Set slightly after Duelist Kingdom, when everyone would be settling back into normalcy for a bit. Note that there are mild yaoi thoughts in this fic. While you're at it, note that the characters here are not mine, sadly. Otherwise Honda and Bakura might have been getting up to more than breaking into towers in the middle of the night... Enough of that. On with the fic!
Bakura propped his chin on one fist, idly watching Honda. He actually had spent a good deal of time watching Honda, ever since they had gotten back from duelist kingdom.
Something had happened there, a subtle change, just enough to peak Bakura's interest in him. Once he started paying attention to Honda, really paying attention to Honda specifically, he found he didn't want to stop watching him. Everything Honda did seemed to draw him in a little more, until he could hardly believe that there had been a time when he had let Honda fade into the background.
He wanted to be able to spend more time together. Every time he saw Honda his opinion shifted a little further in that direction, until Bakura had slowly realized that his goal had evolved from simple company to something more intimate and unlikely. He wanted to kiss Honda. He daydreamed about it, about the way Honda's mouth would feel.
There was a lot more to his infatuation than the fact that Honda hadn't realized that a more permanent solution to his problems with the 'other' Bakura would have been to toss Bakura himself off a cliff instead of just the millennium ring. Honda had helped him when he hadn't had the will to wrench any part of his body back under his own control, Bakura was fuzzily aware of that much. That was probably what had set his attention on Honda in the first place, and there it had remained stuck.
The ring was already back, in spite of Honda's efforts, and its occupant had even settled from furious seething at Honda's behavior to a healthy level of irritation whenever Bakura stared at the other boy for too long. Bakura wondered if that was because his other self had not yet noticed how tempting Honda was, or if he felt the same pull and was refusing to be drawn in.
Bakura had decided he wasn't going to let Honda know the ring was back just yet. He would tell him eventually, because it would probably be safer for everyone involved if at least one person knew what was coming, but he wanted to at least give Honda a chance to believe he had saved his friend.
It probably would have been easier if he was simply enamored of Honda because of the other boy's efforts to save him. At least that was easy to define. Bakura couldn't help thinking there was more to it that. All Bakura knew was the slow realization that Honda was. . . delicious.
It was probably they way he moved. The casual, confidant strength that Bakura could find in every movement once he knew how to look. There was something about him that made it plain that he would cause a scene if he felt like it, and he could cause a lot of damage if he wanted to, but unless you pushed him you probably wouldn't get to see that side.
When they first met it hadn't really occurred to Bakura that Honda would be dangerous. He was definitely tall and muscular enough to make Bakura nervous. Bakura preferred to avoid people who wanted to throw their weight around, but there was nothing in the way Honda acted toward Bakura to indicate that there was anything to be nervous about. He had fought Bakura's other half, but he hadn't let that get in the way of being friendly to Bakura himself. Bakura hadn't really seen what Honda could do until Honda started protecting him while they were at duelist kingdom.
By then, Bakura was already fond enough of Honda that he didn't care. Never mind the fact that Honda protecting him made him feel warm inside. Even knowing that Honda would do anything he could to protect any of his friends, and that this extended to knocking Bakura himself out to stop that dangerous other self of his, he had still managed to make Bakura feel special.
There was more to it than vague daydreams, Bakura insisted to himself. He kept catching those smiles that always made him want to smile back, not just because of the way a response would make Honda's face light up, but because Honda had a way of making him feel that he was smiling just for him.
Pure narcissism, he told himself stubbornly, but he enjoyed the feeling anyway.
Watching Honda's smile had slowly progressed to just watching Honda's mouth. That was probably where he had gotten the feeling of wanting to kiss Honda, though he was so wrapped up in his obsession that it was hard to be sure. He did enjoy watching the way Honda's lips moved when he talked.
That was what he was doing now. He was vaguely aware of the conversation going around him, but he was more interested it what he could see than in the buzz on the edge of his mind. The shape of Honda's lips and the rise and fall of his voice was more satisfying to Bakura than any specific conversation.
Then Honda turned towards Bakura, and Bakura tried to read his lips. 'Pa-ku-la. . . tai-sho-pu-ka. . .'
"Oi," Honda waved one hand in Bakura's face, startling him out of his daze and making him start listening again.
"What were you saying?"
"Are you okay?" Honda was giving him an odd look. "You're all spaced out today."
"I'm fine," Bakura replied, a little too quickly.
Honda shrugged and let Bakura leave it at that, but he kept sneaking glances at him. Even with Honda's attempts to check on him, Bakura went back to watching his mouth. He was too caught up in that to think that Honda might notice and get angry.
The main problem was, he couldn't keep himself from wondering what it would feel like to kiss Honda. Thinking about it made it impossible to concentrate on other things, like not staring at Honda's mouth. Somehow even the most casual glance at Honda's lips evolved into imagining what they would feel like if he could only get Honda to kiss him.
Bakura let the shapes of Honda's words relax him into closing his eyes. Honda's lips looked rough, probably from the cold weather. Bakura wondered if they would be warm. He knew from experience that Honda's breath was warm, since he had come close enough for Bakura to feel it once or twice. It was an unending frustration for Bakura that Honda would only get close in a barely-touching, slightly-skittish, deliberately-not-overly-friendly way.
Bakura tried to imagine kissing Honda, just as a brief touch under the snow. It would be soft, and warm, and. . .
Bakura let out a frustrated breath, accepting that he had no idea what Honda's kiss would be like. He really wouldn't know what it felt like to kiss Honda until he got a chance to try it himself.
Until he got a chance to do it, Bakura didn't think there was much harm in thinking about it. Imagining Honda's kiss was probably as close as he would ever get to receiving it.
Now that his mind was on it, Bakura didn't think such a soft brush of lips was really fitting for Honda. Besides, if he was going to kiss Honda, he might as well get the most out of it. He wanted something a little less delicate and a little more. . . intimate? He sort of hoped that Honda would turn out to be more of an intense romantic and less interested in fluff.
Bakura changed the scene to fit. Not an innocent moment out under the snow, but somewhere inside, sitting together beside a glowing fire. Honda would put one hand on the back of his head to draw him in. Bakura could almost imagine the insistent pressure of his lips, and maybe even a bit of teasing from his tongue if he was feeling daring. He wasn't going to be satisfied with a single kiss, either. He would wrap his arms around Honda, feel those strong, sturdy shoulders under his hands, and refuse to let Honda desert him.
Bakura hoped he wasn't setting himself up for a painful disappointment. Not because he didn't think kissing Honda would be delicious either way, but because he had no evidence that Honda was even remotely interested in kissing him.
"Hey." Honda startled Bakura out of his thoughts for a second time by shaking his shoulder. "Aren't you coming back to class?"
"Sure," Bakura answered quickly, trying to keep his eyes from focusing on Honda's mouth again.
Honda gave him an uncomfortable look and wiped his mouth with his free hand. "Is there something on my face?"
Bakura realized he had been caught staring. He was about to deny it, but something better occurred to him.
"You missed it," he lied, reaching forward to rub his thumb over Honda's lower lip.
Honda flushed and shot to his feet. "Gez, Bakura, you didn't have to do that."
"Sorry." Bakura gave him a smile of pure innocence. It was worth shocking Honda. He had found out that Honda's lips were just a bit rough, and relatively warm. Just knowing that much sent a little thrill through him. "It's gone now."
"Let's go back," Honda insisted, probably not wanting to talk about it anymore.
As soon as Honda turned to leave, Bakura touched his thumb to his lips. He gave a little sigh of happiness. He would definitely take an indirect kiss from Honda over no kiss at all.