Chapter 2

Atem transported the couch - and a still-unconscious Yugi Mutou - to Yugi's home on Checkerboard Lane. The white clapboard house was small and tidy, and furnished in a style at least two decades out of date. That would change, of course, once Yugi made his wishes. No doubt Yugi would expend his first wish on wealth, as they all did. Humans were a greedy and predictable lot. Yugi would exchange this modest dwelling for a palatial mansion and a lifestyle fit for a modern prince.

Atem conjured a glass of red wine and sipped it, rolling the liquid on his tongue and savoring the earthy taste as he contemplated his master. Unconscious, Yugi appeared younger and almost innocent, with his rounded cheeks and soft mouth. For a moment, Atem could almost believe this master would be different.

Shaking his head, he banished such foolish thoughts. If the passing millennia had taught him anything, it was that human nature did not change. He knew better than to expect anything but the worst from those who solved his puzzle. Greed, self-interest, poisonous ambition. Like every master before him, Yugi would wish for power, wealth - possibly revenge.

Atem swallowed a mouthful of wine, hoping to wash the taste of bitter, hard-won lessons from his mouth. He didn't care anymore. His masters were much the same, the only difference being that some were worse than others. He no longer bothered to hide his contempt for their venality, or the resentment he felt at being forced to pander to their whims. Few of them noticed, too absorbed in gloating over new-found riches to care what the instrument of their good fortune thought of them.

He set the wineglass on the mantelpiece, his fingers lingering on the cool, slick surface of the goblet. He had consumed half a glass of the deep red wine, but the glass refilled itself even as his attention was drawn to the vase of fresh-cut flowers beside it. He plucked a rose from the bouquet and inhaled its spicy fragrance, letting the velvet-soft petals caress the tip of his nose. The scent intoxicated him, reminding him of the gardens in the courtyards of his father's palace, so long ago.

The pain of that faded memory stabbed at his heart like a viper's bite. He shunted it swiftly away and turned his gaze outward again. The magic that bound him told him everything he needed to know to serve each master, though the knowledge tended to remain dormant until triggered by an external cue - such as the photographs sitting on Yugi's mantelpiece. He studied the first in the row, a group photo of Yugi's family. The magic told Atem the picture had been taken a few days before the cave-in that had claimed the lives of Yugi's parents and grandfather. In the photo, a teenaged Yugi stood with his arms around his mother on one side and his grandfather on the other. His father, slightly taller than the rest of the family, hovered in the background. All of them were grinning at the camera. None of them had a clue that by the end of the day, three of them would be dead and the fourth gravely injured.

Beside the framed photo, a collection of pottery shards, loose clay beads, and broken bits of faience served as reminders of past digs. Atem picked up one of the beads and rolled it between his fingers. The rough texture of the incised design against his skin mesmerized him. Before the curse, long ago when he had been a human man, he had worn strands of such beads, though his were made of gold or precious stones. He had even worn beads of faience and clay, though never anything as plain as this one. Yet, the simple clay bead spoke to him of home. For an instant, he felt torn between stroking the bead or crushing it beneath his heel. He slapped the bead back onto the mantel and turned away, his gaze drawn to Yugi, still sprawled where he had fainted, on the silk-covered couch. Did the mortal realize how lucky he was to be surrounded daily by fresh sensations, by life in all its messy glory? Nothing Atem's magic could weave would ever equal what Yugi already possessed.

A change in the energies filling the space around him alerted Atem to the fact that Yugi was waking up. Atem watched Yugi spring up from the couch and fling himself back from it as if he thought the couch would attack him. His legs hit the edge of his own sofa - a worn relic of a past decade, with overstuffed cushions and the ugliest upholstery Atem had ever seen - and Yugi collapsed onto it with a yelp. Satisfied the silk covered couch had served its purpose, Atem banished it back to the ether. The Mutou living room was crowded enough without throwing additional furniture into the mix.

Yugi blanched when the couch vanished. He yanked his legs up onto the sofa as if fearing the floor would go next. "Don't do that!"

"Do what?" Atem snapped. Really, Yugi was the most contrary master he had encountered in almost four thousand years.

"That, that-" Yugi waved a hand in a vague, flailing-for-words gesture. "-silent magic thing! You're going to give me a heart attack. I need some kind of warning so I can prepare for it. Snap your fingers, or do an I Dream of Jeannie blink. Say 'alakazam'. I don't care, just give me some kind of signal!"

"As you command, my histrionic master." It took some effort, but Atem did not roll his eyes. He resented the enforced servitude of his role as a genie, but could do nothing to thwart it. The rules imposed upon him by the curse left him little choice but to obey or be punished. He was not, however, so wrapped up in his own frustrations that he missed how shaken Yugi appeared.

None of his previous masters had ever fainted at his appearance or made him prove his magic. They had accepted at once that he was a genie and made their three wishes, returning him to his extra-dimensional prison. Of course, Yugi's unexpected disbelief was adding time to Atem's stay in the real world, outside the dark dreams created by the curse to hold him. Perhaps a bit of additional aggravation was a fair price to pay for a few more hours of true life.

Yugi twisted his fingers in his lap. His hands shook. "Are you really real? I mean, you look real, and you feel-" He broke off, his cheeks flushing bright red. "Uh, that is, you seem pretty solid and all. But, you can't be real… Can you?"

"I can - and I am." Dealing with this continued denial of his reality, being forced to waste his precious time in the physical plane with such nonsense when he could be storing up sensory impressions for the long centuries to come, irritated Atem. He raised one eyebrow. "Do you truly think I am nothing but a figment of your imagination?"

"I don't know!" Yugi dry-washed his hands over his face. "I have a pretty vivid imagination. Ask anybody."

"I assure you, I am quite real." Atem conjured a second wineglass and pressed it into Yugi's hands, wrapping Yugi's fingers around the stem. Through that brief contact, he felt the tremors running through his master's body. "Drink the wine, my master. It will make you feel better."

Yugi gulped, fingers twitching beneath Atem's as he tried to simultaneously clutch the wineglass and shove it away. "Signals, damn it! No amount of wine is going to help if my heart stops because you couldn't remember to announce your next magic trick."

"…Fine." The goblet vanished, leaving Yugi clutching air.

"Gah!"

In a voice devoid of inflection, Atem intoned, "Alakazam."

The glass reappeared in Yugi's hand. He fumbled it, splashing red wine onto his slacks. Very carefully, every movement deliberate and slow, he set the glass on the coffee table. "I was wrong. It doesn't help."

"It would be more efficacious if you drank the wine rather than attempting to bathe in it," Atem noted blandly.

Yugi shot him a blistering look. "I meant the signal. 'Alakazam.' It didn't help."

Atem shrugged. While a part of him would enjoy prolonging his stay in the physical plane, a greater part - the part thoroughly disillusioned with humanity - just wanted to conclude this transaction and return to his dreams. In a tired voice, he said, "Drink the wine, master."

Yugi huffed, sagged, and upended the glass, draining it in one gulp. When he lowered the glass, it was full again. His eyes widened. "Well," he said flatly. "That's handy."

Yes, thought Atem. It can be. And if genies could get drunk, he would have been only too ready to make good use of the never-ending reservoir in his own wineglass. "Have you decided upon your first wish?"

"I don't even know where to begin," Yugi mumbled, still staring at his glass as if it might bite him. He didn't seem to have heard the question.

"Master?"

"I have a million questions, and I don't have a clue where to start!"

Both of Atem's eyebrows lifted toward his hairline. He stopped rubbing his fingertips over the worn carvings of the wooden frame that held the photo of Yugi's family, and sent Yugi a look filled with carefully concealed surprise. Such curiosity was not a usual component of his interaction with those who solved the puzzle. Unsure how to deal with it, Atem opted to ignore it.

"You summoned me here by solving the pyramid puzzle," he stated in a bored, flat tone. "I am required to grant you three wishes. When your wishes have been granted, the puzzle will shatter and vanish, as will I." He looked down his nose at Yugi. "What more can you possibly need to know?"

"Everything!" Yugi swept his arms out in a broad gesture that almost toppled his wineglass. With barely a conscious thought, Atem made the glass vanish and reappear as Yugi's flailing arm passed through the space where it sat. "That doesn't even scratch the surface of what I want to know about you!"

Startled, Atem drew back, his posture unconsciously regal even after nearly four millennia of servitude. "I am not here to satisfy your idle curiosity. My task is to grant wishes."

The formality of his response seemed to subdue Yugi's enthusiasm. Yugi fell back to twining his fingers together in his lap and peering at Atem from beneath a messy curtain of bangs. Oddly enough, Yugi's hairstyle somewhat resembled Atem's, though Yugi's bangs fell in soft disarray about his face, rather than standing out stiffly as Atem's did. He could only assume that Yugi chose to look as he did - surely, hair like that could not be natural - though he could not fathom why he would do so. Atem's appearance, in terms of his hair and clothing, was largely dictated by the curse which had bound him. It made allowances for the trends of the time period in which he found himself - and adjusted for the individual tastes of his masters - but made few concessions to Atem's own desires in the matter.

He shook his head, dismissing the thought as trivial. Fashion was the least of his concerns. He would not be here long enough for it to matter, anyway. He moved slowly about the room - automatically touching, smelling, listening - even though he realized the futility of his actions. When he returned to the shadowy realm that served as his prison between masters, all the sensory impressions he had gathered would fade, their pale ghosts offering scant comfort. That knowledge did not stop him from lifting a ceramic pot, feeling the slick texture of its glaze, and sniffing the fruity scent of the potpourri inside.

"So… What happens now?" Yugi asked.

Atem set the potpourri aside and reached for a covered glass dish in the shape of a blue chicken sitting on a nest. It looked ridiculous. He didn't bother to leave off his examination of the tacky object as he drawled, "On the table before you are three tokens."

Without looking, Atem knew exactly what Yugi was seeing. Three small, golden, hexagonal tokens shimmered into being on the coffee table. One side of each token held a stamped image of the completed pyramid puzzle; the other, a vaguely Egyptian-looking eye, identical to the one on the puzzle's center piece. The tokens were the size of large coins, though slightly thicker. Atem could feel the pull of their magic from across the room.

"For each wish you make, you must surrender a token." Atem lifted the top of the dish to reveal the candies inside. He lifted one of the colorful blobs and gave it an experimental sniff. "Once you have given me the token, I will grant your wish. But you must be mindful of this rule: I cannot grant your wish unless you derive a direct benefit from it. "

From the corner of his eye, Atem saw Yugi give an absent nod as he stared at the three tokens. Satisfied, Atem cautiously placed the little candy blob between his teeth and crunched. Sweet… little bits of hard candy shell… chocolate! He scooped up a handful of the candy, and deposited the dish back on the side table where he had found it. Turning, he found that Yugi had transferred his thoughtful stare from the tokens to Atem, who raised an inquiring eyebrow.

"It's just… I've never really thought about it, since I didn't think they were real, but I would never have imagined a genie that looks like you."

Atem's brow furrowed. Had he just been insulted? "Dare I ask how you imagined genies to look?"

"I don't know. More…" Yugi's hands traced a voluptuous hourglass shape in the air. "More Barbara-Eden-ish. Or big and blue, with Robin Williams' voice."

After a moment - during which the two of them stared blankly at one another and Atem decided that, yes, he had been insulted - Yugi continued, "I guess I have all these pop-culture images in my head, and you just don't-"

Apparently catching the affronted look on Atem's face, Yugi started babbling. "Not that you look bad or anything! In fact, you look really go- I mean, you're very- Oh, god." Yugi buried his face in his hands, but not before Atem had seen the blush. It was fiery red, this time. A muffled, "Never mind!" wafted up from the depths of Yugi's mortification.

"I suppose," Atem grated through tightly clenched teeth, "you would find something like this more convincing?"

Between one breath and the next, Atem's clothing changed. Gone were the jeans, sleeveless t-shirt, and boots. In their place was a costume straight out of 1001 Arabian Nights, as interpreted by Walt Disney.

Black harem pants of diaphanous silk ballooned over curly-toed, gold lamé slippers. A tiny, black brocade vest, heavy with gold embroidery, made no pretense at covering Atem's chest. Broad gold bands enclosed his wrists and encircled his biceps. Large gold hoops hung from his ears, and a black silk turban hid most of his hair. He felt like a clown.

Atem crossed his arms over his mostly-bare torso and leveled an impatient frown at Yugi. "Does this meet your expectations, master?"

Silence stretched between them, while Atem glowered and Yugi…

Atem blinked, puzzled. Yugi appeared to be frozen, except for his mouth, which worked soundlessly for a moment before he managed a noise halfway between a moan and a squeak. His eyes were the approximate size of small saucers.

This, Atem decided, was becoming tiresome. "It is just magic, Master Mutou. Really, if you're going to overreact like this every time I -"

"Oh. My. God." Yugi toppled sideways onto the sofa and made a spirited attempt to disappear under the cushions. He managed to burrow deep enough that his head and shoulders were lost beneath a pile of throw pillows. He mumbled something unintelligible into the pillows, and flailed a hand in Atem's general direction.

"Forgive me, O articulate one, but I do not speak 'pillow.'"

Yugi surfaced with a gasp. Atem didn't know how to interpret the look in Yugi's eyes when he darted a look the genie's way. "I said go back to what you had on before!"

"As you wish." With ill-concealed relief, Atem reverted to his previous attire.

Yugi twitched. "Alakazam, remember? Or snap your fingers. Something, anything. Okay?"

Atem's only response was a faint smirk. Yugi's strange behavior might be throwing Atem off-guard, but the genie clearly still had the upper hand.

"Why do I get the feeling you're not happy in your work?" Yugi muttered. Atem schooled his features back into his usual aloof mask. "You don't like being a genie, do you?" Yugi sighed. "You don't seem to like me much, either."

"If my demeanor has offended you, I offer my humble apologies." Atem performed a stiff, though graceful, bow. "You have only to declare what behavior troubles you, most gracious master, and I shall cease it at once."

"Well, you could take that stick out of your ass, for starters."

It was a toss-up as to which pair of eyes were wider, Yugi's or Atem's. After a frozen second, Atem's eyes narrowed dangerously. Master or not, no one spoke to him like that! Responding to his agitation, his magic crackled around him.

Yugi's eyes got even wider, a feat Atem would not have thought possible, and Yugi clapped a hand over his mouth. Through his fingers, he uttered a muffled, "Sorry! I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that out loud. It's been a very long day."

"Just make a damned wish, will you?" Atem snapped. The sooner this ordeal was over, the better. For both their sakes. He had never actually zapped one of his masters, despite sometimes severe provocation, and he didn't think the curse would be amused if he tried it now. But it took every ounce of willpower he possessed to control the urge to do something drastic, possibly involving amphibians.

"You have issues. I hope you're aware of that." Unaware of the debate going on in the irate genie's head, Yugi plucked up a token and turned it over in his hands. "I still can't believe any of this is real. I'll make my wishes, you'll turn back into a puzzle, and I'll stagger off alone to finish having my nervous breakdown. Peachy keen."

He looked up to find Atem staring at him. "Uh, that was a joke. Not a very funny one, but you could at least pretend to laugh. Just to be polite."

Atem, who felt he was going above and beyond the call of 'polite' by not turning Yugi into a newt, ignored the suggestion. "Your wish, master?"

Yugi sighed. He chewed on his lip as he concentrated for a moment, then straightened. "Okay, fine." One by one, he pushed the tokens toward Atem as he made his wishes. "I wish for an end to world hunger, lasting world peace, and a cure for all diseases."

Itt took several seconds for a gaping Atem to recover his voice. When he did, incredulous anger sharpened his tone. "Which part of 'self-interest' do you not understand?"

"Huh?" Yugi blinked up at him, zero comprehension on his face.

"I explained the rule!" Beside himself with fury, Atem began to pace in agitation. Yugi was the most impossible master it had ever been his misfortune to serve. Or attempt to serve, since Yugi seemed determined to thwart Atem's every effort to grant his wishes. The newt option was looking more appealing with each passing second. "Altruism is not allowed. You must derive a direct benefit from your wishes!"

"Wait. Are you saying you can't grant any of my wishes?"

Somewhere in the lowest ranks of his barbarian hell, Atem thought, a certain white-haired sorcerer is laughing his damned head off. Atem pinned Yugi with a baleful glare. "Those wishes do not offer you direct benefit. Therefore, according to the rules by which I must abide, they are invalid."

"You mean…" Yugi pondered a second, his eyes widening as realization dawned. "You mean every wish you can grant has to be totally selfish? Oh, man. That sucks!" He looked suddenly, genuinely, saddened. "No wonder you don't like humans."

Watching Yugi slump back onto the sofa - not just his shoulders, but his entire body drooping - Atem hid his astonishment. In all his years, he had never had a master attempt to spend his wishes selflessly. Until now. Unfortunately, the rules meant things did not work that way.

As if sensing his thoughts, Yugi peered up at him. "How many wishes have you granted in your lifetime?"

"Why do you ask me such questions?" Atem stopped pacing to glare at his frustrating master.

Yugi offered a sheepish shrug. "I'm just curious about you. Is there some rule against you talking about yourself?"

"None of which I am aware," Atem admitted reluctantly. How did this man keep confounding him so easily? No one had ever asked him so many personal questions. His masters had always been far more interested in their wishes than in the one who granted them. He hesitated, then slowly said, "I have had many masters, so I have granted many wishes."

"And all of them selfish." Yugi sounded saddened. He shook his head. "Yeah, that definitely sucks. Hey, I just thought of something. Are you human or are genies a separate species? Were you born a genie? How old are you?"

"What do any of those things matter?" Atem stiffened, fairly radiating displeasure. "All you need to know is that I can grant you three wishes."

"Three selfish wishes."

Atem inclined his head in impatient acknowledgment. "As you say. Now… What is your wish, my most curious master?" And he meant that in every sense of the word.

Yugi caught the insult and his expression soured. "I just want to know something about you. After all, you are the man who's going to make all my dreams come true."

"Not all of them. Merely three of the selfish ones."

"Right." Yugi toyed with the undrainable wineglass. "I'm still a bit confused."

"Only a bit?"

Yugi ignored the snide remark. "Take this wine - or teleporting me around to spare my leg - or, the big one, the Crawford Hall inventory. How are those things different from the wishes you grant through the tokens?"

Absently, Atem stroked his palm over the back an the upholstered wing-backed chair opposite the sofa. "Above a certain level of power, the wishes must go through the tokens. If you desire such things as vengeance, great wealth, or power, you must use a token. The other, minor magic, such as serving you a glass of wine, is a manifestation of my will."

"Uh-huh. And what does that mean?"

Atem's fingers dug into the back of the chair while he sought the patience to deal with this latest irrelevancy. "I am a genie. You solved the puzzle, therefore you are my master until I have granted your three wishes. My obligation is to serve you for as long as you hold a token. I must grant you three wishes, if they are within my power to do so. But I may also choose to offer food or drink for your comfort, or choose to cushion your fall if the need arises."

"But, you could choose not to do those things?"

"Yes. However, in order to expedite the process of granting your wishes, I chose to aid you." At Yugi's puzzled look, Atem clarified, "It would difficult for you to make a wish if you were unconscious from striking your head when you fainted."

"Ah." Yugi leaned against the arm of the sofa. "So, if you hadn't chosen to complete my inventory-?"

"You would have had to expend one of your tokens if you wished me to finish the task for you."

Yugi nodded. "Yeah, okay. I think I get it." He tilted his head, a thoughtful look on his face. "You know, I appreciate that you did the inventory for me. I really do. But how on earth am I going to explain completing a project in one summer that should have taken three to five years to complete?"

Far more interested in the candy he had taken from the glass chicken than in Yugi's dilemma, Atem shrugged. How his master chose to explain things was none of Atem's concern. He bit one of the colorful candy blobs in half and studied the results. Yugi's soft chuckle made him look up, one eyebrow cocked in question.

"I don't think I've ever seen anyone as involved in their surroundings as you are." Yugi grinned. "And I'm sure I've never seen anyone so fascinated by M&Ms before. Is that a genie thing, or is it just you?"

"It has been more than eighty years since someone last solved the puzzle. And my time in the physical world is limited." Atem popped the candy into his mouth and chewed. The color of the shell did not appear to affect the taste. "Memory is a capricious thing. It is all too easy to forget scents, tastes, textures…"

Suddenly angry with himself for revealing so much, Atem stalked to the sofa, looming over Yugi. "What will you wish for? Wealth beyond imagination? Ultimate power over others?" Leaning so close that his breath stirred Yugi's bangs, Atem hissed, "Love - or, more likely, lust?"

Yugi's gulped audibly. He pressed himself into the arm of the sofa, retreating as much as he could. "C-can you read my mind?"

"No." Satisfied that he had the upper hand once more, Atem straightened. "You must speak your wishes aloud if I am to grant them."

"That's… good to know."

"I live to please you, my master."

Yugi's eyes narrowed. "If I wish for you to be less sarcastic, do you have to grant it?"

"No."

"Why the heck not? It would definitely benefit me - or my blood pressure, at least."

Atem's smirking probably wasn't doing much for Yugi's blood pressure either, but that didn't stop Atem from doing it. "Do you wish to expend a token to find out if I'm telling the truth?"

"…No." Yugi sighed. "I guess I'll just have to live with your charming personality, as is."

"Flattery will get you nowhere. Have you decided on your first wish?"

"Well, I…" Yugi's eyes glazed over as he apparently sank into deep thought. "I guess I could wish for full funding for that expedition I've always wanted to mount - to find the lost tomb my family died searching for. Or I could ask for my own house, one with an awesome game room and no stairs to climb. Or-" He broke off and blinked at Atem in obvious consternation. "It's all kind of overwhelming. Did any of your previous masters have so much trouble deciding on their wishes?"

"You're the first."

"Go, me." Yugi groaned and dug the fingers of both hands into his hair. "Look, is there a time limit on this deal? Do my wishes expire at midnight or do they roll over? 'Cause, I think I'm going to need a little more time to figure this thing out."

Incredulous, Atem stared down at Yugi. "You can't decide on even a single wish?"

"If you're really a genie - and I guess you've proven you are - then I have an incredible opportunity here. I don't want to mess up by rushing in without really thinking things through. I don't want to waste my wishes on something stupid, even if they do have to be selfish." Yugi offered him a hopeful looking smile. "Could I have a couple of days to think about it?"

"Days?" The word seemed to echo in Atem's head, dazzling him with the possibilities. "You want a couple of days to think about your wishes?"

Days. Atem nearly swayed with the intoxication. He could have days to spend in the physical plane, free to experience all it offered. Days to truly live, to feel and sense the world around him as a man, not a disembodied spirit suspended in the memory of a dream. He did not even try to hide the full, genuine smile that lit up his face. His delight conveyed itself to Yugi, who beamed back at him. "By all means, take as long as you like!"

"You mean you finally approve of something I said?"

"More than you can possibly imagine." Atem settled easily onto the wing-backed chair, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath, inhaling the sweet aroma of fresh-mown grass from the open window. Wonderful.

"Oh, no!"

Yugi's squeak made Atem open his eyes to see what had distressed his master.

The tokens had vanished, and Yugi was staring in apparent horror at the empty table where they had been.

-o0o-

"It's all right. Simply say 'I wish,' and a token will appear in your hand," Atem said.

"Whew! That's a relief." Yugi relaxed. When the tokens vanished, he thought he had blown it. He didn't want to lose his wishes before he could make them! He was sure if he put his mind to it, he could think of some way to use his wishes for good, even if they did have to appear selfish. His relaxation lasted for all of two seconds. Then his gaze fell on a nearby clock, and he bolted to his feet. "Is that the time? Dammit, I forgot! Téa and the others will be here any minute. It's our weekly dinner-and-a-movie night."

Yugi waffled anxiously from foot to foot, unable to decide which direction to rush off in first. "I need to shower and change, and -" He turned abruptly, came face-to-face with the genie, and stumbled to a halt. "Oh, shit. How am I going to explain you?"

Atem flashed a handsome smile that revealed even white teeth and stunned Yugi into temporary paralysis. The smile widened, gaining a slightly wicked edge. "Alakazam."

Yugi's skin tingled. The faintest whiffs of his favorite shampoo and soap drifted around him, and he suddenly felt as fresh as if he had just stepped out of the shower. He looked down and found himself clad in a charcoal gray designer suit, the shiny toes of black patent boots gleaming beneath his silk trouser cuffs.

"Gah!" Yugi started so violently, he nearly toppled himself back onto the sofa. He clutched at his chest, where his heart was making a spirited attempt to tunnel through his ribs to freedom, then shot his best glare at the genie, who was fighting laughter - and losing. "Oh, yeah. Ha-bloody-ha. Very funny. But I'm a little overdressed for beer and pizza with the guys."

Stifling a very obvious snicker, Atem raised one elegant eyebrow. "What would you prefer, my sartorially-challenged master?"

"Jeans and a t-shirt - the black one in my closet, the one with the picture of a Roman charioteer on it. And my own sneakers, thank you." The shoes had a built-up sole to compensate for the difference in his legs. He felt off-balance in the dress boots with their slight heels and slick leather soles.

The genie gave an easy shrug, making even so casual a gesture appear enticing, and waved a hand. "Alakazam."

Yugi braced himself this time, but didn't feel the change when it occurred. Between one blink and the next, he went from overdressed to casual, his outfit exactly as he had requested. He collapsed back onto the sofa, grabbed up the undrainable wineglass, and made a solid effort at emptying it. After a few seconds, he blinked at the glass as the wine topped itself off again.

"I will never get used to that," Yugi mumbled, then shot an appraising look at Atem, who was back in his tight jeans, chains, and leather wrist cuffs. "You might want to tone down your look a bit, before they-"

The doorbell rang. Too late. Yugi dragged himself up off the sofa and slunk toward the front door. Halfway there, panic reared its ugly head. Oh, man. How the heck was he going to explain Atem to Téa? She was always the first to arrive, since Joey had never been on time for anything in his life, including his own birth (he'd been two weeks past his due date, a fact his mother never let any of them forget, especially when she wanted something from Joey), and Tristan would arrive with Joey, since Joey always bummed a ride on Tristan's motorcycle. All of which meant that Yugi had the time it took him to open the door to come up with a plausible story to feed Téa. If she bought it, so would the guys.

But what the heck was he going to say? 'I solved an old puzzle and a drop-dead gorgeous genie popped out' wasn't going to cut it. Yugi angled a look back at the drop-dead gorgeous genie in question, who smiled. At least his mood had improved.

"Um, look," Yugi said, fumbling for something that sounded believable. "We'll say you're a colleague of mine, okay? We met, um, when I was doing field work overseas back in college."

"As you wish, master."

Hand inches from the doorknob, Yugi froze. "For goodness sakes, don't call me that in front of my friends! And absolutely no magic!"

Yugi risked a peek over his shoulder at the genie. Who was grinning. Oh, god. They were all doomed. With a fatalistic sigh, Yugi opened the door.

Téa Gardner, his best friend since kindergarten, stood on the front step. Her happy smile quickly morphed into a confused frown as Yugi launched into a preemptive babble.

"Hey, Téa! Come in, come in! You look great this evening. Not that you usually look bad or anything. Um, I wore that shirt you got me. Do you like it? Of course you do, you bought it for me, you wouldn't have gotten me a shirt you hated, right? Heh-heh." Yugi closed his eyes, swallowed hard, and forced himself to breathe. He was already screwing this up; he could tell by the way her blue eyes were narrowing at him. "Um, hey, I know I should've called you and rescheduled, but something totally unexpected came up at the last minute, and I wasn't thinking about tonight and…"

He trailed off. Téa wasn't listening. Instead, she was staring over his head, into the living room behind him. Yugi had a sinking feeling he knew exactly what had caught her attention.

"Oh, yeah. Him." Yugi swallowed again. His mouth suddenly felt as dry as the Sahara. "Uh, Téa, this is Atem. Atem, this is my friend, Téa Gardner." He risked a peek through his bangs at Téa. Oh, god. She had that look in her eyes - the one she got right before she tried to set him up with someone bent on world domination. Determined to nip her matchmaking tendencies in the bud, he blurted, "We're just friends!"

"Oh, really?" She stepped around him, her shrewd gaze focused on the genie. "Good friends? Have you known each other long?"

Oh, shit. "No, no - Well, yeah." Yugi suddenly remembered his planned story, and had to backtrack. "I mean, we kind of knew each other in college, but-"

"Oh?" Her laser-sharp gaze pinned Yugi to the spot. "How come you never mentioned him before? Really, Yugi, I thought we were better friends than that! And now I find out you've been holding out on me. Have the two of you kept in touch? Are you going to start seeing-?"

"Gah!" Yugi buried his face in his palm. It was going to be Marik Ishtar all over, although hopefully without the "kill Yugi to obtain ultimate power" part, since the genie seemed to have plenty of mojo on his own. Peachy. Yugi pinned Téa with a Look and hissed, "Remember Marik? Do we really want to go there again?"

"Don't be silly, Yugi. You already know Atem, right? So, you know he's not-" She waved a hand in a gesture meant to encompass the entirety of Marik's delusional state. " -Ishtar."

"Thank god for that," Yugi murmured. Marik wasn't something he wanted to repeat. He had hoped that the incident would have cured her of all desire to match-make. It had almost cured him of the desire to date. Ever. Only in the last year and a half had he started to come out of his self-imposed isolation. And then the fiasco last summer had set all but one of his colleagues at the university against him, and his dating prospects had shriveled up like a puddle in the midday sun.

During this exchange, Atem stood back and observed the two of them with his usual stoic lack of expression. Now, a tiny smirk graced the corner of his mouth as he stepped up beside Yugi. In a charming voice Yugi suspected few people could resist, Atem said, "I do hope my intrusion isn't going to spoil your plans for the evening, Miss Gardner."

"Don't be silly!" Téa's cheeks took on a becoming rose cast. "The more the merrier. Right, Yugi?"

"Uh, well, I… guess so." It was hard to think clearly with Atem standing so close to him. He could feel the genie's presence as a tingling heat all down the side of his body, even though a few inches of air separated them. "If… that is, if you and the guys don't mind him joining us."

"Of course not! Your friend is our friend. And I'm sure Joey and Tristan will agree. They're meeting us at the theater, by the way. Joey had to work late." She reached out to link arms with Atem, tugging the bemused looking genie toward the sofa. "You must tell me all about how the two of you met. I'm so glad you've chosen now to visit Yugi. He needs cheering up, after the awful things that happened in Sagalassos last year. We've all been worried about him, you know."

Yugi cringed. Since the incident in Sagalassos, the number of friends he could count on had dwindled considerably. Despite the rumors, gossip, and slurs both professional and personal, his real friends - namely, Téa, Tristan, and Joey - had stuck by him. The four of them had all been buddies since high school. They had shared some crazy adventures, including the Ishtar Incident - though Yugi felt that qualified more as a fiasco than an adventure. While remorseful about the outcome of her last attempt, Téa insisted that her matchmaking was the ultimate expression of friendship; she just wanted to see Yugi with someone who could make him happy. Yugi didn't have the heart to object too strongly, after that, though he had turned down all subsequent offers to set him up on blind dates.

It occurred to Yugi that if he dared to tell anyone the truth about Atem the Genie, it would be Téa, Tristan, and Joey. But would it be fair to them? Knowing that genies existed had thrown Yugi for a loop. Did he have the right to tilt the world off its axis for his friends? Maybe it would be best if he kept the secret to himself. Atem wasn't going to be here for long. As soon as Yugi made his three wishes, Atem would go back to wherever genies came from, and Yugi's life could go back to normal.

For now, at least, Yugi decided to keep the truth to himself.

-o0o-

Since he had been unable to think of a reasonable excuse to stay home, Yugi soon found himself slumped in a booth at Mario's Pizza Emporium, wondering how he got himself into these things - and how he could get himself out again. The air was redolent with the mouthwatering aromas of tomato sauce, garlic, and pepperoni, but he had a hard time concentrating on the food when he all he could think about was the genie seated beside him.

Warm breath on his ear made Yugi stifle a yelp as said genie whispered, "What happened in Sagalassos last summer?"

Yugi jerked upright and stared at Atem. From the moment Yugi had asked to delay his wishes, he had noticed a definite change in the genie's attitude toward him. Atem seemed almost relaxed now. The sharp stress lines etched around his mouth and eyes had eased, making him appear even more attractive. Although the genie continued to touch everything around him as if soaking in his environment through his fingertips, the desperate urgency was missing. Atem had been stuffing his handsome face with enough pizza to feed a small army. Yugi wished the genie had stayed focused on the food; Sagalassos was not a topic he wanted to discuss in public.

"Oops." Téa looked contrite. "Did I say something I shouldn't have? Sorry, Yugi. I just assumed you'd told him about last summer."

Yugi opened his mouth to assure her it was all right - though it really wasn't - but was distracted by Atem taking another slice of pizza from the pan at the center of the table. A new slice instantly formed to take its place. Yugi twitched. He couldn't believe Téa still hadn't noticed the self-regenerating pizza, and his nerves were stretched taut waiting for her reaction when she did. He could only count his blessings that Joey and Tristan weren't here. There was no way Joey wouldn't have noticed, since a never-ending pizza and beer pitcher were two of the guy's fondest dreams. That, and a giant jelly donut big enough to use as a flotation device.

Distracted by his thoughts, Yugi mumbled at Atem, "I thought you knew everything about me."

"I know the basics." Atem shrugged and took a huge bite of pizza, chewing with every indication of gastronomic bliss. He swallowed, then added, "Some of the details, however, I will need you to fill me in on."

Yugi wondered if this were the first time Atem had ever tasted pizza, then found himself wondering just how much practical experience the genie had in the real world. It hadn't sounded as if his former masters had given him much time to himself on the "physical plane." Maybe he would ask later. Right now, the genie was studying Yugi like he was a puzzling pot shard that refused to fit into its proper place.

"Tell me what happened in Sagalassos last summer," Atem commanded in a tone that made Yugi wonder if the genie remembered who was supposed to be the servant, here.

Swallowing hard, Yugi snatched up his glass and gulped down a mouthful of beer - both as a stalling tactic and for the false courage it gave him. He cast around for an excuse, but came up blank until he caught sight of his watch. "Oh, hey, look at the time! We'd better go or we'll miss the previews, and I know how much you hate that, Téa, so -"

"The movie will not begin until you wish for it to begin, O Evasive One."

The genie's expression - the superior lift of one eyebrow above a mocking smirk - filled Yugi with mixed emotions. It was entirely unfair that the man could look so smug and still leave Yugi wanting to, to… well, just wanting. Yugi clenched his hands in his lap and glanced at Téa, hoping for a little back-up.

She was staring at the pizza with a distracted look in her eyes. "You know, I think there's something really weird going on with this pizza."

"Time to go!" Yugi leaped to his feet, not an easy feat in a booth, and reached across to snag her arm and drag her after him. "Mustn't keep Joey and Tristan waiting."

Yugi glanced back over his shoulder. The genie followed at a more dignified pace, a faint, knowing smile lifting both corners of his mouth as his gaze met Yugi's. Peachy. Yugi blanched and tightened his grip on Téa's arm as he pulled her toward the exit.

They were so doomed.