The Teddy Bear

by Ravenous

Note: This is a lengthy one shot. Don't let the summary fool you about a dripping wet bear *shakes out eechi
thoughts* I can say this is part-fluff and part-skeptical drama (and probably a bit OOC to me). I dedicated this
to fellow Yugi/Yami fic writer Hakusen.

Malevolent: Do you think its about time you have a muse?
Ravenous: ~_~ yes, I know.

Oh, Malevolent is my alter-ego who wrote RK fluffiness het fics a year before I was born. Bear with her whine
about my yaoi ego, Ravenous. Mwahahaha XD


-----

Yami was never a curious one. On the day of the well-heralded eclipse, while the rest of the school brought
out large faded plastic basins and square pieces of cardboard with tiny holes, he idled on the metal swings as
everyone made a fuss in the open field. Come Christmas time, he never jiggled presents or poke holes in
Christmas wrappings like the other kids did. Instead, he waited until they were handed to him to be opened.
Christmas evening was like any other night. Never once did he lose sleep peeking through the maple wood of
the antique banister to check on Santa Claus to see how he was doing.

It was therefore not surprising that he was stoic when he first caught glimpse of a dripping teddy bear.

They had just moved in that morning. The house was cramped, sandwiched between different flats in a building
that was in itself sandwiched by other edifices that stood around it. Dirty walls clearly showed signs of wear
and tear, with large proportions of peeling paint that stood out like yellow witches' fingernails against paling
grey of the old coating. The carpet too looked disgustingly old, boasting of bald patches here and there. He
threw his luggage on the bed and began a series of painfully dry coughs---the dusty room's FIRST gift. The
boy stopped wondering why he got the only room with a window.

As with any first day at a new school, it was plain hell for him. No one knew him at all and the teacher
mispronounced his name at a roll call. Worst of all, he made a fool of himself during recess by spilling the
cafeteria milk on his shirt. Thus when the dismissal bell rang, he was so filled with relief that he hurriedly ran
down the hall towards the area where the buses parked.

A turn of the chipped brass doorknob was all he need to enter his dingy kingdom. He took care in setting his
books by the window so as not to disturb the ever present dust, Peering out into the alley, he noticed a
clothesline which ran from a hook attached from the top of his dirty window to a large pulley on the upper part
of another window on the walk of a building ten feet away. The line was made of several lengths of green and
blue nylon that were twisted together until they reached a considerable thickness. He thought it was odd that
only a little pudgy figure dangled from it.

It was an old teddy bear, hanging by its ear which had been hurriedly pinned to the nylon. It's eyes had been
fashioned out of broken buttons and it had no clothes except for the dainty pink ribbon which choked its neck.

--

Later that night, Yami woke up disturbed. The bear had been soaking wet, yet it had not rained a drop that day.
Something was wrong. His mind discounted the possibility that the bear could have been washed or
accidentally wet by the people in the flat across theirs.

School was dull as ever. The only highlight came when Mr. Rey came screaming out of the men's room after
the toilet overflowed while he was making a deposit. He relished the awkwardness for a moment while he rode
home until he let his mind wander. He thought of the dripping bear and its dainty striped ribbon and wondered
again why it had been so wet. It was silly even thinking about it, he mused. But then, he decided that same
night that he would stay up to see who owned the bear, and perhaps find out why it was wet at all.

That night, he curled under the bed sheets with his tiny clock and waited until everyone had doused the
houselights and every thing is turned off. Then, flashlight in hand, he moved towards the window where he sat
and waited.

--

The night was uncomfortable. It took three changes of shirts, a lot of powder, and four hours of waiting for him
to go back to bed. Turning off his flashlight with a sigh, he moved away from the table just as a faint light came
up in the room across the building. Flooded with sudden relief, he resisted the urge to throw open the window
and holler 'Moshi moshi'.

Then he saw it.

A spiky haired dark shadow of average height floated across the window for a few seconds. For awhile, he
imagined it was one of those head bangers that he had seen in school. Er no, he nearly forgot he TOO have a
spiky hair, but that doesn't make him one. But then the shadow turned around.

It looked like him. The same spiky hair and reddish eyes.

No, it does not only looked LIKE him...

It was him.

"What the hell?"

The boy climbed raised his window and climbed up onto the sill. Carefully, he took the frayed nylon between
his fingers and pulled the line until the bear drifted within his reach. He took it down gently, laying the wooden
pin beside his evening slippers, and stroked the bear lightly as he started to cry. The tears flowed slowly at
first, then cascaded into a torrent of heart wrenching sobs.

Yami never realized what happened next. He may have fallen asleep or closed his eyes for a minute. The only
thing he was sure of what had seemed like a blink, the identical look-alike had vanished and the window was
shut. The strange shadow was gone, leaving only the little teddy to drip on the line.

He was hooked. and every night he kept his eerie rendezvous. Nightly, he waited for him to appear. Nightly, the
strange look-alike was there in the same ethereal haze bringing nothing but ethereal haze, bringing nothing
but fresh tears for the stupid bear. Nightly, Yami would fall asleep in the same strange way and wake up to the
bear that frowned on him as it did its act on the makeshift clothesline. Yami was filled with intrigue and
strange compassion to the mysterious boy, a compassion that strangely grew into a fondness he never knew
before. Blushing one night, he realized that the other boy is becoming an obsession for him...that he
wondered if he is narcissist in a very odd and queer way....and he couldn't wait to meet him.

--

That night he decided to get to know who he really was and why he looked like him. His wait was filled with a
new sensation---a funny tingling that made him sneeze occasionally.

At last, the other boy arrived. Yami waited in the same way until the boy was gone and the teddy bear hung
crying in his place. Then, just before dawn, he clipped a note onto the bear's ear and pulled the clothesline
until the bear touched his windowsill.

Can I see you tonight? I live in the apartment across yours and I've seen you before. I'll be waiting at my
window. -Yami

He woke in the morning to find himself slouched over the side table. He completed his morning rituals just as
his bus arrived, its baritone bellows, drawing children out of the old buildings like ants on a string. As he
reached for the window, he almost jumped.

He saw the note.

See you at midnight -Yugi

School passes unusually slow even though dismissal came early because of a heavy storm. The bus deposited
him in front of his building and he trudged into the flat soaking wet. He went up the stairs and shut the
cracking door behind him. The bear was there as usual, more wet than ever because of the lashing storm.

Taking out his notebooks, he hurried through his homework then sat clumsily at the window with great
expectation to meet this 'Yugi'. He fiddled with a pencil as he watched the room grow darker and darker until
very faint street light filtered through his window...

Yami woke up with a jolt at exactly twelve o'clock thinking there had been a major blackout caused by the still
raging storm. But then, he lifted his bear and his eyes met with what had blocked the light from the window--
-a pudgy figure that stood sitting on his windowsill. Speechless, he peered out of the window in the pouring
rain to see if the other boy, Yugi was perhaps waiting for him at his sill.

Yet to his surprise, THERE was no sill at all.

Instead there stood a blank wall with peeling paint just like the inside of his quarters. The pulley which had
been originally fixed to the window was now simply affixed to the wall with a crude metal nail. Still bewildered,
he picked up the little teddy bear that sat against his window with a great smile upon his face. As the storm
poured steadily, he held the furry teddy for the first time in his arms, and when the lightning flashed...

...he noticed that it was dry


-THE END-

Is Yugi the teddy bear? beats me o___o; I don't know either XD :: points at stats ::