"I don't think I've ever been so pissed off at someone in my entire life!" Malik groaned, dropping his forehead dramatically to the table with a thump.

It had been a week after Malik had stormed out of Bakura's apartment, and, as had been expected, there had been radio silence on Bakura's end. Malik had gone over to the Kame Game Shop to say hi to Yugi and Atem, and somehow he'd ended up being dragged into a tag duel, him and Yugi vs Ryou –Yugi had called him to come over – and Atem. Even with Yugi on Malik's side, having Atem as an opponent meant he was currently getting well and truly steamrollered. With nothing but Bakura on his mind, it was impossible to concentrate on the game.

Yugi patted Malik's hand, his array of silver bangles jangling merrily. "Well, you tried, so at least you can say that," he said. "Mind you…we've all tried."

"I haven't," Atem sniffed, placing two cards face-down. "What's the point?"

"Mou hitori no boku, I think Malik needs a little reassurance here that it isn't his fault."

"My apologies, aibou. It's…difficult to muster up any motivation where Bakura is concerned. Ah, my turn's over. Your move, Malik."

Malik drew a card, shook his head, and went to attack Atem's Dark Magician with his Masked Beast Des Gardius, but Atem grinned, flipping up a Trap card, Negate Attack. Malik swore and growled, displeased. "God dammit, Atem. I end my turn."

"Easy, Malik," Atem said. "It's only a game, after all, and you've played some great moves so far. I'm impressed." The former Pharaoh leaned back in his chair, relaxed and confident as always. Being back in the world of the living suited him immensely, and he wore his love of life like a regal crown, befitting of his status – though in his loose, brightly coloured linens, and with his hair twisted into dense dreadlocks, he looked less like a king and more like a regular at Woodstock.

"Yeah!" Yugi agreed, smiling gratefully at his Egyptian counterpart. "You've really come a long way, Malik. You should be proud."

"Really?"

"Oh, yeah. You weren't all that confident just a few years ago, but now you're kicking ass."

That made Malik smile. "Aw, thanks, Yugi."

"My turn." Ryou drew a card and fanned out his hand, eyeing them with a slight frown creasing his delicate features. "Hmmm…"

"What are you thinking, Ryou?" Atem asked.

Ryou grinned, suddenly pleased. "I'm thinking that I need to banish this…and this…and this," – he removed three Fiend monsters from their Graveyard, - "to summon Dark Necrofear in face-up defence mode. She has 2,800 defence points, so I should be safe for a while. Okay, I'll end my turn now."

"Oh, fuck this!" Malik groaned. "My attack points are higher at 3,300, but you'll take control of Des Gardius if I attack her."

Ryou batted his eyelashes across the table. "Oh goodness, did I throw a spanner in the works, Malik?"

It was Yugi's turn, and he drew a card, Palladium Oracle Mahad. A wicked smirk spread across his face as he revealed it to his opponents, as per the card requirements. "Allow me to remove said spanner," he purred, "by activating Enemy Controller," - he flipped up a Spell card already on the field, – "and sacrificing my face-down Monster card," - which turned out to be Gold Gadget, – "to take control of Dark Necrofear."

"Son of a fuck!" Ryou cursed.

"In addition, I drew Palladium Oracle Mahad, which I can now Special Summon in attack mode." Yugi did so, his smirk widening. "I also play the Spell card Book of Secret Arts to raise Palladium Oracle Mahad's attack and defence points by 300 each. He now has 2,800 attack points, and if he battles a Dark-type Monster, that will double to 5,600. Atem, I attack your Dark Magician with Palladium Oracle Mahad, and then attack your Life Points directly with Des Gardius!"

Atem placed his cards on the table and chuckled. "You win, aibou. Well done indeed."

Yugi blew him a kiss. "Never a dull duel with you, mou hitori no boku."

"It's a bit mean that you used one Mahad to defeat another Mahad," Ryou laughed, "and sacrificed my beloved Dark Necrofear to do it! Why, Yugi, I'm hurt."

"It was fucking brilliant," Malik said, busy sorting all the cards back into whose belonged to whom. "Nice one, Yugi."

They tidied the cards away and traipsed back onto the shop floor, as it was Atem's turn to man the counter after grandpa Sugoroku. While Ryou chatted with Atem about the latest Monster World campaign they'd been building together, Malik and Yugi stepped away, under the pretence of inspecting a new box of Duel Monsters booster packs.

"You know," Yugi said quietly, "I think you're the only one who's going to snap Bakura out of his depression. Please don't give up. He needs someone who'll always be there for him."

"Surely Ryou is the perfect fit for that," Malik murmured in response.

"Well, keep this between you and me, but I think Bakura feels guilty for a lot that Ryou can't help him with." Yugi dropped his voice further. "But you were his equal, his partner. He never did anything to you that you weren't capable of fighting back just as hard with. So, in a way, he owes you nothing. He's got a steady, even footing with you. And I think that would do more for him than he could ever imagine."

Malik pondered this a moment. Bakura, the sardonic, cool, calculating former spirit, feeling guilty? Was that even possible?

He glanced over his shoulder, watching Atem and Ryou converse happily, before turning back to Yugi. "Kek does a lot of tough love with Bakura," he said, "but that doesn't seem to work. It's probably the same thing I'd do with him by default, so I'm a little worried he'd just block me out as well."

"Kek's too much of an enabler," Yugi shrugged, "and that's Ryou's influence, I think. Sure, he argues with Bakura and gives him an earful, but at the same time he'll go shopping for him if he sees there's no food in the house."

Well, damn.

Malik never thought of his former alter as enabling before, but again, it made sense. Yugi was completely spot-on with all his observations; he had to give the King of Games credit, his brain had space for more than just strategy and puzzles. Maybe it was all that growing he'd done over the last few years.

Bakura's…partner? We hadn't even known each other all that long back then, but…there's little else I could have used to describe us.

At that moment, a buzz in his pocket alerted him to a text message, and he fished his phone out of his pocket, expecting to see Isis or Rishid's name flash up onscreen. Instead, there was just a number, and below that, a short message:

Games later?

Malik laughed as he typed out his response. How very like Bakura to simply pretend that their earlier interaction hadn't happened at all.

Sure. Your place or Ryou's?

I'll come to Ryou's.

"Ryou, honey?" Malik called out over his shoulder, and Ryou glanced up with a smile at the affectionate name. "The wild Bakura has emerged from his hibernation, and is beginning to explore the outside world."

Ryou's mouth dropped. "He's actually coming out?"

"Yep. Games night at yours?"

"Hell yes!" Ryou crowed, clasping his hands and jumping up and down in joy. "Oh, my goodness! This is wonderful! What did you do to him?"

Fell through his window, cleaned his apartment, gave him coffee and yelled a bit. Who'd have thought that was all it took?