(A/N:) Blah blah. I wrote this last year for Ryo's birthday.
Warnings: OOC-ness, slight tendershipping fluff, AU-ish, crappy/sappy ending.
Once again, I first posted this on dA, so it's not plagiarism.
"Uh...," Bakura stood there for a bit, trying to get his host's attention. Well, in his own definition of getting attention, anyway...
"Hmm?" Ryo looked up from the list he had been making for the past ten minutes. "What is it, Bakura?"
"Er...," the spirit avoided eye contact with his host. "...Happy birthday...I guess...," Bakura mumbled. He handed his host a small box reluctantly.
"Huh? For me?" Ryo's eyes widened and he reached out for the small box. He paused for a moment. "...Wait...this isn't a...prank...is it?" Ryo mentally shuddered at the thought of finding a severed hand of a defenseless victim the spirit might have tortured.
"No, it's not," Bakura mumbled once again. He wasn't offended—he figured beforehand that his host would be reluctant in accepting a gift from him, anyway.
"Oh, well...alright then." Ryo took the box in his hands, and placed it on the table. He cautiously untied the bow, in case the spirit happened to be lying. To the boy's relief, though, it was just a cream puff in the box. From the looks of it, Bakura had probably picked it up at the bakery a few blocks over.
"Ooh, my favorite," Ryo said in delight. He smiled and turned to the spirit. "Thank you."
"No big deal..." Bakura put his hands in his pockets. "So, uh...are we doing anything? It's your birthday, so...I guess I'll make exceptions to whatever."
"Actually, I need to do a lot of shopping today..." Ryo turned back to the list in front of him, adding more things to it.
"Hm? Why's that?" the former tomb robber swiped away the list.
"Ah!" Ryo said in surprise. He was midway in writing something, too...
Bakura skimmed his eyes over the list. "What's all this for?"
"Well, school is starting again soon. I need new school supplies." Ryo started eating the profiterole given to him.
"Why not reuse your old stuff?" Bakura's eyes remained on the list as he raised an eyebrow.
A slight blush ran over the teenager's cheeks. Ryo swallowed the bits of the cream puff already in his mouth and answered, "I did...twice already..."
"...Oh." Bakura handed the paper back to his host.
Ryo added one last thing to the list, and then proceeded to finish his cream puff. "If you don't mind, can you come with me and help? There're quite a lot of things I need to get..."
Bakura cringed a little, but tried not to show his distaste in going out to public places. Heck, getting that cream puff was a risk for him. The spirit wanted to not go so, so badly—but what could he do? He had already told his host that he'll make exceptions...
"Fine," the spirit finally sighed.
"Great!" Ryo said. He popped the last bit of the cream puff in his mouth and smiled.
Bakura cursed under his breath as he and Ryo walked down the aisles of the store, while Ryo pushed the cart that was already half-full with school supplies. The store was fairly crowded, and Bakura didn't like that. Not at all. Especially since about half of the crowd's population consisted of loud, annoying elementary kids. If he heard someone shout "Mommy, Mommy!" ONE more time...
"Hey, Bakura, what are the next two things on the list?"
"Huh?" the spirit snapped out of his mental rant and looked up at the younger boy.
"The next two things?" Ryo repeated.
"Oh, uh..." Bakura looked at the list on his hands. "...Five notebooks and...a ruler."
"Thank you," Ryo said as he started to wander off to find the said items. The spirit followed the teenager before he was out of his sight—he didn't want that happening again...
Bakura inwardly cursed the whiny brat he ran into while trying to looking for said host earlier. He would've sent the crybaby to the shadow realm, but the spirit knew Ryo would find out somehow sooner or later...He always seemed to. The spirit didn't know how, but...Well, never mind that. Just focus on not getting lost again, Bakura thought to himself.
Ryo looked through the different notebooks, choosing colors and brands. "Which color should I get for the last one?"
"I don't think it matters, really," the spirit said without looking. He was getting a little bored at this point.
"Hmm, alright. Red, then. Now, what's next? A ruler?" The white-haired boy rummaged through the crate with discounted rulers. "Should I get a wooden one? Or maybe one of those transparent ones?"
"Once again, I don't think it matters..." Bakura inspected his hand, still not sparing a glance at his host.
"Hmm, there are these stainless steel ones, but they seem kind of dangerous." More rummaging. "Ouch!" Ryo lifted his finger to see that the "dangerous ruler" had cut him.
"Careful," Bakura said, not sounding concerned at all. He was too absorbed in his own thoughts. Hmm, maybe I can ask Malik if he wants to play some video games later...
"Um...Bakura?" Ryo stared a little wide-eyed at the cut.
"What?" Then again, that jerk is always using cheat codes...
"Um...I'm bleeding."
"Uh-huh." Maybe I could look up some cheat codes myself. Get a little revenge...
"I-It won't stop."
"Uh-huh." Hm, but then again, that guy's always looking up NEW cheat codes just to piss me off, so might as well not bother.
"I-It stings..."
"Uh-huh." Eh, forget Ishtar. I guess his darker half and I could go for a little killing spree later. That'd be interesting.
"Um...Bakura?"
"Uh-huh?" But then again, THAT guy is always hogging all the fun stuff to himself...
"....Bakura, a-are you listening?"
"Uh-huh." Jeez, both of them are jerks. Why do I even bother—
Bakura's thoughts were interrupted by his host sticking his bleeding finger in front of his face.
"Woah there!" Bakura flinched back a little. As much as he enjoyed the sight of blood, his host had taken him by surprise.
The spirit cocked an eyebrow as he stared at the bleeding finger. "How the crap did that happen?"
"The ruler!" Ryo plainly stated. He seemed to be pouting a bit. Bakura tried to resist laughing at how immature his host looked right now.
"The ruler?" Bakura looked at the crate of rulers, where there were a number of stainless steel rulers. He could see why they weren't that popular just from the cut on his host's finger.
"How did you manage to cut yourself like that?" Bakura smirked at his host's foolishness.
Ryo blushed in embarrassment. "I-I was just digging through the rulers and..."
The spirit snickered at the color on Ryo's face. "Digging through a crate of stainless steel rulers: obviously not a good idea."
More color added to the white-haired boy's cheeks. "N-Never mind that! Tell me how to stop the bleeding!"
Bakura bluntly pointed at the restrooms only a few feet away.
"...O-oh." Ryo was bright red at this point. He silently walked to the boy's room and disappeared behind the door. The spirit snickered more, enjoying his host's embarrassment. Okay, sure, it was still Ryo's birthday and Bakura was supposedly supposed to be nice to him. Bakura just couldn't help but laugh, though—his host was just so darn clueless sometimes. Was his host smart? Yes, very smart, actually—lots of A's and the ocassional B. However, the teenager had his off-moments too. Ryo was such an amusing little thing to Bakura.
Ryo skimmed his eyes over the list, making sure he had everything. His now bandaged finger ran over the text, making imaginary checkmarks.
"Paper, folders, erasers…," Ryo mumbled to himself. "Okay, I think we're all done."
"Finally," Bakura sighed. He was so close to using one of those rulers to possibly kill himself because he was so bored. Hmm, but maybe it didn't have to be him who was killed by one of those…Maybe I should go back and get one for myself…
"We're going, Bakura," Ryo said, heading for the registers.
"Wha?" Bakura looked at his host. "Oh, okay, but can I just get—"
"No," Ryo said without missing a beat.
The spirit made somewhat of a pout and followed the younger boy. "Hmph."
When the two had got home, Bakura didn't bother to help his host in organizing the supplies. He simply put the plastic bags he was carrying on the dinner table, went to the fridge to grab a soda, and wordlessly walked straight to the living room to watch TV. Ryo didn't complain (out loud, at least), but simply told Bakura to keep his feet off the coffee table.
"Oh, by the way, Bakura," Ryo said a couple minutes later.
"What?" Bakura's eyes remained on the TV as he took a sip of his soda.
"I invited some people over to hang out for a little."
Bakura stopped drinking his soda. However, the can was still tipped forward, so the soda ended up spilling onto his shirt. "CRAP!!"
Ryo sighed and went into the kitchen to get him some paper towels. He came out a few moments later and handed him the sheets, and in response Bakura only grumbled and cursed angrily as he harshly took the paper towels from Ryo's hand.
While trying to get what he could off his shirt, Bakura talked to his host.
"By 'some people,' you don't mean…them, do you?"
"'Them'?" Ryo questioned.
"You know…Yugi and…those guys."
"Oh, they're all still out of town for vacation."
"All of them?" The spirit raised an eyebrow. "Is that even possible?"
"Why wouldn't it be?"
"Hmph…So who were you referring to when you said you invited 'some people' to come over?" Bakura picked up his can of soda and started drinking it again.
"Marik and Malik."
As Bakura spit out his soda, it sprayed all over the coffee table in front of him. "WHAT?!"
Ryo sighed again. "Bakura, can you please stop making such a mess—"
"WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!" the spirit screamed.
"Do what?" Ryo tilted his head to the side.
"INVITE THOSE TWO!!"
"What's wrong with that?"
"EVERYTHING!!"
"Oh, come on, you get along with them, don't you?"
"YEAH, WHEN THEY'RE NOT ACTING LIKE JERKS!"
"They don't act like…jerks."
"YEAH, TO YOU!"
"But when you go over to their house, you guys are always talking and—"
"OKAY!" Bakura sighed in frustration and brought his hand to his face. "Yes, we get along occasionally, but overall those two are a pain in the—"
The doorbell rang.
"Oh, it looks like they're early." Ryo got up to go answer the door. "Can you clean up the soda on the table, please?" he called over his shoulder.
Bakura cursed under his breath as he grabbed the leftover sheets he didn't use and wiped the table clean. Bundling up all the paper towels, he then went to the kitchen to throw them away.
Once he got that done, he turned on the sink, grabbed more paper towels and dampened them under the tap. He turned off the sink and attempted to rub the soda stain off his shirt, with no luck.
"You know that'll just make it worse, right?"
Bakura flinched at the sound of the baritone voice. He slowly turned his head to look back and find a spikey-haired blonde standing behind him, grinning.
"Get out of my frickin' house, Marik."
"Well, that was a rude greeting." Marik crossed his arms. "Besides, your host invited us, not you. I don't think that gives you the right to—"
Marik was interrupted by Bakura throwing the damp towel at his face. "Get lost." The spirit left the kitchen.
"Hmph." Marik took the paper towel off his face and tossed it into the garbage. He followed Bakura, knowing it would annoy him.
Bakura passed the two lighter halves, who were sitting in the living room setting up a new video game.
"Hey Bakura," Malik said as the white-haired spirit passed.
Bakura made a grunting sort of sound, not bothering to stop walking and greet him back properly. Marik stalked behind the irritated spirit, but was stopped in his tracks when Bakura went into his room and slammed the door in the Egyptian's face.
"Leave me alone, Ishtar," Bakura growled from inside the room.
"No need to be such an emo teenager." The blonde snickered.
"I heard that."
The blonde snickered once more. Marik knew there were no locks on the doors of the bedrooms, so he took the liberty of opening the door and welcoming himself inside. Unfortunately, he was only greeted by Bakura's shirt being thrown in his face.
"Knock before entering, will you?!" Bakura was in the process of changing his shirt, and was rummaging through his dresser.
"Well sor-ry." Marik rolled his eyes behind the piece of clothing. He threw it off his face, walked to the other side of the room, and sat on the bed.
"Get off my bed," Bakura said without looking back. He pulled a black t-shirt over his head.
"Nah," Marik said, lying on his back and putting his arms behind his head.
"Tch," Bakura narrowed his eyes. Walking over to the opposite side of the room, he grabbed a black hair tie and pulled his hair back into a messy ponytail.
"You're such a girl," the spikey-haired blonde remarked.
Bakura stood there, back facing Marik for a few seconds. "…"
A snapping sort of sound. "OW!"
Bakura had aimed a spare hair tie at the Egyptian's eye like a slingshot—hitting the target dead-on.
"THAT HURT!!" Marik sat up, one hand over his left eye.
"Well, you were asking for it." Bakura left the room, with Marik following him again.
"Apologize, you white-haired little—"
"Hey, Ryo, what's for dinner?" Bakura ignored the blonde completely.
"Hey, listen when people are talking to you!" Marik still kept his hand over his eye.
"Huh?" Ryo said. He was too absorbed in the fighting game he and Malik were playing. His eyes remained glued on the screen as he talked. "Um…I don't know yet, I didn't get a chance to make anything. Ack!" The white-haired boy quickly pressed the buttons on the controller.
"Can we order pizza then?" Bakura said.
"Stop ignoring me you—"
"Sure, I guess," the boy shrugged.
"What toppings do you want?" Bakura grabbed the phone off the receiver.
"Um, I'm alright with anything."
"Anything but mushrooms," Marik said. His hand was still covering his left eye, but he stopped flaming at the spirit a while ago.
Bakura didn't acknowledge his statement. "Malik, what do you want?"
"No meat," Malik called back.
Bakura grumbled something about vegetarians, then dialed the number.
"…Yeah, uh…one large pizza, everything on it except for onions and whatever meat…"
"No mushrooms," Marik reminded the spirit.
"Oh, and extra mushrooms." A small smirk.
"What?! Hey!!"
Bakura resisted bursting out into laughter at Marik's reaction. "Yeah…uh…the address…"
A couple hours passed, and the two Egyptians were finally leaving. Bakura held back the desire to push those two out the door and down the stairs of the building.
"See you later," Malik said as he walked out the door. His darker half followed behind wordlessly.
"Yeah," Bakura said. As soon as he saw them walking down the stairs of the apartment building, he shut the door and let out a huge sigh. "Jeez…I hate having those two over…Hm?" Bakura looked up and saw Ryo sitting on the couch, eyes closed. He was obviously sleeping.
Bakura let out another sigh and shook his head. "Jeez…" Slightly annoyed that his host had fallen asleep on the couch, he walked over and lifted his host with ease—carrying the boy bridal-style. The spirit brought the younger boy to his room and set him on the bed. He brought a thin blanket over the boy's body and stood there for a few moments.
The white-haired spirit looked over at the digital clock sitting on Ryo's nightstand, which read 11:59PM. Bakura's eyes drifted back over to Ryo, and he brushed the younger boy's bangs out of his face. Just a couple seconds more, and the teenager's birthday would be over.
"Happy birthday, my host."
And with that, the numbers on the clock changed.