Never
Friday rolled around and Ryou soon found himself sitting in a cafe opposite to a distracted Bakura. He hadn't been himself after yesterday and Ryou knew for a fact that he hadn't slept last night. Something was bothering him and Ryou had a good guess what that could be but had yet to figure out a way to bring it up. It had to have something to do with that strange man Ryou had met in the hallway. Now that he thought of it, the man had seemed familiar somehow, like he had run into him at some point but couldn't remember when or where.
They had ordered themselves some tea while they waited and now Ryou glanced over at Bakura while taking a sip. Bakura hadn't touched his drink and it had already stopped steaming.
"Your tea is getting cold..." Ryou pointed out, placing his own cup down to gaze worriedly at the other who barely reacted.
"Oh... You're right," Bakura answered, directing a fleeting stare at his tea but not making a move to do anything about it.
"Are you feeling fine?" He already knew the answer but hoped to get some kind of explanation, only receiving a nod for his efforts. Ryou sighed and took it up to himself to get to the bottom of this. "This has something to do with the man from yesterday, doesn't it? Did you manage to find him?"
Bakura crossed his arms as a tell-tale sign of stubbornness and Ryou knew he wouldn't be getting any answers. "What makes you think it has something to do with him?"
"Well, what else could it be?"
Bakura's eyes narrowed. "Don't stick your nose into matters that do not concern you."
Ryou frowned at the harshly spoken words. "If it concerns you, it concerns me, too."
"What concerns who?" cut in before Bakura had time to respond and they both turned to see the two similar looking faces. The only difference seemed to be in height and the sharpness of features, they noticed. Ryou gestured for the two to take their seats and they did so, Yuugi sitting next to Ryou and the new face next to Bakura who eyed him warily. Yuugi beamed all around and took care of the introductions.
"These are the people I told you about. This is Ryou and that's Bakura. Guys, this is Atemu, my other and uh... my lover." Yuugi dusted pink.
"Nice to meet you, Atemu." Ryou smiled and got one in return.
"Yeah, whatever." Bakura grumbled. "Can we just get to business?"
"Is he always like that?" Atemu asked, pointing at Bakura with his thumb.
"Yes." Ryou felt like adding "in public" but decided against going into further details. "But he has a point though."
"Agreed. What do you want to know?" Yuugi asked, and the two white haired males glanced at each other.
"How long does it take for the link to fully form?" Bakura started, clearly having a better idea of what to ask than Ryou did.
Yuugi and Atemu seemed to think it over, sending each other glances over the table. They reached some sort of agreement apparently and nodded in unison.
"For us it took about-" Yuugi started.
"-a month or so but I guess it's personal and if-" Atemu continued.
"-you really are forcefully linked there's no real way of knowing."
"Exactly. The feelings normally come first, then the audio and it's-"
"-really messed up at first and difficult to control but-"
"-you'll get a hang of it pretty soon," Atemu finished their little explanation. Ryou and Bakura exchanged weirded out looks, deciding then that they would never become like Yuugi and Atemu if it only could be avoided.
"Well... How did you get through the 'messed up' phase?" Ryou asked, a bit worried to know that the worst was yet to come. He had thought that the initial shock after getting linked had been the real obstacle but now it seemed that wasn't the case.
"We knew what to expect and Yuugi and I were really close to begin with." Atemu reached across the table to hold Yuugi's hand. The boy smiled warmly and nodded.
"Hm. So when the line separating our thoughts began to blur, it wasn't that bad; we knew each other so well that sharing thoughts and feelings seemed... natural."
Bakura raised his hand. "Wait... 'The line separating your thoughts'?"
"Yes, it was really difficult to tell who thought what for a couple of days but then it gets better and you'll be in control of it again." Yuugi just shrugged like it wasn't a big deal but Bakura's eye twitched like it did when he was irritated but not right out angry and Ryou looked uncertain.
"What you're saying is that before we can learn to control it, we will lose our privacy completely?"
"Well... not completely, I mean, you can still have some private thoughts, you just can't decide which. And it's only for a couple of days."
"It wasn't a big deal."
"It is a 'big deal'!" Bakura slammed his hands on the table and stood up so suddenly that the chair fell down with a loud clank. People in the cafe turned to look at them, startled by the sound and yelling.
"Bakura calm down, you're causing a scene," Atemu tried but got a nasty glare.
"Fuck you and mini-you, I'm leaving." Bakura stormed off, not bothering with the fallen chair or the waitress he pushed on his way out. Ryou looked helplessly between the retreating back and the duo before he too got up.
"Excuse me," he muttered and ran after the other, calling out for him to wait up.
xxxxxxx
"Bakura!" He heard Ryou call after him but didn't slow down. He wasn't in the mood to deal with anyone but, somewhere beyond his anger and shock, he was glad that the other had ran after him instead of staying in the cafe and socializing with the freaks. "Please wait!" Running footsteps were heard and a hand landed on his shoulder.
"Please don't run away from me."
Bakura shook his shoulder free. "I'm not running from you."
"It sure seems like that to me," Ryou pointed out, falling instep with Bakura. "Come on, talk to me. What's the matter now?"
Shouldn't Ryou know? "Everything is the matter! Everything is going to hell!"
"Don't you yell at me! I've done nothing to you." Ryou sounded upset and Bakura felt just a bit bad but wasn't about to apologize now when he was having a hissy fit.
"I know you haven't..."
"Then don't take your anger out on me," the boy snapped. "It's about what Atemu and Yuugi told, right?" he asked, calmer now, the complete opposite of Bakura.
"Gee, how did you guess?" Bakura knew he was subjecting Ryou to his anger again because Ryou was close and an easy target, but he couldn't help it. It made him feel even worse about himself and it didn't serve to lessen his anger or frustration.
Ryou frowned, keeping up with him but only just. "You can't throw a fit every time things don't go your way, you know. It doesn't solve anything."
Bakura stopped and Ryou walked right past him before halting and turning to face him. "I don't-" Bakura started but was quickly interrupted.
"Yes you do. You slash out or close up like a small child who can't deal with drawbacks. You don't-"
"Shut up!" Bakura yelled, tired of hearing what Ryou had to say. He hadn't asked him to come after him in the first place! He had only wanted some time to fume in peace, but had he got it? No! "I don't want to hear your theory about how you think I am. You think you know me so well but-!"
"I do know you! In fact, I know you better than anyone else. You just don't want to admit it because you think it would be some sort of weakness!"
"I thought I told you to shut the hell up. I don't need to hear this," Bakura hissed, tired of yelling.
"No!" Ryou shook his head. "You need to learn to listen to others! I thought we were supposed to be in some sort of relationship but you never act it, except maybe when there's a chance to get in my pants."
Why did Ryou have to bring that up? It wasn't what this was about. ...Or was it? "What did you expect? Gifts and sweet words and moonlit walks?"
Ryou crossed his arms in a very Bakura-like manner. "Certainly not, but those would be nice." He sighed and let his arms drop, appearing a whole lot less pissed, giving the other almost a pleading look. "I don't really need any of those but if you could, I don't know... tell me that you care once in a while."
"I didn't know you needed verbal assurance." Bakura was still sounding a bit hissy but it was lessening in a rapid pace. Even he couldn't stay angry after a confession like that.
"Well... I-"
"I do care, a lot more than I'm comfortable with, and that will continue to be so unless mentioned otherwise when I'm not angry or drunk." Bakura attempted a smile and it was a lot easier to accomplish when Ryou smiled back at him, looking all happy and just because of some simple words. He had the power to make Ryou happy with mere words, but also he could make him absolutely miserable just the same. Would that apply to himself as well?
"That's good to hear." A mischievous smirk formed onto Bakura's face at the whispered words.
"How dare you doubt it? That's so cruel of you, my dear."
Ryou backed away a bit. "Um..."
"What?" Bakura asked as innocently as he could while looking positively wicked.
"You only call me that when I'm in trouble or you've something planned I'm not going to like," the boy explained and stepped back a few more times.
"Oh you're going to like my latest... plan."
Ryou 'eep'ed and turned to run, not running all that fast though. Bakura chuckled and gave chase, letting the other reach the forest trail before speeding up.
"Come back here you!"
xxxxxxx
Later that evening, when Ryou was sitting in his room just chatting with Malik who was waiting for Mariku to come pick him up, he had a bizarre feeling from Bakura's side of the link. It wasn't like the times when Bakura had nightmares and Ryou would feel this slight feeling of terror from the other end, but this was more real, not fear exactly but something that made Ryou feel unnerved and concerned.
"Ryou?" Malik tried to get his attention again and only partly succeeded. Ryou got up from his bed where he had been sitting and walked to the door in an almost zombie like manner. "Ryou? Hey, what's wrong?"
"I have to go see Bakura, I'll be right back."
Ryou hurried down the stairs and through the yard, power walking and then sprinting the rest of the way as the feeling got stronger as he got closer. Something was not right.
He ran up the stairs to the second floor where Bakura's room was located and reached the door. To his surprise, Ryou heard noise from the other side of the door. Two voices were discussing, one was Bakura's, the other he didn't recognize. Ryou pressed his ear on the door to hear what was being said. He knew he wasn't supposed to poke his nose where it didn't belong but the temptation was just too great.
"-and now you decide to drop by and... you're fucking nuts." The first speaker was Bakura, an angry one at that.
"I'm not into that sort of thing, don't be so crass." There was a pause. "Ah, it seems there's someone at the door. Why don't you let your guest in?"
Ryou backed away from the door, considering just running away but had barely made a decision when the door opened and he found himself facing Bakura.
"I-I just come some other time if you're busy..." Ryou offered hastily and turned to leave when someone grabbed his arm and pulled him back. He turned his head, expecting to see Bakura but instead saw the strange old man from earlier that week.
"Um... hello... I was just leaving-"
"No, no, do come in," the stranger spoke. "There's clearly some urgent matter you must discuss with Bakura here, don't let me bother you." Ryou was guided into the room with little protesting from his part.
"Ryou has nothing to do with this." Bakura pried the man's hand off of Ryou but the door closed anyway and it didn't seem he was going anywhere.
"No? Of course he doesn't, how silly of me! It just so happens that you gaze at him with such affection it's sickening. I know these things, Bakura, and I know you..." He pointed an accusing finger. "You adore him, you want him, you... love him." He spat the word out like a curse of the worst kind. "...and he feels the same. Not to mention that he's a mage. Oh how have you sunk so low?"
Ryou couldn't fight the blush forming on his face. He hadn't even heard anything past the "you love him" -part, so hung up on it. Could it really..? No way... He glanced at Bakura who looked absolutely mortified.
"I-I d-don't..."
"Oh yes you do. You want to shower him with kisses and gifts and make sweet love to him. And he would let you, too."
"T-that's quite enough." Ryou was glad to find his voice and that it had some strength left in it. "My business here really wasn't that important so I'll be leaving now." He was reluctant to leave Bakura here but figured he could deal with this better if Ryou wasn't there.
"I insist that you stay." The door was locked. The faint click sounded so loud in his ears and promised nothing good. Ryou froze in his position, hand on the door handle, trying to figure out what the hell was going on and what he should do now. Maybe he would be able to unlock the door and-
"Ah!" He jerked his hand away from the suddenly hot door handle and saw his curing powers take care of the burn. It still hurt; why go to such great lengths to keep him there? The only way to find out was to stick around, turn to face whatever was in store for him and pray that he would make it out of this room unharmed, or at least alive.
Ryou glanced at Bakura who was watching him with hints of worry on his face. He smiled a bit to let the other know he was fine before turning to face the one causing all this trouble.
"What do you want with me?"
"I just thought you might fill me in on what's going on. Bakura could just lie to my face but I doubt that you can."
Ryou narrowed his eyes and shifted his weight nervously. "What if I don't want to fill you in?" From the smirk he got he could already figure out the answer: that would not be pretty.
"You will not touch him," Bakura spoke up, stepping so that he was partly between Ryou and his former mentor.
"What are you going to do about it? Use the power of love?" the man taunted and Bakura clenched his fists.
"I don't-"
"Be careful what you say, even if it's going to be a lie, you might break your sweetheart's little mage heart."
Bakura glanced at Ryou whose eyes were pouncing between him and the old man, feeling confused and somewhat disappointed that Bakura was going to deny his love for him. His eyes met Bakura's for a second before the almost red depths turned back to the issue.
"I defeated you once and I can do it again."
"That was pure luck." The man grinned.
"It was skill old man, one that you taught me, I might add."
The air cracked with power and the lamp in the ceiling flickered. The window glass shook and for a second Ryou was sure it would break but it held and the light stopped blinking.
"We can settle our differences but not here."
"Afraid that your dear mage would get hurt?"
"Also, I don't want to lose my job."
Suddenly Ryou understood Malik's hate towards being labeled; he had been reduced from a person called Ryou, to mage, and he absolutely loathed it.
"I do have a name, you know..." he muttered without thinking and got the attention of the other two in the room.
"What was that? I couldn't quite hear you," the older man told, ignoring Bakura for a change.
"...I said I have a name, you can stop calling me a mage." They could just start calling him an idiot-who-can't-keep-his-mouth-shut-when-he-should while they were at it...
"Well, you never told me what it is."
"It's Ryou." He felt like he already had one foot in the grave so he might as well dig it a bit deeper. "I don't know what your beef with Bakura is but I don't think you're wanted here."
"Is that so?" The man crossed his arms and there was something highly familiar in the pose and that arrogant look. "Are you going to make me leave then, Ryou?"
Ryou frowned at how even his own name sounded like an insult falling from those lips. Now he knew why Bakura was so screwed up and also where he got his attitude from. "No, but-"
"I am," Bakura cut in and sent Ryou a warning glance that clearly stated 'do not interfere'. The man laughed like it was the biggest joke he had ever heard, but his laugh didn't sound merry, more like deranged.
"You?" He wiped away a tear of laughter. "I made you, Bakura, and you would be nothing without me. You owe me."
"He owes you nothing," Ryou stated, sounding much braver than he felt. Did he have a death wish? Ryou hoped that he would have a chance to mentally beat himself for this later. "Whatever you've done for him is overshadowed by the fact that you never cared for him, never loved him. You might have taught him some spells but that's nothing he couldn't have done by himself."
"His own power would have destroyed him first."
"But it destroyed you instead, didn't it?" Ryou was surprised how cool and collected he managed to sound, almost emotionless. It scared him but wasn't about to stop him. That last comment had clearly struck dead on. "See? He doesn't need you anymore and I doubt he feels that he owes you."
The old man shook in rage. "He does for making a fool out of me. No one gets away with attacking me!" The window cracked, the lamp shattered and just before Ryou blacked out, he could hear an enraged yell and then the world ceased to exist for him.
xxxxxxx
When Ryou came back to it, his vision was blurry first but started to clear just when someone collapsed on top of him, breathing heavily and smelling of... blood.
"Bakura?" Ryou prayed that it was Bakura and he was alright. Arms wrapped firmly around him and the person on top buried his head on his shoulder.
"Oh Ryou... Ryou..." The voice was Bakura's but it sounded raspy and continued to chant his name for a while in desperation. "I thought you died... The link was cut off and you stopped breathing. It was awful..."
Ryou held the other while looking around the parts of the room he could see for indications of what had happened here. There was blood on the walls, on the ceiling, on Bakura.
"Are you alright?!" he asked, panic in his voice. What the hell had happened?! "Bakura! What-!" Ryou was silenced by a finger strategically placed.
"Shh... I'm fine, most of it is not mine." The words were breathed against his neck, making him shiver. "I was so afraid I'd lose you... That you'd leave me and I'd be all alone again..." The arms around Ryou tightened their grip and Bakura nuzzled his neck, in an out of character show of affection. He closed his eyes, enjoying the closeness when he felt something press against his thigh with more than casual interest, making his eyes shoot open again.
"B-Bakura? Y-you..."
"Uh, yeah. Using complicated dark magic increases my testosterone level and makes me either highly aggressive... or horny..."
"O-oh..." Ryou's neck was starting to get some extra attention from Bakura's tongue and teeth, which didn't feel half bad but somehow just... "S-so you just... Because I'm the nearest available body, you..." His voice cracked.
"No!" Bakura's head shot up. "Never think that. Not because you're available, because you are you."
Ryou's breath caught in his throat as he stared up on the blood red eyes, and for the first time they didn't seem threatening; they were absolutely beautiful, so alive with darker and lighter tones. Ryou's hand went to make sure the blood stain on the other's cheek wasn't his own and Bakura's eyes became half lidded and something about his gaze made Ryou feel flushed but not entirely uncomfortable.
"Bakura? Was... was your mentor right? A-about..." He couldn't finish his sentence, choked up in his emotions.
"What if he was..?" whispered Bakura, rubbing his nose against Ryou's and letting their fingers intertwine.
"That... that would make me very happy..." The words came out breathy and needy, his free hand, the one that had held the other's cheek, moved to wrap around the neck. He had never felt like this before and he just wanted to... "I-I want to be closer..." His voice was almost inaudible but apparently it was heard.
"Then kiss me, Ryou."
He didn't have to be told twice and that's when he gave himself to Bakura, mind, soul and body. It was only logical that now, when they had full access to each other's mind, they would also have full access to each other's body.
Something grumbled down during their love making, a mental wall carefully placed between two people, allowing them to share thoughts and feelings like they had never been able to before. Was this what they had been so afraid of? They had been afraid for nothing. Now they weren't lonely anymore, and while their physical forms were fueled by carnal need and lust, moaning, crying out and screaming, their souls told of caring and devotion they hadn't known was there.
They knew they were being horribly loud but neither cared at this point. It was irrational to think that they could keep the whole school awake and get away with it but rationality was something they both lacked right now. They would only quiet down when neither had no more voice to yell with.