A/N: It's been awhile since the last update (pink) but here it is!

I was just looking at the stats of this fic and (bunnies) noticed that most of the people who read the first chapter didn't read the second (are) one BUT most readers who read (from) the second chap also read the third and fourth chapter. That probably means (hell) that the 1st chap sucked and scared most readers away AND (I hate pink) that, to my great pride, the chapters got better after the first one :) so yay for my improving writing skills! (but like bunnies)

The TV was on but no one was watching it. Bakura was alone in the apartment, eyes on the sealing and thinking. Ryou had gone off with his friends. The little brother was getting over their fathers death and now he was hardly ever home since he wanted to be surrounded by friends twenty-four seven for reasons the older failed to understand.

The meaning of friendship had never been clear to the albino for obvious reasons; he hadn't met anyone he could stand longer than he absolutely had to.

But then there was Marik. He somehow managed to sneak in his thoughts and make Bakura re-think his decision of not wanting anyone else in his life. And then there was 'the leaf incident'…

Bakura had already decided that what happened was because of some weird moment of weakness. But the fact still remained that he truly did stand to have the other around and maybe even wanted him around… He had given that some thought and came to a solution: Marik reminded him of himself, in a way, and because he could stand himself and wanted himself around it was only natural that he also wanted the other around. Well, that was what he kept telling to himself at least.

The doorbell rang, snapping Bakura out of his thoughts. Who could that be? Ryou had his keys, he wasn't waiting for a home delivery and the postman never rang the doorbell anymore.

He opened the door and was greeted by someone pushing past him to the apartment. After staring stupidly in the empty hallway for a second he turned to look at the person who dared to barge in only to find nobody. Bakura heard a sound from the kitchen and went to search there, ready to cause injury to whoever invaded his home.

"I ran out of coffee, do you have any?"

"Uh…" was all he could answer to the strangely cheerful invader.

" 'Uh' is not a proper answer to my question."

"Are you drunk?" Bakura asked flatly from Marik who was grinning from ear to ear in a rather freakish manner.

"No, no!" chirped Marik "I almost wish I were though. Do you have coffee?"

Bakura blinked at the weird behavior before answering slowly.

"No… We mostly drink tea…"

The answer made Marik's grin drop a bit.

"I see…" He sat on the kitchen floor Indian style, looked at the floor and mumbled something.

"What? I didn't hear you."

"I drank all the coffee we had." The blond said so Bakura could hear.

"Okay… Why don't you just get more from the store?"

Marik looked up at the other, grin now gone and replaced by an expression the one standing couldn't read.

"I wanted an excuse to come here; I drank all the coffee so I could borrow some from you and now I'm feeling funny…"

That must be one of the stupidest explanations known to man…

"Get up." Bakura told the blond.

"Fine! I just go!" Marik exclaimed, stood up and tried to walk past the other to get to the door.

"I didn't say you have to leave! If I want you out I say so!" He wasn't ready to let the other leave when he was acting this weird.

"Listen. Go to the living room. Sit down. Talk." Bakura instructed firmly.

"Don't treat me like I'm some kind of idiot!" After that outburst Marik just did what he was told and the other followed him.

"I like coffee…"

"I figured. Why did you come here?"

"Well…" The blond started and took a deep breath. "I realized that I have no real friends so got kind of depressed and decided to come here but then I just couldn't without a reason since we don't know each other that well. I wanted to eat or drink something to get myself to cheer up so I drank all the coffee and then came up with an excuse to come and borrow more coffee from you!" That all was said very quickly. It left the albino pretty confused.

"Ok… And that made sense, how?" He asked and Marik looked at him like he was the one acting strangely and made him sigh.

"First of all: you do have friends, I don't know if they're real since I'm not a friendship expert. Secondly: you don't need a reason to come here." At this point Marik opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by the albino "And thirdly: don't eat to your worries; it makes you fat." He finished with a smirk.

"You mean it?" the blond asked in aw.

"Yes, eating when worried is bad for you."

Marik gave him an annoyed look. "I didn't mean that! The part where you said I don't need a reason to come see you."

"Actually I said you don't need a reason to come here but whatever." The other corrected but wasn't really bothered by the 'come see you' –part.

The blond looked a bit embarrassed.

"… By 'you' I meant Ryou and you… So are you all alone in here?"

Bakura turned of the TV before answering.

"Ryou is with his friends."

"Doesn't it bother you?" when the albino just gave him a questioning look he continued. "I mean, aren't you lonely when he's gone?" The other shrugged.

"I'm used to it and besides, being alone doesn't make you lonely if you didn't want company in the first place."

If Bakura didn't have the other's attention by now that answer got it.

"What if…" Marik stopped to think his question through. "What if you're the person whose company you don't want?"

The albino raised an eyebrow at the strange question.

"In that case…" Bakura paused and the other leaned closer to hear his answer. "You have a serious problem since you're the only person you actually need to get along with."

…………………………………….

The answer gave Marik a lot to think about and the room fell silent. Neither of the two felt the need to talk so they just sat back and enjoyed the silence. Time ticked by, that could be seen from a clock on the wall. The blond was mostly staring the floor in thought. The carpet had a nice flower pattern but after awhile it got boring so he glanced at Bakura. He leaned his head on one hand and was looking in to space through half lidded eyes. The albino seemed calm but not relaxed and the blond wondered if this was his natural state. He didn't move aside from breathing but was far more interesting than the flower carpet so Marik let his eyes linger. He vaguely wondered, since the other was almost always wearing the same baby blue clothing, if Bakura could look as good in anything…

"You've been staring at me the past five minutes."

The voice snapped the blond out of his trance. The albino turned to look at him, surprisingly not looking annoyed, just annoyingly smug.

"Am I really that interesting?"

"No! Uh… I mean…" What did he mean again?

"Yes?"

"I mean that… You're more interesting than the carpet!" Nice… Very smooth…

The other gave him a weird look.

"I think that's obvious. Ryou picked the carpet."

"So if you had picked it, it would be more interesting than you?"

"Hmph! Of course not." The albino huffed and continued with arrogance. "Nothing is more interesting than I."

"Nothing is more conceited than you…" Marik mumbled just loudly enough for the other to hear.

"Did you just call me a thing?"

The only answer that question got was a tell-tale smirk and a sound of someone coming in before Bakura had time to return the insult.

"I'm home!" Called Ryou from the door and walked to the living room. The both occupants turned to him.

"Hi Ryou!"

"You're alone? Did you finally ditch the friendship gang?"

"Hello Marik, nice to see you again!" The youngest greeted the quest before replying to his brother. "Actually, I just invited them here for a sleep-over."

"WHAT?"

Ryou ignored Bakura's out burst and continued. "They're coming tomorrow and don't worry I'm sure you have fun too." He went to his room, leaving a shocked brother behind.

The Egyptian looked at said brother, amused.

"It can't be that bad."

"YES IT CAN!" Yelled the other. Marik was surprised by the strong reaction and wondered what kind of people Ryou's friends were.

"I can't believe he did this. Oh well, I only LIVE HERE so why would I have a say in who he invites!" Bakura ranted more to himself than to the blond.

"I DON'T like those people and-."

"Bakura." The albino stopped his rant and turned to Marik who had interrupted him with calm yet firm voice. The blond took the other's silence as a sign to continue.

"You're over reacting."

"No I-!"

"Yes, you are. It's not like they can harm you, right? And if they try anything you can just" he paused to form a playful smirk "bite them."

For a few seconds Bakura looked like he was either going to attack or just yell at the blond for mocking his amateurish threat but apparently decided to do neither and instead gave Marik a small smile instead. The smile was gone almost as soon as it came but it left a pleasant warm feeling inside the Egyptian which made his lips turn a little upwards as well.

"You're never letting me live that down, are you?" Asked the albino in fake annoyance.

"Right for once."

…………………………………….

Eventually the little brother came back to join the two in the living room. Magically there was no lecture, or anything like that, from Bakura who had calmed down. Most of the conversation was between Ryou and Marik, with some of other albino's inputs, since the younger wanted to know things like how the blond was doing, how was his family, what did they do for living and other stuff that the older of the brothers hadn't either thought of asking or just didn't care. The conversation stayed neutral when either of the two didn't want to touch subjects that would lead them to more serious maters; family members deaths for example.

Ryou's friends were eventually brought up. At this part Bakura also joined in, mainly to mock them, and Ryou of course stood up to his friends, which caused a not so small argument. The Egyptian sat back and watched the fight turn from a serious one into fake serious and after some time into an utterly childish one, in which the two mainly insulted each other's whatever qualities they could think of. The "fight" ended when Marik just burst out laughing and Ryou explained that this was all usual behavior.

Time flies by when you're having fun, right? Many hours must have passed without anyone noticing since the clock was already nearing midnight and Marik announced that he had to leave before one of his family members called the cops to look for him. It wasn't unusual for the blond to stay out late; it was just that normally when he did someone ended up in trouble.

"It's not safe for you to go alone this late." Said Ryou worriedly.

"I'll be fine, don't worry! I can take care of myself." Assured the Egyptian. The youngest didn't look too convinced though and turned hopefully to his brother.

"Bakura?"

"What?"

"You go with him." That wasn't a question. It's weird how Ryou seemed to want them to spent as much time together as possible…

"He doesn't have to!" interrupted Marik "Besides, how is he going to get back safe then?"

"He'll be fine, don't worry!" Assured the younger albino and addressed the person in question. "Right? You can take care of yourself, can't you?"

"Hmph! Of course I can."

The answer made Ryou smile. Or is that a mischievous grin?

"Great! In that case it's no problem so off you go then!" He said while shoving the two out of the door and handing Bakura something that looked suspiciously like a baseball bat.

"Is that…?"

"It's a baseball bat." Informed the white haired one helpfully.

"I see…"

"Not that I need it. The fact that I have one keeps everyone away." Explained the other with a shrug as it was completely normal to carry one around.

They walked in the fairly quiet streets of Domino, Marik showing the way because the other didn't know where he lived. Neither of them spoke but the silence didn't bother them. It seemed like every other streetlamp was either just blinking a bit or not working at all. The nearer they got to the Egyptian's neighborhood the more lamps were actually doing what they were supposed to do and the light was apparently working full time and not doing some weird version of shift work with the darkness.

After some walking the two were already near the park, which also meant that they were near the blond one's home.

"We're almost there." Marik broke the silence. Bakura looked around seemingly uninterested.

"Nice neighborhood." He stated and gave the baseball bat a swing in the air. The blond shrugged.

"Yea, I guess. It's better than yours' anyway…"

"What was that supposed to mean?" asked the albino with defensive voice. Marik shook his head.

"Nothing. We're here."

Bakura looked at the house and the front yard, the yard had a motorbike with a broken tire and a small lawn. A path led to the door of the house.

"You want me to escort you to the door?" He questioned with mock politeness.

"Why? You think that someone is insane enough to try and attack me in my own yard with the lights on and all?"

"No sane people live in Domino." A maniac like grin formed on Bakura's face when he said this. The hair cast a shadow on his face and with his canines showing, he managed a pretty menacing appearance.

"You're staring at me again." Informed the other and Marik, second time that day, snapped out of his staring mode.

"I'm not staring."

Bakura snorted and the grin was replaced by not believing look. "Yeah right! And Ryou has a rifle and a porn stash in his closet."

"Well, I don't see why that's not possible."

A shout of "Hey! Get inside already!" was heard from the door of the house and both heads turned to see the shouter. It was Shadi in a pink bathrobe, this time without his turban.

Marik slapped his forehead and mumbled something under his breath. Bakura looked at him, then at the bat and finally at Shadi then with a swift movement threw the baseball bat at the pink clad Egyptian. It hit him right in the head knocking him out.

Both not knocked out boys grinned in sync.

"I hope that didn't harm my bat."

"Shadi's scull is pretty thick. We should go check on it."

They walked side by side along the narrow path that led to the door to see if the bat was ok.

"How is it?"

"Only a small lump." Informed Bakura who had picked the bat up, inspecting it.

"Good." The blond sighed in relief and yawned, stretching a bit. The albino glanced at him and said in a quiet voice.

"You should go to bed. Night."

With that he turned his back and walked out of the yard, onto the street and out of the Egyptian's sight who was left standing by the door. Soon after he entered the house, shoving the cousin fully out with the door.

…………………………………………….

The sun shined through the always closed curtains lighting up the messy room. The occupant lay on his bed facing the sealing. It had been one of those nights when Bakura couldn't sleep. All night he had either been sitting in the living room or lying down on the bed. During the sleepless nights he had plenty of time to think, was it a good thing he didn't know. He though about his brother and his slow but steady recovery. Bakura knew that Ryou's friends helped a great deal but it didn't change his attitude towards them. Then again, he hadn't really bothered to get to know them, it was his brother that was good with people, not him, and if Ryou saw them fit to be his friends then so be it.

What about the matter with the Egyptian? It was true that during the relatively small time they had known each other, they had managed to form some sort of relationship aching to friendship. Bakura hated both of the –ship words or more the meaning they seemed to held, never being the one to let others close and having a lack of positive experiences on both of them. If you let people too close, you end up hurt and the thought of someone "too close" was terrifying, the fewer people the better and the albino already had his brother, that was enough. But… There always has to be 'a but' lurking somewhere in the shadows of denial.

"Bakura?" Ryou called behind the door before entering. "Do you want breakfast?"

"No."

"You didn't sleep last night, what's wrong?" Questioned the younger while sitting on the bed's corner.

"Nothing." He still had his eyes on the sealing and the other sighed.

"It's always something when you say it's nothing…"

Suddenly Bakura sat up, climbed off the bed and started walking out of the room.

"I changed my mind about the breakfast."

His escape was stopped by Ryou who had stood up and hugged him from behind, an action that made the other freeze in place like a statue.

"It's ok." Whispered the younger comfortingly. "Just… give it some time, give him a chance. Please…"

For a moment neither moved nor spoke, then Bakura shook his little brother away and continued his way to the kitchen. Just before entering it he stopped and turned to Ryou who was still standing in the doorway to his room.

"Hey kid, you know what I told you about being in my room when I'm not there." That would've been rude if it wasn't for the glint in his eyes that told that he wasn't really angry, quite the opposite actually.

"The kid" smiled and stepped out of the room, following his brother to the kitchen.

………………………………………..

The day didn't start too well for Marik. Shadi was found by the door in a confused state and apparently suffering from a concussion. That raised a lot of questions and the blond was glad that Isizu had to leave to work so she couldn't interrogate too much. She, however, demanded to meet the person who knocked the cousin out but was polite enough to escort her brother through the "very dangerous" city. Rishid didn't talk much, he just send worried glances to Marik's direction and focused in nursing Shadi back to health but eventually he had to take him to the hospital and cover for him at the restaurant. The older one would have told Marik to take Shadi's place as a delivery guy but Isizu had told the blond not to leave the house until she got back for more questioning.

Trapped in the house, the boy tried his best not get too bored. He opened the TV but nothing was on. The blond went to the kitchen to get something to eat and then picked a random book from the shelf and started reading. The book turned out be one of his sister's gay porn books, something about two guys getting it on in the back stage of some concert… The situation reminded Marik about the concert where—

He quickly tossed the book as far away as he could with a horrified expression.

"I did NOT just think that…" He said to himself but felt like he needed more assurance.

"We. Are. Friends… Or maybe not even that… Are we friends?" The Egyptian paused his monologue to think.

"I'm not sure, really. I should ask him… As if he would know any better… I want to be his friend…"

Marik frowned "Marik, you're talking to yourself. Shut up." He told himself sternly and decided to go to his room and relax a bit, maybe take a nap.

His room was in the sunny side of the house so there was a lot of daylight in the tidy room. He flopped down on the bed and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath.

Why was his brother holding him? Blood. Where-? What-? Isizu, why are you crying? What happened?

FATHER!

Marik sat up and let out a yelp when he realized that his head was trying to kill him with a humongous headache. His vision was blurry and the only thing he could do was to grab his head with his hands and scream before he felt himself disappear in the dark corner of his own mind.

A/N: Something is finally beginning to happen! There was some OOC-ness in this chapter and stuff I wasn't planning to write but did anyway when the chance occurred. And I got to write some Shadi abuse :D isn't that great?

Reviews will be greatly appreciated!