(A/N: ~Only one or two chapters left; thank you all so much for reading and commenting!~ 3)
"Dinner time~!" The red-haired nurse called out in an irritatingly cheerful tone. Ryou politely thanked the orderly as she slid the rolling table-top over his recovery bed and placed a plastic tray down on top.
Even if he could speak, the bandaged Bakura wouldn't likely have thanked the chirpy woman. He glanced down at the 'food' now hovering above his lap on the swiveling side-table.
Bakura stuck his tongue out as he looked over the unappealing meal. The pizza seemed to have melted into such a congealed glob that it was impossible to determine if it even had a crust in the first place. The lone 'vegetable' (and here he was being generous) was only identifiable by its somewhat greenish color; while the accompanying 'fruit dish' the menu had promised- seemed to be missing entirely.
Only the orange gelatin looked edible- but it was in such as small container that it would hardly fill the empty stomach of teenage boy.
Ryou noticed the look on his roommate's face and quickly addressed the perky caregiver. "Oh, miss? I'm sorry; my friend can't really talk right now, but we asked for a special side dish-?" Ryou called to the orderly as she headed back to her food cart.
"That's right!" She quickly covered her mouth with one hand before giving a quick bow. "My apologies; I almost forgot! One moment..."
Thankfully, Ryou had thought ahead, and he had ordered several slices of bread and ham from the cafeteria. Although ham was not technically listed on the hospital menu, he knew that the kitchen served bacon in the morning most days. So, after asking the head chef very politely, Ryou was able to secure a special order for his semi-mute roommate.
Bakura nearly did a dance of joy when he saw the additional tray Ryou had procured for him- six slices of fresh-cut rye bread, with cuts of ham between each paired piece. The dish was accompanied by two tiny containers of spreadable butter and a plastic butter-knife.
Ryou could only watch in amusement as his ravenous roommate eagerly tucked in. He held back a chuckle at the other's predatory enthusiasm. "So, I take it that's good?"
The distracted carnivore could only nod, bits of ham and rye bread dotting his lower mouth. "Mm-hmth!"
The optimistic landlord watched as the specially-ordered sandwiches quickly disappeared. "Oh good... I know it's nowhere near your own cooking level, but the kitchen staff did make a rather generous exception..."
Even if Bakura wanted to speak, he surely would have choked on all the sandwich bread, so he simply used his cell to type out: /You're awesome./
Ryou's face flushed at the compliment, but his expression shifted as he remembered the call he'd taken while Bakura had been resting.
"Um, Bakura? I know it's a little odd, but some of my friends asked if they could drop by today- I tried to explain that it's not a risky surgery, but I guess they're curious about my well-being..."
Bakura Touzokou was hardly eager to play 'host' to a party of strange teens right now, but there was no denying that he owed Ryou several favors. So he decided to suck it up and gave a single nod. /Ok/.
Ryou immediately thanked his roommate, adding that he could always draw the curtains around his own bed if he 'didn't feel social' before describing all of his friends.
Still rather medicated, Bakura decided to catch up on a nap before the others could arrive. He woke up to find Dr. Kiyoshi giving him an update on the surgery- a 'surprising success,' in the man's own words. The doctor also gave the recovering patient permission to freely speak, before closing the privacy curtains at the teen's behest. Though the news was appreciated, Bakura's voice was still strained from the surgical breathing tubes and the moisture-sapping medications. He decided to rely on the ancient cell phone once again for the rest of that day's communications.
'Funny how something I once counted as 'useless' has become so important to me...' The teen mused as he turned the worn rectangular device over in his hand. 'I would never have thought-'
"Hey, anybody in there?!"
A loud voice suddenly sounded outside the door of the pair's room, and Bakura glared as it was followed by a series of loud knocks.
"Jou! Don't act foolish! Do you want us to be kicked out?!" A female voice hastily chastised the first visitor. "Ryou just had surgery! He or his roommate might be sleeping! Try to be considerate for once!"
"Oops, sorry." The abashed voice soon lowered and was followed by a (far lighter) series of knocks. "Hey, can we come in?"
Bakura could hear Ryou's light laughter from the other side of the fabric veil, and the boy cheerfully called out: "It's alright; Jounouchi, we're awake."
Soon a veritable crowd of young adults came traipsing past Bakura's bed. Though he had the privacy curtains drawn, he could still make out some of the figures on the other side through the small opening where the right and left side curtains met.
At first, Bakura was surprised by the bizarre assemblage of friends who came to visit Ryou. Firstly, there were two boys who looked eerily alike (not that he and Ryou were ones to talk). Both of them were shorter than average, with the smaller one barely hitting 5'; and the other only three or four inches above that. Their spiked hairstyles looked like someone had taken several neon highlighters and a black permanent marker and exploded them all in a microwave.
Then there was a girl, who, although very polite; seemed far too talkative to Bakura. His opinion of her did not improve after she gave his donor a big (yet considerate) hug.
Next to pass by was a tall blonde boy- he had a weird accent and was so energetic that Bakura was surprised the nurses let him in the ward at all. He was clearly the idiot who'd been hammering on the door-frame before. There was also a calm brunette boy around the same height as the blonde- he seemed to be keeping an eye on the hyper-active nutcase.
And lastly, there was another male brunette; a preposterously tall teen with a stern face. He didn't seem remotely interested in being there; in fact, he looked annoyed and constipated (emotionally, too). But then the not-so-jolly giant (apparently named 'Seto') was soon able to use his phone to hack into the hospital's television network. He then managed to get the shared room's two televisions almost unlimited channels.
Bakura was starting to see the grumpy guy's usefulness.
Ryou sounded thrilled to see his friends again, but Bakura was a bit miffed by the large crowd- he knew patients weren't supposed to have more than two visitors at a time! So how had they- oh. The white-haired deviant frowned. That's right, there were two people in the room- which meant 4 should be the limit for visitors at one time. But apparently the nurses couldn't count- or didn't care.
'Whatever...' the exhausted youth sighed as he listened to the others speaking. But the displeased patient's silent objections were rapidly inflated by the grumpy guy's reveal of a plastic bag he'd apparently brought in. The tall teen robotic-ally withdrew a triangular bundle of what looked like clear cellophane wrapped around something green and white.
"Mokuba hopes you feel better soon. He couldn't come, but he did ask me to bring you these." Seto muttered as he stiffly handed Ryou a bouquet of brilliantly white daisies and a small vase.
"Oh, they're lovely! Please tell him thank you! This room is so dismal; these'll really help brighten it up!"
Bakura felt his face give a painful twinge as he instinctively scowled. 'Who's this 'Mokuba'?'
Meanwhile, the blonde began boy looked around, grinning as he loudly inquired, "so, where's your buddy? Y'know, the guy you can't stop talkin' about?"
Bakura blinked in bewilderment. 'Is he referring to me?'
The shyer patient clapped a hand over his mouth. "Oh my gosh, that's right; I'm so sorry! I forgot to introduce you-" He turned and called softly towards the other side of the thick green curtain. "Bakura, are up to meeting my friends? If you're not feeling great that's fine; we can be quieter."
Nervous, but not wanting to seem off-put, Bakura let out a raspy retort. "Sure."
Ryou then calmly asked one of the visitors to tug back the heavy green curtain separating the two patients. As the curtain was pulled back, the bandaged youth braced himself for their inevitable reactions- he knew his face was still badly swollen and red from the surgery.
Yet overall, the visiting audience seemed wholly un-phased by his appearance.
He noticed a few minor twinges, but on the whole the group seemed to take in his appearance very well. The smallest one didn't even seem to care, and he smiled as he addressed the reclined patient.
"Hi, I'm Yugi! It's nice to meet you!"
Bakura blinked before grabbing his phone.
/Nice to meet you too. Are you in Ryou's grade?/
Yugi read the message and giggled. "Oh no, Ryou's a genius! He's a level above me."
The taller 'copy' of the boy stepped forward and gently placed a hand on the other's shoulder. "Aibou, you are very smart. Just not 'book-smart;' as they say."
Bakura caught Ryou's eye and nudged his head subtly towards the two clones. Ryou knew what he was asking and just smiled and nodded twice. Bakura's response was interrupted by a rather vain voice.
"Hello, my name is Yami Atemu. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
Bakura was a little annoyed- when Ryou spoke in large, formal words, it was in a very cordial and polite manner. But this man seemed pretentious to the point of arrogance.
/You too./ Still, Bakura decided to play nice- for Ryou's sake.
Before the patient could type anything more he was interrupted by a large hand being shoved in his face. He jumped backwards as an equally offensive voice hit his ears.
"Jounouchi Katsuya! Nice to meet'cha! Any friend a' Ryou's is a friend a' mine!" The tall blonde had a strange accent. His demeanor further reminded Bakura of a hyperactive squirrel.
He hesitantly shook hands with foreign-squirrel-boy. /Hi. American?/
"Yup! Born an' raised!" The noisy teen pointed proudly at his lean chest. "But I've been here so long I've almost lost my accent- can' believe you picked it up!"
It was probably a good thing Bakura couldn't laugh out loud, or he might've done so before realizing the wild blonde was actually serious.
"This is my 'ol friend Honda-" The shorter brunette gave a light wave, but didn't speak. Evidently he wasn't big on talking.
"And this grouch is Seto Kaiba!" The blonde pointed to the tallest guy, his grin never fading.
The giant didn't offer his hand, but just stiffly said, "Hello."
Bakura only nodded in return, not bothering to use his cell for another one-word response. The group then slowly settled into various conversations, mostly revolving around the surgery.
Strangely enough, the person Bakura got on best with was the tall, grouchy guy. Seto didn't mince words, and he had useful information on how surgeries like this one usually went. He described the healing process and how to minimize scarring. He even recommended a special brand of medicinal ointment that could reduce the appearance of old scars. Bakura wasn't sure how he knew that, but decided not to ask.
Nearly two hours passed before the visitors began slowly filing out of the room. Ryou cheerfully waved them off, grateful to have been visited by so many well-wishers. He glanced sideways at the gift bouquet, now lying on the far end of the bed.
"I should really put these on one of the side tables..." Carefully, the donor maneuvered the stems into the small vase and set them on the wooden side-table next to his bed. As Ryou carefully re-arranged the daisies, he noticed the oddly intense looks he was getting from his quiet roommate. He held back a chuckle as he primped the delicate petals.
"By the way, on the off-chance that you're curious... Mokuba is Seto Kaiba's little brother. He's around 9 or 10 years old, if I recall." He glanced sideways at the anxious punk. "He's a very sweet kid."
"...tch." Bakura looked away with feigned disinterest. "Whathever."
But the crafty landlord wasn't fooled, and in his upbeat mood he couldn't resist a little bit of teasing. "You're not jealous, are you Bakura? I mean, he is the only heir to the Kaiba fortune, besides his brother- are you afraid that I might let a billionaire steal my heart?" The former volunteer grinned impishly at the smirking inpatient.
A loud cackle suddenly came through the door frame, followed by a snarky quip: "Hey, after seeing one of those hospital bills, I can hardly blame anyone for going after their own sugar-daddy!"
"Malik! Marik!" Ryou smiled in delight as the two wild blondes came into the room. "I'm so glad to see you guys! How are you?! Thank you again for the last-minute ride yesterday!"
Malik waved off the extra gratitude with one hand. "No problem."
Marik smirked as he glanced at the heavily-bandaged convalescent. "Really, we just wanted to get a good look at *ss-face in person."
No longer restricted by the doctor's orders, Bakura loudly snarled out, "geth benth, you lunlatic!"
Both of the blondes exchanged bewildered glances before they simultaneously ran over to Ryou.
"Wow, how'd you do it?" Malik added in a stage whisper. "A shock collar? A taser? Frequent beatings?"
"Eh?" Ryou looked baffled at the sudden mention of violence. "I- I don't understand what you mean-?"
"Bakura never cuts back on his swearing this much- in fact, the last time I saw him go without cursing like a sailor was when we were trying to get out of this one situation with a policeman and a pros-"
"OKAY thath's enough of thath." Bakura hastily stopped the smaller blonde by slapping a hand over his mouth.
"Seriously, it's like you've managed to tame him- I'm impressed!" Marik nodded while patting the now irate inpatient on the back.
The white-haired punk snarled in a low tone as he swatted Marik's hand away. "I'm on a loth of pain medication righth now, so I'm going to leth that one slide. But keep ith up, ahn you'll soon be puth on the same stuff- got ith?"
"Bakura, you're really not supposed to strain your voice..." Ryou exasperatedly tried to remind his roommate.
"Aww, he's even concerned for you!" Malik tauntingly cooed, his mouth no longer covered by his friend's pale mitt. "It's like you're a well-trained dog now, huh?"
Marik's voice grew into an irritating sing-song tone as he teased the exasperated patient. "Aw, who's a good Bakura, then~? Who's a good boy~?"
Losing his temper, the white-haired hellion warned the pair. "Either you shuth up, or I'm calling securithy and saying you escapthed from the psych ward."
Ryou spoke up, giving the two dark-skinned teens a pleading look. "Actually, Marik, Malik? I'm quite thirsty, and it takes a really long time to get anything from the kitchen... if I give you a dollar, could you possibly get me something from the vending machines?" Ryou hopefully asked the blonde duo.
The wild pair eagerly agreed and ran off down the hall to find something for their thirsty friend to drink.
Meanwhile, the hickory-eyed youth sighed and turned to his worn-out roommate. "Well, it seems like we'll have a bit more peace and quiet now- sorry about that. I know you're getting tired; I didn't realize they'd be be dropping by as well."
Bakura only snorted and shook his head. "They'll be backth, you know."
"Really? Hmm... I wouldn't be so sure..." The smaller boy trailed off mischievously, earning a bewildered look from his house-guest. "After all, they're both running rather quickly, and I know for a fact the vending machines are situated right on the other side of the main security office..."
Bakura's jaw nearly fell open as he stared at the sly teen and declared: "You're enthirely beyond awesome."
The modest flush he got in return was beyond adorable.