Disclaimer: Why not? Why can't I own Yu-Gi-Oh and the affiliated characters, plot devices, and children's card games? What's that? Oh, it looks like Kazuki Takahashi already owns it, and it won't be for sale for a long time. Drat. There's also a vague GX reference in there, but I don't own that either.
A/N: I had a lot of negative feelings because someone wrote a really mean reply to one of my reviews. Since I aim not to offend people, it really hurt me, because I evidently had... So, I wrote this to cheer myself up! Somehow, it wound up turning into a multi-chaptered story, albeit a short one. I'll update every day this week, according to what day it is in the chapter, ok? :)
Also, I was hungry when I wrote this. Can you tell?
Warnings: Some fangirling, OCs with minor parts, conspiracy, Boy/Boy love.
Beta'd by my BFF/pseudo-twin Alan. He is epic win. :)
7/27/11: Edited. Fixed some grammatical errors, etc.
-Monday, 2:30 PM, Domino High School Kitchens-
Ryou Bakura liked baking.
A lot.
He loved to combine ingredients that tasted horrid on their own into something truly worth eating- to take that bland, dry flour and mix it with slimy eggs, greasy shortening, bitter chocolate, and over-saccharine sugar to create a dessert that was deliciously delicate, with a perfect, fluffy texture, and was just sweet enough to tantalize the taste buds. It was borderline magic.
He loved to see the expressions of her friends' faces as they sampled his creations, clearly happy with the results. Friendship was among Ryou's most valued of ideals, and anything that made his friends happy made him happy, too. And, of course, he loved making friends with fellow bakers, who shared his desire to spread the sugar-imbued happiness across the world.
Ryou loved to dedicate himself to baking on lonely afternoons where he'd opted out of hanging with Yugi and the gang, mostly because he feared that he would be unable to control his vengeful dark side. After promising the other Bakura an assortment of desserts that he could mutilate while pretending they were the Pharaoh, he was usually much easier to work with; Ryou would be able to go about most of his business without difficulty. The other voice in his head would normally take him over only if there were desserts to be had, a Pharaoh to exact revenge on, or a card game to play.
Ryou Bakura took baking very seriously. It could literally be a life-or-death situation in his case: a situation where Ryou wanted his friends to live, the other Bakura wanted them to die, and the only way to placate his darkness was with sweets.
Yes, Ryou liked baking.
A lot.
And it was for this reason that he was president of Domino High's Baking Club, which met in the school kitchen every Monday afternoon.
When Ryou first entered the room, Julian Kainou was already sitting at his usual spot in the corner, messing with his graphing calculator. He had an open block at the end of the day, but he usually stuck around for Baking Club on Monday.
"The ovens are preheated, in case you're wondering," he explained. "And I've started baking a lemon cake, too... it still has about ten minutes to go."
"Awesome, I can't wait to taste it," Ryou peered briefly at the oven. "It looks great already!"
"Thanks," Kainou gave a small smile, then returned to reprogramming his calculator.
"Hi there, Ryou~!" Téa smiled as she entered, waving around a small box. "I brought some cookies that I baked this weekend... would you please try one and tell me how to fix them? They taste kind of off, but I can't figure out where I went wrong..."
"But of course, Téa," Ryou smiled back, before taking one as a sample. He bit into it, then promptly choked from the strong flavor.
"Oh my God, Ryou!" Téa gasped. "Are you okay?"
Ryou coughed and said, "Fine, fine. The flavor just surprised me, that's all. Exactly how much licorice extract did you put in there? It's very strong, so you should probably decrease the amount you put in..."
"Oh dear!" Téa fretted. "I must have gotten my licorice extract mixed up with my vanilla extract! Thanks so much, Ryou!"
"No problem," the British boy smiled. He heard Dark Bakura gag in the back of his mind from the warm-and-fuzzy friendship feeling.
"Hey, Mr. President," a few of his fangirls giggled as they twirled in. They were perhaps the least favorite of all of Ryou's club members, mostly because they didn't really have any real affection for baking.
"Hello, ladies," Ryou replied politely. "Have you seen Yugi around lately? He's the only one we're still waiting for."
"Er, I think I saw him in the hallway with Joey before..." Brianne scratched her head. "That was a few minutes ago, at the lockers..."
"I'm not sure he's coming today," Kita rubbed her chin.
"Ah, well, I suppose we can't help it," Ryou sighed before brightening up. "Today, we're going to make brownies! They're relatively portable, and I can deliver some to him later, when I pass by the Game Shop on my way home."
The rest all nodded, then began to measure out ingredients while chatting amicably.
Yugi suddenly burst in through the door, out of breath. Seven heads turned to see him.
"Welcome back, Yugi!" Ryou welcomed him warmly. "Don't worry, you haven't missed much."
"Sorry I'm late, guys," Yugi laughed. "Joey got into a fight with Kaiba... again. I had to pull them apart... again!"
"Seriously? Dude, that's messed up," Lulu sympathized.
"Please. Just don't involve yourself in their flirting," Kainou dismissed it. "Not like they're going to kill each other or anything."
He garnered a few strange glances.
"What? It's all true," Kainou looked thoroughly offended. "Have you ever wondered why the CEO of a multibillion-dollar cooperation bothers to take the time out of his day to insult your everyday boy? Or why said everyday boy is always staring at him in class?"
"That's stupid!" gasped Kita. "There's no way those two hotties are gay, much less that they like each other! Even if they did, a relationship between them could never come to existence; they mix like water and oil!"
To emphasize her point, she vigorously gestured towards a measuring cup, where a mass of oil rested literally on top of the water. She stirred the cup, and everyone watched the water and oil separate again.
"Hmm, I don't know, I think Kainou might be on to something..." Brianne giggled. "When they fight, don't you notice how close their faces get? And, that one duel they televised from Battle City? I could almost see the sexual tension!"
"Well, Ryou, there was that one time where Joey was unconscious, and he was about to fall off Tristan's back, but Kaiba caught him. Mou hitori no boku told me so," Yugi nodded. He used the Japanese term for his other self in order to prevent the others from thinking he was a psycho for having a voice in his head. For all they knew, it was an obscure Japanese nickname for a lover.
"Yugi!" Ryou exclaimed in shock. "You can't seriously be thinking of this!"
"But why not?" Yugi blinked up at Ryou innocently.
"Hmmm..." Téa looked thoughtful. "That's right. At least, if they begin dating, they'll be too busy doing couple-y things to be fighting. Then, we can welcome Kaiba into our group and we'll all be friends! Then, we can draw a symbol of friendship on his hand, too, the next time we get in an important duel!"
Yugi rubbed his hand subconsciously. He swore he could still see the last one if he squinted.
"Maybe not that far, Téa," Yugi said. "Kaiba isn't a very sociable person..."
"I still say they won't get together," Kita insisted. "They're too different, in both social standing and attitude."
"But, you know," Kainou walked back to where the cup was. He cracked an egg in the glass and stirred. "It only takes a little egg to make water and oil come together..."
"What are you implying?" Ryou looked badly alarmed. He had a feeling he was going to get mixed in with some awful business here...
"He's saying we should emulsify them," Brianne smiled. "We're going to do some matchmaking!"
Ding!
The oven's timer went off, and Kainou went to go take out his cake.
"Let's bake brownies while the cake cools!" Ryou suggested hurriedly, carefully beginning to add the mixture of egg, water, and oil to the mixture of flour, baking soda, and sugar. The rest of the group agreed, and went back to their own stations and their own batches of confectionaries. They still chatted amicably, though this time, it was more about how to get Kaiba and Joey together than their latest baking exploit.
And Ryou thought, as he slipped the pan of brownie batter into the oven, this would be a very long week.