Chapter 2
It seemed as though the party only really started when Bakura and Marik arrived. Even though they didn't know whose house it was, they certainly knew most of the people there.
Ryou smirked (looking eerily like his brother) when he caught sight of the host. Well he guessed he was the host from the way he was frantically looking around at the strangers destroying his house; a panic-stricken expression on his bespectacled face, showing that he was this close to tears. Another crash sounded over the loud music and Ryou pitied the poor guy, who'd have to explain the damage to his parents.
As soon as they'd arrived, Ryou had found a relatively quiet corner by the food and drinks to sit by himself, letting Bakura know where he was before letting them go off into the crowd on the makeshift dance floor. He had a clear view of them though the arched doorway from where he was sitting, and he could see them moving fluidly to the music, their own movements setting them apart from the other awkwardly moving dancers. He heard the music change and recognised it as one of Bakura's favourite songs; he could practically see the twin smirks that he knew to be on both their faces. He blushed as he saw Marik grab Bakura by the hips and pull him flush against his front. He averted his gaze when they started to grind together: Bakura's head thrown back on Marik's shoulder, Marik's lips fused to Bakura's neck and his hands rocking the leather clad hips in front of him.
"Disgusting, isn't it?" Ryou jumped, nearly spilling his drink on his jeans. He turned to see who it was that spoke and found himself staring at a boy, around his bother's age, with dirty blond hair, and who was griping his drink rather tightly. Not wanting to anger this person, but feeling the need to stick up for his brother's relationship, he said,
"I don't mind it; I think it's sweet."
"It's sick!" The older boy spat. He turned and got a good look at the boy sitting on the chair, and smirked.
"Are you related to Bakura?"
"Y-yeah, he's my older brother." Ryou stammered out, the other person making him feel uncomfortable and nervous.
"Mmm yeah, you look just like each other." Suddenly he dropped his drink and his hand reached out and clamped down hard on Ryou's arm, forcing him to drop his drink as well. He dragged him to his feet and started dragging him towards the stairs, away from his brother and Marik. "You're coming with me. Now be a good boy and come along quietly." His other arm reached out and wrapped around Ryou waist. Ryou started to struggle viciously, kicking back with his feet, and wriggling around trying to loosen the grip the man had on him.
"No! Get off me! Stop it! BAKURA!" He called helplessly, wishing his brother was there. The boy, fed up with all the struggling, hauled back and punched Ryou in the stomach. All the air rushed out of Ryou and he had to fight the urge to curl up and protect his midsection.
"There's no point, he can't hear you over the music." And with that Ryou gave up, tears of frustration running down is cheeks as he was taken away.
What he forgot was that his phone was voice activated, and that it had called Bakura.
xXx
Bakura was in the middle of kissing his boyfriend while dancing, when his phone went off. He pressed a button on his headset to accept the call.
"Yes Ryou?" However no one answered. He pressed the headset closer in an attempt to make it louder, but all he heard was a muffled thump and a choked cry. Then he heard the words that made his worry escalate into pure fury.
/There's no point, he can't hear you over the music./
He growled and cut the call. He turned to Marik and leaned forward to speak into his ear so that he could hear him over the music.
"I think Ryou's in trouble." Marik's expression darkened and together they made their through the crowd over to where Ryou said he'd be. He saw his brother and the would-be kidnapper just as they were about to go up the stairs and Bakura snapped.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" he shouted over the music as he stalked towards them, his fist clenching and relaxing sporadically as if he was anxious to get them around the other boys throat. Marik was right behind him, a cold expression on his face. They froze, well the boy did anyway, Ryou looked up in relief and smiled tremulously but that served to be Bakura's undoing, seeing the tears on his brother's face. He went to lunge but Marik beat him to it, his arms outstretched, fingers itching to close around his throat. The boy panicked and threw Ryou to the side so that he'd be able to face Marik head on, instead as using him as a shield. Ryou crashed to the floor, and then let out a pained shout as he landed awkwardly on his hand. Bakura went straight to him and crouched down beside his little brother, hugging him to his body tightly.
Marik grabbed the boys arm and pulled it up and back.
"What fuck do you think you're doing?" he asked, his voice deceptively calm.
The boy gritted out between clenched teeth, "Gettin' my own back on that bastard Bakura."
"Wrong answer." The boy let out a shout as Marik increased the pressure on his arm.
"I don't even know who the fuck you are." said Bakura, still comforting his brother by running his hand through his hair gently.
"You fuckin' beat me up and leave me for dead in the middle of an alley way, and you don't even remember who I am!"
Bakura smirked, "I can't remember every single idiot that I beat the crap out of. What? Did you think you were special?"
"Yeah, well it's your fault why I attacked your brother. I saw him and thought I'd get me some payback."
"And you'll regret that for the rest of your unnaturally short life." Marik said right before he gave one final jerk, and with a wet pop the arm dislocated. The screams that the boy uttered reverberated throughout the whole house, alerting people to that fact that there was a fight going on. The music shut off as many people gathered round to watch the events unfolding. Marik barely acknowledged all that; he grabbed the boy by the hair and slammed his face into the wall. He pulled the face back and stared at it.
"Hmm, no blood yet." And slammed his face into the wall again and again until there was blood running down his face from multiple cuts and abrasions and thick blood was smeared on the otherwise pristine white wall. He then punched him in the stomach and when he doubled up, hugging his stomach with his one good hand, he used his booted foot to kick him to the ground. He bent down and turned the boy onto his back, then sat on his stomach, using his knees to keep his arms by his side. He took his knife from out of his pocket and pressed it against his neck, drawing more blood.
"I'll cut a chunk out of you for every tear you made Ryou cry." He said quietly, dangerously, and used the knife to cut away his shirt. Ryou, who had finally stopped crying into his brother's top, turned around in his brother's arms and watched with dawning horror as Marik was about to start slicing.
"No," he called out weakly, trying to stop the violence but not quite sure that Marik heard him. However, Marik had heard him perfectly and stopped with the knife millimetres away from his skin. He looked at Ryou, the obvious question in his eyes.
"Stop, please? I don't want you to get in trouble. Can we please just go home now?" Marik growled but nodded and leaned forward and whispered something in the boy's ear that made him whimper and shake uncontrollably before getting to his feet. With one last stomp to the boy injured stomach they walked out of the party.
The ride home was silent. Bakura had borrowed (threatened Otogi into giving him...) Otogi's car since he didn't want to risk Ryou holding onto him with his sprained wrist on the motorbike. Marik had given him a kiss and taken off on his bike with promises to come round the next morning.
Bakura didn't even turn on the radio and Ryou didn't want to risk upsetting him more. He sat quietly in his seat at the front, cradling his injured wrist to his chest.
"Bakura?" he asked softly. A grunt was his only answer. He almost let that discourage him but he really wanted an answer to his question.
"Are you angry with me, Bakura?" Bakura glanced at Ryou and noticed how utterly miserable he was. He wrapped his arm around Ryou's shoulder and hugged him briefly. Ryou smiled, glad that his brother wasn't upset with him.
"Don't be stupid, I would never be angry at you." He growled. "I'm angry at myself more than anything. I should have made you stay at home."
"Don't blame yourself for what happened tonight. I sure as hell don't. You couldn't have known that something like this was going to happen." Bakura didn't say anything to that, he just smiled.
"Let's just get home; I need to bandage your wrist."
xXx
Ryou sat up in bed suddenly, breathing heavily, a scream dying in his throat before he gave voice to it. He hugged his knees to his body, mindful of his bandaged wrist, and let out a dry sob. Ever since he'd gone to sleep he kept on having dreams about those what-could've-beens about what happened to him hours ago. It started out the same way: his brother never made to him in time and he was taken away. But a different thing happened to him each time in the dream and he was terrified.
It was about the third time he'd woken in cold sweat that night and he didn't want to go back to sleep, but he knew he had to if he didn't want to be a zombie on his first day at school. He got out of bed and staggered into his en suite bathroom. He turned on the light and walked over to the sink where he splashed some cold water on his face to wash away the sweat. He switched off the light and walked out of the bathroom then out of his room. He leaned against the wall in the hallway, indecision tearing at him. His parents believed he was too old to go into their room when he'd have a nightmare but he didn't want to wake Bakura. His parents didn't even know about what happened and why he got that sprained wrist. They were furious enough when they found out that Bakura had taken him to a party with 'that psychotic street thug'; he didn't want to know what they would do to Bakura if they found out that he been at the centre of a fight.
In the end his fear coupled with exhaustion made the decision for him and he crept into Bakura's room, shutting the door quietly behind him. He was just standing there, not sure on how to proceed, when the Bakura suddenly spoke up.
"What's the matter Ryou?" he said, his voice muffled by the pillow.
"I-I keep on having nightmares...about what happened at the party." Bakura turned over, so that he was facing the door and lifted up the duvet.
"C'mon," he yawned, "Get in." Ryou's smile was like the sun breaking over the clouds. He hurried to the bed and got in, burying himself under the covers. Bakura wrapped an arm around his waist and pulled him close.
"Thank you Bakura."
"Hn. Now go to sleep."
xXx
"Bakura, if we don't leave now we're gonna be late! I don't care if you don't care because I care!" Suddenly Bakura appeared in front of him, making him jump back in surprise and clutch his chest.
"Right, whatever Ryou. It's 8 o'clock; school starts in forty minutes. So calm down." Ryou blushed at that, but he didn't really want to be late on his first day and make a bad impression on the teachers. "And besides, we have to wait for Marik." Bakura grabbed his jacket that was hanging by the door. Suddenly the doorbell rang and Bakura smirked.
"Speak of the devil." He opened the door, but before he could speak, he was pulled forward by his shirt and into a kiss. His hand slid up Marik's torso to rest on Marik's cheek. His other hand was resting in the back pocket of Marik's jeans. Marik broke the kiss reluctantly to rest his chin on Bakura's shoulder.
"You alright, pipsqueak?" He asked over Bakura's shoulder, looking intently at Ryou for any signs of discomfort. Ryou gave him a small smile, but it was true.
"Yeah. My wrist still hurts but my stomach is only a little tender. I'm fine." Marik's expression darkened and it was then that Ryou remembered that he hadn't told them about getting hit. Crap. "Don't worry, I'm fine. Really. And besides he got a lot worse than me." He walked through the doorway past them and went over the car Bakura borrowed from Otogi. "Ready to go to school?"
"Yep." He pecked Bakura on the lips and went over to his bike. "See you there, love." Then he took off down the road towards the school. Bakura and Ryou both got in the car and they took off after Marik toward what Bakura called 'hell'.
They arrived with plenty of time to spare (Bakura's driving made sure of that), a detail that Bakura had great fun in pointing out to his to his brother, much to Ryou's annoyance.
"I'll take you to the office, but then I'll have to go; I have a before-school class. You're supposed to go to the cafeteria until the bell rings. If you can't remember where it is then ask some– actually, I have a better idea. Go with Marik – he'll take you to our common room. Year 9s aren't supposed to be in there but no one'll say anything if you're with Marik." They got out of the car and Bakura spoke to Marik quickly about what was going on. They both went to the office with Ryou and Bakura hugged his brother briefly before taking off to his lesson. They walked into the office, Ryou going up to the secretary while Marik took a seat.
"Um...m-my name's Ryou Bakura and I'm a new student here." The secretary smiled at him, partly to reassure him and partly because he seemed like such a nice boy.
"Okay. The headmistress is expecting you so go on through." The boy smiled and went into the head's office. But before he went through the door he gave a small wave at Marik, who smiled back in encouragement. The door shut with a quiet 'click' and the secretary immediately rounded on Marik.
"Alright Marik, what are you doing in here this early in the morning. School hasn't even started yet; don't tell me you're in trouble already."
Marik smirked, "I only just got here; I ain't done anything...yet."
"So why are you here?"
"I'm here to look after the pipsqueak until school starts."
"Pipsqueak? Oh you mean Ryou Bakura. How does a sweet boy like him know you?"
"Isn't it obvious? He's Bakura's little brother. And you know how I know Bakura." He grinned at her, and it was disconcerting to say the least. Marik grins were disturbing, considering the fact that what he and Bakura found funny usually left someone else in hospital.
"Um yeah. So does Bakura care about his little brother a lot then?" It may seem like she was being a bit intrusive and if it was anyone else they would've already been threatened (or already nursing a bloody nose) but Bakura and Marik liked her. Since they spent most of their time waiting to see the head (though not because they were troublemakers. Most of the time it was other people picking fights with them), they ended up talking to her quite a bit and found that she was probably the nicest teacher in the school. She didn't mind that they were gay; and she stuck up for them time and time again when they were about to get in trouble for putting someone else in the hospital, even though it wasn't them who started the fight. She was 'safe' in their books.
"A hell of a lot. Bakura would do anything for his brother. And the pipsqueak is like my brother as well so…" She nodded in understanding and smiled. She'd guessed that Marik didn't have the best family life. She met his father once and didn't like him on sight, so it was good that Marik managed to find another 'family', so to speak, people who accepted him for who he was. Just then, Ryou came out of the head's office nodding at something she said and smiling.
"So I take it, it went well, pipsqueak." Ryou's head whipped round.
"I was only going in to register and make sure I knew all the rules; it's not like I was in trouble or anything." he said, walking over to where Marik was sitting down. Marik heaved an exaggerated sigh and got to his feet, arching his back to make it click because he knew that Ryou hated it when he did that. Right on cue, Ryou winced and scowled at Marik, which had no effect on him and only served to make him smirk.
"C'mon let's go. If we don't get to the common room soon then someone else will hog the TV and put on some crap."
"Excuse me Marik, but isn't the common room off limits to everyone except sixth-formers?" she asked, her blue eyes twinkling.
He turned to her, and in a moment of good humour, raised a finger to his lips and said, "Shhh, Jo! Don't tell anyone." Then he gave her a smirk and walked out of the office with Ryou behind him.
It was fascinating walking down the hallway with Marik. No one dared to make eye-contact with him and they hurried to move out of his way. He was getting a few (make that a lot of) strange looks from the other students. They were probably wondering why anyone (who wasn't Bakura) would be walking with Marik and not get attacked, or severely threatened. Ryou kept his head down, not liking having attention drawn to himself, and the way people were staring at them, it seemed that Marik was rather famous (or infamous) in this school. He was led outside and to another building, where Marik had to input a code into the door in order to get in.
"I don't know why they have coded doors; it's not like anyone is going to break into a school." Ryou laughed, his nervousness easing in the presence of his 'brother'. They walked down a hallway until they came to a room with a large sofa in the middle and a TV directly in front of it with other comfy-looking chairs dispersed around that vicinity; there was a kitchen (which was really just a counter with several cupboards, a sink, a small fridge and a microwave) and a table in the corner with more of those comfy-looking chairs which, Ryou guessed, must be where they do their work or eat their food. Marik slammed the door hard behind him, announcing his entrance to the rest of the room.
"Marik, what's with the runt?" Ryou sighed; he really didn't understand the obsession to refer to his height every time he met someone new but… The person who'd spoken was sitting at the table in the corner working on what looked like the latest state-of-the-art laptop (Ryou would know since he had one at home), and hadn't even looked up when they walked into the room, so how he knew who he was talking to, never mind how he new that someone who didn't belong in the common room was there, was beyond Ryou. Marik however, took it all in stride, it not being a strange occurrence to him.
"Don't call him that Kaiba; his name is Ryou, Bakura's little brother."
"Right," he said, still not looking up from his laptop, fingers moving like lightning over the keys on the keyboard. "But what is he doing here? You know it's forbidden for people who are not sixth-formers to be in here."
Marik snorted. "And you, Kaiba, should know me well enough by now to know that I don't give a fuck about the rules. If I want to take the pipsqueak here, then I'll do whatever the hell I want."
"Whatever. And how comes you're allowed to call him names?"
"Because I've known him longer than you." Marik smirked. "And because I'm fucking his brother." Ryou blushed vividly and it was Kaiba's turn to snort.
"I didn't need to know that."
"You shouldn't have asked." Marik pulled out another one of those comfy-looking chairs and gestured for Ryou to sit down. Kaiba glanced up at Ryou; his fingers still tapping away on the keys. Ryou, intimidated by that look tried to smile to diffuse the intensity, but then Kaiba suddenly smirked and returned to looking at his screen. Ryou breathed a silent sigh of relief; he guessed he passed whatever test Kaiba decided to put him through. Marik leaned against the table and crossed his arms.
"Hey Kaiba, where's Yami?"
Kaiba rolled his eyes and carried on typing. "You should know him well enough by now to know that he won't turn up at school until the late bell is about to ring. Besides, he had to lend his car to his mother because hers was in the shop."
"You sure you two ain't going out. You both seem to know an awful lot about each other; lose one of you and just ask the other because he'll sure as hell know."
"Whatever, Ishtar. Yami and I are good friends, and besides, I'm straight."
"You think. I'm guessing you're bi." Kaiba scowled and opened his mouth to retort when he was interrupted by a sickeningly sweet voice calling out.
"Marik-baby! Where are you?"
"Jesus-fucking-Christ! I totally forgot about her." He turned to Kaiba who was still typing at his laptop, seemingly unfazed. "C'mon, help me out here Kaiba."
"No way.
"Bastard."
"Don't I know it." And to Marik infinite horror, Kaiba smirked then called out: "He's in here, Viv!"
"You're a fucking dead-man Kaiba. I'm gonna kill you." Kaiba, still unfazed, pointed out calmly,
"Not if she gets to you first." Marik growled angrily and his fists clenched unconsciously. Ryou looked on with a mixture of confusion, amusement and a bit of apprehension. It wasn't safe for people when Marik got into this type of mood.
"Damn! I wish Bakura was here, the bitch always leave when Bakura's here." Kaiba let out a short laugh.
"The great Marik, scared of a girl. How pathetic."
Marik snarled. "Be quiet; you're living on borrowed time anyway."
"Marik! How are you? How was your holiday? Is Yami here yet?" She had a huge smile on her face as she reached out to embrace him. Marik reached behind him, and to Ryou's surprise (and absolute terror) he took out his knife; the same one from the party the night before. Ryou could still see specks of blood on the blade. Vivian pulled up short when she spotted the knife, and she eyed it warily. Marik grinned, and it put everyone who was watching the proceedings on edge.
"How many times have I told you not to call me 'Marik-baby'; not to call my name like that; not to talk to me, and certainly not to try and hug me? I loathe human contact, especially if it is coming from an idiot like you." Vivian, still eyeing that knife warily, didn't react to the first part of Marik's speech, but most definitely responded to his last statement.
"But Marik," she whined, "You let Bakura hug you, and he's an absolute moron!" Ryou face-palmed, waiting for the blood-shed to begin. He didn't understand how someone could have no regard for personal safety and say something as stupid as that, especially to someone as…well, unstable as Marik.
However, just as Marik was about to advance on her (knife and all) the bell rang, signalling the start of school. It gave a whole new meaning to the phrase 'saved by the bell'. Marik put his knife back from whence it came and grabbed Ryou by the hand to take him to his form room. Doing that finally drew Vivian's attention to the younger boy, and seeing how he was holding onto the hand of Marik, sneered at him.
"Oh," she said snidely, looking down her nose at him (which was pretty hard to do considering they were about the same height). "Who's this and what is he doing in the common room?" Seeing as how Marik was too angry to speak, Ryou decided to step forward and introduce himself.
"Um…my name is Ryou Bakura. I'm Bakura's younger brother." He said politely, not wanting make an enemy out of anyone on his first day (or any day for that matter), especially a sixth-former. To his dismay, however, she scorned his greeting and dismissed him with a flick of her hair. Marik saw Ryou smile drop and he growled again.
"Let's see how well you fare with a broken jaw." he muttered under his breath. Ryou could see his clenched fist rising, so, trying to avoid another fight, he tugged on the hand currently in his grasp and when Marik looked at him, nodded his toward the door.
"I have to go now, Marik. I don't want to be late on my first day." He felt exactly when Marik finally relaxed and allowed Ryou to tug him towards the door and out into the hallway.
"You really are stupid, Wong." She turned to Kaiba in confusion.
"What do you mean?"
He sighed and turned his eyes heavenward as if to say, 'Lord, save me from these idiots'. "You walk in and do the one thing that Marik tells you not to; you insult his boyfriend and you insult the one person who Marik will look out for apart from Bakura, all in five minutes. You made Marik pull his knife on you. Just stay away from him, or next time you won't be so lucky."
"What are you talking about?" she demanded. Kaiba rolled his eyes.
"Didn't you notice how it was Ryou who managed to stop Marik from breaking your jaw? Next time he might not be there when you decide to stick your big foot in your mouth."
"Whatever. Like Marik could ever care for a wimpy runt like that." Kaiba just sighed and shook his head. Why did he even bother?
xXx
Ryou managed to get to the classroom before the second bell rang. He grabbed a seat by the front next to the window and proceeded to stare out of it until the rest of the students trickled in. Someone shot him a nasty look and he smiled sheepishly, guessing that he had been sitting where someone else wanted to sit. As the last of the students entered the classroom and the teacher came in behind him, Ryou realised that no one was going to sit next to him. He sighed silently to himself; he knew it was going to be hard starting a new school in the middle of his academic life, since everyone else would have already established their friendships. But it didn't matter all that much, he thought to himself as he raised his hand when the teacher called for the new student, he was alone in his old school so he was no stranger to solitude. He just hoped that it would've been different here.
The teacher introduced herself as Mrs Keen and began by giving a run-down of all the rules at this school and what was expected of them 'now that they were year 9s'. After she'd finished what seemed like a 5-hour lecture to Ryou (who'd heard the exact same lecture when he was in year 6, year 7 and year 8) she proceeded to go round and hand out letters, timetables and homework journals to each student. Ryou stuffed it all in his bag after looking to see what is first lesson was, and proceeded to stare out of the window until the end of form room. When the bell went, he grabbed his bag and made his way into the hallway. After 2 minutes of wandering, he realised that: no, he wasn't going to find is locker this way, and yes, he was horribly lost, and yes, he would be late to his first lesson, maths. He sighed and carried on walking forwards, head staring at his feet in defeat. Therefore, with his head bowed, he didn't see that boy sprinting down the hallway towards him, calling out someone's name. Well, not until he was sprawled out on the floor, his bag skidding in the opposite direction, after being mowed down by said boy, anyway. The boy didn't even stop to see if Ryou was alright; he just carried on running.
Ryou groaned and sat up, looking for his bag. He was lucky that he didn't land on his injured arm; it was still a bit tender from the fight. His bag couldn't have skidded that far away from him, which was the reason why he started to panic when he couldn't see it since it had his phone in it. He was about to get to his knees to widen his search radius when a bronzed hand dropped into his line of vision. He clasped it and was pulled to his feet easily. He looked up to thank whoever it was who had helped him, and promptly froze. His saviour had his bag in one hand andwas still holding ontoRyou's hand in the other. His hair was…wow. Ryou didn't think he'd seen anyone with hair that looked like that, and it all looked natural. Black hair that spiked upwards with crimson tips, blond shot through it like lightning; blond bangs that framed a gorgeous face with high cheek bones and full lips. A slim, compact body with a healthy golden tan. And beautiful crimson eyes that were focussed on him alone.
Ryou heart beat sped up, which was ridiculous because Ryou wasn't attracted to this boy, was he? He was straight, wasn't he? But then his helper smiled and Ryou felt his knees tremble and weaken and his mouth go dry, and then he knew that no matter how much he denied it, he had a crush on this boy.
"Are you alright?" Deep, powerful and commanding, his voice washed over him in waves. So caught up in admiring his beauty, Ryou didn't realise that he was being spoken to up until that beautiful face started to show confusion.
"Oh, um…I-I'm alright. T-thank you for your help." The smile widened and Ryou throttled the whimper that wanted to escape. Suddenly the other boy cocked his head to the side (making him look oh-so cute) and said:
"You're Bakura's brother, aren't you? You look just like him."
Ryou nodded, and when he finally regained the mental dexterity, said, "Y-yeah, my name's Ryou."
"My name's Yami, nice to finally meet you." So this was the Yami who Marik was talking about, who was Kaiba's best friend. He went to reach for his bag but it was moved out of his way and slung over Yami's shoulder.
"So where're you headed? You were looking awfully lost before you were knocked down."
"I was just looking for m-my locker before I had to get to maths. But at this rate I'm going to be late for my first lesson on my first day no less." he answered, the nervousness he felt around Yami being overcome by his worry at being late.
"C'mon I'll show where your locker is. What number?"
"Oh um…" He dug a piece of paper out of his pocket to check what number. "280."
"Oh good," Yami said a he started walking again. "That's not too far from mine. Let's go." He was shown to his locker with no problems whatsoever (apart from people staring at him again as he walked down the hallway) and he was able to see where it was and put his coat away. Just as he was about to thank Yami again and take his bag, Yami nodded his head in another direction and began walking, Ryou hurrying behind.
"Come with me. I just want to get something from my locker then I can take you to your maths classroom. What room?"
"Oh, you don't have to."
Yami's smile turned secretive, "I know. What room?" He got his book out of his locker and turned to face Ryou, who averted his eyes, knowing that he wouldn't be able to concentrate, looking at that beautiful face. He struggled to remember for a second, and then said:
"Room 19. I can't remember which building though."
"It doesn't matter; all the maths classrooms are in one building. Let's go." Just then the second bell rang. Ryou groaned; what he was dreading the most would happen to him. Yami took one look at the expression on Ryou' face and smirked.
"Don't worry; just explain that you're new here and they'll let you off the hook." Ryou nodded (since that seemed to be all he could do with Yami's attention on him) and they started walking.
Ryou made it to his classroom without any trouble, and after saying goodbye to Yami and finally getting his bag back, braced himself and knocked on the door. When the call to enter came he opened the door and soon found he had everyone's attention on him. He hated being the centre of attention, and ducked his head to avoid all their intense stares. He walked up to the teacher and explained quietly who he was and why he was late, but as silent as the classroom was he might as well shouted for everyone heard everything he said.
"Right," she smiled and it immediately put him at ease. She handed him his text book and an exercise book. "We've just started Trigonometry. Did you start that in your last school?" He shook his head. "Good. Go take a seat. If you need any help just ask the person next to you or raise your hand." He looked around the classroom and saw that the only free seat was next to a boy that…looked remarkably like Yami. He sat down, put his books on the table and took his pencil case out of his bag. As the teacher was talking about the basis of Trigonometry he was subtly nudged by the boy next to him.
"Hi, my name's Yugi. Nice to meet you." A broad smile broke out over Ryou's face; maybe he'd finally make a friend here.
"Hi, my name's Ryou. Ditto."
xXx