Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! nor its characters. I also do not profit from this work of fiction.


A/N: I decided on Melvin for Yami Malik's name because once Little Kuriboh said it, I was sold (also, the whole Malik/Mariku thing is annoying as hell). I do know Yami Malik is not an actual person, but I kinda really like him, so he's a real character in this story. Also, I am not sorry for Yami Bakura's name.


Warning: Violence, Language


Chapter 1: Falling Misfit


There were cars speeding by on the highway in the seedier part of town. The noise was music made up of honking, squealing tires, and the ever-entertaining "vroom-vroom". The cacophony above served well to cover up the screaming coming from below the overpass as three youngsters soon found out. They did not hesitate to take the place from the homeless, shooing the poor souls with threats to their lives, following it up with a beating when they refused to budge. As it was, the alcove under the highway would have been deserted except for four teenagers who lingered, the four wore the same blue slacks and jackets. Three of the youngsters were standing and the fourth kid was on the ground, covered in dirt, uniform disheveled and torn, and a face smudged by blood from a broken nose.

"Which one?" asked the only teen excited to be there, a small hint of an English accent in his rough words. He was holding an aluminum bat tight in his pale hands, knuckles bloodied and straining. The sleeves of his jacket and baby blue shirt were rolled up to his elbows to show strong pale forearms. A smile dragged the right corner of his mouth upwards towards his amused brown eye. The teen on the ground struggled to scoot backwards, the pain locking his body down and making it a futile effort. A high whimper of fear ripped from his throat as the bat gently nudged each of his knees. "Come on, pick," the teen with the accent pressed. His smile growing wider by the moment.

The frightened teen quickly shook his head, his black locks jiggling feebly.

Farther away, a third teen standing watch sighed, his back to the scene, shoulders slumping heavily. He did not speak, but it was clearly understood by his slumped stance how exasperated and bored he was with the whole scene. The teen with the bat only rolled his eyes at the other's back, his smile turning to a grimace. He turned to his other companion, a slightly older teen with an open jacket, his white dress shirt unbuttoned at the top to show smooth bronze-colored skin. The one with the bat raised his shoulders in question, jerking his head towards the silent one as if to say: What's his deal?

His ally's pale lavender eyes were narrowed and he his spiked, platinum-blonde hair shook when he shrugged abruptly, mouth drawn to a thin line. He was opening his mouth to speak when the silent teen in question spoke up in a smooth, deep voice.

"Does it really matter? Just do both and let's go. I'm going to miss my history class because of you." And as an afterthought, "It's my favorite."

"Oh, don't get your panties in a bunch, ya nerd. I'm doing it, I'm doing it." The teen with the bat gazed back down to the kid who had succeeded in backing away a couple of feet. He followed and smirked. "Nice try, kid, but you're not getting away until I take at least one of your kneecaps. The other is a bonus." His taunting smirk turned menacing as it widened, a slight glint of crazy shining in his eyes. "So, which one?"

The blonde let out a growl and motioned for the bat.

"I'll do it, goddamn it. You're taking too long!"

The bat was wrenched away sharply and the teen turned his gaze upon his friend.

"No," he screeched, "it has to be me!"

"Then fucking do it already," the other snapped.

Another loud, weighty sigh left the third teen, interrupting what would have undoubtedly been a long squabble.

"Fine! Hold him down, Melvin," said the boy with the bat. The blonde moved forwards and, before the kid on the ground could scurry away, stomped down on his chest, extracting the victim's breath in a pained grunt.

"Go ahead, Bakura," he said with an oddly refined wave towards the kid trying to wrench his leg off. The boy pounded on Melvin's leg with his fists, but the blonde paid him no heed.

Bakura advanced then and immediately stepped on an ankle to keep it in place. And before the kid could aim his next frenzied kick towards him, he swung the bat down hard.

Screams rang in the air, drowned out by various beeping and speeding on the raised road above them. Bakura frowned after his fourth swing and looked to Melvin.

"Think I got it?" The blonde's lips and brow puckered in thought as he assessed the sobbing mess below him.

"I didn't hear anything snap or pop, but this brat is making such a racket that I can't hear shit anyway. Give him a couple more."

"N-no … please," begged the boy, snot dribbling messily from his nose and into his bloodied mouth, "I'm so – s-so sorry."

Bakura glared down at the kid and his pallid face contorted in disgust.

"Bloody pathetic," he hissed, "At least have the balls to tell me to piss off, you shit. And next time, think twice before you fuck with my little brother." He gripped the bat tighter and raised it above his head to swing. "Because the next time you fuck with him," he continued in a savage whisper, "will be the last time you fucking breathe." He ended his words with a swing and Melvin laughed at the resounding snap that followed.

x x x

The three were arriving at their high school, when the teen with dark red and fluffy curls looked at his watch, quickly tucking it back underneath his sleeve. "Great. Missed the fucking class. Thanks a lot, Bakura."

Bakura looked at his friend who only glared back at him with violet-red eyes.

"Piss off, your highness. You'd understand if you had a brother," Bakura snapped at him, brushing his long, white hair off his shoulder as he changed into his school shoes. Those reddish eyes narrowed at Bakura, but the teen said nothing as he struggled with his own boots. "Anyway, I seem to recall missing the midnight premiere of the new Star Trek movie because someone decided that he wanted some burgers right before!" The other scoffed at that, brushing his golden bangs out of his face when he straightened.

"Are you still bitching about that? Like it was my fault that some idiot went and started a hostage situation," he groused, turning to proceed further into the school.

"Yeah, well, we missed it because of you!" Bakura yelled as he followed.

"It was last year! Let it go!"

"Not to pour gasoline on the fire, but we did get to see something much more entertaining than that stupid movie," came Melvin's laughing reply from behind the pair.

The teen with wine-colored eyes gave Bakura a smug look. "See?" he said, "Not all of it was so bad."

Bakura rolled his eyes, a snarl tugging on his lips. He stopped in the middle of the hallway and his companions stopped with him.

"Oh, don't look so bloody smug about it. You set a guy on fire, you didn't cure cancer."

The other was about to reply when a soft voice suddenly spoke up.

"Big brother!"

Bakura whipped around to see a pale, mirror image of himself running towards them pack bouncing on his back; he paused in front of Bakura with a soft smile on his face. But where Bakura was all sharp angles and glares, this teen was gentle, up-turned nose, smooth cheeks, and smiling. The kid nodded in greeting to Bakura's friends and directed his warm, honey-brown gaze onto the rough Bakura.

"What do you want, Ryou?" was the gruff question the elder brother gave.

"Have lunch with me today, Touzoku," said Ryou, a hopeful smile on his face.

Bakura scoffed and waved his hand in annoyance.

"Do you really think I have nothing better to do than eat with you, Ryou?"

Ryou's face flickered with hurt, but he remained composed and shrugged idly.

"Oh, well," he sighed, "I tried. I guess it'll just be me and Malik again." He turned on his heel and took two steps only to be halted by a hand on his shoulder. Bakura turned his little brother around, a placating grin on his face. In a blink of an eye, his entire demeanor had changed.

"Now, where are you running off to?" Bakura said sweetly, "I didn't say no. I was just teasing! Of course I'll eat with my baby brother –"

"Quit the fucking pretense, everyone and their mother knows what you're really after," said Melvin as he stepped behind Ryou and gave Bakura a scathing look. "He's off limits, you freak." He made to turn, but Bakura smirked.

"Freak, huh? Hello, pot, I'm kettle."

Melvin flipped him the bird and strode off towards the cafeteria in rushed steps.

"Why am I friends with you idiots?" came the slight whine beside Bakura. Bakura glanced at his friend who was busy running frustrated fingers through his thick hair, making it even fluffier than before.

"I don't know, Atemu," murmured Bakura, "maybe it's because Melvin's your cousin and even if he weren't, he and I are still the only people on earth who can deal with your amount of crazy."

The boy paused in his fretting and gave him a dour look.

"Good point," he responded grudgingly and walked away, leaving the brothers behind.

x x x

Atemu arrived at the full cafeteria and headed towards the first kid he saw with an adequate, still unopened lunch. He paused in front of him and waited until the kid looked up, face pinched with nervous worry and terrified recognition. Atemu leaned forward, hands braced against the table until he towered over the kid, keeping his face a neutral as possible.

"Can I have that," he quietly asked the boy with no hint of question in his voice. He only stared, unblinkingly, into the boy's brown eyes. The boy shuddered and swayed away, holding his hands up in a weak attempt to defend himself.

"Please, t-take anything you want," he muttered, looking away from those gleaming eyes. Atemu finally looked down at the lunch before him. With one brown hand, he swiped the sandwich and the opened chip bag, miffed that the current trend in school was to bring sandwiches. He noticed Melvin and his little brother on the other side of the lunch room.

"Thanks," he said dismissively, and walked towards his cousin. He sat down only to receive a peeved, disapproving glance from the younger boy, Malik. Neither Malik or Ryou liked their misbehaviour. And they never hesitated to make their opinions known. Melvin chuckled beside him.

"Still stealing lunches, huh?"

"It's not stealing if they're willingly giving me their food," said Atemu with a slight tilt to his lips. He looked at the bag of chips with the cartoon shrimp closely and narrowed his eyes at the inside. He had not had shrimp-flavored chips in a long time. Beside him, Melvin cackled and pointed to the bag he held.

"Dude, at least have the decency not to take food that's already been opened!"

Atemu studied the chips and took one, sniffing it. He popped it into his mouth and made a face.

"Ugh, shrimp, you can have them," he shoved them towards Melvin who only laughed harder as he took the bag. Melvin grabbed a handful of the chips and stuffed them into his mouth, chewing between his chortles. Sick, Atemu looked away and to his sandwich. He pulled off the plastic and lifted the bun, noting the plain insides of chicken, cabbage, and yellow sauce, and reassembled it. He took a bite with a thoughtful hum as Bakura slid into the seat before him. He had seated himself right next to Malik, which did not go unnoticed by the overprotective brother.

"Bakura, are you sure you want to sit there?" asked Atemu pointedly. Melvin was already glaring and Malik was blushing, determinedly not looking at Bakura or anyone else for that matter.

"He better move his stupid ass outta that chair before I remove it for him," Melvin threatened, his upper body going rigid. Bakura slid away slightly. For all that he fought and challenged Melvin, Bakura knew better than to cross him. Luckily, Ryou arrived just in time to slip between Malik and his brother. Malik hid his pout with his eating utensils and he huffed.

"Melvin, would you please stop threatening everyone who so much as looks at me?" he crossed his arms over his chest and sighed. "Your stupid, weird, territorial thing is the reason I don't have any other friends other than Ryou!" He straightened in his chair and stared his elder brother down. "I'd like to have more than one friend and I don't understand why you still won't let me be friends with Bakura. If he's okay to you, why can't he be okay for me?"

Bakura leaned around Ryou and smirked at Malik.

"Don't worry, Malik, I'll still be your friend –"

"Like hell!" Melvin suddenly shot up and Atemu let out a long-suffering sigh, gazing at his sandwich in contemplation. He took a couple more bites and glanced at his cousin warily, tensed to spring up at a moment's notice. He put down his sandwich and gripped Melvin's forearm. Not his wisest choice by far as Melvin swung his angry face towards him instead.

"The teachers are looking," Atemu said quietly and Melvin glanced around to verify before sitting once more, muttering foul curses to Bakura under his breath. Bakura only grinned, victorious, and began to pick at his food with his chopsticks.

"Also, no offense, Bakura, but don't breathe on me, your breath smells like curry," Malik commented offhandedly, causing Bakura to flush, much to Melvin's delight.

Atemu picked up his sandwich only to notice Ryou looking at him nervously, teeth worrying his bottom lip.

"Yes?" he queried and Ryou jumped in surprise, laughing in embarrassment at his reaction. He rubbed the back of his neck shyly and hesitated.

"Um, would it be okay if I traded places with you?" Atemu glanced at Malik who was checking his teeth in a small mirror, then at Melvin. His terror-ific cousin was staring eerily at blank space, his jaw twitching and his fingers flexing atop the table. Melvin looked positively murderous. It would be a poor choice to sit next to Bakura at that moment. Atemu directed himself back to Ryou's hopeful smile and almost felt guilty about his answer.

"Hell no," said Atemu and he looked back to his lunch without a second thought.

Ryou frowned and then nodded in understanding. He poked Bakura in the side who only huffed and ignored him.

"Hey, Touzoku?" Bakura grunted something and Ryou smiled. "Can you sit on Atemu's side of the table, please?" Another grunt from Bakura. "See, I met a new friend today and I invited him to have lunch with us." Bakura finally lifted his head from his rice and frowned at his younger brother.

"You made a friend?" he asked skeptically and Ryou nodded excitedly. "Who is it?"

"He's new here," said Ryou happily, "so I helped him find his classes and decided to make him into my friend."

Bakura's face was still puckered in doubt.

"Right. And what kind of poor sod is he to to want to be your friend?"

"Uh, Ryou?" The new nervous sound came from behind Atemu and Ryou's face lit up like the sun.

"Yuugi!" Ryou nudged his brother and Bakura groaned in annoyance as he switched sides, sliding in next to Atemu heavily who reluctantly made space for him. Atemu tensed between Melvin and Bakura. It figured that he would still end up in the line of fire.

"Everybody, this is Yuugi. He's new. That's my brother, he likes to be called Bakura. Doesn't like his given name." Ryou patted the newly vacated seat and the new voice sat. Atemu ignored the new turn of events and focused on his sandwich and the imminent danger that was Melvin's obsessively-protective side.

"Hi, Bakura." The teen in question reverted back to grunting in reply as he dug back into his rice.

"You know Malik. That's his big brother, Melvin –"

"You didn't tell me you made a new friend, Malik," said Melvin with false sweetness.

"Shut up, Melvin. I told you I'm not going to deal with your crap anymore. I will make as many friends as I damn well please! Hey, Yuugi."

"Hi," said the small anxious voice again. Atemu could see a figure bowing slightly out of the corner of his eye and he took a large bite of his sandwich.

"Oh, and this is Atemu."

Atemu finally deigned to look up, food in cheek, and his entire body froze. The new arrival was cute – no, he was gorgeous, even in his blue school uniform. Atemu was not very proficient in poetry or creative writing, but at that moment, he desperately wanted to know how to write sonnets so he could write dozens upon dozens on the perfection that was this boy's face.

He had a similar hair-color scheme to Atemu's though the boy's hair was darker, the red more of a raisin color, blonde bangs, but no highlights in his dark, curly hair. It was also fine unlike the thick, messy tumbleweed on his own head. His eyes were wide and gentle and a wonderful, soft plum color. His nose was slightly upturned like Ryou's though Yuugi's was smaller, causing his face to look more round than it already was. And though he looked pale and frightened, Atemu was struck dumb at how beautiful he was. The newcomer bowed with an awkward smile, hands gripping the edges of his tray tightly as he waited for Atemu to react. Atemu said nothing. He only continued to stare dumbly, his heart thumping wildly in his chest. He had never seen such a gorgeous person before.

"Atemu, you could at least say hi," said Ryou with a pout.

"Humph," Atemu instantly tried to greet the boy only to realize with absolute horror, and a small spray of food, that his mouth was still full of sandwich. He slapped a hand over his mouth as he hastily tried to swallow. Unfortunately for Atemu, he had forgotten to chew his new bite and he proceeded to cough up a lung while he choked on the large piece of sandwich, pounding his chest for air. Melvin smacked his back with a loud guffaw and Atemu spat out his bite into his hand, his brown face flushed red, embarrassment coiling through his gut. Bakura was laughing uncontrollably at his side and clinging to the table for support.

Atemu vaguely registered Malik looking at him with raised eyebrows and Ryou looking about to reach out. Yuugi, the beautiful newcomer, was gazing at him in concern and Atemu hastily grabbed the sandwich's wrapper, tossing the sodden piece of sandwich into it and stealing Bakura's napkin to wipe his hands. Avoiding the boy's stunning eyes, he took Bakura's bottle of milk and took a sip with an annoyed yell from his friend. When he managed to clear his esophagus, he placed the bottle back on the table where Bakura eyed it grudgingly, his amusement gone. Atemu then slowly stood up, turned, and started walking. His face burned, his teeth gritted until they hurt, and shame licked at his insides.

Way to go, you dumbass, he thought furiously to himself. Melvin's insane, raucous laughter followed him out the door and into the hallway beyond.


A/N: Do not ask for updates. Thank you.