Day 104

4/4/2016 - Monday - Ishizu's Birthday

PART II

It's late when I am back in Bakura's room. Four o'clock. But no work today, since it's Monday!

Bakura isn't there. I undress and put my shopping bags on the bed. I take out my shirts and the purse. Hah, it's so nice to have new clothes! I wore Bakura's for four months now, I am glad for the three shirts. And the weights. Finally I can properly train again!

The window opens and in comes a coughing Bakura, sniffling and glooming.

"Hey," I grin.

"Hey," he mumbles, clearing his throat. He comes closer, smelling like cigarettes.

"Right." I stand up and reach into the coat's pocket. "Here." He sits down and I throw the box and his lighter into his lap. "You forgot those."

"Yup. Had to buy new ones. And use match sticks." He takes the box and lighter and puts them aside. "What's this all about?" He grabs one of the shirts with both hands and hold it up. "Woah, ugly."

"Hey!" I snatch it out of his grasp. "It's not!" I look at it myself. Bright blue with a red thin stripes and red rectangles. "It's cool."

Bakura gives me a half-grin. "If you say so." He turns back to my pile and looks at the other two shirts, then pulls out the purse and starts laughing. "Seriously? A pineapple?" He turns it around to see it from every angle. "Weirdest wallet ever."

"Yeah, a pineapple," I grumble and take it away from him. "It's cool."

"If you say so!" he repeats and gets up. That's when I notice that he has something on his hair. Something grey. "Who needs wallets. Where do you got the money from? I'm gonna go shower."

"Hey, wait," I say softly and touch his shoulder.

"What?" He stops and looks at me.

"You've got ashes from your cigarette on your hair."

"Mmh." He's not looking away, but holds the eye contact. I'm still grabbing his shoulder but he doesn't seem to mind. "Get it out then," he says impatiently, since I don't move but stare into his eyes.

"Yup," I reply and lift my other hand. He still gazes at me, while I wipe away the ash crumbs out of his white hair. I forgot to breath and take a big intake of air. "There. Gone," I sigh, looking into his eyes.

"Thanks," he murmurs and leaves the proximity.

I bite my lip and watch him take off his jacket. Damn it, I should have gone in for a kiss, right? Or shouldn't I? Argh, whatever, the chance is gone!

"So what happened? Did you broke into a bank or how can you afford this junk?" He sits down to take off his shoes.

"No." I take a seat below, on my mattress. "I met Ishizu and Rishid, I told you."

"Oh yeah, right. And?"

"And Rishid is having difficulties with Dad. It's so sad! I would like to meet Dad but Rishid says we have to wait."

"What difficulties? And did your brother pay for the stuff or what?"

I tell him everything. He seems somewhat interested as he asks questions about my siblings. When I tell him about the waffles, I also ask him what his favorite fruit is. He blinks, then smiles iritated and tells me that it's strawberries. Aww. "And yours?" he asks.

"Blueberries. Or Raspberries? Mm, not sure. I like berries."

He frowns as I tell him about Ishizu's problems with her boyfriend - I avoid calling him by his first name and only mention that he's rich - and Rishid's inability to bond with his co-workers. "Should you be telling me all of this?"

I pout and glance down. "You've been asking questions. Thought it would kinda interest you."

He shakes his head. "No, I mean: Is it okay for your siblings if you tell me about their problems?"

"Hm, why not? It's not like I'm telling you about their favorite positions in bed."

He frowns more. "I don't like that."

"Why?"

"It means you're telling them about me as well, don't you."

Oh. "Not really. Just how you're feeling. If we've been fighting. Nothing really personal, you know."

"Mh."

"Really, I'm not telling anyone about anything too intimate."

"You're sure?" He stands up and goes towards the door. "I wanted to shower," he mumbles.

"Okay, I did tell Ishizu about Akefia, but I'm gonna stop!" I say and shift on my mattress towards him.

He turns around to me, still frowning. His mouth's corner are pointing downwards.

"You clearly don't like me telling her about that, so I'm not gonna do it anymore. I'm sorry."

He shrugs. "Okay, thanks. Just feels weird that somebody knows of this besides... you."

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have told her."

He shrugs more and nods. "It's fine." He gives me a smile and lifts his fist, pointing behind himself with his thumb. "Jus' gonna go shower, then we can grab some lunch, hm?"

I smile back. "Awesome, yes. I'm waiting!"

He holds our eye contact and smile until he turns around and leaves the room.

I'm not sure, but he seemed sad, didn't he? Probably still thinking of 'K' and whatever happened leading him to leave spring break early. He wasn't angry about me telling my siblings stuff, not really, but he didn't like it. Ugh, I should've seen that coming; of course he wouldn't like me telling other people about him.

Alright, I can put the dumbbells under Bakura's bed. There's lot of dust under here again, though I just cleaned it up last week. I wonder whether I may put the shirts in his wardrobe, since I don't really have one, just that cardboard box.

When he comes back he's as usually naked, only the towel protecting him from my curious eyes. "Where do you wanna go? Pizza or 31?" His hair looks terrible when it's wet. No order in sight, every strain just fused together looking like a big marshmallow.

"Some day I'm gonna comb you," I sigh and sit down on my mattress.

He chuckles and goes to his closet, taking out clothes to wear. "So? Where d'you wanna go?"

"Mmm, aren't there any other places? I'm tired of pizza and that pub."

"You were there twice. But okay, we can go to McDonalds or dunno. Can't afford anything more fancy, you know that."

We kinda sound like a married couple, don't we. "Yeah, right. I don't care then. You chose. Say, can I put those shirts in your closet? I also put the weights under your bed if that's okay."

He sighs and turns around, clothes between his hands. "Shirts are okay, weights not." He sits down and gives me a glare, wanting me to turn away.

Which I do. "Why not?"

He's rustling, putting on clothes. "Cause it's stupid. My room is full with crap, yours is practically empty."

It's true, but... "But I'm down here anyways, so-"

"No 'but'. It's my room, so shut up."

I growl as answer. But okay. His room, his decision. Stop being so pushy, Marik. Stop being Dad.

Though I would like to have had an excuse to exercise and show off my muscles in front of him.

We agree to look at the train station for something different to eat. There are a lot of fast food shops, Bakura says. When I tell him that I've only been to McDonalds once - on my first day here with Jaden - he's surprised. My father's strict I tell him, and he says that it's actually a good thing to avoid that kind of food.

But since we're both poor, we don't really have much of a choice.

I put on Bakura's coat and take my few dollar to put them into my new purse. To my surprise, there's already money in it. "Oh, Rishid," I mumble.

Bakura takes me to a different kind of fast food restaurant, a 'Subway'. That's the one with the sandwiches, which should be a bit healthier than Macces, I suppose. The prices are higher though.

We order each a large sub, the cheapest kind there is, each is $5.55 and sit down. I payed for my own.

I unwrap my spicy italian sub and take my first bite. "Sho we goongh to deh sheenamah shoon?" I ask.

Bakura stares at me and blinks once. "We what? Please swallow first." He frees his sub. It's a BLT: Bacon, Tomato, Lettuce.

"We can go to the cinema soon!" I repeat after gulping. "Hey, this doesn't taste bad."

"Can we? Thought you need the bank card and all."

"Rishid put some money in my purse. He must have done it after he bought it. Isn't he sweet?"

Bakura blinks and nods. "Yes, that's very... sweet." He snorts a chuckle and continues eating.

"Whgat?" I ask with my mouth full.

"Ugh Marik, I don't need to see the contents of your mouth." He shrugs. "Kind of weird to see- uh, hear of such a good relationship between brothers."

"Mm, Rishid is much older than me. He's more like a second Dad for me, you know."

"M-hm. How old is he?"

"Twentyfive."

"Hm. That's really some kind of difference."

We eat for a few minutes in silence. A couple comes into the restaurant and I watch them order food and interact with each other. On second thought, they might not be a couple, but simply friends. Weird how one always assumes that a guy and a girl are a couple, while two guys or two girls have to be friends.

"I don't get one thing," Bakura says.

I shoot my eyes at him. "Yeah?"

Bakura finishes chewing and swallows. "Why doesn't Ishizu lend you money?"

"Rishid will already do it, it's enough."

"Yeah, but she never even offered to buy the wallet or the shirts, right?"

"Mm, she doesn't have to."

"Sure, but she buys all this stuff for herself and let's Rishid buy all the stuff for you. Dunno, bit weird, isn't it?" It's the first time Bakura takes my sibling's names into his mouth.

"Hmm..." I put the last bit of my sub into my mouth and think while chewing. "Now that you're mentioning it..." I swallow. "Maybe Se- maybe her boyfriend doesn't allow her spending the money on anyone else than herself or something like that."

Bakura tilts his head and smiles. "You got me curious. What does her bf do?" He finishes his food as well.

I grin. "I can't say, I promised her."

"Why? Is he some kind of celebrity?" Bakura laughs.

"Mmm..."

"Really? Huh."

"I didn't say 'yes'!"

"But you didn't say 'no' either."

We get going. The food was good actually. And five bucks for a large sandwich isn't expensive, though we got the cheapest option available. I do feel a bit sick, I guess I ate it too quickly.

"He can't be all that great," Bakura says as we go back home. "Not letting his girlfriend spend money on her brother."

I frown and pout. "Mh, I don't know him, but there's no reason to assume the worst of him."

Bakura shrugs. "Just common sense."

Speaking of money, I have that one quesion lingering on my mind... It's super rude to ask such a thing. But I have to. "Bakura," I start and have to instantly clear my throat.

"Mh?" he makes, stopping in his tracks and patting his jeans and jacket. "What? Dammit, I forgot my cigarettes again."

"That's good," I say. We continue going. "Bakura, where do you have the extra money from?"

"Ugh. This, again?"

I chuckle in frustration. "Aw, come on, there's no way you could afford feeding me through and buying cigarettes and new clothes. So... Um, dunno, could it be that someone is paying you... to do... stuff." I stare straight ahead and gulp.

Bakura huffs loudly. "You mean, if I prostitute myself?" he asks loudly.

"Uh well..."

"Marik, if that's your question then name it as it is. You want to ask if I prostitute myself."

"Um, I'm not saying that it's a bad thing..."

"Yeah, sure you don't think that," he grumbles.

I glance at him. "I didn't mean to insult you."

"Yeah, whatever."

There's no talk on the rest of the way back home. Damn it, I shouldn't have asked. Stupid Marik, stupid question. He's not getting payed for sex, why did I think he would. He's not a whore. But I'm a jerk. And my stomach is feeling worse.

Bakura has mellowed down by the time we're back home. He tells me about some new game releases and how he'd love to play them but he can't, so he watches 'let's plays' instead. Hah, he's so cute when he's talking passionatly about things. Also, I have the feeling that he's apologizing by talking much, as if he wanted to say 'sorry for being angrier earier, here, let me share something, see, everything's fine'.

From the sound of the titles he's mentioning - Stellaris, Doom, Fallout - it sounds like he's into shooter games. Mhh, I prefer RPGs.

We seperate into our own worlds for a while. Bakura surfs on his laptop and I chat with Ishizu on my tablet. She asks me where we should meet on Thursday. The front gate or the side gate. And which time exactly?

I didn't mention my mother's birthday to Bakura. Frankly, I don't want to even think about that. The day'll come, we'll visit her grave and it'll pass. That's all.

"Marik."

"Mm."

"Huh, you ok?"

I look up. Bakura's leaning back on his chair, blinking. "Why, am I making a weird face?" I try to chuckle convincingly. I still feel weird around my belly area, but I can easily ignore it.

He frowns. "Um... I might be away later."

I nod. "Okay." Cute how he feels the need to report me his whereabouts. But who's he visiting? "Can I sleep on your bed while you're away?"

"What? No!" he hisses.

I pout. "Kay."

"Why would you wanna do that?"

"Cause it's more comfortable."

"If it's about comfort you can use the bed upstairs, moron." He turns back to his computer.

"Mh, I like your bed more," I mumble.

And he turns back to me. "Hey, don't tell me you have already slept in it!"

I look down at my tablet. "Mm... Kinda." I don't like to admit it, but I have to.

"Marik!" he huffs, his eyes piercing through me. "Fuck you! After I told you not to do that and after we had that talk about you respecting my boundaries! Really great, Marik! Fuck you! You're not different from anybody else!" His furrowing his eyebrows, looking disappointed.

"No!" I lift my hand in defence. Shit, he's right, I've been a jerk again. "No, that was during spring break, before our talk!"

He blinks and calms down a bit. "Still. Not. Alright," he says slowly.

I nod quickly. "Yes, I know! I'm not gonna do it again."

He turns away. "Mh. Fine."

Damn. He's not believing me. Argh, okay, I'm gonna improve. You'll see, I'm gonna respect your boundaries. No, I already do, that one was a mistake of the past.

At eight, he's dressing up - changing from his unremarkable sweater to a fresh, blue shirt - and tells me again that he might not be back until tomorrow. Yeah, just go, have fun with 'K', what do I care. I don't pay much attention to him.

After he's gone, I turn on the TV. My soap opera doesn't run until an hour, so I switch from one channel to the next, watching distorted images or soundless scenes. The images strain my head, so before long I turn it off again. Great. Headache and a rumbling stomach.

Time to find a new book to read. Bakura has a large library on his floor. I dust off a few and read some titles, before settling to a murder mystery, making myself comfortable on his bed. I have to occupy my head, because if I don't, I remember the grave visit.

I only get to the first few pages, as I hear the fire escape rattling. Huh, is Bakura back?

He was in a bad mood before, but now he looks as if he had to walk hundred miles through a desert. He slams the window shut behind himself and huffs and growls. I watch him from the bed, holding onto the book. Will he get angry at me once more today?

"Make room," he sighs, before collapsing next to me. I'm sitting close to the wall and scoot a bit closer to it.

"What happened?" I ask.

"Mhhh... Nothing..." His voice is muffled since he presses his face against his pillow. "You don't really wanna hear about it, do you?"

Truth be told, I'd prefer not to. Did he met 'K'? And got into a fight with him? Again? I like the fight part, but I don't want to hear him talking about his beloved at all. So I shake my head and try to continue reading, but I can't concentrate on the words.

He lifts himself up. "I'm going upstairs," he mumbles and grabs the cigarette box, then leaves the room, not having made eye contact with me at all.

My poor Bakura! What did 'K' do? I should have hugged him.

I read the same sentence four times, before I decide that it's no use. I can't grasp the meaning of it anyways because I'm thinking of Bakura. So I put on shoes, grab the coat and follow him upstairs.

He's at his usual spot, leaning against the lamp, taking big drags of nicotine. He hears me approaching and sighs. "Hey."

"Hey." I take a moment to see in which direction the smoke is floating, then sit down next to him, away from the smoke.

"You wanna hear about it now?" he asks bitterly.

No, don't worry, I didn't come up here to satisfy my curiousity. "Just thought I give you some company." You said you liked my company.

He breathes out through his nose - which sounds like a sigh - then turns his head to me. "I'm sorry again for yelling at you again earlier."

I shrug. "It's fine."

"Mh." He turns his head away to continue smoking. "I shouldn't let it out on you."

"It's alright, I got used to your outbursts. If it helps you, I'm okay with it."

"You should have a bit more dignity."

I pout. "Okay, I'm gonna get super mad at you for yelling at me, is that better?"

He faces me. "Mmm... Alright, you won. As per your command, I'm gonna continue yelling at you whenever I please," he grins.

I grin back. "So..." I look down.

"So 'what happened' right? You do wanna know, don't you."

Why is he so focused on that? Yeah I am curious, but I also fear I'm just gonna get hurt by hearing of his sex adventures, them being positive or negative...

Oh.

He's furrowing his brows and pouting a bit; his bottom lip pushed a bit more forward than the upper. He's expecting me to say something, to critisize or fight- Could it be that he wants to tell me about whatever just happened, but needs me to ask first?

Oh, you idiot.

I smirk at him. "Sure I wanna know."

He lifts his eyebrows for a split second and grins. "Tss, I knew it."

"Yeah, tell me!" I grab his arm and tug. "Tell me, Bakura! Who did you meet? 'K'? What did he say to you?"

"Fine!" He rolls his eyes and gives an exeggerated sigh. Yup, he's acting. "Since you wanna know so badly, I will." You moron. You cute stupid moron! I do not wanna hear about it, but I will for your sake.

Bakura flicks his cigarette away and breathes out his last intake of smoke. "I wasn't meeting 'K'," he explains. His tone is different now, much more serious and lower. "I met some new guy online and he seemed nice. But I guess most people seem nice at first."

I lean my head against his shoulder.

"He was dressed all fancy and had a fucking iPhone." Hm, isn't 'K' fancy and rich too? He had a blackberry. But I'm not gonna object, I'm here to listen. "I don't mind rich people as long as they are decent, but no rich person really is, besides 'K' but uh, whatever." Hey, I'm rich and decent too, you know? "So we met there at that coffee shop, and he saw me and... started laughing."

"Huh?"

"Yeah," he laughs low. "He made an excuse. Suddenly, he had to go somewhere else, uhu, sure!" Bakura huffs. "So that was the shortest 'date' - if you even wanna call it that - ever!"

"Eh?" I lift my head and look at his profile. "Wait, why did he laugh? He just laughed and left you standing there?"

Bakura turns his head to me. "Yes! Apparently I look too... dunno, poor, maybe?" He looks down at himself and shrugs. "I have no idea actually, what do you think?"

I look down at him as well. The jacket with the pockets, dark denim jeans, clearly cheap ones though. And those five bucks sneakers from Primarkt. Mhh. I frown. "Well..."

Bakura sighs. "Alright, that's the answer right there."

I let out a chuckle. "Oh, you don't have the most expensive stuff, but-"

"Shut up, I know." He throws me an annoyed look. "Don't sugarcoat stuff for me, Marik."

You're right, that's not necessary. I nod. "I don't mind your cheapness," I smile.

He smiles back and raises his eyebrows. "Sure. Thanks."

I can't help but notice the slight sarcasm hidden behind his tone. "I really don't," I murmur.

He stands up. "Whatever. Let's not start that discussion."

Which discussion?

Back downstairs, we spend a friendly evening together, without any more fights. I tell him a bit about my siblings and he listens. Aw, Bakura can be such a cutie. Why can't we be friendly and nice all the time? Okay, I won't do stuff without his permission any more, I swear! With that I am fulfilling my part. Now he just has to stop getting worked up about everything.

Somehow we begin to talk about alcohol. I never drank before that evening with him and Duke, while Bakura started with thirteen. I ask him why and he says he doesn't know. "When you see all the adults, including your father drinking it all the time..." He makes a pause, trying to grasp the memory. "Well, you do so many things to become an adult already, because being a child sucks. So you see them drinking and think 'hey, if I drink this, I'll be an adult too!'" He chuckles. "Not consciously though. And then you notice that it actually helps you forget about a few things. So you do it again. And again. Until it becomes a habit."

"Is that why you're also smoking?"

He nods. "Yeah. I'd do worser stuff if I got my hands on it."

I don't protest. We both know it's bad for his health but only now I understand that he's well aware of that. People don't smoke or drink because of peer pressure or because it's 'so cool'. Yeah I know he just said that, but that's not the real reason. They drink and smoke because they are miserable. Akefia is miserable, so he beats up Bakura and grabs a beer afterwards because he knows what an asshole he is. Bakura gets beaten up and starts drinking as well.

We're on his bed. He's leaning against the head board while I am on my stomach, holding my head between my hands.

"Would you like to stop drinking and smoking?" I ask.

He shrugs. "Kind of. All that coughing is scary sometimes. But then again, I don't care about my health, or my life for that matter." He's speaking lower and lower, so that I almost don't catch that last part. He gives me a fake grin and perks up. "I need a snack, what about you?" he asks, speaking louder again. He gets up and leaves the room.

"Hm, yeah," I reply. He doesn't care about his life? Oh come on, don't tell me that because of 'K', is it? "Life's gonna get better, Bakura!" I say loudly across the hall, while he's in the kitchen.

"Ugh, shut up." He's back soon, closing the door. "Here, I got cookies and chips." He throws me the chips bag and I catch it.

"Chips make you fat," I comment, but I open it anyways. I do work out, so it's fine. While I put on a bit more weight since I'm here, eating much more unhealthy food, it's not alarming yet.

"Alcohol should be banned though," Bakura says, munching on a cookie. "Hm, okay, not banned, but much harder to obtain."

"Yeah? When you only drink a bit it is fine, I thought. I drank that alcopop with you and Duke and it was fine."

Bakura gives me look. "Yes, and if you only smoke a bit weed, it's fine as well and it's still banned."

"Weed?" I blink. "Have you smoked that before?"

He shakes his head. "I could if I wanted to though."

"But it's banned for a reason, isn't it? It's a gateway drug."

Bakura rolls his eyes. "Pff, sure. If someone wants to go for hardcore drugs, he'll go for hardcore drugs and won't bother to stop by at weed."

"Why is it banned then, and alcohol isn't?"

"Because... history." Very convincing. "I'm not sure. Fact is, there are a lot more people dying because of alcohol abuse than of weed."

Huh. That sounds true. I have never heard of anyone dying of marihuanna, but peope dying because of liver failure is kind of common. "Hm," I make. "I guess you're right!" I look up at him.

Bakura frowns and grins at the same time. "You're convinced?"

I nod. "I am convinced that alcohol seems much more dangerous than weed. But I think that both should be banned nontheless. Or better: Be heavy regulated."

He chuckles. "Heh, how easy to convince you."

"I never thought about it much before. And your arguments sound valid."

He chuckles some more, showing me a sweet grin. "Cool." He grabs another cookie, still grinning to himself.

Aw, did I make you happy? My heart's beating faster. He's so cute and smart. Why not be convinced?

"Most people don't change their opinions so easily," he says.

I shrug. "Yeah. I think that's stupid. A lot of people already have an opinion on everything, even when they have no idea of the subject. I had no idea on weed and you gave me some insight, so you got me on your side. Simple as that."

Changing his grin to a sincere smile, Bakura looks at me and it's almost as if he's seeing me for the first time; as if he's really appreciating me. He opens his mouth to say something - but he either can't think of anything to say or has something to say and won't do it - yet he quickly closes it again and looks down.

"I'm getting tired," I say.

He looks up. "Let's watch a movie."

Somebody already leaked the new Batman vs. Superman movie, so we get under the covers and watch that. It's a terrible recording with lots of people walking through and bad lighting and sound, but hey, we're poor, so we're pirates. Bakura munches almost the whole box of those cookies and leans against my arm. Hah, if only you'd be my boyfriend...! Actually, spending so much time together, talking and watching movies... that sounds like something boyfriends would do, right?

So I pretend that we're a couple for the time being and savor the warmth in my chest caused by his touch.

"The movie sucks," I comment after a while.

"Yup. No biggie. Snyder has no idea how to makes movies," Bakura replies.

Snider? Must be the director. "Good thing we didn't go into the cinema for that."

"Right." Bakura looks up at me, putting the last piece of his cookie into his mouth. "Which movie do we wanna see anyways? We can go next Thursday, yeah?"

Him having looking expectantly at me like that makes it really hard not to think of him as my boyfriend! "Um, y-yeah," I say, feeling heat rising up to my cheeks. Something loud happens on the screen and I pull my eyes away from him. Gosh, how much I'd love to hug and kiss him now!

"Cool," he mumbles and puts his head back up against my arm; his hair tickling my skin.

I hold my breath for a moment, but release it soon again. You're not my boyfriend, you're not my boyfriend...

"Maybe you're right about that prostiture thing," Bakura mumbles.

"Huh?"

"I am not getting money in exchange but..."

I heave a painful sigh. "I never meant to imply it that way, Bakura."

"But it's true."

"If you're not getting money, what are you..."

"That guy we bought alcohol from, remember? That scrawny looking weirdo."

"Yeah."

"Well I don't sleep with him." Thank god! "But I give him a handjob once in a while."

My breath gets stuck in my throat, which isn't possible, but that's how it feels. "A handjob?" I say, my voice's pitch being suddenly all over the place.

Bakura nods against my arm. "Which makes me whore, eh?"

Oh, I really shouldn't have asked that stupid question...! "Noo..." I wail, but that's the wrong answer. No sugarcoating. "Mhh, you-"

"Whatever, I don't care," he sighs. "I don't mind doing that."

I don't know what to say. Afterwards, I'll surely have a on of questions in my mind! But now, all I can think of is the image of that ugly guy getting off while Bakura... Oh gawd, eww, no no no, I'm not imagining that! Think happy thoughts! Happy thoughs! "Uh," I sound. "Uh, but- But you don't sound particularly happy about it either."

"It's the same thing as with the drugs. I started it, now I can't stop."

You can't stop sleeping with random dudes? "What about 'K'?" I ask low.

"What about him?" Oh, he let's me talk about him.

"Would you stop sleeping with others for him?"

Bakura laughs at that. "Ehh, there was a point I would have stopped for him, yes," he chuckles. "But I'm over him now, I think," he mumbles.

"You are?" I tense up and look at him; or rather his hair.

"Mhh, yeah, kinda," he mutters, sounding unsure. That's unexpected. All this time I thought he was still lusting after him, while he actually tried to forget him.

What the hell happened during Spring Break?

"Just gimme a few new guys and I'll forget about him completly..." he adds.

I growl. "You don't need any new guys."

"Right, I got your stupid virgin ass, eh." He sounds tired.

"Yeah, you got me," I reply.

"Mm."

No comment to that? Hm, he's already breathing louder.

The movie is almost over, but it's not even midnight yet. When did Bakura got up today? When I went to meet my family, he was still asleep. Even with the assumption that he got up five minutes after I went outside, it's way too early for him to be tired. But what do I know, maybe that not-date with that rich guy took all his power.

"Hey." I nudge him with the arm he's leaning against and he moans silently. "You're gonna sleep already?"

"Yeah..." He moves away, putting his head on the pillow, away from my arm. "Is it over yet..." The laptop slides off his lap, so I grab it and put it on mine.

"The movie? Almost. Stupid. What's this monster anyways? I don't get it." I turn the volume down.

"Doomsday..."

"Huh, what?"

He doesn't reply but reaches out and grabs my arm, pulling it to his chest. "Mmm..." His eyes are closed firmly. "I'm sorry... if I'm too... harsh sometimes..." he whispers.

My hearts beats quicker. I move closer to Bakura, following his pull at my arm. Then I make myself comfortable close to him. His head touches my shoulder. It's almost as before, expect that his arm is wrapped around mine and that we shifted closer to the wall. "Thank you," I answer, but I'm not sure if he heard me. "I know you're not really angry at me."

"Hu..." comes from him. Aw so cute, he's falling asleep...!

Lying like that on my back with my arm squeezed between his isn't the most comfortable position. I prefer sleeping on my stomach. Can't you wait with falling asleep until I turn over? But what am I complaining about! I'm sleeping in the same bed with Bakura, who's snuggling against my arm! He's warm and so cute and misunderstood. But tells me more about himself now. He's opening up and even pulling me closer as he falls asleep. And he's about to forget 'K'!

Maybe I do have a chance now.

I still cannot fall asleep on my back. Bakura too is lying on his side. Also, the laptop is still on me, I have to put it away. Carefully, I pull out my arm from his grip.

"Mhh," comes as reply.

I giggle. D'aww, don't worry, just a sec! I turn off the laptop and put it down, then pull the blankets closer and over Bakura's shoulder. We never turned up the heater tonight. Usually, Bakura does this a few hours before we're going to sleep- Oh yeah, that should be about now.

But I'm too lazy to climb out and turn it up, so I side closer to Bakura, who's peacefully breathing in his sleep. Now you can have my arm back, you know? I'm comfortable on my stomach. Here. I grab his open palm so that we're holding hands and close my eyes.