Okay, here's the next chapter! :) Marik and Bakura spend their first night together (don't get too excited, it's nothing bad) ;P.

Here you go! I hope you guys enjoy it :)

-Lauren

PS. I hate to plug, but if you like Thiefshipping, I'd love it if you checked out my other story, Thief!. It's a set of thiefshipping oneshots, I've got two on there at the moment, and am coming up with another one inspired by the FIFA World Cup. Speaking of the World Cup, is anyone else watching? I've hardly been able to stay awake at school after watching the soccer at night! :)

x.x.x

'Okay, which six of you want to get out of here?' Bakura asked the crowd. Marik smiled. It was about time, too. They had been negotiating for hours, and in addition to all his other injuries, Marik's bum was starting to hurt from sitting on the hard floor.

The whole room perked up, but didn't want to make a sound just in case they were shot. One mother spoke up, however.

'Please, I have three children at home –' she pleaded.

'Okay fine, charity case number 1, up,' said Bakura gruffly. He proceeded to pick four other hostages to release. He stepped closer to Marik, and grabbed him by his collar again.

'And I think our little damaged one over here would give the authorities quite a rude shock,' said Bakura evilly. Marik let himself be dragged out of the room once again. Once all six hostages were outside, Bakura slammed the door.

'Downstairs,' he ordered. 'If any one of you tries to run, I'll shoot,' he threatened. Slowly they all walked downstairs, until they were out of earshot of the other thieves.

'Okay, now listen carefully,' whispered Bakura. 'I will let you guys out, but only if you do exactly as I say. You speak a word, I shoot.'

The hostages nodded.

'I'm going to let this guy out the back,' Bakura said, indicating to Marik, 'then let the rest of you out the front. Don't ask me why. Just follow me and shut up.'

They nodded again. They were too close to freedom to question him.

They walked to the toilets, and Bakura stealthily removed one of the glass panes from the window, without breaking it, and lay it silently on the ground. Marik was impressed. Bakura was quite skilful.

'Climb out here,' he whispered. 'And steal a nice car, for God's sakes.'

With that, Bakura hustled the rest of the hostages out and Marik climbed out of the window to freedom.

He wasn't really free, though. Now he had to steal a car. Marik panicked. He didn't know how to steal a car – he was only good at stealing Duel Monsters cards! He used his instincts, spotted a rich businessman walking briskly down the street, and followed him.

Marik stayed a few paces behind, so as not to attract attention. He was heavily suspicious at the moment, being heavily bruised. Luckily there was no one else around.

To Marik's delight, the man pulled his keys out of his pocket and pressed a button – a couple of metres ahead, a car's rear lights blinked. Perfect.

Marik quickened his pace a little bit, until he was right behind the man, then hooked his arm around quickly and held the man by his neck. The man struggled and tried to scream, but Marik used his other hand to cover his mouth.

'Don't make a sound,' Marik warned threateningly. 'Give me your car keys, and I won't kill you. When I let you go, you walk away in the opposite direction until I can't see you anymore. Understood?'

The man nodded, scared. He held up the car keys in his hand. Marik snatched them quickly away from him, spun the man around and shoved him away roughly. The man did as told, and walked away. Marik smiled. The car was a black Mercedes E class – was that nice enough for Bakura's tastes? He opened the door, and stepped into the car, satisfied. Stealing was more fun than he remembered.

He put the keys in the ignition, started the car up and it purred gently. Marik smiled again, pulling away from the kerb and accelerating off down the street. As instructed, he parked his car (well, it wasn't really his car, but it was now) a street away, behind the bank, and waited.

And waited. And waited. Bakura sure knew how to take his time. Marik hoped that there wouldn't be police scouting around the back. They were in the middle of negotiating, though, they shouldn't be focusing too much on the surrounding streets.

Finally, he saw a masked man turn around the corner and recognised the stature of Bakura. Marik flashed his lights and Bakura walked quickly over, opening the car door and stepping inside. Marik revved the engine and they made their getaway.

'Proud of me?' Marik asked Bakura, as he removed the balaclava.

'Quite,' said Bakura, smirking. 'It's even got tinted windows.'

Marik smiled happily.

'You're enjoying yourself, aren't you?' Bakura said, looking at Marik intensely.

'No,' Marik lied.

'You are,' Bakura said. 'You've remembered the thrill of adventure and danger.'

'No, I haven't,' Marik argued.

Bakura chuckled.

'I knew you'd come around eventually,' said Bakura.

'I am not enjoying this!' Marik protested. 'For one thing, we could get chucked in jail for this whole thing!'

'Nobody's going to know it was us, Marik,' said Bakura, smiling. 'We just committed a perfect crime. Nobody knows you. Nobody counted the hostages. The thieves think I'm someone else. When they realise I'm gone, they'll blame their partner. When they find him in the bathroom, they'll realise they were fooled – by a complete stranger.'

Marik found himself grinning despite everything.

'I'm still hurting, you know,' Marik complained. 'I was sitting on my butt for hours with all the bruises you gave me.'

'Hey, don't complain,' said Bakura. 'Girls beg to be bruised and beaten by me.'

'You sick bastard,' said Marik. 'I can't believe anyone would sleep with you.'

'This coming from little virgin Marik,' Bakura teased.

Marik scowled.

'Where are we going, anyway?' Marik asked.

'Well, probably not the best idea to go back to your place,' said Bakura. 'Your sister would have a fit and then there'd be all sorts of questions.'

'Yeah,' said Marik.

'Look, ring Ishizu and tell her you're sleeping over at Yugi's or something,' said Bakura. 'We'll go back to that old warehouse.'

'What old warehouse?' Marik asked.

'That old warehouse, you know, the one you used to brainwash Tea and Joey back in Battle City,' said Bakura.

'I'd totally forgotten about that place!' Marik exclaimed. 'But good idea.'

'I always have good ideas,' said Bakura proudly.

'Oh please,' said Marik. 'If it weren't for me, you'd be dead meat. You'd be a man on the run, with a whole bunch of cash, and no escape vehicle.'

'If it weren't for me, you'd probably be dead and shot to pieces by those thieves,' said Bakura. 'If it weren't for me, you wouldn't be $100,000 richer.'

'If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be black and blue all over!' Marik said.

They dumped the car in an abandoned alleyway a few streets away, wiped all the prints off the car doors, the wheel, and the seats, pulled off the license plates, wiped them clean and chucked them in the bin.

They walked to the warehouse, as if nothing had happened.

'God, your skin looks hideous in the sun,' Bakura commented. 'I can see all the shades of purple and black and blue and everything.'

'And whose fault is that?' Marik asked.

They approached the front of the building, and it looked as deserted as ever.

'I didn't keep the key for this place,' said Marik, staring at the door.

'No need,' said Bakura. He took out a bobby pin and wriggled it around in the lock for a few seconds, and then the door swung open. Bakura smirked, superiority seeping from his skin.

'You're a bloody show off,' said Marik, pushing past Bakura.

The place really had been abandoned. Everything was covered in a layer of dust, and the old empty wooden boxes still were stacked up around the place. It was amazing. Who did this place belong to, anyway?

Marik, distracted by the sunlight seeping in through small windows a couple of metres high, didn't see the cardboard box at his feet and tripped over, falling to the ground. Marik groaned in pain. He felt his knees graze and he hit his arm on the floor as he fell.

'You are unbelievable,' Bakura said.

'I – I didn't see the box there,' said Marik, wincing in pain. He held his arm as he tried to sit up. To his horror, he felt blood sticking to his fingers.

Bakura crouched down beside him.

'Let me have a look,' said Bakura, holding Marik's arm in his hands. 'You just opened up some of the wounds in the fall,' he said, unfazed by all the blood.

'Oh, goodie,' said Marik. 'It hurts like hell. And my knees are bleeding too. And I think I twisted my ankle.'

'Oh, did little baby Marik skin his knees?' Bakura asked, in his most sickly sweet baby voice.

'Just find me some bloody bandaids, and a bandage for my ankle,' Marik grunted.

'There aren't any around,' said Bakura. 'I'll head down to the nearest convenience store and get some for you. Got any cash?'

'You're carrying $100,000 in cash in that duffel bag of yours, and you're asking me for cash?' Marik asked scathingly.

'I'm not going to use that cash, you dimwit,' said Bakura. 'The police have probably got the codes of every single bill in there, waiting to pounce when we try to cash them in somewhere.'

'Then how the hell are we going to use them?' Marik asked, irately.

'Oh, we'll swap some at the airport. There's so much foreign cash around there, it'll take ages for them to pick up. Plus, if we cash it in Egypt, even better. They'll never get their hands on it then. It'll be lost across the borders of countries.'

'Here's $10,' said Marik, irritated, shoving the note into Bakura's hand.

'Be back soon,' said Bakura, winking at Marik. Marik scowled and applied pressure to his arm to stop it from bleeding more.

Bakura was back soon, with a plastic bag of bandaids, bandages, some alcohol swabs, disinfectant – the whole works. Also two quarter pounders, two large fries and two cans of coke in a McDonald's bag.

'You got all that for $10?' Marik asked scrutinisingly.

'Sure,' said Bakura.

'Yeah right,' said Marik. 'Haven't you done enough stealing for one day?'

'I didn't steal them,' insisted Bakura. 'I mean, the woman at the convenience store was practically weeping when I told her the story of my poor friend getting bashed up, and all it took was a little bit of flirting and the teenage girl at Maccas practically shoved this at me.'

Marik stared in disbelief.

'Oh, and I found $10 by the side of the road, here you go,' said Bakura, smirking. Marik snatched the $10 note from Bakura and huffed in irritation.

Bakura sat down next to Marik and inspected the wounds.

'Wow, I've got a good punch,' said Bakura proudly, admiring his handiwork.

'Oh shut the hell up,' snapped Marik.

'Alright, Mr Grouchy,' said Bakura, smirking. 'Just let me use the alcohol swabs so it doesn't get infected...'

Marik felt something cold being run past his arm, and it stung. Marik cried out.

'OUCH! What the hell was that?' Marik complained.

'Alcohol swab,' said Bakura happily. Was he enjoying seeing Marik in pain?

Marik sat still while Bakura applied the bandages. Bakura's hands were unexpectedly warm against Marik's skin, which was starting to develop goose bumps as the night progressed. It was actually quite nice to have Bakura touching him... And his hands were so steady. They had a firm purposefulness to them, not clumsy at all.

'You're shivering, Marik,' said Bakura dryly, breaking the silence between them. He drew away – all Marik's wounds were tended to.

'Yeah well, it's bloody cold, isn't it?' snapped Marik. He wasn't really irritable, he just felt slightly odd at enjoying Bakura's touch and dealt with it by putting on a cold front.

'Have this,' said Bakura gruffly, taking off the shirt that he wore over his striped t-shirt and chucking it at Marik.

'I don't want it,' Marik said. He wouldn't be treated like a kid – not by Bakura!

'Oh, so you'd rather your fingers and toes froze off?' Bakura asked. He took the shirt and draped it around Marik. The shivering stopped, as Marik slipped his arms in. Bakura smiled triumphantly.

'Do you want someone to tuck you in as well?' Bakura teased, smirking.

'I'm not a baby,' said Marik. He tried to stand up, but his ankle wouldn't hold his weight. He faltered, but Bakura grabbed his arm firmly and caught him.

'You're the stupidest villain I've ever met,' said Bakura. 'Sit back down.' Marik used Bakura to steady himself and sat back down slowly.

'I can't believe you,' said Bakura. 'You help me steal $100,000, easy, no problems there. You face up against a cardboard box, and end up grazing your knees and arm, and twisting your ankle.'

Marik scowled.

Bakura unpacked the food, and handed Marik his half. Grateful, Marik dug in. He was quite hungry, surprisingly.

'How are we going to sleep in this dump?' Marik asked. 'There aren't any beds around.'

'Oh, don't worry, I'll just duck into the nearest Ikea and steal a mattress,' said Bakura sarcastically. 'Just sleep on the floor, dumbass.'

'I'm sore all over, I don't feel like waking up tomorrow with a new set of bruises,' Marik whined.

'Sleep on the cardboard boxes then,' said Bakura. 'Oh wait, be careful, they might trip you over in the middle of the night!' Bakura teased.

'Oh shut the hell up,' said Marik tetchily. He took another bite of the burger, revelling in all its fatty, artificial goodness. Bakura watched him eat, smiling.

'Oh fine, I can see you complaining with your eyes, I'll go and grab some blankets for the night,' said Bakura, and before Marik could complain some more about him stealing again, Bakura was gone.

Marik, frustrated that he couldn't move, bit into his burger savagely. This was not going to be a comfortable night. How did this happen, anyway? All Bakura had wanted was to go out for lunch, then they were at the bank, they got held up, Marik got bashed up, and now they were $100,000 richer but sleeping in this old abandoned warehouse. What the hell? Marik hadn't planned any of this.

Bakura returned, with a bunch of perfectly folded blankets in his hands.

'Couldn't get the mattress, Ikea was closed, but I thought these might help,' he said.

'Where'd you get them?' Marik asked.

'Some random's linen closet. They won't even miss them – they weren't using them.'

'Pass me the thick one,' Marik ordered.

'Nope,' said Bakura, 'I stole them, I get first pick.'

'I would have helped you steal them if you hadn't bashed me up!' Marik grumbled.

'Ahem, correction, you would have helped me steal them had you not been an absolute klutz and tripped over and twisted your ankle.'

Marik huffed, annoyed. Bakura chucked him the thinner blanket, and Marik wrapped it around himself, lying down.

'Good night, loser,' said Bakura.

'You're an asshole,' said Marik. Bakura just smiled. The two of them went to sleep a few metres from each other, backs turned.

Marik shivered a little. The night was getting cold and he was not comfortable. He kept fidgeting, but he had bruises all over him and could not find a comfortable position. Worst of all, he might have been catching a cold. He sniffled slightly.

'Oh in the name of Ra!' Bakura shouted, jumping up and throwing the blanket from him. 'You are absolutely insufferable! Stop fidgeting! Stop sniffling!'

Marik opened his eyes reluctantly and saw Bakura standing over him, hands on hips, clearly unhappy.

'Not my fault,' muttered Marik.

Bakura, irritated, chucked the blanket and Marik and started pacing around the room.

Marik was too tired and cold to refuse the blanket, so he took it and immediately felt warmer. He was so exhausted... and a couple of minutes later he had fallen asleep, content.

Bakura heard Marik's heavy breathing and sighed with relief. Marik was finally asleep. That meant he could get some sleep as well. Bakura watched Marik for a while, intrigued by the way his small form rose and fell.

'Pathetic,' muttered Bakura. Marik looked far too vulnerable to be a villain, more like some little mummy's boy. He clucked with irritation when Marik turned over and muttered. Surely he had not woken up again!

But when Bakura crouched down and leaned in closer, he realised. Marik hadn't woken up – he was sleep talking. Bakura listened intently.

'I – no – stop! Please! Leave me alone...' Marik was tossing and turning, and a cold sweat was forming on his face. Bakura lightly lay his hand across Marik's forehead – he was burning up. What was happening to him?

There it was, the thorny maze. Marik ran, paying no regard to the direction he went in, he just knew that he needed to run, to get away, otherwise terrible things would happen... The horrible cackling in the distance sent shivers down Marik's spine. He kept running, but then he tripped over, and as he turned around, there he was: his evil twin, with flaming eyes and hair whipped up by the wind.

'You can't escape me, Marik,' Yami Marik growled.

'Leave me alone,' Marik said, backing away. 'I-I'll kill you!' he threatened.

'Oh, will you now?' mocked Yami Marik. 'Standing up to the big bad wolf?'

'Don't touch me,' Marik warned.

'Or what?' Yami Marik grinned. 'It's not like your friend is going to help you... who was it? Bakura? You know he isn't really your friend, right? He threatened you, he bashed you, and guess what? He's working with me.'

'No,' said Marik, staring in disbelief. 'No.'

He looked up, and sure enough, behind Yami Marik a white-haired figure approached. Bakura smirked.

'He's not your friend,' Yami Marik said viciously, 'he's my friend. Bakura, could you teach Marik a lesson for me?' Yami Marik asked.

'With pleasure,' said Bakura, smirking. He kicked Marik in the stomach, and Marik curled up, trying to fight him off, but every blow stung more than the last...

'MARIK ISHTAR!' shouted a loud voice. Marik woke with a start, sweating, panting, with tears running down his face. He looked up, and Bakura was crouching over him, intense brown eyes watching him intently.

Marik suddenly realised that he must have been talking in his sleep, and Bakura must have heard him.

'What are you so scared of, Marik?' Bakura asked, still watching him.

'Nothing,' said Marik dismissively. 'It was just a nightmare.' He turned away from Bakura, and wiped the tears from his face.

'Some nightmare,' said Bakura.

Marik simply grunted, embarrassed that Bakura had seen him like this.

'I'm going back to sleep,' Marik declared, turning back over.

'Not too scared of the bogey monster?' Bakura teased. Marik huffed in irritation and ignored Bakura. Bakura stood up and crossed his arms, thinking. Something had really shaken his partner, badly. Bakura wondered what it was... Marik wasn't the best villain but he certainly wasn't soft. It would take something quite considerable to scare the boy.

The thought train floated into the wind as Bakura lay down on the cold hard ground and slept.