At the last minute I baked cookies. I figured we could eat them while we played Monster World. When they were cooling on a rack, Kek called Marik and Bakura into the kitchen to eat.

"Would you like some wine?" I offered Marik, filling glasses for the rest of us.

"No thank you." Marik looked bashful as he said it. "I've, uh, blacked out enough enough in my life already, so I don't drink a lot."

"Oh," I said, a regular orator. "I'm sorry. Of course. I can dump these down the sink-"

"No, don't." Marik touched my wrist to keep my from going to the sink, and I have to confess that my cheeks grew hot at the little touch. "You're fine. It's just that I had some drinks a few nights ago, so I'd rather not tonight."

"How about tea?"

"That would be nice." Marik smiled.

And I flushed a little more. Bakura and Kek were handsome, gorgeous, really, and so am I, so I usually don't melt at a pretty face, but Marik was a little too pretty to resist. I can see how easy it would have been for him- even without the Rod- to manipulate and control people. He had thick lashes that would make you want to do anything if he fluttered them and asked sweetly. Fortunately he wasn't asking for anything, just looking a little abashed as he rubbed his own shoulder.

"Sorry about earlier. I wasn't trying to sound ungrateful about dinner. I got carried away with the game we're playing."

"It's okay." I smiled as I passed out the wine and set the kettle on the stove. I was happy that he apologized. That's not something Battle City Marik would have done, and I guess it wouldn't hurt to help him out a little if he was going to start acting polite. "It's flying, by the way. Bakura loves airplanes."

"Dammit, Ryou." Bakura rolled his eyes and took a gulp of wine. "Don't tell him everything about me, okay?"

"I didn't even know that one," Kek said. "What's his favorite food? I guessed wrong."

"Same as yours, silly, pork." I measured out the tea in a single cup strainer and poured the hot water over it, setting the cup in front of Marik and sitting down so we could eat.

"Fuck you guys. Marik's supposed to guess, not get all the answers from Ryou."

"Your favorite food is easy." Kek grinned. "Cream puffs."

"Guilty." I smiled. "I only eat dinner so I can hurry up and get to dessert."

"What's his favorite color?" Marik asked Kek.

"Gold," Kek said without having to think about it.

"Really?" Marik blinked. "Mine, too."

"Yugi's too," I said. "Maybe it's a Millennium Item thing."

"But Bakura likes red." Marik removed the strainer from his tea and took a sip. "This is good."

"Thank you." I nodded at the tea. "Bakura was an awful Millennium Item holder."

"Fuck you, Ryou."

"It's true." I sang, teasing him. "I was much better with it than you were."

"My asshole you were."

"So what's Kek's favorite color?" Marik asked.

"Violet," all three of us said in union.

"Hmmm." Marik stared at his bowl. "You guys got to know each other pretty well in the last few months, haven't you?"

"Of course. We love- I mean whatever." Kek forced a grunt out of his mouth. "We've been putting up with his stupid ass all this time while he was waiting on you."

"It's okay." Marik distracted himself with his food. "This is really good, Ryou."

"Kek gave me the recipe."

"Was it your idea?" Marik asked.

"Yeah," he admitted.

"Thanks. I appreciate it."

"It's no big deal." He picked at his steak, but didn't eat much. "We just wanted dinner to be nice for you."

"I still appreciate it." Marik winked. "Much better than being attacked by a god."

"Ha! Yeah, well, you know the gods really aren't that impressive in person."

"You've seen them?"

"Sure. When Bakura and Atem got weighed. Pretty sure I could take Anubis in a fight. I would have found out if the Pharaoh hadn't acted up and got us all sent back."

"Barbeque…" I whispered, remembering back to our first conversation.

Kek and I both laughed, but Marik and Bakura only gave us a quizzical look. We shook our heads. It was one of those jokes that isn't funny unless you were there, and explaining it would be awkward. Kek seemed to agree, changing the topic and asking Marik what character he'd build for tonight's game. I had to admit, I was discouraged while we were making dinner, and that moment with Bakura was painful and awkward, but once we all sat down and started eating, the conversation settled into a natural flow and it was comforting to be able to relax, and talk, and eat, and not worry about who was technically dating who for an hour.

Marik tactfully dodged out when it was time to do the dishes, however. Bakura stayed, and Kek tried to as well, but I gestured for him to go and keep Marik company. Not because of what I was starting to think of as "the plan," but because it'd probably be good for them to talk to each other a bit more. He took the hint and I was left alone with Bakura. It was so hard not to kiss him. Habit's a bitch.

"I have the next campaign. Marik came in at a good time. We won't have to work his character in."

"What's he going to play as?" I handed Bakura a plate to rinse.

"White wizard."

"Oh good. We can play mean now that we have a healer."

"Right? That's exactly what I was thinking."

"You know…" I grinned. "You could wash the last of the dishes tomorrow while I'm at work, right?"

"Psh, can't wait to get your hands on my dice, can you?"

"You know I love rolling your dice around in my hands." I bumped him with my hip.

"Why Ryou." Bakura gasped as he dried his hands on a towel. "I'm getting suspicious that you're not talking about Monster World at all."

"You're always misreading my pure and wholesome intentions." I mussed up his already messy hair. Normally I'd lick his earlobe after a statement like that for juxtaposition, but this was the best I could think to do under our new circumstances.

"Yeah…" Bakura tried to push his hair back into place, but there was no order to it to begin with, so he simply shifted the mess instead of fixing it. "Look, if this is too much, then we can-"

"I really want to play Monster World," I cut Bakura off before he could even say leave. Then I walked over to the kitchen door and cracked it open so we could see Kek and Marik in the living room. "Besides… look at them. Kek really does want to reconcile things in some way with Marik."

I was purposefully vague on what way some way meant. I wasn't sure why. I should have recruited Bakura into "the plan," but I was afraid to get his hopes up. If we failed, or if things didn't work out, or if Marik simply wasn't interested, it would crush us, and I didn't want Bakura to be part of that extra heartache.

But seeing Kek and Marik sitting close and leaning towards each other while Kek picked up different figurines to show Marik… my heart was jittery. I did love gold, and they were covered in it, and their hair was gold, and it was beautiful to look at. More importantly, they both had huge grins on their faces as they talked and pointed to different game pieces. I would fight an army to protect those smiles. I forgot we were standing in the kitchen until Bakura nudged me with his elbow.

"Hey, Mr. Voyeur, are we going to actually play Monster World, or are we just going to stand here and watch them all night long?"

"Oh." I blushed, busted, but with Bakura mentioning voyeurism, I got a great idea. I grabbed my trusty phone camera and started filming them. "Let's just watch them… at least for a few minutes."