After everything, it took Ryou Bakura a few months to finally understand that he was completely alone; it took another month to realise that Bakura was never even real company in the first place. He was merely a thing that resided in the boy's mind, and this realisation helped Ryou move on past it all.
He also realised that he needed change. Something drastic, something that would say that he was ready to lead his own life after being just a shell for so long. He cut his hair short, threw out all of his old clothes, sold his cards, and moved away to a small house in a small city.
He lived there for a while, with a small life that didn't matter to anyone but the few people he'd surrounded himself with. This was yet another realisation, the realisation that he was already being forgotten at the age of twenty-three when that was the complete opposite of what he wanted. So, he grew his hair down to his shoulders and booked a long holiday to Egypt – it felt fitting, in a way, he couldn't quite explain how (and he kind of always wanted to see the country anyway).
Over the years he had dated a number of people, some male, some female, but he never felt as if they understood. He had too much past that was hidden away from them, and they usually grew tired of it. He didn't really break up with them, he just drifted away like he had done with his old friends, as he had done with everything.
This was maybe one of the reasons why Ryou felt anxious when he accidentally met with Marik at the market on a hot Saturday afternoon.
It was an awkward exchange of confused looks, nervous 'hello's and an unspoken feeling of 'you almost had me killed' from Ryou's side. Marik quickly told Ryou where he was living, accompanied with a probably apologetic invitation to come over for dinner.
Ryou accepted, not reluctantly but not gladly either. The dinner was as awkward as their meeting, with annoyingly normal questions like 'how are you' and 'what have you been doing'. But in a way, it was nice to see someone who he shared a past with.
Ryou went back for a second time, and then a third, and then a fourth. Each time they grew closer and each time they came closer to discussing their shared pasts.
It was the fifth time that the topic came around. Ryou began the conversation with a vague mention of how he thought about talking to Yugi but he and his Yami were too close for the small boy to even try and understand.
They sat and talked about what had happened to them and why it had happened and by the end of the night they were lying on top of each other in a deep sleep. Ryou's final realisation was that he and Marik were most likely going to keep it like this, they were already far too close now for it to end.
It continued, and the long year of Ryou trying to find himself had come to a successful end. It wasn't how he had expected, he had expected to have found someone new and refreshing rather than a person who was deeply embedded in the past he had tried so hard to leave behind.
At the age of twenty-four, Ryou was sat on the sofa of his new shared apartment with his boyfriend, combing his hand through his long hair that went down his back and humming a song that he didn't know the name of. He was happy, and Marik was happy, and after Marik had just fallen asleep he closed his eyes knowing that he was going to finally be himself and not just a shell.