(A/N: Okay, guys, you... you're going to KILL me, you're going to freaking MURDER me when you finish this chapter. I sort of want to murder myself. It's... it's a horrible chapter. Horrible things happen in this chapter.

WARNINGS: ANGST. I GREATLY DISLIKE angst, I HATE angst, but I have to keep it real. These guys were having the PERFECT life, and although I hate to point this out, gays don't always have it that easy. In fact, most of the time, NO ONE does. We all get it difficult most of the time, but we get over it. The thing is to know how to. 'Mini-me' makes a VERY brief appearance, and it's more to lessen the tension than anything else. Violence. A bit of gore. JUST A BIT. And angst. Lots of it. A little fluff, too, I couldn't write a chapter of our two dearies without fluff, I mean, c'mon...

Without further interruption, on to the chapter!)

Chapter 13

The first time they're bashed, it's anonymously, and it honestly freaks them out.

They're lying on Yugi's floor, both of them cuddled and spread over a blanket, watching sappy romantic comedies because Yugi just loves those, and just hanging out alone for once because Yugi's parents are out working.

When suddenly his window makes a sickeningly crashing noise and there's glass over them before they realize it.

In front of them is a stone with a note attached to it. The note reads, BURN IN HELL, QUEERS.

Yami immediately goes to the window, barely visualizing a guy with a black hoodie and a blue cap turning around the corner. Yugi calls his parents while Yami does the same, and when Amelia answers the phone, Yugi bursts into tears, out of being nervous more than out of being scared. After their parents, they call the police, who arrive right behind Mrs. Mutou. Amelia pulls her son into her arms, and an officer asks Yami what happened.

"Some guy pulled a prank on us," he says, holding the stone with the note still attached to it. "Except it got a little bit out of hand." He describes the guy he saw, and it irritates him more than it irritates the officer, because Yami would very much like to know who the heck did it to give the guy what he deserves.

The policeman asks them both a few questions, and it comes to a point where the interrogation starts getting annoying, as if they were the criminals instead of the victims here. At this point, Amelia cuts the officer off and politely asks him to leave and do his job. Yugi, once again, thinks that he has the best mother in the entire world.

The couple go back to watch movies, but their hearts aren't on it anymore. Yami offers Yugi to stay at his place until his window gets fixed, and after Amelia and Aristos talk with Chiyoko and Mamoru, Yugi is the officially new resident of the Atemu house—with the sole condition that, if he sleeps in Yami's room, he does so in a sleeping bag.

That night, Yami's awoken by the low sound of whimpering, and he realizes it's coming from the bag on the floor where his boyfriend is sleeping.

"Yugi?" he calls quietly, kicking his sheets away and kneeling behind Yugi, whose back faces Yami. Yugi's eyes are closed, but he keeps whimpering; Yami realizes he must be having a nightmare, so he gently shakes his arm until his boyfriend wakes up with a start. He's crying. He sits up straight and holds to whatever is close to him, which so happens to be Yami's hand. "It's okay," Yami soothes him, caressing the back of Yugi's hand with his free one. "It's okay, Yugi, it was a nightmare."

"Th-they were screaming," Yugi sobs, leaning his forehead on Yami's chest. "A-and they… th-they were yelling at us, and they c-called us names and…"

"It was a nightmare," Yami repeats calmly, his free hand coming up to run his hands through Yugi's hair. "It was a bad dream, you're safe now. You're safe with me."

He manages to make Yugi go back to sleep, but he also lies down with him, pulling down one of his sheets to cover himself with. "W-won't you get in trouble for…?"

"My parents said you had to sleep in the sleeping bag," Yami reasons. "They said nothing about where I had to sleep."

They both fall asleep together, listening to each other's breathing.

The rest of the week goes as usual, except that now they spend a lot more time together than before. But they quickly get accustomed to it, and before they know it, Yugi's window is fixed and he goes back home.

During the week, they receive good news and find some bad news on their own.

The policeman from earlier that week gives them the good news: they caught the one who broke Yugi's window and who turned out to be a girl, but neither of the boys knows her. They have no idea of what happens to her, and honestly, they don't care. The officer recommends them to try to stay home as much as they can, because this might not be the last time someone tries to pull some cruel joke on them. Yugi and Yami agree to this.

The bad news—well, they find that one later.

Unfortunately, the police officer was absolutely right.

The second time one of them is bashed, it happens at school.

The bell ringing announces the end of the day, but Yugi is nowhere to be seen. Yami starts to get worried—their last class today was different, so he runs to Yugi's classroom, hoping that he'll still be there.

He isn't.

He runs through the hallways, stopping everyone to ask if they've seen his boyfriend. "Have you seen Yugi? Have you seen Yugi? Have you seen him? Has anyone seen my boyfriend?" No one gives him a positive answer, and fear begins to crawl into his heart.

He finally has the decent thought of looking for him outside school. Maybe Yugi's class finished early and now he's waiting for Yami outside.

Well, Yami thinks once he's outside without any sign of Yugi… or anyone else, for that matter. At least it was a good try.

And that's when he hears the screaming.

And the sobbing.

And the begging.

He sprints to the back of the school, and his eyes widen in pure fury when he sees three hooded figures beating the crap out of Yugi, who helplessly covers his face and body and begs for them to stop. They call him "queer," "fag," "homo," "animal," and Yami loses all ability to act like a decent human being. Maybe it's the adrenaline; maybe it's the rage; maybe it's the desperation; but something makes it possible for Yami to push the three thugs away from Yugi, and he's blindly throwing kicks, punches, here and there, until he opens his eyes and the monsters are gone.

Yugi's on the floor, barely breathing, blood running through the bruises on his face. Yami holds him between his arms and screams for help at the same time he dials 911, crying at the top of his lungs for someone to please help Yugi. His boyfriend loses consciousness as he gets an answer and pleads for an ambulance, and he panics for a minute, but he hears Yugi's slow breathing and relishes in its sound, because Yugi's still alive, he's still alive.

The ambulance arrives shortly after, and they get to the hospital and a nurse pulls Yami away from Yugi, telling him that he should call the parents, tell them what happened. Yami can't do it, though. Quiet tears are streaming down his cheeks and he brokenly whispers, "I can't." The nurse understands and does it herself, trying to explain as calmly as she can to a worried as hell father that his son was beaten up.

Yami doesn't think of calling his own parents. This is about Yugi, after all, not him. He sits on the waiting room, impatiently pacing around the same spot during the entire time, glancing every 4.78 seconds to the room where Yugi is…

But no one comes out of it.

Yami finally sits down on a chair and just buries his face on his hands. He barely feels 'mini-me' patting his shoulder affectionately, barely hears him say, Think positive! Yugi will be fine, he's… he's super strong! Even though he appreciates the little guy's words, they don't help him much, no matter how hard, how much he wants to believe in them.

For the first time in his life since Rebecca died, Yami feels completely and utterly hopeless.