(A/N: This chapter can be kinda funny from some point... it was cool to write it, I felt like the worries left my shoulders n.n In any case, Bakura appears in this chapter! I missed having him around :D Ryou doesn't, unfortunately T-T but he soon will! :P And as a summary of the chapter, Yami's unsure as of what to do and receives a little advice from Bakura-kun! :3 enjoy!)
Shōnen-Ai High School
Chapter 23
Yugi's eyes opened lazily. He blinked a couple of times before fully waking up. He looked down at himself and was slightly surprised when he saw a blanket covering him up to his shoulders. He sat up; his face had been on the pillow; and suddenly a terrible fact knocked him.
Yami wasn't there.
The boy buried his face on his hands. Had Yami actually forgotten about last night? Had he forgotten how sweet he had acted towards Yugi, how he'd taken care of him? His chest began to ache. Yugi brought a hand up to where the heart's supposed to be and clutched his shirt.
It hurt him so badly…
"Good, you're awake!" The boy turned his head to the door and almost cried from joy.
The crimson-eyed was smiling widely at him, a look of utter concern playing at his eyes.
"I see that the tea did help you, ne?" he asked gently. "Sleep took you right after you finished drinking it."
Right after… but then, did that mean that last night had been nothing but a dream? It all felt so real—the concern, their embrace, both of their kisses… Tears dwelled at his eyes just by thinking it had all been a fake night.
"Oi, oi, what's wrong?" asked Yami, stepping closer to the boy's bed. He patted his head while asking, "Were you having a nightmare before waking up, Yugi?"
That was the prove he needed. Yami had begun to call him by his name just last night! At least in front of him. Last night had been real after all! Then, why was Yami pretending that it'd never happened?
"It's—nothing," finally spoke Yugi. God, his voice felt so hoarse, as if he hadn't used it in such a long time. "Y- Yami-san?"
"Hai?" asked the other one now running his hand through Yugi's head.
"W- What happened yesterday night?" The hand on his head stopped. "I don't really remember anything," he lied. Yami pulled his hand back.
"You were unconsciously walking through the school's grounds, and when you weren't back, I went after you. After literally waking you up, I brought you back and gave you a cup of tea. Then you fell asleep."
Yugi felt the tears threatening him again. Had it been a joke to Yami? All that had happened, had it meant nothing to him at all? Demo…
Yami had thought he was still unconscious. He didn't say a word to him and just allowed him to speak, right? Of course, that was it! The crimson-eyed believed that Yugi hadn't been aware of anything at all! And if that was the case, why was he hiding the facts from him?
"You look pale again, are you feeling well?" Yugi felt when Yami brought his hand to the boy's forehead and then to his own. "You got no fever, but maybe you need more sleep."
"H- Hai," he responded weakly. Probably he did have to sleep some more.
-
Yami cursed himself.
What. An. Idiot. He. Was!
If Yugi didn't remember anything, why couldn't he tell him the truth?! Well, not that he had lied, but come on! It was the perfect chance to tell Yugi that he had finally accepted his feelings and that it had all gone perfectly!
. . . No, that wouldn't have been a great idea. It'd been worth trying, though.
He scratched the sketch he'd begun to do a few days ago with his pencil. The night had been so perfect… of course, except for the fact that Yugi could've almost died on that cliff. Yami could vividly remember how the boy had leaned against him as if he were telling him "protect me, don't leave me alone."
Yes, he was indeed an idiot.
"Problems at paradise?" Yami turned his head to the door and saw Bakura leaning against the doorframe.
"Since when did you start smoking?" he asked at the first sight he had of the cigarette the white-haired had on his mouth.
"A week ago," he answered, blowing out smoke while pointing to the sketch Yami kept scratching. "You having troubles or what?" The crimson-eyed looked back at his sketch. He had scratched it so much it had broken.
"Great, just freaking great," he cursed, putting it aside and grabbing another frame to start working.
"I hadn't seen you so angry in a while," said Bakura, the cigarette now in his hand. "Bet you're still worrying after that kid."
"And why should that be your business?" asked Yami as Bakura started to piss him off.
"Ryou's also been worrying about him. He sometimes doesn't focus on his own work because of him, so that makes me worried instead."
"Whoa, whoa, stop there," chuckled Yami. "You and Ryou? When did that happen?"
"Shut the hell up," cursed Bakura, putting the cigarette back on his mouth.
"I just wanna know!" he cried innocently.
"It was last month," mumbled the older one, looking away with a bright pink blush on his cheeks.
"Hasn't he gotten angry at you for smoking?"
"I don't smoke around him, you dumbass," he replied. "It sorta bothers him, but he's happy as long as he doesn't see me with a cigarette. I'm not that stupid." Yami laughed.
"I think it's kawaii that you try to make him happy," he said, eyeing Bakura. "Never expected it from you, no offense."
"None taken," answered the white-haired. "It's hard to believe it myself." There was silence except for the sound of the pencil against the sketch and the smoke Bakura blew out of his mouth. "So, you having trouble or not?"
Yami sighed to himself and put the pencil above his right ear.
"Yes, I am," he said. "Last night, there was an, erm, little accident, and I took him back to our room." He watched Bakura as he listened carefully. "I gave him a cup of tea and then…"
"Everything began to fall apart?" finished the white-haired.
"I wouldn't say that exactly. I mean, I—totally lost control and I just blurted out stupid things."
"Define 'stupid' in that statement." Yami sighed in frustration. How could he explain what had happened?
"I told him to stay with me," he finally spoke. "I told him not to leave. And… after a while, I, um, kissed him—twice."
"And what did he say?" asked Bakura, blowing out smoke.
"Nothing, but he didn't pull away, either. I… embraced him and he responded to it, but nothing else." The white-haired took a chair next to Yami's and sat down, taking a blank sketch and tracing on it something with his index finger.
"I see… kissed him twice, eh?" he asked calmly, as if their subject was what color looked better on an old car about to be painted. Yami nodded. "And how did things turn out today?"
"Etto…"
"Nani? Did he reject you?"
"Not really. He—didn't remember anything, so I told him everything… e- except the, um, 'confession parts' of it," said Yami, making quotations in the air in the 'confession parts.'
"Why the fuck didn't you tell him everything?" questioned Bakura almost angrily.
"I, I don't know!" yelled Yami. "I guess I'm just an idiot!" He groaned and pressed his forehead against the still empty sketch in his hands. He heard the older sighing.
"Well, something I've learned from the month I've been with Ryou is that one shouldn't hide his feelings," he spoke as if he were talking to himself. "I remember that before the… before the funeral," he said the word carefully, almost not to bring back the memory, "Ryou began to act sort of strangely around me. Then this one day, he came to me, told me he really liked me. I hadn't even realized that I also liked him, and so it all began."
Yami was really impressed. He'd never heard Bakura talking like he was now. He'd never seen him worrying so much about someone that wasn't him.
"I just want Ryou to be happy, and if we're both happy with each other, that's just fine for me," he said, leaning back on his chair.
"Aw," teased Yami.
"Just one more thing," warned Bakura, lifting one finger. "If you talk about this conversation to anyone, especially Ryou, you won't have the chance to have your happy ending with that kid." Yami blushed at the statement.
He knew one thing, though: Bakura was right. One shouldn't hide his feelings towards another person. Then a thought hit him. Yugi had told them the date of his birthday, and even if it still was some two or three months away, it was never too early to start.
He smiled at himself, and an idea came to him. He took the pencil he'd left above his right ear and began to draw.
(A/N: I'm sorry for putting Bakura as a smoker, but I had that idea after the last update and since he appeared here... yeah, you get what I mean. And I've been thinking about JR and JR2 way too much lately, so Usagi-san and Miyagi are circling in my head u.u Review, onegai!! :D)