FINAL CHAPTER :( BUT THANK YOU SO SO SO MUCH FOR READING!


"Let me tell you. Captain Jack Harkness could just get it. Any time he wanted." Ryou couldn't help the nearly painful laughter at Malik's words. They had spent too much time watching Doctor Who and not enough time getting ready for the dance, but his sandy-haired friend had a point. Jack Harkness was worth it.

"Oi! Let's save the ogling at other men for when I leave, yeah?" Marik pinched his boyfriend's behind, earning a yelp. He had grown to be slightly more talkative around the group of friends since Malik had set to work convincing him that he was important.

It also helped that Malik seemed to be even happier when Marik spoke, and lighting up that face with a smile was worth risked embarrassment for a few words.

"Guys, the dance starts in just a couple hours. Shouldn't we get going?" Although he posed the question, Jou seemed very comfortable in his position on a recliner in Ryou's living room and made no effort to follow his own advice. Yuugi, on the other hand, had been looking forward to this dance for weeks – since he and Yami officially got together. So he wasn't going to let anything, especially his friend's too-enthusiastic appreciation of Harkness Bottom, make him miss it.

He sat up from Yami's lap and shook his rear in his boyfriend's face, motivating him to move. They walked over together to the stereo (of course, Yami tripped over Bakura's legs as he really wasn't watching where he walked) and Yuugi put on the greatest montage song of all time.

"99 Red Balloons!" Bakura jumped up and danced as if he were moshing. "Goldfinger is amazing."

His eagerness soon inspired the rest of them to get up and dance up the stairs. They separated into two rooms, with Jou, Yuugi, Ryou, and Marik in one room and Malik joining Yami and Bakura in the other. Marik was apprehensive about being around people without Malik because he knew now they would expect him to talk, but Ryou was comforting. He didn't like being exposed to others very much either.

"Jou, isn't Kaiba going to be taking you?" The blonde nodded as he pulled a fitted half-sleeve shirt over his head. He smiled at his shorter friend once he was dressed.

"He said to just wait here for him, because he had a surprise for us. Something about owing his cousin one." Yuugi's eyebrows furrowed at the mention of Yami before understanding settled on his face. Without buttoning his shirt all the way or pulling his dress slacks on, he stormed across the hall.

"Yami you risked my best friend's heart for sex!?" Ryou's mouth dropped as Jou laughed. He already knew of Yami's involvement in his relationship and was honestly grateful. If only Yuugi would have stayed long enough to hear him say that.

Oh well. Yami would just have to bare the wrath of Moto.

"A-aibou, it wasn't like th- could you put pants on before you yell at me? It's very distracting."

"Is that all you think about, you buttwaffle?"

"Buttwaffle?! The fuck is a buttwaffle, Yuugi?"

"Shut up, Bakura."

Ryou held on to Marik as he breached tears from laughter. The usually silent boy was himself enjoying a chuckle at their friends' antics. Yami and Yuugi existed in their own world sometimes, but it was enjoyable to watch.

"Cousin, are you ever not in trouble?"

Jou's face lit up at the sound of Seto's voice. He too rushed out of their room (though he was fully dressed) and greeted the CEO with a smile. From their position in the bedroom, Ryou and Marik could see a blonde mop slide to a halt in front of Kaiba and the taller boy present Jou with a bouquet of multicolored freesia flowers. They symbolized energy, something Jou was never lacking.

Ryou shook his head and pulled his T-shirt off. He had already changed into slacks and only needed to adorn his red button up shirt and black tie.

"Ryou, I hope you don't mind I just told Seto to come on in." The white-haired host waved his hand. He didn't mind having people coming and going as they pleased. In fact, he encouraged it. Marik shook Kaiba's hand; thankfully the tanner boy was fully clothed with a solid lilac sweater and black slacks.

"Oh, this was on your porch. I brought it in for you." Kaiba handed Ryou a box before taking Jou downstairs to show him the surprise. Marik followed after being called by Malik who was already downstairs and screaming with excitement.

Left alone in the room, Ryou sat on his bed and stared at the package. It was postmarked from Egypt.

"Babe, you should have seen the shrimp yelling at the taller shrimp, it was ep-" Bakura stopped his sentence short when he reached the doorway. Ryou looked up at him with tear filled eyes as he pulled a shining charm bracelet out of the box. There was a charm of a pyramid, a camera, and a garnet stone. The letter inside said simply,

New Year

Dad

Bakura walked over to Ryou and gently took the box from his hands, placing the bracelet and letter back inside. He began to speak as he buttoned the rest of Ryou's shirt and tied his tie.

"We can deal with it tomorrow, okay? Don't let him take this night from you. We are going to participate and have an amazing time with our friends and he can't stop it." Ryou nodded, brushing his hair back into a pony tail. Bakura smiled at him and rubbed a thumb gently over his cheek. Ryou leaned in to the touch, marveling at just how easy it was for this boy to calm him down and make him want to believe in life.

They shared a small kiss before running downstairs, grins on their faces. Outside, two couples waited for them next to a Kaiba Corp limo – a.k.a. the big surprise.

"Wow, Seto this is amazing. Thank you so much!" Ryou smiled and hugged his friend. Kaiba's eyes widened a bit as he was not used to such affection, but a threatening glare from Bakura compelled him to hug back. No one really wanted to upset Ryou in the first place, but having Bakura there to promise dreadful pain to any who did trouble his love was all the extra push you needed.

"Alright then," Kaiba cleared his throat, pointedly ignoring the amused grin from Jou. "Yami, can we get going already?"

His shout into the house was met by two star-haired teens running down the stairs, both now fully clothed but still disheveled.

"Hold your horses, we're coming."

"Ew."

"Bite me, Malik."

"I'll leave that to Yuugi, thanks." Malik winked at his friends as he climbed in to the limousine. Ryou positioned himself off to the side in order to take pictures of his friends as they joked and laughed. He particularly loved the one of Yuugi's blush when he yelled at Malik for his perverseness.

The pictures from the limo ride were as silly as the ones from their first night in Ryou's house after running home in the rain. His favorite was definitely one that had been taken with the timer Bakura convinced him to use. From the camera's place on a seat, you could see Ryou burying his face in Bakura's shoulder while the taller boy held him close and glared furiously across the aisle at Malik, who was shrugging. Marik was holding his gut as he laughed, leaning into Malik's side. Yuugi's jaw was dropped and his cheeks flushed as Yami leaned in to whisper in his ear with a devilish smirk. Seto had rolled his lips into his mouth and looked down from the camera trying desperately not to laugh because Jou was gripping his shoulder and pointing at Malik with an incredulous look on his face that was just too cute.

All in all, it summarized that night perfectly.

Also, it served as a reminder to never ask Ryou if he and Bakura had tried "The Stem" in bed yet. Or any other sexual positions, for that matter.

They reached the school with relatively little injury; everyone's counterparts were too protective to allow any harm to befall their loves. However, they were some of the first people at the school and there was really no one else there except the volunteers helping to set up the gym.

"Look what the cat dragged in." Bakura was pulled away from Ryou and locked in a full nelson by someone unidentifiable. "You haven't visited me in a few days; I'm starting to feel abandoned."

Bakura rolled his eyes at the crocodile tears and pushed at Duke unsuccessfully.

"I've been a little preoccupied, you know." His voice rasped out as he pushed harder at the older boy, still failing to get him off.

"You know you and Ryou can use the back room for sex any time. I'll even turn off the cameras," Duke smiled at Ryou with his eyes closed, as if he was being incredibly noble in his offer. "Just come visit your old man sometimes, okay?"

Bakura's face was turning blue and Ryou was growing concerned. He smiled at Duke and held his arms out for his date.

"We promise to come visit if you let Bakura live right now." Duke released his captive with a laugh. Bakura hugged Ryou tightly with false whimpers about 'inhuman strength for such a girly man'. Ryou giggled and patted Bakura's hair comfortingly.

Duke introduced himself to those in the group he didn't already know before explaining that he was here as an alumni to help chaperone the dance as well as spy on his "favorite lil Kura". He then assigned preparation tasks to everyone, since they were there early anyways.

Naively, he asked Jou to help set up the food tables. Seto accompanied him to assure that there would be some left over for the rest of the school.

Ryou naturally helped to set up the photo booth, taking breaks to get his picture taken with Bakura in silly positions.

Marik and Malik went outside to position signs and balloons around the school's courtyard. And also so that Marik could smoke to calm his nerves.

Yuugi and Yami assisted Duke with the DJ booth. Although, to be incredibly frank it didn't seem that he needed any more help in that department. He had a tall, muscular man by the name of Tristan sweating a bit and lifting the heavier pieces. Duke winked at Yuugi and lifted his hands to mimic grabbing Tristan's posterior, making Yuugi giggle and Yami roll his eyes.

About an hour and a half later, the party was in full swing. Almost their entire class was present, including Tea. She glanced over at Kaiba and Jou a few times, smiling sadly. But despite Jou's nerves about attending the dance with Seto, he was never approached by the brunette girl. In fact, even though she looked a little saddened by their joint hands, she was having a great time dancing very closely to her friend Miho.

Ryou stood off to the side with Jou and Yuugi. None of them felt particularly comfortable grinding in public as their classmates did – especially Malik. He and Marik were a pants breadth away from having sex on the dance floor.

Yami broke through the crowd towards them and shouted so they could hear him.

"I got the DJ to play a song you guys will like by giving him Duke's number." He smirked at Yuugi. "Matchmaking is in my blood, apparently."

They laughed and moved to the floor to find their dates. Bakura and Kaiba were drinking punch way too excitedly; it was probably spiked.

Bakura nearly had a conniption when Ryou asked him to dance to the next song with him, but didn't reject him. Jou took Kaiba's hand and together the six of them made their way over to Malik and Marik. When the drums started on one of Yuugi's favorite songs he squealed and hugged Yami. They all began to jump and shout the lyrics to each other, glad that their other classmates seemed to enjoy it just as much. Soon the dance transformed from a grind-fest to a mosh pit.

"Fate fell short this time, your smile fades in the summer!" Yuugi grabbed Yami's cheeks and sang to him; Yami's smile was squished between his aibou's hands and he looked like a chubby baby, but smiled all the same at Yuugi's happiness.

Ryou grinned when Bakura spun him around as he had on the cafeteria table during Ryou's first week. They all danced until their sweat soaked the edges of their hair and it was only fifteen minutes until the New Year.

Malik grabbed Ryou's hand and pulled him along to the garden where he and Marik decorated earlier. They purposefully misplaced the signs so no other students would be there, and the eight friends would have it all to themselves. Of course, it was freezing and still kind of covered in snow, but they were so hot from dancing that it felt good.

From his position in Bakura's arms, Ryou watched all of his friends. Jou was laughing at Kaiba who was whispering something in his ear, probably about the way Marik raised his cigarette above his head so Malik – who was jumping and reaching as much as he could – didn't get it from him. Yuugi and Yami faced each other, with their arms wrapped around as if in a slow dance. Ryou saw Yami's mouth silently proclaim his love and Yuugi return it. They rubbed their noses in an Eskimo kiss before actually locking lips.

"How you doin, shutter bug?" Ryou turned himself to face his date, with a huge grin on his face. For the first time in almost ten years, he had no desire to be behind the lens. He was completely content in the company of his friends. In the arms of Bakura.

"Bakura," he started. Bakura raised his eyebrows as the countdown started. They had ten seconds until a totally new year began. A reboot of their everyday lives; the kind of fresh start people dreamed about. Ryou stepped forward to get as close to Bakura as possible. Around him, his friends huddled close to their loved ones, readying themselves for their New Year's Kisses. The snow crunched under their feet and Ryou smiled. He hated the snow. He hated his house. He hated his father. He hated classes and he especially hated the fact that his mother was dead.

But he loved his life.

"I've never been better." Ryou whispered as he touched his lips to Bakura's at the strike of twelve. A new year had officially begun and he was surrounded by people who genuinely loved him. They weren't perfect, by any means.

Some of them were too wrapped up in other people; others were too wrapped up in themselves. A couple had social anxiety so severe that they could barely breathe in certain instances. At least one of them was dangerously confident. They dreamed bigger than reality and were all in danger of falling flat on their faces. But they were so very happy.

This New Year, Ryou would spend with his friends. He would put pictures of himself up in his house amongst those he had of everyone else. He would really, truly live his life to the best of his ability.

And he would love every second of it.


THE END! :(

BUT YAY! Only three years later . sorry about that wait, you guys. But I'm so very grateful for all of you who have stayed with me! I would appreciate some reviews to tell me what you thought about the ending, if that's possible? : ) Thank you!

Stay tuned to my page for future one-shots and other shipping goodness.

PS – props to anyone who caught the little coinshipping cameo haha

K I LOVE YOU ALL! LIVE YOUR LIVES TO THE FULLEST!