Gravityshipping (Bakura Ryo/Marik Ishtar/Thief King Bakura)
. . .
Ryo had nightmares.
Of course, he wasn't the only one, Marik found himself tangling himself into the bed sheets at least every other night. But Marik somehow felt like...like Ryo's were worse than his.
At least once a week, Ryo would wake him up screaming, and Marik would fumble in the dark, try to find his shoulders, mumbling soothing words as he tried to pull Ryo out of it, running his fingers through his lover's hair, trying to bring him back. Ryo would fight him, his arms flailing, nails raking, but Marik had fought far stronger than the thin, almost constantly emaciated frame of Ryo, and he wasn't hurt by the blows. He could only cry in between sobbing whispers, trying desperately to get Ryo's wild, nightmare-hazed eyes to look at him.
Sometimes, it was enough. Sometimes, Ryo would slowly start to go limp in Marik's arms, and he would just lay there, breathing heavily against Marik's neck. Sometimes, that was all it took, and the boy would come awake enough to mumble sorrys over and over again while Marik ran his hand through Ryo's hair.
Sometimes, it wasn't.
Sometimes, Ryo's eyes would peel open from the nightmare and Marik would know, like a knife to the gut, that he wasn't looking at Ryo anymore. That instead, the gentle smile that pulled across his face and told him that "it's okay now, I'm fine, you can go back to sleep," wasn't Ryo's voice.
"Who are you?"he'd whisper.
And the face that was and wasn't Ryo's all at once would stare up at him, blinking, as though wondering whether he could get away with forcing the lie or not.
"I'm what he could have turned into,"he'd say, and for a moment, Marik would see the ghost of a scar snake down Ryo's cheek, and the smile that would twist his face was someone else's—but still his, all the same.
In the morning, Ryo never remembered. Marik wasn't sure if he should tell.
After all, he was the only one that knew there was a third person in this relationship.
. . .
A/N: I'm not even sure what that was. Next is Graceshipping (Ryo x Ishizu).
