The next day was dreadful. Atemu was called to work out an issue with a possible foreigner who, late last night, had supposedly stolen important artifacts from the temples. Though the temples were heavily guarded, somehow the intruder and thief managed to sneak by. The mystery thief also took food offerings, and this knowledge immediately struck Atemu that it could be one of two most likely options: The thief was simply greedy and stole the ancient artifacts for large sums of money in another country, and the stealing of the religious food offerings were mere sabotage, or they were hungry and needing of money, so the whole thing was acted out of desperation. Regardless, Yugi was forced to witness the darker side of his friend that he hadn't seen in a long time when the news reached them both that morning. After the message was delivered and the servant left the room, Atemu balled his hands into angry fists, clenching his teeth.
"The intruder will be found and punished for stealing what is precious to this culture. I will make sure of it," he growled. For a minute, Atemu seemed nearly possessed with seething anger and vengeful thoughts. Yugi was frightened. He approached him slowly and held him, and Atemu was brought out of his dark trance when feeling Yugi's thin arms twine around his stomach. The Pharaoh sighed, returning the gentle embrace. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry," he whispered. "I won't do anything too rash. I promise."
For nearly half the day, Yugi moped around the palace alone. He got lost in the maze-structured building more than four times now in an attempt to find the entrance so he could explore the city. But this place, it was just too big! Yugi sighed, running his hand along the brick wall as he walked.
"How does anyone get around here?" He wondered to himself aloud.
"Hey, kid, who are you? What are you doing in an unauthorized place like this?" A deep, startling voice called at the other end of the hall Yugi was currently occupied. Yugi's big eyes grew upon seeing the man's face and hearing his voice. He looked and sounded exactly like Seto Kaiba, but simply garbed in ancient Egyptian clothing.
"I-I… uh… I…" Yugi was feeling a sense of déjà vu at this point—it was much like when he encountered Muscles. Only at least the Seto look-alike could distinguish that Yugi was Japanese and was speaking to him in said language. He wasn't lifting him in midair and screaming curses in his face, either. And yet somehow, he seemed much more intimidating than Muscles. Just like Kaiba.
However, when Yugi couldn't think up an excuse off the top of his head to explain his reasoning for being here, the Seto look-alike began moving toward him in graceful, yet threatening strides compared to his petit form.
"I will repeat the question. Who are you, and what are you doing here?" He snapped.
"I'm… Yugi Motou, and… I have permission to be here, because I'm acquainted with Lord Baniti and I'm a close to friend to His Majesty." Yugi said, trying to ease his quivering voice by means of formality.
The taller man was silent for a few moments before saying in a more controlled tone, "I've never seen you before."
"Well… I just arrived yesterday, sir."
The man grunted, and Yugi couldn't tell whether he was pleased or not. He mentally sighed with relief, though, when the man bypassed him and said, "Whatever. Just don't get in my way, or you'll be sorry. You best not cause any trouble here, boy."
"Do I… seem like that much of a threat to you, sir…?" Yugi dared to ask, furrowing his brows as he watched the man carry on walking down through the hall.
"You could be."
Yugi frowned at his answer. I swear, he sounds just like… "U-um, what's… your name, sir?"
"Seto. And that's Lord Seto to you," He grumbled before he turned the corner and disappeared, his footsteps echoing against the stone floor in the distance. When Yugi could no longer hear him, he knew he was alone again, and he hung his head with shame. He'd forgotten to ask for directions, too distracted by the fact that this man was truly Seto Kaiba's incarnation. Yugi sighed and continued his own path through the palace.
After nearly another hour of finding nothing that would give Yugi a sense of direction, he slumped down against the wall miserably. Someone would find him soon, he could only hope. He would have laughed at how ridiculous this was if he weren't so confused, hungry, missing Atemu, and wanting to just lie down on the bed again and fall into a long, satisfying sleep. The last thing was exactly what he unconsciously decided to do, right here in this deserted, silent hall. His eyelids struggled to stay open, but he eventually came to a point where he was too tired to want to fight anymore.
As the twilight set in over the desert and casting an orange light through the palace, Yugi couldn't help drifting in and out of consciousness when he felt his small body being lifted by strong, warm arms. His head at first draped limply over one of their arms, but being lifted to rest against their chest as they began walking with him bridle-style.
"Aibou…" He heard the man sigh, and for the first time since this morning, Yugi smiled, snuggling more into Atemu's hold, drifting out of consciousness again with a feeling of ease.
"You," Priest Seto pointed accusingly at Atemu while watching him approach. "Who is this boy? He looks nothing more than peasant."
"He is not a peasant, and don't use such a degrading word against your own people." Atemu retorted with a glare. "He's my friend, a very dear friend."
"Whatever. But I know how you are, Atemu, and only I. I know how things go down in your world."
"You have no right to judge me, Seto." Atemu muttered, turning away briefly.
"Who said I was judging you?" Seto folded his arms, shooting the glare right back at Atemu. "I'm only going to warn you. For the sake of our kingdom, don't fall in love with him." With a swipe of his cape as he turned away, Seto left Atemu without another word, and leaving no time for his cousin to question or argue.
An hour later, Yugi felt the softness of silk on top of a plush mattress underneath him when he awoke again. The sun had vanished behind the hills, but a faint yellow lining still visible signaled it had to be just a little past dinnertime. Yugi blinked a couple times, adjusting his vision. He was back in Atemu's room. All the candles were lit, and Atemu could be seen sitting at a desk in a corner, seeming to be writing something. Yugi watched over his bare, tan shoulder, a feather on the back of his writing utensil flicking back and forth. Curious, Yugi quietly slipped out of the bed and approached his friend, peeking over his shoulder. Unfortunately for him, it was all being carefully written in Egyptian. But it seemed like a journal, or a diary. Atemu carried on writing with strange passion, oblivious to Yugi right beside him until he spoke:
"What are you writing, Atemu?"
"Ah!" Atemu's pencil flew out from between his fingers. He hastily slammed the journal shut and stood, guarding it from view. "A-Aibou! I, em… didn't notice you woke up. I'm happy to see you're so well." He nodded, smiling weakly in a desperate attempt to smooth out that mysterious moment.
Judging by Atemu's rare stuttering, the journal was something Yugi was not meant to see. And Yugi respected that, deciding not to press it. "Yeah, I'm really happy I was found. This place is unbelievably huge—it's just as confusing as Kaiba's mansion!"
"Oh, yes, yes… I'm so sorry you had to go through that." Atemu said, visibly beginning to relax again. "Aibou…" he sighed.
"Hm?"
"Just… because I know you'll be too unbearably curious and begin to wonder… just don't ask me about what you just saw."
"Well it's not like I can read Egyptian anyway." Yugi joked lightly, but knit his brows again with some confusion. "Is it your diary?"
"Something like that…"
Yugi smirked then, beginning to see the possibilities in where this could potentially be leading. "Is there… someone you like, Atemu? Normally people write in their diaries about people they admire." He wiggled his eyebrows.
"Eh?" Atemu seemed to be struck dumb with the question, and Yugi saw the faint blush appear on the caps of his cheeks. There was a moment of hesitancy that Yugi didn't miss. "N-no…"
"You're stuttering again! That's rare for you. So naturally it means you're lying to me!" Yugi giggled, circling around a pillar and singing, "Atemu's got a girlfriend, Atemu's got a girlfriend!"
The Egyptian bit his lip, turning away and hiding his pink face. "T-that's not it…"
"What else could it possibly be?" Yugi grinned. "Unless of course it's a guy!"
"Y-yes…"
Yugi stopped dead in his spinning, staring wide-eyed at the Pharaoh. "Oh…"
"Yes. Oh."
"But… wait… so you're…"
"Yes."
"…Oh!"
A small quiet passed in that moment. Can anyone say awkwardness to the fullest extent?
"This topic is done. I told you not to mention it, but we went there, anyway. Now you know…"
"Hey… are you okay?" Yugi said with worry laced in his voice. "You look a little tense… Atemu?"
Silence. It was as though Atemu had been set on pause. Why did the subject seem to make him so edgy? Yugi sighed.
"You've been working all day, Atemu. Let's do something fun now!" He smiled, suddenly giddy as a child.
"Like what?" The Pharaoh questioned, raising a brow and finally turning to his Aibou.
Yugi hummed, tapping his chin in thought as he went through all the games he could remember. Problem was, he'd done just about every kind of game his grandfather had taught him with Atemu as Yami in the twenty-first century.
"Duel Monsters?" Atemu suggested.
"If you want to… I mean, of course… though… I was trying to think of something else that we possibly haven't done before." Yugi smiled, shrugging.
At this point, Atemu began to think deep as well, folding his arms. Yugi moved to sit on the edge of the bed, kicking his legs and looking around. His palms went to press against the mattress as he adjusted his position slightly, and then his gaze focused there. The mattress…
"I've got it!" Yugi chirped. "It's not exactly a game, but it's really fun. Atemu, have you ever tried mattress sliding?" A shaking of his head was Yugi's response. "Oh, no, of course you haven't. Well then, let's do it!"
"Care to elaborate what it is exactly?" Atemu asked, smiling a little.
"It's like the name, pretty much. You go to a long set of stairs and slide down on something. I used to always do it with my sleeping bag, but considering I don't have that with me and you have bigger, wider sets of stairs anyway…" He smirked.
Atemu pursed his lips, feeling suddenly unsure. "I don't know if that's such a good idea…"
"Why not?" Yugi wondered.
"Well, we could cause accidents on the guards or something…"
"But your stairs are wide enough. The guards would be perfectly safe, rest assured." Yugi smiled.
"Your idea of 'fun' is very strange, Aibou." Atemu sighed, and Yugi slumped over, taking Atemu's response as a rejection. "But," he added, and Yugi glanced over hopefully, "I like it." Atemu concluded with a smirk.
Yugi cheered. "Let's do it! Help me get the mattress out." Atemu quickly responded, jogging over and shedding the bed of its pillows and blankets and sheets, until all that remained was the mattress.
"Ready? Lift, on one, two, three!" Atemu said, and they did just so on the opposite sides of the mattress. It lifted effortlessly with their strength combined.
"Okay. Which set of stairs?"
"What's your longest set?" Yugi grinned.
"Probably the one outside the throne room… which is just around the corner." Atemu smirked.
"Let's go!"
The short journey to the stairs had Yugi laughing, to say the very least. He and the Pharaoh shoved through the halls speedily, dodging maids and servants that gasped and sidestepped against the wall. The teens retreated much too fast for them to question why they were randomly carrying the Pharaoh's mattress through the halls of the palace.
"Woah! Stop!" Atemu hollered, and Yugi skidded to a pause as instructed. "We're here!"
"Okay. Now we lay the mattress down so we can climb on top…" with a small plop, the mattress was lying on it's surface against the first step out of hundreds that went a long way down in a spiral kind of structure. It made Yugi smile wide – this was definitely going to be fun.
"Aibou, you go on first. I'll give this a push."
"Okay, but jump on quickly, or you'll miss the ride!" Yugi said, and Atemu nodded. The smaller of the two climbed carefully on top of the plush mattress, lying on his stomach, then turned to give Atemu a thumbs-up.
"Three… two…" Atemu felt an excitement in him, a feeling of freedom, free to be the child he still was despite being in his teen years. But this is what it meant to have a childhood, to have wonderful memories to think back to, whether or not something this crazy was going to bring them consequences. Yes, together with Yugi, they would create memories, theirs alone. "Three!"
All that happened in that split moment was such a blur, but Atemu felt his body instinctively flip and drop onto the mattress after giving it a hard shove. Then it felt like they were flying. The mattress bumped and sped, and Yugi and Atemu were holding each other's arms, laughing and cheering like there was no tomorrow.
And just like that, the ride was over as the mattress turned a corner and crashed into the wall, causing Yami and Yugi to almost fling off. But with a strong hold on the other, they managed to conclude their fun, still safely on top of the mattress. Their laughter rung through the halls, an absolutely glorious sound to the servants and even the guards that patrolled, though they wouldn't dare audibly admit how much they had missed the sound of the Pharaoh's laughter.
"What in the name of Ra is going on here?" A familiar deep voice hollered just a few steps away from where Atemu and Yugi still lie on the mattress. Their laughter suddenly ceased as they looked up to find Seto, the person Yugi least wanted them to be caught with, standing there, a fire burning in his furiously icy, blue eyes.
"Cousin Seto—" Atemu began, but gasped when Seto thrust his arm downward and pulled Yugi almost violently by the front of his borrowed tunic.
"You—!" he snarled.
"Cousin Seto! I demand that you put Yugi down this very instant!" Atemu barked. Priest Seto glared darts at the Pharaoh, but did as told and threw Yugi back at the mattress, causing a small yelp to escape from the boy.
"How could this scrawny little runt affect you this much, cousin Atemu? How? You're neglecting your duties as a Pharaoh, as a leader of this country! You think the public will love hearing how much fun their leader is having, sliding down stairs on a mattress with his boyfriend?"
Boyfriend? Yugi thought, his brows knitting together as he stared downcast at the mattress. He took a nervous glance at the taller sitting beside him.
Atemu was quiet as he contemplated Priest Seto's words, his eyes drifting shut, clutching his tunic tightly. He sighed deeply, and a strong feeling of shame and neglect permeated the room. "Let's go, Yugi. To bed."
Yugi's lips parted, feeling like something had struck through his heart. Atemu almost never called him by his actual name, and it sounded so foreign on his friend's tongue. The Pharaoh was embarrassed. And Yugi felt like it was his fault. Nonetheless, Yugi obeyed. He felt his stomach swim with guilt as Seto called up a few servants to carry the mattress back up to Atemu's room.
Yugi wasn't instructed to sleep in a separate room from Atemu that night, but he felt it necessary. He had done wrong by dragging him into such a childish thing. It wasn't at all proper for a Pharaoh to play such immature games of mattress sliding down the stairs and things of the sort that Yugi was so used to. The boy buried his face in his pillow, curling into a fetal position. Such shame he felt.
And then, a knock came at his door. "Yugi?" A voice called, softly. His heart nearly leaped out of his chest when the owner of the voice was Atemu's. However, Yugi didn't answer. A small silence came over until he heard Atemu say something else, "I'm coming in, Aibou."
Yugi heard the door open and close quietly somewhere off in the distance of the room. An additional weight on the edge of the bed announced Atemu's nearness. He was holding a single lit candle, providing just enough light for them to see each other.
Gathering his courage, Yugi sighed and lifted himself from his pillow, leaning on his elbow. "Hi." He said softly.
"Hi." Atemu smiled. Another small quietness fell until Yugi spoke first:
"What are you doing here?"
Atemu turned to gaze at the candle, and the smile never left. "I just wanted to come say thank you."
"Thank me?" Yugi asked, making a face as he sat up more. "Why are you thanking me? I got you in trouble today, as a Pharaoh… and that's saying something… what I pulled you into… it wasn't right. And I feel nothing but guilt for it." He said, hugging his knees.
"I don't," Atemu murmured, turning back to search Yugi's troubled, violet orbs. "I want to thank you, because we're making memories together. Furthermost, I have a confession. You may have seen the servants smile when I smile or laugh with you. It's because… I haven't smiled or laughed ever since you and I parted from each other. And that's, what, about three, four months? I was told one evening when I did that nightly tradition of handing food from a young woman that I needn't worry about my people so much. That I should enjoy what little of my childhood I have left to the fullest extent, even if that means doing something outrageous. Which is exactly what you and I did."
"But… you looked so ashamed, after Priest Seto told you off about all that…"
"Aibou," Atemu whispered. "I care about my culture and my people, more than my own life. And I want to be the best Pharaoh I can possibly be. The people understand that and they even understand my yearning to smile and laugh, but those in the royal court like cousin Seto don't understand. I am constantly piled with issues I have to solve somehow. No one else. Me. Do you understand how pressuring that is? How pressuring it is to be a Pharaoh, a leader to an entire culture?" Atemu furrowed his brows, his hand reaching up to touch Yugi's cheek in a notably affectionate way. "That's why, Aibou… when you came along into my life again, I had a reason to smile and laugh again. A had a reason to be happy. No one can truly feel accomplished as a leader and bring happiness to their people if they aren't happy, themselves."
"Atemu." Yugi whispered mournfully, feeling a sudden rush of silent tears run down his cheeks, and wishing they hadn't made an appearance. Who was he to start crying? He wasn't in Atemu's position, a position where freedom was intolerable and duty and obligations came first. He ducked his face, feeling Atemu's thumb brush over them. He reached up his own small hands and held the other teen's wrists, noticing the contrast between their colors and yet how perfectly well they blended with each other. "I'm sorry…" the boy wasn't sure, himself, what specifically he was sorry for. But he felt it needed to be said.
"You brought me something, Aibou, that I long for. I hate feeling tied down by only one mindset as a Pharaoh. There has to be a balance, and you bring it." Atemu looked away, and Yugi glanced up, swearing that he saw a small tear trickle down Atemu's sun-kissed cheek. Just a single, lone tear, and yet it expressed all the frustration and sadness in the world the Pharaoh had kept concealed for who knows how long. "I just want to have fun."
Crud, that was slightly cheesy. But I felt another aspect of Atemu had to be addressed. I've obviously never been a Pharaoh before, or a leader of any sort, but I always wondered how stressful it was, and the fact that Atemu basically had to grow up too fast. In my opinion, that is a sad loss. But at least Yugi is here to help! =)
R&R!