This chapter shall be confusing, on purposely. You'll get it...at the end of the story. At least, you'll get why it had to be so confusing.
Chapter warnings: Confusedness of both readers and characters leading to more confusion, and a wet, nekked Bakura. Kind of.
Ryou snapped awake, heart pounding in his chest. There was sweat down his face, and his shirt stuck unpleasantly to his skin. Breathing hard, he rolled off the bed slowly and trudged to the washroom.
Splashing cold water onto his face, he vaguely remembered having woken up already. I should take something to stop these dreams… He grabbed the towel from the sidebar and wiped at the droplets blankly. There was something wrong.
Things seemed to go slowly that day; he sat through breakfast alone, feeling just slightly off somewhat, and he couldn't even remember washing the dishes when he realized the plates were sparkling clean. There was an odd, almost sickly feeling at the base of his stomach—probably cooked something bad, Ryou thought to himself—and when he stopped at Bakura's door he could not even remember what he had eaten. Without knocking, he opened the door and went in.
Bakura was still asleep on the bed, head lulled to the side as he breathed. In between exhales, there was a pause, then a tremor—cut a bit too deep, he shouldn't be breathing—Ryou stepped cautiously closer.
"Mmn," Bakura mumbled at the weight of Ryou's hands sinking into the mattress. Slowly, Ryou put his other hand on the same spot, and pushing down, he jumped. Bakura's eyes snapped open, and for a moment his vision was white from the sun. He growled, turning to face his little brother who couldn't stop giggling. "That was new," he said, voice raspy from disuse. Ryou gave him a grin but underneath his head was swimming.
He didn't know what he had done that for.
"Wake up," he chirped. I'm lonely and there's something missing and I'm scared—"I prepared your bath."
Bakura blinked, then rolled to his side and slowly sat up, trying to blink the sleepiness away. Ryou watched from beside him.
When Bakura stepped into the bathroom, he saw nothing but white tiles and a frosty mirror. He turned to Ryou for an explanation.
Didn't I…? Ryou blinked, then gave a sheepish smile. "Sorry. Must've been hallucinating or something—must have been the exams." He gave Bakura a casual shrug, but inside his mind was racing. Did I even…?
"It's winter break," Bakura said flatly. "We haven't had school for at least a week from December." Shaking his head, he walked forward anyways, twisting about the taps. "You should—work on your humour—not funny, Ryou."
Bakura seemed to be having trouble with the taps. There was no sound of running water, and no matter how much Bakura twisted them they couldn't seem to turn.
"Bakura?" Ryou stepped slightly closer. "What's wrong?"
"You didn't do it?" his brother shot back, sounding wary. "Better not be the cold…not going to spend the rest of the year and half of the next without a convenient shower…" he grumbled, looking like he desperately wanted to kick the tub with his bare feet.
—Bakuchan has such nice skin—
"Can I try?" Ryou asked, a second too early. Bakura looked at him like he knew he couldn't do it, but stepped away and offered the job to Ryou anyways.
Ryou took a deep breath in preparation. I want—Ryou tugged at the taps, but they wouldn't budge—you should, I'll make you—he pulled at them harder—you will look at me the way I look at you, you have to—
There was a click then, and Ryou's palms were red when he let go. The tap was loose—incredibly so—just as Bakura was about to congratulate him for breaking the shower, a stream of water gushed out of the valve. It splashed loudly across the bottom, and Ryou jumped back—then, nothing. Ryou calmed his breathing, hands redder than ever when he released his grip from Bakura's shirt, and when it sank in his face matched the hue.
Ryou could barely stand. Breathe, he told himself, breathe and maybe—probably—shit, I'm even stuttering inside my head—"I—I'm sorry…"
Bakura stared for a moment, expression particularly blank. Shit, Ryou thought, he must be really mad… For the briefest moment, Ryou thought he could see Bakura's face crease in anger—but his brother merely sighed, leaning against then wall. "Guess we can't help it, then," he said, "I'm going to share your shower until we get this fixed, okay?"
Ryou's face was glowing red. "S-share?"
Bakura blinked at him. "Yes, share. I'm not going to steal it from you—it's in your room anyways—we'll just be alternating. I'm not going to hog it or anything, it's temporary."
Ryou looked down, feeling the rush of blood drain away slowly. "A-alternating," he repeated, alternating alternating alternating—"yes, okay. Yeah." Damn.
Bakura stared a bit longer, then shook his head. "Maybe you should go out for a while. Is being copped up doing things to you head?"
Ryou blushed furiously and shoved him, and Bakura shoved him back. Exiting the bathroom, they laughed.
Something still wasn't right.
-
Ryou sat up groggily. There were bags under his eyes and his head swam with dizziness. Sighing, he fell back and snuggled into the pillows once again.
The was a shuffle then; small, barely audible, and for a moment Ryou was sure he was just hearing things—then, the door burst open. Coming through was Bakura, his hair matted limp around his head, strands sticking to his cheeks. He turned to Ryou in somewhat of an apology.
"Sorry," he started—"my shower is broken. I'm going to use yours, okay?"
"I know," Ryou mumbled sleepily, giving his brother a brief smile. A moment passed where Bakura stepped quickly into the bathroom, locking the door behind him with a click.
"You know?" his voice was muffled by the door. "What, did you do it or something?"
Ryou's eyes shot open.
"I-I already said—" he started, but the sound of water interrupted him, and he sat back bewilderedly. I…didn't he, just yesterday…? Feeling a small thump of fright clenched around his chest, and immediately he got off the bed and ran down the stairway. Tripping into the living room, he searched for the calendar.
December seventh.
Oh, god, Ryou thought. His eyes were wide with horror. He checked it over and over again, but his eyes only had so much things to read before he arrived back at the conclusion that it really was one week from December.
He ran all the way back upstairs, flung himself into his room and banged on the washroom door. "Bakura!" he screamed, "Bakura!"
A few seconds later, the sound of the shower stopped. There were a few shuffles, and two footsteps before the open opened slightly. "What," his brother snapped irritably, dripping wet.
Ryou took a step backwards, blushing. Suddenly, he couldn't remember the reason he was here in the first place. Something about the date, probably…
"I-um—" he gave a small squeak when Bakura rolled his eyes and opened the door a tiny bit wider. "I—oh, just, sorry," he flushed, "sorry for interrupting, I just—must be the exams." He grinned nervously, turning. "Um, bye now. Yeah."
Bakura's voice had a familiar flatness to it. "It's winter break," he said, "We haven't had school for at least a week from December." Shaking his head, he walked back, and Ryou watched as he twisted about the taps. "You should—work on your humour—ah, there." He walked back and closed the door. "Shoo."
Ryou stared for a moment, standing dumbfounded. He—he doesn't know—Groaning, he slid down to his knees, burying his face in his palms. God, please let this be a dream…
-
When Bakura walked down the stairway, he was fully dry and looked ten times healthier than before. He sat down on the chair opposite from Ryou's, staring as his brother looked up from a mouth full of cereal.
"Bakura?" Ryou asked, blinking.
"Let's go out," he said, "go find a mechanic or something." He gave a careless shrug, but his gaze was pointed. "Maybe a tutor for checkers."
Ah, Ryou remembered, that. He held on to the thought—he wasn't very interested in learning, but it was the only thing that made sense today.
Something was wrong...
Ryou gave a start, gasping as he jumped from his chair. Bakura was up with him in an instant, running over to check for injuries. "Ryou?"
Dream dream dream, Ryou reminded himself, looking at his fingers, which were red tipped over blue, and his palms, fully red.
"Shit," Bakura said faintly from beside him, "did you burn yourself or something?" Ryou tensed as his brother dotted over him, and vaguely he could hear his command to stay there. Ryou wasn't sure if he could move.
I couldn't have, Ryou thought, somewhat panicked, I couldn't have, I was eating ce—
Looking down, there on the table, was an empty bowl—no traces of milk or crumbs. The pan sizzled by his ear, burning on the stove.
Something is wrong…
Ryou fainted.
Um, yeah, tbc.