AN: As always, I look for mellow stories about bedtime with my favorite characters to help my busy mind relax and prepare to go to sleep, but I can never find quite what I want. So I find I must write such stories myself. That's really the only reason for this little one. Consider it a little something from my "misc" writing folder ;)

I'm not even sure if it's done or not. I have a little more to it, but Idk if it's necessary to add or not. I'll leave it up to you readers.

(I'm really trying to think of how to continue my other unfinished stories, I'm sorry it's taking so long. I want them to move forward just as bad as you do.)

This isn't much, but I've seen a TON of fanfics on this site that aren't much and i still enjoy them. So I hope you can enjoy this too :3

"Nightwatchers"

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It's incredible, the differences night and day can bring out in a person. Even someone like Bakura. Ask anyone and they'll tell you he could be one of the most hostile, arrogant, selfish dirt bags to walk the earth. His own roommates, Ryou and Marik, dealt with this more than anyone and were often exposed to harsh yelling, disparagement, and insults… by day.

By night, however, it was a different story. Night time would find the two hikaris dozing in their bed, while a certain thief would prowl around the house. Keeping watch, one might say; though against what, there was no precise answer. It wasn't as if there was a particular threat to look out for, and certainly no one would be stupid enough to try and break into the home of someone who was once the king of thieves. Nevertheless, nighttime found the ancient soul quite mellow, and making rounds around the house; inspecting all the locks, monitoring the stillness about the place, listening for any malfunction in the home… And throughout his self-acquired task, he would make occasional stops to the bedroom he shared with his comrades, watching over them as they slept. This went on almost every night, though without a precise schedule.

Sometimes Bakura would stay awake the entire time, other nights he would lie down in his own bed when the others did, and doze lightly until he felt the need to get up and move about. Almost each time he would stay up until a few hours before dawn, then finally lay down to sleep until well into the afternoon.

Marik had asked him once why he did this, but the thief simply said he was accustomed to being up at night and told Marik to go to sleep. Since his tone had been unusually civil, Marik hadn't pressed the matter any further. He and Ryou silently concluded it was the thief's way of "guarding his treasure". This made both of them smile and they slept well at night. Not to say they always slept through the whole night; knowing their partner was up and about, no matter how quietly, sometimes kept them from succumbing to sleep entirely, but they dealt with it just fine. They might lie down to sleep right off, or just chat for a while in bed - until Bakura would come and stand at his spot against the open door, arms lazily folded, and ultimately signal with his eyes that it was time to settle down. Marik and Ryou would wish one another goodnight, then do the same to Bakura; to which he would always reply, "Sleep now," and go about his watch.

There were only two beds in the shared bedroom. Marik and Ryou usually shared the one closest to the door, while Bakura took the one by the window on the opposite wall. Sometimes though, he would wake in the early morning to find the hikaris sleeping close to him in his bed, though the mattress was only a twin size. This had thrown him off the first few times, but by now the thief was well use to it. Often, they would come to join him soon after he laid down, himself.

Ryou might say it was because they missed him. Though the thief could be a heartless jerk, there was no denying he meant a great deal to both Ryou and Marik. They could never voice the exact reasons, but they both understood what they were. Always in the evening, Bakura would be up and out of the room well into the night. He would sleep through half the day and then act like a disagreeable ass until bedtime. So it was in these dark and early hours, when they were half asleep and Bakura let his aggression down, that they found the need to be close to him, even for a short while. No one needed to say anything. They would lay with him and he would let them. That was enough.

...