I try to be thorough, but please let me know of any errors you find!
The desk was cold and rough. Too uncomfortable. It didn't help lower the tension of the moment. He picked his head up from the desk and pulled away a few strands of white hair that got caught between his cheek and the desk. Speaking of, he couldn't see it, but his whole cheek was red from leaving it pressed against the desk for so long. It was all the more noticeable thanks to his pale skin.
He felt somewhat disoriented. He must have dozed off for a bit at some point. A nap wasn't the best way to start the new school year, nor was it great for relieving him of the awkwardness of being at a new school in a completely different country.
He glanced around the classroom with quite the dazed look on his face. He was further back in the room, sort of to the right from the teacher's perspective. Who was his teacher? Oh right, some woman. He couldn't remember the name, but she definitely wore too much make up.
He turned his head to the left and was captivated by the view out the window. It wasn't anything special, nothing newsworthy either from what he could tell, he just had his head down long enough that the light from outside was enough to draw him in like a moth. He stared outside with his mouth agape and his eyes half lidded.
It took him a second before he regained control from the window and whipped his head to the other side, coming eye to eye with the guy sitting next to him. They both looked somewhat shocked to see the other, like they couldn't believe the other was able notice him.
The guy staring at him was an interesting sight. With red eyes framed by blond bangs and an almost star like black shape on his head outlined with red. Was that… his hair? It must take a lot to style it that way.
The two teens simultaneously looked away from each other and towards the teacher. She seemed to be going off about something related to attendance. He wasn't bothered enough to listen closely. He folded his arms over his desk and laid his head back down, his eyes slowly closing again.
"-Bakura!"
He threw his head up suddenly at the sound of his name.
"Are you here or not?" The teacher said, scanning the classroom.
Realizing she was checking attendance, Bakura lazily threw his arm up in the air. "Here." He mumbled, obviously still tired.
"Thank you for finally hearing me. Next time don't sleep in my class." She said to him before continuing down the class list.
Bakura let out a grunt of acknowledgement before putting his head back on his desk. He couldn't focus on falling asleep as the teacher's voice was so loud now that he couldn't help but listen to her. Each name she called out made him curious as to what the student the name belonged to looked like.
"Atem Muto."
"Here."
Bakura saw the guy sitting next to him raise his hand out of the corner of his eye. So the weird haired fellow was named Atem Muto. An odd name. Must have been foreign. It reminded him of his older brother's name. Now that Bakura thought about it, Atem did look like he had a bit of a tan. Maybe he was mixed or something.
He turned his head to the other side and stared squinty-eyed out the window. The sunlight was starting to annoy him. He internally flinched when some locks of hair slipped in front of his face, but he quickly moved them behind his ear. He was just moments away from drifting off to sleep again… when the bell rang and his head jolted up from the desk.
Partial heart attack aside, Bakura rubbed his eyes as he grabbed his bag and stood up. He stumbled for a second, still in someway half asleep, but nonetheless made it outside the classroom and into the hall at the exact same time as Atem. Bakura didn't pay him any mind… until it became obvious that the two were still walking down the hall together. They glanced to each other for a second, but quickly looked away.
Bakura made it to his next class… at the exact same time as Atem. They walked into the classroom together and stopped for a moment for more awkward eye contact.
"Well… it seems our destinies are intertwined." Atem said, somewhat as an icebreaker.
"Pah! Destiny." Bakura snarked as he walked away and sat at a desk in the back corner.
Atem followed close behind and sat in front of him. "What, don't believe in destiny?" He questioned.
"Whether or not I believe in destiny isn't the point. That was just bloody cliché." Bakura retorted.
Atem stared at Bakura curiously for a moment, unsure if that was really an English word he heard or not. "Are you foreign?"
"Are you?" Bakura sarcastically replied.
Atem paused as if he was trying to figure out the answer for himself. "Technically? I mean, I am a quarter Egyptian, but I've lived here my whole life."
Bakura's interest was clearly piqued as he leaned onto his desk and closer to Atem. "I'm half British. Lived there my whole life until this past summer."
"Oh, how unique. I didn't notice it at first but the accent is certainly thick." Atem pointed out.
Bakura scowled. "Problem with it?"
Realizing he probably didn't word that the best way, Atem quickly tried to come up with a way to fix his previous statement. "W-well, no. I didn't mean it as a bad thing, I was just making an-"
"Alright class! First day back to the same old school for many of you, so let's make this introduction short and simple." The teacher announced and interrupted Atem.
The two teens collectively decided to drop the subject in favor of listening to the teacher, or in Bakura's case, going back to taking a nap. Before he was fully out again, Bakura momentarily thought of how Ryo was doing on his first day.
"I want to go home. I want to go home. I want to go home. I want to go home. Oh bugger I want to go hoooome!"
"Ryo Bakura?" The teacher called out.
"Home! I-I-I mean h-here!" Ryo's face burned up and he shoved his head in his hands to hide himself from the embarrassment.
"Oh Big Brother, I want to go home! And I don't just mean home, I want to go back to our old home. Where we had a backyard and the whole place to ourselves and a much bigger bedroom and a dining room separate from the living room! And I want you here so I won't have to be so bloody scared!"
"Hey, Yug. See that kid over there? The one-"
"Katsuya Jonouchi?"
"Here! The one with the white hair." Jonouchi whispered to the kid in front of him.
"Huh? Oh yeah-"
"Yugi Muto?"
"Here! I see him. What about him?" Yugi questioned.
"You, uh, you see how all the girls in class are starin' at him?" Jonouchi pointed out.
Indeed, every girl in the classroom, about twelve, had their eyes focused on Ryo with big grins on their faces. It didn't help that he was sitting exactly in the middle of the classroom and felt completely surrounded. It wasn't too hard to tell that Ryo was shaking hard enough to also shake his desk. Didn't seem like any of the girls cared that they were clearly making him uncomfortable.
"On one hand I feel bad. On the other, I'm jealous." Yugi muttered.
"I know right? How do you win over girls just like that and not even like the attention!?" Jonouchi whisper yelled and clenched a fist.
"Maybe it's the hair." Yugi wondered aloud.
"Waah? Yug… If hair won over girls, you and Atem would be swarmed with 'em twenty-four seven." Jonouchi complained.
"I don't know Jonouchi. With your hair I think there should at least be a girl or two interested in you also." Yugi said as he patted his blond friend's head.
Jonouchi stared at Yugi with slight annoyance on his face and gently pushed the other's hand away. "Yeah well, since neither of us have a single chick lookin' at us, it can't be the hair."
"The eyes."
"Yugi."
"Okay, not helping."
"So class, since it's the first day and I have nothing else to say you all can relax and chat for the rest of class." The teacher said, causing the male students to quickly become loud with small groups sitting together, all trying to talk over each other.
All the girls instead clambered around Ryo and practically suffocated him, causing Jonouchi to scowl at the sight.
"Hey Ryo~ Are you new here? If you'd like, I can show you around~" A girl near Ryo said.
"I'm like, totally free after school today! We can go to this absolutely adorable bread shop near my house!"
"Ryo, Ryo, Ryo! Hey look at me Ryo!"
"Let's go talk to him." Yugi said, standing up from his seat. He couldn't keep watching those girls bother Ryo all class period.
"Wait, Yug- Aah!" Jonouchi was grabbed by the wrist and yanked along behind Yugi.
Yugi grabbed two chairs from empty desks and butted himself between the girls and Ryo's desk, placing the chairs down and taking a seat in one of them.
"Hey, watch it Yugi!" One of the girls complained.
"Hi! I'm Yugi Muto and this is my friend Katsuya Jonouchi. You're Ryo Bakura, right?" Yugi introduced himself.
"Ugh, why is Yugi talking to him?"
"The little guy is totally ruining the view!"
"I am so not interested in Yugi or Jonouchi."
All the girls walked away and went about their own business with each other, leaving the three boys by themselves. Some of girls' words definitely got under Yugi's skin, but it was better that they weren't there rather than were. With the girls gone, though, Jonouchi finally took a seat in the other chair Yugi placed down.
Ryo lifted his head from his hands and glanced at Yugi and Jonouchi. He put his hands in his lap but kept his head low.
"Hey, don't worry about those girls. There's this guy here, Ryuji, who has hordes of fangirls and he says the best way to get rid of them when you don't want them around if to hang out with other guys, particularly ones they don't like." Yugi explained, trying to cheer up Ryo.
"Oh, I getcha Yug. Girls don't like us so if Ryo's around us, the girls won't be around him!" Jonouchi pointed out, mainly for himself, although he didn't seem to catch that him and Yugi were undesirable according to the girls.
"T-thank you for the consideration... really, but… I have a big brother that usually keeps them away...Keeps everyone away actually…" Ryo muttered.
He was grateful to Yugi and Jonouchi, that's for sure, but he was weary about making friends with them.
"Hey now. I don't see a big brother around here. That means it has to be up to someone else! So let that be us, okay?" Yugi said, a determined expression on his face.
Ryo looked wide-eyed at the two sitting across from him. They both flashed him a smile and in return Ryo gave a small grin. He felt so overwhelmingly happy to have the day saved by the other two. He was afraid he'd be miserable at this new school, especially since he and his brother didn't share any classes this time around and his other brother didn't go to school anymore. He even refused to let go of his elder brother when they walked into the school in the morning.
"Yugi and Jonouchi, was it?" Ryo asked.
They both nodded.
"It's lovely to meet you two. And again, thank you for- Eeh!" All three teens flinched when Ryo yelped.
Yugi and Jonouchi were confused until they saw Ryo fumble with his pocket and pull out his phone.
"O-oh, my apologies. My phone buzzed and it startled me." Ryo explained, making the two chuckle over his reaction to it.
'what u doing'
'I think I made two friends :D Please don't ruin it if you meet them.'
Bakura growled and dropped his phone on his desk. The sound of the phone hitting the desk made Atem look behind him.
"You should put your phone away before he sees it." Atem whispered.
"Like I give a crap. I can't sleep anymore and my little brother is busy making friends now. ...Hah, friends." Bakura grumbled.
He rested his head on his desk and fumbled around with his phone. There was a text from his older brother, asking what time he should pick up Bakura and Ryo. He didn't bother with responding to it just yet.
Bakura stared blankly at the wall, bored out of his mind. The voice of the teacher was loud enough that he couldn't sleep, but he couldn't be bothered with listening. With nothing but the wall in his view, he zoned out and was only brought back to reality by a tapping on his desk.
"Uh?" He slowly lifted his head to see Atem facing him with a confused expression.
"Did you sleep at all last night?" The other asked.
"Mm, yeah. This is normal for me though." Bakura grumbled.
Atem sighed and slipped a piece of notebook paper onto Bakura' desk who just stared at him in return.
"What the bloody hell is this?" Bakura questioned.
"Notes. You can copy them since I know you didn't do it." Atem answered.
"Notes!? On the first day!?" Bakura momentarily jumped up from his desk, the wings of his hair shooting upward with him.
"...Yes? I don't know what schools are like in Europe, but in Japan it's likely to happen in about half your classes. Just copy them. I would feel bad if I didn't help you out." Atem said.
"This doesn't have to do with that bloody destiny thing, does it?" Bakura mumbled as he rummaged in his bag for some paper.
"Heh heh. I don't know, it might." Atem replied in a joking manner.
Bakura just glared for a second before haphazardly copying down what was written on Atem's paper, not worrying about what it actually said. Atem watched Bakura scribble down on his paper in what looked to be fairly poor kanji.
"If you don't mind me asking, how come you can speak it perfectly, but your writing is atrocious?" He asked, referring to the Japanese language.
"Bilingual. Grew up with both languages. Never bothered writing in it. Only wrote in English." Bakura kept his eyes on Atem's paper, trying not to lose his place as he got to the end of notes.
The second he finished writing the bell rang and Bakura sighed in relief. The two packed up their stuff, grabbed their bags, and left the classroom. After a second, they both realized they were once again headed in the same direction.
"You got lunch?" Atem questioned.
"Yeah." Bakura replied.
"You going to be alone?"
"Yeah."
"You can sit with me."
Bakura glanced down at Atem. "Why are you trying to be friends with me?"
"Is that a bad thing? You're new here and all. I'm pretty sure I'm the first person to talk to you and you're at least willing to hold a conversation. Besides you certainly like playing the lone wolf role and I think you'll be much better off with some friends." Atem explained.
"Mmm… you don't have to lay it all out like that. A-and I do not do the lone wolf thing on purpose! I just have a tendency to be like that… Atem!" Bakura practically shouted in the hallway, making some students glance over at him.
"Well sorry for stating the cold hard facts…" Atem copied Bakura's same tone of voice. "Uh… what's your name again?"
"Just call me Bakura!"
"Bakura!"
"Hey break up the fight you two." An unknown teacher said as he walked up to Atem and Bakura.
Bakura glared at the teacher. "We're not fighting!" He angrily yelled.
Atem grabbed Bakura by the shoulder and yanked him down the hall before the teacher could say anything else. He continued pulling the other along until they reached the cafeteria where Bakura finally pushed Atem's hand off of him.
"What is wrong with you!?" Atem frantically questioned.
"I don't bloody know! Lot's of things!" Bakura rummaged his hands through his long white hair.
"Clearly. Now calm down!" Atem ordered.
"Okay! I'm cool, I'm cool, I'm cool!" Bakura sighed and fixed his sleeve where the other had grabbed him.
"Geez, remind me to never rile you up like that again." Atem snarked.
"Yeah. I had half a mind to stab that old man back there." Bakura grumbled.
"What would you stab him with?" Atem was curious, sure, but also afraid of what the answer might be.
"That's none of your damn business." Bakura responded as he walked off towards one of the lunch lines.
'I can't believe my first day is absolute crap while Ryo gets to have fun making friends.'
"Hey! Yugi! Come sit next to me!" A brunette girl shouted and waved at Yugi as he and Ryo entered the classroom.
"Oh, that's my friend Anzu. You should sit with us, I'm sure you and her will get along just fine." Yugi told Ryo.
Ryo nodded and they both walked over to the far end of the classroom where Anzu was sitting. Ryo took the seat in front of Yugi.
"So no Jonouchi, huh? I heard from Honda that you two had last period together." Anzu said.
"Yeah, but we have lunch together! We're gonna eat up on the roof like usual. You're joining us, right?" Yugi asked.
"Of course! And so is Honda, so the whole gang's back together again! And he said something about Ryuji coming along too." She cheered.
Ryo felt odd about sitting in on the two friends' conversation. He had already warmed up to Yugi and Jonouchi, but now one of them had left and was replaced by an entirely new person. He couldn't help but feel somewhat out of place.
"Oh that's right, Anzu! This is Ryo Bakura." Yugi pointed to Ryo, making the other flinch. "He's new this year. He's British."
Ryo's face burned up at the mention of himself. "A-a-actually… I'm just half… British, but it's where I grew up."
Anzu gasped. "Ohmigosh! That's so cool! It's so nice to meet you Ryo! I'm Anzu Mazaki, I've been friends with Yugi since we were little."
Ryo nodded and when she outstretched her hand to him, he hesitated for a moment before shaking hands with her. The teacher called everyone's attention forward and began talking. As Ryo listened to her for a few minutes he began hearing giggling behind him. He glanced over his shoulder for a moment to see Yugi pass Anzu a folded paper and when she opened it she tried to stifle a rather loud laugh. She saw Ryo looking and folded the paper back up to covertly hold it out to him. He looked forward but reached his hand back and quickly grabbed the paper, unfolding it on his desk. He was somewhat confused when the paper just consisted of a bunch of drawings of Kuriboh. One with wings, one with a party hat, another with a bowtie and several others. He turned around to look at Yugi and Anzu, who both started giggling again.
"Ryo Bakura." The teacher called out.
Ryo whipped around in his desk. "Y-yes!?" He quickly realized she was taking attendance and hadn't actually seen any of the note passing.
She glanced up from her clipboard and almost looked surprised when she laid eyes on Ryo. "Do you have a brother?" She questioned.
"Yes ma'am." Ryo answered.
"Well I hope you don't sleep in my class like him." She said.
"Sorry, he has a tendency to do that." Ryo responded, feeling a bit embarrassed.
The teacher continued with attendance and went on about a few things nobody actually bothered to listen to. The note was eventually returned to Yugi who continued to draw on it. Ryo's phone buzzed in his pocket and he waited until the teacher wasn't looking to pull it out of his pocket.
'baku wont answer me :'''''((( wat time do i need to pick u 2 up?'
It was his eldest brother.
'2:00'
Ryo quickly put his phone back in his pocket just as the teacher turned around.
"I think you all can have the last few minutes to yourselves until it's time for lunch." She said.
Immediately all the girls in class except Anzu sprang from their seats and ran up to Ryo.
"Woah! What just happened!?" Anzu asked.
"Oh no, this happened last period too." Yugi grumbled.
Ryo put his hands over his head and shut his eyes. He could never bring himself to tell them to leave him alone. He just had to hope Yugi would do something.
"Do you and your brother look alike!?"
"You should join me for lunch Ryo!"
"No! You should sit with me!"
"Hey!" Anzu called out as she stood up from her desk. "What the heck is wrong with you all!? Can't you see he clearly doesn't want all that attention? He's practically curled up in a ball for pete's sake!"
The teacher looked up from her papers to see all the girls crowded in one area. "Ladies, please sit down." She told them.
Some of the girls glared at Anzu before reluctantly returning to their seats. Ryo hesitantly lifted his head up and glanced over to make sure none of the girls might be staring at him.
"Wow, good job Anzu! You took care of that better than I ever could. Last time I just stepped in the middle of 'em." Yugi said.
Ryo turned back to the other two and nodded. "Thank you…"
"Okay, does that happen often? Like, I know some girls can be a little crazy but… that was a bit much." Anzu questioned as she sat back down.
"Mm-hm. Practically all the time. I… I can barely do a thing about it." Ryo responded.
"Say Anzu, how come you're not all over Ryo?" Yugi inquired.
Anzu stared at him with an annoyed expression for a second before suddenly looking away and blushing. "B-because I have a one track mind when it comes to romance. I don't fall for just any cute guy. I pick the best one and stay true to him."
Ryo and Yugi glanced at each other with confused expressions.
"I-I mean," Anzu continued. "it's not like you're not cute, Ryo. I just have my eyes on someone else."
Neither of the boys needed any further explanation but Anzu insisted on explaining it in more detail.
"-and you're not even short enough for my tastes so there!" She finished.
"Uhh… To be honest with you, I don't think I've ever been told I wasn't 'short enough'." Ryo said.
The bell suddenly rang and everyone sprang up from their seats to leave. As Yugi, Ryo, and Anzu walked out of the classroom Yugi stopped and turned around.
"Hey Ryo, you got anyone to have lunch with? Like your brother or something?" Yugi wondered.
"Oh, um… no." Ryo thought for a second, recalling a conversation him and Bakura had that morning. "He has the first lunch so we're both alone, unless he found a new friend that is."
"My big brother has first lunch too! How funny would it be if they ended up sitting with each other? Haha. Anyway, you should come up to the roof where we eat lunch. Jonouchi'll be there too, along with our friend Honda and apparently Ryuji." Yugi explained.
Ryo thought it might have been too unlikely for both their elder brothers to have met, let alone willing to have lunch together considering how Bakura likes to be a lone wolf. Nonetheless he enjoyed the idea of eating on the roof.
"Okay, sounds like a fine idea." Ryo said as he followed Yugi and Anzu.
'I wonder how your lunch time was Big Brother. You weren't alone again… were you?'
Bakura felt something hit his head and he opened his eyes.
"Why are you sleeping at lunch?" Atem asked.
"'Cause I sleep a lot. Did you throw something at me?" Bakura replied.
Atem put his bread back on his tray. "...No."
Deciding not to bother with it, Bakura closed his eyes again. He was trying to drown out the sound of over one hundred other students talking at once, but no matter how hard he tried to ignore it he couldn't.
"I still can't believe you ate that fast." Atem noted.
"Yeah, I have a tendency to do that." Bakura mumbled.
The two were silent for a few minutes, Atem continued to eat while Bakura tried to sleep.
"So," Atem started as he swallowed his food. "were you like this at your old school?"
Bakura opened one eye. "Like what?"
"Like… well, you sleep in class all period but you say you sleep just fine. You eat a whole meal in about two minutes. And you said you would have stabbed that teacher that stopped us in the hall. Are you… a delinquent?" Atem was hesitant to say the word incase it made Bakura mad.
Bakura paused and processed everything Atem said. He started tapping a finger on the lunch table.
"Technically? The eating thing has nothing to do with that though, my whole family's like that. You haven't seen me skip yet though. Trust me, in a few weeks you'll be seeing a lot less of me." Bakura explained.
"Don't skip." Was the only thing Atem thought he could reply with. He was sure it wouldn't change anything though.
"You sound like my little brother." Bakura stated and finally stopped tapping his finger.
The two went silent again. The silence between them seemed louder than the voices of all the other teens at lunch. For a moment Bakura was so quiet and still, Atem assumed he was successful in falling asleep. The white-haired teen looked surprisingly peaceful when he wasn't awake. That peacefulness was ruined, however, when a hand violently slammed down next to Bakura and Atem. Bakura's head shot up along with the wings of his hair and he loosely gripped at his chest in shock.
"Atem!" Another student shouted at the partial blond.
Bakura stared at the stranger. He had short brown hair and blue eyes. His uniform was much more tidy and clean looking than the other two who wore their uniform jackets open. It suddenly dawned on him that this guy was tall. And not just by his and Atem's height standards either, but legitimately tall. Bakura scowled at him as he stared right at Atem, completely ignoring Bakura.
Atem wasn't phased in the slightest, in fact, he simply sighed. "Kaiba please. It's a new school year. Can't we put the past behind us? It's not worth doing this all over again."
"No Atem!" Kaiba yelled. "You can't just 'put this behind us'! We have a score to settle and now you can't hide from me like you did all summer!"
Bakura looked at Atem, who had a completely uninterested expression, then to Kaiba. Kaiba turned his attention to Bakura.
"Who the bloody hell are you?" Bakura questioned.
"You don't know? You must be new then. Let me enlighten you a little, newbie. I am Seto Kaiba, senior student, top of my class, and president of Kaiba Corp. I'm so rich neither of your parents could imagine earning the amount of money I make in a day, in their entire lives. My company develops the top of the line gaming technology. Ever heard of Duel Disks? I'm the guy that invented them." When Kaiba was done ranting Bakura stared at him with the same uncaring expression as Atem.
After a moment Bakura smirked at Kaiba.
"Yeah, no. See, I don't give a fuck who you are, I was simply looking for the name-" Bakura stood up and pulled a switchblade from his front pocket. "-of the next person I'm going to stab."
Atem immediately jumped up and reached across the table to grab Bakura's wrist. "Put that away before someone else sees it and gets you expelled!"
Kaiba remained unfettered. "It seems you've gotten a lapdog since the last time I saw you, Atem." And with that Kaiba walked away and out of the cafeteria.
"Let go of me!" Bakura shouted. "That bloody wanker called me your lapdog! I don't put up with that kind of crap!"
Atem's grip on Bakura's wrist only tightened. "Put the knife away."
Atem was really putting all his strength into his grip. It reminded Bakura of a leash. He sighed and flipped the blade closed. Atem released him and Bakura put the blade back in his pocket. The two then sat back down. Atem was thankful no one really saw the exchange between Bakura and Kaiba.
"Well… at least now I know what you meant when you said you wanted to stab that teacher." Atem said in a somewhat deadpan voice.
Bakura fidgeted around with his feet and seemed antsy to a degree. He glanced around the cafeteria but couldn't find anything he actually wanted to look at.
"I don't seem like a lapdog to you… do I?" Bakura mumbled.
"Well I only just met you today, and even though I've gotten quite a clear picture of your personality I still don't know you that well. I don't think I have the authority to answer that." Atem said.
His response only seemed to piss Bakura off. "Okay but, he… he called me a lapdog-"
"Kaiba messes with everyone like that." Atem interrupted. "It's not the first time I've heard him call someone a dog either. He doesn't even know your name let alone anything about you. And unless you continue to get under his skin, he's not going to care what your name is."
Bakura glared at the empty tray still sitting in front of him. Atem may have been right, but that wouldn't stop him from considering Kaiba an enemy next time they crossed paths.
"Sorry for getting you wrapped up in my business." Atem said.
"No big deal. What's his beef with you anyway?" Bakura wondered.
Atem sighed. "I beat him once at Duel Monsters and he's hated me, and by extension my little brother, ever since. He's always challenging me to a rematch at the worst times. It's like he stalks me. I actually was avoiding him all summer but he wouldn't stop hunting me down so it's not like I had any other option. He's even harassed my grandpa. Trust me, don't get on Kaiba's bad side. ...A-any more than you already have!"
"That's… bloody pathetic." Bakura stated and Atem nodded in response.
"...How much you wanna bet we don't have next class period together?" Bakura blurted out.
Atem paused to process what Bakura said then looked around before picking up the apple on his tray. "Apple says we do."
"Destiny again?"
"Destiny!"
'Ryo, I might've been wrong. You're not the only one making friends.'
"I just realized... I'm going to have to walk all the way back down those stairs when the bell rings!" Ryo whined.
"And you had such a hard time getting up them in the first place." Anzu said with a pity grin on her face.
"You need more strength pal. Have the last of my leftovers, there's chicken in it." Honda held his container up to Ryo who flinched in return.
"U-uh… T-Thanks, really… but… I'll manage." Ryo would've accepted it if it didn't look so… gross.
"If he's not gettin' it then why not pass those leftovers my way, Honda?" Jonouichi asked.
"Mmm… Nope." Honda replied.
"C'mon dude! Ya just offered it to Ryo!" Jonouchi reached over to grab the container.
Honda held the food off to the side while pushing Jonouchi away by his face. The two fought each other off until Jonouchi pushed Honda down and onto Ryuji.
"Hey! Stop it guys, you're bumping into me!" Ryuji complained and pushed Honda off of himself.
"Ahh!" Honda yelped as he fell onto the ground and lost his grip on the container, dropping it onto Ryuji.
"Seriously?!" Ryuji tried to shake off some of the food. "It's in my hair!"
"Whoops." Honda and Jonouchi said in unison.
Anzu and Yugi both laughed at the event while Ryo helped Honda up. Suddenly the bell rang and everyone scrambled to grab their stuff, leaving Ryuji to take care of the mess himself. Yugi opened the door to the staircase and was first down them until he stopped halfway to the bottom.
"Something wrong Yugi?" Anzu asked.
"What are you doing here Mokuba?" Yugi questioned, sounding very confused.
A very short kid with long black hair took a step forward. "I go here now Yugi. I'm a ninth grader."
"Holy crap!" Jonouichi shouted. "I thought you were like eight or something!"
"I am not eight!" Mokuba shouted back.
"Um, my apologies but I'm new here. Who are you?" Ryo asked.
"Mokuba Kaiba and my big brother is Seto Kaiba! Who are you?" Mokuba responded.
"Ryo Bakura and I have two big brothers. Nice to meet you Mokuba." Ryo gave a small hand wave to Mokuba.
"Nice to meet you too." Mokuba grumbled.
"Wait a minute… Kaiba has a little brother?" Honda wondered.
"Which one's Kaiba again?" Ryuji asked while trying to get food out of his hair.
"Everyone shut up!" Mokuba yelled. "My big brother texted me saying Atem Muto has a lapdog and I wanna know who it is Yugi!"
"Lapdog? Like a Yorkie?" Anzu inquired.
"We don't have a dog Anzu. At least, not one that I know about." Yugi said.
"Not that kind of lapdog! Someone that does whatever he says and listens to his orders! He was with Atem at first lunch!" Mokuba continued shouting.
"Ooookay… Well, Mokuba. I haven't spoken to or even seen Atem since we first got here this morning. If he's made a friend since then I wouldn't know about it. And clearly none of us have met this guy. They were at first lunch anyway, only eleventh and twelfth graders have that lunch. We're all tenth graders." Yugi explained.
"Except for you, you're a ninth grader." Jonouichi piped in.
"I said shut up! Now tell me who the lapdog is!" Mokuba demanded.
"Did you even get a description of the guy? How are we supposed to know who he is if we don't know what he looks like." Anzu stated, obviously starting to get annoyed.
"Mmm… Seto didn't tell me! All he said was that the guy pulled a knife on him so he's got a weapon at school and that's an expulsional offense!" Mokuba said.
Ryo flinched and his eyes widened. Someone with a knife that's either an eleventh or twelfth grader. Just what kind of trouble did his big brother get himself into on the first day of school?
"I don't think expulsional is a word, kiddo." Ryuji said.
"I said shut up!" Mokuba practically screamed. "If you won't tell me then Seto's gonna find out for himself and make both the lapdog and Atem pay! All your big brother does anyway is run and hide! My big brother would never be such a coward!" Mokuba then ran off down the staircase.
"Yeeeah… I have a feeling that kid's actually eight." Jonouichi mumbled.
"Mokuba's not all bad. He was nice to me in middle school. Then Kaiba lost that duel to Atem and he's been on Kaiba's side of the issue ever since… But really, it's the first day of school. Do they have to start something like this right off the bat?" Yugi said, walking down the stairs.
Anzu looked back to Ryo, who was more quiet than usual. "Sorry about all that Ryo. This kind of stuff happens all the time around Yugi and his brother Atem. I bet you and your brother- oh, brothers get into a lot of weird situations, huh?"
Ryo simply nodded, too focused on his thoughts to actually say anything. What in the world happened at first lunch? Should he text Bakura? Or what if that made things worse?
'Big Brother, we agreed to look at this as a fresh start. One where we could leave all the old stuff behind. You promised me you'd do better. You promised us.'
Bakura twirled the apple core around on his desk. He'd had it with him for the past two classes since lunch but he couldn't bring himself to throw it away just yet. He was alone since lunch and hadn't made a new friend since Atem. All he wanted to do was sleep. Or go home. Both really. It just felt too quiet now, even with a constant stream of sound from other people, without anyone to talk to everything just felt empty. Just like it always used to.
Bakura closed his eyes and in what felt like a few seconds he heard the bell ring. He quickly stood up but stumbled as he reached for his bag. He rubbed his eyes and grabbed the apple core when he walked away, finally throwing it into the trash can near the door.
"Hey, come here." The teacher said before Bakura stepped out the door.
Bakura sighed and turned around, walking up to the teacher's desk. "Yeah?"
"My class isn't for naptime, you hear me." He said.
Bakura stared at him with a blank expression for a second. "I hear you."
"Then don't sleep in my class."
"No promises." Bakura quickly turned and escaped from the classroom before he could be stopped.
He was glad to finally get to the last class of the day and would get to go home soon. As he walked into the last class he spotted Atem already settled in a desk. The other smiled and waved as he saw Bakura. The frown on Bakura's face contradicted his real emotions. He scurried to the seat behind Atem and plopped down.
"I knew destiny wouldn't fail me for long." Atem said with a smirk.
"Sure and destiny's telling me I'm going to stay awake for this class. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a nap to get back to." Bakura replied, placing his head on the desk.
"Please don't tell me you slept for the past two classes…" Atem mumbled.
"No. After lunch I had gym so… kinda can't sleep in that situation. Granted, we didn't do anything but… Man was that guy loud." Bakura yawned and closed his eyes.
Atem thought for a moment. "Oh, did you have Mr. Karita?"
Bakura quickly lifted his head a bit. "Yeah! That guy!" He put his head back down. "Sure hope Ryo doesn't have that guy for his gym class, that's no way he'd be able to handle it."
"Is that your little brother?" Atem asked.
"Mm-hm." Bakura grunted in confirmation.
"He's not anything like you, I hope." Atem stated.
"Actually he's not. He's a 'goody two-shoes'." Bakura said in a sarcastic tone. "My older brother and I are alike though."
Atem froze. "Oh no. There's another one?"
"Oh ha ha. Yes, there's three of us. How funny." Bakura sat up, deciding a nap wasn't possible at the moment.
Atem scoffed. "Your parents must have their hands full."
Bakura was silent for a moment. "It depends on the circumstances."
The bell rang and Atem turned around to listen to the teacher as class began. Talking about family reminded Bakura of the text his elder brother sent earlier. He pulled out his phone, made sure the teacher couldn't see it, and noticed he had another text.
'nvm ryo told me. u better not be sleeping or ill tell mom'
Bakura scowled. Not only did Ryo beat him to it, but the jerk was trying to pick on him too!
'shut up. i'll sleep if i want.'
Surprisingly he got a text back right away. It was unusual for the other to respond so soon.
'only loooosers sleep in class'
'only losers drop out!'
Bakura put his phone back in his pocket with his switchblade, not wanting to get any more aggravated than he'd already gotten.
"Bakura!"
Bakura shot his head up, hair wings going up too. "Huh!?"
"I'll take that as a 'here'." The teacher said and continued with attendance.
He heard Atem snicker and Bakura kicked the back of his chair. Atem glanced over his shoulder and frowned at Bakura.
For once Bakura didn't sleep in class when he had the chance. Instead he shook his leg and stared at anything that caught his eye for more than a second. He ended up staring at the back of Atem's hair for quite some time, he even thought about touching it, but decided getting aggressively glared might not be worth it. Actually, he didn't even know how Atem would react. Maybe the other wouldn't mind. Bakura hesitated before slowly reaching a hand out towards the black and red hair. He was barely millimeters away from contact when Atem leaned forward and propped his head up with his hand. Bakura froze and pulled his hand away. He heard a giggle next to him and saw a purple haired girl looking at him. He glared at her but she simply waved at him and focused her attention back on the teacher.
Finally the rest of class had passed by and everyone was sitting there waiting for the last bell to ring.
"Say, how do you get home?" Atem asked.
"My brother picks us up." Bakura looked up from his phone. "Why, you need a ride?"
"Oh no, I don't live far. I just walk. Thanks though." Atem replied.
"Good. He hates being everyone's chauffeur." Bakura said.
It was silent for another moment as Bakura stared at the clock on his phone.
"So what'd he talk about?" He questioned.
"Mm? Oh! Just what we'll be learning all year. Same as most teachers." Atem answered.
Bakura glanced over for a second to see the same purple haired girl staring at him out of the corner of her eye. He started getting tired of it.
"Hey, you wanna mind your own business." Bakura told her.
The girl flinched and flailed his hands in a defensive manner. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean for it to look like I was eavesdropping! I promise!"
Atem looked over at the girl. "Miho?"
"Don't tell me you know that chick." Bakura complained.
"Sort of? She's Miho Nosaka, a friend of a friend." Atem explained.
"Hi Atem! Sorry again for giving a bad first impression. Nice to meet you!" Miho held out a hand across the aisle.
Bakura stared at her hand and back up best he could in his chair.
"What's wrong? Don't like girls?" Miho said jokingly with a giggle.
"Actually yes. I have quite the aversion to women." Bakura stated.
"O-oh, I'm sorry." Miho pulled her hand back with a nervous smile on her face.
"You are one strange person." Atem mumbled.
"To me you're the strange one." Bakura said as the bell rang.
Most of the class scrambled to get out of school and the two boys made their way through the halls together. They made it to the front doors when they were stopped.
"Big Brother!" Shouted two voices at once.
Both Bakura and Atem turned to see Ryo and Yugi waving at them as they ran down the hall with big grins on their faces. Ryo ran straight to Bakura and wrapped his arms around his elder brother's neck. Bakura in turn pulled Ryo closer with a tight hug. Atem held his hand up high and as Yugi approached he jumped up and tried to high-five Atem but only got high enough to hit his brothers wrist.
"Getting closer, Yugi." Atem said.
"Bloody hell, you two look alike!" Bakura said in shock as he let go of Ryo and saw Yugi. The only difference between him and Atem was that Yugi was even shorter than the already short Atem and Yugi had purple eyes with the tips of his hair purple as well.
"I could say the same to you." Atem replied when he laid eyes on Ryo.
"You okay, Ryo? Nothing bad happen right? No one pick on you?" Bakura questioned as he grabbed Ryo by the face and tried to check his little brother for any possible injuries.
Ryo removed Bakura's hands from his face and shook his head. "Everything's a-okay! I even made friends with Yugi and had lunch with him and all his other friends on the roof!"
Bakura stared at Yugi and the small boy felt as if he was being inspected, like Bakura was judging if Yugi was worthy of being Ryo's friend or not. Yugi made the first move and took a step forward.
"Heya! I'm Atem's little brother, Yugi Muto!" Yugi flashed him a smile.
"Hey." Was all Bakura said.
Ryo recognized the look on Bakura's face. "Oh sorry about him, Yugi. He can be pretty over protective."
"Well isn't this nice? Our little brothers became friends just like us." Atem stated.
"It's only a friendship if it lasts longer than a day." Bakura quipped.
"I have a feeling destiny wants it to last." Atem joked.
"Oh no, he hasn't been talking to you about destiny all day has he?" Yugi asked.
"As a matter of fact he has." Bakura said in an annoyed tone.
The four teens made their way outside the building and past the courtyard. Atem and Yugi said their goodbyes and walked home. Bakura and Ryo took a seat on the stones holding up the school fence, waiting for their eldest brother to arrive.
Bakura took another glance at his phone. "He said you already told him. You said two right?"
"Of course I did. You know him though, he probably left at two. And! He might still have trouble finding his way around town. Remember how Father was late to work the whole first week we moved here because he kept getting lost?" Ryo explained.
Bakura groaned. "I just wanna get home and go back to bed!"
"Father's not going to let you sleep in anymore now that school has started." Ryo said.
"Watch me give a bloody crap." Bakura grumbled.
It was quiet for a moment as the two watched car after car go by, waiting to see the one that would pick them up. Ryo wanted to speak up, but didn't know how.
"...Big Brother…" Ryo started then fell silent.
"What?" Bakura asked, sounding annoyed.
"...What… what did you do… during lunch?" Ryo questioned.
Bakura looked at him with a confused expression then recalled the events Ryo was referring to.
"Why do you care? Unless you heard the wrong version of events it doesn't concern you." Bakura stated.
Ryo turned to Bakura. "It does concern me. The guy, the one you almost attacked, has a little brother who showed up and threatened Yugi, his brother, and you! He wants to know who you are."
Bakura scoffed. "He's just some rich brat who thinks he's better than everyone else."
"It's not the same here like it is back home, Big Brother. Everyone knew you and knew that was simply normal for you. Nobody knows you here. If you mess with people the school won't go easy on you. You could get expelled." Ryo warned.
Bakura scowled and opened his mouth, but a honking horn interrupted him. A red car with the top down drove up and stopped in front of them.
"Get in losers, we're goin' home!"
"Finally! Where the bloody hell have you been, Akefia?" Bakura asked as he tossed his bag in the back and hopped in the passenger's seat.
"Relax Baku, I got lost. It's the first time I've driven here." Akefia replied, ruffling Bakura's hair before the younger swatted his hand away.
Ryo sat down in the back and put his seatbelt on. "Seatbelts guys."
"Shut up, Ryo." Both Bakura and Akefia said.
As Akefia started to drive off Bakura saw a small kid leaning against the entryway of the fence. The kid's head was down so Bakura couldn't see his face but he had long black hair.
"Sooo, how was the first day of school?" Akefia asked.
"You sound like Mother." Bakura mocked.
"Answer the damn question. I'm trying to be nice." Akefia grumbled.
"I made a whole lot of friends!" Ryo said.
"Well that's something I didn't expect to hear. But congrats!" Akefia smiled at Ryo through the rearview mirror. "And Baku?"
"Slept." Bakura mumbled.
"Oh c'mon, that can't be the only thing you did."
"Maybe if you were there you would know."
"You can complain about it all you want but it's not gonna make me go back to school. Ryo, what'd Baku do today?"
"He made a friend." Ryo answered.
"Little snitch." Bakura mumbled under his breath, but he was nonetheless glad Ryo didn't mention anything he knew about the 'lunch incident'.
The car suddenly stopped causing Bakura to jerk forward, almost planting his face on the windshield. Ryo choked on his seatbelt, but stayed relatively in place.
"Bloody hell Kef! What are you doing!?" Bakura shouted.
"You made a friend!?" Akefia repeated, turning to the younger with a shocked expression.
"That's what you stop the damn car in the middle of the road for!? What's wrong with you!? Drive, now! Before we get rear ended!" Bakura yelled at him.
"Chill, we're fine." Akefia started driving again. "So this, uh, friend…"
"I'm not talking about him." Bakura interrupted.
"Ryo." Akefia said.
"I'm friends with his little brother and Yugi, the one I'm friends with, told me they're both a quarter Egyptian and they can speak it fluently too!" Ryo answered.
"Okay, that's awesome! You're gonna have to invite them over some time. Books aren't as helpful as actual people." Akefia replied.
"I am not inviting someone over just so they can be your own personal Rosetta Stone." Bakura complained.
"Awww…" Akefia whined, not feeling like putting up much of a fight over it.
The rest of the ride home was relatively normal. Akefia parked in his usual place and the three walked into the apartment building. They took the elevator which, like always, contained an old lady who always seemed concerned about standing next to Akefia. The brothers got off on the fourth floor and since Ryo got to the door first he searched in his bag for his key but couldn't seem to find it so Akefia used his key instead.
"I have brought home the small ones!" Akefia announced as he opened the door and walked in, Bakura and Ryo following behind him.
"Don't call us that." Bakura grumbled and shut the door.
"Oh good, welcome home boys." Their father said, looking up from the messy stack of papers in his lap.
"When'd you get home?" Akefia questioned as he sat down on the couch next to his stepfather.
"Couple of minutes after you left apparently." He answered, going back to sifting through the papers.
"Sooo, how was the first day of school?" A voice asked from the kitchen.
"Really good! Big Brother and I made friends!" Ryo exclaimed.
There was an audible overdramatic gasp then a woman with long white hair with a purple tint in a ponytail and pink eyes emerged from the kitchen.
"My boys made friends!?" She said, sounding very excited.
"Don't make a scene about it, geez." Bakura mumbled.
"Now the only one who needs friends is you, Akefia." Their father joked. "You know, the museum is getting an import of Egyptian artifacts along with a curator from Egypt moving in next month. You could make friends with her. I believe she's about your age."
"Oooh! Well ain't that cool!" Akefia got quite excited about the news and rather interested in hearing about this curator woman.
Bakura's curiosity was piqued as well. He might not have cared for museums much considering how many times in his life he was forced to be in one, but it might be interesting news to Atem and Yugi.
He put a hand over his mouth as he yawned and headed for the hallway. "I'm gonna go to bed."
"It's not even three." His father stated, glancing at his watch.
"I know what I said. Bakura retorted.
"Want me to save some dinner for you in the morning?" His mother asked.
"Sure." And with that Bakura left to his and Ryo's bedroom.
"Is he gonna sleep in his uniform?" Akefia questioned.
"Most likely." Ryo replied.
Bakura pushed aside a box filled with clothes that was in front of his bed and dropped himself onto the mattress. He kicked his shoes off and threw the blanket over his head. He felt uncomfortable somehow and realized he was lying on his switchblade. He pulled it and his phone out of his pocket, plugging his phone in and attempting to get comfortable again. Bakura stared at the wall as he tried to fall asleep, but something kept nagging at him, making it impossible to sleep.
"Well… it seems our destinies are intertwined."
"This doesn't have to do with that bloody destiny thing, does it?"
"Heh heh. I don't know, it might."
"Destiny again?"
"Destiny!"
"I knew destiny wouldn't fail me for long."
"I have a feeling destiny wants it to last."
Bakura groaned and turned around so he was facing the door.
"You know, the museum is getting an import of Egyptian artifacts along with a curator from Egypt moving in next month."
"I must be paranoid or something." Bakura whispered as he closed his eyes and finally fell asleep.
I swear I didn't intend for the first chapter alone to be almost 9,000 words, and yet here it is. Almost 9,000 words and not a Marik in sight... Don't worry tho, I don't plan on letting this first little arc go past three chapters. Two if it turns out to be a lot less to write than I think it'll be. Right now this is kinda like all exposition. Making things happen now, but still setting it up for the future.
Just a rid bit of info. I found out Jonouichi calling Yugi 'Yug' was only a dub thing, but I like it so I kept it. And while not much characterization has actually been shown for many of the characters, I just wanna say it seems like the majority of the cast is leaning somewhat towards their manga counterpart personalities since I've been reading the manga lately and it's the most prominent Yu-Gi-Oh! thing in my head.
Anyway, I hope you like so far, even tho there's no romance yet(depending on how hard you squint at certain lines).
Ps. Sorrynotsorry about the Mean Girls reference.