School couldn't end soon enough for Marik on Friday. He couldn't tell if he was excited or nervous; after all, he didn't exactly know what the afternoon was going to bring, but he rather liked the squirming feeling he got in the pit of his stomach whenever he thought about Duke in his bedroom, with him. Alone. For who knows how long.

Finally, the bell that symbolized the end of school and the beginning of the weekend went off and Marik was free. He bolted out of the classroom and made a beeline for his locker, where he and Duke were going to meet up, only to be stopped by the voice of someone he knew and hated very well.

"Ishtar!"

Joey Wheeler.

With a groan, Marik turned around.

"What do you want, Wheeler? I'd kind of like to get home before the weekend is over."

Joey, flanked by his dull-witted sidekick Tristan Taylor, stalked up to Marik, glaring.

"I've heard you've been pickin' on my buddy Yugi again."

Marik rolled his eyes.

"Do you believe everything you hear?" he sighed. "Did your little buddy tell you himself that I've been picking on him?"

"No-"

"There you go. Case closed. Goodbye and have a nice session at anger management therapy."

"Not so fast," Joey growled as Marik turned to walk away. "Just because Yug' hasn't said so himself, it don't mean you haven't been messin' with him."

"Yugi doesn't say anything bad about anyone," Tristan spoke up. "He probably thinks if he doesn't tell, you'll have a change of heart and stop."

"Wow, you actually can talk," Marik said, acting genuinely surprised. "Look, idiots, I hate to disappoint, but I'm a bit too wrapped up in my own life to think about messing with the midget's. I haven't even seen Yugi in the past couple days, so if you don't mind-"

"Listen, gay boy, you'd better not pick on our friend anymore."

Marik stiffened. He dragged his eyes up and locked them with Joey's.

"...What."

"Don't pull that whole 'I'm-straight' crap," Joey snorted. "I can tell a fag when I see one."

"I am not gay!"

"Why don't you just come out of the closet already?" Tristan interjected. "Everyone knows you're sleeping with that freak Bakura when you go to 'tutor' him. God, you're such a fag and it's obvious to everyone!"

Marik felt his hands curling into fists. The hallway seemed to fade out around him. That was what people were saying? That he and Bakura were fuck-buddies? That was the thanks he got for trying to graduate and do a good deed at the same time? Hell, for all he knew, Bakura could've actually started the rumors to try and gain a better reputation.

"Hey, Marik, what held you up?"

Marik snapped out of his reverie at the sound of Duke's voice. The raven-haired boy stepped up beside Marik and eyed Joey and Tristan. Deciding they weren't worth his time, he focused on the Egyptian.

"Come on, we'd best get going."

"Jeez..." Joey muttered. "Just how many boyfriends do you have?!"

"Say, Joey." Duke glanced at the lanky teen from the corner of his eye. "How's your sister doing?"

Joey stiffened, his hands clenching into fists. He looked like he was about to slug Duke, but instead turned stiffly.

"Let's go," he muttered to Tristan. The brown-haired boy shot Marik one last glare before following his friend in confusion. Marik glanced at Duke, equally confused.

"What the hell was that about?" he asked. Duke shrugged.

"He's way over-protective of his little sister. I figured bringing her up would get him to back off."

"Oh. That was...smart."

"Thank you. Now, as I recall, we had a study date planned at your place, didn't we?"

Marik drew half of his mouth up into a smile.

"We did. I feel I should warn you though, my older brother and little sister are...kinda weird. They should leave us alone, but don't be too surprised if they don't, especially my sister."

"Oh, don't worry, Marik," Duke said, holding the door open so that Marik could walk through. "I've faced much weirder than nosy siblings."


Marik considered it a blessing that Ishizu preferred doing her homework on Fridays as opposed to over the weekend. Hopefully it would keep the twelve-year-old occupied until Duke left. She had glanced up when Marik and Duke made a detour through the living room, only to crinkle her nose and resume her homework.

Once in Marik's room, Duke immediately sat on Marik's bed and grinned at him.

"Well," he said, cracking open his textbook. "Shall we get started?"

A full hour and a half had passed before either of them realized the time.

"I should probably be getting home," Duke said, slamming his book closed. "My dad freaks out if I'm out after dark."

"Yeah, because Domino is the most dangerous city in the world," Marik said, rolling his eyes. Duke fixed him with a piercing stare that made Marik almost forget what he was saying.

"There are lots of dangerous things in the night, Marik," Duke murmured seriously. "The dark makes it worse because you can't see them."

Marik blinked, at a complete loss for words.

"Um..."

"Nevermind. Say..." Duke leaned forward with a slight grin. "Your eyes look gorgeous in this light..."

"Uh, thanks?" Was all Marik could manage before Duke gently connected their lips.

Marik could remember his first kiss as if it were yesterday. He had been four years old - Ryou's age, now that he thought about it - and a girl with blue eyes and a pretty yellow ribbon in her hair (he couldn't recall her name, she had switched schools in eighth grade) had approached him at day care and informed him that they were dating. Before he had time to say "No, thanks," she had stepped up to him and kissed him.

Looking back, it was just an innocent little peck, but to a four-year-old, it was worse than death. He had run away from her, screaming his head off about cooties and making a beeline for the water fountain, practically drowning himself in his desperation. He recalled trying to squirt hand sanitizer down his throat, but an assistant at the day care had put a stop to that. He had even made Odion give him a cootie shot when he got home.

The next day, he had told the girl he wasn't interested by stealing her ribbon at nap time and cutting her hair.

He certainly did not intend to freak out like that now.

The kiss was innocent, definitely not what he had expected from the likes of Duke Devlin. He didn't shove his tongue into Marik's mouth, he didn't pin Marik against the headboard and start grinding on him. It was soft, just the slightest brushing of their lips, but it made Marik's head fuzzy and his heart leap just the same.

Until Joey and Tristan's irritable voices started playing through his mind like a recording...

"God, you're such a fag and it's obvious to everyone!"

"Listen, gay boy, you'd better not pick on our friend anymore."

"Just how many boyfriends do you have?!"

Marik broke away from the kiss abruptly, startling Duke.

"What's wrong?" the black-haired boy asked.

"Um..." Marik was trying to figure out the nicest way possible to say he wasn't sure he swung "that way" when Duke narrowed his emerald eyes slightly.

"You shouldn't care so much about what other people think," he said. "If it feels right, it can't be wrong, right?"

"I..." Marik hesitated. He was having a hard time thinking clearly. He felt oddly conflicted about the exchange. It did feel right...but it felt not right at the same time, as if he could get used to kissing guys, but not Duke.

He was starting to wonder if he would have been better off going to Bakura's house after all.

"I...I think I just need some time to think," Marik finally said. He knew it was the wrong thing to say almost as soon as he said it. Duke let out a frustrated sigh.

"Fine. Think about it. Next Friday we'll get together to study again."

"Okay, that'll work."

Duke stood up and stretched.

"I'll see you in school," he said. Marik watched him leave and let out a huge breath of air.

"Jeez...why do I always wind up paired off with the weirdos?!"


"You didn't want your boyfriend to stay for dinner?"

Marik choked, pounding on his chest to dislodge the bit of food that had tried to go down his windpipe. He looked at his sister in bewilderment.

"Duke is not my boyfriend!" he said.

"Good. I didn't like him. You could do better than that," Ishizu said, as if this were something that was discussed every night. Marik looked at Odion in aggravation.

"Are you sure I can't sell her to, like, the circus or something? I'm sure the freak show could always use more."

"You're not selling your sister," Odion said. "The circus wouldn't pay enough anyway."

"But you do like him, don't you?" Ishizu asked. "I mean, in a more than just friends sense."

"Wha- No! No, I do not!" Marik said, lying through his teeth. "I do not like boys in that way, sister." Ishizu looked at her older brother with as much sympathy as a twelve-year-old brainiac could muster.

"Marik, you're gay. It's fine if you haven't come to terms with it yet, it could be a really long time before you come to terms with it. But everyone knows it. It's pretty obvious."

"Obvious, wha- I'm not gay!" Marik cried. Ishizu shrugged, grabbing a slice of bread.

"You spend more time than I do in the bathroom just fixing your hair. Not to mention you tell us a week in advance that you're having a guy over and you don't want to be bothered, then you proceed to bring the guy to your room, closing and locking the door and you stayed in there for an obscene amount of time with very little work to be shown on this so-called "project" you two were working on. Bit of a red flag there."

Marik shot Odion a look, clearly asking for help. Odion raised one eyebrow.

"Don't look at me, I'm staying out of this," he said. "Although I will say that at work people always ask me how my sisters are doing."

Marik threw his hands into the air in frustration.

"Great. My whole family and half the school is against me. Just perfect."

"Marik, if that many people can see it, but you can't, you may want to consider an ocular evaluation," Ishizu said innocently.

"Oh, speak English for once!" Marik snapped, shoving his chair away from the table and getting up. He stormed up to his room, making sure to slam the door loud enough to carry.

"Damn it!" he screamed, kicking the side of his bed and instantly regretting it as his bare foot made contact with the hard wood. He sat down, his mind flying to the rumors Tristan had mentioned.

"Everyone knows you're sleeping with that freak Bakura when you go to 'tutor' him."

What is it?" he muttered, running his hands through his hair. "What is it about me that makes everyone automatically assume I'm gay?!"

Marik drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. He didn't need to lose his head over this. So what if everyone thought he was gay? He could accept that maybe he wasn't entirely straight, but why would that necessarily make him gay? He had kissed Duke earlier - willingly - but that had just made him more confused than anything.

...Maybe a bit of harmless experimentation was in order.

"But with who?" Marik muttered. He immediately thought of asking Duke, but that idea died when he remembered how frustrated the green-eyed boy had been when Marik had reacted rather negatively to his advances.

"Everyone knows you're sleeping with that freak Bakura."

Marik lifted his head as the thought dawned on him. Bakura. The white-haired boy was obviously interested in him, and, although the thought creeped Marik out the slightest bit, would probably jump at the chance to allow Marik to kiss him.

Although the thought wasn't particularly unsettling, Marik desperately tried to think of another option and came up blank. Sighing, he dropped his head into his hands.

"Well, you wanna know, don't you?" he mumbled. "And there are worse people..."

With a groan, Marik flopped down onto his back, a plan starting to form in his mind.

Next time they saw each other, his white-haired classmate would be in for the shock of his life.


This chapter fought being written tooth and claw the whole way through. I wrote it in bits and pieces and then threw in some stuff to make it all come together. I'm pretty pleased with the final outcome, except for the ending, which was the hardest thing to write. If it weren't quarter to midnight right now, I'd reward myself with a bubble bath, a fluffy bathrobe fresh from the dryer, a bag of popcorn and a can of Pepsi. Instead, I'm rewarding myself with the earliest bedtime I've had all week. I really hope you enjoyed this chapter, so if you did, or even if you didn't, please leave a review and tell me what you think.

Oh, in case anyone's wondering, I decided to make Ishizu a little sister instead of an older sister for this story. She's twelve because, according to the manga, Ishizu is four years older than Marik, so I just made her four years younger instead. I owe credit to LadySunami for inspiring me to make Ishizu younger in the first place, due to reincarnations not always being exact clones of their predecessors. (I mean, look at Marik, she was reincarnated as a guy!)

(I find that the more tired I am when I finish these chapters, the more I seem to ramble on in my Author's Notes...)