Chapter Text
Atem felt the blood drain from his face as the door rattled in its frame, not budging no matter how hard he yanked on the handle.
Over his shoulder he heard Yugi’s - uh, the Professor’s little hum of confusion, and he tried harder, reefing the handle all the way to one side and yanking on it, only for the damned thing to stay locked.
He smooshed his face against the tiny window and just caught a glimpse of blonde hair whipping around the corner out of sight. He seethed - Malik. Of course it was Malik. And where there was Malik, Bakura was sure to be close by.
Atem had no idea how the two screwballs managed to get ahold of a set of keys to the classroom - though honestly now that he thought of it he was hardly surprised.
The two of them hadn’t allowed him a moment's peace as soon as they learned of Atem’s infatuation - the last two months had been absolute hell. Between Bakura’s candid photos of Professor Yugi around campus and with his friends (that Atem had most assuredly scolded his friend about stalking and had absolutely not secluded the photos in a very secret folder buried deep in his phone) and Malik’s gossip - er, absolutely reliable sources of information on Yugi’s personal life - Atem had been driven up the wall and back down the other side.
He sighed deeply from the bottom of his feet and hit his head on the wooden door - twice, for good measure.
He was fucked.
“Is the door stuck?” came a soft voice over his shoulder, and Atem all but leapt out of Prof. Yugi’s way as the man came around his side, peering at the door.
“Uh - it’s - I think it’s locked somehow…” Atem said, sticking his hands in his pockets roughly and trying not to think about how Yugi’s hand was now on the doorknob where his had been just seconds ago, because that would be an absolutely pathetic thing for him to focus on.
Yugi hummed again, trying his hand at the door, his eyebrows furrowed lightly. When it stayed locked, he let out a light laugh, shaking his head.
“Just our luck that the door’s broken today of all days, huh?” Yugi grinned at Atem, and honest to gods Atem felt his heart clench in his chest at Yugi’s smile.
Oh, he was well and truly fucked.
“Ahaha - yeah! That sucks…” Atem said a little too loudly, and internally winced at his obviously nervous tone. Smooth, Atem.
Yugi chuckled, walking back over to his desk.
“Well, I’m sorry that I got you stuck in this mess too, but honestly, I’m glad that I’m not locked in here alone.” Yugi said as he dug around in his messenger bag, and Atem tugged at his collar that suddenly felt three times too tight.
“Y-yeah? Me too.” Atem said, smoothing his shirt down over his chest five times too many, but thankfully Yugi was too preoccupied with his phone to notice Atem’s jittering.
“I’ll just text a friend - they’ll be able to nab a spare set of keys from the head office. Of all the days for the door to break, it had to be when I asked a student to stick behind after class.” Yugi said, eyes focused on the tiny screen of his phone, and Atem took the moment to do some deep breathing.
Okay. He was locked in a classroom with the professor he’d been crushing on hard for the past half a semester, but there was no need to panic! They’d be out of here in five minutes or less, and Atem could give some barebones excuse of getting to another class he didn’t have, and then he could spend the rest of the night buried under his blankets not thinking about this event while bingeing on twinkies.
Yeah, that sounded good.
Now, all he had to do was survive said five minutes with said professor in said locked classroom.
Atem peeked over his shoulder to see Yugi frowning down at his screen, thumbs picking at the glass.
Yeah - no, easier said than done.
Atem jumped when Yugi suddenly spoke.
“Looks like we might be in here a while - turns out my friend was halfway home already, it’ll take her about fifteen minutes to get back here, so we’ll be here for about twenty minutes, give or take.” he said, and Atem’s knees nearly liquified.
Twenty minutes? One on one with Yugi? The two hour lecture was hard enough with a room packed with other students, let alone with nothing between him and his crush.
“That’s fine.” he heard himself say, sounding a lot calmer than he felt.
Yugi smiled and sat down, kicking his feet up on the desk and starting to browse his phone, giving Atem enough time to stumble to a nearby desk and crumple into the chair.
He felt his own phone vibrate in his pocket, only to see a teasing text from Bakura - and was promptly distracted from his nervousness with righteous fury, his thumbs making smoke trails as they flew across the screen leaving curses and threats of bodily harm in their wake.
Some annoyed and angry banter back and forth and suddenly Yugi made a startled noise, making Atem jump five feet in his chair.
“Ah! I can’t believe - I’m sorry, I completely forgot to tell you the reason why I wanted to meet you after class!” Yugi said, tilting his head back and smacking his palm against his forehead.
Atem dry-gulped at the sight of Yugi’s throat laid bare.
“I-it’s fine, we were both pretty surprised by the door.” Atem said, a smile squeaking pitifully across his face. Thankfully, Yugi didn’t seem to notice anything odd about it.
“Yeah, we were.” Yugi said, sitting upright and smiling at Atem, and Atem’s heart melted down to his toes.
There were a few moments of silence before Atem realized he was being stupid, and he clambored to his feet, the chair clattering far too noisily in the empty classroom as he stumbled to stand stiffly in front of Yugi’s desk.
Yugi looked lightly amused for a second before it was replaced by a professional expression, and he looked at Atem over his glasses.
“Now, the reason why I asked you to stay after class isn’t anything too serious, but it could be - your grades have been slipping a bit. You’ve forgotten to bring in three different assignments, and while I’m pretty lenient on due dates, I know you can do better. Is everything okay? Are you struggling in one of your other classes?” Yugi said, concern coloring his tone, and Atem felt his heart clench again.
This was one of the reasons Atem had fallen for Yugi - his professor went well out of his way to try and help his students, his genuine concern and care that went far beyond what most other professors would give made him an instant favourite among the student body.
Well, that and his refreshing good looks, of course.
“Ah - no - I’m…” Atem trailed off, wincing and rubbing the back of his neck. While he wasn’t struggling per-say, he did know that he was falling behind in Yugi’s class. Ever since he had realized he had fallen for his professor, it had been harder and harder to actually concentrate on the classwork.
Not to mention the fact that he’d not been getting much sleep lately, between his stressing about schoolwork, his crush, and Malik and Bakura’s heckling. The two of them went a little too far sometimes.
Yugi took in Atem’s hesitation, and rustled around in his folders for a moment before bringing out a sheet of paper, placing it in front of Atem.
“I gave out one of these at the beginning of the semester, but here’s another one in case you lost it - my office hours are all posted there. If you ever feel like you need some help, or need to ask me questions about the class, please come stop by. I’d be more than happy to help out.” Yugi said, fingers dancing on the edge of the paper, and Atem gingerly picked it up.
He stared at the white sheet, numbers swimming across his vision. Office hours? Sitting in Yugi’s office, one-on-one, for who knows how long attempting to discuss Ancient Egyptian facts?
It was bad enough just trying to keep his brain in one piece in a empty locked classroom with his professor.
“I’ll… I’ll try to come by.” Atem said, folding the piece of paper into squares and tucking it away in his pocket.
Yugi beamed.
“That’s all I ask for!” he said, and Atem swayed on his feet.
Good gods, he was done for.
Yugi sat back, seemingly satisfied, rotating his swivel chair back and forth lightly, and Atem could only stare at him stupidly for a while.
Eventually Yugi’s expression turned questioning, and Atem scrambled for something to say.
“Uh - actually… if we have a few moments… uhm… about the Sixteenth Dynasty…” he eked out, and Yugi leaned forward again, eyes glimmering with interest.
Thankfully, but also regretfully, the twenty minutes seemed like nothing once the two of them got talking, and their discussion had gotten well into the famine-plagued reign of Neferhotep III when the door suddenly shook, and the sound of keys jangling against the lock interrupted their conversation.
A face grinned into the glass, and a woman opened the door, smiling apologetically.
“Sorry it took me so long! I had to drop Jou off, I had picked him up from work.” she said, and Yugi just smiled thankfully.
“No problem, Anzu - thanks for coming all the way back here to get us.” Yugi said, and while Atem’s mind stuttered on the ‘us’ coming from his Prof’s mouth, the woman’s name clicked - Anzu, one of Yugi’s childhood friends and one of the best-liked Dance Instructors of the Theatre department.
Information he has most certainly not gotten from Malik’s rumor mill.
“No problem - I’m just surprised that you got locked in here, but what - is it the fourth time you’ve forgotten your keys in your office?” she smiled, a hand on her hip, and Yugi flushed.
Atem really liked how Yugi looked when he was blushing.
Yugi muttered some excuse while Atem seared the wondrous sight of a blushing Yugi into his memory, and thus missed Anzu giving him a once-over from the doorway.
Atem looked back over to see a disturbingly smug smile on her face, and he couldn’t help but take a few steps back warily as Yugi gathered up his papers and stuffed them back into his messenger bag.
“Ok - ah, sorry that we have to cut our discussion short! But maybe we can pick up where we left off next time you visit my office?” Yugi said, and Atem blinked a few times before registering he was talking to him. He looked over wide-eyed, and Yugi was smiling at him with a hand outstretched.
Atem looked from Yugi’s hand, to his face, and back to his hand, before gently taking hold of his hand and shaking it.
As Yugi let go, Atem tried not to think about how much bigger his hand was than Yugi’s slimmer, elegant one, and how nicely his hand had fit in Atem’s own.
“Ah - y-yeah, I’ll see you next time.” Atem managed to stutter out, and Yugi’s smile went from kind to beaming, and Atem nearly squinted at the glow of it.
“Good!” he said, hiking his bag over his shoulder, and left the classroom, his friend Anzu following him, but not before giving Atem another smug, knowing look that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up before she disappeared around the corner.
Standing alone in the empty classroom, Atem stared a little star-struck down at his hand, still a little tingly from Yugi’s touch.
As overused as the phrase was, Atem had the sudden thought that he would never wash that hand again.
And then he grimaced at his patheticness, stuffed his hand in his pocket, and ducked out of the classroom.