(A/N:) I had loads of fun writing this chapter...XD I'll say no more!
Warnings: OOC-ness
Edit: Lawl. Shiitake mushrooms. Ignore the update. I just fixed the French since my iTouch decided to be a bish and spell "appelez-vous" wrong.
I'm a little startled to see Akefia standing right there in front of the entrance to the campus. He looks like he's looking for someone...Realization washes over me when he makes eye contact with me and starts walking toward me.
"Hey Ryo," he grins. "Ready for you first day of college?" he says in an overly-excited yet sarcastic tone.
I make a small chuckle to let him know I knew he wasn't serious. "Yeah, I guess."
"Need help getting around?" Akefia says, looking at the map printout that was already in my hands.
"Ah, uhm, well, if you want to give me a tour, that's okay...," I trail off. "But if you're too busy or you d—"
"Not at all," Akefia says, throwing an arm around my shoulder. I squeak in surprise. His arm is heavy. "I'm never too busy for little freshy Ryo," he jokes.
I roll my eyes. "Okay, enough of that please."
It feels like more than an hour has passed by when Akefia is finally finished with his tour. I glance at my watch, and according to it, I had about half an hour until my first class.
"Any questions?" Akefia turns to me, after giving his big lecture on the importance of choosing a place to eat for lunch breaks. I couldn't tell if he was serious or not about it, so I faintly listened.
"Nope," I say, trying not to make it obvious that I had only heard less than half of what he had said.
"Good," he says, smiling. He reaches out and ruffles the hair on top of my head. "Do me a favor—tell 'Kura I won't be able to come over tonight. But if he needs to he can just call my cell phone or something."
"Okay," I nod, brushing his hand off my head. He gives me a small wave before walking away towards what he had told me were the social sciences buildings. I sigh and head to the science building on the opposite end.
I take an empty seat in the middle of the lecture hall. The seats to my right are empty, and so is the one to my left. Next to the left seat is the small flight of stairs.
I place my materials onto the table in front of me. I avoid eye contact with the other people in the room. This particular lecture hall isn't too big or too small, so blending in is somewhat an easy task.
In the corner of my eye, I see two girls coming in from the right side. One is a brunette and the other has blonde hair.
The brunette says to me, "Do you mind if we take these two seats here?"
I glance up at her, making minimal eye contact. "No, I don't mind. Go ahead."
She smiles and thanks me, and places her knapsack on the table. She turns to her friend, and they continue chattering.
I sit there, still avoiding eye contact with anyone else. A pen is twirling in my right hand as I stare at the swirls in the wood of the table, praying for whoever is giving the lecture to come in soon. This is incredibly awkward. I'm never going to have a social life here if I keep acting like this. I even promised myself before going to bed last night that I wouldn't have a repeat of high school by being anti-social and being completely engrossed in my books and studies. I promised myself I'd make friends—have a little fun, but get good grades too. I had promised myself balance.
I flinch and drop the pen in my hand when someone places their messenger bag to the left of me, and takes a seat. I dare myself to look at the person and make eye contact. I turn slowly, and I jump back a little when I see that the person is already looking at me, smiling.
"Err...hi," I say. I feel a small amount of heat rise in my cheeks out of the awkward atmosphere I probably just created for myself.
The stranger isn't fazed and doesn't notice my discomfort. "Hello," they say. I nod, not knowing how to respond. This is probably the first time I've said "hi" to a total stranger first.
The stranger leans to the left, and waves and grins at the girls beside me. "Hello ladies," he winks.
The brunette rolls her eyes while her friend makes a small giggle. "Hey Malik," the brunette says.
"And how was your vacation, darling?" the one called Malik says to the brunette. They seem to know each other. Perhaps they went to the same school previously?
"Wonderful, thanks for asking. I managed to go to the beach a good number of times," she says.
"Lucky you," Malik humphs. "Family vacations are such a bore."
I blink a few times, and the brunette and Malik continue to converse as if I'm not there. I take the time to observe the two.
Malik has white-blonde hair going a little past his shoulders, and has tanned skin. He's just as tan as Akefia, in fact. Maybe they're the same ethnicities? Malik also has lavender eyes—how peculiar. He's wearing a white v-neck that's fairly low, and a light purple scarf loosely around his neck. A blue jean jacket rests on top of his messenger bag, which I assumed he took off when I wasn't looking. He has dark-colored skinny jeans and a pair of brown canvas loafers on. Not only is his outfit making a few questions go through my head, but the way he talks...
"I'm just saying that it can be such a hassle," Malik complains, and the brunette nods.
The brunette has short hair and bright, blue eyes. She appears to be a good listener, judging by the way she nods at Malik every now and keeps eye contact. Her skin appears light, though it seems as if it has been tanned a little from going to the beach. She has a simple, sleeveless light blue shirt on and some denim shorts. She has a pair of decent sandals on as well.
The two stop their conversation when the lecturer steps into the hall and everyone quiets down.
After about two hours, the lecture is over and I have about twenty minutes until my next scheduled class. Malik steps out of his seat so that I'm able to go through, and he waves good-bye to the brunette and her friend who are leaving in the opposite direction.
I'm just about to leave when I'm stopped by someone calling to me, "Hey!"
I turn around, and I see Malik going down the steps to catch up to me. "I'm sorry, I should have introduced myself properly earlier," he makes a small sigh. "I just got so caught up in my conversation," he says, as if it were a huge problem for him.
"I-It's alright," I stutter. I try to make myself expressionless to hide my nervousness.
Malik smiles and puts out his right hand. "Malik Ishtar," he introduces himself.
"Ryo Bakura," I nod, and reach out to shake hands with him. His grip is quite...delicate.
"Where will you be heading for your next class?" he asks, with a small tilt of his head.
"I'll be heading to the social sciences building," I reply.
"Perfect!" he says with a clap of his hands. "I'm headed to the theater in the arts building. It's right next to where you're headed. Would you mind walking with me?"
"N-not at all," I give a weak smile. Even though he's...friendly, I'm still a bit nervous. I've never been a conversationalist, but from the looks of it, Malik was probably going to do most of the talking, anyway.
"So...Ryo. By the way, do you mind if I call you 'Ryo'? Or do you have a preferred nickname?" Malik walks alongside me, and at this point we've walked about a quarter of the way to our destinations.
"No, 'Ryo' is just fine...," I mumble a bit. Malik had been talking the entire time, and it was mostly on how tedious the lecture was and his difficult decision on whether to major in the arts or have it as a minor. I don't remember, he was talking too fast and I was a little tired from absorbing all the information during the lecture. It sounded like him giving a life story or something, though.
"Oh, good," he says. "Anyway, enough about me. What are you majoring in?"
"Psychology," I mutter, looking at the ground ahead of me.
"Oh, how interesting! I have a relative who's a psychiatrist. It's weird though, because they don't seem too sane themeselves, you know what I mean?" he laughs at his own joke.
"Yeah, I guess...," I mutter again. Okay, so I admit he's being a little annoying. But I guess he's just trying to make conversation and try to be friends with me, which I understand. But still—
"Ryo!" I look up, and see Akefia walking toward me.
Malik immediately stops talking when he sees Akefia. "Oooh, who is that?" He makes a sound that sounds like a cat growling. Well, that answers that question I had in the back of my mind...
Akefia finally reaches Malik and me. "How was your first class?" he says to me.
"It was alright. Lots to learn," I shrug.
"Hmm," Akefia nods. He looks over at the blonde boy next to me, who appears to be making eyes at him. Malik's mouth turns up into a small smirk as he sizes Akefia up.
"And...who's this? A new friend?" Akefia grins, appearing to be amused by Malik's interest.
"Ah, Akefia, this is...," I trail off, letting Malik finish for me.
"Malik Ishtar," Malik says in a silken voice. He puts his hand out, but not in a manner for shaking hands with.
Akefia smirks at Malik's obvious attempts. He makes a small bow and takes the blonde's hand and kisses it. "Enchanté," he says with an equally silken voice.
Malik makes an amused chuckle. "Et...Comment vous appelez-vous?"
Akefia laughs lowly and lets go of Malik's hand. He straightens up and says, "Akefia. Akefia Touzokuo."
"Hmm...Akefia," Malik says, the name rolling off his tongue. I inwardly sigh.
"Well," Akefia says, his eyes not leaving Malik, "I'll see you later, Ryo." His eyes briefly flicker over to me.
"Yeah," I mutter. And with that, Akefia leaves. I sigh and continue walking. Malik tags behind.
"You know him?" Malik asks.
"Yes." Obviously.
"How?"
I stop in my tracks, and Malik almost runs into me. I turn to face him. "I hate to burst your bubble, but he has a boyfriend." I honestly didn't want Bakura's first good relationship to be ruined by my "new friend." I just...had to be assertive.
"You're his boyfriend? !" Malik covers his mouth in shock.
"What? No!" I blush, realizing how vague my sentence was. "My cousin! My...M-my cousin is dating him." It's easier observed than said, I guess.
"Oh!" Malik says, realizing his foolishness. However, his face returns to shock, with a bit of dread in it too this time. "I-I am so sorry—I didn't know. I would've never hit on him if I had known—" Malik looks like he's about to cry.
I blink at his reaction. "Ah...no...it's okay...Y-you don't have to feel bad..."
"Yes I do!" I can sense that he's about to cry. Wow...He's seriously feeling this guilty?
"No, it's not your fault, it's...It's Akefia's fault for leading you on. It's okay, it's—Ah, Malik, please don't cry..." I wince a little as tears roll down his cheeks.
"I-I'm sorry, I just...It's a habit, I-I just..." A habit? I question in my mind. The crying, or the flirting?
"I-I'm horrible," Malik sniffs, trying to wipe his tears away. He manages a weak smile. "I'm s-sorry, I cry easily sometimes..."
I feel a bit of warmth in my cheeks. Malik looks...cute, in a weird way. "It's alright..."
His eyes go downcast. "I'm just so embarassed...I was flirting with him right in front of you, when you both knew that he has a boyfriend..." Malik sniffs, the tears finally stopping.
"It's okay, I-I'm sure Akefia wasn't taking you seriously...," I say the last bit as if I were standing on thin ice.
Malik sniffs and looks up. "Y-you sure?" I nod, and he sighs. "I'm sorry...," he mutters.
I smile. "Stop apologizing. It should be Akefia apologizing."
Malik makes a small chuckle. "I guess..." He looks at me, tilting his head in a curious manner. "Is he older? Because he seems like it..."
"He's a senior."
Malik's jaw drops. "...Damn."
I almost burst out laughing at his expression, but settle for a low chuckle instead. "C'mon, let's get to class."
We continue walking, and once we're about to go our seperate ways, Malik speaks up, "Hey, do you...wanna have lunch together?" He looks at me, and his eyes seem cautious—as if this was the most dangerous question in the world.
I make a small smile. "Sure. We can just meet here."
Malik smiles, seeming to have genuinely cheered up. "Great! I'll see you later, Ryo." He waves good-bye to me, and I wave back. I step into the building when he's out of sight.
(A/N:) Why do I always end sections/chapters with Ryo leaving an area? Gosh. It's getting old.
...Okay, I swear the plot will get introduced next chapter. Or at least start flowering. Or something. Haha. Don't start making conclusions, now. ;) (Too late. XD) I feel bad that this is starting slow, even though I already said at the begnning it would. ;_; If you're still reading, thanks so much.
I hope you aren't thrown off by how OOC Malik is. o_o (Though it's most likely 8'D) And I hope you got the point that he's pretty much a...Well, I'll leave that to your genius imaginations. B-B-B-BECAUSE I KNOW I HAVE SMART READERS, RIGHT? /shot
(If you don't get it, go back and pay attention to Malik's way of speech and his gestures.)
If it bugs you that he's so OOC, remember this: It's an AU fic, and it's fanfiction. CHILL OUT, DOOOOOOOOD.
Oh, and I almost forgot: French translations!
Enchanté - Nice to meet you (though I think everyone knows this one, haha)
Et ... appelez-vous? - And...What is your name?
Sorry to the French-speakers if it's inaccurate - I just googled it and they're probably rough translations or whatever. *sweatdrop*
Review...? 8'D -dies-