A/N: Upon coming home on the school bus today, an idea occurred to me as I remembered Little Kuriboh's birthday was coming up. And thus, I present this. A small birthday gift from me. It's not much but I hope you (whether "you" is Little Kuriboh or just another reader passing by) enjoy this, for what it's worth. Anyways, even though it's set eleven years later, no GX references were calculated into this.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh, its characters, plots, sub-plots, or any other such things with that trademark.

Warnings: Slight Season 5 spoilers. English names. And, as per usual, possible typos even after editing.

Behind a Table
For: Little Kuriboh
By: Nuit Songeur

Suppose Yugi never got himself started in the whole fad of Duel Monsters, he honestly had no idea how his life would have been like. It seemed predetermined that he should follow in his grandfather's footsteps in the highly anticipated card game. It was predetermined practically; he didn't solve the Millennium puzzle for nothing, did he? It was him who was destined to pair up with Yami, defeat all the foes that arose against him, and then to, subsequently, unlock the memories of Yami's past. And, he'd accomplished all that. But, Yugi couldn't deny the fact that the simple card game of Duel Monsters had played a major role in his life. Even without Yami, he still had his grandpa to introduce him to the game, which is just what he had done.

Eleven years later, after solving the Millennium puzzle for the first time, Yugi found himself sitting behind a table, amidst a swarm of masses, all gamers. A permanent, black-ink marker was poised between his fingers, either in the position for writing or otherwise was woven between the other fingers of his hand as he conversed with fans. There seemed to be no end to their questions, an endless stream of curiosity that burned for useless trivia about his life and experiences as a duelist. But, Yugi didn't mind. It wasn't necessarily monotonous or boring work since he loved meeting new people.

He'd often catch himself repeating his words. "I started out just like you," he would say when approached by an aspiring duelist. "I was a fan of the game and, with the help of my friends, I progressed and became more successful. You can too!" And then the ambitious person, with signed monster cards in hand, would turn away from the table, eyes shining with anticipation. Yugi would smile to himself as another throng of people appeared, led by another eager enthusiast who longed for the encouraging words of Yugi Mutou. 'Duelist Extraordinaire' would often be what they would call him, a marketing term coined by Pegasus in order to draw more attention to his card game with the popular King of Games at his command. Well, not necessarily at his command; Yugi always had a choice to come to these conventions. He usually attended four or five of them a year out of the fifteen invitations he was customarily sent.

As soon as the current wave of fans dissipated, Yugi stretched out in his chair, listening to the bones in his arms and legs pop. He massaged his shoulder, rolling it a bit as he stretched the muscles. He definitely been sitting there too long. Beside him was Joey, present for autographs as well. He didn't receive as many requests as Yugi did but there was still some who appeared enthralled to see him there. A bit over-the-top fans in Yugi's opinion but at least it seemed to keep Joey in good spirits. Now that the crowd of people that demanded their attention was momentarily gone, Yugi was able to casually converse with his friend for a while.

"When was the last time you actually dueled, Yugi?" Joey asked quite suddenly. Yugi turned to him, blinking, and took a moment to think in order to adequately answer the question.

"I honestly can't remember. It's been a while. Maybe… two years? And that was a promotional duel Kaiba asked me to do with some tournament champion."

"It's weird isn't it?"

"What is, Joey?"

"We used to be the whole new thing, the top duelists. You still are. But, we're a bit outdated, Yug," Joey explained, referring to Yugi as his old, shortened nickname. Yugi couldn't help but chuckle, a smile breaking across his face.

"Just because we're almost thirty now? And within fifteen years, it's mid-life crisis?" Joey's expression turned horrified. He began scratching his nose out of discomfort.

"Yugi, man, don't talk like that. I've got enough stress to deal with- just paying for my bills. I don't need to think about that as well!"

"Well, it's true," Yugi said, smiling sadly now. "We're not the teenagers we once were. We're grown adults now-" Yugi stopped himself shortly, watching as Joey continued to scratch his nose, shoving a finger in one of his nostrils. Yugi shook his head, amused at Joey's behavior. "Well, supposedly."

Upon picking up the implied hint, Joey removed the finger from his nasal cavity and turned back around, slightly embarrassed as he crossed his arms over his chest. He quickly thought of a subject-changer, "So, uh, Yugi, would you take any of it back?"

That stumped Yugi for a moment, "What do you mean?" Joey turned his head slightly to maintain eye contact with him.

"Well, the whole Duel Monsters thing has taken a lot outta' your life. Your adolescence, especially. All those times you were duelin', even after Yami left, could have been spent on another date with Téa or something else important." Yugi thought for a moment.

"I don't think so. Duel Monsters has been a major part of my life, Joey, especially since Yami came when I solved the Millenium puzzle. I've met so many new and great people since then." And Yugi thought of them all: Mai, Mako Tsunami, Rebecca Hawkins and Professor Hawkins, Duke, Marik, Ishizu, Odion, and plenty of others. And, he wouldn't have met them if it were not for the simple card game he grew up with. But, most importantly, if not for Duel Monsters, he wouldn't have ever met Yami, the most life-altering being that had ever entered his life. And, without Yami, he would have never met his other friends- Téa, Joey, Tristan, and even Ryou. And those were his closest friends. Maybe not as close as Yami was to him but at least they were able to stick around with him for a while longer.

"No regrets," Yugi said finally after a long few minutes' silence. Joey, who hadn't noticed Yugi's drifting train of thought, turned his head slightly back to Yugi, raising a blond eyebrow at him. After a moment's contemplation, Joey smiled at him.

"Same here," he said, flashing his white teeth. Joey stretched back in his chair as well, raising his arms above his head. His T-shirt stretched across his bulging gut, something that had grown somewhat noticeably since the eleven years they had been friends. For a brief moment, Joey's shirt lifted, showcasing his stomach to anyone within a nearby radius. He quickly stopped stretching and hastily pulled his shirt back down, his face turning bright red and snapping around to see if anyone had seen him in such a humiliating. To his disappointment, a group of nearby fan girls debating on whether or not to get a poster signed had glimpsed his flashed torso and erupted into a fit of giggling. Yugi couldn't help but laugh as well.

"You've not only grown up, Joey. You've gotten rounder as well," Yugi joked with him.

"Shuddup, Yug!" he hissed to him. "We had a perfectly good, heart-to-heart moment there and you just go and ruin it by laughing at me. Thanks, man. You're a real pal."

"I'm sorry," Yugi said, knowing Joey was joking with him as well.

"It's all right, I suppose I can forgive you this time."

"Suppose? Hah. You better forgive me or I'll just leave you to go over to the Dungeon Dice Monsters table."

The next few minutes passed identically to this, each throwing meaningless, harmless insults and jibes to one and the other responding accordingly. The scene elicited the attention of a few passersby which, quite quickly, turned into another large mob of people that soon demanded for questions to be answers and various surfaces to be autographed. Unfortunately for Joey, Yugi was the last to throw in a snub and Joey was rendered as defeated by default when they began to be approached by the bravest of the horde. Yugi couldn't help chuckling under his breath as he heard Joey muttering grumpily under his breath.

Yugi may now have lived a somewhat peaceful life as a retired duelist, but he didn't regret it, not any of it. Not even as his hand started to cramp from signing his name for what seemed the billionth time, because, he knew Joey was there to help remove the potential boredom as the minutes passed by and as Joey mused to himself for a next, possibly good comeback.

I hope you enjoyed. Please review!

-NuitSongeur