AN: I say it again... I don't own anything that has to do with Yu-Gi-Oh, and Bleach owns Ryou's last name... Other than that, the plot is mine!!

Title: An Artisans Craft
Chapter: 7

Ch 7: Conversations and Familiarity...

Yuugi knew he wouldn't get any sleep that night. His day had been absolutely perfect. The movie he watched with Yami turned out to be very good - although a little corny – but was very fun overall. When Yami had dropped him off at his house, he had gotten another kiss on the hand... Which reminded of him of their first meeting at his store.

Grinning with a slight blush on his cheeks, Yuugi squealed in glee then snatched up his phone. 'I HAVE to call Ryou!'

Ryou Byakuya smiled. He just finished a very nice phone conversation with Bakura. They had surprising had a lot in common: both their mothers either gone or deceased, their fathers working so much and not at home often, no siblings, etc. They had laughed a lot during their 2 hour conversation, talking about their past, present, and of course their friends. When Ryou had heard that Bakura got his number from Yami, he didn't know if he should curse the object of his best friends affections, or kiss him. After that phone call, he would definitely kiss him... If Yuugi wouldn't kill him first.

'I have to talk to Yuugi,' thought Ryou excitedly... Then his phone rang.

"Hello?"

Yuugi grinned widely into the phone when he heard his friend's English accent. He squealed into the phone again, no doubt bursting his friends eardrums and started bouncing around his room.

He could hear Ryou laughing hysterically in the background. Yuugi knew that Ryou would know who it was. Only he would squeal like a 10-year-old on a sugar high. Immediately he started telling his friend about the impromptu movie date he had with his crush... And he way they got there. Not even stopping for a breath or a chance for Ryou to interject some comments, Yuugi just blurted it all out, knowing that his friend would understand his jibberish. Still bouncing around his room, he twirled excitedly in a circle.

Ryou laughed helplessly as Yuugi told him about his date. He was impressed. Their doubles sure moved fast. Listening to his friends voice on the phone, he couldn't help but chuckle then check the time. If Yuugi talked for a few more minutes he would break his own record of longest sentence in a conversation...

THUMP.

Ryou jumped when he heard the crash on the other end. "Yuugi?! Are you alright?" he asked worriedly.

"Uhh, yah. I was spinning around when I slipped and fell. It's all good!" Yuugi answered.

His stomach hurt from laughing so hard. Ryou had missed his best friend. There was endless entertainment value. Wiping tears of mirth from his eyes he finally had a chance to slip in his own comment.

"I have a date tomorrow."

Yuugi stopped, shocked out of his rambling. Did he hear Ryou right? A date? ... A DATE?!

"What?! With who?! When?! Where?! What?!"

He heard Ryou giggle on the other end before he answered. "You remember Yami's friend from Stardust? Bakura? He called me earlier and we talked... For god knows how long! Then he asked me out... It's his day off tomorrow..."

Yuugi blinked. Then blinked again. Suddenly his lips stretched into a huge smile. "Oh my gosh! Congratulations! I can't believe it! What are you guys going to do?! Oh, I'm so happy for you!"

Ryou smiled shyly. Thinking about it was all well and good, but when he talked about what was going on tomorrow... His heart started thumping in his chest and he could feel his face start to heat up. Throwing himself back onto his bed, he sighed in total happiness. Yes, it was good to be home.

The golden pyramid gleamed in the sunlight, throwing off the light from its surface like a prism. The Eye of Ra etched on the one side was bold and perfect, just giving it enough detail to stand out, but not too much to look gaudy. The thick heavy gold chain lay next to it, coiled carefully and ready to thread through the loop at the top when it was complete.

Yuugi smiled in satisfaction at his new masterpiece. Grabbing a cloth, he started to carefully polish the piece, making sure there were no rough or uneven edges. It was quite heavy - being a solid piece of material - but not overly so. Looking at the thing in the sunlight made Yuugi feel strange... Like it was familiar... He scoffed. Of course it was familiar, he had designed it from the drawing Yami had made... But... Somehow... Not in that way... Like he had seen it so long ago...

The bell above the door ringing from the storefront tore his mind away from the necklace, shaking his thoughts. Putting down the piece carefully, he trotted out of his workroom to help the customer. There was time to think about that kind of stuff later.

But it was still nagging him...

Yami was bored. He almost wished it wasn't summer, so he had some kind of school work to do. Yawning loudly, he blearily looked around his apartment, seeing if there was any dust bunnies to conquer. His room consisted of one small kitchen that had an open style into the living room. In the corner of the room there was a flight of stairs leading up into a loft bedroom with his king sized bed, a nightstand, and his desk. But his favorite part of the house was his balcony. One wall was taken up by huge floor to ceiling windows which had a small balcony that overlooked the city from the 20th floor. That was where he did most of his art. There was an easel and a table full of paints, paint brushes, pencils, charcoal, erasers... Anything an artist would want. The rest of his room was an open space for his living room, which had 2 leather couches, a few lamps, a glass coffee table, and a big flat screen TV that was mounted onto the brick wall.

Seeing nothing to clean or put away, Yami sighed and flopped sideways onto the couch he was sitting on. Glancing at the clock on the wall and noting that it was only 10am, he let his mind wander, subconsciously hoping he would start thinking of something really boring so he could fall asleep again.

A breeze fluttered through the open balcony doors and ruffled something on the coffee table. Crimson eyes shifted to see what it was. Then he bolted upright, looked at the time again, and started grinning. He just thought of something he could do... Grabbing the object on the table, he rushed over to his art table and grabbed a box of supplies. Then stuffing it all into a backpack, he ran out the door, mentally patting himself on the back for beating his boredom.

Slumping over the counter top, Yuugi banged his head... Hard. He really, really, really didn't want to make this order. He eyed the order form. No, scratch that. He really, really, really didn't want to even hear about this order. He quickly ran through the stuff in his bathroom and wished feverently that there was something there that could just scrub that image from his head. He shuddered. 'Ew.'

Hearing the bell above his door ring, Yuugi stared with trepidation at the form again, automatically welcoming the customer to Artisans. Hearing a small chuckle and a welcome voice, Yuugi looked up with a brilliant smile, thanking Ra that someone would help him forget about his woes.

"Yami!"

Yami grinned, watching the amethyst eyes light up with happiness, wondering what his little one was so unhappy about. Sauntering up to the table, he leaned one elbow on it, quirking his eyebrow.

"What's got you so down?" he asked.

Yuugi blanched, then shuddered again. "Ugh, Yami! I just got the mental image out of my head! And now you put it back!" he pouted, then made a disgusted face. He passed the order form to Yami and started explaining at the questioning look he received. "Read this."

Yami skimmed his crimson eyes over the form, seeing it was a request for a silver collar with emerald inlays and velvet lining. Wait. Where had he heard that before... He paled, looking up at Yuugi quickly. "Don't tell me..." Yami whimpered.

The amethyst eyed man grinned evilly. "It's an order form for a collar... For a person." Seeing Yami start to shake his head in denial, Yuugi's grin widened. "Yup. She wants it to be matching with her handcuffs..."

"Ugh!" Yami screamed, covering his ears and starting to run for the door. "I SO did NOT want to hear that!!!"

Yuugi tackled him down, laughing evilly. "If I have to suffer, so do you!"

After catching their breath, Yami picked himself up off the floor and pulled the little one to his feet. "It's a miracle that we didn't crash into anything and break it," he said idly, looking around for his stuff.

Yuugi giggled, brushing himself off and watching Yami grab his bag and walk over to the counter. Hurrying after him – and shoving that evil, evil form into a random drawer – he watched curiously as Yami took out a plastic box and a black leather book. Cocking his head in confusion, his amethyst eyes looked up at Yami and waited for an explanation.

"I was sitting at home, bored out of my mind, and I remembered that you had never seen my own art pieces," explained Yami. Seeing Yuugi's excitement, he chuckled then held up his hand in a 'wait' motion. "But," he said, "I have one rule before I let people see my sketch book."

"Whatwhatwhatwhatwhat?" bounced Yuugi. He was excited! He got to see his crushes work! The only other time he had seen anything of Yami's was the drawing he had of the puzzle.

"You have to let me draw you first."

That stopped Yuugi in his tracks. He looked wide-eyed at Yami's gentle smile and started blushing furiously. "What?! Why would you want to draw me?!" he squeaked.

A deep chuckle rang through the shop. Yami shook his head fondly and daringly let his hand run through Yuugi's soft hair. "And why wouldn't I want to draw you?" he shot back.

Yuugi swore he could feel himself melt into a puddle of goo.

Damn Yami and his persuasiveness...

Tbc...

AN: Next chapter is going to be all fluffiness! Haha! Did you like this one?