And here comes the 4th chapter! Enjoy and please leave a review. :)


Chapter 4 – Visit

The rest of the day went by in a whim. Bakura really wished that Mariku hadn't mentioned his interest in RPG's. Now Ryou seemed to have decided that Bakura was his new best friend and kept following him around wherever he went, always talking about nonsensical things. It made everything so much harder for Bakura; he could barely breath, barely speak, barely think; all because of Ryou. The smaller boy's presence affected him so much. Too much. So when the school day finally ended, Bakura almost ran out of the classroom and hurried out of the school yard, not even staying behind to talk with his friends like he usually did.

He'd barely got around the corner when he heard someone yell to him from behind him.

"Bakura! Wait!" Bakura turned around. Ryou was running towards him, completely out of breath. Bakura felt his cheeks turn red, and once again had to gather all his willpower to control himself.

"Yes?" he muttered, observing Ryou. "What do you want?" Ryou seemed to be a bit frightened by his negative attitude, but nevertheless, he managed a smile.

"I was wondering... Would you like to come over to my house? I could teach you to play RPG's." Ryou was trying to look confident, but Bakura could see that he was really afraid to be rejected. He made the mistake of looking into Ryou's pleading brown eyes, and found himself letting out a sigh.

"Of course", his mouth replied, without his mind's consent. Ryou beamed at him.

"That's great! My home is this way!" He started walking down the road, clearly expecting Bakura to follow him. Bakura considered it for a moment, but in the end, he followed Ryou home.

Ryou didn't live far from the school. He lived in a big blue private house with a small but beautiful garden. Bakura couldn't help but stare. Pegasus wasn't exactly poor, but he had never wanted to waste money on a big house since his wife, Bakura's stepmother Cyndia, died when Bakura was younger. Thus, he and Bakura had only lived in a small house for as long as Bakura could remember. Ryou's home looked so... homely. It sounded stupid, but that was really the best word to describe it with.

"Come on!" Ryou encouraged him. "Let's go inside! You don't have to be shy!" For a second, Bakura wondered what made Ryou think that he, Bakura Crawford, one of the most frightening students in the school, would be shy. Then, he came to the realisation that Ryou had only known him for a day, and during that entire day, Bakura had barely been able to speak to Ryou without getting flustered. Ryou must have thought that his weird behaviour was because he was shy, and not because of... the other reasons. Bakura had to pull himself out of his own thoughts to follow Ryou into his home. Immediately after closing the front door behind them, they were greeted by an energetic light-blue-haired woman with her hair tied up in a bun; Ryou's mother.

"Ryou! Home already?" she asked, smiling widely. Ryou nodded.

"Yes. Has Amane come home yet?"

"No. She called and told me she was going down-town with some new friends", Ryou's mother explained. That was when she finally spotted Bakura. "Oh! Who's this, Ryou? Oh, don't tell me..." Her smile became even wider. "You've finally found yourself a friend!" She leant closer to Bakura. Bakura drew back. Ryou's mother's eye colour was the same as Amane's; bright green. All in all, she looked very much like her daughter. "Who are you, my dear?"

"I'm Bakura", Bakura said. "Bakura Crawford." Ryou's mother just kept smiling.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Bakura Crawford", she said. "Ryou has never had any friends except for his sister. You have no idea how happy I am that he has found a friend at last!" She patted Ryou's shoulder. "Now, if he only could find himself a girl to marry!"

Bakura felt his blood begin to boil. Ryou, with a girl?! He was filled with a sudden desire to seriously harm Mrs. Shiromune for saying such a thing. Ryou was his! His alone! No one was going to take Ryou from him!

Then, Bakura caught himself thinking these thoughts and felt utterly ridiculous. He had only known Ryou for a few hours, not to mention that he was a boy and Bakura had always liked girls. Bakura suddenly recalled that this very morning, he'd told Mariku and Atemu that he wanted to find Ruya again. Well, now he regretted it.

"Mum!" Ryou shouted in embarrassment, bringing Bakura out of his thoughts. Neither he or his mother had apparently noticed Bakura's inner rage. "Stop that! You know I don't-"

"I know, honey." Ryou's mother laughed. "I'm sorry. I was just joking. Is this new friend of yours just-" Before she had the chance to say anything more, Ryou nudged Bakura towards a staircase.

"Mum, I think my friend Bakura and I will be going to my room now", he said, emphasising the word "friend", and gestured towards the staircase. Bakura took the hint and started walking up the stairs. Ryou's mother just smiled and waved.

"Of course, of course! I'll leave you two alone for now", she said, looking apologetic, and swept out of Bakura's sight. Bakura didn't really know what to think of Ryou's mother. On one hand, she seemed nice, but on the other hand, she had made that comment about Ryou marrying a girl and...

"I'm sorry about Mum", Ryou said as he caught up with Bakura at the top of the stairs. "She's just really glad that I've found a friend. I guess she didn't think that anyone would want to be friends with me if I told them I was..." He didn't say anything more after that; he just stopped himself really abruptly. Bakura looked at Ryou curiously.

"What?"

"Nothing", Ryou said with a sigh. "I just don't want to find a girl to marry. Oh! Here's my room!" He changed the subject suddenly, and opened a blue door which led into a big room. Bakura, however, stayed outside the room. Not wanting to marry a girl? Was Ryou, perhaps...? No, no, no. Bakura was analysing too much again. He forced himself to stop thinking. Ryou's statement could have meant many things.

Bakura took a deep breath to regain control and stepped into Ryou's room. He was surprised by what he found. He had expected small and sweet Ryou's room to be...innocent, somehow. However, Ryou's room had black walls and was full of bookshelves filled to the edges with all kinds of strange books and games. There was a big window in the room, however, which pretty much saved the room from being engulfed in never-ending darkness. Just beneath the window, there was a big desk. Ryou sat down on his bed and gestured for Bakura to sit down beside him. Bakura, however, didn't feel like taking a seat so close to Ryou, so instead, he climbed onto Ryou's desk and sat down.

"I like your room", he finally said, breaking the silence between them.

"I'm glad to hear that", Ryou replied, still sounding a bit shy and worried. "Hey... Bakura?" He shifted nervously on his bed.

"...Yes?" Bakura inquired.

"Do you want to play a game?" Ryou asked. Bakura nodded. That was what he came here for, after all. Just wasting time by sitting quietly in Ryou's room wasn't very interesting, after all.

"What do you think I came here for?" he asked sarcastically. Ryou smiled.

"All right. Let's get started."

The next few hours went by in a whim. Ryou didn't remember when he had last had this fun. Probably not since Amane stopped playing games with him several years back. However, Bakura was very different from Amane. He didn't have the bubbly, happy and cheerful personality that Ryou's sister had; rather the complete opposite. He was ill-tempered and didn't say much, and very sarcastic. Ryou liked that. He found Bakura's sarcasm amusing. Bakura was also surprisingly good at RPG's. Ryou hadn't expected him to be such a quick learner. Bakura seemed to be a natural at adapting different roles and strategies. Ryou was very impressed. They tried playing most of Ryou's RPG's, and after maybe five different games, they were interrupted by the door opening suddenly.

"Ryou! Mum says dinner's ready... Oh!" Amane stared at Ryou and Bakura on the floor playing games in surprise. "Aren't you the boy in our class who fainted this morning?" She looked at Bakura with a grin, and Bakura frowned.

"What if I am? Does it matter?" he asked and glared at her. She just looked at him, smiling.

"Come downstairs for dinner", she said and disappeared out of the room. Bakura looked at Ryou, questioning.

"Am I staying for dinner?"

"Of course you are!" Ryou said and got up from the floor. "Why shouldn't you? Mum knows you're here; I'm sure she's made enough so that you can have some too! Come on!" Bakura looked a bit unsure, but he got up and followed Ryou down the stairs anyway.

Dinner was awkward. Ryou, Amane, their mother and Bakura were all seated around the table and ate in silence at first.

"So..." Amane began, looking at Bakura. "What's he doing here?"

"Bakura likes RPG's and didn't have anyone else to play with, so I invited him home", Ryou explained. Amane looked surprised.

"You like games?" she asked Bakura.

"Is that really so unbelievable?" Bakura retorted.

"Um... No, not really", Amane said. "But I made quite a few friends at school today, and they said you're a real womaniser..." She blushed a bit as she said that. "I guess I didn't think you would be a nerd too..."

"Amane, that's rude!" their mother told her as she left the table, finished with her meal.

"Yeah. Right. Sorry", Amane said, rolling her eyes, clearly not sorry at all. Now, only the three teens were left at the table. Bakura chewed his food slowly, keeping his eyes focused on Amane.

"What else did they say about me?" he then asked slowly.

"Uh..." Amane considered his question. "Well, they said you've dumped every girl who's ever tried to date you. Within three weeks."

"Two weeks, actually", Bakura replied coolly, smirking a bit. Ryou didn't like it. Bakura's sinister smile made him uncomfortable. Was this some sort of voiceless challenge for Amane to attempt to break that record? Amane seemed to take it as such. She smiled back at him, and Ryou was beginning to feel very much like a third wheel.

"Bakura...?" he mumbled, not really wanting to be rude, but he really didn't feel comfortable with the thought of his sister fancying his new friend. "I'm done. Are you finished yet?" Actually, Ryou still had a lot of food on his plate, but Bakura didn't need to know that Ryou had originally intended to eat it. Bakura had only eaten the meat on his plate, but he got up anyway.

"Sure. I wasn't hungry anyway."

They returned to Ryou's room and sat there, Ryou on his bed and Bakura on the desk, in silence for a while. Ryou wanted to say something, but he didn't know what to say. He wanted to go back to playing the games and just forget that they had ever been interrupted, but it was too late for that.

"I think my sister likes you." he finally stated. Bakura looked at him, raising his eyebrows.

"You think?" He chuckled as he leapt off the desk and paced around in the room. "I've noticed. Everyone does, at first." His eyes suddenly became really sad. "That is, until they get to know me. Then they realise I'm a cold-hearted bastard." He laughed, but it was a very empty laugh, no joy in it at all.

"I like you", Ryou mumbled. Bakura stopped laughing and turned to face Ryou. He looked very serious and a bit surprised.

"You... You do?" His voice was surprisingly soft, stripped of all its rudeness and pride. "I... Ryou, I don't know what to say... I'm-"

"I didn't mean it like that!" Ryou quickly added when he realised what impression he might have given Bakura. "I meant... I like you as a friend. I'm n-not attracted to you, though I am gay..." Whoops. Had he just revealed a secret to Bakura? "I mean, it's not that you're unattractive, a-actually you're really handsome, and..." He trailed off. No matter what he said, it just came out wrong and awkward. Bakura didn't say anything for a while. After about a minute, he spoke again.

"How did you know? That you were gay, I mean." What a surprising question. Ryou had expected some nasty joke, or a rude comment, so he was taken by surprise.

"Well... First I realised that I wasn't all that into pretty girls and didn't like the thought of dating or marrying one... So I thought about what it would be like dating or marrying a pretty boy, and that was about it", he explained. "I decided it pretty quickly."

"I see", Bakura said. "Does anyone else know? Except me, that is."

"Just my mother", Ryou admitted. "I was going to tell Amane, but I've never had the chance to bring it up, and I'm a bit scared to see what she thinks, to be honest. Same with my father. He's an archaeologist, so he's almost never home because he's out digging. He travels all over the world. I don't know what he would think." He wondered why he was even telling Bakura about this. For some reason, Ryou trusted him. But he had only known Bakura since this morning; was it all right to trust him? But Bakura just stood there and didn't say anything. Ryou went on. "I'm surprised. You seem to be so... accepting of this." In fact, Ryou thought for a moment that Bakura looked almost... relieved?

"You think so?" Bakura looked a bit uncomfortable. "Well... It's not all that strange, really. Since this morning, Mariku seems to have started lusting after Malik, and I highly suspect that Atemu has at least a small crush on Yuugi. So, I'm surprisingly okay with this." Ryou laughed at his comment, but quickly turned serious again.

"So you don't mind it, then? You don't mind me being gay?" he asked, barely believing it.

"No", Bakura said simply, and took a seat on the bed beside Ryou. "It doesn't make any difference to me." However, Ryou noticed that Bakura wouldn't look into his eyes when he said that.

"It's getting late", Ryou said after yet another minute of silence. It was 10.40 PM. Wow. Time really did fly when you spent time with someone. "Do you want to spend the night here? My bed is big enough for two." He didn't know what made him say that. He just didn't want Bakura to leave. Not yet. Ryou wondered since when he had become this clingy. He finally had a friend; he shouldn't be getting this possessive. But Bakura seemed to consider it.

"...Okay", he finally stated. "I'm not going to start doing this every night, though." He got off the bed and paced around the room again. "Don't get too close to me, okay? I don't like body contact."

"No problem!" Ryou said. "I'll go get one of Dad's pyjamas. I think mine are too small."

A few minutes later, they were both lying under the covers in Ryou's bed. Ryou was lying pressed up against the wall, and Bakura was already fast asleep on his right side. Ryou heard the other teen snore lightly. Bakura sure had fallen asleep quickly. Ryou envied him, as he had a hard time falling asleep. He moved a little closer to Bakura; not quite close enough to touch, though. He was sure Bakura wouldn't mind.

For some reason, Ryou felt like he had a connection to Bakura. Being around Bakura made him feel safe and somehow happy. Ryou kept feeling like he had forgotten something. Had he met Bakura before? In that case, when? Was that why Bakura acted so strange around him? Bakura tossed around in his sleep. He was probably dreaming something. Ryou wondered what he dreamt about.

"...Ryou..." Bakura mumbled in his sleep and moved closer to Ryou, wrapping an arm around him.

Ryou smiled, closed his eyes and finally fell asleep.


A/N: Yet another chapter where the High School AU trope is still intact. Ryou's mum is an unavoidable OC. I usually try to avoid using OC's in my fics, but sometimes I just can't avoid it, because Ryou's mother is never seen in canon so I had to make her up. Hikari, as most of you probably know, is Japanese for light. Of course, if Ryou's mother is my OC, Amane is too, in a way, in all but name, but… whatever. Moving on to other subjects.

And so, it is revealed that Ryou Shiromune is gay, much to our dear protagonist's joy/horror. Bakura still doesn't know what to think, and knowing that Ryou is gay just confuses him even more. Ryou, on the other hand, likes Bakura a lot but tries to keep it on a platonic level. Ryou strikes me as the kind of guy who'd ignore any romantic/sexual feelings he has for a friend simply because he doesn't want to ruin their friendship. Being gay makes it even more difficult for him, and entrusting Bakura with such an intimate fact comes as a surprise for both of them. Ryou is a bit blind when he doesn't notice how much Bakura likes him, though… Something that also annoys me in fics, by the way, is the seme/uke dynamic in slash relationships. There is no such thing as seme and uke in an average, real-life, healthy homosexual relationship. And I'll never write Ryou like a whimp. I hate fics which portray Ryou as weak. He's not. He's as strong as Bakura, if not stronger.

It's also revealed that Amane seems to have a crush on Bakura, and that Bakura doesn't seem to mind much. (He WILL later, trust me.) He even flirts back a bit, to the extent that he gets Ryou jealous. Oh, and then Bakura ends up sleeping over with Ryou. In his bed. Yeah. Totally platonic here. I love writing intimate conversations between a flustered Bakura and an oblivious Ryou. It's just too cute.