The air -air!- rushed out of Yami's lungs and he staggered before catching himself with a hand on the floor. The puzzle was digging into his stomach, but that hardly mattered; they were both solid, and here, and not in their rooms or in some spirit world, but in the real, living world. Yugi's world. His world too, for now. Maybe forever.

Yami's hands lit on Yugi's back, unsure for only a split second before he drew the boy up in his arms and shared his excitement. He wasn't sure if they still had a bond, if he was experiencing Yugi's emotions as well as his own, but it didn't matter. He was alive, he could feel things, breathe, and touch the first friend he'd had in thousands of years.

He could stay like this for a thousand more.