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One Night in Bangkok
by Edmondia Dantes

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Epilogue

-10:43 am-

Morning seared away the blackness - and the night's children fled into their safe havens, silent cloisters tucked away behind thick walls and heavy doors, untouched by the heat of a day they despised.

Save for the shadows' favorite son.

Their adored child lay calm and content in the painful brilliance of morning - asleep in the tender embrace of the dawn's chosen one.

Light. Too bright, searing against his closed eyelids and forcing him into consciousness.

Yugi Motou winced, rolled over, and yanked the covers up over his head.

/Ugh.../

//...hmn?//

His eyes flew open, a squeak of startlement tumbling out of his mouth.

"Eep!"

"Gah!"

Wide-eyed, still buried under the sheets, they blinked dazedly at each other, trying to calm racing heartbeats and smooth ragged breathing.

Heat touched by madness, drowned in lust and desperately thick passion, edged in want and need and craving, deep wild hunger, laughing in crying and adoration so pure that he wept for the memory of their union...

Yugi buried his face in the mattress shyly, flushing. Somehow, he hadn't quite thought of waking up to see this angelic demon still tucked in his bed. /Oh... hi./

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Yami turn a becoming shade of pink. //Hikari...?//

He let out a half-hysterical giggle. Wildly rumpled hair, pale golden skin faintly bruised (his fault, he knew), full lips swollen and completely disheveled... and damn his darkling, even with all this he was so very very beautiful... /Yeah?/

//...where are we?//

Yugi blinked, disconcerted. He hadn't the faintest idea - as soon as whichever door it was had opened, he'd grabbed his Yami and closed his mouth over golden flesh. /Um.../

Laughter tickled at the back of his mind. //You don't know either, do you?//

/We could always check.../ he suggested halfheartedly, shrugging awkwardly.

A soft hum of acknowledgment trilled into his mind. //We could.//

/Yami-chan?/

//Mmm?//

/You're not checking, you're looking at me with a silly grin on your face./

//You're beautiful. You're sexy. You're mine. You're blushing again! Kawaii! And, sweet hikari-mine... you're not looking either.//

Yugi giggled. /You're pretty. You're sexy. You're mine. You're blushing! Kawaii!/

They locked mischievous eyes, bright smiles dancing with laughter, and somehow or another wound up tangled together in a sprawling mass of arms and legs and playful morning kisses.

Yugi rubbed his nose affectionately against Yami's, violent ebony spilling into his open soul from the soft caress of his darkling's spirit, utter darkness melting into brilliant gold. He could feel the change - a warm thrum on the edge of consciousness, treacherous as it was beautiful, and he knew it belonged to the creature he so desperately adored.

Thick wild passion, bright and shrieking with all the forces of eternity and madness, barely leashed and primal, hidden behind the shadow of bloodied rubies. So beautiful. So wild. So strange. /This isn't normal, is it?/

A quick, wry quirk of his lips - what passed for a smile. //What isn't normal?//

You. Me. Last night. Everything. /Us. After... um... what we did, it's not really typical to suddenly have someone living in your head, you know?/

Not typical, but so very right, as though he'd been missing something all his life and had found it in his Yami's arms. //...I've needed you with me forever.//

It was the truth, and he knew, he knew how much it ached. /...I know. I've missed you for so long-/

//I love you,// his darkling interrupted sharply, long fingers curling possessively into the curve of his side, a hint of that feral hunger gleaming like diamond dewdrops down the glimmering tendrils of his thoughts. //Only I love you.//

Was it a warning or a threat? He couldn't forget the brilliant cruelty in his eyes...

He brushed soft gold away from glittering crimson, tracing the golden curve of his cheek with careful fingertips, considering his reply.

/What if I told you that I've loved only you for forever?/

Yami nipped softly at the fingers lingering on his brow, the swirling of his violent shadows stilling at the possessive tone lingering in his reassurance. //I would tell you the same.//

Yugi sighed softly. I can't live without you - and you'll kill yourself and everyone else if you can't have me, won't you? /You can't leave me, you know./

Long lashes drooped prettily as soft hands wandered down his skin. //I never would.//

Never is forever... no matter. You can't. But still... /Don't think I don't know about what you've done./

He repressed another sigh as soft breath, sweet as honey, gusted gently over his skin, thick scarlet and ebony spilling against his chest when his Yami buried his lips in his shoulder and looked away. //I was looking for you,// he whispered after a moment, //I can't help what I am...//

A desert-born wanderer, crafted in shadow and raised in the harshness of the sun - gifted with Darkness so strong there could be no difference between the two. /I know. I was looking for you. But I never killed anyone on my search./

Quiet. Thoughtful silence, for a moment, and when he spoke, he was unashamed. //You and I are very different, hikari.//

The darkness... his darkness... slow and achingly beautiful, cruel and flawed and drenched in passion and tears... he'd sifted through memories and an unknown past to breathe in his soulmate, and what had he done? A million silent screaming deaths - how many had he died? /Tell me... How long have you been able to shatter souls?/

A soft sigh, and Yami turned his head slightly, nuzzling into the curve of Yugi's cheek. //As long as I can remember. How long have you been able to save them?//

Sad eyes, sad souls, and he'd caught them and held them and wondered as they healed - drawn into his self and made pure. /...for as long as I can remember./ He tried not to laugh, the sound strange and soft and sad as it tumbled down their link. Destroyer and savior... damnation and salvation... and neither of them had known who they were until the night before. /We match./

He wrapped his arms around his shadow and pressed a soft kiss against hair brighter still than the glow of the morning sun. //You were meant for me... and I was meant for you,// Yami murmured, //Always for you...//

Whatever it is that we are... /Perfect. Light needs darkness, darkness needs light, I love you and I love you and I love you so much.../

Yami buried his face against his shoulder again, purring low in the back of his throat. //Love only ever you...//

/Love you for always.../

Sharp, crystal desperation. //Never leave me.//

How could I? I'd drown without you... /Never ever never./

He pressed his lips to softest gold, shivering at the softly inhaled breath, the still softer brush of slick heat against his flesh.

//Never.//

/Never./ He paused for a moment, hesitating and unsure. /...will you come home with me?/

Yami pulled away a fraction, just enough to lean down and rest his forehead against Yugi's, slender hands lifting to frame the soft curves of his face.

//You are my home.//

A soft, crystal giggle tumbled past lips soft as silk and sin. /Mine.../ the word was soft with wonder, brilliant and smoldering with light, and he reached for the darkness and kissed the firm curve of his velvet mouth.

//Mine.//

And he bopped his beautiful new lover over the head with a pillow.

Salvation in the shadows? Yugi wondered for a moment, diving under the covers to escape the wrath of his chuckling Yami, who, as he had discovered, wielded a mean fluffy thing.

...nah.

Just in love.

Just... in love.

"Eeep! Yami! No fair tickling! No faiiiiiiiiir!"

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~ The End ~

AN: Well, that's it. Now let's go tuck this thing back on the dusty shelf where it belongs and call it a day.