Ryou bit his lip, staring at the phone.

He had to do it. He couldn't put it off for any longer. Only, every time he thought that, it ended up being that he was quite able to wait any longer, as he continued to stare at the phone, without making any non-mental moves to stop. The phone was getting quite distressed, as it had already been sent to the shadow realm four times that day by the other occupant of this house and it would be terrible if the other managed to develop banishing abilities. But as usual, nobody cared what the inanimate object thought. Finally, Ryou sighed, and slowly started dialing, then still as slowly brought the phone to his ear, counting the rings, his hope growing with each one. If he was sent to voicemail, then he'd every right to put it off for a good month or so, without a second thought. After all, this was a horrible thing to learn about through voicemail, wasn't it? Worse than getting dumped over it, surely. And just as Ryou counted the next to last one, and his hope was at his peak, there was a click-y sound, followed by a "hello, Bakura-san speaking, Archeologist and Egyptologist."

Ryou's stomach plummeted.

"Hello, dad."

"Ryou! Dear, I haven't heard from you in months! How are you?" Ryou swallowed, though the lump in his throat stayed, so he was forced to talk around it. "I'm fine, how-how about you?"

"Good, good, we are doing quite well on the dig, we found what we think is the dining room, and they have me working on that now. How is your schoolwork going?"

"Fine. A-average, though my math is a little lower."

"That's quite alright. Math is not the strong suit of our family, rather our wits."

"Mm-hmm. Dad?"

"Yes, Ryou, dear?"

Ryou took a deep breath. This was it. This was the moment. He couldn't put off telling his father about Bakura any longer. Well, he knew about Ryou's yami's existence, just not the fact that Bakura pretty much owned his soul.

"I-" and it was this exact moment that Bakura came in. he took one look at the phone, then at Ryou. "Who're you talking to?" Ryou was too frazzled by the sudden distraction from his eminent doom that he didn't even move the receiver from his mouth. "My-my dad." Bakura eyes seemed to sparkle with realization. "Oooohhhh, it's that talk, is it?"

"Um-"

"Ryou? Is that Bakura? What talk is he talking about?" Ryou squeaked ever so slightly, pulling himself back to the present. "Oh, n-nothing, um, er, how's the weather there?" Ryou turned to look horrified at Bakura, who was smirking in his evil, your-distress-amuses-me smirk and Ryou fought back the urge to go hide anything particularly valuable hanging around the house, but was too mortified to do so. How's the weather? It was bloody Egypt, it only had one bloody temperature, even if how the bloody weather is was a suitable subject, and by suitable Ryou of course meant does not suck arse.

"It's fine. It's a little-" but Ryou never got a chance to find out what it was a little, because at that moment, Bakura grabbed the phone from Ryou in one fell swoop and was talking into it before Ryou even had a chance to figure out why he suddenly did not hear what 'it's a little' in Egypt, and even longer before he managed to take in what was actually being said; "okay, old man, listen, I know you probably don't like me in general, but the fact is you are pretty much stuck with me as Ryou and are doing it like discovery channel mammals and have been for quite some time, and from my point of view, it is highly unlikely that we will stop for quite some time to come. So, what is really the only issue here is you soothing Ryou's mind with an acceptance or me coming to Egypt to kill you." And with that, he tossed the phone back to Ryou, who fumbled with it for a second or two before jamming the earpiece back to his ear.

"-ck you!"

"Um, dad?"

"o-oh, Ryou dear, you're back on?"

"Yes."

There was an awkward silence, which seemed to stretch for a long, long time. Bakura lazily plopped down on the bed, head on fore arms so he could prop his head up and stare at Ryou in an entirely uncomfortable way, even if Ryou was getting used to it by now. Finally, a sound came from the other side.

"He's a bit of an ass, isn't he?" the reply was out of Ryou's mouth before he could think about it "you have no idea." This was followed by an even longer silence. Ryou leaned against the bed, only remembering to breathe when Bakura wrapped an arm around Ryou's shoulders, burying his face in Ryou's hair. And not for the first time, Ryou wondered if this was Bakura worrying about them. It was such a rare, flitting occurrence that Ryou rarely even remembered such times. Ryou reached a hand up, and Bakura took it in his own. The silence continued. At five minutes, there came an answer. "…I don't know much about him at all Ryou."

"I know dad."

"Has he straightened out since last time I saw him?"

Ryou let out a choked laugh. The lump in his throat was back. "Not in the slightest, dad."

Bakura nuzzled against him. "But if it's any consolation, he's good to me. I… I love him, dad." Ryou looked up at Bakura, and smiled. "I really, really do." Bakura smiled back, and then leaned in so that he could talk as well. "And if it's any consolation on my part, I love him too. More than I've ever managed with anybody else."

And they just sat there, grinning like fools at each other.

"If that is the case…" Ryou turned his attention back to the phone. "…than I approve, most ardently. Take care of each other, okay?" Ryou swallowed. "We will."

"Goodbye, Ryou."

"Goodbye dad."

And they both hung up.

"So, hikari-"

"No."

"Ah, well. Up for a movie?"

"What kind?" Bakura smirked, and leaned over to kiss Ryou hard on the lips.

"Our kind."

R&B&R&B&R&B&R&B

So. Much. Bloody. Sap. My teeth are hurting, and I'm the one who wrote it! Any way, I hoped you liked it, sappiness and all, and I'd like to thank those who reviewed last time. It makes me feel fluffy inside! Review, lot!

Magi