Her Sweetness: Well, here's your next chapter!

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Chapter Four

The fact that I mean nothing to Marik has nothing to do with me.

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The next morning I woke up with an erection. This was just perfect. On top of that, my bed sheets were soaking wet and I have a good guess at why. I'd been sweating all the night through. It was that damn thought of Bakura and Marik that had followed me home from the café and I'd been thinking about it all day and then went to bed with the two of them on my mind.

Bakura is very strange and can sometimes pass for plain stupid but if there's one thing he's got, it's looks. He knocks most guys in the Play Girl magazines into the stratosphere. So him combined with someone who I consider a sex God, add some hot water, throw in some nudity and a dash of moaning and you've got a wet dream. Basic arithmetic right there. I'm sure Ryou would agree with me. He's told me on a number of occasions that he commended my choice in men. His exact words were "I sure wouldn't mind your yami on top of me." After that I was blushing so hard, I looked like a stop sign.

So after I took care of myself, I stripped my bed and was tripping down the hallway, groping around for the stairs with my arms full of sweat-stained sheets. I found the stairs but on accident and just when I thought I could regain my balance, I didn't and all the covers fell in a big ball down the stairs.

I heard "Oh my—Ah!" and then inwardly groaned.

"Are you alright?" I called down and when I heard no answer, I shuffled down the stairs and saw the covers on top of Marik who was clearly disoriented. I dug him out and he stood on his own.

"I'm sorry," I said, looking down at the mess. I hope he didn't notice they were wet…

Marik cracked his neck. "This is how we're gonna start the day, huh?"

"Um… I was just…"

He looked at me like I wasn't making sense. I never do. His gaze shifted downwards and he looked at my bedspreads at his feet. Finally, he said, "Laundry day, already. Alright then, I'll be back with my stuff."

He went upstairs and I watched him go. It really wasn't laundry day but I guess today was as good as any. I decided to go get the rest of my dirty clothes as well. It's times like these that I realize Ryou and I do shop too much. My wardrobe isn't even fazed after two weeks or wearing different outfits. That's how many clothes I have.

We were both downstairs at the same time and we put our clothes in different bags; mine in a purple one and his in black. We put our coats on and then went out into the cold. The reason we don't stay inside and do laundry in our washer is because it's busted and has been for some time. Ever since Ryou and I went to the fair one day and came back to see that a screwdriver had been inserted into some of the washer's workings. Bakura and Marik blamed each other and I've just let it go.

It was snowing but lightly. My teeth were chattering a little… damn myself for forgetting my hat. Snow was forming like a cloud on Marik's head too but, like usual, he was elsewhere, up in his own head. It sure must be interesting up there.

We continued down the street, our laundry bags in our arms, and I noticed that there were more people on the street than I thought would be. It was probably later than I'd thought, too. I'm already prone to sleeping in and that dream did keep me very busy. I thought about my favorite parts of it again and probably had a goofy grin on my face which I think Marik ignored.

I hope he'll never know how much of a pervert I really am.

The Laundromat we go to isn't very far and we reached it easily despite the snow. On a weekday there are never very many people. But then again, there are never very many people whenever we go; Marik scares them all away. It's probably unintended but they recognize him as the man who growls at little children and robs the elderly so they like to steer clear. And as embarrassed as I should be about it, being with Marik does have its perks. For instance, we never have to wait for a free dryer. That's good, right?

Marik sat his bag down by the nearest washing machine; the door on the contraption was open and waiting to be filled. I suppose Marik expected me to fill it. I sighed and began to throw his clothes in. The darks, that is. I separate the darks from the lights. There's nothing worse than a pair of nice white boxers one day and then have them tie-dyed the next week.

But it's not so bad. This is always my chance to go through Marik's clothes without seeming like a complete pervert. I picked up his jeans and threw them inside without interest. He has so many ketchup stains on his shirts… I don't know where he gets it from, I never buy ketchup when I go to the store. He must be eating it with Bakura.

Again, jealousy surged through me. Just once, why can't my yami eat ketchup with me? Why? What's wrong with me?

"Eh heh heh. Jackpot." I heard Marik talking but there was no one else there so I looked back. He was holding up a fifty dollar bill on the other side of the room where one of the dryers' doors were open.

"Where'd you get that?" I asked before I could control my mouth.

"Found it," he said. "Someone has just treated us to lunch, Malik. Be right back."

Marik headed for the door and I shouted, "Wait!" He looked at me. "Uh, you can't just take that. It belongs to someone."

"Well what do you want me to do, put it in the Lost 'N Found?"

This was a stupid thing for me to say but it was all I could think of: "It might not be… a bad idea…"

He rolled his eyes. "Right, give a fifty to a guy who makes two bucks an hour watching umbrellas all day. Smart."

Sometimes when he's sarcastic like that, it hurts more than when he just ignores me. Don't know why. I lifted and dropped my shoulders, signaling that I didn't care. He left and walked a ways down the street. I didn't really care about the fifty but it was a small attempt to maybe get my way with him. Bakura has about a fifty-fifty change of getting what he wants from Marik and even Ryou can coerce some stuff out of him but I hold no power with Marik whatsoever. Bakura's sexy, Ryou's adorable and what am I? Why, I'm Malik The Hikari. Just as plain and as boring as can be.

I turned and continued to separate the clothes.

By the time Marik came back with a bag of McDonald's, both his clothes and mine were washing. We were using four out of the five washers in the place. I was sitting on one of the benches in the center of the small establishment and he sat beside me, giving me what he knew I liked. He told me there was still around forty dollars left. McDonald's is so cheap. I know I was putting poison into my body that was liable to make me fat and gooey and I could at the very least keep myself fit but in that instant I didn't care.

After all, Marik eats the stuff all the time and he has a perfect body, which I took the liberty of admiring as we sat there eating in silence. The only sounds were our quiet chewing and the methodic romping of our clothes in the machines. I looked at the one right in front of me and hid my small smile behind my hamburger. While Marik was out, I put some of my clothes in with his. It was a small triumph for someone pathetic like me. Unrequited love is quite painful.

A lot of people don't know it because they're too busy with lust and though my feelings for Marik do include a fair amount of lust, I love him. I wish I could teach a class at Ryou's High school about love. I'd teach those teeny-boppers a thing or two about the difference between a schoolyard crush and wanting to be with someone. Because, you know, there is a difference. A small difference, yes, but it's significant. I thought this as I looked down at Marik's hand a few inches from mine.

Interesting how my fingers twitched at the enticing distance but then reached for the fries at the last moment.

"Know what would be funny?" he said and caught me off guard. I didn't answer. He continued, "If I left five cents in that machine where I found the fifty."

"You should do it," I said just to say something.

He reached into his back pocket, probably fishing around for a nickel, but stopped and then said, looking at me, "Know what would be funnier?"

"Huh?"

"If I kissed you."

I dropped my hamburger and it splattered on the floor. "W… What?" I asked. My eyes were wide.

He looked at me, raising an eyebrow. "What's the matter with you?"

"W-What did you just say?" I squealed.

"I said we should it would be even funnier if we left a note. You know, to the person who lost their money. We could tell them that we have their fifty and are holding it for ransom." Marik looked at me shrewdly. He shook his head. "But if you're going to freak out about it, forget I said anything."

There was a pause during which I just looked at him. I could've sworn he said… that… Oh, Ra, I really must be losing it. I sighed and said, "No, wait, I'm sorry. I thought you said something else."

"Like what?"

I blushed. "Like… um, you wanted to—"

One of the dryers finished and that created one of those annoying beeping sounds. But not so annoying for me because it saved me from once again making a complete ass of myself in front of Marik. I hurried off of the bench and stepped over my dropped hamburger. Marik doesn't always the best attention span when it comes to me and the things I say so I was hoping that would kick in then and he would forget what had just happened.

But, as my luck would have it, he followed me over to the dryer where I was getting out the clothes. He leaned on the dryer with his elbows propping him up. He watched me for a second and I tried to ignore those lavender eyes on me.

"So are you going to tell me?" he asked finally, still concentrating on me. Finally, I have his attention, I thought, but why now? He shifted and grinned at me and for a second, he tugged on the sleeve of my shirt. "Come on. Don't make me have to drag it out of you."

I blinked at him. "What do you mean—Agh! Marik!" Suddenly a dense pounding in the center of my head made itself known. My hands flew up from the clothes and I gripped my hair with each hand, too close to pulling out two huge patches of blonde hair. I managed to open one of my eyes and saw Marik smirking at me, not grinning, because he was busy inside his own mind.

He'd tried to do this before, open our mind link again so that we could share thoughts and he could hear what I was thinking. When we first moved into Domino together, right after Battle City, I had the closed tight because I still didn't trust Marik at all. But a few months afterward, I kept it closed just because I didn't want him to see what I thought of him, how I felt. I just wasn't ready for him to know and I'm still not.

"Stop it!" I screamed, fighting back against him. I kept backing up and the bench hit the back of my knees and I fell back onto it, crouching until my head was down by my stomach. My nails were scratching against my head so hard that I could feel blood begin to well up in little gashes and then fall down my fingertips. The throbbing kept coming and I could hear Marik whispering in my mind.

Suddenly, it all stopped and I felt to hands around my wrists, pulling me up and off the bench. Through my blurred vision, I could see Marik's lavender eyes starring into mine. He said, "I was just playing, no need to get hysterical. Did it really hurt that much? Jeez, Malik, you were freaking screaming. I thought the cops were going to come in here to see who was raping you."

I looked at him for a moment without saying anything and he regarded me curiously before pulling me closer and soon he was hugging me. I think I lost my breath for a moment. This was all happening so fast…

He held me tightly with his right arm and brought up his other hand to smooth down my hair. "Sorry," he mumbled.

It was nice. Being in Marik's arms was really nice, a sensation I hadn't felt since we first moved in together. I pulled away from him back then and locked myself in my room for a week and so he hasn't touched me like that since. But he finally has and what did I do? I pushed him back.

I was shaking as I looked at him, my vision was still blurred and I realized, after feeling two drops of liquid on my raised hands, that I was crying. I looked down, the tears shook themselves free and soon I was sobbing but at first I honestly didn't recognize the sound as my voice. I think I was screaming. I couldn't really tell but Marik got a real sour look on his face and he turned away from me.

He said, "You're such a Ra-damned baby. I was just playing around. I said sorry."

"It hurt," I said but I don't think he was listening. This was the first time I had cried like this in a while, I mean really gushed like that. I don't think Ryou had even seen me like that. The pain of Marik trying to force his way into my mind was bad, sure, but I think my reaction had more to do with the fact that he would actually try to do something like that, pain or no.

Another beeping sound from the second dryer.

My tears stopped coming so fast, or at least, I stopped screaming. I was just standing there, mute as always, letting the tears fall. I must've looked like a fool. It was his fault I was like that but still, I was so ashamed of myself. Bakura would never have even flinched at pain like that. And speak of the devil, Marik's cell phone began to ring. Only one person has his number. And that person isn't me.

Marik answered it with a laugh, "What do you want?" He paused and then said, "The Laundromat. … Yeah. … Heh, alright."

He hung up and started for the door. He stopped only for a second and without even looking at me, he said, "Bakura's going to ditch Ryou at school and meet me down the street. I probably won't be home tonight. You can take care of the rest of this, right?" And before I could open my mouth, he left.

I looked back at the empty building and after a minute more of sobbing, headed towards the dryer.

To be continued…

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