Notes about this chapter: Ryou and Bakura are step-brothers. Ryou's mother was married to Bakura's father. The past tense is because she died in a car crash with their half-sister Amane. They're still lovers, which has something to do with their past lives, but I'm not about to give you any more spoilers than this ;D. Ryou still does call Bakura his big brother because they both look each other as their only remaining family after the accident, since their/Bakura's father is almost never around. Oh, and Fuyuki is their last name in this, it means "winter trees".

Warnings: Tendershipping, some Ryou-angst, OOC Bakura I guess…

Sending Christmas cards: Ryou

"Today, we're going to make Christmas cards that you can send to your relatives and friends who live further away!" The art teacher of Domino High announced cheerfully, earning quite a bit groans of protest from her students. They were too old for this!

But one boy in the class didn't react like the others. He didn't say anything, just frowned deeply and tried not to cry here in the middle of the class.

Fuyuki Ryou had no relatives or friends living farther who he could send cards to. Or receive cards from.

-

Much later that day, Ryou was in his and Bakura's apartment, playing his flute. Flute-playing always made him feel peaceful and it brought him comfort when his lover/brother wasn't here to give it to him. Bakura had got another detention after school for sleeping in class.

Ryou poured his sorrows into his playing and fell deeply into the world of his music. He loved this content feeling, when he simply felt nothing but his love for playing. These moments he could drown his sadness without shedding any tears. Sometimes, it was the only thing besides his brother that kept him sane.

Focused on his playing, Ryou didn't even notice or hear the door of the apartment open and close, and someone stepping inside. Bakura shed his shoes from his feet and put on his slippers instead, while listening to Ryou's beautiful music that the smaller white-haired boy was producing right in front of his eyes. But on the other hand hearing it made him sad, because Ryou only ever played when he was distressed and/or sad about something. However, he decided to wait until Ryou was finished with his playing until he'd confront the other about it.

Finally, Ryou stopped, and took the flute off his lips with a sigh.

"You play just as beautifully as always." Bakura spoke up to get the smaller one's attention. Ryou looked at him over his shoulder, looking rather alerted.

"Onii-chan! You scared me!"

"Sorry." Bakura chuckled.

"When did you get home?" Ryou then asked, starting to slowly put his flute away.

"Just now." Bakura replied, seating himself on their couch. "So…care to tell me what's wrong?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Don't give me that, Ry, when you know I know you better than that. You only ever play when you're feeling down. So tell me, what's happened?"

Ryou hopped next to him on the couch, and nuzzled his cheek against Bakura's chest as the taller white-haired youth pulled his arms around the smaller one's lithe form.

"Today, in the art class…we made Christmas cards." Ryou murmured softly.

"And?"

"And…I guess it just hit me hard that I realised I have no one to send those cards to or receive cards from. I can't even send any to dad because we can never be completely sure where he is…and he's not even coming home for Christmas…" Ryou's voice broke.

Bakura tightened his grip around his lover. He would've gladly killed the old man who he hated enough already for this, not to mention that art teacher of Ryou's, but he knew Ryou would be upset about that, so…He would just have to come up with other ways to comfort Ryou.

It was true they didn't have any relatives, or at least relatives they kept in contact with. Yukiko – Ryou's mother and his own mother-figure, his father's second wife – had once told him that because she had decided to give birth to Ryou when she'd been only a teenager, her old-fashioned family had rejected her. Bakura himself had no relatives. His father hadn't had any siblings and his grandparents were dead already. He hadn't seen or heard about his "real" mother since he had been two, when that woman had left him and his father, so…Not that Bakura had ever longed after his own mother, hell no. Yukiko had been much more of a mother to him than his own ever. She had loved and treated him just like if he had been her own son, instead of just step-son. He, too, had loved her like his own mother. He even called her 'mom'.

But that was pretty much it for their relatives. The second best option would be friends, but Ryou didn't have any back in their old hometowns. They had only used him for their own purposes and then stabbed him in the back while Bakura had tested them in a Shadow Game of Monster World. Though their souls had been released since his battle with Atemu in the same game, it wasn't like Ryou anymore thought of them as his friends…

Then the keyword hit him. 'Atemu'.

"Ry." He spoke softly and the smaller boy looked up, tears still in the bright green eyes. "How about we send those cards you made to your friends here? I mean, they don't have to live far so you can sent some to them, right?"

The look on Ryou's face brightened. "Yes! That's a great idea, Onii-chan! Let's do that!" Then he softened his voice. "Will you help me?"

Bakura chuckled. "Of course. But speak of it to no one." He said as he stood up.

The rest of the evening the two white-haired youths put cards into envelopes, sealed them, put stamps on them and wrote down the addresses and the season's greetings. They would drop them into a mailbox tomorrow on their way to school.

Only one card was left over, but now much happier Ryou said it didn't matter, and told Bakura to just throw it away. One card here or there. But Bakura didn't do so, just put the card on the fridge to be stored in case needed.

-

A few days later, a cheerful Ryou returned home, humming happily. Bakura was once more in detention. But Ryou was happy nevertheless. His friends had all received their cards and had thanked him today for them.

Still…it was kind of sad there wasn't anyone to receive cards from, he thought as he picked up the mail.

When he reached the apartment itself, he looked it through. Bill, bill, advert and…an envelope?

Fuyuki Ryou, it read, but there was no address. So someone had just dropped it there?

Anxiously, Ryou opened it. The envelope stored a dark green, slightly messy card with some Christmas-y stickers on it, among with the lyrics of "We wish you a merry Christmas". Ryou turned the card around and read:

"Dear Ryou,

I know you really wanted to receive a card too, so I did this for you. I hope you'll like it, even though it's not nearly as good as the ones you made.

Much love,

Bakura"

Ryou felt tears of happiness crawl into his eyes and he hugged the card against his chest.

Then, he remembered something and went to get it ready.

-

Bakura came home about an hour later, and Ryou presented him the card that had been left over.

"Dear Bakura,

I really appreciate what you did. I want you to know I appreciate everything you've done for me. You've always been there for me and it often feels like I don't even return the half of the favour. But I just want you to know that I love you more than anything and I'm glad you're here with me. I can't wait to spend this another Christmas together.

Much love,

Ryou"

Neither one of the two light-haired boys got very much sleep that night.

Not much dialogue in this one…oh well. It was pretty simple but it makes the best sense that way ^^. Ryou was the one to send Christmas cards in the music video as well, so the idea just kind of…came for me ^^;.

Ryou and Bakura are in a very loving relationship, because I've always been the friend of fluff, so I like my pairings fluffy, thank you very much.

And yes, Ryou plays the flute. I thought that was cute XD. It's kind of a form of a therapy for him, as expressed ^^.

I've always wanted to use the word 'nuzzle' XD.

Next is Five months of bills, that's idea is going to be slightly alerted.