Atem groaned, frowning in his sleep as he gradually became aware of something heavy on top of him, weighing him down and making it difficult to move. "Mmh... Mana, geddoff...," he murmured sleepily, blindly attempting to move the limbs off of him before belatedly realizing that said limbs most certainly did not belong to his young female friend-rather, the limbs in question were surprisingly muscular, and most definitely male...
Curious, Atem cracked an eye open, his face flooding with color as he realized that at some point during the night, Joey had shifted from his side of the bed to spread out across the majority of the large bed-including on top of the pharaoh himself. "J-Joey... Joey, please wake up and move yourself this instant," he commanded weakly, glancing over at the door warily-if someone were to walk in and see the pharaoh in such a compromising position with another male... Atem didn't even want to think about what sort of repercussions such a misunderstanding would have.
Joey slowly started to wake up; he also became aware of something strange as Atem had. "Why is this bed so lumpy?" He looked down to see the embarrassed and squashed little pharaoh underneath him. Still half asleep, he was confused by the sight, tilting his head to the side. "What are you doing down there?"
Atem's blush darkened as Joey shifted, their faces mere inches apart, and he forced his eyes away from the boy's (soft-looking and suddenly incredibly tempting) lips, finding that looking at the sleepy, confused expression on Joey's face wasn't helping all that much either. I swear to Ra, it should not be possible for a boy of his stature to look so cute... "I am 'down here' because you apparently moved in your sleep and pinned me here," he replied wryly.
Joey blinked, still mostly asleep. "Why would I do that?" The tall blond tried to sit up and ended up planting his knee in Atem's gut. "Oops, sorry," he said, moving his knee. Now he was fully awake and found himself staring into Atem's eyes. He'd never noticed what a pretty shade of amethyst they were. He unconsciously got closer, until the two boys were almost touching.
Atem grimaced as Joey's knee abruptly collided with his gut, the only thing preventing him from doubling over being the fact that he was still barely able to move out of their tangled mess of limbs. "It's fine," he responded through gritted teeth, taking a few slow breaths to clear the spots from his eyes and allow the pain some time to fade.
Once he returned to awareness, he realized that Joey had shifted to hover over him, their eyes locked as the blond's face seemed to move closer and closer, his own face seeming to move of its own accord to draw closer to Joey's... until a knock at his door and the sound of a servant timidly speaking snapped him out of whatever daze he'd slipped into.
The pharaoh hastily shoved Joey off of him, his face bright red and his heart beating unnaturally quickly as he shouted a shaky, "Y-yes, I am awake, and I would very much appreciate breakfast being brought to my chambers, thank you." Unable to look Joey in the eye out of embarrassment, Atem slipped out of bed and over to his wardrobe to get dressed for the day, unable to figure out what had prompted such an odd reaction in the first place (or rather, he had a feeling that he knew, but he refused to admit it when he knew that the other boy had merely been half-asleep and unaware of his actions).
Joey shook his head, trying to shake away the strange feeling that had overcome him. Was he attracted to Atem? That couldn't be the case, he was a boy, and he'd never been attracted to a boy before. He wasn't... The blond shook his head again, this time more violently, his hair falling over his face. He should really consider a haircut, and also a comb, he thought to himself, running a hand through the tangled mess that had become his hair. Joey untangled himself from the bed and stood up; searching and finding the clothes he had carelessly throw on the floor the night before. He quickly donned them and looked to Atem. "So what are we going to do today? Any leads on how to get me back home?"
Atem took his time straightening out his clothes in order to give himself another minute to compose himself, only turning back to face Joey when he was sure that his blush had receded. "Today I will have to sit in on a meeting to discuss the creation of a new law, and I believe a diplomat from the Kingdom of Ararat is scheduled to arrive later today to discuss trade negotiations... in other words, nothing all too exciting, I'm afraid," he added with a wry yet apologetic smile. "As for news on sending you back to your time, I will consult with Mahaad to see if he has found anything, but you must be patient-it's only been less than a day since he's started to search, and while he is one of my kingdom's finest magicians, even he cannot perform a miracle."
Joey's stomach growled. "Looks like I'm hungry again," he said almost sheepishly. The blond was still trying to sort out his feelings about Atem, but it was only making his head hurt, so he decided to try to put it out of his mind for now. "You don't happen to have a comb, do you?" He tried to put his hair into some semblance of order but only ended up making it look worse. Normally he didn't really care nor do anything with his hair, but after not doing anything with it for about a week was really starting to bug him. He really didn't want to look like he had a bird's nest made out of straw on his head.
Atem muffled a laugh behind his hand at the sound of Joey's stomach growling. "Don't worry, breakfast should be here in a few minutes," he responded, looking around for a comb at the boy's request and passing one to him once he found it. "Here you are." Noticing Joey's expression, he added, "Would you like some scissors as well? You don't seem to be too pleased with your hair, and I could have a servant help you shorten or style it if you wish."
"Yeah, I think I need to trim the bangs, I can't see." The blond worked the knots out of his tangled mess of golden hair. "Do you have the scissors in here too? I think I'd like to do it myself." Being very poor, Joey had never actually been to a hair salon before and had always cut it himself.
"I do not have scissors in here, but I can have a servant bring a pair of scissors right now," the pharaoh replied, stepping out of the room and calling over a servant to fetch him a pair of scissors, and within a few minutes Atem was able to hand Joey the pair of scissors that he needed. "Are you certain you wish to cut it yourself? I would think having someone else cut it for you would be simpler..."
"I just don't want them to mess it up..." Joey said, wary about anyone ruining his hair. Though it was already a mess, it couldn't really get any worse. "Well, maybe, just this once," he relented.
Atem smiled and nodded. "Very well then. Wait just a moment." He left the room, returning moments later with a young, nervous-looking woman. "He just needs his bangs trimmed," the pharaoh instructed, and the woman nodded in understanding and quickly made her way over to the pharaoh's 'personal servant', gently lifting the blond's bangs with one hand and meticulously trimming them with the scissors in her other hand.
Once Joey's bangs were short enough that they were out of his eyes, the young woman took a step back, glancing nervously between the pharaoh and his servant to make sure that both were pleased with her work. "Well, Joey? Do you think that's good, or would you like her to cut them shorter?" Atem asked-personally he thought Joey looked fine regardless of the length of his hair, and considering his own unusual hair, he found it difficult to judge what an acceptable hair length would be.
"It's fine, I can see now." Joey looked at his hair in a mirror and thought it looked fine. He turned to the servant who had cut it. "Thanks," he said, smiling at her.
Atem nodded in approval as Joey spoke, and the servant relaxed infinitesimally, flushing at the thanks and tentatively returning his smile before bowing to him and to the pharaoh and politely excusing herself. Hardly a minute or two after the servant girl left, another two servants entered the room carrying large trays of fresh fruits and freshly cooked foods for breakfast, setting the large meal down on a table in the room for the pharaoh and his personal servant to eat at their leisure. Atem nodded his thanks to them, waiting until they left before gesturing to the meal with a smile. "Help yourself, and eat as much as you want," he offered, taking a seat and taking a small portion of the food for himself-he wasn't a very large eater, so the majority of the food he'd requested had been for Joey anyway.
Joey started to dig into the food, he didn't eat it as fast as he had the previous day, but he was still eating it pretty quickly. "So do I really have to stick with you the entire time?" he asked in between bites. It was really boring having to stay with the pharaoh all the time when he didn't do anything interesting.
Atem paused in his eating at Joey's question, a frown on his face. "... It would be best if you stayed with me, yes," he responded after a moment. "It isn't safe for you to be wandering around on your own in an unfamiliar time and place." Not to mention if Joey happened to run into Priest Seth without him there... the pharaoh had a feeling that nothing good would come of the two of them meeting without someone there to act as a mediator. "However," he added reluctantly, "I suppose there's no real need for you to suffer through political meetings with me, so as long as you swear to stay within the castle grounds and not get yourself into any trouble, you may do as you wish for today."
…
Joey was glad that he didn't have to follow Atem around all day, but he also had no idea what he was going to do with himself. He left the Pharaoh's chambers to aimlessly explore the palace. The little black kitten that had found him the previous day came up to him again and meowed up at him so he picked the tiny thing up and took it with him, glad for some company.
A group of young women walked through the halls, a large basket of clean laundry in one girl's arms and washboards and soap in the arms of the other girls as they chatted amongst themselves in quiet yet jovial tones. They were quickly pulled from their conversation at the sight of someone in the distance, and they all fell silent before realizing that it was not anyone of high rank, but rather a servant—and a new one at that, because they certainly would have remembered seeing a face (and hair, and a body) like his around the palace... Hardly a word needed to be said between them before they moved towards him in unison, smiles that were almost too friendly spreading across their features. "You seem lost... are you new to the palace?" One of the young women asked. Another young woman moved closer and added, "We have a bit of free time on our hands—we can show you around, if you want~"
Joey was very confused by the sudden group of women surrounding him. "Um, uh," he sputtering, distracted by how pretty they were. "Um, I am new here, but I'm not really lost, I was just looking around a bit." He rubbed the back of his neck, a little embarrassed. "It would be nice to be shown around though; Atem's not really shown me much yet."
The young women all gasped, exchanging wide-eyed glances before one of them finally mustered up the courage to speak. "You're... on first-name basis with the pharaoh? Does this mean that you and he are...?" Rumors had already flown around the palace about the pharaoh taking a foreign, personal servant... if this was the servant in question, and he was on first-name basis with the pharaoh, then that could only mean one thing.
"We had no idea that the pharaoh... went that way," one of the girls said, and another one piped up with, "I suppose that explains why he never spared even a passing glance towards any of the ladies in the palace—we always just assumed it was because he was still young." The young women giggled amongst themselves—news of this would spread through the palace faster than a fire through a forest, just as soon as they could find people to tell. "Oh, but of course, if the pharaoh hasn't shown you around yet, we would be more than happy to give you a tour!" One of the girls spoke up, remembering the blond's initial request.
It took a second for what the girls were saying to sink in. "No, no, me and him...no, we're not like that. He's just helping me get back home." The blond turned bright red. It wasn't like that at all! He wasn't into guys...was he? Sure, the boy was admittedly attractive, but Joey didn't think he was actually into him...
The group of girls couldn't help but giggle at the blond's flustered expression, though they were visibly disappointed that their hunch had been incorrect. "Still, even the high priests never call the pharaoh by name... and to have the pharaoh personally helping you with anything... the pharaoh must hold you in very high regards to be treating you with such privilege," one of the young woman said with a smile, the others nodding and voicing their agreement.
"Yes, the only people he ever seems to voluntarily be around are his priests and Lady Mana—he's respectful and kind to everyone else, of course, but he seems to keep his distance from most people... though I suppose it's difficult to be close with anyone when you can never be sure of who's going to try and kill you next," one of the young women murmured, the others nodding sympathetically. "He's far too young to have the weight of a nation on his shoulders, if you ask me. Especially so soon after the late pharaoh's passing..."
Joey 's face fell. He had gotten the impression that something had happened to Atem's father to make him the new pharaoh, but now it was confirmed. He himself wasn't close with his parents, in fact he'd go so far as to say that he was estranged from his mother and his father was a drunken asshole, but he could understand how Atem must feel with his father dying. He couldn't stand all this touchy feely stuff but he was tempted to ask Atem about it, see if he could do anything to help.
"Who's this Mana?" Joey asked. She'd been mentioned before, but he still didn't know who she was. Was she Atem's sister, or maybe...a girlfriend? He didn't know why, but he felt a slight pang at the thought that Atem might have a girlfriend, even though he said he didn't.
"Lady Mana? I'm surprised you haven't met her yet, if you've been keeping company with the pharaoh," one of the girls responded before explaining. "Lady Mana is a childhood friend of the pharaoh's, as well as the High Priest Mahaad's star pupil—she's a sweet girl, if a bit klutzy, though you'd best avoid her when she's practicing magic... I heard she accidentally turned one of the guards into a chicken one time." The group of young women laughed, another girl piping up with, "I heard she turned High Priest Seth's hair green once!" This prompted another round of giggles—the High Priest had been irate, but that had only made it even more amusing for everyone who saw him. "She's still learning, so it's not her fault that she makes mistakes, though."
Joey had to stifle a laugh at the thought of the Kaiba he knew sporting green hair. "I think I'd like to meet her, where can I find her?" he asked, looking around like he might happen to spot her somewhere. She sounded like she might be fun, and Joey was getting more and more bored as the minutes passed.
"It's hard to say, she's always running around so no one ever knows exactly where she is until she decides to pop up." One of the girls sidled up to the blond, wrapping her arms around one of his and looking up at him with a smile. "But enough about that—you wanted a tour, didn't you?"
Some of the other girls huffed and fussed, while the rest laughed quietly. "Hey, no fair, making the first move like that!" Another girl took the blond's other arm, eying him appreciatively. "You know, you've got quite the build for a servant... are you sure you aren't actually a warrior?" There were more quiet giggles, and with that the girls began tugging him along down the hall to show him around.
Joey was tempted to mention that he technically wasn't even a real servant, but remembered that his being from the future should remain a secret. "Um, could you stop pulling me?" Not that he minded that much being touching by a bunch of pretty girls, but he barely knew them, and he could walk on his own.
"Oh, right, right, sorry~" The girls giggled, slowing their pace so they weren't pulling him along but continuing to remain close and hold onto his arms as they walked. "There's so much to see in the palace; I can't believe the pharaoh hasn't shown you around if you're so close with him!"
"Well, I only met him yesterday." Joey didn't say anything about being in the dungeon and being tortured for...he couldn't even remember how long he was down there.
" Yesterday? " The girls looked at him in shocked awe. "You mean he appointed you as his personal servant after only knowing you for one day? He must have really taken a liking to you..." This prompted another round of quiet giggles.
"Yeah, maybe..." Joey tried to shrug it off as nothing. These nattering girls were starting to annoy him.
…
Priestess Isis wore a troubled frown on her face, her fingers briefly brushing against the Millennium Tauk around her neck as she walked through the palace halls. Ever since approximately one week ago, there had been an odd interference whenever she attempted a divination—almost as if something was blocking her from seeing future events. It was unsettling, but once Mahaad had spoken with her and the other priests of the boy from the future, Isis had deduced that his presence must have been what was causing the odd interference. As if fate were guiding her, she rounded the corner before coming to a stop in surprise as he caught sight of the boy in question, her Millennium Tauk shining briefly as a vision flashed through her mind's eye—it was brief, but it was certainly a vision of the future, and an unsettling one at that... especially considering how the sight of this boy had been what prompted a reaction from her millennium item.
With a serious expression, she made her way towards him and the group of young women around him, her face easing into a brief yet gentle smile when the girls immediately bowed. "My apologies for disturbing you all," she said, before turning her gaze up to meet the blond's eyes. "You are the one Mahaad spoke of, correct?"
Joey blinked, staring at the woman. "Ishizu?" This woman did look a lot like Marik's sister. Did everyone from this time look like someone he knew? "Um, yes, I'm Joey. Did you want something?" The blond continued to look confused.
"My name is Isis," she responded, both to correct him and to properly introduce herself. "And yes... there is a matter that I would like to discuss with you." The girls took the hint and respectfully (though reluctantly) stepped out of hearing range, leaving Joey and Isis alone in the hallway. "Ever since your arrival, my Millennium Tauk has not been functioning as it should—it was only when Mahaad informed me of your presence and your origin that I realized why I was unable to see any visions of the future. However..." She met his gaze with a serious expression. "Just now, upon seeing you myself for the first time, I experienced a strong vision—I do not often give warnings to anyone other than his highness or the other wielders of the Millennium Items, but this vision..." Isis's frown deepened, her fingers brushing against the tauk around her neck. "It was brief, but what I saw was enough to show me that the entire future as you know it could be at stake."
Closing her eyes, she recalled the flash of images that passed through her mind as she spoke. "On the night where the sow swallows the moon, you will be given a choice: should you choose to abide by the plan and return before your time runs out, you may very well find that the future you once knew is no more; however, if you choose the path of selflessness, your home may become nothing more than a distant dream. You must choose wisely—once you make your decision, the wheels of fate will begin to turn, and not even the gods themselves can stop them."
Joey stared even more blankly at Isis. "What the hell are you talking about? Is that a threat? What is this mumbo jumbo?" He stepped back from her, mildly creeped out. He didn't want to hear this stupid crap. Maybe Atem knew what the hell she was talking about...
Priestess Isis reopened her eyes to look at Joey, her expression remaining serious. "It is not a threat, merely a warning—one you'd best heed, for the future's sake if not your own." Having said all that she could, and sensing the boy's wariness, Isis decided it was best to say nothing more on the matter, instead politely excusing herself with a small bow before continuing on down the hallway, hoping that the choice the boy made would end up being the right one in the end.
"Is she gone?" "I think she's gone!" One of the girls moved faster than the others, hugging Joey and looking up at him with a sympathetic expression. "You look like you've seen a ghost! You poor thing... the high priestess scares a lot of people with all her future talk, don't worry!" Smiling, the girl leaned up and pressed a kiss to Joey's cheek. "Now then, where were we~?"
" We —" one of the other girls interrupted, moving over to Joey's other side and hugging his arm, "—were going to continue our tour of the palace, isn't that right?" She leaned up and pressed a kiss to Joey's other cheek with a smile. "And maybe I can give you a tour of the servants' quarters too~"
Joey blushed deeply, they had kissed him! He didn't really know how to react to that. It had only been on the cheek, but he'd never been kissed before. "Um, uh, uh," he stuttered, unable to get words to come out of his mouth. "Huh, wha?" he stumbled along for a bit, not sure what to do with all the attention.
The girls giggled as the blond's face filled with color. "You're even cuter when you blush~" one of them teased as they led him around the corner and down the next hallway, pressing another kiss to his cheek. "I would've thought someone as handsome as you would be used to getting lots of attention from the ladies~"