Chaos: Alert! Feel-good story! Not my usual style, I know… far from it… but I'm not feeling well and I need to cheer myself up somehow. I fear the characterization may slip a little in places, so sue me… or not… anyway, this is NOT yaoi, as usual, but I'm sure it could be interpreted as such. What can't? Anyway, I'm going to stop talking now and let you read. Enjoy, everyone!

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It was raining when Yugi eventually arrived home. Really raining; thick, dark sheets of rain that never stopped and blanketed the world and made it look like it was night at five fifteen pm. Yami had been sitting in the warmth and light for an hour, waiting and feeling oddly hypnotised by the contrast.

When Yami opened the door, Yugi looked dreadful; his hair had responded alarmingly to the rain and was even more wild than normal, his golden-blond bangs plastered to his face as he hugged himself for warmth, shivering. He had no coat – they had stolen it.

Yami led him inside gently and directed him towards the stairs to change into dry clothes. It was becoming alarmingly routine, though the rain wasn't usually as bad as it was now, and he was starting to wonder if anything could be done about what was happening.

Fifteen minutes later he was roughly towelling Yugi's hair dry again as they both sat on the bed, Yugi dangling his feet over the edge and still shivering slightly, hugging a second towel around his shoulders.

"Are you ok?" Yami asked gently.

"Mmm." This, he had learned from experience, meant 'yes, but I don't want to say anything yet'. He nodded assent, though Yugi couldn't have seen him, and continued towelling until Yugi's hair looked like something had exploded somewhere inside it. He lifted a hairbrush from the desk and made his way to sit behind Yugi again.

"I'm always here if you want to talk about it." He said, brushing as gently as he could. Somehow this exercise had become relaxing, soothing almost, just another part of routine life. Yami liked routine. He could cope with excitement - enjoyed it, even - but he liked to have something quiet to come back to.

"Mmm."

Solomon never came upstairs during this time. It was Yami-and-Yugi time, which they rarely had anymore, and he didn't deny them it. Besides, it was a quiet time for him too, a time to relax and bring up fond memories of his own.

"They'll get bored eventually." Yami continued in the same, almost harmonic, tone. This was just another part of the routine; it didn't mean anything any more, but they both liked listening to it. It was as if they could just continue sitting there forever, Yami brushing and towelling alternately, and Yugi looking down to make it easier to reach the back of his head, and listening to the soothing comments that floated over them both.

"Mmm." Yugi responded tranquilly, tilting his head to one side and half-closing his eyes, lulled by the warmth and serenity. They were both beginning to love these moments.

For Yami, it was a heavenly moment when the monotony of the day – while Yugi was at school – finally came to an end. For Yugi, it was a reassurance and comfort after a hard school day and the sick fear that came afterwards.

After so much time connected, they both missed the other's presence, and this was a guilty way of making it better. Guilty because it would never happen if Yugi didn't get hurt, they both knew that… unless he went to stand in a storm every time one came along.

"You'll need a new coat now."

"Mmm."

And they were both content, even though what happened every day was getting worse and more serious, it couldn't affect them in this little bubble of eternity where, for a few blissful moments, they were one again.

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Chaos: Short but sweet… alarmingly sweet… but anyway, for those who didn't get it, Yugi is getting bullied after school. And for some reason I can't fathom it's often raining. (grin) Anyway, songs I listened to while writing this were; Follow the Light, by Travis, and Silent Sigh, by Badly Drawn Boy. Feel-good stuff. Ah, I feel better now. Anybody else like this soppy drivel? And I have a nasty feeling I'm going to look at this when I get better and zone into life again, scream a few times, and head for the 'delete story' button. Ah well. (grin)

Flower: Oh, and there is more, but as you may suspect it reverts to my original theme of angst, violence, and angst. Gasp! So I'll probably not be posting anything else. Happy something-or-other, everyone! I love you all! Fanfiction has to be one of the best things that ever happened to me! (drunken euphoria)