Downfall
By: Rogue Fox
A/N: Hello, sorry it took so long to update. For an explanation, visit my bio. :sigh: so tired… Anyway, I used a song in this one, Ever The Same, by Rob Thomas. I claim the song in no way, I just used it to set the mood. And that's all it was for. I don't intend for this fic to be too terribly long, so forgive me if the plot seems to be moving kind of fast. So, on with the fic!
" Amazing. You've always had the most uncanny timing, Malik." I said, slipping a plate of eggs in front of him, and then remembered he was vegetarian. " Oh, do you eat eggs?" I asked.
" On occasion. Never liked 'em much, but I have yet to eat something you made that I didn't like." He said in response.
" Enough, you'll make me blush." I said.
" It's true, Ryou. You really are an amazing cook." Isis said as I handed her a plate.
" All right, start talking. Would it really have been so bad to give me a call before popping up on my doorstep?" I asked. " Not that I mind, but if you'd called, I could have something a little better fixed, and had the rooms ready…"
" Malik!" Isis shrilled, and Malik swallowed his food too quickly.
" Ah! It's good, Ryou!" he sputtered.
" You said you called!" Isis continued.
" I did?"
" Yes, you did."
" Oh." Malik smiled brightly at his sister. " Um, my bad."
" Oh, you are impossible." Isis sighed. " I'm so sorry, Ryou, Malik was supposed to call and ask if it was alright if we stayed with you while we found a place." Isis explained, punctuating her words with a nasty glare in Malik's direction.
" Found a place?" I asked, hoping to deter Isis from launching into one of her infamous tirades.
" Oh, yeah, you wouldn't know, would you?" Malik said, using his foot to hold Isis at bay while he shoveled food into his mouth. If I hadn't seen the same sight on numerous occasions before, I'd have either been amazed at Malik's dexterity or at Isis's strength. " We've decided to move to Domino. Gotta love Egypt, but it's kind of depressing now, and plus all our friends are here. Gods above, Isis, get the hell off me!" he cried, giving Isis a shove with his foot. " Anyway, we need a place to crash until we find a place of our own, and we hoped you wouldn't mind?"
" Not at all." I answered, smiling. " Yami's been kind of lonely lately, and you're always welcome anyway."
" Awesome!" Malik gushed. " Dibs on the guest room upstairs, the one next to the bathroom!"
I guess you can see that the Ishtars have lodged with my yami and I before.
" I can't tell you how much this means to us." Isis sighed. " You can imagine how well Malik's yami and hotels mix." I most certainly could. I shuddered. Just then, the doorbell rang.
" Ah, that must be the luggage." Malik said, swinging his legs over his chair. I smiled as he left the room.
" I'm so, so sorry!" Isis wailed.
" Forget it." I said, waving her apologies off. " It's nice to have you guys back." Malik reentered the room, a couple pieces of luggage with him.
" Better get yours, Isis." He said, then turned to me. " Hey, Ryou, let's go clubbing! Isis's treat!"
" What!" Isis shrilled.
And that is how I wound up sipping a Coke and watching my yami chase Yugi's yami while hissing something in Egyptian that sounded very sinister. Malik's yami jumped in and grabbed them both, dragging both of them onto the dance floor, where Jou and Mai were doing something that looked like it should never, ever be preformed in public. Isis and Seto Kaiba were talking about something way over my head to my left, and Yugi had disappeared with Anzu, and I'd lost track of where Malik had gotten to. He's a very active person. Unfortunately, he also has the absolute worst luck combined with the best timing, so I've always thought it wise to keep an eye on him. That, and I've always found it hard to take my eyes off him. Something about Malik just holds your attention. Almost as though on cue, Malik suddenly appeared in front of me.
" Hey, Ryou, whatcha drinking?" he asked, investigating my glass. " Rum and Coke?"
" No, just Coke." I said.
" No rum? Where's the fun in that?" he asked. I just smiled at him and he turned to look at the crowd we'd arrived with. " Well, they're all pretty well slammed. So I'll have just a Coke too."
" Why?" I asked.
" Well, it doesn't seem fair if you have to be the only one sober, so I'll be sober with you!" he said brightly. Then he looked worried. " You don't seem like your having much fun, Ryou."
" I am. I like watching everyone dance and have a good time. I'm just not so good at it myself. I'm a really bad dancer and I don't drink." I explained, looking down at my glass.
" That won't do. Nope, that won't do at all." Malik said. " Let's go dance."
" Huh? No, uh, that's okay. I don't dance." I said. Malik reached over and grabbed my drink, downed it, and put the glass on the bar. Then he offered me that slightly insane grin that has never failed to turn my knees to jelly.
" Aw, come on. It won't kill you. Besides, you might actually like it." He said.
" I… I don't know how…" I protested weakly as he grabbed my hands and pulled me away from the safety of the bar.
" That's just what people say when they're too shy! Everyone can dance! You just gotta move, that's all!" Malik said, dragging me out onto the floor amidst a swaying crowd of people with some rap-ish song I'd never heard playing. " Okay, let's see what you've got." Malik said, facing me. I simply stared back him. In all honesty, I was waiting for his short attention span to kick in, so he'd turn his head long enough for me to escape back to the bar. " Okay, that was boring." I shrugged.
" I told you, I don't dance." I said, mildly annoyed. Malik just smiled.
" Look, it's not hard, just move to the music." Malik explained. I gave him a blank look. " Oh, I know you've got a sense of rhythm, I've seen it!"
" When?" I asked.
" Back when I stayed with you guys last time, you know, when Isis kicked me out of the house." Malik said. " You were really grooving in the living room."
" You saw that!" I shrilled.
" Sure. You looked hot." Malik said, like that was the most natural thing in the world to say. Fortunately, I had enough grace to let that roll off my back.
" Yeah, well, that was when no one was watching!" I cried.
" I was watching." Malik said.
" I didn't know you were, and that makes all the difference." I said.
" So are you saying that you're not comfortable enough with me to dance in front of me?" Malik asked, pouting a little. Well, that put me in a rough position. Just then, my yami snuck up from behind and shoved me, sending me sprawling into Malik's chest, where he casually caught me and held me against his chest while I regained my footing.
" Arguing with him doesn't work. His skull's thick as a brick wall." My wonderful, loving, traitorous yami explained. " You gotta force him." That said, the traitor casually sauntered up behind me and sandwiched me in between himself and Malik, grabbed me by the waist to make sure I didn't run off, and began to grind against me. Yes, grind. I was leaving, and that was final.
" Oh, no way! No friggin' way! Let me go, let me go!" I yelled, trying to back away, but Malik had gotten in on the action. He grabbed my hips just below my yami's hands and began to mimic my yami motions, except I was facing him so it was much more embarrassing. " Oh gods! Get off me!" I cried, surprised by the laughter that came out of my throat. " I'm gonna scream rape, and you know I will!" I shrieked, struggling to get out from in between them. My yami back away then, gasping for breath in between his own gales of laughter.
" Dance with blondie, Aibou, or else I'll do it again." He threatened me.
" Blondie?" Malik asked, a slight tone of annoyance in his voice. Just then, Malik's yami arrived.
" Whoo, you two were getting some action. This, I have got to see." The larger, meaner, and generally more dangerous version of Malik announced. " Next time, I want some."
" Oh, gods…" I moaned. Malik laughed and I wheeled around, slammed my forehead against his chest, and began attempting to blindly smash my fists against his face, which only increased his laughter. " This is all your fault! This is so embarrassing!"
" Hey, you two." Malik said suddenly, addressing the two yamis. " I think I see Yami Yugi over there. He looks like he's drunk off his ass."
Yamis can really move fast sometimes. I suppose the promise of torturing a very drunk and otherwise defenseless former Pharaoh serves as a good stimulus.
" There. Now will you dance with me?" Malik asked, and I looked up at him in disbelief. " What? I got them to leave."
" I don't dance." I reaffirmed.
" Oh, enough of that. You sound like a broken record." Malik said, approaching me and grabbing my hips again. I wasn't going through that again, so I started to try to back away but he just pulled me closer. " Okay, step one is relax." He muttered in my ear. " It's just me, and I'm not going to bite you, so just relax." I tried to obey, but it was hard. Only my yami had ever been so close to me before, and Malik was indeed very, very close. His breath smelled like cinnamon and Coke, which strangely didn't smell that bad at all.
" This is so embarrassing. I just know I'm gonna look like an idiot." I whispered to him.
" Who cares if you do? I can already tell you that you look like even more of an idiot just standing here in the middle of a crowd of people dancing, and anyway, you could stand here and pick your nose and still look better than Honda and Jou on their best days." A snort of a laugh escaped me. Malik was always like that, so bluntly honest and calm that I couldn't help but loosen up with him. " Besides, the only one watching you is me." He said quietly. I nodded. " Okay, now, listen to the music." I obeyed. It was a soft, innocent sounding song by an American singer. I wasn't sure if Malik spoke English, but I did, and I recognized the song, although I couldn't remember the singer to save my life.
We were drawn from the weeds
We were brave like soldiers
Falling down under the pale moonlight
You were holding to me,
Like someone broken
And I couldn't tell you but I'm telling you now" Good, now step a little closer to me." I did so. " Good. Okay, now put your arms around me." I looked up at him, curious, nervous, and more than a little embarrassed. " Look, like this, see?" he said, putting his own arms around me. I mimicked his motion, so that the two of us were standing with our arms around each other's waists, our heads bowed together and almost touching. Malik, by the way, is about a head taller than me. " Okay, we're not going to do anything crazy, we're just going to sway back and forth… Like this… Yeah, you got it. See, it's not so hard."
Just let me hold you while you're falling apart
Just let me hold you so we both fall down
Fall on me
Tell me everything you want me to be
Forever with you, forever in me
Ever the same
We continued to sway back and forth, our heads just barely touching, turning in a slow circle. I watched Malik's face the whole time, watching for some sign of laughter or amusement that was usually so dominant on his face. But he was quiet. He face was pensive, almost as though in pain, and I wanted to reach out and touch it, remind him I was there, with him…
We would stand in the wind
We were free like water
Flowing down
Under the warmth of the sun
Now it's cold and we're scared
And we've both been shaken
Look at us
Man, this doesn't need to be the end
" Malik?" I asked quietly. He opened his eyes and smiled at me, but it wasn't like his usual smile.
" Yeah?"
" Something wrong?" I asked. His grip on my waist tightened and he looked so pained… " Did I say something wrong?" I asked. Malik smiled again and shook his head.
" No way. You're great, Ryou. You've never upset me." He assured me. But something had upset him, and in the space of a few moments.
" Then what is it?" I asked. He sighed and looked off from me.
" It's complicated." He told me.
Just let me hold you while you're falling apart
Just let me hold you so we both fall down
Just then, there was a horrible crash and cursing in Egyptian.
" Well, that's our cue to leave." Malik said, stepping away from me.
It took some time to round them all up, get Mai and Joey on a bus to their apartment, and get the yamis (by now they were all drunk off their asses) convinced that we needed to go home. Isis told us, with a faint blush on her cheeks, that she was going back to Seto's place to "talk about some business propositions." Malik laughed loudly at this, and I didn't blame him. Isis hadn't been drinking and neither had Seto Kaiba, and yet both were blushing burgundy and unable to meet our eyes. So that's how Yugi, Malik and I wound up herding our drunken, stumbling yamis down the street to Yugi's place. Yugi had only a slight buzz, and Malik and I were sober. Yami Malik didn't make it. He passed out on Yugi's doorstep, where Malik sighed and asked Yugi if his yami could sleep on the couch. Yugi said he didn't care. However, the reason I'm even mentioning this had nothing to do with Yami Malik, but he did unknowingly instigate it. The two still conscious yamis were attempting to drag their comrade into the building, but they wound dropping him and bumping their heads together with a pronounced thump.
" Ow, you stupid, sexy Pharaoh!" My yami yelped, slurring and swaying dangerously. All our collective eyes popped to the size of saucers, but Yami Yugi, who was equally if not more drunk, didn't seem to notice my own yami's choice of words.
" You're the stupid one! Don't talk to me, you're distracting me, I'm supposed to be doing something, not staring at your crotch!" the former Pharaoh cried. Again, we were all stunned. I had no idea how loose lipped yamis were when they were sloshed.
" What are we supposed to be doing?" my yami asked, looking around and failing to notice Yami Malik passed out at his feet.
" Um, I'm not sure… But I think it was boring." And then, Yami Yugi, in all his majesty and regality, hiccupped. Hiccupped and grinned stupidly at my own yami. " You have really pretty hair."
" You both have really pretty eyes." My yami said in response, stumbling a little to the left. " Okay, you two hold still, I'm gonna try to kiss one of you…" Which is exactly what he did, leaning forward and landing on Yami Yugi's lips with remarkably good aim for someone who seemed to be having a great deal of difficult standing. It wasn't much of a kiss, just a chaste meeting of lips that had an undertone of something much deeper, much more profound.
" That was nice." Yami Yugi said as they pulled apart, still grinning like a blooming fool. " Hmmm… Night." He suddenly said, collapsing in a heap at my yami's feet.
" Y-Yami!" Yugi sputtered, somewhere between shock and concern, running to his yami's side. I, in the meantime, went to cut my own yami off, as he was making his unsteady way toward the busy street.
" Just let me… hold you while you're fallin' apart… Just let me hold you… hic… so we both fall down!" he sang loudly and very off key. He stumbled and I barely caught him in time to keep him from falling down. He hiccupped loudly and squinted at me. " Oh, Aibou! How're you?"
" I'm good, Yami, but we need to get you home so you can get some sleep." I said soothingly. Yami grinned at me happily.
" HIC! I meant to tell ya, Aibou… I didn't, um, tell the truth-HIC! You know, about bein' in love." He told me.
" It's okay, Yami, it doesn't matter." I muttered, slipping an arm around his waist and throwing his arm over my shoulders. " Come on, try to walk steady."
" Ooh, everything's all curvy!" he yelled, seemingly delighted. " Everyone's fallin' down, Aibou. Ishtar fell down and so did the Pharaoh." He told me, suddenly serious, almost anxious. " You aren't going to fall down too, are you?"
" Only if you don't trip me." I muttered under my breath, struggling to keep us both up. Fortunately, he didn't hear me. " No, Yami, I'm not going to fall down."
" Good… HIC! I don' want you to fall down. I missed you so much when you fell down last time… HIC! I missed the Pharaoh too… And Ishtar… HIC! Everyone fell down, and I was all alone. I hate – HIC! - being alone. I lied about bein' in love, Aibou."
" It's okay, Yami." I said. I was really having a hard time keeping us both up. Fortunately, just then, Malik ran up to my yami's other side and wrapped an arm around his waist, helping me greatly.
" Well, maybe it wasn't exactly a lie… HIC!" Yami hiccupped again. " You said someone I feel for and feels for me too… The person I – HIC! – feel for doesn't feel for me… He doesn't remember." Just then, he noticed Malik. " Oh, hi, Malik. You haven't fallen down yet either… HIC! That's good, cause you always get there just in time to catch Ryou… He always stumbles, you know, and – HIC! – it always happens when I can't catch him… It's good to know that you'll catch him if I don't. It's good to know…" It looked for a second like he was gonna pass out, but then he woke back up. " Fall on me, tell me everything you want me to be – HIC! – Forever with you, forever in me, forever the sa-ame!" he suddenly burst into song.
" I already got my yami and Yugi's yami into the house, so let's get him home." Malik said to me around Bakura's shoulders. I nodded, and we began to thread our wobbly way home, my yami belting out lyrics from the last song at the club and hiccupping the whole way.
We finally managed to get home, and get a very tired and faintly singing Bakura up the stairs where he promptly collapsed on his bed and passed out in his clothes.
" Oi, what a pain." I muttered. " With any luck he won't remember any of this tomorrow." Malik laughed, but it was a small, short lived one. He had been unusually quiet all the way home, and now that I had the chance to get a good look at him, he looked kind of distraught. " Are you okay?" I asked. Malik nodded at me, a little too enthusiastically.
" Sure. Why don't you go take a shower, and I'll fix us both a snack. Tea for you?" he asked. I nodded, slowly, and then watched as Malik hurried down the stairs. It wasn't like Malik to hurry anywhere. Sometimes he went quickly, but that was more from his abundant energy, not from a need to get there quicker. Malik was quite laid back and relaxed, normally. This side of him seemed too… tense. So I hurried through my shower and came quietly downstairs to the kitchen. There, I could hear the water for my tea heating on the gas stove and the coffee maker brewing. But it was another, softer noise I heard that grabbed my attention. Malik was sitting at the kitchen table, face in his hands, shoulders shaking, and breath coming in pained, ragged gasps. For a long moment, I stood there, still dripping wet, torn between running to comfort him and leaving him in his obviously private pain. I finally decided that any reaction he might give me was better than him thinking I didn't care enough to comfort him. So I went to his side, sat down in the chair next to him, and put my arms around his shoulders. He sat up abruptly, looking at me with anxious, teary eyes.
" Ryou…" he whispered my name, shaking slightly as more tears began to spill down his cheeks and slide off his chin. I reached up gently and wiped them away. He stared at me a moment, and then moved to brush his own tears away himself. " Wow, this is so embarrassing." He muttered shakily.
" So what if it is?" I asked firmly, refusing to let go of him. " There's no one watching you but me, and I won't tell." I smiled up into his pained eyes. " Everyone needs to cry sometimes, and no one really likes to cry alone." Malik seemed to cave in on himself at my words, dropping onto my shoulder and heaving a sob that made my heart clench for him.
Just let me hold you while you're falling apart
Just let me hold you so we both fall down
Fall on me tell me everything you want me to be
Forever with you,
Forever in me
Ever the same
" It's Bakura. It's your yami." Malik gasped suddenly, even though I hadn't asked anything. " I know it's stupid, but I had this crush on him. It's so stupid… But I thought maybe he might kind of like me, and that was okay, even if he didn't really like me like that. But then, tonight, I saw him with Yugi's yami, and he… I'd never seen him like that before. He could be trying to kill the Pharaoh, and he'd still look like the happiest man alive. And even though I keep telling myself that I knew this was going to happen, and even though I knew it would never be me he cared about like that, here I am. I can't make myself stop crying."
Call on me
I'll be there for you and you'll be there for me
Forever it's you
Forever in me
Ever the same
" Sometimes… you just need to cry." I reaffirmed myself, my heart going out to the blonde Egyptian, who now openly sobbed on my shoulder. We had moved to the couch in the living room, which was a little more private as the kitchen tended to be like the intersection of the house, and a lot more comfortable. All the same… My yami? He'd had a crush on my yami? That stirred up a lot of confused emotions.
" Ryou…" Malik murmured, wrapping his long, strong arms around me and pulling me to his chest. " Forgive me." He whispered, laying back on the couch and pulling me down with him. I lay against his chest, listening to his thudding heart, and he cradled me against him. It wasn't uncomfortable… Just very, very intimate. " I just need to hold onto someone right now."
" I'm glad it's me." I said, smiling into his shirt.
" You're good for me, Ryou. You keep me from falling apart." He whispered. " You carry me when I can't carry myself. I'm sorry for burdening you."
" You're no burden." I whispered, pressing my cheek to his chest. His chest heaved uncontrollably with the last of his sobs. He was so warm…
You may need me there
To carry all your weight
But you're no burden I assure
You tide me over
With a warmth I'll not forget
But I can only give you love
" Someday, when you need someone to carry you, you come to me, okay? I'll carry you." Malik promised me, stroking my hair and hiccupping a little. I nodded again.
" You wouldn't have liked him, anyway, Malik." I assured him. " You think he's rough now, it only gets worse when he's interested." Malik just sighed, bowing his head. A long moment passed, and his breathing became rhythmic and steady. He had fallen asleep. I smiled and snuggled a little closer, relishing in the warmth. I fell asleep with his scent in my nostrils, and it brought me warm, pleasant dreams.
Fall on me tell me everything you want me to be
Forever with you
Forever in me
Ever the same
Call on me
I'll be there for you and you'll be there for me
Forever it's you
Forever in me
Ever the same