A/N: I made a cast list for this story, so I'm just going to go ahead and reveal the theme song, too: Bad Romance by Lady GaGa.

That's been the theme since before I wrote it, back when it was a little baby idea developing in my imagination's uterus. I can't seem to ever write something unless it has a theme song.

Hmm.

I NEED TO DOWNLOAD MORE MUSIC.

Disclaimer: Nothing is mine.

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The rest of Malik's school day passed by smoothly, him and Ryou sharing meaningful glances in the halls when they passed one another. Malik wasn't entirely sure what they meant, but Ryou looked just as scared and worked up as he had before first period, so it was all he could do to offer the poor guy comfort. It was his fault, after all.

Well, the sex part was. Or at least him knowing about it.

Malik caught his arm on his way to the student parking lot, stopping him in the middle of an eager crowd.

"Ryou, why don't you come over to my place for a while?" he offered, quirking an eyebrow.

Ryou's frown set the world off its axis. "I'd love to, and thanks for the offer, but I have to study for the history test tomorrow."

"What a coincidence. So do I," Malik said, tossing him and wink and turning slightly. He took a step toward his motorcycle, motioning for Ryou to follow.

Malik felt himself grow physically lighter when the shorter teen gave him a smile, though it was heavily weighted, and followed behind him.

"I've never ridden one of these before," Ryou admitted, holding his fist to his lips shamefully.

"Riding's a lot easier than driving it, kiddo." He grabbed his helmet out of the side pouch and strapped it on Ryou, strands of white hair poking out all around the rim. He took his own seat and patted the sun-heated leather behind him. "Hop on."

Ryou mounted the contraption, holding loosely onto Malik's jacket sleeves. As they sped up, Ryou's grip became tighter, lowering to his waistline, and Malik had to remind himself that the last thing Ryou needed was another sexcapade.

When he pulled into his own driveway, Malik was a bit shocked to see that everyone—including Ishizu—was home.

He lifted himself off his bike, smoothing out his hair from the ride and helping Ryou out of his helmet, which was probably a bit too big for him, judging by the way it was reaching down to block the top half of his field of vision.

"Alright," Malik said as he lifted the helmet off of his friend, white strands of hair tangling in with the straps. "When my sister offers us a crap ton of food, just accept it. She's relentless. My older brother—the one with black hair—looks tough, but he's harmless. And Mariku…well, you know just to avoid eye contact."

They shared a smile over mention of Malik's slightly-off-his-rocker older twin, and Malik lead the way to the front door. His hand on the door handle, he turned once more to Ryou.

"And if anyone asks, you're the person I was with Friday, whether you remember it or not." He didn't want his family thinking he was some sort of whore, sleeping with different guys every week.

Ryou nodded, his eyes averted to the concrete walkway. Malik could tell he was feeling a bit of trepidation about coming over, but what Ryou needed most was someone to talk to. Malik may have been dragged into the situation unwittingly, but that didn't mean he didn't feel extremely guilty about somewhat being the cause of Ryou's panic, via not being able to keep his zipper up.

The two made it through the living room without passing by anyone but Mariku, who was on the Xbox and didn't notice them anyway, but when they passed the kitchen, Ishizu definitely saw him and called out, "Malik, could you come here for a moment? I need you to get something for me."

Malik looked at Ryou, mouthing, "Damn," though his grin made it obvious Ishizu wouldn't make a big deal out of his classmate's presence. He peeked into the kitchen, where his sister stood, head-to-toe covered in baking ingredients, over the sink, trying not to make a mess all over the room.

"My God. You're baking?" Malik said, overdoing his 'surprised' voice.

Ishizu flushed, obviously embarrassed at her incompetence in the kitchen. "Sugar free cookies."

Malik smile faltered a little, Ishizu's doing the same when her eyes fell on their guest.

"Oh, hello," she greeted him, grabbing a towel to clean off her hands. She approached Ryou, forgetting her former attempts at keeping the mess in one area of the room.

"Uh, hello, Miss…Ishtar?" Ryou sounded much too awkward, but Ishizu smiled.

"Ishizu," she corrected, taking Ryou's hand and shaking it gently. "Might you be one of Malik's classmates?"

Malik knew her real question was, "Might you be Malik's boyfriend?", but he wasn't sure if Ryou did. Judging by his blush, he got the idea.

"Yes, Ma'am. I'm Ryou Bakura. We're going to study together for a test we have tomorrow," Ryou replied, trying to make their study session sound like just that. Which it totally was.

Ishizu looked at Malik for confirmation, and when he nodded, she smiled at Ryou. "You know, Ryou, the museum I work at has a very thorough exhibition on medieval Europe, in case you're ever interested in your heritage and decide to drop by."

At the mention of the museum, Malik held back the urge clear his throat and change the subject. The scepter he'd taken was stashed away very carefully in his closet, packed up with some of his older shoes and other things he'd not touched in years. He figured as long as no one got the sudden urge to sell his entire childhood to charity, then it'd be safe from discovery.

"Oh, is my accent really that bad?" Ryou said, covering his mouth with his fingers.

"Your accent is fine," Malik interjected, mostly just to make sure he wouldn't fall noticeably silent. "It's cute, I swear."

Okay, maybe he was also trying to give Ishizu a subtle warning not to barge in on them, but it was definitely mostly the other thing.

His words earned him a stark eyebrow raise from his sister, and a shy smile from Ryou. He rocked on his feet a bit awkwardly for a moment, trying to figure a way out of the awkward silence he'd created.

"Hey, we should get started, Ryou," Malik said, placing a hand on the small of Ryou's back to lead him out of the kitchen.

They left Ishizu to her "baking", but their trials weren't quite over yet.

However, Odion was much briefer, dismissing himself for work when they ran into him in the hall and calling behind him as he pecked down the stairs, "Keep it PG, you two."

Malik smiled and as soon as his room door shut, cutting them off from the rest of the house, Malik cut to the chase:

"So tell me about these blackouts."

"I thought we were studying," Ryou said, but his expression told the Egyptian teen that he'd known studying wasn't exactly first on Malik's list of things to do. Both boys took a seat on the bed, close enough to be friends, and far enough apart to stay just that.

"Do you want to talk to someone about this or not? Judging by the way you looked when you told me, I'm assuming I'm the only person who knows."

Ryou hesitated, falling silent and staring at the carpet contemplatively. It was a very long time before the silence was broken, and Malik had begun to think Ryou was going to dodge the subject until he said, "I wanna talk to you."

He looked up at Malik through his thick eyelashes, determination mixed with fear clouding his chocolate eyes. He went quiet again, and Malik realized he was supposed say something encouraging.

"Go ahead."

Before speaking, Ryou rubbed his lips together and swallowed hard, averting his eyes to the door handle of Malik's closet, on which a hanger holding a pair of fake leather jeggings was hooked. He wondered if Ryou even realized what he was looking at.

"They started just before I moved here. Something, er, happened with my family, so my father sent me here to finish my studies. It was right after the thing happened that the blackouts took over. I just lose parts of my memory, like I'm sleeping, and when I come to, I'm somewhere else. Just Saturday, I blacked out in my apartment and woke up sitting on a bench in the park, holding a cup of coffee six hours later."

Malik took in the information. "Maybe you're just sleepwalking."

Ryou shook his head. "It can't be. I don't have to be sleeping or even laying down for it to happen."

"What else could it be?"

"Lots of things," the white-haired boy said, shrugging his enviably thin but muscled shoulders. His doe-brown eyes flickered over to Malik, brow creasing together in worry. He looked lost. He looked frightened. He looked goddamn near hopeless, ensnared by his own thoughts and worries.

Malik felt himself soften considerably, and he put a hand on his friend's shoulder, offering a consoling smile that was probably more awkward than anything. "Look, it's probably nothing. If it's bothering you so much, just go to the doctor."

"I did," Ryou admitted, somewhat hesitantly and with a stark refusal to meet Malik's lavender eyes. "They…he said I'm just sleepwalking, too. But he doesn't get it. It's not sleepwalking."

"They?" It was faint and very much accidental, but Malik had heard a 'they' at the beginning of that. "How many doctors have you been to this for?"

"Please don't think I'm crazy, or a hypochondriac, or…well, I guess they're kind of the same thing, but you know what I mean. It's just I know it's not sleepwalking because there's something wrong with me, Malik. I can feel it and I know it's there and please just believe me because no one else does and I'm…I'm fucking scared!" Instead of looking away, Ryou kept eye contact firmly throughout his outburst, which Malik found shocking. He'd never witnessed Ryou so loud or confidant in himself or any of the traits he boasted with his small rant.

Malik wondered which Ryou was a front; the current one or that blushed and smiled and giggled at everything. He figured the latter was more likely, and all the while he'd been hitting on the poor guy, drawing him out of his comfort zone of acting like a near-brainless, cute gay kid and into the real world where he was raw and afraid, but determined and at least a little bit confident.

He had to give the kid props. Maybe make him a cardboard Grammy or something.

As Malik was dissecting the nooks and crannies of Ryou's personality, a few seconds of silence passed, in which he probably looked surprised and sympathetic at the same time, which was a strange mix that probably looked dumb.

Ryou—he looked like an injured puppy, like he was about to slink off and clean his wounds, tail between his legs in submission.

"I think you know your body and you know when something's wrong," Malik stated evenly after another moment, taking in Ryou's expression. It lightened a bit when he realized Malik wasn't going to criticize him, and a teeny smile wrestled with the muscles around his mouth.

"Thank you."

Malik nodded, his eyes fixed on Ryou as he blinked back tears that had threatened to fall. He really was a lot stronger than he let on, and Malik was beginning to actually respect him.

They began to study, and neither realized how late it had gotten until there was a knock on the door, and Mariku's pleasant voice chimed through the wood:

"Yo, faggots, it's time for dinner."

They met eyes in surprise, and Malik glanced out the window. It was already well past sundown.

"Are you staying to eat?" he asked, closing his history book and sliding it out of his lap.

"I wouldn't want to impose," Ryou said, his features contorted in nervousness.

Malik shook his head. "Don't even worry about it. My family won't mind."

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Ishizu's cookies had been a bust, and ruined the kitchen past repair in time for dinner, so Malik's sister had ended up ordering pizza.

It wasn't Malik's first choice, but he nibbled a bit on the tip of one piece for almost half an hour.

"Malik, are you going to eat that?" Ishizu asked, breaking what had been a very long silence. (Another protective sister - English translation: "Boy, if you don't shovel that down, I'll shovel it for you, plus one more slice.")

"Of course," he replied, taking a "big" bite. The taste made him cringe.

Ishizu smiled, though she knew he wasn't going to eat more judging by the bitterness behind the gesture.

"So, Ryou."

Ryou's eyes shot up from his plate, and he looked almost terrified. "Yes?"

"How long have you known Malik?" Ishizu continued, taking a bite of her own pizza. She was on her second and last slice.

"A while," he said, smiling brilliantly.

"And you two are dating?" She pressed on, and Malik felt a thick, tweed blanket of awkward cover the entire room.

(This is when Mariku got up, making barf gestures, and dashed dramatically to the bathroom, leaving Ishizu, Malik and Ryou alone, since Odion ((Malik and Ryou's only saving grace)) was at work.)

"Well…" Ryou trailed off, his pizza abandoned as he absently braided a strand of his hair.

"No, we're not," Malik replied for him. "Not officially, anyway."

"What?" Ishizu and Ryou said at the same time. The two exchanged glances, Ryou blushing brightly and Ishizu looking confused.

"This is the boy you were out with a few nights ago, right?" She sounded a bit accusing, her eyes narrowed slightly, complementing her "okay, something's not right here" attitude.

Malik nodded. "Yes."

The unspoken reply was, "My brother is a slut."

The rest of dinner was silent, and Ryou went home directly afterwards.

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A/N: Shitty ending is shitty. B)