Dear lovely readers who have great taste:
I know I've let this baby hanging for a little while but now that I'm back into fic for good. It will be updated roughly once a month along with my other ongoing projects. ENJOY. -Milly

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blackout

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two.

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Ryou nearly jumped when she heard a rattle against the door. Her heart skipped a beat. Gave a glance at her book; still at page one. Ryou brought a hand to her lips in alarm. She'd been blacking out.

A tall, lanky figure stepped in. She yelled by reflex when she took notice of Ryou's presence. It was the tomboy form downstairs. Ryou bit her lip, smiled, then looked around her in a panic, confused.

"Who're you?"

"I'm, my name is, oh gosh," Ryou should've seen this coming, why hadn't she picked another place to read, somewhere outside the room? Even though she was entitled to it, her current occupant might not know about her moving in, and right now she looked rightfully angry.

"I'm Ryou. We're roommates," she blurted out. "I mean I'm your new roommate. I'm sorry I intruded your space like this... I should've waited..." She stood up, ready to leave.

"Don't sweat it, it's okay. I believe you. Riyu?"

"Ryou. Bakura."

"Right. I'm Joey. Wheeler."

"Nice to meet you." Ryou bowed her head lightly.

"Stop that, I'm not the headmistress," she joked. 'Joey' kicked her shoes off one after the other, each one landing in a different spot. Ryou's mood was somehow uplifted by the girl's casual friendliness.

The ambient giggles outside the bedroom dwindled down to nothing all of a sudden. Ryou saw Kaiba's silhouette marching in the hallway, calling for silence with the playfulness of a presidential bodyguard at the very moment Josephine - no, Joey - closed the door behind her.

"I figured I couldn't keep all that space all to myself for too long," the boyish blonde said, plopping down on the other available chair. "So, why are you here? You don't look like a 's type of girl."

"What do you mean?" Not knowing what to do with her hands, Ryou fiddled with the paperback's cover. "What's a 's type of girl?"

Joey let out an unrestrained laugh. "A fucked up rich kid. Which, in case you haven't noticed, I am not." There was a hint of disdain and pride in her voice. "I'm here 'cause they want me on their sports team. When it's good for them..." She trailed off, shook her head and tsked. Her eyes were dancing all around the room. She was probably thinking on how to reorganize her space to accommodate the new occupant.

Josephine looked every bit like an athletic scholarship student; where Ryou had flabby, smooth limbs, Joey exhibited the smooth carvings of well toned muscle, just the right amount of body fat and shapely legs. It was extremely hard for Ryou not to look at the nipples peaking from under her loose, white top. The blond seemed completely oblivious to Ryou's uncontrollable ogling - and also, quite comfortable with her own body.

"This is sort of like jail, you know. There's some fucked up shit going on. Drugs and shit. I know at least a girl who went to rehab, and one to juvie. Just thought you should know."

"Wow," was all Ryou found to say.

"I mean, I'm just assuming... I mean you look like a good kid. Like, girly and pretty and stuff, not like, snobby or, you know." She scratched the back of her head nervously, then brought one knee up to her chin, resting one foot on her chair.

"I guess I do," offered Ryou with a meek laugh. "I'm not sure whether I'm a good girl like you say, though."

"Whaddaya mean? You bring library books past the due date? Bad girl," she joked again, then looked away awkwardly.

Somewhere inside Ryou's chest, something warmed up.

"So, right, you need to unpack and stuff. Erm..." She looked around and grinned sheepishly. "Sorry my crap's all over the place."

"No, no, that's not a problem, that's alright. You had all this place to yourself, right? It's normal you got comfortable," Ryou said.

"I guess, heh. Uhm... So, Up or down?"

"Up? Or down?"

"Your bed."

"Oh. I don't mind."

"Like hell you don't mind. Everybody has a preference."

"Okay, well... I'll just pick lower level, then."

She concluded, judging by the grin on Joey's face, that she'd picked the right answer.

"Alright then. Sheets are clean and all, but I got some crap on it. Don't worry, it's usually just my clean clothing. I'm too lazy to store it away properly, ha." She scratched her head in embarrassment.

"Can I help?" Ryou offered.

"N-No, I'm good," she managed, utterly unconvinced. "It'll take like, five minutes." Joey stood up and started tugging on limp sleeves that protruded from the upper bedding section.

Five minutes was a generous estimate... If she was going for the 'throw everything in the closet' method.

"Are you sure? I don't have anything else to do, you know. I really don't mind helping."

"Okay then, just throw these in those drawers there."

Ryou wouldn't have any of it. Clothing needed to be treated with respect. Before she knew it, she was diligently folding all of Joey's clothing.

"Hey! Don't do that. Really. You don't have to," Joey called out. She had climbed on the second level mattress and was dumping whatever pens and loose half used sheets of paper laid there forgotten. Ryou averted her eyes just before - no, too late - she caught sight of Joey's chest peeking from the opening of her tank top...

This time, the blonde seemed to notice, bringing a hand to her chest to flatten the fabric against her skin. "Sorry, didn't think I'd have company tonight, ha..."

"N-no," Ryou mumbled, and then she turned away and mumbled some more, completely aware that her new roommate could not possibly understand what she was saying.

"It's good now, you can set up your stuff."

Ryou heard her jump down and land on the floor loudly. She felt bad for the neighbour downstairs. Ryou wondered if Kaiba's dislike for Joey stemmed from the fact that... She probably got a lot of complaints from other inmates.

"No really, I'm good." Joey grabbed the soiled jeans Ryou was folding from her hands. "This goes to the laundry anyway. Don't sweat it! Just get settled and all, I'll handle the rest. It's my responsibility!"

She then gave Ryou a winsome smile that made her insides melt a little.

"Gotta give that back to somebody," she said, grabbing a handful of magazines from the floor. "Be right back."

So while she really could technically get changed into her pajamas and start her nighttime reading, the white haired girl didn't stop there.

She gathered together the remaining magazines and arranged them on the corner of the most lived in of the two desks - the one with half eaten cup noodles on it - and tossed these in the already full garbage can. Took down the worn out makeshift curtains (some old hair towel?) and folded it with the one other, plusher towel she had found and laid these on the bed. She paired sports and formal shoes together by the door, found a school bag underneath a pile of assorted sport tops and training bras that had holes in them and placed it near the shoes.

When Joey came back, the room looked almost livable. The smell remained still, but Ryou'd get used to it. For now. She was already planning to do a deep clean secretly, when Joey wasn't there.

"Jeez Louise, you didn't have to do that. At least wait for tomorrow morning. You wanna get changed first?"

"Sure." She'd say no, of course, but really didn't want to upset Joey. She unzipped her suitcase and began looking for her nighttime outfit.

"We share the bathroom with the room next to us, so make sure you lock both doors then you're in. Oh, and, don't mind the mess. Heheh."

Ryou turned around, her gear in hand, to see Joey give her most sheepish grin yet. She held back a wince and bravely laid a hand on the bathroom door, not willing just yet to open it.

This was going to be painful.