Bakura lies sprawled on the living room rug, staring at the tree in blissful fascination. "Sooo shiiiny," he coos, and reaches up to bat at one of the ornaments. Ryou glances up to meet Malik's eyes and they share a knowing look. Yugi's gaze darts between them in puzzlement, and Ryou realizes that while his boyfriend might be very well acquainted with the evil-maim-and-destroy side of Ryou's yami, he has no idea that said yami can also be a complete spaz.
"Still?" Ryou asks softly. It would be too much to hope that he's completely changed, but maybe having a friend will have calmed him down a bit.
"All the fucking time," Malik growls, and Ryou knows that tone intimately. It's mostly exasperation, but there's a hint of fondness there too. Bakura wouldn't be himself if he weren't being completely infuriating, after all. Then Malik smirks. "Sometimes think it'd be easier just to invest in gold body paint or something."
And there is a moment where Ryou doesn't get it, and then he does and his hands fly up to cover his face because he knows he must be blushing horribly and oh god did he just squeak? "I hate you," he mumbles. "I hate you a lot." There's a reason Malik and his yami get on so well, he remembers.
"Hate me?" Malik says. "That's not very nice. Yugi, Ryou's being mean to me." Ryou peeks through his eyes in time to see Malik give Yugi a fairly decent version of the kicked-puppy look.
Yugi just raises an eyebrow at him. "And?" He folds his arms across his chest.
Malik pouts. "I thought you didn't like that sort of thing."
"In this case, I'll make an exception," Yugi says. Then he grins, slowly, and Ryou gets the urge to hide behind the couch. "After all, if you tease him about it too much, I'll never get laid."
Ryou buries his face in a pillow and thinks he would very much like to die of embarrassment now. Malik cackles madly, and he can hear Yugi snickering too. He really wants to melt into the floor.
Yami sticks his head out of the kitchen, a streak of flour on his cheek. "Aibou? What on earth is going on?" He glances around the room. "And what happened to the thief?"
Ryou looks up, and forces himself not to smirk. "Malik drugged them." It's a petty sort of revenge, but effective. He thinks Bakura, if he were sober, would be proud.