Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh

What is Morp Spelled Backward?

"Come on guys," said Yugi seriously to Ryou and Malik, as they lounged beneath a tree in the park where they normally hung out after school. He shifted to put his feet beneath him and slapped his hands on his knees for emphasis. "If we don't ask someone to prom now, we'll never get dates."

Ryou visibly paled at this announcement – quite the feat with his already white skin. He knew who he wanted to ask. Who he quite embarrassingly fantasized about arriving on a horse with a mane as white as the hair on both of their heads and sweeping him off his feet. "I… I…" Ryou began to stutter, but, fortunately, he was cut off.

"Prom? Really?" complained Malik loudly, sitting up from where he had been laying, working on his tan. The idea of prom wasn't particularly appealing to him. "Why?"

Yugi reddened a bit, but stood his ground. "Yes," he said mustering his defense, "Don't you think it'd be fun? I mean, you get to go out to dinner, get dressed up, dance… And then there's the whole after-prom parties…"

"Parties?" repeated Malik, interest piqued. He leaned forwardly excitedly. "And what does one do at said parties?"

"Well," began Yugi, "you eat food, hang out with friends, and if you're date is there you can… I mean, if you two wanted to… there aren't any parents…" Yugi trailed off. The blush masking his face brought out the crimson in his amethyst eyes.

But apparently he didn't need to say anything else as Malik held up a hand to stop him. "I'm sold."

Yugi let out a relived breath, glad that at least one friend was on board. "What about you, Ryou? Are you in?"

Ryou's eyes had gone wide since he realized Yugi's meaning and his paleness no longer seemed a problem in comparison to the blush. But, when he met the tiny boy's expectant gaze and Malik's judging, eyebrow-raised stare he couldn't refuse.

But he also couldn't speak; his voice seemed to have gotten trapped in his throat. So instead he nodded slowly and hoped this wasn't a poor decision on his part.

Yugi grinned happily. "Who're you guys gonna ask?" he questioned excitedly.

"You first," Ryou managed to croak out, wanting to prolong the inevitable. He was sure they would laugh. He stood no chance.

"Okay," said Yugi with a grin, "I'm going to ask… Yami." He looked from Ryou to Malik, expectantly.

"Of course," said Malik with an eye-roll, "You guys have been practically together for the last two months. It's sickening, by the way."

Yugi frowned and looked to Ryou for support. "I'm sure he'll say yes," said the silver-haired teen truthfully. Malik was right. They texted each other all the time and walked together to classes. Ryou usually thought they were very cute. Right now, all he could think about was how Yugi most definitely had a date, which would make his own date's imminent refusal even worse.

"I think I'm gonna ask Mariku," mused Malik before adding with an arrogant grin, "He's almost as hot as I am."

Or as slutty... thought Ryou, and then immediately felt bad. Although, he felt slightly better after sharing a look with Yugi that he knew was meant to convey that the smaller teen was thinking the exact same thing. But that still didn't change the fact that from what Ryou knew of Mariku, he had no qualms about humping anything that moves, meaning that Malik would have no problem getting him to go to prom.

The sinking Ryou felt in the pit of his stomach from knowing he may be the only one without a date, outweighed any sense of embarrassment from thinking about Malik and Mariku and the word humping…

"What about you, Ryou?" asked Yugi.

"Yeah, you've been awfully quiet," said Malik before adding, "Well, quieter than usual."

"I… I…" began Ryou, but he was stuttering again and he knew it. So he closed his mocha eyes and said very quickly, "I want to ask Bakura."

It seemed like an eternity before Ryou managed to crack his lids open, but when he did, he was surprised to see Yugi smiling.

"That's a great idea!" said Yugi grinning. He didn't tell Ryou that Yami had told him that Bakura had been mentioning Ryou far more than necessary in everyday conversation for someone who claimed to be nothing more than lab-partners with the smaller white-haired teen.

Malik just shrugged, a little surprised that innocent little Ryou would like not-so-innocent Mariku's, best friend. "How are we going about this asking thing, anyway?" he asked.

"Well," began Yugi, before launching into a plan to get their respective dates. Ryou crossed his fingers behind his back, hoping very much that this plan would work.

o-o-o

Yami, Bakura, and Mariku were hanging out together behind the convenience store down the road from the school – Mariku had scared away all unwanted hoodlums – when all three of their phones buzzed at once.

Yami reached into his pocket, partially wondering who would be texting him right now and partially hoping it was a certain boy with star-shaped hair and huge, violet eyes. It was no secret that Yami liked the boy – it's not like he offered to walk anyone else home or carry their books to class – so when he flipped open his phone and saw the sender's name, he couldn't help but smile.

He also couldn't help but smile when he read the text, Yugi's adorably high voice ringing in his head, What is morp spelled backward?

It didn't take Yami any time at all to figure out the meaning of the text, partially because the red-eyed boy was perceptive and partially because he had been planning on asking Yugi to dinner that weekend and posing the question then.

But Yami didn't mind the smaller boy stealing his thunder, plus he could always tease him about it later. He found that he rather liked the reddish tinge blush left on Yugi's cheeks. And so he quickly responded, Of course I will go to prom with you, Yugi. But prom is an awfully long time to wait to go out. How about dinner this weekend? He added a smiley face for good measure and then promptly sent the text with a satisfied nod.

His two friends were not having nearly as easy a time deciphering their texts. Or at least that's what Yami gleaned from looking at Mariku's face. He decided, however, that things would not be nearly as interesting if he interfered and so he sat back and watched the show.

What is morp spelled backward? Mariku reread for the umpteenth time, each time getting more and more annoyed with the smaller Egyptian. Malik knew he sucked at words. They were in remedial English together for Ra's sake! How the heck was he supposed to figure this thing out?

Mariku stared at the backwards word for a couple more seconds before guessing a word that, although similar in spelling, was not the word Malik was going for at all. Mariku didn't realize this though. He composed his one-word answer text and sent it back to Malik, the whole time wondering about what sort of porn Malik would want him for anyway?

Not that it really mattered to Mariku. And so he just grinned a grin that would probably have scared the punks Mariku had chased off earlier even more than the knife he kept concealed in his jacket. He vaguely wondered if Malik knew what he was getting himself into, but, again, it didn't really matter to Mariku.

Meanwhile, Bakura was struggling with his own text. Unlike Mariku, he had not had trouble deciphering the question, what he did have trouble with was committing to an answer.

Prom was definitely not Bakura's thing. It was a vomit-inducing combination of stuffy and cutesy that the teen was not sure he could handle knowing he was a part of. He would probably have to wear a tux and he would probably have to dance and he would probably have to make small talk, all things that Bakura just did not, as a general rule, do.

At that moment, however, the annoying little voice in the back of Bakura's head saw fit to remind him that Ryou had sent him the obnoxiously clever, What is morp spelled backward? text.

As another general rule, Bakura did not like people. But Ryou made this rule very hard to abide by. When he and Bakura had been forced to be lab partners at the beginning of the year, Bakura had just been pleased that he had been paired with a goody-two-shoes student that would get the work done no matter how little Bakura contributed. However, as the year went on, he, annoyingly, began to look forward to chemistry if only because he would get to see Ryou in that adorable white lab coat with those too-big goggles strung precariously, but cutely, around his head.

Bakura hated himself for thinking things like adorable and cutely, and felt that he should hate Ryou even more for making him think such things, but he found that he couldn't. He couldn't not care what Ryou thought about him.

And so Bakura consoled himself by uttering a string of curses in his mind as he typed the word Prom? complete with the obligatory question mark, and sent it to Ryou.

When he looked up, he saw that Yami and Mariku had already attended to their phones.

"Yugi just asked me to prom," said Yami with annoyingly large amounts of happiness that made Bakura want to punch him. But they were supposedly friends, so he refrained. But he also didn't ask for any more details, even though Yami so obviously wanted him too. It seemed like an even trade-off.

Yami sighed after a few moments and then asked, "What were your guys' texts about?"

Bakura considered not answering, but didn't want Yami to get too smug thinking he was the only one good enough to get a date. "Prom," answered Bakura nonchalantly.

Yami looked as if he were going to ask more, but was but off by Mariku. "Prom…" he repeated, "That's spelled an awful lot like… ohhh…" Mariku considered his deciphering mistake for a moment before just shrugging, not making any move to correct it.

He either ignored, or didn't notice the confused stares Yami and Bakura were giving him.

o-o-o

Yugi was the first to get a response. And from the huge smile that overtook his face, Ryou could only assume Yami had said yes.

"He says he can't wait 'til prom to go out with me," said Yugi, violet eyes brimming with happiness, "He wants to go to dinner this weekend!"

"That's great," Ryou started to say, but fortunately, he was interrupted by Malik's phone vibrating. He hoped he was cut off before his friends could hear the insincerity in his voice. He felt bad enough about it without his friends getting on his case.

Malik flipped open his phone and read the text. Porn? it said. That had not exactly been the response the Egyptian had been expecting. However, he couldn't see any reason why this was not an acceptable, and possibly better answer than the standard Prom?

He considered it for a moment before texting back, Your place or mine? and promptly closing his phone… to see Yugi's expectant eyes and Ryou's… well, Ryou looked like he was about to be sick, but Malik ignored that.

"So what'd he say?" asked Yugi.

Malik smirked and said, "Honestly Yugi, I don't think you want to know."

It was only moments later, while Yugi was still deciphering Malik's comment that Ryou's phone vibrated. Ryou was sure that his heart stopped in his chest when he felt it. It was the moment of truth.

Ryou didn't realize he'd been holding in a breath until he opened his phone and saw, Prom? on the little screen.

"What'd he say? What'd he say?" asked Yugi, apparently giving up on Malik's comment.

Ryou couldn't help but smile a little before just showing his friends the phone. Yugi squealed rather like a fangirl and Malik gave him a nod and an approving smile.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Respond!" Yugi practically yelled.

"I am!" said Ryou, pushing his white hair out of his face and began to type, heart pounding in his chest. He couldn't believe things were actually working!

Sure, I'd love to go to prom with you, Bakura, typed Ryou. He read it to himself three more times before hitting send.

"Now what?" asked Ryou, nervously glancing between his friends and his phone.

"Now you wait for him to realize that he's just asked you to prom," said Yugi matter-of-factly, "It will work. I promise."

o-o-o

Ryou was infinitely disappointed when he did not get a text back before he and his friends parted ways and headed home. He was verging on depressed when he went to bed with still no reply. And he nearly had a nervous breakdown when he woke up with still no answer.

And it's a lab day, today! thought Ryou frantically, suddenly fearing seeing Bakura in chemistry. What if Bakura hated him now for assuming that the he would want to go to prom at all, let alone with Ryou?

Surprisingly, however, Ryou found himself very disappointed instead of relieved when Bakura did not show up at all for the double period of chemistry. He was so much wrapped up in his foul mood when he left that he didn't even notice the very familiar white-haired teen waiting for him beside the door. Thus, he was so surprised when said white-haired teen grabbed him by the shoulders and pinned him against the wall that he dropped all his books on the floor.

However, he didn't have time to care about the fact that his math homework that was due next period was scattering everywhere and probably being trampled because he had just realized that said white-haired teen was Bakura. And before Ryou could manage to formulate any sort of coherent statement, Bakura had pressed his lips roughly to Ryou's.

Ryou was momentarily in shock. Oh my goodness, Bakura is kissing me echoed hollowly in the back of his mind, but was somehow not the most prevalent thought in his head. If anything, Oh my goodness this feels incredibly nice, was the forefront thought in his mind. However, when Bakura's tongue pushed past his lips and his knee pressed up against the wall in between Ryou's legs all thoughts suddenly seemed very irrelevant.

Ryou's head was spinning almost sickeningly quickly when Bakura finally pulled back. "I'm taking you to prom," said Bakura gruffly before promptly turning and walking away.

Ryou just stared after him blinking to try to make sense of things. This was a good choice because when things did clear up, he was suddenly very happy. Ryou couldn't stop smiling as he picked up his papers and headed to his next class.

D'awwww! One of my friends told me about how they got two of their other friends together for prom and I just thought it would be quite adorable in Yu-Gi-Oh style :) I hope you agreed and perhaps you can use it to get dates of your own? If anyone does, let me know the success story! T'would be quite interesting, I think. (Although probably not as interesting as Malik and Mariku... Haha, I have far too much fun writing Bronzeshipping XD).

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this random little plot bunny and please leave a review!