Summary: Yami Yuugi makes friends with some birds. Based on a split second in episode 53.

Author's Notes: episode 53 is one of my favorites because it shows how much of a big dweeb yami yuugi is , it really warms my heart.

Wing It

"This seems kind of silly," says Yami to Anzu, eyes fixed on the bird seed cupped in his hands, careful not to let any grains slip through his fingers.

He hears her laugh from somewhere on his left, spots her moving ahead of him out of the corner of his eye. "Yeah, maybe, but we're already here, so might as well make the best of it, right?"

"I suppose so," he grumbles, shifting his arms and bringing his hands closer to his body. He looks up, casting his gaze around at the park they're in. It's pretty empty for a Sunday, which he's thankful for. He glances back over his shoulder and sees the old lady who gave them the bird seed waving at him with enthusiasm. He forces a smile in return before facing forward again and darting ahead to catch up with Anzu, who had managed to put about a meter of distance between them while he'd been busy glaring at bird food.

It takes Yami a moment to catch up to her, his bracelets clinking together as he moves. He can feel a few grains of bird seed slipping down his palms and threatening to spill out of his hands. He slows down as he gets closer to Anzu, adjusting the bird seed in his hands so that it's no longer in danger of falling out.

"So, um," he starts, faltering as she turns her head to look at him, "Um, now what?"

"I guess we wait for the birds? I don't know," she crouches down, letting the bird seed drop onto the ground before dusting off her hands on the bottom of her shirt. She balances her bag on her thighs, propping her elbows against it, face in her hands. "Honestly, I've never fed birds like this before either."

He stares at the bird seed on the ground for a few seconds, idly wondering if Yuugi had any bird-feeding knowledge that would be useful for this situation. He tries to put the thought out of his mind; his other self had insisted that they not switch places for the rest of the day. Still feeling a little silly, he starts to crouch down as well, intending to copy Anzu and tip the bird seed out of his hands and onto the ground, but he stops, distracted by a pigeon ambling by his left foot, head bobbing with each step. Blinking, he watches it approach the heap of bird seed on the ground and begin to peck at it.

"That was quick," he says softly, not taking his eyes off of it.

"Oh my god, Yuugi," Anzu replies, her jaw dropping, expression stuck somewhere between disbelief and delight.

He frowns. "What is it?" he turns to look behind him, following her gaze…

…and finds himself making the same face.

There really is no way to describe what he sees before them other than "an entire flock of pigeons". He tries to count them and manages to get to a dozen before giving up. They walk in a cluster that splits up as they move around him, a single pigeon taking a shortcut in the space between his shoes to make it to the pile of bird seed before the others.

"They fear nothing," he says, mostly to himself, but Anzu hears him and giggles. He feels his face heat up.

By the time he turns back around, the pigeons have laid waste to the pile of bird seed, only a few grains left scattered on the ground.

"Yuugi, give them yours," says Anzu, smiling up at him.

He blinks. "Oh, right." He holds his arms out to drop the bird seed in his hands onto the ground, and all at once, the pigeons turn their heads to look at him.

The next few seconds are a blur. Half of the bird seed is on the ground by his feet, the other half in his closed right hand as he stumbles back, the birds rushing toward him. He feels a weight on his arm, a weight that is moving, he turns his head to look and oh, he thinks, of course, a pigeon.

It coos at him, nudging his fingers, and without really thinking about it, Yami opens his hand. He braces himself, envisioning the bird's beak puncturing his skin, having to apologize to Yuugi later, Sorry aibou, your hands are full of holes because I was attacked by an average-sized, relatively harmless bird, but to his surprise it… kind of tickles? He lets out a breathless laugh, fingertips twitching every time the pigeon's beak touches his palm, and soon a second pigeon joins the first one perched on his forearm, the rest of them swarming around his feet.

A third pigeon lands on his head, leaning over his forehead and peering at him through his hair. He raises his left arm to shoo it away, what is it doing, there isn't even any bird seed up there, but it dodges his hand and makes itself comfortable.

"Hey, Yuugi!"

He turns his head to look at Anzu and sees her flip-phone open with the screen in front of her face and the back pointed upward toward him. It takes him a moment to realize what is about to happen.

"H-Hold on, Anzu, what are you–"

A shutter clicks.

"Anzu!"

She takes one look at the screen and starts laughing so hard she's wheezing, tears stinging the corners of her eyes. Yami takes a deep breath, unable to keep the smile off his face, and lets his arm drop back to his side.

When the pigeons have successfully done away with every single grain of bird seed, they disperse, and Yami's new bird friends are no exception, lifting themselves in the air with a couple noisy flaps of their wings. The one sitting on Yami's head slaps him with its wingtips as it takes off. He doesn't know whether to laugh or sigh, and ends up making a weird noise that sounds like both at once. Anzu stands up, flipping her phone open again to show him the picture she took earlier.

His eyes are wide with confusion, his mouth hanging open ever so slightly, hair a tousled mess. Well, even more of a tousled mess, with a pigeon sitting on top like a king on its throne. One of the birds on his forearm is practically falling off, its wings spread to keep its balance, the other lunging at the bird seed in his palm. It's… an absolutely ridiculous picture, but he can't suppress the grin spreading across his face.

"It's a good look for you," says Anzu, hiding a smile behind her free hand.

BONUS:

"Hey, other me?"

"Yes, Yuugi?"

"Why do I have feathers in my hair?"

Author's Notes: i am so weirded out by ffnet's thing where you have to put the notes IN the chapter, im too used to ao3 lmao. going from posting to ao3 to ffnet is WILD, like wheres the preview button? i have to choose genres? WHOA. anyway, when i wrote this, i was like "theres no WAY i can write more than 500 words about yami and some pigeons.

i was wrong.

i'd show you guys the screenshot that inspired this fic, but i have no idea how to insert hyperlinks here, of if that's even possible. it's a cute screenshot, take my word for it (:

thanks for reading!

–fearowkenya