Terms and definitions:
NPD = narcissistic personality disorder
Narcissist/narc = a person with NPD
Narc supply = attention/compliments/etc that fuels your ego and self esteem
Narc crash = when you self esteem hits a low and you feel absolutely worthless and feel like you deserve to die
Narc high = the opposite of a crash, feeling your best and having the highest self esteem. Similar to mania.
Keep in mind that not all NPD people want to be referred to as a narcissist or narc. It's better to use "a person with NPD" to avoid stigma, unless the individual in question is okay with it. The term "narc supply" isn't official. Its usage mostly occurs online to discredit the relationships of NPD people, so be careful about using it in the wrong context.
"Personally my narc crashes are way worse than depressive episodes and that's what makes them dangerous to me. I wish I could only have them every few years […] A narc high is euphoric. I get narc highs really easily. Any compliment that's not generic will do it for me."
~Bree
It took at least a week before Malik's mood had recovered enough for him to start talking to the Bakuras again. By the time he came back, Ryou had already redecorated the secret room in the museum with new things that hadn't been there before. There were now posters on the wall representing Ryou's favorite movies and video games. There was a pile of board games and card games in one corner of the room. There was also a TV on the floor, which was currently turned on and playing old Twilight films.
When Malik entered the room, he noticed that Ryou was working on the diorama, and meanwhile there was the TV on the floor a little ways away from Ryou, playing a movie with seemingly nobody watching it. "Why do you have Twilight playing when you're not even going to watch it?"
"I know people criticize the Twilight franchise a lot, but I still enjoyed the books and the movies. There's nothing wrong with liking it," Ryou said.
"Oh I'm not judging," Malik said. "I think Twilight is a good love story. Maybe not the healthiest relationship but it's still good. What I'm wondering is why you have the movie playing when nobody's watching it."
"But there is someone watching," Ryou said.
"Is there?" Malik walked closer to the TV, and as he did, he began to see the faint glow of Yami Bakura sitting in front of it. "Oh, it's him. Yeah I see him now, after getting a little closer."
"Wait, what? What does he mean he can see me?" the Spirit said.
"I can hear you too," Malik said.
"But how? I thought he was invisible to everyone except for me," said Ryou.
"It's because I put a piece of my soul into your mind back when I had the Millennium Rod. Once I put myself in there I stay there even if I don't have the Rod anymore," Malik said.
"That's creepy. Get out of our head," said the Spirit.
"Relax, Tomb Robber. I'm not there forever. My presence does wane over time. After a few years the piece of my soul I put in your host should slowly disappear without a trace," Malik said.
"A few years? That's still quite a long time," said Ryou.
"At least it makes things easier when it comes to interacting with both of you at the same time," Malik said.
"True," said Ryou. "By the way, what do you have in that bag of yours? It looks heavy."
Malik had entered the room carrying a large tote bag that was filled with tons of books. Ryou was curious as to what was inside it.
"Oh this?" Malik said. "It's just a couple of books that I want to read while I wait as you work on the diorama."
"You say it's just a couple of books, but that's quite a lot. That bag looks very full," said Ryou.
"I love reading. Books are my passion. You could say they're my 'special interest,' in fact," Malik said as he carefully put a towel on the ground and then began to take the books out of his bag one by one and lay them on the towel with respectful reverence. "When I used to live underground, books were the only ticket I had to knowing what might be on the outside world. I had no other creative outlets for my imagination. And according to my upbringing as a Tomb Guardian, books were considered sacred. I can't imagine disrespecting a book. During my first day on the surface I accidentally stepped on a magazine and it was the most sacrilegious thing I had ever done. I never want to do something like that ever again."
"What kind of books do you like to read, Malik?" Ryou said.
"Any and all of them. I read religious texts, classics, anything that had ever been popular, and my favorite type of books of all time are banned books. I love the idea of reading books that are considered forbidden." Malik excitedly held up his copy of Fifty Shades of Grey. "Can you believe how badly my father would react if he saw me now? He would freak the fuck out. And that's why I'm going to read every banned book I can get my hands on."
"Good for you, Malik! I'm so happy for you!" Ryou said.
"You're so cringe," said the Spirit.
"You're just jealous because I'm living the dream life you don't have the guts for," Malik said coyly. "I relish my freedom."
The Spirit shrugged.
The three boys each began to do their own thing. Ryou worked on his diorama, the Spirit watched TV, and Malik read books. About an hour passed, and then Ryou stretched and said, "I think it's about time I took a break. Does anyone want to play a game?"
"I didn't bring my deck with me," Malik said.
"It doesn't have to be Duel Monsters. I have other games too," Ryou said as he got up and began rummaging through the pile of games he had placed in the corner of the room. "How about this one? It's called 'Hanabi.' It's a collaborative game rather than a competitive one, which means everyone works together towards the same goal. The purpose of the game is to collect the most amount of points possible for the whole group."
"You like collaborative games, Ryou?" Malik said.
"Oh yes. I'm terrible at competition, but I'm cooperative to the extreme. I excel at games where everyone is working together," Ryou said.
"It's true. He sucks at Duel Monsters," the Spirit said. "He's not much fun to play with at all."
"How do you two play Duel Monsters when you only have one body?" Malik said.
"Most of the time we do it inside the soulrooms, but sometimes when we do it in the physical world I use this card holder to hold the Spirit's cards," Ryou said as he held up a wooden card holder. "We can use it right now to play Hanabi. It's a game that works best with four or five people, however three is still better than just two. It's very difficult to play the game when we only have two people."
Ryou and the Spirit taught Malik how to play Hanabi, and together the three of them played a game. They scored a total of 19.
"Not a bad score, but not the best either," Ryou said. "Still, this is much better than the score we usually get with only two people. I'd say we did pretty well."
"Before you get back to work, could you put something else on TV? I'm done watching these cringe movies," said the Spirit.
"If you thought they were cringe, why were you watching them in the first place?" Malik asked.
The Spirit shrugged. "I dunno. I felt like it. Cringe can be fun sometimes."
Ryou took the Twilight DVD out of the DVD player and put it back into the case. "What would you like to watch instead?" he asked.
"Put on my duel against the Pharaoh. I want to watch Battle City again," said the Spirit.
"Alright." Ryou took the Battle City DVD out of the case and put it into the DVD player, and then he selected the scene when Ryou Bakura dueled Yugi Mutou. Although Ryou was supposed to go back to work on the diorama, and Malik was meaning to go back to reading books, both Ryou and Malik stayed to watch TV with the Spirit for a little while.
Malik ducked his head during the scene when he deliberately triggered Ryou to switch places with Bakura. As Ryou clutched his arm in pain, they could all hear Kaiba shouting at Yugi launch the finishing attack and kill Ryou.
"Yikes," Ryou said. "I never noticed that before. Did Kaiba really just tell Yugi to kill me?"
"Kaiba values games more than he does human lives," said Malik. "Makes me wonder if Kaiba has ASPD himself."
"That's a harmful stereotype," Ryou pointed out. "Just because someone is ASPD doesn't mean he doesn't value human lives."
"Then maybe it's because he's a CEO," Malik said. "It's also a stereotype that CEOs don't value human lives."
"I've always wondered, is there any real truth to that stereotype that CEOs have ASPD?" Ryou questioned.
"Plenty of CEOs probably have ASPD, but honestly, even as someone who has it, I wouldn't give most people with ASPD that much power because someone who has that much power over the lives of other people should genuinely want to do the right thing and make sure the people they hold power over have financial security and are not under huge amounts of stress. Someone with ASPD could genuinely want that, but I'd wager most high-power people with ASPD do not care about that and that is specifically why they were given that position in the first place," the Spirit said.
"Wow. That's not what I would've expected you to say," said Malik.
"Doesn't NPD have the same stereotype?" Ryou asked.
"Yes, the same goes for NPD," the Spirit agreed.
"I guess Kaiba really does fit the stereotype of a narcissist who is a CEO, doesn't he? He has NPD and he's literally the CEO of KaibaCorp," Ryou said with a laugh.
There was an awkward moment of silence as the Spirit and Malik both turned to give Ryou strange looks.
"Uh…forget I said anything. I'm probably wrong," Ryou said, looking down and hiding his face behind his hair.
"No it's okay, maybe you're on to something," said Malik.
"You're allowed to express your opinions of people, even if we might not agree with it," said the Spirit. "You think Kaiba has NPD. Why do you think that?"
"Well…um…it's like…he has the symptoms," Ryou said meekly.
"I can't hear you. Speak up more!" Malik said.
"Um…he is fiercely competitive, and he's a perfectionist." Ryou's voice was soft and barely audible at first, but it slowly gained volume the more he spoke. He fumbled over his words a little bit, but ultimately got his ideas across. "And…um…remember during Battle City when he was dueling Yami Yugi, and he designed a giant arena full of robots to feed him compliments and attention so that he can play at his best performance. Isn't that something NPD people do? He needs compliments in order to feed his narc supply when he's dueling Yugi."
"Right, and every time Kaiba loses a duel, he experiences a narc crash. He feels so bad about himself that he thinks he deserves to die," Malik said, quickly catching on.
The Spirit nodded. "That's a good observation. Kaiba was raised by his abusive stepfather to believe that he always needed to be the winner of every game, and that the punishment for losing a game is death. Now every time he loses a duel to the Pharaoh, his self-esteem plummets to a low and he feels absolutely worthless to the point that he believes he deserves to die. That is what is known as a narc crash. I think you're right. Kaiba's a narc."
"He's a bit of a scumbag, though," Malik chimed in. "Kaiba expects everybody to live by the same principles as him. Whenever somebody else loses a game, he thinks they deserve to die. He doesn't seem to understand that not everyone takes losing games as seriously as he does."
"But I think he has reasons behind it," Ryou said, quickly jumping to the defense. "I think Kaiba does care in his own way. He puts Jounouchi down because he wants Jounouchi to work harder and strive to be more like Kaiba, that way they can someday become equals."
"It still doesn't excuse the fact that he's a complete total jerk," said Malik.
"Personally, I don't think Kaiba fits the stereotype of a narcissist who is a good leader," the Spirit added. "He is a horrible leader. He treats his employees like scum, and he squanders his money. Think about how wasteful that is, for Kaiba to spend millions of tax money to build an arena full of robots cheering him on just so he can fuel his narc supply for one game of Duel Monsters? That money could've gone to a lot of more useful things. Also, he knows professional cheerleading exists, right? Why didn't he just hire a team of cheerleaders instead? Anything is more economically and environmentally sustainable than that extravagant arena of robots that he built. It just shows Kaiba's overreliance on technology and inability to rely on other people."
"If he had friends, he wouldn't have to hire any cheerleaders at all. Friends can do that for free," Ryou said, beaming with pride. "I do it all the time for Jounouchi and Yugi."
The Spirit and Malik both grimaced, but they begrudgingly agreed. It sounds cheesy, but it's true. The reason why Yugi and Jounouchi were able to get as far as they did in dueling tournaments had a lot to do with the emotional support of friends they had cheering them on. Roll your eyes and groan, but the power of friendship is real. The reason why professional cheerleading exists, the reason why therapy exists, the reason why friendship is so important, is because it works. The validation, encouragement, and support from friends is clinically proven to lead to success, and oftentimes crucial for survival. Everyone loves getting attention, praise, and compliments, and everyone uses that attention to fuel their motivation and self-esteem. Everyone feels proud of themselves when they succeed, and everyone feels disappointed in themselves when they fail. It's just that NPD people do it to the highest extreme possible.
"I don't think Kaiba's a bad person. He just needs therapy," said Ryou. "He needs somebody to help him unlearn his belief that losing a game means he deserves to die. He needs somebody to help him learn that he does not have to be 100% perfect all the time to have value as a human being."
"Knowing what Kaiba's like, he's anti-recovery, so he's not going to seek help unless somebody forces him to do it," the Spirit said disdainfully.
Ryou nodded sadly. "I guess you're right. He didn't make any effort to bond with Mokuba until after Yami Yugi gave him two penalty games."
"Two penalty games? When did this happen?" Malik asked.
"I don't know all the details because this was before I moved to Domino, but Kaiba did things that were really awful to Yugi. First he hurt Yugi's grandfather really badly, so Yami Yugi beat him in a duel and gave him a penalty game. Then Kaiba came back for revenge and tried to kill Yugi and all his friends, so Yami Yugi beat him again and gave him a second penalty game," Ryou explained. "I would never say this to Yugi's face, but I don't think giving Kaiba those penalty games was a good idea. It didn't do anything to help Kaiba at all. It just made everything worse. All it did was reinforce his belief that losing a game means he deserves to die, and now he thinks he has to defeat Yugi in a duel in order to regain his worth as a human being. Not to excuse anything Kaiba did, but I think Yugi could've handled the situation better."
"This is exactly why no one should be allowed to be a billionaire CEO of any corporation. Not a person with NPD, or ASPD, or an empath. No one should ever be allowed to have as much money and power as Kaiba does. It's too dangerous. Billionaires should not exist," the Spirit said.
"I can't help but agree with you," Malik said.
Healthy friendships are when friends lift each other up. When you put others down to lift yourself up, you're being a jerk. Also it's unhealthy to put yourself down to lift others up too. There's no need for that. Nobody should ever get put down in order to lift up another person. A healthy group dynamic is when everyone works together as a team, praises each other and keeps each other accountable for their actions. That way, the entire group prospers.
Kaiba often does it in a way that's unhealthy. He's a total jerk. He's always putting others down to make himself feel better. That's not the right approach. Look at the way Jounouchi fuels his self-esteem as opposed to Kaiba. Jounouchi exerts a lot of self-confidence, and he engages in a lot of self-praise, but he never puts others down to lift himself up. He lifts everyone up along with himself. That's why he has friends.
These were the unspoken words that Ryou, Bakura, and Malik thought amongst themselves but didn't need to say out loud. Thanks to the mind-link between Ryou and Bakura, there were things they could tell each other without saying it out loud, and because Malik had put a piece of his soul into Ryou's mind, he was able to share in some of the mind-link as well.
The rest of the day was uneventful. The Spirit fell asleep watching the rest of the Battle City tournament, and Malik fell asleep reading books. Ryou started to get sleepy while working on the diorama, so he got himself a blanket and pillow and fell asleep on the floor as well. The afternoon went by peacefully at the Domino Museum, where three friends napped the day away.