Cageshipping (Marik Ishtar/Yami no Bakura/Yami no Yugi)

. . .

"Will you tone it down?"

Marik blinked at Bakura's hiss, but then Yugi was turning towards him and he had to plaster on a fake smile.

It was the pharaoh. Marik could tell—the eyes were red. It was odd for him to be face up outside of a duel, but he pretended he didn't notice.

"Bakura," he said, his voice full of relief. "I'm glad to see you're all right. Are you certain it's fine for you to be out of the hospital?"

"I'm right as rain!" Bakura quipped, emulating his host's voice and expression perfectly. He flexed his arm a few times to show off how 'fine' he was. "By the way, Yugi, this is the man who rescued me from the ones that attacked me. Namu-san, this is Yugi!"

Marik tried to tamp down the revulsion in his stomach as the pharaoh turned to smile at him, hand outstretched.

"Thank you," he said. "I'm so glad that someone was there to assist him. And I'm pleased to meet you, even if it's under...such circumstances."

"It wasn't any trouble, I'm glad I was in the right place at the right time," Marik said, keeping his voice level and accepting the handshake, despite his roiling stomach.

"It seems you two are getting along, then," the pharaoh said.

"Namu's been a good friend already," Bakura said cheerily, and Marik tried not to roll his eyes.

"I hope we can be friends too," the pharaoh said. It took everything Marik had not to snort out loud. He settled for imagining snapping the man's neck under his fingers, and hoping that it was leaking over his expression.

"Yugi, over here, I want to show you something!"

It was that lunkhead Jonouchi who finally released Marik from having to play nice with the pharaoh. The pharaoh bowed quickly and then ran over to see what Jonouchi needed, finally allowing Marik's face to relax.

When he looked up again, Bakura was raising an eyebrow at him.

"What?" Marik snapped.

"I told you to tone it down," he said. "You're lucky the pharaoh's an idiot. I could smell your hate from a mile away."

"What?"

Bakura just rolled his eyes.

"Take it from me," he said. "You need to get the hang of being friendly, and fast. Figure out what you did wrong and work from there."

Without another word, he stalked away towards one of the food tables, leaving Marik standing alone in the blimp's dining room and wondering what the fuck he had messed up in that encounter.

. . .

A/N: That was the last C! This is the home stretch, we're going into the B's. Next is Burnshipping (Thief King x Kisara x Set).