Queer As Tachi – Chapter 59
The first weekend in May obliged those spending the better part of an afternoon loading, hauling, and unloading boxes with unspoiled weather, not too warm and not a single hint of rain in the air. Tristan claimed to not own a lot, but it still took the four boys an awful lot of time to transport all of his stuff from his tiny, cheap flat near the harbor to the apartment above Duke’s game shop. Even Joey complained about how much crap Tristan actually owned, considering that he had only been on his own less than two years and didn’t make a lot of money. To be fair, they did toss out much of his makeshift furniture and the old, squishy futon whose stuffing had ceased to be soft years prior to Tristan inheriting it. But whatever was left that could be incorporated into Duke’s place came along with all of Tristan’s actual property, his clothing and manga collection and anything else sitting in boxes on the floor of his old flat. Duke propped the back door open so they could go freely up and down the stairs with all the boxes and awkward parcels, which shouldn’t have taken as long as it did. At the end of it, Joey and Yugi flopped down on the couch to catch their breath while Duke and Tristan debated whether they had room for the latter’s favorite old chair and downright argued about where they were going to put everything. “Hey,” Joey interrupted them. “Not to put too fine a point on it, but weren’t we promised dinner in exchange for this?”
The reminder shook Duke out of his annoyance and made him sigh. “Yeah, I think we could all do with some food,” he admitted. “I was just going to order take-out, if that’s cool.”
“As long as I don’t have to actually get up to get it,” Joey snorted.
“The delivery guy in the neighborhood could find his way here blindfolded.”
“Works for me,” Yugi put in.
Duke took all their orders, and by the time he had finished the phone call, had let go of whatever anger had been rising over Tristan’s sudden invasion of stuff, allowing him to come up behind his new live-in boyfriend and slump tiredly against him, arms around his waist. “There. Should be about a half an hour, if you guys can stand to not die of hunger in that time.”
Tristan’s hand came to rest on Duke’s arm, a tiny gesture of reconciliation. “I don’t know, that might be cutting it close for Joey.”
On cue, Joey slumped over on the couch, draping himself over Yugi’s lap and groaning as if being tortured. “A half an hour? I’ll never make it!”
Yugi patted him condescendingly on the cheek. “Now, now, Joey. You did your good deed for the day, the least you can do is wait for the food to show up.”
Sighing, Joey pried himself up and sat back in a normal position. Across from them, Duke and Tristan seemed to have been temporarily distracted by each other, but Joey was not disturbed by it. Rather, he straightened up and leaned his elbows on his knees. “Yeah, but you know? Before this is all over and done with, I got a few things I need to know – from Duke.” The young shopkeeper turned sharply toward him in surprise, hearing his name. Joey pointed at him. “I need to know for myself that you’re worthy of having Tristan share his life with you like this. Best friend’s duty.”
Duke stared at him for only a moment, and then shrugged. “Be my guest. What do I gotta do to prove it to you?”
“I just wanna see if you can answer me a few basic questions. Show how well you know Tristan, or think you know. Because if you don’t really know him, you got no business living with him.” He got up from the couch and sauntered over to Duke, tucking his hands confidently in his pockets. Tristan just stood there, eyeing them both suspiciously, as his boyfriend turned to face his best friend with arms folded over his chest. “I just want the best for my buddy, that’s all.”
“No argument here,” Duke said boldly. “Bring it on.”
“Okay…” Joey’s eyes narrowed. “What’s his favorite band?”
Duke snorted. “That’s easy. U2 – because it’s my favorite band, too.”
“What?” Yugi broke in. “I thought you liked L’arc en Ciel.”
“Oh, I do,” Duke qualified, “they seriously rock, but if you’re talking about most favorite band of all time, then it’s totally U2. Though we differ on which album was their best – I prefer the old-school Achtung Baby, he likes the new album best.”
“Ahh…” Tristan turned a wistful look to the ceiling. “Yeah, all that nice jangly guitar stuff…”
“Okay, so maybe that was too easy,” Joey reluctantly admitted, though he hadn’t seen the mutual favoritism coming. “I’m just gettin’ started. What’s his favorite color?”
“Green.” Duke’s expression became soft, almost thoughtful, but at the same time, kind of smug. “Like my eyes.”
“Damn.” Joey scrunched up his face in a pensive look that made Yugi giggle. “Um, favorite food?”
Duke rolled his eyes. “Anything.”
A laugh burst out of Yugi. “He’s got that right!”
“But he does have a thing for lemon-flavored stuff,” Duke added, more thoughtfully. “Sodas, candy, stuff like that.”
Tristan began to blush. “Hey, would you not divulge all my deep dark secrets, please? This isn’t another game of Truth or Dare, you know,” he retorted.
Joey got a look like he had finally thought of something to potentially stump Tristan’s boyfriend. “I know. What’s his favorite Duel Monster?”
A deep look flashed across Duke’s face. “Oo, tough one,” he complimented, turning his eyes toward Tristan. “You and I haven’t really dueled, I hardly knew you even had a deck.”
“Once,” Tristan said. “I haven’t played in ages.”
“Ohh…” Duke wagged a finger at him. “I know. It’s Super Roboyarou.”
Joey cackled. “Wrong! Heheh, I knew you wouldn’t know that one. It’s Cyber Commander.”
“Actually, Joey,” Tristan said airily, “that’s where you would be wrong.”
“Huh?”
His friend shrugged and smiled. “It used to be Cyber Commander. But Duke’s right, now it’s Super Roboyarou.” A dark look flashed briefly through his brown eyes. “The monster I used to sacrifice myself to save Serenity.”
Duke nodded. “Yeah, I remember that.”
“Aww!” Joey groaned. “No fair! I was thinking of that time back in Duelist Kingdom…”
“Face it, Joey.” Tristan draped his arms over Duke’s shoulders and leaned heavily on him. “You’re not going to find anything. Duke and I have a pretty good relationship, I’ve told him lots. I appreciate the gesture, though.” He smiled in a no-hard-feelings sort of way. “I know I’ll always have you to look out for me.”
“I only wanted to know you’re in good hands.” Joey slugged Duke in the shoulder, jostling both of them. “All right, you pass. I can let you be his partner.” He pointed a stern finger. “But if you ever do anything to hurt him, you answer to me. Got it?”
“Yeah, how about the other way around?” Duke smirked smartly. “What says I’m not going to be the innocent one jilted by the big, mean bully?”
“Then I’ll gladly smack Tristan upside the head for being stupid.” Joey lifted a hand in threat. “Which I ought to do on a regular basis anyway, because he usually deserves it.”
Duke shrugged casually. “No problem. I’ll just withhold sex from him in punishment. It always works.”
Joey gaped, Tristan blushed and backed away from his lover. Yugi burst into a fit of giggles, rolling on the couch. Duke just stood there wearing a rather catlike smug grin. Recovering himself quickly, Joey just shook his head. “Man, don’t even joke about that,” he grumbled. “We all got partners, I know exactly how that works and I don’t wish that on anybody.” But no matter how much the others teased him, he refused to reveal just how he had been taught that lesson.
Fortunately for them all, the food arrived rather quickly, and before too long they were circled around the living room table shoveling noodles or rice into their mouths and talking as only four gamer boys could. Tristan was still trying to mentally sort out his things, so he could at least assure Duke how much of it could just be put in storage rather than unpacked. “Well, some of it is just my old things from home,” he explained, sitting back on one hand. “Now that I’m really seriously moving in with somebody, I figured it was time to cart all that stuff out of my parents’ house and take responsibility for it.”
“By putting it in my storage space instead,” Duke said dryly. “Nice.”
“What did your parents say when you told them you were moving?” Yugi wondered.
Tristan took a deep breath, his brow furrowing as he looked away. “It’s not the moving that’s the problem, it’s the reason for it,” he said with as much indifference as he could muster.
Joey looked seriously at him. “You told them?”
“What can I say?” Tristan shrugged a shoulder stiffly. “It’s like Yami said – sooner or later the opportunity would come up, and it came up. My mom really wanted to know what made me choose to move in with Duke, of all people, she knows I used to not exactly like him, and she wouldn’t stop pestering me about it. So…I told them.”
The others went quiet, their eyes wide, though Duke had already heard the story – he had been the first to know. “What did they say?” Yugi pressed. “Is everything all right?”
“Well…” Tristan sighed and rested his arms on the table so he could face his friends. “I guess you could say I got mixed reviews. I really wanted to tell them anyway…” He glanced at Duke, and faintly smiled. “I’m in a really happy place, and they deserve to know why. My father just stood there, didn’t say a thing…and then turned and left the room and hasn’t spoken to me since. As far as I know, he hasn’t disowned me,” he added uncomfortably, “so I don’t really know what to think.”
“Oh, Tristan,” Yugi said sympathetically.
“My mom, though…” Tristan brightened up a little. “I know it shocked her, and she looked really sad, but after a minute she said it was okay. I know it’s a blow – I’m the eldest son, they had high hopes for me, marrying a nice girl and settling down, that sort of thing. But my mom said that I should live out my own dreams, not the dreams other people may have had for me. She was disappointed that she won’t get to host the big wedding she always dreamed of for me, but she said she’d rather have me happy than forced into somebody else’s idea of the right life.” He lifted his head and met Joey’s eyes across the table. “I think you said something like that to me, too.”
“It’s true, though,” Joey said heavily. “You gotta live your own life, not the one somebody else wants you to live. ‘Sides, maybe someday the rest of society will get its head out of its ass and let you get married.”
“Not likely in our lifetimes,” Duke sighed. “But yeah. His mom is being really good about it. It’s nice.”
Tristan lowered his head again. “But my little brother freaked out. It was bad. I didn’t realize the little brat had that kind of mouth on him.” He glanced at Joey and Yugi with a wince. “I wasn’t mean about it, I broke it as gently as I could, when I went over there to pick up all my stuff and let them know I was moving. But he cursed me out and ran out of the room, and he still won’t talk to me or even to my mom about it. That’s the hardest part of it.” He shook his head. “I don’t care if I get disowned, it’s not like there’s a lot riding on my family name other than a little honor, but it bothers me that my brother doesn’t even want to acknowledge me, when we grew up so close.” He glanced aside at his boyfriend. “I think it’s because he actually knows you, it’s not some stranger I’m shacking up with.”
“You just have to give him time,” Duke said as gently as he could. “If he really loves you that much, he can’t stay mad at you forever.”
“And if your mom accepts you, she can support you,” Yugi offered.
“Yeah.” Tristan smiled as Yugi clasped his hand, and Duke reached to rub his other shoulder affectionately. “It’s okay. Thanks, guys. I knew this coming-out stuff would be hard, but…I’ve never had any kind of falling-out with my parents before. We’ve always gotten along pretty well.”
“Knowing your parents,” Joey offered, since he did, “they’re probably just shocked that you’re actually thinking for yourself for once, and deciding what you want. But your father never struck me as the bigoted kind, so don’t sweat it.”
“I won’t.”
After that they all needed a more lighthearted change in subject, so Tristan asked Yugi if he had any idea what he would be doing for his coming-of-age birthday party in a couple of months. “Not yet,” Yugi groaned tiredly. “Grandpa keeps bugging me about it, but I really don’t know what I want to do.”
“For the sake of those of us who have winter birthdays,” Duke suggested, “do something we can’t, something outside, like a picnic or the beach or something.”
“I know, I was kind of thinking along those lines.” An impish smile found its way to his face. “I do know one thing, and that’s the coolest bit – the full moon falls exactly on my birthday this year.”
The other three erupted with approval and congratulations. “Damn, if that ain’t a lucky break,” Joey teased him. “Of all the birthdays to match up with the full moon.”
“So we can be pretty sure how you’ll be spending at least part of your birthday,” Duke smirked.
“Like the rest of us didn’t on ours,” Tristan added.
His boyfriend grinned. “Very true.”
Joey grinned brashly, and completely shamelessly. “Birthday sex!”
“Joey!” Yugi laughed. “There is such a thing as subtlety and innuendo, you know.”
“Eh, why bother?” Joey shrugged. “Well, whatever it is, count us all in. If Yami’s gonna be out of the Puzzle on your birthday, then we know we should all be leaving that day open on our calendars.”
“Yeah, better spread the word,” Tristan noted. “Téa, Bakura…anybody else?”
The mention of their long-lost fourth friend sobered Yugi briefly, stealing the smile from his lips. “Um, can I ask you guys something? Have any of you heard from Téa since she went back to school for spring term?”
The three gave him odd looks. “What’s the matter, Yugi?” Duke wondered.
“Well, it’s just…” He shrugged awkwardly. “Apart from just a little email to say congratulations on the tournament, I haven’t heard from her at all since the holidays. I thought maybe she wasn’t interested in returning my emails anymore, if you guys were still getting word from her.”
Tristan and Joey shared a perplexed look across the table. “No, come to think of it, I haven’t heard from her at all either,” the former replied. “Not so much as a postcard.”
“No, me neither,” Joey affirmed. “Just one email after the tournament, about getting engaged, so we know she was watching the tournament finals where she is.” He waved a hand dismissively at Yugi. “She’s probably just busy with school. I know how that goes.”
“Yeah, I guess,” Yugi sighed, feeling only marginally better knowing that Téa hadn’t responded to any of her old friends. “I just worry, sometimes. If she had a reason to be avoiding me, she wouldn’t tell me, but if you two haven’t heard anything…”
“Not that I know of,” Tristan said. “But if you want, maybe we can find some clever way to ask her if she’s mad at you without actually asking her.” He frowned slightly. “Is there a reason she should be?”
Yugi quieted. “Well, we kind of hit a rough patch at Christmas…seeing me with Yami made her uncomfortable,” he explained without going into it. “But she said to just put it past us before she left.”
“Yeah, well, hate to say it, Yugi, but you shouldn’t be entirely surprised by that,” Duke said aloofly. “Didn’t you say she had a crush on you once?”
“Dude, that was years ago,” Joey scoffed at him, “in high school.”
“So? Those kinds of things don’t always go away quickly. Which reminds me.” He shifted his glance to Tristan. “We better tell Serenity about us. And soon. Not that I expect her to do anything except breathe a sigh of relief, but now that we’re gonna be living together, we shouldn’t hide it.”
“Aw, man,” Tristan groaned. “And here I was just thinking we have to tell Téa sooner than later. Yugi’s got a point – I haven’t thought of trying to break the news to her yet because I haven’t heard from her since Christmas. I wouldn’t even dream of just dropping an email to her out of the blue to say, ‘hey, how’s it going, how’s school, oh by the way, I moved in with Duke and we’re dating.’ Something tells me that wouldn’t go over too well.”
“And then she’d be mad at you and not just Yugi,” Joey added, turning quickly to offer Yugi a placating gesture. “Not that I’m saying she really is mad at you! I’m just sayin’…”
Yugi nodded to dismiss his comment. “I agree, Tristan, you should do it face-to-face. And since it doesn’t look like she came home for spring break, we just have to wait until summer and hope that it’s a good time.”
“Well, since it’s your big milestone birthday coming up,” Tristan said airily, “maybe one of us should drop her a note to remind her, and ask if she’s spending the summer there or coming home. First step.”
“I’ll do it,” Joey offered. “I can tell her all about Mai’s ring and other girly stuff she’d want to know.”
That derailed the conversation yet again. “You set a date yet?” Duke prodded him.
Joey groaned. “No, just that it’s going to be next year. At this rate, it better be, or we’ll never get stuff done in time.”
They talked long into the evening, before Yugi and Joey figured they had things to take care of and probably should go, in order to leave Duke and Tristan to get everything sorted out before bed. As they stood together in the doorway waving farewell to their friends, Tristan wrapped an arm around his boyfriend and heaved a long sigh. “Well,” he said, as Duke closed the door and locked it for the night. “Here we are.”
“Yeah, here we are. Welcome home.” Duke tilted his head up to favor his partner with a quiet smile. “Freaky, isn’t it?”
“A little.” Tristan turned and wandered slowly through into the living room still cluttered with boxes, clasping his hands behind his back and stretching his arms. “Sorry about Joey grilling you earlier…”
“Nah, it’s okay. I know he was just looking out for his friends, it’s cool. If he really didn’t approve, he would have just been all awkward and uncomfortable and bailed out of here as quickly as he could.” He followed Tristan, and came up around him when he stopped in order to face him and search his eyes. “I know I’m the outsider in your little gang,” Duke said quietly. “You, Yugi, and Joey have been tight for a long time, I’m just an intruder by comparison. But the reason you’re all such good friends is that you don’t shut anybody out – I treated Yugi and Joey like shit, and they forgave me without blinking.” His usual smirk reawakened on his lips. “Joey quizzing me about you is just a sign that everything’s cool, and he wants to know that I have your best interests at heart just like he does.”
“All right, then.” Tristan put his arms around his lover, embracing him gently in the middle of their home. Duke sank into him, and they shared a long, lingering kiss to seal the moment. “It’s kind of nice,” Tristan murmured after they broke and just stood there with arms entwined. “Knowing that at the end of the day, I’ll be going home to somebody. Not just a roommate.”
“It’s new for me, too,” Duke reminded him. “I’ve been a loner so long, I have to retrain myself to deal with having someone else around. But…I think I’m going to like it.” He sniffed. “As long as I can learn to put up with your snoring.”
“There’s one way to keep me from snoring, you know.”
Duke gave him a suspicious look. “Which is…?”
“Don’t let me fall asleep.”
A wicked gleam came into the green eyes. “Fuck unpacking,” he retorted, grabbing Tristan by the shirt and pulling him through the room toward the bedroom. “That’s the best idea I’ve heard all week.”
Joey had dropped Yugi off at home with plenty of the evening left, so after Yugi chatted with his grandfather and thanked him yet again for letting him have the day off to help Tristan move, he went upstairs for a bath and to just play around until bedtime. His shift the next day would be in the afternoon, so he could technically stay up as late as he wanted, meaning it didn’t take long before he was online poking around the chat rooms looking to see if there was anyone worth dueling. It was actually more fun just to talk dueling sometimes, and watch other worldwide duelists get flustered and call each other out over disagreements on card strategies, so Yugi just left himself idly connected while checking his email and poking at other stuff online. Thus, the chime to alert him to a private message startled him. He clicked to bring up the window, and gave a little happy cry to see it was Bakura. Yugi! I was just thinking about you, ChangeofHeart messaged.
Hi Bakura! Yugi typed back. What’s up?
I have some news for you, Bakura replied. I was going
to call you, but seeing as you’re online at the moment…
We can switch to the duel disk real quick, Yugi offered.
That would work. Since I was about to get on to talk to Marik anyway. An icon began to blink on the screen, prompting Yugi to get his duel disk and switch it on so that it would receive the voice connection his friend was trying to activate. “Hello,” Bakura said immediately, with an unmistakable cheer to his voice. “Wow, Yugi. I don’t think you and I have used the wireless system this way. Only the messaging.”
“I’m usually too lazy to get my duel disk unless I’m actually going to duel,” Yugi admitted. “So, what’s going on? What’s this news you have for me?”
“Well,” Bakura began, and the smile was impossible to ignore. It heartened Yugi to hear it. “You’ve been dueling Marik, I know, so you know the two of us have been talking a lot.”
“Yeah, that’s what he says…”
Bakura gave a cute little laugh. “Well, he’s…he’s coming to visit me,” he said. “For this month – in a couple of days. We both wanted to let you know, so we can make plans to hang out.”
Yugi sat up sharply. “Really? That’s great! I can’t wait to see him! When is he coming in?”
“The day after tomorrow,” Bakura answered. “That was the only time he could get a flight, it leaves Cairo very late at night. He does intend to be here long enough to see the pharaoh, so he said.”
“Well, that’s…oh, about two weeks or so,” Yugi noted, glancing at the calendar propped up on his desk. He always knew the full moons at least three or four months in advance, anyway. “Cool! That’s such a surprise, I had no idea he was even thinking about coming to visit again, and this time just for fun.” He thought of something, and cocked his head thoughtfully. “You sound really happy about it. It’s good to hear.”
“I am,” Ryo confessed. “Yugi, I…I don’t know if you had any hand in it, getting him to talk to me, but if you did…thank you,” he breathed. “Marik is coming because he wants to see me, not because of you or the Millennium Items or anything else. I can’t begin to tell you what that means to me.”
Yugi smiled to himself as he listened. “I don’t think I had anything to do with it at all,” he said ruefully, “apart from maybe making the suggestion to both of you that I wanted to hook you up if I ever had the chance. So everything’s going all right? I know you talk a lot, but…”
“More than all right,” Ryo said with another patently evident smile in his voice. “He…he said he likes me, and he has feelings for me. I don’t want to get my hopes up, but…if he comes to visit, we can see if it would work between us.”
“That’s awesome!” Yugi crowed. “I had no idea! He didn’t tell me you were so close…”
“Well,” Bakura said shyly, “we only really talked about our…our feelings about a week ago. But I kind of sensed it all along. He is very sweet, you weren’t wrong about that.” He coughed a little. “Um, you don’t mind, though, if I meet him at the airport by myself? I know you’re friends, but…”
“Oh! No, don’t worry about it,” Yugi assured him, laughing. “If that’s why he’s coming to visit you, I definitely don’t want to intrude. Just give me a call when he’s here and all settled in, and you guys feel like socializing. I would like to see him, but I’ll understand if you want to keep him all to yourself for a while.”
Ryo laughed in embarrassment. “We’re not that close, Yugi. Not…not yet, anyway.”
“Don’t worry,” Yugi encouraged, grinning. “Give it time. All the more reason not to call me up and make plans until you two are sure where you stand.”
Ryo chuckled softly back. “Yes, well…he does want to get together with you, and the pharaoh. Do you have a specific day each month when you perform the ritual, or is it arbitrary?”
“Oh…” It occurred, then, to Yugi, just how much he was still guarding from Bakura in the off chance knowing would aid and abet some wicked scheme of the Ring spirit. He decided, based on a stirring in the back of his mind, to keep his guard up. “Well, it isn’t the same day every month, but…I think this month it’s going to be the twenty-second. Somewhere around there.”
“All right. Well, we may see you before that, I don’t know how long we’ll be able to stand having only each other as company,” Ryo said with a wry laugh. “But when the pharaoh is available, we should do something together. I have yet to meet him myself, except through you. I’d like to see him.”
“Yeah, sure,” Yugi said, trying not to hesitate. “We’ll make some plans. Something fun, and date-like. Right?”
The idea of a date sent Ryo into another fit of shy giggles. “Sure, I guess so.”
Yugi smiled to himself again. “I haven’t heard you laugh like that in a long time, Bakura. I’m so glad you’re happy,” he said wistfully.
Ryo made a soft purr. “I am, too,” he admitted. “I wanted so much to stay an arm’s length from him, to not let myself get all caught up in it in case I got my heart broken again, but…I couldn’t resist. He broke through my walls easily enough, Yugi. I think he was meant to.”
“I do, too.” Yugi breathed a happy sigh. “Tell him thanks for me, would you? When you see him. I mean, really see him.”
The voice on the other end echoed his sigh. “I will.”
If the days leading up to Marik’s arrival crawled by slowly, the hours between waking and needing to be at the airport came to a complete standstill. Unfortunately, Marik had not been able to find a fair-priced flight on the weekend, so Bakura would be skipping his afternoon classes in order to meet him at the airport. Not that he minded; even a stellar student like him had no problem placing other things in higher priority than class. He walked through the airport with fists clenched at his sides, trying to stop himself from trembling in nervousness, glancing at every marquee he passed to double- and triple-check that the flight from Cairo was arriving on time at the right gate. It wasn’t hard for slender Bakura to dart in and out of the slow-moving, meandering lines of weary travelers dragging their wheeled luggage behind them, as he had his hands empty in anticipation of helping his visitor with his bags. The closer he got to the gate, the more he checked his watch, hoping he had timed it right. The stupid bus had let him off at the far end of the terminal, necessitating a brisk walk to get to the correct gate after passing through security. It was all he could do to keep from fretting about what it would be like to see Marik, how he would react, any of it. Along the way, Ryo passed a news stand and gift shop with flowers out front, and an idea sparked briefly into his mind. He had just a minute to spare, so he paused and circled back to see if it was something he could afford to do on the way to the gate.
Not many people were waiting around the gate to greet disembarking passengers at this time of day, as most were businessmen or vacationing couples just getting back from the Middle East, making Bakura feel even more nervous and out of place as he stood across the way, waiting, hoping. He held a single flower before him, a lone but showy aster he had picked out from the vendor he passed, as he craned his neck to scan the crowd in anticipation. Marik appeared suddenly among them like a mirage, tanned and sultry, his exotic features breaking into a smile of delight when he caught sight of the silver-haired young man waiting for him. Ryo’s breath caught in his throat; having never thought of Marik the way he did now, he had never noticed just how beautiful he was: lean and wiry, with a smooth gait like a panther prowling amongst the rabble scattering away to their destinations, that shock of straw-blond hair cascading over his eyes and shoulders. He was wearing a blue shirt and denim vest, both with no sleeves to show off the trim muscles in his arms. Ryo couldn’t look away from his eyes, so bright and blue and nothing like he ever saw in the faces surrounding him every day, and smiling now with unabashed pleasure. It made Ryo both forget to be nervous, and freeze in apprehension, at the same time.
Marik couldn’t help but smile when he saw his friend waiting for the plane, a silent phantom rising up out of the rumpled crowds of business travelers and tourists with wide, soft brown eyes and telltale sheaf of silver hair. Marik considered that the last time he had seen Ryo, and heard him for the first time speaking in his own voice and person, they had both been wrapped up snugly in winter coats. Now, Ryo was just standing there in a striped t-shirt and jeans, and absolutely no sign of the Millennium Ring on his person. He looked as slender and frail as his voice made him out to be, but there was an adult maturity to his graceful limbs, a slight tilt to his hips as he waited with wide eyes that showed he might have been subconsciously thinking the same things Marik was upon seeing him. Then Marik noticed the flower, and a sweet pang shot through his heart. In moments they were facing each other, gazing at each other, unsure what to say. They were exactly the same height, enabling their eyes to meet. Ryo smiled shyly. Marik took the flower from him without lowering his eyes, his hand brushing Ryo’s tenderly. Then, after a heartbeat’s pause, he reached to amiably hug Bakura. It was just a quick embrace of welcome, long enough for Bakura to notice the duel disk hanging from the strap of the backpack Marik had slung over his shoulder. They parted to look at each other again, and then Marik brought the flower to his face and sniffed it with a smile. “That’s so nice of you,” he said kindly. “I didn’t know I was going to get such a welcome.”
“It was…kind of a spur of the moment idea,” Ryo admitted shyly, clasping his hands behind his back.
“I like it. Thank you.” Marik took a deep breath and tried to keep smiling. “Well, I’m here.”
“Yes, you are.” Ryo fidgeted. “Welcome to Domino. Again, I guess.” He looked around quickly. “Do you have any bags you need to pick up?”
“Oh, yes. Just one.” Marik shrugged to indicate his backpack. “And this, but…”
“You brought your duel disk,” Ryo noted.
“Yeah…” Marik tried not to blush. “Just in case. You know.”
Ryo chuckled cutely. “Yes, I suppose. You never know. Well…” He turned slightly away. “Let’s go and get your bag, then, and we can go home. I’m sorry,” he added as they both started away together, “I don’t own a car or anything. I have to take the bus everywhere.”
“That’s all right,” Marik assured. “I didn’t expect otherwise. From what I remember of being here before, that’s how most people travel.”
“Most people my age, anyway,” Ryo chuckled.
They walked side by side but didn’t dare touch each other all the way through the airport, sharing no more small talk than the usual “how was your flight” sort of thing. Marik held his flower delicately, protecting it against his chest, and glanced now and then at his companion with a little smile of reassurance. Ryo smiled back, too shy to keep up any kind of stream of chatter, but conscious of the long silences between them. They picked up Marik’s beaten-up duffel bag at the baggage claim and headed out to wait for the bus, Ryo gladly carrying the bag so Marik wouldn’t spoil his flower. They still talked of nothing deeper than Yugi’s passed-along hellos and whether Marik was tired enough for a nap when they got back to Ryo’s flat, even as the bus came and they were off. Marik couldn’t help looking around eagerly through the windows, wanting to see the city again, remarking that the last time he was there, he hadn’t had much time to spare for playing tourist. “It’s funny,” he said, giving Bakura a casual smile. “Twice I’ve been here, and both times I had other things on my mind. This is my first actual friendly visit.”
“Well, it isn’t as though there’s much to see,” Ryo cautioned. “Domino City isn’t much of a tourist town. But I suppose, if you were really interested…” He gave his friend a plaintive, wondering look. “It might be possible to take the shinkansen to Kyoto, or Tokyo or something.”
Marik shrugged. “Whatever. It doesn’t matter to me if we stay around here.” He smiled to put him at ease. “I won’t be sad if we just spend some time together doing what you like to do.”
Ryo couldn’t stop the blush from rising in his cheeks. “Oh, I hope to be able to entertain you more than that,” he stammered. “I don’t really do much…except talk to you, these days. When I’m not in class or the research library.” He sighed unhappily. “I’m afraid I’ll have to leave you to yourself when I have to go to class. I’m sure you wouldn’t want to tag along.”
“I’ll be fine,” Marik promised. “There are worse things than lounging about the house all day.”
That made Ryo giggle, and put Marik at ease that he wasn’t frightening his companion too badly. That they could joke and talk casually was a good sign.
Ryo was already excusing the shabbiness of his flat before they’d even disembarked from the bus, but Marik assured him that it was fine and he had seen a lot worse, reminding Bakura that he had grown up underground in a secret catacomb. Student flats of the kind Bakura could afford were small but efficiently made, and once out of the hallway into the quiet, uncluttered confines of Ryo’s home, it was actually quite nice. Ryo was a neat sort of young man, and didn’t have a lot of unnecessary possessions to make the place a mess, but he still apologized for its general lack of aesthetic beauty. “It’s fine,” Marik laughed. “Will you stop it already? I won’t think badly of you for living in a flat all your own like this.”
“Sorry,” Ryo said sheepishly. “It’s just the way we do things here in Japan. But…”
“But nothing.” Marik set his backpack down next to his bag, where Bakura had left it, and stretched as he looked around. “It’s yours, and that makes it nice. I’m glad I’m here.” He turned to Ryo, then, and grew suddenly still and intent. Ryo froze again, held captive by the gentle, tenuous smile in his friend’s eyes, though his heart pounded in his chest as he realized Marik was stepping closer to him – coming right up to him. Then arms were around him, sliding gently around his waist, as Marik leaned in without any preface and kissed him, deeply. Ryo was startled for a moment, giving the slightest gasp, but Marik was patient and only waited for him to recover before resuming the kiss. The nervous fear melted out of Ryo, making him sag willingly against Marik and return the kiss, begging it to last forever. Unfortunately, it couldn’t, not if they wanted to keep breathing. Marik didn’t let go of him, though, and hugged Ryo to him while they both struggled to control their racing hearts. “I’ve been waiting for so long to do that,” the young Egyptian breathed. “You have no idea.”
Ryo pulled back from him just enough to be able to look at him, to search his eyes and wonder. “You…you have?”
Marik gazed shyly at him. “Did you…do you like it?”
A heartbreakingly beautiful smile found its way to Ryo’s face. “Yes,” he said softly. “I never thought anyone could make me feel the way you just did.”
“Really?” Marik grinned. “Well…that’s a good sign.” He glanced down as if just noticing that he was still holding Ryo close to him, and Ryo’s hands rested on his arms most comfortably. “I didn’t want to move too fast, but…I just know I wanted so badly to kiss you. Moreso when I stepped off the plane and saw you…”
Ryo blushed brilliantly red and lowered his head to hide it. “So, you’re not…I mean, you don’t…you weren’t put off when you finally saw me?”
“Of course not!” Marik lifted a hand and brushed it across Ryo’s cheek to get him to look up. “You remember, the last time I actually saw you, it was winter and we were all wearing big coats. I didn’t get to see just how beautiful of a man you’ve grown to be.” He looked Ryo over and smiled to put him at ease. “You don’t have to be afraid. I’m not going to push you away. You’re not ugly or undesirable, not at all. You’re cute.”
That made Ryo look away again, but he giggled. “All right, then,” he relented. “I guess I can take your word for it.” He clasped one hand to his chest demurely. “My heart is going crazy. It feels like it’s going to burst out of me.”
Marik cocked his head. “That’s a good thing, I hope.”
“I think so,” Ryo chuckled. “Oh! Your flower.” He reluctantly drew himself out of Marik’s arms to fetch the flower he had set down on the high countertop separating the kitchen from the living room. “We should put this in water.”
He moved into the kitchen to find a vase or tall glass to house the flower, and Marik remained where he was, simply watching, not wanting to pursue him for fear of crowding him. When at last Bakura turned and set a tapered vase on the counter to show him his big, fragrant aster hanging over the side, Marik smiled. “That’s better. I wouldn’t want it to wilt.”
Ryo came around the counter and met him. “You didn’t answer my question before – are you tired? Do you want to lie down and take a nap for a bit, or…?”
“I’m all right,” his companion immediately answered, reaching to take his hand gingerly. “All I want to do is what we said we wanted most – to sit and talk, face to face.” He drew Ryo along with him into the living room, to the small couch he had recently acquired when one of his neighbors moved and didn’t want to take it along. “I don’t care about what, I just…want to talk with you.”
They sat down together, somewhat facing each other, shyly refraining from touching apart from the hand Marik still clasped. Ryo couldn’t believe he was where he was, sitting across from someone who liked him, who had just kissed him. Crazy was an understatement for what his heart felt like. “All right,” he said in acceptance, “we can talk. Anything you like. I am glad you’re here, Marik,” he added, gushing sentiment. “More than glad. You’ve been such a bright spot in my life these days. Now…what shall we talk about?”
The opportunity for Duke and Tristan to break the news of their relationship to Serenity came up a lot sooner than either expected, around the same time as Marik was settling in to begin his long vacation. Joey had mentioned, during the move-in, that his little sister wanted to come and visit him, but to his surprise, she called him up and made plans to drop in on him and Mai about a week later, over a weekend when she could get away. It wasn’t for any reason other than to see her big brother while she was on break for Golden Week, though immediately after her arrival there was much girl-talk and fawning over Mai’s engagement ring. She cajoled Joey into letting her drop by and see either Tristan or Duke and invite them to go with them out to eat, but he didn’t tell her anything about them – that was up to them. Serenity was a little surprised to be pulling up to Duke’s shop so quickly. “So we’re going to see Duke first?” she wondered as they all got out and walked up to the doors.
“Well, it’s kind of on the way,” Joey fibbed. “May as well get it over with.”
“Oo, thank you Joey!” she said brightly.
They went inside the shop, and whether Duke had been watching out for them or he just had good timing, he came down right as they entered and met them near the main counter. “Hey, what’s up?” he greeted them all together. “Hi Serenity.”
“Hi, Duke!” She bounced up to him and gave him a quick hug. “Wow, it’s only been since Christmas, but you look great.”
“Thanks,” he chuckled uneasily. “Why don’t you guys come on up to my office? It’s a bit noisy and crazy down here tonight.”
He led the way up the stairs to his office on the second level, and Serenity blinked in surprise to see Tristan sitting on the edge of the desk, waiting for them. “Tristan!” she called out happily. “I didn’t know you were here! We were coming to see you after this, I was going to ask you if you wanted to go out to dinner with us.”
“Yeah, I know,” Tristan said, smiling gently. “Joey gave us a heads-up. I’m sorry, though, we’re not going to be able to make it to dinner with you.”
“Aww, how come?”
Joey and Mai stood back, waiting to see how this would play out. Duke crossed near to Tristan, but didn’t make any obvious moves. Tristan pushed away from the desk and faced the young girl with a plain, honest smile. “Well, I don’t know if it’s right that we intrude,” he said. “You came into town to see Joey, didn’t you?”
“Yeah, but you’re my friend too,” Serenity pointed out. “You and Duke both. I always like to see you guys and hang out. You’re so much fun.”
“Thanks,” Tristan said shyly with a glance toward Duke. “But really, I think it’s probably not a good idea. You see…Serenity…” He paused, second-guessing himself, and took a deep breath to just say it. “Since you saw us last, Duke and I…have started seeing each other. I didn’t want Joey to just tell you, I thought it would be better if you heard it from us in person.”
Serenity’s brow furrowed, and she looked back and forth between them. “Seeing each other? But…you’re both guys.” A light began to dawn in her brown eyes. “Oh…does this have anything to do with Yugi…?”
“No,” Duke said plainly, coming to put his arm over Tristan’s shoulders. “It has nothing to do with Yugi. It only has to do with us. We just…both kind of decided that we liked each other.”
“More than friends,” Tristan added helpfully.
“Oh…” Serenity blinked at them, looking like she was trying to sort it out in her head. “I…had no idea. Both of you used to…well, you both flirted with me all the time.”
“Yeah, and that’s why we wanted to tell you ourselves,” Duke said, gentling his voice to a kind tone Joey hadn’t heard him use before. For once, he appeared to have dropped his cool-guy act completely. He sidled forward while Tristan took the chance to put his arm around him instead. “We still like you, Serenity, you’re cool. You’re our friend, too, that’s not going to change. You just don’t have to worry about either of us chasing after you, or fighting each other because of you.” He glanced at Tristan and grinned. “Tell you the truth, that’s kind of a relief to me, too.”
Serenity gazed at him for a long time, and gradually started to smile. “I guess that makes sense. I just didn’t realize…that either of you were…” She glanced confusedly at Tristan.
He leaned on the edge of the desk again. “Duke is,” he said. “I’m not. Except for him.”
“I swing both ways,” Duke said bluntly. “But it’s not about that. It’s about how we feel.” He glanced at Tristan. “He moved in with me as of last week, we’re giving a long-term thing a shot.”
Serenity also shifted her gaze to Tristan. “Really? You live here, now, Tristan?”
“Yeah.” He straightened up again and stepped up to Duke’s side, not just slinging his arm over his shoulders, but wrapping it around his waist and pulling him close. Duke actually blushed a little. “Can you see, now, why I don’t think we should go out with you guys tonight? You don’t need us two tagging along. It’s okay, though. I just want you to have some space to think about it, and I hope you’re not freaked out.”
“Oh, no, I’m not,” she immediately assured him, emphatically. “Just a little confused. It’s okay, if that’s what you guys want…okay. I just wanted a chance to see you.”
Tristan gave her a little wave and a smile. “Well, you did. If you’re going to be here longer than the weekend, maybe we can hang out later. But tonight, Duke is kind of stuck here minding the store and I don’t feel like abandoning him.”
Duke cast him a bored look over his shoulder. “I told you you could.”
“Yeah, but I don’t want to,” Tristan sneered at him.
“That’s too bad,” Serenity sighed. “I can’t stay long this time, that’s why I wanted Joey to bring me to say hi to each of you tonight. Oh well. Maybe next time.”
“Yeah, sure.” Duke reached to clasp her hand. “We still want to see you. It’s just bad timing.”
“I guess.”
They chatted briefly about a few small things, and Duke had a chance to tease Serenity that she should put the pressure on her brother to set a date for his damn wedding already, before the three had to excuse themselves to make their restaurant reservations. Duke and Tristan walked them out together, and Serenity glanced back once to see that they were still comfortably next to each other, holding hands in that particular way that lovers did. Halfway to the car, Mai decided to check on her. “So,” she began as casually as she could. “What do you think?”
“Hm? Oh.” Serenity gave her a placid smile. “Kind of a big surprise.”
“It’s got nothin’ to do with you, Serenity,” Joey broke in to assure her. “They just found their way to each other by themselves.”
“Oh, I didn’t think that, Joey,” she said with a dismissive wave. “I’m not disappointed, just confused. Tristan always talked so much about someday getting married, whenever we used to talk about you and Mai, so…I kind of don’t get it. But I’m okay with it.” She giggled shyly as she opened the car door. “It’s not like I drove the two of them together or anything.”
Mai and Joey shared a glance across the roof of the car, but said nothing more about it as they got in and made to head off. Serenity buckled her seat belt and sat back to look out the window, gazing hopefully at the game shop as they pulled away. Whatever she was thinking, she never let it show on her face or in her voice, and said nothing of it to her beloved brother.