Before you could count your fingers, a week had gone by. I was still staying with Marik and all that good stuff. I bet you're wondering what happened during said week? Well, I'll tell you: Work.

"Bakura, get back to work!", my boss yelled.

I groaned and got up from the bench to finish mopping the floors. Lately, I've been having to work overtime since the holidays were up and coming, so Marik and I haven't really been able to associate much. It was more like a routine thing for us now. He would pick me up, ask what I wanted for dinner, we'd eat, maybe watch a movie, and go to sleep. Weekends? Don't get me started. Marik would talk non-stop on the phone and then stop to annoy me. We'd argue or horseplay for a while, and then settle back down. Sometimes I would sneak out for a drink, but Marik always caught me. I know this sounds normal for friends and such, but when you think about it, we kind of, sounded like... a couple. Ever since my talk with Atem, I've started to grow more fond of Marik. These weird feelings in my stomach wouldn't leave me alone, and there would still be a lot of embarrassing moments between us. Well, usually I'm the only one who finds them embarrassing. I stopped mopping and stared at the clock. It was almost 9 p.m.

"Soon," I sighed. "Soon I can go home and lay down."

Thank god its Friday, right? Then I started to wonder what Marik would be cooking tonight. If there was anything I did like more than Marik himself, it was his food. One taste and before you know it, you've gone through three bowls! The other day, Marik invited Ryo over for dinner and we both fought over the last rice ball. The memory still makes me laugh, but also agitated me because Marik ended up eating it after it got cold from us fighting too long. Who ever knew you could make something such as rice taste heavenly! The grandfather clock in the museum finally chimed for nine o' clock.

"Ok, you guys can go home. Good work, today. Good work!", my boss praised as Ishizu, Ryo and I made our way out the door.
"Bakura, what are you doing for the holidays?"
"Hmm, holidays?" I thought.
"Yeah!"
"I don't know. But I'm sure Marik will think of something splendorous for us to do." I sighed.
Ryo giggled. "Glad to see you two have gotten along! To be honest, I thought you two were going to kill each other when you started living together."
"Yeah, well," I cleared my throat. "He's not that hard to get used to."
Ryo just smiled and skipped off to his car. "Hey, its getting really cold outside! So start wearing a scarf and gloves!"
"Yeah, I know." I pulled a pair of gloves out of my pocket.
Ryo honked the horn as he drove off. I waved goodbye at him.

I then waited patiently for Marik to arrive. Strange, he was usually on time to come pick me up. I wonder what could be taking him so long? I paced back and fourth. Traffic maybe? He had to work late? No, he would have called me. Maybe he's out buying groceries. Its pretty cool out right now, maybe one of the bridges iced. Wait, what am I worried about? I made an unamused expression on my face. Why am I so concerned about Marik right now? He's a smart kid, I'm sure he's fine. What made me even more annoyed was the fact that I was worrying about him. How can I be so stupid? Suddenly, a car pulled up in the parking lot, which I quickly noticed as Marik's. He unlocked the door and waited for me to get in.

"Sorry, I'm late. Got caught in traffic!"
"N-no, its ok!" I closed the car door shut. "The roads are pretty slippery, so be careful."
"I'll be fine!"
I buckled in my seat belt.
He smirked. "You were worried about me, weren't you?"
I blushed and turned my head. "No, I wasn't! I just told you to be careful! So excuse me for looking out for you!"
Marik chuckled. "So, then you're just looking out for me?"
"N-no, thats not it either!" I replied nervously.

Marik just laughed. God, whats wrong with me today? Any other time I could care less about what happens to him, but lately I've been finding myself thinking about him more and more. Probably because our bond as friends or whatever is just starting to grow. I decided to change the subject.

"Hey, what are you cooking tonight?"
"Um, I thought we could go out and eat tonight if you don't mind."
"Go out to eat? This late?"
"There are plenty of restaurants open this time of night. So it'll be ok. Or, were you looking forward to my cooking again?"
"Yeah, kind of!" I admitted.
"Well, I don't have anything thawed out and I need to make some groceries. So tonight, we'll eat out. Ok?"
"Sure."


We ended up eating out at some family Italian-style restaurant. Not too fancy, but not too crowded either. And to my surprise, Marik already had a table reserved for us. I'm assuming that he had this all planned out from the beginning. I'll have to give him credit for that. We sat down and browsed the menu's. I didn't want anything in particular so just settled with lasagna. Marik decided to order the same. Then the waitress finally appeared. She was a wearing a knee-high skirt, a white button down shirt, and black heels.

"Hello, my name is Mina.", she greeted as she handed us napkins and utensils. "I'll be your waitress for tonight. And I look forward to serving you." She winked at Marik.
Marik blushed a little and hid his face behind the menu. I just rolled my eyes and ordered for him. "We'll take the lasagna." I said firmly.
The waitress nodded and scribbled our orders down. "Anything to drink?"
"Um, I'll have a lemonade. What about you, Bakura?"
"Iced tea."
"Alright! Your order will be here shortly. In the meantime, let me know if there's anything I can do for you." She stroked Marik's shoulder before skipping off.
Marik just smiled and nodded.

And then, there was silence. Of course there was the occasional chattering of people in the background, and forks hitting glass plates, but not much else. Outside in the parking lot, someone's car alarm went off, but that was about it. Marik and I were just waiting for our orders to come. I cleared my throat causing Marik to look up.
"You say something?"
"Nah, just had a little something in my throat."
"Oh ok." He picked up the menu and went back to browsing.

Finally, after an agonizing ten minutes, our orders finally arrived. A fancy chef served our plates and departed while saying "Bon appetit'!"
We nodded and began to eat. However, the moment was short lived when the waitress suddenly reappeared. Great, what did she want this time?

"Please enjoy your meals!" she handed us our drinks and bowed. Then she suddenly took interest in Marik. "You have very pretty eyes! Are those contacts or are they natural?"
"Natural!"
"Ooh, that just makes you look even more gorgeous!"
'What the hell? Is she flirting with him?' I balled my fist.
"Thank you! You don't look so bad yourself!"
She giggled.
'The hell, Marik? I'm right here for crying out loud!'
"Do you have a girlfriend?"
"A girlfriend? No."
"Ah, then perhaps we should hang out sometime!"
"Um, sure."
I kicked Marik in the knee then quickly looked out the window.
"Ouch!" He turned and growled at me.
"Are you ok?" she asked.
"Yeah, I just, uh, hit my knee on the table." He winced.
"Hey, you seem kind of foreign. Where are you from?"
"Egypt."
"Ah, I see. Interesting! Do you know how to say 'I love you?' in Egyptian?"
"Do you know when the hell I can get a refill over here?" I coughed picking up my empty glass.
"Oh, I'm sorry, sir. I'll get you a refill right away!" She grabbed my glass and walked away.
"Bakura, whats the big idea?"
I folded my arms and rolled my eyes.
"She was just being friendly. Whats your problem?"
"Nothing." I groaned.

Actually, I wasn't sure what was wrong with me. I just didn't like the fact that that waitress was all hung up on Marik. Complimenting and flirting with him. It really pissed me off. Wait, why the hell am I so angry about it? Ugh, I must be losing my mind. I took another bite of my lasagna.

"How is it?" Marik asked.
"Huh?"
"The lasagna. Do you like it?"
"Its alright."
"We could go somewhere else if you want..."
Oh great, now he was getting all insecure. I better try to lighten the mood. "No, its good. You could do better though!"
Marik's eyes suddenly sparkled all innocently. "R-really? You think so?"
"Please, no one can cook as good as you!"
"Wow, thank you, Bakura!"
"Yeah, yeah."
The atmosphere was quiet for a while. Marik and I just continued to eat until he looked back up at me.
"You know, I wanted to eat out today to spend time with you."
"What?"
"Well, its just that, you've been busy with work lately, and we haven't been talking much, so I thought maybe we could do something together." Marik shifted in his seat nervously.
I sighed and leaned forward to my hand on his shoulder. "You did good."
He smiled and relaxed a bit.

The waitress returned and handed me my drink. "Here you go, sir! Enjoy!" She turned to Marik. "Need a refill?"
"No thanks, I'm good."
"You sure? I could..."
I slammed my hand on the table, causing everyone to suddenly jump at the noise. "Look, bitch, he said he was fine! Instead of flirting, why don't you go and do your goddamn job!"
She bowed. "E-enjoy your meal!" And she quickly walked off.
I growled and gritted my teeth. "Man, I hate females like that!"
Marik looked at me wide-eyed for a moment until he burst out into laughter.
"Wh-whats so funny?"
"Nothing just..." He put his hand over his mouth to quiet his laughter. "I just never expected you to do that!"
"What do you mean? I had to do something otherwise she wouldn't leave! And it was pissing me off!"
"I can't believe how jealous you got!"
"I-I wasn't jealous!" I replied quickly. "I was just annoyed is all!"
"Mhm, sure!"
"I swear!"
Marik took in a deep breath and relaxed, ending his laughing fit. "Its alright. I'm happy."
"Huh?"
"I said I'm happy. Besides, I needed that laugh!"
"Whatever."
"I'm gad you did that though." His signature smirk appeared. "Because I was going to go out back with her if she kept it up."
"You shall do no such thing!"
Marik laughed again. "Oh man, you really were jealous!"
"I wasn't jealous!" But he continued to laugh. "You know what, fuck it! Next time I'll just let you flirt with whoever you want. But don't come crying to me when you get an STD."
"Bakura..."
I turned to look at him. "What?"

He leaned forward and kissed me, hiding our faces with the menu. I was completely caught off guard and got out of my chair.
"Wh-what the bloody hell are you doing?"
Marik just smiled. "Lets go home now."
"What? You're going to end our dinner with that? Why did you kiss me just now?"
Marik placed the money on the table and continued to leave.
"Hey, get back here! What was with that sudden kiss?"
"Shutup and get in the car!" he replied.
I growled realizing he wasn't going to give me an answer. "Fine. But I'm driving."
"Like hell! I'm driving!"
"But I've got the keys!" I jingled them in his face.
"Hey, give me those!"
I held them up in the air. "Nope!"
"Bakura, seriously! Stop playing around!"
"Nope. This is payback for messing with me!"
"BAKURA!"

I laughed as Marik desperately tried to get the keys from me. And then we ended up in a game of tag with him chasing me around the parking lot. Eventually he gave up and decided to let me drive. A satisfied smile crept across my face for the night.