(( A/N: Just a quick reminder: I know Marik and Bakura aren't really teachers…Sadly. Thanks to Tails yet again for the help! ))
Repeat
A fan fiction by: Mr.Trite
The worst class of all was history.
Face pressed into his open palm, seventeen year old Atticus Rhodes sat in the row farthest from the front of the classroom, looking absolutely, positively bored. God, did this class suck. He simply didn't understand the point- Why bother learning about something that had already happened? Sometimes the young surfer wondered why he even bothered showing up to class in the first place. He could have sworn he was here to learn how to become a better duelist, not study about some stupid king who passed some stupid law.
Peeking over to the right, Atticus allowed a tiny smile to dance across his face, one of the only ones to happen during these forty-something minutes of pure torture. The classroom lights were dim, a projector flashing notes to replace the near-perfect handwriting of the new history teacher. However, even in this scarce light, Atticus could easily make out the figure of blue-haired Zane Truesdale, who was hunched over his notebook, scribbling away. Occasionally, the young man would look up and cast his sharp blue eyes onto the screen, in order to confirm what he was writing. Looking down at his own book, Atticus cracked a grin. Not opened once in the twenty-five minutes he had been sitting in this dump, the cover was an explosion of boredom-induced scribbles, pot leaves and other miscellaneous objects of interest gracing the notebook's red face. Looking over to Zane yet again, Atticus felt his smile grow wider. They were so different, his boyfriend and himself. He'd copy Zane's notes later, if he wasn't distracted by that sweet ass first…Which was most likely to happen.
The lights above the surfer's head suddenly flicked to life, causing Atticus to flinch, his pupils dilating uncomfortably. Blinking back the stars spinning in front of his eyes, the brunette could barely make out his teacher's voice in his minimal daze, sharp as he told the class of their next assignment.
"All right, class." the man said, his well-built figure becoming sharper as Atticus' eyes adjusted, "Using the notes I just gave you, answer the questions on the worksheet being passed around. And for those of you who couldn't be bothered to at least open their notebooks-" He swore to God, it was like the guy was reading his mind or something- "You can use the textbooks under your chair, pages one-hundred twenty-seven to one-hundred thirty-three." A hand shot up in the air, and the teacher sighed. "And yes, Mr. Princeton," he growled, "You can work in partners. No more than two." Despite the boy sitting in the front of the class, Atticus knew he was scowling.
"Hey!" Chazz Princeton shot back, "That's not even what I was gonna ask!" A silence passed, and Atticus could see as Chazz visibly shrank back in his chair, the teacher's hard gaze pinned on him like a cork board. The next time Chazz spoke, his voice was a tone quieter.
"Okay, maybe that was what I was going to ask…But that's not all!" When the history teacher raised his eyebrow- A silent "Oh?"-, Chazz continued. "I mean, like, when are we going to learn about the funner stuff? You know- Knights, torture, Egyptians…" It might have been a trick of the light, but Atticus could have sworn he had seen the man at the front of the room twitch slightly at his student's final suggestion.
"First of all," he barked, not missing a beat, " 'Funner' is not a word. Second of all, you're in my class, and will follow my class plan. You know as well as I do that the only reason you want to learn about the Egyptians is so we can talk the about the brains of dead people being pulled out of their nostrils with a hook." There was no verbal answer out of Chazz, but Atticus assumed the look on his face was answer enough. A small smirk crossed the teacher's face. "I thought about as much." Taking his gaze off of Chazz, he focused on the rest of the students. "Alright, get to work."
An explosion of chatter came flying into the room as desks were pushed against each other, the loud cry of the desk legs scraping against the classroom floor bouncing off the cement walls. Instantly, Atticus slid his desk against Zane's, making the teenager jump in the slightest. He had already began working on the sheet, and didn't bother to look up as he asked "Going to do any work today, Atty?" 'Atty' cracked a grin.
"Stupid question." Zane sighed and shook his head. And…Was that a smile?
"You can copy my paper later…You know, you're lucky I like you so much. Or you'd be flunking." Atticus rolled his eyes, smirking.
"Yeah, right. You know I'm a genius." Zane chuckled. Craning his neck, Atticus looked over at the teacher, quietly working on something of his own. Probably grading tests. "Say, Zane." Atticus said with a frown, "That guy sure has one big stick up his ass, huh?" At this, Zane peered up and over, following the direction of his boyfriend's eyes.
"Who, Mr. Ishtar?" Steady in his work, the white-haired man made no acknowledgement to hearing Zane say his name. Atticus nodded, in which the blue-haired teen gave a small shrug to.
"He…certainly cares about his job." Suddenly, Zane smirked. "Of course, perhaps if all his students did their work every once and a while, he'd be a bit nicer…" Atticus' smile matched that of his boyfriend's.
"Who, you mean Chazz?" Zane snickered a bit, but then stopped short as his eyes widened in the slightest. Seeing this, Atticus tilted his head, obviously confused. "What's up, Zaney?"
" I think Mr. Truesdale is referring to somebody other than Chazz, Mr. Rhodes."
Jolting in his seat, Atticus just about nearly fell out of his desk as he spun around to face Mr. Ishtar himself, a look of deep impatience in his eyes. In response, the nervous surfer gave a tiny smile, trying to hide the fact that this was the one person who could truly scare him out of his wits.
"H-Hey, Marik." Atticus greeted, not one to loose his hang-loose attitude, despite how he was feeling, "What's up?" The man scowled.
"Mr. Ishtar." the teacher corrected for probably the fiftieth time that month.
"Right, Marik." The man looked like he was going to say something, his mouth open slightly, but then shut it, deciding that there was no real point in saying something only to be heard by deaf ears. "Anyway, dude, I totally do my work in this class, you know that. I'm your favorite student, right?" Marik's glare only hardened.
"Is that so?" he asked, his tone of voice suggesting he was planning something. "Then please do me a favor and show me the notes you took just a few minutes ago." Atticus felt his cheeks grow pink, causing the older man to smirk.
"Pages one-hundred twenty-seven to one-hundred thirty-three, Mr. Rhodes." Marik said as he started to walk away, "One-hundred twenty-seven to one-hundred thirty-three." Once the man was out of hearing distance, Atticus exhaled and ran his fingers through his hair.
"Geeze," Atty breathed, a slight laugh traceable in his voice, "Somebody seriously needs to get laid, huh Zaney?" Zane simply shrugged in response, not wishing to encourage his boyfriend any further. Atticus sighed dramatically.
"You're the worst, Zaney." Atticus muttered, leaning down in his seat to grab the thick textbook lying in the metal basket under his seat. He brought the book back up and dropped it down onto the surface of his desk with a loud thud., catching the attention of a few others. "God, this sucks so hard." Looking back at the teacher, who had seemingly returned to his work as if there hand been no interruption whatsoever, Atticus scowled. "Just what the Hell do you think his problem is anyway?" Zane looked up at Atticus and shrugged.
"It couldn't possibly have anything to do with you slacking off in class, could it?" The two shared a smirk.
"Oh, fuck you." Atticus replied, the silly grin on his face showing he obviously didn't mean it. "Or, better yet, let me do it for you." Zane smiled, an agreement, and Atticus winked. He then followed this up by opening the textbook up to the page Mr. Ishtar had told him to, deciding to leave their 'after school' plans for later. "What could this Adolf Hitler guy have done that was so important, anyway?" Zane looked up at his surfer boyfriend, an eyebrow raised and a look in his eyes that mirrored the idea that he didn't actually believe the quite serious question that had come out of Atticus' mouth.
"Persecuted thousands of Jewish men, women, and children and eventually became the iron-fisted dictator of Germany, along with taking control of several other numerous countries, thus becoming one of the most well-known and feared men in history?" Atticus simply shrugged.
"Oh, please. I bet I could totally do that." Yawning, Atticus flipped through the pages of the textbook, obviously bored. "You think anything exciting ever happened in history, or was it really all just a bunch of crap?"
" I think if anything exciting were to happen, you'd be interested in it for all of a day." While Atticus leafed through the textbook, Zane watched. "Just what are you doing, anyway?"
"Looking for something fun to do." Came the reply. With a shake of his head and a slight sigh, Zane returned to his work. He knew Atticus would get bored soon enough and just start asking him for the answers. Or try to grope him, whichever came first.
However, when a few minutes passed and neither had happened, Zane realized that Atticus had not said as much as a word since he had told him of his boredom. A bit taken aback by this, Zane looked up to check if Atticus had dozed off. "Atty?"
The brunette's eyes were wide open and glued to a particular page, his thumb and index finger frozen to the corner of the page, as if meaning to turn it. He almost resembled a statue. Leaning over in his seat a bit, Zane couldn't quite see what it was that Atticus was looking at, but could see he was on the last few pages of the book. "Atty?" Zane asked again, honestly beginning to feel concerned. "What's wrong?" The bluenette reached out to touch his boyfriend's shoulder, which seemed to jolt the teen awake.
"Zane….This is…" Tearing his eyes away from the page to look at Zane, the bluenette could see that Atticus seemed a bit pale in the face. With slightly shaky hands, he turned the textbook so that the picture faced Zane. "…Look."
The picture took up the entire page, save a small caption on the bottom. Looking it over, Zane could clearly see the page displayed an ancient hieroglyphic tablet of some sort. Having nowhere near the skill of an archeologist, Zane couldn't read what they said- And for that matter, he sincerely doubted Atticus being able to read them, either- however, he guessed the story was about the picture opposite them, an Egyptian man carved into the stone. Looking up, Zane eyed his boyfriend, whose face was still on the lighter side. "So?"
"You don't see it?!" Voice filled with disbelief, Atticus' eyes seemed to widen. "Dude…look at it." Zane bent his head a little bit so the book was closer to his face.
"…No. I don't 'see' anything." Cocking his head to the side, Zane peered at Atticus with interest. "Unless you're honestly telling me you can read what that says, I don't see the reason for the shock on your face. Care to explain?" At Zane's request, Atticus looked just about ready to explode.
"Are you crazy?!" Pressing the book close enough to Zane's face that the bind of the text nearly collided into his nose, Atticus continued to press onwards, his voice lowered in the slightest. "The guy, in the picture….Dude, I think it's Marik." Pushing the book out of his face, Zane looked at Atticus as if he were the crazy one. Curiously looking into the brunette's eyes, Zane raised a brow, looking as though he was considering something. He actually started to laugh. Atticus blinked. "What?"
"Atty…Are you high?" Atticus shook his head at the accusation.
"No, not since Monday morning!" Zane scowled. Today was Monday. "Anyway, you can't tell me you don't see the resemblance. I mean…The hair's a bit more pointy and stuff, but I mean…Dude, that's totally him." After looking at Atticus for a second, Zane peered at the caption below the tablet.
"Atticus…You're well aware this is a picture of an ancient hieroglyphic text written almost six-thousand years ago, yes? Also, I'm pretty sure Mr. Ishtar is a History Teacher in his early thirties, not a six-thousand year old Egyptian Tomb Keeper." Atticus opened his mouth to argue, but then shut it. Knitting his eyebrows together, Atticus brought the textbook back into his possession, the pages facing him again.
"Weirder things have happened." Bending his head a bit, Zane prepared to go back to his work when he heard Atticus flip the page, followed by a "Holy shit!" Scowling, Zane picked his head up, blue eyes as sharp as tacks. "Now what?" Atticus said nothing, but instead slid the book under Zane's nose. He couldn't help it- The bluenette's eyes widened.
"You see it this time, don't you?" Atticus voice had taken to a new height, nearly squeaking. "This one isn't of Marik- Or that dude that looks like Marik, whatever- But it's…it's…" Zane didn't let the boy finish his sentence.
"…The choir teacher, right?" Although far from possessing the tan skin of one belonging to Egyptian descent, Zane definitely saw the similar features belonging to that of the young, British music teacher that everybody knew so well carved into the face of the man pictured. In his apparent shock, Zane could still make out the voice of his boyfriend, frantic and ranting.
"This is just too freaky to be a coincidence. I mean, come on Zaney, even you see it. We've got to get to the bottom of this- Next time I see him, I'm going to ask Bakura all about th--"
"No." Zane's voice was solid as he glanced up at his boyfriend. "If any of this…stuff… is actually real, we have to find out what's going on ourselves." Atticus' eyes lit up at this, and he grinned.
"Oh, this is just like National Treasure!" the surfer gushed, his excitement obvious. "Where do we start? Are we going in a cave, fighting off FBI agents in a museum, car chase?" Zane smiled at his boyfriend's enthusiasm.
'How about we start in a library?" At the word 'library', the look on Atticus' face changed from excitement to almost one of disgust.
"…Never mind." Zane let out a laugh.
"I thought about as much." Turning in his chair a little, Zane looked up at the clock. Less than five minutes left. "Tell you what," he offered. "How about at the end of the day, we- Or me- asks Mr. Ishtar to borrow one of the textbooks in the back of the class. We go the library, scan the pages, and ask for a few opinions from Jesse and the guys." Atticus nodded, accepting the textbook back from his boyfriend.
"Opinions." he repeated, looking down at the textbook in his hands, a cherished object. "Right."
"Opinions on what, may I ask?" Eyes going wide, Zane looked up sharply as Marik, who seemed to have snuck up on them for the second time that day. Instinctively, Atticus leaned over the book, covering the pages from his teacher's view. Mr. Ishtar noticed this immediately.
"Mr. Rhodes, if you've been drawing in my books again, I'll kill you." Easing the textbook out from Atticus, the history teacher seemed to study the page, a low "Hmm." emitting from his throat. Under his desk, Zane twiddled his thumbs nervously. Did he see it, too?
Finally, Marik chuckled and cast an eye on Zane. "If you're looking for somebody that can read hieroglyphics, boys, I don't think this school is a good place to look." Atticus let out a relieved sigh.
"Okay, so you don't see it, then. Awesome." Zane could have slapped his boyfriend right then and there. Mr. Ishtar peered at the brunette, curious.
"See what? I don't 'see' anything. Mr. Rhodes, if you've shown up to my class under the influence again, I'm calling the cops. For real this time." Opening his mouth to protest, Atticus' voice was drowned out by the bell, ringing sharply to announce their freedom. This was followed by the stampede of students exiting the classroom, some catching up with their peers. Zane stood and began to fix the desks. The teacher placed a hand on his shoulder.
"That's unnecessary, Mr. Truesdale." Marik said, "I don't have a class next period. I'll fix the desks. You two get to class." Nodding, Zane grabbing Atticus' arm, still looking half-shaken. The boy stood and followed Zane out of the class, convinced that there was more going on in this school then what met the eye.
A few minutes later, when Marik was all by his lonesome and fixing the desks as promised, there was a knock on the door. All students were to be in class by now; the hallways were empty. "Come in." the Egyptian called, not looking up. He already knew who was at the door, and fought to keep the rare smile off of his face.
"Good morning, Marik!" the voice called, cheery and light. It was getting harder and harder to not smile. Peering up, Marik met the eyes of young Ryo Bakura, and lost his battle.
"Good morning." Marik replying, straightening himself. Bakura just about nearly skipped over to his side, the huge smile on his face able to outshine the sun. Leaning up, the white-haired man placed a quick kiss on Marik's cheek. "How's your day been, love?" Marik smiled.
"Very…Interesting." Looking down at the paler of the two, Marik raised an eyebrow. "You're familiar with Zane Truesdale and Atticus Rhodes, yes?" Bakura nodded.
"Oh, of course. They're two of my favorite students." Obviously interested in why Marik would ask this, Bakura placed his doe-like brown eyes on the other's sharp periwinkle one's. "Why?"
"They found a very interesting picture today. I thought you'd like to see it." Looking over at his desk, Marik slid a textbook off of it and flipped through the pages making up the back of the book until he found the one he had discovered Atticus Rhodes with. He turned the textbook over to Bakura. "Looks rather familiar, yes?" Looking the page over, Bakura chuckled.
"Oh, yes. I remember these…" Flipping back one page, Bakura's smile grew, and looked up to the history teacher. "And you still look as good as you did six thousands years ago." A tiny grin coming onto his face, Marik wrapped an arm around the middle of Bakura's back and pulled him closer.
"You don't think they're going to find out about us, do you?" Bakura smiled and shook his head.
"I doubt it. Give Rhodes a few days, and he'll be sure to forget about it. Especially when Zane tries to take him into a library." Sharing a laugh, Bakura looked up at Marik and smiled somewhat shyly, blushing a bit. "Although," he said with a giggle in his voice, "I wouldn't mind them finding out about this part, would you?" Turning Bakura's head towards his, Marik leaned down to place a swift kiss onto the man's lips.
"No," he stated, "I wouldn't." And then went looking to kiss Bakura yet again, the thought of Atticus and Zane now out of his mind completely.