fine line

Oneshot

Ryou let his hands rest in his barely lit bedroom. The curtains only let the smallest sliver of light enter through it, giving their small world odd shapes.

"It's - sorry, I can't explain it well. I've always simply felt, rather than think." Yugi explained. His hands slowly moved, raising to chest-level together as if holding something in his palms. Then, Yugi separated them slowly, showing a stretchable darkness in it, thick and black. It moved around his fingers like an overzealous snake, coiling itself like a ring. "It's more of a feeling than, well, anything."

"It's beautiful." Ryou said, before thinking of what his words meant. He saw Yugi blush in the half-light, and bit his tongue. "I mean it. But it goes like...?"

Ryou imitated the movements Yugi made, but nothing of the magic that had saved his life. It seemed to come and go in odd bursts. He took a deep breath and focused on the feelings it had produced - light, being full of a burst of energy that seemed undying and warm. Like taking a sunbath in a warm spring day, feeling the breeze on one's face and gently falling asleep, fingers intertwined with Yugi's.

Then, it flowed from his fingertips: not a dark mass like Yugi's magic, but a weak spark, dancing in his palms like a candle's flame. Light illuminated their world slightly, and the odd shapes only grew. It made Yugi's face show more, as if he was a painting instead of a person. Even the flushed tone of his face looked unreal.

"You did it!" Yugi smiled, warm as the darkness in his hands wasn't. Ryou smiled back at him, feeling his cheeks warm up. Ryou tried moving it around, and failing to make it dance around his fingers like Yugi did, the little bit of light extinguishing itself and letting their world in the half-light of before.

Ryou laughed, humorless.

"Guess not?" The darkness in Yugi's hands disappeared, and he went still. Ryou looked at him, cocked his head.

"We can try again." Yugi replied, and Ryou gently grabbed his hands, their fingers intertwining. "Okay?"

"Okay. Ryou replied, feeling the same warmth that had danced in his palms amongst Yugi's touch.