Yay update. I had most of it written, but it's hard to break down the chapters. I want it to be moving faster, so I want to finish this first which has no real plot push. Dialogue talks.

DISCLAIMER: I love my tablet. For more on Ulquiorra love, I suggest checking out aRAUCANA's club émo fic. It's out. INDULGE.


II. mutual through dialogue

-

Crying, sobbing, pleading. His head on the ground, the icy tiles sending shivers down his body. Each time he tried to struggle as each blow was landed upon him, his open wounds painted the white marble red.

Please stop. It hurts, it hurts, it hurts. He screamed to no one in particular. His cheeks felt hot, burned, raw.

But he was ignored completely because frankly, the other didn't give a damn.

Someone so beautiful deserves to be broken.

"You're still watching that drama?" Ryou felt Bakura standing behind him.

"Go away and stop bothering me."

"Are you crying?"

"No, really, my eyes are about to fall out from drowning. And my stomach hurts, too."

Bakura's face lit up like a seven-year-old presented with candy. "Finally, someone who agrees with me on this? I saw Yami bawling over it the last time he came over. It was absolutely hysterical."

"Oh please. The last time Yami and Yugi watched a drama, they couldn't come to school."

"Was that the time when they were absent for three weeks? I thought they were in the hospital because Yugi fell off a cliff or something."

"No, he jumped off. Yugi couldn't sleep for days because the girl's best friend's cousin cheated on her boyfriend's sister with her half-brother."

"Don't bring that up, my chest has spasms just thinking about it." Bakura leaned over the couch's backrest. "Ouch, that's kind of violent."

"Hm..."

"The character's problems are so stupid. He loves that guy, but beats him up?"

"Hey, I know, I know. That little snot makes me sick." Ryou gestured to the one on the ground. "He returns the feelings, but he can't say anything, so he gets abused. And he takes it, albeit pathetically. I just want to kick his ass."

"Not that he isn't already on the end of receiving excruciating pain. But the other guy's hot. Almost as hot as me."

"… Hot. You. Bakura. Those words shouldn't be together in the same sentence."

"You're just jealous."

"Jealous my ass. If you haven't noticed, we're practically identical."

"My hair's cooler (and more deadly) than yours. Some idiotic friends you have, never noticing the difference between us. For Ra's sake, my eyes are half the size of yours and definitely more evil looking."

"Squinty, you mean?"

"What was that, punk? Shut your-"

"Since when were your eyes red?"

Bakura scowled at the interruption. "To some of the fangirls, they are. And occasionally, they may even make it brown. Like yours," Bakura tilted Ryou's head and leaned over his face so he could examine his eyes, "Other times, they like to color it green. Blue's pretty popular, too. No, I think you're the one who gets blue more. It's too nice and fluffy. Oh yeah, and purple." He tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Has orange been used?"

"Are we going to go through every color of the rainbow? And ugh, no, only the blind ones would try to color my eyes orange."

"Artists are so fickle sometimes."

It was so out of place; Ryou wondered why he didn't notice it before. "Wait, what's that?"

"Hmph. And I thought out of all people, you'd recognize makizushi if you saw some. You're Japanese, aren't you?"

"Um, yeah, but that's not makizushi. That's a lump of rice with whole carrots, canned salmon, tomatoes, some... purple stuff, and celery on pieces of crudely chopped seaweed. And I'm also part French. Bonjour."

"… right. It doesn't look too bad does it?"

True. It may not have been makizushi, but the arrangement was pretty intriguing, and Bakura wouldn't poison him unless he wanted to kill them both.

"Bleh… how can something so colorful taste like burned shit." Ryou hurriedly bended over the sink. "You didn't even cook it!"

He smiled. "Hmm… I wonder."

Ryou walked back, feeling too nauseous from the 'cooking' to do anything besides collapsing on the couch and ignoring the other's iniquitous smile.

"Bakura," Ryou said to his pillow. "Get me the remote. I've had enough of their melodramatic problems and now I need some happy fluff crack."

Bakura frowned. "No 'please'?"

"Please, before my elbow buries itself in your ribs."

All it took was a little conversation.

Pretty soon, Ryou was sporting an unhealthy series of cuts on his face and arms, while a bruise decorated Bakura's left cheek.

"I swear to God, that if you try to lick my face again…" Ryou started as he surfed through the channels. "I'm going to-" he stopped himself. No physical threat really worked on Bakura, who noticed the obvious pause and snickered while the other boy sighed irritably. "Oh, shut up. It stings enough without you contaminating it."

"You have to admit, I'm better than any band-aid."

Shortly, Bakura was nursing two fresh new bruises on his right hip.

Sigh. "Why can't my darling hikari be submissive and weak so I can beat him up, go against all the rules of logic, and eventually, fall in love with him?"

"Not a chance."

A pause. "That's nice."

Genuinely puzzled, Ryou tilted his head. "What?"

"Your laugh. It's nice."

Ryou hadn't realized he did.

-

"Yugi!"

The shorter boy waved cheerfully, but stopped when he noted the worried face. "What's wrong?"

Jounouchi ran a hand through his hair nervously. "I'm not sure how to say this. But it's about Ryou."

Yugi feared the worst. For such an innocent kid, his mind was capable of many, many different scenarios that normal people would rather not dream of. Ryou was a strong kid, but against so many people he couldn't possibly...

"Well, um…"

He supposed he day had had HAD to come. But this was still-

"I think he's emo."

"…what?"

"I…I think there's something wrong with him. His face has bruises and cuts on it, and his hand has bandages on them. I don't think it's that serious, but it's obvious."

"Oh… but I saw it, too, and Ryou isn't exactly trying to cover it up, is he? And besides… who'd cut their face?"

"I thought it would be a new emo. You know… depressive public emo pride."

"…"

"Is there a difference?"

Yugi was still confused. "But he's not… funny."

"… are they suppose to be?"

"I guess. I mean, I thought the guy with the scorpion skeleton devouring his half his head was pretty funny."

"Ohhh, right. That Ulqui-something guy with a hole in his neck."

"Yeah, but still… I'm worried about Ryou."

-

"Why were you so late? I was waiting for you to make dinner."

"You know that I can't cook anything besides ramen without burning it. And ramen doesn't even have to be cooked."

"I was looking for an excuse to beat you up. I read it somewhere today."

"And I thought you would learn valuable something from those B/R fics you read."

"You made me read, you mean. I can't understand why I'm always the uke."

"Tell me you're joking. It's canon, the most standard rule. You can't be the hikari and seme at the same time. That's just wrong. Plus, I'm taller than you, sexier than you, and …taller."

"Whatever. I think it's more dramatic than just saying, 'Bakura, come over here so I can vent out my angry feelings.'"

"Actually, that's pretty adorable. If you asked nicer, I might let you."

Neither noticed the door opening and closing, until an audible gasp was heard, resounding in the kitchen.

Ryou looked up. "Oh, hello, Yugi," he said calmly on top of Bakura, pausing the process of shoving the other's head onto the coffee table. "It's kind of late to come over, isn't it?"

"Late… indeed." Yugi shifted timidly. "What are you doing?"

Ryou tilted his head, wasn't it obvious?

"What do you think I'm doing?"

Because, you know, Yugi only saw what his eyes told him. Ryou. Sort of sitting on Bakura. The boy on the bottom was slightly suffocating, but Yugi did not know that.

"Ra-raving?"

God, this kid was blind.

But, of course, in reality, Yugi was much too polite to bluntly state, 'Well Ryou, it looks like you were in the process of raping yourse-I mean, Bakura.'

Much, much too polite.

Ryou wasn't sure where Yugi was going so he played along with a confident, "Um… okay."

"And um…y-you're right! It's getting late, and I probably should be going-BYE" Yugi smiled and sprinted towards the front door.

He ran down the street, shedding tears of joy and relief.

Hurrah! He cried out to the world. Ryou was not depressed, nor emo! He was not cutting himself with sharp pointy objects! He was not putting on eyeliner nor wearing tight cow-murdering leather and pseudo-metallic chains to express his agony!

He was merely sitting on himsel-he meant, Bakura.

Relieved, Yugi skipped home to tell Jou the good news.

Meanwhile, "what was that all about?"

"He probably thought you were doing XXX things with me."

"Ew." Ryou mocked disgust. "Making out with myself?"