The three days of Valentines. Before…thereof…and after.

I probably shouldn't be writing another fic with all of the other ones I have to update, but I promise I'll keep this brief; plus I'm working quite vigorously on the others.

Ryou smiled at the little Valentine's Day ad on TV and turned off the set. Valentine's Day was a nice holiday he figured. The fact that it was also known as Hallmark and Hershey Day totally alluded him. As far as he was concerned it was a very pleasant day that made new couples, and brought old ones closer together. Well…most anyway.

He looked fondly back into the kitchen at his yami, who was busy rummaging the cupboards for something to eat. In early December Bakura had learned of V-Day, and after the initial rare curiosity, he no longer pursued the topic. Even amongst the flurry of delighted pairs surrounding them, as well as their own relationship, the thief king held no interest, nor disdain for this day of love. That didn't matter one way or the other to Ryou. He had always loved this holiday, and one scrooge of a boyfriend wasn't going to change it. Sure it would have been nice to celebrate, but really it didn't matter to the little albino. What mattered was that Bakura loved him. That much he knew; and that was just fine.

Slamming on a cupboard door, Bakura shouted, "Hey Ryou! Where's something to eat around here?"

Brown eyes rolled heavenward, the smile still evident. "Check the fridge Bakura."

"I don't want to cook anything…" the tomb robber said, looking positively lost as he walked about the little kitchen.

Ryou chuckled and stood from the couch. "I'll make you something. What are you in the mood for?"

Bakura stopped his little pacing activity, blinked and shrugged. He casually hopped up onto the counter, sitting on the marble surface while swinging his legs back and forth. "I'm feeling like eggs."

"Okay," Ryou responded. He opened the fridge and dug out four eggs. "Scrambled?"

"As always."

The teen smiled and reached further into the fridge. "I can't give you too many. Quiche for dinner."

At this the yami shook his head, like a kid forced to eat broccoli. "Ugh. I hate that stuff!"

The albino set the ingredients for the scrambled eggs by the stove. "I know Bakura, but all the guys like it, and they're coming over tonight."

The tomb robber glanced up quickly. "Tonight? What are they coming over for anyway?"

Ryou opened the upper cupboard and repressed a moan of dismay when he realized how high the skillet was. "We wanted to have a Valentines Day party, and I just volunteered our house. Why does it matter? I thought you were going knife-throwing with Marik."

In a rare moment his lover jumped off the counter and wrapped his arms around the teen's waist from behind. "I cancelled. It's Saturday. My day to spend with Ryou."

Said teen blushed and smiled at the affection. His other half then reached around him and brought the skillet down for the smiling boy. With an affectionate peck on the cheek Ryou walked over to the stove and used a bowl to start making the eggs. "I'm sorry 'Kura. If you want I'll tell the guys we're too busy to have the party here."

The thief king shook his head. "No…we'll just move our day to tomorrow."

"You sure?"

Bakura grinned and got out a spatula from a nearby drawer. "Yeah."

He nodded, and took the spatula. "Thanks koibito. It's just a little Valentines party; I'm sure it won't last long."

The yami rolled his eyes. "Ah yes. That 'sweetheart' holiday where they put red hearts and stuffed animals all over the place."

After a chuckle his partner sprinkled seasoning over the cracked eggs. "That's the one."

As Ryou whisked the eggs in with cheese and milk, Bakura took this opportunity to think. Though he had no knowledge of this party it worked to his advantage. At some point he would have to tell Marik---

BRING-GA-DINK-A-DINK

He rushed to the phone to stop that annoying ring tone his partner had programmed. While glaring at said partner, (who was giggled helplessly,) he answered the phone. "Hey."

"Hey asshole, where the fuck are you?"

His eyes widening Bakura rushed out of the room, leaving a puzzled hikari behind.

Once in Ryou's bedroom, Bakura whispered. "I'm still at home! Ryou's throwing some kind of party so I don't need an excuse for tomorrow."

"Okay…I still don't get why you're going to celebrate this holiday. You barely know anything about it, and the kid doesn't even expect you to have anything to do with it."

Bakura walked over to the bed and sat down, his eye instantly catching the photo that Ryou had placed there. A picture that Duke had taken during his big 'camera' phase. Ryou was tickling his sides and had him pinned to the ground. He mentioned once that it was his favorite picture, because Bakura was actually smiling.

This thought alone caused him to smile again. "All the more reason Marik. You know I love to take my hikari by surprise."

"Ookay, but if it falls apart, don't come crying to me."

The thief king recognized the implication of failure and glared at the phone. "Fuck you," and he hung up.

As he peacefully made his way back into the kitchen, the aromatic scent of the eggs rose to his nostrils. He found his lover scooping the eggs onto a plate.

"What was that about?"

Bakura looked up at him from the plate of food; briefly. "Hmm?"

"That was a rather strange exit you did there," Ryou observed, setting the skillet into the sink.

Almost tuned out to the other voice completely, the tomb robber sat down and began to devour his breakfast. "I didn't notice."

Still confused, but also realizing that he wouldn't get anything further out of his boyfriend, Ryou sighed and grabbed a pack of pop tarts to eat. "So are you going to eat dinner with the rest of us, or are you going up to your room tonight?"

After ten seconds, and half of the yellow mass was missing, Bakura said with a mouth full of egg, "If you don't have quiche."

Giving him a long-suffering gaze, Ryou said, "Well what else would I make that everyone likes?"

Licking his lips, the yami sprinkled a little bit of salt over his food. "Just make spaghetti. Everyone likes that, and if you're really going for a Valentine party then you'd sure as hell have a lot more success with that than with quiche. There's nothing romantic about that shit on a plate."

The boy raised an eyebrow. "What do you know about romance?"

Pausing at the question, he stopped just as he had another forkful of eggs near his mouth. "I don't know. They always advertise the Italian places…that's the only Italian food I know."

"Hmm…" Ryou said, and took another bite from the frosted pastry. "You might have a point there. I guess spaghetti is a bit more romantic. And I think Joey was just playing along when he told Seto that he loved quiche."

Bakura grinned in satisfaction, his panic gone. He held up his fork in the boy's direction. "Who gets ten points?"

The teen smiled and tapped his pop tart to the fork. "Bakura does…"

(Later that night.)

Bakura licked his finger and reached for more Valentines cookies. He managed to grab two, and was bringing the other to his mouth when he heard a voice, "You plan on sharing those, right?"

He looked down sadly at the heart-shaped cookies and said, "Uh…yeah."

Reluctantly, he passed the snacks to his rival, who smiled in satisfaction. "Now, don't be a grump tomb robber. It's a party."

One side of his lip came up in a sneer. "Believe me, I know. Ryou was in a fuss all day about preparing dinner and the hors-deurves."

At this Yami chuckled. "Believe me I know. Yugi starts getting ready for parties at our place two days in advance. I'm not allowed inside the kitchen at those times; more than usual."

Bakura grinned knowingly. "Because you distract him too much right?"

Yami gave him his famous smirk. His crimson eyes briefly scanned the room. Joey and Seto were arguing over a movie on the Hallmark channel while Ryou and Yugi were reloading plates in the kitchen, and Duke and Tristan were nowhere to be seen, obviously up to no good. Lowering his voice, the Pharaoh leaned closer to the thief king. "Is this how you're going to make sure you spend time together tomorrow?"

With a nod, the albino kept his eye on Ryou. "Yeah. I was going to knife-throw with Marik but then Ryou told me about the party. Fits in pretty well with the plans."

The elder man tilted his head to the object of their conversation. "You really are going through with it then? I mean I wasn't sure myself whether or not to celebrate the holiday when I first found out about it."

Bakura emitted a sigh and bit into a Cupid cookie. "I wish people would stop telling me that. I'm actually getting nervous."

He heard the others laugh and frowned. "Relax Bakura. He'll love the surprise. You remember my plans for Christmas? I was nervous too, but those turned out fantastic," he emphasized with a leer in his aibou's direction.

"Yeah, yeah." He then wrinkled his nose at the cookies in his companion's hands. "I hope you realize the only reason you got those is because I'm thanking you for keeping your mouth shut."

Yami chuckled and leaned back again. "I knew that you would be too paranoid to realize I wouldn't tell. Why do you think I'm reaping all the benefits of your gratitude?" He winked at Bakura. "I look forward to the day after tomorrow. I can hardly wait for your grateful attitude for giving you that homosexual issue of Kama Sutra. I'm sure that your Valentine's Day will be as good as mine."

Bakura laughed. "Yeah well…that doesn't say anything about my imagination…I just realized that I've tried pretty much everything else, there's nothing wrong with going back to the basics."

The Egyptian rolled his eyes. "Yeah…let me tell you something about the 'basics' in that book."

Yami leaned over and whispered into Bakura's ear…

"HOLY SHIT!"

The day before…and I'm a little bit late. Sorry. -.-'