The title is a Savage Garden reference.

Takes place post YGO DM and DSOD. Characters are adults.

"This will be your office," Mokuba stepped inside the room, clutching a clipboard to his chest. His smile infectious. "It'll be nice working with someone familiar."

Ryou Bakura stepped into the spacious office, eyes scanning the interior and growing wider by the second. "This is awfully big for a mere consultant. I wouldn't even have enough to fill the space."

The room in question was the size of a large bedroom, a modern steel and oak desk in the center, two book shelves against the wall, and a well-kept potted tree sat in the corner. There was a loveseat, big enough for a person to nap on, and a coffee table before it. Another wall had several filing cabinets, and the third wall was made entirely of tinted glass. It overlooked the city, giving Ryou a fantastic view. At night when the city was glittering and dancing with neon, the view would be breathtaking.

Mokuba didn't seem phased by the extravagance of the space. "Use it as you see fit. The computer and iPad are for you, but Seto mentioned you prefer pencil and paper. So we took the liberty of stocking the desk with notebooks and memo pads."

"Th-thank you." Ryou honestly felt speechless. Kaiba was already paying him awfully well just to help recreate a holographic simulation of the Ring Spirit, as well as a few other former acquaintances of theirs. This personal office seemed like overkill.

"The book shelves are for whatever: books, trinkets, stress relievers. I put Capsule Monsters all over mine."

Ryou thought about bringing some of his Monster World figures from home, and decorating the shelves with them. It would certainly add a personal touch.

A chirping ringtone drew the attention of the two males. Mokuba fished a cell phone from his pocket and answered, "hey bro, what's up?" He shot Ryou an apologetic glance and turned to the door, "be right there, I didn't schedule that meeting until three. I don't know why they're here already."

Ryou watched the younger Kaiba brother depart. He was alone now, in his new office, surrounded by expensive furniture and a view from over forty stories up. And that's not even at the top, he reminded himself sharply, remembering how many floors were on the elevator buttons.

His stomach growled in distress, and Ryou recalled the break room that Mokuba had pointed out during the tour. There were vending machines in there, as well as a tiny kitchen, and a refrigerator, and various coffee machines.

"Well, I won't be remembering much about the Ring Spirit on an empty stomach." With a turn on his heel he started out of the room.

The hallways proved to be a bit more daunting than they were with Mokuba, and Ryou was feeling lost after he turned the third corner. Everything looked so sleek and modern, white walls with metal flourishes and trim. The carpet was short, expensive, and dark blue. It was incredibly easy to get turned around.

He was reading room numbers to himself, trying to recall the layout of the floors based on the fire escape map he'd seen. His anxiety ratcheting up the more lost he felt.

Ryou collided with something hard, sending him staggering back and falling on his butt.

"Ow." He rubbed his nose and looked up, and up, to see what he'd rammed his face into.

Shadowed lavender eyes glared down at him. They were edged in familiar black liner, with delicately drawn wing patterns starting in the corners and cresting towards the nose. A mess of dagger-like sandy blonde hair stuck out around the man's head like a lion's mane.

"Woah... big," was all Ryou managed to blurt rather dumbly.

The man was tall, not as tall as Seto Kaiba, but definitely taller than Ryou. His chest and shoulders were broad, well defined, and his biceps were thicker than the trunks of small trees. His skin was a rich golden brown, like caramel and coffee with a splash of cream.

"Uhhh, M-Mal-"

"Marik," the man cut, correcting him. His dark eyes becoming ever chillier.

"The Yami?" Ryou hazarded a guess. Still too stunned to get off the floor. He cocked his head sharply several times, to counteract his left eye twitching erratically.

"Hn." Marik made a noise of acknowledgement, he watched with curious boredom.

Ryou finally pushed himself off the floor, popping to his feet before the former alter ego. "Wow, I haven't seen you guys in ages. Where's your better half?"

Marik glowered at him with a look so scathing that Ryou almost felt the knife Marik wanted to stab him with.

He involuntarily flinched under the weight of that glare and regretted his words.

"No doubt, off galavanting with yours," Marik remarked cuttingly.

"That's true." Ryou fidgeted a moment and the Yami looked offended by his presence. "So you work for Kaiba now too?" he asked in an attempt to change the subject and lighten the mood.

Marik tapped the KC logo on the breast pocket of his grey-blue coveralls.

"Right," Ryou's brown eyes dragged down Marik's body for a second appraisal. "A... janitor?" he hazarded a guess, and there was nothing mocking in his tone.

Lavender eyes narrowed. Marik appeared to contemplate if there was any ridicule behind Ryou's question. There was not. He looked the white-haired man over in turn. "A coffee-fetching intern?" And unlike Ryou, a cruel sneer curled Marik's lips when he asked this.

"I'm a consultant," he corrected. Recognizing an insult when he heard it.

Marik scoffed, "close enough."

This version of Malik was mean it seemed. Ryou frowned. He'd never known Malik very well, the Ring Spirit—also called Bakura—had been more familiar with the Egyptian tomb keeper; and Bakura still was, according to the hearsay. Upon getting his own body—probably the same way Marik got his—Bakura had up and practically eloped with Malik. Ryou liked to imagine they were on an extended evil honeymoon.

Unfortunately Ryou couldn't see himself getting along quite so well with Malik's alter ego.

Who was currently giving him stanky eyed looks.

"You wouldn't happen to know where the break room is located, would you?" He might as well get out of this Yami's presence, and he wasn't too proud to ask for directions.

Marik's nose scrunched, and he jabbed a finger down one of the halls. Ryou caught a glimpse of gold adorning his wrists when the material of his sleeve pulled back a bit. "You passed it, take a left and it'll be two doors in."

"Thanks!"

"Hm." The Yami brushed past him, continuing his way down the hall, off to do... whatever his job entailed. Ryou couldn't really imagine Marik scrubbing toilets.

"Rude," he hissed to himself when he was alone again. "But not as murderous as everyone told me he was."

This will be a series of drabbles taking place in the same AU. They won't all be linear, taking place at different points during the AU. but they will all revolve around the interactions between Ryou and Yami Marik.

The next drabble Ryou and Y Marik bond over some tea.

Edit: I'm going back through the chapters and updating them to include signs of Ryou's albinism. I did a bit of reading up on albinism and learned that the mutation causes a slew of eye problems. Ryou will be far-sighted in this fic, as well as have a head tic, because he tries to counteract occasional spasms that make his eyes twitch, and shift. My goal is to portray Ryou'd albinism more realistically, and not glamorize the mutation.