A/N: YAY! I survived! I live, whoooo! …Ahem… I was very down (borderline between just feeling down and being right out depressed was fading) after I finished chapter nine (I also had five exams in a row…) and my motivation to write fled somewhere but now I've found it again. My motivation and my… How should I put it…? Will to live? Okay, maybe that's over exaggerating… I had a fight with this person who I value and have known for… 8 years or so. I thought she was being an idiot and said some pretty nasty stuff to her… I apologized already but now we're apparently not in speaking terms… Enough of that and on with The Boredom! I present to you: Chapter Ten, enjoy :)

Oh and when this fic actually ends, I'll make it so that you know without a doubt. I'll put a nice big 'The End' in the end or something so no more misunderstandings can happen. Though it got a few people to review the story :) Thank you to you who reviewed, you really made my day; now I know that there's people out there who actually want me to continue writing this little piece of fanfiction (it upgraded from piece of crap into a piece of fanfiction) and wouldn't be happy if I just suddenly ended it.

Marik really didn't feel like going home after spending the day with Bakura, knowing that interrogation waited him there. Besides, they had had a great time! Eating for free and pissing people off by throwing small rocks at them, walking around Domino and arguing about stupid stuff, sometimes just to purposefully annoy the other. They were currently sitting on a park bench, in the park. Yes, it was The Park, it must have a name, something like Domino Park but that didn't matter because now it held some strange importance. The two were arguing if the park should be named Bakura's and Marik's Park or Marik's and Bakura's Park. The older woman who was feeding the birds looked at the teens strangely and slowly began to grow her distance to them.

"My name should be first because B comes before M in the alphabets."

"So? My name is far cooler than your is and I didn't know you knew the alphabets!"

"Argh! I'm not that stupid! And your name is so not cooler than mine!"

"Is too!"

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

"Is not!"

"It is times one billion!"

"It is not times one billion and one!"

By this time the bird lady had distanced herself quite far away and was just about to turn and run as fast as she could, away from the loonies. She however was stopped when "the two loonies" addressed her with their problem.

"Hey, old hag! Which name is cooler; Bakura or Marik?"

"I'm not going to answer that you rude lunatics!" Shouted the woman and stormed away, birds following her. The paler rude lunatic grossed his arms in annoyance and the other gave an annoyed huff.

"Hmhp, and she called us rude."

"Yeah!"

The two looked at each other for a moment before bursting into fits of laughter. If there were still people in that part of the park, they were driven away now. As they had agreed in a previous rather pointless chat on their way to the park: they brought out the worst and the best in each other. The worst was only mentioned first because Bakura won that argument for some odd reason.

Wiping away the tear of laughter from the corner of his eye, Marik straitened up from his slightly bent laughing position and turned to his companion again. His red-brown eyes were shining with mirth, which, Marik had noted, was rare but he had detected traces of it more often and often during that day. It reminded him of the photograph he had seen when he first visited Bakura's apartment… Ryou had said that the photo was the only prove there is that Bakura could smile. Well that was no longer the case; Marik had seen him smile more than once. Most of the smiles could just be noticed from the eyes, face otherwise not giving away much emotion, but the smile was there. Without the Egyptian noticing, a soft expression had taken over his face.

"You look so nice when you smile…" He whispered softly, the words not really registering in his mind yet and kind of just slipping out. A look of confusion flashed past the albino's face before changing into his arrogant trademark smirk.

"And I smile only for you, my dear." He mock bowed as deep as it was possible seeing that he was currently sitting. Now Marik's mind realized what he had just said and how the other had responded. The first reaction was to hit the back of the albino's still bowed head. The second was to silently thank whatever gods up there for not letting the other see the embarrassed pink hue on his face. He just let something like that slip and was called 'my dear'. By Bakura!

"So violent…" Chuckled the albino, getting up from his bow and holding the back of his head.

"You're the one to talk." Huffed Marik, making a point of not looking at the other who just continued to smirk.

"No need to be pissed at me. Sorry I mocked your compliment. It was so sweet of you."

The blond glared at him. "Don't make me kick your sorry ass."

"You look so adorable when you're embarrassed."

That caught the Egyptian off guard and made him forget that he was supposed to be angry, not more embarrassed. "I-I'm not adorable!" He exclaimed, looking away again. Then the realization hit him; this was exactly how the other wanted him to react and the mischievous expression Bakura had confirmed that.

"You are so dead!" He bounced but the albino was faster and managed to slip from him. "Bakuraaah! Come back here!"

………………………………………

It was already dark out when the two teens reached the Ishtar's doorstep. The chase through the park had been… interesting. After running around, chasing and yelling like madmen, freaking out the rest of the people in the park area, someone had apparently called the police after them. Okay, so it was only two policemen and one mental institution worker who were chasing after them. They had decided to put their current differences aside and join forces to get away from the chasers and had succeed to lose them eventually.

As the adrenalin began to wear off, the two realized how tired they really were. Because Marik's home was closer and practically on Bakura's way home, the albino had decided to walk his friend home before heading to his own. They were almost falling asleep on each other. The only thing keeping them awake was the brilliant idea of taking turns in pinching the other's arm.

"Are you sure" yawn "that you're not gonna fall asleep on your way home?" Asked Marik as he tried to find his keys.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sure…" Convinced Bakura not managing to sound very convincing though.

"Damn keys…" Mumbled the blond just before he felt something heavy on his shoulder and heard steady breathing. "Bakura? You still… awake?"

The words he spoke were lost to the albino who was now fast asleep against his shoulder. He had just found the keys and was about to use them to open the door when someone beat him to it. The blond stared at the spot where the lock had been just few seconds ago before lifting his eyes to his tired and annoyed older sister.

"Have you no idea what time it is?" She asked.

Now that he thought of it, Marik didn't know what time it was. They had been running away and hiding for god knows how long so it was probably pretty late seeing that it was dark. "Um… No."

Bakura made his presence known by mumbling something about garden gnomes and circling his arms around the Egyptian's waist to support himself, nuzzling his head on the other's neck and shoulder. Ishizu's eyes narrowed dangerously at the action. Marik was uncertain what to do but decided that it was the best to stop them both from falling and leaned back against the other, adopting a nervous look as his sister's eyes hardened.

"You have been with him the whole day?"

"Yeah… And now, as you see, we're really tired so if you could just let us in-."

"Fine." She interrupted him tiredly. "But he's sleeping on the couch and we are having a little chat in the morning." With that she stepped aside letting the two in, Bakura had to be half dragged by Marik in to the living room. Ishizu went back to sleep upstairs after a few suspicious glances.

Marik somehow managed to get the sleeping teen on the couch. The only problem was that he refused to let go so now the blond was bent over him in a weird position.

"Okay, time to let go of Marik." He tried to get the other's arms off his waist but it didn't help much. He sighed heavily. "Oh come on! I want to go to sleep." He honestly couldn't have guessed that Bakura was so heavy sleeper…

"Marik?" Ishizu called from upstairs. "Are you in bed already?"

"Uh… Yes!" He answered and hissed to Bakura "Let go" without the desired effect. Marik let out an annoyed groan. "Fine! I'm sleeping here, now make room." He pushed Bakura aside a bit so that he could fit on the couch without completely laying on top of the other teen. After finding a comfortable position, his head on the other's shoulder, it didn't take long for him to fall asleep. It was so nice and… warm…

Feeling the other's breathing even out as a sign that he had fallen asleep, Bakura cracked one eye open and glanced at the blond, smirk on his lips.

"Sweet dreams…" He closed his eye again and drifted off to a peaceful sleep.

……………………………………………

The vibration of his cell phone woke Bakura up the next morning. It was very early and Marik was still sleeping, half using him as his pillow/ mattress, other arm laying carelessly cross his chest. He glanced at the caller ID and quietly answered. "What?"

"Bakura? Where are you? You just left yesterday and didn't come back all night." Ryou spoke worriedly from the other end.

"I was with Marik all day. I'm at his place."

Ryou was quiet for a while. "… You are at his place? You were there the whole night?"

"Most of the night anyway." He frowned a bit. "Why?"

"No reason." The little brother chirped happily. "So did you guys have fun? You didn't get into any trouble, did you?"

"Yeah, I guess we had pretty great time and no, we didn't get into very serious trouble…"

"Not very serious…?" Ryou sighed. "I should have known you two wouldn't be able to stay out of trouble… I'm glad it's nothing too serious."

Bakura felt Marik stir a bit and checked that he hadn't woken the other up. The blond was still sleeping but he made a small noise and stirred some more. "Listen Ryou. We have to continue this chat some other time."

"Ok! We'll talk when you get home. Why are you whispering though?"

"I don't want to wake Marik up."

If it would be possible to hear someone raise an eyebrow, Bakura would have heard the sound. "I see… When you get back you'll have to tell me everything. See you later, bye!" They both hung up, the older wondering why Ryou sounded so happy… A thought hit him, making him chuckle. Now Ryou probably thought that they had slept together or something. Well, they had but not in that sense.

"Morning…" Spoke Marik tiredly, placing his chin on the other's chest and looking at him with sleepy eyes.

"Good morning. Slept well?" Asked Bakura with a slight smile and teasing glint in his eyes.

"Why of course. You're such a nice pillow, 'Kura." Answered the Egyptian, smirk taking over his tired face. "Why are you awake already?" He paused to yawn. "It's so early…"

"Ryou called; he wanted to know where I was." Bakura also gave a large yawn and noticed that a strange look flashed past Marik's eyes. "Hmm?" He questioned with a raised brow.

"You have pretty sharp lookin' canine…" The blond mumbled, eyes becoming half lidded and he let out a small yawn again.

"Okay…" Bakura started to absentmindedly fiddle with the other's hair, feeling sleep taking over once again.

Marik closed his eyes and sighed contently. "Mmmh… I'm going back to sleep…"

The albino gazed at his half sleeping companion and moved from fiddling with the hair to draw circles on the back of his shirt. He felt nice and warm… Bakura hadn't slept so peacefully in ages but he also knew that he'd have to leave soon or else he would have Ishizu's wrath on him and a longer interrogation from Ryou. He didn't really want to leave; he didn't want to wake up Marik. He looked so peaceful and content, making little sleeping noises and burying his face in his chest. Yeah, Bakura really hated the fact that he had to go.

"Marik?" He whispered. "Marik, wake up."

The blond moved a bit and almost managed to open his eyes. "Nnnmh… What?"

"I have to get going."

"What…?" He blinked. "Why?"

"Mainly because of certain someone's older sister."

Now the blond snapped awake and rose to a sitting position. "You're right. If she finds out that I never made it to my room… She will lecture me without end and hunt you down to lecture to you too and then she'll strangle you with her necklace."

Bakura looked rather skeptical about the last part. "I think you're over exaggerating a bit." He sat up too only to find himself almost nose to nose with Marik who was, apparently, sitting near his waist. "I also think that you're cutting the blood circulation in my legs…"

"And I think you should go…" The Egyptian whispered back, breath tickling the other's face but neither made a move. There was a new tension in the room and the temperature felt rising up. They slowly inched towards each other when they heard sound from upstairs, causing them to back off and Marik to jump off of Bakura. Someone was awake up there and Marik let out a nervous cough.

"Um… I'll just get going now…" The albino said awkwardly and started to head towards the door. Just before stepping out of the door he turned around to flash Marik a grin.

"Good luck with your sister."

"Thanks, I'll need it. Bye."

"Bye."

Bakura walked out of the yard and started his way down the street. That had been… so close… He felt something warm swelling inside his chest but he also felt confusion; in what, exactly, had he gotten himself into now?

The relationship he had developed to Marik was strictly, if reluctantly at first, deemed as friendship. The teen had never had any friends before but he was pretty sure that friends weren't supposed to feel… attraction… towards each other. And yet, that was what it had been. Their… uh… development from just friends to maybe something more had been so slow that they must have missed it… And now it decided to jump out and punch him in the face! Bang. It was there and he was forced to acknowledge it.

"This is stupid… We are friends. Nothing more…" The thing was that no one or nothing could force him to do anything. "…and certainly nothing less."

A voice from seemingly nowhere broke his musings. "Have you some reason to doubt that?"

Without the albino noticing or paying much attention, he had already arrived home and the voice from nowhere was actually Ryou's. Bakura looked at his younger brother who was looking curiously right back.

"No…"

"Sure you don't. Why would you try to convince yourself that you two are just friends if there was no reason to doubt that in the first place?" Ryou questioned wisely with a trace of Bakura's know-it-all kind of arrogance. "Something happened between you and Marik, right?"

"What goes on between us is none of your damn busyness." Bakura spat suddenly making Ryou finch and a hurt look took over his features as his brother marched in to the kitchen to get something to eat. He followed him, not wanting his brother to just push him out again.

"Bakura?" He started carefully. The older had opened the fridge, looking for something. "Did something happen?" It was easier to just ask yes or no questions until the other was ready to open up more, if that ever happened at all…

"Yes…"

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No."

Ryou sighed. "Was it something that made you question the nature of your relationship with Marik?"

"Yes…"

"Did you two…?"

"What? No!" Bakura turned away from the fridge to Ryou who giggled at his reaction a bit. "We didn't really do anything…"

"But you felt something that you don't think you should have felt if you really were just friends?"

Bakura didn't answer but the little brother already knew the answer from his reaction. "So what was that 'I don't want wake Marik up' all about then?"

"Oh that…" Bakura looked a bit sheepish. "We kind of ended up sleeping on their couch."

Ryou grinned. "Aww, that's so cute! Was he cuddly?" He asked and his brother glared but answered anyway.

"Yes, very. Now let me eat before I starve."

"All right-y! Oh and Bakura? No need to be afraid or anything, I'm sure everything will work out." Ryou said with assuring voice before leaving his brother to eat and think in peace. Bakura was about to tell him that he wasn't afraid but the truth was that he was, kind of… He hoped that his little brother would be right…

A/N: I enjoyed writing this chapter, it was fun and I finished it much much sooner than I thought I would so a fast update for you :) I don't know about the next chapter but I'll start working on it soon.

Don't forget to review. They help to keep me going. (And she keeps going and going and going. Nothing can stop her xD)