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I'll be Home for Christmas	By : Whytney Category: Yu-Gi-Oh > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 1613 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own YuGiOh!, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Four Calling Birds

Saturday morning. Final exams were over. School was out. Winter was here.

It wasn't exactly the greatest feeling for Jou, knowing that he probably did as much good in the exams as the atomic bomb did at Hiroshima. Which wasn't very good, so to say. Ryou however, couldn't have felt more confident. Although he wasn't really sure what he was going to actually do now that school was finished. He might even go back to England… but something was niggling at him telling him not to go back.

It was snowing heavily over the city of Domino by now; the Christmassy feeling really have sunken in. Things were going pretty well for everyone at the moment, save for the dilemma between Jou and his father. Ryou was more than happy to have him in his company for a while, though. They would more than likely be spending Christmas together, since Jou couldn't - or wouldn't, rather - want to go home, and Ryou well… he had no say in the matter. His father was busy and that was that.

"Good morning, Jounou!" Ryou chirped in seeing the blond emerge from his bedroom for the first time since last night. "Sleep well, I hope?"

"Yeah, Ry, it was fine. Just seems a little weird not to be in my own room anymore, though." Jou replied, sitting himself up at the breakfast bar.

Ryou smiled and handed him a glass of orange juice. "You think moving house is bad? Try moving countries." He giggled. "I suppose it was all in my own free will though. Can't say I can complain, really. I like Japan."

Jou wasn't really listening, although he smiled and nodded all the while. He took a few large gulps of his orange juice, and nearly jumped out of his skin when Bakura materialized by him on the next stool. He looked at the pastel-haired fiend warily, and scratched his head.

"Mornin' Bakura."

The spirit merely grunted in reply, and turned to his hikari. "Can we have bacon for breakfast?"

"We don't have any…"

"Why not?"

"Because you ate it all."

"Do we have eggs?"

"Nope."

"Did I eat all those too?"

"Yes, Bakura."

"Oh."

Jou had learnt that the only thing that seemed to be on Bakura's mind ever-so-constantly, was none other than food. He was always bugging Ryou about what there was to eat, and moaned and bitched when there was nothing left. He hazily wondered what Bakura would be like on Christmas day with the turkey and other goodies… if they were going to have one, that is.

"I can go and pick up some things if you want. I gotta go back home and pick up the rest of my stuff anyway." Jou suggested.

Ryou beamed. "That would be great! I can help you too, Jou. What do you need to move?"

"Not much really," He replied. "Just my some clothes and extra pairs of shoes I left behind."

"Alright, well let's get ready and we'll get going!" Ryou said, finishing off his own small breakfast and moving toward his bedroom.

Jou watched the elegant frame of the English boy saunter off toward the far side of the lounge where the sliding door was to his bedroom.

"Can I come?"

Ryou stopped and looked back at his darker half. Jou looked at him cautiously next to him.

"Why do you want to come? You hate the snow." Ryou replied quietly.

Bakura shrugged and jumped off the stool. "I have nothing better to do except annoy Marik, and he's not even fun anymore. You two are better to hang out with… Well in some ways you are." He then smirked at Ryou.

Ryou burnt up and put his head in his hand, trying to avoid Jounou's eyes. He seemed almost embarrassed. Bakura noticed this and only grinned harder. Jou wondered what the hell was going on.

"You can come if you promise not to be a nuisance." Ryou finally said.

Bakura leapt over the couch and joined his light's side. "Oh don't worry, I will."

Ryou rolled his eyes and went to his room. Bakura pranced off to his own room also, leaving one mystified Jounouchi sitting on the stool with a half-full glass of orange juice still in his hand.

*~***~*

"My Dad will be at work so we don't have to worry about him being here. I just hope none of his whores are here." Jou muttered as he dug his house keys out of his pocket with frozen-numb fingers.

Ryou giggled and stepped inside, followed by Bakura who was quaking hysterically inside his many layers from the cold. His brown eyes roamed the room, stopping momentarily at some pricey-looking ornaments inside glass cases against the wall and some crates of unopened beer sitting on the floor. His eyes then fell upon Ryou who was looking at him with a stern gaze.

"Bakura…" He began. "Don't. Touch. ANYTHING. Jounouchi and I will be right back. Until then, try and keep your hands to yourself."

"Yes, mother." Bakura said, crossing his arms and simpering.

Ryou snorted and followed Jou to his bedroom.

"Just uh, pile any of my crap you see into this box here." Jou said, placing a cardboard box onto the floor of the empty room.

The two boys began to put various things into the box, wrapping up fragile things in newspaper. Ryou picked up a photo frame and blew the dust off of it. It was of Jounouchi when he was very young, holding a tiny baby. Shizuka was standing beside him looking curiously at it.

"Who's the baby in this photo, Jou?" Ryou asked as he showed the blond the photo frame.

Air caught in Jou's throat as his eyes fell upon the photo. He put one hand up to his mouth and took the photo. Behind a gloved hand he said, "My sister… she died at four days old."

Ryou's eyes widened. "Oh Jounouchi… I never knew."

Jou shook his head and wrapped the photo in newspaper. "I haven't really told anyone… except for Yuug' and Honda. It's not really something you go telling people, you know?"

Ryou smiled and put a hand on Jou's shoulder. "It's amazing how much we have in common."

"Why do you say that?" Jou asked, furrowing his eyebrows and perching himself up on the windowsill.

Ryou sighed and joined his side. "I had a sister too… although she was older when she died."

Jou looked sympathetically at the colourless-haired boy, slightly bewildered. "No way… What was her name?"

"Amane. She was six. What about your sister?"

Jou couldn't really find the words to speak. It was almost uncanny that Ryou had the same event happen in his life. "Her name was Rei… She was very premature and her vital organs were extremely underdeveloped. Even if she did survive she would probably have been very fragile for the rest of her life, and not be able to do things that normal kids can do like play sports and shit like that."

"I'm sorry to hear that…" Ryou said. "Is she -"

Bakura's voice suddenly interrupted them. "Are you two girls ready to go yet? It's freezing out here!"

Jou and Ryou sighed and exchanged glances with each other. They knew that this conversation was far from finished, and would continue it later with the insensitive incarnation out of sight.

*~***~*

It was late. The snow hadn't ceased to fall, but it was warm inside. Ryou knew his power bill was going to be immense, but with Jounouchi now helping out by paying him board of just over 3000Y per week, it might not be so hard to pay off. During the winter he usually turned the night range off before bed, but this winter was an exception. It was colder than the past years he had been in Japan, and almost reminded him of the winters in England. He smiled and closed his eyes, quickly falling to slumber.

Jou settled into bed quickly, but still stared blankly at the ceiling. This place smelt differently than home, but not in a bad way. It smelt like Ryou, like lavender almost. Everyone had their own personal smell, and Jou happened to like this one. This one smelt good, Jou decided. He could get used to this, but made a mental note not to make himself too comfy. `This is only temporary, Katsuya' he thought. `If you get attached now, you're doomed forever'.

*~***~*

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Jou shot up in his bed like lightening in hearing the shrill screaming coming from the other room. He hadn't the faintest clue what time it was or how long he had been asleep, but whoever was screaming was letting the whole damn world know about it. Jou threw the covers off of himself and put on a dark blue hoodie, making his way through the lounge into Ryou's room.

"AAAH!! OH GOD, OH GOD, OH GOD!! NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!!! NOT AGAIN!!"

Ryou was screaming obscenities in English that Jou couldn't understand, but he did know that he seemed to be having an anxiety attack. He scrambled onto Ryou's bed and turned on the bedside lamp.

"Ryou! Ryou! Breathe Ryou… take it easy…" He whispered, gently rubbing the slim boy's back which was damp with perspiration. "What happened…?"

Ryou had his head buried in his arms and was leaning against his knees, trembling. He managed to sit up, but was still shaking. "Just a nightmare… I'm okay. Go back to bed, Jounou…"

"No way," Jou replied stubbornly, refusing to go. "I'm not leaving until you go back to sleep."

Ryou frowned and laughed a little, wiping the tears away. "I'm fine, really."

"It didn't seem that way. What were you dreamin' about?"

The pastel-haired youth pushed himself up so he was leaning against his bed head. He turned and looked at Jou for a moment, then lured his gaze downward to the quilt. "Remember when we were talking about our sisters earlier today…?"

Jou nodded. "Yeah… What about them?"

"I never told you… about how she passed away…" Ryou said quietly. "Every time I think about her or talk about her I usually have these nightmares. They will be with me for the rest of my life, Jou."

Jou was trembling, both from the cold and anticipation of what Ryou was going to say next. "What happened to her, Ryou…?"

"Amane was murdered, Jounouchi."

Jou cupped one hand around his mouth. "Kuso… But… why? How?"

Ryou took a deep breath. "She was held hostage by some thugs who wanted my mother's jewellery. Father brought back some priceless relics from Egypt to give to her when he got back to England. Amane and my mother were coming back to the car in a shopping mall car-park when they were mugged… One of them grabbed Amane and held a gun to her head. My mother was too shocked to do anything, and since she didn't give them her jewellery… they shot my sister almost immediately."

"Oh Kami…" Jou mumbled, and moved closer to Ryou, embracing him delicately. "That's so… fucking horrible."

Ryou leant into the junction of Jou's shoulder and neck, and cried. "I k-know… and… I s-saw everyth-thing…"

"You were there…? You saw it happen?" Jou whispered into his hair. He felt Ryou nod.

Jou lay with Ryou for the rest of the night, wide awake and unable to sleep. He was curious as to why Bakura didn't come in and see what the commotion was all about. Jou guessed he was probably used to it… but still. Ryou's body was becoming heavier and his breathing deeper. Jou knew he was going to fall asleep on him any moment, and so quickly slipped out from underneath the sleepy body. `I hope he doesn't have anymore nightmares… God bless him.'

*~***~*

"Ryou, you don't have to do this you know. I think it will clear up by itself."

"Nonsense, Jou. It's been nearly a week and you still can't see out of it properly."

Jou winced as Ryou shined a light into his pupil. Jou's stitches in his head had been removed a few days ago, but his black eye was not ceasing to fade. Ryou had been pottering with it all morning, trying to figure out what he could do to help it go down. Jou feel like a blushing bride being fussed over on her wedding day.

"If it doesn't go down before Christmas… you might have to get it looked at by a doctor." Ryou said, sitting down pulling his dressing gown around himself tighter.

Jou grinned and leaned back into the corner of the couch. It was late morning and the first thing Ryou had noticed about Jou was his eye and how it wasn't healing. "Ryou, ever since I've met you you've been nothing but nice… I mean at first I thought you were just the weird white-haired guy that lived at 801 Domino Heights Youth Hostel."

Ryou laughed and sunk down onto the couch at Jou's feet, sitting opposite him with his knees up. "Hai… I think everyone thought that of me when I first came here."

"You had your reasons, though. Remember `Monster World'*?" Jou said.

Ryou shuddered. "Don't remind me…"

"Sorry," Jou grinned. "On the upside though," He continued. "You had all the girls after you at school! I would have killed for your place, you know. Miho had the biggest crush on you."

Ryou smiled. "She still does… Writes me letters and whatnot all the time. I try to be her friend but… she wants more, sadly."

Jou frowned. "Why don't you go out with her? Honda would die if you did."

Ryou laughed. "Oh… I don't know. She's just… not my type, I suppose."

"Whatever blows your dress up I guess." Jou muttered. "In fact, I don't think I've ever seen you with another girl! What's with that, Ry? You get them like bees to a damn honey pot."

Ryou stared blankly at Jou. "You'd probably think lesser of me if I told you… It's really not that big a deal anyway."

Jou tilted his head to the side, looking peculiarly at the mysterious boy facing him. "You're not… are you…?"

"Gay?"

Jou blinked. "Are you?"

Ryou laughed nervously to himself and took great interest in fiddling with his hands. "Uh… ha-ha, yeah. Stupid huh?"

Jou blinked, trying to register. "I guess that explains it… Do you mind if I ask… how you knew?" Jou asked, staring directly at Ryou.

"You can ask me anything Jou; I have no modesty about my chosen sexuality…" He said. "But I think I was… hmm… about fifteen or sixteen when I found out… It wasn't really all that hard to accept since I was more comfortable that way…"

"So, chicks don't turn you on at all?" Jou asked. "I mean… you're not just bi, you're gay? Fully gay?"

Ryou looked at him curiously. "Well… yeah. It's not like I never used to like them… I had a girlfriend in England for a while before I came here. It was only really until I came here that I admitted to myself that I preferred… males as opposed to females."

Jou smiled. "Wow… I never even thought of it. I mean I knew you were shy and all but it didn't even occur to me that you'd be…"

Ryou giggled. "I'm not afraid of opening up around my close friends. Malik knows… has done for a while now. Bakura was the first though… I think he was actually the one that made me realize."

Bakura appeared while walking past the couch to the kitchen. "You can thank me later, hikari. Oh, and Jounouchi? I wouldn't touch him if I were you; your family might find pieces of you wrapped up in presents in their mailboxes by Christmas if you do."

Jou looked at him, completely bowled over. "What in the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Ryou laughed out loud. "Don't mind him, Jou-kun. He's… rather defensive, to put it lightly."

Jou looked at Bakura cautiously. "Are you guys datin' or something?" He asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"No." Bakura snapped, and sent a death glare in Ryou's direction as if trying to warn him not to say anything.

Ryou smiled at Jou and got up. "We'll talk more about this later. I'm going to have a shower and then… Well I thought we could get a Christmas tree today!"

"Sounds like a plan. Did you wanna get a real one or fake?" Jou asked.

"I know a place that is selling real ones!" Ryou chimed. "Err… but we'll have to use your car to get it here probably…" He added.

"Not a problem, let's get ready."

*~***~*

Ryou and Jou spent all evening decorating the tree. It reached the roof of Ryou's apartment and burst with the smell of pine. Decorated was it with red and gold, and a hint of glittered tinsel for a snowy effect. Hanging from the branches were bells, angels, globes and other exquisite dangling decorations. The Christmas tree lights twinkled amidst the dark jade mass of needles. On the top of the tree was a luminescent gold star. Ryou sat back and admired it from the floor.

"Doesn't it look great?"

"Yeah," Jou agreed. "It's pretty. Shame that Bakura's not here to see it."

"Yeah…" Ryou sighed. "But now I can put my presents under the tree!"

Ryou quickly ran off, leaving Jou still sitting on the floor. He soon returned with his arms full of iridescently-wrapped parcels and collapsed to the floor on his knees. He began placing them around the base of the tree in a neat arrangement. Jounou noticed that most of the tags on the gifts said "TO: Bakura. FROM: Ryou." There were about two or three labeled to Malik, but he didn't see any there for himself.

"Hey, uh, Ryou-kun?"

"Yes, Jou?"

Jou fidgeted for a moment before speaking. "You know how you said we'd… talk later about what we were talking about this morning?"

A tiny smile came to Ryou's lips. "Hai…?"

Jou scratched the back of his head. "Err… un, don't worry." `Why did I just chicken out? Idiot!'

"No, go on, please." Ryou said, resting his hands in his lap. "What's on your mind?"

"I think I'm bisexual." Jou blurted out ever-so-bluntly. `Oh NOW you've done it Katsuya…BAD idea to have said that!'

"Really?" Ryou asked. "What makes you think that?"

Jou tried to hide his face, failing fruitlessly. "Please… you can't tell anyone, Ryou-kun! Especially not Honda! Or Yuugi! Or Otogi! Or anyone! I don't know what they'd do… if they found out…"

Ryou laughed a little. "It's nothing to be ashamed of Jounouchi…" He said. "But if you don't want me to tell anyone, I swear I won't."

"Thanks," Jou replied, relieved. "I don't know; maybe it's just a phase I'm going through… but I can't help it! I keep finding myself lookin' at other guys! Is thatnormal?!"

"You mustn't become frustrated about it, Jou." Ryou said calmly. "Whatever sexuality you choose is normal! People might look down on you seeing as you're not straight… but who cares what they think right? As long as you're happy, that's all that matters!"

Jounouchi suddenly felt a wave of relief wash over him. Having let this off of his chest and hearing a positive opinion from someone else was very relieving. "So… what do you think I should do about it, then?"

"Well you could… look up something on the internet about it." Ryou suggested. "Or maybe you'll find someone that you can experiment with… I'm sure you'll meet someone."

Jou exhaled through his nose loudly. "Nah… where else would I find another bi or gay guy - err, besides you, that is - in Domino that would be willing to do something like that?"

Ryou shrugged. "It's entirely up to you, Jou-kun. But don't think you're alone - there must be thousands of guys out there in the same position as you. I for one should know… I used to be too."

"Thanks for listening Ryou, I knew you'd understand." Jou said. "But it's just between me and you, right?"

Ryou nodded. "Your secret's safe with me."

*~***~*

+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+ ~TBC

*= `Monster World' was a game that Bakura played in the first, unreleased season of Yu-Gi-Oh! He used it to seal people's souls into the game characters o.O
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I'll be Home for Christmas