A loud sneeze and a sniffle answered him. Malik raised his head and squinted at them. "Whad are dey doing here?" he demanded, the congestion interfering with his speech a little.

"They wanted to see if you were doing all right. Feeling any better?"

"Make dem go 'way," groaned Malik, rolling over.

"Oh, that's real nice," complained Jounouchi, crossing his arms indignantly.

"Is there anything you want?" asked Yuugi, starting to leave.

Malik jabbed a small arm from underneath his pile of blankets. "Cookie."

"Well, he can't be that sick then," concluded Honda. "Not if he still wants cookies."

"I want a cookie too," said Jounouchi.

"Mine." Came a muffled voice from the sickbed.

Yuugi smiled to himself. "I'll bring one up. You just rest, okay?"

"Okay." Another sneeze.

"Do you want more tea?" asked Anzu, picking up the cup.

"Yeah…please…"

Jounouchi's eyes widened. "I'll be! The little savage has manners!"

"Oh, come on. Let's leave him alone."

When they came up again ten minutes later with a cookie, Malik was on Yuugi's bed, looking through another game magazine from the pile in the corner of the room and humming tunelessly to himself. He still had all the blankets from his own bed, though. "Ano…what are you doing?" asked Yuugi.

Malik grinned cheerfully at him, sounding a little better. "I'm getting germs on the covers so you'll get sick and stay home with me. It was very boring today."

Yuugi sighed. "I don't think so. You're going to school again tomorrow. Now get on your own bed."

"Can I-?"

"Yes, you may take the magazine to look at."

"Yay!"

"Oh, hold on," Jounouchi dug in his pockets and finally pulled out several very crumpled papers. "Here, kid. The teacher sent your homework."

Malik's eyes widened. "They DO that?"

"Yeah…sorry…"

"That's so nice!!" He grabbed the papers and bounced as best he could while still having to stop and blow his nose in between.

Jounouchi and Honda slowly backed away. "He's lost it."

"Really."

Malik did his homework in bed that evening, ate eleven cookies, a bowl of ramen, and drank seventeen cups of tea. He would have liked another three cookies, but Yuugi thought it was enough. He was up bright an early the next morning, beating Yuugi's alarm clock for volume with a particularly strong sneeze. "I get to go to school today, Uncle Yuugi!"

TBC

R&R