Dark Roses

Disclaimer - I don't own them, probably never will unless I happen to get really f'in lucky

Author's Notes - Okay . . . this chapter is really corny, and it was all I could do to type it out, after about fifty zillion deletions and restarts. I'm still not fully satisfied with it, but this is, apparantly, as good as it's going to get. My muse seems bent on sex at the moment, which just WONT fit in the story atm, which means this chapter isn't anyway near my normal quality, in my humble opinion. I hope you all will forgive me.


Chapter 13 - Small Steps


Marik had all he could do to limp out of Bakura’s bedroom the following morning. He wasn’t quite sure who had come out the winner in their little romp, but there was one thing he was sure of . . . his ‘dilemma’ of the previous evening had definitely been taken care of. He had the bruises to prove it.

It felt . . . strange, to have opened up to Bakura the way he had. But he felt lighter, as if a burden had been lifted from his shoulders. Maybe he was finally ready to move on with his life, and stop worrying about letting people get too close to him.

The pale teenager had made a very valid point last night . . . he had been holding himself back from them. Even though they were his friends, and he trusted them more than anyone else in his life, he’d been keeping himself hidden somewhat, not letting them get within the careful shields he kept around himself.

But Malik had somehow wormed his way in under those shields, and begun slowly but surely breaking them down.

Snagging a change of clothing from his room, he limped his way down to the bathroom, closing and locking the door behind him before running water in the bath. When it was done, he slid into it gratefully, feeling it slowly unknot the kinks in his muscles that his romp with Bakura had left.

The real question was, what to do now? He wanted a relationship with Malik so badly it hurt, but he had to tread carefully, and he had no experience in this kind of thing! Maybe he could talk to Yami about it.

Yami was more a ‘father figure’ to all of them as well as a dear friend. It was Yami that had taken them all in, gathered them together and began the ties that had eventually bound them into a group of friends. He was also the only one of the elder three that didn’t have a rather rough past. His parents only ignored him, they hadn’t abused him in any way. That had made him the sole emotionally stable member of the group before Yugi and Ryou had joined them, and he tended to be the one they turned to when they needed advice.

Of course, he was also sure that he was already in for a confrontation with the tri-haired teenager over the events of last night. Yami had been the one to arrange therapy for him to learn to deal with his rage, and that therapy had literally flown out the window when that asshole had attacked Malik. Yami was probably going to want him to go through so more psycho-babble bullshit. Unfortunately, he had to admit that his friend might very well be right to send him for it.

A knock on the door startled him, as did the fact that the door opened as if he hadn’t even locked it. He found himself staring into a pair of crimson eyes, and sighed. So much for a brief relaxation before he confronted Yami.

“Relax, Marik, I’m not angry about last night,” Yami said, stepping into the room and closing the door behind him. Violet eyes looked up at him in shock, and he smiled slightly before sliding out of his clothes and joining the blonde in the huge tub that took up most of the floor. “Yes, you lost control . . . but only because you love Malik. In that case, it is understandable . . . and you only beat me and Bakura to the exact same reaction.” He sighed as he relaxed back against the tile, crimson eyes closing with pleasure.
He continued after a moment, his voice more serious than Marik had heard in a long time. Not since he had first come to know Yami had the youth sounded so solemn and concerned.

“You’ll need to move slowly with him, Marik, and not just for his sake. You still have your own issues to deal with, ones that you haven’t even uncovered yet. Be careful.” He shifted in the water, opening his eyes to meet the violet gaze steadily. “We’re all happy for you, and we genuinely adore Malik. We’d love nothing better than to see the two of you together. But you have a long road to walk yet.”

“I know,” Marik finally whispered. “I was actually planning on coming to talk to you about that, Yami. I don’t know where to start.” Yami smirked.

“I’d say you’ve already begun, if the sounds coming out of Bakura’s room last night were any indication,” the teen pointed out, watching Marik’s face darken slightly. “Just take each step when he is ready for it, Marik. Let him make the first move. It will take time, and patience . . . but I think in this you will have more patience than ever, no?” Marik nodded, and Yami smiled just a bit. “Good. You know we’re here for you and him, Marik. Don’t hesitate to come to us if you need to talk. We’re your friends too.” They fell into a comfortable silence after that, no more words needing to be said.


*-------*-------*-------*-------*


Malik awoke slowly, flushing as he realized the state his body was currently in. He’d never had an erotic dream before in his life . . . waking up with an erection was definitely new, and he knew exactly what – or rather, who – had caused it. Marik.

Gods, that kiss had haunted him all fucking night! And the feel of Marik pressed against him, his hips rocking against . . . sweet Isis, he really needed to stop thinking of that! He’d never hurt so deliciously in his life!

But what Marik had said stuck with him the most . . . he wasn’t ready for a relationship to that extent yet. Holy Ra, but he wanted to be at the moment! He wanted to be ready so badly that it was literally a physical ache in his chest!

Too many memories still haunted him, though. His reaction to that asshole last night proved it. He’d frozen up the minute the memories became too strong, too tangible for him to fight off. He needed to learn how to fight them better . . . but how? How could he fight off something that was inside him?

“Malik?” He jumped as Ryou’s soft voice spoke to him, turning to look into the chocolate eyes that peered up at him sleepily from beneath a shock of white hair. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Ryou,” he murmured. “Just thinking.”

“What about?” the youth asked, and Malik sighed.

“My past. How to . . . how to move past it, to get on with my life.” He sighed again as Ryou shifted against him, sitting up so that he could look at the blonde without having to crane his neck. “You’re all so open with each other, so affectionate . . . and I don’t know how to be like that. But I want to be . . . I want to be able to hug, and kiss, and touch without worrying when the pain is going to start.”

“What about . . .” Ryou began.

“Yesterday? When I kissed you and Bakura?” Malik finished. “That was different. I’m comfortable around you guys, but I don’t . . . I don’t feel anything but friendship towards you. This is . . . it’s different,” he finally said, unable to really put his thoughts into words. But it seemed Ryou already knew what he was thinking.

“You mean how you feel toward Marik,” the pale teenager said. Lavender eyes looked at him in shock, and Ryou smiled, shrugging slightly. “It’s pretty obvious you’ve got a thing for him, Malik,” he murmured. “And he’s definitely got feelings for you. I’ve never seen him react so violently as he did last night when that guy scared you . . . well, not since Yami sent him to therapy. And then there’s what happened between the two of you last night . . . because it was rather apparent that something did. Just go with that, Malik.”

“I don’t know how,” he whispered, closing his eyes. “I don’t even know where to begin.”

“Slowly,” Ryou said, leaning up to brush his lips across Malik’s, drawing the lavender eyes open to look at him. “Don’t go any faster than what you’re comfortable with. But don’t push him away, either. Just take it one step at a time. That’s the best advice I can give you.”

Malik nodded slightly. What Ryou said made sense. He had to adjust to what he was feeling toward Marik . . . and get used to the blonde being close. And today was a good day to start, he supposed. They had a movie day planned. He smiled as he thought about cuddling up to Marik on the couch, and decided that maybe moving slowly wasn’t such a bad idea. He was actually looking forward to the day.


*-------*-------*-------*-------*


The tangle of limbs on the floor two hours later barely resembled people as Yugi, Ryou, Yami, and Malik all engaged in a tickling match.

It had started simply enough . . . Yugi had said something to Yami, Yami had retaliated by tickling his diminutive lover, Yugi had screamed for Ryou to help, and Yami had called Malik in for back up. So what had begun as a minor tussle had turned into an all out war, and nobody was quite sure who was on who’s side anymore.

This was what Marik and Bakura walked in on, carrying the movies they had rented from down the street.

“’Kura!” Ryou shrieked, giggling as Yami ran his fingers over his ribs mercilessly while struggling to keep Yugi from getting at his own ribs. Malik was currently pinned beneath Yugi, out of breath and laughing at Ryou’s squeaks.

“Oh hell no,” the pale teenager replied, walking around the huge pile to deposit the movies on the floor in front of the tv. “The last time I got involved in that wreckage, I was sore for days and completely out of commission thanks to Yugi’s accidental kick to my balls. No thanks, I’m not doing that again.”

Marik was still stuck by the door, his gaze glued on Malik. At some point, the blonde’s shirt had gone missing, and Marik was caught by the play of smooth skin over firm muscle as the blonde tried to work his way out from under Yugi.

Yugi squeaked as Malik freed his hands from where they had been pinned, only to grab the smaller teenager’s hips and buck upward, toppling Yugi to one side . . . and across Yami, who fell off of Ryou underneath his lover’s surprising shift in position. He chuckled at the surprised expressions before moving to stand . . . and stopping to gaze up at Marik as the blonde offered him a hand. When had Marik gotten so close?

He accepted the hand gratefully, gasping when he found himself pulled upright . . . and into a very warm, very hard body. They stood like that for several minutes, caught in each other’s gaze, each of them remembering the night previous. That was, until somebody rolled against Malik’s legs, knocking him off balance.

Marik instinctively caught the smaller blonde and fell backward onto the couch with Malik astride him. They froze like that, staring at each other in shock before Malik laughed.

“Not exactly what I had in mind,” he murmured, before leaning forward to kiss Marik. “But it works, I guess.” He shifted against Marik carefully, making sure that he didn’t do anything unintentional, worming his way in between the couch and the blonde’s warm body, lying his head on the startled teenager’s chest. “So, what did you guys rent?” he asked.

That seemed to break everyone but Marik out of the surprised stupor they had fallen into. Bakura grinned at him before holding up a movie.

“I say we start with Monty Python!” he called out, to be replied with a chorus of groans. “What? It’s the Holy Grail!”

“Could we start with something a little less corny?” Yami said, finally managing to sit up from where he had been buried beneath Ryou and Yugi. “Preferably suspense?” Ryou scrambled over to the pile of DVD’s, browsing through them before he came up with one in his hand.

“How about Resident Evil 2?” he asked. Meeting with no resistance . . . even Bakura couldn’t say no to bloodshed and violence . . . he set about getting the system set up while the others got themselves sorted out.

“Marik?” Malik asked quietly, under the cover of everyone moving about. “You . . . you don’t mind . . . this . . . do you?” The blonde had been strangely silent since they’d ended up on the couch. Violet eyes blinked, awareness coming back into them before he smiled and shook his head.

“Hell no,” he replied. “You startled me, that’s all. Are you sure . . . you’re comfortable like this? I don’t . . .” He stopped when Malik lay a finger against his lips.

“I’m comfortable,” the lithe Egyptian replied, and left it at that, laying his head back on Marik’s chest, draping his arm comfortably across the slim waist. He smiled as Marik wrapped him gently in his arms, and sighed as his body relaxed.

It may not have turned out exactly as he’d planned it, but it worked, as he had said. He met Ryou’s gaze across the rising and falling chest, and returned the slight smile the white-haired youth shot at him. It was a step, as Ryou had said . . . and he’d told the truth, he WAS comfortable at the moment. More so than he had been in a long time. It made him strangely happy. Maybe he wasn’t a lost cause.

Marik was just about as happy, and for much the same reason. Although he hadn’t mentioned it to Yami, he’d been afraid that he’d pushed Malik a little too hard last night, even if it had been just a kiss. One hell of a kiss, but still simply a kiss. Feeling Malik cuddled up next to him, knowing that the blonde wanted to be there, did some very strange things to his heart, and it was all he could do to keep the goofy, stupid grin off his face from it.

The television flickered on, showing the opening previews on the DVD, and the two blondes turned their attentions away from their own inner thoughts and simply watched the movie, enjoying each others presence. The first step had been taken.