"Ryou?" Malik watched him carefully over the table. "Could I ask you a personal question?"
Night was beginning to fall outside. They'd only gotten to Ryou's house about twenty minutes beforehand and the Brit had insisted on making tea.
So far, they'd sat across from each other in relative silence, watching every move the other made. Ryou was doing his best to appear nonchalant, but his muscles were tensed, rippling across his uncovered arms. His bracelets glinted with every twitch, his heavily ringed fingers wrapped uneasily around his teacup. He was the picture of anxiety.
Malik wasn't sure how he felt about the Ryou of three years prior resurfacing. And there was no denying that was who this was - he was too nervous to be the Bandit King or the Ryou he'd spoken to just the day before. He was too nervous and there was clearly some fear in his eyes.
What was he afraid of.
"Depends on what it is." Ryou said in his usual pleasant lilt. Even his voice sounded tense, despite his attempts to sound casual.
How could he word the question he wanted to ask? Eventually he decided on, "Why do we keep doing this, Ryou? We're not even friends, let alone friends with benefits." He scowled at him. "So why do we even bother?"
"Because we're horny?" Ryou suggested lamely, shrugging weakly and averting his eyes. "I don't know, Malik."
"Do you even want to be friends? Or anything else for that matter?"
"Yes!" Ryou's eyes were back on him in less time than it took him to say it. "Yes, actually, I fucking do! You know what the problem with that is, though?" He stared him directly in the eyes.
There was the Bandit King he knew.
"Enlighten me." He growled. He wanted to challenge Ryou - wanted to make him squirm. He supposed that was just a remnant of Marik...
"The problem with me wanting to be friends is that I can't be friends with you!" He sat his teacup down rather heavily, liquid sloshing out onto the table. "I'm not even going to get into the fact that I always manage to fuck that sort of shit up somehow, but I am going to tell you that I can't even fucking understand my emotions well enough to know how I fucking feel about you! I don't know if I hate you or if I like you because nothing fucking makes sense anymore." The rant lost all of its steam on the last sentence. His voice lowered, eyes dropping down to the table. His shoulders slumped and as Malik watched the other's eyes filled with tears. "The problem with me wanting to be friends," He repeated softly, very clearly making an effort not to let his voice shake as much as it was, "is that I can't tell if I actually want to be friends or if I want to be with you or if I just want to fuck and never see you again." He gave an irritated noise, "I've tried to love you, Malik, I really fucking have. I've tried and tried but I can't tell if it's working."
He wiped his eyes, sniffling, and Malik realized that he felt guilty now. It was his fault that Ryou was crying. His fault that Ryou was confused. He shouldn't have asked the question, but he needed the answer. So Ryou was confused, hm? How did he know for sure that he wasn't acting?
Ryou was an excellent actor, after all. What if he was putting on a show to avoid answering the question honestly.
"Prove it." He said after a moment. "Prove to me that that's the real reason, because I know how good you are at acting and I know how easy it is for you to lie."
Ryou sighed, then, a despaired and trembling sound, and looked up at him. "I wouldn't lie about this. I know you probably won't believe that, but I do try not to lie when I'm not doing business." He took a deep breath and swallowed. "I don't know what you want me to do to prove it, Malik. It's not like you'll believe me, no matter what I do."
"You're smart, you'll figure something out." When had he gotten so good at hiding his guilt? He almost couldn't hear it, himself, and he knew it was there in his voice.
Ryou stared at him for a long moment, eyes flickering between emerald green and light chocolate brown - Malik still wasn't sure why or how they did that. He only knew that green-eyed Ryou was not someone you wanted to be around unless you liked pain and torment. Green-eyed Ryou was a genuine sociopath. He was nothing like what Marik and Bakura had been - sure, they were considered "psychotic" by everyone who knew them, but when Ryou's eyes were green those two had nothing on him. He could make men twice his size cower in fear - there was a very good reason for Zen doing everything he was told, after all.
Eventually, Ryou sighed again, eyes settling on chocolate. Malik felt some tension leave his shoulders.
"I only know one trick for this." Ryou murmured. "Bakura showed it to me a long time ago. It makes the target feel exactly what the caster feels. Maybe you could clear things up for me if I did it."
"Go ahead and give it a try." Malik shrugged. "What do you have to do?"
"It's simple, really. A rather rudimentary shadow magic trick." Ryou's lips twitched. "Just give me your hand - there has to be skin to skin contact."
He held his own hand out over the table, gentle and inviting, and Malik didn't even hesitate to place his hand in the other's. Immediately, shadow magic jumped across their skin and then, all of a sudden, Malik felt a whirlwind of emotions. He felt like there was a gaping hole in his chest at the same time that he felt a warm, tired happiness. There were so many conflicting emotions that he had to jerk his hand away and cut off the connection.
No wonder Ryou was confused.
He hadn't realized that, during the very brief encounter, he'd closed his eyes and lowered his head. When he blinked his eyes back open, there were tears trailing down his cheeks and his fists were clenched in his lap. He lifted his head to look at Ryou, who was simply staring at him silently. His brown eyes were sadder, now, and there was fear just beneath the surface. What was he scared of?
It was hard telling, even with the glimpse he'd gotten into the other's emotions.
"I believe you." He told him, wiping the tears away. "There's no way you couldn't be confused."
Ryou gave a very weak smile. "I'm glad you believe me."
"Wanna give it another try? I wanna see if I can help you figure out how you feel about me."
A wry, slightly stronger smile. "You just want to know why I wanna fuck you - or, rather, why I want you to fuck me."
He grinned. "That might be some of the reason."
Ryou held out his hand again, Malik took it. The strings of shadow magic flickered over their skin. And… There were the emotions. Malik forced himself to hold still, considering each one he could feel very carefully.
Fear. Anger. Amusement. He wanted to kill himself. He wanted to kill everyone else. The was so much he wanted to do… So much pain he wanted to cause.
"Ryou," He murmured when he'd sorted through everything. "You've got some serious problems."
Ryou laughed.
Later, once Ryou had cleaned up the spilt tea and settled his nerves with another cup, Malik led him to the bedroom. Ryou knew where this was going. He knew Malik well enough to know what was going to happen.
He was still surprised, however, when Malik didn't pin him down like he normally did. When he didn't shove him into the mattress and fuck him until he couldn't feel his legs.
He was gentle, this time. Slow and purposeful, dragging it out as long as he could instead of rushing to finish. His fingers dragged slowly over Ryou's skin after he stripped him completely, nails teasing over already erect nipples and eliciting a shudder from the paler man below him. The other hand trailed down his side, leaving behind a fiery feeling where his fingers had been. He rubbed the inside of the other's thigh bringing his hands so painfully close to the growing erection that he knew Ryou wanted him to touch.
But he didn't. He kept his hands away from it by nothing more than an inch at all times.
"Malik," Ryou whined. "Why are you teasing tonight?"
"Because I can." He snickered. "Do you not like it?"
"You're driving me crazy." He shifted, face flushing slightly.
"You're already crazy, dear." Malik reminded him gently, scraping his nails over his chest.
Ryou's back arched, eyes closing, blush coating his cheeks. Malik wasn't sure if he was blushing because of his ministrations or if it was because of the pet name. Either was fine with him, really. He liked seeing some color on that pale face - and the pretty lines of red that his nails left behind were rather pleasing, as well.
"That's true…" Ryou agreed softly. "But do you really wanna make it worse?" He joked, opening his eyes and smiling up at him.
"Maybe." He snickered again, leaning down. "I like it when you're crazy." He captured Ryou's lips with his own before he could reply.
Usually they didn't kiss. They'd bite and suck on each other's skin, leave marks all over, but their lips tended to evade each other. Even when one of them thought about it, they never ended up doing it. They were either too nervous to cross that particular line or too caught up in the moment to remember to do it. Neither one was sure how the other would react. How it would affect their sorry excuse for a 'relationship'.
But this time their lips mingled for a few moments before Malik had to pull away to make sure Ryou was alright with it. He didn't want to do anything that wasn't okay, right now. He was trying to build a relationship, here, just in case…
Just in case they did fail and never found Marik, Yami, and Bakura.
Well, he didn't care so much about finding Yami, but he hoped they could at least find Bakura, for Ryou's sake. Marik would be a bonus. Yami would just be luck. But finding Bakura… Seeing the way Ryou's eyes would light up and just thinking about how he'd probably never see his eyes flare green in anger again…
"Is that okay?" He murmured, searching the other's expression.
"Yes." Ryou breathed. "Yes, that's okay."
Their lips met again in a tender sort of dance, slipping across each other. Grazings of teeth and hesitant touches of tongue soon became gentle bites and Ryou's thin fingers tangling in Malik's platinum hair and giving one or two firm tugs.
"Malik," Ryou whispered when he pulled back, "Please."
"Alright." He agreed readily, kissing him one more time before sitting up to pull his shirt up over his head and shove his pants and boxers down past his ankles and off the bed. "Can I call you baby?" He inquired with a soft kiss to the other's chin while he got situated in between his legs.
"If you want." Ryou's face flushed again.
"Okay, baby." He kissed his chin again. "Do you want any prep?"
"I'm fine without it. Besides… We both know I feel about a little pain." Ryou's lip curled slightly on one side.
"True enough." Malik chuckled. Then he pulled him up into his lap, deciding that it was a much more intimate position, anyway, and all the better for listening to the breathy gasps and near-inaudible moans he'd be hearing tonight. "But are you sure you're ready, baby?"
Ryou didn't reply verbally, merely getting himself more properly situated and then rolling his hips downward to grind against the already leaking erection below. Malik groaned, taking that as a 'yes' that was simultaneously a challenge. "You don't have the balls to put it all in at once," Ryou was saying, by doing that. He'd pulled it a few times before, usually when he was impatient.
He took the challenge, just like he usually did. He lined himself up, pressed in enough to make sure he wouldn't miss, and then pulled the white-haired man down rather forcefully.
Ryou trembled, crying out and wrapping his arms tightly around Malik's shoulders. "Yes!"
He didn't even complain when the next thrusts were slow and gentle. He just panted quietly into Malik's ear and rolled his hips down to meet each thrust, keeping pace patiently with him. He could go slow, if he wanted. He could go slow and he could enjoy every second of it.
He pressed himself closer. "Malik… What do you think now…?" The thin ropes of shadow magic flickered over the intricate carvings on Malik's back.
"Not in love with me, that's for damn sure." Malik grunted. "But you don't just want to fuck and run, either."
"What do I want to do, then?" Ryou pressed a kiss to his neck.
"Seems like you just want to be friends with benefits." Malik did his best to shrug while continuing to thrust up into him. "Unless we don't find them or we spend enough time together. Then you want to possibly be something more."
"Seems…" Ryou had to pause, groaning softly and letting his head fall against Malik's shoulder. "Seems like me."
Malik snickered, shifting the much lighter man. "Yes. Now hush unless you're going to keep groaning and panting in my ear like that. It's cute."
He gasped quietly at the slight change in position. "Oh, I'll do much more than groan and pant~" He purred.
Malik shivered, closing his eyes and gently squeezing the other's hips. He gave one hard, quick thrust before returning to his previous pace, revelling in the throaty moan that was muffled in his shoulder.
"Malik, please…" Ryou murmured. "Please, please, please, I need more."
The masochistic part of him hoped Malik would ignore him because going slow like this was torture. He didn't think he'd ever actually gone slow and gentle for a whole round before - certainly never with Malik. Oh, it was agonizing, really, but he loved it.
"More?" Malik snorted. "Maybe next round." Regardless, he gave another thrust like the one that had made the other cry out.
It gave a similar result this time. It was followed by a whine and a very deliberate tightening of Ryou's slightly twitching hole around his cock. He grunted, squeezing him gently. "You…" He searched for a word. "... Saucy little minx."
"You wanted to call me a slut," Ryou teased between soft pants. He tensed himself up again, giving a soft mewl of satisfaction.
"Mn… Yeah. I did." He bit his lip. "But I don't think there's such a thing as a classy slut."
"I'll just have to be the only one then." Ryou shrugged. "... Just realized something."
Malik hummed to tell him to go on, shifting him again.
"Your cock actually fits all the way inside me like this." He purred.
Malik couldn't help a shiver and a somewhat violent thrust. "So it does," He grunted after Ryou's grip on his shoulders eased again and his exclamation of pleasure had faded back into panting and whining. "Guess we'll just have to do this more often."
"The position? Definitely." Ryou nuzzled into his neck. "But if you think… That I'm patient enough… To fuck this slow… Every time… You're wrong." He bit down and shifted his hips slightly, letting out a long groan on the next thrust, before Malik could even think of a response. "Ah, fuck…" He squeezed his shoulders. "There…"
Malik adjusted his hold on Ryou's hips to keep them where they were and continued at a steady pace, revelling in the gasps of his name and the curses falling from the pale lips that were attempting to work a hickey into the skin of his neck.
"Faster," Ryou begged quietly, "please, I'm getting close…"
Malik obliged, picking up his pace a bit - not as fast as they'd normally be going, but certainly more fulfilling for both of them. Ryou moaned, of course, legs squeezing his hips and arms squeezing his shoulders while he struggled not to dig his nails into the carvings on Malik's back. Malik loved that he was so considerate of them. So careful not to hurt him, even when they both agreed that a little pain was fine in bed.
"Malik… Fuck."
Malik wasn't sure if Ryou had intended to say something else or if he was simply saying his name for the hell of it. He didn't really care. He liked hearing his name being gasped out like that.
"M-malik, I… I'm gonna…"
Ah, so that was what he was trying to say. Goddamn that stutter was cute.. "Go on, then, baby. Cum for me."
Unlike usual, Malik came first. Ryou tightened around him once and that was too much for him and he spilt inside the other.
"Ah, yes…" Ryou purred, eyes half-lidded, "Fill me up."
The Egyptian grunted in response, thrusting once, twice, thrice more before Ryou's cum splattered up onto their chests. His movements stilled, a hand going to Ryou's erection to milk the last few drops of cum out and guide him down gently from the high.
Ryou slumped against him, breathing gently through his nose. "Fuck, Malik, that was…"
"Better than you were expecting?" Malik quirked an eyebrow and left a kiss on the side of his head.
Ryou nodded tiredly. Malik only chuckled and nuzzled into his hair, content to sit there forever if he could or had to.
"A-atem…" Yugi gently tugged at his hair.
"Yugi…" Atem murmured as he pulled away. "I'm sorry. I… I can't."
Yugi nodded weakly, body trembling just from the heated kisses they'd shared and the way Atem was currently sitting in between his legs. "I understand." He informed him. "I'm sorry I kissed you in the first place."
"Don't be." Atem chuckled. "I'd be more than happy to have you do it again… But you're Yami's. You're his whether he's here or not, and I'm not crossing that line."
"I don't blame you. But…" He looked up at him hopefully. "Can we like… Cuddle or something? I didn't realize how starved I was for human touch until now."
"Of course we can cuddle." Atem chuckled again, maneuvering to lay down next to him. "I love cuddling."
"Me too." Yugi smiled before snuggling up to his side and throwing a leg over his. "And you're so warm."
"I've been told that, from time to time." The older man wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "Usually by Yami."
"You're like a natural heater." He snuggled closer. "It's awesome."