お楽しみはこれからだ！

The general premise is that Bakura Ryou (who I'll be referring to as Ryou for the rest of the review to avoid confusion since this is the name the author's using) is plagued by both his past, present mental state, and Yami Bakura (who I'll be referring to as just Bakura for the same reasons above) while taking a more active role in the plot than he was granted in canon. We learn that Ryou has severe OCD that introduces his initial reluctance to grant that his intrusive thoughts could be anything more. Paired with general distrust in himself due to his involvement in his sister's death (this was one of my favorite additions to his backstory from the author), Ryou eventually breaks from the realization that Bakura is indeed real after the fateful TTRPG night where Bakura nearly kills his new friends. Ryou and Bakura establish contact more regularly from this point, with the understanding that all of the terrible things that have happened to his friends in the past were because of Bakura, but Ryou feels that if he has to live with this anguished evil, he may as well try to understand it, never giving up on the hope that there's humanity in there somewhere.

From here, the two have many intimate conversations before teaming up, each sharing their own backstories to one another despite it being very clear that Bakura is doing this to toy with him since he already has full knowledge of everything Ryou thinks and experiences. But Ryou feels a connection to the loss that they share, and Bakura is surprisingly more eager to embrace their new partnership, so it works out as well as you'd expect! Ryou follows his curiosity a little too far much of the time, which creates this interesting dynamic where Bakura ends up being the one to save him. I was a little surprised by how quickly the two trust each other and would have liked a little more build up to this, but I can accept that their mutual loneliness and projection is enough kerosene to ignite their partnership's fire.

It becomes clear in later chapters that Bakura in this AU is essentially Thief King rather than Zorc, who is an entirely separate entity from the two. They inhabit this messy triad, a hierarchy of codependency, and I've really enjoyed moments where this is explored to see how much each one is willing to put up with the other's toxic relationship with their respective others. It's made me curious to see how this will develop and if Bakura is going to step out of line with Zorc (and what those consequences would be). Basically Zorc is at the top, and up until soul room communication is established, Ryou was at the bottom with Bakura serving as the middleman. But as of chapter 7, Ryou is being groomed to become the preferred host for Zorc despite Bakura's attempts to keep all of the demon's sludge to himself (he can totally share the load though… there's enough demonic contamination to go around for everyone!). Already it feels like this conflict is going to escalate, and I feel like there's room here for Ryou to become even stronger than Bakura considering he survived his 1-on-1 with the big guy, albeit with Bakura's help in the end.

There's a lot of cool soulfisting that I really enjoyed reading, always a sexy (and scary) way to show how their mind-melding works:

And then Bakura lifted his right hand and hovered it in a strange proximity above Ryou’s ribs before plunging it down, reaching inside of him until he’d grabbed something Ryou didn’t know existed, something deeper than his heart. Ryou writhed at the touch, an excruciating sensation in the bottomless pit of his chest; Bakura reached his fingers in, then his palm, then his wrist, until that raw part of Ryou was held captive between his fingernails.

I thought you’d already seen all of my memories.

Bakura’s hand twisted, making Ryou’s body convulse in agony. His head lolled to rest against the pillow as he mouthed a sharp cry, something in him that should never be touched now held in the palm of Bakura’s hand.

I don’t want to take them from you. I want you to give them to me.

What’s… the difference?

Ryou was panting, each breath heaving like it would be his last. He couldn’t bring himself to look Bakura in the eye, not when his hand was still around that vulnerable part, twisting and churning inside of him—

I want to feel your anger, your rage, your grief. I want to feel all of it.

Why?

The silence in their abstract connection was broken when Bakura let out a satisfied laugh, and when Ryou looked back, he could see Bakura’s brows hanging low against his eyes and a dark grin gracing his lips. On Ryou, the look might have been sultry, but on him, it only looked sinister. 

Because they’re yours.

- Chapter 2: Persephone

I highly recommend reading this fic if you're drawn to horrific intimacy like this cause there's a whole lot of it! Sure, there are actual sex scenes too that add to their characterization (Bakura being a pain pig "don't prepare me" ftw), but honestly my favorite parts of this fic are when they're examining each other, especially when Bakura ends up being the co-dependent parasitic boyfriend who's too attached despite fooling himself into thinking he doesn't have any humanity left in him. He falls hard and fast for Ryou's innocence despite having a capacity for cruelty. They basically complete each other in ways contradictory and complimentary before their traits begin to bleed into one another; Bakura develops a capacity for emotions he thought he all but abandoned, and Ryou learns from Bakura how to have more of a handle on them without repressing his urges.

I imagine a lot of Bakura's growth also stems from moments where he has to impersonate Ryou when he's locked away in Zorc's soul room chamber (unfortunately, Zorc and Bakura have not worked out their shared twink custody). Zorc also presents Ryou with offers to grant his wishes that creates a nice parallel to Yami initially, so it was cool to see this explored and exploited where Zorc takes advantage of Ryou's grief (I imagine in the exact same way he did with Thief King—a host's a host).

There's many nice bodysharing moments in this fic that I can't not mention since it's what I crave when seeking out anything Yami/Hikari related. Special shout out to the mutual masturbation scene in Chapter 3 where Bakura takes control of Ryou's hand to stroke him them off, ending with the line, "It was just another incident the two of them would never speak of again." PLEASE SPEAK OF THE TIME YOU JACKED OFF YOUR HOST…FELLAS, IS IT GAY?

There are also a lot of moments that made me laugh out loud, like Bakura's snark when he roasts Pegasus for making a "cheap knockoff of the ancient games" (Chapter 3: Daystar). I also am in the minority of fans that are Puffshippers (Bakura Ryou/Jounouchi Katusya), so I savored every single interaction these two had, which I know wasn't the focus of this fic, but I can't help myself and crushedmary writes them well. Jou's super supportive and bro-y with Ryou, pointing out his chad dueling skills and helping him up right after having mind blowing cum-in-pants mind sex with Bakura:

Ryou awoke to the hard snap of his name, unsure when he’d fallen asleep or why he’d done so in the cold, damp grass. He’d become accustomed to those empty spaces, days written off, things he didn’t remember—but the last thing he recalled was being in the soul room with Bakura. When they had—

The realization hit that he could use a change of undergarments.

“Hey, Bakura, what the heck are you doing out here?” Jonouchi asked him, extending a warm, inviting hand to help him to his feet. Ryou wished he knew the answer to that question, but it seemed, to his chagrin, that lying was what he did best these days.

“Ah, hi, guys,” Ryou said as he accepted the proverbial olive branch and clambered up in front of his friends. “I suppose I was so tired from the trip, I must have fallen asleep out here.”

- Chapter 4: Lagomorphine

(Ryou, don't lie to Jou! I'm sure he'd high five 'ya for scorin' in 'da woods!!!)

There's also an incredible moment where Bakura's impersonating Ryou, sneaking around Pegasus' castle to steal one of Mai's cards when he runs into Honda:

“Bakura?” Honda said, dumbfounded. “What were you doing in Mai’s room?”

Bakura felt his cheeks flush. For the umpteenth time that day, he had no idea what to say. Finally, he returned with “She invited me in,” and left it at that.

“Woah!” Honda gave him a playful punch on the shoulder; the height difference was just enough that Bakura had to dart his eyes up to catch his gaze. “I had no idea you were such a ladies man!”

Bakura had to stop himself from snorting, knowing Ryou’s preferences and all. “I’m not, really. We were… comparing decks, seeing as we won’t be facing each other in the finals.”

“At midnight?”

Fuck. Bakura glanced away.

“Well, whatever happened between you and Mai is between you and Mai…"

- Chapter 7: Cross-Contamination

Leave it to me to read a Tendershipping fic and come away from it wanting more moments where Bakura is trying and failing to navigate modern (questionably) hetero male socializing norms. I just really live for moments where he has to overcome really mundane challenges like this. Sure, getting hurt and killing dudes is all well and fine, but kissing and telling?! Or having to do his best to seem straight??? Love to see him squirm when acting normal lol. But seriously, I'd love to see this one vulnerability of his explored more since his interactions with others are just as strained as him trying to make sense of his feelings for Ryou. We love an emotionally constipated king!

If you want to read a re-imaging of canon where Ryou/Bakura are front and center, I recommend you check it out. This was the first fic I read on my e-reader and not on ao3, and I really like this way of reading longer works since it's much easier on the eyes, you don't lose your spot, and you can make a bunch of notes to yourself that range from shitpost reactions to commentary that helps when you actually get around to commenting/reviewing. This is definitely my preferred way of reading!

Thanks for reading my thoughts, and feel free to share your thoughts if you've read this fic (and give the author some love).