"Who does that little brat think she is?!"
"She's shameless!"
"And to think, she refused to join our Ryou fan-club because she'd rather 'talk to him alone!'"
"The nerve of that first year!"
Bakura never thought he'd agree with those idiotic fan-club members, but he more than shared these sentiments. He snarled to himself as he stalked down the loud halls of Domino High. His eyes grew narrow as his mind drifted to that witless witch.
'Tch... I should rip that damn ribbon off her head and strangle her with it.'
He was, of course, thinking of Miho Nosaka. The violet-haired hussy who was constantly pestering Ryou Bakura.
And who, exactly, was Ryou Bakura? Well, to Bakura Touzokou, he was quite possibly the only person on Earth he would willingly be trapped on a deserted island with.
Although quite shy, Ryou Bakura was still fairly popular at Domino High School. His kind, gentle nature and eagerness to help others was admirable. It didn't hurt that he was also incredibly handsome, with gorgeous, fern-green eyes and soft, silken-white hair.
But it wasn't looks or demeanor that first attracted Bakura Touzokou to the charming teen.
Nope- it was a pencil.
More specifically, it was the pencil he'd thrown at Ryou. It was a quiet day in Physics 204, and he'd decided to raise some ruckus by picking on the resident class nerd. The entire room was shocked when the bored punk had suddenly tossed the yellow, wooden missile at the polite genius. But even though he'd hit the other student square in the middle of his forehead, the boy only smiled, picked up the pencil, and returned it was a soft-spoken: "Excuse me, but I think you dropped this."
For the first time in his life, Bakura Touzokou was speechless. He'd never imagined that someone would react that way to his teasing- most of his peers would've snapped the pencil in half, or thrown it back, or just kept it. H*ll, even their Geometry teacher, Mr. Iwamoto, had once threatened to shove a similarly-launched pencil up someplace very specific on Bakura's person.
For the rest of the school day, he was baffled. But as the semester went on, Bakura came to realize that Ryou was an incredibly unique individual. He was modest, but would still stand up for himself and his friends. He had great taste in video and table-top games. And, Bakura was shocked to learn, Ryou was ahugefan of gory horror films and alternative-style bands- just like Bakura himself.
Over time, 'observing' slowly turned into 'enamoring.' It wasn't long before Domino High's palest 'bad-boy' was daydreaming about the other white-haired sophomore. He'd even envisioned a few scenarios for asking the other student out.
However, there was one major hitch in all of those plans- no one knew if Ryou was gay. It was a frustrating conundrum for Bakura- he didn't want to risk rejection over such an avoidable detail. But the boy did keep very mum about his romantic preferences.
It seemed like he was gay, as several of his friends were openly dating each other. And he did keep rejecting all of the fan-girls who asked him out. But then, Bakura reasoned, they always did make a nuisance of themselves. Constantly preening and fawning like a gaggle of witless boot-lickers...
Even if Bakura himself was straight, he doubted he'd be interested in that.
So he'd followed Ryou around whenever he could, trying to get some hint of his romantic inclinations.
But in the meantime, a new girl- some clueless transfer student- had started annoying Ryou. Almost non-stop. Every chance she got, she would ask him out with shameless persistence. The boy had politely rebuffed all of her advances, but she seemed determined to badger him until he caved in.
Which naturally pissed Bakura off to no end- all the other tarts had given up by the third rejection!
But there wasn't much he could do except quietly seethe. After all, he couldn't show any affection towards Ryou- not until he knew that he was gay (or at least bi). He'd never live it down if word got out that he, the resident bad-*ss punk, had fallen for a straight guy.
Ah, there he was- adorned, as always, with that shy-but-sweet smile. Bakura stared as his personal idol made his way down the crowded hall. The other teen watched from behind a row of lockers, making sure that he was as out-of-sight as possible.
"Oh, Ryou~kun!"
'Tch. Speak of the succubus.' Bakura's eyes narrowed as the purple-headed floozy come into view. She was flouncing down the hall with what appeared to be a tray of home-made foodstuffs.
There was a thick layer of aluminum foil covering the entire dish, and she held onto it with a huge grin.
"Ryou~kun! I brought you my famous home-made brownies!"
"Oh!" Ryou's face twisted slightly, and he held out his hands in a polite refusal. "Um, that's very kind of you, Miho-chan; but I'm really trying to cut back on my sugar..."
Miho stuck out her lower lip (in what was no doubt meant to be a tearful pout, but looked more like a fish caught on a hook) and began lifting the edges of the foil corners. "But, they're delicious! Just smell them!"
The boy hesitantly obliged, and lowered his face towards the treats.
Bakura scowled in disgust- how dare that brat take advantage of Ryou's kind nature?!
"Mmm- they do smell scrumptious!" Even Ryou seemed surprised by the delicious-smelling squares. "What did you use to make them?"
Miho giggled playfully (Bakura suppressed a gag) and began listing off the ingredients. "Oh, nothing special- I just used chocolate shavings, butter, flour, sugar... oh, and lots of peanut butter chips!"
'Tch, I'm surprised she can even use an oven with- wait- what was that last one?!'
Bakura's eyes widened in horror- Ryou was badly allergic to peanuts!
There was barely an instant of realization, then Ryou suddenly started making horrible noises. His face started growing red, and he began gasping for air.
"RYOU!" Bakura lost all pretense and ran towards the choking teen. "Ryou! Can you breathe?!"
The indisposed boy shook his head, his eyes wide with terror. He began grasping at his neck, frantically.
His throat was closing.
"He's allergic! He needs a shot- where's his backpack?!" Bakura bellowed at the startled girl, but she just stared in stupefaction.
"Sh*t!" But luckily, Ryou's backpack was leaning against a locker not far from the trio. Bakura noticed it, grabbed it, and began tearing apart the pockets. "Pen- pen- where the hell is the- ah!" His long fingers grasped around a clear tube with a specialized syringe inside. The pale deviant quickly ran over to the ailing student.
"Alright Ryou, where do I inject this?!"
But the boy was struggling to breathe, and could hardly voice anything. Bakura went with his instincts and pierced Ryou's upper arm with the medical needle.
There was a few moments of horrible silence, and then Ryou went limp. Time seemed to fall still for several moments. Bakura waited anxiously, watching the other male's face. Slowly, Ryou's face stopped swelling, and he seemed to be breathing a little easier.
Bakura was still sweating bullets, when he noticed the tray of harmful brownies lying on the floor a few feet away from them. The panicked girl was still standing like a witless dolt, not helping in the slightest.
Bakura hissed at the clueless ditz. "Get that crap away from him!"
Miho looked ready to protest, when she saw just how livid the scarlet-eyed sophomore looked. She hastily grabbed the tray and ran down the hall.
Bakura looked downwards and breathed a sigh of relief- the swelling was very gradually going down. Ryou's eyes were less foggy, and his skin was shifting back to its normal, peachy tint. He raised his head and tried to speak. He was still breathing heavily, and he looked rather dazed.
"Ah- ah- Ba-kura-san?"
"Easy, don't try to talk. Just stay down."
"O-oh. Ok." The exhausted teen followed the order without protest. "Thank- you." His eyes closed as his breathing steadied. Bakura stayed with his ill classmate until the school's head nurse came running up to them.
Apparently the purple-headed bimbo had done something right, and had summoned the resident health professional. The nurse thanked the chivalrous student before sending him on his way. Bakura gave one last glance backwards- Ryou was still quiet, but the nurse didn't seem overly-concerned. Still, he felt anxious and distracted the rest of the day (not that he ever paid much attention in class, anyway).
Thankfully, there was always some news to be found in the main hallway at the end of the day. Bakura was relieved to hear through the student-grapevine that Ryou had recovered, but had gone to the local hospital 'just to be safe.'
"He should be back tomorrow." One of the other sophomores anticipated. "It was lucky that he had one of those auto-injection pens."
Another gossiper chimed in. "My cousin always carries one, but she's never had to use it."
"Thank goodness!"
His fears lessened, the accidental hero headed home, his mind still drifting towards his recovering classmate. 'Ryou...'
The next day, Bakura was disappointed when he didn't see his crush going through his locker as usual. The smaller white-haired student was always on time, which meant he must not be in that day. 'Guess he had to stay in the hospital longer...'
The disheartened teen turned around, only to jump when he nearly crashed into the very boy he'd been searching for.
"Gah! Ryou?! Are you alright?"
He realized what a foolish question this was, but his classmate seemed to take it as a polite question.
"Oh, yes- they released me last night, with no problems...' Bakura felt confused- if Ryou was entirely healthy, why was he acting so odd? His face was oddly tinged with pink, and he kept shifting his gaze towards the floor.
"Erm... B-Bakura-san?"
The taller youth blinked at the formal title. "Yes?"
"Um, thank you for saving my life, yesterday." Ryou gave a formal bow, and held out a small red envelope.
"Huh?" The confused punk carefully took the red offering. "Tch- you didn't have to get me anything. It was just a coincidence, after all." He slid open the top flap, revealing a shiny, plastic rectangle.
His eyes grew big when he saw the amount on the gift card inside the envelope.
It was a fifty dollar card for his favorite pizza chain, 'Pizza Pete's.' "
"Damn, you really went all-out- thanks!"
The recovered teen just shrugged amiably. "It seemed the least I could do- I don't know what would've happened if you hadn't come along." His face started to grow redder as he gave one more bow. "Thank you!" He then turned to scurry off, but was stopped by two words.
"Hey, Ryou?"
The boy turned back around, his face still flushed. "Y-yes?"
"I may have a big appetite, but even I can't polish this off in one night- wanna join me sometime?"
Bakura offered a slight smirk as he pointed to the gift card.
Meanwhile, Ryou's eyes lit up, and he nodded eagerly. "I'd love to!"
The bell suddenly rang, and the two pale-haired teens both jumped. "Meet me up front after school?" Bakura quickly called out as the hallways were suddenly flooded with freshmen.
The other boy nodded before he was forced to move by the tidal wave of oncoming students. "Okay!"
That day Bakura was even less attentive than the previous school day, and he only narrowly avoided getting detention for 'slacking off' in Geometry. But he wasn't going to let anything stand in the way of his after-school rendezvous. Sure enough, the second the last bell chimed at 3:30, he nearly sprinted towards the front entrance of Domino High.
Unfortunately, he still somehow wasn't the first one to run into Ryou. 'Oh, great.' He knew his friend Marik was keen on Ryou's friend Malik (and yes, the similar names drove everyone nuts- teachers included). So of course the two blondes would just happen to be conversing with Ryou while he waited for his classmate.
Bakura nearly facepalmed when his own insufferable twit of a cousin, Yami Atemu, jointed the other three. 'Great- looks like I'm going to have to step in now, or wait for tomorrow.' The impatient teen hid his annoyance as he made his way towards the group.
"~Hail to the conquering hero~!" Marik mockingly sang as Bakura walked up to them.
"Ha ha." The already irate punk intoned flatly.
"Ryou was just telling us what happened yesterday! That was really quick thinking!" Malik added more generously.
Even his cousin couldn't resist adding his opinion. "It's very fortunate that Bakura knew how to use an Epi-pen- well, sort of."
Bakura held back the urge to flip his smug relative the bird. 'Just let it go... stay calm...'
But then Marik had to open his big mouth.
"Good thing you've been stalking Ryou for the past few weeks, eh? I mean, not a lot of people knew he had one of those pens- who knows what would've happened if you hadn't been following- URK!"
Bakura quickly elbowed his closest friend in the spleen, but it was too late to hide the rest of his intent.
"Bakura?" Ryou blinked in surprise at the attractive deviant. "Is that true?"
Yami snorted and replied, despite the death-glares from his cousin. "He's like a bad penny; you can't get rid of him."
Ryou smiled and glanced at the embarrassed hero. "Oh... well, considering how you saved my life, I'd say that makes you a very lucky penny."
Marik snickered. "So cheesy- OW!" The blonde scowled at his friend, who was currently looking away in phony nonchalance.
"Funny how you keep experiencing pain there- you may need to see a doctor for appendicitis." Bakura whispered wryly to his bronzed friend.
But apparently Ryou wasn't done talking yet. "...besides, it'd be rather hypocritical of me to find your 'stalking' offensive." Bakura turned to stare at the chagrined sophomore. His light face reached an impressive tomato-red as he timidly admitted. "After all... how did you think I knew what restaurant gift card to buy?"
"Eh?" The insinuation suddenly dawned on Bakura, and he stared in shock. "Wait- you-you've been following me?!"
The bookish student nodded shyly. "For a while, now."
Everyone in the group seemed surprised by this admission, but none moreso than Bakura himself. "But- why didn't I see you?"
The other student only gave a vaguely sly grin. "Because unlike my fan-club... I know the meaning of 'subtlety'."
~ This was partly based on a true story, in which I bought caramel apples with peanut toppings for all my co-workers one Halloween, only to be stopped by my frantic supervisor- turns out our boss was deathly allergic to peanuts! I learned a valuable lesson about food allergies that day- when in doubt, ask first! ~