Malik stands in the entryway, dripping and shivering. "I," he pronounces with grim finality, "will never be warm again." His face is a mask of tragedy and suffering, leaving no doubt that, although this is a terrible fate indeed, he will do his best to bear it with dignity.

Bakura has the gall to snicker."Drama queen," he says fondly, as Malik turns his most fearsome glare on him. "Go get out of your wet clothes and you'll be fine." Malik growls and stomps off. Bakura contemplates following for a minute, then goes and starts a fire in the fireplace instead. After hearing the swearing coming from the bedroom as Malik struggles with his waterlogged jeans, Bakura puts on the kettle for hot chocolate as well. By itself, it won't do much, but Bakura's sure he'll be able to find something to spike it with. They probably have a bottle of absinthe or something left, at least.

When Bakura goes back to the living room, carrying two mugs of spiked hot chocolate, he finds Malik curled up in front of the fire, buried under three blankets. The top one is pink. Bakura weighs retaining what's left of his dignity against getting laid tonight, and reluctantly decides in favor of the latter. He gently kicks Malik's side. "You'll warm up faster if we share body heat."

"I hate you forever," Malik grumbles, but pulls apart the blankets enough that Bakura can curl up behind him. He takes the mug of hot chocolate offered, and drains half of it in one gulp. "Gah. What the hell did you put in that?"

"Dunno," Bakura says. "The bottle wasn't labeled. It smelled better than the absinthe, though." He shifts a little so that Malik is resting against his chest and more covered by the blankets. Bakura will never ever say so out loud, but he's just a little bit worried by how cold Malik's skin still seems to be. "Feeling better?"

"I think I burnt my tongue," Malik says, and gulps down the rest of his cocoa.

"Want me to kiss it better?" Bakura asks with a small leer. Malik bites his wrist and steals his hot chocolate. Soon that mug is empty too, and Malik is dozing against Bakura's chest. Bakura leans back against the couch. He'll just close his eyes for a minute, he decides, and then he'll drag Malik off to bed.

When they wake up, the fire has gone out, but they're both perfectly warm.