Ryou sat down the tea cup he had been drinking from, leaning back in his chair as Yugi finished his own cup. The two friends talked for a while afterwards, catching up on all the things that had happened while Ryou was on vacation with Bakura.
Their trip to Egypt had been a huge success, and they had returned home with several new artifacts that were proudly displayed in their home. Yugi kept staring at one in particular, a man with a second pair of arms on his head. Ryou followed his eyes, smiling.
"That's a Ka statue. It serves as a home to a persons Ka until they could be reunited with their Ba and become one of the 'Blessed Dead' after their heart was weighed with the 'feather of truth.'"
Yugi shook his head, smiling.
"All these years of being with Yami, and I don't know half of what you know about Egypt and their customs."
Ryou smiled, before carefully changing the subject. Another hour of talking and Yugi stood up to leave, hugging Ryou before reminding him of the Friday night dinner the gang had once a month. Ryou nodded, accepting the invitation with a smile.
Yugi left with one last wave and Ryou shut the door, leaning against it with a sigh. He looked around the apartment, drinking in the sights for one last time. Yugi's visit had just been a cover for the next phase in the grand plan. Ryou was leaving, getting away from Bakura and the life he had made for them.
No more 3 am phone calls to pick him up from the cops, or people banging on the door dragging Bakura out into the streets for whatever. Things being brought into the house that Ryou wasn't suppose to touch, and disappearing just as quickly as they had appeared.
Enough was enough, and Ryou was going to make his escape on Friday before they left for dinner. He looked over pictures on the wall, of the group, of his family, most with Bakura missing or injured. The life Bakura had chosen, claiming it was the only one he knew was killing Ryou's soul, and he couldn't take it anymore. It was time to move on, and Ryou just had to wait until the time was right.
That night Bakura came home whistling, stopping his tune only to plant a kiss on his boyfriend's lips before continuing. Ryou sighed, knowing that Bakura's good mood could only mean one thing.
"You've got something big planned?"
He asked, already knowing the answer. Bakura grinned at his lighter half before handing him a small bag.
"What's this?"
"You always ruin my fun, just open it already."
Bakura teased, locking his hands behind his head and smiling. Ryou opened the bag, pulling out a business card. He flipped it over, reading it silently. He looked up at Bakura who was smiling widely.
"This is a card for the Tesla dealership down the street."
Bakura shook his head at Ryou in amusement.
" I got you on the list for the Model X that you wanted. All you have to do is call this number and Rick will help you custom build your own version. I know how much you wanted an electric car and I wanted to be the one to give it to you."
Ryou froze, staring at the business card in his hands. This was the thing he hated about Bakura's 'job.' He cheated, stole, and lied to people, then showered Ryou with presents and adoration. He had begged Bakura to stop, he didn't need all these things he just needed Bakura, but his darker half couldn't overcome his past and his life choices.
Ryou looked up at Bakura, who was waiting in anticipation. Ryou smiled, kissing his boyfriend on the lips before allowing himself to be wrapped in a hug.
"Let's go out tonight and celebrate. There's a new club downtown I want to take you too... invite our friends if you'd like." Ryou nodded, smiling at Bakura before picking up his phone. He knew no one would want to come, but hopefully someone would show up to keep him occupied when Bakura disappeared. "Alright, I made dinner, let's eat and then get changed."
Later that night, they appeared at The Fox, the new dance club in Downtown Domino. Standing by the door was Joey, jumping up and down with a calm and collected Mokuba standing next to him. Joey was Kaiba's flavor of the week, and he was soaking what he could. Mostly the popularity and free food that being the eye candy on Kaiba's arm got him Mokuba was thrilled, following Joey around like the puppy dog that Joey had been accused of being.
Ryou and Bakura quickly joined them, entering the club soon after. They settled in the back, Mokuba quickly disappearing to chase after some girls that were way to old for him. Bakura sat on the couch, slinging his arm around Ryou while his other talked to the blond. The rest of the gang filtered in, plopping down and joining in the conversation.
Duke finally grabbed Tristan's hand, suggesting that the two start dancing. They convinced Joey to join them, hoping that he would get them some free drinks. Joey agreed, waving casually at the rest of the group before leaving as well. Bakura stroked Ryou's arm up and down while talking to Yami, challenging the former Pharaoh to any game under the sun that he thought he could win.
The two boys took off next, agreeing to a contest silently that no one else wanted to question. Tea took the opportunity to sit next to Ryou, quickly catching the boy up on her dance lessons.
"How have things been between the two of you anyway?"
She asked after finishing her tale of the awkward date.
"It's been going well. We get along great, he treats me so well. He just spent all this money to get me that Model X Tesla I've been eyeing."
Ryou said, smiling. Tea shook her head, amused. "
I wish I had a boyfriend like that, I can't even get a man to take me on a date!"
She giggled, while Ryou and Yugi exchanged a look.
"How about we join everyone else and let loose a little?"
Yugi suggested, standing up and offering Tea his hand with a wink. She sighed, pretending to swoon over the other boy as he escorted her out of the private room. Ryou followed, wanting to keep an eye on Bakura to make sure he didn't cause anymore trouble.
Hours later, most of the gang had left except for Tristan and Duke, who were too busy shoving their tongues down each other's throats to realize how late it was. Bakura had disappeared once Yami had left, leaving Ryou in the private room by himself.
The younger male was bored, ready to go home and sleep. Glancing at his phone, he realized it was close to the club's closing time. Ryou got up, intending to find Bakura and get out before they were kicked out.
He checked every corner of the club, not finding that familiar flash of white hair. Swallowing down the lump in his throat he crept out the back door, hearing Bakura's voice echoing through the alleyway. The sounds of hitting and crying out reached his ears, and he looked around to see where they were coming from.
His eyes adjusted to the dim light, and he took several steps forward to see what was going on. There was Bakura, blood on his clothes and his hands while someone quivered in front of him. The sight was too much, and Ryou turned on his heel, not even noticing when Bakura turned and called out his name.
Bakura chased after Ryou, not even noticing the strange looks he was getting by people who were looking at his shirt. He finally caught him in the back, grabbing the smaller boys wrist to push him back against the wall.
"Ryou! What were you doing running around in the back alleys. What were you thinking!"
Bakura yelled, gripping Ryou's wrists tightly.
"What do you mean what am I doing? What were you doing? You promised this was going to be over with! You promised that you were going to keep all of this away from me, not bring it into our home and our lives."
Bakura let go, staring at Ryou who was panting in anger.
"I know what I told you before Ryou, but things change. I make money now, money that I use to buy you nice things that you want. I can't just walk away, I won't walk away from the life I made."
Ryou stared at him, unable to understand.
"You like this life don't you? This life you built doing all of these wrong things. Hurting people, stealing, causing problems for someone who's done nothing to you. I need you out of the streets and the back alleys. I don't want to be waiting for you all hours of the night, wondering who is going to show up at the house in the middle of the night to drag you away. You told me you love me, now I need to know if you love me enough to walk away."
"I can't just walk away Ryou, it doesn't work like that. I have nothing else but this. It's my life. You need to trust me that I will never let anyone hurt you, and stop worrying about this."
Bakura smiled, leaning down to kiss Ryou's face gently.
"Let me clean up and we will go home. I love you."
Ryou echoed the sentiment as Bakura left, not even realizing he did. Finally he picked up his phone, texting Yugi that the plan was going to change and he needed a place to stay for the night. Tristan and Duke came in a minute later, looking around hurriedly.
"Ryou, we need to go. Someone just said-"
Tristan stopped mid-sentence, noticing the shaky look on his friends face.
"Ryou! What's wrong? You look like someone just told you that card games aren't cool."
Ryou took a deep breath, looking over at the other two boys.
\"Sorry, I just got into a fight with Bakura, I need to get out of here. Now."
"That's what we were just going to tell you Ryou, we need to get out of here. A waitress found a boy in the alleyway, the cops are on their way. Too many people saw Bakura with blood on him, he's going to be the first one they go after we have to get you out of here."
Duke told him, grabbing his friend by the arm. Ryou paused, his mind going over everything that was happened. He wanted to run into the bathroom and grab Bakura and leave with him, but it was time to go. Bakura would have to be on his own.
The three boys quickly left the club, walking down the street while police cars raced by, blocking the entrance to the club. Ryou looked back just in time to see Bakura being handcuffed. He turned away, looking over at his two friends.
"You ok?"
Tristan asked him. Ryou glanced back one more time, watching Bakura being placed in the car.
"Yea, I had to leave. He was never going to leave that life, he loved the streets more than me."
The three boys turned and left, Bakura's eyes following them down the street.