Author's Notes: Ahh! I'm sorry! I should be working on this. In any case, I don't own anything that's not mine. Please review if you like it. :)

Twin Tendencies

By LilyChan

Chapter Two

When Ryou woke up that morning, he was quite shocked to see his brother sleeping in his bed (if you could call it sleeping in the first place) and with his clothes on top of it! He smiled him proud of his brother for having some self-control of his libido. However he couldn't help but hear another series of snores on the other side of the bed. The white-haired boy didn't even have to glance to know that it was another person on the other side of his bed, probably naked.

I should've known, he thought bitterly as he made his way to the bathroom to take his daily shower.

After he had gotten dressed he had learned that the person Bakura had slept with the previous night was his partner from class. He merely sighed when he saw his brother trying to explain to their step-mother about yet another sexual encounter and how Bakura should be more like Ryou.

Great, not that again.

"What, you want me to be an obedient dog like him?" he asked rather harshly. Ryou felt the stab of betrayal although it really shouldn't have surprised him the way it always does. He figured it's the twin-bond that they supposedly have.

Yeah, Bakura being loyal to anyone but himself, I would pay to see. Ryou thought as he stood from his place. He glanced at his watch.

"It's time for me to go. Early to bed, early to rise, and all that," he recited as he grabbed his sack and left the room. Honestly, it was extremely early even for him to leave, but he didn't want to be around for yet another one of their arguments.

"Aren't you going to have breakfast?" his stepmother cried out, but alas he didn't hear her as he slammed the front door.

As he walked down to the bottom steps, he heard the door slam behind him.

"Ryou!"

He rolled his eyes; he needn't to guess who it was, but since his name was called, it's only polite to answer. He turned around and saw his brother with a very worried expression on his face.

"What?" he asked sounding unintentionally angry.

Bakura gave him an incredulous look. "About what I said…"

"Bakura," Ryou interrupted, "we've had these discussions before. It's fine. I'm okay, really."

He hesitated.

Rather, I'd pay to see him care about others publicly; he corrected himself as he turned back. "I'm heading to school early. I need to study." He started to walk away again until Bakura grabbed his arm. He turned only his head, but he had an angry expression on his face. "Let go, Bakura!"

He shook his head. "No."

Ryou struggled. This was strange, usually whenever they would have conversations like these; he'd leave it alone after Ryou would say that he was all right.

Something was wrong. Still, though, Bakura held his arm tightly whilst Ryou struggled. Somehow the older twin pulled him into a hug.

There was strange warmth there that he hadn't felt before, but then he would never hug his brother anyway for whatever reason. They were men, for God's sake! Even for the Bakura twins (called by Bakura's fan girls), they would not hug because that's not what men did.

But Ryou couldn't go away, much less struggle. He felt that maybe Bakura needed him more then Ryou ever thought.

"Don't go by yourself, Ryou. It's too dangerous," he heard his brother whisper.

He arched an eyebrow. "But it's just the school grounds. As far as I know, there are no ghouls or spirits haunting it."

Still, he held him close. "Just promise me you'll never go by yourself. I'll…I'll hang out in the hallways while you study. I just don't trust—"

Ryou interrupted him once more. "Why do you care so much, Bakura?" It was about time he got to the bottom of his often strange and stranger behavior. "You act like the world owes you a lot yet when we're alone like this; you treat me like I'm a baby. Why?" It scared even Ryou himself that all that came out in a whisper instead of the harsh tone he originally intended.

There was a bit of silence between them.

"I don't know myself."

The younger of the twins sighed heavily. He barely moved and he was set free. He turned and faced his older brother, if only by a few minutes.

"I would appreciate it if you would give me my space. I'm not fragile, Bakura. I," he paused as he glanced at the ground, "never was. I don't know why you have this urge to protect me. I don't need it. I'm going to be 17 too." He gave his brother eye contact again as he placed a hand on his shoulder. "Then once we hit 18, we can go our separate ways – you can do whatever you want, and I, well, will follow the path of Father."

Bakura smacked his hand away. His vulnerable face turned drastically into his much angrier state.

"You don't understand, Ryou," he said. "But if you want your space, fine. Forget about my offer then. Just like you don't need me, I don't need you. In fact, I'll just ask Mom to move my shit into the guest room."

Ryou blinked. Was this the sort of reaction he wanted? The angrier of the two turned and stormed back to the apartment, slamming the door and waking the neighbors' pets.

Oh dear, I think I might've messed up for sure this time, he thought to himself. He turned back towards the direction he was going. But now since I'm out, I might as well keep going.

oooo

Just as he predicted there was no one at the school save for some teachers who arranged zero hour, the time where people would finish homework, do some extra curricular activities that couldn't make the afternoon schedule and all that. He went into his Japanese class to see the gym teacher taking the teacher's desk. This wasn't new to Ryou. Often he would go to zero hour (if Bakura didn't mess with his alarm clock and assuming it's still intact) and do some extra studying. He knew his friends wouldn't let him study mostly because they were huge slackers so he'd try to get some in as often as he could.

When he made it to the classroom, he saw Yuugi, someone who also understood some of the perils he had to go to with having a twin who would endlessly torture you. In his case, though, Yuugi was the eldest though it may not seem that way. He waved to his friend and the smaller one waved back. Ryou went to the back and sat next to the empty desk next to Yuugi.

"Hey, Ryou! I haven't seen you in zero hour for a while," he whispered.

"You know Bakura, always finding new ways to destroy my alarm clock."

Yuugi nodded, understanding what he meant. The two silently went back to work. It wasn't that they couldn't talk; it was just them being polite to those who were also studying in the room as well.

After Ryou finished some extra work for his other classes, he sat back and relaxed. He heard the door open and glanced to see who it was. He hoped it wasn't Bakura, about to pull yet another prank on him. He was relieved to see that it was just Malik, but he didn't look rather pleased. The teacher had gotten up to use the restroom, and he trusted those set of students since they were usually the ones who kept out of trouble unlike certain ones.

He crossed his arms and glared at Ryou. Confused, Ryou just sat there dumbly.

What did Bakura do now? He thought.

Once Malik reached to him, he braced himself. This wouldn't be the first time he would get beat up for Bakura's misdeeds.

"Why are you doing that? I just wanted to talk." The blond Egyptian said.

He cracked an eye, but once he knew he was safe, he relaxed. "Sorry, you know Bakura's reputation and all that. I tend to get the butt and have to deal with his dirty laundry. More then one load, I can say," he laughed at his own lame joke.

"I'm sorry, Ryou," commented Yuugi, "but…that wasn't that funny."

He sighed. "You're right. Anyway," he turned back to Malik (Yuugi did too, since he was curious thus he kept quiet), "I have the notes ready. Did you want them already?"

Malik pulled up a chair from an unused desk and sat on it. "No, I can wait till during class to get them."

Ryou nodded, understanding. "Okay, so…once again, what did my brother do?"

The other shook his head. "Will you forget about that piece of shit?"

He was slightly taken aback, but due to his now independence he wouldn't be his brother's keeper anymore.

"Sorry," he said as he pulled out a scratch sheet and doodled. "What did you want to talk about?" Ryou glanced at him, giving him eye contact.

"I wanted to talk about this weekend." He reached in his pocket and pulled out a flyer. Apparently they conveniently had a carnival down by the bay, and it seemed to have promised a romantic getaway for two.

Yuugi glanced at the brightly colored flyer, the other students having now finished their assignments thus leaving the room. He smiled brightly. "Oh, Anzu told me about this. I didn't realize it's this weekend! We should all go as a group!"

Ryou lifted up his hands. "No, no, I don't think that's a very good idea, Yuugi. What would Anzu think?"

The other blinked dumbly. Then he seemed to get the message since he blushed really red. "O-oh."

Ryou slightly laughed as he got up to pick up his stuff. "Come on, let's go to the cafeteria. That's where the gang will be waiting anyway, right?"

Yuugi looked at his watch and gasped. "You're right! It's almost time for everyone to start arriving! Thanks for the idea, Malik!"

The two left, talking about what Yuugi should and shouldn't do when he's alone with Anzu. The blond glared at Yuugi's backside as he folded it and placed it back in his pocket.

oooo

The day went smoother now that he had finally gained his independence. Sure it was a bit awkward whenever he was in a class with Bakura.

Avoid eye contact and distract yourself, he told himself. It wasn't hard to do, he had to copy more notes and had to make plans with Malik to go to library later during the lunch period. Though, the friends of another student decided to confront Ryou when the teachers set them to work on their own.

"Hey," they said. Ryou glanced up to meet their angered expressions. "Where's your brother?"

Ryou was proud to shrug and say, "I don't know."

"You liar, you know exactly where he is. You just don't want to say."

"I don't know. I'm not dealing with his crap anymore."

He felt himself being lifted to the eye level of apparently the one that wanted to deal with him.

"You're lying," he whispered harshly. Ryou tried to glare, but it didn't do its job – to intimidate the other.

"Mr. Kozoumi!" the teacher yelled. "Put him down! You all just earned a detention!"

The boy dubbed Kozoumi put the fair-haired boy down, slowly but surely, and returned to his seat. The group grumbled. He walked up to the teacher, to prevent future embarrassing moments.

"Me too, sir?" he asked meekly. The teacher nodded.

Aw, man, he thought to himself as he returned to his seat, I'm turning into him!

oooo

The day was like hell for Ryou, yet it was very satisfying. Sure he now has independence, however, now that Bakura didn't come to his defense automatically. It was strange, though, that everyone decided to gang up on him over something his brother did.

I wish they'd leave me alone, he thought. I already have three detentions!

Finally it was the lunch hour and he told his friends that he had to go to the library. He didn't see Bakura but that was okay. He made his way to the library and found Malik with little trouble. Malik's expression seemed to soften from that morning.

"Hey Malik," Ryou softly said as he pulled up a seat next to him.

The blond turned to him and nodded. They both got out their work and started to work on their project. Some students came in and sat around them, which the two didn't mind. Malik would make jokes and Ryou would try to not to laugh so loud.

The librarian would turn to their direction and only told them once to be quiet.

Ryou almost laughed harder. The two gathered up their things and left the library.

"Do we even have time to go eat lunch?" he asked as he glanced at his watch. Malik nodded.

"Yeah, we were only there for 20 minutes."

Only 20 minutes? It felt like we were in there for less then that! He thought when he put his stuff back in his locker. The two made it back to the cafeteria where there was still sort of a line to where they could get their lunches. Malik and Ryou took their places in line and they continued their talk. The blond Egyptian kept making jokes over and over again while Ryou laughed and laughed. Soon enough they got their lunch and they headed to the table where everyone greeted Ryou.

"Oh, I hope you don't mind Malik sitting with us," he said as he motioned towards Malik.

"That's fine!" said Yuugi eagerly as gave them a smile.

However, whenever his friends would try to talk to Ryou, Malik would distract him. The others thought it wasn't a big deal since Ryou had told them earlier about him finally standing up to Bakura. They even talked as they threw away their lunches which caused Anzu to speak up and they didn't even turn back to the group. Apparently Malik had him where he wanted him.

"I think Malik has a bit of a crush on him," she said as she got out some homework to work on as they waited for the bell to ring. Yuugi looked at her.

"You think so too?"

oooo

"Oh, what's your number?" asked Malik once school was finally let out.

Ryou's mind boggled. "But don't you still have it from when you and Bakura dated?"

He shook his head. "I told you not to talk about him anymore."

He bit his lip. "Oh, sorry about that but anyway, don't you still have the number?"

Once again he shook his head. "No, I threw it away after he broke up with me."

"Oh," he said. He got out a sheet of paper and wrote down the number then he handed it to the blond.

Malik smiled. "Thanks."

When he went to detention, he wasn't surprised to see Bakura, but instead of sitting near him he usually would, he sat as opposite of him as he could. There were quite a few others in the room, most notably Jounouchi and Honda. When the teacher wasn't looking, they moved quickly near Ryou.

"Hey!" whispered Jou. He turned and slightly waved. "What are you in here for? Studying too much?"

The brunet laughed with him. The white-haired one didn't think it was that funny.

"Oh lighten up, Ryou! It's a joke!"

He still didn't find it as funny, but he sighed. "Anyway," he said to change the subject.

"Shh!" shushed Honda. "Do you want us to get in trouble?"

He shook his head. "No, sorry about that," Ryou whispered.

Jou glanced at Bakura and Bakura made an angry face and turned back to Ryou.

"Geez, what did you do, Ryou?" Jou asked, still whispering. "He's more angry then usual. Did you accidentally cook his meat for dinner?" He laughed as quietly as he could to emphasize the ridiculous situation he just explained to him.

He shook his head. "No. Honestly, I don't know why he's so angry. And," he paused for dramatic effect. "I don't care." He smiled, proud that he doesn't care anymore.

Jou and Honda glanced at each other. "Uh," said Honda. "We knew that. There's no need to repeat yourself."

The blond sighed. "Ryou, you need to tell the difference between a joke and a genuine question." He placed a hand on his face in exasperation.

"But I do!" Ryou said.

The teacher turned, since he thought he heard a student talk. He glanced in Ryou's direction to see a bunch of empty seats.

"Where are Mr. Jounouchi and Mr. Honda?"

He shrugged. "I don't know."

"Did they even come in for detention?"

"Yeah. I think they went to the bathroom though like you said they could."

"I did?"

Ryou nodded frantically. "Yes. You did. I believe it was when you were reading the newspaper."

The bulky teacher paused. "Oh. Okay then." He stood up and headed out towards the door. "I'm going to get something to eat. I expect to see all 10 of you including Mr. Jounouchi and Mr. Honda. Be sure to pass that to them when they return, Mr. Imai."

He nodded. Once the teacher went out, the two boys reappeared out nowhere.

"Thanks, Ryou!" said Honda.

"Yeah, who would've guessed you were actually daring?" Jou joked as he hit his elbow in his ribs. The white-haired boy rubbed his sore ribs. He smiled.

"Well I am. Living with Bakura actually taught me a few things, I guess." The boys laughed as Bakura in the corner glared at the two even more. He tore up a piece of paper and raised himself from his desk. Because the other teenagers were creating more noise, Bakura stood up and left the room. Ryou saw him at the corner of his eye.

Things are going to be awkward at home.

ooooooo

Ending Notes: Finally the end of the chapter. I apologize for taking so long with the next chapter. I hope you'll continue to read and review this story. I'll try not to take so long with the next chapter. In any case, I hope my characterization was good. Enjoy, Kiri!