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Ryou had not spoken much to Marik since the end of the Battle City tournament. After all, the dark skinned blonde had not left any contact details behind when he and his family returned to Egypt. Though, at the time, himself and the others had not really given much thought to whether Marik had a phone.
There were only brief chances to exchange pleasantries before the Pharaoh's ceremonial duel against Yugi. Afterwards, emotions ran high and everyone was very tired. Ryou and Yugi probably most of all. He remembered having to lean on Joey to get out of the Pharaoh's tomb; only vaguely aware of what had been going on around him.
It had been almost a year since that day and as far as Ryou was aware, no one had had any contact with any of the Ishtars. Well, until now that is.
There was an announcement made by the Domino city museum that it was going to hold another ancient Egypt exhibition. Joey had joked in group chat that they were doing it again so soon because their last one had been overshadowed by Battle City. What Ryou had not expected was for Kaiba to be the first to reply. He rarely ever replied to direct messages and never to group chat. Ryou suspected that the CEO had all of them muted so that they didn't disturb his work, especially since Joey and Tristan were notorious for spamming messages throughout the day.
Kaiba informed them that just like during Battle City, Ishizu was travelling from Egypt with a few artifacts that will be on display during the exhibition. He also stated that Marik would be joining her for the trip.
The idea of seeing Marik again after everything with the millenium items made Ryou’s stomach feel uneasy… What if they could not reconnect as friends? Though were they actually ever friends before... Marik had met the spirit of the millennium ring during Battle City. They had worked together, fought together and lost together…
Truthfully, Ryou had no clue how Marik felt about him. Would he resent him for not being the spirit? Hate him even?
Ryou shook his head to himself; Marik was not like that… At least he did not think so… Regardless, Ryou knew he wanted to go meet Marik. He wanted to be his friend, and most of all there was something that Ryou wanted to discuss that he knew Marik would understand more than anyone else.
A week later, Ryou had met up with his friends outside of the Domino City museum. They had mutually decided that a tour round the museum, especially the exhibition, would be a great way to break the ice with Marik. The others chatted excitedly while they waited. Ryou watched them quietly with a small smile on his face. He could feel the tension rising in his body, as he wondered how the events of the day would go.
He had not realised how in his own head had gotten about the day, until something touched his shoulder. He felt himself jump and step to one side, almost tripping over his own feet in the process. The first thing his brain registered while it caught up to reality was Joey and Tristan doubled over and howling with laughter, followed by Tèa and Yugi’s quieter giggles. Then a voice that sounded familiar but Ryou almost did not recognise.
“Sorry, didn't mean to scare you…” Marik said sheepishly as he held his hands up in a mock surrender.
Ryou smiled softly at the Egyptian.
“It's fine, my mind was elsewhere so it just caught me by surprise.”
Tension seemed to drop from Marik's shoulders at Ryou's response.
The conversation then turned to greetings and catching up; mainly led by Joey and Yugi. The group then began to stroll through the museum as they took time to discuss each exhibit between other conversations. Everyone joined in on the excited chatter about seeing the ancient Egypt exhibit and joked about hoping there was nothing to do with the millenium items there.
It was around the time that the group started heading towards the new exhibit that Ryou noticed Marik started to fall to the back of the group and not participate in conversation as much. He waited a few moments to check that Marik did not just want a break, but then Ryou noticed a familiar sad look in the other’s lavender eyes. It was a look he knew from his own reflection.
Ryou dropped his pace and fell to the back of the group by Marik's side; he gently put his hand on the other's shoulder.
“Are you okay?” He asked quietly.
Marik met his eyes and put on a smile.
“I'm fine, just jetlagged.”
He did not know how, but Ryou could sense that was not the case. However, he was not sure, so he would go along with it for now.
“How about we skip the next exhibit and take a break? The museum café isn't far from here.” He suggested.
Marik looked surprised.
“But it's the Egypt exhibit, didn't you want to see that one?”
Ryou shook his head.
“I just came to meet up with you and the others, and I'm sure you have seen enough ancient Egyptian artifacts for a lifetime.”
Marik gave a small chuckle.
“I suppose that's true” He paused for a moment and looked between Ryou and the others as if he was debating the idea. “A break sounds nice.”
Ryou smiled and nodded, before he walked over to Yugi and explained that he and Marik were gonna go to the cafe and insisted that the others continue their tour of the museum. Yugi reluctantly nodded and agreed to meet back up when they were done.
With that Ryou returned to Marik and linked arms with him as he directed the other towards the cafe.
The cafe was unsurprisingly busy; it seemed like half of Domino city had also decided to visit the museum. Ryou and Marik weaved through the crowd and slipped into a booth that had recently been left. Ryou pushed the empty plates and cups to the end of the table and settled in opposite Marik.
“Wow! I didn't realise how busy it was gonna be in here” Ryou commented as he glanced around the room. “Did you want to go somewhere quieter?”
Marik shook his head.
“No, this is fine.” He replied. “Honestly… I just needed some space from Yugi and the others… is that bad?”
Marik looked down at the table, a guilty expression on his face.
“No,” Ryou started, scratching his cheek awkwardly. “It was hard for me for a while, after everything…”
Marik looked up at Ryou curiously and raised an eyebrow.
“You? Really? Why? You did nothing to them.”
Ryou sighed and looked into the middle distance. He did want to talk about him to Marik, but he never enjoyed talking about the subject. It brought up too many confusing and painful memories. He hoped Marik would understand.
“No, not me…” He hesitated. “but the spirit of the ring.”
“Oh, him.” Marik responded.
Ryou looked back at the Egyptian and tried to decipher the other’s expression.
“Yeah… him.”
“But how did what Bak- I mean, the spirit did make it hard to be around them after everything happened?” Marik asked. “You couldn't stop him from doing what he did.”
Ryou sighed again.
“It's fine, you can call him Bakura, just call me Ryou.” He gave Marik a small, sad smile. “The issue was more that it felt like Yugi and the others just tried to pretend that Bakura never existed. They would talk about how amazing Atem was and how much they missed him… but then completely avoid talking about Bakura.”
Ryou looked Marik directly in the eyes.
“But he was a big part of my life, I got the ring as a child, I grew up with him in a way. I have huge gaps in my memory because of him. I had no friends and had to constantly move schools because of him. I may have not known at the time, but I do now and I can't just pretend he didn't exist.”
Ryou clenched his fists on his lap and took a deep breath as he tried to calm himself. All of the feelings he had been holding in this past year were rising to the surface and though he wanted to vent them, doing that all at once to Marik, who had his own problems, would not have been fair.
Marik nodded as he listened to Ryou rant.
“I can understand, after I went home, though things had changed, my relationship with my siblings was still strained, but they did not want to acknowledge that my darker half was still a part of me and those feelings were my own. Amplified by the millennium rod sure, but mine none the less. The rare hunters? Revenge on the Pharaoh? That was still me. I regret those actions, but for the most part they were still my own actions. I can acknowledge that. But it feels like Ishizu wants to blame it all on my dark half and believes me just to be her innocent little brother.”
Marik huffed and started to play with his hair.
“I guess both of us grew up with evil in the back of our minds huh?”
Ryou nodded grimly.
“I get that it's hard for the others to understand, but it's not like we can go to therapy about this stuff… ancient spirits? Egyptian gods? We would just be perceived as crazy! I just wanted to be able to talk to those who have also experienced the millennium items…”
Marik nodded in agreement.
“Well I guess it's something we can now discuss with each other?” He suggested shyly. “As friends?”
“Friends?” Ryou stuttered out in surprise. “You want to be friends with me?”
Marik seemed hurt by the question.
“I mean… only if you want. I'd totally get it if you don't. After everything that happened in battle city that is. Sorry about that, by the way. I don't think I ever got a chance to apologize to you directly.”
“I appreciate the apology” Ryou replied genuinely, a soft smile on his face. “And I would love to be your friend. I was just surprised you wanted to be mine… I guess I kinda assumed since you and Bakura were friends that you'd be resentful that I wasn't him.”
Marik blinked and then looked thoughtful.
“No? I mean, me and Bakura were never ‘friends’ so to say. I think we just saw each other as a means to an end.” He paused, a slight thoughtful frown on his face. “I guess we got close for a little while… when I was stuck in the ring.”
“You were in the millennium ring?!” Ryou gasped in surprise.
“Kinda?” Marik shrugged. “I was sort of split between there and deep down in my own body while my darker half was in control… I guess it was kinda like my consciousness was in the ring with Bakura, while my soul still inhabited my body.”
Ryou gave a dumbfounded look.
“Oh wow…” he laughed awkwardly. “I missed a lot more than I thought during battle city.”
An uncomfortable silence fell between the two. They both struggled to meet each other's eyes. Ryou instead scan the room. It had quietened down quite a bit during their conversation; the crowd around them had thinned out quite a lot. Ryou thought this would be a good time to grab the drinks that they had originally come to the café for.
He expressed this to Marik and asked what drink he would like.
“Could I just get a soda please?” The blonde responded.
Ryou nodded and made a move to leave the table, but stopped when he felt someone grab his wrist. He looked back to see Marik with a nervous look on his face.
“Ryou… you never answered…” He paused as he flexed his grip on Ryou's wrist. “Will you be my friend?”
Ryou turned to look at Marik directly and smiled brightly
“Of course!” He said cheerfully.
Marik let go of his wrist and smiled back.
“I've not got much experience with having friends, what do friends do together?”
“Well they hang out, do whatever, and chat,” Ryou responded. “Like how we're doing right now.”
Marik nodded in understanding.
“I'm gonna go get our sodas now,” Ryou said. “Then we can continue chatting, as friends.”
Marik smiled.
“As friends, that sounds great.”