If you guys have any critiques or noticed any errors I didn't catch, please let me know! I also greatly appreciate reviews on what you liked about the story so far. It's a nice thing to know people like what they're reading. 3

Jounouchi finished washing his hands and began to dry them before leaving the restroom. It wasn't technically open to the public, but the blonde had the biggest urge to go and he didn't have enough time to tell Yugi where he was going. He would've pissed himself otherwise. He looked around, but didn't see his friend anywhere. "Yugi?" His eyes scanned as far as his height would allow, but when there was no sight of the spikey hair, he started walking for the counter. Yugi wasn't there, but he realized when he listened, he could hear hiccupping and sobbing. He panicked slightly and walked in the direction of the sounds.

There, in the middle of the aisle, was Yugi, on his knees with his hands covering his face, and crying. He knelt in front of the other man and put a hand on his shoulder. Yugi didn't react right away, still lost in his emotions, so Jounouchi gripped at the fabric slightly. In this instance, Yugi's head shot up to see who was touching him, his eyes wide. Brown eyes were looking back at him sadly. More tears spilled. Jounouchi was still there. He hadn't left Yugi.

"Yuug?" The blonde spoke quietly. "What happened?"

Yugi sniffled and rubbed his eyes, shaking his head. "I freaked out. I couldn't find you and I kept getting this bad feeling. I felt like something was trying to get me…" He mentally winced at his answer. Yep. That sounds better. I would've been better off telling him I had a nightmare with my eyes open.

"It's gone now," Jounouchi reassured. "There's nothing around but us. I'm sorry I didn't say anything, but I really had to use the bathroom and I didn't think you'd appreciate me pissing on the floor." He waited a moment for Yugi to compose himself, then said, "Do you wanna use the bathroom to wash your face? Your eyes are all red."

Yugi shook his head. "No, it's okay. We can go. I don't need to do anything else."

The blonde gave him a look, but didn't say anything. He stood up and Yugi followed suit, heading towards the door.

The trip to the grocery store took longer than anticipated. What was meant to be a simple trip for a notebook became a long-winded adventure that took three hours between deciding on the color of the notebook's cover, if it would be wide-ruled or college-ruled, and how many subjects it would have. The store was having a final sale on all its back-to-school stock and of course, it had to be Jounouchi doing this with him. Yugi couldn't have cared less about the notebooks' appearance. It took nearly an hour of rummaging for Yugi to grab a black notebook with three subjects—mainly because Jounouchi had insisted on stopping Yugi every five seconds to look at the design on every notebook he picked up.

After picking out a notebook, Jounouchi decided it was necessary to do some shopping for groceries. They were technically well off—Yugi had done it last week—but the items Jounouchi was going for were an odd combination of salty snacks and soup-style ingredients. He'd picked up mushrooms, beef broth, celery, carrots, and stewed beef.

"You realize we have beef?" Yugi asked rhetorically. "We could've just cut it up into chunks. It would've saved you like…" He picked up the package from the cart and his eyes went wide. "Eight dollars? Seriously? They charge that much for chunks of meat?" He whipped his head up to look at Jounouchi. "Jounouchi, you're not buying this. It's way too expensive."

The blonde wasn't having it, though. "I'm not buying it for me, Yuug. It's for you. I'm gonna make you some really good soup."

Yugi's face fell. "I'm not sick and you have to be to work by two." He thought about the words almost as soon as they'd left his mouth, wondering if Jounouchi had had a similar thought as well. If he did, he was keeping it to himself. If that were the case, Jounouchi would be saving it for a later conversation. I'm not sick. I'm not sick. I'm not sick. Yes, you are. You think you're dealing with the ghost of a guy who shared a body with you. Because that in itself doesn't sound insane. He sighed and realized how far behind Jounouchi he was.

Jounouchi was turned around slightly, looking down at Yugi. "What's wrong, Yuug?"

The other shook his head. "Nothing. I was thinking."

"Something to add to the notebook?"

"Nah." Yugi shook his head. "Just a random, pointless thought."

Jounouchi gave him an unconvinced look. "No such thing, Yuug. Share it with me?"

Yugi hesitated, but eventually succumbed when the blonde's look hardened. He sighed. "Trying to convince myself that I'm not sick. I know I am. Beyond that point. 'Lock me in the loony bin' sick, actually. Something that soup won't fix."

"Soup won't fix you," Jounouchi agreed. "But nothing is going to make you feel better overnight. I just figured you could use some comfort food. Somethin' to warm your bones."

The other male felt awkward. Sentimental garbage should stay at home, not at a store. He fidgeted his fingers at his sides awkwardly, eyes trailing off to the side. "Uh… can this wait 'til we're home? Please?"

Jounouchi gave a small smile. "Yeah. We can do that."

Yugi sighed appreciatively.

Finally back home, Jounouchi unloaded the groceries while Yugi put in his first entry. It was instructed, per Jounouchi, that he did this. Yugi had intended on doing it, anyway. He knew his roommate had suggested he do this to help get his feelings out of his head and into another form of expression, but he wondered if he was going to read it. He half-wondered if Jounouchi would think he was crazy, or if he'd give some insight. Maybe Jounouchi would see how he looked when Yugi was experiencing his mental breakdowns. Then again, Yugi very much liked living where he did now. He liked his job and he liked going to school. He also really enjoyed how his green loveseat tried to eat his body every time sat down. He was sure there would be no such experience in a psych ward.

He was halfway through his first entry when Jounouchi appeared from the kitchen, smiling as he noticed what Yugi was doing. Jounouchi didn't say anything, though, opting to take a seat on his recliner and doze off for a while. It was still early for him, considering his shift didn't start for another couple of hours; so, a nap was rather required. Yugi didn't blame him. He would be considerate and wake him up when it was time to leave, though.

He looked back down at his notebook and what he had written so far. It was rather punctual for a journal entry. Too composed. Guess even in a journal, I hide myself. He supposed it was habit, but he didn't try to purposefully change it. When he started talking about the feelings he was experiencing during Atem's visits, though, his form changed almost completely. He started writing faster as each wave of emotion swept over him, his writing getting sloppier by the second; but he found himself to be uncaring. Atem impacted him far too much to be considered healthy. Or maybe, it was all Yugi. Was I so attached to his hip that no one else mattered to me?

Yugi's hand was beginning to cramp. Characters were becoming rather difficult to write, and he'd somehow found himself four pages into the notebook already. He glanced over the words and was a little worried about what he'd find on the pages. True, he'd written every word there—but there were some moments where his mind and hand were on a completely different level, moving entirely of their own accord. Some of the characters were so sloppy, though. Yugi thought they almost belonged to a serial killer. He replaced the cap to his pen and set it down on the loveseat, also flipping the cover to the notebook over so it was correct again, and setting it down on the loveseat as well.

Jounouchi snored softly, fingers twitching on his stomach.

Yugi thought for a moment that he'd accidentally woken the other man up, but then his hands settled down and his head stilled. He had a smile on his face and Yugi wondered if he was thinking of Mai. He smiled at the thought, feeling envious of the blonde pair. The object of Jounouchi's affections wasn't 3,000 years old. She was very much alive and involved in a small, but successful business firm. Yugi knew why Jounouchi never asked Mai to marry him. He wanted to be able to provide Mai with better financial support. Of course, he'd never tell Mai that. She wouldn't understand, he'd told Yugi once. Yugi had never pushed it.

Yugi looked down at his notebook, eyeing the letters but not actually reading the words they made. He sighed and looked at the clock—it had been ten minutes. Idly, Yugi wondered how Seto and Mokuba were doing. He was sure the feeling wasn't mutual, but he still couldn't help but wonder. It'd been three years since Atem had left, and after the first year, Seto had taken his obsession for dueling Atem to extremely scary heights. Seto had been committed for six months, leaving his brother in the care of the mansion staff, before he was deemed healthy enough to return to society. The rumor was that Seto was still very much into reaching Atem again, but he had learned to hide it and give people the cookie-cutter responses others wanted to hear.

Would something like that happen to me? He wondered. Will it get to the point that I become so depressed that my friends give up on me? Will I be taken away to the asylum? Be like Kaiba and give people the answers they want? Yugi felt the notebook and pen fall to the floor when he leaned forward to grip at his hair tightly. Am I gonna be broken forever?

Just like before, that warmth came back. It was enveloping him, soft and comfortable. It made Yugi's taut muscles go lax, his hands flopping gracelessly from his head to his lap. He wanted to protest it, make it go away, but it was entering his mind, willing him to relax. The feeling was so familiar to him. He'd shared his mind with Atem, but both would give each other privacy if the other wished it by going into their own soul rooms. This can't be Atem, thought Yugi. Who is this? Why are you here?

There was no spoken answer, though. The warmth persisted, but it made a point to become more soothing, pushing Yugi's questions away. Yugi didn't understand. Please, tell me what you're doing. Why do you always show up when I'm alone or when nobody can see what's going on? You're making me look crazy. His mind was absolutely frantic, but if he had to guess by how his face felt, he probably looked like he was completely zoned out.

The feeling changed from comforting to guilty, but it didn't relinquish its hold on Yugi's body. It was apologizing to Yugi for how it was making him feel, but it was persistent in staying where it was. Yugi…

Please, just leave alone, Yugi whined mentally. Stop tormenting me. It's not fair. He could feel tears strolling down his face, but the grip on his body the ghost had was too strong for him. He was left with fighting it off with his mind and he was doing a terrible job at that, in his own opinion.

I don't mean to, it said.

It was the strangest thing, but before, he thought he had heard Atem's voice. This time, he didn't hear a voice. He saw the words flash in his mind, like reading words appearing over a black screen. Yugi felt more and more confused and emotionally stressed. Please… stop. You keep coming back and terrorizing me. Why?

I am sorry. Like before, the words appeared across Yugi's mind, obliterating everything else in his mind but those words. I do not mean to cause you harm. I am trying to return.

Return? Yugi scoffed mentally. The Underworld treating you wrong?

There was another change of emotion—hurt. I miss you.

The response took Yugi by surprise, but he was given no time to respond. The feeling was gone and he was back in reality. He could feel the tears drying on his face, could feel the tension returning to his body, but all he could think about was what had been shown to him. Yugi wanted to get up to wash his face before Jounouchi woke up to see him, but his body wouldn't move. He was tired of being teased, of crying, of being the only one who had to deal. Atem couldn't come back—so why was he being so mean to Yugi?

Except he wasn't. For some unexplained reason, Atem's soul was allowed into the living world; enough, anyways, to torment Yugi with emotions and that warmth. It seemed that he couldn't manifest his entire body. Yugi wanted to know why, but the last the thing he'd told the Pharaoh was a demand to leave him alone. It wasn't entirely true—Yugi missed him so much—but he was tired of feeling himself break every time the Pharaoh wanted to be close to Yugi.

Yugi needed a drink. Problem was, he never thought about alcohol and Jounouchi never touched the stuff. He wouldn't even drink on his twenty-first birthday. Not that Yugi blamed him. This just meant there was no alcohol in the house, and Yugi was pretty much confined to the apartment. He had a desperate itch, though, that begged to be released. He thought of an alternate option. He knew it was stupid and he knew Jounouchi would get upset if he found out, but it would be a quick release. All Yugi wanted was an outlet for the pain.

He forced himself off the loveseat, setting his feet on either side of the notebook and pen that were still on the floor, before quickly and quietly going up the stairs. He was headed for the bathroom. He stood in front of the mirror and looked at himself—teary-eyed, red-faced—before opening the mirror to get inside the medicine cabinet. He searched for a small, heart-shaped, silver antique container, set it on the counter, and then closed the medicine cabinet. The container had been given to Yugi and Jounouchi by Anzu before she left for America to pursue her dream, but the sentimentality behind the object wasn't on Yugi's mind right now. He wanted what was inside—an open box of double-edged razorblades. He thanked some random entity for his decision not to wear a tank top and rolled up the left sleeve. He carefully pushed one of the blades out from the top of the pack and held it carefully between his index finger and thumb. His heart was thumping hard in his chest, threatening to rip out of him, but even with the slight hesitation he felt, he squashed everything. He needed a quick release. He swallowed his thoughts and quickly ran the blade into the meat of his arm.

It took maybe a couple seconds before blood began to appear between the sliced skin. All Yugi could think about was the sting of cutting his skin, and the blood coming out. It wasn't much, being nothing more than a tentative flesh wound, but Yugi decided he liked it—it was distracting, pulling him into another direction. He couldn't help himself when he brought the blade back through his skin a few more times with just a bit more pressure, and then allowing them to bleed. He felt satisfied now, that intense feeling having been replaced with a sort of calm that Atem hadn't brought. He put the blade away on the other side of the package, putting that back into the container and into the medicine cabinet before ripping off a couple pieces of tissue to put over his arm.

He wasn't sure how long he was in the bathroom, just sitting on the toilet until the bleeding stopped, but Jounouchi knocking on the door startled him.

"Yugi?" came his muffled voice. "Sorry, man. I gotta go."

Yugi didn't really trust his voice, but he managed a believable "Okay". He took the tissue away from his arm and threw it in the toilet, flushing it afterwards. He fixed his sleeve and then opened the door. The blonde was waiting patiently, but it was quite evident that he needed to go. "Sorry, Jounouchi." He stepped out of the way to let the other in and headed for the living room.

Yugi picked up the notebook and pen that had dropped on the floor before sitting back down on the loveseat. He set them down beside him, figuring what he wrote was sufficient for the day, and thought, Jounouchi doesn't need to know.