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"Do you think Kaiba-kun has a Blue Eyes White Dragon?"
Yuugi leans against the glass counter, a cheek cradled in one hand while the other flips idly through a magazine. GEKKAN GĒMU, the cover says; it's his favorite publication but last month's issue, which apparently Ryou knows because he makes a clicking noise with his tongue.
"I'd like to think he owns quite a few Blue Eyes, yes," he comments, brows raised and smile in place. He doesn't look up. "It's kind of his whole brand."
Ryou heaves a put upon sigh, and Yuugi can sense more than see him cross his arms.
"You know I meant the Alternative card, Yuugi-kun!"
"Ah, yes," he says airily, "the kind we've been discussing for the past half hour." He finally levels his gaze at Ryou with barely suppressed mirth. "Or the kind which you've been monologuing about, rather."
Ryou harrumphs. "I mean, it's a ghost rare," he emphasizes once more. It's hardly necessary, but Yuugi's happy to hear him go on about something that makes him happy. "There's a 1 to 200 chance of even getting one—"
"It's 1 out of 288, actually," Yuugi quips, earning a slight glare. He returns it with a cheeky grin, tutting. "Really, Ryou-kun, don't tell me you haven't read the figures."
"—and I'd be pleased with any I could get my hands on. Truly, " he continues his impassioned speech as though he hadn't been interrupted. His glare is undercut by the accompanying pout, unfortunately.
It's interesting watching Ryou when he gets like this. It's strange to think that only a few years ago, Yuugi had never even imagined being able to tease a friend like this—much less a boyfriend . One who actually cares about what he thinks, and one who loves the same thing he does.
"There's supposed to be a game shop a couple of blocks down from the docks," Ryou says excitedly. He cuts off Yuugi's understandable protest with a wave of his hands. "Not those docks. They're in the opposite direction."
Yuugi widens his eyes comically. "You'd take your business elsewhere, after all the memories we've had at Kame Game?" he says with an affronted gasp. "All because Jii-chan said no to a rewards card?"
"We're going," Ryou says with an air of finality, but his eyes glint with mischief. "Break out all your card collections, Yuugi-kun—you're definitely going to need them."
👻
"Are we in the right place?" Yuugi frowns up at the decrepit building, one literally falling apart at the seams. This whole place gives him the creeps—he would've preferred the Domino docks, to be honest.
It's dark and dank in the area, with a persistent fog that has him peering warily at each alleyway they pass. He hopes the sounds in the distance are ships passing in the night and not anything more ominous.
Speaking of…
"Why are we here so late, anyway?" he voices the thought as it occurs to him.
Beside him, Ryou has gotten eerily silent. Yuugi side-eyes him doubtfully—and is startled when Ryou's stare stays fixated at a point behind him. He'd laugh nervously if he weren't certain of the fact that the Spirit of the Ring had been well and truly banished, but he finds himself shivering nonetheless.
Ryou's eyes are steady but hooded under his bangs, and he doesn't dare speak. Yuugi is, understandably, a little worried now.
"So…" He shifts awkwardly where he's standing, trying to diffuse the tension, and he resists rubbing warmth back into his arms. "You going to tell me what's up, or…?" he asks encouragingly.
"Yuugi-kun," Ryou says quietly, still not looking at him. "Don't. Move."
The nervousness bubbles up after all. "Ah ha… ha… Can I ask why?"
"There's a ghost behind you."
Yuugi sputters. "Excuse me?"
"There's a ghost—"
"No, I heard you the first time," he says irritably; alright, so Ryou is having a bit of fun at his expense. He tenses—
"Don't move!"
Three things happen simultaneously: a chill races up his back, Ryou's eyes widen, and he feels cold fingers wrap around the back of his neck.
"… Give me your hand," Ryou whispers slowly.
Yuugi does.
Ryou practically snatches it out of the air and yanks— suddenly they're sprinting away from the building, Yuugi with an embarrassingly high-pitched yelp, and Ryou like a man possessed.
Oh god, he has the time to think blankly. What if he is possessed?
But then he's being hauled bodily into a dumpster, and the only thing he can do is wheeze.
"That was close… I wasn't prepared," Ryou mutters feverishly, although whether it's to himself or not Yuugi doesn't know.
Yuugi stares. Ryou does not elaborate.
Maybe in a week or two, Yuugi will regret the overreaction. Now, however, he has a faceful of garbage, the smell of which he inhales like he's just run a marathon, and he also happens to be sitting in a puddle of something suspiciously cold and wet—
"What the fuck? " he shrieks.
👻
"So you're telling me," Yuugi repeats slowly, "that you can see ghosts."
Ryou nods once.
"Ghosts."
"Yes."
"What," Yuugi says.
Ryou frowns, puzzled. "I don't know why this is so hard to believe. I mean, you know," he gesticulates vaguely, "—Atem?" Yuugi has to concede he's right, but it's the principle of the thing, and Ryou continues before he can interject anyhow. "And the Spirit of the Ring? And the—"
"Yeah, yeah, I get your point," Yuugi grumbles. Thankfully they're out of the dumpster, having retreated to the relative safety of Domino once more. "Well then?"
The head tilt is far more charming than it should be. Focus, Mutou.
"Well?" he insists, but at Ryou's blank stare, he huffs. "What are we going to do about it?"
"???"
"Ryou, we can't just leave that place haunted. "
"Huh," comes the thoughtful sound that makes Yuugi think he's understood, but all Ryou does is remark, "You really do make a habit of saving the world, don't you."
"I'm not saving the world, I'm helping you exorcise an evil spirit!"
"There's a dozen spirits in that town, though," Ryou says doubtfully, raising a hand to his mouth in thought, but Yuugi can tell he's gotten hold of the bait.
"Even better! We can hit a dozen birds with one stone. One exorcism." Yuugi presses forward eagerly, and immediately wrinkles his nose at the smell. "Or maybe one shower first."
"One shower?" Ryou's eyes sparkle.
Yuugi chuckles. "Not exactly what I meant, but your heart's in the right place. Of course, there's that one condition."
Ryou looks like he's just had a brilliant idea. Score. "So we'll shower together… if I agree to go hunt some ghosts."
"Yep!" He nods—too easy. "You up for it?"
"Huh," Ryou says, looking up dreamily. "I should've taken you ghost rare hunting sooner."
The bright peals of laughter follow them all the way home.
👻
Yuugi realizes that Ryou had been underplaying things when he said there were a dozen ghosts in that creepy old building. In fact, there are probably hundreds of ghosts in the area—he's convinced.
"You can't change my mind," he says when something wisps around his wrist for the fourth time that night. "They're everywhere."
"Do you think this was a mistake, then?"
"No. I'm just saying we have to be a little more methodical about all this."
Ryou hums a sweet tune, and Yuugi can't help but lean into his space for warmth. "Alright, how about this," he proposes. "You find yourself walking along a deserted road on a night much hlike this one. Not even moonlight illuminates your path, and when the harsh winds leave you shivering in the cold, you seek shelter in an abandoned building."
Yuugi smiles, small and private and just for him. "And does this abandoned building happen to look exactly like this one?"
"Yes, in fact. You're just as startled when the floorboards creak. There are three corridors ahead of you—which one do you start with?"
Something screams in the distance and Yuugi feels like he's just shaved off years of his life. This is an awful, terrible, no-good idea, but when Ryou reaches down and threads their fingers together, he thinks this might not be so bad after all.
Ryou brings their hands up to his lips and presses a kiss against his knuckles.
"Which one, Yuugi-kun?"
Yuugi stands on his tiptoes and presses his own kiss against those lips.
"I don't know," he laughs, eyes twinkling. "You're my little ghost hunter, after all."