So like most who were tired of living under shadows, he bolted the instance freedom came. Though he would be eternally grateful to Yugi and his gang, it was clear there was nothing he could do for them. He was the awkward reminder of the evils they suffered through for the past years or so, innocent in his own right yet still casting a pall on their outings. For though his eyes were brown and innocent enough, they did bear an unfortunate resemblance to those of the Spirit of the Ring.
In his darker days he resented Yugi for not doing more: how simple was it to knock him out, take his Ring, and destroy it? So what if he died in the process, it would have spared him years of living under evil and the world of evil, as melodramatic as that sounded.
Yes, evil, luckily for him the Ring was the destructive impulses and voices whispering astringent, bittersweet machinations.
So it was only reasonable that birds of a feather should hang together, nevermind if said bird was a few thousand miles away in Egypt. His grades were barely enough to get to some no-name university in Cairo and he made a swift departure after graduation.
And there he was, 3 years later, finishing up a major and going on with a minor and fresh out of a breakup. They both had thought they were over the evils that possessed them, and latching on to each other with a hint of desperation and bravado, whipped up a romance out of thin air.
Frequently he wondered what Marik saw in him. And it turned out, the answer was precisely nothing. He was being thrown out, figuratively, though Marik was the one spending all his time in Ryou's dorm room. The landlord was once again forced to leave the premise, as ridiculous as that was, and by the time he came back Marik was long gone.
And back and gone and back and gone, makeup sex and rejection and Marik's patience worn down fast and Ryou's feelings worn thinner until they both were about as happy as they had been in Domino. Why did they expect this to end well anyways? Neither had any substantial human contact. Marik was obstinate and determined to be in control, Ryou's façade of politeness devolved into clinginess and passive aggressiveness and paranoia.
It really would have served Ryou better to consider these recent events at a time other than his paleontology class. But with ½ the class fast asleep, out cold (under the blissful AC), he supposed he fit right in anyways.