Unbreak My Heart

Author’s Note: I do apologize for the length of time between updates. Life is full and my muses are cranky at the best of times lately. I’m having to borrow DracOnyx’s muses to keep mine in line! On a more serious note, I want to thank those who have taken the time to review. I think I threw some of you off with my little surprise about Ryuuji “Duke” Devlin. When writing fan-fiction, I try to keep the setting in Japan, although I use the dubbed names. The reason for this is that I am terrible at keeping up with names and although I love writing, spelling and I don’t mix well at all. Unfortunately, this means keeping dubbed names as Word doesn’t like foreign names. Thanks to DracOnyx, I was able to get Ryuuji’s spelled correctly. As for making him half Irish, well, let’s just say that it fits him. The dark hair and eyes screamed Irish and with a surname like Devlin, it only just pushed the idea further. That and the fact that he’s such a charming flirt didn’t hurt the decision either.

Disclaimer: Still not mine, drat my horrible luck!


Chapter Seven – Irish Eyes

Friday morning turned out to be a beautiful morning. For once, it wasn’t overcast or hinting that it would rain. Tristan could only smile at the gorgeous weather, allowing it to soothe the effects of a poor night’s rest and invigorate him for the day ahead. He hummed to himself as he headed towards Yugi’s, knowing that Joey would meet up with Ryou and Marik before heading towards their usual rendezvous point.

His long legs ate up the distance as he made his way to his friend’s house. Once again, his mind was caught between his concern for the three hikaris and the upcoming evening. Tristan had a feeling that something was coming, although he couldn’t quite pin it down to find out what it was. The feeling of anticipation was almost overwhelming in a way, which was odd considering how often he’d hung out with Duke and the others before.

As he reached Yugi’s door, he managed to shake the thoughts away for a while, knowing that he needed to focus on the tri-colored haired hikari. The door opened just as he was reaching up to knock, revealing the small teenager.

“Good morning, Yugi.”

“Hey, Tristan. I’ll see you later, Grandpa!”

Solomon’s amethyst eyes twinkled for a moment as he smiled at both teens.

“Have a good day at school, you two.”

Tristan smiled back and waited as the door closed behind his friend. Yugi adjusted his backpack before stepping off of the steps to join the hazel eyed teenager. The two made their way to their usual meeting point with Tristan matching his stride to Yugi’s so that the smaller teen would not have to rush to keep up with him.

“You look tired, Tristan.”

“Same could be said for you, Yugi. Rough night?”

Yugi didn’t answer for a long moment, seemingly lost in thought. However, he broke his self imposed silence to respond to Tristan’s question.

“I kept thinking about him last night. No matter what I do, how often I rearrange things in my room, I can still see him. I know everyone says that it’ll get better in time, Tristan, but I just don’t see how. It’s like that ache in my heart just keeps growing.”

Tristan didn’t say anything but nodded, letting his friend know that he was listening.

“I miss him so much, Tristan. It hurts.”

“I know, Yugi. I wish I could say that it’ll get better. I don’t know for sure, but what I do know is that we’ll be here for you, Marik, and Ryou.”

“Thanks, Tristan.”

“Welcome.”

Yugi was quiet for a little while before changing the subject to something else a little more pleasant.

“So, are you still going to Duke’s tonight?”

“Yeah, I am.”

Yugi gave a small smile and shook his head, realizing what was on his friend’s mind. Duke’s behavior had been somewhat odd all week. He’d seemed to focus all of the charm and flirting onto Tristan, which had confused him to the point where he hadn’t been able to pay attention to what was going on around him.

The hikaris had discussed this in detail over the past week, usually over the telephone so that the rest of their friends wouldn’t hear. It had been nice to have something to talk about besides the empty voids in their live, and the three of them had realized that Duke had feelings for Tristan. It was obvious that the green eyed game designer was finally starting to act on them, which made the trio wonder what would happen tonight while Tristan was at Duke’s home.

“I hope you have fun, Tristan. I know you’ve been worried about us, but you can’t forget to find your own happiness.”

Something in his friend’s voice made him stop and turn, looking down into the shadow filled amethyst eyes.

“Yugi?”

“With them gone, we can’t find any happiness, Tristan. But you and the others can. Your heart will know when its time and when it does, don’t fight it or question it. Just reach out and hang on to it.”

The sorrow filled voice made Tristan wonder at the depth of Yugi’s feelings for his missing yami, but the teenager’s next words quickly silenced the unspoken question.

“You have your whole soul, Tristan. It’s not missing like ours are. Without our yamis, even if we found true love, we’re too incomplete to act on it. But you can. So take advantage of it.”

“I’ll try.”

“That’s all I ask.”

They resumed walking, not saying much else until they found their friends waiting for them. The group chattered as they made their way to the school and then parted to go to their classes.

Tristan drifted through his classes, tuning his teachers out as he struggled to process the odd looks that Duke had been giving him all day. The thoughtful expression in the emerald green eyes was somewhat disconcerting, and there was something else there that was hidden within the vibrant depths. Something that both frightened and intrigued the hazel eyed teenager.

After school had ended, Tristan placed his books into his locker and shoved the empty backpack into it as well. Fortunately, he didn’t have any homework this weekend, which was a nice surprise.

“You ready, Tristan?”

Unprepared for the soft voice, Tristan jumped and turned, hitting his shoulder against the locker. His reaction and the soft curse he muttered in response to the quick jolt of pain prompted laughter from some of his friends.

“Laugh it up, Joey. Let’s see how you like it the next time you have another one of your klutzy moments in front of Kaiba.”

Seto laughed softly when he saw Joey turn pink. Leave it to Tristan to point out something that would embarrass the blond. Tristan met his gaze for a long moment, and the two of them shared a smile before the hazel eyed teenager turned to the one who had startled him.

“Are you all right?”

Tristan had to fight himself to not become lost in the emerald gaze that had been haunting his thoughts and dreams for the past week. He managed to keep his voice even as he responded to Duke’s question.

“I’m fine.”

“That’s good. Ready to go?”

Tristan could only nod and at the small gesture from Duke, he fell into step with the dark haired young man. Both were quiet as they walked away from their friends and once they were out of earshot, an unexpected voice broke the silence that had fallen over the group.

“Tristan’s out of the count.”

Joey turned to Marik, not understanding what the blond haired Egyptian had meant by that.

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed, puppy?”

“Noticed what, Kaiba?”

Seto rolled his eyes and met the gazes of his friends before answering Joey’s question. It was obvious that he hadn’t picked up the truth before now, unlike the rest of them.

“Devlin has had a thing for Tristan for quite some time now. It seems that he’s finally gotten the courage to act on his feelings.”

Joey stared at Kaiba, thinking about what he had just heard from the CEO. After a long moment, he shook his head.

“You mean to tell me that Duke is in love with Tristan?”

Ryou spoke up from where he was leaning against his locker. His voice was quiet as he shared something that he, Marik, and Yugi had worked out not too long ago.

“If not in love, then he’s falling for him. Duke may be a bit of a flirt, but he’s typically harmless. But the way he watches Tristan tells me that he’s really trying to open his heart to him.”

Once again, the messy blond hair swayed as Joey shook his head. He was rather startled by this turn of events and was somewhat surprised to find himself pleased with what was going on. For once, it would be nice to see his best friend happy and he could only hope that Duke would be the one that would finally give Tristan the joy he deserved.

“I hope it works, but I got to tell you guys. If he hurts Tristan, I’m going to have to kick his ass.”

“And no one would blame you, puppy. Shall we go? I believe some of us have projects to finish before Monday.”

The group disbanded and hurried towards their homes, leaving Joey to stare at the door that Tristan and Duke had gone through a few moments before.

“Be happy, you two. Don’t let too much time pass before you finally reach for what you both deserve.”

With a lopsided smile, Joey went home, anxious to call his sister and fill her in on what was going on.

Author’s End Note – And there is Chapter Seven. Next up, what will happen during the little ‘date’ between Tristan and Duke? Thanks for reading and please leave me a review so I know what you think of this!