Chapter Text
The residents of the Muto house slept well past noon. Turns out staying up all night dealing with nightmares, crossing dimensions, and coming back from the dead was not conducive to having a productive day.
Jaden woke first and after climbing his way out from in between his dad and his new uncle made his way to find Grandpa. “Gramps! Gramps!” He whisper shouted in the way only small children who think they are being quiet can.
Solomon was downstairs working to put away some new merchandise. “I’m in the back room my boy.” He called uncaring of his volume. He heard Jaden’s little footsteps as the boy rushed to his location.
“Gramps you’ll never guess what happened last night!” The boy cried as he rushed into the storage room.
“Oh?” Solomon questioned as he turned to face the overly excited child. He bent forward and scooped the small boy into his arms. “And what exactly happened at Kaiba Corp?”
He knew Yugi had been asked to help the brothers with something, Yugi had been busy explaining the situation to Joey and Jaden, but Solomon had only grabbed details here and there while he worked. Something about Kaiba getting himself into trouble again. He was both surprised and not that they were all back early this morning. He hadn’t seen them walk in but had caught a glimpse of Joey sleeping in Jaden’s bed this morning and knew they were back. But what had occurred and what Kaiba had needed them for were unknown to him. It mustn’t have been too dangerous since Yugi had taken Jaden with him.
“Dad went to the afterlife to find Mr. Kaiba and when he came back Uncle Atem was with him.”
“That’s nice.” Solomon started to respond the way anyone would when a child relayed an impossible story to them. Then the words caught up to him. Afterlife? Seto Kaiba in the afterlife? Pharaoh Atem is back? “WHAT?!?”
His shout was loud enough to make the birds outside the store take flight. Consequently, he also woke everyone else up.
Joey jumped out of bed at the sudden sound only to have his foot tangled in the blankets and crash face first into the ground.
“Are you okay Joey?” Yugi asked as he poked his head in through the open door. His grandfather’s shout had awoken him and Atem as well.
“Never better Yug’” Joey mumbled into the ground before raising his head up. “Why’s Gramps shouting so early in the morning.”
“Joey it’s almost 3 pm.” Yugi said looking over at the clock on the nightstand.
“Yugi!” Solomon shouted from downstairs drawling their attention back to the elder man. Yugi moved to head downstairs, Atem following him with the dignity of his birthright and Joey scrambling up off the floor not to be left behind.
“What is it Grandpa?” Yugi called as he descended the stairs. Gramps stepped out of the storage room with Jaden in his arms.
“Yugi is it true that-” just at that moment Atem made his way down the stairs. “THE PHARAOH!” Solomon shouted rushing forward. He shoved Jaden into Yugi’s arms as he passed, the father and son scrambling to right themselves as they watched the old man crash into the once dead pharaoh behind them.
Solomon wrapped his arms around the Pharaoh tightly. “You’re back.” His voice was filled with relief. He was so sure they would never see Atem again, and he had missed the boy. Over the time that Yugi and Atem shared, Solomon had come to see the Pharaoh as a second grandson. He was heartbroken when the boy had to leave but had kept it together in the knowledge that Yugi was breaking over their separation. Now that he was back though, all that pent up grief and loss was coming to the surface.
That is until another thought struck Solomon. He pushed Atem back to get a good look at him. The Pharaoh truly looked like an Egyptian king. His skin was far darker than Yugi’s ever was, and his clothing consisted of loose linens. Atem had removed his crown, cloak, and jewelry when he had laid down to sleep and hadn’t placed them back on since they had run down to check on Grandpa.
The pharaoh was back with his own body. “My dear boy, how did this happen?” Solomon asked never taking his eyes away from Atem.
“It’s a long story Grandpa.” Yugi said as he stepped closer to them. He had finally readjusted his hold on Jaden so the little one would fall.
“One I will be more than happy to share with you.” Atem smiled at the elder gentleman.
“But before you do Atem, I think we’re missing some people.” Joey reminded them of their missing friends. “Some people who would love to see you.”
“That’s right!” Yugi said getting excited. “We have to call the others. Joey, can you call Tristian and ask him to come over as soon as he can. I’ll do the same with Duke and Bakura.”
“What about Teá?” Atem asked as he watched the two teens start to head back upstairs to grab their cell phones.
“She lives in America now.” Yugi explained as he did quick mental math in his head. “It’s a little after 1 am over there right now.”
“Oh no.” Joey said with a shiver. “If we wake her in the middle of the night, she’s going to be really mad.” It had taken Joey a while to get the hang of the new time difference between him and his friend. He had woken her in the middle of the night one too many times at this point. “Then again if we wait to call her and tell everyone else before she’s also going to be upset. I mean she’ll be thrilled that you’re back, but she’ll be hurt if she’s the last to know.” Joey explained his thought process aloud. “Yugi, you should call her. She’ll be less likely to be mad at you for waking her up.”
“That’s fine.” Yugi easily agreed. Teá had told him on more than one occasion about Joey waking her in the middle of the night to tell her about a dog he saw. She loved him and missed him but a girl has to sleep. “I’ll call her once everyone else is here.”
“Don’t forget you have someone else you have to introduce to everybody.” Joey teased as he pointed at Jaden.
Yugi blushed, embarrassed that he forgot to tell people such important information. Atem shook his head at his Aibou, he couldn’t believe Yugi hadn’t shared the news of his son yet. A royal baby was always celebrated in his time.
Jaden, for his part, was looking around excitedly. “Wait people are coming over? Does this mean I get to meet more of your friends?” The little one asked as he started to bounce in Yugi’s arms.
The group laughed at the excited 4-year-old. “Yep, we just got to get them all here.” Yugi smiled down at his adorable son.
Solomon quickly moved to close the store while the four boys headed upstairs. Joey called Tristian, the young mechanic agreeing to come over as quickly as he could. Yugi called Duke and Bakura who could both come over at 4. They made the decision to wait to call Teá until everyone else was gathered.
Time moved quickly, before Yugi knew it Tristian, Duke, and Bakura were in the living room along with Joey and his Grandpa. It had been too long since they had all got together and the room had descended into a constant babble of people catching up.
With everyone gathered Yugi pulled out his phone and called their final group remember for the announcement.
The phone rang once, then twice but that was to be expected. Teá picked up on the third ring before sleepily speaking into the receiver. “Yugi, ‘yawn’ is everything okay?”
“Everything’s fine Teá.” Yugi reassured. He tried his best not to call her at odd hours, but he also hadn’t called in two months so he could understand why she was worried. “I just have something I need to tell you. Would you mind switching to FaceTime?”
He heard some shuffling on the line as Teá made herself presentable. “Ya of course.” Moments later the call switched to FaceTime revealing an exhausted looking Teá, but she had a bright smile on her face. “So, what’s up Yugi? It’s been forever since you called.” Yugi couldn’t help feeling a little guilty over that.
“She’s right man it’s been too long.” Tristian called from the couch. He gave Yugi a warm smile letting him know there were no hard feelings about the time that had passed between them. Being young adults was busy; they were all trying to find their footing.
“Tristian?” Teá called in excitement. Yugi smiled before turning the phone so she could see everyone gathered in the room. “Joey! Duke! Bakura! It’s been so long!”
“Ya the gangs all back together!” Joey cheered, pumping his fist in the air. “Speaking of, Yug I think it’s time for the surprise!” Joey looked at Yugi with excitement.
“Ya man what’s this big surprise?” Tristan asked.
“You’ve definitely kept us all in suspense.” Duke teased from his spot next to Tristian.
Yugi smiled as he handed his phone off to Joey so he could be in charge of showing Teá the room. He then walked over to the hallway leading to his room. “Hear that I think they’re ready for you!” Yugi called down the hallway.
The rest of the group turned to look at each other in confusion. Who was Yugi talking to? Tristian turned to Joey to try and figure out what he knew, but the blonde was practically jumping up and down in excitement while being scooped by Teá to keep the camera steady.
All the noise stopped when a figure walked down the hallway. It couldn’t be… but it was.
There stood the Pharaoh, Atem. He was wearing a simple pair so skinny jeans and a black tank top, both obviously borrowed from Yugi. He had paired it with golden bracers on his wrists and golden cuffs on his biceps. He looked different and yet the same.
The room was shocked silent, everyone staring at the once dead king. “My dear friends. It truly has been too long.” Atem said with a warm smile.
With the sound of his voice chaos erupted. Tristian shot out of his seat to pull the man into a hug, Duke and Bakura following close behind. Teá was begging Joey, through excited tears, to bring her over so she could see her friend. Babbling about flights and times as Joey moved to comply with her wishes.
Yugi stood back and watched all his friend welcome home his beloved partner. Atem was trying his best to calm everyone down and field the different questions being tossed his way. Yugi smiled, even in chaos Atem still managed to have a sense of poise.
Knowing that the reunion wouldn’t be over anytime soon, Yugi walked down the hallway towards the bedrooms. He could hear his friends asking Atem what had happened, and how he had returned, but Yugi knew that to answer those questions there was someone else everyone had to meet.
He opened the door to Jaden’s room. The little one had been sitting on his bed being as patient as possible while listening to all the excitement in the other room. As soon as the door opened, he gasped and ran excitedly to his Dad. Yugi smiled as he bent down to scoop up the energetic boy.
“Do I get to meet your friends now?” Jaden asked. He was excited to finally meet the people he had heard so much about. Their pictures were all over the house and in the past week he had learned a lot about his future uncles and aunts.
Yugi smiled warmly at his son. “Only if you’re ready.”
Jaden was about to cheer when a thought hit him. Yugi was surprised to see the small boy suddenly shrink in his arms. Jaden leaned his weight against Yugi, his head resting against his Dad’s collarbone. He tilled his head to look up at his Dad.
“What if… what if they don’t like me either? What if I scare all our friends away to?” Jaden’s voice was a soft and timid whisper that broke Yugi’s heart.
He remembered all the kids in the park who acted like Jaden was dangerous, he remembered the orphanage employees that couldn’t wait to be rid of him, and he remembered the blank files, and absolute lack of care or concern showed for his son. His son who had been nothing but loving and excitable since he met him. His son who is the reason Atem is currently standing in the living room.
“That’s impossible.” Yugi reassured holding his son close and burying his face in the crazy mop of brown hair. “My friends have faced down the end of the world and that hasn’t scared them away. There is no way they will be scared of you.” He gently pulled back so that he could look Jaden in the eyes. “They’re going to adore you. Just like I do.” Jaden gave him a timid smile at that. “I mean you’ve already got Joey and Atem wrapped around your finger.” It’s true the two dote on the boy and it’s barely been 24 hours since Joey had met him.
Jaden smiled brightly at him. “I like Uncle Joey and Uncle Atem.”
Yugi could only look fondly at his son. “And you’ll like the others just as much. Now are you ready to meet them?”
Jaden nodded right as Tristian called out, “Hey where did Yugi go?”
“Wait are you guys sharing a body again?” Bakura asked with a hint to fear in his voice.
“Is something wrong? Is there another threat?” Teá’s voice rang out.
“Peace my friends, Yugi is just getting someone.” Atem explained.
“Getting someone? Who else is here?” Tristian asked as his mind went through who else could have returned with the Pharaoh.
Just then Yugi came walking down the hallway, “Sorry to keep you waiting.” He calmly called from behind the group.
Atem smiled as he stepped out of the way of the hallway giving everyone a good view of Yugi entering the room, with a little boy in his arms.
“Uh Yugi? Who’s the kid?” Tristian asked looking between the shyly smiling boy and his friends.
“This is my son, Jaden.”
Several voices screamed at once. “YOU’RE SON!”