Finally – a new chapter! Sorry this took so long! I got sick and changed jobs and lots of other crap's been going on, so I've been distracted. But now things are settling down, so here's another chapter! It was forced in points and I had trouble connecting it so it read really fluid, so excuse the choppiness Dx!
By the way, this chapter takes place after my short story The Sleepover which is after chapter 7 and before this but posted elsewhere so as not to disturb the flow of Questionable Existence too much (since none of it is related directly to Bakura). If you haven't read it, it can be found on my page.
I'd like to take a moment though to thank everyone who's read this story! Questionable Existence has gotten over 1400 hits and I am super happy to know there are people out there that have been enjoying it! Thanks again!
Hope you enjoy the chapter! Reviews are always welcome!f
Chapter 9 should be up in the next week or so; it's already about half-written. Also, I will be posting another Yugi/Malik ("Balanceshipping" as we call it ovfer here) story that goes with this chapter, as well.
[Reminder: Malik = Yami Marik]
Chapter 8: No part of this is right.
(Yami Bakura's POV)
It was Friday and I was glad Ryou was sleeping so hard. Nothing would stop me from witnessing the aftermath of the Ishtars having spent the night at the Mutou residence. Frankly, I would've been shocked if Atem survived the evening with his limbs intact—Marik could be vicious when irritated.
I'd dared Malik to spend quality time with the Game King twins to prove he could be 'normal' on some level. This had led him to spending the night with them, and where Malik went, Marik followed, (because Marik is clingy and jealous like that) so I was eager to see the result of my dare having come to fruition.
Seto looked especially 'chill' that morning. He was sitting in silence to my right in Marik's old desk, scowling groggily at anyone who invaded out combined personal bubble.
Since we'd started dating a week or so ago, he'd become protective of me (even more than before since he wasn't just looking out for Ryou now). He'd somehow managed to avoid the insane wrath of a certain blonde Egyptian I knew (his time would come; the lag just meant Marik was plotting something) and had apparently laid stake to my soul. I didn't mind his clinginess (as in, he sat beside me without scooting his chair several inches away when I looked at him). It was sort of cute, actually, and I got great amusement from my ability to make him turn red so easily.
He blushed when I smiled at him. "What?" Seto grunted, shifting in his chair.
"Someone's jumpy this morning."
"Shut up." He pulled out his tabbed and color-coordinated notebook (he'd been hanging out with Ryou a bit too much) to review for class. Seto was talented in keeping himself busy to ignore distractions—like me and how hot I was.
I watched him read some notes for a few bored seconds before sitting back and sighing.
Where were they? It wasn't like the twerp to be later than ten minutes early for class, and Atem always got to school early nowadays too so he could flirt with the still naive Mahad. The sub was already in class and I watched him move to get everything set up, trying my best to make him uncomfortable with my flat stare. He pretended not to notice it, but acting wasn't the magician's forte.
Just when I thought Marik really had skinned the Mutou twins and buried them in his backyard, joining three pizza guys and a mailman that wore a color Marik had decided he hated (it was lime green, I think), the door opened and Malik and Yugi strolled in. The pipsqueak looked disheveled, and I decided this meant either he'd been kept up all night or had been molested by Malik – or both.
I watched as Yugi came inside and sat in his usual seat aside the dog, who was fast asleep and drooling on his desk. Yugi just smiled at him.
God, they were so gay sometimes. I could swear that they were, too, if it weren't for the dog's obsessive crush on the another substitute, Mai Valentine, another blonde that I couldn't stomach more than two minutes of direct contact with. She taught Sex Ed (big surprise), but we didn't have to take that until next semester. That didn't stop the two blondes from flirting in the hallways between classes. Her being a few years older didn't seem to faze the dog, and I was not looking forward to the day when the whore got pregnant with blonde puppies.
A distraction might have been good right about then. Imagining the two blondes going at it was enough to make me want to stab my no.2 pencil through my eye.
Malik came over to stick his long tongue at me. (Thank God for a distraction…) I noted how chipper the blonde looked. He was typically silent and glaring this early in the morning, but Malik was actually grinning as he sat to my left.
How disconcerting.
"So?" I demanded.
"…So?"
He stared at me so I just glared right back, quickly growing impatient by his idiocy. "How did it go?"
He tilted his head. "How did what go?"
"Dammit, Malik!" I growled. "How did the bloody 'sleepover' go? What you did last night? I sent you there to test your 'normality', remember?"
"Oh! That!"
"Yes." Bloody moron… "That. How did that go?"
Malik grinned madly the way he did when he got to try a new food for the first time. "I like him!"
"…What?"
Seto slowly turned to face the blonde so he too could glare at him with his baffled, twisted expression.
"I like him," Malik repeated.
Oh for the love of Christ! Why was he smiling like that? It was so bad that Seto couldn't stand looking at it any longer and had to turn his eyes back to his textbook. I always knew the glitter was that genuine when it forced my brunette to look away. It was like holding up a glowing cross to a vampire.
"Where's your brother?" For the moment, I chose to ignore his response; it was too early to get that nauseated or confused. I was more interested in where the other set of twins had gone, anyways. That, and Seto probably couldn't stand that smile anymore; I knew it would probably burn his face off, even if he didn't look directly at it. "Where are Marik and the pharaoh?"
"They parked the car," Malik replied, his face finally relaxing as his eyes rolled up in consideration of that morning. He couldn't seem to think about more than one thing at any given time, so forcing him to consider that morning's events was a good way of getting that damn smile off his face. "I saw Marik in the hall earlier, so he should be getting here soon. I don't know what's keeping them, actually," he shrugged. "I guess they could be having sex or something."
That made Seto jerk his face back towards Malik and my eyes to widen. "…What?"
Malik's face remained relaxed. He looked like he was starting to get distracted again, so if I wanted any information out of the Egyptian dumbass, it would have to be soon. "Oh. Yeah," he yawned. "They slept together last night."
"WHAT?"
He rolled his lilac eyes. "I know! Weird, right?"
How could he possibly say that while looking so calm? So disinterested? So undisgusted and so unconfused?
WHAT THE FUCK?
Atem and Marik?
My whole world was collapsing!
Seto suddenly seemed to feel the need to make his own commentary. He leaned over my shoulder to eye Malik, his brow slowly tilting. "You're not fucking serious."
Malik bobbed his spiky head. "It's true."
"Dear God." He sat back, rubbing his temples with a pair of manicured fingers.
I was glad to know I wasn't the only person highly disturbed by this little development. Marik was a whore, sure, but I never thought he'd sleep with Atem! Atem: the embodiment of all things obnoxious and ignorant and evil! How could he?
I was feeling especially betrayed when the two missing students entered the classroom.
Atem came in first, shoved in by an irritable Marik who wore an expression I was all-too-familiar with. He was pissed, but it was probably more because now the pharaoh was off-limits to be attacked or maimed now that his brother was interested in Yugi. That had to suck, actually. I could still get away with stabbing Atem in the leg, but Marik was now bound by his brother's watchful eyes. There was no way Malik would allow him to injure his new little friend's brother, and I snickered teasingly at the blonde as Marik sat down behind Malik, ignoring Atem's ranting. …Mostly.
I still couldn't figure out how the whole 'sleeping together' thing happened.
"You could have killed us, you know!" Atem barked while being jerked into his seat by a suddenly awake and useful Wheeler. The dog attempted to quiet him down some since Mahad was giving them a hard glare (he was getting ballsier nowadays, especially with that group), but Atem just growled and mumbled about what a prick Marik was.
Poor Marik.
Wait—no 'poor Marik'! He slept in the enemy's camp!
I snorted and looked away when he attempted to speak to me, turning my brown eyes back to my left at a grinning Malik. God, why did he always smile that that? "And what the hell are you so happy about this early in the morning?"
"I made a friend!" He smiled a bit wider and I leaned back in my seat.
I felt Seto's disdain waft towards me from the right as he shifted uncomfortably in his green chair. He didn't handle genuine joy very well unless it came from Mokuba or Ryou. I was quite certain that things like butterflies and sparkles and kittens made him die a little inside. God only knew blonde puppies would probably make him implode (which was only one of the many twisted reasons I loved him so much).
"You mean the twerp?"
"Yugi's cool."
I arched a pale brow. "He's not obnoxious," I commented, "but I wouldn't go so far as to call him 'cool'."
"He's freaking adorable!"
I'd never seen him with that crazy-happy of a grin before and it made me nervous. I frowned as I felt myself growing queasy. He was fucking serious: he actually liked Yugi. What the hell was happening? I'd never intended for them to actually become friends. This was ridiculous!
"Adorable?" Seto was even more upset by this than I was, probably because he hated Yugi and I didn't especially mind the midget—but that didn't mean I'd enjoy spending the night with him. How the crap did this all happen? "Are you fucking serious, Ishtar?"
Malik bobbed his head, still smiling, and released a sound that resembled a twisted giggle.
Before Seto or I could groan again, Mahad had decided to begin class and we were forced to redirect our attentions. At least it would be a distraction from the cancerous relationships suddenly budding around me…
-(Next Scene)-
I was walking down the hallway towards the cafeteria with Seto when we heard a commotion. Normally I wouldn't find this so interesting if I hadn't heard Malik's name being yelled in the midst of it. He was insane, but it was rare that he was violent when unprovoked, so my curiosity was raised.
I glanced towards Seto to let him know what I was doing, and he just rolled his gorgeous eyes before following me towards where the yells were coming from.
There was a posse of morons surrounding the blonde Egyptian. I wasn't sure where Marik was in all of this (usually he kept close to Malik, so he might have been stuck in class) but my brown eyes moved to inspect the scene before I decided what to do about it.
The blonde's back was towards me. He was guarding someone against the lockers, obviously protecting them from the bullies. He was serious, too. I knew he was serious because he was deathly quiet. Nothing good came from a tense, quiet, protective Malik.
It was pretty obvious, at least to me, that the person he was guarding was Yugi, his new little friend. They'd somehow bonded after spending a night together, so now I was stuck with them and their awkward relationship. Malik wasn't protective of just anyone – he meant business with Yugi. This was no ordinary crush, and I might as well get used to it.
"You want us to stop them," Seto mumbled as I watched the group yell and prepare to attack the blonde.
I didn't move from my position, idly watching from the sidelines with relaxed eyes, hands in the pockets of my blue uniform (damn, this thing was uncomfortable) as I decided what to do. "It's either that or wait for Malik to pull someone's arm off when they manage to get Yugi out from under him."
"That might be entertaining, actually."
"Maybe," I grunted. "But I'm starving and I don't have time for this crap. I want my food."
Seto sighed and folded his arms but didn't argue as I moved towards the group. He just fell into step beside me like he always did, following my lead.
The group stopped and turned when they sensed our approach. A couple of them looked prepared to take a swing at one or both of us, but Seto's scowl seemed to disarm them. They changed their minds pretty quickly. I didn't have to do a thing to make them scatter – Seto's expression always did such a good job of scaring people shitless. I gave one of them a casual kick in the ass as he escaped just to feel like I'd actually done something.
Malik glanced back at me once the hall had emptied and gave me one of his insane grins (the sort that made Seto squirm, which he did).
I folded my arms. "Getting into fights now?"
"I could have handled them."
Yugi poked one of his large purple eyes from under Malik's arm.
"Babysitting the twerp today?" Seto grunted, causing Malik to release a low growl and Yugi to hide again.
I snickered. He was being quite protective. Yugi was now untouchable and there was no use teasing them any longer. Besides, I was hungry as hell. "Relax, Malik. No one is going to hurt your new plaything," I assured before starting to walk again. Seto moved to follow me like he always did and we marched towards the cafeteria.
-(Next Scene)-
No part of this was right.
I watched Marik park Yugi next to him, keeping Duke on his other side so Marik and the small Game King were as far apart as humanly possible. Of course, this also placed the blonde directly across from Atem, and it didn't make it past me that Malik had planned this on purpose. Marik would be wholly distracted and Yugi, the naïve and helpless little koala that he was, would be plenty protected from the Egyptian's wrath.
This was not what I'd expected to come of my dare…
Yugi wasn't supposed to be invited to our table of misfits, and Atem and Marik sure as hell weren't supposed to be whores together!
The surrealism of my situation remained nauseating and now I was stuck with it until the giant lost interest in the midget. The only problem with this was that Malik was obsessive, and once he decided that he liked something (or someone), he rarely gave up chase until he got what he wanted, and then he'd proceed to smother it until it was dead. So my current situation was frozen: Yugi would be a staple in my life. Where I went, Marik went, and where Marik went, Malik came, so now Yugi came too, and that meant I'd have to watch Marik and Atem rotate between trying to kill one another and making out.
Shit.
This was definitely not going as planned.
Seto was equally thrown off by the setting and made no effort to hide how irritated he was about all of it. Irritated and confused. But at least Marik's hatred of Seto would be derailed by his close contact with Atem.
Being in this group of freaks could be exhausting sometimes.
"So," Yugi smiled nervously as we all stared at the awkward addition to our growing table, "how has everyone's day been going?"
"Peachy," snarled Marik.
Yugi tensed and that sent Malik into mama-bear mode. I snickered at the unamused expression he shot his twin, which made Marik scowl at his salad.
Yugi didn't seem to notice the smile the taller blonde was glowing in his direction. "That's…good," the smaller teenager giggled when he got a pat on the head.
As strange as it was, maybe Yugi and Malik would prove to be a new source of entertainment – that made them tolerable, but I still didn't like or understand the Ishtar's newest fixation. They weren't alike or anything. It wasn't like Seto and I, bonding over sarcasm and our general pessimistic world views. What did Malik see in Yugi that made him like him so much? I never would have imagined they'd bond, much less that the insane blonde would crush so inexplicably hard on the purple-eyed baby panda. Yet, there they were: sitting together at lunch with Malik shooting stars at the rainbow-exploding Yugi.
I seriously might barf.
Duke was the only person at the table that seemed unaffected by the development; he was probably more concerned with Atem and Marik. Before that day, the only threat to his dating the blonde was me. Marik might hate Atem, but this seemed to make him ironically excited. Duke had a run for his money now, but he didn't appear to be concerned. There was the possibility that he didn't mind either way since he and Marik were just casually dating and he didn't have any emotional attachment at stake.
Still… Losing Marik to Atem…
How embarrassing.
At the end of the day, everything had changed: Malik was now wholly preoccupied by his crush on Yugi, and the leftover twins were now being forced to hang out together. Atem and Marik had no place sitting together in the PE stands, or chatting at lunch, but that seemed to be the growing circumstances with which I would now have to live.
If I'd known that any of this would happen just with that one fucking dare, I'd never done it at all.
It would only get worse. I knew this because I watched Malik's interactions with the still oblivious and friendly Yugi, and I could practically see the sparkles shooting from the blonde's face. Malik was completely infatuated, and that meant Marik and Atem were stuck together and I was going to be forced to watch.
Seto seemed to be just as nauseated by the displays. He and I just stood there on the curb, staring at the awkward foursome as the two pairs of twins left the school, because neither of us could bring ourselves to not notice them.
"This is freaking ridiculous," Seto mumbled as we watched Malik help Yugi in the car ('help' meant scooping him up and 'gently' placing the midget in the back seat while Atem complained about him dare touching Yugi at all and Marik just glaring silently at the three of them from behind, presumably asking himself how easy it would be to fuck Atem). "How long is this going to continue? His attention span can't last very long."
I sighed and rubbed at my temple a little before sliding into the limo, allowing Seto to come in after me. "You'd be surprised. Malik is a passionate person, and when he likes something he tends to obsess. Not only that, but there's no way of knowing when that obsession will end."
I didn't think I'd ever understand what was happening. If I were lucky, Malik was going through an "Oh, look how cute the puppy is!" phase and he'd lose interest when the puppy got older and a new one strolled by. Yugi wouldn't be growing much anytime soon, though, so my puppy-theory was swiftly deflated.
Well, shit…
And if that awkward almost-couple wasn't enough just having to sit with at lunch, I really had no idea how bad it would be to see Marik and Atem paw at one another, which I did later that day in another class. They reminded me of two horny, pissed off cats—one second they were fighting and shrilling and clawing at each other, and then I got to see them making out on the floor while the teacher had a panic-attack. During all of this, I wanted to gouge out my own eyes with the spork I carried in my backpack (you never really know when you'll need a spork and I liked feeling prepared). The dog's reaction to all of this was almost worth it, though. Joey seemed even more horrified by the sadistic relationship than I was. He'd learned not to try to separate them when Marik threw him into a desk.
At least some things never changed.
The next week was spent trying to ignore the two couples, even though neither pair was considered to be dating (at least not yet). It was impossible not to take notice of them, especially with Marik and Atem making such ruckus in the background. I did find Malik and Yugi's interactions interesting to watch at times, though. Yugi was perhaps the most naive and oblivious teenage boy I'd known. Malik watched the pipsqueak with such attentiveness that he walked into a wall at least twice over the last several days. He came up with every possible excuse to spend time with Yugi. If it weren't for Marik's groping, Atem would probably have screamed a little more often at the spiky-haired blonde for daring to show such an interest in his 'little brother'.
I knew someone needed to alert the tiny Game King to his predicament, but I wasn't certain if it was my place to do so. That, and it was sort of fun seeing how ignorant he was to Malik's crush.
When feeling particularly troubled by my horny peers, I used the excuse the quickly-approaching Seto's birthday and Halloween to preoccupy my mind.
My blue-eyed brunette's birthday was only two weeks away now, and I had nothing planned. Ryou and I decided that we'd each get him different gifts. Well, Ryou demanded I get Seto a gift from myself, rather than getting a piggyback on his plans.
"Just because we share the same body doesn't mean you can mooch off my ideas." He wrote that in Spring Green, so I knew he was serious.
It looked like I was on my own this time.
Since we'd moved in with Seto, my Light and I had gradually moved from being considered a single entity with psychological problems to being two different people sharing a body. I still considered myself to be an extension of Ryou, but more and more I was realizing that we lived wholly different lives. Sure, we shared the same body and soul and whatever, but we each had our own 'things' now. We had different rooms, coffee mugs, clothes, tastes in food, skills, and opinions. We even had different silverware and bowls we liked to use for breakfast.
The time had apparently come that even gifts we gave to people were going to be different.
What the hell do you get someone like Seto Kaiba, anyways? He had everything already!
Ryou suggested I make him something. PFFT—like I was a craftsman or artist or something… Well, I could draw. Not many people knew that, actually. Mokuba had commented on it a few times when I doodled during his homework sessions, but I never thought much of my scribbles. Most of what came out of my head was messed up looking, anyways, and I considered it just another way for my psychosis to show through my thin faux-sanity-veil. So what the hell was I supposed to do now?
Seto was too much of a prude to accept anything like sex-coupons, and I wasn't about to make him anything Blue Eyes related. (Though, I had considered getting him a cake in the shape of a Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon and then make it explode or something, but that seemed time-consuming and I'm lazy, so that idea fell through.)
I had a couple weeks left to figure it out.
In the meantime, I also had Halloween on my mind. Halloween was my favorite holiday, and for good reason. Who didn't like running around dressed up as a werewolf, threatening people in public, throwing rotten eggs at old ladies' houses, and getting to consume their weight in sugar and food coloring? I could only hope I was the one awake for the holiday. I'd not been so lucky last year and woke up the morning after dressed up like a fairy. Damn it, Ryou!
Plans to convert the Kaiba Mansion in to a Haunted House were also underway. Mokuba was on my side, so it was only a matter of time before we broke his brother in. Between the kid and my Light, Seto didn't stand a chance. Malik and Marik were going to be my alter-egos in this plot, and the three of us spent plenty of Detentions working on our plans for the house. I had yet to convince Seto to dress up as anything just yet, but I was still looking for that perfect costume so I wasn't in a rush. I wanted it to be perfect. By the time the Ishtars and I were done, the house would be a dungeon of gore and terror, Seto would be in a sexy costume, and I'd be scaring the royal piss out of Atem.
Just three weeks and I'd be the happiest imaginary friend ever.
But until then I was stuck stressed out over the birthday issue and trying my best to ignore the Ishtars' current purple-haired fixations.
-(Next Scene)-
It was the first time in the week-ish that I'd woken up in the morning, and I knew instinctually that my Light had been 'out and about' for a few days. He had a calendar On the wall that he always faced where he wrote his schedule, when he'd last been awake, and crossed out his days so we could keep track of one another. (I had a similar calendar, but it didn't have kittens and stickers and gel-pen all over it.) But when I opened my eyes there was no kitty calendar to greet me, no wall of pictures with baby animals, Lisa Frank posters, or photos of him with the ever-straight-faced and blushing Seto.
This was not Ryou's room…
Waking up in strange places wasn't anything to be alarmed over—we did that a lot. What I was trying to figure out, in my groggy state of mind, was why I had no pajamas on. Where the bloody hell were my clothes?
Now, most people that knew me knew I slept in the nude (my Light complained about this and I kept a spare shirt and boxers in the lower drawer of my nightstand for him), but Ryou slept in flannel pajamas—at the moment, he favored Hello Kitty.
I knew I was naked, but why wasn't so clear.
I also knew I wasn't in Ryou's, my, Mokuba's, or even Seto's room.
My growing headache was becoming a challenge, but it was one I'd dealt with before and the curiosity of my mystery-situation was too much for me to roll over and try to go back to sleep. I began to inspect my surroundings for clues.
The wall I was staring at was white, and it might have been considerably boring to look at if there hadn't been a freaking dragon statue blocking half my vision.
…Wait.
What?
I settled a brown eye on the statue for further inspection.
This couldn't be happening... It was a fucking Blue Eyes White Dragon!
Was I dreaming? Was this reality? The dragon was coiled around what I could now see was the 'pillar' on the corner of the bed. My eyes followed the shape upwards, noticing designs that reminded me of old Grecian temples, until I saw the draping silvery-blue sheets of sheer fabric that flowed in sheets.
Holy sweet mother of crap…
I was now partially on my back so I could gawk at the ceiling. It was one massive mural of the sky with Blue Eyes flittering about everywhere like they were fucking cherubs. I had to admit it was tasteful (well, as tasteful as a huge-ass mural of dragons flying through clouds could be) and was done very well in the classic style, but for the love of God, was this seriously reality?
Holy shit! It was real! The Blue Eyes Room was fucking real!
I sat upright, the bristled hairs on my head crinkled and unkempt, and proceeded to gape at the room of dragons. They were friggin everywhere. Blue Eyes bed, Blue Eyes statues, Blue Eyes mirror thingy, Blue Eyes silver tea-set set upon an oak table with marble Blue Eyes holding it upright with their wings! And right in the middle of it, staring straight at me, was Seto Kaiba, whom was dressed in that white robe with the red lining that I loved so much, and holding a Blue Eyes coffee mug.
I could feel how contorted my expression was. This was disgusting. Not especially surprising, but disgusting all the same! "You're wearing Blue Eyes slippers, aren't you?"
He paused and continued to stare at me, looking as indifferent as ever. "No," he lied.
The hairs on my head seemed to bristle higher, but it must have looked silly since they were wrinkled because Seto just smirked. Son of a bitch! "I bet you are!" I accused. "I knew it! I knew that you had a room like this! I just knew it!" Now I was getting excited. I'd known since my first sleepover that a place like this had to exist, and Seto had tried so hard for so long to keep me from discovering it, but I had! I'd found his bloody dragon fetish room! I laughed, jutting an accusing finger at the silent CEO. "Hah! You've been caught, Seto!"
"That's funny," he lowered his blue eyes to the paper he was holding and took a sip from his dragon-y mug, "I don't remember being caught."
"Heh?"
"Waking up in a room where you're invited doesn't exactly insinuate that you've uncovered much of anything, now does it?"
I blinked and groggily processed the information before pouting. He was right. I hadn't found the room—I'd woken up in it! Obviously he'd let Ryou…in…
My pout evolved into a glare. Seto's eyelids perked when noticing my snarl. "You son of a bitch! You slept with Ryou!"
He shrugged and turned, now beginning to wander away, sipping more at that black coffee with single Splenda packet (with fiber!) of his. "So what if I did?"
I moved to leap off the bed but only wailed and face-planted the wooden floor when one of my lanky legs got caught up in the red silk sheets. "Whore!" I wailed from my tangled position half off the bed, half on the floor. I snarled but did little to remove myself from the mass of red sheets—I was still too tired to fight well, and my brain was slowly beginning to become mush.
Seto returned to the bed, casually placing his cup and the newspaper on the nightstand before kneeling to assist me in the quiet way he always did that sort of thing. I snarled again but he just smirked and that only pissed me off even more. "Such drama," he chuckled. "I would have thought you'd be happy. Wasn't it you that tried hooking us up before?"
My frown was permanently etched onto my pale face and I'd have given just about anything to have the energy to claw his beautiful eyes out right about then. "You're a whore," I mumbled as he helped release my leg from the sheets. "You think you can have both of us? Just like that?"
"Basically."
"Whore."
"Yeah, yeah. I get it: you're jealous."
Now free of the sheets, I snarled and jerked in attempt to grab at him but Seto just leaned back to avoid me before grabbing my wrist with that Kung-Fu-grip of his. I cursed and wriggled, pulling in vain. In my fit, I succeeded once again in entangling myself, now swerving and twirling atop the silky sheets on the wooden floor. "You're an asshole!"
"Probably." Seto grabbed by other hand and I snarled again. "But I never claimed to be otherwise. Now then, are you finished with your fit?"
I wanted to spit at him, but his eyes numbed my willpower to the point that I was now lying on the floor, naked, half-tangled in his red sheets, staring up into his irises with a relaxed face. Damn it to hell, his eyes were too strong! I felt myself relax as he stared into me. My tension began to trickle away the longer he kept our eyes connected. How was it that just a month or so before that his eyes had caused me such tension and now they lulled my insanity away and turned me into mush? I didn't get that transition of effect at all.
Once I was completely relaxed and under his blue control, he smirked. "Good." Seto leaned down and did something unexpected. My eyes widened when he kissed me. What the hell? I closed my eyes and allowed him to do it, only melting a little more from his bizarre gentility. When he retracted, I was completely helpless and I must have resembled Ryou because he only looked at my Light and Mokuba like that. "Now then, are you really that upset over Ryou and I?"
It took several moments to find the breath to speak. "Not really," I replied. "It just caught me off-guard is all." That was an understatement. I knew Seto and Ryou got along and that they were at least mildly attracted to one another, but I hadn't been expecting Seto to get the nerve to jump him.
My brain began to tingle. Memories would be lifting soon. I wasn't sure if I should look forward to it or be horrified at the imagery of Ryou and Seto screwing around.
"I care for Ryou," Seto admitted, still leaning partially over me. He began to work once again on freeing my legs. I just lied there, still and quiet. "I care for the both of you. Though, admittedly, if I had to pick I'd pick you." I wanted to complain about his sudden mushiness, but the willpower just wasn't there. I spent my time staring up at his insanely overdone ceiling, trying to redirect my mind to my normal, sarcastic self.
I didn't enjoy feeling like that, all soft and squishy and helpless, but Seto was talented at putting me in that particular state of mind and I had very little power to fight back when it happened. It was easier just to let the moment come and pass and then return to my assy self when it was all over with. "But with you both sharing a body, I just assumed it would be all right. You're almost the same person."
"We are the same person," I corrected. What the hell was up with the Blue Eyes in the right corner? It looked so derp in that pose, I wanted to get some acrylics and correct it. That would piss Seto off so bad, it might almost be worth taking a paint brush to.
"That has yet to be proven."
I just grunted, still busying my fuzzy mind with the painting while my headache began to worsen.
"Now let's get you in the shower." I was limp and unwilling to fight him when he scooped me up. "You'll be getting your memories soon and we need to get you ready for class still. You were out of business for two days."
"It's Friday," I weakly concluded. I wished my eyes would remain open—I wanted to study that room more so I could tease him incessantly later—but they closed shut when my vision blurred and my headache began to pulse.
"You're lucky," he chuckled. I could feel that I was being carried upwards. Where was the room? Where was it? Damn! I couldn't lift my eyelids! He knew that, too, because Seto showed no signs of anxiety. He didn't want me to know where his bloody room was, I was sure of that, but he knew I was a sponge when in this state so he didn't have to especially worry. I probably wouldn't remember most of anything I saw anyways.
I groaned and felt Seto lean his head against mine for a moment. What the hell was all this sudden mushiness about? Being with Ryou must have affected him in some way. If Seto was going to be like this all the bloody time, I might just have to break up with him. I couldn't stand it. Lucky for the both of us, that wasn't the case.
I woke up in the shower with cool water raining on me. It was my shower, and if I didn't have Ryou's rather naughtily-vivid memories burned so strongly into my mind, I would have thought it was all some weird dream.
Friggin' hell… They really had slept together…
Ryou seemed all right with it. It hadn't been planned or anything and went over smoothly. Because of my exploits, he wasn't a virgin, and that did seem to help a lot. I was pretty sure that Seto had just been curious, but it was apparent his curiosity had turned into actual affection. He liked Ryou, and Ryou like him, and now it looked as though we were in some weird three-way relationship… Or was it? After all, Ryou and I were the same person and shared the same body, so it was more like Seto was now dating a whole person.
Whatever.
It hurt to think about it, so I just let it pass.
Once I was cleaned up and dressed, I came down for breakfast and got to witness Seto being his grouchy self, yelling at someone on the phone before cursing at me for taking so long.
Things seemed back to normal.
Now it was time to face a Friday of classes. I had a test in History that I was doomed to fail and a pharaoh to tease.
-(Next Scene)-
A week passed without any major event. Of course, Seto and I had to stomach the hearts Malik shot from his ass when Yugi was there, and we had to tolerate Atem and Marik dating—yes…dating (as if screwing each other on the side just wasn't good enough for him). I was now concocting a plan to hook the pharaoh and the substitute together because, well, I knew they'd hit it off and I was tired of watching him and the blonde making out, and this….this was just hell to have to sit through.
It was Friday again, and Ryou hadn't been awake for four days so I was expecting to sleep any time now and have those weird dreams where Seto was named Seth and was a priest and I was an angry hobo. Until Ryou showed back up, I just had to keep myself preoccupied—and awake for class. When we went several days between one another, we got sleepy, and that was especially that day. I was yawning and nodding in and out in class (Mahad had slammed a hand on my desk at least twice today) and wasn't sure how long I could keep awake. But there was shit to be done, so I kept Red Bulls handy. After all, there was shit to be done.
I needed to drop by my father's place to grab my stuff and leave him a letter explaining that Ryou wasn't going to be coming back. He wouldn't take that very lightly, but Seto and I were certain that we could handle him now. (Seto had even brought out the paperwork to change my name and send me off somewhere if that was really necessary, though I still wasn't 100% convinced any of that would work). I'd convinced Ryou to allow me to do it for him, because the last thing we needed was Zorc beating him around again.
I planned on doing that after class.
"So," I watched Yugi put his books away, "you and Malik sure have been hanging out a lot."
Kaiba and Malik weren't out of class yet and the blonde giant had sent me to stand guard over his naïve boy-toy-in-the-making. Since Joey was in detention this afternoon, someone had to guard the pipsqueak—I guess that meant me.
"Yup!" he smiled, closing his locker and stuffing his blue bag with books.
If I had to babysit, I might as well make it a little fun. "You guys do seem to get along pretty well," I commented, leaning against the lockers and folding my pale arms.
"Yeah!"
I couldn't look directly into his massive eyes too long without feeling sick. How did Malik do it?
"He's pretty cool," Yugi continued, smiling bashfully enough to make my own cheeks tinge pink when I glanced at him. "I enjoy spending time with Malik."
"So I've noticed. You're joined at the hop most of the time."
Yugi laughed. "Sometimes I think Joey gets a little jealous."
I arched an eyebrow. He really made it too easy. "I bet," I snickered, "why with you and Malik hanging out in class, at lunch, after school, and over weekends. You've barely been friends for a few weeks now, right?"
He blushed but nodded and gave me a smile that was probably enough to put Marik into a coma. "Yeah. He's just so easy to get along with. Malik's so…I dunno…"
"Easy to talk to?"
This seemed to properly complete the tiny Game King's thoughts because he flashed me a large smile. "Yeah!"
"And fun."
"Well, yeah. That too!"
"And he's gorgeous, of course." I grinned when he shot pink. "For a boy, I mean."
"…Yeah… I mean…I guess so…
I smirked evilly, shrugging and keeping our eye contact steady. "You should probably be careful though."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"With Malik," I clarified.
"Oh." Yugi pulled his backpack on. "He's not dangerous… At least not to me."
"You're sure about that?"
He nodded. "Malik just gets overexcited sometimes."
Both Ishtars had that tendency. At least Malik didn't stab you in the thigh when he got worked up. I had plenty of scars to prove how easily I could get his twin all wound up. "I know. Hence why you should be careful."
Yugi frowned. "He won't hurt me."
"Not intentionally, no,"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Ooh… The mini Game King was getting defensive! "Well, he likes you," I shrugged, highly amused by that point by the irritated look on my peer's normally soft face. "That having been said, he could injure you."
"…I don't get what you mean…"
I rolled my eyes and sighed, scratching the back of my neck. Silly, naive little Yugi. It was time someone broke the ice, and no one else looked like they had the balls to do it. Might as well be me. Somehow, it was always me. Oh well; at least it gave me a purpose in life other than keeping Ryou from choking on someone's fist. "You know he likes you—right?"
"Of course. He's my friend."
"No." I kept my face as straight and as serious as possible to drive the message home. Yugi was smarter than Atem was, but sometime he could be just as dense. "He likes you."
Yugi began to make the distressed whining sound he always made when especially startled. It sort of reminded me of the sound a baby animal made when frightened, and I half-expected an angry Malik come storming down the hallway to beat my face in. Yugi's purple eyes were swollen with surprise and his expression flushed pale and confused. "…Wh…what are you talking about?"
"You didn't know Malik was gay?"
"No!"
"Oh. Hmm. Well then," I snickered, "now you know, I suppose."
He whimpered at this and seemed to begin to internalize his thoughts, probably going back over the weeks he'd spent with the blonde. His face shifted from sheet white to bright red. Looked like he was stumbling over all those clues and hints he should have been picking up.
Should I have felt at least a little bad for tormenting him? Probably. But someone had to clarify Yugi's situation and it might as well have been me, especially when there was fun to be had in the progress.
"Malik's really…gay…?"
"Gayer than your brother," I huffed.
There was another loud whine.
"Oh, relax." I pat him sturdily on the back, making the petite teenager grunt and pout. "I mean, it's not like you're gay too." Yeah. I was a total dick. Seto and I really deserved one another.
His eyes fell to the floor. More internalizing. "…Right…"
"Sure, you hang out with him at every given chance," I shrugged, "and you openly admit to finding him attractive, but you don't like him. Right?"
Poor Yugi looked confused enough to explode. Or melt. Or whatever pygmy pharaohs did when embarrassed. But it shut down his rainbows.
"Just don't be a tease," I went serious again. Messing with him was just too much fun. "Malik likes you a lot."
"…You're serious…aren't you? …Malik really…" he paused for a long moment, looking for the pressure to force the last two words out, "likes me?"
"He's only been all over you since you became friends."
"He has…?"
"You're sort of adorable when you're this naive," I chuckled, making him shoot red again. "Malik knows you're straight," I continued, "so he's been fairly well-behaved. But his crush on you is painfully obvious. If you'd let him, he'd probably stick his hand down your pants." I smirked and watched my peer stiffen. "But you're straight and he likes you enough to respect that, and believe me when I say that means he likes you a lot. I didn't expect it to happen, but you've really got that blonde moron whipped."
Yugi just gawked at me, looking confused, horrified, and embarrassed. He was easier to look at like this, without all those sparkles and ponies and glitter in the way.
"Well," my work was now complete," I need to grab my obnoxiously-hot boyfriend from last period." I nodded my head towards where Malik was strolling down the hall, waving happily in our direction and excusing me from my guard-duties. "You have a good weekend there, twerp." I winked before turning to leave, abandoning Yugi to deal with his confusion and his questions.
The rest was up to him.
Seto had also been released from class and was waiting for me beside the front exit. "You ready to head out?"
"I have to run an errand first," I explained, pulling an unmarked envelope from my pocket. "I'll meet you at home in a few hours."
He eyed me carefully, staring at the envelope like he could see through it. It wouldn't surprise me if he could, actually; Seto could do some strange shit when motivated. "Fine," he grunted, finally turning to walk out. I followed him out the door, slipping the letter into the inner pocket of my jacket. "But be sure you're on time for dinner tonight. If you're late, I'll have to call the cops on you."
I rolled me eyes because I knew he wasn't lying. Seto had done that before with me and had done it several times already when Ryou was late at all. "You're so paranoid. I'll befine. It's me, remember?"
"Yeah, I know. That's the problem."
I growled but held the door to his car for him so he could slide inside. "Ass."
"Dick."
We exchanged affectionate smirks.
"Be home for dinner."
"Fine, fine. I'll be home in time for your bloody supper. Just get home and fire someone." I slammed the door shut and the limo sped off.
Now it was time to deliver that letter.
Or…it would have been, had I not sat down half way there and passed out. Too sleepy to convince myself not to take a 15-minute nap (I was making good time and Zorc usually had meetings until late on Fridays), I set my phone to wake me up and allowed my mind to clock out.
Probably not the best idea I'd ever had.
Sorry this chapter is so choppy and crappish! Chapter 9 is better. I WILL have that one finished soon because it'll be easier to write.
