Dlbn: Hey there, everyone! Sorry for the late update, but we're back!
Nbld: We're almost caught up to our prewritten stuff, so we're going to get to work writing more soon. So, let's go to the Review Corner! Thank you to VampirePrinssess, AnonymousGuest, and M169 for reviewing! Apple pie for you all! (Or whatever kind of pie you prefer)
VampirePrinssess: Yeah, that's true. Some people change because of who their new friends are, too :/ It's happened to me with a friend before. Glad you liked!
AnonymousGuest: Next chapter, it is! :D
M169: It's about time he did so, don't you think? :D
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Bakura, the Ishtar family, or anyone else from the YuGiOh franchise. They all belong to Kazuki Takahashi. I make NO money off of this work of non-canon fiction.
000
Thankfully, our house hadn't been too much of a mess when we got there. Ishizu had shown up for school right after lunch, claiming she was cleaning up a bit because our father ordered her to. I wonder if that's all he had ordered her to do while Odion and me were gone and unable to stop him or protect her. I grabbed a mop and cleaned the kitchen floors. Bakura sat on a high stool on the opposite side of the bar counter; sitting on the living room side, since it broke up the living room and kitchen areas. I'd given him a soda that I'd found in the fridge and a brownie that Ishizu had apparently made. Some were missing, so I suspected that my father either ate them himself or took them to work for his coworkers. There were enough left for Bakura and I to have one now, Odion and Ishizu to have one later when they got home, and the four of us to have one after dinner. And by four, I meant my siblings and my father. Bakura could stay for dinner if he wanted, since we ate at seven, but he skipped out on dinner with us last time, and had said he would this time too. I suspected it had something with not wanting to deal with my father, but it could have also been that five hours in our nuthouse was too many, so screw another half hour or so.
"I take it you guys do different things every day? Or just whatever was a mess?" Bakura wondered, mouth almost full of brownie.
"It's Wednesday, which means it's the day that the kitchen floors need to be cleaned." I explained. "I'm only doing it because it's one of the easiest things to do around here, so I'll be done quickly. You won't have to watch me clean for three hours…"
"It's more fun then being in your room staring at the ceiling." Bakura informed. "And talking." He took a sip of soda.
"Funny. Talking didn't seem like much of a chore to you yesterday." I stopped mopping and leaned on the handle. "Seemed like you enjoyed actually having someone to talk to for once."
He glared at me over the top of the soda can. He slammed it down on the counter, letting out a burp as he did so. I was glad my father wasn't home.
"Watch it." He ordered me.
I cocked an eyebrow. "Don't cop an attitude with me." I ordered back. "This is my house, not school or public. I can fight you here all I want."
"Ooh, I'm so scared." Bakura leaned on his hand, his elbow pressed onto the counter. "You go after me, I can always call the cops and have them investigate you and your family. I'm sure they'd love to see your off his rocker father when he's had a few beers in him and decides to slap your sister. Or whatever else he does to her."
That did it. I dropped the mop and, in a flash, lunged and grabbed him by the collar, pulling him off his seat and close to me.
"Watch what you say about my sister." I snarled. "Got that?"
He cocked an eyebrow. With a cool smile, he grabbed both my hands in his. I felt a shiver go through me, but I fought it back so that he wouldn't know. His hands were pretty soft…something I hadn't been able to notice when he was beating me senseless a few days before. He loosened my hands, but still held onto them. He lowered our hands down against the counter and pinned mine there.
"You're blushing." He commented, chuckling.
"You're touching me…" I informed.
"I'm aware of this…that's what's making you blush?"
"No one's…done that before…" I tried playing cool. "Held my hand, I mean."
"Not even in Egypt?"
"My sister, maybe when we were little, but that's about it…"
"Nice friends you have. So friendly."
"I don't see you holding hands with your friends."
"They'd think I was gay or something."
I froze. "Why…? Is that a bad…thing…?"
"Huh?" He wondered. "I don't care if other people are, but I don't want them spreading untrue rumors. I get enough of those spread about me as it is."
"Um…promise you won't get mad I if tell you something?"
"What is it?"
"Promise me first."
"I promise." He rolled his eyes.
"I don't believe you."
He leaned a little closer, breath tickling my nose. "I promise…Marik…" he let the name curl off of his tongue and made a show of it.
"Um…there's already…a rumor…like that…"
He backed up a bit, still holding onto my hands. I could feel my palms get sweaty and wondered if he'd let go before I melted into goo in his grip.
"There's already a rumor going around that I'm gay…"
I nodded. "I didn't know until someone told me, so I guess it's not that widespread yet…"
"But someone told you, so why wouldn't they tell…fuck. How am I going to keep up my image with this going on? Ugh…"
I flushed and looked away. "What does your sexuality have to do with your image?"
"Gay stereotypes, Marik, I'm sure you now a few. The uneducated point of view on gays? Such as gay men being feminine and weak? Hm? Don't tell me you've never heard of it…"
I shrugged. "Sure I have, I just never believed it."
He cocked an eyebrow. "Well…that's good…" He looked away. "How can I have people fear me and not want to mess with me if they think that way about me?"
"I don't think anyone would argue that you're one of the biggest hard-asses in the school…"
I noticed his look and flushed. "That wasn't meant to be a gay joke."
He shrugged, seeming to take it as an answer.
I was learning more and more about Bakura over the past two days then I'd learned over the past two years of living in Tokyo. He hated gay stereotypes, he didn't want his friends thinking he was gay and spreading rumors, he didn't talk to people about his past or his family often-if at all- he was adopted, I knew about his Foster Care situation…
"You don't understand how peoples' minds work, Marik, do you?"
"Do you?"
He didn't speak for a moment. "I suppose not. I'm not a telepath, so I can't exactly know how people think…"
"And neither can I."
"But I can speak from…experience…"
"Experience." My heart leapt, but then sank. If he was gay and had a bad experience with people knowing, there was no way he'd tell me that he was. Or, maybe it was just something he witnessed.
"I've seen people get the snot kicked out of them for suspicion of being gay, by school bullies." He went on, making my second thought the correct one. "And seen some of the toughest kids in school get jumped for it. We like to think that everyone and everything in the world is equal, but that makes us just as ignorant as anyone else…"
"We?"
"I meant in general. People think that they're smarter then other people because they see the truth. But they see a lie they've fabricated and thus believe to be true. That just makes them as ignorant of the world as anyone else is."
"I guess so." I shrugged. "Um…are you going to let me go any time soon? I'm not going to actually hit you…"
"Oh, sorry." He was flushing as he dropped my hands, sitting back down on the stool he'd been standing on a moment before.
"It's okay…" I trailed.
I didn't really want him to let go, but I didn't want him knowing I enjoyed it either.
"Can I ask you a question, now?"
"You just did."
He glared. "Don't be a smart-ass."
"Okay, okay, what's your question?"
"If I was…you know, gay…would you think any different of me?"
I was a bit taken aback. Well, I'd respect him more if he was and just came out and said it to at least me, but I wasn't going to tell him that. "Of course not."
He nodded and looked away, picking up his brownie. "Good to know…" He took a bite out of it.
"Would you?"
"Huh?" He looked at me, crumbs littering his mouth.
"Think anything different of me if I was…?"
He didn't speak for a minute, swallowing his brownie. "No."
"Okay…" I picked up my mop again as he took a swig from his soda.
I finished mopping up the kitchen, neither of us saying a word. Once I was done, I dumped the bucket into the sink. Then put the mop and bucket back in the closet. Once I returned to the kitchen, I grabbed myself a brownie and a soda. I sat down across from Bakura to eat.
"Your sister made these?" He wondered.
"Yeah, she said she did." I replied.
He nodded once. "They're pretty good."
"I'll pass on the word."
"I wouldn't."
"Why not?"
"You know she doesn't like me."
"Well…she's like that with everyone I…"
"Everyone you…?"
"Get into fights with." I finished.
Oh Ra, did I almost spill that I loved him?
"Oh."
"What did you think I meant?"
"Anyone you bring home to hang out."
"Oh. No, she was cool with all my former friends…"
"Former?"
"No one from Egypt beyond our own extended family, which is only my aunt and cousin, keeps in contact with me. Ishizu and Odion's friends still email them, but mine pretend I never existed or something." I shrugged.
"Oh…great friends."
I rolled my eyes. "You lived in Britain for a while, right? Did you have any friends there?"
"Of course."
"Keep in contact with them still?"
"Only one. The rest are in prison."
I paled. "For what?"
"Some big fraudulent scheme." Bakura shrugged one shoulder. "I didn't ask much about it. But if I stayed there any longer, I would've been caught up in it myself."
"You'd be in prison too, then?"
He nodded. "And my last foster parents back in Britain? When I got out, they wouldn't get custody of me again. I'd be shipped off somewhere else, having the fuzz breathing down my neck about who I hung with and what I did."
"Fuzz, hm?" I chuckled. "You sound like a criminal when you say that."
He fixed me with a glare that could kill. I slunk back a bit.
"Sorry…I didn't mean that as a joke…"
"I didn't take it as a joke." He growled, practically baring his teeth at me. "You should have figured out by now that I'm not fond of that stereotypical nonsense."
"Oh…" I responded. "Um…sorry…but if it was a stereotype, it was for most Hollywood crime flicks, not real life people in general."
"I…I guess…" He sighed. "Whatever. So you know something I hate. Return the favor."
"Liars." I shrugged.
Hypocritical! I was lying to him every day. Pretending I didn't feel anything for him besides a little contempt and a lot of annoyance mixed with resentment.
"Everybody lies."
"So you're saying I should hate everybody?"
"Essentially."
"Including you?"
He didn't speak for a minute.
"Let me rephrase my statement then." I offered. "I hate pathological liars."
"Like me."
I glared. "People who are two-faced."
"So once again, I'm included in that?"
"What?" I wondered. "No…"
"You accused me of it earlier."
"What!?"
"At school? When you said that I was nice to you when I was at your house, but a dick at school like my friends?"
"O-Oh…yeah…I did say that…I was just angry, I guess. I-I didn't…"
"Don't lie to me."
"Fine, I meant it. At the time."
"Uh huh."
"You don't believe me."
"Why should I?"
Before I could answer, the front door opened. Ishizu walked in, dropping her backpack by the couch as she stalked over. I knew she was going to go after him. Why didn't I take him into my room before I ate? Oh, right, dad didn't allow food or drinks in the bedroom. Then why did I take so long to finish? Oh, yea, because he made an asinine comment about my sister and my father. Before I could stop her, she slapped Bakura, hard across the cheek. I was shocked, to say the least. My sister never laid a hand on anyone else, especially when mad. She'd told me before that she didn't because the world didn't need more people like dad. I respected her for that
But right now I was surprised that she would hit him, and pretty pissed that she'd done that to Bakura of all people. The guy she knew I was basically in love with.
Bakura looked at her, not seeming to notice the probable stinging in his now red cheek. He cocked an eyebrow. "What the hell is wrong with you?" He wondered.
She didn't say anything, instead fixing him with a harsh glare. She looked at me, glaring daggers. I shrunk back a little. I never saw her this mad before. Not even after dad…
"Uh…h-hi…?" I offered. "Welcome home…?"
She glared. "You're being civil with him after the lunchroom today?" She hissed.
"How did you…? Odion." I rolled my eyes.
"Mai, actually." Ishizu snapped, looking back at Bakura. "I can't believe you let your ass of a friend do that, and then laughed like it was the funniest thing you've ever seen. Didn't even have the balls to stop him, or stay behind and apologize, or help him clean up. What have you get to say for yourself? After yesterday, you'd actually do something like this to him? I thought you two were on friendly terms now!"
I could tell that Bakura was getting more and more annoyed with each sentence that came out of her mouth. But, thankfully, he hid it well from her.
"Are you just about through?" He asked calmly.
Her glare basically said that she was.
"First of all, what I do is not your business. Second of all, neither is how well I get along with your brother." Bakura snarled.
The look in Ishizu's eyes, no matter how fleeting, told me that he'd said the wrong thing.
"He's my brother. He is my business."
Bakura rolled his eyes. "Sure." He agreed. "I'll give you that. But if you think you figured me out, honey, you still have a lot to learn. Not everyone's so black and white."
She opened her mouth to yell again, but was interrupted by Odion coming in through the front door.
"Oh…you're all home…" He greeted. "Everything alright?" He eyed Bakura warily, eyes settling on his cheek. "What? Did Ishizu walk in on the two of you doing it or something?"
I flushed. "O-Odion! Pervert!"
"Hey, who knows?" Odion smirked.
The smirk faded when he saw the very-less-then-amused look on Bakura's face.
"Did I say something I shouldn't have?"
"Now's not…really the time for jokes." I warned.
He nodded in understanding. "Why don't you to go in your room, Marik, and I can deal with Ishizu out here, hm?"
"Sounds like a good idea." I stood and put my plate in the sink. "Come on, Bakura."
I walked past him, pulling him by the arm to make him move with me. He got up from the stool reluctantly and followed me, fixing Ishizu with a glare as he passed her. I brought him into my room and slammed the door, hoping Odion could keep Ishizu busy and she'd leave us alone for the rest of the time he was here.
