This fic is all for RYOU at SaidiFestival. I LOVE you to pieces, and you deserve a story a lot better than this one, but… ah, well. I tried.
Disclaimer: Saying I own Yu-Gi-Oh! Or any of its characters is like saying that hot chocolate isn't made for winter. It just doesn't work. However, this is MY plot, and I don't tolerate plagiarism. If you want to borrow, then ask.
Note: Bakura and Ryou are TOGETHER already in this story.
Enjoy!
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Ryou stood at the window in his bedroom, green eyes huge and sparkly as they took in the blanket of white that had appeared during the night. A smile spread slowly across his face as he observed the utter beauty and tranquility outside.
Not that it would last very long, of course. Roads would have to be cleared so that cars could get through, and children would undoubtedly have to have snowball fights, but… for now, it was just so pretty.
The first snowfall of the year.
It was early to be awake: 6:00 AM on a Saturday morning. Pity this didn't happen yesterday morning, Ryou thought as he made his way downstairs. We could have missed a day of school… Ah, well. It's still wonderful.
He put some water on to boil, intending to make tea. Feeling down the link he shared with Bakura, he found that the spirit was still fast asleep. Odd, Ryou thought. Maybe he had a late night…?
They had pizza in the fridge from last night; Ryou took out two slices, and brought them to the couch where he picked up a book he'd been meaning to finish (Pride and Prejudice), and chewed slowly as he read. Cold pizza really was too good.
He let himself be absorbed for a while into the life of Elizabeth Bennett, sighing over someone's foolishness and growling at overly-pompous behavior. He licked his fingers absently as he finished his impromptu breakfast, eyes glued to the pages.
A hand rested on the top of his head, brushing a few errant locks back into place. "G'morning," Bakura said, eyes half-lidded and voice still thick with sleep. "You're up early."
Ryou's eyes snapped back into focus, and he looked up into Bakura's maroon ones. "Good morning to you, too," he said, smiling, as he folded the corner of the page down and shut the book, feeling a momentary pang of discomfort. He hated it when other people dog-eared pages, but he still did it himself. Eh.
He set it on the table in front of him, and patted the seat next to him. "Sit with me?"
Bakura did, without complaining as he usually did about personal space. He's so cute this early in the morning, Ryou thought, looking at him.
And he was. Silver hair was still a little mussed, but not as much as Ryou's own had been before he ad attacked it with a brush. His eyes were still a little cloudy, and even as Ryou watched, he yawned and rubbed his eyes. Ryou enjoyed it while it lasted. When Bakura was fully awake, he'd tease him to no end. But right now…
Ryou snuggled into him, resting his head where Bakura's neck met his shoulders. The spirit's arm automatically went around his own shoulders, and Ryou sighed happily, closing his eyes and breathing in the smell that was Bakura through and through.
"Have you looked outside, yet?" Ryou asked after a while of warm, comfortable silence. "It's beautiful out there. I don't even think anyone's destroyed it, yet."
"Mm… nope. Didn't have time to," Bakura replied, and buried his face in Ryou's hair. "Yadonushi, I'm hungry…"
Ryou rolled his eyes fondly. "I knew that was coming. I could get you some leftover pizza, if you want…" But he made no move to get up.
He felt Bakura nod. "Ok." But he didn't let go of Ryou, either.
Ryou sighed. The sooner he left, the sooner he got back, right? He disentangled himself, placing an absentminded kiss on Bakura's cheek before heading back to the kitchen.
He walked back into the living room with the remaining four slices a few moments later, and handed them to his yami. He walked over to the window, then, to open the closed curtains and gasped at what he saw.
It was snowing again, huge globs of snow. Each snowflake was a little snowball in its own right, and the wind whipped everything into a frenzy, sending streams of snow in all directions.
"Beautiful…" Ryou whispered in awe. Maybe the children wouldn't be out so early this year to spoil the whiteness.
He didn't know how long he stood there, enraptured, before he felt strong arms encircle his waist and pull him back a few inches.
"It's that snow stuff again," Bakura said. Ryou smiled. Bakura didn't like snow very much. Ryou supposed he wouldn't, either, if he had been born in Egypt.
"You called it beautiful," the thief continued. "Not as pretty as you, though."
Awwww. That was nice of him… "I guess it's ok, though," Bakura added. "If you like it."
Ryou liked the emphasis on the "you" quite a lot. He turned around in Bakura's arms, smiling up at him. "You're being very sweet today."
A corner of the spirit's mouth lifted. "Heh… I am, aren't I?" he leaned down and kissed Ryou slowly, slowly on the mouth. "It amazes me how nice I am sometimes," he said, not out of breath at all.
It would have been nice if the moment could have lasted; but, alas, it didn't. Ryou shrieked and jumped slightly as the kettle screamed, bumping the top of his head into Bakura's chin. The thief swore, letting go of Ryou in favor of rubbing his jaw. "Shit, Ryou…!"
Ryou scrambled to get around him and back into the kitchen. "I forgot all about it!" he said to no one in particular. "Stupid, stupid water chooses to boil in the middle of one of the best moments ever…!"
He snatched the screeching kettle off of the stove, cursing angrily as he burned the tip of his finger slightly. "Ow, ow, ow…" He stuck his finger into his mouth and sucked on it gently. Oh, owww, that hurt.
He reached for tea leaves with his other hand, but then stopped and grabbed two packets of hot chocolate and the bag of marshmallows instead. Hot chocolate was better than tea on a snow day, anyways, especially if he added cinnamon.
His finger feeling somewhat appeased, he made the two mugs of steaming liquid, stirring in cinnamon and putting in marshmallows (a lot for himself, slightly less for Bakura). He heard a chair scrape behind him, and looked over his shoulder to see Bakura settling himself at the kitchen table. He brought the mugs over, careful not to spill. "I'm sorry," he offered, meaning Bakura's chin.
The spirit shrugged. Ryou figured that meant he was forgiven.
Ryou took a sip of his drink, chewing up a not-quite-melted marshmallow. He grinned. "I love this stuff."
"Mmmmhmm."
"Bakura! I am sorry, really!"
"Huh."
Ryou glared at him as best as he could. "Fine. Be that way."
Bakura snickered, then, white teeth flashing. "I will, thanks."
Ryou let out his breath in a huff of anger. "You're absolutely impossible!"
"Oh, I know. Have you always liked stating the obvious, or is this a new habit?"
Ryou deigned it beneath him to answer, and drank his hot chocolate instead. It really was delicious. He glanced over at his other half. Oh, good. He seemed to be enjoying it, too.
"I'm going to go finish my book, now," Ryou announced after he was finished. Bakura made a noncommittal sound in his throat, and Ryou placed his empty mug in the sink. He would wash it later.
He got his book and decided to bring it up to his bedroom, where he could lay on his bed amongst his nest of pillows. Ryou was a sucker for pillows. Feather pillows, especially. Furry ones. Oddly shaped ones. The new squishy ones that had the little white bead things inside them that always fell out.
Yes, Ryou was a sucker for pillows.
He turned on the lamp at his bedside table for light, and made himself comfortable, holding the really soft pillow that read, "It's not PMS, it's you" to his chest. He loved that pillow, both because of its message, and because of its utter squishiness.
A few hours passed, Ryou reading and watching the still falling snow outside in turns, pausing sometimes to rub at his eyes.
He was at the part where Elizabeth was confronting Lady Catherine when Bakura stalked in and plucked the book from his hands. "I'm bored," he said, flopping down next to Ryou and getting immediately engulfed by a flood of pillows. "Ryou, why exactly do you need all of these?"
"Because they make me happy, that's why," Ryou answered, swiping at Bakura's hand for his book, and missing. "I was reading that, you know."
"I know!" Bakura said with feeling. "You were reading the stupid book, and not paying any attention to me." He flung the book away from him carelessly, and it bounced off the wall and left a black streak. "Bakura!"
"Oh, Ryou, it's just a book."
"No… no, the WALL! Look at the wall!"
Bakura shrugged. "You'll get over it."
Ryou looked at his PMS pillow before lifting it and smacking it into Bakura's face. "You ruined my wall!" he said, whacking him again. "And my book!" Whack. "It was a good book, too!" Whack.
Bakura managed to wrest the pillow away from him after the last whack. "You shouldn't have done that, 'dear'," he said, grinning wickedly and reaching behind him for one of Ryou's feather-filled pillows. "Do you know why?"
Ryou tried to scramble away, but Bakura was already there, poking his sides. He shrieked with laughter, trying to get away. Bakura was answering his own question. "Because one: I'm stronger than you; two, you're ticklish; and three, because I'm just all around better."
Ryou was gasping for breath, wriggling around, trying to get away. He reached for another feather pillow. "B-Bakura, stop," he managed to say.
The spirit took up his own pillow again, hitting him right back. "You're not going to win," he said smugly, quickly overpowering him and driving him back a few vital inches.
Ohhh, crap, Ryou thought. He was half off the bed, hanging on for dear life. He smiled as something occurred to him.
Bakura blinked as Ryou landed with a thump on the floor, out of his line of sight. "I win," he said, settling himself in the very middle of the bed, stretching. "I knew I would."
"Keep dreaming." Ryou scrambled back up from the other side, hair a little mussed seeing as he'd crawled under the bed to get there. He sat happily on Bakura's stomach. The thief coughed. "Ryou, when did you get so heavy?"
Ryou gasped in mock-indignation. "Are you calling me fat?" He picked up his pillow again. "Huh? Huh?"
"I am," Bakura said evilly, using the distraction to shove Ryou to the side.
What followed could only be described as World War III. All of Ryou's many pillows were utilized; they were thrown, used to whack, used as barriers…
They lay there panting almost half an hour later. Feathers from a few now unusable pillows drifted around them. Bakura blew at one tickling his cheek, and watched it waft slowly up, and then float gently down.
He smiled when he looked at Ryou, a real smile that looked somewhat odd on his face. He lay in a bed of loose feathers and pillows, eyes sparkling, lips slightly parted as his breathing slowed gradually, usually pale cheeks now pink. Bakura usually hated pink… but he liked it quite a lot where it was just now.
He rolled from his back to his side to face Ryou, and lifted his arm in invitation and cocked an eyebrow. Ryou's eyes lit up even more, and he scooted over and buried his face in Bakura's collarbone as the spirit's arm curled around him possessively.
"Wasn't that better than your boring book?" Bakura asked, voice softer now, as his hand trailed patterns over Ryou's back.
"Mmm. I don't know, I'll have to think about that one…"
Bakura frowned, and poked Ryou in the side, making him squeak. "Wah, Bakura!"
"You're a… a stupid little Furby, you know that?" he growled.
Ryou laughed, shoulders shaking slightly. "That's nice to know."
Bakura held him for a little longer, liking the feel of Ryou in his arms. Too thin, although not unhealthily so; soft, pretty hair that was even more tangled than it had been before… ah. If Bakura had been a sentimental person, he would have sighed at this epitome of cuteness; as it was, he tightened his hold and refrained from making any sarcastic comments.
"Mmph… Bakura?" he heard Ryou murmur.
"What?"
"Maybe this is better than the book. I don't know… it's rather hard to say."
Bakura snorted. "Do you need further persuasion?"
Ryou bit his lip. "Umm… maaaaybe?"
Bakura rolled his eyes, even though Ryou couldn't see. "Indecisive little brat. That's what you are… no, an indecisive little Furby. There we go. Let me make it clearer: Would you like to be kissed right now, or not?"
Ryou shifted slightly, tilting his chin up, and their eyes locked. Bakura's held a challenge, and glints of promise. And Ryou's… Ryou's held desire.
He tugged on Bakura's shirt collar. "Yes, I would. So do it." And he pulled him forward.
And so they kissed. Mouths meeting, hearts racing, the snow falling outside without anyone to mess it up.
Well. So maybe this is better than Pride and Prejudice, Ryou thought dizzily.
Well, of course, Bakura's voice said in his mind. Now shut up.
Ryou obeyed.
And the snow kept falling.
Life was good.
OOOOOO END OOOOOOYes, well, as I said. Ryou deserves a FAR better story than this one; I had way too many descriptions and things, but ahhhh, I couldn't resist! It was too cute!
FURBIES!