I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! nor do I own any of the characters used in this story unless they are my original characters. No Copyright Infringement Intended!

Many people would ask him about his love life, mostly reporters or fans who just couldn't contain their curiousness.

Who was the lucky woman?

Is she pretty?

How well known is she?

Marik ignored all of these questions, because if he answered them, there was a high chance his reputation would drop very low. Also because he was pretty sure his lover had no desire to make their love known to the word.

And neither did he, with all of the sickeningly nosy reporters taking pictures of every celebrity's relationship.

But, the other reason his love was secret was because of who he was dating. It wasn't some famous singer or model, nor was it some stripper he'd met at a club (some reporter had the gall to suggest this).

It was Ryou Bakura, a young man (though he was really only 15) who worked tirelessly at a local bar.

Despite his age, the bar had hired him for various reasons, the biggest of which was his feminine looks. It made him quite popular with the guys there. The bar itself was seedy and shady, so Marik only went there to see a couple of friends and to see Ryou.

The boy had hair that was white and pure, and just a tiny bit glossy. It was also very soft and he'd had many females ask him how he 'did it'. He had sweet, doe brown eyes, ones that were so innocent it didn't seem like anyone on Earth would want to taint them.

But oh, there were.

Marik vaguely remembered Ryou serving drinks as usual when some man groped his ass (it was a great ass, Marik would give him that) which caused Ryou to squeak in surprise and look over at his boyfriend worriedly, a silent 'I'm sorry' coming from his lips.

Marik held nothing against Ryou for that; after all, the boy wasn't very strong and he couldn't really go against such a burly man as the one who had touched him. He'd just beat up whoever posed a threat.

Then, Ryou had told Marik about his school bullies.

The way they'd tease him for being British and so 'sophisticated', and one had even called him a 'bitchy whore who had no place'. The words deeply pained Ryou, judging by the hurt look in his eyes when he'd visit Marik at their spot after his classes were finished.

Marik had never gotten a chance to truly deck the bullies flat, though he wished to. And despite their allegations, Marik knew every single one of them had a thing for Ryou.

Only a fool would deny the lustful glances that came from both female and male eyes as Ryou would walk past them, swaying his hips unintentionally and drawing every bit of attention to him.

"Marik?" A soft, lightly accented voice brought Marik out of the clouds.

The blonde turned his head and saw Ryou standing there, looking slightly sheepish as he placed a shot of Marik's favorite beer onto the table in front of him. Marik smiled slightly and thanked the British boy, who smiled back and walked away quickly to collect his other orders.

None of the men here seemed to recognize him as the popular model, which was pleasing to Marik because he had no desire to deal with drunken and crazy fans. As idiotic as the men seemed, they were actually quite cunning.

This led Marik to keep a constant eye on Ryou.

Meanwhile, almost out of the blonde's line of sight, Ryou was delivering more beer to a table he was particularly intrigued with. Those who sat at it reminded him of Marik; they looked semi-rich at the least, and were quite used to the more expensive and potent beer.

"Thanks," One of the men said as he accepted his beer and grinned from behind the glass at Ryou seductively.

The whitette blushed and muttered a quick, 'you're welcome' before rushing back over to the counter. He didn't mind these men so much, considering they didn't grope or hit on him physically, but something about them made him uneasy.

"You know that kid who just served us?" One of the men asked quietly, leaning closer to the man sitting next to him.

The other nodded. "Yeah. He seems kind of..." The man shrugged, "enthralled with that blonde."

The previous man scoffed. "No shit, Sherlock." He then smiled. "That's Mariku Ishtar. Don't you recognize him?"

The other man took a second look and nodded his head, noting the incredibly spiky-blonde hair and the sharp violet eyes. Yes, that was him without a shadow of a doubt.

"So, what's that got to do with the cutie?" The second man asked, smirking as he starred at an unsuspecting Ryou's ass.

The uniforms in this place were designed to -it was a dirty type of bar- visually pleasure those being served. The leggings were tight and fitted, while the shirt was thin and nearly transparent, though it covered up the upper part of your chest.

"'Cutie' is dating him, you idiot!" The first man whispered harshly.

The second man (A/N: sorry if this is annoying anyone! xD) rolled his eyes and nodded his head, "Yeah, so?"

"And you know how he's stealing my spotlight, right?"

The second man nodded his head.

"Well, what better way to get at him than hurt his little precious Ryou?" The man said venomously, adoring the slick way Ryou's name rolled off of his tongue.

The two laughed, though they quickly cut their voices when they saw the boy in question make his way over to their table once again, nervously placing his tray down as usual.

"J-Just to inform you," Ryou stuttered quietly, "we're c-closing soon."

Both nodded and pretended to sober in order to reassure Ryou that they weren't going to do anything to him, though the English boy still seemed hesitant and reluctantly to near the two.

Just as quickly as he came, he left, leaving the two men to themselves and their devilish thoughts.

"What's wrong?" Marik murmured, disliking how silent the air was around them aside from his brief two words.

Ryou wasn't a 'chatterbox', no, but he always told Marik about his day at school or his day at work before Marik had arrived. But this time, the boy was silent, which threaded the needle of tension in a matter of seconds.

"Nothing." Ryou replied after a long stretch of silence.

The younger looked away quickly so he wouldn't have to see Marik's skeptical expression. Ryou never acted like this, so why now? What was wrong with him? Had someone at the bar or his school done something to him?

The moment the last suggestion popped into his head, Marik immediately made it known to his boyfriend.

"Did someone do something to you?" The blonde asked bluntly, finding no reason to beat around the bush with such a serious topic.

Ryou didn't responded. He just kept his face low and starred at the asphalt below his feet.

Feeling a hand on his shoulder, Ryou stopped walking only to realize it wasn't Marik's hand. It was white(1), not tanned.

Whipping around in fear, the whitette came face to face with the two men whom he'd been serving at the bar just a short while ago. The boy began taking cautious steps backwards, but the men were too strong.

Where was Marik?

Was he walking with his eyes closed again?

Normally, Ryou would laugh or giggle at the latter thought. But the situation he was in was far too dire. Where was his boyfriend when he needed him? Perhaps he should've informed him about how he'd heard the men plotting against Marik, using Ryou as leverage.

"Don't be afraid..." One of the men whispered, though it accomplished anything but comforting the British boy.

Ryou couldn't scream because of a knife to his throat and a hand clamped over his mouth. He whimpered as tears filled his eyes, scared of what was going to happen to him.

He wasn't that naive.

He'd seen the lustful glances tossed at him by these two, although they never made physical contact, they did enough with their eyes. But now they had their hands on him, they could do anything...

The crystal drops poured from his eyes at the thought.

Anything could happen to him.

Anything.

I'm sorry Ryou-chan!

Ryou: ;_;

Cherry: Stop crying please; you'll make me feel utterly worthless.

Ryou: I'm sorry...*tries to stop crying*

Cherry: Dang it. Anyways, Marik, how do you like being a model?

Marik: ._.

Cherry: Taking that as a no.

(1) Don't even think about saying I'm racist, because, surprise flaming bitches! I'm American Indian, so I'm a person of color myself. And it was in no way meant to be a racist comment. I go through that enough at school.

R&R, but don't flame, or you'll regret tussling with me. For life.