Deserted Distractions is a Yu-Gi-Oh! fanfic written by Blue Lace Agate, focusing on a romance between Tea Gardner, Ryou Bakura, and Yami Bakura. At 61 chapters, the story is complete.
When the weather conspires to trap them together, things heat up between Ryou and Téa. But what happens when the darkness within Bakura comes out to play? With a malevolent spirit running around, there's far worse dangers than the snowstorm for them to face, and by the end all parties may be changed.
The story can be found here
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This fanfic contains examples of:
- Bittersweet Ending: While Ryou remembers everything, Téa does not.
- Damn You, Muscle Memory!: Ryou finds himself able to pick locks and untie knots without even thinking about it thanks to Yami Bakura's muscle memory.
- Dance of Romance: Tea attempts to teach Ryou to dance, while romantic music plays, nudging both of them closer to acknowledging the tension between them.
- Dating Catwoman: Yami Bakura and Téa begin to have this relationship, to both parties' disgust and arousal.
- Emotion Eater: Demons in the Shadow Realm feed off of emotions, including negative and positive ones, and can drain happiness and warmth from their victims.
- Evil Is Deathly Cold: The shadow demon's presence freezes Ryou, eventually making him go numb from the cold, and later does the same to Bakura.
- Humanity Is Infectious: Yami Bakura laments that this is the reason he's attracted to Tea; since Ryou is his host and likes Tea, he does too. This also comes into play when the group is sent to the Shadow Realm and a demon nearly overwhelms Bakura due to him retaining human senses and form.The trouble with being embodied was that it was so damn addicting. A paltry five years sharing some teenager's skinbag and he was already forgetting how to be spirit, how to be pure, undiluted essence. Physicality was a habit that was hard to break.
- Humanoid Abomination: Yami Bakura is portrayed through most of the story as creepy and evil, but in a very human, relatable way, mostly acting without inhibitions or moral restraints on his and/or his host's desires and best interests. And then two-thirds of the way in, in order to defeat a shadow demon, Bakura sheds most of the human baggage he's picked up during his years with Ryou."You fool," he cackled, and his voice bore no resemblance to the voice of Ryou Bakura. "You fool. Don't you know that I am the darkness?"
- When he returns, Tea has a strong reaction to him, until they return to the physical world where he can successfully borrow Ryou's humanity again.
- Hyde Plays Jekyll: Yami Bakura fools Téa into thinking he's Ryou a few times, most disturbingly when she kisses him.
- Insecure Love Interest: Ryou doesn't feel worthy of Tea's affections, primarily because he cannot rid himself of the Spirit of the Ring' presence. Not only does he view himself as weak because of this, it also means that spending time with him puts Tea in danger.
- Kind Restraints: To stop Yami Bakura from causing trouble, Tea ties Ryou to a chair.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Yami Bakura can erase memories, and he plans to do so to Téa so Yami Yugi won't come after him.
- Master of Unlocking: Thanks to Yami Bakura's muscle memory, Ryou is able to pick locks and untie knots without fail.
- Mind Game Ship: In-universe, Yami Bakura does this to Tea. She knows exactly how manipulative Yami Bakura is, knows he's manipulating her, and still can't stop herself from being physically attracted to him.
- Plot-Based Voice Cancellation: Due to wearing earbuds, Téa and Ryou don't hear the announcement that school is closed or the librarian locking up. Similarly, the librarian doesn't hear their laptop fan or linger enough to hear their reactions after she turns off the lights.
- Snowed-In: This happening to the school is what sparks the plot, as Téa and Ryou are trapped inside.
- Suspiciously Apropos Music: When Tea teaches Ryou to dance, the two songs she plays are Sinatra's "Fly Me to the Moon," a classic love song, and "Bubbly" by Colbie Cailait, another song about recognizing romantic feelings. The scene is all about them discovering that Just Friends isn't going to work for them...
- Uncanny Valley: After confronting the shadow demon, Yami Bakura's hold on his "human form" slips, and Tea has this reaction to him in-universe.This being was still human-shaped, still had the pale skin, brown eyes, and dead-white hair of the boy standing next to her[...]but he looked almost...stretched. Too tall and not wide enough, like a badly enlarged photo. His fingers were too long and too much like claws. His skin didn't seem to be quite opaque. If she looked hard, Tea could see the guttering shadows through the outline of his form.
