Yugi stared after the car as its red taillights disappeared into the blowing snow, heading towards the distance lights of Domino City. He was shocked and unable to move for a few moments until he remembered Joey and rushed to his side.

Joey was sprawled out on the snow, moaning softly. The snow around his wound had turned red and the amount of red was growing at an alarming rate. Yugi didn't know what to do; he hadn't really been paying attention in first-aid class. He knew he had to stop the bleeding, but he didn't know how. The only things he had to work with were their clothes. He ripped the left sleeve of his uniform jacket off and tied it tightly around Joey's shoulder. It did help to slow the flow of blood, but he needed more help than that.

It was getting steadily colder by the minute, in no time they'd freeze to death. They had no kind of shelter at all, only each other. Yugi leaned over the blonde boy, trying to hold back crying to keep the tears from freezing on his face. "Joey, I'm sorry. This is all my fault. If I wasn't so stupid…"

Joey blinked a few times before opening his brown eyes; he'd been knocked out for a short time from the pain of getting thrown and his shoulder wound reopening. He reached a cold, pale, hand up to brush the blonde bangs from Yugi's distressed face. "Oh shut up. There's no point in blaming anyone now, now is there? We're both going to die anyway…" The hand flopped back down to the icy ground.

"No, Joey, no! Don't give up! We're not going to die! We're not!" Yugi gripped Joey's shirt, desperate to have the old, goofily cheerful Joey back.

"Is there really any hope of us getting out of this? We're in the middle of nowhere. And it's so cold, so, so, cold…" He shivered violently, hugging himself. "Tell Yami that I…" He didn't finish the thought, his body going limp and his head rolling to the side.

"Joey! Joey! Nooo, don't give up! Wake up!" Yugi shook the boy, getting more violent when he didn't respond. When he stopped and sat still in the cold snow he wondered what Joey had wanted to tell Yami. He decided it was worth a try and slipped inside the Puzzle.

Yami was there, he had been in there since Joey had tried to get him to tell him why he had those bruises. He'd been silently watching the whole thing, and a feeling of great helplessness was creeping over him. Mr. Hisoka had gotten his hands on Yugi and raped him. Yami had tried so hard to protect Yugi from that, taking it himself, but he was helpless to do anything when it did happen.

Yugi approached him. 'Yami, I…I think Joey wants to tell you something.'

Yami was silent.

'Please, Yami, please. We're all about to freeze, to die.'

Yami stared at the cold, stone walls of the Puzzle. 'What can I do? I cannot even protect you, my soul partner.'

'Yami, come on, please. This will probably be the last time you get to see him.' He was pleading now, why was Yami so unresponsive?

Yami glanced over at Yugi, and then silently went outside of the Puzzle. He gasped at the sudden onslaught of frigid air that hit him. He looked around; there was nothing but snow, snow as far as the eye could see; and Joey, still unmoving on the ground. Yami moved closer to him. The wind had blown his hair over his face and Yami brushed the golden locks away, looking at his face. Joey looked oddly peaceful and for a heart stopping moment Yami feared he had died already.

But Yami could feel Joey's warm breath on his own cold hands. Yami crawled on top of the larger boy, pressing himself close to share body heat. Joey groaned a little and stirred slightly but didn't wake up. Yami remember when, several weeks back, Joey had suddenly kissed him. He hadn't entirely disliked the experience; it just reminded him far too much of what their teacher had done to him. He loved Joey, he thought as just a friend, but…

Yami locked lips with Joey, enjoying the flow of warmth that filled his body for that moment. He held the contact for a long moment, only releasing it when he needed to breathe. He looked down, seeing that Joey was wide awake now, staring at him with wide, confused eyes. "Did you just…?"

Yami smirked. "And what if I did?" His smug expression was wiped of his face as a gust of wind threw snow in his face. It brought him back to the reality of their situation.

"Oh my, taking advantage of me while I can't move? How rude." Joey smirked back, joking. "I…I'm sorry about kissing you, back at your house, without your permission. Wow, it seems like forever since that happened, doesn't it? Guess it hasn't really been that long though."

"I forgive you, Joey. I was…just very upset. Not about you, but…" He looked away, not wanting to talk about Mr. Hisoka.

"I know. I get ya, man." Joey was silent for a moment and then, "So can I get another kiss? That felt so warm…"

"You greedy little bastard." But despite saying that, Yami leaned down and kissed him again.

They stayed that way for some time, pressed together and exchanging kisses, until the cold started to really sink in. They were both shivering, trying to keep each other's spirits up by joking around, but it didn't work. They were about to give up all hope of making it through the long, cold night.