Chapter Text
How good was the idea of not charging his phone this morning?
Ryou usually never forgot to do it, yet he wasn’t the biggest user of technology. But yesterday, he hung out with Yugi and Atem all afternoon and it led to the man taking a lot of pictures of them all together or the things they had seen. He even had a dozen close-up pictures of a pigeon for some reason.
So when he came back home late, and he realized he had to meet up with Malik the day after, he knew he had to charge his phone in order for it to survive the day.
Unfortunately, Ryou didn't. He showered that night, thinking about how he needed to charge that phone. He brushed his teeth, trying to remember it. And he fell on his bed, knowing he had to grab his phone charger.
And yet, he woke up the next morning, late, and realizing he absolutely hadn’t done anything he had tried to remember the day before. He looked at the time, 11:30am. Ryou was supposed to be downtown in ten minutes, so he quickly got up and got ready as fast as he could.
Ryou then grabbed his keys and phone, looking at the battery number. He winced, that wasn’t good at all but maybe he could manage to handle it for the day. He texted Malik, saying that he would be a little late. He hated to be late for that, especially for such an important hang out, at least to Ryou.
“No problem, I'm already there, waiting. This place is crowded though”
The white haired man sighed as he shoved his phone (and charger, in hopes to find a proper outlet in the bus) into his pocket. He better meet him quickly if he wanted to be able to find Malik in that crowd, he didn’t want to keep him waiting.
His legs were hurting from walking that quickly to catch his bus in time, before he found out just why Malik said that it was far from empty. Bakura looked a bit claustrophobic as a wave of warmth and cold overcame him. Who knew a mall could have so many people inside?
Ryou tried to look around, to see if he could notice the other man nearby but he couldn’t. He then tried to take his phone, which was almost dead, and called the other. Unfortunately, Malik never answered because Ryou’s phone turned off before he could. The man looked at it, disappointed. He really should’ve thought of plugging it in.
He observed his surroundings, mindlessly tapping his fingers on his phone’s screen as a way to keep himself steady. Not a single sign of Malik. That’s when Ryou got an idea.
He put his phone to his ear to fake a call, and said, exaggerating the loudness of his voice. “Oh! Hello! No problem, I understand, motorcycles really suck, riders are so rude, huge huge jerks!” He then scanned his surroundings but, except for surprised and judgmental glances, no sign of the person he was looking far. He wasn’t the best actor, despite what he would’ve liked to think, so he winced as he was forced to continue.
“What? Do you really hate Gummy Bears? That is a shame! I find them so pretty and-”
Ryou even had the chance to finish his sentence when he heard loud footsteps, getting closer to him. He turned his head to see Malik like he predicted, almost fuming as he heard what the other said.
“Ryou, what the hell?!” Malik frowned, stomping towards him as Bakura put his phone back into his pocket, satisfied that his trick had worked. “Gummy bears are disgusting!”
“Yeah I know you hate them. I was trying to find a way to get you nearby.” Ryou explained with a small smile. At least, he had found the other.
“Then just give me a real call next time!”
It was a small thing but Ryou couldn’t help but feel a bit flattered and enthusiastic to hear his friend mention a next time.
“I couldn’t.” To prove his point, he showed his phone screen to Malik. The symbol of an empty battery appeared as he tried to turn it on.
“Oh, damn, that sucks. Those things get tired easily.” He agreed, now understanding and dropping the topic, pretty easily Bakura thought. “Uh.. Can we still go?”
Ryou nodded with a smile. “Absolutely. We are not gonna cancel because my battery died.”
Malik smiled in relief, as he started to walk, inviting his friend to follow his steps. Ryou understood the hint and they both made their way in the mall. Truth be told, even though they both knew the reason for their presence here, Malik had no idea of where to head. During his first visit to Japan, he had been quite.. occupied. No extra time to wander in the malls. And he had been busy the next time he came too, with Isis. So he quickly let Bakura lead the way instead, shoving his hands in his pants’ pockets.
They were especially looking for a home decor shop.
The Egyptian glanced over at the other as they ambled. “Y’know… I hadn’t had the chance to really thank you for your help since I arrived. It’s nice of you to accept me as your roommate.”
“That’s okay. Having some company would be nice. Though, my place may not be the place that feels like home for you yet.”
Malik chuckled at that but he had to agree.
He didn’t go to Ryou’s flat a lot of times, but he mostly saw it over video chat as they talked over the last year. The man had a lot of occult themed stuff, and Malik could swear he saw at least thirty horror DVDs in his flat. He hadn’t counted them. Some weird and grotesque things too. Not that the Egyptian didn’t like them, of course, they suited Ryou’s personality well, but he had to recognize that he perhaps needed to have some of things he liked to feel comfortable.
Which was why they were here, in the middle of summer, in a mall. Ryou had offered Malik to hang out, and see what kind of stuff he would like to have with him in his room. He recalled his friend group’s reactions when he announced the big news to them.
“Speaking of summer! Ryou,” Joey started, turning his head towards him, “- what’s the theme of the campaign this year?” The blonde guy looked at him with a definitely interested smile. Ryou was about to start his sentence before Tea interjected.
“I think he is just eager to crash at your place for the DnD tournament.”
Bakura let out a polite smile at this. Every year, he organized small campaigns for his friends. They usually stayed a full week at Ryou’s flat, (taking advantage of the fact that his father used to travel for work during summer) and played together. It was quite the meet up, and Joey looked forward to it every time.
“The- what now?” The only one who didn’t know about it was Atem, who was spending his first year as.. well himself, with all the group. Yugi gave him a smile and quickly explained what used to happen every year.
“- but I don’t know how it’ll go this year. You may have something planned Ryou, no?” The smaller man supposed, looking at his friend. Joey looked disappointed at the suggestion, and turned back his glance towards Ryou too. Now damn, Bakura felt like a celebrity.
“I mean… I don’t think my plans will interfere with the DnD week, if that is what you want to know.”
Joey grinned proudly, as he threw his fist in the air like a dramatic winner move, Bakura chuckled at that (it was good to see that his friends still wanted to make plans with him). On the other hand, the mention of other plans intrigued Tea, who wanted to know what would happen.
“Really? That’s amazing, what are you planning to do?” she asked, raising an eyebrow and resting her head on her palm in a focused and interested manner. Yugi imitated her, in a more subtle way.
“Yeah, I wanna know too!” Joey did so too, sensing the topic change. “Is your dad home this year?”
Ryou let out a chuckle as he shook his head. He didn’t know if his pain concerning the fact that no, his father was still outside of the country this summer, was obvious to all of his friends, but upon seeing Yugi’s sympathetic smile, he knew that his friend (at least) understood it. Yet, now that the topic was launched, Bakura thought that now was a good time to talk about Malik. Slowly bring it out to his friends.
“No, no he is not.” He started. “Someone else is already at my place all summer. And… even afterwards, I believe.”
“Woo! Our Ryou is gettin’ a roommate!” Joey cheered.
“Ha.. I think that is the word, yes.”
“Who is it?”
“I hope they like DnD so they can play with us!” Joey slid.
Bakura gulped, now was the time. “Alright, so… I suppose you all recall Malik?”
The way almost all of his friends’ expressions shifted made Ryou’s chest ache a little.
Bakura was shaken out of his memories as Malik and him entered one of the stores they had planned to go to. It was a rather big shop, heavy and blinding lights. Truth be told, he didn’t quite know Malik’s taste in furniture and decorations, so he had broadened the possibilities to the maximum. His friend looked around, eyeing all the modern stuff with an interested glance. Ryou couldn’t quite figure out if he liked it or if he was just being curious, like Malik usually was with everything.
“This place is huge!”
Ryou nodded along, as he replaced his bag on his shoulder, not knowing where to put his hands in such a big room. “That’s true. I didn’t quite know what you would like, so if you can’t find anything you like here, there are a bunch of other stores to go to.”
“Yeah, thank you. Honestly, I don’t even know what style I do like right off the bat.” Malik replied, a bit embarrassed to admit it. “But I know how to recognize stuff I like if I see it!”
“That’s more than enough info we need to find something then.”
With that, Ryou let himself walk along Malik who took a look in every aisle of the shop, letting the other pick out things that caught his eye. Some pastel lavender bed sheets, and a lamp that looked like a dog- he had just learnt that Malik loved dogs.
“You’re paying for me or do I have to open my wallet?” Malik asked, as they were waiting in the cash register’s line. Ryou cracked a smile.
“I think you can pay for your own stuff, Malik.”
“Not even treating your guests with bed sheets they like?”
“No, but I’m giving you a room.”, and before Malik could argue, Ryou added, “for free.”
That seemed to make the other laugh, as he shook his head. “I’m messing with you, of course I’m gonna pay for my own stuff.”
To that, Bakura smiled. Right, it was still the same Malik to whom he talked with over the past months. No reason to feel stressed about them living together now. If Bakura was honest with himself, he didn’t even know if Malik would want to come home this same evening. Maybe he would like to be at his hotel one night more to calm down his jetlag. He only arrived two days ago after all, and by looking at his eyes, Ryou could see the same eyebags he had noticed when he picked him up from the airport.
To check on that, Ryou waited for them to leave that shop and get into the crowded mall again, but now with a new bag. Then, as they started their way towards the next shop, the man inquired.
“So… how have you been doing?”
“Good!” Malik replied, almost automatically. “Jetlagged, mostly.”
“What hour is it for you right now?”
“Nearly 5am…”
Ryou gave him a small empathetic smile. Having been a part of his father’s expeditions when he was younger, he could sympathize pretty well with time differences. “Inconsiderate of me to expect you to be awake at that time.”
“Pft, you say it! Plus, you arrived late.”
“I am sorry about that, yes.” Malik eyed him, before gently elbowing his right arm.
“Why did you even wake up so late?”
Bakura glanced around quickly, trying to see through the crowd to check if they weren’t lost. “Ha.. yesterday I hung out with Yugi and the Pharaoh.” He pretended to not see the faint pained look on Malik’s face as he heard that, Bakura knew it wasn’t the time to comment on it. “Look, I took pictures.” Instead, he turned their attention towards his phone before stopping.
Needless to say that his friend let out a laugh, seeing Ryou realize his mistake. After a second, he raised an eyebrow. “Did you bring your charger?”
“I did, actually… I was thinking I could charge it on the bus, but I couldn’t find an outlet…”
Malik hummed as he put his hands in his pockets, his bag hanging loosely around his gold bracelets at his wrist. “Then… do you maybe want to grab something to eat and charge your phone at the same time?”
“Yes, that’s a nice idea!” Ryou agreed.
They both changed their mind, and started to look for a nice place (with functioning outlets) to get some food.
“You’re gonna live with that bastard, really?” Joey asked, though he was quickly silenced by Tea who stepped on his foot across the table. Tough love, as she started to call it, seemed to work wonders on Joey’s antics. “Ouch!!” … never without a complaint, of course.
“Joey, can you have the respect to listen before saying stuff like that?” She added.
Ryou shook his head, a polite smile on his face. “No, I mean… It’s understandable, the last time we all saw him, it was … apparently complicated.”
“He did help us to retrieve Atem’s memories.” Tristan noted, even though the said Pharaoh had been quiet for a moment now, only listening to the conversation.
“... then the last-last time.” Bakura stood corrected.
“No but for real, and now we all agree that the dude changed, and everything’s fine?”
“Everyone should have the right to get a second chance, especially if Malik had been influenced by the Millenium Rod.” Yugi commented, something that made Atem nod with a hum (his first reaction since they started talking about it), and the blonde guy reacted even more outraged.
“Come on Yug’! I know you love giving out second chances to everyone out there, but we’re talking about the guy you almost killed us all! Heck, he tortured the fuck out of Mai!”
“Yeah, but like, didn’t the Evil Spirit of Bakura use to do the same?” Tristan asked, sending an uncomfortable shiver through Ryou’s spine. “And he is still here, he is our friend.”
Honestly, Ryou didn’t know if this even worked in his favour, but it seemed to make Joey reconsider his words and he stumbled to continue, while the said Bakura seemed to grow more silent as the conversation kept going and spiralling into more heavy stuff. He knew it wouldn’t be easy, but he didn’t expect that.
“I- well, yeah! Of course he is, of course you are Ryou!” Joey replied, giving the man a glance as if he remembered that he was here too. “Still, that Evil Spirit didn’t try to kill us all!”
Bakura seemed to lose control of the situation, when did it become more about the Thief than Malik living with Ryou now? He was at a loss for words, and honestly, talking about the Spirit that possessed him wasn’t a part of his plans today's plans. Even the slightest bit of mention, or things that could remind that he existed, a smell, a voice, anything, was enough to send Ryou in a panic spiral. He did all he could to hide it deep inside right now, he knew his friends didn’t mean to hurt him, so making it obvious was nothing necessary. He just had to let it slide, and wait until his body and mind allowed him to concentrate again.
He lost a few bits of the conversation and when he managed to focus back, Tristan was talking.
“Okay, yeah, fine, we don’t care ‘bout that Spirit anyway!” Bakura thanked him internally.
“Let’s suppose Malik had changed.” Joey sighed. “Anything can happen over a year, okay, yeah, fine. But what if he didn’t? We can’t be sure.”
That’s when Ryou decided to take back control over the talk, at least just a little. He knew Joey would be tough to convince.
“He… told me he wanted to make it up to you. He wants to see you all once he arrives.”
To that, Yugi and Atem exchanged a glance, not even needing words to understand each other. Tea nodded slightly, Tristan took a sip of his drink, and Joey frowned as he shook his head, silencing himself.
“I’d like to see him.” Atem said, his voice stern and yet a bit out of place, as if he just said something completely unrelated.
Ryou sighed in relief internally, maybe it wouldn’t go too bad…
“Ryou, why do you have a picture of a pigeon? Is that the important stuff you wanted to show me?” Malik put down his vegetarian burger to look at his friend, eyebrow raised.
“It was eating Yugi’s shoe, of course it is!” Ryou defended his picture wholeheartedly. Malik let out a small laugh as he crossed his arms over his chest, a fond smile on his face.
A few seconds went by before he talked again, looking a bit to the side, like he didn’t know how to bring this up.
“How many of them have agreed to see me?”
Ryou gave him a small smile. He knew Malik didn’t expect a lot, they both knew it would be complicated. Bakura still felt guilt over the actions that the Spirit had done with his body, he couldn’t imagine how his friend must feel as he wasn’t possessed by some 3000 years old spirit. He still didn’t want to lie to him, after all if Malif asked, he must be prepared for the worst.
“It will take them some time to reach out by themselves. But they will eventually, I know them.” Malik nodded.
“Fair enough.” He replied, before continuing. “I received a text from Yugi yesterday morning. I was too sleepy to process it but I read it again today. He asked me if the trip went well and if I was over at your flat yet or not.”
Ryou wasn’t surprised, among the friend group, Yugi would probably be the first one to give Malik a second chance. He knew to look for good in everyone’s heart.
“And… what did you tell him?”
“That I was thinking of getting to your place tonight. And that we could meet up someday soon if he wanted. Corrected me saying that if ‘they’ wanted. … Think the Pharaoh is coming.”
His friend smiled, nodding a little. At least he had an answer to the tonight-question, and he also knew that both Atem and Yugi wanted to see Malik was a good thing. Observing him a little, Bakura could see that the other was a bit nervous at the idea. Maybe he didn’t feel entirely comfortable at the idea of hanging out with them that quickly, perhaps he didn’t expect it to be that fast. But it showed that he had the will to try. Ryou smiled, thinking that now was a great moment to change the topic, they could talk about his friend’s worries when the time comes.
“So… did the staff of the Museum tell you when you will be starting?”
“Ha… End of August.” Malik replied, shuffling his hair a bit. “My sister also told me that she will head there during this week, to see how I’m doing, and help me.”
“Is your brother going to come here too?”
“Most definitely. Museums aren’t his strong suit, but he’ll probably be here to support me.”
Ryou gave him a smile, it was nice to hear that Malik’s siblings were still as supportive. He envied that part a little. “Love for museums doesn't run in the family apparently?”
His friend chuckled, shaking his head. “Nope, but at least it’s something!” He took a sip of his drink to think of something to add. “It’s always good to try out, and I don’t have long shifts. It gives me time to do other stuff.”
Bakura nodded, holding his drink with both hands and tapping the cup a little. Deep down, he knew what Malik implied. He needed things to get his focus on. The past years have been tense, and he probably felt scared to just go back to his usual life but what usual life? Ryou gave his friend a small glance, Malik had already shared those frights with him before. And he wasn’t wrong! They never had a normal life, what routine could they expect?
“So… got a list of things you want to do while you’re here?” Bakura asked, deciding to continue their discussion. As Malik started listing off all the ideas he had with an enthusiastic smile, the other listened with an eager smile. Things were going to be okay with time, he thought.