...if I don't submit this now, I might never do it.
So yeah. Contest entry. I wish I could've gone without choosing Angstshipping, since so many people chose it, but it's my OTP-ish (I said that) and I couldn't live not choosing it, so...
Anyone possibly waiting for me to update my chaptered stories, I promise I will! This week, hopefully!
Disclaimer: I own the plot, but I do not own any of the characters (okay, I did have to make up one random OC but never mind her) or anything else.
Warnings: Blood, violence. Nothing too graphic. Character death, though no one important dies, I promise.
"Don't you really have a more normal-looking piece of clothing in your possession, Marik? Because, honestly speaking, the one you're wearing at the very moment looks... gay." Ryou lectured to hspeis best friend one sunny Tuesday morning.
As Marik looked up at his best friend, the pale white-haired teenager had his hands on his hips in a way that let Marik know about what Ryou's opinion on his shirt exactly was. To top this, Ryou's innocent, big brown eyes were glaring at Marik's t-shirt disapprovingly.
Ryou was so pale he could almost be considered an albino, like his late mother. It was weird when Marik and his brother Mariku were tanned, Ryou's big brother Bakura was tanned and Ryou was as pale as a ghost, regardless of all the time he spent outside.
Marik eyed the shirt he had on. It was absolutely normal-looking to him, except for the fact that it was light red in color. "What? Since when is red considered gay?" he asked the other dubiously, setting his bag aside before leaning back on the grass under a huge oak tree.
He wanted to know this because, frankly, he was indeed gay. Marik Ishtar was hopelessly gay for his white-haired friend.
Marik loved everything about the other male, the way he spoke all too formally, the way his voice and laughter was all too high-pitched to sound suitable for a boy, the way sunlight never let him tan, the way he let his white hair flow fluffily a little past his shoulders...
Here's the necessary catch, seeing how love is always a little complicated: Ryou was nothing short of a homophobe. He had been that way ever since his father permanently kicked his older brother out for making out with Marik's older brother.
One time, two years ago, Marik asked Ryou who the whitette would like to spend the rest of his life with. Ryou thought about this for a while and finally said that with luck, he might some nice shepherd girl and they could be happy together. It would also make his father happy, so Ryou find it perfect.
When he turned the question around, Marik refused to answer him. How could he ever tell Ryou that he was the only one Marik wanted to be with, knowing Ryou preferred some still unknown shepherdess over him?
"I think the morely accurate term would be 'pink', Marik," Ryou informed Marik with a giggle (which, of course, wasn't ever considered gay by anyone because it was Ryou), effectively snapping him back to reality and the current, "And of course you wouldn't know, you have never been too quick with gaining new information, after all."
"Red, pink, whatever. It might as well be blue, for all I care, but this shirt just so happens to be the same one that suffered the damage from the berry assault last year," Marik replied, mimicking Ryou's speech as he started involuntarily remembering the incident.
Their big brothers, Bakura and Mariku, had found Ryou and Marik sleeping under that same huge tree in the woods, and dumped a lot of berries on them from the tree.
Ryou had managed to save his clothes with the soap his mother made from tree roots and other weird ingredients, but Marik's were doomed to be pink forever and ever.
And every time he somehow caught a rabbit (which was rare) or a squirrel (which was rarer), he traded them for some food. Mariku was more of a hunter, and that's also why he could afford to be a little insane.
So that shoddy pink shirt was just about the only one he had (after Mariku sliced his brown shirt with a knife. Apparently it had been an accident.).
Ryou had apparently recalled the incident too, because he nodded, "Ah, that does ring a bell. It was rather amusing, with you covered in berries and Bakura and Mariku laughing about it very much insanely in the background."
"You were covered in berries too." Marik pouted.
"Maybe so, but at least I managed to rid my clothes of them, unlike yourself." Ryou said, giggling again, "Did you happen to have brought anything remotely edible with you? I'm feeling peckish." he continued, eyeing the bag Marik had with him.
Nodding, the tan teenager took a bread from the bag, breaking it in half and handing one of the pieces to his pale companion.
Ryou took it, smiling gratefully as he did, "I'm glad one of us has food. Bakura and Mariku haven't been back for a few days of time, and father is so pathetic with getting food that even I could do better."
Bakura did help Ryou by bringing him rabbits and other things once in a while, but even though Ryou appreciated this, he couldn't quite accept his older brother anymore.
Marik nodded, as he hadn't seen either of those two in a while either. Maybe they had gotten... engaged in other activities, so to say. That might also be what Ryou was suspecting, hearing the way the whitette was talking about it.
After they finished their breads, Ryou yawned and stretched, "Oh, this reminded me, I actually promised to my father that I were to go to the market and trade a squirrel or two for a bread. Are you interested in accompanying me on my task?"
On a normal day Marik would've said yes, but right now he just wanted to think about the Ryou-situation without having the white-haired teenager present. "Not today, sorry."
So Ryou stood up, straightening his light blue shirt as he did so. "Do suit yourself. Shall we meet up at my house in an hour of time?"
"Fine by me," Marik replied, pulling his hat over his face so he could take a nap in the sunlight.
'In an hour of time' was an awfully loose term for the two of them. Neither of them had watches (God forbid, one of those would've cost a fortune) and Marik's sense of time passing was even worse than Ryou's (which was horrible).
But regardless of this, just when Marik was falling asleep, someone took the hat off of his face, exposing his eyes to brightly shining sun.
"Hey!" he cried, blinking rapidly as he sat up.
"Heyo, Marik. What's up, daydreaming about Ryou?" Mariku voiced.
As Marik finally regained his vision, he saw Mariku and Bakura looking down at him, both smiling smugly.
The first thing that caught Marik's attention, though, was the fact that Bakura's white hair was messier than how Marik had ever seen it before, as it was dirty with leaves tangled in the random strands.
His clothes and body weren't any better; there were muddy splashes on the knees of Bakura's light brown trousers and his palms and some blood on his shirtless chest.
Bakura had his bow in his hand, suggesting it wasn't long since he last shot something with it, and Mariku had his arm around his pale companion and a bag full of something (rabbits, probably) in his other hand.
Marik looked only slightly better; no blood anywhere, and no mud either, but his blonde hair was just as bad as Bakura's, and if possible, it was pointing up in more directions than normally. He also had bruises on his throat. How he had managed that, Marik couldn't guess.
The two indeed knew about Marik's hopeless crush on Ryou. Since Mariku was very intuitive like that, he had just guessed it a long while ago.
"Yeah... Ryou indeed," Marik sighed.
Bakura leaned down to ruffle Marik's hair, causing Mariku to move with him, "Don't worry, little buddy. He'll warm up to you sooner or later."
Marik was slightly weirded out by this, as Bakura rarely showed affection or said anything nice (Mariku was the exception that made the rule). And Mariku was probably weirded out as well, because he growled jealously and pulled Bakura back to him without a word.
"Ah, what I'm saying is that Marik would be perfect for Ryou!" Bakura said quickly, "You know you're the only one I'll ever care for, Mariku." he continued patiently to his lover.
"Eew," Marik made a gagging motion, causing Mariku to smack him on the head. "Shut up! It's not every day I get to witness Bakura go soft like a melting candle!"
But Bakura had already regained his composure and was now grinning madly, "So, what are you planning to do about him?"
Marik blinked stupidly, "Ummm... Nothing?"
Clicking his tongue disapprovingly, Mariku shook his head, "Not good, Marik. That hasn't worked at all so far."
"Well, what am I supposed to do? When I meet up with him at his place, should I just tell him he's the love of my life and stuff? I don't think so," Marik growled back at his older brother.
"Just that!" Mariku all but screamed, "And we'll come with to make sure that you do just that!" he yanked Marik up from the ground violently.
"What?" Marik protested loudly, trying to get free from Mariku's tight grasp, "No way! What if he rejects me! He hates gays!"
"Then he'll at least know," Bakura started with a frustrated shrug, "He'll know how you feel. He'll acknowledge your feelings and even if he doesn't accept them, he'll know they're there."
For the second time in a short time span, Bakura managed to surprise his companions. That he could actually say something remotely deep... Weird.
"I have my moments," Bakura said with a smirk, "Now let's go. Not like even Ryou will wait forever."
The way to Ryou's house followed a road, one of those roads that were roads but not really roads, old and only considered as roads because people walked on them so much that they weren't growing plants.
It was quiet, until they spotted a little girl laying in a puddle of blood. It was a horrible sight, one that they would probably all remember for the rest of their existence.
She couldn't be more than four, maybe five years old.
Her arm was bent back unnaturally, suggesting it had been dislocated.
And all the blood was pouring from a huge wound on her side.
Marik kneeled next to her, not caring about getting blood on his pink t-shirt or even his brown trousers. "What happened? Who did this?" he asked, carefully not to startle the fragile girl.
She painfully turned her head and shifted her gaze to Marik, "King's men... They killed... Mommy..." after these words, a raspy cry echoed from her strained throat.
"It's alright... Everything will be alright..." Marik whispered soothingly.
"Could you... play with me?" the little girl asked carefully, her emerald eyes searching Marik's lilac ones for comfort.
Meanwhile Bakura examined the wound and secretly shook his head to Marik and Mariku; there was nothing they could do.
Not like this hadn't happened before, since King Kaiba was ruthless when he wanted something. But this was just a little girl-! When the king had three sons of his own, how could he possible hurt someone so young? What had she ever done to him?
"Don't worry... It'll be alright..." Marik was starting to tear up, even though he knew it would not comfort the poor female.
"Let's go," Mariku muttered nervously, yanking Marik's arm.
Marik let out a low hiss, "How can you just walk away like that? She's dying, it's-"
"Because," Mariku cut in, "Our white-haired friend lives nearby, and it's not guaranteed that he's alright either."
"Oh God," Marik and Bakura whispered simultaneously, the latter grabbing Marik's other arm painfully to help him up.
Marik turned to look at the little girl one last time. "Sorry, our friend might be hurt, we have to go," he brushed her blonde hair from her face.
"It's okay," she reassured, "We can... play some... other time... right?"
"Yeah." Nodding, Marik ran off with tears in his eyes.
Bakura and Mariku had to literally drag him the rest of the way to Ryou's home, because he couldn't see absolutely anything from his tears.
When he did hear pained sobs and gasps and whispers, he forced the rest of the tears away to see what was happening.
Ryou was sitting there, harsh sobs shaking his whole body.
His father was laying dead on the floor, and it seemed that he had been stabbed repeatedly with something.
Marik forced his gaze out of the corpse as the three of them dragged Ryou outside. It wouldn't do him any good to stare at his dead father any longer.
Ryou gripped Marik's shirt (that pink, bloody one) as he cried. "It's not fair!" he whimpered, apparently trying hard to find his voice, "He was my only family! Now I don't have anything!"
Bakura shook his little brother slightly from his shoulders to snap the smaller whitette back to reality, "That's not true. You have Marik. You have us."
Looking up, Ryou seemed to only now realize his tan friend was indeed there. "Marik," he said, brown, teary eyes locking lavender orbs to stare into them, "Marik," he repeated, "I haven't been honest to you... I'm so sorry..." he pressed his lips carefully on Marik's.
Three days passed after this.
Three days when Marik was incapable of even looking at Ryou.
Three days when the whitette was probably sure his friend despised him.
During those three days, they decided that it would be better if Ryou moved in with Marik and Mariku (and Bakura, who had been living there since he was kicked out from his home).
They quickly proceeded to make use of this plan, taking Ryou's most important possessions with them.
Marik was delighted to find that these possessions included the knife he had given Ryou some years back so the whitette would be safe if someone attacked him.
On the fourth day, Marik asked him to come under that same huge tree in the woods where they used to sit.
When the whitette came, his gaze didn't move the ground as he looked down regrettably.
Marik's heart broke slightly at the sight of his best friend like this. Marik wanted to hear those silly speech patterns, see those chocolate eyes glow with happiness, hear that girlish giggle...
"Ryou," he said as the whitette sat down, "What's got you down? Please don't say you think I hate you..."
One glance from sad brown eyes was enough to ask the question 'You don't?'.
Marik shook his head, sighing in process, "I don't hate you. Seriously, Ryou, I... I like you. You know... Yeah. I love you. And I am gay. For you. There. I said it. I just wanted to know if you meant it when you... kissed me and... Yeah. I don't know what I'd have done if you had been home that time and died and..."
Blinking twice, Ryou smiled happily in spite of himself, "Truth be told, I really like you too. A whole lot, to be exact. Love you, if that's how you want to say it. I'm very much sorry I was too terrified of father to tell you that before. I'm aware that I should have."
Marik laughed lightly, "You don't how much I've missed your speech patterns and smile and... You."
"So, what are we to do now? What I mean is... What exactly are we to each other at this point?" Ryou asked carefully, almost like he was afraid of the answer.
The tanner of the two edged slightly closer to him, "Anything... Everything. Friends. Boyfriends. Lovers. I don't know, really, so don't ask me."
"I think I prefer your choices of words over the ones I could think about," Ryou nodded approvingly, leaning his head on Marik's shoulder, "I'm very much sorry I said that I don't have anyone... I just somehow snapped."
"It's alright," Marik said, "I'm just happy to know you care. I think Bakura and Mariku were getting tired of the way I've been pining over you for the last few years, too."
"That fiend of a brother," Ryou hissed, "He could have hinted me something about it, in the very least!"
Marik wasn't too sure if Bakura had done it just to be mean. "From what I gather, you haven't really given him a chance to."
Ryou turned his gaze regrettably to the sky. "That was just about the stupidest thing I've done. Ever. I turned Bakura away, I turned Mariku away, I turned you away."
Marik petted his hair affectionally. "Don't worry. You have a chance to fix it now."
After six years of being pretty much separated, it naturally took a while for the brothers to get along again, but the small whitette made good use of the chance he got. And even though he was still grieving over the loss of his father, he did understand why Bakura didn't exactly miss the man, despite the fact that they were related.
The two white-haired brothers did learn to get along, after Bakura learned to appreciate his brother's kindness and Ryou learned the ways the other displayed affection.
But before any of this even happened, Bakura and Mariku caught their little brothers engaged in a passionate kiss.
Ryou shuttered as he tried to explain the situation to the two grinning men, but Marik ended up cutting him off by boldly claiming his lips and tongue for something else.
It was all still for a moment, but then Ryou eagerly responded to the kiss, and Bakura and Mariku exchanged knowing grins.
When they broke the lip lock for air, Marik uneasily scratched the back of his head, "Ryou... I hope you do realize that I am not a shepherd and most definitely not a girl."
Bakura and Mariku said nothing to this, though they probably wondered where that had come from, but Ryou caught on quickly, lightly shaking his head, "Oh, you still remember that? I sincerely apologize, but I wasn't really paying attention since I was wondering what father would say if I were to tell him I like you, and a shepherd was the first thing on my mind." he leaned to press his forehead against Marik's shyly, "Don't worry, you don't need to be a shepherd or a girl for me to love you."
...I hope I never have to write the word "shepherdess" anymore. ;_; Before today, I didn't even know such thing exists...
And before I go "gomen for making you read that", some points I have to address to reduce confusion.
* It's the 19th century, England to be exact. It doesn't really matter if you understood that or not, but if you thought it was present time... *headdesk*
* That England is supposed to explain why Ryou is feeling peckish and why Marik is wearing trousers instead of pants. I know I mixed American English and British English a lot, but I have studied them a little weirdly, so gah.
* Ryou's speech is something I personally like. He learned that from his mother.
* I'll live it up to you to figure out how Mariku and Bakura were so messed up, but you have to know how Mariku's throat got bruised. Right...?
* Mariku and Bakura are 21 and 20, Ryou and Marik are 16. Bakura was 14 when he was kicked out from his home, yes.
* King Kaiba is Gozaburo. Seto will be a king some day, yeah. OwO /since they are blood bound just this once.
* The king's men killed Ryou and Bakura's father because he couldn't pay for his living with anything. I's what you get for getting rid of Bakura...
I bet I forgot something. Stupid 2 AM + I've Leekspinning for 1:44:57... :/
Now gomen for making you read that. I hope you liked it. I tried my best et ceteraa et ceteraa. Six years of studying English and really this is the best I can do. *headdesk*
Review? The thing about being a contest entry and wanting to get better always stands and so on...