Chapter Four: Have Some Poisoned Pancakes
It was unnerving how Mariku watched Ryou flit about the room, lacing his shoes and gathering his books for school. "Um, do you... need anything?" he asked uncertainly, his hand hovering over the doorknob.
Mariku had slept on the couch, from the looks of it. That is, half the cushions were on the floor and the stuffing was coming out of one. He was sitting on this ruined cushion, arms crossed. "I'm bored."
Ryou almost laughed, but decided not to risk irritating Mariku so early in the morning. "You're bored? Well, there are books in my room, and a television over there. There's a computer, too, but I don't know how well you could use that."
He didn't have time to see what Mariku did to solve his problem. He scurried out the door and found Malik standing in front of his room. "Ah, good morning. How are you?" From the dark circles under Malik's eyes and his sullen expression, he could have made an educated guess, but he knew it was best to pretend everything was okay when it came to Malik.
"Fine. And so are you. That's good."
"He didn't try to kill me even once last night!" Ryou announced brightly, holding up a finger and earning an eye-roll.
Malik replied, "Great. Have fun at school. Do you mind if I check on Mariku?"
"Of course not. You're always welcome there Spare key's in the dresser, if you need it." He waved and dashed off, inwardly pleased that Malik was taking an interest in Mariku's welfare. That, or Ryou would return to a blood-soaked apartment. Optimism was his preference, though.
/.../
Right as Malik opened the door to Ryou's room, a deafening roar erupted from the corner. Malik shut the door behind him and sighed when he saw Mariku crouched in front of the television, alternating between covering his ears and hitting every button on the set. He strolled over and pressed the one on the end, effectively shutting it off. "Can you do anything that doesn't involve trying to end the world?"
Mariku scowled, "Like you know so much about technology. You can't use a computer-thing either!"
"This is a television. And what did you do to Ryou's couch? What kind of guest are you?"
Mariku just snorted. "You sound like our sister."
Malik felt a pang in his chest at the mention of Ishizu. It didn't go unnoticed by Mariku. "If you miss her, why not go back to Egypt?" he pointed out.
"I definitely can't go back now. You'll follow me and try to kill Rishid again. And anyway, I- I don't want to go back."
"Why do you still think you can lie to me?" Mariku stretched out on the floor, smirking up at Malik. "You're so, so homesick."
Malik said, "Since you're so good at reading me, why don't you just figure out on your own why I'm not going back?"
Mariku closed his eyes. "I could, if I were still in your mind. The more you don't want to think of something, the further you push it away from your consciousness, which meant those thoughts came right to me back then. But now, you're hiding it quite well, whether you mean to or not."
At least Malik now knew he wasn't completely an open book to Mariku. Feeling a little relieved, he remembered why he had come over in the first place; he had to make an effort to be civil to Mariku or risk having another dream in which the Pharaoh criticized him. "Are you hungry?" he asked.
"Hungry for killing," Mariku promptly answered. "And my stomach does feel weird. Does that mean I'm hungry? I didn't have control of our body long enough at Battle City to really figure that out."
"You're hopeless." Malik ran a hand through his hair and sighed again. "Let's go eat breakfast somewhere."
"Together? Looks like you're already warming up to me, precious Malik," he grinned.
Malik chose to ignore that ludicrous statement. He threw an extra jacket at Mariku and led the way out of Ryou's room, locking it with the extra key Ryou had told him about. Both of them glanced at the elevator as they neared it. "This would be faster than the stairs," Mariku said, jabbing the down button.
"Have you heard it creaking?" Malik grumbled. "Stairs are safer." Mariku was unconvinced, and when the doors opened he pulled Malik inside.
Malik stayed in one corner, looking at the wall. He hated elevators. They were cramped spaces that more often than not had to be shared with bothersome strangers. This one was especially unappealing, with its dim lights and stained carpet. "You chose to live here," Mariku reminded him when he saw his sour expression.
"I wish Ryou hadn't."
The elevator safely arrived at the ground floor. Malik led the way to a cafe only a few blocks away. Ryou had mentioned it, so he thought he'd give it a try; his friend's food recommendations rarely failed to please.
There were a few booths lining one wall inside, each beside a huge window overlooking the street. They sat across from each other as a waitress came to take their order, notepad in hand. "Coffee and-" Malik skimmed over the menu's lists of sweets. "A blueberry muffin."
"And for you?" she asked Mariku. He looked from her to the menu to Malik. He really didn't want to get the same thing, for no other reason than Malik had ordered it, so he just pointed to something and asked for water to drink.
They sat in silence until their food was brought. A plate of pancakes and a small steel jar was set in front of Mariku. "The pancakes are our specialty!" she assured him. She looked back and forth between the two and smiled. "You know, I'm a twin myself. I-"
"We're not twins," Mariku interrupted.
Malik added, "We're trying to eat."
"Oh, right. Excuse me." Looking miffed, she made her way back to the kitchen.
Mariku picked up the jar and looked inside it. It was full of a dark red substance he guessed was supposed to go on his pancakes, since it didn't look like a drink. After he dumped it over them, Malik grabbed his wrist. He instantly bared his teeth at him and Malik let go. He explained, "Those are strawberries. I'm allergic, so..."
"So you think I am too."
"Why wouldn't you be? We're-" He broke off and looked away. He still didn't want to admit that they were the same person. "Here, just have half of mine." He nudged the plate with his muffin on it towards Mariku.
The window made a good distraction for the next few minutes, as Malik listened to Mariku eat and occasionally sipped his coffee. When he finally looked back to Mariku, he felt a wave of uneasiness. Not because he was doing anything wrong, but because he looked so normal. He was chewing on the muffin, looking satisfied at the flavor. The seemingly impossible situation that had been thrust on Malik when he first arrived in Domino was still sinking in, but this image solidified it. Mariku was back for good, the Pharaoh was pissed that Malik wanted to deny this truth, and Malik felt like he had enough problems to deal with without having to put up with Mariku too. But he realized didn't have a choice. And at the very least, he wasn't alone; Ryou was going to be there to help.
"Don't eat it all," Malik suddenly said, reaching a fork over. Mariku childishly turned away, stuffing a bigger bite into his mouth. "Dammit, give me some!"
"Have some poisoned pancakes," Mariku taunted, finishing off the muffin.
Fingers gripping the handle of his mug, Malik threatened, "This coffee is still hot enough to give a nasty burn."
"Using that tactic again? How boring."
Malik frowned momentarily, trying to remember when he'd done anything like that before. Nothing came to mind, so he reached for that fragile thread bonding him to Mariku. Mariku made a small sound of discomfort when he realized Malik was peering into his thoughts, which Malik felt served him right. Inside his mind, Malik saw himself in a royal purple cloak, Rishid standing at his side. Across from him sat a man in a business suit, who Malik recognized as one of the people he'd stolen rare cards from. The man was refusing Malik's offers, so he pulled out the Rod and seized control of his mind. Soon, the man was pouring his own scalding drink over his left hand, and through his screams, he agreed to give Malik whatever he wanted.
His appetite was gone again. "You were terrible enough without me," Mariku said. "I just took things one step further."
/.../
"Going to work?"
They were back at the complex, this time in Malik's apartment. He had fewer valuable things than Ryou, so he thought it was better to have Mariku there, at least during the day.
"Yes. I don't see why you looked disappointed."
"There's nothing to do here," Mariku complained.
Malik wanted to snap at him to get a hobby, but he didn't think Mariku could find something normal to do on his own. He said, "I have an idea. Wait a second." He pulled out his phone and texted Ryou. A few minutes later he got a response and nodded. "Be right back."
He retrieved a rectangular device from Ryou's room and showed it to Mariku. "It's to play video games on. And..." He turned the case in his left hand over. "'Fantasy violence.' That should keep you entertained. Just read the booklet for instructions on how to play." He tossed the case and the console to Mariku and left for work.
Mariku looked at the case for a few minutes. There were several characters drawn on the cover: a guy wielding a sword, a girl with barely any clothing, and a winged fox with sharp claws. He vaguely knew what video games were, but Malik had never shown any interest in them, so he didn't know how they worked. Anyway, it seemed unlikely that a tiny square game could be fun without shadow game rules or real people in danger.
All the same, he slid the game into the console and pressed the button labeled "power." There were lots of buttons on the right and Mariku opened the booklet to see what they did. There were five or six pages on their general use and then many more on how this specific game worked. He threw the booklet aside, deciding to wing it.
Hours passed as he vanquished cartoon dragons and chased a traitor magician through an entire kingdom. He barely noticed when Ryou showed up and asked him to come back over to his room, where he claimed the couch again. One battle proved too much- his character's hit points reached zero and the screen proclaimed "GAME OVER" in a gothic font. "Stupid fucking game," he growled, letting the console go. Ryou appeared in front of him, smiling.
"You must have liked it to play it so long, though. I'm glad!"
"There was nothing else to do. Are you going to work too?"
Ryou laughed, "Yes. Sorry, but I need this job. If you're really bored, why don't you get a job too? Then you could help Malik pay for food and rent."
"Why would I want to help him?"
Ryou shrugged. "You have before, haven't you? Oh, right, I brought you something." He held out a small black phone. "This is my old cell phone. It doesn't work great, but if you need to talk to me or Malik when we're gone, you can use this. Well, see you later!"
/.../
It was ten minutes until Malik's shift was over, but he had already stopped working, leaning against the lounge room wall and texting Ryou, who was on his way to work. A beep told him he had a message waiting, but nothing had popped up from Ryou. He wondered if Rishid or Ishizu had sent him a message, but when he checked the new text, it was from an unknown number.
Malikk brigng food
He squinted at it before exhaling in annoyance. It must have been from Mariku. "Better at me than everything, are you?" he muttered. "Can't even text properly..."
He sent back, One bowl of strawberries coming right up. After five minutes, he finally got a short reply.
i will Feed them to yu
Somehow, seeing the threat typed so ridiculously made him laugh aloud. This was Mariku, the sum of his savage instincts, but without the Rod and with the promise that he wouldn't kill Malik, he didn't seem so frightening anymore. Malik always welcomed having less to fear.
As he picked up a blueberry smoothie and a sandwich on his way home, he muttered under his breath, "So how am I doing, Pharaoh?"
/.../
/.../
A/N: The chapter in which things seemed to have calmed down! Which of course means next chapter will be full of drama. I have it outlined, so maybe it will be a Christmas present to my readers.
And maybe a review could be MY early Christmas present? :)
