AN: Well, it's certainly been a while guys. I hope you enjoy this one.

It's a two-shot, meaning it'll be comprised of two parts/chapters, the second of which I'll upload next week.

Or rather, that's my definition of it ^ ^;

Also I'm using the dub names as always.

Anyway this fic is gonna be Tendershipping and Puzzleshipping, with a bit of Ryou/Yugi friendship in the mix too, especially in this first part.

Enjoy!

Warnings: Slash, angst, the usual.

Disclaimer: Still don't own anything.

Serendipity

Part one:

Wish you were here

Ryou sneaks out of bed at two thirty in the morning because he never really was one to sleep completely through the night.

He licks his lips and slides off of the mattress carefully and pulls a blanket off with him because the house he's staying in is old and has no heating system and he needs something to keep him warm.

He begins to saunter across the hardwood floor to the bedroom exit, all the while peeking over his shoulder to make sure that Bakura hasn't awoken from him getting out of bed.

He smiles when he sees that the taller man hasn't moved an inch and still remains lying on his back with the night light shining on his face, mouth open, drooling and snoring.

But then again, Bakura's deep sleeping habits were one of the reasons why Ryou got out of bed in the first place. (He lost his earplugs and really just can't handle Bakura's raucous snoring.)

A deep breath is taken in as a faint clap of thunder sounds outside.

Plus, Ryou's always hated thunderstorms.

Bakura wouldn't wake up and he didn't want to go bother anyone in the other rooms, so he had no one to comfort him, and he was never very good at comforting himself. The only solution was to get out of bed and take a walk.

After all, there were plenty of places to explore in the old mansion, and even though it would be kind of creepy to be wandering around alone, in the dark, with a storm outside, Ryou thinks it would be fun, too.

About a week ago, Yugi called up Joey and announced that he and Yami were taking a 'guys-only' vacation. Apparently, it had gotten really "stressful" and they needed some relaxation. So they booked a gorgeous, old Victorian manor in England to stay at for a week or two. Yugi wanted to know if the rest of the guys, (consisting of Joey, Tristan, Ryou, Bakura and Kaiba) wanted to come along too.

Of course, Joey (being Joey) immediately accepted on everyone's behalf, not consulting anyone else invited, and several hours after Yugi's phone call Ryou opened his front door to an excited, bouncing Joey on his front porch announcing that they were all going on vacation and "they needed to start packing super fast!"

Tristan was cool with it. His family had started to get on his nerves at home, and the break sounded nice.

Kaiba had always had a secret love for England, so he was inwardly fine with it, albeit showing discontentment on the outside at "having to be seen with you people."

Even Bakura announced that it sounded like an adequately amusing distraction from the mundanity of everyday life.

But, naturally, with everyone else okay with it, what was Ryou supposed to say but yes?

He accepted, albeit a bit aggravated.

He was kind of annoyed he'd have to leave home , and besides that, he was kind of a homebody in the first place, which annoyed everyone who knew him quite a bit. (So he enjoyed being alone and writing or painting in the quiet and didn't like to go out into town, clubs, or to his friends' houses at all, really. He doesn't see why everyone thinks that's so weird!)

Then, there was the fact he just wasn't feeling well.

He wasn't sick with a cold or a virus or anything like that, per say, he just didn't feel good.

He felt alone, kind of lost.

Sure, he had his friends.

But he didn't have much else.

And his friends were just that—friends. They weren't family, and even the new puppy he just got (affectionately named Daisy) couldn't really fill the void that Ryou felt in his heart.

He has a feeling his depression shows, too.

Every time he sees the guys, Yugi or Joey will stare at him for a few moments and ask something like, "Are you okay, Ryou?"

And Ryou will just smile and nod and say he's fine.

But he's not.

He just lies to make the pit in his stomach go away because he hates having his friends worry about him.

He doesn't want to be more of a burden than he already is.

And the worst part is, he doesn't know how to feel better.

He thinks maybe his sadness is from the fact it's been about fifteen years now since his mother died and he really does miss her, or that he's stuck in a creative rut and can't do anything he's really happy with, or maybe even that he can't even find a good book to read! (Never before has Ryou been without a good book to read. Even if he has to re-read a book he's already read a thousand times, he's still reading. And now, he doesn't even feel like re-reading anything.)

He's just…he's not himself.

And he doesn't really know when he'll be himself again.

Quite frankly, Ryou doesn't feel like traveling or vacationing at a time when he's feeling so low.

Of course, he never actually voices these feelings (He doesn't want to be a burden, remember?), and only shows a hesitation to say "yes". But then Joey just gave him that pout ("Joey, do you have to use that thing?") and those big, dark-chocolate brown "puppy eyes" and Ryou sighed with a muttered, "Yes, fine, I'll go upstairs and start packing now."

And it was all set.

But Ryou's feelings of frustration soon melted away because…leaving home was all worth it as soon as the four young men arrived at the mansion.

To start, because Kaiba had decided to fork out the money for transport so he didn't have to "take a commercial airplane like some peasant" they arrived in a helicopter. (To which Tristan loudly exclaimed, "Oh my God, I love helicopters! Can I be pilot?" and when Kaiba said "God, no!" Tristan made it a point to annoy the living daylights out of him the entire flight to the mansion by bouncing excitedly in his seat next to him while loudly singing and humming continuously and often crying out at random things outside his window that weren't really that exciting at all like a cloud or a bird.)

The manor was so isolated that it would be too hard to get a car to drive the boys there, and from high up above, the young men marveled at the gorgeous sights around them.

Lush, fluorescent green fields dotted with bright flowers all the colors of the rainbow jumped out at them, and here or there they spotted tiny cottages or cabins and a few tall evergreens.

It was all so beautiful Ryou really couldn't be annoyed (but there still was that sadness in his heart that wouldn't go away).

Then came the manor itself—the place they would live for the next two weeks.

Ryou, when he caught sight of the towering, elegant home, was stunned speechless.

Everything was so perfect and the house was so huge and furnished exactly like it would have been back in the 1800s or early 1900s, and the grounds were immense and immaculately taken care of.

Apparently, the manor was somewhat of a legend and had been owned by a prominent, wealthy family, and was often rented out as a resort sort of thing to those who could afford it.

Ryou feels so blessed to have been able to stay there.

Immediately, as soon as the guys walked through the front gardens (that held magnolia and roses and all sorts of gorgeous plants), they arrived at the long front porch, lugging their bags behind them and still kind of blown away. Joey broke the silence by pulling each and every one of them into a hug while exclaiming something like,

"This is freakin' awesome, isn't it?"

Inside the house, everyone went crazy with exploring and awe.

The entire three-story home (huge staircases filled Ryou's sight as soon as he walked in) was filled with beautiful, antique wood furniture, crimson, soft carpets, marble tables, lovely paintings, and probably priceless vases and other trinkets. The walls were trimmed in gold leaf or sometimes even pretty wallpaper, and engravings were all around as well.

Windows were huge, and the dining hall had a table big enough for sixty, let alone seven guys.

Yugi marveled the most at the bedrooms. They were enormous and held just as large beds with canopies and walkout balconies and "Oh my God everything is silk!" (He immediately called dibs on one of the biggest rooms to sleep in when they first arrived, by the way.)

The first thing Tristan noticed got him laughing. He came out of one room giggling, "Haha, the toilet handles are silver," but he was most struck by the kitchen. It was gigantic, and he promptly began to blabber about how many desserts he could make in here at one time. ("Like, I could make six cakes at a time and stuff my face and then make more!" To which Yugi snorted, "Yeah, and you'd gain fifty-six pounds, too!")

And Ryou?

Ryou was wandering alone upstairs after he'd chosen his room (Well, not really his room, because as soon as he'd put his suitcase down on the beautiful bed, Bakura walked in and flopped down on the bedcover with his bag and announced, "I'm going to stay with you." and Ryou really couldn't argue because once Bakura has made up his mind, there's no much use changing it.) when he came upon a door.

It was big, mahogany, and had an engraving of a lion with wings. Something was also written in Latin, but he couldn't read it. Slowly, he pushed it open, and his breath was taken away.

For days after their arrival, Ryou stayed cooped up in that library, reading everything he could.

He'd finally found a good book to read.

Hundreds, actually.

Most of his favorite writers were from the 1800s, so this library was a dream come true. He read essays, romances, mysteries, horror…anything.

When he first told the other guys about it excitedly at dinner the first night, Yugi smiled and announced that he had gone in the library a couple times, too, but it didn't interest him as much as it interested Ryou.

"I can barely understand half of what those guys are saying in those books, Ry. That's more of your thing."

So the library was officially "Ryou's thing". Tristan, Yami, Joey, Yugi, and Bakura all came in once or twice just to make Ryou happy by exclaiming how pretty the room was and to visit the boy as he sat on the tiled ground with his head buried in a book, not really paying attention to them as they tried to talk with him.

Ryou hasn't been more excited in the past five and a half months of his life.

That library lifted his melancholy spirits, and his suddenly cheerful demeanor has been noticed by his friends. He finds himself smiling a lot more and just being happy.

Ryou thinks that tonight, on his little walk, he'll go to the library.

There was a nice, thick book of English poetry he spotted the other day that he thinks might be nice to read.

The door squeaks open to his and Bakura's room, and Ryou peers his head out into the hallway.

A flash of lighting illuminates the long hall, and the giant windows cast light onto the corridor. Shadows appear here or there, and Ryou thinks the eerie silence (silence but for the rain on the roof and windows) is nice.

Quietly, he pulls the blanket closer to himself and steps out into the hall, closing the door lightly behind him.

He starts his way down the path he knows oh-so well to the precious room of books, trying not to be scared as the storm rages on outside.

When he's about halfway there, he suddenly stops.

There's music coming from behind that mahogany door.

It's faint.

It's piano.

It's sad.

Thunder crashes outside and Ryou frowns.

He's already had enough sadness, and for the first time in a long time, when he finally feels happy, he gets sad again.

He bounds over to the door to the library, light, quick, and quiet on his feet (Bakura described his running as "prancing" once, and was promptly whacked on the head with a thick book soon afterwards.)

Slowly, Ryou opens the door a little bit and peers one eye through the crack.

There on the ground, in the middle of a few bookcases and right in front of a writing desk, Yugi sits cross-legged, looking down sadly at a record case he holds in his hands.

Next to him lies an old phonograph.

The music Ryou recognized from the hallway is coming out of its speaker, squeaky and not clear, but still sad and haunting.

Lighting flashes and Yugi doesn't jump at all (Unlike Ryou.).

Slowly, so slowly, Ryou sneaks in. He quietly tip-toes towards the boy, and watches closely.

Yugi's face isn't all sad.

There are traces of angry and hurt and frustrated and he throws down the record case he was holding, sighs deeply, and folds his head in his hands.

Ryou stands up straight and stops in front of Yugi.

He doesn't say a word. He doesn't really know what to say because he's not really used to seeing Yugi so obviously upset.

Instead, he gently walks over and sits.

He sits lightly down next to the shorter boy and takes a soft breath in.

Yugi lifts his head from his hands and stares at Ryou. Ryou stares back.

For a minute, in the storm-illuminated room, under the towering bookcases, Ryou and Yugi stare at each other. Purple and hazel watch closely, until finally,

"What are you doing up?" Yugi asks, and his voice is tired and cracks a little.

Ryou doesn't voice the fact that he immediately knows Yugi has been crying. He just shrugs, turns away from him, and whispers, "Couldn't sleep."

Yugi turns his gaze away, too, and nods. "I don't like thunderstorms, either," he whispers.

There's silence.

CRASH.

Thunder shakes the home, and both Ryou and Yugi visibly tense.

Ryou bites his lower lip.

"Yugi, are you…okay?" he dares to ask, avoiding the other male's gaze as he does so.

Yugi is quiet for a moment, but then he whispers,

"No. I'm not."

Ryou pulls the blanket tighter around his shoulders and swallows. "Neither am I," he says, and he feels a rush of sadness fly through him as he realizes that he really isn't.

The library and new books might have helped before, but now Ryou knows that the hole in his heart still remains.

Yugi frowns, though Ryou can't see it. "I doubt you're sad for the same reason I am, Ry," he says, quietly.

Ryou licks his lips. "Why are you sad?"

Yugi leans his head back and lets it rest on the side of the desk behind him. "I like listening to these things."

He holds up a record case, picking one up from the few spread out in front of him, and Ryou reads the title:

Piano Sonata No. 123 in G Minor.

Ryou nods. "Yes, so do I. Classical music is a great inspiration."

He tries to not be annoyed by the fact that Yugi ignored his question about inquiring why he was so sad.

Yugi shakes his head. "No, not classical music. This kind of music," he says, and at Ryou's confused face, he points to the record player scratchily playing the vinyl disc now in it next to him. "The phonograph kind of music." He pauses. "I love how it's so imperfect and perfect at the same time. It's never fully clear or loud, and sometimes it's even scratchy, but if you listen closely, it's beautiful and haunting."

Ryou envies Yugi for a split second; he put his thoughts so easily and so beautifully into words.

He wishes he could do that.

"As a matter of fact, Ryou, I think we're kind of like that," Yugi whispers, and then he hastily looks down at his twiddling fingers.

Ryou raises an eyebrow.

Yugi takes a deep breath in, and waits as another ring of thunder explodes outside. Then, he turns to Ryou, and he is smiling oh-so softly. Ryou feels a grin pulling at the corner of his lips, as well.

"You see, Ryou, we're not the clearest, most perfect people. I know that I'm short. I know I have weird hair. I know I'm too trusting. You know that you're quiet. You know that you can get really dark. You know you confuse people. You know that you can confuse yourself," Yugi says, his tone soft and true, and Ryou kind of feels tears welling up at the corners of his eyes because Yugi is so right.

Yugi pauses, swallows, (Is he swallowing tears?, Ryou wonders.) and then carries on,

"But those things are just what make us, us. They don't make us any less of a person, you know?"

Ryou frowns. His brow furrows. "Of course not, Yugi. Who said they did?"

Yugi is silent.

He's crying.

Ryou bites his lower lip and knows he's said too much and just enough.

Everybody knew that Yugi and Yami were fighting. They knew it was the main reason they had this vacation.

But no one knew why the two couldn't stand each other all of a sudden.

Until now.

Yugi sniffles and reaches up a hand to wipe tears off of his face. He laughs a little. "God, I'm such a baby for crying."

Ryou sighs and turns away from Yugi. "No you're not," he whispers, and hopes his words help Yugi feel a little better, at least, because Yugi really shouldn't be ashamed of crying (God knows Ryou's done enough of it in the past few months.)

The boy inhales shakily, exhales, and starts speaking again, so Ryou guesses that that his words did help.

"Yami is so amazing that he can spoil his own beauty."

Ryou nods silently.

"He's confident. Gorgeous. Outgoing. Attention-loving. Strong. The polar opposite of me. And I've always been okay with that; he's always been okay with that. I think that it's one of the things that has made us finally get so close over the years. We realized we balance each other out," Yugi says, and Ryou turns to watch Yugi as he speaks.

Yugi takes a deep, shaky breath in. "Yami has always been there for me. Every time I feel awkward or nervous or stupid or unsure, he's always been the one to assure me I'm "amazing" or "genius" or something wonderful like that. But then, the other week…"

Ryou bites his lip. Yugi sniffles a little bit.

"The other week, Yami and I got in a fight about something. I don't even remember what it was about. Something stupid—like who ate the last of the ice cream. But somehow it spiraled out of control to us arguing about one another's personalities. And for the first time in so long, Yami insulted me. Yami yelled at me. Yami did the exact opposite of what he normally does—he made me hate myself."

Ryou gets the sudden urge to go and punch the offending man out.

"He told me that I was "ridiculous" and that he "doesn't know how he's managed to put up with me for the past few years". And to hear that coming from him, the one guy that would always assure me that I was okay as I was…"

Yugi suddenly stops, now bringing both hands up to his face and wiping his tears away, shaking his head quickly.

Ryou frowns. He doesn't say anything or try to hug Yugi, because he thinks that in this moment, the man just needs to feel. Feel his pain and his emotions without someone trying to comfort him.

So the two just sit there, wordless. The rain pounds on the roof and slides down the glass windows and the lighting flashes illuminate the almost creepy atmosphere, and the piano song still scratches background music and now there's even a violin to sing sweet, sorrowful notes back to them.

Yugi sniffles and swallows, and Ryou knows he's done crying.

Ryou adjusts himself into another, more comfortable seated position and pulls the blanket (which had begun to slide off of his shoulders) back up.

"So…what about you and Bakura?" Yugi whispers. "Is that why you're so sad?"

Ryou's face falls and the pit in his stomach grows heavy.

He forgot all about that.

He forgot all about the fight he had with his very best friend.

Ryou lays his head back against the desk behind him and shakes his head because…

He knows that right now, as much as he doesn't want to, he needs to remember.

R&R

Part two should be up next week!