Hot sun beat down, nearly relentless if it weren't for the soft breeze and the cloud dappled sky, moving swiftly over tall buildings. Ryou brushed back his long white hair as it was mussed about by the wind, smiling as he grasped the warm metal railing of his apartment balcony. If only summer wasn't ending today, he might not feel so teased by the genuinely nice weather. Shaking his head, he turned to look inside his shared abode, sliding door open to keep the house cool-ish. There was Bakura, splayed out on the couch, book in hand.

"Bakura, is that all you're going to do today?" He asked, sauntering over, brow quirked. His cousin grunted as way of response, lifting the book closer to his face. Ryou snorted and snatched the book away from him, which had the pale teen scrambling to sit up, eyes narrowed and dangerous. He stepped away, holding the book warily as Bakura glared.

"What do you bloody want?"

"Nothing. I was just hoping you'd actually do something today. Aside from illicit activities." Ryou added quickly, placing the book into Bakura's expecting hand.

"I'd rather not get sunburnt, thank you." He considered this, noting that Bakura did get burned far easier than he, somehow.

"You go and… be weird with your friends." He waved a dismissive hand, closing his eyes and settling on the couch again. Ryou kicked his ankles with a huff, and with a soft sigh, drifted away from his doppelganger and into their shared room. He ran his hand over the old bed they had found alongside his older brother on the side of the road. Lugging it back had been hell and required a lot of refurbishing, but it stood strong several years later. Besides, it was free. Bakura's side of the room was cleaner, but not by much. Just by a haphazardly made bed and some stolen jewelry, and papers from who knows what, while Ryou had several RPG figurines and paint and carving knives strewn about his side. He reached for his charging phone, lips pursing. Joey was no doubt busy, out with Tristan most likely. Tea wouldn't be back from her trip to America until later in the evening, so that left Yugi. With a pause, he started texting. It wasn't long after that that Ryou found himself hurrying over to the Kame Game shop, leaving Bakura to his own devices. On warm days he could at least trust him not to destroy the place.

Fifteen minutes later, he had arrived and gotten settled behind the counter, offering a brief smile at a customer. Yugi waved before he went back to chatting with the woman. The five foot nothing teen smiled and talked cheerfully while at the same time gently suggesting she look at this game, it might interest you, please. Ryou watched in awed silence, and ten minutes and three more games on the receipt later, his friend was waving her out the door.

"Yugi, when did you become a car salesman?"

Yugi tossed back his head and laughed, amethyst eyes bright as he settled down. "What are you talking about?"

"You're evil."

The thin teen grinned. "Thank you."

Idly, Ryou noticed Yugi had obtained snakebites over the summer, and that led him to believe he wasn't imagining the little glint of silver he caught inside his mouth when Yugi talked. Noticing the staring, Yugi prodded Ryou on the arm. "Don't start. Atem had a fit, and so did Jii-chan."

Loosening up, he laughed softly. "I can see that happening. Doesn't Atem have pierced ears, though?" The spiky-haired teen shrugged. "He says it's different. I think it only started bothering him because his lip got caught in one…"

"Oh. How is Atem anyways?" He interjected quickly, not wanting Yugi to mindlessly give out too much information. Leaning against the counter, Yugi looked up at the ceiling and shook his head. "I can't believe he's a senior. He's busier than ever. Which is fine!" He added quickly, head snapping back to look at the albino. "I can't ask for him to not do work all because I'm bored or lonely. Er- not lonely, that's too strong, but…" Cheeks tinging red, he shook his head, fiddling with his blond bangs with short fingers. "Never mind. He and I go on little dates when he does have time, and he's such a romantic." He started smiling at that, genuine warm happiness in his eyes. "Even though he gets flustered so easily."

Ryou nodded slowly as he listened, cracking a small smile at his friend as he went on. The class sweethearts. "Knowing Atem, he'll probably set aside plenty of time regardless." The spiky-haired boy laughed softly and nodded. "I hope. I imagine we'll be pretty busy this year too. I mean, juniors!" Ryou shrugged at that. "Everyone says that the next year will be hard, though." He pointed out. "Not saying it won't, but probably not as bad as last years' juniors said."

Yugi pursed his lips. "Dunno, Atem was pretty busy."

"Yugi, he was in two AP courses."

A pleasant bell chimed, and some younger students ran in, ranting about buying the latest game, interrupting their conversation. Yugi smiled and was back in his salesman mode, while Ryou tried not to get flustered when one of the eight graders asked if he was a girl as he reached for a pack of trading cards.


Getting to school was a terrible rush. Dragging Bakura from bed was a pain, and forcing him to eat something while getting dressed and grabbing backpacks and yelling and complaining all the while before running out the door. Ryou was panting softly, legs wobbling by the time they reached the doors of Domino High, while Bakura shook off any exhaust and disappeared into the crowds of students. Off to steal binders and notebooks from unlucky teens, no doubt. Shaking his head, Ryou adjusted his satchel and weaved through the student body of Domino, straining to spot a familiar face. He hardly heard the heavy footsteps behind him, closer and closer until-

"Ryou! How's it goin'?!"

"Ack…! Joey, I can't breathe!"

A rough noogie and a loud laugh, alongside a loosening of a grip was all he got in reply. Ryou made several very indignant noises, kicking and grabbing at his arms while he managed to choke out a soft chuckle.

"Joey! You're going to choke him!"

Oh sweet gods above, Ryou was never so glad to see Tea in his entire life. Joey groaned, but released the albino complaining at the brunette as she jogged over. He had to laugh gently as the two engaged in playful banter, following them through the school.

Yugi, Atem and Tristan joined them, and the group quickly caught up on going-ons. Atem still looked miffed about the snakebites, while Tea sort of laughed about it.

"I'll admit, I kind of urged him to get them…"

Atem gave her a look of aghast annoyance while Ryou noted his lip was indeed torn.

The bell chimed loudly and they grabbed their things, waving bye for the time being, hustling off to class. Biology, Algebra, History, among a few other assorted electives. He could sense Yugi had had a point- homework would likely be piling up. Entering the class, he noticed a few things quickly. One, there were two new students. And two, they were very clearly foreign and one was very cute.

Whoops.

His cheeks tinged red, settling at his desk. Well, cute in an aesthetic sense- to Ryou anyways. Bronzed and muscular, angled jaw, and messy blond hair, plus those strange murky violet eyes he had glimpsed. Very pretty. Although both of them were similar (perhaps related in some way), one was much thinner, sitting ramrod straight in the desk, gazing about through unimpressed lilac eyes. His voice was lilted with a slight accent that the girls in the class found very attractive. The other, the muscular one, was slouched in the desk, legs shoved within the metal basket of the desk in front of his, although he seemed equally bored to be there. He screamed nothing but trouble.

Then again, Ryou was a Touzuko. They seemed to have a knack for falling into strange things, but this Touzuko was trying very hard to break that chain. It certainly wasn't helping that the slouched foreigner had noticed his continued staring and prodded the one beside him, muttering something with a quirked brow as he pointed. The albino made a noise and quickly turned around while the teacher demanded attention, calling the girls away from the desk of the two.

"As you've noticed, yes, we have two new students. Marik and Mariku Ishtar, having come from Egypt, are here with family and will perhaps be staying for the rest of the year."

Related, then. Ryou swallowed, risking a hesitant glance over his shoulder at the two again. But which one was which, he wondered idly, before he let out a gentle yelp as the muscular Ishtar caught his gaze again and grinned at him with all the grace and loveliness of a meat-starved coyote. He turned around swiftly, his ears hot and his eyes wide. Of course he had to be awkward.

He looked forward to the class being over.

The bell chimed and students shot up, grabbing bags and books to scurry off to next class. Ryou held back, swallowing before he approached the Ishtars with a smile.

"Hello! I'm Ryou Touzuko and-"

"You were staring a whole lot at me."

Ryou blinked his pale mahogany eyes, looking up at the one who had spoken. The handsome one.

"That was quite rude of me," Ryou said quickly, cheeks tinging red, "I'm sorry."

The blond grinned that awful grin again. "I'm Mariku. The twig is Marik." He said, bending to grab his bags while Marik rolled his eyes, weaving past Ryou. "Nice to meet you. Come on, Mariku." He said quickly, glancing behind at the Touzuko and his brother. Ryou flushed briefly, dipping his head as Mariku shuffled past.

"Um, you too! I'm willing to help if you need it. Okay?" He said quickly, following them out the door. Marik waved a hand, while Mariku said nothing, instead opting to shove his brothers' shoulder as he ran past, letting out a cackle. The albino watched as they ran and pushed and shoved all the way to class, wondering why, why he felt obligated to help out everyone.


He met his cousin as they walked out the school doors, bags heavy with syllabuses and books. Ryou gave his doppelganger an odd look- Bakura had a severe scowl upon his face, jaw set.

"Bakura?" He stepped on his black converse shoe to get his attention.

"Bloody Ishtar." Bakura growled harshly. Ryou blinked at him oddly, head cocking to the side. "Ishtar? The twins?"

"Yes, them! One of them! Marik," He hissed lowly and clenched a pale fist, blue veins popping out on the transparent skin. "He rigged a bet. I lost thirty dollars." Confusion gave way to amusement that Ryou worked hard to hide.

"Bakura," He pointed out, "half your bets are rigged." He said with a pointed look. The albino grunted.

"He rigged the damn bet. Then he says, 'Pretty boys like you shouldn't be doing such shady things.'" Bakura was seething now, face red from rage and embarrassment, sharp teeth clenched. "Can you believe that? Then he asked for my fucking number!" He threw hands up in exasperation, while the shorter albino fixed the raging Touzuko with an odd look.

"How did you respond?"

"I told him to go bugger himself and leave me alone, or I'd bash his fucking head in. He just laughed and walked off. Just walked away." His fingers twitched, as did his right eye and the corner of his right lip. "He spends the rest of the day acting more stuck up than Seto Kaiba and teasing me. I hate him so damn much. Smug bastard."

Ryou licked his lips, running fingers through his hair. "He sounds kind of like you." He said, which earned him a murderous glare from Bakura. Gulping, he adjusted his backpack and ran ahead, speeding up when he heard indication of the pursuit he had been expecting by his cousin. When he arrived at the apartment, he grabbed the keys, including the spares, dashed inside and slammed the door shut and locked it, refusing to let Bakura in until he had calmed down. Upon opening the door, Bakura stalked in and went to change into some long, black clothing before heading out again.

"Don't get caught by the pol-"

Slam.

Looks like he would be having dinner alone. And he might was well pull out a med-kit, just in case. Bakura often needed them after coming back from his occasional nightly thefts.

A/N:

Oh boy! First chapter of my first fic, Connect the Dots! This is highly AU, and is the first of three installments. After this comes Sketch it Out, and then Colouring it In, following senior year and freshman year of college, respectively. This fic, as stated, will focus on the pairing of Deathshipping and will have not so subtle side helpings of Thiefshipping, Puzzleshipping, and possibly a few others. This particular fic will remain T, and that WILL NOT change. There will be many things implied for other pairings and eventual heavy makeouts, sure, but nothing incredibly explicit will occur.

There is a plot for this, but the main gist is something I'm keeping secret for now, but it does have something to do with the art themed titles. I also may, if requested, do a side-fic or follow up fic focusing on, say, Thiefshipping or Puzzleshipping set in this particular AU. They will likely be shorter fics.

Tea is an enabler. You go little punk rocker Yugi. Yeah, that's my headcannon that Yugi gets piercings. The snakebites and tongue stud aren't the end of it, trust me.