Morishipping- Hiroto Honda x Yami no Bakura

Hiya, me again. This is Round 10's entry for Compy's contest, and, weirdly, I decided to something light-hearted. Which is strange, because this pairing has Bakura in it, and usually I write angst with Bakura. Meh, I won't try and explain the inner workings of my mind! :) Anyway, this is Morishipping, and there are hints of Bananashipping and Prideshipping as well.

Note: Why is it when I'm writing light hearted stuff, angst always manages to creep in somehow?

Hope you all like it! As always, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.

(*) I don't own the 'Listen with Mother' catchphrase either. I actually wrote that and then realised that it was the catchphrase of a 70's radio show! So I decided to leave it in.

Enjoy the randomness!

Bakura kissed him (well, it was more like crushing his lips against his while his hands fisted in Honda's hair) briefly, before whipping around and punching Malik full in the face. Before I knew it, all of my friends were crowding around the two teenagers who were rolling around in the street, pulling each other's hair, biting and scratching.

Okay, maybe now would be a good time to pause the film and try to work out what is going on.

In the freeze frame you can see Yuugi and Anzu yelling at them, trying to get them to stop, whereas Jou and Otogi look as though they're rather enjoying the fight, and are betting on who will win. Atemu and Marik look as though they're having the time of their lives. And then there is Honda, standing in total confusion (which is very unusual for him might I add) and me, with a weary expression, shaking my head in despair as I watch my yami and my best friend trying to kill each other.

Well, there's the snapshot. Paints a happy picture, doesn't it. You're probably wondering what the hell is going on- why are Bakura and Malik trying to murder each other, why are they resorting to a street brawl to do this instead of thinking up some incredibly evil plan as they normally would (you know, usually involving shadow magic or sharp objects) and why on earth did Bakura kiss Honda?

Well, in answer to that I think we need to rewind. All the way back to the beginning of the craziest love story I've ever heard.

Thing is, I'm not entirely sure when it all started. But my best guess would be that rainy afternoon, two months ago.

Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin. (*)

Bakura was bored. He was sitting in the Ishtar's garage on the bonnet of Rishid's car, swinging his legs off the edge whilst watching Malik's legs poking out from underneath his motorbike.

"Malik, come on, I'm really bored!" he grumbled. "Can't you play with that later?"

Malik slid out from underneath his bike, covered in oil and with a scratch down one side of his cheek, glaring at Bakura.

"I'm not 'playing'!" he said, indignantly. "I need to fix her. That crash could cause permanent damage to the engine if I don't mend the air filter- if dirt gets through the filter and gets stuck in the engine, then it could-"

Bakura waved a bored hand in the air. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm not interested in all of that bike stuff. And did you just call your motorbike 'her'?"

Malik was back under his bike by now, but Bakura would be willing to bet that he was blushing. "Yeah, so what? When you were a thief you called your horse 'she' not 'it'."

Bakura smirked, and fiddled with a spanner. "Yeah, but my horse actually had female anatomy and I don't think the same can be said for your bike…"

"Oh, be quiet and pass me the spanner."

Bakura threw the spanner casually at Malik's foot, and was pleased by the 'Ouch!' he got in response.

After a few minutes of silence, Malik's muffled voice came from under his machine. "You know, it's partly your fault. You just had to see how fast she would go around that corner didn't you."

Bakura rolled his eyes. "It's your bloody bike, and you were driving! Don't try and blame me, Ishtar."

But Malik was prevented from replying as the door to the garage swung open and Honda walked in, unbuckling a motorcycle helmet as he did so.

To say Bakura was surprised would have been an understatement; as soon as he saw the other boy he promptly fell off the car. However, Malik seemed to be completely unconcerned, and, poking his head out, grinned and waved with an oily hand.

"Hey, Honda, thanks for coming."

Honda shook his head with a smile, and brushed the rainwater out of his hair. "That's fine, Malik. Though it was a bit of a pain coming out in this weather."

Malik had retreated once more. "It's raining?" came his muffled voice.

Honda chuckled, and knelt down next to the bike. "Cats and dogs. So what's wrong exactly?"

As Malik began to explain the lengthy list of problems (which Bakura would swear was getting longer every time he heard it) Bakura sat up with a disgruntled expression, rubbing his back. When no-one paid him any attention, he decided to interrupt Malik mid-flow.

"What is he doing here?" he growled, standing up and folding his arms.

Honda flushed, but Malik merely said calmly, "He has every right to be here, Bakura. Honda happens to be one of my friends, and an expert when it comes to fixing motorbikes. Now about this loose valve…"

Bakura huffed in annoyance. "I didn't know you were hanging around with the Pharaoh's cheerleading squad, Malik."

This made Honda curl up his fists in anger, but Malik ignored him completely, so Bakura stormed out of the garage, slamming the door behind him.

Honda watched him, anger clear on his face. "Jerk," he muttered.

Malik fiddled with his tools uncomfortably. "Bakura's… Bakura. He just takes time to get used to people. And forgiveness was never one of his strong points."

Honda scowled. "I've never done anything to him. I should be the one storming out, he's the one that tried to kill me and my friends not the other way around. And as we've been nothing but nice to him, it wouldn't kill him to return the favour once in a while."

Malik shrugged sympathetically. "Sorry. I guess he really is a jerk."

Honda grinned, and the two got back to their work.

Bakura found himself (as he often seemed to these days) lounging on the sofa at the midget's game shop, watching Malik chatting and laughing through half-lidded eyes. He was waiting for Ryou to turn up from his work, but he was late, which only added to Bakura's bad mood. Marik was slouched next to him, seemingly interested in whatever the dog was saying that was so hilarious.

Eventually: "You're in a bad mood."

Bakura grunted.

"I mean, you're always in a bad mood, but today you're in an even worse mood."

"What makes you think that?" Bakura glowered at his fellow yami, who merely smirked.

"I can just tell. So what's wrong?"

Bakura leaned further into the cushions and closed his eyes completely. "Piss off, Marik."

Marik didn't say anything, but he could tell that the spirit's grin had widened considerably.

"You had a fight with hikari today, didn't you?"

Bakura's eyes snapped open and he pushed himself up on his elbows. "If he told you I crashed that blessed motorbike-" he began, angrily.

Marik shook his head. "No, Malik says you got annoyed because he has other friends than you. Jealous?"

Bakura groaned and kicked Marik in the side. "Shut up."

Marik smirked again, but changed the subject.

An hour later Ryou still hadn't turned up. Bakura was just starting to wonder if Ryou had decided to abandon him here as some sort of cruel joke, when the phone rang.

Yuugi answered it, and after a few minutes he put it down, saying: "Hey, Bakura, that was Ryou. He's stuck at work -something about extra shifts- and he says just to go home because he could be some time."

Bakura stood up in relief and turned to leave, but was interrupted by Yuugi's worried voice. "You can't go out in that, you'll catch your death!"

Bakura eyed the pouring rain through the window with disdain and shrugged. "It's just a bit of water, nothing to worry about."

But Yuugi bit his lip in worry. "Your house is on the other side of town. You can't walk all the way there. I'd give you a lift, but Grandpa's using the car."

Bakura shrugged again, starting to get irritated by all the concerned looks he was receiving. "I said, I'll be fine," he growled.

"Honda's about to go, he could give you a lift!" Jou piped up, grinning wickedly at his friend. "He'd love that, wouldn't you Honda."

Honda was glaring at Jou so fiercely it was a wonder that he didn't shrivel up on the spot, and Bakura's expression wasn't far behind.

"That's a great idea!" Yuugi smiled, pulling Honda to his feet. "You don't mind, do you Honda?"

Honda stammered something, as usual never able to refuse his friend anything, and before they knew it Yuugi had shoved them both out of the door with a quick: "Nice to see you both!"

Bakura could have sworn he heard laughter behind the closed door.

Honda seemed to have had the same idea. "Sometimes I think Yuugi's a lot less innocent than he makes himself out to be," he muttered, as he walked towards his parked bike. "This all seems to be very well-planned." He grabbed two helmets, and threw one to Bakura, peering through the haze of rain.

Bakura couldn't resist a scowl as he caught it. "And what are they planning exactly?"

Honda shot him a 'Are you stupid?' look as he started up the bike. "They know you hate me, and to be honest I'm not too keen on you either. They're trying to make us be friends. Are you coming or not?"

Bakura had hesitated, but with a glare he swung his leg over the back of the motorbike and pressed himself up against Honda.

"I don't hate you any more than the rest of them," he grumbled as Honda revved the bike.

"Well that's nice to know, I'm sure," Honda replied. "Hold on."

Reluctantly, Bakura slid his arms around the other boy's waist. As the vehicle jerked into life with a splutter and a roar, his grip tightened and Bakura was painfully aware of how close they were. Honda was taller than him, so Bakura's head came up to the base of his neck, and with such a tight grip around his waist, his face was virtually pressed against Honda's shoulder.

But Bakura wasn't the only one who was uncomfortable. Wisps of Bakura's hair tickled Honda's neck, and he could have sworn that the arms clasped around his waist were preventing him from breathing. Even though rain was pounding on his helmet and trickling down the back of his neck, freezing his fingers and soaking his clothes, he still felt uncomfortably warm.

They didn't speak for the rest of the journey, and it seemed like both years and seconds by the time they were outside Bakura's door.

He jumped off, and fiddled with the helmet with numb fingers.

"Dammit," Bakura said, angrily, as the buckle slipped away from his shaking hands.

Honda stood up reluctantly. "Here, let me," he snapped the buckle open and tugged the helmet off Bakura's head. In doing so his fingers brushed against Bakura's jaw, and the white haired boy forced himself not to jerk back in shock. The touch had burned, but not in an unpleasant way.

"Thank you," he muttered.

Honda smiled slightly in surprise. "You're welcome," he replied, before getting back on his bike and kicking it to life.

Bakura watched him drive off into the rain with a twisting feeling in his stomach that felt entirely too familiar for his liking.

"Don't you even think about it, Bakura," he whispered to himself, standing in the street staring into space whilst rain dripped from his hair and began to form a puddle around his feet. "Don't you dare."

This could be really, really bad.

"Ryou, I think Honda is stalking me," Bakura said as he entered the kitchen a few weeks later.

Ryou didn't even blink, just put down his book and said calmly, "Really, Bakura," in a tone that suggested he was talking to a very small child.

Bakura scowled and sank into a chair at the kitchen table. "I'm serious, I see him everywhere I go! At school- he's there, at the midget's- he's there, at Malik's- oh yes, he's there!"

Ryou rubbed his temples wearily. "Bakura, Honda isn't stalking you. Just because you happen to go to similar places and have similar friends doesn't mean he's a stalker. I mean, that's like saying I stalk you because you see me every day."

Bakura snorted and reached for the cereal. "But that's stupid- we live together."
Ryou went back to his book, muttering, "Yeah, that's what's stupid."

Bakura glared at his hikari. "Okay, maybe he's not stalking me. But I don't see why he couldn't stay with the Pharaoh's gaggle of friends instead of spending so much time with Malik."

"Bakura, Malik isn't so much of a psychopath anymore. And Honda is a nice guy. It's not surprising that they've become such good friends." Ryou shot him a knowing look. "But that's why you're so annoyed. You're jealous."

Bakura gaped. "No I am not!"

"Yes you are," Ryou smirked in a very un-Ryou-like manner. "You're jealous."

Bakura narrowed his eyes. "You shut your mouth now, hikari, or I'll shut it for you."

Unperturbed by Bakura's threats (he received them pretty much every day) Ryou went back to his book. "You're jealous. The question is: of who?"

Bakura opened his mouth, closed it again, and then decided that this last statement was so ridiculous that he wouldn't bother answering it. He ignored the nagging voice at the back of his mind that said Ryou knew him a little too well for his own good.

Bakura kicked moodily at a pile of wet leaves as he wandered through the park. "Stupid leaves," he muttered. "Stupid weather in this stupid country."

Marik looked at him mildly. "What's wrong with you? I thought you liked Japan."

"I swear it rains all the time!" Bakura complained. "It's completely different to what it was like in Egypt."

Marik raised an eyebrow. "Now you're whining about the weather? What the hell's got into you? You're starting to sound like some bad-tempered teenager."

Marik ducked as Bakura swung his fist furiously at his head.

"Temper, temper," Marik teased, as Bakura swore.

Bakura stuffed his hands in the pockets of his jeans and slumped down at the base of a tree. Marik eyed him for a second, clearly wondering if Bakura was planning on trying to hit him again any time soon, but then sat down next to the white-haired yami.

"So? What's bothering you?" he said, in a slightly bored tone.

Bakura shrugged and fiddled with his shoelace. "Nothing."

Marik stood up abruptly. "Well then, why are you moping around? Come on, let's go and blow up something that belongs to the Pharaoh." He held out a hand for his friend.

Bakura grinned, and pulled himself up with Marik's offered hand. "I'm up for that."

Just as they started walking out of the park, they heard Malik's laughter from across the grass. Bakura turned to see Malik, Ryou and Honda sitting on a bench underneath another tree. Yuugi, Atemu, Jou and Anzu were involved in some sort of Frisbee tournament, but those three were just sitting and talking.

Bakura saw Malik reach over and touch Honda's hand- clearly passing something to him - but it seemed to Bakura that his fingers lingered a split second too long on the boy's skin. Bakura stiffened un-intentionally, and Marik watched the pair in the distance with an amused look.

"Malik's confused," he said, casually. "He doesn't understand. Well, why would he? He spend his childhood underground, he doesn't really get how relationships work."

Marik looked at Bakura intently. "And you… You're three thousand years old, and you're just as confused as he is, you messed up thief."

Bakura tore his gaze away from the laughing pair to glare at Marik. "What's that supposed to mean?"

But Marik merely chuckled and continued to walk. "Poor Honda's got his work cut out. Two screw-ups falling for him? I don't envy him, that's for certain."

Bakura growled and grabbed Marik's shoulder, but the other yami didn't flinch. "Now, you listen to me, tomb keeper," he said, evenly. "Never say anything like that again if you cherish the use of your limbs. Got it?"

Marik laughed. "Please, Bakura. Don't threaten me. No, I think it's sweet how you're falling for him. Very romantic."

Bakura had to restrain himself from hitting the other yami. "I'm not," he hissed, tightening his grip on Marik's jacket.

Marik pulled away, rolling his eyes. "Fine. Now, can we please go and blow something up?"

Bakura turned his back on Malik and Honda, and growled, "The first intelligent thing to come out of your mouth all day."

"Bakura, will you just go and get the damn book!" Ryou had said, impatiently. "I lent it to Malik for his homework, and you would really do me a favour if you stop moping around the house and went to fetch it; I'm sure he's finished with it, so go and get it! I've got enough to do-"

Bakura grumbled as he knocked on the front door of the Ishtar's as dusk began to settle in on the street. He had left the house in the middle of Ryou's rant- Ryou was still in a bad mood because of the stunt Marik and Bakura had pulled last week involving Atemu's wardrobe and a large batch of fireworks, and he didn't particularly want to stick around for yet another lecture.

"Hello, Bakura, what can I do for you?" Ishizu answered the door. She had long ago given up on trying to keep him away from her little brother, and was usually quite friendly to him.

"I've got to collect some book that Ryou lent to Malik, he needs it back for some reason," Bakura muttered, stuffing his hands in his pockets and scowling.

Ishizu nodded, used to his grumpiness, and shouted into the house: "Malik, get down here! Bakura's at the door!"

A few seconds later, Malik had arrived. "Hey, Bakura," he said. "What's up?"

Bakura explained again, thinking that Ryou could at least have phoned ahead to say he was coming.

Malik grinned and leaned against the doorframe. "Ryou making you run errands? That's not like you."

Bakura's scowl deepened. "He's still pissed about the whole explosion thing."

Malik chuckled. "Oh, come on, that was hilarious."

Bakura felt the corners of his mouth twitch into a smile. "Yeah, it was pretty funny."

"Anyway, I don't have the book, sorry," Malik said, abruptly changing the subject. "I lent it to Honda- we were having trouble with the same essay, see."

Bakura bit back a groan. Of course. It would be Honda. Well, wasn't that just brilliant.

"I can give you his address if you want it back now," Malik continued, seemingly oblivious to Bakura's annoyance.

Bakura weighed up his options. On the one hand he had a furious hikari because there was no book, on the other he had to visit Hiroto Honda. In the end the possibility of Ryou throwing him out of the house won the day.

"Yeah, okay," he sighed. Bakura had the nasty feeling that Fate was having the time of her life right now.

Half an hour later Bakura stood outside Honda's house. It was nearly completely dark, but the moon was shining so brightly Bakura could have easily found his way without the use of street lamps. He could see a woman (his mother?) and various children moving around inside the well-lit kitchen, smiling, chatting and preparing the table for supper. Honda wasn't in there though, and Bakura really didn't feel like making small talk with his mother. Bakura wasn't well known for playing 'happy families'.

He was about to give up, when he saw a window on the next floor that had a light glowing through the curtains, and he could vaguely make out Honda's distinctive silhouette moving around through the thin material.

Bakura jumped, cat-like, over the fence and scaled a tree outside the window with ease. He crouched on a branch, and, quietly, he reached over and tapped the glass.

Honda immediately pulled apart the curtains, saw Bakura and stood there for a good ten seconds gaping in shock. Bakura rolled his eyes, and motioned for him to open the window impatiently.

Honda did this, and Bakura climbed into the bedroom ignoring the stunned boy's stutters of confusion.

"I'm here to collect some book that Ryou lent Malik who lent you," he said, in a bored tone, brushing a few leaves from his clothes.

Honda made a sort of choking sound that sounded like a mixture between laughter and shock. "And what was wrong with the front door?"

Bakura shrugged. "I like to make an entrance."

Honda raised his eyebrows, but rummaged under his bed all the same, eventually emerging with a scruffy textbook.

"This it?" he asked, handing it to Bakura.

Bakura barely spared it a glance, but snatched it from Honda's grasp. They stood in awkward silence for a few moments.

"Would you like to stay for dinner?" Honda suddenly said, unexpectedly.

Bakura was surprised. He hadn't expected this from the other boy. "What?"

Honda shrugged. "Well, it'll be interesting trying to explain to my mum how you got in here, but I'm sure she'd be happy to have you. She always makes loads of food, just in case one of my friends turns up at the last minute. Jou's here all the time."

Bakura shook his head. "No," he said. Then, grudgingly: "But thank you."

Honda nodded, and smiled. It was clear that he was slightly relieved at Bakura's answer, and a twinge of anger went through the thief as he thought how Malik would have been much more welcome.

"Well, then. Bye," Honda said, politely.

Bakura suddenly, on complete impulse, pulled the brunette towards him and pressed their lips together. One arm snaked around his waist and drew him closer, the other wrapped around his shoulders.

And just as soon as it had begun it was over. Bakura broke away and slipped out of the open window before Honda could even blink.

He raced down the darkening street, eventually slowing to a walk as he approached Ryou's house, and he tried to sort out the tangle of thoughts that were crowding his brain.

Unfortunately, the one thought that prevailed over all else was the fact that kissing Honda had felt… right. It had felt good, even.

Bakura groaned mentally at the realisation that both Marik and Ryou were going to be completely insufferable if this ever got out. He hated it when they were right.

Bakura knew that he should probably avoid Honda until kiss was far enough in the past that it wasn't embarrassing for either of them; but avoiding people really wasn't Bakura's style.

So, he acted completely normally towards him- ignoring Yuugi and his friends most of the time, sending death glares their way if they got too close, and getting into arguments with Atemu that neither of them ever won.

But Honda wasn't the sort to just pass it over, and it only took him three days to successfully corner Bakura in a deserted classroom.

"Well?" he said, staring at Bakura intently after about five minutes of silence.

"Well, what?" Bakura replied, indifferently.

"Are you going to explain? You know, why you kissed me?"

Bakura shrugged. "Just felt like it," he smirked, knowing that this would annoy Honda beyond belief. "You're quite cute."

Honda looked at him for a few seconds, and Bakura could virtually see what was running through his head like a film. He was thinking how it was typical Bakura, just taking what he wants, not thinking of anyone else along the way.

But Bakura probably should have realised that Honda wouldn't take kindly to being treated like that.

Honda stood up abruptly, eyes flashing, and hit Bakura hard in the face.

"Don't you dare do that again," he growled, furiously. He then turned on his heel and stalked out of the room, leaving Bakura sitting on the floor with a black eye, a bruised ego and a heart that was pounding uncomfortably fast.

"Wow, who gave you the black eye?" Marik said admiringly as he entered the Ryou's living room to see Bakura sitting on the sofa with Ryou rubbing salve on the darkening bruise that was spreading down the side of his face.

Bakura glared at his friend. "Ask Ryou, he thinks it's hilarious," he muttered, darkly, and folded his arms.

Ryou stood up, and Marik saw that he was struggling to control his laughter.

"Bakura kissed Honda, and told him that he just did it 'because he felt like it' so Honda whacked him in the face."

Marik burst out laughing. Bakura scowled deeply, and said, "It's not funny, so shut up!"

Marik and Ryou both stopped, although judging by their grins they still thought it was hilarious.

"You're right, it's not funny," Ryou said, sitting next to Bakura. "After all, you did just mess up your chances with Honda, pretty much forever."

"Look, would you just stop it with the idea that I like him?" Bakura said, angrily. "I don't!"

Marik and Ryou were both sending sceptical looks his way. "Yeah, right," Marik said, disbelievingly.

"But either way it doesn't matter because now he's never going to want to date you, you idiot," Ryou said, sympathetically. "You basically told him that he wasn't worth anything and that you were using him."

"I give it a week before him and Malik are going out," Marik agreed, in a rare moment of perceptiveness.

That hit home.

Marik was right- Honda would go straight to Malik, and then they'd end up going out. Which meant that Bakura would be out of the picture entirely, and that he'd lost. Malik may have been one of his best friends but he didn't like to lose to anyone.

"I'm going to talk to Malik," he said, standing up and, not waiting for a reply, grabbing a coat and walking out of the door.

Marik and Ryou eyed one another. "Why do I get the feeling he's just going to make things worse?" Ryou asked, in a resigned tone.

Marik grinned, evilly. "You're probably right, and there's no way I'm missing this!"

The pair jumped up, and set out to follow Bakura.

Bakura knocked impatiently on the Ishtar's door for the fifth time, counting off people that should be in the house right now. Okay, so Marik was with Ryou, Ishizu and Rishid would be at work, but where was Malik…

Eventually he decided to just barge in (the door being unlocked). He walked curiously down the hall, peering into various rooms as he looked for Malik.

But when he looked into the living room he immediately wished he hadn't. Yes, there was Malik, but he wasn't alone. He was sitting next to Honda.

Although 'sitting next to' was a very loose description of what they were doing.

More accurately, they were engaged in a battle of tongue hockey, pressed up against each other, arms wrapped tightly around the other's shoulders- they were so tangled up that Bakura was having difficulty telling who was who.

Coughing loudly to alert them to his presence, Bakura leaned against the doorframe trying to hide the strange emotions bubbling in his mind. None of them made any sense, except for one: anger. Bakura knew anger, he was accustomed to it. So it was easy for him to drown everything else in a wave of fury, and all of it directed to the two people in front of him.

Malik and Honda had broken apart. Malik looked acutely embarrassed; Honda was looking at Bakura with an unreadable expression.

"Bakura?" Malik said, fiddling with his hair awkwardly. "What are you doing here?"

Bakura shrugged, glowering at his friend. "Nothing. Just came over to talk to you. Ironically, it was about him." He pointed vaguely in Honda's direction.

Malik stood up. "What about him?" he asked warily. Honda was watching the exchange with a frown of confusion spreading across his face.

Bakura knew what he was about to say, he wanted to shout, he wanted to hit Malik, he wanted to break something, but the words suddenly caught in his throat.

After a long pause: "It doesn't matter," he said, dropping his gaze. "It wasn't anything important."

And he turned and left without another word, mind in complete turmoil and a voice in his head screaming at him about how stupid he was.

He met Ryou and Marik down the street only a few houses away from Malik's.

"What happened?" Ryou said, alarmed by Bakura's expression. It wasn't angry. It wasn't happy. It wasn't even sad. It was just… blank. Completely and utterly blank.

"You were right. They got together," Bakura said, calmly. He didn't say anything else, and just pushed past the two, Ryou sending pitying looks his way and Marik frowning (whether in sympathy or because he was upset Bakura hadn't started a fight with someone, Bakura was never sure).

He ignored them, and everything else on the way home. He didn't know what to think, everything was a confused mess.

It had been so much easier when he was alone. Much less painful.

"Hi."

Bakura looked up in shock to see Honda standing in the door way to the kitchen looking slightly awkward. He gestured behind him in way of explanation at Bakura's startled expression. "Ryou let me in."

Bakura nodded, and went back to his book, ignoring the other boy. He hadn't seen either of the pair since he had walked in on them two days ago, and as far as Bakura was concerned that had not been nearly long enough.

He heard Honda sigh quietly, and walk over to sit in the chair next to Bakura.

"Okay, ignore me. I just came by to see if you were alright. You know, after…" he trailed off, uncomfortably.

Bakura knew exactly what he was talking about, but there was no way in hell he was going to talk about his feelings with this boy, or some other sentimental rubbish, so he skirted around the topic.

"If you're referring to the black eye you gave me, then you're flattering yourself kid, because, believe me, I've had much worse."

Honda sighed, impatiently this time. "No, Bakura, you know that's not what I'm talking about. I mean… Well, it's just that… I mean…"

"Oh, spit it out," Bakura growled, still not looking at the other boy.

"You had this really weird look on your face when you walked in on me and Malik. I wanted to check that you hadn't… Well, that you hadn't wanted to go out with him."

This through Bakura completely off guard. "W-what?" he spluttered in amazement, finally turning to look at Honda to see the teenager gazing at him with intent eyes. Dark brown, beautiful eyes… No, stop it!

"I thought you liked Malik," he said, slowly. "You looked really shocked when you saw us. If it was anyone else I'd say they looked hurt. And you used to be really angry when I started spending so much time with him. I kind of assumed that you liked him. Don't you?"

Bakura shook his head, chuckling darkly. "He's not the reason I was so shocked when I walked in on you two."

Honda tilted his head in perplexity. "Oh?"

Bakura grabbed Honda's shoulders in a sudden swift movement and stared into his eyes. "Are you really so dense that I need to say it aloud? I like you, you stupid boy."

Honda raised his eyebrows, but couldn't quite hide the blush that was darkening his cheeks. "Insulting me at the same time as asking me out? Interesting technique, Bakura. Unfortunately, it's not one that going to work on me."

Bakura leaned in until he was very close to Honda. "Do you really think if I didn't think you were interested, I would be saying this stuff and embarrassing myself for you?" he hissed. "You kissed me back, you can't deny it. If you can tell me honestly that you don't have some sort of feeling for me, then I'll leave and you won't have to even talk to me ever again if you don't want to. And don't bother lying," here he grinned, wickedly. "I happen to be very practised at lying and I can see through them in a second."

Honda didn't say anything, just stared right back at Bakura with an unreadable expression. And then he leaned in and kissed Bakura, with a strange mix of ferocity and gentleness. Bakura's mind immediately went blank, and he kissed Honda back hungrily, his hands gripping tightly on the boy's shoulders. It lasted about a heartbeat before Honda pulled away.

"I think I'd better go," he muttered, before pushing back his chair and hurrying out of the house.

Bakura shook his head, and returned to his book.

"Did I ever tell you that I think foolish human emotions are a complete waste of time?" he asked Ryou bitterly, as the smaller boy walked into the kitchen.

"About every day, yami," Ryou said, placing a comforting hand on Bakura's shoulder. "And I always disagree with you."

Bakura snorted, and leaned into the touch. "That's because you are a foolish human."

"Well? Care to explain?" Bakura looked up to see Malik standing with his arms folded and an absolutely furious expression on his face.

"Care to explain what?" he asked, disinterestedly. He was sitting on the low stone wall that edged the deserted street outside Ryou's house, waiting for his hikari and Yuugi's crowd to finish fussing around inside and go to the arcade.

Malik scowled, and glared at Bakura. "Why Honda called me up this morning and told me that it was a bad idea for us to go out. He didn't even say why! Ringing any bells?"

Bakura felt slightly light-headed. What? Malik and Honda weren't going out? 'Interesting development', the permanently calm ex-Thief part of his mind said, but it was drowned out by the voice screaming: 'YES!' over and over.

"Really?" he managed to choke out, eventually. "What a surprise."

"Not really, Bakura," Malik said, angrily. "It's because of you, isn't it? You couldn't stand it when someone else got something you wanted, could you? You just couldn't stand losing to me."

Bakura stood up quickly so that he was nose-to-nose with Malik. "Oh, so now I'm some weak, shallow fool that actually cares about that sort of thing. Please, Malik, don't insult me," he hissed, heatedly.

"You can say it's weak, but we both know you're wrong. And don't avoid the topic- you messed with his head until he liked you better!"

Bakura smirked. "Well, maybe he always liked me better. Maybe you're the one who tried to take him from me."

He ignored the fact that Ryou and his friends had started to filter out through the front door and their shocked mutters as they saw the two boys staring each other down. He even blocked out Honda's voice clearly saying: "What's going on, you two?" in a slightly worried tone.

"I got here first, Bakura," Malik spat. "Don't you dare try and take this away from me."

"You stupid brat, do you have any idea how shallow you sound?" Bakura snarled.

"It takes some doing getting down to your level, I agree," Malik sneered.

Bakura gritted his teeth. "What?" he said, evenly.

"I'm just saying," Malik replied, mockingly. "All you've ever cared about was material possessions. Gold, treasure, all that stuff. You're pretty much the definition of shallow."

Bakura's eye twitched. "You're treading on very thin ice, my friend," he whispered dangerously, cocky smile completely gone.

"You think I'm scared of you? How can I be scared of someone who's been defeated over and over by the Pharaoh, huh? You think you're so intimidating and scary, but all you are is a lonely, heartless bastard that couldn't even avenge his own family after 3,000 years of plotting!"

Bakura heard Ryou and several others gasp in shock behind him. That had been a low shot, and Malik knew it. He even looked slightly guilty. But Bakura didn't care- he just saw red.

"Reminding me that I failed, as well as bringing up Kul Elna? Bad move, Malik," he hissed, before turning around, reaching into the crowd of people behind him and dragging Honda out by the front of his coat.

Before Honda could speak, Bakura kissed him (well, it was more like crushing his lips against his while his hands fisted in Honda's hair) briefly, before whipping around and punching Malik full in the face.

And that's where we paused the film. Malik and Bakura rolling around in the street trying to rip each other's throats out with Honda standing to the side looking completely flummoxed.

It's like a fairytale, with the two knights fighting over who gets the girl.

Except, this is a totally screwed up fairytale, in which the two knights aren't just fighting for the girl, they're fighting for who gets to be loved for the first time in their miserable lives. It's not about the girl, no matter how much they care for her. It's about not being alone anymore. And both of the knights know that.

(And of course there's the fact that Honda isn't a girl. But just go with the metaphor, okay?)

Either way, one of them ends up broken and alone. And I don't want to think about who it will be, because I care about both of them too damn much to see them get hurt.

But maybe, and this is a massive 'maybe', this crazy love story will have a happy ending too.

Let's play the film.

Ryou poked Marik and Atemu in the backs angrily and hissed: "You'd better stop this now, or someone will get hurt!"

Clearly they had both been looking forward to this outcome, but Atemu nodded grudgingly, and they both waded in to drag the pair apart.

They were both panting, with flushed faces and torn clothes. Malik had a large scratch down one side of his face, a swollen lip, various cuts all down his arms and large rips in his jeans. Bakura had another bruise on his face to go with the one Honda gave him, specks of blood showing up in his hair from where Malik had pulled it and what looked suspiciously like a set of teeth marks on his lower arm. They struggled weakly against the arms of their captors, but they were both too exhausted from their brawl to worry either Marik or Atemu.

"Let… go," Malik gasped, tugging at Marik's arm that was clamped around his waist. "I'm going… to kill him."

"Not… if I… kill you first!" Bakura returned, straining against Atemu's restraining arms.

Ryou decided it was time to intervene, and walked between them, placing a calming hand on Bakura's shoulder. "Stop being such a baby and calm down," he said, sternly. "Come on, let's go back in."

He turned to his friends, and said calmly, "Sorry, guys, I don't think we can make it this time. See you tomorrow?"

Yuugi and his friends all looked completely nonplussed, so Ryou took Bakura by the arm and led him back into the house.

Shutting the door behind him, he turned to Bakura and said, "What the hell were you thinking? I thought you were intelligent! Where's the old Bakura gone? You would never do something like this before- you were violent, yeah, but not street-brawl-violent! What happened?"

Bakura avoided Ryou's eyes, and ran a hand over the fading bruise Honda had given him the other day thoughtfully. "You should know better than anyone that people change, hikari," he said, in a low voice.

Ryou's voice cracked as he replied. "But I thought you were going to change for the better. That's why I gave you a second chance."

Bakura gave him a piercing look. "Haven't I changed for the better? You always told me to try and care for someone. Isn't this exactly what you wanted for me?"

Ryou shook his head sadly. "This isn't what I wanted, Bakura. You know that."

There was silence for a long moment.

"So what would a foolish human do then?" Bakura eventually asked, smiling grimly.

Ryou grinned in spite of himself. "I'm thinking bandaging those scratches would be a good place to start."

Bakura was sitting on the sofa, staring into space, as the evening light cast shadows across the room, when the doorbell rang.

"Ryou?" he yelled upstairs, not in the mood to get up. There was no reply. The doorbell rang again, more insistently this time.

"Ryou, get the damn door!" Bakura shouted.

When there was still silence from upstairs, Bakura assumed he must have gone out, and got up, grumbling, to open the door.

He didn't expect to see Honda standing on the step looking very embarrassed and quite cold.

"Hi, Bakura," he said, shivering as the cold wind blew down the street. "You mind if I come in? It's freezing out here."

Bakura nodded, numbly, and led Honda through to the living room, where he sat down on the sofa.

There was a long pause, while Bakura determinedly avoided Honda's eye, and Honda rubbed his hands together to try and get some warmth back into them.

Bakura honestly did not know what to think, and considering he hadn't been speechless in over 3,000 years, this wasn't something he was used to dealing with. Honda was here? But, why? This didn't make any sense- Bakura officially decided that being an emotionless monster had made dealing with people one hell of a lot easier. Where was Ryou when you wanted him?

"I was kind of confused," Honda said, in a low voice, without looking up from his hands. "When you started beating Malik up in the street. This whole thing has just been really messed up and confusing-" Here Bakura snorted in agreement. "- and I didn't really know what to do."

Bakura continued to stare determinedly out of the window. "So?" he asked, trying to sound like he didn't care.

Honda sighed. "I didn't want to choose between the two of you, because that would be cruel, and so I was going to just go with neither of you. But…"

Bakura finally glanced at him, in spite of himself. "But?"

"But I really, really like you. Which is stupid, but there you go," Honda laughed, dryly. "I talked to Malik this afternoon about it, and surprisingly he seemed to be okay with the idea of us getting together. I mean, he was really upset at first, but I think he wanted to get into a fight with you more than he wanted to go out with me. You know Malik, he can be a little… melodramatic."

There was a roaring sound filling Bakura's ears, and his heart was pounding so hard he could have sworn Honda could hear it. "So what does that mean?" he whispered, for once not caring about sounding casual.

A hint of red dusted Honda's cheekbones. "Well… I suppose it means I can ask you out, if you want me to."

Bakura suddenly pulled Honda in to him and kissed him violently. To his delight, Honda began to kiss him back, moving his arms to encircle Bakura's waist and tightening his grip.

Bakura smiled against Honda's lips. Maybe foolish human emotions did have their upside, after all.

"It worked, you guys," Ryou said, smugly as he entered the Ishtar living room to find Malik and Marik playing on the Wii that Mokuba had given them last Christmas.

"Really?" Marik said, raising an eyebrow as he tossed the remote aside and turned to look at Ryou. "You saw them, then? Because we didn't put all of this work in for you to see something that might be them getting together, but is actually you misunderstanding the situation."

Ryou rolled his eyes. "Marik, Bakura had his tongue down Honda's throat. I'm pretty sure that means it worked."

Malik whooped, and jumped up to hug Ryou. "We are officially the greatest matchmakers EVER!" he said, grinning widely.

"I have to say, you are a really good actor Malik," Ryou laughed. "You had everyone believing that you liked Honda! You even had me going for a while, and I was in on it!"

Malik smirked and posed dramatically. "I clearly have talent. I deserve an Oscar for that performance."

"Yeah, yeah, but don't seem too happy when you see them together," Marik said, in a bored tone. "Pretend you're heartbroken for at least a few weeks. And it wasn't just you- me and Ryou did pretty well too. "

"Come on, Marik, you can at least give me some credit," Malik said, dabbing at his swollen lip and trying to sound hurt. "Look what I had to go through. Bakura fights like a wild cat!"

"Yeah, but it was Ryou that figured out that the only way to get Bakura to go out with Honda was to make him jealous, so it wasn't all you!"

Ryou laughed as he watched the two argue, until his mobile suddenly started to hum in his pocket. "Hello?" he said, answering it.

"Ryou, it's me."

"Oh, hi Bakura," Ryou waved at the pair to stop them talking and they both leaned in to listen, grinning. "What's wrong?"

"Well, Honda and I got together."

"That's great!" Ryou said, biting his lip to stop himself from laughing. "Um… How?"

"Actually, I was going to ask you that. You see, this all seems to have worked out very well. You wouldn't have anything to do with it now, would you?" Bakura's voice came out of the phone with quiet menace.

"Erm, no," Ryou stuttered, whilst Malik fell back on the sofa cushions giggling.

"Because if you did, I wouldn't be happy. I don't like being made fun of, Ryou."

"I know, Bakura," Ryou replied, whacking Malik around the head for making him laugh.

"Lucky for you, I don't really care in this case, because I got what I wanted. So, I suppose you can tell those two clowns that are laughing really subtly in the background that you did a good job, but if you ever interfere with my love life again, I will strangle you all."

Ryou heard Bakura click the phone down, and burst into laughter.

"So much for him not figuring it out," Marik grinned.

Malik wiped his eyes. "This was fun- anyone else you can think of that we can set up?"

The three exchanged evil smiles.

And neither Atemu nor Seto knew it at that moment, but their lives were about to get very complicated.

*cackles* Prideshipping! I seem to be able to slip it in everywhere!

Yay! I managed to write a happy ending! XD! Is it just me, or are happy endings really hard to write? I swear heartbreak and angst are ten times easier… Ah well, I succeeded in what I set out to do, especially considering my last few entries all had really angsty endings!

Bookworm