Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Bittersweet Goodbye's ❯ Domino Winters... ( Chapter 1 )

Bittersweet Goodbye's

By: Lady Jade

Warnings: I don't own Yugioh. Damn. Anyways, I'm not making any profit off this, and my hat is off to all the talented ppl who worked so hard to make Yugioh successful. If you sue me, all you'll get are my student loans. Have fun This is Yaoi boys and Girls. Boy boy interaction. Explicit stuff. NO kiddies of ppl with heart conditions. Swim at your own risk

Please review. Note: All flames will be used to line the cat box. Don't waste your breath Please review. I get five reviews, you get another chapter. Works good for me, helps me get some feedback as a writer. Thanks everyone, hope you enjoy. This is my first attempt at a Yugioh yaoi, so bear with me ^_^

Love

- Wataris_Girl

~*~

Yugi dumped his jacket next to his wet shoes and soaked scarf as he slunk through the shop and made it to the apartment above without apparent notice. It was so cold and rainy in Domino city in the winter. His Grandpa had apparently gone out to lunch, and Yugi was actually grateful as he read the note. ((A late lunch, business had boomed until three and he hadn't gotten a lunch so he was taking one now. Sorry he wouldn't be there to welcome Yugi home.)) Yugi smiled to himself, that was his grandpa. Normally he would have been accosted with a cheerful "Yugi? Is that you?" when he returned from school. Today he wasn't sure he wanted to be so cheerful. Even his friends had seemed concerned that he wasn't as chipper as usual. He felt pretty miserable, and the sniveling head cold he seemed to be coming down with didn't help. He'd just simply told them he was feeling under the weather and would be fine. He even put off going to the arcade; he was feeling so spectacularly lousy.

//Yugi? Are you alright?//

"I'm FINE Yami!" He groused aloud as he padded soak socked to his room to find something softer and warmer to wear. He was drenched to the eyeteeth anyways. He mentally shoved the block up between him and Yami in his head, trying to keep his misery from become his curious Yami's as well.

//You are certainly cranky today; I know Kaiba irritates you, but you didn't have to rip his head off in class today. He only offered you a seat next to him//

Yami's mind voice seemed a little tinny around the block, but other than that came through loud and annoyingly clearly.

"Yami…LEAVE OFF!" Yugi grumped aloud as he rummaged through his closet, locating a pair of clean flannel pants and a baggy black t-shirt.

//Oh little one, you ARE cranky today.//

"I'm cranky because I'm sick! And I feel like…HEY! YOU TRICKED ME!"

The irritating chuckle that resounded in his head was tinged with worry, but Yugi wasn't as focused on that as much as he was just being aggravated. His head hurt. Yami yapping was not helping.

//So you are not alright then?"//

"No, I'm not…you happy now?" as he wandered towards the bathroom.

//No.//

"I'm going to take a bath. I ache." He admitted aloud to Yami as he found the only bath salts in the bathroom that he could smell. Lavender. He turned the water up as hot as he could get it, and stripped off his school uniform and had to stop to sneeze three or four times.

//How sick are you little one?//

Yugi grimaced as he could feel Yami clamoring around the mental block like a worried, caged tiger.

He let the block down enough to let Yami see his reflection in the bathroom mirror as he stood shivering, wrapped in a huge lavender bath towel.

//You look TERRIBLE//

Yugi studied his reflection; he was pale and gaunt and had dark circles under his eyes. Yah. He did look like hell didn't he?

//Please let the block down, I'm nearly blind and deaf when you do this to me you know//

"No." Yugi stated stubbornly.

//Why not?//

"Because I'm miserable enough as it is, two people don't need to suffer."

A wracking cough that started somewhere around the bottom of his lungs cut his sentence painfully short. So it wasn't just a head cold anymore.

//My light, you sound terrible.//

"I feel terrible." He stated as he dumped the bath salts in and moments later shut off the water. He eased into it, inch by inch, until discarding the towel over the edge, he gratefully sunk in up to his knees, and then until he was sitting. He let his breath out in a grateful hiss as the water worked the knots out of his aching back and chest.

"By Ra this is good." Yugi sighed as he let himself slide down the porcelain. He must have been sitting there a good twenty minutes when he started to doze off.

//YUGI! EARTH TO YUGI//

/What?!/ Yugi aimed a mental swat at his Yami

//Don't fall asleep and drown!//

"Grrr….FINE." Yugi grumbled, standing from the now cooler water and reached for his bath towel as he pulled the plug.

//If you drown…then what am I supposed to do?//

/Yami, you are annoying the heck out of me/

//Join the club!…//

Just then the phone rang. Yugi mentally cursed as he yanked his shirt on and hopped from the bathroom to the phone in the hall with both legs in one pant leg of his flannel pajamas.

"Hullo?" He croaked as he managed to straighten his pants until he had both legs in their respective correct places and he had tied the drawstring.

//You sound terrible!//

"Yugi! Hi! Its Tea!"

"Oh, Hi Tea, what's up?"

He mentally noted that his voice sounded like someone dragging a vulture backwards through a cheese grater.

"You sound TERRIBLE." She said sympathetically.

"So I've been told." Yugi grumped as he tried to ignore the raucous laughter in the back of his mind.

"Are you gonna live?" She asked.

"Not sure actually, do you know, if Joey or Tristan is in the area, could you have them bring some cold medicine? I checked the cupboard in the bathroom and were out, and I really don't think I should go back out in the rain."

"Oh honey, yah, I'm sure Joey and Tristan both could come over."

"Good, thanks Tea, I know you have that paper due."

"Its ok Yugi, cause otherwise I'd bring it over myself."

"You're a good friend Tea."

"Thanks hun, well, I guess that answers the guy's questions on how you're doing. I'll send them right on over, were just leaving the arcade now."

"Thanks again Tea."

"No sweat, the boys say they'll be there in half an hour, k?"

"Ok, thanks,"

"Bye."

"Bye Tea."

Yugi nabbed the cordless off of its cradle and headed to the living room, stopping only briefly to snatch his favorite blanket off the end of his bed and his pillow. He was briefly grateful that he had forgotten to lock the door to the shop, that was Joey and Tristan could get in.

He slouched into the living room and grabbed the remote to the TV, setting it and the telephone on the floor by the couch, and then curling up with pillow and blanket. He turned on something brainless, some game show where people were beating each other with giant q-tips for money or something. He'd rather be doing anything than lying on the couch. Where his brain could accost him.

The new French transfer student had turned him down for a date. He had finally gotten the balls up to ask, and he had been turned down flat. It wasn't easy being gay. Especially when you couldn't tell anyone, not even your friends, or your closest friend, your own shadow. He had to guard the knowledge from Yami, and it made him feel so guilty. The loneliness was eating him alive from the inside out. And besides…he wasn't that disappointed by the refusal, it was just that he would give anything to ease the ache in his heart. There wasn't a single soul in this world that would put up with him if they knew. It was bad enough that he was cheerful and tiny and short, the world already had it out for him, if they knew what he felt, really felt, he would be even more alone now than ever. And Yami, if Yami found out…He couldn't bear the thought that Yami would leave him alone. For all that his darker half pestered him, he had grown used to having a friend always with him, someone who could commiserate. But this…this was just crazy. He couldn't tell anyone. Especially Yami.

He eventually drifted off, lost in the frustration of being sick AND rejected.

~*~

Someone rubbing his back woke him from his doze. He looked up into the grinning face of Joey.

"Hey Yugi… We brought you some cold medicine, sorry, it's the liquid grape stuff. Couldn't find anything better."

"Thanks guys." He rasped.

"Woah Yug, you sound terrible, Tea wasn't exaggerating."

"Yeah, I have the cough and headache from the pits of hell and I haven't been able to smell anything for days, except for the lavender in the bath water."

Tristan laughed.

"I can smell."

//I like it just fine. Lavender was imported in Egypt, we used it all the time//

/really?/

//yeah.//

/cool!/

"Sorry." Yugi apologized.

Tristan came back with Yugi's favorite soda from the fridge and a teaspoon.

"Hey Tristan. I can't read this writing here, its in English…does it say five teaspoons?" Joey asked.

Tristan cracked the soda for Yugi, handing it to him as he joined Joey, sliding onto the coffee table.

"Yup. `Member this is kids stuff, adult dosage is higher cause it's the liquid."

"Yah, your right, sorry Yug, I don't know how this stuff tastes, but I'm guessing not good and you gotta take allot of it to boot."

"That's why I got him the soda Wheeler!"

"Swift thinking."

"Thanks."

Yugi took the bottle out of Joey's hand and the teaspoon from Tristan's.

"This is going to be really unpleasant." Yugi rasped as he mentally prepared himself.

//Is it really that bad?//

/Wanna taste?/

//It CANT be that bad. And if it will make you feel better//

/Alright./ Yugi grinned.

"Yami been bothering you Yug?" Joey asked.

"Maybe a little, why?" Yugi asked, ignoring the indignant snort in his mind.

"Because that glint in your eye is telling me you have planned what I think you do…He doesn't believe you how gross that is, does he?"

Yugi shook his head as he poured himself a BIG teaspoonful.

~*~

Letting the barrier down in his mind with a resounding mental crash that must have left Yami gaping and confused, Yugi took a great big slug of medicine.

//RA! THAT'S AWFUL!//

Yugi could feel Yami mentally bug twitching and retching.

/so don't make fun of me anymore about it, ok? I have four more miserable teaspoons of this stuff./

Yugi slid the barrier back up with more care than he ripped it down, giving Yami a chance to regain some dignity. Yugi almost regretted doing that to Yami, but then again. Maybe he had it coming, just a little bit. He was surprised to feel Yami knocking around behind the barrier again, his voice tinny.

// Why didn't you tell me you hurt so much, you have a Ra forsaken headache and you feel like someone has beaten you.//

/You should feel it when I cough if you think THAT was fun./

//Almighty Ra Yugi! Let me out, I should be taking care of you.//

/Yami, I'm not going to die, its just a cold. I'll be alright. Joey and Tristan are here, and they will keep an eye on me till grandpa gets home./

//Will you at least let the barrier down so that I can be sure your ok?//

/You don't want to share these symptoms with me Yami, you will be very tired of it very fast./

//Please Yugi//

/alright/

~*~

"Earth to YUGI."

"Hmm, oh, yeah, sorry Tristan."

"You talking to Yami again…you get so glazed over, it's creepy to watch."

"Sorry."

"Quit procrastinating Yugi, take the rest of that so you can get to feeling a little better."

"Your right guys. I should."

~*~

Joey and Tristan sat with Yugi, until well after he had fallen asleep. They had been watching some dumb movie about a blond girl and her stalker who had strange obsessions with her shoes. And a dog being electrocuted. Yeah, it had been weird, but at least it was entertaining. By the time Yugi's grandfather had gotten home, the credits were rolling, and Yugi was conked out solidly with his head on a pillow in Joey's lap.

"Hello Joey, Tristan, what are you doing here?"

"Hey gramps, Yugi took sick, so we brought him some stuff for his cold and came over to keep him company `till you got home."

"I'm so sorry, poor Yugi, I shouldn't have gone out."

"Nah gramps, he's fine. That's what friends are for."

~*~

Yugi woke for a moment, to a kindly and familiar set of voices, he stirred for a moment before he fell back asleep, burying his face into the sofa and away from the intrusion.

"I got him gramps…its cool."

/Dammit Joey, can't you see I'm tired, let me sleep!/

//I'm not Joey Aibou//

/Keh./

He was vaguely aware of being carried, or maybe he was floating? It didn't matter. He was just so exhausted. Somewhere in the back of his mind he had a nagging feeling that he should be doing homework, he had a paper due tomorrow, and sensei would not be thrilled if he did not turn it in.

~*~

TBC: Review, I love to hear what ppl think. If your gonna flame however, remember what I said about the catbox.