I stepped out of the bathroom, combing my blow-dried hair with my fingers. I can't help but hold my breath through the claustrophobic, dimly-lit hallway and hurry into the living room where Bakura sat on the floor with his laptop. I exhaled and then inhaled as slowly as I could, not wanting Bakura to notice something off with my breathing.

"You're not writing me anymore love letters, are you?" I winked. "Rishid might have a heart attack if the last one costs as much as the first."

"I already transferred all your money back into their original accounts," Bakura said more focused on typing than Marik.

"You… did?" I stared at him. It can't be that simple. Not with Bakura. "What's the catch?"

"No catch."

"Bullshit. Like I'm going to believe you donated the money you stole back to me just because."

"I already got what I wanted." Bakura snorted. "And it's not like I don't have my own money."

"Who'd you steal that from?" I laughed, sitting down across from him.

"I have a job, asshole. In fact, I'm trying to do it now. If you don't mind?"

"You have a job." I laughed harder. "Does it have anything to do with cybersex?"

"Yes." Bakura smirked. "I like to dress up in lacy teddies and heals and jerk off for old rich men on the internet."

Okay, smartass. Well, if he wants to be sarcastic, I'm game. I pull out my wallet, slip a credit card out, and tuck it into his waistband.

"Marik, what the fuck." Bakura snatched the card and looked at it before looking at me and raising an eyebrow.

I lay on the carpet, resting my chin in my hands and grinning. "Well? Let me see the outfit."

"Sorry. It's at the dry cleaners." He tossed the credit card back at me. It fluttered to the carpet, but I ignored it for the time being.

"Then what are you actually doing?"

"Three new hires need to be put into the system. Plus someone has been testing our firewalls, so I'm setting up a little trap for them."

"Bakura-" I grinned.

"Yeah?"

"You have a real job."

"Your powers of observation are mind-boggling, Marik."

"You're like an actual, functional member of society now. I'm impressed."

"Don't rub it in. I didn't tease you about reforming."

"It's interesting to see this side of you. That's all. So? You're doing security?"

"Yup. For Kaiba Corp."

"How much is Kaiba paying you?"

"Enough."

"I'll double it," I said.

"If this involves me in lace and high heels, just say it's your kink. You don't have to pay me." Bakura glanced at me with a smile to show he was teasing. "I'll try anything once."

"If you're good enough to get hired by Kaiba Corp, and you're good enough to steal from me, then I want you to work for me." I licked my lips to sweeten the deal. "I promise, I have better benefits."

"I'd love to check out your benefits package." Bakura shot me with his finger. "But I need to finish this real quick. I'll look at your system this afternoon."

"Fine." I sighed and grabbed my phone to occupy myself.

I sent Rishid a few texts, and then decided to call my sister. It was over an hour later that I escaped from her, and by then Bakura was already in the kitchen making lunch.

"Your sister should be a swimmer." Bakura tasted the broth from his pot and nodded his head.

"A swimmer?" I asked.

"Yeah, anyone with lung capacity like that should try out for a triathlon."

"Shut-up," I said, but I'm laughing. "Smells good."

"It's just ramen. I don't really know what you eat, so I figured something basic." Bakura frowned. "Marik, I don't even know what your favorite food is. Or song? Or… anything." He sighed. "Your favorite color is gold. I know that."

His words hurt because he's right. We're so naive. Why did we think we were ever in love? It was more like we loved hating together. Hating the Pharaoh, and hating weakness, and hating everyone and everything, but I didn't even know Bakura had a job, let alone his favorite color…

Couldn't help but smile though. "How'd you know? That gold was my favorite?" I asked. "Everyone else thinks it's purple."

"It's on everything you own." Bakura chuckled. "My favorite color is-"

"Don't tell me." I walked up to him, taking both his hands. He looks up so our gazes catch. "Let's play a game."

"What are the rules?"

"No rules. We spend the rest of the week trying to find out everything about each other."

"That's easy, just ask."

"No direct questions. It has to be through conversation or observation."

"Does conversation include Ryou and Kek?" Bakura pursued his lips.

"Hey-" I grinned. "Feel free to call Ishizu and talk to her if you want."

"Yeah, I'll get right on that." He snorted and turned the heat off of the stove. We sat down at the table to eat. While the broth cooled, I flipped through my phone and bring up my current playlist. Im3allem plays and I give Bakura a lidded stare.

"Cheating already?" He asked while returning my sleepy look.

"Figured you earned one freebie for guessing my favorite color correctly."

Bakura grinned so broadly that he broke eye contact and stared at his ramen. "I like it."

We listen to the rest of the playlist while we eat and clean the kitchen. Although there's background music, that doesn't stop us from talking. I tell him about different countries I've been too, sticking mostly to the ones surrounding the Nile so he can have some sense of what's what from the last time he was alive. He talks about work, and Kek's boxing buddies that he gets along with, but mostly he kept rambling about an RPG called Monster World.

"You should teach me how to play."

"You really want to?" Bakura scratched through his shaggy, silvery-white hair. "We get by with three, but a fourth player would really help our campaign."

"It sounds like fun." And it actually did. Some of the stories Bakura told about narrow escapes from monsters because of a clever idea or a lucky dice roll made it sound like my kind of game.

"Okay, let's get you a character started."

I grab my phone and take the music into the living room. Bakura hands me a player's handbook.

"Choose your job class."

I scanned through the different options. My cheeks heated up. The one I like was the most ridiculous one on the list, and it was probably Ryou's job class already.

"You know." Bakura leaned closer, and I noticed that his hair smelled like apples. I had laughed when I saw the cheap bottle of shampoo in the bathroom, but damn… Bakura had a way of making discount seem god-ordained. "If you're having trouble deciding, we could really use a healer. It's usually Ryou's job, but he got a wild hair up his ass and decided to be a diabolist."

"I guess I could. I don't really have a preference." I shrugged as if a white wizard wasn't exactly the character I had wanted to choose, but felt stupid for doing so. I'd say Bakura was psychic, but I know it's really more like hypervigilant.

"I'll make you a figurine."

I rested my head on Bakura's shoulder, watching him detail a little wizard with copper skin, gold hair and accents, and even little purple lotuses near the base of the robe that matched the color of the little wizard's eyes. I smiled the entire time I watched. He was amazing with the detail brush, dexterous and meticulous. Battle City may have not been the best time or place to meet. We may have not been our best selves back then, but I was excited that now we had the chance to meet all over again.

"There." He set the mage next to a thief in a red robe.

I stared at the two figures. The thief's robe reminded me of Bakura's hoodie. Then I remembered that his chopsticks had also been red at lunch, and his shampoo was country apples- not sour apple.

"Hey Bakura," I whispered in his ear.

"Hmmm?" He asked with a hum, distracted by the way I was brushing my lips along the shell of his ear.

"Your favorite color is red."