A/N: Edited in 2015
As the school week started again, Ryou found himself sitting through classes alone, wondering when the day would end. The phone calls from Mariku were a regular thing in his evenings and nights. They drained his sleep some but he didn't mind. He had someone now and that was wonderful, even if it was someone he would never get to meet. They never talked about where they lived, so as far as he knew, Mariku could live on the other side of the country.
After talking on the phone with each other so much, they were bound to get to know each other better, opening up about more personal matters. As the subjects became less superficial, so did their friendship.
Now he was in the cafeteria, eating lunch and watching people come and go with a half an eye. There wasn't much else to do on lunch break. He had forgot the book he read during breaks at home today. The other students passed his table, sat to eat somewhere else and chatted with each other.
Two people were carrying their lunch trays and stopped near Ryou's table. Judging from their conversation, everywhere else was full. They sat down in the other end of the table and started eating. Ryou didn't pay much attention to them; this happened all the time when there was no other seats available, otherwise he sat alone.
The two talked, and as Ryou glanced at them, because something had caught his interest, one of them smiled at him. The other noticed this and glanced at Ryou, before turning to speak to the one who smiled.
"Don't bother, he won't talk to you anyway," the student said, getting the other's attention and both started talking with each other once again. Ryou didn't hear what was being said after that, he didn't care. It had stung. So that was what people were saying about him. He hadn't even thought that he had a reputation. They should have kept not noticing; no reputation was better than a bad one.
His food lay forgotten on his plate. He didn't feel like eating anymore so he got up and walked out of the cafeteria, after throwing away the rest of his food. Ryou had no idea where he was going but he wanted to go somewhere else. Maybe he could find a nice empty classroom he could spend the rest of the break in. But then again, maybe there was no classroom that would bother to be empty for him.
Was he truly not worth any effort?
Ryou did find a room that had no one else in it and closed the door behind himself. He went to sit next to a window. It had been raining a lot that week and today was no exception. The drops hit the window and dripped down the glass, making the outside world look fuzzy. The view resembled Ryou's mind in some weird way, or maybe he was just in the mood for sad poetry.
He did feel bad, he did feel down but that didn't mean he was going to cry. No crying for him. Not over something as trivial as this. Tears were meant for situations where, for example, someone you loved died, not for something that some random person said in the cafeteria. Ryou had long ago made a decision that he would not cry ever again and he was planning to stick to it. And besides, this was no big deal, right?
Right.
He had a few classes to go to before he could get back home. His father had been fussing over the trip for the past week and Ryou had promised to help him pack. No matter that his father was putting work before his son, Ryou still loved him. He wasn't going to see his father for a month, so he might as well try and spend time with him. That meant that once his school day was over, he would go home and sort his father's stuff out for him. They could pack together once the man got home. It would be nice to spend time with his dad. He had promised to call Ryou every day and have his friend's son come over before he left so that they could meet. It was thoughtful of him, but Ryou still didn't think it was necessary.
The lunch break was almost over now and if he didn't want to be late for class, he had to get going. Maybe the rest of the day wouldn't be so bad.
Xxx
The day could have gone better for Mariku. That morning he had gone to check out something he had seen in the newspaper; a potential job. The guy he had seen about it had said something about not wanting to hire any uneducated punk.
Mariku wasn't stupid. He wasn't highly educated but he had gone through high school and passed with good grades. The only reason he hadn't gone to university was that a certain bastard of a father had ruined his plans by throwing him out, thus leaving him with no money and nowhere to stay. He had a place now but it was no thanks to anyone except himself. He needed many low-paying jobs to earn the little money he had now, all of it for paying rent, food and other necessities. No chance to pay any school fees. Getting a scholarship had been an option, but there had been too much competion, too much pressure for someone working in a sick household. His high school had been top rated but a family with money and a sharp mind didn't guarantee a bright future. Mariku had learned that the hard way.
The teen let out a frustrated sigh and flopped on his couch. It was an old thing from some flee market and uncomfortable as hell. At least he had a couch. It would be nice if he also had a full time job but you can't have it all, now can you?
The clock on his cellphone showed half past four, which meant that Ryou was home. It was weird that he found himself liking the boy, and not just obsessing over him. Not something that happened every day. They might even be friends.
Without any conscious decision, he took his phone and dialed the number he had memorized, waiting for Ryou to answer.
"What? Um, I mean, hello?"
Mariku almost laughed at the greeting. Ryou was so cute. "Hi, guess who."
"Ah Mariku, hi," Ryou sounded happy to hear him, something that wasn't common in his life. "How are you?" Ryou continued, "I hope you had a better day than I did."
"Not a chance in hell. What happened to make your day suck?"
"It was nothing really."
Mariku fought the urge to roll his eyes. "Yeah, because 'nothing really' can ruin your day. Come one, tell me."
There was a short pause. "Well, apart from school being murder, there was this one person who said that I shouldn't be bothered with since I wouldn't speak anyway... I know that might sound stupid but it sort of... hurt..."
Mariku wasn't the best at making someone feel better but he was good at speaking his mind, "Hmph, these people are obviously idiots." He smirked. "They don't know what they're missing out on." He could almost hear Ryou blush and he did hear him laugh. It was a sweet sound.
"Thanks, I would so tackle hug you right now if I could," Ryou said.
"Too bad you can't do that through the phone then."
There was some yelling in the background and he could hear Ryou yell something back before he spoke to Mariku again, "Listen, I have to go, my dad needs my help. Could you call again later? I have to help my dad pack..."
All fathers were pains in his existence. He agreed and after byes they hung up. He needed go grocery shopping; his fridge was near empty and he couldn't be much hungrier.
Xxx
"Who was that?" Ryou's father asked once Ryou had came back to help him. "Was it the what's-his-name who keeps calling you again?"
"Yes, it was Mariku. You have to fold that before putting it in there," Ryou told. His father knew about his phone calls because they occurred at night and that was the time his father was home, if he was home at all.
"Mm-hm, what have you been talking about?" the man asked, while packing.
Ryou shrugged. "Stuff, you know. When is your plane leaving?" He was avoiding the subject. There was no reason to tell his father any details, it wasn't like something terrible was going on. He got a look from his dad.
"Six a.m., Saturday morning. Is there something you're not telling me, Ryou?"
"Why would there be?" Ryou asked. "You have nothing to worry about, if anything, be happy that I have a friend."
"It's just," the man looked worried "Is that really a healthy kind of friendship? You can never know who he really is. I mean, what if the subjects start to turn... in to a different direction?" Now he looked more than worried.
Ryou didn't follow. "What do you mean?" he asked, feeling clueless about where this conversation was going.
"Ah well... What if he wants to talk about, more adult stuff? Like, what if he wants to have phone sex or something?"
Ryou stared, blinked and then stared some more. That had never even crossed his mind. It was weird that his father was so worried about subjects like that, wasn't it? Ryou wasn't a child anymore. "Dad! It's not like that! And besides," he let out a forced laugh. "It's not like someone can be phone raped or anything. You're worried over nothing, honestly."
His father didn't look convinced. "Well, if you say so..."
They continued packing in silence for a while before his father spoke up again, remembering something he was supposed to bring up. "Oh, I invited my old friend's his son over, he's coming tomorrow. You kids can get to know each other."
"Who is this friend of yours, by the way, I don't think you ever mentioned that."
"Do you remember Kazuki Mutou? He has been living out of the country for the past five years or so but he came to your eleventh birthday, remember?"
Ryou frowned in thought. Eleventh birthday... "Was he the guy with the hair?"
"Yes!" His father nodded and smiled.
"Oh him, I remember. Doesn't his father own the game shop?"
"Yes. Yuugi, his son, is living with the old man now and I'm sure you two will get along nicely. Though, I hope you don't mind if he talks about games. I believe it's some kind of obsession in their family," the man was still smiling as he spoke, using his fond tone.
"I won't mind." It made Ryou smile, too. "When will he be coming? After school or..?"
"Some time in the afternoon."
Ryou was worried that they wouldn't get along. What if he couldn't think of anything to say? It would just go like all the other times he met new people and Yuugi would think that he was some kind of mute idiot. He didn't want that to happen. It would be rude of him to avoid this new boy and he couldn't do that, even though the option was appealing.
They finished packing and his father excused himself to go on a nap. Ryou decided that he should do his homework now before he needed to make dinner. There wasn't a huge amount of work to do but if he didn't do it now, it would just get pushed back until he was too tired to do it at all.
Xxx
The next day went by too fast because Ryou was dreading the afternoon. Talking to Mariku last night hadn't helped, despite how good a disraction it had been. Mariku had told him that the meeting would go well, that he was worried over nothing. Ryou had a tough time believing him. He hoped Mariku was right but hoping wasn't the same as knowing.
After he came home from school, and noticed a note from his father saying that there were snacks in the cupboard and soda in the fridge, he still didn't feel any better. What would this person be like? His father had said that they would get along and of course he knew his own son, but.
He changed out of his school clothes and decided to make an exception and do his homework right after. The nervous feeling didn't go anywhere and it was still there when he went to open the door for his visitor. Ryou had to look down to notice the boy with large purple eyes and hair and all.
"Um, hello," Ryou greeted him and got a smile for the effort.
"Hello, you must be Ryou, right? I'm Yuugi, hi."
"Hi. Oh, come in," Ryou said after realizing that he was his guest stand in the doorway. Yuugi laughed and stepped in, looking around while removing his shoes.
"You have a nice house, way bigger than ours too," Yuugi commented.
"Thanks," was all Ryou could think of saying to that. A silence commenced with their gazes moving from the walls to their toes, to the ceiling. It was awkward.
"So, are we going to just stand here?" Yuugi asked after a while. "I mean, um, we could like go to your room or something."
"Oh yeah. Heh, sorry." Ryou felt stupid as he led Yuugi to the living room, deciding that his room wasn't the best option with all the horror posters on his walls. "The living room will do better, I think."
"Okay." They sat down. "So..."
"Uh."
They sat there, once in a while glancing at each other between looking around the room, trying to think of something to say. Was there something they could talk about? Common interests or something? Other than saying 'so' or 'um' all the time?
Ryou's attention was brought to Yuugi when he started laughing under his breath. "You know, this is really ridiculous. We're both so awkward." Then he laughed a bit more before getting up and grabbing Ryou's hand suddenly starting to drag him upstairs. "Let's juts go to your room, ok? It's over here right?"
"Well, yes but-"
"Good, I just want to see what you're into, maybe we'll find something to talk about that way."
"I don't think-," Ryou didn't think that was a good idea. Yuugi would think that he was some kind of freak. They reached the room and Yuugi opened the door and went inside.
"Oh wow..." Yuugi said, looking at all the posters on the walls. Ryou was worried until he saw the excited smile on Yuugi's face. "You really like this kind of stuff, don't you?"
"Yeah. It's sort of an obsession of mine," Ryou admitted.
"That's great! You got to have obsessions. See?" He pointed at his Kame Game Shop shirt, that was full of pictures of different kinds of games, and grinned.
Ryou couldn't help but smile; he didn't feel half as worried or awkward anymore. "I guess so. What kind of games are you into?" he asked.
"Mostly strategy but I'm not picky. How do you like your horror? Do you watch movies or read books too?"
"I prefer psychological horror, actually, I read some too but mostly watch movies."
They moved to sit down, Yuugi on the desk chair and Ryou on the bed. Even though their interests had little in common, the under lying obsession was the same and Yuugi could tell about horror games and Ryou could talk about horror movies that involved games. It was nice to talk to someone who was as obsessed about something. Ryou discovered that his father had been right; they did get along nicely.
Xxx
Since it was almost nine, Mariku decided to call to Ryou before it got too late. It took longer than usual for Ryou to pick up, and when he did, he sounded like he had been laughing hard about something.
"Hi! Bakura residence, how may I help you?" Ryou laughed, followed by more laughter in the background.
"You could tell me why you're so cheerful."
"I think that- Wait a sec I have to get out of Yuugi's range. Stop it, I'm on the phone!"
Mariku waited for a while, and when Ryou spoke to him again, he asked the question bothering him. "Who is Yuugi?"
"Remember the son of my father's friend who I mentioned? Yeah, that's him."
"Oh, have fun? Told you it would go well." What was it that this Yuugi needed to stop while Ryou was on the phone?
"Yes, that you did and you were right." Ryou sneezed. "Sorry, I have feathers in my pillow."
Mariku failed to see how that was relevant but didn't comment on it. The only thing going through his mind was that Ryou had someone over and was having the time of his life. That someone wasn't him; it was some random guy whose father happened to know Ryou's father.
"Look, I think I will have to go now. Sorry, talk to you later, ok?" Ryou said.
"Ok. Bye." Mariku hung up before Ryou had the chance to say another word. This wasn't right. What happened to him being such a good friends with Ryou? Now it was ok to not talk to him when there was some guy over who Ryou had just met. It was him who knew Ryou better, not some Yuugi. What kind of name was that anyway?
He noticed that he was holding his cell in such a strong grip that there was a fair chance that it would break any second. He didn't care. He needed to get out and clear his head, to think of a way to fix this. He was sure that there was one and he would find it.
Ryou was not some Yuugi's. Technically, he wasn't Mariku's either, that didn't matter to the teen right now. He wouldn't let technicalities get in his way.