Posting this a day early since I have to be to work extra early tomorrow.
Continues from where last chapter left off.
Marik entered the bedroom, then proceeded towards the bathroom where he could hear the water running in the sink.
"Can I ask where something like that came from?" he asked, referring to the suggested three-way.
The faucet knobs turned and the water ceased in its flow, the tiny elemental reaching out for a nearby towel to dry off.
"Sorry…it won't happen again," Kat said quietly with her back still facing him.
"I'm not mad…just a bit surprised. Does it have something to do with the full moon thing?"
Kat remained silent, but it was obvious she was doing it so that she could carefully choose her words.
"Please talk to me," Marik pleaded as Kat pushed past him and into the room so that she could change into clothes that weren't covered in grease.
"I don't know. It just came out." Kat stated as she tossed her stained tee-shirt to the floor and began to rummage through her dresser.
"Habibty, please look at me? I already said I'm not mad. I'm just trying to figure things out. I would have assumed that this is probably 'normal' for this time of the month, but Bakura seemed rather surprised. That leads me to believe this isn't 'normal'."
"Normal?" Kat scoffed. "There's nothing 'normal' about me. I can pretend and try all I like, but at the end of the day…I'm still…" she stopped rummaging through her dresser and hung her head. "I'm still anything but 'normal'."
"Hello? You want to talk about not 'normal'? I have a brand carved into my back that was supposed to be a key to restoring your ex's memories. Turns out, I haven't the slightest clue as to what it was actually supposed to be. At this point, it's just a fancy scar."
"It's not a key, it never was a key, and how many fucking times did I have to explain that it was a fucking ritual for stopping a rogue god!" Kat shouted in irritation while attempting to strangle the space in front of her.
"Really?" Marik asked in mild surprise, ignoring the frustration he knew wasn't directed at him.
"Yes!" Kat shouted again, still irritated.
"That's good to know. At least it's not entirely useless. Would have preferred it was kept in a book or something, but it is what it is at this point," Marik said casually.
Kat covered her face with both hands in exasperation. "Gods, I suck at everything."
"No. My clan is just pretty stubborn, which makes them a bit stupid at times."
Kat dropped one of her hands, the other remaining on her face. "No," she groaned. She then let out a curt laugh. "I mean, yeah…they are…but that's not what I was talking about."
"Um…okay?"
"I meant…us…this whole boyfriend/girlfriend thing. I suck at it. I'm sure I've done it all wrong," Kat said as she ran her other hand down her face in exasperation.
"What do you mean 'done it all wrong'?"
Kat grabbed a random shirt from the dresser and put it on, then sat over on the foot of her bed.
"I'm pretty sure 'dating' involves, well…going out on dates…not dealing with gods and revived ex spouses," she said despondently.
Marik sat down beside her. "If you think about it, we have been on a few dates. The rest…I guess just comes with the territory of being descended from gods."
Kat sat up straight then leaned into Marik's shoulder. "I don't deserve you," she said with a smile.
Marik wrapped his arm around her and pulled her in close while smiling back. "Sure you do. You just don't know it yet."
Kat snuggled tighter. "is tú mo grhá."
Marik glanced down in confusion. "Sorry, I'm not familiar with that phrase…or even the language it's from."
"It was something my Ama-shae used to say to me. She meant it in a way between a mother and child…but I am saying it in a…different way."
"Is it similar to sehedj-ib?"
"Something like that…"
"I'm not getting a direct translation, am I?"
"No," Kat replied in a playfully elevated tone.
Marik chuckled. "So, do you think you're capable of heading downstairs without wanting to invite Atem and Bakura for a few rounds of sex?"
Kat groaned at the jest. "I wasn't suggesting for myself. I simply want to make sure all your needs are met."
Marik brought his head back while glancing down warily. "All my needs are met? Please elaborate on that for me."
"I know that I am…physically incapable…of satisfying you in the way you are accustomed to."
Marik quickly buried his face into a palm in extreme embarrassment. He then peeked an eye down at his girlfriend. "I'm perfectly fine with 'substitutions'...like the one you use. I don't need the real deal."
"But the real thing is always so much better."
"Okay, you have a point there…but I still don't need it." Marik lowered his other hand while turning his full attention to the tiny elemental beside him. "You're enough for me. I don't need anyone else."
Kat stared back, tilting her head slightly.
"Atem's a jerk, but he's still hot. And it's already been proven that with enough wine he'll fuck anyone."
Marik stared blankly for a moment before dropping his face into his palm again.
"Kura will pretty much fuck anything with a pulse…but that might be weird for you since he's technically your uncle…or would it be cousin now with his new body? Huh…I hadn't thought about what that makes him now…"
"I'm not having sex with your ex or…whatever the fuck kind of relation Bakura is to me!" He removed his hand from his face again. "There's only one person I want to have sex with, and right now she's really pressing her luck."
"If there's someone else you have in mind, I'm okay with it."
"ohmyfuckinggods…NO THREE-WAYS…or four-ways…or anything that involves people outside of you and me…"
Marik could see the gears turning in Kat's mind.
"Whatever you're thinking, the answer is already a resounding 'NO'."
"Okay, I got nothin else. Oh, wait…"
"No."
"But-"
"NO."
"BUT-"
"Unless you are going to suggest something that involves the two of us on this bed naked and only the two of us in the next few minutes, I'm walking out of this room."
Kat quickly summoned a scroll into her hand and unfurled it, then pointed at an image on it.
"Can we try this?"
Marik studied the image for a moment, his brow furled in concentration. "Um…I'm sure I can do this, but are you flexible enough for that?"
Kat grinned playfully. "Wanna find out?"
Bakura reached across the table for one of the scrolls and glanced over it.
"Not that one," Atem said. "That one is a bit more advanced. How about that one over there?" he said while pointing towards a different scroll.
Bakura tossed aside the current scroll and picked up the one Atem had indicated. "Manipulation of physical elements? I assume this would come after learning how to detect the magic not only in himself, but in the world around him?"
"Naturally. I'm not stupid."
"Could've fooled me…"
Atem rolled his eyes then resumed translating the scroll in his hand.
"You know they're probably up there fucking, right?" Bakura stated casually.
"I try not to think about it," Atem replied while continuing to write translations.
Bakura sat up straight, then looked towards the door. "Wait a minute…" He walked up the stairs, pressed an ear to the door, then stepped back, and lightly turned the handle. He had barely cracked the door open when he quickly shut it, his face flush from the sounds that had echoed throughout the house.
"Bakura!" Atem shouted with a scowl towards the elemental.
"Welp…I was right…" Bakura stated with a shocked and horrified expression. "They are most definitely fucking."
"I did not need to hear that!"
Bakura slowly made his way back downstairs and took his place at the table beside Atem.
"Sooo…I'm an idiot."
"Obviously," Atem said while rolling his eyes. "What did you expect? The door was closed for a reason!"
"That's…not what I meant," Bakura said slowly, his face still a mixture of shock and horror.
"Then please explain. I'm 'stupid', remember?"
"So…wanna hear something funny? You're really going to laugh at this…"
"Just spit it out already."
"Remember how last night I was complaining about being able to hear you toss and turn?"
"I'd rather not think about that…"
"Well…turns out I could have solved that problem with a simple sound nullification barrier around the room that would have become sealed whenever the door was closed…"
The look of irritation on Atem's face intensified. "You mean…I didn't need to wake up covered in fur?"
"I can't help that I shed when I'm fucking stressed!"
"What are you even stressed about?! You have god-like powers at your fingertips and the ability to just go wherever, whenever you want! You know what I have?! NOTHING! No kingdom. No wife. No purpose. Nothing. I can't even walk down the street because I don't even know where I would go or what I would do!"
"Sounds like a personal problem," Bakura said sarcastically.
"Go ahead, joke about it. That's all you're good for, turning everything into a joke." Atem said bitterly. "I always wondered why you and Katrina never ended up together after I was gone. Now I know. It's because you can't take anything seriously, not even your feelings for her."
Atem could clearly see the pain that had formed across Bakura's face, and he saw it quickly twist into something else. He could spot that change easily, as he'd watched his former wife do the exact same for millennia.
"Fuck. You." Bakura said in a calm, yet bitter tone as he stood and glared down at Atem. "You know, I used to be envious of you. I wanted to be you. I'm glad now that I'm not. You're sad and pathetic…and I hate you. I hate you so much that I want to watch you suffer by living out the rest of your sad and pathetic life. I'm glad Kat finally left your sorry ass. You never deserved her."
He snapped his fingers and vanished. A small gust of wind blew through the room, sending scrolls and papers scattering all over.
As Atem lowered the arm he had raised to protect his face, he looked around at the mess that had been created, watching as a few last pages slowly drifted their way back to the floor. It bothered him that his heart suddenly felt heavy with guilt. He wasn't even certain why he'd brought up Bakura's badly hidden feelings towards Kat. It was none of his business on why the two never ended up together. It didn't really even matter at this point, seeing as neither of them were the one she was currently upstairs with.
Atem sighed heavily, then rose to pick up the scattered mess. Once he'd finished collecting everything, he sat back down and began sorting the scrolls based on their importance, then resumed the task of translating them.
My fics on AO3 are currently unlocked again for the time being for guests to view. I do not know how long this will last.
FFN keeps messing things up, and I am trying my hardest to not abandon this particular fic on this platform, but the site is not making it easy. On AO3, I can easily lock my stories down to allowing only those with accounts when there are spam issues, and it doesn't keep eating half of my formatting, forcing me to go through and correct missing line-breaks, italics removed, etc.
Also, over here I am receiving a lot of random people sending me PM's to write fics for them, even though IT CLEARLY STATES IN MY PROFILE that I don't do trades, co-works, or requests, then getting angry with me when I refuse. I have to make time to write each day. My sister has to make time to do edits. I have ton's of WiP's. I don't get paid for this, and cannot do so legally. If someone wants to hop on Tumblr and make a prompt suggestion for a short one-shot, I may consider writing it...but nothing more. I am not obligated to write for anyone other than myself.
Sorry for the little rant there. I'm just a bit frustrated at the entitlement that's been popping up in my PM's.