Disclaimer: I do not own anything relating to Yu-Gi-Oh

Note: Story is OFFICIALLY finished

Warning: TONS of cursing throughout story

Chapter Warning: Chapter is rated MA (Mature Adult) for sexual content (lemon), mentions of blood, date rape drug called Ketamine, alcohol...

Lemon Warning: If you want to skip the lemon, don't read past the statement "We'll work it out, Yami. All of it. You're worrying and you don't need to. I won't run again." If you don't think you'll remember, use F and Ctrl and put the sentence in. Use the Find function to highlight the words and then read until you reach them.

Lemon Note: Final lemon of story as this is the final chapter. Very big lemon for story.

Enjoy the LAST chapter of "Simple" :)

SORRY for the late posting. Things got really crazy over here. Hectic as crap and I planned to post it like five times before now but each time it kind of didn't make sense to do so just then AND things just kept getting busier.

Note: Dungeon Dice Monsters is changed and combined with the RPG that they played in season 0 against Bakura as well as the deck master system that Noah had in virtual world.

Date Rape Drug Warning: If it makes you uncomfortable, do NOT read where Yami and Ryou are talking about getting drunk as the drug comes in directly after that. (It is NOT used the way the warning implies but rather for getting information but either way!) Skip to the scene directly afterwards where Yami and Yugi are talking.

ANYWAYS! Happy late birthday Achernar-amnis-faux! And happy early to s2Teennovelist! :)

LONG A/N note at bottom.

Chapter XXVI: I Love You

"You should probably wake up," Atem advised quietly, frowning at the teen who continued pulling on some of the doors and poking his head in, looking comically disappointed every time one of them turned up as bare as the first. He fought off a chuckle at the way his descendant pursed his lips and paced a couple of steps before spinning around again as if expecting something to have suddenly appeared inside of the empty room.

Yami blinked after a long moment, reining in his disappointment, and turned to him with his head tilted and his eyes distinctly unhappy. "I don't want to."

"You have no reason to remain here, Yami," his elder stated with his unique violet-speckled eyes narrowed into slits. "Your body is healed. You are merely trying to avoid what you have to do."

"Don't call me out on my cowardice," the teen snapped, bristling and fighting back a small shiver. "Play nice. We're not all fucking pharaohs, okay?"

"You're going to continue using that as an excuse forever, aren't you?"

"As long as I can sufficiently milk that shit, I will do so. Why not?"

"It gets very old very quickly."

"Oh fuck off, Atem."

Atem sighed loudly and rolled his eyes in exasperation; Yami swore the movement was so exaggerated that he could literally hear it, cringing and wrinkling his nose at him with a shake of his head. That was honestly not a noise that he had wanted to hear at any point in his lifetime. It was disgusting to hear, even if he was relatively sure his mind had just made it up at some point.

"Gross."

"What? You mean that wasn't a teenage reaction?"

"Oh yes, it definitely was, but the way you did it," the teen hissed, curling his lip back and narrowing his eyes into slits when he realized that Atem was smirking widely at him now. "You fucking asshole."

"What?" he snickered innocently, a purr curling its way around his words. "It's hilarious making you explain things you don't have to."

"Fuck off, Atem." He turned back towards the path in front of him and started walking quickly, starting towards the door to his left and reaching out for the knob; he found it kind of hilarious that the entire set of empty chambers had doorknobs like this. It was so weird a concept that it made him smirk in amusement.

The former pharaoh sighed and walked after him, crossing his arms and snorting when Yami poked his head inside and then pulled back with another wide frown of disappointment. "There is nothing to see here, Yami."

"Have you ever explored the entire Puzzle?"

"Not…no," he finally muttered, frowning. "I don't…suppose that I have."

"Then back off. You have no idea."

"This is pathetic. You are wasting time."

"I know what I am doing, Atem."

"It's pathetic."

"Shut up already."

He sighed again and continued following, glancing around them curiously; the entire Puzzle seemed almost endless but he was pretty sure there was only a path that appeared to go further upwards but truly led downwards, upside down, and that they would end up wandering back to the place that they had begun. Yami wouldn't know that, of course, because the Puzzle had illusions for illusions on top of other illusions but maybe if he kept going around in circles he would get tired of it all eventually. He had to…right? There was no way he wouldn't get tired of the same doorways and the Puzzle's gleaming golden brick setting. Truly he couldn't be so desperate to escape the real world that he would remain here forever, just trying out the doors and pretending that maybe one day something would just pop up, right?

Atem studied him for a moment, drawing in the lean build of his descendant that mirrored his own and really wondering if he could be so weak as to wish to stay there forever. He knew that there wasn't much of a reason to suspect he would; Yami was never that weak in the first place. He knew that already because if he had ever been that weak, he wouldn't have left the Puzzle at all, let alone gone after Pegasus and the others just to do that sacrifice to appease the Item.

He might have even tried to get a swap of partners when the project had come up, just to avoid the idea of even getting close to another boy. Then again, he was friends with Mahado so maybe that wasn't that correct an assumption. And he did hang out with a few others in the meantime, when he was helping tutor or just sitting in class or giving homework answers or whatever. Atem tilted his head and frowned; then again, Yugi was his soul catcher so maybe that wasn't something that he could have avoided in the first place…

Soul catchers had those ties to each other that nothing could ever truly break and it was dangerous to even assume something had the power to do so. Magic bonds like that were even stronger than the powers of the Items all put together.

"Don't you miss him?" he finally asked, cutting into the silence that had developed just efficiently enough to make them both pause, the statement the kind that just kind of escaped before he had gotten the chance to even truly consider what he was saying.

The red-eyed teen stopped short and turned his head to glance at him over his shoulder; the pharaoh fought back a flinch but didn't look away. They stared at each other for several long moments that felt like hours passing between them, both unwilling to so much as glance away from one another. Yami wasn't really sure why he refused to turn away, except that maybe Atem would see it as weakness but his tone had been nothing but puzzled. So he really had no idea why he was bristling and felt sick and defensive all at once like this.

"Surely you must, right?"

Yami clenched his jaw until it felt almost impossible to undo, the muscles strained and clamped while his teeth ground together. There it was. Now he remembered why.

Atem was innocently asking questions but it was in such a pointed way that it was disgustingly obvious just what was going on with his inquiry. He was pointing out the obvious, trying to make Yami buckle under the implications, to make his mind turn towards what he needed to do rather than what he wanted. Manipulation in its simplest form.

"You already know the answer to that."

"Then why do you still hesitate?"

"You already know the answer to that too."

Atem reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose in an impatient gesture of irritation, breathing out such a long sigh that Yami was half-surprised that it didn't echo in the cavernous space around them. The former pharaoh shook his head and watched him through his long lashes as he yanked open yet another door, completely disregarding him as if he was just a figment of his imagination once more. "There is nothing to be found inside of this Puzzle, Yami. And you are running out of rooms to bide time in."

"Actually, Atem, the more I explore, the more the Puzzle changes around and more paths appear."

The spirit covered his face with his palm, unsure of whether Yami was serious about this statement and was under the lure of the Puzzle's magic or if he was just being a ridiculous little shit and trying successfully to piss him the fuck off. "Go back. Eventually all of them are going to get concerned."

"You say that like they aren't already," Yami snorted dismissively, happily beginning an exploration down the next hallway and humming once, ignoring his sigh and continuing to open yet another door.

"Exactly!" Atem stated with a hiss of disapproval chasing his words, underlying his tone. "Your cousins are worried. Yugi is worried. Why not show a little compassion and go back?"

Yami spun on him, bristling and baring his teeth, about to snarl that he knew nothing of compassion or anything that was going on with him, but then stopped short, watching his face for a long moment. "Give me…three or four more hours and then I will go back," he muttered, clenching his jaw at the bitter taste that took up residence on his tongue with the statement; by the gods, he didn't think he could find even the slightest of solutions to any of his numerous fears. They were all beginning to plague his mind and now in only three or four hours, he was supposed to go back and figure it all out. But, in retrospect, he had to admit that he agreed wholeheartedly with his ancestor; he had had been in the Puzzle for far longer than he had ever needed to be. He hadn't gotten anywhere in his habitual over-analysis of everything going on and now he was growing weary of being in a place that held no answers and no room to figure things out. The air was suffocating and weighted and it only made him feel as if he were going to be sick and he supposed that maybe being thrust back into the real world, where the issues were apparent and required his attention would give him more of a grasp of it all, more of a motivation for everything.

Or it could completely fuck him over worse. But either way, maybe that would be a good thing. Just as long as he got up, he didn't suppose it mattered too much in the first place, right?

Atem raised a brow. "You swear it?"

"You want to shake on it?" the teen quipped irritably.

"Why would I shake when you can just swear on it?" he asked in confusion.

Yami opened and closed his mouth with a shake of his head, resisting the urge to squeeze his eyes shut and scream. "Fucking hell."

Yugi picked at his hand, scraping his blunt nails over the burn spot to peel some of the dead skin away, flexing his fingers out; his palm kind of tingled every now and then when he stretched each of the muscles and sometimes the skin strained to the point that it honestly just hurt. He was still a little troubled by the lack of pain that came with it when he used it to grasp things, the way that it only hurt when he stretched it to its fullest. The doctors had looked at it, said that it was nasty and he should bandage it soon, some of them coaxing him to pop the bubble that had appeared there. He had already done it once before they had suggested the course of action, more than a little surprised to see that it had bubbled up yet again after he had fallen asleep for the night.

He didn't really care too much about it, however, and it was frustrating to think that while trying to find something to distract him from everything that was already going on as it was. The burn was honestly probably the only source of entertainment he had besides the television but he didn't care enough to mess with that and he was both afraid of focusing on the problem too much and not focusing enough.

Yami still wasn't waking up. A whole three days had passed and he still wasn't waking up; Seto had said it would be a day. A day. And yet, Yami was still asleep, still perceived as being in a coma by the rest of the goddamned hospital. He wasn't stirring, he wasn't playing around, he wasn't doing much aside from occasionally rolling over in his sleep, and it was starting to frustrate the hell out of the blue-violet-eyed boy. Half the time he had to fight himself to keep from trying to wake him up forcefully; the only thing that truly kept him completely safe from doing so was the fact that he would be kicked out of the hospital if he did and it wasn't worth it.

Yugi sat back in his seat, looking his hand over; it had popped again recently, the third time, and now it was oozing out pinkish puss that eventually drained and ran red. He didn't really care enough to bother with it despite the persistence of several of the nurses. One of which had claimed that it could become infected and the infection could possibly spread to Yami if he wasn't careful. And that statement had honestly almost been enough to make him do so but the response he had given was "Good. The fucker will like that."

He huffed and crossed his legs impatiently, sitting back against the rest and tipping his head up to stare at the ceiling. When he drummed his fingers, his palm stung from where it was pressed against the wood and the chill of the furniture made his skin crawl, icy spikes of pain that made his head swim but left him with the urge to purr in amusement. As odd as it was, the pain was both laughable and satisfying in ways that he couldn't quite explain but left him smirking slightly, managing to keep it from growing to twice the size that it was.

"Well…I see that he's still asleep," a soft, new voice commented, Yugi looking up and staring in surprise at the other boy. The brown-eyed teen gave him a small gentle smile and wandered over to him, plopping into the seat beside the smaller teen. "Hey, Yugi."

He honestly had no idea whether to be nice or not and he still couldn't figure out what the hell was so off-putting about the other teen but there was something and he hated it. "Ryou," he greeted flatly, narrowing his eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"Malik didn't want to come and Bakura is stuck babysitting Mokuba. Apparently they both seem to think that Yami likes—"

Yugi let out a noise like a low growl and both of them froze in surprise, blinking at one another until he finally shifted away from him, bristling but not lowering his eyes. "Yeah, whatever," he snapped. "Yami isn't awake. You can tell his shitty cousins that."

The albino frowned and nodded slightly, furrowing his brows as he looked him over, studying his expression for some kind of hint about his disdain towards him, surprised when all he could find was complete and utter hatred in those bright blue-violet eyes. He debated asking what the hell he had done to make him hate him like this but then fell silent, instead searching his face until the smaller teen's head snapped fully to face him and his eyes narrowing into gleaming slits of pure anger.

"What?" he snapped viciously, sitting up straighter and bunching his shoulders some. "You already know what the fuck is going on. Yami isn't awake. Why the hell are you still here?"

"I—"

"Shut up." Ryou nearly snapped at him but then stopped short when he too caught the tendrils of conversation that was coming from the hallway. Yugi looked out over his shoulder and stared through the doorway; the doctor and a nurse on Yami's case were talking about something. And he could have sworn part of it was something to do with the Puzzle.

The albino had to restrain himself from growing even angrier and telling him that he didn't have the right to speak to him like that especially when he hadn't done anything wrong in the first place but fell silent immediately as well, twisting around in his seat to look for what Yugi was seeing.

"I'm starting to worry that he may have some kind of heavy metal poisoning," the doctor was saying in a low voice. "That necklace—if it was worn inside of that fire—could have easily burned through his skin. If it's actually stuck inside of his flesh it would be no surprise if he had gold poisoning."

"But none of us can get that necklace off of him. It hurts even attempting it…"

"Yes, I know. I tried, remember? But that doesn't change the fact that it might be why he isn't waking up. It could easily be shutting down his liver and kidneys—"

"What the fuck is he talking about?"

Ryou blinked wide eyes and turned to him, opening and closing his mouth once before glancing over at Yami. "Gold compounds—like salt or something like that…They, when they get into the body, can cause serious reactions when they release an ion. It's called heavy metal poisoning…gold poisoning. Gold ions are known to…shut down the kidneys and liver if it isn't taken care of…and considering how Yami is still sleeping, despite not showing any signs of it openly, it could be happening. The drugs could be stunting the symptoms that are shown."

Yugi clenched his jaw, speaking through his teeth. "You said salts. But the metallic form? I thought that didn't harm people unless they had an allergy to it."

"You went in that fire. Do you think it's possible that the metal could have melted?"

The smaller teen chewed his cheek. "…I…I don't know. I guess…shit…"

"I'm not really sure if that would be enough to do it but gold is used in some medications…I guess if he was taking them and it—"

"Shut up already," he snapped, glancing at Yami. They couldn't do most of the tests they needed to because of Yami's Puzzle hanging around his neck. He remembered all of them bitching about that, how Seto had snapped at them to figure out a way around it and how none of them had managed it. He had heard them talking about how the machine had all but exploded when they had attempted testing him with the Puzzle still around his neck. And then they couldn't get it off because it had caused one intern to apparently go completely blind and another to all but lose mobility in her right arm. If they couldn't get the Puzzle off because it hurt them, then what the fuck were they supposed to do? Yugi had no idea what the hell gold poisoning was in the first place; could it be contracted if the Puzzle's chain had melted into his skin and broken down in his tissue? He knew that some of the metal poisoning happened that way but he wasn't sure past that…

And Ryou wasn't offering answers as far as he was concerned, useless despite his medical studies. He only offered more frustration and confusion that made his head spin and his anger come out tenfold. Fucking moron that he was; doctor his ass.

He rolled his eyes and got to his feet just as he heard the doctor and nurse shuffling down the hall towards them; maybe he could get the Puzzle off…? Yugi reached out and retracted his hand just as fast, frowning. If he got burned, he was just going to be pissed. He already had one and that was honestly enough for him at the moment.

Yugi ignored them when they walked into the room, the way that they paused in the doorway, the small teen chewing his cheek and reaching out to grab the Puzzle; Yami twitched and his skin seemed to crawl beneath his touch, shifting as if recoiling, cold and a little frustrating to feel. He shook it off and slipped his fingers under the thick chain, more than a little surprised that it hadn't burned or lashed out at him as the others had claimed but at the same time not the least bit shocked by the outcome. He pulled it away just as the nurse cried out for him to stop and the doctor cursed that he was going to get himself hurt. The chain went from frozen to about the same temperature as his body, heating a little further as if in welcome, and then chilled again as he reached his other hand out to tip Yami's head up enough to pull it away from where it rested around his neck. It flared hotly, to the point that it almost burned but not quite, and then went cold again as he slipped it over the other boy's head, holding it in one hand and looking it over. Was the eye glowing? Yugi blinked a couple of times, staring at it; it looked almost as if it were glowing…

"You got it…"

"What the hell?"

"Yugi," Ryou muttered, laughing a little in amazement as he got to his feet and stared at it warily. "How the hell did you even manage that? It burned everyone else."

The smaller teen ignored him, stepping back several times and then glowering when the nurse reached for the Puzzle with a startled, "We need to see if we can find an ion that could have gotten into Mr. Sennen's—"

Ryou recoiled and the doctor's mouth fell open while Yugi merely stared, blinking wide eyes as she jerked her hand back with a cry and the smell of burning flesh hit the room. It had actually burned her…

Yugi bit back laughter and covered his mouth to keep the noise from bubbling out. Wow. He had thought they were honestly just being idiots when they had said that had happened but he had just witnessed it even if he hadn't felt it.

"What the hell?"

Blue-violet eyes fell on her fingers where the skin was already blistering drastically.

Wow.

Yeah, maybe playing with the Puzzle was not a good idea. He glanced at Yami sideways for a second and then looked at the pendant in his grasp, studying it for a moment; he was pretty sure it was shining in the corners but he wasn't really sure when it came down to it and it was slightly unnerving but hilarious all at once.

"Now what? How are we supposed to test for a gold ion if—"

"It'll show up in his system if we test for gold," the doctor cut her off immediately, seeming exasperated with her lack of understanding; Yugi supposed she was an intern rather than an actual nurse judging by the inexperience but didn't bother to voice the idea. He stared at the Puzzle for a moment; the chain was getting slightly warmer…

Yugi ignored the way that Ryou opened his mouth to object—as if he would ever listen to him in the first place—and slipped it over his neck; for a split second his head pounded and his heart started to skip beats, his lungs constricting painfully, his body seizing up immediately, and then it was over. He blinked as the Puzzle's sharp edge touched his abdomen, slightly surprised by the way that it burned for a split second and then cooled off immediately again.

God, this stupid thing was weird, wasn't it?

He rolled his eyes as he headed over to take a seat and cross his legs once more, reaching up to cup the Puzzle subconsciously, running his fingers over the golden artifact, and watching as they started to wheel Yami's bed out of the room. He supposed they would do blood tests, maybe check on his organs, the whole package, but he already knew he wasn't allowed to go with them and so didn't bother to even entertain the thought or make the slightest attempt to do so.

Ryou stared at him for a long minute and then glanced at the clock before turning back. "I guess I'll go tell his cousins that he's fine."

Yugi glanced at him with narrowed eyes, voice lowered icily. "You are not mentioning this to them."

"Didn't plan on it, no," he admitted.

"Good."

Yami was pretty sure that he had just run a full circle inside of the artifact, surprised now that he could see open doors laid out before him rather than the closed chambers that he felt he had no business entering despite the fact that he had been doing so for the last few hours. He came to a stop in the center of the room, glancing over in surprise when he found that Atem was seated on the floor, apparently playing with a deck of cards.

"What the fuck? I didn't know that you could have things in here!"

The pharaoh glanced up for only a moment. "You never asked."

"And you couldn't have just told me?"

"Where would the fun be in giving you every answer you wanted?" Atem snorted dismissively, the beginnings of an amused smirk starting to curve his lips. "How boring a life you would lead if I were to do that, don't you think?"

He was pretty sure the spirit had said that before at one point, but he wasn't about to delve into that train of thought, instead frowning as he started towards him. "Solitaire?"

"Attempting it," he admitted with a frown, glancing at him through his lashes as he played another card. "But it seems to be rather irritating and boring."

"Then why are you playing it?"

"I like a challenge."

Yami blinked. "Fucking hell, that's where I get it from!"

"But of course."

He nodded slightly and glanced around the area for a moment, taking in the gleaming bricks and frowning. "Why are all the rooms empty anyways?"

Atem shrugged. "I don't know. I have a theory that it's for each of the people who were killed to create it. Or maybe they just happen to be the inside of the Puzzle. I don't know. The entire concept of having a reason in here is a little…shall we say, a stupid one? Magic may have laws but that doesn't meant it abides by yours."

Yami nodded slightly and didn't comment on the first statement because he was pretty sure he would throw up if he really took it into consideration. "Fair enough," he muttered before straightening fully and looking at him pointedly.

The pharaoh played another card, oblivious, and then slowly drew his gaze up to meet his, eyes widening as he blinked in confusion. "Oh! You were serious then!"

"Yes, but I do have to ask what you meant by the statement that my body is healed. Surely if I still have the wounds here then they are on my physical body too, right?"

"I merely meant your energy. The Puzzle has restored it to what it formerly was. You won't feel fatigued unless you tire yourself out. Even the Puzzle does not have the capability to heal such wounds. Internal, yes, but not external." He paused and frowned, rising to his feet. "That does not apply to the soot you have inhaled, however. Your lungs won't scar and the tissue you tore when you were coughing has healed itself. Past that, there isn't much to be done…"

Yami nodded after a moment. "I didn't expect it to be out of my system yet."

"You'll actually have to listen to the doctors and do as they say."

"No doubt it'll be what will make my cousins breathe down my neck."

"Oh but of course! Why not?"

He rolled his eyes. "You're going to get a kick out of this, aren't you?"

"Hell yes. Since you didn't give me a dramatic reaction as I wanted, I will take comfort in your familial torture."

"Asshole."

"I am so cruel," he agreed, nodding and rolling his eyes with a smirk. "So, so cruel."

Yami gave him a grin and opened his mouth to tell him a simple farewell but was shocked when the Egyptian suddenly leaned forward and rubbed noses with him; his entire body froze and seized in place as if something had just invaded his system and he was being turned into a statue. "What the fuck are you doing?" he demanded, narrowing his eyes into a glare.

Atem smirked widely, chuckling as he looked him over. "Trying to get that reaction out of you," he stated, the curve of his lips growing larger as Yami stepped back once and crossed his arms.

"Not my fault I actually know how it worked in ancient Egypt, jackass," he snapped, bristling slightly before laughing at the way the spirit blinked wide, innocent eyes at him. "I know all about that shit. Incest was okay back then for you guys but it's not happening here. Back off."

The pharaoh merely gave him a wider smirk and shook his head. "That wasn't true of all of us."

"Oh please. I saw the way you were eyeing me," the teen accused playfully. "Like you wanted to jump my bones or something."

Atem gestured to himself. "If I looked at you that way, it was merely because I was thinking about how devastatingly beautiful I am. Just so happens all I really have to do is look at you and it's almost as if I am staring into a mirror."

Yami burst out laughing, eyes shining. "You really know nothing of modesty."

"Please. With this body?"

The teen rolled his eyes. "Well this has been one massive mind fuck—"

"But we haven't—"

He covered his mouth immediately, patting his shoulder and shaking his head, whispering, "No, no, no, Atem. We are not about to have this conversation."

The pharaoh stared at him with a confused expression, eyebrows drawing together and Yami could feel his lips twisting, pursing his against his palm, almost pouting but not quite. Yami pulled his hands away and tucked them into his pockets.

"All right. Now how do I get back?"

"You think I'll tell you? I want to watch you squirm a little."

"Fucking asshole!"

Atem burst out laughing and shrugged at him.

"He tested negative for gold poisoning. They honestly have no idea why he is still asleep," Ryou muttered, surprising the smaller boy who was tracing patterns on the armrest, his burn searing with pain and the Puzzle heating up slightly against his abdomen with each sting.

He looked up, a jerky movement that made the other boy blink, and frowned as he murmured, "How do you know?"

"I actually convinced him to let me shadow in on the operation. Yami is fine, stable…his lungs and liver and everything else is working fine. Of course he's got soot in his respiratory system but he's okay past that. They're discussing doing a surgery to try to drain the liquid they heard in his lungs but it might be too little an amount for such a massive procedure. Past that all they're going to do is tell him what to do to help himself get rid of it when he wakes up."

Yugi nodded slightly and sighed loudly. "That's great," he muttered, both frustrated and positively elated with the news of the other teen's well-being; the Puzzle heated against his stomach again suddenly. "When do they bring him back in here?"

"In a couple of minutes, actually. They were about to put him in the elevator when I left so most likely—oh, well, there they are."

"Yes, here we are," the nurse chimed in, looking happy but disturbed as she wheeled the bed in; Yami was lying flat on his back now and Yugi felt a little sick looking at the new position. For whatever reason it seemed better if he was on his side instead. He guessed it was because Yami slept on his side and not his back aside from that one time on his couch, but past that, it seemed a little disturbing to see him like this. "Another nurse will be here in a couple of hours to check up on him for the night."

Yugi nodded and wasn't nearly as oblivious as she thought to the way that her eyes wandered to the Puzzle around his neck; she was hoping that he wouldn't put it back on him. If he did and they needed to check up on him again in the middle of the night, she wasn't sure that they would be able to do so…

Ryou looked between them for a moment, studying and taking in the way that she was holding her fingers in a manner that made them appear curled halfway, the burn obviously not nearly as nice to her as it had been to Yugi so far. He glanced at the smaller teen, seeing that he was running his fingers over the eye of the Puzzle while his left palm was open and his cheek rested in it. Vaguely he wondered if it hurt but didn't ask, not in the mood for him to possibly bite his head off.

What had he ever done to him?

Ryou couldn't think of anything. He knew that when they had met on his first official day of school, Yugi had thought of him as a threat for sitting with Valon and Alister and had threatened him if he so much as looked at Yami the wrong way, but surely he had proved he wasn't going to do something against the red-eyed teen at the warehouse—oh…

"There's the call button on the wall next to you if you need anything. If he wakes up or has anything go wrong in the middle of the night, don't hesitate to hit it…" she explained, nodding at them once and giving Ryou a tiny smile, the albino granting her the same and watching her go a second later.

"I don't have a thing for Yami," he said immediately when he was sure she was completely gone and wouldn't catch the spat that would surely follow the words that had just left his mouth.

Yugi's face twisted into a murderous snarl, spinning on him and glaring as he breathed harshly through his bared teeth. "Yeah? Then what the fuck was with you touching him so much?" he spat, slamming his hand against the armrest and feeling the pain that laced through his entire arm with a small bite of satisfaction. "He didn't ask you to. I would have heard him if he had."

Ryou rolled his eyes. "Grow up," he snorted. "Just because I was trying to help him doesn't mean—"

"Right, so was that you trying to help in the cafeteria too?" he hissed, getting up; the taller teen froze, eyes shooting to his hands where they were beginning to clench into fists. "When you were there with Alister and Ushio?"

"I went to make sure that Yami actually was okay. You really think that I would have let Ushio do that?" the albino asked in disbelief, narrowing his eyes drastically. "You cannot be serious. That makes no sense. I sent Valon out to get you and Malik and Bakura."

Yugi stayed quiet for a moment, glancing at Yami and then spinning back on him. "Funny. It looked more like Yami beat the shit out of you and Alister and got distracted enough that Ushio's little bastard friends could grab him."

"That's crap. I thought Yami was hurt because he had been knocked out before and I stepped in between him and Ushio," Ryou stated angrily, glaring. "Yami got caught because he attacked that kid…whatever the fuck his name is, and then the other two idiots got him. I got knocked out by Ushio after he…"

"After he…?" Yugi prompted coldly.

"He had a switchblade, okay? Hence the stab wound in the arm. Yami went berserk in the middle of it and things just got crazy from there." He shrugged. "All I know is that I woke up to Bakura drawing a dick on my forehead."

He couldn't help it when he snickered. "Yami's cousins are such idiots," he snorted, rolling his eyes.

Ryou stared at him for a moment, wondering why it was that Yugi was no longer at his throat about this, eyes widening as he dropped back into his seat and took up his former position of watching the unconscious teen. For a moment he couldn't figure it out and then slowly he realized just how easy it would be for him to get thrown out of the hospital if he were to do so much as lay a hand on him. All he had to do was call out and they would have their eyes on him immediately.

Yugi was only avoiding a fight to stay with Yami and here he had stupidly been hoping it was because he had explained it to the point that Yugi didn't want to argue with him anymore; he sighed loudly, rolling his eyes and glancing at the clock to see that there was only about an hour left of visitation.

Curse his sympathetic nature…

"Are you hungry? I could go downstairs and get something for you to eat," he offered suddenly, the blue-violet-eyed teen's head snapping up to stare at him for a long minute. "I'm pretty sure Yami wouldn't want the most important person in his life starving himself at his bedside."

Yugi stared at him as if he had just grown another head, narrowing his eyes before snapping, "Well, as long as you realize that I'm the most important person."

Ryou couldn't help but snicker at the statement, holding his hands up immediately when the smaller teen's eyes flashed fiercely; the fact that the other boy was even insecure about that was hilarious. "Of course I do. There's no way to miss that," he stated quickly, fighting off another laugh; this boy was adorable and feisty and just so rude that it was great. He could definitely see how Yami would be attracted to it; it was almost opposite of his personality. Though he had to admit Yugi wasn't bad looking, which definitely helped to work in his favor too. It helped a little with the rude demeanor he put on the times he had encountered him. "Now do you want to get something to eat?"

He debated it for a long minute and the taller boy was almost one hundred percent sure that he would tell him to go fuck himself, but finally Yugi muttered, "Can you see if they have pizza…or chicken or something? Shit, I should have ordered something…"

"How about I order a pizza?"

"Split the bill?"

"Nah, it's on me."

He tapped his nail against the armrest for a minute and then looked at him. "You get the pizza and I'll handle sides?" he offered.

"I don't mind paying."

"Yeah, well, I'm handling the sides. Otherwise I'm going to feel like this is charity and I'll end up spitting on you if you step near me with it."

Ryou burst out laughing and nodded, watching the blue-eyed teen narrow his gaze with a sideways glance at Yami. "What are the toppings you like?"

"Um…onions? Pineapple, I guess…I don't know…Olives?"

"Are you just throwing out the first toppings you think of?"

"Yes. Got a problem with it?"

"No," he snickered. "Plain cheese?"

"So fucking boring," Yugi drawled loudly, stretching the statement out and rolling his eyes.

"Supreme?"

"Fuck no. Too much of that and I'll puke my guts out."

"Veggie?"

"What are you hinting at?"

"Nothing. Um…pepperoni?"

"Ew. I hate ham."

"Damn, then what the hell do you want?"

"I don't know."

"Yami will be so lucky if he can ever take you out for something to eat," he scoffed, rolling his eyes and shaking his head. "This is too much."

Yugi grinned at him widely for a moment, laughter plain in his eyes. "Yeah, I'm a fucking mess when it comes to ordering food," he snorted, pausing and thinking for a long time. "You want cinnamon sticks and bread rolls? Or breadsticks? Mozzarella sticks?"

Ryou rolled his eyes again. "What are sides if you don't have a main course?"

"Um, dinner?" the smaller teen scoffed. "Duh."

"Okay, yeah, cinnamon sticks and bread rolls. Now, how about onion, pepper and olive?"

"I feel like I should claim an allergy for all three of those being on one pizza."

"God, you're difficult."

"Deal with it, snowflake."

Ryou blushed slightly and scowled. "Shut up."

Yugi smirked widely and debated again. "How about pepper and olive and…shit, what else do you put on a pizza like that?"

"We could go half and half? What about half sausage and—?"

"The sausage makes me queasy."

"Oh my god! Are you shitting me right now? I feel like you're just trying to fuck with my head and piss me off with all of this!"

The smaller boy burst out laughing and shook his head. "No, seriously, sausage makes me queasy. Um…and the pepperoni is disgusting. You want to go veggie?"

"Goddamn it, I already suggested that!"

"It sounds better when I ask though so get over it."

Ryou groaned softly, laughing and shaking his head. "Veggie it is. No changing your mind after I start dialing," he announced, grabbing his phone.

"Sure, no arguments. Just add the cinnamon sticks and bread rolls on and I'll pay you when they get here."

He hummed affirmation and turned away, starting to pace the room and place the order while Yugi watched him for a moment and then glanced away again to look at Yami. His laying on his back was really starting to make him feel sick to his stomach; maybe it was because of the position he had found him in at the warehouse or just because that wasn't how Yami slept, but either way it was kind of starting to piss him off.

"Mmhmm. Yes, thank you."

Yugi glanced at him and tilted his head, narrowing his eyes slightly. "What? What's that look for?"

Ryou smirked and shook his head. "I feel like they just assumed I was a fat ass who eats a shit load of junk food," he admitted, snickering. "The way the guy on the phone answered me was kind of weird."

"Skinny people eat shit loads of junk food too," Yugi scoffed, rolling his eyes and gesturing to himself and Yami. "Exhibit A."

"Hmm…"

"Well, at least when you go down there and pay they'll wonder how you're so skinny."

"Wait, I'm going down there to pay?"

"Well no shit, why else am I going to give you money to pay for the sides?"

"I just ordered! Why aren't you going down there to pay?"

"Um, how about because I'm comfortable and I want to be here for Yami if he wakes up?"

"Excuses," Ryou scoffed, grinning slightly in amusement at the response. "You little shit. You're just still pissy about the warehouse thing."

"Yeah, actually, you asshole, I am still pissy about that," Yugi snapped, glaring at him. "Which is exactly why you will be the one going down there to pay for the pizza and then I will give you the money for the sides."

The taller boy rolled his eyes and smirked, shaking his head and sitting back in his seat. "So what are you going to do when Yami wakes up?"

The smaller teen stayed completely quiet for a minute. "I don't know."

"What? You've been here for three and a half days and you don't know what you're going to do when he wakes up?" he asked, all but gawking in disbelief.

Yugi turned his head and stared at him with his eyes narrowed into slits. "No. I don't know. I haven't figured it out yet. Oh my god, so horrible that I just want him to wake up before I plan anything," he snapped. "You and Seto and Bakura and Malik—I swear to the fucking gods, you're all just in my face about this—"

"Whoa, whoa, calm down," Ryou interjected immediately, eyes widening. "I wasn't trying to pressure you or anything. Shit, I guess I just thought that you had a plan for when he woke up."

"Oh yeah, sorry for not meeting your expectations," he sneered.

The taller teen rolled his eyes with a sigh. "That's not what I meant at all. I understand your point of wanting to just be sure that he's okay before doing anything. I would do the same thing in your place. I guess after the way that Bakura and Malik were talking about you the other day that I just assumed you had a plan."

"Excuse me? Talking about me? What the fuck were they saying?"

Ryou blinked wide eyes and tried to remember how to use his voice and work his jaw, realizing only then just how massive a foot he had stuck in his mouth with that statement. "Shit," he muttered, closing his eyes and shaking his head. "Oh goddamn it."

"Well? What have they been saying about me?" Yugi snapped angrily. "What is it that you heard?"

Oh yeah, nice work there Ryou, he thought, covering his face with his palm and shaking his head at himself. Goddamn it.

"Nothing bad. I just—"

"No, bullshit. Tell me what the hell they said. I want to know what they've been talking about."

"Oh bloody hell…"

His ears rang with the tapping of Yugi's nail against the armrest, the noise making a violent rhythm that had him cringing in annoyance; the moment he flinched the sound became louder until he had to reach over and push his hand down between them, snapping, "Stop that!"

Yugi snatched his hand away and looked ready to smack him. "Don't touch me. Don't fucking touch me," he spat. "Now tell me what the fuck it is that they've been saying because I'm not about to let them get away with talking shit about me."

"They weren't talking about you like that!" he objected immediately. "Bakura was just saying that Yami should find someone else—someone better—and Malik was laughing at him and saying that Yami would do whatever the fuck he wanted and that you were probably going to be involved in that. That's all. Seriously."

The smaller teen narrowed his eyes for a long time. "That's not all of it."

Ryou rolled his eyes and sighed loudly. "All right, all right. Bakura said that Yami was an idiot to have anything to do with you. Malik said that his opinion wouldn't do shit to sway Yami. Bakura said he should take that fifty million and leave and never look back as far as you were concerned. Malik said that if he took that fifty million and left, you would be the one that went with him and they would be the ones that he never looked back on. And then Bakura started in on him defending you and Malik said that he wasn't defending you, just that he wasn't so stupid as to think that Yami would want to leave you behind—ever—because he obviously wouldn't have done half the shit he has if he wasn't in love with you."

Yugi nodded for him to keep going, gesturing with his hand in a circular motion.

"Bakura got pissed off some more and said that Yami needed his head checked if he thought you loved him back and Malik argued that you went into the warehouse for him and then Bakura got even more pissed off and then they started fighting." Ryou paused when Yugi tilted his head, looking extremely interested in that statement; the other boy grinned slightly, rolling his eyes. "Malik got Bakura across the eye, busted his nose and lip and Bakura managed to choke him a little before Malik kicked him…in…the family jewels. Past that, I think they just stopped and wandered off their separate ways."

The smaller boy burst out laughing. "Fuck yes, Malik is officially my favorite cousin!" he announced, nodding happily and watching the way that Ryou grinned and shook his head. "Fucking Malik—perfect little bastard!"

"Oh my god," Ryou laughed. "You're easily swayed, aren't you?"

"Fuck you. Hell no. I hate all three of them—haven't interacted with Mokuba yet but I hate him for being taller than me too"—the albino covered his mouth, howling as Yugi scowled at him—"but right now I like Malik just enough that he's ahead of the other two losers."

"That's hilarious."

"Shut up and go pay for our pizza," Yugi snorted, laughing a little and waving him away dismissively; Ryou continued snickering before nodding and getting up. "I'll give you the money for the sides when you get back with the grub."

"Do you even know what a grub is?"

"No, and if you gross me out I'm going to punch you. I am hungry. You don't gross me out before I get something in my stomach. It's not a good thing if you do that."

Ryou snorted, rolling his eyes and wandering out of the room. Yugi watched him go and then leaned forward to look Yami's monitor over; for some reason or other, he had been thinking something would have changed now that the Puzzle was off him, but his body was still as stable as it had been before, not the least bit different. Yugi wasn't sure whether to be relieved or a little disappointed.

Ryou left twenty minutes later when visiting hours were over, taking the leftovers at Yugi's insistence, and the smaller teen was left with Yami who was still lying on his back and irritating the shit out of him despite not being conscious to change it. He fell asleep three hours later, at around twelve in the morning after the night nurse had come in and checked on Yami and he had made the point of moving his chair all the way over to the red-eyed teen's side for the first time his entire stay there.

It had to have been three in the morning or extremely close to then, maybe even a little later, when Yami finally figured out how the hell to get out of the Puzzle. He had spent the entire time trying to get Atem to tell him, realized the bastard wouldn't do it because it would have ruined the entertainment he offered, then spent another half hour trying to figure out a way to wake up. Then he had realized that he didn't have the Puzzle so then he had been forced to figure out how the fuck to even attempt it afterwards and had remembered the traps inside of each of the rooms and so had gone for a pitfall. Somewhere between the initial collapse of the brick floor and Atem gawking at him over the edge while laughing out loud and waving at the same time, he had found himself growing more and more aware, like something was stretching out in front of him and he needed only focus to grasp it fully and understand what it meant.

Now, as his eyes opened, he found himself in a room that was lit only by the doorway, small flickers of white against the tile, the fluorescents of the hallway seeming to try to attempt to further their reach. The room was so dark that for a second, as his eyes scraped around and lingered on the doorway and then the window, he had a moment where he thought that perhaps he was still inside of the Puzzle and had merely fallen until he had landed on another floor and was staring out of an open doorway. But the atmosphere was different and the smell of the area around him spoke of harsh cleaning chemicals that bit at his subconscious and made him blink a few times in amusement. There it was, the thing that made him finally wake up a little more, the sting of air inhaled into his lungs and the sound of the rasping quality that the breath took.

The hospital. He was in the hospital.

He was kind of surprised to find that out, blinking a few times; he had half expected Seto to have him taken out and brought back to his mansion, nursed back to health there. And he had to wonder what the hell had stopped him because it couldn't have been his health that had done it; after all, his cousin had the emergency staff of a five-star hospital, the best surgeons and doctors that money could buy…

He tilted his head, feeling a little unsure of what else to do, trying to test out his limbs and knowing despite it all that he was perfectly fine; it was no different from the Puzzle. He was completely awake and aware and every part of him responded as he knew it would.

Yami turned his head and jumped, eyes widening in shock and his lungs protesting the heavy, quick intakes of breath; holy fucking shit.

Yugi was actually asleep in the chair, cuddled up with a small blanket and a pillow, but that wasn't the thing that shocked him so badly; it was just how close he was to him that made him do a double-take and feel alarmed out of his mind. The pillow was pressed between the bar of his bed and his head, his arms hanging loosely over the back of the pillow and when Yami blinked and breathed again, it took him a long minute to realize what the hell had startled him so badly. His eyes dragged themselves from the sleeping boy's face to slowly rest on the body part that had made him react like this; Yugi was holding his hand and he was squeezing unconsciously in his sleep. Their fingers were completely twined together and when he lifted his hand, the grip he had tightened momentarily before settling again to a loose and comfortable feel.

Yami stared at their hands for a long minute and then turned away, studying his face to make sure that none of his reactions had jerked him awake, and finally forced his attention on the hallway. Some nurses were shuffling by, chatting softly so that they wouldn't wake any of the patients, none of them looking in his room; he supposed, even if they had, they wouldn't have been able to tell he was awake in the first place. He didn't think the light that crept into the room was bright enough or reached far enough to illuminate his face and bring to attention the fact that he was now wide awake.

He felt his stomach twist uneasily and he thought he could hear his heart monitor spiking loudly for a split second, turning his head to stare and exhaling a sigh of relief. He must have missed it those two times he had freaked out, but now it was steady and easy and there was no reason for anyone to come in out of alarm of the sound.

He turned back and Yugi still didn't wake up, something that he supposed he had to thank the gods for, trying to weasel his hand out of his grip and giving up a moment later when every single movement was met with resistance and the tightening of his fingers started to hurt. Gods, this boy was like super glue…

Yami spent a whole minute just staring at him again before sighing and falling back into his pillow, rolling over to face the other side of the room, away from Yugi as confusion and disbelief starting to crash through him. By the gods, his stomach was twisting and his head was starting to hurt…

He snuggled into the pillow for a moment, unhappiness clawing at his insides as he turned his head to glance at Yugi over his shoulder once more; the smaller teen was fast asleep still, not the least bit aware of his being awake or that he was squeezing the life out of his hand.

Vaguely he wondered where his cousins were but didn't care enough to try to wake Yugi to ask, instead rolling onto his back again and sitting up; there had to be a remote around here somewhere, right? He craned his body into a more comfortable position, hissing softly from between his teeth at the pain in his shoulder and side, breathing uncomfortably and realizing only belatedly as he was taking in the remote's shape on the desk that he would have to reach over the smaller boy. And with his right arm.

He debated if it was worth it, fought with himself mentally over it, and then finally gave up again. It wasn't worth it and the end result wouldn't justify the means. Maybe he could fall asleep again…

Yami settled himself comfortably on his left side, fighting off the fact that it was awkward and strange for him, how his muscle memory screamed he roll over and rest on his right, and pulled the sheet up a little further. He drifted somewhere between consciousness and sleep and some kind of completely disconnected state a few minutes later, eyes shut and body completely relaxed.

Sometimes he startled awake, noises that were unfamiliar to him reaching his ears and making him jerk and sit up just enough to check for anything alarming around him, nurses talking and drawing him into a stagger towards awareness, and other times it was just Yugi awkwardly tightening his grip and bringing him into a slightly frantic state.

He settled again, glancing at the clock and trying to figure out what time it was, struggling to work out where the minute and hour hands were in the darkness and then settling for attempting at his internal clock. He had to have been awake for at least an hour because his stomach was starting to grow aware and desperate to alert him to the fact that he was hungry.

He quelled the idea without much effort, snuggling back into the pillow; he was still pretty sure it had been around three when he had woken up so now it must have been four at the least…

He drifted again, mind enveloped by darkness that refused to release him, completely drawn in and smothered by it, and then he jerked awake again. Yugi's fingers slipped out of his, the smaller teen shivering slightly and drawing his hand closer to the bar of metal that rested between his pillow and the bed. Yami watched him for a moment and then drew himself upright as far as he could towards the headboard, watching the smaller boy for any signs that he was waking up, and reached out to grab the remote off the desk.

Yugi's hair would have tickled his stomach if it hadn't been for the stupid hospital gown he was wearing, something that Yami felt a small bit sick about as he reached past him and chewed his lip to keep from making a noise of pain at the feel of his side being stretched like this.

For a moment he thought he was going to knock the remote across the floor but grasped at it eventually, catching the smooth plastic slowly and managing to drag it back towards him. Yugi shifted slightly and he cringed, freezing in place immediately afterwards as the smaller boy let out a soft noise that he recognized as him falling into a slightly deeper sleep. It was a noise he commonly made when they were side by side on the bed, fast asleep, and he was so incredibly thankful for the small sound that it made his heart hurt for a second.

He snatched the remote and flung himself back into the mattress, biting back a groan at the pain in his side and shoulder, ignoring it in favor of fumbling with the power button and looking for the mute. His finger unconsciously pressed against the volume button, turning it up louder, and Yami startled, dropping the remote and gawking at the noise that the screen produced. His heart skipped and rattled in his chest, the alarm on his monitor going off, and he panicked even more at the aspect of waking Yugi at the moment.

Scrambling, he caught and snatched the remote again, flipping it over to stare at it in the screen's illumination, immediately smacking the mute button and trembling once as the adrenaline started to fade from his system. Fucking Ra, the gods had to hate him…

He feigned sleep as the nurse's started running every which way to see who's television and monitor had gone off and he watched a few of them gather around, whispering to each other in confusion. One of them gestured towards his room but no one stepped inside, the other three shaking their heads and whispering something else.

The red-eyed teen was just glad his heart had settled or he thought he would vomit.

For twenty minutes he feigned sleep, pretending that he was dreaming and that nothing was wrong in his room, that he and the other boy were in the same state of awareness, and then finally flipped over onto his back again. He grabbed the remote and jammed his finger on the volume button, turning it down until the meter said zero, and started changing the channels immediately.

He watched the pictures and read the subtitles, not completely preoccupied with the task, but it took enough energy that he didn't find himself staring out the door into the hall looking for any nightly nurses heading in there. He wasn't up for questions yet, not for tests or commentary…

He flipped the channel and stared blankly for a moment. The two male lions onscreen were fucking, he realized belatedly, so caught up in his thoughts that he had almost missed it.

His lips twisted up into a wry grin and a laugh bubbled up as he remembered his father's little campaign mascot. His campaign against gays…with an animal that had homosexual tendencies.

He fought back a loud purr, instead glancing at Yugi as a reminder not to make too much noise, smiling a little more naturally at the way that the other boy remained completely asleep, and turned back to the screen. He watched through the documentary and found himself far more alert when the wolves came on the screen before his stomach sank and his heart skipped a beat in alarm at the sudden appearance of the orangutans. Oh fucking gods…

He scrambled to change the channel, eyes wide and nearly bugging out of his skull, adrenaline crashing through him again as he struggled to remember how to press the button. Oh fucking hell, he didn't want to relive his experience at the zoo, the very thought making him shudder as his finger finally jammed the right button.

Ra, why? Why that day of all days? It just had to be that day.

Stupid female orangutan. Couldn't she have done…that some other day—preferably when he wasn't there?

He dropped the remote into his lap and shook his head, glancing at Yugi for a moment and feeling the impulse to thread his fingers through his hair. He supposed it was a good thing that the smaller boy had probably not been sleeping well recently because at least now he wasn't wide awake after his little volume mistake twice made.

The red-eyed teen turned away and grabbed the remote again, not in the mood to have some myths busted, instead flipping through and growling softly; what the fuck was with documentaries on orangutans? Were they all so bored that they—oh, right, he had just gone the wrong way with the remote.

He hurried to continue flipping, but the memory was already resurfacing and he could feel the heat coming across his cheeks and his eyes growing wide in panic and his monitor beeped a little loudly…

Yami smacked the heel of his palm against his forehead a few times, annoyed out of his mind when it didn't fade immediately, and then went back to hurriedly clicking away; he was just going to have to start avoiding any and everything to do with animals. Just screw animals. Screw them altogether. They didn't exist anymore as far as he was—oh, that puppy was just so damn cute!

Okay, so maybe canines and felines existed. The rest? No, not so…okay, and horses. Screw the rest—goddamn it. They had a slideshow of adorable little baby animals and they were so trying to fuck with his head, weren't they?

His stomach growled again, a low gurgle that made him sigh in annoyance, glancing at his abdomen and going completely still, confusion and alarm passing through him suddenly. Fuck, where was the Puzzle?

He forced himself to relax some, scrambling to check under the sheets and his pillow, the back of the bed and eventually the desk. Oh gods, he had lost it—someone had stolen it or he'd lost it and he didn't understand how that could have happened…

A small sliver of light hit the chain and sparked in his eye, making him wince as he took it in and found himself gawking in alarm; Yugi…Yugi was wearing the Puzzle…

Oh gods, he was going to be sick.

Yugi was wearing the Puzzle and he shouldn't have been and it was making his head spin and if he didn't get out of bed and go to the bathroom and vomit it would be a fucking miracle…

He closed his eyes tightly, shaking his panic off and clenching his jaw; it would be fine. Yugi would be fine. He would have to be fine. The Puzzle wouldn't hurt him and he would be perfectly fine. Obviously it wouldn't hurt him if he had managed to get it off him in the first place. No, he was perfectly fine and there was no reason for him to panic anymore.

Yami opened his eyes only when he was sure he was facing the TV again, undoing his jaw and feeling the muscles strain with the effort, the bones seeming to pop loudly in his ears for a second. He wrinkled his nose to try to release some of the tension that was building up in his throat, the movement in vain, and went about flipping the channel again before freezing in place.

His father was on the screen. It was for a split second as a commercial shot up immediately as if beckoned by his scattered mind, but it was enough to make him narrow his eyes in annoyance. What did he have to say? Did anyone know about the warehouse ordeal yet? He supposed they did know since Bakura had reported it and the ambulance had come to pick him up there. But how much they knew—how he got there, how many were involved, how it started, whether the bodies were found—was still something that he would have to deal with later.

He wondered if they had been incinerated completely in that blaze or if they had come out as burned skeletons. Was there proof that he had done this by choice? He supposed there was…there were the strike-anywhere matches in his pockets after he had fainted, after all. He found himself more worried about his father blabbering about it than if there was any actual evidence that it was arson. If his father opened his mouth about it, he was screwed.

Which also begged the question of what the fuck had happened with that fifty million. He didn't suppose that he had gotten back out to Egypt with it. He would have had to cash it when he had first landed in Japan, gotten a duffel bag or a suitcase with it, had it waiting somewhere because he certainly hadn't had it when he was going after him, and trying to return the money would have cost a pretty penny that he wouldn't have spared.

So it could have still been in Japan…

Maybe his cousin had it…

He watched him get up on screen again, the red-eyed teen not bothering to read the answer, but narrowing his gaze at the way that his father continued to hold himself. As always, his back was rigidly straight to the point that it looked painful, his head was higher than everyone else's nearby as if in challenge, and his eyes were just as dark as always, mentally judging with that usual show of merely paying attention. As always…he looked as if he was not troubled by anything, as if the world was his oyster and everyone in it were but mere necessities for his existence.

Yami watched the screen with cold eyes, clenching his jaw and shaking his head; that stupid fucking bastard. But of course he got to pretend that nothing happened in the first place. He scanned for his name, really trying to find it among some of the questions, but never once was it mentioned, and neither was his mother, curiously enough.

That was fine though.

He didn't want to be mentioned by the gray-eyed fucker, but still, he had to admit that it seemed a little strange a dynamic for an interview with him. With everything that had happened as far as the videos went and the pictures of him and Yugi at that protest, how the fuck had they neglected to mention him?

Maybe it had been a term for him to do the interview, but that made no sense; his father was a glory hound. He would probably lick a dead dog if it got him on television…

He knew nothing of moderation or modesty, always wanted his face everywhere, wanted the attention of everyone, needed them all eating out the palm of his hand and licking his wounds when he got hurt.

The next two hours passed with some responses to his "homosexual affair" with Yugi, his eyes widening and skin paling drastically as his heat clenched and his stomach dropped, looking at the picture of the two of them fucking in his bed…

Ra, when was this going to blow over?

He flipped the channel with a roll of his eyes, irritation clawing at him as he shook his head and completely missed it when Yugi suddenly shifted in his sleep and then tipped his head to face him over the bar of the bed, those bright eyes dark with shadows but shining with luminescence from the TV as they slowly opened into slits and then drew themselves to a fuller degree. He tipped his head so that his chin rested on the pillow, the bar hard beneath it as he pulled away from the soft cushion and stared at him in disbelief and growing shock.

Yami stared at the screen for a few minutes, eyes growing troubled and lips pursing slightly to the side, occasionally wrinkling his nose as he flipped through the channels. And because he was so completely oblivious to him, Yugi sat back slowly, drawing his feet onto the chair silently while he kept the pillow in place with his hands, and leaped at him. Yami's head snapped towards him in shock just as he wrapped his hands around his neck and threw himself onto the bed to straddle him, eyes blazing viciously into his.

"…Good morning?" Yami muttered, blinking as Yugi squeezed once and then pulled his hands away just as fast, hissing at him in annoyance, "How long have you been awake, damn it?"

Yami glanced around for the clock, squinting and still finding himself unable to read the hands for the time, and even checked the TV's guide before shrugging. "Has to be six already, maybe?" he muttered when he found the print too small to read and his eyes rather sore from the attempt. "I watched a couple of documentaries on animals and a couple of television episodes? So I mean…about two hours for the animals, one for the episodes. Four hours…but I've been awake before that so I guess six? Yeah, six."

Yugi could have strangled him. "Why the fuck didn't you wake me?"

Yami blinked at him, distracted by the sensation of the very tip of his Puzzle pressing into his bellybutton, ice cold through the material of the hospital gown he was forced to wear. "Why is that around your neck?"

"Because the doctors thought you had gold poisoning because one of them was convinced that it had burned its way into your neck so I took it off and I don't suppose you want it to get stolen—I mean, it is real fucking gold—so yeah, there you go," he snapped, reaching a hand up and lightly slapping his cheek, a gentle tap of his fingers and palm against his face. "Answer the question."

"I…um…?"

Why hadn't he woken him up?

Because he was selfish and wanted to think about what he was going to do because something had honestly occurred to him while he was in the Puzzle and he hadn't wanted to have to face Yugi so soon.

"You looked…tired…?"

Yugi smiled and shook his head, laughing a second later when he blinked and squinted, looking comically confused after a moment, gaze darting around suddenly as if he were looking for something to draw into a nice lie worthy of the smaller boy's attention. And then slowly his cheeks were starting to take on a pink hue and Yugi couldn't help the massive grin that claimed his lips.

"You didn't think about it, did you?"

Yami bit his lip to keep from saying that he had honestly thought about it so much that his head was hurting. In retrospect, it was horrible of him to have not woken him because it was obvious that he had been waiting for him to do so, but he hadn't been able to face him then and he wasn't even sure if he could face him now…

He shook his head slowly as if a little embarrassed and Yugi pressed his palm into his forehead, pushing him back into his pillow before glancing at his legs; the taller teen twisted to his left, his right side aching softly, and then gestured vaguely to give him permission after realizing what he was looking at. Yugi happily sat back against his bent legs, moving his hands to rest beside his torso and lightly pressing his thumbs into his flanks, careful to avoid the gunshot wound.

"How do you feel?"

"I'm okay…" He searched his face for a moment, at first not really thinking much of the question, and then smiled softly at him when the smaller teen narrowed his eyes slightly in distrust of the statement. "I mean, nothing really hurts. And I am wide awake so…Whatever, I guess. How long have I been here?"

"Three days asleep."

"…Oh. What's today then?"

"Wednesday."

He relaxed slightly and blinked, nodding once. "Oh, okay. That's not a bad day. I was thinking you would say something like Sunday or Monday or Tuesday or Thursday."

"…Wait, what the fuck is wrong with Thursday?"

"Ooh, look who's crass today."

Yugi rolled his eyes and poked him beneath the rib, making a small noise akin a giggle and gasp bubble out of his mouth before both of them stared in surprise and he burst out laughing, covering his mouth while Yami wrinkled his nose and turned away.

"Kill me now."

"Aw, but it was a cute noise."

"Fucking Ra, did you just read my mind or something?"

"Huh?"

Yami opened and closed his mouth once before quickly shaking his head. "Nothing," he muttered, blinking as he realized just how ridiculous a statement that really was; so he just enunciated the same word as he had when he saw the puppy on the screen. That hardly meant anything. Besides, Yugi was just teasing him as he normally would have. There was nothing wrong with it in all actuality. "Did I mention I just woke up?"

"Yeah, like fucking six hours ago."

"It's a law that you don't wake up immediately after sleeping for three days. Six hours is nothing when it comes to waking up."

Yugi rolled his eyes, shaking his head, and then looked him over for a moment, reaching a hand out to stroke over his temple and down to cup his cheek before running the back of his nails up into his hair. Yami purred softly, half expecting Yugi to tease him and finding himself frozen when he saw the strange look on his face, his left hand reaching out to mirror his right's movements, appearing almost ready to cry.

"I…Ha…you…you're really okay…"

Yami frowned at the sorrow and confusion and pure joy in those simple words. "Yugi…?"

"Shut up for a second."

The taller teen smirked at the command, amused to no end by the frustration that coated his words and feeling some of the tension in the air relieved by the comical response despite the seriousness of it all. Yugi's eyes were hooded with amusement and his lips had quirked up into a soft smile, but the look on his face did not change completely; that gleam in his eyes that Yami could only describe as pure awe and confusion and sorrow did not leave even slightly.

Yami had the impulse to open his mouth and speak but stopped when he saw the way that Yugi was still watching him. The look on his face was making his skin crawl and a million different thoughts jumped out at him as if something was trying to sear into his brain, wondering vaguely if Yugi was looking for an argument with him. He didn't mean to, but he found himself recoiling with the thought, his legs flattening and Yugi flinching in surprise at the response, confusion and hurt sweeping over his features after a moment.

Had he scared him?

Or hurt him?

Yugi's stomach twisted uneasily at the silence for a moment before an idea slowly dawned on him, eyes widening and voice coming out weak and hurt. "Yami, I haven't been here waiting for you to wake up just so that we could fuck…"

Yami blinked in confusion and the smaller teen stiffened in alarm when he realized that his assumption was not at all right. "Now, that's an idea," he muttered under his breath, Yugi's eyes widening drastically and making him blink in shock as the other boy shook his head. "No, I thought…"

He stared at him blankly for a few moments and then slowly began to piece it together in his head, frowning when he realized that Yami couldn't get the words out so he would need to do it himself. "I'm not here for that either," he murmured, swallowing hard and chewing his cheek. "I…No, Yami."

He shouldn't have but the relieved breath left his mouth before he could think about it, the fear coiling out of him and his body beginning to feel a little better as opposed to the heavy dead weight it had been moments before. "Okay."

"Does the possibility of it scare you that much?"

Yami winced and stayed silence, the quiet feeding Yugi the answer he craved.

"I…Yami, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you like that…"

He shook his head lazily, closing his eyes. "No, no, it's fine," he cut in quietly, breathing out a small sigh. "I mean, I guess I was kind of expecting it for a while. A long while, actually…but damn, I just…it would have been really shitty if you had decided to do it now of all times…"

Yugi laughed softly, shaking his head. "Even I'm not that cruel."

"No?" The smaller teen narrowed his eyes slightly, about to snap at him before he realized he had a right to question that with the way that they had treated each other. "No, I guess not."

The red eyes opened fully and regarded him with such a cautiously curious gleam that Yugi nearly missed the slight warmth that lingered there as well. "But you have something you want to say, do you not?" he coaxed softly, preparing himself just in case Yugi had just been trying to ease him into some kind of false security.

"I…" The smaller boy thought about it for a long time, searching his eyes and dragging his gaze along the line of his jaw in order to try to attempt some kind of calm; how should he say it? Was it meant to be just those three words or something more? He drew in a thoughtful breath, puffing his cheeks out and making a soft popping noise as he struggled to find the words. "I…Yami, I…"

Why couldn't he just get it out already?

He wasn't afraid of actually saying it.

So then what the hell was…?

The more he stared at him, the more it became far too clear to him just how dangerously aware he was of Yami's silence, of the way that his patience was really starting to kill him on the inside. Yami's reaction to the news was what held him back now…

His stomach flipped violently. Gods, when did this get to be so fucking hard?

Maybe rehearsing it wouldn't have been such a bad idea. He figured there was a bathroom somewhere—ha, there was one in the room—where he could stare into the mirror and just repeat the words until his throat was too sore to even function and—

"I love you."

The words were expelled so quickly, in such a rush that both of them blinked and then furrowed their brows, sorting it out while Yami stared at him as if he had been slapped and Yugi tried to figure out if he had put the right word in the middle…

"Don't do this right now, Yugi," the red-eyed teen pleaded, sounding broken and tired with the noise as opposed to the happiness that Yugi had honestly been anticipating.

"What?"

"Not right now. I don't…I can't take this right now. I'm too tired."

Yugi shook his head slowly. "But I—"

"Damn it, Yugi, I can't do this right now," he snapped, bristling suddenly and looking horrified and more than a little hollow, like something had just collapsed to pieces inside of him and he was dying.

"Yami, I swear—"

"Don't do this."

"Listen—"

"No. Just stop."

"You stop," Yugi spat viciously, annoyed and startled out of his mind to the point that he had no idea what he was supposed to do past try to talk some sense into the other boy, more than a little worried about what "sense" he had to offer him in the first place. "Listen to me, damn it."

"Why? So that you can quell your fears through telling me this? I can't handle this right now. I don't want to be used like this anymore, Yugi. That hasn't changed. I don't…I can't…I…" He trailed off after a moment, the words too thick in his lungs to be expelled, shaking his head as his eyes settled on the Puzzle; it wasn't shining or responding to him in any way but it still made his chest feel as if it might cave in just being so close to them. Atem and soul catchers and the Puzzle… "Look, I don't…I don't want to do this right now. I really don't. I don't want to be tossed aside or around and I'm so tired. I don't want to…"

Yugi was silent for a long moment and then chewed his cheek with a shake of his head; Yami wasn't about to give ground, not a single inch. In fact, he would probably go for the throat at any moment if he got the chance, take that single inch that Yugi needed and push him so far back that he would have no room to figure out which way he was supposed to go again.

But, as he watched him, he didn't think it was him that Yami was really worried about; something seemed disconnected and jaded in his eyes, like maybe he was bleeding on the inside and couldn't find the words to explain or even the strength to deal with it just yet, especially not with him there. The wild desperation in his eyes for him to drop the subject had Yugi's heat twisting in his chest, wondering if he wanted him there or not in the first place but the answer was easily given when the other teen seemed to unconsciously reach out and twine one of their hands together. The expression on his face looked pained and confused and the smaller teen watched him as he squeezed once, really looking at their hands and seeming to almost inspect them so closely that at some point he appeared as if he had forgotten that he was staring at their hands in the first place.

"Okay…"

Yami blinked and dragged his eyes to his, searching his face for a moment and offering a shaky smile; Yugi narrowed his gaze faintly at the raspy quality of the taller teen's breath and tilted his head, listening to it for a moment.

"Out of curiosity…"

"Hmm?"

"You're scared of me turning away from you and saying I'm tired of being your fuck buddy, but then you don't want to be used anymore, so how does that…work exactly?"

"Fuck if I know."

Yugi stared at him for a moment, searching his face and rolling his eyes when he went from thinking that Yami's mind was too confusing for him half the time to realizing exactly what it was. In some kind of lopsided, curious way, his desperation not be pushed away and draw his own lines made complete sense. Yami couldn't take being used, but he could offer himself to be used by his own choice. In some kind of abstract way, Yugi guessed that was how their relationship had always worked. Yami didn't roll over constantly for him when he went to him, more willing to fight with him before he settled for anything, a clear warning that he was letting it happen and willingly giving a distraction and that Yugi did not have complete control over the entire situation. When Yami had come to him, he wasn't pushy about it until it was brought up and then he offered flat out to do it.

Yami honestly had more control over the entire situation than Yugi ever did, got the security of saying that he would be ready for it when the smaller teen turned away completely. He was able to say that he let it happen rather than he was being used without consent. He got the right to say he was stronger than him despite how weak he actually felt beneath it all.

He had to feel weak or else he wouldn't be so terrified and worried out of his mind like this, right?

"Hmm…" he hummed noncommittally and drummed his free hand's fingers over his thigh. He didn't really appreciate being deterred from his first show of truly saying he loved him, but then again, he himself had dismissed him at first as well, saying he was just drunk and then getting smacked with a pillow by an angry Yami who was very obviously offended by his statement.

"I'm just a little buzzed."

Yami's eyes stretched wide for a second, tilting his head as if Yugi had just spoken Arabic and said that he wanted him, so at attention that it made his stomach twist uncomfortably. He hadn't meant to say it out loud but either way, it was somewhat easier to have put it out there like this.

Yami let his lips twist up into a slightly smirk and Yugi blinked before yelping in surprise when he grabbed him by the ribs and tossed him onto the mattress at his side, ignoring him in favor of the screen. "I want to watch the wolves."

The other teen narrowed his eyes but smiled all the same, shaking his head and rolling his eyes before looking at the TV for a moment. No wolves. Asshole.

"Hey, have you ever been to the zoo?"

Yami's head snapped towards him, glaring at the Puzzle with his lip curled back and eyes narrowed into slits. "It is that damn thing around your neck? Is that what's going on right now?" he hissed.

"Huh?"

He clamped his jaw shut before he could make himself seem like even more of a mental case, scrubbing his face with his hands as if exhausted for a moment. "Nothing. Nothing at all."

"Okay…so, well…have you?"

"…When I was eight."

"Okay, why did you just say that like something crawled up your ass and started fingering your prostate?" Yugi murmured, narrowing his eyes.

"Yugi, how the fuck would it finger my prostate if it crawled up there?"

"Oh fucking"—the smaller boy covered his face with his hands, shaking his head a few times and sighing loudly—"Okay, let me rephrase. Why do you say that like it disgusts you?"

Yami waited for a moment, trying to gather something of a handful of words to say to make him drop the subject, but failed miserably almost immediately, instead making a sobbing noise purely for sympathetic appeal and watching him closely. Yugi's face brightened with a wicked grin, shaking his head and raising his eyebrow as his eyes shown with the demand of an answer.

"Fuck you," he snapped. "I'm not even—fuck!"

His grin grew wider. "Not even what, Yami?"

"Kill. Me. Now."

"No way. I just got you back. Now tell me."

Yami ignored the implication and leveled him with a long glare before feeling his lips twitch and pull themselves into a grimace, frowning and chewing his cheek. "I know for a fact that you won't keep this, but promise you won't laugh?"

Yugi held up a finger, drew in a long breath, and then burst out laughing until he went red in the face while the other teen stared at him with a shocked look and tilted his head in confusion. He went five minutes before holding his hand up again and sighing with a small nod. "I'm all laughed out."

Yami rolled his eyes, smiling at his efforts and shaking his head while the smaller boy watched him closely. "…I was eight. It was my first ever visit to the zoo. And it was ruined. Horribly."

"Why? Did your dad—?" Yugi started, voice taking on a sharp note.

"No. No—and he's not my dad." He snorted in dismissal but didn't miss the way that Yugi gave him an encouraging nod, agreeing one hundred percent. "I…Fucking orangutan."

"You…fucked an orangutan?" the other boy repeated, blinking and then recoiling until he nearly hit his head against Yami's monitor right next to him. "Fucking—Yami, I swear to the gods—"

Yami gave him a disgusted look and clamped his hand over his mouth, rolling his eyes dramatically. "No! You think I could have gotten away with that shit? And that's fucking disgusting, by the way, so if you have any animal fetishes you should tell me now so that I don't even think about coming near you again. That's inhumane! Although…admittedly, that might have been far more fun despite the fact that I would never be able to face myself again after that. "

Yugi pulled his hand off his mouth, snickering, "Come on, Yami."

"Fine, fine. It was a female orangutan and she was doing one of those things only females can do."

"Breastfeeding!" he guessed.

Yami blinked and curled his lip. "Ew."

Yugi laughed at the indignant wrinkle of his nose but threw his hands up, shrugging.

"Another thing."

"Um…She bled all over?"

The other teen chuckled in amusement and shook his head. "Ha, that's a nice way of putting it. No."

"…Did she give a guy a fucking blowjob? Was she pimped out? Maybe she was part of a train? Crap, Yami, give me a clue! Animals do all kinds of crazy things with sex acts and that's all I can think about when it comes to something being traumatizing!"

"…You're in the right direction…?"

He rolled his eyes, thinking it over. "Okay, did she try to fuck a male orangutan or another female? Cause I could see how chaotic that would be for an eight-year-old."

"No. It comes after all of that."

He thought about it for a long moment and then shook his head slowly, his lips twisting up into a wide smirk that made his eyes mischievous. "No. No way."

He nodded a little.

"You got to watch a female orangutan touching herself when you were only eight?" he breathed, looking awed. "You little player you!"

Yami glowered at his joke. "No."

"Then what the hell did you see? God, I don't like this game. You don't play it right!"

"You're…blaming this on me? Please, any miscommunication between us is all on your behalf," he scoffed. "You're the one who doesn't want to talk."

Yugi shook his head, snickering. "All your fault. Now tell me."

He stayed quiet for a moment. "You told me you were all laughed out before but you lied to me," he accused.

"Aw, who's a little baby? Yami is!" Yugi cooed, reaching over and pinching his cheek so that Yami glowered and narrowed his eyes into slits, growling softly while the smaller boy continued laughing. "Come on, tell me!"

"…Yami is a little baby."

He blinked and then shook his head. "Huh?"

"Oh…you weren't…? I thought…Oh…"

"Oh my god! What do they put in that thing?" he demanded, grabbing the IV drip and looking it over. "Shit, you think you could pull off being me for a few days?"

Yami chuckled and shook his head, rolling his eyes. "I could totally do it."

"Hmm, you think so?" he asked, raising an eyebrow and narrowing his eyes with a small smirk of amusement. "Do you really now?"

"I do."

"Well then, you should probably tell me about this trip to the zoo eight years ago so that I'll have my stories straight when your cousins visit and ask why you've shrunk."

Yami burst out laughing and shook his head, rolling his eyes. "You are so full of shit, aren't you?"

"…Is the shit this story? Because I'm not full of it yet."

"I hate you."

"That's half of our relationship," Yugi scoffed before rolling his eyes. "But mostly you just love me."

Yami blinked at the way that his voice lilted with the slightest twinge of desperation that coated his words like slowly-dripping honey. Yugi froze in place for a second, as if expecting him to object, looking rattled as if it meant the world to him for him to agree in that single second.

The taller teen nodded after a moment, blinking, ignoring his stutter when he weakly breathed, "Uh…b-back to the story?"

He thought for a moment, trying to find a reasonable clue that wouldn't give it all away and then settled for a vague one. "I am completely scarred for life."

"Scarred for life. Okay, well there aren't that many things that can scar a guy for life," he muttered, tipping his head to the side. "Something only girls can do. Comes after sex—are you sure she wasn't fingering herself? Cause I witnessed Tea's cat jerking himself off with his paw and rubbing his—"

"Dear fucking—Yugi!"

He held his hands up, laughing sheepishly but getting far more amusement out of the situation than he would ever really admit. "Okay, okay, I'll stop with—okay, so there's really only one other thing that girls can do that guys can't," he murmured, breathing out a soft sigh and raising an eyebrow in question so that Yami nodded at him to continue. "She…gave birth?"

He nodded eagerly.

Yugi tried really hard. Even Yami saw this. First his bottom lip was drawn into his mouth and then his top and then both and then his jaw started trembling and his eyes watered, and then he just exploded. His laughter was everywhere, echoing off the walls while Yami hurried to grab his pillow and hand it to him to press it into his mouth; the smaller teen took it and guffawed into it, holding it completely against his face as he rolled on the bed and tried to stifle the laughter that was rapidly becoming louder, tears streaming from his eyes.

"All laughed out my ass," Yami commented dryly, rolling his eyes.

Yugi's eyes flooded further with tears, crying hard into the pillow and kicking his legs against the wall behind Yami's head, pushing himself a little further away from him and shaking his head. He gawked when the smaller teen threw the pillow at him and then fled into the bathroom, chuckling when he heard him start peeing.

He came back ten minutes later, Yami marking the time in curiosity as he slunk back into the room like an abused dog, head down and hand covering his mouth. He rolled his eyes; two minutes peeing, eight minutes just laughing until he finally crawled back out again like that. The smaller teen kept his head down as he took a seat next to him, refusing to look at him, shoulders shaking and small snickers escaping his mouth again.

"It was that funny?" Yami snorted skeptically.

"I think she really scarred you for life, bud," Yugi snorted, shaking his head again.

He took a second and then rolled his eyes, laughing and shaking his head in response. "Oh my Ra. Yes, it was just always that damn orangutan," he chuckled.

Yugi nodded and scooted over to his side, sighing and leaning into him, allowing him time to pull his arm over him so that the IV drip rested over his stomach rather than beneath him where he would have clotted the flow and the nurses would have come running to check on them.

"Squealing about bugs and giving birth. That is quite the list of issues to have against girls, Yami."

He flipped him off with a scoff, rolling his eyes and settling back further into the pillow while Yugi watched him with a wide smirk. "I was eight!" he whined. "She could have picked any other fucking day to give birth!"

The smaller boy nearly fell over himself laughing. "You cannot be serious!"

"I am dead serious," he snapped. "She scarred me."

"And now you hide away from pussy. That's just…amazing, Yami."

"Hey, I f…" He fell silent immediately, clearing his throat awkwardly and turning away with his head down, guiltily drumming his fingers over his stomach for a moment. Yugi stared at him confusion for a moment and then flinched. Mai. Yami had fucked Mai. He still wondered how long ago that was.

"…Was that while we were…?"

"…The day after I spent the night. I…I remembered you telling me that maybe I should experiment because maybe Tea just didn't do it for me," Yami admitted, head still bowed as he looked his hand over as if it were the most important thing in the world.

"Oh," he muttered, nodding slowly and blinking.

"Are…are you mad?"

"Mad?" Yugi repeated, blinking again as Yami turned his head slightly and peered at him from beneath his lashes, looking miserable. "No, I'm not mad, Yami."

"Okay…then what is that?"

"What is what?"

"That," Yami stressed, eyes widening as he raised his head slightly and peered at him with a slightly desperate expression. "In your voice. What is it?"

The smaller boy tipped his head and then turned towards him completely, resting his chin against his shoulder and narrowing his eyes into slits as the other boy blinked and then turned away immediately again.

"I didn't do it because of…I…I didn't do it to…I wasn't trying to hurt you."

"I know that. It just…it doesn't make it any easier though."

"…I'm sorry…"

"It's in the past. It doesn't matter. Besides, I was the one who gave you the idea anyways."

Yami didn't answer him but that was okay because Yugi wasn't sure he had a response to anything he would have said. Better he finished the conversation than have it dragged through the mud.

He didn't think he dreamed, just fell into some kind of blackness that was half-aware and easily escaped when the taller teen started moving next to him; at first he didn't know what the hell was going on and then he realized belatedly that the red-eyed boy was starting to maneuver himself to crawl over him.

"Whoa, whoa, where are you going?" Yugi demanded immediately as he took in the situation and saw that the taller boy was only partially awake as well; the blue-violet-eyed teen narrowed his eyes and pressed his arm across his stomach to completely stop him from getting up into a sitting position.

"The bathroom…?"

"Yami," he laughed after a moment, "you have a catheter in."

"I…what?" Yami demanded with wide eyes, pulling the sheet up and peering underneath before gawking. "Oh my god. There's a tube up my penis."

Yugi burst out laughing, covering his face with his hands and shaking his head. "Oh, I thought you already knew and now I can't…" he snickered, the other teen turning his head and opening and closing his mouth before pulling the sheet down again with an unhappy expression. "H-hey, if helps, I was the one who did it?"

Yami turned his head and stared at him as if he had just spoken in the most demonic voice he had ever heard, entire face completely mortified. "Y-you?"

"Hey, I've had him in my mouth before, why not stick a tube in?"

"I…I…I think I just died on the inside. Like…everything. It just curled in on itself and it's all hollow inside and I just…Oh my god."

Yugi burst out laughing and shook his head, falling back into the spot he had fallen asleep at his side a few hours after their conversation about Mai. "Oh please, you know that I wouldn't be allowed to do that." The smaller teen closed his eyes for a moment before snuggling a little into his side, curling into him and moving to bring his right knee against the taller teen's right hip; Yami looked at him in surprise for a moment, more than a little startled to find that he was staring back at him before turning away again putting his ear to his chest. The sound of his heartbeat made him shiver once before mumbling, "You really didn't feel it?"

"I think I was either so oblivious to the fact that they would even give me one after surgery or just so completely distracted by the pain in my side and shoulder to notice," he admitted, once again pulling the sheet up and staring at it with wide eyes for a second; he could see the little clear tube. He put it back down again and awkwardly fiddled with his fingers. He was so not about to pee into this thing. He still had his dignity and he was not about to do it.

Yugi raised his brow after a moment. "What? What's that face for?"

"I have a tube…up my penis," Yami muttered, blinking and looking at him with an indignant expression. "A tube! Up my penis!"

He bit his lip to keep from laughing. "So? It happens when you've been out for days."

"Oh my god. Someone saw my penis and decided that they would stick a fucking tube up it, Yugi. I don't think you understand."

"I do," he argued, biting back some more laughter. "Grandpa had one a couple of years back."

"I would rather wear a fucking diaper," he snapped, sulking. "I can't even feel it. What if I like…walk out the fucking hospital with it still in? Or get kidney failure or something? Do you think this goddamned thing is clean enough to be up my penis?"

"I'm sure it is," he snorted, squeezing his eyes shut for a second before looking at the scowl Yami sported. "I mean, they can't use it if it isn't properly cleaned and—"

"You are not a doctor," he snapped, making the other teen snicker. "I will not take statistics about catheters from the likes of you."

He snickered and pressed a finger into Yami's rib, causing him to let out a small squeak of a noise before glaring indignantly. "Well, are you going to pee or not?"

"You hate me," the taller teen hissed. "You want me to pee into a pouch. I will not give you that satisfaction."

"You know, I've heard of people dying from not being able to take a piss."

Yami stared at him for a moment and then lifted the sheet again to look at the tube before lowering it again. "I think I can live a little longer without that piss, thank you very much."

"Well, hey, from what I've heard, when you get it taken out, they pretty much give you a handjob—"

"I fucking hate you."

Yugi dissolved into laughter and Yami rolled his eyes, sulking with his arms crossed.

"Shit," Yugi muttered as he looked the email over, chewing his cheek as Yami chatted with the nurse about something or other; he eyed him from beneath his lashes, pretty sure he was missing one of the most entertaining arguments of his life. The nurse had come in thinking that Yami was unable to pee only to be told that Yami refused to do it instead of having the inability to do so. He was pretty sure she was snapping at him about how he needed to pee or he might damage an organ and he was more than a little sure that Yami was getting nasty about it by now.

Yugi felt blood coat his tongue before he actually tasted it, blinking as he realized how badly he had bitten into his flesh; for a moment he debated diverting the conversation but stopped immediately and looked at the email again, still watching Yami from the corner of his eye. Tristan had texted him earlier to make sure he read the email he sent because he was pretty sure he wasn't going to get another chance to send the information again.

He had missed nine days straight and the school policy—unknown to him—was that ten days meant the removal of the student permanently. They would be expelled without so much as a blink and would not be allowed back in no matter the begging.

So he either showed up or he got expelled.

But Yami was getting out soon and he wanted to help him…

He was pretty sure if he told him about it and tried to stay, Yami would chew his head off and spit his blood on him afterwards. He wouldn't let him get expelled just to help him, no matter how much Yugi attempted to argue it out with him.

Well, he still had four days with him until he had to go back thanks to the two teacher work days that were happening; at least that way he could have fun with the red-eyed teen until then.

Yugi fiddled with Yami's phone for a moment, studying his face as the other teen continued watching the program on the TV, squinting and looking rather unhappy despite the additional drugs they had given him; the blue-violet-eyed boy was pretty sure he had been mumbling about the catheter again and cursing at some of the nurses earlier when they attempted to make him pee.

Two more days…

He shivered and the other boy turned his head in confusion, looking at him and whispering, "Hey, Yugi?"

"Yeah?" he asked immediately, sitting straight and searching his face.

"I need to pee."

"So go pee."

"No. I still have that tube in my penis."

"You should pee through the tube and into the little bag."

"No! Don't you know they want me to do that so that they can sell my piss on the black market?"

"Why would they…?" Yugi furrowed his brows. "Yami, I don't think…"

"You don't know! See? You have no idea!"

"Yami, seriously just pee into the—"

"I knew you were part of this conspiracy too," Yami hissed, turning away with a glare at the TV. "I don't like you anymore. Leave me alone."

Yugi rolled his eyes and moved to take a seat on the bed, not the least bit surprised when Yami changed his mind and wrapped his arms around his torso, burying his face in his side, though he did admit to being startled when he mumbled, "I love you…so, so much" before his breath started evening out.

The smaller boy stared at him for a moment and then ran his fingers through his hair, combing his scalp with his fingertips and chewing his cheek. "Love you too," he managed to breathe out, sighing softly and feeling a little uncomfortable with the admittance despite how right it was.

For a long minute Yami merely breathed against his side, not really doing anything but this, and then finally he rasped out a soft, "Why?" that made him blink in confusion.

"Why what?" he asked, furrowing his brows. "Why what Yami?"

Yugi spent a few minutes straining his ears for the other boy's voice, struggling and feeling as if the next noise he heard might burst his eardrums with the effort he was putting into it, but all he could hear was the harsh quality of Yami's even breathing as he fell asleep again.

Yami hadn't answered the text he had sent him.

Yugi chewed his cheek and fumbled with his pencil, spinning it around awkwardly in his hand and biting back some worry; the teacher continued droning about the subject of something like the World Wars but it wasn't enough to stop him from constantly fidgeting.

He probably wasn't awake yet; he seemed to sleep longer at the hospital than he would have at home. He guessed that had to do with something along the lines of actually feeling safe there as opposed to his home.

The small teen flipped his pencil in his fingers again and swallowed hard, chewing his cheek and fighting off the urge to just get up and flee the room, ditch school and go back to the hospital. He had a feeling he was missing something and aside from that, his mind was still plagued with Yami's voice whispering, "Why?" against his skin, so soft that it was almost impossible to hear.

Why?

Why what?

What was he supposed to say to that if he didn't even know what it was that Yami was talking about in the first place? Why what? Why…why, why, why?

Two more hours and he would be out and free to visit him, maybe get an answer about what Yami had been asking him, that thing that the red-eyed teen refused to let him bring up no matter how hard he tried to steer the conversation in that direction…

Had to go to school today…I've missed nine days in a row. Did you know they expel you if you miss ten? Like, what the fuck?

"Elderberry morning and night," he agreed, nodding dismissively from where he had been staring at his phone screen before looking over his shoulder at his cousins and then the window, peeking out for a moment; he was being ridiculous but he kept feeling as if the blue-violet-eyed teen was going to suddenly appear out of nowhere if he wasn't careful. Only two hours before Yugi got out of school and no doubt his lack of response would send him running there to check on him; Yami didn't plan to be there when that happened. "Grapefruit seed extract mixed in water, wash sinuses. Either bend over and pour it until it drains from the other side or with a nasal spray bottle—lots of sprays, bend over and spray until you feel like you will drown, then blow your nose. Repeat as needed. Or as long as you can handle it. If coughing, expectorant is needed. Breathing steam—hot peppers to get the sinuses to run and loosen the gunk. I've got it. Eat stuffed peppers if I want to, yeah, yeah, yeah."

"You may want to try some Lobelia extract as well. I've seen it work wonders quickly of asthma. Also Aerobic Oxygen would be good and the health food store down the street can fill you in on it. If you cannot find Aerobic, you can use the 35% Hydrogen Peroxide—the straight stuff will burn you so be careful—in a mix of about ten drops for an eight ounce cup of distilled water and drink that. Do not exceed twenty-five drops. I know some people can take a lot more but I don't think you should attempt more than ten to twenty-five for the time being, okay?"

Yami rolled his eyes and nodded, not even surprised when his cousins took him shopping immediately afterwards; he looked over the prescriptions as he handed the pharmacist one for his pain and antibiotics. Bakura gathered a bunch of medical tape and gauze and Marik went about grabbing the distilled water and searching for the extracts and peroxide but all Yami could think as the girl tried to make small talk with him was that Yugi had gotten out of school, confirmed a moment later when his phone chimed.

The text was simple enough, a little note that he was glad he had gotten out and was okay and that he'd probably check on him at some point the next day.

The red-eyed teen turned his head away from the screen, pressing the lock button and putting it into his pocket again as guilt raged on his insides and his heart twisted violently with pain.

He didn't answer him but he went home with Seto as Bakura and Malik ran off to meet their parents for something or other; Yami wasn't sure if they planned to tell them what happened or not but he didn't care to ask either and so instead said goodbye, accepting the ruffling of his hair and the small hug before both of them scattered. Mokuba carried the lighter stuff, Seto insisting on taking the heavy, and neither of them would even let him carry a small pack of an electrolyte mix that Mokuba dropped.

So now I'm not only wounded but I'm completely incapable of so much as picking something off the floor, Yami thought bitterly, following them into the kitchen as they both started unpacking.

"Where's the bathroom?" Mokuba asked, doing that potty dance that made his cousin smile and gesture towards the stairs, giving directions before turning to Seto again as he ran off.

"All right, Seto, say it already," he snapped coldly, grabbing a couple of items from the bag; the brunet wasn't oblivious to the fact that it was the gauze and medical tape and wondered vaguely if he needed to change it already. "You've been itching to do it all day, haven't you?"

"I don't have anything to say."

"Don't bullshit me. You have something on your mind and you've been waiting for a while to spit it out at me so what is it?"

The brunet shook his head. "We're not doing this right now."

"It's either now or never because I won't give you another chance. Say it already."

He paused and narrowed his eyes, movements deliberately slowing for a moment before starting to unload some of the other items, pushing the gallon jugs away from him. "I don't know what you mean."

"Bullshit, Seto."

He shrugged and instead went about emptying some more while the smaller teen bristled furiously and narrowed his eyes into slits. "Fine, if you want me to say it so badly, here it is. You're completely wasting your time with that brat Yugi. The runt is never going to give a damn and I don't want to have to hear you whine about it at any point."

"When have I ever gone to you for advice about something like this? When was the last time I spoke to you about Yugi in any way aside from a mention of his name? Never. And you can be assured that won't change just because I got out of the hospital, Seto."

"You waste yourself on that brat. You don't love him. And he doesn't love you. You just wanted a little taste of freedom and you got it in him but now that your dad's gone, you don't need to use him anymore, Yami."

Yami blinked once, long and slow, and then narrowed his eyes into slits. "Oh, is that it?"

"Yes, you insufferable little brat, that is it," Seto snarled, spinning on him, temper lost before he could even attempt to rein it in. "You've always been like this—stupid decisions, stupid ideas, stupid thoughts altogether. You're making yourself pathetic and worthless for some kind of farce that you know damn well was only ever you wanting to lash out at your father from a safe distance because you were too cowardly to do it to his face."

He shifted slightly, bracing his weight on his right leg more than his left as his muscle strained; he should have wandered around more at the hospital but it was too late for that. He would work it out as he went along.

"Hmm…You get a lot of room to speak, huh?" he sneered, opening his mouth to snap at him further just as Seto grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and jerked him forward, nearly off his feet but almost too cautious to do it.

"You pathetic little bastard," he spat, tightening his grip so that the fabric bunched up and strained against his chest, rubbing his skin to the point that it burned. "You have no idea how much you're lowering yourself just to be with the little runt. It's not worth it and you make yourself just as pathetic as he is. I don't think you understand the magnitude of just how much trouble you cause—how much you have always fucking caused me! You and that little brat. If you had just kept it in your pants, you wouldn't be here right now. I wouldn't have had to go through so many legal teams just to get you fucking emancipated against your wishes like I did when you didn't sign the damn documents. Hell, you've been a pain in the ass since we first met, when I had to fucking make up that fake birth certificate and you argued with me for five hours straight that you refused to have your birthday changed from the sixth to somewhere in April. You know how long it took to get that stupid thing redone, how many favors I had to pull and how indebted I got with that last company for your stupid ass?"

Yami narrowed his eyes.

"Don't look at me like that. You know what you've done. You know I'm just telling the truth," Seto snapped, shoving him away so that he fell over on his ass and stared up at him, the brunet taking up the position of looming over him angrily. "You refused to have security at your house like I suggested. You ran off so that they could kidnap you. When you first got here you didn't even want to go to school and put me in that compromising position between you and your dad. You've been making my life a fucking hell since I turned fifteen. So forgive me if I wish that you weren't wasting your time with someone as pathetic as Yugi Motou because honestly, I think all my efforts go to waste where he's concerned and I deserve better than that. Don't you agree?"

"I think you're sticking your nose in business that doesn't actively concern you. You are my cousin. But you are not me. And as such you have no true bearing on my life aside from being there. Now. Back. Off."

"See, that's where you're wrong. You've been ruining my life for the last two years. You're indebted—"

"You claim I owe you?" Yami cackled, shaking his head with a wide smirk. "Don't you dare. I owe you nothing. I have never owed you anything. Half of the things you have done have not gone down without fights and arguments and endless lectures, without ridicule and you claiming superiority over me. No, I fought you on everything and I won. I owe you nothing just because I didn't feel like letting you restrict me as fully as you wished to do. I am not one to be put in a box. If I was, I would have stayed in Egypt and been the little pet that my father tried to make me out to be. You are not my maker and you are not my owner and I do not bow to you."

"You should be on your knees groveling," Seto snarled, blue eyes flashing dangerously as he stepped closer once more. "You take up most of my time, my resources, constantly bite at me for favors and come to me when things are out of hand—and when aren't they with you? When have things ever been in your control enough that you didn't come running to me like a little bitch? Do you even know how pathetic that is?"

"You keep saying that, but I don't see why you're avoiding what you've been meaning to say the entire time."

"Fine. You want to hear what I have to say? Then here it is." The brunet lowered himself to his level, grabbing his shirt tightly again and baring his teeth. "I wish on everything I own and everything in my life that you did not fucking exist. I hate you. I hate how stupid you are and how much you drag me down."

Yami nodded, smirking cruelly, and shoved him away, climbing to his feet after a moment while the other teen glowered at him angrily. "Glad we got that off our chests."

Seto started to all but tremble with anger, teeth grinding to the point that Yami swore he could hear them breaking, hands balled into fists, eyes narrowed dangerously, looking vicious enough to lash out and punch him. Yami merely looked at him and then hurried to grab some of the items on the table, ignoring him when he spat, "Don't do that, you idiot! You'll end up hurting yourself worse and then I'll end up having to take care of you!"

"I can handle a couple of groceries," Yami snapped, not sparing him a glance.

The brunet reached over and knocked the packets of electrolyte mixes and the grapefruit seed extract out of his hand, all of it sliding across the tabletop for a moment as he gave him a furious glare. "I said don't do that."

"You're overreacting." He paused as Seto seethed and started to open his mouth again. "Tell your brother he's being stupid."

The brunet stopped short and glanced past Yami, confused when he didn't immediately see Mokuba, about to snarl at him not to use his brother as an excuse to win an argument, when the smaller boy came from around the corner with a timid look.

"Um…"

"That's fine. Um works too," Yami teased, winking at him before turning back to gather some of the packets again, glowering when they were knocked from his hand again. "Son of a…"

"Not in front of Mokuba."

"Not in front of Mokuba," Yami agreed shortly, nodding and giving him a look that said he clearly wasn't finished but it was better to just put it behind him for the moment. He spun around on his younger cousin and instead murmured, "So, you want to go play video games? I guess since Seto wants to do all the work himself—as always—we should just go ahead and enjoy some time together, yeah?"

"Okay!" the eight-year-old said immediately, heading for the couch while the red-eyed teen smirked at the brunet with a condescending expression and then wandered off to join him.

A week of Yami's reluctance to answer his phone calls, text messages, emails and even the door, and Yugi finally got fed up. At first he started to say he hated him, just to get it out there and be able to get rid of some of his frustration, but the idea made his knees weak with a strange sickness that nearly forced him to tears with the pain it bred. And he was pretty sure that wasn't normal but he didn't want to question it and just settled for it being him having grown so attached, that saying he hated him when he loved him so much just hurt too much for him to do.

"Okay, what the fuck is wrong with your cousin, damn it?" Yugi snarled as soon as he was close enough, having used the back route to get to him, stopping in front of him on his way to class and immediately blocking him.

The silver-haired teen looked at him as if he had lost his mind, dark brown eyes narrowing into slits of frustration and disgust as if he wanted to smack him aside before his lips pulled up into a wide smirk, shaking his head even as he bared this teeth slightly. "You have some serious balls approaching me like that," he growled, stepping forward once.

"Just tell me what the hell is wrong with the moron. He doesn't answer the door, won't pick up the phone…He won't even fucking respond to emails. He doesn't text back. He doesn't call me. And I know for a fact that he's still alive because if he wasn't then you and Malik wouldn't be nearly as easygoing as you are right now," he snapped between his teeth, not the least bit intimidated by the taller teen as he raised an eyebrow. "Well? What's wrong with him?"

"How the fuck would I know?" he complained, rolling his eyes with a cruel expression that clearly said he wouldn't mind tearing him limb from limb some time. "Yami is fickle as all shit half the time."

"No, he's the most stubborn fucking bastard that's ever existed."

He opened his mouth to argue and then reconsidered, smirking and shrugging. "Yeah, that's true. Fucking stubborn ass little bastard, isn't he?" he muttered in a somewhat affectionate voice, though it held more amusement and an underlying threat than anything else.

"Yeah, so what the fuck is wrong with him?"

"Why the fuck are you talking to me about this?" he snapped. "I'm not his keeper."

Yugi smacked the papers out of his hand. "Those say otherwise, Bakura," he sneered angrily; Ryou had already told him that Bakura had wanted to skin him alive for what he was doing with his cousin, that he hated him and wanted him gone from Yami's life so it wasn't the least bit surprising to find that he was fighting even telling him how Yami was in the first place.

His lips curled back and a small snarling sound made Yugi brace himself for any kind of movement in case he lashed out, straightening his back and narrowing his eyes in direct challenge. Bakura was lethal, yes, but if he did anything to him and Yami actually found out—and he had a feeling that Yami would always fucking find out—the red-eyed boy would skin him alive before he could even blink.

"Well? Are you going to pick them up?" he sneered. "Maybe when you do you can also learn to read and see that it's your cousin's name on each one of those stupid sheets."

"If he wasn't so fucking attached to you," Bakura spat, immediately falling silent and shaking his head before grabbing the papers and smacking him across the face with them, glaring as Yugi blinked once and then glowered in response; it hadn't hurt, of course, but it had been a little out there in terms of retaliation. "Anyways, fuck off already. I'm not telling you shit."

"Telling him shit about what?" a new voice inquired and Yugi looked over, feeling Bakura's brown eyes still boring into his face, to see that Malik was approaching with a popsicle in his mouth. His tongue was stained blue when he licked at the icy treat to prevent leakage and the smaller teen stared at him for a moment, realizing belatedly why he had been a little relieved to hear his voice in the first place; he was his ally in this. If he really wanted information from Bakura then perhaps Malik could help him get it or the blond would give it to him anyways…

"Yami. The little fucker seems to think he has a right to know about him," Bakura snapped, the tension from their fight from long ago still clear in his voice as he glared pointedly at Yugi as if he realized that he knew exactly the amount of frustration that he had brought upon the entire family.

The blond gave him a small frown around his popsicle, studying him for a moment before shrugging slightly and going back to the frozen dessert, his nonchalance truly making him want to wring his neck and Bakura's. Malik was his ally, yes, but he wasn't about to start something more than he already had, and that left Yugi practically stranded.

"Doesn't he though?" Ryou asked softly, coming over to their sides as he blinked and studied him for a moment as well, turning his milk chocolate brown eyes towards the silver-haired teen who curled his lips and turned on him with a noise of complete disgust.

"What? Fuck no," Bakura spat viciously.

Malik snickered and bit off the last piece of the colored ice and chewed it thoughtfully before tossing the stick into the trashcan a few feet down the hall near the art classroom; Yugi watched him do a fist pump before turning to him with a bright grin. "Yami said he didn't want contact with him."

Ryou looked over at him with wide eyes wide, startled by the information, while Yugi took in the approach of the other sandy blond teen who appeared confused by the information. All Yugi could think about was when the fuck the four of them had started hanging out but the thing that came out of his mouth was a snarl of "Fuck you. He never said that."

Malik snickered and grinned widely. "He's feisty." Yugi smacked his wrist away angrily, expression furious, when he pinched his cheek and the blond started laughing harder. "No, not quite. But I mean, in less words, at least."

"What the fuck does that mean?"

"It means you should fuck off before I lose my temper," Bakura snarled.

"Fuck you," Yugi snarled back, shoving him backwards when the silver-haired teen stepped forward again; the other three went wide-eyed and Malik burst out laughing as he held his cousin back with his arm stretched out between them. "Now what the hell is wrong with him?"

"There is nothing wrong with him," the blond drawled, rolling his eyes but giving him a slightly sympathetic look that the smaller teen glowered at. "He's just being retarded right now but that's really nothing new anyways."

"So then why the fuck isn't he answering the door or the phone or texts or even emails?" he snarled, voice lifting into something akin a screech at the last word to make sure that none of them dismissed the question like Bakura looked as if he might do.

All four of them covered their ears and stared at him with shocked expressions, Yugi merely scowling before sniffing indignantly once and crossing his arms rather than getting louder like he was debating doing. "Well?" he spat as they all started to pull their hands away after a long minute, the four pairs of brown and purple eyes staring back at him with shock still evident in their expressions.

"You're a loud little fucker," Bakura commented, shaking his head before smirking widely. "I'm glad I at least called him before you two started fucking that day. I bet you're a real screamer, huh?"

Malik chortled and couldn't help but laugh out loud when Yugi's cheeks turned bright red at the comment; he'd almost screamed, he admitted that, but he was still hardly a screamer. Oh gods, how awkward was this?

"You have no shame."

Gods, how much weaker a response could he make?

"I do not," Bakura agreed with a devious smirk. "Life is much easier that way."

His blond cousin smirked in amusement, snorting softly.

"Okay, well at least tell me if Yami is okay," he pressed, annoyed.

"He says his side and shoulder hurt," Malik provided, seeming more than a little pointed in the comment, as if he were frustrated that Yugi was backing down so easily.

But then both cousins swapped looks and burst into laughter, the blond leaning against the silver-haired teen who doubled over with the worksheets pressed into his torso, tears leaking from both of their eyes; Yugi furrowed his brows and gave a bewildered glance towards Marik and Ryou who shook their heads slowly and shrugged in complete confusion.

"That's absolute bullshit," Bakura howled, wiping at his eyes.

"He's actually just avoiding you," Malik stated, shrugging with a slightly apologetic look around his laughter.

Yugi flinched and chewed his cheek. "A-any idea why?"

Both of them seemed to sober up suddenly, staring at him as if he had completely lost his mind before rolling their eyes in unison and shaking their heads, turning and starting out the building again.

"What the fuck?" Yugi called after them loudly, starting to follow immediately. "You two have to know!"

"We do," Bakura called back over his shoulder with a wide smirk. "Doesn't mean we have to tell you shit!"

Malik glanced over at him with a look that clearly said he should have tried harder, that he wasn't going to pick up the slack for him with that one, and Yugi wanted to snap at him but realized he had a point to be like that. He honestly should have tried a little harder, should have dug his heels in where Bakura was trying to push him away.

"God fucking—Fuck you, Bakura!"

"You're too small," the silver-haired teen laughed.

Yugi blushed furiously. "It's in my genes!" he muttered with a despaired undertone, chewing his cheek and glancing at Marik and Ryou who were watching him with sympathetic looks. "It's not my fault I'm short!"

Marik shook his head as he and Ryou started over to his side.

"He didn't mean height," the blond said simply.

Yugi took a moment and then covered his rapidly-reddening face. "Fuck my life."

"Consider it fucked," Ryou said politely.

The smaller teen glared at them both and then sighed loudly. "Ryou, you're actually at his house a lot, right? To check on him?"

"Yeah…sometimes."

"Are you going over today?"

"Yes."

Yugi rolled his eyes; did he have to spell this out for him? He glanced at the quizzical look and bit back a snarl of frustration; of course he did.

"Could you tell him I asked about him? Or could you tell me how he is tomorrow? I want to know if he's okay, because those two were pretty much a dead end."

"Oh—oh! Yes, sure. I can do that."

"Your shoulder is infected," Ryou commented, chewing on his lip as he kept his sleeve pushed up and continued examining it; he guessed Malik hadn't been completely lying when he had said that Yami was saying his shoulder hurt. Judging just by the look of it, he had to say that it probably hurt like a bitch.

"You don't say," Yami drawled dryly, flipping the page of his book and ignoring the way that the other teen paused for a moment and then sighed softly, shaking his head.

"How did you end up reopening it?"

The red-eyed teen narrowed his gaze and ignored him pointedly; he was not about to relive his nightmares.

"Yami?"

"None of your business."

Ryou sighed again. "Okay," he conceded easily. "But we should probably set it up for you to go back in later."

He didn't argue, instead flipping another page.

"You know…"

"Hmm?"

"Yugi asked about you today."

"That's nice."

"He—"

"Enough," he snapped viciously. "I do not wish to talk about this. I am tired. My shoulder hurts. My side stings. My head is throbbing. My throat is sore. My nose bled all night. My lungs have this really raspy quality that sounds like Darth Vader is trying to fucking speak to me through them whenever I breathe. I have not slept yet. I do not need to hear you talking about Yugi. I do not care. Set up the damn appointment if you want but do not attempt indulging a conversation with me. And never about Yugi. Do we understand each other?"

Ryou flinched but didn't scurry off like anyone else in close proximity would have in his place. "Okay," he sighed. "No conversation."

Yami let out a sharp huff and the other boy blinked in surprise, tilting his head as if in question, and it took him a moment to realize Ryou was listening to the raspy whistle that accompanied each breath he took.

He shifted away slightly, awkward and self-conscious. He hadn't realized it was so loud. He had figured he could hear it only because it was his lungs involved. But even then it was rather dull in volume; there was also the idea, however, that it was only so low because he had unconsciously begun blocking it out like he did whenever he got a cold.

Ryou didn't say anything. Not about his shoulder and not his breathing either.

Yami didn't know if that was because he had told him to shut the fuck up in such a nicer phrase or if it was because he had nothing to say in the first place.

And he wasn't sure to whether to be grateful or not…

"I think there might be fluid in his lungs," the albino announced thirty minutes later after they had gotten seated in the examination room, the brown-eyed teen going so far as to insist it was an emergency for whatever reason, something that made Yami glare at him the entire time they had been around each other. "And I don't think the antibiotics he was given are strong enough. His shoulder is infected pretty badly and he wouldn't let me see his side but if you look he's leaning a little to the left so I imagine it doesn't feel good and he mentioned earlier that it stung. That could be from pulling the stitches slightly or reopening this one as well. He said he has a headache. He said he can't sleep. I think there may be some internal bleeding because he coughed earlier and I didn't see it but he wiped his hand on his pants so…And I think it's esophagus rather than his lungs. Maybe his throat. But I don't really recall any soot…"

The doctor stared at him for a long minute and gave him a smile that he had to admit looked a little flirtatious. "I almost feel as if you're the doctor right about now," she teased, chuckling.

Yami bristled, finally turning his attention from the window where he had been counting a few red cars to them with a violent snap of his head. "I want a new one," he spat coldly, staring at Ryou with a furious expression.

"What?" both of them asked, eyes wide at the statement.

"I want a new one," he repeated through his teeth. "I want a new doctor."

She gawked at him as if he had just slapped her and Ryou looked too stunned to even respond, blinking wide brown eyes as he stared at the other boy who let out a low noise like an animalistic snarl.

"I—what?"

"'I almost feel as if you're the doctor right about now'," he sneered angrily, grabbing the edges of the table tightly enough that the edges bit into his fingers and left them stinging. "I want an actual doctor because if you're so easily awed then that means you're hardly worth the money you're paid. And, by the way, he's in high school, moron."

"Oh my god!" Ryou exclaimed, eyes stretched to owlish proportions and voice coming out in a slight croak. "Holy shit, Yami. I know you don't want to be here but—"

"You? You. Know. Nothing," Yami spat, spinning on the albino with a furious expression. "You know absolutely nothing, you little shit."

The other teen flinched but didn't argue, instead busying himself with his phone, glancing at him once through his lashes before going back to it immediately again.

"Don't you dare try sedating me!" he snarled, glaring at her angrily. "And get me a new doctor!"

"Yami—"

"It is within my rights to demand a change of doctors so bring me a new one, damn you."

"All right, all right! Just calm—"

"I will calm myself when you are out of my sight."

"Oh my god," Ryou breathed, chewing his lip in an effort to keep form laughing; it wasn't meant to be funny and he pretty sure he should have been attempting to calm him down some but his being there seemed to be a trigger within itself. He thought it was maybe because of his disregard when he mentioned Yugi but then again, maybe he was just mad and this was how he decided to show it. Ryou wouldn't have been surprised if he was targeting him purely because he could. As long as he wasn't actually attacking him or the doctor then he didn't really mind it.

Besides he had to be unhappy as it was. His shoulder and side had to hurt. And, if he was honest with himself, Ryou knew without thinking about it that something was off and he was truly miserable. His defensiveness when it came to his wounds or Yugi or really anything in general said that much though there was something else beneath the surface that he wanted to sink his fingers in but had no idea how to do so. He made a good show of hiding it all when it came down to it but it was impossible to really miss it when you were around him for longer than a few minutes.

"Jesus, Yami," a new voice muttered.

"Goddamn it," the red-eyed teen spat, looking ready to lunge at him. "You called him here?"

"It was either him or Seto," the albino stated, shifting awkwardly in his seat at the enraged expression. "Hey, be glad it isn't Yugi."

He lunged and his cousin caught him around the middle, laughing out loud and shaking his head. "Shit."

"Damn it, Bakura, let me go," Yami snarled, ignoring the pain in his side and shoulder.

"Hell no," he laughed. "Now calm down or I'll sic Seto on you."

He considered his chances for a moment, really wondering if he could handle having the brunet near him after that conversation they had shared before; anger prickled through his system like sharp barbs, hitting him hard enough that his blood heated dangerously and his senses flared with it for a split second.

Yami forced his muscles to relax some and then pulled Bakura's hands off him, pushing him away and fighting a wince at the sharp shot of pain in his side. "I'd rather have Malik at this point," he spat, shaking his head. "How the fuck did you even get here that fast? He just texted you."

"Actually, he texted me the moment you started being a little bitch," he snorted, looking him over for a moment. "Fuck you look like shit."

"Really? I thought I looked so fabulous that I could shit rainbows," he quipped sardonically.

Bakura smirked and raised a brow, eyes shining with pure amusement. "Cute. You think you're a unicorn."

"Bitch, I am fabulous enough to be one," he scoffed, turning his head and freezing as the new doctor came in, eyes widening drastically at the sight of silver-gray hair that made his head spin. "Oh fucking hell…"

Flashes of green and white and gray caught his attention for a moment but it faded back to that steel-like shade of color that made his heart skip and his stomach twist painfully in confusion. He was…

Atem…Atem had lied…

Atem had…

Why the fuck would he lie though?

Staring at the man and backing up a step with his eyes wide and his entire body tensed up, Yami couldn't figure out a reason for him to do so. Unless he had been really put off by the idea of him saying no to him in the Puzzle but then again, he had been talking about soul catchers before that—so, no, that couldn't be—

Ryou jumped to his feet, gawking as his eyes widened in pure shock and terror, and watched as the shorter teen backed up into the table hard enough to send it against the wall with a loud resonating noise. Yami reached out immediately, that reflexive instinct to grab something and try to catch himself, but the albinos both watched as he caught the paper in his hand and then tumbled to the floor backwards, head slamming into the metal. Bakura opened and closed his mouth as his cousin backed up further until he was completely pressed against the wall, eyes wide and the pupils dilated to the point that the red was a mere ringlet of color that made his stomach twist violently.

"Y-you can't be here. You aren't supposed to—I killed you," he rasped shakily, breathing harshly, loudly enough that everyone in the room could hear the sharp rattling wheezing quality that came with each inhale. "Y-you're dead. I stabbed you. Y-you can't…"

"What is he—?" the doctor demanded, voice coming out slightly sharp, alarmed and definitely hanging on to every word about the comment that he had stabbed him.

"He took all his meds at once," Ryou stated suddenly, slightly surprised to hear his voice in the air, eyes widening drastically for a second before he nodded at the doctor. "It gives him vivid dreams and hallucinations—nightmares, not dreams. Nightmares. He missed the dosage before I got to his house to check on him and I had him take them, thinking he would wait at least a few minutes between, but he took them all at once. I didn't realize he had done that—mixed them all together like that. The side effects when they're taken together are vivid nightmares and hallucinations. To the point that it's impossible for him to tell reality from the memory of his nightmares or just the hallucinations in general. He doesn't even know what the hell he's saying right now…"

Bakura shot him a confused look and then turned back to his cousin; he was really kind of hoping that Ryou was right because if Yami had actually killed someone, he thought he would be sick.

That rasping wheeze that hit the air made his ears hurt and he blinked as he looked down at the other boy. "Yami—"

"Puzzle…Puzzle…Where the fuck is my Puzzle?" the red-eyed teen hissed, tone a snarl but the words almost nothing more than a mere whisper. "I need…I need…Atem…He lied…I don't…Fuck…"

"Huh?"

Bakura turned on Ryou immediately, unsure of what to say to his cousin; wasn't the Puzzle somewhere in the room? He had honestly been hoping that the other boy would have it…

"Fuck. I convinced him to put the Puzzle down for a little while," he muttered, shaking his head. "I said I would grab it before we left but I guess I…"

"Aw, fucking…" He turned on the doctor immediately when he spotted the syringe out of the corner of his eye. "Give us a few minutes. Sedatives tend to make him sick. He'll vomit all over everyone if you aren't careful with that shit."

"I…" He debated it for a moment and then looked down at the boy hiding under the table, red eyes wide and so thin in color that it made him slightly queasy; he could still hear him muttering in that terrified voice even if he couldn't pick up the words, though he figured it was still about how he had killed him and he should have been dead. Some medication did make for horrifying results, dangerous nightmares and hallucinations and lapses of judgment, and so maybe it wasn't so far-fetched a statement.

Besides the white-haired boy looked a little familiar and he kind of figured that if he did then that was probably a good thing, in all actuality. After all, he was running the intern program with a few others and now that he really thought about it, he was pretty sure that was exactly where he had seen him, picking up a couple of flyers. If he was actually telling the truth, then taking enough of those pain and anxiety medications together or just more than prescribed in general, then it was honestly no surprise that this kind of thing would happen; maybe he would calm down enough to get a grasp on reality and he wouldn't have to worry anymore about what was going on. He would, after all, be around people he actually knew and trusted versus someone in a white coat trying to calm him down again when he got unhappy. "All right."

Bakura waited until he was completely out of the room and the door was shut to crouch down in front of his cousin, watching him tilt his head and stare at the door. "Ryou, call Seto and tell him to grab the Puzzle," he muttered, unsurprised to know that he was already doing so; he studied the other boy under the table. He wasn't sure what the hell had happened in that warehouse to make him so attached to the Puzzle because he normally only wore it when he got particularly stressed and since then Bakura rarely ever saw him without it. "Yami?"

"I killed him. I stabbed him through the heart and threw him straight into the flames," Yami whispered, looking at him slowly. "He shouldn't be here. Pegasus shouldn't be here. He's dead. I watched him die. I killed him. Atem…Atem told me I didn't fail so he…he can't be here."

"Yami…what the hell are you talking about?"

"He's…talking about having killed someone Pegasus or Atem…or something," Ryou muttered into the phone, glancing at the red-eyed teen and then Bakura and back with a few small steps away from them. "I don't know if it's from the drugs or not but he's freaking out and he wants the Puzzle."

"God fucking…All right, all right," Seto spat. "Where is it?"

"At his house…sitting on the table. I…I think. I forgot it and—" He paused at the dial tone. "How rude!"

"Hung up on you?" Bakura asked in a snickering tone though he was still completely focused on his cousin, watching him with dark coffee brown eyes as Yami stared at the door with small, split second glances between him and it.

"Yes…Bloody asshole."

The other albino snorted a laugh, shaking his head slightly. "Yami, hey, so Seto is going to bring the Puzzle in a few minutes okay?" he murmured, attempting at reassuring him only to watch those bright red eyes go from the door to his face and burn like heated lava before glittering like frozen chips of bloodied ice at the mention of their cousin's name.

"Seto?" Yami echoed in a soft snarl. "Seto is coming here?"

Bakura fought back a wince at the idea that this was most likely going to turn ugly. "He's bringing the Puzzle," he tried again, frowning.

"I don't want Seto here," he spat coldly.

"Yami—"

"I do not want him here. Call him back and tell him to go fuck himself."

"He's bringing the Puzzle, Yami," Ryou argued, frowning and barely resisting the urge to flinch and step back at the glare he received.

"He's putting his fucking hands on my Puzzle?"

"He's just bringing it here—"

"Are you two both deaf and stupid? How many times must I repeat myself? I don't care to have him here. I do not wish to see him. And if he is the one bringing my Puzzle, then I do not want it," he spat. "Do you understand?"

"Stop—"

"Bakura, shut. The. Fuck. Up."

His cousin looked ready to argue but seemed to fall silent at the last second, instead merely nodding once and turning away towards the door; the doctor was watching them through the window but seemed unnerved by Yami's frustration even if he didn't know the subject of it.

"Now call him back and tell him to go fuck himself."

"I would…but that seems rude," Ryou said with a shrug. "And I'm not one to be rude."

"You stupid fucking shit," Yami spat. "Fine, Bakura, you call him."

"Why can't you do it yourself?"

"Because that would defeat the purpose, you idiot."

"Well, tough titties, Yami because I am not in the mood to have a big family spat, thank you very much."

"Fucking bitch," he sniped.

Bakura rolled his eyes and glanced out the window on the door again, sighing softly and ignoring the quizzical expression on the doctor's face, waiting out the ten minutes it took for his brunet cousin to get there; the moment he stepped inside, Yami got up from where he was sitting on the examination table and snatched the Puzzle out of his hands without even the smallest of glances at him. He burst out laughing when Yami went straight to the sink and ran it under water, scrubbing it down with the towel in the bathroom and then putting it on only when he was sure he had gotten every inch of it.

"Really Yami?"

The red-eyed teen settled back on the exam table, ignoring him. "You can go ahead and call the doctor back in. But I want a new one."

"You have got to be kidding me," Seto spat, narrowing his eyes into slits. "This is absolute shit. You pulled me out of a massive business meeting and now you're fucking—"

"I did nothing of the sort. Bakura asked Ryou to call you. I told them to tell you to go fuck yourself," Yami stated calmly, looking straight ahead and ignoring the tallest teen in the room.

Ryou blinked but got up and wandered outside to talk to the doctor despite his curiosity; Bakura cast him a small glance but was immediately back to watching his cousins again, standing straight as Yami continued staring in front of him, Seto glaring at the red-eyed teen with a narrowed gaze and crossed arms.

"Too chicken shit to say it to me yourself?"

Yami's head tilted and Bakura watched a muscle jump in his jaw, growing insanely excited; if they started tearing into each other he was going to have the time of his life. Fights between the two of them were always fun to watch because punches were never pulled and shots almost always ended up below the belt.

"I'm not having this argument with you. It's not worth it," the red-eyed teen hissed; Bakura instantly deflated. "Now leave so I can get this checkup done."

"How about I stay here instead?"

The silver-haired teen perked up slightly. Maybe there was still a chance…

Yami's head snapped around to stare at the brunet, jaw clenched tightly enough that the muscles were deeply pronounced under his skin and his narrowed eyes blazed. For a moment he merely studied his cousin and then he turned away again just as fast, grinding his teeth. "Whatever."

Damn it, Bakura thought, fighting off a loud sigh; stupid Yami. He just had to be all about not letting Seto get under his skin.

"Oh, and he mentioned his nose bleeding last night," Ryou announced, walking back into the room with yet another doctor.

"Oh, be still my raging hormones," Bakura purred. "She is hot."

Seto and Yami both looked up with wide eyes, glancing at her and then the nurse that followed; the red-eyed teen admitted she was pretty but hot was definitely a stretch. The nurse was borderline hot but not enough to deserve the emphasis Bakura had put on it.

"I'm guessing you're studying to become a doctor," she laughed, starting towards Yami and tilting her head. "When they said you had recently been in a serious fire, I was expecting burn marks but you look relatively well."

"Relatively?" Yami scoffed. "You need your eyes checked. I look amazing."

She gave him an amused smile. "Yes, my mistake."

He nodded curtly, simply, turning away and kicking his feet because he was pretty sure there was nothing else he could do.

"All right. So we're going to take a look at that shoulder and your throat, listen to your heart and lungs and check that side of yours, okay?"

Yami narrowed his eyes slightly but nodded anyways; he might as well get this over with. There was no actual reason to prolong it and he was tired as it was. He didn't really see the point in giving himself a bigger headache than the one festering under his skull as it was.

"I'm going to be checking out your lungs and thorax first." She glanced at Ryou for a moment. "Do you know how to do this or…?"

"I know the basics but not really enough to do a full exam." He sat up, eager and grinning widely. "Can you demonstrate? I would love to see it—"

"Find a fucking practice dummy then," Yami spat. "I'm not some little toy."

"Yes, but you're someone who actually has been in a fire and I really need the experience, Yami," the albino pleaded, brown eyes wide and doe-like, making the other boy's lip curl back in annoyance. "Please. I really don't want to miss out on a procedure if I can study it hands on and up close!"

"You touch me and I'll flay you alive," he snapped, turning his glare on the doctor. "Fine, if you want to let him shadow you, then do so but if you so much as make me uncomfortable I'm going to bite your head off."

"Oh god, don't do it," Bakura said immediately, holding his hands out in a wild gesture. "He honestly might just figure out a way to bite through your neck if we aren't careful!"

Seto smacked him upside the back of the head. "Oh shut up. He may be being a little bitch today but he's not going to hurt anyone."

"Hmm…seems like you seem to think a little too highly of the situation right about now, Seto," the red-eyed teen cooed, voice dropping and growing dangerous as it formed his name. "Might want to step back and shut the fuck up."

"Wow, you all have to be family," the nurse muttered, rolling her eyes.

"All but me," Ryou stated, grinning slightly and eagerly moving closer to stand near the patient and doctor's side, eyes wide. "Don't worry, I'm a quick study."

"If you were you wouldn't be here, now would you?"

The other boy narrowed his eyes. "Hush. I can't hear her explaining if you're talking too."

"Simple-minded blowhard—"

"Fucking hell, Yami, shut up," Bakura muttered, rubbing his face vigorously with his hands. "Damn it. You're just fucking everywhere today."

"Ahem," the doctor cut in immediately, glancing between the three family members and frowning before turning back to the red-eyed teen and offering a small smile. "So, as with all examinations, you should start with inspection. In this case, we'll palpate, listen and discuss. We'll listen to one side and then the other for you to get the full experience, all right? When you do this yourself in the field or whatever, you can palpate both sides and listen at once but for now…"

Yami drowned her out for a moment and then looked at the clock, bristling and baring his teeth when she reached out towards his chest.

"Okay, good, you're paying attention again. I have to explain what I'm doing to you too, just so that you won't freak out or anything. We're going to check your breathing, rate of respiration, effort, things like that." She gave him a small smile. "You don't seem to be in any acute respiratory arrest, by the way. So, we'll start with palpating, checking for any…subcutaneous air trapping."

Yami narrowed his eyes into slits but didn't bother to respond, instead giving her a sharp look and ignoring the way that Ryou looked like an eager dog at her side, entire body tensed with excitement.

"Okay, so I'm going to use my hand to place it here, here and here," she directed, making small movements while Yami rolled his eyes and the brown-eyed boy nodded enthusiastically, obviously taking it all in even as the other grew more irritable. "And then we're going to have you say, 'Ninety-nine'—"

"What?"

"Checking for vibrations. They have to be apparent and symmetrical and it's really important to check for that when you're looking at the lungs and thorax," Ryou cut in, nodding immediately while his cousins glanced at him and Yami bared his teeth before sighing loudly. "Hey, look at it this way, Yami. If I can learn to do this, then we won't even have to leave the house to check your progress anymore, right?"

The red-eyed teen studied him for a long minute and then rolled his eyes.

"Ready?"

"No shit, Nancy Drew," Yami snapped.

She smiled slightly as if the comment amused her and touched just beneath his collarbone, the teen irritably muttering the word so that she could feel it in the parallel spot and then drifted downwards towards his nipples and then beneath on either side. Her amusement wasn't nearly as prominent anymore and Yami glowered at her as she studied him, maybe guessing that the shirt was blocking it or he was honestly having problems, but either way, he didn't ask because the answer held no true interest for him.

"Okay, Yami, I'm going to use the stethoscope now, so if you would lift your shirt for me…" She crossed her arms when he merely looked at her, hardly amused by the request, and both of them stared at each other before Seto finally got fed up and went to grab him; she blinked and the brunet went staggering backwards, holding his nose as Yami glared at him and shook his hand out.

"Fucker," the brunet spat, glaring at him over his hands.

"You're the idiot who can't take a hint," Yami snarled. "I don't want you near me. That certainly includes you touching me, you piece of shit. You do not touch me. You do not speak to me. And if you do so again, I'll make sure to break that nose of yours, got it?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, easy," Bakura stated, grabbing Seto by the arm and pulling him away when he appeared ready to lunge at him. "Calm down. He's got a point. You shouldn't have tried to force him to do that. I would have fucking punched you too."

"He's just being a little bitch about Yugi," the brunet spat.

"Oh fucking hell, that's what this fight is about?" the silver-haired albino snapped, rolling his eyes. "You have got to be kidding me! Seriously?"

"Yami, would you please lift up your shirt for me? I would still like to get this exam taken care of. Just take a deep breath when I touch you with the diaphragm of my stethoscope, okay?"

Yami looked at her for a moment, narrowing his eyes before finally lifting his shirt enough for her to get the message and weasel her hand under it, sliding the stethoscope against his chest and listening as he inhaled.

"You should pay attention to always compare one side to the other, Ryou, always trying to make sure that the placement is relatively the same on either," she explained, nodding slightly so that Yami rolled his eyes but continued his breathing as she moved the stethoscope around; he at least respected her effort to keep this a somewhat normal visit.

"Well, you still shouldn't have touched him," Bakura snapped. "I mean, honestly, what did you expect? Of course he punched you. And no shit he didn't hesitate. I mean, he's already pissed at you for this crap."

"Oh like you don't think he's wasting his time too."

"I never said I didn't."

Ryou turned his head and stared at the other albino just as Yami did the same and the doctor went about steering him to turn to the side to face the wall, instructing him to just continue breathing some while tapping at his back with her fingers. He wasn't really listening to the statements that she was making and the touch of her hand was odd against his skin, but the fact that she had said something about a resonating noise just before she had begun and the lack of sound meeting his ears said that his lungs were not nearly as full of air as they were of fluid and soot…

"All I'm saying is you were asking for it if you were stupid enough to try to force him into pulling his shirt up like that. I mean, how idiotic can you get?"

"He's being such a fucking baby about this brat," Seto spat, shaking his head and glaring over at the red-eyed teen who was occasionally turning around and staring at her as she continued talking to him, explaining what she was doing but for his benefit and not Ryou's now. "It's pathetic. They'll never last and he knows that!"

"Yeah, well…whatever," Bakura snapped in response. "It doesn't matter. His choice."

"He's a fucking idiot. Right about now I'm not even surprised that his dad ditched him."

"What?" Ryou snarled, jumping to his feet while the other albino stared at his cousin as if he were seeing doubles but looked almost as if he agreed with the statement; Yami looked over in confusion at his reaction and breathed in when she pressed the stethoscope against his skin, startling him only enough to blink. "You can't fucking say something like that, you bastard!"

"Are you fucking shitting me?" Seto snarled. "Who the hell are you talking to?"

"You!" he snapped angrily. "You bloody idiot! I can't even—and you! You're not even going to say anything about that?"

Bakura turned his head away and looked at the floor awkwardly. "I don't agree with what he said but it is—I mean…Yami should know better about this anyways!" he spat, turning on him angrily. "He should know that Yugi is no good for him in the first place and back off while he still has the fucking chance! It's all I've been telling him all week and—"

"You moron! You two are the stupidest bastards I have ever met!" he snarled. "I can't believe this. You're blaming Yami for being disowned—"

"Whoa, whoa, what? I never—"

"But Seto did and you didn't fucking argue, did you, Bakura?" he snapped. "So your silence makes you guilty! Do you even know how life works, you miserable pieces of shit? My god!"

"You're overreacting," Seto sneered. "Not that it's any of your business anyways."

"Are you kidding me? I was there at the stupid warehouse, you morons! I watched Yugi pull him out of there just like the rest of you did. And you still think I don't have a right to point out that you two are miserable little shits with your heads so far up your asses that you deserve to have some sense knocked into you? Are you fucking kidding me?" Ryou all but yelled, the nurse and doctor both swapping looks and then glancing at Yami who seemed a little too shocked to really react at the moment. "You're seriously going to lower yourselves to his father's level just because you don't agree about him liking Yugi? Are you shitting me?"

"Who said anything about—?" Bakura cut in, shaking his head firmly.

"You did, just now! Seto said that he could understand why his dad would ditch him like this over some kind of affection he shows towards someone who probably means more to him than both of you combined!"

Yami blinked and bit back some laughter, shocked but mostly growing amused and spiteful; Ryou was defending him. Ryou, the boy he had just spent almost twenty minutes snapping at because he was pissed off, was defending him. Against his cousins. He was half wondering what dimension he had just stepped into; part of him kind of thought that this was a mental illness, the Puzzle slowly mutating his mind, festering inside of him and pulling at his weak links and throwing out a random situation to keep him entertained while he drowned out the doctor's instructions…

"You're blowing this out of proportion," Seto snapped. "No one said that they were going to—"

"You really think that that comment doesn't mean that you're a piece of shit who actually agrees with his dad?"

"I never said—"

"Are you bloody fucking kidding me? You just did! You said it not five minutes ago! You agreed with his decision the second you said that!" Ryou cried in annoyance. "You fucking did and now you're being too much of a bitch to admit it! You have got to be fucking kidding me right now!"

"You're taking it out of context."

"No, you fucking moron. That is not taken out of context. You said it in a way that can't be taken out of context, you stupid piece of shit! You're just as bad as his father, you slimy bastard."

"Oh my god," Bakura muttered, opening and closing his mouth with wide eyes when Seto stepped forward, glaring at the other boy; he moved to the space between them, arms stretched out to keep them apart. "Ryou—"

"Shut up, you fucking moron. You're just as bad as he is. Both of you are pretty much his dad just with different faces!"

"No, listen for—"

"No, you know what? You're worse than his dad. Because at least his dad was straight about it, told him that if he really was gay he would disown him. You, on the other hand, just fucking pretend to support him but try to force your opinions on him and are trying to break them up. What the fuck does Yugi have to do exactly for you to get the point that he loves your cousin? I mean, the warehouse wasn't enough for you?" he spat, gesturing to Yami. "He. Would. Not. Be. Here. If. Not. For. Yugi. Do you even understand that? He wouldn't be here because the rest of us were too fucking chicken shit to go in there after him and Yugi did it. He didn't even fucking hesitate when it came down to it."

"Oh please, he just did it to make Yami feel indebted to him," the brunet snarled, cutting in before the other boy could say anymore. "We all know he didn't go in there to save him because he 'loves him'. He's a slut and he's always been a slut, damn it."

"Oh my god, were you around the same Yugi Motou that I was?" he asked, looking completely confused. "Jesus, you two are the most pathetic inbred mongrels I've ever met."

"Ooh, that sounded super British," Yami commented, blinking when he realized he had spoken out loud; oh well, none of them were paying attention to him…well, aside from the doctor and nurse, but that was more them seeing if he was going to leap into the conversation.

"You know what, if Yami cut you out of his life completely, it wouldn't be good enough a punishment. No, you would deserve nothing less if he cut you out so completely that he never even fucking spoke to you again. I know if I were in his shoes, I would do that exactly. You two obviously don't really deserve him as your cousin if you're fucking making comments about agreeing with his dad."

"Are you going to get off your fucking high horse at any point today?" Seto snapped, rolling his eyes in annoyance. "Yami knows that we didn't even mean it like—"

"We?" Bakura snarled, shaking his head immediately. "I never said—"

"But you didn't argue either, did you, Bakura?" the brunet sneered, drawing him down with him, something that the brown-eyed teen gawked at for a split second before turning immediately to the younger boy. "Like Ryou said, you didn't argue and not arguing is apparently the same as agreeing wholeheartedly with things. Isn't that right?"

"Oh please, don't blame Ryou for having your foot in your mouth," Yami murmured, getting off the examination table. "You're the one who said it. You're just mad that you got caught. And now you're trying to take Bakura down with you because you can't stand to drown alone, right, Seto?"

"At least I don't need someone else to fight my battles."

"I didn't ask him to do that. He came to my defense. That's something that isn't very common for you, right? Because you're enough of a miserable piece of shit that no one wants to do that for you but Mokuba and he only does that because you're his big brother and he looks up to you." Yami cut Ryou a dark look but then turned on Bakura. "But you know, both of them are right. It does seem almost like agreement when you don't argue something like that."

"Yami—"

"And you"—Ryou stepped back, eyes wide in shock as he spun on him and caught him by the shirt, jerking him forward slightly—"I do not need you running to my defense. I am perfectly capable of defending myself from my two boneless bastard cousins. You should mind your own fucking business and get your nose out of mine."

"Hey, leave him alone! He was just—"

Yami released him after a moment when he realized that the other teen was startled but didn't think he would hurt him; lucky guess because he really didn't think he had the energy to do it at the moment. Besides, there was no regret in his eyes like he had expected and it was starting to shake his core…

"I don't think that he wants you playing his protector, Bakura," he snapped. "Not a pathetic inbred mongrel, right?"

His brown-eyed cousin bared his teeth, starting to snarl under his breath as Yami smirked and turned on Seto. "We already had our little spat before. Why you can't get over the fact that I don't care for your opinion on every little aspect of my life, I don't understand, but you should learn to move past it. I don't really give a fuck about your opinion. Especially not where it concerns Yugi. And that goes double for you, Bakura."

"You're making a mistake," Bakura snapped. "He isn't—"

"What did I just say? I don't care about your opinion. Do not care. Not at all. Bored with it. Tired of it. Not in the mood to listen to it anymore. Thank you, very much. Now please back off, would you?"

Ryou watched him go out the door and then glanced at them with a disdainful expression, racing after him and finding himself not at all surprised that he didn't look back at him as he murmured, "What the fuck are you doing, Ryou? Get the hell out of here. I don't want you around me—"

"Yami, I just want to know if you're okay."

"Knowing that about Seto and Bakura?" he scoffed, not bothering to look back at him. "I already knew that. It's not everyday that they agree almost one hundred percent but I kind of figured they would on this one."

"No, I mean overall, Yami."

He spun around suddenly to stare at him, blinking and then narrowing his eyes into slits very slowly, clenching his jaw. "What? What the fuck are you even talking about?"

"I know that you feel bad about what's going on with Yugi—I just wanted to make sure you were okay," he said immediately, stopping in place and chewing his cheek for a long minute. "You know…I just…"

"I am fine," he snapped, turning on his heel and walking immediately again.

Yami thought maybe he was supposed to pause, hesitate, feel uncomfortable with the task of walking inside but he didn't once have the impulse to do so. Instead he wandered through the door, at first not even looking at it before turning his attention to the handle. He'd seen the burn that Yugi had gotten when he had grabbed it, the melted flesh turned bright red, the heavy blister that covered nearly the entirety of his hand before he'd popped it for the third or possibly fourth time.

Yami reached out and stroked his fingertips over the metal for a moment, almost hoping that he would experience the same pain with the contact but only coming up with the startling chill of winter air and emptiness; he pulled his hand away and walked inside. The beams had fallen, the cranes were black and all but broken in appearance. The walls were stained with soot and glass covered the ground but when he really looked at it all, he found spots of black almost like gentle ripples of water, permanently etched into the concrete and announcing the presence of the flames.

"Did I kill Kemo?" he finally muttered, disgusted by the collapsed equipment, the way that some of it had actually melted or taken such a beating form the flames that its shape had become mutated. His eyes flickered around slowly, taking in the melted stairs and the fallen walkway, the way the barrels had all curled and seemed to have folded in on themselves.

"You know you did," Atem stated calmly at his side, manifesting and walking a few steps ahead of him. "If you had not, the Puzzle truly would have killed you. You wouldn't have woken up in the first place, Yami."

"And that had nothing to with Yugi?" he demanded suspiciously, shooting the spirit a sharp sideways glance.

"No. He got there after Kemo had fallen."

Yami nodded slightly, wondering for a split second if the phrasing was to be taken literal as in him falling off that beam and hitting the floor or if he meant just him dying in general, and then wandered forward a few steps so that his eyes fell on the scraps of metal and the beams.

"…I'm running straight into a fire that was too hot, too bright, and too strong…"

Yami tilted his head, staring at the remains as Yugi's words passed through his thoughts; the Puzzle must have done this.

"It's not here," Atem whispered suddenly, head snapping around to face him with wide eyes that shimmered with alarm. "Someone must have taken it…"

"I don't understand what you mean," he admitted softly, shaking his head. "What isn't here? What is it that we're looking for?"

"The Eye. The Eye is not here," he breathed, his gaze growing wild and sharp.

"I don't know what that means," the red-eyed teen stressed, confused as he took in his ancestor's frantic state, the way that the pharaoh's hands tightened into fists for a split second before he turned away again immediately.

"The Millennium Eye, Yami."

His skin made a jerking movement over his muscles, twitching and almost burning for a split second as his organs started a strange nervous dance inside of him; his eyes shot around the room again before settling on the debris in front of him.

"Pegasus had the Millennium Eye?"

"Yes," Atem sighed softly, making a movement that Yami thought was his jaw clenching and unclenching as he shook his head slightly. "He had the Eye…"

Yami supposed that made sense now that he truly considered it. It certainly explained how he had been planning that ritual to bleed him and gain himself luxuries. It also served to explain the reason Yami had been unable to use the Puzzle on him, why Arkana was free of its influence before he had pushed at his mind until the barrier had shattered so fully.

"So the Items don't work on each other."

"In theory they cannot unless one holding an Item opposes another in a game or battle," Atem stated cautiously, as if he were afraid of even telling him this much. "The loser would then be able to be subjected to the winner's Item."

Yami crouched down and stared at a stain of deep red, the way that it had been dragged and smeared in two parallel lines that were awkwardly placed in width apart, following the line of color to another massive splotch and then small droplets…

"I almost forgot how important games were to Egyptians," he commented softly, trying to picture Yugi pulling him through the flames and feeling his heart ache. He stared at the path of blood, saw the way that the stains that marked where the flames had been seemed slightly lessened, almost as if they had moved away to give them passage. "You never…tested that theory?"

"No. I never saw the need," the spirit admitted, sounding unsure and guilty now, probably blaming himself now for the disappearance of the Item. "Not many would…openly oppose their pharaoh…"

The red-eyed teen unconsciously reached up to cup the ancient pendant, holding it and hating the chill that greeted the action, the way it seemed to travel through every cell of his body and dig its way into his bones, festering there and feeling as if it were crystallizing the marrow. "Why did I survive and not Pegasus? Surely the Puzzle is not the only Item to protect the one wearing it…" he muttered quietly, not truly considering the words leaving his mouth. "How do we know he didn't just survive?"

"He didn't. He couldn't," Atem said simply, casting a look around. "You did the ritual right. You stabbed him through the heart with that knife he planned to use on you. And besides that, he gave up the moment you threatened his life. He lost and you won. He was vulnerable to the Puzzle as well as the sacrifice. There is no question as to whether he died or not."

"So then why have I waited so long to try to retrieve it? Why not take it before I threw him over the railing?" he murmured, shooting Atem a frustrated look. "Why didn't you tell me to?"

"Because he was not dead yet and doing so would have been your suicide," the pharaoh stated softly, a small pleading look for his understanding crossing his eyes for a moment. "You may have won but if he was not dead before you attempted to take it, it could damn well have killed you."

"Is that why when people try to take the Puzzle it burns them?"

"Yes. And in such a state in which the Item's host is dying they are most volatile. That is why when you are hurting the Puzzle does more. Like at that…camp. When the boy tried to steal it in your sleep. You were tired and still bruised from your father's punishments before arriving there. The Puzzle blinded the counselors, burned them…gave that boy such vicious nightmares…"

Yami nodded and rubbed at his temples, feeling almost tired with trying to keep up with it all. "This is complicated."

"Magic is complicated."

He ignored him in favor of sifting through some of the melted rubble, moving onto his knees and coughing at the dusty black cloud that came up with each movement.

"Get up," Atem hissed, grabbing his arm tightly and tugging once hard enough to grab his attention; his touch was cold and made his skin crawl but it was there, heavy and forceful, physical and completely impossible to ignore.

"How…?" Yami managed, staring at his arm and dragging his eyes towards the other boy's in disbelief.

"You're connected to the Puzzle, I am connected to the Puzzle. It's actually more of your mind being manipulated but either way, get up."

"…I wanted to—" His lungs twitched and strained, the cough jumping out of his mouth before he could stop himself, pain making its way through his system before he could think straight; for a moment he honestly swore his organs all shifted beneath his skin and shook as he made a vain attempt to stop the fit racking his body.

"It's not here. It is not under the rubble," Atem said softly, voice taking on a gentle note. "Now you should go home and rest. This entire place is covered in soot and you will only end up hurting yourself if you stay here."

"But…" Yami rasped around his hands, prepared to argue until he cast a small glance at the metal again; there was a low yet keen noise that met his ears with every breath and he could feel his throat slowly but surely beginning to close somewhat, strained to the point that he wouldn't have been surprised if blood welled into his mouth at this rate.

"No arguments," the pharaoh said quietly. "It's not here, Yami. If it was, you would sense it."

The teen supposed that was true.

He waited a moment before drawing himself to his feet, keeping his mouth and nose covered and swallowing thickly; his throat seemed to scream in pain for the duration of the action, burning as he stretched the muscles. His energy was back but he still had to pay attention to the soot in his lungs and throat and the way that his wounds strained constantly despite the antibiotics and consistent cleanings.

Yami ignored the impulse to attempt clearing his throat and turned on his heel, wandering out with Atem following a few steps behind.

All right, you fucking bastard, you're going to open this door, Yugi thought determinedly, rolling up his sleeves dramatically and pounding at the door hard. He froze at the sound of movement, the way that he could hear Yami's sneakers softly touching the tile and moving towards the door. A flare of pure excitement and happiness shot through him and for a split second it felt doubled, tripled, and then seemed to fall back to being completely his again, alone and a little smaller than it had originally been.

Yami wasn't going to open the door.

"Yami, please."

For a second he thought he could hear his palm touching the brass of knob, the taller teen possibly twisting but most likely locking it. Yugi trembled for a moment and then shook his head, banging a second time.

"Just talk to me," he pleaded, swapping his right hand for his left when a sharp jolt of pain spiked through him; he was pretty sure it wasn't his knuckles but for the hell of staying rational, he was pretending it was.

Yugi leaned against the door, pressing his ear to it and knocking once more; he could feel him and he was pretty sure he could hear him now too. He didn't know if it was conscious or not but Yami pressed his weight against the door and the smaller teen shivered at the sound of the wood being pushed and the small rasping noise that came with it.

"Come on, talk to me, Yami," he muttered softly, chewing his cheek and trying not to scream in frustration at the fact that he was well aware Yami was right there, in his reach if he could only get the door open. Yugi lowered his eyes to the knob and grabbed it before he could really think it through, twisting and pressing his weight into it; the other teen snorted in surprise but sounded as if he was trying not to laugh as he braced himself in response.

"Oof," the smaller boy grunted, ramming his shoulder into the wood and hissing in pain; damn, Yami must have gotten some of his strength back because this was insane. "Shit, okay, just say something and I'll leave, okay?"

He opened his mouth and then shut it again; he didn't want him to leave. But he didn't want to talk either and seeing him would hurt just as bad as him just not trying. He swore Yugi was going to burst through at any minute if he wasn't careful…and he wasn't even sure he didn't want that to happen.

Yami narrowed his eyes for a moment; if he let him in, he would want to talk and he couldn't do that right then. Hell, he didn't want to have anyone around for the time being. Yugi was half-included although impulse made him want to run straight to him. But it was better not to tempt something like the Puzzle with inconsistencies, as Atem had told him so many times it was not even funny.

He braced himself for a moment, keeping himself still and waiting; Yugi lessened the pressure some, almost as if concerned, and Yami slammed the door shut harshly, earning an unceremonious curse of frustration as he flipped the lock.

"You fucking bastard," Yugi breathed, pounding on the door harder than he had before. "Damn it, Yami, just open the door or speak to me or do something! I just wanted to know if you were okay!"

Yami chewed his cheek and hung his head; no, he wasn't okay…

Three hours passed with Yugi spitting curses in between hitting the door and panting for breath and just generally sounding broken and weak. Yami kept his head bowed, swallowing against the lump in his throat and the tears that threatened to gather in his eyes.

"Please?" Yugi whimpered weakly, leaning against the wood and breathing hard with a loud sighing noise that made Yami tilt his head towards him in acknowledgment.

"Please…?"

He was half wondering if Yami had wandered off at some point, but the pain was raw and flesh and it was doubling, tripling, flaring and biting to break at places he didn't know existed inside of him and it was just enough to say that Yami was right there with him. He just didn't know why he wasn't answering…

"…P-please…?" he begged, voice cracking as he finally gave in to the urge to curl up with his knees against his chest, wrapping his arms around his legs and sobbing into the denim of his jeans.

His heart had just crumbled and fallen to dust, a beautiful powdered sugar dyed a brilliantly striking red. Yugi shivered; his insides twisted bitterly, full of pain and an ache that would never die because at least it let him know he was still alive when he was starting to wish he was dead…

Yugi was pretty sure he was ill—physically, mentally, emotionally, psychologically ill. It was everywhere and it tainted everything. It was beneath his skin and it weighed him down like lead, his entire body almost too heavy to move. His skin was clammy all the time and his stomach wouldn't stop twisting. His heart hurt, feeling as if someone had stabbed him straight through with poison, and his lungs were beginning to feel as if they had been scooped out and holes had been poked through them before being put back.

Half the time he couldn't even find the strength to raise his eyes from the floor…

"It's a painful compromise," Atem had said softly, frowning at him thoughtfully as if he hoped for the best and knew it wouldn't happen. "You get the love and affection, never wavering and never broken, but it comes with such strings that it almost doesn't seem fair. So much guaranteed pain and so many sacrifices forced on you…"

Yami shook the scattered memory off, glancing at his shoulder and not bothering to change it yet; he would do that in an hour, when he could actually stomach the idea of the pus and blood and overall infection that would greet him.

He got to his feet and then froze, stiffening and narrowing his eyes as his senses grew alarmed and his body throbbed with pain and apprehension. The Puzzle flashed like fire against his stomach before freezing like a block of ice before repeating twice.

Someone was in the house.

Yami looked towards the mirror for a moment and debated breaking it to take a shard but then remembered the pocketknife he already had in his nightstand, digging through and grabbing it. He didn't think it was someone dangerous now that he was in the hallway and could smell pizza; probably one of his cousins since he had thrown them all out the day that Yugi had visited, going off and all but threatening to carve their bodies hollow when he couldn't stand to have them near him.

A whole two weeks and he had not seen any of them; it had been the most ill-received blessing he had ever experienced, a curse that left him shaken and broken for days before he had managed to draw some kind of strained strength to move around again. His mind had never stopped and because of that, things had merely fractured further in his miserable state…

Yami narrowed his eyes into slits as soon as he spotted him in the kitchen. "You are attempting to bribe me into a show of affection with a pizza," he deadpanned softly, his voice deceptively amused.

"Yes. And if you refuse you will get none of it," Seto stated smugly.

The red eyes widened for a split second, eyeing the box for a moment before looking at the brunet. "Okay, let me really think this over," he murmured, blinking a couple of times and tilting his head. "Forgive you for your little opinions about how pathetic I am to love him, how much trouble I've caused, how you sincerely wish I did not exist and that you agree with my father about disowning me…over a box of pizza. Yeah…Get the fuck out of my house."

"Yami, you know I didn't—"

"Get out."

Seto shoved the pizza onto the table without a glance. "Goddamnn it, Yami. Get. Over. It. I was pissed. I said it but I didn't mean it. We all say things we don't mean when we're mad."

"No, Seto, see that's where you're wrong." He glanced at the pizza dismissively and met his cousin's frustrated expression with a deadly calm look. "Here's the thing. When you're actually mad is when the truth generally slips out. I always knew there was something about the way you picked at me that was completely off. See, I've come to a few realizations recently. And one of them includes something about us. And it's this. I am your favorite because you see a lot more of you in me than you do Malik and Bakura. It's the thing you like about me but you hate it more than anything else as well. I was always wondering when you would snap and you finally did last month. I can't say I'm surprised either."

"God—"

"Yugi was always going to be that breaking point between us," Yami continued without a pause, failing to alter the volume of his voice. "I recognized that the moment I mentioned it at the hospital though it was subtle enough that I didn't feel the need to fight you on it. All throughout the time that Arkana and Pegasus threatened me, you were enticed by the challenge of outsmarting them so you didn't really care to try to force your opinion down my throat more than that day out on the porch."

"That—"

"But we both knew that wouldn't last forever and I've always been waiting, wondering when it would finally happen," he commented casually, pausing and looking the brunet over for a moment. "And here's the other thing, Seto. I stopped before I could say my piece, not to spare your feelings but to do so with Mokuba's. Rest assured that I don't hate you but if you talk down at me again or draw Yugi into this like that, I'll gladly cut you out like you said before. I won't threaten you past that because I already punched you and I don't really feel the need to go further because I still care but honestly, when it comes down to it, you make me choose and it's going to be Yugi. It's not a question and you're foolish to think it is."

"Yami—" he hissed from between his teeth, glaring slightly.

"Oh, no, no, no, Seto, you misunderstand. This isn't going to turn into a conversation. I am tired and will not indulge you in one so that you can attempt to convince me that you didn't mean what you said. That is not going to happen right now. What will happen is you are going to take that disgusting pizza and get the fuck out of my house. That is what will happen now, understood?"

The brunet let out a deep huff and nodded curtly. "Very well."

Yami watched him snatch the box but didn't bother to see him go.

He was kind of curious about how the hell Seto had gotten inside in the first place but that was a no-brainer after he remembered he had forgotten to lock it earlier after he had gone to make sure that Yugi hadn't gotten hurt or done anything stupid. The good thing was, that as expected, Yugi had been in the shop talking to his grandpa—though he did look furious or miserable each time he had seen him—or a customer.

He shook the idea off and went about opening the door at the knock that sounded, knowing instinctively that it wasn't Yugi simply because that feeling of being whole or warm inside didn't come with his approaching it. The moment he opened it enough, the blond walked straight in, past him with a long hum before asking, "So, what's up?"

"Nothing," he murmured a little coldly, surprised by his own tone as he walked past him and further into the house. "What are you doing here, Malik?"

"Checking up on you. I just got off the phone with our dear cousin Seto and—"

"Are you going to lecture me too?" Yami snarled, spinning on him with such fierce eyes that he stepped back in surprise. "Are you going to do the same as them and shove your opinion down my throat and hope I fucking choke on it?"

Malik blinked and scowled at him, rolling his eyes at his bristling cousin and wandering around him into the living room. "No. Why the fuck would I do that?"

"Because that's all Bakura and Seto have been doing. It's not a common thing when the three of you aren't in agreement about a 'problem'," Yami spat.

"It's not my business to tell you what the hell to do," the blond snorted, rolling his eyes again and heading for the living room. "It's my business that you take your meds, that you do some breathing exercises and don't die on me, but past that it's your choice what you do."

The red-eyed teen stayed quiet for a moment and then looked down at the floor, breath coming out in a wheeze now that some of the adrenaline that had coursed through his veins with the thought of confrontation was subsiding easily. "Seto hates me. Bakura is so mad about me taking Yugi's side over it all that he won't even look me in the eye," he commented, voice taking on a bitter but somewhat laughing tone.

"Hates you?" Malik echoed, turning around and studying him as he nodded and laughed slightly, raising his head to look at him. "What do you mean he hates you?"

"I mean that he told me that I'm a pathetic worthless little shit that he hates being related to," Yami stated. "And then he spat that he hates me. Because I am only trouble and I'm ruining him."

"Seto's a melodramatic pussy," the blond snorted, rolling his eyes. "He always has been, he always will be. You know that, I know that, hell even fucking Mokuba knows that."

"You don't understand, Malik. I've been waiting for him to say that."

The taller boy froze and tilted his head slightly, blinking before narrowing his eyes. "Waiting for him to say that?"

"Yes. I've been waiting two years for him to finally say it. He's always hated me, don't you get that? Or are you as blind as Bakura?"

"I don't like to get involved with family spats," Malik stated, shaking his head. "I don't believe he hates you. Why would he? You just pissed him off."

"No, Malik," Yami sighed, reaching up and rubbing at his temples for a moment with a hiss of pain. "No, you don't understand. He's always hated me and I've always known it. I've been waiting, hoping for him to say it because that would make things so much easier. At least then he would admit it and then I could just ignore it some more."

"So? What's different? You can't ignore it now? You got what you wanted. Why aren't you happy with it?"

"That's where you're wrong. See, I am happy with it. But that's the problem."

"What?" Malik rolled his eyes and shook his head. "God, you fuckers are all complicated. Why you can't just be simple is beyond me."

Yami spared him a small laugh. "The problem is that Seto hates me for the same reason that I can even stand him," he commented, frowning now and tilting his head. "We…we share traits between us, and that makes us see each other in the other. He seems himself in me and I see myself in him. And I'm so happy that he finally came out with it and said he hates me because half the time I think I hate him so much I can't stand him…and that's it. That's the biggest problem I think I have."

The blond stared at him and then sighed, shaking his head and looking away to bite his lip. "You hate yourself. Is that what you're telling me?"

"Yes!" Yami agreed immediately, nodding and laughing harshly. "I fucking hate myself. I hate a part of me. I can't…I don't know how to fix that. I don't know if it's worth trying to fix!"

Malik took in the white paint of the wall and tried to think of something to say, coming up short and shaking his head slightly, as if trying to make Yami speak some more to fill in the space between them. He couldn't really grasp what Yami was saying at the moment. It felt fragmented and awkward and the statement just made his ears ring.

His cousin turned away from him and he could hear his soft footfalls starting towards him, veering off at the last second to step around him, the red-eyed teen wandering into the kitchen to grab a pot and fill it with water.

"What…what part of you is it that you hate? I mean, what's the…?" he finally asked, clearing his throat awkwardly as he wandered into the kitchen and leaned against the counter adjacent to him, watching him as he tested the water with his fingers and dumped the pot out. Vaguely he remembered Ryou saying that he needed to use peppers and garlic in boiling water, make Yami breathe in the steam because it would help lessen some of the pressure in his airways, but it seemed so strange at the moment with the conversation they were having that he almost took it as offensive to even have that thought floating around in his head.

"I think it's multiple things, actually," Yami stated, testing the water again. "I think I hate multiple aspects of myself…but Seto is practically the manifestation of the most prominent."

"Jesus…"

"You know the things that Seto and I share between us. Pride, the inability to back down from a challenge no matter how stupid…" He paused. "But if I really look, I think I hate the part where I'm too smart for my own good. I hate my intelligence. I hate my silence. I hate my introverted nature. And that…isn't that like hating your core being? If you hate your nature, your personality? Isn't that exactly just like hating yourself fully?"

Malik chewed his cheek. "I guess so," he muttered. "But there has to be something that you like about yourself, right? I mean, otherwise…"

"I'm too much of a coward for that," he laughed. "I couldn't kill myself because I'm not brave enough to bring a knife into my skin. I'm not brave enough to leap underwater and sink to the bottom. I don't have that strength. I have the strength to survive but I don't have the strength to die by my own hand."

He shuddered and shook his head, looking down and glancing over the powders in front of him; chili, garlic, black pepper, red pepper, cinnamon. He grinned at the last one; he loved cinnamon…

Yami glanced at him for a moment, studying what he was looking at, and a small grin appeared on his face as he turned away again and ran his fingers under the water; the heat lashed out at him and he jerked his fingers away, baring his teeth for a moment before smacking the faucet with the heel of his palm. The pain that laced through his nerves for that split second of contact made him hiss but he ignored it again immediately.

"See, that's something else I've realized, Malik." He leaned against the edge of the sink, leaning against the cold metal and welcoming the relief it brought to his stinging skin. "I don't think there is a part of me that I actually like. There's one…one tiny little thing but I don't understand it and it troubles me."

"What?" he asked immediately, looking up and propping his elbow on the counter, looking at the pot and then his cousin who was staring at it as it swirled inside the metal container.

"I can't figure out why Yugi loves me," he stated suddenly, pulling away from the sink and rocking back and forth on his feet for a second before turning to him. "I, um…my shoulder…"

"Yeah, I got it. Just tell me when it's full." Malik had already known before Ryou or Bakura said anything that Yami wasn't entirely up to par. He was still constantly tired and fatigued and sometimes he pushed too hard and he was pretty sure he'd reopened his side too but he wasn't one hundred percent so he hadn't asked. He didn't want the others leaping down Yami's throat about something else…

Yami nodded and looked at the pot again. "Thank you."

"You're my cousin. You don't have to thank me for stupid shit."

He grinned and nodded slightly. "Either way."

The blond waved dismissively. "So, what the hell does Yugi loving you have to do with anything?" he asked. "Please tell me it isn't the homosexual thing."

Yami shook his head. "I think that might be a small bit of something that I'm relatively okay with. I don't hate myself for that. Or at least, I don't think I do anyways…" He paused and gave Malik a miserable look. "The thing is, I don't understand what Yugi sees in me to make him love me. I hate myself and he insists there's something worth giving a shit about. He almost died for me when he came into the damn warehouse and I have no fucking idea what made him do it."

He flinched and fought his impulse to recoil and look away, instead chewing his cheek and trying to figure out something to say. There had to be something he could say to help him, right? Or maybe not help or even feel better, but just enough to reassure him that he was still okay…

He searched for a minute, staring and watching the way that Yami's eyes pleaded with him to say something, anything really, but nothing came to mind and he finally turned away, attention shooting to the cinnamon on the counter again. For a moment the red gaze was still burning into his skin and then it was slowly dragged away and he could hear the knob being turned.

"I'm sure there has to be something that would make him love you that much, right?" he muttered, unsure of what else to say and moving to grab the pot, not at all oblivious to the way that Yami stepped back a few feet and didn't look up at him as he moved past him and turned on the stove. Malik cringed when he realized the statement he had just made, mouth falling open as he turned his head and stared at his cousin; fucking hell… "I—fuck, I mean—god…"

"No, no, I get it. We aren't exactly the closest cousins in the world," Yami stated, shaking his head but not looking up, eyes instead wandering to the fridge in front of him. "It's not a surprise. I knew that about us. Don't apologize for it. I swear I'll punch you if you do."

Malik opened his mouth to argue but immediately stopped himself again, shaking his head because he didn't know what else to do. It wasn't right and the statement was completely wrong, but he couldn't find a way to fix it…

"See, that's the thing though. I'm kind of glad you said that because I can't figure out anything. I try and I try and I've spent two whole days just trying to puzzle it out, find a single speck of something good to grasp at and hold and like about myself and there is nothing. I have nothing to show for my efforts. I have nothing to see and hold and make myself feel better."

He shook his head and looked away. "Yami, I don't understand where this suddenly came from," he admitted, shaking his head again and refusing to look at him. "You've never been like this before."

"No, Malik, that's not…it's not sudden," Yami muttered, shaking his head. "I've always hated myself. I just think I never realized it fully. I think the only difference between then and now is the simple fact that now I'm beginning to realize why. I'm starting to see the things that I despise and I'm actually taking note of it. That's the only thing that's changed."

The blond bit his lip until it bled.

"I grew up hating myself. I just never questioned it because it was constant. I've never questioned it before now. And the only reason I'm even questioning it is because I don't understand what the hell makes Yugi love me. I don't understand it and I hate it and I can't…I don't know how to cope with that…"

Malik honestly didn't know what he was supposed to say to this, instead looking down at the counter and shaking his head. What the fuck did you say to someone who was hurting, hated themselves, didn't understand why someone loved them, and couldn't grasp the reason behind it?

"I'm sorry."

"What?" he asked immediately, head snapping up to find that Yami was staring at him with an apologetic expression. "What the fuck are you sorry about?"

"Telling you this. I don't know why I…"

"Don't apologize for that," Malik snapped, feeling slightly panicked and cornered now that the other boy was attempting to offer him a way out. "You told me because you thought I wouldn't care."

Yami blinked and tilted his head, lips curving up slightly. "Is that it? Is that why?" he asked quietly, voice so soft that it dropped and seemed to hit the floor. "Because I assumed you wouldn't care? I suppose so."

"Fucking Christ," the blond hissed. "That's not what I meant to say. I…Fuck."

The red-eyed teen shook his head. "It doesn't matter. Just—"

"Fuck you, Yami," he spat. "You can't just say that and then expect me to just fucking be fine with it. I don't…shit."

Yami shrugged and wiped at his nose a little, sniffling and wondering where he had put the paper towels; he really needed those right about now…

He wiped his nose again and sniffed loudly, trying to draw attention to the fact that he needed to blow his nose, and Malik took a second, staring at him and then blinking before looking around for them with a small grunt of frustration. He came over with a wad of them and Yami stole a couple as the blond started to look slightly upset.

"Thanks," he mumbled, rolling his eyes at himself when the blond glared at him and then looked at the water.

"Didn't the doctors say that you could actually eat stuffed peppers and it would help you some with the congestion or something?"

"I hate stuffed peppers," Yami complained immediately, wiping his nose again and sniffling loudly as he glanced at him. "They remind me of home."

"And your runny nose makes me think that you're bleeding to death," Malik sniped. "Eat a damn pepper."

The red-eyed teen snickered and shook his head, blowing his nose again while the blond leaned against the counter and glanced at the water, slightly annoyed but mostly shaken by the fact that Yami had even told him this…

"I told you because at least you're real. You don't understand how to console me, and I needed someone who wouldn't try to dig their fingers into me and pry and attempt at making me feel better, try to make me feel as if there was something good about me. That is why I decided to tell you." Yami stayed quiet for a moment and then offered him a smile that made Malik flinch, shocked. "You aren't like Seto who would snap at me and tell me how stupid and weak I am. You aren't like Bakura who would start trying to point out something good. You aren't like Mokuba who would list every single thing he thinks he sees in me. And you aren't Ryou who would try to make me feel better. You don't know to act around me and the problem is shared with me. But the fact of the matter is that's the disconnection that I needed. It hasn't helped me aside from getting it off my chest and I don't feel better at all, but I needed you and you stuck through it without trying to force your opinion on me. You're what I needed. That's why I chose to tell you."

Malik's head spun for a moment and his entire body remained in its rigid stance, unable to move as he stared at him and felt sick to his stomach. "Yami…"

The other teen shrugged and gestured. "It's fine. I'm okay. I will be okay. I promise it's okay, Malik. Trust me for once."

He shook his head and backed away a step before realizing his movement and forcing himself forward again. "Fucking hell, Yami."

He shrugged dismissively and turned back to the pot for a moment before putting the lid back on; he didn't want to breathe in more. "If I had had to suffer through the others knowing about this, I would have felt the need to put on a show and make them believe me. I don't have to do that with you."

"Yami, I…fuck…"

"Look, Malik, the point is that I don't mind that we're not completely okay with each other or that things get fucked up between us or anything like that. I needed you for that reason. You're also the only one on my side about this entire thing. If I didn't have you at this point I think I would lose my mind, so thank you. And stop freaking the fuck out, would you?" Yami snapped, cutting him off when he started to open his mouth again. "I don't even care if you tell the others. I really don't. Just let me be there when you do. Otherwise all of them will be upset unnecessarily and I don't care for it."

The blond blinked and shook his head slowly. "I'm not going to tell anyone about…this."

He nodded slightly. "I didn't think you would," he admitted quietly.

"You can't just—"

Seto looked up as the door was thrown open, eyes widening as he took in Yami's disgruntled form.

"I—Oh god," his secretary whispered, spinning around and fleeing.

"Must you bleed everywhere?" he sighed in exasperation, shaking his head.

Yami looked at his shoulder for a long minute and then turned away again. "Did you know about this?" he snapped, dismissing his wound and pushing the newspaper towards him.

He didn't look at it. "Yes."

"And you didn't think to tell me?"

"You weren't speaking to me."

Yami narrowed is eyes, voice dropping drastically in his anger. "Really, Seto? You choose to use that as your excuse?"

"Tell me what I would have said, Yami. You sure as fuck wouldn't have listened if I so much as said Yugi's name."

He looked ready to punch him again and Seto leaned back in his seat, drumming his fingers against the plastic armrest and watching him as he sorted through the information in his head.

"How long has this ad been running?"

"Two weeks."

Yami was going to vomit. "Two weeks?"

"Yes." His eyes widened. "Shit, sit down—"

"Two weeks. Two…H—how do these kinds of things work? I—I…"

"If you're asking about how much they'll get, probably not enough to survive as long as it takes for either of them to find new jobs especially after they bought a new place," he muttered dismissively, staring at his shoulder thoughtfully and wondering vaguely if he should send for the first-aid kit; he shot a cold look at the secretary and guard who was patiently trying to explain that Yami was his cousin. Gods, this girl was like a startled bird. He was definitely going to have to get rid of her.

"Do you know who has already offered or…?"

"Duke's father. He has actually made a point of scaring off other potential buyers and he is offering only two thousand and refuses to raise the amount. Solomon's a stubborn old goat. He is trying to wait it out—"

"Duke was in on this scheme with Pegasus because of that dice game, right?"

"Dungeon Dice Monsters."

"Do you think you could make a profit out of it?"

Seto narrowed his eyes. "I don't have—"

"If I could get you the rights, do you think you could make a profit out of it?"

"…Yes…" He paused. "But I don't see how you could—"

"You'll see."

Seto opened his mouth to respond but Yami was already running off again; he shook his head and sighed, putting his elbows on the desk. Two weeks and three days and that was the little bit of conversation he got out of him.

"Yami?" Solomon asked, all but gaping at him; he was winded, his shoulder was awkwardly raised, his entire body was heaving, his eyes were glittering feverishly, and he looked half-dead for a moment before slipping past him and inside the shop. He stared in confusion, for a moment unsure of how to even close the door. "What…? Yugi is—"

"I'm not here for Yugi," he cut in immediately, voice low and soft as he cast a glance at the stairs for a split second. "I came here…to speak to you."

"Me?"

"About the game shop."

Solomon blinked slowly. "You want to buy the game shop?"

Yami opened his mouth once and then slowly shut it again, realizing he had just fallen into somewhat dangerous territory. He came to the conclusion of how bad an idea this was only now; if he bought the shop, that would almost be like staking a claim on a massive part of Yugi's life. He would almost be able to say that he owned Yugi if he did so.

"No," he finally breathed out, shaking his head with a regretful expression.

"Then what are you doing here? It's past three in the morning and—"

"I know, I know. And I apologize for the late hour. I just…You can't settle yet."

Solomon shook his head. "I have bills to pay and I'm running out of money—"

"Yes, I realize that," he interjected quickly.

"No, see Yami, I don't think you do," the elderly Motou said, shaking his head and narrowing his eyes, expression sad but sharp. "I have a week to come up with money I don't have anymore."

"Five days, Solomon. I need only five."

"Oh well as long as you don't need those last two—"

"Listen to me," the red-eyed teen snapped, breathing in harshly and slowly shaking his head to help rein in his temper. "Five days. You won't have to sell the shop. You and Yugi won't go homeless."

The elderly Motou stared at him for a few long seconds, sighing. "All right. Come upstairs. I want to bandage that shoulder of yours."

Yami cast his shoulder a self-conscious look and resisted the urge to prod at it, instead following him upstairs after the door was locked; he couldn't help it when he glanced at Yugi's bedroom door for a moment, wondering in a scattered half-thought whether he was asleep and if he had nightmares like him, if the Puzzle really was leaving him alone.

His stomach twisted and his heart constricted for a moment before he turned to follow the blue-violet-eyed teen boy's grandfather into the kitchen.

"Your first-aid kit…is in the kitchen?" he muttered, somewhat confused but mostly curious.

Solomon chuckled, opening the box and sifting through to grab some gauze, a pack of antiseptic wipes and some medical tape. "Oh, we have them scattered all around the house," he murmured, gesturing him over. "You do realize you're going to have to take that jacket and shirt off, right?"

"Hmm? Yes, I do," he stated, glancing off in the direction of the other boy's room and turning away again; he hesitated for a moment, studying him as he gave him a somewhat impatient gesture with the supplies in his hand.

"What? Do you have stage fright or something?"

Yami shook his head after a moment. "It's just that it's past three and I woke you like this and throwing this into the mix as well seems rather selfish, if nothing else," he muttered softly, glancing at the hallway again to make sure he hadn't woken the other boy. "I don't want to keep you awake longer than necessary."

"Tell me something, Yami."

He tilted his head.

"Can you do it yourself?"

Yami didn't even have to think about it. "No," he admitted quietly. "I cannot."

"Then get your skinny overly-polite ass in this seat and let me do this."

The tone was playful but held an underlying sharpness that made his skin crawl; he hurried over to the seat that Solomon pointed to and took residence there, chewing his cheek as he unconsciously rubbed the fabric of his shirt over the bloodied flesh. He didn't wince, instead pulling the jacket off and pulling it in his lap, following up with the t-shit that covered his tank top.

"Layer much?" Solomon commented with a chuckle, leaning forward and staring at the wound, the completely red-soaked gauze and tape that covered it. "Oh geez."

Yami glanced at it. "I'm kind of anemic so there's probably a lot more blood than is actually…you know…normal."

"With this amount of blood I'm starting to question how you aren't dead yet."

"I don't think it's…you know, as much as it appears," he commented quietly. "Looks worse than it is, all of that."

"Does it hurt?"

"Not as much as you would think. It stings but past that not so much."

He nodded slightly and smirked a little before reaching out to pull the sleeve of his tank top down to his upper arm, taking one of the wipes and undoing the packaging; Yami allowed him to put the antiseptic aside and go about working on stripping his wound of its soiled dressing.

"You should start talking. Yugi tends to have a habit of getting up in the middle of the night and wandering the house."

"He doesn't sleep well?"

"Would you?" Solomon retorted, voice taking on a sharp note. "He saved a loved one who shows his gratitude by avoiding him and goes as far as to forego school altogether. He's honestly all but depressed. He's miserable but he's still got that little mask that he wears so he seems okay. When that goes away completely, then I'm going to really kick your ass, Yami Atem Sennen."

Yami stayed silent for a moment. "As you should." He paused, unsure of what to say for a long minute, glancing at his shoulder as Solomon ran the wipe over the bloodied skin; he was slightly surprised that he did flinch at the sight of it. "I did originally come here to offer you some money. Fifty million dollars, in fact, but that wouldn't really do very much. I don't want to buy the shop and just giving you the money made me think that you might try to pay me back, which is not something either of us needs."

Solomon nodded almost absentmindedly, looking at the blood and shaking his head. "You realize this is infected?"

"Yes. I have antibiotics that I'll take when I get home."

"How many times have you reopened it?"

"Twice? Yes, twice."

The elderly Motou studied his face. "And it doesn't hurt?"

"Not enough for me to worry."

He shook his head after a moment, making a sharp noise of disapproval in the back of this throat.

"You're stuck with me today," Ryou announced, stepping inside and closing the door behind him as the red-eyed teen frowned slightly but nodded. "Bakura and Malik are busy with detention and of course you're fighting with Seto. And besides that, I am studying to become a doctor so it makes sense for them to send me, huh?"

Yami's frown became more deeply pronounced, clicking the lock on the door and turning around to face him completely. "Ryou, it is not that I am ungrateful for you helping me. Never think that," he stated softly, making the brown-eyed teen's eyes widen in surprise. "I appreciate it. Greatly. I am not one of those people who make instant friends and I honestly prefer to be alone more than I do with others. So don't mistake trepidation on my part as not appreciating your help."

Ryou laughed and shook his head. "Not a problem, Yami," he said with a simple wink. "I just figured you were thinking more about Yugi than you were interested with visitors."

The red-eyed teen looked away after a moment, chewing his cheek and sighing softly. "…How is he anyways? Bakura and Malik aren't the most forthcoming with information about him."

"They don't like him?"

"No. They blame a few things on him that they shouldn't," he stated quietly, looking at him through his lashes. "But I want to know about him even if I can't bring myself to face him. Tell me about him. I have to know."

Ryou flinched at the despairing look to those deep red eyes, the way that they burned into him and left him feeling weak and vulnerable, reaching in such depths that he felt it was almost tangible in the air between them. "He's…hurting," he finally muttered, wincing when Yami flinched as if he had just struck him. "Badly. He's a mess. I don't think I've seen him make a straight week at school since you got out. I overheard a couple of teachers talking about how he might just flunk out this year and have to repeat it."

"Stupid boy," the red-eyed teen muttered, shaking his head and staring at the ground guiltily, rubbing his forehead and sighing softly. "He's wasting himself."

"You would do the same though," he argued quietly. "You can't even argue that you wouldn't."

Yami looked at him for a long moment, staring into his eyes and searching his entire face, reaching out and touching his chin, cupping it and narrowing his gaze to stare at him through his lashes; Ryou's entire face turned bright red but he didn't pull away, instead swallowing hard under his touch and frowning slightly.

He supposed it was so simple for him to come into the house to help him with this, to gain experience for his medical career ahead of time, to try to point out the obvious and judge what he figured was common sense between the two of them.

But he didn't know the extent of it, the way that Yami was doing this for Yugi's sake, the fact that this killed him and his heart ached so violently that at one point he had thought he was having a heart attack in the middle of the night. He didn't know about nightmares about Yugi dying, dreams about him turning his back on him without a single glance and walking away without even acknowledging him no matter how loud he called out for him. He didn't know the pain of trying to protect someone when it meant the absolute desolation of his own soul.

Yami released him easily and Ryou's face stayed that bright shade of red, flustered. "You don't understand," he stated softly, walking around him and starting towards the stairs. "And I do not wish to explain it to you. But allow me to say that you are right. In his place, I would be doing the same thing."

In fact, I already am.

The albino stared after him as if he were insane for a moment, breathing a little too hard for his own comfort, and shivered; what the hell was that?

"You know…Yugi saved my life once…before the fire," Yami commented suddenly, turning to face him from where he was standing in front of the stairs; the cold smile on his lips made Ryou shiver in alarm but it seemed easy enough a statement that he couldn't ignore it.

"Really?"

"Bakura didn't tell you about it?"

"He…doesn't really talk about anything that concerns you or…really anyone," he commented a little too quietly; Yami's head snapped up, regarding him with glittering spheres of red ice. "I mean…I don't…We're not best friends or anything. We're not even really friends. I think he just talks to me to keep me coming over here to take care of you."

"Would you stop if he didn't speak to you?"

"No. It would go against my nature," Ryou stated with a shrug. "I never turn my back on someone who needs me."

"And if I was okay and didn't need you anymore?"

"Did you make a quick recovery on me all of the sudden?"

"No, but you're avoiding the question."

"What would be the point of sticking around after that? You would be perfectly fine again. I don't really understand the point of this questioning."

Yami studied his face for a long minute and then turned away and headed up the stairs; Ryou shifted his weight awkwardly and then followed, finding himself stepping into Yami's room with a small bit of confusion and trepidation. Where had he wandered off to and what exactly was he searching for as it was? Was it something to do with him? Or was it something completely different?

Ryou's skin crawled for a second, fearful for a moment before he shook it off and wandered further inside. Yami came around from the corner, staring at him with a raised brow and his head tilted to the side.

"Are you suddenly afraid of me?" he commented, narrowing his eyes and smirking with a gleam to his gaze that made him uneasy. "You must be. You look almost as if you might be shaking."

"I'm not afraid of you," he stated simply, rolling his eyes. "I just didn't know where you were."

"And yet you've been in the room a full minute and never once thought to come further than halfway through the doorframe."

"Huh?"

Yami pointed at one of the mirrors on the wall. "I could see your reflection, Ryou. You're a horrible liar," he commented, chuckling.

"Oh…" He glanced at the mirror and took in the sight of the glass in front of it, realizing slowly that the other teen had placed them strategically to give him a view of anyone in the doorway of his room. But now that he really looked at them, he realized that he had stood just out of view of that mirror, in its single little blind spot…

"Well? What is it that we're going to be doing today?" he asked, heading for the bed and turning off to the left at the last second, wandering over to his phone. The look on his face turned solemn for a moment before he put the phone back again.

"Does he text you a lot?"

Yami ground his teeth together, annoyed that he'd let himself slip even just enough to show that little amount of sorrow. "Every day," he admitted, pressing the lock button and pushing it away from him with a dismissive gesture. "What are we doing today?"

"You're going to want to lie face down on the edge of your bed with the top half of your body—from the waist up—hanging over the edge, so that you form a kind of…right angle," Ryou instructed. "And you're going to be like that for about ten to fifteen minutes."

Yami tilted his head in confusion, looking at him and then the bed again, frowning as he tried to picture that and failed a little miserably. "Why…?"

"I know this is going to sound silly, but here's the thing, Yami. You do that and then I'm going to lightly pound your back." Ryou laughed at his disbelieving expression. "It will help loosen and break up some of the secretions in your lungs and help you cough them up."

The other teen stared at him for the longest of minutes and then sighed loudly, rolling his eyes before settling on the bed and stretching himself out, frowning as he turned his head and looked at him. The albino laughed and gestured and Yami huffed softly as he scooted forward and threw his upper body over the edge, uncomfortable with the way that he settled. What the hell kind of plan was this?

"God, you act like I'm going to jump you. Relax," Ryou snorted, rolling his eyes and going to take a seat on the end of the bed, straddling the corner and watching him with a raised brow. "Are you always this weird?"

"Tell me something, Ryou," Yami said, ignoring his teasing and looking at him curiously, head turned but still completely upside down, eyes dark as he studied him. "If you had helped a patient and they were completely healed, would you bother with remaining a friend or would it just be a farce to help them and keep them calm?"

The albino frowned and furrowed his brows, tilting his head in confusion before chewing his cheek subconsciously. "I…Well, I don't think that you're supposed to have relations with your patients after they've been checked out. But I would wonder, of course…"

"So, you're saying that as soon as they are perfectly well again, they are not in your life anymore."

"I…I don't know. If they were family friends or—"

"Leave family out of it. Tell me without thought just what exactly it is that your answer would be."

Ryou opened and closed his mouth. "It's not really a fair question though, Yami…I don't…"

"It's not meant to be fair. It's just a question. There's no judgment or trick to it."

He frowned and shook his head, sitting back and thinking hard about it. "I don't understand why you're asking."

"Then you don't understand the situation," Yami stated calmly. "Which means that you have no right to make judgment. Which also means that you should not speak of things you don't understand. So, in other words, my and Yugi's situation…is just that. Mine and Yugi's. It has nothing to do with you and nothing to do with my cousins."

"I was just trying to help…"

"I know that. I don't blame you for asking or stating the obvious. I just think that it's better that you don't try to do so anymore," he commented quietly, closing his eyes for a moment. "My head is starting to feel funny. How long do I have to stay like this?"

Ryou glanced at the watch on his wrist. "Another five minutes. But if you don't think you can, then we—"

"No, no, I can, I just…Never mind." He stayed quiet the next five minutes and huffed in annoyance when Ryou started to pound on his back gently, coughing and growing frustrated with the sensation. "Stop, stop! Fucking—this is not working."

"Okay, okay," the albino murmured, frowning and pulling away some. "Hmm…it works for—"

He fell immediately silent again, stiffening drastically when the teen reached up and caught him by his shirt, pulling the material tightly and bringing himself upright some, knees drawn up. Ryou stared at him with wide chocolate brown eyes and Yami breathed hard as he tried to regain some of his balance once more.

"Relax," Yami chuckled, rolling his eyes and pulling his hand away when he saw the way the albino was watching him so closely with such a startled look. "I just needed to steady myself. You act like I'm about to jump your bones at any second."

Ryou grimaced slightly. "Yeah, well…"

"Oh please, I'm not interested in you," he snorted, laughing loudly for a moment and grabbing his chin, shaking his head. "I have never been interested in you and I never will be, Ryou."

"Oh thank god."

Yami gave a wily smile and winked, getting to his feet.

"…Have you ever thought about it though?"

He stayed quiet for a long five minutes before finally turning around to regard him, leaning against the chest of drawers and tilting his head slowly. "I would be lying if I said I have not at least attempted to entertain the thought of being with someone else," he admitted, the left side of his mouth tugging downwards for a moment. "But when I say attempted, it means that it always ends the same. And it's Yugi who ends up in my thoughts before the real formation of anything I can actually acknowledge."

Ryou stayed quiet for a long time. "So you wouldn't do it?"

"I would be cheating myself. And Yugi," he commented with a smirk. "Why do that?"

"Aren't you cheating yourself and him right now?"

"…Have you ever heard of something called a soul catcher?"

"I…a soul catcher? No, what's that?"

"It's…not a very common phrase, in all actuality," Yami stated, drumming his fingers against the wood and tipping his head up with a sigh. "I am not the least bit surprised that you do not know of it. It's…actually something that I had never heard of before a few nights ago."

"How did you run across it?"

"It was…actually in a dream. Stupid, I know, but I think it's foolish to ignore things that happen in your dreams. Some of them are ridiculous but others…are very important."

Ryou searched his face. "So this was an important one?"

Yami chuckled darkly. "Life changing, I would say." He paused. "A soul catcher, according to the dream that I had, is another word for a soul mate…but it's…more intense."

"Yeah?"

"It's something like…having your soul taken from you. Hence the catcher part of the term. It's…like when a soul mate grows so attached to you that you both bleed at the seams and tear each other apart. It's problematic and dangerous and so cruel and beautiful all at once. It's like they break down each of your walls but help to build them stronger because they exist with you." Yami played with the Puzzle around his neck, cupping the bottom and slowly raising it to look it over, studying the golden pieces and smiling sadly. "It's a violent little relationship. It takes work and it could kill you if you aren't careful with how you go about it. A soul catcher is a state of being and a person in your life who exists to make you happy but challenge you, make you better, kill you and bring you to life again."

"Is that what Yugi is to you?"

He chuckled softly and tilted his head. "He killed me and brought me to life again a while back," he commented, straightening. "But I don't know if that's what we are when it comes down to it. I feel like I'm cheating myself constantly when I refuse his presence but I'm selfish by nature. I take and take and never give, or so I've been told anyways. I haven't been able to kill him and bring him back. I don't think I know how and so I don't think that's what we will ever be. Maybe it's a karmic soul mate bond rather than a soul catcher…"

"A karmic soul mate bond?"

"They come into your life for a short period of time, help tear down your defenses and make you better but they don't remain forever. They come, they do what they need to, and then they leave."

"If that's what you guys were, do you really think you wouldn't be able to move on and you know…mess around with someone else?"

Yami tilted his head. "That's the scary thing. I don't know. I don't think so. But I'm not sure. And the problem—the true problem—is that I am actually concerned that maybe this is some kind of twisted relationship. That maybe he's my soul catcher but I'm not his."

"Can that even happen?"

"Probably. With my luck, sure, why the fuck not?"

"Yami—"

"Why the hell am I even talking to you about this?" he wondered suddenly, looking at him with narrowed eyes. "Why am I talking to an asexual about my love life?"

Ryou recoiled with wide eyes, startled out of his mind by the comment. "How did you even…?"

"Does it matter how I know these things?" he cut him off, reaching up and rubbing at his forehead for a moment. "I don't think it does. I hardly see it concerning enough to hold merit at this point. Let's leave it at me being observant, shall we?"

"You…you're actually going to just leave it at that?"

Yami tilted his head and leveled him a small glare. "Yes. Why not?"

"But…How the hell do even know that? I don't understand."

"It doesn't matter, Ryou," he scoffed, turning away again. "Just know that I don't care to truly think about it. I just don't know why I told you what I just did when I have no real need to do so."

"…It's homoromantic asexual."

"Hmm?"

"My orientation. It's homoromantic asexual."

Yami studied him as if he were a new species altogether, eyes widening as he searched his face. "Is it really?"

"Why is that so interesting?"

The red-eyed teen blinked once and then slowly shook his head, turning away. "It's just something that Mokuba said to me a while back. He thought that maybe I was a homoromantic asexual. He doesn't know about soul catchers. It's an awkward little thing, isn't it? Such a violent relationship and yet you crave it as if it will save you from everything that hurts you. When it is the very thing that hurts the most…" He shook his head again and turned to him, straightening and starting towards the window. "I think it's cute and horrifying. Morbid, right? I kind of think that love is supposed to be a little morbid or it isn't real. Is that wrong of me? That whitewashed love doesn't appeal to me? That I like the violence and the cold shoulders and the hatred?"

Ryou shook his head slowly. "I think it's just different desires—"

"I don't desire anything different from you, however. You misunderstand the statement which is exactly why I should never have brought this up in the first place. I mean to say that this entire thing, the soul catcher deal is not the least bit different from what everyone else seeks. A love that will last despite conflicts that come with it."

"You have got to be fucking kidding me," Seto snarled as he looked the red-eyed teen over as he started munching on the chicken tenders in front of him and appeared almost ready to ignore him for a moment. "That is your brilliant idea?"

"Yes. Why, Seto? What's wrong with it?"

"You want me to stake half of my business for Yugi?"

Yami bristled but kept himself calm enough to keep the anger out of his voice. "Yes. Because if you fail to help me, I swear this is the last time I will ever speak to you," he stated, shrugging. "And that might not truly matter to you, but I know you would hate for it to happen when it isn't by your own terms."

The brunet opened and closed his mouth for a moment before hissing, "Haven't I done enough for you already, Yami? I made you fake documents, I kept the media out of your hair, I gave you a place to turn to if you ever didn't feel safe at your house, I was the one who got you emancipated, helped you with Arkana and Pegasus. I am the one who showed you Japan and helped you get enrolled in Domino High as Yami Sennen—Hell, Yami Sennen only exists because of me!"

"Wrong. Yami Sennen would exist with or without you," he stated calmly. "It may not have been as official as yours, but my father would have done it regardless. Anything to save his little reputation."

"Which you knocked to the ground like you're attempting with mine."

"If I wished to do the same to yours, it would have happened by now. No, what I want is you to back me. I won't lose. I just…I need to be able to entice him enough to step into this."

"How the fuck do you know you won't lose? You're asking me to stake half of Kaiba Corp on this loser's game. And you don't expect me to be pissed that you would even suggest that?"

Yami narrowed his eyes. "You know that I can win."

"You've never played the game before."

"Doesn't matter. I can still do it. You know I can."

Seto rubbed at his temples for a moment and then breathed out a loud sigh, leaning back and shaking his head. "Goddamn it, Yami."

Yami smiled around his soda.

"Dungeon Dice Monsters."

He spun around with wide eyes, the baritone voice making his skin crawl. "Fuck…"

"Why curse?" Yami asked, walking straight towards the arcade game and watching him with his head tilted, eyes sharp and inquisitive. "There's no need for that. Now, if I had a knife or something, then you should curse, Duke."

The teal-eyed teen narrowed his gaze into slits for a moment, staring coldly. "What is it that you want?"

"Want?" the shorter boy commented. "I don't want anything."

"Then why are you here?"

"Hmm…Well, actually, I came to check out the new arcade. You just so happened to be here."

"Bullshit."

"You're right. I sought you out," Yami stated with a shrug, casting a small glance at the machine; it was a newer model than the one down the street and the game was a little new but past that, nothing really seemed different. The games sold at the front were all newer than the ones he had seen at the Kame Game shop before when he had been there; the selection was bigger too…

"For what?"

"A proposition."

"What?"

Yami smirked slightly, the right side of his mouth drawn up as he turned his full attention on the other boy. "A proposition. A business proposal, if you will."

"A business proposal?" Duke repeated slowly.

"Yes. It's a simple enough proposal, in all honestly," he murmured, glancing at the others in the arcade for a moment; none of them were listening. Good. "I, along with my cousin Seto Kaiba, the CEO of Kaiba Corp, will fund your game. I will make a fifty million dollar investment this very moment if you so wish. Seto will handle the marketing after you have developed it as you wish to do so before public release."

"What the fuck are you even…?" Duke blinked several times. "You don't have that money. Pegasus has that money."

"Wrong." Yami pulled a single slim debit card and showed it off to him. "This card holds an account of fifty million dollars."

The taller teen stared for a long minute, narrowed his eyes, and then slowly shook his head. "Bull."

"Figured you would say that."

Duke watched him pull his phone out, putting a small white square box that looked like a card swipe like what was at the front desks in its charger port and waiting a few minutes before checking the card's position. Yami waited a few moments until the phone said it was ready and then swiped the card; a minute later, a checking account appeared on the screen, sporting a sum of fifty million dollars in a deep green shade of color.

"You…you rigged it to say that," he hissed, staring at him and then the phone and the card. "There's no way."

"Shall we go check the account on one of your computers? Although I would hate to delay this business proposal for longer than necessary. Seto does tend to grow rather impatient…"

Duke shook his head. "This makes no sense. Why the hell would you…?"

"Some skepticism is necessary for a situation like this but I am growing tired of it," Yami snapped, pocketing the debit card and the swipe, looking at the time before putting the phone away as well. "The proposition is not a one-way deal of course. Here's what will happen. We're going to play your game. If you can beat me, you win the funding for your game, no matter the amount. No questions asked. You will also have the right to do with me as you wish. Public humiliation, servant, game tester, whatever you want."

the other teen's eyes widened drastically, shining with possibilities now, completely enticed with it all. "Really now?"

"Yes."

"I want your deck."

Yami didn't so much as blink. "Then you shall have it should you win."

"Oh I'll win all right. I created the game."

"Pegasus created Duel Monster. And yet I am the one who holds the title, am I not?"

"Whatever. You had years to practice that to win."

Yami shrugged. "I suppose," he conceded.

"Now what is it that happens if I lose?"

"You and your father close up shop. You vanquish any and all rights to the development and franchise of Dungeon Dice Monsters in written confirmation to Kaiba Corp. You give me all the information you have on me. All extra profits you made in this shop are to be given to the Kame Game Shop. You are to cease all forms of business in Domino City."

Duke narrowed his eyes. "So this is really for your little boyfriend."

"No, this is all actually for me. I want to dwell on my satisfaction of putting you in your place for years to come."

He stayed quiet for several long minutes, tilting his head and really thinking it over; there was honestly more to gained than lost in this proposal. Money, development, franchising, possession of the boy in front of him, fifty million dollars just for winning…

"I want all profits made from my game. Your cousin can afford to pay them out of pocket."

"Very well."

"When I win I'll put you on a leash in a dog costume," he snickered, smirking. "And I'll make sure you never play another game again."

Yami nodded once.

"And I want your Puzzle."

"Then beat me."

"Oh I will."

The red-eyed teen nodded once more. "The only term Seto has is he wants it publicized. On TV. And especially the screen on the front of this shop. There will be no backing out and you will hold your word. He wants it to happen in two days."

"Perfect."

"Yugi, Yugi, holy shit!"

He blinked in confusion. "Tristan, what—?"

"You have to turn the TV on, the Duelist Tournament. Holy fucking shit!"

Yugi cast a glance at the TV. "What? Why?"

"Because you have to. It's about the game shop!"

"It's…What?" he hissed, blinking hard and scrambling for the remote; he nearly dropped the phone in his haste but managed to catch it at the last second. The TV clicked on with a hum of static and Yugi quickly changed the channel, freezing in place when he saw Yami on screen, Seto seated next to him and the headlines of "Vicious Turf War Over Kame Game Shop's Closing?"

His heart skipped a beat.

"Now, news has been circulating over the possibility of the long-time running Kame Game Shop closing for the past two weeks," the reporter commented, a small lean-looking blonde who seemed beyond excited with the interview, tugging on her skirt once and crossing her legs twice just in that moment. "Because of the new game shop-arcade that was opened up only about a mile away."

Yugi's stomach twisted, wondering how word could have spread so quickly before remembering the ad in the newspaper and online; he vaguely recalled waking up in the middle of the night to his grandpa talking to someone, the wisps of a baritone voice somewhere in the darkness. He had assumed it was nothing more than a dream or his imagination but now he was pretty sure it was anything but…

"Yes," Yami said in a quiet tone. "There were ads."

"And you responded to one of them?"

The red-eyed teen stayed silent for a moment. "I actually was unaware of it until a friend pointed it out to me about four days ago," he admitted.

"What did you do when you found out?"

Yami cast a small glance towards the camera and then to his cousin who watched him from the corner of his eye, saying, "It caught my interest. Kame Game Shop is known for its selection of rarer games and commonly sells Kaiba Corp gaming equipment. Of course I became intrigued with this new development…"

"I see…" She paused and looked between them. "Is it true about the rumor that this is much more involved because of a rivalry involving your cousin Yami Sennen and the shop's owner's son Duke Devlin concerning Kame Game Shop owner Solomon Motou's grandson Yugi Motou?"

Yugi winced and bit his nail, watching the way that Yami blinked once in a long drawn out motion while Seto narrowed his eyes.

"This is a business matter, nothing more and nothing less," the brunet stated coldly. "My cousin's personal life has nothing to do with anything concerning that matter."

She nodded, looking slightly unnerved now. "Okay."

"There is no rivalry," Yami stated simply. "There never has been."

The reporter gave him a small appreciative smile at his soft voice and focused on him now. "Is it true that you will be the one to play against Duke Devlin for the takeover of the Kame Game Shop."

Yugi froze in place. Duke wanted to buy the shop? There was no way his grandpa had even considered that…right?

"Yes," he agreed. "We will be playing a game of his choosing tomorrow. The event will be publicized on TV and on both websites' homepages. The terms and conditions applied to this event will be announced before we begin."

"But, according to a statement that your younger cousin Mokuba made, all of the terms are negotiable, is that correct?"

"From what I know of, yes. I am not entirely sure. He could change his mind. For all I know we could end up playing Blackjack."

She nodded again once. "Have you ever played the game Duke created? Dungeon Dice Monsters?"

"I have not."

"What happens if he picks it? Will you be studying up on the rules when you are home?"

Yami blinked once, that long slow motion. "If he chooses then we play. No, I don't plan to do so."

"But aren't you worried about going into this unprepared?"

"No. I have always been able to boast the ability of learning quickly and being resourceful. I won't need to worry myself ahead of time."

She laughed softly, a giggling noise that made Yugi narrow his eyes even as he continued worrying about the red-eyed teen and game shop; did Yami really plan to play against Duke for the shop? For his house? He wasn't sure if he should have attempted being grateful or horrified by the entire thing. Mostly he was starting to feel pissed, however. What gave him the right to do that when he wasn't even speaking to him? Did he think he could do this like some massive gesture towards him, slip back into his life or…?

Yugi honestly had no idea what would happen if this was a gesture or even if it wasn't.

There was no real knowledge of whether or not this meant he would come back to him. He didn't know if this meant he was just going to walk off again when it was over or not.

And that pissed him off more than anything else.

"You sound pretty confident that you'll win."

"That's because I plan to. I plan to win and I hate losing. Especially when it comes with stakes."

"And you aren't even slightly worried?"

"No. I'm going to win." Yami smirked after a moment. "I have far more to lose than Duke as it is. It gives me more reason to know I'll win."

Yugi shifted to lean forward with his elbows against his knees; what did that mean exactly? What had he offered? What were the terms being discussed?

"Well, before we start taking some of the calls"—the blue-violet-eyed teen's gaze shot to the phone in his hand where he could see already that Tristan had hung up—"is there anything you wanted to say in case Duke or the Motou's are watching?"

The red-eyed teen tiled his head for a moment, debating, and then finally muttered, "No. I have nothing to say to any of them."

Even Seto looked surprised, eyes widening faintly with a small blink before turning his attention from his cousin again.

"Really? Nothing?"

Yami shook his head.

"Um…okay, I guess." She blinked, still seeming mystified. "So, we already have several waiting on the line with questions for either of you about the entire thing. We'll swap between calls and questions online, okay?"

"Sure." Yam cast a small glance at the camera and then turned back to the phone that went off, the reporter leaning forward to press the speaker button for the conversation to begin; Yugi glanced at the cell in his hand again for a moment and really debated the idea in his head.

"Kaiba, why are you sending your cousin to play this game against Devlin? Shouldn't you be the one to do it? Especially when all of this concerns Kaiba Corp in general?"

"Yami wanted to do it. He tends to like challenges like this anyways."

"So this doesn't have anything to do with him dating the Motou boy?"

Seto's jaw clenched slightly. "No. Yami just wanted a challenge."

"Yeah, okay," the caller scoffed just before hanging up again.

Yugi stared at his phone and then the remote before chewing his cheek; maybe he should just turn the TV off…

"So you're not just doing this to get back at Duke for what he did before at the school with you and Motou?"

"No. It's a business venture."

Yami and Seto settled into a nonchalant pattern of swapping off answers as if just by instinct, not the least bit thrown off by the questions; Yugi was still wondering how the fuck the red-eyed teen thought he had the right to do this, to the point that he was actually calling in on the show and half tempted to try the boy's phone now as well.

"Okay, so internet question number thirty-six would be 'Yami, I go to Domino High with you and Yugi. And I haven't seen you there in almost a month now. I've only seen Yugi there. Did you change schools because of Yugi or something?'"

Yugi sat up so quickly that he nearly dropped the phone. Had Yami changed schools at some point? He hadn't heard from Tristan about that and the brunet would have told him…right? Then again, the last time he had spoken to Tristan before this call had been when he had thanked him for his help and then both of them had got separate ways because Joey was coming and Yugi hadn't been in the mood for a fight right then.

"No, I didn't change schools," Yami murmured quietly, chewing his cheek and tilting his head; it sounded kind of like something Mana would write him—or Mai. Definitely one of those two… "I actually haven't been feeling very well lately so I haven't been in school for a little while."

"Okay, so our next one says 'Yami, did you and Yugi break up recently? It seems like you're never there and Yugi isn't looking so hot anymore.'"

Seto rolled his eyes while his cousin stated, "No. Again, I've just been feeling ill. Maybe he's not feeling well either" with a shrug.

"Yeah, I would feel better if you weren't such a fucking bastard," Yugi snarled at the screen, ignoring the fact that he knew the other teen couldn't hear him and waiting around another twenty minutes through questions and answers, most of them Seto's this time around.

Yami ran a hand through his hair for a moment before glancing at the phone again.

Yugi waited a long minute, shaking his head as the reporter offered Yami a sympathetic smile and then turned extremely excited.

"The area code says it's actually from Domino this time."

The red-eyed teen didn't look nearly as excited, instead taking on a somewhat tired expression though he did look curious at least; Yugi sighed and leaned into the backrest. What were the odds, honestly, when it came down to it? This did involve Domino after all, so it wouldn't have surprised him if they were a bunch of them calling in right about now. Especially if you added the fact that most of them probably wanted the antagonism between Yami and Duke to skyrocket so they could witness the animosity when they watched.

"Hello, you are on air speaking with Yami Sennen and Seto Kaiba about"—Yugi pressed the mute button, mouth falling open—"the Devlin-Kaiba dispute over the Kame Game Shop."

Oh shit. He was actually—thank the gods for that random number selector.

"Hello?"

Fuck. Yeah, he so hadn't thought this one through well enough.

He had no idea what was going to say…

"Maybe they got disconnected—" the reporter started.

"Just give them a second," Yami muttered. "They might not know they're on."

She gave him a slightly confused look, blinking before realizing what he meant. "Good point."

The red-eyed teen leaned forward, shifting to relax some of the tension in his throat. "Do you have a question or…?"

Yugi felt a small smile force his lips to curve. "You sound tired," he commented quietly, surprising himself.

Yami blinked a few times but Yugi knew immediately that he recognized his voice; he shifted slightly and his eyes grew warm. "Yeah, maybe a little," he replied simply.

He hesitated, debating hanging up immediately. He still had no idea what it was that he wanted to say in the first place and he wasn't sure he wanted anyone to know that he had called in. But Yami was right there on the screen in front of him and his voice was so soft and warm and he wasn't hanging up…

"Um…how are you? You know, in general, not just with the…turf war."

"I'm okay. Thank you for asking."

Yugi closed his eyes for a moment, tilting his head and wanting to drown in the warmth of his deep voice. "So, I just had a couple of quick questions."

"Ask away."

If he really tried he could almost picture him in front of him, eyes as deep and warm as lava and body heat mingling in the air all around them, between them, reaching out to brush against his skin in a gentle caress.

He forced his eyes open again, watching the screen, the way that Yami leaned forward nearer to the phone, seeming almost careful about making sure not to look at the camera or appear too interested or excited and happy.

Yugi bit back a small purr; at least he still affected him like this.

"Okay, so, I'm pretty sure you've been asked this a few times already…"

Yami tilted his head.

"But this isn't just something to make Yugi want to date you?"

"God…" Seto rubbed at his forehead. "How many times do we have to say this? It's—"

"Seto, knock it off. He was asking me," Yami snapped, casting the brunet a sharp look before turning away again. "The answer to that is no. That would be a misconception. Someone mentioned that they hadn't seen us together at school in a while so it seems like a stunt to get his attention. And it's not. I haven't been in school or around him lately for my own personal reasons that have nothing to do with him."

His cousin's eyes narrowed and focused on his face; why was he telling him so much when the others had gotten nothing but a simple "no" whereas the internet comment got "I haven't been to school recently due to feeling ill"? What made this caller so special?

"Oh, okay." Yugi paused for a moment, chewing his cheek. "Seto, since this all has to do with your corporation, does that mean when Yami wins that you plan to take control of the Kame Game Shop?"

Yami didn't miss the way Yugi said "when" instead of "if", lips pulling up into a slight grin; Yugi actually believed he could win this…

"No. The Kame Game Shop will still be the Motou family's. I have no need for it."

"Then why are you bothering with it?"

"It is within my interest to put the competitor out of business."

"But Devlin isn't producing gaming equipment, just selling it…"

"Duke wants to make a gaming franchise called Dungeon Dice Monsters. And his arcade competes with mine."

Yugi narrowed his eyes slightly. "Can't handle a little competition, Seto?"

"That's not competition. That's a leech, moving into my space and trying to steal my business. I'm going to squash him like the little bug he is."

Yugi snorted out a laugh and shook his head.

"Are we done?" Seto asked immediately, narrowing his eyes into slits.

"One more real quick question!" he objected as the reporter reached forward to disconnect the call and have another random number selected. "Do you think Yugi will be there when you play against Duke?"

Yami blinked and frowned. "I think that Duke intends to have both Motou's as 'special guests' for the event so that they can watch firsthand as I 'fail'."

"Do you want him to be there?"

He stayed quiet for a second. "I don't know."

Yami was escorted immediately to the back rooms towards the massive stadium where he was told to use the elevator to get to the top floor and go to his side of the arena; he honestly hadn't thought that the damn store was this big, especially when Yugi's was pretty tiny but definitely had that quality to it that made it feel like the perfect home…

He stepped out of the elevator to find his cousins there waiting, all four of them watching him as he looked at Duke across the arena; such a massive grid he had set up…

The red-eyed teen stared at the lines for a long minute and started forward, realizing only belatedly that the cameras were all singled in on him; he cast one a curious glance from the corner of his eye and then looked forward again.

He stopped at the platform, looking over the two sets of die that were placed on it already, glancing at the screen that showed a one-hundred by one-hundred grid set out in front of him. The map beneath it boasted a graveyard, a mountain, mountain tops, a lake, forests, meadows…

Yami stared at the screen until it connected. The Duel Monsters official terrain map. Duke had installed it into his game as the field.

"I see you finally came," the raven-haired boy laughed, leaning against his platform and laughing as the red-eyed teen ignored him for a moment and then finally lifted his eyes towards him. "I thought you were going to chicken out."

"I don't run from things that aren't a threat," Yami stated calmly. "You're too weak to scare me, Duke."

"Right," he scoffed. "Oh, but, hey, you haven't looked around just yet. Take a look at everyone who's here. You might just recognize a few faces in the crowd."

Yami debated ignoring him for a moment but the cameras were panning outwards as if to mimic him looking and it seemed a waste to let that go without some kind of half-assed attempt to give them reason to do so.

Some random school mates, including Joey, Tristan, Tea, Ushio, Valon and Alister, Marik and Ryou…

Some cheerleaders who he thought he recognized as the "Hecate Sisters" from school…

Mai and Mana and Mahado along with Vivian and two others whose names seemed questionable at this point…

And yep. There they were.

Yugi and Solomon both stood leaning against the railing, both sets of eyes on him.

But behind them both, to his annoyance, were several cheerleaders with pom-poms.

Yami stared at one of them as they stuck their tongue out and another laughed, "Blowhard."

He turned away, chuckling and smirked as he shook his head. Cute.

"Did you teach them that phrase or did they already know it?" he murmured, shooting a sly glance towards them and laughing when their faces turned bright red; he bared his teeth in a sarcastically comical smile and then turned back to him with a snort. "Do they know anything else or is it just that one?"

"Don't get stupid, Atem."

"That's legally been changed. Name's Yami," he drawled, shrugging and then glancing over his shoulder for a moment towards his cousins; the brunet nodded once and he turned back to the teal-eyed boy. "Are you ready to state your half of this deal or are you going to continue standing around and doing nothing, Duke?"

"Ah, yes, the terms," he laughed, looking at Yugi and winking. "You're going to love these."

"Probably will," Yugi stated in response, shrugging leisurely as he leaned further against the railing and looked at them with a bored expression though he did glance at the screen directly front of him to find that there was a list of terms and conditions that were appearing in a split screen beneath their pictures.

"Go ahead and repeat your offers, Yami," Duke laughed, looking too delighted by the idea. "But leave the best for last, shall we? I want to tell Yugi exactly what it is you've offered me."

Yugi glanced at Yami with a pointed look and the red-eyed teen let his gaze flicker towards him before shrugging. "Very well." He straightened further. "If you should win, my cousin Seto Kaiba, the CEO of Kaiba Corp, will fund your game. I will put down my own investment of fifty million dollars which I have provided on a debit card that you may swipe at any time to prove the amount of money in that account. Seto will handle the marketing after you have finalized your product to your heart's content and then he will announce public release. You asked for my deck. You asked for my Puzzle. You asked all of the profits that your game makes and that my cousin pay from his pocket the wages of each of the workers."

"Ah, yes, the idea of having Seto pay from his own pocket," Duke purred, laughing before turning to Yugi. "And here's the one that you'll probably find the most interesting, Yugi."

The small teen shot Yami another look, questioning and demanding answers, but didn't speak, instead keeping his mouth shut and watching his face for a moment before turning to Duke again to find his eyes too sharp with laughter, bristling at the way he stared at him.

"Little Yami here has staked his own life on this game."

"What?" Yugi snarled, head snapping to regard his taller counterpart's face as the other boy merely nodded and waited.

"Oh dude!" Bakura spat. "That's gross! You want to sell yourself off then become a prostitute, damn it."

Yami smirked widely in amusement and shook his head before turning back to the dice that lay on his platform in front of him. He just needed to know if he even had the will to fight for himself…

"And your terms are that my father and I close up shop. We vanquish any and all rights to the development of Dungeon Dice Monsters with written confirmation to Kaiba Corp. I give you every little bit of information I have on you. All extra profits I made in this shop are to be given to the Motou's. We are not allowed to work in Domino City again."

Yami nodded again and then glanced at the monitor next to him, surprised as it lit up with the Dungeon Dice Monsters logo across the screen in bright red; a few dark blue subjects lay beneath the logo, titled "Game Stats", "Crest Pool", "Help", "Search", "Dice Master", "Team", "Set Dungeon Path" and "Available Monsters and Dice".

What the fuck did all of that mean?

"All right, Atem, let's start shall we. Since you've never played before, I'll explain the rules." Yami turned his head and watched him lift a set of black die. "This is the movement die. The red and white sitting next to it are the attack die. The red is the first digit and the white the second. In this game there are two kinds of opposing rolls that you can make with those die. Two zeros is a double critical, which means you get to inflict mass amounts of damage with your monster but two nines mean a punishment which means that most likely your monsters are destroyed if their levels aren't high enough to withstand going against a stronger opponent."

Duel Monsters, Yami thought again, looking the dice over.

"We will each pick fifty dice from the monitor to our rights."

"Fifty?" the red-eyed teen repeated, narrowing his eyes.

"I plan to drag you through the dirt in front of millions of people. I think I can afford to stretch the game out as long as possible."

Yami stared at him for a moment before turning away again.

"There are several crests—movement, attack, magic, defense, summoning and trap. Each of them has their own unique little feature on the board, though their names are pretty self-explanatory. Plus, you should know better than anyone else what trap means, right Yami? I mean you are the World Champion Duelist, right?"

He blinked and dragged his eyes up to him before looking away again with a small curse under his breath.

"What the fuck? Seriously?" Joey crowed. "He's the champion? Are you fucking shitting me? I thought that was an Egyptian kid."

"What the fuck do you think he is?" Yugi snarled in response, feeling stupid for not having realized it sooner as well; he had the God cards. How could he have not known that he was the world champion? Then again, in the videos where he had dueled, they had been pretty keen on pixilation, possibly because of his father not wanting him to be associated with something so childish as a game. But it could also have slipped his mind because the world champion had appeared when he was about eight and then slipped out when he was ten, almost like a shadow without a single little hesitation. If Yami hadn't dueled in the open since he was ten, it was no wonder that he would be forgotten that easily. Past that it was assumed Seto was the champion most of the time anyways…

"Yes, I recognize the crests. Magic, attack, defense, trap, movement and summoning," Yami stated, looking up and narrowing his eyes. "Explain them to me—trap and magic. I don't need the others."

"Traps can be laid anywhere on the grid system when you've summoned a monster. As long as it's planted on the field on one of you monster's paths, you can hide it anywhere and your monsters will never trigger it. The tricky part is if you put it on your opponent's side, then it will be triggered if your monster steps on it. And, get this, Yami, you can hide them anywhere on the board and it will only show on your screen, not your opponent's."

"So it's like placing a trap card but without the opponent knowing where it is…" Shit. That could seriously fuck him over if he wasn't careful.

"Exactly. Now, the magic activates special effects in monsters. Like the Man-Eating Bug's flip effect is to destroy any monster on the field. If you used magic crests on him, he would be able to take out a monster in his path. More powerful monsters require a more massive amount of crests for activating their special effects but weaker monsters only require one to two."

Yami nodded and glanced at his monitor for a moment. Traps hidden in the field could screw him over pretty badly. Just as summoning weak monsters was always a gamble in the game, doing so in this one could easily get him beaten to a pulp in only a matter of turns…

"What is the Dice Master?"

"Ah, the Dice Master. My favorite creation," Duke said proudly. "They are the monsters that you're pretty much going to put your entire stock in this game in. See, if you summon your Dice Master onto the field and he gets knocked out, you lose. That simple. They aren't allowed to be summoned onto the field without a few rules and the monster that I think you're going to choose is going to require a lot of special preparations to bring to the field."

Yami chewed his cheek.

"Some of the special effects of the monster you choose as your Dice Master are active even while it is not on the field. But the Gods don't have that effect."

His eyes flickered towards him.

"See, the Gods are extremely powerful as they are, so they don't need the extra boost. They have all the mechanics to act as they would in a duel, special effects and everything triggered immediately upon being summoned. Which reminds me, Yami, you have your three God cards on you?"

"Yes."

"Let's see them, shall we? I want to be able to see them before I win them off you," Duke stated, purring softly and looking beyond amused with himself.

Yami stared at him for a moment and then dug into the hollow metal buckle of his belt to pull the three of them out and show them off, flashing them at everyone as Duke directed before sliding them back into his deck again and staring at the teal-eyed teen. "Are you done trying to get a rise out of me? Are we actually going to play or not?"

"Yes, yes, you boring little Egyptian you."

He fought back a snarl and listened to Joey whining, "He has the God cards. What the fuck? That's impossible! I should have those cards."

"In your dreams, Joey," Tristan snorted, snickering as Yami looked at the monitor next to him and started to sort through the visuals of all the dice that were scrolling up the screen. "There's no way you could rock a God card."

"Type in the name of your Dice Master after you're done picking the dice that you want. There's a counter in the corner that will tell you how many you've picked out of your fifty total."

Yami nodded without really thinking about it, looking them over and slowly staring at the numbers. One to four…was that levels? Or was it the number of rolls you got out of them? He blinked and tilted his head, glancing at Duke once and finding that he was smugly choosing already; he couldn't find any screen to show him what the fuck the teal-eyed teen was doing and a small bite of panic settled in his bones as he realized how fucked he could be.

The Puzzle heated against his skin, reassurance in the strangest form, but it was simple enough that it made him relax some. Maybe an equal number of each of the four digits? Because he couldn't exit the choosing screen no matter how many times he tried and it refused to let him slip by without picking them out and nowhere were the meanings behind the numbers written for him to see…

Okay, okay, that's fine. Duke thinks he has something over me, that he can psyche me out without even giving me directions on how to work the system past what I asked for. And if I ask now, no doubt he will merely laugh at me…

Yami scanned over the numbers for a moment and the symbols that were appearing, skin crawling. Fifty divided by four is twelve point five…so what, twelve of the others and thirteen of something else? And then I bet on what exactly…?

He glanced at Duke and then away again before letting his eyes flicker around as his hand slowly came up to grasp at the Puzzle; his racing mind started slowing just enough for him to make the choice to start picking. Levels or not, the numbers meant something at least and the crests themselves meant something just as important. Maybe it was safe to go with the same amount of numbered dice and then two of the crests?

He chose twelve of each and one summoning and a magic crest.

"Good, now that you've decided to grace us with your decision on what dice and crests you want to start out with, let's get to our Dice Masters, shall we?" Duke snorted, smirking widely as Yami chewed his cheek and continued staring at the screen with an impatient expression.

"As you can see, the choices are in the order of the cards' printing so it has all of the monsters organized as they originally were. I probably already know who you will choose, but for the hell of it, who is it?"

Yami ignored him and started sorting, scanning rapidly until he found him and chose without hesitation; Osiris was his god. He always had been, always would be. He was marked as Slifer the Sky Dragon, under his English print's name, but it made no difference to him.

"Just like I thought," he snorted, laughing. "Slifer."

Yami watched the dispenser in the bottom of the platform spit out Slifer's dice, one that was three times the size as the others longwise, something that startled him but peaked his curiosity thoroughly.

"Put him aside in that dark green space next to your arm over there," Duke snickered. "That way he can actually be counted on the field until he's summoned."

The red-eyed teen did as told and watched as a deep crimson light appeared on the arena beneath them, just a ball of bright ruby…

Hmm…

Yugi watched Yami fumble throughout the entire first sets of play; Duke had summoned over three monsters in only six turns and Yami seemed to be collecting crests and refused to summon anything, turning back and forth between the field and the monitor to his side constantly. He guessed that he had figured out the system just as Yami had—the black die determined the number of dice that was received from the machine as well as the number on them. If he got between fifty and double critical, he got three, anything from sixty to seventy got him two and eighty to ninety got him one. The order was determined by which stopped first and the second digit was almost more important than the first because if it was from one to zero to three, it gave dice with the number three while four to seven gave him a two and eight to nine gave him a one.

"You're a piss-poor choice of opponent," Duke scoffed suddenly, making him look up as the cheerleaders echoed him loudly. "I should have picked Seto. You're not even doing anything! And Pegasus said that you were a worthy opponent to duel him that day."

Yami stared at him for a moment and then turned away again, rolling the black dice to see if he could get another amount of dice through the dispenser; a ninety-nine stared back at him and Duke burst out laughing as Yami's eyes shot to the crest pool on his screen to see his summoning crests disappear completely.

"That's the thing about summoning crests," the teal-eyed teen snickered. "They can go at any time if you're not careful."

The red-eyed teen stared at him for a moment and then looked away again; well, he'd just found out a new mechanic to the game. Sadly it had been in retaliation but learning did normally come at a cost anyways…

"You mean you challenged him to a game without even giving him all the rules?" Tristan suddenly barked, eyes wide as he looked at them and Duke glanced at him with a dismissive expression. "You can't just—"

Yami held a hand up to silence him. "It's fine," he stated simply. "Roll, Duke."

Twenty turns in, Yugi started to notice a pattern with Yami; he rolled, got his crests, hoarded them, then counted them out every other roll while spending the rest of his time working with that monitor as if it was the key to everything. The blue-violet-eyed teen leaned against the railing, chewing his cheek as the other boy continued his little system of playing. Duke's side of the arena was actually pitch black due to some magic special effect he had activated and Yugi was starting to get antsy with what was going on with his side of the game. He was summoning like crazy and spreading straight towards Yami but the other teen wasn't even paying attention…

"Ooh, look at that, ninety-nine," Duke snickered. "Bye-bye summoning crests."

Yami stared at the screen for a second, glanced at him, and then murmured, "Hmm, oh yes, I'm losing horribly, right? Oh boo" in a sarcastic voice before turning away again to start playing around with the monitor.

"You suck!" the cheerleaders all screamed, laughing and waving their pom-poms at him. "You suck, you suck—"

"Can you even spell?" Yugi spat, spinning on them angrily. "Do you know how the fuck to spell? Or is that why you've just been chanting this kind of crap? Do an actual fucking cheer. Make that shit rhyme. Or fuck. Off. Got it, bitches?"

Yami snorted and covered his mouth around laughter while his cousins snickered and Yugi's grandpa chuckled with a shake of his head.

"Yeah, that's what I thought. Shut the fuck up."

"Did someone push the start button on your crassness, Yugi?" Yami snorted, smiling in amusement and furrowing his brows just before straightening as his eyes lit up drastically. "Holy shit…"

"You might be stroking it right about now," Yugi snapped at him playfully. "I mean, honestly. Summon something."

"Oh, I'm going to summon something," the red-eyed teen snickered, winking at him and nearly purring at the answering smirk he got. "Just give me a few more turns."

"Yeah, yeah. What else are we all here for?"

"Damn it," Yugi cursed under his breath twenty minutes later when Yami got the first hit to his heart points; Duke burst out laughing in amusement and the smallest of the three mentioned teens looked at the red-eyed boy's crest pool for a moment. It stocked full for the most part. Tons of movement, summoning, magic, and attack…but mostly defense and two that he had no idea what they were…

"Now's a chance to protect yourself from a second hit, Yami," the teal-eyed teen sneered with a wide smirk. "We're both going to roll our movement die. If you get higher than I do then you can protect yourself from having a second heart point taken. If you get lower, I'll take out the second and you'll be left with one."

"Does that always happen when you attack directly?"

"Only if it's the first time that monster has been up there. Past that, unless it's the Dice Master, you don't get to repeat again."

"But you have to pay several crests to repeat that function, right?"

Duke stared at him for a long minute and then ignored the question, probably assuming that he was trying to psyche him out by appearing to know more than he did; both of them rolled.

"Only one heart point left."

Yami nodded absently, messing with the computer screen again. "You got that dog costume and leash and collar picked out, Duke?"

"Hell yes."

"Then get them out."

"You're surrendering?"

"Hell no," he chuckled, smirking widely as his red eyes grew perfectly bright and amused despite not looking up at him, still staring down at his arena platform.

"Then why would I bring them out?"

"Because now I'm curious about making you my little bitch," he said simply, grabbing the die and looking them over.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Duke scoffed. "You don't have any monsters on the field."

Yami looked over his collection of crests for a moment. "You remember that thing you neglected to tell me when it comes to summoning my monsters?" he commented, smiling widely. "I figured it out. I also figured out why you were so happy when I made Slifer my Dice Master. You didn't think I would figure out how to summon him."

The teal-eyed teen froze. "That…no. You couldn't have."

"Oh but I have, Duke," he chuckled. "I have all of the crests I need to summon and wipe you out in one shot. Did you know that?"

Duke shook his head slightly, narrowing his eyes.

"Ten summoning crests, twenty magic, and oh, look at that, his special effect too," Yami said in a squeal of a falsetto voice just as one of the cheerleaders called him a blowhard again and Yugi looked ready to lunge at her. "Like, oh my god, I figured it out!"

"That's not…"

"Possible? Um, yes it is, actually. See, you buried it so far under the rest of the information that I honestly couldn't figure out what the fuck I was doing in the first place when I picked him. But, like what normally happens in duels, I figured out your strategy as well as one for me. You summoned like crazy so that if I did manage to summon something, you would be able to wipe it out almost immediately. But Slifer here, when summoned, if I can get a double critical, destroys every single monster on the field—including my own if I had any to lose, which I don't, as you can see. And you're pretty much out of summoning crests as it is considering how many monsters you have on the field. Which prevents you summoning Ra over there."

"How the fuck did you know I chose Ra?"

"I didn't. Until now," Yami admitted, laughing. "I was skeptical but then I realized that you could use your monsters as offerings if you had to. And then it also made sense to me why the picture of Ra had been blinking at me when I chose Slifer. Looks like you didn't completely debug your system. Guess Seto will have to take care of that for us, huh?"

"You haven't summoned him yet! You have no fucking idea if you—"

"Oh no, I'll get it. I'm going to get the double critical," he stated, calmly nodding once. "And when your monsters are completely off the field, his automatic special effect of being summoned comes into play with his second mouth activating, doesn't it?"

Yugi shivered at the sultry purr when the red-eyed teen winked at him before turning back; Duke shook his head, laughing, "You're not going to get a double critical. There's no fucking way that's going to happen."

"Oh, but I am! And it will. Because I hate losing. And for the majority of the game I've been sitting over here biding my time but really, I was just taking note of the way that you seem to be rolling an underhanded way rather than overhand. Ensures more of a chance of two zeroes, right? Yeah, unworthy opponent, right, Duke?"

"That's not…You're still not going to—"

Yami rolled his eyes and grabbed the dice, looking them over and holding them up for him to see. "I roll these and I win. Past that, I get another double critical with the second set of dice and I don't even have to fucking bother with using those magic crests I stocked up on just in case."

"You have no place to put him—"

"The far left corner of my field. You completely neglected it. It's a simple enough place for his fourteen sides for the dungeon path needed to summon him completely." He put Slifer's dice onto the field and started to draw out his path on the field, a jumbled mess of blocks that looked almost like a half-assed Tetris piece, stretching out a piece to the very tip of Duke's placement of a warp hole that sat in front of Yami's heart points. The dice in the middle of his platform did the same as Duke's all had, opening as was marked on the grid with the figure in the middle. Yami ducked his head and took it in, grinning and then offering the summoning crests in his pool before grabbing the black die and rolling immediately. For a moment Yugi thought for sure he wasn't going to get it and then the two zeroes came up on the screen with the announcement of a double critical and Duke looked ready to vomit as each of his monsters' holograms disappeared altogether. Slifer appeared almost as large as he would have on a duel simulator, though the lack of lightning made Yami glower slightly in annoyance. The second mouth opened immediately and the bottom heart on the marker in front of Duke went out.

"Now, how about I set up my warp hole over here in front of your little heart points and roll my movement dice and get him over there to attack and see if I can get another double critical like you did before?"

Yugi laughed at the way that he waggled his eyebrows and then rolled the movement dice, getting another couple of zeroes and moving him all the six spaces he needed to get to the warp hole before activating his own on the field and using it to place Slifer there, activating an attack crest and rolling again.

"Oh look at that. Double. Critical. Not your lucky day, huh, Duke?" Yami scoffed, rolling his eyes as Slifer attacked with both mouths and the hearts both went out immediately, the red-eyed teen leaning back with his hands against the platform, staring at the Slifer figurine for a moment. He wasn't entirely sure that he had done this for himself, but it felt good to put Duke in his place anyways and Yugi and his grandpa didn't have to go homeless like they might have before…

Yami didn't care for the disconnected look on Duke's face. "I won," he announced loudly so that the noise of the cheerleaders' crying was drowned out and the boos that had erupted started to fall some in volume. "You and your father are to close up shop. You are to pay Kame Game Shop any and all extra profits you have made since you began business here in Domino. You are to sign the legal documents my cousin has produced in order to release all rights of the Dungeon Dice Monsters franchise to Kaiba Corp. You are never to speak of this franchise aside from purchasing but if you ever make the claim of having had it at one point, you will be fined an amount of fifty thousand dollars. You are never to do business in Domino City again and should you do so, fines will be placed."

"How…?"

Yami turned away, snatching the Slifer dice and looking it over. "And this, Seto?" he announced, seeing him look up from the corner of his eye as he studied the nicely done Egyptian God model in his palm. "I'm keeping this."

"Mr. Sennen, Mr. Sen—"

Yami cut past the reporters before they could even really get a word in and disappeared inside the elevator while Yugi scrambled past Tea and Joey to get to him, pushing the blond straight into the brunette and hurrying inside. For a few long minutes stupid elevator music played and Yugi started panicking because if Yami got away from him—he shook the thought off and shot out of the elevator again. A bunch of people were cheering and whistling at Yami as he passed, the red-eyed teen flashing them small smiles before disappearing outside again.

"Yami, wait up a second!"

The red-eyed teen stopped and spun on his heel, waiting for the smaller boy to catch up; Yugi got a few steps in front of him and doubled over, panting and then looking at him through his lashes as if he was afraid he would disappear if he wasn't watching him.

"Shit, I thought you would give me a second to catch up."

Yami gave him a small weak smile. "I'm sorry. I'm still as impatient as always."

He gave him an odd look as he straightened, letting out a deep breath that came out as a mixture between a huff and a sigh. "You're okay?" he asked, dismissing the way that the statement stroked at his temper for a split second.

"Yes," he stated, nodding shortly before frowning. "I…yes, I just…I still have some things to do and consider before I do anything else…"

Yugi chewed his cheek, about to snap at him that if he expected him to wait forever he had another thing coming, but fell silent immediately, realizing the threat had no foundation and would have fallen flat anyways. "Yeah, okay," he muttered, nodding once and looking him over for a moment. "How's your…?"

"Hmm? Oh, I think they're okay. I need to go change the dressings on them in a little while," he murmured absently, blinking before biting his cheek until it bled and became the only thing he could taste for a split second. "How are you, by the way? I never really got around to asking…"

"Fine. Bored, lonely…I, um…I miss you," he admitted, ducking his head and awkwardly kicking his left leg, chuckling softly. "A lot. I don't…I really don't understand what's going on."

"Personal things," he stated firmly, shaking his head. "They have nothing to do with you. And, as soon as I have it all figured out—or at least enough to live with myself—then I'm all yours again, okay?"

Yugi shook his head slightly. "Nothing I can help you with?"

Yami stayed quiet for a long minute, really taking the question into consideration and fighting with all the possibilities of his own answer. If he asked him what he loved about him, what the hell actually made him care for him, he didn't think that Yugi would honestly know and he didn't think he could live with himself if he put him so firmly on the spot like that.

"No, little one, I don't think so."

Yugi's head snapped up, studying him with wide eyes that glistened with sharpness and acute pain that made his heart twist in his chest. "So…little one, huh?" he commented, a soft snort that was half amused and half annoyed. "I thought that was your little…groggy, half-asleep state talking."

"That day, yeah. I mean, you did wake me up," he offered, smiling slightly and shrugging. "I like thinking of you that way."

"As little?"

"As mine."

The smaller teen froze in place, eyes stretching wide for a moment as he opened and closed his mouth and ducked his head, laughing a little before kicking his foot again. "Hmm…well, you already have that, don't you?" he muttered.

"I suppose so…"

"You suppose?"

"I just…Things aren't as easy as I was hoping they would be."

"Nothing in life is supposed to be easy."

Yami nodded and Yugi looked up when he moved closer, eyes widening when the taller teen drew him into a tight embrace and pressed his face into his neck, mumbling a soft, "That's why you're so fucking irritating, right?" in a teasing tone that made him laugh.

"Screw you, Yami. You're twice as bad as I am," he snorted cheekily. "You and your stupid little habits and your annoying little commentary and—I can kiss longer than you can so I have that one over you. Oh, and I still totally want to have you tied up to the bed as my prize later."

Yami laughed in his ear. "Hmm, yeah…" he murmured, voice taking on a soft sultry edge. "Wouldn't that be fun? Get to do whatever you want."

"Fuck…"

The taller teen pulled back with a wide smirk, winking at him and stepping back once. "Maybe next time."

Yugi blinked and rolled his eyes before studying him for a moment; now he recognized that gleam in his gaze and it was making his stomach clench as it had earlier. "What's wrong?" he finally asked. "You don't have to—"

"I…think it finally caught up to me," he admitted quietly, looking away and studying the screen on the shop where it was replaying Slifer destroying Duke's heart points. "The abuse or something…I don't really know anymore. I think I just…I don't know."

"And you're sure I can't help you with it? I—Rebecca's dad studied psychology for years, maybe he could…Or…I don't know. Therapists or counselors or…you know, just something." Yugi shrugged with a helpless expression as Yami's eyes flickered to take in his face, the smaller boy looking slightly shaken but more determined than anything else now that he really had his attention. "I'll go with you—I mean, of course I would, but I…I don't…If you don't want to…"

"I don't think a therapist can actually help me with this," Yami admitted. "They're trained to deal with this kind of thing, yes, but I…I wouldn't listen. I already know I wouldn't and if I know that then why waste the time on it?"

The smaller boy opened his mouth to argue but then nodded instead, sighing softly and giving him a small broken smile. "Okay. If you're sure, then that's okay too. Um…I guess then you'll have to figure this one out on your own, huh?"

"For now, yes. It won't take much longer. I promise you that much." He paused. "I can take on the bigger part of it later. For now it's all about the smaller one and that won't take nearly as long."

Yugi nodded again and chewed his cheek, repeating the dip of his head and then running his teeth over his lip for a moment before sighing loudly. "Tell me something real fast, Yami."

The taller teen blinked and gave a small nod for him to continue.

"…Are you depressed? Like clinically depressed?"

He hesitated of a moment and thought it over before shaking his head. "No. I think I'm borderline, actually. I seem to be toeing the line lately but I don't think I'm going to end up depressed like you're probably thinking."

Yugi studied his face for a moment and nodded again. "Okay."

Was now a good time to explain why he was on that precipice between states of mentality? Shouldn't he tell him before they got serious? But if he did and Yugi turned away from him, despite that "soul catcher" pitch that Atem had thrown him, he knew he would fall straight into it without so much as a hesitation. And he didn't want to risk that. Depression wasn't something that he wanted to take a chance at playing with. Just the thought scared him when it came down to it and the idea that he could be tossed straight into it if he wasn't careful made him feel sick.

"I, um…" I hate myself…and I think you might only love me because of the Puzzle because there's really nothing else to make you do so, but I don't want to question it because if I can pretend it doesn't have any bearing on this like Atem told me, then maybe I'll be okay in the end of this… "I am deeply sorry for my behavior before. I…Ignoring you was never my intention at first. I just…I didn't want to tell you about this. I thought…I guess I just got too scared to tell you…"

"Yeah, here's the thing, Yami," the smaller boy stated, narrowing his eyes slightly. "You ignore me again—ever again—and I'm going to punch you hard enough to break that pretty little jaw of yours, got it?"

He couldn't help but grin at the statement, nodding easily. "Noted."

"Good because I don't really want to have to have them fixing your jaw. It would kind of make it hard to have make out session with you, after all," he commented, rolling his eyes. "Very hard, actually."

Yami chuckled softly. "Oh yes, I suppose it would, wouldn't it?"

Yugi wrinkled his nose at him and glanced over his shoulder once before turning back to him, looking more relaxed than he had in a while, smiling at him gently. "How long do you think a little time is? I mean, um…no rush, of course, but I have to admit it's…not my strong suit being patient about things I want. If it was you probably wouldn't have ended up at the warehouse in the first place, right? I mean, sex, sex, sex…and I need to shut the fuck up already."

He burst out laughing and shook his head. "Don't worry. I don't mind that. Babble away, little one," he teased, smiling and putting his hands in his pockets; his shoulder ached softly with the movement and his side tingled as he brushed his hand over it unconsciously, but aside from that he barely even noticed they existed in the first place. "But to answer your question, I think I just need a week, maybe two…maybe even less. I don't know yet. I have to figure out what I'm doing first and then I'll work at it from there. But a week at minimum, most probably."

The smaller teen nodded, frowning slightly at the statement. "Okay." He wasn't sure if he should open his mouth and attempt something further or just leave it at that and he could see the amusement on Yami's face, knowing either one was good enough for him. For a moment he wondered if maybe he was worried that he would turn away any second but he didn't want to think about that fully; if Yami had such little faith in him, then he doubted he had much more for himself at this point. "A week, I can handle a week."

Yami raised a brow. "Maybe longer…"

"Don't fuck with my head right now, damn it. I need to brace myself for the week and then the possibility of a little longer. I can't do them both at the same time!"

He held his hands up, biting his lip to keep from laughing. "Okay."

Yugi nodded again and let out a deep huff of breath. "A week. I can handle a week." He groaned and rolled his eyes. "Going to be one long week."

"I'm sorry."

"Not your fault. Just…you know, when the week is up, if I haven't heard from you, I'm going to get pissed."

"What if I need longer?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, Yami, do you not know what the fuck communication means?"

He burst out laughing, holding his hands up again as Yugi scowled at him openly. "Right, right. Sorry. I will text you—"

"Fuck that. If you're going to need more time you better be calling me to tell me that shit. I need something to work with in the meantime."

"You couldn't just…imagine my voice as you read it?"

"You want me to be patient and imagine your voice while reading a text? You greedy little bastard. Hell no that isn't happening."

Yami chuckled and nodded before pressing a small kiss to his forehead, a simple peck that made the smaller boy freeze, eyes widening drastically as a small blush suddenly crossed his cheeks. "Ra, I've missed you," he muttered so quietly that Yugi barely heard him, eyes widening further as the taller boy smiled softly, lips curved in that lopsided way that made him beautiful in an oddly adorable way.

"Well…not too much longer, right?" Yugi commented quietly, chewing his cheek.

"Let's hope."

"Uh-uh, none of that. Say it won't be much longer. It'll make it easier for me."

"It won't take that much longer."

Yugi nodded. "Good," he stated firmly, chewing his cheek again and searching his face for a long minute before smiling slightly. "Um…I know you probably don't want me to but I need to thank you for helping out with the game shop. I…you…Grandpa and I would have been out on the streets otherwise so—"

"Yeah, you're right. I really don't want you to."

He rolled his eyes. "Suck it up."

"Actually, I thought that was your job," he teased.

The other boy's face turned bright red, lips twisting into a slight scowl. "Stop that!"

"Can't help it." He bit his tongue for a moment, feeling a little twist in his stomach; they were prolonging and it wasn't going to be good if they kept doing so. "I…"

"Yeah, yeah, you need to go," Yugi supplied, nodding again and sighing loudly before hugging him tightly, squeezing with enough force to make him wince; Yami went about pulling the boy impossibly closer, surprised that he didn't object to the way that the Puzzle pressed so sharply into both of their abdomens. "I love you, darkness."

"…Did you just…?"

"You call me little one and I call you darkness. It's either that or stupid. I thought you would like darkness better."

Yami burst out laughing. "So sweet."

"Like cotton candy. I'll rot your teeth out if you aren't careful."

"Ooh, sounds like a threat."

"Hmm. Well, I did say I would break your jaw…"

Yugi purred at the feel of his hand rubbing up and down his back for a moment, not comforting but just that extra action that made him squeeze his eyes shut and try to bury himself in his warmth. Mm, he smelled good too. Yum. He snuggled a little more into his chest, trying to breathe him in until his head swam and the scent was imprinted in his mind for the rest of his life, but it was a stupid thought. He already had that nestled in his heart and needing it in his head was far from necessary.

"I love you too, little one."

He nodded a little, fighting the urge to just cling to him until he either grew uncomfortable enough to call for help or tried to pry him off or he got too tired to even keep his grip anymore. He drew in a deep breath, biting his cheek against the twist of his heart in his chest, and stepped back just enough that the taller teen was no longer in his grasp but within easy reach. He guessed maybe he was half-expecting Yami to turn out to be some kind of sick delusion dwelling in the back of his mind, some kind of insidious festering sickness that planned to invade all of his being eventually, drive him insane and leave him wanting, needing…willing to fall to his knees and beg…

"By the way, Yugi…it's a psychiatrist, not therapist," Yami said suddenly, shutting off his train of thought as easily as if he had just switched a flip in his head.

The smaller teen blinked wide eyes and then glowered at him. "Oh shut up! I tried, okay?" he snapped, rolling his eyes as the other teen grinned widely.

"And your efforts are greatly appreciated," he snorted, laughing and running off while the other boy glared after him and flipped him off once, smiling as soon as he was out of view and glancing around to see if he could find his grandpa around there somewhere. He just hoped Yami would figure out whatever it was he needed to…

"You know, we should get you snockered!" Ryou announced.

Yami froze from where he was about to drink some soda, staring at him in complete confusion. "Excuse me?"

"Snockered."

"Yes…but what the fuck does that mean?"

Ryou opened his mouth and then fell silent, frowning. "Bugger. I don't remember the word for it…" He paused and narrowed his eyes, tilting his head and leaning against Yami's counter with his arms crossed and his head down slightly. "Damn it."

"What does it involve, exactly?"

"Alcohol."

"You mean, you want me to get plastered?" he asked incredulously, eyebrow shooting up and head tilted to the side before narrowing his eyes skeptically. "You actually want me to get drunk."

"Snockered sounds better." He paused and shook his head. "Either way, yes. You just won that game against Duke, got Yugi and his grandpa their home, and you haven't celebrated yet! We should get you snockered!"

The red-eyed teen stared at him for a long minute and then smiled slightly with a small shake of his head, watching him closely and searching his face for a moment before looking away again. Getting drunk sounded oddly appealing at the moment, though he didn't really want to. It sounded like fun but at the same time he felt a little unhappy with the idea. Drunk…

"Snockered." Yami grinned widely and shook his head before taking a sip of soda and glancing at him sideways. "That has to be the sexiest word I've heard in the last month."

Ryou snickered and shook his head. "See? We should do it because it's a sexy word."

"Oh, the pick up lines I could use. 'Hey, baby, why don't you and I both get snockered?' or 'I'd like to snocker with you'. Hmm… 'You and I were born to get snockered together'," he snorted, rolling his eyes and shaking his head. "'Snockerifically snockered is the way to be a true snockered snockerer.'"

"I don't understand that last one."

"Drunkerifically drunk is the way to be a true drunk drinker," Yami translated, nodding and putting his soda aside. "Hmm…the more I say it the more I like the sound. Snocker. Snockered. Snockered, snockered…snockered. Yes, I think I want to get snockered."

"Just because of the word?" Ryou laughed. "I had a pitch and everything."

"Trying to get me in bed there, Ryou?"

"Oh, what?! No!"

"Not even a blush? I'm insulted. Why the fuck are you trying so hard then?"

"I don't know. I guess I just want someone to get snockered with."

"Snocker buddies."

"Mmhmm."

Yami nodded a little and then headed for the door before he could rethink the idea; two hours later Ryou was enjoying the view of how buzzed and disoriented the other teen was. The red-eyed teen was so magnificently plastered that he was complaining about people moving too fast and the lights hurting his eyes, the way that his head had bees in it…

"You want to go home yet, Yami?"

The eyes were as glassy as he had expected, though the pronounced state of the veins in the whites made his spine go rigid for a split second. "Not with you," he mumbled, words slurred but oddly coherent all the same, baritone pitch lurching forward as if to pick up for his lack of physical balance. "You look like Bakura. I don't like Bakura."

Ryou snickered and shook his head. "Oh, I don't like you like that."

Yami stared at him for a moment and then hissed, "You know Bakura is my cousin?"

"Yes, Yami, I know."

"Oh, okay…good." He nodded and turned away, peering into the crowd for a moment before turning back. "My head hurts."

"Yeah, that's what happens when you get snockered…"

"Snockered," Yami drawled, laughter biting the edges of the word. "So British…"

Ryou chuckled and nodded before putting his soda down and leaning against the table. "So, Yami, you get snockered often?"

"Ooh, a pick up line!"

"Mmhmm."

The teen stared at him for a moment before turning away again. "Pick up lines don't work on me," he sang loudly, making a couple of people turn, a few laughing and another whispering about what Ryou assumed was his volume control or something else that he would rather them not know about just yet.

"Oh, I know they don't," he teased, trying to make him lower his voice. "But you know who they do work on?"

"They actually work?" Yami asked, spinning on him with wide eyes, gawking. "Oh my god…"

"Yes, sometimes they do. Especially on Yugi."

The red-eyed teen shot at him so fast that Ryou had no chance to react, at first seeming dangerously close to choking him before whispering in his ear, "Is he here?"

"No, but he could be. Do you want him here?"

Yami hesitated and then draped his arms around Ryou's neck, one of them reaching for the drink that the bartender was putting out for someone else while the other was pressing against the wood that made up the counter, struggling for balance as he squinted. "Yes."

"So, if I called him and asked him to come, would you be nice to him?"

"Of course! I love the little bastard," Yami snickered, giggling after a moment and then whining pitifully with a wave of his hand at the drink that was taken away from him by the girl. "Bye-bye, snocker…"

Ryou rolled his eyes, laughing as the other teen pulled away and sat back on the stool with a blink, turning away and staring at the floor. "Yeah? So, if he showed up, would you go home with him?"

"Are you stupid?" Yami grumbled, peering at him. "Of course I would!"

"Give me your phone."

"Don't touch her! She's my baby. You can't have my baby."

"But I want to call Yugi."

"No, fuck you. Yugi is mine."

He fought back an eye roll. "Yami, I want to bring Yugi here. I need to call him to do that."

Yami didn't seem interested enough to pay attention to him anymore, instead staring off at someone else, peering at them and muttering something along the lines of what Ryou thought to be an awed statement of them looking like a disco ball; the albino watched how he got involved in staring at the others around them and then hesitated for a split second before snatching the phone out of the red-eyed teen's pocket. The teen turned his head and stared at him before hissing, "You look like Bakura."

"Mmhmm."

"That looks like my phone!"

"I know!"

"Oh my god…we have the same phone!"

"Oh my god, yes!"

"Holy shit."

"I know. Shocking right?"

Yami started searching his pockets and then whined loudly and looked ready to cry when he murmured, "I can't find her!"

"I know," Ryou soothed, nodding gently at him before going back to the phone screen to finish texting; he recoiled a second later, cursing under his breath when it went off with the call screen. "Fuck."

"Ew, no! You're like…a smaller version of my cousin! Gross!"

"Hush for a second, okay?" he griped, Yami nodding after a moment, and then swiped to accept the call. "Hey Yugi—"

"Why the fuck do you have his phone and what the fuck does snockered mean?" the other teen snarled in his ear immediately. "I swear to god if you did something to him, I'm going to hang you by your intestines."

"Yami is too drunk to walk home with me," Ryou explained, giving him a sharp look when he started to open his mouth. "I need some help getting him home. He keeps thinking I'm Bakura and they're fighting so…"

"So get a cab, moron."

"I can't pay the fair."

"Okay, so you fucking took him to get 'snockered' and then you don't have enough money to take care of getting him home," Yugi surmised, furious. "Are you fucking shitting me, you stupid bastard?"

"No, I am quite serious. And I didn't bring him to get snockered. He was already here when I happened by. I came in to check on him and he refuses to come home. I don't want him to get—"

"Where are you?"

"The—"

"Never mind. I'll track his phone," Yugi snarled shortly, hanging up immediately.

"Bloody assholes," Ryou snorted. "Him and your cousin, I swear."

"You lied."

"I know," he grumbled, smiling at him before slipping the phone back into his pocket. "Hey, Yami, check for your phone again."

The red-eyed teen blinked and then searched his pockets, pulling it out and gawking at it. "She came back!"

Ryou snickered in amusement, waiting out the twenty minutes with Yami who continued talking nonsensical things with him and then started playing with his cup; he had just knocked it off the table and across the floor, shattering the glass and leaving the albino cursing violently when Yugi walked in. He supposed it was a good thing they were still at the bar because, as anyone else would do, that was the exact place Yugi headed first.

Yami leaped from his seat when he saw him, shot over, and grabbed him tightly enough that the smaller teen winced and looked squished. "Aibou, aibou, aibou," the taller boy sang in his ear, purring and hugging him tighter until he felt like his eyes would pop out; Yugi awkwardly patted his back a couple of times.

"Hey Yami."

"I love you."

Yugi didn't blink. "I love you too," he murmured, narrowing his eyes at Ryou for a moment; he didn't really remember Yami ever being this completely clingy when he was drunk. Sure he was stupid crazy and adorable when he was like that, but this was not the least bit amusing; something was so completely off that he hated it. "Can you let me go for a moment? I wanted to speak to Ryou for a second…"

"But…" Yami glanced at him and then turned back, dropping his voice into a whisper. "Ryou is boring. And British. You don't need to talk to him."

Yugi snickered in his ear. "I know. But that's why I have to talk to him. I think he did something he wasn't supposed to."

"Is he in trouble?"

"I don't know yet."

"Oh, okay." Yami let go of him after a moment and looked like an excited five-year-old as Yugi started towards Ryou, the taller teen immediately going to his side and walking with him.

"Hi Yugi."

"Don't hi me," Yugi spat, bristling. "You brought him here to get drunk and then lied to me over the phone, you stupid bastard. What were you planning to do exactly?"

"Just this," he said with a shrug, gesturing to them. "Get you here to talk to him. I think there's something that he's not telling the rest of us and you're probably the only one who can get it out of him."

"That's none of your fucking business, now is it? Obviously if he had wanted any of us to know about it, he would have told us before. Getting him drunk so that he tells us this kind of crap—"

"Yugi, look, he's miserable. Anyone around him for more than five seconds can tell"—he watched the smaller teen glance at Yami who was attempting to take his seat again but seemed a little confused about how to do it—"and I thought maybe if he saw you again, that might cheer him up some. After he first saw you at Duke's shop, he was so happy and then after an hour or two it was just gone. And he was miserable again."

"What the fuck are you even hoping to get out of this?"

"I don't want anything. I just…it's hard being around him so much when he's like this."

"So you suck it up or don't bother with it," Yugi snarled, doing a double take when Yami nearly knocked the stool over and ended up staring at him with wide eyes when he realized he had been caught staggering that hard. Ryou saw it immediately as the blue-violet-eyed teen stiffened and froze in place for a single second as he and Yami looked at one another. "You drugged him…"

"…Yes."

Yugi stayed quiet for a moment and then moved forward to help Yami back onto the stool, all but lifting him into the seat though he held the stool down with his foot and used the other hand to keep the taller teen balanced. "I'm going to kill you."

"What did I do?" Yami objected, frowning before grabbing him tightly and purring into his shoulder. "Although, if it's you who does it, I won't complain."

The smaller teen didn't know if that was the drugs or Yami talking but the statement still set an alarm off in his head and made him stare for a moment before looking to Ryou again, setting about covering up Yami's statement immediately though he didn't think that the albino had heard or else he wouldn't have that same slightly frustrated but mostly amused look on his face.

"You piece of shit. You drugged him."

"I needed to have him tipsy and off balance just so that he would let me call you, yes," he snapped, bristling at the way that Yugi's eyes bore into him. "We've been here two hours and I've been trying to get him to call you as he got more and more intoxicated and he refused each time."

"What is your obsession with having me near him? And don't tell me that it's because of earlier," he spat, rubbing at Yami's back unconsciously as the other boy pulled him closer with his legs wrapped around his waist, bringing him completely into him and holding him tightly there as if afraid he might disappear suddenly. In his drugged state, Yugi thought it was very likely that he would fear that whereas his rational state would have argued he couldn't vanish into thin air. Either way, Yami wasn't nearly as stable as he would have been had it just been alcohol and it was scary how much Yami kept leaning forward and then staggering against his skin every few seconds. "You've been at it more often than that."

Ryou stared at him for a moment in confusion. "What?"

"You texted me a while back. While at Yami's house. You texted me something about coming over. I knew it was you because Yami hadn't been responding or speaking or having anything to do with me just yet."

The albino grew slightly paler and looked almost green around the edges. "Shit. Yeah, okay, I tried to get you over there. But you don't understand. He's…He needs you. He all but told me that a few days ago when I texted you."

"All but told you that?"

"He insinuated it."

"Insinuated it," Yugi drawled coldly, nodding and rolling his eyes. "Of course he did, you idiot. He loves me and he's hurting but he doesn't need you and the others sticking your heads up his ass about everything that's going on."

"…You know what's going on," Ryou realized with wide eyes, paling as he glanced at Yami and then him with a groan; of course he knew. Why wouldn't he? They had spent all that time outside. Surely Yami had told Yugi whatever was going on, had confided in him just enough so that Yugi wouldn't be completely left in the dark and thinking that Yami didn't care about him. "Fuck."

"Mm," the red-eyed teen purred in his ear, making him snicker before rolling his eyes. "We should do that. We really should. It could be awesome."

Yugi shook his head. "No, Yami, not right now. Maybe later," he murmured.

"Okay," Yami yawned into his neck, sighing softly and sounding almost as if he were about to fall asleep.

"What the fuck did you give him?"

Ryou stayed quiet for a moment before sighing and shaking his head. "I…Goddamn it."

"You gave him a date rape, didn't you?" Yugi hissed.

"I didn't think that you knew what—"

"You fucking moron! I should have the police called on you! How dare you fucking drug him because he doesn't want to tell you something. You pathetic fucking bastard."

"I was trying to help him."

"'I was trying to help him'," Yugi sneered angrily, trembling and making Yami jolt to attention for a split second before settling into him again. "You drugged him so you could get information. Oh my god."

"You have no idea how bad this is. He told me something and he made it seem almost life-or-death if you weren't with him! And yet he won't even be around you—"

"He just needs to be alone for a little while. Goddamn it!"

"Yugi—"

"You are so lucky that we're in a public place or I would have butchered you by now," Yugi snarled, shaking his head and rubbing Yami's back again; he was pretty sure the taller teen was about to throw up because every now and then the way he breathed changed and he was pretty sure he was swallowing too often now. He hoped he wouldn't throw up on him, but he wouldn't really blame him if he did. "You know, at the hospital, the doctors worried that I didn't care enough. And they worried that you cared far too much. That one guy working on Yami's case or whatever it is, the one that Yami flipped out on before—Yuma or Yemo or something—said that you were too attached to everyone that you exposed too. I should have taken that as a warning, honestly. Because you fucking all but poisoned Yami just to get me here. You keep meddling where you shouldn't and oh my gods, if he vomits on me, I swear I'll fucking castrate you here and now."

Yami shivered suddenly and swallowed hard from his spot leaning against him and Yugi fought back the urge to push him back and check on him; he didn't know if any sudden movements would fuck him over or not and wasn't really willing to risk it at this point. He shivered again and Yugi bit back a violent noise of unhappiness at the feel.

"Ryou, what the fuck did you give him?"

"Ketamine. It's…like an animal tranquilizer…It won't kill him, but the other two I was actually looking at could have so I…"

"You gave him…an animal tranquilizer?" Yugi clapped his hands behind Yami's back, a slow applause as he glowered at him angry. "Well, aren't you just the perfect little doctor, Ryou? You stupid fucking bastard."

"Look—"

"Fuck you. I don't want to hear an apology," he snarled, bristling again and moving to rub Yami's back again when he made a low keen whining noise in his ear. "Tell me what the hell Ketamine does."

"All right, all right," he snapped, eyes widening as he looked at Yami for a moment. "It's extremely fast-acting. You can be aware of it happening but you're unable to move. It can cause memory problems. You might not even remember what happened while drugged. It can cause distorted perceptions of sight and sound, lost sense of time and identity, out of body experiences, dream-like feeling, feeling out of control, impaired motor functions, problems breathing, convulsions, vomiting, memory problems, numbness, loss of coordination, aggressive or violent behavior, depression, high blood pressure, slurred speech—"

"I'll kill you," Yugi snarled from where he had moved away from Yami just enough to deliver a punch with his left hand, his knuckles throbbing at the unfamiliar sensation; the taller teen who had been leaning against him started moving away, making him look over in alarm. And there it was. The vomiting.

Yugi cringed and squeezed his eyes shut; he hoped this wouldn't take all night or something…

It took him two hours to get Yami back to his house and up the stairs into his room but that could have been because he was so pissed he kept putting him down on the sidewalk and then punching the shit out of Ryou and then grabbing him again to walk some more. Yami was uncoordinated to the point that he was babbling under his breath and sometimes seemed to doze off and then come back again and doze off some more and when he moved too suddenly, he toppled over several times, but past that he seemed okay for the most part. He hadn't lost complete control of his body, though he did get a little nasty every now and then, snarling in his ear when he wasn't careful enough or stumbled a little due to the additional weight. He had gone off on Ryou a few times, almost like he knew what had happened even through his hazed consciousness, the way his thoughts were tied together and he had nothing left to truly wrap his head around.

"Okay, so, you're going to stay here for the night, right, Yami?" the blue-violet-eyed teen murmured, laughing when he got a disconnected rasp of breath that was too heavy and thick to be conscious. He spun on Ryou immediately, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt and pulling him forward some. "I swear on the gods, I'll fucking mutilate you for this. I can't believe you did that."

Ryou pushed him away harshly. "Okay, not one of my finest ideas," he snapped coldly. "But I was worried about him and he wouldn't tell me what was doing this to him and he's all but depressed and I thought maybe I could do something to change that."

"By drugging him like an idiot."

"By getting you here."

"You're a fucking moron."

"Whoa, wait, where are you going?" the albino demanded in shock, gawking at him as he headed for the stairs.

"Home. Yami doesn't want me here, as I already know, unlike you. You are staying here and keeping an eye on him, medical boy, and if you don't, I'm going to cut your balls off, understand? Make one little mistake, Ryou. One more little mistake."

The albino shivered once and nodded slightly while Yugi turned and headed off down the stairs; Ryou waited until Yami was completely awake but not one hundred percent coherent and then fled, already too bruised up to deal with another beating. Plus, he was pretty sure Yugi had been going easy on him in hopes that Yami would mutilate him himself when he woke up and he was not looking forward to that at all.

He shouldn't have but he still did a small double take when the door chimed and he came running downstairs to say that he needed a second only to nearly fall over himself when he spotted him in the doorway. He wasn't completely looking towards him, eyes kind of focused on a piece of merchandise a few feet away, but he knew he saw him from the edge of his vision; he could literally feel the heavy stare burning into his skin and it was oddly pleasurable but hurt all the same.

Both of them stood still for a long minute and a half and then finally Yami turned his head and gave him a small brief smile. "Hey."

"Um…hi," Yugi greeted awkwardly, starting down the stairs again until he reached the bottom and they were only a few steps away from each other; he glanced up the stairs for a moment, debating inviting him up there, and then turned back again with the idea that he really wouldn't want to anyways. "What, um…are you…doing here exactly?"

"Oh please," Yami drawled, giving a small smirk and a somewhat innocent wink. "You think a little Ketamine is going to stop me from remembering that pathetic little scene I made at the bar or being so nasty to you when you were trying to help?"

"Oh…oh fuck. I thought for sure you wouldn't remember anything…"

"Yeah, well, either Ryou didn't use a large enough dose or I have superhuman memory," he snorted, rolling his eyes. "I think I slept most of it off while I was trying not to vomit on you at the bar."

"Oh…blackouts or actual sleep or…?"

"Blackouts," Yami stated with a small nod. "Had to have been blackouts. Lost time or something. I could hear you guys arguing but past that, nothing else."

"Oh. Well, I'm sorry it happened. I never really thought…"

The taller boy let out a laugh and looked him over for a moment, the smaller boy glaring at him in annoyance; yes, he was well aware that he was still in his little Slifer pajamas. Yami could kiss his ass if he thought he could get him out of them until he was comfortable enough to do it.

"Hmm…nice."

"Shut up. I've always had them so don't think it's anything special."

"I didn't until now," he laughed. "But I'm going to pretend it's something super special anyways and that you just got them because I won with Slifer."

"Ooh, you're playing the glory hound side. Kind of hot but mostly just rude."

Yami burst out laughing and shrugged in amusement. "Yeah, seems that way, huh?" he muttered, turning away and looking over the shop for a moment; Yugi couldn't tell if it was because he felt like he hadn't been there in so long or if it was because he was stalling or if maybe he had somehow thought that the shop would have been completely destroyed at some point or other. "I came to say thank you for last night. And to apologize for—"

"You were drugged. I don't want to hear an apology because you couldn't control your aggression," Yugi snorted, rolling his eyes and smiling in amusement. "If anything, I would like to hear you say you'll stay away from Ryou for a little while."

The statement was so open-ended that Yami had to turn his head and stare at him for a long minute, looking almost as if he expected him to add something like an ultimatum at any second. Yugi stayed quiet, watching him and waiting to see how he would respond, not the least bit surprised when he shook his head slightly.

"Doctor and all that…Plus it would be a bitch explaining to my cousins why I'm suddenly ignoring Ryou altogether, though I don't think he's going to want to come around anymore so that might work out in your favor," he commented.

"Mine?" Yugi asked slowly, narrowing his eyes. "You're telling me you aren't the least bit upset with what he did?"

"Well yes, of course I am, but I…I don't know. I don't really see the point in arguing about it or anything right now."

He stared at him for a long minute and then shook his head slowly. "You don't think it's worth getting upset over the fact that he drugged you and you could have easily been overdosed if he wasn't careful?" he spat out from between clenched teeth, narrowing his eyes into slits and glaring at him though his lashes.

Yami stayed quiet and the smaller boy stiffened.

"Are you suicidal, Yami?"

"No. I'm not. I am not suicidal, Yugi. I just…I don't see the point in getting upset over it right now."

"Why not? He could have easily fucking killed you if he had given you too much! You know that Ketamine is an animal tranquilizer, right? That they use it to put animals to sleep?"

Yami nodded after a moment and sighed softly. "I think I'm more concerned about getting my head on straight than having been slipped a drug in my cup," he admitted, frowning and ducking his head slightly. "I think I'm just more concerned with that than the drug scare."

Yugi chewed his cheek and sighed softly before nodding once. "Yeah, all right."

"But if it means anything, I don't plan on getting snockered again anytime soon."

The smaller teen rolled his eyes in annoyance and shook his head, rubbing his forehead with the heel of his palm. "Gods, don't even."

He moved closer to press his nose into his temple, the smaller teen purring at the contact. "Hey, at least you've only got a day to wait, right?"

Yugi pulled back, almost falling onto his ass at his exuberance. "You mean…?"

"Mmhmm. I think I have most of the ground back under my feet. Still adjusting some but it's…yeah, I think I'm okay."

The smaller teen nodded enthusiastically. "Great!" he murmured, face splitting into a wide grin. "I'm glad—for you too, not just—whatever, never mind. You know what I mean."

Yami snorted a soft laugh, nodding once. "Yes, I understand what you mean," he murmured, smiling and shaking his head before glancing out the window of a moment. "All right, little one, I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"Sure."

Both of them stared at each other for a moment and then Yami started for the door and he narrowed his eyes in slight frustration but didn't bother to argue, instead turning to go towards the stairs.

"Hey, Yugi?"

"Yeah?"

"Think you could come over around eight tomorrow?"

"Shit, not eight," Yugi muttered, shaking his head immediately. "I have to do something at eight—well, from eight to about eleven. After that though?"

"Sure, that's fine. I just needed some time to know when you would show up."

The smaller teen nodded, watching him slip out the door before he came back and poked his head in, snickering, "Nice pajamas. Really, aibou" before running off as he went to snap at him that he could kiss his ass if he didn't like them.

"Yami?" he called loudly, starting towards the living room and looking around in alarm; if he found him bleeding somewhere, he was not going to be a happy camper. Shit, what if it was his dad and he was still lurking around the corner somewhere? He started forward, closing the door behind him and locking it before starting forward again; if they were here, wouldn't they have come running at him when they heard him calling his name?

"Yami?"

"Basement!"

Basement? Shit…he had a basement?

Yugi blinked and pressed his face into his palm, shaking his head in annoyance; of course he did. He had seen it when he had first come to the house after Yami hadn't answered the phone. He wandered into the kitchen and then frowned when he realized he didn't know how the hell to get into the—

"Oh my god, don't fucking do that!" he yelped loudly, blushing furiously at the other teen's surprised look before he chuckled from where he was poking his head out of the basement door. "Fuck…I thought that was a second pantry or something."

Yami snickered and shook his head, rolling his eyes playfully. "You're adorable when you're stupid," he teased, opening the door all the way for him and then heading back down the stairs; Yugi immediately followed without thought, glancing around slowly.

"Is that your parents' stuff?"

That seemed almost like a rude question but it definitely wasn't Yami's and the bed was massive, a queen size maybe? Yugi blinked and studied it for a moment; it looked like it had been built out of some kind of foreign wood, definitely nothing that he had seen before.

"Yes, the plan was always for me to have the bedrooms set up so that it looked like they lived here with me."

"Oh." The blue-violet-eyed teen pursed his lips but followed him anyways. "Well that obviously didn't happen."

"No it did not, dear little smartass."

"Better than being a dumbass!" he sang.

Yami chuckled but didn't respond, looking at his phone and then the washer before giving him a pitiful glance. "How do you work this thing?"

Yugi burst out laughing. "You wanted me here to do laundry with you?"

"No, actually I wanted you here so I could fuck you a little and then finish the laundry. Obviously that…is not completely set to happen either…"

"Fuck?" the smaller teen questioned, frowning and chewing his cheek. "Are we…going back to that?"

"Hmm? No, I meant…" Yami fell silent for a moment and then turned to him. "We have to talk before we do anything—besides the laundry. Because I need some fucking help with this!"

"You've never done laundry before?"

"Hell no. Who do you think I am?"

Yugi burst out laughing. "Someone who doesn't know how to work a washing machine."

"You are a cruel little bastard, aren't you?"

"I am. I agree wholeheartedly."

"Okay, so help me with this before we do anything else?"

"Can we not talk while doing this? Or does that require too much brainpower for you?"

"I suppose we could do that. I mean, why not?" Yami muttered, grabbing the detergents and looking them all over before snatching the fabric softener and then staring at all of them with a shocked look. "What the fuck do I do with all of these?!"

The smaller teen choked on his laughter. "You put them in their places as marked on the flap!" he snorted, smiling and gesturing.

"What the fuck is a pre-wash?" he snapped. "What do I do with that?"

"Nothing. You avoid it and put in a capful of detergent in the main wash section before putting softener in the softener spot and then closing it and starting it up."

Yami studied all of his instructions for a moment and then looked the machine over. "Have you ever sat on it while it's going?"

"What? No, why?"

"Because they always do that on TV shows and I was curious about if it was fun."

"Probably like having your ass massaged in very soothing vibrating motions."

Yami's eyes nearly popped out of his head as he stared at the machine and then glanced at him and back. "You have no idea how appealing that sounds right now."

"I know, now I want to do it," he snorted, smiling widely as the other teen started to fill it up as marked and then jumped on top and turned the dial to start it; Yugi immediately leaped up with him and shivered at the soft vibrations. "Ass massages are amazing."

"Yeah?" Yami chuckled.

"Although, it would be more fun if it was fingers kneading flesh…"

The taller teen jumped off the machine as suddenly as his curiosity had appeared, chewing his cheek as he paced forward a few steps and turned around to look at him for a moment. "What are you doing here?"

"You, um…invited me…?"

"No, Yugi, I mean, why did you actually come?"

"What do you mean?" he asked, leaning forward and narrowing his eyes slightly. "I don't get…You knew I would come! I love you, that's why I came. Why wouldn't I come to see you…?"

Yami shook his head a few times, opening and closing his mouth twice before shaking his head again and chewing on his thumbnail with a confused and slightly scared look to his feverish eyes.

"Come here, darkness," Yugi stated, stretching his hand out and giving him a pleading look. "Talk to me. What's going on? I thought you wanted me here."

"I do!" Yami objected immediately before frowning and shaking his head again.

"The most painful moments in a relationship are often the most beautiful," Atem had murmured before, smiling widely and looking as if he were a child on Christmas morning. "Soul catchers are just too strong to be ignored. I think one of the Item bearers in my time lost their mind because theirs died. You share emotions, you can almost share thoughts, you share each other's wounds and bleed the same blood. It's hard, yes, but it's beautiful and morbid and cunning. It's always worth it if you fight for it…"

"Darkness…"

The other teen looked up, red eyes fevered in the half-light and his expressionless gaze narrowed so that his dark lashes cut through the restless look in long strips of shadow, his face guarded but reminding Yugi of physical pain; he opened his mouth to coax him closer but found himself silenced when Yami moved towards him, an unusual show of nervousness making him pull on his jacket sleeves. The air around him was dark, quivering with energy that could have easily been read as anger had it been anyone else, but the smaller teen recognized the desperation and fear that made the atmosphere so much heavier, weighing it drastically.

For a moment Yugi had the brief thought that if he only opened his arms Yami would walk straight into him but the idea was quickly squashed by the reality of the situation; the red-eyed teen wasn't going to just run into his embrace like a loyal dog, rather taking the stance of a cautious animal, a wolf, instead studying and gauging even as his feet moved in slow, deliberate steps to bring him back to only a foot away from him.

"I've been meaning to ask you something, actually…"

The smaller teen furrowed his brows and nodded at him to continue.

"I was always curious about if you believed in that whole…soul mate business thing."

Yugi blinked and frowned at him. "Are you asking if I actively believe in soul mates?"

"No, I mean, have you ever believed in them?"

He shook his head after a long minute, frown deepening. "No," he admitted. "And if you're asking if I think that's what we are, then no. I don't."

Yami shook his head in response. "No, I just wanted to know if you had ever believed in them at any point." He smiled and repeated the gesture after a moment. "I've never actually believed in them either. I was just curious about if you have."

"Yami, I don't get what this has to do with anything…What did you want to talk about exactly?"

He chewed his cheek, debating what he should say to him, because he didn't want to talk about the Puzzle and surely not the soul catcher idea that Atem had given him. No, he didn't want to tell him about either of those because if Yugi was his soul catcher and then Yugi had someone else as his, he thought he might vomit.

"All right. Allow me one thing now, Yugi."

The blue-violet-eyed boy blinked in surprise and sat straighter, tilting his head before narrowing his eyes to fight the urge to agree immediately to anything he said.

"I want this conversation to stay here, beneath the ground, where it will remain buried should I make a fool of myself," he growled in a rough voice that shook slightly at the edges and alerted Yugi to just how scared he truly was. His eyes narrowed further and seem to draw in the dank light around them to glow in the darkness for a split second, just enough for Yugi to take note but not enough to make him focus on it completely even as he watched him lower those gleaming red slits to scowl at this jacket sleeve with a frustrated noise. "You saw what I did at the warehouse."

"Yes."

"How much?" he asked, red eyes locking with his, searching his face before narrowing further.

"More than your cousin or Rebecca put together," he admitted. "I think I saw almost all of it."

"Well, it has to be nothing that you haven't already known this whole time," he commented quietly, voice taking on a slightly stiff note while Yugi chewed his cheek, his mind immediately supplying him with all of the times that Yami would curl in on himself. Of his sharp temper and cold tongue, the way that he would distort into some kind of darker version of himself when he felt truly threatened.

"I thought you were bipolar for a while," he admitted, shrugging. "But yeah, I guess it was pretty obvious…or at least it should have been, anyways."

Yugi had to admit he was getting a little annoyed with the butt massage going on under him; the machine kept shaking a little too much at times and it was completely throwing his rhythm of enjoyment off.

For a moment he was silent and then his voice lifted to separate the air just enough for Yugi to hear, almost too quiet for the smaller teen to catch his words. "I always worried you were going to push me too far, that I would snap and you would wind up hurt."

It was barely audible, a clear confession that Yami just wanted out there rather than for Yugi to actually hear, but in between the silence and the soft hum of the machine beneath him, the small teen did hear it and it made him freeze in surprise. Yami noticed this, eyes flashing straight to his face with a slightly fearful expression before growing calm again as if he had just drawn strength from the knowledge of his words being heard.

"You push me too hard sometimes," he admitted in a steady voice, a little louder than the previous statement. "But for whatever reason you don't make me break. I don't understand it, but I…it still worries me. And I…I can't shake it off, Yugi. Especially not after that day when you read my text messages. I thought I was going to hurt you. I thought for a second…"

"But you didn't."

"No, I didn't," he agreed in a dry voice, shaking his head in irritation before momentarily clenching his jaw and chewing his cheek violently for a second, the muscles jumping beneath his skin and leaving Yugi's flesh quivering with worry for the taller teen. "But that might have a simple enough explanation if you're willing to listen to it."

Yugi wanted to argue that he didn't need to hear the reason, just that it was an absolution so far and he didn't mind that Yami wasn't completely in control of himself all the time. Because maybe he just wasn't meant to be and who could honestly expect it with all the things that he had gone through before and recently?

"The Puzzle doesn't affect who the soul catcher is. It can't make someone love you back if they don't, Yami. That comes from two hearts, two souls, two different people. Even the strongest of the Puzzle's magic doesn't make a bond between two soul catchers. It's impossible. Yes, the Puzzle can draw strength from you and Yugi but that's the most it can do…"

Yami stared at him for a moment and then shook his head slowly; no, he wasn't about to tell him about the Puzzle, nor the soul catchers. He didn't even know if he believed that himself. He did believe that Yugi loved him but he didn't think he could find it in himself to believe all of what the pharaoh had to offer when he spoke to him.

"I'm in love with you. I told you before and I'm telling you now, Yugi. I love you." He hadn't really meant to do it but when he looked up their eyes locked and he found himself tilting his head slightly to the side, once again casting shadows across his gaze that Yugi could never hope to read. "I thought that I would try giving you space at first. At the hospital, you being there scared the shit out of me. I honestly have no idea what I supposed to say or do and it didn't help that I had heard your conversation with Rebecca."

His eyes stretched wide, blinking before wincing and nodding slightly. "I don't suppose it did."

"Doesn't that scare you, even a little? That you were willing to curl up next to me and die there? That can't…I don't…" He shook his head slightly and turned away, staring at the floor. "I don't want you to think like that."

"And yet it already happened. It's terrifying but it happened and it's over with so just…move on from it, Yami."

Yami stayed quiet for a minute that seemed endless to the smaller teen who debated jumping down and walking over to him but merely sat up a little more when the red gaze turned on him again. "You never once got worried that I would lose against Duke," he commented suddenly.

He blinked. "No," he agreed. "Why would I?"

"You have more faith in me than I do."

Yugi shrugged slightly. "I think that's probably shared between us," he muttered. "But isn't that normal or something?"

"I don't think it's normal when you want to curl up and die with someone."

"And yet there are double suicides between couples all the time, Yami. They all claim they love each other so much that they wanted to die together, go to a better place…"

"Yugi…"

"Look, Yami, I don't know what exactly you want me to say about that. I would have done it and I wouldn't have hesitated. And I'm pretty sure you would have done the same or am I wrong about that?"

"No, you're completely right. But why doesn't that scare you?"

"I don't know." Yugi shrugged again with a bewildered look. "I don't know and I don't have the words you want to hear. I don't have an explanation. All I know is that I would have done it and I wouldn't have regretted it."

Yami stared at him for a long moment and then shook his head slowly before sighing and chewing his cheek. "Maybe we should go to counseling or something…"

"Ew."

"You offered to go with me when it was about me."

"Yeah, but that's you. I mean, if you're depressed or borderline, you need to see about that. But hey, this is melodramatic teenage love. I think it happens every now and then. Like girls or guys killing themselves over breakups or something."

Yami blinked. "Fucking hell."

Yugi shrugged again. "I don't know."

"Okay," he muttered, nodding slightly and chewing his cheek before blinking and turning his attention to the timer at Yugi's side before dragging his eyes back to his. "I thought I should probably tell you that it's your decision if you want us to be more than…this."

The smaller teen bit back a snarl that of course he wanted more for the two of them, instead narrowing his eyes slightly as he continued.

"If you don't want to be anything more than fuck buddies, I'll live with it. I'll stay here for whenever you need me…and when I finally can't take it anymore, when I can't bear being on the same continent, and when I'm completely sure you've found someone, I'll go back overseas. Maybe the states, or maybe further into Egypt. Hell, maybe I'll just travel…I heard it's fun when you're hurting…"

The pain hit him hard, his heart seeming to explode with it even as it shot through his veins and tore through his consciousness, ripped at his insides and left him hollow and bleeding with the sensation. Yami was offering him something he had no need to, and what was worse was the was tearing himself up in order to do it, cutting up sections of his heart and soul in a haphazardly manner, almost if he wished to hand it to him like a slice of cake, gouge out one section and somehow manage to retain his overall form. Yugi took a minute to truly calm down enough to take in the way that Yami was watching so closely, hitting him violently now that this had to be the second time he had witnessed Yami sacrifice his own pride for him. It was knowing how much it cost him, realizing just how much it hurt and left Yami bleeding on the inside, that made his eyes water.

"We can always be friends," Yami stated, nodding slightly and giving him a small genuine smile that made his heart ache all the more. "If you decide your place isn't with me, I can still be your friend."

Yugi fought back a series of trembles at the idea that maybe Yami did not really believe in what he was offering but knowing somewhere deep inside of him that he did, that he truly thought he could simply stand by and watch Yugi be with someone else. It was only after Yami had turned away, looking slightly confused as he took in the darkness that the night had to offer them from the window, a small stray beam of moonlight streaming through the glass, that Yugi swallowed back the sob that threatened to escape him. Yami would try; he would always try.

"I…I really did worry sometimes that maybe you were bipolar and sometimes I thought maybe you were a ticking time bomb, that we would never really last. But I…when you attacked Arkana and Pegasus at the warehouse, Kaiba told us about how you've only ever lost control of a situation like that twice in your life, that it's happened since you were six. I guess he thought he could scare me with the idea," he admitted quietly, watching as Yami tipped his head to the side and red eyes regarded him coldly through his long lashes, as if he were dying to ask Why aren't you? Any sane person would be but didn't have the strength to voice the question that could potentially tear him to pieces completely. "I heard it in his tone when he talked about it. But you've never hurt me. And I can't be afraid of something that just might happen anymore. It's the one thing that always holds me back…"

"I think you should probably take time to really think about all of this, Yugi. The shock of it all must have worn off by now," Yami commented quietly, eyes sliding away to regard the grass that grew in the window's view, moving his hands to tuck them into his pockets and ignoring the stare that the smaller boy gave him. "This way you can have a level head while you consider all the pros and cons…"

"Did you really think I wouldn't choose you?" Yugi asked softly a few moments later when he was sure Yami wasn't going to speak anymore; he watched the taller teen's jaw lock in place and his eyes widen drastically for a split second as if he were afraid to consider the words that had just left his mouth. "Yami, I already chose you."

Yami stiffened until he couldn't quite move his body completely though his eyes narrowed and he stared at him through the corner of his eye as if he thought the smaller boy was joking.

"I love you too," he said quietly, hopping down to go over and grab his hands. He linked their fingers together and squeezed when the taller boy's expression turned sharp and cynical. "If I didn't, I wouldn't be here right now. And I wouldn't have said it in the first place. I know…I know I was a little late with saying it back since you said it months ago but…Yami, I do love you."

He stared at him with a suddenly furious expression but it didn't seem like it was directed towards him, more broken and confused and strained than anything else, and the blue-violet-eyed boy blinked in surprise. Yami moved to pull his hands away but Yugi kept his grip, refusing to let go despite the way that his eyes widened and he started to look extremely scared out of his mind.

"Why?"

Yugi had to admit that the venom in that one word threw him a little off balance. Why what exactly? It looked like Yami had something massive to ask him but settled for something far smaller and more manageable when he spoke again.

"Why would you choose me? My parents have disowned me and I have no money—or well, I do, fifty million dollars' worth but I don't ever want to touch it. I have no fucking idea what I'm going to do after high school because I was formerly a spoiled little brat who had his goals laid out for him. I have no fucking idea what I will do later in life. I can't do laundry. I'm useless as far as chores go. I'm liable to lose my temper and hurt someone and you could damn well be putting yourself in harm's way by staying with me. You can never truly know with me. It's impossible to know when I'll snap and when I won't. How the hell could you possibly choose something like that?"

The smaller teen snorted, leaning forward to bury his face into the taller boy's collarbone, pulling his hands away to wrap his arms around his neck; Yami didn't return the hug, stiffening at the contact, but he had never expected him to in the first place.

"I don't know what I plan to do after school either, and I don't know if we'll be okay later. I don't even know if one day I'll wake up and not care about life anymore or if I'll make you hate me. I don't know how many times we'll fight. I don't know how many times I'll hurt you and you'll hurt me in return. I don't know how many times I'll trigger your darker side and draw him out to play with me a little. I don't know when we'll push each other until we break and bleed. But what I do know is the feeling of how horrible it is to live without you."

Yami pulled away from him, not the least bit surprised when Yugi willingly let him slip out of his grip, watching with a small smile as the red-eyed teen turned his attention to the floor in contemplation. He was pretty sure Yami had backed out of the initial question he had been about to ask him in the first place but he didn't want to push and the other boy seemed a little shaken as it was, like he couldn't quite grasp what was going on but he was trying hard to do so. His eyes snapped from one corner of the room to the other and then slowly scraped their way up a wall to settled on the ceiling slowly; his attention solidified completely on one little spot there that Yugi knew he would never find no matter how long and hard he searched for it.

But Yugi liked this. He enjoyed seeing the way that the other teen searched his mind for an explanation as if his words made no sense, liked witnessing the way that he frowned slightly and shifted his weight to the left subtly and narrowed his eyes again. He liked the way that he examined this gift he was receiving for some kind of cracks that Yugi knew he wouldn't find but sought out anyways, liked the way his head tilted to the side and his arms moved to unconsciously cross in front of his chest, his fingers digging into his arms through the thing material of his jacket.

He liked that he was relying on his senses rather than the abstraction of the information he was given, the way that they were the things that made it all real for him rather than the words Yugi had spoken, so when he was abruptly pressed into the wall with an arm around his waist and a hand in his hair, he was already laughing and letting the exhilaration of his anticipation make him dizzy as he watched him finally really grasp what he had been saying to him.

"I love you," he breathed against the taller teen's mouth, relishing in the feel of the other boy quivering as if the force of the words shook him to his core.

Why?

Why did he love him?

Yami searched his eyes for a moment but the desperation that he had been feeling before whenever he thought about it, struggling for hours to find one little thing to understand why Yugi would feel the same way about him wasn't there and the relief of the lack of that sensation made him purr for a split second.

"You know that I'm actually really jealous—I put Rebecca to shame."

Yugi threw his head back, laughing with a roll of his eyes. "Oh my god, Yami. Shut up already. You talk too much." His lips pressed against the other teen's and he found himself happily drowning in the feeling of being lost and found all at once, at the frightening but amazingly simple sensation of falling endlessly into the other boy.

Yami was unraveling and Yugi didn't know what to do at first, not when the taller teen shook like a leaf and pulled away to press his face into his neck, but he did know what to do as the words "I'll do whatever it takes—I'll change" tore through the space between them in a weak whimper that barely breezed by in a breath.

"Don't."

The hand in his hair seemed to tighten but lose its grip all at once and Yugi listened to his lungs rasping for a second before he spoke again.

"But…"

Yugi scowled as he started to pull at the taller boy's jacket in frustration at the idea of him changing. "No buts. I chose you," he snapped in a quiet breath, somewhat overwhelmed by his own words, the implications, but finding himself wanting to sink further into it all rather than wanting to run away from it all together; no, the initial fear to run was completely gone. Now he was falling and the sensation was only so relieving because he knew that Yami would be there to catch him at the end of it.

"I'm dangerous, Yugi…"

"So what? Everyone is dangerous if you give them a reason to be."

"But I…Yugi, I don't even…I'm not even employed."

"And? Technically neither am I."

"I don't have money."

"So we'll get jobs together." He tugged at his hair affectionately, loving the beautiful silky touch of it and drowning in the loving light in his deep red eyes, in the way the corner of his mouth curled into a small lopsided smile that took his breath away. "We'll work it out, Yami. All of it. You're worrying and you don't need to. I won't run again."

Yami's hands slid up his back and Yugi grinned widely, giving his long hair another affectionate tug that the taller teen narrowed his eyes playfully at; he wasn't really sure why, but they didn't move for a long time, merely standing silently and holding each other. A strange feeling began to steadily warm the smaller boy's veins, flourishing through his entire body with unsteady speed—joy, undiluted happiness. He didn't know why it made him cry, just that it did, and he didn't care enough to break eye contact as Yami rubbed them away gently with the soft pads of his thumbs.

The energy between them sparked and lit like fire when their lips met of their own accord; Yugi let the taller teen pull him away from the wall, slipping a leg between his for a split second before rubbing at his shin with the heel of his shoe to coax him backwards. He hesitated for a second just because it was awkward with Yami's weight in addition to his but he moved backwards until the back of his legs pressed against the surface of the soft mattress that Yami had been too lazy to drag upstairs upon moving in. The smaller teen fell back into the furniture without much thought as their tongues glided and clashed, hands exploring each other's bodies in exuberance. Yugi nearly tore Yami's shirt in half in his haste to get it over his head, desperate to feel something other than clothing. The red-eyed teen had to scramble away from him to keep the smaller boy from tearing it with his grip, the other laughing as he got the offending object off his body so that Yugi could press his hand to his chest, closing his bright blue-violet eyes as he felt the warm pulse of his heart beneath his palm.

Yami looked him over curiously for a moment and then purred softly, nudging him gently with his knees against his hips and a hand trailing over his side. Yugi blinked his eyes open, shivering at the look of pure adoration that met him immediately, and gave a small smile before scooting back as the other teen was asking him to do wordlessly. He settled into the middle of the mattress and Yami was honestly glad that he had given into his impulsive laziness when it came to setting up the rooms. He still wondered what the hell was with them sending it like this, completely made up as if they were afraid he wouldn't be able to figure out how to do it on his own.

Yami shook the thought off to busy himself with the task of neatly but quickly, efficiently, unbuttoning Yugi's shirt, curious when he saw the tank top underneath and laughing lightly at the double layers even as Yugi started to pull it off. He kind of felt that he should have guessed that much in the first place because the smaller teen almost always had one on.

"Remember how I said I couldn't make it over earlier than now?" he asked, smiling when Yami nodded and ran his fingers over his side in a soft stroke. "Yeah, well, I had to go to a family dinner with my grandpa and Rebecca and her grandfather and I at least needed to look 'presentable'."

The taller teen made a scoffing noise. "You could wear a trash bag and still look presentable."

"Oh please, Yami, I'm already on my back and your halfway through with the top of my clothes, no flattery is needed to get in my pants," Yugi snorted with a teasing wink, smiling as the other boy rolled his eyes and pressed his cheek against his for a moment before taking one of his nipples into his mouth and pulling lightly. Yugi moaned and arched his back closer to his mouth, feeling the wet muscle circle the bud, teasing him like that until the smaller teen was grasping at his hair tightly and growling softly under his breath. Yami released him after a moment when he tugged again, voice bleeding with sudden concern and something like regret, as if he was scared his words would make the smaller boy run again.

"Are you sure?"

Yugi stared at him in confusion for a moment, a little lost about when he had closed his eyes in the first place, blinking several times, and then furrowed his brows as he tried to grasp what he meant before laughing. "Absolutely."

"Hmm…how long have you known?" he inquired, trailing a finger down the center of his stomach to his bellybutton and then back to his ribcage, some wild desperation making his eyes dark but bright all at once.

"When I went on my date with Rebecca."

Yami's finger halted, head snapping up and staring at him in surprise as the other boy froze and gave him a confused look. "On your date?"

Yugi nodded after a moment.

The teen frowned slightly; by the gods, he had read the cards wrong.

But that still didn't help him figure out anything about what was really starting to frustrate him all over again.

"What made you realize it?"

"Everything felt wrong. I wanted you there and not her. I felt lonely and disappointed in myself because I knew it was supposed to be you sitting across from me at that stupid restaurant." Yugi swallowed hard. "I never want to feel like that again."

The taller teen chuckled and shook his head. "You won't have to, little one." He paused and then laughed breathily into his neck, voice coming out embarrassed and playful. "Um…it's kind of been a while, huh? So I don't know if I'll…you know, last very long…?"

Yugi cracked up and shook his head. "You know what? A while back I started thinking the couch cushions might magically transform into ass cheeks at any moment so honestly, I think I win this game," he announced, laughing harder.

Yami froze completely for a single millisecond, breathing against his neck roughly before he burst out laughing, his entire body shaking with the sound and making the smaller teen crack up again.

"We're an odd pair, aren't we? You have separation anxiety and apparently want to fuck a couch when you're not around me—"

"Don't forget the sex dreams. Those were endless."

That earned him another round of laughter before he could continue. "—and I'm overly attached with no real control over my temper."

You aren't going to end up hurting me, Yugi thought even as he murmured, "Yeah, but it works for us."

"Mm," he agreed wholeheartedly, purring softly into his neck.

Yugi licked his lips and wrapped his arms around his neck, pulling his hips up to embrace the taller teen's waist; the other boy paused for a single second with a small laugh before rolling them over as he wanted. He had to admit that it was rather amazing to him just how easily they could communicate without words, as if it were some kind of instinctual understanding between them.

He worked on the other boy's pants and shivered at the stare he was given even as the red-eyed teen wiggled his hips slightly out of anticipation, earning him a small round of light laughter. He listened to the soft purring as he pulled his own clothes off and did the same with him, licking his lips and feeling Yami's hands reaching up to rub up and down his sides in an affectionate manner that made him purr with delight. For a moment neither of them moved, the red-eyed teen pausing his hands and Yugi staring at his body for a long minute. He honestly wasn't sure if he wanted to be seme or uke, seeing as he both wanted Yami to be inside of him and to see the look on Yami's face when he arched and mewled with pleasure as he struck his prostate, feel him wrapped tightly around him.

Yami would do either. Yugi knew that, which was what made him do what he did next. Because he didn't want to make love to but rather with Yami. And he would be damned if he didn't get this off his chest first.

He pulled away slightly and Yami's fingers slipped from his ribs, the taller teen blinking wide eyes before reaching out to run the tips of his fingers over his shoulders, curiosity burning in his gaze as Yugi settled between his legs and pressed his finger against the ring of muscle, his eyes still solely locked with the other boy's.

"You know, you're a real fucking ass," he commented.

Yami blinked, looking genuinely confused. "I wasn't aware we were attempting dirty talk…"

He tried not to but he ended up chuckling anyways before he managed to force it off with a glare. "Shut up. I meant ignoring me like that!" he snapped, frowning and then looking down at Yami's abdomen, tracing a finger over his abs thoughtfully. "I only wanted to know if you were okay."

Yami didn't even bother to feign confusion or innocence. "I know. I am sorry, aibou. I just…I was scared and I didn't want to have to talk to you in that kind of state. I…I'm sorry."

Yugi wanted to get mad but he knew that he didn't really have the grounds to do so as Yami had acted in the best interest of both of them, as he was starting to think he normally did. He was trying to protect them both from something that probably would have turned ugly if he had seen him in a state that was less than him willing to see him…It was almost like the many times he had tried to convince them both that they were just stupid infatuations. He had to admit he still found it rather funny that he was with the "school geek".

But hey, Yami was an awesome little geek.

And how could you not love someone who would push away their own wishes and most powerful desires just to make sure you were safe while trying to protect themselves at the same time?

Yugi found it so admirable it was impossible not to feel overwhelmed with the sensation for a moment or two.

"I went after you when you left. I wanted to make sure you got home okay…"

"You…followed me?" he muttered, head snapping up.

Yami flinched and nodded slowly, chewing his cheek. "I sat on the other side of the door and listened until you weren't crying anymore and when you stopped and started to leave, I followed to make sure nothing happened."

"What would have happened?" he asked incredulously, shaking his head and furrowing his brows. "I would have been more worried about your ass being caught again."

He chuckled in amusement, shaking his head. "No, I just didn't want you to do something stupid like you and I are both known to do. I didn't want you to go to a bar and get plastered or something like that. I just…I got worried that you might do that and I didn't want anything to happen to you so I figured if you did that, I would walk you home."

Yugi nodded slowly after a moment, laughing and shaking his head before pinching his flesh gently with the tip of his nail as he wiggled his finger inside of him; Yami jolted slightly, baring his teeth in annoyance, and gave him a sharp look that had him smirking in amusement. "I should have known you would do something like that. Funny I never noticed though."

The taller teen shrugged. "Not really. I didn't want to be caught."

"But if you were, what would you have done?"

There was a long silence and Yugi watched him close his eyes, tilting his head some as if thinking about the answer. "I would have bolted," he admitted finally. "I didn't want to see your face. I just wanted to make sure you were okay. If you had looked back and I saw your face, I would have run. I could never stand making you cry…"

He nodded again. "Well…thank you. I guess."

Yami started to shake his head and then jumped again, bug-eyed as he snarled, "Ra, would you stop doing that?"

Yugi burst out laughing and shook his head immediately. "Actually, my name is Yugi. And no, I'm having fun torturing you." He bit his skin gently with the nail again and Yami squirmed before glaring, a small blush appearing on his golden-bronze cheeks.

"I missed you…"

"I know. I missed you too, Yugi."

The smaller teen had one of those moments where he wanted to be selfish and stupid, snap at him that if he really had, he wouldn't have avoided him like this. But he knew the reasons and in his place, he would have done the same. But that didn't stop him from having a split second where his mind teetered and fell back on that moment in the hospital, with them laying in the bed and Yami asking him why. He still didn't know what it was that Yami had meant when he asked and it was driving him insane, had been for weeks, drifting into his dreams more often than not, but he wasn't about to ask either.

Something about the thought of asking made his stomach twist painfully and his heart lurch; he was pretty sure he wasn't going to like Yami's answer if he told him why.

His eyes drift for a moment, curiosity peaked, and stared blankly at the two wounds. The one on his side, just an inch or two above his hipbone, was almost flesh-colored, the scab all but faded but definitely healing well. Yugi tilted his head to the side as he looked it over and reached a hand out to run his fingers over it; Yami flinched beneath him, eyes wide.

"Sorry."

Yami shook his head immediately in response but didn't speak.

Yugi watched him closely for a long moment, studying and seeing that the other boy was relaxed again, and finally ducked his head to run his tongue over the scab on his side as he had been curious about for a while. The taller teen startled and sank his nails into his skin in surprise, slight pressure from his shock but nothing to actually hurt him. The scab tasted funny, of ointment and salt and blood, it was oddly arousing in its own right. Yami purred softly as he flattened his tongue against the flesh wound gently and used his free hand to stroke his thumb over his other flank, his side quivering beneath his touch.

He raised his eyes to look at him through his lashes, making sure it wasn't fear that made him respond this way because the purring had ceased at some point and he wasn't entirely sure of when, but now that he had Yami's face in his sight, he was assured that the other teen was completely relaxed despite the tremors that shook his skin.

He pulled his tongue away after a moment, pressing a light kiss to it, and pulled his other hand away, the red-eyed teen's head snapping up in surprise at this, and reached lazily to trace the skin of his arm from his elbow to his wrist which sat against his own shoulder. Yami stared in confusion for a moment but there was a haze to his eyes as he realized belatedly that he had not ceased his actions of stroking his side wound.

He ignored the look and the way that Yami pulled his left hand up his shoulders slightly to give him more access to his wrist as his hand traveled back up towards it and then back down to his elbow once more. He finally gave in to the urge to slip his fingers under his palm, tickling him with the soft pads of his fingers, drawing the other teen's hand down from his shoulder so that he could kiss the center of his palm and then twine their fingers together as the other boy stared with wide eyes.

He leaned forward and looked at his shoulder, Yami shifting to accommodate him though he didn't look at him with the action. The scab was darker than the one on his side, but it was just blood and Yugi recognized that from when he had helped his grandpa bandage his wrist after he had cut it falling down from the ladder in the game shop. He'd hurt his back and reopened the wound multiple times, gotten it infected, and Yugi had taken care of it the entire time because Solomon had seemed all but reluctant to mess with it unless he was using it to do something.

Looking at the scab, he was kind of curious about how many times he had reopened it, how long it had clean of infection, but he was pretty sure if it had been infected recently, it would have been when he was playing against Duke. And despite some small glances at it in between rolling the dice, Yami had seemed pretty at peace with it. So it had to have been clean for a while now.

Yugi shook the idea off to press a kiss to the wounded flesh, hearing the sharp inhale of something akin to pain and panic that Yami gave at the sudden contact. He ignored it, squeezing his hand tightly in acknowledgment before licking at the layer of dried blood gently. The other teen's fingers twitched in his grip, not out of pain, but definitely out of fear, his longer nails scraping gently over the back of his palm and making him shiver.

"Do they still hurt?" he asked softly, licking again and tasting something like gingerbread and cinnamon against his tongue, realizing slowly that it was probably another kind of cream that he would have to use to clean the wound after the infection and it being reopened. Hmm…who knew medicine could actually taste good?

"Sometimes," Yami responded quietly, his head turned towards him, watching him curiously as Yugi studied the wound, his own eyes jumping to the exposed pulse point in his neck that made his mouth water with desire. His eyes became lidded when Yugi licked at the skin again, gently pressing his tongue against it and then twisting his body some more to take the wound into his mouth more firmly, caressing the abused skin with his tongue.

Where the initial contact had startled him with the weight Yugi put on it when he kissed it, now it felt almost natural for his tongue to be running over it, kissing and caressing and undeniably significant despite the simplicity of the action. His fingers tightened where Yugi's were loose in his grip and his stomach felt strange, flipping with excitement, when he moved to tighten his in response.

Yugi pulled back to pepper his wet skin with soft kisses, his thumb still working to stroke at the second bullet wound. He could still feel the quivers coursing through his system, somewhat soothed by the smaller teen's gentle caresses of skin and lips. He dragged his nails up the flesh of his hand, finally closing his eyes all the way and letting out a soft purr, relaxing himself completely after realizing how stupid a thought it was to assume that Yugi might hurt him.

The smaller teen shivered above him but didn't comment on the sensation of his nails trailing along his skin though he did lick his lips and look at his face, smiling to himself and turning his attention back to his side where his thumb was still gently rubbing.

He didn't know why he was still so surprised by how natural this felt, like he should have been doing this for years. It was as simple as breathing, pleasuring Yami and trying to comfort his physical wounds. He doubted he could heal the emotional or mental nearly as easily, but he had to admit that he was definitely going to try if Yami was ever willing to give him the chance.

The red-eyed teen turned his head, still not opening his eyes, and his breath ghosted over his neck, making his heart skip a beat and his erection throb; he was pretty sure he was going to start leaking soon but threw that thought away to look at Yami again. His breathing told him that he was in fact very nervous, possibly from the prospect of Yugi's affection towards his healing flesh or possibly because Yugi was technically worshipping his body and this would be the first time that they could actually have sex without the lopsided emotions that came with it.

His slender digits pressed warm pads against his shoulder, his muscles and the blade of bone beneath seeming to shiver with delight at the attention he gave it. Yami was pretty sure it was a reaction he would have gotten whenever if he had done so earlier or even later; either way, the sensation had his teeth gnawing into his lip to keep back a moan. He didn't open his eyes when he felt Yugi's nose press against the skin of his cheek but he did jolt slightly when he lowered his fingers to his hip and tapped a short rhythm there, tapping Yami's wrist against his shoulder once.

The taller teen obliged slowly, humming once before trailing his hand down the front of his arm, pausing briefly to tap his fingers over the back of the smaller boy's hand, slowly pulling it away to glide along the back, resting on his elbow for a second before moving across his ribs to his side and settling on his hip.

Yugi watched as his lips pulled into a small smile, shivering when Yami's voice came out wondering and a little awed as he whispered, "You want me?"

"More than anything," he responded immediately, not even having to think about the answer and smiling to himself at the warm feeling that spread through his body.

His hand squeezed his for a moment before his fingers danced unfamiliar patterns across his skin, warm and allowing his nails to gently graze them. Yugi was extremely reluctant to let go of his hand, warm and soft against his, but slowly forced himself to pull his away, nearly panting and moaning at the simple touch of his fingers moving up and down his arm before going to his ribs. He traced the grooves of them, making Yugi's spine tremble with delight and undeniable anticipation at the touch. They rested there momentarily, just long enough for his dark red eyes to flicker open and focus on his, drawing him into a desperate stare that made his heart hurt. "You need me?"

His lips twitched into a tiny smile as he leaned towards him slightly, rubbing noses with him in an Eskimo kiss, his voice coming out warm and affectionate as he breathed, "More than air."

Yami stayed quiet for a moment and Yugi watched his teeth dig into his lip, confusion momentarily making him pull back to furrow his brows, feeling finger pads dig into his skin with enough force to make him notice but not enough to bruise, the taller boy's voice hoarse and strained with desperation.

"Tell me you love me."

Yugi blinked once and then tilted his head to the side, giving him another warm smile. "I love you, Yami Sennen."

He watched his jaw jump a little as he ground his teeth thoughtfully, that same desperation alight in his eyes even as Yugi blinked and fought the urge to interrupt him. "Tell me you want me."

He blinked again, startled by the request, confused as to how Yami couldn't already tell, but then kissed his nose, saying, "I always want you." He paused for a moment, seeing that Yami was at least slightly calmed, the truth spilling from his lips before he had a chance to stop himself, coming out on a breath he hadn't even realized he had. "I only ever want you."

He looked surprised with the statement but his hand finally traveled to rest against his hip, satisfied with his answers. Yugi pressed a small, lingering kiss to his forehead that made Yami's grip on his waist tighten momentarily in acknowledgment and affection. The smaller teen reached a hand out to run over his face, cupping his cheek and sliding up to his temple before disappearing into his hair momentarily. He couldn't find it in himself to look away for even a split second, the red of lava molten and burning into his, leaving him feeling warm all over. He pulled his hand from his hair and trailed his index finger down the ridge of his eyes and across his nose, tapping the tip so that he scrunched it up in response, and rubbed his thumb over his bottom lip to make him part them enough to nip the pad of his finger.

"You okay?" he asked quietly, smiling as Yami blinked a few times and nodded mutely, seemingly overwhelmed but with eyes glazed over with pleasure, gripping his hips and letting him lower himself onto him; there was that steady burning sensation that welcomed his lack of preparation, but he ignored it easily and instead began to move slowly, feeling his skin against his and moaning in delight as he got to the very tip of his erection and then slammed down rapidly, repeating the motion several times. He adored the feeling of Yami filling him over and over again, watching his face to see that the red eyes were merely open in slits, peering through his long lashes, the tip of his tongue clamped between his white teeth. The look on his face brought him closer but not enough; it felt a small bit disappointing when Yami thrust once and then growled his release, obviously frustrated that he had finished so early.

"Don't stop. Keep going."

Yugi hadn't even noticed that he had stopped, blinking several times in surprise and then listening to him as he started gliding himself on him again; Yami moaned quietly and thrust to meet each of his movements, watching him through his lashes again and purring softly.

The blue-violet-eyed boy was a little surprised by the fact that he hadn't come first. Considering the wet dreams and the whole couch ordeal from before, but it amused him to no end and Yami's semen was warm and wet and made the most amazing lubricant, bringing ecstasy closer as his movements grew more frantic with his increase of speed. His stomach coiled and tightened and Yami's fingers trailed from his ribcage across his stomach to his bellybutton and then hesitated before gently stroking the base of his penis, his skin soft and ghosting gently. Waves of pleasure rode over him with the double assault and just as he couldn't fathom lasting any longer, Yami thrust up and lights flashed behind his eyes as he dropped to his chest.

Yami chuckled and wrapped one of his bangs around his finger, his eyes affectionate before kissing his shoulder. "I love you."

"I love you too." He squirmed a little and then laughed. "You want more?"

It came out incredulous and amused and Yami nodded, smirking. "Always." He pulled Yugi off, however, surprising and confusing him, before they rolled over and Yugi grinned with delight, wrapping his arms around his neck. Yami's nose brushed the hollow of his neck as he mumbled against his skin, remembering Yugi as he breathed "I only ever want you" and selfishly wanting to hear him tell him it was only him again. "Out of curiosity, am I the only one you've ever slept with or…?"

"No, you're the only one."

Yugi blushed furiously when he felt the relieved sigh against his skin; he could have melted into nothing with the beautiful, affectionately throaty response he was given.

"Good."

He didn't feel it at first, not until Yami brushed his prostate, and then he mewled and arched, having not known that he had even put a finger in until that moment. Yugi squeaked and then mewled again when Yami snapped his hips sharply inside of him. His hands immediately sought out the wall behind him, pressing his palms flat against it and then pushing against him, pulling him in impossibly further. Yami licked at the shell of his ear, following it with a gentle nip that made him squirm.

This had to be illegal. There had to be a law against pleasuring someone so much they might melt. It had to be a form of murder, right?

Yugi pushed back against him frantically, moaning softly from the onslaught of pleasure that coursed through him, tripled with the pulsing of energy that went through them both like a heartbeat. Between his own movements and Yami's thrusts, he was overwhelmed with the sensation, feeling Yami slam into him repeatedly so that they both moaned in unison, their actions somehow managing to bury the taller teen impossibly deeper into his flesh.

He reveled in the feel of his orgasm crashing over him, taking and spiraling him to a blissful void, both of them finding release at the same time, Yugi pushing himself into him once more before finding that he was too weak to continue, falling back into the mattress with a breathy moan as Yami settled himself next to him and pulled him close, mumbling his love again before falling asleep. He couldn't do much more than the taller teen, reciprocating the words and closing his eyes again.

Working on a sequel. Anyways, there were a lot of parts of things that I didn't really include for the length of the chapter cause it was already THIS long and I would have been dragging the storyline out where there was nothing else to put in (hence the SEQUEL). That would be this: Atem and Yami had a talk about Pegasus while he was in the Puzzle BEFORE he asked him if he missed Yugi, Tristan and Duke got into a fight when Duke figured out that Tristan had stolen his phone, Rebecca and Yami actually had a little chat about Yugi once when he went to check up on him, Yami and Atem's conversation about soul catchers, Solomon and Duke's dad talking about the game shop, Yugi and Solomon talking about the game shop, Ryou pointing out the ad in the newspaper, Malik and Bakura's spat at school, Yugi and Mai having a small heart-to-heart AND Yugi going after Duke for offering money to buy the game shop.

FUN FACT: Yami's doctor that he saw when he started hallucinating (it was from stress, not actually taking too many pills, just stress) was Pegasus's adopted son in the Yugioh!R manga.

Each of the above scenes will be MENTIONED in the sequel at least once or twice (possibly). The sequel is going to hit a somewhat DARKER note than Simple did. It's going to have more to do with the Items as well. It'll PROBABLY be longer than Simple is...ANYWAYS! Point is, if you want some news on the sequel at some point feel free to PM me or (if you don't have an official account) just ask about it on another story, but don't ask too often because I'm likely to get frustrated a couple of times and put it away (I do it with EVERY story but I ALWAYS go back so no worries) and I will really NOT be so inclined to talk about it around those times.

Anyways, just know that, no, I did not end the story randomly at any point (it was supposed to end like this) even if a few questions got left unanswered. But if I had added on more chapters, I would have been inclined to drag it out and it would have been really bad how that turned out (trust me, I KNOW).

TLDR: Sequel has no set date, little bit of information on some of the things that happened that weren't put in story, some idea of contacting me...Mm, yeah, that about sums it up xD

If anyone wants some recommendations there's Timaeus of Locri by s2Teennovelist, Into the Desolate Night by Davinia, Different Crowds by Tumainii, Damaged Goods by dib07 (the entire three parts that are posted so far)...

Um...can't think of anymore off the top of my head but if you want a list at some point, feel free to PM me :)

On a SIDE note: I honestly sometimes FORGET that I have a profile page so it's really not very reliable in telling you what's going on with what story. Sorry guys.