When I Said, "Someone Fuck Me," I Didn't Mean Life

Chapter 11 | Doing

"Maybe." Bakura frowned. "It's really been doing nothing?"

Ryou sighed and cleaned his hands with a baby wipe. "I can whip something up. Malik would need to activate it with his heka daily, but it shouldn't take more than a few seconds. It'll protect him from any spiritual harm."

"Perfect." Bakura grinned.

"Do I get a say in this?" Malik asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No." Ryou picked up his face paint. "Now do you want a pride flag?"

Malik grumbled under his breath but slid off his chair and sat across from Ryou on the couch. He crossed his legs so the other could have more access to his face.

"Which one?" Ryou dipped his brush in a glass of water to wash it off. "And any pattern?"

"Regular gay one," Malik replied, "and... I don't know. You pick."

Ryou tapped his lip with the brush. "If you want to wear a bit of lipstick or foundation-"

"I'd rather not." He preferred sticking to kohl, nail polish, and eyeshadow.

"Okay, how about-" Ryou dipped his brush in the red. "-a rainbow curving from here-" He touched the back of the brush to the top of Malik's cheek. "-to here-" He touched Malik's forehead. "-with a flower and some glitter?"

"Sounds perfect."

Malik did his best to sit still and not argue with Bakura as Ryou painted. Any time he talked, Ryou would shush him. It thankfully didn't take long, and then Ryou disappeared into the bathroom to do his own facepaint.

Bakura grinned and Malik as the door closed. "My next one was to say 'stay quiet if you think Trump is sexy'."

"I think even Ryou would have let me talk if you said that," Malik snorted, shaking his head. He glanced in the mirror. Ryou had painted two sunflowers at the top of the rainbow and one at the bottom, and a freckling of stars across it. "Does it look good?"

"Mhm." Bakura nodded. "Much better than mine."

"That's just because you demanded a regular rainbow strip!" Ryou called from the bathroom. "Your eyeshadow is on point."

"It is, to be fair," Malik admitted, grinning. He grabbed his jacket and shrugged it on. "I'm sort of disappointed. I expected pride to be on in summer - or at least when it was a little warmer."

"Yeah, well Domino's weird." Bakura rolled his eyes and checked the braid in his hair again. Ryou had tied two red flowers into it and he couldn't stop toying with them. "Can you even see the eyeshadow behind my glasses?"

"Yes - you look very cute." Malik kissed the side of Bakura's head.

"Cute wasn't exactly what I was going for." Bakura frowned and adjusted his shirt. Eating ass is the only ethical consumption under capitalism was printed across it in block capitals, and Bakura had covered it with glitter. "Do I look punk enough?"

"No - you look like a softie." Ryou had returned. He tugged his binder slightly, adjusting it under his shirt. "You both ready?" He had painted a trans and bi flag on either cheek, and had put in every piercing he could - eyebrow, septum, lip, snake bites, and the six right ear and three left ear piercings.

"Yup." Bakura grabbed his signature red hoodie and pulled it on. "We were just waiting on you."

"I'm sure you were." Ryou grinned and grabbed his keys. "Let's go - the others are meeting us at the park."

"Atem's definitely not going to be there?" Malik checked again. If Atem was a trigger for him, he didn't want it to happen. Not that day.

"Nah. He doesn't like the 'commercialisation' of pride." Ryou shrugged. "Yugi will be though."