(A/N: SO SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT, GUYS. D: I sure hope this chapter is worth all the time it took me to get it done. It's almost twice than the other chapters, but so much NEEDED to happen in here that I couldn't cut it any more than I did. Next chapter hopefully won't take as long -and probably won't be as long, either-. In another note, I've been listening to all of the discography of Three Days Grace, and they're SO awesome. I also got The Lost Hero! I read it online the week it came out, but I JUST got it and I'm SO excited! Bought the graphic novel of The Lightning Thief along with The Gift, a Witch and Wizard novel by James Patterson. Can't wait to read that one!

ANYWAY, going back to the chapter, there's this one scene that was HEAVILY inspired by the seventh episode of Glee's second season, "The Substitute", and also by chapter 8 of "Dalton", a majestic Glee fanfic by CP Coulter. The chapter is titled "Temperature". If you're a Gleek, you'll know what scene I'm talking about -and you'll also know the fanfic!-, so for specifically that scene, I give credit both to Ryan Murphy and CP Coulter!

WARNINGS: Awkwardness, shirtless Yami, sick Yami -not that much lovesick since he's... well... sick-, epic 'mini-me', embarrassed Yugi, PUZZLESHIPPING -SHAMELESS- FLUFF. As always, please notify me if you see any grammar slips -be it typos or tense confusions- or if you think Yami's a little too OOC. Thank you! And please enjoy and review! And also as always, thank you all so much for your amazing support! I love you all, I swear!

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! -Kazuki Takahashi-, Glee -Ryan Murphy- or the epicness that is "Dalton" -CP Coulter-. Still, hope you enjoy!

Chapter 5

The first time Yugi comes over to Yami's house, in fact, isn't to have dinner with him and his family, but to take care of his very sick best friend. When Yami wasn't in History class, Yugi began to think that the older boy fell sick. After running God knows how much under the rain yesterday, it only seemed normal. Yugi felt terribly guilty that he was the cause his best friend was now ill and probably in bed with a fever.

When school ends, he calls Yami's house, and he hears the kind voice of a woman answering, "Hello?"

"Ah, good afternoon, Mrs. Atemu; it's Yugi, Yami's friend," he says. Although he's never personally met Yami's parents (and vice versa), his best friend has reported that they'd like to soon. "I was just calling to know how he is."

"Oh, Yugi!" Yami's mom exclaims happily. "He… well, he's very sick," she muses. "Oh, will you please hold on for a second, Yugi?" The boy hears Mrs. Atemu's voice drifting off, as if she were talking to someone else. "It's your friend Yugi, dear… But sweetheart, I don't think… Are you absolutely sure?" Yugi listens to the woman sighing in defeat. "Yami would like to talk to you, Yugi, if that's okay with you."

"Of course!" Yugi replies, maybe too quickly, but he doesn't really bring himself to care. He thanks Mrs. Atemu as she hands the phone over to her son.

"Hello, Yugi?" Yami's voice comes out muffled and stuffed.

"Hey, how are you doing?" Yugi asks with a little smile.

Yami sniffles. "I've been a lot better."

"See, this is what happens when you run under the rain without an umbrella."

"Shut up, you little demon!" Yami cries, making Yugi laugh by the way it sounds. "If it hadn't been for me, you'd be like this right now! So you owe me big time!" The boy nods to himself, and although to anybody else Yami might sound angry, Yugi knows he's not. In fact, he can picture his best friend smiling at him through the phone. "How was school?"

"Boring, as usual," the little one says. "There was nothing or no one to brighten up my day." He decides to be a little more daring and adds, "I… I really missed you in History." Yami can swear up and down to God above that his racing heart is threatening to burst out of his chest. He doesn't know if the heat he's feeling right now is due to his fever or to the burning flush on his cheeks.

On the other hand, 'mini-me' is spinning not only around Yami's head but around the entire bedroom as well, crying out, HE MISSED ME! HE MISSED ME! THIS MAKES ME SO HAPPY, HE MISSED ME! And even though it makes Yami extremely dizzy—considering that he has a massive headache and it's a little difficult for him to keep his body steady even when lying down—he has no complaints. "I missed you, too," Yami confesses, deciding to blame anything stupid (or too bold) he might say on his fever. "No one to talk to but myself."

"But…" Yugi's slightly confused. "Isn't your mom there with you?"

"My mom just acts like my nurse before she has to go off to work," Yami answers, blowing his nose on a nearby tissue. "She's not very good at conversations, actually. And I got no idea where my father went, so I'm talking with myself."

You're talking to me! 'mini-me' loudly yells.

That's the same thing as talking to myself, stupid! And this time, Yami pictures a cage falling on 'mini-me', which completely stops him from making Yami dizzy.

HEEEYYYYYY! The little guy whines, shaking the bars of the cage.

"All right, then," Yugi says suddenly, interrupting Yami from torturing his little self even further. "When will your mom leave to work?"

"Um…" Yami calls out Yugi's question, and he hears his mother answering him back. "She says she's on her way out now." He nods at her when Mrs. Atemu's head pops into the doorframe of his room and mouths at him, I'm going to leave now. Call me if there's anything you need! I love you, my boy! Yami mouths back, Love you too, Mom.

"Is there anyway to get into your house?"

Yami responds the back door is open. "Why do you ask?"

"I'll see you later!"

And the line goes dead.

Yami falls asleep at some point, and he doesn't know how long he's been out before he hears his house's back door opening. "Yami?" A familiar voice calls him. He's buried in a couple of blankets and covers, but since his body's practically overheated and the collar of his shirt is wet with sweat, he kicks them off himself.

"Dad?" he tries, focusing all of his energy into sitting up, which turns out to be a very hard task. "Is that you?" His voice is groggy and hoarse.

"Not exactly," comes the reply. He's about to actually try to stand up and go see who it is, but he smiles and curls up on his bed when a pair of the most beautiful amethyst eyes he's ever seen appear in his line of vision. "Hey there." Yugi waves at him, a backpack slung over his shoulder, as he stands at the door.

"Hey," Yami waves back weakly. "What are you doing here? What's with the backpack?"

"I come to take care of you!" says Yugi excitedly, swinging his backpack into the bedside table. "In here," he continues, pointing at it, "I bring the ingredients and recipe of my dad's famous chicken soup. It'll help you feel all better, you'll see!"

'Mini-me', still locked on his cage, squeals and seems to float inside the small prison, yelling, He's going to cook for me! He came to take care of me! Yami, even when he's thinking exactly the same, can only smile. "You're going to be my nurse-boy?"

"I guess you could say that," the little one smiles back.

It turns out Yugi is an excellent nurse-boy, as Yami calls him. The chicken soup he prepares is absolutely delightful, and the minute Yami finishes devouring it, Yugi has him lying down again so that he can carefully place a wet cloth to his forehead to decrease the fever. When Yami shyly admits his throat hurts a little (the truth is his throat is burning, but he doesn't want to cause Yugi more problems), Yugi makes some sort of hot tea using honey, water, and a tad of lemon, bringing it to his sick friend in a cup. While the boy puts his things away on his backpack, Yami sees a very small bottle of ointment that Yugi took out when he was looking for his dad's recipe.

"What's that for?" he asks out of curiosity.

"Oh, well," Yugi begins, "I brought it in case the cloth wasn't enough to lower your fever. But since it was, I'm just going to put it away now." He takes the tiny bottle and is about to put it inside his backpack when Yami carefully takes his wrist.

"What if my fever returns when the cloth dries? Can I at least try it?" Yami urges in his muffled and stuffed voice. He looks longingly at Yugi, hoping that Yugi sees 'mini-me's puppy eyes through his own crimson ones.

Yugi lets out a sigh in defeat. "Oh, very well. I owe you one, after all. But there's… um… a teeny tiny problem." His sick best friend blinks at him, slightly confused at the sight of Yugi blushing right up to his ears. He raises an eyebrow, demanding an answer. "You, ah… have to… er…" The boy clears his throat and rushes out the rest of his answer: "You have to take your shirt off and lay facedown."

It takes a good few seconds for Yami to understand what Yugi just said. It takes another good few seconds for the information to actually sink in his head. "Oh," he muses, feeling his face heating up even more. "Um, o-okay," he stutters before carefully taking off his shirt. Then, just as carefully, he lies facedown, crossing his arms on his pillow; he leans his forehead on them afterwards. Yugi—still blushing (and now also looking away in slight embarrassment)—applies a little of the ointment on his palms. Once he's done it, he kneels on the edge of the mattress with one knee while leaving his leg on the floor for support and softly starts to rub it on Yami's back after warning him, "It's a bit cold, so it might sting for a couple of seconds."

Yami flinches when the cool medication makes contact with his burning skin. But he immediately relaxes, attempting to focus his thoughts solely on how good Yugi's hands feel as they massage his stiff back and shoulders. His state of calmness is such that he completely forgets about 'mini-me', and he doesn't even hear him when the little guy gleefully screams, OH MY GOODNESS, I MUST BE DREAMING! THIS IS TOO PERFECT TO BE TRUE! NOBODY WAKE ME, PLEASE! Yugi, on the other hand, starts to sense the awkwardness vanishing, and his hands keep spreading the ointment across Yami's back like the hands of Yugi's mom did when he was sick. He would always feel a lot better, and ever since he was a kid, Yugi called it his 'magic ointment.' He just hoped it'd make Yami feel better with its magic, too.

After probably the ten most calm and relaxing minutes of both their lives, the little one quietly announces that he's done. Yami lifts his head, having nearly fallen asleep. He takes his shirt and puts it back on. "Thanks for doing that," he whispers almost groggily. "I'm already feeling better than the past few hours."

"I'm glad," Yugi answers, his blush having mostly faded. He drags the chair from Yami's desk to right beside the bed. "Now you should probably catch some sleep. And just to make sure that you'll be fine, I'm going to stay until your parents come back, okay?" Yami nods and thanks him again, his heart racing a thousand miles per hour at the mere thought of having Yugi watch over him like the angel he is.

"You're the best nurse-boy ever," he says with a very big, very content smile. "I'll recommend you to my parents and relatives."

"It's good to know that nursery as a career option is still a go." Yugi laughs, bringing a giggle to his best friend's mouth. Yami then closes his eyes. And much to the boy's surprise, he falls asleep in a flash. Yugi smiles kindly at himself and softly caresses Yami's hair, keeping some of his bangs away from his forehead. Before he can stop himself, Yugi leans in and kisses the top of his best friend's head. "Sweet dreams, Yami," he whispers. Then he starts humming what his mom used to when he was little.

Yami's mother comes home a couple of hours later to find a strange boy watching over her son as he sleeps. The boy introduces himself as Yugi, and Mrs. Atemu recognizes him as the boy Yami is always speaking of. She's pleased to meet the one her son loves. And although he hasn't confessed it to her yet, a mother knows when a child of hers is deeply in love. She thanks Yugi for taking care of Yami while she and her husband were away. The boy shakes her hand a last time before leaving, hoping that Yami gets better soon. Before she herself leaves her son to rest, Mrs. Atemu kisses Yami's forehead goodnight and pulls the blankets on the floor over him.

What neither Mrs. Atemu nor Yugi ever realized was that Yami never feel asleep to begin with. Up to now, he's utterly awake, and his lips form the happiest smile he's ever had. The last thought swirling on his mind before actually entering the realm of his dreams is also his happiest one ever: He likes me. He really likes me back.

(A/N: I wanted to squirm 'mini-me' in there, but I just loved the ending too much as it was. HOW SWEET WAS IT? :D)