Of Heart and Spirit

Chapter 8 - A New... Charming Face?

~Earlier~
Duke smirked as he relished in Joey's suffering as his fan girls treated him like a dog, any moment now Yugi would take his bait and and challenge him.

He blinked as he phone vibrated in his pocket. "What is it?" he asked as he answered the phone, turning away from the others in the room. "Sir, there's a (h/c) haired girl up here, saying she wants to be down there to see her friends duel's..." the employee spoke on the other line. Duke looked off to the side as he tried to think of which friend was missing. He hummed when he realized it was that new girl at their school. "Right, well the Duel is over anyway so she can be let down here. As long as you get her down here before the next duel starts." he said, shrugging his shoulders. He was feeling generous, plus more of Yugi's friends seeing him lose in person would just be a bonus. "Of course sir, I'll send her down right away!"

~Present time~
(Y/n) ran out towards her friends the moment the elevator doors opened enough for her to exit. "Guys! What happened! Joey lost!" she exclaimed as she ran up to Tristan and Tea. Tea frowned as she looked over to the girls in cheerleader uniforms and someone dressed up in a big dog onesie. "He did..." she said somberly as she looked back at her friend.

(Y/n) looked behind Tea and at the person in the dog costume, her eyes widening when she realized it was Joey in the dog suit. "What's he doing wearing that?" she asked dumbfounded as she pointed at the boy, silently crying as the the girls treated him like he was a real dog. "He has to do whatever Duke says, so he was made to wear that." Tristan explained as he crossed his arms and glared at the raven haired boy from across the room.

(Y/n) blinked as she watched Duke make his way to the other side of the room, towards the duel console. "Wait, that employee said another duel was taking place, isn't Joey going up for a rematch?" she asked as she looked at Tea and Tristan confused. "No, Yugi challenged him... but the stakes are much higher than the duel Joey just had." Tea said as she looked over towards the other duel console, presumably where Yugi was.

(Y/n) wasn't able to turn to look at her friend just yet, a cold shiver going down her spine at Tea's words. "What do you mean by that Tea...?" she asked as she just stared at her friend. "If Yugi loses, he can never play card games again...." Tristan stated as he continued to glare at the duel arena in front of him. (Y/n)'s widen in shock as she quickly turned around to look at her friend. "But, he can't make Yugi do that! He loves duel monsters!" she exclaimed.

As she turned to look at her friend though, she paused, leaning back  in shock. "Um... I thought you said Yugi was dueling..." she said after a long pause. Tristan and Tea looked at each other confused before looking at their (h/c) haired friend. "Um... (Y/n), Yugi is dueling." Tea said as she stepped over to stand next to her friend. "But, that's not Yugi." (Y/n) said, tilting her head to the side as she stared up at the man who looked like her friend.

"I mean... he sure does look like Yugi. But that's not him, does Yugi have an older brother I didn't know about?" she asked as she looked at Tea, still confused about what was happening. Tea and Tristan looked at each other wide wide eyes before everyone's attention was turned back to the duel arena as the arena changed. "Listen, we'll have to explain this to you some other time. Right now, all you need to know is that is Yugi up there, and he needs up to cheer him on." Tristan stated firmly as Duke barely explained the rules to this new game.

(Y/n) turned to look up at... Yugi... again as she clenched her fists in front of her chest. She hardened her stare as she nodded her head. "Okay, I trust you guys." she said. The boy that had Yugi's face turned to look at them and gave them all a thumbs up. (Y/n) smiled wide at him, to show she was cheering for him.

Their eyes met and his eyes widened a bit. She frowned as he simply stared at her for a moment, before he smiled at her. She felt a small blush crawl over her cheeks as she watched him turn his attention back to the duel. She blinked as she felt her heart race, as she watched the duel start. What just happened, all he did was smile at her?

As the game went on, it was made very clear that Duke had set this up so Yugi would challenge him to a game of his own creation. A game that he also didn't explain well enough, so Yugi was left at a huge disadvantage. (Y/n) growled as she glared at Duke as he so conveniently brought up a detail of the game he hadn't mentioned to Yugi before. "This isn't fair Duke! How was Yugi suppose to know that the numbers on the die were suppose to represent their difficulty levels!" she yelled as she leaned over the wall towards him.

"He is the King of Games after all, he should be able to figure this out?" Duke said with a smirk as he shrugged his shoulders at her. (Y/n) growled as she clenched her fist until her knuckles turned white. "Sheesh, she's a feisty one Yugi. Is she your girlfriend?" Duke taunted as he turned to face Yugi again. "You leave my friends out of this Duke Devlin!" Yugi exclaimed as he pointed at him.

(Y/n) felt the blush crawl back onto her cheeks at the sound of his voice, and totally not because of the joke Duke just cracked. Now she knew that wasn't Yugi, his voice wasn't so deep and intimidating as this man's voice. "She's the one yelling at me." Duke said as he raised his hands up defensively.

"You got this Yugi! I believe in you!" (Y/n) exclaimed as she turned to face Yugi again. Yugi smiled at her as he nodded his head. The duel went on with Duke staying in the lead for the majority of the battle, until Yugi managed to pull through and turn it around in the last final turns.

Tristan, Tea, and (Y/n) cheered from their side of the sidelines as Joey howled on his side. Yugi walked up to his friends with a triumphant smile. "I knew you could do it!" Tea exclaimed as she gave him a high five. "Thank you Tea." he said simply.

His smile softened as he turned to face (Y/n). "Thank you for believing in me (Y/n)." he said as he reached out and took her hand. "Of course! You're my friend!" she said as she squeezed his hand. He smiled warmly at her as he lifted her hand up and kissed her knuckles softly. "I'm glad I finally get to meet you face to face." he said softly, causing her to blush a dark red. "Huh?" she asked, staring dumbfounded at the man in front of her. Tea and Tristan scratched the back of their heads as they stared at the two in confusion. "Yeah... we didn't get to explain to her about.... you yet..." Tea admitted as Yami turned to face them. "You didn't? Well then, we'll just have to explain later, there's still more to be done here." he said as he looked over at a bashful Duke. (Y/n) stared at the man with Yugi's face and nodded her head, this would just have to wait....