Summary: Nerding out with the boys, and a slight content warning for blood and a well-deserved smack.

Mana hummed a cheery, off-beat tune to herself as she sat cross-legged on the floor in Atem's living room, painting a small model hut with her tongue between her teeth. She couldn't remember the last time she'd actively sat down to do something so painstaking, precise and squint-inducing; no wonder Atem wore glasses if this was how he spent his time when not at work. Still, though, helping Ryou create all his little props for his new game board had to be the most fun Mana had had with painting since her childhood years.

Currently, she was on her own in the room; Atem had wandered off into his room for more craft supplies, Ryou was at work, and Yugi was baking. The delicious scents of apples, cinnamon and allspice wafted throughout the apartment, setting Mana's stomach rumbling something rotten, but her momentary bliss broke with a smashing noise from the kitchen, followed by a loud curse of, "Ow, fuck! Dammit!"

Quick as a flash, Mana jumped up, model hut still in hand, and hurried to the kitchen to see what the cause of the commotion was. Barely a second later, Atem hovered close behind her, blinking rapidly behind his glasses. "I heard noises," he frowned.

"You don't say," Mana laughed, but her smile quickly flipped itself upside down when she saw Yugi nursing a bloodied hand, surrounded by thick shards of broken glass. "Yugi!" she cried, hurrying to him. "What happened?"

"Slipped," Yugi hissed through gritted teeth. "Hit the bowl on the counter and it shattered. Damn, it cut deep – oof! Mana, easy!" He winced when Mana grabbed his hand and turned it this way and that, inspecting the wounds.

"Do you have a first aid kit?" Mana asked Atem over her shoulder; the former Pharaoh simply shrugged. "Okay, you're hopeless, and I don't think Ryou's oils are going to help here…Yugi, please tell me you at least have bandages in this place."

Yugi managed a weak laugh. "We're a house of nerds, Mana. Medicines and first aid never really got too high on the priority list."

"You're hopeless too." Mana dropped Yugi's hand and gestured for Atem to take over. "Your friend Malik lives downstairs, right? I bet he's got some stuff we can use."

Atem's face paled, and he shook his head. "N-No, Mana. It would be best if I went down instead of – "

Mana reached for the nearby dustpan and brush, shoving them into Atem's hands to shut him up. "Yugi, put your hand under the tap," she ordered. "Atem, sweep all this up, okay? I'm going to go find Malik."

Atem keeps stopping me from going downstairs, Mana thought to herself as she left the apartment. Surely Malik can't be that bad…right?

It had been several weeks since Mana and Atem began dating, and she hadn't yet seen neither hide nor hair of the enigmatic Egyptian friend the boys often mentioned, but she did know the apartment number he lived at. She tapped on the door of number 10 and bounced on the balls of her feet, waiting. After a moment the sound of dull footsteps approached, and the door creaked open.

Mana's heart dropped into the depths of her gut. Standing in front of her, shirtless and scowling, was the very man who had taken her master away, who had taken her prince, who had ruined everything. Every feature, right down to his pale eyes and jagged scar, set her memories ablaze in a way she knew couldn't be wrong. No more migraines – those had long since passed thanks to Ryou's intervention – but sorrow and rage bubbled within her. If only she remembered how to cast spells herself - !

She slapped him. Hard.

"Bakhure! What the hell are you doing here?!"

Bakura stared at her, rubbing his now rather red cheek. "Oi, Malik!" he yelled over his shoulder. "Did you mail-order an abusive stripper again?"

"Well, it isn't your birthday, so I don't – " Malik appeared then, peering around a doorway behind Bakura. "Ah."

"Marhaban," Mana said curtly, glaring around Bakura.

"Ahlan wa sahlan ya habibti," Malik replied, scratching his head. "Um, Bakura…can you let Mana in, please?"

Matching Mana's glare, Bakura stepped to the side and stormed off somewhere in the apartment. Mana entered after him and exhaled a shaky breath. "Malik, I'm so sorry," she whispered. "I didn't…"

"It's alright." Malik strode over to Mana and took both her hands in his own. He kissed the back of each hand and gave them a careful squeeze. "He'll bitch about it later, but…well, you can see why everyone wanted to keep you away from him, right?"

"Were you going to hide him away from me forever?" Despite the demand in her tone and the anger in her soul, Mana nevertheless felt the inevitable rush of affection at the gentlemanly manner with which Malik handled her.

"No, of course not. I'm just…we're all so tired of dredging up the past now. Guess we wanted a little time to figure out how to approach it with you, now you have your memories back and everything…" Malik sighed and dropped Mana's hands. "Sorry we've met under these circumstances. Did you need something, Mana?"

Mana nodded. "Yugi's cut his hand up. I was wondering if you had any bandages or the like."

"Sounds about right that they wouldn't have anything themselves." Malik turned on his heel and began walking away, gesturing for Mana to follow. He led her to the bathroom, where he knelt and began rummaging through a cupboard underneath the sink. "What's he cut his hand on?"

"Glass. He was baking and his bowl broke."

Malik frowned at a pair of slender-tipped tweezers, then added them to the small pile of objects he was gathering. "Those lot upstairs really are lost causes. Nerds, am I right?"

"Just a little," Mana giggled.

Malik smiled up at her. "You seem to be settling in well with them, though."

"Mm-hm. They're all so lovely."

"That's good to hear." Malik straightened and deposited the small bundle of first aid basics into Mana's hands. "Listen…I get that you'll be angry with Bakura. Hell, he probably deserves it for the crap he pulled back in the day. I won't defend him on that, not at all. But – "

"You want me to make peace with him. I know." Mana hugged the bundle closer, grimacing. "It's been over three thousand years…but now I remember everything, it hurts just as much as it did the day my master died."

"I…" Malik rolled his shoulder with a wince, rubbing the blade with the heel of his hand, "…I don't think that pain ever really goes away. Believe me, I know. I'm not suggesting you make peace with him, but maybe clearing the air as much as you can might help. You'll be surprised at how stupidly soft the dumb bastard can be when he's faced with what he did wrong."

Mana contemplated Malik's words. It didn't seem to her that he was simply trying to make her see the good side to his boyfriend – he was too wise for that. No, she felt the gentle maturity in him, and no sway in his tone. Atem had explained, briefly, Malik's history as the keeper of the very memories the Pharaoh sealed away, so it was with a heavy heart that she accepted he knew pain as much as she did, if not more.

She nodded. "I'll think on it."

Malik inclined his head. "I'm grateful. I have to live with the grumpy git, after all, so you'd save me the job." He pointed up towards the ceiling with a smirk. "You'd best get that stuff upstairs before Atem has a heart attack over his aibou."

"Yeah, I should probably hurry," Mana laughed. Malik walked her to the front door with a much more relaxed air than when she had initially appeared. "Shukran ya habibi!"

Malik chuckled as he opened the door. "Afwan, Mana. Ilā al-liqā."

A warm ache of sorrow still swelled within Mana's chest as she headed back upstairs, but her burdens felt lighter, somehow. Ever since her memories returned, she'd beaten herself up for not fighting tooth and nail to keep Mahad behind at the palace during the skirmishes with Bakura, but knowing there was someone who understood her, and knowing her master lived on, ever protecting Atem, lifted her spirits.

With a satisfied smile, she opened the door to Atem's apartment one-handed and breezed in to find the broken glass swept away, and Yugi and Atem sat together on the sofa, Yugi's bleeding hand elevated and wrapped loosely in a tea towel. Atem rushed over as soon as Mana entered, grabbing her shoulders a little too hard. "Are you alright?" he asked sharply.

"I'm fine," she replied with a frown. "What did you think was going to happen?"

"What did happen?"

"I may or may not have slapped Bakhure round the face."

Yugi burst out laughing on the sofa. "I would have paid good money to see that!"

"Oh, and Malik gave me this stuff," Mana added, holding up the first aid bundle.

Atem nodded, his grip loosening slightly. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Mana pecked him on the lips, giggling. "I'm okay, sweetie." She wriggled out from Atem's grasping hands and plopped down in the space he'd left vacant on the sofa. Taking hold of Yugi's hand gently, she unwrapped the tea-towel and inspected the wounds, now red around the edges and a little swollen. "Do you think there are any shards of glass stuck in here?" she asked Yugi.

Yugi shook his head. "Doesn't feel like it. Just sore."

"Well, that saves me fumbling around with the tweezers." She began cleaning the cuts with saline; Yugi hissed and flinched occasionally, but otherwise didn't protest. Once cleaned, she patted his skin dry and wrapped his hand in soft bandages. "There we go. You should probably leave the rest of the baking to Ryou for now."

"Smart choice, I guess," Yugi grinned. "Thank you, Mana. Once the turnovers already in the oven are done, I'll send a few down to Malik to show my appreciation."

"I think he'd appreciate it more if you got your own damn first aid kit."

"Okay, yeah, we should probably get one of those, too."

Atem perched on the sofa arm beside Mana, leaning in to nuzzle her cheek. "You're amazing, you know that?" he murmured.

"I'm nothing special." Mana tilted her head to lean it against Atem's.

"I disagree strongly."

"You're such a dork, Atem."

"There's a lot of evidence to back up your claim."

"Still love you, though."

Atem chuckled. "I love you too, Mana."

If anyone is wondering about the bits in Arabic, Mana is saying hello to Malik, and he responds by welcoming her - oh, and "habibti" is the feminine-addressing form of "habibi," which means "my love." Later, she thanks him, and he says it's no problem before wishing her farewell. I'm not well-versed in Arabic by any means, but I've been learning bits here and there, because I work with quite a large Arabic-speaking clientele, and they look at you like Christmas came early if you can speak even a tad of their language, it's lovely and really goes a long way in fostering a meaningful relationship with them.