Just a bit of fun. This chapter was edited and this is the reuploaded version because, well, it needed editing.

Clashshipping, rated M for the next chapter.

Characters (c) Kazuki Takahashi


The students filed into the classroom reluctantly, wishing they could stay outside in the sunshine. However, the prospect of a lesson with Mr Ishtar and his assistant Mr Atem negated any resentful thoughts they had. These lessons were fun.

"Good morning, class," Mr Ishtar said, writing on the board with an unbelievably squeaky pen that made everyone wince.

"Good morning, Mr Ishtar," they chanted as they took their seats.

"Should I feel shunned?" Mr Atem said playfully, handing out worksheets.

"Good Morning, Mr Atem," the class chanted obediently, making both teaches smile.

"Right, everyone get your books out and copy this down, then spilt into groups of three to discuss." Mr Ishtar said.

Immediately the noise in the room skyrocketed and Mr Ishtar sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. Mr Atem smiled and headed over to his colleague, holding a pile of textbooks on one hip rather effeminately and adjusting his thin-rimmed glasses.

"They're not discussing the topic, are they," Mr Ishtar said in a defeated tone.

"They will," Mr Atem replied, raising his voice slightly. "As soon as you tell them about the homework they have to do on it."

The unnecessary chat died down and became more productive. That is to say, the gossiping quietened to a barely-perceptible murmur.

"I still ship it," Téa whispered to Miho, who giggled.

"But they're just colleagues," Ryou protested quietly.

"Miho thinks that if you look closely, there are real signs," The blue-haired girl squeaked, and the three glanced over to watch Mr Atem handing over the pile of textbooks to Mr Ishtar, who smiled and gave Mr Atem a rather lingering glance. Mr Atem also stayed slightly longer than was necessary, fussing about and making sure Mr Ishtar had all the books.

Ryou raised his eyebrows.

"See?" Miho and Téa said in unison. "They're obviously into each other!"

Ryou shrugged and made a so-so motion with his hand. As they discussed this, they became so engrossed in their fangirling that they didn't notice Mr Atem wandering around the class, checking on the pupils' progress. They didn't notice him stop behind them and listen in.

"Oh come on, it's totally Ishtar-Atem, not Atem-Ishtar!" Téa said heatedly.

"But they might be into role-reversal," Miho frowned.

"Nah," Ryou muttered. "Atem seems too comfy in his subordinate role."

"Excuse me?" Mr Atem said politely, making them all jump and blush.

"Uh…" Téa said.

"Back to work, if you please," Mr Atem said lightly, wandering on.

The three released the breath they had been unconsciously holding.

"At least it wasn't Sir who heard us," Miho said, turning to the correct page in the textbook.

The other two shuddered, thinking what Mr Ishtar might have deemed an appropriate response to their lack of focus on anything work-related. It could get to the level of the headmaster, Mr G. Kaiba, if Mr Ishtar was really annoyed.

At the front of the class, Mr Ishtar watched the pupils working with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Suddenly he pressed the pen to the board in a long line, creating a torturous squeal that got everyone's attention. All eyes turned to the front and Mr Atem unobtrusively returned to his seat by Mr Ishtar's desk, crossing his legs and watching Mr Ishtar adjust his tie.

"Well, now I've got your attention," Mr Ishtar said, as if nearly murdering pens were an everyday occurrence – which, unfortunately for the class, it was – and started rubbing off the notes on the board. "What did we learn from our little discussion?"

Silence.

"Any opinions anyone would like to share on the topic?"

Silence and shifty looks ensued.

"Don't be shy," Mr Atem said softly, looking expectantly at certain members of the class.

Even more shifty looks were exchanged.

"Wow," Mr Ishtar said, nodding slightly to himself. "Well, shall I get the Headmaster in to see what he thinks?"

Several cries of "Oh God no!" exploded from the students and they immediately became more vocal and responsive.

As the discussion went on, Mr Atem idly cleaned his glasses, watching Mr Ishtar out of the corner of his eye. He was wearing a dark purple shirt, sleeves rolled up above the elbow, exposing his bronze arms, and carelessly not tucked into his beige pants, normally-wild hair caught back in a plain black hair tie, in a long blonde ponytail that spiked down his back. Mr Atem felt himself smiling and drew his attention back to the discussion.

"Okay, now read pages 242 to 250," Mr Ishtar instructed them. There was much sighing and longing looks out of the window at the sunshine just begging to be played in, but they obeyed him. They didn't want to face his wrath, or worse yet, the Headmaster. Mr Ishtar sat down in his spinning chair and faced Mr Atem, who smiled slightly as their legs accidentally knocked together.

"Are you sure you're okay to do the presentation, Yami?" Mr Ishtar said quietly, frowning in concern.

Mr Atem nodded, looking down at his hands.

"Well, as long as you're sure."

"I am. I can do it."

Mr Ishtar briefly put his hand on Mr Atem's knee and squeezed lightly, causing the fangirls to squeal under their breath.

"Class," Mr Ishtar said, spinning in his chair – muttering 'whee' under his breath – and clearing his throat. "Mr Atem is now going to teach you about the Egyptian religious rituals."

Mr Atem got to his feet and started drawing hieroglyphics on the board with a practiced hand. "What do we already know, class?" He asked, putting his hands on his hips and surveying the class over the rims of his glasses.

"Mummies!"

"Take the brains out through the nose!"

"Holy cats!"

"Incest!"

Mr Atem raised one eyebrow at the person who had suggested incest, who shuffled and muttered 'sorry' under his breath.

"No, most of that was about the death rituals. What do we already know about the religion?" He asked.

"It was a pantheon-based religion," Ryou piped up. Mr Atem smiled encouragingly.

"The gods and goddesses had weird animal heads."

"Ramses and Moses swapped the heads around for a joke, and the head priests had to fast for a month."

"You're thinking of the movie Prince of Egypt, Tristan," Mr Atem said patiently. "But thanks for contributing."

"Any other ideas?" Mr Ishtar said, spinning slightly in his chair.

No one put anything further into the discussion.

"Well," Mr Atem said, folding his arms and standing hip-shot, "Like Ryou said, it was a pantheon of gods and goddesses. Would you like to hear the tale from the so-called Book of the Dead? Be prepared to take notes."

The class settled happily. They liked Mr Atem's stories about Egypt, he always made them seem so real, as if he'd been there.

"At first there was only Nun, the dark waters of chaos. One day a hill rose up out of the waters, and we call it Ben-Ben. Don't laugh, this is serious."

Mr Ishtar scowled at the class until the tittering died down, and gestured for Mr Atem to continue. He couldn't help but think that Mr Atem was looking particularly smart today, in a tight long-sleeve burgundy shirt tucked into his even-tighter black trousers, spiky hair tamed back from his face.

"On this hill stood Atum, the first god. Atum coughed and spat out Shu, the god of the air, and Tefnut, the goddess of moisture. Shu and Tefnut had two children. First, there was Geb, the god of the earth. Then, there was Nut, the goddess of the sky."

The class furiously scribbled down the names, asking Mr Atem to explain how they were spelled occasionally.

"Shu lifted Nut up so that she became a canopy over Geb." Mr Atem lifted his arms with an absent smile, making the others smile as well at his obvious joy in the topic. "Nut and Geb had four children named Osiris, Isis, Seth and Nephthys. Osiris was the king of the earth and Isis was the queen."

"They all got a bit randy, didn't they," Joey muttered to Tristan.

"It's because of all the inbreeding," Tristan replied.

"That don't make sense."

Mr Ishtar cleared his throat meaningfully and they turned back to Mr Atem's tale.

"Osiris was a good king, and he ruled over the earth for many years. However, everything was not well. Seth was jealous of Osiris because he wanted to be the ruler of the earth. He grew angrier and angrier until one day he killed Osiris."

Here Mr Atem paused with a frown on his face, seemingly troubled by his own story.

"And then?" a pupil asked.

"Osiris went down into the underworld and Seth remained on earth and became king. Osiris and Isis had one son called Horus. Horus battled against Seth and regained the throne. After that, Horus was the king of the earth and Osiris was the king of the underworld."

"Wait, what about Ra?" Miho asked, idly doodling some fanart of Mr Ishtar and Mr Atem in a closet together.

"Ra was the sun god."

"So how did the Ancient Egyptians worship? Did they just pray whenever, or did they have to go to ceremonies?" someone else asked.

"Well, normally, you see, the priests would—" He suddenly broke off and looked at the floor, looking distressed.

He shook his head and came back to the present. "Uh, where was I?"

"Daily worship," Miho said helpfully.

"Yes, well…" Mr Atem turned to the hieroglyphics he had written on the board and peered at them as if they held the answer. "Um, the everyday folk would…" He put a hand to his head and tapped at his temples.

Mr Ishtar sidled up to the troubled Mr Atem and spoke softly to him, so only the other teacher could hear him. "I can take it from here, if you don't feel up to it."

Mr Atem glanced into the other man's eyes and nodded, a grim twist to his mouth.

"Why don't you go sit down, Yami," Mr Ishtar suggested even quieter. Mr Atem sighed and complied, sitting down and taking his glasses off with an irritated flick of his wrist, sending them skidding across the desk.

Mr Ishtar spared him a concerned glance and smoothly resumed the thread of the lesson until the bell went, signalling the end of class and the start of break. When all the pupils had gone, Mr Ishtar sat down in his chair and surveyed Mr Atem.

"Are you okay?"

"I just wish I could remember, Marik," Mr Atem said in an exasperated voice.

"I know."

"I just feel so… stupid when I can't remember simple things that I looked at in the textbook just a few minutes before."

Mr Ishtar placed his hand over Mr Atem's, his thumb rubbing the knuckles reassuringly. Mr Atem sighed unhappily and pulled away, shuffling papers on Mr Ishtar's desk.

"We should get ready for the next class," he muttered.

"We've got a bit of time," Mr Ishtar said. "And the cupboard needs reorganising."

Mr Atem shrugged wearily, allowing Mr Ishtar to pull him inside the closet and into his arms. Mr Ishtar cradled him, gently stroking the back of his neck. Mr Atem considered stopping this before they were found, but relaxed into Mr Ishtar's embrace anyway, arms sliding about his waist and resting his head on the taller man's shoulder.

"I feel like an idiot when this happens," Mr Atem mumbled.

"Your amnesia's nothing to be ashamed of, Yami," Mr Ishtar replied, rocking him gently from side to side.

"I'm sorry you ended up doing the presentation."

"I've said before, it's not a problem."

"Thank you for understanding, Marik," Mr Atem said in a small voice.

Mr Ishtar cupped Mr Atem's face in his hands and gently kissed him. Mr Atem melted into his arms before pulling back regretfully.

"We shouldn't. We'll be found."

Mr Ishtar stroked his cheek. "We've got a bit of time."

"If Gozuburo finds us—" Mr Atem was stopped halfway as Mr Ishtar kissed away his protests.

"I'll bear the consequences," Mr Ishtar breathed into Mr Atem's ear, somehow making it sound like an innuendo.

A few minutes later the bell rang again, signalling the recommencement of classes. Mr Ishtar rested his forehead against Mr Atem's for a moment before releasing him, and they began making like they had been reorganising the cupboard.

"Yes, it's much tidier now," Mr Atem said as they left the cupboard, the class filing in again.

Tea and Miho started giggling.

"They were in a cupboard together," Téa whispered in a singsong voice. "You know what that means."

Ryou rolled his eyes. "Look, I'm sure there's nothing really going on," he muttered.

However, he didn't see Mr Atem blushingly tucking his shirt back in.