I kind of just put my old music on for this and wrote. It's vaguely connected to my upcoming fic "For the Glory of the King" and contains Puzzleshipping. For those who care, the scribe is Marik, though I left that open.
-x-
Sometimes he wondered if Ra tired of his journey. Surely, Atem thought, there were times when the god thought to himself, "Must I really do thing again?" before boarding his royal barge, guided by the enemy of Osiris so that the evilness of Apep would not blacken the sky. He rather thought he himself felt that way on the days where the petitions seemed never-ending and the threat of war from the Hittites loomed over their heads. Mitanni remained safe in their grasp, and as long as Atem lived he would strive to keep it that way, but more than anything he feared an alliance between the Assyrians and the Hittites, even though, with their mutual hatred for each other, it was unlikely.
"Really, Pharaoh, you look as if you've swallowed one of Isis' bitter herbs."
Atem barely hid his smile, his eyes sliding briefly from the doors of the throne room to rest on the figure of his cousin, who stood regally beside him. For those who dared look, there was a smile hidden within Seth's serious expression, and it prevented Atem from shooing him back to his place with the other viziers altogether.
"If this day keeps up much longer, those herbs will be preferable," Atem groused lowly, bringing one hand up to rest briefly against his head, where the golden crown of Horus rested—a change from the nemes crown worn by so many others previously. To his right, the records scribe hid a small smile, his stylus stilling over the wax tablet in his hands, the markings on which would eventually be transcribed to ink and papyrus.
"There are only a few more left, I wager," Seth said easily, eyeing the door, though there was a small smirk still present on his face, and Atem had no doubt that such an expression was due to his cousin enjoying, however fleetingly, Atem's suffering. "Vizier Siamun has ensured it, or so I overheard."
Atem raised an eyebrow and leant back in his throne with the nonchalant grace many prided him for.
"Well, Vizier Seth, do let him continue, lest I suffer some unfortunate malady."
Seth grimaced slightly at that, frowning. "Do not even jest about that, Pharaoh," he said before respectfully dipping his head and withdrawing to where the other viziers were reviewing the petitions, leaving Atem to turn his attention back to the doors as they once again swung open, allowing an indignant looking man through. Atem steeled himself, his serious façade overtaking his face once more as he listened to the man's complaint, and promised that justice would be done.
All the while, he ignored the whispers of his viziers, the ones that said, had he a queen, such a job would not fall solely to him.
-x-
Tradition had long since dictated that a pharaoh should marry and proclaim his Great Royal Wife in time for his eighteenth birthday. Many married earlier, of course, and the fact that he had not, and that there was no heir for Egypt's throne should something unfortunate befall him, worried many—though they would never voice such a thing, as to speak of Pharaoh's death was to bring the ill-favour of the gods, and Pharaoh's divine power, upon themselves.
The jackal-headed god was indiscriminate in who he called, after all.
His crown weighing heavily upon his head, Atem retreated to his chambers, revelling in the familiar images painted on the walls of the sun god, as well as the exploits of Egyptian warfare. With deft hands he reached up to remove the crown, feeling it sliding from his brow with great relief, a potent symbol of all the responsibilities he bore with dignity and grace, if not relish.
He sensed Yuugi before he heard him, and had already turned to face the door when it opened, allowing the slim figure of the young man to enter before it swung quietly shut.
"Politics," Yuugi said as soon as his eyes rested on Atem, causing a smile to flicker across the pharaoh's weary face. "You never did care much for them."
"Yuugi…" Atem murmured, not unlike a prayer, and with little more than five steps the young man had crossed the room, allowing Atem to embrace him swiftly and plant an exhausted and brief kiss upon his forehead.
"Were you expecting anyone else?" Yuugi teased when he looked up, though even as he spoke a flash of dread appeared in his eyes as he stepped away, gone quickly, but not fast enough. Atem sighed, loosening his arms even as he glanced towards the balcony, his eyes trailing from there to the bed, where he spent every night, even knowing that he should have a wife, or wives, whose bedchambers he visited regularly. His marriage was something they could not avoid, not forever, and more than anything he wanted to raise his hands to the sides of Yuugi's face and assure him that another would never take his place. There was only so many times he could do so, however, and his words did very little to reassure the young man in front of him, though Yuugi bore it with the brave face of a noble.
So instead, Atem merely smiled at him, soft, and shook his head.
"Of course not. Only you would have enough impudence to enter the chambers of Pharaoh so directly, just like a mischievous miw," he said, and that, at least, brought a smile to Yuugi's face. Ever since they were young, Atem had called Yuugi his "little miw", and while they had certainly grown since then, the affectionate term had remained.
Yuugi looked at him for a few more seconds before his face softened as well, and he wordlessly held a hand out, which the pharaoh grasped without a second thought.
"Yuugi," Atem began carefully, even as Yuugi folded himself into his side. "You know that, should the day come when I must marry, you will never be usurped in my affections."
A sigh was all he heard from his companion, but when Yuugi turned there was a small smile on his face, sad and resigned, but still filled with enough warmth to loosen the knot that had coiled in Atem's chest.
"Then perhaps you should show me where I stand in your attentions right this minute, oh mighty Pharaoh of Egypt," he teased, and Atem, temporarily relaxed, complied.
It was afterwards, when Yuugi lay asleep beside him, that he allowed himself to think that maybe the reason Ra returned to battle Apep every day was that there were some things he found worth the risk.