@vacillating-spirits cont.
The gentle light of the television was the only thing keeping the former spirit awake on the boy’s sofa. The channel had long ago been changed to something witless and dry and beyond Bakura’s comprehension of the modern world, but at least it was a film and therefore it didn’t require his investment wholeheartedly. His head was propped up by a single palm with his elbow digging into the armrest. Ryou had picked the program and he was getting slightly fed up with it but he resigned himself to silently watching along in bored contempt. Earlier the man had attempted to befriend the cat he saw wandering around the small flat by dangling his fingers over the edge of the couch. The feline rubbed its tail against the wall it had been walking along and gave Bakura a vacant yet knowing stare. This was quickly followed by it disappearing off down the hall to what Bakura assumed was Ryou’s room. Bakura had flipped it off without a word after it had left.
The white-haired man let out a soft yawn. He idly lifted the back of his hand to cover his mouth and allowed the appendage to merely flop back down onto his lap afterward. It was then he felt something brush against his shoulder.
"Hn?”
He turned to see Ryou slowly leaning over towards him. His similar pale hair was tickling his arm as his former host began to tilt further and further until his head finally knocked against it. Bakura snorted, eyeing around the room for clock. It was far too dark to see one if there was. Certainly it had to be late by now? The spirit sighed, pursing his lips as he resumed looking at Ryou. Surely that position would give him an awful kink that Bakura would no doubt have to listen all about later if left undisturbed. Snorting, Bakura lifted his arm and pulled Ryou’s head into his lap. Long, nimble fingers threaded through the soft white locks. They pulled away from Ryou’s scalp and gently untangled the knots. He let out another sigh as he shifted into a more comfortable position and continued to watch the film.
Wanting to bring the Spirit back and trusting him had been two very different things. Ryou had wanted to help him, thought that leaving him trapped in the Shadows while every other lost soul had the chance to move on wasn’t right. Even if he’d done terrible things, Ryou knew that once upon a time his heart had been in the right place. So with the help of one or two Ishtar’s who didn’t know the whole story behind Ryou’s curious line of research, he found the spell that brought the Spirit back. But that didn’t mean he had trusted him. Not right away with certain wounds still so fresh.
But no Items, no vengeance... things changed. Enough so that Ryou could fall asleep beside him without a dozen little what ifs keeping him awake.
Between the nightmares that still sometimes plagued him and the constant bouts of insomnia, Ryou’s sleep schedule was messier than his cat’s. For once, it was easy to succumb, to trust that things would be okay even if he slept. One minute he was intently watching the screen, and the next his eyes were shut, the television a distant noise as he listed towards something warm. For a moment he felt himself be moved and his eyes almost fluttered open, but the hand in his hair was gentle and soothing and Ryou drifted back under again so easily with a soft sigh.
There was no telling how long he was out for, a few minutes or a few hours were all the same to him. As he came to, Ryou shifted a little on his makeshift bed and rubbed sleep out of his eyes. “ Mm.. time is it? ” he mumbled sleepily up at Bakura.
