A/N: Hmph…wut are you all lookin' at… Of course I'm retired, how dare you think otherwise…oh FINE. I'm back. But just for this one story (probably)! I got this amazing plot bunny and it absolutely wouldn't leave me alone so I sat down to start writing it and…well…this happened. I've already finished most of it. What can I say? I'm weak minded against the forces of such powerful things as thiefshipping. Really you all should be thanking Artemis Nightray and her awesome writing for making me want to write fanfiction again! So go thank her by bouncing over to her story "Painfully Imaginary" on the way out!

All you need to know about this story is that it's written a bit unusually. There are no speech tags (he said, she said) so all the dialogue is in italics. My goal is to make it obvious who's talking without them. Each chapter of the story except for the very first section at the top is a memory from Marik's past that he learned something from, leading back up to what they were originally talking about. Like "Perfect" it is an AU, but I tried to keep the details as canon as possible though it strays a bit more than I usually do…but…whatever. In my defense, I'm retired, so go easy on me…please? Anyways, I hope you enjoy!

"But Marik, are you sure? This just seems so sudden…how do you know he loves you?"

Ishizu's words, though merely out of concern for her little brother, would have a much more lasting impact than she intended. Indeed, Marik would look back on them fondly many times in the future.

"You might not want to hear this sister, but sometimes, in an instant, you just know."

…

I remember the first time Ishizu helped me sneak out of the house. I was only ten. Father was very strict about when I was allowed to leave the house. Namely, only for school.

Ishizu, who had been left in charge while father was working at the museum, got a phone call inviting her out to the mall.

"Come on Ishizu, you have to come! Today's the big opening!"

"I-I can't Mai-chan…I'm watching my little brother…"

"So just bring him with you! Your dad won't know, and he'll enjoy himself!"

And that was how I ended up sneaking out of the house to go to the mall with my sister.

The first thing her friends did upon seeing 'Ishizu's little brother' was tease me about how cute I was. For some reason, they were extra excited when they found out that I went to an all boy's school.

Not-so-surprisingly, this tied into why we were at the mall, and why Ishizu looked so embarrassed.

"I…I changed my mind. I don't want to go."

"Come on, Ishizu! Don't you want to impress Seto?"

"Yes, but Marik" –

"Come on!"

Moments later, I found out what the big deal was. A fancy lingerie store was opening and models had come to 'display' the merchandise. Needless to say, there were as many guys there as there were girls there.

At the time I couldn't understand why. Clothes were for girls. The whole event was pretty boring, right up until the end.

For the finale, a bright red motorcycle was wheeled onto the stage by a guy. Apparently, a raffle was being held for it and a bunch of items from the store. To increase ticket purchase, one of the models got up on the bike.

I guess she was pretending to drive it, but she wasn't even close with the noises she was making. Whatever.

To be honest, I couldn't care less about the girl. The bike, now that was worth my attention!

A movement by its side managed to distract me. It was the guy who wheeled the bike out.

Suddenly, there were two things competing for my attention.

"Um…Mai-san?"

"Yah, Marik-kun?"

"Is that guy one of the models, too?"

The look she gave me was the only answer I needed.

I thought about what Ishizu's friends had said to her about this 'Seto' guy.

I looked at her.

I looked at the model.

I looked at the bike (still more interesting than the model).

I looked at the guy (definitely more interesting than the model, maybe even more interesting than the bike).

And it was right there in that moment that I knew I was gay.

A/N: So there you have it! The first couple memories are really quite short. The older he gets, the more detailed they become. So bear with me until then! Until next week my lovelies…(oh and feel free to review…cause I remember those being the best part of writing on this site ^_^) Cheers~!