Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh. Nor do I own Community in which this story is based on. Second chapter to be posted tonight. Review please.
Main pairing - Puzzleshipping. There will be others as well.
Note: This story is written for pure fun. Don't take it too seriously. :)
Only Four Years Left
Pilot: Part 1
It had only been a few days into the school year, and already Atem was questioning how much he really loved his career to put himself through this much torture. Now he didn't have anything against other community colleges, but Domino Community College wasn't your typical school. Not to mention the people here were very… odd.
"…Others tell me I'm weird because it's hard for me to connect emotionally with people, but that's probably due to my mother leaving me and my dad when I was really young. Now my father's always angry, so I live at school in a dorm. My name's Ryou, by the way."
"Ryou," Atem said, as he paid for his lunch. "It was very nice to know you then meet you, in that order. Now about that question?"
"Oh yes," the albino man said, looking at his watch. "It was five minutes after twelve when you asked."
Atem nodded and turned around to scan the lunch room for somewhere to sit when he noticed a familiar face. "Hey, Ryou," he said to the brown-eyed man, still standing beside him. "What do you know about the hot brunette in our Spanish class, sitting alone over there?"
Ryou followed the other's gaze to said female across the cafeteria. "Oh, well, I only talked to her for a minute today when she asked me for a pencil…but her name is Anzu, she has two older brothers, one of which has a disorder I might want to look up. She is really stressing out about the Spanish test tomorrow so she doesn't have time to talk and she's sorry if that makes her seem cold…"
Atem's eyes widened minutely. "Holy crap, Ryou. I see your value now," he said to the other with a pat on the shoulder.
Ryou paused, and Atem took the opportunity to sneak his way over to Anzu. "That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me," he heard Ryou call after him.
Shaking his head, Atem approached Anzu's table and slid into the seat opposite her. "Hey."
"Don't hit on me," was his response.
"I wouldn't dream of it," Atem replied, with a small smirk. "I just wanted to let you know about my Spanish study group."
Anzu looked up from her text book and blinked at Atem. "Whoa, the guy who plays Bejeweled on his IPhone all of class has a study group? Can I sign up twice?"
"I'm just taking the class as an easy credit. I'm actually a Spanish Tutor."
"Can you say that now in Spanish?" Anzu challenged.
"Duermo tarde Espanol, una hora ma, no aranes mi coche."
Anzu raised an eyebrow, skeptically. "I really need help with Spanish."
"Yeah, I was willing to bet. Name's Atem. Group meets in the library at four."
"Anzu," she said, standing from her seat. "Thanks."
"You gonna be there?" he asked, watching her gather her books. His only response was a smile, as she walking away.
"Un poco mas. That means see you there," he said, loud enough for her to hear him.
The small smirk Atem wore widened dramatically. Now all he had to do was fake a Spanish study group, charm Anzu with his non-existent knowledge of the language, and convince her to spend the night with him. Easy as pie.
...
Atem couldn't help but chuckle at the door in front of him – more so because of the name on the door. Professor Sennen. That's a joke if he's ever seen one.
But nonetheless, he knocked on the door, sighing when an "Absolutely not" through the wooden frame was his reply. Ignoring the warning, he popped his head inside of the room and rolled his eyes at the sight of his brother, leaning back against his office chair and counting the holes in the ceiling. "If these guys knew you like I did, they would have given you a smaller office."
The other man looked down, a smile pulling at his lips when he recognized the visitor. "Atem," he greeted. "It's been years."
"Yes, yes it has," Atem said, stepping into the room. He closed the door behind him and sat down in the chair opposite his brother's desk. "How have you been, Yami?"
"I've been great. But, y'know, till this day I still cannot figure out how you got a jury to connect September 11th to my DUI. Then alone, why that helped."
Atem shrugged. "Well, 2002 was a simpler time."
"Ha," Yami scoffed, pushing his bleached bangs out of his eyes. "So, what brings you here, Atem?"
"Well… I'm a student now," he replied, flinching a bit on the inside. He still wasn't used to admitting such a travesty.
Yami hesitated for a second. "That cannot be an inspiring journey," he said.
"Yes, well, I am in a bit of a jam. You see, the state bar has suspended my license. They found out my college degree was less then legitimate."
Yami's furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "I thought you had a Bachelors from Columbia."
"Yeah, and now I have to get one from America…and it can't be an email attachment," Atem said, shrugging again. "Anyways, I'm hoping our friendship will yield certain advantages. You know, moral support, academic guidance, every answer to every test to every one of the classes I'm taking. Here's my schedule."
"Atem," Yami gasped, indignantly. "Just by asking that question, you've insulted the integrity of this entire institution."
Atem's eyes hit the ceiling at his brother's words. "You did seem less into integrity the day that I convinced twelve of your peers that the night you made a U-turn on the freeway and tried to order pot stickers from the emergency call box, that your only real crime was loving America."
Yami sighed and massaged his temples, already remembering why he and Atem didn't speak on regular terms. "I'll look into it," he muttered.
"Thank you, Yami," Atem said, getting up. "You're great."
"Mhm. Atem, are you familiar with the phrase, 'Cheaters never prosper'?"
"No," Atem replied, opening the door. "And if I wanted to learn something, I wouldn't have come to DCC."
With that, he shot his brother a grin and shut the door, leaving Yami to curse his mother for having twins in the first place.
...
When Atem entered the study room in the library, he had expected to find Anzu there waiting for him. What he didn't expect to find was Anzu and five other people, who were all staring at him expectantly.
"Oh, here you are," Anzu said. "I invited a few other people from Spanish class. Hope you don't mind."
"Mind?" Atem said, biting his lip. "No, of course not." Figuring that it was either blow his cover or go with it, Atem sat down at the rectangular table in front of him and smiled. "Let's all introduce ourselves before we start. I'm Atem. I'm sure you all know Anzu since she invited –"
"Hi everyone, I'm Ryou," the snow-white haired man said from his spot next to Anzu. He waved to everyone and then gestured to the man next to him. "This is Malik; he's kind of a jock with an ego to match. Next to him is Jou, who probably needs this study group more than any of us –"
"Hey!"
"Then there's Seto," Ryou continued, brushing off the blond man's outburst. "He really doesn't want to be here, but he needs to ace this class, and he doesn't want to pay on a private tutor, because he's very frugal and hates spending money."
"Do I even know you?"
"And finally, that's Yuugi. He's smart, nice, and good-looking – according to most of the school's population anyways. Hey, this is kind of like the Breakfast Club."
Atem, along with the rest of the group, blinked several times at Ryou. "Well…" Atem said quietly, glancing around the room, "it's nice to meet you all." His eyes stopped on Yuugi, who was, indeed, very attractive. He had a black mop of hair and blond bangs like his own, but his eyes were two pools of a purple and blue mix. He almost forgot who he faked being a tutor for in the first place. That was until she said something to him.
"So, we should start now," Anzu said aloud.
"No, not yet," Atem cut in. "Let's make sure no one has anything else to say to each other. Anyone?"
"Wait a minute," Malik piped up, staring at the blond beside him. "I recognize you. You're Katsuya Jounouchi. You're the kid from my high school that got hooked on pills two years back and dropped out. Ha! You're little Katy Adderall."
Jou hit the table with his fist, the nickname haunting him. "Yeah, and you're Malik Istar, a good-for-nothin' ass, who lost his scholarship after breaking your arms in a keg stand."
"It's called a keg flip; they're very hard to pull off!"
"Guys, maybe we should just start studying," Yuugi said quietly. "The test is tomorrow, after all."
"Oh yes, let's all listen to the pipsqueak here," Seto scoffed.
"I just – "
A loud slam hushed the entire table, and everyone looked over at Ryou, where the noise had originated from. "You know what I got for Christmas?" Ryou said, both hands flat on the table. "It was a banner year at the Bender family. I got a carton of cigarettes. The old man grabbed me and said, 'smoke up, Johnny'… No, dad, what about you!"
It took a full minute of silence and many stares of bewilderment in Ryou's direction, before Atem opened his mouth again. "Well…that actually was from the Breakfast Club."
Ryou paused. "Nobody puts baby in the corner."
Atem nodded slowly. "Dirty Dancing."
The sound of his phone ringing caught Atem off-guard and, after digging it out of his pocket, he was welcomed with a very interesting text message.
Con-4-s-8-tion in my office now - Yami.
"Where are you going?" Yuugi asked Atem, when the latter stood from his chair.
"I just have to meet with someone with a misguided grasp of abbreviation real quick. Be back in a second. I want all of you to hash everything out while I'm gone."
"But – " Anzu had started to say, but Atem had already slipped out of the room, and an entire new round of arguing had begun.
