Submission

Chapter 2

Joey awoke a few hours later from a startled yelp above him. Sitting up drowsily, he saw Yami glancing around in confusion, obviously having been upset at waking up in unfamiliar surroundings. Seeing Joey though he smiled sheepishly and leant back down on the mattress, the sheets pooled at his hips and his head resting on his folded arms.

“Are you hungry? No-wait, you don’t eat, do ya? Well I’m stuck for ideas then,” Joey laughed lightly, hoping to disarm some of Yami’s distress with humour. It seemed to work as he smiled slightly and shifted on his abdomen, obviously trying to get more comfortable in the bed.

“Thank you for helping me earlier. It means a lot to me,” he murmured after finally finding a position that brought the least amount of discomfort to his body. “Yugi is worried about me; I don’t think he expected me to be out for so long.”

“Just say that you’re hanging around here for a few more hours. I’m gonna see how your clothes are doing.”

Returning, he tossed him the blue outfit the Yami could almost always be seen wearing. Then Joey set about pulling the crumpled sheets into some sort of order, frowning when he saw blood. It wasn’t much but it was enough to be concerned about. Leaving him to change, Joey returned a few minutes later and lifted up the evidence to show him.

“I had hoped that had stopped,” Yami mused, frowning at his blood marring the sheets. “I’m sorry Joey but I may need to go te hoe hospital. There might be a rupture or something.”

“Is that serious?” the blond asked feeling a swell of concern for his friend now.

“It might be if it goes untreated. Come on; I don’t savor the idea of walking all the way there. We could get the bus.”

“Sounds good. How are you feeling now? Do you still need some help walking an’ all?”

Yami shook his head slightly, proving this by walking cautiously out of the room and then motioning for Joey to follow. There was still pain but sleep had helped reduce it to something manageable, allowing him to walk unaided to the bus-stop where they waited for the vehicle to arrive.

Seeing that it wouldn’t be coming for a few minutes, Yami closed his eyes slightly as his focus fled and sunk into his link with Yugi, calling out quietly to his Light.

//Yami! Are you alright? We’re all really worried about you and you looked so pale before you left with Joey.//

//I’m alright Little Light. I’m with Joey right now. He’s just helping me with a few things and I should be back later.//

//You promise?//

//Of course. Get some sleep, Aibou.//

“I bet Yugi was glad to hear from you,’ Joey said as he saw the blank look disappear, signifying that his mind had returned to the here-and-now.

“Yes. He is worried about me though.”

“Hey, *I’m* worried about ya!” he exclaimed, moving swiftly to his feet as he saw the bus in the distance.

“I know you are and I’m grateful for your concern.”

“So you’ll tell me what happened when we get back to the house? It ain’t healthy for you to keep all that shit bottled up in your head. You’re gonna go over the edge if you’re not careful.”

“I promise,” Yami assured as they boarded the bus, gripping onto the metal railings tigh He He knew what Joey meant and agreed entirely with him, but another part of his mind was all ready and set to block what had happened, bury the memory deep down to protect him from it. But then there was the certainty that it would re-surface again in the future and cause a lot of problems. It would be far better for him to deal with it now.

****

The doctors had given Yami two bottles of pills and one tube of lotion, the latter of which he was most displeased about receg. g. He had no huge urge to be touched there again for some time, but if he was to heal he had very little choice in the matter. The pills were far better though; a course of antibiotics to prevent infection and some rather strong painkillers.

As promised Yami had been mentally steeling himself for telling Joey what had happened, needing to get a saner perspective on the whole thing. He knew he shouldn’t be complaining; it was his fault it happenppened at all. On some level he was also starting to believe that he had deserved what had happened, both signs that he needed to talk now rather than later.

They were sat in the living room now, Joey on the sofa giving him his full attention and Yami on a thick pillow on the arm-chair to minimize his discomfort. His face had still contorted with pain when he first sat down but it was lessening now that he wasn’t moving and the medicine had kicked in.

“So what happened? Just take it at your pace here. Ah won’t push ya but I have to get you to tell me all you can. It’s better that way, ya know? Also we might be needing to get the police involved but we can deal with that later,” Joey assured smoothly resting his weight on his knees as he watched Yami intently.

Yami squirmed subconsciously at how familiar that posture was but took a breath and began anyway. “You already know that Yugi was taken and I was summoned to the house to get him back. I expected just to duel Kresha; mon monsters, a close match with high stakes that I would walk away victorious from, as usual. I challenged him but he wasn’t interested in that.”

There was a pause whilst he visibly collected himself, Joey remaining silent as he let him.

“He said that, if I surrendered my body to him then I could take Yugi back home. If I didn’t Yugi would remain his prisoner. I accepted and gave myself over like a whore but I lost strength before anything really started. That’s when he threatened Yugi.”

“What’d he say? What was he going to do to Yugi?” Joey asked quietly when Yami remained silent for a few minutes, knowing that questions and prompting were probably a good idea to keep him talking, in reasonable amounts of course.

“That he would take his innocence from him. I’m not innocent by any means Joey; I knew what I was getting myself into, although I admit I underestimated the repercussions. I had no idea I would be this weak. But I couldn’t let that happen to Yugi though. I am his guardian and sworn to protect him, even at the cost of damage to my own spirit. So I gave in, giving him my consent despite how sick it made me feel.

“The first time-”

“It happened more than once? Jesus...” Joey hissed interrupting him, closing his eyes and bringing a fist up to his forehead. Opening his eyes he tha that he had frightened Yami again, the smalboy boy gripping onto the seat tightly and staring shameful at the floor. "No, it’s not your fault. You did it for Yugi and I don’t think any less of you. In fact I’m amazed that you had the courage to even think of doing something like that for him. Don’t be ashamed of it.”

If anything he looked even more pained after that speech, dragging his eyes now damp with tears up to face the other teen. “You don’t understand,” htterttered, twin tears rolling down his cheeks now.

“Then make me. Tell me what I don’t understand. You’re being amazingly brave buu hau have to tell me what happened for my sanity and yours now.”

There was silence before Yami tried again, taking a few measured breaths before finding his voice. “The first time wasn’t that bad; I was prepared and physically it didn’t hurt as much as it could have. But then I was disgusted with myself and I couldn’t go through it again, so I paid the next part of the agreement orally. Thankfully I brought that back up so I don’t feel as dirty on the inside now as I did. After that I refused completely.”

There was a pause then, Yami’s mouth open as he had already begun to form the next words, but he paused in a frown. Shaking his head slightly, he cast his eyes to the floor as he continued.

“I failed my Aibou then. I couldn’t save him; I didn’t want to save him. I didn’t want him touching me anymore. It was then that I realized that he was just threatening Yugi; he didn’t mean him any harm at all.”

“How’d you figure that?” Joey asked in a voice that was little more than a whisper, feeling nauseated at what he was hearing. Still, he needed to get as much out of Yami as possible; it was the only way he would be able to heal.

“He didn’t even mention him when I said no,” he shrugged, bringing his hands together and twisting his fingers absently.

“I was bound and then I didn’t have a choice. He had to have been on drugs of some sort for him to be able to keep doing it in such a short space of time, even though it felt like an eternity to me. It hurt a lot more those three times, but I started bleeding at some point and that brought some relief. When he was, done, he just left. Told me that the doors were unlocked now and to take Yugi and leave.”

Yami was talking extremely fast now, obviously wanting to get it all out in one go rather than in dribs and drabs. When he was done he clenched his eyes shut and collapsed back against the back of the chabrinbring his fists up to his eyes and hissing as a line of fire danced up his spine.

“Ra, I failed him. All I had to do was comply and his safety was assured. But I didn’t even think of that when I said ‘no’,” he muttered brokenly, the full weight of what he’d done crashing down. Guilt swelled up enormously in his chest making his lungs ache and his eyes prickle.

The first sob tore out of him before he could stop it, the second refusing to be held back despite his attempts to keep it in. His pride would not allow him to break down like this. He was Yugi’s guardian. He had ensured his safety, albeit through luck after he cowered like a miserable hound when he selfishly put himself over his Light’s life. Now he had to live with the consequences.

When Joey had wrapped his arms around his trembling form he all but buried himself into his jacket, clinging tightly to the material and soaking the shirt against his chest with his tears.

Not entirely sure what to do aside from let Yami ride this wave of despair out, Joey held the smaller body tighter against him, rocking him gently as he felt him shudder against his chest.

The fit subsided after a few minutes, Yami falling silent but still clutching at his back. It took a while for him to break out of the numbness he had sunk into, his eyes staring wide and blankly at nothing until he blinked and came out of the trance.

Feeling embarrassed and slightly shameful he pulled away, wiping at his face with the heel of his hand and smiling mirthlessly. “I’m sorry. I’m being stupid and weak about this.”

Joey arched a brow at him, his hands still on the other’s biceps as they faced each other. “Actually I think that you’re being a hellava lot braver and better than anyone could expect. Just telling someone is gonna help in the long run.”

Yami snorted slightly with mild disbelief. In his head he was feeling doomed to feel like this for the rest of his life, which depressingly enough for him was likely to be a few more millennia.

“When are you gonna tell the cops about this?”

The response to that statement was simply a pair of wide, panicked eyes. “I am *not* telling anyone else. It shouldn’t have gone the way it did but I’ll live with it. I am not going back there which I know I’ll have to if I tell them,” he said firmly, his hand moving to emphasize this point. His expression relayed that that wasn’t open to debate.

Joey opened his mouth to protest, to say that Kresha had to be put away now so that he couldn’t hurt anyone else, but he held his peace. Yami was too fucked-up in the head right then to really be thinking clearly. His feeling convinced that it was his fault for refusing showed as much. The guilt issue would definitely need to be worked on if Yami were to ever face Yugi the same way again.

****