A/N: This story is plainly written in a very very very simplistic (and bad!) manner on purpose! (any simpler and I'd be using "Seto said" "Atem said" etc only after someone spoke) But I had to break out of that near the end. THIS IS NOT MEANT TO BE DISRESPECTFUL TO ANYONE especially if they happen to write this way. It was suggested that I adapt a simpler writing style to be understood more easily, so this is to poke fun at what something super simple from me would sound like (while purposely sounding bad. If you want to see my usual writing style, please see "Domination". Thank you.) It was very painful to write this but it's all one big joke.

A/N: Because the setting for this isn't in Atem's afterlife, he's categorized here on FF as Yami.

A/N: The first page and a half of this is in Anzu's point of view, in a sense, while being in 3rd person. You'll see why.

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A Bad Joke

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It was late in the afternoon when Kaiba called. He didn't just call anyone, Atem was the one he chose. That was never a surprise. It was already a rarity whenever he made any hint of his existence around the game shop, whether it be in voice or appearance. When he did make contact, it was usually always directed at Atem and no one else. No one else seemed to hold much of any importance to the "high and mighty Kaiba". In any case, the Pharaoh went out to meet with him personally at the front door. Kaiba even had his own sports car waiting outside. Its model was unknown to anyone unfamiliar to the world of sports cars, but that probably didn't matter. The car was probably custom made just for him and Atem anyway.

There was a girl that loved Atem, but he never really seemed to notice her. She sat at the front desk of the Turtle Game Shop each day, along with the Pharaoh's best friend, Yūgi. Every time the Pharaoh would leave with words of: "Kaiba has come to meet with me. I shall return soon," the girl's heart always wrenched with anguish. She knew, and Yūgi knew, the Pharaoh's words were more promising than his own actions when Kaiba was involved. The Pharaoh entered the main room wearing a tight ensemble of shiny leather and metal bangles. The girl's eyes glistened with jealous anger as she observed her secret love. He looked as if he were going on a date with Kaiba. He probably was.

As always, he said he was meeting with Kaiba and he'd be back, but instead of saying he'd be back soon, he said the opposite. No, he said beyond the opposite. He said worse. "Anzu , Yūgi, I will return later on tomorrow afternoon. So please be sure to keep the shop locked at night," he announced firmly in those velvety sonorous tones of his. Yūgi seemed to think not very much of it and joyfully supported his regal counterpart. But the girl, Anzu, on the other hand, was not as accepting. She and the Pharaoh met eyes for a moment, inwardly battling emotions. She could never beat him in anything. She could never beat him in a duel and could not certainly beat him now. Defeated, she moved her gaze from him and pretended to be occupied with some imaginary work in the shop. "Well, have fun then, I guess, and be careful out there, Atem."

He remained still as if he were allowing the words she uttered to cognitively simmer. Then, he nodded. "I will, thank you," he assured and turned on his heels. Once he had left, Anzu gripped at the front desk. It was a futile attempt to continue her charade of hiding her emotions. She had emotions that only Atem could help her ease and control effectively. Yūgi tried to console her, but she refused to listen and ran upto Yūgi's room. And cried.

When Atem came back, his clothes were on backwards. The next week, he returned wearing Kaiba's shirt. The week after that, when Kaiba drove Atem in front of the game shop early in the morning, they shared a moment. It was discreet enough to not be noticed directly, but steamy enough to fog the tinted windows. The car barely shook. But if one were to listen closely, the husky growls and lustful exclamations could be understood—and Kaiba's name decorated each breath.

What happened after this, Anzu no longer cared to know about. But after a month passed, she heard from Yūgi that Atem had moved out of the game shop and moved in with Kaiba. The two of them shared something that even Yūgi, and especially not Anzu, could not and would not understand. But those were Atem's wishes and only the best could be considered towards that with respect. But to Anzu, Atem's reality had become nothing but a bad joke to her.

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"Anzu! Hey Anzu!" a vibrant Yūgi called to his friend. The two of them had been studying and working on homework the night before until late into the early hours of morning. Yūgi had retired to his comfy bedsheets to sleep around 1 am, but Anzu did not follow suit in his actions. She was stuck in the middle of writing content for her English class. Her assignment was a paper on the subject of a fictional event in her life that would be considered like a terrible joke if it were ever real. It had taken a majority of her focus and she lost track of time. She struggled with writing it, despite the flowery words she used to describe her crush. She had been so immersed in it, she had fallen asleep on it after she finished. It was now an hour before classes started and Yūgi was attempting to wake her. "Anzu! Wake up! We're going to miss the bus again...!" he almost whined. A gentle drowsy sound rippled through her as she roused from her slumber. Sitting up in the swivel chair at Yūgi's desk, the spirited girl rubbed the sleep from her moistened eyes. "Mm—what? What time is it?"

As the two youths scrambled to prepare themselves for school, Atem was arriving at the front door. And he wasn't alone. "There, are you happy now? I got you here at the crack of dawn like you nagged me to," an annoyed Seto groused, stepping out of his lustrous black 2008 Aston Martin AMV10. The glow of the sun spilled a warm outline over his tall form. Flecks of the gold dappled his hair and defined features; fragments of it wavering in his eyes. With a frown that resembled more of a pout than an expression of deep displeasure, the bronzed former pharaoh turned to his rival. And there, his fiery eyes narrowed, "It is barely 7 am. And I did not ask you to arrive here at the 'crack of dawn' as you so 'effectively' put it. I simply said 'morning'."

"Look," Seto began, nearing closer to Atem in a slow, cool stride, "You're here. You can talk with your little fan club before they end up being late for school," he paused. His eyes left Atem for a moment to catch sight of a female silhouette scrambling around in Yūgi's room to dress into her uniform. He deduced she spent the night and brought a change of clothes. And since he didn't spot the midget, he figured he was not in the same room with her. "Hnn"

"What?"

"Those two aren't a couple yet?"

"No. They don't know about us yet," Atem stated. His words held the hidden meaning of "Because Anzu doesn't know, she still probably thinks she may yet have an opportunity with me and will never see Yūgi in such a way until she gains clarity and closure."

"Hmph," Seto smirked and pulled Atem to his chest.

"S-Seto what are you doing?"

"What do you think?"

"N-not in front of the shop!"

"They're going to find out anyway," Seto assured, brushing his mouth over the lips he desired. Atem shuddered, the obvious need that brewed within him was too obvious to ignore. Yet, not one to crumble so quickly under a challenge, Atem continued to stand his ground. Seto earnestly accepted the 'objection' and drew his mouth over Atem's. His tongue slithered over those craved lips and Atem showed signs of buckling. But instead of giving into Seto's delicious advances, he pressed his hands to Seto's chest and lightly pushed him away. And to spite him, the tanned male laced his own tongue across his lips, teasing Seto by acquiring his taste right in front of him.

"Mmm..." The sound vibrated richly in Seto's throat and he wasted no time in gravitating his hips to Atem's. The two of them ground against each other momentarily; a round of lustful sounds and gasps breaking between them. "Seto... not in front of the game shop..." Atem whispered, beginning to shut his eyes. "They're going to find out," Seto reitterated in an airy tone a tad raspier than his significant other's, "and you will be the one to tell them."

"Mm-" Atem breathed, finally being claimed be Seto's lips. A spark of sensation poured into him from the feel of the firm throbbing lust in Seto's pants rubbing against his own. The swirl of Seto's tongue in his mouth earned an eager grunt from him and sent his hips pressing against Seto's in desperate bucking motions. "Why do you always do this to me..." the rhetoric words dropped from the exotic male while he felt himself being whisked away within the moment.

Then all at once, Seto ceased in his actions and pulled away. Before Atem could breathe a word of exclamation, he was spun around and grasped by the shoulders from behind. All manner of breathing became lost to him at that moment from the gawking, and fuming, expressions of Yūgi and Anzu in front of him. Yūgi was amazed, while Anzu's glare could smother the former ruler on the spot. The irony of something she imagined as one of the worst things that could have happened in her life actually being a reality only fueled her anger like kerosene. The tension was taut and only the sound of a faint, lonely wind passed between them for a good while. Thankfully, Seto eased the suspense. Sort of. "Well, now's a perfect time, " he stated, giving Atem's shoulders a squeeze, "so tell them."

"Uh...Well...Um..." Atem stammered. Shakily, he raised his right hand, "... Hello..."

"Hmph," Seto smirked, giving Atem's backside a tap with his hips.

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END

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Yes, this story was one huge joke. And now it's over. Fweeee.