Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Beachin' Trip ❯ Beachin' Trip ( One-Shot )

Beachin' Trip

Hikari Ykarzel: *Giggle* This is just s'posed to be cute and funny.

Yami Ykarzel: I didn't help at all.

Hikari Ykarzel: That's so not true! Any of the sick ideas that didn't come from my best friends came from you! None came from me. I specialize in the cute-ness. Anyway, I can't take all the credit because I had three of my very good friends helping me with ideas.

Yami Ykarzel: Don't you mean six of your very good friends?

Hikari Ykarzel: Well, if you count their yamis... ANYWAY, all SIX of them will be joining me.

Yami Ykarzel: So please stay tuned after the story. If you think the story is funny, you'll laugh your pants off at her friends.

Hikari Ykarzel: I don't know if I should be flattered or insulted.

Yami Ykarzel: No comment.

Hikari Ykarzel: *Shrug* We don't know how this became S/J... It just did. Why is Joey's accent so strong? Because I happen to think it's sexy. So, what happens when you put six, gay, or almost gay, teenage boys in a beach house for a long weekend? Hmm...

Yami Ykarzel: No lemons here, though she must have implied like thirty. I may write them all later and post it as "Missing scenes" or something.

Hikari Ykarzel: Completely up to you. ON WITH THE STORY! OH! If you want a pic of Bakura looking like this, E-mail me at KKismagic@aol.com…

***** Arrival *****

The moment the convertible parked in front of the large beach house, Joey jumped out. "Use the door!" Seto yelled, but Joey was already running. Yugi was close behind him, but the fact that he had used the door, and his short legs, gave Joey a lead.

Seto took a deep, calming breath. "Oh, relax Seto, they are just excited," Ryou said opening the trunk. Seto didn't respond, but his glare faded as Joey climbed up on the wall that separated the ocean sand from the houses and shouted his delight. There was a flash of light beside Yugi as Yami appeared and helped his hikari up onto the wall. Ryou and Seto grabbed some bags and started towards the door.

"You guys should come see this!" Yugi yelled.

"We will!" Ryou answered with a smile and a wave.

"It's only water," Seto muttered as he unlocked the door. They entered into the sitting room and sat down the first load of bags. Within moments, Joey, Yugi, and Yami came running in. Following Yami's example, Bakura appeared beside Ryou in a flash of light.

"Wow Seto, this place is beautiful!" Yugi said looking around.

"There are three bedrooms, each has a queen sized bed and its own bath. Who's sleeping where?"

"I call Yugi," Yami answered wrapping his arms around the shorter boy.

"And I get Ryou," Bakura answered with a frown. "So that leaves you two."

Joey shrugged. Seto's eyes went wide. "No. No! I am not sleeping with Joey!"

Yugi giggled. "Nobody said you had to sleep with him, Seto. You just have to share a room."

Seto glared. "I. Am not. Sharing a room. With Joey." Joey suddenly found his shoes very interesting. Ryou was surprised; Joey would normally be objecting also.

The tone of Seto's voice made Yugi frown. "Well, if it bothers you that much, I guess Yami and I could sleep merged and I can bunk with Joey."

Joey looked up suddenly and glanced at Yugi, then turned to glare at Seto. Seto could read that glare like it was written down on paper. It stated 'If ya make Yug do dat I will pound ya.'

"I'll bunk with Joey," Seto answered through clenched teeth.

"Good man!" Joey said smacking Seto on the back. "I don' snore, I swear."

"It's getting dark," Ryou pointed out. "Why don't we bring in our bags, and settle in. Then we can be up first thing tomorrow."

*****

A few hours later, Seto looked at himself in the mirror that hung in the bathroom connected to the bedroom he and Joey would be sharing. It really hadn't occurred to him that they would end up bunking. Before, when Tea and Tristan were going to come, both Yami and Bakura would have had to sleep merged with their other halves and they would just have enough spots. But Tea and Tristan decided to go north together instead. He really couldn't bring himself to miss them.

Taking a breath, he opened the door and walked out of the room. He was just in time to see Joey pulling on a white tee to top his boxers. Groaning inwardly, he quickly found some other place to look.

"What're ya wearin'?" Joey asked with a questioning look.

Seto looked down at his black bottoms. "Pants."

"Ya sleep in pants? Wait a minute, are dey silk?" Seto felt himself blush as he nodded. Joey chuckled. "Dat is so you, Seto." He plopped onto the bed.

Glancing at Joey, Seto weighed his options. Within a moment, he had decided he couldn't handle it. Grabbing a pillow and a blanket, he threw it on the large window seat.

"Wha' are ya doin'?"

"I'm going to sleep here," Seto answered without looking at Joey. There was silence from the other boy as Seto shut the window. When he finally looked up, Joey's back was to him. With a sigh, he turned off the light and climbed onto his makeshift bed.

An hour later, Seto was still staring at the ceiling. He shifted again, but it didn't help. There was enough padding on this bench to make it nice for a window seat, but never to make a comfortable bed. He shifted again, when something made him jump.

"Seto, fer da love a' God, get ova here. I can' sleep wit all da noise yer makin', and yer obviously not comfortable. I swear I don' snore, I don' stink, an' I don' bite. I won' touch ya, I promise."

Seto starred in Joey's direction, though he couldn't see through the darkness. Slowly, he stood up and grabbed his pillow. He sat down on the empty side of the bed, and Joey flipped over so that his back was still to him. It was amazing how quickly sleep claimed him after that.

***** Day One *****

Yami smiled down at his hikari's face in the faint light of false dawn. "Yugi," he whispered.

In response, Yugi groaned and turned over. "Is too early," he muttered.

"I know it is," Yami said, reaching down to scoop the other boy up in his arms. He also grabbed the blanket, and it showed how tired Yugi was that he hardly reacted to being picked up. Not that Yami could blame him for being anything but exhausted.

He carried the younger boy through the kitchen and sitting room and out onto the front porch that looked out over the ocean. The morning air was cold, and Yugi's chest was exposed, which woke him enough to look up at Yami.

"Wha'er ya do'n?" he asked, his speech slurred with sleep.

"There's going to be an amazing sunrise in a few minutes." Yugi smiled sleepily at Yami, making him laugh slightly. Carefully, Yami climbed up onto the wall of the porch. It was wide enough for him to sit cross-legged without any limbs hanging over the edge. With Yugi slightly more awake, it was easy for him to sit down, Yugi in his lap, and wrap the blanket around them both to protect from the morning chill.

Yugi sighed contentedly as he leaned against Yami and looked out over the ocean, where purple rays were starting to appear on the horizon. Yami took the time to look around. There were two other large, privately owned beach houses on either side of them. Neither looked occupied at the moment, no cars, no lights. These were the kind of houses that people like Seto owned. Too much money, and not enough to do with it. The best part was that people who owned these houses very rarely had children. The beach to them was a view, not a toy. They would have it all to themselves.

The two sat in silence as the golden orange sun peeked up over the ocean, bringing with it every shade of purple, pink, red and orange onto the blue sky. The ocean glittered and reflected it back, acting as the sky's mirror. Slowly the even the brightest of the stars started to disappear.

"I love you, Yami," Yugi whispered.

"I love you too, Hikari," Yami answered holding him tighter.

*****

It was hard to say what woke him, but quite suddenly, Joey was completely awake. His honey eyes popped open, and they were a mere three inches from another set of wide blue eyes.

Both Joey and Seto blinked, and then they both jumped, and screamed.

"Wha' da hell are ya doin' on ma side!" Joey yelled.

"Your side? You were on my side!"

"I wasn' on yer side, an ya weren' on mine eitha. We were in da middle," Joey answered. He shut his eyes and put a hand over his heart. "But man, ya scared da shit outta me."

"Sorry," Seto muttered, standing up and walking over to the window. He pushed it open and breathed in the cold salty breeze that hit his bare chest. He didn't shiver however, Kaibas don't shiver.

"It'll warm up in a few, da sun's out strong," Joey said from the bed.

"What made you think I was cold?"

Joey smirked at him. "Yer nipples got all hard."

Seto stared at the blonde for a moment before turning around. "You need to stop hanging out with Yugi. I'm going to go get a shower."

*****

With a running jump, Ryou landed on the sleeping Bakura with a thud. "Bakura!"

"What?" came the grumpy reply.

"Getupgetupgetupgetup! The beach. Comeoncomeon come on! I wanna go swimmin'!"

"Stop. Whining."

Ryou giggled. "You're so funny." He jumped slightly, causing Bakura to go "oomph". "Get up Bakura."

"What is wrong with you, Ryou?"

"The beach!" He promptly jumped off of his yami and the bed, causing another interesting noise from Bakura. "Joey and Seto are already up, I heard them screaming. Yugi and Yami are out on the porch being all kissie. I think they watched the sun come up. You are the only one still asleep."

Sitting up, Bakura blinked at his lighter half. "What do you mean you heard them scream? And kissie?"

Ryou was pulling on swim trunks, and threw a pair at Bakura. "What did you think would happen when Joey and Seto woke up in the same bed? And you know, kissie. They aren't making out, they're just kissing and being all snugglie. You should be more kissie," Ryou said, pausing in his dressing to look seriously at his yami. "You aren't very romantic, you know. It's all or nothing with you. Haven't you ever heard of foreplay?"

Bakura looked down at the blankets and muttered something that sounded like 'time waster'. Ryou ignored him, throwing a shirt at him. "Get up, get dressed, I wanna go swim!"

Bakura growled as he pulled himself out of bed. "We are never coming to the beach again. I forgot water makes you nuts."

*****

Twenty minutes later, six boys were walking out onto the beach. It was warm, but not too hot. Yami carried a large blanket for them all to sit on. Yugi and Ryou carried a bin of beach toys so large it took both of them to carry it. Seto carried a pile of towels.

Bakura looked warily at the ocean. "I don't get it."

"Neither do I, really," Yami answered. "We didn't do anything like this in Egypt. But Yugi is very happy, so I am too."

Both Bakura and Seto rolled their eyes. They spread the blanket out on the sand, the beach was completely empty. "Whahoo!" Joey yelled, bolting towards the ocean and stripping down to his trunks on the way. Yugi and Ryou waited just long enough to leave their shirts on the blanket before running after him.

Yami followed far enough to collect Joey's discarded garments before returning to the blanket. Seto took off his shirt, but laid down on the blanket instead of going into the water.

"Come on guys!" Yugi yelled, but both of the yamis shook their heads. Seto had his eyes closed and was paying attention only to his tanning.

The three sixteen year olds waded into the water, and Yami couldn't help but bite his lip. How were they supposed to stay standing with those waves crashing on them?

A wave crashed in front of Joey, sending cold water up to his waist. "Whoa, shrinkage!"

"Joey!" Yugi and Ryou exclaimed, then burst into laughter.

"Wha' is it 'bout da ocean tha' makes us act like wer six?" Joey asked.

"I don't know," Ryou answered, then giggled. "But you should have seen me this morning. I gave Bakura a leap-frog wake up."

"What, you jumped on him?"

Ryou nodded. "Repeatedly."

The three braved the strong waves. There was a full moon that night, which made the waves rather powerful. A particularly large one crashed in front of Yugi, and knocked him off his balance and down under water.

Yami jumped to his feet when he saw Yugi go under, but before he could even take a step, Ryou and Joey were pulling their shorter friend up. Yugi, once standing, bent over double. At first Yami thought he was coughing, but the string of emotions that bonded them proved that Yugi was in fact laughing, so hard that Joey had to hold him up.

"Let's do that again!" Yugi yelled, causing Joey and Ryou to crack up. Bakura just looked at Yami, who promptly sat back down.

//Are you okay?// Yami said into Yugi's mind.

Yugi looked up at them from the ocean. /Take off your shirt./

//What?//

/Take it off./

Confused, Yami pulled off his shirt, throwing it into the pile of clothes that the other boys had made. Yugi waited until he was knocked over by another wave, then started to run up to the blanket. Bakura seemed to guess what he was going to do, because he moved away from Yami.

Dripping wet, Yugi landed on Yami, pushing him from a sitting position to a laying one. "Yugi, you're soaked!"

"If you won't come to the ocean, I'll bring it to you." He kissed Yami, while wringing out his hair onto his darker half.

"You taste like salt," Yami said with a smirk. Yugi grinned at him, before jumping up and standing above him. He waited just long enough to wring out both sides of his shorts before turning and running back to the water.

Seto had watched the whole thing through a cracked eye. With one hand, he reached behind his back and threw a towel at Yami. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it. You might want to throw it back though, because here he comes again."

Yugi continued to run up to Yami, shed all water that he possibly could, then run back, until Yami was completely soaked. Yami couldn't really bring himself to stop him because every time he came Yugi treated him to a salty kiss.

Eventually, the boys left the water in favor of three very large sand shovels. They started to dig the worlds biggest hole, in turn making the worlds biggest pile of sand right beside the hole. Yami didn't understand it, but he didn't question it either. He was getting a chance to dry.

The boys seemed to think that the hole was big enough, because they stopped digging, and sat down beside it talking. Eventually, Ryou got up and started to walk back up to the blanket. He didn't step on the blanket, because he was covered in sand. Instead he squatted in front of Bakura, in a way that was just, so.

Leaning foreword, Ryou kissed Bakura gently on the nose. "Come with me," he said, lowering his voice slightly. Seto and Yami both looked over, they knew what effect that kind of voice would have. "We don't have to get in the water, just come with me."

Ryou managed to get Bakura to stand, and was starting to lead him down towards the ocean, coaxing him with kisses. Joey and Yugi turned to watch with large grins on their faces. The both moved a few feet away from the hole.

Ryou was walking backwards, so he had to be very careful where he put his next foot. He went to step back, and his foot met air. He had been expecting it, and he was able to reach farther back and step over the hole. Bakura however, stepped on the very edge, and it gave under his foot, causing him to slip down into the hole. Yugi and Joey were over in seconds, pushing the large pile of sand into the remainder of the hole, successfully trapping and burying Bakura from armpits down, his arms trapped against his sides.

Yami started laughing, causing Seto to look up at the group and now trapped Bakura. "You think it's funny now," Seto said flipping over to allow his stomach to get some sun too. "But in a minute it's just going to get mushy."

Bakura could have gotten out if he had struggled, but he refused to struggle. Instead, he glared at Ryou, who smiled. Ryou laid down on the sand, his face only inches away from Bakura's. "Now, my dark one, I'm going to teach you how to be kissie."

As Ryou was giving Bakura his first 'lesson', Joey and Yugi were hopping back into the ocean to rinse off the sand that digging that very deep hole had plastered on them. On the way, Joey grabbed a large bucket. He glanced at Yugi, and no words were needed. After they were rinsed, Joey filled the bucket up with water.

Very quietly, Yugi and Joey sneaked up behind Ryou and Bakura. They dumped the water on both of their heads, then ran. Ryou started to laugh, but Bakura growled at them. "I'm going to kill both of you!"

"I highly doubt that, given your current predicament!" Yugi answered, causing Joey to bend over in laughter. Bakura probably would have retaliated, but Ryou quickly reclaimed his attention.

"Joey, I'm going to go spend some time with Yami," Yugi said glancing up at the blanket.

"Alright, Yug, I'm gonna go back in da wata."

When Yugi reached the blanket, he promptly laid down and closed his eyes. Yami smiled at him. "You're soaked, chibi ichi." (Hikari Ykarzel: It means literally 'little one'.)

"And too tired to move. Dry me off."

Another towel promptly smacked Yami in the face, thrown there by Seto. "Nice move on the water, Yugi," Seto said without opening his eyes.

"Oh, well, we were going to do it to you, but we would have had to dig the hole deeper, and we couldn't figure out how to get you down there. Plus, Bakura was more fun once he was caught. None of us were going to teach you how to be kissie."

Yami used the towel to dry off Yugi's face and chest. "I see you've dried," Yugi noted, looking Yami over.

"No thanks to you."

Yugi grinned at him. "Come on, you know you liked it." Yami chuckled, then threw the damp towel back at Seto.

"I wouldn't be so full of it if I was shirtless and pinned down by somebody who knew all my sensitive spots."

Yugi's eyes popped open and went wide when he realized that Yami did have him pinned, his knees holding down Yugi's hands without hurting them and his butt on Yugi's knees. "No, no, Yami, please, no!" Yugi's words were lost in laughter as Yami attacked his sides. Yugi squirmed, but he couldn't get away.

Yami released Yugi's arms, but they didn't do him much good. He couldn't protect everything at once. Eventually, however, Yugi's squirming successfully convinced Yami to stop tickling him and start something else.

Seto was very tempted to tell them to go get a room, but he didn't want to spoil their fun. He looked away and attempted to find something to occupy his attention. He averted his eyes from Ryou and Bakura. Where was Joey?

He spotted the blond in the ocean, jumping a particularly large wave. Seto couldn't help but blush. Joey should wear green more often. Or maybe Joey should just go shirtless more often.

A large wave came up and crashed practically on top of Joey, and he went under. Seto waited to see where he would come up, but he didn't. He sat up straighter, but he didn't see Joey. Jumping to his feet, he scanned the ocean, and spotted a mark of green, Joey floating face down in the water.

"Joey!" He took off like a shot. By the time Yugi and Yami had looked up, Seto was half way down the ocean. They took off behind him.

Seto dived right in and reached Joey's floating body in seconds, but it seemed to take hours. He pulled Joey's face out of the water, but he didn't have to check to know he wasn't breathing.

Yami and Yugi grabbed Joey from Seto and laid him down on the shore. Yugi placed his ear by Joey's nose. "He isn't breathing!" Ryou and a now sand covered Bakura stood behind Yami.

"Get out of the way!" Seto fell down to his knees beside Joey. Holding his nose, he blew air into the blonde's mouth, then placed his hands over his chest and pushed. He repeated the action again. "Knock it off Joey. God, Joey, please don't do this to me." He went to breath into his mouth again, when the boy jerked and started to cough. Seto pulled him into a sitting position and patted his back as he started to breath for himself.

"Are you alright?" Seto asked.

Joey looked at him, and nodded slowly, then coughed on his hand. Yugi fell down beside him and threw his arms around his best friend.

"Joey, I'm so sorry! I should have been out there with you!"

Joey, unable to talk, patted his friends hand. Yami pulled Yugi back. "Give him some air, Yugi."

Swallowing and clearing his throat, Joey spoke. "Sorry guys. Tha' was really stupid of me. Tried to let da wave flip me, musta hit ma head." He reached up and touched his head, then hissed. "Yeah, hit ma head."

Gently, Seto parted Joey's hair where he had touched his head. "It isn't bleeding, just bruised." He turned a very serious look on Joey. "You're probably thirsty, there's bottled water on the blanket. And you should probably lie down for a few minutes. And take a painkiller. Can you walk?"

Joey started to nod, then stopped and hissed. "Yes, but I've gotta headache the size of China."

"Are you sure you're alright?" Ryou asked.

"I'm fine." Yugi and Yami helped Joey stand up. He put a hand to his temple, staggered, and fell backwards. Yami and Yugi tried to grab him, but Seto was already behind him. He caught Joey gently, and carefully picked him up into his arms.

Joey opened his clenched eyes and looked at him. "Thanks."

Seto didn't respond, but when they reached the blanket, he laid Joey down with numerous towels and shirts to cushion his head. Yugi handed him a bottle of water, which he drank in two large gulps.

"I probably jus' swallowed half da ocean, why am I thirsty?"

"Salt," Seto replied, laying back down on his back to sun his stomach.

"I have sand in places I didn't know I had," Bakura said with a glare at Ryou. "I'm going to go wash off in the ocean."

"I'll help!" Ryou said brightly, causing Yami and Yugi to laugh. Joey smiled, but knew better then to laugh. Seto ignored them all.

As Ryou and Bakura headed down toward the water, Joey glanced over at the tanning Seto. His headache was already beginning to fade, which proved that he wasn't seriously hurt. Seto had saved his life. Not only that, but Seto had brought him back to life. And carried him. And he was really hot in black swim trunks.

It wasn't anything new to Joey. He had known he was gay for months now. In fact, it was checking out Seto that had clued him into the fact. But Seto had given him mouth to mouth. Both Yugi and Ryou knew how, the same way Seto knew how. It was taught in gym. And yet, Seto had done it, no questions asked.

Seto opened an eye and looked at Joey, who was looking at him. Joey blushed and looked away, and Seto smiled slightly.

*****

Bakura walked slowly out in the water. This wasn't so hard. You just had to brace yourself. He let the waves wash off the sand. But there was sand in his suit, and the waves were not getting it out. He made sure that no matter how small the wave, he would be in the water from waist down. Then carefully he pulled his trunks down, trying to rinse the sand out. That was when he realized his mistake. It's hard to brace yourself when you trap your legs together with your trunks.

He had enough time to take his breath and close his eyes, but the water knocked him right over and spun him around. It washed him right up onto the beach, but he was alive and fine. Thank Ra.

His trunks were missing.

"Bakura!" His head whipped around to see Ryou, holding up a wet article of blue clothing. "Missing something?"

"Ryou, give those back, now."

Ryou grinned, turned around, and took off. Bakura groaned.

Screaming at the top of his lungs, Ryou held the garment up in the air and started to run around the beach.

"What has Ryou got?" Joey asked, sitting up slowly. Yami dug into his bag and pulled out his pair of binoculars.

"It looks like a suit." He shifted his gaze and snorted. "Bakura seems to have lost his." Bakura, having no choice, was trying to chase Ryou without showing anything. In response to being chased, Ryou started to run towards the blanket. Bakura refused to come any closer to them.

Ryou stopped in front of them, taunting Bakura to come and get him.

"Hey Ryou," Yami said. "As Bakura looks just like you, isn't his being naked just as bad as you being naked?"

Ryou looked at Yami, then grinned. "You're right."

They all watched with jaws dropping as Ryou pulled off his trunks, stuck an arm through each pair, and started running around the beach, flapping his suit clad arms like wings.

Yami, Yugi, Joey, and even Seto, broke into hysterical laughter. Bakura, crouched down in the sand, beat on it with a fist. Ryou continued to run around in circles, trying to fly.

"Yami, hand me those," Seto said, taking the binoculars from Yami. He focused them, then snorted. "Hey Ryou! I didn't realize you could have white hair down there!"

Ryou stopped, looked at Seto, grinned and waved, before starting to run again.

"Somebody is gonna see dem and kick us all off da beach," Joey pointed out.

Yami stood up. "This is not a nude beach!" he yelled. "Please don your clothes!"

"Great, now that the whole world knows about it," Seto muttered.

Ryou threw Bakura's suit at him, then ran around once more before putting back on his own.

"You know," Yugi said sitting up. "I think it's time to go inside."

The others nodded as they listened to Ryou roll in the sand in laughter.

*****

Yami, Yugi, and Bakura sat at the kitchen table. The sitting room and kitchen really had no wall to separate them, only a change from carpet to tile. So Joey was able to lay on the couch and still be included in the group. Ryou was taking a shower in the bathroom connected to his and Bakura's room. Rolling in the sand had made him rather uncomfortable.

Seto was cooking.

Joey couldn't help but grin as he watched Seto move about the kitchen with every aspect of familiarity. This was something he did often enough to know where everything was. For some odd reason, that made Joey smile. Seto had yet to change out of is black swim trunks, as had Joey yet to remove his green trunks.

Bakura suddenly jumped out of his chair, and took off down the hall. He ran into Yugi and Yami's, and Joey and Seto's rooms, and flushed both the toilets in their bathrooms before running back out onto the kitchen. There was a moment of silence, the quiet before the storm.

"BAKURA!!!!" There was a loud bang as Ryou threw the door open. He walked out into the kitchen. He held a towel around his waist with one hand. His hair was slicked straight, and dripping not only water but also soap. Water ran down his body, collecting in tiny puddles around his bare feet. Steam rose from his skin to disperse quickly into the air.

"Don't you ever wear clothes?" Seto asked rolling his eyes.

Ryou ignored Seto and glared at Bakura. An interesting look came across Bakura's face as Ryou stood there panting.

"I know that was you, and it was your sad attempt to get back at me for trapping you in the sand. But your plan is so backfiring because I am standing here in a towel, dripping wet, and steaming, and you know you are so turned on. Now get your sorry little ass in this bathroom so I can thoroughly punish you for attempting to boil me."

Bakura quite obviously didn't want to follow, but his body betrayed him, causing him to stand and walk out of the room.

Yugi turned to look at Yami with raised eyebrows. "Later my hikari, later."

*****

Several hours later, Seto was in the shower, or at least he was still in the bathroom. Joey was changing for bed. It was much warmer tonight than last, so Joey left the window open and left his tee shirt off.

There was the sound of a door opening and a rush of humid, hot air that meant Seto was out. Joey braved a glance. Seto was wearing his silk pants again, but deep navy blue this time. Joey couldn't help but wonder how many pairs he had.

Seto tried to find something to do with himself in front of the mirror. He was prolonging the inevitable, he knew, but he wasn't ready to face Joey just yet.

"Seto?" Joey asked looking down at his hands which were folded on his lap. Seto replied with a grunt. "Why'd ya save me?" The words were hardly above a whisper, but only because he didn't trust his voice.

Seto rolled his eyes. "Despite common belief, I don't want you dead, Joey."

"Yeah, but," Joey paused. "Both Yugi and Ryou know mouth ta mouth, ya didn' have ta do it."

Seto felt his cheeks heat. How could he explain it? The fear of losing Joey. The fear of never getting a chance to tell him. The fear of never finding out if his feelings were returned. The cold panic that shot an arrow at his heart.

"You're right, I should have let you die, I don't know what came over me." Seto glanced up at the mirror just in time to catch the crushed look on Joey's face. He looked quickly down at the floor, his mouth going dry. He had to apologize.

Seto turned around. "Joey-" but the boy was gone. The door hadn't opened, but Seto's eyes were pulled to the large open window.

*****

Joey watched as the full, orange moon reflected into the ocean. There were footsteps behind him that stopped just a few feet short of the wall on which Joey sat. He didn't bother to turn around. "Why'd ya come afta me?"

"I-" Seto stopped, realizing he couldn't answer that question without giving himself away.

"Ya don' hate me. Why do ya act like it all da time?"

Seto closed the distance between them. He jumped up so he was sitting on the wall the opposite way as Joey. "I'm afraid," he answered.

"Afraid of what?"

"This." That was all the warning Joey had before Seto reached in and caught his lips. Joey was shocked still for a heartbeat, but within moments he melted into the kiss. Seto wrapped his arms around the smaller boy, when the sound of cheering was heard from above.

The two parted and looked up to see Yugi, Yami, Ryou, and Bakura, all on the balcony cheering and cat-calling.

Joey flushed a hot red, but Seto wasn't quite ready to give up the moment. He caught Joey's chin in his hand and turned his face so that chestnut met cerulean. He then kissed him again, deeper this time.

*****

Yugi crawled into bed and spooned up against Yami. His darker half responded by wrapping his strong arms around his hikari, and burying his face in Yugi's hair. Yugi smelled like shampoo and the ocean. The scent of the ocean was everywhere, even showering didn't allow you to escape it. Not that Yami really minded the smell.

"They were so cute!" Yugi and been overjoyed at the prospect of Seto and Joey. The idea of either of them being gay had never really occurred to him.

"You're pretty cute yourself, you know."

Yugi snorted. "Like that means anything coming from you."

Yami grinned. "Hey, come on, you're cuter them I'll ever be. I want it that way, that is why it is."

"How come Bakura and Ryou look almost exactly alike, but we look different?"

"Because my appearance is what I see myself as. I had to try very hard at first to make it stay. Bakura really didn't do that, because at first he wanted us to think he was Ryou, so he still appears as he sees himself."

"Mmm," Yugi said, his attention quickly being pulled elsewhere as Yami's hand traveled from his chest to his very sensitive side. A shiver when up his spine, but he tried not to react. Reacting would only encourage him.

Yami's hand twisted and he did something with his pinkie. Yugi could never figure out what exactly he did, but it always had the same effect. He giggled into the pillow. Yugi knew his mistake as soon as it left his mouth. Yami loved to hear him giggle.

Yami repeated his action, and within moments, had Yugi in a fit of giggles. However Yugi had learned that the best tactic was not to try and defend, but rather to squirm like mad. It was a long time before either went to sleep.

*****

Seto shut the door with a small snap. They had come inside. It was warm enough to sleep with the window open, but it wasn't really warm enough for Joey to sit out on the beach in his boxers for any length of time. Besides, the moon had clouded over.

Joey sat down on the bed, his back to Seto. He was tense, Seto could tell from where he stood. Seto had an idea why. They couldn't go too fast.

He climbed onto the bed, and Joey went stiff. Seto crawled over to the other boy, and wrapped his arms around him to pull him up onto the bed.

As Seto's arms enclosed Joey, he felt his heart jump. He wasn't scared, he was lost. He didn't know what to do.

Seto laid down, bringing Joey with him, and pulled the covers over them. He kissed the back of Joey's neck once, before settling down and preparing to go to sleep. Joey remained tense for a moment, then relaxed against Seto. They were just going to sleep. He knew how to do that.

He would really need to talk to Yugi tomorrow.

***** Day Two *****

Ryou's eyes fluttered open as the pitter-patter of rain on glass reached his ears. He turned over and looked at the still sleeping Bakura. He smiled faintly at his yami, the frowned again.

It was raining.

It took an extreme amount of effort to pull himself out of bed. He hated the rain. He was the only one awake, or rather, he was the only one out of bed. He frowned at the window and the gray clouds that lay beyond it.

This was definitely an oatmeal morning.

*****

Yugi felt a cool wet breeze tickle his face. His eyes opened at the same time as his ears started working.

Yami had an arm wrapped around his torso, one leg over his waist, and was still sleeping soundly.

"Yami?" Yugi asked quietly.

"Hmm?" came the groggy reply.

"It's raining."

"Mmm."

"We won't be able to go down to the beach."

"Mmm."

"I slept with Ryou."

"Mmm." Yugi gave an exasperated sigh and shifted so he could watch the cursed rain. "So was he any good?" came Yami's voice.

Yugi jerked around to look into Yami's smiling eyes. "Yami! I thought you were asleep!"

"Hey, you slept with Ryou."

Giggling, Yugi snuggled up against Yami. "Now, where on Earth would I have found the energy to do such a thing after last night?"

Yami shrugged as well as he could while lying in bed. "You just must be a sex machine."

Yugi chuckled into Yami's chest and waited for the moment to pass before he changed the subject. "What are we going to do today? It's raining."

Yami looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well, I can think of about four things to start off with." With that, he attacked Yugi's lips.

*****

Joey slowly drifted from sleep to mild awareness. He was warm and comfortable, and that was plenty of reason not to move. A cool breeze encouraged him to wake a little more. That was when he noticed he wasn't alone.

Joey went stiff. Seto. Had his arm. Around him. And he, Joey. Was pushed. Up against Seto. In a way. That left little. To the imagination. I promised I wouldn't touch him!

With a squeak, Joey jerked away and rolled over, but suddenly there was nothing there to support him, and he fell to the floor in a tangle of blankets.

Wakened by Joey's sudden movements and the loud thud, Seto's face appeared over the side of the bed.

Joey rubbed his aching bottom as the memories of the night before started to return. He was an idiot. How could he forget? Seto blinked sleep out of his eyes and looked at Joey. "Do you need any help?" he asked with a yawn.

"Rubbin' my ass? No, I'm doin' a fine job on ma own."

"Why did you fall out?"

Joey blushed and looked at the floor to hide it. "I'm not really used ta wakin' up wit someone," he muttered.

"Oh," he replied. The moment could have turned awkward, if not for the loud crash in the kitchen.

*****

Ryou stuck a spoon in his oatmeal. He had a secret weakness for the soft mush. It had been his comfort food since he was little.

Bakura walked into the kitchen, and slumped into the seat beside Ryou. He looked down into Ryou's bowl. "What are you eating?"

"Oatmeal," Ryou said shortly. Bakura didn't know about this, and Ryou wasn't about to tell him. He knew Bakura hated the rain too, and he would be grumpy until somebody cheered him up. Ryou would most likely get a lecture on how he shouldn't need a comfort food, or how if he had to have one, it should be chocolate, not baby food.

Bakura stuck his finger in the bowl of gray goop, then put it in his mouth. He made a face, and spit his finger out. "How can you eat that stuff?"

"Well, this is rather plain. It's better with apples and cinnamon," Ryou said, shoving a spoonful into his mouth, and smiling slightly.

"Not the taste, though that wasn't all that great. The texture. That's nasty."

Ryou grinned and swallowed another spoonful. Bakura growled under his breath, and slumped on the table. He hated rain.

Ryou scooped up another spoon of the tepid substance. He turned the spoon backwards, and used it to shoot the oatmeal at Bakura.

The gooey food smacked Bakura on the face. He jerked up and looked at Ryou, who smiled coyly at him. At first, Bakura was too shocked to be angry. What in the world had possessed Ryou to do that?

Bakura wiped the mess off his face, and looked back up at Ryou to yell at him. But Ryou wasn't there. His head whipped around quickly, but the boy wasn't anywhere to be seen. Suddenly, another wet glob smacked him in the arm.

Behind the counter.

He hardly got a chance to process the thought before another portion of gray mush flew through the air and landed on his neck. It was more instinct then thought that made Bakura go into the defense. He grabbed the edge of the table and flipped it over. It made a deafening crash, but it provided protection from the assaulting oatmeal.

Joey and Seto came running into the room. "I call Joey!" Ryou exclaimed, darting from behind his shelter of the extended counter to grab Joey and drag him behind it. Bakura motioned Seto over.

"What's going on?"

"Ryou goes nutsy when it rains," Bakura offered by way of an explanation, as he looked around for some kind of ammo. His eyes landed on the bowl of fruit that had been on the table before he flipped it over. He'd save the bananas, they would make the best. Instead he grabbed an apple.

It was much to hard and much to large as it was. He took a large bite out of it, chewed hard for a moment, then spit the contents back into his hand.

"Mature," Seto commented.

Bakura glared at him. A well aimed glob of oatmeal flew over the table and landed in Seto's hair. Bakura smirked as Seto's eyes went wide.

"Hand me one," Seto said, reaching for an apple from Bakura.

Yugi and Yami, looking as if they had dressed rather quickly, came running into the kitchen.

"YUG!" Joey exclaimed. "I need yer help." Dodging a handful of apple-spit, Joey ran out from behind the counter and grabbed Yugi, dragging him quickly back behind the shelter. Yami was about to follow, but Seto's hand reached out and grabbed his ankle.

"No you don't, these sides need to be even. You are with us."

Joey sat down against the cabinet doors. He pulled Yugi down beside him on the floor. "Yug, I need yer help. See-"

"Joey, wait a minute." Yugi took a deep breath, and let it out very slowly. It was then that Joey first noticed his best friend was flushed, sweating, and panting.

"Bad time?" Ryou asked as he scooped up another handful of oatmeal.

Yugi swallowed and nodded. "Just give me a minute to recover, will you Joey?" Joey blushed and nodded, as Yugi sat there with his eyes closed.

"Think about Mrs. Marchett, it always works for me," Ryou offered. Mrs. Marchett was their current math teacher, and she must have already been dead four years she was so ugly and old.

"Thanks," Yugi replied weakly. Several deep breaths and apple-spit balls later, Yugi opened his eyes, and looked at Joey. "Now, what?"

Joey felt himself turning very red. "Um, Yug, how," he swallowed. "How do ya be gay?"

Yugi stared at his best friend, and Ryou, who had been peeking over the edge of the counter, turned around to give Joey an odd look.

"Joey," Yugi said slowly. "I don't know if I can tell you how to be gay-"

"No, no, no. I know how ta be gay, I mean, I am, but, I- I don- don' know how..." he flushed a very deep red.

Yugi's eyebrows suddenly flew up, his eyes went wide. Ryou suddenly started to laugh. "Don't laugh at him, Ryou, it's not funny!" Ryou tried to stop laughing, but that only caused him to snort, and break out in laughter again. "Ryou!" Yugi scolded.

At the hurt look on Joey's face, Ryou was able to gain control of himself. "It's not funny that you don't know, Joey. It's just funny to think of Yugi explaining everything." He was lost to laughter again.

An apple-spit ball landed on the floor beside them. Ryou picked it back up and chucked it over the counter.

Yugi took a deep breath. This was not going to be easy.

As Yugi started to explain, well, everything, Joey listened with a seriousness that made Yugi think he was taking notes in his head. Ryou was in hysterics, every time Yugi said anything he started to laugh again. This, however, didn't keep him from hurling fruit and oatmeal across the kitchen.

Yami sat beside Seto and Bakura as they chucked food. He really didn't see the point, and he really was not in the mood. What he was in the mood for was on the other side of the room.

//Yugi?//

/Hmm?/

//What's going on over on that side of the kitchen?//

/.../

//What is it?//

/Um, I'm, explaining something to Joey./ The picture that Yugi sent with the message told Yami exactly what Yugi was explaining. He burst into laughter suddenly, causing Bakura and Seto to look at him.

"What is it?" Seto asked. Yami took a look at Seto, they burst into laughter once more.

"He's talking to Yugi," Bakura said, his eyes narrowing. "TRAITOR!" Quite suddenly Yami found himself being pelted with food by 'his side'. He ran out from behind the table, darted across the kitchen, and jumped behind the counter.

"They attacked me."

Ryou and Yugi grinned at him. Joey looked up at Yami, then blushed hotly.

/I think he just figured out that everything I just explained to him I do with you./

Yami chuckled, then grinned at Joey, who shrunk against the counter. //Poor Joey.//

Yugi moved over and gave Yami his spot against the corner, then sat down it Yami's lap. Joey hid his face in his hands. "I'm neva gonna look at any of ya da same again."

The food fight continued on for a little while longer before Yugi stood up. "We really should stop before we ruin Seto's place!" he called.

Slowly, they all came out from behind their shelter and assessed the damage. Somehow, they had managed to keep the majority of it out of the sitting room, and most of it in the kitchen.

"This is going to take a while to clean up," Seto said, looking disdainfully at the cabinets covered in oatmeal, apple, or banana.

"Wait, nobody move," Ryou said. He turned around, and pulled a small container out of the cabinet. He pinched some of the contents onto his palm, then walked over to Bakura.

Bakura had gotten rather covered in the war. There was oatmeal and apple all over his face. Slowly, Ryou sprinkled cinnamon on the mess covering Bakura's face. They all watched him with looks that clearly stated they feared he had lost his mind.

Ryou grinned at Bakura, then licked his face. He swallowed and smiled. "Apple-oatmeal and cinnamon. My favorite."

Bakura made a face, and went to wipe the remaining mess off. "No, don't! Leave it there," Ryou said grinning.

"Do that in your room!" Seto said as Ryou licked Bakura's face again. "And shower while you're in there."

As Ryou and Bakura walked out of the room, Seto ran a hand through his oatmeal-caked hair and sighed. "This is going to take forever," he repeated, now regretting their fun.

"We'll all help!" Yugi offered brightly. He had managed to stay the cleanest out of all of them.

In the next hour, they all cleaned the kitchen, and/or themselves. Joey didn't mind the work, it gave him some time to think about everything he had just learned. I didn' know dat was possible...

Once the kitchen had been cleaned and scrubbed, Joey found himself alone in the bedroom with Seto, who was combing out his freshly-washed hair. Joey found himself unable to look at the taller boy.

"Is something wrong?" Seto asked lightly, but there was something strong and thick hiding under his tone.

"No!" Joey answered a little too quickly.

Seto turned to face him, but Joey continued to avoid his eyes. "Look, Joey, I-"

There was a knock at the door.

Growling under his breath, Seto stomped over and yanked the door open. He found himself looking down on Yugi, who smiled sweetly up at him.

"Yug?" Joey asked from behind Seto.

Yugi's eyes moved from Seto to Joey. "Ryou says he knows you brought a deck of cards."

"Duel monsters?" Seto asked. The agreement had been no duels on this trip. Mainly to keep them from killing each other.

Yugi shook his head. "No, playing cards."

"Yeah, I brought them," Joey replied from behind Seto.

Yugi's face split into a smile. "Great! Ryou says to bring them down and," he paused and blinked, "wear a few pairs of socks."

Joey grinned. "Gottcha Yug. See ya in a few."

Seto shut the door with a small snap when Yugi walked away, and turned back to look at Joey who was pulling on a second pair of socks over his first.

"What's going on?"

Joey looked up at Seto, still grinning. "Wer gonna play a game." Once he had his third pair of socks on, he dug in his bag for his cards, then ran out of the room, leaving behind a confused Seto.

*****

The six boys sat in a circle, each with five cards in their hands. "So I don't get it, how do we lose clothes?" Bakura asked.

"Da person wit da lowest hand gives one article to da winnin' hand. Naturally, you lose socks first, den shirts, den pants, den underwear if ya really suck. If ya start winnin' otha people's clothes, when ya lose ya can give up deir clothes first 'sted of yer own. If ya lose clothes, den win, ya might not get yer own back, so ya gotta make do."

"If they are all the same color, is that good?" Seto asked skeptically.

"You want them to all be the same suit, Seto," Ryou answered. "All diamonds, or all clubs."

"How do you two know so much about cards?"

"I've been playin' poka fer years," Joey answered, setting two cards on the floor face down. "We used ta play fer more den socks dough. Tristan used ta play, but he's neva in da mood fer it anymore. Tea dinks it's bad habit. So when I got bored I taught Ryou, and he's been practicin'."

They all laid down the end results of their first hand, and Ryou scanned all the cards. "Bakura loses, Joey wins. Bakura, give Joey a sock."

A few hands later, both Joey and Ryou had a pile of clothes beside them. Yami and Yugi, who were both fast learners when it came to games, had only lost a few socks. Bakura and Seto were not so lucky. Bakura had just lost his shirt, and Seto would if he lost one more hand.

"Yami, your deal."

At the end of the hand, Ryou had three queens, a seven, and a jack. Joey had two aces, two kings, and a queen. Both Yami and Yugi had a pair of nines. Bakura had a pair of eight's, and Seto had a pair of threes. Growling, Seto pulled his shirt over his head and threw it at Ryou, who caught it with a smirk. Joey couldn't help but stare at Seto's sculpted chest, which meant so much more now that he was allowed to stare.

It was Yugi's deal. Joey ended up with a flush of hearts, Ryou with a pair of queens, Yami with a pair of jacks, Yugi with a pair of eight's, and Seto with a pair of nines. Bakura had two sixes, a five, a seven, and a eight, a card away from a straight, but the lowest hand.

"Bakura," Ryou said with a grin.

"Do I have to?"

"Yes," they all answered as Bakura pulled his pants off and tossed them to Joey, leaving him sitting in his blue boxers.

In the next hand, Yugi lost a sock to Joey. In the next, Yami lost a sock to Yugi.

The next hand Ryou scored a straight, Joey a pair of aces and a pair of jacks, Yami a pair of sixes, Yugi a pair of queens, and Bakura a pair of twos. Seto had a five, a ten, a three, and an ace of spades, but a king of clubs, a card away from a flush.

"Your pants, Seto," Ryou said grinning. "I've always wondered what underwear a millionaire wears."

Seto undid his pants and slipped them off, leaving him in black boxers, which to Joey's disappointment, were not silk. "Normal underwear like everybody else." His voice was almost casual, but it was easy to tell he was very nervous.

Joey had a pile of clothes in front of him, and had yet to lose any of his own. He pulled all three socks off his left foot, and handed them to Seto.

"Hey, he's not allowed to do that!" Bakura exclaimed.

"We never said you couldn't," Ryou reasoned. "Though I can't see why you would want to..."

Joey flushed, but it was nothing compared to the red across Seto's cheeks. "Thanks," he muttered.

"Ah, no prob."

/Yami?/

//Hmm?//

/Joey's never seen Seto naked before.../

//And?//

/Well, doesn't it seem kinda wrong that the first time he does is in a game? I mean, they just got together last night, this could be rather stressful on the relationship. What happens when Joey's stash gets low? What happens if he has to decide between Seto losing or him?/

Yami didn't respond for a moment. //Your right Aibou, we should stop this.//

"Alright, let's play something else," Yugi said, sitting up and stretching.

"Aw, no fair! I'm one hand away from getting Bakura naked!"

Yami gave Ryou a look. "He looks just like you Ryou. Go strip and stand in front of a mirror." Bakura flushed hotly and Ryou's cheeks tinged a slight pink.

Joey had already started to gather up the cards. He had wanted to end the game, but didn't want to say it because everybody would know why. Yugi must have figured out what was going on in Joey's head and called it for him. Yugi was the best friend a guy could have.

"What do you want to play?" Yami asked, while everybody reclaimed and donned their clothes, or stripped off extra socks.

"What 'bout truth or dare?" Joey asked, grinning.

Yugi blinked. He really hadn't expected that from Joey. He had just gotten him out of a bad position. On the other hand, there was a lot more flexibility in truth or dare, and if Yugi and Ryou read the cards right, they might be able to help their two friends.

"Sounds good to me!" Ryou said, looking meaningfully at Yugi, and then at Joey and Seto. Yugi nodded slightly to his friend, a small smile creeping on his mouth.

"Great, den I go first," Joey said sitting down on the couch. "Ryou, truth or dare?"

Ryou considered the question for a moment. "Let's start with a truth."

Joey nodded. "Okay, it's gotta be lame havin' Bakura look jus' like ya. I mean, he even dresses like ya. So if ya could change his appearance, not drastically, but jus' a little, wha' would he look like?"

Bakura frowned and looked at the floor. Ryou just blushed. "I'll be right back," he muttered quietly. He walked down the hall, and returned a few moments later with a brown paper bag.

Reaching in, Ryou pulled out a pair of black pants. "Put these on," he ordered softly, tossing them to Bakura.

Raising an eyebrow at his hikari, Bakura looked around for a place to change. "We just saw you in your underwear, Bakura," Yami said with a smirk. Bakura glared at his fellow yami, but changed anyway. Once he had the pants on, Ryou tossed him a white sleeve-less shirt.

When Bakura had the shirt on, Ryou reached in the bag and pulled out a permanent marker. "This will disappear when you merge with me," he said softly. Ryou grabbed Bakura's bare arm. Brows furrowing in concentration, he pulled the cap off the marker with his teeth and started to draw on his yami. When he let go, a thick black band was around Bakura's arm. Ryou then reached up and tilted Bakura's head. Using the same black marker, he started to put streaks of black through his darker half's silver hair.

He tossed the marker back in the bag, but he wasn't done yet. Blushing hotly, he pulled out a spiked collar, and snapped it around Bakura's neck. He snapped a silver clip on earring on Bakura's ear. Pulling from the bag the last item, Ryou handed Bakura a leather jacket, instructing him to hold it over his shoulder rather then wear it.

Still blushing, Ryou backed up to examine his handy work. Turning, he looked Seto in the eye. "He'd have your eyes. Maybe a shade lighter." Ryou looked back at Bakura. "He'd have more then one earring, and he'd be taller then me."

"You've really thought about this Ryou," Yugi observed.

Ryou looked down at his feet, his face still pink. "One gets tired of looking at one's reflection."

"Who'd have thought little light Ryou would go for the bad ass look in his boyfriend," Yami said with a self satisfied smirk.

Yugi looked up at his yami. /I can't really blame him./

Bakura was studying his hikari intently. This had obviously been bothering Ryou, and yet he had said nothing about it. How long had he kept that bag of stuff, too shy and too polite to request that Bakura wear it? The idea made up Bakura's mind for him.

In a flash of light, Bakura was gone, leaving a pile of clothes where he had been. Ryou's head jerked up quickly, but he had already missed another look at his yami.

/Would it have killed you to stay that way for a few minutes?/ he asked miserably as he felt Bakura's mind merge with his. He noted faint surprise from Bakura.

//This is going to hurt.//

/What?!/ Ryou asked.

Bakura didn't answer, because there was another flash of light. This time however, it didn't fade quickly. It held for a very long moment, before being sucked slowly back into the figure that it surrounded.

Ryou felt his mouth drop open as the light around his yami dimmed. Bakura stood there unmoving, eyes squeezed shut tight and jaw clenched in pain.

He was wearing not just black, but leather pants. Something Ryou had never even considered asking him, for fear of 'copying the pharaoh'. He remained in the white tank, but he now wore his own leather jacket. His hair didn't have black streaks, but rather the tips had been dyed black, which looked even better.

Ryou walked over to Bakura. He reached up, reached up for Bakura had grown at least eight inches, to tuck a lock of his silver-black tipped hair behind the taller boy's ear, revealing a line of silver earrings.

Bakura's hand, clenched in a fist by his side, flew up to take Ryou's hand in his by his ear. Slowly, Bakura relaxed his jaw and opened his eyes to look down on his hikari. Warm brown met ice blue, and Ryou's breath caught. He swallowed hard. "Please-" he cut off when his voice broke. He swallowed again. "Please tell me you can stay like this," he whispered.

"If that is what you want, I will. Just don't talk in my head for the rest of the day. I have a headache that would kill a camel. It hurts like shit."

Ryou felt tears welling up in his eyes. "Bakura." His darker half never admitted any kind of weakness or pain to him, even when it was obvious, he always denied it. A tear slid down his cheek. He tried to pull his hand away from Bakura to wipe it away. Bakura hated it when he cried, he was being a sissy, but his yami wouldn't let go. Bending down, he licked the tear off, before claiming Ryou's lips in his.

"When yer both done dere, it's yer turn ta dare, Ryou."

Ryou and Bakura parted and moved over to the arm chair. Bakura took off his jacket and tossed it on the back of the chair before sitting down. Ryou curled up in his lap, and Bakura wrapped his arms around him. That was when Ryou saw the black armbands on both his yami's arms. They were not a solid line, but rather numerous interlaced little lines. With a smile, he started to trace one with his finger.

"Ahem." Joey said, settling back down in his seat on the couch. Ryou looked up and blushed, then looked around to pick a victim.

"Yami, truth or dare?"

"Truth, first," Yami answered.

Ryou looked thoughtful for a moment, then his eyes glazed slightly which meant that Bakura was offering his advice. "Bakura! That's not very nice!" Ryou didn't answer in Bakura's head, because he still had a headache.

"Nobody said truth or dare had to be nice."

"Well, okay. Yami, where's the, I don't know, oddest place, you've ever wanted to, you know," Ryou blushed.

"Get it on," Bakura finished, turning his now icy blue gaze on Yami.

Yugi, who was sitting at Yami's feet, turned around and looked up at him. "I'd like to know this myself."

Yami didn't really blush, but he was slightly flustered. "Well, I, um, lemme think. I-" he paused, and avoided Yugi's eyes. "I guess the oddest place is, well, a hole."

They stared. "A hole?" Seto asked.

There was no denying it, this time Yami did blush. "You know, like if you dig a big hole in the ground. A pit. Big enough to lie down in." He glanced at Yugi, who was watching him curiously. When their eyes met, Yugi grinned, which only made Yami blush again.

"I'll have to remember that," he said, turning to lean back up against Yami's legs.

Yami, still flustered, was quick to seek revenge. "Bakura, truth or dare?"

Bakura smirked. "Just to keep the pattern going, truth."

It was Yami's turn to smirk. "Where are you ticklish?"

Bakura blinked. It was not something he had been expecting. He started to answer without thinking. "My st-" he cut off, realizing what he was doing. He glared. "I'm not."

"Really?" Yami asked innocently. Sensing danger, Ryou climbed out of Bakura's lap, and Yugi move away from Yami's knees. "Are you sure?"

Bakura nodded curtly. In one swift movement, Yami jumped off the couch, grabbed Bakura, threw him to the ground, and pinned him down with one very strategically placed knee. Bakura, caught once again completely by surprise, just stared.

"He's in trouble. Yami's going to do it," Yugi said, biting his lip.

"Do what?" Ryou asked curiously.

"His pinkie move."

Ryou raised an eyebrow, but turned his attention back to the yamis. Yami put his hand on Bakura's stomach, and moved it just slightly, though none of them could see what he did. Bakura twitched, his face contorted, fighting laughter. Yami repeated the action, and Bakura snorted. With the third pinkie move, Bakura lost it, and started to laugh, a completely new sound to most of the people present.

"Can you teach me how to do that?" Ryou exclaimed, jumping up. Yami looked carefully at Ryou, then nodded, motioning for him to come over. Still holding Bakura immobile, he directed Ryou's hand. A few moments later, Ryou tickled Bakura mercilessly while Yami held him down.

Bakura's headache was forgotten. //Ryou! Ryou stop!//

/Nope, it's too much fun to see you squirm./

//Ryou, Ryou, please?//

Ryou stopped suddenly, pulling away. "Let him go, Yami."

"Why, what did he do?" Yami asked, removing his knee and standing.

"Asked nicely."

Glaring, Bakura picked himself up off the floor, and sat down in his chair, in a way that made it impossible for Ryou to sit with him. Ryou made eyes at him, and Bakura reluctantly adjusted his position. "You can sit, but I swear if you touch my stomach I will bite you," he growled. Ryou ignore the comment, but snuggled back into Bakura's chest.

Bakura turned his anger on an unsuspecting target. "Seto, truth or dare?" he challenged.

Seto met the challenge like a man. Besides, he had too many secrets. "Dare."

"Kiss Joey for a full minute," Bakura replied immediately.

Ryou forgot his yami's headache. /Bakura!/

//What?//

/You can't do that to them! Their relationship is still so unstable! This is too much stress./

//They kissed last night didn't they? Why can't they do it again?//

/Good point.../

//Now shut up. My head hurts.//

Seto swallowed hard. He should have seen it coming. It was going on twenty-four hours since he had first kissed Joey, what if he was having second thoughts? He dared a glance at Joey, who sat on the couch, blushing and staring at his lap.

Seto stood up. If Joey or Bakura expected him to stall and be uncomfortable, they underestimated the Kiaba genes. He sat down on the couch in the seat between Joey and Yami. Before Joey even had a chance to look up, Seto tilting his head and kissed him firmly.

Joey responded immediately by kissing back, making Seto's heart jump. In his head, Seto counted slowly to sixty before pulling away. Joey smiled very slightly at him, and Seto couldn't help but smile back.

Standing, he moved back over to his chair and sat down. He looked around at the group. "Yugi, you haven't gone, truth or dare?"

"Truth," Yugi said, leaning back against Yami's legs for support.

An evil smirk came across Seto's face. "Describe a fantasy that you're too shy to even tell Yami."

Yugi felt the color drain out of his face. "No way!" he shouted, getting up off the floor quickly, and ducking behind the chair that Bakura and Ryou were sitting in. Yami jumped up off the couch.

"You mean there is one?" he exclaimed.

"Apparently," Bakura said smirking. Yami looked around the chair to see Yugi huddled in a tiny ball, like a turtle that had crawled inside his shell. Ryou climbed off of Bakura and walked around to chair to look too.

Yami reached down and picked Yugi up, but he still remained curled up, knees tucked under and arms over his head. Yami walked him over and sat him down in the middle of the floor. Ryou sat down beside him, and placed a hand on Yugi's shoulder.

"Maybe we shouldn't make him tell," Ryou said slowly. Yugi's head looked up hopefully.

"I want to know," Bakura demanded leaning forward.

"So do I," Seto said.

"Actually, now I'm kinda curious too," Joey admitted.

"And I definitely want to know," Yami finished, sitting down on the floor beside Yugi and Ryou.

Yugi hid his face again, and Ryou patted his back. "You might as well get it over with, Yugi," Ryou said softly.

"Iffwummafbeffhelffdoumf," came the muffled reply from Yugi.

"What?" Yami asked.

"Iff wamma beff helff doumf." A strange look crossed Ryou's face. Being the closest to Yugi, he understood, but everybody else was lost.

"What?" Yami repeated.

Yugi jerked up. "I said I wanna be held down!"

"Held down?" Yami asked, confused.

"Held down, chained, tied up, restrained, get it?" With that, he turned to Ryou, and hid his face in the silver haired boy's lap. Ryou tried his best to comfort his friend.

Yami blinked. Bakura burst into laughter, while Seto and Joey stayed silent.

/BAKURA!/

"Owww," Bakura moaned, holding his head.

"Serves you right," Ryou answered.

//Aibou?// Yami asked. Yugi didn't answer. He was too embarrassed.

Yami reached over and pulled Yugi away from Ryou and into his lap. Bending over, he whispered softly into Yugi's ear. Whatever he said seemed to comfort Yugi, because he looked up reluctantly. Yami grinned at him, and if Yugi's face could have got any redder, it would have.

"It's your turn to dare, Aibou," Yami said standing and walking back over to his place on the couch. Yugi moved over to settle at his feet again, before looking over at Bakura.

"Truth or dare?"

"Dare," Bakura answered.

Yugi nodded. He wanted to do something that would be difficult for Bakura, or at least a challenge, and good for Ryou, because Ryou had sympathized with him.

"For two minutes, talk dirty to Ryou, but you have to whisper, you can't talk in his head, and you can't touch him. See if Ryou can resist you."

Smirking, Bakura got up out of his chair and started to move towards Ryou. Ryou drew his knees up to his chest and hugged them tightly. "Ryou!" Yugi whisper-shouted. "Think about Mrs. Marchett!" Ryou smiled at Yugi and nodded.

Bakura brought his lips to Ryou's ear. "Wait!" Yugi said looking at his watch. "Ready? Go."

Bakura started to whisper words that the rest of the room couldn't catch. Ryou snapped his eyes shut, but otherwise didn't react. After about a minute, Yugi noted that Ryou was clenching his jaw, and a bead of sweat was running down his forehead.

Yugi counted down the seconds. "Time! Ryou?"

Slowly, Ryou opened his eyes and smiled at Yugi. "Prize goes ta Ryou fer self control," Joey said grinning. Bakura growled and shifted to nip at Ryou's neck. He wouldn't really hurt Ryou, he'd just leave a few marks.

"It's your turn, Bakura," Ryou reminded his other half with a steady voice. Bakura pulled away and stared at his hikari. He was somewhat insulted by Ryou's lack of reaction. Ryou looked at Yugi. "Dare's over right?" Yugi nodded. "Good."

Ryou jumped on Bakura and gave him a bruising kiss, then pulled away and moved over to the empty chair. Bakura sat back up, very pleased with himself.

"Yami, truth or dare?" he asked.

"Dare."

"Kiss somebody in this room for a full minute, and it can't be Yugi."

Yami looked to Yugi, who shrugged. "I don't mind, as long as you don't mean it."

Yami looked around at his possible victims. His eyes lingered on Ryou, but moved on when fear passed over the boy's features. His gaze settled on Joey, who had just enough time to look surprised before Yami pounced on him. Holding Joey down firmly by the shoulders, Yami kissed him soundly.

Joey chose not to react or move, and counted in his head to sixty. When he reached the number, he pushed Yami away. Seto was glaring at Yami, and Yami was smirking. Joey looked at Yugi. "Is he always dat aggressive?"

Smiling shyly, Yugi nodded.

"And now it's my turn to dare," Yami said smirking. "Joey, truth or dare?"

"Wha' is dis? Pick on da puppy day?" Joey asked glaring. Yami just continued his smirk. "Truth," Joey muttered.

"Name three things that turn you on. Things, not actions."

"Things? Like, objects?" Yami nodded and Joey blushed. "I dunno." He shifted uncomfortably, very aware of Seto's eyes on his back.

"Come on, Joey, tell us," Yugi said smiling at his friend. This would be a good thing for Seto to know.

"I like foam," Joey offered.

"Foam?" Yami asked.

"Ya know, like foamy soap or sumdin'," he said blushing and looking at his lap.

"Okay," Yami said reluctantly. "I guess we'll except that."

"Peaches."

They all blinked. Bakura and Yami snorted, Ryou giggled. Yugi and Seto didn't comment. In fact, Seto was remaining particularly quiet.

"Okay, so we all understand the reasoning behind that. One more Joey," Yami said.

Joey muttered something too quiet for them to hear, blushing deep red. "What was that?"

"Silk," Joey whispered, only loud enough for Yami to hear.

"Silk?"

There was a sudden coughing fit from Seto, and they all turned to stare accept Joey, who only blushed hotter and continued to stare at his lap. Seto looked at Joey, trying to breath again. A small blush had appeared on his cheeks, but he said nothing, turning to look out the window.

Yugi waited a moment, hoping they would get some sort of comment from Seto. When it became obvious that Seto was not going to say anything, he looked back at the blushing Joey. "Your turn."

Joey looked up at Ryou. "Hate ta pick on ya buddy, but ya haven' gone since da firs; time. Truth or dare?"

Ryou looked thoughtful. "Dare," he said softly.

Joey blinked. From Ryou he would have expected a truth. "Um, okay. Ya have ta pick one person in dis room, an it can't be Bakura, an it can't be me. Go inta dat closet," he said pointing too the coat closet by the door. It was easily large enough for two people if you were good friends. "An ya don' have ta do anything, but ya have ta throw yer underwear out here, an stay in dere fer seven minutes."

Ryou's eyes widened. He turned and looked at Bakura, as if asking for permission. Bakura shrugged and attempted to look as if he didn't care. Ryou climbed out of his lover's lap. "Yugi?" he asked.

Yugi nodded, standing and following Ryou towards the closet. He let Ryou in first. Turning, Yugi smirked at Yami before shutting the closet door.

It was dark inside the closet, as Yugi dropped his pants. He could hear Ryou doing the same. A moment later, two pairs of boxers dropped out the crack in the closet door, and then the crack snapped shut.

*****

Glaring at the closed door, Yami kept a very close watch on his bond with Yugi. He sensed impatience from his hikari. Suddenly, faint surprise washed over Yugi, then reluctance, then acceptance. And Yami was cut off, he could sense no more.

Yami was shocked at first. A low moan sounded from inside the closet. He jumped to his feet. I'm hearing things. The sound came again, louder this time, causing Bakura to sit up straight in his chair. No I'm not.

Growling, Yami ran over to the closet and threw the door open, and was shocked by the site that met his eyes.

*****

Now that both boys had pulled their pants back on, Ryou leaned over to whisper in Yugi's ear. "You know, we could really piss off your Yami."

In the very faint light, he could see Yugi's eyes widen in surprise. "Ryou, I-"

Ryou covered his mouth. "He felt you be surprised, and reluctant, now accept and cut him off. We don't need to do anything. Let his mind fill the gaps."

Yugi grinned, finally understanding. He cut Yami off, and Ryou pulled away to lean on the opposite closet wall. Closing his eyes, he moaned softly.

"A little louder Ryou," Yugi whispered. Ryou complied, and the pounding of feet was heard. The door was thrown open, letting in light.

*****

Yugi stood leaning against the wall, completely clothed, minus his underwear which were on the floor, but that wasn't outwardly apparent. His arms were crossed and he was glaring at Yami. "So, you're allowed to kiss another man, but I'm not?"

Yami was shocked again, unable to complete a sentence. "I-, Yugi, I mean, I-."

Yugi suddenly grinned, and it was then that Yami realized he had been tricked. He stopped stuttering, finally actually seeing Ryou, who was bent over in laughter on the other side of the closet. "You little sneak," he shook his head. "I should have known."

Yugi stepped out of the closet and into his yami's arms. "Yes you should have," he said softly kissing Yami on the nose.

Ryou looked up at Joey. "Do we have to stand in here in the dark for another five minutes?" Joey shook his head. "Good." Ryou pushed Yugi the rest of the way out of the closet, bent down to pick up his underwear, and shut the closet door again. A moment later he emerged, and Yugi popped back in.

Ryou settled back down in Bakura's lap. "Now, Seto, truth or dare?"

"Truth," Seto said quickly. He didn't think he would be able to handle a dare like that with Joey.

Ryou's shoulders fell in disappointment. "You're no fun. Alright then, Seto. Are you a virgin?"

Every head turned to look at Seto as every person present realized they really didn't know the answer to this question.

Seto blushed. "Ah, yes, and no."

"What do you mean yes and no?" Bakura spat. "Have you had sex or not?"

"Well, ah, yes."

"Then why did you say no?"

"I've never had sex with a guy."

They blinked. "You had sex with a girl?" Yami exclaimed, catching Seto off guard.

"Hey, I'm not gay!" Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Joey's eyes go wide in shock, the color draining out of his face before being quickly replaced as he flushed. "I'm bi," Seto added quickly, before Joey could get the wrong idea.

"So what was she like?" Ryou asked, leaning forward.

"Ryou!" Joey exclaimed.

"Aw, come on, Joey, I wanna know. Tell us Seto, who was she, how'd it happen?"

Seto ran a hand through his hair. "She was my secretary," he muttered. They sat and waited for him to continue. "I found out later she was just trying to get a pay raise. I fired her." He shrugged. "I guess you could say she seduced me. She was really pretty, I was fifteen, she was eighteen." He avoided their eyes.

"Seto," Yugi said quietly. "She stole your virginity?"

Seto nodded, not looking up. Joey was caught, he didn't know what to do. He wanted nothing more then to go over there and comfort Seto, but didn't know if the stolid boy would let him.

Casually, Yami reached behind Joey, and shoved him off the couch toward the chair in which Seto sat. Tripping over his feet, Joey fell, right into the surprised Seto's lap.

Joey glared hard at Yami, before looking sheepishly up into Seto's sapphire eyes. "Sorry," he muttered

Seto smiled. "No problem puppy, though I hadn't realized you were such a lapdog.

Joey's mahogany eyes darkened to chocolate, but then his face broke in a smile. "I guess I can't pound ya fer callin' me tha anymore."

Yugi watched anxiously as Joey and Seto stared into each other's eyes. They remained like that for a very long moment. Suddenly Joey coughed into his hand to end the silence and stood up, taking his seat back on the couch.

Yugi groaned inwardly. /They are impossible!/

Yami chuckled into his mind. //They are fine, koi, give it time.//

"Seto, go," Yugi growled, something that was very unlike him.

"Okay then Yugi, truth or dare?"

"Dare," he responded without a pause. He was in a rather bad mood, and that made him courageous.

Seto thought on it for a long moment. A look crossed his face. Standing and motioning for Yugi to fallow, he walked out of the room. A few minutes later, they returned, Yugi with a slight pink tinge on his cheeks.

"Um, my dare takes some time. So, while we're waiting, let's make dinner, okay? Joey, you like to cook, you take over, we'll help."

Joey and Seto started to prepare dinner. Joey was cooking, but Seto knew the kitchen, and had to help him find supplies. They reached for the salt at the same time, causing their hands to connect. It was a classic as they both blushed, and smiled, then looked away. Yugi growled under his breath.

/A perfect opportunity for Seto to grab him and kiss him senseless, but no./

//Why has this got you so worked up, Aibou?//

/I just want Joey to be happy./

Yugi and Ryou were setting the table. Yugi looked up at the chocolate eyed boy and blushed slightly. He cut Yami discretely out of his mind. "Ryou?" he asked under his breath. Ryou looked at him questioningly. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Confused, Ryou nodded, following Yugi out of the kitchen. Yugi led them down the hallway into Seto's room. "Yugi, what's wrong?" Ryou asked.

Yugi started to shut the door, but on second thought left it open a few inches. Blushing hotly, he turned to face Ryou.

*****

Seto watched as Yugi and Ryou walked out of the room. Distracted, the knife he had been cutting onions with slipped, slicing his finger. He swore loudly, hiding his finger in his other palm.

"What is it Seto?" Joey asked.

"I cut myself. Yami, Bakura, there's a first aid kit in the bathroom connected to my room. Could you two run in and get it quick? Damit, it's bleeding pretty bad."

Yami nodded quickly, grabbing Bakura, and dragging him out of the room.

*****

Yugi walked over and stood in front of Ryou, breaking their eye contact, and looking at the floor. "Ryou, we've been friends for a really long time right?"

"Yes," he answered slowly.

"And we should tell each other everything, right?" He waited for Ryou to answer.

"Yes."

"Well, there's something that I've been meaning to tell you for a very long time, and I thought this trip would be perfect."

*****

Quickly, Yami led Bakura down the hall. It wasn't until then that he wondered just why he needed Bakura's help to get the first aid kit. He dropped Bakura's arm as they reached the door, but voices from inside caused him to pause before he opened it.

It was Ryou and Yugi. What were they doing back here? Curious, he forgot Seto's injury for a moment, as did Bakura, and they leaned toward the crack in the door to listen.

"... thought this trip would be perfect. Ryou, I-, I find you very attractive. In fact, I've been attracted to you since before I met Yami. I've tried to ignore it, but I just can't anymore."

Yami felt the color fall out of his face, as his heart fell out of his chest. Bakura just looked confused. "Ryou, I know you have Bakura, but just once, can, could I kiss you?"

There was a stunned pause from Yami, Bakura, and Ryou. "Y- Yugi, I- I don't know what to say-"

"Once Ryou, just once, so I could remember it, please. I want you so bad."

"I, guess, just once-"

There was a loud bang as Bakura slammed the door open, causing Ryou and Yugi to turn, and stare wide eyed.

"I'm going to pound you to a pulp!" Bakura screamed, advanced towards Yugi who backed away with fear all over his face.

"You will not!" Yami shouted, jumping in between Bakura and his hikari.

Bakura stopped short, staring at Yami with wild eyes. "He just admitted he loves my hikari! And yet you still defend him?"

"I love him," answered the heartbroken Yami. "And I will continue to do so no matter if he loves me or not."

Yugi was torn between bursting into laughter or bursting into tears. In then end, he managed to do both, falling to the ground, laughing and crying. Shocked, the other three turned to look at him. "It was a dare!" he managed to get out between sobs/laughs. Controlling himself, he sat up, smiling with tears running down his face. "Seto dared me to tell Ryou I wanted him, and let you two overhear it."

Yugi looked up at Ryou. "I love you to death, Ryou, but I do not want you. I am touched, however, that you would have let me kiss you."

"I can't BELIEVE you would have let him kiss you!"

"He's my friend!" Ryou shouted back. "I know what it feels like to think the one you love doesn't return your feelings. When I thought you hated me, do you know what one kiss would have meant to me, even if you didn't want it?" Ryou looked at Yugi. "I am very glad that it isn't true though."

Yami fell to the floor beside Yugi. Yugi looked up at him. "I love you more now then ever, Yami. I can't believe you would do that for me."

Yami smiled. "I would do anything for you, koi."

"Forgive me?"

"You I forgive. Seto, I do not." Yugi jumped on Yami, surprising him, and hugging him hard.

"I love you so much!" And he stopped blocking Yami from his mind, reassuring him that it was in fact true.

*****

"Seto, lemme see." Joey walked over, and pulled Seto's finger out of his hand. There wasn't any blood, there wasn't any cut. He looked up at Seto's face in question.

"Shhh, listen." At that moment, Bakura started to yell.

Once Seto had explained what he had done, Joey shook his head. "Yami's gonna kill ya."

"He'll want to, but he won't. Besides, it's nice to hear them having some problems for once, even if it only lasted a moment. They never fight, it's aggravating."

*****

Looking around the room, Yugi noticed something. They had left Joey and Seto in the kitchen alone.

Grinning, he set out down the hall, quickly but silently. He signaled for the other's to remain where they were. Peeking around the corner, he couldn't believe his eyes.

His shoulders slumped. They were both cooking! Hardly noticing that they were alone together for the first time since this morning! /THEY ARE IMPOSSIBLE!/

//Don't yell, I'm in your head, I can hear you.//

Yugi growled, stomping out into the kitchen, and plopping in a chair. Seto looked up at him. "They aren't mad at you, are they?"

"No, but we're all mad at you," Yugi responded, "for various reasons," he added under his breath.

Yugi's bad mood lingered throughout the surprisingly silent meal. When the meal was over, Yugi broke the silence. "Joey, truth or dare?"

Joey stood up, and motioned for them to all move back into the sitting room, leaving the dishes where they were for the time being. "Dare," he answered, sitting down in his seat on the couch.

"GO FUCK SETO!" Yugi yelled, frustration finally getting the better of him. The five other boys stared. Yugi blushed suddenly, realizing what he had just said. "Or, um, give him a lap dance," he added sheepishly.

Seto, sitting in his chair, grew rather stiff. "Ah, Yug, are ya sure?"

"We know you know how," Ryou said smiling. "We went over it this morning."

"Ya, but," Joey shrugged. "Aw hell, like it can get any worse den it already has." He stood up, and walked over to Seto.

Seto bit his tongue. If Joey didn't stop moving like that... He took a deep breath, and though it eased the pressure growing in his chest, it did nothing for the pressure growing in other areas. Growling deep in his throat, he reached out, large hands taking hold of Joey's slender waist. He pulled the smaller boy down into his lap, and in a husky voice spoke into his ear.

"Hey puppy, what do you say we continue this in the room, hmm?"

Joey shivered in response to the spoken invitation, but nodded anyway. Yugi watched them walk out of the room with his mouth falling open. There was the sound of a door closing, and locking.

"Well, guys, I'd say this game is over. I told you they were fine Aibou."

*****

Bakura ran the now damp towel over the wet dish. "How did we get stuck doing dishes?"

Ryou made a sound that acknowledged that he had heard Bakura, but didn't answer him. He plunged another dirty dish down into the soapy water. Humming, he washed it happily. "How can you be in such a good mood while cleaning?"

Ryou looked up at him. "I got to see you in those clothes all day long. And not only that, but I'm looking forward to seeing you out of them."

Bakura blinked. "Ryou, water makes you crazy. The beach, the rain, the shower, and even dishes. I don't get it."

"Water makes you grumpy. 'Till I cheer you up, anyway." He pushed the rest of the dishes into the water. "These can soak until morning. Let's go to bed."

*****

Yami dropped the last of his clothing on the floor. He waited for a moment for the water to reach the correct temperature before stepping into the shower. The water was relaxing. It had been a stressful day. What else could be expected when they were trapped inside?

Yami began to lather his hair, when a pair of small arms circled around his waist. Surprised, he jerked around to look into a pair of big amethyst eyes. "Yugi, what are you doing?" Not that he minded.

Yugi smiled sweetly. "I've been really evil to you today, and I want to make it up to you."

It never ceased to amaze Yami how Yugi could look so innocent and talk so, dirty. "You haven't been evil, koi, but I can't find it in my power to object."

"Then don't."

*****

Joey moved up against Seto, snuggling closer into the warmth and safety his lover provided. "Hey Set?" he whispered into the darkness.

"Hmm?" Seto asked, the blessed sleep of exhaustion already starting to claim him.

"Ya know wha' I like even more den ya sleepin' in silk pants?"

"What?"

"Ya sleepin' in no pants."

***** Day Three *****

Yugi woke up early. It had stopped raining. He cheered silently, his plan would work. Being very careful not to wake Yami, he slipped out from under the blankets.

He opened the door very softly, and moved out into the hall. He walked over to Bakura and Ryou's room, and slowly opened the door.

Bakura was a tomb raider, and therefore a light sleeper, and therefore Yugi couldn't help but wake him up.

"What do you want?" Bakura growled, sitting up. This woke Ryou, who looked up, and blinked sleepily at Yugi.

"I need Ryou's help for something."

"Does this something involve you kissing him?"

"No!"

"Bakura," Ryou said sitting up and yawning. "Get over yourself. Go back to sleep."

"I'll return him unmolested, I promise."

"See to it that you do," Bakura grumbled, laying back down. Still yawning, Ryou dressed quickly and followed Yugi out the door.

"What are we doing, Yugi?"

Yugi grabbed two very large shovels from the pile of beach toys.

*****

As Joey slowly drifted awake, the first thing he became aware of way the glorious, and gloriously naked, Seto behind him. Memories of the night before were still fresh, and he smiled contentedly. Seto still had an arm wrapped around him. Joey shifted closer, causing Seto to wake up slowly.

Joey grabbed the sheet, and pulled it over his head, giggling. Seto opened his eyes, and looked down at the mound if the covers that was Joey. "Oh no," he whispered. "Oh where, oh where has my little dog gone?" Joey giggled again, something he only did when he was in a very good mood. "Oh where, oh where can he be? With his hair cut short and his d-"

"Seto!"

"-cut long. Where oh where could he be?"

"Come find me."

Seto reached up, and pulled the sheets down to reveal Joey's smiling face. "Morning, Pup."

"Don' call me dat," Joey said, before leaning up to kiss Seto.

"Mmm," Seto said once the broke apart. "I think I will. Pup. It suits you."

"It does not," Joey growled. He looked up at Seto with big eyes. "Please?"

"See, there you go with puppy eyes, growling, and begging. It suits you. My pup."

Seto kissed Joey, and Joey found his resolve melting. "Well, as long as I'm yer pup," he mumbled against Seto's lips.

*****

Yugi followed Ryou inside and pulled the door shut behind him. "There's a linen closet in the back of the hall, Yugi. I'm sure there's a sheet you can use in there."

"Thank you so much, Ryou. How can I repay you?"

Ryou ran a hair through his hair. "Normally, I would tell you to forget about it, but I didn't get a chance to finish the dishes last night, and right now I really need a shower."

"Consider it done. I want to wait a while before I wake Yami anyway."

"Thank you."

"You deserve it. Go shower, I know sand irritates your skin."

Ryou walked back into his and Bakura's room. Bakura was still asleep, tangled in the sheets on the bed. "Kura?" Ryou asked. He never dared to use that name in front of people. Bakura would beat him senseless.

"Hmm?"

"I'm really sandy, so I'm going to go take a shower."

"Whatever," came the grumpy reply.

Ryou stood there for another moment. "Do you want to join me?"

"No."

Ryou rolled his eyes, stripping off his clothing as he made his way towards the bathroom. "Boys! I am so glad I'm the girl in this relationship."

"I'm glad too!" came a shout from the bed. "I like being on top!"

"Bull Bakura, you just like to hold me down."

Bakura's face popped into the bathroom. "Have you ever seen how incredibly hot you are when you're being held down and thrashing?"

Ryou chuckled as he turned on the water.

*****

Yami's eyes blinked slowly open, but all he met was darkness. He sat up quickly. //Yugi!// He didn't like the dark. It was too much like being in the puzzle.

"I'm right here, Yami," Yugi said, wrapping his arms around his lover.

"I can't see!" Yami's hands flew up to his eyes. They met a soft black material, and only then did he realize he was blindfolded.

"Shh," Yugi soothed. "I want to surprise you. Now get up for me." Yami untangled himself from the sheets and stood up. Yugi pressed a robe into his hands, which he pulled on.

"Aibou, I don't like this."

"Trust me, please?" Yami nodded, calming slightly. Yugi was right here, there was nothing to worry about.

Small hands took hold of his waist, and propelled him forward. Yami let himself be led, putting complete trust in his hikari. The hands tightened, and pulled him back, keeping him from taking another step. One hand let go and reached around him. He heard the door open. The hand returned to his side, and he was led forward, and then to the right.

Yami knew they reached the kitchen when he felt the tile under his feet. "Can I look now?"

Yugi chuckled. "No, not yet."

They reached the sitting room. The ground was carpet. Yugi's hand left his side again, and he heard another door open. "We're going outside?" Yami exclaimed.

"Trust me, Yami."

Yami nodded, allowing Yugi to lead him out onto the porch. "Okay, Yami, three inches from your right foot is the first step. I'm going to let go and stand in front of you. Step down slowly." Yami took the step with care, while Yugi's hands held tight to his waist from the front. "Perfect. Next one. Good. Another. One more. Last one. Great, you're on the ground." He moved back behind Yami again and started to lead him foreword. A few feet later, Yugi stopped him again.

Yami felt Yugi take his hand, and place it down on the wall. "Here's the wall, Yami, can you get over it?"

"I can get over it, but can you chibi ichi?"

His answer was the sound of Yugi pulling himself up, and landing in the sand on the other side. Yami pulled himself up onto the wall. Getting here was no problem, but now he would have to jump off.

"Don't jump, Yami, sit down, and I'll slide you off." Yami nodded. He knew the sand was there, but it was still frightening to jump when you couldn't see.

"This better be good, koi," Yami muttered as he felt sand under his feet.

"Oh, I think you'll like it." He started to lead Yami, but he couldn't tell in which direction, because he was all turned around now. Yugi held him still, telling him to stop. "We're here, but don't look yet." Yugi's hands left his waist, leaving Yami feeling alone. He couldn't tell by noise what Yugi was doing. He could hear the waves crashing some distance away.

Yugi was behind him again, untying the blindfold. The bright sun made Yami's eyes water, and it took a moment of adjustment before he was able to see. Looking down, he saw a very large hole in the sand, already half covered with a sheet.

Shocked, he looked at Yugi, who smiled at him. "I wanted to finish making it up to you."

"Yugi, I, you didn't have to do this."

"Oh, but I wanted to. Get in." Carefully, Yami climbed down into the large hole, before reaching up to help Yugi down. Once in the hole, Yugi finished pulling the sheet the rest of the way across, dimming the bright morning light.

Yami smiled at him. "I don't deserve you."

Yugi blushed slightly. For several moments neither said a word. "When we get home," Yami spoke suddenly through heavy breathing. "I'm going to chain you to the wall."

*****

Joey lay on his back, staring up at the ceiling. Seto was on his side, propped up with one arm, looking down on Joey, and using his other hand to trace lazy patterns on the blonde's bare chest.

"We have to go home today," Joey said sadly.

"Not until the afternoon though."

Joey looked into Seto's eyes, apprehension flooding his face. "When, when we get home, does this have to end?"

Seto blinked. "Why would you think that?"

Joey blushed, looking away. "Well, you have to keep up appearances. You always have reporters following you anymore. You have to be a role model for Mokuba. I'm sure he doesn't know."

"Joey, stop." Seto turned Joey's face so he was forced to look him in the eyes. "I don't give a damn about appearances. The reporters can go to hell. As for Mokuba, he's the one that made me admit that I had feelings for you. He knew it before I did. And besides," he added, his voice softening. "I love you, and nothing else matters."

Joey felt his heart jump into his throat. "I- Say it again please."

Seto smiled, bending down to kiss Joey's forehead. "I love you."

"I love you too."

"I know."

*****

Ryou walked out of the bathroom, and looked up at Bakura, who was just finishing dressing by adding his collar. "You look so damn sexy like that," Ryou said enviously.

Bakura looked up at Ryou, who had a towel fastened around his waist. "You look pretty damn sexy like that." Ryou laughed softly, digging into his suitcase for fresh clothing. "So what did Yugi want this morning?"

"He needed help digging a hole."

Bakura rolled his eyes. "I suppose that means Yami will be asking to borrow my chains soon."

"Oh, be nice Bakura. He's just showing him how much he loves him." His voice was aggravated, as he threw shirts around his suitcase with more force then necessary. Bakura's eyebrows raised. He walked over to his hikari, looking over his shoulder.

"Can't find something?"

"I'm fine," Ryou growled, picking a random shirt.

Bakura grabbed Ryou's hands, and forced the shorter boy to turn and look at him. "You know I love you, right?"

Ryou looked down at the floor. "I know that," he said softly. He shook his head. "I know that. It's just, it's nice to hear it once in a while. Like yesterday, when you did this," Ryou said tracing one of Bakura's armbands. "You even admitted you were in pain, something you never do. You were going though all that for me, and yet, you never said it. Sometimes it feels like it's all about sex. Never mind, I'm just being stupid." Ryou tried to pull away, but Bakura held him still.

Bakura leaned in, and started sucking lightly on the skin just below Ryou's ear. Ryou stopped trying to move. Bakura moved his mouth up to Ryou's ear. "I love you,"

"I know."

"I love you," he repeated. "I may be an insensitive pain in the ass, and if I were you, I'd beat the shit out of me, but I still love you. I can't understand how somebody like you would put up with an ass like me."

Ryou smiled at his yami. "Because when you do say things like that, you mean it."

*****

Seto shut the trunk with a snap. "Are you sure you don't mind, Yami?"

"Mind? No. I'd love to drive. Yugi sits up front with me though."

"I'll see you all later." In a flash, Bakura was gone, merging with Ryou. Ryou, Seto, and Joey crawled into the back seat, while Yugi got up front with Yami. There was enough room for Bakura to sit with up front too, but it would have meant separating him from Ryou.

Joey and Seto seemed to have forgotten that such a thing as seat belts existed. Seto was sitting sideways in the seat, taking up both his and Joey's seat, which really didn't matter, as Joey was sitting on top of him. They seemed to be fighting a war with their tongues.

"Ryou, on second thought, why don't you sit up here?" Nodding, Ryou climbed over the seat to sit beside Yugi. "I'll watch over you if you want to leave."

Ryou looked up gratefully, then leaned back and relaxed.

Yami started the car, and Yugi snuggled up against him. Joey and Seto were now taking up the whole back seat. Ryou's eyes had clouded over, which meant that he had retreated to his, or more likely Bakura's, soul room.

Yugi enjoyed the silent ride home through the late afternoon sun, the wind in his hair. He and Yami didn't speak, but it didn't matter. Their link was completely open, and they could follow each other's thoughts if they felt the desire to do so.

Before too long, they arrived home, slowing and stopping beside Tristan and Tea, who appeared to be waiting for them. Tea ran up to the side of the car. "Did you guys have fun?" (Yami Ykarzel: DIE DIE DIE!!! Hikari Ykarzel: Yami...)

"We had a blast," Yugi answered, smiling.

"What's wrong with Ryou?" she asked.

"He's in his soul room. I expect he'll be back soon."

"Where's Joey?" Tristan asked, approaching the car. (Yami Ykarzel: DIE DIE DIE!!! Hikari Ykarzel: Shut it!)

Grinning, Yugi pointed to the back seat, where Joey was still eating Seto's face. Tristan looked over the side of the car, his eyes going wide. "Oh God."

"You didn't know he was gay either then?" Yugi asked, climbing out of the car. Tristan shook his head, still shocked.

Yami reached in the back seat, grabbing Joey's shoulder and yanking him away from Seto. "We're here," he told the two boys when they glared. Joey grinned sheepishly, climbing off Seto and getting out of the car, blushing when he saw Tea and Tristan staring at him.

Seto jumped over the edge of the car, landing on the sidewalk. "Set, ya always tell me ta use da door," Joey scolded, grinning.

Seto snaked his arms around Joey's waist, pulling him closer, and bending down to speak into his ear. "Want to spend the night at my place, Pup?"

"Mmmhmm," Joey answered, closing his eyes and smiling at the shivers Seto's voice sent down his spine.

Ryou blinked suddenly, looking around, and getting out of the car.

Yugi looked over at Joey and Seto. "Seto, my house is only a block from here. We can walk there from here, and then I'll take Ryou and Bakura home. Let us get our bags, then you two can leave now."

Seto looked up, "You don't mind?"

"Nah, go ahead. I'm sure Mokuba's waiting to see you, and I'm sure he will be overjoyed to see Joey."

"That's an understatement. Let me pop the trunk. While they're getting their stuff, Pup, let's go over what we do and do not do in front of my brother."

Joey rolled his eyes, but leaned against the car to listen. Tea covered her ears with her hands, trying to get the pictures out of her head. Yugi giggled as Seto elaborated on what was considered 'appropriate' touching.

Yami shut the trunk again, just as Seto finished his list. "Have ya eva considered sendin' Mokuba ta boardin' school?" Joey asked hopefully. At Seto's death glare, he grinned. "I'm jus' kiddin'. I won' corrupt yer brotha, Set, I promise."

Seto opened the door to the front seat, climbing in front of the wheel. "A word to the wise, Joey," Tristan said as he opened the passenger side for his friend. "Try not to distract him while he's driving."

"I'll try," Joey said with a grin. "I don' know how successful I'll be," he finished as the car started. He leaned over and whispered something into Seto's ear.

"Are you trying to kill us?" Seto squeaked. Joey chuckled, pulling away from Seto, and fastening his seat belt. As the car drove away, Bakura appeared, causing both Tea and Tristan to stare.

"What happened to you?" Tristan asked, referring to Bakura's change in appearance.

Bakura grinned. "Just making my hikari happy." Ryou blushed. Bakura bent over, picking up both his bags and Ryou's. "Let's go, I want to get home. Sex in the soul room just isn't the same."

Tea blanched, covering her ears again. "We'll walk you to Yugi's," Tristan said, ignoring Bakura's comment.

"Hey Bakura," Yami said. "Do you have any chains I can barrow?" Yugi flushed deep red.

Tea looked at Tristan. "I'm so glad we decided not to go." He nodded.

***** End *****

Hikari Ykarzel: Okay everybody! Get out your Yami! The author's note starts now, cause I wanna post!

Az: Did somebody say Yami?

Yami Ykarzel: Here it goes...

Hikari Ykarzel: First I get to say all the crap about who you guys are and why you are here... Shadowed Halo, Hilde7085, and Lady Rose are my very best friends! Azzy is Halo's yami. She has a male yami, she is intelligent.

Yami Ykarzel: Hey!

Hikari Ykarzel: Sim is Hilde's yami, and he is also male. Smart Hilde. Sim and Hilde could not be here, very sorry.

Yami Ykarzel: You know you love me as a girl. You don't need another guy in your head...

Hikari Ykarzel: Hehe. You know I love you yami. Dark Rose is Lady Rose's yami. They can be found at their full pen name Dark Lady Rose, but they haven't written anything yet... Shadowed Halo is also a pen name, but she hasn't posted... I've read it though and it's really good! So now you know who everybody is, and now I ask everybody to introduce themselves. Everybody, introduce yourselves...

Dark Rose: I can't believe I'm doing this.

Halo: Um, hi!

Lady Rose: Hello!

Dark Rose: ......Hi.

Lady Roes: Oh, lighten up!

Azzy: Hehehe! Time to come out and annoy all the readers!

Halo: Az, stop making a moron out of yourself -.-'

Yami Ykarzel: You should all know me by now...

Hikari Ykarzel: ^_^"

Az: But not me!

Lady Rose: Or me!

Hikari Ykarzel: So, yeah, this is everybody. Everybody, please claim your ideas...

Dark Rose: I don't want to claim anything in this story!

Lady Rose: It's all my doing!

Halo: Hee! I wanna claim Ryou and Bakura! (But that's just cuz they're mine.)

Azzy: Are all yours?

Halo: Well, ... I suppose I could share...

Lady Rose: Between me and my dark half, I did all the planning for this story. Dark Rose just came along for the ride.

Yami Ykarzel: Yeah, I know the feeling.

Hikari Ykarzel: Lady Rose, you have a bunch of things in here...

Az: Do I?

Lady Rose: I'm responsible for Yami's hole.

Yami Ykarzel: Actually, that originated from a sick fantasy of mine...

Hikari Ykarzel: But it was Lady Rose's idea to use it!

Halo: The phrase 'pick on the puppy day' is all mine! And the idea to shove two people in a closet and make then throw their clothes out...

Lady Rose: The oatmeal licking was me. And Bakura's swim shorts. And burying Bakura in the sand.

Hikari Ykarzel: See, Rose and I came up with the idea for this story together. Credit should be given completely to her.

Dark Rose: That's what she thinks.

Lady Rose: I do not think I did everything!

Yami Ykarzel: You wrote it Hikari.

Hikari Ykarzel: Yea, I spose, but Rose did most of it. Well, the chains were my best one.

Shadowed Halo: But Hilde and I are the reason you kept writing; so you could bring it in to school and see our faces everyday.

Hikari Ykarzel: VERY TRUE. Hehe, my science class thinks you guys are crazy.

Lady Rose: I'm actually responsible for very little.

Hikari Ykarzel: OMG, you are the whole reason the story exists.

Dark Rose: Who is she kidding?! She just wants you to say things like that to make her feel better about herself!

Lady Rose: Oh shut up.

Yami Ykarzel: You know, I think I kinda like you, Dark Rose.

Dark Rose: Thanks.

Yami Ykarzel: And seeing how I hate Az, that's kinda odd. Maybe it's cause you are the other female yami.

Az: *growl* Well, I don't care, so nyah!

Shadowed Halo: Be nice dumbass, they already don't like you.

Az: Then what's the point of trying?

Hikari Ykarzel: My yami doesn't really hate you.

Dark Rose: I only like Yami Ykarzel

Shadowed Halo: Poor Hikari...

Lady Rose: Dark Rose, didn't I tell you to shut it?!

Hikari Ykarzel: It's okay, Rose likes me, and Halo likes me, I don't need their yamis.

Az: We should start a peggy hater club.

Hikari Ykarzel: Well that was really random. But speaking of clubs! We are starting the CAA!! What is the CAA you ask? Citrus Addicts Anonymous! I am the president, just um, because I've been reading lemons since I was eleven. Rose is the vice president, just cause, she is. Halo is the secretary, cause she writes them the best!!!! If you want to join, send me and E-mail with your name and AGE. The main point is to find out that no, you are not sick if you are under seventeen and reading lemons... I am kinda considering a sequel to this if you liked it. It will really have very little to do with the beach, it would just mostly be about what happens to Seto and Joey after this, so let me know if you want it. Let me know if you want me to make Yami write the missing scenes. There are like, twelve missing lemons... I'm also working on a fluffy little thing called Chocolate. But we're outta here. Say goodbye everybody.

Lady Rose: Bye bye.

Black Rose: Thank God, let's leave.

Shadowed Halo: Bye everybody, please don't associate me with Az.

Az: Hey, you know what? I- *Shadowed Halo yanks him away from the computer*

Shadowed Halo: Let's just assume that he was going to say goodbye.

Yami Ykarzel: Thank God they're gone.

Hikari Ykarzel: Shut up Yami.

Yami Ykarzel: Don't tell me to shut up!

Hikari Ykarzel: What crawled up your ass today?

Yami Ykarzel: YOU'VE BEEN IGNORING ME!

Hikari Ykarzel: Awww, I'm sorry. I gotta go apologize. She really does love me, she just won't admit it. Please review, they make my day!