Just trying to find my place

Though - he had been taking care of himself for years already, now did he not.

Chewing on the food, Ryou took a look around, just now seeming to notice the other where gone as well. He wonders if he overheard them asking him to come alone, or maybe they just left him for looking busy. Worst case, they just didn't want him around or didn't consider asking him, but he would rather not think like that.

That and Heba still being here kinda proved otherwise, now did it not?

"mhm, creative writing sort of. I'm brainstorming some ideas for a TTRPG campaign I'm working on. I got some ideas for abilities and species, so I wanted to note that down before I forget." Ryou explains, as soft as his voice was, his passion was rather obvious in the way his eyes shine.

Ryou loved all kinds of games, similar to Yugi, but working on his own world and creature will always be the best. Not that he doesn't adore Duel Monsters.

As he finished a sip from his drink, he gave Heba a small smile, realizing that the other might not even fully understand what he was talking about. Ryou was used to being able to bring it up casually with the others, having played those games with their group or just Yugi, before.

"They were about to ask, but noticed you were busy," he shared with a smile as he set down his lunch. And upon opening it up, he offered one of the two onigiri inside. To hear Yugi tell it, the whitenette before him had quite the appetite too.

He took the other for himself and distractedly took a bite as he honed in on what he was being told, eyes brightening as the topic of games came up. That seemed to be something that not just he and Yugi had in common, but the whole friend group.

"I've never played before, but I've heard of it. Its something like D&D right?"

He may not have had anyone to play games like those with back in Egypt, but being a game lover, he'd discovered a lot of different types as he'd looked them up. Even playing duel monsters had been - embarrassingly enough - just imaginary opponents as he worked to strategize and win.

That wasn't entirely true though, was it? He'd had the occasional duel against people out in public. Not anything crazy or official like here in Japan though, just a one on one match. Since coming here, he'd even had the chance to duel his brother and consequently was wiped out relatively easy by his twin. The memory of which had a proud smile again curve his lips up.

And finally, he sees the nod, but he wasn't foolish enough to believe he'd actually "passed" the test. Not yet. After all... he still had hurt his partner when he left. And he still had a ways to go to make up for that, and now it seemed it would be to both of them in a sense. Sure, not for the same reason, but...

"Good, it seems then that we have an understanding.. For now."

Which whether Atem knew it or not, that earned him some points with Heba. Points in the former king's favor that is. When it came down to the brass tax, there was no one more important than his brother. And it was for that reason that the other man was getting grilled now, tested.

All to see if he truly stood firm with, Yugi or if his brother was just hyping him up. After all, his twin was the type to see the good in most everyone and hand out second and even third and fourth chances. All without a care at the time for his own heart and how betrayal would hurt him.

That was why - even though Atem had passed the first round - there were indeed others to come. After all a person could say one thing all day long and do something entirely different when it came down to it. So it wasn't just questions he'd be getting, Heba was going to be watching him closely for a while.

Ryou was typing away on his laptop while also taking Notes, or making small doodles in the notepad at the same time.

Lost in his work, he didn't even notice Heba approaching until he spoke, making the white-haired male look up. A blink, it took a moment for Ryou before realization dawned on him.

"oh..ahah" he chuckled nervously, a hand moving through his white hair " ahh, I got lost in my writing again, didn't I. heh"

"Thank you, Heba, I appreciated it"

"Nah, I'm only just getting hungry. Mom makes sure we're up and well fed before we come to school," he replied as he moved sit backwards in the chair in front of Ryou's desk.

Yugi and his group of other friends had already gone up to the roof or down to the quad. He wasn't sure which and was glad he'd had the foresight to look busy so he wasn't asked to join them. He assumed that's what Ryou had done too, with the exception that he was actually busy.

Besides, he had a lunch their mom packed for him too. He just wasn't hungry enough to dig into it yet. On top of that, Yugi's other friends were a bit...much for his tastes. He could only handle them in small doses. Crowds weren't really his cup of tea anyway.

@darkenedtogray Said: From what he understood, Yugi tended to think little of himself even more over time. Not just because of the bullies from his past, though that was the major reason. Another had to do with the fact that it turned out they were both princes of some kind.

Rather than giving his brother a boost of much needed ego, it seemed to have done the opposite. He was once again pulled free of his thoughts a moment later though and found himself snickering. And even after the amusement faded, the smirk remained.

He agreed, it was stupid how people could pick on who they deemed as weak. And for what? Some sick thrill? Psychos all of them.

"A few of them have mistaken me for him. They learned the hard way that we're twins," he shared, a pleased and smug smirk curling his lips up.

That smirk remained as well even when he arched a brow and turned his full attention to the dog man beside him. It seemed he'd been right about him getting it. Lived experience maybe? He could see that in today's world. A guy that looked like him would have a lot of heads turning.

"That's a generous offer for a complete stranger," he couldn't help but point out. "But sure, if you're ever in Domino and see a guy that looks like me, but paler, that's my brother."

For some reason, it made him think of his own brother.

Or, half brother. They still hadn't spoken. They weren't (quite literally) at each other's throats anymore, but they still hadn't spoken. He wasn't sure he'd ever be ready to talk to him. Just the thought, what was it like to have a protective brother? A brother who went this far out of his way to help you out? And this guy was a twin, so they must have been the same age. Sesshomaru was his older brother. ...Half brother. Was it different to be related someone by full blood? Would Sesshomaru had been protective of him, if he were a older half demon brother?

...Well. None of these thoughts matter. Can't change what is.

The way this man spoke, Inuyasha wasn't sure how to take the expression, and tone. Yeah, scaring people was fine when they were doing bad things. Pushing them down was as far as this half demon would go, he'd never harm a human. He protected them. When they did stupid things like that, a rough shove was all they would get. Or a smack to the head, that was pretty effective too. Wasn't actual harm, just a show they needed to cut what they were doing to someone out. But he never smirked about it.

Inuyasha didn't take pleasure in hurting others, quite the opposite. Although... he'd never deny the thrill of slicing through a demon threatening the lives of others. That was a different subject entirely, demons didn't follow the same mindset as humans. For him, it was a constant struggle, a strong feeling of both mindsets. That's what it meant to be of mixed blood.

That's not weird at all.

Frown softened, Inuyasha's expression was more stoic than anything else. No real emotion, didn't have any reason to show anything. Only a gaze from those golden eyes, nothing behind their depth. Maybe it was disinterest, he didn't really think about it. He could remember a description like that. Hard not to, when it was the exact same person he was looking at, only with paler skin.

"I don't call it generous, I call it doin' the right thing. Don't need a reason for doin' the right thing, ya just do it when it happens. Never heard of the place, but if I'm there, I'll keep my eyes, 'n ears out."

Speaking of...

"...Ya got anything of his on ya? Somethin' that smells like him. 'Cause that'd help me more than anything else. Gotta nose that can pick up an individual person's location if I know what they smell like."

The only one that he'd step in to take a blow for or deal blows of his own for was his twin. Yugi with his tender heart would likely never do it for himself, so that left it up to Heba to do it for him. And well, he'd only recently got his twin back. Like hell he'd let some psycho with a God complex or something do anything to take him away.

Apparently, it had been that way in his previous life too. It was a relief to know that carried over into this life too. There was a rage that burned hot and vicious through him when he saw him picked on or being hurt. But beyond it was a panic he couldn't explain. Truthfully a part of him was even afraid to explain it. What caused that soul deep panic in him was something he was almost afraid to discover.

As for his smirk about laying the hurt on someone. That was only because he knew that those people in particular wouldn't be back to cause more trouble for Yugi. Though he was brought free of his thoughts when he was asked about something that had his brother's scent on it.

"I have a bracelet he gave me.. But it may have more of my scent than his by now," he answered, but after a moment of hesitation, still took it off to offer to the dog man.

The mistakes he had made.

He didn't want to make those mistakes again. So he stood still, eyes softening when he had thought he meant his brother. Though a small smile tugged at his lips. "You remain twins? Even now… That… That is good," he said, nodding. A sort of comfort fell over his heart at that.

Knowing that these two were so interwtwined with one another that they found their way to be reincarnated still as not just brothers but twins. It was nearly impossible odds. But then, he shouldn't have expected anything different from these two.

They were always stubborn.

The tingle of magic and how the guy appeared as if from thin air told him that the man wasn't human anyway. But the way he spoke of he and his brother with such softness in his voice and eyes.. It had him stiffening further rather than relaxing.

"So you know me and Yugi obviously," he stated, the cogs in his brain already drawing conclusions.

No conclusions as to their familial ties or anything of that sort. But he wondered if this man had been a friend, maybe a vassal. Maybe even a family member of some kind like an uncle or even a man from another of the fae courts. Someone who had heard of their rebirth and came to see for himself.

But that just brought more questions. Wasn't Heba the heir back then? Why wait until now to show himself if he had known of he and Yugi's rebirth? He couldn't see his brother keeping it from any of them.

What the man said next had him concluding that this man was indeed family of some kind though. He knew of his protective nature toward his twin. Something he had apparently been in his first life as well. Rather than relax him, that had him even more tense though.

Only the family he had recently found had shown him what family love was supposed to be. But if this was the new heir to a throne neither he nor his brother truly wanted, he and Yugi could be seen as a threat of some kind. He wouldn't put it past Yugi not to tell him of such things for fear of worrying him. And well, fae were known to be tricksters if the mood struck them.

There's a blog named @/fucktrpc that's putting posts of dead animals in tags used for rpc. I'd recommend blocking that blog asap as they seem to be a troll blog looking to get some sick kicks.

"I've always had imposter syndrome, this isn't anything new," he muttered, starting to feel cornered, wanting the defensive feeling of needing to close himself off creeping up.

He sighed.

Atem looked at his fiance at Heba's answer. Oh, so it was this again? He should have known it was something like that. Aibou seemed to always struggle with this since he first learned of his first life as a prince. He had tried to help him through it too since learning of it himself, but it kept coming back..

And also there was barely anything that would have Heba staring Yugi down like he was now since their very first meeting. He had come to know that much from the fiery twin of his aibou. But rather than say anything on the topic, he sighed and turned to his partner completely.

"I'll leave you two to talk," he murmured to Yugi and bent to give him a short peck. "I'll just be in the living room, alright?"

Hopefully, Heba could finally get through to him where Atem couldn't. For now he went to sit on the sofa, just far enough to give them space, but also close enough to hear everything as he chose and opened a book.

As for the brother in question, Heba didn't even make a teasing comment as he normally would when the two of them displayed their affection for one another. But his frown at least softened as he too sighed and he went back to sit at the kitchen island.

"No I...I know," he sighed, pausing in tidying up for a moment. "It isn't that I don't like it. I mean, it's a bit much, even after the last couple years getting used to all...All this." He gestured to himself. "But it can be fun."

It would have them questioning and second guessing everything they thought they knew about their lives and about themselves. Heba should know. He's had that moment not once, but twice now in the matter of a few months in between. First finding out he had a family from Japan he didn't know about and a twin brother he didn't know existed until a chance meeting.

Then to find out the man he thought was his abusive father wasn't actually his father. Apparently a fae king was which made him half along with Yugi.

But not belonging here either? What kind of bullshit was that?

"Explain." That simple word brooked no argument, as his free hand clenched at his side. "How exactly do you not belong here, Yugi?"

It was that same moment that the door opened again and the once king stepped through it. And following the voices, found his fiance and his twin brother in the kitchen. And going by the tension in the air, looked back and forth between them.

"Is everything okay here?"