Vaseshipping (Atem x Mana)
(I'm fangirlling so hard right now. :D I'm a sucker for the childhood friend plot. This takes place when they're both around the age of eleven. This is before Aknamkanon (or however you spell his name) died and before Atem was actually pharaoh.)
Her smile is much like a sun. It is warm, and open, and always shining, as it does in the desert. There is a difference, though. Sometimes even the sun seems distant, so far away, and by that token, aloof and unfeeling too. Not so with her smile: there is always the warmth of joy in that grin.
He chides himself for the thoughts. This is hardly the time nor the place. He must pay attention to his diplomacy tutor. If he is to become pharaoh someday, he must listen and learn.
But he cannot stop himself from counting down the hours, the minutes, the seconds until the lesson ends and he can drop the mask he must wear. He cannot wait until the moment comes when he can force dignity into his walk down the stairs, and then let it fall away as soon as he reaches the privacy of the garden, where he can then run as fast as he wants past the foreign trees and flowers to the lean-to at its center, where she will be waiting.
She will be sitting on the railing, swinging her legs and tapping her fingers across the wood, because she cannot for the life of her sit still. That humming sort of smile will be on her face as she pretends not to see him approach. Then the hum will break into a laugh, and her hugging smile will break across her face as she jumps on him, nearly knocking him over.
Then he can drop his mask of quiet dignity. He can let his disguise, the cape of an exalted son of gods fall away. He can step out of the regal rays of Ra and into the gentle rays of her smile. There is no deference in her smile, no subtle dropping of the eyes, and no respect or etiquette in her eternal laugh – and for that he is most glad.
He would not give up his post for the chance to be ordinary: he does not have those fantasies. He understands and appreciates his duty to his people. But he will count the seconds anyway. He will long for her smile.
And he will tear across the garden, no matter how improper it must appear, in order to reach her side.
A/N: *on the ground, twitching as she recovers from a fan seizure* I LOVE THIS PAIRING. This is the first pairing that I've written about thus far that I had on my list of supported shippings when I started the project. (Vexshipping has now been added to the list, but it wasn't there when I started.) You can say whatever you like, and yeah, perhaps they are just friends, but I will go all sappy on the childhood friends gig every single time it happens. I'll let you dream if you let me dream. *changes to a deep, dramatic announcer's voice* And next, on the Yu-Gi-Oh! Shipping Challenge: A romance across time (even though technically, this could be called Revolutionshipping) Atem x Anzu, also called VANISHSHIPPING! *drops announcer's voice* Still, though. Isn't this just Revolutionshipping? As far as I'm concerned, Yami no Yugi and Atem are the same character, just differing in some memories.
