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Similar Differences	By : Amarin Category: Yu-Gi-Oh > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 2742 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own YuGiOh!, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

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Normality – Or Something Like It

‘Sometime’ came sooner than one would think. The very next day, the CEO again struck up a conversation with his lunchtime companion.
He had no clue why; maybe he’d just gotten tired of never having interesting conversations with people his own age.
Anything involving Shadow Magic, ancient Egypt, or dark spirits was exempt from that category. It may have been interesting, but it was also nerve-wracking.
“I see you’re halfway through the first book already,” Seto noted.
“You’re talking to me today?” Malik asked, not able to keep the surprise out of his voice.
Kaiba only raised an eyebrow. “I talked to you yesterday, didn’t I?”
“Yes, but…I thought it was like a case of temporary insanity, or something,” Malik admitted. “I mean, it happens to me all the time, so much so that I’ve given up calling it temporary,” he joked.
The corners of Kaiba’s lips lifted marginally in what probably qualified as a smile for him. “Are you insinuating that you and I have something in common, Ishtar?”
Malik smirked. “Are you insinuating that we don’t?” he returned.
It was a definitely a smile on the brunet’s lips now, albeit a small one. “Probably more than most people would think,” he admitted.
“Power lust and unsociable tendencies aside, of course,” Malik qualified, a smile on his lips.
“Your right to remain evil has been duly noted,” Seto retorted dryly.
Malik snorted. “Touché, Kaiba,” he retorted.
That Tuesday (or maybe it could be considered the previous Monday, in actuality) started a whole new trend. For a few minutes after Malik finished his lunch, he and Kaiba would talk.
Well, actually it was more trading barbs and witty insults back and forth, but it was all in fun. And fun was something he hadn’t had much of in his life. It was actually a nice change from his solitary lifestyle; Kaiba was pretty much the only person he talked to other than Isis and Rishid.
Actually…Kaiba was the only person he talked to other than Isis and Rishid.
Until the end of his second month at Domino High, that was.
***

“What?” Malik asked in disbelief.
“I said, do you want to hang out with us this afternoon?” Ryou asked.
One platinum eyebrow rising, Malik asked, “Are you sure you want me there?”
Ryou shrugged. “I do; I mean, none of us have seen you since Battle City.”
Noticing that the other boy appeared slightly uncomfortable at the mention of that time, Malik forewent mentioning any of the events which immediately preceded it: Marik having the evil crushed out of him, being merged back together with himself… Instead, he said, “Sure you have; I sit two tables away from you in the lunchroom every day. It’s just that your group wants to avoid me, and with good reason, I think.” The last was admitted grudgingly; acknowledging his faults and failings to himself was one thing; to other people it was quite another.
Ryou sighed. “Look, I know you don’t like most of us, but I just thought you might enjoy spending time with people your own age who you don’t have to hide your secrets from.”
Malik smirked. “What makes you think you know all my secrets, Ryou?”
Ryou scowled. “Are you in or out, Malik?”
Sighing, Malik said, “I’m in.”
***

And, oh, how he wished he hadn’t agreed to come.
It wasn’t that the afternoon was a total loss – but at least half of it was. Those people who said half a loaf was better than none obviously had never spent half their afternoon in the Kame Game Shop watching the other five kids they were hanging out with have fun without them.
The first half of the afternoon was spent watching the two ‘Mummy’ movies. It was actually pretty interesting; he kept comparing the storyline to what had happened in the other’s past lives back in ancient Egypt. While some of it wasn’t really analogous, it was eerie how similar some of the happenings were.
He really couldn’t imagine Yami taking an unwilling lover/concubine, even if that was done all the time back then, though he could imagine the Pharaoh wanting someone smart, like a scribe. And no matter how much the Pharaoh’s cousin/High Priest didn’t like Yami in this life, in the last one, Seto – or, rather, Seth – hadn’t wished Atemu dead.
Sleeping with Atemu’s lover behind his back would have been the Priest’s style, however. There was little love lost between the two cousins: Atemu liked Seth fine; Seth, however, resented the Pharaoh – and his position – quite a bit.
Malik was really pissed, however, that they couldn’t have actually had Imhotep speak ancient Egyptian. Arabic hadn’t even been invented back in the reign of Pharaoh Seto the First; how hard would it have been to track down someone who could stick some hieratic in there to make it more believable? And the translations were abominable; ‘language of the slaves’, indeed.
He wasn’t even Jewish, but his Hebrew was better than ‘Beni’s’.
And he’d been smart enough not to make jokes comparing that little weasel to Bakura. The dark spirit had sprung out of the Ring, taking over Ryou’s body quicker than ever–
Probably because he had the boy’s consent this time, Malik privately speculated. Ryou had proven to be very protective of his other now that Bakura wasn’t evil any longer. He’d undergone the same thing Marik had, only had remained his own person. And now that Ryou had predominant control of the Ring, Bakura had a whole lot fewer chances to cause trouble.
That didn’t mean he was going to just stand by while he was insulted, however.
–and was strangling Joey almost before the blond knew what hit him.
Watching those two fight was definitely more fun than the watching the movie.
And almost worth sitting through the following two hours of listening to the rest of them talk, unconsciously leaving him out of the conversations. He knew they weren’t doing it on purpose – well, Joey might have been – but that didn’t help the fact that he was bored.
With a capital B.
Of course, he had a ready-made excuse for leaving, which had surfaced from his subconscious only moments ago. Thankfully, he’d remembered it; if he’d forgotten Isis would have had his head.
Sighing as he heard Joey and Tristan go into their third rendition of ‘Which card is better?’ Malik decided it was time to take his leave. He tried hard to slip away without anyone noticing but unfortunately, he wasn’t sitting anywhere near the door and found himself the subject of much speculation as he headed for it.
“Where you going, Malik?” Yugi asked curiously.
Malik shrugged, defeated in his quest to get away without having to explain where he was going. Why did they care, anyway? None of them gave a shit if he was there or not. At least Kaiba put an end to their conversations when he was tired of talking. “I have to pick up Isis’ cat from the Vet,” he said simply. “They close in an hour, so I need to leave now.” Turning to go, he stopped when another question was thrown his way, courtesy of Joey.
“Isis has a cat?” the blond asked.
Swiveling back around to face the group, Malik said, “Yeah, a little gray kitten named Shadow.” He rolled his eyes at the predictability of the name. “Why?”
“What’s the cat like?” Tristan asked, not giving his friend a chance to answer Malik’s question.
Malik shot Taylor a confused look but nonetheless said, “Shy’s okay, I guess. Doesn’t make unnecessary noise or claw up the furniture, doesn’t like to bite, acts friendly… It likes me better than Isis, but she’s learned to live with it. I repeat, why do you want to know?”
“This is the first time you’ve ever really talked about yourself,” Ryou said diffidently.
Malik stared at them all impassively for a moment. “This is the first time any of you have ever asked me about myself,” he returned, before walking out the door.
***

Half an hour later, he’d picked up his sister’s feline – who was not happy about the surgery he’d undergone, but then what male cat actually wanted to be fixed? – and was heading back to their apartment, cradling the pet carrier in his arms and trying in vain to ignore the low growls and hisses coming from inside said gray plastic container.
How he wished he’d had time last night to work on his motorcycle; he wouldn’t have to walk home. As it was, he’d been faced with a choice: fixing his ride, or studying for his Chemistry test.
Chemistry won, if only because Isis would have had his head if he failed.
He was so whipped. And Isis was his sister, not his lover, which made the situation doubly bad.
Shoving away his irritating thoughts, Malik decided to take a shortcut home. In deciding to cut through Domino Park, Malik made what was quite possibly the first smart decision of his whole day. Unbeknownst to him, Seto had taken Mokuba out to play – and Malik walked right by them on the park’s small playground.
“I know you’re upset, but growling at me won’t make you feel better,” Malik groused at the cat. He received a hiss in response. “Well, it wasn’t my idea; blame Isis.”
“They say talking to yourself is a sign of insanity,” came a low tenor voice from behind him.
Whirling around, Malik clasped the pet carrier protectively – for both Shadow and himself – in front of him. “Kaiba?” he sputtered. “What are you…” He cut his question off when he noticed Mokuba doing a pretty impression of a chimpanzee on the monkey bars.
“Mokuba wanted to come to the park,” Seto explained needlessly. “What’s in the box, Ishtar?”
“Shadow,” Malik answered simply, smirking at the disconcerted – and slightly fearful – expression on the other’s face. The former High Priest was obviously wondering if he had a Shadow Monster in there.
Bet he wouldn’t be afraid if he knew Shy was less dangerous than Kuribo, and twice as cuddly, Malik thought mischievously. “He’s Isis’ cat,” he elucidated.
Comprehension dawned in icy blue eyes. “Well, talking to animals…that only makes you eccentric, not insane.”
Rolling his eyes, Malik asked, “Don’t you have better things to do than bait your fellow students?”
Seto arched a brow. “Like what?”
Malik smirked. “Like making sure your little brother doesn’t bust his head open when he falls off that thing?”
Seto turned around just in time to see Mokuba lose his grip on one of the slippery bars. The raven-haired youth fell to the ground; luckily, the sand cushioned his fall, and he rolled to his feet, laughing at his own clumsiness.
Seto’s breathing calmed down – along with his racing heart rate, Malik assumed – as he saw that his little brother was all right, apparently none the worse for wear.
“Little kids are like rubber bands, Kaiba – they snap back from stuff like that,” Malik said reassuringly. Of course, getting a tattoo carved into your back at the age of ten, without the benefit of painkillers… Malik shivered. That leaves more than just physical scars.
A small, not-quite-a-small crossed the CEO’s lips. “Then if I refrigerated him at night, do you think he’d live longer?”
Malik blinked. What? Oh…refrigerating rubber bands makes them last longer. I think I read that somewhere. “I was using a metaphor, Kaiba; surely you’ve heard of them?” he said cuttingly.
“Actually that was a simile,” Seto said triumphantly. “Using ‘like’ or ‘as’ to compare two different subjects or ideas. Metaphors treat the two subjects as identical.”
Malik huffed. “Thank you for that nostalgic look back at grade school grammar, Mr. Webster. Are you sure you’re not a walking thesaurus?”
“Are you sure you’re not a mental case?” Kaiba returned. It was obvious he also remembered the original conversation they were paraphrasing.
“A walking pet delivery service, maybe,” Malik grumbled as Shadow set about hissing his complaints again.
“What is her problem?” Kaiba asked, peering down at the ball of dark gray fluff inside the lighter gray crate.
Malik snorted. “Actually, I think the ‘her’ is Shadow’s problem,” he chuckled.
Seto gave the other boy an uncomprehending look.
“Shadow is male,” Malik explained between giggles. “Or he was until yesterday.”
“Ah, he got fixed?” Kaiba asked wryly.
“And he’s not pleased about that fact,” Malik agreed, wincing as a particularly vicious yowl reached his ears, causing his arms to clench tighter around the plastic crate.
“Who would be?” Kaiba asked practically.
Intrigued by the noises – and by the fact that his brother was having an apparently civil conversation with a known (to him, at least) psychotic – Mokuba left the monkey bars and came over to investigate Malik and his cargo.
“Ani-sama, what’s going on?” Mokuba asked softly, coming up behind Seto. The younger Kaiba made sure to stay behind his brother at all times; he obviously didn’t trust the Egyptian.
The kid may not have been a genius like his brother, but he was obviously smart enough to avoid not-so-obvious trouble.
Seto started, then after giving Malik a calculating – and evaluating – look, addressed his brother. “Mokuba, this is an…acquaintance…of mine from school. Malik Ishtar. I don’t believe either of you have properly met.”
Tilting his head forward in acknowledgment of the introduction, Malik said ruefully, “I’d bow, but my hands are full.” He lifted the pet carrier in explanation.
Mokuba snorted, obviously downgrading Malik as less of a threat than previously thought. “No problem,” he said. “What’s in the box?”
Ah, that age where they’re all curiosity as well as rubber bands, Malik thought fondly. I remember it well – unfortunately. Shoving back dark thoughts of his past, Malik said, “Isis’ cat, Shadow.”
“He doesn’t sound happy,” Mokuba noted, coming around to stand in front of his brother now that it was obvious that Seto didn’t consider Malik to be a threat.
Or, at least, not an active one. Which was pretty much all you could ask for in their lives.
“He’s not – he just got fixed,” Malik revealed.
Mokuba grimaced. “Poor little koneko.”
“I definitely wouldn’t want to be in his position,” Seto agreed.
Smiling coyly, Malik asked, “Oh? And what objection do you have to being cradled in my arms?” There, that should shut him up.
Not that he particularly wanted their conversation to be over. But his conversations with Kaiba were like contests – contests to see who could get the other to back off.
Kaiba almost always won.
“Not in front of my brother,” Seto returned smoothly.
Malik frowned. Damn, he’s too good at this. “How about behind him, then?” he suggested cheekily.
Mokuba’s eyes bugged out and his gaze swiveled back and forth between his brother and Malik. He was obviously confused by what was going on.
Seto smirked. “Not anywhere in his general vicinity, Ishtar.”
“Uh…could you two find a different topic to discuss?” Mokuba broke in. When both of the teenagers had turned similarly disconcerting gazes on at him, he blushed and mumbled, “You’re scaring me.”
Malik barked a laugh while Seto tried to muffle a snigger behind his hand.
“Gee, I didn’t realize I could terrify people just by flirting with their siblings,” Malik chuckled.
Seto snorted. “If you’d known that, you could have hit on Serenity instead of dueling the mutt,” he agreed.
Shadow sent up another yowl, obviously inspired by their brief bought of hilarity. “Speaking of animals…” Malik groused. He sighed. “I need to get Shy home before Isis gets worried.”
Checking his watch, Seto said, “And I need to get Mokuba home before it gets dark.”
Mokuba screwed his face up in a grimace, obviously not wanting to leave. He shot Malik a look out of the corner of his eye, then let himself relax. As long as he got his brother away from Malik…
He could bully Seto into taking him to the park another day, after all.
After nodding at the older boy’s words, Malik turned towards his apartment, walking backwards as he said a few parting words. “See you in school on Monday?”
“Hopefully without the feline,” Seto returned, ushering Mokuba in the direction opposite from the Egyptian, towards the parking lot.
Malik smirked as he watched the two Kaibas walk away. That had been almost…normal.
Since when did he do normal?
Shrugging, Malik headed for home. He paused, however, as a thought flitted through his head.
I wonder exactly when I started thinking of Domino City as ‘home’?
He resolutely ignored any possibility that the answer had something to do with Kaiba.
After all, just because he’d found a ‘friend’ of sorts…that didn’t mean anything.
Did it?
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