Dlbn: Hey everyone, and welcome to another update!

Nbld: We would've had this done sooner, but we realized we didn't have enough written.

Dlbn: But we finished the chapter, so we're all good! We know it's a little long, but more to love, right? ;)

Nbld: Yup! Now it's time for the Review Corner! Thank you to Pharaoh Silver, Nightwitch1312, RandomSpazz-chan, VampirePrinssess, OtEpShAmAyA, and impurepet for reviewing! Plushies for you all!

Pharaoh Silver: Haha we hope! XD Haha nice. The Thiefshipping there was just a little teaser bit. It was all a fantasy Marik's mind was enacting. Slender army, go! XD Glad you liked!

Nightwitch1312: Haha that I was, sorry ;)

RandomSpazz-chan: Haha glad you liked XD I wasn't sure what to make him do, then I was like 'eh, let's go' XD Sure, go ahead XD

VampirePrinssess: Haha it counts in my book! :D Sorry about the tease hehe

OtEpShAmAyA: I would have too. Bad Bakura, that's disgusting! DX

Impurepet: Aww glad you liked ^^ It was one of my favorite parts to write as well. ^^ Yeah, it was a little ahrsh, I agree, but good for a laugh hehe. Glad you enjoyed!

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Bakura, Marik, Ishizu, or any other character from YuGiOh. They belong to Kazuki Takahashi. I make NO money off of writing in this category.

000

It took me about an hour to organize my stuff on the sidelines so I could vacuum and dust. Bakura had decided to spend his time with me digging through my stuff for 'incriminating evidence'. There wasn't anything he'd find, but if it kept him busy, it was fine. I didn't want him making a mess around the house for my siblings and me to be yelled at for later when my father got home.

"So, question." Bakura said, leafing through an old photo album.

"Yes?" I wondered.

"You said you had friends in Egypt, no?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"I'm the one asking the questions here, Malik."

I glared at him. "Fine then."

"You said they never kept in contact with you?"

"Yeah."

"I don't see any pictures of them."

I shrugged.

"Are you lying to me about having friends back home?"

"No!" I argued, glaring at him. How dare he suggest such a thing? "Try a different album."

"I've looked through them all." Bakura informed, pointing what had once been a neat stack of photo albums.

I groaned at the slight mess. "Alright, so I don't have pictures. That means nothing."

"It means something."

"After we lost contact, I burned them in a bonfire in the backyard with my mother."

That shut him up for a few minutes.

"Why?"

"Why bother keeping memories of the past?" I wondered. "The past won't come back, and keeping photographs won't change that. It'll only make the memories that much stronger and thus hurt more."

He seemed to think that over for a moment. "That makes sense, I guess." He said. "But doesn't it just make the reality that they've basically abandoned you harder to bear? You'll always have the memories inside your head, just not photos to commemorate them."

"I know." I said. "I try not to think about them much. I don't need friends who up and vanish on me."

"Long distance friendships are like long distance relationships. They don't work out."

"Have you ever been in one?"

"Friendship or relationship?"

"…either."

"I didn't have friends back in Britain." He confessed. "I did have a certain…someone…but we drifted apart once I left. Never had an official breakup, but we both know it was over."

"If it's not official, then…"

"We're. Done." He seemed to grow more and more irritated with me.

"Okay, okay, I get it. You're on the market." I waved him off as he fixed me with a 'what the fuck' glare.

"Okay then…as long as you understand that."

"I do." I nodded.

We sat in silence for a minute. "So you're fine just having Ryou?"

"Huh?"

"Instead of your other friends being in your life as well, you're satisfied with Ryou being your only friend? And those idiots you sit with sometimes being companions at best?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, I'm fine with that." What a lie. I wanted nothing more then for Ryou and me to always be friends, but I'd like for me and Bakura to be more in addition. "We're always together and I know if I had to move again, or if he had to ever move, we'd stay in contact."

"What makes you so sure that you would?"

"If you're trying to get me to doubt my friendship with Ryou…"

"I'm not." Bakura insisted. "Just offering an opinion."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm sure we would. He's my best friend. And to be honest, my friends in Egypt were mostly so we wouldn't get beat up. Strength in numbers, you know? Ryou and I…have a better connection."

"Do you think he likes you?"

"What?" I took a step back. "Where did that come from?"

"I've just…noticed certain things." Bakura shrugged. "You're always together, how protective he seems to be of you, some of the looks he gives you…kinda hard to ignore."

"I've…never noticed…" I flushed.

There was no way Ryou had feelings for me. I didn't even know if he was gay or not. Sure, I had a hunch, but he'd never expressly stated it. Not like I did.

Bakura shrugged. "I have." He said. "Same way I've noticed that Seto and Wheeler act like idiots around one another, but they secretly enjoy it."

"Yeah, they enjoy annoying each other."

"Nice try, Blondie, but that's not it." Bakura shook his head. "It's a horribly twisted method of flirting. Like in elementary school where a guy would pull the hair of a girl he liked because he didn't know how else to handle his feelings."

"You think they like one another?" I laughed. "Is everyone at school gay in your eyes?"

"Yugi and Atem sure are."

"Yeah, together." I snickered.

He laughed at that. I wondered if he could see through me as well…

000

The rest of the night had gone off without a hitch. We spent about an hour talking about people that we thought should just get together and get it over with, as well as other miscellaneous meaningless topics. It was like I was sitting there talking to Ryou, not Bakura. It surprised me how much we thought alike in the relationship department. He didn't seem to care whether we were discussing gay, lesbian, or heterosexual relationships; which was a plus for me. He was obviously open. Maybe he would be when I finally decided to open up to him. If I did. Big if. Telling my father, on the other hand, was something that I knew would never happen. I knew he wouldn't react well to it; not that I thought he was homophobic, though he could be. I just didn't want him knowing anything about me other then my name. Which I wasn't sure he remembered half the time, anyway. Ishizu had been the unfortunate one to have to pick him up from the bar. When they returned home, he was stumbling around like a drunk fool, and she had a split lip, a couple scrapes, and a bruise on her cheek. I wanted to hit him myself, but he retreated to his study. I sat in the bathroom with Ishizu as she cleaned her wounds. She rubbed peroxide onto a cut on her left arm with a cotton ball and hissed in pain.

"What happened?" I asked softly.

"He freaked on me for dressing like a 'harlot'." Ishizu muttered.

I looked her over quickly. Hey, I'm gay, it was fine. She was wearing a white dress to just above her ankles, sandals, the necklace mom had given her, and a cropped leather jacket to cover her otherwise bare arms.

"You don't look like a harlot."

"Thanks." She groaned at the bruise on her cheek. "What am I going to do about that?"

"Makeup?" I offered.

She gave me a look. "There is no amount of makeup that will hide this." She informed. "At least it's the weekend, so no school. Maybe it'll clear by Monday."

"But you don't want to stay indoors all day to hide it, do you?"

"No." She sighed. "I guess I'll have to go with makeup. "Go get my kit form my room. The big one that you mistook for a tackle box."

"Okay…" I stood and left the bathroom to go to her room.

I heard my father snoring in his study and risked a peek through the crack between the door and the doorframe. He was slumped over his desk; one arm extended over the front of it, and the other at his side spilling the remains of his beer bottle onto the carpet. Drool was coming from his mouth and sticking to both the table and his grey beard. I silently scoffed, which made him stir, and left to get to Ishizu's room. Her room was at the end of the hall, so I just walked over and pushed it open. Her room was pretty neat compared to mine. A few posters she'd been given by her friends as birthday gifts were on the pale blue walls. The carpet in her room was a muddy brown color that contrasted the walls too much for my taste. The makeup kit she asked for sat on a dresser in the back left corner of her room; opposite of her bed. I walked over and picked up it. It felt pretty heavy, which made me wonder what in the world she was keeping in it. I shook the thoughts from my head and exited her room; careful to silently shut the door behind me. I crept back to the bathroom she was using to find her pulling her hair back into a ponytail; something I hadn't seen her wear since I was still in elementary school and she was in middle school.

"Here." I said. "Do you have a body in here? It's heavy."

She sat the box on the mini dresser containing towels and other toiletries, and opened it up.

"Maybe you're just weak and scrawny." She offered, looking over her makeup with a thoughtful look on her face.

"I am not." I argued.

"Sure you're not." She rolled her eyes and pulled out a seemingly flat, round container and a brush. She opened the container and dabbed the brush in it, before dusting the brush onto the bruise.

"Cover up?"

"Very good." She looked at me in the mirror. "You don't want to borrow, do you?"

"I don't need cover up." I informed, flushing. "Thank you very much."

Despite my seemingly lack of care for how I looked, I had pretty flawless skin. Minus a scratch or two on my arm from drunk dad once and a while, but those weren't there very often, or even visible at all when they occurred.

Ishizu cursed at her reflection and added more powder on the bruise.

"Do you have a different shade?" I wondered. "Darker might cover it up better."

"I want it to match my skin, smart one. I don't have anything darker." Ishizu rolled her eyes. She put the brush and powder down to check herself over in the mirror again. "Better?" She turned to me.

"A little cakey." I informed.

She looked in the mirror again and rubbed at the makeup a little. She turned back to me. "Better?"

"Much."

"It doesn't look wrong or obvious?"

"It looks okay to me." I shrugged. "Better check it outside in the sunlight, though."

"I guess." She sighed. She picked up the bottle of peroxide and put some on another cotton ball, before patting at a scratch again.

"Did anyone see?"

"If they did, they didn't care. Or they passed out before they could do anything." She joked with me. "They're useless, every last one of them."

"Just drunk bastards." I agreed.

She nodded. "Never drink, Marik. It does horrible things to a person."

"I know." I said. "I've seen enough of it over the years since mom passed."

Neither of us spoke again after that.

000

I leaned on the wall outside the movie theatre the next day to wait for Bakura. He said his parents were insisting on dropping him off at the mall themselves, but he was trying to fight it. His friends were going to leave them alone until it was time for us to split. I was secretly dreading having to split from Bakura, but I knew it was necessary. If I asked to hang out with him longer, he'd get suspicious. Plus, I wouldn't be able to go to Ryou's later to hang out. I had called Ryou up after Bakura left, like promised, and he had invited me over. His parents were pretty nice and treated me like a son too. I liked hanging out over there, but I'd never bring Ryou to my house again. Not after the first time.

A sleek, silver sports car pulled up to the curb near where I was waiting. Bakura got out, muttered something angrily to the other two occupants, and slammed the door behind him. He walked over to me; his hands in his pockets and his trench coat blowing out from the wind getting underneath it. The two people in the front were most likely his parents. The woman in the passenger seat was wearing sunglasses and had her black hair in a high ponytail. She smiled with red painted lips at me and flicked a graceful wrist at me in a wave; which I returned. The man driving had short brown hair and also wore sunglasses. He merely nodded in my direction.

"Don't be too friendly." Bakura ordered me, once he was close enough. "Come on, I have errands to run in here." He grabbed me by the arm as I waved goodbye to his parents and dragged me through the double door entrance to the local mall.

The mall was three floors and had a parking garage on the backside. I had walked over, so I didn't need to go into it unless I wanted to loiter or cause trouble.

"Errands, hm?" I wondered, pulling my arm away. "Like what?"

"Mo…Edina's birthday."

"Edina?"

"My…er…mother." He spat out the word like he didn't like it.

"I thought you liked your parents."

"They're okay, but I don't like referring to them as my parents. They're not my parents."

"They're raising you and looking after you, so I'd say that makes them that."

"Your father doesn't do that."

"He's a drunk asshole." I muttered.

Bakura laughed. "I can't argue with that." He said. "Now, what do women like for gifts?"

"Jewelry?"

"She's my mother, not my wife."

"Okay…er…perfume?"

"That's a great idea." He said sarcastically. "Instead of saying 'happy birthday', I'm telling her that she smells bad."

I gave him a look. "I'm offering advice."

"Your advice sucks."

"Money?"

"Er…dad said I have to actually buy her something."

"And you're going to listen?"

He shrugged. "I guess I am. Sure seems that way, doesn't it?"

"Are you sick, Bakura?" I put the back of my hand to his forehead. "You're acting very OOC today."

He slapped my hand away. "Shut it, Malik." He ordered me.

I laughed.

"Your name's Malik? Damn, I've been calling you 'Marik' for so long now…" A voice I recognized as one of dad's drunk friends addressed me.

I groaned inwardly.

"Who's that?" Bakura looked at me strangely.

"Dad's friend." I turned to the blonde male. "It's Marik. Bakura calls me Malik to annoy me is all."

"Is this your boyfriend then, fruitcake?" He laughed loudly and I smelled alcohol on his breath.

Bakura cocked an eyebrow.

"No, he's just a friend from school." I replied, trying my damnedest to hide my blush.

"So you're single then? Good to know." He put an arm around my neck.

I felt my skin crawl as I tried to pull away. "Not my type, sorry." I replied.

He held tighter. "Oh, come on. I bet I could show you the grownup side of the world, hm?" He ran a finger down my cheek.

"Stop." I ordered.

"Make me, kiddo." He leaned down and tried to kiss me, but Bakura pulled me out from under his arm.

"He sad to stop it." Bakura informed, folding his arms and stepping in between us. "I suggest you do so and move along."

The man cocked an eye at Bakura. "And what are you going to do about it, kid?" He reached out and shoved Bakura's shoulder.

Bakura took a step back and growled at the man. "Put your hand on me or him one more time and watch what I do to you."

"Are you threatening me? I'll have you know that I'm a lawyer."

"Oh yeah? Probably so you can get your drinking buddies out of troubles with their DWIs, huh?" Bakura smirked.

I knew he liked to fight, but this was stupid. This guy was drunk, first off, and second; Bakura was in enough trouble as it was, without this added to it. But he was defending me. I felt my heart sour at the thought, but I didn't let it show.

"You wanna go, brat?" The man swung at Bakura, only to have his fist stopped by Bakura's in the blink of an eye. "Huh?" He swung with his other hand, but Bakura caught that one too.

"Hey, guess what." Bakura told him.

"What?" The man snarled.

Bakura slammed his forehead into the man's and tossed him to the side by the fists. The man went flying into the nearby water fountain. By now, a group of people had gathered around us to watch the scene. The man groaned as he tried to stand up, but he slipped and clocked his head against the fountain. Bakura laughed at that.

"I told you not to touch me." Bakura informed.

The man groaned and used the side of the fountain to pull himself up. He was slumped over and bleeding, but he didn't seem fazed. But the fact that he was drunk made it unsurprising to me. He stumbled in our direction, despite people's attempts to grab and stop him. He formed a fist in his left hand and rushed at us. Bakura ducked down and put his leg out. The guy tripped over his leg and then was sent crashing to the ground when Bakura slammed his elbow into his back. I had to step back to avoid the guy landing on my shoes. He tried to grab at my ankle, but I kicked him off and away from me.

"Don't touch me either." I ordered. "You're drunk, you old pervert."

He scrambled up and reached for me again, but Bakura grabbed him by the collar and slammed him down to the ground on his back.

Bakura leaned close to the man. "He said not to touch him." He growled. "If you really want your ass beat, keep coming at us."

The man stared at him with frightened eyes until Bakura cocked a smirk and backed away. I heard whistles and looked over. Mall Security Officers were coming over on Segways. I groaned. I didn't need this…

"What is going on over here?" The thinner, balding one asked.

The two of them surveyed the area as I sidled up next to Bakura. Uniformed personnel scared me a little, even if they were only Security Guards.

"Well, that disgrace of a human being is drunk off his ass." Bakura pointed. "He wouldn't leave my friend alone, and kept touching him, so I pulled him away. He attacked me, and I fought back."

The grey haired one groaned. "Bakura, seriously?" He wondered. "Don't I see enough of you around here, causing trouble with your usual friends? Why are you bringing some new kid into your troubles?"

"It wasn't Bakura's fault!" I informed. "He put his arm around me and kept making advances, but wouldn't stop when I said to. Bakura just got him off of me and defended me is all."

The two guards looked at one another.

"I'd like to believe you, kid, but due to Bakura's history…"

"It's true." An older woman told the officers. "The drunk, older man wouldn't get his hands off of this one here." She pointed to me. "He did what any good friend would do and helped him out of a mess. I saw the whole thing."

"Well…"

"I saw it too!" A teenager with a skateboard under his arm added. "Pervert asked him if he was single, then kept trying to put moves on him. The old man struck first, though!"

"He pushed the one in the coat, and he told him to not do it again, but he did and the boy reacted." The woman went on. "Let them go, please, would you?"

The officers shared a look and talked it over quietly.

"Alright, you boys can go, now, but keep out of more trouble, alright?" The balding one got off his Segway and hauled the drunk to his feet. "On the other hand, you're coming with us for public intoxication and assault on a minor." He hopped back on the Segway, pulling the drunk behind him by the arm.

People clapped and parted for the officers as they left. The crowd began to disperse; but the woman and the teen that helped us stayed behind.

"No one's…ever done that for me before…" Bakura informed them.

"He means 'thank you'." I smiled at them. "From both of us." I elbowed the silverette in the gut.

"Just doing what's right, hon." She smiled at me. "Just stay out of trouble, okay?"

"We will." We both answered.

She walked off. The teenager smiled at us.

"I can't believe you two are hanging together." He laughed, flipping his hair out of his eyes with a twist of his head.

Who was he?

"Zip it." Bakura ordered. "You never saw us." He handed him a twenty from his pocket. "Take this, and forget what you saw here, hm?"

The boy shook his head and declined the money. "I saw nothing." He winked, then hopped on his skateboard and took off.

"So…um…thanks…" I told Bakura.

He jammed his hands in his pockets. "No big deal." He shrugged one shoulder. "I hate drunks, and I hate perverts. He combined both of them. Then he touched me. I don't let a lot of people do that."

Just to test him, I put my hand on his shoulder. He looked from my hand to my face, then back to my hand, my face again, and a last time at my hand.

"You're not funny." He took a hand from his pocket and peeled it off.

"So I'm one of the people that can touch you, then?" I laughed. "Good to know."

He rolled his eyes. "I told you I don't like perverts, Malik." He winked and walked away form me.

"Wait a minute…if you're the one who thought of that first, doesn't that make you the pervert, Bakura?"

He laughed as he walked.

"Bakura?" I chased after him.