*disclaimer: i do not own anything in this fanfic except the plot. Songs in chapter four belong to five finger punch.*
Joey's eyes go glassy as he pitches forward into my arms as I dive to catch him. Mokuba shrieks as I yell. "Get me that ambulance now!" I bellow and the collecting staff scatters. Roland comes rushing upstairs with a pair of uniformed police officers. "Mister kaiba the police are here to question you about the death you called in." Roland says and I gesture to the bedroom as I struggle to keep Joey breathing. "The body is in there. Deal with it and leave me alone. I have more important things on my mind. Roland check on the ambulance and doctor." I snap and Roland scurries out while the police go back into the bedroom. Joey's breathing falls shallow and erratic just as Roland comes back in. "The ambulance is here Mister Kaiba." Roland says slightly out of breath. I scoop Joey into my arms and rush him downstairs to the ambulance. The paramedics take one look at Joey and immediately floor the gas. In a few minutes we screech to a halt outside the hospital where they whisk Joey away to an operating room. I collapse into a chair and start shaking uncontrollably. With shaking hands I call Yugi. "Yugi? Joey needs you. He is here at the hospital undergoing surgery. His father got out of prison somehow." I choke and Yugi gasps. "I will be right there." he says and I hang up. Mokuba comes and curls up on my lap while we wait for Joey and Yugi. The time drags on until Yugi finally arrives. "Wow Kaiba you look awful. How is Joey? What happened?" he asks as he sits next to me. "Yugi. Joey's father got out of prison, broke in to the mansion and assaulted Joey pretty badly. Joey's father is now dead. And Joey is here." I say and Yugi gapes in shock. "Holy cow Kaiba." he says. I shrug. Yugi shakes his head and we laps into silence until the doors to the operating room open and a doctor comes out looking grave. "Mister Kaiba? Joey just got out of surgery. He is not in good shape. I am not sure he will make it. Come with me so you can say your goodbyes." the doc says. /spanA flash of light happens and a deeper voice emanates from yugi as he faces the doctor. "Please take us to him." yami says aspan style="color: #000000;"s two/span brunettes span style="color: #000000;"appear. "Ah, Tristan, Anzu, stay with Mokuba here. Seto and I must go see Joey." Yami says and the brubettes nod. I am limp and stunned/span while yami picks me up and helps me walk behind the doctor to joeys room. Joey lies on the hospital bed with tubes coming out of his nose, arm, and chest. The steady beeping of his heart monitor seems to echo in my ears. "Oh pup." i whisper as yami half drags me to joeys side. Joey has a bandage around his head and stomach while a brace covers his throat and neck. I grab joeys hand shakily and yami steps back. "Please pup, come back to me. You cant leave me alone. Im better off dead if you go." i say, beginning to cry as i burrow my face against joeys chest where its not bruised or bandaged. Despite the machines breathing for him i hear his breathing hitch and shallow while his heart beat picks up a few paces. A doctor comes rushing in and pauses. "Well i will be damned. Hes waking up and breathing on his own now." the doc says coming over and tocuhing joeys other wrist. I lift my eyes up and see brown eyes looking at me softly and painfully. "He needs more pain meds doc." i say still staring into joeys eyes with relief. "How can you tell? If i give him more he could overdose." the doc says and i chuff. "I can tell because he is crushing my hand and by the way his eyes are holding me." i say still not looking away. The doctor fiddles with a dial and joeys eyes soften as the look of pain dulls. "Thats perfect doc." i say and the doc shakes his head. "I have never seen something like this before. You two must have one very special bond." he says takin a step back to observe. I nod and joeys hand tightens around mine. "I am here pup. I wont leave. You can sleep now. The nightmares wont get you." i say gently and joey smiles slightly before his eyes shut and his vitals slow to a normal sleeping pattern. "How bad is the damage to his lung? Does he really need the tube?" i ask turning to face the doctor yet keeping my grip on joeys hand. The doc nods. "The tube allows joey to breathe while keeping his throat almost paralyzed so it can heal. His lung is also a bit torn up so having the tube keeps it from collapsing." i nod. "I will not be leaving his side. He has horrible anxiety during sleep unless i am nearby. I think that is why you had such difficulties with him during surgery and now." i say amd the doc nods. "Very well mister kaiba. I will not disagree because i see the difference your presence has made here already. His brain waves are even, indicative of real sleep and his heartbeat is actually normalized, as are his respirations even in spite of the tubes." the doc says and i smile slightly. "If i was the type to believe in it i guess this is where i say something corny like love conquers all." i chuckle and yami coughs. The doc looks at both of us, shaking his head. "I will be back to check on him later. I will have a meal sent up for you as well. What would you like me to arrange for your other companions?" doc asks moving towards the door. "Send them in. I will have my staff bring me something." i say and the doc nods before leaving. Yami sits next to me and mock glares at me. "You still deny the power of love and friendship even after you bring joey back from the brink of death how many times?" he asks and i shrug. "How do you know it was me and not his own inner strength breaking through." i ask and yami shakes his head. "Everything about joey is so intune with you he knows when you are near without seeing or hearing you. I have seen it when he falls asleep and you enter the classroom. He tries to play it off but i could see through it. Joeys inner strength alone would not have gotten him through this if you hadnt come up when you did. Reminding him of how much he loves you, how much you need him, is what pulled him through just now. You might not believe it, but it is true kaiba." yami says with a knowing look and i sigh. "I believe it yami. I do. And i meant every word i said to him. He is my world, and even with mokuba still needing me, i would die without joey here." i whisper and yami nods. "I know kaiba. It is the same with yugi and i. In fact it is why we are looking for a way to separate ourselves, so that we are not sharing one body and can be together for real. Nobody else except joey has picked up on our feelings for eachother. And when i told yugi about you and joey, i confessed my feelings for my aibou as well. So i do understand how you feel kaiba." yami says softly and i grunt. "I wish you both best of luck. In the meantime i have a private project in construction at kaiba corp that might help you with what you want to do. It will allow you to hopefully both exist at the same time for a short time. You can come and use it anytime you like." i say and yami smiles. "That is most generous. Thank you." he says and i shrug. "Maybe joey has finally rubbed off on me." i mutter, looking back at my sleeping blonde. Yami chuckles. "Dont kid yourself kaiba, you are a good person without joey too." he says and i stay quiet, unable to reconcile myself to the word good. We lapse into comfortable silence until mokuba and the two brunettes are shown in. Mokuba promptly jumps on me and the two brunettes sit close to yami. A knock on the door makes joey flinch and i tighten my grip on his hand as yami calls a quiet "come in." a nurse sticks her head in through the door and falters at my glare. "A miss serenity, mister bakura, mister malik, mister devlin, mister ryou and mister marik are here to see mister joey." she says and i huff. "Oh fine, send them in." i growl and yami nods slightly. The nurse retreats and then comes back in, "a miss valentine just joined the party." she says and i sigh. "Just send in anyone visiting joey." i huff and the nurse disappears. No sooner than the door is shut then two albinos, three blondes and another brunette enter the room with a black haired male. I recognize yugis geekdom of friends and resist rolling my eyes. The brunette female who looks like joey dashes to the bed where my blonde sleeps. "Joey!" she exclaims in horror. She turns to me as tears fill her eyes. "What happened seto?" she asks, clutching joeys other hand to her chest. "Your father. Decided a gay son was worse than no son." i say almost coldly and serenity looks shocked. "Father did this to joey?" she whispers and i nod. She looks sick and looks away from to look at joey. Out of the corner of my eye i see an interesting picture. Each one of the albinos has taken up residence on a blonde male lap while both pairs of matching hairs maintain linked hand. The brunette female is talking to the blonde female while yugi is trying to separate the brunette male from the black haired male. I groan quietly under my breath at the displays of affection everywhere. Serenity must hear it because she looks up and sees the scene as i do. "Tristan. Why dont you take a couple people to the cafeteria to get food for us." she says with a hard look at the brunette male. "Of course!" he says rather quickly before snatching three sets of hands and dragging one albino, one blonde male, and the black haired male out of the room. The blonde female grabs the remaining nerds and disappears as well, leaving only mokuba, yami, anzu, serenity and myself in the room with joey. Anzu looks at serenity and serenity sighs. "Tristan and Duke are dating. Joey doesnt know yet. I only pretended to date tristan because him and mai were roommates and well... I am actually dating mai." serenity says and i smirk at anzus shocked expression. Serenity looks at joey and yami looks at me with a raised eyebrow.
"Joey knows serenity. He had me look into that situation because he suspected about tristan and devlin. Anzu have you really not picked up on the fact that you literally are the only straight member of this group?" i ask and mokuba blushes. I ignore mokuba and anzu looks a bit surprised. "What?" she asks. I chuckle. "Or is there something you want to tell yami about you and mana?" anzu blushes and yami starts laughing. "Is nothing to embarrassed about anzu, mana already told me. I think its wonderful she finally has a girlfriend." yami says with a smile. Anzu buries her face in her hands and mutters something as she escapes the room. Mokuba smacks my shoulder and i ruffle his hair. "Calm down mokuba. Theres nothing wrong with being straight. Just because most of us arent doesnt mean you are defective." i say and yami chuckles. "If anything it just means that we are." yami says and mokuba turns red before making excuses to leave. Only yami and i remain in the room with joey and he yawns. "So how did you become so informative on the goings on with our small group of friends?" yami asks and i sigh. "Joey told me that i am part of the group since he and are dating as well as living together. So he employs a few of my private investigators to dig up information, they of course report to me so i end up knowing everything that goes on with your group." i admit and yami chuckles. "Well i should have expected something like that. I think you are almost as good as i am about finding out secrets." i smile. "Probably. Speaking of secrets, what is the deal with the albinos and the blondes?" i ask and yami smiles serenely. "They have a unique relationship. They date their twin as well as their opposite." he says and i raise an eyebrow. "So bakura and ryou date as well as bakura and malik. While marik and malik date as well well marik and ryou?" i ask and yami nods. "You can ask joey about them but i am sure he would just shiver and curl into a ball. He finds bakura and maliks relationship slightly disturbing. Especially since both of them are completely insane. If they werent my cousins i would have left them in the shadow realm." yami says and i shiver. "That place is scarier than your cousins, and ive seen bakura left unattended while bored." i mutter and yami shivers. "I actually agree with you on that." he says. Joeys hand tightens on mine and he whimpers. I look back at joeys face and see his eyes opening. "How are you feeling pup?" i ask softly. Joey whimpers and i run a hand over his forehead. His skin is redhot and i hiss as my skin starts to turn red. I punch the call button and wait until a nurse comes in. "Whats wrong muster wheeler?" she asks and i stand up. "Hes got a bad fever." i say and show her my hand. She lets out a gasp and runs out of the room yelling for a doctor. Two doctors come rushing in brandishing pieces of equipment and one of doctors gasp when a thermometer beeps at them. "Quick into an icebath now!" the other yells as they start disconnecting tubes to make joey mobile. I rush out of the room following joeys bed as they sprint him towards a set of metal doors. A nurse tries to stop me but she moves aside when i glare at her. I enter the room as joey is being lowered into a metal tub full of ice and water. I see him tense and then as he hits the water. I push aside one of the doctors hovering around him as i reach for his hand. Joey wraps his fingers around mine and i search his face for what he wants to tell me. "I think he needs some pain meds too." i say and the nearest doctor looks at me blankly. "How did you get in here?" she asks and i sigh. "I am his boyfriend and only person who can understand him while he is mute from the damage to his throat." i say and the doctor nods. "Painkillers coming up." she says and goes to a cart to pull up a syringe of something. "What is that?" i ask noticing joeys worried expression. "Tylenol. It will help lower his fever as well as help with his pain." the doctor says and joey relaxes again. "Very good." i nod. I watch as the doctors check joeys fever again. "Well at least its dropping." one of them says. "Why did it pop up in the firdt place?" another asks. "And why so suddenly?" a third says, they all turn and face me. "His hand never changed temperature or left mine once i was allowed in his room." i say. Joeys teeth start chattering together as he starts shaking violently. "Im pretty sure his fever is gone." i say pointing to joey as he turns blue. The doctors rush him into a warm blanket and i sigh. "You all are going to kill him. Bring me a double wide bed with a down blanket back to his room. Make sure i can access wifi and a tv." i growl as i carefully pick joey up and begin carrying him back to his room. One doctor chases after me while the others find what i requested. "Mister kaiba his system is going into shock, he could develop hypothermia if he warms up too fast after his fever." the doctor huffs at me. I raise an eyebrow as i keep walking. "It is your fault in the first place. An ice bath to break his fever? And then a blanket? Please. He is always climate controlled next to me." i growl and joey looks up at me with warm soft eyes full of love. "I know pup, i like having you back in my arms too." i murmur quietly. The doctor drops back and i enter joeys room to find the nurses setting up what i asked for. Once the bed is setup i lay joey on the sheets and cover him with the blanket. I settle myself on top of the blanket and let joey cuddle himself against me. I open my laptop and begin working as he falls asleep again. I smile softly at my sleeping blonde and stroke his hair softly before continuing with my project.