Disclaimer: I do not own Yugi or any of the characters.

By the way, if I get any of the Japanese words wrong can you please correct me? I am just learning and I only know a few words.

'Thoughts'

Yugi Cries

While Marik was in the kitchen finishing the dishes, Yami and the others were waiting for him in the livingroom. Yugi sat on one end of the couch, Yami on the other, and Bakura sat in the chair. Yami dug through the couch cushions and found the remote, he started to channel surf to see if anything good was on. When Marik finished the dishes, he took a seat in the beanbag chair that was on the floor.

Bakura was thinking about what he and Yami were talking about yesterday.

"Yami?" Bakura asked turning to his friend,"Tell me about that kid that looked like me."

"Yea," Marik replied, "they sound interesting."

Yami looked away from the TV and turned to Bakura "Yeah, what do you want to know?"

"Did you find out anything about him?" Bakura questioned.

"Not really" Yami shook his head "Mrs. McGuire only told me his name, and its Ryou. He looked so much like you that he could've been your twin. It was kind of creepy. You should go down there if you want to know more about him, he seemed really nice. The other one's name is Malik."

Yami thought for a minute "Guys? This is going to sound crazy but I have an idea, I mean, you guys spend so much time here that you practically live here and i was just wondering why don't you guys just move in? I mean this is an awfully big house for just one person, and there's plenty of room." Yami asked, completely unaware that Yugi was 'listening' to everything that they said.

'One person? Why did Yami say that? I thought I was staying here too' Yugi lowered his head sadly. 'So they don't want me here, otherwise Yami wouldn't have said just one person. Maybe they want Ryou and Malik to live here instead of me since they're both more open to people and will talk them.' Yugi kept his eyes on the ground. He could feel the tears forming behind his eyes. 'Why doesn't anyone want me? What did I do wrong?'

Yami was waiting for Bakura and Marik to answer his question so he didn't notice that Yugi was silently crying. It didn't take much time for Bakura and Marik to think about their answer.

"Sounds cool to me." Replied Bakura.

"Aright!" agreed Marik.

Yami smiled at their reactions. "Good then it's settled. Hey, do you guys want to go to the orphanage and get to know Ryou and Malik better?" Yami asked.

Bakura nodded his head "Yeah, I think I will?"

Yeah, I'll come too." Replied Marik.

"Alright." Yami answered, then he turned to Yugi and noticed he was staring at the ground. Yami slid over on the couch until he was beside Yugi. He gently tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention, but all Yugi did was flinch away from his touch and continue to stare at the carpet. Yami tried to catch his gaze and it took five tries before Yugi would look at him.

Now that Yami had Yugi's attention, he saw the sadness in his eyes so he quietly asked "Don't you want to see your friends' again Yugi?" Yugi nodded his head sadly.

'Something is bothering Yugi.' Yami thought 'after what happened in the kitchen this morning, I thought he was finally opening up to us. It seems like we took one step forward and two steps back.'

"Yugi what's wrong?" Yami asked "Why are you so sad?"

Yugi lowered his head again and refused to answer, instead he just shook his head from side to side as if to say nothing was wrong.

Yami looked over at Bakura and Marik, but they were just as confused by Yugi's actions as he was. Yami tapped Yugi on the shoulder again, but Yugi just stood up and walked towards the door signaling he was ready to go. Yami sighed and followed him.

"Come on guys, lets go." Yami said as he walked out of the living room.

Bakura and Marik both got up, gave each other a confused look and then walked to the front door where Yami and Yugi were waiting for them. Soon after that, they were all piled into the car and on their way to the orphanage. Yami, Bakura and Marik kept glancing at Yugi with worried looks on their faces, while Yugi kept his gaze on the floor.

'I knew this was too good to be true.' Yugi thought sadly. Tears forming in his eyes once again,'Why would they want me when Malik and Ryou are more fun and I'm such a baby.'

When they arrived at the orphanage, Yugi jumped out of the car and ran inside the building before anyone could even get out of the car. The others were confused by his actions and chased after him.

Yugi has tears in his eyes as he ran down the familiar hallways making it hard for him to see where he was going, suddenly he collided with something and fell to the ground. He tearfully looked up to see Mrs. McGuire standing there. She had a worried look on her face when she reached down to help Yugi off the ground.

"Yugi?" She asked once he was looking at her "What's wrong?"

Yugi just shook his head and ran down the hall until he was out of sight. She watched him run away from her and she really started to worry then, a few minutes later, Yami and his friends came running up to her.

"Have you seen Yugi?" Yami asked breathlessly.

Mrs. McGuire nodded her head, worry still in her eyes. "He bumped into me then took off running down the hall. What happened?"

"I don't know." Yami admitted "Bakura here wanted to get to know Ryou better, and Marik wanted to meet Malik, then suddenly Yugi was crying and running away from us."

"Well, how did last night go?" She asked "Did anything happen this morning?"

"Well, Yugi had a nightmare last night, and I was able to calm him down." Yami began "Then this morning he was fine, he even judged a cook off between Bakura and Marik. He even smiled for the first time."

"I see." Mrs. McGuire said "when did you notice that he was sad?"

"When we were in the living room talking..." Bakura broke off as he started to think back to their conversation.

"Yami?" Bakura said worriedly, "I think I know what's wrong with Yugi."

"What?" asked Yami, Marik and Mrs. McGuire.

"You remember when you said when you asked us to move in with you?" Bakura said. Yami nodded.

"You said 'this house is too big for one person' and I think that Yugi took it the wrong way, maybe he thought that you didn't want him anymore. That we wanted Malik and Ryou instead."

Yami lowered his head "Oh, my God. I didn't even think of that, poor Yugi, we have to find him right now and clear up this misunderstanding."

They all split up and searched the entire building for Yugi, but found no sign of the small boy. Yami was about to go back to entrance when Ryou walked up to him and tugged on his sleeve.

Yami turned around slightly startled and looked at him "Yes."

"I think I know where Yugi went." Ryou said quietly unsure if he should help them or not, "Usually when he's really upset he goes to the roof to be alone."

Just as Yami was about to thank Ryou for the help, when he heard another voice shout out, "Ryou why are you helping them?" Malik asked the snowy haired boy, then he turned toward Yami, "I saw Yugi run past me crying, what did you do to him?"

"It was nothing but a big misunderstanding," Yami tried to explain, "I brought my friends to meet you two since you could all pass as twins like Yugi and I."

Yami continued to tell the pair about the events that occured that morning until Malik was satisfied with the answer, "You had better be telling me the truth, you can go up and see Yugi. He has been hurt enough in his life and I'm going to make sure he doesn't get hurt again as long as I can help it. Just remember if you hurt him, you have to deal with me."

Yami nodded to Malik and thanked Ryou, then ran up to the roof. Sure enough, there was Yugi sitting on the ledge crying. Yami slowly walked up to the young boy and put his hand on Yugi's shoulder. Yugi flinched away, not even looking at Yami. Yami sighed and tried to get his attention again, but Yugi refused to look at him.

'I can't believe how selfish I was today. I didn't even think about Yugi when I asked Bakura and Marik to stay with me and have Bakura and Marik meet Ryou and Malik.' Yami thought. 'It must have really hurt Yugi to think that we wanted Ryou and Malik instead of him.'

After about five minutes, Yami finally got Yugi to look at him and when he did, Yami could see the tears and pain that was in Yugi's amethyst eyes.

"Yugi, I am so sorry about this morning." Yami began "I do want you to live with me, I don't want you to go. My friends just wanted to meet your friends since its been so much fun having you around, and they wanted someone also. Can you forgive me?"

Yugi lowered his eyes to the ground again, and Yami wasn't sure if he was going to answer or not, finally after a minute, Yugi looked back up at Yami and gave him a hesitant nod. Yami smiled, and Yugi returned it with a very small smile of his own. Then Yami helped Yugi up and they walked back inside and down the stairs. When they reached where they left the others, they saw Bakura and Ryou sitting in a corner getting to know each other better. Malik immediately ran up to Yugi and kneeled in front of the small boy.

"Are you alright?" Malik asked concerned.

Yugi nodded his head and went back to Yami and the others

"Is everything all right?" Bakura asked looking at Yugi concerned

"It is now" Yami replied "I explained what happened to Yugi and he has forgiven me."

'Hopefully we can continue where we left off, but I think that Yugi may need some more time to open up to us' Thought Yami 'Maybe even longer now that this happened.'

Bakura smiled "I'm happy to hear that. I asked Ryou to stay with us also, if that's all right with everyone."

Yami and Marik nodded to show that it was fine with them and Ryou was so happy with the news that he ran up and gave Bakura a hug. Bakura looked at him and smiled.

Marik slowly walked up to Malik, "Do you want to come too? You could live with us and be closer to your friends."

Malik looked at Yugi and Ryou, he could see in their eyes that they wanted him to come also, he looked back at Marik and replied, "Yea, I'll stay with you."

'I don't remember the last time I was this happy. Now the three of us will always be together' Ryou thought. Then to show his thanks he gave Yami and Marik a hug also while Yugi just stood there looking at the ground.

'I am glad that Ryou and Malik are happy, but I can't shake the feeling that three of us might be too much' Yugi thought, 'I'm sure once they get to know those two better, they'll realize that I'm too much work and want Malik and Ryou instead. I mean they'll talk to them and shows them their emotions. I just stand there staring either at them or the ground, and I act like a big baby. I'm just afraid that this will all be a dream and Yami won't like me any more and either abandon me or turn into the kind of people my parents were and I just can't deal with that again.'

When they found Mrs. McGuire they explained everything and asked to also take Ryou and Malik with them. She agreed and was happy that the boys would finally have a loving family.

Then the six of them piled into the car once again and headed home. Malik and Ryou were happily talking back and forth while trying to get Yugi to join in, but Yugi would just stare out the window.

When they arrived back at the house, Yami showed them around and told them where their rooms were. As they were heading downstairs to watch TV, Ryou tapped Yugi's shoulder to get his attention. Yugi looked up at him and Ryou gently pulled him back into his bedroom and shut the door.

"Yugi, Daijobu?" Ryou asked "you look sad, aren't you happy here?"

Yugi kept his gaze on the floor then shook his head. Then he walked over to the desk Yami gave him and rummaged around until he found a small notebook that he wrote down all his thoughts and fears into, and handed it to Ryou. At first Ryou was confused, until he read the paper and understood why Yugi was so upset this morning. He tapped Yugi to get his attention again, when Yugi looked up Ryou told him "Yugi, I don't think you have anything to worry about. They are nothing like your parents. Yami wants you to stay here with him. Otherwise, he wouldn't have picked you. Okay?"

Yugi nodded then followed Ryou downstairs.

After another wonderful meal by Bakura, the group decided to go back into the living room to watch a movie. While debating what to watch, they sat around and chatted. Trying to get to know each other better.

Bakura and Ryou were sitting on the couch. Ryou was telling him about his life before and while he was at the orphanage.

Marik and Malik were sitting on the bean bag chair asking each other questions.

Yami and Yugi were sitting on the love seat. Yami was watching the movie while glancing worriedly at Yugi, and Yugi was busy staring at the floor.

Yami tried several times during the movie to get Yugi's attention to talk to him, but all night Yugi would just flinch away from his touches.

'Sorry Yami, I just need a little more time.' thought Yugi. 'All this is still very new to me, please understand.' He switched from watching Yami out of the corner of his eye, to staring at the ground.

Ryou noticed the sad look on Yugi's face then, after making sure Yugi wasn't looking at them, Ryou turned to Yami and said, "Yugi has been through so much, it's really hard for him to open up to people. You know since I have known him he has not shown any emotion what's so ever. Please be patient with him Yami, he's had such a hard life that he's unsure of others and also himself. He is afraid to open up to you because he thinks that this might end up being a dream and you will turn out just like his parents. I may be his friend but he's still nervous around me. Malik is the only one he goes to when he's upset or frightened."

Yami listened carefully to what the white-haired boy was saying. "How do you know all this about him?" Yami asked.

Ryou was about to answer but then he saw Yugi looking at him curiously, "I'll tell you later Yami, Okay?"

"All right." Yami replied.

Yugi, not really understanding what they were talking about, just stared at them sadly before looking back at the movie. They all settled into a comfortable silence while watching the movie.

Yami was slightly startled when he felt a sudden weight against his shoulder. He looked towards Yugi and noticed that he was fast asleep and slumped against him. Yami carefully got up off the couch and said, "I'll be right back guys."

Then he turned around and went to put his arms around Yugi to carry him upstairs. He felt Yugi tense up at his touch, but once he was in Yami's arms he relaxed again. Yami carried Yugi up to his room and lay him gently on the bed. He removed his shoes and socks, then he covered him up. He quietly left the room and decided to leave the door open again, incase Yugi needed something. After one more glance at Yugi, Yami headed back to where the others were hanging out downstairs.

When he re-entered the living room, Malik watched curiously as Ryou stood up and walked over to Yami.

"Here Yami," He said, "I think you should read this." He handed Yami the paper that Yugi had given him earlier. Yami read the paper and his eyes widened. 'That's why he was so sad today, he thought that I didn't want him anymore. Poor little guy.' He turned to Ryou

"When did he give you this?" Yami asked.

"When we were upstairs, I could tell something was bothering him," Ryou answered. "At first I wasn't going to give it to you, but then I thought it might help you to understand Yugi better."

"Thank's Ryou," Yami said, "I'm glad you gave this to me." Then Yami thought for a second "Hey Ryou, can I ask you a question?"

"Hai, ask away." Replied Ryou.

"Has Yugi ever spoken to you or Malik?" Asked Yami.

"No." Answered Malik and Ryou.

"When Yugi wants to say something, which is extremely rare, he usually writes it down." Ryou explained. "We're not even sure if he can talk at all, either before or after his parents hurt him."

"Yeah," Yami said, "That's what Mrs. McGuire told me."

"Well hopefully he will open up to us soon," Said Bakura, "He was so happy this morning after the judging contest, he even smiled."

"Yeah," Marik grumbled, "the only downfall to this morning is that I lost the cook-off and had to do all the dishes."

Everyone laughed at the memory, while telling Malik and Ryou the story.

Finally after a few more hours, everyone decided that it was time for bed. They all said good night to each other, then went to their rooms.

In the middle of the night, Yami was once again woken up by a strange sound. 'Yugi!' Was Yami's first thought. He quickly got out of bed and ran across the hall to Yugi's room. Sure enough, there was Yugi thrashing and whimpering in his bed. He had sweat streaming down his face mixing with tears. Yami turned on the light and ran to the bed. He sat on the edge and tried to wake the young boy up. Yugi finally woke up. He sat up and looked around the room with scared eyes as if he was expecting someone else to be in the room with him. Yami tried to get Yugi to look at him, but whenever their eyes locked Yugi would quickly look in another direction. Yami tried to be as gentle as he could, but Yugi would just continue fighting him, shaking uncontrollably. After what felt like hours to Yami, Yugi finally met his gaze without looking away, he slightly calmed down once he saw that only Yami was there but he couldn't stop shaking.

"Yugi, it's me Yami. You're safe now, no one is going to hurt you." Yami whispered, while keeping his hand on Yugi's chin so he couldn't look away.

Yami was slightly startled when Yugi grabbed onto him, hugging him as if he would never let him go. Yami wrapped his arms around Yugi in a comforting embrace and for the first time Yugi didn't flinch or tense up at the contact. He just held Yugi until his shaking stopped and his breathing slowed down. Yami was about to release his hold on Yugi, but then felt Yugi tighten his grip while shaking his head. So Yami just continued to hold Yugi until he felt Yugi's grip on him loosen up and he slumped against Yami's shoulder. Yami looked down to see a sleeping Yugi resting against his chest, his shirt was still clenched in Yugi's small fingers. Yami gently pried his shirt out of Yugi's hands and laid him back onto his bed. He pulled the covers over Yugi's sleeping form and quietly walked towards the door, he took one last look at Yugi before he shut off the light.

Yami sleepily made his way back to his room and flopped down on his bed. 'Well at least I am making some progress. Yugi didn't flinch away when I touched him.' Yami thought 'it's a start.'

Then Yami fell back asleep.

Yugi woke with a start. 'When will these nightmares end?' He thought sadly. It was still dark outside and Yugi was afraid to go back to sleep. 'I wish Yami was here, he makes me feel as safe as Malik does when he holds me.' Yugi quietly got out of bed and walked to Yami's room. He peaked inside and saw Yami sprawled out across his bed. Yugi nervously walked over to the bed. He reached out to touch Yami's shoulder but stopped himself before touching it.

'What if he gets mad at me for waking him?' Yugi thought fearfully. He was about to walk back to his own room when Yami stirred. Yugi quickly backed away from the bed and tripped over something on the ground. The 'thump' of Yugi hitting the floor woke Yami and he sat up. He looked over the side of the bed and was surprised to see Yugi there staring at him with wide, frightened eyes.

"Yugi?" Yami asked concerned "what's wrong?" When he received no reply he got out of bed and kneeled next to the frightened boy. He placed a hand on Yugi's quivering shoulder. Yugi wrapped his arms around Yami's neck and started crying. Yami was startled by Yugi's actions, but returned the embrace. When Yugi had calmed down a little, Yami asked him again "What's wrong Yugi? Did you have another nightmare?"

Yugi tearfully nodded at Yami and buried his face in Yami's chest. Yami raised Yugi's chin with his finger and looked into Yugi's eyes. Yugi quickly adverted his gaze and reached into his pocket that held his little notebook. He wrote a little note and handed it to Yami. Yami reached over to turn on the light so he could read over the note. Yugi shut his eyes as the bright light suddenly filled the room, as Yami read the note he was surprised. In Yugi's note he asked if he could stay in here with him tonight, and that he was too afraid to go back to sleep. Yami reread the note to make sure he read it right. Then looked at Yugi.

Yugi, thinking he was in trouble, got up off the ground and slowly made his way back to his room with his head down, sniffling. Yami stopped him by gently grabbing his wrist, when Yugi turned around he saw Yami smiling at him. "Its okay Yugi." Yami said, "You're not in trouble, you can stay here if you want."

Yugi smiled shyly and crawled into Yami's bed. Yami returned the smile. Yami went back to his bed, shut off the light and laid down. He felt Yugi snuggling up against him and so he wrapped his arms around him.

Yugi sighed contently and fell asleep right away. Yami laid there for a while unable to fall back asleep. 'I'm glad that Yugi is starting to feel more safe around me.' Yami thought 'Now if I can just get him to open up more, I think that's going to be the hardest part.' After a few moments Yami finally fell asleep.

Yami awoke the next morning with the sun shining brightly in his eyes. He tried to sit up but felt something on his chest. He propped himself up on his elbows, looked down and smiled. Sometime during the night, Yugi shifted and fell asleep with his head resting on Yami's chest, using him as a pillow. Yami wanted to get up, but he felt reluctant to wake the sleeping boy. Just then, Bakura walked into his room to see if he was awake. He raised an eyebrow in surprise to see Yugi sleeping curled up next to Yami.

"Is he okay?" Bakura asked concerned.

"Yeah," Yami answered, "He came in here in the middle of the night, he had another nightmare and was afraid to fall back asleep alone. So he asked if he could stay here with me."

"Asked?" Bakura asked confused

"Well," Yami admitted, "Okay so he wrote a note."

"It seems like he's really starting to feel more comfortable around you." Bakura stated "At least he's showing some improvement." Bakura smiled. "I'm going to make breakfast now." Then he left the room and headed downstairs.

Yami tried to get up without waking Yugi, but stopped when Yugi started to stir.

Yugi slowly opened his tired amethyst eyes and started at Yami. At first there was confusion in his eyes, then he remember what occurred last night. He shivered unconsciously and Yami tightened his grip on Yugi. Yugi calmed down again and returned the embrace.

When Yugi was looking at him again Yami asked, "Are you hungry? Bakura is making breakfast now."

Yugi lowered his eyes and hesitantly nodded his head. Yami, confused by Yugi's actions, gently raised Yugi's chin so they were looking eye to eye "Yugi, What's wrong?" Yami asked concerned.

Yugi just shook his head. Then he got up and started to go to his own room to get ready, he turned around to face Yami again and gave him another shy smile. He walked back to Yami and handed him a piece of paper, then left the room.

Yami, confused, opened and read the note Yugi gave him, it said three simple words that touched his heart deeply. 'Thank you Yami'

Yami smiled. Then he started to get ready to start another day.