"So, do you want to talk, or?"
Akefia shrugged, stretching out in his large bed, rubbing the sleep from his face. They had just woken up, and it was already about one in the afternoon. They must have exhausted themselves quite substantially.
"I suppose we should."
Marik was lying on his side next to him, head propped up with an elbow, palm on his head. Already wild hair was even more unruly, both from the previous night and the tossing and turning in his sleep that followed. He looked more lion than human.
"Mm," he sighed, eyes on his friend. A smirk tugged at his lips as the other yawned hugely, joints popping as he stretched. It was very nice, not feeling awkward. Very, very nice. For now, he kept thoughts out, just focused on enjoying another day, his first non-awkward day in weeks.
"Sleep alright," Akefia asked, rolling onto his stomach and burying his face in a pillow, as though clinging to sleep itself. Marik sniggered.
"Yeah." Humming, Marik reached behind him to rub his own lower back. He felt rather battered, but nothing he couldn't deal with. "Fell right to sleep. You weren't up after I was, were you?"
"Nope. Out like a light," the talking mass of white hair and pillow yawned back at him.
Shaking his head fondly, Marik hoisted himself up and scooped up his clothing in his arms, padding lightly over to the bathroom attached to Akefia's bedroom. Seeing his face in the mirror, he stifled a chuckle. He really needed a comb.
Using his fingers as a substitute, he yanked them through the mat of hair atop his head, dislodging major tangles and restoring a semblance of order to his hectic appearance. His eyes were sort of sunken in from sleep as well, but that would go away in a half an hour or so, not much to be done for that.
Glancing down at his lower regions to check if there was any damage proved source for more stifled laughter. Around his hips were large, purple bruises in the shape of Akefia's fingers. He must have been grasping onto him pretty tightly to bruise him this badly. Akefia would have one of two reactions to this, he mused, tugging on his cargos again. Either he would find it extremely amusing, or he would fret over having hurt him. Rolling his eyes, he decided it would probably be the latter, and thus resolved not to tell him.
Shrugging his tank-top on over his cold chest, he took a last look at himself, desperately wishing for a toothbrush, and returned to the bedroom.
Akefia hadn't moved. He was still in the same position as before, buried completely into the bed.
"Are you getting up sometime today, lazyass?"
The irony was lost on him.
Akefia groaned, shaking his head 'no'. Shrugging, Marik took this to mean he was trying to osmosis into the bed, and took the opportunity to flop on top of him.
"Nngh-!" Akefia groaned in protest, squirming. "Geddoffme."
"No~" Marik grinned, wiggling and trying to force himself to become heavier.
Whining still further, Akefia clutched the pillow even closer to himself, willing him away. Of course this failed, Marik was still bouncing away on top of him, and so reluctantly, Akefia tossed the pillow away, pushing himself up with enough force to make Marik tumble away.
"Oof. Finally given in to the afternoon's call to wake the fuck up, have you." Marik sniggered, stretching out himself. Akefia only grumbled.
Ruffling his white hair, the man glanced over at his friend, the previous night flooding back to him in bits and pieces at first, now crashed over him as he recalled nearly every detail.
He felt the strange urges to yank Marik into his arms in a tight hug, and to shower quite well.
Humming, he rubbed his eyes. "So what do you want to do now," he asked, offhanded and casual.
"Well, I don't care what time it is, I want breakfast food. A waffle sounds really good. Or maybe a crepe. No I don't care it's French so it's fine that it's girlie sounding."
Akefia rolled his eyes. "Not literally."
"Oh. Oh you mean in general. I knew that," Marik looked up at him thoughtfully. He would have been much more anxious about the whole matter of discussing 'what now', but he was pretty confident he knew Akefia's feelings. Reluctant enjoyment. He could deal with that, the reluctance would die away after awhile.
"Well, I forced you into this, did I not? It's your move," he hummed, stating this as though it were obvious and not something that made his stomach tie in knots if he thought about it too hard.
Akefia sighed, annoyed his friend did not seem too vocal on the subject. Loathe though he was to make their situation awkward again, it would only keep becoming so if they didn't set boundaries, limitations, do's and do not's.
But frankly, he wasn't feeling up to it either. Not yet, anyway. To postpone the conversation and simultaneously elongate the time he had with his friend, Akefia settled on a suggestion he felt would solve both problems. "… Let's get breakfast, then."
"Wait what?" Marik blinked up at him, eyebrows rising. "Really?"
"Sure. I'm paying, let's go." He shrugged, pushing himself out of bed to go grope for clothes in his chest of drawers.
Now quite contented, Marik wriggled up himself, grinning as he sauntered to the door. "I'll wait for you in the living room, don't take awhile, I'm starving here~" he teased, opening, sliding through, and shutting the door before Akefia could open his mouth.
Akefia snorted, shaking his head. He grabbed a pair of loose-fitting shorts and a plain black t-shirt, throwing on an emerald button up t-shirt and leaving it open over his chest. Walking to the bathroom, he took note of the soreness of some of his muscles, even after the long hours of sleep. It wasn't as though he was unused to long fucking sessions with women in the past, even with short hours of sleep and work the next morning. But after the emotional drain and physical strain of strange non-mechanical actions, he felt every ache in his muscles.
After using the restroom, brushing his teeth, washing his face, he finally looked at himself in the mirror. Examining his own eyes, they seemed tired to him. Not just from sleep, but from everything. Warring emotions inside of you will leech your energy, he'd found. Shaking his head, he combed his unruly hair with the brush in a drawer Marik had not thought to look in, and walked back out once again to grab his phone.
On instinct he looked at it once more, forgetting he had already seen he had three messages from the previous night. Four, now. He felt… not as much guilt as he thought he would feel at ignoring Bakura and her messages or so long.
"Busy?"
"I've got stuff. It'll be fun."
"I guess you're passing, huh. Well whatever."
"Any particular reason on your ditching of me? I had personal news to share, plus you never pass up sex. Are you dead or something?"
Akefia's lips twitched. She was certainly not used to not getting what she wanted. Deftly, his fingers typed away a simple reply and sent it off before pocketing the device on silent and going out to join Marik.
"Not dead. Otherwise engaged. We'll talk and make up and out later, I have plans."
The waitress took their menus and left them to settle into the nice cushioned seats of the restaurant, stretching themselves to comfortability. They weren't feeling like their usual hangout, the Hangover Diner, and instead chose an actually reputable restaurant for their breakfast craving. Akefia had placed his order for Steak and Eggs and a coke, and Marik had finally made the choice of a Belgium waffle with strawberry sauce and a weird mixed drink unique to the place.
Sighing, the two grinned at each other. This was a good choice. They were both thanking the gods in the back of their minds that things weren't awkward. Not just now, anyway. They chattered and made small talk while they waited for their food, mostly about what Marik had missed of Akefia's job while he had been reclused. In sort, the answer was 'not much,' but Marik still liked listening to Akefia talk about what he was good at, and pretended to be interested.
Their food was set before them and – with the vigor of men starved for days – the two of them ripped into their respective plates. It wasn't until they were both about halfway done that the intensity slowed, and they were able to chew slowly and swallow, allowing room for conversation.
Akefia cleared his throat between bites. "Mn, so, Marik," he started, cautious. "Are you, ah, ready to go over all this?"
Marik shrugged, unabashedly speaking with a mouthful of waffle. "I'unno. I really only got one question to get answered. Other'n that, 'm good." He swallowed, taking a sip of his drink and looking at the other with raised eyebrows.
"…. And that would be," Akefia prompted after a moment of silence.
"Whether or not you want to do it again, dumbass," Marik snorted, rolling his eyes.
Ah. Akefia frowned into his plate. Did he want to do it again? His immediate answer was 'no,' but…
"Here. Talk at me." Marik invited, raising his hands and making a 'come on' motion with his fingers. "Give me your internal monologue. Stuff sounds different out loud than inside sometimes, might help."
He offered out of something almost to cockiness. Marik knew Akefia quite well by now, and after all this time, he liked to think he could read him, sometimes better than he could read himself. And it would be his pleasure to inform him that, despite his ramblings and denials, yes, he indeed wanted to fuck again.
"Ngh, no thanks," he grumbled, spearing some of the steak on the end of his fork, a bit of egg trailing at the end. "I'll keep my thoughts to myself."
"Oh come off it," Marik rolled his eyes again, flicking a bit of strawberry syrup at him. It landed on his cheek and with a sour face, Akefia wiped it off as Marik continued. "You try to run away from what your body and mind are telling you. It's annoying. Truth is, you fucked me," Akefia's eyes shot up, glaring at him with a look that said 'keep it down.' "Well it's true," Marik shrugged. "You did. And you enjoyed it. All I'm asking of you is that we do that sometimes. Not all the time, not exclusively, not any of that other piddle 'n crap. I want us to be what we are, what we were, with some added occasional fucking on the side." He grinned, a wide, toothy grin.
"Really, it is to your benefit. Imagine us out on the town, in bars and parties and whatever, lookin' for chicks. We come up empty. Rather than let the night go to waste, we can go back to your place and still get laid. Say you're horny and Bakura ain't around. I'm a text away, and I'd know what I'm doing a great deal more than a whore off the street, I'm willin'a bet." He stole a bite of Akefia's eggs and munched on it, waiting for a response.
Akefia had none. He simply said nothing, still staring at his plate, pushing things around with his fork.
"…." Sighing exasperatedly, Marik stood and walked around the table to the other side of the booth, sitting beside Akefia.
"What are you-" the other was about to ask, but Marik cut him off.
"Ah… Akeefia…." He moaned into his ear, low, so only he could hear. "Oh gods above…"
Akefia froze, looking straight ahead, spine stiffening. Marik's hand had found its way to his thigh and started creeping up toward his crotch, panting into his ear. "Ah… nnn… Ak—more! Please…!"
"That's enough," Akefia said, voice monotone and controlled. His hand grasped Marik's wrist and pulled him away, scooting over.
Marik snorted and chuckled behind his hand as he plopped back over in his seat, spearing more waffle on his fork. "See? Much as you tell yourself you don't, you like it." He continued with his mouth full. "Like I said, it's possible to be attracted to one member of the same sex, and the entire opposite sex. Don't let this be such a big deal~"
Another bit of silence, where Akefia both cursed and blessed his involuntary blood flow, and then he nodded. "Fine," he conceded, muscles melting to a relaxed position again. "It does not seem like a bad deal. I'll do it."
"Good~" Marik purred, pushing his now empty plate away and stealing another bite of Akefia's eggs. "I knew you would be~"
Akefia just snorted and shook his head, sipping his coke. He had other questions, but… They can be left. They weren't important.
As the last of the ecstasy left him, Akefia pulled out of her and flopped to the side, lying on his back with his eyes shut. Bakura hummed, slowly squirming as she enjoyed the afterglow of her own orgasm. After a few minutes, she found herself enough to sit up, uncaring of her exposed, naked body.
"You look to be in higher spirits."
Akefia cracked an eye open, grinning at her. "Do I?"
"Far better than the last few times," she said, running her fingers through her tangled hair. "I was close to giving up on you."
"No need," Akefia hummed, moving his foot around to music she could not hear. "I'm good now."
"Things work out with what's his fuck?" She asked, eyes on her hair.
"In a way," he shrugged, moving his hands to clasp behind his head.
"'s that supposed to mean?"
"I fucked him. We're good now."
"Ah." Bakura stopped with her hair, and looked at him with one eyebrow raised. "Was that what he wanted?"
"Yep. I warred with it for awhile, but eventually gave in, and viola. All better."
She took another moment, then shrugged. "Whatever, I guess. You lucked out, huh. One party, and you got two fuckbuddies out of it."
Akefia only hummed, eyes on the ceiling.
Yeah. Fuckbuddies. Right…
[[ A/N: Remember what I said about having more free time? My classes dumped a shitton of work on me. Sorry about the really late update, and the shortness of it, but I'm in the middle of exam rushes and work rushes. I worked on this during my free times between study sessions and shifts. Might be the next new chapter in three weeks or so when I get winter break. ]]