Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh

Yugi frowned as he clenched his fists tightly at his side. Yami had just come home at a little after 1 in the morning. Again. This was getting out of control and Yugi was sick of it.

"So, did you fuck her nice and hard? Did she scream real loud for you?" Yugi hissed as Yami undid his tie.

Yami paused before he turned to face his husband who was sitting in bed glaring at him. "No Yugi, I am not having an affair. Which I've told you more than once." Yami replied, his voice exhausted. It had been a really long day capped off by a massive warehouse issue which could potentially end up costing his company almost a million dollars if he didn't get it sorted out.

Yugi snorted, "Of course you wouldn't have the balls to admit that you were fucking...what was her name? Mana. Yeah, that slut." Yugi accused.

Yami's eyes narrowed, "For the last time Yugi, Mana is my assistant. I am not sleeping with her. I never have and I never will. I'm married to you and I am not a cheater." Yami growled.

"Then why do you keep coming home so late every night?" Yugi asked, his tone full of accusation.

"Because I am working. Maybe you should try it sometime Yugi." Yami snapped back.

Yugi's eyes narrowed, "How dare you? How fucking dare you say that to me you bastard?!" Yugi shouted.

"But isn't that what this is really all about? You sit at home all day watching your damn soap opera shows and jerking off while I am out there busting my ass to earn us a living! This house. Your fancy car. Everything it costs money Yugi! Where did you think the money was all coming from? ME! It comes from me working. And sometimes, I have to work late. Sometimes I have to go out of of town. It is part of my job and I can't change that." Yami shouted back.

"And you think dealing with you sleeping around isn't a full time fucking job Yami? Do you really not think dealing with you isn't a job?" Yugi snapped back.

Yami rolled his eyes, "Oh yes, how could I forget what a terrible person I am to deal with? Its so terrible being married to someone who loves you and works hard to provide for you. And for the last time Yugi. I am NOT a cheater." Yami snapped back.

Yugi frowned, "Liar. You are fucking Mana so man up and just admit it. Admit what I already know." Yugi growled.

Yami threw his tie down on the floor in frustration, "You know what Yugi, I may not be fucking Mana but I will tell you this if I were fucking Mana she would damn well deserve it a hell of a lot more than you have lately. Because I have had it with your attitude Yugi." Yami shouted.

Yugi rolled his eyes, "Oh yes because you and I have fucked at all in the last four months." Yugi muttered darkly.

"And forgive me for thinking that might not be a bad thing." Yami growled before he marched over to his dresser and yanked out a pair of sleep pants a t-shirt.

"Where the hell are you going Yami? I'm not done talking to you." Yugi shouted.

"To sleep on the fucking couch that I bought with my fucking money because unlike you I have to be up in four hours to go back to work." Yami snapped back.

"Oh yes because you work so hard. Sitting back in your damn office chair will Mana rides you like a fucking horse." Yugi shouted.

Yami slammed the door to his and Yugi's bedroom shut so he wouldn't have to listen to Yugi garbage anymore before he laid down on the couch fuming. He was really starting to lose his patience with Yugi, it seemed that all they had done for the last four months had been argue. It almost made Yami think that maybe it wasn't worth making the effort to come home from work even if it was only for a few hours. But he still had made the attempt to spend at least some time with his husband, even if it would have been just being able to pull Yugi into his arms and sleep.

XXXXXXX

Yami walked up the drive way to his and Yugi's home. It was the beginning of April and by some miracle Yami had managed to get off of work at noon today. It was his and Yugi's anniversary, not their wedding anniversary...that was in July but the anniversary of when they had started dating. Yami had gotten Yugi a bouquet of flowers and had made dinner reservations at Yugi's favorite restaurant. Maybe, just maybe he and Yugi could try and fix the mess their marriage had become lately. A romantic date night might be just what the doctor ordered.

Yami unlocked the door and headed into the house. "Yugi, Aibou I'm home." Yami called out as he toed off his shoes. There was no answer.

Yami frowned as he set the bouquet of flowers on the counter and wandered deeper into the house. "Aibou? Are you here?" Yami called out. Apparently he wasn't.

Yami pulled out his cellphone and dialed Yugi's number. Yugi answered on the third ring, "What is it Yami?" Yugi answered briskly.

"I managed to take a half day today. I figured you and I could do something together. Talk. Reconnect." Yami said.

Yugi snorted, "You probably should have run that by me first Yami. I'm not home. Ryou and I headed up to Poker Town for a big gaming convention. I'll be back in a few days." Yugi replied.

"Oh." Yami said.

"Its not a big deal." Yugi said.

"When did you decide to do this?" Yami asked.

"Ryou and I planned this about a month ago." Yugi said.

Yami frowned, "And when were you planning on telling me about this? You could have at least left me a note saying that you were going." Yami said.

"You aren't my keeper Yami." Yugi replied.

"No. I'm your husband or did you forget that?" Yami growled.

"Last I checked you don't report to me every time you go somewhere or do something. So why the hell should I tell you where I am at every minute of every day." Yugi challenged.

"I do tell you when I'm going to be out of town for business. I tell you every single time." Yami snapped back.

"Whatever Yami." Yugi replied before he hung up the phone.

Yami for a moment just glared at his phone before he turned and grabbed the bouquet of flowers he had purchased and harshly threw them into the garbage. "Damn him." Yami growled for a moment as he took a few deep calming breaths in an effort to cool his temper. Once Yami felt that he was as calm as he was going to get he made another phone call.

"Hey Ate." Yami greeted.

"Hey Yami, what's up?" Atemu replied.

Yami shrugged, not that Atemu could see, "Nothing much. I got a rare half day and since Yugi's out of town today I figured that maybe you and I could go and do something. Maybe grab a bite to eat?" Yami suggested.

"Sure, that sounds great." Atemu replied.

"Awesome. Just let me get changed out of my work clothes and I'll come meet you at your place." Yami said.

"Sounds like a plan. See you in a bit." Atemu replied before he hung up.

Yami quickly changed into a comfortable pair of jeans and a t-shirt before he pulled out his phone for the third time and made yet another call, this one to the restaurant he had made reservations at for him and Yugi, which he quickly canceled.

It didn't take Yami long to get to Atemu's apartment. For a moment Yami just sat in his car while he allowed the last of his temper to fade. He didn't want Atemu to know about him and Yugi having marital problems because at the end of the day this was all between him and Yugi. Dragging Atemu or anyone else for that matter into the mess would only complicate what was already a complicated situation.

Once Yami was truly calm he climbed out of his car and headed up to Atemu's third floor apartment. He knocked lightly on the door as he fished his keys out of his pocket to unlock it. Atemu had given Yami his key ages ago. Atemu said that he needed to have someone that could come and feed his cat in the event that he was ever out of town and since his father was allergic that left him out of the running.

"Ate, I'm here." Yami called out as he headed inside.

Just in time to see Atemu coming out of the bathroom with only a towel wrapped around his waist. Yami blushed in embarrassment as he quickly turned around. "Sorry, didn't realize you were in the shower Ate. I can go wait in the car if you want." Yami said.

"No, its fine Yami. Please, make yourself at home. I'm just going to go and get dressed quickly then we'll be on our way." Atemu replied.

Yami did not turn around until he heard Atemu's bedroom door close. Then Yami went and sat on the couch, soon joined by Atemu's pet cat Bastet jumping up on his lap, purring. "Hey girl." Yami greeted as he lightly scratched the cat behind the ears. The cat lightly bumped her head up against Yami's hand which made Yami smile.

True to Atemu's word he came back out in a few minutes fully dressed in a form fitting pair of black jeans and a red t-shirt which very nicely accented the color of Atemu's gorgeous ruby eyes. "Sorry about that Yami. I figured that I'd be done by the time you got here." Atemu said sheepishly.

Yami shrugged, "Like I said Ate, its fine. Really." Yami replied as he slowly rose to his feet, much to Bastet's displeasure.

"So, what do you want to do?" Atemu asked.

Yami shrugged again, "I don't know. Maybe we can go grab a bite to eat. See a movie. Something like that." Yami replied.

Atemu grinned, "Sounds like a ton of fun. It's been forever since you and I got to hang out. Just the two of us." Atemu said.

Yami nodded, "Yeah. I know. It should be a lot of fun."

"So, do you want to take your car or mine?" Atemu asked.

"We can take my car." Yami offered

Atemu and Yami ended up heading to Burger World, an all time favorite where they grabbed a burger and some fries together. They spent hours talking about everything under the sun. Atemu was telling Yami about a physical therapy patient that he was currently working with, a stubborn teenager who had broken his legs pretty badly after taking a dare and jumping off the roof of his house and onto the trampoline only to miss the trampoline entirely. Busted several bones in his legs which had required surgery and had left him bound to a wheelchair.

Yami, in turn, told Atemu about some of the things he was working on at work. Yami and Mahad had been working very hard on releasing a computer program which would revolution the financial sector and how the stock exchange was navigated. Atemu was suitably impressed with the work he and Mahad had been doing, but Yami had admitted that there was still a long way to go on their program and that resulted in him and Mahad spending countless hours scanning over line after line of code.

"Who knows when we're finally done I'll probably wind up needing to wear glasses." Yami commented which made Atemu laugh.

The sad thing was that this outing with Atemu, which was great and left Yami feeling more refreshed than he had felt in a long time it also really made him miss his husband. He used to be able to talk to Yugi about stuff like this but lately all it seemed they did was fight.

Yami found his mind wandering to something he had thought about every once in a while. And that was if he had made the right decision marrying Yugi. There was a time in high school where he had thought about maybe asking Atemu out instead. He hadn't and instead had asked out Yugi Motou, but every now and then when things got rough between him and Yugi, Yami found himself wondering again if he had made a mistake all those years ago.

I mean, to make matters worse its probably been more than a year since Yugi or I have even said I love you. If that doesn't say things are bad, then I don't know what does. Yami thought to himself.

After lunch Atemu and Yami went to watch a movie a new action one that had just hit theaters and Yami absolutely loved the movie. He loved everything about that night, so much so he really was disappointed when it came time to drop Atemu back off at his apartment.

Yami headed back home to his and Yugi's house and crawled into their bed before falling fast asleep. Yami dreamt that he was being kissed, a kiss he readily returned even though his eyes were still closed. His lover soon broke the kiss before kissing his way down to Yami's throat where he began to nibble on Yami's collar bone.

Yami finally opened his eyes and was shocked to see it wasn't Yugi who was kissing him like he had expected, but Atemu. Yami immediately woke with a start panting heavily as the dream slowly faded from his mind. That was wrong. Very wrong. He should not have been picturing Atemu in such a way. He was married to Yugi. Happily married to Yugi.

Yami snorted, yeah. Now, if only that was true it would be that much easier to deny how much a part of him yearned for the image in his dream to be true.

XXXXXX

Four days later Yami pulled into the drive way at a few minutes after 10. Work actually hadn't been that terrible but it still was a very long day, fifteen hour work day. He was just glad to be getting home. I just hope that Yugi doesn't pick another fight with me. Hopefully he'll be so excited about his time at the gaming convention that he won't just start shouting at me as soon as I walk through the door. Yami thought to himself.

Yami climbed out of the car and headed into the house, towing off his shoes. "Yugi, Aibou. I'm home." Yami called out.

"In the living room Yami." Yugi called back.

Yami headed into the kitchen first and grabbed himself a glass of water before he headed into the living room. Yugi at least didn't sound angry tonight so maybe this would end up being a good evening after all.

"Hey." Yami greeted as he walked into the living room and took at seat on the couch, "How was your trip?" Yami asked.

Yugi shrugged, "It was great. Ryou and I had an awesome time." Yugi said.

"That's good to hear. Did you guys do anything fun?" Yami asked.

For a moment Yugi got quiet, "Well, Ryou helped me to be able to fix our marriage. Everything is all better now." Yugi said.

Yami frowned, "And how exactly did Ryou help you to do that? I mean, hearing that you want to fix our marriage is great. Really. Just, I don't think that anything has been fixed. I mean this is the longest conversation we've had in seven months where we haven't just been shouting at each other." Yami said.

Yugi frowned, "Like I said Ryou helped me to fix it. We're even now, so the slate has been washed clean. So, we can go on like nothing even happened. I mean, you'll have to stop, of course. But we're even at least." Yugi said.

Yami's frown deepened as he set his glass of water down on the coffee table, "Yugi, I don't know what you're talking about. How exactly are we even? I'm confused." Yami said.

"Ryou and I slept together. So, that cancels out your..."

"You and Ryou DID WHAT?" Yami shouted as he leapt to his feet a mixture of white hot anger and hurt coursing through Yami's body.

Yugi rolled his eyes, "As I said, Ryou and I had sex. Hot wild, kinky sex. And it was amazing. Which, as I said cancels out your..."Yugi began.

"No, first off Yugi. As I've told you more than a hundred times I am not and never have I had an affair. And how the hell do you think that this is remotely okay? How can you come home and practically shove you cheating on me with our mutual friend in my face?" Yami growled. He was really trying to keep a tight hold of his emotions but this hurt. This hurt a lot.

Yugi's eyes narrowed, "And as I said this made everything better. Now you and I can get back to having sex ourselves and everything will be fine again." Yugi said.

Yami shook his head as he turned to head out of the living room and back into the kitchen. "No, Yugi. No." Yami said.

"And where the hell do you think your going?" Yugi called out.

"Back to the office. I just, I need space. I need to try and come to grips with this." Yami said.

Yugi clenched his fists tightly at his side, "Oh, so you get all bent out of shape when I have an affair, but when you have one then its no big deal. Talk about a double standard you hypocrite."

"And for the last time Yugi. I HAVE NEVER HAD AN AFFAIR! Do I need to take a fucking polygraph test to prove I haven't had an affair? Is that what it will take?" Yami snapped back.

Yugi rolled his eyes, "Please. We both know that isn't true." Yugi growled, "after all that's why you refused to..."

"Yugi, my refusal had absolutely nothing to do with me having an imaginary affair. I refused because I thought we were both way too young and immature to be having kids at this point. And don't get me started on the fact that you demanded I have this invasive medical procedure and that I then let you fuck me up the ass. Just because I didn't want that at this point in our marriage does not mean I was cheating on you." Yami growled.

"Whatever Yami." Yugi snapped back.

Yami felt a coldness settle over him at Yugi's casual dismissal of his reasoning for refusing. How could someone who ever claimed to truly love him treat him this way. "You know what Yugi. Perhaps you and I should have some time apart." Yami said.

Yugi's eyes narrowed, "Are you suggesting we get a divorce. After I went and fixed everything now you want to divorce me." Yugi growled.

"I never said the word divorce. I said that we need to take a break. Clearly things have gotten very bad between the two of us for you to think for a second that you having a revenge affair is in anyway going to fix anything. Let me tell you right now. It hasn't. What you did Yugi, quite frankly I don't think I could ever forgive you for. But, maybe with time and distance I'll be able to find it within me to forgive you. But, I need to go." Yami said.

Yugi picked up Yami's glass of water and chucked the glass at Yami, who moved at the last second, the glass shattering on contact with the wall. "Get out!" Yugi shouted.

Yami turned and marched up the stairs to his and Yugi's bedroom and grabbed his suitcase before he started shoving as many of his clothes as he could fit into the bag. There weren't a lot of keepsakes that he really wanted to take with him, but Yami did grab the few he couldn't be without and shoved them into a shoe box which he tucked under his arm before he zipped his suitcase shut.

Yami shook his head as he tried to shake thoughts of how he ended up in this mess from his mind. Following that final fight with Yugi, Yami went and got a hotel in Gin City. Less than a week later he was served with divorce papers at his office. Papers that upon seeing them put the final nail in the coffin that was Yugi and Yami's marriage When Yami had said he wanted a separation it was in the hopes of giving each of them some space while they tried to work things out. Maybe go and see a marriage counselor, but clearly Yugi wasn't interested in putting in the work. Just like he wasn't interested in getting a job or to be perfectly honest, interested in what Yami wanted at all. Yami signed the divorce papers and did his best to move on with his life. He didn't bother going to court to get into another toxic argument with his ex, this time in front of a judge. It wasn't worth the time or the headache.

Yami was drawn from his morose thoughts by the light knocking on his hospital room door. He glanced up to see that Atemu had returned, this time showered and dressed in normal clothes. Yami couldn't help but smile at the sight, "Hey Ate, welcome back." Yami said.

Atemu grinned, "No place else I would rather be." Atemu replied.

Yami's grin broadened, "Thanks for saying that. I know you're lying but just this once I'll ignore the lie." Yami said.

Atemu snorted, "Should I feel insulted that you think me saying I want to visit with my best friend is a lie?" Atemu said.

"Wanting to visit with me is quite different than, having no place you would rather be than in a hospital room." Yami replied.

Atemu just shook his head before he plopped back down in the chair he had practically been living in for the last few days. "Well, your wrong. I love spending time with you. Even in a hospital." Atemu replied before shooting Yami a cheeky grin, "So stop trying to get rid of me."

Yami chuckled before he fell silent, the smile slowly slipping off his face, "Someone should probably tell my parents what happened." Yami said. The one positive thing about this whole divorce was that his parents had stood by him. His father had listened to Yami yell and swear and call Yugi every terrible name under the sun when he'd come out to visit Yami and help him get moved into his new apartment. Not once had his father scolded Yami for not sticking it out. Kano had just nodded and said that he never liked Yugi to begin with.

His mother had more than a few choice words for Yugi's behavior before concluding that Yami needed to find someone better. And not to worry because she would get on the case and find the perfect man for him. 'Someone who is actually worthy of my wonderful son, not like that ungrateful, lazy, gold digging man whore.' Ironically, that was probably one of the kinder statements she had made about Yugi.

The grin slid off of Atemu's face as he straightened up, clearing his throat awkwardly. "Ummm, well they already know what happened. I called them the night you were brought in. They said they were going to cut their trip short and catch the next plane they can get back home. I texted your father when I went home to change to let them know you finally woke up. Your father said that he was very relieved the hear that and for me to tell you that if the weather holds they should be able to fly out tomorrow." Atemu said.

Yami sighed, "They don't have to rush home on my account. Its not every day a couple can celebrate 30 years of marriage. And trust me, having been married, I can honestly say how difficult that can be. I didn't even last a full five years." Yami said.

Atemu shrugged, "I can't say how difficult it could be since the most I've ever done was go out on a few dates here and there." Atemu replied.

Yami chuckled, "Yeah, dating is easy. Marriage is hard." Yami replied, "Almost like comparing walking up a hill to climbing Mount Everest. Over and over again. Without a guide and sometimes faulty climbing gear."

Atemu snorted, "Well, I'll definitely keep that in mind if I ever find the one." Atemu replied.

"Trust me, I won't let you take that plunge without making absolutely sure that the person will be good for you Ate. No reason for me to let you go through all the stuff I had to." Yami replied.

Atemu nodded, "Well, thank you for that." Atemu replied.

Yami just shrugged which he once more regretted upon doing so when his shoulder gave a very painful throb, "What are friends for?" Yami replied.

XXXXXXX

It was a little after midnight and Atemu just could not sleep. Today marked day five he had spent here at Domino Hospital. With any luck Yami's parents should be arriving in a few hours to see him, which would be great. Yami needed all the support that he could get.

Atemu sighed as he glanced over at Yami's, for the moment, peacefully sleeping form. He was genuinely worried about Yami and he cursed the college courses he had taken which gave him genuine cause for worry. The doctor had said Yami had significant damage to his C6 and C7 vertebrae but had not gone into more specifics than that. Just said that they were monitoring the situation and that Yami needed to wear the brace. That could mean the vertebrae were broken. That could mean there were fractures. Or that could mean there is inflammation. Atemu's mind listed.

The thing Atemu was really worried about right now was the possibility of paralysis. With spinal injuries it was a distinct possibility. Atemu bit his lip as he glanced back over at his friend. He worried it was a possibility but at the same time he didn't want to voice his concerns to Yami. Yami had more than enough stuff going on right now without having to worry that he might not ever walk again.

Atemu slowly stood up and walked to the foot of Yami's bed. His left leg had been left uncovered, showcasing the stabilizing brace that had been secured around Yami's hip following his surgery. Atemu allowed his eyes to drift down from the hip to rest on Yami's exposed foot.

I'm being an idiot. Atemu thought to himself as he raised a hand, reaching out to Yami's foot and lightly traced his finger along the underside of Yami's foot. Yami had always been extremely ticklish, especially on his feet. The reaction Atemu was expecting, more likely hoping for was Yami to subconsciously jerk his foot away from Atemu's hand.

But, that's not what happened. Nothing, not even a twitch. Atemu felt like a lead weight had settled into his stomach. Maybe its just a fluke. Maybe Yami isn't ticklish right now. Atemu thought to himself although at this point he knew he was just in denial and that this was actually a far more serious problem than Yami not being ticklish.

But, he had to know. Didn't he? Atemu was really hoping Yami would wake up. Wake up and smack him. Atemu grabbed more firmly onto Yami's ankle before pushing his finger nail into the soft underside of Yami's foot as hard as he could. If Yami was able to feel anything his body would register the pain and he would react. But again, Yami didn't so much as twitch.

Atemu began to taste bile in the back of his throat as his mind came to the unpleasant conclusion. Yami was more than likely paralyzed. And with that terrible realization Atemu fled the room.

Atemu headed down to the lobby before quickly making his way outside, gulping in the brisk November air as he tried to calm down. He felt like crying. Screaming. This just was not fair. Yami didn't deserve this.

No one had ever asked what fate befell the other driver. The idiot who was driving drunk and had landed Yami in the hospital. But at this moment in time Atemu hoped the idiot had died in the crash. He deserved nothing less for what he had done to Yami.

"Atemu? Are you alright?"

Atemu slowly turned around to see Tea making her way towards him. She was dressed in the Domino Hosptial Volunteer uniform. Her eyes were shining with what appeared to be genuine concern as she slowly approached him.

"Tea? What are you doing here?" Atemu asked, his voice cracking slightly under the weight of the emotion he was trying to suppress. God how do I tell Yami that he might be paralyzed? Should I even be the one to tell him? Atemu thought to himself.

Tea managed to reach Atemu and lightly rested her hand on Atemu's shoulder. "I volunteer here a few times a month while I'm working on getting my RN certification completed. What are you doing here Atemu? Is your father alright?" Tea asked softly.

Atemu closed his eyes briefly as he tried to clamp down on his emotions. "My father is fine Tea. Last I heard he was at home, Seto hired a home health aide to take care of him and he hasn't told me about any problems with that." Atemu said flatly.

Atemu felt how Tea squeezed his shoulder in comfort before he peeked his eyes open, "Then why are you at the hospital this late? Its almost two in the morning." Tea said.

Atemu gulped. He knew he couldn't tell Tea the truth because she was one of the ones who had turned on Yami, no matter how much he did wish he had someone he could talk to about this. "I-I-I'm here visiting a friend. He's not doing that well, and I just got some pretty bad news about him. I just needed to get some air before I headed back inside. He doesn't have anyone else so I've been here with him since Halloween." Atemu said.

"That is a very sweet thing for you to do Atemu. Is Yami alright at least?" Tea asked.

Atemu jumped as his eyes drifted back up to lock with Tea's. "Yami? Why would you ask about Yami?" Atemu asked slowly.

Tea shrugged, "I'm not an idiot Atemu. We were a pretty tight group of friends for a number of years and other than our group the only person I ever saw you spend any amount of time with was Yami. Yami is certainly one of only a few people you would spend five days in the hospital for. Your father, Seto and Mokuba are probably the only other ones you would." Tea said.

Atemu sighed, "You aren't wrong." Atemu said slowly.

Tea bit her lip before asking, "Is he alright? What happened?"

"He was involved in a really bad car accident. Got T-boned by a drunk driver. They had to air lift him from Gin City. He's not doing well Tea." Atemu said.

Tea wrapped her arms around Atemu's shoulders, pulling him in for a hug. "I'm sorry to hear that." Tea said softly.

And much to Atemu's shame he wrapped his arms around Tea tightly, burying his face in her shoulder as he sobbed. Sobbed all the tears he had kept locked up tight as he did his best to be strong for his friend.

Tea just held Atemu as he cried, her hand lightly rubbing his back in comfort.

XXXXXXXXX

Yami's time in the hospital slowly seemed to tick by. His parents did manage to get the flight out that they wanted and they of course came immediately over to see Yami. Yami must have told his mother that he was fine almost 100 times and she still refused to believe that her baby was really okay.

Atemu had just sat back in the chair and grinned at Yami as he flushed red in embarrassment as his mother fussed over him. I'll have to get him back for that once I'm out of this damn bed. Yami mused.

The first major disappointment came when Yami's doctor wanted Yami to get out of bed after a week in the hospital, he wanted to check an see if there was any problems resulting from the injury to his spinal cord. Yami had with the help of his father got himself turned in bed, with his legs dangling before he pushed himself off the bed and onto his feet, only for his legs to immediately crumple beneath him. Atemu was fortunately quick enough to catch him so he didn't fall to the floor but it was a terrible blow. Worse still, Yami hadn't even felt his legs. And according to the doctor he had a fractured hip, standing even for the moment he had should have been excruciatingly painful but it wasn't.

Yami felt his breathing begin to come in more and more rapidly as his mind raced. No, no no no no this cannot be happening. I can't be paralyzed. I just...

"Yami, Yami!" Atemu called out, his hands gently but firmly grasping the sides of Yami's face, forcing Yami to look at him, "Yami, I need you to breath for me. Listen to the sound of my voice. Breath in, breath out." Atemu gently commanded, his finger lightly tracing along the side of Yami's face as he continued to try and talk Yami through breathing.

Yami found himself focusing on the feel of Atemu's hands on his face, and that allowed him to slow his breathing rate down enough so he wouldn't end up passing out as a result.

"What happened?" Kano asked, frowning as he gazed at the doctor expecting answers.

"Yami was going into shock. If I had to hazard a guess it was because he collapsed which I would say resulted from the inflammation around his spinal column." Atemu answered before the doctor had a chance to, his eyes still locked on Yami's face. "This doesn't mean your paralyzed Yami. This may be only temporary. Inflammation can go down. You just have to have faith." Atemu whispered.

"Are you sure Ate?" Yami whispered.

Atemu sighed, "I honestly can't be sure about anything. Sometimes, paralysis is permanent. Sometimes its not. No two cases of spinal injuries are the same. But I already promised that I would be here for you every step of the way and I mean that Yami. I will be. Every. Single. Step." Atemu vowed.

Yami slowly nodded, before his eyes narrowed in determination, "Okay. We'll figure this out. Together." Yami declared.

Atemu nodded, his one of his hands slipping down from Yami's face to grasp Yami's hand giving it a squeeze, "Together." Atemu agreed.