A/N: ALMOST DONE! Mwhahahaaha I can't wait to start my own chapters!

Cold and Lonely

Chapter Seven

"Hey, Bakura...do you have a cell phone? 'Cause there's one ringing in your pocket and it's doing the funeral march..."

"Fuck...yeah, it's mine...CRAP! My burger! Hello?" Bakura picked up his cheeseburger, dropped on its journey to his mouth, as he tried to grip his phone with greasy fingers. Yugi looked on in amusement as he sipped cheerfully at a chocolate milkshake.

"Oh, hey Malik! Uh, sure, I could give you a lift. Six sound good? Okay, see you then..." Bakura shoved the burger in his mouth as he turned the phone off and dumped it back into his pocket. Yuugi looked at him, one eyebrow raised questioningly.

Once his mouth was empty, his companion explained, "Malik usually walks home from his singing classes, yes, singing, I'll have him tell you about it later, so don't ask, but he told Isis I'd give him a ride home, and he was calling to see if I could. And would."

"Okay, sounds good...So, where we heading next?"

"Uh...Black Magi, Rosethorn, Curl Up And Dye, then the pet store."

"Cool...hey, could we hit International?"

"What? The music place? You play?"

"Yeah, sometimes.."

"What do you play?"

"A bit of everything."

"You're kidding! That's amazing...you need to teach me to play something... uh, okay, so International is between Black Magi and...Yuugi? Are you okay?"

With no response forthcoming, Bakura followed Yuugi's gaze over his shoulder, and didn't even try to stifle his growl. 'Lovely...it's the idiot.'

Said idiot, namely one ex-Pharaoh whom went by the name Yami, sat at a table less than ten feet away. To make it even worse, his little hoard surrounded him. Bakura gave a dismissive snort and turned back...to meet little Yuugi's sad eyes. The gears in Bakura's head clicked.

Bakura leaned forward and spoke, his voice soft, "It's them, isn't it? They're the reason you were out last night."

Yuugi lowered his eyes and slumped down on his chair. "Yeah..I should be so selfish though, because I really can't blame them. Yami is cooler, and a better duelist, and a better, well, everything!" At this point the smaller boy seemed to be melting into the fake wood of the table and his slightly muffled voice became forlorn, "I'm just little, kiddie Yuugi who gets in everyone's way."

Bakura gaped for a moment at that logic, then reached out and caught Yuugi's chin, lifting his face until their eyes met. In his grimmest voice, Bakura started speaking. "That is the biggest pile of CRAP I have ever heard. If the bastards are ignoring you... well, actually, there isn't much I can say. I've always held to the fact that they're a bunch of morons, and this is just further proof. But the High Grand Shit face himself is ignoring you too?"

"Yes. I doubt he even realizes I've been gone."

"Hmmm...I'd offer to rip out his intestines and feed them to him, but I somehow doubt you'd take me up on that offer."

"Ummm, yeah."

"In that case the best I can do is give them heart attacks...Do you want to move in with me for a while? Until they quit being stupid?"

Yuugi, though confused by the whole Bakura train of thought, still caught that last comment and smiled brilliantly. "I'd love to!"

"Would your Grandpa mind? Because of the game shop..." Bakura asked, suddenly realizing the extra factors, but Yuugi was still smiling.

"Don't worry, Grandpa's in the Amazon Jungle, and he said to keep the actual shop closed until he gets back, in...well, about a year." Seeing Bakura's startled look, and correctly guessing the cause, continued, "Don't worry, we actually have several hundred thousand dollars set aside for these situations."

Bakura nodded and then turned to face the direction of his potential future victims. 'Okay, physical harm is out of the question, but messing with their minds is fine with me...oooohhhhhh!...' A wicked smile slowly formed on his face as he turned to Yuugi, who was by now watching him warily.

"Yuugi. I know we've been only hanging out since last night, but I'd like to know..." At this Bakura framed Yugi's face with his hands, "Are you comfortable enough with people, especially me, to play a VERY involved practical joke? And do you trust me to pull it off?"
Yuugi met Bakura's eyes steadily and answered without pause, "Yes."

The evil grin crept back onto the white-haired Egyptian's pale face, "Well, then I've got the mother of all nasty ideas, and I think it's enough to permanently paralyze Ye Olde Idiot...This is gonna be fun."
Yuugi, upon hearing this plan, could not begin to disagree.

A/N: Hmm well I didn't have to make too many changes, it was pretty okay I did a few word changes so it's more me.