"Wh-what are they doing here?" Yugi asked when he opened the door.

"Oh don't worry about us." I shot Yugi with my finger. "We're here to help."

"The last time you said something like that." Yugi narrowed his eyes at me. I never thought I'd really see Yugi Motou look pissed off, but … he was pretty pissed off. "You were setting up your final Shadow RPG."

"Look." I crossed my arms over my chest. "Atem needs some Real Talk, and I think Kek and I are the best two to give it to him."

"Me? When did I get drafted into this?"

"Oh come on." I snorted. "We all know I shouldn't be in a room alone with him."

"I don't know if I'm the best backup." Kek frowned.

"Neither of you are going anywhere near him!" Yugi shouted. I'll give the little panda credit- he looked ready to fight if it meant protecting his precious Pharaoh. "Ryou, why'd you bring them?"

"Yugi, we gave up our gaming night to come here and cheer you up." Ryou gave him a sympathetic smile.

"Oh," Yugi said, deflating. "I'm sorry. Come inside. I'll make tea."

Yugi paced around the kitchen. He was so frazzled that he couldn't even manage making tea. It took him four tries to remember to put water in the kettle instead of just walking to the sink and then back to the stove. We sat and watched, keeping our mouths shut. I was going to talk to Atem before we left that night, but I figured it might go easier if I sat and drank a damn cup of tea first. At least show Yugi that I wasn't here to kill anyone. I mean, I wouldn't have minded finally being able to play kickball with the Pharaoh's head- good times, that'd be- but what was the point? The gods already showed they'd break all the rules for their favorite little child. Me killing him would just make a mess, and he'd probably be back the next day even more whiny and self-entitled than ever before.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Yugi apologized over and over. "I'm sorry. I'd offer a snack, but I haven't been to the store lately. I've just been so worried. Atem's getting worse. He won't even get out of bed."

"Why not?" Ryou asked.

"He feels too bad. I mean, Atem did some . . . mean things – when I first put the Puzzle back together. But he always meant well. He was looking out for me. I don't understand why he failed his Judgment."

I face-palmed. Hard. Fuck-fuckity-fucking hell, what the fuck?

"What?" Yugi stared at me.

I sighed and leaned back into my chair. Calm. I told myself to be calm. I was going to have a real fucking conversation for once in my life. I was not going to jump on the table and monologue- I wanted to- but I wasn't going to. Real Talk.

"Has he called Ishizu since he's been back?" I began. I was going to take a slower road to my point. This wasn't about only what happened to me. This is about the problem with Atem, and I knew I couldn't talk about Kul Elna without shrieking, so… scenic route it was.

"No? Should he have?"

"I mean, you tell me, Yugi. They pretty much worshipped him as a god. Gave up their lives to serve him. Lived in the dark. Endured horrible hardships in his name. Do you think maybe he should have called her and and least checked up on them?"

"I- he- we didn't think-"

"That's why he failed his trial. He doesn't think of anyone except himself, and those closest to him. He's selfish."

"That's not true," Yugi argued. "And you're selfish, but you balanced."

"You know," Ryou said. "Bakura put that gym teacher's soul in the doll because he threatened me. You said Atem did some 'mean' things, I'm sure it was like Bakura at first, right? Penalty Games and you blacking out and waking up with someone in a coma?"

"Not a coma… not exactly."

"What did he do?" Kek asked, his tone genuinely curious.

"He … hurt some people, but they were bad! And Atem got better!" Yugi insisted, combing his hand through his hair. "He didn't stay bitter like Bakura did. He was a good person once I was able to communicate with him. He tried so hard to do the right things, but the gods still rejected him. He's heartbroken, even though they gave him a second chance." Yugi frowned, shaking his head. I noticed the circles under his eyes, and the lines. Yugi looked like hell, and I'm not sure why that pissed me off? But it did. Yugi sniffed, tears welled up in his eyes. "I try to be strong for him. I try to be cheerful, but he's just so sad."

Yugi cried, head buried in his arms on the table. I rolled my eyes, but Ryou was there to hug him and whisper there-theres at him and kiss the crown of his head. The kettle whistled and Kek got up and fixed tea for everyone.

"When's the last time you slept?" I asked.

Yugi shrugged, his face buried in Ryou's chest instead of the table as if he were hiding from me. Well, so much for tea and pleasant chat. It was time for that Real Talk. I stood up, scrapping the table against the floor, and walked towards the door.

"Wait, Bakura," Ryou sang the words in a sweet voice. Honey-sweet. "I would like to go with you and also speak to Atem, please."

I froze in my tracks.

Here's the thing...

I laugh and scream and make a big deal of everything. I'm that guy, you know? But Ryou? Ryou is my opposite- on the outside. And he was smiling the sweetest whipped-cream of smiles, and stroking Yugi's hair with delicate fingers, and saying everything was going to be okay. And I'm pretty sure that the Pharaoh was about to get a reality check, but not from this Bakura.

"It's okay." Yugi shook his head, wiping away his tears. "It's fine. Bakura's right, I haven't been sleeping. I just need a nap and I'll be fine."

"All right, then. Let's get you to the sofa." Ryou stood, his arm still slung around Yugi. "I'll tuck you in, and you can have a nap while we go and keep Atem company."

"But, Ryou-"

"Oh, don't worry about the Ring Spirit. I promise you he won't do anything I wouldn't do myself."

Oh shit! Was all I could think as I forced myself not to laugh. I had never seen Ryou this pissed. He looked like he was hosting a tea party, but his words were careful, and I knew what they meant. Ryou and Yugi disappeared into the living room, and a moment later Ryou returned with a very flat, controlled expression on his face.

"Yugi's already asleep, so there will be no screaming at the Pharaoh when we go upstairs." He shot me a pointed look, but at that point I'd already planned to keep my mouth shut. This was going to be the most entertaining thing I'd ever seen and I wasn't going to ruin it.

"Ryou… are you okay?" Kek asked.

"I'm fine." Ryou smiled. "It's just that I don't much appreciate seeing my friends cry. So please, when we go upstairs, let me be the first one to talk to Atem."

I really fucking wish I hadn't already eaten all of my popcorn. Like, fuck, it'd come in handy right about now.

"Shall we?" Ryou locked arms with Kek on one side and me on the other and we marched up the stairs like we were going to a ball.

I couldn't tell if Ryou was keeping us on a figurative leash, or if the gesture was a very specific statement showing that we were a unit, and Atem should think twice before suggesting Ryou not bring us with him. Either way, we entered the bedroom upstairs still linked together, and didn't separate until the door closed and we realized that the room was as dark as possible.

"Kek, open the curtains, please," Ryou said, and a moment later light crashed into the room.

I could hear the intake of the Pharaoh's breath, and saw Atem raising a hand to shield his eyes from the light. He groaned a little, as if the sight of it hurt him.

"Why?" He turned towards his pillow and away from the light.

"I could kill you right now. I really could." Ryou's voice was calm. Not sweet like before, but tempered. "I don't care if you're the Pharaoh. You have no right to behave so badly."

"Ryou?" Atem stumbled with the name, as if he expected it to be me still possessing Ryou like when he wore the Ring.

"Yes, it's me, don't you dare look at me as if I'm somehow Bakura. He's standing right beside me. You can see him, but he's not the one you should be worried about- I am." Ryou marched up to the bed, ripping the pillow from beneath Atem's head and dropping it to the floor. "What is wrong with you? It's been months, you have no reason to sulk. Get up."

"What's the point? I spent my whole life doing what was right, and my heart couldn't even match up to a thief's."

Ryou slapped him.

Kek's eyes grew round and he pressed both hands over his mouth in shock. My own jaw dropped. I knew I needed more popcorn! But as I thought about it, Ryou really shouldn't be the one to do this. I mean, I was going to volunteer because I'm used to being the bad guy, and I was fine with that, but Ryou didn't need to follow in my footsteps.

"Hey, Ryou, maybe calm down, a little?" I moved closer to him in case he really decided to lay into the Pharaoh.

I mean, fuck, it was great to watch, but Ryou would never forgive himself if Yugi stopped talking to him, and I was ready to protect Ryou from himself if I had to.

"I'm calm," Ryou said, and he sounded calm, but when he looked at Atem again, it looked like he was about to start a Shadow Game.

Atem held his cheek, and pure, unadulterated shock filled his eyes.

"You saw it, Atem. You saw it." Ryou's hands fisted at his sides. "The ruined village. The tormented spirits. And you did nothing to make it right. For any of them!"

"They were thieves," Atem repeated.

"They. Were. People."

"Ryou stop," I said. "Stop. Stop. Stop it. Stop. Not right now, okay?"

I didn't want to think about home. I didn't want to think about home at all. Atem's an idiot and I've always accepted that. It was physically fucking painful to watch Ryou try to change it. He wasn't going to get it, so what was the point? What was the point? Nothing mattered. The gods brought the sun into the world for their favorites, and it didn't matter if people like Marik, like Kek, had to suffer in the darkness beneath the ground, or if smoke blotted out the sky even the day after the village burned. The sun wasn't for people like us. It was for Atem. It was for Yugi. It was for the favorites somehow, and we had to steal what light we could if we were going to get any at all. Atem would never understand that need, to steal something that had always been given freely to him.

Ryou slammed his hands onto the bed, framing Atem and leaning close to him to get into his personal space. "Get up. Take a shower. Go downstairs, and talk to Yugi."

"Talk to Yugi?" Atem blinked, clueless as ever.

Ryou growled and marched away from the bed. "Bakura! Do something! I'm going to hit him again!"

You know things are crazy when Ryou's asking me to deal with something. Kek grabbed Ryou and stroked his hair in an attempt to calm him down. I hopped on the bed and crouched over Atem, sitting on his leg and resting my chin in my hand.

"Bakura?"

"Hi."

"What are you doing?"

"Trying to have an adult conversation. Give me a moment, I'm having to roll a few Will checks first."

"You guys didn't do anything to Yugi, did you?" Atem narrowed his eyes.

"Yugi is sleeping on the couch. He's exhausted because he stays up all night worrying about you." I said. "He just had a bit of a nervous breakdown in the kitchen a few minutes ago."

"What?" Atem jerked up, but I grabbed his shoulders and pressed him again the headboard again. "Let him sleep, dammit. We're not done with our chat, yet."

"Bakura, let me go."

I let go of his shoulders, but didn't get off him. "Atem, why haven't you logged onto your online duel monsters account? Seto is throwing a fit."

"Who cares? It's a game?" Atem looked away.

"You do. You care. Games are your thing."

Atem shut his eyes. I felt him shaking beneath me, and I already knew what he was going to say before he even said it.

"3,000 years is too long! It's too long, Bakura! It's too long! I can't… I can't stand it. I need to go back. I need to go back but I can't because I failed my weighing."

"That's right. You did," I spoke in a quiet voice. "And now we're here, and there's nothing we can do except live."

"How?" Atem looked up at him and grabbed his chest. "It hurts so badly."

I glanced behind me, locking eyes with Kek for a moment.

"Like Anubis never closed your chest?" Kek asked.

Atem swallowed, shaking his head in agreement.

"You've… been lying in bed alone this whole time, haven't you?" I asked. I remembered that feeling. Like my chest was still open, but it closed- because I had Kek and Ryou to mend it.

Atem made a noise, not really answering, but I already knew the answer because there was no reason he should still feel opened up like that, unless he isolated himself from the others. I swung off and pulled Atem out of bed.

"What are you doing?" Atem resisted.

"You're taking a shower. Right now. You look like a piece of shit. Your hair's grimy as fuck. when's the last time you changed your clothes?"

"Stop it, Bakura."

"No. You fucking get up or I'll carry you and wash you like a child!"

"Why do you care?"

"I don't care," I grumbled. "It's just fucking resurrection club, okay? You're part of the club. I know this will help, and honestly I'm sick of Ryou stressing out because Yugi's stressed out, so let's fucking fix this." I dragged him to the shower cubicle and got the water going, standing there with my arms crossed over my chest.

"Are you going to watch me undress?" Atem asked.

I snorted. "What? Didn't you ever see people bathing in the Nile as a pharaoh? Think I care if you're naked?" I still turned around.

"Well, you're doing a better job than I did." Ryou still stood in Yugi's bedroom and pressed his back against the wall on the other side of the doorway. "You've gotten him into the shower, and you did it without hitting him."

"Fucking miracles do happen afterall." I gave Ryou a wink, glancing back to make sure Atem was actually in the shower and not pouting in front of it. The steam escaped the master bathroom since the door was open, but I figured that wasn't my problem. Let the Pharaoh suffer a little chill as he showered, spoiled fucking brat. "Tomorrow you need to text Seto and ask him for a job."

"At Kaiba Corp?" Atem shouted through the fogged glass. "He'd make me a janitor."

"Then be a janitor," I snapped back. "And then log into your online Duel Monsters account and bet him a promotion over a card game. Fuck, Atem, it's not that hard."

"Yeah, asshole, even I have a job." Kek laughed.

"You?"

"Yeah, for months now."

"What are you? A hired thug?"

"Atem, I will slap you again!" Ryou shouted.

"I don't care about his fucking opinion." Kek snorted, hugging Ryou a little closer to keep Ryou from charging into the bathroom.

"He works at a gym, asshole." I clenched my teeth.

"Doing what?" Atem laughed.

"Training people and teaching kids, you fucking prick." I smacked the glass shower door. "Unlike you, who's wasted your entire life so far being a freeloader and sleeping in Yugi's bed, Kek has actually gone out into the world, gotten a job, made friends, became a good person. When he goes back to the Tribunal he'll have no problem balancing against a feather."

"Thanks Bakura… that means a lot." Kek's words were thoughtful. I couldn't see his face because I was facing the shower, but I could hear the gratitude in his tone.

I pressed both my hands against the glass, right where Atem's throat lay. How fucking nice would it be if I could phase through the glass and grab hold of that throat? I had to step back when Atem slid the door open, peeking out, his hair looked ridiculous wet.

"Really?" Atem asked. At least he looked serious as he asked the question.

"Really." I exhaled. "We both got jobs. I mean, we sure as hell weren't going to be a burden on Ryou after he took us in. Shit, there's no more Items, Atem. There's not more Penalty Games, and no more destroying the world- or saving it- there's just 100 yen stores where everyone can get shampoo, and game nights, and finding someone to hold onto at night so the last three thousand years don't drown your fucking mind."

Atem's eyes widened. "You… understand? I mean, about feeling like you're drowning… in time."

"Even during our Weighing I understood. That's why I didn't want to fight anymore. I told you back then..." My voice dropped. "I just wanted to go home."

"I'm sorry…" Atem whispered, his eyes lost as he thought of everything but the current moment, and damn if I didn't know that feeling as well. "I should have accepted my fate. It wasn't right to let them force you back with me."

Did this bitch just apologize to me?

"Look." I leaned back against the fogged glass. Atem turned off the water and I handed him a towel. "Getting a job will help, playing games instead is sitting in a corner alone will help, going downstairs and curling up beside Yugi on the couch will help."

"How do you know?" Atem asked, drying himself off with the towel.

"How do I know?" I snorted, gesturing Atem to follow me.

We leaned out of the bathroom doorway. On the other side, Kek was keeping Ryou calm. He stood, nuzzling his nose together with Ryou's and talking in whispers. Kek realized we were watching and he scowled at us, but I just laughed at him, and then I turned towards Atem.

"You can't be the Pharaoh anymore. Not anymore than I'm the Thief King- well, I mean, I'm still a damn good thief, I ain't gonna lie, but those aren't our lives anymore." I looked in his eyes, and for a second, my hatred for him didn't matter, because we were the only two that understood what it was like to die and be trapped for three thousand years, and then have to live again. "You're just regular-ass Atem now. Figure out who that is."

"Is that what you've been doing?" Atem asked. "Figuring out who you are without the Ring or vengeance?"

"Shit no. I don't follow my own good advice, are you kidding me? I'm still as awful as ever."

"Liar." Ryou pulled out his phone.

"I thought you erased that video." I scowled.

"I have 500 more to choose from." Ryou hit play and shoved the phone into Atem's face.

Kek stood on one leg and juggled apples. I snuck up behind him and stole one of the red orbs. Taking a huge bite from it, I wagged my eyebrows for the camera. The audio picked up Ryou's laughter. I remember that day. It was two weeks ago, and we were all off, and we lazed around the apartment like we didn't have a care in the world. One of the few days I managed to think of something other than Marik every five minutes. Because of them, because I had them.

In the video, Kek tossed Ryou the second apple and bit into the last one himself. Then we argued about dinner. Kek insisted on chicken and broccoli and I wanted anything else.

"See?" Ryou asked. "That's just a typical day, Atem. He's not The Spirit Of The Ring anymore. He's actually great to hang out with if you give him half a chance."

"That's only half true. I am great, but not to hang out with. That part is slander."

Atem was smiling at the phone. It was McFuck'n creepy to see him look happy while watching our lame ass home videos.

"I really been missing out, haven't I? Maybe the world doesn't need saving anymore, but I suppose it wouldn't hurt if I did something for Yugi. What could I do?"

"Cook him dinner, stupid." Kek looked at Atem like he truly was a moron.

"I-I don't know how." Atem laughed, scratching the back of his head. "I really am useless. This is why I've been staying in bed and out of everyone's way. I don't know how to do much of anything."

"Get dressed." Ryou too back his phone. "I'll teach you how to make hamburgers. Those are Yugi's favorite, and they're easy to cook."

"Really? You'll teach me?"

"Consider it my apology for slapping you. I am sorry, by the way. I was upset, but that was no excuse."

"I needed it," Atem said. "I didn't realize… how much stress I was putting on Yugi. I wish he would have talked to me."

"We'll let you get changed." Ryou and Kek disappeared, but I lagged behind.

"We're not friends." I pointed at Atem to make sure I had his attention. "I want to make that clear. I mean, I'm pretty sure clinical depression is the only thing keeping me from experiencing the blood thirsty rage that I normally feel towards you. I did this for Ryou, mostly."

"Why are you depressed?" Atem asked.

"Nunya, we're talking about you right now."

"I mean," Atem finished wiggling into his pants and dropped into a chair near Yugi's computer desk. "Is this all some dumb side effect of seeing Paradise but then getting thrown back down to earth?"

"Yeah." I shrugged. I didn't know what else to say.

"Why would the gods do this to us?"

"You asked for it." I scoffed at him. "Now you have to deal with it. It shouldn't be hard, for you. You already have enough friends. Just hold them for a few nights and you'll be fine."

"Hold them." Atem gave me a bitter laugh. Not going to lie, bitterness fit him like a well-tailored suit. "You make it sound like cuddling will fix the agony in my chest."

"It sort of does." I shrugged. I wandered to the door, cramming my hands into my pockets.

"Is this a trick? It doesn't really make sense."

"What do you want from me? The gods are cruel, Atem. They cracked us open like lobsters, and threw us back on earth like we were used candy wrappers. And all I know is that the only reason I've made it this long…" I opened the door, looking down the stairs where I know Ryou and Kek were waiting. "Is them."

"I didn't want Yugi to be drift wood. I didn't want to cling to him just so I wouldn't down."

"They're not drift wood. They're the shore."