Archive of Our Own

Fast footsteps stop abruptly in the alleyway. A small form is slumped on the cement, white hair prominent in the darkness and the intruding boy kneels down next to them.

“Hey,” the boy says, poking his back. “Are you alive?”

The smaller boy whimpers and pushes himself up and starts sniffling.

“What’s your name?”

He’s quiet for a moment, staring with teary eyes. “R… Ryou…”

“What’s wrong with you?”

“M-m-my mom…” he stutters. “Sh-she’s…”

“Your mom?”

“Th-they hurt my mom… shhe told me to ru-run… I want to go to my mom but she told me to go… I want my mommy…” He starts wailing loudly and his cries reverberate against the alley walls. The stranger shoves the smaller boy into his chest to quiet him and the cries turn to muffled sobs against his thin torso.

“Shut up! You’re too loud. C’mon, stop crying. Don’t be a baby.”

Come on, dry those tears. Who’s my big boy? Ryou choked on his sobs until it was only sniffles, remembering what his mother told him when he cried.

“Bakura!” Both boys flinched as a rough voice cut through the alley and the next thing he knew Ryou was being pulled along down the alley and around the corner. “Come back here ya little bastard!”

Ryou’s heartbeat sounded off in fear but despite the adrenaline his tired and sore limbs held him back from sprinting alongside the other boy, instead causing him to lag a bit behind until the boy turned again and climbed up some boxes onto a dumpster. Ryou struggled up the boxes and the boy helped him up by the arm before pushing him up on a raised ladder leading to a fire escape.

“Go go!” The older boy whispered and Ryou climbed quickly up the ladder onto the fire escape and when the other boy made it up as well, he pulled the smaller boy against him and covered his mouth with a cold palm.

“Where’d ya go? Get back here and take it like a fuckin’ man!” The two boys held perfectly still in the shadows until they saw the indistinct figure of a man stumble by below, pause for a moment and then continue around the corner. They stayed like that for a minute until the other boy removed his hand and pushed himself up. He pulled him by the hand up the metal stairs to the next level up and tugged up a window frame before pushing him inside and Ryou rolls onto the floor inside with a small yelp before the other boy climbs in as well and shuts the window again.

“Bakura…?” A sleepy voice calls out in the darkness before they’re both blinded by the light of a lamp turning on.

“Turn it off!” Bakura whispers, rushing across the room to turn off the lamp. Before the light was turned off, the lamp revealed a small boy sitting up in his bed, rubbing his eye with a fist.

“Is it your dad again?”

“Zorc can take a dragon cock up the ass.”

“Language!”  A deeper voice cut in and Ryou looked around the darkness warily, eyes not yet adjusted and adrenaline spiking from the unfamiliar surroundings.

“Sorry Rishid,” Bakura grumbled.

“Bakura, who’s this?” The voice belonging to ‘Rishid’ asked and Ryou rubbed his eyes with a sniffle before peering into the darkness again.

“Some kid I found passed out in the street. He was crying about his mom.” At the mention of his mom, hot tears welled up at the corner of his eyes again and he sniffled with another sob suppressing whimper on the carpeted floor of the bedroom.

A light switched on and Ryou was once again blinded as a flashlight was shone right on him.

“He’s got… blood all over him!” Rishid exclaimed and Ryou’s stress increased as he saw the other’s indistinct figures surround him from behind the light.

“Oh shit…”

“Language!”

“This calls for harsh language!”

“Guys, we need to take him to the police!”

“No!” Ryou cut in. “No police! Mommy said no police!”

“Shh keep it down!”

“Where is your mom?” A softer voice asked and Ryou sniffled looking down and wringing his dirty, wet shirt with small fingers.

He remembered his mother, pulling his small form out of bed and carrying him into the bathroom. He remembered her barricading the door. He remembered smoke, lights going on and off. Mommy was sick. She weakly hefted him out of the bathroom window, telling him to run to town, to get away. He didn’t remember… were those streaks on her face… the splotches on her clothes…

“Mommy was sick…” He whispered. “She pushed me out the window and… and told me to run… she was sick… she couldn’t… fight...” He sniffled and wiped at his stinging tears with cold hands. “I wanna go home… but she told me to run…” He sobbed again until he was pulled into someone’s arms again.

“How old are you?” Rishid asked. Ryou heard blinds rattle against each other and then the click of a light turning on again.

“M’ eight…” He mumbled between gasps, wiping his tears again. He looked around at them in the new light. Rishid was much bigger than all of them, the bit of hair he had in a ponytail at the back of his head was black in the low light and his skin was dark as well compared to his own fair skin tone. The smaller boy next to him also had darker skin but lighter, blond hair and lilac eyes.

“Fuck…” The boy holding him swore again.

“Bakura I swear to Osiris…”

“Shut up with your gods, this is real shit we’re dealing with!”

“We have to take him to the police!” The other boy next to Rishid said again.

Ryou shook his head sharply. “No police!”

“Yes police!” Bakura cut in, holding his shoulders back firmly to look him in the eye, silvery violet berating chocolate brown. “You’re a little kid covered in blood!”

Ryou turned around and ducked under the metal blinds to push at the window, but the boy pulled him back by the waist. “The hell do you think you’re doing?!”

“No police!”

“Why?!”

“Mommy says they’ll take me away!” He pushes at the boys chest, stress levels rising. “They’ll put me in a cage and sell me on the bad market!”

“What the hell has your mom been telling you kid?!” Bakura exclaims, struggling to keep him still and away from the window and Ryou was just about ready to scream and thrash when the door to the bedroom slammed open and the doorframe was filled with a haggard and baleful looking dark haired girl.

“...what’s all this?” She asked quietly and the four boys sat frozen in their places on the carpeted floor.

“Uh…” The little boy with blond hair sounded nervous but Bakura hurried to fill her in.

“I found this kid in the alleyway, covered in blood, and he doesn’t want to go to the police!”

“No police!” Ryou sobbed, trying to rip his hands from Bakura’s grasp but the boy wrestled him to stay in place. The girl calmly walked forward and flicked Bakura on the forehead causing him to yelp and fall back, rubbing his head. She then took Ryou by the hand and smiled.

“Why don’t you come with me. We’ll get you some clean clothes and something warm to drink, how does that sound?” Ryou’s hand shook in hers but when she pulled him up with gentle grace he didn’t fight and followed her out obediently.

“Ishizu?!” Bakura exclaimed. “We have to take him to-”

“He’s a scared little boy covered in grime and soaked to the bone,” the girl replied and Ryou held onto her nightgown with a shivering hand. “We can take him down to the station when he’s feeling safe enough to do so. Malik, can you bring some of your clothes to the bathroom?” The blond haired boy nodded and got up to rummage through his drawers as the girl led Ryou down the hall and into a small bathroom. She seated him on the toilet and scoured under the sink cabinet before pulling out a first aid kit and wetting a rag to scrub at his face with.

“So dirty…” she mumbled, scrubbing his cheeks red with the warm rag. The boy, Malik, peeked in from the hallway holding a bundle of light colored fabrics.

“I brought the clothes,” he said, staring at Ryou curiously.

“Thank you brother. Can you turn on the water boiler and make sure Bakura and Rishid don’t get into a fight?” She asks. Ryou thought she sounded regal.

“Sure thing,” the boy said, putting the clothes onto the counter and rushing out to the kitchen.

“Do you mind changing into these clothes?” Ishizu asks and Ryou nods, pulling his shirt over his head himself. The girl scrubbed then at his torso before slipping the shirt over his head and turned around while he changed into the pants and when he finished, scrubbed at his dirty feet and treated them with ointment and band-aids when she found how scratched they were.

“There,” she said, hands resting satisfied on her hips. “All cleaned up. Mind if I brush your hair though? It’s a little ratty.” Ryou felt much better in the new clothes and nodded with a small smile. “You have such pretty hair,” she murmured, brushing out his locks with soothing strokes that nearly caused Ryou to purr. The adrenaline from the stressful night left his body tired and heavy with exhaustion and by the time he finished his cocoa he was half asleep in his chair.

He felt himself carried and covered with a warm weight. He heard whispers as he drifted off.

“What are we going to do with him?”

“It can wait until tomorrow.”

~.o.~

Ryou has a nightmare and hides in a closet and is later found by Rishid.

“What’s got you so frazzled little one?” He asks.

“...had a bad dream…”

“A bad dream? Do you want to talk about it?” Ryou shook his head. “Well… why don’t you come out and we’ll have some eggs and bacon to distract you from it.” Ryou hesitates for a second before crawling out and taking Rishid’s hand as they head into the kitchen. The older man sits Ryou at the table as he starts making breakfast and pours him a glass of milk.

The smell of breakfast lured out the other two siblings eventually and Malik and Ishizu are surprised to find Ryou sitting at the table.

“He had a bad dream,” Rishid states, piling some fluffy scrambled eggs onto plates along with some bacon and placed one in front of each of them, including Ryou. The little boy looks nervously between Rishid and the eggs until he nods at him.

“Go ahead and eat,” Ishizu encouraged and Ryou took a bite with his fork before scarfing down the rest happily. “Not too fast, you might choke.” He slowed down obediently.

He looked around the table and looked down the hall.

“What are you looking for?” Ishizu asks. Ryou swallows his food before mumbling.

“Where’s… Bakuru?”

“Bakura?” Ryou nods at the correct pronunciation of the name. “He left sometime last night, back to his own home.” Ryou continued eating his bacon.

“So Ryou,” Ishizu started when they had all finished their food and sat down with their own drinks. Ryou looked up from his cocoa and Ishizu handed him a napkin to wipe his mouth with. “You don’t like police?” She asked. Ryou’s demeanor immediately changed.

“No police!” He exclaimed.

“He said they would ‘put him in a cage and sell him on the bad market’ ,” he quoted. Ryou tilted his head at him nervously.

“Ryou,” Ishizu continued, gaining Ryou’s attention again. “Do you have any other family that we could bring you to? Maybe your father, any uncles or aunts?” Ryou thought about it. He’d never met his father.

He shook his head. “Me and mommy lived alone,” he said.

Ishizu hummed. “Do you know where you live?” She asked.

“I think I know where,” Rishid answered for him. He had been tapping at his phone and turned it around to show Ishizu something. She gasped and Ryou sensed her dread.

“What is it?” Malik asked, leaning up on the table trying to peer at the phone but Ishizu pushed him back down.

“Hey,” a voice cut in from behind and Ryou turned around to see Bakura leaning on the door frame to the kitchen, nursing his cheek. Ryou had a better view of the boy now in the sunlight streaming through the apartment kitchen window. He had short and wild silver hair, a tattered hoodie and faded jeans, but he looked no older than 12 with chubby cheeks and bright violet eyes. “Are you coming to school or what?” He asked.

“Malik, go get ready for school,” Ishizu said.

“What about you?” He whined.

“We’re taking the day to take care of Ryou. We can spare a day, but you need to go to school. So go get ready.” The boy groaned, but slipped down from the chair and ran to his room anyway, Bakura followed him, sparing a glance toward Ryou who stared at him with calculating brown eyes.

Childhood Arc

Rishid is 18, Ishizu 16, Bakura 12 and Malik 11 when they find 8yr old Ryou. Ishizu is a grade ahead and in Junior year and she and Rishid have jobs to support themselves.

Ishizu and Rishid decide they need to keep Ryou as they know a bit about his heritage. They arrange their schedules so Rishid homeschools and takes care of him in the morning before he works the night shift and Ishizu goes to school during the day before teaching him at night. He doesn’t need much attention, he’s very obedient and quiet. She works during the weekend for many hours. They’re tired, but resilient. Malik kind of hates him as he gets more attention and his sibling become more worn out.

The Ishtars aren’t exactly the most religious. They had moved to America with their mother from Egypt after their father was killed in an accident, but then their mother died from illness. Before she passed, she made sure to leave Ishizu and Malik in Rishid’s custody, leave them the apartment, a sum of money and on her deathbed told them to get vaccinated. They did.

They became too busy with working from paycheck to paycheck and saving what they could to celebrate the holidays, but Ryou is enamoured with the pretty lights and decorations he sees on shopping trips and hanging from fire escapes. They decide to buy a little plastic tree and decorate it with his arts and crafts, teach him how to cut out a snowflake and cover the walls with them and decide building a gingerbread house would be good for his motor skills. Malik and Bakura decorate it after Ishizu and Ryou build it and the place is a mess with frosting and candies. Ryou absolutely loves it and laughs so much the lights in the whole neighborhood go crazy with flashing colors and off beat patterns.

They don’t particularly care for July 4th or Easter, but they are absolute Halloween fanatics. For Ryou’s first Halloween they debate on whether he should go but Malik vouches that he and Bakura will take care of him. They agree to let them go. Malik dresses up as a vampire, Ryou as a witch and manage to plant some ears and a tail on Bakura, but he rips it off. Ryou obey’s Ishizu by never letting go of Malik’s hand, until Malik and Bakura deem him too slow and run off ahead of him. Ryou tries to keep up but eventually he gets left behind. He goes from house to house, sticking with a party of people, until he decides to search for them and finds himself lost and all alone in a darkening neighborhood. His face trails with hot tears and he sniffles, remembering what his mother told him.

If you’re ever lost, stay in the shadows. Hug a tree. I’ll come find you. Not very good advice since she was dead. So he’s lured in by some ducks who badger him for food and nibble at him and he giggles, feeling better now that he’s not alone.

The other boys had trick or treated for a while before realising their single responsibility was missing and retraced their steps, running frantic around the neighborhood for their small charge. They find Ryou eating his candy and playing with ducks at one of the neighborhood ponds and take his hand to head home. Ishizu was going to be pissed already. Ryou waves and says goodbye to the ducks as they leave.

At 10, he hears Bakura coming from outside and helps him through the window, smelling blood as he tumbles in. “I’m never going back to that fucking house, ever again…” They help him up and get him to the hospital.

11 year old Ryou makes Malik a giant cookie cake for his birthday, all by himself. It’s quite the catastrophe masterpiece. Malik has been resentful of Ryou for drawing all his siblings already dwindled attention, but as he looks around the small table at his siblings tired smiling faces and Ryou’s excited one and Bakura’s imploring one, he decides then that if anything, they’d have each other in the end. He thanks him. Ryou goes to the fridge to get milk but drops it and spills it everywhere. He kind of just stares at it, dismayed. Everyone has a good laugh and they put milk on the shopping list before digging into the cake.

Ryou and Ishizu share a room and the walls are covered with Christmas snowflakes Ishizu and Rishid were teaching him to make. On the window sill are some flowers he learned to grow, some knick knacks in the book shelf that helped him learn about gravity and science. He wondered what school was like. Malik sometimes brought friends over and told him to stay out of his room while they played in there. At first he brought over girls, then he started bringing over boys. Bakura was a rare sight those days, even though Rishid and Ishizu had allowed him to stay with them. Sometimes he stayed on the couch, other times he wasn’t back for days at a time. But whenever he was there Ryou would give him something he made, be it something he baked, cooked, or made in arts and crafts. Bakura and Malik come in to find him reading one of Ishizu’s science textbooks upside down on the couch.

“The hell are you doing Ryou?”

Ryou hiccups, face red from the blood rushing to his head, but face pouting in concentration. “I have- hic -the hiccups. Ishizu said drinking water upside down might- hic -get rid of them.”

“Then why are you reading?”

“Cause he’s a nerd.” Malik tickled his feet and Ryou yelps, kicking and rolling off the couch.

“Malik! Hic! ” Malik laughs at him and dumps his backpack on the couch before heading for the kitchen. Bakura does the same, but he pauses a second as Ryou flattens a page he creased.

“You ever planning on getting a haircut?” Bakura asked. Ryou hiccups and slams the book closed, getting up and carrying the huge thing into he and Ishizu’s bedroom.

“What’s a haircut?” He asks, putting the book back on Ishizu’s shelf.

“Jesus christ Malik! He’s never had a haircut?”

“We’ve never thought about it,” Malik calls from the kitchen. “Also he looks fine with long hair, he likes it.”

Ryou and Bakura come in to find him drinking juice right out of the carton.

“Ishizu will be mad,” Ryou says, sitting in one of the chairs.

“I’ve got my own job now, I can just pay her back,” Malik replies cooly. “Also it’s not like a little backwash will hurt anyone. We all share one bathroom for Ra’s sake!”

Ryou bounces in his seat. “I wanna look at your homework come on!”

“I’ve never seen someone so excited to do my homework,” Bakura said, sliding into the seat next to him.

“Aren’t you supposed to be in 6th grade or something?” Malik asked, bringing in their backpacks. “Our work should be out of your very comprehension.”

Ryou shrugs. “I like learning.”

“Who the hell likes learning?”

“If you really think about it, people like learning,” Malik says, pulling out his binder. Bakura copied his actions. “School’s just terrible at teaching properly. Ryou’s the lucky one.”

“Lucky duck,” Bakura ruffled his hair and Ryou pouted.

They do their homework, Ryou nearly doing all of Bakura’s homework which causes Malik to whine more than usual, until Rishid and Ishizu come in, Ishizu carrying groceries. They make dinner, Bakura sticks around for it, and have pie for desert night. Then when everyone’s finished they have them get in the car to go on a little trip. They drive into a small neighborhood and arrive at a small house. It looks abandoned with all the lights off but it’s otherwise quaint. They get out of the car and Rishid and Ishizu encourage them to come inside. They open the door and tell them to explore. Ryou runs ahead because he knows what’s going on and Malik and Bakura look around the empty house warily There’s four bedrooms and two bathrooms, a kitchen just slightly bigger than their last one, and a small backyard and fenced porch in the back.

“Alright, I give, what’s going on?” Malik asks.

Rishid and Ishizu share a look and Ishizu eclaims happily, “This is our new house!”

“Just signed the contract today,” Rishid said, a smile on his face as well. Bakura and Malik look at each other before looking over at Ryou running between the rooms.

“There’s a room for Ishizu and Rishid and one for each of you!” He exclaimed running up to them before darting off to the kitchen. “And the fridge can go there and the table there!” Bakura and Malik rushed off to see the rooms. They weren’t too big, but their family was never concerned with luxury. They held quality over quantity.

“It’s not quite the house we were hoping for but…”

“It’s better than the apartment, yes?”

“It’s way better than the apartment!” Malik exclaims and scoops Ishizu up in a wobbling hug. “Let’s not spend another night there! I want to be moved in by morning!”

“That’s can be arranged,” Ishizu squeaked and yelped when Rishid picked them both up in a hug. Ryou tugged Bakura so they both got pulled in as well.

“I’m... not your family though guys…”

“Nonsense Bakura, this is your home as much as it is ours,” Rishid ruffled his hair and he begrudgingly accepted his fate as being part of the Ishtars.

Loving Bakura Arc

At 13 Ryou catches Malik and Bakura making out, Malik sitting on top of him. Bakura is 17 and Malik 16. They’ve moved in and their house is just a twenty minute walk to the library. They get a new bus route but it’s even closer to the school so Bakura and Malik can wake up later. The only thing wrong with the location was it’s distance from Malik’s job. It was a bit farther and Malik was persistent on getting a license so he could drive. Even if he could, Rishid and Ishizu would need their cars. Malik arranged his schedule so he goes to work right after school and gets picked up by Ishizu or Rishid afterward. It’s a pain, but he thinks the new house is absolutely worth it. Bakura and Malik end up sharing a room, since they’re the same age and they don’t want a little kid like Ryou intruding on their business and whoops they left their door open during his nap. Their roughhousing wakes him up. He puts his ear up to the crack and hears moaning and peeks in for a total of two seconds before darting back and leaning against the wall, utterly flabbergasted. They were… kissing!

Vivian/ School Arc

At 14 Ryou spends most of his time at the library and the Librarian hires him since he’s read half the books there and occasionally helps out with organizing. He also starts going to highschool so Rishid and Ishizu can focus on their careers, education and getting a bigger house. He takes a test and ends up skipping a grade so he starts in Sophmore year. Malik walks him to his classes, only because it gives him a reason to be late to class and girls can’t look away from him. He’s so cute! He gets a lot of attention from everyone. Bakura is a senior, Malik is a Junior and Melvin is Bakura’s Senior friend who transferred from a different school in a worse part of town.

“Do you wanna sit with me and my friends at lunch, since you’re new?”

“Oh, well-”

“He’s sitting with us.” The girl gives Malik a scalding glare before shrugging.

“A shame. See you later Ryou.” She turns and walks off gracefully.

“Maybe another time though! Malik what was that?”

“ That was Vivian, she’s a total manipulative bitch. Do not sit with her.” They hurry to the cafeteria and head to the back of the room where Bakura is sitting at a table with a taller blond boy, tapping at his phone.

“Well well, someone made a friend of his own! Who’s this Bakura?”

“This is Melvin.”

“If any of you ever call me that I’ll rip your pharynx out. Call me Kek.”

“Wow. Charming first impression.” Malik deadpans.

Kek clicks his tongue appreciatively. “Ooo who’s this little minx?”

“I’m Malik,” Malik sits at the table and Ryou follows, actually glad he didn’t go to sit with Vivian, since he was already nervous sitting next to people he already knew.

“Malik Bitchtar.” Bakura said.

“ Ishtar , fuckface.” Wow. They swore tons more at school than at home. Ryou held in a laugh.

“Feisty little thing, aren’t you?” Kek purred.

“Where the hell did you crawl out of?” Malik countered.

“Hell, actually, since you mention it.”

“He transferred from Hikari High.” Bakura supplies.

“It’s my third transfer,” he says smugly.

“And how do you know each other?”

“Streets.”

“Ah.”

Ryou pulls his lunch out of his satchel and bites into his sandwich.

“And who’s your little friend?”

Ryou looks up just as Bakura does to shoot the blond a glare.

“I’m Ryou…” He thought of what to say. “Uh… I’m new too.”

“Then we should stick together, maybe explore when we have some free time.”

“Shut the hell up Melvin.”

“Kek.”

“Malik’s showing him around, don’t fuck with him.”

“Just trying to show some school spirit Bakura, for god’s sake, bless your soul ,” Kek groaned and Bakura scowled as as he threw an arm over his shoulder and leaned into him. He whispers something into Bakura’s ear and the older boy punches him in the side for it, but the crazy blond just snickers and moves away again after taking the hit.

The lunch proceeds with Malik and Ryou arguing over the cookies in Ryou’s lunch and Kek snatching some grapes and starting a mini food fight while Bakura taps at his phone. He begrudgingly accepted the other half of Ryou’s sandwich when he noticed he didn’t intend to eat and offered it to him.

The rest of the day involves more doting from interested girls and a rowdy bus ride home, as Kek decided to come along. He and Bakura nearly get into a fist fight but Malik was smart enough to sit next to the taller blond in the two person seat between Bakura and him to make sure nothing went down while Ryou sat next to Bakura and held him back. Kek and Bakura leave as soon as they get home while Ryou and Malik talk to Ishizu about their first day, Ryou moreso.

The next day Ryou had gotten the hang of finding his classes but Malik still stuck around to make sure he got it right the first time. Girls had somehow started knowing his name before he could say hello and it was strange. What was so appealing about him?

He meets Tea in one of his classes on his second day when they are immediately paired together in english for a research project. She doesn’t know his name, because she doesn’t have that many girl friends, mostly boys and they chat and get to know each other.

The next lunch, their table is joined by two more boy’s, Joey and Duke. They keep arguing over girls and what features they like, then go around the table and ask everyone’s opinion.

“The hell are you two arguing about?”

“Women, man!”

“What we like in women,” the blond one adds.

“Kek, who the fuck are these guys?”

“That’s Duke and that’s Joey,” Kek points to each one as he says their names. “I invited them.”

“Obviously.”

“What do you guys like in a girl, huh?”

“You’re not gonna have much luck with that question at this table,” Malik answers. “I’m not a pescatarian. All carnivor over here.” Malik makes a motion with his hand and sticks his tongue in his cheek when he’s sure Ryou isn’t looking. Duke sticks out his tongue.

“Gross.”

“Free country.”

“Like hell it is!” Kek intervenes.

“How about you, tall blond and handsome?” Malik shoots back.

“How direct~,” Kek purrs. “Unfortunately for you there is no person on earth who could determine my sexuality.”

“You don’t like sex?”

“More like, I’ll have sex with anyone. Just depends on the person.”
“So, you’re pan.” Kek throws his hands up.

“No person on earth except you apparently. Fucks sake.” He gestured towards Bakura. “How ‘bout you short, grizzled and mouth watering?”

“Gaaaay,” Malik cut in before Bakura could answer. Bakura just rolled his eyes. “Big gay. Bear gay.”

“How would you know?”

“We’re childhood friends.”

“I’m not a bear?” Bakura interrupts.

“I mean… you’re getting close to it.”

“I am not a bear!”

“Whatever you say.”

“What’s a bear?” Everyone looks to Ryou and he shrinks slightly at the sudden attention.

“A really hairy gay man.” Malik supplies.

Ryou thinks for a moment before shaking his head. “He’s not a bear.”

“Thank you!” Bakura says.

“ You’ve never seen him naked.”

Ryou’s head heated a little at the topic but he trudged forward anyway. “We’ve gone swimming sometimes.”

“What about you, shrimp,” Kek butts in and Ryou is kind of grateful for his intrusion. The appreciation is lost as he realizes what he’s asking of him. “What gets your rocks off?”

“Uuh... “

“I think yesterday is the first day Ryou saw a girl his own age,” Malik said and Ryou pouted.

“That is incorrect ,” Ryou says.

“ That is incorrect, ” Malik mimics and Ryou’s pout deapens. He takes his bag of cookies out and takes one before throwing the bag at Kek who accepts it graciously. “Hey!”

“ Hey! ” Ryou mimics and holds his cookie out of reach when Malik darts to grab at it. “Make your own lunch if you want cookies!”

“I can’t find all the stuff I like in the morning!” Malik whines and Ryou shoves the cookie in his mouth through Malik’s grabbing hands before using both hands to push his brother away. “Ah, you bastard!”

“Point for Ryou!” Kek says, spewing crumbs on the table and Bakura cringes away from him.

Malik sighs and pouts, crossing his arms.

“Bastard.”

“Jerk.”

“Asshole.”

“Come on Ryou, you can do better!”

“Shut up Kek.” Ryou and Malik say at the same time before looking at each other and laughing at their words.

“Are you two brothers or something?”

“Oh, yeah,” Malik says, realising they never actually introduced themselves. “This is Ryou, my cookie thieving bastard little brother.” Ryou pinches Malik in the side and he yelped at the treatment.

“And this is Malik, my annoying, whiny excruciating older brother.”

“What year are you?” Joey asks.

“I’m a sophomore, but this is my first year at school.”

“Skipped a year?” Kek asks.

“Skipped all the damn years!” Malik whines. “Was homeschooled and ended up being so smart he got to skip freshman year too.”

“Hey, good for you. Less trauma. Maybe that’s why all the girls are raving about you. They sense your innocence .”

“Girls aren’t raving about him,” Malik says.

“Actually…” Ryou mumbles.

“He’s become quite the ladies man. They call him the angel boy. ”

“ You’re angel boy?” Joey exclaims. “I don’t see the appeal.”

“Neither do I,” Ryou admits. “It’s kind of overwhelming having girls talking to me every class. They’re nice, overall though.” He bites into his sandwich as the others stare at him.

“That explains why Vivian tried to get you to eat with her.”

“Who’s Vivian?” Kek asks.

“She tried to do what?” Bakura asks, suddenly interested.

“She’s a manipulative bitch who we don’t fuck with. And yep, just came up to us yesterday just as lunch was starting.”

“What’s wrong with Vivian?” Ryou asks for both him and the other three boys at the table.

Malik sighs. “In freshman year she was hooking up with guys every other week and tried to hook up with Bakura.” Ryou remembered that Malik and Bakura were together during that time. “To make it short, a lot of dramatic, personal shit went down, she fucked us up and now we don’t fuck with her.”

“Sounds serious,” Kek says.

“It was,” Bakura answers. “Stay away from her. She’s bad karma.”

“Oh, I get it. Cause she’s asian!”

“Shut the fuck up Kek.”

Later, Ryou asks at home.

“What happened with Vivian?”

“You know me and Bakura were hooking up back then right?” Ryou nods. “Well Vivian wouldn’t take no for an answer when she asked him out and kept taking Bakura out to parties with tons of drugs and alcohol as ‘just friends’. Total bullshit.” Malik got more upset. “She got Bakura so fucked up one night and said some… just terrible things. She started telling people that Bakura did things he didn’t.” Ryou’s expression hardened a little. Malik was really leaving things out. “I pulled him out of it, got him back on his feet.”

“Was this why he was gone so much a few years ago?”

“Yeah.”

“Well I’m glad you helped him. But you should’ve told us.”

“Told Ishizu Bakura did drugs? She’d never trust him again.”
“You know she wouldn’t. He’s family.”

“He doesn’t feel that way.”

Ryou frowns. He hands Malik a cookie. “We’ll be there for him, always. Even if he doesn’t know it.” Malik takes the cookie and they clink like wine glasses.

“Yeah. We’ll watch that thick bastards back.”

Its two weeks later when Ryou has gotten a bit more comfortable with going to school when he starts to notice things. He’d become a social figure to the point where everyone knew him, doted on him and found him absolutely precious. The teachers gladly worked with him in subjects he’d missed out on and stay caught up with work. He heard about a tutoring position and was interested in tutoring math, everyone seemed to find it difficult but him.

Every Sunday on his day off he would bake something to eat at school over the week, enough for him as well as the group he sat with at lunch. Kek was a ravenous vulture who strayed from the cafeteria food, Joey bought lunch and Duke brought his own. Bakura failed to bring, buy or borrow lunch and when questioned he just responded that he got enough to eat at dinner time. Ryou would have none of it, however, and took to making Malik and Bakura lunches as well as his own.

Bakura had become a bit standoffish in the last few weeks, not coming home after school on the bus, arriving back hours afterward and Ryou wondered if something was going on or if this was just how Bakura acted outside of home. He got his answer another week later.

He stays after school to help his teacher set up the drama set in the auditorium for the play tomorrow night and the teacher asks him to go back to his room for his scripts so they can leave them in the auditorium and the students could come right to the auditorium the next class. He also gives Ryou his keys so he can lock up the room again. Ryou gets the scripts and locks the room and on his way back he hears a commotion in the hallway.

Vivian is getting something from out of her locker with… Bakura trailing along behind her.

“I hate your motorcycle.”

“What do you want me to do about it?”

“Drive a car here, then we can take everyone out instead of just meeting there.”

“Why don’t you drive one of your many cars?”

“Because I don’t want my parents to smell shit in there, dumbass.”

“And it’s okay if my family does?”

“Everything is okay, as long as your little friend goes to this school.” Vivian hisses. “Let me remind of the deal, you be my bitch, I don’t make little angel boy’s high school experience into a living nightmare. Make it work. I want to be driven to school tomorrow in a car.” She slams her locker closed and Bakura is silent as they walk down the hall and around the corner. Ryou returns to the auditorium and gives the teacher his scripts before saying he needs to leave and walking to the County Library for his shift.

“Hey Ryou!” A brown haired, brown eyed girl greets cheerily but Ryou passes her with a significantly less cheery nod as he rounds the desk and heads to the small back room to put his satchel away. Mahad and Mana share a concerned look as he emerges and drags the book cart away to put the next load of returned books away without a word.

He was lost in thought. Bakura was hanging out with Vivian… for his sake? What were they doing together? Did Malik know about this? Were they- was he smoking weed? Or worse?

Ryou was conditioned heavily by Ishizu to never do drugs, more so than Malik and Bakura as she caught him when he was much younger, but them just as severely. Malik was avid about not smoking weed fearing for his youthful look and Bakura saw no point in it. He relented he had tried it, but it hurt his throat, the taste was horrid and it barely affected him. He couldn’t be smoking… unless she was forcing him to?

“Ryou?” Mana’s soft voice echoed between the bookshelves and Ryou paused in putting the book in his hand up on the bookshelf to look over at her.

“I brought your favorite, hot chocolate with double sugar and extra whipped cream!”

“Oh, thanks Mana.”

“What’s wrong? You haven’t said a word for the last hour. Usually you’re more chatty, about school and stuff.” Guess he was a bit of an open book around here huh?

“I just heard something at school.”

“Something bad?”

“...yeah.”

“Can I ask what it was?” She asked and Ryou studied her innocently inquiring expression. Mana was a reliable girl, very independent, trustworthy and fun. She hadn’t worked at the library very long, and she was only a freshman at a different school, but she was already working on her college credits with Mahad’s help. Mahad was in college himself, working towards a Master’s degree in history so he could be a teacher.

“...you know Bakura?”

“The guy who picks you up sometimes?”

“Yeah… he’s my-“ crush “-childhood friend and I think he’s being blackmailed into hanging out with this girl… because of me.”

“What? Why d’you think that?” She asked, concerned.

“I was helping out my drama teacher and overheard her telling him to do as she said or she’d make my life hell.”

“That’s awful!” Mana exclaimed.

“I don’t know what to do or who to tell. I think she’s making him do things not in his best interests.”

“You’ve gotta tell someone!”

“Maybe I could tell Ishizu, but…”

“Your sister?”

“Yeah, but she and Rishid are so busy with their online courses and work, and Malik would probably go after her himself and get in trouble.”

“Ryou, they’re your family. If you can’t trust them with this kind of stuff, who can you?” Ryou thought for a second and yeah, she was right. She shrugged. “Except me of course. I’m in on everything.” She smiled with eyes shining with secrets and Ryou smiled at her.

“...should I talk to Bakura?”

“That would probably be the sensible thing.”

“But what would I say?”

“...you got me there.”

“I’ll talk to my family about it first then.”

“I hope it all works out, and if you need a helping hand, me and Mahad will come and kick her butt for you, right Mahad?” Ryou’s eyes widened as Mahad stepped out from behind the bookshelf behind her and nodded with a shrug.

“You’re hot chocolate’s going to go cold at this rate.”

“I’ll finish up here, go and enjoy your cocoa!” Ryou smiled sheepishly and hurried by them to the front desk.

He texted Malik to pick him up as he got whipped cream on his lip.

“Hello angel,” Kek purred from the side window of his beat up truck and Ryou deadpanned as Malik smiled sheepishly from the passenger side seat behind him.

“Hi Kek,” Ryou responded and climbed into the backseat. “Where’s Joey and Duke?”

“Spying on that new kid Valon,” Kek said. Valon was a new student at their school who transferred from Kek’s first highschool. Valon knew Kek but Kek didn’t much care for him. Valon had sat with them but once before he heard about Mai, Duke and Joey’s current interest and became enamoured with her and now the other two boys were on high alert, their new mission in their social lives to spy on Valon and destroy his reputation or get to Mai first.

Mai was a nice girl, or rather more of a woman. She had so many college credits when she got out of high school she’d be entering college as a junior. She was enamoured with the fashion industry and planned on becoming a designer for a big business, or running her own.

“Couldn’t you have called Ishizu or Rishid to come pick you up? We were gonna go to the movies.”

“I needed to talk to you, about Bakura.”

Kek glanced at him in the rear view mirror. “What about?”

“Not with you here.”

“Are you finally confessing to him, hm?” Malik slapped his arm as Kek snickered.

“Don’t tease,” Malik chastised. “Why not with him here? Did something happen?’

Ryou thought for a second. Kek probably wouldn’t care. “...Vivian happened.”

Malik immediately turned in his seat.

“What did she do?” He asked, seriously. Kek glanced back at Ryou curiously as well.

Ryou sighed and explained what he’d heard in the hallway. Malik listened with a hard look and swore when he finished.

“That’s why he’s been blowing us off for the past two weeks, fuck!”

“You don’t think he’s smoking do you?”

“She’s probably making him do a shit ton worse than smoking,” Malik said and Ryou’s heart dropped.

“Thirsty bitch fucking around with the big bad Bakura? That’s a dangerous game she’s playing,” Kek growled. “S’pecially now that I know what’s going on.”

“We’ve got to take that bitch down, and I mean permanent expulsion down. I’m sick and tired of her breathing down my neck and talking shit about us behind our backs!”

“We’re going to tell Ishizu, right?”

“What the hell would we say? ‘Hey Ishizu, Bakura is being forced to smoke pot and make out with a bitch who fucked us up on multiple occasions in the past and we never told you about. Would you please help us get her expelled from the school or at least ask her parents nicely to straighten her out?’ She’ll be pissed at us and piss Vivian off more if her parents start hounding her, which would cause all kinds of drama.”

“We just gotta put the bitch in her place ourselves,” Kek said. “Flex some muscle, maybe cut off some of that river of hair she’s got and mount it on my wall.”

“I’m for it.”

“Well are we gonna tell Bakura?”

Malik thought for a second. “No. He needs to know that he can trust us with his bullshit.”

“I’ll call up the boys,” Kek said with a smirk.

“Tomorrow after school, that bitch is so fucked.”

Ryou was nervous the whole day.

When Joey and Duke had gotten news of what was going on they were furious and all in on Kek and Malik’s plan to confront Vivian themselves after school. When it came down to it, Bakura was their friend and he’d stuck his neck out for them on multiple occasions. They were happy to return the favor.

Bakura didn’t even show up for lunch, which rose tensions considerably. He had taken Ishizu’s car that morning, but luckily he’d also taken the lunch Ryou had packed for him the night before. He hoped he was okay.

Everything will be fine after today.

After school Bakura heads to the back of the school to have a smoke as usual. He didn’t feel like waiting on that bitch like a puppy at her locker today. She could come find him.

A tidbit about him that he was sure only Malik and maybe Ryou knew, was that he liked snakes. He planned on getting one when he was older, a white one that he could maybe lay on his shoulders like a necklace when he was bored.

Vivian was a snake he particularly hated, a viper, and she'd snared him a vicious grip once again. This wasn’t the first time she had threatened someone else so he would pay attention to her, she had done the exact same with Malik. But if Malik was anything, he was not someone to underestimate. When he’d found out what was going on, he outright slapped her and stormed out, dragging a sick and wiped out Bakura with him. Now, she was doing the same with Ryou, only because she could tell just by looking at him, he was no fighter. And as far as he knew, he wasn’t.

He leaned against the wall and low and behold, there came the viper bitch, narrow eyes narrowing further as her heels clicked on the cement.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“Having a smoke, what does it look like?”

“It’s looks like someone who didn’t walk me to my locker after class!” She growled before taking his cigarette, taking a drag and throwing it to the ground, crushing it under her heel.

“All I see is a wolf in sheep's clothing,” said a new voice and Bakura’s breath hitched as he looked to the side and found Kek, Malik, Joey, Duke and peeking out from behind Malik, Ryou, standing at the end of the wall. Bakura pushed off from the wall as he noticed the look in their eyes. They were not happy, and Kek was feeling sadistic.

“More like a disgusting pig in at least four layers of makeup,” Malik added to Kek’s statement and Vivian sneered at them.

“The fuck do you faggots want?” Bakura glared at Vivian’s choice of words.

“We came to get Bakura,” Malik stated.

“And I brought scissors,” Kek waved a pair of scissors with an eager expression. “In case you have anything to say about it?” Vivian straightened her back and crossed her arms.

“Sorry, me and Bakura have plans, isn’t that right?” She looked to Bakura but he remained silent.

“Yeah, we know all about the deal,” Malik said and both Bakura and Vivian perked at the statement.

“You’re a pretty messed up broad if you think ya can just blackmail our friend like this!” Joey said and Duke nodded with a serious look.

“And what do you plan on doing about it? Lay one finger on me and I’ll make all your lives hell, in every possible way.” At that Kek walked forward, throwing the scissors casually over his shoulder and pulling out his pocket knife, flicking it out to full length. Everyone tensed as he loomed over her and ran the blade along her face and she swallowed heavily, forehead shining with nervous perspiration.

“Try this shit again and I’ll make your life non existent . I’ve got nothing to lose, honey. I’ve been to hell and back, it’s not all it’s worked up to be.” He pocketed his knife and poked her nose with a smile before turning to Bakura and tossing his head. “Let’s get going, fluffy.” Bakura walked with Kek back to the group without another word and they all turned and left for the parking lot. Ryou caught a last glance of Vivian before they turned the corner and the ferocity and craze in her eyes stuck with him as they headed to Kek’s beat up truck.

“Did you learn your lesson?” Malik asked as they walked and Bakura glanced down at him.

“...what the hell was I supposed to learn from that?”

“To trust us!” Joey cried.

“We always got your back man,” Duke added.

“If she tries to mess with you again, you just come to us!”

“I could handle it myself,” Bakura said.

“You call that handling it?” Malik said in a soft, vulnerable voice, eyes turned down. “I remember the shit she made you do last time this happened, and we were still kids back then.”

“...she’s definitely gotten worse.” Bakura lamented. Ryou’s heart hurt.

“I wish you’d let me cut her hair,” Kek whined, climbing into the driver's seat. “I would’ve made it into a necklace, or a bracelet and wear it to show my dominance!”

“That’s gross, Kek,” Malik said, climbing into the passenger side seat.

“I’ll drive Ishizu’s car back to the house,” Bakura said once Joey and Duke had climbed into the open back of the truck, causing Ryou to pause in his getting in the back seat at Bakura’s words.

A week later Ryou is helping another teacher after school before he heads to the library for work and is getting his stuff from his locker when Vivian slams his locker closed and corners him against the wall of lockers.

“You,” she hissed. “You’re the one who found out, aren’t you? You told those fuckface’s what was going on with me and Bakura, didn’t you?” Ryou didn’t have time to answer as she got right up in his face and he shrunk closer to the floor under her glare. “You aren’t even his friend or brother, you’re nothing to him. Why the hell do you care about him? Why does anybody?!”

“...why do you?” Ryou asked, and Vivian reeled back slightly at that, silent for the moment.

“Everyone's scared of him. Showing people that I could tame him makes them look up to me.”

“Why do you care so much about what others think? You’re obviously not happy.”

“I’m happy,” she snapped. “I’ve got two cars, three dogs and my parents are rich, I have everything I want and more.”

“...you’re right.” Vivian sent him a questioning glare. “Bakura isn’t my friend, he’s family. When worse comes to worse we’ll always have each other.” He finally slung his satchel over his shoulder.

“I can't forgive you for what you did, not now. But if you ever want to apologise, I'm always all ears. I won't snap at you.”

Vivian catches him as he's leaving school a few days later and asks if she can hang out. He says he's going to work but she can come along and she does. Nobody sees them leave together. Ryou introduces Mana and Mahad to Vivian and they don't know she's the one he was talking about before. She wanders around the library, fidgeting and scratching and Ryou gives her some space. She follows him to work again the next day and the next, just hanging out at the library, looking out the windows, buying coffee from the small shop next door, working on the computers, picking out a book from time to time.

One day Ryou helps his teacher out again and Vivian hunts him down. She stands in the doorway, just waiting. Ryou has her clean off the pallets until they leave and Ryou asks if she likes art. She pulls a sketchbook out of her bag and flips through some pages, she was a pretty good cartoon artist. Vivian's friends drive by and ask what she's doing with angel boy and she blows them off, they drive away laughing at her. When they get to the library Mana had brought her a drink as well and she and Mahad fawn over her drawings, saying she should enter their book mark designing competition.

Later on she talks about how she liked hanging out and going out because she hated being at home. Ryou resents that his life might be a bit too boring for her. She said she needed some peace and quiet, a break. She thanked him for just letting her tag along.

Kek, Malik and Bakura eventually catch them hanging out at the library when picking him up in Ishizu's place. Ryou inclines his head and she takes a breath.

She apologizes, to Malik and Bakura before taking her own car home. She drove to the library and then walked the 10 minutes to school in the morning, Ryou said she shouldn't walk alone.

Malik is pissed and Bakura is stunned at her behavior. Malik and Ryou get in a fight and the car is tense on the way home.

Ryou sits with Tea and Mai the next day and Vivian comes over, hair completely different from usual. They're too stunned at her new look to care if she sits with them and they talk about her designs. Mai shares her dress designs and Vivian makes a few suggestions and they become friendly. Tea and Ryou chat a bit about Malik and Ryou's fight and a dance competition going on downtown that Tea is excited about.

Malik had every right to still be mad at her, but he didn't have to be outright mean to Ryou for giving her a chance to change. The group of boys watches them the whole time. Duke, Joey and Valon irked at the fact that Mai was becoming friendly with her too.

Mai, Vivian and Tea become his new group for a while until Bakura tells Malik to get over himself and say sorry to Ryou. They find Ryou comforting Vivian after she was harassed by Keith for weed. She felt like she'd made so much progress and he was just spitting in her face about being happier and healthier.

Ryou sits with her and let's her vent until she says she's gotta go, she has an interview to get to and she leaves.

At 15 Ryou saves Bakura from a gang fight, when Bakura is 19. At this point Ryou has a slight crush on Bakura.

At 16 Rishid and Ishizu go out so Malik can have the house for his 19th birthday party. Kek invites Duke, Joey and Valon over. At one point all three of them had gone after the same girl, Mai, in high school. Now Duke is dating Tea, Joey came to realize he’s super duper UBER gay and Valon ended up winning her affections. They play never have I ever.

“This’s unfair!” Malik slurs. “Everyone has drunk ecept Ryou. Ryou never went to middle school! Is like the most embarrassing time of your life, Ryou never done anything!” Ryou sits holding his empty shot glass dejectedly.

“Then we’ll change the rules,” Kek says, head pressed against Malik’s who was sat in his lap, Kek’s back pressed against the couch. “Ryou has to take a shot if he’s never done something instead of if he has.”

“Yeah!” Malik shouts. “ Why-why wasn’t it played like dat from de shtart? Taking a shot for doin things when you should take a shot for things you didn’t do.”

“Well then I guess I’ll get something else to drink since I will be drinking lots from this point on,” Ryou said as he stood and head to the kitchen. He looked in the fridge and pulled out a beer but he sighed looking down at it.

“Don’t like beer, do you?” Ryou looked up to see Bakura enter the kitchen, solo cup in hand. He snatched the beer in Ryou’s hand and stabbed it with a knife, pouring it into his cup through the hole he made.

“Not really…” He conceded. “Not into bitter things…”

“Here, let me mix you something up.” Bakura put his cup to the side and rummaged through the fridge.

“Mountain dew or coke?”

“Uh… coke?”

Bakura pulled out a two liter of coca cola and then a bottle of rum from the counter and poured both into a cup, shaking it around a bit.

“There, give that a try,” the older boy said, handing him the cup. Ryou sipped at it and although it did have that alcoholic kick that had him shaking his head with a shiver and left a light burn in his throat, it also wasn’t that bad tasting.

“Don’t like it?”

“It’s not that bad tasting, the alcohol just has a kick. Thank you.” He took another gulp and shivered again, but it was smoother taken that time. “You learned to make this?”

“Yep. Shots are a little out of your league for the moment so that should work just as good. Wanna go back in?”

“I dunno,” Ryou relents, looking down at his drink and leaning back on the counter. “It’s not just shots that’s out of my league. Malik’s right, I have zero life experience.”

Bakura stares at him for a moment before taking Ryou’s unused shot glass and downing it before turning around, nudging Ryou’s cup with his own. “No time like the present then, right?”

Ryou thinks for a moment before smiling and taking a big gulp of his rum and coke and coughing a little after but Bakura just laughs and cheers him on and they head back into the living room.

“Watcha got there?” Malik slurs.

“Made him some rum and coke. Easier than shots,” Bakura answers. “Whatcha bitches playin now?”

“Well we were gonna play strip mario kart,” Duke answers. “But Valon and Joey decided to do it backwards since Ryou was gonna do the other game backwards.”

Joey was in nothing but his boxers and Valon was in the process of getting his pants off and Kek was full of endless chuckles. Ryou took another big gulp of his drink in spite of the game again mentioned and plops down on the floor.

“Wanna make a bet?” Kek asked Ryou, who looked up at him, unsure.

“...depends.”

“Bet you twenty bucks you’re a lightweight and can’t go above four of those.” Four? That didn’t sound too bad.

“...you’re on.” Ryou downed the rest of his drink and Bakura whistled.

“Made a deal with the devil. If you lose he gets your soul.”

“Four more of these please,” Ryou demands, ignoring his comment and waving his cup at the older man. Bakura took it with a ‘if you say so’ look and returned to the kitchen. Ryou startled as Malik clambered on top of him in a drunk cuddle hug, not seeing him crawl out of Kek’s lap and over to him.

“Yeeaaaah! Little brother getting it oooon! Best birthday ever!” Ryou didn’t know if his face was heating due to embarrassment or the rum and ruffled his older brother’s hair, accepting his drunken cuddles. Bakura returned, gave him his cup and settled back on the couch as Joey and Valon played. Malik ended up yelling at the top of his lungs at Joey to win and after another drink Ryou joined in. After the next drink he and Malik played against each other, involving much unnecessary elbowing and a tackle which ended in Ryou taking off his shorts, but since Malik cheated he took off his shirt. Ryou beats Malik two more times clad in shirt and boxers. Then he decided to finish the last drink and downed it all in one go with a whoop.

“Alright slow down there Ryou,” Bakura says.

“No!” Ryou basically shouts in a tall and loud voice never heard from him before. “I got one more then I get twenty dollars from that crap stick Kek. I may be a lightweight, but I am not-!” He thought for a second, unable to find the right word.

“-WEAK!” He suddenly shouted, cutting Bakura off. “I am the strongest! The beeest!”

“ Yeah you are!” Malik joined in his yelling and Bakura sighed.

“Kek! Control your ravenous boyfriend!”

“I could say the same for you!” Kek calls from the other room and Bakura groans.

“What does he… Wha-what does he mean by that? I don’t… I don’t get it…”

“Pfffft shut up and go destroy those bitches at wii bowling,” Malik pushes his wobbly younger brother back into the living room before turning around and wagging his eyebrows at Bakura.

“Fix him just one more drink, maybe we can get him to pass out and dump him in his room before the others try to steal the bed.” He says before turning back to the living room and announcing to the guests, “I declare this birthday an absolute success!” A resounding cheer echos through the room and when Bakura re-enters with one last rum and coke for Ryou, he finds him and Joey wrestling over the wii remote.

“You’re screwing up my roll! Malik! Pause it!”

“I can’t find the other remote!” Bakura noticed Kek holding the wii remote behind the couch with a smug look, barely holding in his laughter and he snatched it out of his hand, pausing the game just as Ryou got Joey on his back with a ravenous growl and snatched the other one out of his hand. He unpaused the game just in time to watch his virtual ball roll into the gutter, hitting zero pins. There was a beat of laughter from all the boy’s, then Ryou let out a battle cry of fury before jumping on Joey once again. Kek, Duke and Valon all broke into hilarious laughter while Malik and Bakura shared a look of sudden sober worry. Ryou and Joey rolled around on the floor for a minute until Bakura finally ran forward and tore the smaller boy from the blond and held him back by the waist.

“I am the ultimate wii bowler! I have been disgraced !”

“Calm down Ryou, for fucks sake!”

“No, let him go!” Kek wheezed. “It was just getting good! ”

“Deep breathes oh brother of mine,” Malik soothes, then points to his mischievous boyfriend with a glare. “And you? Pay up.”

“He’s gotta drink this one first,” Kek held up the last drink Bakura had abandoned on the coffee table moved to the side. Before either Bakura or Malik could respond Ryou had snatched the drink out of his hand and was chugging the thing. When he finished he wiped his mouth and glared at the older blond, holding out a wobbling hand.

“Pay. Up,” he slurred. Kek gladly pulled a twenty out of his wallet and Ryou took it with a pleased smile.

The smaller boy then turned around and showed Bakura the bill. “I did it,” he said. “Life esperience starts today!” He laughed and leaned into Bakura for support who held him carefully.

“Alright, well today is over.” Bakura said.

“Yeah we’re gonna get you some water and get you to bed.” Malik continued.

Ryou groaned. “Fine, wha-eber. I can get dere myself, don’t worry bout it.” Ryou got no further than three steps before tripping over his own feet.

Bakura sighs and bundles him up in his arms. “Yeah, I don’t know about that. I’m taking this one to bed guys.”

“About time!” Kek teases but he’s shut up after being tackled by Malik.

“Shhh shut the hell up Nutter Butter. Sweet dreams Ryou!” Ryou mumbles out an incoherent reply as Bakura carries him down the hall to his room.

“No wait, I can do it. Gimme like… more tries,” Ryou babbles.

“Oh yeah? How many more tries?” Bakura asks, trying to twist open the knob to Ryou’s room with the boy still in his arms.

“Uhm… like two- no! Three. No wait… yeah two.”

“Mhm.” Bakura gets the door open and strolls in, laying the drunk teen on his bed lightly and Ryou rolled over, shoving his face in his pillow.

“I’ll be right back,” Bakura reassures and leaves for a minute to grab a pot and a glass of water. He brings both things back and helps Ryou sit up and down the water.

“I’ll leave this here, all right? Just in case you wanna throw up.”

“Groooss. Wait, wait,” he grabs blindly at Bakura in the dark and pulls him a little closer by the arm. “I don’t usually do this, but tonight is a night of firsts,” Bakura’s eyes widened at Ryou’s whispered words.

“Uh…”

“Sh sh sh,” Ryou shushes him. “Alright here goes,” he takes a deep breath. Bakura is frozen in place. What the hell was he going to do? Should he move away? “Fuck!” Bakura flinched.

“...what the hell was that?”

“My first swear,” Ryou whispered, giggling. Then he groaned. “Shit, and you’re the only one who heard it! Ah damnit and I did it again, oh shit again oh damnit!” Bakura laughed outright at the drunk teen and helped him under the covers.

“Shut up and go to sleep,” he said.

“M’kay. You wanna sleep too?” Bakura paused.

“What d’ya mean?”

“I mean Malik and Kek are gonna fuck in his room so do you wanna sleep in here?” Bakura groaned, knowing he was right.

“I was planning to crash in the living room with Duke, Joey and Valon but you know what, the floor in here sounds a thousand times better.”

“The floor?” Ryou asked. “I meant you can sleep up here.” He patted his pillow.

“No offense, but we got wasted tonight and I don’t want Ishizu coming in and thinking we did anything. I’ll stick to the floor.”

“Ugh, c’mere.” Ryou grabs his jacket and pulls him into the bed and Bakura stumbles over him onto the other side of the bed.

“Uh, Ryou,” Bakura starts and Ryou wraps himself around the bigger male. Eventually he got comfortable and threw his arm around the smaller male. He’d move to the floor when he fell asleep.

“Alright, goodnight Ryou.”

“G’night...”

Malik and Kek move to Malik’s room when the other three boys pass out in the living room and when Ishizu and Rishid come in at 3am, Ishizu peeks into Ryou’s room to find the two MEGA cuddling. She smiles at Ryou’s form splayed all over Bakura who was barely covered by the blankets but his lips shone with drool. Cute. She shut the door quietly.

The next semester a sophomore girl named Miho transfers to their school and gets a huge crush on him. He’s an oblivious baby so he ends up taking her to Malik’s cafe to tutor her like he does with other kids who need his help and she pretends to not get it so they can hang out. Malik is seething because at this point everyone knows Ryou likes Bakura and Bakura likes Ryou except Ryou and Bakura. He and Kek start talking.

“Maybe seeing Ryou with a girl will get him jealous enough to finally get over himself.”

“Bakura is the possessive type, but I don’t know.”

“Ryou actually likes Bakura anyway so he won’t fall to her thirsty ass.”

“But that’ll take forever! I just want them to be happy Kek, fuck me.”

“Maybe later, we’re talking about Ryou and Bakura right now.”

“Ugh.”

He hadn’t been to a party before and Miho who hangs off of him the whole night. He ends up getting kissed and the party is moved to another place but Bakura takes him home. He says bye to Miho as he’s dragged away. Bakura had seen the kiss and is kinda pissed Bakura wasn’t his first kiss. Ryou doesn’t get why he’s so mad and thinks he did something wrong, which he did but also not really.

Ryou had a lot in common with Miho and was able to get her number before leaving, so they hang out with her friends and Ryou struggles with his sexuality when she gets more and more touchy.

Miho gets frisky again and Ryou has a talk with Miho and breaks it to her that he thinks he’s gay, or at least, he thinks he’s in love with someone else. She understands and they seperate and Bakura is outside having a smoke.

“Aren’t you gonna hang out with Miho and her friends?”

“Oh. No. She needs some time away from me.”

“Why’s that?”

“I kind of just had to… reject her.” Bakura looks at him.

“She asked you out?”

“Not exactly. It was just kind of obvious that she liked me and I had to tell her I wasn’t interested in her.”

“Who are you interested in then?” Bakura asks after a minute’s silence. Ryou blushes. Ah no, he’d sworn to go down with his crush. There was no way he would like him back.

“Uhm… just not girls, I guess. I know that much. But, no one in… particular.” He lied . Biggest lie of his damned life.

“Not girls hm?” Bakura stepped on his cigarette butt and Ryou felt a hand on his waist. “Probably cause you look so much like one.”

“J-just because my hair is long? It’s not that strange,” Ryou responded, face heating further at the feeling of Bakura’s body so close. He could smell the cigarette and cherry liquor on his breath.

“The hairs just part of it,” Bakura continued cooly. “The fashion choices-”

“Malik’s fault.”

“-the nails and occasional make up-”

“ Malik’s fault. ”

“-the figure, a very nice figure by the way. Especially for someone who doesn’t work out.”

“Well you know I tried running but…” he paused when he realised Bakura had just complimented his figure and his face heated so badly he wouldn’t be able to deny steam coming out of his ears if there were any.

“Looks are just part of it though, you’re pretty feminine.”

Ryou pouts. “Wow thanks.”

Bakura smirks. “Hey why don’t we blow this joint and go to walmart for some 12am ice cream cake?”

“Ditch my own birthday party?”

“Why not? We’ll be back in 20 minutes tops.” Ryou looked back at the house and nodded at Bakura. Hanging around Miho would be a bit strenuous for a while, he just wanted to avoid it. So he would, for the time being.

“Sure. Twenty minutes tops .” They go around the house and climb on Bakura’s motorcycle, put on the helmets and drove to walmart. They get some strawberry cream cake and eat it together at the park. They end up staying out well past 20 minutes and when Ryou looks at his phone he finds they stayed out for a good hour and hurry home. They get in to a completely dark room and find everyone had left and Malik was passed out on the couch on top of Kek. Ishizu and Rishid had also had a fun night but Ishizu stayed up in the kitchen nursing her head and drinking some water.

Bakura calls Ryou to come get him from his bar where he now works after a couple years of straight training and Rafael, his fellow coworker lets him in even though he’s underage.

“Uhm… I’m here to get Bakura.” Ryou says. The man nods to his smaller red haired companion.

“I’m Alister, that’s Rafael. We’re his coworkers,” he introduces and Ryou nods at them with a smile.

“I’m Ryou.”

“We figured. I’ll take you to him, come on.” Alister takes his hand and pulls him along through a crowd of moving bodies and house shaking music to the bar. They find him passed out in a back dressing room.

“He and our boss had a little competition and just got wasted . We moved him back here and he kept asking for you. Are you his brother or something?” Ryou hesitated.

He’d known Bakura since they were kids, but he didn't have the same brotherly relationship with him like he had with Malik. He was their family, not by blood.

“He’s… my childhood friend.”

Alister gives him a ‘that’s bullshit’ look but shrugs. “Whatever you say. There’s a back exit down the hall.” He walks back into the club.

Ryou comes forward and shakes his arm. “Bakura?”

“Hnnn…?”

“C’mon, I’m taking you home.”

“Mno,” he babbles. “‘M waiting fer Ryou.”

Ryou snorts. “Bakura, I am Ryou. Come on.”

Bakura sits up and Ryou pulls him to a stand but Bakura falls forward into him.

“Can you walk? Cause we both know I can’t carry you.”

Bakura mumbles an affirmation, suddenly quiet and Ryou just rolls his eyes and slings the older man’s arm over his shoulders and they walk out the back door, out of an alley and to Ryou’s car parked down the street. Ryou’s long since had his driver’s license and drives them home and helps him inside onto the couch. Ryou brings him some water and pills and he takes them.

“Here, drink this and take these.” Bakura does. “I hope you don’t drink this much every night, this seems a bit excessive.” Bakura hums, giving him a strange look.

“What?”

 [bunch of stuff redacted here]

“Fuck yeah it’s weird,” Bakura slurs and Ryou shrinks in shame. Then Bakura lifts his face with both hands and whispers, “But I couldn’t give two fucks if I tried.” He pulls his face forward and their lips connect and Ryou’s eyes fly wide open in astonishment. Then his eyes fluttered closed at the feeling of his lips moving against his and he can’t help his moan of pleasure at the feeling.

Bakura falls on top of him and Ryou’s body temperature rises at their full body contact and squeezes his leather clad shoulder. Bakura’s tongue prods at his lips and delves into his mouth when he hesitantly opens them and he whimpers at the treatment. It was getting hot fast and his legs quivered with a feeling of arousal he’d never felt before. When Bakura finally pulled back only to kiss at his neck Ryou gasped and whimpered again.

“ Hah , Bakura…”

Bakura’s hand burned into his side and his back arched as the older male kissed under his jaw. Ryou’s face was flushed and he panted as he pushed Bakura away by the shoulders.

“Wait...!” They stared at each other panting, Bakura with a lustful look in his eyes that morphed into something softer before he left himself fall on top of him, face rested in the crook of his neck.

Ryou lay frozen as Bakura fell asleep on top of him, his heart racing. Did that really just happen? He touched his lips, a longing he hadn’t realised was there satisfied but begging for more. He needed to get away from the tempting man on top of him. He waited a while, barely calming himself down for what seemed like forever but was probably only ten minutes before slipping out from under the man and dashing for his room, sliding down the door once it was closed.

Did that seriously just happen? He thought. He rubbed his cheeks with his hands. He touched his lips, still tasting his tongue. Did the man of his dreams seriously just make out with him in a drunken stupor?

And he never would again, huh?

“Oh hey…” Ryou greeted Bakura before turning back to his pancake on the stove. A growing stack of fluffy brown cakes sat to the side already.

“Mornin’...” Bakura grumbled, grabbing a glass from the cabinet and filling it up in the sink, downing it in one motion. Ryou leaned away from his direction although they kept a low proximity. Bakura didn’t seem to notice.

“Fuck....” The man says tightly, rubbing his eyes with the heel of his palms. He was still dressed in the same clothes as last night as Ryou had run out too quickly to help him into something more comfortable after their… collaboration. “I did not mean to get that trashed last night.”

Ryou hummed in response, shoulders tense and heart fluttering painfully off beat as he avoided looking towards those lips that sent him spiraling the night before. He pours more batter into the pan and watches it intently.

“Mind if I nab one or two of those?” Bakura asks and Ryou slides two onto a plate before holding it out to him, still unable to meet his eyes. As Bakura goes about getting syrup and butter, Ryou’s thoughts run off course.

Is he pretending he doesn’t remember? Did he just do it because he was drunk and realise he didn’t like me? What if he didn’t remember? He did that, will never know and I’ll never be able to be that close to him again.

He took the pancake off early and turned off the stove before rushing out of the kitchen and to his room. He threw on some jeans and a sweater and hurried for the front door, hesitating as a voice drifted from the room across his as he emerged.

“Ryou…?” Malik asked, hanging off his door frame and rubbing his eye as the younger boy passed. “Where are you going?”

“Pancakes in the kitchen,” was all he could say, shakily, before heading out the front door. Malik stared at it for a moment until he heard a car engine start and ran up to the window and peeked out of the blinds in time to see Ishizu’s sleek black coupe drive down the street. Malik turned away from the window and checked Ryou’s room for his wallet and phone which were thankfully missing and presumably with their owner, before heading for the kitchen. There he found his lifelong friend stuffing his face with perfectly cooked, circular, brown pancakes. He grabbed a plate, intent on helping himself to one as well, but the one on top was undercooked. The stovetop still radiated heat.

He sat at the table and grabbed the syrup to pour on his one pancake.

“Is that all you’re eating?” Bakura asked. Malik gave him a bland look.

“I’m watching my gluten intake.” Bakura just shrugged in response. This is why he was a good bartender, he wasn’t very judgemental. “You look terrible,” Malik added.

“Yeah, my boss decided me and him were going to have a drink making and drinking competition and whoever passed out first lost.”

“That seems a bit unfair,” Malik said. “For him I mean,” he continues when Bakura gave him a look. “You’re far from a lightweight. I pray for your liver.”

“Me too.”

They sit and eat in silence for a minute, but Malik is still worried about Ryou. “Do you know where Ryou went?”

“I thought he was going to work.”

“He doesn’t work on sunday’s…”

“Hm…”

“Did he drive you home last night?”

“Oh yeah, he did.” he trailed off as his half asleep mind came to life as he remembered the night before at last. “Ah shit, my bike’s still at the club…”

He trailed of as, finally, things started coming back to him.

“Oh shit…” He remembered his shining blue eyes dart away nervously.

He remembered him biting his lip anxiously, shoulders hunching in shame at his response. He remembered how warm his cheeks felt under his hands, the sound of his gasp as he leaned forward, the heat radiating from him under his hands, how fast his pulse felt under his lips, his lips ...

“God damnit fuck fuck…!”

“What?” Malik asked worriedly. Bakura shifted to face him in his seat, his expression a mix of shock and worry.

“I… I full on made out with him last night,” he said. They sat for a moment staring at each other.

“...congrats?” Malik questioned.

“I didn’t remember until just now… he probably thinks I was just fucking with him,” he realised that was why he was so standoffish, and why he just ran out the door with his tail between his legs.

“Oh fuck…” Malik groaned around a piece of pancake as the realisation came to him. “He’s probably devastated.” He shoved the rest of the pancake in his mouth before standing and pointing his fork at Bakura. “You need to fix this before it’s too late. I’ll drive you to the club so you can get your motorcycle. Let’s go.” Bakura didn’t bother finishing the last of his pancake and left his plate on the counter before grabbing his jacket and the keys to Rishid’s dusty crimson four wheeler and heading out to start the car. Malik came out five minutes later, record time for him as he usually took a half hour to get himself ready for leaving the house, and as soon as he was in the passenger side seat Bakura sped off to the club, Malik already prepared for his driving, holding the ‘oh shit’ handle on his side door.

They made it to the club and he mounted his bike, pulling out his phone and locating Ryou on find friends, an app they collectively decided to get in case one of them went missing.

“He’s in the park,” Malik relayed and Bakura revved his bike.

“Alright.”

“Don’t break his heart or I swear to Rishid and Ishizu’s gods, your life will become hell!”

He sat with his knees pulled up to his chest, chin resting atop his legs and face protected from the slight chill of the morning air behind his crossed arms. He sniffled a little.

I like him so much… he thought. I don’t think I can be around him anymore. It hurt just to think about him. His warmth and reassurance, his ability to make him laugh and feel safe. Not to mention looks. The terrible reminder of a scar under his right eye usually put others off, but Bakura had lived with them long enough that Ryou had grown to like it. That sounded horrible, but to him the scar represented his strength and struggle. Instead of being a reminder of his past, it was an inspiration to keep going, cause things have been, or could be, much worse.

What am I going to do? He thought. Go home, and then what? Maybe he could live here in the park, or at least stay out until Bakura went to work again. When was that again? Ah, maybe he’d just sleep in the library.

“Ryou!”

Or he could just jump into the water and drown himself.

“Fuck’s sake…” Bakura panted as he trudged along the grass towards the brooding male. “Ryou… I gotta talk to you,” he continued. Ryou’s heart was in his throat and he could do nothing but follow the other with nervous eyes as he seated himself next to him at the water’s edge.

“...what’s up?” Ryou mumbled, avoiding the other’s intense gaze.

“Well, first of all,” Bakura started but hesitated with a sigh. Ryou wished a hole would open up under him and swallow him underground. “Last night, the kiss,” Bakura rushed and Ryou’s face heated. He did remember! “I wasn’t- okay... I was drunk, but I wasn’t fucking around. I didn’t do it just cause I was drunk, I did it cause I didn’t have as much control over myself and was thinking about some shit Malik said and…”

Ryou wanted to ask what else, but all he could utter was, “...it’s okay.”

But Bakura was determined. “It’s not okay! Just,” he sighed exasperatedly and put a hand on Ryou’s shoulder. “Would you just look at me dammit?” Ryou reluctantly looked up and darkened brown met anxious violet. Bakura held out his hand with a hopeful expression and Ryou looks down at it before laying his cold hand within his larger, warmer one.

His face flushes when Bakura lifts his hand and kisses his knuckles. “I wasn’t just fucking around…” he says again, a meaningful look in his eyes and Ryou’s eyes light up slightly. He wasn’t drunk, he was really looking at him like that. This was happening. No way...

“Uh…”

“I like you Ryou, like, a lot. I’ve liked you for a long time,” he continued and Ryou’s face just got hotter and hotter.

“... Really? ”

“Since my last year in highschool.” That was three years! Ryou had loved him since he was 13.

“I… like you too… like a lot… ” Ryou responds shakily and in opposition to before when he couldn’t look at the older male, now he couldn’t bring himself to look away.

“So, I’m sorry I just jumped you with no warning.”

“It’s… okay...” Ryou’s walls he’d built up to hide his frantic emotions started succumbing to new emotions of relief, excitement and the overwhelming want to be held and he couldn’t stop the hot tears from welling up in his eyes or the shaking of his shoulders.

“You don’t look fine…” Bakura said and grunted as the next second the smaller boy tackled him and hid his face in his chest.

“I’m just happy…”

“You don’t sound happy.”

“Shut up.” They sat there, holding each other. Bakura felt like a teenager confessing to his crush, though he wasn't far from it. It was embarrassing.

“So…” Bakura started, embarrassed over the words he was about to say. “Will you go out with me?”

“Can I kiss you again?”

“Feel free to do it anytime.”