Enigma

AN: I'm terribly sorry this took so long to get out. Pegasus didn't feel like cooperating with me for the first scene. Disclaimer and information are in the first chapter. Enjoy.

~*~*~*~*~*~
Chapter 5

“What a day,” Yugi complained to the others once he got outside, “I feel like I’m dead on my feet.” It really wasn’t fair. Every time he turned Keith down, Keith had retaliated by forcing Yugi to work harder.

“You too tired to get some coffee?” Atemu asked from where he was leaning against the wall, “It might bring you back to life.”

Yugi laughed. “Alright. You convinced me.”

“Great. There’s this nice coffee shop down by the university I want to show you,” Atemu said, grabbing Yugi’s hand and dragging him away. Mai and Malik watched as they drove off in Atemu’s car.

“How’s Yugi going to get to work?” Malik asked, “They left his car here.”

“I wouldn’t worry about it,” Mai replied, “Atemu’s working his charms and I wouldn’t be surprised if they came in together tomorrow morning.” Then she frowned. “I hope he doesn’t end up breaking that poor guy’s heart.”

“I doubt he will. Yugi seems to be made of stern stuff. He’d have to be, considering he put up with Keith all day long,” Malik replied.

Mai laughed. “Yeah,” she agreed before getting a distant look, “I hope you’re right.”

~*~*~*~*~*~

Yugi sat down at the table with a relieved sigh, folding his feet under him before he started slurping his specialty coffee noisily. Atemu watched, amused, as he sipped his own coffee. Then he had to put down his coffee lest he spill or choke on it.

“You have a moustache,” Atemu said, laughing. He couldn’t help it. Yugi looked so absurdly cute with the whipped cream and foam moustache adorning his upper lip.

“Hmm…” Yugi replied. Then he licked the moustache away like a cat. Atemu stopped laughing and gave a little shiver, shifting in his seat as several very naughty ideas about what else that tongue could lap at started flitting through his mind. Quickly, he picked up his coffee and took a large drink.

“Atemu?”

“Hmm?” Atemu mumbled around his coffee cup before setting it down.

“How did you get into this business?” Yugi asked as he played with his cup.

“Why do you ask?”

“I dunno. I’m curious, I guess. It just doesn’t seem to fit with what I’ve seen of your personality,” Yugi replied, shrugging his shoulders.

“It doesn’t, does it?” Atemu stated with a deprecating grin. “The truth is, I kind of stumbled into it. I was working on a doctorate in Art History with an emphasis on Ancient Egyptian art in its various forms and I needed a way to pay for my schooling.”

“You have a doctorate in Art History? What were you planning on doing with that?” Yugi asked, tilting his head.

“Work in a museum, classifying stuff. Maybe working in the field occasionally with new finds. Stuff like that. I’ve always been interested in Ancient Egypt, and working directly with the objects from that time is my dream job,” Atemu replied.

“Oh. So why did you end up doing this?” Yugi inquired with a frown.

“I was getting to that. Rex Raptor was making a movie and wanted a realistic Ancient Egyptian set and costumes and put out an ad for a consultant. I saw it and figured it was right up my line and applied. I’ll admit I was surprised when I found out that the movie was going to be an adult movie, but it was money and the work was interesting.

“Then the male star of the movie was involved in an accident and broke something. I think it was a leg. Anyway, he was out of commission and Rex Raptor had gotten too far to be able to back out of making the movie. The next thing I know, Rex was asking me to fill in for the missing actor and offering to pay me the actor’s salary plus the consultation fees. Together it was enough money to pay for the entire semester, so I agreed. After that movie was done, Rex asked me to work on a series of Egyptian-themed films as both the consultant and the star. I nearly declined, but the money he was offering was enough to last me until I finished my thesis and leave me enough left over to make a serious dent in my student loans. I agreed again, but warned him that was it. He agreed.”

“Then what happened?” Yugi asked, rapt in Atemu’s story.

“As luck would have it, one of the movies was Slaves of Love.”

“I’ve seen that one! It’s the one with the orgy. It’s really good,” Yugi stated, blushing slightly. Atemu smiled fondly.

“It was a good one. And it put my name on the map. Unfortunately, it did more than that. When I went to get a job in the field I had studied so hard for, I found out that they had either seen or heard about the film and they were reluctant to hire someone with such an… “unsavory past”, I think is how they put it,” Atemu said bitterly. “In the meantime, other directors in the business were calling and asking me to star in their films. Since I wasn’t able to get a job where I wanted to and I still had to pay off more than half of my student loans, I agreed to work for the directors. I’ve been doing it ever since.”

“That’s sad,” Yugi stated, his brow furrowing, “If you don’t like this job, couldn’t you do something else? I mean, you have a doctorate. Surely it’s good for something.”

Atemu snorted. “It should be, but it’s not. Museums and collections and galleries and Egyptologists all want someone who’s reputable working for them and with my current résumé, I’m anything but.”

“And I don’t suppose they’ll let you get away with just saying you were a movie star, huh?” Yugi added with a wry look.

“Nope.”

Silence fell upon the table as they finished their coffee. Yugi looked up at the clock on the wall and sighed.

“I need to get home. Could you drop me off at the studio so I can get my car?”

“You could stay at my place and we could come in together…” Atemu suggested.

“Tempting, but there’s Della.”

“Della?” Atemu asked, frowning.

“My cat. She’s probably scratching the furniture because she lonely and I’m not there,” Yugi explained.

“I’ll tell you what. It’s my fault you don’t have a car, so I’ll drop you off and pick you up in the morning. Twenty minutes before we’re supposed to be at work sound good?”

Yugi nodded. “Yeah. Thanks.”

“No problem,” Atemu said with a grin.

The drive to Yugi’s apartment was quick. Atemu wished it had lasted longer. He parked as close to the front as he could get (which actually put them nowhere near the front) and turned the car off.

“Thanks for showing me the coffee shop and giving me a lift,” Yugi said as he opened the door. Then he paused. “Would you like to come up?”

There was a hopeful note to Yugi’s question that Atemu couldn’t help smiling at.

“I’d love to.”

~*~*~*~*~*~