Painful Memories: Part III: Consequences

Speed Demon

"Damn, that escalated quickly!" Marik said as a surge of fans suddenly started moving towards Kaiba and Yugi in the center of the room. He, Ryou, and Anzu had gotten there right when Kaiba had punched a would-be thief in the jaw. Marik had been trying to lead their group around to where Kaiba and Yugi were heading. Pegasus had done a good job of keeping the crowd distracted for a while, introducing Joey and answering questions about the new cards that would be coming out soon, but when you had two top profile duelists in the area, that kind of distraction only went so far. As soon as they heard, "I've got Yugi Motoh!", everything changed.

People began moving closer to Kaiba and Yugi, as though they too could get a piece of the King of Games. If that happened, it wasn't going to be pretty.

"Like hell she does!" Anzu growled, and dove in toward Yugi. The look of outrage on her face left both Marik and Ryou stunned for several moments before they moved.

"Should we follow her?" Ryou asked.

"I don't know if we've got a choice!" Slowly the crowd was engulfing them as they stood there. Curious onlookers were pressing inward too. "Come on," Marik took Ryou's hand and started navigating through the crowd. It seemed like a good idea at first, then he started hearing mention of Battle City and Finalists. They reached a point where two big guys were standing right in the way, and Marik couldn't squeeze around them. He was trying to figure out which direction to go, when he felt someone grip his ass hard. He jumped, and then heard a man's voice in his ear, "You looking for a good time, sexy?"

Marik rolled his eyes. It wasn't the first time he'd been targeted by a creeper, though that sort of thing usually happened in the late hours at the bar instead of in the middle of an airport. He had always assumed the belly shirts were what attracted the unwanted attention, but he wasn't about to change his wardrobe. It did make him decide to go left instead of right, but despite his pulling Ryou wouldn't budge.

"Ryou, what's wrong-?" He turned around to see Ryou glaring at the man who must have grabbed his ass. He had murder in his eyes. Somehow it was both terrifying and alluring at the same time.

"What the hell was that about? You just grab people like that and think it's okay?"

The guy shrugged. "Calm down, man. I didn't mean anything by it!"

Ryou lifted a foot and slammed it down on the man's toes so hard, Marik was pretty sure he heard a crunch. The man howled in pain; Marik grabbed Ryou's arm and dragged him away. Ryou's face was red and his hands were balled into fists, though his outburst did help part people out of their way.

"That was-" Marik was trying to think of what to say, though the word sexy kept wanting to spill out of his lips. "That was crazy."

"I can't believe that guy grabbed you like that! I mean everyone saw it, but no one else was going to say a damn thing to him! It was just," he sighed. "I couldn't help myself."

Marik was grinning by this point and had an arm wrapped around Ryou's waist as they made their way through the crowd. "I wasn't expecting you to stand up for me like that."

Ryou blushed, which at first looked like he was getting angry all over again. "I'm sure you would've done the same for me."

By the time they reached the others, Kaiba was having to carry Yugi, and Anzu was helping him keep the crowd at bay.

They joined up, but the crowd seemed to be moving with them now. "Hope you don't have any baggage to pick up!" Marik said, but his humor was lost. Kaiba looked like a caged animal, Yugi looked terrified, and Anzu looked like she was trying to compete with Ryou for outrage. Not to mention the fact that there were camera flashes, screams, random paper and duel monsters cards being shoved in their direction for signatures, and the occasional fan who just dove in to get attention. "Rishid has a car parked outside," Marik shouted. "Follow me!"

Kaiba nodded, looking outright relieved to have someone there they could follow out. When it looked like the crowd was beginning to break up a bit, Marik started sprinting, and the others ran to keep up. It gave them some breathing room at least, and as the crowd began following behind them, Marik took them past the baggage claim. Oblivious travelers looked up with alarm, but of course the army of fans wasn't far behind. They skidded outside, and Marik had to look around to find Rishid's vehicle. He had brought the jeep of all things, as though he thought this would be a calm airport pickup, and not a mad dash. As they ran up, Marik saw that Rishid was sitting in the driver's seat reading a newspaper with easy listening music blaring over the radio. Was that Enya? Marik didn't even care at this point.

He pulled open the passenger door and screamed, "Did you bring my bike?"

Rishid blinked and dropped the paper into his lap. "Yes, Master Marik. It's on the trailer in the back."

Marik blinked and looked back to see his bike sitting on a tiny metal bed that was attached to the back of the truck. Why the hell hadn't he seen it? Kaiba, Yugi, and Anzu were already crawling inside. He turned back to Rishid, who had stuffed the newspaper into the car door in haste. "Let me get my bike out, then we'll have to wait on Pegasus and Joey. I don't think they're going to be able to rent a car today." Already a few fans had trickled out of the front exit and were directing more their way.

Marik unlocked his bike from the trailer and pulled on his helmet which was attached.

"Where should I ride?" Ryou asked beside him, his eyes fixed on the people sprinting towards them.

Marik got onto his motorcycle and revved the engine. "Hop on," he smiled.

Ryou gulped, and straddled the seat behind him.

"You're going to have to hold on tight! This could get ugly."

He felt Ryou slip his arms around his waist and scoot his ass in closer. Damn, this was going to be the sexiest trip home ever. He waited to make sure Rishid had gotten the jeep started, then pulled his bike into the middle of traffic to give Rishid the space he needed to get out. Behind him other drivers were honking their horns almost immediately, but people were swarming outside now, and many of those drivers were going to have worse things to deal with than a poorly parked biker. He sat and waited until he saw Pegasus and Joey run outside at full speed. Their bodyguards were with them, but they had their hands full keeping the fans at bay. The group that was chasing Pegasus and Joey was even bigger than Marik had expected.

One of the cars parked behind Marik was trying to pull into a side lane to pass him, and Marik just inched his bike up to cut the guy off. He was already taking up two lanes of traffic, and considering the size of his bike, he wasn't sure how long that would last. The man he'd cut off was just laying on the horn now, but Pegasus' bodyguards saw what Marik was doing. They separated from Pegasus and came over to stop the lanes of traffic while Rishid waited for Pegasus and Joey to climb into the backseat of the jeep. There wasn't enough room for four big guys to be sitting in the back like that, so Marik wasn't sure how the hell they all fit in, but they did and the Jeep door was slammed closed. As Rishid took off, peeling away from the airport as fast as he could, fans were already beginning to surround Marik and Ryou. Without a helmet, Ryou was a regular spotlight with his long, pale hair.

"Shit," Ryou whispered behind him. "I hope you've got a plan!"

"Always, Kitty." He nodded at one of the bodyguards, revved the bike, and skidded quickly around the two fans who had been standing in front of him. Another girl had to dive aside to keep from getting run over. He felt Ryou tighten his grip around his waist, and felt a familiar heat in his groin. If only there was some way to have sex on a motorcycle. He pushed the odometer up to 130 kph until he had caught up to the Jeep, then slowed down. If it was just him on the bike he might have kept going, but Ryou seemed rather anxious behind him. Marik reached a hand down and rubbed on Ryou's arm as they drove and Ryou's grip loosened a little bit. He seemed more relaxed going at 90 kph at least.

Still though, it was going to be hard not to jump him when they finally got home.