A/N: Alright, so I kind of lied about how long this chapter was going to be…I mean, it is pretty long, but I actually had to cut it in half because it was getting ridiculously long. So a considerable amount of plot and angst is coming out next week…ehehehe yah, don't kill me! T_T
Disclaimer: Not Mine!
"Please pull out the packages I gave you at the beginning of class. You'll see that there are two slots for names –yes only two, no matter how much you beg –and I will be allowing you to pick your partners for this project," Sato-sensei announced, only to be cut off by a ripple of excitement and outbreaks of chatter around the room.
"But remember," she continued, raising her voice above it, "this is a culminating assignment. You will be assigned an ancient civilization, and you will write a report on it. It will be worth ten percent of your final grade, so please, do yourself a favour and pick a responsible partner." With that said, she shot a meaningful glare in Bakura's direction.
He chuckled darkly, causing several people around him to shiver, making sure Sato-sensei know that she was only fuelling his penchant for mischief.
Malik quietly flicked his gaze over to the back of Bakura's head, wondering if he was the only one that found that trademark laugh a little sexy.
Sato-sensei continued to give them their final instructions for the project, but it was obvious that she'd lost most of the classes' attention, yet again.
Most people were glancing around furtively, some to be sure they'd get the partner they wanted, others probably fearing they'd get stuck with one of the deadbeats because they didn't know who to ask.
It was like a poorly planned, last minute Sadie Hawkins dance, only Mariku was in on it as well. In fact, it was fairly obvious what he was thinking, given the way he was staring over at Ryou in a focused manner.
Just as Bakura began to ponder what he'd have to do to get Malik to willingly work with him, he felt something scrape the back of his neck, and then hit the floor with a rustle. Peering behind him, he cussed under his breath, twisting an arm at an unnatural angle to scoop up the balled up piece of paper.
For the sake of whoever it was that threw it, and he had a good idea of who had, he flattened the paper out on his lap, and read it to himself, rather than making it a public joke. It read in a familiar, barely legible kanji:
Those two both need to grow a pair, or at least one between the two of them.
Bakura scoffed, but had to agree with the kid; it had been over a week since their little 'birthday kiss' and Ryou was still being a wimp, not to mention Mariku never told him to man up.
Picking up his pencil, he pondered what to write, and then smirked as an idea came to his devious mind.
Malik's eyes bore into the back of Bakura's head. He probably shouldn't have written that note; it was like he was constantly screaming 'boy crush', but he just couldn't help it lately.
Ever since Bakura made that comment about something only having as much meaning as you gave it, he hadn't been able to dislodge the boy or the torturous thoughts about how gay it was of him to want to find out more about what meaning Bakura had given that kiss.
Finally, Bakura turned around non-too-subtly, tossing him a roguish wink, before throwing the wadded up paper so it landed perfectly on Malik's desk. The younger boy made a noise of discontent.
Why was it that Bakura could land it perfectly? What was so Ra-damned special about him?
Unfolding it quickly, he was unsurprised to find that the darker strokes of the Thief King's pencil were happy to criticize him on that as well.
Your aim is shit, it read, but I suppose if you're begging, we can work together. Might get those two to stop being so fucking pathetic. If it doesn't work, you owe me my second jacket back.
Malik rolled his eyes at Bakura's typical comment. The Thief King apparently wasn't all that great of a thief, or so Malik argued, because he owned a total of two school uniforms, and he'd left one of the boring, blue jackets at Malik's house when they were 'conserving body heat' together.
Of course, Malik was hardly going to bring it to school with him; their classmates already thought Mariku and Ryou were totally gay for each other, and grouped Malik in with them.
Bakura refused to haul his ass over to the Ishtar house without turning it into some sort of joke about his sexuality, so Malik, in response, refused to return the jacket.
After he found out about their little tiff over the jacket, Mariku had taken to bursting into his room at night in hopes of walking in on Malik cuddling it or something, but he hadn't managed to.
In fact, it was just hanging in Malik's closet, untouched except for when Malik first picked it up…okay, picked it up and maybe tried it on.
His ego was a little injured to find that, despite having a few inches on Bakura, the jacket wasn't quite as form fitting on Malik as it was on his owner.
Although, perhaps he should be grateful for Bakura's extra pounds in muscle, it had helped when he had picked him up on their impromptu 'date'…Malik felt a flush crawling into his cheeks, and shook it off impatiently. This obsessive crushing needed to end.
Just as he began to consider what he would write back, something to refute his little 'begging' comment, Sato-sensei released the class, and a sudden flurry of chaos prevented him from moving, let alone tossing a note.
Stuffing it in his bag, he barely had it away when someone approached his desk. He straightened up in his seat with a denial on his lips, only to have it die off.
It was…a girl.
Ra, he felt gay thinking that.
Still, with the people he'd taken to hanging out with, he didn't exactly have a lot of opportunity or desire to be talking with any girls. Like there wasn't enough drama between the four of them already.
"Err, can I help you…Len-san?" He asked, hoping his pause to recall her name wasn't too long.
"Well, since this is a project focusing on ancient civilizations, and you're Egyptian, I thought perhaps we could work together," she suggested in a quiet but confident tone.
Bakura, who had tuned into the exchange when Jinoto-san shot out of her seat in order to beat him to Malik's seat, gave a 'tch' of disapproval over her offer, though it was perfectly proper and respectful.
His little challenge changed that though, as she shot him a hard look for interrupting, and added, "Len-chan has the highest marks in the class, and Malik-kun must be very smart as well to have skipped ahead of his year."
This time, Malik blinked slightly in shock. Before, it had seemed a little weird that she was offering, but the use of her name in third person was a clear signal that was hoping for something more than a school partner.
"That's a, um, nice offer, but I…I already promised Bakura that I would…work with him…" Malik mumbled, feeling a nasty sinking sensation in his stomach. This confrontation was doing nothing for his status as straight, and he was afraid to look around in case anyone else was watching.
Bakura seemed to sense his discomfort, because, in true Bakura style, he strutted over like he owned the floor he walked on, and smirked just to make his gloating that much clearer.
Giving Bakura another unhappy look, she said, "ah, I see. I was hoping you weren't…but I suppose I should have known better." With that said, she promptly walked away in search of a new partner.
Malik stared after her, digesting her words, and then nearly jumped out of his seat in shock when Bakura plunked himself down beside him.
"What did she mean by that? Hoping I wasn't, what, already taken? It's not a crime to already have a partner…err, I mean to have chosen a guy as my…as my…oh fuck, why does everything I say around you always make me sound so gay?" Malik snarled irritably, glaring at the girl's retreating figure.
"Maybe because you are gay?" Bakura offered helpfully, propping his feet up on the desk lazily.
"I am no such thing," Malik insisted with a glower, before shoving Bakura's feet off his desk top immaturely.
"Besides, you're the only one who would benefit from me being gay, seeing as you'd do anything that had two legs and the right attachments," Malik sniffed haughtily, eyes darting around to see if anyone was listening in on their exchange.
"So you're admitting that you'd let me do you if you were gay?" Bakura replied with a raised eyebrow, completely ignoring Malik's snipe at his sexuality.
"Why do you talk about doing me so much? I realize I am rather attractive, but surely there is someone you'd rather pester into sleeping with you," Malik all but pleaded, finding this sort of conversation much more humiliating in the middle of a classroom surrounded by his sempai, rather than in a small, quite café.
"Fine, I'll let that part go if it bothers you so much," Bakura finally relented, and, while Malik was slightly surprised by how easy it was, he was too relieved to much care why.
"I do want to know, however, why you think I'm the only one who you think would benefit. You said it yourself, you're attractive. There're lots of guys who would give you more than a one night stand," Bakura commented curiously with a piercing stare that had Malik squirming uncomfortably in his seat.
"I…can we please drop this? Talk about the project or whatever we're supposed to be doing?" Malik asked weakly, but Bakura held his ground. His face might as well have been carved of marble for all the letting up he was doing.
Sighing, Malik said in an embarrassedly, frustrated tone, "Because, nobody wants to be 'the gay guy', Bakura. It's not as easy to find someone who would want an actually relationship, as it is to find someone who will sleep with you."
Bakura gave him a disbelieving look, that, and it was hard for Malik to be certain he wasn't self-projecting, seemed tinged with a little hurt.
"What? It's true; you're the only guy I know other than our nii-san's who would be open about that sort of relationship, and you Touzoku's certainly don't seem all that eager about it."
"Tch, what's the point in having something if you're not going to brag about it? And don't compare me to Ryou, he's" –
"I'm what?" Ryou's voice suddenly interrupted, standing over the two quarrelling friends with what he probably assumed was a threatening posture.
In reality, he looked more like a ka-san who was scolding her naughty children, complete with hands on his hips. The sound of the lunch bell ringing in the background didn't do much to take away from the image.
"You're partnering with Mariku," Bakura improvised, and Malik glared at him. "Well, you should partner with Mariku if he ever wants to get to second base," Bakura added, and Malik gave a sound of exasperation, thankful that their classmates were starting to file out of the room, eager to escape for lunch.
"Stop being such an ass, working together on a project hardly means that they're dating, let alone rounding the bases," Malik corrected, trying to go easy on Ryou's fragile nature, despite his earlier words about wanting to see the 'couple' man up.
The damage was already done, as was clear from Ryou's wide chocolate eyes that were staring doubtfully at Mariku.
"Well I…I don't mind working on the project, but…I-I…I can't" –
"Oh, shut up about the 'I can't' shit. These two can hardly talk, they're partnered up, but the fruit can't admit he's hot for the thief, and the thief can't even steal the one thing he wants," Mariku accused Bakura and Malik, the latter who flushed slightly.
If this surprised Mariku, he didn't have time to show it, because, following his announcement, he attempted to put an arm around Ryou's slender hips, but he practically flew backwards to avoid the coming embrace.
"Oi, what" –Mariku started to whine, but Ryou stepped strategically backwards out of range, arms wrapped around himself tightly.
"I'm sorry, but please…please don't touch me. I'm not really comfortable with that right now," Ryou said, tone quivering somewhere between nervous tremors and emotionless deadpan.
"Why the fuck not?" Bakura asked, narrowing crimson-tinted eyes at Ryou, as though daring him to confess something.
Malik shook his head at 'the game', as he had not-so-fondly dubbed it. The game, which entailed Bakura and Mariku taking turns using brusque, infective methods to shake the source of Ryou's psychological scarring out of him, didn't seem to do anything productive.
In fact, at times, it seemed almost as though Bakura was more trying to keep Ryou from revealing anything personal than trying to make him confess anything.
"You know why," Ryou whispered in a voice that fell more on the tremor side this time, large eyes glossy with tears he, thankfully, never shed in public.
"No, I don't," Bakura replied bluntly.
"You…you do, you both do," Ryou mumbled in an almost confused tone, casting his eyes ashamedly to the ground. With a sound suspiciously like a snarl, Bakura shot up from his seat and closed the distance between them with two strides.
One pale hand nearly disappeared in Ryou's mass of white hair, the only sign of it snagging a purchase being Ryou's cry of pain which was quickly followed by his head snapping backwards awkwardly.
"I said, no, I don't," Bakura said in a quiet, ominous tone.
Malik stood slowly, feeling the tension in the air, as though it were a tangible thing. It seemed like something in the elder Touzoku twin had snapped, a level of patience which he normally held that was no longer there.
Why was he suddenly pushing Ryou like this? Normally, it seemed as though he didn't want anyone to even mention their personal life, least of all the Touzoku's.
"S-stop, Bakura," Ryou begged in a ragged tone, as he began to hyperventilate, "p-please, I can't…I can't get it out of my head…please let her go!"
Bakura did, indeed, let go, but not of a 'her', since the only person he appeared to be holding was Ryou.
"Don't be so weak," Bakura scoffed gruffly, though there was a slightly twisted expression on his face which one might call pain, or fear, or even…regret?
"Weak?" Ryou whispered, again with that heart wrenching kicked-puppy expression.
"Touzoku-san!" A sharp voice called out, and Malik's head swung in its direction, surprised to see Sato-sensei behind it. She looked weary as ever, but always ready to butt heads with the Thief King.
"Leave your onii-san alone. It looks like he's going to pass out," Sato-sensei chided, frowning lightly before turning to Ryou.
"Are you alright, Touzoku-chan? Do you want to go to the nurse?" Malik twitched slightly at the insulting use of 'chan' on a practically full grown boy's name, and it prompted him to speak up.
"Yah, you don't look so good, Ryou. I'll take you to Hiroto-sensei's office," he offered kindly. Ryou looked at him in an injured way, seeing dishonesty in his sympathetic offer.
Glancing to Sato-sensei, who was hesitating at the front of the classroom, he said quietly, "yes…I'll let Malik take me. Thank you, Sato-sensei…" he trailed off, seeming to lose his voice for a moment.
Obviously, this did little to convince Sato-sensei of his well being, but she had no choice but to nod uncertainly and continue on her way out the door. It fell silent once she was gone; Ryou's gaze focused once more on the floor.
Malik stared awkwardly between the two Touzoku's, not sure how to manoeuvre around this particular situation.
"So…do you…actually want to go?" Malik asked uncertainly, and Ryou cast him a peculiar look.
"You weren't just trying to trap me here?" Ryou asked in a confused tone, only serving to further confound Malik.
One minute, Ryou was a totally innocent kid, practically effeminate in his sweetness, but the next, he was seeing shadows where there were none.
"No, it's none of my business what issues you and Bakura have in your past. Everyone has issues, and not everyone likes to talk about them," Malik said, tossing Bakura a warning glance. Bakura simply curled his lip proudly, making a disapproving sound.
"You're just making him weaker by not making him confront his fear. He'll never get over it if you enable him," Bakura grumbled, but seemed to have retreated from whatever ledge he'd been perched on earlier.
In fact, he seemed ready to let it go, despite his words about enabling, when Ryou suddenly spoke up again.
"Weak?" He repeated softly, looking up at Bakura with haunted eyes that lacked their usual, weary mask. "You're calling me weak, Bakura?" Bakura seemed to flinch at the words, though they hardly seemed accusing in such a soft tone.
"Don't," Bakura growled, immediately going on the offense. Ryou merely stared him down with solemn eyes. "Don't drag me into your little distorted vision, Ryou. We were nine. Nine year olds aren't responsible for anything other than spending their two dollar allowance on trading cards."
This time, it was Ryou's turn to flinch, a slightly more panicked expression overtaking his face.
"I-I didn't know that would happen if I told him…you never told me he would…" Ryou's mumbling was becoming more chaotic, guilt strewn heavily over his words, as he tangled his hands in his hair fretfully.
"I didn't know, either. Just because I've never been as soft as you doesn't mean I knew better," Bakura scoffed, allowing his frustration to loosen his lips.
This wasn't something he talked about, and the way it had come up with Malik mere days ago…he wouldn't willingly admit it, but it left him shaken. Some sadistic part of him needed to either let it all out or at least know that Ryou was more damaged over it than he was.
Because no matter how much Bakura pretended it didn't affect him and that he had rationalized away all his guilt…he couldn't. And the situation with Malik had only reminded him of that.
Ironically, at the moment, despite Bakura's small confession the last week, Malik was staring at Mariku, hoping that there someone equally confused.
Mariku, however, had remained strangely silent this whole time, shifting his gaze between the two Touzoku's as they spoke, in an eerily calm way.
"You must have known better. You tried to do something. You must have known," Ryou all but chanted, though doubt was apparent on his face, and doing nothing to calm him.
"I knew it was wrong when he started hurting ka-san, that doesn't mean I could read his mind to know what would happen if I let you tell him where we lived," Bakura retorted, "and don't you start fucking going off about how I knew something you didn't know. I know the exact same things you do –I was practically sitting on you in that bloody closet."
"I don't know anything," Malik offered helpfully, getting impatient of this back and forth with no one bothering to fill him in.
"And it should stay that way," Bakura snarled fiercely, realizing that the situation was slipping out of his control rapidly. He had practically forgotten that the Ishtar brothers were here.
"Well it's too late now. You two have been arguing about it right in front of us, we have a right to know what the hell this is all about, especially Mariku," Malik replied, irritated that Bakura would spill so much and then decide it was a personal matter.
"Like I deserve the right to know why Mariku apparently off-ed your otou-san?" Bakura bit back in a scathingly acidic tone.
So Malik wanted to play that way? Fine, he wasn't the only one who had some skeletons in the closet.
At this, Mariku's head snapped up, and his dark, mauve gaze zeroed in on Malik's quickly paling face.
"I told him last week," Malik answered the unasked question miserably, knowing he was in shit now, "he was talking about his imouto, Amane-chan, and I just…I got caught up in my memories." "
Well, by all means, let's make the creampuff even more terrified of me, why don't we?" Mariku snapped sarcastically, gaze flickering darkly over to Ryou, who shuddered under his contemptuous look.
"Besides, you were the one who couldn't take the abuse anymore. He never had the balls to lay a finger on me," Mariku continued to rage, the first signs of a breakdown showing as he started to pace like a caged tiger.
Despite his calm performance as he listened to the two Touzoku's arguing, it had obviously been getting to him, as well.
"Well, no need to worry, his balls certainly got enough action while you were busy making yourself scarce, onii-san," Malik hissed, lavender eyes narrowing in his tanned face, shame rising in the form of a dark flush.
"And I fixed that mistake, didn't I? When you came crawling to me, because you couldn't make yourself kill him despite the way he dishonoured you? I did it for you, and I even made sure he never had a proper burial. I told you whatever I needed to tell you to appease your guilt, and then I got us the hell out of there. Didn't I do enough?" Spittle was practically flying from Mariku's lips, as he grew more animated in his fury.
Ryou cowered away from him, and even Bakura was a little disturbed by the raw emotion behind Mariku's slightly mad words.
No wonder he had had such an, ah, attitude adjustment after arriving in Japan.
"Your otou-san raped you?" Bakura finally asked, and Malik's expression grew stormier, an icy look taking over.
"Yes. I told you I wasn't a virgin," he said bluntly with a harsh laugh.
"He raped Malik…and you killed him?" Ryou suddenly said in a strained voice, looking up at Mariku with a mix of awe and terror.
His only answer was a pair of dark, tortured eyes locking with his own to confirm.
"That's better than I did," Ryou murmured shamefully, "But you already know that…"
"Why do you always insist I know something?" Mariku snapped, stalking closer to Ryou, though the other boy's fragility seemed to have somewhat brought him back from his volatile state.
"Because if it's about the shit I said to you when we were kids, you should have realized by now I had just gutted my own otou-san, I hardly knew what I was talking about," Mariku continued, gaze still following Ryou's every movement carefully.
Ryou all but whimpered, backing away slowly.
"You know, though. Every time you t-told me not to look at y-you…because I was dirty…b-because I had seen things…t-the stories you told me…it was like you were there…and I always trusted you, just like I trusted him…but y-you were just like h-him, I-I shouldn't have trusted you, but I d-did! You would have hurt her too, and I still wouldn't have d-done anything," Ryou stammered, sounding crazier by the minute, as his breathing grew ragged, and he gnawed his lip to hold back the coming tears.
Bakura finally stepped in, clamping a hand to his distraught nii-san's shoulder.
"That's enough story tell" –he began, but Mariku ducked underneath his arm and came up forcibly between the two Touzoku's, both arms entrapping Ryou's waist.
The poor boy's breath caught noticeably in his throat –and didn't seem to start flowing again after that. He simply stood, petrified, in Mariku's grasp.
"If you're so fucking scared of whatever the hell I have in common with whoever the hell hurt your imouto, then why don't you do something?" Mariku pressed, shaking him slightly.
Ryou began to weep more openly, tearing at his hair frantically now, and Malik got the feeling that the demon Ryou was fighting wasn't the 'him' of his past, or Mariku right now, but inside of Ryou himself.
"Because I want you," Ryou finally let out in a voice that clung to the edge between moaning and screaming in pain. "And I wanted him, too; I thought he was…I thought he was good and I wanted him. I didn't understand…I was only nine…I didn't understand what my wanting him meant, and I didn't know what he would do once he knew where ka-san and Amane-chan were. I didn't know why it was hurting them, but I didn't do anything because he was doing the things that he did to me. I…I knew it was hurting them, but I still…I didn't do anything, and o-onii-san tried to help…but he wasn't strong enough. Then when he dragged us into the closet to hide, I still…I didn't know…and I didn't…I trusted him…" Ryou's sentences began to break down, as he babbled about 'him' and 'them' and the evidently gruesome events leading up to his ka-san and imouto's death.
He ended up on his bottom on the classroom floor, clutching his knees to his chest, as he sobbed brokenly.
Mariku, who seemed to be taking this much more easily than Ryou was, stared down at him for a moment, and then sank to the ground beside him.
"Choose me," the Egyptian, with his wild blond hair murmured persuasively, staring straight into Ryou's teary face.
"W-what?" Ryou stammered in confusion, trying to wipe away his tears even as they continued to flow.
"You didn't get to choose him. He took advantage of you when you were too young to know better, so you thought what he was doing was okay, and you led him right back to your family, right?" Mariku asked in the same weirdly intense voice, rooting Ryou to the spot with his gaze.
Slowly, the pale boy nodded, unable to do anything else.
"If you choose me, I'll protect you, and Bakura will protect Malik. You'll never have to worry about your family again. The only reason I remind you of him is because I took advantage of your innocence and obsessed over you in the past. I'm not actually like him."
The more Mariku talked, the more Ryou's nodding increased, until he looked like a bobble head, reaching out a needy hand to tug on Mariku's shirt.
"Yes…yes, you were so much like him in that way…it made me want you, and it was so…it scared me, because it kept reminding me of him," Ryou agreed in a nervous tone, eyes wide, but bright for once, as though this really were a new concept to him.
Mariku slowly reached up his larger hand, and slid it over Ryou's in a secure grasp.
"So, this time, you choose me. I told you before; you're the one with all the power here. You know exactly how to break me, if you want to. Do you like that, little mouse?" He asked with small chuckle, as Ryou swayed forward, heavily lidded eyes showing how intoxicated he was by Mariku's words.
A part of his brain vaguely told him that he'd walked this road before, and that it hadn't ended well.
Bakura had always been the strong one, especially since Amane died in consequence of Ryou's trustingly innocent nature. But this time there was something more powerful between them.
Ryou had had no control last time, with the man of his past or with Mariku's psychological torture. Already, he found himself practically sitting in Mariku's lap and completely at his mercy.
Those bulging muscles that Ryou had seen more than his fair share of could easily break him in half –and yet, Mariku claimed to be no more potent than a kitten when Ryou rejected him or pushed him away.
In a way, he did have power over the unstable Egyptian.
"You wouldn't ever…hurt someone?" Ryou asked hesitantly.
"Not unless they hurt you," Mariku promised, slowly drawing his fragile prize closer.
"Not even my otou-san?" Ryou continued to press, a strain of anxiety showing when he brought up his otou-san.
Mariku made a small face, knowing how Ryou's 'loving' otou-san had dealt with the death of his wife and daughter –certainly not in a way that favoured his still living sons.
"No, not if you didn't want me to," he managed, and Ryou let out a shuddering sigh of relief, looking down at the floor shakily. Reaching out again, Mariku grasped Ryou's hair in one hand, and his waist in another.
"Choose me, Ryou," he breathed in a desperate voice.
Malik almost felt embarrassed to be watching. It was something very personal that was treading the line of seductive, romantic, and a depth that he couldn't quite put a name to.
"When I do this," Mariku continued, seeing the flicker of fear in Ryou's eyes when he grasped at the boy's hair, "it's because I want you to feel how much I want you. You're broken and imperfect, but I'm addicted to that imperfection. So choose me, and let me prove that I'm not perfect, either, but I'll keep trying to be. As long as I can feel you holding onto me, I won't let anything else get broken."
"Please…please, I want that so badly," Ryou managed in a wobbly voice before launching himself into some sort of koala-hug-attack at Mariku's neck.
There was definitely the muffled sound of tears, but Mariku was holding the smaller boy so tightly that it was near impossible to see him except for a couple puffs of white hair.
A/N: Abrupt cut-offs for the win! So…that was probably horribly confusing to most of you (as it was supposed to be) but worry not! The reason the second half of this chapter is so long is because it goes into detail about what happened in the Ishtar's AND the Touzoku's past. I just didn't think it was a good idea to randomly have a 10, 000+ word chapter in the middle of the story.
Oh, and it would actually make my life if someone were to notice the lyrics I inserted in this chapter which come from the song that inspired this story ;)
