A/N: Well, now I'm depressed. I just found out that my art teacher died of cancer. But, I'm not going to be depressing while writing this chapter, partly because it was written by hand first, but mostly because this is a fun chapter and I don't wanna be all depressed for it!

Thanks to: Fujimori Chikaru, seira-g, J bear, Dinah Nuzzler, The Awesome Alchemist, Almond Luver, sandydragon, and Spottedpaw13 for reviewing!

"Well, there's Ryou," Malik said as the Ishtar twins walked into the public library. "But where's Bakura?" The white-haired boy was sitting at a table alone.

"Maybe he didn't want to come," Marik suggested, trying to keep the hopeful note out of his voice.

"Maybe. Come on." They made their way over to the table where Ryou was sitting. "Hey, Ryou."

"Oh, hey, Malik, Marik." Ryou smiled. "I'm glad you showed up. I don't understand this ancient Greek stuff at all. I always get the Greeks and Romans confused."

"Same here, so it looks like we're screwed. Unless..." Malik gave his brother a pleading look. "Marik would be kind enough to help us?"

"No."

"But-"

"Sorry, you're on your own, bro.'

"Shhh!" The librarian hissed from her desk. Marik rolled his eyes. He hadn't even been talking that loud. The librarian was a friend of Kaiba's father, and she followed pretty much the same principals as him. Meaning she, like so many others in this town, hated Marik.

"Say, Ryou, where's your brother?" Malik asked. "I thought he was coming with you."

"Oh, he went over there." Ryou pointed towards the other end of the library. "He said something about how he didn't want me distracting him while he studied."

"More likely he doesn't want you guys sticking up for me while he cuts down my self-esteem inch by inch. Just like Kaiba," Marik said. He had meant it as a joke, but it actually hit pretty close to home.

"Shhh!" Marik sighed.

"I hate that woman!" he thought.

"My brother is nothing like Seto Kaiba!" Ryou insisted. "Trust me."

"I wish I could just take your word for it, but he hasn't exactly been warming up to me, in case you haven't noticed," Marik pointed out.

"Well, why don't you just go study with Bakura?" Ryou suggested. "Maybe if you guys spend more time together, it'll give him the chance to warm up to you, and see what a nice guy you really are."

"Yeah, okay." Marik stood up. "Like that'll ever happen."

He picked up his textbook, which he had brought with him, and walked across the library to wear Bakura was sitting.

"Hey, Bakura! What's up?" The white-haired teenager said nothing in reply, he simply glared at Marik. Marik faltered.

"I - er - I just wanted to know if you wanted to study a bit. With me, that is, since you're already studying. I mean, we are partners and everything, so..." God, this was way too awkward for Marik's liking. He stood there, waiting for Bakura's response. Silence, then a grumble.

"Sit down. Just because I have to work with you doesn't mean I'm going to risk failing."

Marik bit his tongue to keep from yelling that HE happened to be the top history student, and the only one to get an A on the last test. Instead, he pulled out a chair and sat down next to Bakura.

Bakura was holding his book flat with one hand and was taking notes with the other. Marik had forgotten to bring something to take notes with (he preferred to get his notes from online sources, anyway), so he just opened his book and began to skim through it, resting his chin on his hands.

They sat in silence for a few moments, save for the scratching of Bakura's pen as he jotted down note after note. Marik could barely pay attention to what he was reading. He had never been so close to Bakura before...

He turned the page of his book and set his hand down. He didn't notice that Bakura had stopped writing until he heard a noise.

"Ahem." Marik looked up.

"What?" His heart started pounding as Bakura stared at him for a few seconds, then lowered his eyes to the table. Marik followed his gaze and his breath caught in his throat. When he had put his hand down, he thought he had put it on the table. But, in actuality, Marik had set his hand right on top of Bakura's free hand, the one he was using to keep his book open.

Under the glare of the new boy, Marik jerked his hand away.

"I, uh...oh, jeez! I'm sorry, I didn't even...if I had realized...ugh, I'm such an idiot!"

"Shhh!" That librarian was seriously starting to get on Marik's nerves, and she really wasn't helping his self-esteem issues, either.

Bakura glared for a few seconds more, then stood up.

"I think it's time for me to leave. I just need to get my brother." He walked away, not even bothering to glance back at a very embarrassed Marik Ishtar. Marik groaned and put his head down on the table top.

"Dammit!" he thought. "I can't believe I just did that! He's probably gonna tell Kaiba and I'll become the laughing stock of the school. Again. Why do I even feel this way about Bakura? He obviously hates me, so why...why do I feel so attracted to him?"

"Marik!" It was Malik. "I just got a text from Odion. He says we're late for dinner. Knowing Odion, it could be a trick, but it might not be. You never know with him."

"Oh. Yeah. Coming." Marik stood up and sighed.

"Shhh!"

"Oh, can it, lady!" he snapped. As he walked over to his twin brother, he thought, "Freshman year sucks...especially when you're gay with raging hormones and half the town is against you!"

This is one of my favorite chapters. I probably say that a lot, but I can't help it. To be honest, I hate most of my chapters because of so much Marik-abuse. But, in my world, every story needs a bit of sexual tension between main characters. And annoying librarians. But we're never gonna see her again. And that's just my opinion. I don't usually have very good ones. Because in my opinion, the world should be made of chocolate. It sounds nice, but it would get all melty on hot days and then everything would be a mess. Okay, done ranting. Just ignore this author's note, because I know that they bug people at times.

R&R, please!