Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Nemo ❯ Six ( Chapter 6 )

Disclaimer: Not mine.

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- Part Six -

Breathing, he decides, is entirely too difficult with his eyes flooded and his nose stuffed and his face pressed forcefully against Yugi's chest, but he doesn't really mind it. The tears ran out ages ago, but the pain hasn't, so he grits his teeth and would cling if only his fingers would obey him, but they won't, so he lies there and listens to the sound of his heartbeat slowing, and waits for the faint trembling to cease. He's not sure how long it takes before Yugi stirs beneath him, but even that faint motion is enough to send his muscles screaming.

Yugi gives a wet little chuckle and trails a hand down his back, soft enough that it's pleasing instead of painful. "God, look at us," he breathes, "M' all snotty, and you weigh a ton."

He can't quite move his head, but he tries his best to give him an offended glare. Yugi giggles once, sweet and sad, and loops his hands lightly under his armpits. "I'm going to sit you up now," he says slowly, even and clear. "It will hurt."

He exhales into his pajama top. I know, he murmurs, Do it quick.

"Okay." And then his eyes are squeezed shut against the fresh agony of being shoved back, Yugi's soft grunt halfway hidden against his neck, and if it takes them a few moments of breathless panting and clumsily leaning against one another, no one but they will ever know. When Yugi finally manages to shift his uncooperative limbs into some semblance of order, and his back is resting fully against the couch, he lets his head fall back against the cushions and gulps in air greedily through his mouth.

"Mou hitori no boku?" Yugi's voice is a whisper, soft and smooth, and he makes a gurgling sound of acknowledgment, waiting for his head to stop spinning.

You poor thing, Yugi murmurs, and the soft brush of his hands down his chest is far more soothing than it should be. I'll get you that miso soup, heat it up - the steam should help clear up your sinuses, okay?

He hasn't any idea what that actually means, and his stomach is turning at the thought of food, but the thought of warm liquid is a calming one, though Yugi's absence is not. Still, it's not as though he's much of a choice in the matter, and not as if he can actually move any farther than falling over would entail.

All right, he murmurs, and can't muster up the energy to open his eyes and offer him a rueful smile. All he can do is sit there and listen as Yugi pads away into the kitchen, and try to breathe.

He thinks he must have fallen asleep, because the next thing he's aware of is a soft touch on his cheek and a gentle tickle in the back of his mind that gleams silver-bright and golden.

Aibou, he greets sleepily, and there's a faint rustle of cloth and heat close by, and the touch of warm ceramic to his lips.

"Just sip," Yugi tells him, "You don't even have to open your eyes, just a little sip or two and then I'll lay you down so you can sleep, all right?"

Mmm. He parts his lips, almost startled at the new pain - aibou, what? - in the instant before the warm broth slides into his mouth and he's suddenly too occupied with remembering how to swallow to really pay any attention to the hurt.

Warmth settles against his throbbing thigh, and he can taste the puzzle's nearness as it brushes lightly over his belly. "Shh," Yugi says gently, "Your lips are a little cracked, that's all, but don't worry, when I get home tonight we'll clean you up, all right?"

Un. He's gulping at the salty broth a little too greedily, and it's a little sloppy and the brush of Yugi's fingers against his skin is damp and sticky, but he can't really muster up the energy to care.

Yugi gives another tired little giggle, but at least he's not shaking anymore, and when he reaches out in inquiry, the flow of his thoughts is almost smooth enough to be normal.

"Stop that," he says gently, and pushes at him even more softly, "Save your energy for yourself, I can sleep in class."

You'll get detention, he reminds him, but he can sense Yugi's shrug, and the faint flare of his annoyance in the way he presses the bowl just a little bit harder against his lips.

Doesn't matter. I think you'll be asleep all day again.

He muffles a yawn in the moment the bowl is tilted away. Aibou... what?

"You heard me." Another rustle, warm and familiar, and then there's an arm looped around him, and the gentle brush of skin-on-skin, almost enough to make him forget that every single part of his body aches. His head falls to rest on Yugi's shoulder, and it's another long moment of maneuvering before he's successfully ensconced in Yugi's messy pile of bedding on the floor. They're both too tired to even try for the couch, and he doesn't mind it when Yugi collapses at his side, both of them wheezing soggily for breath.

"...mneph - shit. I spilled the last of the soup." It's a sour, pissy mutter, more suited to himself than his aibou, but it makes him smile - or something like it, anyway.

He grunts in response, because there's very little else he can do, and the sound melts into a pleased murmur of surprise when Yugi strokes a gentle hand down his side, like a caress.

Aibou...? he manages sleepily, and it's all he can do to flutter his eyes open and peer dazedly at him in the early-morning light.

Yugi smiles at him from barely a breath away, a little melancholy, a little worried, and more than a little exhausted. Relax, mou hitori no boku, he whispers, and pets him again, slow and deliberate. Manipulation, again, but it feels too good to matter. When I come home, Yugi says, soft and serious, You're having a bath. You stink.

The laugh that bubbles past his lips dissolves into a coughing fit, and he closes his eyes and clenches his teeth against the pain, but it wins him a brief, precious embrace, and the warmth of the Puzzle against his belly and Yugi's arms around him. He chokes a little, gasping, fingers scrambling to catch ahold of soft fabric, but Yugi and the world are already slipping away, melting and vanishing into black.

Aibou...?

And then everything is gone.

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