-7-

Malik lay on his back on the couch, Bakura curled up on top of him, his head on Malik's chest. Malik idly stroked Bakura's hair and ran his fingers along Bakura's bare back as the nosleep podcast played from their computer's speakers. Contrary to the name of the show they were listening to, Bakura's breathing was slowing, his eyes drifting closed.

When the story ended, Malik sighed and poked Bakura. "Are you really falling asleep?"

"Huh?" Bakura said, starting as he became more alert. But he quickly settled back down, nuzzling into Malik's chest. "I dunno, I'm just tired."

"It's not even 9PM. I swear, you're like an old man."

"I'm three thousand years old," Bakura retorted. "I deserve some rest."

"Well, I'm still young," Malik said. "I ought to be out partying on a Friday night."

Bakura yawned. "I'm not stopping you."

"I don't want to go alone. That would be boring. You should come with me."

"You really think I want to deal with being out in a smelly, crowded bar where the racket is so loud we can't even hear each other and the drinks are about ten times more expensive than they'd be if we just bought a bottle at the store?" Bakura scoffed. "And do you seriously expect me to believe you'd actually enjoy that? You don't even like people. Why would you want to go to a place where there are a hundred of them?"

"Well, alright, I guess going to a place like that might not be my favorite thing," Malik conceded. "But we don't have to go to a club. I just want to...get out, you know? We could go to a restaurant. Or even just out for a walk to get some fresh air. Anything other than staying in again."

"I hate fresh air. And I don't need a restaurant when I have you."

"You know I don't always feel like cooking."

"That's why we also have a phone to order takeout."

Malik sighed. "Alright, well what about going swimming? Maybe we could even go to a pool that also has a jacuzzi? You like baths, so I don't see why you wouldn't like that."

"What, stewing in the filth of a bunch of strangers? I had my fill of bathing in public when I had to bathe in the Nile. Plus, we can't fuck in a public jacuzzi. Our bath at home is much better."

Malik made a sound of irritation. "Fine, what about an arcade? And before you say we have video games at home, there are different ones at the arcade, and playing on a real arcade cabinet is a different experience than playing on the computer or a TV. Plus they have games that are impossible to play at home...you know, like skeeball."

"Have you ever even played skeeball?"

"No. But maybe I'd like to."

Bakura shrugged. "Fine, I guess going to an arcade sounds like it could be a little fun. Not tonight though. I really am tired."

"Alright, I'm going to hold you to that, though. Every time I ask for us to go out, you just blow me off and it never ends up happening," Malik huffed. "So what do you want to do tonight then, just go to bed?"

Bakura tilted his face up towards Malik and lidded his eyes. "Actually...now that you made me think of it, fucking in the bath sounds pretty good."

Malik laughed and rolled his eyes. "Oh, so you're not too tired for sex?"

"I'm never too tired for that." Bakura smirked.

"Alright, but only if you promise to go to an arcade with me the next night you're not exhausted."

"Okay, okay, I will."

Bakura and Malik lay together on their bed, hair still damp. They hadn't bothered getting dressed, and lay side by side with their arms around each other, both still buzzing with pleasant feelings as their hands wandered over each other's skin.

"See?" Bakura said. "Wasn't that more enjoyable than going to a public pool with tons of people where we wouldn't even be able to hold hands?"

"Yeah, you do have a point," Malik admitted.

Bakura smiled. His entire body thrummed with satisfaction and pleasant sleepiness. It was late now. They'd taken their time bathing, soaking in the bath and kissing and teasing each other until Bakura had finally climbed into Malik's lap and ridden him, and then they'd drained the tub and taken a shower to really get clean, washing and massaging each other until they wanted each other again and took turns attacking each other with mouths and tongues until they were both satiated and exhausted.

"Still, I really do want to go out sometime," Malik said. Bakura knew Malik felt as good as he did at the moment, but even so, apparently Malik still hadn't forgotten their earlier conversation. "I'm serious, Bakura."

"I know. I said I'd go to the arcade with you. It really doesn't sound bad," Bakura reiterated. "But I'm just not a person who wants to go out all the time. If you're feeling cooped up and you think it's boring to go out alone, why don't you go out with Ryou sometime? Or Rishid or Ishizu? How long has it been since you've seen your siblings anyways?"

Malik shrugged. "I dunno."

Bakura sat up a little and gave Malik a questioning look. "What, are you guys fighting or something?"

Malik laughed. "I'm always fighting with Ishizu."

"Well, what then? Do you not want to see them?"

"It's not that," Malik said, shrugging again. He pulled Bakura back down, and began scratching his head.

Bakura sighed from the enjoyment of Malik's fingers on his scalp, but went on, "Then what? Is something wrong, Malik? Like in general?"

"No, not really," Malik said, looking surprised. "You're being weird, Bakura."

"Am not."

"You totally are."

"Shut up."

"No." Malik stuck his tongue out at Bakura. Then he became a bit more serious and said, "What made you ask that, then?"

"Fine, I wouldn't normally mention it, but…" Bakura drew his eyebrows together. "You just seem like you're in a bad mood a lot of the time. And then you never want to talk about it, and act like it didn't even happen."

"What do you mean? When am I in a bad mood?"

"See. Just like that," Bakura said triumphantly.

Malik rolled his eyes, giving Bakura an indulgent look. "That was a total trap. There's no answer I could have given where you wouldn't be right."

Bakura laughed, and Malik went on, "I just really don't know what you're talking about. I mean, it's not like we fight or anything. Well, you know...actually fight. What is it you think I'm doing that makes me seem like I'm in a bad mood?"

"You just slam doors sometimes, make a lot of noise, and seem irritable in general. Granted, it never really lasts more than a couple minutes—"

Malik scoffed. "A couple minutes? Seriously? That hardly counts as a bad mood. I'd think you of all people would understand that it's not reasonable to expect someone to be perfectly cheerful every minute of the day."

"Alright, alright. If there's really nothing wrong, forget I said anything."

"Seriously, there's not. Nothing other than the usual...you know, all my stuff from the past, from childhood. And I've already talked to you about that a hundred times." Malik's voice quieted, and he gave Bakura a soft look. "You're the only one I can talk to about those things."

Bakura looked down. "Yeah...same."

Malik pulled Bakura to him and gave him a firm kiss. "I just get stir crazy sometimes. Especially lately, with the days being so short. It seems like it gets dark earlier all the time. I just really want to get out of the apartment occasionally. With you. That's all."

Bakura snickered. "What, you want me to take you on a date?"

"Maybe I do," Malik said loftily.

"Oh? You want a little romance before you take me to bed next time?" Bakura teased.

"What if I did?" Malik joked, bopping Bakura on the nose.

"Well, I think I could romance you here at home better than I could at an arcade," Bakura said, giving Malik a sultry smile. "Think you'd like that?"

"Hmm...depends what you have in mind."

Bakura gave Malik a devious look. "Maybe I'll surprise you." Then he sobered as he reached out to card his fingers through Malik's hair and brush a quick kiss against his forehead. "I really will go to the arcade with you sometime, though, if it's that important to you."

"Thanks," Malik grunted, looking a little embarrassed now. "You totally are being weird."

"I'm just saying I'll go. It's not that big of a deal," Bakura said. He paused. "I just...well, maybe it's weird for me to say it straight out, but I really have been tired lately. You know I've always had nightmares, but it seems like it's been worse lately. It's kind of wearing me out. It takes a lot of energy for me to go out in public, and I just don't have it recently."

Malik glanced down at the cuts across Bakura's arm and chest, still not fully healed. "I...yeah, I should have realized. It's not actually that important that we go play skeeball. You don't have to drag yourself out if you're not feeling well. And it's not like I don't have fun with you here at home."

"Well, I'd hope so," Bakura said sarcastically. Then he had an idea and said, "And hey, if you want to party, since neither of us would have fun in a crowded club, we could always get a bottle of whiskey and party here at home this weekend."

"That doesn't sound half bad."

"Good." Bakura stretched and yawned. "Ugh, you're right, tonight has been weird. You know, I think communicating like a normal person wears me out, too."

Malik let out a small laugh. "Yeah." He pulled Bakura closer to him and settled down into his warmth, closing his eyes.

"I still might think up that surprise for you, though," Bakura whispered before closing his own eyes, and he didn't think he imagined Malik's little squirm of delight.

-8-

Bakura was at his chair in front of the computer, watching Let's Play videos.

Malik was sitting at the kitchen table, playing on his phone.

Often, after dinner, Malik liked to have a little quiet time to himself.

Bakura didn't mind. It gave him time to watch gaming videos on YouTube, which Malik wasn't really interested in. Malik liked video games well enough if he was playing them with Bakura, but he'd always said he didn't see the point in watching strangers play a game. Bakura couldn't explain to him why it was entertaining. Sometimes Bakura idly thought about making his own series, though somehow he never really got around to doing it.

He heard Malik scoff at something from the kitchen, and bit his tongue to keep himself from calling out to ask what stupid thing online had annoyed him. He knew Malik wanted to be left alone.

It didn't bother Bakura to be by himself, not interacting with anyone, but Bakura didn't think he needed the alone time the way Malik did. It was probably due to a difference in their upbringing...or lack of, in Bakura's case.

Bakura had always been a solitary creature. He was so used to being alone, having grown up by himself in the desert, with only himself to rely on and knowing that he couldn't trust another soul to look out for him, that being around other people was now more of a stressful annoyance than anything. Socializing left him feeling drained and tired.

Of course, he didn't feel that way about being around Malik. Malik was the one person whose presence made him feel just as calm and comfortable as being alone did—moreso, even.

He hadn't even known that was possible. Before being in Ryou's head, it had been millennia since he'd actually enjoyed interacting with another person. He vaguely remembered enjoying being around his family, but that was so long ago, and he was so young, and his memories were scrambled—maybe because of Zorc, or maybe because of being in the Ring so long—but he didn't like to think about it.

But then there had been Ryou and he'd actually connected with another soul.

But even Ryou tired him out after a while. It was only Malik whose presence seemed to energize him rather than drain him.

He thought Malik felt much the same way about him—Malik was quite introverted as well, not relating at all to most other people, not being able to tolerate those so different from him, but finding camaraderie in Bakura who was so similar to him, in a way that had made them feel familiar to each other from the very start.

But it was a bit different for Malik. He'd grown up locked underground with multiple other people, isolated in a different way than Bakura was. Bakura had had the entire desert under the open sky, but no other people. Malik had had a tomb, caged by stone walls and kept away from most of society, but trapped in a small space with his few relatives, never able to be far from them.

Bakura supposed that was also why he was totally fine with cocooning himself in the safety of their apartment, never going out, while Malik longed for the freedom of being outdoors underneath the vast sky.

Understanding the mortals had never come naturally to him, even before he'd become immortal himself, but he understood Malik in an effortless way he didn't question.

So he understood why Malik needed a bit of time to himself, even if most of the time Malik preferred to be near Bakura, even if most of the time Bakura was an exception to Malik's need for solitude.

They both hated other people, but Malik hated them a little less than Bakura did because he'd grown up with a couple people he cared for, and he needed to be alone more often for the same reason.

But Bakura had lost track of time, distracted by his own thoughts. It had been more than an hour now since Malik had finished cleaning up after dinner and retreated to his phone. So Malik would be ready to see him again. And Bakura was tired of being alone already, even in the short time apart, even being separated only by a single room. He'd been alone for so long in his thousands of years of existence, and that meant his craving for solitude was only exceeded by his craving to be near the one person whose presence made him feel better than being alone.

It scared him, in a way, that he couldn't really stand being alone for long periods anymore. He'd gotten too used to Malik's existence in his life, too used to having someone he could rely on, someone he actually wanted to be near, and how long had it even been now since he'd been with Malik almost constantly?

But he let those thoughts fall away as he walked stealthily into the kitchen, past Malik, who was too absorbed in his phone to notice him. Bakura went to the refrigerator and got out two bottles. Malik only looked up when Bakura slammed both bottles down onto the table.

Malik took a few seconds to finish whatever he was doing on his phone and then put it down.

"I did promise you alcohol," Bakura said with a smirk. He indicated the two bottles—one of sake, and one of whiskey. He'd gotten the sake because he knew Malik liked to start with something with lower alcohol content before moving on to the harder stuff later in the evening.

Malik looked at the bottles and smiled. "Alright, so what's the plan?"

Bakura looked nonplussed for a second. After thinking about it for a few seconds he said, "We can play a game."

"What game?"

"Hold on." Bakura darted off, and after rooting around in their closet for a few minutes, eventually returned with their Jenga set.

"You have to take a drink before removing a piece," Bakura announced.

Malik gave him a measured look as he removed the tower from the box and set it on the table. "Alright, but let's make it interesting."

Bakura gave him a smirk. "What did you have in mind?"

Malik thought for a moment. "If I win, you have to do the dishes for a whole week."

Bakura's smirk grew wider and he narrowed his eyes. "And if I win, you can't nag me about doing any chores for a whole week."

Malik rolled his eyes. "Fine, fine."

Bakura went to grab some glasses and poured some sake into Malik's glass, and a couple shots of bourbon into his own tumbler.

"You won't win, though," Malik added.

Bakura laughed. "We'll see."

Malik stared at the tower, and Bakura said, "Well, your drink has a lower alcohol content, so you should at least go first."

Malik nodded and easily pulled out a piece, then took a swig of his sake.

Bakura took his turn, then took a sip of his whiskey.

"Hey, you barely drank anything!"

"Like I said, my drink has a way higher alcohol content. Do you think I'm trying to lose?"

Malik rolled his eyes and pulled out another piece, taking a more modest sip of his drink afterwards.

Bakura followed suit, and it went on like that, until Malik had drained his drink and Bakura insisted he switch to the harder stuff.

By that time the tower was teetering and both were feeling a bit woozy.

Malik carefully pulled out another piece, though his hand shook and he just barely managed to get it out without the tower toppling.

"Pure luck," Bakura said. He deftly swiped another piece from the stack, then downed a shot.

"You're—you're cheating!" Malik exclaimed.

"How?" Bakura demanded. "I'm just good."

Malik gave him a scowl and then reached out to slowly extricate another block. The tower wobbled, but didn't quite fall, and Malik gave Bakura a triumphant smirk before taking another sip of his drink.

His celebrating didn't last long, though, as Bakura's nimble fingers quickly pulled out another piece, the tower barely moving as he did. Bakura smirked at him and took another drink.

Malik glared, and his eyebrows drew together in concentration as his fingers closed around one of the few pieces left that were in a level of the tower that still had three pieces instead of only two.

Suddenly, Malik's phone rang, and the blaring tone caused Malik to jerk his hand, sending the entire tower toppling down onto the table.

Bakura threw back his head and laughed as Malik snatched up his phone and hit the button to accept the call.

"What‽" he screamed.

"Brother…" Ishizu's soft voice came from the speaker.

"Uh...erm...I'm sorry, Shis-Sister...I, uh, see…" Malik said, slurring.

"Malik...are you drunk?" she asked, incredulous.

"Um...a little…"

"How?" Ishizu demanded. "How is it even possible for you to be drunk when you're—"

A loud blast of static came from the phone and Malik winced, holding it away from his ear for a moment.

"S-sorry I, I couldn't hear you," Malik said.

A quiet sigh came from the phone. "Alright. Alright. I understand."

Malik gave Bakura a look of confusion, still holding the phone away from himself, as if he'd forgotten it was there momentarily.

"Are you still with Bakura?"

The question from the phone was loud enough for Bakura to hear it, and he scowled. It seemed to take Malik a moment to register these events.

"Of course!" Malik yelled viciously a few seconds later when her words finally seemed to penetrate his brain. He was apparently far too drunk to control his tongue.

"No...no...it's important that you stay near Bakura...Malik, you don't understand—"

Another blast of static came from the phone and Malik crinkled his forehead, bringing his hand up to grip his own face.

"Sister, I...I can't talk right now." Malik scrunched up his face again. "The, um, the talky-thing, like, the thing that makes the phone work? It's not good."

"Yes. Your reception is bad. I'll...call you later."

"Sorry," Malik said, and then he hung up the phone.

"Did you just hang up on her?" Bakura laughed. "She's gonna be pissed."

"Whatever." Malik shook his head. "Anyways, she knows that phones barely work in this place. Not my fault."

"More importantly, you lost," Bakura said, giving Malik an evil smile.

"That's not fair!" Malik exclaimed. "The phone—"

"Doesn't matter." Bakura shook his head. "I won. And don't forget what we bet on."

"I hate you." Malik slammed his head down onto the table.

Bakura took another swig of his drink, then pulled a pack of cards from his pocket. "Wanna play Duel Monsters? If you're that mad about losing, we could make another bet…"

Malik smiled and grabbed the cards from Bakura, taking another drink from his glass as well.

-9-

Bakura rolled on the couch, his peals of laughter echoing off the walls as Malik stared down at him with a murderous glare.

"Shut up! It's not funny! I'll kill you!"

Bakura managed to catch his breath enough to say, "You are...killing me! I'm going to hyperventilate and...d-die…" Then he broke into gales of laughter again, unable to control himself.

"Fuck you! Do you think I wanted this? I didn't tell them to do this!"

Bakura wiped away his tears of laughter, finally managing to calm down a bit. "It's still your fault, though. If you'd listened to me this wouldn't have happened. I told you I'd cut your hair for you. I'm great at it."

"You saw off the ends of your hair with a fucking knife!" Malik exclaimed.

"And it looks way better than yours does now."

Malik scowled, crossing his arms and turning away from Bakura. He obviously couldn't even argue with that statement.

Bakura broke into fresh laughter upon seeing the back of Malik's head. He was actually trying to stop himself now, but he couldn't help it.

It really was awful. He didn't know how it was even possible for the barber to have messed it up so badly. Malik had only wanted a few inches trimmed off, his hair having grown just a bit too long for his tastes. He'd said he wanted his hair to be an inch or two above his shoulders.

But this….it wasn't just that it was short. It was that it wasn't even a uniform length. In some places he was almost bald, while in others his hair was still several inches long, and other places had lengths that were everywhere in between those two extremes. On top of it all, it seemed Malik had a couple cowlicks, and now that they were no longer weighed down by longer hair, certain sections of his hair stuck up comically.

"You know, I'll bet that scar under your eye isn't even from some epic battle with a tomb guard," Malik suddenly said, sounding sulky. "You probably accidentally stabbed yourself in the face when you were trying to cut your own hair."

Bakura laughed. "What?"

"I'll bet you did! So don't act like you definitely would have done a better job."

Bakura continued laughing and ignored the ridiculous comment. He shook his head and rubbed his eyes, wiping the tears away again as he tried to get control of himself. He glanced at the back of Malik's head again, and for a moment he thought he'd start laughing once more, but then he noticed something.

"Malik, what the hell? They butchered you."

"I know, you ass." Malik was still fuming.

"No, I mean literally. Do you realize you're bleeding?"

Malik reflexively touched the back of his head and then turned to Bakura with a wince. He looked down at his finger to see a small bit of blood.

"How the fuck did that even happen?" Bakura got up for a closer examination. "And is this a bruise? What did they do to you?"

Malik threw up his hands. "I have no fucking clue! You know, those bastards are just lucky my other personality isn't around anymore. He would have murdered every one of them for this."

Bakura sighed, shaking his head as he assessed the damage. "Stay there. Let me go get something to clean that up for you."

A few minutes later, Malik sat on the floor between Bakura's knees as Bakura worked at his head with a damp cloth. He'd found a few more cuts in addition to the first one he'd noticed, but they were much smaller.

Once he was nearly done cleaning Malik's injuries, Bakura said, "Seriously, how did this happen? Did you not notice anything the barber was doing?"

"I really don't want to talk about it."

Bakura gave the back of Malik's head a worried look. "Um...are you sure your other personality isn't back?"

"You're joking, right?" Malik said. Bakura saw his shoulders tense up.

"I just don't see how you could be totally oblivious to all of this. You're not losing time again, are you?"

"No!" Malik exclaimed. "I was just zoned out looking down at my phone, alright? They're professionals; I didn't think I'd have to watch the bastard every second to make sure he didn't chop half my hair off down to the scalp!"

"And you didn't even notice when he cut you?" Bakura pressed.

"It's barely bleeding," Malik said. "Don't head wounds bleed a ton even when they're not that bad? So this is less than nothing. I've experienced too much real pain in my life to take any notice of a little scratch."

"Yeah, I guess I can understand that."

"I was just really absorbed in a game on my phone. Can you quit making me feel stupid about it?"

Bakura bit his tongue before he could say that he'd definitely be saying I told you so if he got a call from the police about a bloodbath at the local barber shop. He didn't think Malik would take that joke very well. "So what did you do when you finally noticed?"

Malik paused for a moment before answering. "When I finally looked up and saw this fucking mess, I cursed them out and refused to pay and stormed out."

"Well...at least you didn't pay for this."

"Yeah. So will you stop interrogating me about it now? I told you I didn't want to talk about it. I'd really rather forget it happened."

"Fine, fine." Bakura shrugged, deciding to drop it now that Malik had actually given him an explanation. "Well, it'll grow back, at least."

"I suppose it's not the end of the world. Just don't fucking mention it again, alright? And no more laughing at me!"

Bakura didn't answer, but placed a quick kiss on one of the bare spots on Malik's head.

That night, at dinner, Bakura tried very hard to ignore Malik's ridiculous haircut as he ate the steak Malik had prepared for him. Malik was eating some kind of bean dish. Bakura could never remember the name of it.

They didn't talk much, Malik still seeming to be in an irritable mood.

After they finished their food, Malik shot Bakura a hard look and grumbled, "If you don't rinse your dishes and put them in the dishwasher, I won't fuck you for a month."

"Yeah, right," Bakura laughed.

"Fine, then, I won't...I won't be making you any more meat for dinner. You'll eat what I'm having or nothing."

Bakura rolled his eyes. "Alright, alright." He went to scrape his dishes and throw them in the dishwasher, deciding to be a little nice since Malik had had such a tough day. He didn't even bother to mention the fact that, by trying to coerce him into doing chores, Malik was violating the terms of the bet he'd lost to Bakura a few nights ago over their game of Jenga. It really wasn't very fair, considering Bakura had been upholding the terms of the bet they'd made right after that one—Bakura had lost that one when Malik had beaten him at Duel Monsters, which meant he couldn't ask Malik to play Monopoly for an entire week. But he supposed it wasn't worth arguing with Malik about a silly drunken bet when Malik was in a mood like this, so he kept his mouth shut.

It was worth it, though, because after the dishes were in the washer, Malik seemed to be in a more cheerful mood and they spent the rest of the night playing video games together, laughing and bumping their shoulders together as they worked with each other to solve the next temple in the game they had been trying to beat for the last month.