Hello everyone! First off, some information in case you didn't catch any details in the manga or anime that would be necessary to enjoy this fic to the fullest: Anzu is the Japanese name for Tea, who normally calls Yugi, Yugi. Yugi, of course, has an Egyptian pharaoh sharing his body named Atem, also known as Yami Yugi; in the Japanese version, he almost exclusively, save for a few, emotionally-charged times, calls Yugi "aibou", which means "partner". Jonouchi is Joey, and Honda is Tristan. Despite what Anzu calls the pharaoh on the show, she will call him "Yugi" in this story. This implies that, for the most part, Yugi and Atem are seen as essentially one person to Anzu. The pharaoh is most often contained inside Yugi's mind, but can switch places with him. If you're detail-oriented, you'll note a few areas where I use a different name from the one you may expect, as I may be referring to a different character from the current physical form of Yugi.

Please keep in mind this fic's rating of M.

This entire fanfiction was written in three days. 28,550 words, three days, like a mini, self-imposed NaNoWriMo (Note: Since then I've made a few, very minor edits to rid the story of typos and whatnot). I did essentially nothing else those days except for wake up, write, eat, write more, and go to bed at two in the morning. It's also special in that, save for very few, minor edits, I wrote it completely chronologically. That is a rarity for me, but I did it.

And I loved every minute of it. :)

So please, enjoy the fruits of my labor, and review!

Atem was deep in thought. He had been sitting in his soul room for a full week, trying to gather his thoughts together about what he would do next. He had requested his friends not go to Egypt to attempt to return him to his own era unless he felt he was ready, and the idea of leaving all of the people he had met in order to go back and be faced with an uncertain future in a hostile Egypt was a frightening idea. But each time he thought about it anew, he realized all over again that his future in this world was hardly guaranteed in comparison.

Which would be the better choice for him, a modern-day pharaoh in a friend-filled world, but in which pharaohs no longer even existed?

With a heavy sigh and a stretch, Atem brushed a strand of hair from his face, got up, and decided to check on Yugi; he had been completely unaware of any goings-on on the outside while he played several long rounds of Duel Monsters in his head to clear his mind.

But when he resumed his connection with his aibou, he was taken aback. He could swear, as soon as he opened the floodgates of emotion from his partner, he felt almost…sad?

"Yugi, hello," he called.

Yugi's eyes were downcast as he sifted mindlessly through his deck. He looked up in surprise upon hearing Atem's voice, but quickly resumed his focus on his cards again.

"Hey Pharaoh," he said weakly.

Atem tilted his head. "Yugi?" he repeated, concerned. Clearly, something was amiss.

"Yugi," he started again, more seriously this time, "I can tell something's wrong." The boy didn't respond. When he had flipped through his deck so that he now was on the same monster he started with, Atem knew it was serious. His aibou wasn't even paying attention to what he was doing.

"What is it?" he asked gently.

Yugi finally seemed to hear him. "Not 'what'," the downtrodden boy said simply, "but 'who'." He offered no further explanation.

Atem blinked. He was torn between asking for more information and leaving the boy alone for the time being. He took the opportunity to glance around the room, but as soon as he started, he gasped. It was a shambles compared to how Yugi normally left it

No, he must not be like this all day, or Ra forbid all week, Atem declared.

But at the same time, he didn't want to pry too hard and risk his aibou getting upset with him after he had just returned to his active consciousness. He took a softer approach.

"Why don't we ask Jonouchi to come to the arcade?" he suggested. "That always cheers you up a little. Or better yet, ask Anzu to come with you," he said with a devious smirk obvious in his voice.

Yugi stopped mid-deck. "Please don't mention her," he sighed, his voice cracking at the end. He felt his eyes begin to well up with tears.

What? Atem was on high alert now. Mentioning Anzu made him dejected? He loved talking about her.

"Besides, that would be inappropriate," Yugi said, looking down at his Kuriboh.

"What? Why?" Atem asked, baffled and uncomprehending.

"Because," Yugi began, looking as if each word pained him, "she's with someone else now."

Atem's eyes widened in shock.

"No…"

Was he serious?

"Who?"

"Seto Kaiba."

"Kaiba?!" Atem nearly shouted, not even bothering to hide the surprise in his voice. "When? How? …Why?"

"Because she likes him, I don't know!" Yugi said, getting exasperated with Atem now. "Like I said, don't mention her," he snapped.

The two of them sat in silence for a while before acknowledging each other's presence again. Atem was deep in thought, or more accurately, deep in confusion about this new information. What on earth had there ever been between Anzu and Kaiba? He realized he hadn't always paid attention to Kaiba other than to be suspicious of his motives, but he found it odd there would be that much of an oversight in his judgment of how he felt about Anzu…someone he had always paid attention to.

What was going on?

When Yugi's emotions seemed to be throttled back to sadness instead of irritation again – and he was on his fourth time flipping through his deck – Atem gently prodded, "Well, the arcade still seems like a better place than here to vent frustration." He felt he needed to do the same, even though he'd only just returned to Yugi's world.

Yugi stopped for a moment to consider this, then put down his cards and sighed. "I guess you're right." He languorously stood up and made his way to the front of the house, sitting down to put on his shoes before heading out the door.