Atem opened his eyes and sighed, irritated, it was the sixth time that month that he woke up to find himself tied up; fortunately the castle staff had the habit of checking on him every morning.
Working for prince Yugi Muto of the small kingdom of Domino was, really hard, to say the least; the prince had a tendency to escape the castle to go play games at the city bar, along with his best friend Jounouchi. It usually happened late at night or in the early morning; and not only that but the prince and his best friend would try his best to restrain Atem from following or stopping them, that meant that since his first day Atem had woken up locked in his room, tied up to his bed, tied up and locked in other rooms, sometimes even gagged so he couldn't call the staff.
So yeah, it was hard.
That morning he was found by Shizuka, Jounouchi's younger sister, who untied him and apologized on her brother's behalf; Atem thanked her and ran out of the castle, he knew where to find the pair of troublemakers.
They were in Honda's bar, it was always Honda's bar.
It was like 4am in the middle of the week so it was pretty much empty.
He could hear Jounouchi's drunk singing from the entrance, that was normal; what wasn't normal was what he saw inside, prince Yugi, with an alcohol bottle on hand, drinking as if his life depended on it; he had never seen (or heard of) prince Yugi drinking alcohol.
He stood next to the prince, who ran out of alcohol to drink (of at least the bottle he had in hand), the short royal let it fall on the table, defeated, and turned to Atem with glazed eyes, the moment he seemed to notice the knight at his side he started crying.
Needles to say Atem was confused.
"It's" he said, hiccuping "It's" Jounouchi finally shut up and walked to Yugi's other side "It's my appointed knight" he bawled.
"Now now" said Jounouchi, voice wobbly, and pointed at Atem "Mister appointed knight Osiris-"
"His name is Atem" interrupted Yugi.
"Mister appointed knight Atem" corrected the blonde "You won't be taking my friend back to prison" Jounouchi seemed to fall on nothing and ended resting his chin on Yugi's head "He has no debt to pay, whoever told you that is obviously butthurt, because no one, AND I MEAN NO ONE, has ever defeated my buddy Yug in any kind of game"
Atem gave Honda an almost pleading glance, and Honda, who was cleaning the counter, only shrugged and continued with what he was doing. Atem face palmed in mild irritation.
"Your Highness" he said "I need to bring you back to the castle, you're drunk and dawn will arrive soon enough" he kneeled trying to keep the prince´s attention on him.
"I don't want to" he cried "If I do mother will marry me to the princess of Despirok" he hugged the empty bottle of alcohol. Atem sighed.
The queen had announced her plan of marrying Yugi to Anzu, princess of Despirok, in order to unite their kingdoms; Yugi hadn't been happy at all. He felt pity for the prince, for he knew he was a romantic at heart and only wished to marry the person he would fall in love with.
"Anzu and I are childhood friends, you know?" said Yugi, calming a little bit "I liked her when we were little you know? She's amazing" he hiccuped "But she rejected me, and I mean, the only thing I got going for me is the fact that I'm a princess and that I'm undefeatable in games" he didn't seem to have noticed that he called himself a princess "And I mean, Domino is a small kingdom, heck! I'm pretty sure is one of the smallest kingdoms on the world" for some reason that had Jounouchi crying "Heck! Maybe that's why I am so freaking short" Yugi's crying had turned into venting.
Jounouchi nodded.
"Even appointed Knight Osiri-"
"Atem" the prince corrected his blonde friend once again.
"Even appointed Knight Atem is taller than you" said the blonde. That got Yugi crying again.
Atem looked around, Honda was making him signs, finally taking pity on the Knight. He pointed at Jounouchi and then himself, then to Yugi, to Atem, and finally to the door. Atem showed him a relieved smile.
"Yo Jou!" called Honda "Come here a minute" he said and the blonde complied.
Atem took the opportunity, he lifted Yugi onto his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and almost sprinted out of the bar.
It took several minutes to the prince to realize what was happening, but instead of wailing and kicking he just sobbed again, surrendering.
"Why do you this to me?" he asked, although it didn't seem to be directed at Atem "I don't want to get married, I haven't fallen in love yet, I'm still on the childish crush phase" Atem slowed down a bit, he might as well enjoy the first (and probably only) time he saw the prince drunk "And he probably hates me" he sobbed "After all the pranks Jou and I pull on him, heck! He'll probably quit by tomorrow" wait what? "So he'll be gone and I'll it'll be my fault and then I'll marry my childhood friend and I'll ruin all her opportunities to find happiness because she'll be married to me" he ran out of air "Because she's lesbian, and she has a wonderful girlfriend, but she'll be with me, the short childhood friend who she rejected when we were like 7 and with who she didn't keep in touch with so it'll be super awkward when I next see her for our wedding" he breathed again "And she'll be heartbroken because she should be marrying her girlfriend not me! Who would even accept to marry me given the opportunity? honestly!" Atem took the back entrance and tried to avoid as my staff as possible "All I've ever wanted is to fall in love with someone and live happily ever after" Yugi's eyes were red and puffy from all the crying "Is that too much to ask for?"
Atem put the Prince in his bed, and found himself captured by the Prince's hand when he was about to leave. Yugi was still crying quietly, his hand firm on Atem's sleeve.
"Don't please"
He didn't knew what Yugi was talking about, nor he thought the Prince knew. He sighed, reached for the closest chair and sat down; his sleeve still in Yugi's grasp.
"Sleep your Highness, you need it"
Not even a week had passed since that, when he caught the Prince and Jounouchi sneaking out again, which would have been normal if it wasn't for the suspicious bags full of stuff that they carried.
He followed them through the castle city, to the entrance of the forest. He stopped and let them know he was there.
"What do you think you're doing?" he asked. Jounouchi and Yugi shrieked and turned to him.
"I-We-" stuttered Yugi, his cheeks pink.
"We're going out for drinks" said Jounouchi.
Atem raised a brow, not buying it even a little "Honda's bar is the other way" he pointed back to the town.
Yugi fidgeted with his shirt "Please" he begged "Don't tell anyone about this"
"I'm not even sure what this is, it looks like you're leaving on some kind of journey-" Yugi looked at the floor, ashamed, and it clicked "You're escaping" he declared "You're escaping because you don't want to marry Princess Anzu"
Yugi hunched on himself, trembling, ashamed to have been caught by Atem, he bit his bottom lip. Jounouchi stood in front of him protectively.
"Can you blame him tho?" hissed Jounouchi.
"I can't," agreed Atem "But I can't just let you leave, you might get in danger."
"Then," croaked Yugi, still looking down "Then why don't you come too?" that had the other gaping at him "Of course you don't have to, it's just a suggestion," said Yugi hastily "But staying is not an option for me" he added.
Atem's expression softened at Yugi's apprehensive yet unyielding state.
"If that's the case then I will accompany you," he said and Yugi's face darted up, surprised "I am you appointed knight after all"
