I'm so sorry it's been so long since I updated this story! Life just gets in the way, I suppose. Just know that I have NOT abandoned this story and I will continue to update.

Again, sorry for the long wait!

"I don't want to talk about it, Joe." Yugi's voice was nothing but a mumble, his usual chipper disposition was smothered by sadness.

"Aw, come on, Yug." Joey had been trying for nearly an hour to pry the details of Friday night from his friend. His little buddy hadn't texted him all weekend and now Joey wanted something, anything to help him understand why Yugi seemed twice as depressed as he did the other day.

"No, I just want to forget about it." Yugi sounded irritated, throwing down a rag he was using to wipe his greasy hands.

"But Yug, you have to – "

"No! I don't have to do anything, Joey! You can't tell me what to do!" Yugi snapped. His anger surprised the blonde, who gaped at the petite mechanic with wide eyes. Yugi glared at his friend. "Just leave me alone."

He swiftly turned his back and began to silently work on the other side of the shop. It took Joey a moment to comprehend what had just happened but eventually, he also began to work in silence, every so often throwing a confused glance at his angry friend.

Several glances later, Joey gave up his attempts to catch Yugi's eye. Just one day of silence wouldn't hurt the two friends, would it?

On the first day of silence, Joey had tried to make his friend smile by acting goofier than usual. He tried telling jokes, slipping in engine grease, and juggling oil cans. His attempts were in vain; Yugi didn't so much as release a chuckle.

On the second day of silence, Joey had tried to make small talk about Yugi's typical interests – video games (no response), movies (still nothing) and pizza (not even a peep).

On the third day, Joey began to wonder if Yugi would ever speak again.

On the fourth day, Joey had had enough. He had reached his breaking point with this 'I'm-not-talking' bullshit – why was Yugi ignoring him? He hadn't done anything except for try to help the ungrateful bastard!

"Alright Yug, that's it!" He shouted, throwing his arms up in the air. "I gave you three days to figure out your shit and if you haven't, then that's too damn bad. I can't stand this cold shoulder of yours any longer!"

"Joey," Yugi pleaded, "I don't want to talk about it."

"Well tough cookies, Yug!" The blonde snorted and flung his arms wildly. "I want to know what the hell is going on around here! You're going to tell me all about it – "

"Alright," Yugi interrupted, knowing that his friend would never let this go. "I'll tell you."

"Damn right, you will!"

"I said NO SUGAR, you ignorant fool!" Atem knocked the coffee to the ground. A petite brunette bent over the splattered mess to clean it up, tears streaming down her cheeks as Atem's rage continued.

"You've only gotten my coffee order about twenty times by now. How dare you mess it up! I should have known this would happen, since you're only an intern. Now, get me another one and get it right this time and WHERE THE HELL IS JENKINS!"

Seto Kaiba sighed deeply. He was trying to concentrate on his paperwork, but he kept getting distracted by the commotion from Atem's office down the hall. Obviously, things hadn't gone well for his cousin's date night. Now, Atem was taking out his anger on the entire office, as he had done for the past two days. The copy room was still in shambles from when the printer had jammed and Atem took it upon himself to 'teach the damned thing a lesson.'

Seto put down his pen and closed his eyes. He could feel a migraine developing in his temples. Couldn't his cousin just keep his noise down, for once?

The loud slam of a door and more yelling answered his question: No, no his cousin was going to continue this pathetic tantrum of his.

"So when he wouldn't stop kissing me, I just felt myself tense up. I had to get out of there, so I left. We haven't spoken since."

Yugi sighed, rubbing his eyes. As he told the story to Joey, he remembered his feelings of anxiety. His chest and throat tightened.

Joey raised an eyebrow. "That's it?"

"That's it," Yugi affirmed.

"That is, without a doubt, the most bullshit excuse I've ever heard."

Yugi glared at his friend. "Gee thanks, you ass. Why don't you tell me how you really feel?"

"Listen Yug. You like him. He likes you. Why does anything else matter?"

"It matters because I could get hurt. Again. I always get hurt in relationships. I always give too much, too fast. I never get anything in return except for being used and dumped."

Joey rolled his eyes. "You're letting your own insecurities get in the way of what could be the best relationship of your life. But you'll never find that out unless you both get over yourselves, gather your balls and talk about whatever the hell happened between you that night."

"I'm so scared, Joe. Especially after what Mai said. How can I be with someone like that?"

The blonde shrugged. "So he has a past, so what? He never judged you for having one after Duke Devlin acted like a moron in front of the whole world."

Yugi hadn't thought of that before.

So maybe Joey had a point. And maybe he had let his insecurities get the best of him. And maybe things would work out. But right now, Yugi couldn't see how that was even a remote possibility. He felt so wounded and broken, how could he get over it so easily?

"Still, I can't go through with this. I'm not ready for this next step." Tears welled up in his eyes and his voice tightened. "The last time I started to care about someone, the last time this happened…"

He sobbed silently as his friend pulled him into a tight hug. "I can't get my heart broken again," he choked out.

"Yugi," Joey said slowly, in the serious tone he only used at times of extreme importance. "Real love is giving someone the opportunity to break your heart, but trusting them enough not to."

Yugi sighed deeply. He felt so defeated. So helpless. "It is what it is, Joey."

Joey shook his head as he pulled away and held his friend by the shoulders. "No Yug." He stared into tearful lavender eyes and smiled. "It is what you make it."

"JENKINS!" A voice thundered. "I know you're as dumb as a mule and twice as ugly, but this quarterly report reads like it was written by a first grader! Why didn't you just write the damn thing with a crayon?!"

Seto scoffed angrily and threw down his pen in frustration. This damn paperwork was never going to get finished. He had seen his cousin's rage before. This was a typical post-breakup Atem. But this was beyond rage – this was the most tyrannical fury that Seto had ever seen. He stood up from his desk and pulled out his cell phone.

There was only one way to deal with it.