To Mend A Broken Heart

Yami sighed, placing his game controller on the ground. It was the next day, and he was actively trying to occupy himself with various things. He'd pulled out his old acoustic guitar and tried to learn a few songs (although since he hadn't played it in a few months he wasn't very good). He'd also sorted out his Duel Monsters cards, deciding which ones he wanted in his main deck. He hadn't touched those in a while, either. Briana hadn't been a fan of the card game, or his guitar skills, or video games for that matter. Yami sat back and realised he'd been doing all the things that Bri didn't like, and thus hadn't done for ages. He almost smiled at the thought of being able to enjoy these things again, but once again he felt the pain in his chest from the thought of Briana. He sighed, this would be much easier if he had more friends, he thought. He was fine with living by himself when he had Bri, because he'd spend half his time at her house. But now, as he sat on his couch, only able to hear the sound of the video game's music at low volume, he realised how empty his apartment felt without anybody else there. He stood up and decided to make himself another cup of coffee. Walking over to the machine, he punched in the right buttons, and placed his mug underneath, waiting for it to brew. Unfortunately, all the machine did was sputter and complain, before giving up.

Yami sighed, Brilliant, now I need a new coffee machine. Instead, he turned the kettle on and decided to make it the old fashioned way (which actually wasn't that old fashioned). He turned and leaned against the kitchen bench, as his thoughts of Briana plagued his mind. He shook his head, searching for a distraction. The Kettle had finished boiling, so he turned and swiftly poured the water into his mug. He stared out the window, desperately trying to think of something that could take his mind off of Briana.

He was cut off from his thoughts when he felt a searing pain on his hand, he had started pouring the boiling water on his hand instead of into the cup. He cursed loudly, and dropped the kettle back onto the bench, knocking over his mug in the process. It hit the floor and shattered, as he continued to curse, cradling his burning hand.

"God dammit," he muttered as his hand burned, turning a bright red.

"Yami?" he heard Joey's voice from the front door.

"Yeah, in here," he said, trying to clumsily gather the broken bits of the mug on the floor into a pile with his foot.

"What on earth are you doing?" he heard Joey say from behind him.

"I poured boiling water on myself," he said with a sigh, kicking the bits of mug to the side.

"Why did you do that?!" Joey said, sounding like he was getting tired of Yami's stupid decisions.

"It wasn't on purpose-" Yami turned around, and stopped when he saw that Joey wasn't alone. His eyes widened in surprise when he saw the lovely stranger standing next to Joey, a friendly smile on his face. "Yugi?"

"Hi Yami," he said. Yami wondered if he ever didn't sound friendly. He looked between the two of them with a confused look on his face.

Joey laughed, "Confused? Yugi and I have been buds since high school!" he ruffled the boy's hair, who battered him away with a laugh.

"I thought I'd help him deal with you," Yugi said jokingly. Yami almost smiled at the boy's generosity. Yugi then noticed the angry red mark on Yami's hand, "What on earth did you do to yourself?" he asked.

Yami could now feel the blood flowing through his hand, to the beat of his heart. "Poured boiling water on myself by accident," he said with a shrug, though he was still in a lot of pain, he tried to hide it.

"Jesus," Joey said, walking over to pick the main parts of the broken mug off the floor. "Can't even trust you to make a cup of coffee without destroying yourself."

Yami shrugged, "it worked."

Yugi was confused, "What do you mean it worked?"

"I was trying to think of something that would distract me from Bri, and upon doing this," he lifted his hand up where the red burn mark was, "it certainly distracted me," he said.

Joey narrowed his eyes, "don't you dare start thinking like that," he said. "We're not going to let you hurt yourself, whether intentional or not."

Now that Yugi was closer, he noticed the ugly cuts covering Yami's hands. "How did you get those?" he asked, staring at Yami's hands looking slightly worried.

Yami held his hands out for Yugi to look, "tried picking up glass while hungover," he said. The hint of a smirk sat on the edge of his lips, and Joey glared at him. Yugi remembered Joey explaining what had happened the other night after their run in at the park, and smiled sympathetically as Yami dropped his hands back to his sides.

"Well I vote we go do something, seems this apartment is a death trap at the moment," Joey suggested.

"Like what?" Yami asked, as he picked up the broken mug that Joey had retrieved and dumped it in the bin.

Joey shrugged, "Haven't thought that far ahead yet, let's see what Domino has to offer," he grinned.

"Sounds good to me," Yugi said with a smile, before turning to Yami.

"How about it?" Joey asked.

"Yeah, alright," Yami said, "just let me get changed first, I've been wearing the same clothes for the past 2 days..." as he walked into his bedroom to get changed, Joey turned to Yugi.

"See what I mean?" Joey said once Yami was out of ear shot.

Yugi nodded, "Don't worry, we'll cheer him up," he said with a smile.

"With your help we will," Joey grinned.