It was late. Marik had already logged his hours and was about to leave work, when he noticed his sister standing by the gift shop counter.

"Marik," Ishizu greeted him. "Heading home for the night?"

Marik nodded, feeling the weight of the day's events. It had been the usual hassle. The co-workers, the customers, the slow hours.

"I was hoping I could talk to you for a moment."

Marik looked up, thinking it unusual that Ishizu wanted to talk during closing hours. Normally, Marik visited his brother and sister during the weekends, when all three of them caught up and talked for a while. Sometimes, he only met with Ishizu, because he didn't feel right burdening Rishid with his problems. After all, Marik had burdened Rishid enough during the Battle City tournament, and so he didn't want to trouble his brother with more issues if he could help it.

"Sure," Marik finally replied. "Is everything okay?"

"Yes, everything is fine," Ishizu said. "I just wanted to talk to you about the Millennium Rod, and the way that the museum is planning to find the item."

"Right, that." Marik wasn't sure where this conversation was headed, though his jaw clenched as he remembered what the museum was planning to do. "You're going to have Seto Kaiba fly over here to find it."

"Indeed. And I wanted to be clear on why I think this works out well for you."

"For me?" Marik looked surprised.

"This is in your favor, Marik," Ishizu said. "I know you've wanted to help out with the digging for a while now, but I think it would be best if you let the museum officials go ahead with this plan. In the long run, they will be less skeptical of you. They will have less of a reason to distrust you."

Marik considered her words. "You think they'll trust me more?"

"I can't deny that they still have their doubts about you, and are still reserved about your change after the Battle City tournament," Ishizu said. "But if you focus on your work, and let this time pass as we're finding the items, I think they'll look at you more favorably. In fact, you will probably be promoted within the museum much faster."

"I see," Marik said. He knew that his sister meant well, and that she strongly believed that this solution was best for Marik. She didn't want him to fight the officials. She wanted him to let it be, instead of trying to argue with his superiors.

Finally, Marik smiled back at her.

"I understand what you mean. They just need time to see that I've gotten better."

"Right," Ishizu smiled again, "And I hope that soon enough, they'll realize that."

"I see," Marik repeated. "Thank you, sister."

After a few more exchanges, they told each other goodnight and parted ways. As Marik left, he felt a bitter taste on his tongue. A sinking feeling.

He shook his head, got on his motorcycle, and finally headed home.

Marik came home with spinning thoughts, and so immediately after dinner, he and Bakura laid out their cards and Marik asked for a bet.

Bakura cocked his head, thinking.

"Alright," he finally said as he drew himself five cards. "How about the loser gets fucked-"

"Okay," Marik said quickly, drawing his own cards.

"-and, the loser also has to take his shirt off."

Marik stopped mid-draw. He glanced across the table at Bakura and was met with a giant smirk.

"Well, that's not very fair, is it?" Marik said. "I've already fucked you with your shirt off, so there's not much in it for me."

Bakura's smirk faded, as though he just realized the flaw in his logic. "Okay, how about winner gets to do anything to the loser- as long as it's something we've already done before? Of course, that includes the loser having to take his shirt off...but if you win, you can do anything you want to me."

Marik thought for a moment, then shrugged. "Alright. I accept the bet."

They flipped a coin and Marik won the toss, letting him go first. Marik placed a Darkfire Soldier #1 on the field, but couldn't attack yet, so he immediately ended his turn.

Bakura stared at his cards for a long time, his eyes darting across each card and scrutinizing every detail. Marik watched impatiently as Bakura's eyebrows knitted and he unconsciously ran the tip of his tongue across his bottom lip as he sat, deep in thought. After three minutes, Marik got tired of it, and kicked Bakura in the shin underneath the table.

"Go already, will you? I don't want to sit here all night if you're going to be that slow," Marik huffed.

"Eager to be fucked, are you?" Bakura teased, as he finally made his move.

Marik blinked, staring down at the card Rescue Cat.

"It took you that long just to play that?"

Bakura gave him a devilish smirk. "Not just that. Watch."

Next, Bakura played Last Will, which dictated that if a monster on Bakura's side of the field was sent to the graveyard, he could Special Summon a monster of 1500 attack points or less from his deck during this turn. Rescue Cat's effect was to bring out two Level 3 or lower Beast-type monsters on the field, which would be automatically destroyed at the end of the battle phase.

Bakura chose two Milus Radiants, which had the effect of increasing the attack of all Earth monsters by 500 points, effectively raising each Milus Radiant to 1300 attack points.

Marik snorted. "That's still not enough to defeat my Darkfire Soldier. You'll have to do better than that."

Bakura said nothing as he placed Rescue Cat into the graveyard.

"Because I played Last Will, I can Special Summon my Rescue Cat back to the field, and use its effect again to raise another two low-level Beast monsters."

As Bakura chose another Milus Radiant from his deck and a Des Wombat, now having a total of four Earth-type monsters on the field– three of them Milus Radiants that could each raise Earth monsters by an extra 500 attack points– the strategy finally clicked in Marik's head, and he gave Bakura an incredulous look.

"They each have...1,800 attack points!" Marik said, doing the math in his head quickly. "And the Wombat has 3,100!"

"That's a total of 8,500 attack points," Bakura said. "And to make sure I finish you off completely, I'm going to equip my Des Wombat with Gaia Power, giving all my Earth monsters an extra 500 attack points. So we're at 10,500 points of total damage now."

Marik gazed at Bakura's side of the field, blinking. This couldn't be true. In one turn, Bakura had raised four monsters, each Milus Radiant with now 2,300 attack points, and the Des Wombat at 3,600.

"I destroy your Darkfire Soldier," Bakura said. "And you lose the rest of your life points."

Marik sat still for a second. Bakura had done it all in one turn. One turn. That's all it had taken to wipe out all 8,000 of his life points.

"What the hell!" Marik finally burst out. "I can't believe you just took out all my life points! I didn't even get to do anything!"

"I wasn't kidding around, Marik," Bakura smirked. "I wanted to win this bet."

Marik heaved an aggravated sigh, still reeling at Bakura's strategy. He hadn't even had a chance in this game. And here he'd thought they'd be playing all night at the rate Bakura was going.

"Alright, I guess we still have the rest of the night," Marik said begrudgingly. "Might as well get started."

Shortly after putting away their cards, they made it to the bedroom.

Bakura crossed his arms over his chest and looked at Marik.

"Well?"

Marik dropped his eyes, looking down at his shirt. Finally, he grasped the hem, and began to pull it up. Barely an inch of his skin was exposed before he seemed to lose his nerve and let his shirt fall back into place. He took a deep breath, and tried again. He didn't make it much farther that time before letting his shirt drop again. He went through this routine several more times before finally settling on just fiddling with the hem of his shirt, his fingers twisting as he continued to look down.

Bakura sighed and approached Marik. When he put his hands on Marik's hips, Marik practically jumped out of his skin.

"Let's just start with your pants," Bakura said.

Marik relaxed a little at Bakura's words. Bakura slipped his fingers under the waistband of Marik's jeans. His fingers slid along Marik's waistline, until his hands met in the middle and he popped open the button on Marik's jeans. He took down the zipper, and then he was pulling Marik's pants and boxers down in one motion.

For the moment, he stood back, and Marik stepped out of the clothing pooled at his feet.

Marik moved forward and grabbed Bakura's shirt.

"I don't- I don't want to be totally naked when you're fully clothed."

Bakura nodded, and Marik reached underneath his shirt, sliding his hands from his stomach to his chest. Bakura stood calmly as Marik stripped him of his shirt, and then started working on his jeans. It seemed as if Marik was going as slowly as possible, trying to delay things, but he was running his hands all over Bakura's skin as he undressed him, and Bakura was already starting to get hard.

When Bakura was finally naked, he laid down on the bed, and motioned for Marik to follow. He did so, reluctantly.

Once Marik was laying next to him, Bakura reached for his shirt, and Marik flinched.

"Do you want to back out?"

"No, I- I said I'd do it," Marik said. "I promised this to you a long time ago, actually."

But he flipped over onto his stomach and put his face in the pillow, as if he didn't want to look at Bakura when he saw his scars for the first time.

"You did," was all that Bakura said.

He grabbed onto Marik's shirt, and though Marik's body stiffened, he didn't pull away this time.

He slowly pulled the shirt over Marik's head, and was struck almost breathless by what he saw. The design on Marik's back was intricate, almost elegant. It was clear that it had been carved carefully, meticulously.

"I'm going to touch," Bakura said, wanting to warn Marik so that he wasn't surprised.

He reached down and brushed his fingers over the wing-like shapes on Marik's shoulders, and Marik shuddered in discomfort.

"It's Okay," Bakura said.

His fingers began tracing over the complex design, and he thought of how long it must have taken to get it to look exactly like this. It was impossible to look at these scars without thinking of how much pain Marik had had to go through, and for how long, and how much courage it must have taken to get through it.

"This must have taken-"

"It took forever," Marik said.

Bakura placed his palms flat against Marik's lower back, and then slid them upwards, gently.

"No," Bakura said. "It's over. And you made it through. This isn't ugly. It shows your strength."

And it wasn't ugly, he thought, as he ran his hands over Marik's back. Because of everything it meant, it looked beautiful. His hands began to travel back down, and then, impulsively, he leaned down and placed a quick kiss between Marik's shoulder blades. He felt Marik relax a tiny bit, so he did it again, kissing a little lower. He heard Marik sigh, and then he stopped thinking, letting his hands roam over Marik's back, his face still only inches away.

"Oh, you're-" but he stopped himself from finishing the thought, his lips meeting Marik's skin again. It was good, good to be allowed to touch him this way.

"Bakura-"

Marik's voice was barely above a whisper, but Bakura snapped out of his reverie, feeling strangely embarrassed now. Marik had finally turned his head to the side, so that Bakura could see his face, and Marik's eyes were wide and questioning.

Bakura sat up quickly. "You ever had a back rub?" He spoke so fast that his words almost ran together.

"Of course not," said Marik, scowling, and somehow the scowl made Bakura instantly feel more comfortable.

"Well, you'll like it," Bakura said, as he began to knead his fingers into Marik's shoulders. "It's relaxing."

Bakura wasn't any kind of expert at giving back rubs, but he tried to do what Marik had done to him once before, and as he went on, his hands rubbing further down along Marik's spine, he thought that he did feel Marik begin to relax even more, and he took satisfaction in the knowledge that not only was Marik allowing him to do this, but that Marik was calming underneath his touch.

So he continued, massaging the muscles, trying to work the tension out of them, until he looked down and saw that Marik's eyes were half-closed, and that his face seemed to show no anxiety, as though he'd forgotten why he had been so nervous about this in the first place. Bakura felt a rush of desire at the sight.

"See, I told you," Bakura said, smiling as he took his hands away. "Alright, now flip over."

Marik did as he was told without a word. He parted his legs, knowing what was coming- Bakura had won the bet, after all. He closed his eyes, hearing Bakura pop open the cap on the bottle of lube.

Suddenly he felt a lubricated hand stroking his cock, and when his eyes snapped open, he saw Bakura straddling him.

"Bakura- what are you-"

"You like it better this way," Bakura said quietly, as he lowered himself onto Marik's now-hard cock.

Marik gasped as he felt himself enter Bakura. Bakura was lowering himself slowly, and Marik didn't think he'd bothered to prepare himself. Once he was all the way inside, Bakura sat still for a moment, panting slightly, allowing himself get adjusted. He was incredibly tight, and Marik could feel the muscles gripping him, making him desperate for Bakura to begin.

He waited, and finally, Bakura began moving, letting Marik's cock slide almost all the way out of him before sitting back down, taking in as much as he could. As he established a rhythm, Bakura gripped his own erection, sliding his hand up and down. Bakura leaned forward a little, as if trying to find the best angle for himself.

Bakura began going faster, and as Marik saw Bakura's eyes close in apparent pleasure, Marik found that he couldn't move, could barely breathe. The sight of Bakura on top of him like that, touching himself, willingly impaling himself on his cock over and over, panting now in pleasure instead of discomfort- it was too much for him, and he felt himself climbing already, the feeling of Bakura's asshole tight around him bringing him ever closer.

"Bakura," he gasped, his hands gripping the sheets so hard that his knuckles were white. "I can't- can't last-"

"It's alright," Bakura said. And then he echoed words that Marik had spoken to him once before: "Come for me."

That sent Marik over the edge; he couldn't hold back anymore, and he let the pleasure overtake him, the feeling electrifying his entire body, and he gripped onto Bakura's thighs and dug his nails in as he exploded and spilled everything inside of Bakura.

Bakura kept moving for a moment, as the aftershocks coursed through Marik's body. Then Bakura was still, and Marik looked up at him, his breath short. Bakura didn't move away from him, and Marik watched in a daze as Bakura continued to stroke himself. Bakura saw that Marik was watching him intently, and their eyes locked as Bakura's hand moved faster and faster until he finally came onto Marik's stomach with a quiet moan.

Once he was spent, Bakura collapsed directly onto Marik. They were hot and sticky and Bakura was still breathing heavily, and before Marik could think about what he was doing, his arms came up and encircled Bakura. Bakura still didn't move, and after a while, Marik heard Bakura's breathing even out. Marik closed his eyes, and let himself drift off to sleep with the feeling of Bakura's weight on him.

When Bakura woke up, Marik was gone. He slowly realized that something felt different, yet familiar. At first, he couldn't place what it was. Then he looked down and saw it.

The Ring was around his neck. Marik had put it there while he slept.

AN: OK, the next chapter is when the angst is coming! Seriously, there's not even any sex in the next chapter. Just angst! Anyways thanks for reading, and thanks for all your reviews so far- please review and let us know what you think!