IMPORTANT:

I'm CHANGING MY PENNAME to

[ witchfingers ]

be alert!


back home

When the phonecall ends, Ryou is disappointed. He knows he shouldn't be. He knows how hard his father tries to… try. Paperwork is paperwork (is time consuming) and if his migration and customs stuff isn't in order, what can he really do about it?

Ryou gave up on trying to get his father a long while ago, thinks he could do nonchalant if he focuses, but he feels disappointed all the same. So he brews himself up green tea with orange and honey; picks up some historic novel and gets comfortable on the couch.

A couple of days, his father said, To deal with this troublesome paperwork, son. Then I'll be home.

I promise.

.

Ryou recognizes the knocking on the door because, although his father has keys to the apartment, he never comes in unannounced. Never sneaks on him.

But he doesn't recognize the second pair of footsteps that come in as he lies on the couch finishing a novel. He only hears the second person because he is so used to being in silence.

He wants to finish the paragraph, but then he hears them settle down some luggage, without talking, and he becomes curious (and why wouldn't his father tell him if he's had somebody come over? He could have at least cleaned the place a bit.) He slings his legs off the couch, forgets the slippers lying there…

"Hi dad," he calls, testing, "…Welcome back…!" He tries to add some enthusiasm. Some strange mixture rings faded and bittersweet.

His father comes out of the kitchen, looking won over by the jet lag. But there are dark rings under his eyes that could be something else, Ryou notices with a frown, but his father smiles at him.

An honest smile, of the kind that Ryou missed.

"Hi, son…" He walks over to the white-haired young man, who's always a little different than he remembered. Lays a hand affectionately on his bony shoulder. "I, uh… I'm home…"

And Tou Bakura feels that something breaks inside him when his son's eyes soften and he feels so guilty. "God, I missed you," he says, pulling the wispy frame into a hug that comes late for many years.

Ryou hugs him back, he can't say it doesn't feel awkward. But he doesn't know that these days, his father has learned an unsuspected thing or two about him, and a set of russet-colored eyes follow the scene from the threshold of the kitchen.

.


A/N

the world is about to end...

Next chapter will explain it all, you'll see.

I decided to name Bakura's father 'Tou' because it sounded nice and cozy, and also because it's the first sillable for 'Touzoku' Not a bloodline there, keep looking somewhere else *snickers*.

Review, please? I like to know what you think about what I write :)