Wow, from farewell to two updates in as many days! ^_^ This chapter continues the plotless streak, but it's kind of humorous, so I thought I'd post it anyway! I swear, next chapter we get into some new plotlines, so stick around and I promise you won't be disappointed. Also, the thanks are going to be the NEXT chapter (yes, I know, I keep putting them off) but some people had already reviewed my Farewell and couldn't re-review, so... yeah, I just wanted to get all those in and write one big thanks list. I hope nobody minds; don't worry, I WILL do it eventually, and in the meantime, have some chocolate! (tosses chocolate bars at readers) Enjoy the chapter!
Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue.
Warnings: Previous chaps, people.
Chapter 23: A Morning Interlude
He crept into the room slowly, stealthily, with all the grace of a feline and the silence of a mouse. His bare feet evaded the myriad objects strewn across the floor, mainly cards, clothes, and books, as he made his way towards his prize. He held his breath as his left leg brushed a belt buckle with a soft clatter, but his prey did not stir from his repose. Grinning ferally, his patience wearing obscenely thin, the intruder crouched and leapt the last few feet to where the white-haired boy laid, landing squarely atop his stomach and quickly moving to straddle his chest.
Ryou's eyes snapped open as a firm weight settled itself onto his sleeping form, gasping both from surprise and air deprivation. His yami grinned down at him, completely naked except for a pair of loose and almost transparent pants that left absolutely nothing to the shorter boy's imagination, and Ryou was torn between blushing and screaming at his boyfriend for giving him such a fright first thing in the morning. After careful deliberation, he chose to do both.
"Kura!" he shouted as his face went beet red, slapping his darker half's thigh. "Get off and let me sleep!"
"It's time for school, my light," replied the tomb robber innocently, taking Ryou's Time Wizard alarm clock down from the shelf above the twin bed. "See? The little hand's on the seven, and the big one's on the twelve."
It took the lighter boy a few seconds to convert that into normal terms, but once he did, his eyelids suddenly became about ten times lighter in the space of a few moments. "Seven o'clock?!" he cried. "Bakura, school starts at eight, and I have to meet Yugi!" Pushing his yami to the floor with a loud crash, the hikari dashed into the bathroom, turning the shower on as he ran a comb through his sleep-tousled hair.
With a groan, Bakura sat up, padding over to the bathroom door after his lover. "This is the thanks I get for letting you sleep in?" he demanded.
"Kura-koi, I love you to death and beyond, you know that," answered the well-mannered boy. "But this is a little different than that other time I asked you to let me stay in bed a while longer!"
"How?" Keeping Ryou happy, it seemed, was going to be a full-time job for the spirit.
"That was Saturday, for one thing!" The albino hikari tore off his pyjama top, tossing it at Bakura and giving his appreciative boyfriend an eyeful in the process before shutting the bathroom door. "Get my clothes out and pour some cereal, please!" he called from the other side of the door before Bakura heard the shower curtain slide closed.
"Yes, your Majesty," sighed Bakura as he stomped back into the bedroom and took down Ryou's white sweater, a green shirt, and a pair of black pants, flipping the garment the other boy had tossed at him onto the messy bed, grumbling the entire way.
He would fulfill his light's commands, but that did not mean he had to be happy about them.
***
Ryou was not the only one running late that morning. Yugi only managed to extricate himself from a very aroused and insistent Yami's clutches at about six forty-five, and it took fifteen minutes of fumbling with his neck buckle before he finally decided that he needed a turtleneck to hide the myriad love bites that dotted his creamy complexion. Finding one, though, took another ten, and at seven twenty, Yugi dashed into the kitchen, where Yami was waiting with a platter of pancakes that looked delicious to Yugi's ravenous eyes.
Unfortunately, the pharaoh did not seem to be bringing them over to his light, simply allowing their scent to permeate the room. "Uh, Yami, I kind of have to get to school," reminded the tri-colour haired hikari, getting up to fetch the plate himself.
Just as he was about to grab it, though, his darkness snatched it away, smirking. "Sorry, you haven't paid for it yet."
Yugi sighed heavily. "What are you talking about?"
Yami's crimson eyes glinted like rubies. "Unless you kiss me, no pancakes."
"If I kiss you, you're going to wind up practically molesting me on the counter like you did last time, and aside from explaining the mess to Grandpa after, I can't afford to be late for class again!" The lighter of the two boys folded his arms over his chest resolutely. "You're just going to have to wait until I get back from school."
The dark sovereign pouted, but extended a fork and the plate to his light just the same. "All right, Aibou," he relented, and Yugi happily devoured the entire stack of blueberry pancakes like it was nothing more substantial than air while Yami busied himself getting his lover's things together.
As he rinsed off his dishes, Yugi glanced at the clock above the stove. Seven thirty, right on time. He padded down the hall to the door, stepped into his shoes, and held out his hand for the backpack that Yami had just finished with. "Thanks, Yami," he said, but the bag never reached his hand. "Yami, you've got to give me the bag now," he explained, looking up into feral crimson eyes.
"Kiss me," was the reply, and Yugi cried out in frustration.
***
\Slow down, hikari! That car just barely missed you! \
\\Well, if you had woken me up sooner, I wouldn't have to run!\\
\I already apologized for that! If you had had a Time Wizard card, I could have fixed everything! \
\\The last time you used Shadow magic to 'fix everything', I had a Man-Eater Bug nest in my backyard!\\
\Picky, picky.\
Ryou was so absorbed in his conversation with his yami that he did not even notice Yugi until he slammed right into the other boy, knocking them both to the ground. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" exclaimed the albino hikari, even before he realized who it was that he had just bowled over.
"Don't worry about it, Ryou," sighed the shortest of the group, accepting his friend's proffered hand as he dusted himself off. His eyes glazed over for a short time before he growled softly. "You're Mother Henning again, Yami! I'm perfectly fine!"
Ryou chuckled to himself. Had the short boy been standing with anyone else, they probably would have taken steps to have him committed at that outburst. The albino boy, however, knew all too well what having a darker side was like, especially when they went into overprotective mode.
\Please, hikari, \ echoed Bakura's voice in his head. \We are NOT that bad.\
\\Whatever you say, love.\ Cutting off the mind link as Bakura began to sputter about sappy endearments and how they had no place in civilized society, Ryou and the other boy started off in the direction of the school.
For the most part, they traveled in silence, until Yugi tapped his friend on the arm. "What do you think we should get Joey and Seto as a wedding present?" he asked.
Ryou had not even thought about that yet. "Don't people usually register for these things, like a wedding list or something?" he mused.
"Do you really want to get them something as inane as silverware?" The tri-colour haired boy chuckled, and Ryou was inclined to agree. These were their friends, and he did want to get something a little more personal than just what they had on the gift list.
"What do you buy for Seto and Joey, though?" he thought aloud.
"I'm sure we'll find something..." replied Yugi, biting his thumbnail. He was about to suggest something when the blast of a car horn cut through the general buzz of traffic, and Joey's head stuck out the window of the limousine that had just pulled up next to them without their even noticing.
"Hey, you two!" he greeted them. "Want a ride?"
Yugi smiled at his friend's exuberance, motioning to Ryou that their conversation was to stay a secret. "Sure thing, Joey," he replied, both boys piling into the car before the light changed back to green. "Hi, Seto, Serenity, Mokuba."
"Hello, everyone," nodded Ryou, and the residents of the Kaiba mansion all returned the gesture.
"It's lucky we ran into you both," began Seto. "Actually, we were thinking about having everyone over today... to help plan the wedding."
Both Yugi and Ryou snickered, and Joey cocked his head. "What's so funny?" he asked.
"Hikari inside joke," said Ryou smoothly, and Serenity looked at them knowingly. They would have to talk to her later, certainly, if they hoped to keep their plan a secret. The girl had such an amazing intuition; Yugi would not be surprised to hear that she carried a crystal ball in her backpack regularly, and that thought nearly sent him into another fit of laughter.
"We'd be delighted to come," accepted Yugi gracefully as the driver pulled up to the school, and the five Domino High students piled out.
"Have a good day, everyone!" called Mokuba as the car pulled away, leaving the small group standing in front of the stairs that led to the front doors.
"I have art first period," Serenity said, hoisting her bag onto her shoulder. "My painting's due today, though, so I really should get a head start on finishing it." She kissed her brother and his fiancé on their respective cheeks before running off in the direction of the art workshop, and both Yugi and Ryou made a mental note to catch her alone at recess or lunch to let her in on their plans. Perhaps she could suggest something, being that she lived with the two boys in question.
"Gym first period here," growled Joey.
"I thought you liked gym, puppy," replied Seto, and the other boy frowned.
"It's not the gym I hate," he clarified, "It's because that's like the only class we don't have together." Whimpering softly, he kissed the azure-eyed boy, nuzzling into him sweetly, and Ryou could hear muted gagging noises coming through his mind-link with Bakura.
"You'll see me again soon, I promise," said the ex-CEO, kissing his fiance's forehead. "For now, you had better get moving. I'll meet you at your locker after first period, okay?"
Joey nodded, stealing one last kiss before trotting off in the general direction of the gymnasium, leaving Seto, Ryou, and Yugi to walk into the school building together. As much as he tried to suppress the feeling, Ryou was definitely uncomfortable around Seto when Joey wasn't around. He knew it was irrational, but without the blond around to pacify him, the albino hikari was afraid that Seto would revert to his original mean and ruthless personality completely. He imagined that many people must have felt the same around Bakura, and that made him feel better, except that those people actually had a reason to fear the psychotic, homicidal yami. Seto had never really done anything to him, before or after hooking up with Joey, and guilt for that made the entire thing so much worse.
\What do you mean, people are afraid of me? \ Apparently, Bakura had succeeded in reopening the mind-link.
\\I'll tell you tonight,\\ replied his hikari evasively. Hopefully, he would be able to distract the taller white-haired boy completely enough then that he would forget all about the explanation he was owed. Ryou didn't think it would be too difficult, although the cleaning up would probably be murder.
I suppose it is worth it, sighed the albino boy. \\By the way, we are going to the mansion after school, yami, \\ he sent across the bond, smiling to himself at the stream of Egyptian curses that flowed like water down the Nile back across the link.
\\I love you,\\ he said once he was sure the other had calmed down somewhat.
\The things I do for you, my light...\ Bakura's rage was mostly feigned, although for whose benefit Ra only knew.
\\I'll make it up to you,\\ laughed the white-haired boy as Seto held the school door open for his companions, and the images that Bakura sent in return made him flush crimson, drawing stares from a few people in the hallway. \\You know, if you keep that up, I won't be able to concentrate in class.\\
\Education's overrated, \ scoffed the yami.
