ow, six months...I think that's a new record, but I won't sugar coated, the last six months were...hard.
July was a rollercoaster, August dealt with the repercussions, September was busy, October was good, but then everything came to a head in November and now here I am...

I actually started this back in July and due to the chaos of everything it slipped through the cracks, and I won't lie, I kinds moved on from the fandom for a bit ^^'

but now I'm back and whipped this baby out in a few hours and am very happy to finally be able to continue it ^^ Enjoy!


Koshary

Marik couldn't stop squealing.

His beloved was even more amazing in person. And even better, he liked him. Yugi LIKED him. YUGI. LIKED. HIM!

How he managed to hold it in until he'd made it to his private room was a miracle of his will, but now that he was alone, Marik unabashedly let it all out with an embarrassingly high pitched giggle and shriek and danced around his room punching the air in victory and didn't care if anyone heard or saw him until he finally spun around and collapsed back on the bed and squeezed the pillow so tight it flattened. Was this what love was? What it felt like? This impossibly warm, fuzzy, fluttery happiness that filled the entirety of his body making him feel light and airy, and dizzy and nauseous all at once? If so, he understood in full why Bast and Hat-hor were so adored among the Partheon and he would spend the rest of his days sending them offerings in gratitude for their precious, beautiful gift that was Yugi.

Heat warmed Marik's cheeks remembering the dusky pink color that had flooded Yugi's face when he'd introduced himself. The way his eyes had brightened and the absolute dazzling sweetness of his smile.

His beloved was everything Marik had ever imagined and more.

Now the question was how best to woo his beloved? Right now Yugi knew him as a friend named Namu but even he knew that disguise could only last for so long. It wasn't like Marik liked concealing his identity or indirectly lying to the love of his life after all nor did he want to. But the question was how to do it?

He has no illusions of the delicateness of the situation. After all, Yugi still believed him a coward and a monster who was out to hurt someone he considered a friend for power. The worst part was that he had every reason to believe that—true, brainwashing Jonouchi had not been Marik's proudest moment but he was determined to take Rishad's advice and show Yugi his true self! Namu gave him a chance to get to know Yugi unbiasedly and the Ring Phantom provided him an opportunity to show Yugi the true character behind the parasite inheriting his puzzle—the arrogant bastard who would sacrifice anyone and anything to win, the careless selfish brat who made everyone else so his dirty work.

Marik exhaled a breath. It would do no good getting worked up again and he refused to let his hatred consume him now.

He had not forgotten the beast in his Rod. He needed to be careful. To tread lightly.

But again, the infuriating, hair-pulling frustrating question was how !?

"Now where the heck's the kitchen? I'm starving."

Marik's heart galloped and took a mighty leap right into his throat.

That voice…could it be?

He dashed to the door, pressed his ear against it and forced his focus on the voice on the other side and not the obnoxious, instant pounding of his own heart hammering in his ears.

"Ugh, why did I skip lunch today?"

Marik's heart exploded. There was no mistaking it. Yes! That crystalline voice with just the slightest tint of a soprano was without a doubt the voice of his beloved Yugi.

And he was famished? Why? He skipped lunch? Was he not eating properly? What kind of selfish caregivers did his beloved have that he was starving himself?

Well, Marik would have none of it! Embolden by the furious bile burning his gut, he wrenched the door open and donned his most charming smile, and oh, how stunning his beloved looked in that moment: jacket discarded leaving him in his sleek black tank top, (and frustratingly that stupid puzzle) exposing the smooth creamy skin of those small muscled arms, his cheeks just barely pink and pinched with hunger, his hair messily flopped like he'd just run his hands through it, and those eyes wide with the most delectable combo of surprise and embarrassment that turned his sweet smile into a crooked zig zag and his pupils to shrink.

"Oh…uh…hi, Namu." Oh how beautiful that name sounded on Yugi's lips, even more adorable when flustered with embarrassment. He set himself to work fixing his hair and shirt and Marik thought his heart would burst.

"Hey, Yugi. Are you on your way to the cafeteria? I'll join you." Miraculously, he kept his voice steady.

"Really?" Yugi's entire being beamed with excitement, then overcome by the shock of his own reaction, dialed it back and struggled, cutely, to control himself. "I mean, sure, that'd be great."

They walked down the hall together, the silence between them surprisingly comforting, least to Marik, but he noticed the way Yugi's writhing his fingers and struggled for something, anything to say. Oh sweet Fields of Green did his beloved honestly think Marik would stop liking him if he said the wrong thing? The thought made his heart thunder and threatened to turn his mind into a pile of messy goo.

Thinking quickly, he started a conversation "So, Yugi, what are you in the mood for?"

"Burgers!" Yugi answered without thinking and the exuberance in which he said it caught Marik off guard. Yugi must've seen it and immediately compelled himself and hid his discomfort behind a hand. "I mean, uh, hamburgers are my favorite food, so I hope they have those."

Oh yes, Marik remembered. It was one of the many things he'd managed to pilfer from Jonouchi and Anzu's memories during a "moment of weakness", but realized for the first time. "You know, I don't think I've ever had a hamburger before."

Yugi whirled, looking scandalized by the pronouncement. "What? Really?"

"Afraid so," Marik smiled sheepishly. "For the traveling I managed to do as a young adult, I've never been to Japan before, and I'm afraid I'm not a fan of the meat dishes back home."

"Really?" Yugi gasped again. "They don't have beef burgers in Egypt?" Oh the wide-eyed disbelief on Yugi's face was precious!

"Nope," Marik playfully shrugged. "Beef has been pretty rare in Egypt since the time of the Pharaohs. Us common folk got stuck with squab or chicken or lamb or worse, fish." He shuddered with no small amount of disgust. Grateful as he had been to finally eat what he wanted upon leaving the tombs, he couldn't bring himself to truly enjoy any of Egypt's meat dishes. None of the other countries he'd been to had much promise either.

A sudden, horrific thought crossed his mind. He's always disliked meat, though he could count on one hand the number of times he'd tried beef. If Yugi's favorite food was burgers and Marik himself tried them and hated them…did that…mean, dear Anpu were they doome, already!?

"You're not a meat fan?" Yugi's innocent question ripped those horrible thoughts away and he spun to him. His smile is nonchalant, curious.

Marik pulled on his collar, his shirt suddenly too right and his pullover vest way too warm. "It's not that I don't like it, I mean…uh…it's more of a texture than a taste thing, I mean." Oh, Djhuent please stop him before he says something irredeemably stupid.

"I get that," Yugi shrugged with a small smile then shuddered. "That's how I am with fish."

Marik perked up. "You don't like fish?"

"Hate fish."

They exchanged a look then suddenly burst into laughter and could've died from relief. "Well, at least that's one thing we can agree on." Marik wanted to punch himself in the face for the stupidity of that comment, but Yugi just smiled. "Well good news, for you, if you don't like beef, not all burgers are made from beef, though I the best ones are and I'm dying on that hill! I've had some turkey burgers that were pretty good and portobello ones are okay, oh! And there was this bison burger I tried in America that was good too!"

He started explaining different toppings and varieties and launched into an anecdote about how he'd first tried the dish while vacationing with his father in America and had loved it so much he'd refused to eat anything else the entire trip. Marik listened with nothing less than pure fascination. Yugi was a lively storyteller, and he told each little anecdote with such clear passion in each previous memory.

"You really like burgers," Marik chuckled

He stopped suddenly, and blushed, rubbing the back of his neck embarrassed. "Sorry, I..uh…got a little carried away."

"Not at all!" Marik assured him. "Truthfully, we don't have anything like that in Egypt where I grew up. I'm not much of a meat person, myself, but I certainly wouldn't mind trying it."

"Really!" Yugi beamed.

"Really, really." Marik leaned forward, sinking all his promise into that word, and could have fainted from the sweet smile and adorable blush that painted Yugi's face. "Anyway, what's uh, your favorite food?"

Marik pulled back, surprised but suddenly overcome with ease. "Oh, that's easy, Koshary!"

"Koshary?" Yugi's face was all bemusement.

Marik grinned. "Take you've never been to Egypt."

Yugi flushed again and sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. "No, I, uh, can't say I have. But I always wanted to! My Grandpa's been there a few times and he told me all about it."

"He has?" Marik blinked, surprised.

Yugi nodded. "He used to be an archeologist. That's how he found the Millenium Puzzle."

Oh well, that explained a lot. Yugi must've mistaken the discontent on his face for confusion and explained. "Oh, it's this gold pyramid I always wear. He gave it to me." He held it up for MAriks inspection and Marik swore the Eye of Heru was glaring back at him and its owner with it.

"Did he now," Marik forced a pinched smile and quickly steered the conversation back "Well, Koshary is the best thing ever! Not only is it Egypt's national dish, but it's a popular street dish. You can't turn a corner in a bazaar without a vendor claiming it's the best in the country."

Yugi chuckled. "Sounds like burgers in America."

"Oh way better," Marik boasted proudly, surprised and delighted how easy this was, how their conversations bounced off one another. "Ya mix together rice, pasta and brown lentils, everyone's got their own recipe, and then ya top with tomato sauce, garlic, chickpeas and fried crispy onions but some people use hot sauce or other toppings. Everyone's got their own recipe. Me, personally, I like to put in actual garlic. Now, I'm an amaetur cook at best, but I make a mean koshary!"

"That actually sounds really good!" Yugi licked his lips and Marik smirked, wondering again what it would be like to taste those beautiful lips. How soft they'd be under his own. "And if not Koshary, you'd love ta'ameya . It's kind of like your burgers, except the base part is made from dried fava beans, or chickpeas. I personally like the fava beans better."

"Ya know, I think a friend of mine mentioned the same thing. We had a huge fight over which was better, ta'ameya or hamburgers." Despite Yugi's beautiful, melodious laughter, so pretty and sweet and bell-like, Maik had to force himself to look away, less his smile crack, suspecting exactly who that particular "friend" was, but forced himself to calm down.

Things were going so well, between them he refused to ruin it with thoughts of the parasite and swore he would undo every manipulation he cast over his beloved's heart.

"What was it like?"

Marik whirled, crashing back to reality and found Yugi's curious face smiling back at him. "You grew up in Egypt right? You must've had so much fun there?"

Marik's smile pinched, but Yugi's face was so bright-eyed and curious he couldn't hold back "Well, unfortunately, it's not as exciting as you think, I was…pretty sheltered growing up." HE stopped, collected himself. "My…father was very overprotective. We didn't really get to see much of the world until after he died."

Yugi's smile disappeared. "I'm so sorry, I didn't…"

"It's alright," Marik promised. It wasn;t but he wasn't ready for that conversation. "Anyway, after that, it was just me and my older brother and sister, so I was fine and we got to travel a lot and see a lot of different places, and travel around Egypt and even the world for a while, but this is my first time coming to Japan, let alone Domino, so you'll have to show me all the best places to try these burgers."

Yugi's face went crimson and it struck Marik immediately; he had essentially asked Yugi out on a date, and it took every ounce of control to stop himself from bolting back into his room and slamming his head against the wall until he gave himself a concussion. "I mean, of course, if you want to? That is…"

"I'd…I'd like that, a lot." Yugi finally said, his face so red it reminded Marik of the lotus flowers growing along the banks of the Nile and wanted nothing more than to take the boy into his arms and kiss him, but restrained himself. The kitchen came blessedly into view and was filled with overwhelming relief and heart wrenching disappointment that their time alone had come to an end.

"And, uh…Namu…" Yugi paused, sounded so hesitant, so…afraid. His fingers curled into fists of determination and when he looked up it was with all the strength and courage a frightened heart could muster. "Maybe, you can…take me to try…koshary, some day?"

Stunned mystification bulged Marik's eyes and he froze. Yugi deflated then and Marik swore later he would punch himself for causing such a look of utter despair to cross Yugi's face with his hesitancy. "But I mean if you don't want to it's—"

Marik cut him off the only way he knew how. He took his hand, squeezed it and pulled Yugi close to him. Those gorgeous eyes, the deep blue of lotus flowers and the flickering shimmer of amethyst, so full of courage and love and kindness and hope and let all his affection pour out his own. "I'd like that, Yugi. I'd like…very much."

Yugi's face transformed with happiness and he nodded.

They walked into the cafeteria together. Yugi's friends were already there, chowing away and talking. Rishad was unsurprisingly absent from the room, as was Kaiba and this mysterious eight duelist. The Ring's host (though he doubted the boy was in control) was tearing into a steak with the viscous hunger of a ravenous wolf. He spotted them entering and a smirk dripping with blood and steak juice winked back at him.

Blessedly, Anzu called them over and Marik joined Yugi's circle of friends, feeling more at peace and accepted than he ever had in his entire life…and yet he couldn't shake the crippling fear that something terrible was watching him, and worse…watching Yugi.