Chapter 1

INTERSECTION

"Right," Yugi muttered to himself. "So where is this 'Bohr' building?" He couldn't afford to be lost now, he was already running late as it is. Domino University, which consisted of a reasonably sized campus, resembled nothing so much as an Egyptian maze to all the new nervous or confused undergrads. And on his third day at uni, heading for his first maths tutorial, Yugi definitely considered himself to be both nervous and confused.

As he turned the corner a large grey coloured building came into view. A red B above the sliding glass doors gave Yugi reason to hope that he might not be so lost afterwards. Huffing in relief, Yugi hitched his back over his shoulder and quickened his pace.

"Let go! Give it back!"

Yugi turned towards the yell. There were three students a few feet behind him. Two of them were hooting and tossing an item back and forth, while the third shuffled desperately between them.

"Seriously, man? A Pokémon folder? This is uni. You ain't gonna get laid with this!" The wind carried the sneers to Yugi's ears.

"Shut up! Just give it back, you idiot."

"Oh, I don't think I'm the idiot here." An angry shove.

Yugi could sense the animosity crackling around the group. The folder was tossed away, smacking onto the asphalt parking lot, and then suddenly the three separate figures had become one ball of arms and legs flying furiously.

Even as he questioned himself, Yugi was jogging towards the group. He wasn't the type to interfere but the scene had hit close to home.

"Stop! Hey! Stop hitting him!"

They didn't seem to hear.

"STOP!" He bellowed.

All three froze, a little startled. Then, one of them, bulky and broad-shouldered, broke away from the group, his face incredulous. "Oh, and are you playing rescuer Frodo?" He was taller than Yugi – practically everyone was – and he seemed to find the latter's small stature highly amusing.

Yugi glared. It didn't matter whether it was high school, or uni – some people just never changed.

"Why don't you just back off and stop acting like a bunch of ten year olds?" He would never have been so bold in highs school, but the scene had angered him more than he realised. Nevertheless, Yugi still felt his insides squelch nervously.

The bulky student guffawed. "Us? Us acting like ten year-olds when this moron's the one with the stupid Pokémon folder?"

Yugi frowned. This couldn't just be about the Pokémon folder, the guy's anger seemed too much for that. Maybe these guys knew each other from high school? Was he putting his foot in it?

"Hey Keith," the other student tapped the first one on the shoulder. He looked slightly apprehensive. He nodded his head, eyeing something behind Yugi. Behind and above. "Better cool it, man," he murmured.

The student called Keith glanced up, the sneer erasing from his face. Then without a word, both turned and walked away.

Yugi picked up the Pokémon folder, and brought it over to the third student who was lifting himself off the asphalt. There were small grazes on his knees, and his lip was bleeding. It made Yugi wince. He'd never been one for violence.

"You ok?"

The student glared and yanked the folder out of Yugi's grip. "Fuck off. I can take care of myself." He strode away.

Yugi raised his eyebrows. He hadn't really wanted a 'thanks', but neither had he wanted a 'fuck off'. Then again, Yugi could understand only too well the boy's anger at having to be rescued.

Not that he'd technically done much rescuing, thought Yugi with a frown, as he made his way towards the maths building. He wondered what it was that had made the boys clear off like that, and looked up at the face of the building.

There was a man hovering by the window on the second level, with arms crossed and feet apart. Yugi couldn't quite make out the man's face, but his whole stance expressed disapproval. Was he the reason that the other two had scrammed? Maybe those two had had dealings with this man before.

Yugi shook his head. That wasn't important now. What was important was that he was very definitely late and he had to move his ass.

Yugi looked up at the small brass numbers above the doorway. B221. Well, at least he was in the right place, if a little late. He was still slightly out of breath from running up those long flights of stairs, and he was starting to feel a little warm in his collar. Taking a deep breath, he composed himself and pushed open the door.

Naturally, everyone turned to see who was arriving late. Yugi bit his lip, kept his eyes down, and slipped into the nearest seat as quietly as he could.

"You're late," observed an annoyed baritone from behind him.

"Sorry," gasped Yugi, still a little out of breath, as he twisted around. "I got los-" He stopped mid explanation. It was like looking into the mirror. A slightly inaccurate mirror, but a mirror all the same. The man had hair that was almost exactly similar to Yugi's – straggly blonde bangs hanging down the sides, with a wild, untameable tuft that stuck out in an uneven, jagged halo behind. Except the older man sported more highlights, and in the light of the afternoon sunshine the ends of his hair appeared to gleam copper.

His eyes, which for some reason reminded Yugi of the dark red wine his grandpa favoured so much, were titled upwards at the end. They seemed feline, and that, combined with the bronzed skin and dark lashes, gave the man an exotic appearance. A black button-down shirt sat snugly over his broad-shoulders, stream-lining down to narrower waist and hips. The man wasn't tall but the length of his slim legs suggested that if they were to compare heights, the man would be quite a bit taller than Yugi.

The man stared down at him. Yugi could see the annoyance seep out of his eyes and confusion and curiosity take its place. They stayed that way for a few seconds, Yugi sitting, mouth open; and the man staring down at Yugi, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Excuse me, sir," a student from up the front put up their hand, "could you help me with this problem?"

The interruption seemed to reel the both of them back into reality. Yugi blinked and clamped his mouth shut. The man, too, seemed to shake himself and turned to the other student. "Just a minute, I'll be with you once I've dealt with this student."

Yugi could feel the heat flood his face. First, he'd been late on the first day of tutorials. Then he'd sat there with his mouth hanging open, staring unabashedly at his new tutor for what had seemed like an eternity.

"So," the man continued, turning around. "You were late because . . .?" One eyebrow rose in query.

It was definitely unfair, thought Yugi. Apparently his clone had received the better end of the bargain, hitting the jackpot in the looks department.

"I was lost." Yugi was relieved to find that at least his voice, unlike his face, didn't reveal the discomposure he felt inside. "I . . . I had trouble finding the building." Well, it was partially true.

The man's eyebrow stayed up, and Yugi felt the need to squirm. He'd never been the best at lies. But the man had no reason for disbelieving him, surely?

"I see." His flat tone, however, suggested that he didn't see at all.

Yugi could feel a flush creeping up his neck, and was glad that he was already red-faced from climbing all those stairs.

"I'm sorry, sir, it won't happen again."

"Right." The man nodded and averted his eyes. "Now, there is an attendance sheet which you must sign – it should be here somewhere . . ." He scanned the students' desks, trying to locate it. Then, apparently, having done so, he walked over to a desk by the window and brought over a single sheet of paper. Without looking at him, the man handed the sheet to Yugi, muttered at him to sign it, and then made his way to the front of the classroom.

Yugi rummaged in his bag for a pen, and then finding his ID picture on the sheet, scribbled his name next to it. He held back a frown. What had that been about? Yugi stared in front of him, then feeling his gaze focus, realized that the window in front of him looked out onto the car park he had been in only moments before.

Yugi blinked and shot a quick glance at the tutor. He was leaning over the student, a slight frown between his eyebrows. Was the tutor the one who had scared those boys off? But, then – then he must've known that Yugi was lying. Was that why he'd sounded so sceptical?

Stop it, Yugi! Just do what you came here to do. And stop talking to yourself!

Yugi groaned under his breath. He ducked beneath the desk to pull out the heavy calculus book from his bag. Yes, he had to stop thinking about the tutor. He was here to work – he was paying for these classes, wasn't he? Well, it was all included in the overall course fees, but still. Everything was costing a fortune and he had to make the most of it.

He could hear the baritone voice of the tutor mingling with the much higher one of the student as they discussed a problem. It was kind of soothing, Yugi decided, an ideal background noise.

Yes, and some ideal foreground noise would be your pen scribbling on your notebook.

Right. He shook his head to clear it, and turned his eyes towards his book. There was a breeze wafting in through the windows, his legs were caught in the pool of sunlight falling into the back half of the room, and with the 'ideal' background noise Yugi was soon caught up in the world of points and intersections.

"Just because you arrived late doesn't mean you have to stay longer, you know."

Yugi looked up, the deep voice dragging his mind away from the calculations. His tutor was standing in front of him, clutching a sheaf of papers and wearing a small smile. His eyes sparkled with amusement. Yugi was struck by how much the man's harsh features softened considerably with that smile. There was an inviting warmth in the dark eyes, and Yugi couldn't help but smile back. .

A corner of the man's mouth lifted, stretching into an even bigger smile. "I haven't scared you into silence, have I?"

"Oh." Yugi coughed, embarrassed. "No. . . of course not. Just distracted."

"Yes, I can see that." Yugi's heart skipped a beat. Could he?

"You did seem very lost in your work there." The man nodded at Yugi's books lying open in front of him.

Yugi could feel his beating slow in relief. "Oh, yeah..." he closed the book, and ripped out the sheet which he'd been working on. "It's definitely interesting." He looked up at his tutor. "Oh, and I'm sorry again for being late. I promise it won't happen again, sir." He smiled and held out the sheet of his calculations.

The man seemed to pause for a moment, then clearing his throat, he took the sheet. His fingers were long, Yugi noticed, just like his arms.

"You don't have to call me that."

Yugi looked at him curiously.

"Sir. You don't have to call me sir." He added Yugi's sheet to the pile, aligning it with the rest.

"Oh. Uh. . . okay. The other student called you that so I thought that was what you want-"

"That's quite alright." There was that small smile again. "I've already told the class they don't have to, but apparently it's a bad habit with that student," he finished wryly.

Yugi smiled. "Oh." He looked down at the cover of his book, then back up again at the man standing in front of him. For some ludicrous reason, he felt almost shy. "So what do I call you then?"

There was a beat of silence. "Atem." Their eyes stayed locked.

Yugi tried out the name. "Atem."

Atem nodded once.

"Ok." Yugi stared, and then realizing that he was staring, he coughed. "That sounds Egyptian."

Atem's eyes crinkled in amusement. "Yes, I've been told."

Yugi couldn't help but smile back again. He stood up, pulling his bag up with him, and shoved his materials into it. He looked up at Atem and realized that he'd been right – the tutor was taller than him. Yugi just barely came up to Atem's chin. Up to Atem's brow, if he counted his hair (which he usually liked to, as it afforded him a few extra inches to his measly height).

Yugi hitched the bag over his shoulder and grinned up at his tutor. "Well, I guess I'll be seeing you, Atem." He was surprised at how easily the name came to him.

"Yes." The word was a murmur in the man's baritone. It slid lazily out of Atem's mouth to run its silky fingers down Yugi's neck. Yugi held back a small shiver. Then, giving an uncertain smile, he turned and left the room. He couldn't be sure, but as he slipped out the door he thought he heard a low chuckle.