Notes: I wrote this story so long ago that, looking back on it, I have no idea where any of it came from. I'm still pretty in love with it, though. Enjoy.

Ryou left his professor's office, clutching his portfolio. He'd taken some photographs and had then painted his own interpretation of the scene and wanted a professional opinion. His professor had been kind. Almost too kind, but hidden among the compliments, Ryou had found a few precious gems of honest criticism.

Brushing the bangs from his face, he glanced into an empty studio to take a look at the clock. Swearing, he realized that he was supposed to met Yugi at a cafe on the other side of the vast campus in only a few minutes.

With his portfolio cradled in his arms, Ryou jogged along the paths and sidewalks of the campus. The university consisted of several buildings. And was nestled within a bustling city. Unlike most city schools, the buildings that made up the campus were in a cluster. Ryou had expected the city life to seep into the campus life. It did to a certain point, but mostly they were two separate worlds.

Inside the college there were occasional tree and courtyards with spawls of mossy painted concrete with students spread eagled across it. Inside the boundaries of the university there were t-shirts advertising every cause imaginable. 'Save the Whales' seemed to be a real favorite. Simply put, the school was a community in and of itself.

Outside was a different story. The city was vast and buzzing. Everything seemed to be going on all at once. People rushed from place to place in their three piece suites with head sets glued to their ears. They didn't recognize the dangers of global warming, or the threat to the whales. Out side it dirty and polluted. One would be lucky if they saw a tuft of grass or moss sticking up between two uneven slabs of sidewalk.

Ryou inclined his head as he passed a couple people he recognized. Mostly they were the artsy types that he met through his music history classes of his classic counterpoint workshops over the past few weeks.

As he neared the edge of campus and entered the city, he caught sight of Yugi waiting for him outside the cafe. The youth looked so awkward swaying too and forth with his tri colored locks standing on end.

Ryou felt a flash of guilt. He hadn't really kept in touch with any of the 'friendship orgy'. He still spoke with them all on occasion. The one he was closest with out of all of them was Seto. Kaiba was the one who had pulled the strings to help him find an apartment on such short notice. The young CEO had allowed both Ryou and his yami to look the place over before it even went on the market. He figured that Seto had also been the one to give Yugi his phone number, for Ryou sure hadn't been free flowing with such information.

He still saw some of his old friends around. He'd seen Jou not too long ago while retreiveing take out food. He'd seen Anzu and Mai while doing some light shopping. Little run ins like that.

They were like his old house. They were a symbol of his unpleasant past which he was trying so hard to leave behind.

Before he arrived at Yugi's side, or before the other young man had even caught a glance of Ryou, he watched as Yugi entered the cafe and was seated in the window of the cozy shop.

Soon after, Ryou arrived, slightly out of breath. He bowed his head to his friend and pasted a smile across his features before slumping down in the seat across from Yugi.

“Ryou-kun! It's so good to see you again.” Yugi half rose from his chair and reached across the table to envelop Ryou in a half a hug.

The whitenet accepted the embrace briefly, so as not to be rude. With that they sat down.

Ryou looked over his dining companion with a critical eye. He wasn't the only one to change his appearance over the years. After school had ended only a few months ago. Yugi had vowed never to wear those blue blazers or pants ever again. Now, he choose his clothes according to his mood in the morning. When he was feeling happy, he wore bright colors with grinning, yellow visages pasted across them. When he was feeling sad, or downtrodden, he wore gray, which was as dark as his color pallet ever got. The majority of Yugi's clothes now fit him like a glove. He'd grown over the year. His limbs had filled out and though he was still an inch or so shorter than Ryou, he was no where near as small as he'd been in his mid-teens. As a young man in his late-teens he now seemed to feel obligated to show of his new attributes.

Polite chit chat commenced. The weather, current affairs, and some politics when the bag of conversational topics was nearing empty. Yugi talked about how he'd decided to take a year off from school. Ryou talked about some of the more interesting courses he was taking.

Ryou ate sparsely, nibbling a muffin and absently sipping his fancy coffee. Though Yugi's company was far from boring, his mind kept going back to the message Marik had left on his answering machine.

Yugi asked to see his portfolio. The littlest of the light's had always been supportive of Ryou's artistic endevours. He was always willing to let Ryou bounce ideas off of him. His amethyst eyes widened with each sheet.

“These are great.” He said, looking at Ryou with a touch more admiration and respect lingering in the depths of his gaze.

Ryou averted his eyes. He'd never really thought he was that good. Art was an outlet, something that he did to ease the pressure in his mind. He'd never considered that he could make a future at it until a fateful meeting with his concerned guidance counselor. He still wasn't quite sold on the idea of living off his art, but was content with his current path. Too content to want to screw with it unnecessarily.

Finally, as Yugi appeared to be absorbed in a sketch of a person, trapped within a tree, he finally asked the question that had been on his tongue since Ryou had sat down across from him. “So, how's Bakura?”

Ryou managed a small smile. What he really means is; 'How had Bakura been treating you?' Ryou thought with a bit of cynicism that hadn't existed only a couple years before hand. “Bakura's been fine. Or atleast I think so.” At Yugi's inquisitive look the whitenet hurried to elaborate. “He and Malik have decided to try their luck at being globe trotters.”

Yugi's impeccably glossed lips formed a small “o”.

The albino young man simply laughed at this reaction. “They've been gone three weeks and haven't gotten any further than Korea Bay yet, and I've got the post cards to prove it.”

Yugi seemed to visibly relax at Ryou's easy going words.

“And how is everyone else?” A smooth change of topic, one point for Ryou.

Blinking his large amethyst eyes, Yugi did a general recap of what and how each of his friends was doing. “Honda's even going to college. The campus is somewhere around here. I was going to go visit him after we've had tea. I'm surprised you haven't seen him around at all.”

“Oh?” Ryou tried to hide how much he didn't like the idea of Honda living in the same city as him.

Completely missing his reaction, Yugi nodded. “You haven't told me about Marik. Is he still making waves?”

His mind back on the message, Ryou's grin sank into a fake sort of grimace. “He's... different.” Ryou raised his chocolate gaze to meet Yugi's disbelieving amethyst one. “I really do think he's changed. He's... well he'd hate this choice of words, but, he's mellowed out alittle bit.”

Yugi gave him a look that clearly said, 'I'll believe it when I see it'. To which Ryou was so tempted to respond with a 'fuck you too, Yugi-kun', but held his tongue.

With that, it hit him. What had happened that took the all important edge out of Marik's voice. Ryou's chocolate ords flew wide open, he couldn't believe he'd missed it. But how to run damage control? Marik wasn't the type to let some pip squeak hikari renovate his life. Ryou began to chew at the inside of his cheek, an old habit that he had quit for the most part, except for when something was really puzzling him.

Yugi was no longer paying any attention to him. He'd shuffled the pictures back into a pile and neatly deposited them in Ryou's dark plastic portfolio. Now the littlest light was going on about something Ryou might have actually understood had he caught the beginning of the one sided conversation.

He patiently waited for the other light to settle down. When such a moment actually came Ryou sprang at it with a forceful, yet polite 'ahem'. “Yugi-kun, I know you must be anxious to find Honda-kun. I wish I could help you search, but I have a lecture to get to.”

Yugi just blinked at him.

“I hope that we can do this again soon.” This time Ryou was the one to initiate the half embrace.

He waited for Yugi to get to his feet and idly noticed how much more graceful the other hikari had become since his midget days. With that the pair paid for their snacks and Ryou left Yugi on the sidewalk, wondering what had just happened.

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Ryou's heavy fist fell against the faux oak panel of the door in an erratic rhythm. His calm disposition was crumbling around the edges as there was no response from within the apartment.

When he felt his knuckles begin to bruise, he stopped. He ran the tips of his slender fingers down the grain of the wood.

And no sooner had he stopped than a woman stepped out of the next apartment. Even though it was around five in the afternoon, she still wore a robe and her hair was in crooked curlers. “Is there a problem out here?” She inquired in the average busy body fashion. Even from a couple yards away, he could smell the stench of liquor that seemed to linger around her in a cloud.

“I just want to see my friend, but he's not answering.”

“Well, I don't know what you want with the wastrel living in there. The nicer of the pair seems to have moved out, left his sorry ass.” The lady mumbled under her breath until she seemed to remember Ryou's presence. “If you must know, he's already left for work.”

Ryou swore beneath his breath. He really was in no shape to make the trip to the shop Marik worked in. He was frazzled and tired. “Well, could you direct me to the landlady. I promise not to screw anything up in there, I just want the chance to talk to him.”

The woman arched an eyebrow at him. “You sure you're a friend of his?”

The albino young man nodded.

“Okay, I'll let you in.”

Now it was Ryou's turn to raise an eye brow. This is his land lady? But he didn't say anything, he just allowed the woman to shuffle forward in her grimy slippers. She dug into the deep pocket of her robe and eventually she brought out a key ring. After several attempts the door finally flew open.

But as Ryou went to enter, the woman caught his lace clad fore arm. “You seem like I nice boy, so I'll give you some advice. Whatever your relationship is with the man that lives here, you're better off without him.” With that, the woman disappeared into her own apartment, and Ryou followed the suit, entering Marik's den.

It was surprisingly clean. It was slightly dusty, as though it wasn't particularly lived in, but other than that it was neat. There wasn't trash all over the place. It smelt faintly of disinfectant with a light sprinkling of mildew. Ryou almost had to smile; Malik and Bakura always were the messy ones.

Briefly he wondered how they were fairing with no counterparts to pick up after them, but then pushed the thought from his mind.

Next, Ryou went to the fridge, the land lady's words were already a distant memory. The fridge was filled with take out cartons and soda. He then wondered on how the other survived on such a toxic diet as he took a soft drink from the shelf and cracked it open.

Deciding against snooping, Ryou simply made his way to the living room that the kitchen seemed to. He lay on his side on the couch and closed his eyes, vowing that he would only rest for a short time.

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The Ryou woke hours later to the sound of a slamming door and an ominous growl. For some reason he held his breath, hoping that that would some how postpone the inevitable.

As he listen, he heard Marik sniff the air. “Get the fuck out of here Ryou.”

Ryou released the stale breath and clambered to his feet. He almost lost his balance, but Marik was there, forcing him to his feet. The Egyptian's great paw of a hand was wrapped around his lace clad arm so tight that the hikari could practically feel each individual blood vessel as it broke beneath the skin.

“What's wrong?” He asked, working so hard to keep the trembling fear out of his voice as the fierce darkness fairly dragged him to the door. “Marik, come on. Talk to me!” Panic began edging into his mind for the second time that evening, courtesy of Marik, as the grip on his arm became all the more forceful.

“What's wrong is that I don't want to see you and you didn't get the hell out of my apartment the first time I asked.” Marik's voice lost the loud edge and took on a more dangerous tone.

They had already entered the kitchen on the way to the front door.

Ryou bit back a whimper as he tried to pull loose from the vice grip. Instead Marik turned it around on him, smashing the little albino into face first into the fridge. Once he partially regained his bearings, Ryou attempted to reason with the other once more. “I came here to make sure you were alright. Please just talk to me.”

Some where in the back of Marik's mind, in that little corner wasting away in the dark and cold, he was impressed with the way the little light was handling this situation. Even after spending years with Bakura, he still had expected the hikari to wet his pants in the face of danger.

However, his reaction on the outside was very different. Using one hand to pin Ryou to the appliance, he grasped idly with the other one in the direction he knew the cutting block to be. He withdrew one of the knives that was sticking up there. “Talking is highly overrated” he growled, punctuating the last word by thrusting the knife into the frigde, mere inches from Ryou's wide doe eyes.

The yami watched fear flitter across those fine features and tears well up in those deep chocolate pools and was satisfied. He released the light and walked away.

His wide strides carried him to his bed room were he sat down on the edge of the bed and yanked of his shoes, certain that the little light would scurry from the house.

But he was very wrong, for when he looked up, Ryou was standing in his door way.

The light stood tense, his features were worried and his eyes still glistened with a suspicious light. Otherwise he was rigid. A statue of marble, ready to withstand the elements coming its way.

“Do you want to die tonight?” Marik asked. He knew he was being an ass, but he also knew that the last thing he wanted was Ryou ghosting his apartment. And over the years Marik had found that the most effective way of getting people to act as you wish, was to threaten their wellbeing.

Ryou slipped into the room as silent as a waif. His slippers made no sound on the carpeted floor. Once he stood in front of Marik, he sunk to his knees, crouched before the intimidating Egyptian darkness.

The albino's pale lips parted to emit three words, a request, not an order. “Live with me.”

End Notes: Ryou's such a silly goose, but at least he's a lovable goose. Thanks for the reviews yous guys, much love :3.