It's Better When I Breathe For You

Snow. It was every where, coating the town of Domino in powder white bliss. The side walks were iced out, ice hung from doorways and patio tops, and windshield wipers thudded across cars in desperate attempts to keep snow from blocking there view. The cold blew in like lightning, making Ryou shiver and pull up his jacket. It didn't do much to block the cold, though. It was old and worn.

He stared out on the parking lot of Pins and Needles Tattoo Parlor, seeing nothing but the car (it being the only one out there) and icy white bliss. It was way too cold to be out here in the first place, but he didn't mind that much. It was nice to see snow falling and your own breath when you breathe. Ryou closed his eyes and smiled to himself.

Behind him, Bakura began to mumbled, "I can't believe I'm out here in this stupid cold with you, Ryou. It shouldn't take Malik and Marik that long to get each other's names tattooed on their arms. Those stupid sons of a..."

Ryou opened his eyes and looked over his shoulder at Bakura. His eyes widened as he saw that Bakura was wearing the black and white sweater Ryou had sewn him back in England with his grandmother. It still amazed him that Bakura wore it out of the house.

"I'm afraid of needles, you know that. Besides, I didn't make you come out here with me; you came out here with me on your own."

For some reason, Bakura took this as an insult, "I did not come out here just because you did hikari. I'd rather be out here with you than in there with those love-sick idiots. Not because of your company of anything."

"Whatever."

Silence once again settled upon them, making Bakura a bit uncomfortable. He never liked the silence, every since, back in Egypt, when he took his place as a tomb robber and went throughout many tombs with nothing but the sound of his own breathing did he finally realize the terror of silence. Silence and darkness, though he'd never tell a soul that.

"I'm bored." Bakura said, sighing deeply.

Ryou rolled his eyes, "What do you want me to do about it?"

"Let's go to the arcade."

"I don't think Malik and Marik are too big on arcade games."

"So? Let's go without them. I'll show you how a master plays."

Ryou just shook his head. Bakura growled and let his shoulders slump.

"Go by yourself. "Ryou suggested.

"I don't want to go now."

Ryou rolled his eyes. Sometimes Bakura could be so fickle.

"Whatever, 'Kura." Ryou shivered as a cold gust of wind blew, "It's been forever. Go see if they're done."

Bakura snorted, "I'm not your errand boy."

Ryou rolled his eyes and looked at Bakura with a pout,"Kura..."

"Fine, just shut up and stop looking at me. I think I'm going to vomit." so saying, Bakura walked into the brightly decorated tattoo parlor.

Ryou looked at the door of the parlor, an eye with markings on it and long, colorful eyebrows and dark colored lashes. Underneath the eye bold words yelled 'Pins and Needles Tattoo Parlor: More Blood, Less Money'.

Not Ryou's idea of a catchy slogan.

He sighed and looked down at his watch. Ryou knew it shouldn't have taken that long to hurry up a few cuts on the arm. His mind vaguely wondered what drove the couple to get tattoos of the other's names on their arms. It seemed so...cliché. Besides, what if they broke up? Then they would be branded by each other forever.

Malik and Marik believed in sure-things way too much.

Or maybe Ryou was just careful…?

Ryou had never really believed in things such as "Love At First Sight" or anything that people rely on to make get their hopes up. Ryou believed that everything came to and end at some point in time. He never really understood why people would get something so permanent that signifies such fragile loyalty…

Ryou didn't notice the papers flying at him until they collided with his face. They hit him so fast Ryou reflexes almost instantly spasmed into defense mode. He pooled the papers from his face and rubbed his forehead which he was sure had a pretty mark.

"Sorry about that."

Ryou looked up at the deep, smooth voice to see Seto Kaiba standing in front of him. He was wearing a dark gray trench coat and a navy scarf around his neck. One hand was jabbed into his trench pocket, the other healed onto a slightly open briefcase. His face was stony and his eyes were fixed without emotion.

"O-Oh," Ryou stuttered, stacking the papers in his hand neatly before handing them to the CEO. Kai took them and sat on the bench next to Ryou and slipped them into his case. Ryou looked at him, head slightly to the side.

'Hmm,' Ryou thought, musingly looking at him, 'he doesn't even look cold.' Ryou knew that the trench coat couldn't have been enough to keep him warm. Natural body heat, perhaps?

The CEO looked at Ryou, and caught the boy staring at him. Ryou looked away, staring at the snow beneath his feet. Heat ran to his cheeks visibly, but was whisked away by the cold wind that blew.

"Heh…" Ryou muttered an apology.

Seto Kaiba just looked at him, a mixed emotion on his face, "It's...OK…"

"WOOOHHOOO! THE DEED IS DONE!"

Ryou and Kaiba looked over theirs shoulders to see Marik running out of the parlor with a wide, crazy grin on his face, followed by a woozy looking Malik who was being escorted by a none-too-happy looking Bakura.

"Hey Ryou," Marik ran over to him and rolled up his sleeve to reveal a bandage, "wanna see it?"

Ryou shook his head, "That's all right; I don't think you should be showing it off until it heals…Malik-kun, are you OK?"

"So…much…blood…taken away…"Malik muttered under his breath as he collapsed on Bakura, nuzzling the robber's chest making Bakura uncomfortable. Marik ran to Bakura and snatched Malik away, and held him to his chest, glaring jealously at him. The sudden change in direction made the youngest of the three groan and nuzzle Marik's chest this time, hands finding their was around his yami's neck.

Bakura didn't seem to care about having Malik jerked away. He looked at Kaiba and Ryou sitting together. Together. Too close for Bakura's liking. He glared at the CEO, who just gave him and icy 'I-Don't-Know-Why-I-Should-Care-If-You-Hate-Me' stare.

Marik, who had been patting Malik's head lovingly, looked at the pair and snickered, "Looks like Ryou and the little CEO are getting hooked-up."

From his chest, Malik cooed, "The beauty and the beast…"

"I thought that was Bakura and Ryou's cliché?"

"Was, but now Bakura doesn't stand a chance against Kaiba…"

"What makes you think I even want my stupid little hikari?" Bakura retorted, looking at the couple with venom practically shooting out of his eyes.

Malik giggled, still being petted gently by Marik, "The fact that you were just glaring at Kaiba a minute ago."

Kaiba coughed, catching everyone's attention, "If you don't mind, I have to go."

When Kaiba tried to get up, Ryou grabbed the sleeve of his coat and tugged it gently, bringing the CEO to look at the boy questiongly.

Ryou blushed, "Well, we were just going to my house for coffee, if you aren't to busy you could come and have some…?"

Kaiba's lips twitched a fraction, almost into a smile, "I can't, I really have to-"

"Marik interrupted, "Oh come on, Moneybags, live a little. Besides, I'm sure Ryou wants you around."

Bakura snorted and turned away, looking at the eye on the shop door. Malik poked Bakura in the arm teasingly and Bakura just grunted in response, turning his attention back to his hikari and the soon to be melted to death by glare CEO.

"No, I really should be…"Kaiba trailed off, but this time his reply was half-hearted.

"Well, OK. Maybe some other time then? Well, goodbye…and…happy almost Valentine's Day." Ryou said, heat coloring his cheeks as he realized how stupid that sounded.

The CEO looked at him amused, then nodded to everyone else (and slightly glared at Bakura who had been muttering a few un-kind words about him under his breath) before turning and swiftly taking his leave.

"I think he likes you, Ry-Ry." Marik cooed at him, finding the strength to stand up on his own. Ryou blushed and shook his head wildly.

"Don't be silly, Mal-kins, he was being good company."

"What's a guy like Kaiba doing at a tattoo parlor, anyway?" Bakura muttered but everyone heard.

"Maybe he's into body art?" Malik suggested.

"Or maybe he saw Ryou's beauty and allowed himself to be whisked away by love and here into Ryou's arms?" Marik smirked and chuckled at Ryou's heated glare.

"F.Y.I, he lost so papers over and I gave them back to him."

"What made him stay then?" Bakura sneered,"Not like I care what the little priest does in his spare time."

Ryou looked at Bakura, at the sweater he was wearing, and then looked at the crimson hues of Bakura's eyes, "That's when you all came, and he got caught up in your conversation, I guess he just stayed to be polite."

"Yeah, that and he so wants you. I saw the way he looked at you Ryou; I think you have melted his frozen heart…"

"Shut up, Marik, it's not like that."

"The why'd you invite him over?" Bakura snapped, his face flushing white with bottled up rage. Ryou blinked at his yami and shrugged nonchalantly.

"To be polite. He doesn't have many friends, y'know, and Valentine's Day is the day to love each other, I thought I'd be generous by giving-"

"Why don't you wait to Christmas when giving love and being generous actually go to brownie points for Heaven?" Bakura hissed.

Ryou ignored his yami and stood up, brushing snow off his lap and shoulders," Let's go now, shall we? I'm freezing my butt of."

"Don't avoid the situation, Ryou." Bakura growled.

"I'm not, Bakura."

"Stop arguing you two! It's almost V-day and you're at your silly spats again. Shame upon you then." Marik scolded.

Ryou looked timid, "Err, sorry Marik-san. Well, can we just go home now? I really am freezing my butt off."

Jou POV

He stared at the piece of paper in his hands blankly. He couldn't believe he actually did it. He couldn't believe he just confessed his love for Kaiba Seto in a stupid love letter. Girls did silly shit like that, not guys. But then again, guys didn't love other guys.

The first thought in his mind as he looked at the front-and-back long letter was that he hadn't signed his name. Actually, he hadn't put his name in it at all. This made his stomach churn and he sighed. He would have to re-write it, make it better. Besides, while he was scanning it, he noted some spelling errors, and a few things he wasn't even sure could be called Japanese.

"Meh, why am I even trying?" He said to himself then lay down on his bed and crushed the paper with his hands and threw it in the small waste basket at the end of his room. He missed, but didn't care; he had bigger things on his mind.

Brrrrriiiiiiiiinnnnng!

Jou sighed at the annoying sound of his phone ringing and decided to just let ring. He hadn't had the strength since he stayed up all night righting that stupid letter that was nothing but a bunch of bull-patties, it really pissed him off too, to know that you can work so hard on something and never get anything out of it.

The phone stopped ringing and the voice recorder spoke until a voice came in from the line.

"Um, Jou? We're having a little get-together over at Ryou's for some hot chocolate and movies. If you get this, please come. OK?"

Meh, it couldn't hurt, right? He needed to get his mind off the stupid letter anyway.

So, Jou got up, pulled on his jacket and left.

'Happy almost fuckin' Valentine's day.' He thought bitterly.

Blitz: Woho! This short…but the next chappie will be long! THIS I SWEAR!

You're as lonely as you like yourself to be - Unknown