It was February, the month of love. Every girl in their right mind was ready for the heart feast. Chocolates and stuffed animals soared up in prices at local shops, Valentine's Day was just around the corner, tomorrow to be exact and Yugi was thinking about his special someone.

It had been a long, long, LONG day at Dominion High School and the teacher's only love was to give out mountains of boring homework. Yugi didn't seem to mind; he skipped with his twenty pound backpack all the way back home to his grandpa's game shop. His heart leaped knowing that tomorrow he would finally confess his everlasting loyalty and love to his best friend, Jou.

He was really nervous, what it Jou didn't return his feelings? There was no time to think of that horrible reality, he had to wrap his love gift that he would present to Jou. He wrapped it gently in a dark, maroon bag with thin, pink paper sheets covering the opening at the top. In honor of Valentine's Day, he added one, giant, white heart onto the bag with some glue. The white heart made the bag look original and not so plain.

With his pride sealed in that little bag, he went to start his homework and slip into his pjs.

The next morning, he awoke to bright sunlight hitting his smooth, sleepy face. Then, his alarm clock went off, Yugi jumped out of his covers and gladly stripped off his pjs and hopped into the shower, all the while, thinking of what he would say to his beloved.

When he got out of the warm shower, he quickly dried himself off and jumped into his everyday, blue, school uniform. With a fast jell job to his almost-dry hair, he grabbed his backpack and placed his gift inside of it. With one last glance in the mirror, he paced off out of the game shop door.

He started to walk to the high school, all the while, listening to a few high school girls talk about what they got their sweethearts and how they were going to get their gifts to them.

"I'm going to place my cute, love letter into his locker." A high pitched voiced squealed in excitement.

"You're so old fashion, Kal. I'm going to give mine to him face to face. In front of his friends." Another girl said a hint of cockiness in her voice.

"Wow! You're so brave, Misoai!" Another girl gushed. They all giggled as they walked with their hopes high on that special someone.

All those ideas sounded good to the love-sick Yugi, but it would be too embarrassing to give his heart away in front of everyone. He decided it would be best to ask Jou to come to a private location.

Yugi got to school and slipped into his class shoes, listening to a few guys brag to each other about how many chocolates they had gotten this morning.

He headed to class, where he was welcomed by Anzu, Honda, and Jou.

"Hello Yugi!" Anzu said.

"Hi, Yugi!" Honda chipped in.

"Yo, Yug!" Jou's voice struck a cord in Yugi's heart.

"Hey, everyone." The spiky haired greeted his friends. Yugi walked up to Jou signaled for him to come with him to the corner of the room, which was vacant. Jou followed his friend into the corner and bent down to hear Yugi whisper.

"Um, Jou?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I ask you a huge favor?"

"Let me guess, you want me to deliver your chocolates to Anzu, right? I had a feeling that's why you brought me over here. What can I say? I was just born to play Cupid!" Jou went on, proudly.

"Ugh…yeah, sure." Yugi sighed in disappointment, "But can I ask you to give her my gift after school? Meet me at the big oak tree near the back of the school at 3pm. I'll give you the gift there."

"Okay. Do you want 'Cupid' to tell her it's from a secret admirer or from you?" Jou winked and flashed a smile at Yugi, who flushed with red at Jou's expression. He loved when Jou made that face at him, it made him grin and his heart leap inside.

"Go ahead and tell her they're from me." Yugi said, confidently.

"Oh? Being brave this year, eh?" Jou nudged Yugi's shoulder as his smile grew bigger.

"You have no idea." Yugi sighed under his breath as they both headed off towards their cold, wooden desks and then class began.

Yugi couldn't concentrate the whole day. He would take a few notes off the board but his thoughts would jump right back to Jou. How would he respond to Yugi's confession? He thought about Jou's reaction and his expression when he opened Yugi's gift. Yugi daydreamed all school day long, until the bell finally rang.

On the way to his locker, the young teen shook with nervousness. He took the gift out of his backpack, after he put on his outside shoes. His nervousness was starting to get the better of his feelings and he began to make up excuses in his mind, just in case he skipped out on meeting Jou. He paced outside the Dominion High School front doors and began to walk to the back of the school, with his gift safely gripped in his sweaty palms.

He walked around the corner to see the large tree waiting for him. It was a marvelous tree, probably the biggest in the area. Jou hadn't arrived yet, so he walked up to the tree and leaned against its rough bark, which scratched his back. He began to close his eyes, thinking of the lines he was going say, with his gift tightly in his grasp.

A few minutes later, Yugi opened his brown eyes to see Jou walking towards him.

"Yugi! What's up, man?" Jou greeted causally with a wave as he walked closer to the tree and Yugi.

"Nothing much." Yugi tried to sound calm, but inside he was franticly searching for the lines he had prepared to greet Jou with.

"Is that her gift?" Jou pointed to the deep red bag clutched in Yugi's right hand. Yugi's heart began to race with adrenalin at the sound of Jou's question. He had to be strong this year, this was going to be the year he would tell Jou how he truly felt. He would not lose another gift to Anzu, which was meant for Jou.

"Actually," Yugi whispered, "It's for you." He handed the bag to Jou, hoping that the sweat from his dripping palms hadn't stained the bag at all.

"Aw! Yug! You shouldn't have!" Jou gushed as he began to carefully pull off the pink, see-through paper at the opening of the bag. Yugi waited with anticipation to see how Jou would react. Jou finally got to the bottom of the bag and slowly pulled out a small stuffed lion. It was light brown, with super soft, velvet fur. Jou, surprised by the gift, was speechless. He had expected chocolates or something edible. He looked up at Yugi and smiled.

"Thanks, Yugi. It's really cute." Jou ran his hand through the lion's main and gave a gigantic smile towards his friend. Yugi blushed with red once again and decided it was time. It was now or never. He had to serve his heart on a sliver platter to Jou.

"Jou, the truth is, I think of you as more than just a friend." Yugi cleared his throat. Jou looked from his present up at Yugi, with a serious, suspicious expression upon his face.

"Jou…I love you." Yugi whispered as he bent his head to the ground. He had done it. He had reviled his deepest secret to his sweetheart. Yugi wanted to say why he loved him, but his throat swelled up and Yugi couldn't manage to get a sound to come from it. He looked up at Jou, who was wide-eyed with shock.

"Yugi, I…I don't know what to say…I'm sorry…" Jou softly replied as his voice trailed off. A knife just pierced through the spiky haired teen's heart. He had forever spoiled a wonderful friendship with his best friend. Even if they could still be friends, there would be a strange acowardness between them. He had been rejected. His worst fear had come to haunt him. His love has shot him down and there was nothing Yugi could say or do about it.

The short teen began to feel light headed and started to tear up. He began to rock back and forth on his feet and then everything went black.