A/N: Hello everyone, how are you? I'm sorry for such a long delay; I realize just how long the period between the last update and this one was. I sincerely apologize. There might be a bit of a difference between my style of writing since the last installment, but hopefully not too much. Either way, I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I, in no way, have any ownership of Yugi-Oh! I wish I did, but I don't.

The small apartment space had been cleaned not long after Bakura's morning blunder― as frustratingly annoying as it was. Though it slightly pained his stomach to know that the food had gone to waste. The ex-thief had to settle for a breakfast of a piece of butter-coated bread and a ridiculously small amount a juice that had been hiding in the back of his refrigerator. His stomach would surely be growling in protest later in the day, but right now he didn't have the time.

He should just count his ra-given blessings that the landlord didn't have to contact the fire department… again. He vaguely remembered being warned of the consequences of what would happen if it happened again, and blah blah blah. The irritating, balding middle-aged man failed to keep the albino's attention much longer after the rant began.

Bakura was only half-dressed at this point as dark-brown eyes glanced towards the, thankfully, silent clock that hung in the living room. He had ten minutes to finish getting ready and out the door if he didn't want to be late, again. He pondered hard on the decision of going versus simply calling in a favor from one of his colleagues; he was sure he had enough dirt to make them agree, but then the issue of money came into play.

If he didn't go to work, he wouldn't have money. If he didn't have money, he'd probably― though with no issue at all― end up resorting to his old ways. He probably would still do so… If it wasn't for that cursed pharaoh watching him. Damn Yami…

The thought of the pharaoh left the albino male with a weird churning in his stomach, which he eventually came to learn to ignore in its occurrence. It happened more often than he'd ever admit to anyone and he refused to acknowledge the reason for it, even though he already knew the cause.

Grumbling muted profanities, the former thief rose from his place on the living room couch and sauntered towards his room to ultimately ready himself for the rest of the day.

The sun never truly showed its light to Bakura as he rode to his workplace. The nightmare he'd experienced earlier that morning had served as another bad omen for the day, though he paid little mind to it. The dreams had been happening so often now, he'd learned to ignore the thought of it for the remainder of the day. If it had no use to him, there was no point in remembering it.

The motorbike glided between the rushing cars with ease as the world around the former-thief began to blur. His heighted instincts however never allowed him to fully disregard his surroundings. He simply disallowed himself from thinking as he rode down the all too familiar roads towards his workplace.

The trip was short, as always, despite his purposefully taking detours to make him late and delay his arrival. He may be living a 'normal' life by now, but that meant little to who he truly was.

The bike was left parked within the provided parking as he eased himself into the gas and oil aroma of the building. He glared as he shoved his hands into his pockets and made his way to his section, regretfully clocking in along the way.

"I was almost certain you were gonna threaten the new guy to take over for you today." Bakura barely glanced towards the source of the voice as he scanned over the project they were assigned for the morning. He already knew what the tone of voice entailed for today and quite frankly, he was looking for an excuse to harm someone; though it was difficult for guys like him to find a job, so that just barely kept him contained.

"He's clearly not in the mood, Joey," another familiar voice sounded from somewhere to his side. He gritted his teeth in frustration, a means to hold his tongue and temper.

"Why should I care? The asshole ditched me last time. And I'm still not forgiving him for what he did to―"

"It happened," Bakura growled as he cut off the blonde-haired, honey-eyed male. "A bloody year ago, it happened, get over it." The third male of the trio took the opportunity to jump in at this moment.

"Joey, best let it go. We're stuck together as usual, no point in bringing about another meaningless fight. I'm not in the mood to get between the two of you today, and after last time you've got the whole management watching you. Joy." Sarcasm oozed from Malik's voice as the smallest male placed a hand on Joey's shoulder to settle the seething companion.

"Whateva."

Bakura rolled his eyes at his partners, cursing his decision for coming through the doors. Blasted Joey, why couldn't he just let things go already. It had been a year already… The albino's stomach churned again, only to be ignored. "What are we doing today?"

"Same as usual," Malik responded, looking over the machinery as he cleaned his hands on a ratty towel. "Just do what you do," the younger waved a free hand in the air as he made his way to his end of the machine.

"I learned to accept you because of him and Yami; but it seems some guys just never change. Just because you're halfway reformed doesn't mean I forgive you for what you did to Yugi a year ago, you got some nerve, y'know that?" Joey's honey-colored eyes glared towards Bakura, taking in his figure with slight contempt. Bakura shrugged with indifference.

"It's the way I am, what did you expect? He should have had more caution," the gruff voice brushed the blonde's accusation aside, it's owner not bothering to acknowledge the taller male to his side. Dark-brown eyes dulled just barely as his face morphed further into its scowl.

"That's bullshit and we both know that. Say what you want, but you know you messed up big time. No one's seen him since then, it just wasn't you he started avoiding. You're lucky that Yami's got a good head on his shoulders, no matter how much he wants to do away with you because of that,"

"You can't tell me that you've felt nothing since then, coward." The words seemingly fell on empty ears as Bakura turned away from the blonde. Joey gritted his teeth as a fist formed from one of his hands. Bakura turned to him suddenly.

A toothy, sadistic grin overtook the ex-thief's features as his dark eyes shone in mirth and pleasure. "Nothing, but complete and utter satisfaction," his voice hissed gleefully. To Joey it sounded completely wrong and disgusting.

"You bastard!" Joey's voice had risen loud enough to gain the attention of surrounding groups, who murmured among themselves at the scene.

"That's enough; both of you, back to work, I'm not building this useless thing by myself." Malik got between them― though it wasn't much of a surprise, despite how mischievous the Egyptian usually was― and forcefully pushed the two to their respective sides of the machine. Both males grumbled profanities toward the smaller boy. "Don't care, just work."

A pale hand reached toward a stray wrench, it's owner growling beneath his breath as he hoped a fire would occur and burn the place down, just as it almost happened to his apartment prior. He cursed his judgement for coming in, he should have just blackmailed some random sap. He didn't have to look up to see that the blonde was glaring at him from the other side of the car, though he seriously contemplated chucking a screwdriver in the direction of those glaring eyes. His teeth gritted together

Bloody Joey, why did you have to bring it up?

A/N: Annnnd that's a wrap to this installment. I hope you enjoyed. The pacing is still somewhat slow, but hopefully the next coming chapters will bring the pace up a bit. I apologize if any characters seem a bit OOC at the moment. I'll try to clear it up as I go by, if that is the case.

So, how was it? Good? Bad? In between? Please R&R. See you in the next installment of Maps!