(I own nothing)
~Chapter 7~
"Rise and shine, sleepyhead!" I groaned as I felt Marik's weight at the foot of the futon. After two days of sleeping on the bed, I'd insisted on giving back his bed in favor of the futon. The first day, he wouldn't even let me out of bed, until I begged him to let me go to the bathroom. I did notice, though, that regardless of how rough he acted, or how much he joked with me, he hadn't touched me. Not once. Which was nice, if I could be sure he was just doing it to make me feel more comfortable, but I had this ridiculous idea (yeah, I knew it was probably not right, but still, I couldn't get it out of my head) that it was because he didn't actually want me. I was a little hung up on the thought of him liking me. What can I say? I liked him a lot. Not that anyone could blame me, though. He was totally sexy, and really, he was a cool person. Even if he was a little annoying at seven in the morning.
"Don't wanna."
"Come on, Malik. We're going to school." Shit. School. Not something I wanted to deal with right now.
"Why?" I whined, sounding like a spoiled third-grader.
"Because we have to. You said yourself how important your grades and stuff were..." Yeah, well, look where that had gotten me?
"But..." Well, I guess if I wanted to get a decent job, I would have to go to school still. "Fine. I'm up." I sat up, and he immediately got off the bed, going to stand by the door of the room.
"Awesome. Now get dressed; I'll get breakfast." When he said that, he meant that he'd get the cereal out of the cupboard and maybe grab a couple of bowls. Hey, breakfast is breakfast, and I was more than happy to live off of cereal for as long as I would be staying.
"Malik, why didn't you call me baaaack!" Shit. I had totally forgotten to call Yugi. Well, sorry Yugi. I was a little busy being attacked to think about it. Not that I could say that.
"Sorry, my phone died," I lied.
"So that's why you didn't call Isis, either?" Ryou asked, appearing from seemingly nowhere to stand next to Yugi and me.
"Wait, what?"
"Yeah," Yugi chimed in. "She called us both. You should probably call her as soon as we're out of class. She seemed really worried about you." How in the name of Ra had I forgotten that she would want to talk to me and check in with me? Gods, I'm stupid.
"Crap. Yeah, I'd better call her." I shot Marik a look across the classroom, where he was "finishing" his homework (aka BS'ing the entire assignment ten minutes before class). He shrugged at me, as if telling me that I was on my own dealing with my hyperactive friends. Thanks, Marik. I hadn't told Yugi and Ryou that I was staying with Marik, and to be honest, I wasn't sure if I wanted to tell them at all. Not that they would mind in the slightest- rather, they would harass me to no end with sexual jokes and innuendos, which gets old really quickly. Even after the teacher entered the room and began the lesson, I was having a hard time focusing on the lesson. Every little thing going on in the room caught my attention- from the band kid in the second row tapping his pencil like it was a drum set, to the way the faucet by the far window refused to stop dripping, to the weird (but nice) girl who sat next to me scribbling away at what was definitely not notes- not for this class, anyway. Not unless we were taking a course on Yaoi fanfiction. With her, the less I know, the better, I figure. And, of course, there was Marik to distract me. Always Marik.
"Malik, what's up with you today? Did something happen?" Ryou cornered me after class. Damn, he's a sneaky one... I never see him coming.
"Um, what do you mean?" I laughed kind of nervously. I should have known that Ryou would pick up on my behavior... I mean, he noticed that something was wrong before, didn't he?
"You're acting weird." Well, that was broad.
"How so?" See with Ryou, it's always best to just play stupid, because otherwise, he'll act like he knows more than he really does, and he'll get you to give away whatever it is you didn't want to tell him. It's like in the detective movies, when the detective says that they already know what happened, so the criminal tells them stuff that they didn't actually know.
"You're walking sort of funny, you can't sit still, you're more jumpy than usual, and you have a bruise under your eye." Well, isn't he just observant today.
"I think you're imagining things." He rolled his eyes, clearly not buying it.
"Okay, maybe with your behavior, but what about the bruise? What's that from?"
"I don't even remember, man. You know how clumsy I can be."
"Uh-huh." Aw, man! He wasn't even going to pretend to believe me? "What does this have to do with Marik?"
"What do you mean by that? Why would you think he has anything to do with it?" I snapped, sounding just a little too defensive to go unnoticed.
"Because you've been staring at him all day, and when you're not staring at him, he's staring at you. What, is he a little rougher than you'd expected?" It took a moment for Ryou's words to register.
"What-no! I mean, we didn't do anything! I swear!" I could feel the blush spreading across my cheeks, and I could see that my outburst had attracted the one person I didn't want getting involved in this conversation.
"Hey, what's up?" Ryou turned to fix Marik with a cold glare. "Woah, man. What's with the look?"
"Did you hurt Malik?" Marik looked taken aback.
"Ryou!" I shrieked, horrified that he would just come out and ask him like that.
"Well," Ryou retorted, turning to face me as I covered my face with my hands in embarrassment. "I want to make sure. You're acting all off, and I know you were there last night."
"What?" Shit! How much did he know?
"Calm down. I haven't been spying on you or anything weird like that, but I saw you two in the car this morning." Oh. That was... a little better.
"So he gave me a ride to school. What's wrong with that?" How the fuck would he know that I spent the night there?
"You brush your teeth in the car when an acquaintance gives you a ride to school?" Yes, actually. I did.
"Ryou, man, chill." Thank you, Marik, for stepping in and saving me. "I didn't hurt him at all. You can question him all you want, but I swear, I didn't do a thing to him." Ryou turned to me, and I nodded.
"Why should I believe you?"
"Because," Marik said, flashing him his sexiest smile. I couldn't help feeling just a tiny bit jealous. "I like him far too much to hurt him." My face turned three shades darker, and it had already been pretty red. Ryou still didn't look convinced.
"It's okay, Ryou. I'm..." I glanced at Marik, unsure if he would mind me saying this. "I'm kind of staying with him for a while." I'd decided that it was inevitable anyway, so I might as well tell them now. Ryou raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"What happened with the motel?"
"I couldn't afford it. I, um, sort of got laid off at my job..." I braced myself for the explosion that I knew was imminent.
"WHAT? And you didn't tell us? When the bloody hell did that happen?" Goddammit.
"This is why I didn't tell you!" I wailed back. "I knew you would freak the fuck out!"
"Shitty excuse and you know it. Now, how long ago did you lose your job?" I shrugged.
"Couple weeks ago. Really, it's not that big of a deal."
"Not that big of a deal? How are you going to pay for school and shit? How are you going to find somewhere cheap enough to live?" Marik raised his right hand slightly.
"Pardon me, but that won't be a problem. Malik is welcome to stay with me for as long as is necessary. In fact, I'm insisting that he stay with me until he is financially stable." Ryou raised an eyebrow at him.
"Oh really? And you're just doing this, you know, out of the kindness of your heart?" Malik smirked.
"Not necessarily. As I said, I like him a lot. This way, I get to keep him around longer."
"Uh-huh... and so, what does Malik owe you? What do you expect from him in return?" The tone of Ryou's voice made it pretty clear exactly what he meant, and I swear I have never wanted to just murder him on the spot as much as I did at that moment.
"Malik owes me nothing," Marik said seriously, all hints of his joking, light-hearted teasing gone. Instead, he fixed Ryou with a gaze at least as intense as Ryou's. "I expect nothing in return from him, and he is free to leave whenever he wants. I would not try to force him to do something that he doesn't want to do." His words held such finality that it was obvious that he was being sincere. Nobody is that good of an actor. Seemingly satisfied that Marik was being completely honest, Ryou nodded once in... what, approval? Acceptance? I didn't even care, right about then. Pretty much, all I wanted to do was get out of there.
"Alright. I'm sorry I suspected you earlier."
"No, no. I'm just impressed by how adamant you are when it comes to his wellbeing. Malik, I'll meet you in the car, okay?" I nodded, knowing that he was trying to give me some time alone with Ryou.
"Malik, are you sure you're alright?" I paused, and that was all that Ryou needed to jump to (wrong) conclusions. "Shit! What did he do to you? Are you okay? Do you need me to help-"
"Ryou, calm down! Listen, he didn't do anything to me. He's been helping me these last few days. I swear, that's all. He didn't even touch me." Unfortunately.
"Why did you need him to help you? Why couldn't you call me, or Yugi, or your sister for crying out loud? You know she and Patrick would have let you stay again." Dammit, Ryou, this was not the time or place I wanted to discuss this! Not that I wanted to discuss it at all.
"Look. I don't really want to talk about everything that's happened in the last like, four days, but I really appreciate your concern, and I'm very sorry that I worried you and Isis. Trust me, Ryou. I'll be okay. Plus, it helps that he's really sexy." I decided to try to lighten up the conversation. Ryou, however, was having none of that.
"How do you know you can trust him? What if he tries something funny?" I laughed humorlessly.
"Ryou, listen. If he was going to try anything, he would have by now."
"You don't know that! He might wait for just the right moment, when you're like, weak, or can't protect yourself?" Ha.
"If that was the case, then he would have already hurt me. Just believe me when I say that he had the perfect opportunity to take advantage of me. Like I said, he didn't so much as come in physical contact with me." After he redressed me. We'll just leave that little detail out. "And he brought me breakfast in bed." Shit. Did I say too much? Ryou would probably want to know why I was in such a state of vulnerability, and why I needed breakfast brought to me in bed. He was certainly giving me a strange look. Finally, he sighed and shook his head.
"You're not going to tell me anything more, are you?" I shook my head, smiling at him.
"Nope."
"Fine." He sighed again. "Then I guess I'll just drop it. Go call your sister, okay? I'll see you tomorrow. If he hurts you at all, though..." He didn't finish his threat, which was never a good thing with Ryou. It usually meant that he was formulating a plot, and his plans usually worked.
"Dude, he's not going to do anything, so just chill. I'll talk to you later." I pulled my phone out as I walked to the car. Wow, Isis. Way to leave 14 voice mails... but what if they were urgent? What if something horrible had happened to her, and she couldn't reach me? I couldn't dial the number quickly enough, holding the phone to my ear with shaking hands.
"Hello? Malik? Is that you?" Oh, boy. I could just envision her, wringing her hands and fidgeting with worry.
"Yes, Isis. I'm really sorry I didn't call-"
"Than the gods you're okay!" She gushed. "Why didn't you call? I was so worried that something terrible had happened to you." Hey, for once, her worrying wasn't in vain. Not that she could ever know that. "And then when I called the motel, they said you'd checked out. So I called Yugi and Ryou, but they didn't know where you were, either. I-"
"Isis, let me talk, please," I cut in. "I'm okay, but I got laid off my job. I couldn't pay for the motel, so I had to check out, but I'm staying with a friend right now."
"Who are you staying with? Do I know this friend?" I groaned. Of course she would get all motherly over this kind of thing...
"No, Isis. You don't know him yet. His name is Marik, and Ryou already threatened him, so you don't have to worry about my safety." She was silent. "It was a joke, sis. A joke."
"I know, but... should I be worried? I mean, hypothetically, if Ryou hadn't threatened him, would he still be so courteous?"
"Yes. Believe me. Okay? He's a really cool guy. I think you'll like him."
"Oh, so I can meet him?" As much as I didn't want her to, I thought it would probably be a good idea.
"Yeah, but not tonight or anything. We'll have to arrange a date for us to meet up together. How's that sound?"
"Well... I would rather meet him now, but I guess that's alright... just be careful. And Malik, if you need anything, you can always come to me... or if you need to talk about something." No, I can't. "You could have come back to the house for a few weeks. Patrick wouldn't mind." Yeah, right.
"Isis, you do realize that Patrick hates me?"
"Malik! No he doesn't!"
"Whatever. It's not a big deal; Marik and I get along really well." I blushed as soon as the words were out of my mouth, but my sister, being the very literal person she is, didn't pick up on the possible underlying meanings of the phrase. "Look, I have to go. I'll call you tomorrow, I promise."
"You'd better. And I want to meet this Marik kid." I smiled.
"Sure. See you later. Love you."
"Love you too." -snap- I closed my phone just as Marik pulled up to the front entrance where I was waiting.
"Hey, perfect timing," I told him as I buckled my seatbelt.
"Oh? Why's that?"
"I just got off the phone with my sister. She wants to meet you."
"Oh. Alright, then. Tell me how I should behave so that she doesn't take you away from me." I blinked at the blunt way he spoke.
"Um... I don't know. Just be yourself. You're cool. We don't have to get together with her tonight, though. We're going to set something up." He was silent for a moment.
"So... you're free tonight?"
"Yeah."
"Starting when?"
"Now."
"Cool. We're going to have fun." Oh, dear Ra. This could get interesting...
A/N: again, sorry it took me a while. I tried to upload it the other day, but then I got distracted and forgot. :/ I'm very sorry, I know there is no excuse :P
Krista's in California, so I'm sad :( but she'll be back on saturday. so as always, many thanks to soundofmadness223.
also thanks to everyone who reviews, and thanks especially to Little Ryuu for the message. :)
sooo, I hope you liked it! let me know!
~alex~
