Heal These Scars [Jack x Yusei]

Ch.12 Progression

Yusei laid in his room, his body sluggish and fatigued. His heavy eyes forced themselves open, slowly pushing himself to sit up, though pained. Yusei lifted a hand, lazily rubbing one of his eyes before carelessly reaching for his nightstand. His hand touched the wood, randomly feeling around its surface as he gave an exhausted yawn. When his hand finally touched what he assumed to be his cellphone, Yusei glanced over. He saw that he did in fact grab his phone, pressing the power button to check the time, and he groaned a bit, but only after cringing when the light from his phone burned his eyes

"Not even 4 A.M. yet..." He mumbled, glancing out his window to see it was still relatively dark out, though the sun would come up in a few hours. "Still dark out... Hm... I...wonder..."

Yusei allowed his curiosity to take hold of him as he slowly, and painfully, crawled out of bed, tip-toeing over to his door. The raven unlocked the handle before quietly turning it, carefully cracking the door open to peek into the hallway. His eyes flicked back and forth a couple times, finding the coast was clear through the darkness. Yusei opened his door further and crept out of the bedroom, though still keeping his guard up. First thing was first, Yusei wanted to make sure of something as he turned toward the left. Yusei quietly grabbed onto a doorknob and slowly turned it before gently pushing the door open, but only just enough so he could see inside a bedroom -- Yuko's bedroom. His mind was put a bit at ease when he saw his sister still soundly asleep, rolling over onto her side as she pulled the covers further onto her body. Yusei couldn't help but grin slightly as he quietly closed the door. Now then, the part he was dreading... The raven swallowed hard, his throat a bit dry, and tip-toed down the stairs. His steps were silent, especially against the carpeted steps, it was as if he wasn't even there, minus the very slight noise each step made since pressure was being added and taken away from them, though you could really only tell that in the silence since everything around was all too quiet. Yusei let out a soft sigh when he reached the bottom of the stairs, glad that no one heard him. He scanned around the area, and though clouded by the blackness of night, he couldn't make out anyone. Again, he sighed, quickly heading into the kitchen as he grabbed a glass and filled it with some cold water. As Yusei made his way back to the stairs, he took a sip of water, when suddenly--

Click!

Yusei gasped, damn near choking on his water as he whipped his head around to the front door where, through the darkness, he could make out the doorknob jiggling. Without a second thought, Yusei bolted up the stairs, gasping in pain, and finding that running up the stairs at high speed was a terrible idea, but he'd rather be in pain than get seen still up at this late hour. At this point, all Yusei could hear was the door opening and loud, uneven footsteps moving around downstairs. However, moments later, a low flopping sound was heard, then...silence. Yusei waited in that position against his closed door for what felt like hours, then suddenly jumped a bit when he heard low snoring coming from downstairs. He finally let out the breath he had been holding in, sighing heavily. Yusei took a deep breath before taking a sip from his water that was still in his hand, locking the door just for good measure. It seems his old man had finally decided to come back at four in the morning, not that Yusei was very surprised... So, deciding not to give a damn, especially with him out like a light, Yusei set his water down on his nightstand and crawled back into bed, curling up under his warm blankets. He drew in a breath through his nose, slowly letting it out as he allowed his eyes to close, soon falling back asleep once again.

____________________________________

Jack's mind was still in a flurry over the events of last night. He could still remember it, clear as day, as he stood in the kitchen that next morning. Jack could still see that tiny glint of hope shining in Yusei's cerulean eyes as he made his leave. He was determined to break through Yusei's thick shell, though taxing, he wouldn't let that stop him, especially since it seemed like he was making some progress, as little as it was. However, as Jack was blindly wandering into the kitchen, his mind still preoccupied, he put his hand down, only to suddenly gasp out in pain.