(A/N:) Shout out to Celestial Reign! She drew me fanart for this fic. Thanks, CR~

I wish this chapter didn't turn out so...corny. But it's hard to make stuff like this not corny...at least for me.

Warnings: Laaanguage.

For some reason, I've always liked Thursdays. It's right after halfway through the week, and gives me hope of the week ending—not that I've been dreading the weeks lately or anything, though.

It's been almost a week since Malik's first met Bakura. Malik still comes over, but they ignore each other most of the time. Akefia remains his polite self to Malik, and Malik has resorted to just being nice and friendly to him. Bakura doesn't seem bothered by their friendly, casual conversations, but I can tell he's seething inside. Just yesterday, I saw him take a grip of his soda can a little too tightly when Malik started up a conversation with Akefia. I couldn't help but notice that his teeth were grinding against each other, too. Perhaps I'm being a little too observant, but I guess I'm just looking out for him, in a strange way.

Things seem to be settling in with each other, I suppose.

I park my car and turn off the engine before grabbing my knapsack. I open the car door a few inches, when a truck suddenly parks next to me out of nowhere.

"Shit—" I bring the car door closer to myself. "Jeez, watch it...," I mumble to the tinted windows of the truck now in front of my view. I let myself out of the car and slam my door shut, locking it. I hear the driver of the truck get out as well, and I'm prepared to give the driver a glare for nearly running into my car door. When I see the driver, my eyes widen instead.

Marik turns and sees me. "Oh, Ryo. Funny seeing you here," he jokes a little.

I blush a bit in embarrassment. "Hey Marik."

He flashes a smile. "Weird, I never see you in the morning. What building do you have your first class in?"

"The science building," I reply. "Your brother and I have the same class."

He nods. "Ah, I see now. I have a math class in the morning, so I guess that's why."

I nod as well. "So...you and Malik drive to school separately?"

"Yeah," he says, leaning on his truck and crossing his arms. "Normally, at least. I actually have my first class a little later than yours and Malik's, but I needed to come early for some stuff."

"I see," I nod, trying to show interest.

Marik stares at me for a while, and I feel myself tense under his gaze.

"Um...Marik? Are you okay?" I say tentatively.

"Huh?" Marik snaps out of his trance. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine," he smiles a little. "Say, uh...when do you usually have lunch?"

"Lunch? Um...after my second class, around twelve-forty. Why?" I question.

"Well, uh...," he scratches the back of his neck. "I have a break before my first few afternoon classes around the same time, so...," he trails off, his gaze moving downward and off to the side.

"Yeah...?" I urge him to keep going.

He coughs into his hand. "I...I was just wondering if...maybe...you wanna have lunch together?" He looks up at me, and I must have had a totally blank expression, because he suddenly starts getting more nervous. "Y-you know, just as friends, n-not like—"

I blink out of my dazed state. "Oh, yeah—yeah, I know what you mean." I nod.

"So...," Marik says leaning forward a little.

I smile a little, feeling awkward. "Well, that sounds nice and everything, Marik—really, it does. But...I normally eat with Malik, so...I'm not too sure if he'd be very happy knowing I'm kind of...well, ditching him for his brother." I shrug a little.

Marik's shoulders drop. "Oh," he says, sounding and looking disappointed. I instantly feel guilty.

"But, um...," I scratch my head. "I-If you don't have classes after four o' clock, maybe we can go somewhere, i-if you want..."

He instantly brightens up a bit. "Yeah, art's my last class for today, and I don't have plans either, so...," he shrugs. "We can...make plans during art later, yeah?"

I nod. "Yeah, sure. That sounds good." I give him a small smile.

He smiles back. "Great. I'll...see you later, then," he gives a small wave and starts walking away.

I wave back. "Bye..." Soon he's out of sight, and I put my hand down, forgetting to do so after waving. I feel like an idiot, now. I cover my face, and clearly feel that it's warmer.

"Why am I acting like this...," I mumble.

"I'm just saying that it becomes a pain in the ass after a while," Malik says, while munching on the sweet potato fries he bought. "So, are you up for driving around town later?"

"Huh?" I look up from my food.

"Drive. After class later. We can go to that bubble teahouse too," Malik grins.

"After...?" I blink.

"What's with you today?" Malik says, sounding a bit annoyed, but concern shows in his expression. "You've been spacing out a lot. Is there something on your mind?"

I blush a little. Okay, I admit I had been thinking about the conversation I had with Marik this morning, and I couldn't stop thinking about him for some reason. First of all, the fact that he seemed so...hesitant (and not to mention nervous) to ask me to have lunch with him bothered me. Maybe...Maybe it's just my imagination. I was kind of nervous at the time, too, I guess. But why was I nervous—?

"Ryo!"

"Wha?" I'm snapped out of my thoughts.

"There you go! You keep doing that!" Malik sighs and shakes his head.

"Oh, um...," I start, "S-Sorry, I can't hang out with you after classes—I-I have plans..."

Malik sighs again. "Alright, I'll go to the teahouse myself then. We can go together Saturday, if you're not busy that is. Tomorrow I have a meeting for a class I'm taking, so I can't go that day. Is that alright with you?"

He had spoken so fast I almost didn't catch what he said. "Uh, y-yeah, I don't think I'll be busy on Saturday."

"Good," Malik smiles. He slings his satchel over his shoulder and gets up from his seat.

"I'll see you later, 'kay? Bye, Ryo-lovely," he kisses his hand and waves good-bye with it.

"Bye," I mutter as he leaves.

"So is there anywhere specific you'd like to go to?" Marik is sitting across from me, sketching.

I'm sketching as well. "Mm...I'm not sure. I don't know a lot of the places around here."

"Hmm...Oh, what about that bubble teahouse?"

My eyes widen a little. "Err, no, I-I don't think that's a good idea," I say, remembering that Malik said he was going to stop by there himself.

"Why not?" Marik looks over his glasses questioningly.

I blush a little. "Well, uh...Um, what are some other places?" I smile, trying to change the subject.

Marik looks up at the cieling. "Hmm...We can stop by the ice cream parlor?"

"Mm, nah, I'm not up for ice cream, to be honest...," I shrug.

He looks at me. "Well, you're hard to please, aren't you?" he smirks.

"Shut up," I give him a playful shove.

He chuckles. "Oh, they have one of those conveyor belt sushi bars somewhere."

"That sounds cool," I say, my interest going up a bit.

He nods. "We can...have dinner, maybe?" he asks, seeming uncertain.

I purse my lips. "Y-yeah, I guess..."

Marik scratches the back of his neck. "So...how about I just text you the address later and we meet up around...six?"

I nod slowly. "S-sure."

Marik smiles a little. "Okay."

We both go back to our sketches, and there are a couple moments of silence between us. Suddenly, Marik starts snickering out of nowhere.

"What?" I look up from my sketch to look at him.

He continues snickering. "Look at how retarded the eye looks," he turns his sketch pad toward me to show a cat with one eye a lot bigger than the other. It looked like something along the lines of an attempt at some sort of art style, but it just looked too ridiculous to seem that way.

I stare at it. "...Okay, what the hell?" I start laughing.

Marik laughs too. "Woah there, Ryo, I'm not too sure if I like you swearing...," Marik says jokingly.

"Well pardon my dirty mouth," I say, rolling my eyes and smiling.

I step into the apartment, and say, "'Kura, I'm home," as usual. Surprisingly, though, Bakura isn't sitting on the couch. "...Bakura?" I yell out.

No response.

I purse my lips, a bit worried. I walk to Bakura's room, and turn the door handle. Nothing restrains me from opening the door, so I assume the chain isn't linked to lock the door. He isn't in his room.

"That's weird," I mumble. I go to the kitchen to see if there are any traces of Bakura, and a post-it note catches my eye on the refrigerator door.

Ryo—

Went out.

-Bakura

I stare at the note for the longest time.

"...What the hell?" I throw my arms up in disbelief. "You don't tell someone you went out and not say where! Ugh, idiot...," I roll my eyes. I take my phone out my pocket and call him, but then I hear a faint ringtone coming from his room.

"...Are you serious?" I say, now peeved.

I hang up, knowing it was useless to try and get a hold of him by calling Bakura himself. I dial Akefia's number.

There's a dial tone before he answers. "Hello?"

"Akefia?"

"Yup."

"Hey, it's Ryo—is Bakura with you?"

"Yeah, why? You want to talk to him?"

"Yes, please."

There's a moment of shuffling and incoherent mumblings before Bakura speaks. "What?" he says monotonously.

"What's with that note you left? That's not even a legitimate message."

"Oh. Sorry," he says, not sounding sorry at all.

I scoff. "Well, I have plans in a little bit, so if you don't eat dinner wherever you are just make something for yourself without burning the apartment down."

He grumbles an okay, and hangs up without saying good-bye. I sigh in disbelief. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother to 'take care' of him.

I'm standing outside the sushi bar, waiting for Marik. I rock back and forth on my heels, feeling a bit anxious. I had arrived fifteen minutes early, though it wasn't intentional. I didn't realize how close the restaurant was.

I lean on the wall, next to the entrance of the restaurant. Why am I feeling so nervous? We're just...having a fun dinner at a sushi bar, that's all. Two acquaintances—err, friends. Marik had said 'friends' this morning, so...does he really consider me as a friend? I suppose so...

Two friends, having a friendly dinner at a friendly conveyor belt sushi bar to have friendly conversations and eat good food. Right...yes. Exactly, Ryo.

…I need to stop talking to myself.

"Ryo?"

I turn my head to the direction I had heard my name being called, and see Marik. "Huh? Oh, uh...hi," I say ineptly. I glance at my watch, which says it's still five minutes before six.

"Hey," Marik comes over, standing I'm front of me. There's silence, and I can't think of anything to say. Fantastic.

"We're...both early," Marik finally says, trying to break the silence.

"Yeah, I...I guess it seems that way," I chuckle a little to lighten the mood.

Marik's expression becomes a bit alarmed. "I'm sorry, were you waiting long? I could've maybe gotten here sooner, but—"

"Oh, no, uh—I just got here about a minute ago, actually," I smile to cover up the little white lie.

Marik smiles back. "Oh, good," he says in relief. "So...shall we?" he gestures to the door. I simply nod, and we head our way inside.

"Oh, God," Marik starts coughing and takes a drink of water. He puts down his glass. "That...was way spicier than I'm used to."

I laugh a little. "Well, did you read the warning on the little sign?"

"What warning?"

"Exactly."

Marik pushes the small plate with the other piece of sushi toward me. "Here. Have it."

I roll my eyes and pick up the piece with my chopsticks, dipping it in the soy sauce. I pop it into my mouth, chewing and swallowing.

Marik stares at me in disbelief. "...How are you not dying right now?"

"Well," I start, "for one thing—I didn't put wasabi in my soy sauce."

Marik looks down at his soy sauce, unblinking.

"And the other thing—well, actually, there is no other thing," I muse. "Ooh, tuna," I say before grabbing it off the conveyor belt.

Marik rolls his eyes. "Okay, I admit I was stupid for putting wasabi, but at least I didn't mix up—"

"Don't speak of it," I point at him with my chopsticks. He simply snickers. I eat the tuna before speaking again. "So, um...does...Malik know we're here?" I look down at the sushi in front of me to avoid eye contact, but end up glancing up at Marik instead.

"Uh, I was actually...going to ask you the same thing," Marik blinks.

I raise an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Well, to Malik—from what I've noticed, at least—you're basically...one of the best of friends he's had in a while. I figured you might have told him or something..." he trails off, seeming to see my growing look of guilt.

I stare down at my plate. God, I'm an idiot. Why did I even keep this from Malik? I mean, it's not like it's a...date or anything. We're just having dinner...and...Well, I guess since I knew Malik hates his brother, it was kind of an automatic thing...But now—ugh, god damn, I feel stupid. It's not like I lied to him, but not telling him that my plans involved Marik just gives me this sense of guilt. But...maybe I could just tell him tomorrow, and apologize for it all. Would that clear my conscience...?

"Ryo?"

"Huh?" I look up.

"You okay?" Marik asks cautiously.

I blush. "Oh, yeah, um...I-I'm fine," I tuck a strand of my white hair behind my ear. "So, um—do you wanna stop or are you still hungry?" I smile a little weakly.

"I'm pretty full," Marik pats his stomach. "You?"

"I'm full too," I nod.

He asks for the check, and we finally pay and leave.

"Thanks for dinner," I say gratefully. "You didn't have to pay for all of it, though. I could've paid half..."

"No, it's not a bother," he waves it off. "Don't worry about it," he flashes a smile.

I smile back. "Thanks again," I nod. "I need to get going, so...I'll see you tomorrow?"

He nods. "Yeah, tomorrow."

"Okay," I wave. "Bye, Marik."

He waves back, but I don't hear him say anything in return.

I'm sitting in my first class the next morning, waiting around for Malik. I have a seat saved for him, since he always tells me to in case he arrives late. Eventually, I see him come through the door.

"Malik!" I call out to him, waving to the seat next to me. He doesn't turn to face me. I call out to him again, but he continues to ignore me. He takes a seat on the farther side of the room.

I blink, a bit dumbfounded. I guess it's safe to say I'm utterly confused.

I try to talk to Malik after the lecture is over, but he continues to ignore me. He takes a completely different route to his next class, and I can now tell he's avoiding me.

Marik didn't tell him we hung out last night, did he...?

I end my second class a little later than Malik, so I already see him sitting at our usual spot for our usual lunch break. I take a seat in front of him. He's eating a pasta salad, and he appears to be completely focused on it.

"Hey, Malik," I say, trying to sound lighthearted. He doesn't spare me a glance. I purse my lips. "Say, uh...Did you finish the report for English? I'm almost finished, but...," I trail off when Malik finally glances up at me. He's stopped eating and he's in mid-chew. I'm about to open my mouth and speak again, but before I can, Malik suddenly gets up and chucks the rest of his food into the trash can. He walks away quickly and silently, leaving me alone. I almost go after him, but decide to give him space.

Later, when we have English together, Malik once again sits far away from me. I try to catch his attention during the times the professor isn't paying attention, but he still remains indifferent to my existence.

By the end of the lecture, I've had it.

"Malik!" I shout, once we've both reached outside. He remains several feet ahead of me, not looking back.

"Malik, I need to talk to you," I say, once I've caught up with him. He visibly tries to walk faster, but I keep up. I know he has nowhere to go right now—we both have half an hour until our next lectures.

"Malik, please—" I say, but he still ignores me. "Malik, stop acting so weird! I just want to know—"

"Know what?" he yells and stops walking abruptly.

I'm caught off guard by him suddenly yelling like that. My eyes are wide, and his eyes are narrowed and he's seething. I've never seen him so upset.

I try to get my vocal cords working. "Malik, I—"

"No, save it, I don't care anymore," he interrupts, and starts walking away again.

I groan after realizing he had escaped. "Malik!" I yell after him. I catch up to him again and grab him by the back of his shirt.

"Motherfucker—" he blurts out as he's pulled back by me. "What do you want? !" he starts yelling again, a little louder this time. I ignore the stares from the people passing.

I grip his shoulders, securing him in place. "Malik, I just want to know why you've been ignoring me all day—"

"Because I've already heard enough of you!" he slaps my hands away. His eyes are glaring.

I blink. "...Wh...What?"

Malik sighs in what sounds like frustration, and rolls his eyes. "Marik wouldn't stop talking about your dumb date last night." He puts a hand on his hip.

"Marik...?" My eyes widen a little. "But, i-it wasn't a date—" I try to protest.

"Yeah, yeah, call it whatever you want—it's a date to me. Thanks for ditching me for Marik, I appreciate it," Malik says the last part sarcastically, and starts walking away again.

"Wait, Malik!" Once again, I catch up and I grab him by the shoulder.

"What? !" he spins around, facing me.

"Look, Malik, I'm sorry—I should've told you my 'plans' involved hanging out with Marik," I talk quickly, before Malik decides he wants to leave again. "I-I guess I just didn't want you to think I was ditching you or whatever, but I guess it's too late..." I cringe at the fact his eyes are almost slits. "I...I just want to say I'm sorry—I knew you hate your brother so I just thought that it wouldn't hurt you if you didn't know I was going out with him alone. But I was completely wrong and stupid, I'm sorry. I was going to tell you, but I guess Marik told you fir—"

Malik suddenly gives me a slap to the face. It isn't painful, but it still stings a bit. There's a deafening silence between us. I place my hand on the cheek he had slapped, rubbing it.

"...Marik didn't tell me you guys hung out last night," Malik mumbles, turning his head to the side and crossing his arms.

I blink. "But...didn't you say—"

"I lied," Malik mumbles. "He wasn't talking about the da—hang-out, or whatever. He was talking about you all last night and this morning. It was kind of obvious considering I knew you had plans the same night he did," he shrugs. "I'm not stupid." His voice rises to a normal volume, "He would talk about you before, but just stories from art class or whatever. But he was like, telling me the most random crap about you. Something about your hair or something. I don't even know why he was talking to me about it, but to be honest, it was annoying the hell out of me," he turns to me. "He kept asking me random questions about you too."

I'm dumbfounded, once again. "But...why would Marik talk—"

"Ryo, he likes you," Malik says candidly. I feel myself freeze and tense up. Malik sighs, "There, I said it. Now let's get a move on with our lives."

"He...?" I can hardly create a coherent sentence. "He...but...how...know..." My mind is spinning.

"Even an idiot can figure it out," Malik shrugs, as if it's no big deal. "What, have you not noticed?" he raises an eyebrow.

"No, I...I always thought he was just being nice—"

"Well, that's the first thing. Marik being nice to you. Treating you nicely. Being 'polite.' I personally wasn't involved in whatever social life he had, but that's my assumption." Malik looks at his watch. "Gotta go. Have fun in...art. Or Spanish. Whatever class you have next," he waves it off and starts walking away. In what direction, I don't know, because I'm too busy trying to take this all in.

(A/N:) Don't you love Marik's OOC-ness and his and Ryo's awkward conversations? Yeah, I do too. -sarcasm- I just wanted to make it a realistic. I mean, c'mon, not everyone is confident in asking someone out. "As friends." Lolol, we all know that friends thing is BS. Silly Marik. Silly Ryo.

Revolving sushi bars are fun and delicious—especially with friends, I kid you not. They're funlicious. P.S. I love bubble tea/boba. Too bad they didn't go to the teahouse.

Moody Malik is moody. Let's hope he goes back to normal~

Revieeeeew...?