The Reluctant Thief King

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Tagged by: @starbrightbakura

👄– kissing them on their [forehead]

Ryou didn’t like being treated like a child. Everyone who had in the past had all had a patronizing air about them, or even worse, absolutely nothing - it had all started with his father, as most problems in his life seemed to, and had only gone downhill from there.

But this was different. This was his mother. … Sort of. He kept his eyes closed a moment longer, knowing the moment that he opened them, the illusion of his mother giving him a gentle kiss on the forehead would be dispelled.

“… Ahem.”

Reality would only wait so long, though. He let his eyes flutter open and, seeing the pitying look Necrofia wore as she always did every time one of their sessions came to an end, looked back down to the ouija board in front of them. At some point, his hands and the planchette had moved to GOODBYE.

“Sorry. I had to let her go,” she said, glancing at him uncertainly from the corner of her eye.

“… That’s fine. I know this tires you out. I appreciate it anyway. That was from her?”

“Yeah,” she said, stifling a yawn. “She could tell too. But she wanted to say a proper goodnight this time.”

He had felt the planchette move to spell a four-letter word. So that’s what it was. “Thanks for passing on the message. So… how much do I owe you this time?”

She waved a hand tiredly. “Forget it. You’ve come enough for the last few weeks - think of it as a reward for being such a loyal client. Besides,” she said, poorly hiding a grin behind another yawn, “now I can tell people I got to kiss Angry Ryou without him yelling at me.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose as he stood up. Ah, he was so stiff from sitting for so long. “Please don’t call me that.”

“Business-y Ryou, then.”

👗 – adjusting their clothes

“You’re not coming to the shareholder’s meeting looking like that.”

I shouldn’t be coming to the shareholder’s meeting at all, Ryou wanted to respond, but he held his tongue. Kaiba was his boss, and he knew damn well to act like it. Instead, he fidgeted awkwardly under Kaiba’s hard gaze and wondered what he had screwed up this time. 

Was it the wig? He had stringently gone over his pinned up hair, but maybe there was a few telltale white strands that would give him away under this long, blonde wig. Was it the suit? He had thought crimson was a bit bold, especially with the contrasting green brooch and pink cravat (honestly his sense of fashion wasn’t great, but even he knew this was outlandish at best), but considering he was acting as one of Seto ‘I have as many belts as dollar bills’ Kaiba’s entourage, he would be able to stay somewhat out of the limelight.

Kaiba let out a long, aggravated sigh and held out his hand. When Ryou gave him a questioning look, he intoned, “Wrist. Now.”

As soon as he had held out his arm, he saw twin flashes of metal. With a delicacy Kaiba normally saved for his favourite cards, he had held the ends of Ryou’s sleeve and fastened cufflinks emblazoned with the letters ‘KC’.

This time when he gestured to the other one, Ryou complied without needing to hear a word. Kaiba straightened up, admired his handiwork, and then looked him over with a much more satisfied look on his face.

“You might be here for observational purposes, but just by being in the same room as me you will be acting as a representative for my company. You will look your best.”

Throat dry, Ryou nodded wordlessly.

🖐 – high-fiving them

“What - ? No, that was not awesome!” Ryou hissed at a beaming spirit, thoroughly scandalized, holding his hand to his chest like it was on fire.

“Your sleight-of-hand is improving,” the spirit said, grinning and daring to tussle Ryou’s hair like a proud father. “He didn’t notice a thing. You’ve been learning after all.”

Somehow, this was even worse. Ryou looked like an angry cat, with the spirit’s rough hand adding even more volume to his hair. “Don’t congratulate me!” he snapped, shoving the stolen USB deep into his coat pocket. “I already feel bad about being a bloody criminal!”

“Shouldn’t have invited me along to watch, then.” Nothing Ryou said was going to damper his enthusiasm, apparently. The spirit had his arms clasped behind his head as he followed after, still grinning from ear to ear.

“To observe and act as back up in case I made a mistake!”

“Whatever you want to call it, Boss ~”

🤧 – (reverse) comforting them when crying

Ryou doesn’t know how Jounouchi found him. He certainly doesn’t remember telling him where he was staying for the brief few weeks he was in town, though he does vaguely remember at least giving him the apartment address at some point within the last year after reuniting. Was this the first time Jounouchi had attempted to visit him, or had he tried before when Ryou hadn’t been home? Was it just luck that Ryou was home today?

He supposed Jounouchi had always had a lucky streak when he needed it, and today, as he took a minute to take in all the cuts and bruises littered across his body, the way the normally energetic man was sagging against the door frame, and the tears of pain gathering in the corners of his eyes, today was without a doubt the right time for him to roll high.

“Got jumped nearby,” Jounouchi said before Ryou could ask, and he attempted to give Ryou a toothy grin to offset the overall terrible sight he seemed to know he was. “By some old pals of mine. Smart fuckers knew they needed to bring at least a half dozen guys along. You should see the other guys.”

Instinctively, he spat on Ryou’s pristine ‘Welcome’ carpet, leaving spots of red, and wiped at his bruised lips almost apologetically. “… Sorry ‘bout that.”

Whatever. Ryou could replace that without a second thought. Rather than bothering to tell him to come in, Ryou silently pulled Jounouchi until most of his dead weight was on his shoulders. Was he limping? Oh - his ankle was twisted at an odd angle, too. Ryou’s first aid abilities were good, but not this good. He would need professional help.

“Glad you were here though,” Jounouchi half-laughed, half-hacked. “Dunno what I would’ve done otherwise.”

Neither did Ryou, and it made his heart jump anxiously. No matter - Jounouchi was here now, and he trusted Ryou to help him. That trust wouldn’t be misplaced.

💃 – dancing with them

“You make a pretty fine-looking lady,” joked Jounouchi.

The sweet smile he got in response was punctuated Ryou driving his thin heel into Jounouchi’s right foot.

“H-Hey! Those were expensive!” Jounouchi complained quietly. “I spent half of my Tokyo Championship prize money on this outfit!”

“I’ll cover the repair cost,” Ryou said, still keeping that same painted smile on his face, and he glanced around to see if they had drawn anyone’s attention. And… nothing. So far, so good. It was no wonder - Kaiba had just challenged Yuugi in the middle of the reception area to a rematch duel (he had lost the finals - again, surprise!), and there was a good crowd of onlookers forming around them.

“Y’know, if those guys you were talkin’ about don’t show up and you end up dressing up like this for nothing, you should at least have something to remember about tonight,” Jounouchi said casually, as if this ‘date’ of theirs was real, and ‘Kyouko’ really was his plus one and not his weirdo old classmate in drag for reasons he barely could wrap his head around. “You said you can’t really eat much tonight, right?”

Ryou’s lips twitched and Jounouchi snickered all the muscles in Ryou’s face seemed to work to keep him from pouting. “… It’ll ruin my makeup.”

Jounouchi grinned and gestured to the dance floor with a flourish. “Care to dance then, milady?”

His date groaned quietly. What were the pros and cons of saying yes? Pros - maintain cover. Depending on the style of dance, he could use their position and movement to cover the entire room visually. Cons - never hearing the end of it from Jounouchi. Also, the distinct possibility that he was all left feet - both of them, honestly.

As if reading his thoughts, Jounouchi immediately protested, “I can totally dance! C’mere!”

So ‘no’ wasn’t on the table anymore, huh. Oh well. Ryou let himself get dragged onto the slick wooden floor and may have turned lightly pink when Jounouchi settled his other hand on Ryou’s waist. It looked like he intended to take this seriously.

🤧 – comforting them when crying

It was less the actual words being spoken (they were all awkward and half-hearted - Ryou had made it known early on that the only reason he even tolerated being in the same room as him was because of Necrofia’s relationship with him) and more the stiffness of his movements and the way spirit’s eyes darted around, betraying the fact that he would rather be anywhere but here.

“You’re terrible at this, you know that?” Ryou said, wiping his eyes fiercely before taking a big enough step back for him to feel comfortable.

“Don’t talk to me like that,” the spirit muttered, crossing his arms. “You’re the one all upset over... whatever, not me.”

Whatever indeed. Ryou made a concerted effort not to let those words rile him up. “It’s fine. I just wanted to talk to Necrofia. I was... in a bad ways. But she’s not here, so I’ll get out of your hair.”

“I’ll, uh, let her know you stopped by.”

“Just her,” he said immediately. “Only her. And don’t you say anything about the rest of it.”

👐 – hugging them

Ryou should have pushed the spirit off of him the moment he dared to hug him.

For some reason, he didn’t. No - that wasn’t quite right. Couldn’t. He couldn’t will his arms to move, or even his legs - even his eyes felt like they couldn’t blink, and they were wet with moisture.

He dared to look up at where his car, in perfect working condition, currently was stopped, smoking, and wrapped around a tree.

“I’m…” his throat seemed to close up on himself, and he had to choke the words out, “fine, spirit.”

“No.”

“I am,” he insisted, ignoring the trembling in his voice, ignoring the way the spirits screamed in panic around him, and the way his mind flashed back to all those terrible images of a similar crash with more dire consequences over a decade ago.

“You’re not,” the spirit said into his neck where his face had been buried, and Ryou was about to argue before he felt the tremors that he had absurdly attributed to the spirit were his own. That was when he felt something break inside of him and, without any thought aside from the desperate, overwhelming need for comfort, he squeezed back, wetness now dripping freely from his eyes.

They stayed there for several minutes, invisible to anyone who would have passed by; an after-effect of the spirit’s quick thinking as he phased them both through the car seconds before impact.

“…. I thought I was ready.” But I didn’t want to die. Not like them.

“No one ever is, in the moment.”

// okay! And also I wanted to say you’re writing is so good, but the thing I like the most is how you write other people’s muses so well. I never dare to try because I don’t think I can capture them but you always do such a good job with mine! I love it :3