Yugi had bolted downstairs, wolfed down a piece of toast at the counter and was putting his shoes on by the time Yami walked down the stairs.  He looked over at him amusedly and sat on a stool in the kitchen to leisurely eat his breakfast.  He didn’t see any point to rushing as Tea probably wasn’t out of bed yet anyway. 

Looking back over his shoulder, Yugi noticed that Yami was taking his time over things and stood, walking over to him to encourage him to be a little faster.  He was hopping from one foot to another by the time Yami decided he had finished and strolled over to find his shoes.  If Yugi got any more desperate he was likely to just bolt for the door on his own, Yami thought amusedly.

“I need to know what happened,” Yugi said hurriedly as he saw the look of amusement on Yami’s face.

“Yes,” he looked over at Yugi understandingly, “as do I.  But rushing around without thinking isn’t going to get us anywhere.  Tea is probably still in bed if I know her, so getting there in five seconds flat isn’t going to do us any more good than strolling down there at our leisure will.”

Yugi contemplated this for a few moments before sighing, “You’re probably right… but I do need to know how you ended up in my bed, and this is the only solution I can come up with.  If you don’t remember,” he looked over at him searchingly but Yami was just listening patiently, “and I don’t remember, then who better to ask than Tea considering it was her house.”

Yami nodded slowly, “Although I do seem to recall lying on a Persian rug at one point.”

“Taya doesn’t have a Persian rug Yami,” Yugi looked at him in confusion.

“Yes I’m aware of that,” he looked to be contemplating something, “but Bakura does… so if I was lying on a Persian rug at some point in the night that would suggest that we didn’t stay at Tea’s all night.”

“So we went to Bakura’s for a little while, that’s fine, we still started at Tea’s and logic suggests that that would be a good place to start.  If we’re lucky we might even find somebody who didn’t drink who remembers the whole night.”

Yami scoffed, “Not very likely Yugi.”

“Yes you’re probably right,” Yugi smirked knowing his friends, “but anything is worth a try, and standing around here talking about what can be done and what can’t isn’t going to get us anywhere, even if Tea is still in bed don’t you think it would a good idea for us to get going?  We can’t help anything stood here conjecturing.”

Yami nodded, they might as well set out and see what it is they could find.  Yugi was right, no point in idle thought when neither of them knew, or would let on, what had happened the night before.

As soon as Yami stood Yugi sprang for the door.  He didn’t even wait for Yami to join him before he was out and up the path leading to the street.  Yami caught up with him idly, his legs being longer it didn’t take much effort, and set to stride along beside him as Yugi walked and thought.  He couldn’t seem to get over the fact that they had shared a bed for the night, but then, maybe it was more than that, after all, Yugi didn’t know what had happened, and thus couldn’t imagine what had actually brought about that turn of events.

Yami picked a small yellow flower for the large overhanging bushes of a garden as he walked past.  He twirled it between thumb and index finger and silently contemplated how this would all turn out.  Once they reached Tea’s the story would have a start and he knew that more than one story was likely to be told in the telling of this one.  He was aware that more than one unexpected thing had happened last night and probably this would all come to light when the story had begun, but did one drunken night really amount to much?  Things had happened last night that he knew, taken seriously, could form or break bonds beyond anything any of them had conjectured before this whole thing had started.

It wasn’t even that he wanted to make things hard for Yugi, more he was interested in the whole story himself.  He knew exactly how and why they had ended up sleeping in the same bed, that being all it had been, but he also vaguely remembered other things that slipped and eluded his memory so much that he needed an explanation for them himself. 

He watched Yugi turn up Tea’s drive and bolt hurriedly up to the door, ringing the bell so many times it wouldn’t have mattered if Tea had still been in bed, he would have woken her anyway.  Luckily it seemed that Tea had already been up, as she answered the door within seconds of them ringing and admitted them to the comfortable sitting room, which she must have cleaned since last night as it was again spotless.

“Can I help you boys?” she looked from one to the other, Yami settling back against the comfortable sofa and Yugi sat on the edge of it as if he would jump up and leave at any given second.

“Well…” Yugi didn’t seem to know how to phrase the question he wanted so much to ask, “we came here last night instead of going out didn’t we?”

“That’s right,” Tea nodded and leant back in her chair, “we were all supposed to be going out, but by the time you two showed up everyone was quite settled here, and with plenty of alcohol to go around there was no need to leave.  Why do you ask?”

“Well you see…” Yugi’s cheeks went crimson at this and he faltered before continuing, “When we woke this morning, we were both in my bed.  Now neither of us remembers how or why and we thought if we could get you to recount the night as best you can remember it we might be able to piece together what actually happened.”

Tea gave Yami a searching look at this but dropped the comment before it was made, “You did?  That’s very amusing,” she smiled, “but alright, I don’t’ remember some of it myself but I’ll tell you what I do know and maybe it will help.”

“Thank you, we do appreciate it,” Yugi eventually managed to sit back against the sofa and curl his legs under him to listen.

“Well everything that happened before you got here was just the usual.  Everyone arrived and we knew you would be turning up late as you had told us that your grandpa wanted some help in the shop so we decided having a drink just to get us going would be a good idea.  It was actually Joey who, after a little while, suggested that we needn’t go anywhere because my house was much more comfortable than any club we could possibly find, so that was already decided before you even arrived.

“After you did turn up, we explained this to you and all settled down in here for a drink and a chat, do you remember it so far?”

“Yes I remember that part,” Yugi nodded, “I remember getting here and you saying we were stopping.  I remember sitting down next to Bakura and asking how he was, getting handed a drink and settling down, after that I don’t remember a thing.”

“You don’t hold your alcohol very well do you?” Tea raised her eyebrow but didn’t comment further, “anyway, yes you sat with Bakura and got through a vodka and coke in record time I’d say.  After that I remember Joey standing up and walking to the centre of the room.

“‘Does anybody else feel that we need to be doing more than sitting and talking?’ he asked, looking around the room for some inspiration.

“‘Probably,’ Ryu looked up, half-interested and flicked at some imaginary bit on the carpet, ‘what are you suggesting we do?’

“ ‘Well…’ Joey contemplated this for a few seconds, ‘is anyone up for truth or dare?’

“ Everyone shook their heads and turned away, obviously not drunk enough to go for that sort of game just yet and went back to their respective conversations.  Joey then went into the kitchen and came out with more alcohol and a few straws, ‘Ok then, what do you say to a drinking game?’

“This seemed to interest people more, especially Tristan, who we all know can hold his alcohol better than anyone.  We all sat round in a circle and looked at each other.

“ ‘So what sort of drinking game do you suggest we play?’ I looked up at Joey, nominating him as organiser of this as he was the one who had suggested it in the first place.

“ ‘Well,” he thought about it for a few moments, ‘we could play poker? Instead of strip poker, you can bet with amounts of drink, all have to be downed obviously.’

“ ‘That could work…’ Bakura looked up from what he had been doing, ‘apart from the fact that I don’t know how to play poker.’

“ ‘Me either actually,’ you looked around and admitted it.

“ ‘Well alright then,’ Joey thought again for a little while, ‘we can spin a bottle and who ever it lands on is the one to down a shot, that way it’s not unfair because it’s completely random.  Once you can’t drink anymore you back out of the circle and the last one in wins.’

“ ‘That sounds fair,’ Mai looked over at Joey and smiled, ‘I’m in.’

“ ‘Settled then,’ Joey got about pouring some shots to be downed in the first few rounds whilst the rest of us found an empty bottle and sat in a fairly even circle so nobody had an unfair advantage.

“The game was a hit for all of about an hour before Yami was the one to point out that if anyone was going to win this it was going to be Tristan as he was the best drinker out of all of us.  This put doubts about the games fairness in most of our minds and it was abandoned, but it had succeeded in getting most of us fairly drunk.  I know Bakura still had sense of mind because I remember him endeavouring to clear up a little for me in hopes that I wouldn’t have as much work to get done the next day.  I was still fairly sober, although I’m not sure if I could have walked a straight line, but I was sober enough to still remember more of the night.  Tristan, as you would expect, still had all his wits about him and Yami still seemed to be fairly normal.”

Yami nodded at this and stopped the narrative as Tea looked up at him, “So do you remember up to this point then?”

“Now that you mention it I do seem to remember that game yes,” he seemed to ponder on this new occurrence, “it must be that I got so drunk in the latter part of the night that I forgot everything that happened in the first part too.”

“It was funny though,” Tea chuckled, “Yugi didn’t have that many turns in the game itself and he still seemed to come out worst of us all.”

Yugi coloured at this, “It’s not my fault if I can’t hold my liquor well is it.  Anyway, do you remember what happened after that?  We aren’t here to discuss how quickly I can get drunk.”

“Yes I do as a matter of fact,” she tipped forward in her chair a little, “I remember what happened up until we went to Bakura’s”

“We went to Bakura’s? We thought we might have but didn’t remember.”

“Yes after a little while we went to Bakura’s because I was starting to get a little too drunk to look after all of my furniture,” she chuckled, “but we’re not quite up to that point of the night yet.  Would you like me to continue in the order that it all happened or just skip to then?”

“Continue in the correct order, the whole thing will fall into place if I can just remember everything that happened I’m sure of it,” Yugi sat back again and made himself comfortable waiting for Tea to commence her telling of the events of the night before.

“That’s fine by me,” she stood up, “but I think I’m still a little dehydrated from all the consumption of that alcohol.  Could anyone else do with a cup of tea before I recommence?”

Yami nodded his approval of this, “I think that would be best.  After all, if we all drank that much alcohol last night that we can hardly remember what happened then it would be a good idea for us to drink something.”

“I guess I could go for one right about now,” Yugi almost grumbled, “but do you mind being as quick as possible?  I want to try to get this whole mess cleared up so I can get my head round the fact that nothing happened last night.”

“Nothing actually happened?  Then why are you having me go through all this?”

“I don’t know nothing happened,” Yugi mumbled quietly, “I’m just sure of it.  You know yourself when you get a feeling of something… so I’m just here to make sure that feeling is correct.”

“Well… if that’s the way you feel…” Tea looked unconvinced but didn’t comment further, “I’ll go and get us something to drink and the minute I get back I’ll tell you the rest that I know, I promise.”