body, blessing his flat little tummy with their wonderful ministrations. Yugi’s nipples were not left out however, as fingers and thumbs gently twirled and squeezed them, keeping them rock hard.

When Yugi felt full lips and a warm tongue encircle his rigid organ, he cried out in bliss, back arching like a bow.

“A… teeeeeeeeeeemmmmmmmm!!!”

Humming around the base and sending pleasant vibrations through Yugi’s overheated body, Atem began the gentle pulls that would send Yugi spiraling into paradise. As he sucked, he ran his hands gently up and down Yugi’s sides, caressing that delicate rib cage.

“Aaaaah aaaaaah aaaah haaaa aaaaaah!!!” Yugi cried out as Atem continued to sensuously suckle him.

Chuckling to himself, Atem began the harder and faster pulls in order to bring Yugi right to the brink.

“Haaa aaaaah haaaaa aaaaah! Oh, gods! Atem! My Desert Rose!” cried Yugi, head jerking from side to side as he felt liquid beginning to weep from his tip.

Then, just as the coil in his core was about to burst, he felt the damp air as Atem lifted himself from the organ and withdrew his hands from Yugi’s body. Yugi’s eyes snapped open, to see Atem now casually rummaging through his backpack.

“Atem!” he cried.

“Yes, habibi?” Atem asked, never looking up.

“What the hell?!” cried Yugi indignantly as his organ throbbed painfully.

“What the hell what?” Atem echoed innocently as he continued his rummaging.

“You’re just gonna leave me like this while you dig around in your backpack?” huffed Yugi.

“Perhaps,” was Atem’s succinct answer.

“Oh, no you, don’t, Atem Ishtar! If you start something, you damn well better finish it!” growled Yugi.

“Ah, here it is,” said Atem to himself, as if he hadn’t heard Yugi’s diatribe at all.

After he pulled his quarry out of his backpack, Atem returned to where a now rather miserable Yugi lay and smiled down at him.

“Was there something you needed, habibi?” he asked, smiling too innocently down at the fuming Yugi.

“Yes, rather!” answered Yugi through gritted teeth.

“Then I believe we’ll be needing this from here on,” smiled Atem, revealing the bottle of lotion he now held.

Yugi could only blink incredulously.

“You brought lotion?”

“Best to be prepared,” smirked Atem as he poured a generous amount onto his fingers.

“A bit sure of ourselves, aren’t we?” Yugi glowered without malice.

“Sure of both of us,” Atem answered absently as he gently parted those pert little nether cheeks.

Atem slowly began to massage Yugi’s spasming sphincter in a bid to relax it. After a bit, his efforts paid off as the orifice opened, pulling his waiting finger inside.

When Yugi felt that invading digit slip past his sphincter, he sucked in a sharp breath.

“Ssssst!”

“Am I hurting you?” asked Atem, all pretenses of humor vanishing in his concern for Yugi’s wellbeing.

“Feels weird,” Yugi grunted in reply, face scrunched up.

“Sorry,” Atem murmured, planting a gentle kiss on Yugi’s throat as he began to twist and turn his finger in Yugi’s canal.

At the feeling of the invader moving about deep within him, slowly stretching his walls, Yugi breathed deeply. The feeling of Atem’s free hand closing around his neglected organ caused a reawakening of his earlier pleasure, which did wonders to offset the discomfort of that other digit, pushing its way deeper into him.

Atem worked carefully, watching for any signs of distress from his habibi. When he felt Yugi’s tunnel relax around him, he began the insertion of his second finger, gently slipping it in when the spasming ring relaxed. Yugi’s face scrunched up for a second, but quickly relaxed as he continued breathing deeply.

After a moment to allow Yugi to get used to being stretched even further, Atem began gently scissoring his fingers, further stretching Yugi’s passage. At this, Yugi did tense up, face scrunching once again.

“Ngh…”

“Deep breaths, habibi. This will feel good in a second,” Atem murmured as he increased the tempo of the strokes with his left hand.

Yugi began breathing deeply and rhythmically, willing his body to relax. Once he was fully relaxed, he realized that Atem was right: being stretched gently like this really did feel good, with those long, strong fingers, pushing up inside him, tickling his walls and stretching him out. When a finger brushed against that spot, the jolt of warmth burned through him, causing him to see stars before his eyes.

“Aaaaa-haaaaa! Atem!” he gasped as Atem performed another scissoring motion.

“Did I strike your sweet spot?” Atem asked innocently, curling that finger up again.

“Yeeeee-aaahaaah!!!” was Yugi’s emphatic answer.

“Ha ha ha!” Atem grinned as he began his insertion of the third finger.

As he felt the final invader slip in, Yugi took deep breaths, concentrating on what Atem was accomplishing with his now thoroughly engorged rod in his free hand. The Egyptian’s two hands began moving in rhythm, the three fingers of his right hand blossoming in his tunnel as they carefully stretched his walls and his left hand gripping and sliding steadily up and down his now weeping organ.

Without realizing what he was doing, Yugi began thrusting his body up and down in sync with the rhythm Atem’s hands were setting. The warmth was back and quickly moving beyond its initial heat. The coil inside his core grew tighter and tighter as his breath came out in gasps and pants.

Then Atem’s long middle finger struck his prostate dead on, causing his internal coil to burst, and he was gone, spinning out of control, falling through time, space and all of eternity.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTTTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!”

Atem smiled appreciatively as he watched Yugi’s body jerk and spasm in the throes of pleasure. He continued his work on Yugi until he felt the small one relax as he gradually returned to this plane.

“Ha-ah! Ha-ah!” Yugi gasped for breath as his senses came back online one at a time.

He winced slightly as he felt those strong fingers slip out of him and the grip leave his now spent manhood. Violet eyes flickered open to watch Atem liberally coating his hardness with Yugi’s own essence. As if feeling Yugi’s gaze, a pair of glittering rubies communicated with wide lilacs.

‘Let me love you?’

‘Always.’

Then Atem was straddling Yugi, always looking down into his wide, unguarded eyes, a gentle smile playing on his lips. Atem leaned down and began gently kissing Yugi all over, even as his free hand parted Yugi’s nether cheeks and the hot head of his arousal pushed forward.

“I love you…”

With a good strong thrust, Atem breached the entrance to Yugi’s kingdom, thus forfeiting Yugi’s anal virginity then and there.

“Nnnnngghh!!!” Yugi ground out through clenched teeth.

“Sorry, habibi,” Atem murmured, leaning down and planting butterfly kisses all over Yugi’s face. “I know it hurts. Take some deep breaths and relax your body.”

With Atem dropping butterfly kisses all over his face, neck and shoulders, Yugi took deep breaths, willing himself to relax. Eventually, the tightness drained away, leaving him with a full feeling. Yugi smiled up at Atem.

With this permission, Atem began the gentle thrusts of their first lovemaking. Determined to draw this out as long as possible, he set a slow, languorous pace, feeling the first small stirrings of that warmth beginning to build in his core.

As he thrust, Atem frequently caught Yugi’s lips in a passionate kiss or deposited small, gentle kisses everywhere on the younger man’s face and shoulders.

“Unh! My habibi. Unh! My sunu. Unh! My everything…” Atem murmured into Yugi’s ear as he thrust.

“My Desert… Haa-aaa! Rose!” Yugi returned as his body jerked in time to Atem’s thrusts.

When the tip of Atem’s head struck that sweet spot, Yugi’s eyes rolled back in their sockets as his back arched. The fingers, while very nice, were as nothing compared to this fullness, this tightness, this utter completion that Atem was now giving him.

‘My beautiful Até, abused and hurt as you were, you can still give me this!’ Yugi thought as he felt that warm coil knotting up in his insides once again. ‘I wanna be with you like this forever!’

Another goodly thrust and Yugi’s world exploded into a million stars and those stars exploded into a million galaxies, which exploded into an eternal amount of universes. Yugi was flying, falling, moving up and down, side to side. Darkness and light, good and evil, up and down, had no meaning anymore; only that wonderful warm fullness and those strong arms around his body, holding him close and keeping him safe.

Lilac eyes flickered open to look up into soft, dark rubies and a gently smiling face.

“Love… you…” was all Yugi could articulate before blackness took him once again.

“And I you, now and for eternity,” Atem murmured as he gently pulled out of the warm tightness, wincing a bit as the damp air struck his now shriveled organ.

After covering up with a beach towel and rearranging their bodies for comfort, Atem stretched out on his side, holding Yugi flush to himself and closed his eyes, allowing blissful slumber to overcome him.

/
c 1270 BC
Waset, Kemet

The moon’s light was all that illuminated the softly flowing water of the Nile. The night air was a pleasant temperature, neither too cold, nor too hot as a gentle breeze blew through the palm trees and bushes, moving the reeds gently.

With the light of the moon shining on their bodies, two men grunted out the sounds of their love making. The slightly larger man on top thrust gently into the smaller man on bottom, whose arms and legs were coiled around him, drawing him in.

“Unh! I Unh! Love Unh! You!” Pharaoh Atem grunted as he moved rhythmically.

“My Aha! Pharaoh! Ahah!” Hebai gasped with each loving thrust from his god king.

“Mine! Always and forever!” Atem growled as he gently bestowed a love bite on Hebai’s left shoulder.

“Yours in this life and all beyond,” smiled Hebai, sighing at the slight sting in his shoulder.

Their groans of pleasure were carried up by the wind to the moon.
/
The soft swishing of the steadily falling rain slowly lifted Yugi through thick layers of unconsciousness until, at last, he was able to pry his heavy eyelids apart. As he lay, he took stock of his surroundings. The fire’s dimming lights still danced on the dark rock walls, though not as vividly as earlier. Looking off to the side, he saw the slate gray of the sky as the heavy raindrops continued to bombard the beach and water beyond it.

Finally, he looked into the sleeping face of his Desert Rose, the man who, despite being abused in the worst way possible in his youth, had taken Yugi to worlds of bliss twice tonight. As a smile broke out on his lips, Yugi realized that he didn’t even give a tinker’s damn about the rain anymore. Atem was with him and that was what mattered.

‘My Desert Rose, my beautiful Até,’ Yugi thought as his hands hands began to softly explore Atem’s body, gently caressing his chest, rib cage and flanks before slipping around back.

Yugi allowed his fingers to trail up and down Atem’s back, wincing slightly whenever they brushed over a faded scar. Akhnadin’s abuse had left marks that would follow Atem to the grave. Leaning over, he lowered his lips to the first scar he saw in a soft butterfly kiss.

The feather light touches and kisses registered in Atem’s slumbering mind, lifting him up to wakefulness and causing him to open his eyes to watch what his habibi was up to. As he watched Yugi go from scar to scar, lightly worshiping each one with his lips, a warm smile spread across his features. He closed his eyes and sighed in contentment, enjoying Yugi’s ministrations on his body.

“I know you’re awake, Até,” Yugi gently teased between feather light kisses.

“Hmmm?” Atem rumbled, lazily opening one eye to smile up at Yugi.

Wordlessly, Yugi continued his gentle ministrations on the sweetly drowsing Atem, until he reached the last scar, which he finished off with a deep, soulful kiss before looking up and smiling at the dark beauty, whose sleep tinted eyes were staring at him once again.

“Kissing me better, were you?” Atem teased with a lazy smile.

“Mmhm,” Yugi answered as he snuggled up to Atem again. “I’ll keep doing it until this,” he gestured to a faded welt on Atem’s left shoulder “is gone.”

Atem fixed Yugi with a solemn gaze.

“It will never be ‘gone’, Yugi. I will bear these scars until my dying day,” he said truthfully.

Yugi opened his mouth to protest, only to be silenced by Atem’s lips on his, kissing the breath out of him until he submitted silently and Atem pulled back.

“However, just being with you like this is helping me greatly. Never think it is not,” Atem said truthfully, eyes brightening just a bit as a small smile quirked his lips up.

“OK,” said a now blushing Yugi, who went to bury his face in Atem’s chest, until he was stayed by Atem’s gentle grip.

“Don’t hide your face from me, habibi. I love seeing your flushed cheeks,” Atem teased gently.

“Até…” said a flustered Yugi.

Just then a rather cool breeze blew in, causing their campfire to gutter. This reminded Atem of the weather and he rolled over to look at the campfire and the rain outside.

“Mmmm. We’re to be here a while yet,” he rumbled. “I’ll rebuild the fire. Perhaps we should have some clams.”

As if on cue, Yugi’s stomach gave a mighty growl at this suggestion and, with a bright smile, he jumped up and went to the bucket.

After adding some more driftwood to the fire, Atem felt the drying clothes and turned to Yugi with a smile.

“Our clothes are dry,” he announced.

“Oh, OK,” replied Yugi indifferently as he brought some clams over.

Atem took the clams and placed them over the fire, neither tricolor feeling in a hurry to cover himself up just yet. Yugi sat and watched as Atem expertly brought the clams to their desired level of heat, their shells popping open as they cooked, sending a sweet, meaty aroma into their nostrils.

“Itadakimasu!”

Yugi and Atem gingerly bit into the meat of the clams, sucking in air to cool the hotness in their mouths to a chewable temperature. Each man chewed slowly, savoring the heady taste of the meat on his tongue before swallowing.

“Theshe’r great, Até,” remarked Yugi around a mouthful of clam.

“Thank you, habibi. Your warm compliments spur me onto ever greater culinary endeavors,” replied Atem.

“Huh?”

“Ha ha ha! They make me want to be a better cook,” supplied Atem as he put down the empty shell of his last clam.

Atem leaned over and peered into the bucket, counting out the remaining clams.

“Hmmm. Eight left. We can take these back to the house and perhaps I could make us some shiohigari tonight,” Atem mused.

“That’s awesome! I haven’t had that since Grandpa cooked some when I was ten!” cheered Yugi.

“Hmmm. Then that’s definitely what we’ll do,” decided Atem, abandoning the towel and beginning to prowl to Yugi on his hands and knees, moving like a stalking lion.

Yugi’s eyes widened at the sight of the nubile beauty, moving sensuously toward him. Tossing aside his empty clamshell, he turned to face the dark twin who now loomed over him.

“Now that we’ve filled our bellies, let us satisfy a different kind of hunger,” Atem murmured, crashing his lips into Yugi’s as he jerked the small one to himself.

Yugi wrapped his arms around Atem and returned the kiss, even as his fingers lightly played over the scars he had kissed earlier. Finally, forced to part by a need for air, Yugi and Atem rested their chins on each other’s shoulders as they embraced each other closely, each fulfilling a desperate need for closeness and warmth.

At length, emboldened by Atem’s unprovoked affection toward him, Yugi traced his fingers up and down those lean, tawny ribs, eyes lighting when he felt Atem’s body jerk and heard the laughter bubble up in the Egyptian’s throat. Throwing mercy to the wind, Yugi went in for the kill.

“Ha ha ha ha ha!” Atem’s laughter echoed off the stone walls as he writhed and squirmed under Yugi’s touch while the smaller man’s fingers ran a merry dance up and down his rib cage.

At length, Atem began to tire, breath coming in gasps and pants. Yugi wound down the tickle attack and wrapped his arms around his boyfriend’s body, giving a gentle hug.

“Yugi, I never dreamed you would delight in torturing me so,” Atem chuckled as he looked up into Yugi’s impishly smiling face.

“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that to you,” Yugi smiled back down at the dark beauty.

“Obviously for a while,” grinned Atem. “And now for…”

“For?” asked Yugi.

“Revenge!” grinned Atem, suddenly flipping them over so that he was straddling Yugi.

Now, it was Atem’s turn to make Yugi writhe and laugh under him as his fingers found purchase in Yugi’s rib cage, prodding and stroking the pale, sensitive flesh of the younger man.

“Heeee hee hee hee! Oh, gods! Até! Hee hee hee heee!”

“Am I tiring you, habibi?” teased Atem.

“Ha ha ha ha! Y-yes! Ha ha ha ha ha!” gasped Yugi.

Only then did Atem decide to have mercy on Yugi, ceasing his tickling and taking Yugi in his arms to stretch out side by side. The two young men leaned in, their lips brushing together in a soft, sweet kiss before settling down to rest a bit, their bellies heavy with clams and their bodies tired from that brief bout of exercise.

Atem wrapped his arm around Yugi and cocooned them in his fluffy beach towel to ward off the dampness of the air. The two young men gazed into each other’s soft, sleepy eyes, each one trying to stay awake to watch the other drift off.

They never did find out who fell asleep first, with only the crackling fire and soughing wind surrounding them.

/
c 1270 BC
Waset, Kemet

The far off roars of lions and braying of zebras were the only sounds to be heard above the babbling of the Nile’s waters and the gently blowing breeze. Behind the bushes, out of sight of any stranger eyes, lay Pharaoh Atem, small servant Hebai snuggled safely in his arms, fast asleep.

Atem looked up at Nut’s dark, star studded body and smiled happily. He had silently thanked the gods each day for sending his small meriu into his life.

“Desert Rose…” Hebai murmured as he shifted in Atem’s arms.

“My beautiful Hebai,” Atem whispered, planting a kiss on the crown of Hebai’s head before closing his eyes and allowing sleep to claim him.
/
At long last, the rain stopped. After pausing only to dress and douse their campfire, Yugi and Atem returned to the beach house straightway and immediately put their remaining clams in the freezer to keep for dinner that night.
That evening…

Atem pulled the pot off the lid, moving his head back to avoid the rush of steam toward his face. Using the tongs, he removed the opened clams from the pot and dipped a spoon into the sake to taste how salty it was. Satisfied, he placed a cube of butter into the boiling sake, followed by two tablespoons of garlic and plenty of scallions and a few seasonings. Satisfied with everything, Atem removed the sake pot from the burner and put the pot containing the clams on, then poured the sake back onto the clams.

Yugi’s eyes almost rolled back in his head as the clam flavor exploded on his tongue.

“Awshum! Jush like Grmpa ushd t’ make,” he said around a mouthful.

“Why, thank you, habibi,” purred Atem as he took a bite of clam.

Perfection!
After dinner…

While Atem typed away on the laptop, Yugi pulled out his phone and sent texts to Jou and Mai.

blackmage: we’re doing fine here. Atem’s the happiest I’ve ever seen him. thanks again, Mai-sensei!

HarpyLady202: You’re welcome, Yugi. The best of luck to both of you.

Yugi looked up when he felt the couch shift under him and a pair of strong arms slide around his body and pull him close. After quickly shutting off his phone, he tossed it aside and relaxed into Atem’s embrace.

The two of them turned their gaze to the dancing fire, which produced crackling and popping sounds as it consumed its meal of driftwood.

‘He’s so quiet and peaceful now. Hard to believe just a week ago, he was screaming at that old bastard’s charred corpse,’ Yugi thought, softly placing his hand on Atem’s chest and caressing it. ‘Is this who he would’ve been if things had been different?’

Yugi chanced a glance at Atem's face, the narrow, deep set eyes staring into the fire, whose lambent flames danced in their crimson depths. Smiling to himself, Yugi closed his eyes and let himself relax totally.

‘Maybe I can help him be who he was supposed to be,’ were his last thoughts as the blanket of sleep covered his mind.
That night…

Two tricolors stood side by side before the mirror, brushing their teeth in perfect unison. After finishing with that, they headed for the shower room and gently pulled off each other’s shirts, shorts and boxers before stepping in.

In the warm, intimate atmosphere of the room, Atem gently soaped up, then rinsed off, Yugi. He then sat on the stool while Yugi did the same for him, sighing in contentment as all his old scars were gently rubbed with a sponge and kissed by two sweet lips before being rinsed off with warm water.

‘My sunu…’

After both tricolors were clean, Yugi rolled back the cover on the bathtub, which had been keeping the water at the comfortable 140° all day. Atem sank slowly into the water first, then held out his arms for Yugi, who happily settled into his loving embrace, closing his large eyes in contentment. Atem planted a light kiss on the crown of Yugi’s head, then allowed his eyelids to fall closed.
“Até, Até.”

The sound of his nickname being called gently caused Atem to open his eyes and look up into Yugi’s face.

“Hm?” he croaked.

“It’s nighttime out. I think we fell asleep in the bath,” answered Yugi.

“Well, considering our earlier adventures, who could blame us?” smiled Atem.

“Nobody. But maybe we should go to bed now,” suggested Yugi.

“Mmm. You’re right, habibi,” replied Atem. “You stand up and I’ll follow.”

Yugi exited the tub, then held out a hand to steady Atem as he followed. The pair found their fluffy towels and rubbed each other’s hair vigorously until it began to return to its preposterous starfish shape. They then patted each other’s bodies dry.

Finished with their bath, Yugi and Atem left the bathroom to head for bed.

“Well, g’night, Até,” Yugi said, slowly turning for his room, only to feel Atem’s hand gripping his wrist. “Até?”

Without answering, Atem led Yugi to his room, opened the door and gestured for the bed with a more-than-friendly smile.

Smile lighting his own features, Yugi went over to the bed and made himself comfortable on the mattress while Atem closed the door and went to his side.

Atem stretched out on the mattress, covering himself and Yugi in only a light sheet, since it was so warm out. With a sleepy smile at each other, the tricolors snuggled into each other’s arms and let sleep claim them once again.

There would be no nightmares for Atem tonight.
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Darkness Before Dawn