A couple weeks ago, @millenium-star asked me to write an ice skating date for the puzzle nerds for her birthday, and I am here to deliver. Happy birthday, Yuki!! You’re amazing and I hope you have a wonderful day!! <333
[Also read on AO3!]
Atem isn’t fearless. As much as people believe that he can face any and every situation he might come across, the truth of the matter is that he gets as nervous—maybe even more nervous—as anyone else when faced with a situation he’s never been in before.
The situation in question is stepping inside an ice rink with blades stuck to his shoes.
Yes, yes, he knows they’re called ice skates, but the fact remains that they’re shoes with blades attached to the bottom, which doesn’t make Atem feel any less nervous about this.
“Yugi,” he says as Yugi steps inside the ice rink, holding on to the edge with one hand. “I’m not sure about this…”
“Don’t worry,” Yugi replies, holding out his other hand so that Atem can take it. “I won’t let you fall. I might not be able to do any fancy jumps or tricks, but I can stay on my feet just fine.”
What worries me is that I’ll be so bad that you’ll end up falling because of me, Atem thinks, but he still grasps Yugi’s hand and interlaces their fingers together, allowing Yugi to slowly and carefully pull him inside the ice rink.
For a moment, they just stand there, their fingers entwined while Atem tries to get used to standing on his ice skates, his other hand held out at his side to keep his balance.
“See?” Yugi grins at him. “You’re already better than I was the first time I ever tried to do this!”
“Well,” Atem says, “that’s because I haven’t moved yet.”
Yugi chuckles, and the sound makes Atem feel calmer… slightly. “Okay, now just try pushing one foot forward and then the other one.”
Pushing one foot forward. Okay. It sounds a lot like walking, and it really can’t be all that different, can it? It’s basically the same concept, isn’t it?
Atem pushes his left foot forward, and Yugi’s smart enough to move slightly back so that Atem won’t crash against him.
“Okay,” he says with a nervous smile, earning a little laugh from Yugi as they continue moving around the rink at an incredibly slow pace. “Okay, this isn’t so bad.”
“I told you, you’re a natural,” Yugi says.
Atem tightens his grip on Yugi’s fingers. “‘Natural’ might be a little too much,” he mumbles, though he has to admit that he’s doing better than he thought he would. He continues to move one foot forward and then the other one, glancing down at his legs so that he doesn’t accidentally kick Yugi.
“That’s it!” Yugi squeezes his hand back, and Atem lifts his head just in time to see Yugi’s grin. “That’s it, you’re doing—”
Before Yugi can finish his sentence, Atem pushes his foot forward way too far, and it ends up bumping into Yugi’s skate, which sends them both off-balance. Yugi immediately reaches out to grab Atem’s hand, and before he can fall back, Atem tugs Yugi toward him, causing his foot to slide forward underneath him and send the two of them crashing down onto the ice, with Yugi falling on top of Atem.
There’s a bit of a commotion as other skaters gather around them to make sure they’re okay, but honestly, Atem can barely pay them attention. He and Yugi stare at each other, their eyes wide in surprise and shock until they both burst into laughter, though Atem’s is more nervous laughter mixed with embarrassment and mirth. Yugi leans his forehead on Atem’s shoulder, their bodies shaking against each other’s.
“I’m so sorry!” Atem chokes out, still laughing. “I’m so sorry, are you okay?”
“Me?” Yugi raises his head from Atem’s shoulder, his eyes scrunched up as he struggles to stop laughing. “I fell on top of you, are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Atem says, even though he’s probably not going to get up in the next two minutes. He’s been through worse, though, and it wasn’t as bad or as painful as he imagined it would be. “You?”
“Same,” Yugi answers. “You’re a very safe cushion, you know.”
His sentence makes them both erupt into tiny laughs again. After they calm down long enough to move, Yugi sits up on his knees and then carefully gets to his feet. Then he helps Atem do the same.
“Well,” Yugi begins after they’re both standing again, their hands interlaced once more. “What do you say? Do we go back or do you want to keep going?”
If Yugi had asked him this ten minutes ago, Atem would’ve probably said he wanted to go back, they could try again another day. But now that he’s already fallen (and most likely made a complete idiot out of himself) and realized that it’s not as nerve-wracking as it originally seemed to be, he’s not so scared of it anymore.
“We should try to go around the entire rink,” Atem ends up saying, seeing as how they’re almost halfway through it now. “And I promise I’ll be more careful.”
“And I promise I’ll do my best so that neither of us falls down,” Yugi replies, bumping their foreheads together for just a second before they start to slowly, carefully, move again.
When they fall down again less than five minutes later, it’s totally Yugi’s fault.
Once you get this you have to say five things you like about yourself, publicly, and send it to 10 of your favorite followers (non-negotiable). SPREAD POSITIVITY! ❤
i was gonna answer this when i got it and then i foRGOT I’M SO SORRY THIS IS SO NICE THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!
um, um, ok, lemme think
-I like my face? which is weird ‘cause I don’t like people taking pictures of me ‘cause I hate how I look, but when I’m being an idiot in front of the mirror I actually like how my face looks?
-I like my hands. my mom sometimes teases me about them ‘cause they’re kinda small and so she jokes that I still have “little girl’s hands” but I guess that’s why I like them?
-I like that I’m a bit of a visual thinker? I don’t know if it’s the right term or if that’s even a thing, but whenever I think of stories, I do it through images and scenes? like I create a movie in my head, or at least certain scenes of a movie, I guess, and I try to craft a story that fits that particular scene(s)!
-I like that I’m very creative! especially when it comes to crafts. I started doing these felt dolls for my friends (and I’ve sold one or two) without really knowing what I was doing, and the people I’ve given them to have loved them! so it feels wonderful to receive that kind of appreciation for something you’ve done!
-and uh... I guess I’ve just liked myself recently? haha, I don’t know, it’s just that I’ve felt better about myself since like, a month or so ago and last year was kinda crappy for me so it’s just. I don’t know. I feel okay, for once in a long time, and I really like that. does that make sense?
OOOH- Awesome, thank you!! :D Let’s see what we have!
9.) Music HeadcanonsNow if there’s one skill I envy Yuugi beyond gaming, it’s the fact that he doesn’t seem easily distracted by noise. He plays games in public without getting jolted or disturbed, and he’s seen thinking and working (namely on the Puzzle) in silence, so I don’t think he needs music to focus or relax.
So he PROBABLY thinks of music as something to have fun with, first and foremost.
I imagine he likes catchy tunes and is very prone to earworms (hurhur, shameless self-plug here) and likes music he can move with or get emotion from.
Oh! Also, I don’t think Yuugi has a great singing voice. It’s not BAD, just mediocre. He kind of makes up for it by having a good ear and knowing, even when letting loose, not to belt out loudly or try and hit insane notes. He just ‘fun sings’ as I put it. :) I also think he MIGHT get it in his head now and then that it’d be cool to play an instrument, like the drums or keyboard, but who has the time to learn when you have an ancient puzzle to solve?
17.) Scars HeadcanonsHe has to have some, right? Takahashi doesn’t depict any, even in swimming trunks, but how many times has Yuugi been assaulted IN story, much less prior to the series? I will never buy Ushio was the first one to hit him.
My conclusion is that he has scars, but they’re very faint. Like, chicken pox scar faint. (Oh, and wouldn’t it be cute if he had one or two of those, like on his elbow?!) A permanent cut on the inside of his cheek from a tooth hitting it in a punch? Hints here and there on his back from where he landed on something sharp after someone kicked him down? Little lines of permanent bald spots hidden by thick hair where his head hit something when he was thrown over?
That’s all vague stuff, though- The only specific scars I have in mind are a hint of a slice on his right palm from smacking an open knife away from the Puzzle cord in Afraid Of Your Own Shadow, and- Well… The fire… I doubt it was bad enough to properly scar, but 2nd degree burns can cause permanent discoloration.
But all of these are subtle- The creativity of torture in Yu-Gi-Oh! has kept Yuugi largely unblemished by his trials.
39.) Secrets HeadcanonsYuugi sucks at keeping secrets- He’s so obvious about what he’s thinking and feeling. He just has too sincere a nature to consciously keep secrets bigger than what’s on a tape Jounouchi loans him.
Ironically, though, I think Yuugi CAN still hide some pretty huge things from everyone, Atem included, because there is ONE person Yuugi can always trick.
Himself.
Because while I make a big deal about Atem ‘not letting himself’ contemplate things he fears to face, Yuugi takes it a step further- He never lets those things occur to him at all.
The best metaphor I can think of is, say, the number 4 represents a truth too big, too scary, or too painful to face. Atem might think “2+2=…” and stare at that ellipses forever, but Yuugi goes “ah, 2+2, look at that” and then just- Drops the equation without ever thinking to solve it… And having someone MAKE him solve it would just distress him to hell.
(see: Atem first saying he has no memory and alluding to leaving.)
Thankfully, I don’t think Yuugi does that with a LOT of things, but it’s how I approach the character and painful feelings, or emotional attachments. He doesn’t think about things he can’t do anything about, like who Anzu likes, or how his father is never there, or how Atem will leave… At least not until the plot and Atem himself made him.
