Preparing for a Party

Merekai POV

Ten o'clock Monday morning. Everyone was at their respective houses—and I was B-O-R-E-D bored. I couldn't even make waffles, 'cos the toaster oven had broke! Ryou was over at the TV, watching Dexter's Laboratory. That show is weird—but I like DeeDee.

Anyway.

Suddenly, I had the coolest idea. We could have an anime-themed toga party! It would save everyone from boredom—and be fun at the same time!

"Hey, Ryou!" I called. "You up for getting out of the Kingdom of Insane Boredom?"

"Sure," he called back absently.

Grinning, I picked up the phone. This was gonna be a day to remember!

Miriku POV

Yuugi was on the computer, playing his new favorite game—Icy Tower. Yami was in the kitchen, doing—well, I had no idea what he was doing. Something involving construction paper and tape—lots of tape. I sat on the couch, absently flipping through channels, bored out of my mind.

Suddenly, the phone rang.

"Phone's ringing," Yami called distractedly.

"Well, answer it!" I hollered back.

"It's your phone!"

I sighed. That had become an annoying habit of his that really needed breaking.

I reached over and picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"WAFFLES! Oh, wait—wrong line! Sorry!"

I sweatdropped. "Whaddaya want, Merekai?"

"Ryou and I are bored—so we decided we wanted to have an anime toga party!"

"I did not!" a voice shouted.

"Anyway," Merekai continued over Ryou's protesting in the background, "we were wondering if you could call John up and ask if we could use his house—mine's way too small!"

I really didn't feel like having a toga party—but anything was better than being bored at home. "Sure. I'll call everyone else up, too."

Merekai squealed. I could almost see her jumping up and down. "That would be the coolest! Thanks, Miri!" She hung up.

"Who was it?" Yuugi asked, peering out from the hall.

"Merekai," I replied. "She wants us to have a toga party over at John's house. I'm calling everyone else up now."

With that, I began to dial the next number.

John POV

FWUMP!

THUMPTHUMpTHUmpTHumpThumpthump…

Fwump.

"—Ouch!"

I looked around out of the kitchen. "What's up with the noise?"

Bakura sat at the foot of the stairway, gingerly rubbing the back of his head, still swearing in Japanese at the stairs.

"Watch the steps," I said, grinning evilly.

"Not funny," Bakura muttered, rising to his feet.

The phone began to ring. I picked it up.

"'Allo?"

"Hey, John." It was Miriku—and she sounded really, really bored.

"Oh, hey Miriku—is somethin' up?"

"Only Merekai's weirdness level, if that's even possible. Get this—she wants to have a toga party. At your house."

I sweatdropped. "Typical."

"Very typical. But I promised her I'd call and ask if we could come over to your house to do it."

I nodded, then remembered she couldn't see me. "Sure—we don't have anything else to do here, either." I smirked. "Except watch Bakura trip down the stairs for the fourth time, anyway!"

"Oy!" Bakura shouted. "That was only three!"

I heard three people cracking up on the other end, and looked at Bakura. "Speaking of three—Yami and Yuugi heard that, too."

Bakura groaned. "Shit—now I'll never live this down!"

I grinned. "Payback's a bitch, isn't it?"

Terra POV

"DAMMIT, SETO KAIBA! GET YOUR SORRY BEHIND OUT OF BED!"

Still no response. Kaiba slept on—and I was getting more and more frustrated by the second.

Suddenly, I had an evil idea. Miriku had told us about the prank she'd played on Kaiba—pouring water on his face to wake him up. That just might work now.

Chuckling evilly, I crept to the kitchen, and returned to the guest room with a glass of ice water. But just as I was about to dump it, Kaiba's hand shot up, grabbing my wrist.

"Don't even think about it," he said coldly.

"There was no other way to get you awake," I growled. "You sleep like a rock."

Kaiba shrugged, sitting up. "If you had given me a minute or so," he said dryly, "I would have been up. My eardrums were still recovering from your shouting."

"Whatever. Just get out of bed and get dressed."

I left the room, grumbling to myself. Kaiba was a prick—no doubt about that. But I was gonna change that, if it killed me.

Brrring!

I picked up the phone. "Cooper residence."

"Hi, Terra—it's Miriku. I have a message for you from Merekai."

"And that is…?"

"The toga party begins at noon, John's place. Be there, or be bored."

I raised my eyebrows. "Toga party?"

"Heh. Don't ask me. She's the one who's providing the stuff—all we really have to do is show up with our favorite animes."

I sighed. "Well, I'll be there, seeing as how I have nothing better to do. Noon, right?"

"Yep. See you there."

Mikey POV

What did I want to do today? Did I want to watch my YuGiOh DVDs? Did I want to read? Write? Draw? Write about Ryou? Draw Ryou? Dream about meeting Ryou…?

Get a hold of yourself, woman. Ryou. Bakura. Is. Not. Real.

But still…

I sighed, looking around my room. Drawings and sketches of Ryou—black and white, watercolor, crayon, and colored pencil—hung on just about every square inch of my wall. In a special spot on my desk lay a binder full of poetry—poetry dedicated to that single character.

I love Ryou, and I have no qualms about saying so. I wish I could really meet him—then maybe I could tell him how I feel.

But whenever I thought about Ryou, my head would become filled with visions of that other boy—Riku. His temperament was exactly the same as Ryou's; he was sweet and loveable and kind. His brown eyes were full of the same compassion, tinged with the same grief.

They were practically the same person.

But…I didn't want someone who was like Ryou. I wanted Ryou.

The phone rang, breaking my train of thought. I dove at it, snatching it up.

"Labrador residence, this is Mikayla Labrador, how may I help you?"

Whoever was on the other end breathed a sigh of relief. "Mikey! It's Miriku! It took me forever to find your number—my phone book sucks!"

I grinned without meaning to. Miriku and her friends made me forget—if only for a little while. Forget the pain of losing my family; the pain of losing my friends…

"Well, you found me," I replied. "What did you want?"

"You remember Merekai?"

I thought for a moment. I usually remember anyone I've met for the first time by something they've said. "What? Waffles are cool to talk about!"

"Waffle girl?"

"Yeah, her. Well, she wants us to have a toga party over at John's house—you remember John, right?

"Man—at the Olympics, they ought to have a race to see who can carry all of Terra's bags the farthest!"

"He's the sarcastic blond dude, right? He hangs out with the one twin, Koran?"

"That's the one. Are you coming? Everyone else is!"

I was quiet a moment. It had been years since anyone had thought to ask me anywhere, and I didn't know what to do.

"Everyone is there?"

"Everyone—even our Japanese friends."

For some reason, that made up my mind. "I'm coming," I said firmly. "What's John's address?"

Miriku read it off to me, and I scribbled it down. "Oh—and, Mikey?"

"Yes?"

"Bring anything anime you have. Movies, drawings, fanfiction—whatever. Anything YuGiOh would be really appreciated—by me, at least, if not the others."

I grinned, looking around at all my pictures. This would be fun. "When's the party starting?"

"Noon."

"I'll be there!"

Miriku hung up, and I looked around the room. Getting all my pictures down would take a while—but I had at least an hour. And then I could go to the toga party with my new friends.

Wait. Where did that come from?

I'd promised myself I wouldn't make any more friends. Not after what had happened with my other ones.

But it was pretty hard not to think of them as friends. Friends are supposed to help each other, after all—and that's exactly what they'd done for me.

I was most definitely going to that party—I needed it.