#batteryshipping

  Not that he often needed to. With very few exceptions, he could keep his things apart from his father’s, especially now that he was living in his own apartment, and he’d effectively spent his teen years being raised as an only child. He suspected that he could probably live with sharing if it were with Shizuka, but that was neither here nor there, and certainly wasn’t the problem at hand.

  The problem was the Lovebugs.

  The little alien visitors had been hanging around Domino for a good six months; long enough to spread their weird pheromones, to settle in to Earth life, and certainly long enough to pair off with him and his friends.

  Only the problem was, the Lovebugs shared everything.

  Apparently including boyfriends.

  Six months wasn’t long enough to convince Jyounouchi Katsuya that kissing his best friend’s usually-boyfriend was remotely normal.

  “Your kind is so strange,” Ryou chided him, happily draped across the couch--and his lap--while Jyounouchi tried desperately to play Shadow of the Colossus. If both Honda and Malik could beat it, so, too, could he. Which would have been a lot easier if the alien’s fluffy, peach-tipped wings would stop brushing against the backs of his hands. 

  Despite himself, Jyounouchi laughed at that--then swore loudly as Wander went tumbling over the edge of the Colossus he was trying to stab’s back, into the lake all over again. Fantastic. He’d just have to climb back up on the damn thing’s back, and…

  “Wait, hold on--you think we’re weird?” He asked incredulously, hiking an eyebrow up. Not that Ryou could see it through his messy bangs. “You… guys, you’re aliens that live off of love and have wings--that’s weird!”

  “You're aliens to us, too,” Ryou said cheerily, glad to have Jyounouchi’s attention back on him. He’d been patiently waiting long enough--and really, watching the blonde play games he’d already watched Honda play through was only so interesting. Twisting his body to get a better look at Jyounouchi, Ryou flashed a winning smile. Twin sparks of light travelled up each of his antennae. “You eating food and not having wings is weird to me, Jyou.”

  “Hey, hey…” Jyounouchi felt his cheeks darken in embarrassment. Distantly, he heard the sound of the door opening, but thought nothing of it. Malik and Honda came and went as they wished, and so did Yuugi and the prince of the Draconians. The blonde was used to that, at least.

  He wasn’t used to the way Ryou sometimes flushed when they made eye contact, or how easily the other male smiled--or the way it seemed to light up the room whenever he did. “But I like it,” Ryou was quick to add, pushing himself up on thin arms and completely blocking the TV in so doing. Jyounouchi looked like he might protest, and Ryou leaned in to press a quick kiss to his open mouth. “I like everything abut your kind, Jyou.”

  The Lovebugs gave out kisses like Santa gave out Christmas presents, but that didn’t stop Jyounouchi from blushing like it was something completely new. He still didn’t expect Honda’s mostly-boyfriend to turn around and kiss him.

  Behind him, someone chuckled, dark and low. “You’re always so surprised,” a voice purred, close to his ear, and Jyounouchi might have jumped out of his skin if Ryou’s weight hadn’t been enough to keep him in place.

  “Bakura!”

  Ryou looked less than thrilled to see the Draconian, but wore a smile all the same. Jyounouchi didn’t blame him. He wasn’t particularly thrilled about having parasitic aliens that were stronger than he was just hanging around, especially when they got hungry.

  But at least it wasn’t Jin.

  “You’re not invited,” Jyounouchi said, leaning away from the self-proclaimed Space Pirate King. Bakura made him uncomfortable on the best days, and today wasn’t likely to be one of those. Ryou leaned with him, resting his weight against the blonde’s opposite shoulder. The weight was unexpected, but hardly unpleasant, even if Ryou’s feathery antennae tickled his cheek.

  Bakura’s arm snaked around the back of the couch, mercifully bypassing Jyounouchi entirely. “I’ve never needed an invitation to anything,” he drawled, gripping Ryou’s long white hair at the base of his skull and tugging. Immediately, Ryou’s head tipped back, and a hand tangled itself in Jyounouchi’s t-shirt reflexively.

  The noise Ryou made next was one Jyounouchi knew all too well--it came from the back of his throat and was accompanied by the flutter of long eyelashes against flushed cheeks--and it brought color to his face. “Hey, hey!” he protested, shooting Bakura a sidelong glare that was ruined by his blush. He waved the controller at the white-haired Draconian menacingly. “I’m tryin’ to play, here!”