Hey, paisanos! Just Nina. I know I haven't published anything here in awhile; I've been hanging out on the YGO kinkmeme over on LJ, and a lot of what I've been writing can't be published here (even this is probably skating a very fine line). I also tried to do NaNoWriMo, which didn't go so well. And then, of course, there's everybody's favourite form of writing, the term paper. I have three of the damned things to finish, including one due today. This does not leave me much writing time!

However, without saying more, I will say that you should keep an eye out. (And I won't say anything more than that, so don't pester for details. You won't get them.)

Hope all is well with you lot, and enjoy!

~ Nina

Title: In This Place of Green and Gold
Author: Nina/TechnicolorNina
Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Pairing/Characters: Bakura Ryou and the name-restored version of Yami no Yuugi. AKA, fragileshipping. (Take note that while it's post-Memory World, it is technically still YnYuugi, not Atem.)
Word Count: 5 983
Story Rating: M/R for a real sex scene, what.
Story Summary: Ryou's chilling in his soul room. Atem comes to visit.
Notes: Sex. You can has it.
Feedback: There may be something out there that's better than a review containing concrit, but if there is, I haven't found it yet. So if you have two minutes and you wouldn't mind? Please? Arigatou. (And concrit is cool. Flames are not.)
Special Thanks/Dedications: This story is for my friend Alice, who offered to bribe me with a pretty friends-only header for LJ if I would write it.

Ryou curled up next to the rock. That was the nice thing about this place; no matter how often he splashed through the creek, or stretched out on grass that should have stained his clothes bright green, he always came back clean and dry. He was glad he'd found a way to come back after . . . well . . . he probably didn't deserve it, but it was nice to have a place to go when his footsteps seemed to echo too loudly on the floor of his flat. He rubbed his cheek against the sun-warmed moss and shut his eyes. Maybe he could take a nap here, where the sun came through the trees to make green and gold shadows. He found it infinitely preferable to his other option – curling up miserably in his bed and listening to the cold September rain rattling the windows.

Then he heard the knock.

Ryou had long become used to happenings both strange and unusual – his body being hijacked at random by a maniac who wanted to destroy the world, for starters. But he'd been hoping maybe he could be, if not normal, then at least unremarkable, from now on.

The knock came again.

Ryou cast a wary eye at the great old birch perhaps twenty feet away from his rock. Then he got up. He was no expert in soul rooms, but he was perfectly able to see the distinctive peeling bark had pulled away in a rough door shape. He went to the tree and pressed his eye to the convenient knothole that had formed directly at eye height as he approached. Ryou was pretty sure birches didn't actually have knotholes, but it was his soul room. Here, at least, even the trees were his to control.

He didn't know what he'd been expecting, but what he saw definitely wasn't it. Standing on the other side of the knothole, in a perfectly normal-looking hallway, was Yuugi's other – Atem. Ryou swallowed hard. Atem was standing with his hands folded behind his back, a perfectly polite gesture – but he also had some very compelling reasons to wish Ryou ill, and here, in his soul room, Ryou would have only his own mind to defend himself with.

Atem's hands appeared to knock again, the right falling harmlessly, empty, to his side while the left rapped on the door. Ryou reached automatically for a doorknob that wasn't there and touched smooth bark instead. Maybe the door swung out? No – Ryou knew instinctively the door would open inward, just as he knew walking due east would bring him to a little village where he could go to the bar and learn all he liked. He'd never been to the village, but he knew it was there.

There had to be a handle of some kind, then. Unless the door was in a smooth tree specifically because he wished to keep people out.

Ryou hesitated, then pressed his hand flat against the bark. Another knot, this one growing directly out of the tree and exactly the right size for him to grasp, formed on the trunk. Ryou turned it, wondering what he'd do if it broke off in his hand, and thinking only vaguely about how ridiculous he would look in the real world – trying to open a tree, indeed.

"Good afternoon, Bakura-kun," Atem said. Ryou could feel his legs tightening, preparing to run, and tried to force himself to relax. It didn't work.

" . . . hi," he finally managed. "Um – "

"Is this a bad time?" Atem looked incongruously concerned for a man who should probably want to hang Ryou by his own guts. Ryou bit his lip. "I . . . no. Come in." And he waved Atem through the birch.

Atem stopped and stared. "This is quite beautiful."

"Thanks." Ryou could feel himself blushing. "There's not really anyplace to sit unless you don't mind rocks, but – "

Atem turned to him. "I'll take the tree that's fallen, if you don't mind."

Ryou nodded. "That's fine. You don't have to ask where you can sit."

"On the contrary, I am a guest in this place. It's only common courtesy to treat both the place and my host with respect." Atem took a place on an old downed maple.

Ryou shrugged and shut the tree. His legs weren't trembling quite as badly now, but he still wanted to sit down. He took his place by the rock again and drew his knees up to his chest. "So – what's up?"

"I merely wished to have a private conversation with you – away from the others."

"Oh." Ryou knew that if he were brave, he would simply ask what Atem wanted to talk about and get it over with. Instead he changed the topic and knew he was really a coward.

"How'd you get here, anyway?"

"Yuugi knows where your spare key is. I took the liberty of letting myself in."

"I figured that. I meant . . . you know . . . here." Ryou waved at the forest around them. Atem nodded.

"I conversed with Yuugi on the subject and determined the easiest experiment might be to try to link your soul room with the corridor between ours by putting the Puzzle round your neck. It seems to have worked."

Ryou nodded. "I guess so. So are we - ?"

"It's a temporary connection. And even were it to prove otherwise, I'd hardly be so rude as to barge in on you day and night. It's simply difficult to find you alone when you're not at home by yourself, and apparently when you're home you're here."

Ryou nodded again. There was no more putting it off. "You said you wanted to talk to me about something . . . "

"I did." Atem slid off the log and sat in front of Ryou, his legs tucked beneath him. "I owe you a great deal."

Ryou blinked in surprise. "A great deal of trouble, maybe," he said. Atem shook his head.

"You see the aftermath of the action. But the truth of the matter is that without your assistance, Bakura would never have appeared in my memories – and had he not, dangerous though it was, the truth would have been utterly hidden – perhaps forever."

"I don't see how that's possible when he was – "

"He was sealed in the Ring," Atem interrupted. "And as absent from memory as I was. I regret only that you had no choice in the matter. You've suffered a great deal of pain to help me."

Ryou shook his head. "I had a choice. I'm the one who decided to keep wearing the stupid thing." He scuffed one sneaker-clad foot on a litter of red and gold leaves. This place always seemed to have autumn leaves on the ground, even though the trees remained eternally green and summery. He wondered if that was supposed to mean anything. "I was afraid. I was weak. I thought if I didn't do it he might find a way to kill me."

"On the contrary, I think you have a strength you neither know nor suspect, Bakura-kun. After all, you spent two years with a man hellbent on destroying your soul so he could continue with his mission unhindered, and you lived to tell the tale. Not many could do it, I think."

Ryou wrapped his arms around his knees. "Maybe you think so." He blinked back tears. He hated talking about it – hated knowing how stupid and cowardly he'd been. A pair of hands came to rest gently on his knees.

"Whether you see it so or not, you did a good thing – a brave thing," Atem said. "You chose to see the matter through to the end, no matter what your motivation may have actually been."

Ryou shook his head. Atem sighed.

"In any case, I came to ask a favour."

Ryou rubbed his eyes on his wrist before looking up. He could feel tears welling in the corners, and wanted to be positively certain he wouldn't look completely insane when Atem addressed him.

"What is it?"

"How will you let me repay you?"

Ryou's lips parted in surprise. This conversation wasn't going in the least like he'd expected. "I – "

"I've little to call my own, and less to offer," Atem said. "But you've done me a great service and suffered immensely on my behalf, and I'd rather not leave this world with an unpaid debt on my shoulders."

Ryou shrugged and looked as far away from Atem's face as he could without actually turning his head. He knew what he'd like – he knew what he'd like very much – but he also knew that even if Atem would do that kind of thing, it would hardly be appropriate to ask for as some weird form of payment. "You don't owe me anything. Don't kill me and we'll call it evens."

Atem took Ryou's chin and turned his face. "Why would I harm you, Bakura-kun?"

"Because I nearly ruined everything!" Ryou cried, his tenuous restraint on both tears and emotions gone. "I couldn't control him long enough to help you! I couldn't keep him from hurting you, and – "

Ryou was cut off by a pair of lips that were not his own. A warm thumb glided gently over his cheek, wiping away the tears that suddenly came in a flood. He drew back with a gasp.

"What was that for?"

Atem reached for Ryou's hands. "There's no book so easy to read as the face of someone guiltless."

Ryou drew away, suddenly frightened. He'd been fooled. He'd taken the bait and now -

Atem only looked at him. Ryou thought he saw hurt lurking somewhere deep in Atem's eyes. Atem pulled his gaze away abruptly. "I shouldn't have come here. I apologise for wasting your time." He got to his feet and brushed his knees automatically. Ryou scrambled up after him.

"Wait!"

Atem turned around and waited. Ryou shuffled his feet and looked a leaf-littered bit of ground between the two of them.

"You weren't wasting my time. I'm sorry. I just . . . " Ryou shook his head and lowered it even further. "You didn't have to do that."

Had it been anyone else Ryou would have been aware first of their feet, but Atem was exactly the right height to fall almost completely within Ryou's frame of vision when he got close.

"On the contrary, I noticed quite some time ago your . . . interest?"

Ryou flinched as though struck. He'd been trying so hard to not let him see. A hand reached up to his neck and rested on it – gently, gently.

"I said nothing then because I assumed it was connected directly to Bakura – that, perhaps, you sought in me a shelter from him – and that with his departure the interest would cease. But I promised myself then that were that not the case . . . even if I knew it would come to an end such as this, where my time would be necessarily limited by leaving this world . . . should the topic come up, I would speak."

Ryou raised his eyes enough to bring Atem's face into full view. "So you came in here why, again?"

"There is a debt I owe. Payment to be delivered as you wish." A short pause. "If you think I intended to offer . . . attentions . . . as payment, you're incorrect. My opinion of you is hardly so low."

Ryou nodded and cast his eyes even further downward. It was essentially what the other Bakura had thought of him, just dressed up in a nice coat and tie. Ryou was destined to be forever the outside interloper, nothing more.

A hand touched his face and drew his eyes back to Atem's. There was something soft in them that Ryou did not want to see.

"You must understand, Bakura-kun. Already I'm leaving a hole – a rather sizeable one – in the hearts of two people I care for deeply. My own heart is heavy enough with their burden. Must I add another?"

Ryou shrugged. Atem sighed.

"You shouldn't have to settle for less than you deserve."

"I've already got more than I deserve."

"I quite agree. Which brings me back to the reason for my presence here."

"You don't owe me anything," Ryou insisted. He looked very hard at his feet. If he looked hard enough and long enough, he could block out the presence on his left, the presence with the warm lips and surprisingly large hands. One of those hands landed on his shoulder. Ryou flinched away.

"Don't. Please."

Atem drew his hand away. "I apologise, Bakura-kun."

"Don't call me that." Ryou felt a thin flush coming up to cover his cheeks again. Atem's hand turned his face again.

"Will you let him steal even this?"

Ryou shrugged. "I don't know what you mean."

Atem sat. Ryou followed. Atem began to doodle in a conveniently bare patch of rich forest dirt. "The thief Bakura. He stole your dignity, your health, your body, all against your will. Will you freely give him your name, your very being, to call his own?"

Ryou drew his gaze back to his feet again. He hadn't thought of it that way. "I just don't want people thinking of him and me together, that's all."

"Then reclaim your name, Bakura-kun. You're a person of honour. Give honour to the name once again. You're no more him than he was you, although I believe he enjoyed pretending to the contrary."

Ryou nodded. "I guess that makes sense. You still don't have to call me that if you don't want to."

"I have no problem with calling you by your proper name, Bakura-kun."

"I meant you can call me Ryou if you want," Ryou blurted. "I don't mind."

"That's a privilege you should reserve for those closer to you than I."

Ryou looked yet again at his feet. He was starting to become very familiar with the pattern on his shoes. "Can I ask you something? Without you deciding it's got to do with this debt thing?"

"Of course."

Ryou felt his heart trying to claw its way out of his chest. He knew Atem wouldn't get angry, knew he wasn't being too inappropriate by asking, but he was still nervous about it. "Can I hold you? Just once?"

Atem's expression was sad. "Bakura-kun . . . "

"I know you're just trying to get loose ends tied up before you go, and I know it won't go anywhere," Ryou cut in. "I just . . . want something to remember."

A pause. Ryou felt tears trying to start and forced them back.

Then Atem held out his arms.

Ryou reached for him and pulled him close with a sense of relief. He wrapped his arms around Atem's waist and back and nuzzled against his shoulder. How good it felt, holding, being held. He breathed in the scent of Atem's hair, the secret warmth of his neck. He could feel Atem relaxing in his arms, giving himself over fully to the embrace. Ryou fell back onto a soft pile of leaves so he could stretch out and pull Atem closer, shoulder to shoulder, chest to chest. Atem lay quiet in his arms. Ryou reached up and stroked Atem's hair.

"Thank you."

Atem nodded, but said nothing. Ryou bit his lip.

"Atemu-san? Are you all right?"

"That's not my name," Atem said. Ryou could hear a tint of amusement in his voice, but blushed anyway.

"Sorry. I'm having a hard time pronouncing it."

"Completely understandable. The rules of your language are very different from the rules of mine. And I have no objection to your dropping the formal."

"You're avoiding the question, Atemu-kun."

"I was simply enjoying the moment." A pause. "After all, the last time I had cause to be held was three thousand years ago."

Ryou felt another blush cover his face. Atem tended to have that effect. "That was really insensitive. I'm so sorry."

"Hardly. You have nothing to apologise for."

A silence fell between them again while the sun crept across the sky and changed the shadows from thin gold to a thick, syrupy kind that coated everything in forest fairy-light. In its glow Ryou finally got up the courage to do what he'd really wanted to do for at least five months. He pressed a kiss to Atem's neck.

"Bakura-kun . . . "

Ryou drew back as though slapped. It was true – it was a favour he'd neither deserved nor been granted. "I'm – "

His apology was cut off mid-flow as Atem reached up and kissed him on the mouth. Ryou gasped. Atem nipped at his lower lip and drew away.

"If you insist on offering attentions, then do it properly."

Ryou looked away, and then he was tumbled over onto his back. Atem draped his arms over Ryou's neck and shoulders.

"If this is what you want to remember, then why do you keep shutting me out?"

Ryou hooked a foot behind Atem's knees and threw his weight. They flipped, and Ryou promptly attacked Atem's neck. It might be the only chance he ever got, and he planned to take it. He unbuckled the black leather choker and tasted the skin beneath it. A hand that was not his own wound into Ryou's hair. He reached for the hem of Atem's top, the better to feel, to taste, and pushed himself away. He didn't have permission – not for that.

Atem tumbled them back onto their sides. His eyes were more serious than Ryou had ever seen them.

"You know I won't be here much longer."

"I know," Ryou whispered.

"And that we'll never meet again on this side of the Nile."

"Yes."

"And that perhaps we may never meet again at all."

"I'll figure it out. I've got time."

"Let the gods grant you do," Atem agreed. "But with everything said . . . is this really what you want? There's nothing I can offer you but this, and soon even that will be gone."

Ryou considered. It was true – for the rest of his life he would know that his virginity had been lost in a mental one-night-stand with a ghost. A very attractive ghost, it was true. A very attractive ghost with a wonderful deep voice and beautiful eyes and who was going to know the difference, really?

"I don't want to do something you don't want to do."

"My desire or lack thereof was not the object of the question, Bakura-kun."

"Yes, but I don't - !" Ryou was cut off by a finger against his lips.

"I have no objection, if it eases your mind."

"But that's not the question," Ryou protested. "I don't want to know if you don't want to. I want to know if you do."

Atem only ran his fingers through Ryou's hair once again and remained silent. Ryou struggled with a deep breath.

"If we do, you have to stop calling me Bakura-kun. That's just really awkward."

Atem nodded and continued stroking Ryou's hair. He looked as though he could remain that way for an age. Ryou hesitated. Then he reached for the hem of Atem's shirt.

"Are you sure we can – in here? I mean, maybe we should – "

"Yuugi has been incredibly generous in sharing with me all that he has to call his own," Atem said. "But that – though I don't doubt he'd acquiesce – would be a liberty I would feel incredibly uncomfortable taking."

Ryou nodded. "I'm sorry. I forgot – "

Those fingers again, on his lips. "You apologise entirely too much." Garnet eyes, looking at him, through him, challenging him. Ryou's hesitant paralysis broke. He leaned forward, pressed his lips to Atem's, slid his hands beneath the black shirt and caressed the skin he found there. A tongue touched Ryou's lips gently, and he parted them. Atem's mouth tasted of cinnamon. Slender hands found the buttons on Ryou's shirt and slipped them through their respective holes. Ryou felt a hand press against his chest, caress its way up to his shoulder, hook around his neck to pull him closer. He left off his exploration of Atem's sides and stomach long enough to tug off his top, stalling at that one troublesome wrist on his shoulder until Atem lifted his hand. He broke the kiss to take a breath, and then sat back. Atem looked up at him, asking a question with his eyes. Ryou sighed in frustration.

"You were right. I don't have any idea what I'm doing. Maybe this was a bad idea."

Atem stroked Ryou's neck, fingers catching in Ryou's hair. Ryou shivered.

"You mean to tell me you've reached eighteen years of age without the slightest conception of sex?"

"I know what it is," Ryou protested. "I mean, what's down there, and what people do it for, and where things go – things like that. I just . . . don't know how." If his face turned any redder, Ryou thought, he might faint from blood loss around the heart. Atem smiled at him, sunny, gentle, warm, like the shadows between the leaves.

"Do you trust me?"

Ryou hesitated, then nodded. "I don't think I could have let you in if I didn't."

Atem only blinked at him – lazily, like a cat, Ryou thought. "Lie back."

Ryou flopped over into the leaves. Atem looked mildly concerned.

"Are you certain this is the most hygienic place to be doing this?"

"There's nothing here but butterflies and inchworms," Ryou said. "I don't have to have slugs or anything here if I don't want them."

Atem looked mildly shocked. It was Ryou's turn to shrug. "It's my world. I can build it how I want."

Atem's face changed from shocked to vaguely sad. Ryou touched his cheek. "It's okay, really. I haven't got a God complex or anything. It's just – this is where I go to relax. Why would I have things here I don't like?"

Atem kissed the side of Ryou's neck. "Understandable." He reached for the edges of Ryou's shirt and shimmied it down slim shoulders and arms to pull it away. Ryou settled back into the leaves. They smelled wonderfully like cinnamon and sunshine and earliest autumn. Atem moved from Ryou's neck to the soft place between his neck and shoulder. Ryou closed his eyes and basked in the combined warmth of forest sunshine and Atem's mouth.

The lips against his collarbone ceased their movement. Ryou's eyes fluttered open. Atem smiled down at him. Ryou felt a flush spread over his face again, but it was not the fierce, embarrassed blushing that had accompanied their initial conversation. It was the soft and rosy flush that came to anyone's face when they came out of a half-trance, only to realise they were being observed. He reached for Atem's face, confused – maybe he was supposed to kiss back? – and stopped when Atem touched his hand.

"You're quite beautiful that way," Atem commented, and though his tone was neutral Ryou felt something deep in his belly do a somersault. Atem thought he was beautiful. Never mind that 'beautiful' really wasn't an adjective he should probably be too thrilled about. It was a compliment. From Atem. Ryou smiled.

"Thanks."

Atem's smile grew just a shade brighter, and then dropped back to its former lazy glow. "I confess I'll need your help for this."

"Um?"

Atem patted Ryou's hip. Ryou looked down and saw his belt undone, threaded only partway through the loops. When did he do that?

"Yuugi hasn't got any jeans with a fly like this."

"Oh. Um – " Ryou unbuttoned the flap of fabric that hid the zip. "It's just there to keep the zip from catching on anything."

He wasn't entirely expecting Atem to simply grab the zip and pull it, and he let out a gasp when Atem did exactly that. Atem looked up anxiously. Ryou felt the flush trying to rise up his face again.

"I'm okay. Don't worry about it."

Atem smiled and tried to shimmy Ryou's jeans down his legs. Ryou lifted his hips. The jeans slid easily. Atem raised his eyebrows.

"Feeling a bit daring today, were we?"

Ryou shrugged. "I haven't done my laundry?"

Atem threw back his head and laughed. Then he ducked his head and kissed the inside of Ryou's thigh. Ryou gasped and jerked away. Atem's eyes came back to his face again, this time with just a hint of impatience - do you trust me or not?

"I – sorry. I'm just . . . that tickled," Ryou finally managed. Atem nodded his understanding, then nipped the place he'd kissed. Ryou pushed himself up to sitting.

"Ouch! That doesn't mean you should bite me!"

"Rather demanding, aren't you?"

Ryou's breath caught in his throat. He wasn't trying to be. He really wasn't. Atem touched his face.

"Don't look so frightened, Ryou-kun. I merely intended to tease. Today is yours."

Ryou relaxed only marginally. He wasn't so sure. Atem kissed the place just beneath Ryou's navel, eyes still on Ryou's own. Ryou let out a quiet whimper. He felt Atem's tongue against his skin, tasting, measuring, and hoped to at least come close to whatever lovers were in Atem's past. He reached down to touch Atem's face and found a hand in his way. Atem's fingers threaded with Ryou's own. Ryou pulled Atem's hand up to kiss – it was the only thing he could reach. As he did, he thought he'd be lucky to ever get cloth of any kind over that patch of skin again. Nobody had ever told him it could be so sensitive.

A kiss on his stomach, just below his breastbone, tucked neatly in the bones and tendons of his neck, and then Atem was above him, looking down at him. Ryou hesitated, then pulled Atem down close for another kiss. They'd already gotten this far. The time for embarrassment was over. He found Atem's belt, discarded it, reached for his fly, and found another belt in the way. He made a face. Atem, busy with the side of Ryou's neck, didn't notice.

Ryou unclipped the belt and found himself relieved when it fell away in his hands. He let it flop out of his hand in the general direction of his rock and attempted the fly again. This time he found it. He tried not to think too hard about who would have actually picked the jeans that morning, and how they had probably been pulled on while Yuugi joyfully mangled some popular song before pounding down the stairs. He pushed the jeans down Atem's hips. Atem kicked at them impatiently. Ryou felt something against his stomach that hadn't been there moments before.

"Weren't you saying something about my underwear?"

"Mmm." Atem nipped Ryou's neck affectionately one last time. Ryou could feel his breath, warm and steady, on one ear. "What Yuugi does or does not choose to wear is not my problem."

"Thanks. I really needed to know that," Ryou answered. "Now the next time I see him all I'll be able to think about is how he doesn't wear - yike!"

Atem chuckled and released Ryou's ear. "Ticklish there, too?"

"Yes. Very. Mmm. Do that again." Ryou turned his head to give Atem better access to his jaw. Atem obliged, running his tongue down Ryou's jawbone. Lower down, something shifted against his stomach. Ryou felt his heart shift into a velocity slightly faster than that of a hummingbird's. They were going to. They were really going to. Yes. That. One of Atem's hands left Ryou's shoulder and traced down his side. Ryou felt fingers creeping along the inside of his thigh and squirmed.

"Don't we need – you know – so it won't – hurt?"

Atem's fingers paused. He pressed a kiss to Ryou's neck. "Were we in the physical world, we would, yes. But this is a world that has form only because your imagination is able to tap it, and so what happens here is bound by the constraints of neither traditional time nor traditional space – nor the traditional laws of physics."

Ryou didn't relax. He wasn't completely stupid. He knew where things had to go in sex like this. Atem kissed his temple this time.

"If it pains you, say so. I'll stop."

Ryou bit his lip. He would have liked very much to say that he didn't want Atem to stop, not for anything, but he was afraid of being laughed at. Atem stroked the side of Ryou's neck with gentle fingers.

"It's better to know early, when the problem can be remedied, than later, if there's damage to be done."

Ryou nodded. He thought he understood. He hoped. Atem's fingers moved again, first between, then in, and Ryou squirmed again. Atem dropped one shoulder and lifted Ryou's leg over it. "This is more convenient, don't you think?"

Ryou nodded. He hoped that was the right response. This probably should not feel nearly as good as it did, fingers in places that fingers did not belong, fingers in places where nothing belonged, and then Atem found a particularly sensitive spot and Ryou whined and didn't care anymore. He felt his legs relaxing with absolutely no input from his brain and decided they were melting, melting right off his body, through the leaves that surrounded him, into the earth. Atem kissed the knee crooked over his shoulder. Ryou let out a sigh that probably sounded ridiculously girly. Atem smiled down at him. Ryou didn't see – his head was thrown back, eyes shut.

The fingers withdrew. Ryou opened his eyes – he could manage that much – to find out why. Then his other leg was over Atem's other shoulder, and Atem was looking at him as though Ryou's next word would decide the fate of the world.

"Do you trust me – Ryou?"

Ryou nodded. He would have said he trusted the thief himself if it would only get those fingers back inside him. Then he saw Atem's hips move, and he understood. He cried out and tossed his head to one side. His hand found Atem's, slid up the skin, was rudely but briefly interrupted by the leather wristband Atem had never taken off, and then he gripped Atem's arm. Ryou could definitely understand what the fuss was about.

A hand touched his face. "Look at me, Ryou."

Ryou did not want to – something in him had the idea that if he did, Atem would somehow turn into the thief and the dream would become a nightmare – but he felt helpless to resist. He forced his eyes open.

Atem did not change into Bakura, although there was a light in his eyes that was not entirely sane. Ryou analyzed it as best he could in his current state and decided it was nothing to worry about – two years with Bakura had left him with very sensitive trouble radar, and the expression on Atem's face did not register on it.

For Ryou, the next two minutes or so were sheer magic. The physical pleasure was the least of it – this was a good way to go, cushioned in a soft pile of fragrant, crackling leaves while summer birds sang in the weeping willows that grew next to the creek, Atem's breath loud in the relative silence, safe in the knowledge that nobody could enter, nobody could trespass on their shared time together, without Ryou's express permission.

Ryou could happily have gone on for an age exactly as they were – Atem desired him, must desire him, even if only in a physical sense, or this wouldn't be happening – but Atem had other ideas. Ryou felt Atem's free hand slip down his stomach, searching for Ryou's arousal. It found what it sought. Ryou saw white. Yes, this was the definitive way to go.

The colour behind Ryou's eyelids split. Had he thought it was white? No – it was a thin gray, being speared now with a colour that was somehow beyond white and tinged faintly with red. He peered through his sudden sight deficiency just in time to see Atem give him a positively roguish grin and lick his fingers. Ryou moaned. Atem knew his taste, now. Whatever happened after this moment, Atem would always have that memory. It would never be taken from him again.

A hand touched the side of Ryou's face. He glanced in the direction of the hand and wondered when Atem had found the time to flop down into the leaves.

"Are you quite all right?"

Ryou wanted to nod. His head felt too heavy. "Mmmmm."

"Should I take that as a yes or a no?"

"Mmmmmmm."

Ryou rolled into Atem's arms. Then he stiffened.

"You know, we weren't exactly being quiet – "

"This isn't your flat, Ryou. Sound doesn't carry between soul rooms."

Ryou nodded. There was a long silence very different from the awkward silences of earlier. Then Atem's arms relaxed from around Ryou's waist. Ryou opened his mouth to protest. He felt something oddly heavy on his wrist and looked down. One of Atem's leather wristbands had been fastened there.

"I have to go. Yuugi has places to be, and I mustn't detain him," Atem said. Ryou nodded. He could already feel himself sinking into the melancholy that was all too common these days. Atem raised Ryou's chin and kissed him.

"I make no promises about what happens after today," Atem said. Ryou nodded. He knew that. "But this is a memory I'll cherish."

Ryou smiled this time. He propped himself up on his elbows and pulled himself to sitting so he could throw his arms around Atem's neck. "Me too."

Atem stroked Ryou's back. Ryou nestled against his shoulder. "Need help getting dressed?"

"I'll accept, if you're offering."

Ryou reached one hand out to search for Atem's top. "I'm offering."

Atem dressed in silence, but it was a comfortable silence – a let's-not-break-the-moment kind of silence. Ryou reached for the clasp holding the wristband around his arm. Atem stopped him.

"Keep it."

Ryou nodded. Atem kissed him once, quickly, and went the way he'd come.

Ryou stayed until sunset had come. He could come here in the middle of the night and find it high noon, but the sun marked how long he'd actually been in the room, and it was high time he'd gone. His body was almost certain to be hungry.

He opened his eyes on a room that was still rainy, and gray, and according to the bedside clock, less time had passed than he'd expected. It was only three-thirty. He could see the indent on his pillow where the Millennium Puzzle must have rested, and blinked back tears. He didn't regret it – would never regret it – but it was and would be bittersweet. He would have given a great deal to be held in Atem's real arms – to have more than his own suspect memory to remember it by.

He raised his hand to brush his wayward hair out of his eyes. His wrist felt oddly heavy, and he looked closely at it.

It was encircled by a black leather cuff. A small piece of Ryou's own notepaper peeked out at him. Ryou pulled it from the cuff, turned on his bedside lamp, and read.

The hand looked a little like Yuugi's, but it was firmer, more angular, with bolder penstrokes than Ryou was used to seeing in his deskmate's notebook.

Paid in full?

Ryou made a face at the paper. That was Atem's sense of humour, he supposed. And if it weren't, Ryou could always pretend it had been. He refolded the paper and tucked it in the drawer of his nightstand.

And went to the kitchen, to make himself a cup of tea and a sandwich.