I smiled when I saw him after the fight. I smiled because the sight of him was all it took to lift the corners of my mouth. I smiled because the sight of him filled me with joy.
"You did well," I said.
"Can we go home now?" he asked.
"Yes, of course."
I can tell he was upset. His face was neutral, but his fingers were restless. Bakura was upset as well. He didn't like seeing Kek get hit and not being able to do anything about it. It was a little funny because Kek's boxing coach had the "girl-friend talk" with only me. Wrong girl-friend, wrong Bakura, but thanks for trying to look out for Kek.
Hmph, Bakura was a protector, too bad all his life people called him "thief" instead. I can't help but think about it. Even corrupted by Zorc, he still tried to protect me and Marik when it came down to it. And that was Bakura at his worst. That was Bakura when he was"evil." What would he be like at his best? What if Kul Elna didn't burn? What if he grew up with friends and family? What if the Pharaoh hadn't branded him "evil"? I remember the last rpg they played. Diabound, a god ka, all that pain and Bakura kept a pure soul. Until he started fighting the Pharaoh's priests. The more they denied his pain, the darker his soul grew. Why didn't anyone listen to him? Why didn't anyone posses the common sense to know that having a god ka meant that he couldn't be all evil, and that fighting with a god ka equaled having a good reason to fight?
I loved Yugi. We'd always be friends, but I hated the Pharaoh because he didn't look. He just announced Bakura a villain, and to this day I don't think Atem realizes how Bakura suffered.
But, through all that, he still managed to keep Diabound pure. He managed to balance his heart against Ma'at's feather when Atem couldn't.
What kind of person could Bakura have been had Kul Elna not burned? One too good for this world, I suppose.
So the gods destroyed him.
During that fight, I knew he wanted to fly into that ring and beat the tar out of the kid that head butted Kek.
I didn't like seeing Kek hurt, but I had faith in him. I knew he'd win, so I stayed in my seat because I wanted to see how he'd win. He could have killed that kid, easy. Too easy. He didn't, and that meant a lot. I was so proud of him.
I realized I was never going to allow Yugi, Atem, or any of the others to ever to say Kek was a danger to me again. Never. Neither him nor Bakura. They didn't have to write to label them.
We went home. They both needed to be home. We went to bed. Kek laid between us. We didn't talk. I felt Kek tremble, but I waited a moment. Whatever came next wouldn't be easy for him to say, so I gave him time to form his words before saying them.
"I didn't kill him."
"No, you didn't kill him," I said.
"And you still beat him," Bakura said.
Kek curled against me. "Fighting hurts my stomach . . . he fell face down . . it reminded me too much of . . ."
He sat up, ripping the covers away from us all in the movement. His hands were balled into fists in his lap. "I get it. I get that Marik can't remember – because I remember it for him. I get that what I did at Battle City was wrong. I get it. But him? Killing him? Why is that wrong? Why is it? Why?"
"It wasn't." Bakura narrowed his eyes at the scars on Kek's back.
"You wouldn't think so, but everyone else does."
His shoulders shook. He turned to me, like I knew the answer. I only shook my head.
"Stupid Marik. I want him to remember and then tell me to my face why me stopping both of us from getting stabbed by our father was wrong? He owes me that conversation. I don't care if he wants to see me or not- he owes me that much- even if he abandons me again after it."
Bakura blew air out of his mouth. "You deserve that conversation, but I don't think you'll ever get the chance. I've been trying to get him here since the second day, but he just doesn't care… about either of us, apparently."
"What are you doing?" I asked. It's been The Big Question for quite some time, and I thought Bakura might be willing to tell us under the circumstances.
"Stealing."
Of course his master plan was stealing. It would have been. Stealing or playing a game.
I've stolen a hundred grand from various businesses he runs. He doesn't care."
"What are you going to do now?" Kek shifted so he could face us. He looked at Bakura.
"Keep stealing. I figure he'll miss a million."
"Only you," I whispered.
He shrugged. "I'm not spending it. Everything I take is in a secure, foreign account. I don't need money."
He didn't say the rest, but we knew. He didn't need money; he needed Marik.
"Kinda romantic, in its own way." I looked at Kek and my smile faded. "I wish I could fix it somehow. I don't know if what you did was wrong or right . . . but I know what happened to you was definitely wrong."
"Everything was so easy back then. Get mad. Hurt someone. It's hard now." Kek clutched at the sheets.
Bakura nodded. He understood. They'd always understand that about each other in a way I couldn't.
They started laughing. Kek grabbed the covers and dove between us. We tangle together, the three of us. My heartbeat was so fast, and their bodies so warm. After our laughter faded, Kek stared at the ceiling.
"I have to go back to the gym tomorrow. You know, people who don't re-wrack their weights belong in the Shadow Realm."
"And people that still use checks and hold up the line belong in the Shadow Realm." I nodded.
"And people who drop their weights on the floor to pretend their badasses belong in the Shadow Realm."
"And people who make you look in the back for stock although you told them eight times that what they want is sold out – Shadow Realm."
"And people who curl in the squat rack? Shadow Realm."
Bakura chimed in. "And morons who text me at 6:00 a.m. Because they need me to reset their employee password can go right up Zorc's asshole – I swear to the fucking gods."
I chuckled. "You know, the day before you came back someone screamed at me because we didn't ad match, and all I could think was 'gee, I wish I had the Ring so I could transfer their soul to the men's urinal'."
Bakura pretended to gasp. "Ryou, how could you? That would be a grievous mis-use of their powers."
"I thought so, too, actually." I frowned.
"You wouldn't really do it." Bakura snorted.
"I think I would have."
"Maybe, but you'd feel bad and undo it right away."
". . . probably."
We stayed up the whole night, wrapped together, talking, only talking. Our jobs and our favorite restaurants, and Duel Monsters, and our next Monster World campaign. We talked about everything and nothing.
It was odd. They were both upset. I expected us to have sex. They always express themselves better with actions instead of words, so I expected them to swallow their feelings and communicate through grunts and sweat drops. Instead, we talked and laughed, tangled together, an orgy made of words and little caresses of our fingers as we teased this or that each other. We touched each other's scars the most. We all bore scars, mine almost invisible, white on white, theirs a stark contrast compared to the darkness of their skin. It was the softest sort of making love, to brush our fingers against each other's old pains while we talked about dice and character stats.
The sunlight fought against the blinds. I loathed the sight of it. Light meant day and day meant I had to leave my bed and my lovers (whom I'd only loved that night with my voice and fingertips). If only the night rebelled and kept the sky cloaked in beautiful darkness forever so I could have stayed right there for the rest of my life.
The alarm screeched beside me.
"Have fun at work. Shame. This bed is soft." Bakura chuckled.
"Fuck you." Kek crawled over him to get out of bed. Braids still kept his hair in bound rows. "The bed may be soft, but the shower is hot."
That encouraged me to get up. Showers with Kek were amazing.
"Bakura, are you sure you don't want to join us this morning?" I asked. "You can sleep afterward."
"I'll be asleep by the time you're out."
I'd rather him be with us. I don't want him to be left out, but in another way, I think he also does it so he can be alone – in his mind with his thoughts of Marik. It's their time as much as mine and Kek's, so I let Bakura stay in bed.
Sometimes I'm not sure how our house of three functions, but it does. It works wonderfully. It's odd, but I sort of wish Marik was with us. It'd make Bakura happy. I think it'd make Kek happy too, once he admitted that he wanted Marik's acceptance. I was too much of a hopeless romantic, trying to make everyone love everyone. Bakura was right, if 100k didn't convince Marik to come, he probably didn't care enough to come at all. But Bakura was going to shoot for a million, and I was going to keep my fingers crossed for him.
I found Kek in the shower. He kissed me until my lips were raw and we were almost late for work.
AT work the hours slipped by, but I hardly noticed time. My eyes stayed lidded and the nap I took on my lunch break did nothing to revive me. Half asleep, I dreampt of Kek. Nothing specific. Just Kek. The curve of his jaw. The way his teeth peeked out from his lips when he spoke. The way he always showed his truth feelings with his hands. How he crushed me against the bathroom wall after our showers so he could kiss me. I have myself worked into an accidental frenzy by the time I clocked out. I wanted a quickie, and I wanted to pass-out.
That was the plan until I stepped outside and Kek wasn't there. I blinked; then I panicked. I had gotten so used to him meeting me and walking me home that his absence crushed me. Maybe he went home early to sleep. There was nothing I could do about it, so I sighed and turned to walk home alone.
A hand covered my eyes and I jerked. A huge smiled followed as I guessed. "Kek?"
"Shhh." His voice tickled my ear. "I have something for you. I mean, it's probably stupid. I don't know how to do this kind of thing, and I'm sure I'm doing it all wrong, but I wanted to give you these."
He shoved something into my arms, still covering my eyes with his other hand.
I smell roses and my heart rampaged against my ribcage. He kept my eyes covered. From his voice I could tell he'd bet too nervous to speak if I looked at him, so I relaxed in his grip and listened.
"I – I don't know. I wanted to get you something. Because . . . because . . . because I think I – that I'm falling in love with you."
The breath choked in my throat and I was glad Kek had his arms around me because all the cartilage in my knees dissolved with his words. "K-Kek." I managed his name, but that was all I could manage.
He let go of me. I was expecting red roses in my arms. They were always red in the movies, but when the veil of his hands lifted away, I saw two dozen white roses. I buried my face in the blooms and inhaled, allowing my lips to brush against the soft, white petals. When I looked up again, Kek scratched the back of his shoulder and stared at the side walk.
"So . . . so, do you like—"
I didn't let him finish the question. How dare he even ask. Of course I liked the flowers. I loved them. I loved him. No one's ever bought me flowers – or anything – before. And he chose white ones. He thought about what he was buying instead of blindly following a cliché. One arm I kept cradled around the flowers, the other I hooked behind Kek's neck as I stood on my toes, crushing his mouth with a kiss. It took him a moment to process my answer and then he kissed me back, opened mouthed, tongue-probing kisses that made my mouth water.
I was vaguely aware that I stood in front of the store and all the shoppers could see us. I could get fired for kissing in front of the store, but it was hard to worry about it at that moment. The only reason I pulled away was so I could get Kek back to our apartment.
"Walk me home, Kek."
He nodded, a little dazed from our kissing. Instead of hand in hand, we walked arm in arm. I held the flowers with my opposite arm, sniffing them often. Kek wouldn't stop staring at the pavement, but an odd, content smiled played on his face. I tried to think of something to say, but my brain was a hazy mess from sleep deprivation and emotion.
When we got home our mouths reunited. We slipped the clothes away from our bodies. I happened to glance at a note on the t.v. Bakura was out to the store, but I couldn't wait. I needed Kek that instant, and I could tell Kek felt the same when he lifted me up and carried me to our bed. For all our hurry we spent a long time caressing and kissing. He put my fingers in his mouth, one by one, and sucked them gently, tickling my finger tips with his tongue before moving on the other areas. I flicked my tongue against his nipples. My fingers wandered across his back, searching for patches of unscarred skin that can feel my touch.
"Kek," I whispered my impatience in the form of his name. A moment later he's lubed and inside me. My legs wrapped high around his waist, I arched my back and moaned his name. I wanted to call out his name two dozen times, once for each rose, but I lost count.