Alone Together

30: Walk with Me

Here's Artemis trying to be sentimental, which just looks mental
On an unrelated topic I just sneezed on my knee.

*(2020) edited this chapter

Ryou's hands felt clammy and his jaw clenched tightly, his phone against his ear, his gaze out the window, and his heart beating hard and fast in his chest.

"Please, please...pick up...please pick up...."

Melvin hadn't given Ryou his own phone number, so Ryou had no choice but to hope he still kept the one he gave him. He called and called again and again. He didn't hear it ringing through the house, so he assumed the Melvin had it with him.

Finally he heard a voice, and Ryou drew in a sharp breath.

Then the voice said, "You have reached the voicemail box of..."

He grunted and decided to leave his voicemail. "Mel---?" He remembered not to call him that in public. "Mariku? Where are you? I can't find you anywhere. You've left no note, you didn't tell me about where you've gone! This isn't funny!"

He waited a moment, realizing that not only did he sound so very clingy and invasive—he was doing it again.

This is exactly what he went through before. His ear at the phone, panic and worry in his chest. "Please come back" under his breath. "Please don't leave me alone."

Ryou wasn't going to lose someone again because of this.

"Look, if you've run off, then that's fine. I just worry that you're in some kind of danger. I don't doubt that you could handle it, but it doesn't make me worry any less. I..." Ryou wrinkled the bottom of his shirt and crumbled it in his sweaty palms. "...I care about you, that's all. Listen...I..." he breathed again.

For a moment he expected a response, but then he remembered it was voicemail.

"You're welcome back if you feel like it. Call me back when you can."

And he set the phone back down on the windowsill with a shaky hand.

Ryou stood for a moment, looking out the window with watery eyes. He blinked any tears away, but that didn't choke down the fear that Melvin could be in trouble—or, more realistically, leaving for good.
He tried to convince himself that Melvin could handle himself in any given situation, which was probably true...aside from the fact that he only accepted Ryou's hospitality because he was locked out of his apartment.

Melvin wants nothing to do with me anymore. I shouldn't have acted like I knew better about his problems...

Continuing about was the only course of action left, Ryou knew, so he decided to painfully wait it out. If Melvin wanted to come back, he would.

He jumped when his phone started to ring.

Ryou rejoiced and didn't hesitate to answer the call—he put the phone to his ear and began to ramble. "Where are you? Are you okay? Are you safe?"

"I'm fine, actually." A husky voice that was absolutely not Melvin's spoke, and Ryou could almost hear his sneer. Bakura said, "I'm assuming you're surprised?"

"Why do you have my phone?" Ryou's heart lodged itself beside his stomach and tried not to shake. "I gave this to Mariku. Why do you have it?"

"Oh, hush up, I haven't seen him. How the bloody hell should I know where he is?"

"I don't understand...how do you have my phone?"