So What'cha Gonna Do About It?

It is official: I've been turned into a Vaseshipper. I guess I've been fighting the inevitable for a while now without completely realizing it. I never had much of an opinion on the matter before, and then Asiera wrote the most adorable fluff between them in one of her chapters and I could feel myself caving. Obviously, I started to argue with myself, because just giving in is a) no fun at all and b) rather stupid because, in case you haven't realized yet, everything I allow myself to love becomes a sort of obsession.

So I was telling the little voice in my head all the reasons Vaseshipping was not the way to go for me. One of the points I was arguing was it was probably more fanon then canon. To that the little voice in my head replied with only one sentence: Woman, you ship Zutara…

Yeah I turned Vaseshipper as soon as that truth was driven home. And thus the obsession began. First stage was to Google images. Adorable, I might add. Then came the need to read as many Vaseshipping fanfics as I possibly could without frying my brain. I read roughly 24 fanfics in one afternoon. End of stage two and start of stage three: the need to write my own fanfics about the topic. So basically you're reading stage three of my obsession.

This fic came to me is one huge glomp of muse; I could barely type fast enough. It's really cute and fluffy and all that but I think it may be a little OOC… I hope not, and I hope it's at least a tiny bit better then the stuff I usually write…

Disclaimer: I own Yu-Gi-Oh! about as much as I own a flying and highly pink elephant. (It only gives rides on Saturdays)

The sun rose exactly as it had on countless days before, but that time it somehow seemed brighter. In fact, everything looked brighter and more vibrant as he walked towards his throne room. That day he was wearing simple clothes, having left his royal clothes in his room. And that day, unlike most of the countless others, he did not enter the room but turned away from it, a smile in place now. That day he was free.

He cared for his people, and he took his responsibility as their pharaoh with pride and seriousness. But the prospect of a day away from all of it had been too great to ignore. His guardians had looked relieved when he had accepted the offer, although they tried very hard to hide it. All of them, especially Mahad, thought he had been working too hard. So that day was all his own; he could do what he pleased when he pleased. And the thing he most wished to do was, obviously, spend the day with his best friend.

He froze in mid-step as he spotted a giant vase a little in front of him in the hallway. His smile turned into a grin; this time, he'd get her first. Stepping as lightly as he possibly could, he made his way towards the vase. He paused for a moment when he had nearly reached it, and then sprang the last few inches.

"Good morning, Mana," he said triumphantly… Into an empty vase.

For a moment he was left to stare at the emptiness in dumbfounded shock before a voice broke his silence.

"Goooood morning, Atem!"

He spun around and was just in time to catch a blur of brown and white before something hit him. He reflexively half caught the body, making sure she didn't rebound off him and onto the floor. He also wobbled, but only slightly; he'd been through this enough times to know how to keep his balance.

"Where…? But the vase…?" he asked the girl hugging him, his voice slightly muffled by her hair.

The giggle he knew and loved answered him as Mana let go and took one step back.

"I knew you'd caught on to the hiding in a vase thing, so I chose a new place!"

"Any chance you're going to tell me where that is?" Atem asked, failing to hide his amusement.

"No way! It took ages finding it, and if I tell you I won't be able to use it again!"

A chuckle made its way out of Atem's throat without him realizing it was even there. Being around Mana made him relax almost instantly. She was the only one in the palace who could do that to him; make him feel, and act, like a child again.

"Did Mahad let you off for today?" he asked her, aware of how hopeful he sounded with some surprise.

"Course!" came the bubbly reply. "He was scared you'd go back to work if I wasn't here to keep an eye on you," she kidded.

"You keeping an eye on me? Well, that changes the roles around, doesn't it?" he teased back, his eyes laughing as much as hers.

"I'm not that bad," Mana answered with a tiny sniff. Her mock offence lasted all of three seconds. "So what are we going to do today?"

"Well…" Atem's brow furrowed as he thought about it.

"We could go swimming!" Mana said almost at once, not giving him a chance to think. "Or shopping; the new market is up! We can rent a boat and sail down the Nile for the whole day! We could buy that red fruit juice from the old lady down by the river and throw it on the guards again. Or we could-"

"Mana," he interrupted her stream of very quick talking with a laugh. "That all sounds very nice, trust me. It's just that-"

"Oh!" Her green eyes widened in realization. "You're not allowed out the palace, huh? Too many assassins and crazy fangirls?"

"Unfortunately you're right. I'm free, but only on the palace grounds." The distain was visible in his voice. "I'm sorry."

"It's ok!" Mana assured him, refusing to be deterred. "It was basically the same when you were a prince, especially after your thirteenth birthday." Her face lit up. "Hey! We can play the games we made up back then to pass the time!"

She turned to him, almost bursting with happiness and excitement. His own face, however, was blank without any recollection of what she was saying. The happiness in her face disappeared, and her eyes turned very sad.

"Oh," she mumbled, crestfallen. "Right. You don't remember."

Chagrin filled him at her tone. He hated making the girl who meant so much to him so sad. Yet what could he say? He didn't have any memories of them before, although he lay awake some nights and begged for them to return. He softly pushed her unruly hair out of her face so her sad eyes could meet his sorry ones.

"I'm sorry, Mana. Teach them to me again?"

She brightened again and the reappearance of her smile made his return as well.

"Hmm…" she tapped her lips with her index finger, thinking. "Which one will be the easiest and quickest to explain?"

"Choose your favourite, Mana; I'm rather good at games," he told her.

"So What'cha Gonna Do About It!" Mana exclaimed. Seeing Atem's utterly confused face she giggled. "That's the name of the game, silly. Look, it's easy. One of us does something to the other, and that person then asks in mock disbelief and anger if he really did it. Then the doer replies 'So what'cha gonna do about it?' and the other retaliates. For example," she said while stepping forward and poking Atem squarely in the ribs. "Now you say-"

"Did you just poke me?" Atem finished for her, trying to sound and look enraged but failing, especially when Mana grinned widely at his getting it.

"So what'cha gonna do about it?" she challenged, her eyes laughing at him.

He thought for a second and then pushed her, very gently. She let out a fake gasp.

"Did you just push me?" she asked, and for a moment her hurt expression took him in.

"So what'cha gonna do about it?" he replied, faking unconcern.

Mana grinned and shoved him lightly with her shoulder.

"Did you just shove me?!"

"So what'cha gonna do about it?"

Atem grabbed the edge of her hair and gave it the gentlest of tugs, noting how soft her hair felt under his fingers.

"Did you just pull my hair?"

"So what'cha gonna do about it?"

Mana thought for a second and then took off, running all the way to the end of the hall before stopping and turning back to him, laughter on every corner of her face.

"Did you just run away from me?" he called to her.

"So what'cha gonna do about it?" she called back.

He smirked and ran towards her. Seeing him coming she giggled and spun around, running again with him hot on her tail. They skidded around corners, slid down stairs, nearly ran quite a few people over and almost collided with the front doors. And yet none of that stopped them as they raced around the palace, laughing and having more fun then they thought was possible. Finally, when they were outside in the palace gardens, Mana stopped, out of breath and gasping.

"Did… you just… chase me?" she panted at Atem, who was doubled over, just like her.

"So… What'cha… gonna do about it?" he puffed back.

Still out of breath Mana just stared at him for a while, thinking. Then she grinned and skipped to the nearest tree, pulling herself up into its lowest branches and giggling down at him.

"Did you just climb away from me?" he asked her, the disbelief now genuine.

"So what'cha gonna do about it?" she sang down at him, knowing he couldn't climb the tree with her.

He frowned as that knowledge hit him as well, and he began looking around for ways to get at her. Then he smirked and walked confidently up to her. Her eyes watched him wearily as he came closer and then stood under the tree. For a moment he just stood there, then his smirk grew wider and he reached up, grabbed her as best he could and yanked her down from the tree. He was right underneath so he caught her as she toppled out, causing both of them to land on the ground, him underneath.

"Did you just pull me out of a tree?!" Mana asked him incredulously, getting off of him but staying seated on the ground.

"So what'cha gonna do about it?" he laughed back at her, sitting up too.

A leer crossed Mana's face a second before she launched forward and began tickling Atem mercilessly. Mana and, of course, Yugi were the only two people in the universe who knew where Atem was ticklish, and the young apprentice used it to her advantage, shamelessly making Atem laugh, wriggle and squirm under her fingers.

"Did you just tickle me?" he gasped at her when she finally decided to have mercy.

"So what'cha gonna do about it?" She was the one laughing now.

He didn't pause for long this time. After only about a second's thought he jumped at her, grabbing her hands as his weight pushed her backwards. Mana blinked as she suddenly found herself on the ground, Atem over her. His hands were pinning hers down next to her head and his legs were holding hers down as well. His eyes, which were now much closer to hers, were laughing again. He was more then close enough to make her blush.

"Did you just… pin me to the ground?"

"So what'cha gonna do about it?" he asked, sounding pleased with himself; Mana couldn't move.

It was the first time in ages he had been that close to her in reality, but in truth she had been thinking and dreaming about his closeness for a while now. She had let nobody know of her fantasies, not even Isis, who was almost a mother to her. And now, caught up in the excitement of the game and used to seeing him this close in her head, her body acted the way it had in her dreams without stopping to let her mind think about it. She could only lift her body so high with Atem pinning her hands down, but it was high enough for her lips to meet his.

As she had imagined they were soft and warm under hers, with the taste of the scent that was only his. For a very short moment she was blissfully caught up in her happiness but then her brain shouted the home truth to her: He was not kissing her back, like he mostly did if her dreams went this far. His warm lips were frozen in surprise and shock, not welcoming hers like the usual daydreams. Maybe that was because it wasn't a dream. Then that meant…

Her eyes flew open in pure shock and she ripped herself away from him. A blood red tint covered her face and neck as the realization of what she'd just done seeped into every pore of her body.

"Did you just kiss me?" Atem sounded dumbfounded.

His amethyst eyes were full of utter disbelief and pure shock as he stared at his blushing friend, who looked like she wanted the earth to swallow her.

"So… what are you going to do about it?"

This time there was no jesting in her voice; she was dead serious. She had just kissed the pharaoh. She could get severely punished for it. The thought of being called to council by the six priests made her blood run cold. What would the Pharaoh's father say? And Mahad! Would he try and save her and end up getting hurt in the process or would he deem her punishable too? And over the dread of the many punishments and banishments she could receive loomed one that made her heart stop beating: what if Atem broke off their friendship?

Her question made him blink, and as she was thinking of the horrors that could befall her, he was thinking about what he was going to do. He moved, and she expected him to get up and back away from her, his eyes dark and untrusting. She expected harsh words or ridicule. But none of what she expected happened. Instead Atem, the king of all Egypt, bent down towards her and, for the second time in five minutes, Mana felt his warm lips on hers. And this time, they were anything but stiff in shock.

"Did you just kiss me back?" Mana asked in pure amazement after they finally broke apart again.

"So what'cha gonna do about it?" he asked her gently, his breath warm on her face as he gazed into her eyes.

She tipped her head to the side as she thought about it.

"I guess I'm going to kiss you every day, then. Be your… What was it Tea called it? Oh yes! Your girlfriend."

An impossible lightness spread through his body at that word. Was it possible for somebody to have it all? Could he really have her, not just as his best friend, but as his other half in the sense of the world?

"Did you just say my girlfriend?" he whispered, needing the assurance that he wasn't dreaming.

"So what'cha gonna do about it?" Mana whispered back, her eyes telling him she hadn't been joking.

"Well I guess I'm going to have to ask you to marry me one day, then."

Her eyes widened as she gasped. Did he just say…?

"What are you going to do about that?" He asked her before she could say anything, half playful and half serious.

She giggled.

"I'm going to say yes, silly."

Aaaah the random fluff of a new obsesser…

PS: Yeah, I know they're dead already and probably can't die again, but I have a semi-good argument to anybody who tells me that. IF you wana take me on, goo ahead: I don't mind being asked stuff about my insane mind