A/N: Haha, transitional chapters drive me nuts. I went back and forth on this one, much like I did for chapter 2, and changed things like five thousand times. It took forever before I even settled on something. At least I pretty much know where the next chapter is going, so hopefully that one will be easier to write, lol.

WARNINGS: YxYY, Mpreg, Mature Themes, Language

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! or any of the characters involved.

Yugi's eyes slowly blinked open, his long black eyelashes fluttering across delicate skin. For a moment he just laid there, staring directly at the wall in front of him; his mind rapidly piecing together the events of last night. He gave a wide smile as he tightened his hold on Yami's black comforter, and turned around to face his handsome lover. Only, Yami wasn't there. Yugi gave a small frown before sitting up in the bed, and looked around, listening for any signs that Yami was still in the building.

He couldn't hear anything other than the birds chirping outside, so he stood up, giving a slow hiss as a sharp pain snapped through his backside. His eyes clenched shut as he shakily held himself up, giving himself a few seconds to adjust. After about a minute he concluded that he wasn't really in the mood to pull clothes onto his aching body, so using Yami's dark blanket as a substitute, he wrapped it around his shoulders and clutched it tight before stepping out of the bedroom.

Yugi headed towards the stairs, but did a double take as he passed the open door to his room; Yami was just standing there, already showered and dressed, looking out the window, his back to him. Yugi smiled and stepped inside the room, making his way behind the taller boy, but Yami didn't turn around.

"Hey there," he said quietly, as he gently pushed his head to Yami's back.

He frowned again when he didn't receive a reply.

"Yami?" he asked, taking a step back, concern etched on his delicate features.

Yugi stood through torturous silence, until Yami's head turned a little to the left, his eyes downcast.

"You lied to me."

There it was. Yugi could feel the tears already threatening to fall down his face. He knew this was coming, and yet…he couldn't find any words. He just stood there, head down, gaze to the floor, as Yami finally turned to face him; struggling through his own words.

"Yugi, you've already…you've already given yourself to another."

Yugi violently shook his head, tears cascading down his face. The action caused Yami to bitterly raise his voice.

"Don't feed me another lie Yugi, I could feel it! I felt it when we-" he trailed off, angrily putting a hand up to grasp his aching forehead. "I'm not new to this. When I was Pharoah I was indeed quite promiscuous. While that's not something I'm necessarily proud of, I do know what a virgin feels like. And this entire time, you've claimed to me that you were innocent. I want, no, I need to know why. Yugi, why would you keep something like that from me…" His mind was already procuring possible answers; the answers he feared most, the answers that haunted his thoughts last night...

Yugi stood, his lips quivering, wanting nothing more than to pour his heart out to his love and leave no more secrets behind, but as he looked into Yami's demanding eyes, the only thing that escaped his lips was a desperate, pathetic sob.

"Yami, I'm so sorry, I can't, I just, I-I can't…."

And to Yugi's shock, Yami broke down into tears, crying heavily into the hand on his head. The action caused Yugi to immediately take a step forward and reach out to him. The small boy had never seen Yami cry. Never. Tea and the others had told him that it was indeed possible however, seeing as how he was often in tears when he chose darkness for that one moment and stupidly gave Yugi up to Dartz and the Orichalcos. Yami didn't move, which only caused Yugi to sob harder.

"Yami, please, please don't…" he begged through his own tears.

"Who is it, Yugi?" he managed.

Yugi stared at him with wide eyes, disbelief and confusion written all over his face.

"What?"

"Who is it?" he firmly repeated, desperately trying to control the tears that fell.

What are you saying?" he whispered, desperately hoping that Yami wasn't thinking that…

"God! Is it Joey?" Yami practically yelled out of frustration.

The comment made Yugi's wide eyes narrow sharply and his mouth drop; his face contorted in anger as he took a slow step backwards.

"I can't believe this. How dare you…" he seethed, angry tears coursing. "How dare you!" he screamed.

He angrily straightened himself as he glared straight into crimson eyes.

"I hate you if you think that, I hate you!" he barely managed to choke out as a sob escaped him once more, the realization of what he just said quickly getting to him.

"Yugi, what am I supposed to think?" Yami barked, breaking out of his stupor at the previous exclamation. "I don't know if it's someone else, I don't know if someone hurt you, I don't know, I don't know! I don't know what is going on, but whatever it is, you obviously don't trust me enough to tell me. I love you Yugi...I have faith in you and I trust you more than you know...I thought you felt the same...Maybe, maybe this is all just a game to you...but let me tell you something Yugi, it isn't to me."

Yami stormed out of the room and out of sight, leaving Yugi to sink to the floor, his sobs intensifying, wanting to run after his lover, but finding himself unable to even move.

Yami didn't know exactly where his feet where taking him; his mind was so wound up, and his tears refused to dry. He was truly hurt, and not at all by the fact that Yugi wasn't a virgin at the time they had sex, he loved Yugi and honestly could have cared less; it was the fact that Yugi had lied to him, and for so long. His Yugi: the one whom he had given his long guarded heart and soul to. His love; the one he himself trusted beyond belief. His everything...

He always took pride in the fact that Yugi shared everything with him, and to find that it was not true...

It was a hard hit to his heart.

He lied. He lied. He lied.

The hateful words that had embedded themselves on the walls of his mind.

And since Yugi had deliberately kept the truth from him, it raised all sorts of horrible suspicions within him; things that always seemed so ridiculous suddenly seemed to be at a high level of possibility. Like the first person to pop in his mind. Joey. Like the two hiding behind Yami's back.

Now that was stupid, the two might as well have been born brothers and deep down Yami knew it, but despite how much he tried, he couldn't shake off a few of the many scenarios that ran through his head the previous night: Yugi and Joey's lips passionately locked...

One of the school bullies forcing Yugi to the floor…

He had an insane urge to hit somebody. Yet Yugi had revealed nothing, and therefore he couldn't go about striking possibly innocent people. How could he protect Yugi if the boy wouldn't let him in?

He sighed, wiping his frustrated tears away and turned into the empty park, making his way over to a particularly large tree before plopping himself down in front of it and leaning his back against the rough bark. The sun was glaring down at him, but the shade of the tree eased its harsh rays. He closed his eyes, a gentle breeze hitting his face.

An hour passed. Being a Saturday, children began flocking to the playground. People were running, couples were walking, dogs were barking. And there he was; still sitting by the tree. Another hour. He just sat, barely moving, blankly watching everyone who passed by. No one had bothered him, and given the chance, he might have stayed there thinking until the sun rose the next day. Finally, a small blond, green-eyed boy cautiously approached him, and Yami's eyes finally reached focus. He stared at the child who was looking at him with concerned eyes.

"Um, excuse me, Mr.," he started as he took another step forward. "Are you okay? You look kinda sad..."

Yami blinked, before shaking his head.

"Oh, err, I'm fine. Just had a rough morning."

"Oh."

Yami blinked again as the boy plopped himself right down next to him. He noticed that the child looked to be about six or seven. Yami uncomfortably shifted as he turned his gaze to the park, eyeing for adults.

"You know, your parents will be angry if they see you talking to a stranger..."

The boy laughed and shook his head.

"I'm here with my big sister. She's walking around somewhere with her boyfriend."

"She shouldn't leave you unattended."

The boy gave him a blank look.

"By yourself. You should tell your parents."

The blond boy shrugged. "It's the only way I can come to the park. My parents are always busy; they never have time to take me. Besides, my sister's annoying around her boyfriend, and there's always other kids here to play with. Except for them, those guys just pick on me. They won't let any of us get up there." He pointed over to a group of kids, nine to ten-year-old's, that swarmed the jungle gym.

Yami grunted, giving a nod of understading. Bullying was something Yami didn't take lightly, seeing as how Yugi was often picked on at school just for his small size and gentle disposition.

He swiftly stood up, and held out his hand to the boy on the floor, helping him up. "What's your name?" he asked.

"Christopher."

"Well, come on, Christopher," he said as he beckoned the boy to take his hand again and the two walked over to the jungle gym.

The small boy shied behind Yami as they stepped closer to the older kids.

"Excuse me," Yami called, causing the other boys to turn around. "You boys need to be fair and share with the rest of the kids. This isn't your, er, tower...thing. They need to have a chance to play, too."

A couple of them raised an eyebrow at him, other's glanced at the small boy clutching Yami's hand for dear life, and one gasped.

"Holy crap! Guys, that's Yami Atemu! That's the guy who won that one Duel Monster's tournament back in January!"

The other boys gasped and immediately warmed up, throwing out questions left and right.

"Have you ever dueled Seto Kaiba? He's so cool!"

"You've won like four tournaments so far right?"

"Have many cards do you have?"

"Got any rare ones?"

"Are you going to challenge Yugi Muto? He's like the King of Games right now!"

"I always thought you kinda looked like him..."

"If you duel Yugi, he'll kick your ass. That kid is good."

Yami couldn't help but chuckle at the questions, and how close they hit to home. At the other's excited voices, Christopher stepped out of hiding behind Yami's back, and looked up at them. Yami gazed down at him, then returned his eyes to the bullies.

"Listen, I've heard that you guys have been picking on the younger kids. You need to play fair. That's one of the most important rules in Duel Monsters, and it's an important life lesson in itself." Many of the boys' faces fell in embarrasment, and Christopher smiled.

The leader of the group, a brunette wearing a baseball cap finally looked up and reached his hand out to Yami, who shook it. "Hey man, you got it. But how bout showing us a bit of tips sometime? We're not that good; I thought my deck kicked ass, but hah, no."

"Do you have them on you? I could give you a few pointers."

"Damn! We had a mini tournament at my house last night. They're over there, but I live real close. Can you stick around for like fifteen more minutes?"

Yami shrugged. "That'd be fine."

"Cool." All of the eight boys raced off of the jungle gym, following the leader to go get their cards.

Christopher beamed up at Yami, and Yami motioned for him to climb up to the top of the playground. When the other little kids surrounding the area saw that he was up there instead of the bullies, they clambered up as well. Christopher helped up a little girl with black pigtails, and soon the youngsters were immersed in an intense game, each believing they were all pirates.

Yami smiled and walked away, stopping as Christopher called to him, yelling a big thanks. He turned, giving a thumbs up and made his way over to the panting kids, who had all lined up; each listening eagerly as Yami viewed each Duel Monsters deck and made comments and suggestions.

Six hours had passed, and Yami still wasn't back. Yugi had evenutally moved from his curled position on the floor and showered; he had cried so much that a horrible migraine was now upon him.

After carefully dressing he made his way down to the game shop, which his grandpa had decided against opening in his absence. He sat atop the stool behind the counter, slightly swiveling, eyeing the phone as the intensity of his headache caused silent tears to return. He finally made up his mind, and stepped over to the phone on the wall, before taking it off the receiver and putting it to his ear. He slowly dialed the number and waited as it rang.

"Hello?" came the other voice on the phone.

"Joey?" Yugi said as his voice cracked and a new rush of tears pricked his eyes.

"Yug? Yug is that you? What's the matter!?"

"Joey please, I need to talk to someone…I don't know what to do…" He sobbed into the phone despite how hard he was trying to hold his cries back.

"Yugi, listen to me. Don't move. I'll be right there."

Yugi hung up, before purposely hitting his head on the wall, frustrated for being unable to hold back his tears. He returned to the counter, and laid his head down on it, looking so lost, so dead…

A hard knock at the door came fifteen minutes later. Yugi jumped at the sound before reluctantly getting up and opening the door. Joey stood there, his eyes wide with concern. Yugi stood for a few seconds, but found he just couldn't say hello and against his intentions, ran straight into Joey's arms, clutching his shirt, crying hard.

Joey instinctively wrapped his arms around the shaking boy.

"Yug what happened!?"

"Y…a…mi…"

"Shit…Did he hurt you!?!" he demanded, grasping Yugi's shoulders and pulling him away so he could look straight into Yugi's red, swollen eyes.

Yugi quickly shook his head.

"No. I hurt him."

Joey looked at him, confusion and slight fear etched on his face.

"Yugi?"

"He knows Joey. But then he doesn't know…God!" he yelled out of frustration. "I'm so stupid. We finally have sex, and it just turns out to be a big mistake…I should have told him the truth from the beginning! I'm so filthy Joey, I don't deserve him."

Joey shook him roughly.

"STOP IT. Okay, just stop it. Yugi, you are not filty. You didn't ask for any of that shit to happen to you. It was their fault. Not yours."

"And now he thinks I've been cheating on him...that I'm hiding something because I can't tell him. What if he doesn't come back? I love him Joey. I love him so much. I can't lose him."

"Shh…" Joey whispered, as he rubbed Yugi's back. "He loves you Yugi. Don't worry, he'll be back."

The two eventually broke apart and the blond was finally allowed to step inside. Joey helped Yugi pass the time; they talked about everything and nothing, Joey desperately trying to make Yugi laugh, and failing miserably. As the hours ticked away however, Yugi grew more and more anxious, constantly glancing at the front door in the hopes that he'd see Yami walking through it. The two eventually migrated to the living room behind the kitchen and sat on the couch, Yugi's knees to his chest as he stared blankly at the television that Joey had turned on.

"Holy cow…" Joey said, which caused Yugi to actually pay attention to what was on the screen.

"Turn it up!" Yugi said as Joey grabbed the remote.

Both Joey and Yugi watched in horror as the reporter stated that the local museum they had regularly visited in their past journey had suspiciously combusted, killing all inside, and destroying most of the ancient artifacts. Yugi sharply turned to the clock on the wall which read at about half past ten. Yami had been gone all day…

Joey looked over to the small boy just as Yugi's eyes went wide, an unreadable blankness in them. He gasped when Yugi unexpectedly jumped up from his position on the couch and ran fast from the living room.

"Yugi! Yugi, wait!"

He followed Yugi until he caught a glimpse of him, already halfway out the front door. Joey ran after him and met Yugi outside, who was sharply turning left and right, contemplating which direction to take.

"Yug!"

"Look Joey, I've got to find him! I have to make sure he's okay! You know Yami loves that place!"

"Yug, are you crazy!? You're not going out there at this time of night! You do, and you're just asking for trouble! Besides, all Yami's stuff is in Egypt now, remember? He doesn't really have much reason to go there anymore!"

Joey sighed as he watched Yugi's unflinching worried eyes.

"Let me go look, Yugi. You stay, and if he comes back here, you call-"

Yugi took off.

"Shit." Joey muttered, knowing he wouldn't be able to catch up with him. Yugi was small, but boy was he fast when he was worked up. Instinctively, he reached for his cell and dialed a number.

"Yo!" the voice at the other end answered.

"Tristan, we got a problem…"

Yugi ran. Faster than he ever had before. Faster than when the bullies chased him. He just ran, not exactly knowing where he was going to end up. He yelled Yami's name throughout the streets, not caring at all if he was disturbing anyone. His feet slammed hard against the pavement with each step, his heavy breathing the only sound audible. He ran for about an hour, making it to the museum and finally realizing that he could get nowhere near the burnt building; it was entirely closed off. He thought about asking one of the many cops that surrounded the area about Yami, but quickly thought against it; they wouldn't be able to release any names of the casualties yet, and it was past the legal curfew. If he were caught it would only delay his search. He turned and ran into a nearby alleyway, ducking behind a dumpster as the lights of a cop car flashed and made its way down the street.

After the car passed and he was clear, he thought of Yami again, taking deep breaths, trying to think rationally. Joey was probably right. There was little chance Yami was in there when it happened, but even the chances didn't help the horrible knot growing in his stomach. He tried to think if Yami would have gone somewhere to talk to someone, but couldn't think of anyone Yami would want to talk to in his state. He snorted as Tea popped into his mind. Yeah, like he would ever go over there. Yami had once told Yugi that he could barely even tolerate Tea. Maybe Tristan's? But then Yami was never really much of a talker. He preferred to battle his demons alone. Against his wishes, he finally concluded that the best move would be to return back to the Game Shop. He reached into a pouch attached to his belt, hoping to pull out his cell phone to call Joey for any news, but gave a frustrated groan as he saw it was empty.

His phone was idiotically lying somewhere around his house, completely useless to him now. He pulled himself up from his crouched position, and sneakily left the alley, walking quickly. He made it out undetected and ran again, his legs aching from the previous exertion. He silenty prayed that Joey had heard from Yami.

Yami sprinted, quickly making his was back to the Game Shop. He had a long day, finally deciding to go the pier after the events at the park. When he got there, he just silently stood and watched, fascinated at how beautiful the waves looked as the sky greyed, and how they gently crashed beneath the wooden structure. As he thought long and hard about the situation, he decided that he had indeed jumped the gun and acted quite foolishly. He was hurt, yes, but he concluded that in the end he loved Yugi, more than the boy could ever even know, and that whatever the problem was, however terrible it might be, they would get through it together. He only hoped that Yugi would forgive his petulant behavior, and open up to him.

He gave an almost content smile as he saw the Game Shop up ahead. His smile faded though as he saw a small panicked shadow hurriedly banging on the front door. Yami quickly ran up behind the gasping figure and reached out, gently touching his arm. The figure quickly spun around, eyes wide in terror, and froze against the door, shudders racking his body.

"Yugi?

Yugi's breathing almost stopped as he looked into Yami's concerned eyes. He immediately flung himself into Yami, wrapping his arms around his waist, shaking heavily. Yami wrapped his arms around his love, lightly rubbing his back, trying to calm him down.

"Yugi, what happened?"

"I was, I was looking for you...t-there was this guy, and he, he wouldn't leave me alone, he wouldn't stop f-following me. I got scared…I-I ran…" he managed as Yami immediately scanned the area with narrowed eyes. They just stood like that for a while, until Yugi's shaking subsided a little and he gave a small sigh before tightening his hold on Yami. "I was so worried about you…I'm glad you're okay. Listen Yami, I want to tell you everything…I need to tell you everything…"

"Aibou, let's just get you inside."

Yugi weakly nodded, before Yami, making sure that the two were now safe, reached to pull his key out of his pocket, and quickly unlocked the door, lightly pushing Yugi ahead.

Yugi yelped as Joey and Tristan yelled and came running from the kitchen, Tristan armed with two pans and Joey wielding a baseball bat. Yami immediately stepped in front of Yugi, shielding him, causing the two boys to realize that it was them and give a deep sigh of relief. They dropped their weapons and rushed to Yugi; Joey grasping his shoulders and shaking him roughly.

"Yug, do you have any idea how worried we've been about ya?!?! We were just about to call your Grandpa so he could get back on over here. Yugi, don't you ever do that again! When I say don't go, DON'T GO!"

"Seriously man. We went nuts looking for you and Yami! And some crazy prostitute hit on Joey big time. He was convinced she was out to get him because he turned her down. Was that you banging on the door? Joey almost crapped his pants."

"GAH! Shuddup!! You were scared too!"

Yugi couldn't help but laugh, and he was more than thankful for the release.

The others smiled, before turning their eyes to Yami, who had subconsciously narrowed his eyes a bit when he caught Joey's.

"Found him," Yugi said with a smile. "Or actually, he found me. Thank you two so much for everything, really, but the two of us, well, we need to talk now."

Both Tristan and Joey nodded in understanding before saying goodbye. Tristan gave Joey a ride home on his motorcycle. Joey screamed his lungs out the entire time.

Yugi waited until the front door was shut and locked, before turning around and facing Yami who was just standing, eyeing him as if he hadn't seen him in years.

"Yami, I was so worried about you…you know that the Museum burned down?"

Yami's eyes shot open. "What!?"

"Yeah, it was really weird. It just like, blew up! I thought that maybe you might have been in there, and…" his gaze traveled to the floor. "I freaked."

Yami went over to him, lifting his chin so that their eyes met.

"Yugi, I acted like such a fool. I'm sorry. I just don't want there to be secrets between us. I love you no matter what Yugi; I want you to know that nothing you tell me will change that. Nothing could ever possibly change that."

Yugi gave him a warm smile, his eyes watering.

"I know. I love you too, so much...I just, I got scared. I had to know if this would change things. It was wrong, and it was wrong for me to even try to test you like that...to test myself...I had intended to tell you everything this morning, but again, I freaked. But now I'm ready, Yami. I want you to know my story," he firmly stated.

Yami nodded.

"Yeah, but we might want to sit down. This might take awhile."

The two ended up going upstairs to Yami's room, the place where Yugi felt most comfortable. Yugi took a seat on the bed, pulling his knees to his chest while Yami sat at the foot of it, wanting to give Yugi space. Yugi took a deep breath, before turning to look at Yami and releasing it slowly.

"Now that we're here, I just want to let it out. This might seem to come out of nowhere, but I just need to say it. I don't want you thinking other things. I want you to know the truth."

Yami nodded again, and Yugi took another breath, releasing it before speaking quickly. "Okay, I know you're going to freak out, but please don't talk. Just, just listen. Can you, can you do that? Can you do that for me?"

Yami brow furrowed a bit, before nodding again, not exactly sure when he was supposed to shut his mouth.

"Okay…" Yugi quickly averted his gaze down to the floor, knowing that if he looked into Yami's concerned eyes he would just be stuttering the whole way through.

"Yami, I, I was raped."

Yami's eyes flew wide and for a few seconds he sat stunned at the confirmation. He had definitely thought of that as an option, but to hear those awful words come from Yugi's mouth...it made an irate frenzy bubble up within him, and he immediately made a move to get up. Yugi sensed the predicted anger flare up on his dark's face, and he immediately reached out to Yami, gently grasping his arm and shaking his head.

"Just listen," he whispered as Yami slowly and hesitantly returned to his original position.

"It was my father. I was sexually abused by my own father."

Yami froze, and answers to old questions hit him smack dab in the face. Why Yugi and Solomon never talked about his parents. Why Yugi froze up everytime he was asked about them.

"Both my parents were alcoholics and into hard drugs. The only reason they even had me is because they saw that there were many families out there who would pay a great deal of money for a baby, since they couldn't have one on their own. They were going to use me to keep their fix coming..."

Yami stared into Yugi's deep eyes, noticing that Yugi's face was suprisingly calm and collected…

"Well, word got out about them, and soon nobody wanted a baby that could possibly be defective because of what his mom was on during pregnancy. And that wasn't what they wanted to hear. They couldn't just get rid of me either, because Grandpa knew about me. He was there when I was born, even though they had told him it was bad timing and that they would be giving me up. When if backfired, they had no choice but to "raise" me. And my parents were such good actors. Grandpa never saw anything until it was too late, and it hurts me to see how much that kills him. He thinks it was all his fault, that if he hadn't been so gullible, that if he hadn't had such faith in his daughter, he would have noticed that my arms and legs were bruised far over what they should be for any "soccer" game. My father started hitting me when I was around six, but honestly, I was already dead inside. Neglect kills a child. It kills them."

"Yugi-"

"And his beatings got worse and worse every time, and later he started adding something else...The first time he touched me, my mom was in the room. And she just stood there…stood there…she didn't do anything, she just…watched, watched as he fuckin ripped me apart..."

Yugi groaned and put his face in his hands and Yami immediately moved next to him, tightly wrapping his arms around him. When Yugi finally looked up, Yami noticed there were no tears; hardly any expression was present on Yugi's face, and it gave Yami an odd feeling of uneasiness. Yugi was such an expressive person. To see him so intent on blocking out any sort of emotion...it just didn't feel right.

"She overdosed two months later. She left me with that, that monster. I swear, I could feel death coming whenever he attacked me after she died, but I was always brought back, back to reality. Anyway, Grandpa came to visit one day, and the front door was unlocked, so he just let himself in. I-" Yugi's voice slightly cracked, and he took another deep breath to calm himself.

"I was screaming. He heard me and ran upstairs, bursting through the door to my father's bedroom with one of our kitchen knives in his hand…" He slightly began to shake.

"He had me, he had me on the bed; it never mattered how many times he did it, it always hurt…"

Yami began to shake as well.

"I remember Grandpa started screaming and he threw him off of me." Yugi's eyes closed in recollection. "I was terrified, I-I thought he was going to kill Grandpa, but Grandpa got him, he stabbed him in the stomach, and got me out of there as fast as he could. I was hoping he had killed him, but no, the bastard's still alive. Grandpa reported everything though, and they got him. He's now facing life in prison, and I haven't seen him since. And…"

Yugi's eyes opened and he turned his head to focus on Yami's.

"Yugi…you have a strength in you like no other...after everything that man, that devil…did to you..."

Yugi sighed and shrugged. "It happened years ago. I was in therapy for a long time, but eventually that fizzled out; they couldn't get me to talk about it. I chose to just block it out instead. That works for me, it's how I cope. The only thing I've kept from the therapy sessions is the woman's suggestion of writing in a diary. It clears my thoughts."

"But Yugi, if you don't take the time to get through this, you'll never really get over it…what if it, what if it comes back to hit you one day, and-"

Yugi shrugged. "Yami, I'm happy with my method, and that's that."

Yami slowly nodded, before his gaze traveled to his hands.

"Yugi, last night, I-"

"No!" Yugi exclaimed as he stood up and faced Yami. "No, okay? It's not your fault! I should have said something, but then, if I would have told you, you would have felt wrong, and I didn't want that. Yami, I love you, and I never want you feel like you're forcing yourself on me. I wanted every bit of last night. You're not him Yami. You love me, and that makes all the difference."

Yami could feel hot tears falling down his face, and the second Yugi saw him cry he burst into tears and wrapped his arms around the neck of the sitting boy. Yami pulled him into his lap, kissing the side of the boy's head as he cried into his chest.

"I love you. No one is ever going to hurt you again. I promise. I'll always be right here to protect you."

He gently rocked the small boy a bit, before giving a slight grin.

"I guess I owe Joey an apology...I gave him a nasty glare before he left. I'll just tell him it was because he ran at you with a baseball bat."

He smiled as Yugi suddenly laughed into his chest.