Oh, guess what, I'm alive. Hello everyone and before people start raging at me for leaving so suddenly, I'm sorry about that. Life took a hold of my time fast, not to mention my health and mental issues that I'm finally getting under control were consuming too. Trust me when I say that I feel horrible for just leaving like that. For this story, because I've been out of the swing of things, is to kinda help me get back to it. I'll say this now, it won't be perfect, I don't expect it to be perfect. I ask that you have some patience with me as I start dipping back into this little world. (I mean I need to anyway *punches writer's block*)

*The usual general disclaimers, blah blah*

The Issues with Height

Atem Mutou stared at the small child on his bed. The boy's features were that of Yugi, in fact, it was Yugi. The former Pharaoh had seen a lot of things in the years he'd been on this planet, alive and as a spirit. This took the cake though. When Atem decided that he would like to actually live out a life without having to save the world, the gods granted that to him when the Ceremonial Duel ended with a tie.

His own body, DNA and all too. Ishizu and Marik had done their best to create everything for him. Birth certificates and all the papers he would need to live life 'normally'. Though Atem aimed for normal, due to the fact that he was in the original body, magic came with it. At least it allowed him to see family and friends occasionally.

The spellbook that had created all of this mess sat on the bed, another gift from the Ishtars. It had potions for almost everything. Fevers, sleeping problems but the one thing Atem knew not to mess around with was the spells that could physically change the body. One needed an abundance of magic to do any of them and Yugi had discovered one of the many drawbacks when you didn't have enough magic.

"You realize how lucky you are, right?" Atem asked, rubbing his temples. "Grandpa is away for a month trip to a dig and the people who know your true age will understand that you've dabbled in magic. You're lucky they believe in it." But this would still cause problems. Atem had made a potion to reverse the original spell, but it would take two weeks for Yugi to get back to his usual self.

The potion was his only option since the others had dangerous potential side effects that could harm the poor boy. The only downside to this one was that it would take a lot of his magic and more. The boy had magic but since he was untrained, it would take longer to become normal again. "Of course I can't keep you all locked up here but you can't go anywhere without me." If anyone found Yugi at home, alone, there would be a lot of issues.

Yugi was pouting still and refused to speak. He only wanted to be taller. When Atem tipped his chin up, making Yugi look up which only made his mood sour even further with the former Pharaoh's scolding look. "Yugi, take one good look in the mirror over there and tell me what you think people would see us as."

Yugi frowned and turned towards the mirror, not understanding what Atem was talking about . . . until he looked in the mirror.

There he was, small, very much a toddler with big round eyes, it was the very image he'd seen in the baby pictures his mother had. Next to him was Atem. Tall, only twenty five years old and the same hair style. The only difference was that the former spirit had more blond bangs and his eyes were a deep crimson. It took Yugi a moment before it clicked and spoke for the first time in an hour since he'd been discovered as a toddler.

"We . . . look like we're . . ."

"Related, more specifically, one might guess father and son." Atem was still King of Games, still very much in the spotlight of the dueling world. He had his own little column in the duel magazines even. If he was seen with a child that looked to be his son, there would be questions. Those questions would increase when Yugi went back to normal and the King of Games' 'son' disappeared.

"Oh no . . ."

Atem snorted. "Indeed. So we can do a few things, one is I keep you in this house for the two weeks. No going outside at all or meeting up with Rebecca and talking with her." Yugi paled. "Two, we go through with the two weeks and deal with the chaos that will happen because of it or," He pulled out two potions and set them before the boy. "We can do it this way."

"What's the third plan?"

Atem pointed to the jar with the purple liquid. "This will neutralize the potion I gave you, it would mean you would have to grow normally again. The second potion is a combination of things which took quite a bit of time and magically energy. It's like a web that will cover the world so to speak. The world will forget there was a Yugi Mutou before me, Grandpa would be my grandpa and he would be your great grandfather. Our friends would be immune to this, they have too much knowledge to fight against the spell."

"What about Pegasus and Kaiba?"

"Pegasus will understand. If he forgets, it's a plus but I doubt he won't blab about it to the entire world. Kaiba . . . well . . . we'll deal with him when we have to. You'll grow normally, but once you, biologically, reach your original age, which was twenty, the years you 'lost' will be restored. With the web in place, the world won't even notice it." Atem finished and breathed out. That plan was hastily put together when he was making the potions but it was quite solid compared to the others.

Yugi frowned. "Why can't you just place the web potion alone and combine it with the two weeks?"

"One," Atem held up one finger to start off. "I won't be able to make that potion in a year. The magical energy I was saving for emergencies is gone. Two, there's ingredients that react rather violently with the potion I previously gave you. There could be horrible consequences if I were to combine those two. Three, all the work I did would be for nothing because along with those horrible consequences, with some of these ingredients will cancel out some of the world web's purposes. For example, anyone who met you face to face would remember you. Four, it would be less of a problem doing it the third way because the two weeks would drain you of everything, magically and life energy. Death would be hovering at your door."

That made Yugi pale. Atem named off a few more reasons and so far, Yugi was bouncing to accept the third option. "I didn't think there was so much to it."

Atem eyed the toddler with some sympathy. Yugi had only become aware of the magic, he didn't grow up with it. "Magic is like everything else. There are certain magics and potions you simply can't mix together. Limits are nearly everywhere including laws that have to be followed to protect people who can't use magic or defend themselves from it. The spell you cast could have worked, but all it might get you is to be an inch taller and stunt your growth completely." he explained. There was more to it but Atem was sure Yugi didn't want to hear it, at least not yet.

Well Yugi didn't want that for sure. "I suppose I could go with the third option."

"You're taking this very well." Atem blinked and sat on the bed across from Yugi, studying the toddler's face.

"Well I mean so far this one sounds pretty solid. I can always explain what happened to Rebecca and in the end once I reach twenty again I'll go age to what my actual age is and with the web in place, no one would bat an eye. So you say, anyway."

"You're sure of this?" Atem blinked. "You'll have to call me father."

Yugi smiled shyly and shrugged. "I mean . . . there's not much of a difference if you ask me. You've always been a fatherly figure towards me anyway." A blushed lit up the pharaoh's cheeks at those words as Yugi drank each of the potions. One minute later Atem felt the wave of magic slip over them and spread farther out. The spell had worked, thank Ra. Now came for the other part. Informing their friends.

The gang sat on the couch listening to what Atem had told them, Joey and Tristan with their jaws hanging open and Anzu staring at the toddler Yugi, quite stunned herself. "So we have to play along with this until he's twenty again?" Joey asked.

"Yes, unfortunately, but once he reaches twenty he'll revert to the age he should be."

Anzu nodded for a moment before an interesting thought popped in her head. "Atem, if you're planning to be the 'father', who will be the 'mother'?" The question made the Pharaoh freeze in place. That's right, it took two to make a child. Whoever he deemed 'mother' to Yugi, the web spell would spread that out and make it 'normal' knowledge, but without making a choice the spell wouldn't be able to cover that and so the questions would come out.

"Fuck." he cursed. Tristan blinked a little before looking back and forth between Anzu and Atem.

"Are you guys dumb?" They both turned to give Tristan a harsh stare. "Just make Anzu the mom! She knows what's going on and it would make more sense."

"And why is that?" Atem snapped, not liking where Tristan was going with this, neither was Anzu. Tristan shrank a bit but Joey picked up for his friend.

Joey laughed. "Well you two like each other. It would be easier to live with each other that way." They blushed at the blond's comment. "Knows about magic and so on. Wouldn't it be better that way, Yug? She's gonna be seeing a lot personal, ya know?"

Yugi flushed angrily. "I still know how to go to the bathroom, just because I'm a toddler doesn't mean I've forgotten anything!"

"That's another point though, dude," Tristan pointed out. "You know a lot more than an actually toddler. Someone is gonna say that you're a genius but we know you aren't."

Yugi huffed but Atem shook his head. "No, he's right. There's going to be a lot of things we'll have to work on and consider, especially while in the public eye. You sure about this though, Anzu?"

She shrugged. "I'll help, as these two walnuts explained. I'm apparently a good choice, so why not?" Atem nodded and pressed his hand against her forehead, whispering a few words she didn't recognize before she felt a weird zip of energy flow through her. Atem pulled away, feeling the web make the slight changes before looking at one of the new duel magazines. He flipped a few pages in and found his usual spot in the magazine.

"It worked." he smiled and showed the magazine to the others. Anzu read the article and blushed a bit. Joey took it and read out loud.

"Noteworthy news in the duel community. Four years ago from today, Yugi Mutou was born. Bringing with him an exciting twist for the young couple, Atem Mutou and Anzu Mutou, to their quiet lives. Jewel Oscar is hoping to finally catch a few photos of the small family for all of our readers who've been dying for a good picture of the family together." The blond's eyes widened a bit upon flipping the page to see the false picture the magic created of Anzu and Atem in the hospital. They both looked tired, Anzu more so than Atem but they smiled happily into the camera, holding a small infant. "Holy shit, the magic made pictures too."

Atem blinked. "It did?" Joey handed the magazine back to his friend, a slight blush on the blond's face. Perhaps it was just from embarrassment from seeing such a personal picture. "Huh, I had no idea it would be this strong. I guess that's a good thing." Anzu stood up to look at this picture and felt her blush deepen.

"I really hope this web will take care of my parents. I don't know if they would be happy if they suddenly found out I was a mother of a four-year-old." She did admit that she liked how they were so close to one another in the picture. Anzu spotted the ring that had suddenly appeared on her finger. "Whoa." she gasped and looked at it carefully. The engagement ring was a diamond with two sapphires on each side, the wedding band the same color as the engagement, rose gold, maybe? Anzu pointed it out to Atem, who now noticed the band on his left hand as well before he looked to Anzu again to answer her question.

"Yes, the web will make sure of that." He smiled and ruffled Yugi's hair. "This should be easy for all three of us since we don't have to start over completely, huh?"

Yugi nodded, conceding to that point. It would be nice and less embarrassing than having to deal with diapers again, or worse, being potty trained. The toddler shivered at the thought.

Tristan got up, a sly smile on his face. "Since it is Yugi's birthday, we need to do something for him, now don't we?"

Atem smirked and snuck a side glance at the toddler. "That's true. With a little magic I can shrink his clothes down to fit him properly."

Joey was matching Tristan's grin. "Probably a simple dinner, but from the kid's menu." Yugi was starting to feel a bit attacked until Anzu picked him up, her arms curling around his small body protectively.

"Enough! Honestly," she glared at them. "He can still beat you in a duel, Joey, size doesn't change that." The blond's face soured at her words. Anzu ignored him to suggest a place. "How about that restaurant we stopped at recently, the one that makes those great quesadillas?" Yugi brightened.

"Yeah!" Atem smiled while Joey and Tristan went to lock up. Just to get to the restaurant faster. 'It shouldn't that hard to deal with this.' Atem thought confidently. 'Avoid a few cameras, have some pictures taken to appease the magazines and just keep a low profile until Yugi was back to his original age.'

However as they walked down the street, Atem noticed a lot of people smiling at them and some of the female fans looking rather jealous. Maybe he'd been too quick to judge the situation properly. His gut never lied and right now he had a bad feeling that this would take time to actually work though properly.

Not perfect but for a start (and for me being gone for so long) I don't think it's too bad. *sarcastic laughter in the distance*

Oh well, let me know what you guys think, what can I improve upon and so on! Thanks for reading. (even though it was probably painful) :P