Yugi x male!reader (reader is set as Seto Kaiba's cousin just to fit the story and also your last name is Yamashita 'cause yes) BUCKLE DOWN THIS IS A LONG ONE! Cheers to you if you can spot all the references also Téa for the sake of the story is acesexual
Yugi never thought he'd have real friends, loyal friends, friends that would always stay by his side, but he didn't have enemies either, he didn't hold a grudge to those who mocked and ridiculed him for not being a man in their eyes but honestly deep down Yugi didn't blame them for thinking that way, he was always muttering to himself and wasn't any good at sports nor interested in them.
In his eyes those who ridiculed him whether it was Jounouchi (aka joey, don't get confused) trying to make him a man or any other person in that school, in his eyes they were just trying to help him.
"Hey, Yugi. Don't just play by yourself. Why not come play basketball with us sometime?" A classmate asked casually holding up a basketball ball.
"Eh. That's alright. The team I'd join would lose..." Yugi muttered. He wished he could join them though.
"Ah, that's right." The classmate left join the others, leaving Yugi alone again in the classroom.
Though Yugi wasn't good at physical sports, and they didn't really interest him there was one thing that did, his secret, his treasure, his wish, the puzzle that has taken him 9 years to complete.
The treasure in this box is something you can see, but never seen before.
"The one who solves me will receive my dark knowledge and power."
That's what the box said. He believed when he solved it then it would grant him one wish. That's all he wanted. He already knew what he'd wish for, which made him even more determined to finish it!
But he didn't realise how hurriedly he'd make that wish. He hadn't even realised it had already been granted when it did.
He remembers it like it was yesterday, 'cause it was. When he placed in the last piece with shaky hands and it all went black, when his consciousness returned he immediately went to check on Jounouchi and Honda who were still beat up and unconscious on the floor. He didn't know what happened exactly but he's vaguely aware a dark presence protected him from whatever Ushio would've done to them.
Today he heard from rumours as he walked down the hall that Ushio was so in shock he was hospitalised. And Yugi felt curious hearing that, confirming his suspicions, but he wouldn't assume nothing. He kept walking down the hall, his finished puzzle bouncing a bit on his chest like a medal, a trophy he was proud to wear.
"Jounouchi-san, good morning."
"I'm following your example. I brought my treasure today." Jounouchi said with a smirk, "Want to see? Heh heh, too bad!"
Yugi looked extremely puzzled (pun intended and yes I did steal all dialogue from the actual show)
Jounouchi continued, "My treasure... you can see it but you cannot, so I can't show it to you!" Jounouchi innerly asked himself what was with him today, he didn't usually didn't talk like this. And Yugi looked all the more confused.
"You can see it but you can't?" Yugi repeated quietly in wonder, curious to what it could possibly be. Jounouchi only smirked at Yugi's expression.
"It's 'friendship'" Jounouchi said calmly, making Yugi's eyes widen in surprise a big smile appearing on his face the more Jounouchi talked. "We can see it in each other... but you can't see courage itself right?" Jounouchi paused a small scowl appearing on his face, not at Yugi but at himself, he couldn't help but think as his face got red Why am I spouting all these lousy lines today?
"So... class is starting!" Jounouchi said breaking the silence before bolting dropping one of his shoes in his rush to get to away from this, whatever this is. Yugi, snapped out of his shock and picked up the shoe and tried running after Jounouchi.
"Jounouchi-kun, you dropped your shoe!"
But in Yugi's hurry to try to catch up to Jounouchi, he tripped over his own foot and when he thought he was about to eat floor, someone caught him by the collar of his shirt pulled him back on his feet before he could fall face first onto the floor.
"Are you okay?" the guy who caught him (you) asked letting go of Yugi's collar, you hadn't looked up at Yugi, your eyes focused on the book you held in one hand your other hand coming up to fix your glasses as you glanced at Yugi like you were scanning him for injuries, upon spotting none your attention was back on the book he was reading. The school rule book.
Yugi shook his head recovering from the near accident experience, that would've ended badly, "Yes! I'm fine, thank you so much for catching me!" Yugi said placing a hand to his chest, his heart racing, blood rushing to his ears, that could've ended badly. He was glad you had been there to catch him. But who were you? He had never seen you before.
Before he can ask, the bell rings.
"Oh! I need to head to class! Again, thank you so much! Bye." He gave a quick bow before rushing to class. You on the other hand were in no hurry, as you closed your book.
Yugi sat in his seat and took his notebook and pencil case on his desk. Other students casually chatted around him but slowly stop when the homeroom teacher Mr. Kobayashi came in. (they canonicaly don't have a name nor do I remember their gender so let's go with that). Mr. Kobayashi stood in front of the board and spoke.
"Good morning class. today we have a special transfer student from Shanghai that will be joining us for the rest of the year. Mr. Yamashita please come in and introduce yourself."
You came into the room, hair neat, uniform ironed to perfection, you stood beside the teacher. You bow politely to the class with your hand on your chest before standing up straight, "Thank you, Mr. Kobayashi. Good morning class, I'm Y/N Yamashita. It'll be a pleasure to be your classmate and colleague and I sincerely hope we'll all get along."
The class murmurs as the teacher tells you can go sit down, some say they've seen you on magazines and those who hear that theories that you might secretly be a model. You paid attention to none of it as you took a seat by the window.
Class began as usual, some students paid attention, others passed notes to each, some glanced at you, others quietly talked to each other in whispers about nothing in particular. Class went on just like that. Two more classes passed, Yugi quietly took notes paying attention to each class.
Then the bell rang for lunchtime. The first bold enough to approach you to ask if you wanted to lunch with him was Jounouchi, Honda following behind.
"Hey new kid, wanna sit with us for lunch?"
You thought about it for a moment as you closed your notebook, "Alright, I don't see an issue with that." You say calmly.
"Cool," He nudged Honda with his elbow with a cheeky grin on his face, "and you were doubting he'd accept.", Honda on the other hand rolls his eyes at the blonde.
"Yuji! you coming?" He asked casually.
"Really?" Yugi asked surprised.
You all sat in on a bench outside with your lunch (one of those picnic benches with tablesattached), your bento put theirs to shame, it looked expensive and elegant.
"Wow! You bought that?!" Jounouchi asked surprised.
While Jounouchi asked you twenty questions while Yugi and Honda watched eating their own lunches, Téa approached the table. "Mind if I join?" Téa asked calmly and Yugi scooted over so she could sit. "What are you guys talking about?" She asked opened her bento box.
"Tell me, does this guy look like he can cook THIS?" Jounouchi said pointing at your bento more defensive about this than he should be. Which made you chuckle.
Téa looked at your bento than looked at you before looking at Jounouchi like he just asked if water has colour, "Well yeah, I don't see how he couldn't?"
"Don't judge a book by its cover."
"But I mean, look at him."
The argument went back and forth between Téa and Jounouchi as they completely forgot the rest of you were even there. Yugi, Honda, and you had a conversation of your own, with Honda asking if you were a super model and you thanking him for the compliment but explaining that you were just posing for your father's company.
The day went on just like that until you all said your goodbyes and went home. You walked with Yugi because you had places to be in the same direction, you chatted with Yugi as you walked, the conversation came naturally, nothing forced. "You actually made that bento?" Yugi asked, you nodded, "Wow! Maybe you can teach me sometime." Yugi said with a big grin, "If you're truly interested on learning from me then sure." You said calmly smiling at Yugi's excitement, the rest of the conversation went just as easy until you had went your separate ways, with Yugi entering the game shop and you going wherever you were headed.
Three weeks passed, Yugi everyday hanging out with his new friend group composed by Jounouchi, Honda, Téa, and you. He was very happy, off course he couldn't hang out with you on weekends 'cause you were very busy on weekends, he didn't question you, he was just glad you still hangout with him.
Today is Saturday and Téa, Joey, Honda, and him where at the game shop, Yugi's grandpa was showing them his most valuable and treasured card, a special rare blue eyes white dragon given to him by someone very special to him. He was telling them about it as they looked at the card in amazement, when suddenly opened the door and Seto Kaiba walked in carrying a black briefcase.
"Hello. Can I help you?" Solomon asked when Kaiba walked in.
"Mhm, if you can't, it certainly wouldn't surprise me." Kaiba said calmly stepping in.
"Seto Kaiba? Doesn't he have a big fancy company to run? What's he doing down here?" Honda wondered out loud like his thoughts are unable to stay in his head even though there was all the space in the world up there (I don't like him)
"Not that it's any of your business, but I come here to see the card."
"Hey, are you into dual monsters, too? This is perfect. Maybe we can all duel together sometime." Joey offered grinning at Kaiba.
"Me duel you? I would have more of a challenge playing solitaire." Kaiba said nothing even batting an eye.
"What?" Joey muttered taken aback.
"I'm the number one ranked duelist in the country and the favourite to win the duel monster championship. You wouldn't last 2 minutes against me." Kaiba smirked.
"Ooh, I'm shaking. Maybe you would like to settle this with fists instead of cards!?" Joey stepped forward very pissed off.
"Oh take it easy, Joey." Yugi interjected quickly stepping in front of Joey before anything could escalate.
"But, Yugi, Kaiba's asking for it." Joey grumbled.
"Now, does this shop have any worthwhile cards or not?" He asked casually like he hadn't just been threatened, that's when his eyes landed on it, "can it be be the blue eyes white dragon in a dump like this?!" He rushed over to the counter where the card sat nestled in a box.
It was. It was the card he'd been searching for.
"Well enough window shopping," grandpa promptly closed the box and carefully set it aside, "Is there anything else I can help you with?" Grandpa asked calmly, hands folded in front of him.
"Oh, listen to me, old man. Give me your blue eyes white dragon card, and I'll trade you all of these." Kaiba placed the briefcase on the counter and opening and turning it towards grandpa, everyone gasped seeing the cards.
"Ah, nice. But no thanks." Solomon said calmly.
"Fine, if you won't trade, maybe you'll sell it. Name your price, I can pay anything you ask." He said closing the briefcase.
"I'm sure you could but this card is worth more to me than you could ever offer. Not because of its power or because its so rare, but because of what it means to me. This card was given to me by a dear friend. And so I treasure this card as I do that friend," he said sounding nostalgic, "so parting with it is completely out of the question."
Kaiba was seating, what a foolish old man. Just as he was about to saying anything else, the shop door opened and you walked in, dressed in a black turtleneck with white jeans, your suit jacket hang on your shoulder half-hazardly like it wasn't worth more than this whole shop.
"Hello, sorry for the intrusion. Kaiba." You look at him.
"Cousin." Kaiba muttered, Yugi was looking between you confused, Honda muttered something about dramatic entrances running in the family, Téa and Joey had too take a double take like their brains couldn't process this.
"Kaiba, if you forgot there's an important meeting we must attend." You said calmly standing beside Kaiba. Unknowingly having stopped an argument from starting. Kaiba grumbled something about how this wasn't over as he pushed passed you like you were an inconvenience, in his eyes, you might have been. You followed Kaiba out the shop.
What no one had expected was for the next day to go as it did
No one had expected Kaiba would've kidnapped Yugi's grandpa and used his deck against Yugi himself. But something even more unexpected was when Yugi winning against Kaiba in the first place. Playing as Yami then finishing as himself using Exodia. (Sorry but if I have to type out the entire anime duel, or use what happened in the manga for this part, I will absolutely throw my phone at a wall)-🐸
After all of it, you drove Yugi to the hospital to see his grandpa. At first you said nothing while driving, which was expected, your cousin quite literally kidnapped someone, and conveniently that someone was your friend's grandpa and on top of that caused him to have a severe heart attack. So it was beyond awkward, but you broke the silence anyway.
"Yugi, allow me to apologise for my cousin's actions. I don't know why he'd go such lengths for a card he'd already been denied even if it was a rare one." You say voice calm and steady but you did sound sorry unlike Kaiba himself. "I won't justify his actions nor can I ask you to forgive him as I myself know that's too much to ask for. I cannot replace the ripped blue eyes white dragon but I will personally cover the hospital bills and compensate you in anyway I can, as it's the least I can do after all that's been done."
You didn't expect Yugi to say anything, he didn't, you didn't try to fill the silence as you drove nor when you got to the hospital, a nurse took Yugi to see his grandpa, while you went to do as you said and cover the whole hospital bill. Téa was already in the room with Solomon and you didn't go into the hospital room either as to not accidentally cause a problem or distress.
But you stayed in the hospital regardless, you were there when Téa left and were there when Solomon got discharged from the hospital. You bought them breakfast. What you hadn't told them was you hadn't slept a wink, maybe from guilt or from something else. Yugi's grandpa must've noticed because he kept striking your shoulder every time he laughed at breakfast but honestly, you deserved that.
after breakfast, you wrote them a ridiculous check for 500million yen and tried handing it to Solomon only to be shut down multiple times, so you bought them groceries instead before driving them home to the game shop and dropping them off.
As Yugi and Solomon walked inside Solomon said something that caught Yugi off guard. "He's a nice young man that one. He carries the guilt of others like his own and tries to remedy for them before letting himself breathe."
"Maybe he's just being nice..." Yugi muttered thinking about it, "But I hope he didn't stress himself into exhaustion."
"There are two types of resilience, Yugi. The first being someone who will try the same thing a million times until they got to their goal. And the second being omeone who'd work themselves rugged and tired and overcompensates even when they've reached it still thinking of what they could've done." Solomon said as he turned on the living room lights. "You should get some rest, Yugi. You've had a long day."
"W-Wait?! Shouldn't I be the one saying that, grandpa?" Yugi said in disbelief, processing what he had just heard. Solomon simply chuckled before clarifying, "I'll get some rest as well after some tea."
Yugi hesitated before nodding and going to his room, sleep came over him easily as all the exhaustion of everything that happened crashed down onto him.
Days passed and just like grandpa had guessed, you started trying again and again and again and again and again trying to get Yugi or his grandpa to accept the 500million, which ultimately led to you spending more time with Yugi both in and out of school, it was a regular thing seeing you at the shop now but every time trying to get him to accept the money but ending up just hanging out with him or helping at the shop.
One day while you were walking with Yugi at the park he finally asked about it.
"Mind if I ask you something?"
"Why do you keep offering the 500million?"
You go quiet for moment. Before answering honestly. Voice steady and calm as you do, "Maybe because a part of me thinks it's my fault all of that happened."
"I'm aware," you said cutting him off, "But the day I left the game shop with Kaiba I heard him monologue under his breath how he'd make you pay for denying and humiliating him on our drive back to KaibaCorp. I had thought nothing of it thinking he was just brooding. I see he wasn't."
Yugi went quiet walking beside of you, you continued, "or maybe because a part of me blames the fact that I feel like I haven't Kaiba enough growing up and that's what made him grow up with this mindset of his. My family sent him and Mokuba money we didn't know they weren't receiving in the first place instead of coming to check on him despite the distance." You explained quieting a bit.
"Maybe me trying to give you the 500million after what he did is me trying to compensate for what I couldn't do for him back then through you, and I apologise for that." You say, you felt selfish, you kept a calm face but deep inside you felt horrible and useless like you had failed someone and were trying to make up for it too late just so you could live with yourself. Cause you were. Yugi could tell.
"Then donate the money." Yugi said breaking the silence after a while.
"If you donate the money won't you be helping other people who are in the same situation?"
"I hadn't thought about that." You had, just not that way, "yeah, I'll do that."
The rest of the walk was spent in comfortable silence beside each other. You walked him home and said your goodnight before walking away. That same day you had divided the 500million and donated it to five different hospitals anonymously online on the donations pages.
The past few months a lot happened like finding out about Yami Yugi (and mostly dueling I choose not to write for the sake of my sanity) you started going out with Yugi on hang outs that looked more like dates even when the rest of the group was there teasing you about it, when Joey had teased you about looking like a couple and saying to just kiss already, causing Yugi to freeze and turn redder than a beet.
You had given Yugi your ice-cream after Honda bumped into him accidentally causing him to drop it, and you hadn't given a second thought when you did.
"Get a room you two." Téa had muttered with a smirk, raising an eyebrow as she ate her own ice-cream.
"Yeah, quit edging and kiss already," Joey grinned looking at the two of you, phone camera shamelessly out, "technically that ice-cream is an indirect kiss already." Téa said loving the ship that was going on, Honda questioning if that was even how that worked, her words causing Yugi's face to flush.
"Maybe." You mutter, sounding like you genuinely considered it in that short amount of time, which made Yugi's soul look like it left his body at that. But though you had considered it, you didn't do it, because if Yugi wanted to -which was fine if he didn't- then you'd do it when the moment was right instead of forcing things after simply being teased.
The day went on, everyone went home, and as always since it had become a pattern, you walked Yugi home, the silence comfortable as you walked, but tonight instead of saying goodnight and going inside, Yugi stood on the top stone steps to be eye to eye with you and looked at you still a little flustered, who wouldn't be, he placed his hands on your shoulders.
"C-Can I...?" The question was obvious and you weren't planning to tease him -you wanted to but you wouldn't- you simply nodded. He took a deep breath before leaning in and just as you were inches from one another, with an audible thud the store's lights went on like a spotlight, catching you both off guard as you two quickly stepped away from each other both blushing like hell looking away from each other.
"Goodnight, Yugi." You say trying to keep your composure and failing miserably at it.
"S-See you at school tomorrow! G-Goodnight!" Yugi said quickly before darting inside.
Grandpa wasn't being sneaky.