Chapter 9
Anxiety practically hung in the air.
"So," Yami said finally, "You wanted to see me?"
"Yes," Bakura said, sighing. "It's about what happened earlier."
He avoided his eyes. "Oh really... And?"
"I just wanted to say... I'm sorry about what I said."
"Yeah, well, I've forgiven you already-"
"Don't lie, Yami. I know how you are." Bakura exhaled and crossed his arms. "I was... an idiot, to put it simply."
"You can say that again," Jounouchi commented dryly.
"Let him finish, Jou," Yami said, acute fascination evident in his voice.
Bakura faced Yami's dark crimson eyes and frowned. "If I were you... I'd be pretty upset. I know it's hard to admit your feelings to someone."
"You do?" Jounouchi asked, clearly surprised.
Bakura narrowed his russet eyes. "Trust me... I do."
"Really?" The blonde smirked. "Since when?"
"Roughly five minutes ago." Bakura waved it off, "Either way, I messed up badly. I just want you to know that I really am sorry."
Yami took in his words, judging closely his sincerity, and finally he sat back facing a contemplative stare on the vocalist.
"You're not gonna forgive 'im, are you, Yami?" Jounouchi questioned, not yet convinced.
"Jou," Bakura now faced him, "I owe you an apology as well... as much as I hate to admit it. I realized that you just want me to listen. From now on, I'll keep open ears."
The bass player looked shocked, yet at the same time heartrending. "You... You mean it?"
"Yeah," he answered, "Even though I know you don't have many good things to say."
"Yami, did you hear that?" He crossed his arms and pouted. "I don't know about this. Who's to say that he won't let us down again?"
"Don't worry, Jounouchi," Bakura said comfortingly, "When it comes to making fun of you, you can count on my comment."
Jounouchi's jaw dropped, but Yami finally broke out into a smile and even a small laugh. "All right, Bakura. I forgive you. Don't give me that look, Jou. He's being earnest."
"Fine," Jounouchi sighed, "I forgive you, Bakura. But," he pointed his finger at him, "You'd better be good. If I were Yami, I'd have half a mind to forget you even exist."
"Well," Bakura stood up and stretched. "You already have half a mind, so-"
"Don't even," he warned with a smirk.
Yami smiled, though it was a small one, and stood up as well. "I'm glad we have this sorted out." He held his hands behind his back. "Though, I'm not sure what I'm going to tell Yuugi..."
"Yuugi will understand," Bakura assured him. "He is Yuugi, after all."
"I'll still dread it."
"I know how you feel."
"Not exactly," Jounouchi pointed out. "For one, you've never been turned down."
Bakura leered. "I know how he feels."
"Hm?" Yami gave him an odd look, then glanced toward the kitchen. "Then you mean...?"
"The whole 'tea bit' was just a way to leave the room."
"Really?" Jounouchi raised a brow. "He's that repulsed by you, eh?"
Bakura clenched his fist, smirk on face, and was getting ready to begin the verbal war, but was suddenly interrupted.
"Malik's upstairs," Ryou said, walking in with a cup in his hands. "Bakura, what on earth did you say to him?"
"Me?" Bakura said, almost shocked, "I said nothing. Why, what did he say?"
"He didn't have to say anything. The whole 'tea bit' said it all." He took a sip from his mug.
Jounouchi blinked. "Wait, so there really was tea?"
"Now's not the time, Jou," Yami advised.
"I don't understand," Ryou sat down. "I thought you two had everything figured out..."
Bakura rubbed his forehead. "So did I."
"Assumption can be dangerous."
"I didn't think I even had to assume. Malik did kiss me after all."
"He did?" the other three said strangely at the same time.
"Yes. I didn't really think him the sort to back out of anything; especially after he gave me such magnificent advice earlier." He seemed to agree silently about something. "Rejection really does suck."
Yami nodded. "Your words are poetry. But, I believe he's not rejecting you. It's probably just a bad case of denial."
"Denial?" he repeated, unconvinced.
"Yes. If it was indeed he that kissed you, and not vice-versa, then he most definitely has some feelings for you."
Jounouchi clicked his tongue. "Yes. If that is indeed the way it went..."
Yami looked in the direction of the stairs. "If it is, then I know just exactly how to solve this little problem..."
--
Malik looked in the bathroom mirror and took another deep breath.
"Oh dear."
That was at least the twentieth time he had repeated that phrase. Turning on the faucet, he splashed some cold water on his face and dried it quickly with a hand towel.
"All right," he took another deep breath. "I'm going to go out there and face Bakura like a man." He could only hold his determined look for a few seconds before it once again melted into his worried one. "Who am I kidding? Right now, I'm fretting like a girl... Just like Bakura said."
This caused his face to fall. Why did Bakura just have to keep popping into his mind, and at the most inopportune moments? Fine. He admitted it. He was attracted to Bakura. Wasn't that enough?
No. Malik realized that usually things of this sort were a two-man job so either way, he'd have to do something. The right thing.
Taking a few more deep breaths, Malik straightened up and put a resolute expression on his face- even though it was forced- and exited the restroom. Spotting Ryou at the bottom of the steps, he smiled and started on his way down.
"Sorry I took so long. I was feeling quite faint..."
"No problem," Ryou smiled as assuringly as ever. "Yami and Jou were just leaving."
"Oh?"
"I'll see ya tomorrow," Jounouchi waved at the front door. "Don't be late, Bakura."
"I won't," he said through irritated eyes. "Don't be dumb."
Jounouchi stuck his tongue out and disappeared out the door.
"Bye Bakura," Yami hugged him. "Thanks for apologizing and all. I really appreciate it."
"No problem," Bakura gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I'll see you."
Malik froze instantly on the steps. When did Bakura EVER give Yami a KISS of any sort?
"You know," Bakura grabbed his coat. "Maybe I'll just hang out at your place for the evening. I've got nothing to do-"
"Wait!" Malik said suddenly, making his presence known.
Yami and Bakura both turned to look at him as though they had only just seen him.
"Is there a problem?" Yami inquired, oblivious.
"A... problem?" Malik tried to smile. "Of course not."
"Okay then," Bakura said, giving him a questioning glance before grabbing Yami's coat. "Here you go," he said to the drummer, "Let me help you with this."
"Thanks," Yami smiled, slipping his hands through the sleeves.
"Have you not been eating lately?" Bakura asked, looking at Yami's waist. "Pretty soon I'll have to start calling you a beanpole."
They continued chatting until they were out the front door.
Malik immediately ran down the steps and peeked out the front window. "I don't believe it."
Ryou tried to hide his smile. "What's wrong, Malik?"
Without another word, Malik threw his own coat on hastily. Picking up the phone, he looked in an address book and dialed a number, his foot tapping persistently the whole time.
"Yes, Honda?" he said, relieved. "Could you drop me off somewhere?"
When Ryou gave him a quizzical stare, Malik held his hand over the receiver. "No one else gets to be called a beanpole but me."
--
"I can't believe you came up with such a conniving trick," Bakura commented. "I never knew you had it in you."
Yami rolled his eyes. "After being around you, how could I not?"
"Please explain to me how you think that hanging out will change anything?"
"Trust me. When you like someone and you see him or her doing anything with someone else, your mind can morph it quite cruelly. You'll see."
"Shh," Bakura placed a finger to his lips. "He's right outside with Ryou. He might hear you."
Bakura and Yami had stopped at a small diner on the way and Malik and Ryou had high-tailed them in a way Malik thought was quite secretive. Of course, Ryou knew Bakura's plan but he played along with nevertheless.
"Why are we doing this again?" he asked innocently.
"Because," Malik whispered, "Something's going on, and I have to know what."
"They're having a late lunch."
"You know what I mean, Ryou. I'm not the only one who saw Bakura kiss Yami."
"On the cheek."
"I don't care where. How can someone go from begging for forgiveness to kissing?"
"But it was on the cheek-"
"Something's going on, and I'm going to find out what."
So, the day continued to progress and Yami and Bakura made a few more stops, like to the mall for some more clothes, an instrument shop for more appliances, and even to a local club for a simple chat.
And of course, with every stop, Malik became more and more frazzled and tense. Could it really be? Were Yami and Bakura now... an item? But how? How after Bakura had kissed him back, because he had. It wasn't like Malik pushed himself onto the bed...
"Malik," Ryou sighed, "We've been out for hours. Don't you think it's enough for one day?"
"You know, you're probably-"
"Wait... there they are."
Malik looked up and noticed Yami and Bakura exit the club into the warm evening air. Yami seemed to finally be saying his goodbye as he embraced Bakura one last time and got into his car and drove away.
Was Bakura planning on walking home?
"Ryou, why-?" he turned to face the twin but he was nowhere to be seen. Strange. Looking back to face Bakura though proved to be just as futile because he had also disappeared as well. "Crap."
Running in the direction he had last seen the guitarist go, he was lead immediately onto the busy sidewalk where people bustled this way and that and were most definitely no help to Malik's search. Standing on his tiptoes, he tried to catch a glimpse of him, but to no avail. In the end, he ended up being bumped and tripped on someone's shoes falling right to the ground.
"Just great," he muttered, a forlorn look upon his face. "I lost him... again."
"Are you all right?"
Malik looked up to face the person who had addressed him and gasped. "Bakura?"
Bakura took ahold of his hand and helped him to his feet. "What were you doing down there?"
"Oh, um, looking for my lens."
"Your lens-"
"It's not important. I'm just glad I found you."
"So you were looking for both a lens and me?"
Malik avoided his gaze. "Well... maybe I wasn't looking for a lens."
"I didn't think you wore glasses." He dusted of Malik's jacket. "Come on, let's get out of this human stampede."
Taking ahold of Malik by the hand, an innocent motion that still caused Malik to blush, Bakura led him carefully away from the sidewalk and to the nearby park that was less occupied. Motioning to a quaint wooden bench for two, Bakura sat down and Malik sat down next to him.
"Now," Bakura held his hands in his lap. "Tell me why you wanted to see me."
"It's not that, it's just..." Hi, I've been practically stalking you all afternoon. No. Not a very good idea. "I just... wanted to see you I guess."
"You guess?"
"No, I do. It's just that, I saw you kiss Yami and-"
"And what?"
"Well, I assumed that-"
"Assumption can be dangerous. Besides, what would it've mattered had the kiss actually meant something?"
Malik looked at him quickly. "You know the answer to that question. It's like you just disregarded what happened earlier between us."
Bakura faced him with a blank stare. "What happened earlier?"
Malik punched his arm lightly. "Don't even-"
"Don't even what? Pretend to forget like you did earlier? So it's okay for you to, but not for me?"
"You know it's not like that," Malik frowned. "I'm sorry about earlier."
Bakura exhaled and stood up. "So am I. I took advantage of the situation... and you. Actually I have a few times now, but until currently, I don't think I realized my own intentions."
Malik agreed. "I know. It seems we've all been masking our true intentions, even if we did it unintentionally. I'm... truly sorry, Bakura, about everything. Can you forgive me?"
Bakura faced him with a hard stare but after a few moments broke into a small smirk. "Of course I can. A simple sorry can work miracles."
Malik sighed relief and stood up to face Bakura, a sudden look of worry on his face. "But what about Yami?"
"What about him?" Malik gave him a warning glance. "Oh all right. It was all just a joke to try and get you jealous. It worked quite well."
"Who said I was jealous?" Malik grinned.
"My dear, it was plain as day, but trust me, I'm flattered."
Malik cocked a brow. "You're full of yourself, that's what."
"And you are very cute when you get mad."
"Bakura, you shouldn't say such things when you don't mean them."
"... Who said I didn't mean it?"
Malik looked at him quickly but Bakura kissed him before he could say anything more. His arms wrapped around him as their lips came together, melding as though they were meant for one another. Malik returned the kiss fully this time, not holding back, but Bakura pulled back a moment later. Though only a few seconds had gone by, it very well could've been an eternity.
"What is it?" Malik asked through half-lidded violet eyes.
Bakura grinned charismatically and rested his hand on Malik's cheek. "Not too fast."
Malik smiled and hugged him. He could live with that.
o-o-o-o-o
"Give it up for the astounding, as always,... Tribute to the Doomed!"
The crowd cheered as the trio did their bows and exited the stage, coming out to sit at the table where everyone sat waiting.
"Great show as always," Honda nodded.
"What can we say," Jounouchi shrugged, "We're just naturally hot and talented."
Bakura lowered a brow. "Except for you, Jou. You're talented, but as for looks...eh, lacking."
"How dare you-"
"Jou, calm down," Malik said, standing up, "And Bakura, be nice."
Bakura held him around the waist and pressed a chaste kiss to his lips then pulled back, a devious grin on his face. "I'm always nice."
"Get a room!" Jounouchi commented.
"Great job, Yami," Yuugi said, smiling as he sat beside him.
"Thanks."
Malik noticed Yuugi yawn. "Were you guys up late?"
Yami sighed. "Yeah. We were watching a movie."
"... I'm sure you watched it."
Yami wiggled his eyebrows. "Maybe... Maybe not."
"I'd like to make a toast," Jounouchi said, standing up and raising his water glass. "First off, to my undying sexiness, and second of all, to Ryou, for always being there for us all when we needed him. He doesn't get enough thanks."
"Now that's something I'll raise my glass to," Bakura said, nodding to his twin.
Everyone else clinked their drinks and downed the water like it was wine.
"Thanks you guys," Ryou said happily. "I don't really deserve it."
"Whatever, bro," Bakura shook his head, "You're the sneakiest of us all. I think you'd been planning on getting Malik and I together for a while."
"I'll have to admit," Malik spoke up, "He was pretty suspicious."
Bakura raised his glass again. "How about, to masked intentions. You never know when they can turn out to be a blessing."
Everyone drank to it and sat their glasses down.
"So Ryou," Malik said, "Is there anyone special in your life?"
"Hm?" Ryou flushed. "Heavens no. I haven't got time for a relationship."
"Yeah," Bakura raised a brow, "But he's got time to fix up other people. I ain't buying it. Malik, you've seen how he's been coming home a few hours later lately. He's gotta be seeing someone."
Ryou folded his hands. "Even if I was, which is utterly preposterous, I would never tell my own brother." He looked at his watch. "Oh my goodness! That reminds me, I have somewhere I need to be!"
"Don't let us make you tardy to your date."
"Oh, you won't... and it's NOT a date!"
"Suuure."
Malik raised his brow at Bakura. "Leave him alone. I'm sure he can fend for himself."
"Like you did, I suppose?"
"Hey, I may have needed a little push, but I eventually made it to you." He leaned over on his shoulder. "And I'd say it all worked out... Wouldn't you?"
Bakura smiled down at him and pulled him closer. "Yes... I most certainly would."
---The End---
Happy endings make me happy. I finished this chapter at 2:30am and I still have energy left to spare. Ryou's mystery date can be whoever you want it to be. I figured I'd leave that open for the reader to decide.
Thanks to SimulatedDragon who requested this story. It was hard to do, but we got through it! And thanks as well to everyone who read this story and reviewed it! Me love you! Enjoy your winter, or whatever weather you're experiencing.
AmethystRoze