The reason I put this as angst instead of humour was because I didn't know if everyone would appreciate my brand of humour as well as the fact that it will get pretty angsty at the end.

Chapter 4

The next day Ryou woke up with a small smile on his lips. He assumed that he had had a good dream that night – it was the first he'd had in awhile.

He got up and headed to the kitchen to make breakfast. It was only as he stepped into the corridor and heard deep breathing coming from the guestroom did he remember that was there.

His smile faltered for a moment but then returned full force. It had been awhile since he hadn't been alone in the apartment. It was kind of comforting to know that there was another human being in there with him.

Even if it was Bakura sleeping in the other room he still felt reassured. This Bakura was different from his yami and he deserved a chance to prove that he wasn't a homicidal maniac who was trying to rule the world.

It was awhile after Ryou woke up before Bakura decided to rouse himself. He got up and put on the clothes he had discarded the night before. He then went into the living room where he found Ryou eating something out of a bowl. It didn't exactly look appetizing to Bakura.

"Good Morning Bakura," Ryou said with a smile.

Bakura was taken aback. He couldn't remember the last time someone had greeted him so warmly. It was also the first time, Bakura realized, that he had actually seen Bakura smile. His smile was dazzling and Bakura couldn't help staring at the boy's beautiful face and sparkling eyes.

"Err…yeah…um, good morning," Bakura replied unintelligently.

Ryou shrugged off the unintelligent reply. After all he wasn't exactly with it when he first woke up either. "Would you like something to eat?" he asked, standing up. Bakura looked wearily at the bowl in Ryou's hands. "Don't worry I have other things beside cereal," Ryou said with a hint of a laugh in his voice. "Sit down; I'll get you some toast – that's bread that's warm and crunchy."

Bakura obediently sat, still gazing absently at Ryou's face. The boy had almost laughed. Bakura had never heard Ryou laugh. A few seconds after Ryou had left for the kitchen Bakura was able to break out of his daze.

What had happened? How had this boy made the great Thief King loose his concentration like that? Bakura still couldn't get his mind to focus properly. He just kept seeing Ryou's smiling face…

A few minutes later Ryou returned with Bakura's breakfast. Bakura looked at it suspiciously as it was handed to him. Ryou sat down next to him and resumed eating his own food.

Bakura watched Ryou for a few seconds before deciding that he might as well try what was in front of him. He took a cautious bite before swallowing. It didn't taste too bad actually.

When they had finished Ryou took the dishes back to the kitchen before returning to an awkward silence. Thankfully the phone rang and Ryou went to answer. It was Malik on the other side of the connection.

"Hi Ryou! Just wondering if you had any idea what you were going to do today?" Ryou told him that he hadn't thought about it. "Well I was thinking that maybe we could give Bakura a tour of Domino. You know – a bit of sightseeing, a bit of shopping."

Ryou chewed his lip. "Are you sure that that's a good idea? I mean, won't it affect the past if we show him all these modern day things?"

"Don't worry Ryou," Malik reassured his friend. "When he goes back he'll be so far in the past that what he knows probably won't make a difference. If worse comes to worse we can find a spell to wipe his memory."

Ryou was still unsure but then he saw the light on the phone flashing. "Hold on a second Malik I've got another call coming in."

Ryou switched lines and asked who was calling. It was Yugi.

"Hi Ryou. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Ryou replied, his voice calm.

"Good. Is Bakura still there with you?"

"Yes."

"Good. Listen Ryou, you need to keep him indoors and away from people. If he's let out he could start a massacre!"

Ryou bristled slightly. It wasn't just because Yugi was giving him orders, he also disliked the fact that Yugi had no faith in Bakura. "I'm sure that wouldn't happen Yugi," he replied quietly.

"Ryou he's crazy! And he can't be trusted! Keep an eye on him at all times – you can't let people be hurt because you weren't paying attention."

Ryou was starting to get angry now. If Yugi saw Bakura as such a threat why wasn't he here right now trying to protect his friend? Why weren't the rest of Ryou's 'friends' here to watch the thief? Malik was the only one who was being even the slightest bit helpful or concerned for Ryou's wellbeing.

"Don't worry Yugi, I'll watch him." Ryou then promptly hung up and went back to Malik. "Malik, I've changed my mind. When can you get here?"

After a long day of shopping Ryou, Bakura and Malik had all returned to Ryou's apartment and were currently sitting in the dining room finishing off the last of the pizza.

The day may have been tiring but by no means had it been boring. Bakura had enjoyed seeing what the modern world had to offer even if most of the time he had absolutely no idea what things were.

Bakura was glad to see, however, that some things hadn't changed over the past few millennia. Malik had practically dragged him away from a shop display of ornamental daggers.

They had also gone into a few bookshops and made a surprising discovery. When Bakura had arrived in their time he had magically been able to speak Japanese fluently. It turned out that even though he could speak the language he could not read it.

This irritated Bakura because it put him at another disadvantage. His irritation was soon replaced by boredom though. Standing around watching the other two look at things he couldn't read wasn't fun. He perked up a bit when Malik showed him a scene from the X-rated manga he was planning to buy but his fun was short lived because Ryou noticed and quickly hurried them off to the next shop.

Bakura's boredom soon returned when they entered the new store which sold clothes. Walking up and down isles full of clothes wasn't his idea of fun.

Things started to get more interesting when it came to trying the clothes on. Malik managed to convince Ryou to try on some things that would 'suit him'. At first Ryou refused to leave the changing room cubicle and Bakura began to wonder exactly what Malik had found that would embarrass the boy so much.

When Ryou did come out Bakura's jaw dropped. Tight black leather pants and a black sleeveless top that revealed his stomach. The top had the words 'bite me' written in white across the chest. Ryou (in Bakura's opinion) had looked totally hot. If Bakura hadn't been worried about being kicked out of the apartment and forced to sleep outside he would definitely have done what the shirt instructed.

Unfortunately Bakura saw that one of the female shop assistants was also checking Ryou out. This made Bakura mad and he started shouting insults at her. What made him even madder was the fact that she didn't take offence to what he had said.

Malik had to explain to him that Egyptian curses didn't bother people because they didn't understand them. He then took it upon himself to teach the thief how modern people swore. Bakura was able to put this knowledge to good use (under his breath of course) when Ryou refused to buy the outfit Malik had made him try on.

After that they quickly bought some groceries before deciding that it was too dark to continue. Ryou had also decided that he wasn't going to cook so they ordered in.

"Whatever this stuff is it's good," Bakura commented before he took the last slice of pizza.

"Hey, who said you could have the last piece?" Malik challenged.

Bakura took a big bite out of the slice and then said, "You can have it if you like."

"No thanks," Malik replied, looking slightly disgusted.

Bakura smirked triumphantly and downed the rest of the slice quickly. Ryou shook his head at their childish antics. He then smiled as they both watched each other carefully as they got ready to claim the last bit of garlic bread.

It was nice that they were all getting along. It was nice that Ryou didn't have to worry that Bakura would hurt his friends or him. It was nice that Bakura was his friend.

Ryou was pulled out of his musings when Malik and Bakura both made to grab the piece of bread and started to fight each other for it. They stopped their struggling when Ryou stood over them, looking down at them seriously. He then took the bread from the table and ate it in front of them while wearing an innocent smile.

"That's just low," Malik deadpanned.

Ryou covered his mouth to try and quieten his soft chuckle. Both Malik and Bakura smiled. They were both pleased that they had helped their quiet friend to laugh.

They spent the rest of the evening talking or watching a film. As soon as Malik went home Ryou took a shower and got ready for bed. When he was finished he crawled into bed and let his head fall gently onto the pillow. In the next room Ryou could hear Bakura moving about and assumed that he too was getting ready for bed. Soon there was silence and Ryou fell into a light sleep.

He woke up suddenly when he felt a cold draught under the duvet and the mattress dig as extra weight was added. His eyes shot open and he turned to the white haired figure in his bed. "Bakura what are you doing!?" he exclaimed in alarm.

"Shut up," Bakura grumbled quietly. "The only reason I'm doing this is because it's too cold out there."

This was partially true. It was very cold outside the comfort of Ryou's warm bed. But that wasn't the only reason that Bakura had come to join Ryou.

To emphasise the point that he was cold Bakura grabbed Ryou and pulled him to his chest. Ryou's face was pressed into Bakura's strong chest and his cheeks were automatically coloured red. The boy squeaked and tried to wriggle out of the thief's grasp.

Bakura reluctantly let the boy go and watched as he scrabbled to the other side of the bed. Ryou sat up and looked to where he thought the thief's face was, wishing he could make out the man's expression.

In a distant part of Ryou's mind he felt disappointed that he had been released without Bakura putting up much of a fight.

"I'm not trying to rape you or anything," Bakura continued to grumble. "I just wanted to be warm." He then promptly turned on his side, away from Ryou, and tried to go to sleep.

It wasn't working though. Bakura's cheeks were burning and he thanked the darkness for hiding that fact from Ryou. He had been expecting the boy to react this way but it still hurt. The reason his voice had been so gruff was because he was trying to hide his embarrassment.

Bakura had been thinking while Ryou had been getting changed and had decided that maybe, possibly, he had feelings for the white haired boy.

Ryou definitely made him feel strange. When the boy had smiled that morning his mind had been unable to function and he'd felt slightly giddy inside. No-one had ever been able to do that to him before.

During this analysis he had also concluded that he had never been in love before. Sure he's lusted after people but he'd never loved them. Bakura wasn't exactly what you were supposed to feel like when you were in love. He couldn't remember being loved as a child. He knew his parents had loved him but it had been so long and he'd gone through so many hardships that he'd forgotten what love was.

Bakura's feelings for Ryou were mixed and confused. He felt protective of the fragile youth and would readily to kill if someone else stared at him for too long. There was lust in there of course – how could he not drool over Ryou's wonderfully curved body? But he wasn't only after Ryou because of his body. Above anything Bakura knew that he wanted Ryou's trust and friendship. He knew that if he could have that then maybe they could one day be more than friends.

Bakura had concluded that this was love. At one point he had hated the word. He had thought that love would only cause you pain if you gave into it. But now that he realized he was in love he couldn't do anything about it. He had to at least try to win Ryou's affection. There was a possibility of returned love if he went forward but no possibility if he turned back. There was also the possibility of pain but that was a certainty if he didn't try.

The only problem was that now that he knew the reason he longed for Ryou's attention he had no idea how to express his emotions. He had only known Ryou for two days so he didn't think that trying to seduce the timid boy was a good idea because he'd most likely think it was rape. Bakura also wasn't willing to risk his pride by just telling Ryou straight that he liked him. That was why Bakura was trying the (sort of) subtle approach.

On the other side of the bed Ryou's head was also buzzing with thoughts. What had Bakura been thinking? What was he planning to do?

Ryou shivered, only just noticing how cold it had become. Maybe Bakura's excuse that he was cold was the truth? It would make sense – he was use to the boiling hot desert not the bitter coldness of winter.

Ryou looked over at the thief. He didn't appear to want to cause Ryou any harm. But Ryou knew the old saying of 'appearances can be deceiving'.

Ryou let out a soft sigh and turned onto his side facing away from Bakura, putting as much distance between them as possible. Bakura had Ryou's trust for now. In the end though, if Bakura really did want to hurt Ryou, Ryou knew that he wouldn't be able to stop the much stronger and more powerful man.

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