Well, another chapter done... this wasn't easy to do, I'm more used to writing as much as I can in one go, but this one was "scrap-work", as I call it (don't know if that has an influence on the reading flow)... It's been a busy week for me and my family because my grandmother died, and there were many things that had to be done, and I just didn't feel all that much like writing. On the other hand, I'm trying to get as much done as I can, because once school starts again, I will surely have less time than in the first semester -sigh-
Anyway, on with the story...
drowningsiren: Oh, I never claimed to know how to stop a toboggan the right way - all I ever had were either the simple "wooden sleds" (as I always refer to them) or plastic sleds with steering wheels and brakes. Wow, that sounds like an exciting experience (hope you'rre not getting me wrong or anything)... Heh, I wish Dad would have had his camera with him on some of our skiing/sledding excursions (he's the family paparazzi), especially when we were in Braunwald: he told me that I had lost my sled, and it had gone way down into the deep snow, so of course he had to go get it because I was too little :D
Solo's Orca: It's a term that means as much as "girl germs" (or boy germs, too, but I've only heard it being used when talking about girls)... it's a kids' thing, but I crack up every time I hear someone say that (like in Dexter's Laboratory, he was practically paranoid about those things -lol-)...
dragonlady222: I've also encountered several ones that were described as "Easy", but in the end I had to give because I simply couldn't see the solution... Stay tuned for that ;) Hmm yeah, I figured that after all that's happened, he might see quite a bit of fun in winter sports :)
finalfantasys-child: Hehe, now I wonder where I got that idea from (must've been my wayward "sudden inspiration")... I remember that so well from Dex' Lab :D
ManjoumePaigeykun: Ah, that's great! Most people I know don't really like that game :( Oh well, in return, I don't play Jass (card game) ;) Glad you liked the chapter...
bookworm3213: Thanks! We used to have a table soccer thing once, but Dad broke it because he was handling it too roughly XD Really? I'm the exact opposite: I suck at math and such, but I'm always up for a Sudoku (preferably Medium or Hard... Evil just isn't fun when you can't solve one)...
sweetchica55: Well, there are other things I cannot do, like download full episodes of (insert something here) from the Internet - my brother thinks I'm the biggest idiot... Hehe, I'm not telling you yet. But that question will be answered :)
Tristan was the only one who woke up at the soft beeping of Ryou's alarm clock. He sat up, silenced the device, then looked around. As far as he could tell, two beds had been unoccupied all night long…
"Well, I guess I'll go take a shower before waking them up," he said to himself as he got out of bed and went to get his clothes for today. No sooner had he stepped out of the room and the door closed behind him when he was greeted with an odd sight: a horde of girls had gathered in front of the door to the boys' bathroom, and those in front were pressing their ears against the door. Not a word was said. Tristan was just about to tap the nearest girl on the shoulder when Tea stepped out of the girls' bathroom.
"Hey Tea, what's going on?" he asked her, jabbing his thumb at the cluster of hushed females.
"Malik and Marik are in there," the brunette replied as if that explained everything, but added for good measure: "Alone."
For a moment, Tristan didn't react at all, but then he slowly said: "…Oh."
"They need a life, if you ask me," Tea sighed, nodding her head in the direction of her classmates.
"Shut up, bitch!" one of the girls hissed.
"What did you say?!" Tea retorted in a menacing tone of voice. It was sign that she was about to erupt, and such moments made her friends go chalk-white in the face – like Tristan, who retreated a step and muttered:
"Um… I think I forgot my shampoo…" He turned around and realized that he had just left the room without the card to get back in. "Oh no…" he groaned as he heard Tea arguing heatedly with the others. A catfight was about to take place, and it was good advice to get the hell out of the way before that happened. "Guys! Guys, let me in!" he called and knocked on the door.
"You're asking for it!"
"I'll scratch your eyes out!"
"Oh yeah?! Try to if you dare!"
"C'mon, guys, I wanna live!" Tristan whined and knocked harder. A split second before the fight would begin, the door opened. Joey stood there, wearing nothing but his pajama shorts; he looked really sleepy.
"Jesus Christ, man, what's the matter?" he mumbled.
"I'm safe now!" the brunet cheered and darted past him.
"Hmm?" the blond wondered, but then his ears rang as the girls cried out:
"Ooh, look!"
"Where's Seto?"
"Did you get laid?"
"You must tell us everything!"
Still half-asleep, Joey just blinked. As the mob of girls moved towards his door, Tea yelled:
"Joey, you idiot! Close the damn door!"
Miraculously, he did; and not a second too late. A series of dismayed cries could be heard when the door slammed shut right in the fangirls' faces. The dismay turned into anger, and Tea slammed the door to her room shut before they could round on her.
Bakura scowled darkly as he sat up; hearing a bunch of girls chattering right outside the room plus a lot of door-slamming right after waking up did not make him a happy camper. "Bloody females…" he growled.
"Let them be…" Ryou muttered.
"Like hell I will." His darker half stood up and yelled grumpily: "Hey, shut the fuck up!" Then he flung the pillow at the door as if to emphasize his point. Surprisingly, the noise outside died down, and for all they knew, the girls had gone to do whatever they did.
"The pillow was pointless," Tristan remarked as the spirit went to retrieve said object from where it lay at the door.
"So what? Stupid bimbos…" was the only response.
"I guess it was my fault… sorry," Joey yawned.
"You should put on a shirt next time," Ryou advised him.
"I'm grateful – I could be dead now!" Tristan huffed, showing his friend thumbs-up.
"Don't you think you're exaggerating a bit, Taylor?" The ruckus had woken Seto up as well, who wiped at his eyes with his hands.
"You've obviously never encountered the horror that is known as a catfight," Tristan huffed.
"I keep my distance to such people."
"Now that my sleep has been deranged, let's have some action," Bakura said gruffly as he went to get his clothes.
"Sounds like you're in desperate need of venting your anger," Joey grinned.
"Yeah, and I want to get a move on for your guys' sake… before I'd mess up one of your pretty faces."
"You heard the man; rise and shine!" Tristan snickered when Seto in particular grumbled at that display of cheerfulness. Again, they went through the process of a quick shower before arming themselves with coats and snowsuits against the cold. When Malik and Marik had joined them, they left the hotel. The others were a bit surprised that their first destination wasn't the lift, but a little restaurant instead.
"This is my real wake-up call," Seto simply said as he went inside.
"Coffee, but not Nescafe," Joey briefly explained before following.
"That's what I call having privileges. It's quite like him…" Marik remarked.
"Actually, it was my idea. It'd take all the fun out of the day if he would be grumpy all the time," Tristan told them.
"Oh, so that is why he's not being a bastard towards you anymore?" Malik asked.
"Sort of, yeah."
A minor snowball fight ensued while they waited for Seto and Joey to return. Later, they finally went up the mountain again, and before long, Bakura too was his usual self again. Insane laughter echoed after them as the strategy for the mini-war was put to use as they raced down the hill. Seto, Tristan and Joey were caught in the middle of it all and sometimes had to use their ski poles to protect themselves from the snowballs. When they were going down the second time, Ryou aimed poorly once, and the snowball hit Seto in the face. Luckily for his roommate, the white-haired boy really did throw like a girl (as Tristan had said during the PE test), so it didn't hurt.
"Crikey, Kaiba, I'm sorry!" he apologized, startled, while Bakura burst out laughing along with the others.
Seto wiped the snow off his face and got a contemplating look.
"Thinking about getting a pair of snow goggles, maybe?" Malik teased.
"No," the CEO replied, "I'm thinking about where first I should 'poke' Ryou with my poles…"
Said boy paled a bit, though he believed to see a glint in the blue eyes that meant that he wouldn't really get hurt (on the other hand, he told himself not to be so sure because it was Seto, after all), and he shook the driver's shoulder a bit. "Bakura, could we go a bit faster? Like, right now?"
"I thought you would never ask. Ra bless you, Kaiba!" Bakura yelled happily before advising his Hikari to make himself as small as possible in order to gain more speed.
"Just you wait!" the tall brunet threatened as he started to go even faster.
"The hunt is on…" Malik grinned.
"Well, there's no time to lose!" his Yami exclaimed, "Keep up if you can!" he added, glancing at the other two skiers before starting to gain more speed as well.
"Way ahead of you!" those other two retorted.
Ahead of them, Seto had almost caught up with the toboggan. Bakura looked around his Hikari, who was clinging to him as if for dear life, and decided: "I won't make it that easy for him…!"
Abruptly (or at least, as abruptly as he could) (1), he steered off the groomed run and right into the woods. Ryou practically shrieked as they went over the edge.
For a short moment, Seto considered to give up the chase when he saw them go over the edge. Then again… the woods offered quite a challenge – to maneuver around all those trees…
'To come home in one piece or to take the risk, that is the question. Oh, what the heck; if I back down, he'll probably think that I'm a sissy… and revenge is sweet, as they say…'
Having made that decision, Seto strayed off the groomed run as well and was sweating bullets a few seconds later as he faced the tricky task of avoiding the trees. Orientation wasn't that much of a problem, thanks to Ryou's screams.
"Bakuraaaaa…! Oh my– Aah! Christ, that was close! Look out…!"
"Lean over, Hikari! Left! Right!"
"We're gonna die!" the good-mannered teen whined.
"Now's not the time to be a wuss! Right!"
(Meanwhile…)
"Um… Joey, d'you think Kaiba knows what he just did?"
"Why shouldn't he?"
"I taught you guys how to go downhill… but not exactly in the slalom fashion."
"I bet he's alright! Let's go too!"
"Dude…!" Tristan groaned, but it was too late: Joey had already turned to the left and was following the other three into the woods. His best friend stopped, staring after him.
"That's more like it!"
"May only those who are worthy survive!"
With those battle cries, Malik and Marik proceeded to follow the rest of the party. For a couple of seconds, Tristan just stood there.
'What the hell did they get themselves in to? Hope they all get down in one piece… including me! Geez, Marik's battle cry is really motivating… not.'
And he pushed off over the edge as well.
(Back to the front…)
How he managed, he didn't know, but after long last, it seemed, Seto had come through the woods. When the last trees were passed, he found that they were on a wide stretch of the run. On the other end of the "road", Bakura was sitting on the toboggan and cackling like a madman. He looked as if he had been told that it would be Halloween every day of every year. Poor Ryou was on all fours in the snow beside the sled, panting and trembling. Seto came to a halt beside Ryou and tuned in to Bakura's rapturous cheers over the "kick-ass ride".
"…so awesome! I wish we could do it again! Oh Ra, thanks a million for that ride! The gods must be in high spirits…!" He carried on, thanking a bunch of other Egyptian gods.
Seto just shook his head – yes, the tomb robber was definitely still high on adrenaline – then turned his attention to Ryou.
"Oh, my poor heart… dear Lord… but… I'm still alive… or so I think…"
"You're a picture of misery, but definitely alive," Seto confirmed.
Ryou looked up, and his face became even whiter than it already was. "…I'm dead," he said softly.
The young billionaire decided that it was time to do what he had followed them for in the first place. He raised one of his poles and watched how Ryou cringed and bowed his head. Apparently, Bakura had gotten through his euphoric speech, for the spirit suddenly snarled:
"Kaiba, don't you dare…!"
'Time to get this over with.'
Just then, Joey came out of the woods as well, and his amber eyes widened at the sight in front of him. "Seto…?!"
Said teen pursed his lips, then took action. It was over within a second. He brought the pole down and – poked Ryou. Not roughly; it was like back when he had found Joey and Tristan entangled with Rex and Weevil. A short, ginger poke.
Now it was Bakura who had a remarkable resemblance with a goldfish as he gawked at the CEO. Joey sighed deeply, then crossed the path. "You know, you really had me going there for a moment. Sometimes you really have such a weird sense of humor…"
Ryou opened his brown eyes and stared up at Seto in disbelief. "Kaiba…" he began.
"Spare yourself the question which I shall answer here and now: you were whimpering and cowering so much like a dog that did something bad, so I simply didn't have the heart to poke you harder. …Yes, I've officially cracked," he added sarcastically, knowing that his explanation would baffle them.
"You didn't have the heart?!" Bakura repeated incredulously while Ryou was speechless. After a moment's consideration, he growled: "But my Hikari is mine!" To underline his statement, he jumped off the sled and put his arms around Ryou.
"Don't be ridiculous; I'm more than satisfied with what I've got," Seto assured him with a meaningful glance at Joey, who gave him a smile that was impossible to resist. That realization made Seto kiss him instantly, and when that happened, Joey was in a situation he couldn't have gotten out of even if he had wanted to – but of course, he didn't…
In a flurry of snow, Malik and Marik left the woods as well and raised their eyebrows when they saw what was going on.
"Okay, we've definitely missed something here," Malik said slowly.
"Indeed. Something's about to melt, and it sure isn't the snow," Marik agreed as he watched the two teens kiss.
"Where's Tristan?" Ryou asked, looking around.
"Maybe he chickened –" Bakura began, but silenced when a lone skier appeared between the trees as well. "Oh, forget it."
"How the heck did you manage to get those sleds through there in one piece? You know, you really are kinda crazy," Tristan told him.
"Why, thank you!" Bakura grinned.
"Oh brother… Hmm, what's up with them?"
"Ah, say no more. Here's a news bulletin for you guys: Kaiba's got a heart, and it told him not to be hard to my Hikari."
"Impressive," the two Egyptians replied in unison.
"Word," was all Tristan said, but continued in his thoughts: 'Well, he has shown that he has a soft spot for Joey – oh Jesus, he'd kill me if I'd say that – but that he has one for others as well… he's definitely changed.'
"Furthermore, he officially announced that he has cracked," Bakura continued, miming the voice of a newsreader. This time, neither of the three knew what to say.
"Keep in mind that he forgot to add that I meant that in a sarcastic way," Seto suddenly spoke up after ending the kiss in the meantime.
"Kaiba in a strait jacket… guess we'll have to wait on that one a while," Malik sighed.
"Naturally; who's the one laughing like a maniac while going downhill? Not me, that's for sure."
"…Touché."
Seto smirked. Joey, on the other hand, looked up to the skies and frowned. "Um… guys, perhaps we should get going now. It's not such a good day…"
He was right: the skies were very cloudy and grey. There was absolutely no room for the sun to poke through.
"Good idea! C'mon, Ryou! Last one down is a rotten egg!" Bakura agreed as he re-positioned the sled.
"But no more going through the woods, or else I might get a heart attack," his lighter half agreed.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. 1, 2, 3 – go!"
And they were off again. Their "insane laughing", as Seto called it, came quite in handy: other people on the same run went out of their way as they came along, so they didn't need to be stingy in terms of speed. Unfortunately, the weather seemed to get worse, and by the time they were almost done with another run, an icy wind came up. For all they knew, a storm could be approaching, perhaps even a blizzard.
"Aw, crap! Oh well, at least we could have some fun!" Joey sighed ruefully when they decided to go back to the hotel.
"And what fun it was!" Malik added.
"But what will we do now?" Bakura wondered.
"We could go to the ice rink. Then you could see the Pharaoh fall as well," Marik suggested.
"But aside from watching a bunch of people fall on their asses, what could we do there?" Tristan asked.
Marik grinned gleefully as if he had expected that response. "Ah, that's the key point. When I was there yesterday, there weren't many people at all, and if that's the case today too, it's no problem to join in."
"But we don't– Wait a minute, you don't mean…?"
"What else? Let's go!"
"Is that allowed?" Ryou asked skeptically.
"Who cares? It guarantees chaos, so it's worth trying!" Bakura told him and hurried off after Marik, who was dragging Tristan along.
"If they're going to do what I think they will do, count me out," Seto said decidedly.
"Wait, don't tell me…" Joey covered his eyes with one hand and almost touched Seto's forehead with the other, obviously miming to read his thoughts. "…Work?" he guessed sarcastically.
"Since the weather is so bad, why not?" The CEO turned to Ryou. "Why you put up with this, though… One wouldn't think that of you."
Malik elbowed his friend. "His duty is to run around and apologize to people if Marik and/or Bakura go haywire, right?"
"Someone has to do it… I'm on the verge of giving up trying and teaching him to do that himself," the white-haired boy mumbled, rubbing his arm a bit where he had been elbowed.
Seto personally doubted that Ryou would be successful even he would still be motivated, but he didn't say that out loud after the previous statement. He briefly said goodbye to them, then headed back to the room.
"Looks like you're being held in fairly high esteem in Kaiba's book," Malik grinned as the trio headed toward the ice rink.
"I think you're exaggerating. Bakura and Marik are just too freakish for Kaiba's taste," Ryou replied matter-of-factly.
"Yeah; it's not like you'd see them playing chess on the laptop with him," Joey laughed, "How did that come to be, anyway? I'm still a bit baffled…"
"It wasn't my idea," Ryou said defensively, "I had just put away our clothes and such and was reading a book when he suddenly asked me if I play chess. So I said yes, occasionally I do, and then he made me the offer."
"You're having a good influence on him," Malik told Joey, "I mean, he's still a bit stuck-up at times, but he's also changed quite a bit – just look at how he hangs out with us!"
"I guess…" The blond shrugged. "But don't tell him that, otherwise he might try to deny it or something."
"Oh, don't worry, I get it: that's something he only talks about with you and his brother, I suppose. My lips are sealed," the Egyptian assured him.
They had arrived at the ice rink now, and there they stared at the scene on the ice. After a while, Malik whistled.
"Well, they're good at improvising, you gotta hand it to them."
"It looks like loads of fun to me! And look, the ice must have been cleaned!" Joey exclaimed.
Cheering, he and Malik rushed to the rink – and let themselves fall onto the ice, sliding towards the others.
"It's been resurfaced, Joey, not cleaned!" Ryou called after them, but of course they didn't hear that. Luckily, there weren't many people there, so things would really need to get out of hand to make them complain. But as usual, Ryou was called to a woman who promptly asked whether he knew those "characters". The teen merely sighed. Oh boy, did he ever know them…
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
Seto worked for about two hours when the door to the room opened. He didn't give that much thought until he found himself looking at a mop of blond hair instead of the laptop screen. Any other person would have yelped and backed away hastily, but Seto's only reaction was that his eyes widened a bit.
"Puppy?" he asked.
"Hey, don't you think you've worked enough for now? Why don't you come back to the rink with me? Then we'd be an even number of people!"
"That's all you need me for? To make it even?" He smirked. "In fact, they are even now that you're not there, so you could just stay here."
"And simply watch you work? Sorry, but I've got far too much energy for that. I'd probably piss you off in a matter of minutes because I'd keep asking you if we could do something," Joey laughed, "And besides, I said I'd be back! C'mon, please?" he begged.
"You're sounding more and more like Mokuba, did you notice?"
Joey just grinned. Mokuba had once told him that when he was in doubt that Seto would agree, 'make use of what he can't resist'. "I might have. So what d'you say? Please?"
If Mokuba had given Joey advice on how to be persuasive, Seto thought, the next step would be something like "pretty please" or even puppy-eyes… "You realize that if I come with you now, I will want to work in the evening?"
"If you must, sure," Joey replied with an impatient wave of his hand.
"Can you promise me that there will be no more persuasion acts, then?"
"Big promise."
"Are you sure?"
"What are you waiting for, a Scout's honor? I hate to disappoint you, but I wasn't a boy scout," Joey sighed, crossing his arms.
"I just wanted to be absolutely sure. Okay, I'll come, but if whatever you're doing consists of bowling people over or something, do not expect me to go that low."
"Don't worry, that's not what we're doing!" Joey assured him brightly as Seto saved his work and shut down the computer; the CEO silently told himself to be alert anyway – just because they weren't bowling people over didn't mean that the activity would appeal to him.
Hand in hand, they went to the rink, though Seto was reminded of Christmas when he saw how eager and impatient Joey was. They passed a few guests along the way, and as usual, Seto didn't care whether they looked or not. If they recognized him and had paid attention to the news, they would know what was going on. He would only react if they would start speaking badly of Joey…
At the rink, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. He wouldn't have guessed that they would do that – but apparently, they thought it was a good way to get rid of more energy.
Like Marik had predicted, there were very few other people there, and they seemed to have decided that it was best if they just kept to themselves. The whole rest of the gang was on the ice, although only Yugi, Yami and Tea wore ice skates – and those who didn't have that equipment used the bar that went all around the rink to support themselves. On one end, Tristan and Malik were sitting on the ice, looking back at the others. Bakura was lying prone on the ice, facing the two. Ryou was beside him and had placed his hands on his shoulders. They looked as if they were about to "deliver the rock", like in a game of curling – except that Ryou was about to throw Bakura instead of a stone.
"Go on, Hikari!" Bakura urged him.
"Alright. Here goes– Whoops! Ow!"
Of course, without ice skates or special shoes, it was hard to move without falling down, and exactly that was what happened to Ryou: he pushed Bakura, who went sliding towards Malik and Tristan, but as soon as he had done that and was about to straighten himself, he slipped and fell hard on his rear end. Even as he was acting like an improvised stone, Bakura couldn't help but laugh, and so did Marik. Yugi skated over to Ryou and helped him get up again.
"Are you okay, Ryou?"
"Yes… Geez, I'll get a bruise for sure," the teen replied in a clenched voice.
At the other end of the rink, Bakura crashed into Malik, and they started laughing their heads off.
Seto turned to Joey, not quite able to rid himself of the incredulous look on his face. "Puppy, you're not serious, are you?"
"Of course I am! It's lots of fun! I mean, listen to them laugh!"
"Joey, they laugh about anything."
"Aw, at least give it a try! You can push me, if you want!"
Seto narrowed his eyes. "If you thought for one second that I'd pretend to be a stone…"
"I know; that's why I made you that offer! So, what d'you say?"
"Hey Joey! Kaiba! C'mon over here!" Yugi called cheerfully.
"Coming, Yug'!" Joey yelled back and beckoned Seto to follow him as he ran to his friend.
The brunet followed, though not making a secret of how skeptic he was concerning this game.
"Now we all can be divided into pairs! Great!" Tea cheered.
"Get ready, Gardner, we're up!" Marik told her and practically made a pancake landing on the ice. "Push as hard as you can!"
"You don't need to tell me," the girl replied as she skated over and gripped his shoulders.
"Aim for the middle – I'm going into the house and getting a strike!"
"Instead of mixing up different sports, just concentrate on sliding," Tea told him with a theatrical sigh, then pushed him as hard as she could. With a loud "Incoming!", Marik slid forward like a penguin. The others stayed put (after all, stones didn't scramble to get out of each other's way) and started laughing all over again when the Egyptian crashed into them.
"Joey, you're up now!" Yugi said.
"All right! C'mon, Seto!" Joey slipped underneath the bar and flopped down onto the ice like Marik had done before.
"Something tells me that I'm going to regret this…" Seto muttered as he stalled a bit.
"It builds character," Yami stated.
"What would you know about it?" Seto grumbled.
"Admittedly, I've fallen enough so far to know what I'm talking about."
"…The first one to laugh dies."
'And what about the second one?' they all thought, but kept that to themselves.
Seto was relieved when he managed to take a stance like Ryou and Tea had before him without falling down.
"Give it all you've got," the blond prompted him.
That would most surely result in a crash, and Seto wondered exactly where they saw the thrill in that. He was quite sure that he would never understand this… Biting back a sigh, he grabbed Joey by the shoulders and pushed him. During that motion, his right foot slipped, and as Joey went sliding towards the other "stones", Seto made a pancake landing as well, though definitely not voluntarily.
Even as Joey joined them, thus transforming them into a heap in the "house" that was drawn beneath the ice, Bakura and Malik clapped a hand over each other's mouths to keep themselves from laughing out loud. Tristan did the same thing, and Joey spun around to stare back at his boyfriend.
"Kaiba! Oh God, how are you?" Yugi and Tea exclaimed in unison and skated over to help him up. Ryou wanted to come along too, but he relied on Yami to steady him as he carefully made his way towards the fallen one.
"Kaiba?" Yugi asked, gingerly touching the brunet's shoulder.
The teen stirred and slowly started to get up. "It builds character… Yeah right…!" he grumbled.
Tea sighed. "He's alright!" she called to the others.
"Of course he is; he's in his element, after all," Bakura muttered. Joey elbowed him, though it was doubtful that Seto had heard that.
"Yami, go see who's closest to the middle – before Kaiba might decide to show you how much character he built thanks to this fall," Yugi whispered.
"If you say so…" The spirit skated over to where the other five teens were still in place and quickly checked who had won that round.
"Is it safe to go back there?" Joey asked.
"You think that Kaiba could be mad at you?"
"Well, yeah, I mean, it's my fault he's here in the first place."
"I imagine that my comment about building character would enrage him more than the fact that you persuaded him to come along – provided that he's even angry at you at all, of course."
Somewhat worriedly, Joey glanced back to the other side, where Seto was using the bar to climb to his feet again. Tea and Yugi helped him a bit.
"Let's get back there," Marik suggested as he, Malik and Tristan prepared to use the sill right behind them to send themselves sliding back across the ice.
"C'mon, man, you're not alone," Tristan encouraged his friend.
"Yeah…" Joey mumbled and joined their ranks, then they went sliding across the ice again.
"Well, puppy, it looks like you can handle yourself better on the ice when we lack the appropriate equipment," Seto said matter-of-factly as he slipped underneath the bar to get off the ice.
"I'm sorry…"
"You don't have to be. This is just not my thing. But since I'm here, I'll stay and watch a bit, deal?"
"Okay," Joey nodded, happy that Seto didn't hold him responsible for what had happened before.
"To make it fair, I'll sit the next rounds out as well," Ryou volunteered.
"Fine… C'mon, Blondie, we shall be victorious together!" Bakura declared.
"Gotcha!"
"Treat him well – I'm watching you," Seto told Bakura seriously as he and Ryou went to sit on one of the benches close by.
The tomb robber just made a circle with his thumb and index finger. If he had really intended for it to be reassuring, it didn't quite do the trick, for Seto still kept a very close eye on him, just to be sure. After a long while full of laughter, crashes and falls, the gang left the ice rink, and the other people decided to make use of that as long as it lasted.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
They spent the time until dinner with all sorts of leisure activities, most of which took place in the game room. After dinner, some of them wanted to go back there, but certain important things (such as the pool table) were already occupied.
"Kids?! What are they doing? They don't even know how to play!" Bakura sighed exasperatedly as he saw a bunch of pre-teens running around the table, pushing the balls with their hands instead of using the sticks.
"I consider it a sign, and that sign says that I really should get some more work done, like I had intended to," Seto said with a shrug.
"What a workaholic… it must be such a sad life to lead…" Marik used a falsely sorrowful voice to say this.
"It's a living."
"…Point taken. Ah, the things you can afford…"
"Exactly. You have a preference for doing things that I wouldn't consider to do in my wildest dreams, and the same goes for me and work."
"Unless he's around, perhaps," Bakura interjected, winking at Joey.
"It works the other way around as well." Seto gave Joey a look that was a perfect mixture of being knowing and seductive.
"Say no more," the two Yamis replied with sly grins, "Why don't you two run along and 'work'…?"
"That actually sounds like a good idea, wouldn't you agree, puppy?" Seto purred, putting an arm around the blond's waist.
"I thought you wanted to get some work done," the teen retorted with a faint blush.
"That work, yes, and then there might just be some more work…"
"Oh well, if I won't be too bored, let's go."
"Trust me; there will be no time for that."
With an arm around each other, they left the two spirits, who looked back at the children.
"It's so tempting to scare them so we could have the table for ourselves… it would be so easy!" Bakura was almost whining because he wanted to do exactly that so much.
"Ryou would throw a fit if you'd do that," Marik warned him.
"If he wouldn't, I'd have already taken action."
"I feel for you," Marik assured him and put an arm around his shoulders. Bakura just sighed.
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Shortly after nine, Ryou ambled to the game room in search of Bakura. He had spent roughly an hour playing a very simple variation of Pictionary (2) with Malik, Yugi, Yami and Tea – they had done without pre-making instruction cards or teams, it had simply been a fun free-for-all game. Particularly Marik had promised to come get his Hikari after playing a game of pool with Seto and Joey, but now it had simply been too long since that plan was made, and Ryou thought that something couldn't be right (Malik had been more relaxed about this delay).
One quick glance was all it took to see that neither one of the two Yamis were there; the same could be said for Seto and Joey. Tristan was present, though, and he was in the middle of playing a one-man game of darts.
"Tristan, have you seen Bakura or Marik?"
"No. Why do you ask?"
Ryou briefly explained the situation. Tristan shrugged and threw another dart, hitting the bull's eye. "Sorry, but I never saw them here since I came."
"He had better not be getting into trouble again," the white-haired boy frowned.
"They're probably just romping around someplace. Or maybe they went to your room."
"But we're just across the corridor! Why wouldn't they just come to get us instead of going to our room?"
"Search me."
A sigh. "Thanks, Tristan."
With that, Ryou went back to where he had come from, but this time to the other door. He knocked twice before using the card to enter. "Bakura, are you– Oh God!" he squeaked, blushing and averting his gaze, "Um… I hope I'm not disturbing… too much, I mean…"
Joey was shirtless and pinned against the wall. Seto was keeping him in place as he held him firmly by the shoulders. His shirt had slid off his shoulders. Of course, they both were a bit breathless…
"What's up, Ryou?" Joey asked as casually as he could.
"I just wanted to ask if you had seen Bakura and Marik."
"They were waiting for some kids to get away from the pool table a while ago."
"I see…" Ryou muttered thoughtfully. "Well, again, I'm sorry for interrupting you…" Although Joey tried to reassure him that it wasn't a problem, he decided that a quick getaway was by far his best choice right now – even though they were on opposite ends of the room, he could sense Seto's impatience. "Have fun," he added hastily before closing the door again.
'Let's face it: he's nowhere to be found. I just hope he didn't give those poor kids Joey mentioned the scare of their lives or something…' he thought as he stood there for a moment, contemplating about what to do next. Maybe he should just read a book… but he had barely finished the thought when he slapped his forehead. 'Gosh darn it, why didn't I think of that a little bit earlier?! I can't go back in there! Stupid, stupid…!' He decided to go see if Tristan would mind if he kept him company for a while, though his mind continued to rant about how he had forgotten about his book even as he headed back to the game room.
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"Where were you guys?" Tristan asked when Bakura and Marik entered the game room.
"We were in one of the neighboring hotels."
"Why? Is this one not good enough?"
"No, but when those darn kids had finally gone, we discovered that a couple of balls were missing. And you do need all the balls to play pool, otherwise it's no fun," Marik began.
Bakura carried on: "So we got the idea: hey, we could sneak into one of the other hotels and steal a few balls to complete our set again. But when we got there, a sense of guilt came over us." He rolled his eyes when Tristan gaped at them. "Yes, hell froze over in that moment. I guess Ryou's constant persuasions to act 'nice' are getting to me…" he grumbled.
"Anyway, so we were standing outside, debating whether we should go through with our plan –"
"Outside?! In that storm?!" Tristan interrupted them.
"Yes. In the end, we just went into the hotel and played a game there."
"A game…?"
"Several, then. And now we're back."
"You guys are so weird!" Tristan laughed, "Oh, by the way…" He pointed to a chair that was at the window. The Yamis looked, and Marik chuckled a bit.
"Right… I'll go find Malik now. See you tomorrow." He gave Bakura a clap on the shoulder. Somewhat absent-mindedly, the gesture was returned, then the Egyptian wandered off after briefly saluting Tristan.
Ryou had fallen asleep on the chair. His head was tilted backwards a bit. A barely audible snore came from his slightly parted lips when he breathed out. He looked so relaxed, so –
"Like an angel," Bakura muttered to himself after he had walked over to the sleeping teen.
"He was looking all over the place for you. And although he claimed that it was because he wanted to make sure that you didn't get into trouble, I think he was missing you," Tristan told him.
"Hikari…" Since he was sure that he had his back turned to the brunet, Bakura allowed himself to smile genuinely as he picked Ryou up and held him bridal style. When he turned back, he looked just like the others knew him: even if he was looking kind, there still was a spark of craziness in his features. Ryou was the only one who got to see his completely serene side. "I'll go put him to bed."
"I'm coming too. It's almost time for bed anyway," Tristan replied with a glance at a clock on the wall.
Bakura nodded, and together they went back to the room. But when they stepped into the corridor that led to their room, Tristan groaned.
"Oh no, not again! Twice a day! What did I do to deserve this?"
A horde of girls was gathered in front of their door, and they acted exactly like they had in front of the bathroom that morning. Some of them looked curious, others excited, and yet others as if they would like to knock down the door and murder somebody.
"Take him," Bakura commanded gruffly and gave Ryou to Tristan. Like a shadow, he crept up to one of the girls and tapped her on the shoulder. As she turned around, he made the scariest face he could imagine. The unsuspecting girl thought in the first moment of shock that it was a demon or something, and she screamed shrilly. Her classmates looked as well, and Bakura hissed and snarled like the evil spirit Ryou had gotten to know him as. Tristan shrank around the corner as the girls stampeded away like a herd of wildebeest. When the coast was clear again, Tristan headed over to Bakura, who was making a good effort to not laugh as loud as he actually wanted to. Still sniggering, he took his Hikari back, whose card Tristan used to get back into the room.
Seto and Joey were on Joey's bed, snuggled up against each other, and the blond in particular was looking bug-eyed at the door when the others entered.
"What the hell was that?"
"Kaiba's fan club just beat it, thanks to Bakura. I don't need to ask what you two were doing, right?" Tristan asked pointedly while the tomb robber gently lay down Ryou on his bed.
"I'm pretty sure that your mind is further down in the gutter than what we actually did," Seto commented.
"It was such a pleasure to scare them! Some of them were about to drool and others… well, Blondie, let's say that you should be thankful that we need cards to enter the rooms. But the looks on their faces… I hope I'll dream about that tonight!" Bakura cackled gleefully.
"Sheesh, they're demented…" Joey shook his head.
"Welcome to my world. I might act impassive around them, but there are plenty of times when I'd just like to shoot them all to the moon," Seto said.
"So apparently some would like to go for my throat…" Joey looked almost amused as he stretched. "Well, they'd have to catch me first."
"And even if they would manage that, I wouldn't let them get away with it," Seto whispered and kissed Joey's neck, making him shudder.
"Guys? Is everything okay?" Yugi's voice asked from the door.
"Sure it is!" Bakura answered.
"You scared them, right? God, I wish I could've seen it!" Marik exclaimed, sounding excited.
"You could have made a movie out of that situation!"
In the corridor, a voice said: "See, Yugi, I told you that the tomb robber was probably involved in it."
"You're just jealous, Pharaoh!"
An irritated sigh. "Whatever."
"Oh well… see you tomorrow!" Yugi called, then there was silence outside of their room once more.
"I'm going to bed now; I plan to get up earlier tomorrow so I won't be woken up as unpleasantly as today," Bakura announced.
The others decided to make the most of the situation and got ready for bed as well. Ryou slept on, not noticing how surprised the others were that he hadn't woken up once throughout the entire commotion. Not much longer thereafter, the lights were out in the room, and the only things that made falling asleep difficult were Bakura's snores and sniggers as he appeared to be having a really good dream.
(1) Yes, although I had said that there is no way to steer, you always see how Calvin can go through woods as well, so why would Bakura be unable to do the same? ;)
(2) The Drawing-and-Guessing game... I'm quite sure that we've all played it before...
I'd be grateful for some reviews as I work towards the end of this... and I predict that it might be a longer while for the next chapter will be here - the start's rather difficult...