Amber- Hi! I'm sorry it took so long to get out, but I got distracted...
Danny- In other words, she found a new couple she likes.
Amber- Yup! I re-watched Bonds Beyond Time and actually paid attention and I realized, I adore Starshipping!
Danny- Which is Yusei and Jaden if you didn't know *Rolls eyes* You're so weird!
Amber- *Sticks tongue out* You're just a meanie!
Danny- Whatever, be grateful Amber doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh.
Amber- Hey! Anyway, this story has yaoi, and please enjoy!
-Start Chapter 3-
Once they reached Ryou's apartment and got inside, Ryou spun Mai around to face him, his eyes wide in shock, "What did you yell them?" his mouth suddenly felt dry.
Mai cringed, "I'm sorry!" she looked away, "I know you didn't want anyone knowing you know me and now someone thinks we're dating..." she trailed. "I feel bad, it's just... I snapped. Is that what you have to deal with in school?" she demanded to know.
Ryou shrugged in answer, causing the girl to shake her head.
"It's worse isn't it?" Her eyes became determined. "Honestly, from this day forward, I'm going to do all I can to convince you and Yugi to ditch that school, with how famous you are you could get into a private school for Pete's sake!"
"We don't spend our money on us, unless it's an emergency!" Ryou argued back.
"And you don't consider this an emergency?" she demanded. "You're terrified of that boy! You need to be in that school!"
Ryou have her a puppy dog look. "Please just drop it," he pleaded with her.
Mai have him a defeated look and shook her head. "Fine, I'll let it go, for now, but this isn't going to be last you hear of it, you or Yugi."
Oooo
A low humming noise erupted around the three bruised looking boys. Then there was a flash of light, a blue haired boy put his arms up to lessen the impact, but nothing came.
"Akiro!" The brown haired boy shouted and dropped down to the sandy blonde haired boy, eyes wide in shock.
The blue haired boy stayed still, frozen to the spot in place.
"Chikao," a voice said from beside him sternly. "Go get help!"
Chikao blinked in surprise before shaking his head to clear h is mind and quickly ran off and out of view.
Ryou, once off stage, walked over to an Egyptian woman who was muttering to herself. His eyebrow quirked upward and he coughed lightly, trying to get her attention.
"...I can't believe he got the part," Ishizu murmured and sighed, finally facing Ryou. "Ruki, you did well up there," she complimented.
Ryou shot her a small smile, "Who were you talking about?" he wondered. "Your brother.
Malik Ishtar had joined the cast of Just Magical a few months prior and was Ishizu's little brother. They came from a strict family in Egypt, he remembered Ishizu explaining to them, and got the part of Akiro who was part of the King's army as a spy and his allegiance laid with the resistance.
"He's good," Ryou hummed, he had been able to watch all the scenes with the Egyptian boy in them. He was a good actor.
"Yes..."
Ryou, seeing her far away look, slowly moved away, deciding to leave her in piece. He dashed down the hall and soon found himself on the ground after bumping into someone, someones actually.
"Ruki!"
Ryou blinked in surprise and looked up at Yugi. "Yuki..." he muttered to himself and suddenly a tanned hand appeared in front if his face. After a moment of hesitation he gripped lightly and was pulled up off the ground.
"Are you okay?" Malik questioned, tilting the boy's face to either side and looking around for bruises.
Ryou nodded when Malik let his hands drop, "Yea, sorry bu the way, I should have been paying attention to where I was going," he rubbed at the back of his neck, laughing sheepishly.
Malik waved his hand dismissively, "It's no problem," he looked around and grabbed onto Ryou and Yugi's wrist, "But we gotta get outta here!" he shouted and dragged them down the hall and to Yugi and Ryou's trailer. Once they were in and the door was locked and barracked by the couch that was in there, Ryou quirked an eyebrow.
"What's going on?" he questioned.
"Malik played a prank," Yugi said solemnly.
"I'm afraid to ask, but on who?"
"Marik!" Malik answered cheerfully and sat down on the couch that was in front of the door.
That wasn't surprising.
It was no secret that Malik and Marik Shiozu, a singer that liked to hang around the sets Malik were on when he wasn't touring, were best friends. Had been since some concert of Marik's that Malik had been forced to attend. Ryou, of course, only knew this because of an interview the two did together.
"Do you want to know what I did?" Malik grinned mischievously.
Ryou shook his head, letting out a little laugh, "To be completely honest, I'm afraid to know," he answered, leaning against the counter.
Malik laughed in response. "So anything new up with you two lately?"
Ryou and Yugi both shook their heads, nothing new with Ruki and Yuki, so Malik continued to speak. "Well, in the tabloids it says Mai Valentine has a new boyfriend, is it true?" he leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands.
Yugi smiled lightly, "You're a gossip," he chided.
Malik shrugged in answer, "I'm just curious as to who this 'white haired, doe eyed prince' is."
As soon as the words left his mouth Yugi nearly fell over and stared at Ryou, who had gone red. He looked back at Malik, "What now?"
Malik looked at him in surprise. "You didn't know?" he wondered.
Yugi shook his head, "Well, I heard from Ruki that the tabloids had said she was dating someone, I had heard nothing about a white haired, doe eyed prince," he shot an accusing glance at Ryou, who was trying to keep a blush down and look casual.
"Are you okay?" Malik, noticing the shift in the atmosphere, asked Ryou, frowning.
Ryou nodded slowly, taking a few calming breaths and put on a cheerful smile. "Yea, I guess I just forgot to tell Yuki about those little details," he said sheepishly.
Malik went to say something back, but was cut off by a loud banging sound against the door and the shout of, "Malik! Come out! I know you're in there! You can't stay in there forever!"
Malik flinched and jumped up, grinning cheekily, and made a beeline for the window. He opened it and put one leg out, making Yugi and Ryou gawk in surprise. "Catch you later!" he saluted and jumped out.
The two shocked boys glanced at each other. "Did he just...?"
"Uh-huh."
Oooo
"See ya Mai," Ryou waved through the window of the car at the blonde girl. "Thanks for dropping me off!" Instead of going to Yugi's house like he usually would, Ryou had to get to his aparment. The monthly check from his Dad was supposed to arrive any day.
He walked inside and checked his mailbox, nothing, maybe it would be there tomorrow. He just opened it got there soon, the month was almost up and he had to pay his rent and utilities bill. And get food, food would be nice too. He was half tempted to use the money he got from acting to go buy actual ingredients so he could make something, instead of eating something instant like usual.
He dug his key out of his pocket and unlocked his door. It took a minute to open, the lock was broken and had to be jiggled to get in. He sent in a request to get a new lock, but hadn't heard anything as of that moment.
He closed the door behind him and walked into the living room, ready to go to his bedroom, but a sound made him stop. It sounded like a wooden chair scraped against the tile floor.
It freaked him out a little, but he knew he should check it out, to calm his nerves, even though in all the horror movies he had seen before the person that went to go check out the scary noise always ended up getting killed.
But this wasn't a horror movie.
Right?
Ryou walked to the kitchen and flicked on the light, nearly choking on air when he saw a figure casually leaning against the counter.
"Y-You," he stuttered out. "How did you get in here?" he demanded, gripping his arm.
Bakura smirked and pushed himself off the counter, taking a step forward and causing Ryou to take a step backward. "I picked the lock obviously, you know it's broken right? Even an amateur could get in here," he scowled.
"I'm trying to get it fixed," Ryou muttered bashfully and shook his head. "What are you doing here?" he shrunk into himself slightly, trying to shrink away from the boy across from him.
Bakura shrugged, "I came here to find out how you know someone famous, you're you," he said disdainfully, as if it were a terrible thing.
Ryou bit the inside of cheek, they had been in the same school since kindergarten, did he not remember him and Yugi being friends with Mai when they were younger?
Then again, Mai did change her last name.
That might have something to do with it.
"Because Mai Valentine is Mai Kujaku," he answered, looking away.
Bakura stared at him for a moment before letting out a bark like laugh, "You mean that girl that always stuck up for you and the shrimp? She became famous?"
"It's not that funny!" Ryou argued and pressed his lips together in a thin line and then said meekly, "Please don't tell anyone we know her."
Bakura raised an eyebrow at that, what was up with this guy? That could boost his rep in school, people might stop bullying him.
Some.
Him not included.
So why did he not want people to know about him?
Bakura scoffed and started walking past Ryou, and with a casual shrug replied, "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone you're dating the famous Mai Valentine."He was about to move further away when a hand at his shirt stopped him. He looked behind him at the white haired boy and frowned, "What now?"
"Thank you," Ryou whispered, making the wilder looking version of himself stiffen, "I..." he wanted to say he wasn't dating her. Something stopped him. "Just... thank you."
Bakura frowned and tugged away from the grip. "Whatever, does more harm for you," he quickened his pace slightly and hurried out of the apartment, but not before looking back inside slightly. "Also, you might want to get the lock changed soon."
Ryou stared as the door closed and let a small smile creep onto his face.
Oooo
"Hello little one," Yugi jumped when someone stood beside his desk. He shot up a grin at Yami.
"Hi," he greeted back.
"Are you always the first one here?" Yami questioned, taking a seat next to him.
"I try to be," Yugi answered, "Kishi-sensei made into a game that if I get here first for a certain amount of days in the week, then I get a prize," he answered cheerfully.
Yami gained a surprise look, "Do you know why?"
Yugi looked away and shrugged. "I dunno... I always got here first anyway so a game was invented out of it, he blushed when he felt Yami stare at him, was it obvious that there was more to that?
He just hoped not.
"Ah!" Kishi-sensei skipped over to them. "Good to see you too getting along well!" she clapped happily and winked at the smaller boy. "Have a topic yet?" receiving a nod, she continued, "That's great! I can't wait to see your presentation! Oh!" she blinked in surprise and spoke to Yugi. "This is the first time since you've been in my class that you've had a partner for a project! Ah! Congrats!"
As soon as she was gone Yami turned to Yugi, red eyes wide. "You've never partnered up with anyone before?"
Yugi looked down, a frown on his face. It wasn't surprising he hadn't noticed all the solo presentations, but it made him feel sort of bad. "Ah yea..."
"Huh," Yami mumbled. "I always that you had the same partner every time and they skipped school tog get out of the presentation, but now that I think about it... there is an odd number of people in class... How did you manage to get through it all alone? I think I would have gone crazy seeing everyone else pair up with their friends and being alone," he frowned, studying the smaller boy.
He was sent into a state of shock when Yugi looked up, a bright smile on his face and said, "It's nothing I'm not used to it!"
Yami frowned, a tug pulled at his stomach. He was smiling, but there was something else...
In his eyes.
They showed sadness.
Oooo
Ryou fell into the desk next to Yugi in the first class they had together. He had a near run in with some bullied, they could have cornered him, but...
They had just walked away with a sour look sent his way.
It confused him, a lot.
But he wasn't going to wonder about it.
"Hi Ryou," Yugi whispered to him as the teacher walked into the room.
Ryou nodded at him and the teacher walked to the center of the room and smiled brightly, "Everyone, I would like to introduce our new students."
A boy walked in, gasps went around the room, along with Yugi and Ryou when they saw exactly who it was.
"Why don't you introduce yourself?"
The boy waved. "Hi, I'm Malik Ishtar!"
Oh no.
-End Chapter 3-
Amber- And I'm done! I hope it was worth it! I adore this story! :D
