Since they had gotten their number the team had been waiting inside the room for them to be called. Occasionally they would take turns signing out to care for their body in the real world, but other than that they had been sitting and waiting for what felt like forever. Kaiba Corp. had called for a break at noon so everyone could rest and at one everything was back on for the tournament. They gave every match a good hour before it was pulled to an end and the team with the most players and life remaining won. There was a chance that their team wouldn't even get a to perform today but Jounouchi didn't seem wiling to take that chance.

Heba could understand he really wanted them to have their turn as well, but there was no telling what was going to happen when he did get out there. Compared to everyone else, he was still the weakest among their ranks even with the leveling he did in his spare time.

Marik and Mariku were level 23.
Jounouchi was now level 25.
Ryo was level 25.
Seth was 27.
Akefia was level 30.
Atem was 30.

Heba himself was only level twenty. Compared to the others he felt small and as if he was dragging them all down. What choice did he have though? It was to late to go and level up now, besides if he left there was a good chance Jounouchi would track him down and kill him. For some reason this game meant a lot to Jounouchi and Heba was starting to wonder if he was going to use this for a chance to prove himself to someone. His friend wasn't that hard to figure out, unlike his school work.

School... the real world... his grade wasn't in jeopardy of failing but for a while he had been up in the top ranks, he had made honor roll almost every semester but now—all because of one test grade in Yami's class... he was told to balance his fun and his school work but with a game like this it was almost like the Duel Monster explosion in his early years of High School. He was going to be a Senior next year, games were an important part of him but they couldn't control his life. If he didn't start doing any better he would ruin his chances of getting into one of the elite collages. He wanted to go to school to be a game developer, though Solomon wanted him to go for something Archaeology related Heba found more interest in games, he always had since he was a kid.

Yami had to find interest in History that was why he went to collage to be a History teacher, right? But he was so hard on the class sometimes, was teaching even any fun for him anymore?

Yet again, during the middle of the game Heba found his thoughts wandering back to Yami. Lately they never seemed to be straying far from his teacher and yet they never centered around the work he had slowly building up for him. He had missed homework assignments, was slacking off on his school work, if it continued down this path he was going to be owing the teacher so much that Yami would be holding him back after class.

Jounouchi would never be fond of that idea, and yet for some reason Heba didn't completely hate the idea. The day they were stuck in his house he actually found himself having fun with Yami. Being around him was enjoyable, he liked conversing with his teacher. As a student history was never one of Heba's favorite classes but he did, for some reason, find it enjoyable when Yami was the one teaching it. There was also high chance it was because they were leaning what Solomon always told him about growing up. Solomon was an archaeologist and Heba did like the stories his grandfather told and it was fun being able to actually use those stories in the class. Yami found them interesting, especially the Egypt ones.

Stories were fun but when you hear them so much you eventually start to go numb to them.

Slowly, Heba found his eyes wandering over to the person who sat next to him. Atem—Heba had been thinking this before but the two of them, his teacher and his friend, they looked so much alike. Since he had spent that time with Yami outside of school he saw a bit how free his teacher was. Yes the man was sophisticated but he was also calm and happy, laid back and a terrible cook. He was a lot like Atem, even in the beginning. When Heba had first met Atem, Jounouchi had told him that the man was cold and off putting, that was the same thing he had said about their teacher and honestly, it was starting to become to much of a coincidence how much he was finding alike in them.

Was he... thinking to much on this or was everything starting to come to light?

"Heba?" The elf blinked several times to pull himself from his thoughts before raising his head and turning to the person who had called him. Jounouchi, though honestly a few others in the room seemed to share his look of concern. "Are you... alright?"

Heba tried to force a smile and slowly nodded. "I was just... thinking is all. We're probably not going to be called today, right? Is it okay if I go home? I have a lot of work to do and sitting here... well I'm not really fond of waiting with all that weighing on my mind."

Jounouchi almost seemed like he wanted to object but Seth cut in before he could. "Sure, go home and I'll have Jounouchi or someone contact you if we get called or given a time when we should have our match."

A small relieved sigh left Heba and he nodded his head, pulling the screen up and logging himself out. It took a few minutes before he came back to reality and tugged the headset off. His mind was spinning so much with the thoughts of Atem and Yami...

Yami.

Yugi let another sigh out and slid down off of the bed. He sat down at his desk and tugged his backpack over, dumping out all of his things for History. Just sitting there and thinking about his teacher and his school work, he felt determined to do something about it. He didn't want to let his grades keep slipping no matter how addicted he was to his new game. Joey was going to be mad, but Yugi's personal real life had to come above the game.

His phone buzzing off to the side distracted him for a moment and the student instantly picked it up, scanning through the text. It was from Anzu, Yugi had honestly forgotten he made plans with her to talk to her about Yami. Now, he had a lot more for them to talk about. Yugi wasn't sure if Anzu had met Atem but once Yugi told her about him, she would surely get where he was coming from.

Yugi made a plan to have dinner with her tomorrow after school at their usually place, Burger World around five o'clock. If she thought he was crazy or believed him... Yugi wasn't sure but a part of him knew that out of all of them Anzu was always the more rational person. Joey would probably mock him for thinking, now of all times, that Yami and Atem were the same person and Seth would have probably not cared let alone known who Yami was.

Shaking his head Yugi tried to dismiss the thoughts for now and pulled out his school work. Since he had the time he wanted to get as much done as he could, he owed far to much for his liking and he knew his teachers were going to start asking for them now.

Balance his life; that was what he was told. Yami was right he needed to find a bridge of stability, least he fall far behind and be unable to graduate. That would just set his grandfather over the edge, Solomon didn't need anymore stress let alone from his grandson.

Yugi worked well into the late hours before he finally decided to call it a night. His grandfather was happy to be able to spend dinner with him and Yugi was happy to be able to get a good amount of sleep before school.

When the sun finally rose and his alarm clock blared in his ears, Yugi tumbled out of the bed and quickly dressed for the morning. He had gotten enough sleep that he felt well rested, his head wasn't pounding from a headache and no one barged into his room to drag him back down to Second Life. Yugi knew what that meant though, they hadn't gotten their turn in the tournament and Joey was going to be upset over that. The student sighed and tugged on his blazer before fixing his hair to the familiar spiked fashion it normally was. He checked himself in the mirror before rushing down the stairs and grabbing a piece of toast from the plate that Solomon had prepared.

"I'm leaving now Grandpa! I'm meeting Anzu after school so I'll see you a bit later!" Yugi rushed out the door and down the steps, skipping the last two in the process. When he made it to Domino High he made a round trip to most his teachers, dropping off the late and finished work. He saved Yami's class for last and slowly made his way inside the doors, knocking once to let the other know of his presences.

Mr. Sennen looked up from the papers he was grading and gave Yugi a smile, turning in the chair to show that the boy had his complete and undivided attention. Yugi pulled the papers out of the folder he had stored all of them in and took a step forward, handing them to his teacher. "I think that's everything I owe you but if it's not I can always get a copy of whats left and finish it up for you."

Yami nodded and shifted through the work he was given before turning to the computer and typing a few things in. After a moment he pulled up Yugi's student profile and looked through the list of 'missing' assignments. Between the papers and the list he eventually finished the count and turned back to his student, flashing that bright and warm smile that had Yugi turning away and fighting to keep his composure.

Why did he have such a nice smile? And why did it never fail to make Yugi fluster? The student silently cursed himself and turned back only when Yami addressed him. "Well Yugi, it does seem like this is everything, I'm impressed at the sudden turn around. Are you feeling better?"

The praise made him shift on his feet, the teens hands tugging at the ends of his school jacket. "I ah—just am trying to balance everything in my life, school is important." If he wanted to get to the future that he had planned for himself, he needed that balanced life. Being a game developer was important to Yugi, he admired the work that was put into Second Life and wanted to create something like that himself. Kaiba Corp. was amazing in everything that it created.

"That's a good idea, being able to balance your personal life is very important Yugi, not just for things like this but for your mental health as well." Yami was right, when the personal life became unbalanced so could a persons mental health, an unbalanced life could lead to stress, which Yugi experienced, and stress could lead to several other things.

Yugi smiled a bit and gave a nod. "I know."

"Good then," Yami stood and placed a hand on Yugi's shoulder. "-go get ready for class the bell is about to ring."

It took everything in Yugi not to lean against the others hand and as quickly as he could he rushed out of the room and toward his first class. Something was wrong with him today, everything about Yami kept flashing back to Atem and the way that man made him feel. The atmosphere they had around them, the way they carried themselves, it was all exactly the same and no matter how much he wanted to keep denying it, it was almost near impossible for him to find anymore differences between Yami and Atem.

He couldn't wait for his lunch date with Anzu and when the final bell finally rang, Yugi was practically running out of his seat and rushing to meet his friend. He could feel the confused looks on his back from both Yami and Joey but Yugi had other things to think about rather than making a fool of himself... maybe. Yami's opinion of him mattered perhaps a bit more to Yugi than it should.

By the time Yugi reached Burger World Anzu was already waiting for him at their favorite booth in the back. Yugi tossed his jacket and bag against the wall before sliding into the seat and making himself comfortable.

"I already ordered for us, I got your usual burger and fries as well as a glass of milk." Anzu always did know him best, she was an amazing girl and it was unfortunate when she turned him down after he asked her out. Maybe it was for the best though he valued their friendship a lot and was glad something like that didn't ruin it. Yugi wasn't sure what he would do if she hadn't been around.

"Thanks Anzu, you know me best." Yugi flashed her a bright smile and nearly flinched when she leaned across the table to look him in the eyes.

"Of course I do, you're my best friend which means I can always tell when something is up." She leaned back and rested against the booth before giving him a worried look. "What's bothering you,Yugi? You know you can tell me anything and it would stay between us. There was a reason you asked me to come here right?"

Yugi nodded his head in response to her questions, not a doubt in his mind that he could trust her. Anzu was always there like Joey and the others, they were his friends he would never trade them for anything. "I just—do you know our history teacher Mister Yami Sennen? I know you have him to but at a different time and Joey and I, right?" She nodded and Yugi continued. "Well, on the game, you know Second Life, a memeber of our team is a character who named himself Atem-"

She cut him off there. "Joey told me something about that, he brought up the idea that our teacher was playing the game too and you shot him down."

Yugi's cheek darkened a bit at that and he shifted in the booth. "Well, I changed my mind I think Joey... might actually be right."

Anzu couldn't keep the surprise off of her face at that, though the shock wore off quickly and she turned serious almost instantly. "Well if that is true I don't see the big deal, teachers are people too he probably just wants to have fun. Why is this so important to you? It's just a game, right?"

It was just a game, so then why did it matter so much to Yugi who Yami was? "I—I don't know Anzu."

The brunette frowned and grabbed her water, taking a small sip of it before looking to Yugi once more. "I think you do know but are denying it to yourself. Don't hold back Yugi, it's just us here, why would something like this matter so much to you?"

A lump seemed to grow in the gamers throat. Yugi tossed the words she had said around for a moment as his body seemed to grow hot. He bit down into his bottom lip and slowly pulled it out before he answered her. "Am I... crushing on my teacher?"