Angelicshipping. Not a request this time; I wrote this for me. ^_^
Ryou lay his ear against his lover's heart, letting out a sigh of contentment. He felt large hands gently comb through his white locks, and he tilted his head back to smile up at Rafael. Ryou was grateful to have found him after the fiasco in Egypt. His life had grown somewhat colorless and dull in the following months, the burden of knowledge that he bore isolating him from the rest of the world. When he'd met Rafael, he'd discovered that the broad-shouldered man was just the same way. It made it easier to bear his burden when he wasn't alone in doing so.
It didn't help that he didn't even have so much as a proper family to support him, and without a family, he didn't feel like he had a proper home. Thanks to Bakura, he hadn't had a terribly strong bond with any of his friends in several years, so he didn't even have a surrogate family to cling to, not really.
Rafael was the same way: he lost his family when he was young and lived a long life in isolation. He'd also been subject to an evil spiritual influence that was too powerful for even his strong will to resist. Neither of them felt like there was a place they really belonged, except with each other.
They were truly fortunate to have bumped into each other, since both had become nomadic. It was easier for Rafael, since he had no trouble finding work, but for Ryou, it was a struggle. At the same time, he didn't want to return to his lonely hovel of an apartment back in Domino. He didn't even renew the lease before he left, simply packed up all of the things he cared about keeping in some sturdy bins and rented a small storage unit instead. It was cheaper that way. Then he'd packed a backpack, bought a bus ticket, and hadn't returned. It had been seven months since the day he left, and he was becoming convinced that he couldn't have made a better decision for himself. After all, it had led him to Rafael.
With Rafael, silence was always comfortable and sweet. They understood each other without words, and neither felt a need to fill the silence when it was something worth savoring for its own sake. They traveled together now, and they had just gotten their passports renewed so that they could go abroad. Ryou planned on telling Yugi tomorrow during their weekly phone call.
Ryou still felt kind of bad for leaving as suddenly as he had, but he felt even worse that he didn't actually feel that bad about it. Maybe if the others had made more of an effort to include him, to not forget about him so often, he would have felt inclined to say goodbye to them, or better still, not leave at all. But they had brought this on themselves, hadn't they?
Then he would remember how Tristan and Joey and Yami had all looked out for him at different points in time, protecting him from Bakura, carrying him when the spirit had injured Ryou. He remembered Tea watching over his unconscious form (thanks to Bakura, he remembered it) and Grandpa watching over him in the hospital. He could even scrounge up positive memories of Marik if he tried hard enough. A sadness crept over Ryou's face as he tried to sort through his complicated feelings.
"Do you miss Domino?" Rafael asked softly, gently taking hold of Ryou's chin in his fingers and tilting his head back so that their eyes could meet.
"I miss… what I could have had in Domino," Ryou answered slowly. "I miss what almost was, but never would have been. Does that make sense?"
"Yeah." Rafael kissed him softly and Ryou shifted his position on Rafael's lap so that he could kiss him more easily. Ryou lifted a hand and tangled his own fingers through his partner's blond hair, holding him close and kissing him hard. Whenever Ryou started to get too sad or regretful or introspective, he always sought that which always made him smile again: Rafael.