Note: I know Bonfire night is just a British thing, but now you lot get to share the joy of standing around in the cold looking at a fire.
Important! This is the sequel to Dread, but I wasn't happy with the last chapter so I decided to stick this on the end instead to wrap things up better. For everyone who reviewed Dread and put up with my unreliable updates. I took two sick days to get this and the end of BNW finished. Getting fired over a fic would be interesting...
Warning! This chapter contains a lemon, if you don't like that sort of thing please don't read it anyway and get pissed at me!
Dread and the Fugitive Mind 14 – Final Chapter
One year (-ish) after the end of Dread.
Bakura stood, arms folded and wearing far too many layers of clothes, staring up at the enormous pile of branches and logs heaped in the middle of the garden at the back of the Kaiba mansion. Nearby, Malik and Otogi were helping Ryou throw pretty much anything flammable they could find onto the unlit bonfire, readying it for after dark, since it was November 5th. The three lovers were scurrying around getting things ready, while Bakura's own significant others were inside helping cook various treats for after nightfall.
"Are you going to help, or just stand there?" Ryou asked, coming up to prod Bakura into doing something. The thief gave him a sideways glare and carried on contemplating the bonfire, feeling tired and grumpy because he hated cold weather.
"Why are we doing this?" He demanded of his hikari, who laughed, watching Otogi slyly sticking leaves in Malik's hair every time the Egyptian turned his back on the dice player.
"Because I'm British and I enjoy making your life miserable by imposing my culture on you," Ryou smiled sweetly.
"Does this actually have any significance, or do you British just like fire?" The tomb robber muttered, at least wanting to know WHY they were going to all this trouble.
"November the 5th is the date Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament. That's why we have that thing to burn. I think it looks a little like Dinosaur Ryuzaki, it must be the hat." Ryou said, gesturing to the Guy, which was propped against the side of the bonfire, ready to be placed on top before it was lit. The body was made from a sack filled with leaves, and the arms and legs were just a pair of jeans and an old ratty jacket stuffed with straw. The head was made from a football with straw for hair and a woolly hat keeping it all together, a face drawn on the ball by Marik, who had the artistic skills of a two-year-old.
"Why is it we're only allowed to eat toffee apples and baked potatoes wrapped in tinfoil? Can't we just order a pizza?" Bakura almost whined. He blamed the cold, and wished he could just sleep through winter like a squirrel. Hibernation sounded really good. Or just a nap.
"No! You have to get in with the spirit of the holiday! It's bland English food or nothing!" Ryou insisted, and Bakura wondered why everyone else thought humouring Ryou's eccentricity was a good idea. "It'll be fun, yami!"
"Sure," the thief replied, not even trying to keep the sarcasm out of his voice. "I'm going to lie down." He muttered, heading back towards the mansion.
"Tired?" A smooth, silken voice asked as a pair of strong arms wrapped around Bakura's waist and hips from behind.
"Mh'mm." The tomb robber drawled out, leaning back into the embrace. Marik walked past just then, wearing a frilly apron and carrying a bowl of cookie mixture with a wooden spoon in it. He stopped to give Bakura a quick kiss on the cheek, then grinned at him and continued on over to the oven, stirring the mixture happily. He seemed to be enjoying cooking; he'd been at it all day.
"Before you ask, I didn't give him that apron. I don't know where he got it from." Seto stated in his defence, holding the smaller figure in his arms and letting Bakura lean against him.
"It suits him." Bakura smirked, which became a yawn after a moment.
"Come on, you should get some sleep. They're not lighting the fire for another few hours yet, they still have to fight over who gets the honour." Seto yawned as well, since it was infectious, and steered the sleepy thief towards the stairs.
"Coming too?" The tomb robber asked, disentangling himself from Seto's arms to make the walk up the stairs to their room a little easier. Seto hesitated at the foot of the stairs, thinking about it.
"I should stay down here and make sure nobody gets into the fireworks before due time, but I'm sure they'll be alright for a couple of hours." The brunette sighed, running a hand through his hair and following the albino up the staircase.
"Famous last words. You have insurance, right?" Bakura grinned, reaching their room and making his way into the dimly lit interior gratefully.
"Very funny." Seto rolled his eyes a little, closing the door behind them and stripping off his shirt, throwing it into a corner as Bakura did the same. "Could you imagine the damage Jounouchi could do if he got into a box of fireworks? It's just lucky the Super Friends haven't arrived yet. They're due here in two and a half hours, by the way."
"Joy. Then I shall have two and a half hours of peace. Ryou won't let me sleep through the whole thing." The thief said in a voice that stated how unfair he thought that was. Seto finished pulling off his boots and left his jeans on, watching Bakura yank on one of Marik's large shirts to sleep in before wrapping his arms around the albino again and leading him over to the bed.
"I'm sure you'll enjoy it later on, after everything's calmed down." Seto placated, slipping under the covers after the smaller figure and pulling the blankets up over them.
"Hmph." Bakura muttered, too tired to think of any better reply as he curled up in Seto's arms, letting the CEO's soft breathing lull him easily into sleep. Seto closed his eyes too, running his fingers through Bakura's white hair gently before drifting off to sleep as well.
"Mmmh…I have an itch…" Bakura's sleepy murmur made Seto smile, running his long, elegant fingers over the albino's back through his sleeping shirt.
"Where?" Seto asked, knowing the thief in his arms was determined not to wake up properly for as long as possible.
"Down…up…there." Bakura gave a satisfied groan as pleasure as Seto found it and killed it.
"We should head downstairs," the brunette looked at his watch, "Yugi and his friends will be here in half an hour. We also deserted Marik and left him to face Malik, Otogi and Ryou on his own."
"Marik is a good babysitter. Besides, we can make it up to him later, I'm not moving for at least twenty minutes." Bakura insisted, refusing to open his eyes and laying with his back to Seto, who smirked wickedly.
"Is that so?" The CEO's voice lowered a little.
"Mh'mm." Bakura mumbled, still not opening his eyes.
"So you won't move at all? Even if I do… this?" Seto's hands made their way beneath the covers and over Bakura's hip, long fingers tracing patterns on the insides of the albino's warm thighs.
"You…are cruel…" Bakura half yawned, half moaned as Seto took heated flesh in his hand.
"I'm known for it." The brunette whispered hotly against the back of Bakura's neck as the tomb robber arched into him. "It seems I've managed to wake you up."
"Ah…ah…yes…" Bakura gasped as Seto stroked him firmly, pale fingers curling in the sheets and the CEO's smirking lips on his neck. "You'll pay for this later…"
"Where's 'Kura?" Marik asked as Seto made his way into the kitchen alone, looking smug.
"Taking a shower." Seto smirked, waiting until Marik turned back tot he cookies he was making before stealing one from the fresh-baked batch on the table. Living with an expert thief had taught him a few tricks, the most useful one being 'if anything goes missing, blame Bakura.'
"Have Yugi-tachi arrived yet?" Seto asked, though the house was quiet and nothing was on fire, so it seemed doubtful.
"We have." A deep voice answered before Marik could, belonging to Yami. The pharaoh wandered into the kitchen, drawn to the smell of Marik's cooking and trying to get out of helping set things up in the garden.
"Everyone else is outside?" Marik asked, taking the rest of the treats for the party out of the oven and switching it off, then having a look out the window to see if it was dark yet.
Dusk had fallen and through the window the huge outline of the unlit bonfire was visible, garden candles staked into the ground lighting up as Yugi went around with a box of matches and lit them. Ryou was handing out packets of sparklers while everyone else stood around talking beside the tables that held the food, drinks and the huge box of fireworks. Even from so far away Marik could see Jounouchi staring longingly at the rockets and Anzu belting him in the side of the head with her purse every time he began to sidle towards them.
"Shall we go get this over with?" Bakura suggested as he stalked into the kitchen, ignored Yami completely and made his way over to Marik to steal a cookie. Unlike Seto, the tomb robber didn't even wait until Marik's back was turned, yet still managed to get away with it, smirking the entire time.
"Hey, those are for later, no stealing them!" Marik said, brandishing his spatula like a weapon.
"Did you see me take it?" Bakura asked, trying to look innocent.
"Well… no." Marik admitted, because Bakura's thiefy fingers were far too fast for him to get caught, even if one was staring right at him. It was almost like a magic trick.
"Then it never happened. These are good, by the way." The albino grinned, leaning up to give Marik a quick kiss while the tomb keeper untied his apron.
"You're in a better mood now," Seto commented, knowing that no matter what Bakura said – Ryou's excitement was catching and it was going to be a fun night.
"It warmed up." The thief replied, because he liked to blame the cold weather for everything wrong in the world.
"Good, then let's go light the fire," Marik suggested, hanging his apron on a hook, grabbing the two plates piled high with cookies and following Yami out the back door and across the huge mansion gardens to where everyone was waiting in the light of the candles.
"Yami!" Ryou squealed happily, running up to his darker half.
"You're right, it does look like Dinosaur Ryuzaki." Bakura decided, staring up at the Guy now perched on the very top of the giant bonfire.
"Told you so! And you know what's good about bonfires?" Ryou said as Marik set the cookies on the food table.
"Naked pagan dancing?" Bakura guessed, earning a lecherous grin from Marik.
"I was going to say they're warm, but your idea is good too." Ryou laughed, getting cheers from Otogi and Malik, who grabbed the hikari and dragged him over to help light the fire.
XxXxX
Flames crackled and licked their way quickly over the mountain of debris it had taken all day to build. Marik raised an eyebrow at Malik, who grinned and held up an empty petrol can proudly, Bakura catching the exchange and rolling his eyes.
"Ah, I taught him well." Marik wiped away a mock tear. "I'm so proud."
"And yet he still can't cook," Otogi said. "Weird."
The dice player was decked out in a tight, almost threadbare black Metallica T-shirt and a pair of Malik's jeans. Since Otogi, Malik and Ryou were almost exactly the same size they rarely bought new clothes; they just wore Malik's because he had more clothes than all the women they knew put together.
"When do we get ta play wit' da fireworks?" Jounouchi asked hopefully, joining the group stood around the food table, filling up on snacks.
"You? Never." Seto folded his arms. "I'd like to keep my house intact, you're not going near the rockets. You're lucky you're allowed sparklers."
"'Ey!" Jou growled, "I'm just as good as anyone else!"
"I'm doing it." Bakura said coolly, knowing that Jou wouldn't argue with him, especially when Marik was stood behind him, grinning.
Things were generally pretty calm between them all nowadays, but Marik and Bakura could still scare the kids now and then, when they wanted to.
"The fire is nice, huh?" Ryou changed the subject now that Jou seemed to have given up. "It reminds me of England."
"Yeah, food's good too. Thanks Marik." Yugi smiled happily, looking up at the much taller yami towering over him.
"No problem," Marik laughed, eating cheese and pineapple on a cocktail stick and making odd faces.
"It's kinda romantic, don't you think?" Otogi remarked, standing close to Malik and Ryou.
"Yeah. Shame it's not the real Ryuzaki, though." Malik sighed, not liking the dinosaur duellist since the time he'd gotten drunk and come on to Ryou.
Yami left them to themselves and went to stand near Seto, while Jou and Yugi hung around near the food.
"Fancy a walk?" Marik asked Bakura, who nodded.
"M'hmm. In fact, I think there's something you can help me with…"
XxXxX
"What do you see in those two?" Yami asked, leaning against a bench while Seto sat down on the far end, drink in hand. He'd certainly changed a lot in the past year, before Bakura and Marik had come into his life he never would have let himself relax in front of anyone, not even Mokuba.
"That was sudden," The CEO sipped his drink, leaning back comfortably. From this distance he could watch the others by the fire and still feel the warmth of it, yet at the same time he could be a little way apart from the main party.
"I've always wondered." What does a man who can have anyone see in two maniacs? Yami thought, not saying it out loud because he'd discovered a few times how protective the three were of each other.
"They give me everything I need." Seto murmured after thinking it over for a little while.
Yami frowned.
"I don't understand."
"Nor do I, really." The brunette stood up, leaving his empty glass on the bench. "I'm going to see where they've gone." He nodded politely to Yami and excused himself, heading off into the rest of the huge garden.
Yami's question hadn't been that out of the ordinary, the game king never had been able to completely wrap his mind around the three of them being together. Seto couldn't imagine life any other way now, though. He could still remember the time during Battle City and the aftermath, where the high point of his day had been getting back from work at night and going to sleep. He cared about Kaibacorp a lot, but it'd completely taken over his life then. Dueling had been his only way out. Then, when Mokuba had gone off to college, he'd come home every night to a huge, empty house and feel like walking right back out again.
But then Marik had been there and together they'd taken care of Bakura when his past had been too much for him to cope with alone. Now he came home every day to Marik cooking strange American food and Bakura sitting at the kitchen table reading the newspaper, or designing new security features for the mansion or the Kaibacorp building. They didn't let him brood anymore, they dragged him out or made him watch crazy foreign movies or drive around in the car with the top down. He liked it when they drove over to Mokuba's college and picked him up, then got ice cream and went shopping for all the things they swore they couldn't live without. Marik's zombie movies, Bakura's devil music CDs, Mokuba's video games and his books. Sometimes they tagged along with Malik, Otogi and Ryou to concerts, or went bar-hopping, but whatever they did he was always much, much happier than he'd ever been before. They'd been together just over a year now and Seto couldn't imagine things being any more perfect.
Making his way across one of the lawns, Seto walked towards a small pagoda-styles garden house sitting amongst the trees but still managing to capture the light from the fire a little way away. He suspected that was where Bakura and Marik had gotten to, so he made his way up the three steps and inside between the pillars at the entrance.
Suddenly he felt warm, strong arms take hold of him from behind, pulling him back against a solid chest. He wasn't worried, he knew Marik's touch by now and in front of him a white apparition was stepping out of the shadows slowly.
XxXxX
"Didn't I tell you that you'd pay for waking me up earlier?" Bakura smirked evilly, standing in front of Seto. The brunette's wrists were held behind his back by Marik, who stood behind him, kissing his throat. Seto cold feel the smile on Marik's lips and a tremor of excitement ran through him, knowing what was about to happen.
"You may have mentioned it… What about Yugi-tachi?" Seto couldn't see the bonfire from where he stood pressed against Marik, but he could see the shadows of the fire dancing against the far wall of the pagoda.
Bakura's eyes narrowed wickedly and he stepped closer until Seto could feel the burning heat of the thief.
"You'll just have to make sure you don't scream too loudly, won't you? Although I'm sure they'd love to see what I'm about to do to you…" Bakura trailed off wickedly.
Seto heard Marik laugh softly against the tingling skin of his neck as they both watched Bakura sink to his knees with the fluid movements of a snake. Blood red eyes darkened with lust and the white haired yami unbuckled Seto's belt, making sure to draw his zipper down agonizingly slowly.
"Remember not to scream…" Marik's deep voice murmured an instant before Bakura raised his dark red eyes and smirked, leaning forward to take Seto in his mouth.
"Ahh!" Seto cried, head falling back onto Marik's shoulder. The taller yami released his wrists and he clung to Marik's sleeve with one hand, the other fisting in Bakura's soft, white hair. Marik's arm wrapped around his waist, pulling him tight against the strong presence behind him, holding him up.
"How does it feel…?" The amethyst eyes yami whispered as Seto gasped and writhed in his arms. Not trusting himself to be able to speak coherently, the brunette turned his head and kissed Marik, moaning against the yami's lips as the tomb keeper deepened the kiss, leaving him breathless. Bakura's lips and teeth and tongue had Seto helpless in no time and the flickering shadows melted into darkness as his eyes slid closed, fist clenching in Bakura's hair. Marik's hand rested on his slim stomach and felt the muscles there tighten, lips quickly closing once more over Seto's to cut off his sharp cry. The sound became a long, low moan, the CEO collapsing against Marik breathlessly.
"Hmm… I was hoping they'd hear us and come running." Bakura grinned, licking his lips as he stood up gracefully. Seto, still recovering, gave him a weak mock glare for even suggesting that, but Marik let him lean against the wall and stepped forward.
"There's always you, 'Kura. We all know how loud you are in bed, perhaps I can make you scream. What do you think, Seto? How would you like a show?" Marik pulled off his shirt and tossed it to one side, advancing on Bakura, whose eyes widened.
"I think it's a great idea," Seto smirked, glad the tables were turned on the thief.
"Traitor," Bakura accused Marik, who laughed and darted forward to catch the smaller yami, pinning him against the wall with a knee between his thighs.
"I think Ryou's right about this holiday. We should definitely do this every year." Marik decided as he slid his hand down the back of Bakura's jeans and caught the tomb robber's lips in a heated kiss.
Seto watched, silently agreeing with the taller yami as Marik's fingers pushed inside Bakura, the thief arching his body against the tanned Egyptian with a bitten back cry.
"You taste like Seto…" Marik whispered to Bakura as they kissed again, the albino's jeans yanked off and tossed to join Marik's shirt. Long, pale legs wrapped around Marik's waist and Bakura threw his head back, white hair flying and animalistic growls leaving his throat as Marik sunk into him, large, tanned hands standing out warm against cool, white skin at Bakura's hips.
Seto watched, enjoying the show as Marik slammed Bakura up against the wall and the albino clawed at his back, crying out with each thrust. Of the three of them, Bakura had always been the loudest during sex, and Seto loved hearing him cry out almost as much as making him cry out.
"Ohh, Ra, yes!" The smaller thief groaned, burying his pale fingers in Marik's spiky hair as the bigger yami nipped at his neck and shoulders beneath his open shirt. Lust-glazed red eyes fixed on Seto for a moment and Bakura gasped out a plea for Marik to give him more. The tomb keeper took Bakura in his hand and stroked him firmly in time to their movements, earning a string of moaned words in a language neither he nor Seto understood. Hearing the foreign, ancient words from Bakura's lips bought Marik to the edge and he growled deeply, slamming the other yami against the wall and burying his seed deep inside the pale thief. The burst of heat inside him was enough to finish Bakura and he dug his claw-like nails into Marik's shoulders, screaming like a wild animal and arching his back, every muscle taut as white pleasure rushed over him.
After a moment Marik managed to slide to the ground where Bakura collapsed against him and they both knelt, panting.
"Here they come," Seto laughed, watching the glow of sparklers and torches heading their way.
"Lovely." Bakura smirked a little breathlessly. "Help me up, I've spent far too long on my knees tonight."
"What makes you think it's over?" Marik asked slyly, tossing Bakura his jeans as Seto helped the thief up.
"Your sex drive never ceases to amaze me. Let's at least deal with them before we do anything further." The tomb robber suggested, gesturing to the group of lights getting closer. Truth be told he at least wanted to give his legs a chance to stop trembling before they dragged him off and had their way with him. Not that he was complaining.
XxXxX
Fireworks burst loudly in the darkness, coloured light washing again and again over the large gardens and the huge mansion. Next to the bonfire figures warmed themselves as they watched the show, nobody really minding that there were three missing.
Inside the great mansion, at the very top of a huge staircase and down a long corridor lay the master bedroom. Inside was a mess – clothes scattered about the floor and the sheets on the enormous bed wrinkled. On one side of the room a glass door was open, leading out onto a balcony where the missing three were found watching the fireworks, wrapped up in the massive quilt from their bed. The smallest figure stood between the other two, who were keeping him warm because he hated the cold.
Leaning back against Seto and Marik, a warm cover draped over them all, Bakura gave one of his most devilish smiles.
"I think I know why Ryou likes this night so much." The thief said, knowing this was going to be a yearly tradition from now on. "There's something in the air."
The others agreed with him, and as the fireworks continued to crackle and blossom in the darkness, Marik pulled the quilt up around their shoulders, drawing them closer together.
The End.
Aaaand... it's finally over. Woo-hoo. Ok, no rest for the wicked, I have a new fic to work on, mwahah. Thankies for the reviews, and go read some of my other stuff, because I'm fairly sure it's better than this.