And she's back from vacation!

DeathsIllusion-whistles

journey maker-Actually to my understanding small amoutns of asprin are pretty much the only thing pregnant women can take (something about alcohol in the medicine) I kind of just skipped the whole sick thing though... It's really just there to make Bakura feel more like Ryou doesn't really care about him that much and to make Ryou more uptight about Bakura's health.

Kidiu Anaji-Your names hard to spell. Yes, they're gonna have a fight. Over what Bakura eays, over how he sleeps, over how much time Ryou spends at Yugis, over how often Malik comes over, over everything!

Darksnickle-PrincessKezadoodle-Yeah... neither would I...

Bakura climbed out of bed and went into the bathroom to wash up. Between him and Ryou both coming down with that fever Malik hadn't come by for a whole month. Today Malik was finally coming again and he wanted to be ready. And he really needed to clean up, he'd rarely washed while he was sick.

He looked in the mirror. His stomach looked so strange to him, even if it had only slowly changed, he still preferred the more muscular version it had once been. He ran his hand over his stomach, imagining he could still fell his muscles under it, then froze. Had he just felt a… no… he couldn't have

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"What?!" Ryou, still slightly sick from the past month, sprang out of bed and rushed to the bathroom "What's wrong?!"

Bakura sat on the floor, looking like he was on the verge of tears "Ryou I… I'm… fat"

Ryou blinked "That's it? I mean-no you're not!" he sat down on the floor next to Bakura and put his hand on his stomach "Look, you're barely showing. It's almost impossible to tell unless you feel it"

"But… but it's… UUUWAAAAAAAAAH!" Bakura buried his face in Ryou's chest crying.

Ryou patted Bakura's back "It's no big deal. Bakura. It's only a tiny bump. Sure, it will grow a little more before the baby's actually born but it goes away afterward"

"It…" Bakura looked up at Ryou "It get's bigger? Ryou I don't want to be fat!"

Ryou chuckled nervously "Yeah Bakura, the baby needs room to grow so you're stomach will have to grow a bit" It probably wasn't a good idea to lie about it "It usually ends up being about…" he held his hand a certain distance from Bakura's stomach "this big"

Bakura paled "that's…"

"Don't worry" Ryou smiled "It will go back to normal afterward. I have to go to school now. Stay put before Malik gets here"

It took some time for Bakura to remember that he'd come into the bathroom to take a shower. Finishing that, he dried his hair off when he heard Malik calling to him outside the door. He'd either spent too much time sitting around thinking about how he'd get fat or to much time in the shower.

Sighing, he put his clothes on. He'd brought a tight shirt into the bathroom to change into and had to make sure his bump didn't show through the fabric. Ryou was right, it was hardly noticeable but… he shuddered. There was no way he could hide this from Malik if his stomach actually did grow as much as Ryou said it would.

"There you are" Malik pulled Bakura out of the bathroom the instant the door opened "I thought I'd come early to surprise you and you repay me by running water the whole time. Don't waste water!"

"You couldn't care less about that!" Bakura roughly shoved Malik

"Hey! I'm just kidding around! You don't have to be so mean!" Though in all reality Malik was a little relieved to see the Bakura was acting normal after coming down with a fever.

"I…" Bakura looked away "It's not… never mind…" he felt really irritated. Maybe it was a mode swing, maybe it was the whole 'rounding' thing Ryou had told him about. "Can we go to the park?" Scratch that, it was mood swings.

Malik raised an eyebrow "Um… sure…?"

"Yay!" Bakura hugged Malik, which felt a little odd for both of them "Sorry!" he jumped back "Come on, let's go!"

SC I'm just gonna skip this

Bakura and Malik were playing Super Smash Bros Melee by the time Ryou got home. Bakura was wining, which Malik said was only because Bakura spent the past month locked up inside, but Malik played the game more often that Bakura did either way. Ryou decided that Malik just wasn't good at video games.

"Hah! Take that Zelda!"

"What! No fair! You've won 17 times in a row! You have to be cheating!"

The two boys started arguing. Ryou shook his head, wondering if he should break them up or not. In the end he just went into the kitchen to start making diner.

"Is he gone?" Bakura and Malik both looked up to make sure Ryou was no longer there "Great" they looked back at the TV and changed the channel to a horror movie "There's no way he'd actually let me watch this"

"Why not?"

"I don't know. He thinks this kind of stuff is too stressful for me or something. During the past few months he's started treating me like a baby" This was, of course, because he was having a baby, but Bakura saw no need to tell Malik this any time soon.

"Marik's been acting weird lately too (not that he ever acts normal) and it's starting to…" he trailed off as the woman on the screen screamed "THAT WAS AWESOME"

Bakura rolled his eyes and flinched as his stomach started to cramp up "dammit, not now" he whispered. Luckily Malik was to busy being absorbed (almost literally since he was moving closer and closer to the screen) by the TV.

"What are you watching?" Ryou asked poking his head around the corner "Bakura are you sure you should be-" Bakura chucked a pillow at Ryou "… That wasn't very nice"

The movie ended and Malik looked over at them "What's for dinner?"

"Spaghetti"

"Great! I love your meat sauce!"

Bakura sighed "Yeah, but he's left the sauce out for a while…"

"Oh, I was making sauce, but if you don't want it I can just put it in the fridge for now" Malik growled and got up to use the bathroom "I thought that since you're almost done with your first trimester you might be able to eat meat again, meaning I wont have to slip as many vitamins into your food to make sure you're actually getting all the nutrients you need"

Bakura raised an eyebrow " 'as many'? You've been drugging my food?" His eyes watered "Ryou how could you?"

Ryou sighed and got down on his knees to hug Bakura "It's not like that. There's just… you have to be a little healthier while you're pregnant. There were some pills vitamins you should have been taking with your condition and when I asked you to take them last month you refused. I had to get you to eat them somehow. I'm sorry, Bakura, I should have told you…"

"B-but, if… if I told you I… that I didn't… want them then why… why did you… still… still…" He broke down sobbing

"Bakura, it's okay, really. Come on, do you want Malik to see you crying?"

"N-no… but…" he whipped his eyes, but it didn't to much good since he was still crying, and got up to lock himself in his and Ryou's bedroom.

"I'll…" Ryou looked at the door concerned. Bakura had needed to get those vitamins, even if he didn't want them. He'd been afraid that his yami would react that way, that's why he hadn't brought it up until now "I'll let you know when dinner's ready"

Malik came back out "What did I miss?"

"Me upsetting Bakura… again…" Ryou sighed "I haven't made my sauce in a while, want to test it for me to make sure I haven't lost my touch?"

Malik nodded, leading Ryou into the kitchen "Which ingredients are missing?"

"Um… thyme and-"

"Never mind" Malik held his hand out as if to stop Ryou from moving forward, with his other hand he picked up a wooden spoon "I just remembered I don't know what any of this stuff is" he stuck the spoon in and took out a bit of sauce, practically downing the sauce the same way Bakura had drinken the hot chocolate at the beginning of the winter. This drink had rapidly become Bakura's least favorite.

"Malik, I was cooking with that spoon! Now I have to wash it…" Ryou snatched the spoon out of Malik's hands and ran it under the sink.

"I think it's become better in the time you haven't made it. Why did you take a break from making your famous spaghetti anyway?"

"Well," Ryou finished washing the spoon, drying it off and went back to stirring "You know how Bakura and I wanted a kid?" Malik nodded, mesmerized as Ryou dropped some spices into the sauce "A couple months ago we got Yami to make a potion that I was supposed to take to help me get pregnant, but… there was a bit of an accident and…"

"Bakura got it?" Malik laughed "That would explain his weird behavior all day! I wonder why he didn't tell me…"

"He's treating it like a curse" Ryou sighed and fished out another spoon "Here" he held the spoon up containing more sauce "try it now" Malik took the spoon and stuck it in his mouth "I must be doing something wrong. All I do is upset him… He's crying in our room right now because he just found out that I've been putting vitamins in his food" another sigh "he's pregnant, he needed some of them and it was the only way I could get him to eat them. That and since his stomach couldn't handle even the smell of meat for the longest time he was really lacking in certain nutrition…"

Malik handed the spoon back "It's getting better. You have to give Ishizu the recipe for this stuff. Is there anything I can do to help with Bakura?"

"Keep taking him out? He got lost the last time he went out alone and… Well… I want to be able to go out with him more but with school… You don't go though, I'd really appreciate it if you could keep him company"

Malik nodded "But not right now?"

"He doesn't want you to know he's upset, or that he's pregnant, but he's going to start showing soon so he can't hide it much longer anyway. I can sense him calming down now anyway. Oh, try not to stress him out to much. It's bad for the baby and it's a good way to make him cry when he thinks no one's looking" Ryou started chopping a certain spice into smaller pieces "that's the part I need to work on. I have to make sure he's doing everything he needs to too stay healthy, and that stresses him out, but if I don't do it he's going to miscarry the child" he turned off the stove "I ought to put more faith in him…"

Malik attempted to put the spoon into the sauce again and got slapped "So you're choosing to let the kid live rather than make Bakura happy?"

"I figured that he'd be happier if the baby was born alive rather than dead even if he wasn't too comfortable during his pregnancy… If he miscarries the baby then he'll still have to give birth to it. We can't get it aborted since he's well… a guy."

Malik nodded and watched Ryou pour noodles into boiling water. His mouth was starting to water "I guess a life is more important than couple months of comfort. How much longer until its ready?"

"About ten minutes. Most people that I know wouldn't act this way. They might get a little annoyed with the amount of concern people would show, but they wouldn't get this upset about it…" Ryou set a timer "Please leave the kitchen. I'm going to get Bakura and I trust you alone in here as far as I can throw you. Here" He handed Malik some silverware, a jug of milk, and some cups "Set the table"

The Egyptian laughed and left the room. Ryou ran out to the bedroom "Bakura, dinner's almost ready. Come out!"

Bakura walked out silently. If Ryou couldn't sense the yami's emotions he wouldn't have known that he was still a little upset about the whole issue with his food "You're going to stop putting things in my food, right?" He asked quietly

"I'll put less stuff in. You can either eat it with the food covering the bitter taste or swallow it in pill form. Either way you have to take them, you don't have a choice"

Bakura glared at Ryou, hating that he was once again acting dominate. If he had just paid more attention when Yami was making the hot chocolate…

"Giving me looks wont accomplish anything"

"So?"

"Just sit down while I serve dinner"

Bakura growled and walked by towards the table. Ryou looked down. Bakura was acting angry, but on the inside he was breaking down. He could sense Bakura's emotions better each day, and each day he felt guiltier. Bakura seemed to get upset every time the two of them talked. This was why he'd wanted to be the one who got pregnant…

He shook his head as if trying to shake his thoughts away and went to check on the noodles, which were done. By the time he had gotten everyone's food served and on the table Malik and Bakura had both lost interest in waiting for their food and were off playing another video game.

"Guys!"

Malik laughed and paused the game. Bakura just stood up and went over to the table "Ryou" he said quietly so Malik couldn't hear "I don't think this was a good idea… I'm already feeling nauseous…"

"Psychosomatic, Bakura"

"I don't know what that means!"

"Doesn't that mean it's all in his head?" Malik asked. Both borderline albinos stared at him "Ishizu locked me in her study-room yesterday and I was really bored so I read through all of her dictionaries"

"Was that seriously the most interesting thing in there?"

Bakura didn't seem interested in the conversation at all, choosing to sit down and stuff his face with Ryou's cooking instead.

"Well… no… but the more interesting things were things I already knew so I decided to expand my vocabulary"

"That hardly seems like you"

"Okay, I was looking for bizarre rarely known words to insult people with, but I learned something, right?"

"Wow, for a second I was almost impressed"

The two's conversation ended as Bakura bolted past them toward the bathroom. He wasn't quite there before the sound of vomiting was heard "Poor Bakura" Malik whistled softly

"You can still eat your spaghetti if you want. I'm going to go clean up Bakura's" Ryou grimaced. "Actually, I'll eat mine first so I don't loose my appetite" Bakura shot Ryou a dirty look and made a rude gesture with his hand "Well, just because you threw up doesn't mean I have to skip eating!" Ryou yelled across the hall

Neither of them saw the yami again that night