"What?" Bakura sighed. He knew they would react that way. Why'd he even bother telling them? They would just make fun of him now. Bakura had invited Marik, Yami, and Seto over to Burger World to tell them his news. Well, originally, he had just invited Marik for advice. However, knowing that Marik… wasn't exactly the best at giving proper advice, he decided to invite Yami as well, no matter how much it pained him to do so. And Yami decided to invite Seto. Bakura never got an answer as to why, though. But so long as he got good advice, he didn't exactly care.

"I'm not repeating myself. Now just help me out here!" Yami, sitting across from Bakura at the booth they had nabbed, spoke first. Or, rather, teased first.

"Aww! Look at that! Bakura wants to propose to Ryou! I guess former thief kings do have hearts." Bakura glared as he blushed a hot red.

"Ugg… Keep it down, Fucking Pharaoh. I don't want ALL of Burger World to know." Seto rolled his eyes.

"It's not like anyone here but us knows you."

"Besides," Yami lightly kicked Bakura's leg. "I was planning on proposing to Yugi too." He sighed. "I just need the money. I've been saving up, but Ra those rings are expensive. And the wedding itself!" Yami leaned back in exasperation. "I almost have it though." Bakura picked up a fry and examined it indifferently.

"It's not the money I need to worry about. I have enough of that." He chomped down on his fry.

"Meaning he can just steal whatever he needs!" Marik laughed. "He could even steal the ring if he wanted!" Yami and Seto nodded their heads in agreement that he could, but Bakura shook his.

"The money I can steal, that's fine, but Ryou would never let me get away with stealing engagement ring itself." Bakura leaned back. Yami took a sip of his drink.

"So do you have a ring picked out yet?" Bakura nodded and pulled put a small, black box. He tossed it to Yami, who then opened it. He whistled.

"Nice ring." Yami then laughed a bit. "How many wallets did you have to steal for it?" he joked, throwing it back.

"Lost count." Bakura was not joking. They stared at each other.

"I was joking you know…" Seto gave Yami a look.

"And you, for some reason, thought he would be joking too?" Yami rolled his eyes. Both at Seto's comment and at his own little mess up.

"Clearly I am not thinking right now."

"I'm sorry, you think?" Bakura asked a smirk planted on his face. Marik laughed and Yami sneered.

"So clearly, you don't need help with the money."

"Making my wonder why the hell I'm here." Seto commented. Yami continued.

"You clearly don't need help picking out a ring."

"That's why I thought I was here! Rings are pretty and shiny like my Malik…" Marik's eyes glazed over at the thought of his boyfriend. Yami continued once again.

"And you don't need help getting Ryou." Bakura coughed blatantly.

"Actually…" The other three at the table raised an eyebrow, curious. Bakura sheepishly looked down at his lap and messed with the napkin. "I haven't asked yet…" They all stared at him in shock.

"But you have to ask!" Marik whined.

"One would think you of all people would be able to ask someone to marry you. You've never really been one to beat around the bush." Seto sighed as he repressed many bad memories.

"You've never been one to not take something that you want right away either." Yami pointed out. Bakura sighed and laid his head on his hands.

"Yes to all three, I know. But how?" Bakura gave them all desperate glances. "What do I do?"

"You show him the ring and say 'Will you marry me?'" Seto's voice was slow, mocking Bakura. He glared in return.

"Well, obviously."

"Well what do you want us to do? Do it for you? This isn't exactly rocket science!" Yami threw his hands in the air. Bakura was just impossible!

"But I want to do something special for him!" Marik tilted his head a bit.

"Special…?" Yami's mouth formed an 'o' as he understood what Bakura wanted.

"You want to make it memorable. Like some people would rent a plane and write the message in the sky for their loved one or hide the ring in their loved one's wine glass?" Bakura nodded. Marik and Seto's mouths also formed an 'o' as they heard this.

"I just don't know what to do…" Yami shrugged as he thought.

"Well… What are some things he likes?"

"He likes RPG games. Though he hasn't played since… yeah… (1)" And uncomfortable silence fell between them. Marik glanced at Seto and tilted his head to the side as a silent question. Seto shrugged, not knowing what incident they were talking about this time.

"Anyway…" Yami broke the silence. "I guess you could always hide the ring on the board and play with him until he finds it. Everyone else can play as well so long as you behave yourself this time." Bakura thought about this. It did seem like a good idea. "And he enjoys going out to eat with you right?" Bakura bit his lip.

"When I behave…" Marik giggled, clearly remembering a funny (for Marik and Bakura only of course) time before when Ryou and Malik had taken them out.

"Then, hide the ring in his desert or something. Oh! Or you could ask the waiter to write 'Will you marry me?' on the dessert when Ryou goes to the bathroom or something!" Yami seemed proud of his idea. And Bakura liked the sound of that too.

"Of course, you have the ability to come up with these on your own… if you actually used what little brain you have." Seto added as he stared cautiously at the drink called soda. Bakura rolled his eyes.

"Whatever. I got what I wanted." Bakura kicked Marik out of the seat to get out. "Later." Bakura left with Marik following behind. Seto turned around.

"Hey! Don't walk out without pay- Wait where are you going?" Yami had slipped under the table and started toward the door as well.

"You think I brought money? Who do you think's going to pay with those two gone and me broke?" Yami started back toward the door and laughed as Seto mumbled under his breath.

~ . ~

Bakura set the last piece in place and stared at his masterpiece. He had gone with Yami's first idea of hiding the ring somewhere on the board. It had taken him a few days to figure everything out though. But now all he needed to do was get everybody he needed to have a fun game of-

"Ah! Yugi that's wonderful!" Ryou squealed. Bakura ran out of the room and toward Ryou, a questioning look on his face. Ryou had a huge grin on his face and was giggling, the phone pressed against his ear. Ryou noticed Bakura in the room. He turned to the phone.

"Hold on, Yugi." Ryou covered the mouth piece with his hand and turned to Bakura. "Yami just proposed to Yugi! He said that Yami had hidden the ring in one of Yugi's games and made him play it until he found it! Isn't that so romantic?" Ryou giggled again and went back to talking to Yugi about the event. Bakura nodded blankly before going to fetch the ring. If there was one thing he had it was a thief's pride. And being a copycat was not part of a thief's pride.

"So, Bakura…" Ryou drawled as he hung up the phone. "What was it that you wanted to show me?" Bakura glanced at him tiredly and shook his head.

"It's nothing…" Ryou nodded.

"Oh, okay then. So," But as Ryou looked back to where Bakura was standing, he found that the thief in question was no longer there. Ryou's shoulders slumped and he pouted a bit. "Wanna do something with me instead of hiding in your room all day…?" Ryou finished sadly, though no one heard him. Downtrodden, he went to the kitchen to make some lunch.

~ . ~

"What. The. Fucking hell you goddamn bastard?" Bakura yelled as soon as he got a hold of the phone and called Yami.

"What? The proposal thing?"

"Yes!"

"What! He likes games! His name means game! It was a good idea!"

"Yeah, that's why I was going to use it. In fact, I had just gotten it set up when Yugi called Ryou."

"Not my fault. Besides! It was my idea to begin with!" Bakura tried to say something to that but couldn't think of anything. He was right. Instead he slammed the phone down and thought of the other thing Yami had come up with.

~ . ~

'Damn it, damn it, DAMN IT!' Seto had beaten him to the ring in the dessert thing and 'Will you marry me?' thing. Right when he was there too! It was all Bakura could do to keep his cool. Now, a week later, Bakura lay down on the bed and sighed. Those were the only two things Yami had given him. What now? He'd been trying to think of something but either got distracted or he'd gave up momentarily for a couple hours before heading right back at it. All this thinking would wear him out though. 'And I've been too busy trying to find a way to propose to Ryou that I forget about sex… Wait.' Bakura sat up. That's it! He could attach the ring to a pair of handcuffs and when they use them… Yes… Bakura really liked this idea.

"Bakura!" Ryou rushed into the room. "Guess what! Marik proposed to Malik!" Oh no… "You see, they were… well… doing it… and all of a sudden, Malik finds a ring on one of their… toys… and Marik proposed! In a very… unique way… though. Bakura?" Bakura had fallen back on the bed and started hitting himself with the pillow. 'God. Fucking. DAMNIT!'

~ . ~

Bakura walked around, looking for a place to think. Very few places were open though. Weird. Why were so many stores closed? Oh well. Bakura looked over his options. Seeing as everyone took his ideas… he was left with nothing. And if he did think of one, it'd probably end up being used by some stranger right in front of him. Bakura stopped and glared determinedly at the ground. That's it. He was tired of waiting. He didn't care if he just handed him the ring and said 'See you at the alter!'

He was proposing to Ryou tomorrow no matter what.

~ . ~

Bakura stalked down the stairs, ring in his pocket. Ryou sat on the couch, talking with the rest of the gang. Why they were there was a mystery to him. A fire was lit. Hearing Bakura come down the stairs he turned around and smiled.

"Merr-" Bakura cut him off.

"Ryou, we need to talk." The color drained from Ryou's face. Those were never good words to hear. Bakura pulled Ryou from the couch so that he was right in front of the fire. The rest of the gang sat and watched quietly.

"Bakura…" Bakura placed a finger to Ryou's lips, the other hand in Ryou's.

"Hear me out." Bakura took a breath. "For the past few weeks I have been trying and trying… but everyone… didn't know…" His words made no sense and he wasn't making any sort of sentence. He took one more breath to calm himself down, and he looked Ryou right in the eye. There was fear there. Fear that Bakura was going to break up with him. He used the hand that had been covering Ryou's mouth to grasp the little black box. Remembering what he saw in the movies, he pulled out the box and got down on one knee. He suddenly felt really stupid like this. But, regardless of that, he opened the box.

Ryou gasped and covered his mouth with both hands. In the box was a gold ring with three diamonds, one big one in the middle and two smaller ones on the side, with small emeralds bordering each diamond. Bakura raised an eyebrow and looked as nervous as he could possibly let on his face. His heart was pounding.

"Will you marry me?" Ryou's eyes widened at the words and he looked on the verge of tears. His hands still covered his mouth. Bakura stood up after a moment, mentally glad that he didn't have to stand like that. Though the rest of his feelings were nervous that Ryou wasn't ready for it yet, and was going to run away crying. "Well?" Tears fell down Ryou's cheeks as he wrapped his arms around Bakura's neck.

"Yes!" Ryou chanted the word as he clung to Bakura, who hugged him back happily. Everyone clapped and cheered for them. As Ryou cried, he whispered. "I thought you were never going to ask me… Everyone else is engaged. They kept proposing one after the other. And you just kept ignoring me except for the dinner. And then you came down here… and said… we needed to talk…" The tears fell faster. "I thought you didn't love me anymore… And you were going to break up with me…" Bakura shushed him and rubbed his back, trying to sooth him.

"I would never break up with you. I was just too busy trying to find a way to propose to you. But every time I thought of something… someone else would take it." Ryou sniffed and rubbed away his tears.

"Bakura, I don't care about that. I don't care how unique or how memorable or how… whatever the proposal is… You want to marry me! How could I care about something little like how you proposed?" Bakura smiled and kissed him on the cheek while pulling away slightly to look at Ryou's face.

"I love you so much." Ryou smiled back.

"I love you too."

"Hey! Way to propose under the mistletoe!" Jou blurted, smirking. Ryou and Bakura glanced up and sure enough, there was the mistletoe. Bakura immediately swooped in for a kiss which turned rather heated. When the cat call had finally died down, they broke apart; both were red in the face.

"Way to propose on Christmas too! Cheesy!" Malik laughed. Bakura stopped. Christmas? When did it become Christmas? Yugi broke his train of thought.

"Come on! Put the ring on already!" Bakura glared.

"Bossy little…" Ryou nudged him.

"You heard him." Ryou held out his hand and giggled as Bakura rolled his eyes. He slipped the ring on and gave Ryou one last kiss. Bakura sat down in Ryou's seat and Ryou sat on his lap as they all enjoyed Christmas together.

"Oh, and by the way, Bakura. You didn't steal this ring, did you?"

~ . ~

(1) – This refers back to the first seven volumes of Yu-Gi-Oh. Otherwise known as season 0 in the anime. Long story short, it's pretty much the same as when Bakura first duels Yami in Duelist Kingdom. Only Yugi and friends get sucked into the game as characters as the game goes on instead of from the start. Plus, they are not playing duel monsters. Instead they are playing an RPG game called Monster World (though that may not be the exact name). If you want to see it, it's volume seven of the manga and the last couple of episodes of season 0.

Well, it's a day late (didn't get it finished before midnight…) but here it is. I was hoping for it to be up on Christmas day but oh well. It's not really a Christmas fic. It's more of just a oneshot that happens to take place during Christmas time… I guess… Oh well. Hope you enjoyed it! As always tell me what you think! Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

Disclaimer: I own nothing! Not Christmas, not Yu-Gi-Oh, not weddings! I did come up with the ring though. Such a pretty ring... I want it...

:)Puppy-Chan(: