"Hello. This is Ryou." Ryou said after putting his phone to his ear.

"No duh it's you, hikari. It's YOUR cell phone." Bakura returned snidely.

"Bakura! You figured out how to use a phone without sending it to the shadow realm! I'm so proud!" Ryou squealed.

"Um, about that. I'm kind of at the Ishtar's, and I owe you a phone…" Bakura said. Ryou sighed. "But, anyways. Where are you?"

"I'm over at Seto's house." Ryou said. Bakura groaned.

"Again? You'd think he's going out with Kaiba, not me!" Bakura growled to someone next to him.

"Ooh! Bakura's jealous!" It was Marik.

"You know, I doubt he's dating Kaiba behind your back. You would know, anyways." Malik said to Bakura, always the voice of reason between those three, barely audible to Ryou through the phone

"Anyways, what's up?" Ryou asked. There was a moment of silence and the sounds of shuffling. Then Ryou could hear Bakura growling at Marik and Malik to leave him alone, teasing from the two, and then the sound of a door slamming shut. "…'Kura?"

"Sorry, yadonushi. I just…haven't seen you in a while." He responded gruffly. Ryou smiled.

"I'm sorry, my yami. I'm working on making Sero ask the Pharaoh out, and I think I'm almost through to him." On the other end, Bakura sighed in mild annoyance.

"I don't know why you insist on doing this. Kaiba's an asshole, and the Pharaoh deserves to die alone."
"I know you don't believe either of those things. You've got a pretty good friendship with Yami now that you've gotten over the whole 'I must kill him' thing. And Seto's a good guy! I think they would be good for each other!"

"Who would be good with who?" Seto Kaiba questioned with a raised eyebrow, striding into the room. Ryou's eyes widened momentarily.

"Um, I gotta go Bakura. I'll see you tonight. Love you bye!" Ryou hung his phone up and turned to Kaiba. "Seto!" He said. Kaiba glanced at him from his desk, where he was setting up his laptop.

"You've been here for a half an hour and you act like you haven't seen me all day."

"Ask him out."

"No."

"Yes."
"No!"
"Meh! You suck."

"Says the boy who's at my house everyday."
"Touché." That was the conversation they had each day. Amazingly enough, after the river incident, they became good friends and Ryou spent a lot of time at the mansion, either talking to/bothering Kaiba or hanging out with Mokuba. His other friends felt kind of left behind, but Ryou knew it was for the best. He was going to get Kaiba and Yami together. At that moment, Mokuba walked in.

"Nii-sama!" He said to his brother. "I want to throw a party!" Kaiba glared jokingly over at Ryou.

"It's all your idea, isn't it?" He asked. A coy smile spread across Ryou's face.

"I may have planted a seed or two."

"Pretty, pretty, pretty please Seto?" Mokuba pulled out his puppy dog eyes.

"No!" He glanced between Mokuba and Ryou, who had also pulled out his puppy dog eyes at full force. He felt his will waver, and sighed. "I can't resist the puppy dog eyes. Fine, Mokuba, you can throw a party. But please, please, PLEASE do NOT let it get as crazy as the last one. The tabloids were talking about it for weeks, and I really don't need the bad publicity." Ryou and Mokuba both snorted.

"Definitely not…whose idea was it to make me look like I had passed out in the midst of a bunch of bottles of alcohol again?" Mokuba asked with a chuckle. Ryou burst our laughing at the memory. Kaiba groaned.

"I can't believe how much shit we got in over that. I mean, I certainly can, but I have a million better things to do than meet with child protective services, therapists, social workers, and your idiot of a guidance counselor." Ryou finally had calmed down and was catching his breath.

"I have been wondering though, who did think of that?" Mokuba asked.

"That was Malik! It was SO FUNNY!" Ryou said with a huge smile. Kaiba growled.

"That BASTARD!" At his exclamation, Ryou burst into laughter again with Mokuba joining him. Seto chuckled softly and turned to his laptop, bringing up some reports on the latest duel disk prototype. Ryou flopped onto the couch near his desk, his laughter calming again. Mokuba walked out of the room still laughing to himself. Sprawling his body out on the couch, Ryou yawned and stretched. Rolling his eyes, Kaiba began editing the specs on the invention. After a few minute, Ryou sighed loudly and Kaiba ignored him. He sighed again, louder, and Seto looked up expectantly.

"'Kura talked to him last night." He said slowly. Seto snapped to attention. That wasn't what he had been expecting at all. The two of them looked at each other, Ryou with a childish, devious expression and Seto with a stunned, expecting glare. After a moment of eye contact, Ryou grinned. "You do like hiiiiim!" He teased. Seto groaned.

"I can't believe I fell for that!" Ryou sobered for a moment.

"I was serious. He did." Seto's faced read a quite obvious 'Oh SHIT.'

"…Why should I care?" He finally managed, turning briskly back to his reports.

"Because he likes you." Ryou fired back.

"Are we five? 'Ooooh, he likes me? Does he like me or does he like like me?'" Seto fired back just as quickly, imitating an elementary school girl disturbingly well. Ryou chuckled, then responded.

"Bakura, Malik, Marik, and Yami went club hopping last night, that's why I stayed over at Yugi's house instead of coming over-"

"What a sweet reprieve it was."

"Oh shut it, smart ass. Anyways, they went clubbing and then split into pairs because Marik…well Marik got horny, you know him, and they left but Yami and Bakura weren't ready to cash in so they kept going. Three clubs later Yami was pretty drunk but Bakura was only mildly tipsy so he got the two of them home and sat up talking to Yami. Bakura said he asked him what he thought of you." Ryou paused thoughtfully.

"Well?" Kaiba asked expectantly, giving up all thoughts of being subtle.

"Here, 'Kura recorded it so you would believe him." Ryou pulled out a little digital recorder and tossed it to Kaiba, who hit play. Bakura's voice came through the tiny speakers.

"So, Pharaoh…what do you think about moneybags?" Yami's voice, somewhat slurred, responded.

"I like bags of money…" Bakura's throaty laugh was heard.

"I meant Seto Kaiba, idiot."

"Oh!" Yami giggled, somehow still sounding relatively regal and masculine. "I like him. A lot."

"You…like him? Like a friend?"

"Well…yeah. I mean, I kind of liked him before, especially after we found out about his role in Egypt. Then he saved me from that stupid river and that was awesome and I thought about it and you know I kind of might love him a little."

"Really?"

"Uh…oh look a squirrel!"

"What? Yami, where are you going?" There was a muffled thump, and the sound of footsteps running away.

"That's it." Ryou said. Seto blinked at the little machine, then huffed (although he would never admit it) and turned back to his work. "Seto?" Ryou implored tentatively. Seto sighed.

"I'll…think about it." He gave finally. Ryou squealed happily, jumped up, and tackled hugged his friend.

"You won't regret it!" He jumped up. "I'll let you do your whatever you're doing because 'Kura misses me and I have to tell him the good news! Yes! Bye Seto darling!" He pecked Seto on the cheek and dashed out the door. Once he was sure he was alone, Kaiba buried his head in his hands for a brief moment and growled.

"What have I gotten myself into?"

HERE IT IS. The anticipated as hell sequel to The River. It's been a long time coming, and I think I've finally pulled out of my FF slump (knock on wood!) Expect the next chapter relatively soon? (again, knock that wood. Hard.)

-Jamie