A/N: Okay I'm actually pretty excited about this chapter! FINALLY some real plot happens…and hopefully you will all see what I meant by Marik's little crush on Yuugi being 'canon' ;) More on that at the end! See ya'll at the bottom!

Disclaimer: Characters aren't mine but the story is!

I remember acting on Rishid's brotherly advice soon after our heart to heart.

Properly ironed uniform?

Check.

Flowers picked before school?

Check.

Sweaty palms?

Check.

Here it went.

I clutched my meager bundle of wildflowers a little bit tighter. I repeated Rishid's advise in my head like a mantra.

The worst that could happen would be that Yuugi wouldn't like me and we'd still be friends. Then this jealousy problem would go away because I'd know he probably liked someone else anyways.

It was lunch break now. The perfect time to ask him in front of everyone. If he did like me, then everyone would understand why I shouldn't have to share his attention.

Perfect logic, right?

Slowly approaching his table, flowers held behind my back, I saw that he was already talking to someone. No, not just someone, it was his older brother, Yami.

He was an upperclassman, so I rarely saw him, but I sometimes spied him talking to Yuugi at lunch as he was doing now.

He was kind of scary looking, but if Yuugi was so nice, surely his brother would be too, right?

Nerves getting the better of me, I cleared my throat, interrupting their conversation. Both Mutou's eyes stared me down, making me even more nervous.

I decided to focus on Yuugi instead, since his innocent, violet eyes usually had a calming effect on me. Not today, though.

"H-hey, Yuugi-kun!"

"Oh, hey Marik-kun! Did you come to eat lunch with us? I think there's still a free seat."

"N-no, I mean, well…I just had something to ask you…or, um, tell you I guess…"

"Sure, anything!"

I was so nervous, heart beat so erratic, that I completely lost sight of the other Mutou brother. All I could see was Yuugi, all I could think about was –

"What the hell are these? Flowers?"

I guess Yami hadn't actually 'disappeared' after all. He had just been circling around behind me.

I felt bigger, stronger hands grabbing at my carefully picked flowers, ripping them from my hands despite my cry of displeasure.

"You planning on giving these to my brother? Huh?"

"I-I-I guess so…"

"Well not anymore, you faggot."

With those delicate words, he dropped my flowers to the ground and stomped on them, making enough noise to attract the stares of more than just my current audience.

I gasped, reaching out a hand as though to save my ruined flowers.

Laughing cruelly at my hurt expression, he grabbed my hand and started using it to smack me in the face.

"Why you hitting yourself faggot? Why you hitting yourself? Is that what you freaks do in your spare time when you realize how messed up you are? Are you regretting trying to ask out my brother? You better be, you disgusting little homo."

I was sent reeling backwards with a hard shove, my head now ringing from being slapped around by my own hand.

It wasn't like I couldn't handle it. Father's punishments were much worse, but still. It stung, not just in my face, but also in my pride.

I definitely was no longer oblivious to the stares of the people surrounding me, nor the malicious laughter and whispers. To my shame, I felt tears starting to form in my eyes.

"Y-you're just a bully! There's nothing wrong" –

"Nothing wrong? Nothing wrong? You just don't get it. Freaks like you shouldn't be allowed in public. You're disgusting. If I was a part of your family I'd disown you. And if you ever come near my brother again, I'll pound your head in so hard that you'll wish you were straight!"

This time, the shove was accented with a stuck out foot from the crowd, sending me down on my hands and knees. The connotations of my position only added to the general jeering around me.

I saw a couple concerned faces in the crowd, but no one who cared enough to step in. I staggered up to my feet, only concerned now with getting out of there.

With a glance backwards, hoping to spite the older bully with a glare to save at least a little pride, I caught sight of Yuugi's face peeking out from behind him. He was staring firmly at the cafeteria tabletop, flushed and wide-eyed, even a little scared looking.

For a moment, he looked up and met my gaze, but just as quickly diverted it away again.

It was then, as the only person I really thought of as a friend avoided me in my time of greatest need, that I knew two things.

One was that I would never forgive Yuugi's stupid arse of an older brother for humiliating me like this.

The second was that while Rishid might be the greatest big brother ever, but he definitely wasn't always right.

A/N: Oh man, every time I read this chapter…poor little kid Marik! I just…nooo! He was so innocent and sweet! This was the most canonical way of explaining his intense hatred of Yami that I could think of, though (you know, without the whole tomb keeper thing…). My thinking was the Marik, while certainly hating Yuugi for being the avatar of the Pharaoh, really just hates the Pharaoh and is unable to distinguish between the two a lot of the time. So I thought, this was a good way to show that hatred for Yami and dislike of Yuugi given how similar he is to Yami! I hope that works for others...I feel like I may have lost readers for the YuugixMarik thing...anyways, I hope you all enoy! :)