Yugi wouldn't say this out loud, but he had been looking forward to this confrontation for years. The second Kaiba heard about a 'rare card' his grandfather had, he knew the arrogant prick would come to the shop to see if it was the last remaining Blue Eyes White Dragon not in his possession.

Yugi was manning the counter, with Grim acting as the shop's mascot. He saw Kaiba stroll into the shop like he owned the whole world, and inwardly sneered at the other teen's fashion sense. He was the CEO of Kaiba corp and had the worst fashion sense he had ever seen.

Kaiba sneered at Yugi, not really registering him as a fellow classmate and more like something he could stomp on with his boot.

Solomon refused any and all attempts to sell his precious card. Unaware that the one in his possession at the moment was the best damn counterfeit Yugi could get his hands on.

Kaiba looked at them both derisively.

"This is a fake."

"Of course it's a fake," deadpanned Yugi. "Everyone knows that only four Blue Eyes White Dragons were ever put into production, which never made any real sense because you can only have three per deck. The real one is in a safety deposit box because there's been plenty of rumors on the forums about some collector using underhanded methods to get his hands on the full set."

"How much for the real one?" demanded Kaiba.

Yugi's smile was not kind or friendly in the least. It was the same one he used as Vil when disciplining unruly members of his dorm.

Something about that smile unsettled Kaiba deeply. He did not like the feeling.

"Not. For. Sale."

"I could own your pathetic little shop," snarled Kaiba.

"You might be a CEO, but in most countries I'd be called a Queen. So fuck off bitch," said Yugi snidely. He had no issues with being bi, but he only really had eyes for one person.

Dead silence, mostly due to everyone processing that statement.

Kaiba sneered at him again, before storming off.

"Grandpa, I'd take it as a huge favor if you visited Dad for a while."

Solomon looked at him, and saw the serious expression in his eyes.

"That bad?"

"He's obsessed with that damn card, and he's the reigning dueling champ. I wouldn't put it past that arrogant ass to force you into a duel with the latest hologram technology just to get to that card. Even if you have no idea where it is," said Yugi, dead serious. "Besides, I know dad would be thrilled for you to visit even if it's on set."

Solomon rubbed his beard.

"It has been a while since I visited Erik."

"I'll call and let you know when it's safe to come back, but for now avoid the shop. Just take it as an overdue vacation."

It took him all of a few hours to get packed, and for Yugi to contact his father to alert him of the situation. Erik had no issues with his father visiting for a week or two, and he was staying in a hotel anyway. He could easily afford another room.

"What's the big deal about this card anyway?" asked Grim.

"Kaiba has a long history with the Blue Eyes White Dragon . He's more obsessed with it than Riddle was with the Queen of Heart's rules," said Yugi tiredly. "He's an egotistical asshole who doesn't take losing very well and will go to extreme lengths to regain his title as the best."

Grim made a face.

"Sounds like Leona."

"More like Azul's drive to be the top, with Idia's obsession with games and my drive to be the absolute best among a certain niche group," said Yugi tiredly.

Hell, the main reason he had done a complete revamp of his image was to get away from Kaiba and his ego. He had undergone a hellish year of downright nasty potions, beauty regimens and a complete overhaul of his diet and exercise regimen just to get away from being in the pharaoh's shadow.

The amount of work that had gone into making those blasted spikes of his lay flat alone was mind-boggling, never mind how expensive all those treatments were.

It was worth every coin, because no one would dare equate Vil Schoenhiet, top model and actor, with the somewhat timid and introverted Yugi Muto.

Two days later...

He knew it was a bad idea, but he had spent a lot of time, money and effort avoiding Kaiba that he couldn't bring himself to duel the ass.

Doing so might lead to the same cycle of Kaiba tracking him down with some new strategy or toy to demand a duel to stroke his ego, and Yugi refused to do that.

Letting Yami duel him was almost worse, because he knew Kaiba would become obsessed with the pharaoh all over again, but it was the lesser of two evils at this point.

At least Kaiba's ego was broken enough for now that he'd leave Yugi alone for a while.

Some time later...

Erik inspected the Puzzle around his son's neck. Since this was a rare week off, Vil had opted to bring it with him because he was too lazy to take it off. Grim was at the table, snacking on some food.

"So...this is the infamous Millennium Puzzle," said Erik.

"It's a wretched nuisance is what it is," said Vil annoyed. "The blasted thing is cursed, and the material used to make it only amplified the natural dark magic it contains."

Erik blinked.

"Material?"

"Some idiot made a set of seven artifacts by sacrificing an entire village's worth of people and melting them into gold by using a forbidden ritual."

Seeing the look on his father's face, Vil sighed.

"The Puzzle itself is fairly harmless, and the spirit attached to it is highly protective of anyone who bonds to it. It's just that the damn thing attracts the crazy ones like ticks to a dog."

"And you're actively wearing the thing?" said Erik dubiously.

"It's not like wearing it will actually harm me, and I'm used to dealing with overly persistent people," shrugged Vil. "Besides, the only way to permanently deal with it involves getting the rest of the set, and I'd rather have it on me than not because the other artifacts have much nastier abilities."

"How heavy is it?" asked Erik.

Vil made a face.

"Very. But it helps in disguising my actual height," said Vil.

The pendant was made of almost solid gold and was ridiculously heavy, even it was hollow inside. Part of the reason Vil had shot up like a weed after losing Atem was due to the fact he wasn't lugging the damn thing around all the time. The amount of back problems it gave him were ridiculous.

Carrying around the Puzzle resulted in Yugi developing a slight hunch to his back, further disguising his actual height.

It was also a major reason he refused to carry the thing around while doing modeling work. Bad posture and modeling did not mix well.

~*~*~*~*

Yugi was deeply unimpressed with the exhibit, but his grandfather wanted him to join him while meeting an old friend, so he relented. However he refused to go alone, so he decided to bring a few friends with him.

Besides, he had been meaning to introduce Jack to Jounouchi for a while now.

Jack Howl was a wolf beastkin that had been one of the few who didn't treat him like a villain simply because he kept being type-cast as such in his acting work.

While he had been surprised at the invite, he was even more taken aback upon seeing Vil remove his wig and switch to his other persona. However he had accepted it without question, knowing Vil likely had a reason for the double-identity.

Jounouchi eyed Jack for a moment, mostly because of the ears and tail.

Yugi gave an amused sigh as he said "Before you ask, Jack is a serious cosplayer who is a huge fan of Inuyasha."

Jounouchi squinted a bit.

"Isn't that the anime about the half-demon dog guy?" he asked.

"Yes," said Yugi.

It was a good thing this was Japan, otherwise he would have had to spell a hat or something to hide Jack's ears and tail. However his friends were well aware of his love of fashion and thus took the fact he had a good friend who happened to be a serious Inuyasha cosplayer without questioning it.

On a related note, Jack was a huge fan of Sesshomaru over Inuyasha. He could respect an Alpha when he saw one.

"The Millennium Puzzle!" said the curator, practically salivating over it.

"Before you ask, I am not putting it on display," said Yugi rather firmly. "It's not even the same dynasty as the exhibit, and it holds too much sentimental value for me to hand it over."

"But the publicity..." started the curator, but was cut off by an unimpressed Yugi who simply glared at him.

"There is no chance of any reporters or other media outlet finding out about such a 'rare prize' in such a short time frame. The lack of visitors alone is a pretty big indicator of how little media presence this museum has, and I honestly doubt you even have a proper webpage to promote it," said Yugi flatly. His tone left no room for argument. "The fact you were able to get anything from the excavation out of Egypt is pretty suspicious to begin with, since they have a pretty tight hold on cultural artifacts, regardless of how minor they are...especially when it concerns royalty."

Seeing his grandfather's friend flinch a bit, Yugi knew he had hit that nail on the head and that there was clearly double-dealings going on in the background.

Which meant the curator was only in it for quick cash with shady antique collectors.

In order to relieve the tension, they all went in to see the exhibit.

The second Yugi saw the mummy, he all but exploded.

"What half-rate idiot set this up?!" he demanded, irate.

"Something wrong?" asked Jack, as he had never seen Vil this angry.

"Of course something is wrong! No real Egyptologist would take the sacred bandages off and ruin the spells on them!" said Yugi, beyond pissed. "This display is an absolute travesty! Damaging the sacred spells means that his soul could very well be left adrift in the Egyptian afterlife, never mind the damage done to any historical evidence on his sarcophagus! And this case isn't properly sealed, which means even more damage is being done as we speak to the remains!"

Seeing the curator's face turn red, Yugi glared at him with all the force of someone who had to deal with an actual Pharaoh stuck in their head for almost two years.

He almost completely missed the look of shock and calculation on the face of an Egyptian man nearby, who had come to observe the exhibit.

Hearing a teen openly berate the man who had so callously ripped the pharaoh from his resting place and had set up such a mockery of an exhibit had caught him off guard.

The further in they went, the more angry Yugi became. Mostly because he was very quick to spot certain cultural artifacts that were missing, most of which were quite valuable to the right people.

By the end of it the curator was glad to be rid of them all, especially Yugi who was still fuming.

Rather than be upset at the scene his grandson made, Solomon was downright proud...mostly because Yugi had displayed a higher degree of knowledge towards the subject than most would have at his age.

To be fair, part of the reason Yugi had gotten into make-up and modeling in the first place was to get closer to the pharaoh. He had found it fun to research ancient Egyptian methods of getting dolled up, and quickly found that the Pharaoh's spiky hair was definitely not the norm back then.

As a side effect and wanting to know what the afterlife was like, he had delved into Egyptology and had become very well versed in the subject.

He was also quietly getting his bachelor's degree on the subject in between modeling and acting. It certainly was more interesting than doing his homework all over again.