Yuugi trudged down the hallway towards the cafeteria, dreading the moment he would walk through those doors. The entire school had lunch together at the same time, and Yuugi had no idea how he was going to find his friends amongst the throng of Domino High students. He'd thought maybe Yami would have walked him to lunch like he'd walked him to class, but the other teen had immediately bolted for the door the second the bell had rung, and Yuugi had lost him in the crowded hallway.

He followed his classmates into the packed cafeteria and hurried to find a relatively unoccupied corner of the room to safely look for his friends without getting trampled. Never get in the way of a hungry student and Chicken Nugget Day, Yuugi knew from his middle school experience, and the high schoolers were a lot bigger than he was. The little teen stood on his tiptoes, searching for his friends nervously. He breathed a sigh of relief when he caught sight of the familiar unruly mop of golden blond hair that belonged to his best friend Jou.

He hustled over to the table just in time to catch the end of Jou's story of his beach vacation: "… I would've drowned him, but Shizuka made me stop. He was lucky she's such a sweet, little girl, or else I'd have fu- oh, hey, Yuugi!"

"Hey, Jou, hey, everyone!" Yuugi greeted, flopping down between Jou and friend Honda at the table, "It's good to see you all again!"

"Yeah, sorry we all kind of abandoned you in Domino," Otogi apologized, twirling a lock of black hair between his fingers and a set of dice in the other for no discernable reason.

"It's cool, Ryou was here with me."

"Yeah," Ryou agreed happily with a nod, "You guys wouldn't have had fun with us, anyway." He exchanged a conspiratory smile with Yuugi, who giggled and held his hand up for a high-five.

"Oh, God," Honda said with an exasperated look at Jou before fixing it on Yuugi, "Don't tell me you guys spent the whole summer watching soap operas and trading Duel Monsters cards."

"Hey, we all like Duel Monsters!" Yuugi protested.

"But you don't deny the soaps?" Otogi pressed.

"We would never renounce the soaps," Ryou said solemnly.

"Well, I can't argue with the Duel Monsters part, at least," Otogi acquiesced with a shrug, "I spent my summer working on Dungeon Dice Monsters."

"Oh, yeah," Yuugi thought aloud, "I remember you saying you were trying to pitch that to the Industrial Illusions gaming company."

"Well, I still need to finish roughing out gameplay before I can even start to work up a proposal," Otogi shrugged again, "But she'll get there."

"I bet it's gonna be great, Otogi," Honda assured him, "If you want, I can help you out this weekend if it's gonna be ready for test runs."

Otogi's face lit up as he whipped out his phone to check his availability. The conversation drifted away from the pair and onto Malik, who had just rolled up to the table significantly late, looking rumpled but unaffected. An upperclassmen trailing behind him who was carrying Malik's books placed them on the table, slapped Malik's ass, and disappeared into the lunch line. Malik snorted, muttered "indiscrete" under his breath, and sat down next to Ryou. He immediately slipped a pocket mirror out of his pencil case and began finger-combing his hair.

"Hey, Malik," Ryou greeted, "How're you?"

"Yeah, we haven't seen you in a while!" Yuugi added.

"Oh, you know," Malik replied, slipping his mirror away delicately. His platinum blond hair now fell perfectly straight again. "Went to Egypt. Saw some sand. Same thing as every year." The smile that played across his lips told an entirely more exciting story than his voice did, and Yuugi made a mental note to ask him in private about who he had met and undoubtedly hooked up with in Egypt. Malik was sort of private about his, well, private life, or as private as he could be. In a place like Domino High, it was hard to keep everyone from knowing your business. Yuugi could see a few people in the lunch line already whispering and staring at Malik. No doubt the guy who'd carried Malik's books in had already fulfilled the "tell" part of "kiss and tell".

Yuugi was sure it wasn't unique to his school. It was only his first day in high school, sure, but the rumor mill had worked the same way in middle school. The only difference was that now, everyone was a little older and the rumors were juicier. Yuugi quietly watched Ryou fill Malik in on what he'd missed from their soap operas. Yuugi and Ryou had been best friends since elementary school, but they'd taken Malik in only last year. While Ryou and Yuugi had always been bullied for being small and, well, less than the masculine ideal, Malik had been bullied for something much worse. He'd only transferred to their school last year from Egypt, and so he was already fighting the stigma of being a foreigner. Being openly gay and promiscuous on top of that ensured that he was ruthlessly mocked and attacked daily. Yuugi and Ryou stepped in to offer him their friendship, and along with them came Jou and Honda to make sure no one ever raised a hand to Malik again. Being two ex-bullies themselves, Jou and Honda were the ones that had always kept Ryou and Yuugi more or less safe in school, and now they did the same for Malik.

Yuugi looked over at Honda and Otogi, who were still discussing Otogi's new game. Honda most definitely had a crush on Otogi, but they were much too different for it to ever come to something. Otogi was like Malik; he dressed well, wore make-up, got his hair professionally done, and almost never got his hands dirty. Honda, on the other hand, was almost painfully straight. His hobby was fixing up old cars and motorcycles, for God's sake. It could work, Yuugi knew, but would they ever give it a chance? All signs pointed to nope.

Jou nudged him then, bringing him out of his thoughts. "Yuugi, I heard today that Ushio and Yami we're giving you trouble."

Yuugi shook his head. "No, Ushio was giving me trouble, like always, but Yami helped me. Ushio was really scared of him, and Yami walked me to class."

Jou nodded, but he didn't look completely convinced. "Be careful around Yami, Yuugi, and Bakura and Marik, those guys he hangs out with. You guys just came up here, but me and Honda and Otogi are only a grade behind them, so we've seen the kind of stuff they do."

Yuugi looked at him, confused. "But Yami helped me out. If he wasn't nice, wouldn't he have left me to Ushio?"

Jou shook his head. "Nah. See, Yami and Ushio got beef with each other. Yami doesn't let Ushio get away with stuff in the high school. That's why he always picked on you before when you were in middle school. High school is their turf," he inclined his head to the table at the very front of the room, where Yuugi just now noticed Yami and two others were sitting, "So just be careful, alright?"

Yuugi nodded, a feeling of unease settling into the pit of his stomach as he continued to watch the high table.

Yami, of course, was completely oblivious to the current conversation going on about him, as he usually was. The volume of conversations people had about him was simply too much for him to pay attention to. He was too busy holding court with Bakura and Marik, anyway.

"Got it from some freshman that Ushio was basically never not bullying that Yuugi kid in middle school," Marik told him as he shoveled nugget after nugget of glorious, grade B chicken meat into his hideous mouth, "Which makes sense. You guys kinda look alike, and you're the reason Ushio can't fuck with people up here."

Bakura nodded, also plowing the delicious nuggets into his own hideous mouth and washing them down with squirts of ketchup straight down his throat. He paused for air and to add his input. "Can't believe these wannabees are still stepping over the line. Has he forgot about all the times we've hidden roadkill in his locker?"

"Evidently." Yami's face was impassive. He was deep in thought, trying to assess his own feelings. He bit into a nugget absently. Ushio had to be dealt with, there was no doubt to that. What he was to do with Yuugi was another matter altogether. Normally, the answer was nothing, but this was rapidly turning into a special case. He wanted Yuugi by his side, but there was no way he was going to fit in with Bakura and Marik. They were completely insane and violent and creepy. No, he couldn't really make Yuugi his friend. His gaze strayed across the room until he found the table where Yuugi sat with his friends, chatting happily.

Yuugi was talking to Ryou about something, and Yami took note of the way Yuugi laughed with his entire body. When Ryou said something funny, which was apparently often, Yuugi's head would tilt back and he would put his hands over his heart, shoulders shaking and knees bouncing like an absolute dork. Yami was captivated. They were pretty far away from each other, but the cafeteria was built on kind of a slant due to the shittyness of the building, so Yami had a good view of the way Yuugi's eyes were shining with unshed tears as he turned to the side and bit his knuckle in an attempt to stop laughing so damn loudly. Seriously, Yami could hear his peals of light, happy laughter from all the way over here. How could anyone be so annoyingly perfect?

Bringing himself mentally back to Bakura and Marik, who hadn't even noticed their friend's distraction, he slapped his hands on the table. "Bakura."

Bakura looked up at him, a fistful of chicken halfway to his mouth.

"You're in charge of Ushio's punishment."

Bakura looked at Yami, eyes full of weird, creepy, childlike delight. "What am I not allowed to do?"

Yami looked back over to Yuugi's table. "No debilitating injury. Everything else goes."

Bakura looked like he could cry. "Have I told you lately that I love that beautiful mouth of yours?"

Marik followed Yami's eyes, and when he saw where the other was looking, his jaw dropped. "No way. No fuckin' way."

"Hm?" Yami questioned.

"It's him," Marik breathed in disbelief, "It's him, guys. Malik."

Bakura quirked an eyebrow. "Who, the one next to Ryou? Didn't you meet him, like, last year when your brother dragged you to Egypt?"

Marik nodded, dumbfounded.

"What the hell is he doing here, then?" Yami asked.

Marik shrugged, mute.

"You gonna go talk to him or what?" Bakura goaded.

Marik only continued to stare, eyes wide and impossibly focused.

"Hey!" Yami barked, sharp, and elbowed Marik straight in the ribs. That got his attention. "Go talk to him."

"Now?"

And, honestly, for the first time in his entire goddamn life, Marik Tokoshie actually looked unsure.

"Yes, now."

Marik stared at Yami for another second, then nodded and stood. In seconds, he was standing at the head of the freshman's table, no hesitation. "Malik."

Malik looked up at him then paled as if looking at a ghost. "Marik," he mouthed, voice inaudible. Then, "Marik!" he near-screamed, leaping up and launching himself at the other teen. Marik anticipated it and caught him smoothly like they'd done a hundred times before and spun him around with loud laughter. Malik himself was giggling uncontrollably. "Oh my God, what are you doing here?!" he asked, still toeing the line between talking loudly and screaming.

"I live here, dumbass!" Marik replied, holding Marik up off the ground and pressed to his chest. "What are you doing here? You don't fucking live here!"

Malik leaned in to him so that the tips of their noses just barely touched. "I do live here, idiot. I've lived here since last year. You never asked me if I lived in Egypt full-time."

"You're Egyptian, you hot fucking mess. I assumed you lived in goddamn Egypt."

Yami and Bakura watched this exchange from across the cafeteria with raised eyebrows and lowered jaws.

"Marik's being… oddly…," Yami fumbled for words.

"Affectionate," Bakura finished.

"Sentimental," Yami added with a shrug.

"He actually laughed. In a scenario where no one told an offensive joke or got seriously injured, Marik laughed."

"That he did."

"You didn't hit me, I didn't hit you, no one is shoving freshmen in lockers, I don't… Do you see him smiling?!"

Yami cast a sidelong glance at Bakura. "You seem incredibly hung up on the idea of Marik's happiness not coming at the expense of anyone else, Bakura."

"Has it ever happened before?" Bakura challenged.

"Never, in the history of man."

Back at the table, Marik had finally put Malik down as the entire cafeteria was hushed, everyone staring at them. Malik squirmed under the attention, but Marik had eyes for no one else in the room. "So, you wanna get out of here? Go somewhere and catch up?" By the tilt of his eyebrows and the smirk on his lips, it was obvious that the "catching up" Marik had in mind wasn't about discussing their time apart but rather making up for it.

Malik kept his expression steady. "That's a good idea; let's get out of here. Get my books?" he asked. Without waiting for an answer, he all but bolted from the room.

Marik watched him go for a second, then turned to the table and scooped up the stack of books. "Later, Malik's friends."

Yuugi watched them leave with a worried expression on his face that Ryou mirrored. "Jou?" Yuugi asked.

"Yeah?" Jou answered dumbly, stunned at what had just happened.

"What's Marik's reputation like?"

Jou snorted. "Well, if he's moving in on Malik, that means he's already fucked his way through all the other grades."

Yuugi's heart dropped. "I thought so."

Ryou sighed. "Poor Malik."