Ryou sat on the park bench opposite the water fountain, tapping his feet lightly but manically on the ground. It was his first date with Marik, and he couldn't remember ever feeling more nervous; it was rather as if he had swallowed fifty butterflies that were in a frenzy as they travelled around and around in his stomach. Ryou checked his watch for the fourth time that minute. It was still exactly 11.49 am. He had been so excited for his date that he had shown up at the park at only twenty past, even though he wasn't supposed to be meeting Marik until midday.
Ryou hunched his shoulders and hung his head. Swaying from side to side, he watched his wispy white hair swing to and fro. He heard footsteps come towards him and quickly jerked his head up, to find that it was only a girl from his school walking past him. Ryou blew his hair out of his face and tried not to look too dejected. She caught his eye and smiled at him. He thought he had managed a proper smile in return but realised it must have looked more like a grimace for the girl hurriedly looked away and quickened her pace to get away from him.
"Marik, where are you?" he murmured, then began to chant quietly, "Mar-ik, Mar-ik."
Ryou smiled to himself. He was finally about to go on a date with Marik! It was actually going to happen! He checked his watch for the umpteenth time, which told him he still had nine more minutes to wait.
"Ryou!"
Ryou could've sworn his heart literally jumped into his mouth at that moment, and he nearly began to cry in disappointment when he realised that the voice didn't belong to his date but rather to Jounouchi who walking towards him with both Honda and Yugi in tow.
"Hey, Bakura, what brings you here?" It was Yugi who spoke this time.
"Oh, um, just thought it was a nice day to go to the park," said Ryou.
"All by yourself?" asked Jounouchi, with a smirk on his voice.
Ryou answered in a small voice, "Uh, well, for now, yeah."
"What do you mean 'for now'?" Honda asked.
Ryou paused, wondering whether he should tell them about Marik. He decided against it, and tried to change the subject instead. "Hi, Honda! I saw that girl you like from school. She walked by me just a minute ago." He ducked his head slightly, causing his hair to fall partly over his face. He had always been hopeless being deceptive, and felt even worse because it was to his friends.
Nobody noticed seemed to notice though.
Jounouchi began teasing Honda about the girl, which resulted in the two of them trying to beat each other up and Yugi attempting to be a peacemaker. Soon the three were off to stalk the poor girl whom Ryou had seen earlier, leaving him all alone again.
Once more, Ryou checked the time (11.54am) and started manically tapping his feet again. He chewed on his bottom lip as he looked around the park to find something to distract himself with. There it was! He began to stand up but then realised there were boys about his age nearby, and Ryou didn't want to be laughed at for acting like a girl. He squeezed his eyes tightly shut for a moment, swallowed, and swiftly made his way to the other side of the footpath. After swooping down for a fraction of a second, he practically ran back to the bench seat and sat there for a full minute, not moving, with the small something stowed away in his palm. When at last he was sure no one was watching him, Ryou carefully unfolded his fingers to reveal a single white daisy.
Picturing Marik clearly inside his head, Ryou began to softly say, 'He loves me. He loves me not.' as he slowly deprived the daisy of its petals one by one.
On the very last petal, Ryou whispered, "He loves me!"
He looked at it wide-eyed for a moment, before smiling shyly to himself. At last he knew that Marik felt the same way.