"Hi! Sorry to bother you; I know you probably get asked this a lot, but do you ever struggle with your faith because of your sexuality? - Anon."
Malik Ishtar is a Muslim journalism student who works for a freelance newspaper, and he lives in San Fra...
Hey; sorry for the delay. I moved up to the university this week and it's been a bit of a mess. The accommodation has carpets which I'm not used to and is really musty, and I have a fucking AWFUL allergy to dust and was pre-asthmatic so that's not a fun time for me. But on the other hand, my roommates are really cool and are the type of people that don't tire me out. Plus so far I've been cooking okay-ish and not eating too many sweets so that's good. Orientation week is going well too but I won't be able to change my name until January, so that's irritating, but I'll get there. Anyway, here's the chapter. It's really just badly written, dorky smut, so if you want to skip it, that's cool. There's only a minor plot point, and that's explained later tbh. Enjoy!
CW: NSFW, hints at self harm, scarring.
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They stumbled into their hotel room in a fit of tipsy giggles, Ryou trying to shush them all though he was the one laughing the hardest. Bakura clutched a bottle of half-drunk prosecco in one hand, and held Malik's arm with the other to stay balanced. He couldn't hold his alcohol to save his life.
"You're all terrible," Ryou laughed as he closed the door. "God, I can't believe you stole the fucking unicorn."
Bakura snickered, doubling over. Malik had to help him up again. "Come on. It looked nice." He pulled the cheap, golden unicorn figure from his pocket and set it proudly on their nightstand. "Besides, he was overcharging by like... five dollars."
"True." Ryou checked the distance between himself and the bed before leaping back onto it. He landed on the blanket with another laugh.
Malik flopped onto the bed with him, grinning, and Mehi and Bakura quickly joined them. Bakura took a swig of prosecco and passed it on to Mehi. "So what'd you think of your first pride?"
Malik shook his head, grin only growing. He ran a hand up through his hair. "Fucking amazing."
"Yeah?" Mehi smiled and passed him the bottle. He nodded and took a swig. "Favourite part?"
"Mm- definitely gay Mario." Ryou answered for him.
Malik almost sputtered. As it was, he coughed as he lowered the bottle and had to wait a moment before he could speak. "No way. Mario wearing a rainbow flag as a promotion for a shitty capitalist company at pride was not the best part."
"Yes it was." Ryou stole the bottle and took a far more generous swig than his partners had. He apparently had a much higher alcohol tolerance than they did. "For me anyway."
Bakura's nose scrunched. "Nah. I'm surprised you didn't think those bubble waffles were better."
Ryou paused. "Okay. Okay, you've got me. Pride sweets are far better."
"There we go." Bakura leaned over and took the bottle back. "Christ, Ryou, you fucking drained it." He held the bottle over his mouth and let the last bit drip down onto his tongue. He swallowed and set the bottle on the bedside table. "No, best bit was that whole-" He waved his hand. "-area of protesters. Fucking pricks nearly shit themselves when they saw me with the red eye contacts in. Ah, fuck I wish one of them said something about me going to hell. Could've told them I was running it."
