Shadows That Bleed

by YamiYugiPuzzleshipper

Pure-Bloods are said to be myths, not even well-known within stories. "A specialized genetic coding of the moon and the dire," their spoken lore proclaims. They are creatures beyond the power of mortality, gifted by the gods themselves. Known as the Eternal Ones, their existence once extinguished, resurrection foretells a powerful omen.

16. Silence

Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh

Update schedule: Every other day (no update on June 2nd)

Chapter Warnings: Jonouchi Being a Perv, Improper Use of Medication, Slight Mentions/Descriptions of Blood, Wound Cleaning

I don't think I missed anything in the warnings but tell me if you feel otherwise. So, again, same as last time. I didn't know how to phrase it in the warnings above, so here we go. There are small hints of Puzzleshipping this chapter if you really squint. It still really depends on how you want to see it. Yami starts sharing the bed with Yugi, but no more than laying on the covers while Yugi is beneath them. I still consider it more loneliness than anything to make them both okay with this, but if you choose to see it otherwise, then feel free to.

Chapter XVI: Silence

Work Log Entry XVI: November, 1996

November 24

A.T.E.M. has been teetering between life and death for what feels like forever, but not once has he succumbed to death like his deceased siblings.

Nor has he grown in size at any rate and he has not changed in any way.

He is still to be monitored constantly. His feeding patterns are to be followed as originally determined. No one is to call him by his project name.

In place of A.T.E.M. he is to be called by his specimen, genetic coding number, PB-A 26.

He had just finished his protein shake when his head abruptly snapped around. His lips curled, startled, and his eyes grew wide. His gaze flickered about. His spine had grown ramrod straight. His teeth were showing faintly. He looked terrified. When his head turned towards him, Yugi froze in place. His entire body became still with confusion. He could not hear anything, but he had also not been listening for disturbances. Unlike the wolf, he did not constantly have such keen senses. His seemed to trickle in and out of his body like the smallest trail of water in a stream.

He strained his eyes, but could hear nothing beyond the pounding of his heart. Adrenaline had pushed so swiftly through his body that he nearly swayed. His mouth grew dry. His stomach twisted. The wolf in front of him was on his feet so quickly he could not so much as blink. He was gone from his sight in an instant. Yugi vaguely recognized the direction of the living room as his destination. But he was not completely sure.

If he was fleeing, then it must not have been a threat—right?

Yugi shook his head, breathing in roughly with his growing panic. He wouldn't have simply fled and left him to find for himself if it was, right? Or maybe that was the way werewolf worked…Maybe it was all for one's survival and nothing for another's. He shivered, glancing about the small house, and then got to his feet slowly.

There was a soft, but insistent knocking coming from down below the staircase. He groaned in his mounting panic, terrified for a moment as he thought of the door falling to their will. He trembled, then froze in place. Was that…a voice? He tilted his head, straining his ears to hear beyond his pounding blood. It took several long seconds, which seemed to stretch into hours, for a certain group of reality to find its way upon him.

Someone was at the door—and they were calling his name.

He blinked and frowned. His head turned towards the living room. He did not recognize the voice at the moment. But he knew his name at least. Shaking his head, he began to make his way towards the steps. The door opened, he paused, and then nearly burst into laughter with relief.

"Jonouchi," he grumbled in relief, throwing the door shut behind him and then creeping down the stairs quickly. In the living room above his head, he could hear nothing. Not a single movement greeted his ears. Yugi frowned in puzzlement, worried for a moment that the other might have taken refuge somewhere and would fail to come back out. But he did not speak as he got to the bottom step, twisting the knob there, and paced his way to the front door.

It only occurred to him as he got to the glass that he had not done more than crawl out of bed. Thankfully, he had fallen asleep in his jeans the night before, having been so conflicted about his own thoughts of what the boy's reaction to Valon meant that he had been too exhausted to change. They were wrinkled horribly, something that he had never really shown himself in before, regardless of the company he kept, and he frowned faintly as he glanced at them.

But his friend's voice drew him closer and eventually he slowly drew the knob of the clinic door to the side, left hand working at the locks that lined the entrance. Then, with only one chain intact, Yugi pulled it halfway open, tilting his head as he leaned heavily against the door. He blinked, frowning when he realized it was not just Jonouchi but Honda and Anzu there as well. His stomach twisted, feeling sick as he nearly bit his tongue in distress.

Oh gods, they had all come? Were they expected to be let inside? If they were and he decided to let them…then…how would the boy react? Would it be violent? Subdued? Perhaps he might sneak out of the living room when no one was looking, drifting around the corner, and find his way out into the day and never back into his house.

Yugi nearly shivered at the thought, shaken by the very concept. He blinked, frowning at the others.

"You look pale," Honda announced, ignoring common courtesies and greetings to frown at Yugi in puzzlement. His head was tilted to the side in concern, but his eyes were somewhat suspicious as they bore into his. "You look really rough."

"Honda," Anzu muttered, nudging him in the ribs with her elbow and rolling her deep blue eyes with a small smile at the other boy. "Hi, Yugi."

"Hi, Anzu." He paused. "What's up, guys?"

"Dude, you've been locked up in your house since school let out and that's all you've got to say?" the blond scoffed, giving him a lewd grin and reaching over to ruffle his hair when he blinked at him in confusion at the new expression. "Who's the girl you've been shacking up with?"

"What?" he sputtered, eyes growing owlish and his cheeks red with mortification. "What the hell, Jonouchi?"

"What? You don't have to hide it. We all know it's the only explanation!" Jonouchi grinned, then tried to poke his head into the doorway. Yugi shoved at him, surprising them both with the strength behind the movement. The blond stumbled back a couple of steps, eyes wide as he regarded him in shock.

He doesn't need to hear you, the small boy thought desperately. The wolf doesn't need to hear your voice or know your words. He doesn't have to hear what you have to say. And I don't want him to know that you even exist. What he needs to know is that he's safe and that you aren't going to disturb him…

But how was Yugi supposed to explain that?

The wolf had already heard Jonouchi. That was why he had fled and taken cover. Was he even still in the living room? Had he wandered out? Maybe he had taken a turn into his room and jumped from the window. At two stories it would not be a terrible fall. One could survive with minimal damage. And a werewolf…well, he doubted there would be more than a faint sting to grace the bones before he could take off running into the woods if he so desire.

Oh gods, please let him still be up there…

"What the hell was that about?" Jonouchi demanded, eyes narrowing into slits and his voice incredulous and frustrated.

"Grandpa is sick!" Yugi blurted out before he could stop himself, eyes growing startled at his own lie. Why did have to bring his family into this? But what else was there to truly say? None of them had even the smallest idea that the wolf existed and he needed to keep it that way. Flustered, he continued in a lower voice. "He's been puking recently. I just got him to lie down and fall asleep."

All of their faces changed from suspicious to immediately startled. The blond gave him a sheepish look quickly afterwards, reaching up to rub the back of his head awkwardly. Honda looked to the ground rather than at his face. And Anzu swallowed hard, whispering, "Oh, I'm so sorry, Yugi."

It was not the worst thing she could have said. At one point, before school had started, he'd said something about wanting a momentum from his grandfather and she had mistakenly assumed that he had passed. She'd been stunned when she'd come face to face with him again and he'd joked rather crudely with his grandson right in front of her.

"It's okay. He's just a little…I don't know. I guess he's just nauseas most of the time." Yugi paused, hesitating, and strained his ears in hope of the other wolf moving about upstairs. Nothing came to him and he nearly cringed. "I think he'll get better. He does this every now and then."

He needed to knock on wood at some point. Lies like this were just opening suggestions for the gods to punish him and his grandfather's health to plummet. He nearly squeezed his eyes shut and prayed for a brief second, but shook the urge off.

"But for right now he's not looking so hot," he muttered, worrying his lip until it began to bleed and the warmth of it made his skin tingle against the bite of cold air from the outside. The clinic was deceptively warm behind him, as if it had never known death or anything of a nature beyond satisfaction and calm. "It's just going to take him a little while to get back on his feet again."

He realized, as he looked at the brunette, that he had just given her two lies that somehow served to multiply the intensity of the other. He had told her that things had come up, that it was important for him to use his time more wisely than dating. And now he was saying that his grandfather was sick. It seemed, in a strange way, that the two statements cushioned each other, despite how unrealistic the latter truly was. His grandfather was one of the healthiest people alive. But none of them had to know that.

And Yugi did not need to go back on his own words to the brunette and alienate himself from his friends. And not one of them needed to know of the wolf's existence or his place within his home. So he kept his mouth shut for the most part, though he was tempted terribly to apologize abruptly for such statements.

"Shit, you should have…" Jonouchi was stumbling for words, grasping blindly, and after a long moment of failure, he shook his head with a deep frown. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize…"

"It's okay." His voice sounded stricken, tight to the point that it was almost suffocated with his constricted lungs. Oh gods, the guilt that welled up within his belly was like falling snow piling into wounds inside him. It welled up like the crashing wave of an ocean, burning him at the same time as it chilled him, and his heart began to stutter in his chest. He was a terrible person—and he was going to suffer for his indiscretion. "I just…I want to be there for him now in case it gets worse somehow."

If he squinted slightly, he could almost twist the words around to match his need to help the wolf who he hoped was still upstairs. If he really tried, he thought he could just as easily replace the thoughts of his grandfather with those of the red-eyed lycanthrope. It was oddly exhilarating to think that his lies were only half and the truth of such solid statements was not completely lost.

"We…" The blond gestured awkwardly back and forth between the three of them, nearly cringing when Yugi blinked in confusion. "We just wanted to know if you could come to the arcade. But I…guess not."

Yugi blinked and frowned at him in puzzlement, glancing over his shoulder as he struggled to listen for the wolf once more. There was nothing there to announce that he had remained, nor that he had left. Surely he would have heard it if he had turned tail and taken off out of his window, right? There would have been a thud or something to say that he had landed on the ground or something…

But then, there hadn't been the first time he had seem him leap at the dumpsters. There had barely been a cringe of metal against the concrete or the slap of plastic under his shoes. He had landed with the grace of a feline and the silence of one as well. Even his weight had seemed nonexistent in that moment.

"I…can I get a rain check on that? He's just beginning to recover. I don't want to be away him from in case something else happens."

The pain in his voice, the slight desperation which lingered there, was true to all of their ears. But the words seemed almost flat, somehow displaced in the air between them. His friends seemed to momentarily think over his statement and wonder. And he felt his stomach twist painfully as if with confusion about the whole situation.

"Sure," Honda said when it became clear that Jonouchi would not speak. The blond was studying their smaller friend as if he had never seen him before. And Anzu was giving him a stare that bordered on keen suspicion yet sympathy all at once. In front of him, Yugi seemed to catch onto their reactions, and his shoulders were beginning to slowly inch uncharacteristically upwards in a nervous stance. "You take care of your gramps. Tell him we wish him well, okay? And we can hang out again later in the week. It's not that big a deal. We were just coming this way anyways so we figured we would ask."

Yugi blinked and the gratitude that bloomed in his eyes seemed to make them glow. He gave them a small smile, though he could feel the way it threatened to become a full-blown grin, and murmured, "Thanks, guys."

They barely had the chance to nod before the door shut in their faces.

"He's hiding something," the blond announced immediately. Yugi was still visible in the glass windows, barely a step away. He paused, almost as if he had heard him, but did not glance back. Instead he headed for the staircase without turning around again. "Something's up. Did you see the way he kept looking over his shoulder like that?"

"And he didn't seem all that distressed," Honda put in, narrowing his hazel eyes and then glancing at Anzu sideways. "The last time something happened to his grandpa, he'd wound up shaky and nearly in tears before the end of the day. And it had only been a fall of a stool when he had tried to get something out of the attic, remember?"

The brunette gave them a flustered look. "If he's hiding something, then there has to be a good reason, okay? Yugi isn't someone who would just avoid his friends and ignore them unless something was gong on. Maybe it's not his grandfather, but it has to be something else then, right?"

"I guess," the blond relented. "But I don't get why he would lie to us about something if it was serious."

"Maybe he wasn't sure how we would take it. I mean, here you are, accusing him of lying and just wanting to stay away from us," Anzu bit out, rolling her eyes as both of them considered her for a moment.

The blond reached up to rub the back of his neck with a sheepish expression. "No one's accusing him of that," he grumbled, but the protest was halfhearted. Even he realized that he'd been suggesting it. "I'm just saying that he was lying. There's no way something is wrong with his grandpa if he's still that relaxed."

"Well, I don't think he was completely lying. You've seen him when he lies. His cheeks tend to get a little red and his eyes widen," Honda murmured, cutting the brunette off quickly. He squinted, leaning forward, and strained his eyes to see if the door of the staircase was shut and Yugi had disappeared upstairs. But the shadows were too dark. He couldn't tell. "And it was too…fluid to be something he just pulled out of thin air. Someone is sick. It just might not be his grandpa."

"Then who would it be? His mom?" Jonouch asked, raising a brow. "She's never sick."

"Maybe it's just a stomach bug," Anzu offered uneasily. Had Yugi truly lied to them? Had he truly turned around and said something simply to make them leave him alone? "I mean, this is Yugi we're talking about. He doesn't just try to avoid everyone, remember?"

"Okay, but you're forgetting about Ushio. He was found right here, remember, Anzu? On Yugi's doorstep, in the middle of the night, with Yugi as the one to find him. I don't know about you, but I find it pretty suspicious that someone would target him and drop the body here at his door if he wasn't involved in something." Jonouchi tilted his head and his eyes flickered up towards the window of his best friend's room, frowning thoughtfully as a small bit of indignation flared in his stomach. "And then, what about Kokurano? The day Yugi was supposed to be stuck doing his make up test with Chono, his body was found in the library. Doesn't that all sound really weird to you?"

"It sounds like a series of unconnected coincidences to me," Anzu snarled, startling him as he turned his head and nearly gaped in surprise. "Yugi is the sweetest, most selfless person any of us has ever known and that's what you want to say about him? That he's involved in two of our classmates' murders? Are you really that eager to point fingers at someone, Jonouchi? By Kami, I'm glad he's not out here to hear you say that! You selfish jackass! He forgave you even when you picked on him when we first started middle school! And he lets you stay at his house when things get too rough at yours! And this is how you thank him? By accusing him of such unforgivable acts?"

"Anzu, that's not what he's saying—"

"Yeah? Well it sure sounds like it!"

It did sound a lot like that. Yugi reached up to cover his forehead with a hand, nearly groaning in despair at the very thought. What was he going to do if he lost his friends' support? If they turned on him, what was he supposed to do? Could he even survive it?

He drew in a deep breath, then listened a little more. The others had fallen silent and finally Honda announced that they should get a move on. He could not hear them moving away but he knew that they had by the time he finally moved his hand to close the door completely. His stomach was in knots, his heart in his throat, as he began to make his way up the stairs. His feet felt heavier than ever before, his lungs constricting painfully, and he felt sick as he began his ascent. At the second door, he paused, straining his ears first for the sound of the other boy, then because he felt almost weak from the idea of his friends' reactions.

But when he opened the door, Yugi found himself frozen in place. There was not a sound to greet him, as if the wolf had vanished into nothingness. Painfully, feeling dizzy with confusion, the small boy made his way further into the house.

Not a single noise welcomed him but the buzz of the fridge and the drifting lick of the heater as it began to warm the house. The air vents rattled gently with the gust of air that passed through them and Yugi frowned as he tilted his head curiously for a moment. As he made his way towards the living room once more his skin tingled faintly.

It took him a moment to truly consider where it was that the other might have gone. But it occurred to him all the same. With a small frown, Yugi made his way towards the couch. When he was within inches of it, a head popped up from behind it. Hands were gripping at the backrest just beneath the sharpened chin. The long digits were resting comfortably, not the least bit tense. Bright red eyes glittered with confused anxiety. And his lips were tugged downwards in discomfort.

"Are you all right?"

He knew that really, in all reality, there was not much reason to ask him that. When it came down to it, the wolf was probably the safest of the two of them. He had hidden behind the couch. He had borne witness to what had seemed the growing destruction of his friendship with the others. He had not been forced to hear the words that they had spoken about him. He had not breathed the same air as them in their states of frustration and disbelief.

The wolf frowned at him, then tipped his head to the side. For a moment both of them regarded each other. Then he leaned over the edge of the couch. His eyes were still rimmed with anxiety and his lips were still pulled downwards. But he nodded after a moment, then threw himself onto the cushions once more. He was frowning at Yugi, peering uncomfortably, and he blinked lazily after a moment.

"The drugs must be kicking in, huh?" he teased, smiling in amusement as the other boy blinked and yawned softly. But the action was still tense, his shoulders somewhat raised, and his teeth clicked as his jaw closed. His body looked pained by the weight of his new position. "You're probably already exhausted, right?"

The wolf yawned again, softer this time, but his eyes did not close. He looked uncomfortable, unhappy, and his stomach twisted painfully at the sight.

"It's okay. They left."

His expression grew further troubled.

Yugi frowned, his smile washed away as if with bleach. "I'm okay," he muttered. "I'm just…I guess it's been a long couple of days. Here, go ahead and relax. Take your nap and don't worry about it, okay?"

Something had changed that night. As he lay down, waiting for the other to follow him there, he realized suddenly that some kind of dynamic in their companionship had flipped. It was not even when the lycanthrope made his way to the foot of the bed. Even when he took a seat there, then hesitated and reached up to press a palm into his mattress, it did not come to him.

Yugi blinked, looking at him, startled, and the other boy watched him with an intense expression. His jaw was set, his eyes were pleading and his head was tilted to the side curiously. He was hesitating, hovering there, leaning his weight into his hand and swallowing anxiously. But the only tension in his body lingered in his slender fingers. They gripped at the comforter firmly, scraping the soft material, then flexed in an almost kneading motion.

Yugi only considered it for a moment, then reached forward and patted the bed as he folded his legs. "Come on up," he murmured softly, smiling gently. The wolf hesitated for only a second longer, then reached forward with both hands and drew himself onto the foot of the bed. The blanket moved like a cape, swift and colorful, glittering in the moonlight with strands that looked like a million miniature rainbows beneath its silver touch.

Yugi watched him, smiling a little wider, and was surprised when the other boy began to circle only twice on his hands and knees. Then he plopped down at the arches of his feet, lying on his side facing away from him. The curve of his shoulders tickled his toes, but he did not comment.

"Good night."

The wolf raised his head, blinking at him, and then opened his mouth into a loud yawn. Yugi snorted in amusement, then dropped his hand as the other did similarly. He waited a few minutes, smiling warmly when he heard the soft and even whistle of the other's breath. It tickled his ears, spoiling his senses, and he closed his eyes to the sound of it as it began to lull him slowly to sleep.

It was as he began to slip away into his own dreamscape, that he even noticed it.

Something about the way he had handled his friends had cemented the other's trust in him.

When he woke up several hours later, in the middle of the night, with the other still fast asleep, he found himself smiling in relief. He was still curled there, albeit facing away, fast asleep without seemingly a single care in the world.

---

"Come up here."

The wolf blinked at him from where he had been shifting his position to work his way to the bend of his knees. Yugi gave him a small, gentle smile, and patted the sheets again. His red eyes narrowed from their previously widened expression. In the dark they glowed faintly like the candle cores of jack-o-lanterns, like the burst of lit embers. He lowered himself to the comforter more noticeably on his elbows, tucking his arms beneath him for a moment as if he might crawl forward. But he did not move beyond watching him with those dark red eyes.

"You don't have to sleep at my feet—or my knees," Yugi murmured, blinking at him and then patting the sheets once more. The wolf did not blink at him, instead frowning notably. His expression morphed into one of skepticism, confused by his statement. "Come on, it's fine."

He did not respond beyond staring again.

"I promise I'm not going to hurt you."

The words did nothing to allow him to coax him to him. It was actually more the fact that, in thought, he needed to justify himself to the other that made him sit up again. The very idea that he was trying to elevate him in such states so much sooner made his stomach tingle but he did not hesitate for much longer. It took him what felt like minutes to make his limbs move to carry him forward, but eventually he found himself at the boy's side, near where his hand rested. There was a sliver of cold moonlight that made the smaler teen's features more inviting than ever before.

Yugi's eyes danced with their touch of cobalt and brushstrokes of brilliant violet made his gaze shimmer as if with the most ethereal glow of the night's brightest stars. He faltered for a moment, narrowing his eyes, and took in the softer contours of his gentle face, the small shadows which his expression caused to linger on his soft skin. His rounded cheeks were cherubic, tugged upwards into a wide grin, and the corners of his lips were folded sharply with something like dimples. His teeth were glittering white, pale from the silver glint of the moonlight from the window, and he smiled a little wider in welcome of the other boy.

Very slowly, agonizingly so, the wolf lowered himself to his stomach beside him. It was a posture that could have been seen as both submissive and challenging. It was more protection in his own mind, a position in which he could shield his neck and belly should he lash out. His shoulders were more capable of taking the brunt of an attack and his back was stronger than his belly. When he settled there, unwilling to move any further, Yugi blinked at him, tilting his head, but did not comment. He pulled his hand away, tucking it under his sheets, and pulled them closer to his face. He was still facing him, though his peripheral was all that he filled at the moment, until he finally raised his eyes to look at him.

That red gaze was sharp, burning into his. It glittered like gems beneath the sun, the depth of it like the ocean and as vibrant as a painting, and Yugi nearly shivered with the power that made his features so much greater. He watched him, motionless, eyes unblinking, with an unnatural calm to his face that made the smaller teen blink in confusion. He thought it was the drugs that weighed on him so heavily, because his expression should have been more suspicious than wondrous as it was. His pupils were reflective, like rustic orange, from the hint of moonlight which touched them, mere spheres of color that were completely off-shade.

"I won't hurt you." Yugi was not even sure why he said that again. It did not seem to relax the other boy. But it made him feel a little better as they looked at each other. Maybe that was why he had bothered to speak the words a second time. Regardless, the wolf did not blink. If not for the breathing he could hear or the way his irises seemed to flicker with draws of color and then fade just as quickly he would have assumed him a statue. But he was breathing evenly, though with a slightly jerky edge to pronounce his faint tension, and his heart was not as steady as usual. He could hear it at a little faster than its average rate, with a sloppier echo to its resounding twist within his chest, the noise bubbling away and resurfacing as the next began. "It'll be okay."

It was the drugs that began to claim his senses that made him relax further. Yugi could not even pretend to believe otherwise. He knew for a fact that any other assumption was wrong. The wolf would have remained awake, watching him, for longer than those couple of hours that he had managed to keep his eyes open, had it not been for that. But he drifted off to sleep from the weight of medication, lids fluttering, breath coming out slower, in longer strokes, and his heart slowed to a much calmer pace. It was only slight, but Yugi had the urge—and overwhelmingly so—to reach out and brush away one of the bangs on his forehead. He wanted to touch his hair, to see if it would feel as much like satin and silken moonlight as it always appeared.

But he did not. Rather he closed his eyes, pulling the blanket higher onto his shoulders, and settled for sleep as well. The boy's breathing was soft, melodious, with a whistling edge, and his heart was like the heat of the gentlest of dreams as his consciousness began to slip slowly away.

When he began to regain his senses, it was only because something had touched his chin. It was a tickling sensation, brushing his skin and making him smother laughter. But it was not the touch which made Yugi falter. It was the very fact that he knew he was within his own bed that made him pause. Sleeping within his own bed, the knowledge that someone else was with him was something that he could not fully fathom for a long minute. In the pale light streaming from the window the blue-violet-eyed boy looked about him in confusion.

Long strands of fire-tipped hair with the gloss of a raven's plumage made him wrinkle his nose. A streak of bright goldenrod yellow slashed through the base towards the crest. His nose was buried in hairs of bright fold and darkness like the slickest of oils he blinked, smothering a yawn, and the smell of something strong like crushed mint leaves and frigid like fallen snow, with the freshness of winter lingering in its depths, made his heart pound. He swallowed, blinking once more, and then tilted his head downwards. His skin tickled with the sensation but his chin brushed the other's scalp and the boy twitched in his sleep. His shoulders were rising and falling faintly in his dreams, his breathing a little faster than before, but his heart rate was still at its slowest and he smiled a little more.

He was still asleep, though not as deeply as he had been throughout the night. Yugi watched him for a moment, took in the way the muscles along his shoulders twitched and shuddered, and then froze. The wolf jerked in his position, shuddering once, and then blinked and slowly tilted his head up to look at him. His bangs were rugged, knotted slightly along the edges. His eyes were sleepy, half-lidded, the red of them vibrant but shaded with grogginess. His cheek was smeared with a reddened mark from the imprint of the blankets beneath it. His lashes were awkwardly disarrayed. And his brows were elegant in the curve of them as they traced faintly the long arch of his narrow eyes.

"Morning," Yugi greeted lazily, deciding now more than ever before that it was important to pretend nothing had happened differently than usual. But the wolf did not take to this concept for a moment. He yawned quietly, then blinked, then stiffened, and finally he jerked, snarling as he sprang backwards. Yugi snorted, laughing softly, and then shook his head with a small smile. "You were the one who wanted to sleep closer to me—and you snuggled up to me, not the other way around. Relax, okay? I'm going to go make breakfast. I'm starving. Then we'll give you your protein shake and medicine and you can sleep some more."

The wolf continued to growl, put out by his dismissal, but fell immediately silent as well. The sight of his nonchalance was somehow promising to him. It was not as if anything had happened in the middle of the night. But having moved so close to him was not something that he had planned himself and that made his stomach curl briefly with confusion. Had the other moved closer to him at some point? Maybe he had responded to his body heat and moved closer? It was winter, after all. Although, usually, he would be waiting for the promise of snow and curled up with his tail over his nose, hoping for sleep. The fact that he wasn't was something strange and almost discomforting.

But the other boy merely peeled himself from the bed, yawning and stretching his arms out. And he watched as he pressed his weight into the carpet and yawned again. With a lazy and inaudible grumble the small teen turned and made his way towards the hallway. Yugi did not glance back, instead ruffling his own hair tiredly and vanishing from his sight moments later.

He was listening to him moving around long before he was comfortable enough to follow him into the kitchen. It was actually the smell of something now that made him take a few steps out into the hallway, sniffing deeply and tilting his head to the side in wonder. It smelled a little heavier than the pancakes, but with a similar fluffiness to be boasted. But he could hear whatever it was sizzling softly at the burner and it made his stomach growl curiously. As he crept into the room, a small hint of butter made his mouth water and a single touch of warmth curled within his insides, making his hesitance melt away swiftly.

He blinked wide eyes as the other boy kept his back to him. He judged the time between their waking up together to that moment to be somewhere between several to ten minutes. So the fact that there were two plates of pancakes and he was finishing with whatever he was making did not surprise him. Still he sniffed, trying to identify the smell, but he did not know it and so his brain could not supply him an answer by smell alone. It would be later, when he was more familiar with it, that his mind would not fail to recognize it.

"Your shake is on the table, and the medication is next to it, and you can pick the plate you want," Yugi murmured without turning around, once again folding the eggs to make them heat all the way through. He blinked, glancing over when he saw the other boy enter his peripheral, and was surprised when he found he did not give the pancakes even the smallest of looks. Rather his red eyes were wide and glued to the eggs in the pan in front of him, seemingly mystified by the sight of the new addition of food. Yugi raised a brow, watching him, and gave him a small, lopsided grin. "What, have you never had eggs before? I'll put these over there in a minute."

He hesitated, curiosity enough to make him remain a moment longer, and then blinked at the familiar name of the breakfast food. His head turned, tipping to the side, and he studied the two plates of pancakes. Neither looked particularly larger than the other. The pancakes were all pretty similar in shake and size. They both had size to a stack. He pursed his lips, sniffing for which was hotter, and then grabbed the colder before making his way to the table.

He downed the cup first, blinking lazily, and then considered the pills for a moment. He could take them without liquid. All he had to do was swallow them down. But the thought of doing so was uncomfortable enough with the beverage involved. He simply did not like to swallow something that was not chewed in this form. As a wolf he gulped down food as was natural to them, but as a human his reflex was to chew rather than to swallow. And his second was to spit it out more than even attempt to take the medicine.

So he blinked again, watching the pills with that same studious expression, and then tilted his head to the side curiously. Yugi came to the table a few moments later, surprised that he had chosen the colder pancakes which he had already put a considerable dent in, and placed a smaller plate with scrambled eggs near the china. The wolf blinked, pausing with food halfway to his mouth, and then tilted his head to the side and drew in a deep breath. The smaller boy smiled faintly, lips drawing further to the right than the left, and raised a brow so he watched him.

He leaned forward, putting his fork down on his plate again, and breathed in deeply with his palms flat against the tablecloth. For a long minute he simply went through the motions of scenting the contents lying on the plate. Then, very slowly, he tilted his head, red eyes curious, and reached out to draw the plate closer. With a brief glance at him, concerned perhaps that he was taking a plate meant for both of them, he paused and only resumed his actions when Yugi nodded to him.

"That's all yours. Mine are already on my plate."

He nodded, thought it was clear he was not completely paying attention to him, and stuffed the mouthful of pastry into his mouth before chewing vigorously and swallowing just as fast. He sniffed a couple more times, then poked at the eggs with his fork when the steam rose up, his eyes grew wide and curious, and when he poked a hole in the part of the food, he realized that he was testing whether the entire thing was hot. With a cautious glance at Yugi, he cut off a small bit, then lifted it on the edge of the teeth of the silverware, and looked it over with extreme curiosity.

"Go ahead and try some. They're not bad."

He frowned at him faintly, but waited until the steam began to lessen to near nonexistence, and then placed it in his mouth. The smaller boy realized only after witnessing him study the heat which radiated from the food that he had simply been concerned about burning himself. He had clearly learned from his previous lesson of what heat could do to him.

The thought was both amusing and somehow heartbreaking all at once.

He paused and his entire face lit up. His red eyes grew as bright as flames. His lips pulled into a wide grin. His face seemed to glow for a moment. His head tilted slightly to the side. And then his eyes shot to Yugi's with an expression of such gratitude that he felt almost shaken by it. He nodded at him, then wolfed down his eggs before quickly following the action up with the remainder of his pancakes.

"Well, I guess we just found a new favorite food for you, huh?"

His smile was weak enough that the other boy paused upon glancing at him to give a nod of affirmation. The smaller boy seemed so uncomfortable, his expression folded into something of intense sympathy and heartache as well, that it made his eyes grow wide and then narrow. His stomach twisted and his breathing came out a little tighter than before. Very slowly he lowered his hands to his lap and bit his lip uncomfortably as he settled into his seat and frowned at him noticeably.

"I've got a lot going on in my head," Yugi mumbled, smile falling immediately and his eyes lowering to the table after a moment. "Don't worry about it though. I'm glad you like the eggs. There isn't much protein to them to help you gain weight though…Oh. You didn't take your medicine."

He awkwardly gestured to his cup, unsure of what more to do in explanation. But the smaller boy seemed to know what he meant, abandoning his food to grasp his cup and make his way towards the counter behind his seat. On another day he might have lunged forward and snatched his food at the first opportunity. But his stomach was not so terribly empty as it had been formerly. And that crestfallen expression gave him desire of nothing more than to make himself smaller and become one with the background paint.

When Yugi returned, his brow rose incredulously and a small smirk formed on his lips. "You decided not to steal anything this time, huh?" he teased, making him grin playfully in response to his tone. He put the cup down towards the middle of the table and watched as Yugi reached for it. "You must not be as hungry as usual, huh?"

The wolf paused, surprised by his words, but considered the truth of the statement. Was he as hungry as usual? Sure, he was able to put a lot in his belly and not falter, but any werewolf was capable of such a feat. As he licked his lips and thought such words over, he did realize that perhaps he had some truth there. Perhaps he was fuller than usual. Maybe his metabolism was slowly. Possibly his wounds were beginning to heal more properly and he would not have to worry so much about eating what seemed to be twice as much as the other boy.

Very slowly he nodded at him. Yugi blinked and then his eyes grew owlish. He straightened a little, excitement radiating from his spot in front of him. His lips pulled back into the widest of grins.

"That's great! Shit, that's awesome!"

He gave him a small smile, then faltered slightly. His eyes flickered to his hands for a moment, then he flipped his arms to show him his wrists. At first Yugi peered at him in open confusion. Then his eyes widened a little further and he blinked before giving him a smaller grin.

"We'll check on them after breakfast is done. Go ahead and take your medicine. I'll finish up eating and then we'll redo the bandages before you take your nap."

The wolf nodded at him slightly and put his hands back in his lap lazily, watching him. A slow but steady weariness was beginning to tug at his limbs. It was weak and could barely hold even the smallest increment of his attention, but it was still there. Within the ten minutes it took Yugi to eat and grab the supplies to change the dressings, he was still rather awake. The drowsiness had failed to creep any further into his mind.

As he sat across from him at the living room table, the smaller teen was visibly excited by the idea that the medication was working with the desired effects. He himself, however, was beginning to have a small touch of that perceived drowsiness growing stronger in his mind. It came forward in small sweeps, pulsing and then withdrawing like pain or water when the rain made the rivers flood. It was a distracting, distant quality, and somehow it was almost friendly in the way it drew at his limbs and soothed his mind.

Yugi pulled at the tape's edges, peeling back the very corners, and then began to roll it backwards gently. The other boy did not respond to the ministrations, as he had failed to so many other times. It was unnatural to see how easily he seemed to take the process. With his anxious nature formerly and the way he still seemed skittish, it seemed that he would have objected somehow. It could have been a growl or simply pulling his arms away, yet he did not do it. He remained perfectly still, his arms stretched outwards for Yugi to look the entirety of the two bandaged wounds over.

The first layer of tape came off easily and the second was quick to follow. The gauze itself was another story. When Yugi began to peel it away, the skin stuck. He grimaced, looking at the other boy, but he hardly seemed worried. Yugi swallowed hard, feeling almost sick to his stomach at the thought of reopening the wound he was so focused on, but found himself gently peeling regardless. The red-eyed teen still failed to blink, watching his inspection of the wound with a lazy expression to his face.

He shuddered faintly, shaking his head slightly, and wondered if maybe he couldn't feel pain in his nerve endings while they were still healing. Yugi didn't feel them as he had the burn from days before, so did that mean that perhaps he was unable to as well? Was that possible? Or had the incident in the kitchen been a fake? Perhaps it had just happened somehow and it was not meant to in the first place. He didn't know which it was he preferred more at the moment.

As he pulled the dressing completely away, the wolf still failed to flinch. But his eyes flickered briefly with discomfort at the sensation. There was no apparent pain there, however, and his expression did not change in the slightest. He actually seemed, for a moment, as he looked at him, more curious than anything else.

The bottom of the gauze was covered in red, but not terribly so as it would have been had they begun to bleed again. Rather the center was pink and slightly yellowed, the edges red and a little black where it had dried out. Yugi smiled a little in relief, and looked at the wound before stopping short in surprise. The sutures had busted completely, the inner dressing pushed outwards from his skin. He raised a brow, looking at the other boy, curious and more than a little confused by the sight of it.

But the other still did not so much as blink. Instead he cast him something of a small nod, eyes growing a little hooded as the medicine began to take more of an effect on him. Yugi snickered, realizing belatedly that his thoughts that he could not feel it had been partially true. It was the medicine that made the wolf's demeanor so calm. But then, hadn't he held completely still and watched him curiously the entire time the first night he had been there?

Maybe pain was just something that he did not always respond to. Maybe he was used to it or cared so little for it that he was able to ignore it as he saw necessary.

He shivered but began to reach out with his nails to grip the edge of the ruined suture nearest him. They had split down the middle, as if his body had completely expelled them. Yugi blinked at the thought, furrowing his brows, and then began to pull them away from his skin. Each of them seemed to fall like flakes when he tilted his arm back and forth to get a better look at the wound. The dressing, when he pulled, came out easily with no resistance. The color of it was a dark brown, with traces of red and faint yellow splotches. But it was clearly unnecessary now as he looked again.

All of his skin had begun to reform, pushing upwards and inwards, squeezing the foreign gauze from its nestled position. The sight of each growth was a pale pink, with the smallest edges of red. Not a trace of black or purple from dead flesh was to be found. It was as if the gentle scrapings Yugi had initially done to peel the rotting cells and saline spraying had been enough to help them regenerate somehow. He pulled the last of the sutures had remained in his wrist, dropping it to the table with the rest of the soiled material, and smiled faintly.

He grabbed the kit once more, pulling out the sutures and scissors necessary to bind the wound again, and then wondered if the second had gone through a similar transformation. As he began to tie the stitches together in a zigzag formation, the other boy eyed the former wound and yawned softly. Pancakes were not the most nutritious meal in the world, so Yugi was somewhat surprised that it and a handful of protein shakes had managed to give him such ability to heal. He supposed it was probably the latter that had done the most work as he pulled the top dressing from his left wrist and found the same regeneration awaiting him there.

He picked the stitches out, dropping the soiled gauze aside, and then began to close the flesh there as well. The other boy did not so much as blink beyond momentarily closing his eyes and yawning softly. Yugi clipped the last of the sutures, smirking, and teased, "Tired much?"

The wolf blinked in surprise and then yawned a little louder. He snapped his teeth as if to punctuate the noise, and raised a brow in amusement at him. Yugi snorted, then got to his feet with the bag he'd laid out to drop the soiled dressings in. It hung from his wrist comfortably as he began to move towards the kitchen again to toss it in the trash. He would have to take that out soon, so that his mom and grandpa would not find something that hinted even remotely towards the red-eyed teen's existence within the house.

---

When the other boy woke again, Yugi was sitting at the lounger once more, lazily flicking through a book. The television was still on, the noise almost muted, but he was not paying it even the slightest bit of attention. Instead he was looking at pictures of something that one of the captions labeled a cell membrane. He sat up a little, yawning softly, and the other startled, nearly dropping the book as his head snapped around and a small blush sprang to his cheeks.

"You scared me!" he mumbled, laughing awkwardly and shaking his head slightly. "Did you just get up or were you watching the program?"

The wolf held up a finger, then shook his head in a lazy movement that made Yugi think of a dog shedding water from its fur. Then he sat up and pressed himself backwards into the couch, eyes locked on the book in his hands.

"It's my mom's old textbook from college," he explained with a shrug, frowning at the pages and drumming his fingers along the hardcover. "I figured I would read up a little bit more, see if there's more we can do to get you better healed up."

He tilted his head, curious and slightly surprised by the announcement, but then leaned forward further. From his side of the room there was not much to see of the book and its pages. Pictures were more obvious, but the words appeared more as blots of black ink that he could not read at the moment. He made an impatient clicking noise with his tongue and Yugi paused his quick inspection of the words to look at him curiously.

"Do you want to see it?"

He nodded at him, relieved that he had not taken the noise to be discouraging towards his efforts.

Yugi blinked, nodding, and passed it over to him. The wolf stared at it, then blinked a few times, and his brows furrowed as his eyes grew slightly unfocused. "Can you even read Japanese?" he asked, an afterthought that passed too quickly for him to think to filter it.

The other boy raised his head and frowned, brows pulling together, lips growing pursed, eyes narrowing in disdain. The smaller boy blushed, then laughed as he raised a brow.

"Are you pouting?"

He huffed indignantly.

Yugi burst out laughing. "That's the greatest expression ever."

The wolf scowled at him, then rolled his eyes and passed the book back to him.

"So if you can understand Japanese—like what I'm saying and what's in this book, can you write in it too?" Yugi asked, a small bit of excitement creeping into his voice and making his lips pull back into a wide grin. The wolf blinked, then his scowl deepened and that disdainful gleam in his eyes turned into full annoyance. "What? You can't blame me for being curious! You don't talk! How am I supposed to know if you can read and write? For all I know, you could have grown up in the mountains with a pack or something!"

The mention of the mountains and a pack made his shoulders rise briefly before they fell as if in an exaggerated shrug. But it was obvious that something in his frame had tightened at the very concept and he looked incredibly unnerved by it for the briefest of seconds. Yugi wanted to ask—he was dying to—but instead he grinned lopsidedly and sprang to his feet.

"If you can write then that's easier than pointing, isn't it?"

The red eyes grew wide, startled by the idea, but Yugi was already gone down the hall before he could think to shake or nod his head. The wolf blinked again, then glanced at the book in his hands. The concept of cell regeneration was too wide a subject for his mind to completely wrap around. It was too all-encompassing and made him feel somewhat small. All he had ever considered where this concept was taken into account was that his body repaired itself when it needed to. Beyond that it was just something foreign and neglected to him.

Yugi returned with a pad of paper and pencil, practically bouncing on his toes with excitement as he handed it over. He took that more comfortably than he did the notebook and tilted his head to the side as he looked the two tools over. In his peripheral he saw the smaller boy immediately take a seat on the table, biting his lips anxiously and watching him with bright eyes. For a long minute neither of them did more than watch the other, the excitement growing more abundant as the red-eyed boy glanced at him from beneath his lashes and then slowly put the tip of the pencil to paper.

For a moment longer the wolf did nothing. Then, with a somewhat shaky grip, he began to form symbols on the paper. For several moments Yugi felt he might tremble with relief at the sight, completely enamored with the concept and then grinned widely. The words which littered the page were a wimple, written without elegance, question of Does this answer your question, Yugi?

"Yes, it does," Yugi laughed, snatching it from his hands and nearly guffawing in his excitement. "Holy shit, you can really write and read in Japanese. Are you from here?"

The wolf blinked, and Yugi noticed a small burst of relief bloom in his eyes of the concept of a simple question. He shook his head and the smaller boy tilted his head to the side, considering the answer.

"Did you come here from somewhere else?"

He blinked, then nodded slowly. His spine was growing tight beneath his skin, and a small anxiety made his muscles taut along his shoulder blades. His stomach twisted and clenched. His mouth was beginning to grow dry. He swallowed roughly, then bit his lip to keep from showing his discomfort. He didn't want to think about any more of that.

Yugi was so caught up in his own excitement that he nearly missed it. Had it not been for the way his own body responded in the way of his skin twitching as if something were crawling along the surface, he would never have noticed. But a strange sense of clarity came to him as he blinked at the gossamer touch of his nerves and his eyes caught the other boy's. And a new thought occurred to him. Maybe this subject would be the one that would push him over the edge maybe this would be the one—should he continue—to make him lash out.

So he fell quiet, though the excitement did not fully leave him. The questions that swam in his mind began to drift as he drew in a deep breath to steady himself and push them away. "Well, this is good to know," he announced, nodding in approval. "If I have to ask you a question that can't be answered as easily, you can write the answer and give it to me that way."

The wolf blinked, surprised by the suggestion, but did not object. He nodded after a moment, looking the small pad and pencil as they were offered to him again, and then very slowly took them into his lap once more. The smaller boy was clearly relieved, but he could not find any reason to be as he glanced at him. What was so great about this new arrangement? Simply answering and pointing to things when he did not understand his silent communication had seemed so easy to him.

Forming words on a piece of paper was a foreign art to him. Despite himself, he had not done well to manage it without his hands shaking and his stomach clenching. He could not possibly fully form sentences and ask questions like that. His brain was slowly at grasping such a means of communication than even the impulse to speak. And when he looked at the paper it reminded him so much of all the things he wanted so desperately to forget.

It was after the other boy had placed the pencil and notepad aside that Yugi noticed he had used his name in the question. He blinked a few times, looking at the wolf with wide eyes, and wondered curiously if he had ever told him it. But he didn't remember ever doing so and the thought made his stomach twist briefly. Maybe he had read his name on one of his homework assignments or had he'd overheard it from his conversations with his mom or Anzu before them.

But all those times he had seemed not to be listening. Rather he'd seemed to be in his own little world across the table. He had not given him questioning looks or tilted his head at their words. He had simply either watched his expression or seemingly drawn patterns across the wall with his eyes. He'd blocked him out multiple times, something that Yugi had come to realize because his eyes would look unfocused and his expression would become something contemplative. On more than one occasion while he had been talking to him about breakfast or something else, the wolf had gotten that same look on his face.

So it was unlikely that he could have overheard the name, recognized it when Yugi responded, and thus used it. It was also equally unlikely that he had seen it written somewhere and applied it to him. Maybe, however, he had seen it on the mail from college applications that he was considering ahead of time to really be able to put his foot in the door. But then, did he know what a college was? Sure, he had not looked confused when he had shown him the textbook, but did that really mean anything? Perhaps…was it possible…that he had just known?

Yugi blinked stupidly at the idea and his head snapped around to regard the red-eyed lycanthrope. His head was buried into his pillow. His arm was folded next to his face. His gaze was caught on the television. Then it flickered slowly to him. His body remained relaxed. But his eyes were sharp and keen. He was wondering, and not unjustly, what it was that hard startled him like this.

He gave him a weak smile and then turned away.

He had already proven himself to be extremely smart. He had kept him alive in the woods when the Change should have killed him. He had used the stream to clean his face of that squirrel's blood. He had found his way back to his home when he was hurt. He had known what drug would help him rest. And he had known how to turn on the stove and mix his own batter for pancakes. Even if he had burned himself, he had still known how to do it. And he had only been exposed to it once.

So he had to have a keen ability to be able to pick up on things, right?

He was able to completely mimic his behavior after only briefly seeing Yugi do things. He could turn the television off and on even without being shown how. He knew how to flip through the channels and adjust the volume. He had no problems with seemingly anything when it came down to it. He seemed capable of learning and applying more than most in his position.

Was that the lycanthropy or was he simply that intelligent?

Yugi thought it a combination of them both. It had to be, right? The lycanthropy hadn't made him insanely smart when he'd been bitten. He'd been intelligent his entire life, even if it was more so now that he felt some of his more difficult subjects folding to him. The day before when he had gone over a worksheet that his teacher had made a point of showing his inability to understand, he had found himself slowly but surely solving each problem. Before, he had not even been able to apply the formula currently, even after being shown three times how to do it during class when he had asked for help.

So the lycanthropy had definitely influenced that somehow, but it was not so complete as to make him understand everything. How it had made the formula an easier concept for him, however, he was not sure. But it had somehow made the concept of learning such equations simpler and so he guessed he had that to be thankful for.

Yugi raised a brow at is own train of thought, then glanced at the other boy. Well, there was one way to test that theory out.

"I'm going to brush my teeth."

The wolf blinked at him, a curious spark immediately lighting his eyes. He tilted his head and started to sit up. Yugi nearly grinned in delight at the idea of so easily getting his attention like this. He raised a brow, watching him, and then got to his feet as the smaller boy did. He was given a small smile, somewhat indulgent but mostly amused, and he trailed after him as he made his way to the bathroom in his room. The wolf paused at the doorway for a moment, but did not hesitate further.

When they got to the bathroom Yugi raised a brow at him, watching him curiously. If he really did follow by example, he thought he would be both elated and a little concerned. Because if he was choosing him as the one to mimic, did that mean somehow? Or was it simple convenience? And then, how much of regular human life did he lack if he had to look to him for direction like this?

The thought was sobering and his amusement disappeared immediately. Feeling somewhat flustered, he grabbed his brush from the holder, put on a glob of toothpaste that looked unnecessarily messy, and quickly wet it. While the wolf was watching him, Yugi felt a momentary flicker of embarrassment come through his insides. It seemed impossible to him that he would have an audience while doing something so mundane. And yet the other boy's eyes had grown sharper and his head had tilted curiously.

Flustered for a moment, the smaller boy ignored him in order to begin running his brush over his teeth. It was harder to ignore him than he had initially assumed. As soon as the mint smell of his paste came into the air the lycanthrope wrinkled his nose back. It was not of disdain or disgust but it seemed immediately to grow into it. His lips pulled back at the corner, his eyes narrowed, and his brows furrowed for a moment.

"It helps clean them," Yugi grumbled around the brush, not the least bit sure that the words came out as anything but a growl in such a low tone with the utensil in his mouth as it was. The wolf blinked, attention snapping to his face rather than the mirror, and raised a brow as if dubious of the statement. Or perhaps he just had not understood the words. Maybe he was just looking at him to see if he could guess what they might actually mean.

He spat out a mouthful of frothy foam and turned to him with a slight frown. "Did you want to try it or something?" he asked, briefly running his tongue over his teeth and feeling a bit better at the smooth touch of them. The other boy blinked at him, tilting his head towards his brush and then to the sink, and for a moment appeared to genuinely debate the idea. When he turned back to him he gave him a small smile that made the other blink again before finally nodding slightly.

Yugi had first the impulse to snort and snicker but then blinked and tilted his head. Was he truly interested in trying to brush his teeth? It seemed a foreign idea to him, because somehow his teeth were still bright white and perfectly formed. In fact, when he had first snarled at him that day down the street, had they not been perfectly straight in formation as well? Regular people would have been jealous of that kind of thing. They would have spent thousands at a dentist's office trying to get a similar perfection. Yet, here was a boy who spent most of his time in a canine form, eating seemingly anything in the world, with teeth that put supermodels to shame.

Yugi's own teeth were crooked in the back, with the molars pushed inwards and his secondary outwards. The edges brushed hard against each other and he always imagined that if he used them as an example of crooked teeth at a dentist's office, they would have a good laugh over them. The top molars went the opposite direction and the right side of his mouth was straighter than his left. His incisors were crowded together painfully and his right was crooked, his left straight. He would have formerly killed for that kind of straightness.

"Okay, here," he announced, digging into one of the drawers for a spare before handing him a bright red one. The wolf blinked, startled, as if he did not think he would actually give him the means to do so. Yugi flashed him a small grin, which the other frowned briefly at before beginning to peel the plastic wrapper away. He did not pause, instead doing exactly as the smaller boy expected him to.

He grabbed the tube of paste, popped the lid, put some on the brush, and wet it. Then he hesitated, looking it over for a moment, and finally shrugged and shoved it into his mouth. His lips twitched and curled up in disdain on the right side. He glanced only briefly at Yugi before beginning to run the bristled along his teeth. The smaller teen was so stricken by the idea that he was trusting him enough to have his mouth—really only one line of defense though the most powerful in canines—occupied that he could not stop watching.

The sound of the past foaming was like rapid gunfire, enhanced to the point that it was painful to listen to. His heart was beginning to pound within his chest, unnerved by the idea of such confidence in him. His soft breathing was like a small but gentle whisper of noise, mostly outdone by the froth forming in his mouth. The grip on the toothbrush was beginning to make his palms itch and tingle with pain, the nerve endings aching. The smell of the mint made his nose burn and he nearly groaned at the way it made his skin crawl briefly. The taste in his mouth had changed into a dull, lasting burst of something like mold.

He spat out into the sink again, then turned the faucet on and sipped at handfuls of water to be able to gurgle and rinse the hideous taste from his mouth. The boy next to him paused in brushing the left side of his mouth. When Yugi glanced up in the mirror, about to look his teeth over, he found himself nearly laughing. The other boy was so puzzled that he was almost statuesque beside him, eyes wide and lingering, with such interest etched across his face that he nearly guffawed. But when Yugi looked at him, the other boy quickly went back to brushing, as if that had never happened, ignoring him as he looked around as if the small room were the most interesting then to be seen.

Yugi rolled his eyes, snickering, but pulled his lips back to look at his teeth, not the least bit amused by the sight of them. He really shouldn't have gone on that coffee being when he was younger. They were only somewhat stained, but they were still yellowed and it irritated him to no end. When he pulled back, the other boy suddenly spat into the sink, growling in annoyance at the taste, and quickly rinsed his mouth as Yugi had.

"And now you know why should do that, huh?" he snorted, smirking in amusement, and raised a brow slyly. The wolf shot him a slightly disgruntled glare, but quickly found his way back to the task of rinsing his mouth once more. "You want to learn to floss?"

He gave him such a mystified look that Yugi burst out laughing. The wolf's mouth was slightly open, his eyes widened to the size of twin moons, his brows raised faintly. He did not tip his head to the side nor blink at him, but rather straightened with that same curious expression to his face, the smaller boy smothered his guffaws after what felt like hours, reaching over for his toothbrush and throwing it into the holder with his, and snorted as he grabbed the container.

For a brief second, in Yugi's mind's eye, as he flipped the lid, there was a gigantic black wolf and people gathered around it. Its paws were bound by a thin ribbon of thread the width of the floss in his hand. Its jaws were clamped with it and its long fur stood rigid with hatred. The golden eyes were glowing, hideous and pulsating, and its lips wrinkled back in fury. Yugi looked at the small box and then at the other boy and wondered at the image for a long moment.

Fenrir, from Norse mythology, he remembered, was a gigantic wolf that had been bound by a chain or a ribbon or something of that matter. And his hatred and bitterness after the event had allowed him to swallow Odin during the battle of Ragnarok.

The small teen frowned faintly at the thought, that image seared into his skull, but could not shake the impulse to wonder where it was that had come from. In all reality, he had not thought of Fenrir in so many ears, since he was mentioned in middle school during a lecture. Now why that had come to mind exactly was another thing altogether. He did not fully understand what it was that had made him pass through his thoughts. He was relatively sure it was a chain that had bound him. Although, when he thought back, the chain was supposed to have been so thin that the gods doubted it, right?

Yugi shook his head and snapped a piece of the floss for himself before doing the same for the other. When he opened his mouth and maneuvered the piece in his hand back and forth rapidly, the red eyes were locked on his face, as if he could not fathom that he had truly just stuck a thing in his mouth. As Yugi continued, those widened eyes nearly bugged out of his head, startled and uncertain, and he couldn't help but laugh quietly.

"Stop looking at me like that," he snickered softly, rolling his eyes in amusement. "You're distracting me!"

The wolf wrinkled his nose at his complaint, but did not stop watching. Yugi snorted, more amused than ever, and laughed harder when he tilted his head and leaned a little closer. He was sniffing at the thread, curious, and the smaller boy nearly choked when he saw the quizzical expression on his face.

The small boy watched him as he began to mimic him, pulling the floss back and forth, just before he let out a furious snarl and jerked back violently. Yugi froze next to him, startled by the angry noise, and then stopped short as he looked at him curiously. The wolf had removed the floss and the strand was a bright and hideous red.

"Let me see it," he demanded immediately, startling the other who snarled quietly before frowning at him in confusion. "Open your mouth."

He frowned at Yugi more visibly but then bared his teeth at him. For a moment he could see nothing. And then the tiniest splotch of red next to his bottom right canine came up. Within seconds, he could see that his mouth was salivating heavily to repair the damage. And when he spat into the sink again, there was only the slightest of twinges of pink to grace it. Yugi blinked a few times, somehow surprised that he might heal so quickly. It should have taken at least a little longer for the knick to heal, right? And yet it was already closed and when he looked at his teeth again, there was not the faintest touch of red to be found whatsoever. And his mouth was no longer salivating as heavily.

He frowned, tilting his head, and examined his teeth for a brief moment. They were perfectly straight, the canines a little sharper at the edges. His incisors were perfectly flat and each had the same length. But his center incisors did not lower as a human's did. Where Yugi himself had the small dip of his top center two, this wolf's were flat, all four level. It was all four of his canines which proved themselves to be a little longer than average, with the sharper edges that made them almost like that of an American vampire.

"Well, it looks like it's stopped bleeding," he mumbled after what felt like a long minute as he shook his head. The wolf flicked his tongue over the small former knick and then looked at him as if for more direction. Yugi hesitated for a long time before giving him a lopsided grin. "Have you ever used mouthwash before?"

The expression that came over his face was extremely quizzical. His brows furrowed, eyes widening faintly, and he tilted his head in confusion at his question. He blinked at him, red eyes specked several shades that made the depths of them appear like fresh blood and the inner rings of his irises crushed rubies beneath burning sunlight. His long lashes made them look like dark shadows, beautiful highlights of deep dark black to frame the brilliant orbs. Yugi was flustered by the way they bore into his eyes and he felt almost weak with the way his gaze seemed to burrow itself deep inside of him and make his nerve endings burn. They remained frozen for a moment and then small teen breathed in shakily, feeling as if something within the depths of his body was beginning to stir.

Yugi managed only barely to exhale, then blinked and turned his head away harshly. His breath came out strangled a moment later, eyes wide as they briefly took in his frazzled appearance in the mirror before them. Then he blinked again, swallowing hard, and tried his best not to allow the other boy to see the slight red which he knew dusted his cheeks in a fine powder of color.

It took him a moment to steady his thoughts. Swallowing again, he blinked before shaking his head slowly. His stomach twisted. His mouth grew dry. His heart was still racing, but it seemed just as quickly to slow itself once more. When he looked at the other boy, from the corner of his eye, his expression still had not changed.

But there was a gleam to his eyes that was not at all what he had been expecting. Rather than amusement or confusion his gaze was alight with something almost sheepish, as if he were terribly embarrassed. He reached a hand up to run his fingers through his bangs, then looked at the taller boy more fully.

It was somehow amazing to Yugi, the sight of the other boy's somewhat flustered expression. He seemed almost as if he might become sick if he paid him too much attention and the idea of something of fascination to him for a moment. Then, abruptly, his thoughts careened towards the many times he himself had been embarrassed. He had always hated it the moment his cheeks lit up or his eyes grew wide, or his mouth opened and closed in shock. Each of those times he hated it far too much to care to do it to someone else. Flustered, but hoping his voice would come out even and easy, he said, "Here."

When he reached over and fumbled to put it in front of him, the red-eyed teen raised a brow curiously. Yugi swallowed back a slight groan of embarrassment at his own awkward reaction and eventually looked over, eyes glued completely to the bottle of mouthwash.

"You twist off the cap, pour the mouthwash into it, then tip it back into your mouth." Yugi felt as if his hands might shake with his embarrassment as he tried to keep from showing him. But the werewolf was smart, and there was no reason he would have to. The intelligence in his gaze was keen, with strength that made his stomach twist faintly. He knew what he was going to do, how to do it, and did not once think it over. "Then you swish it around in your mouth for a few seconds—a minute if you can manage it—and spit it out in the sink."

He paused and his lips twitched faintly as he looked over and raised a brow slowly. "You know what you can do, though? I mean, since the whole flossing thing didn't work out, you could gargle the mouthwash," Yugi announced, fighting away a smirk of amusement. The wolf blinked at him curiously. "I know that you don't know why flossing is important and all, but it is. And the mouthwash right after is always a good thing to do. You can easily make up for the lack of flossing, though, if you decide to gargle it instead."

The wolf blinked at him, and for a moment his eyes grew distracted and faintly distrustful. Yugi realized only belatedly that he had twisted off the cap and the smell was making his nose twitch. His expression was nothing short of disdainful as he drew in another breath. It was stronger than even the toothpaste when it had been wet down and he was definitely undone by it. For a long moment he did not respond to any of these thoughts before frowning faintly and tilting his head to the side.

When he looked up again, his companion was watching him. His eyes were predominantly purple at the moment, but the flecks of them were a deep and almost mesmerizing blue. It seemed almost a shade of gorgeous, lustrous sapphire like a pair of glittering gems. Where the light from the mirror hit Yugi's irises, they shimmered and danced like sunbeams atop the surface of a pool of water. His lashes did nothing to fully shelter the coloring of his beautiful gaze, and where the shadows touched them, they appeared almost fully to become a uniform shade. It was stunning, almost startlingly so, and he blinked stupidly for a moment before looking back towards the bottle that he held in his hands.

He tapped his nails along the bright blue of the container, tilting his head only faintly to the side with his growing curiosity. When he flipped the bottle to pour some of the liquid into the lid, he found himself startled faintly by the slightly foggy appearance. It reminded him, for the smallest of moments, of steam rising from the pancakes they had eaten earlier and his stomach almost growled with the briefest of hungers. But it was gone immediately after. And he tipped the cup back into his mouth.

Immediately he flinched. The taste which touched his tongue made each bud burn. The muscle itched and flared. His heart began to race impatiently. His blood was pounding in his ears. His heart had leaped within his throat. His skin was pulsating achingly. His sight blurred for a moment as if with tears. When he blinked, the edges of his vision were black. His nose felt as if it might bleed. It seemed hotter along the nasal passages, as if they might burst into flames.

"Shit, are you okay?" Yugi demanded, startled by the realization the other boy had frozen in place. When he blinked again, his red eyes seemed displaced, as if he could not see properly. His cheeks had grown flushed. And he was breathing raggedly. His hands were slightly shaky, though not trembling. The smaller boy flinched slightly, then reached out to take the container from him. The other jerked but allowed him to remove the object from between his fingertips. He looked as if he might throw up at any moment, however. He seemed almost as if he were struggling not to gag, nor to swallow the liquid in his mouth.

It took him a long minute to even properly steady himself. His heart was still racing. His mouth had steadied somewhat, his tongue no longer burning but simply aching where it was pressed behind his teeth. He blinked and his red eyes sharpened again. He carefully, deliberately, drew in a deep breath through his nose. It itched, then ached so violently that he almost flinched.

Another long minute passed. Then he moved the liquid very slowly to the left, his cheek puffing outwards. His teeth burned and tingled with the new touch. His heart was beginning to slow itself. The sharpness of the pain came back again. His nose continued to ache, violently so, however. The red-eyed teen frowned, then shook his head, and slowly moved it to the right as well. Then he sputtered and the liquid pushed so harshly that he nearly cried out in pain.

Yugi watched him as he struggled to breathe properly. But the seconds passed. And eventually he simply opened his mouth. The movement caused him to jerk. Then he choked and sputtered again. The liquid sprayed straight into the mirror. The wolf grunted and choked. The entire frame of glass was completely coated. The frothy spray was bubbling into the corners. The smell of it made his nose nearly bleed as the other's own ached and wrinkled in distress.

The back of his hand reached up to cover his nose. The mouthwash had shot through there as well. He whined softly, pathetically, and his chin was coated in the froth. His eyes were wide, horrified, and his gaze was caught on Yugi's. At first he did not recognize it around his own shock. He was gaping at the glass, moments from laughing out loud in amusement, and his lungs were growing tight with the task of restraining himself. But then Yugi realized, very abruptly, that nothing was funny.

There werewolf's face was absolutely stricken. His brows had pulled upwards and closer together. His eyes were wide and dilated. His lips had twisted into a grimace. His hand was still pressed against his nose, fingers trying to stem the pain. His eyes were focused entirely on the small boy now. He blinked at him, his eyes growing further dilated.

Yugi flinched violently at the sight.

"Oh gods…" Yugi had the impulse to reach out and pull his hand away, to make sure his nose wasn't bleeding. He was almost scared that if he looked at the spot behind his fingers, there would be maps of bright red. The thought made him breathe heavily and his heart hammered in his chest as he looked at him with a horrified expression. "Oh my gods—I—I—Are you okay?"

The wolf continued to stare at him, his expression still stricken, and Yugi winced once more. His red eyes were glittering with something almost akin hurt, as if he had very purposefully wounded him. The smaller teen opened his mouth to deny such a thing, then felt his cheeks heat with embarrassment. He hadn't meant to hurt him, but he hadn't really considered it either. If he had even managed to fully gurgle the mixture, he would have been in just as much pain—if not worse.

"I—I'm sorry."

Yugi winced at his own stuttering. The wolf merely blinked, then glanced over his shoulder. And he was gone a second later, before he could even think to object. So he stood there, startled and watching, as he disappeared from his sight completely.

It took Yugi what felt like hours to finally make his way into the living room after him. His stomach still lurched to one side and his mouth was dry. His hands were shaky and his palms were sweaty. But where his immediate worry had been that the other might have fled, he found himself immensely relieved that he was sitting on the couch again. He was, without so much as a small blink, watching the screen with the volume nearly muted. He did not look at him but to see if it was truly him, then he settled back into the cushion he was using as a pillow.

His mouth had been dried off, his skin scrubbed with water to get rid of the wash, and his face was relaxed. It was his eyes that looked cautious when they flickered to Yugi to discourage his continued staring. The darker flecks of them were hideously wary, with such depths as to look almost black in appearance. Yugi thought that, had it not been for the fact that he was within his territory—as he was sure the werewolf perceived it—he would have snarled and chased him off.

"Are you okay?" Yugi finally breathed out, hesitating for a moment as he blinked at the other boy. His head turned, eyes somewhat surprised by the question, and then he nodded briefly. His eyes flickered to the screen again and they seemed almost to reflect every color which played across them. "I didn't mean to upset you or anything. I was just…"

Being an idiot, his brain filled in somewhat angrily. Yugi shook his head at himself and sighed in avid frustration. How was it that he had not considered how the other boy might take such a joke? It seemed stupid in hindsight as he shook his head violently a second time. It was annoying that he could even miscalculate such odds. He narrowed his eyes and clenched his jaw for a brief moment. His fingers ran through the length of his blue-violet-tipped black hair.

His lips twitched, his mouth tugged downwards, his eyes sharpened. Yugi took a deep breath as he considered the dark eyes that look at him from the couch adjacent him. He swallowed hard, biting his lip, and then ran his hand through his hair again.

"I was just messing around." Yugi paused, his voice coming out haltingly as he considered his words a second time. "I thought it might be fun…to get you back…for pretending that you didn't know how to use the bathroom."

The taller boy blinked at him for a long moment, then narrowed his eyes. His expression was nothing short of suspicious as he considered the statement. His lips tugged into a brief growl before falling away again. Then his brow rose slowly, as if a clear defiance of his words. It took a long moment for him to truly digest his choice of statement. And then, very abruptly, his lips pulled back.

They tugged into the widest of smirks, as if he were the cat who had caught the canary. The very concept was not unlike something that he thought the wolf capable of. He could catch squirrels when they were in tree branches high over their heads. Having the grace of a feline to spring on a bird, in flight or otherwise, was something that seemed natural to him. It seemed like the easiest, most natural thing that the other boy might ever possess.

"You suck," he announced, flustered as his cheeks heated faintly once more. "You had me worried."

The wolf wrinkled his nose at him, then looked at him more fully. For a moment he studied him, seemed to consider if Yugi was truly upset with him or not, and then smirked a little wider. The smaller teen rolled his eyes, unable to do more than grace him with his own lopsided grin of amusement.

---

Yugi was watching him curiously as they sat at the able and considered what flavor drink he might make for the other teen. The wolf was contemplating the choice of chocolate banana or strawberry vanilla. Both flavors had made him turn his nose up. But the other boy seemed to be a bit more adventurous than him with his sense of taste. He had sniffed both jars—which Yugi had chosen from the supermarket those hours before in a rush to get home—and even briefly scooped some out with a nail on either hand to sample them. Now he was sitting across from him, studying the two, and seemed curious as to what they might taste like with liquid added to their powdery form.

Yugi blinked, somewhat dismayed that he had unconsciously grabbed the two flavors by accident as he had. The conversation with Valon had rattled him so violently that he had not even briefly considered the flavors he had snatched from the shelf. It was no wonder the cashier had given him such an awkward look while she had bagged his groceries. He had grabbed what had to be two of the most ridiculous flavor combinations available. He rolled his eyes after a moment, discomforted by the very sight of the two labels.

He imagined they were disgusting. But the wolf seemed to think otherwise.

The lycanthrope looked up at him from beneath his lashes. Then, lazily, he gestured to the chocolate. Yugi paused for a moment, studying his leisurely movement. It seemed strange that he was watching him gesture rather than speak. Even after a full week of being around him, he was still somehow unused to it. The wolf was so intelligent, had admitted that he could speak, and yet his lips were tight and his voice mute.

Yugi paused, blinking stupidly, and froze from where he had been reaching for the container in front of him. What if it was not the truth that he had told him formerly? What if he had been, by some strange occurrence, born an absolute mute? He knew it was possible for the occasional person to be born with nonfunctional vocal cords. It was the fact that he was a werewolf that might have such an affliction that made him stop short. Was it possible? Could werewolves be born without vocal cords?

Wouldn't the Change, when it destroyed and repaired, have pulled such a thing from existence? Wouldn't it have given someone a voice when they least expected it? Whether or not they would be capable of using it was another idea altogether…

But wasn't that the course of what should have happened? He could not truly grasp such a concept of silence when one's body was constantly pushed and tugged and stretched into completely new forms. The vocal cords would be mended and stressed just as violently as the bones in the body, wouldn't they?

But the wolf in front of him was still so silent. If he truly did it by his own will, Yugi would not have thought twice about it. But it came to him that he could not fully understand the infliction of vocal damage otherwise. What kind of damage could have possibly rendered him completely voiceless? With healing capabilities like their disease lent them, how was it possible that one could never find their voice again?

He shuddered to think of what would be able to cause such an issue. Unless the wolf was very violently, very purposefully, attacked and the aim of it was to destroy his vocal cords, then it made no sense. But then, why would they truly have to aim for that? If they had attacked and nearly killed him, if he'd been hit hard enough in the throat, was it possible that the wound would simply have failed to heal properly? It seemed easy enough that the wolf would still have healed.

Yugi blinked and then looked at the wolf for a long minute. His fingers were hovering above the chocolate mix. But his hands were shaking now. There was a keen confusion glittering within the other's eyes, making it clear that he did not understand his reaction. So the small teen blinked, swallowing hard, and narrowed his eyes faintly. It was terrifying, he realized, to consider that perhaps a wound could permanently scar.

The vocal cords were said to be delicate—or so he remembered reading one time—so perhaps they could not be healed. Maybe their frailty had rendered them completely unsuitable for healing when Changes happened or a terrible wound was inflicted.

Because, he remembered, the wolf had said that he could talk. But he didn't. And he was not a mute, he realized, because he could snarl. If one could snarl, no matter the volume, then muteness was not a possibility. So the wolf was not mute. And he seemed able to communicate perfectly well. But still, was it possible? Could he have been attacked, his vocal cords somehow violently ripped or damaged, and then healed again to his dissatisfaction? Maybe his voice had been so terribly altered that he could not bear to hear it anymore—

Yugi was on his feet and in the bathroom within seconds. In his mind's eyes, a throat was shown bare. Fur was lying in a patch of hideous red. Blood leaked and pulsed as spasms overtook it. The claws flexed violently. A noise bubbled out with every breath.

He puked so violently that his head spun. He squeezed his eyes shut. His throat ached hideously. A pounding started in his right temple. The porcelain was harsh in his tightened grip. His body trembled. His mouth opened and closed, bile flooding out. His shoulders were wracked with pain. His lungs burned. His heart jumped into his throat. His knees hurt where they touched the linoleum.

He could have screamed for all the help his puking seemed to do him. His body ached as his shoulders bunched and jerked up and down. His breathing was labored, his throat clenching as he took a moment to attempt to steady himself briefly. He had just laid his cheek against the seat of the toilet when he heard something over his pounding heart.

It was a weak, croaking exhale, but it came to him with all the power of a car collision.

"Y…u…gi…"

Yugi jerked his head, startled, and gaped over his shoulder. The wolf was poking his head around the corner. His eyes were wide, worried, his expression concerned. He looked as if he might be sick. He seemed almost as if he might flee and hide away. His voice had been so hoarse and terrible to his own ears that it had caused him to cringe. He wanted nothing more than to hide, to press himself back and dissolve into the carpet. And Yugi's response, his jaw opened wide, his eyes owlish, and his face pale as if the blood had drained away, did nothing to make him feel any better.

They looked at each other, until the other could not take it any longer. He spun on his heel, breathing raggedly, and headed off to find a place in which to shield himself in the living room again. He could not stand to have Yugi return and look at him with that same horrified expression on his face.

He would sooner die.

---

Yugi was well aware that he had messed up. He was not entirely sure what it was that made the wolf hide away from him as he was, but he did not bother to try to coax him out either. He had come out of the bathroom hours before, looking around, calling for him, trying his hardest to make him think it was okay, but he had failed to so much as breathe out loud enough for Yugi to hear. He had not left, however, and the smaller boy knew this only because the doors were still shut and he had not heard him. He had, by all means, come into the living room. Where he was hiding, however, was an entirely different story.

The small teen shuddered, feeling sick to his stomach. As he sat at the table and looked over a study guide, glancing every few seconds into the other room, he wondered if he had fallen asleep. He had taken his medication, drank a protein shake before then, and could very easily have fallen fast asleep somewhere.

Yugi had not been able to track any sounds or movement, however, but he did not think it impossible. Perhaps he had conditioned himself somehow to near silence when he thought it necessary. It had to be useful when he slept in the woods. There was likely no better survival technique in all actuality.

He flipped his pencil several times in his fingers, closing his eyes tightly, and craned his head back. It was already late. He had been, as usual, attempting to stay awake longer than the other boy. But this time it seemed almost impossible. He was exhausted, whether from his studying since the other had disappeared or his guilt he had no clue, and his first thought was to lie in his bed and curl up. But his second was to wait, to see if the other would come out, to apologize and make sure that he fell asleep in his room.

His personal exhaustion won in the end. A six-hour long struggle faded into nonexistence as he made his way into this room. He dropped his notebook on his dresser, then threw back the covers. Sleeping in his jeans and a t-shoulder would not do him any harm. He yawned, stretching, and glanced over his shoulder, only to be disappointed when the other failed to appear in the doorway. There was not a single movement, nor the slightest noise to stir the air. Yugi frowned deeply as he took his spot on the bed and drew the blankets over his shoulders to his neck. The room was a little colder than usual. He could almost predict the first day of snowfall to come. It would be a little earlier than usual.

Although, at times, rather than November, snow would come in rapid falls the final weak of October or even as early as the twelfth. Domino City was nestled in the area just beneath the mountains and the mountains got snow aplenty. The city would be covered in ice for weeks, with people walking to work or the occasional brave driver attempting to make their car move along the roads. But many times people would huddle up in their homes, a state of emergency called to all but close each business as was seen necessary.

He paused. Was that a noise? His heart began to pound in excitement.

A small, gentle gust of a breath came from behind him. He twisted around immediately. The wolf halted. At the edge of his bed, he stood with the blanket around his shoulders. He looked extremely uncertain at the moment. His eyes were flickering back and forth between him and the foot of the mattress. He looked as if he might flee and hide away again if he so much as made a sudden movement. Yugi licked his lips.

"Come on up here."

He patted the spot next to him. The wolf gave him a disgruntled look.

"You can come up here. Feel free to. I wasn't upset with you earlier. I—I'm sorry for scaring you," Yugi muttered, swallowing hard and then patting the spot again. His red eyes had grown wide and further unhappy. The uncertainty was pronounced more prominently when he shifted his weight uncomfortably. He gave him a weak smile, pleading. "I promise I'm not upset. I didn't—I was just surprised. I wasn't expecting you to speak."

He cringed so visibly that Yugi sat up in surprise. The movement made him jump, snarling in distressed warning. He held his hands up immediately, startled by his ferocity. For a moment neither of them moved. Then, very slowly, the smaller teen patted the sheets once more.

"Please, come on. I don't want you to sleep on the floor. And you don't need to sleep down there. You can sleep with me up here."

The wolf watched him for a long minute. His eyes flickered back and forth. He even turned his head all the way to look over his shoulder. His expression twisted, gaze lingering on the doorway. He looked as if he might be sick at any moment. Very slowly he turned his head to look back at Yugi.

He did not appear threatening in any way. He did not seem uncomfortable with him now. He seemed, if anything, desperate for him to take the spot next to him. He looked as if he wanted nothing more than to have him lie beside him. He hesitated, then looked at the floor of the bed. It was not always the most comfortable spot to lay, nor was the position in which he used to take that space, but it seemed safer. He did not entirely wish to be so close to Yugi. After having woken in that position earlier and then having the audacity to so abruptly force his lungs into vocalization, he could not be sure of himself.

What if it happened again?

What if he had the desire to speak again?

The thought terrified him. As his head snapped back towards the doorway, he felt sick to his stomach. He did not think that he would ever wish to talk again. But he had already broken his vow hours before. It was a damaging and horrifying concept to him. And it made his head spin so harshly that his balance seemed to spiral beneath him.

By Lupa, what if he did not decide to speak again?

His head turned back to face Yugi. The smaller boy was still watching him. And his fingers were patting the spot to his left side. He seemed childishly small in that moment, like a toddler asking for a gift they were highly uncertain they would ever get. The red-eyed lycanthrope watched him for as long as he could before his eyes began to burn with the need to blink. Then he let out a deep breath.

He would not speak again.

But he could sleep beside him again for the night, couldn't he?

He had done so and not spoken. It had been Yugi's sudden illness and the way that he had fled that had even caused him to fathom such an idea. He had not attempted it before then. He could sleep beside him and not feel the need to when he awoke. And if he did feel he had to—by some unfathomable means—he remembered the notepad and the pencil. If, for some unspeakable reason, he thought it necessary to speak again, he could use that.

He very slowly, deliberately, made his way to the either side of the bed. The excitement and relief which bloomed in Yugi's eyes made him bristle but he ignored the impulse to snarl. Rather, reluctantly, he pressed his knee into the mattress. Then he leaned forward. He pressed his palms into the mattress. Very slowly, he pushed his entire body's weight against it. Then he shuffled forward.

Yugi thought to tell him to relax, but then fell immediately silent. He smothered the impulse and shook his head at him. The other boy did not pause, instead very abruptly throwing himself on his side. His eyes were wide open for several long minutes. Then, lazily, with a flash of burning defiance that nearly made his mouth fall open again, the boy rolled over with his back to him. The sound that left his mouth was a hideous huff, almost akin a growl or a barking noise, a boom of air that made him snicker softly.

Yugi smiled faintly, amused, and then rolled to face the opposite wall. He would not make him any more uncomfortable than necessary. Facing the other wall seemed the least he could do for him.

Let me know if any of the pronouns were confusing. I tried to put Yugi's name wherever I could to minimize confusion but it might have slipped past me as the author. But Yami DOES begin to allow Yugi to call him by name in the next chapter.

And that having been SAID! The beginning of Part II (chapter seventeen) will be posted on the sixteenth. I'm going to take the time between then and now to keep trying to get ahead with typing up the chapters AND to get some edits done for a couple of other stories.