Aaaaaand it's an update! Yay! We'll do review responses next chapter…school is being nasty. But we love all of you readers!
Warning- slight less-than innocent interaction in this chapter. Muahaha. Enjoy!
Chapter Twelve
It was dark outside when Malik and Ryou were finally allowed to go home. Shadows leaped from behind every bush and tree to block their path, but failed miserably in the attempt and were mercilessly trampled.
"See?" Malik said cheerfully. "Wasn't that fun?"
"Fun! FUN!" Ryou snapped. "Sitting in detention, with all those, those criminals staring at me! Did you see the guy with all the piercing?" Ryou shuddered.
"I don't know, I think he was pretty cool." Malik said thoughtfully. "It'd sure be cool to look like that – let's go get piercing on Sunday!"
"Or not." Ryou said flatly. "Besides, you've got a pretty nose, what do you want to go and make holes in it for?""
"I have a pretty nose?"
"No, it actually looks rather like a bat's face, but I didn't want to hurt your feelings."
Malik laughed. "Speaking of bats, did you know that you can get rabies from bat guano?"
"O...kay..." Ryou blinked.
"I just wanted to let you know," Malik grinned, "'cause I think there's some on your shoulder."
"Where!" Ryou jumped. "Get it off!"
Malik laughed again, so hard he was nearly doubled over. "Ryou," he panted, "did you know that you have the word 'gullible' written on your forehead?"
"Not funny anymore," Ryou pouted. "Come on, I don't wanna walk around the streets in the dark."
They walked faster.
"Why are you in such a rush?" Malik finally asked.
"The people following us are making me nervous," Ryou hissed.
"People following us...?" Malik looked back, to see a huge crowd of about a hundred guys in black suits and sunglasses, very obviously not looking at them.
"Ah."
Ryou looked sideways at Malik. "What do we do?"
"Are they bothering you?"
"YES!" Ryou yelled. "Of course they're bothering me! I'm being followed around in the dark by a bunch of weirdoes, and you're asking if they're bothering me!"
Malik flinched. "Ok, ok, I get it." He stopped, and turned to face the crowd. "Do you guys mind? You're bothering him!"
The goons looked at each other and sniggered.
"Did you hear that?"
"We're bothering him."
Malik looked at them nervously. "Ryou, on the count of three...OHMYFUCKINGOD, WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!"
"What! Where?" Confusion reigned as the goons all scrabbled to see what Malik had exclaimed over. Malik grabbed Ryou's arm and sprinted off as fast as he could, dragging Ryou in his wake. They stopped running only when they reached Ryou's house.
"Geez," Ryou panted, "I never would've believed that trick could actually work..."
"Every time," Malik said sadly. "Those guys just aren't much in the way of brains."
"Every time!" Ryou caught Malik's arm. "Wait a sec, what does that mean? You've used it before?"
Malik stiffened. "I've had lots of run-ins with those kinds of guys... I don't live in the best of neighborhoods, you know."
"No, I don't, since you don't seem very eager to tell me anything at all about yourself!"
Malik looked away. His hands clenched at his sides, but he showed no other sign of the struggle inside. He noticed Ryou's sideways glance, but the white-haired boy kept silent. He took out his key and headed toward his house, across the street. Malik followed, guilt spreading through his chest.
Ryou opened his door, then looked back at his boyfriend. "Um... Malik?"
"Yeah?"
Ryou gulped nervously, then plunged forward headlong. "Listen, it's late, and dark.. why don't you stay over my house tonight? I can make the couch into a bed for you...I just don't want you to get hurt!" he finished quickly when he saw Malik open his mouth.
Malik grinned. "The couch? I'm not going to sleep in your bed?"
Ryou blushed charmingly and calmly turned toward his bedroom. "Okay," he said over his shoulder. "I'm not sure if the bedposts are strong enough though," he added.
"Bedposts?" Malik wondered.
"Of course!" Ryou said cheerfully. "I have to chain you to something, don't I?"
Malik clasped his hands, and his eyes got all watery. "Oh, Ryou I'm so proud of you! My widdle Ryou has gotten all grown up! And here I was worried about giving you the 'Birds and the Bees' speech..."
"I invite you to quit making an idiot of yourself and do something useful. You can get the bowls," Ryou called from the kitchen.
Malik grinned, and went to choose bowls. Ryou came out with a plastic Tupperware tub full of chocolate pudding, and two spoons. He plonked them down on the table with an answering smile.
"Chocolate!" Malik's eyes lit up.
Ryou handed him a spoon. "I wouldn't dare serve you anything else."
After the first couple of spoonfuls, Malik acquired a naughty gleam in his eye. He dipped one finger in the smooth substance and began licking it off slowly. Ryou looked up, his spoon freezing halfway to his mouth. Malik smirked at him.
"Ryouuuu...I want your pudding."
Puzzled, Ryou pushed his bowl over to Malik. "Um, sure..."
Malik shook his head, still grinning, and leaned closer to Ryou. "I said I wanted your pudding..."
Ryou watched nervously as Malik leaned ever closer. He might have dropped his spoon when Malik began to close in had the Egyptian not taken it from his nerveless fingers. Quite deliberately, Malik inserted the spoon into his mouth, making Ryou blush, and sucking it clean. He put it down before leaning forward over the table and licking chocolate off Ryou's lower lip.
Ryou fought the trembling that threatened to overcome his limbs. He sat completely still as Malik's tongue traveled teasingly over his lips, afraid to move a muscle. Then Malik's mouth moved to cover his and he submitted fully to the kiss, letting Malik's tongue probe between his lips, a soft moan escaping his throat. His eyes fluttered closed when Malik's hands pulled his head closer, deepening the kiss.
Malik explored slowly, tasting the inside of Ryou's mouth with gentle strokes of his tongue, swirling it around Ryou's, urging the white-haired boy to respond. Ryou's arms moved to encircle Malik's neck as he sank into the kiss. He moaned a protest when Malik broke away moments later.
Ryou stared at Malik, his cheeks flushed, an unfamiliar light in his eyes. "That was my first real kiss," he said in wonder.
"How was it?" Malik panted, a little short for breath.
Ryou's expression of awe changed to something more dangerous. "I want more!" He grabbed Malik face between his hands and pulled him down again.
Malik responded eagerly. He ignored the slick spot on the table where pudding had spilled until his elbow slipped in it, sending both him and Ryou to the floor in a heap.
Ryou yelped in surprise, both at the sudden jolt and at the weight of Malik on top of him.
Malik tried to orient himself. "You ok Ryou?"
"Yeah, fine," Ryou said, trying to sit up, his earlier boldness forgotten. Their proximity was making him slightly nervous now.
"Hey," Malik said softly, "don't worry." He made no move to budge from his comfy position on Ryou's stomach. He trailed a hand softly down Ryou's cheek, and bent his head to tease Ryou's earlobe with his teeth.
Ryou gasped, sensation flooding him, and his head fell back against the floor. Then suddenly he was pushed,and he found himself staring at the locked door of his soulroom.
Malik licked the curve of Ryou's jaw, and then registered the change. "Bakura!" he jerked away in surprise.
"What?" Bakura fixed his eyes on Malik's.
"Don't surprise me like that! Are you trying to give me a heart attack or something!" Malik complained.
"Of course," Bakura said, in a 'no duh' tone, blinking at him innocently.
"Bastard," Malik sighed, absently lifting Bakuara's striped shirt and running his hand in circles on Bakura's bare chest.
"But what would you do without me?" Bakura tried not to arch his back.
Malik smirked. "I dunno... who's on his back right now practically begging? Hmm?"
"I might be begging... except for one itty bitty detail..." Bakura panted as Malik shifted his hips against his.
"Yeah?"
"You're getting chocolate pudding in my hair."
Getting ready for school the next morning was much more enjoyable than usual. The morning routine somehow seemed much more fun, when they shared it. Even small things like brushing teeth and eating breakfast seemed amusing.
They met Yugi, Anzu, Joey and Honda at the usual corner by the school. Both Ryou and Malik waved back at them once they were noticed, running to greet them. Malik, grinning, reached to give Yugi a hug, but suddenly noticed what he was doing, and pulled back. He stood frozen, awkwardly trying to find something to do with his hands, while everybody else was silent.
Finally, Malik mustered up a smile and said a rather lame "hello," which Yugi answered in relief.
Yugi sighed to himself as they all walked into the schoolyard, the awkward silence refusing to leave them. You know, he commented silently to Yami, I think I liked it better when Malik was hugging everybody. Poor guy.
He's just not used to it yet, answered Yami. Hopefully you'll manage to get past this intact. I mean, it's not THAT big a trauma, is it?
I think it might be bothering him quite a bit.
Ryou slipped his hand into Malik's, giving him a reassuring squeeze, and earned a smile in return.
Malik spent the rest of that day tensing up whenever anyone approached him, and then forcing himself to smile and relax. He only shared one class with Ryou that day, so they parted that morning with Malik blowing Ryou a kiss when he thought nobody was looking. He sighed and slumped down in his seat, determined to last the day through.
The day dragged on so horribly, though, that at some point the only thing keeping him going was imagining various dinosaurs destroying the school again...and again...and again...
The last bell rang. Malik, who took the extra Calculus course, stayed an hour later on Thursday than Ryou, so he didn't bother looking for his boyfriend before leaving the schoolyard. Feeling unexplainably happier than he had in weeks, Malik headed towards the garage where he had his after-school job.
Ryou was such a... a light in his life, Malik thought as he began gathering the tools he need to start tampering with motorcycles. He grinned. If Ryou was light, then Bakura must be the absolute opposite. Which wasn't totally true, either. It was Bakura who had helped him in the beginning, even against his wishes. Kaiba had also been there for him in his time of need, but somehow what he felt for Kaiba was totally different. Kaiba was an irreplaceable friend, but Bakura was... Bakura. He was. And Ryou... they were both so special to him.
Not to mention that they were both HOT.
They were like two sides of a coin. Ryou was sweet, shy and totally inexperienced. His total naiveté drew Malik like a fly to bright light, and he was almost jealous of Ryou… he might give a lot to be like him. On the other hand, Bakura was violent, explosive and had more experience than most people got in three lifetimes. Bakura was the epitome of who he used to be, and it looked like his past just wasn't going to leave him alone. He could do without the constant reminder, but perhaps it was time he moved forward and faced himself.
Maybe having two boyfriends, especially as good-looking as them, had its perks. But... he couldn't help but feel bad about two-timing both of them, even if they knew what he was doing.
Thinking about his boyfriends made him suddenly wonder what his brother and sister would think of his relationship. The thought of his family made him sigh. How long had it been since he had seen them? His chest tightened with feeling he couldn't identify. He really did miss them. They hadn't tried to contact him at all...didn't they wonder where he had gone? True, both Isis and Rishid had been horribly over-protective, but he hadn't meant to take it this far, only to run away for a little while. Maybe...maybe he should try to contact them. It had been a while, after all, they were probably worried...
Malik suddenly stopped what he was doing, a chill running through him as he remembered the strange people who had followed him and Ryou. Could it be...were they finally catching up to him? He had never properly fulfilled his end of the deal, they could very well be coming after him now because of that. Malik sighed, leaning against the motorcycle. He didn't need this now. How stupid of him, to forget one of the main reasons he had left Japan in the first place...
Kaiba watched Malik as he came into school the next day, still nervous around everybody. The Egyptian apparently still hadn't quite figured out how he was supposed to greet everybody, and was quite obviously ill at ease around his friends, who were (not surprisingly) clueless as to how to solve the problem. With all their friendship crap, he would've thought they could have managed something by now, but- whatever. As Malik came over to his desk, right behind Kaiba's, the CEO stood up decisively.
"Malik," he greeted, and kissed Malik swiftly on the cheek. Malik blinked at him in complete surprise, frozen in place.
"Uneducated boors," Kaiba said in explanation. "Don't let them put you off your customs."
Malik smiled slowly, already feeling better, and kissed Kaiba back, before going to sit down, looking much happier. There were murmurs around the class, but Malik steadfastly ignored them now. A small smile cracked Kaiba's emotionless mask.
Ryou sat with his arms around his knees, his back against a back window. He hugged himself harder, resting his cheek dreamily on his knees. Malik was his... his... his mind shuddered to voice the word boyfriend. He felt like he was being nasty, but he couldn't help the feeling that he was one-up on his yami. After all the times his yami had controlled him and used him, Ryou finally felt he was getting a small bit of payback. Whenever he was with Malik, he could practically taste Bakura's jealousy, and of course because of school, he was able to spend much more time with the Egyptian than Bakura could. It was easy to see that Malik was more relaxed around Ryou, and Ryou felt a guilty pleasure in that.
But, despite that, Ryou genuinely cared for Malik very much. Before Malik had showed up, his life had been so, well, boring. Now he was simply so much happier to just wake up in the mornings, knowing that Malik was part of his life.
He hugged his knees harder to keep from reaching out to where Malik lay in the bed below him and smoothing a lock of hair that had fallen over Malik's sleeping face. And Malik's face... it looked quite a bit fuller than it had just a short while ago. Malik was eating properly now! Ryou smiled to himself, having not tired yet of watching Malik wolf down his cooking.
Ryou sighed, getting up. Much as he enjoyed sitting and watching Malik sleep, he also had school the next day. He knew he didn't, couldn't, present the kind of challenge that Bakura did to Malik, but was just glad to be there for him anyway. Silently, the hikari left the dark room, and shut the door behind him.
In the back of Ryou's mind, Bakura silently fumed as he watched the interaction between Malik and his hikari. It wasn't fair how much time Malik spent with Ryou, he thought furiously. Malik belonged to him just as much as to his hikari, if not more! A tiny worm of jealousy started to eat through the tombrobber's mind. Bakura quickly shuddered away from that thought. What was wrong with him? Why was he becoming such a sap over some crazy, cute, hot, hunk of an Egyptian?
No, bad thoughts! If he gets close to Ryou, then he'll probably screw Ryou first, right? he said to himself. That can't happen. He's MINE. And I'm going to have him no matter what. It's not like I've gone soft. I'm just playing along with him...Just until I get to fuck him...mmmmm…
He couldn't quite understand the faint feeling of sadness that came along with that thought, so he ignored it.